Iranian scholar has advice for U.S. on Afghanistan (Los Angeles Times)
Changiz Pahlavan offers insights into the Afghan culture and how Iran might help the West deal with its neighbor. Iranian scholar Changiz Pahlavan has spent more than 30 years immersed in the minutiae of Afghanistan, as a researcher for UNESCO during the 1970s, a confidant of the country’s various warlords during the 1980s and ’90s, and an expert on the huge Afghan refugee population in Iran.
Ahmadinejad pledges new offer on Iran nuclear crisis (Daily News)
IRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that Tehran will offer a new package to world powers for negotiations aimed at resolving the standoff over its controversial nuclear drive.
US asks Iran to free reporter (Middle East Times)
US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi films footage in Tehran in 2004. The United States called Thursday on Iran to free Saberi, a US-Iranian journalist accused of espionage, saying the Islamic republic would earn goodwill as the new US administration tries to engage it.
State Department weighs in on Iran spy trial (CNN)
The State Department voiced concern Thursday about the secret trial in Iran of an American journalist on espionage charges, calling it “baseless” and saying her release could aid U.S.-Iranian relations.
U.S. urges Iran to release accused journalist (Pioneer Press)
WASHINGTON — Iran stands to gain U.S. goodwill by ‘responding in a positive way’ to the case of an American journalist tried on spy charges by an Iranian court this week, a U.S. official said Thursday. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said a Swiss official, representing U.S. interests in Tehran, confirmed that Roxana Saberi went on trial and that a verdict in her case is expected soon. …
Iran’s Ahmadinejad pledges new nuke plan (The Record and Herald News)
Iran’s president on Wednesday sent the clearest signal yet that the Islamic republic wants warmer ties with the U.S., just one day after Washington spoke of new strategies to address the country’s disputed nuclear program.
Iran could respond to changed U.S.: Mottaki (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Iran could respond to U.S. efforts to engage with Tehran if Washington turns the new tenor of its words into reality, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying by a Japanese newspaper.
Iran, Armenia Strengthen Ties Through Joint Projects (Payvand Iran News)
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad have signed agreements worth millions of dollars in two days of negotiations in Tehran, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service reports.
Iran signals nuclear thaw (The New Zealand Herald)
Top US and European diplomats met yesterday to plan a way ahead in dealing with Iran’s suspected nuclear programme just hours after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad indicated he was willing to build a new relationship with the…
