After years of jostling among the regional giants, the United States and Russia, officials in Georgia seem intent on recruiting a new player for the regional geopolitical game -- Iran.
It’s a deal that has the potential to win its brokers a Nobel Peace Prize. Or it could ultimately be remembered as an exercise in appeasement. What’s already certain, though, is the May 17 announcement that Iran is willing to ship the bulk of its enriched uranium to Turkey has instantly become an important milestone in the long-running controversy over Tehran’s nuclear program.
The once-cozy relationship between Russia and Iran has undergone a striking shift in recent months, as Moscow has grown increasingly critical of Tehran's defiant pursuit of nuclear capabilities. The Kremlin has even warned that it could support sanctions against Iran in the UN Security Council -- something it resisted for years.
An April 12 conference held in Washington assessed Iran's social-networking sphere. Panelists asserted that even in the face of severe government repression, the vibrancy of Iran's blogosphere is offering the international community opportunities to develop citizen diplomacy and people-to-people connections with Iranians.
In a move that could alter the Caspian Basin energy-export equation, Iran has announced that it wants to significantly increase natural gas purchases from Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan finds itself caught in a diplomatic cul-de-sac as it debates whether to eliminate visa requirements for Iranians and Turks in reciprocation for similar privileges granted by Iran and Turkey to Azerbaijani citizens.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is on a three-day visit to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The visits are "a step forward in implementing our designated plans," Ramin Mehman Parast, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, told the Fars news agency on January 3.
Fears of swine flu led the Turkmen government to ban its citizens from participating in this year's hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia that every able-bodied Muslim is required to make during his or her lifetime if able to afford it.
