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TOP STORIES
Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and his family
filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the Iranian government,
claiming he was taken hostage and psychologically tortured during his
18 months in prison in an effort by Tehran to influence negotiations for
a nuclear agreement with Iran. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court
in the District of Columbia, says Rezaian was targeted for arrest to
gain advantage in a prisoner exchange and to "extort"
concessions from the U.S. government in the multinational talks over
lifting sanctions if Iran agreed to limits on its nuclear program.
Iranian officials repeatedly told Rezaian and his wife, Yeganeh
Salehi, who also was detained for more than two months, that Rezaian
had "value" as a bargaining chip for a prisoner swap, the
suit says... "For nearly eighteen months, Iran held and
terrorized Jason for the purpose of gaining negotiating leverage and
ultimately exchanging him with the United States for something of
value to Iran," the suit states.
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will sign the
first of its new oil and gas contracts (IPCs) with a domestic firm on
Tuesday, its managing director said. The signing of the first IPC
tomorrow will intensify anticipation among international oil majors
for long-awaited further contracts in the new format. The Iran
Petroleum Contract (IPC) is a cornerstone of the country's plan to
raise crude production to the pre-sanctions level of four million
barrels per day (bpd)... "Tomorrow NIOC will sign a contract
with Setad Ejraye Farman Emam under the IPC to develop the second
phase of Yaran field, and EOR (enhanced oil recovery) and IOR
(improved oil recovery) contracts for Koupal oil field,"
managing director of NIOC, Ali Kardor was quoted as saying by Fars
news agency. Iran's Tasnim news agency said the value of the new
contracts is $2.5 billion. Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam, or
Setad, is one of the most powerful organizations in Iran that works
directly under the command of Islamic Republics highest authority,
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Germany's Siemens signed a contract to upgrade Iran's
railway network on Monday, one of several deals agreed by German
firms during a two-day visit to Tehran by Economy Minister Sigmar
Gabriel... Siemens said it will supply components for 50
diesel-electric locomotives to Iran. It did not disclose the value of
the contract, but based on comparable deals, it could be in the low
hundreds of millions of euros. The economy ministry said several
firms from the Mittelstand, the small-to-medium-sized companies that
form the backbone of the economy, had also signed deals with Iranian
partners. These included SMS group, a builder of steelmaking plants,
and INTRA industrial solutions. In addition, Mitsubishi Germany has
signed a contract to modernize a gas-fired plant, while plant
constructor Keller HCW wants to build a brickyard in Iran, it said.
Both countries' central banks have also agreed to technical
co-operation.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Jason Rezaian, The Washington Post's former bureau
chief in Tehran whose 544-day imprisonment in Iran during the nuclear
negotiations aggravated tense relations with the United States, filed
a federal lawsuit Monday against the Iranian government, accusing it
of hostage-taking, torture and terrorism. The 68-page lawsuit, filed
in federal court in Washington, contained many previously undisclosed
details of Mr. Rezaian's travails in the Iranian penal system,
including a 50-pound weight loss, thoughts of suicide and threats by
his captors to dismember him and his wife, and throw him off a cliff.
The suit, which also lists his family as plaintiffs, essentially
accused the Iranian authorities of having used Mr. Rezaian as
leverage in the nuclear negotiations because they regarded him as a
high-value prisoner who could be swapped for something they wanted.
The head of Iran's space agency said Tuesday his
country is interested in cooperating with NASA. Speaking to reporters
at the start of World Space Week, Mohsen Bahrami said that "many
in the world look at NASA's programs. We are interested in having
cooperation, naturally. When you are in orbit, there is no country
and race." It was the first time Iran had expressed such interest
since signing last summer's landmark nuclear deal with world powers.
BUSINESS RISK
Iran's nuclear deal has opened the gate for business
expansion and foreign investment, but this growth faces an obstacle:
a dearth of high-quality, affordable office space. Tehran has no
clearly defined business district akin to the City of London or
Manhattan. There are very few modern office towers, forcing many
foreign companies and big domestic employers to make do with office
space attached to malls or shopping centers... Meager office space
poses a problem for the energy and health-care companies, retailers,
builders, industrial outfits and others hoping to benefit from
sanctions removal under the nuclear accord... Most space suffers from
slow internet connections, poor maintenance and mechanical systems
and interiors that are difficult to reconfigure.
French cosmetics retailer Sephora will postpone the
opening of several retail outlets in Iran to end-2017 from 2016 as
initially planned because the right financial and political conditions
are not yet in place, sources said on Monday. "Nothing will
happen until the second half of 2017 at the earliest because
conditions are not yet in place for things to happen," one of
the sources close to the matter told Reuters. Sephora, part of luxury
industry leader LVMH with around 2,000 outlets worldwide, is keen to
build its presence in Iran where there is huge demand for cosmetics
and especially make-up.
SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT
A witness in a case against an Iranian man told the
State Security Court at the Federal Supreme Court on Monday that the
defendant received around £12 million from agents working for the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian Intelligence. The
defendant allegedly received the money in exchange for his help in
easing the purchase of electric power generators that are used in
nuclear reactors, as well as his help in shipping them to Iran
through the UAE while there were US sanctions against Iran. The
court, presided over by judge Falah Al Hageri, also heard testimony
from an investigative officer at the state security who said the
defendant had been in touch with agents from Iran to smuggle the
generator from German company Siemens' office in London to Iran
through the UAE. The officer testified that the generator in question
is high-tech and is used for military purposes and in generating
power for nuclear reactors.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) on Tuesday
signed a new-style, less restrictive, output contract with an Iranian
firm, a long-awaited template for contracts it hopes will tempt back
foreign investors and boost production after years of sanctions...
"The first new model contract, the Iran Petroleum Contract
(IPC), to develop the second phase of Yaran field also an EOR
(enhanced oil recovery) and IOR (improved oil recovery) contracts for
Koupal oil field were signed with Persia Oil & Gas Industry
Development Co. (POGIDC) today," SHANA reported. Zanganeh said
Iran will sign more IPC contracts by March 2017, but declined to give
details. Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said NIOC will sign
the second IPC contract on Wednesday... SHANA said that the value of
the contract signed on Tuesday is worth $2.5 billion.
Tehran's international airport is in the early stages
of a gradual reinvention, part of a long-term plan to boost trade and
turn Iran into a regional hub after its nuclear deal. Central to
these hopes are two new terminals and a vast airport free-trade area
that includes sections for industry, logistics, hotels and conference
centers. While still in its early stages, the government is hoping
the overarching development-called Imam Khomeini Airport City-will
convince foreign companies and international carriers to start
choosing Tehran over other regional hubs... Iran has hired
Netherlands Airport Consultants, or NACO, which has worked on major
airport projects in Mexico City, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, as its
main adviser.
A high-profile Australian trade delegation to Iran has
underlined the opportunities and perils of doing business in the
controversial Middle East nation. While the lifting of sanctions on
Iran earlier this year promises to bring 80 million people into the
global economy - opening up an attractive new market for Australian
companies - problems still plague the Iranian finance and banking
sectors while the prospect of further political instability remains a
key concern. The lifting of sanctions ends a decade of isolation, but
Iran's image remains tarred by its human rights record, use of
capital punishment, violations of political and media freedoms, and
its poor performance in terms of global corruption rankings... This
was the backdrop to last week's visit by Trade Minister Steven Ciobo
- a trip he framed as an attempt to ride the new wave of interest in
Iran and carve out a platform for Australian businesses in gaining
access to the market... The business delegation was made up of a
range of companies including Woodside, Cochlear, Qantas,
WorleyParsons, Blackmores, LiveCorp, Meat & Livestock Australia,
GrainCorp, Rubicon Water as well as Sydney and Melbourne
Universities.
Iran's media say the country has received the first
wave of proposals by major international companies to develop oil and
gas projects within the new format of oil contracts recently approved
by the administration of President Hassan Rouhani. Tasnim News Agency
reported that 10 companies have so far submitted their proposals to
Iran's Ministry of Petroleum for the development of 15 projects.
They, Tasnim said in its report, include big European names such as
Total, Lukoil, Shell, Eni, OMV and Asian giants like CNPC, Sinopec
and Pertamina. Several of the key projects that the companies have
targeted are the same ones they had been previously involved in or
for which they had been negotiating with Iran in the past.
A handful of mostly European hotel groups are looking
to steal a march on their U.S. competitors by moving into the Iranian
hospitality market while U.S. companies still face regulatory
uncertainty... Representatives of rapidly expanding U.S. companies
such as Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., Marriott International Inc.
and Choice Hotels International either declined to comment or said
they are staying on the sidelines for now... Meanwhile, other
companies are wasting no time. Abu Dhabi-based-Rotana Hotel
Management Corp. PJSC, France's Accor, Spain's Meliá Hotels
International and Germany's Steigenberger Hotel Group are all
moving quickly in anticipation of a tourism and business boom...
Rotana, which operates out of more than two dozen cities in emerging
and often complicated markets such as Iraq and Sudan, has four
properties under construction in Iran, the first one of which, a
five-star hotel with 362 rooms, will open next year in the holy city
of Mashhad... Frankfurt-based Steigenberger recently signed a letter
of intent to open 10 hotels in Iran, while Meliá has a five-star
property in the works on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The speaker of Iran's parliament, Ali Larijani,
canceled talks with German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Tuesday
during his high-profile trip to Tehran, snubbing the German who had
earlier stressed the need for reform in the Islamic Republic.
Larijani, seen as a moderate conservative in Iran, was the
highest-ranking figure Gabriel was due to meet on his two-day visit
aimed at boosting business ties. No reason was given for the
cancellation, a spokeswoman for Gabriel said.
Head of the Judiciary has said German envoy should
have been denied admittance to country for country's human rights
remarks. Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani who was addressing a meeting
of Judiciary high-ranking officials on Monday, criticized recent
remarks by German minister of trade and economic affairs who
conditioned development of ties with Iran on Iran's recognition of
Israeli regime. "This position is highly unacceptable from a
European official, while they had well understood Iran's official
line of policy which rested upon promoting resistance against
Zionism, and conditioning of the betterment of relations on such act
to which Iran would at best lampoon is far from diplomatic code of
conduct," Ayatollah Amoli Larijani told the meeting.
Foreign Ministry of Vietnam has announced that Iran's
Hassan Rouhani will make an official visit to the Southeast Asian
country on October 05. "President of the Islamic Republic of
Iran Hassan Rouhani will make the three-day visit at the invitation
of his Vietnamese counterpart Trần Đại Quang," Vietnamnews daily
quoted the Asian country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as reporting.
Accordingly, the trip will begin on Wednesday October 05 and is
scheduled to run through Friday October [7].
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto will pay an official
visit to Iran in November to meet and hold talks with senior Iranian
officials, the Scandinavian country's Ambassador to Tehran Harri
Kämäräinen announced. "President Niinisto will accompany a big
trade delegation to Iran next month in a bid to take major steps to
develop trade relations between the two countries," the Finnish
envoy said. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a
meeting with President Niinisto in Helsinki in July 2016 extended a
formal invitation of President Rouhani to him.
TERRORISM
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif appeared
before the Iranian parliament Oct. 2 to address questions about
Iran's diplomatic approach in the aftermath of the nuclear deal. The
2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed with six world
powers led to the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions in return for
restrictions on Iran's nuclear program. Javad Karimi Ghodoosi, a
member of parliament from the Principlist faction who has been an
outspoken critic of Iran's current government, posed questions that
triggered an outburst by Zarif... Voicing his displeasure with
Ghodoosi and stressing his ministry's compliance with the policies of
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Zarif replied in a
harsh tone, "I am happy and proud of the fact that my brothers
Qasem Soleimani, Hassan Nasrallah and Ramadan Abdullah [Shalah]
contact me every day and thank me for the Islamic Republic's
policies. ... So please do not question our foreign policy."
REGIONAL DESTABILIZATION
The U.S. Navy dispatched three warships near the
southern coast of Yemen after four rockets hit and nearly sank a
United Arab Emirates auxiliary ship Saturday, two U.S. defense
officials told Fox News. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed
responsibility for the attack. There were no reported injuries to the
Emerati crew. Al Jazeera reported on video of the attack. Iran
supplied the Houthis with the "shoulder-fired rockets" that
nearly destroyed the UAE ship, according to two U.S. officials...
Describing the U.S. response to the Houthis and their Iranian
backers, one official said, "This is a show of force,"
adding, "It's concerning anytime this happens."
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran's revolutionary court has confirmed a 10-year
prison sentence for a prominent human rights defender. Authorities
have held the rights defender, Narges Mohammadi, who suffers from a
severe medical ailment, in Evin prison in Tehran since June 2015.
Branch 36 of Tehran's revolutionary court of appeal confirmed the
sentence on September 28, 2016, said Mahmoud Behzadi, Mohammadi's
lawyer. This original verdict, handed down by Judge Abolghassem
Salavati in Branch 15 of Tehran's revolutionary court of first
instance on May 18, sentenced Mohammadi to one year in prison for
"propaganda against the state," five years for
"assembly and collusion to act against national security,"
and 10 years for "establishing an illegal group." Under
article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, she would serve the longest
sentence. "While Iran is busy discussing expanded trade with
delegations from virtually every European capital, it's apparently a
crime for Iranian citizens to discuss human rights with European
Union diplomats in Tehran," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East
director. "Europe has a responsibility to ensure that human
rights defenders like Mohammadi don't become the collateral damage of
their engagement with Iran and to make these injustices a central
issue of their discussions."
Iran's head of Judiciary, Sadegh Amoli Larijani,
recently said that the Judiciary has no plans to abolish the death
penalty and called on Iranian judicial officials to not hesitate in
carrying out the execution sentences for alleged drug offenders.
Amoli Larijani's official remarks were made on Thursday September 29
in Mashhad, at the 13th annual conference for Iran's revolutionary,
military and public courts. According to Iranian state run media,
Fars, in his remarks Amoli Larijani referred to drug traffickers as
"merchants of death" and rejected calls for the complete
abolition of the death penalty for crimes related to drug
trafficking.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Real GDP rebounded strongly over the first half of the
year as sanctions eased post-JCPOA implementation. Oil production and
exports rebounded quickly to pre-sanction levels, helping cushion the
impact of low global oil prices. Increased activity in agriculture,
auto production, trade and transport services has led the recovery in
growth in the non-oil sector. Real GDP is projected to grow by at
least 4.5 percent in 2016/17. The prudent monetary and fiscal
policies adopted in recent years, along with favorable international
food prices, allowed CPI inflation to decline to a low of 6.8 percent
(y/y, point-to-point) in June 2016. Although point-to-point inflation
has risen to 9.5 percent in September, on staff estimates inflation
is expected to average 9.2 percent in 2016/17.
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