Iran and the European aviation giant Airbus signed a contract on Thursday to sell 100 jets to Iran Air, paving the way for deliveries to start next month, a year after sanctions against the country were lifted.

The deal took weeks of shuttling between Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, and Tehran, complicated by a shortage of expert legal advice as Iran completes its biggest commercial deals with the West since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Airbus in a statement said almost half the jets would be for short to medium routes and that deliveries would start early next year.

The contract includes 46 of the narrow-body A320 family which includes the A321 model, 38 long-haul A330s and 16 of Europe’s newest long-range model, the A350.

The order follows a commitment inked in January when President Hassan Rouhani visited Paris in the wake of a deal between Iran and six world powers over its nuclear program.

Planemaking chief Fabrice Bregier called the deal “a significant first step” in modernizing Iranian aviation, adding it included training, airport operations and air traffic management.

However, both sides confirmed the Airbus A380, the largest passenger plane in the world, had been jettisoned from a provisional list first agreed in January.

Although up to 12 were earmarked in the initial agreement, Tehran’s international airport is not currently equipped for such planes.

US regulatory delays further reduced the order by six planes, lowering the total order to 100 from 118 jets.

Iran Air,1956

Iran’s civil aviation

Iran Air’s CEO Farhad Parvaresh said the deal was “an important step toward a stronger international presence in civil aviation”.

He added: “We hope this success signals to the world that the commercial goals of Iran and its counterparts are better achieved with international cooperation and collaboration.”

Parvaresh stressed that the deal has paved the way “for more practical steps to follow for Iran Air’s fleet renewal”.

Such a deal would be worth $18-20 billion at list prices, depending on variants flown, but Iran is expected to receive steep discounts from foreign manufacturers as its aviation renewal coincides with a drop in demand elsewhere.

It is expected to be followed by a formal deal to buy turboprop aircraft from ATR, half-owned by Airbus.

The first jet, an Airbus A321 already painted in Iran’s national carrier livery, may arrive in January.

“When Airbus and ATR aircraft start going into Iran, Boeing will point to that to argue that it should implement its own deal,” said an aviation source, who closely followed the talks.

In another deal earlier this month, Iran Air finalized a contract to buy 80 planes from Airbus’ US competitor Boeing.

Boeing said that contract – Iran’s first deal with a US aviation firm since 1979 – was worth $16.6 billion.

Despite rivalries, the Airbus and Boeing deals with Iran are unusually intertwined because each depends on continued US clearances for the sale of planes built with US parts.

“Everyone has an interest in moving quickly. The Iranian government wants to show results from the nuclear deal; Airbus wants to get deliveries moving and Boeing wants the leverage it can get from European deliveries to Iran,” another source said.

Airbus said the deal was subject to US Treasury export licenses granted in September and November 2016.

Republican critics of the nuclear pact want Trump to block the aircraft deals and have sought to hamper them by voting to tighten restrictions on use of the US financial system.

Airbus is expected to be paid in euros instead of the usual dollars and is likely to provide its own financing for the first few jets./Iran-daily

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NIOC and Malaysia’s PETRONAS (Petroliam Nasional Berhad) will ink an MoU this week on development of Cheshmeh Khosh and South Azadegan oilfields.

Following the inking of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) for conducting developmental studies in Azadegan oil field with France’s Total, Britain’s Royal Dutch Shell and Inpex Corporation of Japan, a cooperation agreement will be also inked in the current week between the largest Malaysian oil firm PETRONAS and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to carry out similar studies in Iran’s joint oil field with Iraq.

Moreover, NIOC will also sign into another deal with the Malaysian side in order to perform studies for boosting recovery factor in Cheshmeh Khosh field.

In recent months, NIOC has sealed several MoUs with Austria’s OMV and Gazprom of Russia aiming to increase recovery factor of Cheshmeh Khosh in the west of Iran.

The accord between NIOC and PETRONAS is scheduled to be signed on Wednesday in Tehran between officials of the two oil companies.

On the sidelines of his meeting with Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry of Malaysia Dato’ Seri Mustafa Muhammad, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Iran welcomes arrival of Malaysian firms, Petronas in particular, since they hold a long history of relations with the country’s oil industry.

Prior to sanction years, the bulk of cooperation between National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Malaysia pertained to sales and exports of crude oil as Iran was deploying a daily average of 50 to 60 thousand barrels of crude oil to Malaysia’s PETRONAS under spot contracts, he continued.

One of NIOC’s most significant deals with Petronas was over the developmental project of South Pars Phase 11 which was supposed to be accomplished in collaboration with France’s Total and Repsol S.A. of Spain though the agreement was violated as a result of international sanctions against Iran.

Despite having had only a few years of activity in the oil and gas industry, PETRONAS remains among rare oil and gas companies who enjoy functionality and operational teams in both upstream and downstream oil sectors.

The Malaysian oil and gas company is currently active in numerous fields including oil and gas refining, construction of pipelines, LNG transfer, gasoline stations management, manufacturing and marketing of petrochemicals and chemicals, exploration, exploitation, drilling, production and storage of crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas.

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Iran will finalize a contract with French aircraft manufacturer Airbus on the purchase of jetliners next week, said Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi.

He added that the details of the contract with Airbus to purchase brand new aircraft will be made public afterwards, Tasnim News Agency reported.

During Iranian President Hassan Rouhani‘s visit to Paris in January, Tehran signed the major contract with Airbus worth about $27 billion to buy 118 planes.

Iran and Airbus intensified business negotiations in October following the US decision to remove a final hurdle for Western aircraft manufacturers to sell planes to Iran under contracts signed after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a nuclear agreement between Tehran and the P5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) was implemented in January.

While Western plane makers are impatient to begin trade with Iran, Washington still demands that even non-American manufacturers wishing to sell to Iran obtain an export license if their products include materials made in the United States. Airbus, based in Europe, buys more than 40 percent of all its aircraft parts from the US.

Iran sealed another deal in June worth around $25 billion with the US aerospace heavyweight, Boeing, to purchase 100 passenger planes.

The deal with Boeing was finalized earlier this month allowing Iran to buy 80 planes within 10 years. The first deliveries are expected in 2018.

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Head of container affairs of Shahid Rajaei Port in Hormuzgan Province announced that 17 international container shipping companies have resumed their activities in the port adding that Maersk Line of Denmark and MOL of Japan as well as CMA of France and Messina of Italy will begin operations in the port soon.

Also Today Imam Khomeini Port is back to busy days.

The Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of Imam Khomeini Port covers an area of 11,044 hectares, lying in the extreme northwest of the Persian Gulf and at the end of natural waterway of Khormusa, which is 42 nautical miles long, 250 meters wide and 20 meters deep in average, providing a safe environment for various types of shipping liners and oil tanker vessels through the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean.

The Imam Khomeini Port is the closest southern Iranian port to major industrial and population centers, and has the shortest and safest land routes for forwarding commodities from Iraq, Turkey, Caucasus and Eastern Europe.

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Iran signed preliminary agreements with Russia’s Gazprom on Tuesday to develop two major oilfields in the latest of a flurry of deals with foreign firms, local media reported.

The deals open the way for Gazprom to carry out studies at the Cheshmekosh and Changouleh fields near the border with Iraq, according to the Shana news agency, which is linked to the Oil Ministry, AFP reported.

That adds to five other oilfields that have already been earmarked for Russian firms Lukoil, Tatneft and Zarubezhneft.

The latest deal was signed by Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, who is visiting Tehran with a 590-strong business delegation.

Russia and Iran are keen to deepen their economic relationship.

Iran has announced a slew of energy deals with foreign firms in recent weeks, despite uncertainty around the incoming US administration of Donald Trump, who has vowed to take a more confrontational stance toward Tehran.

Last week, Anglo-Dutch giant Shell signed an initial accord to explore two of Iran’s largest oilfields at South Azadegan and Yadavaran, as well as the Kish gas field.

That followed an initial deal with France’s Total last month to develop part of the South Pars gas field – a project worth an estimated $4.8 billion.

But doubts persist over how these deals will be financed so long as Iran remains frozen out of the international finance system by continuing US sanctions.

The government has announced that Iran’s energy infrastructure urgently needs an infusion of foreign cash, technology and know-how.

Russia Keen to Participate in Iran’s Oil, Gas Projects
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday that Moscow is keen to participate in Iran’s oil and gas projects.

He made the remarks in the Iran-Russia trade forum in Tehran.

Iran and Russia will continue cooperation in execution of development projects in the oil and gas sector, the official added.

He said that Iran and Russia will promote cooperation in construction of gas, electric and nuclear power plants.

Iran and Russia are keen to enhance all-out ties, Novak added.

He referred to removal of Islamic Republic’s sanctions and said the ground is now ready for Russia’s investment in Iran’s oil and gas projects.

The two countries enjoy good capacity for promotion of cooperation, Novak added.

He said that the volume of cooperation between the two states is increasing.

Iran and Russia enjoy longstanding cooperation in energy fields and they can work together in fields of construction of nuclear, electric and gas power plants, the minister added.

He said that central banks of Iran and Russia have taken good steps forward resolution of banking problems.

Russia will cooperate with Iran to develop its Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and electrify its railroads, Novak added.

He said Moscow is ready to sell superjet planes to Iran.

National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) and Russian Gazprom Neft on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation.

Managing Director of the NIGC Hamid-Reza Araqi and Deputy Managing Director of Gazprom Alexander Medvedov signed the deal in the presence of Iran’s Minister of Communications Mahmoud Vaezi and Russian energy minister.

The two sides decided to form five working group with regards to the extent of the working fields. The working groups corresponded and held talks on trade of gas, R&D, production and implementation of the joint projects and gas application.

In the meeting, the projects of investment in Iran were outlined and it was announced that Iran is ready to absorb more than 62 billion dollars investment in the NIGC projects in the coming years.

With lapse of almost one year since the first working session, the two sides signed the MoU based on outcome of their expert sessions.

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The Village Councilor of Abyaneh said that over 30,000 foreign tourists visited the village during the 8 months of current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20).

Mohammad Adeli referred to growth in the number of tourists visiting Abyaneh, saying that some 5,518 foreign tourists visited the village in the Iranian month of Aban (October 22- November 20).

Most foreign tourists came from France with 1,368, Germany with 551, Italy with 410, the Netherlands with 363, Thailand with 282, Belgium with 278 and England with 253 tourists in the Iranian month of Aban, he noted.

Abyaneh is a village in Barzrud Rural District, in the Central District of Natanz township, Isfahan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 305, in 160 families.

Tourist Review
The red clay village Abyaneh and Kashan

By, Andri Wilberg Orrason: There are many old historical mountain villages in Iran, where the clock seem to tick slower then in the bigger cities. We decided to visit one of them, Abyaneh, often referred to as the Red Village for its red mud brick houses and the surrounding mountain terrain (bearing the same colour due to iron oxides). The houses are arranged like steps up the hillside, so the roofs of some houses are the front yards of the next one up. Abyaneh is at least 1500 years old (dating back to the Sassanid era), originating from the time of the Arab invasion, when many of the Zoroastrian followers fled to the mountains and deserts to escape forced conversion to Islam. Because of their isolation, the villagers speak a dialect of their own, which is though to predate modern Persian or Farsi, with less Arabic influence.

To reach the village we decided to hitch a ride from Esfahan. Without effort we managed to reach the nearmost town, Natanz.

We payed a local in Natanz a few buck to drive us there. It wasn’t our safest moment; along the way the driver rolled down his window and started sniffing a white cloth, which presumably was soaked in glue or petrol. He seemed to be getting more and more drowsy, but at same time driving faster and faster up the mountain road. We finally reached the village, alive.

People of Abyaneh Village The local women wear traditional clothing

Walking the red narrow streets, with hardly any tourists visible, we stumbled upon a local couple, Natasha and Saed, who invited us for some tea. To our surprise, their english was superb. They had lived mostly in the capital Tehran but also in Europe for many years. Despite having lived in the world’s biggest cities with the latest technology, they decided to move to Abyaneh some 15 years ago and raise their two beautiful children in a peaceful environment away from political influence. Like most women in the village, Natasha, wore a traditional headscarf with floral motifs and a bright coloured dress which is scarcely aligned with the Islamic regime requiring women to dress modestly. It was lovely to sit on a small stone chair in their “Flinstone” kitchen, drinking Iranian tea and talking about Iran, their culture, before and now.

People of Abyaneh Village

The warm locals, Natasha and Saed in front of their 1.500 year old house
Kashan

After Abyaneh we headed to Kashan, a city famous for hand woven carpets and historical houses.

One of many historical houses in Kashan

Historical house Kashan

Eating dinner at one of the historical houses

It can take one person up to 6-12 month to weave a 1.5 x 1.0 m carpet depending on how dense you weave it (knots per square inch). If you liked that carpet in the movie Big Lebowski, well know you know, it’s a Kashan design! We came close to buying one at the bazaar but our budget didn’t afford a quick loss of 2000 dollars. You can get them for cheaper, with fewer knots, made from cheap wool instead of silk, coloured with chemicals instead of organic dyes, but we couldn’t get our eyes off the irresistible and shiny silk carpest woven to perfection. So we decided to wait until we visit Iran again sometime, when we’re not on a world tour budget, and bring enough currency for a carpet.

Persian carpet from Kashan, A beautiful wool and silk carpet handmade in Tabriz.

We didn’t spend much time in Kashan as our main interest lied outside the city. For a mere 20 dollars each we rented a private driver (for 7 hours) who drove us into the Maranjab desert to visit the Dasht-e Kavir Salt Lake (Namak Lake), with a quick stop at the underground city (handbuilt 18 meter below surface in the pre-islamic era for defense purposes) and the shrine of Hilal Ibn Ali. We really enjoyed seeing the hexagonal to octagonal shapes of salt, reaching endlessly in all directions, disappearing into the horizon. Our day was perfected with the most beautiful sunset we have seen, in complete remoteness, on top of the highest sand dune of Maranjab desert.

The amazing shrine of Hilal Ibn Ali,

The amazing shrine of Hilal Ibn Ali, Wearing the chador in front of the holy shrine

The amazing shrine of Hilal Ibn Alie

View inside the underground city

View inside the underground city

The desert Maranja

Salt lake, Dasht-e Kavir – Iran

Salt lake, Dasht-e Kavir – Iran

Salt lake, Dasht-e Kavir – Iran

Sunset in the Maranjab desert

Sunset in the Maranjab desert

Video About Abyaneh

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Swedish ministers have welcomed a proposal by Iranian President’s Chief of Staff Mohammad Nahavandian to open an account of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) in Stockholm central bank.

Nahavandian made the proposal to the Swedish Minister of Finance Magdalena Andersson and the Minister of EU Affairs and Trade Ann Linde in separating meetings in Stockholm on Saturday, Fars News Agency reported.

During the meetings, Nahavandian underlined the need to accelerate the trend of promoting Tehran-Stockholm relations through a comprehensive program.

He said the two countries should finalize the banking talks at the earliest to facilitate economic exchanges.

The Iranian government, he said, is resolved to attract optimum foreign investment.

For her part, Linde said that her country has planned for promoting economic relations with Iran.

Andersson also said in her meeting with Nahavandian that Stockholm attaches great importance to ties with Tehran.

Andersson further stressed that Sweden and Iran should resume cooperation as Tehran was once Sweden’s biggest trade partner before the sanctions’ era.

In relevant remarks in early June, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom in a meeting with her Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Stockholm called for the expansion of relations between the two countries.

“There is a need for enhanced cooperation between Iran and Sweden under present conditions,” Wallstrom said.

The Swedish foreign minister reiterated that following the nuclear agreement between Iran the six world powers (the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany) in July 2015, the time is ripe for Iran and Sweden to expand all-out relations.

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National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will sign into three accords with France’s Total and Royal Dutch Shell over development of three oil and gas fields of Iran.

Following the signing of an Agreement in Principle (AiP) with France’s Total S.A. company on development of South Pars Phase 11, the French firm will seal two more agreements today with NIOC.

One contract to be inked between the two sides today on Wednesday December 07 pertains conducting studies and development of Azadegan joint oilfields.

The accord follows an earlier meeting in December between Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh and Chairman and CEO of Total Patrick Pouyanné held on the the sidelines of OPEC summit in Algeria where the two sides mulled over venues to develop South Azadegan oil field.

NIOC and France’s Total had also sealed a confidential disclosure agreement in March in order to develop Iran’s South Azadegan joint oilfield with Iraq and the French side was required to present its technical bid in six months’ time.

Earlier, the Project Director of the Development Project of South Azadegan Seyyed Mahmoud Mar’ashi estimated that the required volume of investment for the project will be less than five billion dollars in order to reach a daily production of 300 to 320 thousand barrels of crude oil.

In the current time, about 50 thousand barrels of crude oil is being extracted from the joint oil field while completion of the first developmental phase will raise the output to 100 thousand barrels per day by the end of the current year.

In addition to the deal on Azadegan, another agreement is slated to be signed with Total over expansion of Kish gas field as one of the NIOC Recent Discoveries which was discovered in 2006.

A total of 12 wells have so far been drilled in Kish gas field, which is a giant independent field close to Kish Island in the Persian Gulf, and three developmental phases have been defined to realize five billion cubic feet of gas.

The third contract, however, will be endorsed today between NIOC and Royal Dutch Shell on development of Yadavaran joint oilfield. It remains noteworthy that the first phase of development in the Iranian field has been carried out by Sinopec of China.

With completion of Phase 1 of North Azadegan oilfield, in collaboration with China National Petroleum Corporation International (CNPCI), the production at Yadavaran joint field has also surged to 115 thousand barrels per day as a result of cooperation with Sinopec.

Oil production at the joint oilfield with Iran has currently reached 115 thousand barrels which exceeds the initial commitment made for the first developmental phase by approximately 30 thousand barrels.

Yadavaran oilfield has a reservoir of 17 billion barrels and a potential to produce 300-400 thousand bpd of crude.

Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh had previously said the MDP of phase II of North Azadegan and Yadavaran oilfields has been approved by Chinese contractor SINOPEC and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) under an initial contract, adding “Iran is ready to hold multilateral negotiations with Chinese companies within its accepted framework.”

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Head of Civil Aviation Organization has said four European countries have been commissioned to finance Iran’s possible plane purchases from world air industry giants.

Ali Abedzadeh told Mehr News on Thursday that Germany would be the most probable candidate to finance through credits Iran’s prospective plane purchase agreements, with Italy, Ireland, and France possibly as contributors.

“This is the most viable path to provide airlines with much-needed planes and to resuscitate the country’s antiquated fleet; the method is popular around the world in heavy deals such as plane purchase and the Ministry of Roads and Urban Planning had been since long working to secure purchases through this method,” he added.

“4 European countries hailed the initiative by Iran during negotiations; Ireland and Italy enjoy excellent backgrounds in financing international purchases and the CAO will continue keeping contacts with these creditors,” Abedzadeh told Mehr News.

Earlier, Abedzadeh had said in an interview that domestic creditors would also contribute to the international plane purchase agreements, to attract the participation of the private sector and to encourage enterprises in the airline industry.

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Global energy giant British Petroleum (BP) has reportedly started a serious push to look into the prospects for making post-sanctions investments in Iran’s oil industry.

Reuters said in a report that BP has formed a special task force to study Iran’s oil industry investment potentials in what could be a fresh sign of the growing interest of major corporations in Iran’s promising oil and gas prospects.

BP’s task force for Iran will coordinate the oil major’s operations in the country as well as any discussions with the country’s national oil company – NIOC.

To cushion against the risks of the remaining US anti-Iran sanctions that ban any American involvement in the country’s economy, BP has decided to exclude its American CEO Bob Dudley from its Iran task force and instead appoint chief financial officer Brian Gilvary – a British national – to lead the mission.

The move highlights the lengths to which multinationals will go to exploit lucrative new business in Iran, Reuters added.

BP is an old name in Iran and was the first company to produce oil in Iran more than a century ago when it was called the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.

The company had no recent major involvement in Iran’s oil industry before and after the imposition of US-led sanctions against the country in 2012.

The formation of a special task force for Iran follows recent indications that rivals like France’s Total and Norway’s DNO are already cementing their foothold in the Iranian market through development deals.

Total was the first major western company to sign a deal with Iran earlier this month for the development of a major gas project – Phase 11 of the country’s South Pars field.

Norway‘s DNO has also agreed to study the development of the Changuleh oil field in western Iran – what is expected to lead to a development deal next year.

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