Eye on Iran: Iran Said to Discount Light Crude to Asia to Deepest in 14 Years

Join UANI           Top Stories Bloomberg: "Iran is said to be offering its main crude grade to customers in Asia at the deepest discount in 14 years, taking a cue from Saudi Arabia in trimming price differentials. National Iranian Oil Co. cut its official selling price for January shipments of light crude to Asia to a discount of $1.80 a barrel below the regional benchmark as Middle Eastern producers vie to keep selling in the region, according to four people with knowledge of the decision. An official at NIOC's crude-marketing department in Tehran declined to comment. Iran cut the differential to a discount from a premium of 13 cents a barrel to the average of the Oman and Dubai benchmark crudes for December. The light crude grade hasn't sold at such a steep discount since Bloomberg began tracking the country's official selling prices in March 2000... Iran deepened the discount for Iran Heavy crude to $3.51 a barrel for January sales to buyers in Asia, compared with a $1.66 discount for December, according to the people, who asked not to be identified since the pricing information is confidential. That cut puts Iran's heavy crude at the deepest discount December 2008." http://t.uani.com/1GLzw83 Trend: "Iran's current influence spreads from Yemen to Lebanon, a senior advisor to the Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. Former foreign minister, Ali Akbar Velayati, who is also director of the Strategic Research Center of Iran's Expediency Council said that 'our current power was unsurpassable for anyone in the world,' the official IRNA news agency reported Dec. 15. Others have no choice but to admit to Iran's power and influence in the region, the official said." http://t.uani.com/1IU80Jj NYT: "Risking his political standing, Iran's president stressed on Monday that he was determined to cinch a nuclear deal and prepared to take on the conservative forces who would prefer not to see an agreement with the West, even if that means continued economic sanctions on Iran. 'Some people may not like to see the sanctions lifted,' the president, Hassan Rouhani, said as Iranian negotiators and their United States counterparts resumed talks in Geneva. 'Their numbers are few, and they want to muddy the waters.' ... 'The people will achieve their rights,' Mr. Rouhani said. 'You should also prepare for interaction with the world,' he told an audience of central bank employees. 'You should know that in the near future many investors will come to our country.'" http://t.uani.com/1wVLc8J Nuclear Program & Negotiations Reuters: "Iran said on Tuesday bilateral nuclear talks with the United states were proceeding in a good atmosphere despite lingering gaps over key issues such as Tehran's uranium enrichment capacity and how fast economic sanctions should be lifted. U.S. and Iranian diplomats began a two-day meeting in Geneva on Monday to pave the way for resuming broader negotiations involving Iran and six world powers there on Wednesday... Monday's session, the first to take place in the overtime period, 'lasted more than six hours and proceeded in a good ambience,' said Iranian chief negotiator and deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi. 'There were elaborate discussions on all topics, especially sanctions. At present, issues have boiled down to very minor, fine details. Solutions exist in some cases, in others there is need for more effort and discussions,' he said on Iranian state television. 'We are not in a position yet to judge the final outcome, but I can say the atmosphere of these sessions is good, although there is yet some distance to a solution.'" http://t.uani.com/16pwV8O Trend: "Iran released the details of the country's nuclear budget and expenditures. The budget bill submitted to Iran's parliament on Dec. 7 indicated that the country spent 22.207 trillion rials (approximately $3-3.5 billion) until March 2009 in nuclear sphere. The country also spent 14.85 trillion rials (approximately $1-1.5 billion) on the nuclear expenditures during a period between March 2009 to March 2014. Iranian government projected that some 5.681 trillion rials would be spent on developing nuclear projects in next fiscal year, which will start on March 20, 2015. Considering the US dollar's official rate recognized in Iran's next year budget at 28,500 rials, Iran plans to spend $181 million in nuclear sphere next year." http://t.uani.com/1zs2YhJ       Sanctions Relief IRNA (Iran): "Chairman of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) Mehdi Karbasian met with senior directors of Chinese companies MCC Group, China Public Insurance Company (Sinosure) and MCC - CERI which are involved in seven provincial steel projects in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1Ahwjev Financial Tribune (Iran): "Despite US ban on petrochemical imports from Iran, the first petrochemical consignment will be dispatched to Belgium next week, an official at Jam Petrochemical Complex said, IRNA reported. A consignment of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), measuring 2,000 tons with a total value of over $2 million, will be shipped to Belgium next week, Mohsen Farahi, sales and marketing manager of Jam company said Saturday. The company has also held negotiations with two Turkish companies interested in Iran's petrochemical industry, during the 24th International Istanbul Plastics Industry Fair, Plast Eurasia 2014, held in the first week of December." http://t.uani.com/1szLq40 Business Standard (India): "Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT, at Navi Mumbai) would take 60 per cent equity in the Indian company to be formed for developing the Chabahar port in southeastern Iran. Kandla Port Trust (KPT) would hold the remaining equity. The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is likely to be named Indian Ports Global. The formation and registration are likely to be completed this month. 'The SPV will be registered soon. We are awaiting the nomination of a third director from the shipping ministry,' said a senior official from JNPT, requesting anonymity... After the SPV formation, a memorandum of understanding between the governments of India and Iran would be signed in early 2015. Chabahar would be India's first foreign port project." http://t.uani.com/1DGyPRa ISNA (Iran): "Iran's exports to China increased by 30 percent in terms of value over the first eight months of Iranian calendar year, started on March 21, 2015, comparing to similar period last year. Iran exported 19.133.000 tons of goods to China over the eight months, worth 5.979 billion dollars. China has received over 37 percent and 26 percent of Iranian exported products respectively in terms of weight and price during the period. Iran's exports to China totaled 20.682.000 tons and reached 4.598 billion dollars during the same period last year which included 22 percent of Iranian exports in terms of value." http://t.uani.com/1wdhhXM Syria Conflict WSJ: "The European Union's new foreign-policy chief said the bloc would try to step up cooperation with Russia and Iran over Syria, signaling a shift in Europe's efforts to end the war there. The comments by Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign-policy chief, came after European foreign ministers on Monday threw their support behind a United Nations effort to negotiate a military 'freeze' in Syria, starting in the besieged city of Aleppo. Privately, fissures emerged over fears that the U.N. initiative could inadvertently prop up Syrian President Bashar al Assad... The EU has been tentative in dealing with Moscow and Tehran over Syria. The conflict with Russia over Ukraine has complicated such co-operation, while Europe has prioritized nuclear talks with Iran over other topics. But Ms. Mogherini on Monday signaled the EU would no longer let those issues distract from cooperation over Syria. 'The European Union is ready to engage with all regional and international actors with influence over the Syrian parties...namely big Gulf countries starting from Saudi Arabia, but also Iran and Russia,' Ms. Mogherini said in a news conference. International efforts to bring Iran, the region's biggest Shiite power, and its Sunni neighbors to the table on Syria have so far failed." http://t.uani.com/138TrQS Domestic Politics RFE/RL: "Tensions were reported at a December 15 speech by Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of the ultra-hard-line daily 'Kayhan' who spoke at an event at Tehran University about the 2009 antigovernment protests. Iranian news agencies reported that students chanted against and in support of the feared Shariatmadari who claimed that the idea of imposing sanctions against the Islamic republic came from Iranian opposition figures... Some students chanted: 'Shame on You, Liar. Leave the University' and 'Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein' according to reports by Iranian news agencies. 'Haj Hossein, Disclose,' Others chanted... Pictures by Iranian news agencies Fars and ISNA show students holding hand-written signs in green - the color of the opposition movement-- against Shariatmadari including one that read: 'The university is not a place for a liar'. Another sign said: 'Dictatorship will not last.'" http://t.uani.com/1szFFDo IRNA (Iran): "Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that culture of sacrifice and martyrdom is the corner stone of Iran's power." http://t.uani.com/1yYCu9T  Opinion & Analysis William Tobey in FP: "Just before Labor Day weekend, the State and Treasury Departments sanctioned several individuals and organizations 'providing support to illicit Iranian nuclear activities.' Due to the holiday, or perhaps because a few days later the Islamic State murdered an American journalist, the announcement attracted sparse attention. But, it should have been big news. Some of the actions cited in the notice seem within what the Obama administration tolerates during ongoing negotiations, even if they violate U.N. Security Council Resolutions. These include illicit procurements for centrifuge enrichment and the heavy water reactor under construction at Arak. The administration recently detailed Iran's ongoing illicit procurements in a report to a U.N. panel. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani boasted this summer, 'Of course we bypass the sanctions, and we take pride in it.' Indeed, no one seems particularly concerned about ongoing violations of U.N. sanctions. After all, in July 2006, the Security Council demanded that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment-related activities, but eight years later, more than 9,000 centrifuges are still spinning at Natanz and Fordow. One item in the August sanctions announcement, however, stood out as even more serious. It alleges work by 'a Tehran-based entity that is primarily responsible for research in the field of nuclear weapons development.' The Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND) answers to Brigadier General Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. According to the State Department, General Fakhrizadeh led such 'efforts in the late 1990s or early 2000s.' Noting that he was sanctioned by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1747 (2007), the Department concludes that, 'SPND took over some of the activities related to Iran's undeclared nuclear program that had previously been carried out by Iran's Physics Research Center [and other entities].' So the State Department is sanctioning an organization created in 2011 and referring to its illicit actions pursuing nuclear weapons in the present tense, charging that the work is ongoing. Sanctions announcements are not casually written on the backs of cocktail napkins. They are pored over by lawyers, policy makers, and intelligence officers for legal reasons and to protect intelligence sources and methods. They mean what they say... For years, the IAEA has patiently worked to uncover Iran's clandestine nuclear weapons efforts. The analytically rigorous agency calls these the 'possible military dimensions' of the Iranian nuclear program. This anodyne term describes 12 sets of activities, most of which can only be explained as efforts to build nuclear weapons, including: military leadership of the program; clandestine nuclear material acquisition; work on 'nuclear components for an explosive device'; 'detonator development'; 'hydrodynamic experiments' which test nuclear weapons designs; 'integration into a missile delivery vehicle'; and work on a 'fuzing, arming, and firing system.' Peaceful programs to produce energy or medical isotopes have no use for such work. Tehran denies the agency's charges, but refuses to provide the information necessary to resolve them. Some argue that these matters are of the distant past, or that we cannot expect Tehran to admit its illegal work, having denied it for so long. But these problems are not past. There are strong signs that nuclear weapons work continues. Understanding them is crucial to verifying and enforcing a new agreement. If we do not insist on answers before a comprehensive agreement is concluded, we will never get them. Secretary of State John Kerry and his team should use the new deadline for a deal to charge the IAEA to get to the bottom of the 'possible military dimensions,' and the work cited in the August sanctions as a precondition to concluding any comprehensive agreement. If Tehran refuses, it will stand as stark evidence that Iran has no intention to honor its word. A negotiated end to Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions is by far a better outcome than the alternatives, but only if Iran abides by it. To protect the future, we must understand the past." http://t.uani.com/1zs7ZHi Al-Monitor: "Three weeks after nuclear talks in Vienna failed to put an end to the 12-year nuclear standoff between Iran and the West, forex and the stock and gold markets in Tehran are still nosediving, with Iran's monetary officials struggling to control the negative sentiment. The rial lost over 3,200 against the dollar and traded at 35,600 on Nov. 30, its lowest value against the dollar since President Hassan Rouhani took office more than a year ago. The rial's depreciation came six days after Iran and the six world powers (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), known as the P5+1, agreed to extend talks, a decision that means seven more months of economic sanctions. Although the dollar retreated somewhat in the following days, it was still traded at 34,270 rials Dec. 11 on Ferdowsi Street, the main forex market in Tehran. The rate is still much higher than the 32,380 rials Nov. 23, a day before the talks failed to reach a comprehensive deal, which was widely expected in Iran. TEDPIX, the Tehran Stock Exchange's main index, also dropped drastically on Nov. 25 as skeptical investors flocked to sell their stocks. The bearish sentiment has been dominant in the market since. The index has been falling from 75,949 on Nov. 24 to 71,043 on Dec. 10, the lowest level in five months. Market experts do not have any better hope for the coming days. So far, the Tehran Stock Exchange has plunged over the last three weeks by 1.5% to 3%. The Azadi bullion coin has also surged as safe haven demands increased in Tehran. The price of the Azadi hit 9.8 million rials on Dec. 11, 64,000 rials higher than the 9.14 million rials on Nov. 23." http://t.uani.com/1IXAbXG      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.