Eye on Iran: Iran Signs Key Oil Contract with Khamenei-Linked Firm
TOP STORIES
Iran Signs Key Oil Contract with Khamenei-Linked Firm | Reuters
Iran signed the first oil output contract under a new, less restrictive model on Tuesday, Iranian oil officials were quoted as saying, with a firm identified by the United States as part of a conglomerate controlled by Iran's Supreme Leader…. The National Iranian Oil Company signed the contract with Persia Oil & Gas Industry Development Co., an Iranian firm, according to the oil ministry's official website SHANA. The U.S. Treasury Department named Persia Oil & Gas in 2013 as part of Setad Ejraiye Farman-e Emam, or Setad, a secretive and powerful organization overseen by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. With stakes in nearly every sector of Iran's economy, Setad built its empire on the seizure of thousands of properties belonging to religious minorities, business people and Iranians living abroad, according to a 2013 Reuters investigation, which estimated the network's holdings at about $95 billion. The U.S. Treasury in 2013 sanctioned Setad and 37 companies it said it oversees, calling it "a major network of front companies controlled by Iran's leadership." Those sanctions were lifted in January, as part of the historic nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers in 2015.
Boeing ‘Making Progress' on Airplane Deal with Iran: CEO | Reuters
Aircraft maker Boeing Co is making progress on a deal to provide more than 100 commercial airplanes to Iran though none will be delivered in 2016, the company's top executive said on Tuesday… "We won't deliver any aircraft under that deal this year - these are deliveries that are a year, two, three downstream," Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Chicago on future technologies. "But it's significant opportunity for us and I'm pleased to see that we're making steady progress." ... Muilenburg said Boeing is "in the final stages of working through the deal structure with our customers in Iran" while also working through the U.S. government licensing process.
Iran Tells Saudi Navy Vessels to Avoid Its Waters | Reuters
Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) warned Saudi naval vessels taking part in military exercises in the Gulf on Wednesday not to get close to Iranian waters, in a sign of heightened tensions between the two regional rivals. Saudi Arabia began naval war games including live fire exercises on Tuesday in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil route.
NUCLEAR & BALLISTIC MISSILE PROGRAM
Obama Admin Secretly Facilitated Iranian Ballistic Missile Program | Washington Free Beacon
The Obama administration misled journalists and lawmakers for more than nine months about a secret agreement to lift international sanctions on a critical funding node of Iran’s ballistic missile program, as part of a broader “ransom” package earlier this year that involved Iran freeing several U.S. hostages, according to U.S. officials and congressional sources apprised of the situation. The administration agreed to immediately lift global restrictions on Iran’s Bank Sepah—a bank the Treasury Department described in 2007 as the “linchpin of Iran’s missile procurement”–eight years before they were to be lifted under last summer’s comprehensive nuclear agreement. U.S. officials initially described the move as a “goodwill gesture” to Iran. The United States also agreed to provide Iran $1.7 billion in cash to release or drop charges against 21 Iranians indicted for illegally assisting Tehran. Full details of this secret agreement were kept hidden from Congress and journalists for more than nine months, multiple sources told the Washington Free Beacon.
SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT
Turkish Trader Reza Zarrab Set to Fight U.S. Charges of Violating Iran Sanctions | WSJ
Lawyers for Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab, whose prosecution in the U.S. for alleged sanctions violations has drawn national attention in Turkey, will argue at a hearing Wednesday that the criminal charges against him are an overreach by the U.S. government and should be dismissed. Mr. Zarrab, who had been living in Turkey with Turkish and Iranian citizenship, was arrested by U.S. authorities in March when he arrived in Miami for a family vacation. Mr. Zarrab, 34 years old, was accused of helping Iranian companies process financial transactions that sidestepped U.S. sanctions against Iran. The criminal charges against him include conspiracies to launder money and defraud U.S. banks and carry a maximum prison sentence of 75 years.
BUSINESS RISK
Embraer and Marcopolo Lead Brazil Struggle to Sell to Iran | Bloomberg
Brazilian companies such as Embraer SA and Marcopolo SA are scrambling to close multi billion-dollar deals to sell planes and buses to Iran, seeking to navigate remaining U.S. financial sanctions, senior officials have said. The plane-maker is in advanced negotiations to sell at least 20 E195 jets with a total list price of more than $1 billion, while the bus manufacturer is in talks to supply part of the 27,000 units Tehran is seeking, according to Mahdi Rounagh, a senior official at Iran’s Foreign Ministry and until recently deputy ambassador in Brasilia. The problem is that Brazilian banks are reluctant to deal with Iran for fear of penalties by the U.S., even after Washington lifted restrictions on non-U.S. banks. Their concern is that their U.S. assets and subsidiaries could classify them as U.S. banks, according to two senior bank executives in Brasilia. Business and government officials say Brazil must try harder to find alternatives, such as using smaller European banks that don’t operate in the U.S.
Iran Denies It Made Power Plant Deal With MECI for 370 Megawatts | Bloomberg
Iran’s top renewable-energy authority denied that it’s signed any agreement covering electricity generation projects with a Swiss developer that has said it obtained power-purchase agreements for 370 megawatts of installations. The Renewable Energy Organization of Iran, which is known as Suna, hasn’t signed any deal with MECI Group International, said Jafar Mohamadnejad Sigaroudi, the deputy in charge of planning and development at the organization...
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Iran Signs New Model Oil Deal as It Vows to Pump More | Wall Street Journal
Iran on Tuesday clinched the first oil-field deal designed to boost its production, vowing to pump more crude despite a collective OPEC deal to curb output. Iran’s oil ministry news agency Shana said the government had signed a $2.2 billion contract with a unit of Iranian company Tadbir Energy, which is controlled by a religious foundation overseen by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei… The announcement was made after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed Wednesday in Algiers to collectively reduce output by between 200,000 barrels a day and 700,000 barrels a day. But Iran—along with Nigeria and Libya—would be exempted from making a reduction, posing a potential challenge to the deal.
New Malls Cropping Up Across Iran | Wall Street Journal
Construction noises are rumbling these days from a vast site in the Iranian capital where the city’s latest megamall is taking shape. The project—the 2.7 million-square-foot Iran Mall in Tehran’s northwestern outskirts—is part of a new crop of shopping centers sprouting up across the country, reshaping its retail landscape as the Persian Gulf state comes out of years of crippling economic sanctions. The mall, built by real-estate and industrial magnate Ali Ansari, is one of roughly 300 retail properties currently under construction across the country to meet growing consumer demand at home, according to Boris Planer, the chief economist at Planet Retail in Frankfurt.
Developers Make Bets on Iran | Wall Street Journal
Real-estate developers have found their next big project: Iran. The onetime pariah’s year-old deal to curb its nuclear program lifts a host of economic sanctions that have limited the ability to do business in the country. Now, hotel and shopping mall developers from Europe and the Middle East are rushing to take advantage of the opening. Developers are making bets on the capital city of Tehran, while some European companies are leasing office space there, lifting the market. Plans are moving forward to turn an area near the city’s international airport into a logistics hub that would compete with those in Turkey and Dubai… Some U.S. sanctions are still in effect, discouraging American companies from expanding into Iran for now. Many international companies in sectors like energy and health care are holding back as well. The early movers include hotel industry companies like France’s Accor, Spain’s Meliá and Germany’s Steigenberger Hotel Group.
India Slow to Expand Iran Port as China Races Ahead at Rival Hub | Bloomberg
When the leaders of India, Iran and Afghanistan gathered in Tehran in the spring for a ceremony marking India’s development of a strategic Iranian port, they recited Persian poetry and said their partnership would “alter the course of history… Months after the ceremony in May and pledges by India to inject $500 million into the project, the much-heralded port of Chabahar remains a sleepy outpost – as well as a shadow of the Chinese-built port of Gwadar, 100 kilometers (62 miles) to the east across Iran’s border with Pakistan.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
EU Roadmap for Relations with Iran Ignores Its Anti-Semitism, Terrorism | JTA
The European Parliament is set to vote on a roadmap for relations with Iran that critics charge sidesteps Tehran’s endorsement of anti-Semitism, terrorism, and calls to destroy Israel. Compiled by Richard Howitt, a member of the European Union’s legislative arm for Britain’s Labour Party and a close ally of party leader Jeremy Corbyn, the draft report on “EU strategy towards Iran after the nuclear agreement” is scheduled to be voted on Thursday by the Committee on Foreign Affairs in Brussels. The draft document, which sets principles for normalization of European Union relations with Iran following the agreement to lift sanctions from Tehran in exchange for the scaling back of its nuclear program, contains one single criticism of Iran, regarding its use of the death penalty. It does not mention Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism, support for Holocaust denial, and threats to destroy Israel. “Iran’s revolutionary legacy and its constitution as an Islamic state must not be an impediment for finding common ground on matters related to democracy or human rights,” the document states. Omitting reference to Iran’s support for the Hezbollah military wing, which is on the EU list of terrorist groups, the document “welcomes Iran’s contribution to the fight against ISIS.”
Iran Leaders Snub German Vice Chancellor over Call to Recognize Israel | Times of Israel
Iran’s foreign minister and parliament speaker called off meetings with Germany’s vice chancellor over his demand that the Islamic Republic recognize Israel as a precondition for full normalization of ties between Berlin and Tehran, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported on Tuesday. Sigmar Gabriel, who also serves as economy minister, arrived in Tehran on Sunday as part of Germany’s efforts to renew business ties with the Islamic Republic following the last year’s nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers that eased international sanctions in exchange for curbs to Tehran’s nuclear program. Ahead of the visit, Gabriel told Der Spiegel that Germany could not move ahead with full normalization of ties until the Iranian regime accepted Israel’s right to exist. According to the Fars News Agency, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani subsequently snubbed Gabriel, who was in the Islamic Republic for two days with some 120 business representatives and dozens of journalists. Meetings between the Iranian politicians and Gabriel were canceled, the report said.
REGIONAL DESTABILIZATION
UAE Says Houthi Attack on Ship in Shipping Lane was ‘Act of Terrorism' | Reuters
The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday Yemeni Houthi forces had attacked a UAE vessel in a strategic Red Sea shipping lane off the coast of Yemen at the weekend and called the incident an "act of terrorism." Hundreds of Emirati soldiers in a Saudi-led coalition have been fighting Yemen's Iran-allied Houthis, who control the capital, besides training Yemeni troops in the port of Aden to help rebuild a state loyal to exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The vessel, an Australian-built high speed logistics catamaran under lease to the United Arab Emirates military, was attacked by Houthi fighters near the Bab al-Mandab strait off Yemen's southern coast on Saturday. The coalition rescued its civilian passengers. No crew were hurt. "The targeting of the civilian ship in an international channel has serious implications for freedom of navigation, and is an act of terror," the UAE foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency WAM, without elaborating.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran, Which Executed Nearly 1,000 Last Year, Considers Cutting Back | New York Times
Iran, which puts more people to death every year than any other country in the world but China, is debating a measure that could significantly cut the number of executions, local news outlets reported Tuesday. But the bill seems certain to face considerable opposition from hard-liners in the judiciary. newly installed Parliament, thought to be more liberal than its predecessor but, until now, unwilling to take any unorthodox steps, is considering a bill that would abolish the death penalty for drug smugglers, who account for a large majority of those executed. While the government does not release figures on capital punishment, the local news media said that 950 people had been hanged in 2015. Human rights groups say the total could have been as high as 1,500, and the United Nations put the number at nearly 1,000. Possession of as little as 30 grams of heroin is enough under Iranian law to face execution by hanging. Nevertheless, drug addiction and smuggling are rampant, officials acknowledge.
Calls for Chess Boycott over Iran's Hijab Laws | BBC News
Calls for a boycott of next year's Women's World Chess Championship in Tehran, in protest at Iran's strict hijab laws, have prompted a big debate inside Iran in both the official and social media. At stake are two of the most current and contentious issues in Iran - equal participation for women in sport and increasing resistance among growing numbers of Iranian women to their country's compulsory Islamic dress code. The controversy started after Iran was named as host country at the end of September, in the absence of any other volunteers, prompting dismay from some international players, including the current US champion, Nazi Paikidze. Georgian-born Paikidze said she was taking a stand over the requirement for all women living in Iran or visiting the country to wear a headscarf… Some Iranian women have welcomed Paikidze's support for an issue they have long campaigned on. "I have never experienced the freedom of not wearing a veil without the fear of the morality police," wrote artist and activist Atena Daemi in an emotional Facebook post. Currently on home leave from a seven-year prison sentence, Daemi wrote that she was paying the price for challenging the law in Iran and posting a photo of herself without her headscarf.
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Wed, 10/05/2016 - 13:58