Economic Failure of Imports from China: Basij Commander Admits as Well
As criticism mounts in Iran over the country's policy of importing non-essential goods from China, and the government's response has been the announcement that it has curtailed such imports by 40 percent, without giving any detailed statistics, the commander of the para-military Basij force said during a Basij seminar that unemployment remained the most serious problem of the government -Rooz Online - 2/9/10
Labor Protests Held In Several Iranian Cities
A series of labor protests have taken place in several Iranian cities this week, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. Protests and strikes have been held in recent months over unpaid salaries and other work-related demands, but the past few weeks have seen an exceptional amount of such actions. -RFE - 2/6/10
Domestic Iran onsortium ink $10B deal to develop Kish gas field
National Iranian Oil Company and a domestic consortium led by Bank Mellat signed a $10 billion contract on Saturday to develop Kish gas field, southern Iran. The Kish gas field aims at daily producing 85 million cubic meters of gas and 30,000 barrels of gas condensates. -MNA - 2/6/10
A Modern B-School -- in Tehran
Most Saturday mornings a small group of Iranian professionals and entrepreneurs gathers either in a small office on London's New Bond Street or in a Tehran villa to talk about a school that doesn't exist yet. This fall, though, after two years of planning, they hope to open Iran's first modern business school, an event they hope will boost their country's development. -Business Week - 2/5/10
Ahmadinejad's Government Retracts Income Bracketing Scheme
The wave of concern and controversy generated in Iran over the method that has been used to calculate the income brackets of Iranian families has caused Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to retract his plan, claiming that the data provided to it was erroneous. The plan deals with direct payment of subsides to the public. -Nazanin Kamdar, Rooz Online - 2/1/10
Iran's Bank Melli Rejects Rumors of Bankruptcy
The financial manager of Bank Melli Iran (BMI) has refuted the rumors on declaring bankruptcy by the bank, saying BMI is the largest bank in Iran and across the Islamic world, considering its total assets of around $54 billion. -MNA - 1/26/10
Dubai Helps Iran Evade Sanctions as Smugglers Ignore U.S. Laws
Iran's biggest non-oil trading partner provides a stream of household items -- from diapers and mobile phones to laptops and washing machines -- as well as illicit items such as aircraft parts and computer chips that the U.S. says have nuclear and military uses. -Bloomberg - 1/26/10
Photos: Turquoise Mine in Neyshabur, Iran
For at least 2,000 years, the region once known as Persia, has remained an important source of turquoise. This deposit, which is blue naturally, and turns green when heated due to dehydration, is restricted to a mine-riddled region in Neyshabur, the 2,012-metre (6,600 ft) mountain peak of Ali-Mersai, which is tens of kilometers from Mashhad, the capital of Razavi Khorasan province, Iran. -Photos by Amin Khosroshahi - 1/25/10
Ahmadinejad orders implementation of subsidy reform plan
The goal of the subsidy reform plan is to bring prices to their true market level within a five-year period. The plan mainly targets energy prices.According to the plan, the administration is obligated to reform the energy prices by the end of the fifth development plan (2010-2015). -MNA - 1/25/10
Iran To Sell Diesel To Iraq Despite U.S. Sanctions
Iran has secured a deal to export about 19,000 barrels per day (bpd) of diesel to Iraq this year, industry sources said today. -Reuters - 1/25/10
Iran: Ahmadinejad Submits Ambitious Budget
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has presented his draft annual budget to parliament, telling legislators that "special attention" has been paid to reducing Iran's dependence on oil revenue but offering few details. Iran's economy relies heavily on oil exports, which supply 40-50 percent of budget revenues. -RFE - 1/24/10
Iran, World's 16th Steel Producer: Report
The International Iron and Steel Institute named Iran as the 16th largest steel producer in the world in 2009. The institute noted that Iran had advanced three places compared to 2008, Fars news agency reported. -MNA - 1/24/10
Iran's economic growth to hit 2.2% in 2010: World Bank
The World Bank forecasted in its latest report that Iran's economic growth will reach 2.2 percent in 2010. The report stated that Iran's growth in 2008 and 2009 reached 2.5 percent and 1 percent respectively. - 1/23/10
3 zeros to be dropped from Iran's currency
The Iranian currency has lost its value in comparison to foreign currencies because Iran has been experiencing double-digit inflation over the past 20 years, partly due to expansionary monetary policies and the efforts to establish a market price economy. -MNA - 1/21/10
German Firm Inks One Billion Euro Gas Deal With Iran
Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company (IGEDC) has signed a 1 billion euro ($1.44 billion) deal with a German firm to help improve nation's gas distribution grid, the IGEDC director said here on Tuesday. - 1/19/10
Foreign investment in Iran takes a nosedive
Foreign investments in Iran tumbled 96 percent in the Iranian calendar year 1387 (March 2008-March 2009) in comparison to previous year, said the chairman of the Commerce Commission of the Tehran Commerce Chamber. -MNA - 1/18/10
Iran Weighing $20b Foreign Energy Investment
Iran is examining proposed foreign investments of up to $20 billion in its energy sector, Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi said on Monday. "We are in talks with some foreign companies which had proposed such investments to finance our energy projects in buy-back or direct investment methods, Mirkazemi added, without giving any further detail on the foreign investors. - 1/18/10
Iran Moves To Cut Popular Economic Subsidies Despite Political Risk
Iran's top legislative body has approved a plan to phase out billions of dollars in state subsidies that currently keep the costs of energy and food low in the country's inflation-struck economy. -Charles Recknagel, RFE - 1/14/10
Iran: Guardian Council Confirms Subsidy Bill
The Guardian Council has endorsed the parliamentary ratification on redirecting subsidies, the council's spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaii announced on Wednesday. - 1/13/10
Iran unemployment rate hits 11.3%
The Statistics Center of Iran announced the country's unemployment rate rose to 11.3 percent in the third quarter of the calendar year (ended December 21, 2009), up 1.8 percent compared to the last year. -MNA - 1/11/10
Photos: A horseshoer and his workshop in Tabriz
Following photos by Ali Hamed Haghdoust show a horseshoer working in his workshop in the city of Tabriz in northwestern Iran. The profession of horseshoeing is one of the traditional professions people are still engaged in at meidan kaah (Kaah square) in Tabriz. But as the times passes, fewer people are choosing this profession. - 1/10/10
Iran's largest aluminum plant comes on stream in Bandar Abbas
Iran's largest aluminum plant came on stream on Saturday in the southern city of Bandar Abbas. The Hormozal plant has an annual production capacity of 147,000 tons of aluminum and cost 400 million euros and 2 trillion rials (about $200 million). -MNA - 1/10/10
Iran Khodro to boost Samand export to Russia
Giant Iranian carmaker Iran Khodro Company plans to start export of Soren model of Samand equipped with TU5 engine to Russia in the new year. IKCO expanded its after sales services in Russia last year and plans to start TU5 engine Samand cars to Russia in 2010, according to the Mehr News Agency. - 1/10/10
Iran fears losing pistachio race to US
Iran has been a pistachio producer since the fifth century BC and the days of the Achaemenid Empire. Aficionados of the Iranian nuts ascribe their dominant position in global markets to superior taste and quality. -Financial Times - 1/9/10
Turkmen Gas Exports To Iran A Boon For Both Countries
Turkmenistan and Iran have opened a new natural-gas pipeline to much fanfare, but considering its relatively modest capacity, the ribbon-cutting ceremony might have more political significance than anything. -Bruce Pannier, RFE/RL - 1/6/10
Photos: Gavmish-Abad neighborhood in Ahvaz, Iran
Gavmish is Persian for buffalo. Gavmish-Abad is a neighborhood at the southeastern boundaries of the city of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran. The underprivileged people in this neighborhood, who are deprived of adequate welfare and health resources, earn their living by raising buffalos, cattle and horses. -Photos by Seyyed Ali Mousavinezhad - 12/17/09
Credit Suisse to Pay $536 Million in US DOJ Settlement for Deals with Iran, others
Credit Suisse AG, a Swiss corporation headquartered in Zurich, has agreed to forfeit $536 million to the United States and to the New York County District Attorney's Office in connection with violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and New York state law. The forfeiture is the largest ever entered against an entity for IEEPA violations. - 12/17/09
100 top Iranian brands
The second brand-choosing festival ended in Tehran on Tuesday by choosing 100 top brands. Moj news agency reported that in this festival and among 24 industries and 350 brands in the fields of foodstuff, carpets, financial services, education, industry and mines and pharmacology the best brands were chosen. - 12/15/09
Iran Copper Exports Up 60%
The National Iranian Copper Industries Company (NICICO) announced that in the first eight months period of the Iranian calendar year (ending November 21) exports of copper from Iran reached 315,706 tons. The Mehr News Agency reported that this amount of copper was sold for $688.2 million. -MNA - 12/13/09
Iran's Bourse Deal Revoked
The biggest bourse deal in Iran during the last calendar year (ended March 20, 2009), valued at $1.5 billion, was annulled. The transaction was related to buying a 30.5 percent block of the state-run Khuzestan Steel Company by a private businessperson named Mohammad Jaberian -MNA - 12/11/09
Iran: Falling Energy Investment Threat
A recent study in Iran has shown that the country is in dire need of investment in its energy industry, without which it may suffer grave consequences. A leading official think-tank affiliated to Iran's parliament, the Majlis Research Centre, issued a report in October 2009 saying that Iran needed at least 4.5 billion US dollars of investment in its energy industry. - 12/10/09
Fears of Dubai Default Eased, But Global Financial Problems Remain
Dubai World is the state-run conglomerate which is largely responsible for transforming the small desert emirate of Dubai into a playground of the super-rich. That just made the shock all the greater last week when the company announced it is asking creditors for a standstill on repayment of billions of dollars in debt. The total owed to investors is estimated at some $59 billion. - 12/2/09
Iran's Plan to Phase Out Subsidies Brings Frenzied Debate
The outside world may be focused on Iran's intensifying confrontation with the West over its nuclear program. But at home, Iranians are more concerned with an ambitious and risky new effort to overhaul the country's troubled economy. -NY Times - 12/2/09
Calif. insurers say $12 billion invested in Iran
California's insurance commissioner said Tuesday he will push insurance companies doing business in California to divest up to $12 billion in indirect investments in Iran's defense, nuclear, energy and banking industries. -AP - 12/2/09
Iran crude exports may stop if embargo continues
Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi warned the world powers Iran may stop exporting crude oil if they continue economic sanctions on the country. - 12/1/09
Dubai Debt, Dollar Slide Fuel Market Slump in Asia
State-owned investment company Dubai World, which manages much of the city-state's massive development projects, is asking creditors for a delay in repaying about $60 billion in debt. - 11/27/09
Iran, China Agree on $6.5B Oil Refinery Project
The Chinese refiner Sinopec has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company to invest $6.5 billion for building oil refineries in Iran. - 11/25/09
Iran-Iraq Annual Trade Seen At $4.2B
The value of trade between Iran and Iraq is foreseen to reach $4.2 billion by March 2010, the secretary general of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines said in Tehran on Wednesday. - 11/25/09
Photos: Catching, Selling Shrimp - Qeshm Island, Persian Gulf
Following photos show the fishermen of Persian Gulf island of Qeshm catching shrimp and selling their catch at the local market. Qeshm, an Iranian island, is situated in the Strait of Hormuz off the south coast of Iran and east of the Persian Gulf. The Island is located a few kilometers off the southern coast of Iran, opposite the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Bandar Khamir. - 11/24/09
Iran, Brazil Ink 13 Cooperation Agreements
Iran and Brazil signed 13 cooperation agreements on trade, energy, banking, agriculture, academy, news agency and sports. The agreements inked during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's trip to Brazil also involve cooperation on technology, cinema, stock exchange and lifting visa requirements. - 11/24/09
Iran's Parliament Reacts to Lack of Financial Transparency: Judicial Action Against Administration?
Larijani's remarks were made after the Majlis committee in charge of supervising the implementation of Article 44 of the Constitution (mandating privatization) announced, "The money that the administration has deposited into the treasury from the proceeds of privatizing public entities is 47.8 percent less than the amount passed in the 2008 budget bill." - 11/23/09
Iran 3rd Major Oil Supplier of China
Iran was the third major oil supplier of China in the month of October, during which some 1,646,000 tons of crude oil was exported, SHANA news agency reported - 11/23/09
Iran, Kuwait Gas Talks Underway
Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi and Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah met in Tehran on Sunday to discuss energy ties focusing on the development of Arash joint gas field. - 11/22/09
Iranian Scholar Declines Farabi Award
Iranian scholar Mohammadreza Hakimi declined the achievement award offered to him by the third Farabi International Award in Iran, in protest to the "poverty and the visible and invisible deprivation" in Iranian society. Mr. Hakimi told Award organizers that he believes holding such ceremonies when "poverty and deprivation" are rampant in Iran are of the least priority. - 11/21/09
Kabul asks Tehran for more investment
Iran is the fourth largest investor in Afghanistan. Iranian investments have been made on construction of roads and bridges, energy, agriculture and health care. - 11/20/09
Iran falls to 168 in Corruption Perception Index 2009
Iran has fallen from 141st on the list of 180 countries to 168th – one of the most marked declines. Countries where the political and security environment is particularly volatile, such as Yemen, Iran and Iraq rank at the bottom of the list. These countries face the challenge of establishing solid and transparent public institutions, with appropriate mechanisms for accountability: the essential elements for preventing and fighting corruption. Where these are absent, any kind of success is very difficult. - 11/19/09
Iran Unveils New Plan to Counter Fuel Sanctions
According to the plan, the Iranian petrochemical plants, such as Imam Khomeini, Bou Ali Sina and Borzouyeh, are equipped to produce about 14 million liters of gasoline per day if they have to. - 11/18/09
Iranian commandos sent to arrest Somali pirates
Iran has decided to send more ships to the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian merchant containers and oil tankers from Somali pirates in the volatile waters. A senior commander says Iranian special forces have bee sent to the Gulf of Aden to preserve shipping security and go ahead with a plan to arrest Somali pirates. - 11/16/09
Photos: Harvesting Cotton in Shams Abad, Qom
The following photos by Abolfazl Maahrokh show the harvesting of cotton in the Shams Abad region of central city of Qom in Iran. Qom lies 156 kilometers by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. It has an estimated population of 1,042,309 in 2005. - 11/15/09
Iran's Economic Climate and the Post-election Political Crisis
Even before the current political crisis began in June 2009 the Iranian economy was confronted with many daunting challenges. Investors were already feeling the pressures of inconsistent domestic economic policies and intensifying international economic/financial sanctions on their shoulders. The street protests and political unrests that have followed the disputed election have led to further deterioration of the economic climate. -Nader Habibi - 11/13/09
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