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Javad Owji, Irans Oil Minister, and Pedro Rafael Tellechea, his Venezuelan counterpart, signed deals to expand bilateral cooperation in the energy sector.

IRNA reported on April 16 that while visiting Caracas, Javad Owji signed cooperation documents and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with senior Venezuelan officials aimed at reinforcing bilateral cooperation in both the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil industry.

According to reports, the agreements between Javad Owji and Venezuelan officials aim to develop oil and gas fields, renovate and reconstruct Venezuela's oil refineries, and maximize their production capacity.

As part of the agreements, Iran will offer technical and engineering support, as well as equipment, to aid in the modernization of Venezuelas petrochemical complexes, loading docks, and oil terminals. Additionally, the two countries have reached deals related to the trade and export of oil, gas condensate, and petroleum products.

In recent years, Iran has established strategic cooperation with its Latin American ally, with bilateral trade between the two countries encompassing industries such as oil, gas, and automotive. Furthermore, since December 2022, Iran has been operating its ocean liners to transport merchants along routes to Venezuela.

Amir Bayat, the marketing deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line (IRISL), has stated that Venezuela is an excellent destination for Iranian-made construction materials, petrochemicals, and oil products. He has also encouraged Iranian merchants to utilize the shipping line for exporting these items.

Tehran has been reportedly providing assistance in the renovation of some of Venezuelas largest refineries, despite sanctions imposed by the United States on Venezuelas state oil company PDVSA. Iran has sent a total of four shipments, consisting of 8 million barrels of naphtha, to Venezuela in 2022. This product has played a significant role in boosting Venezuelas oil production. Moreover, in January 2023, Iran delivered a tanker carrying 440,000 barrels of naphtha to Venezuela.

In early January, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with the Venezuelan ambassador, Rafael Silva Aponte, and emphasized the positive outcomes of the constructive talks and good deals that were achieved between Tehran and Caracas during President Nicolas Maduro's visit to Iran in June 2022.

Implementation of these agreements can expand bilateral cooperation between the two countries by using the various capacities of the two countries, President Raisi told the ambassador.

During a meeting in Tehran in June 2022, Iran and Venezuela signed a 20-year cooperation plan, which encompassed cooperation in various sectors such as oil, petrochemicals, defence, agriculture, tourism, culture, the repair of Venezuelan refineries, and the export of technical and engineering services. In May of that year, the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company signed a contract worth around 110 million euros to undertake repairs on Venezuela's smaller refinery with a capacity of 146,000 barrels per day.

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Iran, Venezuela Strengthen Ties in Oil Industry with New Agreements - Caspian News

Jason Rezaian, an Iranian American and Washington Post writer, spoke about his imprisonment in Iran at an April 10 event at The Fletcher School.

Rezaian formerly served as the Tehran bureau chief for the Post, where he is now a global opinions writer. After being convicted of espionage in a closed-door trial, he was imprisoned by the Iranian government for 544 days from 201416.

The Persian Students Association organized the event as part of its speaker series with support from the Office of the Provost.

The Fletcher School has a long and illustrious history of bringing out people who work in international relations and diplomatic fields around the world, Rezaian told the Daily. Its a wonderful opportunity for me, and Im glad to have been asked.

Rezaian initially decided to report on Iran out of a curiosity for reclusive parts of the world.

I knew from early on that I wanted to write and tell stories about places that most Americans wouldnt have the opportunity to visit, Rezaian said. When I had the opportunity to go [to Iran] and get to know the place and its people, I found it to be, of course, fascinating, but also so different than how it was portrayed in our news media.

When he went to Iran, Rezaian quickly found a wealth of stories.

I thought to myself, Well, heres a good chance for me to do something that will actually add value, Rezaian said. It wasnt easy to get into, but I spent a lot of time and energy and resources to make myself as valuable a reporter on Iran as possible.

During the event, Rezaian spoke about how anti-American rhetoric manifests in Iran, despite how many citizens have embraced some American culture and technology. Rezaian also highlighted the nuanced role of women in Iranian society, especially in light of the Woman, Life, Freedom protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in late 2022.

Even though women have been treated as second-class citizens in Iranian society, Rezaian made clear they play a critical role in public life, particularly education, and have carved out their own niches of security in an Islamic society. Rezaian suggested that the abuse women have faced in society, combined with their outsized role, could make them a formidable force for reform.

The conversation turned to Iranian authorities 2014 arrest of Rezaian and the broader problem of authoritarian regimes taking journalists as hostages. Rezaian told the Daily he believes his own arrest was related to the contentious nuclear deal negotiations that were going on at the time.

I was an American citizen working for a high-profile company that happened to be a news organization, Rezaian said. Some elements within the Iranian regime who did not want to see the nuclear deal come to fruition used my arrest and other outlandish provocations to try and undermine the deal. That didnt succeed, but I paid a pretty heavy price.

During his discussion, Rezaian said that diplomatic hesitancy leads states and media to refer to obvious hostages as wrongful detainees, downgrading their status in the publics eyes.

In his interview with the Daily, Rezaian also drew attention to the current status of journalists imprisoned in other countries, and expressed concern about the future of international reporting, saying it has become increasingly dangerous in recent years.

We see whats happened to The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in Russia over the last couple of weeks, Rezaian said. I think young journalists need to understand that the rules of engagement are very different than they were.

Rezaian also acknowledged the disparity in how the United States treats enemy states that take hostages versus allied states, such as Saudi Arabia, that take hostages as well. He said that while the State Department has its own motives for how they handle hostage situations, they still have to do legal due diligence to ensure the charges against the would-be hostages are dismissed.

Concluding his discussion, Rezaian suggested that the United States should change its attitude toward dealing with Iran.

Weve spent 40 years putting real heavy penalties and sanctions on Iran, he said. But its time for a rethink on how we approach these issues. What youre trying to do with economic sanctions is really to get people to rise up, and it never works. Its much more effective to go after the people in power and their loved ones.

The current sanctions, according to Rezaian, misdirect blame at ordinary Iranian citizens.

For a long time, we could make the argument that academia was supposed to be a safe haven and people should be able to come, Rezaian said. But when ordinary Iranians are blocked from coming, then its a problem. I think we have to reassess how we approach punitive measures against countries that were at odds with, and do it in a way that is more directly targeting the bad actors themselves, and figure out ways to empower ordinary people.

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Jason Rezaian, journalist once imprisoned in Iran, shares his ... - Tufts Daily

A suspect has been arrested over the horrific murder of two women in the city of Abadeh in Irans southern Fars Province, according to judicial officials.

The mutilated bodies of the victims were found in separate parts of the city.

Chief Justice of Fars Province, Kazem Mousavi announced on Tuesday that "the main suspect of the murders" was arrested on the evening of Monday, April 17.

The families of the victims told Iran International the judicial authorities have not provided the identity of the suspected murderer.

The murders come after the disappearance of local women in recent weeks.

A 55-year-old woman named Donya left home on Saturday morning for her office but did not return.

It is possible that one of the bodies is hers.

Relatives of the two feared victims told Iran International the bodies are so mutilated they cannot be identified initially. DNA tests are being conducted in the hope of providing identification.

Local residents believe there are more than two missing women, raising fears that there may be further victims, and fuelling growing anxiety among female residents of Abadeh.

The horrific practice of killing women and mutilating their bodies in Iran, known as honor killing, is a form of violence against women that is rooted in traditional gender roles and expectations. It is a way for men to control and punish women who are perceived to have violated social norms.

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Suspect Arrested In Connection With Murder Of Two Women, Iran Says -

When it comes to extremism, there is no such thing as neutrality. Our experience shows that extremists say what they mean and mean what they say. If they say that they want to fight and defeat us, we should believe them. It would be irresponsible to take the easy road by pretending otherwise.

Those who have the responsibility to protect us, principally political leaders, can either stand firmly against extremists or they can do nothing. Doing nothing is not the same as neutrality; doing nothing encourages extremists to carry on their pernicious activities with impunity.

In October 2022, an extremist organization called Samidoun (an opaque de facto group ostensibly supporting the rights of Palestinian prisoners) held a rally in front of the European Parliament in Brussels. The rally's leader, Belgian resident and Samidoun's European coordinator Mohammed Khatib, called for the defeat of Israel, the European Union, and the United States by any means necessary. He said that Israels ambassador to Belgium should be afraid. He said that Zionists should be afraid. He said that the European Union should be afraid.

His words went beyond mere rhetoric. In Arabic, he revealed why we should be afraid: the Palestinian diaspora should be armed with Kalashnikovs, bullets and rockets. This is incitement to murder, as simple as that. No one should be surprised, since the rally was replete with banners celebrating murderers of men, women and children. Israeli men, women and children. Israel and all associated with it, such as the colonial EU, are the hated other which must be defeated using violence.

This is why the International Movement for Peace and Coexistence (IMPAC) reached out to MEPs and international experts to take part in a symposium at the European Parliament last month, attended by over 100 people. They heard from speaker after speaker how Samidoun is part of a tripartite alliance with the proscribed terrorist organization, PFLP, and the authoritarian regime in Iran. Samidoun is not just brazenly calling for violence it is connected with those able to provide the means to achieve it.

One of the experts, Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Forum (ILF), cited their report detailing the close connections between Samidoun leaders and the PFLP. For them, we are one and the same. We know that the PFLP is a proxy of the Iranian regime, which provides a terror group with money, weapons and logistics support. We know that Samidoun is an offshoot of the PFLP, whose senior leaders are PFLP members and receive instructions and money from them, Ostrovsky said.

Former French intelligence officer Claude Moniquet, director of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, explained that words of hatred and incitement inevitably lead to actions, typically the degradation of monuments to physical or verbal aggression. But at worst, he went on, they will lead, as has already been the case, to the commission of terrorist acts.

The Members of the European Parliament hosting the event, representing 3 of the 4 largest political groups in the parliament, understand the danger. MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen (Netherlands) said that Samidoun and its connections to the PFLP should be investigated to see if legal steps can be taken. Vice-Chair of the Committee on Security and Defense, MEP Lukas Mandl (Austria), identified what those legal steps need to be: All the proxies and all the terror organizations must be designated as what they are: terror organizations.

Progress is being made. Berlin just recently banned a Samidoun rally; Cologne cut one short following the usual inciting chants against Israel. Yet, this did not stop Samidoun's Mohammad Khatib from urging people at a booster rally in Brussels this past weekend to join the Palestinian resistance as exemplified by Hamas, the PFLP, Lion's Den, and Hezbollah terrorist groups. All aim to murder Jews and destroy Israel. All despise our values. All are linked to Iran.

We are in a war, and time is running out. What is at stake are the values on which liberal Western democracy is founded - human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights. Our leaders need to be conscious of them, commanded by them and committed to them. Neutrality is not an option. As Imam Hassan Chalghoumi said, Samidoun aims for the instability of Europe. Today it targets Israel; tomorrow, it is you and me.

The EU must proscribe Samidoun since it is a clear and present threat to us all.

Nigel Goodrich is CEO of the International Movement for Peace and Coexistence (IMPAC), a Brussels-based international not-for-profit.

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Iran proxy Samidoun should be designated as a terror organization - The Jerusalem Post

FILE PHOTO:President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami during a past press conference. /CFP

FILE PHOTO:President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami during a past press conference. /CFP

The Iranian nuclear chief said on Wednesday the negotiations between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are "progressing," according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami made the remark in an address to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting, commenting on the latest developments in relations between Tehran and the IAEA.

Eslami said technical and expert delegations from the two sides are in close contact and report daily on the progress, adding that the results of the negotiations will be released at "due time".

The IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi paid a two-day visit to Tehran in early March, aimed at resolving some issues over Iran's nuclear program.

The visit came as the differences between Iran and the IAEA peaked over claims that "Iran's uranium particles enriched to up to 83.7 percent purity, very close to weapons," and Iran's "non-cooperation" with an investigation into traces of uranium at "three undeclared sites."

Iran rejected the first claim as "inaccurate" and the second as "baseless."

The two sides then reached an agreement on further interactions based on Iran's cooperation and greater openness to IAEA's inspections.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of the sanctions on the country. The United States, however, pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the deal.

The talks on the JCPOA's revival began in April 2021 in Vienna. No breakthrough has been achieved after the latest round of talks in August 2022.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency

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