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Analysis of the Day: Iran seeks separating EU and US
Two Venezuelan ministers in Tehran
Minister of Road meets his German counterpart on infrastructure project development CBI governor warns of further delays in lifting American bans on Iran’s dollar transactions
German BASF, LINDE and Simens may supply petrochemical equipment to Iran Analysis of the Day: Iran seeks separating EU and US
In the joint statement issued on Saturday by Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Javad Zarif and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini, there was neither mention of human rights issues, nor any mention of the recent Iranian missile ballistic tests that brought new US sanctions.
Meanwhile, for the Syrian conflict and the Iranian military intervention, only a general language was used. This indicates that both Tehran and Europe are resolve to focus on their commonalities to avoid any further rift at this juncture of time in an effort to accelerate eliminating restrictions on renewing bilateral trade relations.
A brief note at the economic aspects of the statement: In the joint statement, the two sides recognized themselves committed to the “full” implementation of the JCPOA, and agreed to engage in dialogue to improve banking relations and industry policies, promote agricultural and agri-food cooperation, create mutual economic opportunities, cooperate in variety of economic sectors, use EU expertise to support private sector and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to foster business in Iran, exchange several business missions and delegations, and strengthen their investment collaborations, and the EU has promised supporting Iran to become a member of WTO. In the transport area, the statement supports bilateral commitment to a safe and sustainable development of all modes of transportation by reviewing restrictions on the aircraft fleet of Iran Air, and providing technical supports for aviation and rail safety in Iran. In the statement, the EU supports cooperation the field of energy investment in upstream and downstream projects, technological and technical exchange for boosting energy efficiency, mitigating GHGs emission. The two sides have agreed to launch a dedicated EU- Iran Dialogue on Energy. Link of the full text of the statement, here. In her one-day trip to Tehran on Saturday, Federica Mogherini was accompanied by seven European commissionaires. She tried to address Iranian concerns in banking issues, and at a news conference she underscored that "It is in the European interest and in the Iranian interest to make sure that banks engage and feel confident to come to Iran and facilitate and support this new economic engagement." Similarly, Javad Zarif once again raised the Iranian concerns about the unsettled US sanctions on banking ties by encouraging the US to remove obstacles to Iran gaining access to the global financial system.
Iran seeks separating EU and US
In his last week meeting with the visiting Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had criticized that the results of the visit of some other European leaders to Tehran in the wake of the JCPOA have not been tangible. He however tried to separate Europe from the US, and reiterated his line of criticizing the US officials for not fulfilling their nuclear commitments by saying “Even now they (the Americans) are not fulfilling their obligations throughout the nuclear talks as they should.
Their remarks and actions are intimidating other parties into not cooperating with Iran.” The policy of Iran’s effort to separate EU from the US was evident in the remarks of Hamid-Reza Asefi, the former
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Iran News Brief
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spokesman of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who in his interview with the reformist daily Etemad on Saturday said “one of the issues that should be conveyed to Ms. Mogherini has that Europe should distance itself from the American policies. During the sanctions era, Europeans were the primary victims of American policies that not only ended up with them being deprive d of the Iranian markets, but they also caused them being deprived of consultation with the Islamic Republic in the regional issues.”
Top Story of the Day
Petroleum Minister Zangeneh says Europe considers Iran as a reliable energy supplier
After meeting with EU Climate Action & Energy Commissionaire Miguel Arias Cañete on Saturday in Tehran, Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh told reporters that Europeans consider Tehran as a reliable partner for energy supplies and are willing to long-term energy cooperation. According to Mehr News, He said his meeting with the EU energy official was focused on general issues while little was discussed on details, and said the two sides are to issue a joint statement for long-term and stable energy cooperation. Zangeneh said contracts for supplying 700,000 bpd of crude oil to Europe have already been finalized but this volume of oil is not currently exported to this continent but it is likely that it will be realized within a few months. Asefi also said the Iranian senior leadership officials have positive view towards Europe, and said the US presidential elections have caused EU members to remain in a wait- and-see mode for a while.
Foreign Delegations– Venezuela
Venezuelan minister of Basic Industry & Mining Miguel Pérez Abad and Minister of Foreign Affairs Delcy Rodriguez met with the Iranian Vice Minister of Industry, Mine & Trade on Saturday and negotiated ways for extending bilateral trade ties.
Iranian officials on foreign missions:
MRUD in Germany
Abbas Akhundi, the minister of Road & Urban Development met with German Federal Minister of Transport & Digital Infrastructure Alexander Dobrindt, as well as senior executive officials of German Siemens and Airbus companies. According to Mehr News, Akhundi briefed the German officials of Iran’s infrastructure projects that await foreign investment, including the development of Imam Khomeini City Airport, renovating the Iranian air fleet, developing suburban railway system, developing and electrifying the Iranian railway system, renovating the public transport fleet, and developing the Iranian ports.
CBI Governor in Washington
CBI Governor Valiollah Seif who is in Washington to attend the IMF/WB Spring meeting warned about the continued obstacles in resuming Iranian banking relations with the world, and said further delays could jeopardize the nuclear deal. “They need to do whatever is needed to honor their commitments. Otherwise, the [Iran nuclear deal] breaks up under its own terms,” The Wall Street Journal quoted Seif as saying. “We want both sides of this agreement, especially the U.S., to take the required measures to remove the obstacles.”
Bloomberg wrote on April 15th that Seif met US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Thursday on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank meetings in Washington to discuss his concerns. The daily Donyay-e Eghtesad wrote that in this meeting, Seif has raised the two issues of “eliminating dollar sanctions,” and “anti-money laundering laws.” Reuters reveals that at that meeting, Lew told Seif at that meeting that the “US would keep meeting its sanctions-related commitments in good faith as long as Iran continues to uphold its end of the bargain.” In a TV interview with Bloomberg, Seif said that so far, Iran has gotten
“almost nothing” from the nuclear accord, which was implemented on Jan. 16. “One of the needs that we definitely have goes back to converting currencies to pay our suppliers. It
requires having access to the U.S. financial system.”
Talks with Foreign Firms:
German BASF Parviz Sahaf-Zadeh, the vice president of the Iranian Petrochemical Employers Association said a
€6 billion worth MOU has been signed between BASF and an Iranian petrochemical company for the construction of a petrochemical plant for manufacturing ethylene and polyethylene grades.
According to Mehr News, he said part of the produced petrochemicals will be used in domestic markets and the rest will be exported to the international markets. Sahaf-Zadeh said meanwhile, France Total has shown interest to build another petrochemical plant in southern area of the country, without giving more details.
German Linde and Siemens
Majid Baten, the international affair director of the Iranian Petrochemical Employers Association said negotiations with Linde and Simens have started for securing modern equipment for the country’s half-finished petrochemical projects. The talks were held on the sidelines of the Iran-Plast Exhibition last week.
Events to Watch:
Event Date Details Iran-Russia
Trade Summit
24-25 May
The summit will be held in Moscow. The event has been coordinated by the Russian Industry and Commerce Chambers of Moscow and Astrakhan and aims to develop the two countries trade relations in the areas of construction and energy, food industries, irrigation and agriculture, insurance, banking, transport, tourism, and technical and engineering services (Mehr News)
