Iranian Border Guards Freed by Militants - UPDATE

Hostages Were Freed at Iran-Afghanistan Border

Iran’s semi-official Fars news Agency reported that the Baluch militant group Jaish ul-Adl has freed Iranian border guards today and handed them to Iranian authorities. The group took five guards hostage in February, but said it executed one of them, and threatened to execute the rest if Iran did not free all imprisoned Baluch militants.

It was not clear if Iran accepted Jaish ul-Adl demands and freed any prisoners. The Iranian authorities said last month they were negotiating with the militants, without disclosing any details, to free NAJA border guards.

Fars News Agency named the freed guards as Ramin Hazrati, Sajad Zahani, Mohammad Nezami and Jamshid Taimouri. Jamshid Danayeefar, the fifth guard who was kidnapped, was executed by the group in March. Fars did not say if Danayeefar’s body was delivered to Iranian authorities.

UPDATE I: Al Arabiya reported that Jaish ul-Adl freed the border guards on request of Baluchistan’s religious leader Molana Abdol-Hamid and other regional leaders.

Abdol Raoof Rigi, a spokesman for the group, told reporters that Jaish ul-Adl would return Danayeefar’s body if the Iranians return the bodies of Baluch militants executed in Iran.  Abdol Raoof is the brother of Abdol Malik Rigi, the leader of Jundallah who was kidnapped by Iranian agents and later executed in Iran.

UPDATE II: The four freed guards were handed over to the Iranian authorities at Iran-Afghanistan border in Afghan Baluchistan, Nimrooz province, and were taken to Zabol, the nearest Iranian city. (Al Arabiya, 4 April)

Photo credit: The four NAJA border guards shown moments before being freed, being “interviewed” by Adl Network of Jaish ul-Adl; 4 April 2014 (Al Arabiya) 

IMF Report on Iranian Economy

The International Monetary Fund today released its report on the recent economic conditions in Iran.

“Macroeconomic performance worsened markedly following the implementation of the subsidy reform in late 2010 and the intensification of sanctions in 2012.

“Since the Presidential election in mid-2013, there have been some signs of stability,” the report said.

Following are the report’s highlights:

• The economy contracted by 5.8 percent in 2012/13 (Iranian calendar year 1391). In 2013/14, it is estimated that the economy contracted by 1.7 percent. The economic activity, however, would begin to stabilize in 2014/15, with the GDP projected to grow 1-2 percent. However, the current outlook remains uncertain and subject to downside risks.

• The 12-month inflation rose from about 12 percent in late 2010 to around 45 percent in July 2013. But after the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) tightened credit to the banking system, putting a lid on money growth, inflation began to decline and stood at 29 percent in January 2014, with the estimated inflation rate at the end of 2013/14 period (March 2014) standing at 22 percent. 

• Unemployment was at 12.2 percent in 2011/12 and 2012/13, but it is estimated that it rose to 12.9 percent in 2013/14.

• Narrow money (M1) declined from $29.1 billion in 2012/13 to an estimated $20.5 billion in 2013/14. Broad money (M2) declined from $30.6 billion to $24.9 billion in the same periods.

• Gross official reserves of CBI rose from $104.4 billion in 2012/13 to an estimated $107.7 billion in 2013/14.

• Crude oil exports decreased from 2.5 million bpd in 2011 to about 1 million bpd in 2013.

To read the entire IMF report, please click here.

Eram commercial complex in Tehran, recent construction

Eram commercial center with shopping mall in the latter stages of development in Tehran's District 2

Exterior detail of Eram's sixteen floor structure

Back view of Eram commercial center in Tehran

Interior detail of a completed lobby section inside Eram commercial center in Tehran

Photos: Tehran Tarak

Iran, P5+1: Technical Talks in Vienna

Iran and six world powers will start a new round of technical (expert-level) talks on Iran’s nuclear program later today in Vienna.

Hamid Baeedinejad, the director general for political and international affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry, will head the Iranian delegation in the talks (IRNA/Press TV, 3 April). 

The two sides are set to resume political (senior-level) negotiations on 7-9 April.

U.S. Calls Iran’s Choice for UN Ambassador ‘Troubling’

Allegedly Among Hostage Takers at U.S. Embassy

United States today expressed outrage over Iran’s choice of an allegedly former hostage taker to become its new ambassador at the UN, with the State Department spokeswoman calling the nomination “troubling.”

Iran has nominated Hamid Aboutalebi to replace the current ambassador Mohammad Khazaee at the UN, who has already left for Tehran. U.S. State Department has so far not issued an entry visa for Aboutalebi, pending further investigation of his alleged role as a member of the militant group Muslim Students Following Imam’s Line, which held 52 Americans, including senior diplomats, hostage in Tehran for 444 days after seizing the U.S. embassy on 4 November 1979.

“We're taking a close look at the case now, and we've raised our serious concerns about this possible nomination with the government of Iran,” said Marie Harf, the State Department spokeswoman. “I will say that we think this nomination would be extremely troubling.” (AP, 2 April)

Aboutalebi has said his involvement with the student group, which took the Americans hostage, was minimal, adding that he only acted as a translator. However, his photograph is displayed on Taskhir (“Capture”), the website of the Muslim Students Following Imam’s Line, Bloomberg reported. (Bloomberg, 30 March)

Aboutalebi has served as Iran’s ambassador to Italy, Belgium, Australia and the EU. 

Photo credit: Hamid Aboutalebi, now and then. (iranhumanrights.org)

Iran Inflation Rate at 32.1%

Iranian government spokesman, Mohammad Baqer Noubakht, said today that the country’s rate of inflation has slowed down to 32.1 percent, as compared to 43 percent last year. Noubakht made the comments at a gathering of Iranians in the holy city of Mecca. (Fars News Agency, 2 April)

Pakistani Prime Minister to Visit Iran

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will pay an official visit to Iran in May to hold talks with Iranian authorities, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Sartaj Aziz, announced today. The exact date of the visit has not been set yet. (Press TV, 2 April)

 

Aziz, who is also the country’s national security advisor, said today that the premier’s visit will aim to improve Tehran-Islamabad relations. He added, “the balance of the relationship among Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is crucial.”
 

Sharif’s visit will come at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries. In February, the militant Baluch group Jaish ul-Adl kidnapped five Iranian border guards and has since announced the execution of one of them. The Iranians believe the group is holding its hostages inside the Pakistani territory, with Pakistan not doing enough to find them. There are also suspicions by the Iranians that the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, might know more about the location of the hostages than publicly reported. Pakistani officials have said, however, that the NAJA border guards are not kept in Pakistani territory.

Earlier this week, IRGC took over the responsibility for the security of Baluchistan and its borders with Pakistan, and it is expected that the IRGC will now conduct long-term anti-terrorist operations in greater Baluchistan against militant Baluch groups who hold sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the border. 

 

The IRGC has been similarly operating in Kurdistan for many years, in an ongoing fight against the Kurdish militant group PJAK. Baluchistan will become the second front for the IRGC inside Iran. Externally, its Quds Force is actively involved in the Syrian civil war.

It is also expected that the IRGC Special Forces, the Saberin, and other elements of IRGC ground forces stationed in Baluchistan, start a search and rescue operation to find and free the remaining hostages, which would entail a military incursion inside Pakistan.

Aside from the recent kidnapping, Iran is generally concerned with the rapid rise of Sunni extremism in the region, especially in its neighboring Pakistan and Iraq. And it regards Saudi Arabia as the main force behind it. Interestingly, the Pakistani foreign minister referred to a need to "balance the relationship between Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan." Sharif’s visit comes at a delicate moment in the relations of the two countries.       

Photo credit: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (Press TV)

U.S. and Israel Agree on ‘Iran Threat’ - Dempsey

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told reporters today aboard a government aircraft leaving Israel, after wrapping up a two-day visit to the country, that U.S. and Israel are now in broad agreement about the “Iran threat.” (USA Today, 1 April)

“I think they (the Israeli officials) are satisfied that we have the capability to use a military option if the Iranians choose to stray off the diplomatic path,” Gen. Dempsey said. “I think they are satisfied we have the capability. I think they believe we will use it.”

In the past, Israelis have expressed wariness with U.S. policy toward Iran and there were disagreements on the pace at which Iran could field a nuclear weapon.

“Our clocks are more harmonized than they were two years ago,” Dempsey said. “They just wanted to know that we are maintaining and continuing to refine our military options,” he said. (USA Today, 1 April)

File photo: Gen. Martin Dempsey (Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images/USA Today)