Iran News Round Up - January 25, 2017

An Oil Ministry official stated that Iran’s oil exports to Europe reached 767,000 barrels per day (bpd) in December, a ten-percent increase from November 2016. The National Iranian Oil Company’s contracts with seven major European companies, including France’s Total, Italy’s Saras, Greece’s Hellenic Petroleum, Russia’s Lukoil, Spain’s Cepsa, Italy’s Eni, and Turkey’s Tupras, account for over 60 percent of exports to European countries. (Mehr News Agency)

Major Iranian news outlets circulated quotes from Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamani Nia’s interview with CNN about possibilities for economic partnerships between American and Iranian companies. Zamani Nia stated that he sees “great potential for engagement and partnership in Iran for American companies” under President Donald Trump. He added that he hopes that “we can decouple politics from economic cooperation” and added, “We see a lot of indications that there is a departure in the current [Trump] administration from the campaign slogans, and we don’t foresee a conflict coming up.” President Hassan Rouhani similarly dismissed Trump’s pledges to renegotiate the nuclear deal as “campaign slogans” in remarks on January 17. (Press TV) (E) (Fars News Agency)

Mohammad Reza Aref, a reformist parliamentarian and head of the Supreme Reformist Policymaking Council, denied “speculation” from conservatives that the council plans to abandon centrist President Hassan Rouhani in the May 2017 presidential election. Aref stated that the council’s “most important strategy is to continue in the direction we had in the 2013 election.” Reformists’ endorsement of Rouhani was a key component of his victory in the 2013 presidential election. (Asr Iran)

Tehran Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri warned state officials against politicizing the Plasco building collapse that left at least 30 dead and 194 Iranians injured, according to state media. Montazeri called on state officials to focus their intention on the victims of the incident instead. Press TV previously reported that “many Iranians” launched a “social media campaign” questioning conservative Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s competency as mayor due to the building collapse. Mohsen Sarkhou, a reformist city council member, also called for Ghalibaf to resign over his management of the Plasco building, which officials reportedly knew did not meet safety standards. (Entekhab)

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghassemi addressed what he called “incorrect” and “interventionist” criticisms of Iran’s human rights record, including its imprisonment of British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, by British Minister of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Joyce Anelay. An Iranian court recently upheld Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s five-year prison sentence on charges relating to national security. Ghassemi criticized Anelay’s statement as “incorrect,” “provocative,” “interventionist,” and damaging to British-Iranian relations. Ghassemi also appeared to refer to Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case without mentioning her name, stating, “The Judiciary, as an independent branch of government sets crimes and offenses worthy of investigation based on its own legal evidence.” Ghassemi’s comments underscore the Rouhani administration’s inability or unwillingness to facilitate the release of imprisoned dual nationals targeted by security forces. (IRIB)

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al Khaled al Sabah met with President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on January 25. Rouhani stressed Iran’s policy “to further develop friendly and brotherly ties with neighboring and Muslim countries.” Iranian state TV reported that al Sabah expressed hope that his country’s “ties with Iran will normalize” and stated that Iran and the Gulf states should become “regional partners.” The Kuwaiti foreign minister also met with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif. (president.ir) (E)

The Iranian Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, denied that the Islamic Republic is connected to the shipment of components for the Fagot anti-tank guided missile system and airplane replacement parts. Ukrainian authorities recently discovered the weapons shipment in an aircraft bound for Iran at Kiev’s Zulyany airport. The Fagot missile system is a Soviet-era wire-guided missile system. The Embassy published a statement decrying “the publishing of such erroneous news” as an attempt to “undermine the atmosphere of cooperation and growing relations” between Iran and Ukraine. It was unclear whether the seized airplane replacement parts were for military or commercial planes. American sales of airplane parts to Iran are banned under the U.S. sanctions regime, although the nuclear deal allowed for the limited sale of certain spare parts for commercial planes to non-sanctioned airlines. Iran’s other airlines continue to face a shortage of spare parts for their aging fleet, including Mahan Air, which remains sanctioned for providing support to the Quds Force. (ISNA)

The Critical Threats Project team explains the significance of Iran’s upcoming 2017 presidential election and tracks important electoral developments in “Iran Presidential Election Tracker: Updates and Analysis.”

Paul Bucala and Caitlin Shayda Pendleton discuss how Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s death will upend Iran’s political landscape in “What Rafsanjani’s death means for the Supreme Leader’s succession.”