TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The speaker of Iraq’s parliament, Mohammed Al-Halbousi, condemned the sanctions imposed on Iran, also saying the stability of Iraq and Iran is integrated.

In a meeting with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in Turkey on Tuesday, Halbousi said his country is opposed to foreign sanctions against Iran and condemns them.

Voicing the Iraqi parliament’s willingness to broaden ties with Iran, Halbousi stressed the need to protect the sovereignty of regional countries and oppose policies and sanctions dictated by outsiders.

The stability of Iran and other neighbors would directly impact Iraq’s stability, he added.

Pledging Iraq’s support for the Iranian government and nation, Halbousi said closer economic relations would serve the mutual interests and reduce the pressure of sanctions on Iran.

The Iraqi speaker also praised Iran for supporting his country in the fight against terrorism and defeat of the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group.

For his part, Larijani said hostile attempts to ruin ties between Iran and Iraq are doomed to failure, since post-Saddam Iraq has always been a supporter of the Islamic Republic.

He also expressed Iran’s readiness to promote economic, industrial, and agricultural cooperation with Iraq.

Accompanied by a delegation of Iranian lawmakers, Larijani took part in the 3rd Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments in Antalya.

The conference was attended by 20 parliament speakers and parliamentary delegations from 17 Asian and European nations.

The Iranian speaker returned to Tehran on Tuesday night.

Source: Tasnim News  Agancy

LONDON (Reuters) – The United States has granted BP and Serica Energy a new license to run a North Sea gas field partly owned by Iran in a rare exemption by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration as it prepares to renew sanctions on Tehran next month.

The waiver extension will allow Serica to complete the acquisition of BP’s stake in the Rhum, Bruce and Keith fields, as well as buying Total’s stakes in Bruce and Keith, Serica said in a statement.

Rhum, which supplies around 5 percent of Britain’s gas demand, is half owned by Iranian Oil Company, a subsidiary of the national oil company.

The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control extended a license for U.S. and U.S.-owned or controlled entities to provide goods, services and support the Rhum field.

Renewed U.S. sanctions on Tehran, which will take full effect on Nov. 4, ban U.S. companies and citizens from doing business with Iranian companies as well as transactions in dollars.

The new license is conditional on the setting up of an escrow account that will hold all profits from the field for as long as the sanctions are in place, Serica said.

A similar mechanism was set in place in the previous round of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

The new license is valid until October 31, 2019 and may be renewed upon application, Serica said.

Europe steps up drive to exempt Swift from Iran sanctions

European finance ministers will try to persuade the Trump administration not to cut off Iran’s access to Swift, the global financial messaging service, in meetings with Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury secretary, at the IMF gathering in Bali this week. The Trump administration is due to reimpose hefty sanctions against Iran on November 5, including secondary sanctions on financial messaging services to the Central Bank of Iran and some Iranian financial institutions.  France, Germany and the UK — which signed on to the seven-party 2015 Iran nuclear deal from which Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in May — are frustrated that they have not been able to convince the Trump administration to take a softer line on Belgium-based Swift. “Our ask is: why bother ripping out all of the electrical cables from a building if you can switch off a light,” said a European diplomat who confirmed the planned meetings. “If you can designate a bank [for sanctions] then there’s no need to force Swift to disconnect from Iran.”  The disagreement over Swift was heading for “a diplomatic train wreck”, according to another person familiar with the matter. European officials who met US officials last month to ask for leniency have so far drawn a blank.  “We did a démarche to the administration, but it was a complete blockage; they didn’t listen to our argument,” said a second European official.

Save to myFT Katrina Manson in Washington YESTERDAY Print this page18 European finance ministers will try to persuade the Trump administration not to cut off Iran’s access to Swift, the global financial messaging service, in meetings with Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury secretary, at the IMF gathering in Bali this week. The Trump administration is due to reimpose hefty sanctions against Iran on November 5, including secondary sanctions on financial messaging services to the Central Bank of Iran and some Iranian financial institutions.  France, Germany and the UK — which signed on to the seven-party 2015 Iran nuclear deal from which Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in May — are frustrated that they have not been able to convince the Trump administration to take a softer line on Belgium-based Swift. “Our ask is: why bother ripping out all of the electrical cables from a building if you can switch off a light,” said a European diplomat who confirmed the planned meetings. “If you can designate a bank [for sanctions] then there’s no need to force Swift to disconnect from Iran.”  The disagreement over Swift was heading for “a diplomatic train wreck”, according to another person familiar with the matter. European officials who met US officials last month to ask for leniency have so far drawn a blank.  “We did a démarche to the administration, but it was a complete blockage; they didn’t listen to our argument,” said a second European official.  US blames Iran for threats to its missions in Iraq The Trump administration has yet to reach a final conclusion on how to treat Iranian commercial banks, although many believe it is likely to reimpose sanctions on the central bank and cut it off from Swift. Supporters of Swift worry that the international co-operative, whose 25 board directors include two US bankers from Citi and JPMorgan, would find it impossible to comply with US, European and Belgian law at the same time if their instructions diverge. “As there has been no related change to EU legislation we are naturally consulting with and seeking clarification from both EU and US authorities,” said a senior Swift official. Swift officials met US administration representatives in Washington last week. Some officials and people briefed on the matter believe that Mr Mnuchin will want to act in support of Swift to safeguard America’s role in the secure global messaging system, which connects more than 11,000 banks in more than 200 territories, and avoid sending Iranian transactions underground. But hardliners within the administration and on Capitol Hill who are close to Mr Trump plan to renew their campaign to isolate Iran entirely from Swift in the final run-up to November 5. They argue the US could issue visa bans and asset freezes of Swift’s board members and pursue charges and fines against its member banks if Swift refused to comply with sanctions. They believe that its shareholders would not take such risks. John Bolton, national security adviser and a longtime Iran hawk, demanded to know how Swift could “justify facilitating the evil escapades of the world’s leading state sponsor of terror” at a speech in New York speech two weeks ago. “Bolton’s speech plants the flag on the debate the administration is having internally over Swift, and it raises the stakes for anyone who wants to take on Bolton,” said a senior congressional staffer. Richard Goldberg, who wrote the original 2012 sanctions laws that excluded Iran from Swift before they were ended by the 2015 Iran deal, said the decision would fall to Mr Trump: “The big wild card is if there is a fight in the Oval Office between Secretary Mnuchin and Ambassador Bolton, where does the president come down?” he said. Recommended Analysis Iran nuclear deal Oil industry snubs EU effort to defy Trump sanctions on Iran German foreign minister Heiko Maas has argued that Europeans could create their own rival to Swift based on the euro rather than the dollar. Russia and China are both pursuing their own systems. “Hope remains that there might be a complete carve-out for Swift,” said a person following the matter, adding Mr Mnuchin could in theory advocate for a delay or waiver in implementing any sanctions directed specifically against Swift. UK and French finance ministers are due to meet Mr Mnuchin at the IMF meetings, as is Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU commission vice-president responsible for financial services policy. Germany’s finance minister may also meet with him.  European diplomats are also pressing the US to exempt Swift from transactions penalties on humanitarian grounds, to ensure the provision of food and other non-sanctionable consumer goods to the Iranian people. “The US has some discretion in this area,” said Elizabeth Rosenberg, a former senior Treasury adviser who previously worked on tightening Iran sanctions. “There’s probably an elegant solution here for Swift and the US Treasury, which surely doesn’t want to be in a position of taking an enforcement action with Swift.” Treasury, state department and the National Security Council officials would not comment on internal deliberations or potential future sanctions actions.

Source: FINANCIAL TIMES

TEHRAN – On Monday the International Court of Justice starts holding hearings over Tehran’s complaint against the U.S. for seizing Iran’s assets.

In June 2016, Iran announced that it had filed a formal complaint with the ICJ to recover nearly $2 billion in assets frozen in the United States.

“The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran officially complained about America to the International Court of Justice for the confiscation and theft of two billion dollars of the property of the central bank,” Rouhani said at the time. “And demanded the condemnation of Washington’s anti-Iranian action and compensation for damages.”

On Wednesday, the Hague-based UN’s top court ordered the U.S. to ease some sanctions against Iran, including those related to the supply of humanitarian goods and the safety of civil aviation.

The ruling was made in response to a plea from Tehran after President Trump’s announcement in May that he would withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 international nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran and the U.S. signed the Treaty of Amity in 1955 which is still valid according to international law. The treaty consists of an introduction and twenty-three articles and emphasizes encouraging mutual trade and investments.

Angry over the ICJ ruling, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo immediately on Wednesday announced that Washington is pulling out the Treaty of Amity.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs Gholam-Hossein Dehqani told IRNA Thursday that the U.S. act in withdrawing from the treaty will not affect the ruling by the UN court.

After the U.S. announced its withdrawal from the Treaty of Amity, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Trump administration has turned into an “outlaw regime”.

“US abrogated JCPOA -a multilateral accord enshrined in UNSC Resolution 2231- arguing that it seeks a bilateral treaty with #Iran. Today US withdrew from an actual US-Iran treaty after the ICJ ordered it to stop violating that treaty in sanctioning Iranian people. Outlaw regime,” Zarif tweeted.

The head of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization of Iran – a state-owned entity also known as Satba – announced the Energy Ministry’s readiness for attracting foreign investors in the country’s renewable sector.

Staba chief, Mohammad Sadeghzadeh, noted that the government welcomes foreign investments in the renewable ventures in a bid to increase the clean energy’s share in the country’s energy mix as well as exporting the renewables output.

He was addressing the second IORA Renewable Energy Ministerial Meeting in Greater Noida, India.Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) comprises Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the UAE and Yemen.

The Energy Ministry has called on Satba to prepare the ground for private sector investment in and export of renewables.

Satba is obligated to devise the regulations and establish the infrastructure for investors to generate and sell electricity to foreign buyers.

The scheme could also help to harness renewable energies, including geothermal, solar and wind power for domestic use.

The country’s power output currently stands at about 80 gigawatts. The lion’s share of power is produced with the help of fossil fuel-based power plants. The share of renewables in Iran’s energy mix is as low as 612 MW.

Source: Albawaba