LATEST: Revolutionary Guards Commander Promises “Crushing Response” to Kidnappers of Border Guards

Official data indicated that Iran’s major Asian customers — accounting for almost all Tehran’s oil exports — raised their purchases in February to the highest level since early 2013.

China, India, Japan, and South Korea took 1.37 million barrels per day (bpd), a 17.2% rise from the figure of 1.17 bpd of February 2013.

Iran’s oil exports, which fell to a historic low of less than 800,000 bpd last year, have recovered since November’s interim nuclear deal.

US officials, who have been trying to hold down Iran’s trade despite limited sanctions relief in the deal, have told media that the November agreement restricts the Islamic Republic’s exports to 1 million bpd.

Preliminary data indicated last week that there will be a slight decrease in Iran’s exports in March.

The largest surge in February came from South Korea, where crude imports more than doubled to 290,714 bpd. Iran’s biggest customer China raised purchases 6%, while Japan’s increased 21.7%.

However, Iranian imports into India declined 8.7% to about 266,000 bpd.

American officials cautioned India last month to hold its imports at December’s levels, which would force a reduction of two-thirds in purchases from Iran.

Since the imposition by the US and Europe in 2012 on Iran’s oil sales, including transport and insurance, the four Asian countries and Turkey have been Tehran’s only customers.

Revolutionary Guards Commander Promises “Crushing Response” to Kidnappers of Border Guards

Iranian officials have maintained their high-profile statements over February’s kidnapping of five border guards by the Sunni insurgency Jaish ul-Adl, with Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari promising, “The terrorists will soon receive Iran’s crushing response”.

The five guards were seized on February 6 by Jaish ul-Adl, which has carried out a series of attacks on Iranian forces since last summer in Sistan Baluchestan Province in southeastern Iran.

The men were taken into Pakistan, and one was executed 11 days ago. At the time, Jaish ul-Adl said another guard would be killed in 10 days if its demands — including the release of 300 detainees from Iranian prisons — were not met.

Last week the Revolutionary Guards were commissioned to oversee security on a 300-kilometer (186-mile) stretch of border between southeastern Iran and Pakistan.

The deputy commander of Iran’s border police, Ahmad Geravand, said that there has been at least one armed conflict per day on average on the frontier.

In conversation with the Mehr News Agency, Ahmad Geravand

Iranian officials are continuing to press Islamabad for action, with MPs threatening an operation by the Islamic Republic’s military inside Pakistan. Fars News, the outlet of the Revolutionary Guards, features a protest outside the Pakistani consulate in Mashhad.