Eye on Iran: Iranian Oil Minister Vows to Keep Increasing Crude Exports

Join UANI           Top Stories WSJ: "Iran vowed Thursday to increase its crude exports despite a cap agreed upon with the international community. Responding to a question from The Wall Street Journal on whether Iran would have to reduce its oil exports, oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said, 'We are trying to increase exports.' 'Our exports are above 1 million barrels a day,' he said. Iran agreed in November to cap its crude exports to 1 million barrels a day on average as part of a broader interim deal with six world powers over its nuclear program. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an Iran oil exhibition here, Mr. Zanganeh insisted that nuclear 'negotiation has no influence on the export of crude oil.' 'Iran determines the level of export of oil. There is no limitation,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1m5Zz2q Al-Monitor: "House lawmakers put their demand that Iran abandon uranium enrichment squarely back on the table overnight amid continued congressional concern that the Barack Obama administration is being hoodwinked in its nuclear dealings with Tehran. The House Armed Services panel passed an amendment to the annual defense bill from Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., that establishes a nonbinding 'sense of Congress' that sanctions can only be lifted if Iran 'ceases the enrichment of uranium,' dismantles its 'nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and ballistic missiles and ballistic missile launch technology' and stops 'providing support for acts of international terrorism.' The amendment, which passed along a party-line voice vote, was one of several aimed squarely at containing Iran following November's interim agreement with Iran. 'The entire ballgame with Iran's gaining nuclear weapon capability lies in their ability to enrich uranium and produce plutonium,' Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz. - the author of stalled legislation authorizing the use of force against Iran if talks fail - said during debate on the amendment. 'This Congress has yet to be clearly on record.' ... Another amendment from Lamborn requires the Pentagon to produce reports on defense contractors that have conducted a 'significant transaction' with the Iranian government or sanctioned Iranians. The amendment is aimed squarely at France's Michelin, which has obtained $2.4 billion in US contracts since 2007 but drew lawmakers' ire when it participated in a delegation of French companies to Tehran earlier this year... The committee also approved an amendment from Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., requiring the administration to report on Iran's nuclear program and whether it is complying with the terms of its agreement with the United States and the international community." http://t.uani.com/1qlVcVe AFP: "The past few years have been good to Chinese companies doing business in Iran, with the oil industry offering the biggest opportunity of all, but things might start getting tougher. As Western corporations headed for the exits when sanctions took effect and international distrust over Iran's nuclear activities deepened, Summer Lee, an energetic thirty-something from Shanghai, was among those who filled the vacuum. At this week's annual Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Fair in Tehran, a massive event that attracted 600 foreign companies, Lee said she was here to stay... But with a possible end in sight to the nuclear standoff that has defined Iran's thorny relations with the Western world for the past decade, Lee and her countrymen may soon have new rivals... Behrooz Nateghi, of IPS Group BV, a Dutch purchasing company still operating in Iran's petrochemical, oil and gas industries, said the lifting of sanctions would change the business outlook. Attracting 'the clients we lost in the past few years' will be the priority, he said... Mike Song, a sales official at South Korea's RMK Co Ltd, which started supplying pipes, valves and other equipment in Iran 10 years ago, said big opportunities await, if the political obstacles can be removed. 'Business with Iran has been dwindling -- practically with no new orders -- due to sanctions and pressures,' he said. 'We want to make a comeback.'" http://t.uani.com/1su5SyT         Nuclear Program & Negotiations JPost: "An American military attack against Iran's nuclear facilities would take a 'fraction of one night' to complete should US President Barack Obama choose to order one, former prime minister Ehud Barak said in Washington on Thursday. Speaking to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Barak said such an attack would be easier for the United States than last year's planned campaign against Syrian President Bashar Assad's chemical weapons infrastructure... Nevertheless, he issued a harsh condemnation of the White House, charging that Obama had changed the goal posts on what he would find acceptable from Tehran. 'The American administration changed its objective from no nuclear military Iran to no nuclear military Iran during the term of this administration,' Barak said, adding that the US 'is perceived to have been weakened' over the last several years." http://t.uani.com/1oxp1gU Sanctions Relief WSJ: "Iran is still unable to sell its petrochemicals to the European Union despite the lifting of a ban to export such products, a top official in Tehran said Friday. At a news conference on the sidelines of an oil conference here, Abbas Shea'ri Moghaddam, Iran's deputy oil minister for petrochemicals, said 'nothing has changed compared with last year' in terms of petrochemical sales to the EU. As part of an interim agreement between Iran and six world powers that came into force on Jan 20, Tehran is now allowed to export petrochemicals to EU members. But Mr. Moghaddam said such sales remain impossible because of problems with payment transfers and tanker insurance." http://t.uani.com/1oxjB5x Trend: "Japan's Mitsui Company has announced that it is ready to invest $4 billion in Iran's railway, airport, port and shipping projects. Senior officials from the Japanese company met with officials from Iran's Transport and Urban Development Ministry, discussing the investment opportunities, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on May 9." http://t.uani.com/1nolhAT Human Rights IHR: "Three prisoners were hanged in the prison of Qom (south of Tehran) early this morning, Thursday May 8, reported the official Iranian news agency IRNA. Two of the prisoners were convicted of drug-related charges... The official Iranian news agency IRNA also reported about a public execution in Saveh (Markazi province, Central Iran). The prisoner was identified as 'S. A.', convicted of murdering a security officer in Saveh. The execution was carried out in the Alavi area of Saveh. Two prisoners were hanged in the prison of Bandar Abbas according to unofficial reports." http://t.uani.com/1kWXths Domestic Politics Reuters: "A move by Iran to recover bad debts on behalf of banks has shed light on possible corrupt lending under the previous president and also suggests a fresh spirit of cooperation among its various centres of power. A reported big increase in underperforming bank loans during the eight years of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency is seen by some as evidence of loans made on the basis of political favouritism as well the impact on business of Western sanctions. President Hassan Rouhani's administration, in power for nine months, says bad debt in the banking system has reached a 'critical' level - 15.6 percent according to the central bank - and has pointed the finger at cronyism under Ahmadinejad. The authorities this week have handed the names of 575 of the biggest defaulters to the judiciary to try and recover some of the $33 billion owed. It has not released the names but some believe the bulk may have been borrowed by as few as 100 people and firms, suggesting some have debts in the many millions. The extent of the difficulties for state and private banks is unclear but the bad debt hole may hamper Rouhani's plans to boost employment and raise living standards." http://t.uani.com/SHEqBu Foreign Affairs Reuters: "Dubai prosecutors have charged six Iranians with kidnapping a British-Iranian businessman who went missing in the emirate last year, the government said on Thursday. Authorities said in January they had detained three Iranians suspected of being part of a group that had kidnapped Abbas Yazdi, a businessman who owns a general trading company in the Gulf Arab emirate and who disappeared last June. Yazdi's wife, Atena, has told media in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a federal state comprising seven emirates including Dubai, that she feared he might have been kidnapped by Iranian intelligence officers... The suspects confessed they had attacked and drugged Yazdi and were able to smuggle him out of the country through a sea port, the government said in a statement. It did not elaborate on Yazdi, whose whereabouts remain unknown." http://t.uani.com/1mI54XZ Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.