Eye on Iran: LyondellBasell Will Quit Iran
Wed, 08/25/2010 - 09:18 | by uaniadminTop
Stories
WSJ:
"LyondellBasell Industries NV, one of the world's biggest
plastic and chemical producers, will end its business operations in
Iran to
shield itself against penalties the U.S. could soon impose on companies
for
violating trade sanctions. The Dutch-based company's board approved the
decision early this month after months of deliberation, according to
David
Harpole, a LyondellBasell spokesman." http://bit.ly/d7WC6v
AFP: "Iran has test fired its home-built
surface-to-surface Fateh
110 missile, state television reported on Wednesday, less than a week
after a
similar test was carried out on another missile. The television showed
a
sand-coloured missile being launched from a vehicle and blasting into
the sky
from a desert terrain, leaving behind a thick plume of smoke. It did
not say
when the missile was fired." http://bit.ly/cdP1Q8
AP: "Iran is prepared to sell weapons to Lebanon if
Beirut asks for
help in equipping its military, Iran's defense minister said Wednesday.
Gen.
Ahmad Vahidi's comments come a day after the leader of Lebanon's Shiite
Hezbollah
group, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, called on the Lebanese government to
formally
seek military assistance from Iran." http://bit.ly/aJJ7LR
Nuclear
Program
AP: "Iran's nuclear chief says the priority after the
September
startup of Bushehr nuclear power plant wil be to search for new uranium
deposits inside the country. Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi told the
official
IRNA news agency Wednesday that only one-third of the country has been
explored
for uranium deposits." http://bit.ly/aI2zcd
Commerce
AP: "Iran is set to begin production on an oil field
shared with
Oman in the Persian Gulf's Straits of Hormuz. State television on
Tuesday
quoted Mahmoud Zirakchian, head of Iran's offshore oil company, as
saying
production officially begins on the Hengam oil field Tuesday.
Preparatory work
on the joint field began in May and it is now producing some 7,000
barrels of
crude per day, he added." http://bit.ly/9t5eVV
Human Rights
Bloomberg: "French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
published a
letter today in three national media outlets supporting an Iranian
mother
sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of adultery. The
case of
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has drawn international condemnation after
the
mother of two was sentenced to death. Bruni-Sarkozy called on the
Iranian
authorities to grant clemency. 'Judges must understand it, Sakineh,
your name
has become a symbol across the globe,' she wrote." http://bit.ly/aPwQ2r
AFP: "Three anti-government protesters who died in a
notorious jail
have been dubbed 'martyrs' by an Iranian official body, a move which
would
ensure benefits for their families, a report said on Wednesday.
Mohammad
Kamrani, Amir Javadifar and Mohsen Ruholamini have been named as
'martyrs' by
Iran's Foundation of Martyrs and Veteran Affairs, the hardline Kayhan
newspaper
reported." http://yhoo.it/bdOLLN
Guardian: "An imprisoned Iranian activist is suing
Nokia Siemens
Networks (NSN) over allegations that the telecommunications company
provided
the Islamic regime with a monitoring system it used to spy on the
opposition
Green movement. Isa Saharkhiz, a prominent journalist and political
figure, was
arrested after last summer's disputed presidential election." http://bit.ly/avDwOo
Domestic Politics
Radio Farda: "Iran's parliament is preparing to
discuss a bill this
week that would allow men to marry additional wives without the consent
of
their first wife, and would tax dowries. It is called the Family
Protection
Bill, but it is better known as the antifamily bill. Women's rights
activists
say the bill, first proposed by President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's cabinet
in 2007,
would pave the way for polygamy, harm the family structure, and set
back the
battle against discriminatory laws in the Islamic republic, where women
have
second-class legal status." http://bit.ly/cvUWRx
AFP: "Iranian star footballer Ali Karimi, often
dubbed the Maradona
of Asia and sacked by his club for not fasting during the Muslim holy
month of
Ramadan, will return to practice on Wednesday, a report said. Iran's
ILNA news
agency said Karimi had agreed to pay the fine of around 40,000 dollars
levied
by his club, Steel Azin FC." http://bit.ly/aNayLQ
Opinion
Mark Thompson in TIME: "Iran's weapons-development efforts have long had a wisp of The Wizard of Oz about them - in other words, don't look behind the curtain. In the movie, of course, it was Toto who tugged back the curtain to show the lever-pulling wiz was a fraud. But it was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself who stood proudly on the stage at Tehran's Malek-Ashtar University of Technology as a sky-blue curtain rose to unveil Iran's first armed drone. It also showed the world, if not his fellow Iranians, just how threadbare Tehran's arsenal is." http://bit.ly/bAHtg1
Prakash Shah and Ramesh Thakur in Globe & Mail: "The United States, no more but no less than other states, tends to make self-centred assessments of other countries' policies. This is one reason it missed the Iran factor as the most likely explanation for Saddam Hussein's deliberate ambiguity about a 'weapons of mass destruction' capability. Washington may be committing a similar error with respect to Iran's nuclear motives. In projecting the threat from a potential nuclear Iran to Israel, the West keeps open the last resort possibility of a pre-emptive Israeli attack on Iran. Tehran's security concerns and its quest for nuclear weapons may be aimed as much at meeting the Sunni threat as the Israeli threat." http://bit.ly/90RkBm
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