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Thread: Target: Iran

  1. #211
    Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran's parliament, announced that the body has summoned President Hassan Rouhani to answer questions about how the government has handled the country's economy, the state-backed Mehr News Agency reported Aug. 1.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...stions-economy
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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  3. #212
    The AP reports on a new round of protests now spreading to multiple cities in Iran after the dramatic drop in the rial early this week, based on emerging social media footage:
    The videos were being circulated on Thursday. They show dozens of demonstrators said to be on the streets in the town of Gohardasht, west of Tehran. The protesters are seen setting fire to police vehicles and shouting “death to the dictator.” Police respond with tear gas.
    Iran's state-run media briefly acknowledged the pockets of unrest in scant reports noting the protests were "without official permission" and isolated, but a series of social media videos emerged Wednesday and early Thursday which appear to show protests and clashes with police gaining steam across multiple cities.


    Previously in July protesters clashed with police in short-lived demonstrations outside of parliament in Tehran as merchants of the Grand Bazaar shuttered their stores while economic woes amidst looming sanctions renewal and runaway inflation meant they lost money by merely staying open.
    Those prior protests lasted only three days and included a swift crackdown by authorities; however this week's protest will likely continue to grow through the weekend.
    #Protests continuing for a third day in #Iran against rising prices, the collapsing currency. Videos suggest the demonstrations are spreading to more cities, including #Mashhad and #Shiraz. They are chanting: "The #US is not the enemy, our enemy is right here"... pic.twitter.com/UMWXpiNw4n
    — Rana Rahimpour (@ranarahimpour) August 2, 2018
    Demonstrations involving crowds of hundreds were reported on Wednesday and Thursday in a handful of locations, including in the northern city of Rasht, as well as the city of Karaj, adjacent to Iran's capital.
    #BREAKING: Anti-#Iran's Islamic Regime protest now in #Tehran. Protesters chant: "Akhoond (Shiite clerics) must go". Protesters have set trash bins on fire in order to neutralize effect of tear gas. #IranProtests #IranRegimeChange #RezaPahlavi pic.twitter.com/r0Pkr6ITP4
    — Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) August 2, 2018
    Both cities witnessed fierce clashes with police deploying riot control measures, according to unverified social media accounts.
    Street clashes in Isfahan, #Iran.
    Anti-regime protesters occupy the street and fight the riot police with rock#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/XVCLARc3NK
    — آسپیران دودکار (@ssimamm) August 2, 2018
    Activist accounts have also claimed government messages were sent to cell phones in the country accusing the United States and Saudi Arabia of stoking domestic turmoil.
    #BREAKING: Minutes ago, the regime's Ministry of Telecommunication just randomly sent this SMS for millions of #Iran|ians in which says: "the call for protests on Thursday is a plot of #US & #SaudiArabia".
    The Islamic Regime is scared of the nationwide #IranProtests tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/OQMmHMxGPc
    — Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) August 1, 2018
    The US government-funded news source VOA has featured this week's social media protest footage out of Iran and noted anti-regime slogans, including chants of "The silence of any Iranian [in response to Iran’s current problems] is a betrayal against the country.”
    #IranUpdate,
    What how young protesters in Esfahan are fighting back and try to hold their ground. Clashes are on going. #IranProtests pic.twitter.com/fgOFTVfFR1
    — Raman Ghavami (@Raman_Ghavami) August 2, 2018
    ♦️ ویدئو کوتاه |
    فیلمی جدید از #تظاهرات مردم در منطقه #شاپورجدید #اصفهان؛ ماموران خطاب به مردم: جلوتر نیایید#ایران pic.twitter.com/KGWm2tf8bU
    — VOA Farsi (@VOAIran) August 1, 2018
    Iran's currency is now nearing collapse ahead of sanctions. Days ago an elite top military commander urged President Hassan Rouhani to take "revolutionary actions" to prop up the falling rial.
    Protesters appear to be responding primarily to a sharp hike in prices on imported products after the dollar's surge to record highs against the rial in black market trading. The unofficial rate of the Iranian rial plummeted to a record low at estimatesof between 112,000 and 120,000 rials against the dollar on concerns over the imminent return of full US sanctions.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...lummeting-rial
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  4. #213
    Iran plans to implement a new financial rescue package on Monday to try and halt the rial’s decline, coinciding with the re-imposition of severe U.S. sanctions on the oil-rich state’s economy after President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal.
    The decision follows a week of sporadic protests against Iran’s political and religious establishment as concerns over the economy mount. On Friday, one person was shot dead and 20 others arrested in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran, the semi-official Fars news reported. About 500 protesters in Eshtehard, a town west of the capital Tehran, used stones and bricks to smash the windows of a seminary and tried to set fire to its building, Fars news reported, citing local cleric Hojjatoleslam Hendiani.
    Fars reported that a number of the protesters had been arrested by police who then went house-to-house trying to identify them.
    Video posted to social media this week purported to show protests in various Iranian cities, including the capital Tehran. None of the footage can be independently verified but appeared to show people chanting against the government.
    Iran is struggling to quell anger over rising prices while seeking to assure the public that it can successfully counter the economic crisis triggered by Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear accord. At the same time, its fighting to stem the rial’s decline, which has slumped to record lows against the U.S. dollar since the start of the year amid protests.
    Currency Steps

    Iran’s judiciary, legislature and government on Saturday approved plans by the Central Bank of Iran to strictly limit access to official, fixed currency rates to essential imports, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported. Also approved were measures to tighten the process of allocating foreign currency to businesses and crack down on corrupt practices and currency manipulation, it said.

    More at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-u-s-sanctions
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  5. #214
    Iranian bank to fund imports of essentials from Russia
    https://theiranproject.com/blog/2018...s-from-russia/




    Press TV – As Iran is preparing for the first wave of returning US sanctions that could largely hamper its foreign trade,
    the country’s banks appear to have already created a mechanism for imports of essential goods from Russia.

    Bank Saderat Iran (BSI) announced in a statement on Sunday that it had sealed a deal with the Moscow offshoot of Bank Melli Iran (BMI)
    over a re-financing scheme that envisaged providing €10 million to fund imports of essential commodities, medicines, medical equipment
    and the raw materials for industrial units.

    The rate of the funds that BMI’s Mir Business Bank would provide the BSI would be 2.5 percent with two return periods of six months and a year.

    The deal between the two banks would cover imports only from Russia or the Commonwealth of Independent States,
    Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported.

    BSI’s statement further added that the imports subject to the deal with the BMI needed to be approved by the relevant ministry in Tehran.

    On August 6, the administration of US President Donald Trump would re-impose a series of economic sanctions
    that had been lifted after the country signed deal with the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in 2015.

    The deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) –
    envisaged the removal of certain economic sanctions against in return for certain restrictions in Iran’s nuclear energy program.
    However, US President Donald Trump announced in May that he would pull America out of the JCPOA.
    He also said he would re-impose the sanctions that the deal had lifted.

    This provoked the disagreement of other signatories to the JCPOA with certain other countries including India and Turkey
    announcing that they would not implement the US sanctions against Iran.

    The first wave of sanctions – to strike on Monday – would include a universal ban on Iran’s access to the US dollar
    as well as prohibitions against the country’s trade in gold and other precious metals among other restrictions.

    The second wave of sanctions that would hit in early November would be meant to bring Iran’s oil exports to zero, as US officials have already acknowledged.


    =========


    China Xinhua News
    Russia starts imposing additional import tariffs of 25-40 pct for various U.S. goods, according to Russian government
    http://xhne.ws/SV6jg

  6. #215
    China Xinhua News
    BREAKING: U.S. 1st batch of reimposed sanctions on Iran to come into full effect on Aug. 7: senior official
    (tomorrow)

    Breaking: EU to block anti-Iran sanctions imposed by US
    https://www.almasdarnews.com/article...imposed-by-us/


    BREAKING: EU blocks US anti-Iran sanctions as from August 7 to defend business - EC
    https://sptnkne.ws/jnpf


    zerohedge
    Trump Warns Allies "Risk Severe Consequences" If They Violate Iran Sanctions
    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...iran-sanctions


    Iran says Trump, regional allies isolated over Tehran policy: TV
    https://reut.rs/2OjsdzB

  7. #216



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  9. #217
    The U.S. campaign to rein in Iran has scored a victory in the German financial sector, after the Deutsche Bundesbank− the country’s central bank− imposed a rule stopping a $400 million cash delivery to Tehran.
    Iran's cash-starved economy desperately needs hard currency ahead of crippling U.S. bank sanctions that will be introduced in November.
    Germany allows the Iranian-owned European-Iranian trade bank (EIH) to operate in Hamburg. The EIH holds more than $400 million that Tehran wants to receive in cash ahead of a second wave of U.S. sanctions due in November that impact banks and Iran’s energy sector.

    The Deutsche Bundesbank has cooperated with the EIH in the past to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran. The U.S. and the European Union previously sanctioned the EIH for its role in advancing Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. The sanctions on the EIH were lifted after the world powers reached an agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program in 2015.


    The disclosure in July that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government was seeking to circumvent the pending sanctions triggered the U.S. ambassador to Germany to urge her government to stop the massive payment transfer.
    “We are grateful to our German partners for recognizing the need to act.
    Iran’s malign activities throughout Europe are a growing concern,” Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Berlin, told FoxNews.com. Grenell, a former Fox News contributor, led the campaign to persuade German authorities to prevent the cash transfer.

    The U.S. embassy to Berlin tweeted: "Close partnership = results. Thank you to our German counterparts for acting to stop Iran’s activities."

    More at: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018...sanctions.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  10. #218
    Days of unprecedented protests aimed at Iran's sluggish economy along with "biting" sanctions imposed by President Trump are ramping up pressure Tuesday on the Islamic Republic's ruling class and causing many analysts to wonder if regime change could be on the horizon.
    Videos circulating on social media purportedly taken from inside Iran show thousands of protesters marching through the streets. In one video, crowds leaving a soccer match are heard yelling "death to the dictator! Death to Khamenei! Death to Rouhani!" and "Islamic regime must get lost!” according to a translation tweeted by a Middle East analyst.
    Another video said to be taken in Tehran shows idle buses lined up as far as the eye can see, with the same analyst reporting Iran’s government has refused to pay back its debts to a contractor that gives the drivers fuel, leaving them – and the thousands of Iranians they would have been transporting – stranded.
    Watch this
    Breaking on #IranUpdate,
    100 thousand of anti regime protestors who were watching the football match are leaving the stadium and all of them are chanting "death to the dictator, death to Khamenei, death to Rouhani, and Islamic regime must get lost."#Iran#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/etNpc6VVwG
    — Raman Ghavami (@Raman_Ghavami) August 3, 2018
    "Look at our situation. We've been waiting for 24 hours,” a bus driver is reported to have said in another clip. “How dare the regime sends money to Hezbollah and Palestine when the country is in trouble. Our revolution's aim wasn't to support dirty [Hezbollah leader] Hassan Nasrallah and we can be oppressed here. Enough."


    #IranUpdate
    More than 6k buse drivers in Tehran have been waiting for 24 hours to get fuel. But the contractor refuses to provide their need because the gov hasn’t paid back its debts to the company.
    Tens of thousands of people waiting for these buses to go to work etc.#Iran pic.twitter.com/UDR60Xnntt
    — Raman Ghavami (@Raman_Ghavami) August 5, 2018

    #BREAKING: While thousands of protesters were chanting "#Shah of #Iran, return to #Iran" during their anti-#Iran's Islamic Regime protest in #Gowhardasht, #Karaj, the Special Unit of Police launched threw grenade & tear gas at them now.#IranProtests #RezaPahlavi pic.twitter.com/izZuJhp1ir
    — Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) August 4, 2018

    The uncertainty caused by the re-imposition of the sanctions have proved devastating for the Iranian economy, which was already weakened by decades of previous sanctions and mismanagement and theft by high-ranking officials. Iran's rial now trades over double its government-set rate to the U.S. dollar, the Associated Press reported, and has lost nearly 80 percent of its value compared to last year at this time, according to the New York Times.
    Women take the lead in #IranProtests shouting "Death to the Dictator!" pic.twitter.com/tKDxtgDTlB
    — Lisa Daftari (@LisaDaftari) August 6, 2018
    "We are facing an economic war and the U.S. government is restoring sanctions and also trying to increase them," the new governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Abdolnasser Hemmati, told the Associated Press on Sunday. "But our government is powerful...and is capable of opening up the foreign currency market on the same day."
    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday, meanwhile, said in a television interview he has “no preconditions” for talks with America and his country can rely on China and Russia to help its oil and banking sectors as the U.S. ramps up sanctions in the coming months.
    And Britain, France and Germany have been working with Iran, China and Russia to salvage the Iran deal, which the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of.
    Here is Shiraz, #Iran
    People do not want this regime. They chant:

    ”Death to the dictator”@DOTArabic #IranRegimeChange pic.twitter.com/wkGKa7Zvjl
    — mahsti25 (@mahsti25metana1) August 4, 2018
    “We are determined to protect European economic operators engaged in legitimate business with Iran…the preservation and maintenance of effective financial channels with Iran, and the continuation of Iran’s export of oil and gas,” a joint statement from Great Britain, France, Germany and the European Union said.
    But regardless of European and Asian support, the protests are continuing in Iran – and show no signs of stopping.
    In Mashad, the country’s second-largest city, demonstrations were captured on video Monday after a cleric told the public to take to the streets because the government isn't fulfilling its promises, according to The Wall Street Journal. Another video reportedly showed crowds chanting insults about security forces in the city of Kazerun.
    The protests have also turned deadly, as one demonstrator was reported to have been killed in Karaj on Friday. Activists there told Al Arabiya that a young man was gunned down by security forces, while Iran’s Fars news agency claimed he was killed by unknown attackers.

    More at: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/08...ic-unrest.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  11. #219
    Javad Zarif
    Tantrums & CAPPED TWEETS won't change the fact that the world is sick & tired of US unilateralism.
    Stopping US trade and killing 100K US jobs is fine with us, but the world won't follow impulsive tweeted diktats.
    Just ask EU, Russia, China & dozens of our other trading partners.

    Reminder: International relations is not a beauty pageant, with tired clichés about a desire for WORLD PEACE.
    And it is not the first time that a warmonger claims he is waging war for "world peace".
    ==========




    https://twitter.com/ELINTNews/status...49689377882112





    https://twitter.com/Ruptly/status/1026894492559990784

  12. #220
    North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho arrived Aug. 7 in Iran for a two-day visit to meet with his Iranian counterpart and President Hassan Rouhani, AFP reported.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...plomatic-visit

    Is he giving them advice on how to negotiate with Trump?
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  13. #221
    Quote Originally Posted by goldenequity View Post
    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...62818773757955




    moar krazee kwotes 4 U


    amin dada
    Exceptionalism
    America's top nuclear commander: "Russia and China can't be our friends if they're developing weapons we can't deter"
    https://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/Amer...n-t-deter.html



    ======

    Russia’s Shield Against Sanctions Draws Praise From Moody’s
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...e-from-moody-s


    Last edited by goldenequity; 08-08-2018 at 08:50 AM.

  14. #222
    Politico: "Rand Paul has persuaded the president that we are not for regime change in Iran"

    The Rand-Trump alliance bursts into view
    Enemies on the 2016 campaign trail, the Kentucky senator and the iconoclastic president have developed a quiet Washington friendship.

    By ELIANA JOHNSON
    08/08/2018

    He infuriates West Wing aides who have had to scramble to win his support for key votes, but Rand Paul has the ear, and the affection, of the most important person in the White House: President Donald Trump.

    Once bitter rivals on the Republican campaign trail, the Kentucky senator and the commander-in-chief have bonded over a shared delight in thumbing their noses at experts the president likes to deride as “foreign policy eggheads,” including those who work in his own administration.

    When Trump dismissed national security adviser H.R. McMaster in March, replacing him with John Bolton, he told McMaster, “Look, he’s a hawk, you’re hawk, I can handle you guys,” according to a White House aide. While Trump tolerates his hawkish advisers, the aide added, he shares a real bond with Paul: “He actually at gut level has the same instincts as Rand Paul.”

    Paul has quietly emerged as an influential sounding board and useful ally for the president, who frequently clashes with his top advisers on foreign policy. His relationship with Trump, developed via frequent cell phone calls and over rounds of golf at the president’s Virginia country club, became publicly apparent for the first time on Wednesday when the senator announced he had hand-delivered a letter to the Kremlin on Trump’s behalf.

    Both Paul and Trump routinely rail against foreign entanglements, foreign wars, and foreign aid – positions characterized as isolationist by critics and as “America First” by the president and his supporters.

    Even where they disagree, Paul has extracted small victories.

    Trump has drawn praise from the right-wing establishment for hammering the mullahs in Tehran, junking the Iran nuclear deal and responding to the regime’s saber rattling with aggressive rhetoric of his own, warning Iranian president Hassan Rouhani on Twitter last month in all caps that future threats would be met with “CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”

    But Trump has stopped short of calling for regime change even though Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and Bolton support it, aligning with Paul instead, according to a GOP foreign policy expert in frequent contact with the White House. “Rand Paul has persuaded the president that we are not for regime change in Iran,” this person said, because adopting that position would instigate another war in the Middle East.

    ...


    read more:
    https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...a-putin-768472
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  15. #223
    A top Iranian constitutional body has approved measures passed by parliament to bring the country more into line with global money-laundering norms, state media said on Saturday, as Tehran tries to attract investments despite the reimposition of U.S sanctions. Iran has been trying to implement standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global group of government anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-financing of terrorism regimes (CFT), in the hope it will be removed from a blacklist that makes some foreign investors reluctant to deal with it.
    In June, FATF said Iran had until October to complete the reforms or face consequences that could further deter investors from the country, which has already been hit by the return of U.S. sanctions this week.
    The Guardian Council, which vets legislation passed by parliament for compliance with Iran’s constitution, gave its approval to the legal amendments on combating the funding of terrorism, the council’s spokesman, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, was quoted by the state news agency IRNA as saying.
    Hardliners in parliament have opposed passing legislation aimed at moving towards compliance with FATF standards, arguing it could hamper Iranian financial support for allies such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which the United States has classified as a terrorist organisation.
    Saturday’s approval came despite the clergy-dominated council’s earlier objections to another set of amendments linked to money laundering.
    Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in June parliament should pass legislation to combat money laundering according to its own criteria.
    Foreign businesses say legislation that includes FATF guidelines is essential if they are to increase investment.


    https://in.reuters.com/article/iran-...-idINKBN1KW0A4
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  16. #224



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  18. #225
    China's Energy Giant CNPC Takes Over Total's Share in Iran Gas Project - Reports:
    https://sputniknews.com/business/201...cnpc-iran-gas/

  19. #226
    Quote Originally Posted by goldenequity View Post
    China's Energy Giant CNPC Takes Over Total's Share in Iran Gas Project - Reports:
    https://sputniknews.com/business/201...cnpc-iran-gas/

    Iran Sanctions Fallout: China Takes Over French Share In Giant Iran Gas Project
    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...an-gas-project


    China’s state-owned energy giant, CNPC - the world's third largest oil and gas company by revenue
    behind Saudi Aramco and the National Iranian Oil Company -
    finally took over the share in Iran’s multi-billion dollar South Pars gas project held by France’s Total,
    Iran's official news agency Shana reported on Saturday.



    As a reminder, Total signed a contract in 2017
    to develop Phase II of South Pars field with an initial investment of $1 billion,
    marking the first major Western energy investment in the country after sanctions were lifted in 2016.
    South Pars has the world’s biggest natural gas reserves ever found in one place.







    In June,
    Deputy head of the National Iranian Oil Company, Gholamreza Manouchehri, said that CNPC would take over
    if Total were to walk away.
    Total said it would pull out unless it secured a U.S. sanctions waiver - which it was unable to do.



    80.1 %



    CNPC - which earlier held a 30% stake in the project - will now hold an 80.1% stake in the project, having taken over Total’s 50.1% share.
    The remainder is held by Iran’s Petropars.

    Total has not yet said what it would do with its stake following the pull out, and has until Nov. 4 to wind down its Iran operations.
    Total had spent €40 million on the project by May when it said it would have to withdraw from Iran
    if it couldn’t secure sanctions waivers from the U.S. Treasury.










    SANKSHUNS


    CNPC will use its banking unit, Bank of Kunlun, as a funding and clearing vehicle if it takes over operation of South Pars.

    The bank was used to settle tens of billions of dollars worth of oil imports during the UN sanctions against Tehran between 2012 and 2015.
    The US Treasury then sanctioned Kunlun in 2012 for conducting business with Iran.

    However since most of the bank's settlements during that time were in euros and Chinese renminbi,
    it was thus well-equipped to skirt US sanctions which had little effect in terms of credible punishment.


    If CNPC goes ahead, it would also likely have to develop crucial equipment,
    such as large-powered compressors needed for developing gas deposits on this scale, on its own.
    And since leading manufacturers like U.S. firm GE and Germany's Siemens
    could be barred from supplying to Iran under US sanctions,
    it means even more Chinese companies
    will find willing demand for their services in Iran.










    =====================



    Iran to receive second batch of enriched uranium for Tehran nuclear reactor
    https://www.almasdarnews.com/article...clear-reactor/


    (this is LEU... 20% enriched, from Russia, as agreed....
    simple stuff not near weapons grade...
    yunno, NOT the stuff Bob 'highly enriched' Mueller & friends were smuggling.)


    Iran agreed to halt production of uranium on the condition that the fuel will be supplied from abroad.

    “When we were inking the nuclear deal, we stopped production of 20 percent-fuel and deposited the excessive fuel in Russia in nearly 10 batches.
    We received the first batch nearly seven months ago and the second batch is about to be transferred back to Iran.
    Any of these batches can be used for nearly one year and therefore, we have 20 percent-fuel for Tehran Reactor for at least seven to eight years,”.


    “If the nuclear deal remains alive, the other sides should sell us the fuel and if the nuclear deal dies,
    then we would feel unimpeded to produce the 20 percent-fuel ourselves,”.




    US President Donald Trump announced his country’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal in May.
    The other signatories to the deal — Iran, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the European Union —
    have agreed that the deal needs to be preserved.


    On Tuesday, the United States reinstated sanctions targeting Iran’s trade in gold and other precious metals, its purchase of US dollars as well as automotive sector.
    A second batch of US sanctions against Tehran will be reinstated in November.

  20. #227
    Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan sign agreement for collective use of Caspian sea
    after two decades of negotiations
    http://xhne.ws/uHqmL





    Dear NATO....
    Armed forces of non-Caspian states not permitted on the Sea – Putin
    https://aml.ink/Ruvto


    Russian President Vladimir Putin said an agreement concerning the legal status of the Caspian Sea
    prohibits the armed forces of non-Caspian countries from accessing the body of water,
    after signing the convention in the Kazakh city of Aktau on Sunday.

    “It [the convention] guarantees the settlement of all topical issues of the agenda
    on the basis of consensus and mutual consideration of interests, and ensures peace on the Caspian Sea,
    as the presence of armed forces of non-participants is prohibited,”
    he said.

    His Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani for his part emphasised that “that Caspian states’ lands
    could not be used against another Caspian state.”

    The agreement regulates the legal status of the body of water and the rights of the five Caspian Sea countries.
    The convention clarifies that the surface water will be for common use for each of the countries,
    while the seabed and subsoil will be divided up in accordance with an international legal framework.

    According to the Kremlin, the five countries have been working on an agreement since 1996.
    Last edited by goldenequity; 08-12-2018 at 02:02 PM.

  21. #228
    Iran witnessed this weekend minority Azeri and Iranian Arab protests in soccer stadiums while the country’s Revolutionary Guards Corps reported clashes with Iraq-based Iranian Kurdish insurgents.
    State-run television warned in a primetime broadcast that foreign agents could turn legitimate protests stemming from domestic anger at the government’s mismanagement of the economy and corruption into “incendiary calls for regime change” by inciting violence that would provoke a crackdown by security forces and give the United States fodder to tackle Iran.

    More at: https://www.globalresearch.ca/amid-e...ddling/5650634
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  22. #229
    Univ. of Tehran Prof. Mohammad Marandi teaching factual foreign policy to Stephen Sackur of BBCHARDtalk




    Respect for Marandi
    "Marandi is greatest intellectual from global south long live the anti imperialist struggle."

    "Thumbs up for professor Marandi."

    ==============


    "The aim is a global, cosmopolitan society disembarrassed of religion, national culture and community, gender and social class.
    ... Any national leader standing against this project, any contrary national culture, ... constitutes an obstacle ... - and must be destroyed."
    --Alastair Crooke




    https://twitter.com/ConflictsForum/s...05516512653313

    =============


    Academic Imperialism - Seyyed Mohammad Marandi






    Marandi on 'The Narrative'... an historical review

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUnvL7VSKt4
    Last edited by goldenequity; 08-21-2018 at 10:43 AM.

  23. #230
    Iran unveils first domestic fighter jet
    https://en.muraselon.com/2018/08/ira...ter-jet-video/




    Iran has revealed its first domestic fighter jet, “Kowsar,” at a defense show.
    President Hassan Rouhani was spotted sitting in the cockpit.

    The fourth-generation jet boasts “advanced avionics” and a multi-purpose radar, the Tasnim news agency said, adding that it was “completely indigenously made.”
    The “advanced” aircraft, is to be produced in two versions – with a single cabin and two cabins –
    and will be used for aerial support missions as well as for pilots’ training, according to Irna.




    ========

    It's a '70s vintage' knockoff of US jet fuselage/airframe.... hey... gotta start somewhere right?
    Last edited by goldenequity; 08-25-2018 at 09:28 AM.

  24. #231

    https://twitter.com/Ozkok_/status/1033114274196017152


    US slams EU’s $20mn development aid to Iran as sending ‘wrong message at the wrong time’
    https://www.rt.com/usa/436799-wrong-time-eu-aid-iran

  25. #232
    In a development that must be hard to stomach for the political elite in Tehran, many Iranians are turning to U.S. dollars to offset the impact of sanctions and a faltering economy, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
    A steep plunge in the value of the rial, Iran’s currency, has led to a spike in demand for dollars in recent months from Iranians seeking safer assets, the report added. On Tuesday, one U.S. dollar bought 107,000 rials, compared with 43,000 rials in January.
    When Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took power in 2013 a dollar bought 36,000 rials, according to CNBC reports. Unfortunately, for the average citizen in Iran currency devaluation has been a continuous problem since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution when one dollar bought 70 rials.
    Recently, Iranians have been flooding local banks to acquire dollars so much that exchanges have been forced to shut their doors to prevent long and chaotic lines.

    More at: https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Mid...Sanctions.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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  27. #233
    Khamenei.ir‏ @khamenei_ir
    "Negotiations with Iran is what all U.S. governments [administrations] need."
    "They need to maneuver and pretend that, 'we have even made the Islamic Republic of Iran sit at the negotiations table.'"
    "So, like I previously elaborated and argued, no negotiations will be held with U.S. officials."


    Liberal Patriot‏ @LiberPatriot
    IAEA CONFIRMS IRAN STILL ABIDING BY JCPOA NUCLEAR DEAL.



    Openly threatens Iran with nukes...
    (so Iran cannot have them cuz....)


    https://twitter.com/AAhronheim/statu...68717912502272

  28. #234
    AFP news agency‏
    BREAKING French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warns Iran "cannot avoid" talks on thorny issues like its ballistic missile programme and role in Middle East conflicts.

    France lolz

    -------

    Al-Masdar News
    French Foreign Minister says Assad has won the war
    https://aml.ink/AtTSe

    Last edited by goldenequity; 09-02-2018 at 02:06 PM.

  29. #235

  30. #236
    General staffs of Russia, Iraq, Syria, Iran meet in Baghdad to discuss war on terrorism
    Interfax


    IRAQ-IRAN VS $$


    US dollar removed from the list of currencies used in trade by Iran & Iraq

    The US dollar is no longer used by Tehran and Baghdad in bilateral trade, giving way to the euro and local currencies, as well as direct barter of goods.

    “the two countries have at least $8 billion in transactions in the worst times”
    Baghdad purchases a large variety of Iranian goods, helping to maintain high employment rates.

    Iraq is the second country after China in terms of trade volume with Iran.

    Exports to China are almost exclusively petrochemical products.
    China is the second-largest economy in the world and the fastest-growing major emerging market.
    China has a voracious appetite for energy but has little oil of its own.

    Iran is a major oil producer, and China is Iran’s biggest customer.
    Oil is priced in dollars and dollars flow through the U.S. banking system.
    Trump’s Iran sanctions make it impossible for China to pay Iran in dollars.
    If U.S. sanctions prohibit dollar payments for Iranian oil, then Iran and China may have no choice but to transact in yuan.

    SWIFT

    Europe is also showing signs it wants to escape dollar hegemony.
    German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas recently called for a new EU-based payments system
    independent of the U.S. and SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication)
    that would not involve dollar payments.

    SWIFT in the nerve center of the global financial network.
    All major banks transfer all major currencies using the SWIFT message system.
    Cutting a nation off from SWIFT is like taking away its oxygen.

    The U.S. had previously banned Iran from the dollar payments system (FedWire), which it controls,
    but Iran turned to SWIFT to transfer euros and yen in order to maintain its receipt of hard currency for oil exports.

    In 2013, the U.S. successfully kicked Iran out of SWIFT.
    This was a crushing blow to Iran because it could not receive payment in hard currencies for its oil.

    This pushed Iran to the bargaining table, which resulted in the Iran nuclear deal with the U.S. and its allies in 2015.
    Now Trump has negated that U.S.-Iran deal and is putting pressure on its allies to once again refuse to do business with Iran.

    And Congress is again pushing to exclude Iran from SWIFT as part of a sanctions program.

    The difficulty this time is that our European allies are not fully on board
    and are seeking ways to keep the nuclear deal alive and work around U.S. sanctions.

    Hence... Europe’s solution is to therefore create new nondollar payment channels.

    In the longer run, this is just one more development pushing the world at large away from dollars and toward alternatives of all kinds,
    including new payment systems and cryptocurrencies.

    It’s also one more sign that dollar dominance in global finance may end sooner than most expect.
    https://dailyreckoning.com/the-world...st-the-dollar/
    https://www.rt.com/business/437446-i...ollar-ditched/



    =======

    YUAN VS $$


    Bloomberg
    Goldman sees China's yuan gaining share in World reserves at the expense of the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-of-dollar-yen

    China’s currency is set to take an increasing share of world foreign-exchange reserves,
    with the dollar and yen having to make the most room proportionally for the newcomer on the block.

    =======

    TURKIC ALLIANCE VS $$

    Erdogan proposes that Turkic speaking states use national currencies in mutual payments
    Leaders of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan to discuss regional cooperation at Turkic Council summit on Monday
    Turkic Council aspires for observer status at UN - Erdogan
    http://www.interfax.com/news.asp

    Turkic state leaders met in Kyrgyzstan.







    ----------

    Meanwhile....

    Friday is the Ru/Ir/Tr Summit in Tehran.... Idlib offensive 'holding' but imminent....
    Last edited by goldenequity; 09-03-2018 at 10:03 AM.

  31. #237
    INDIA


    https://twitter.com/Brasco_Aad/statu...52087551582210

    this would be previous 'enemies' (China/Pak/India)
    ignoring 'differences', confronting economic terrorism,
    and locking arms with Iran.

    love it.

  32. #238
    Quote Originally Posted by goldenequity View Post
    INDIA


    https://twitter.com/Brasco_Aad/statu...52087551582210
    this would be previous 'enemies' (China/Pak/India)
    ignoring 'differences', confronting economic terrorism,
    and locking arms with Iran.
    love it.
    India Joins China In Defying Trump, Will Allow Imports Of Iranian Oil
    "Let it not be said that we did nothing." - Dr. Ron Paul. "Stand up for what you believe in, even if you are standing alone." - Sophie Magdalena Scholl
    "War is the health of the State." - Randolph Bourne "Freedom is the answer. ... Now, what's the question?" - Ernie Hancock.

  33. #239
    Iran’s oil exports have been falling much faster than expected, but Tehran is hoping to avoid the worst, deploying some creative solutions to keep exports from crashing too much.
    Iran’s oil exports may have plunged as much as 600,000-700,000 bpd in August, falling as low as 1.66 million barrels per day (mb/d), according to the Wall Street Journal and SVB Energy International. The pain only grows worse as the November deadline for U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil industry approaches. SVB expects Iran’s oil exports to fall as far as 0.8 mb/d by November. That will amount to the loss of nearly 1 mb/d from April, the month before the U.S. withdrew from the nuclear accord.
    The supply disruptions have been more severe than many had expected because the U.S. is taking a very hard line on sanctions, sending signals that Washington will grant few, if any, waivers to buyers of Iranian oil. That, in turn, is making it difficult for Iran to find insurance for its shipments and bankers to finance the deals.

    More at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-G...Solutions.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  34. #240
    An on the ground report by the Associated Press details the disastrous effects of the Iranian rial's continuing slide as it hit a record low starting Wednesday: residents in Tehran are frantically lining up outside money changing offices, diapers and many basic staples have disappeared from store shelves, and hard currency only is being demanded even to book an airline ticket.
    The rial has this week plummeted 140 percent since the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal a mere four months ago in May.
    Local and international reports indicate that on Wednesday the national currency began trading at over 150,000 rials to $1USD in the currency exchange shops of Tehran.


    Middle East news and analysis site Al-Monitor details the crisis, which is being echoed across multiple other major industries which in the past could be relied on to supply lower and middle class families with cheap products:
    Iran's diaper needs are met by both imports and domestic manufacturers.
    The recent increase in prices has been blamed on the devaluation of the national currency as well as hoarding by some distributors of imported brands. Union leaders also say a lack of raw materials has led to a production halt at several diaper factories in the country. "At least 10 Iranian diaper producers are on the verge of bankruptcy," Seyyed Hossein Dokmehchi told Iran Labor News Agency.
    Adding to manufacturer's woes is the fact that when the bulk of such raw materials get stuck in customs offices, companies must deal in official rates of the Central Bank of Iran.
    As Al-Monitor explains, Iranian manufacturing companies now lose the moment they import the goods:
    They had registered their orders based on the official exchange rate of 42,000 rials per dollar, per recent directives issued by the Central Bank of Iran for essential goods. Now the importers are required to pay a margin calculated on a secondary rate for the importation of non-essential goods. That rate stands at around 90,000 rials per dollar, far higher than the rate extended to prioritized imports, but lower than the open market of around 14,000 rials per greenback.
    Meanwhile on the streets of Tehran money-change office began shuttering their shops once the rial began reaching upward of 150,000 to the dollar.
    Those that have remained open are requiring citizens to show airline tickets for travel abroad as proof the foreign currency is for travel.
    Parliament has reportedly been considering a plan to distribute subsidized goods to meet Iranians' basic needs, with lawmakers announcing they've allocated $13 billion for commodities and medicine and a further $6 billion to help the poor.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...amidst-carnage
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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