AP: Turkey and Iran, regional heavyweights and heirs to imperial pasts, expanded trade in the past decade and papered over their traditional rivalry with diplomacy and rhetoric. Now these neighbors have staked out opposing positions in Syria, where outside players seek to sway an outcome to the bloodshed that could, in turn, alter power balances in the Middle East.
Turkey and Iran diverge over Syria
No Iran requests for Malaysian palm oil barter-sources
Reuters: Iran has not approached Malaysia for barter deals to keep its palm oil supplies flowing as Western financial sanctions hurt it ability to pay for imported food staples, two Malaysian government sources told Reuters on Friday.
Congress needs to demand a plan
New York Times: The strategy we should have had for Iraq was to slowly transition from military presence by building Iraqi capacity to maintain security and grow political institutions that would frame and ensure representative governance in Iraq. President Obama’s rush to the exits precludes that outcome.
Iran may free ex-Marine in prisoner swap
UPI: Iran says it will hang a former U.S. Marine for alleged espionage, but his attorney says a prisoner swap with the United States could save his life.
Dwindling time, rising tension make Iran top fear
AP: The United States and its allies believe the window to stop Iran from building a bomb is quickly closing, pushing conflict with the Islamic republic to the top of the Obama administration’s national security worries in the midst of an election year.
India eyes business with sanctions-hit Iran
AFP: India Thursday said it would send a “huge” trade mission to Iran to explore business opportunities created by sanctions imposed by the West over the Islamic Republic’s disputed nuclear programme.
Dwindling time, rising tension make Iran top fear
AP: The prospect of conflict with Iran has eclipsed Afghanistan as the key national security issue with head-spinning speed. After years of bad blood and an international impasse over Iran’s disputed nuclear program, why does the threat of war seem so suddenly upon us?
India says tea exports to Iran facing payment hurdle
Reuters: Indian tea exports to Iran are facing payment hurdles, the trade secretary said on Thursday, the latest sign that Western sanctions are biting the Islamic Republic which is struggling to pay to keep its trade flowing.
India proposes bartering wheat for oil from Iran, Times says
Bloomberg: India’s external affairs ministry has proposed paying for Iranian crude imports with wheat exports to the Persian Gulf nation, the Economic Times reported, citing an unidentified person with knowledge of the development.
Gingrich warns darkly of Iran nuclear possibility
AP: Newt Gingrich kept a stiff upper lip Wednesday after his poor showing in GOP presidential caucuses the night before, but issued dire warnings about Iran’s potential nuclear capabilities.
