© Alexei Nikolsky/Reuters/RIA Novosti/Kremlin
President Vladimir Putin with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani.
President Vladimir Putin with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani.
Needless to say, the fearmongering propaganda with regard to the Iranian nuclear threat was based on lies from the very beginning. Iran was never the threat they claimed it to be, and during the nine years the country was sanctioned, the US hypocrites continued developing their own newest destructive weapons for their warmongering policy, and do so to this day. As President Putin said at the recent Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi:
Recently the United States conducted the first test of the anti-missile defence system in Europe. What does this mean? It means we were right when we argued with our American partners. They were simply trying yet again to mislead us and the whole world. To put it plainly, they were lying. It was not about the hypothetical Iranian threat, which never existed. It was about an attempt to destroy the strategic balance, to change the balance of forces in their favour not only to dominate, but to have the opportunity to dictate their will to all: to their geopolitical competition and, I believe, to their allies as well. This is a very dangerous scenario, harmful to all, including, in my opinion, to the United States. [...]Regardless of the sanctions put in place, Iran has recently been taking important steps towards progress in economic growth. While the US' intent may have been to strengthen its ties with Iran as it continues to lose its grip on the Middle East, Iran's deputy foreign minister for European and American Affairs, Majid Takht Ravanchi, has made it clear that as business opportunities arise, Iran "will not forget those who worked with us during the times of hardship" - those countries being China, Russia and India, not the US. In addition, not trusting intentions from the US, Ayatollah Khamenei said in early August, "We will firmly block their way. We will not allow the US to make economic, political or cultural inroads into the country. We will counter such infiltration with all our power".
We've been hearing arguments this whole time about the Iranian nuclear threat, but as I said in my remarks before, our position was always that there was no such threat, and now not only we but the entire international community share this view.
The United States initiated the signing of an agreement with Iran on settling the Iranian nuclear issue. We actively followed and supported our US and Iranian partners on the road to a common decision and this agreement has now come into force and Iran has agreed to send its enriched uranium out of the country. So if there is no Iranian nuclear problem, why develop a missile defence system? You could stop the project, but not only has the project not stopped, on the contrary, new tests and exercises are taking place. These systems will be in place in Romania by the end of the year and in Poland by 2018 or 2020.
Building alliances
On October 26th, Iranian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Mohammad Khazaei said that Iran plans to join the New Development Bank (NDB), established by the BRICS member states Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in July last year. This will allow Tehran to expand economic relations with the BRICS states. The NDB will be giving its first loans in April 2016, which will be issued in Chinese yuan and not dollars.
BRICS is not to be underestimated!
Other developments include:
- Iran showed interest in building a 4th refinery in Mangystau region of Kazakhstan and is ready to supply the future refinery up to 5,000 barrels of oil per day. Once oil products are processed, they will be sent to Iran, the domestic market of Kazakhstan, and China.
- Discussions to strengthen ties between Iran and Brazil - the country's most important economic partner in Latin America - took place last week. "Tehran and Brasilia can expand their cooperation in various fields, including economic cooperation whose level is decided to be five billion dollars and can be met in a short-term period," said the Brazilian minister.
- Iran will tender 15 mining projects for international investors to develop. The projects include production of iron ore, steel, chromite, aluminum, bauxite, copper, zinc and gold. Several countries interested in Iran's mining sector are France, Italy, Russia and China. In November, President Rouhani will visit France and Italy to sign agreements.
- In early September, India announced it is ready to invest over $15 billion in Iran. India hopes to develop the Chabahar port in southeastern Iran, which would open up a route for India to landlocked Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan.
