Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Iran early Bird

April 1, 2009

Diplomatic Affairs

1. Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, briefly met with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs Mehdi Akhundzadeh on the sidelines of a meeting in The Hague to discuss Afghanistan. The two men agreed to stay in touch. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini also met with Akhundzadeh and told reporters that Italy expected Iran to fulfill a significant and practical role in the conference on Afghan security. Meanwhile, the Iranian Embassy in The Hague has stressed that Iran and the United States had had no contact at all on the sidelines of the conference.


2. Iran rejects Doha statement on ownership of three islands – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hasan Qashqavi described as “baseless” claims made in the statement of the 21st meeting of the heads of Arab states in Doha regarding the three Iranian islands of the Lesser and Greater Tunbs and Abu Musa. Qashqavi said the statement was blatant interference in Iran's domestic affairs and rejected the claims. According to Qashqavi, the three islands have always been inseparable parts of Iran throughout the history. “The repetition of such obsolete and ineffective methods to invoke these baseless claims in certain Arab circles will have no effect but diverting public opinion from the main issues of the world of Islam especially the growing threats of the Zionist regime against the oppressed people of Palestine,” he said.

3. Iran – Turkmenistan - Mahdi Safari, Iran’s deputy foreign minister and special representative on Caspian Sea affairs, met (March 31) with Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov. The two discussed economic cooperation within the Caspian Sea economic cooperation committee and security issues. During the meeting, Berdymukhammedov invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to pay an official visit to Turkmenistan. Safari also held separate talks with Turkmenistan Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov and Turkmenistan’s representative on Caspian Sea affairs. Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan's parliament speaker met with Iran's ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Mohammad Reza Sabouri, andurged parliamentary and economic developments in the Iran-Kyrgyzstan relations, also extending an invitation to his Iranian counterpart, Ali Larijani, to visit Kyrgyzstan.



Economic Affairs



4. Iran Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari in Damascus - Nozari is in the Syrian capital for a week to hold talks with his Syrian counterpart, Sufian al-Alao, on cooperation in the fields of oil and gas, gas supply to Syria and projects to establish oil refineries with Venezuela (Chavez is due in Iran later this week) and Malaysia. "Iran is rich with immense gas resources and Syria is in need of the product for its industries," Nozari said. “In order to transfer our gas to Syria, Iran would use the Turkey route".

5. Iranian company wins oil contract in India - A contract for a major project to renovate and rebuild oil rigs in India - NHRC - has been signed between the Iran Marine Engineering Company and the Oil and Natural Gas Company of India. Iran Marine Engineering Company, which faced competitors from United Arab Emirates and India in the tender, will be responsible for more than 60 percent of the project and is committed to complete work within two years. Iran Marine Engineering Company has already successfully completed two additional projects in India. (Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran Radio - March 31)

6. New Iranian car – The director-general of Iran’s national car company, Iran Khodro, has announced the pending launch of the country’s second national car, the X12. According to the director-general, the X12 will be an upgraded model of the first Iranian national car, the Samand, which was a success in other countries too, such as Russia. The X12 is expected to be popular among both Iranians and foreign customers from the point of view of looks, safety and price.

7. Information Technology – According to Iranian IT experts, the 50-percent cut in the budget of the National Information Technology Company will lead to the suspension of many of the current projects in the field, including national projects for which the company is responsible.

8. Regulations on foreign banks in Iran – Iran’s cabinet has approved regulations concerning the establishment of branches of foreign banks in the country. The move comes with the aim of encouraging foreign capital investments and expanding the field of banking in Iran. According to the regulations, any foreign bank that has existed for at least five years will be able to set up a branch in Iran and conduct banking operations in keeping with the regulations. One of the regulations requires branches to have a starting equity of at least five million euros.

9. Iranian currency – The Iranian Central Bank has announced an end to the printing of 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 rial notes, which will be replaced with coins of similar values. The move comes to save the costs involved in the printing of the notes.



Human Rights, Religion and Social Affairs

10. Open letter to President Barack Obama - Following Obama'sNorooz message to Islamic Republic leaders, an Iranian dissident wrote an open letter to the U.S. leader: “President Obama, your Norooz message to Islamic Republic leaders is loud and clear. Unfortunately, it might not be as effective as you would like it to be. You should have been informed that the leaders of the Islamic Republic care less about Norooz, (E) and Norooz greetings… In fact, you should have been informed that the Islamic regime has stated that Norooz must be replaced by an Islamic holy day. The only reason this agenda is not fulfilled is because of the great resistance of the Iranian people… Mr. President, leaders in the Islamic Republic denounce everything that has to do with Iranian origin… Mr. President, I would like to suggest that you read the Norooz greeting of President Shimon Peres to the Iranian people… Such a message brings us hope in the dark… Mr. President, lastly, I’d like to point out that the people of Iran are called just that. There is no such thing as the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The people of Iran will fight for democracy and freedom regardless of your policies. We don’t expect much from you and your administration but we hope that you acquire some basic information about Iran regardless of the agenda you are about to pursue. A good start would be to recognize the fact that Iranian people and the Islamic Republic are two different entities. Respectfully, Mani Aryamand.”

11. Prosecutor visits notorious Evin prison – Iran’s general prosecutor, Ayatollah Qorban-Ali Dorri-Najafabadi, paid a surprise visit to Evin prison, where he was given a tour of the facility’s various wings and a first-hand view of the condition of the prisoners. Meanwhile, the 10 women’s rights activists who were arrested last week have been released on bail. The court, however, refused to release two central activists in the One Million Signatures campaign for equal rights for women, Hadija Makadem and Mahbouba Karami, who remain in detention at the Evin facility.

12. Fear for life of political prisoner – Human rights activists have expressed grave concerns regarding the situation of political prisoner Ramin Sadaki, who is being held at the Intelligence Ministry’s detention facility in the city of Ardabil. According to the activists, Sadaki has been subjected to severe torture and his life is in danger.

13. Kurdish-minority prisoner in solitary confinement – Hadi Amini, a Kurdish-minority political prisoner, was placed in solitary confinement yesterday at the Mahabad prison. Amini has been in detention for a year on charges of collaborating with Kurdish political parties. He has lost the use of both his arms following torture he underwent when initially arrested. Amini also went on a hunger strike for 40 days to protest his detention conditions.

14. Tight Internet supervision – More on the arrest of members of the largest network for the distribution of “immoral material” on the Internet in Iran: Over a week ago, intelligence forces from the IRGC arrested members of a network responsible for distributing anti-religious, anti-cultural, immoral and anti-regime material over the Internet. According to the IRGC, the network was sponsored by the security services of foreign countries and was part of a plot to spark a quiet revolution in Iran. The Conservative-affiliated Fars news agency is carrying extensive excerpts from the confessions of the suspects, claiming that the statements shed light on the objectives and plots of the members of the network.

15. Cellular telephones – In a letter to the Iranian intelligence minister, General Prosecutor Dorri-Najafabadi has called for tighter supervision over multimedia messaging services on cellular telephones, urging that access to them be available only if the true identity of the user can be verified so as to prevent “social and moral problems”.

16. Drug smugglers arrested – Iranian Interior Forces have arrested members of a drug smuggling ring in South Tehran.

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