Updates

Turkey

• There were signs that Turkey and Israel may be mending ties when Israeli defence officials attended the inauguration of a Turkish student village built from Israeli aid supplies following last year’s earthquake. (Haaretz)

Iran – Nuclear

• While the Iranians are still refusing access to inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, they have decided to show-off their nuclear achievements to Russian television today, restocking a research reactor with domestically-refined Uranium (Reuters, Haaretz)

Valentine’s

• Alessandra Ram lists five countries where there were no happy Valentines this year. One of these is Iran, where moral police have been cracking down on red roses, love cards and heart-shaped objects in a bid to stop Western influence from seeping into the country. Another is Saudi Arabia, where the dreaded Orwellian-sounding “Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” has been making sure no red flowers are being sold and arrested 140 people accused of celebrating the holiday. (Foreign Policy, JPost, ABC)

Egypt

• An Egyptian court has repealed the death sentences given to three Sinai Bedoins convicted of terror attacks in Sinai beach resorts in 2004 and 2005. The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights had appealed their sentences, alleging that they had been tried unfairly and tortured. Meanwhile, an Eritrean refugee has spoken to the Guardian about being kidnapped and tortured by Sinai Bedoins. (AFP, Guardian)

• As US-Egypt ties continue to fray, Egyptian state media outlets have blamed the ongoing clashes between different groups struggling for power on an American conspiracy. Elliott Abrams adds some thoughts on where US aid money is going. (Reuters, CFR)