Turkish gas firm pays Iran $600m fine
(Tehran Times)-- Turkey’s BOTAS Petroleum Pipeline Corporation has paid the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) a fine of about $600 million for import of natural gasat a rate smaller than was previously agreed between the two companies.
Under the contract, Turkey had to import 30 million cubic meters of Iranian gas per day.
However, during the past Iranian calendar year (ended March 20) BOTAS averagely imported 25 million cubic meters per day, the Mehr News Agency reported. Iran exported total amount of 6.8 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey during the past year.
15 years ago, BOTAS and NIGC signed a contract for 23 years. Under the contract, Turkey had to import from Iran 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
Tehran and Ankara inked a 1 billion euro ($1.29 billion) contract to build a pipeline that will transfer Iran’s natural gas to Turkey in July.
The contract was signed on the sidelines of Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi’s meeting with Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz.
National Iranian Gas Company’s Managing Director Javad Owji and Turkey’s BOTAS Petroleum Pipeline Corporation Managing Director Fazil Senel signed the contract.
Based on the agreement, the Turkish side will secure 77 percent of the required fund for completing the 660- kilometer pipeline.
It is the 4th section of Iran’s sixth cross-country pipeline which extends from Assalouyeh, southwest of the country, to Bazargan border in the northwest.
Iran says IAEA to set date for nuclear talks soon
TEHRAN, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Sunday the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief will soon set the date for the Vienna Group-Iran nuclear talks.
"IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano is preparing a letter to set a date for talks with the Vienna Group," Mottaki said, adding that the Islamic Republic is completely ready to participate in negotiations that are based on the Tehran nuclear fuel swap declaration, the official news agency IRNA reported.
Iran, Turkey and Brazil signed an agreement on May 17, dubbed Tehran declaration, in which Iran committed itself to giving 1,200 kg of its 3.5 percent enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for 20 percent enriched uranium to be used as fuel in the research reactor in Tehran.
The Vienna Group, including the United States, Russia, France and the IAEA, put forth some questions about the declaration, to which Iran have officially responded in late July.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on July 26 that Iran is ready to start the nuclear talks "without delay." European Union (EU) foreign ministers on July 26 approved tougher sanctions on Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, including restrictions on banking and insurance, transport and investment in new oil and gas fields or technical assistance to oil and gas development.
On July 1, U.S. President Barack Obama signed a new Iran sanction bill into law, which was described by him as "striking at the heart" of Iranian government’s nuclear ability.
UN Security Council adopted in June a resolution on the Iranian nuclear issue, prohibiting Iran from investing abroad in nuclear and enrichment operations, imposing new restrictions on Iran’s import of conventional arms and allowing the Iranian ships in the international waters to be checked.
Despite Western countries’ accusation, Iran has reiterated that its nuclear program is aimed at civilian use.
U.S. and EU fail to isolate Iran
(Los Angeles Times)China, Russia, India and Turkey move into the lucrative void left by U.S. and EU sanctions that aim to halt Iran’s nuclear program. Reporting from Washington — Efforts by the United States and its European allies to build a united front to halt Iran’s nuclear program are facing increasingly bold resistance from China, Russia, India and Turkey, which are rushing to boost their economies by seizing investment opportunities in defiance of sanctions imposed by the West.
The Obama administration and the European Union opted to try to toughen United Nations sanctions against Iran with their own unilateral restrictions on foreign companies that do business with Tehran’s energy sector, hoping that squeezing the country’s most lucrative industry can force the Islamist government to bend on its nuclear program.
But the four countries condemned the additional sanctions, and in recent weeks went further: Since the new U.S. sanctions took effect July 1, all four have moved ahead with trade and investment deals that violate the sanctions or threaten to do so in the future.
Ahmadinejad: Lebanon trilateral summit thwarts Zionists plots
TEHRAN (ISNA)-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Lebanon’s trilateral summit has thwarted enemies’ plots.
Ahmadinejad called initiative of his Lebanese counterpart Michel Suleiman who invited Saudi Arabia King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar al-Asad for the trilateral summit "productive and constructive."
"The trilateral summit held in Beirut has foiled plots of enemy Zionist regime," Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Ali al-Shami Sunday afternoon in Tehran.
"Their presence represented solidarity and unity in the entire region and promoted nation’s front against Zionist regime and its sponsors," Ahmadinejad added.
Iranian President went on to say that Zionists seek discord among Lebanon, Syria and resistance.
Ali al-Shami on his part appreciated Iran’s material and spiritual support for Lebanon against Zionist regime’s aggressors and called for boosting bilateral cooperation.
Al-Shami also met with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili, where Jalili said, "Lebanese army who has the backing of unity and resistance does not let Zionist regime to cut even one tree."
New war in region would be extremely costly: Iran FM
(Mehr News Agency) Aug. 8 -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says that the imposition of a new war in the Middle East region would come at a high cost for the West.
“The imposition of war and the creation of conflicts in the region are no longer easy. The region has proven this over the past 10 years. This is no longer costless,” Mottaki said at a joint press conference with Lebanese Foreign Minister Ali Shami in Tehran on Sunday.
Through the imposition of several wars over the past three decades, the West has been seeking to drive a wedge between regional countries and intensify animosity, the Iranian foreign minister stated.
Afterwards, the Western powers benefited from selling weaponry to fight those wars and also reaped the profit of the reconstruction programs they conducted in the war-stricken areas, he added.
He said that he believes there might be a potential for another conflict in the region but stated that whether that potential becomes a reality is up to regional countries.
To avert a new war, “the first step is to foil their plots… and the second step is to send clear signals that the imposition of a new war would cause irreparable damage for them,” Mottaki noted.
On Israel’s recent attack on Lebanon, Mottaki said Iran strongly condemns the atrocity and added that the Lebanese government has a legitimate right to defend its sovereignty.
The Lebanese foreign minister criticized the United Nations troops deployed in southern Lebanon for their hesitation to act in a timely manner to avert the attack.
During a meeting with Mottaki before the press conference, Shami expressed his gratitude toward the Islamic Republic of Iran for supporting Lebanon’s Islamic resistance movement Hezbollah. However, he criticized the international community’s double-standard policy toward Lebanon
Iranian Navy launches four new submarines
Tehran, Aug 8, (IRNA) -- Iranian Navy launched four domestically-built submarines on Sunday in a ceremony in presence of Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi. Addressing the ceremony, Vahidi said that four advanced Ghadir class submarines were delivered to the Navy as part of the efforts to promote its defense capability.
He cited high speed for undertaking missions and vessel-carrying ability in shallow waters as among the characteristics of Ghadir class submarines and that they target with high precision and are radar-evading