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New Zealand has inked an agreement with Iran paving the way for the resumption of meat exports to the second-biggest economy in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The Iranian Veterinary Organisation and the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries agreed to a meat arrangement which provides the conditions for chilled and frozen sheep and beef exports to resume with Iran, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guysays.

New Zealand meat exports to Iran failed to pick up following the lifting of sanctions last year because of Iranian requirements for one of its vets and a mullah to be present at the time of processing, while New Zealand meat exporters rely on halal standards overseen by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

The Iranian requirement for an official to oversee the processing of all product exported to Iran was difficult for New Zealand meat processors to comply with because they divide animals into a range of cuts for distribution to specific global markets.

"This is a crucial step for New Zealand meat companies as they look to re-enter the Iranian market," Mr Guy says.

Meat is New Zealand's second-biggest commodity export after dairyand was worth $5.92 billion in 2016.

The ministers also discussed an action plan for agricultural co-operation in the year ahead, Mr Guy says.

The two countries are also working on kiwifruit opportunities in Iran, where import restrictions prevent New Zealand from selling the country's most valuable fresh fruit export.

New Zealand kiwifruit marketer Zespri International and Iran's Ministry of Agriculture signed a statement of intent outlining undertakings to further explore commercial opportunities in Iran.

Iran has well-established kiwifruit orchards and supply chains and produces the fruit in New Zealand's off-season, Mr Guy says.

Along with other Western countries, New Zealand lifted sanctions against Iran in February last year after the country agreed to roll back its nuclear ambitions

(BusinessDesk)

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Agreements signed with Iran on meat exports, kiwifruit opportunities - The National Business Review

This oversimplified view of the conflictneeds to be adjusted, especially when looking back at the longstanding relations between the modern states of Saudi Arabia and Iran. As they took shape in the 1920s, their rulers - Ibn Saud and Shah Reza Pahlavi -focused on modernizing their countries. The Shah faced opposition from the Iranian clergy,Ibn Saud encountered resistancefrom Saudi legal scholars. The two leaders had these domestic political problems in common and they bonded over them. In 1929, the two countries concluded a friendship agreement. The relationship became even closer about a decade later when Mohammed Reza Pahlavi came to power as Shah in 1941. With the help of Washington, Iran and Saudi Arabia pursued the goal of containing socialist Pan-Arabism and the communist influence of the Soviet Union in the region.

Khomeini and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia -a difficult relationship

In 1979, the Iranian Shah was overthrown and the Islamic Republic, which was immediately recognized by the Saudis, was founded. Riyadh's hopes of maintaining good relations with Tehran did not pan out. There was no place for the conservative Saudi monarchy in Ayatollah Khomeini's vision of a global Islamic revolution. He evensaw the Saudis as an impediment to the revolution. Khomeini tried to influence members of the Shiite minority in Saudi Arabia. However, he did not touch on the centuries-old dispute between Sunnis and Shiites. Instead, he used the slogan "Liberation of the oppressed." This way, Tehran thought it would win over Islamists in the Sunni world as well. Despite the Sunni-Shiite conflict, it was a moment of unity. It went well, even when Khomeini demanded a greater say in the management of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, where Iranian pilgrims at that time often caused trouble by holding demonstrations at the religious event. This motivated Fahd of Saudi Arabia to adopt the forgotten title of "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" in 1986. The following year, when Saudi police opened fire on Iranian pilgrims demonstrating in Mecca, it became clear that Riyadh would no longer tolerate interference from Tehran.

Ayatolla Khomeini was long the counterweight to Saudi King Fahd

In response, Iran severed all diplomatic ties. Relations had already hit rock bottom since Saudi Arabia supported Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War that had been raging since 1980. The Saudis supported Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein more as a gesture of Arab solidarity thanout of any particular conviction. At the beginning of the 1990s, however, the political climate changed in the region. Saddam proved to be more and more unpredictable, especially after his invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and was no longer feared only by Iran, but also by the Saudi royal family. Against this background - and also because Khomeini had died in 1989 - Tehran and Riyadh mended fences and each reinstalled ambassadors. The repeated rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which had been driven by then-President Akbar Rafsanjani, was also a result of political disillusionment in Tehran. The government there distanced itself from the global Islamicrevolution it had once advocated and focused more intensely on foreign policy in the region.

Saudi-Syrian rapprochement

However, this shift in priorities did not only contribute to the improvement of bilateral relations. It also brought new problems for Saudi Arabia. The two countries reached a security agreement in 2001, but Tehran's contribution to the ongoing weapons buildup by the pro-Iranian Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah worried Riyadh, which began to support the rival Sunni-Christian camp in response. The Saudis were also concerned about Iran's nuclear program. Even at this point in time, both countries - once allies of the US in the fight against communism -were not divided over an ancient religious dispute. Iran's hatred of Washington's doctrine was fed by American intervention in Iraq in 2003. Iran perceived the American advance as an intervention in its immediate sphere of influence. When US troops withdrew from Iraq, Iran start interfering with Iraq's interests. Saudi Arabia reacted by trying to curry favor with an Iranian ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers traded accusations at the Munich Security Conference

The rapid Saudi-Syrian rapprochement of 2010, however, ended quickly when the Arab Spring and the Syrian Civil War began. The Syrian war, in which Saudi Arabia and Iran support different camps, is being interpreted as a sectarian war; however, this is not true. The alliance between Tehran and the Alawite ruling elite in Damascus was a never purely religious connection; it ensued mainly from the mutual hostility towards Israel and Saddam Hussein. Sunnis are also fighting each other in Syria today and for the radical Islamist terrorists from the self-styled "Islamic State" (IS), both Shiites and rival Sunni jihadists are mortal enemies.

Iran and Saudi Arabia view these extremistsas the greatest threat in the region. Both regimes, especially as they are facing increasing pressure to adapt to secularization, do their best to avoid using religious rhetoric in their verbal exchanges. Terrorism, the support of terrorism and the desire for expansion are the most common official accusations. By no means do these fit the religious prism the West uses to view the Iranian-Saudi Arabian rivalry.

At the last security conference in Munich, the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, hinted that Iran had secretly joined forces with the anti-Shiite IS. Meanwhile in the eyes of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, IS is Israel's henchman and as a consequence, part of the Zionist-American conspiracy, which can also gladly incorporate Riyadh if the propaganda agenda requires it.

Read more here:
The Iranian-Saudi Arabian conflict: Does the West have a skewed view? - Deutsche Welle

In line with policies to curb air pollution, improve efficiency of power plants and reduce dependence on hydrocarbon resources, plans are underway to convert gas-powered power plants into combined-cycle plants to generate up to 7,000 megawatts of electricity. Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian made the statement on the sidelines of a meeting with Italy's Minister of Environment and Land and Sea Protection, Gian Luca Galletti, in Tehran last week, IRNA reported. The two sides discussed environmental issues, renewable energy and cooperation in building power plants. "About 10% of our total electricity output comes from hydroelectric power stations and plans call for extracting more electricity from clean energy sources," Chitchian said, noting that producing 7,500 MW from solar, wind, geothermal and biomass power plants is on the ministry's agenda. Pointing to the interest of Italian companies in Iran's fast growing energy sector, the official added that the Italian company Ansaldo STS has provided Iran with equipment for gas-powered electricity plants. Chitchian said his ministry welcomes foreign proposals to develop combined-cycle plants. A combined-cycle plant uses both gas and steam turbines to produce up to 50% more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple-cycle plant. Commenting on the country's first geothermal power plant in Meshgin Shahr, Ardebil Province near the Azerbaijan border in the northwest, he noted that the plant's turbine and generator were imported from Italy. The main stumbling block to expanding two-way cooperation, he said, is that Italian banks have "not yet opened credit lines for Iran." --- Climate Change Galletti singled out climate change as the "common enemy" of all countries and underlined environmental protection as the joint objective of Iran and Italy. He said Italy is morally committed to transferring know-how to other nations in the fields of pollution, wastewater treatment, green energy and recycling waste for power production. Highlighting the historic agreement in Paris last December to curb global emissions of greenhouse gases and limit the Earth's warming to under 2C, preferably 1.5C, by 2100, the Italian official noted that meeting obligations under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change calls for development of close collaboration among countries. Referring to the active participation of Italian firms in the 9th International Renewable Energy, Lighting and Energy Saving Exhibition in Tehran (Feb. 24-27), Galletti asserted that Italian firms are looking for a role in Iran's untapped but lucrative renewables market. On clearing hurdles to open credit lines for Iran, he said without elaboration that the Ministry of Economy in the two states are doing their best to remove the legal obstacles. Italy hast the second biggest geothermal complex in the world with a total capacity of 760 MW. According to latest reports, Iran accounts for 1.3% of global emissions, which is high compared to other countries because despite Tehrans increasing emissions over the past few years, the economy has not developed as would have been expected. According to Irans Meteorological Organization, greenhouse gas emissions in the country have increased by 3% in the past decade.

Read the rest here:
Iran, Italy in Green Energy, Power Plant Talks - Financial Tribune

Engineer and astronaut Anousheh Ansari, left, and former NASA scientist Firouz Naderi accept best foreign language film for The Salesman on behalf of director Asghar Farhadi. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Ashgar Farhadi won his second Oscar, but he decided not to attend tonights ceremony afterPresident Trump signed an executive order barring visa-holders from Iran and six other countries to enter the United States.

In his place, Farhadi sent two prominent Iranian-Americans in his place to the ceremony:Anousheh Ansari, the first female private space traveler, andFirouz Naderi, a former director at NASA.

Ansari read from a statement written by Farhadi. Its a great honor to be receiving this valuable award for the second time. I would like to thank the members of the Academy, my crew in Iran, and others involved in the film, The Salesman.

She continued reading the statement:

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Iranian director sent prominent Iranian-American engineers to accept his Oscar - Washington Post

Irans largest automaker Iran Khodro Group (IKCO) plans to open new plants in neighboring Azerbaijan following years of absence from neighboring CIS markets. The issue was on the agenda of the Azerbaijan-Iran Business Forum in Urmia, where a delegation headed by Azeri Economic Minister Shahin Mustafayev arrived in the northwestern Iranian city to discuss expansion of cooperation, according to Azer News. Mustafayev told the meeting that Irans biggest automaker Iran Khodro plans to open four new production lines in Azerbaijan with production of locally developed models and the Samand, Soren and Runna being the most likely candidates. In 2016, Azerbaijans AzEuroCar LLC and Iran Khodro signed an agreement to create a joint car plant in the Neftchala Industrial Area. The plant with a capacity of about 10,000 cars per year will produce four Iranian models including the Dena. The cost of the future auto project is estimated at $15 million. The plant is expected to produce the first cars in May. Some 20% of the vehicles will be exported to other CIS countries including Georgia and southern Russia. The cars produced at the Azeri plant will meet Euro 5 standard as per Azeri law. Mustafayev noted that Azerbaijan and Iran intend to increase bilateral trade to $500 million in the coming years. Trade turnover between the two neighbors reached $15.77 million in January, while last year during the same month it was $9.56 million. In 2016, Azerbaijans trade turnover with Iran amounted to $210.76 million, which was 70% more than in 2015. He noted that 538 companies with Iranian shareholders operate in Azerbaijan and have invested $150 million in the neighboring republic.

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Iran Khodro to Expand Azeri Operations - Financial Tribune