Los Angeles Times: Experts say a Chernobyl-like accident at Bushehr is unlikely, but not everyone is convinced. Problem-free generation could mean big business opportunities for the Persian Gulf.
Iran’s nuclear power plant launch stirring unease
Iran donates $25 million to Turkey’s ruling party
Daily Telegraph: Iran has agreed to donate $25 million (£16 million) to Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in a move that will increase fears that Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is preparing to abandon the country’s secular constitution.
US-Russia ties at stake with START vote: diplomat
AFP: US-Russia relations could suffer if senators fail to ratify a new arms control treaty, with Moscow possibly refusing to back Washington’s policy on Iran, a top US official said Tuesday.
Ahmadinejad won’t attend disarmament meeting – U.N.
Reuters: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called off plans to attend a high-level U.N. meeting next week aimed at reviving stalled global disarmament talks, U.N. officials said on Tuesday.
Top US lawmaker Pelosi hails Iran’s release of hiker
AFP: Democratic US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed Iran’s release of one of three US hikers it detained in late July 2009, Sarah Shourd, but called on Tehran to free her two companions.
Cleric says sanctions in Iran are a threat
Washington Post: An influential former Iranian president on Tuesday criticized the government in unusually blunt terms, saying that it is not taking U.S.-led sanctions seriously enough and that Iran could become a “dictatorship.”
EXCLUSIVE: Venezuela cancels round-trip ‘terror flight’ to Syria and Iran
Fox News: A Venezuelan airline’s “mystery” flight that shuttled among the capitals of three of the world’s most terror-friendly nations — Venezuela, Syria and Iran — has abruptly canceled its regularly scheduled departures amid accusations that it was used primarily to transport spies, terrorists and lethal cargo among the pariah counties.
Ahmadinejad says Iran, Africa wants new world order
AFP: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran and Africa wanted a new world order to replace the existing one which has been created by “slave masters,” as he opened an Iran-Africa conference on Tuesday.
Obama welcomes Iran release, urges freeing of other hikers
AFP: US President Barack Obama Tuesday welcomed Iran’s release of US citizen Sarah Shourd, but urged Tehran to also free two compatriots who were held with her and “other missing or detained Americans.”
Sanctions deter some Turkish banks from Iran trade
Reuters: Several Turkish banks with close ties to the European Union and the United States have halted financial trade with Iran due to United Nations sanctions though others could step in, according to Iran’s Bank Mellat.
