Turkey Cuts Iran Oil Imports

Turkey today announced the reduction of oil imports from Iran. Turkey’s oil refinery, Tupras, said purchases from Iran were being reduced by 20 percent [AP, 30 March].

AP reports that the decision comes a day after the US ambassador to Turkey called on the country to reduce Iranian petroleum purchases. Earlier this month, the US exempted 10 EU countries and Japan from economic sanctions because they significantly reduced imports from Iran.

Meanwhile, the country’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Turkey plans to purchase one million tons of oil from Libya this year, and also engage in spot oil purchases from Saudi Arabia.

Source: The Associated Press, 30 March 2012

OPEC Production UP

OPEC oil output has risen in March to its highest level since October 2008, Reuters reported. Supply from all 12 OPEC members averaged 31.26 million barrels per day (bpd). The biggest increase in OPEC supply came from Libya. Iraq was second as its new Persian Gulf shipping outlet provided a long-awaited boost to the country’s capacity. Iran’s exports, however, fell mainly due to tightening sanctions.

Source: Reuters, 30 March 2012

Azerbaijan Denies Giving Israel Access to Air Bases on Iran Border

Azerbaijan today denied a published report that it has granted Israel access to air bases on the border it shares with Iran. Yesterday, the Foreign Policy magazine had reported that Azerbaijan granted the access in the event Israel chooses to strike Iranian nuclear sites. The magazine cited unnamed US diplomats and military intelligence officials as the sources for its report.

“This information is absurd and groundless,” said Azerbaijan’s defense ministry spokesman Teymur Abdullayev. “The allegations were aimed at damaging relations between Azerbaijan and Iran.” [AFP, 29 March].

Erdogan in Tehran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Tehran today. Official news agency IRNA reported that the meeting focused on bilateral ties and trade.

Analysts believe that Iran’s nuclear program and preparation for the upcoming nuclear talks between Iran and the six major powers, scheduled for Friday 13 April in Istanbul, must have been at the top of their agenda. Premier Erdogan held a lengthy meeting with President Obama on the sidelines of the Seoul nuclear safety conference prior to his departure for Tehran. It was not clear if he was carrying a message form the US president.

Photo: Premier Erdogan (l.) with President Ahmadinejad (r.) at the Presidential Palace. Tehran. 29 March 2012. ISNA/president.ir

Ferdowsi Saved Islam - Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a controversial speech to a group of Iranian residents in Tajikistan last week praised Ferdowsi, arguably the greatest Persian poet of all time, known as saving the Persian language, but added that Ferdowsi also saved Islam.

“Ferdowsi saved the Faith of the Great Prophet (of Islam) and removed the unenlightened from carrying the burden of the Faith and put it squarely on the shoulders of the Iranian nation. And the nation has well fulfilled this (enormous) responsibility.” [Tabnak, 29 March].

Ahmadinejad’s assertion of Ferdowsi’s role in saving Islam is causing a wave of protests from senior Islamic clerics, such as Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, for belittling the role of the clergy in carrying the Faith and the teachings of the Great Prophet, to others, like the director of the Library of Majlis, accusing Ahmadinejad of blatant ultra-nationalism and racism for attributing saving Islam to an Iranian poet.

Hakim Abol-Ghasem Ferdowsi Tousi was born in 940 and passed away in 1020 in Khorasan. His Shahnameh (“The Book of Kings”) is considered the national epic and a Persian literary masterpiece.

Image: Ferdowsi / nndb.com

India to Pay for Iran Oil in Rupees

India will continue paying for Iranian oil in hard currency until 1 July when the EU sanctions against Iran’s financial sector goes in full effect. Beyond that date, India is ready to pay in rupees, Bloomberg and Press TV reported today.

New Delhi’s rupee payments to Iran will be deposited in the Indian state-run UCO bank, which does not have US operations and is unlikely to be affected by the global sanctions, the Indian oil sources told Bloomberg.

India currently imports $9 billion worth of Iranian oil and $2 billion in other goods annually while exporting $2.7 billion worth of goods to Iran.

File Photo: India's Rupees

Pakistan Calls IP Pipeline “Vital”

Pakistan’s Minister of Information Firdous Ashiq Awan said today that the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project is vital to Pakistan’s ability to solve its energy shortage. She added that Pakistan would resist against any foreign (U.S.) pressure regarding the issue [IRNA, 27 March].

The multi-billion-dollar planned gas pipeline would export 21.5 million cubic meters a day of the Iranian natural gas to Pakistan. IP was originally planned as IPI, with India being the third participant in the project. India pulled out last year.

The Iranians have already completed the construction of 900 kilometers of the 56-inch pipeline between the Asaluyeh gas fields on the Persian Gulf and the town of Iranshahr near the border with Pakistan. The Pakistanis, notwithstanding today’s remarks by the minister, have not yet begun any construction work on their territory. Pakistan has also announced its commitment to the rival Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) pipeline project.

File photo: IRNA

Iranian-American Scholar Named Dean of SAIS

Vali Nasr, an Iranian-American and a leading Middle East scholar and foreign policy advisor was named the dean of the prestigious School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS.)

Nasr, 51, has been a professor of international politics at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy since 2007. He is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a member of the US State Department’s Foreign Policy Advisory Board. For two years, from 2009 until last year, he also served as special adviser to Richard Holbrooke, who was then the president’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Nasr, 51, will join SAIS on July 1.

SAIS is a leading graduate school of international affairs with a stellar reputation for preparing its students for careers in government and international organizations. The school was founded in 1943 and is a Washington-based division of the Johns Hopkins University.

“Vali Nasr is a distinguished scholar and teacher, an adept policy analyst and adviser, a highly regarded public intellectual and an accomplished administrator,” said Ronald J. Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins.

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Gazette, 27 March 2012.

Photo: Vali R. Nasr / The JHU Gazette

Iran, Major Powers to Meet on 13 April

Iran and six world powers — the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — have agreed to meet on 13 April for new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program, the Associated Press reported.

President Obama had said on Sunday that there is still time to resolve the dispute over Iran diplomatically, but that the window is closing.