^ yeah and hopefully they will kick the American and your British ass
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^ yeah and hopefully they will kick the American and your British ass
Good to see your fervent support for muslim extremists, Butters. Not a view shared by many of your countrymen.
:)
You can smell the stink of the Ayatollahs in this....
Quote:
Gunfights in Saudi Oil-Rich Province Show Spread of Iran Political Tension
By Glen Carey - Feb 14, 2012 3:38 PM GMT+0300
Armored anti-riot vehicles cluster outside the police station in Awwamiya in Saudi Arabia’s oil- producing eastern region, where unrest is turning violent.
“We have enough police force to deal with any criminal or prohibited situation,” says Brigadier-General Yousef al-Qahtani as he drives through the town. In nearby al-Qatif, graffiti scrawled on a cemetery wall criticizes the Al Saud family, founders of the kingdom eight decades ago, and calls for the removal of their fellow Sunni Muslim monarchs in Bahrain. Black Shiite flags adorn religious centers in the back-alleys.
Enlarge image https://teakdoor.com/images/smilies1/You_Rock_Emoticon.gif
Iranian soldiers during the "Velayat-90" navy exercises in the Sea of Oman near the Iranian port of Bandar Jask on Dec. 30, 2011. Photographer: Ali Mohammadi/AFP/Getty Images
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Ras Tanurah oil refinery. Photographer by Reza/National Geographic/Getty Images
Clashes between police and armed Shiite protesters in the two towns have intensified since October, when 11 police were injured in an attack. Since then, seven Shiites have been killed by security forces, according to figures provided by Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights First Society.
It’s in such places that tensions between the Gulf’s Sunni nations and Shiite-led Iran may spark violence inside Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter. Shiites here have cultural and family ties with Iran, and also with Bahrain, where Saudi troops helped crush Shiite-led protests that broke out a year ago today. Saudi authorities accuse Iran, which is under growing western pressure to back down over its nuclear program, of stirring up unrest in both cases.
‘Much Bigger Fire’
“This is another one of those possible flashpoints in the region that could become a much bigger fire if it is not contained early on,” Paul Sullivan, a political scientist specializing in Middle East security at Georgetown University in Washington, said in an e-mail.
After two Shiites were shot dead in gun battles in Awwamiya and al-Qatif last week, the cost of Saudi Arabia’s credit default swaps jumped 2 percent to 131.8, before retreating to 129.2 yesterday. They reached a two-and-a-half- year high last month as Iranian threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, in response to a planned western oil embargo, stoked concerns of conflict in a region that supplies a fifth of the world’s crude.
Most of that comes from Saudi Arabia, and the biggest Saudi oil fields are in the Eastern Province, home to most of the Saudi Shiite population. It’s the second-largest Shiite community in the Gulf after Iraq’s, comprising between 10 and 15 percent of the total of 19 million Saudi nationals, according to the U.S. State Department.
Iran denies charges of interference by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations, and accuses their Sunni rulers of discriminating against Shiites.
Holy Sites
In Bahrain, linked to eastern Saudi Arabia’s Shiite regions by a 16-mile (26-kilometer) causeway, protests have also been escalating, in the run-up to today’s anniversary.
Yesterday, Shiite-led opposition groups accused the security forces of attacking peaceful demonstrations with teargas and stun grenades, while the Interior Ministry said protesters hurled rocks and set fire to private property. Twenty-five people were arrested early today on their way to a rally and police stormed houses suspected of harboring protesters, said Mohammed al-Maskati, president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.
Saudi Arabia largely escaped the unrest that spread across the Arab world last year, though there were protests in Awwamiya, al-Qatif and other eastern towns. Shiite cleric Tawfiq al-Amir was arrested after he called for a constitutional monarchy and equal rights.
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran date back to Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accused Saudi rulers of corruption and argued that the holy sites of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia shouldn’t be under a single country’s guardianship. In December, the U.S. agreed to sell Saudi Arabia 84 F-15 fighter jets in a $29.4 billion deal seen as bolstering defenses against Iran.
‘Card They Can Use’
“To ask if Iran has an interest in destabilizing Saudi Arabia, yes they do,” said Khalid al-Dakhil, a political science professor at King Saud University in Riyadh, in a phone interview. “It is a card they can use to pressure the Saudis.”
In al-Qatif, the graffiti shows Shiite resentment at their perceived exclusion from the country’s wealth. “Where is the oil money?” one slogan asks. Smashed street lights and road signs attest to recent violence in the Gulf city, where wooden dhow boats anchor and families picnic as vehicles carrying riot police speed along the coast road.
The U.S. State Department noted in a human-rights report on Saudi Arabia published in 2009 that Shiites in the kingdom face “significant political, economic, legal, social and religious discrimination condoned by the government.”
Job Discrimination
Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh described practices during the Ashoura festival, a day of mourning for Shiite Muslims, as “against Islamic law” in an article published in Al-Watan newspaper on Dec. 3.
Seventy-four students, mainly Shiites, from the Jubail Industrial College north of al-Qatif called on the government to penalize companies that discriminate in hiring, Safwa News reported on Feb. 3. Their petition criticized Saudi Arabian Mining Co., the kingdom’s largest miner, for excluding 60 Shiite students from an employment program. Calls to the company’s communications office weren’t answered yesterday.
Shiite leaders held meetings with the late King Fahd in 1993 and were promised measures to address the region’s grievances. The Eastern Province is benefitting from King Abdullah’s $130 billion spending pledges last year, including a new stadium and roads in Awwamiya.
“The majority of people in Qatif, while they do have grievances and quite legitimate demands, they don’t believe it is the right way to alleviate their grievances through violence,” al-Dakhil said.
First Shootings
Violence, though, has been increasing since October when security forces were fired upon from side streets of Awwamiya. Gun battles between police and demonstrators broke out there and in Qatif on Feb. 9 and 10.
“We never experienced shooting at the police before,” Colonel Abdullah Aseeri, the police chief of al-Qatif, said in an interview. Brigadier General Yousef, an almost 30-year veteran with the Interior Ministry, said the use of weapons and “endangering the lives and safety of citizens is a red line.”
Security forces are displaying more restraint than they have in the past in their response to protests, said Ibrahim al- Mugaiteeb, president of the Human Rights First Society. “A lot of demonstrations happen without a police crackdown,” he said.
Loyalty Pledge
A delegation of Shiite Muslim scholars and clerics from al- Qatif condemned clashes in November that left four people dead and nine injured, Al-Yaum newspaper reported. They also pledged loyalty to the Al Saud leadership.
Such community elders, seeking to soothe tensions, don’t have the traction they used to have, said Tawfiq al-Saif, a prominent Shiite cleric. Young Saudi Shiites, like their contemporaries elsewhere in the Arab world, are demanding change, he said.
“There is the sense of being marginalized in the country among the Shiite young,” al-Saif said. “The younger generation feels that it is no longer the role of the leaders or elders to solve their problems. People want promises fulfilled.”
Sanctions starting to kick in?
Quote:
South Korea limits Iran exports on payment concerns
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2011/10/1157.jpgBy Meeyoung Cho | Reuters – 1 hour 7 minutes ago
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has imposed curbs on exports to Iran - mainly steel, cars and electronics - to reduce its risk of payment defaults as western sanctions disrupt Iranian oil exports, highlighting the growing risk of doing business with the Islamic Republic.
The move to limit the trade exposure of Asia's fourth-largest economy, which sold $1.7 billion of goods in Iran in the first quarter of this year, was announced by South Korea's leading trade and business body and came into effect this week.
Fresh export deals to Iran will be approved only if their payment period is within 180 days to reduce uncertainty in payment settlement, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said in a statement on its web site (www.kita.net).
"This is temporary to prepare for the situation that Iranian crude imports do not go smoothly, and it will be lifted if the trading condition with Iran improves sharply," KITA said.
Western countries have stepped up sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, which Washington and its allies suspect is a cover for developing the capability to make an atomic bomb.
Tehran says it is only interested in using nuclear power for generating electricity and other peaceful projects.
KITA said there would be limits placed on settlements for South Korean exporters who receive payments from the Iranian central bank's won-denominated accounts held at local banks.
The trade group added the measure had been taken in advance of planned European Union sanctions on insuring Iranian oil tankers. It also came as South Korea secured an exemption from U.S. sanctions thanks to its cuts in oil imports from Iran.
Export quotas could be imposed on products including Samsung Electronics' mobile phones and Hyundai Motor's vehicles, a source has told Reuters.
South Korea, a major buyer of Iranian crude along with China, India and Japan, managed to get U.S. exemptions on Iran's oil trade on Monday along with six other economies in return for significantly cutting purchases of Iranian oil.
Still a bigger issue remains as it is not yet clear whether separate European sanctions blocking access to tanker insurance will cause shipments to grind to a halt from July 1.
JAPAN TO PASS INSURANCE BILL
Japan's lower house is set to pass a bill on Friday to provide government guarantees on insurance for Iranian crude cargoes, making it the first of Iran's big Asian buyers to find a way to keep the oil flowing in the face of EU sanctions.
The special insurance bill is expected to go through the upper house and become law before the parliamentary session ends on June 21, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Thursday.
Iranian oil accounted for nearly 9 percent of Japan's crude imports last year. Japan has reduced the flow already to comply with U.S. sanctions, but wants to avoid more drastic reductions that may drive up energy import costs.
Japan won a waiver from U.S. sanctions for those cuts, which refiners enacted even as they dealt with an increase in overall oil demand after last year's Fukushima disaster shut down the country's nuclear power stations.
Industry sources said that Korean refiners will halt Iranian oil imports from July.
International sanctions have already made it difficult for Iran to repatriate oil payments from South Korea and other countries.
South Korea imported 25.25 million barrels of oil from Iran in January-April of 2012, down about 10 percent from a year ago, according to state-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC).
INDIA, CHINA FACE SAME ISSUE
India's government, which also won an exemption to U.S. sanctions, has yet to figure out how it will get around the EU sanctions.
"We are struggling to find solutions," Oil Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said, adding that the government was studying sovereign guarantees.
Without government intervention, India's state-owned refiners will halt 173,000 barrels per day (bpd) of planned imports from Iran in July, industry sources said this week.
Iran's top buyer China has yet to detail how it plans to resolve the insurance problem, but industry sources there have said they will find a way to keep imports flowing.
The International Energy Agency said on Tuesday that Iran's crude exports in April and May have fallen by 1 million bpd since the end of 2011 to 1.5 million bpd and that Tehran may need to shut in production.
China, Japan, India and South Korea have cut purchases by about a fifth from the 1.45 million bpd they were buying a year ago ahead of the imposition of the sanctions.
Tehran has denied it is experiencing problems with oil sales despite mounting evidence its major customers, including China, are turning down offers of cheap crude.
(Additional reporting by Osamu Tsukimori in TOKYO; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Alex Richardson)
PressTV - China increases shipments of oil from Iran
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"China has increased its oil imports from Iran following the settlement of ambiguities by the two countries regarding the terms of the existing crude sale agreements.
Customs data indicated that China added 133,902 barrels per day to its crude shipments from Iran in May, increasing its Iranian oil purchase by 34.5 percent from the level of 388,034 barrels per day in April, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The rise in China's crude shipments from Iran was aimed at offsetting a plunge in the oil imports in the first quarter of 2012. "
Continues....
PressTV - India clears rupee for Iranian oil
"With US-led sanction making it difficult to route the payment for Iranian oil supplies, New Delhi and Tehran Have started its much delayed payment mechanism for its crude supplies which will bypass international sanctions against Tehran. India will make payment to Tehran through UCO bank which will be equivalent of the value raised for the next oil payment.
According to the Federation of Indian Export organization, the Indian government would start payment transaction into rupee account over the next few days, which Iran will use to buy products such as agricultural supplies and medicine from New Delhi. India’s bharat petroleum corporation has made its first oil payment to Iran in Rupees becoming the first refinery to use the new payment mechanism. "
Continues ......
PressTV - China says Iran addressed P5+1 package
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"Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei says Iran has responded to the proposals put forward by the P5+1 group of world powers and advanced its own five-point package in the Moscow negotiations.
Hong said the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group - Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany - in the Russian capital on June 18, 19 were realistic and positive as the two sides engaged in direct and detailed talks, IRNA reported on Thursday.
Iran and the P5+1 agreed to establish a solid base for the resolution of the Iranian nuclear energy standoff by forming an experts group to study the details of the proposals, Hong added."
At the end of two-day talks between Iran and the P5+1 on Tuesday, the sides agreed to hold a follow-on technical level meeting in the Turkish city of Istanbul on July 3.
Continues.......
Sounds positive, sanctions obviously working. They must be storing crude by now.
LUXEMBOURG (AP) — The European Union says its embargo on Iranian crude oil — imposed due to Tehran's disputed nuclear program — will take effect as planned Sunday.
A statement on Monday said that all contracts for importing Iranian oil will have to be terminated from that date. Also, European companies will no longer be involved in insuring Iranian oil.
EU nations imported about 14 percent of Iran's oil before the bloc decided in January to embargo further purchases.
Oil is a major source of revenue for Iran, which insists that its nuclear program is peaceful and not aimed at making weapons as suspected by Western nations.
Sanctions levied by the U.S. have already cut exports of Iranian crude from about 2.5 million barrels a day last year to between 1.2 and 1.8 million barrels now, according to estimates by U.S. officials.
Japan passes law to insure Iran oil imports
TOKYO, June 20 (Reuters) - Japan's parliament approved government guarantees on insurance for crude oil cargoes from Iran on Wednesday, paving the way for it to become the first of Iran's big Asian oil buyers to get round new European Union sanctions.
The law will take effect on June 27, a government official who requested anonymity said on Tuesday.
It allows the Japanese government, which has succeeded in getting a waiver from U.S. financial sanctions, to provide cover of up to $7.6 billion for each tanker carrying Iranian crude bound for Japan in the event of accidents.
An EU ban on member countries importing Iranian oil takes effect on July 1 and includes a ban on EU insurance firms from covering Iran's exports. That is a headache for Japan, South Korea, China and India, which together buy two-thirds of Iran's oil exports and rely on EU companies to insure them.
Iran must be shipping it to them almost at cost just to cover the premiums. And this report neglects to mention they've already cut Iranian imports, despite the waiver. Having said that, Q2 figures aren't out yet, but still, you get the idea:
Ah bugger, that doesn't format very well.Quote:
Below is a table of Japan's imports of Iranian crude in the past three months, compared with imports a year earlier in bpd. The original METI data is based on kiloliters. 2012 bpd kl 2011 bpd Jan 338,944 -22.5% 1,670,523 Jan 437,104 Feb 305,775 -35.0% 1,409,818 Feb 470,785 Mar 270,667 -36.4% 1,334,012 Mar 425,353 Q1 305,114 -31.2% 4414353 Q1 443,535
Essentially Japan imports from Iran compared to the previous year:
Jan -22.5%
Feb -35.0%
Mar: 36.4%
What premiums are they then? The buyer pays the insurance and that is why Japan is bringing in a law that their government can cover the insurance on Iranian oil. Obviously they have every intention to keep buying from Iran.Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Quote:
Originally Posted by PrimoWhat premiums are they then? The buyer pays the insurance and that is why Japan is bringing in a law that their government can cover the insurance on Iranian oil. Obviously they have every intention to keep buying from Iran.Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Insurance....Iran WTF?
The EU has brought in sanctions that stop their companies from insuring Iranian oil exports,the Japanese have got around that by bringing in a law to insure the oil themselves. A lot of the world's oil is insured thru EU companies.Quote:
Originally Posted by Carrabow
Premiums will be high at times of tension, and this is certainly a time of tension. Iran will be knocking this out cheap to keep what little business it has left.
Hey, NIOC's spokesman even admitted it, even if he did come up with a Comical Ali-seque reason.
What a comedian!Quote:
Iran in talks to increase gas exports: NIOC
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2011/10/1157.jpgReuters – 1 hour 32 minutes ago
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Iran, which faces tightening sanctions on its oil industry aimed at halting development of its nuclear programme, is looking to export more gas to India and Pakistan to make up for a fall in crude exports, a National Iranian Oil Company official said.
"We are trying to compensate (for) the less (oil) export," NIOC's managing director for research and technology, Mohammad Ali Emadi told reporters at a Moscow conference on Wednesday.
"We are in negotiation with Pakistan and India to increase export of natural gas."
Customers in Europe and Asia have been scaling back purchases of Iranian crude ahead of European Union bans on imports and tanker insurance for ships carrying Iranian crude that are due to come into effect on July 1.
Crude exports of Iran had dropped to 1.2-1.3 million barrels per day by the middle of last week, oil company sources and a firm that tracks oil shipments said.
"It was 20 to 30 percent we reduce regarding to our export," Emadi told reporters in English. "Some part of the reduction is shifting for the refinery internally."
"We gradually started to reduce (oil exports). It is not because of the sanctions but sometime regarding overhaul maintenance of the wells," he said. "Normally we export 2.2 million. And 4.1 (million bpd) was oil production."
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Melissa Akin; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Jason Neely)
I love that, who the fuck does he think he's kidding? Oh, I know, Primo/Ohoh.Quote:
It is not because of the sanctions but sometime regarding overhaul maintenance of the wells
:smileylaughing:
Yes, I said they have. But a significantly smaller amount than usual, at a giveaway price (fuck knows how much China are screwing them for), topped up no doubt with Saudi product.Quote:
Originally Posted by PrimoWhat premiums are they then? The buyer pays the insurance and that is why Japan is bringing in a law that their government can cover the insurance on Iranian oil. Obviously they have every intention to keep buying from Iran.Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
No relationship with Primo harry, I don't need to.Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
You seem to be very happy that the people of Iran are the victims of economic warfare that is/will destroy their lives. What a guy.Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
I take it you've never witnessed Ashura then.
Are you really trying to compare the destruction of the Iranian economy by western powers to a one day a year religious festival? Is that really how weak your argument is? It would seem so.Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Funny you brought that up...
When is the last time you hurt yourself?
Did you feel better about it?
It's a perfect example of the Shi'a mentality, and your reaction is clearly a sign of yours.Quote:
Originally Posted by PrimoAre you really trying to compare the destruction of the Iranian economy by western powers to a one day a year religious festival? Is that really how weak your argument is? It would seem so.Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Another Persian princess, just what we needed.
Passable impression of a Bot that.Quote:
Originally Posted by CarrabowQuote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Funny you brought that up...
When is the last time you hurt yourself?
Did you feel better about it?
Your so kind, hansum man!Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
It is a perfect example of your piss poor argument. You seem to like the fact that the west are basically in a war with Iran and destroying the Iranian economy and you do not give a feck about any of the women.children there who will/are suffering while you live and work in a country that imprisons/tortures and murders the Shia majority. What a guy.Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda