Turkey Intercepts Iranian Cargo Plane - UPDATE

Turkey scrambled two F-16 warplanes to intercept an Iranian cargo plane, which was en-route to Syria. The cargo plane was forced to land in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir airport for an inspection, Turkish security officials said [AFP, 16 March]. The Turkish government did not give any details on the cargo.

UPDATE: The Iranian cargo plane was freed after being found to have been carrying 150 tons of food, but no “material contrary to international standards.” Turkey’s Anatolia news agency reported that civilian defense teams trained to detect nuclear, biological and chemical materials had conducted the search.

Documents Aboard Victoria Identify Nasr Missiles

Israel Defense Force (IDF) reports they have found identifying documents on the intercepted cargo ship Victoria related to the Iranian made C-704 “Nasr” AShMs that were aboard the ship. Below is the translation of the above document written in Farsi.

In the Name of God

IRGC's Emblem (right side)

IRI Emblem (left side)

Missile Technical Identification Card

Volume 1, 2

System: C704

Missile Type: Nasr

Missile serial Number: SA880805

Export Date: 15 Farvardin 1389 (5 April 2010)

Source: Elm-ol-Hada Industries

C-704 "Nasr" missiles found on intercepted cargo ship

According to IDF sources, six Iranian made C-704 "Nasr" AShMs have been found on the intercepted cargo ship Victoria.

A container aboard the Victoria holding a C-704 "Nasr"

The IDF has released an inventory of weapons found on the Victoria:

230 mortar shells, 120 mm
2,270 mortar shells, 60 mm
6 C-704 anti-ship missiles
2 radar systems manufactured in England
2 launchers
2 hydraulic mounting cranes for radar system
66,960 bullets for the Kalashnikov, 7.62 millimeter

It's an interesting selection of arms. Had the AShM delivery been successful, it would have provided quite a surprise. It's not certain they would have solely been used in the ASh role either, perhaps offering a more variable missile strike capability for Gaza defense forces. Mortar ordnance, also, is in demand given the immense tactical strengths of the IDF and the relatively puny resources of the Gaza defense forces.

Given the successful deployment of somewhat larger Iranian AShMs during the 33-Day war, we're left to speculate on the effectiveness of a C-704 in the Gaza theater, particularly had its successful deployment possessed the element of surprise. It's relative size would have better facilitated delivery through the current blockade and provided Gaza defense forces with a considerably more potent strike capability; this force which has had to make due with the meager resources of crude, homemade rocket artillery types of negligible tactical value.

File photo: comparative size of the C-704 "Nasr "

Bushehr Is Safe - Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad assured the Iranian public today that the country’s Bushehr nuclear reactor scheduled to go online soon is safe and relies on “more modern technology” than Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi reactors. Bushehr’s project started some forty years ago, during the Shah’s government, and its older design has been a source of concern. Now the catastrophic events surrounding Fukushima Daiichi reactors have elevated concerns over Bushehr’s safety.

"We have observed all security measures at the Bushehr nuclear plant," Ahmadinejad said. "I don't think there will be any serious problem," he added. "The security standards there are the standards of today. We have to take into account that the Japanese nuclear plants were built 40 years ago with the standards of yesterday" [TVE, 15 March].

Yesterday, Ahmadinejad had pressed his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev to push the plant’s Russian builders to startup the reactor, this amid the builder’s concern over the reactor’s safety after metal shards were found in the plant’s fuel assemblies. The builder, Rosatom, had to removed the fuel core in February for a thorough inspection of the reactor.

IDF Seizes Freighter Headed to Gaza

Israel Defense Force (IDF) seized a freighter ship, known as Victoria, in the Mediterranean Sea, 200 miles off of Israel's coast. IDF reported that the ship was carrying dozens of tons of weaponry from Iran headed for Hamas in the Gaza strip.

The Victoria was boarded by commandos from the Israeli Navy's Shayetet unit, and is expected to arrive in the Ashdod port later today. The ship set sails last night from Turkey, and was expected to dock in Alexandria, Egypt. IDF said that the weapons did not originate in Turkey, but that the containers were unloaded there and transferred onto the Victoria.

Ahmadinejad Pushes for Opening of Bushehr Nuclear Reactor

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussed the timetable for the startup of Bushehr nuclear power plant with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on Monday. The two spoke on the phone reportedly for nearly an hour. Ahmadinejad emphasized that starting Bushehr in timely manner would serve the interests of both countries, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

Last August, the Iranian officials “opened” the plant in an elaborate ceremony, but a host of safety related issues has delayed its actual operations. In September, the plant manager told IRNA that the facility was infected by Stuxnet worm but no significant harm had been done. The Russian officials later raised issues surrounding the safety of the plant and its builder, Rosatom, removed the fuel core in February and began a thorough inspection of the reactor after metal shards were found in the plant’s fuel assemblies. Now in light of the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi reactors in Japan, concerns for safety at Bushehr have found new meanings.

Saudis in Bahrain

Contingent of Saudi troops arriving in Bahrain. 14 March 2011

Troops from Saudi Arabia and police officers from the UAE crossed into Bahrain today to help the government quell unrest and the rising democratic movement in the island.

Photo: Contingent of Saudi troops arriving in Bahrain. 14 March 2011. Bahrain TV via AFP/New York Times

Latest Poll on Subsidy Reforms, Jobs, Inflation and Sanctions

The Majlis Research Center, the research arm of the Iranian parliament, has published the results of a public opinion poll on the reactions to the government’s four-month old subsidy reform program and other economy-related issues.

• 57% of the respondents believe the subsidy reforms will lead to rising prices and inflation.
• 58% of the respondents support the $44 monthly cash payments made by the government to ease the burden on the public resulting from subsidy removals.
• 55% of the respondents rate the government’s management of the program as “mediocre” or “weak’” while 42% of respondents rate the government’s performance as “good” or “very good.”
• 65% of the respondents favor job creation programs even if they are inflationary. Creation of jobs is the top priority.
• 40% of the respondents believe the economic sanctions imposed against Iran have been “very effective.” While 42% believe they are “somehow effective.” And 11% believe they have been “ineffective.”

For a detailed report of the poll results in Farsi, please click here.

China Wins Iran Oil Contracts

China was awarded contracts to develop Iran’s North and South Azadegan oilfields. The Iranian ministry of oil announcing the news today in Tehran did not disclose the name of the Chinese state-owned company who has won the contracts. The Chinese investment to develop the giant fields is estimates to exceed $6 billion.

The Deputy Oil Minister Ahmad Qalebani told reporters that no domestic company has the required capital to undertake the development work.

“Development of these two giant oilfields requires investments more than $6 billion and the possibility of procuring such an amount by a domestic contractor does not exist,” Qalebani said [Mehr News Agency, 13 March].

Iran, unlike many oil-producing countries, has not developed an independent fund from its oil revenues to reinvest in the existing and new oilfields. The investment budget for any development work in the industry is part of the government’s general capital expenditure budget and usually has not been given the top priority it needs to maintain and expand the country’s premier industry.

Nowruz Art Exhibition in Tehran

Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Arts will hold an exhibition of works by master Iranian artists during the Persian New Year (Nowruz) holidays (starting 21 March). The exhibition is part of the International Nowruz Celebrations events taking place in Tehran next week with the theme of ‘Nowruz, Spring and Nature.’

The exhibition will showcase works by artists such as Sohrab Sepehri, Faramarz Pilaram, Reza Shahabi, Ali-Mohammad Heidarian, Mehdi Vishkaei, Ahmad Esfandiari, Davoud Emdadian, Yaqoub Emdadian, Reza Mafi, Mohammad Ehsaei, Abolqasem Saeedi, Nasrollah Afjei, Jalil Rasouli and Monir Farmanfarmayan.

Tehran will also host the 'Manifestations of the World's Contemporary Arts' exhibition, showcasing a collection of rare international artworks, including impressionist, cubist, abstract, minimalist and conceptual masterpieces. Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Kamil Jacob Pissarro, Fernand Leger, Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, Vasily Kandinsky, Pierre Soulages, Francis Bacon, Juan Miro and Roy Lichtenstein are among the artists whose works will be displayed.

Photo: A work by Faramarz Pilaram / PressTV

Japan on Our Minds

Japan suffered from an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and a tsunami that created 30-feet waves and washed over coastal cities in the northeast of the country. Hundreds are dead and concerns have mounted over possible radiation leaks from two nuclear reactors in the area.

Photo: AP via New York Times

AFP Correspondent Expelled

By Nader Uskowi

Iran expelled Agence France-Presse (AFP) deputy bureau chief in Tehran, Jay Deshmukh, on Friday. The authorities did not give any explanation for their decision. Deshmukh, a 40-year-old Indian national, had been in the country since January 2009.

"Jay Desmukh, in common with the whole of the Tehran bureau, does a great job and with a professionalism that is universally recognized," said Emmanuel Hoog, AFP chief executive, in Paris. "Thus to attack this journalist and AFP, as the Iran authorities have done, is totally unjust and unjustifiable." [AFP, 11 March].

AFP reporting from Iran has been among the most professional and balanced sources of news from the country. Uskowi on Iran regularly uses AFP dispatches, including those written by Mr. Desmukh, and regrets the decision by Iranian authorities to expel him.

We are also concerned for the implications of this decision on the freedom of press in Iran. Many Iranian journalists are in jail. Coverage by foreign correspondents is largely restricted. Most western television and radio networks are systematically jammed in the capital Tehran and in most big cities. The authorities also block many of the Internet websites based abroad.

Iran Non-Oil Exports at $40 Billion

Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) announced today the country’s non-oil exports will exceed $40 billion by the end of the current Iranian year (ending March 20). TPO’s figures include $5 billion for gas condensates exports that the organization counts as non-oil revenues. The export of technical and engineering services amounted to more than $3 billion.

This year’s non-oil exports of $40 billion represent a 40% increase over last year. The country’s oil exports during the coming Iranian calendar year are estimated at $80 billion.

Sanctions against Iran Ineffective – DIA Chief

The Director of US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess said Iran has produced “more than enough” low-enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon, and that the UN sanctions “are not stopping Iran’s drive to enrich uranium.”

In a statement prepared for the Senate Armed Services Committee and carried by news agencies today, the DIA chief said Iran has installed nearly 9,000 centrifuges at Natanz. In 2007, when the sanctions by UN and Western countries began, Iran had only 3,000 centrifuges. Burgess’s remarks reinforce latest US government assessments that the current sanctions against Iran have been ineffective.

Gen. Burgess says in his statement that Iran is protecting its Natanz and Qom nuclear installations underground.

“Buried, hardened facilities and improved air defenses are key elements of Iran’s extensive program to protect its nuclear infrastructure from destruction,” Burgess says. “Iran’s construction is in keeping with a transnational tunneling trend where potential adversaries conceal and protect their most vital national security activities.”

On air defenses, Burgess says Iran’s plans to defend its facilities, as well as protecting its senior leaders, was dealt a setback when Russian officials in September prohibited delivery of the advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran.

On Iran’s missile program, the DIA chief says Iran’s Simorgh satellite launch vehicle shows the country’s progress toward developing an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Al Aman -- Iran-Syria Joint Bank

Iran's Minister of Economy and Finance Shamseddin Hosseini announced in Tehran the establishment of a joint Iranian-Syrian bank. Al Aman, the joint bank, will have branches inside Iran and Syria, Hosseini said. He also said that the building of the bank in Syria has been purchased [Mehr News Agency, 9 March].

On a related development, Iran and Syria signed a new trade agreement reducing all existing tariffs to four percent within five years.

Rafsanjani Loses Assembly Chairmanship

Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani lost his position today as the head of the powerful Assembly of Experts, a clerical body charged with choosing or dismissing Iran's supreme leader. Facing certain defeat, Rafsanjani decided not to run for reelection to "avoid division," as he later explained. The Assembly then elected Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani as its new chairman. He received 63 votes in the 86-member assembly as the sole candidate for the post.

Rafsanjani’s loss is the latest indication that the regime is sidelining anyone remotely associated with the 2009 Green Movement. Their leaders, Mousavi and Karrubi, are under house arrest. Former reformist president Khatami is pushed out and now Rafsanjani has lost the powerful chairmanship of the assembly, the Islamic Republic’s version of the Vatican’s College of Cardinals.

Hardline Member of Majlis Mahmoud Ahmadi Biqash said Rafsanjani paid a price for not condemning the opposition leaders Mousavi and Karrubi.

"Today, Assembly of Expert members showed that they are pioneers in confronting enemies and seditionists and obeying the orders of the supreme leader," Biqash said [IRNA, 8 March].

DIO Self-propelled 155 mm/39 HM41 howitzer

click photos to enlarge

Truck mounted DIO 155 mm/39 HM41 howitzer (domestically upgraded US M114).

Truck mount appears to be a derived MAN 6x6 variant, with secondary cab and crew bench.

Angled HM41 gun with recoil plate depressed.

New SPG appears to be a locally produced and economical solution for Iran's mobile artillery requirements.

Photos: Vahid Reza Alaei at FARS & ISNA

Growing Tensions in Iran-UAE Relations

The Iranian parliament, Majlis, will vote on a bill downgrading Iran’s relations with the UAE. The bill, introduced at the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Majlis, calls the “insulting attitude toward Iranians travelling to the UAE” as “unacceptable.”

“The nature of Iran's trade relations with the Emirates is to the benefit of the UAE and in return their treatment of the citizens of our country is absolutely unacceptable,” Commission member Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said.

The action in Majlis came amid sharp criticism by senior Iranian officials of UAE’s decision to construct artificial islands on the Persian Gulf. On Monday, IRGC Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, senior military adviser to the Supreme Leader, described the construction of the islands as “illegal.”

Iran’s main concern is that the artificial islands would reduce by 10 kilometers the distance between the UAE mainland and Abu Musa, an Iranian island also claimed by UAE, changing the coastal borders between the two countries.

Dutch Stamps on Iran

Stamps by the Netherlands commemorating the 2009 Green Movement in Iran

Iran Expects $80 Billion in Oil Revenues

Iran’s oil minister said today in Tehran that his country’s oil exports are expected to reach and remain at least at $80 billion a year. Iran currently exports some 2.2 million barrels a day. The uprisings and uncertainties in the Middle East have pushed the price of each barrel of Iran Heavy above the $100 mark, and rising. At $100 per barrel and 2.2 million bpd in exports, the country’s annual oil revenues would reach $80 billion.

The Shah’s government at the height of Iran’s prosperity in mid-70s enjoyed oil revenues of $20 billion. Even accounting for population increase and the rate of inflation, the quadrupling of oil revenues creates an unparalleled opportunity for the Islamic Republic to continue its hold on power.

Nuclear Weapons Contradicts Iran's Religious Principles - FM

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in an interview today with the Euronews channel that the development or use of nuclear weapons contradicts Iran's religious principles and would violate the tenets of Islam.

"Islamic Republic authorities have reiterated that nuclear arms are against the country's religious principals," Salehi said. "We have been committed to the NPT and believe that the proliferation of a nuclear bomb is against the tenets of Islam."