Category: Iran

Photo The resolution passed by the Security Council on Monday lays out the steps required for the lifting of United Nations sanctions, but not the sanctions imposed separately by the United States and the European Union. Credit Seth Wenig/Associated Press UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council on Monday unanimously approved a resolution that creates the basis for international economic sanctions against Iran to be lifted, a move that incited a furious reaction in Israel and potentially sets up an angry showdown in Congress. The 15-0 vote for approval of the resolution — 104 pages long including annexes and lists — was written in Vienna by diplomats who negotiated a landmark pact last week that limits Iran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for ending the sanctions. Iran has pledged to let in international monitors to inspect its facilities for the next 10 years and other measures that were devised […]

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks to the media after a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir at the State Department in Washington July 16, 2015. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said a speech by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday vowing to defy American policies in the region despite a deal with world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program was "very disturbing". "I don’t know how to interpret it at this point in time, except to take it at face value, that that’s his policy," he said in the interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television, parts of which the network quoted on Tuesday. "But I do know that often comments are made publicly and things can evolve that are different. If it is the policy, it’s very disturbing, it’s very troubling," he added. Ayatollah Khamenei told supporters on Saturday that U.S. policies in the region […]

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TEHRAN — The commander of Iran ’s Revolutionary Guards objected on Monday to the United Nations Security Council resolution that is part of the landmark nuclear agreement, asserting it crossed some “red lines” concerning Iranian defenses. The objection, by Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, was not expected to derail the nuclear agreement reached last week between Iran and world powers. But it appeared to open a new point of contention within Iran’s political hierarchy. General Jafari’s remarks amounted to the most authoritative criticism from the leader of an influential faction in Iran since diplomats announced the agreement in Vienna. “He and others just want to be registered as critics of this agreement so that in case things go wrong they can say, ‘We told you so,’ ” said Farshad Ghorbanpour, a political analyst close to the government. Others said General Jafari’s remarks appeared mainly intended to bolster the image […]

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Iranians celebrate on the streets following a nuclear deal with major powers, in Tehran July 14, 2015. An unlikely group in the Middle East has found common ground in recent days: Saudi Arabia, Israel and hardliners within Iran have all made clear they consider the landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers a very bad idea. All of these players feel a direct threat to their power and influence as a result of last Tuesday’s agreement. For the first time in more than three decades, Iran, a country with a highly educated population of some 80 million and huge oil and gas reserves, is poised to rejoin the international community and the result could be profound change both inside and outside the country. "The geopolitical structure of the Middle East is changing,” said Saeed Leylaz, a prominent economist based in Tehran who worked as an advisor to former […]

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President Barack Obama’s administration sent a nuclear agreement with Tehran to Congress on Sunday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged U.S. lawmakers to reject a deal he said would only feed an "Iranian terror machine". In a first concrete sign of European determination to quickly rebuild economic and political ties with Iran after a 12-year standoff, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel arrived in Tehran with an economic delegation. Other European powers were expected to follow. Obama has promised to exercise his veto if Congress rejects the deal, which curbs Iran’s nuclear program while allowing an easing of economic sanctions. Overriding it would require a two-thirds majority of both the House of Representatives and Senate, so the administration is working to win over enough of Obama’s fellow Democrats to offset strong Republican opposition. In an unusual move, Obama took three Democratic congressman golfing with him: Joe Courtney of Connecticut, […]

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Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in a round of interviews that aired Sunday defended the deal they negotiated with Iran , saying that it leaves the Middle East safer and that there is no viable alternative. “The real fear of that region should be that you don’t have the deal,” Kerry said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” The agreement finalized last week in Vienna faces heavy criticism from Republicans in Congress, which could vote to reject it. On Sunday, the administration officially presented the agreement to lawmakers, who will have 60 days to review it. Kerry’s remarks were taped Friday, part of five interviews he and Moniz did in tandem for the Sunday talk shows. The interviews were part of an aggressive campaign by the Obama administration to defend the deal announced last week , in which Iran agreed […]

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The Islamic State group (ISIS) saw its territory in Iraq and Syria shrink almost 10 percent in the first six months of the year, as recent victories in Palmyra and Ramadi were outweighed by “significant” losses elsewhere, a report said. The area in which Islamic State is the dominant military force now spans about 82,940 square kilometers (32,000 square miles), the U.K.-based research center IHS said in a study published Friday. That’s about the size of Austria. The militants lost territory in north Syria near the Turkish border, and in Iraq around the city of Tikrit. The group’s reverses in Syria mostly came at the hands of Kurds and associated Sunni groups, starting with defeat at Kobani early in the year, report author Columb Strack said in an e-mailed reply to questions. The real breakthrough though “came with the capture of the Tal Abyad border crossing last month, which […]

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TEHRAN—Iran will uphold its anti-American policies and continue to support regional allies inimical to Western interests, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday, days after Tehran and six world powers struck a landmark nuclear deal that renewed hopes of improved ties between longtime adversaries. “Our policy regarding the arrogant U.S. government will not change,” Mr. Khamenei said in a televised address to mark Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim feast day at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. “We don’t have any negotiations or deal with the U.S. on different issues in the world or the region.” Mr. Khamenei said the country wouldn’t surrender to excessive demands, and vowed not to change Iran’s policy of supporting regional allies that the U.S. and Israel oppose. Iran provides vital support for the Syrian regime, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shiite militias in Iraq, among other groups. “Whether [the deal is] ratified or […]

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, August 30, 2012. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei withheld his verdict on Iran’s nuclear deal on Saturday but in a fiery address vowed enduring opposition to the United States and its Middle East policies, saying Washington sought Iran’s ‘surrender’. In an speech at a Tehran mosque punctuated by chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel", Khamenei said he wanted politicians to examine the agreement to ensure national interests were preserved, as Iran would not allow the disruption of its revolutionary principles or defensive abilities. An arch conservative with the last word on high matters of state, Khamenei repeatedly used the phrase "whether this text is approved or not", implying the accord has yet to win definitive backing from Iran’s factionalized political establishment. "Whether the deal is approved or disapproved, we […]

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Malta-flagged Iranian crude oil supertanker ”Delvar” is seen anchored off Singapore March 1, 2012. Iran could increase its oil production by up to 1 million barrels per day within 12 months of sanctions being lifted, provided it can find buyers for the crude. In 2014, the country produced an average of just over 1,350 barrels per day (bpd) per well, from 2,280 wells, according to the OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin ( link.reuters.com/xes25w ). In 2011, the last year before sanctions were tightened, the country produced an average of around 1,750 bpd per well from 2,025 wells. The reduction of 400 bpd in per-well output since 2011 gives some indication of how far the country has been forced to choke back the wells because it cannot find buyers for more crude. If Iran increased flow rates from the existing stock of producing wells by an average of 400 bpd, back […]

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Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh talks to journalists before a meeting of OPEC oil ministers in Vienna, Austria, June 5, 2015. An Iranian supertanker with two million barrels of oil is heading to Asia after sitting in Iranian waters for months, the first vessel storing crude offshore to sail after a nuclear deal this week, data showed on Thursday. Iran and six major world powers reached a landmark nuclear deal on Tuesday, clearing the way for an easing of international sanctions on Tehran and higher oil exports. While oil analysts do not expect Iran to make a major return to the market until next year, it has been parking millions of barrels of oil on tankers for months. The fully laden Starla, operated by Iran’s top tanker group NITC, had been used for floating storage since Dec. 12, a tanker tracking source said. "This is the first tanker to […]

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Sanctions against Iran, devised to bring it to the negotiating table and curb its nuclear program, made it hard for the country to sell its oil. Deprived of customers and investment, Iranians saw production fall to less than half its peak before the 1979 revolution. A July 13 deal between Iran and six major nations could lift those sanctions, and the oil will flow.

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International oil companies will rush back to Iran after the removal of sanctions, helping the OPEC member double production by the end of the decade, according to former Eni SpA Chief Executive Officer Paolo Scaroni. The country can restore production to 1970s levels of 6 million barrels a day by 2020 as its “plentiful” and inexpensive reserves draw in foreign oil explorers despite the risk of sanctions being restored, Scaroni said. The flood of Iranian oil into a global market that’s already oversupplied will keep crude prices low for the rest of the decade, he said. “Iran is one of three or four countries which are part of the ‘El Dorado’ of oil in the world,” Scaroni, now deputy chairman of NM Rothschild & Sons Ltd., said by phone from London Wednesday. “In a world of oil prices that are low and will become probably even lower, it is […]

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Gas flares burn near an oil well in Khuzestan province, Iran. Photographer: Vahid Salemi/AP Photo The end of economic sanctions on Iran under this week’s nuclear deal has been portrayed as a gold-rush opportunity in an oil-rich Gulf state, but returning to business as usual won’t be as easy as the burst of enthusiasm suggests. Investors who wait months for sanctions to be lifted will then have to gamble that they won’t run afoul of enduring blacklists or the vow by the U.S. and other world powers that sanctions will “snap back” into place if Iran fails to live up to commitments to restrict its nuclear program. “Hotel rooms in Tehran will be booked solid for months to come, and I think we’ll see some quick movement even by significant players in different markets,” said Suzanne Maloney, an Iran and Persian Gulf energy analyst at the Brookings Institution in […]

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Photo Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, issued in June a list of seven "major red lines" that should not be crossed in a nuclear agreement. Credit Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images TEHRAN — When Iran ’s supreme leader sent a note to the country’s president, thanking him for bringing the nuclear negotiations with the United States and other world powers to a conclusion, he added an important caveat. The comprehensive plan needs “close scrutiny,” the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , wrote, adding: “Be concerned about possible violations of the commitments in the accord by other parties.” The tone of the letter might have seemed friendly to those not familiar with the supreme leader’s style, said Hamidreza Taraghi, a political analyst close to Ayatollah Khamenei. “But the reaction was cold,” he said. “Notice how he only thanked the negotiators but did […]

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A gas flame is seen in the desert near the Khurais oilfield, about 160 km (99 miles) from Riyadh, June 23, 2008. OPEC is likely to keep oil output steady and defend its market share this year after Tehran’s nuclear deal with major powers, since a full return of Iranian crude to the market will not be swift, Gulf OPEC delegates said. But 2016 will be a tough year for the producer group when international sanctions on Iran are expected to ease, allowing it to boost oil production and exports. Tehran’s determination to reclaim its position as OPEC’s second largest producer after it clinched the deal on Tuesday will cause new rivalries within the group. But Saudi Arabia and its Gulf OPEC allies are betting that higher demand next year may help the market absorb extra volume. They doubt that Iran’s return would pose a serious challenge to their […]

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Iran has big ambitions to increase oil and gas production once sanctions are lifted but a substantial increase in exports is probably years away. The country has the world’s fourth-largest proved reserves of crude oil (behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Canada) and the largest proved reserves of natural gas (ahead of Qatar and Russia), according to BP. It is the oldest major oil producer in the Middle East and output peaked at more than 6 million barrels per day (bpd) in 1974 ( link.reuters.com/ryq25w ). But decades of revolution, war and sanctions have cut production of crude and condensates to just 3.6 million bpd in 2014 ("BP Statistical Review of World Energy" 2015). In contrast, Saudi Arabia, Iran’s main rival, has raised liquids output from 8.6 million bpd in 1974 to 11.5 million bpd in 2014. RECOVERY HOPES Sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union amid […]

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A final Iranian nuclear deal signed on Tuesday will likely spark a flurry of diplomacy as Europe and Iran seek to repair their dilapidated relations—but true political engagement could prove more elusive. Wariness of Tehran’s ambitions, differences among European Union governments, and the limits of European leverage in a turbulent and fractious Middle East are likely to limit cooperation over issues such as Syria, Yemen or Iraq. First, though, the accord has set off plans for a procession of high-ranking visitors to Tehran. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Wednesday he will go soon. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Wednesday said he hopes the U.K. and Iran can fully reopen their respective embassies by year-end. Ties plunged after the 2011 storming of the British embassy in Tehran. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who presided over the nuclear negotiations, also wants to open the first EU mission […]

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WASHINGTON—The nuclear deal between Iran and six global powers is set to spark a fierce foreign policy fight on Capitol Hill, pitting Republicans and potentially some Democrats against President Barack Obama in his push to implement what would be a cornerstone of his international legacy. Implementation of the accord depends on whether Mr. Obama can retain the support of enough of his party’s lawmakers in the face of what is almost certain to be widespread GOP opposition . Congress is expected to review the agreement and vote on it in early September, and the initial Republican reaction signaled deep resistance to the deal. The prospect that the GOP-controlled Congress will try to block the deal puts Mr. Obama in the familiar position of trying to minimize defections from his own party and leaves Democrats considering whether they can back an agreement vilified across the aisle. “The deal that we […]

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The nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers has caused disagreement among Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries officials over how to react to new supplies of oil coming onto the export market. As oil prices dropped Tuesday after the deal was announced, Algeria’s oil minister Salah Khabri said he may call for an emergency OPEC meeting to address the situation. In addition to the Iran development, the oil market has been affected by the Greek debt crisis and the Chinese stock market’s recent dive . “Considering the current situation in the oil market, especially a drop in oil prices, we will, if needed, summon an extraordinary OPEC meeting,” said Mr. Khabri, according to the state-run news service APS. Iraq’s oil ministry said Tuesday that it would increase the country’s oil exports in reaction to the deal to make up for the anticipated drop in prices. Iraq has […]

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VIENNA — Iran and a group of six nations led by the United States said they had reached a historic accord on Tuesday to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions. The deal culminates 20 months of negotiations on an agreement that President Obama had long sought as the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency. Whether it portends a new relationship between the United States and Iran — after decades of coups, hostage-taking, terrorism and sanctions — remains a bigger question. Mr. Obama, in an early morning appearance at the White House that was broadcast live in Iran, began what promised to be an arduous effort to sell the deal to Congress and the American public, saying the agreement is “not built on trust — it is built on verification.” Mr. Obama made it abundantly clear that […]

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BEIRUT, Lebanon — The agreement between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program provoked sharp reactions Tuesday across the Arab world, with some hoping the diplomatic success would reduce tensions and others fearing it would empower Iran and increase instability. The deal added a new, unpredictable factor to a region where many major players are closely allied with or supported by either Shiite Iran or Sunni Saudi Arabia , and any gain by one is often seen as a loss by the other. For decades, the United States has been closer to the Saudi camp, so the agreement – and the great effort President Obama invested in reaching it – led parties on both sides to suspect it marked a strategic realignment, with the United States moving away from its traditional Sunni allies. That feeling has caused alarm in Saudi Arabia, which has long counted on its alliance […]

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CHART: Iran’s Gas Reserves Natural gas made Qatar’s citizens the richest in the world within a generation. Even with bigger fuel reserves, Iran will struggle to follow its neighbor’s path. Iran’s own production is consumed by a population of 78 million and an oil industry that injects gas into fields to boost productivity. Qatar, with a population of 2.3 million, now ranks second only to Russia in gas exports, generating about $86 billion last year. While Iran and world powers Tuesday reached a nuclear deal after almost two years of talks that would ease sanctions and allow more investment, the government in Tehran is contending with domestic gas demand that is doubling every decade. Iran holds 18 percent of the world’s gas and yet accounts for less than 1 percent of trade. “They have a huge domestic demand,” Jonathan Stern, head of the natural gas program at Oxford Institute […]

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Global oil markets won’t feel the real impact of Iran’s historic deal with world powers until 2016 as sanctions remain in place while nuclear inspectors go to work, said banks including Citigroup Inc., UBS Group AG and Commerzbank AG. OPEC’s fourth-largest member won’t achieve a crude-export boost of more than 500,000 barrels a day, or about 50 percent, until next year as Iran’s compliance with curbs on its nuclear program is verified, the banks say. The nation will probably choose to gradually increase exports once sanctions are lifted, rather than risk lower prices by rapidly pushing crude into an oversupplied market, according to the International Energy Agency . It will be a long and winding road before Iranian oil returns to the market The agreement between Iran and six world powers will eventually lift restrictions that have halved its crude exports, provided the Persian Gulf nation removes nuclear centrifuges […]

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VIENNA—It wasn’t until American negotiators were close to a nuclear deal with Iran that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry turned to his Iranian counterpart and asked about the wild card. “Do you have the mandate of the Supreme Leader?” Mr. Kerry asked, referring to Tehran’s paramount political figure, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said he was confident he did. The exchange, described by U.S. aides accompanying Mr. Kerry, was both a breakthrough in the final wrenching days of negotiations and a warning of the challenges that lie ahead if the deal is to be successfully implemented. Throughout two years of negotiations, Mr. Khamenei was the ghost in the machine. U.S. officials could never be fully certain he was on board—indeed, they never spoke to him directly, one Kerry aide said—and he repeatedly blindsided participants on both sides. Through the final hours of talks, he continued […]

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Photo Iran’s nuclear reactor in Arak, about 150 miles southwest of Tehran, will be redesigned to no longer produce two bombs worth of weapons-grade plutonium every year. Credit Hamid Foroutan/Iranian Students News Agency, via Associated Press A bipartisan group of nuclear and Middle East experts, including five of President Obama ’s former senior advisers on Iran, wrote a public letter last month describing the emerging nuclear deal with Iran as weak. They called for a number of improvements, and described the strengthening as a bare-minimum requirement to win their support for the complicated accord. The letter was widely seen as laying down standards that, if unmet, could rally enough support in Congress to kill the deal. As unveiled Tuesday in Vienna, the accord runs to 109 pages of fine print , long lists and paragraph after paragraph of mind-numbing jargon. Even so, many of the new particulars bear on […]

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Photo President Obama is essentially betting that once sanctions have been lifted, Iran’s leaders will have no choice but to use much of the new money to better the lives of their citizens. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times VIENNA — Richard M. Nixon’s opening to China more than 40 years ago was a huge Cold War gamble that he could forge a working relationship with a Communist country that had built a small arsenal of nuclear weapons and clearly had long-term ambitions for global power. For President Obama , the deal struck Tuesday morning with Iran represents a similar leap of faith, a bet that by defusing the country’s nuclear threat — even if just for a decade or so — he and his successors would have the time and space to restructure one of the United States’ deepest adversarial relationships. Mr. Obama will be long out of […]

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Photo Secretary of State John Kerry with foreign ministers and other delegates from the United States’ negotiating partners in Vienna on Monday. Credit Pool photo by Carlos Barria VIENNA — Iran and a group of six nations led by the United States have agreed to a historic accord to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions against Iran, a senior Western diplomat involved in the negotiations said on Tuesday. The deal, which President Obama had long sought as the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency, culminates 20 months of negotiations. A formal announcement of the agreement was expected later on Tuesday, when foreign ministers from Iran and the six nations it has been negotiating with will meet at a United Nations complex in Vienna. Catherine Ray, a spokeswoman for the European Union, said a final plenary meeting […]

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VIENNA—Iran reached a landmark nuclear agreement with the U.S. and five other world powers, a long-sought foreign policy goal of the Obama administration that sets the White House on course for months of political strife with dissenters in Congress and in allied Middle Eastern nations. The accord, which was expected to be signed off at a meeting at 10:30 a.m. local time in Vienna, after a decade of diplomatic efforts that frequently appeared on the verge of collapse, aims to prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief. A press conference will follow, a spokeswoman for European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said. Assessments of the pact’s likely effect are a source of argument. The Obama administration and its partners hope the deal will resolve a dispute that at times threatened to spark a military conflict. In the optimistic view, it would ease tensions with […]

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The nuclear accord reached in Vienna on Tuesday could eventually reshape global oil markets. After almost two years of talks, the holder of the world’s fourth-biggest crude reserves will benefit from an easing of international sanctions on exports in return for curbs on its nuclear program, according to an official involved in the talks in Vienna. How Much More Oil Can Iran Produce? Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh says the country can increase exports by 500,000 barrels a day as soon as sanctions are lifted, and then an additional 500,000 a day in the following six months. Iran produced an average of 2.8 million barrels a day this year. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says adding 500,000 barrels a day will take about a year because Iran must first demonstrate its compliance with the terms of the nuclear accord and revive aging wells. Further expansion will need foreign investment, […]

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An economy bigger than Thailand’s and oil reserves rivaling those of Canada make Iran the most important market still closed to major equity investors, according to investment bank Renaissance Capital. Lifting sanctions could open the Islamic Republic’s stock market to investors in early 2016, Renaissance’s Charles Robertson and Daniel Salter wrote in a report on Monday. Inflows could total $1 billion in the first year, they said. Diplomats from Iran and six world powers have been holding talks over more than two weeks in Vienna to clinch an accord that would curb the country’s nuclear program in return for easing sanctions. Negotiators cleared one of their last remaining roadblocks on Sunday when they agreed on the phased lifting of a United Nations arms embargo, according to two diplomats. “We are confident that Iran opening up will be one of the most interesting and positive developments for the emerging and […]

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A pump jack is seen at sunrise near Bakersfield, California October 14, 2014. The oil market should be more balanced next year as China and the developing world use more oil while supply of fuel from North American shale grows more slowly, OPEC said on Monday. In its monthly report, the 12-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said it expected world oil demand to increase by 1.34 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2016, up from growth of 1.28 million bpd this year. World oil demand growth should outpace any increase in oil supply from non-OPEC sources and ultra-light oils such as condensate, increasing consumption of OPEC crude, it said. "This would imply an improvement toward a more balanced market," OPEC’s in-house economists said in the report. OPEC has increased production sharply over the last year as its most powerful member, Saudi Arabia, and other core producers in […]

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry leaves his hotel in Vienna on Sunday. VIENNA—Nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers have reached the make-or-break point, European officials said, warning the diplomacy could fail if there is no final agreement by Monday night. The comments by senior European diplomats in Austria’s capital on Sunday suggested a divergence from Washington on the way forward with Tehran. The Obama administration has also said it is willing to end nearly two years of negotiations if a deal isn’t struck in the coming days to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief. But senior White House officials have also indicated the U.S. wasn’t going to be rushed into a final agreement and it might be willing to roll over an interim accord signed with Tehran in late 2013. That deal locks in modest sanctions relief for Iran and freezes […]

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The top Republican in the U.S. Senate cast doubt on Sunday on whether President Barack Obama would be able to win approval in Congress for any nuclear deal with Iran, and some Democrats also expressed reservations. "I think it’s going to be a very hard sell, if it’s completed, in Congress," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told "Fox News Sunday". "We already know it’s going to leave Iran as a threshold nuclear state." The U.S. Congress could play a key role in the future of any deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, with negotiations reaching a critical juncture in Vienna on Sunday. Obama can enter a deal with Iran, which Congress would review. If the review went against him, Obama could veto the disapproval legislation. Congress could then try to reverse his veto, which is difficult. But if it succeeded, its disapproval would take away Obama’s ability to temporarily […]

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Republican leaders signaled Sunday that any final nuclear deal struck with Iran will face deep opposition in the GOP-controlled Congress. For weeks, Republicans have called for President Barack Obama and his team of U.S. diplomats to walk away from negotiations aimed at curbing Iran’s ability to build nuclear weapons. As top officials entered what they labeled a “decisive” phase of talks with Iran and five other global powers on Sunday, GOP leaders said they doubted a final deal would pass muster with most Republicans. “It’s going to be a very hard sell — if it’s completed — in Congress,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said on Fox News Sunday. Mr. McConnell said he worried that any deal would still leave Iran capable of producing a nuclear weapon on relatively short notice. “We already know that it’s going to leave Iran as a threshold nuclear state,” Mr. McConnell […]

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Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attended a meeting with university students in Tehran on Saturday. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the U.S. the “ultimate embodiment of arrogance” and warned that his nation’s opposition to Washington wouldn’t end if a nuclear accord is reached between Tehran and world powers in the coming days. Mr. Khamenei’s comments on Saturday again raised questions about whether the 75-year-old cleric fully backed an emerging agreement that calls for Iran to constrain its nuclear program in exchange for a lifting of international sanctions. Tehran’s top political leader has consistently railed against the U.S. in the years since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. But the timing of his comments, at a critical juncture in the negotiations, pointed to the continued hurdles the Obama administration faces in trying to forge an agreement with Iran. “The U.S. is the ultimate embodiment of arrogance,” Mr. Khamenei told a […]

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The United States and other major powers are not in a rush to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday, suggesting an accord was unlikely hours ahead of a deadline set by the U.S. Congress for a quick review. Adding to signs that a deal was not close at hand, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted by Iranian news agency Tasnim as saying Tehran’s "redlines" should be respected in talks aimed at a deal under which Iran would curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. "A deal can be reached only if our redlines are respected," said Ali Akbar Velayati, the adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He also accused Kerry of making comments that were "part of America’s psychological warfare against Iran." Velayati’s reported remarks came after a senior Iranian official in Vienna accused […]

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Diplomats gave themselves three more days to salvage an agreement with Iran that seeks to put to rest concerns over its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Foreign ministers missed a third deadline in two weeks and now have through Monday, July 13, to resolve the remaining sticking points in an accord that they say is mostly complete. Extending the talks past a July 9 cutoff means the U.S. Congress would have 60 days to review any deal instead of 30 days, delaying the lifting of sanctions. “It’s safe to say we have made progress,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters Friday evening. He said the latest session focused on “a couple of very difficult issues” and “the atmosphere is very constructive,” with more meetings scheduled later Friday and on Saturday. For energy-rich Iran, an agreement could speed its return to oil markets and lift financial […]

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European refiners from Spain to Greece are ready to resume purchases of crude from Iran as talks on a nuclear deal that could allow the country’s return to oil markets remained deadlocked. Italy’s Saras SpA said it would buy Iranian crude if sanctions were to end, while Spain’s Cepsa S.A.U. said it would “definitely” consider it. Hellenic Petroleum SA said the return of Iranian barrels would be positive for refiners. “As soon as Iranian oil becomes available, we will certainly start buying again,” Loukas Tripelopoulos, a spokesman for Motor Oil Hellas SA, said by e-mail on July 3. “Motor Oil was always very fond of Iranian crude.” Italy, Spain and Greece were the top European buyers of Iranian crude until the imposition of sanctions on the Middle East nation in 2012, according to data from the International Energy Agency. Together, they imported 456,000 barrels a day in 2011, or […]

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Photo People attending demonstrations for Qds Day, or Jerusalem Day, in Tehran on Friday. Credit Newsha Tavakolian for The New York Times TEHRAN — As nuclear negotiations in Vienna grind on through deadline after deadline, Iranian officials have begun a public campaign to blame the United States in the event that the talks fail. Iran ’s public diplomacy has long been geared toward selling a possible deal to hard-liners at home. But as an interim agreement between Iran and the West was extended on Friday to give negotiators more time, the government seemed to recognize the need to prove to ordinary Iranians that it had done all it could to obtain a final agreement and the lifting of economic sanctions. “Such people may ask those in charge of the negotiations, ‘Why have you not compromised more?’ ” said Farshad Ghorbanpour, an analyst who is close to the government of […]

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VIENNA — One of the last major obstacles to concluding a historic nuclear deal with Iran is a dispute over a set of United Nations sanctions that appeared to be resolved months ago and only peripherally has to do with nuclear weapons . The sanctions, passed in a series of resolutions by the United Nations Security Council beginning nine years ago, ban the shipment of conventional arms into and out of Iran . For those worried about Iran’s continued muscle-flexing in the Middle East — supporting the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, Palestinian terror groups and Shiite militias in Iraq — keeping the ban in place is critical for containing Tehran, even after a deal is reached. President Obama’s secretary of defense, Ashton B. Carter, even told Congress this week that part of the ban, on technology for ballistic missiles, was critical to […]

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The United States’ refusal to accept Iran’s rights, particularly on sanctions, is blocking a deal between the Islamic state and the six major powers, a source told Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency on Thursday. "While the Iranian team is showing flexibility, the Americans are refusing to accept Iran’s obvious right, particularly on sanctions," Fars quoted an unnamed source as saying. The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China have been negotiating with Iran to reach a long-term deal under which Tehran would its curb nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

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