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.

Somali Pirates Highjack Iranian Cargo Ship

Somali pirates seized an Iranian cargo ship and its 23-strong crew off the Hoarafush Island in the Indian Ocean. The island is part of the Maldives.

A spokesman for the Maldivian National Defense Force said the authorities were coordinating their response with the navy of the neighboring India. At least 40 vessels and more than 400 hostages were still being held in or just off Somalia at the end of last year.

Source: AFP, 26 March 2012

Shell Unable to Pay for Iranian Oil

Reuters reported today that Royal Dutch Shell is struggling to pay off $1 billion that it owes Iran for crude oil because EU and US sanctions now make it impossible to process payments.

“Shell is working hard to figure out a way to pay NIOC (National Iranian Oil Company). It is very sensitive and very difficult. They want to stay in good terms with Iran while abiding sanctions,” said an informed source to Reuters.

With daily contract volumes of 100,000 barrels, Shell was Iran’s second biggest corporate client behind Turkey’s Tupras. The EU has given European companies like Shell until July 1 to wind down their existing businesses with Iran.

Source: Reuters, 26 March 2012

Monthly Cash Handouts to Increase by 50 Percent

The Iranian government has announced that it will increase the monthly cash handouts to 90 percent of its citizens by more than fifty percent. The new payout will be 730,000 rials per person per month (around $60 in official exchange rate). The handouts are part of the government subsidy removal program and are intended to soften the impacts of the rising inflation and the currency’s falling value. The critics believe the cash handouts are wasteful public spending that has resulted in even higher inflation.