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."