- 2 July 2012
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- NIAC round-up
Iran Reacts to EU Embargo Implementation
Iran’s governor to OPEC, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, speaking of sanctions implemented on Sunday, warned “the EU would bear ‘the consequences of politicizing the market,’” (Bloomberg 7/1). Iranian ambassador to the UN, Mohammad Khazaee, suggested the current sanctions regime “by itself indicates that they are not willing to engage with us in a meaningful dialogue,” (NYT 6/29).
Three Days of Iranian Missile Tests Begin
Iranian Revolutionary Guards General Amir Ali Hajizadeh has announced three days of missile tests starting on Monday, saying the exercises are “a message ‘that the Islamic Republic of Iran is resolute in standing up to … bullying, and will respond to any possible evil decisively and strongly’” (Reuters 7/1; CNN 7/2). The war games will include target bases “made to look like airbases of ‘extra-regional powers’” and “long-range, medium-range, and short-range missiles”, (CNN 7/2). Hajizadeh, who is head of the Revolutionary Guards airborne division added that “If [Israelis] take any action, they will hand us an excuse to wipe them off the face of the earth” (Reuters 7/1).
Bill Would Stop Oil Trade through Hormuz
Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee has drafted a bill that would attempt to stop oil tankers from shipping crude through the Strait of Hormuz to countries that support sanctions against Iran. Iranian MP Ibrahim Agha-Mohammadi stated that as of Sunday, 100 of 290 members of the Iranian parliament had signed the measure (Reuters 7/2).
Iranian Domestic Markets Weaken
The imposition of the new measures threaten to “make the distortion in the economy even worse”, according to the New York Times, in a country where the national currency has lost 50 percent of its value in the last year and currency speculation has become a significant factor in the market(NYT 7/1). The dollar was trading at just over 18,500 Rials last Saturday, by Thursday it was above 20,000 for the first time since late January (Washington Post 6/29).