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Reuters reported that “The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany agreed with Arab diplomats to consult regularly on Iran's nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday.” “‘All there expressed their concern about Iran's nuclear policies and its regional ambitions,’ Rice said, adding that they all expressed support for efforts by the U.N. Security Council, the six powers and the U.N. atomic agency on Iran. ‘Noting the utility of the consultations, the states present agreed that they will want to continue their meetings on a regular basis,’ Rice said. Iran, which was not invited to the meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York, said Washington was ‘distorting the realities about Iran's peaceful nuclear program and about Iran's constructive role in the region.’” Read More

AP covered Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's comments about yesterday's meeting between the 5+1 powers and Arab nations. "Iran's supreme leader says Arab countries will not support the United States in its dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.... The Iranian report quotes Khamenei as saying the meeting was the most the 'enemy' could do. He says Arab countries are not ready to 'surrender themselves completely to the U.S.'" Read More

AP reported that “An Iranian-born engineer who worked at the nation's largest nuclear power plant was sentenced Tuesday to 15 months in prison for taking computer software that he obtained at the plant to Iran.” Read More

Florida's Sun-Sentinel reported on the trail of a woman in Florida who is charged with attempting to send night-vision technology to Iran. "As an Iranian woman, Sharhazad Mir Gholikhan says she was required to wear a head covering, forced to marry a man she barely knew, and forbidden to travel without her husband's consent. But in the Fort Lauderdale federal courtroom where Gholikhan is on trial, the 31-year-old mother is making her own decisions and acting as her own attorney. Gholikhan's defense to charges she tried to export American-made night vision goggles to Iran: that she had no choice but to obey the orders of her former husband, who dragged her into the illegal plot." Read More

In the Council on Foreign Relations' Daily Analysis, Greg Bruno wrote "As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama made talking to Tehran a feature of his foreign policy.... But the Iranian response since election day has been more reticent than receptive.... Prospects for a breakthrough via engagement may be ancillary to more fundamental realities inside Iran. A fall in oil prices has dramatically reduced Iran's regional leverage, and surging inflation, food prices, and unemployment could increase pressure for government reform." Read More

In the Boston Globe, Ray Takeyh of the Council on Foreign Relations argued for the U.S. to stop attempting to influence Iran by “exploiting its economic vulnerabilities” and instead start playing “power politics.” “Several US administrations have tried, and failed, to achieve Iran's strategic acquiescence by exploiting its economic vulnerabilities. It is time to approach the Iranian conundrum from a power-politics perspective. The Islamic Republic can be offered an opportunity to emerge as a leading regional state so long as it tempers its nuclear ambitions and restrains its destructive regional policies. An Iran that continues to violate its international obligations faces the prospect of isolation and conflict.” Read More

Iranian press covered Ahmadinejad’s response to reports that French President Sarkozy would not shake his hand. “President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the remarks in his stride and asserted that he does not intend to extend a handshake to 'imperious leaders who strive to portray themselves as big and important'. ‘Apparently, a European leader has expressed apathy to shake hands or negotiate with leaders who do not recognize Israel as a national entity ... How foolish of them to think that we would extend a hand shake in the first place,’ said the Iranian president.” Read More

Iranian press reported that “Expediency Council Strategic Research Center Director Hassan Rohani says that Iran’s nuclear dossier should be taken off the agenda of the UN Security Council.” “Iran’s nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes, and Iran’s nuclear dossier was forwarded from the IAEA to the UN Security Council due to misinformation, Rohani told the Mehr News Agency on Monday.” Read More

AFP covered talks between Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and China's State Councilor Dai Bingguo’s during the US-China Senior Dialogue. “US and Chinese officials held talks in Washington about North Korea's nuclear disarmament, Iran's nuclear ambitions, fallout from attacks in India and Zimbabwe's crisis, it was reported Tuesday.” Read More

AP reported that “An Argentine court has ordered the seizure of property owned by a former cultural attache at Iran's embassy in Buenos Aires who is sought for his alleged role in a 1994 terrorist attack.” “A judge has approved prosecutor Alberto Nisman's motion to seize a building owned by Moshen Rabbani due to his alleged role in a bomb explosion that flattened the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and killed 85 people.” Read More

AP reported that “Turkey's president said Tuesday that natural gas from Iran and Iraq could help fill a pipeline that would transport the commodity from the Caucasus, through Turkey, and on to Western markets.” “Abdullah Gul said ‘the most important issue regarding this project is to obtain enough gas.’ Gul said Turkey could import gas from Iraq through a new pipeline which is yet to reach the Turkish border, and buy more gas from Iran to feed the Nabucco pipeline.” Read More

Iranian press reported that “Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi rejected a report about a meeting between Iranian vice-president and several U.S. officials.” Read More

The Hill reported that “retiring Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) said President-elect Obama should work to overthrow the Iranian regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once he assumes the presidency next year.” “‘I believe that there will never be peace in Iraq, there will never be peace in the Middle East as long as the present regime in Iran is in place,’ Tancredo said during a teleconference before the Iran Policy Committee Tuesday morning at the National Press Club.” Read More