IRAN REPLACES DOLLAR WITH EURO IN FX

[craig-oxley]

Iran to hold 'huge' war games to protect nuclear facilities


By Reuters
Last update - 18:30 21/11/2009
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1129636.html


Iran will begin large-scale air defense war games on Sunday to help protect its nuclear facilities against any attack, a senior commander said.

Brigadier General Ahmad Mighani also suggested Iran could itself produce an advanced missile defense system that Russia has so far failed to deliver to the Islamic Republic and which Washington and Israel do not want Tehran to have.

The official IRNA news agency said the exercises would take place in western Iran and that they would be "huge." Advertisement

Iran believes Russia's delay in supplying high-grade S-300 missiles was due to pressure by Israel, not technical problems as cited by Moscow, Mighani said.

"We are hopeful the Russians will ignore the pressure of the Zionist lobby," Fars News Agency quoted him as saying on Saturday. Iran refers to Israel as the "Zionist regime."

The military maneuvers will last for five days and involve both the elite Revolutionary Guards and the regular armed forces against a hypothetical enemy, Iranian media reported.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the row over Iranian nuclear work that the West suspects is aimed at making bombs.

Iran, which insists its nuclear program is solely to generate electricity, has threatened to hit back at Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf if it is attacked.

"This week's air defense maneuvers will be held with the intention of protecting the country's nuclear facilities," Mighani said, Fars reported. State television said the defense drills would "ensure better protection" for these facilities.

The war games were announced a day after senior officials from six world powers said they were disappointed Iran had not accepted proposals intended to delay its potential to make nuclear weapons, and urged Tehran to reconsider.

The United States, Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France met after U.S. President Barack Obama warned there could be a package of sanctions against Iran within weeks.

Iran often holds defense exercises and announces advances in military equipment in order to show its readiness to counter any threats over its disputed nuclear program.

Iranian officials have over the last few weeks voiced growing frustration at Russia's failure to deliver the S-300.

Moscow, which is under Western pressure to distance itself from Iran over the nuclear dispute, has not followed through on proposals to supply the missiles to the country.

"They have declared technical problems as the underlying reason for this delay, but we think it has been due to the Zionists' pressure," Mighani said, according to Fars.

"In various manoeuvres, new and modern missile networks will be used and evaluated, including the advanced S-300 missiles, for which the production capability exists in Iran," IRNA quoted him as saying, without elaborating.

A senior lawmaker, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, earlier this month also said Iran would be able to produce the S-300 system itself, appearing to refer to missiles with similar capabilities.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Russia last month for failing to provide the arms to Iran.

The truck-mounted S-300PMU1, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. It can fire at targets up to 150 km away.

[kalongi]

Iran gained $5 billion on shift from U.S. dollar: state TV

Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:42am EST
http://www.reuters.com/article/gc08/idUSTRE5AM1HZ20091123


TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has gained $5 billion through its policy of shifting away from the U.S. currency in favors of the euro, state television reported on Monday, citing Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani.

Since 2007, Iran has received 85 percent of its oil income in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, Iran's English-language Press TV reported on its web site.

"Iran has considerably reduced the total of U.S. dollars in its currency basket," Bahmani said.

Press TV did not give additional detail on how Iran has benefited from reducing the role of the U.S. unit in its transactions.

Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, says a weak U.S. currency is eroding its purchasing power. The Islamic state is under U.S. and U.N. sanctions over its disputed nuclear program.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called the U.S. currency a "worthless piece of paper."

At a 2007 heads of state summit of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Iran suggested oil should be priced in a basket of currencies rather than dollars, but it failed to win over other member states except Venezuela.

The Iranian central bank has said it has been diversifying its reserves away from the dollar.

[kalongi]

Iran launches large-scale military exercise

Published: 11/23/2009
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=346854


The drill is conducted against a possible air raid.

On Sunday began large-scale air defense war games, after engaging in a power struggle with the West over its nuclear program.

Aimed at protecting the country's nuclear facilities against any possible aerial attack, the military exercise covers an area of 600 thousand square kilometers.

The five-day drill involves both the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and army units.

General Ahmet Mighani who leads the drill said they aimed at preparing Iranian Armed Forces against attacks.

The Iranian military exercise came amid a tense atmosphere.

Iran consistently warns the US and Israel not to attack its nuclear program, announcing such an attack would receive very severe retaliation while the US administration has issued a warning that it would aggravate current sanctions on Tehran, unless it ends its nuclear works.

[kalongi]

US, Iranian naval Red Sea buildup off Yemen. Debut for Iran's midget subs

November 23, 2009, 10:58 PM (GMT+02:00)
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6387


The Yemeni conflict is fast evolving from a Houthi insurgency against the Abdullah Salah regime in Sanaa to a broad regional conflagration drawing in Saudi Arabia and Egypt as major players and increasingly the United States, whose involvement is building up into a direct confrontation with the rebels' sponsor, Iran.

DEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources report that over the weekend, the Aegis class cruiser USS Chosin was designated the flagship of Combined Task Force 151 which is patrolling the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea.

Responding to this signal, Iran's navy commander Adm. Habibollah Sayyari announced Monday, Nov. 23, that Ghadir-class submarines would be joining the four Iranian warships already in position opposite the Yemeni coast. He did not say how many subs were to be deployed.

Our military experts describe the Ghadir as a midget submarine which Tehran claims is silent enough to elude the most advanced US radar. This is the first time those miniature craft will be deployed outside the Persian Gulf and in direct action against the US navy, as well as against Saudi naval craft. Both are blockading Yemeni ports against Iranian arms deliveries to the Yemeni rebels.

US and Israeli naval experts are watching out with great interest for the Iranian midget submarines, which make up the first line of Iran's coastal defenses and will be making their first operational appearance in foreign waters.

The US and Iran depict the naval buildup in the Red Sea as part of their anti-piracy mission, but our military sources stress that Tehran is determined to bring its arms sealift safely to Yemen's Red Sea shore for delivery to the Houthi insurgents, while the Americans are equally resolved to help the Saudi navy keep them out.

[craig-oxley]

Groundhog Day in the Middle East?: Iran gains $5 bln by currency shift to euro

Published on 11-23-2009 Email To Friend Print Version
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/...nt_12527222.htm


Iran's Central Bank governor Mahmoud Bahmani said on Monday that the country has gained 5 billion U.S. dollars by shifting its foreign currency reserve from the U.S. dollar to the euro, local satellite Press TV reported.

"We have seen a 5 billion U.S. dollars benefit from shifting the (currency) basket to the euro from the dollar," Bahmani was quoted as saying.

However, the report did not elaborate the span of time during which the country has netted the gain.

"Iran has considerably reduced the total of U.S. dollars in its currency basket," he said.

Since October 2007, Iran received 85 percent of its oil revenues in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, according to the report.

The switch was proposed by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005 as a counter-measure to the U.S. and Western moves against Iran's controversial nuclear program.

In September, Ahmadinejad ordered the euro to be used instead of the dollar as Iran's "basic foreign currency."

[craig-oxley]

Iran Censured At UN Nuclear Meeting

Published on 11-27-2009 Email To Friend Print Version
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091127/ap_on_...GxvbWF0c2lyYQ--


The U.N. nuclear watchdog's board censured Iran on Friday, with 25 nations backing a resolution demanding that Tehran immediately freeze construction of its newly revealed nuclear facility and heed Security Council resolutions to stop uranium enrichment.

Iran remained defiant, with its chief representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency declaring that his country would resist "pressure, resolutions, sanction(s) and threat of military attack."

Delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh of Iran shrugged off the vote.

"Neither resolutions of the board of governors nor those of the United Nations Security Council ... neither sanctions nor the threat of military attacks can interrupt peaceful nuclear activities in Iran, even a second," he told the closed-door meeting, in remarks made available to reporters.

Iran argues that its nuclear program is aimed at creating a peaceful nuclear energy network to serve its growing population. The United States and other nations believe Iran's nuclear program has the goal of creating nuclear weapons.

The IAEA resolution criticized Iran for defying a U.N. Security Council ban on uranium enrichment — the source of both nuclear fuel and the fissile core of warheads.

It also censured Iran for secretly building a uranium enrichment facility and demanded that it immediately suspend further construction. It noted that IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei cannot confirm that Tehran's nuclear program is exclusively geared toward peaceful uses, and expressed "serious concern" that Iran's stonewalling of an IAEA probe means "the possibility of military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program" cannot be excluded.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the resolution "the strongest and most definitive statement yet made by the countries who are very worried about nuclear ambitions on the part of Iran."

Nations were "absolutely clear that Iran has misled the international community," Brown said at a Commonwealth summit in Trinidad. "(They are) sending the clearest possible signal to Iran that they should desist from their nuclear plans, that the world knows what they are doing and trying to do, and that they should accept the offers that have been made."

The resolution — and the resulting vote of the IAEA's 35-nation decision-making board — were significant on several counts.

The resolution was endorsed by six world powers — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — reflecting a rare measure of unity on Iran. Previously, Moscow and Beijing have acted as a traditional drag on efforts to punish Iran for its nuclear defiance, either preventing new U.N. Security Council sanctions or watering down their potency.

They did not formally endorse the last IAEA resolution in 2006, which referred Iran to the Security Council, starting the process that has resulted in three sets of sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Their backing for the document at the Vienna meeting thus reflected broad international disenchantment with Tehran.

"Six nations ... for the first time came together ... (and) have put together this resolution we all agreed on," Glyn Davies, the chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, told reporters. "That's a significant development."

The backing of Moscow and Beijing also appeared to signal possible support for any new push for a fourth set of U.N sanctions, should Tehran continue shunning international overtures meant to reach agreements that reduce concerns about its nuclear ambitions.

Brown said he thought "the next stage will have to be sanctions if Iran doesn't respond to what is a very clear vote from the world community."

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the resolution's passage shows that "the international community still wants dialogue with Iran, but time is pressing."

"Our hand is still held out," he added. "I hope Iran will take it. Iran must know: our patience is not infinite."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs avoided mentioning sanctions — but indicated harsher measures were possible unless Iran compromised.

"Our patience and that of the international community is limited, and time is running out," he said in a statement. "If Iran refuses to meet its obligations, then it will be responsible for its own growing isolation and the consequences."

Strong support for the resolution at the meeting was also notable. Only three nations — Cuba, Venezuela and Malaysia — voted against the document, with six abstentions and one member absent. Even most nonaligned IAEA board members abandoned Tehran, despite their traditional backing of the Islamic Republic.

The diplomats who reported the vote spoke on condition of anonymity Friday because of the sensitivity of the situation.

A separate resolution — a Russian initiative to establish an international nuclear fuel bank under IAEA oversight — passed with 23 nations for, eight against, three abstentions and one nation absent. The opposed votes came from developing nations that fear such a fuel bank, meant to place uranium enrichment under international control, could impinge on their right to develop indigenous nuclear programs.

In a letter to ElBaradei, Soltanieh suggested Iran could further restrict IAEA access to its nuclear activities, arguing that media leaks of confidential information posed a security threat to Iran's nuclear facilities.

[kalongi]

'Iran's 10 Uranium Plants' In Defiance Of UN

5:32pm UK, Sunday November 29, 2009
Tom Bonnett, Sky News Online
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-New...a_Has_Announced


Iran has approved plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants, the country's state media has said.

The announcement comes two days after the UN demanded Iran halt construction of a newly revealed enrichment facility near the city of Qom.

A cabinet meeting headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran to begin building at five new sites, state television IRIB reported on its website.

The government also ordered the Iranian body to locate sites for another five over the next two months, the media organisation said.

The new enrichment plants are to be the same size as its main enrichment complex at Natanz.

Mr Ahmadinejad is reported to have said he will not allow an inch of Iranian rights to be wasted.

The cabinet is meeting on Wednesday to discuss plans to enrich uranium up to 20% purity, the president is quoted as saying on the IRIB TV website.

Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran should be producing 250-300 tonnes of nuclear fuel per year, according to IRIB.

The development is likely to add further strain to relations between Iran and Western powers.

The West suspects the Islamic republic is attempting to make nuclear bombs but Iran, the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, claims its atomic programme aims to generate electricity.

The IRIB previously reported that a strong majority of Iranian lawmakers issued a statement demanding the government should not to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"The Iranian nation without a doubt knows that legally its nuclear file has no flaws and wants as soon as possible the case to be returned to the IAEA from the UN Security Council," the statement read, signed by 226 lawmakers.

The statement went on to denounce the resolution as politically motivated and said the US and England are responsible.

Lawmakers also said US President Barack Obama has failed to make the slightest change in policy towards Iran and said he has followed the same path of the hardline administration of his predecessor, George W Bush.