10 July 2015 (11:37 UTC-07 Tango 01)/19 Tir 1394/23 Ramadan 1436/25 Gui-Wie 4713
For years we in the United States have been told how impactful U.S. economic sanctions against Iran have been. Our main stream news media has no problem finding ‘experts’ who constantly tout that Iran “is suffering greatly under sanctions”, yet Iran has enough wealth to give Syria a $1-billion USD loan?
Syria’s government run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) also revealed that the loan was agreed to back in May. The Syrian parliament ratified it this week.
Syria needs the loan due to the four years old U.S./NATO-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia-Israel backed ‘civil war’ causing the Syrian economy to crash by 50%!
In another move to spur their economy the Syrian parliament banned the charging of interest, and even fees, on small business loans for farmers. Administrators don’t blame the U.S. led war, but say it’s due to the 2013-14 drought. Farmers have until the end of 2015 to become current on their loan payments.
However, Syrian government economists admit that the U.S. led war against the elected Syrian government is the main reason for their economic difficulties.
NATO Member Turkey is also working against Syria by cutting off 40% of water supplies to northern Syrian farmers. Syrian agricultural administrators are now working with Iraq to provide new sources of water.
The Syrian government is also working to protect the transportation of newly harvested wheat and cotton. Another option to help the farmers financially is the possible purchase of harvests by the government itself.
Despite the war, Syria is hosting the Agricultural Veterinary Exhibition. Syrian veterinary services are now an export commodity serving 42 countries. The CEO of Al-Farabi Company claims his company has 2-hundred licensed products and is expanding exports to Europe.
Syria is also holding Food Expo 2015, administrators stated it was a protest against the U.S. led war: “The exhibition is a message that the Syrians are determined to continue production and work.”-Kamal Eddin Toma, Industry Minister
Of course there’s oil. Oil production is slowly increasing since Syria has pushed the U.S. led insurgents out of oil producing regions. As of April petroleum oil production was at 9-thousand 5-hundred barrels, gas production at 15.6-million cubic meters, per day. The latest news is that Syria and the South American country Venezuela are working to accelerate the opening of the joint refinery project known as Furqlus.
Back in the U.S. sanctions strapped Iran, a new massive bridge is being built from the mainland to the island of Qeshm, in the Persian Gulf. It will be the longest bridge built by Iranian engineers and will have two lanes of wheeled vehicle traffic as well as a rail line. The Qeshm bridge is part of a new economic corridor extending all the way north into Central Asia. Qeshm island has massive amounts of iron ore. Once the bridge is completed it’s hoped that 7-million metric tons of iron ore will be shipped out to steel factories throughout the region.
On top of that, the government which is supposedly struggling under U.S. sanctions is investing $2-billion USD into the South Pars Sangan iron ore mining project. It’s expected to produce 17-million metric tons per year! Iran’s iron ore/steel production is expected to increase by 100%! Two Chinese companies are joining the massive iron ore extraction operations. Iran already exports 4-million metric tons of steel per year.
In March and April of 2015 Iranian exports hit $5-billion USD! That does not included oil or gas! NATO members Turkey and Italy join Pakistan and Oman as top buyers of Iranian products.
Speaking of U.S.-led NATO member Italy, a 3-hundred strong trade delegation is preparing to visit the Aryan (Iranian) country. Administrators with Iran’s Trade Exhibition Company have revealed that a “number of American companies” are now exploring the possibility of setting up shop inside Iran.
Wait, there’s more! Iranian airlines now have direct routes to the European Union and Russia. Iranian fisheries have signed deals with Russia to export 28-thousand metric tons of fish to Russia in August.
What was that about U.S. sanctions?