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Stories
Reuters: "Italy and Iran signed deals
potentially worth billions on Tuesday when Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
visited Tehran seeking a strong Italian foothold in a nation hungry for
infrastructure investment as it emerges from financial isolation. Renzi
was accompanied by a delegation of some 60 business leaders in sectors
including energy, railways and defence, and by Italy's export agency and
state lender which pledged billions of euros in credit lines and
guarantees. Three months ago President Hassan Rouhani made Italy his
first stop in Europe as he sought to drum up investment in the Iranian
economy, which rejoined the global trading system in January following a
deal to lift crippling sanctions in exchange for limiting its nuclear
activities. 'The end of sanctions is a historic step not only for Iran
but for the whole region,' Renzi told reporters in Tehran with Rouhani
standing by his side... Enel said it signed a memorandum of understanding
with the National Iranian Gas Export Company on possible future
cooperation in natural gas, liquefied natural gas and related
infrastructure, that could lead to long-term gas supplies for its power
stations. The Enel deal was one of seven signed by Renzi and Rouhani,
Iranian state television said. Renzi was due to return to Rome on
Wednesday. Oil contractor Saipem said it inked an MOU with the Razavi Oil
& Gas Development Company for the Toos Gas Field project, which holds
more than 60 billion cubic metres of gas in place. The project involves
drilling five firm and two optional wells, a statement said. Oil major
Eni has an agreement that allows it to take oil from Iran in payment for
previous investments. Italy's state railways company, Ferrovie dello
Stato, said it signed a 'framework of cooperation' agreement to build two
high-speed lines in Iran. The contract could be worth some 3 billion
euros, a source close to the matter said. Italy's state-run lender Cassa
Depositi e Prestiti will offer credit lines of 4 billion euros to
companies building oil-and-gas and transport infrastructure, while export
agency SACE will guarantee those loans, a SACE statement said. A further 800
million euros in credit lines for small- and medium-sized will also be
offered, the statement said." http://t.uani.com/25ZOiY5
Reuters: "Italy will follow up on
billions of euros of trade deals signed with Iran this year by sending a
special mission to discuss how to fund and process them, Prime Minister
Matteo Renzi said on Wednesday in Tehran. Speaking to industrialists on
the second and last day of his visit, Renzi said some 50 agreements
between Italian and Iranian companies 'cannot remain on paper'. 'The
projects are there. They need to be realised,' he said in remarks
broadcast by Italy's RAI state television. 'The priority today is financing.'
... Italy already took steps on Tuesday to ease financing for companies
building oil-and-gas and transport infrastructure in Iran. Renzi said the
delegation of financial institutions would be led by Economy Minister
Pier Carlo Padoan. On Tuesday, Italy signed seven deals with Iran,
Iranian state television reported. Renzi said another 12 were signed on
Wednesday. Some 30 others agreements were made in January... Italy's
banking lobby ABI said it met with the Iranian central bank on Tuesday to
consider 'solutions to overcome the complexities of Europe's ending of
sanctions, but which are still in force in the United States.'" http://t.uani.com/1SMxPwC
Reuters: "The case presented by the
Iranian judiciary was simple: In the southern province of Fars, Fatemeh
Salbehi suffocated her husband after drugging him, a capital crime in the
Islamic Republic. What made the case controversial is that Salbehi was
only 17, a minor by international legal standards, when she allegedly
committed the crime. Her alleged confession also came during a series of
interrogations where there was no lawyer present. The case was retried
but Salbehi was hanged in the Adel Abad prison in Shiraz last October.
The issue has come under scrutiny because of a scathing U.N. report on
human rights in Iran last month which highlighted what it called the
'alarmingly high' rate of executions in the country, including juveniles.
That report, along with an Amnesty International report in January,
spurred commentary from ordinary Iranians on social media at least some
of which criticized President Hassan Rouhani for not doing more to stop
the juvenile executions. Iran has the highest rate of juvenile executions
in the world, despite being a signatory to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, an international human rights treaty that forbids capital
punishment for anyone under 18... The juvenile executions have continued
despite campaign promises made by Rouhani in 2013 to reform human
rights... 'The administration can't just keep hiding behind the nuclear
issue,' said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director for the International
Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. 'Rouhani doesn't seem at all interested
to push for it, fight the battle and improve the human rights situation.
And that's a problem because we're now into the third year of his
term.'" http://t.uani.com/1XvbtDL
Nuclear
& Ballistic Missile Program
Free
Beacon: "Obama
administration lawyers are advising officials against describing recent
Iranian ballistic missile tests as a violation of the United Nations
resolution governing the recently implemented nuclear agreement with
Iran, according to multiple U.S. officials and sources familiar with the
situation who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon. The decision has
created friction with Congress and inside the administration itself, with
officials and lawmakers citing previous statements from the
administration declaring that such missile launches would be considered a
violation. That stance was walked back after U.N. Security Council
members such as Russia said it does not consider the latest Iranian tests
a violation of the resolution. A recent letter signed by U.S. Ambassador
to the U.N. Samantha Power called the tests 'inconsistent' with the
resolution. Congress is now pursuing an inquiry into what lawmakers
describe as the Obama administration's efforts to mislead lawmakers about
the terms of the nuclear deal. Thomas Shannon, the State Department's
undersecretary for political affairs, hinted in testimony to Congress
last week that U.S. lawyers do not view the Iranian missile tests as a
direct violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which
internationally codified the nuclear agreement reached last summer.
'Whether our international lawyers will say it violated 2231, this is why
we use the word inconsistent,' Shannon told Congress. 'But in our point
of view, these launches are prohibited.' Officials who spoke to the Free
Beacon confirmed Shannon's characterization and said administration
lawyers will review the U.N. resolution." http://t.uani.com/1SMycHC
U.S.-Iran
Relations
Tasnim
(Iran):
"Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Chief Valiollah Seif will leave Tehran
for the US capital of Washington DC on Wednesday night to take part in
the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World
Bank Group (WBG). Seif will leave on April 13 at the head of a delegation
including two of his deputies. Each spring, thousands of government
officials, journalists, civil society organizations, and participants
from the academia and private sectors, gather in the US capital for the
Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
Group. At the heart of the gathering are meetings of the IMF's
International Monetary and Financial Committee and the joint World
Bank-IMF Development Committee, which discuss progress on the work of the
IMF and the World Bank Group." http://t.uani.com/1RTUWZW
Free
Beacon:
"Leading members of Congress have petitioned Iranian officials to
grant them entry to the country ahead of a major speech by a top Iranian
diplomat scheduled to take place Friday in Washington, D.C., according to
documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. Three members of
Congress, including a member of the House intelligence committee, have
been petitioning Iranian officials to grant them travel visas so they can
meet with American hostages and inspect Iran's nuclear sites to ensure
compliance with the recently implemented nuclear deal. Iranian officials
have stalled these attempts for months and missed a self-imposed deadline
to respond to the lawmakers' request, according to correspondence
obtained Tuesday afternoon by the Free Beacon. The lack of reply by Iran
has led to accusations of hypocrisy by these lawmakers, who noted that
the Obama administration has repeatedly permitted Iranian officials to
travel to America for meetings and events. Valiollah Seif, the governor
of Iran's central bank, is scheduled to appear in D.C. on Friday at a
high-profile event sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, a think
tank. Reps. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.), Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), and Frank
LoBiondo (R., N.J.) are now insisting that Iranian officials extend them
the same courtesy already granted to the Islamic Republic by the Obama
administration." http://t.uani.com/23EoLS6
Business
Risk
Swissinfo: "Swiss businesses are eager to
get a foothold in the Iranian market now that most trade sanctions have
been lifted, but restrictions still in place from the United States are
creating major money transfer problems. On a Tuesday afternoon in Bern, a
hotel conference room is packed with business representatives from the
region who want to learn more about selling their products in Iran.
Participants sit up in their seats and murmur their interest as several
speakers tell them about the opportunities that abound in the Iranian
market: massive infrastructure projects waiting to be built, a huge and
young middle class waiting to buy things, and a desire for high-quality
products after being forced to buy largely from China during 12 years of
tough sanctions. But reality hits when a representative from Bern's
cantonal bank gets up to answer a key question: how is the situation
looking for businesses who want to transfer money from Iran to
Switzerland, or vice versa? 'The situation looks bad,' he said frankly.
'We follow international financial rules and we have been told to wait.
At the moment, I don't see many opportunities to make payments to Iran.'
Swiss banks aren't taking any chances, according to Suhail El Obeid of
Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE), which co-organised the event along
with canton Bern's trade and industry association. El Obeid said that
when someone at a similar event recently tried to pay their CHF60 ($63)
participation fee by bank transfer with the booking text 'Iran', the
Swiss bank concerned turned down the transaction. 'You can't just go to a
Swiss bank and say, I want to transfer money from Iran,' he said, noting
the issue's sensitivity. Touraj Etezady, who has done business in Iran
together with the Marti construction group, agreed that 'unfortunately
financial transactions are very difficult' and that this was an issue
raised many times when a delegation of Swiss politicians and business
leaders travelled to Iran in February along with Economics Minister
Johann Schneider-Ammann." http://t.uani.com/1N8m6vO
WSJ: "The U.S. needs to clarify its
position on Iranian sanctions if any progress is to be made in the
Islamic Republic's oil sector, according to the chief executives of
several major oil trading firms. Speaking at the Financial Times
Commodities Summit the chief executives said their companies are
continuing to look at Iran with a cautious eye while a lack of clarity
over U.S. sanctions persists... 'The U.S. has made no effort to
facilitate or clarify what's going on so not seeing much movement on
transactions,' said Torbjörn Törnqvist, chief executive of Gunvor Group.
These U.S. sanctions are deterring some banks from dealing with Iran because
they cannot clear financial transactions through the dollar-clearing
system. 'Banks are being cautious and watching to see if there's any
progress [in Iran],' said Jeremy Weir, Trafigura's chief executive. 'The
Iranian situation is complex, and the U.S. elections could change the
future of Iran sanctions,' according to Marco Durand, chief executive of
Mercuria. The trading houses agreed that although opportunities in Iran
are promising in the long run, in the short term the speed at which Iran
returns to the global oil stage depends on Iran itself." http://t.uani.com/1VULgjb
Sanctions
Relief
Reuters: "BASF's Wintershall oil and gas
exploration subsidiary has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU)
with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), it said on Tuesday,
confirming a media report. 'In order to prepare for possible further
activities in the region, Wintershall recently signed an MOU with NIOC
about a potential future cooperation,' the Kassel, Germany-based firm
said in a statement. Details were subject to confidentiality, it said.
Iranian news agency Shana had said the two companies wanted to study four
oil fields in western Iran." http://t.uani.com/1T3KL44
Reuters: "The chief executive of
France's Total SA said on Wednesday that the company's priority on
getting back into Iran's energy sector was gas and petrochemicals 'Gas is
our priority for us there, and petrochemicals,' Total Chief Executive
Patrick Pouyanné told reporters at an international liquefied natural gas
conference. He said the company has not signed any deals in Iran
yet." http://t.uani.com/1MtYsdn
BankingTech: "San Francisco-based
Paymentwall has integrated Iran's local payment system, following the end
of economic sanctions in the country... With Iran open for international
business activities, Paymentwall integrated the Shetab (Interbank
Information Transfer Network System). 'Iran has promising potential to
become a fertile ground for online businesses worldwide,' says David
Ricart, payment project manager of Paymentwall. 'Shetab has paved the way
for them and streamlined the process of online transactions.' The Shetab
is a unified, electronic clearance system for the entire Iranian banking
operations that facilitates transactions from credit cards, ATMs and
point-of-sale (POS) terminals. Through the Shetab, merchants can now tap
into the Iranian marketplace. Paymentwall says that previously, debit and
credit cards in the country could only be used on ATMs or POS machines
that were provided by the issuer bank." http://t.uani.com/1V1bZvH
Domestic
Politics
NYT: "Iran's lame-duck Parliament
approved a bill on Wednesday canceling cash subsidies to 24 million
Iranians, angering the government of President Hassan Rouhani, local news
outlets reported. Analysts said the action was a stick in the eye for Mr.
Rouhani from the conservative-dominated Parliament, forcing him to figure
out how to put the unpopular measure into effect. However, with sagging
oil prices cutting Iran's national income, the International Monetary
Fund and other groups have warned that Tehran will have to cut back the
system of giving monthly cash payments to nearly all of its 80 million
citizens or risk running huge deficits. As such, the Parliament's action
places Mr. Rouhani in a difficult position, economists say. Canceling the
subsidies is a critical part of any economic overhaul, something that Mr.
Rouhani has promised to undertake. But the measure is likely to add to
growing complaints over his handling of the economy." http://t.uani.com/1VoMKUw
AFP: "Police in Tehran arrested
2,900 drink drivers last year, a top official said Tuesday, describing
the figures, which come despite the Islamic republic's official
prohibition of alcohol, as 'alarming.'" http://t.uani.com/1qHOtHp
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
United Against Nuclear
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regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an
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