US Rules Out Iran Sanctions-Related SPR Release

This article has been republished with permission from Argus Media.

The US Department of Energy is not planning to tap into emergency petroleum stocks despite concerns over the impact of oil sanctions on Iran, energy secretary Rick Perry said last week.

"If you look at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and if you were to introduce it into the market, it has a fairly minor and short-term impact," Perry said at a briefing last Wednesday. The US administration will begin enforcing sanctions on Iran's oil exports on 5 November but they appear to have forced many buyers to already wrap up business with Iran. Iranian crude loadings were just over 1.8mn b/d in the first two weeks of September, down by 400,000 b/d from the first half of this year, according to Argus estimates.

"I am comfortable that the world's supply can absorb the Iran sanctions that are coming," Perry said. "My thought would be that the market has already adjusted to those."

Perry earlier this month held talks with Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih and Russian energy minister Alexander Novak to assure the markets that combined supply from the three major global producers would be sufficient to offset the decline in Iranian exports.

The Opec and non-Opec's joint ministerial monitoring committee, meeting in Algiers on 23 September, expressed satisfaction with current market conditions, and said the group's focus shifted to 2019 production levels.

But Perry insisted that "we have got some opportunities to fill the void as the sanctions go into place in November." He listed the increase in US crude production, which is projected to rise to 11.5mn b/d in 2019 from 10.66mn b/d in 2018, and the possibility of resuming output in shared shut-down Neutral Zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia that he said could add 250,000-300,000 b/d. Additionally, another 250,000 b/d can be added to global supply if Iraq's central government removes restrictions on exports from the Iraqi Kurdistan, Perry said.

That view is guiding the US administration's determination to enforce sanctions on Iran and to achieve a substantial reduction in oil exports from that country. "We will ensure prior to the re-imposition of our sanctions that we have a well-supplied oil market," US State Department special Iran envoy Brian Hook said last week.

The decline in exports from Iran is among the factors driving up oil prices—a sore point for President Donald Trump who has criticized Opec and its leading producers and demanded yesterday that "they start lowering oil prices." US retail gasoline prices averaged USD 2.844/USG in the week ended 24 September, a 10pc increase on the year.

Al-Falih has downplayed Trump's remarks, saying that Opec does not target higher prices and instead focuses on the adequacy of supply.

Perry today said the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia is "as good as it has been" in recent memory and that Saudi officials understood Trump's recent remarks.

"I think they understand that we live in interesting times. I do not think they are particularly knee jerk when something is said by me or the president—they understand this is probably one of the best relationships with the US that they have ever had," Perry justified continued outreach to Opec members. "You need to understand that we are not having these conversations in a vacuum," noting that Chevron and other US companies also operate in Opec countries. "Everything that we can do to send a message to a global market, we are going to do everything we can within reason to keep a stable supply and stable pricing of the cost of energy—that is a good message."

Perry said he did not have a view on where the oil prices ought to be. "Is there some potential for some price spikes? Sure, there are a lot of things that can happen, but I will not speculate on that because they have not happened."

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

Iran, US in Tense Wait for World Court Sanctions Ruling

The International Court of Justice will hand down an eagerly awaited decision this week on Iran's demand for the suspension of debilitating nuclear-related sanctions imposed by the United States.

Accusing Washington of "strangling" its economy, Tehran has asked the court in The Hague to order Washington to lift the measures, reimposed after US President Donald Trump pulled out of a multilateral 2015 accord.

Despite its long enmity with the United States, Iran brought the case under a 1955 "friendship treaty" that predates the country's Islamic Revolution.

Washington has forcefully told the court, which rules on disputes between United Nations member states, that it has no jurisdiction to rule on the case as it concerns a matter of national security.

The ruling on Wednesday at 0800 GMT—in the grand surroundings of the 1913-built Peace Palace in the Dutch city—follows four days of hearings at the end of August.

Rulings by the ICJ are binding and cannot be appealed, but it has no way to enforce its decisions.

"If the court orders measures, they should be respected," Eric De Brabandere, a professor of international law at the University of Leiden, told AFP.

If the court decides it has jurisdiction, it will likely "declare that the parties should refrain from aggravating the dispute", but any steps beyond this remain to be seen, he said.

The 2015 nuclear deal saw Iran agree to limit its nuclear program and let in international inspectors in return for an end to years of sanctions by the West.

But Trump pulled out of the deal in May, to the dismay of European allies, arguing that funds from the lifting of sanctions under the pact had been used to support terrorism and build nuclear-capable missiles.

'Economic Warfare'

At the United Nations General Assembly last week, Trump denounced the deal as "horrible" and "one-sided.”

During the ICJ hearings, Iran said the sanctions reintroduced in September are causing economic suffering for its citizens. US lawyers retorted that economic mismanagement was at the root of Iran's woes.

A second wave of US measures is due to hit Iran in early November, targeting its vital oil exports.

Experts said the Iran-US case was an important opportunity for the ICJ to rule on the issue of "economic warfare"—not currently designated as a use of force.

The case "may offer the court sufficient legal basis to indicate a limit under international law to coercion by the US," Geoff Gordon, an international law expert at the Asser Institute in The Hague, told AFP.

"International law, for reasons to do with power politics, has never formally recognized economic warfare to be a use of force as prohibited by the UN Charter, though economic sanctions can have the same effects and worse as guns and bombs."

But he warned that "the decision is likely to be occasion for escalating tensions."

Relations have plunged to a new low since Trump's election, even as the US president reaches out to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over his nuclear program.

Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani faced off at the UN last week, with Rouhani denouncing leaders with "xenophobic tendencies resembling a Nazi disposition."

Despite their 1955 Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations, Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic ties since 1980.

The ICJ was set up in 1946, after the carnage of World War II, to rule in disputes between countries.

Photo Credit: ICJ

Iran's Rouhani Says US Will Eventually Rejoin Nuclear Deal

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani predicted Wednesday that the United States would eventually rejoin an international nuclear deal, saying talks this week at the United Nations showed his counterpart Donald Trump's isolation.

"The United States of America one day, sooner or later, will come back. This cannot be continued," Rouhani told a news conference.

"We are not isolated; America is isolated," he said.

Rouhani pointed to a session of the Security Council chaired by Trump earlier Wednesday, where the leaders of Britain and France backed the nuclear deal, as well as a statement by European powers who say they will find ways to continue business with Iran and evade impending sanctions.

"We do hope with all the law-abiding and multilateral-oriented countries that we can ultimately put this behind us in an easier fashion than it was earlier anticipated," Rouhani said.

The elected Iranian leader said that his government would stay in the 2015 agreement, under which Tehran sharply scaled back its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

"Until such time that we keep reaping the benefits of that agreement for our nation and people, we shall remain in the agreement," he said.

"Should the situation change, we have other paths and other solutions that we can embark upon," he said.

Rouhani downplayed the sharp words from the US administration, including a warning Tuesday by Trump's national security advisor, John Bolton, that Iran would have "hell to pay" if it crosses the United States.

"During the past 40 years we have been subjected to that type of language many times," he said.

"In this American administration, unfortunately, the language has been said to be somewhat unique and they speak with a different style, presumably because they are new to politics," he said.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Macron Wants Iran to Sell Oil, Urges Dialogue

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that Iran should be allowed to keep selling oil and urged dialogue as he rejected a US push to isolate the clerical regime.

Speaking to reporters after addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Macron said that Iranian sales would bring down the price of oil—a professed concern of US President Donald Trump.

"It would be good for the price of oil for Iran to be able to sell it. It's good for peace and it's good for the shape of the international price of oil," Macron said.

France and other European powers are setting up a way to allow businesses to keep doing business in Iran in hopes of avoiding sanctions by the United States, which has withdrawn from the 2015 nuclear deal.

Addressing world leaders shortly after Trump, the French president credited the accord with curbing the nuclear program of Iran.

“What will bring a real solution to the situation in Iran and what has already stabilized it? The law of the strongest? Pressure from only one side? No!" Macron said in his address.

"We know that Iran was on a nuclear military path but what stopped it? The 2015 Vienna accord."

Trump has withdrawn from the seven-nation agreement negotiated under his successor Barack Obama, calling it a "disaster" and instead ramping up pressure on Iran including through renewed sanctions.

Supported by Israel and Saudi Arabia, Trump has sought to roll back Iranian influence around the Middle East, including in war-ravaged Syria.

But Macron said: "We should not aggravate regional tensions but rather through dialogue and multilateralism pursue a broader agenda that allows us to address all the concerns caused by Iranian policies—nuclear, ballistic, regional."

Photo Credit: White House

Pompeo 'Disturbed' by EU Payment Plan for Iran Business

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced Tuesday a European Union plan to set up a way to preserve business with Iran and avoid renewed American sanctions.

Addressing the United Against a Nuclear Iran pressure group being held near the annual UN General Assembly, Pompeo said he was "disturbed and indeed deeply disappointed" by Monday's announcement from remaining members of an international nuclear deal.

"This is one of the most counterproductive measures imaginable for regional peace and security," Pompeo said, accusing the European Union of "solidifying Iran's ranking as the number-one state sponsor of terrorism."

"I imagine the corrupt ayatollahs and IGRC were laughing this morning," Pompeo added at the event in New York, referring to the elite Revolutionary Guards, in a speech that was interrupted several times by anti-war protesters.

President Donald Trump pulled out of an agreement negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama for Iran to curtail its nuclear program sharply in exchange for sanctions relief.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, speaking late Monday alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said that the agreement was in the global interest and pointed to UN inspectors' findings that Iran is in compliance.

She said that European Union members were working on a legal entity that would allow businesses to buy oil and conduct other business with Iran in hopes of avoiding US sanctions.

Photo Credit: UANI

Rouhani Says Trump Seeking Iran Leadership 'Overthrow'

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused his US counterpart Donald Trump of trying to topple his government Tuesday as he poured cold water on the idea of resuming talks with Washington after its pullout from an international nuclear accord.

"It is ironic that the US government does not even conceal its plan for overthrowing the same government it invites to talks," Rouhani said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

"For dialogue to take place, there is no need for a photo opportunity. The 
two sides can listen to each other right here in this Assembly. 

"I am starting the dialogue right here, and state, in unequivocal terms, that the question of international security is not a toy in American domestic politics."

Rouhani took the podium a few hours after Trump called for Iran's isolation in his UN address, accusing the leadership of Iran of sowing "chaos, death and destruction" as he defended his decision to ditch the Iran nuclear accord.

The five remaining parties to the 2015 accord—France, Britain, Germany, China and Russia—agreed during a meeting in New York late Monday to set up a payment system to preserve business ties with Iran despite US sanctions.

The Iranian leader said he was pleased that the international community did not follow the Trump administration's "unilateral and illegal withdrawal from the JCPOA," the JointComprehensive Plan of Action as the nuclear deal is known. 

"Unlawful unilateral sanctions in themselves constitute a form of economic terrorism," said Rouhani. 

Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in May, to the dismay of European allies, Russia and China which had invested years in negotiations to achieve a milestone agreement on keeping Iran's nuclear ambitions in check.

In his UN address last year, Trump bashed the nuclear deal as "an embarrassment," signalling that the United States was ready to walk away.

Trump and Rouhani declined to meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly session. 

Photo Credit: IRNA

Trump: 'No Plans' to Meet Iran's Rouhani 'Despite Requests'

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had no plans to meet with Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani at the United Nations "despite requests" to do so.

"Maybe someday in the future. I am sure he is an absolutely lovely man!" Trump tweeted just hours before both leaders were set to speak at the UN General Assembly, and four months after the US president ditched the Iran nuclear deal.

Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in May to the dismay of European allies, Russia and China which had invested years in negotiations to achieve a milestone agreement on keeping Iran's nuclear ambitions in check.

Rouhani earlier said that as a precondition for any dialogue, Trump would need to repair the damage done by exiting the nuclear deal. "That bridge must be rebuilt," he told NBC news.

The United States maintains that it is seeking to ramp up pressure on Iran which it accuses of sowing chaos in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon.

In his General Assembly address, Rouhani was to stress that Iran continues to stick to the 2015 deal and portray the United States as a pariah for breaking its international commitments.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

EU Announces Legal Entity to Maintain Business With Iran

The European Union said Monday its members would set up a payment system to allow oil companies and businesses to continue trading with Iran in a bid to evade sanctions after the US withdrew from a nuclear agreement.

Iran and the European Union announced their defiance towards US President Donald Trump's administration after high-level talks at the United Nations among the remaining members of the accord.

The countries said in a statement that they were determined "to protect the freedom of their economic operators to pursue legitimate business with Iran."

With the United States and the dollar dominating so much of global trade, the statement said the new mechanism would "facilitate payments related to Iran's exports (including oil) and imports, which will assist and reassure economic operators pursuing legitimate business with Iran."

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, speaking at the United Nations 
alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the countries 
were still working out the technical details.

"In practical terms, this will mean that EU member states will set up a legal entity to facilitate legitimate financial transactions with Iran and this will allow European companies to continue to trade with Iran in accordance with European Union law and could be open to other partners in the world," she told reporters.

She said that the remaining members of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia—would also maintain their commitments to support Iran on civilian nuclear energy.

"The participants recalled that these initiatives are aimed at preserving the JCPOA, which is in the international interest," she said.

Pressure on Iranian Economy

In line with findings of UN inspectors, Mogherini reiterated that Iran has been in compliance with the nuclear agreement—under which Tehran drastically scaled back its nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions.

The agreement was sealed in 2015 in a signature achievement for then US 
president Barack Obama. 

Trump pulled out of the agreement in May, describing it as a "disaster" and quickly moving to reimpose sanctions on Iran.

Despite the protests of the European Union, a number of business including French energy giant Total and carmakers Peugeot and Renault as well as Germany's Siemens and Daimler have already suspended operations in Iran for fear of triggering US sanctions.

With Iran's economy already feeling the pinch, US national security adviser John Bolton earlier Monday vowed to impose "maximum pressure" on Tehran, while insisting that Washington was not pushing for regime change.

US Arab allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as Israel have long sought for Washington to work to curtail non-Arab and predominantly Shiite Muslim Iran's influence in the Middle East, including in war-torn Syria.

The EU move comes a day before Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani separately address the UN General Assembly, with the US leader expected to take a hard line on Iran.

Photo Credit: EEAS

White House Insists Not Seeking Iran Regime Change

The White House insisted Monday it was not seeking the overthrow of Iran's clerical regime even as it seeks at the United Nations to pile pressure on Tehran.

"As I have said repeatedly, regime change in Iran is not the administration's policy," national security advisor John Bolton told reporters as he previewed President Donald Trump's week at the global body.

"We've imposed very stringent sanctions on Iran, more are coming, and what we expect from Iran is massive changes in their behavior."

"And until that happens we will continue to exert what the president has called maximum pressure," he said.

As a private citizen, Bolton had advocated supporting Iran's armed opposition, a position reiterated recently by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who serves as Trump's personal lawyer.

Trump, who has warm relations with Iranian rivals Saudi Arabia and Israel, has pulled the United States out of an international agreement to constrict Iran's nuclear program and instead has restored sanctions.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused US allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of supporting Arab separatists who killed 24 people at a military parade last week in southwestern Iran.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

Iran Supreme Leader Says Saudi, UAE 'Funded' Ahvaz Attackers

Iran's supreme leader on Monday said the attackers who killed 24 people at a weekend military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz were funded by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 

"Based on reports, this cowardly act was the work of those very individuals who are rescued by the Americans whenever they are in trouble and who are funded by the Saudis and the (United) Arab Emirates," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, in remarks posted on his official website.

He did not give any further details on the identity of those behind what he called a "terrorist attack.”

In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Saturday, Iranian authorities said they suspected Arab separatist groups were behind the attack, none of whom is known to have a presence in Syria.

Khamenei, who was speaking to a group of Iranian athletes, said the attack "once again shows the Iranian nation faces many enemies on its proud path of progress and development".

"We will most certainly rigorously punish the perpetrators of this attack," he added.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Thousands Attend Funeral for Iran Attack Dead

Tens of thousands of mourners attended a funeral on Monday in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz for soldiers and civilians killed in an attack on a military parade.

Four militants attacked the Saturday parade marking the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, spraying the crowd with gunfire and killing 24 people.

Iranian officials blamed Arab separatists, backed by Gulf Arab allies of the US, for the operation.

AFP reporters on Monday saw members of the public and the military carrying coffins draped in the Iranian flag, some bearing pictures of the deceased.

The mourners, mostly wearing black, carried pictures of the dead along with banners reading "we will stand to the end" and "no to terrorism.”

Under blazing sun, crowds streamed in from all four main streets leading into the city-centre square where the funeral was held, three of them dedicated to men and the fourth to women. 

In the square itself, also segregated, a woman dressed in the traditional Arab-style chador wailed loudly and held a picture of her son, Reza Shoaibi, a conscript who was among the dead.

As the funeral progressed, her wailing and expressions of sorrow steadily grew louder until she fainted.

The heat became so intolerable that trucks sprayed water onto the crowd as temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius (105 fahrenheit).

Mourners waved red, green and black flags with revolutionary messages, as well as the flags of Arab tribes from the surrounding Khuzestan region.

Iranian authorities have blamed Arab separatists and accused the United States, Israel and Gulf Arab monarchies of backing Saturday's "terrorist" attack.

The Islamic State group also claimed responsibility.

Khuzestan, which has a large ethnic Sunni Arab community, was a major battleground of the 1980s war with Iraq and it saw unrest in 2005 and 2011.

Kurdish rebels frequently attack military patrols on the border further north, but attacks on government targets in major cities are rare.

'Devastating' Revenge

Monday's ceremony began in front of the square's Sarallah Mosque with speeches by generals and security officials.

Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said that arrests had already been made.

"The terrorists themselves have perished, our agents will identify their remnants and supporters to the last man. A major part of them have already been arrested," he told the crowd.

Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the deputy head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, vowed to exact vengeance.

“We promise that our reaction will be devastating, we warn everyone that we will take revenge," he told mourners.

After the speeches ended, a famous wartime religious chanter sang songs of lamentation as thousands of mourners beat their chests in unison, a traditional mourning practice of Shiite Muslims.

Later, the coffins were transported to the city cemetery and laid to rest.

The dead ranged from a preschool boy to a wheelchair-bound war veteran. 

Pictures of women and children scrambling to find cover evoked an emotional response from Iranians.

Abdolzahra Savari, an ethnic Arab who had attended the funeral, called the attackers infidels. 

"These are ruthless people with no shred of humanity in them," he said.

Sabah Abiad, a middle-aged bank employee who attended the funeral, said the unity among the region's different groups was self-evident.

"As you can see now, all of the people, whether they're Lor, Arab, Shushtari or Dezfuli, are all here today and all say death to the terrorists," he told AFP.

Iran holds regular military parades to mark national anniversaries and show off its latest military hardware, notably missiles.

This year's parades had special significance as tensions with the United States have peaked since the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in May and began to re-impose unilateral economic sanctions on Tehran.

Iran's presence in Syria has also triggered rising tensions with Israel.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Iran Vows 'Crushing Response' After Gunmen Kill 29 at Army Parade

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed a "crushing" response after assailants sprayed a crowd with gunfire, shooting dead at least 29 people including women and children Saturday at a military parade near the Iraqi border.

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the rare assault in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, while Iranian officials blamed "a foreign regime" backed by the United States.

A local journalist who witnessed the attack said shots rang out for 10 to 15 minutes and that at least one of the assailants, armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, wore the uniform of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

"We realised it was a terrorist attack as bodyguards (of officials) started shooting," Behrad Ghasemi told AFP. "Everything went haywire and soldiers started running."

"The terrorists had no particular target and didn't really seem to care as they shot anyone they could with rapid gunfire."

Ahvaz lies in Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq that has a large ethnic Arab community and has seen separatist violence in the past that Iran has blamed on its regional rivals.

Iran summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain over their "hosting of some members of the terrorist group" which carried out the attack, state media said Sunday.

"It is not acceptable that the European Union does not blacklist members of these terrorist groups as long as they do not perpetrate a crime on... European soil," official news agency IRNA quoted foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying.

After addressing a similar parade in Tehran to commemorate the start of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, Rouhani warned that "the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the smallest threat will be crushing.”

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the attack was carried out by "terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime".

"Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks," he wrote on Twitter.

'Bloody Crime'

IS claimed the attack via its propaganda mouthpiece Amaq and, according to intelligence monitor SITE, said the attack was in response to Iranian involvement in conflicts across the region. 

State television gave a toll of 29 dead and 57 wounded, while IRNA said those killed included women and children who were spectators at the parade.

Three attackers were killed at the scene and the fourth died later of his injuries, said armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi.

The Revolutionary Guards accused Shiite-dominated Iran's Sunni arch-rival Saudi Arabia of funding the attackers, while Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also blamed Iran's pro-US rivals.

Tehran-backed Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah condemned the "terrorist" attack, saying that "repulsive Satanic hands" were behind it.

"This operation was a continuation of the other forms of war the United States and its allies are waging, directly or indirectly," it said.

In a message to Russia's close regional ally, President Vladimir Putin said he was "appalled by this bloody crime", while Syria, another ally, neighboring Turkey and France also expressed condolences.

Khuzestan was a major battleground of the 1980s war with Iraq and the province saw unrest in 2005 and 2011, but has since been largely quiet.

Kurdish rebels frequently attack military patrols on the border further north, but attacks on regime targets in major cities are rare.

On June 7, 2017 in Tehran, 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in simultaneous attacks on the parliament and on the tomb of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini—the first inside Iran claimed by IS.

In April, 26 alleged members of the Sunni extremist group went on trial in connection with the attacks.

Rouhani Defiant

The attack in Ahvaz came as Rouhani and other dignitaries attended the main anniversary parade in Tehran.

In a keynote speech, he vowed to boost Iran's ballistic missile capabilities, despite Western concerns that were cited by his US counterpart Donald Trump in May when he abandoned a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.

"We will never decrease our defensive capabilities... we will increase them day by day," Rouhani said. 

"The fact that the missiles anger (the West) shows they are our most effective weapons."

The United States reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran last month, and another round of even harsher sanctions targeting Iran's vital oil sector is set to go back into effect on November 5.

Washington has said it is ready to open talks on a new agreement to replace the July 2015 accord, but Tehran has repeatedly said it cannot negotiate under pressure from sanctions.

Rouhani leaves Sunday for New York to attend next week's United Nations General Assembly along with Trump, but Iran has repeatedly ruled out any meeting.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Iran Urges OPEC to Rebuff 'Threats' From Trump

Iran on Sunday called on its OPEC partners not to bow to "threats" from US President Donald Trump, as the oil cartel prepared to meet to discuss output levels.

"I hope the outcome of this meeting will not be affected by President Trump's threats," Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told SHANA, his ministry's news agency.

Ahead of Sunday's meeting in Algiers of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Trump tweeted that "the OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!" by raising output.

Middle East states "would not be safe for very long" without the United States, the president also wrote Thursday.

Zanganeh fired back, saying the claim that "America safeguards the security and survival of producing countries" was the "biggest insult to American allies in the region".

"OPEC is an organization independent of America and will hopefully stay so," he said.

However, the Algiers meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC ministers is expected to offer an increase in output to "offset Iran's production cut", said Zanganeh.

Output from Iran has hit its lowest level since July 2016, according to the International Energy Agency, as top buyers India and China distance themselves from Tehran.

Trump has called for OPEC members, primarily US ally Saudi Arabia, to raise production, and warned importers to stop buying oil from Iran or face American sanctions.

The US in May withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran and reimposed sanctions on the Iranian economy, with a US embargo due to hit Iran's oil industry on November 4.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Iran Adhering to Nuclear Deal: British PM

Iran is adhering to its commitments under the Iran nuclear deal and the accord—repudiated by the United States—should stay in place, Britain's prime minister said in an interview broadcast  on Sunday.

"From what we see, we believe that it is doing that," Theresa May told CBS. 

"We believe that that should stay in place. And others, involved in putting that deal together believe that it should stay in place," May said in excerpts of an interview shown on "Face the Nation" that was to air in full Monday on "This Morning."

But there are other issues outside the deal that also need to be dealt with, she said.

"Looking at the issue of ballistic missiles. Looking at—the way in which —Iran is acting in the region—to destabilize the region. We need to address those issues," May said.

May's interview came as world leaders geared up for a week of high-stakes diplomacy at the UN General Assembly, which is set to be dominated by North Korea and Iran.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump will for the first time chair a Security Council meeting on non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction that will focus heavily on Iran -- likely triggering a clash with other big powers.

Earlier this year, Trump pulled the US out of the deal it reached with Iran and five other countries in 2015. That accord lifted sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

Now, the US is reimposing those sanctions.

Other parties to the deal have argued that it is working and should stay in place, while the International Atomic Energy Agency has said Iran is complying with the accord.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

Jeans and Chadors as Iran Capital Marks Ashura

A troupe acts out a scene from Islam's first century at a crowded tent in Tehran's Grand Bazaar, while in another part of town youths sporting tattoos and wearing torn jeans watch a procession.

The two settings reflect the increasingly contrasting ways that people in the Iranian capital are marking Ashura—one of the holiest days in Shiite Islam which this year fell on Thursday.

Ashura marks the murder of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed killed in the year 680 while refusing the Caliph Yazid's right to rule the Islamic world.

Every year for around two weeks before Ashura which falls on the 10th day of the Islamic month of Muharram, Iran undergoes a transformation to mourn his death, with black flags hoisted and commemorations across the country.

"Every nation is kept alive by its culture, beliefs and rituals," says Rahim Khastou, a lecturer on cultural studies at Karaj Azad University.

"Ashura is one such instance that has had an defining role in the Iranian society."

The passion play watched by hundreds of people at the Grand Bazaar is about Hussein and his last stand at Karbala.

For those watching, from pensioners to housewives and their children, neither the stifling heat nor the fact that more than a millennia has passed since Hussein's death matter as they beat their chests as a sign of grief.

Many see the plays as an inspiration for their faith and the principles they believe Islam stands upon.

Azam Ardestani, a 49-year-old housekeeper, says Ashura "shows that we should only follow truth and righteousness, and that we should be prepared to defend what's righteous."

’Fight Tyranny'

For Sajjad Teymoori, a 28-year-old civil engineer, it's a symbol of standing up to persecution.

"We value Imam Hussein because he gave everything he had for God, to fight oppression and tyranny."

Ceremonies held in the Grand Bazaar are known for sticking to traditions and rigorously abiding by the rules of Islam.

Most of the men watching on are dressed in plain black clothes and women are clad in full-length black chadors.

A short distance away from the tent, men and women queue separately at stalls where vendors have served up food to passers-by for decades during Ashura.

But that's not the case for all of Tehran.

In the middle class neighborhood of Aryashahr, to the west of the city, many of the young men and women joining a late night Ashura procession sport tatoos and are dressed in torn jeans and low-cut blouses—hardly conforming to the strict Islamic dress code.

With police looking on, they mingle with ease and many strike up new friendships as they wait for the procession to get underway.

Although they aren't widespread, such gatherings are growing and for the more traditional minded they are an anathema.

Generational Change

Ehsan Hesabi, a 34-year-old shoemaker who attended the play at the bazaar, sees these new gatherings as the work of the enemies of Islam.

"They want to distance us from Imam Hussein. They want us to forget the blood he shed... The enemy wants to culturally separate us from traditional mourning which sheds tears for Imam Hussein."

Mehran Hosseini, a 34-year-old who was at Aryashahr, says however such processions appeal to the younger generations.

While the commemorations that older people attend might be more educational, "when it comes to our generation, the circumstances have changed" and many younger people don't like them, says Hosseini.

"But the way someone dresses is just a matter of personal taste. It isn't an indication of someone's beliefs deep down inside. Anyone can mourn in their own way," he says.

Khastou, the university professor, sees change as inevitable.

"Just as the ceremonies today are different from those 30 years ago, so were those different from ceremonies held 60 years ago," he says.

But while Khastou believes even the newer ceremonies can help create cohesion among the different strata of society, he warned about the rituals losing some of their meaning.

"Should there be a reduction in the dimensions of Ashura, and should it lose its essential meaning and substance, then there is the potential for the ritual to become a carnival, where although the subject is sorrow and grief, in practice it becomes a fun and recreational pastime," he adds.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Sinopec Persists With Iran Refinery Upgrade

This article has been republished with permission from Argus Media.

China's state-controlled Sinopec is pressing ahead with a USD 1.06bn upgrade project at Iran's 400,000 b/d Abadan refinery, despite the imminent return of US sanctions on Iran's energy sector.

Sinopec is contracted to build a new 210,000 b/d crude distillation unit (CDU) to replace three distillation units with a combined 250,000 b/d that were built more than 70 years ago. Its commitment will come as some relief for Tehran ahead of the 4 November re-imposition of US sanctions on its energy sector.

Companies have been rethinking plans to invest in Iran since the US withdrew from the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions. Some contracts have been cancelled with state-owned NIOC and its subsidiaries.

Total, the most high-profile foreign company to finalize a deal with Iran following the lifting of US and EU sanctions in January 2016, has pulled out from a USD 4.88bn project to develop phase 11 of the giant offshore South Pars gas field.

South Korean construction company Daelim Industrial cancelled a USD 2.13bn contract to upgrade and expand the 375,000 b/d Isfahan refinery. South Korea's SK Engineering and Construction has halted all work on a USD 1.88bn contract to upgrade the 110,000 b/d Tabriz refinery.

But Sinopec looks to be pressing on at Abadan.

"The second-phase development of the Abadan refinery began roughly 14 months ago, and thankfully is progressing on schedule," Abadan Refining Company managing director Ali-Akbar Mirghaderi said. "The duration of this project is 48 months, and we expect it to be completed on time." The first-phase upgrade was also carried out by Sinopec.

Abadan is the largest and oldest of Iran's nine refineries. It sustained heavy damage in 1980 during the Iran-Iraq war.

The upgrade is being carried out with state-owned engineering company NIOEC. It will result in Abadan's capacity falling to 360,000 b/d but will inprove the quality of all products to at least a Euro-5 standard. Production of higher-value products like gasoline and gasoil will increase in the place of lower-value products like fuel oil.

Sinopec was awarded the contract by Iran's state-owned refiner NIORDC in mid-2017 as part of a wider USD 2.7bn agreement between Iran and China struck in early 2017. Financing for the project is coming from China's state-owned export credit insurance agency Sinosure.

NIORDC has a a USD 34bn program to modernize five of Iran's six largest refineries and build an additional 1.41mn b/d of refining capacity. That would raise Iran's crude refining capacity by around 25pc to 2.28mn b/d by March 2022.

Photo Credit: ILNA

Volkswagen Won't Confirm Claim it Will Quit Iran

Story re-filed by AFP with new headline, text.

Car giant Volkswagen declined Thursday to confirm a claim by American ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell that it would stop doing business in Iran.

Grenell—known for stirring up controversy in his host country with public sallies on business and politics—told Bloomberg News VW would wind up most business with Iran after weeks of talks with President Donald Trump's administration.

The German behemoth had announced in July 2017 that it would begin selling its own-brand cars in Iran for the first time in 17 years.

A spokesman for the Wolfsburg-based carmaker told AFP it was sticking to its long-standing position that it "obeys all national and international laws as well as export regulations".

"We are also taking into account possible effects related to the reintroduction of US sanctions," he added.

A source familiar with the talks told AFP that VW and the US government had not yet reached a final accord.

Even if it fully complies with US sanctions, VW will still be able to do some business in Iran under a "humanitarian exception", Bloomberg reported.

In May, Trump pulled the US out of the deal it reached with Iran and five other countries in 2015. That accord lifted sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

Now, the US is reimposing those sanctions, and Grenell has this month tweeted to celebrate chemicals heavyweight BASF and reinsurance giant Munich Re saying they would comply with the trade squeeze.

A spokesman for BASF told AFP Thursday that it "will continue to do business in Iran and obey all legal rules and regulations."

He added that "around half" the 80 million euros ($93.5 million) in revenue BASF earned in Iran last year came from sectors—energy, automobiles and petrochemicals—affected by American sanctions.

The Ludwigshafen-based group's business with the country represents a tiny fraction of its 64.5 billion euros in annual turnover.

Meanwhile Munich Re has said it would withdraw from Iran in case of sanctions so as not to risk its much larger US activities.

European governments are battling to find ways for their firms to continue trading with Iran, hoping to keep Tehran from renewing its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Last week, the German government confirmed to AFP that Berlin, Paris and London were considering a scheme that would allow Iran to ship goods to European Union countries and receive others in return—without transferring money through international financial channels vulnerable to US sanctions.

Unusually outspoken for a diplomat, Ambassador Grenell irked his German hosts immediately following his arrival in Berlin earlier this year.

In one of his first interviews after taking office, he pressured German firms to withdraw from business with Iran and said he aimed to "empower" anti-establishment conservatives around Europe—drawing accusations of meddling in his host country's politics.

Photo Credit: VAG

US Still Ready to Talk to Iran: Official

US leaders remain ready to negotiate with their Iranian counterparts but Tehran is still refusing President Donald Trump's overture to do so, a senior US official said Wednesday.

Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "have all made clear that we are ready to negotiate and to have those discussions," Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran, told the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank.

"There hasn't been any aversion to meeting with the Iranians," he added.

Hook stressed the goal was a "comprehensive deal" with Iran, based on a tough set of conditions Pompeo laid out in May.

The United States seeks a treaty ratified by Congress to replace the 
nuclear pact Trump withdrew from in May.

Washington insists such a deal should address Iran's ballistic weapons capabilities, its nuclear capacity and its "destabilizing" and "malign" regional influence.

According to Hook, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif "have all indicated that they're not interested in talking. That's their position, we respect that."

Trump and Rouhani will both be in New York next week for the United Nations General Assembly.

The US president is to lead a Security Council meeting that will discuss Iran, among other topics.

While Rouhani will hold talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, no US-Iranian meeting has been announced.

The US re-imposed sweeping sanctions against Iran last month, and a new round of even harsher sanctions is set to go into effect November 5 targeting Iran's vital oil sector.

Photo Credit: CSPAN

Macron to Meet Trump, Iran's Rouhani at UN in New York: French Presidency

President Emmanuel Macron will separately meet his US and Iranian counterparts, Donald Trump and Hassan Rouhani, during the UN General Assembly in New York next week, the French presidency said Wednesday.

Macron will meet Trump on Monday afternoon before having dinner with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. On Tuesday, the French President will address the assembly and hold talks with Rouhani, an Elysee Palace official said.

The meetings come as Macron and other European leaders try to salvage a landmark 2015 accord to curb Tehran's nuclear program, which Trump pulled the US out of last May.

Trump has signaled that he might be willing to meet with Rouhani as well, after re-imposing sanctions against Iran last month.

A new round of even harsher sanctions is set to go into effect in November targeting Iran's vital oil sector.

The sanctions have hit Iran's economy hard since foreign companies can no longer operate in the country without running the risk of being targeted by US penalties.

The US accuses Iran of destabilizing the Middle East by pursuing missile development and its intervention in conflicts in neighboring countries including Syria and Yemen.

Iranian officials have repeatedly indicated they have no plans to hold talks with Trump when the general debate opens at the assembly on Tuesday.

Photo Credit: France ONU

Iran Film for Oscars Stirs Debate on Home Front

The Iranian film for next year's Oscars has stirred controversy at home both over the choice of a downbeat movie and for taking part in the Hollywood spectacle at a time of tense Tehran-Washington ties.

The Farabi Cinema Foundation tasked with selecting Iran's contestant for the best foreign-language film category has announced its choice of "No Date, No Signature", which won best director and best actor at the 2017 Venice Film Festival.

Vahid Jalilvand's film, which has scooped a host of other awards aboard, tells the tale of two men tormented by guilt over the death of a boy in a road accident, set against a background of social injustice.

"Every year the same debate surfaces over whether or not to submit a film" for the contest in Hollywood, Farabi said last Friday while naming its choice.

The US decision to pull out of the nuclear accord with the Islamic republic and to reimpose sanctions this year has "led certain parties to propose a boycott of the Oscars", it said, referring to Iran's conservative camp.

Defending its participation, the foundation said that members of the Academy which organizes the event were among leading critics of "the populist government of (President Donald) Trump and of its policies tainted with racism and unilateralism.”

The choice of "No Date, No Signature" was vindicated by its success abroad and "the efforts of its distributor" to bring the movie to screens in the United States, Farabi said.

’Golden Opportunity' Missed

But the ultra-conservative press was unimpressed.

"Like the strategy used by Trump in interviews and tweets to depict Iran as a nation abandoned by hope and mired in poverty and misery, 'No Date, No Signature', a most bitter and dark film, has been chosen for the Oscars," Javan newspaper said in a commentary.

It said the foundation had squandered "a golden opportunity" to enlighten the outside world on the values of Iran by nominating another movie, "Damascus Time", on its battle against jihadists in Syria.

Director Ebrahim Hatamikia's film, funded by the Revolutionary Guards, the country's ideological army, has been a hit at the Tehran box office.

After three films were shortlisted from a 110-strong field, "the decisive factor that made 'No Date, No Signature' the best choice was its professional and effective foreign distributor which the others did not have", said Houshang Golmakani, a critic with "Film Magazine", a monthly on Iranian movies he co-founded.

The subject matter makes it "a caustic film" as regards its portrayal of life in Iran, he told AFP. "But art is not a matter of touting for your country.”

In 2017, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won his second Oscar for best foreign movie with "The Salesman", but he boycotted the awards ceremony in Los Angeles in protest at Trump's controversial policies on immigration.

Photo Credit: IMBD