Talks between Tehran and Riyadh have made some progress and Baghdad hopes for a major breakthrough, Iraqi President Barham Salih said.
Talks between Tehran and Riyadh have made some progress and Baghdad hopes for a major breakthrough, Iraqi President Barham Salih said.
Iran’s top security official reiterated the Islamic Republic’s “benevolent” relationship with its neighboring countries, calling on them to remain vigilant in the face of “fruitless foreign influence” and settle issues through cooperation.
Iran will not forget its friends when the sanctions are removed, a senior Iranian lawmaker said as the latest developments suggest Tehran does not shy away from depriving of economic opportunities those who have succumbed to pressure from third parties.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the armies of the region can ensure its security and must not allow military intervention of foreigners who are only after their own benefits.
President Ebrahim Raeisi on Sunday sent greetings to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, whose nation is celebrating the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Iran is finalizing the composition of its negotiating team for talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Developing infrastructures to divert water from locations where it is abundant to locations facing a shortage is an unsustainable supply-oriented management policy and can do very little to ease the growing water crisis, an Iranian professor at the Concordia University, Quebec, Canada, said.
“Water diversion schemes are ill-conceived, as they not only don’t help fight drought but they also raise consumption and encourage the locals in dry regions to expand water-intensive industries and continue their inefficient farming practices,” Ali Nazemi also told ILNA.
No matter how much water is desalinated, or can be transferred from the Persian Gulf to arid areas in Yazd and Kerman provinces, as long as water demand is not managed efficiently, other strategies on the supply side, including inter-basin transfer to far-flung regions, will not yield the desired result, he added.
The environmental permit for the construction of two steam units at the Soltaniyeh Power Plant in Zanjan with an aggregate capacity of 320 megawatts has been issued by the Department of Environment so that the thermal power station will be turned into a combined-cycle one.
MAPNA Group will undertake the construction of two steam units, each having a nominal capacity of 160 MW, the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven reported.
The power plant is located 25 kilometers from Zanjan in northwestern Iran. It currently has four gas units, each with a capacity of 162 MW.
The output of Bu Ali Sina Petrochemical Company in Mahshahr, Khuzestan Province, in the first six months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Sept. 22) increased by more than 30% compared with the same period of last year, the head of operations at the company said.
“The plant produced about 1 million tons of various products in the period, which is a record in the history of the company,” Alireza Qasemi was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
“Among the products, the output of heavy naphtha registered an increase in the six-month period. The company produced 262,000 tons of heavy naphtha in the first half of the year, which is 76% higher than the figure registered in the same period of last year,” he added.
The Chabahar Port’s geostrategic location in southeastern Iran will provide wider accessibility for member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to conduct global trade and commerce, says Ali Asadi Khomami, an expert on international studies.
A translation of his write-up for the news outlet of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development follows:
The consent of the member states of Shanghai Cooperation Organization to Iran’s accession is currently one of the top stories in international relations. The procedure of acceding to SCO has been initiated with the go-ahead of the member states and Iran is expected to officially join the pact within one to 1.5 years.
Iran has been registering growth in all health indicators that have come to surpass the global average over the past few years.
However, that’s not indicative of a desirable performance, because firstly the country is placed among upper middle-income countries, according to the World Bank, and therefore its health indicators must commensurate with the level of these countries. Secondly, the poor performance of low-income countries has pushed down the global average.
According to a recent report by the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, infant mortality rate and under-five mortality rate in Iran stand at 9 and 14 per 1,000 live births, both above the average of upper middle-income countries (7 and 13, respectively).
Iran’s non-oil exports to Iraq during the first six months of the current fiscal year (March 21-Sept. 22) stood at 13.9 million tons worth $3.8 billion, registering a 50% and 28% year-on-year growth in weight and value respectively, according to the head of the Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce.
“China and Turkey are our traditional competitors in the Iraqi market, but we are witnessing the growing willingness of countries such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan to take over and gain a lasting foothold in the Iraqi market,” Jahanbakhsh Sanjabi Shirazi was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
In fact, Iraq was Iran’s second biggest export destination during the period under review after China with 14.8 million tons of imports worth $6.5 billion.
A total of 1.93 million tons of goods were loaded and unloaded in the Bushehr Port during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 21-Sept. 22), according to the head of southern province’s Ports and Maritime Organization.
“Out of the overall throughput, more than 1.28 million tons constituted non-oil products and the remaining 654,728 tons were oil products,” Siavash Arjomandzadeh was also quoted as saying by the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.
The official added that container loading and unloading stood at 19,700 TEUs during the period, registering a 10% rise compared with the similar period of last year.
The Statistical Center of Iran has put labor force participation rate at 41.1% or 25.9 million people in the second quarter of the current Iranian year (June 22-Sept. 22), registering a 0.7% decrease year-on-year.
Exports from Golestan Province stood at 209,240 tons worth $72.84 million in the current fiscal year’s first six months (March 21-Sept. 22), registering a 189% and 54% growth in weight and value respectively year-on-year, the director general of Golestan Customs Administration said.
The average goods and services Consumer Price Index of “leisure and culture” in the 12-month period ending Sept. 22, which marks the end of the sixth Iranian month of the fiscal 2021-22, increased by 52.4% compared with the corresponding period of the year before.
Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture’s Research Center has recently submitted an economic overhaul plan to the government.
Mohammad Qasemi, the head of the center, elaborated on the content of this plan and its insights into major problems that have plagued Iran’s economy for over a decade in an interview with the news outlet of ICCIMA (Otaghiranonline.ir).
“Studies conducted by ICCIMA Research Center show inflation, unemployment and weak economic growth are the pressing issues of Iran’s economy,” he said.
“Over the past three years, half of the Iranian people could not afford to eat an average of 2,100 calories per day, i.e., the minimum necessary for subsistence. Iran sits at bottom of the list of world countries in terms of economic growth and inflation suggesting that for a decade the country registered growth of nearly 0.3% and inflation rate of above 20%.”
Revenues from departure tax, which is a subcategory of tax on goods and services of indirect taxes, stood at 1.84 trillion rials ($6.6 million) over the first four months of the current fiscal year (March 21-July 22).
Iran received the first shipment of 80 live crocodiles from Malaysia on Sunday, Majid Taherpour, the director of Fisheries and Aquatic Affairs Department of Khorasan Razavi Agricultural Organization, said.
The High Council of Insurance, the regulatory body of Iran’s insurance industry, decided on Sunday to suspend the controversial agent commission framework.
According to a press release seen on the Central Insurance company of Iran website, members of the council agreed to the CII's request to postpone the mechanism until further studies.
The previous framework will be used for calculating agents and brokers' commissions.
The managing director of Securities and Exchange Organization in a letter asked the economy minister to reconsider mandatory prices for the auto sector.
Mohammad Ali Dehqan-Dehnavi said imposing prices by the government puts millions of investors in harm way and urged those in charge to eliminate the policy.
“In terms of market capitalization, the auto and part-making companies are among the top seven industries in the bourse and mandatory pricing is to the detriment of millions of retail investors,” he was quoted as saying by the Securities and Exchange News Agency.
Sell-side pressure continued to take a toll on Tehran stock market on Sunday after reporting gains a session earlier.
The benchmark of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX gained 3,213.65 points or 0.22% to end trading at 1,476,689.26.
The TSE’s equal-weighted index closed in negative territory and lost more than 0.5%. The index better reflects the performance of small caps.
Net capital outflow by retail traders amounted to 5.6 trillion rials ($20 million) on Sunday, resulting mainly from sell-off in commodity stocks.
The Majlis Research Center says the March 2021-22 budget is facing “huge deficits” and needs early reconsideration to minimize its detrimental impact on the economy.
While budget deficits are permanent dilemmas of the Iranian economy, the parliament’s research arm says the deficits have been of the ascending order in the past three years, partly due to the severity of the US economic sanctions.
Iran’s automotive production decreased by 1.4% during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 21-Sept. 22) compared with the year-ago period.
According to data released by Securities and Exchange Organization on Codal.ir, Iran Khodro (IKCO), SAIPA and Pars Khodro, Iran’s major automakers produced 429,414 sedans during the six-month period, of which IKCO had the lion’s share of 205,934 vehicles, down 7% year-on-year.
IKCO also manufactures commercial vehicles, such as pickups, vans, trucks and buses. However, no statistics have been released in this category.
SAIPA, IKCO’s competitor, produced 165,463 vehicles in the six months, marking a 0.5% increase compared to the year-ago month.
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