Category: Iran

WASHINGTON—The Senate Banking Committee easily approved a new bipartisan sanctions bill Thursday on Iran, raising the likelihood that new financial penalties on Iran will be passed into law before a final June diplomatic deadline for an agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program. But politics will be a big factor in the fate of the legislation. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) could send the bill to the floor at any time now that it has passed out of committee. Earlier this week, Democratic lawmakers including the bill’s co-author, Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J), pledged not to support a vote on the bill until after a March deadline set by negotiators to reach a political framework. A final agreement is due by the end of June. As a result of that Democratic pledge, Mr. McConnell is considered by many to be unlikely to call up the bill for a floor vote […]

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Sen, Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and fellow Democrats say they’ll hold off on Iranian sanctions as U.S. Treasury Department officials weigh the damage to Tehran’s oil sector. UPI/Molly Riley Iran under the terms of a November 2013 agreement is allowed some oil exports in exchange for commitments to curb some of its nuclear research activity. In mid-January, Mohsen Rezaei , secretary of the influential Expediency Council, said exports have since dropped by 1.5 million barrels per day and inflicted more than $100 billion in revenue losses. U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen testified before members of the Senate Banking Committee on the effectiveness of existing sanctions, saying Iran is exporting less than half of the oil it was in 2012 and only to six countries. "Because Iran cannot access Western technology and services, and because it has been forced to sharply cut its oil exports, we […]

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Barack Obama won some political breathing space at home for his diplomacy with Iran on Tuesday when the Democratic senator who has co-authored a new sanctions bill said he would hold off voting on the proposal for another two months. Bob Menendez, the leading Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee and one of the most hawkish members of Congress on Iran issues, said in a letter to Mr Obama that any vote on Iran sanctions should be put off until the end of March. More On this story On this topic IN US Politics & Policy Republican leaders in Congress could still decide to go ahead with the proposed sanctions legislation, which is due to be discussed in committee hearings starting later this week. However, the temporary truce declared by Mr Menendez and other leading Democrats who had supported sanctions will make it almost impossible to get the […]

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More than 80 Iranian lawmakers signed a motion agreeing to react harshly if the United States were to impose new sanctions on the country, Tasnim News Agency reported Jan. 27. The group’s response would include annulling the Geneva interim nuclear deal.  U.S. lawmakers are divided over their stance on Iran . Several members of Congress are pushing for more sanctions, but U.S. President Barack Obama has said he will veto any attempt to impose more sanctions while nuclear negotiations are still pending.

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ENLARGE Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) chairs his first Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters WASHINGTON—The Obama administration collided with Congress Wednesday over Iran sanctions, and both sides were girding for a brawl that appeared likely to stretch through the year. Lawmakers from both parties vowed at a Senate hearing to press ahead with legislative plans for new punitive measures—over President Barack Obama ’s veto warnings. Top administration officials, meanwhile, disclosed at the hearing that the international talks over Iran’s nuclear program may extend beyond an end-of-June deadline. That would be the third such extension. Deepening the chasm, House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress on Feb. 11 about threats from Islamic extremism and Iran. The Obama administration called the move a breach of diplomatic protocol because neither Congress nor Israel consulted first with the White […]

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ENLARGE U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Geneva last week. Associated Press BRUSSELS—Nuclear talks between Iran and six powers over Tehran’s nuclear program will resume at senior-official level early next month, a spokeswoman for the European Union said Monday. She said talks in Geneva on Sunday between the parties were “serious and useful” and they had decided to meet again in early February. Others, however, said the talks remain very difficult. The EU chairs the six-power group—made up of the U.S., Russia, China, France, the U.K. and Germany—which negotiates on the nuclear dossier. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held talks on Wednesday and on Friday with his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, in an effort to accelerate the diplomacy. Senior U.S. diplomats also held several days of meetings in Geneva over the weekend with Iranian negotiators. The two sides have set a […]

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Wang Qun, Director-General of the Department of Arms Control of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs speaks to media in Geneva, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2015. The new round of negotiations over Iran’s long-standing controversial nuclear program broadened the consensus, said the head of Chinese delegation to the talks on Sunday. (Xinhua/Zhang Miao) GENEVA, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) — The new round of negotiations over Iran’s long-standing controversial nuclear program broadened the consensus, said the head of Chinese delegation to the talks on Sunday. Wang Qun, Director-General of the Department of Arms Control of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that this round of talks was intensive, practical and in-depth. Wang said that China hopes all sides to seize the valuable historic opportunity, and show the political will and determination to facilitate a package solution and a win-win comprehensive agreement. Wang added that parties involved agreed to hold the next round […]

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Iran will stop negotiating with the six world powers if the U.S. Congress approves any new sanctions, senior parliamentary officials said Jan. 17, Fars news agency reported. The officials also said if any of the other six world powers imposed a new sanction against Iran, it would discontinue the talks. The announcement comes after U.S. President Barack Obama vowed to veto any new U.S. sanctions on Jan. 16 as talks on the nuclear issue continue . Stratfor provides global awareness and guidance to individuals, governments and businesses around the world. We use a unique, intel-based approach to analyze world affairs. Copyright © 2015 Stratfor Global Intelligence, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 221 West 6th Street Suite 400 – Austin, TX 78701, USA unsubscribe from this list     update subscription preferences | forward email

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A meeting between the foreign ministers of OPEC’s Iran and Saudi Arabia was delayed in part due to discord over falling crude prices, said Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, made an invitation in May to Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif for talks in the kingdom with his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal. The visit, postponed a few months ago because of differences over the Syria conflict, has been pushed off again “due to oil-price declines,” Amir-Abdollahian said on Al-Alam state-run television, according to its website. Oil producers in the Persian Gulf region, including Saudi Arabia, “are expected to make efforts to stop the fall in oil prices and not let the decline have a lasting impact on oil-producing nations’ economies,” Amir-Abdollahian said, according to Iran’s Al-Alam . Brent crude has dropped 53 percent in the past year. […]

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ENLARGE Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) shown here at an event in December, has drafted legislation along with Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) to impose new sanctions if current talks to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions fail to bear fruit. Getty Images WASHINGTON—Two U.S. senators stepped up pressure on both the White House and Iran on Sunday, drafting legislation to impose new sanctions on Iran if U.S.-led talks to curb its nuclear ambitions collapse. Sens. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) and Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) said their bill would impose the sanctions only if Iran and U.S. diplomats miss a July deadline for a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. The Senate Banking Committee is set to debate the bill and possibly hold a vote Thursday. President Barack Obama on Friday threatened to veto any legislation approving new sanctions on Iran , which he said would jeopardize the talks. Iranian diplomats […]

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A meeting between the foreign ministers of OPEC’s Iran and Saudi Arabia was delayed in part due to discord over falling crude prices, said Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, made an invitation in May to Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif for talks in the kingdom with his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal. The visit, postponed a few months ago because of differences over the Syria conflict, has been pushed off again “due to oil-price declines,” Amir-Abdollahian said on Al-Alam state-run television, according to its website. Oil producers in the Persian Gulf region, including Saudi Arabia, “are expected to make efforts to stop the fall in oil prices and not let the decline have a lasting impact on oil-producing nations’ economies,” Amir-Abdollahian said, according to Iran’s Al-Alam . Brent crude has dropped 53 percent in the past year. […]

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Before meeting this week in Geneva with Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said he hoped to accelerate the drawn-out negotiations over a comprehensive nuclear deal. While Zarif did not specify the reason for expediting talks, pressures have been mounting in both countries from skeptics and outright opponents of an agreement. If the spoilers succeed in preventing a deal, the result could be an escalatory spiral of retaliatory measures. In the U.S. Congress, sponsors are lining up behind legislation limiting the foreign policy prerogatives of the executive branch. One bill, a revised version of legislation introduced in the last Congress by Sens. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J., but never voted on, threatens to restore restrictions on Iran’s battered energy sector if no comprehensive agreement is reached by July 6. According to a summary of the bill, the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of […]

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AP Photo/Evan Vucci Politics Video Buy AP Photo Reprints Latest News WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama came out swinging Friday against congressional attempts to slap fresh sanctions on Iran, warning such a move would likely destroy nuclear talks and increase prospects for a military showdown. Vowing to veto any sanctions that reach his desk, Obama pleaded, "Just hold your fire." In an unusual move by a foreign leader, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was personally calling U.S. senators to say that new sanctions would drive a wedge through international unity. Standing side by side with Cameron at the White House, Obama said world powers would be sympathetic to Iran and would blame the U.S. if Congress moved ahead with more sanctions while fragile negotiations are under way. At that point, Obama argued, the world would lose its best chance to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear […]

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Iran , its oil exports curbed by sanctions, is lowering the crude price for this year’s budget to $40 a barrel as the energy slump affects governments and industry. The government is revising its draft budget to assume a base price of $40, from $72, the state-run Fars News Agency reported Finance and Economy Minister Ali Tayebnia as saying today. The minister said some projects will have to be halted, according to Fars. The Iranian calendar year begins March 21. Brent, a pricing benchmark for more than half the world’s oil, fell 18 percent this year after tumbling 48 percent last year. Qatar Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell Plc yesterday called off plans to build a $6.5 billion petrochemical plant in the emirate in response to lower oil prices. Brent crude futures fell 2.9 percent to $47.28 a barrel at 2:27 p.m. in Dubai. Iran, OPEC’s fourth-largest producer, budgeted […]

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers will press ahead with a plan for more sanctions on Iran, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Wednesday, despite White House warnings that they risked derailing nuclear talks. Lawmakers, who say they fear Obama administration negotiators may not take a hard enough line with Tehran, are also at work on a separate bill to have Congress approve any final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, Senator Bob Corker, the chairman, told Reuters in an interview. "There’s continual efforts to try to figure out a way for Congress to play a role to strengthen whatever final deal may occur," the Tennessee Republican senator said. Republican Senator Mark Kirk and Democratic Senator Robert Menendez are finalizing a bill for tougher sanctions on Iran if there is no final nuclear deal by June 30. The Senate Banking Committee is due to […]

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Iran , its oil exports curbed by sanctions, is lowering the crude price for this year’s budget to $40 a barrel as the energy slump affects governments and industry. The government is revising its draft budget to assume a base price of $40, from $72, the state-run Fars News Agency reported Finance and Economy Minister Ali Tayebnia as saying today. The minister said some projects will have to be halted, according to Fars. The Iranian calendar year begins March 21. Brent, a pricing benchmark for more than half the world’s oil, fell 18 percent this year after tumbling 48 percent last year. Qatar Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell Plc yesterday called off plans to build a $6.5 billion petrochemical plant in the emirate in response to lower oil prices. Brent crude futures fell 2.9 percent to $47.28 a barrel at 2:27 p.m. in Dubai. Iran, OPEC’s fourth-largest producer, budgeted […]

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, elected on a pledge of prosperity and ending the country’s global isolation, is facing the largest fall in oil prices since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Officials are warning of further spending and investment cuts to next year’s budget, which Rouhani unveiled on Dec. 7 and is based on $72-a-barrel crude instead of the current year’s $100. Even that new, lower forecast is proving to be unrealistic, with Brent crude , the world benchmark, trading for less than $46 on Tuesday. The Islamic Republic’s leaders will prefer to absorb the blow in the form of reduced prosperity rather than let it affect nuclear policies, said Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an economics professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia , who specializes in Iranian affairs. “Iran will stumble along with less growth and development,” Salehi-Isfahani said. “The oil-price fall is not reason enough for Iran to […]

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Iran says oil losses are heavy in part because of Western sanctions curbing exports. (UPI/Shutterstock/sakhorn) TEHRAN, Jan. 12 (UPI) — A decline in oil exports, largely because of Western economic sanctions, has cost the Iranian economy more than $100 billion, a senior official said. Iran under the terms of a November 2013 agreement is allowed some oil exports in exchange for commitments to curb some of its nuclear research activity. Mohsen Rezaei , secretary of the influential Expediency Council, said exports since have dropped by 1.5 million barrels per day and inflicted more than $100 billion in revenue losses . Iranian officials have said the government is working to decrease the share of oil revenues in the budget. The government in early January said non-oil exports from the beginning of the Iranian year, which starts in March, increased to $35 billion, or about 20 percent year-on-year. Iran emerged from […]

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GANDHINAGAR, INDIA (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that he and his Iranian counterpart would seek at their meeting on Wednesday to lay the ground for negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program to make greater progress. Kerry meets Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Geneva in a bid to revive the search for an elusive nuclear accord after negotiators failed for the second time in November to meet a self-imposed deadline. "The meeting is calculated to take stock, number one, and to provide direction to our teams, number two, and to hopefully be able to accelerate the process to make greater progress," Kerry told reporters on a visit to India. Zarif has also struck a conciliatory tone ahead of the new push to end the 12-year-old dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran insists is peaceful. The West fears it is seeking to develop […]

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Twice recently, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, has acted boldly in support of his biggest political gamble, pursuit of a nuclear agreement with the major powers. In a speech last Sunday on Iran’s troubled economy, he argued that Iran will never enjoy sustained growth if it is isolated from the rest of the world. Three weeks earlier, he made clear that he would confront Iran’s hard-liners in his efforts to clinch a deal in which Iran would agree never to produce a nuclear weapon in return for the lifting of crippling international sanctions. But Mr. Rouhani is not the only leader trying to keep a potential agreement from being savaged by domestic opponents. President Obama has a similar problem in Congress, where Senators Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois, are expected to introduce legislation that could torpedo any deal by imposing new […]

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WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry plans to meet with his Iranian counterpart next week in Geneva to try to advance the negotiations over Iran ’s nuclear program , the State Department said on Friday. Mr. Kerry’s meeting with Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, will take place on Wednesday, a day before the American negotiating team is scheduled to resume formal talks in Geneva with Iranian officials. Mr. Kerry and Mr. Zarif will “provide guidance to their negotiating teams before their next round of discussions,” a senior State Department official said. Mr. Kerry is leaving Friday night for a long-planned trip to India but plans to stop in Munich on Saturday to meet with Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman, who has served as a conduit to Iranian officials. Talks on constraining Iran’s nuclear program have been extended twice, and a deadline for achieving a breakthrough is […]

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TEHRAN — Iran ’s supreme leader said on Wednesday that his country should find internal solutions for dealing with economic sanctions and that the United States could not be trusted to lift sanctions in the event that a nuclear agreement is reached. The leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , reiterated in a speech published on his personal website that he did not oppose the current negotiations with the United States and other world powers over Iran ’s nuclear program , but said that Iranians needed to rely on “bright and realistic glimmers of hope, and not on imaginary ones.” Those talks are scheduled to resume Jan. 18 in Geneva, Iran’s state Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Tuesday. In his first public criticism of the government of President Hassan Rouhani since his election in 2013, Mr. Khamenei said the government should “trust the people and domestic forces.” He also asked […]

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Iran Accuses Saudis of Oil Conspiracy thumbnail Iranian hard-liners are lashing out at Saudi Arabia, accusing it of conspiring with the West to keep oil prices low in a bid to harm the Islamic Republic’s economy and pressure the country to conclude a nuclear deal with West.  In retaliation, Iranian hawks are urging restive Shia Muslims in eastern Saudi Arabia to rebel against the ruling House of Saud. Iranian hawks’ accusations have mounted over the Saudi’s refusal to cut production – in an effort to maintain its share of the global oil market – fueling the precipitous slide in prices. Crude oil prices have fallen by more than half since June, from $115 a barrel to below $50. “We will not forget which countries schemed to lower the price of oil,” the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Ali Larijani warned darkly during a visit last month to Damascus, the Syrian […]

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Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told lawmakers that the Western countries involved in nuclear negotiations with the country now acknowledge Iran’s rejection of hegemony and commitment to its obligations, IRNA reported Jan. 6. He added that negotiations would result in the return of some of Iran’s frozen assets and that there is no longer talk of shutting down the Fordo and Arak nuclear sites. Iran’s Majlis, or parliament, cast 125 votes in Zarif’s favor following his remarks. The deadline to formalize an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program was extended, and a basic agreement is expected by March 1.  

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani steering country out of recession despite bear market for crude oil. File Photo by Monika Graff/UPI TEHRAN, Jan. 5 (UPI) — An Iranian government spokesman said he expected the share of oil revenue designated in next year’s budget to be down by about 30 percent. The low price of crude oil is pushing economies like Russia’s, which relies heavily on export revenue, toward the brink of recession. Iran historically has been a hawk in the global oil sector, advocating for a price per barrel of around $100. Government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Noubakht said the share of oil revenues in the budget proposed for next year is down by about a third. "Now the government has to try hard to pull two big stones — inflation and recession — out of the bottom of the well," he said Sunday. Iran is restricted to exports of around […]

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Iran ’s oil exports have fallen 60 percent to 1 million barrels a day, the Tehran-based Shargh newspaper reported, citing comments by Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. Iran, constrained by international sanctions on its energy and financial industries, “won’t give in over 1 million barrels a day,” the paper reported Zanganeh as saying yesterday at a conference in Tehran. The minister didn’t elaborate, nor did he specify dates for the 60 percent cut in the nation’s exports, according to Shargh. U.S. and European sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program have curbed foreign investment and hindered development of the Persian Gulf state’s oil and natural gas reserves. Iran produced 2.77 million barrels a day of oil in December, down from an average of 3.58 million in 2011, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Oil exports are its main source of income. Brent crude, a pricing benchmark for more than half […]

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TEHRAN — Iran ’s president said Sunday that he might invoke a powerful but neglected tool in his fight with hard-liners, suggesting the possibility of organizing direct referendums that would bypass the institutions the conservatives control and give more of a voice to Iranian voters. President Hassan Rouhani, speaking during a conference on the country’s economic problems, said that Iranians were entitled to have major issues put to a nationwide vote, as described in the 1979 Constitution. “It will be good to, after 36 years, even for once, or even every 10 years if we implement this principle of the Constitution, and put important economic, social and cultural issues to a direct referendum instead of to the Parliament,” Mr. Rouhani said. In the opaque world of Iranian politics his remarks are a clear warning to hard-liners, who control the Parliament, key decision-making councils, the state-run media, the security forces […]

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani President Hassan Rouhani has threatened to hold an unprecedented referendum in Iran as he warned hardline opponents of a nuclear deal with the west that the country must end its international isolation. The Iranian leader said he was looking at the possibility of using his constitutional rights to give power to the people in comments that some analysts took as a warning that he may try to put any nuclear agreement to a public vote. More On this topic Interview transcript Hassan Rouhani IN Iran “Our political experience shows that the country cannot have sustainable growth when it is isolated,” he told a conference on Iran’s economy in Tehran on Sunday. He added that this did not mean Iran’s negotiations with six world powers — the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany — were compromising the Islamic regime’s ideals of the 1979 revolution. “Our […]

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DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran denied on Saturday that it had reached an agreement with the United States to ship its surplus enriched uranium to Russia under new concessions aimed at clinching a comprehensive nuclear deal with six world powers. The Associated Press, citing diplomats, said on Friday Tehran and Washington had tentatively agreed on a formula to ship to Russia much of the material that could potentially lead to manufacture of atomic arms by the Islamic republic. It said negotiators had drawn up a catalogue for the first time at their December meeting in Geneva outlining areas of potential accord and differences in their 12-year nuclear dispute. Iran’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said "no agreement on any nuclear topic" had been reached. "Such news is spread out of political motives and its goal is to tarnish the climate of the talks and make it more complicated to reach […]

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Iran says economy under President Hassan Rouhani expanding beyond its traditional oil base. UPI /Monika Graff TEHRAN, Jan. 2 (UPI) — Non-oil exports from Iran have increased by around 20 percent since March as the economy broadens its diversity, a customs official said. Masoud Karbasian, director of the Iranian Customs Administration, said non-oil exports from the beginning of the Iranian year, which starts in March, increased to $35 billion, or about 20 percent year-on-year. The director said construction materials, as well as petrochemicals and produce, were among the major non-oil products exported from the Islamic republic. Non-oil exports from a border crossing to Iraq are valued at $777 million per day, he added. Traditionally, Iran relies heavily on oil for revenue. With sanctions restricting oil exports, the government has worked to advance other parts of the economy. Ali Taieb Nia, Iran’s minister of economic affairs and finance, told a […]

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F or Iran, 2015 is shaping up to be a make-or-break year for two of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ’s biggest foreign-policy projects: achieving recognition for the country’s nuclear program and spreading his country’s sway across the Middle East. As the former goal has received most of the international attention, the latter has progressed steadily. “Iran’s biggest asset is staying power and strategic patience,” said Emile Hokayem, an analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “They’re deploying in the region the expertise and experience they’ve built up over decades.” Yet Iran’s successes have come with major costs that likely will become even more apparent in the coming year. Iranian support and guidance, as well as legions of allied Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon, have been decisive in bolstering the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But while Tehran has been girding Mr. Assad against what once looked like […]

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Iran ’s economy expanded 4 percent in the six months from March 21, President Hassan Rouhani said today, in a return to growth following two years of recession. In the 16 months since it came to power, the government has also “curtailed inflation from 40 percent down to 17” percent, Rouhani said in a speech in the eastern city of Birjand, according to the Iranian Students News Agency . “Economic revival has begun.” Efforts to secure a deal with world powers over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program have won Iran some relief from economic sanctions, though talks on a permanent deal have been extended until July amid major differences. A 45-percent plunge in the price of crude this year threatens to slash oil revenues that account for the bulk of government spending. Rouhani today blamed “plots” by nations he didn’t name for driving down the price of crude. Oil […]

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Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani speaking with President Hassan Rouhani. Both leaders have said the recent drop in oil prices is part of a conspiracy against the Islamic republic. (Photo: Iranian government) DAMASCUS, Syria, Dec. 22 (UPI) — The Iraqi speaker of parliament said Monday from Syria his government was mindful of regional players working against Tehran in the global oil marketplace. Iran is trying to retool an economy stifled by Western economic sanctions and now the low price of oil, off about 45 percent from its June value. The price of oil Monday was around $61 per barrel. Iranian officials have said they are drafting a budget for the fiscal year that begins in March based on $70 per barrel. Speaker Ali Larijani said from the sidelines of a visit with Shiite allies in Syria the government in Tehran suspected the same countries that worked against it during […]

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Ali al-Naimi, Saudi oil minister Opec will not cut production even if the price of oil falls to $20 a barrel, the cartel’s de facto leader said, spelling out a dramatic policy shift that will have far-reaching implications for the global energy industry. In an unusually frank interview, Ali al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, tore up Opec’s traditional strategy of keeping prices high by limiting oil output and replaced it with a new policy of defending the cartel’s market share at all costs. “It is not in the interest of Opec producers to cut their production, whatever the price is,” he told the Middle East Economic Survey. “Whether it goes down to $20, $40, $50, $60, it is irrelevant.” He said the world may never see $100 a barrel oil again. The comments, from a man who is often described as the most influential figure in the energy industry, […]

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ENLARGE TEHRAN—Plummeting oil prices and the failure so far to conclude a nuclear agreement are dealing a double blow to Iran’s economy just as it was starting to recover. Oil prices, which have fallen about 50% since June, resumed their decline on Monday after Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, said it may boost production despite a global glut. The slide in prices is strangling revenues in Iran, a country dependent on oil money. Compounding the problem, Iran and six world powers also missed a deadline in November to conclude a comprehensive deal on limiting Iran’s nuclear activities, something that has dimmed hopes for crippling economic sanctions to be lifted anytime soon. The renewed economic travails are eroding gains that accompanied President Hasan Rouhani ’s surprise election 18 months ago. Mr. Rouhani, whose political fortunes rest largely on an economic recovery, has been scrambling to contain the damage. […]

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Iran is said to be offering its main crude grade to customers in Asia at the deepest discount in 14 years, taking a cue from Saudi Arabia in trimming price differentials. National Iranian Oil Co. cut its official selling price for January shipments of light crude to Asia to a discount of $1.80 a barrel below the regional benchmark as Middle Eastern producers vie to keep selling in the region, according to four people with knowledge of the decision. An official at NIOC’s crude-marketing department in Tehran declined to comment. Iran cut the differential to a discount from a premium of 13 cents a barrel to the average of the Oman and Dubai benchmark crudes for December. The light crude grade hasn’t sold at such a steep discount since Bloomberg began tracking the country’s official selling prices in March 2000. Oil prices have collapsed since the Organization of Petroleum […]

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani confident sanctions pressure will ease. UPI /Monika Graff Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke Monday before the Central Bank of Iran, saying he was confident international sanctions will come to an end . Western powers "have no other choice" but to work to find an agreeable solution to the nuclear impasse, he said. High-level talks are scheduled this week in Geneva, less than a month after multilateral negotiations in Vienna failed to bear fruit. Iran secured modest relief from sanctions one year ago during multilateral talks. Under the terms of an agreement, Iran can export about 1 million barrels of oil per day if it maintains its commitment to curb nuclear activity. Rouhani characterized existing sanctions as "cruel," but added the Iranian economy was coping with pressure on its energy sector. Inflation was down, he said, and Iranian officials were busy working to draft a budget […]

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A huge natural gas reserve has been discovered in south of Iran, Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Company’s (NIOC) Exploration Department Hormoz Qalavand has announced on Sunday. “Drilling the exploration oil wells has commenced in order to estimate the volume of this new gas reserve,” said Hormoz Qalavand. Although the drop in oil prices is a serious threat to the interests of most oil countries, it also creates the opportunity for the great oil exporters such as Iran and Iraq to concentrate their efforts on expanding their oil capacities and increasing supplies. Under current circumstances, and with the oil prices having hit their lowest record since October 2009 as $60 per barrel, Iran has taken advantage of the temporary paralysis in oil and gas industry by launching exploration projects in the Persian Gulf. Presently, Iran with several large-scale natural gas condensate fields including South Pars, Golshan, Ferdowsi, […]

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani facing economic headwinds with oil prices dipping far below the $100 per barrel mark. UPI/President.ir/HO Oil prices have shed more than 40 percent of their June value, trading Friday at a five-year low at $62.69 for Brent, the global price index. In an interview with Shana, the Iranian Oil Ministry’s news website, economist Mahmoud Jaamsaz said Iran needs oil at about twice that level to balance its books. "If the government plans to end the year according to the figures anticipated in the budget and avoid deficit, it should be able to sell oil based on at least $125 per barrel," he said. Iran is restricted to exports of around 1 million barrels per day according to the terms of a multilateral agreement that offers some sanctions relief in exchange for commitments to curb nuclear research activity. Iran is out more than $35 billion in […]

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TEHRAN — The text message, received as the deadline for nuclear talks was expiring, gave Fatemeh Moghimi a thrill she had been waiting years to feel. “The deal,” it read, “was done.” It took Ms. Moghimi, the owner of a leading trucking company, a second to absorb the news. When she did, she recalled recently in her Tehran office, she fairly screamed to herself: “We’re in business!” As it turned out the message was a bad joke, and instead the nuclear negotiations were extended for another seven months — bad news for Iran ’s battered, inflation-ridden economy. But Ms. Moghimi was unfazed. “I’m not giving up hope,” she said with a smile. “It is going to be over soon. It is as if the sun is peeking through the clouds after a terrible rainstorm.” Ms. Moghimi’s unyielding optimism, shared by many top businesspeople here, was dented briefly last month […]

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Nuclear talks between Iran and six major powers will resume in Geneva next week, European Union officials said Friday.  The negotiations among senior officials will be the first since Iran Continue Reading

Iran expects oil prices at five-year lows will put “short-term pressure” on the government’s budget even as it strives to contain inflation, President Hassan Rouhani said. Crude prices have declined about 40 percent from a June peak amid overproduction and slower demand growth. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided on Nov. 27 to maintain its production target, prompting a drop in European benchmark Brent crude to less than $70 a barrel for the first time since May 2010. “The price of Brent has fallen from $110 to less than $70, a decline little before seen,” Rouhani said yesterday in a speech to the country’s parliament in Tehran, according to the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency . “It’s necessary for next year’s budget to be adjusted with caution.” The plunge in crude comes as international sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program are already curtailing crude exports, the […]

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TEHRAN — A reporter for The Washington Post who has been jailed since July was finally charged by the Iranian authorities in a 10-hour court session on Saturday, his family confirmed on Sunday, but he was not told what he was being charged with. The court appearance of the reporter, Jason Rezaian, was also confirmed by his lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, who has not been allowed to defend Mr. Rezaian. Beyond that, Mr. Nikbakht said in a phone interview, “I don’t know what happened.” People close to Mr. Rezaian, including his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, who was herself arrested and then released in October, have refused to talk to the news media. But the family of Mr. Rezaian, who holds both American and Iranian citizenship, released a statement Sunday saying that charges had been filed and asking Iran ’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to release him. “In its ongoing disregard […]

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