Iran: US older sanctions lifted and fresh Imposed

Soon after the US lifted sanctions on Iran's nuclear programme, it imposed fresh sanctions on Iranian companies and individuals over a recent ballistic missile test.

BBC reports that the new sanctions prevent 11 entities and individuals linked to the missile programme from using the US banking system.

"Iran's ballistic missile programme poses a significant threat to regional and global security, and it will continue to be subject to international sanctions," said Adam J Szubin, US acting under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

Read details at BBC | Photo

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Iran's Nuclear sanctions lifted as Iran agree on dramatic prisoner swap with USA

After a meaningful dialogue in Vienna, Iran has been able to have the nuclear sanctions lifted imposed on it. 

The lifting of nuclear sanctions came as Tehran announced the release of five Americans including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian as part of a prisoner swap with the United States.

Tens of billions of dollars worth of Iranian assets will now be unfrozen and global companies that have been barred from doing business there will be able to exploit a market hungry for everything from automobiles to airplane parts.

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Iran to get Russian S-300 air defence missiles by March 2016

Russian news agency TASS quoting Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan has reported that Iran would get Russian S-300 air defense missile systems (photo above) by March 2016.

"The process of the S-300 system’s delivery to Iran has entered the implementation stage," the diplomat is quoted by the agency.

The S-300 is long range surface-to-air missile systems produced by NPO Almaz, all based on the initial S-300P version. The S-300 system was developed to defend against aircraft and cruise missiles for the Soviet Air Defence Forces. 

S-300PMU-2 version, which Iran will ultimately be getting, has a maximum range of 90 kilometres with a speed of 2,000 M/S

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Iran test fires 'Emad' - its new generation precision-guided ballistic missile

Iran's Defence Minister has been quoted as saying that Iran has successfully test fired  its news generation precision-guided ballistic missile on Sunday.

Code named Emad - the missile is capable of striking targets with a high level of precision and completely destroy them.

It may be recalled that Anthony Cordesman, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in January that the Emad would have a range of 1,700 kilometres, 500 metres accuracy and a 750 kilogram payload.

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Iran nuclear agreement reached amid controversies

So finally this seems to have been inked - a historic nuclear deal with major powers and Iran has been reached. A senior Western diplomat confirmed that the landmark Iran nuclear agreement was reached after clearing final obstacles.

The deal will grant Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, an Iranian diplomat said on Tuesday.

Under the deal, Tehran would have the right to challenge the UN request and an arbitration board composed of Iran and the six world powers that negotiated with it would have to decide on the issue.

The deal beside being historic is also controversial. Its opponents on Capitol Hill, in Iran, in Israel and the Gulf will continue to campaign against it. But it is practical proof once more that diplomacy is indeed the art of the possible.

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Geneva II: Iran left out of first round of nations for UN Syria peace talks

While Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has began sending out invitations for the Geneva II talks on the Syrian conflict on Monday, a UN spokesman says that Iran is not among them.

However, the invitations to the talks are subject to approval by the “initiating states,” Russia and the United States.

The Independent has reported that the United States and Russia have not yet agreed on Iran's role in the talks. But the UN spokesman  says the United Nations hopes that can be resolved at a 13 January meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The US has objected to Iran's participation because it hasn't publicly endorsed the principles from an earlier peace conference that called for a transitional government in Syria, and is backing militias, including the Iranian-allied Lebanese Hezbollah group that has aided the troops of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

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Huge Oil Reserves found in Australia may badly effect Saudi and Iranian Oil Exports in coming days

The discovery of 233 billion barrels of unconventional oil under an area spread over 16 million acres, located near the remote town of Coober Pedy, Australia, may trigger an energy war in coming days. The total reserves of Saudi Arabia stand at 263 billion barrels.

Coober Pedy is located in a nearly, uninhabitable region of Southern Australia where temperatures can reach 118 degrees, which forces many of the town's 1,695 residents are forced to live in underground caves. 

This has been disclosed by Dr. Kent Moors, an energy advisor to 20 world governments and consultant to OPEC, the IEA, EIA, and National Intelligence Community in an exclusive interview with Money Morning TV.

"This single, energy discovery could deliver an economic and geopolitical deathblow to Iran and Saudi Arabia, and that's exactly what the US government wants." he stated.

The find is equivalent of 12% of the world's entire reserves.

This revelation has also been backed up by South Australia's mining minister, Tom Koutsantonis who said, "what we're seeing up there is a very, very big deposit. They think they can extract vast reserves of oil out of South Australia which would have a value of about $20 trillion."

Read more about it Here
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Obama retains oil sanctions against Iran despite Geneva Deal

In the aftermath of the newly struck Geneva deal by Iran with the Western world, USA seems unmoved by the latest developments and S President Obama has ruled out lifting sanctions on export of petroleum and petroleum products from Iran.

The decision has had a significance impact of neighbouring Pakistan, which was hoping the sanctions to be lifted so that it could buy gas from Iran through a specially laid down pipeline from Iran to Pakistan.

“There is a sufficient supply of petroleum and petroleum products from countries other than Iran to permit a significant reduction in the volume of petroleum and petroleum products purchased from Iran by or through foreign financial institutions,” Mr Obama said in a statement issued by his office.

The American response is rather tangent to the Geneva deal in which  the United States and its Western allies have agreed to “suspend US and EU sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical exports, as well as sanctions on associated services.”

Read more about it at: The Dawn
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Nuclear deal with Iran 'not far', says France

France24 reports quoting a top French diplomat that world powers were “not far” from striking a nuclear deal with Iran. 

The comment came after France blocked an initial accord, winning Paris praise from conservatives in Washington but sparking anger in Tehran.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius reportedly said on Monday that an agreement between Western powers and Iran to limit the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme was “not far”, after he was the target of both praise and condemnation over negotiations that stalled over the weekend.

In the meanwhile the state-run Tehran Times reported on Monday that in light of French obstructionism, Iranian businessmen will “review their relations” with France and find “a more trustworthy partner”.

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Iranian president survives helicopter crash landing

The Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad survived a helicopter crash when his official air transport crash landed today.

The pilot managed to land the chopper safely after an unspecified "accident" in the mountainous north of the country.

Mr Ahmadinejad and the other dignitaries on board all escaped unhurt, according to Iran's official news agency. No further details are available so far officially from Iran.

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Rafsanjani barred from Iran presidency poll

Rafsanjani and Mashaei

The ex Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been excluded by the Guardian Council, and barred from standing as candidates in next month's presidential election.

Along with Mr Rafsanjani, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has also been excluded by the Guardian Council, state TV reported. The Guardian Council is loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Only eight of the 686 people who registered as potential candidates were reportedly cleared to stand. The eight candidates approved by the 12-member body of theologians and jurists are all considered hardliner conservatives with close links to Iran's ruling clerics.

The eight candidates include the country's main nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, former nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani, former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and the mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

Read more about it at: BBC News
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Earthquake Shakes many countries around Globe: Hundreds feared dead in Iran - 5 in Pakistan

Strong earthquake shocks have been felt from Iran - Pakistan - India and even Papua and New Guinea at 10.44 UTC.

The earthquake struck in the province of Sistan Baluchistan at about 15:14 local time (10:44 GMT), close to the cities of Khash, which has a population of nearly 180,000, and Saravan, where 250,000 live.

The tremor measured 7.8 on Richter scale that struck Iran, near the border with Pakistan, at 10:44 GMT on Tuesday at a depth of 73 miles The U.S. Geological survey said. The epicentre of the quake was near the south-east city of Khash, close to the Pakistani border.

The quake in southwest Iran brought down homes across the border in Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least five people, reportedly three women and two children, and wounding others in a remote community, a hospital official said.

A 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said.

Read more about it at: Emirates 24/7 | BBC
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Iran's homemade destroyer sails into Caspian Sea

While a month back, Iran unveiled a new home-made combat aircraft, which officials say can evade radar, Iran has now launched a homemade destroyer in the Caspian Sea, according to state TV. The event marked first time Iran has launched a major warship in the oil-rich region.

The Jamaran-2 was inaugurated in the port city of Anzali on the Caspian Sea.

The 1420-ton warship, which is longer than a football field and can sail at 30 knots with a 20,000-horsepower engine, was put in the water near the northern port city of Bandar Anzali, about 150 miles northwest of Tehran, the Iranian media said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the deployment was aimed at bolstering peace and friendship in the region.

The ship, named Jamaran 2, is equipped with advanced artillery and torpedo systems, can carry surface to air missiles and has a helicopter landing pad.

via BBC News
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Iran No more nuclear threat: Change in Official Stance?

It seems that Iran is finally putting cold water on its nuclear threat as Iran has been found cautiously optimistic i the latest round of negotiations in  Almaty, Kazakhstan.

“I call it a milestone. It is a turning point in the negotiations,” Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi told Australian broadcaster ORF on Thursday. 

“We are heading for goals that will be satisfactory for both sides. I am very optimistic and hopeful,” he added. 

This supposedly led to all parties agreeing that the notorious western sanctions on Iran should be up for discussion at these latest talks. Since 2006, when President Ahmadinejad stopped allowing International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors around his nuclear facilities, the economic results have been crippling.

Read more about it at: Al Bawaba News
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Iran to reduce oil reliance and boost other exports

In view of sanctions on Iran, Iran has decided to reduce reliance on oil exports and instead rely on other exports from the country.

This was disclosed by the Iranian president  in a television interview late on Saturday.

"We have to go in a direction to reduce oil receipts in our economy and raise other incomes such as non-oil exports that are increasing rapidly," the Iranian president said.

The International Energy Agency estimated last week that Iran's oil exports may have dropped below 1 million barrels per day in January from 2.2 million bpd in late 2011, costing the country over $40 billion in reduced revenues last year.

In the meantime, Iran's government has sought to impose cuts to its spending by drastically reducing access by businesses and individuals to its generous foreign exchange sales rates and banned the import of luxury items to stem the flow of hard currency abroad.

Read more about it at: Yahoo Finance
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Turkey pays the price for US Sanctions on Iran by its dwindling gold-for-oil export

Turkey, which is a US ally, is paying the price of the US imposed sanctions on Iran as its gold-for-gas trade with Iran is shrinking.

As per Reuters, U.S. officials have sought to prevent Turkish gold exports, which indirectly pay Iran for its natural gas, from providing a financial lifeline to Tehran, largely frozen out of the global banking system by Western sanctions over its nuclear program.

Turkey, Iran's biggest natural gas customer, has been paying Iran for its imports with Turkish lira, because sanctions prevent it from paying in dollars or euros.

Iranians then use those lira, held in Halkbank accounts, to buy gold in Turkey, and couriers carry bullion worth millions of dollars in hand luggage to Dubai, where it can be sold for foreign currency or shipped to Iran.

The gold exports from Turkey to Iran rose to $6.5 billion in 2012, more than ten times the level of 2011, while exports to the United Arab Emirates - much of it for onward shipment to Iran or conversion to hard currency - rose to $4.6 billion from $280 million.

However, due to the US sanctions, the Turkish bullion exports have fallen to 10.5 tonnes in December from 15.2 tonnes in November.

Read more about it at: Reuters
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Is Iran's Qahar-313 Stealth aircraft a Fake?

The demonstration of stealth aircraft Qahar-313 by Iran recently has sent ripples across the Western World and the defense analysts.

However, giving it a detailed analysis, some western analysts find the photos provided by Iran to be cleverly photo-shopped.

Photo: Word Spoken (Iranian Blog)

The Atlantic Wire, with some help from an Iranian blogger, reports that the picture is a not-so-skillful blend of two images — a stock photo of Iran's imposing Mount Damavand and a shot of a model of the "radar-evading" Qaher-313 plane sitting on display in a carpeted hall.

The Atlantic Wire found the Mount Damavand picture on the site PickyWallpapers.com after a Google Image search. And the Iranian blogger's detective workclearly shows that the "flying" Qaher-313 is actually the display model, as light is glinting off both of them in identical ways.

It may be recalled that the Islamic Republic unveiled the stealth plane on Feb. 2, describing it as "super advanced" and "capable of evading radars."

Till Iran comes up with some credible videos and images of its stealth aircraft, there is a great degree of mistrust that would prevail on the credibility of the news by Iran.

via Tech News
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Iran successfully replicates captured U.S. drone through reverse engineering

The US drones hovering over Iran have provided Iran an opportunity to down any of these and reproduce the replicas through reverse engineering.

Iranian Arms have managed to create its own squadron of drones based on technology copied from a 'downed' U.S. spy plane much to the embarrassment for the Americans

It is reported that Iran is producing drones which exactly look like American drone Sea Eagle, which Iran downed in December 2012. The Iranian military has successfully replicated the drone through reverse engineering the avionics and is reported to be producing in a mass scale.

According to Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy, the Iran's Naval and Aerospace Division has already deployed the home-brew models.

It may be recalled that Iran rejected a U.S. call for the return of the drone after it was downed. However, the US authorities insist that the drone crashed due to malfunction.

Read more about it at: Mail Online
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Iranian president volunteers to go to space

The Iranian president Ahmadinejad has volunteered to go the space by his country's space programme. 

"I am ready to be the first human to be sent to space by Iranian scientists," Ahmadinejad told a group of scientists in Tehran gathered to celebrate the country's space achievements, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency. Ahmadinejad was speaking at an event organised for the anniversary celebration of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

It may be added that Iran recently sent a monkey in space and retrieved it alive back on earth. The Iranian sciencetists hailed as a major step towards their goal of sending humans into space.

It was unclear if the suggestion was a serious one, but one group of Iranians declared they would do everything in their power to help Ahmadinejad achieve his goal.

Within minutes of the news breaking, a Facebook page was set up called "In support of sending Ahmadinejad into space".

Read more about it at: Guardian
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Iran unveils Qaher F313 'stealth fighter' plane

Iran has unveiled a new home-made combat aircraft, which officials say can evade radar.

The single-seat Qaher F313 (Dominant F313) is the latest design produced by Iran's military since it launched the Azarakhsh (Lightning), in 2007.

President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad said it had "almost all the positive features" of the world's most sophisticated jets.

Pictures of the jet were released by state television, showing a steely grey jet that Iran's Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said was built with "advanced materials" and had a very low radar signature.

Read more about it at: BBC
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