Archive | Business RSS feed for this section

Live-blog: Iran – March 25, 2011 – Regime Reacts to U.N. Appointment of Iran Human Rights Investigator on Day of Remembrance for Green Martyr, Mohammad Mokhtari

12:25 GMT Cyber Watch Yesterday, news broke of a serious cyber exploit, with evidence pointing to Iran as the culprit. EFF offers an explanation of what happened. ReadWriteWeb reports it was most likely the now notorious, Iran Cyber Army, behind the attack–the same group that has now managed to hit a wide list of big [...]

Read More 0 Comments

Video Special: The Forbidden Zone, a CNBC Series on Investing in Iran

We just came across this series on investing in Iran by CNBC. It’s the first of its kind of I’ve seen from Western mainstream media. The series release has coincided with Student Day in Iran, which was marked by protests by students throughout Iran. It is quite interesting — showing Iran’s contradictions and the impact [...]

Read More 0 Comments

WP: European oil companies pledge to end oil investment in Iran over nukes program

Washington Post | September 30, 2010 The United States announced Thursday that four of Europe’s five biggest oil companies would end their energy investments in Iran, a significant advance in the Obama administration’s efforts to pressure the Iranian government to enter negotiations over its alleged nuclear weapons program. At the same time, U.S. officials said [...]

Read More 0 Comments

L.A. Times: U.S. sanctions selectively under its Iran policy

The administration penalizes a Swiss subsidiary of Iran’s national oil company but avoids confronting Russian and Chinese firms, which may have added to diplomatic friction.

Read More 0 Comments

L.A. Times: Ban on Iranian pistachios is boost for California farmers

New U.S. trade sanctions linked to Tehran’s nuclear program remove a competitor from the domestic pistachio market.

Read More 0 Comments

Business Week: Iran government may curb currency exchange rates

Iran’s finance minister says the government may intervene to halt a recent hike in hard currency exchange rates to the riyal.

Read More 0 Comments

Business Week: Senior China official calls for stronger Iran ties

Li Changchun told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran that Beijing wants to “cooperate with Iran to seize the opportunities to consolidate and develop bilateral relations in various areas,” Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported Wednesday.

Read More 0 Comments

AFP: Japan to withdraw from Iran oil project

The Japanese government and oil developer Inpex Corp. plan to completely withdraw from Iran’s largest onshore oil field project to avoid possible US sanctions, news reports said Thursday.

Read More 0 Comments

L.A. Times: IRAN: Gold bazaar on strike as merchants square off with government over tax hike

Tehran’s main gold bazaar is usually glittering with precious baubles and jewelry fit for royalty, but the last several days have seen it shuttered and empty as the union of goldsmiths and jewelers strikes against a 3% value-added tax.

Read More 0 Comments

L.A. Times: Iran: Bazaar strike triumphs as government retreats from tax hike

L.A. Times | July 7, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxK5ZHnJU4Q&feature=player_embedded After just one day of protests, the Iranian government has retreated from its proposed 70% hike in the income tax for merchants and traders in bazaars. On Tuesday, gold and jewelry vendors shut down Tehran’s old bazaar in protest of the government’s proposed tax hike. The discontent spread [...]

Read More 0 Comments

NYT: European Union Adds Most of Iran Air’s Jets to Blacklist

A spokesman for Iran Air, Shahrokh Noushabadi, called the decision unfair, saying that the airline would continue contacts with the union to get the ban rescinded…

Read More 0 Comments

THE MARK: BP: 100 Years of Moral Failure

Mossadegh

THE MARK | June 22, 2010 Professor, political science, York University; media commentator on the Middle East. by Saeed Rahnema As oil continues to leak into the Gulf, Iranians might remember the company’s dark history in their country. If I were superstitious, I would say that the catastrophic situation BP currently finds itself in vis-a-vis [...]

Read More 0 Comments

Reuters Africa: Iran discovers major natural gas reserves

Reuters Africa | June 20 TEHRAN June 20 (Reuters) – Iran has discovered 2.19 trillion cubic feet of in-place natural gas reserves in the Islamic state’s northwest, an Iranian newspaper reported on Sunday. Kayhan daily quoted managing director Ahmad Qalebani of the National Iranian Oil Company as saying the discovery took place in the existing [...]

Read More 0 Comments

Sanctions Effort May Open Door to Press Iran Central Bank

The New York Times | May 19, 2010 By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and DAVID E. SANGER UNITED NATIONS — Buried in the sanctions resolution now being debated in the United Nations Security Council lies the possibility of a new effort to pressure Iran over its nuclear program: a call for countries to “exercise vigilance” in dealing [...]

Read More 0 Comments

Iran says oil sanctions threat “a joke”

(Reuters) | April 6, 2010 Robin Pomeroy and Hashem Kalantari (Reuters) – The idea of international sanctions on Iranian oil exports is a joke, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday, adding Iran would not abandon its disputed nuclear work despite mounting international pressure. U.S. President Barack Obama is pushing for new U.N. sanctions in [...]

Read More 0 Comments

US softens Iran sanctions plan to win support:

The United States has stepped back from a series of harsh measures against Iran and softened proposed UN sanctions to win the backing of China and Russia, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Read More 0 Comments

Feature: Instagrams from Iran (picture compilation)

A few pictures from Iran, taken by ordinary people and posted to Instagram

Iran Feature: Former Detainee Sarah Shourd “The Plight of Iranians and 3 Decades of US Foreign Policy”

The incredible thing for me was that so many Iranians worldwide took the time to care about us despite the thousands of other political prisoners they have to worry about. “I’m an Iranian boy ashamed for what our government did to three American hikers,” another message on Facebook says. “I want you to know Iranian people are with you and against their own government. Iran’s regime is not chosen by Iranian people. They kill and torture us and we are all in a very big prison named Iran.”

Iran Feature: The Supreme Leader Is Worried — Three Developments You Probably Don’t Know

Our partner, EAWorldView, has published a ground-breaking piece on Iran’s Supreme Leader. This is a must-read.

Live-blog: Russia, what’s next?

Live-blog: Egypt Elections, Day 1

A historic day: The first post-Mubarak elections in Egypt

Journalist Mona Eltahawy’s harrowing ordeal – beating, sexual assault and arrest in Egypt – in her own words and tweets

“The past 12 hrs were painful and surreal but I know I got off much much easier than so many other Egyptians.”