Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the issue of whether Iran or the United States must take the first step back into the 2015 nuclear deal could be resolved by the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the issue of whether Iran or the United States must take the first step back into the 2015 nuclear deal could be resolved by the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell.
The number of Covid-19 patients is slowly rising in Tehran, with health experts warning of a possible fourth wave of infections hitting Iran in the final days of the year.
While officials say water transfer from the Caspian Sea to Semnan Province is the only solution to meet the growing demand of farmers and industries, environmentalists and economic experts insist it is an existential threat to the fragile ecosystem.
Deputy governor of Semnan for civil affairs, a known advocate of the water transfer project, said Saturday that it is necessary to move forward with the controversial plan as soon as possible since the water issue is a serious challenge affecting the region’s development plans.
Marathon debates have been held “in this regard and the necessary permits have been issued,” Manouchehr Fakhri said, ISNA reporte.
The Caspian-Semnan Water Transfer Project is planned to divert 100 mcm of desalinated water per year to the central plateau. According to estimates, it will cost $1.3 billion, Fakhri said.
OPEC boosted crude production as planned last month, but the increase was tempered by disruptions at long-troubled member nations.
Dams could collectively hold 13 billion cubic meters of water in the late 1970s, but capacity has now reached 53 bcm, the deputy energy minister for water and wastewater affairs said in Tehran.
There are 193 large dams -- 10 times the number four decades ago, ILNA reported Qassem Taqizadeh Khamesi as saying. The substantial increase is while the population has increased 2.3 times during this period, he said.
Regarding construction of more dams, Khamesi said: “Feasibility studies are underway for 120 dams to add 20 bcm to total reservoir capacity.”
A total of $493 million worth of non-oil commodities have been exported from the southern Khorramshahr Port since the beginning of the current Iranian year on March 20, 2020, showing a 170% upsurge compared with the similar period of last year, the manager of Exports Expansion Bureau with Arvand Free Trade Zone said on Monday.
“Minerals, seafood, steel products, construction materials and different kinds of foodstuff were the main goods exported from the port over the period under review, which were mostly shipped to the neighboring Iraq,” Mohammad Adibikia was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official added that during the same period, $185 million worth of products were imported via this southern port, indicating a YOY increase of 16%.
The imports mainly included industrial raw materials and machinery.
Iran Airports Company’s revenues from overflight charges have decreased by 55% since the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020, compared with the same period of the year before, according to Siavash Amirmokri, managing director of the company.
"Between 750 to 800 flights used to pass through Iran's airspace daily before the outbreak of the virus. The number has currently declined to 130," he was quoted as saying by News.mrud.ir.
The official, however, expressed optimism over the gradual return of international flights to Iran’s airspace, saying: "We expect the number to reach 400 to 450 flights each day."
Iran's aviation industry, a sector harshly hit by the spread of the new coronavirus, needs at least three years to make a comeback, in many experts' viewpoint.
Iran Airports Company’s revenues from overflight charges decreased by 46% or $69 million in the first half of 2020 compared with the same period of 2019, earlier reports said.
The Statistical Center of Iran has released a new report, reviewing price changes in 53 food items during the month ending Jan. 19, the 10th month of the current Iranian year (to end March 20).
The biggest month-on-month price rise for a food item in urban areas during the month under review was recorded for bananas with 21.1%. A kilogram of bananas was sold at 334,978 rials ($1.4).
The second and third biggest month-on-month price increase was registered for eggs with 17.6% and cucumbers with 15.6%, the Statistical Center of Iran reported.
A kilogram of eggs was sold at 224,330 rials (93 cents) and a kilogram of cucumbers went for 104,202 rials (43 cents) last month.
Investments by the private sector in Mazandaran Province’s industrial and mining sectors have reached 88.39 trillion rials ($358 million) since 2013 when President Hassan Rouhani first took office.
Iran’s Technical and Vocational Training Organization conducted skills building courses for 63,507 soldiers during the nine months to Dec. 20, 2020, Habib Erfan-Manesh, an official with the organization, said.
The Iranian Parliament rejected the outlines of the upcoming fiscal year’s (starting March 21) budget bill on Tuesday.
The legislators cast 99 votes for and 148 votes against, while 12 abstained, IRNA reported.
“If the bill wins enough votes, we will start working on its details. If not, it will return it to the government [for revision],” Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said before the voting process began.
The parliamentarians’ negative vote for the budget comes as the government’s economic team and President Hassan Rouhani have time and again spoken of changes made by the Majlis Joint Commission in their proposed bill, “which changes would make economic conditions even more difficult for people and hinder the country’s path toward development”.
Private companies have called on the government to take efficient measures for the use of cryptocurrency and its mining in way that compatible with the national interest.
Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) hosted a special meeting earlier this week with economic experts and representatives from the Central Bank of Iran, the chamber's newsroom reported.
Sajed Nikpour, representing the ICCIMA commission for promoting non-oil exports, said the private sector supports the use of digital currency only in foreign trade. "Cryptocurrencies should be used to boost domestic production…such as for importing raw materials."
The main indicator of Tehran Stock Exchange retreated to 1.2 million points on Tuesday after two consecutive sessions of heavy losses.
The TSE benchmark, TEDPIX, lost 28,238.65 points or 2.3% for the day, despite institutional traders' efforts to boost demand.
Tehran's share market has entered a sideways phase after solid gains in the first few months of the current year that ends in March with the TEDPIX vacillating between 1.2 million to 1.5 million points in four months.
The government sold 29.1 trillion rials ($121 million) in bonds at the weekly auction held by the Central Bank of Iran on Tuesday.
It was the highest earning in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year starting on Dec 21 and 50% higher than the sale last week.
Four banks and credit institutions put in bids worth 16 trillion rials ($66m) in the interbank market. Underwriters were the next buyers. As per CBI data, the security underwriters bought bonds worth 13 trillion rials ($54m) accounting for almost 45% of the total. The share of retail and institutional investors was zero in this week's auction.
As seen in the past few months, growth of sight deposits again far outweighed term deposits in the month to Dec.20, the Central Bank of Iran reported.
Also known as time deposits, total term deposits reached 25,129.9 trillion rials ($104.7 billion) by Dec 20 -- 32.3% higher compared to the same period in 2019. In the course of nine months from the beginning of the current fiscal year last March, the deposits increased 22.9%.
Total sight deposits amounted to 5,528.1 ($23b) in the month, registering a whopping 77.9% growth on annualized basis. Sight deposits rose 1,866.5 trillion ($7.7b) in the nine months to log 51% growth, the CBI said in a report.
Iranian banks have lent 191 trillion rials ($779.6 million) to 763 startups and knowledge-based companies during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (March 2020).
Based on a recent CBI report, the amount has increased by 128% compared with the same period of last year, Borna reported.
The data show Bank Saderat Iran has loaned 35.3 trillion rials ($144.9 million) in the nine months, the highest amount lent by domestic banks. Bank Mellat with 33.2 trillion rials ($135.5 million) and Bank Melli with 30.5 trillion rials ($124.5 million) followed.
The months ending Dec. 20 and Sept. 21, 2020, were the busiest periods for the banks, with 37.7 trillion rials ($153.9 million) and 30.1 trillion rials ($122.8 million) paid as loans respectively.
Banks paid the least amount, equal to 6.5 trillion rials ($26.57 million), in the first month of the current Iranian year that ended on April 19, 2020.
CBI chief Abdolnasser Hemmati earlier said Iran has over 10,000 startups and knowledge-based companies and if they receive enough support and attention, they will yield valuable results.
Iran’s state TV on Monday released footage of test launch of a new satellite launch vehicle named Zoljanah.
Ahmad Hosseini, spokesman for the Defense Ministry’s Space Department, told IRIB4 that the new SLV can reach a height of 500 kilometers and carry a 220-kg payload.
Zoljanah is a three-stage hybrid solid liquid-fueled rocket. The first two stages use solid fuel and the third burns liquid fuel.
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