Thread: Iran News and Editorials

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Yes wanker.

The Iranians will always tell you they are proud of their country's achievements.

They get arrested, tortured, even killed for criticising the guardian council and its puppet government.

Do you believe everything you see on Press TV or RT?

You've never heard of the Green revolution? You don't know the criteria for *standing* for Parliament in Iran.

Do you even know what the Iranian opposition is?

No, you're a witless

I can see you are just unhappy that I have proven that you do not what you are talking about.

I can see you have nothing useful to offer this thread.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I can see you have nothing useful to offer this thread.

Says the guy who keeps insulting me and posting up his wanking pics.

Well stop being a wanker then.

Quite simple really.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Well stop being a wanker then.

Quite simple really.

There is only one wanker on this thread and it is not me kid. You have been proven wrong on various aspects of your posts and are just sore and need to insult me because that is all you have left. Your very first post to me on this forum was an insult and you have not stopped since. It just shows what you are sunshine.

Oh blah fucking blah, change the fucking record you boring little turd.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Oh blah fucking blah, change the fucking record you boring little turd.

Is that really the best you can come up with? Sign of a lost argument.

I'm sure Saudi and Kuwait are itching to rein in their supply and give Iran a lifeline.

Not.

Tehran says selling oil easily despite sanctions TEHRAN, June 30, (Agencies): Sanctions-hit Iran on Saturday called for OPEC to hold an extraordinary meeting to rein in output going over its agreed total quota because oil prices have dipped to a “critical level” under $100 a barrel.
“We have asked the secretary general to set up an extraordinary meeting as prices have become irrational,” Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi was quoted as saying on his ministry’s official news website Shana.
He stressed that the last Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting, on June 14, had decided the cartel’s overall quota would be 30 million barrels but “members’ production has reached 33 million barrels a day.”
OPEC had agreed that “when the prices go below $100 a barrel, they have reached a critical level,” and therefore an extraordinary meeting was needed before the next scheduled OPEC meeting in December, he said.

Sanctions
Iran is suffering under tightened Western sanctions aimed at severely restricting its all-important oil exports.
Those sanctions will get tougher from Sunday, when an EU oil embargo — which will also block most insurance for tankers carrying Iranian oil anywhere in the world — comes into full effect.
Tehran had been banking on the sanctions to cause oil prices to spike higher, off-setting their impact.
But quota-busting production by OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, coupled with the European Union’s debt woes and slowing growth in China have tilted the global oil supply-and-demand balance out of its favour.
Iran, along with Venezuela, an OPEC member that is also strongly anti-US, are pushing within OPEC for production to be cut to boost prices.
The price of Brent crude, a reference on the market, slipped from a four-year high of $128 a barrel in early March to less than $100 a barrel.
On Friday, Brent North Sea oil for August delivery was selling for $97.80 a barrel — a big jump over previous days’ trading but still under the $100-a-barrel target set by OPEC.
The price issue has exacerbated tensions in OPEC between top producer Saudi Arabia and Iran, the second-biggest producer. The two countries are also vying to grab the seat of the cartel’s secretary-general after the current holder of the post, Abdullah El-Badri of Libya, steps down this year.
Ecuador and Iraq have also put forward candidates for the job, which is to be decided in OPEC’s December meeting.

Also:
TEHRAN: Iran says it is having no trouble selling oil despite US sanctions imposed over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.
The Saturday report by the semiofficial Mehr news agency quotes Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani as saying that Iran is “easily” able to sell its oil thanks to countries given waivers by the US to import some oil.
The State Department has announced that China, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan have received waivers from the US in exchange for “significantly reducing” oil imports.
Bahmani’s comments come a day before an EU embargo on imports of Iranian oil goes into effect.
The US and EU measures are intended to pressure Iran over fears that it is developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charges.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

As for the Shi'a majority, the only country I know that has that is Iran, and that's only because back in the day they were forced to convert or be killed.

If Iraq isn't majority Shi'a it is pretty damned close.

Originally Posted by robuzo

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

As for the Shi'a majority, the only country I know that has that is Iran, and that's only because back in the day they were forced to convert or be killed.

If Iraq isn't majority Shi'a it is pretty damned close.

Iraq is also a majority Shia country and that is why they are now so close to Iran.

Not sure, large swathes of Kurds and Sunnis (and a few others).

It's certainly Shi'a controlled thanks to GW's antics.

Nope you're right:

Muslim (official) 97% (Shia 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37%), Christian or other 3%

That's assuming the Kurds are in there.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Not sure, large swathes of Kurds and Sunnis (and a few others).

It's certainly Shi'a controlled thanks to GW's antics.

Ethnic groups:

Arab 75%-80%, Kurdish 15%-20%, Turkoman, Assyrian, or other 5%



Muslim (official) 97% (Shia 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37%), Christian or other 3%

https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/iz.html

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Iran: To Protest Rising Prices, Iranians Boycotting Grocery Stores
June 26, 2012 - 4:19pm, by Yigal Schleifer


The international sanctions against Iran were designed to punish the country for the continuing efforts to develop its controversial nuclear program. But it appears the sanctions are also starting to impact the daily life -- and eating habits -- of average Iranians. As the Wall Street Journal reports, rising food prices have led to a spontaneous three-day boycott of grocery stores and bakeries that a surprising number of Iranians appear to have joined. From the WSJ's report:

Iranians protesting soaring food prices launched a spontaneous three-day boycott of milk and bread purchases, in a sign that growing economic hardship could lead to more civil disobedience.
The grass-roots campaign, which ran from Saturday through Monday, wasn't affiliated with any opposition group. Dozens of Iranians said in interviews and on social-networking sites and blogs that they had participated in the boycott, and a number of bakeries and grocery stores across Tehran, the capital, reported declines in milk and bread sales of as much as 90%.


Iran's economy has been deteriorating amid domestic mismanagement, corruption and international sanctions that have made it difficult for manufacturers to import raw material and to conduct banking transactions. A European Union embargo on Iranian oil is set to start July 1.


Prices of basic goods rise almost daily. Independent economists estimate annual inflation is hovering between 50% and 60%. In the past two weeks, the price of bread has increased 33%, chicken 28.5% and milk prices are climbing daily, according to Iranian newspapers and semiofficial news websites.

This consumers' protest comes despite the fact that Iranian officials have been aware of the possibility that the sanctions could impact their country's food supply. As reported in a previous Kebabistan blog post, Tehran earlier this year started stockpiling wheat -- including grain from the United States -- in order to head off whatever impact the sanctions might have on food prices. Looks like they didn't stockpile enough.

Thanks for proving my point.
https://teakdoor.com/the-teakdoor-lou...ml#post2143779

^ Yes, and did I not say that part of America's aim is to foment unrest within the already frustrated Iranian population.

Did you look up the Green revolution like I told you to?

Iranian Green Movement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by Primo

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Remember the whole point of sanctions is to cut off the money supply.

Wrong. The whole point of sanctions is to stop Iran's nuclear program,everybody knows that except you.Have you got a brain rattling around in your head somewhere? I think not.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

^ Well technically even that's wrong, but as you're just being a pedantic little wanker, I won't bother explaining it to you.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Iran: To Protest Rising Prices, Iranians Boycotting Grocery Stores
June 26, 2012 - 4:19pm, by Yigal Schleifer


The international sanctions against Iran were designed to punish the country for the continuing efforts to develop its controversial nuclear program.

Thanks for contradicting yourself and proving my point yet again.

Can you even read?

The sanctions are being applied to cut off the money. The obvious primary intention is to try and force the somewhat peeved Iranian people to topple the Mullahs.

Strewth, it's like herding cats.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Can you even read?

The sanctions are being applied to cut off the money. The obvious primary intention is to try and force the somewhat peeved Iranian people to topple the Mullahs.

Strewth, it's like herding cats.

It seems you are the one who cannot read so I will explain it to you very slowly. I stated that the sanctions were in place to stop the Iranian nuclear program and you stated that was wrong,you then posted an article stating what I said. You can try and play silly games but the fact is you cannot keep up with what you are posting and the arguments you are trying to make. This is just too easy,it is really like trying to debate a child with a short attention span. Run a long now kid,you have been found out.

I honestly don't know what you are blathering on about.

Read my post again.

Slowly.

Iranians Replace Meat With Pasta as Oil Sanctions Hit Nation


By Ladane Nasseri and Yeganeh Salehi - Jul 2, 2012 10:20 AM GMT+0300



Maryam Taghavi is feeding her family more pasta and grinding vegetable filler into her chopped meat as she seeks to cope with international sanctions that are taking their toll on the Iranian economy.
“These days, I mince meat with vegetable protein because we can’t afford as much meat as before,” said the 53-year-old retired accountant and mother of two. Taghavi said her monthly budget of 6,000,000 rials ($488) for food and utilities now “is nothing.”
Enlarge image
An Iranian vendor sells leeks at Tajrish Bazaar in northern Tehran on March 1, 2012. Photographer: Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images



European Union sanctions against Iran took effect yesterday, banning imports of the country’s crude, restrictions that build on earlier U.S. and United Nations measures limiting trade with the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s economy has deteriorated amid the sanctions, which have weakened the national currency and pushed up costs that were already surging after the government started removing energy and food subsidies a year and a half ago. Inflation accelerated to 22.2 percent in the 12 months ended May 20, the Central Bank said.
The EU embargo on Iranian oil purchases comes as three rounds of negotiations this year between Iran and world powers over the country’s nuclear-enrichment program failed to reach a breakthrough. Iran rejects allegations by the U.S. and its allies that its nuclear program is aimed at developing weapons.
Remain Defiant

Iranian officials have remained defiant, repeatedly saying the punitive measures won’t make the country abandon its atomic program.
“The Iranian nation will never stop on its path of progress and will stand firmly in the face of all the greedy demands and oppressive sanctions” Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said yesterday, according to the website of state television. “We are faced today with the most severe sanctions and we are asking people to help their officials so that they are not swayed from the path of progress due to some temporary confusion in the market.”
Iranian central bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani said the country has a “very suitable” $150 billion in foreign currency reserves to help weather the crisis.
“We have programs to fight the sanctions, and we will confront hostile policies,” Bahmani said yesterday, according to the state-run Mehr news agency.
Plans Shelved

Iranian officials seem to have shelved plans to further increase energy and food prices this year as part of a five-year program started in December 2010 to gradually remove subsidies.
“The adoption of a next step in reforming subsidies by increasing prices has been completely taken off the agenda,” Economy Minister Shamseddin Hosseini said, the state-run Iranian Students News Agency reported yesterday.
The Iranian rial has lost about half its value on the open market, reaching 19,950 rials to the dollar on June 30 from 13,200 on Nov. 2.
Iran’s economy will shrink 1 percent this year, the World Bank said in a June 12 report. The $480 billion economy is expected to contract 0.7 percent in 2013, it said.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iranians in a speech marking the start of the March 20 Iranian New Year that the best way to combat the sanctions was to shun imports and buy domestic goods.
Mohammad Mousavi, managing director of a company that imports and manufactures parts for the energy sector, said he’s increasing his focus on local production though “it’s also difficult to produce most of the required industrial items due to sanctions.” Mousavi, a 41-year-old petroleum engineer, said that’s due to a lack of local expertise and difficulties in importing raw materials for manufacturing.
Lost Customers

Oil and its derivatives account for nearly 80 percent of Iranian exports and about half of government revenue, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which estimates the country’s 2010 net oil export revenues at $73 billion.
Iran was producing about 3.3 million barrels a day in May. Full implementation of sanctions will remove about 1 million barrels a day during the second half of the year, the Paris- based International Energy Agency forecast in a June 13 report.
Babak Qomi, an importer and distributer of tires for heavy vehicles, said he’s been losing both customers and competitors this year.
“Less customers means less income and profit, and this comes right at a time when the prices of all goods are going up,” Qomi, 30, said, speaking in his office in downtown Tehran.
Qomi, who six years ago imported goods from Germany, Italy and Spain, said trade restrictions have left him with few suppliers willing to do business.
“Now only Chinese companies are willing to trade with Iranians,” Qomi said.

Could EU's new Iran sanctions work?

Monday 02 July 2012

As the EU imposes sanctions which will affect the transportation of Iranian oil, Channel 4 News examines the extent of existing economic blocks on trade and their potential impact.
Iran, with its infamous starring role in President George W Bush's "axis of evil" speech, is one of the most sanction-bound states in the world alongside North Korea.
A vast number of interconnected sanctions have been imposed on it, largely because of the uncertainty over the nature of Tehran's nuclear enrichment activities, which the United Nations says may contravene the nuclear non-proliferation policy to which Iran has committed.
From July 1 the EU has banned the sale of protection and indemnity insurance for ships which carry Iranian oil. A similar move by a British insurer which saw insurance withdrawn for the MV Alaed (believed to be carrying Russian armaments to Syria) meant the craft had to return to port.
"The era of bullying nations has past. The arrogant powers cannot monopolise nuclear technology. They tried to prevent us by issuing sanctions and resolutions but failed," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a live television broadcast in February.
Following the revolution in 1979 which saw the overthrow of the Shah, Iran has pursued a course in its domestic and foreign policy which has frequently seen it at loggerheads with powerful states and blocs such as the US and EU.
Since 2010 when the UN passed resolution 1929 prohibiting a wide range of trade and financial transactions with the Persian state, it has been playing a game of cat and mouse with the US and EU trying to circumvent sanctions. Recently, it was reported that Iranian oil supertankers have been disguised in a bid to make it more difficult to track their movements.
However, it is a major producer of oil and gas which, in an international economy which depends on carbon products, makes it a powerful player.
EU resolve
The US has pursued sanctions via various legal authorities since 1979 following the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran. Its Iran Sanctions Act "authorizes sanctions on businesses or individuals engaging in certain transactions related to Iran’s energy sector and Iranian weapons of mass destruction and advanced conventional weapons."
Both this and the EU oil clampdown are aimed at making Iran adhere to the UN Security Council resolution 1929. As Professor Ali Ansari of the international affairs think-tank Chatham House told Channel 4 News: "What the sanctions have done is to make it very expensive to do business with Iran".
Prof Ansari says that the EU's resolve in imposing these measures will come as a shock to President Ahmadinejad as Iran does not believe that the economically-challenged 27 EU states would follow through on their threats to stop buying its oil.
But Prof Ansari thinks that there are less obvious reasons why sanctions this time may bite.
"I think the two areas of more interest are the managerial incompetence of the government and the impact of voluntary activities - that means companies pulling out of contracts, removing insurance and taking their business elsewhere because it's just too difficult to do business with Iran.
"Iran has not invested in its oil infrastructure and they don't produce much. If it can't sell its oil, it can't pay salaries," and in a regime where the president is known for his political patronage, this could have a destabilising effect.
Geopolitical games
Iran's friends are few. China is still buying its oil but is very much playing a geopolitical power game - it is swapping oil for agricultural products. India is also still buying Iranian crude but is paying for it in rupees not US dollars.
Some think the sanctions may actually have an impact. Professor Ali Ansari thinks the Iranian government may be in for a nasty shock: "I don't think it's going to be good for the Iranian people; I've seen estimates that there could be a drop in oil sales of 50 per cent and that would be disastrous for Iran, " said Prof Ansari.
"But this is because of the way the state is being run. The sanctions are rubbing salt in a self-inflicted wound; if the economy was running properly, the sanctions would have little effect because Iran is rich. It has oil and gas and people want oil and gas."

4 July 2012 Last updated at 17:10 GMT

Kenya cancels Iran oil imports over sanctions threat




Kenya has cancelled plans to import crude oil from Iran following threats of sanctions, an official at the Kenyan energy ministry has said.
The outline deal signed last month was to import about 4m tonnes of oil from the Iranian National Oil Company.
But the US embassy in Nairobi had warned it was important to cut revenue to the Iranian government.
The US and the European Union have just tightened sanctions on Iran over concerns about its nuclear programme.
"Because of international pressure, we have withdrawn that understanding," AFP news agency quotes Patrick Nyoik, the energy ministry's permanent secretary, as saying.
On Sunday, a complete European Union oil embargo on Iran came into effect - in response to US legislation, which sanctions any entity that deals with Iran's Central Bank.
"There are sanctions that are in place for people that are buying oil and products from Iran - there would be repercussions," outgoing US ambassador to Kenya Scott Gration warned earlier on Wednesday about Kenya's oil importation plans.
Last month, Kenya's only refinery said that it would start buying its own crude oil, Reuters news agency reported.
According to Kenya's Business Daily newspaper, under the proposed contract Tehran had been offering Kenya an extended credit facility of 90 days.

Silly fuckers.

Iran boasts it could wipe out US presence in Middle East in minutes

Get short URL
email story to a friend print version
Published: 04 July, 2012, 19:55




In a picture obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency on July 3, 2012, shows AN Iranian short-range missile (Fateh) launched during the second day of military exercises, codenamed Great Prophet-7, for Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards at an undisclosed location in Iran's Kavir Desert. (AFP Photo/ISNA/Arash Kyamoushi)

TRENDS: Iran tension
TAGS: Arms, Conflict, Nuclear, Iran, USA, War

Iran claims it has the capability to destroy US bases “within minutes” after concluding a massive military exercise in which it launched hundreds of missiles.
[at]"[US] bases are all in range of our missiles, and the occupied lands [Israel] are also good targets for us," Amir Ali Haji Zadeh, commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard told the FARS news agency.
The three-day Great Prophet 7 training exercise wrapped up on Wednesday. It simulated rapidly releasing batteries of guided missiles and Iran-made drones at mock-ups of US bases.
Haji Zadesh claimed that 35 US bases are within the 2,000 km range of Iran’s rockets, although the actual number of bases within this area is closer to 10.
The aggressive rhetoric comes on the back of a spike in tension between Iran and the US, already locked in a long-running stand-off over Iran’s nuclear program. Washington and the EU believe it is aimed at producing nuclear weapons, while Tehran denies the accusations.
The United States has recently introduced an embargo on Iranian oil. Worldwide sanctions have reduced Iranian oil export volumes by 40 percent in the past year.
In response, earlier this week, Iranian deputies proposed a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. A fifth of the world’s oil passes through the vital but narrow waterway in the Persian Gulf.
The US immediately upped its naval presence in the region to ward off Iran.
Meanwhile, on-going talks between the sides in Istanbul have so far failed to find a compromise on the Islamic Republic’s atomic program.

I'm sure those Iranians struggling to buy enough food will be most entertained by this light hearted story.

Five-time Nathan's Famous Champion Joey Chestnut wins his sixth title by equaling his record of 68 hot dogs and buns in ten minutes during Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest July 4, 2012 in the Coney Island section of New York. Photo: Stan Honda, AFP/Getty Images / SF