The president of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations said a possible US return to the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers must take place after all sanctions against Iran are lifted because with the sanctions in place, Washington’s return to the deal amounts to “extortion”.
National
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01/19/2021 -
01/19/2021The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ Aerospace Force blasted targets in the northern parts of Indian Ocean with long-range ballistic missiles in a military exercise in Iranian deserts.
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01/18/2021Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denounced his outgoing American counterpart’s “warmongering lies” against Tehran as blatant contempt for peace.
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01/18/2021Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tehran has officially warned the US that it will bring a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice if Washington continues illegal actions against Iranian diplomats.
Energy
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01/18/2021With domestic and international demand rising at a rapid pace, investment in the key petrochemical industry, now around $80 billion, will reach $108 billion by 2027, managing director of the National Petrochemical Company said.
“Up until now 64 petrochemical complexes are operating in different parts of the country. This will increase to 109 by 2025 and 116 two years later,” the NPC news website Nipna quoted Behzad Mohammadi as saying.
Referring to the role of the key sector in national revenues, he said: “Petrochemicals account for almost 30% of the non-oil export. Last year the industry generated $15 billion.” -
01/18/2021An estimated 130 million cubic meters of wastewater is produced by households in the northern Mazandaran Province, of which less than 20 mcm is recycled and the rest flows into the Caspian Sea or seeps in the ground, head of the provincial water and Wastewater Company said.
“On average 50% of sewage is treated in the provinces, but Mazandaran is far behind due to underdeveloped infrastructure,” Majid Abdollahi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Annual water consumption in the household sector in the major northern tourist hub is about 150 mcm producing 130 mcm of effluent, he said. Not reclaiming the massive volume is a big economic and environmental loss for the region with adverse effects for the water tables.
“Close to 90% of water demand in the region is met with the help of underground resources and failing to efficiently treat wastewater will contaminate the underground water reserves and endanger a region of 3.2 million inhabitants.” -
01/18/2021The Energy Ministry in Tehran ruled out the possibility of a cyber-strike or sabotage on the state-run Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company’s (Tavanir) infrastructure.
Domestic Economy
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01/18/2021Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Alireza Razm-Hosseini has appointed Ali Rasoulian as the new head of the board of directors of Iran’s Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization.
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01/18/2021A total of $140 million worth of horticultural products were exported from the northern Mazandaran Province during the first nine months of the current Iranian year (March 20-Dec. 20, 2020).
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01/18/2021Iran currently imports close to $100 million worth of raw materials, spare parts and equipment to manufacture elevators per year, which is half the amount imported in the fiscal 2018-19, according to the head of the National Elevators, Escalators and Related Services Union.
“At present, we have succeeded in manufacturing 75% of the industry’s required spare parts domestically. This has come about under heavy economic sanctions,” Abbas Abrishami was also quoted as saying by IRNA. -
01/18/2021The number of Afghan migrants returning home from Iran hit an unprecedented high of 800,109 during the first 11 months of 2020.
According to a report by Fars News Agency quoting the International Organization for Migration, Iran hosted 2.7 million international migrants last year, of which 2.3 million were from Afghanistan, 84,100 from Iraq and 27,900 were from Pakistan.
In 1990, 4.3 million international migrants lived in Iran, which figure was on the decline up to 2000. In the following years, the figure remained almost unchanged.
Estimates put the population of undocumented migrants in Iran at 979,000. -
01/18/2021Majlis Joint Commission, a parliamentary body responsible for reviewing the budget bill as well as the five-year economic development plans, has put forth a bill that would reduce tax on production from 25% to 20%.
According to Mojtaba Rezakhah, a member of the commission, only 29% of government resources in the budget bill of the next fiscal year (March 2021-22) are considered sustainable revenues, such as income tax and the rest have been projected to come from sales of bonds and oil.
“At the Joint Commission, are trying to increase the share of sustainable revenues to 50%. The main goal is to increase tax on the rich, profiteers and importers. Majlis took a revolutionary step and approved tax on luxury cars; people must help the economy in proportion to their wealth. Production should not be pressured by tax; increasing the value added tax rates is not reasonable either,” he was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency. -
01/18/2021The upstream steel industry registered growth in the production of iron ore concentrate, pellet and direct reduced iron during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (March 20-Dec. 20), latest data released by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization showed.
The IMIDRO report takes into account the output of major producers, hence the overall production should be higher than the figures released, which are as follows: -
01/18/2021Turkish Airlines will resume Istanbul-Mashhad flights as of Jan. 24 after an 11-month hiatus due to the new coronavirus pandemic, says Hassan Jafari, director general of Mashhad Hasheminejad International Airport’s Public Relations Department.
“Biweekly Istanbul-Mashhad flights will be conducted on Sundays and Thursdays,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Before the Covid-19 crisis, the Mashhad airport operated flights to 14 foreign destinations, which has now declined to six. -
01/18/2021Tehran’s housing Consumer Price Index in the 12-month period ending Dec. 20, 2020, which marks the end of the ninth Iranian month, increased by 68.2% compared with the corresponding period of last year, latest data released by the Statistical Center of Iran show.
SCI had put the average annual inflation rate for the preceding Iranian month, which ended on Nov. 20, 2020, at 65.2%.
The housing inflation for Nov. 21-Dec. 20, 2020, registered a year-on-year increase of 83% compared with the similar month of the previous Iranian year. The year-on-year inflation of the month ending Nov. 20 was 114.7%.
Business & Markets
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01/18/2021Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) has ordered licensed cryptocurrency mining farms to halt operations for two weeks to lessen power shortages across the country.
Mohammad Hassan Motevalizadeh, the company managing director, made the announcement in an interview with IRNA adding that cryptomining farms consume 500-600 megawatts of electricity, half of which are unauthorized.
The utility is working to shut down illegal mining farms, he said. Those who illegally use subsidized power will be fined depending on losses they inflict on the national grid. "Their mining places will by disconnected from the national grid and wrongdoers face prosecution." -
01/18/2021Rules for electronic wallets received the go-ahead from the Council for Islamic Jurisprudence in the Central Bank of Iran–aka the Fiqh Council.
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01/18/2021Following plans to streamline the underperforming tax regime, the Central Bank of Iran has announced new restrictions on the use of point-of-sale (POS) terminals.
Up until last week 120,000 POS machines of businesses were deactivated, according to Mehran Maharamian, the CBI vice governor for innovative technologies.
"The blocked POS devices belonged to those who did not file tax returns, whose tax profiles were incomplete or people who were dead," the CBI public relations office quoted him as saying.
The POS owners had failed to provide the Iranian National Tax Administration identity information needed to file tax returns.
Science and Technology
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01/18/2021The Iranian government is investing in the expansion of infrastructure related to information and communications technologies to boost the quality of life in rural areas.
The latest projects have been executed in West Azarbaijan Province to expand internet and mobile network coverage to 154 villages, ISNA reported.
The projects were implemented by Mobile Telecommunications Company of Iran last month, with an investment of 600 billion rials ($2.6 million).
According to MCI, 106 communication stations have been established in the region to establish mobile telephony and internet services for the people.
There are over 2,800 villages in the province, with a population of around 840,000 people.
Local officials say the promotion of communication technologies facilitates everyday life for the public, especially during the pandemic.
In the north, work is on track to extend internet connection to rural areas in Mazandaran Province.
Last week, during a trip to the province, Morteza Barari, a deputy ICT minister, said around 200 villages will be connected with 4G internet in the following months.
