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IRAN FRONT PAGELatest News and Views From Iran, Middle East and the World

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Home Blog Page 4554

195 companies take part in 12th Kish Intl. Energy Exhibition

Emad Askarieh

January 12, 2016

Mahmoud Seddiqi was quoted by Iranian media as saying on Monday that this year’s exhibition has started on January 11 and will continue until January 14 on the southern Iranian resort island of Kish.

The official noted that participants in the exhibition will present available opportunities and capacities for investment in relevant fields of oil, gas and petrochemical industries.

The event is also a venue for offering the latest achievements by manufacturers and producers in various fields of energy sector, he added.

Seddiqi noted that a total of 195 domestic and foreign companies have taken part in this year’s edition of Kish energy expo, adding that some 160 Iranian companies as well as 35 foreign firms from Italy, China, Pakistan, Turkey, the Netherlands, India, South Korea, Taiwan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Malaysia, France, Austria, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Russia, the UK, Japan, Portugal, Canada, Kuwait and Switzerland, among others, are present in the exhibition.

The official said introducing active and potential capacities in the country for providing necessary services to oil, gas and petrochemical industries, identification and introduction of problems facing these industries, attracting government’s support for those active in these fields as well as providing needed grounds for encouraging investment in these fields as major goals of the event.

He added that creating jobs in the country, making efforts to achieve international standards, encouraging healthy competition among domestic manufacturers, boosting export of Iranian energy industry’s products to other countries, and facilitating exchange of views and technology among domestic and foreign participants as other goals of the exhibition.

Saudi-Based Takfirism Main Threat to Region: Iran’s FM

Emad Askarieh

January 12, 2016

The main threats to the region are the Takfiri and extremist thoughts with their intellectual and financial sources in Saudi Arabia, the top Iranian diplomat said Monday in a meeting with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Tehran.

Zarif also described Saudi Arabia’s approaches that incite turmoil as a show and unconsidered and passive behavior.

Elsewhere, the top diplomat referred to a July nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) and said implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will mark a new stage in Tehran-Berlin ties.

For his part, Schroeder said he sees a good prospect for relations with Iran in light of the lasting nuclear deal.

He also noted that Europe expects to tap into Iran’s role and capacities for the settlement of regional crises after the nuclear deal.

The visit by the former chancellor at the head of such a delegation indicates how the European country’s firms are trying to compete with other Western companies in the lucrative market of Iran after the termination of sanctions against the country.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as the P5+1 or E3+3) on July 14 reached a conclusion on a 159-page nuclear agreement that would terminate all sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear energy program after coming into force.

Experts believe that Iran’s economic growth would rise remarkably after the deal takes effect.

West’s Divisive War on Muslims Unending: Iranian Minister

Emad Askarieh

January 12, 2016

“The West and the US are always after the Crusades against Muslims, and commit such crime and treason with diverse methods at different historical junctures,” the Iranian minister said in a meeting with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus on Monday.

He underlined that the Muslim countries, particularly the axis of resistance, should join hands and counter the seditious schemes.

Rahmani Fazli arrived in Damascus on Monday and held separate meetings with Syria’s interior minister, prime minister and parliament speaker.

The Iranian official is going to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday.

According to Tasnim dispatches, Rahmani Fazli and President Assad are expected to discuss cooperation in the fight on narcotics and organized terrorism as part of previous agreements between Tehran and Damascus.

Rouhani foresees ‘economic boom’ next year

Emad Askarieh

January 11, 2016

He made the remarks in a ceremony held to inaugurate two new phases of the South Pars Energy Zone in Assalouyeh.

Rouhani said the next Iranian calendar year (starting March 20, 2016) will be the year of economic boom.

Iran’s budget will be less reliant on oil revenues, the President added.

He said that the share of oil income in the next year budget will be only 25 percent.

It is worth noting that Economic Affairs and Finance Minister Ali Tayyebnia had said based on international economic forecasts, next year is going to herald the highest economic growth across the region extending from north of Africa to the Middle East.

Tayyebnia said that international experts foresee a bright future for Iran’s economy.

Following the removal of sanctions, Iran will be able to have new possibilities and access to foreign resources which were inaccessible due to the sanctions.

President Rouhani arrived in Assalouyeh on Monday morning in this southern province to inaugurate two new phases of the South Pars Energy Zone.

Phases 15 and 16 of the South Pars Gas Field, Bushehr province, will be launched on Monday in a ceremony to be attended by the president.

Once fully launched, the phases’ daily production will include 56.6 mcm of natural gas, 75,000 barrels of gas condensate and 400 tons of sulfur.

They are also expected to produce 1.05 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas (butane and propane) and 1 million tons of ethane per annum.

The phases will raise the country’s revenues $20 million per day. Also, given that most Iranian petrochemical units are suffering from a shortage of ethane, the phases can mark a turning point in providing feedstock to domestic petchem complexes.

Since December 2013, the phases have produced 15.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas, 14 million barrels of gas condensates, 3,000 tons of sulfur and more than 5,000 tons of ethane.

The phases’ development projects were implemented by a consortium of Iranian companies.

Iranian lawmakers denounce anti-Iran Saudi policies

Emad Askarieh

January 11, 2016

In a Monday statement, over 220 members of Iran’s parliament (Majlis) condemned Saudi Arabia’s air raid on the Iranian embassy in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, calling on the Foreign Ministry to pursue the issue through legal channels at the international level.

On January 6, Saudi jets targeted Iran’s embassy in Sana’a, damaging the mission’s building and wounding a number of security forces guarding the place.

The Iranian mission in Sana’a had also previously come under Saudi attacks. Riyadh launched its military campaign against Yemen on March 26, 2015.

Last June, Iran sent a letter to the UN Security Council to inform the 15-nation body that Riyadh’s air forces had pounded areas near Tehran’s embassy in the Yemeni capital twice during a period of two months.

The Iranian diplomatic mission’s compound suffered severe damage during the bombings on May 25, 2015, which was followed a similar attack on April 20 the same year.

The Iranian lawmakers also denounced Riyadh’s execution of of top cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr and “the pressure Saudi Arabia exerts on its nation and other Muslim countries” in the region.

The statement came amid growing criticism of Saudi Arabia following the January 2 execution of Nimr, who was a vocal critic of Riyadh’s policies, alongside 46 other people. The execution provoked global popular backlash, including in Iran.

Some people mounted the walls of the consulate in Mashhad while incendiary devices were hurled at the embassy in Tehran. Some 60 people were detained over the transgression.

The Iranian government immediately condemned the move by the “rogue” group, whose members were arrested, further asserting that the incident does not diminish Riyadh’s accountability in Nimr’s execution.

The Iranian lawmakers also slammed Saudi Arabia for causing instability across the Middle East through supporting terrorist groups.

The Iranian parliamentarians described Saudi Arabia as a “hub for nurturing terrorist dogma,” reiterating the Islamic Republic’s firm determination to confront terrorism and those who support the ominous phenomena.

They said that Riyadh’s “wrongful” policies in attacking a Muslim country like Yemen has been adopted with a green light from the United States in order to serve the interests of the Israeli regime and undermine the Muslim countries.

Saudi Arabia started military attacks against Yemen in late March in a bid to undermine the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement and bring its fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power. More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured in the attacks.

Iran welcomes amicable relations with Canada

Emad Askarieh

January 11, 2016

Hossein Jaber Ansari made the remarks at his weekly press briefing in Tehran.

Commenting on Canada’s severing diplomatic relations with Iran, he said the fresh stance of the new Canadian government has been announced in mass media.

‘The ex-Canadian government severed its relations with Iran and we hope the new Canadian government would practice proper political and diplomatic measures aimed at fostering relations with Iran,’ he added.

‘Iran did not cut its relations with Canada and naturally Tehran would welcome amicable relations with Ottawa,’ he added.

Canadian ex-Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration severed diplomatic relations with Iran in September 2012, citing, among other pretexts, what it described as continued threats from Iran to Israel.

Back then, the Canadian government closed its embassy in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and demanded that Iranian diplomats leave Canada within five days.

The two countries maintain interest sections in the embassies of third countries.

Iran opens $6 billion gas operations

Emad Askarieh

January 11, 2016

President Hassan Rouhani attended inauguration of phases 15 and 16 of the South Pars field in Asaluyeh on Monday along with other senior officials, including his Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh.

The operations with $6 billion of investment bring the number of phases producing gas in the field to 12, with another 15 phases under development.

Zangeneh said, “I hope with the lifting of sanctions which will happen in the next days as the implementation day nears, the development of joint fields will be carried out with better access to equipment.”

“Phases 15 and 16 of South Pars which were implemented and commissioned under sanctions will produce 56.6 million cubic meters of gas a day to meet domestic need for fuel especially by household, commercial and industrial consumers,” he said.

The two phases will also yield 75,000 barrels per day of gas condensate plus 400 tonnes of sulfur. It will generate $20 million a day of foreign exchange earnings, according to Ministry of Petroleum’s Shana news agency.

Iran shares South Pars with Qatar which calls it North Field. Qataris have raced ahead of Iran in developing the deposit in partnership with the likes of Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Exxon Mobil while sanctions have clipped Iran’s wings.

President Rouhani has already complained of “irregular extraction” from joint fields by neighbors which have taken advantage of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

A full development of South Pars is estimated to generate $112 billion of revenues a year for Iran, which could rise to more than $120 billion after production from the field’s oil layer.

Iran will offer oil extraction from the South Pars gas field along with three other gas fields to foreign investors, Managing Director of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) Ali Akbar Shabanpour said last August.

The project is estimated to hold 7 billion barrels of oil in reserves. Iran will also offer North Pars, Golshan and Ferdowsi gas fields for development, Shabanpour said.

‘All done by Iran’

Phases 15 and 16 were carried out by a consortium of Iranian companies. Khatam al-Anbia, the construction arm of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corp, won the tender for the two phases in 2005.

“All phases of construction, installation and operation at phases 15 and 16 of South Pars have been done by Iranian experts,” Zangeneh said.

With more than 34 trillion cubic meters under its belt, Iran owns the world’s largest natural gas reserves but its share of the global trade in gas is less than one percent.

Officials hope to attract $40 billion in the gas industry after the sanctions are removed.

Iran seeks to raise gas production to 1.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) a day in five years, from 800 million cubic meters now. Annual output totals 166 bcm, which is mostly used at home.

Currently, the country exports 10 bcm of gas per year. To put it in perspective, Russia exports about 150 billion cubic meters of gas a year.

“Natural gas will be the main fuel in the next 20 to 30 years,” international affairs director at National Iranian Gas Co. Azizollah Ramezani has said.

The priority is to pipe gas to neighbors with further plans for exports of LNG to Asia and Europe.

A look at Iranian newspaper front pages on Jan 11

IFP Editorial Staff

January 11, 2016

Abrar:

1- No new Turkey anti-Iranian visa law

2- US flying B52 bombers, sabre-rattling to N. Korea

3- Former German chancellor in Tehran

4- Japan’s Shinzo Abe looks for opposition’s approval to revise constitution

5- Narrative of Shah’s Mystery series problematic: critic

6- Kerry hopeful of India-Pakistan peace talks

7- Tehran governor on disqualification of MP Hamid Rasaei in upcoming parliamentary election

Abrar-e Eqtesadi:

1- Forex game in market;

The Rouhani Administration seems not challenged by foreign exchange price rise.

2- IRR 330,000 rise in gold coin price

3- Russia striving to win bigger share in Iran market

4- Iranian refineries no more profitable

5- Chevy, Apple coming to Iran

6- 3 Japanese refiners aline to buy Iran oil

7- Undercover rise of family expenses

Afkar:

1- Zarif: Saudi entente aimed at influencing Syria crisis

2- Leader advisor: Americans never stop meddling in our region

3-Spokesman: Saudi embassy attack not justifiable at all

4- Arabic teams welcome in Iran

Head of Iran Football Federation (IFF) Ali Kaffashian said all Arabic teams can play in Iran. Kaffashian’s comments came as Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that it will disallow Iranian teams in its soil.

Aftab-e Yazd:

1- Cleric: Things would be better had we had 10 folks like Seyyed Hassan

Grand Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili, Shia, Marja, said this referring to the religious and scientific supremacy of Seyyed Hassan Khomeini (the grandson of Imam Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Revolution).

2- No tolls for using tunnels, for now

A report on signals that tolls will be taken from tunnel users in Iran.

3- Vague billboards shoulder burden of sending cultural messages

4- New Saudi game against Iran

5- Spokesman: Some dailies make scene about certain candidates

Nejatollah Ebrahimian, spokesperson of the Guardian Council, the body in charge of major Iranian elections, said, referring to the large number of stories covered by Iranian newspapers about disqualification of outstanding Assembly of Experts hopefuls.

6- Cleric calls on university lecturers to give bonuses to well-covered students

Arman-e Emrouz:

1- Seyyed Hassan’s resignation, a lie

A number of senior Shia clerics certified Seyyed Hassan Khomeini (the grandson of Imam Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Revolution)’s religious and scientific qualities.

2- Caspian coasts illegally seized

3- Gold market boarish

Ebtekar:

1- Campaign: #Will-not-violate-others’-privacy

The name of a new campaign in Iran

2- Ex-vice president: Tourism’s role in countering anti-Iran propaganda

3- Let’s smash salt cellars!

Ebtekar’s report about the need for Iranian households to change their eating habits

Eqtesad-e Pooya:

1- 2^nd Specialized Italy Expo opens in Iran

2- Rally on Badat Sourt springs

The most popular tourism resort in northern province of Mazandaran

3- Parliament Speaker: New US visa law violation of nuclear deal

4- Exhibitors from 26 countries at Iran int’l aviation summit

Etemad:

1- Less than 7 days to JCPOA implementation

2- Socialism, market confusion, biggest problems of Iran economy

3- Deputy Tehran governor, head of Special Unit of Tehran Police replaced

The replacements took place a week after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was attacked by a number of fervent citizens who opposed Saudi policy and execution of Sheik Nimr.

Ettela’at:

1- Majlis Speaker warns: Anti-Iran plots to be reciprocated

2- FM: Iran will not allow Saudis stonewall Syrian crisis solution

3- Doctors Without Borders hospital hit by SLC rocket in Yemen

Saudi-led coalition bombs hit the hospital in Saada governorate

4- Maraja certify Hassan Khomeini qualities

5- Tehran University Chancellor visits writer in his house

6- 11 new hospitals operational by year-end

Iran:

2- South Pars development flair to be lit today

Pars Oil and Gas Company chief told this in an exclusive interview with Iran.

2- UN envoy in Tehran

U.N. Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura met with Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran to seek solutions to the Syrian crisis.

3- Actress’s debut concert in Tehran

4- Ex-health minister: Maximal election turnout proves system’s legitimacy

5- Saudi embassy attack, a mistake: Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani

6- Admin gives more free hand to universities

Javan:

1- Gone is oil

MP lambasts new petroleum contract model as being treason to the nation

“New oil deals take us back to the Pahlavi era,” said Ebrahim Zakani, member of Iranian parliament, who opposes Iran’s new petroleum contract model, known as IPC (Iran Petroleum Contract), as being miscalculated.

2- 8 million jobseekers in Iran next year

Senior economist, Yahya Ale-Eshaq, said

3- Illegal land dealers return to Caspian coasts

Jomhouri Eslami:

♦ Major Saudi failure in Arab League summit in Cairo

Ta’adol:

1- Contractionary strategy for strategic storage

Parliament’s research center said about food security in the post-sanctions setting.

2- IRR120bn deficit in national budget

3- China to Pakistani political factions: Stop disputes over economic corridor

Tejarat:

1- Capital’s migration from Hafiz to Ferdowsi

Hafiz St. is where Iran’s stock market is located and Ferdowsi is the country’s hub for forex and gold trade.

2- The $2t damage

A report on the global economy

S Arabia’s policies adopted under Israel’s influence: Iran official

Emad Askarieh

January 11, 2016

“Al Saud policies are influenced by the Zionist regime (Israel); and this regime is more inclined than the United States toward dragging the region to insecurity, unrest and chaos,” Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top military adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said on Monday.

He said that Tel Aviv’s impact on Saudi policies should be examined, adding that Riyadh’s actions have led to the massacre of the people in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq, describing the killings as the “Zionists’ policy.”

The regime in Riyadh began its military aggression against Yemen in late March 2015. The campaign was meant to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 injured since the beginning of the Saudi strikes.

Al Saudi is also widely believed to be one of the main sponsors of Takfiri terrorist groups operating in Syria and Iraq.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian general expressed hope that Muslims in regional countries would be “alert,” since “Israel is seeking to create tension” between Iran and Saudi Arabia and benefits from insecurity in the region.

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been strained in recent days following the Saudi execution of top opposition cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, which was announced on January 2.

Nimr’s execution was widely censured by Muslims and human rights activists around the globe as well as different governments.

Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran on January 3 following demonstrations held in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northeastern city of Mashhad by angry protesters censuring the killing of Nimr. Some people mounted the walls of the consulate in Mashhad while incendiary devices were hurled at the embassy in Tehran. Almost 60 people were detained over the transgression.

Iran missile system not related to JCPOA

Emad Askarieh

January 11, 2016

Talking to reporters in his weekly press conference, Jaber-Ansari reiterated that Iran’s missile systems are not related to the country’s nuclear agreement and are meant to follow a purely defensive framework.

‘Iran’s criteria in JCPOA deal and any legislation that comes into force from US and violates JCPOA would be followed by countermeasures from Iran,’ he added.

Jaberi-Ansari reiterated that the exact time for implementation of JCPOA has not been finalized yet and all obligations by the two sides should proceed.

On January 5, 2016, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) aired exclusive footage of the deep underground tunnel filled with numerous precision-guided long-range Emad ballistic missiles.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) first underground missile facility was unveiled on October 14, 2015.

Iran successfully test-fired the surface-to-surface missile, which has been completely designed and manufactured by experts of Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization affiliated with the Iranian Ministry of Defense, on October 11.