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Limitations of nuclear deal temper Iranians’ enthusiasm

It was a flourishing packing business in Iran’s historic city of Isfahan, but the last two years of harsh economic sanctions brought the family enterprise to its knees. Owner Gholam Dolatmardian struggled to raise the funds to keep going but finally succumbed to the inevitable, laying off his 100-strong workforce and closing the doors of the once prosperous factory. The prospects for a revival of his business and those of thousands of others may depend on an interim nuclear accord reached between Iran and world powers last week. The deal has allowed those Iranians seeking greater foreign contact and the economic opportunities it brings to see a glimmer of hope for the first time in years. But Iranians’ enthusiasm about the accord has been tempered by its complexity and expected gradual implementation, which puts off relief from restrictions on banking, trade and international travel that ordinary Iranians […]

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Limitations of nuclear deal temper Iranians' enthusiasm

It was a flourishing packing business in Iran’s historic city of Isfahan, but the last two years of harsh economic sanctions brought the family enterprise to its knees. Owner Gholam Dolatmardian struggled to raise the funds to keep going but finally succumbed to the inevitable, laying off his 100-strong workforce and closing the doors of the once prosperous factory. The prospects for a revival of his business and those of thousands of others may depend on an interim nuclear accord reached between Iran and world powers last week. The deal has allowed those Iranians seeking greater foreign contact and the economic opportunities it brings to see a glimmer of hope for the first time in years. But Iranians’ enthusiasm about the accord has been tempered by its complexity and expected gradual implementation, which puts off relief from restrictions on banking, trade and international travel that ordinary Iranians […]

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Iranians mull new nuclear power stations

Iran’s top atomic energy official, Ali Akbar Salehi , said he asked the federal government to make room in next year’s budget for new nuclear power plants. Salehi said he issued a request for funding to President Hassan Rouhani after lawmakers called on the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to lay the groundwork for more nuclear power. “Our new nuclear plants will be built at the site of the Bushehr nuclear [power] plant,” he was quoted as saying Sunday by Iranian broadcaster Press TV. Russia supplies fuel for the Bushehr plant, which went into service last year. Salehi said additions to the nuclear power sector could add another 20,000 megawatts of electricity to the Iranian grid. Salehi gave no indication of the funding needed to build the new facilities. Under the terms of the nuclear deal reached with Western powers last month, Iran can […]

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Company security forces thwart Iran pipeline attack plot

The governor of Iran’s southern Abadan province said an oil company’s security forces halted a plot to bomb a pipeline. The security forces “vigilantly discovered and thwarted a bombing plot against Abadan-Mahshahr oil pipeline on Saturday evening,” Gov. Bahram Ilkhaszadeh told the semiofficial Fars News Agency. Fars provided no further details about the incident in its report Sunday. A refinery associated with the pipeline was the target of an insurgent attack in 2005, Fars said. Abadan province is near the Persian Gulf. Zumba instructor Alexis Wright gets out of jail early Exploding whale video goes viral on Internet Josh Romney lifts accident victims to safety [PHOTO] Man arrested after woman catches him masturbating in Walmart bathroom Giada De Laurentiis slices finger on live Food Network broadcast Zumba instructor Alexis Wright gets out of jail early Exploding whale video goes viral on Internet Katherine Webb […]

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Iran’s Hard-Liners Keep Their Criticism of Nuclear Pact to Themselves

In a room in which journalists were outnumbered by security agents and paramilitary fighters, the tall Iranian commander stood and issued his judgment. “Our ideology will not be undermined by some negotiations,” Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the hard-line head of the paramilitary Basij force, told the selected group of reporters in a gathering days before Iran signed an interim nuclear agreement with the United States and other world powers. That pact, in which Iran’s moderate government agreed to freeze parts of its nuclear program for six months in exchange for limited relief from crippling economic sanctions, was greeted with wild enthusiasm in most quarters here . A conspicuous exception, however, were Iran’s hard-liners, who mostly maintained a studied silence, unwilling to risk a public confrontation with their patron over the years — the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has cautiously welcomed the deal. But that silence may […]

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Iran Deal Opens Door for Businesses

LONDON—While Western powers have identified a small group of sectors for Iranian sanction relief, a much wider set of European and U.S. companies—from pharmaceutical firms and medical-equipment makers to food companies and traders—also stands to regain lost Iranian trade as soon as relief measures are formally adopted next month. Western governments singled out Iran’s automotive and aviation sectors for temporary sanction relief, while allowing petrochemical exports and trade in gold and other precious metals. But the fine print of the deal also clears the way for GlaxoSmithKline

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OPEC Rift Emerging Over Iraq Output, Possible Return of Iran

Tensions are emerging within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries over which member countries should trim oil production to make room for a resurgence in Iraqi exports and the possible return of more Iranian crude to world markets if sanctions are eased. There is no expectation of a decision to cut back at the OPEC cartel’s meeting in Vienna on Wednesday. The group of 12 of the world’s largest producers, though long riven by squabbling, has kept its overall production ceiling at 30 million barrels a day since December 2011. OPEC expects overall demand for its crude to drop by about 300,000 barrels a day next year and some members are pushing to trim output, according to people familiar with the debate. Members will have to decide whether to cut production as early as the first half of the year, with the risk that short-term global supply might […]

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U.S. extends Iran oil sanctions waivers to China, India, South Korea

The U.S. State Department extended six-month Iran sanctions waivers on Friday to China, India, South Korea and other countries in exchange for their reducing purchases of Iranian crude oil earlier this year. The waivers had been expected. Under a law governing sanctions imposed on Iran’s disputed nuclear program by the United States, the State Department is required to determine whether the Islamic Republic’s oil consumers have reduced their purchases. The decision comes even after the United States and five other global powers, known as the P5+1, agreed in Geneva this month to ease Iran’s access to about $4.2 billion in foreign currency reserves for six months in exchange for Tehran’s taking steps to curb its nuclear program. The waivers, which the State Department calls exceptions, mean that banks in the consuming countries will not face being cut off from the U.S. financial system for the next […]

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US: Tough sanctions on Iran remain despite deal

The Obama administration said on Friday that it was maintaining tough oil-related sanctions against Iran even though the U.S. and five other world powers have signed an initial deal with Tehran to curb its nuclear program and prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. President Barack Obama has forcefully defended the interim agreement and has asked Congress not to impose new sanctions on Iran while a final, more comprehensive agreement can be negotiated. While pleading with Congress not to “close the door on diplomacy,” Obama has emphasized that crippling economic sanctions imposed on Iran have not been eased. The White House said in a statement that there appears to be a sufficient supply of non-Iranian oil to permit foreign countries to keep cutting back purchases of Iranian oil. In response, the State Department said in a statement that it had extended – for another six months – […]

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Iran Nuclear Deal Raises Fears of Proliferation Among Arab States

The Obama administration is hailing the accord with Iran as a victory in its campaign to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, but the deal is already feeding concerns of Arab governments and some proliferation experts that it could have the opposite effect. They worry it could instead fuel the spread of dangerous technologies across the Middle East and Asia. At issue is the agreement’s acceptance of Iran’s demand that at the end of a broader diplomatic process, the country will likely retain some ability to permanently produce nuclear fuel through the enrichment of uranium. Uranium enriched to low levels can be used for peaceful purposes such as energy production. But at higher levels, it can be used to make the fissile core of a nuclear weapon. The deal represents a particular risk of proliferation in the Middle East, where many governments view Iran as a rival, if not […]

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In Iran, Geneva deal is seen as a strategic pivot in US relations

The conversation in Western capitals about the nuclear deal signed between world powers and Iran in Geneva last weekend has focused on the degree of sanctions relief and uranium-enrichment limits involved in the tradeoff. But in Tehran, supporters and critics of the agreement in the corridors of power and on the streets see the Geneva deal as nothing less than a historic pivot in the Islamic Republic’s dealings with the West. And that puts the fragile agreement at the very heart of a high-stakes political battle over the country’s future. Credit for Geneva in Iran has gone to the government of President Hassan Rouhani, whose public diplomacy and skillful foreign minister have been essential to securing multilateral Western agreement. But the ultimate responsibility rests with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who approved the bilateral talks with the United States that laid the groundwork for the accord. “This deal was a wider […]

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Venezuela Says OPEC Must Accommodate Iran Supply, Maintain Output Cap

Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will have to accommodate any additional oil supply into the market in light of the recent easing of economic sanctions on Iran without changes to the cartel’s overall production ceiling, Venezuela Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Thursday. Mr. Ramirez said how Iranian crude is absorbed into the market will feature highly in discussions next week when OPEC members gather. Venezuela will push to maintain the group’s 30-million-barrels-a-day quota, the minister said. The U.S. and five other world powers reached an agreement on Sunday in Geneva to relieve some penalties on Iran in exchange for moves to cap the Islamic government’s nuclear program. “If this permits Iran to reach its maximum oil production, perfect. Then its production quota is guaranteed in OPEC, which must be respected, and we are going to back that [Iran’s] normalization is respected,” Mr. Ramirez […]

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Iran sanctions eased, but pinch still felt

The sanctions relief offered to Iran by the U.S. and five world powers has begun to get the gears of commerce slowly turning again in an economy that remains in shambles. The Obama administration estimates relief from some sanctions in exchange for a temporary pause in Iran’s nuclear enrichment program will amount to just $7 billion. That’s a meager amount for the economy of a nation of nearly 80 million people – it’s less than one month’s worth of Iran’s oil production and just 7 percent of Iran’s overseas cash that remains frozen under the sanctions. Still, Iranians see the move as a much needed step toward a more normal economy after years of crippling inflation and job losses. “Markets operate on a psychological basis,” says Ray Takeyh, an Iran expert at the Council on Foreign Relations and former […]

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Implications of nuclear agreement with Iran

This afternoon, one of my correspondents asked me the following question: What’s your put on the new Iranian agreement, can the weapon program be capped and verification assured? Here was my response: I am happy that there is an interim agreement. It indicates that some people are starting to recognize that Iran is probably telling the truth when it says that it wants to maintain the capability to enrich uranium to provide an independent capability to provide fuel for a growing domestic nuclear energy program. It will be a great benefit to all of us if tensions ease and Iran regains its ability to engage in international business, especially exporting oil and gas. By my calculations, the world has been paying an Iranian sanctions premium of at least $15 per barrel of oil for at least the past six months and perhaps even the past year. That has resulted […]

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Iran opens contacts with oil groups

Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh Iran’s oil ministry has opened contacts with western majors as the government of Hassan Rouhani tries to capitalise on progress in nuclear talks and encourage companies to prepare for an eventual lifting of sanctions. Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the veteran oil minister who has returned to government after an eight-year absence, told the Financial Times he had held meetings with European companies and “indirectly” with US firms with a view to inviting them back to Iran . In his first interview with the foreign media, the minister who persuaded the likes of Total , Royal Dutch Shell , Eni and Statoil to invest in the oil and gas sector in the 1990s despite US sanctions, said these companies were now among those he was seeking to attract back to Iran. All have withdrawn from Iran in recent years, frustrated with […]

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Iran hard-liners criticize Geneva deal

Hard-line Iranian politicians publicly criticized the deal reached in Geneva last week over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, an agreement that has largely been welcomed by Iranians. Hard-line lawmaker Ruhollah Hosseinian said the deal was so vague and conditional that it may finally lead to a shutting down of Iran’s uranium enrichment program. Hamid Rasaei, another hard-line legislator, has called it “a poison chalice.” Most lawmakers supported the deal, saying it eases sanctions that world powers have placed on Iran and prevents them from imposing new ones. Discussions about it were broadcast live on state radio as Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif briefed lawmakers on it. “We should tell the people what we have lost and what we have gained and why,” Hosseinian told the house. “It practically tramples on Iran’s enrichment rights… Uranium enrichment restrictions in the final stage and constraints in […]

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Crude Traders Skeptical Iran Deal Will Bolster Oil Supplies

Crude traders are skeptical that the accord loosening some economic sanctions against Iran in return for limiting nuclear work will lead to a surge in oil supply from what was once OPEC’s second-biggest producer. Brent, the benchmark for half the world’s crude, rose 15 cents today to $111.03 a barrel, little changed from where it was before the agreement was reached Nov. 24. While oil fell as much as 2.7 percent the next day, futures erased the decline by the end of the trading session. “Brent had a knee-jerk selloff,” said Stephen Schork , president of the Schork Group Inc., a consultant to the energy industry in Villanova, Pennsylvania . “The market is skeptical that this is as bearish as it would seem to be.” The six-month agreement capped the country’s crude exports at 1 million barrels a day. Until the U.S. removes all oil sanctions, markets are unlikely […]

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Americans back Iran deal by 2-to-1 margin: Reuters/Ipsos poll

Americans back a newly brokered nuclear deal with Iran by a 2-to-1 margin and are very wary of the United States resorting to military action against Tehran even if the historic diplomatic effort falls through, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday. The findings were rare good news in the polls for President Barack Obama, whose approval ratings have dropped in recent weeks because of the botched rollout of his signature healthcare reform law. According to the Reuters/Ipsos survey, 44 percent of Americans support the interim deal reached between Iran and six world powers in Geneva last weekend, and 22 percent oppose it. While indicating little trust among Americans toward Iranian intentions, the survey also underscored a strong desire to avoid new U.S. military entanglements after long, costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even if the Iran deal fails, 49 percent want the United States to then […]

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White House Launches Push to Sell Its Iran Nuclear Deal

The Obama administration is mounting an aggressive campaign to head off new congressional sanctions against Iran, arguing they would jeopardize the high-stakes deal sealed this past weekend to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. After arguing for weeks that sanctions would hurt the prospects of reaching a deal, senior administration officials are now asking lawmakers to hold off for another six months while negotiators try to achieve a long-term accord. The administration is taking steps to burnish the agreement, casting it as the alternative to Mideast conflict. And enforcement officials, seeking to counter arguments that the interim deal signed Sunday in Geneva would erode punitive economic sanctions, publicly warned any business, bank or broker against trying to do prohibited business with Iran. Meanwhile, doubts over the Iran deal emerged in oil markets, which bucked expectations that it would lead to cheaper crude. Traders initially pushed oil prices lower Monday, but later […]

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Barack Obama faces tough test in fending off new Iran sanctions

US President Barack Obama makes a statement from the State Dining Room of the White House November 23, 2013 in Washington after an agreement to freeze Iran’s nuclear program was reached in Geneva US President Barack Obama will face a decisive test of his influence over Senate Democrats in December when he tries to fend off sanctions legislation that he believes could scupper nuclear negotiations with Iran. Senior members of both parties have called for new sanctions after rushing to criticise the historic interim agreement that was reached with Iran at the weekend, however some of the proposals might not clash with the next round of nuclear talks. At a time when his credibility has been badly damaged by the healthcare debacle , the president will need to secure the support of Democratic leaders in the Senate, especially majority leader Harry Reid, if he is […]

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U.S. and Saudis in Growing Rift as Power Shifts

There was a time when Saudi and American interests in the Middle East seemed so aligned that the cigar-smoking former Saudi ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, was viewed as one of the most influential diplomats in Washington. Those days are over. The Saudi king and his envoys — like the Israelis — have spent weeks lobbying fruitlessly against the interim nuclear accord with Iran that was reached in Geneva on Sunday. In the end, there was little they could do: The Obama administration saw the nuclear talks in a fundamentally different light from the Saudis, who fear that any letup in the sanctions will come at the cost of a wider and more dangerous Iranian role in the Middle East. Although the Saudis remain close American allies, the nuclear accord is the culmination of a slow mutual disenchantment that began at the end of the Cold War. […]

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Israel, Gulf states and many U.S. lawmakers share deep unease about Iran nuclear deal

The signing of a short-term nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers on Sunday left ardent critics of the Islamic republic — most vocally the Israeli government and many U.S. lawmakers — deeply worried that the Obama administration and its partners were making a historic mistake. “Today the world has become a much more dangerous place, because the most dangerous regime in the world has taken a significant step toward attaining the most dangerous weapon in the world,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. He vowed to spend the six months covered by the interim agreement pushing the White House and other allies for a long-term deal that not only curbs Iran’s current nuclear program but also dismantles the infrastructure that could allow it to make a nuclear device. In Congress, many Republicans and some influential Democrats echoed Israeli concerns that the deal freezes Iran’s uranium […]

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Iran nuclear deal pushes oil prices lower

.A picture obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency shows supporters of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (portrait) flashing the sign for victory as the foreign minister arrived at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport after talks in Geneva in which world powers reached an agreement with Iran over its nuclear programme on November 24, 2013. Analysts praised a ground-breaking interim deal with Iran to rein in its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, but warned negotiations for a full agreement will prove even tougher. AFP PHOTO/ISNA/ARASH KHAMOOSHIARASH KHAMOOSHI/AFP/Getty Images Oil prices tumbled on Monday after Iran agreed a historic agreement with world powers to halt its uranium enrichment programme, lifting hopes for a relaxation of geopolitical risk and a boost in oil supplies. Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama and David Cameron, UK prime minister, sought to reassure Israel that the accord would not threaten […]

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Oil Slump Seen as ‘Knee-Jerk’ Reaction to Iran Nuclear Deal

Iran’s pledge to restrict nuclear work in return for loosened economic sanctions may have a limited effect on crude prices, said analysts who called today’s 2.5 percent slump in Brent a “knee-jerk” reaction. Oil exports from the Islamic republic will be held to about 1 million barrels a day under sanctions that remain in force after Iran and six world powers reached an agreement yesterday in Geneva, according to the White House. The sanctions cut Iranian crude sales by 60 percent since the start of 2012, depriving the country of more than $80 billion in revenue, U.S. President Barack Obama ’s administration said in a statement. London’s Brent crude prices slumped today in the first day of trading since the deal while West Texas Intermediate fell 1.3 percent in New York . “There will be a little bit of a knee-jerk reaction,” Jonathan Barratt , the chief executive officer […]

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Iran sanctions deal to unleash oil supply but Saudi wild card looms

Khaled al Otaiby, an official of the Saudi oil company Aramco watches progress at a rig at the al-Howta oil field near Howta, Saudi Arabia The bank said falling energy prices could mark the death of the commodity supercycle, already struggling as China shifts to a new phase of “smart urbanisation”. Alastair Newton from Nomura said the “geopolitical risk” premium in the oil price should fall but there will be no immediate softening of the oil embargo, adding that talks could still break down over Iran’s heavy water reactor at Arak. America’s rapprochement with Tehran is a dramatic upset in the region’s alliance system at a time when Shia Muslims led by Iran are locked in an epic struggle for Mid-East dominance with a Saudi-led bloc of Sunni regimes. Chris Skrebowski, editor of Petroleum Review, said the great unknown is how Saudi Arabia will react to a move deemed […]

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Iran will start implementing nuclear agreement in weeks: Zarif

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday his country would begin implementing a nuclear agreement struck with world powers in the next few weeks, as hundreds of supporters welcomed him and his negotiating team home. Crowds gathered at Mehrabad airport on Sunday evening local time, hailing Zarif as a hero and holding flags and flowers. "No war, no sanctions, no insults and no submission," they chanted. Some held aloft posters of President Hassan Rouhani, the architect of Iran’s initiative in striking a nuclear deal. "In the coming weeks – by the end of the Christian year – we will begin the programme for the first phase," Zarif said in a live interview at the airport. "At the same time, we are prepared to begin negotiations for a final resolution as of tomorrow." Earlier on Sunday, the team was acclaimed by Iran’s most powerful man, […]

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Special Report: ‘Great Satan’ meets ‘Axis of Evil’ and strikes a deal

GENEVA (Reuters) – Saturday night had turned into Sunday morning and four days of talks over Iran’s nuclear program had already gone so far over schedule that the Geneva Intercontinental Hotel had been given over to another event. A black tie charity ball was finishing up and singers with an after party band at a bar above the lobby were crooning out the words to a Johnny Cash song – "I fell into a burning ring of fire" – while weary diplomats in nearby conference rooms were trying to polish off the last touches of an accord. Negotiators emerged complaining that the hotel lobby smelled like beer. At around 2:00 a.m., U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia were brought to a conference room to approve a final text of the agreement which would provide limited relief of sanctions on Iran […]

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Special Report: 'Great Satan' meets 'Axis of Evil' and strikes a deal

GENEVA (Reuters) – Saturday night had turned into Sunday morning and four days of talks over Iran’s nuclear program had already gone so far over schedule that the Geneva Intercontinental Hotel had been given over to another event. A black tie charity ball was finishing up and singers with an after party band at a bar above the lobby were crooning out the words to a Johnny Cash song – "I fell into a burning ring of fire" – while weary diplomats in nearby conference rooms were trying to polish off the last touches of an accord. Negotiators emerged complaining that the hotel lobby smelled like beer. At around 2:00 a.m., U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia were brought to a conference room to approve a final text of the agreement which would provide limited relief of sanctions on Iran […]

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Asia Refiners Weigh Impact of Iran Oil Insurance Deal on Imports

Refiners in South Korea and Japan said they have no immediate plans to boost crude purchases from Iran while Indian processors intend to maintain contracted volumes after the EU lifted a ban on insuring tankers. It’s still too early to say whether SK Innovation Co. (096770) , South Korea’s largest refiner, will increase purchases, Lee Mi Ji, a spokeswoman in Seoul , said by phone. Japan’s Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. doesn’t plan to change its supply deals for the time being, according to the company. Indian Oil Corp., Hindustan Petroleum Corp. and Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. said that while the removal of restrictions will enable them to import contracted volumes more easily, they don’t intend to buy more than previously planned. “Insurance was an issue, but the key point is that there is no lifting of current restrictions on Iranian crude, they just remain the same,” said Neil […]

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Iran Pact Faces Stiff Opposition

LONDON—A groundbreaking deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program faces towering obstacles at home and abroad to becoming a permanent agreement, starting with the U.S. Congress and two of America’s closest allies. The leaders of both the Democratic and Republican parties are threatening to break with President Barack Obama ‘s policy and enact new punitive sanctions on Iran, arguing that the interim deal reached in Geneva on Sunday yields too much to the Islamist regime while asking too little. “The disproportionality of this agreement makes it more likely that Democrats and Republicans will join together and pass additional sanctions when we return in December,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.), an influential member of the Senate Democratic leadership. Such a move could kill the nascent nuclear accord, U.S. and Iranian officials agree, and add to more recent political embarrassments for the White House. Reaching a comprehensive deal with Iran also […]

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Science of Nuclear Capacity Fuels Doubt on Deal’s Impact

GENEVA—The big question over the agreement forged Sunday in this Swiss lakeside city between Iran and the world’s big powers is this: How much will it delay, if at all, Tehran’s ability to produce enough material for a nuclear weapon? Israel argues that as long as Iran can enrich uranium at even a low level, it can elude detection of any clandestine effort toward making higher-level, weapons-grade fuel, and can quickly restore the capacity that it agreed to reduce. The international community has sought ways to ensure that any Iranian move toward a weapon is slowed, and can be caught, though Iran says its activities are for civilian purposes. Even with Sunday’s accord, most analysts believe it would still take only weeks or months to produce enough highly enriched fissile material to fuel a bomb if Iran chose to go all out. Uranium ore in nature is only 0.7% […]

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Science of Nuclear Capacity Fuels Doubt on Deal's Impact

GENEVA—The big question over the agreement forged Sunday in this Swiss lakeside city between Iran and the world’s big powers is this: How much will it delay, if at all, Tehran’s ability to produce enough material for a nuclear weapon? Israel argues that as long as Iran can enrich uranium at even a low level, it can elude detection of any clandestine effort toward making higher-level, weapons-grade fuel, and can quickly restore the capacity that it agreed to reduce. The international community has sought ways to ensure that any Iranian move toward a weapon is slowed, and can be caught, though Iran says its activities are for civilian purposes. Even with Sunday’s accord, most analysts believe it would still take only weeks or months to produce enough highly enriched fissile material to fuel a bomb if Iran chose to go all out. Uranium ore in nature is only 0.7% […]

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Longer-Term Deal With Iran Faces Major Challenges

LONDON — The Obama administration’s successful push for an accord that would temporarily freeze much of Iran’s nuclear program has cast a spotlight on the more formidable challenge it now confronts in trying to roll the program back. For all of the drama of late-night make-or-break talks in Geneva, the deal that Secretary of State John Kerry and his negotiating partners announced early on Sunday was largely a holding action, meant to keep the Iranian nuclear program in check for six months while negotiators pursue a far tougher and more lasting agreement. By itself, the interim pact does not foreclose either side’s main options or require many irreversible actions — which was why the two sides were able to come to terms on it. That was also a reason for the sharp negative reaction the deal elicited on Sunday from Israel, an American ally that is deeply suspicious of […]

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Praise in Iran All the Way to the Top, Where Efforts Reportedly Preceded a President

TEHRAN — The smiling started early in Tehran on Sunday, when President Hassan Rouhani kissed a young schoolgirl in an Islamic head scarf before dozens of cameras, signaling that Iran’s future had taken a new turn. After years of seemingly endless bad tidings of more international sanctions, more inflation and more saber rattling, many in this capital received the news of the first nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers in more than a decade like an awakening from a bad dream, and they shared their emotions on social media. “When I checked my Instagram when I woke up, someone had posted a picture of an Iranian and American flag,” said Asal Khalilpour, 29. “After I read the comments saying a deal was made, tears started rolling down my cheeks of happiness. I couldn’t believe it.” People from across the Iranian political spectrum, including many hard-line commanders and clerics […]

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Easing of Iran sanctions to have no impact on crude tankers: sources

The partial and temporary easing of sanctions against Iran in return for a freeze of its nuclear programme is expected to have no impact on the crude oil tanker market as the deal agreed Sunday does not allow buyers to boost their import volumes from Tehran, market sources said Monday. “If no extra crude is being allowed for export, then what impact could it have on the tanker market,” an Iranian shipping source said, adding that most of the current exports are anyway being moved on National Iranian Tanker Company ships. A VLCC shipowner said there could be more cargoes for the VLCC sector, but only if the Iranians are allowed to export crude at “normal volumes.” India, China and South Korea have all been importing their crude on NITC tankers after the EU in July last year banned the provision of EU-linked […]

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Pakistan sees hope for Iranian gas pipeline

A Pakistani government official said a breakthrough nuclear deal with Tehran may breathe new life into a natural gas pipeline planned from Iran. “We hope the agreement between Iran and the world powers would revive confidence of countries like China and Russia to finance the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project,” the official told The Express Tribune, a Pakistani newspaper, Monday. Iran and delegates from the so-called P5-plus-1 nations — the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany — in concert with the European Union, reached a landmark nuclear deal in Geneva, Switzerland, last weekend. Under the terms of the agreement, Iran agreed to suspend certain parts of its nuclear program in exchange for relief from some economic sanctions. “We are hopeful that those [foreign finance] institutions would have some confidence and they would sponsor the [pipeline] project after Iran and Western nations inked the […]

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Compromise Seen on Tehran’s Right to Enrich; Kerry, Other Foreign Ministers Fly to Geneva Talks to Try to Conclude Pact

GENEVA—Iran and world powers neared a crucial compromise Friday on a late roadblock to a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program, according to Western and Iranian diplomats taking part in the negotiations. A compromise on that issue—Iran’s demand that it be explicitly allowed to keep some domestic uranium enrichment capacity—could lend momentum to the push for an agreement and at least a temporary reprieve from a decadelong standoff over Tehran’s program and elevated fears of war over it, according to these officials. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius arrived in Geneva Saturday morning to join the Iranian nuclear talks, saying he wanted to see a “solid” deal reached. Mr. Fabius played a key role in the last round of Iranian negotiations two weeks ago, saying publicly the draft agreement under discussion was not tough enough on several key points. Iranian officials have since blamed France for scuppering a deal. Speaking […]

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Compromise Seen on Tehran's Right to Enrich; Kerry, Other Foreign Ministers Fly to Geneva Talks to Try to Conclude Pact

GENEVA—Iran and world powers neared a crucial compromise Friday on a late roadblock to a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program, according to Western and Iranian diplomats taking part in the negotiations. A compromise on that issue—Iran’s demand that it be explicitly allowed to keep some domestic uranium enrichment capacity—could lend momentum to the push for an agreement and at least a temporary reprieve from a decadelong standoff over Tehran’s program and elevated fears of war over it, according to these officials. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius arrived in Geneva Saturday morning to join the Iranian nuclear talks, saying he wanted to see a “solid” deal reached. Mr. Fabius played a key role in the last round of Iranian negotiations two weeks ago, saying publicly the draft agreement under discussion was not tough enough on several key points. Iranian officials have since blamed France for scuppering a deal. Speaking […]

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Foreign ministers in Geneva for talks on Iran nuclear deal

World powers and Iran held a fresh round of talks on the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme, a month after launching ice-breaking negotiations that may yield a historic deal on easing sanctions against Tehran in exchange for concessions ©Getty EU foreign policy chief Lady Ashton and Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrive for talks in Geneva on Wednesday John Kerry, US secretary of state, has held talks with Lady Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief and the French foreign minister Laurent Fabius after flying to Geneva for the second time in two weeks for what is hoped will be a last diplomatic push to reach an interim agreement on curbing Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for an easing of international sanctions. A State Department […]

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Iran Would Eliminate Stock of Some of Its Enriched Uranium Under Deal

WASHINGTON — Under the proposed six-month deal that six major powers are negotiating with Iran in Geneva, Iran would eliminate its current stock of uranium enriched to 20 percent by diluting it or turning it into fuel rods or oxide powder, forms that are unusable for weapons, senior Western officials said Friday. Iran would be allowed to continue to enrich uranium at much lower levels, to 3.5 percent, the officials said, but would also agree to cap its current stockpile of such uranium, by eliminating, diluting or transforming into fuel as much 3.5 percent uranium as it produces over the six months. The officials spoke about the deal on the condition of anonymity because the negotiations had not been completed. The rationale for such a deal, the officials said, is to satisfy Iran’s refusal to suspend all enrichment — a concession that its negotiators could not sell domestically, even […]

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Iran Talks ‘Substantial,’ but Yield No Accord

GENEVA — The foreign policy chief of the European Union spent much of Thursday in detailed negotiations with Iranian officials over an agreement to temporarily freeze Tehran’s nuclear program. But the day ended without reports of a breakthrough and with a warning by a leading American lawmaker that he was prepared to introduce legislation next month that would impose new economic sanctions on Iran. The talks on Thursday between Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s top foreign policy official, and Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, were described by a spokesman for Ms. Ashton as “intense” and “substantial.” Their negotiations were to continue Friday morning. Reports in the Iranian news media suggested that the talks might continue into the weekend and could end with the arrival of Secretary of State John Kerry and the foreign ministers of other world powers if a deal appeared close. But whether the remaining issues […]

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Iran Deal Falters as Negotiators Cite Little Progress

Negotiators weren’t able to reach agreement on a first-step accord to resolve a decade-old dispute over Iran’s nuclear program , reducing the likelihood that foreign ministers will arrive to strike a deal after two days of negotiations in Geneva. Talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Catherine Ashton , the European Union foreign policy chief representing world powers at the talks, broke up late yesterday after more than six hours of intense consultations, the EU said in a statement. The sides will reconvene today. “We have made no progress” toward resolving certain disagreements in the text, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Geneva. He said foreign ministers won’t come unless there’s “success in negotiations.” EU spokesman Michael Mann cast the talks in a more positive light, calling them “intense, substantial and detailed” […]

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Iran Expects Crude Exports to China to Stabilize

SHANGHAI—Iran expects its crude-oil exports to China will stabilize despite political pressure from the U.S. and a drop in shipments so far this year, an executive at Iran’s state oil company said. China’s October crude imports from Iran fell 42% to 1.06 million metric tons, or about 250,000 barrels a day, from the same period a year earlier, Chinese customs data showed Thursday. The steep drop in October brings China’s Iranian crude imports to 17.1 million tons in the January to October period, down 3% from the same period last year. The drop makes it increasingly likely that Washington and Beijing will avoid a clash over imports from Iran. However, the decline may be only temporary, said Maziar Hojjati, managing director of the China office of National Iranian Oil Co. He expects imports will recover in December and end the year almost unchanged compared with last year. “There were […]

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South Korea’s Oct crude imports from Iran slump 47% on year to 98,097 b/d

South Korea’s imports of Iranian crude oil in October slumped 47.4% to 3.04 million barrels, or 98,097 b/d, compared with 5.78 million barrels a year earlier, data released Friday by state-run Korea National Oil Corp. showed. Compared with September’s imports of 4.12 million barrels, South Korea’s imports in October were 26.2% lower. In the first ten months, the country imported 40.33 million barrels of Iranian crude oil, down 9.5% from 44.55 million barrels in the same period last year. The country did not import any crude oil from Iran in August and September last year in line with US-led sanctions on Iran, but imported 1.97 million in August and 4.12 million barrels in September this year. South Korea was granted an exemption from US financial sanctions since last year allowing it to keep buying Iranian crude oil as long as it showed an […]

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South Korea's Oct crude imports from Iran slump 47% on year to 98,097 b/d

South Korea’s imports of Iranian crude oil in October slumped 47.4% to 3.04 million barrels, or 98,097 b/d, compared with 5.78 million barrels a year earlier, data released Friday by state-run Korea National Oil Corp. showed. Compared with September’s imports of 4.12 million barrels, South Korea’s imports in October were 26.2% lower. In the first ten months, the country imported 40.33 million barrels of Iranian crude oil, down 9.5% from 44.55 million barrels in the same period last year. The country did not import any crude oil from Iran in August and September last year in line with US-led sanctions on Iran, but imported 1.97 million in August and 4.12 million barrels in September this year. South Korea was granted an exemption from US financial sanctions since last year allowing it to keep buying Iranian crude oil as long as it showed an […]

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Chinese official: Oil trade with Iran ‘transparent, open, reasonable’

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China’s crude oil imports from Iran are in line with sanctions targeting the Iranian energy sector. “Our cooperation with Iran on crude oil is transparent, open, reasonable and commercial in nature. It does not run counter to U.N. resolutions or damage third-party interests,” Hong said in a report from China’s official Xinhua News Agency Thursday. Hong said China was importing less crude oil from Iran than during previous months but that was not in response to sanctions or to nuclear talks under way in Geneva, Switzerland. Iranian delegates and representatives from the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France, plus Germany, met in Geneva for a third day of nuclear negotiations Friday. Iran denies its nuclear program is geared toward creating weapons. It maintains it has the right to enrich uranium to a high level […]

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Chinese official: Oil trade with Iran 'transparent, open, reasonable'

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China’s crude oil imports from Iran are in line with sanctions targeting the Iranian energy sector. “Our cooperation with Iran on crude oil is transparent, open, reasonable and commercial in nature. It does not run counter to U.N. resolutions or damage third-party interests,” Hong said in a report from China’s official Xinhua News Agency Thursday. Hong said China was importing less crude oil from Iran than during previous months but that was not in response to sanctions or to nuclear talks under way in Geneva, Switzerland. Iranian delegates and representatives from the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France, plus Germany, met in Geneva for a third day of nuclear negotiations Friday. Iran denies its nuclear program is geared toward creating weapons. It maintains it has the right to enrich uranium to a high level […]

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World powers, Iran make new attempt to clinch nuclear deal

World powers aim to clinch a preliminary deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program in politically charged talks resuming in Geneva on Wednesday to end a long standoff and head off the risk of a wider Middle East war. The United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany came tantalizingly close to winning concessions from Iran on the scope of its nuclear work in return for some sanctions relief at negotiations in the Swiss city on November 7-9. Top policymakers from the sextet have since said that an interim accord on confidence-building steps to start defusing a decade of suspicion and hostility between the West and Iran could finally be within reach. But diplomats caution that differences remain and could still prevent an agreement during the talks Wednesday through Friday. "There is a good chance. There is a hope the Iranians realize it’s a good deal and […]

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France, Iran trade barbs, tempering hopes of nuclear deal

France and Iran traded tough words on Thursday before major powers began to negotiate the details of a preliminary accord to curb Tehran’s nuclear program with Paris warning the West had to remain firm and Tehran deploring a loss of trust. Each side appeared to be tempering anticipation of an imminent agreement after the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany came close to winning concessions from Tehran in the last round of negotiations two weeks ago. Policymakers from the six governments have said an interim accord on confidence-building steps could be within reach to defuse a decade-old stand-off and dispel the specter of a wider Middle East war over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions. But before negotiations began in earnest on Thursday, France and Iran stepped up the rhetoric. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who spoke out against a draft deal floated at the […]

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Iran Talks Enter Critical Phase as France Signals Unity

Diplomats seeking to reach an interim accord to ease a decade-long standoff over Iran’s nuclear program began a critical phase of talks today, an Iranian negotiator said. Iran ’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Geneva, according to an EU statement. U.S. and Iranian negotiators were also set to have direct talks this morning, according to the U.S. delegation. “All will depend on the Ashton talks with Zarif,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in the Swiss city. The six world powers Iran is negotiating with need a common stance at this “critical juncture,” he said. Envoys are trying to strike a first-step accord that would give negotiators a six-month window in which to win a broader agreement over Iran’s nuclear work. Israel and the U.S. have said they’re prepared to strike Iran, which controls the world’s No. […]

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