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Israel strikes near the Syrian capital: Syrian TV

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian state television said on Sunday that Israeli jets had bombed areas near Damascus international airport and in the town of Dimas, near the border with Lebanon. An Israeli army spokesman said he would not comment on the "foreign reports". Israel has struck Syria several times since the start of the three-year conflict, mostly destroying weaponry such as missiles that Israeli officials said were destined for their long-time foe Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon. "The Israeli enemy committed aggression against Syria by targeting two safe areas in Damascus province, in all of Dimas and near the Damascus International Airport," state television said, adding that there were no casualties. Residents in Damascus said they heard loud explosions and opposition activists posted photos online of jet streams in the evening sky and fiery explosions. Syria’s army general command said on state television that there were "material losses in some […]

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Iran drafting budget based on oil at $70 per barrel

Iran drafting budget for next year based on oil at $70 per barrel, but shrugs off economic impact of current bear market. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian TEHRAN, Dec. 2 (UPI) — The Iranian government said Tuesday it was drafting its annual budget for the next calendar year on the assumption that oil prices will be $70 per barrel. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Iran is a member, said the price for the 12 blends that make up its benchmark fetched $85.06 per barrel in October, with the Iranian Heavy grade trading at $84.61. For Monday, the OPEC basket price was $66.44, mirroring the international bear market for crude oil. Yahya al-e Es-Haq, the head of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, said officials were drafting a budget for the fiscal year that begins in March based on $70 per barrel. There are few concerns about the current slump in […]

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Iranian jets attack Isis in eastern Iraq

A US official late on Tuesday all but confirmed reports that Iran has conducted air strikes against Islamist militants in eastern Iraq in recent days, but declined to confirm whether Washington and Tehran had co-operated. Military experts believe it is the first confirmation that Iran’s ageing air force has attacked the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant , known as Isis, since the west began operations against the insurgency forces several months ago, news agencies reported. More On this topic IN Middle East & North Africa Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, told reporters the US was not collaborating with Iran and that it was up to Iraq to ensure Tehran’s actions did not clash with those by the US and its allies. Jane’s Defence Weekly , the defence publication, on Sunday identified what its experts described as an Iranian McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom captured in video […]

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Russia revisits oil-for-goods deal with Iran

Iranian Minister for Oil Bijan Zanganeh hasn’t yet given formal endorsement of long-mentioned oil-for-goods deal with Russia. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian The deal where Iran would send oil to Russia has been in the works for much of the year. "We can export a big volume of our non-raw materials exports, such as equipment for the oil and gas industry, agricultural machinery, motor vehicles, aircraft, railway cars, power machines, electricity generators," Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told reporters Sunday from Moscow. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has hinted that the Iranian government endorsed such a deal , but nothing was formalized. Both sides already cooperate in a variety of fields, with Russia supplying fuel for Iran’s nuclear reactor at Bushehr. Both countries are also the targets of Western economic sanctions, with Russia facing pressure for its stance on Ukraine and Iran getting squeezed for its controversial nuclear program. Multilateral nuclear negotiations with Iran […]

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Tehran Hard-Liners Undermine Nuclear Talks

An Iranian man joins a gathering in Tehran in support of Iran’s nuclear program on… ENLARGE An Iranian man joins a gathering in Tehran in support of Iran’s nuclear program on Monday. Zuma Press VIENNA—As international talks on Iran were about to resume, the Obama administration early this month secretly presented an eight-page document to Tehran in a bid to demonstrate Washington’s flexibility and offer an opening to end the protracted dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. But a week later, the chairman of the Iranian parliament’s nuclear committee went public with the Nov. 9 proposal, slamming it by saying the U.S. had brought the negotiations “back to zero.” The potentially damaging leak by Ebrahim Karkhaneh, the chairman, marked a low point in what U.S. and European officials see as an ongoing, and possibly intensifying, effort by hard-line factions in Tehran to sabotage more than a year of international negotiations […]

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Domestic pressures in U.S., Iran threaten slow-moving nuclear talks

VIENNA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A seven-month extension in talks between world powers and Iran on a deal to curb its nuclear program emboldened critics in Washington and Tehran, threatening to undermine further talks. After failing to clinch an agreement that would limit Iran’s nuclear program in return for lifting stifling U.S.-led economic sanctions, the sides agreed on Monday to push back, yet again, a deadline for reaching a deal, until next July. Iran is negotiating with so-called P5+1 group of the United Nations Security Council permanent members, plus Germany, but that could be called the P5+1+2, given the role played by hard-liners in Congress and in Iran’s ruling establishment. Even before the ink dried on the extension agreement in Vienna, skeptics in Washington were demanding new sanctions to pressure Iran’s rulers. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, long regarded as one of the most effective lobbying groups in Washington, called […]

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A Nuclear Deal for U.S. and Iran Slips Away Again

VIENNA — By the time Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart checked into a luxury hotel near the famous beaches of Oman earlier this month, a long-sought deal that has eluded the last two American presidents to roll back Tehran’s nuclear program seemed to be slipping out of reach. With a deadline approaching, Mr. Kerry thought the opportunity could be lost unless the Iranians finally offered a breakthrough compromise. But Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, came with little new. Frustrated, Mr. Kerry said there was no way the United States would accept a deal that did not curb Iran ’s ability to produce enough fuel for a bomb within a year. The conversation grew heated. The two men, patricians in their own cultures and unaccustomed to shouting, found themselves in the kind of confrontation they had avoided during multiple negotiating sessions over the past […]

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Dismisses Western Pressure on Nuclear Issue

TEHRAN — The day after a deadline for concluding a nuclear agreement was extended for seven months, Iran ’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , delivered his first remarks on the negotiations, saying that the West had failed to bring Iran “to its knees.” Meeting Tuesday with Muslim clerics in Tehran, the Iranian capital, Mr. Khamenei dismissed the diplomatic and economic pressure that world powers have brought to bear on his country over its nuclear ambitions. “In the nuclear issue, America and colonial European countries got together and did their best to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees, but they could not do so — and they will not be able to do so,” Mr. Khamenei’s personal website quoted him as saying. Mr. Khamenei has the final say on all important policy matters in Iran, including its nuclear program . His remarks suggested that he would continue to […]

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France Senses Momentum In Iran Nuclear Talks

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, pictured with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (right) in… ENLARGE French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, pictured with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (right) in Vienna Sunday, is upbeat about the prospects about a deal with Iran over its nuclear program after the latest talks in the Austrian capital. Associated Press PARIS–The latest round of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear activities made progress on the delicate issue of how much enriched uranium Tehran should be allowed to produce, France’s foreign minister said Tuesday. France’s top diplomat Laurent Fabius said the U.S., France and other world powers were making some headway in persuading Tehran to roll back parts of the infrastructure that it has in place to process uranium into nuclear fuel. Western countries fear such supplies could be used to make nuclear weapons while Tehran says its nuclear program is solely for civil–not military–purposes. […]

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Iran Reaps Less Cash From Eased Sanctions Than Predicted

With world powers unable so far to win Iran ’s agreement to curb its nuclear program, members of both parties in the new Republican-led U.S. Congress will push in January for more economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic. As the nuclear negotiations continue for an additional seven months, Iran has been promised that it will continue to enjoy limited relief from the existing U.S. sanctions in exchange for continuing to curtail its nuclear efforts under an interim accord signed a year ago yesterday. That sanctions relief has been less valuable to Iran than U.S. officials anticipated, according to figures declassified by the Obama administration in response to requests from Bloomberg News. They indicate that Iran’s direct benefit in cash and non-oil exports in the first six months of this year was about $2 billion less than the administration predicted — $4.6 billion instead of as much as $7 billion, […]

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Iran Agrees to Cooperate With Russia on Oil Market, Shana Says

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani agreed to cooperate with Russia to support oil markets in a phone conversation with that country’s leader Vladimir Putin , according to Shana, the Iran oil ministry’s news service. Rouhani and Putin “agreed on necessary cooperation” to shore up crude prices during the call yesterday evening, Shana said. The report provided no details of what the two presidents agreed on or whether they would take joint action. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet Nov. 27 to decide how to respond to the slide in crude prices and whether to cut production. Brent crude , the European oil benchmark, dropped into a bear market last month after falling more than 20 percent from its high for the year in June. Declining prices are hurting oil exporters including Iran, OPEC’s fifth-biggest producer, and Russia, the world’s second-largest supplier, after Saudi Arabia . OPEC officials are […]

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Iran Nuclear Talks Extension Seen Delaying Oil-Export Boost

Iran will have to wait to boost oil exports after agreeing to an extension in talks aimed at limiting its nuclear program in return for an end to sanctions. The U.S. and five other global powers agreed today to continue negotiating with Iran after failing to reach an agreement during talks over the past year, according to two officials, who requested not to be identified because the talks are private. They spoke in Vienna where the talks were taking place. The parties will have until March 1 to agree to a political framework for a deal and July 1 to settle final details, the officials said. Iran’s Nuclear Plan International sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear program are curtailing crude exports, the nation’s main income source. The extension in the talks beyond today’s deadline may have little impact on crude prices because markets anticipated the decision, Commerzbank AG analyst Eugen […]

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Iran nuclear talks expected to reconvene next month

VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran and six world powers are expected to adjourn nuclear negotiations on Monday and reconvene next month after the latest round of talks failed to clinch a final deal, a source close to the talks said. Details about the adjournment and resumption of negotiations were still being worked out, though the source said on condition of anonymity that Iran could not expect any new sanctions relief for the time being. Possible venues include Vienna and Oman, the source said, though nothing had been decided. "Some progress has been made," said a diplomat involved in the talks. "But we need to discuss some issues with our capitals. We will meet again before the new year. This is an ongoing process." The talks in Vienna aim for a deal that could transform the Middle East, open the door to ending economic sanctions on Iran and start to bring […]

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Iran Nuclear Negotiators, Facing Key Differences, Weigh Extending Deadline

VIENNA — With a deadline for an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program just a day away, American officials finally acknowledged Sunday that the two sides would not reach a deal by Monday’s deadline but would probably extend the talks a second time to explore a series of possible solutions. It was unclear how long the talks would be prolonged or what additional sanctions relief Iran might receive as negotiators wrestled with differences such as how much nuclear fuel Iran could produce, how long the accord would last and how intrusive inspections would be, among other issues. Secretary of State John Kerry raised the idea of extending the talks in a meeting Sunday night with Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister. It was not clear whether a document detailing new points of convergence would be issued Monday in return for an extension in the talks.  “Our focus remains on taking steps forward toward an […]

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Israel reconsiders military action against Iran

4728 Votes Israeli official cites “sunset clause” in proposed comprehensive deal, which guarantees Iran a path into the nuclear club and may corner Israel into war. Israel Air Force planes fly over Tel Aviv. Photo By: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT Historic negotiations with Iran will reach an inflection point on Monday, as world powers seek to clinch a comprehensive deal that will, to their satisfaction, end concerns over the nature of its vast, decade-old nuclear program. But sharing details of the deal under discussion with The Jerusalem Post on the eve of the deadline, Israel has issued a stark, public warning to its allies with a clear argument: Current proposals guarantee the perpetuation of a crisis, backing Israel into a corner from which military force against Iran provides the only logical exit. The deal on the table World powers have presented Iran with an accord that would restrict its nuclear […]

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No Iran Nuclear Deal Seen by Monday Deadline

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, left, meets his German counterpart. ENLARGE Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, left, meets his German counterpart. European Pressphoto Agency VIENNA—The U.S. and other world powers said it will be virtually impossible to reach a comprehensive deal to curb Iran’s nuclear activities by the Monday night deadline, and they would favor extending the talks. U.S. officials are arguing that preserving improved relations with Tehran is preferable to a breakdown in more than a year of direct negotiations and a potential escalation of tensions in an already-fractious Middle East. However, an extension looks headed for stiff resistance from both Democratic and Republican U.S. lawmakers, who are questioning what the White House believes it can achieve in a few additional months of talks that it couldn’t in a year. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry backed the idea of an extension even without a core political document that would […]

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Iran May Propose Million-Barrel Daily OPEC Cut in Saudi Talks

Iran may propose that OPEC cut its output target by as much as 1 million barrels a day to halt the slide in crude prices when the country’s oil minister consults with his Saudi counterpart before the group gathers this week. Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and Saudi Arabia ’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi will talk on the sidelines of the meeting in Vienna of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, seeking to define a common view among its 12 members for supporting prices, Iran’s state-run Mehr News agency reported, without saying where it got the information. An official in Iran’s oil ministry didn’t immediately comment when contacted by phone yesterday. OPEC, supplier of about 40 percent of the world’s oil, will meet Nov. 27 in the Austrian capital to assess its collective output amid a supply glut and a 27 percent drop in prices this year. Half the analysts in […]

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China holds out hope for Iran nuclear deal

VIENNA (AP) — Talks on Iran’s nuclear program appear likely to run beyond their Monday midnight deadline, but China’s foreign minister says negotiators are still working on elements of a deal. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif agreed Sunday to start discussion on continuing the talks past the target date But Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says negotiators are still having "consultations" on a final agreement that meets both U.S. demands for strict curbs on Tehran’s nuclear program and Iran’s push for sanctions relief. Wang arrived Monday, joining the foreign ministers of the other countries negotiating with Iran – the U.S., Russia, Britain, France and Germany.

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China’s October crude imports from Iran surge 36% on year to 340,027 b/d

Singapore (Platts)–24Nov2014/108 am EST/608 GMT China’s crude imports from its major suppliers, including Iran, rose significantly in October versus a year ago, save for top exporters Saudi Arabia and Angola, detailed data from the General Administration of Customs showed Saturday, November 22. Crude imports from Iran last month surged 35.5% from a year earlier to 1.44 million mt, or an average 340,027 b/d. Iran, however, remained China’s sixth-largest supplier of crude oil last month, accounting for 6% of its total imports. China imported less crude from Saudi Arabia and Angola in October despite its total crude imports rising 18% from a year earlier to 5.7 million b/d. Saudi volumes inched down 0.7% year on year to 4.56 million mt while Angolan cargoes fell 5.6% to 3.04 million mt last month. Article continues below… Platts Oil Roundtable Podcast: Higher crude prices see Saudis losing market share in China, India Yen […]

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Iran Vows to Guard Oil-Market Share as OPEC to Review Output

Iran will protect its share of global crude sales under all circumstances, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said, as OPEC members prepare to meet next week to review production levels. The Persian Gulf nation can double oil exports in two months if sanctions against are removed, Zanganeh said, according to the ministry’s news website Shana. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will gather on Nov. 27 in Vienna to assess its collective output amid a supply glut and a 30 percent drop in prices this year. Iran’s crude output has languished under international economic sanctions that deter foreign energy investors and limit its exports to approximately 1 million barrels a day. “Under no circumstance will Iran decrease its share of the global market, not even by one barrel,” Shana cited him as saying. OPEC producers are stepping up diplomatic visits before their meeting, discussing how to react to the […]

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A Nuclear Deal Is Likely to Hit Hurdles in Iran

TEHRAN — Far from the flashing cameras and microphones in Vienna, where Secretary of State John Kerry is joining Iranian and United States diplomats in a final push to reach a compromise on Tehran’s nuclear program , a different sort of political drama unfolded in the Iranian capital this week: Hard-liners got together to criticize the objects of their “worries,” as they put it, the moderates advocating a deal. “My brothers, we are in danger,” one of the conference organizers, Ali Hassanzadeh, told the audience, as a video portrayed the moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, and his negotiators as gullible tools of the United States. In Iran , the final decision on a nuclear deal lies with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , the supreme leader. And if history is an accurate guide, the real debate over an accord, should one be reached, will not begin to unfold until after it is […]

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U.S. ‘disappointed’ with Iran’s IAEA cooperation ahead of nuclear talks

VIENNA (Reuters) – The United States is disappointed with Iran’s failure to engage with a U.N. nuclear agency investigation into suspected atomic bomb research, a U.S. envoy said on Monday. Western officials say Iran must improve cooperation with the long-running International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inquiry as part of a broader diplomatic settlement which Tehran and six world powers aim to reach by a self-imposed Nov. 24 deadline. Negotiators from Iran, the United States, France, China, Russia, Britain, Germany and the European Union meet in Vienna from Tuesday to try to end a long impasse over Tehran’s atomic program that has stoked fears of a new war in the Middle East. Potentially complicating those efforts, an IAEA report on Nov. 7 said Iran was failing to address suspicions it may have worked on designing an atomic bomb. Iran says it has no such aim and that its nuclear program […]

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Iran Nuclear Pact Faces an Array of Opposing Forces

WASHINGTON — When President Obama wrote last month to Iran ’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , urging him to overcome a decade of mistrust and negotiate a deal limiting Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, it was perhaps the president’s last effort to reach a reconciliation with Iran that could remake the Middle East. Today, Mr. Obama needs a foreign policy accomplishment more than ever, and he sees time running out on his hope of changing the calculus in a Middle East where Americans are, against his instincts, back on the ground. But the forces arrayed against a deal are formidable — not just Mr. Khamenei and the country’s hard-liners, but newly empowered Republicans, some of his fellow Democrats, and many of the United States’ closest allies. As negotiators head back to Vienna this week for what they hope will be the final round of talks, Mr. Obama’s top national security advisers […]

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Iran Nuclear Pact Faces an Array of Opposing Forces

WASHINGTON — When President Obama wrote last month to Iran ’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , urging him to overcome a decade of mistrust and negotiate a deal limiting Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, it was perhaps the president’s last effort to reach a reconciliation with Iran that could remake the Middle East. Today, Mr. Obama needs a foreign policy accomplishment more than ever, and he sees time running out on his hope of changing the calculus in a Middle East where Americans are, against his instincts, back on the ground. But the forces arrayed against a deal are formidable — not just Mr. Khamenei and the country’s hard-liners, but newly empowered Republicans, some of his fellow Democrats, and many of the United States’ closest allies. As negotiators head back to Vienna this week for what they hope will be the final round of talks, Mr. Obama’s top national security advisers […]

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Sanctions, politics complicate Iran nuclear deal

An Iran nuclear deal remained elusive Tuesday after two days of talks in Oman between Secretary of State John Kerry, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Negotiators have only 13 days to meet a self-imposed Nov. 24 deadline for reaching agreement, with the U.S. midterm election results potentially raising new obstacles on the path of compromise. Despite Tehran’s  routinely dismissing President Barack Obama’s argument that sanctions pressure has forced Iran to the negotiating table, the timetable for and extent of sanctions relief has emerged as a key sticking point in the talks, according to Iranian officials and others who follow the negotiations closely. Iran seeks the early removal of U.N. Security Council penalties that undergird the harsh economic punishment imposed by much of the world against the Islamic Republic since 2006. The five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany (the P5+1) […]

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Russia wades deeper into Iranian nuclear waters

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano briefs reporters on nuclear negotiations with Iranian officials in Tehran, Iran, on Nov. 11, 2013. UPI File/Maryam Rahmanian The state-run Russian atomic energy corporation said an agreement was signed between the two countries to build four new power units at the Iranian nuclear facility at the existing plant at Bushehr. The agreement calls for "four similar power units on another site in Iran, which will be provided by the Iranian party later." The agreement comes as representatives from the so-called P5 +1 — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany — are working from Oman on resolving a nuclear impasse with Iran. With a Nov. 24 deadline to reach a nuclear agreement looming , U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said "the time is now" to make decisions on Iran’s controversial program. Western powers have […]

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Lacking breakthrough, sides weigh next moves in Iran nuclear drama

MUSCAT/BEIJING (Reuters) – Senior officials from Western powers and Iran started a one-day round of talks in Muscat on Tuesday, with a deadline for reaching a nuclear deal less than two weeks away and no imminent breakthrough in sight. Tuesday’s discussions follow two days of meetings between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and EU envoy Catherine Ashton aimed at resolving years of dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. "There’s more work to do, clearly," a senior State Department official said. Iran’s top negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, described the negotiations in Oman as "two days of very hard work", the official IRNA news agency reported. He added that he was "not in a position to claim that progress is achieved", but sounded more upbeat in a subsequent interview with Iranian state television. "There is a capacity to reach a deal by November […]

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Little progress made in nuclear talks with U.S., EU: Iran official

MUSCAT (Reuters) – Little progress was made in two days of nuclear talks between Iran, the United States and the European Union (EU) held in Oman, a senior Iranian official said on Monday. "After hours of talks we could make little progress," the official told Reuters. "Still differences remain and still we have gaps over issues." U.S. officials had no immediate comment following the end of the talks on Monday evening. With two weeks until a deadline for an overall agreement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and EU envoy Catherine Ashton met in Oman to tackle a decade-long dispute that has raised the risk of wider conflict in the Middle East. The discussions aim to put verifiable limits on Iran’s uranium enrichment work – and any other potential path to a nuclear weapon – in return for a gradual lifting of sanctions. […]

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US faces last best chance on Iran nuke deal

AP Photo/Nicholas Kamm MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — The Obama administration is facing its last best chance to curb Iran’s nuclear program – not just to meet an end-of-the-month deadline for a deal, but also to seal one before skeptical Republicans who will control Congress next year are able to scuttle it. In the final stretch of years of negotiations to limit Tehran’s nuclear production, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Monday for a second straight day of talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and European Union senior adviser Catherine Ashton in Oman’s capital. There was no sign of an imminent breakthrough. The stakes are high as the Nov. 24 deadline approaches. A deal could quell Mideast fears about Iran’s ability to build a nuclear bomb and help revive the Islamic Republic’s economy. It also would deliver a foreign policy triumph for the White House, which is being […]

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Iran, West hold unscheduled second day of nuclear talks

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran, the United States and the European Union began an unscheduled second day of talks on Monday over disagreements blocking the resolution of a confrontation over Tehran’s nuclear programme, U.S. and Iranian officials said. With two weeks to a deadline for an overall agreement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and EU envoy Catherine Ashton met in Oman’s capital Muscat to tackle a decade-long dispute which has raised the risk of wider conflict in the Middle East. The discussions aim to put verifiable limits on Iran’s uranium enrichment work – and any other potential path to a nuclear weapon – in return for a gradual lifting of sanctions. U.S. President Barack Obama told CBS television there was still a big gap between Iran and Western powers and said a deal could be out of reach. Economic sanctions led by the […]

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Iran’s uranium stockpile grows before deadline for nuclear deal

VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium gas has grown by 8 percent to nearly 8.4 tonnes in about two months, U.N. atomic inspectors say, an amount world powers probably will want to see cut under any nuclear deal with Tehran. The International Atomic Energy Agency issued a confidential report on Iran to IAEA member states on Friday, less than three weeks before a Nov. 24 deadline for Iran and six world powers to resolve their stand-off over Tehran’s atomic activities. Iran’s holding of refined uranium gas is one of the factors that could determine how much time it would need for any attempt to assemble nuclear weapons. Iran says it has no such goal but the West wants verifiable action by the Islamic Republic to make sure it cannot produce an atomic bomb any time soon. Iran and the six states will meet in Vienna from Nov. […]

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Role for Russia Gives Iran Talks a Possible Boost

WASHINGTON — Iran has tentatively agreed to ship much of its huge stockpile of uranium to Russia if it reaches a broader nuclear deal with the West, according to officials and diplomats involved in the negotiations, potentially a major breakthrough in talks that have until now been deadlocked. Under the proposed agreement, the Russians would convert the uranium into specialized fuel rods for the Bushehr nuclear power plant, Iran’s only commercial reactor. Once the uranium is converted into fuel rods, it is extremely difficult to use them to make a nuclear weapon. That could go a long way toward alleviating Western concerns about Iran’s stockpile, though the agreement would not cut off every pathway that Tehran could take to obtain a nuclear weapon. With a Nov. 24 deadline looming on the nuclear talks, negotiators between Iran and the United States and five other nations are still far from agreement […]

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Minister: Oil prices no threat to Iran’s economy

Iran says its economy is managing the steep decline in international oil prices. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian TEHRAN, Nov. 3 (UPI) — The Iranian economy isn’t expecting a budget shortfall despite the steady decline in global oil prices, the country’s economic minister said. "We will face no budget deficit stemming from the oil price slump," Iran’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ali Tayyebnia said Sunday. An increase in oil production from North American shale deposits means market dynamics are skewed toward the supply side, pushing oil prices to historic lows. Some economies that depend on oil exports for revenue could start feeling the impacts, while producers elsewhere may find prices too low to sustain development. "If oil prices keep falling, the government will definitely make plans to head off a budget deficit problem next [calendar] year," the minister said. The National Development Fund of Iran is structured in such a […]

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U.N. Says Iran Is Silent on Efforts for a Bomb

WASHINGTON — At a moment when American negotiators say they see some signs of movement on the part of Iran toward a broad nuclear deal with the United States, the head of the United Nations nuclear inspection organization declared Friday that Iran had stopped answering the agency’s questions about suspected past efforts to design the components of a bomb. The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency , Yukiya Amano, said commitments Iran had made to provide more information on what he called “possible military dimensions” had not been carried out. He said that while he had received assurances from Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, that he was “willing to clarify the ambiguity” in documents and computer records that appear to show work on a variety of technologies that can be used to detonate a weapon, the cooperation had not been forthcoming. “What is needed now is action,” Mr. […]

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Iran’s Oil Revenue Falls 30% Because of Global Price Decline

Print Back to story Iran ’s revenue from crude sales, the OPEC member’s biggest export, dropped 30 percent because of the recent decline in global oil prices, according to President Hassan Rouhani. “International conditions are such that the country’s main source of income, i.e. oil revenues, has been cut by some 30 percent,” Rouhani said in remarks to parliament published yesterday on Shana, the Oil Ministry’s news website. “We have to deal with the new conditions and the global economic conditions.” Brent crude, a benchmark for more than half of the world’s oil, has plunged more than 20 percent since peaking in June at about $115 a barrel as supply, boosted by U.S. shale production, outpaced demand. Iran needs to achieve a break-even sales price of $143 a barrel this year to maintain its fiscal balance, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “The government probably will face a budget […]

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Non-oil exports grow for Iran

Iran says non-oil exports up 20 percent from last calendar year. (UPI/Shutterstock/Artens) Iranian government data show non-oil product exports earned Iran $27 billion during the first five months of a calendar year beginning March 21. Data show the Iranian economy exported petroleum products like butane and liquefied propane predominately to Afghanistan , China, India, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. Sanctions imposed on the Iranian economy in response to a controversial nuclear program means oil exports are at about half of their 2.2 million barrel per day rate in 2012. Iran is allowed to export some oil under an international sanctions agreement reached in November, though the International Monetary Fund said the oil-dependent economy is still shrinking at a rate of 1.7 percent. Hamid Farnam, the energy commissioner in the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, told the Oil Ministry’s news website Shana last week the government should work to push […]

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Iranians Hope for Nuclear Deal With West to Kick-Start Economy

TEHRAN — Mohammad Heydarian, an Iranian contractor, still has work finishing off a single-family home. But things look bleak after that, he said. He has already fired his workers, and is struggling to make ends meet, providing for his wife and two teenage children. “My life became a fight trying to prevent regression, but I lost,” said Mr. Heydarian, 46. For more than a year, President Hassan Rouhani has been dangling the prospect of a bright economic future before the middle classes that elected him, promising to complete a deal with the West to limit Iran’s nuclear program and end the sanctions hobbling the Iranian economy. While the deadline of Nov. 24 is fast approaching, it is far from clear whether the two camps will agree on a pact. What seems certain, analysts say, is that with oil prices falling seemingly daily — and projected to drop even further […]

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Iran mulling currency side step

Iranian lawmaker to review swapping out U.S. dollar for trade deals with Russia. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian Hadi Qavami, a delegate from an Iranian-Russian committee inside the Iranian parliament, said he’s heading to Moscow at the invitation of his counterparts in the Kremlin. "Replacing (the U.S.) dollar with ruble in bilateral and multilateral transactions between Iran and Russia tops the agenda of the upcoming visit of an Iranian delegation to Russia," he said Saturday. Iran has long been searching for a way around the U.S. dollar to circumvent sanctions imposed by Western powers in response to its controversial nuclear program. Russia now has sanctions pressure of its own issued in response to Western frustration over Moscow’s stance on Ukraine. Iran and Russia have been mulling an oil-for-goods swap deal for much of the latter half of 2014. U.S. officials have said it would be "very troubling" if such a deal were […]

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US negotiator: Some want talks with Iran to fail

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s chief nuclear negotiator believes that some U.S. allies and members of Congress don’t want diplomacy with Iran to succeed. The undersecretary of state for political affairs, Wendy Sherman, concedes the nuclear talks are controversial. She says some fear they’ll collapse while others fear they’ll succeed. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Sherman says the administration has sought to allay fears in Congress and among allies including Israel and Arab Gulf states. She says the conversations reinforce her government’s conviction that diplomacy is worth the risk. Negotiators want a deal by Nov. 24. World powers are seeking limits on Iran’s program so it can’t produce nuclear weapons. Iran says it wants to generate nuclear energy and is asking for sanctions relief.

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Official: Iran’s economy too vulnerable to oil market

Iranian Chamber of Commerce official mulls role of oil in national budget. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian Hamid Farnam, the energy commissioner in the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, told the Oil Ministry’s news website Shana the government should work to slowly push oil revenue out of the national budget . "As long as we look at oil as a commodity for collecting revenues, not as a capital good, fluctuations in the world oil market will influence our economy," he said. An assessment from the World Bank finds the Iranian economy is contracting. Sanctions imposed by Western powers on Iran’s energy sector resulted in a 5.8 percent decline in gross domestic product last year. The bank said the dependence on oil revenue makes the Iranian economy "intrinsically volatile." Farnam said the government should work to cut the share of oil revenue in the total budget to nothing within a three- or four-year period. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple