Barak: US opposed to any Israeli military strike against Iran; Ahmadinejad: Cooperation between Majlis and administration essential for implementation of economic plan; Iran fails to sign energy deals with Turkey
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    • Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak noted that the US was at present opposed to any Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. He however urged that ‘no option’ be taken off the table. Senior US, European, and Iranian diplomats had held rare face-to-face talks in Geneva last month aimed at resolving the impasse over Teheran's nuclear ambitions, but were unable to agree on a deal to resolve the dispute1.

    President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has meanwhile called for full cooperation between the Majlis and the administration to implement the economic reform plan. The plan among other issues calls for the subsidies of various products to be paid directly paid to the people, and calls for measures to save energy (termed a “national asset” by Mr. Ahmadinejad). The plan was devised to tackle the country’s economic problems, including rising inflation2.

    Mr. Ahmadinejad was in Turkey during the week. After meeting with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, both sides vowed to continue discussing further energy cooperation, though they failed to sign any energy deals. Gul and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan have come under fire for inviting Ahmadinejad to visit Turkey, a NATO member with strong ties to the United States and Israel. After Russia, Iran is the biggest provider of gas to Turkey. The volume of bilateral trade was expected to reach $10 billion in the current year. Turkey and Iran had signed a preliminary agreement to export Iranian gas to Europe through Turkey, in July 2007 - including a provision for Turkey to produce 20.4 billion cubic metres of natural gas in Iran's huge South Pars gas field3.

    In other developments, Iranian state news media reported that Iran test-fired a new rocket capable of carrying a satellite into orbit. The test flight came amidst growing Western nervousness about Iran’s nuclear program. The White House spokesman Gordon D. Johndroe stated that the announcement was “troubling,” The rocket was identified by the media as the Safir-e Omid (Ambassador of Peace). Tehran, which hoped to launch four more satellites by 2010, had in the past indicated that it wants to put its own satellites into orbit to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation and improve its telecommunications facilities4.

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