Iran FM ‘Optimistic’ on Nuclear Talks

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said today he was optimistic about upcoming nuclear talks in Baghdad with world powers.

“The results of the meeting in Istanbul (on 14 April) were satisfactory and I am optimistic about the next meeting in Baghdad,” Salehi told reporters during a visit to Tunisia. Baghdad talks are scheduled for 23 May.

Salehi also downplayed Israelis threats to hit Iran's nuclear sites.

“Israel's threats to attack Iran are a bluff,” Salehi said. “But we take them seriously and are ready to defend ourselves.”

Iraqi PM in Tehran

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki arrived in Tehran today for top-level talks ahead of the upcoming conference in Baghdad on Iranian nuclear program. Al Maliki met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the Presidential Palace in Tehran and is expected to meet with the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Israel FM Visit to Azerbaijan

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will arrive in Azerbaijan tonight. During his two-day stay in Baku, Lieberman will meet senior Azeri officials, with Iran expected to be at the top of the agenda.

Last month, Azerbaijan denied published reports in the US that the country had granted Israel access to its air bases, presumably for use in any future attack on Iran. 

France: Hollande Wins First Round of Presidential Election - UPDATE

UPDATE: The results of the first round of the French presidential elections:

Francois Hollande: 28.8%
Nicolas Sarkozy: 26.1%

Marine Le Pen: 18.5%

Jean-Luc Melenchon: 11.7%

Francois Bayrou: 8.8%

Eva Joly: 2.3%
Others: 3.8%

Francois Hollande
Photo: Caroline Blumberg/EPA

*****

Francois Hollande of the Socialist Party will finish first in the first round of the French presidential election. The exit polls show he would receive 28% of the votes to President Sarkozy’s 25%. The exit polls also show that the candidate of the extreme right Marine le Pen will receive 20% of the votes and the candidate supported by the French Communist party and the far left Jean-Luc Melenchon will receive 12%.

The results, if stand, will be a major victory for Marine le Pen, bringing in a record percentage of the vote for the Front National (one in five French citizens voting for the extreme right), and a major upset for the far left candidate Mélenchon who was expected to finish third in previous polls. The results also throw out previous predictions of a sure victory for Hollande over Sarkozy in the second round on 6 May.

UPDATE: With 33 percent of the vote counted, Hollande has 27.5% percent of the votes and Sarkozy 26.6%. Le Pen is in third with 19.9%. Mélenchon who is finishing a disappointing fourth with 10% of the votes, has asked his supporters to come out in force during the second round to defeat Sarkozy. The centrist Democratic Movement candidate Francois Bayou has 9% and Green's Joly 2% of the votes. 71% of all eligible voters cast their votes in a strong turnout during the first round.

UPDATE: An Ipsos Mori poll conducted for France 24 shows that the Socialist candidate Hollande will win the second round convincingly, supported by 54% of likely voters, as opposed to 46% for Sarkozy. Hollande would become the first Socialist president since Mitterrand who won two elections in 1980s. 

IDF Ready to Hit Iran If Ordered - Gantz

IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said today in an interview with Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot that 2012 would be a critical year in efforts to halt Iran’s “nuclear arms program” and the Israeli military is ready to attack Iranian nuclear sites if ordered. Gen. Gantz added that the IDF is carrying special operations beyond its borders, presumably inside Iran.

“We think that a nuclear Iran is a very bad thing, which the world needs to stop and which Israel needs to stop -- and we are planning accordingly,” Gen. Gantz said. “In principle, we are ready to act. That does not mean that I will now order (Air Force Commander in Chief Maj. Gen.) Ido (Nehushtan) to strike Iran," he added [AFP, 22 April].

Gantz said he had increased the number of Israeli special operations in “other countries,” without providing any details. “I'm not taking the credit, I'm just accelerating all those special operations," he added.


Source: Yediot Aharanot/AFP

Iran Building Copy of Captured US Drone

Iran said today that it had reverse-engineered the U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel captured by IRGC last December and has begun building a copy of the top-secret surveillance drone.

“There is almost no part hidden to us in this aircraft. We recovered part of the data that had been erased. There were many codes and characters. But we deciphered them by the grace of God,” said Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of IRGC aerospace division during a national TV appearance [IRIB, 22 April].

Gen. Hajizadeh said all operations carried out by the drone had been recorded in the memory of the aircraft, including maintenance and testing. He said the drone flew over Osama Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan two weeks before U.S. Navy SEALs killed the al-Qaida leader there in May 2011.

“This drone was in California on 16 October, 2010, for maintenance and was taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan on 18 November, 2010. It conducted flights there but apparently faced problems and (U.S. experts) were unable to fix it,” Hajizadeh said. “The drone was taken to Los Angeles in December 2010 where sensors of the aircraft underwent testing at an aerospace factory.”

"If we had not achieved access to software and hardware of this aircraft, we would be unable to get these details. Our experts are fully dominant over sections and programs of this plane," Hajizadeh said. "It's not that we can bring down a drone but cannot recover the data."

Source: IRIB (Farsi)/AP (English translation)

Iran Reiterates Position on Three Islands

Iran’s permanent mission to the UN said in a letter to the Security Council that the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb are “inseparable part of Iranian territory.” The letter also said that the visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Abu Musa on 11 April was in line with “Iran’s sovereign rights and the principles of its territorial integrity.


The UAE has laid claims over the three islands and regarded Ahmadinejad’s visit to Abu Musa as a violation of its territorial sovereignty. In the letter to the Security Council, Iran called for “constructive” talks with UAE to clear “misunderstandings” over the islands. [IRNA/Press TV, 21 April].

Iran’s Wheat Imports

Iran will import 1.7 million tons of wheat in in the current Iranian calendar year (March 2012/March 2013), the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today. Wheat is the dominant cereal in the country, accounting for nearly 70 percent of total cereal production. Total cereal imports are forecast to remain high at 7.3 million tons, including maize, wheat and rice, the FAO report said.

Last March, the Iranian government bought 2.5 to 3 million tons of bread wheat on international markets, as private Iranian flourmills found they could not purchase in the face of sanctions. Iran’s state feed agency is also tendering to buy corn and soybean meal needed to feed the country’s livestock herds.

Iran's 2012 wheat output is preliminarily forecast to be 13.5 million tons.

Source: TradeArabia/Reuters, 21 April 2012

EU Postpones Final Decision on Iran Oil Embargo

The EU has postponed by a month its review of the oil embargo on Iran, now scheduled to go into effect on 1 July, Wall Street Journal reported today. The move postpones the final embargo decision until after the talks on 23 May between Iran and the six major powers, adding urgency for the two sides to strike an agreement in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, Japanese refiner Cosmo Oil has renewed its crude oil term contract with the National Iranian Oil Co, but at lower and yet unspecified volumes, Platts reported today.



Iran Military Day Parade 2012 (4)

Shiraz, Ardabil, Rasht, Sari, Birjand, Mashad and Ahvaz 

click photos to enlarge

IRIA Chieftain main battle tank under its own power, Shiraz

Pilots from 7th Tactical Air Base, Shahid Dastghaib/Shiraz

PKM machine gun and Nakhjir sniper rifle, Shiraz

Vehicle mounted DShK heavy machine gun, Ardabil

NAJA police aboard Taiwanese Happyword VR-200 motorbikes, Ardabil

ZU-23-2 towed 23 mm anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon, Rasht

M-46 M1954 (or Type 59-1) towed 130 mm artillery piece, Rasht

NAJA police special operations group, Birjand

Possibly later model Yamaha YZ250 motorbike, Birjand

I-HAWK surface to air missiles, Ahvaz

Chinese origin ATVs carrying lightweight mortars, Ahvaz

NAJA attached army conscripts, Mashad

T-72S main battle tank likely belonging to the 38th Armored Brigade, Mashad

Photos: Fars News Agency and Mehr News Agency

Iran Military Day Parade 2012 (3)

Isfahan, Iran 

click photos to enlarge

IRGC T-72S main battle tank

IRGC tank commander, possibly belonging to Saheb al-Zaman Corps

BTR-60 armored personnel carriers, likely belonging to the 37th Armored Brigade

Artillery pieces towed by Unimogs with crews

Unidentified Artesh unit parading with Heckler & Koch G3A4 battle rifles

NAJA anti-riot police contingent

Motorized IRIADF MANPADS gunners

IRIADF S-200 surface-to-air missile (SAM)

Unidentified Artesh unit

Contingent outfitted in chemical warfare protection suits

IRIAF contingent from Shahid Babaei AFB (TFB.8)

Iran Army stunt rider aboard 90's era Honda CRM motorbike 

Photos: Hamid Reza Niko maram at Fars News Agency, Mehr News Agency

Iran Military Day Parade 2012 (2)

Tehran, Iran 

click photos to enlarge

Iranian T-72S main battle tank

FV101 Scorpion based armoured reconnaissance vehicle

M110 203 mm self-propelled howitzer

M107 175 mm self-propelled howitzers

BM-21 122 mm multiple rocket launch vehicle

TEL mounted Zelzal ("Earthquake") short range ballistic missiles

M577 command vehicles in UN peacekeeping markings

IRIADF S-200 surface-to-air missile (SAM)

Possibly elements of the 23rd Commando Division (1)

Possibly elements of the 23rd Commando Division (2)

Contingent in specially adapted ghillie suits

Contingent in specially adapted "Alborz" ghillie suits

IRIN junior officer contingent

Mehrabad AFB (TFB.1) security contingent

IRI Marines aboard HSPB

Presumably NAJA special operations forces contingent

Elements of the Student Basij

Disabled combat veterans of the Imposed War (Iran-Iraq War) 

 Photos: Hassan Mousavi at Fars News Agency, Mehr News Agency

Iran Military Day Parade 2012 (1)

Aviation flypast, Tehran

click photos to enlarge

IRIAA Bell AH-1J Sea Cobra (209)

IRIAA Boeing (Elicotteri Meridionali) CH-47C Chinooks (219)

IRIAF Su-24MK Fencers displaying body to body air refueling capability 

using a Sakhalin UPAZ-1A air refueling pod.

IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II fighter-bombers

IRIAF Grumman F-14A Tomcat air superiority fighters

 Photos: Mehr News Agency, Hassan Mousavi at Fars News Agency

Protester jumps on Ahmadinejad's car in Bandar-Abbas

During a tour of the southern city of Bandar-Abbas earlier this week President Ahmadinejad Ahmadinejad's open-topped car was as shown by the above video Iranians banging on his car protesting amongst other things the economy and the declining standards of living within the country.

The two most noticeable examples were of an old man and a veiled woman. The man shouted at him stating that he was a pensioner and that he was hungry, he proceeded to bang on the cars bonnet whilst Ahmadinejad ignored him. Soon after supporters of Ahmadinejad drowned out his wails. However moments later the veiled woman climbed up on the roof of Amadinejad's car and proceeded to quickly address him. She was last seen in the video stepping into the back seat with the presidents entourage.

Japan Cuts Iran Oil Imports by 77 Percent

Japan is slashing its crude oil purchases from Iran by 77 percent in April to comply with new sanctions against the country that will go into full effect on 1 July, oil trade sources said today [Reuters, 18 March].

The Japanese refineries will purchase just 75,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Iran in April, down by 250,000 barrels per day. The cuts are the steepest yet by the four Asian nations who buy most of Iran's 2.2 million bpd of exports. The tightening sanctions make it difficult to pay, ship and insure the Iranian oil.

GCC Condemns Ahmadinejad’s Visit to Abu Musa as ‘Provacative’

Threats and Counter-Threats by GCC and Iran

The foreign ministers from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries meeting in Doha today condemned as “provocative” a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Persian Gulf island of Abu Musa, which along with the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands are under the Iranian control but claimed by the UAE.

“The members of the GCC strongly condemn the Iranian president's visit to Abu Musa which is a provocative act and a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over its three islands,” said a joint statement issued by the ministers.

The GCC (the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman) also demanded Iran “end its occupation of these islands and respond to calls by the UAE to find a peaceful and just solution through negotiations or by resorting to the international court.”

The GCC pledged their "full support to the UAE in all actions it takes to regain its rights and sovereignty over its islands” [AFP, 17 April].

The UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahayan warned on Monday that if left unresolved, the issue “could jeopardize international security and peace.”

This was followed by a warning from Ahmadinejad who said today that Iran will respond with force to any threats to its territorial integrity.

“The armed forces and the army will inflict heavy regret and shame in case of any aggression against Iranian lands and interests,” Ahmadinejad said, adding that Iran “is ready to protect its existence and sovereignty.”

Photo: GCC Foreign ministers attend the ministerial meeting in Doha (AFP Photo/Faisal al-Tamimi)