Clinton seeks Gulf aid for Iran sanctions, Iraq

AFP— US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was to leave Saturday for a tour of Gulf Arab allies in a bid to tighten sanctions against Iran and win greater support for Iraq’s new government, officials said.

In her five-day trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Qatar, Clinton will also urge the region’s governments, civil society and business community to cooperate more to advance democratic, economic and social reforms, they said.

It will be her second trip to the energy-rich Gulf in around a month, following her visit to Bahrain in early December.

A senior State Department official told reporters that Clinton will ask Gulf Arab leaders for insight into events in Iran, which is just across the Gulf, and discuss how to make progress in new multilateral nuclear talks.

Host Turkey said talks involving Iran and the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program will take place in Istanbul on January 21 and 22.

Clinton will also "want to take stock on where we are on the sanctions regime," the official said on the condition of anonymity.

Under US pressure, the UN Security Council last June imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran in a bid to halt its uranium enrichment program. Washington sees sanctions as a way to force Iran back to negotiations.

But the official acknowledged that sanctions also "do hit hard" countries like the UAE, Qatar and Oman that enjoy close business links with Iran, suggesting there may not be full cooperation in enforcement.

"And so we appreciate the opportunity to talk frankly about what is working, what is not working, how we can help them better adhere to the UN sanctions," the official said, raising the possibility of technical aid and training.

Iraq and the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process will also be on the agenda as Clinton visits Abu Dhabi on Monday, the UAE commercial hub of Dubai on Tuesday, Muscat on Wednesday, and Doha on Wednesday and Thursday.

Like the preceding administration of George W. Bush, US President Barack Obama’s team is urging Sunni Arab allies in the Gulf to overcome what it sees as lingering reservations and build closer ties with the new Shiite-led Iraq.

Obama on Tuesday congratulated Iraq after its parliament endorsed a new government led again by Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, saying the move was a "significant" historic moment and represented a rejection of extremism.

Washington sees the new government -- finally formed after elections in March -- as more broadly representing Iraq’s people, including the Sunni minority which dominated the country under Saddam Hussein and his predecessors.

"What we’re really hoping to do is elicit more expressions of support for the Iraqi government," the senior official said. Continued

Iran confirms arrest of woman, accuses her of spying for U.S
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Washington Post-- Iranian officials confirmed Saturday that they have arrested an "American" woman whom they accuse of spying on Iranian border posts for the United States. The remarks added to confusion about the woman’s identity and fate since Iranian state media first announced the arrest three days ago, then later denied it.

"The female American spy was arrested at the Jolfa border" with Azerbaijan, the deputy commander of Iran’s state border police, Gen. Ahmad Geravand, said at a news conference Saturday, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency and other local media. He also said the woman had "confessed" but did not specify what she had confessed to.

Fars identified the woman as Hal Falayan, 34, although on Thursday the agency had given her name as Hal Talayan and her age as 55. The reason for the discrepancies remains unclear.

Geravand told reporters that Falayan was arrested Wednesday.

"This 34-year-old lady is called Hal Falayan and was filming the Jolfa border strip, border market and border garrison as a tourist when she was arrested by border patrols," he said, according to the semiofficial ISNA, Iran’s student news agency. "She was using advanced equipment."

In an interview later with state radio, Geravand said he was not certain the woman was American. "She once said that she was an American national. On another occasion, she said that she was a Swiss national. She has mentioned various countries," he said. He also said in the interview that the woman had an entry visa for Iran.

Early reports had said the woman had been attempting to enter Iran from Armenia, but Jolfa, the town where she was arrested, actually borders the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, an exclave of Azerbaijan.

The authorities’ confirmation of an arrest followed several days of contradictory reports in Iran’s news media.

On Wednesday, the Tabnak Web site, which is critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration, reported that an American woman who was found to have spying equipment - allegedly a camera or a microphone - hidden in her teeth was arrested while trying to enter Iran without a visa.

Also Wednesday, the Mashregh news agency published on its Web site a photo of a woman accompanied by police and holding a scarf before her face, saying it was an image of the "American spy." Continued…