Iran’s 10-month trade up 12%
Iran could withdraw from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, if it derives no economic benefits from it, and major international banks continue to fail to do business with the Islamic Republic, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday.
The July 2015 agreement between Iran and six major powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States – obliged Iran to restrict its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions, Reuters reported.
Despite that, big banks have continued to stay away for fear of falling foul of remaining US sanctions – something that has hampered Iran’s efforts to rebuild foreign trade and lure investment.
Adding to those concerns, US President Donald Trump delivered an ultimatum to European powers on Jan. 12, saying they must agree to “fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal” or he would refuse to extend the US sanctions relief on Iran that it calls for.
US sanctions will resume unless Trump issues fresh “waivers” to suspend them on May 12.
The Turkish Army struck a convoy entering Syria’s Kurdish-held Afrin region, which Ankara said carried fighters and weapons but Kurdish forces said was made up of civilians entering with food and medicine.
In a statement on Friday, the Turkish military said a fleet of some 30-40 vehicles of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia had approached the main town of the northwest Afrin region. It said artillery targeted the convoy “carrying terrorists, weapons and ammunition”, Reuters reported.
The YPG said the convoy, which arrived in Afrin late on Thursday, had transported civilians from the Jazeera region further east and other towns under the control of Kurdish forces.
Birusk Hasaka, the YPG spokesman in Afrin, said the convoy included hundreds of people. The shelling set some cars ablaze, wounding at least ten people and killing one passenger.
“The convoy was headed to stand in solidarity with the people of Afrin, carrying food aid and medical supplies,” he said.
Turkey launched an assault last month on Afrin, seeking to drive out the YPG which it deems a menace along its border.
“As always all attention and sensitivity was shown so that civilians were not harmed,” the Turkish military said on Friday. It released aerial video footage showing a
But even if Trump relents and issues fresh “waivers” to continue suspending those sanctions, the existing situation is unacceptable for Iran, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a speech at the Chatham House think tank in London.
“The deal would not survive this way even if the ultimatum is passed and waivers are extended,” Araqchi, Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator, said.
“If the same policy of confusion and uncertainties about the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) continues, if companies and banks are not working with Iran, we cannot remain in a deal that has no benefit for us,” Araqchi said. “That’s a fact.”
Trump sees three “defects” in the deal: its exclusion of Iran’s ballistic missile program; the terms under which international inspectors can visit Iranian nuclear sites; and “sunset” clauses under which limits on the Iranian nuclear program start to expire after 10 years. He wants all three modified if the United States is to stay in the JCPOA.
No sunset clause in the JCPOA
Araqchi said Trump’s interpretation of the series of explosions and smoke rising from a country road.
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday the Turkish Army was making every effort to avoid harming any civilians, which was extending the duration of the operation. Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli has previously dismissed reports of harmed civilians as false.
Human Rights Watch said on Friday it had investigated three attacks in Afrin last month in which Turkish troops failed to prevent civilian casualties. The airstrikes and shelling, sunset clauses was wrong.
“There is no sunset clause in the JCPOA. Although the US administration and Trump are talking about sunset clause and that JCPOA is just for 10 years, that is not true,” he said.
“Iran’s commitment in the JCPOA not to go for the nuclear weapons is permanent.”
He also reiterated Iran’s position that the JCPOA was a non-proliferation treaty and could not be linked to any other issue.
If the nuclear deal is linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program or its regional activities, world powers “not only will lose the JCPOA, but will make other issues more complicated and more difficult to resolve,” he said.
“If we lose the JCPOA, we will face another nuclear crisis,” Araqchi said.
“For the Europeans or the world community, when we talk about maintaining the JCPOA and saving it, it’s not a choice between the Iranian or the US market, it’s not a choice for economic cooperation: it’s a choice between having security or insecurity,” he said. on a cluster of tents, a poultry farm, and a house, killed 26 civilians, including 17 children, it said.
“It appears that vulnerable civilians are facing displacement and death because of the way Turkey’s latest offensive is being conducted,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at the Us-based group.
Since the onset of Syria’s conflict in 2011, the YPG and its allies have carved out three cantons in the north. The territory under their control expanded with the defeat of the Daesh terror group.
This week, militias allied to Damascus deployed to Afrin to help fight the Turkish assault. The Damascus government has also been allowing Kurdish fighters, civilians, and politicians to pass through to reach Afrin in recent weeks.
A YPG statement accused Turkey of trying to “create a state of terror and force people towards mass displacement” with air strikes and arbitrary shelling in Afrin.
Ankara sees the YPG as an extension of the banned Kurdish PKK movement, which has waged a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil.
Iran’s non-oil trade during the 10 months from March 21, 2017 to January 20, 2018 stood at $80 billion, indicating a 12-percent growth compared to the figure for the same period a year ago. This was announced by Director of Planning at Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization Mohammadreza Izadian, who told IRNA on Friday, that the volume of imports and exports during the 10-month period hit 135 million tons, which shows 0.4 percent of growth against the figure for the same time-span a year ago.
Exports reached 105 million tons valued at $37 billion, indicating a two-percent decline in weight and a 1.7-percent rise in value year-on-year, the official said.
Imports amounted to 30.5 million tons worth $42.8 billion — up 10 percent in terms of weight and 22 percent in terms of value year-on-year, Izadian added.
Iranian exporters sold 22.44 million tons of petrochemical products worth $10.67 billion during the 10 months. Petrochemicals accounted for nearly 30 percent in terms of value and 23 percent in terms of weight of Iran’s total exports.
Other major exported commodities during the period were gas condensates ($5.67 billion or 16 percent of total exports), liquefied propane ($1.21 billion or more than three percent of overall exports), light crude oil, excluding gasoline ($997 million or around three percent of total exports), methanol ($984 million or nearly three percent of total exports) and granulated hematite iron ore ($845 million or more than two percent of total exports).
Imports mainly included auto parts ($1.4 billion), field corn ($1.25 billion), rice ($1.02 billion), soybean ($775 million), vehicles of engine displacement between 1500cc and 2000cc, except for ambulance and hybrid cars ($683 million).
China was the main customer of Iranian products during the period, as Iran exported 28.18 million tons of commodities worth $7.42 billion to the Asian country which is 11 percent more in terms of value and five percent less in terms of weight compared to the figures for the corresponding period last year.
Exports to China account for more than 28 percent in terms of weight and around 21 percent in terms of value of Iran’s total exports.
Other major export destinations of Iranian products were the UAE with 14.64 million tons of imports from Iran worth $5.13 billion (accounting for over 14 percent of Iran’s total exports in terms of value and 15 percent in terms of weight), Iraq with 10.58 million tons worth $5.04 billion (accounting for more than 14 percent of Iran’s total exports in terms of value and 11 percent in terms of weight) and South Korea with 8.28 million tons worth $3.41 billion (accounting for 9.5 percent of Iran’s total exports in terms of value and eight percent in terms of weight).
India was the fifth biggest importer of Iranian goods during the 10-month period. The South Asian country bought 8.33 million tons of Iranian products worth $2.27 billion to constitute more than six percent of Iran’s total exports in terms of value and eight percent in terms of weight.
Exports to China fell by five percent in weight and rose by 11 percent in value during the period.
Iran’s exports to the UAE saw a decline of 7.5 percent in weight and 19 percent in value year-on-year.
Similarly, exports to Iraq registered a decline of more than 13 percent in weight and around one percent in value.
South Korea’s imports from Iran increased both in weight and value compared to the same period of last year, registering a 39-percent rise in weight and close to 33-percent increase in value.
Exports to India increased by five percent in terms of weight and decreased by three percent in terms of value year-onyear.
Major exporters to Iran included China with 3.8 million tons worth $10.22 billion, the UAE with 4.97 million tons worth $7.78 billion, South Korea with 1.21 million tons worth $2.97 billion, Turkey with 1.54 million tons worth $2.6 billion and Germany with 714,000 tons worth $2.34 billion.
Imports from China saw a rise of more than five percent in weight and 21 percent in value during the 10-month period.
The UAE exported 18 percent more goods in terms of weight and 42 percent more in terms of value year-on-year.
Imports from South Korea saw a rise of one percent in weight and six percent in value.
Turkey’s exports to Iran rose by 16 percent in weight and more than 18 percent in value during the period under review.
Iran’s imports from Germany registered a decline of 15 percent in weight and an increase of 19 percent in value year-on-year.