Forbes | Iran Tries To Sabotage Its Own Economy To Spite The West Forbes In this Nov. 2, 2013 file photo, a veiled Iranian woman walks past a mural depicting the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, and national Iranian flag, painted on the wall of the former U.S. Embassy, in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi). |
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Iran Tries To Sabotage Its Own Economy To Spite The West - Forbes
Danish police have arrested six people who had earlier scaled the walls of the Iranian Embassy in Copenhagen, in an attack that elicited a strong protest from Tehran.
The arrests were made on Thursday after the six, described as four Iranian expatriates seeking asylum in Sweden and two others holding Swedish residency, violated the Iranian diplomatic premises in the Danish capital.
The incident saw the invaders entering the missions courtyard earlier in the day, putting up profane placards and forcing down the Iranian national flag from the flagstaff.
Copenhagen police superintendent Henrik Stormer said the detainees were being held in police custody.
Following the incident, Danish Ambassador to Tehran Danny Annan was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, being notified of the Islamic Republics protest over the attack.
Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Tehran had roundly criticized the attack by the anti-revolutionary elements, calling it in contravention of international regulations and demanding that the Danish government expeditiously address the affair.
This is not the first time Irans diplomatic premises are violated abroad.
Members of the anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) have on many occasions trespassed on Iranian missions abroad.
The MKO, the most hated terrorist group among the Iranians, has carried out numerous terrorist attacks against Iranian civilians and government officials over the past three decades.
Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist assaults since the victory of Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution, about 12,000 have fallen victim to the MKOs acts of terror.
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Denmark arrests six over attack on Iran embassy in Copenhagen - Press TV
Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president, confirmed that ten countries will attempt to smooth over the differences between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Rohani stated that he wanted to see a change in Saudi Arabia's policies toward the region. Saudi Arabia has saidthe same thing about Iran.If the two countries break the ice, however, the result could be a new, more positive, chapter for the Middle East
HusseinRorian, an expert on Iranian affairs, told DW that the Iranian position "has been repeated bythe Secretary of the Supreme National Council Ali Shamani, President of the Republic Ali Rohani, and just recently Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
According to HusseinRorian, Iran's consistent stance on Saudi Arabia isn't due to individual politicians, but rather the hardline nature of Iran's Republic as a whole, and that's why everyone is repeating the same message.
A shift in tone?
Iraq and Kuwait, two countries who themselves fought in the past, could be some of themediators between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani replied "There are many countries that want to help us settle our differences with Saudi Arabia. Iraq and Kuwait were mentioned, but there are also 8 to 10 other countries willing to help he said.
He also said that Iran does not want to exclude Saudi Arabia from the politics of the region and will even provide economic assistance to Riyadh but only "if they made the right decision. By this he means Saudi Arabia ending its military intervention in Yemen and attacking the Houthi rebels, which Iran backs. He also is calling foran end to Saudi Arabia meddling in the affairs ofBahrain.
Adel al-Jubeir - Saudi Arabia's Minister of Foreign Affairs
An Iranian official also confirmed that Saudi Arabia was willing to negotiate arrangements for the Hajj pilgrimage.
The Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca inSaudi Arabia, that all Muslims must undertake. Currently Iranians are banned from it, however, due to the Saudi-Iranian conflict.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir responded to the Iranian statements by saying that Riyadh's relationship with Tehranis tense, and that it is in fact Iran that should stop its "hostile actions in the region.
DW spoke with Saudi political analyst Muhammad Abdullah Al-Zulfa to get the Saudi side of the story. "Riyadh's terms are clear in this regard he told DW."Iran should refrain from interfering in internal affairs of countries in the region. Al-Zulfa, a former member of Saudi Arabia's Shura Council, said that "Saudi Arabia would welcome any rapprochement from the Iranian side.
Stark differences
After a stampede in Mecca killed hundreds of mostly Iranian Hajj pilgrims in 2015, Iran said that the Saudi Arabians were incompetent and boycotted the Hajj to Saudi Arabia that year. At the beginning of 2016, ties worsened again when Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr was executed by Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia's solution to prevent stampedes during the Hajj has been using electronic bracelets on participants to monitor the crowds and prevent congestion. The Saudi Arabians coordinate with other countries to receive a certain number of pilgrims to prevent overcrowding.
The Hajj pilgrimage is frequently a point of contention between Iran and Saudi Arabia
Trump administration
Hassan Rorian, theIranian affairs expert, told DW that the incoming Trump administration, "doesn't align with either Iranian or Saudi interests.
He also said that "Saudi Arabia is losing a war of attrition in Yemen against the Houthi rebels. They have inflamed the situation in Bahrain and suppressed the will of the people. They tried to senda representative to meet Trump, but were rejected. He mentioned that they should cooperate with Saudi Arabia to end this impasse. The two countries could find mutual ground over Trump's discontent withtheir policies
Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif concluded that there should be no reason for hostility between the two states. He said they can "work together to end the tragic situationsin Syria, Yemen and other countries.
Normalization between the two countries is still a good distanceaway and past hostilities could mean that any attemptat rapprochement will not succeed.
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Iran and Saudi Arabia struggle to reconcile differences - Deutsche Welle
Rex Tillerson is the CEO of ExxonMobil. His ties around the globe include a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. USA TODAY NETWORK
Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump's nominee to head the State Department and former ExxonMobil chairman and CEO, addresses the World Gas Conference in Paris on June 2, 2015. President-elect Trump nominated Tillerson for secretary of State on Dec 13, 2016.(Photo: Eric Piermont, AFP/Getty Images)
ExxonMobil did business with Iran, Syria and Sudan through a European subsidiary while President-elect Donald Trumps nominee for secretary of State was a top executive ofthe oil giantand those countries were under U.S. sanctions as state sponsors of terrorism, Securities and Exchange Commission filings show.
That business connection is likely tosurface Wednesday at a confirmation hearing for ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The sales were conducted in 2003, 2004 and 2005 by Infineum, in which ExxonMobil owned a 50% share, according to SECdocuments unearthed by American Bridge, a Democratic research group.
ExxonMobil told USA TODAY the transactions were legal because Infineum, a joint venture with Shell Corporation, was based in Europe and the transactions did not involve anyU.S. employees.
The filings, from 2006, show that the company had $53.2 millionin sales to Iran, $600,000 in sales to Sudan and $1.1 million in sales to Syria during those three years.
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Hebecame a senior vice president at ExxonMobil in August 2001,president and director in March 2004and chairman and chief executive on Jan. 1, 2006.
The SEC letter questioned ExxonMobils failure to disclose to shareholders that it had transactions with three state sponsors of terrorism. Decisions to make such disclosures should be based on the potential impact of corporate activities upon a company`s reputation and share value, and not simplythe monetary value of the transactions, the SEC said.
Compared to Exxons overall annual revenue of $371 billion, these transactions are not material by any reasonable measure, Richard Gutman, ExxonMobils assistant general counsel at the time, wrote in response to an SEC inquiry regarding the transactions. He did not address the SEC's concerns about the impact on the oil company's reputation
Infineums European affiliates manage business transactions in those three countries under a policy and procedure consistent with U.S. legal requirements and no United States person is involved in those business transactions, Gutman wrote. The subsidiary has offices in the United States, United Kingdomand Singapore.
These are all legal activities complying with the sanctions at the time," Alan Jeffers, media manager at ExxonMobil, told USA TODAY. "We didnt feel they were material because of the size of the transactions.
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They (Infineum) have an independent management that operates the entity. And its not a U.S. entity, Jeffers said.
At the time of the SEC inquiry, such indirect transactions between Iran and American companies were not unusual, said Mark Dubowitz, an expert on Iran sanctions at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, aWashington think tank.
Its the reason Congress eventually shut down U.S. companies from doing business (with Iran) through foreign subsidiaries, Dubowitz said. Congress also requiredsuch transactions to be disclosed. TheIran nuclear deal that went into effect in early 2016 reopened the loopholeunder certain conditions, Dubowitz said.
Sen.Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations panel, said he was deeply skeptical about Mr. Tillersons actions as CEO of Exxon that were in direct contravention to express United States policies put in place to secure Americans and our country."
"Finding loopholes to make lucrative business deals with geo-political adversaries, while showing no clear regard for U.S. national interests, is not a resume builder for a prospective diplomat-in-chief," Menendez said in a statement to USA TODAY. "This is one of the many issues I look forward to hearing more about during the upcoming confirmation hearings.
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ExxonMobil and Iran did business under secretary of State ...
The company put that figure on the Iran Air deal for 50 737 airplanes and 30 777s when it was finalized earlier this month.
But Iran's deputy transport minister said Sunday that the amount it will pay Boeing (BA) will be nearer $8 billion.
"Given the type of orders and the specifications we have chosen, the value of the deal to buy 80 planes from Boeing is about 50% of that value," said Asghar Fakhreeyeh Kashan, according to official news agency IRNA.
Boeing spokesman Doug Adler said the company would not "comment on or share details of agreements with any customer."
Boeing's deal is part of Iran's effort to modernize its fleet of airliners and is by far the biggest between U.S. and Iranian businesses since the 1979 revolution.
Related: Boeing CEO vows to keep Air Force One costs below $4 billion
Iran's fleet is among the oldest and most dangerous in the world. Years of sanctions left its carriers with outdated and unsafe aircraft.
Those sanctions were lifted after Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear program as part of an agreement with major global powers, including the U.S.
But Boeing's deal with Iran Air will find itself in the political cross hairs as President-elect Trump weighs the future of that global nuclear agreement.
Related: Boeing's Iran deal won't prevent production cut
Boeing's main rival, European aviation giant Airbus (EADSF), also has a major deal with Iran Air. The value of that contract came in lower than initially expected because Iran chose not to buy any superjumbo A380s.
-- Alireza Hajihosseini and Jon Ostrower contributed reporting.
CNNMoney (London) First published December 26, 2016: 12:04 PM ET
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Iran says Boeing deal will cost just $8 billion - Dec. 26, 2016