Syria and Venezuela operate a joint refinery in Alfrekls in the Syrian state of Homs. Iran now wants to increase its role in the operation of the refinery.
Iran currently owns 26% of the Alfrekls refinery, which can produce 140,000 barrels of oil per day. Iran has expressed a desire to increase its investments in the refinery.
Iraq and Syria announced plans to build a pipeline for natural gas, from Iran.
The 2,000 kilometer (1,242 mile) line will end up supplying gas to Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt.
“Iran reserves the right to hit back.”-Ramin Mehmanparast, Iran’s Foreign Ministry
Bahrain has ordered the second secretary in the Iranian embassy, Hujatullah Rahmani, to leave within 72 hours. They accuse him of being a spy for Kuwait.
Of course the accusation comes after Kuwait seemingly switched sides. Originally Kuwait supported the Saudi Arabian led invasion of Bahrain, but has backed off, and even made statements, in conjunction with Iran, condemning Bahrain.
Ironically Kuwait has also made statements supporting the Bahraini government. It seems Kuwait is trying to play on both sides of the fence. Iran has expelled three Kuwaiti diplomats, and is threatening to expel Bahraini diplomats as well.
The United States accuses Iran of interfering with Syria, and Iran accuses the U.S. of interfering in Bahrain.
First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi has shown his ignorance of world history, in statements made regarding Japan.
Rahimi said Japan should not bow to imperialist countries. Hello, Japan is an imperialist country, they have an Emperor!
Rahimi also said Japan “…should not pursue the wrong policies of the bullying governments because the same powers hindered the progress of the Japanese nation by conducting atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” Hello, it’s called the Second World War! Japan bombed Pearl Harbor first. By the way what Japan was doing in World War 2 was attempting to expand its Empire (reference above).
Iranian media continues to release confusing reports on Iran’s military hardware. Recently they reported on a “sokho-24 missile”. The article jumps back and forth from calling the “sokho-24” a missile, and an aircraft.
In researching this I realized that what happened is the Iranian journalists confused a military press statement. The Iranian military had announced that their upgrades to the Sukhoi-24 attack jet had been completed, and that they have successfully launched a new air to ground missile from the Sukhoi-24 aircraft. The military went on to say that testing with new longer range missiles, launched from the Sukhoi-24, will be next.
The Sukhoi-24 is very similar to the U.S. F-111 Aardvark swing wing attack jet.
Iran will be hosting its second classic car show. The show will open April 28, in Tehran.
It’s not that big, only about 80 classic cars, but for the second effort by Iranian car collectors, it’s good enough. “Most of the cars are being displayed for the first time. Some have never even been used before.”-Fariborz Ensafi, Touring and Automobile Club
Private collectors will show off German, French and, of course, American automobiles. Motorcycles and bicycles will also be on display. The show will run until May 2.
“However, certain characteristics about the Stars worm have been identified, including that it is compatible with the (targeted) system and that the damage is very slight in the initial stage, and it is likely to be mistaken for executable files of the government.”-Gholam-Reza Jalali, Iran’s Passive Defense Organization
No other details were given. Iran’s nuclear plant was hit with a computer worm last year. Iranian officials are blaming the United States and Israel, along with Siemens, for that cyber attack. Siemens made the computer software for Iran’s nuclear plant, and Iranian officials say the cyber attack would have required knowledge of the computer software.
More than 8.1 million tons of goods was transported through Iran the past Iranian year (which ended on March 20). That’s a 42% increase.
86% of the goods were shipped over roads and rail networks. Bandar Abbas and Sarakhs border crossings, in south (Gulf coast) and northeast (Turkmenistan) of Iran, were the busiest.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota announced his country’s new President, Dilma Rousseff, will continue the policies of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in regards to Iran: “Rousseff will stay on the path of her predecessor and mentor Lula da Silva.”
Now Iran will open a trade center in Brazil. The move is meant to increase trade between the two countries. According to a 2009 IMF report, Brazil is Iran’s largest trade partner in South America. Iran also has trade deals with Venezuela, Ecuador, and Cuba.
“The Zionists and CIA agents in the region assist drug dealers at Iran’s joint borders with Afghanistan. These [so-called] advocates of human rights have undertaken the task of investing in the production of industrial drugs from traditional ones and supplying them to Iran’s market.”-Mohammad-Najjar, Interior Minister
The drug trade from Afghanistan has resulted in more than 3,700 Iranian counter-narcotics officers their lives, since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
The United Nations admits that before the U.S. invasion, the Taliban had actually reduced poppy production to some of the lowest levels in Afghanistan’s history. Now, according to a 2010 UN report, Afghanistan accounts for 90% of the world’s illicit opium and heroin production. What happened? The U.S. used to blame the Taliban for the opium production, but the Taliban are no longer in power in Afghanistan, mmmm.
The United Nations also ranks Iran as have the best anti-drug enforcement record in the world. Russia has also made claims about the U.S. being involved with the drug trade out of Afghanistan.