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AP: "Sanctions-hit Iran has banned
the import of foreign-made cars, laptops, and other `luxury' goods in the hope
of saving billions of dollars in hard currency, a state-owned newspaper reported
Thursday. The reported import ban comes as Iran confronts oil and banking
sanctions imposed by the West over Tehran's nuclear program that have hit Iran's
own currency hard and depleted its foreign reserves. IRAN daily listed 75
products, from watches, home appliances and cell phones to coffee and toilet
paper, that it said could no longer be purchased from abroad. But it says the
ban does not apply to components used to produce the products. Iranian firms
assemble many products including watches, laptops and cell phones. The report
quotes Hamid Reza Safdel, who is head of the Iranian state agency for promoting
commerce, as saying import permission for the goods were no longer issued
starting on Wednesday." http://t.uani.com/Uy3xjg
Reuters: "The re-election of U.S. President Barack
Obama could create an opportunity for new negotiations with Iran on its nuclear
program as sanctions pile economic pressure on its theocratic leaders. With no
more elections to fight, Obama, who has so far resisted calls in the United
States and Israel for military action against Iran, appears free to pursue a
diplomatic settlement while wielding the threat of yet heavier commercial
penalties if Tehran does not bend. 'Obama has prepared the ground very carefully
and has the option of trying to cut some kind of a deal on the nuclear issue,
and that's worth a lot to him,' said Gary Sick, an Iran expert and former U.S.
national security official. Last month the White House said the option of
bilateral talks with Iran, with whom Washington has not had diplomatic relations
for three decades, was under consideration." http://t.uani.com/UasH6Y
WashPost: "A sober analysis assessing the possible
threat of a military confrontation over Iran's nuclear program and highlighting
the benefits of negotiations to avert a deeper crisis has been published by a
surprising source: Iran's Ministry of Intelligence. The report first appeared on
the ministry's Web site Tuesday and has been republished by various Iranian
media outlets, adding to growing speculation that new negotiations with the
international bloc known as the P5+1, or even direct talks with the United
States, may be on the horizon. The Intelligence Ministry is viewed as a hawkish
power center within Iran's system but not a channel for expressing the Islamic
republic's foreign policy views. The findings in the report suggest that the
ministry has a pragmatic understanding of the challenges the country faces, the
cost it is paying for continuing uranium enrichment at current levels, the
threat of Israeli aggression and, perhaps most important, a way out of the
stalemate." http://t.uani.com/T6o13E
Nuclear Program
Reuters: "Iran's
first nuclear power plant will become fully operational by early 2013, its
energy minister was quoted as saying, more than two months after Russia said it
was up and running normally following decades of delay... The reason for the
apparent discrepancy on the status of Bushehr was not made clear in the comments
by Energy Minister Najid Namjou, in a report carried by the English-language
Iran Daily on Thursday, or whether it meant any new delay for the Russian-built
complex. Russian builder NIAEP - part of state nuclear corporation Rosatom -
last month said that Bushehr would be formally 'handed over for use' to Iran in
March 2013, whereas earlier officials had said that would happen by the end of
this year." http://t.uani.com/RHmWkk
SanctionsReuters:
"Engineering conglomerate Siemens AG aims to save 6 billion euros ($7.7 billion)
over the next two years as it fights to stay competitive in a weak global
economy... Siemens' energy business in particular has fallen behind peers, with
the annual margin dropping to 7.8 percent from 17.2 percent due to delays in the
connection of German offshore wind farms to power grids and trade sanctions on
Iran that hit its oil and gas business in the fourth quarter... Overall,
fourth-quarter net profit from continuing operations fell by 2 percent to 1.48
billion euros, weighed down by a 327 million euro hit at the oil and gas
business in Iran due to new trade sanctions imposed on the country."
http://t.uani.com/PGkDhA
Human
Rights
Guardian: "The family of an
Iranian blogger taken into custody accused of opposition activism on Facebook
fears that he has died under torture. Police picked up Sattar Beheshti, 35, from
his home in the city of Robat-Karim in the southwest of Tehran last week. His
relatives said on Wednesday they had received phone calls from the prison
authorities asking them to collect Beheshti's dead body from the notorious
Kahrizak detention center on Thursday. Beheshti's alleged death cannot be
independently confirmed but Baztab, a news website close to Mohsen Rezaei, a
senior politician, reported that the blogger has lost his life during
interrogations." http://t.uani.com/RGyPXV
Domestic
Politics
Kabir News: "Reza Taghipour,
Iranian Minister of Communication and Information Technology, urged Irancell
company to sell 21 percent stake according to its previous agreements with
Iranian government. MTN Irancell believes this request doesn't comply with
mutual agreements because Iranian government had negotiated with Turkcell on
this subject and MTN Group has never accepted this request. 'It's clear. MTN
Irancell should sell 21 percent stake in Tehran's stock market. We have talked
with the officials of Irancell and currently we are waiting for their decision.'
Reza Taghipour said. Also Mohammad Ali Forghani, Deputy of the Ministry of
Communication and Information Technology, confirmed this report and added that
Iran's Communications Regulatory has negotiated with Irancell and the company
has accepted to sell a part of its stake in stock market. Irancell is the
biggest mobile phone network operator of Iran. The company has two shareholders
including Iran Electronic Development Company (IEDC) (51%), and MTN
International (Mauritius) Limited (49%)." http://t.uani.com/PZpHzd
Foreign
Affairs
AP: "Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad on Thursday called the U.S. election a 'battleground for
capitalists' while speaking at a democracy forum a day after President Barack
Obama was re-elected. He said democracy has become a system where the minority
rules over the majority. 'Just take a look at the situation in Europe and the
U.S.,' Ahmadinejad said during the meeting's opening day on Indonesia's resort
island of Bali. An 'election, which is one of the manifestations of the people's
will, has become a battleground for the capitalists and an excuse for hasty
spending.'" http://t.uani.com/WFmGH5
AFP: "Armenia and
Iran on Thursday began construction on a joint hydro-electric power plant along
their shared border as the Christian and Muslim neighbors sought to boost
economic ties. Armenia's President Serzh Sarkisian and Iran's Energy Minister
Majid Namjoo symbolically laid the first stone for the plant located on the Arax
River near the southern Armenian town of Meghri. 'Hydro-diplomacy, which we use
in our policy, plays a huge role today,' Namjoo told journalists at the opening
ceremony. The $323-million (253-million-euro), 130-megawatt plant is due to be
completed in five years, and will supply energy to Iran for the first 15 years
before being handed over to Armenia."
http://t.uani.com/UbggYz |
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