LATEST: Supreme Leader’s Representative Defends Role of Revolutionary Guards in Economy

TUESDAY FEATURE

US Tells Turkey, “Tehran is Not Open for Business”

Following statements from unnamed Iranian officials, the US State Department said on Monday that the next round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the 5+1 Powers will take place in New York in mid-February.

However, last night Tehran was pulling back from the declaration, at least officially. The senior Iranian negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, said a definite agreement has not been reached on the time and venue of the discussions.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf had written in an e-mail:

It is our understanding that the first round of comprehensive negotiations will be in New York in mid-February with dates still being confirmed on schedules.

New York —– agreed to by EU High Representative [Catherine] Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif –– has a similar support infrastructure to Geneva. We believe that United Nations and international support is important for work on a comprehensive agreement.

The talks will begin consideration of a comprehensive agreement to follow up November’s interim nuclear deal. Issues will include the final status of Iran’s enrichment of uranium, facilities such as the Arak heavy-water reactor, and the lifting of sanctions on Tehran.


Supreme Leader’s Representative Defends Role of Revolutionary Guards in Economy

The Supreme Leader’s representative to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Ali Saeedi, has defended the prominent role of the Guards in the Iranian economy:

The presence of the IRGC in this arena possesses several characteristics. First, that the projects at the hands of the IRGC are national projects that the private sector does not have the capability and capacity to be present in these projects. Another is that the IRGC’s primary goal from entering economic projects is not to make profit, rather it is to move towards the IRGC’s intrinsic goals in defending the Islamic Revolution.

Last autumn, after the inauguration of President Rouhani, talk circulated of a curb on the Guards’ economic activities. However, the President appeared to strike a deal in which — in return for the Guards staying out of politics — the IRGC could keep its economic interests, including a major stake in engineering, construction, and industry.

(hat tip to Iran Tracker)

Rouhani Economic Offensive Reaches Out to South Korea

Continuing his drive for international trade and investment as part of economic recovery, President Rouhani has reached out to South Korea.

See Rouhani Addresses World Economic Forum, Seeks Investment in Tehran’s Energy Sector

Hosting the Speaker of the South Korean National Assembly, Rouhani said:

Today, because of excellent new situation created in Iran, world business and investment giants show their willingness to come to Iran….Iran’s economy now is rising from its ashes, and we hope that South Korean companies participate in this rising more actively.

Rouhani emphasized the possibilities in sectors such as energy and mining: “The Korean private sector should cooperate more closely with Iranian counterpart.”

Basij Militia Releases 1st Report on US Human Rights Violations

The Basij militia has unveiled its first report on “human rights violations” by the US Government.

The 28-page report, the product of a new “monitoring unit” announced on Monday, moves from the death penalty to Camp Bagram in Afghanistan to “torture and force feeding of hunger strikers” to phone hacking to discrimination against minorities and immigrants to “Miriam Carey killing near the White House”.

Addressing a ceremony at Tehran University for the report, senior judiciary official Mohammad Javad Larijani said:

Human rights for the US and the western statesmen is a slogan chanted for deception; Iran, for instance, is the biggest democracy in the Middle-East but the West’s allies in the region even don’t have the least (elements of) democracy, and this shows the West’s deceptive claims about democracy.

Larijani continued, “The human rights defined by the US says that the blood of the Americans is red but the blood of others is colorless.”