Category: Iran

Iran’s ambitions to produce 4 million barrels a day of oil and 1 million b/d of condensate by 2018 are likely unrealistic because US and European banks and companies are reluctant to take on high-risk investments, according to a report a Washington-based think tank will release Tuesday. "A more realistic assessment would be an expansion of up to 800,000 b/d within six months and a major oil output rebound only after 2016, though even this pace would put Iran on course for a structural shift and acceleration from the current modest pace of economic growth," the Center for a New American Security report states. Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iran’s oil minister, has said once sanctions are lifted, production would climb by 1 million b/d, to 3.8 million b/d within six months, and to 4 million b/d by 2018. The report claims it is unlikely that Iran’s crude oil capacity — […]

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Iran holds the world’s fourth-largest proved crude oil reserves and the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves. Despite the country’s abundant reserves, Iran’s crude oil production has substantially declined, and natural gas production growth has been slower than expected over the past few years. International sanctions have profoundly affected Iran’s energy sector and have prompted a number of cancellations or delays of upstream oil and gas projects. Iran holds some of the world’s largest deposits of proved oil and natural gas reserves, ranking as the world’s fourth-largest and second-largest reserve holder of oil and natural gas, respectively. Iran also ranks among the world’s top 10 oil producers and top 5 natural gas producers. Iran produced almost 3.4 million barrels per day (b/d) of petroleum and other liquids in 2014 and an estimated 5.7 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of dry natural gas in 2013. The Strait of Hormuz , off the […]

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WASHINGTON — Iran continued its “terrorist-related” activity last year and also continued to provide broad military support to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria , the State Department said Friday in its annual report on terrorism. The State Department’s assessment suggests that neither the election of President Hassan Rouhani nor the prospect of a nuclear accord with the United States and its negotiating partners has had a moderating effect on Iran’s foreign policy in the Middle East. “In 2014, Iran continued to provide arms, financing, training and the facilitation of primary Iraq Shia and Afghan fighters to support the Assad regime’s brutal crackdown,” the report said. “Iran remained unwilling to bring to justice senior Al Qaeda members it continued to detain and refused to publicly identify those senior members in its custody,” it added. The report does not contend that Iranian officials are conspiring to kill Americans. Nor does it […]

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With a June 30 deadline looming for an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program, the U.S. State Department said the Islamic Republic’s terrorist activities continue “undiminished,” a finding sure to inflame opponents of any deal with the regime in Tehran. Asked if Iran can be trusted to abide by a nuclear deal while it continues terrorist activities that destabilize the Middle East, a senior State Department official on Friday said that the nuclear negotiations are important to curb Iran’s actions. If Iran agrees to nuclear curbs in exchange for relief from economic sanctions, the U.S. won’t lift sanctions on any Iranians cited for terrorism, Ambassador Tina Kaidanow, the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator, said at a press conference. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, notorious for its involvement in terrorist activities and its control of major sectors of Iran’s economy, will remain under U.S. sanctions, Kaidanow said. Asked if entities controlled […]

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NEW YORK/ANKARA/PARIS Iran is trying to avoid detailed commitments. The French are sticking to their tough line. And U.S. President Barack Obama faces a battle to sell any deal to a skeptical Congress. Despite those and other obstacles, negotiators appear increasingly likely to clinch an historic deal to restrict Iran’s nuclear program for at least a decade in exchange for relief from sanctions, Western and Iranian officials said. U.S. officials, including Obama, have long said they see at best a 50-50 chance of getting a deal with Iran. That remains the official line, but diplomats close to the talks tell Reuters the chances are higher than that as foreign ministers and other negotiators head to Vienna next week for the final stage of a nearly two-year process. Driving the cautious optimism, they say, is not so much progress made in overcoming sticking points as the intense political pressure on […]

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TEHRAN—Iran is prepared to offer longer term and more profitable contracts to international oil and gas firms but expects substantive partnerships with Iranian companies, said oil ministry officials, signaling how the cloistered country will try to entice billions of dollars in energy investments following any nuclear deal. The new contract model, which Iran has discussed with foreign companies but not yet released in its entirety, would pay companies more for boosting production, last longer and encourage joint ventures from the earliest stages of field development, said Ali Kardor, the vice president for investment and finance at the National Iranian Oil Co. The companies will also be expected to share more technology and management expertise with their Iranian partners. “They will have the incentive to produce more, and to transfer the technology,” Mr. Kardor said. Attention has focused on Iran’s oil and gas reserves, the fourth largest and biggest in […]

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WASHINGTON—Secretary of State John Kerry said that confronting Iran about its alleged past atomic weapons work isn’t crucial to reaching a nuclear deal, a shift of the U.S. position that fueled fresh fears on Capitol Hill over the terms of an accord two weeks before a diplomatic deadline. U.S. and European negotiators have for months said a full accounting of Iran’s past nuclear activities would be critical to sealing a final deal by June 30 and guarding against Iran cheating in the future. But Mr. Kerry, in a news conference on Tuesday, said a complete understanding of Iran’s past nuclear-weapons research wasn’t essential to sealing a final accord in advance of the deadline. “We’re not fixated on Iran specifically accounting for what they did at one point in time or another,” Mr. Kerry said. “We know what they did….We have absolute knowledge with respect to certain military activities they […]

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the nation’s economy is less dependent on oil revenue than ever before. Even with sanctions in place, Iran’s Central Bank expects some economic growth this year. File Photo by Maryam Rahmanian/UPI TEHRAN, June 17 (UPI) — Iran is less squeezed by the low price of oil than other export-dependent nations because of budgetary moves away from energy, the country’s president said. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the budget for the current Iranian year, which started March 21, is the least dependent on oil revenue ever for the country. Crude oil prices are robbing major exporters like Russia of revenue, though Iran’s president said his country was largely shielded from those constraints. "All oil exporting countries, even those who plotted for an oil price decline, are facing problems due to this issue and our problems might be even less than this group," he said. Valiollah […]

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Global oil markets will remain balanced even after Iran returns to its full export potential, envoy to OPEC says. File Photo by William S. Stevens/U.S. Navy TEHRAN, June 15 (UPI) — The global market for oil will remain balanced when Iran reaches its full export potential even if that means cuts from OPEC members, an envoy said. Mehdi Assali, the Iranian envoy to the Organization of Exporting Countries, told the Oil Ministry’s news agency, Shana, equilibrium would prevail . "The market will continue to remain balanced [event] after Iran’s return," he said. "[Fellow OPEC members] will have to cut their production so that Iran’s return would not cause a drop in the prices." Iran holds the third-largest proven oil reserves among OPEC member states, behind Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Under the terms of a joint deal reached in November 2013, oil exports are limited to around 1 million […]

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LONDON Iran is storing as much as 40 million barrels of oil on supertankers at sea as it prepares for a sales drive if a nuclear deal can be sealed. Iran and six world powers are seeking to overcome remaining differences with a looming self-imposed June 30 deadline to reach a deal over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. In the meantime, Iran has been parking oil off its coast, mainly on tankers belonging to its national carrier NITC. "The first thing they will try and do is offload quite a lot of that storage. (Oil Minister Bijan) Zanganeh has already warned OPEC: make room for us. In other words, we are going to sell this oil at any price," said Mehdi Varzi, a former official at the state-run National Iranian Oil Co. "Floating storage is there to be put onto the market as soon as possible after some sort of […]

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DUBAI Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday a comprehensive nuclear deal could be delayed if world powers brought new issues into play, and he would not accept a U.N. inspections regime that jeopardized state secrets. Iran is aiming to strike an accord with six powers by June 30 that would curtail its nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions. But negotiators have hit an impasse in part over how much enhanced access International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors should have to Iranian sites. "Iran will absolutely not allow its national secrets to fall into the hands of foreigners through the Additional Protocol or any other means," Rouhani said in a televised news conference, referring to an IAEA provision that would allow more intrusive inspections in the Islamic Republic. U.S. and French diplomats have called for Iran to accept stringent measures including granting inspectors access to its military sites […]

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OPEC meetings are no place for negotiations or debate, Iranian oil minister says. File photo by Maryam Rahmanian/UPI TEHRAN, June 10 (UPI) — Meetings between members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are no place for debate, Iran’s oil minister said. OPEC last week opted to keep production levels static , taking note of the expected increase in global demand in the second half of the year. OPEC’s November decision to hold output steady in an over-supplied market pushed crude oil prices to historic lows. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said crude oil prices are largely driven by political factors . "Never can one say that politics has nothing to do with oil," he said. "Oil is an eco-political issue." The minister in April said the Islamic republic could return as a dominant force in OPEC if sanctions are lifted as a result of nuclear negotiations with international […]

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U.S. officials said Wednesday the Obama administration is actively working to block Tehran from using nine recently acquired Airbus Group EADSY 2.95 % SE jets in a battle over sanctions weeks before the two sides are supposed to complete a final nuclear deal. Iranian officials this week threatened to take legal action against the U.S. if it seeks to block the use of the jets, according to Iranian media. Officials have said the country plans to use the planes on international flights. But a senior administration official said Wednesday the U.S. would continue to “vigorously” enforce the sanctions it has in place on Iran despite the advanced state of nuclear talks. The negotiations are aiming at an agreement which would block Iran’s path to nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of a broad array of energy, financial and economic sanctions. “We have identified the planes in question and […]

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Iranian Minister for Oil Bijan Zanganeh says big European energy companies are eager to work in the country’s oil sector. File Photo by Maryam Rahmanian/UPI TEHRAN, June 8 (UPI) — While some European companies are eager to work with Iran, the country’s oil minister said there’s been few commitments on oil sales. "I met with the [top executives] of big European oil companies," Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said. "They expressed interest in returning [to Iran] for an active presence in Iran’s market." The Iranian government is pressing for more sanctions relief from a framework agreement slated to take effect in mid-2015. Zanganeh said he met with top European executives on the sidelines of last week’s meeting in Vienna of ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. In April, Zanganeh said Iran could return as a dominant force in OPEC once a nuclear deal is formalized with six […]

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VIENNA (AP) — The European Union is telling Iran to cooperate with a stalled U.N. probe of suspicions that it worked on atomic arms if the country wants a nuclear deal that will see removal of sanctions. The cautionary EU statement comes ahead of a June 30 target date for such an agreement. It was obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its delivery at a meeting of the U.N’s International Atomic Energy Agency that opens Monday. Iran denies any work on – or interest in – nuclear arms and has fended off IAEA demands for cooperation with its investigation. The EU statement says getting to the bottom of the allegations "will be essential" to a nuclear deal. Iran also would have to accept limits on its present nuclear activities.

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VIENNA—The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is under pressure to prepare for Iran’s full return to the oil market if western sanctions are lifted, but the group is unlikely to take action on the issue at its meeting Friday, the group’s delegates said. Instead, OPEC is expected Friday to reaffirm its decision last year to keep current production levels despite low oil prices , delegates said. It is also expected to consider a request from Indonesia, which is a producer that is a net importer of oil, to rejoin the cartel after a six-year absence. The prospect of Iran returning in full force to the world oil market has been an undercurrent in both public and private meetings this week in Vienna, where OPEC ministers have been holed up for several days. But an Iran freed from sanctions could add to a global oversupply of crude that has […]

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TEHRAN, June 3 (Xinhua) — OPEC needs to reconsider crude supplies to the market as its excessive supply has led to the drop of oil prices, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh told Press TV on Wednesday. "It’s very clear that we have oversupply in the market and this oversupply puts pressure on prices," Zangeneh said, adding that the issue requires "appropriate decision" by OPEC. Zangeneh’s remarks came as OPEC member states are scheduled to meet in the Austrian capital Vienna on Friday. "It is now our responsibility to review this situation and to take an appropriate decision for balancing the market, but it depends on consensus among all OPEC members," he was quoted as saying. Iran has criticized some oil exporting countries for flooding the market with crude products. OPEC currently supplies 30 million barrels of crude oil per day to the global market. Iran is planning for a […]

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Photo Secretary of State John Kerry, left, with the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Geneva on Saturday. Credit Pool photo by Susan Walsh WASHINGTON — With only one month left before a deadline to complete a nuclear deal with Iran, international inspectors have reported that Tehran’s stockpile of nuclear fuel increased about 20 percent over the last 18 months of negotiations, partially undercutting the Obama administration’s contention that the Iranian program had been “frozen” during that period. But Western officials and experts cannot quite figure out why. One possibility is that Iran has run into technical problems that have kept it from converting some of its enriched uranium into fuel rods for reactors, which would make the material essentially unusable for weapons. Another is that it is increasing its stockpile to give it an edge if the negotiations fail. The extent to which Iran’s stockpile has increased […]

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French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius speaks on Monday in Bonn, Germany. ABUJA, Nigeria—French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said a possible nuclear deal with Iran risks sparking a nuclear arms race in the Middle East unless the agreement grants international inspectors access to Iranian military sites and other secret facilities. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Fabius insisted the ability to inspect such sites be part of a final agreement with Iran to ensure Tehran doesn’t covertly try to build a nuclear weapon. The warning highlights a persistent divide between Western negotiators and Tehran , which has demanded Iranian military sites remain off-limits to international inspectors. “The best agreement, if you cannot verify it, it’s useless,” said Mr. Fabius. “Several countries in the region would say, OK, a paper [has been signed] but we think it is not strong enough and therefore we ourselves have to become […]

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Major divisions remain between Iran and six world powers as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif prepare to meet in Geneva on Saturday, a month away from a deadline for a final nuclear deal. People involved in the talks warn that political pressures could still delay—or even derail—a deal as the two sides flesh out the broad agreement they reached on key issues in Lausanne on April 2. While much of the focus in the spring focused on the Obama administration’s struggles to prevent congressional opponents from blocking a deal, diplomats say it is growing political pressure in Iran that now poses the greatest risks. Among the toughest issues to resolve is one that has complicated diplomacy for years: access to Iranian scientists who worked on nuclear policy and to sites both to ensure Tehran doesn’t cheat on a deal and to answer […]

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The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Friday it had made incremental progress but no breakthrough in its inquiry into whether Iran may have researched an atom bomb, a sobering message that may dim chances for a deal between Tehran and big powers next month. Diplomats view Iran’s reluctance to open up to investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency as a sign of its reluctance to cooperate fully until punitive sanctions imposed on it are lifted as part of any settlement with the powers. A confidential, quarterly report issued by the IAEA said the Islamic Republic had provided some information about one of two open items in the investigation into possible military dimensions to its nuclear energy program “The Agency and Iran agreed to continue the dialogue on these practical measures and to meet again in the near future,” said the report, which was obtained by Reuters. A diplomat […]

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WASHINGTON — President Obama ’s chief negotiator with Iran , Wendy R. Sherman, said on Wednesday that she planned to leave the administration shortly after the June 30 deadline for a final deal on limiting the country’s nuclear program . “It’s been two long years,” Ms. Sherman, the under secretary of state for policy, said in her office on Wednesday. With her departure, all the top officials who have negotiated with Iran over those two years will have left the administration, leaving questions about who will coordinate the complex process of carrying out a deal if one is struck by the deadline. On Wednesday night, Secretary of State John Kerry, who has relied on Ms. Sherman to conduct the high-stakes negotiations, said that her “mentoring of colleagues, her experience, her passion for diplomacy, her calm in the storm set her apart as a great under secretary of state.” Her […]

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DUBAI Iran plans to raise its oil output by 170,000 barrels per day by end of the current Iranian year, which ends on March 20, 2016, the official IRNA news agency cited an Iranian oil official as saying on Monday. Soltan Kamali, managing director of Arvandan Oil and Gas Company, a subsidiary of the state’s National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said the "additional output will be available once the initial phases of North Azadegan and Yadavaran oilfields come into operations," IRNA reported. The OPEC producer aims to boost crude exports by up to 1 million bpd if Tehran and six major powers finalize a nuclear agreement by a June 30 deadline. (Reporting by Rania El Gamal, editing by David Evans)

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DUBAI Iran will abolish a motorists’ allowance for heavily subsidized fuel and set a price, the deputy oil minister said on Sunday, as the government moves cautiously to cut back costly handouts. "We have decided that petrol will be sold at a single rate of 1,000 tomans ($0.35) per liter," Abbas Kazemi was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency, using a common measure of currency equal to 10 rials. President Hassan Rouhani, elected in 2013 on a platform of better economic management, has championed efforts to rationalize pricing and pushed through a modest increase in fuel prices last year. The government is trying to curb subsidies that have led to profligate energy consumption and put a strain on public finances, already squeezed by international sanctions and last year’s drop in oil prices. An Oil Ministry advisor on Saturday suggested that fuel subsidies could be lifted altogether, but […]

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WASHINGTON, May 22 (UPI) — Exxon Mobil said Friday reports that it was lobbying the U.S. government on sanctions imposed on Iran are inaccurate. "Exxon Mobil is not lobbying on Iran sanctions," Ken Cohen, Exxon’s vice president of Public and Government Affairs, said in a statement . "Erroneous media reports resulted from errors in a consultant’s lobbying disclosures. Current U.S. law prohibits American companies from operating in Iran." Bloomberg news reported Exxon hired a lobbying company , the Nickels Group, formed by former Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla. to monitor Iranian sanctions measures. "We are not lobbying on Iran sanctions," Alan Jeffers, an Exxon spokesman, told Bloomberg. "We are monitoring activities related to Iran in the U.S. government." Nickles served as Senate Whip and chairman of the Senate Committee on the Budget before leaving office in 2005. Bloomberg reports Exxon’s work with the Nickles Group is the first time since […]

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he has a personal stake on ensuring that negotiations with Iran produce an agreement that keeps Tehran from producing a nuclear weapon over the long-term. He says in an interview with The Atlantic that if Iran has a nuclear weapon in 20 years he would be held accountable. "Look, 20 years from now, I’m still going to be around, God willing. If Iran has a nuclear weapon, it’s my name on this," he said. "I think it’s fair to say that in addition to our profound national security interests, I have a personal interest in locking this down." Critics of an agreement say the president is so determined to burnish his legacy that he will accept a less-than-ironclad commitment from Iran. The talks involve Iran, the U.S., four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany – a group call […]

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Iran expects to tap deeper into Asian oil market if sanctions are lifted as the result of ongoing nuclear talks. UPI/Stephen Shaver TEHRAN, May 21 (UPI) — Iran will be among the top oil suppliers for Asian consumers if sanctions are lifted as the result of nuclear talks, Iran’s deputy oil minister said. Iran is expecting an influx of foreign cash, should sanctions lift as the result of ongoing nuclear negotiations with six world powers. Under the terms of joint deal reached in November 2013, oil exports are limited to around 1 million barrels per day and to just six countries: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey. Iran’s deputy oil minister, Rokneddin Javadi, said that while efforts would be made to diversify exports, the Asian market would remain a top priority . "Before the sanctions were imposed, Asian countries were the leading consumers of Iran’s oil," he […]

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TEHRAN — Iran ’s supreme leader on Wednesday ruled out allowing international inspectors to interview Iranian nuclear scientists as part of any potential deal on its nuclear program , and reiterated that the country would not allow the inspection of military sites. In a graduation speech at the Imam Hussein Military University in Tehran, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , widely believed to have the final say on whether Iran accepts a deal if one is reached next month, denounced what he said were escalating demands by the United States and five other world powers as they accelerate the pace of the negotiations with Iran. “They say new things in the negotiations,” Ayatollah Khamenei told the military graduates. “Regarding inspections, we have said that we will not let foreigners inspect any military center.” Like last summer, when he vowed that Iran would ultimately build an industrial-scale uranium enrichment […]

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ANKARA Iran is using its sea power in the Gulf to show it will not be cowed by Washington’s newly assertive Arab allies, prompting critics to accuse Tehran of destabilizing the region. Iranian ships fired shots at a Singapore-flagged tanker which it said damaged an Iranian oil platform, causing the vessel to flee, and seized a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil route, over a debt row. The incidents coincided with a push by Washington to reassure Gulf Arab monarchies that their interests would not be threatened by a nuclear accord that Tehran and world powers are trying to reach by the end of June. In an escalating confrontation with Saudi Arabia over Yemen, Tehran criticized Arab states for recklessness and brutality in that country, where a Saudi-led coalition is attacking an Iranian-allied militia. Iran has also sent an aid ship, the Iran […]

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Iran hasn’t been in contact with representatives in the U.S. oil sector, contract revision official says. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI TEHRAN, May 18 (UPI) — Though doors may be opening to the Iranian oil sector, the government in Tehran hasn’t been in contact with any U.S. companies, a top official said Monday. Iran aims to do away with buy-back contract offers, whereby the host country agrees to buy produced hydrocarbons at a set price, and replace them with joint venture projects in an effort to woo foreign companies back to the Iranian energy sector. Mehdi Hosseni, the head of a contract revision committee in the Iranian Oil Ministry, said nearly a dozen new exploration and production projects are envisioned under the terms of a new contract regime under review. Iran’s oil minister in early March hosted multinational corporate representatives at a four-day energy conference in Tehran. Prior to […]

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WASHINGTON The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to pass legislation giving Congress the right to review, and possibly reject, an international nuclear agreement with Iran. The 400-25 vote sends the legislation to the White House, where administration officials have said President Barack Obama will sign it into law. The Iran Nuclear Review Act of 2015 passed the Senate last week after lawmakers reached a compromise removing some of its toughest provisions, and Obama dropped his threat to veto the measure as a threat to continuing negotiations between the United States and other world powers and Iran. The bill gives Congress 30 days to review a final nuclear deal after international negotiators reach such an agreement, and during that time bars Obama from temporarily waiving any U.S. sanctions on Iran that were passed by Congress. The Republican House Speaker, John Boehner, said the legislation was the only […]

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WASHINGTON—Iranian patrol boats opened fire on a Singapore-flagged oil tanker as it moved through the Strait of Hormuz in a confrontation that raised new concerns about Iran’s attempts to exert more control of commerce in the Persian Gulf. For the second time in two weeks, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Naval patrol boats confronted a commercial ship moving through the strait and ordered it into Iranian waters on Thursday, according to U.S. officials. Three Iranian patrol boats opened fire on the 600-foot-long Alpine Eternity when the tanker crew refused to follow their direction and then chased the tanker after it issued a call for help, U.S. officials said. While the Alpine Eternity made it safely to port in the United Arab Emirates, the confrontation is the latest in a string of developments that have heightened tensions in the Gulf region. Over the past month, the U.S. military has sent an […]

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Thirty percent of the world’s seaborne oil shipments pass through the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East. But it’s often a flashpoint for both regional and global powers. DUBAI—Maersk Line said Thursday that the M/V Maersk Tigris, a cargo ship under its charter, had been released more than a week after its seizure by Iranian naval vessels raised tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. In a statement, the Danish shipping giant said it was “pleased and relieved” to learn that the ship had been freed and that, according to Rickmers Shipmanagement, which managed the vessel, its crew was in good condition. It said the ship had resumed course to its original destination, the port of Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates. According to Maersk and Rickmers, the Marshall Islands-flagged M/V Maersk Tigris was seized April 28 near the Strait of Hormuz, as it was en route from […]

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ENLARGE Sen. John Cornyn leaves a Republican meeting after an agreement was reached to vote on the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act in Washington on Thursday. Photo: JIM LO SCALZO/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY WASHINGTON—The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bill establishing Congress’s right to weigh in on global negotiations to curb Iran’s nuclear program. The 98-1 vote capped weeks of bipartisan efforts to strike a delicate deal on the legislation and then protect it from unraveling on the Senate floor in what is likely the high-water mark for congressional consensus on the nuclear negotiations. The bill from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) would prevent Mr. Obama from waiving sanctions on Iran for 30 days while Congress initially reviews a final agreement to diminish Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Lawmakers would then be able to vote on whether to disapprove of the deal, or take no action. “I […]

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