Iran Official in Moscow to Discuss Syria

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrived in Moscow today to hold talks with senior Russian officials on the latest developments in Syria, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported.

India Reducing Iran Oil Imports

India's largest importer of Iranian oil, the State-run Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL), plans to halve daily imports from Iran, Reuters quoting industry sources reported today.

MRPL imports over 150,000 bpd, but plans to reduce imports to 80,000 bpd starting 1 April. India's other state-run oil company, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, has also announced it would cut its annual imports of Iranian crude by about 15 percent to 60,000 bpd.

In public, New Delhi says it will not comply with the sanctions. But behind the scenes, sources at state-run refineries say the government has instructed them to cut imports, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters, 5 March 2012

Iran - Discrepancies in Government’s Data on Elections Turnout

64 Percent or 54 Percent?

Yesterday, in a press conference in Tehran, Iran’s Interior Minister Brig. Gen. Mustafa Mohammad Najjar told reporters that 26,472,760 citizens cast their votes in the nationwide elections for the Ninth Majlis. The minister’s remarks were widely distributed and also appeared on the Interior Ministry’s website. Two weeks ago, Gen. Najjar had officially announced the number of eligible voters nationwide at 48,288,799. Considering that the Interior Ministry is in charge of the elections in Iran, these figures are as official as they can get.

Now let’s see what the percentage of those voted is to those eligible to vote, or otherwise the turnout: 26,472,760/48,288,799= 54%.

The trouble is that the minister himself has calculated and announced the turnout to be at 64%, a figure widely quoted by the media, including by this lowly blogger. The government has also used the figure to declare a moral victory of sort over the opposition. But didn’t they just add 10% to the actual turnout?

In the elections in Tehran, there was also an odd development: the eligible voters reported were 2.5 million people less than the number for the Eight Majlis in 2008. Considering the rapid growth of the population in Tehran, this statistic does not seem correct. As a result, the Interior Minister’s report that 48% of eligible voters in Tehran turned out in the polling stations seems also to be inflated.

Obama Urges Iran to Seek Diplomatic Solution to Nuclear Standoff

US President Barack Obama today urged Iran to seek a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff. The president, speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual forum in Washington, also warned against "too much loose talk of war" with Iran.

Obama told thousands of AIPAC delegates that international sanctions against Iran were working.

"Because of our efforts, Iran is under greater pressure than ever before… Iran is isolated, its leadership divided and under pressure. And the Arab Spring has only increased these trends, as the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime is exposed, and its ally -- the Assad regime -- is crumbling,” Obama said.

"I firmly believe that an opportunity remains for diplomacy -- backed by pressure - to succeed," Obama added.

Obama cautioned the delegates against saber-rattling as Iran developed its nuclear program.

"Already, there is too much loose talk of war. Over the last few weeks, such talk has only benefited the Iranian government, by driving up the price of oil, which they depend upon to fund their nuclear program.

"For the sake of Israel's security, America's security, and the peace and security of the world, now is not the time for bluster; now is the time to let our increased pressure sink in, and to sustain the broad international coalition that we have built," Obama said.

But he also reaffirmed his strong backing for Israel and warned Iran's leaders that he would not hesitate to use force, if required, to stop it developing a nuclear weapon.

"Iran's leaders should know that I do not have a policy of containment; I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. And as I've made clear time and again during the course of my presidency, I will not hesitate to use force when it is necessary to defend the United States and its interests."

Source: AFP, 4 March 2012

Extreme Right Wins Parliamentary Elections in Iran

The extreme right in Iran is the victor in the elections for the Ninth Majlis. The ruling conservative United Principlist Front and the ultraconservative Resistance Front of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi are poised to capture nearly 80 percent of the seats in the new Majlis.

There would be a second round of voting in Tehran, where none but the top 5 candidates received more the required 25 percent of the votes to be elected. The unusual development in Tehran, and some other districts outside the capital, was the result of the two leading conservative groups splitting the votes almost equally between them.

The Ministry of Interior has estimated the turnout at 64 percent nationwide and 48 percent in Tehran. The highest turnout ever reported in the parliamentary elections was 71 percent for the Fifth Majlis in 1996, and the lowest turnout was in 2008 for the current Majlis at 51 percent. The average reported turnout in all the nine elections is 60 percent.

Conservative Groups Leading in Iran Elections

The Iranian authorities report turnouts of 64 percent nationwide and 48 percent in Tehran in the elections for the Ninth Majlis.

In Tehran, with one-third of ballots counted, the ruling United Principlist Front (UPF) and the ultraconservative Resistance Front (RF) candidates are in the lead, with their top candidates capturing 28 and 27 percent of the votes respectively. Only a single candidate not belonging to the two groups, Ali Motahari of the Voice of Nation, is among the top vote getters expected to be elected from Tehran.

Qolam-Ali Hadad Adel, a former speaker of Majlis and Ayatollah Khamenei’s political confidant (whose daughter is married to Khamenei’s son), and who was supported by both UPF and RF, is leading in Tehran with 405,053 votes, or 46 percent of the votes counted. UPF’s top candidate, Hojatoleslam Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi, is at second place with 245,806 or 28 percent, and RF’s top candidate, Morteza Agha-Tehrani, is third with 238,081 or 27 percent.

Ali Motahari, the top candidate in the Voice of Nation list, is at the eighth place with 153,212 votes or 17 percent of the votes counted so far.