An Iranian official says the country's oil tankers will not avoid routes where Somali pirates are carrying out attacks on vessels.
On Tuesday, US and Chinese officials announced that Somali pirates have hijacked a Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship operated by Iran in the Gulf of Aden. The pirates attacked the cargo ship named Delight, which was carrying wheat, off the coast of Somalia.
On Saturday, Somali pirates seized a Saudi supertanker with a full load of 2 million barrels of oil and 25 crewmen.
Around a quarter of Iran's 2.4 million barrels per day of crude exports goes to Europe through waters threatened by Somali pirates.
And that has yet to get the Euros' attention ...
The official from the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), who was not identified, told Reuters, "We haven't made any decision to avoid the region where these pirates have been attacking."
"We have been very careful when traveling in this region, but now we have to be even more careful," he added.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Who is funding these pirates Saudi or Iran?
Gtees the price of oil going up!
I have read that certain countries seek conflict worldwide so they keep gas,oil prices high-Saudi,Iran and russia come to mind!!!
Damascus on Tuesday launched a defensive media campaign to deflect charges of nuclear activity, the day before the International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to release a report in which it will confirm that enriched uranium was found in a suspected nuclear site in Syria.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
The Iranian parliament on Tuesday approved President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nominee as interior minister by a thin margin, two weeks after it sacked his predecessor for lying about his credentials.
Sadeq Mahsouli, a former Revolutionary Guards comrade of the president, takes charge of the ministry responsible for overseeing elections seven months before a presidential poll. Ahmadinejad is expected to run but has yet to declare.
In 2005, Ahmadinejad nominated Mahsouli for the post of oil minister but withdrew ahead of a parliamentary vote of confidence because he had no experience in the crucial oil sector.
Like Ahmadinejad, the 49-year-old Mahsouli is a veteran of the Revolutionary Guards, the elite ideological army which has been steadily encroaching on national politics in the Islamic republic. He has served in provincial government posts and also as a deputy defense minister in charge of planning.
On November 11, the majlis (parliament) voted to sack Ali Kordan as interior minister for lying about his educational credentials and presenting a fake degree from Britain's Oxford University.
Ahmadinejad had praised his nominee to the lawmakers, telling them that he had known Mahsouli for 30 years "during university time and during the hard times and he has always followed the path of the (Islamic) revolution."
Continued on Page 47
This article starring:
Sadeq Mahsouli
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Oh, yeah. That should work well.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, during a visit to Damascus, urged Syria and Israel on Tuesday to forge ahead with peace talks and said the Syrian-backed Palestinian group Hamas was hurting efforts to end Middle East conflict.
Miliband, whose talks in Damascus are the first by a British foreign secretary since 2000, said he supported Damascus's efforts to strike a peace deal with Israel, which could see Lebanon and other Arab states that have not signed follow.
Syria and Israel have held four rounds of indirect talks, meditated by Turkey, but they were suspended about two months ago after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned over a corruption scandal.
"We welcome the four rounds of talks that have taken place ...and we hope that they will be taken forward with new force," Miliband said after meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Miliband said he had discussed with Assad efforts to forge peace in the Middle East and expressed to him Britain's satisfaction over Syria's establishment of ties with Lebanon and Iraq.
Syria and Lebanon formally established diplomatic ties in October for the first time since they both became independent 60 years ago. The move turned a page in relations between Lebanon and Syria, which dominated its tiny neighbor for nearly three decades until it pulled its troops from Lebanon in April 2005.
For his part Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said that Syria wanted "to take advantage of the good ties that the West has with Israel in order to achieve a global peace" in the Middle East.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11136 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Iranian parliament on Tuesday approved President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nominee as interior minister by a thin margin, two weeks after it sacked his predecessor for lying about his credentials. 
