Iran to Hike Military Spending Despite Lower Oil Prices, Sanctions
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will hike military spending by more than a third in the next fiscal year despite presenting a cautious, tight budget to parliament on Sunday in response...
By: WochitBusiness
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Iran to Hike Military Spending Despite Lower Oil Prices, Sanctions - Video
John Kerry: Deal with Iran could happen sooner that anticipated
US Secretary of State John Kerry says a final deal with Iran over its nuclear program could happen sooner than expected. Kerry made the statement at an annual gathering of American and Israeli...
By: PressTV News Videos
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John Kerry: Deal with Iran could happen sooner that anticipated - Video
Is Iran 6 Months Away From Nuclear Bomb?
For more than two decades Israel (Zionism) has been saying Iran is only 6 months away from nuclear weapon. The same thing was said about Iraq before by him. Nothing has been found ever!
By: OnlineMediaCollection
Diplomats seeking to limit Iran's nuclear program have long said they wouldn't keep bargaining if officials in Tehran proved unwilling to budge. But after a year of frazzling negotiations and two missed deadlines, the diplomats have done just that.
Six world powers and Iran failed to meet the latest cutoff date, Nov. 24, for a comprehensive deal and instead extended negotiations for seven months. Diplomats who had gathered in Vienna said that new ideas were raised in the final hours of talks that merited study and that they justified setting yet another deadline.
"We would be fools to walk away," Secretary of State John F. Kerry told reporters.
Although deep divisions remain on core issues, diplomats fear a complete breakdown in talks would raise risks for all sides: advances in Iran's nuclear program, a greater danger of war, or new U.S. and European sanctions that could further batter the Iranian economy.
World powers have been trying since 2003 to negotiate curbs on Iran's uranium enrichment program. Iran insists the program is for energy and other civilian purposes, but Western governments believe that Tehran is seeking bomb-making capability and thus poses a threat to world security.
The deal being sought would involve a basic trade-off: The world powers would ease U.S., European and United Nations economic sanctions on Iran if it agreed to restrictions aimed at preventing it from building a nuclear bomb.
Iran and the six powers the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China have been negotiating under the terms of an interim agreement worked out in November 2013. The so-called joint plan of action gave Iran limited relief from sanctions in exchange for a halt to some of its most worrisome nuclear activities.
Over the course of the year, negotiators made headway in several areas.
Iran agreed to stop adding centrifuges, the machines that can enrich uranium to convert it to bomb fuel. It also agreed to stop enriching uranium to a 20% purity, which is close to the grade at which it can be used for bomb fuel.
Iranian officials also promised to redesign a partially built heavy-water research reactor at Arak to reduce its output of plutonium, another potential bomb fuel. They agreed to more intrusive monitoring of nuclear facilities by U.N. inspectors and said they would convert a bomb-resistant underground enrichment facility at Fordow into a research site.
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Iran nuclear talks: What's at stake and what's happened so far
Iran expects oil prices at five-year lows will put short-term pressure on the governments budget even as it strives to contain inflation, President Hassan Rouhani said.
Crude prices have declined about 40 percent from a June peak amid overproduction and slower demand growth. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided on Nov. 27 to maintain its production target, prompting a drop in European benchmark Brent crude to less than $70 a barrel for the first time since May 2010.
The price of Brent has fallen from $110 to less than $70, a decline little before seen, Rouhani said yesterday in a speech to the countrys parliament in Tehran, according to the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency. Its necessary for next years budget to be adjusted with caution.
The plunge in crude comes as international sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program are already curtailing crude exports, the Persian Gulf nations main income source. Iran agreed last month to extend negotiations intended to limit its nuclear work in return for an end to sanctions, which constrain the countrys exports to about 1 million barrels a day. The new deadline for the talks is July 1.
It looks very, very tough, said Robin Mills of Manaar Energy Consulting. Even after sanction are lifted, we still might be in for a couple more years of lower oil prices. Theyve got to plan for the long haul, said Mills, who worked in Iran as a geologist for Royal Dutch Shell Plc in the 1990s before heading Dubai-based Manaars consulting business.
The countrys new budget will cover the Iranian calendar year beginning March 21, 2015. Iran will need to rely on non-oil exports for growth and its inflation rate will slow to less than 20 percent by March 2015, Rouhani said, according to the ISNA report. Inflation slowed to 23 percent in the 12 months ending Aug. 22, according to data from the nations central bank.
The $311 billion spending plan represents a 4.3 percent increase over this years budget, the oil ministrys news agency Shana reported on its website. Iran is basing next years budget on an average oil price of $72 a barrel, Rouhani said yesterday, according to state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.
Crude shows signs of further decline over the days ahead, Mohsen Qamsari, director for international affairs at state-run National Iranian Oil Co., said in an interview with Shana. He declined to give a price forecast, according to the report today.
Oil may continue to trade at about $65 a barrel for the next six months, Kuwait Petroleum Corp. Chief Executive Officer Nizar Al-Adsani said today at a conference in Kuwait City.
European benchmark Brent crude and U.S. West Texas Intermediate both closed at the lowest per-barrel price in five years on Dec. 5, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Brent extended its decline today, falling as much as $2.30 a barrel, or 3.3 percent, and trading at $66.87 as of 12:10 p.m. in London. WTI slumped to $64.16 in New York.
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Iran Budget May Face Short-Term Pressure From Oil, Rouhani Says