Azerbaijan: Western secrets sent to Iran

Azerbaijan's security agency said Saturday that 15 people convicted this week of treason had passed information on U.S., British and Israeli activities in the ex-Soviet republic to Iranian intelligence.
The National Security Ministry gave new details about the group, which allegedly passed to Iranian agents details on Western embassies, companies, pipeline operations and employees operating in Azerbaijan from 2005 to 2006. The Court for Grave Crimes on Monday sentenced the 15 to lengthy prison sentences in a case that highlighted Azerbaijan's concern over the influence of neighboring Iran. The 15 were arrested in January on suspicion of crimes including plotting to forcefully seize power, treason, organizing a criminal group, possession of weapons and drugs, and counterfeiting. Two members of the group allegedly met repeatedly with intelligence agents in Iran, where they received training, equipment, maps and more than $10,000 in funding, the ministry said. Said Dadashbeyli, the alleged leader who worked at a U.S.-Azerbaijani drilling company, sought Iranian support for a plot to seize power in Azerbaijan and establish Islamic law in the oil-rich country. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison, along with two other group members. The others received sentences ranging from two years to 13, the court said. Dadashbeyli's lawyer said the charges were unfounded. Predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan has increasingly been caught in a tug-of-war for influence between the secular, democratic West and its large southern neighbor. Rumblings of Shiite political Islam have been particularly noticeable in the more conservative regions that border Iran, and the secular government has displayed concern over Iranian influence and Islamic extremism.

Iraqi FM: U.S, Iran postpone talks on Iraqi security
www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-16 06:20:56

TEHRAN, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari confirmed Saturday that U.S and Iranian officials had postponed their talks on Iraqi security, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported. Zebari revealed the postponement after his meeting with an Iranian delegation in Baghdad, said IRNA. The fourth round of trilateral talks grouping Iran, Iraq and the U.S. on security in Iraq has been postponed and it will be resumed after the Muslim festival Eidul-Adha due on Dec. 19-21,Zebari was quoted as saying. The Iraqi top diplomat stressed that the postponement is due to technical reasons rather than political. He, meanwhile, described the previous rounds of talks as "quite fruitful", saying that the results of such meetings in political, security and psychological terms were "quite acceptable". Iran's ambassador to Baghdad Hassan Kazemi Qomi was also quoted as saying that the Iranian delegation is now in Baghdad to prepare the grounds for the fourth round of trilateral talks, hoping the next round of talks would help alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people. Earlier on Friday, Reuters quoted a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Philip Reeker, as saying that "a scheduling conflict has necessitated in moving the talks, which we had anticipated to be next week." Officials from the three sides had been due to meet in Baghdad next Tuesday and are now trying to find a date later this month that suits everyone, it reported.