- Britain informed a United Nations sanctions panel of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted firms.
(Reuters, April 30)
- The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) revealed on April 14, 2015, that China, in addition to Russia, was going to begin constructing nuclear plants in Iran
(Algemeiner, April 14)
- During the week following the announcement of a framework agreement aimed at limiting Iran's nuclear capabilities, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree lifting a ban on the delivery of S-300 anti-missile systems to Iran.
(Haaretz, April 13)
- The P5+1 and Iran agree to a framework for a nuclear agreement, including the gradual, systematic, and eventual lifting of all sanctions against Iran.
(The White House, April 2)
- The Senate Banking Committee approved the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2015. Although the bill does not impose any new sanctions on Iran, it increased the pressure on the Iranian regime. The act set in stone that if there is no agreement reached by the June 30 deadline all of the sanctions that were waived with the acceptance of the interim agreement would be put back in place. In addition, the act imposes monthly escalating sanctions begining in August should the negotiating teams fail to reach an agreement.
- The US Congress will officially hold off on voting on any new sanctions or penalties on Iran until the negotiation deadline of March 24.
- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced during a visit to the Bushehr nuclear power facility that the facility is to be expanded and that two new nuclear power facilities are to be built in the vicinity. The goal of these power plants is to increase nuclear power output according to the Iranian government.
(Fars News, January 14)
- Vann Van Diepen, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-Proliferation, said that Iran has pursued a longstanding effort to buy banned components for its nuclear and missile programmes in recent months, during a period when it struck an interim deal with major powers to limit its disputed atomic activity. Iran was still "very actively" creating front companies and engaging in other activity to conceal procurements. Such trade would breach a 2006 U.N. embargo banning the provision by any nation to Iran of materials related to its nuclear and missile development work.
(Reuters, March 16)
- 85 U.S. Senators signed a letter to President Obama urging the continuance of the existing sanctions on Iran and expressing their concern if Iran rejects an agreement to bring to an end its nuclear weapons ambitions. The letter was initiated by Sens. Robert Menendez - the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Chuck Schumer - the third highest-ranking Democrat, and four others, including three Republicans.
(U.S. Senate, March 16)
- Iran's oil exports peaked at a one-year high over January and February 2014, showing that the thaw in relations with the West is boosting the troubled economy of the Islamic Republic. Though bans of importing oil in the European Union remain in place, Asian oil buyers are getting more comfortable buying Iranian oil because of decreased political risks. India's Iran oil imports jumped by 175,000 barrels a day. In February, imports of Iranian oil surged in Japan and South Korea, by 155,000 barrels a day and 145,000 barrels a day, respectively.
(Wall Stree Journal, March 14)
- As Western sanctions enforcement against Iran eased in light of the ongoing nuclear negotiations, the Islamic Republic's main oil and gas shipping company is set to boost its fleet. In a sign of renewed optimism within Iran's battered oil industry, the National Iranian Tanker Co. has also made contact with European oil and shipping companies to resume business with them. NIT's managing director Ali Akbar Safaei said the resumption of trade with European companies would depend on a full lifting of sanctions, which still include an EU ban on Iranian crude-oil imports.
(Wall Street Journal, March 13)
- According to data from China's General Administration of Customs, Iran delivered 538,513 barrels per day (bpd) of crude to China in November 2013. This represented an increase of more than 100% as China had imported only 249,848 bpd in October 2013.
(Press-TV, December 23)
- Israeli security sources said that the Obama administration conceded that the value of economic sanctions relief to Iran granted by the interim nuclear deal is closer to $20 billion. The administration originally said the sanctions relief would be relatively low, around $6-7 billion. However, during the negotiations the U.S. backtracked from this opening position and approved much more significant relief in a wide variety of areas: commerce in gold, the Iranian petrochemical industry, the car industry and replacement parts for civilian aircraft. Thus, according to the Israeli sources, the sanctions relief is now worth approximately $20-25 billion.
(Haaretz, December 11)
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry appealed to the U.S. Congress not to impose new sanctions on Iran while the United States seeks to negotiate a comprehensive agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear program. "We are asking you to give our negotiators and our experts the time and the space to do their jobs and that includes asking you while we negotiate that you hold off imposing new sanctions," Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "I am not saying never ... If this doesn't work, we are coming back and asking you for more. I am just saying not right now," he added. "This is a very delicate diplomatic moment."
(Chicago Tribune, December 10)
- The Obama administration is prepared to allow Iran to engage in a "limited enrichment program" if Tehran holds up its end of the international agreement, particularly with regards to curtailing its nuclear capabilities under stringent global oversight. "We are prepared to negotiate a strictly limited enrichment program," national security spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement. Wendy Sherman, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, noted that in a comprehensive agreement the United States "would consider a limited, modest enrichment program, if it is attached to real, practical needs." Sherman also stressed that the "sanctions that we are suspending are quite limited, quite targeted and all reversible."
(CNN, December 4)
- Not even a week after an interim deal with Iran was agreed upon offering sanctions relief, foreign automakers are expressing willingness to return to Iran's auto market. Specifically, French car manufacturers Peugeot and Renault have already held meetings with the Iranian Minister of Industry, Mining and Commerce and hashed out an initial agreement to return to Iran.
(ISNA News Agency, December 2)
- Following a meeting with President Obama, a bipartisan group of U.S. Congressmen from the top foreign policy and national security committees agreed to hold off on a vote to impose new sanctions on Iran until after the next round of nuclear talks in Geneva, set for the last week in November. A different group of Senators, however, led by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL). proposed a stricter sanctions bill, which would take aim at Iran's remaining oil sales, as an amendment to the military bill.
(New York Times, November 19)
- In Israel for a three-day visit, French President Francois Hollande assured Israel that France would continue to oppose an easing of economic sanctions against Iran until it was convinced Tehran had given up any pursuit of nuclear weapons. Hollande also reaffirmed France's conditions for an interim deal: put all Iranian nuclear installations under international surveillance, suspend 20 percent uranium enrichment, reduce existing enriched uranium stocks and stop construction of a heavy water plant at Arak that could potentially produce weapons-grade plutonium. "These are the points that are essential to us to underpin a deal," Hollande said.
(Yediot Ahronoth, November 17)
- The White House and State Department blasted Congressional efforts to place new sanctions on Iran as negotiations continued on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Officials warned that spoiling diplomatic talks with Iran would be a "march to war" - "It is important to understand that if pursuing a resolution diplomatically is disallowed or ruled out, what options, then, do we and our allies have to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon?" said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. "The American people do not want a march to war." State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki drove home the point - "Putting new sanctions in place would be a mistake while we're still determining a diplomatic route forward."
(Foreign Policy, November 12)
- On the eve of a new round of talks with Iran, a senior Obama administration official said that the United States was prepared to offer Iran limited relief from economic sanctions if Tehran agreed to temporarily halt its nuclear program. The official said that the suspension of Iran's nuclear efforts, perhaps for six months, would give negotiators time to pursue a comprehensive and far more challenging agreement. Israel, for its part, rejects the proposal. "Israel thinks this is a bad deal and will oppose it strongly," an Israeli official said.
(New York Times, November 6)
- Asia's top buyers of Iranian crude oil have reduced their purchases from the Islamic Republic by 11.5 percent so far this year, and shipments are set to fall even further by the end of 2013. China, India and South Korea - three of Tehran's top four clients - have rebuffed Iranian offers for more oil, industry sources said.
(Reuters, October 31)
- The White House hosted a meeting of aides to Senate committee leaders seeking to persuade lawmakers to hold off on a package of tough new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. The Obama administration hopes for another delay on a sanctions bill that had been expected to come to a vote in the Senate Banking Committee last month but was held back after appeals from Obama to let negotiations on Iran's nuclear program get under way first.
(Reuters, October 24)
- In the wake of a first round of nuclear diplomacy with Iran, the Obama administration is weighing a proposal to ease sanctions on Tehran by offering it access to billions of dollars in frozen funds. The ease would only be implemented if the Iranian government takes specific steps to curb its nuclear program.
(New York Times, October 17)
- A bipartisan group of ten U.S. senators sent a letter to President Barack Obama signalling their openness to suspending the implementation of new sanctions on Iran if the Islamic Republic takes significant steps to slow its nuclear program. The letter urged Obama to consider a "suspension-for-suspension" agreement, in which Iran suspends uranium enrichment and Washington suspends the implementation of new sanctions.
(Voice of America, October 14)
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the leaders of Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron, and France, President Francois Hollande, to urge them not to ease sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program ahead of talks between Iran and world powers. Netanyahu told Cameron and Hollande that the sanctions were close to achieving their goal. "Until Iran dismantles its military nuclear program, sanctions must not be eased - on the contrary. Only the pressure brought Iran to this point, and only the continuation of pressure and its strengthening can bring them to dismantle their nuclear program," Netanyahu was quoted as saying.
(Reuters, October 12)
- Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz told a conference for strategic studies that over the last 18-24 months the international sanctions have caused about $100 billion in damage to Iran’s economy, which has an annual $450 billion GDP. In addition, he said inflation in Iran is currently running at 40% a year, the unemployment rate is between 25%-30%, the rial, Iran’s currency, has been devalued by 180% and the country has a negative economic growth of 5.4%. Steinitz said that the sanctions have effectively cut Iran off from the world’s financial system and that at this rate, he predicted the Iranian economy will collapse in another year-and-a-half.
(Jerusalem Post, October 7)
- Officials reponsible for monitoring the U.N. sanctions regime against Iran say that the Islamic Republic has intensified its efforts to circumvent restrictions by strengthening its trading ties with a number of neighboring countries, including Turkey, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. The government has stepped up efforts to acquiring gold and foreign currency that can be used to shore up the rial. For example, Iranian bankers have successfully exploited loopholes in the U.N. sanctions to channel billions of dollars worth of gold from Turkey to the Central Bank of Iran. Iran has also exploited its close relationship with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to acquire foreign currency through a network of Iranian money-changers who are working in major towns and cities in Iraq.
(Wall Street Journal, October 1)
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren met with members of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, thanking them for their support of bills sanctioning Iran for its nuclear program and urging them to continue to pressure the Islamic Republic. "[Netanyahu] just said basically that he believes in the importance that there be cost if Iran continues its nuclear program," Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) said. "What we're doing now he strongly thanked us for and said it's having an impact and making it possible for us to negotiate." Committee chair Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) said in a statement, "Our resolve to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear weapons capability remains unchanged and we will not hesitate from proceeding with further sanctions and other options to protect US interests and ensure regional security. While we welcome Iran's diplomatic engagement, it cannot be used to buy time, avoid sanctions, and continue the march toward nuclear weapons capability."
(Times of Israel, October 1)
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, tapped by President Obama to lead diplomatic efforts with Iran over its nuclear program, confirmed that the United States will not ease sanctions against the Islamic Republic until "it is clear that a very verifiable, accountable, transparent process is in place, whereby we know exactly what Iran is gonna be doing with its program." Kerry said that the first steps to such a process should include the immediate opening of the Fordow nuclear plant for inspection as well as the signing of protocols of the international community regarding inspections.
(CBS News, September 29)
- According to a Chinese Customs release, in August 2013 China imported 440,000 barrels of oil from Iran - an 18% increase over the same period last year.
(FARS News Agency, September 26)
- India's oil ministry announnced that it wants to raise imports of Iranian crude oil - even though U.S. sanctions call for a cut - and argued its case in a memorandum released ahead of a meeeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Oil accounts for about a third of India's total imports and higher dollar prices combined with a rupee near all-time lows have increased its cost, adding pressure to a bloated current account deficit.
(Reuters, September 23)
- In a setback to Western efforts to isolate the Iranian regime over its nuclear program, the General Court in Brussels, the European Union’s second-highest tribunal, ruled that the EU should lift sanctions imposed against seven Iranian companies. The court ruled that the bloc wrongly imposed sanctions against these companies as part of its efforts to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The companies are: Post Bank Iran, Iran Insurance Company, Good Luck Shipping, Export Development Bank of Iran, Persia International Bank, Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Co and Bank Refah Kargaran. "We are very disappointed by the court's decision," a U.S. Treasury spokesman said in a statement. "The evidence linking these banks to Iran's illicit nuclear activities is clear and strong, and no financial institution anywhere should allow these Iranian banks to transact with them."
(New York Times, September 6)
- Estimates provided by a senior U.S. official showed that the American government has concluded that nearly half of Iran's monthly earnings from crude oil exports are accumulating in accounts overseas because of sanctions that restrict Tehran's access to the money. The estimates show that about $1.5 billion in crude oil revenues is piling up in restricted foreign accounts every month. Crude revenues overall averaged about $3.4 billion monthly in the first half of year, according to the assessment. That means Iran is not able to either spend or repatriate about 44 percent of its crude oil income.
(Associated Press, August 30)
- Oman’s Oil and Gas Minister signed a memorandum of understanding with his Iranian counterpart Bijan Namdar Zanganeh to accelerate implementation of previous letters of intent signed between the two countries for gas cooperation. (
Shana, August 27, 2013)
- Following the inauguration of Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani, who replaces outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 76 members of the U.S. Senate sent a
letter urging President Obama to step up
sanctions and bring "a renewed sense of urgency" to stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The letter notes overtures by Rohani to make more transparent the Iranian nuclear program that he insists is peaceful, but it also demands that Iran agree to remove its stockpiles of
20 percent enriched uranium. Rohani has categorically refused to suspend uranium enrichment. The letter was initiated by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
(The Telegraph, August 3)
- By a vote of 400-20, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.850 -
Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013. The bill would hit Iran with the toughest sanctions yet over its nuclear program by blocking Iran from exporting any oil abroad. International sanctions have already cut Iran's oil sales in half, but lawmakers wanted to send Tehran a strong signal following the election of
Hassan Rouhani. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), a co-sponsor of the measure, said "today the House took a critical step toward crippling this regime to prevent a nuclear Iran and dire security consequences."
(Los Angeles Times, July 31)
- Despite a report by the UN Panel of Experts on Iran that said Iran's ballistic missile tests of July 2012 qualified as a violation of UN restrictions, the 15-member UN Security Council failed to reach a unanimous decision to declare the tests illegal. The division, led by Russia and China, effectively rules out any expansion of sanctions against Tehran over the tests for the time being. As long as the sanctions committee remains divided, it will be difficult for the Security Council to add names of any Iranian individuals or entities linked to the missile tests.
(Chicago Tribune, July 15)
- Under the patronage of Federal Environment Minister Peter Altmaier and Federal Minister of Economics Philipp Rösler, Germany is planning to hold a July conference on "Energy Security," among whose speakers are Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi, a general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Ghasemi will speak despite the fact that the EU has imposed sanctions against Iran's energy sector and the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum is as an entity on the EU sanctions list.
(Commentary, July 9)
- Two top Chinese shipping lines - China Shipping Container Lines Co. and COSCO Container Lines - severed ties with Iran in compliance with the stringent new round of Western sanctions that came into effect July 1. The U.S. National Defense Authorization Act blacklists Iran's shipping, energy and port management sectors. Since much of Iran's imports, including food and consumer goods, arrive by ship, the latest set of sanctions are likely to worsen an already deep economic crisis and leave the country increasingly dependent on front companies and overland routes.
(Reuters, July 1)
- Communications satellite service provider Intelsat took several Iranian channels off the air on July 1 to comply with a new round of American sanctions targeting Iran’s state-run radio and TV company, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), and its president, Ezzatollah Zarghami. The Iranian channels reportedly taken off the air includes Press TV, Hispan TV and Al-Alam as well as IRIB 1 and 2 and Sahar TV. Bijan Nobaveh, a member of the cultural commission in Iran's parliament, described the move as illegal, illogical and biased.
(Asharq Alawsat, July 2)
- Yukiyo Amano, the U.N. nuclear agency chief, told Reuters that sanctions have been unsuccessful in slowing down Iran's progress in expanding its nuclear program. Amano said he remained committed to dialogue with Iran to address the IAEA's concerns about what it calls the possible military dimensions to the country's nuclear program. "There is a steady increase of capacity and production [in Iran's nuclear program]," Amano said. Asked if steps aimed at making Iran curb its atomic activity were slowing it down, he said: "I don't think so ... I don't see any impact."
(Reuters, June 17)
- South Korea's government said the country's top two shippers - Hanjin Shipping Company and Hyundai Merchant Marine Company - had ended direct shipments to Iran in May. The two shippers will also cease trans-shipments of freight ultimately destined for, or originating in, Iran from June 15 ahead of a new round of sanctions on Iran approved by U.S. President Barack Obama. Hanjin and Hyundai, the only two South Korean shippers that were still dealing with Iran, both confirmed that they are cooperating in efforts against Iran's nuclear programme.
(Reuters, June 11)
- Maryland businessman Nader Modanlo was convicted by jury for illegally facilitating a satellite deal between Iran and Russia that helped the Islamic Republic launch a satellite of its own for the first time. Modanlo was convicted of conspiring to violate the government’s long-standing embargo that prohibits U.S. citizens from directly or indirectly doing business with Iran. Prosecutors said Modanlo tried to get around the embargo by using a front company in Switzerland to conceal the involvement of Iran and funnel money to his bank account.
(Washington Post, June 10)
- The U.S. State Department exempted several countries, including China and India, from financial sanctions targeting Iranian oil sales because those countries have continued to reduce their purchases of Iranian crude oil. Under a law passed in 2011, the U.S. can sanction any firms that buy Iranian crude, but it can also grant exemptions from sanctions to countries which have made a "significant reduction" in imports from Iran. In March 2012, the U.S. gave exceptions to Japan and 10 European countries. This round of exemptions went to China, India, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan.
(Wall Street Journal, June 5)
- U.S. President Barack Obama approved a new
Executive Order to further tighten American sanctions on Iran and isolate the Iranian government for its continued failure to meet its international obligations. This new action targets Iran's currency by authorizing the imposition of sanctions on foreign financial institutions that knowingly conduct or facilitate significant transactions for the purchase or sale of the Iranian rial. This marks the first time that trade in the rial has been targeted directly for sanctions. The order also authorizes the imposition of new sanctions against those who knowingly engage in significant financial or other transactions for the sale, supply, or transfer to Iran of significant goods or services used in connection with Iran's automotive sector, which builds on the sanctions in the
Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 that targets Iranian shipping and energy sectors.
(White House, June 3)
- Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird announced on May 29 that Canada will immediately halt all bilateral trade with Iran to protest the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions and abysmal human rights record. "The absence of progress ... leads Canada to ban effectively immediately all imports and exports from Iran," Baird told reporters. In 2012, bilateral trade between Canada and Iran was worth around $130 million USD.
(Reuters, May 29)
- The U.S. Senate unanimously approved simple resolution 65 calling on the government to support the full implementation of United States and international sanctions on Iran and urging the President to continue to strengthen enforcement of sanctions legislation. The resolution, which passed on a vote of 99-0, also condemned inciteful statements made by Iranian government officials and reiterated U.S. support for Israel if a military confrontation with Iran were to occur.
(Library of Congress, May 23)
- On May 22, the IAEA - the UN's nuclear watchdog - released their quarterly report on the Iranian nuclear program and detailed rapid Iranian progress in two programs that the West fears are geared toward making nuclear weapons. The report says that Tehran has upgraded its uranium enrichment facilities by installing close to 700 high-tech centrifuges which can produce the core of nuclear weapons. It also said Tehran had added hundreds of older-generation machines at its main enrichment site to bring the total number to more than 13,000. The report also noted that Iran has been paving over areas at the Parchin site where alleged experiments with test blasts took place.
(Washington Post, May 22)
- According to customs data released by South Korea, the country has reduced the volume of its oil imports from Iran by 50%.
(Radiofarda.com, May 16)
- A partial tally of the business between U.S. companies and Iran for 2012 found a distrubingly high amount of trade. US-listed companies made more than $540 million in gross revenue and $15.5 million in profits from their business with Iran in 2012 — and that's only counting 30 or so large companies that made disclosures since mid-February 2013. While the numbers underscore the difficulty of maintaining tight sanctions in a global economy they also hide a lot of nuance and variation: Companies based outside the US accounted for 99% of the revenue and three-quarters of the profit; $414 million in revenue came from Statoil ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas company that works with the National Iranian Oil Company; biggest disclosure by a US company came from auto-parts maker TRW Automotive Holdings, which said it collected $8.3 million in revenue and $377,000 in profits from non-US subsidiaries that sold products to Iranian companies. Dell, the Texas computer company, disclosed a whopping $169.90 in revenue from Iran.
(Quartz, March 28)
- Trade between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran fell by nearly a third from 2011 to 2012 as Western sanctions finally began to affect this main avenue of trade for the Islamic Republic. Iran and the UAE have been close trade partners for decades. While banks in the UAE were slow to initally follow suit with sanctions, given their dependence on the strong revenue stream during the tough times since the financial crisis triggered a collapse in the real estate markets of Dubai and then Abu Dhabi, years of U.S. lobbying has led to more strictly enforced regulations.
(Financial Times, March 26)
- While South Korea announced that it has dramatically decreased the pace of its crude-oil imports from Iran, Chinese officials say that their Iranian oil imports continue unabated. Imports of oil by Southe Korea were down 30% in February 2013 compared with February 2012 and down 25% versus January 2013, according to preliminary data from state-run Korea National Oil Corp. China, meanwhile, saw its imports from Iran rise by 2.7% in the first two months of 2013 after rising by 74% on year to 2 million tons.
(Wall Street Journal, March 22)
- Fifty-six members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Secretary of State John Kerry urging them to take action against Iranian reflagging, a tactic that Iran uses to disguise the origin of vessels carrying illicit goods to and from Iran. The letter, sponsored by Reps. Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), calls on State and Treasury to "seriously consider sanctioning registries that knowingly participate in efforts to reflag oil tankers and cargo vessels" operated by designated Iranian companies.
(U.S. House of Representatives, March 13)
- The United States extended waivers on Iran sanctions to Japan and 10 European countries in exchange for their cutting of oil purchases from Iran. The ten European countries are: Beglium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. Renewal of the waivers, known as exceptions, means that banks in these countries have been given a third consecutive 180-day reprieve from the threat of being cut off from the U.S. financial system under the sanctions. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement, "Today's determination is another example of the international community's commitment to convince Iran to meet its international obligations."
(Reuters, March 13)
- According to a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian oil shipments advanced 13 percent in February 2013 even as the U.S. implemented additional sanctions complicating sales from the Islamic Republic. Countries purchased 1.28 million barrels a day from Iran that month, compared with an 1.13 million barrels daily in January 2013. "The only thing clear is that the current stalemate between Iran and the West is unsustainable," the IEA said in the report. "Sooner or later, something has to give."
(Bloomberg News, March 13)
- An investigation conducted by the federal prosecutor's office of Germany revealed that Iranian front companies based in Istanbul had transported 941 items with nuclear applications through Turkey. According to the report, German police detected that materials with nuclear applications obtained in Germany and India were transported to the Mitech company in Iran through Turkey by an Iranian national, Hossein Tanideh. Mitech is under US and European Union-imposed sanctions. Turkish police found out that 91 items with nuclear applications were sent, on seven occasions, to Iran from Germany via Turkey, while 856 nuclear items were sent, on four occasions, from India to Iran via Turkey.
(Today's Zaman, March 12)
- Trade between Iran and China dropped by 18 percent in 2012, to $37 billion, due to a number of banking sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic. "Iran-China trade fell to $37 billion in 2012 from $45 billion in 2011," Assadollah Asgaroladi, director of the Sino-Iranian Chamber of Commerce, was quoted as saying. "Iranian exporters and importers who are seeking increase in trade volume are facing banking problems."
(Agence France-Presse, March 4)
- A Chinese businessman indicted in the United States over sales of missile parts to Iran is still making millions of dollars from the trade, say security officials who monitor compliance with Western and U.N. sanctions. Businessman Li Fangwei has earned at least $10 million from illegal sales to Iran since his indictment by the New York County District Attorney in 2009. Li's alleged activities may point to Iran's ability to circumvent Western sanctions. A U.S. State Department official said Li had been sanctioned because of his "proliferation to Iran" since 2009.
(Reuters, March 1)
- Bipartisan legislation was introduced to both Houses of the U.S. Congress calling for greatly expanded sanctions on Iran, amounting to what would potentially be a commercial trade embargo if fully carried out. The measure looks to build on existing laws that restrict business dealings with Iran, widen the list of blacklisted Iranian companies and individuals and potentially block Iran's access to foreign bank assets held in euros. The legislation - called the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act - would also penalize foreign companies and individuals that violate the American sanctions by threatening them with restrictions on doing business with the United States.
(New York Times, February 27)
- A bipartisan group of 36 U.S. Senators - including Diane Feinstein [D-CA] and Marco Rubia [R-FL] - wrote a strongly-worded letter to the European Council, urging the bank to deny Iran access to its Euro-denominated foreign exchange reserves by stopping the Islamic Republic from using the "Target2" clearing system. "We are writing to request your immediate support in close a significant loophole in US-EU sanctions policy," said the letter. "We strongly urge you to take all necessary measures to immediately cut off Iran's ability to use its foreign-held euros by prohibiting direct or indirect access to Target2 services by or on behalf of accounts owned or controlled by the Government of Iran or its affiliates. We are concerned that these euro conversions in turn free up significant funds to finance Iranian imports, stabilise Iran's monthly budget and allows the regime to continue to engage in sanctionable and illicit activities."
(The Telegraph, February 26)
- According to details released from a confidential report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has already begun installing roughly 180 advanced IR-2M centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. While the centrifuges were not yet operational, such machines could enable Iran to significantly speed up its accumulation of material that could be used to make a nuclear weapon. Iran alerted the IAEA in January 2013 of its intention to upgrade the Natanz enrichment facilities.
(Jerusalem Post, February 22)
- Over the past ten months, Iran has exported nearly $700 million worth of pistachios. The nuts are Iran’s seventh largest export product. Over 65% of all exports go to Hong Kong, the UAE and Russia. Other purchasers include Germany, Iraq, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Belgium and Turkey. (February 22)
- According to a Gallup poll conducted in Iran during December 2012, a majority of Iranians (56%) say sanctions the United Nations, the U.S., and Western Europe imposed on the Islamic Republic have hurt their personal livelihoods a great deal. However, a majority of Iranians (63%) are also seemingly willing to pay the high price of sanctions and say that Iran should continue to develop its nuclear program, even given the scale of sanctions. One in two Iranians supported their country developing its own nuclear power capabilities for nonmilitary uses. Only 1 in 10 Iranians says their own government is most to blame for sanctions.
(Gallup World, February 11)
- Iran announced the purchase of two oil supertankers from China, each having the cargo carrying capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil, and three other smaller ships which all joined the Iranian fleet at the begining of 2013. The Atlantis and the Infinity oil tankers were part of a $ 1.2 million agreement between Iran and Chinese shipbuilding companies signed in 2009, under which 12 oil tankers are to be built.
(Iranian Students' News Agency, February 8)
- The United States tightened the rules governing countries it has allowed to keep buying Iranian oil. From February 6, 2012, on, when China, Japan, South Korea and India and other exempt countries, pay for oil deliveries, they will not pay Iran directly; instead, the money must be deposited into a local bank account, which Iran can use only to buy goods within that country. Violators would be denied access to the United States banking system, "though as a political matter it is difficult to imagine that ever being enforced."
(New York Times, February 6)
- A European Union court ruled that the EU should lift sanctions it imposed on one of Iran's largest banks, the second such judgment that could complicate Western efforts to increase pressure on the Islamic Republic. In its ruling, the EU's General Court said the EU had failed to provide sufficient evidence that Bank Saderat was involved in Iran's nuclear program when the bloc targeted it with sanctions starting in July 2010. Earlier, the court issued a similar ruling about of Bank Mellat, the biggest private sector lender in Iran.
(Reuters, February 6)
- The United States has failed to open a trade route from Afghanistan that provides an alternative to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. Consequently, millions of tons of goods are transported from the Iranian port to Turkey, the Mediterranean, Russia and Europe.
(Foreign Policy, February 4)
- Industry sources, quoting shipping and customs data, said that Iran's crude oil exports in December 2012 were at their highest level since the imposition of European Union sanctions on Iran's energy sector in Summer 2012. Experts warned that increased demand from China, India and Japan have allowed the Islamic Republic to boost its exports. Overall, Western sanctions against Iran have succeeded in halving Iran's oil exports from 2011 to 2012, causing the loss of billions of dollars in revenue, however there is no consensus whether the sanctions are actually affecting Iran's nuclear program. "We continue to engage in close consultations with our international partners on U.S. sanctions with the objective of maintaining pressure on Iran to comply with its international obligations," said U.S. State Department spokesman John Finn.
(Reuters, January 31)
- Over the past nine months, the UAE, China, Turkey, South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, India and Italy were the ten largest exporters of merchandise to Iran. During this period, the greatest increase involved imports from Panama (approximately 3000%), while the greatest decrease occurred in imports from Sweden. Iranian imports from Cyprus, Thailand, the UK, Australia, Syria, U.S. and Argentina significantly rose during this period. Iranian imports from the U.S. in this period surged by 37.8%, totaling USD 109 million.
(Iranian Students' News Agency, January 24)
- Japanese police arrested two men and one woman for sending money to an Iranian shipping company in violation of sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The funds are believed to have been wired to a firm that is involved with Iran's nuclear weapons program. The three suspects, who work for the Ben Line Agencies Japan shipping company, have denied the charges that they sent 14 million yen (~$160,000) to a Singapore-based company with known connections to the government-backed Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL). Investigators say these are Japan’s first arrests made in relation to sanctions on Iran.
(Japan Daily Press, January 23)
- Vali Nasr, dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C., said during the World Economic Forum in Davos that the sanctions regime against Iran over its nuclear activity "really has reached its end." He later added, "you really are looking at a scenario where Iran is going to rush very quickly towards nuclear power, because they also think, like North Korea, that (then) you have much more leverage to get rid of these sanctions."
(Associated Press, January 23)
- Adam Szubin, director the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which supervises American enforcement of sanctions on Iran, said that despite the economic sanctions levied against the Islamic Republic, Tehran is still finding some ways to bypass them. Szubin noted that the Iranians were using private exchange houses and trading companies in other countries, masking transactions with fake identities and relying on the paperless practice known as hawala, common in parts of the Middle East and Asia, in which money is transferred informally and often illegally through trustworthy couriers. "This is an evolving and emerging threat," Szubin said. "Two years ago we saw little of this because Iran was able to find banks that were able to handle its business."
(New York Times, January 10)
- Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz visited Washington to press senior US officials to lay out a tougher line on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities. The time has come for President Barack Obama to give Iran a "very clear ultimatum, very clear deadline combined with a very credible also military threat" Steinitz told a group of reporters before planned meetings with Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and other administration officials. Steinitz said he would discuss with Geithner and other White House and State Department officials what Israel perceives as loopholes in sanctions and Iran’s efforts to subvert legal restrictions.
(Jerusalem Post, January 8)
- Gholam Reza Kateb, head of the Iranian parliament’s budget committee, said oil exports have dropped 40 percent in the last nine months and revenues from the oil and gas exports have dropped by 45 percent. He said the reduction is in direct correlation to the sanctions levied on Iran over its nuclear program. Despite the significant hit to Iran's economy, its leaders have given no indication that they might give in to the pressure and scale back their nuclear development program.
(Washington Post, January 7)
- On January 3, US President Barack Obama signed into law the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, including additional sanctions levied against Iranian energy, shipping and shipbuilding sectors as well as Iran's ports, blacklisting them as "entities of proliferation concern." The bill, HR 4310, passed both houses of the Congress in December 2012 and was signed by President Obama without amendment on any of the Iran-related sections. The bill also imposes penalties on anyone caught supplying precious metals to Iran and sanctions on Iranian broadcasting. Additionally, the billI targets the state broadcast network, called the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, which the law says violated human rights by broadcasting forced confessions and show trials. The law orders the U.S. Treasury to slap sanctions on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and its president, Ezzatollah Zargami.
(Wall Street Journal, January 3)
- Iran is using a variety of creative methods to evade Western sanctions on oil sales. "Using ship-to-ship transfers, discharging and loading at remote ports and blending the Iranian fuel oil with other fuels to disguise the origin have become popular tactics for the Gulf-based middlemen and helped keep sales steady."
(Reuters, December 20)
- The U.S. put new sanctions on Iran that targeted a handful of companies and individuals purportedly giving materials and technology to Iran's nuclear program. Among those targeted are Professor Fereydoun Abbasi Davani, who heads the Iran Atomic Energy Organization. The companies on this sanctions list are: FaraTech, the Neda Industrial Group, Aria Nikan Marine Industry, Towled Abzar Boreshi, Iran Pouya, Terjerat Gostar, and Tarh O Palayesh.
(CNN, December 14)
- Canada amended its Special Economic Measures: Iran Regulations to list an additional 98 entities associated with the Iranian regime as designated persons. The amendment increases the pressure on entities that support Iran's nuclear program including but not limited to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij paramilitary organization. These measures also target economic sectors that indirectly support or provide funding to the Iranian nuclear program, such as oil and gas, mining, metals, and shipping. Finally, the amended regulations help further to isolate Iran from the global financial infrastructure.
(CTV News, December 11)
- Iran conducted $65.4 billion in trade of non-oil goods with other countries during the first eight months of the Iranian calendar year, which began on March 20, 2012. Iraq, China, and the United Arab Emirates were the three top importers of Iranian goods during the period, while the United Arab Emirates, China, and Turkey were the leading exporters of goods to Iran. An Iranian official said Iran conducted economic transactions with 150 countries in the previous Iranian calendar year (March 2011-2012).
(Tehran Times, December 2)
- The U.S. Senate unanimously approved new sanctions on Iran's energy, port, shipping and non-shipping sectors in yet another move to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program. "We must be clear to the Iranians that toughing it out and waiting it out is not an option, that it will only get worse," said Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, who co-sponsored the sanctions bill with Republic Senator Mark Kirk and Independent Senator Joe Lieberman. The sanctions include measures aimed at stopping the flow of gold from Turkey to Iran but maintains exemptions for countries that have yet to make significant cuts to their purchases of Iranian crude oil.
(Haaretz, November 30)
- In late November, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and top economic policy make Ali Babacan announced that his country has sidestepped US and European sanctions against Iran by paying for natural gas imports with gold. "In essence, gold exports [to Iran] end up like payments for our natural gas purchases," Mr. Babacan said. "Turkey is depositing the payment for the gas we purchase from Iran to Iran's account in Turkey." Western sanctions against the Iranian energy sector bans the Islamic Republic from receiving payments for gas exports in dollars or euros and Turkey's announcement sheds light on how countries breach the international sanctions regime.
(Wall Street Journal, November 23)
- The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 17 Iranian individuals and entities involved in the government's censorship activities and support for terrorism. They include Ali Fazli, deputy commander of the Basig militia that has attacked websites; Reza Taghipour, minister of communications and information technology, who was responsible for jamming satellite television and blocking internet connectivity; and Rasool Jalili, who was involved in trying to obtain Internet monitoring equipment. Iran's Center to Investigate Organized Crime was also sanctioned for helping the government censor websites and identify opposition activists, while the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance as well as the Iranian Press Supervisory Board were also sanctioned.
(Bloomberg News, November 8)
- The European Union banned the import of Iranian natural gas into EU countries in an effort to raise the pressure on Iran in hope of enticing the country to come to the negotiating table ready to discuss its nuclear program in earnest. This latest step is part of a new round of sanctions against Iran's banking, shipping, and industrial sectors. In the announcement, EU ministers expressed "serious and deepening concerns" over Iran's nuclear progress and underlined that "the restrictive measures agreed [to] are aimed at affecting Iran's nuclear program and revenues of the Iranian regime to fund its program and are not aimed at the Iranian people."
(Times of Israel, October 15)
- A leading European satellite provider took 19 Iranian television and radio broadcasters off the air due to EU sanctions punishing human rights abusers.
(Commentary, October 10)
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that Iran will be able to lower its currently high inflation rate despite Western-imposed sanctions. According to the IMF's semi-annual World Economic Outlook, Iran's economy will not collapse as a result of the strong rounds of economic sanctions, even though they are hurting its oil exports severely. However, much of the IMF analysis is based on information provided by the Iranian government, which may not be entirely accurate. Additionally, the report was filed before the Iranian currency, the rial, plummeted by roughly a third against the dollar in a mere 10 days through October 2. Nevertheless, IMF experts estimate that Iranian unemployment will decline next year and that the country will experience a surplus of 2.4% GDP this year and 1.3% next year.
(Reuters, October 9)
- In spite of the European Union's inclusion of Iran on its sanctions list, the German Academic Exchange Service (or Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, i.e. DAAD) signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran's Science, Research, and Technology ministry. DAAD acts with the approval of Germany's Foreign Ministry, so this latest development seems to indicate an uneven policy from Berlin vis-a-vis Iran's nuclear program.
- Iranian chief nuclear scientist Fereydoon Abbasi admitted to the Arabic daily newspaper Al-Hayat that the Iranian government has repeatedly in the past provided false information to international agencies such as the IAEA in order to protect its nuclear program. Abbasi did not specify the nature of the false information nor did he say when it had been presented. Accusing foreign intelligence services, such as Britain's MI6 of spying on Iran's nuclear program, Abbasi said, "We presented false information sometimes in order to protect our nuclear position and our achievements, as there is no other choice but to mislead foreign intelligence ... sometimes we present a weakness that we do not in fact really have, and sometimes we appear to have power without having it."
(New York Times, September 20)
- Despite sanctions aimed at slowing Iranian progress to develop nuclear weapons, a report released by the IAEA shows that Iran added 1,076 centrifuges to their Fordow enrichment facility, which already had 1,064. Additionally, the Islamic Republic has now amassed nearly 438 pounds of 20% enriched uranium at both the Fordow and Natanz plants. At the same time, Iran is sharply increasing its capability to produce more rapidly the 20% enriched uranium and to go even higher to the 90%, weapons-grade level.
- The United States extended exemptions from sanctions on business with Iran to Japan and 10 European countries because they have significantly reduced their purchases of petroleum from the Islamic Republic. The US originally granted these 11 nations exemptions from sanctions in March 2012 as a way of forcing them to reduce their reliance on Iranian oil. The new extensions will enable banks in Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, Frnace, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Japan to continue working with Iran without facing penalties for at least another 180 days.
(Xinhua News, September 15)
- Despite what the United States and European Union call some of the toughest economic sanctions ever imposed, Iran is still finding legal ways to sell or barter oil to its most important markets in Asia. To continue selling crude oil to India, Tehran is accepting payment in rice, medicine, engineering supplies and steel. To sell to China, the Islamic Republic is delivering the oil on its own tankers backed by state insurance, not on the commercial tankers used in the past. And to deliver to Japan, Iran is having the Japanese furnish the multibillion-dollar marine insurance its ships need to carry Iranian oil.
(Los Angeles Times, September 10)
- Russia and China joined the four major Western powers - the U.S., France, Germany and Britain - at an IAEA meeting to increase diplomatic pressure on Iran regarding its nuclear weapons program. The six world powers agreed on a draft resolution at the U.N. nuclear agency that admonishes Iran over its ever-growing uranium enrichment program and elucidates their preference for a peaceful resolution to the current dispute.
- The European Union began consideration of a new round of sanctions against Iran due to its continued drive towards amassing a nuclear weapons capability. Despite Russian protests tht sanctions have become "extra-territorial" in nature and are harming its own business interests, EU foreign ministers spoke of the need to increase pressure on Iran for failing to make progress in negotations over it nuclear program. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said, "we consider unacceptable, highly dangerous, the prospect of Iran possessing nuclear weapons." "Atomic weapons in Iran are not acceptable," added German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.
- Prosecutors in the United States believe they unearthed evidence in recent international money-transfer investigations that Chinese banks have flouted Western sanctions against Iran by funnelling billions of dollars through US and UK branches. The two London-based banks, HSBC and Standard Chartered, have extensive business in Asia and executives refused to comment on the allegations.
(CNBC, Augsut 30)
- Documents obtained by the UK's The Sunday Telegraph in Quito, Ecuador, reveal that detailed plans were drawn up to establish substantial banking mechanisms between Ecuador and Iran, even though they lie 8,000 miles apart and have only the tiniest of trade links. Thenew financial ties have prompted suspicions that the real intention is to help Tehran circumvent sanctions by channelling funds through Quito. "The trading links between the two countries are marginal, so this new orientation by our government can only be explained in ideological terms or hidden deals," said Cesar Montufar, an opposition leader who first helped reveal the Iranian ties last month.
(Telegraph, August 26)
- Iran began constructing a $300 million anti-aircraft missile base near the Southern Iranian city of Abadeh; the facility is scheduled to host 7 battalions, according to at top commander. Furthermore, Iranian Defense Minister General Ahmad Vahidi said by March 2013, Iran will commission a new generation of fighter jets, missiles, unmanned drones and submarines.
(Times of Israel, August 21)
- German police arrested four men suspeced of delivering valves for a heavy water nuclear reactor to Iran, breaking a European embargo on such exports to the Islamic Republic. "In 2010 and 2011 the suspects are believed to have helped in the delivery of special valves for the construction of a heavy water reactor in Iran and therefore to have broken the Iran embargo," prosecutors said in a statement on Wednesday.
(Guardian, August 15)
- President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order authorizing expanded sanctions on Iran through the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to make sanctionable the conducting or facilitating of business with a private of public foreign financial institution for the purchase of Iranian oil. This sanction is designed to deter Iran or any other country from establishing payment mechanisms for the purchase of Iranian oil to circumvent the NDAA sanctions. Additionally, existing sanctions on Iran's petrochemical industry are expanded by making saanctionable significant transactions for the purchase or acquisition of Iranian petrochemical products.Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies explains the timing: "To demonstrate that the administration can be proactive and not just reactionary on sanctions and to deal with the criticism that Congress has forced the administration into adopting the most forceful measures which, after initially rejecting, the administration is now embracing enthusiastically and touting their efficacy."
(Washington Post, July 31)
- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta acknowledged that increasingly stiff international sanctions have yet to compel Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. "These sanctions are having a serious impact in terms of the economy in Iran," Panetta told reporters during a visit in Tunisia. "And while the results of that may not be obvious at the moment, the fact is that they have expressed a willingness to negotiate and they continue to seem interested in trying to find a diplomatic solution," he said. Panetta also argued that more pressure eventually would lead Iran to "do what's right."
- The International Institute for Strategic Studies released a report that said sanctions on Iran - specifically those imposed by the United States since December 2011 and by the United Nations Security Council since Junee 2010 - have stymied efforts by the Islamic Republic to develop and produce long-range ballistic missiles capable of striking potential targets in western Europe and beyond. The report noted that sanctions have not worked to slow uraniun enrichment processes or prevented Iran from stockpiling fissile material, however, without access to the key propellant ingredients and components needed to produce large solid-propellant rocket motors, Iran will be halted in its ability to produce the weapons.
- An Israeli legal organization warned British satellite company Immarsat that it would pursue legal action against the company if it continued to provide guidance systems to Iranian commerical and military vehicles. According to the Shurat HaDin, the Ramat Gan-based legal group, Immarsat continues to provide critical services to Iran despite sanctions on such business imposed by the United States and European Union. A letter to Immarsat stated that Shurat HaDin wrote told the company to stop providing mobile satellites or risk "civil liability from American citizens or others who suffer as a result of Iran's international sponsorship of terrorism."
(Times of Israel, July 25)
- The United States imposes additional sanctions on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile proliferation networks, aiming to prevent the Islamic Republic from evading the effects of sanctions by targeting individuals, companies, and banks that do businesss with Iran. The Treasury and State Departments designated 11 entities and 4 individuals as part of a network of proliferators headed by Iran's Ministry of Defense for Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) and its subsidiary, Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO). The new sanctions also publicly exposed numerous front companies, ships and banks that work for the government of Iran.
(United States Department of State, July 12)
- A list released of German companies conducting bilateral trade with Iran, including the selling of "dual-use" products, shows that trade continued unabate between the two countries until at least the end of calendar year 2011. Merchandize that can be used for military and civilian purposes falls under the rubric of "dual-use" goods. Germany is part of the P5+1 who have been making efforts to sanction the Islamic Republic, however Germany's Federal Statistical Office said that bilateral trade with Iran in 2011 totaled nearly 4 billion Euros.
(Jerusalem Post, July 9)
- South Korea announced that it will halt all oil imports from Iran as a result of the EU ban on insuring shipments of Iranian crude. South Korea's government had been in talks with the EU to extend exemptions for South Korea, which imported about 9 percent of its oil from Iran in 2011, however the EU Council said exemptions from Iran sanctions will end on July 1 as scheduled. In 2011, South Korea imported 87 million barrels of Iranian rude, up 20 percent from 2010.
- The European Union agreed that the oil ban against Iran will come into force as planned on July 1. Commenting on the move, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "Today the EU has agreed that the oil ban against Iran will come into force as planned on the 1 July. This is an important step and one for which the UK Government has argued strongly ... these restrictive measures are the toughest ever adopted against the Iranian Government. They reflect the international community's resolve, and our determination, to intensify the peaceful pressure on Iran until it starts to build confidence that its nuclear programme is purely peaceful."
(UK Government, June 25)
- Records released in China showed that the Asian country more than doubled its imports of Iranian oil during April and May of 2012, a spike that effectively reverses the belief that China was starting to fall in line with Western efforts to sanction Iran. Shippers in China, as well, have begun to capitalize on the Western sanctions, increasing their business with Iran and guaranteeing the Islamic republic's crude export shipments.
(The Diplomat, June 14)
- The IAEA released a report that confirmed Iran is still moving ahead with its uranium enrichment work in defiance of Security Council resolutions and despite Western efforts to impose sanctions in order to cut off Iran's nuclear program.. The IAEA report shows than Iran has significantly increased its production of 3.5% low-enriched uranium (has amassed nearly 750kg more than what was reported in the previous IAEA report), that it continues to stock 19.75% low-enriched uranium, and that its IR-1 centrifruge performance is increasing. According to independent analysis by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), the report means that Iran has enough enriched uranium to fill five nuclear bombs if refined much further.
(Reuters, May 26)
- China imported nearly 390,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day, a 48% from March 2012, after imports had dropped earlier in the year. China's imports shows that Beijing remains a steady customer despite U.S. efforts to tighten sanctions on Tehran.
(Wall Street Journal, May 21)
- The United Kingdom was said to be persuading EU countries to delay implementation of sanctions against companies providing insurance to tankers carrying oil from Iran. Britain fears that the ban on insurance could lead to a dramatic spike in oil prices which would significantly damage the already weak European economy. The EU ban, meant to take effect July 1, would prevent European insurers from covering ships carrying Iranian crude anywhere in the world in an effort to stem the influx of money to Iran and thus force it to halt it nuclear program. "Britain will be pushing the EU to postpone the ban on protection and indemnity insurance by six month," said one diplomatic source.
(Reuters, May 9)
- An Oxfam report and data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute showed that Iran has imported over £350 million worth of weapons over the past three years, despite being subject to international sanctions. The country's success in " in tapping the international arms market showed the ineffectiveness of current restrictions." The UN Security Council, back in 2007, had requested countries to "exercise restraint" in supplying arms to Iran.
(Telegraph, May 3)
- Switzerland decided against sanctioning Iran's central bank or imposing an embargo on Iranian oil, failing to follow in the footsteps of the EU. The Swiss Economics Committee said that the country would not follow the EU in freezing the assets of the Iranian central bank "due to its importance for the Iranian economy." While Switzerland does not directly import Iranian oil, the Swiss position could impact the activities of oil companies based in the trading hub of Geneva.
(Jerusalem Post, April 18)
- A survey of Iran's shipping fleet showed that only seven of its 25 very large crude carriers were operating on-board transponders, which allow computers to track vessels. Going "off-radar," Iran is showing another way it is developed to sidestep international sanctions against the regime. Ships are obliged by international law to have a satellite tracking device on board when travelling at sea, but with them turned off it is increasingly difficult to gauge how much is moving out of the country's main terminal at Kharg Island.
(Reuters, April 13)
- An intelligence report released by an independent energy policy group showed that Greece could become the achilles heal to EU efforts to cut out all Iranian oil imports. Over the past two years, Greece's oil imports from Iran have spiked to just under 200,000 barrels per day and Iran's share of Greece's crude imports has more than doubled (26% to 53%) as other countries have shied away from the economically unstable Greece. The intelligence report also noted that Spain and Italy, two other EU member nations, have become increasingly dependent on Iranian oil imports. These three countries consume nearly 90% of Iran's total oil exports to the European mainland, a factor that could eventually lead to the failure of EU sanctions.
(Reuters, April 22)
November 2011- The EU was shown to account for nearly 20% of all Iranian oil purchases in the first half of 2011, which helped to nullify the effects of any sanctions imposed against the Islamic regime. Italy, Spain and France were the leading purchasers of Iranian oil in 2011.
(Reuters, November 24)
August 2011- Iran received 1 billion euros ($ 1.4 billion) from India for overdue oil debts. Indian refiners expect Iran to resume 400,000 barrels a day of oil exports in September 2011, since India began paying its debt that Iran Deputy Oil Minister Ahmad Qalebani said amounted to $4.8 billion.
(Reuters, Augsut 8)
January 2011- Examination of German government trade statistics revealed that German export trade to Iran increased from $4,159,920,000 between January and October 2009 to $4,175,687,000 during the same time period in 2010. Iranian imports to Germany climbed to $909,176 between January and October 2010 when compared to $574,261 during the identical time frame in 2009.
(Jerusalem Post, January 9)
- At the start of 2011, Iran was the second largest OPEC exporter, after Saudi Arabia, and during January - November 2010 generated revenues of $64 billion, an $11 billion increase over the full-year 2009 figure. Iran has also been chosen by OPEC members for the cartel's 2011 presidency.
(The Washington Institute, January 7)
- Swiss energy giant EGL signed a 25-year deal with the National Iranian Gas Export Company to buy 5.5 billion cubic meters of Iranian natural gas per year, starting in 2011, for approximately $20 billion.
(Jerusalem Post)
December 2010- By the end of 2010, the U.S. Treasury Department had granted nearly 10,000 special licenses to American companies so they could sell products in Iran and other countries the U.S. considers sponsors of terrorism. Most of the licenses were granted under a law allowing trade in humanitarian goods, though they included products as diverse as cigarettes and chewing gum.
(New York Times, December 21)
July 2010- An AFP report revealed China has invested an estimated $40 billion in Iran's oil and gas sector. According to Iran's Deputy Oil Minister, "The volume [of Chinese investment] in upstream projects is 29 billion dollars." He also added that China signed contracts worth an additional $10 billion in petrochemicals, refineries and oil and gas pipeline projects.
(Jerusalem Post, July 31)
January 2010- A top Russian arms trade official said Russia still considered Iran a valuable customer for its weapons and that no international agreements bar Russia from selling weapons to Tehran. In June 2010, despite the passing of UN Security Council Resolution 1929, Russia still said sanctions do not forbid the delivery of S-300 air-defense missiles to Iran.
(Jerusalem Post, January 28)
- As of the begining of 2010, there were around 1,000 Italian companies active in Iran, including Fiat, Ansaldo, Eni, Danieli, Duferco, and Maire Tecnimont, which signed a €200 million (~$287 million) gas deal with Iran. Other Italian companies, such as Carlo Gavazzi Space, have even equipped the regime's military and contributed to Iran's satellite program.
(Wall Street Journal, January 14)
September 2009- Chinese state companies began supplying petrol to Iran and now provide up to one-third of its imports.
(Financial Times, September 23)
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made clear that Moscow would not be involved in any new rounds of sanctions against Iran in the UN Security Council and dismissed a U.S. timetable for securing progress from Iran on ending its nuclear-fuel program.
(Wall Street Journal, September 11)
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sealed an agreement to export 20,000 barrels per day of gasoline to Iran.
(CNN, September 8)
June 2009- German petrochemical company Basell Polyolefine signed a €825 million trade deal with Iran to supply technology to build three plants involving synthetic and plastic material.
(Source, MONTH_DAY)
- Iran signed a $4.7 billion contract with the Chinese National Petroleum Company to develop part of South Pars, the world's largest reservoir of gas that is shared by Iran and Qatar.
(Gulf Media, June 5)
- Between January and July 2009, trade between the 27 European Union countries and Iran amounted to some €10 billion (about $14 billion).
(Wall Street Journal, February 5)
- Between 2000 and 2009, the U.S. government awarded over $107 billion in contract payments, grants and other benefits to foreign and multinational American companies engaged in business with Iran.
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