Mediaboss Marketing

White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk says the U.S. and Iran "are in the ballpark of a possible deal" to return to the 2015 nuclear agreement, but he doesnt want to put odds on it."

Why it matters: That's the most optimistic statement from the Biden administration since the nuclear talks resumed in Vienna last December. McGurk, who was speaking at a Carnegie Endowment event, didnt explain the reasoning behind his assessment.

Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.

State of play: Biden administration officials have set the end of January or beginning of February as an unofficial deadline for the talks, in large part because they believe Iran's nuclear advances will soon render the 2015 deal ineffective.

Both U.S. and European officials have said in recent weeks that progress in Vienna has been modest and very slow.

A senior U.S. official involved in the talks told Axios last week that Iran would have to move faster on its diplomacy or slower on its nuclear program to provide enough space for a deal.

What he is saying: McGurk said the talks are close to a culmination point and the U.S. will soon know if Iran is ready to return to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal on terms Washington can accept.

Despite his relative optimism, McGurk said the U.S. was prepared for the possibility that the talks would collapse without a deal.

He also said the Biden administration remains focused on restoring the 2015 accord and is not interested in a less for less interim deal.

Go deeper: U.S. and Israel hold Iran strategy session on nuclear deal decision

More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free

Here is the original post:
U.S. and Iran "in the ballpark" of a nuclear deal, Biden ...

Iran's agriculture minister said Friday the Revolutionary Guards engineering arm Khatam ol-Anbia are to boost rice production with a $3 billion project.

According to the semi-official Mehr news agency, Javad Sadatinejad announced a five-year project, agreed by the ministry and Khatam ol-Anbia, that would be resourced through bartering oil.

The minister made the comments at a meeting in Roudsar, Gilan province, during a visit by President Ebrahim Raisi (Raeesi). "Initial agreements have been made and 7 trillion rials was allocated to this purpose during this visit," Sadatinejad said.

The IRGC is involved in many areas of the economy, including industrial and road construction, housing, and agriculture. In early January, the Minister of Energy Ali-Akbar Mehrabian said the ministry had concluded a 300-billion rial contract with the IRGC's Imam Hasan Headquarters for water projects in rural areas.

Sadatinejad said Iran imported around 1 million metric tons of rice annually but had the potential to be self-sufficient in line, he said, with the Raisi administration's top priorities.

Per capita rice consumption in Iran is around 35kg, putting overall consumption, including by agro-food industries, at 3.5 million tons. The highest output, achieved in 2018, was 1.9 million tons.

Major production is concentrated in the Caspian coastal provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan, which together produce over 75 percent of rice grown in Iran. Much of the terrain is mountainous or forested, leaving just a narrow strip for rice and other agriculture.

Other provinces including Esfahan, Khuzestan, and Fars produce rice on a small scale. Almost all these provinces have been hit by drought in the past few years and the ministry has banned rice cultivation in some provinces, including Golestan, which is among the provinces with the highest precipitation.

In 2013 the secretary of Iran's Rice Producers' Association, Jamil Alizadeh, said self-sufficiency in rice production was not logical given the crop requires intensive irrigation. Alizadeh said the country had 630,000 hectares of rice paddies but irrigation could be considered assured for only 520,000 with remaining crops vulnerable to drought.

Like much of the wider region, Iran has faced serious drought over two decades, with water shortages affecting around one-fourth of Iranian cities. Critics also blame water-intensive industries, and water stress had led to protests in affected areas, including the south-western province of Khuzestan and the central province of Esfahan since July this year, as communities vie for water supply.

In 2004 Iran announced self-sufficiency in wheat production, but four years later had to import over 5.4 million tons, which made it the worlds fourth-largest wheat importer. Imports continued until 2015, but since then the country imports only to maintain strategic food reserves.

Read the original post:
Iran Revolutionary Guards Enter The Rice Business - Iran International

TEHRAN The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Saturday condemned rocket attacks on Baghdad airport, saying the raid is aimed at disrupting stability in Iraq.

Such suspicious moves would result in insecurity and chaos in Iraq and pave the way for ill-wishers and seditionists and affect the governments efforts to offer services to Iraqi citizens, Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

According to Khatibzadeh, Iran has always supported the nationwide establishment of security, and the integrity of Iraq, and backs the Iraqi governments attempts to stabilize the country.

At least three rockets landed on Friday in Baghdad International Airport compound and near an adjacent U.S. airbase, damaging one disused civilian airplane, Iraqi police sources said.

The rockets hit the airports runways or parking areas, a source at the Interior Ministry said, noting that a civilian plane has been hit and damaged.

The attack was not immediately claimed, Al Jazeera reported.

The officials did not report any other damage or any injuries in Friday, adding that the damaged Iraqi Airways aircraft was out of use.

On its social media pages, Iraqi Airways posted pictures of the damage, consisting of a hole near the nose of the plane.

No flights were affected by the attack, the airline added.

Continued here:
Iran condemns attack on Baghdad airport, says the move intended to undermine Iraq's stability - Tehran Times

TEHRAN Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian held a phone conversation on Friday evening with his Nicaraguan counterpart, Denis Moncada.

According to the Foreign Ministry website, the conversation focused on deepening bilateral relations and cooperation.

The Iranian foreign minister offered congratulations on the victory of Daniel Ortega and the Sandanista Front in Nicaraguas recent presidential election, stressing that Iran stands ready for expansion of cooperation between the two states.

Amir Abdollahian referred to the participation of Iranian Vice President Mohsen Rezaei in the Nicaraguan presidents swearing-in ceremony, saying his attendance in the event indicates that Iran attaches significance to the enhancement of cooperation with the Latin American states, especially Nicaragua.

The foreign minister added that Iran stands prepared to implement all the agreements reached during the Iranian vice presidents trip to Nicaragua.

The chief Iranian diplomat also invited his Nicaraguan counterpart to visit Iran.

He said political relations between the two countries are at a good level, and that he hopes the two sides can bolster economic cooperation in the near future.

For his part, the Nicaraguan foreign minister thanked Iran for congratulating their presidential elections and said it was an honor for his country that hosted the Iranian vice president during the swearing-in ceremony.

Moncada also conveyed the Nicaraguan presidents warm greetings to the Iranian nation, president and government.

The Nicaraguan minister said different agreements have been inked in various economic fields, including medicine, science, technology and industry, voicing Nicaraguas readiness to implement and advance the agreements at the earliest.

In turn, the Nicaraguan minister also invited his Iranian counterpart for a visit to his country.

Here is the original post:
Amir Abdollahian says Iran ready to implement agreements with Nicaragua - Tehran Times

Metal singer and guitarist Nikan Khosravi knows how tough it is to have a protesting voice in Iran.

After his band Confess released their last albumIn Pursuit of Dreamsin 2015, Khosravi and bandmate Arash Ilkhaniwere jailed on charges of blasphemy and propaganda.

Now in Norway as political refugees, they're set to release a new album about the 18 months they spent inside Iran's Evin prison, and how they faced solitary confinement.

"It feels awesome to be able to put out music again after seven years," Khosravi told As It Happens host Carol Off. "It's a big relief."

Khosravi spoke with Off about the metal band's new album, Revenge At All Costs. Here is part of their conversation.

How did you find metal music in Tehran? Where did that come from?

I was in junior high school. One of my friends ... he gave me a CD and he was like, 'Go check this out. It's great music.' So when I got back home, I put this in my computer and it was like a bunch of music videos captured on satellite TV.

I was [an] 11-year-old and I was just faced with this huge, energetic and angry music. It was so fascinating. So ever since, I became a big fan.

It's one thing to actually listen to music in your home and to get access to that. But it's another thing to actually make metal music with really strong protest lyrics in it. When did you come to the point where you actually wanted to become a metal artist yourself?

I guess after following this music for a year I asked my mom to buy me [an] electric guitar. And after a couple of years when I became better [at] that, I wanted to write my own music and write my own lyrics.

It became the biggest purpose of my life to form a band and be able to share my own music with the world.

It brought the attention of the authorities on you, didn't it? Especially when you put out your In Pursuit of Dreams album in 2015. Tell us what happened then.

We were arrested by the Revolutionary Guard in November of 2015, two weeks after releasing that album. That album was specifically very focused on the political challenges in the society in Iran and criticizing the religion. We were charged with blasphemy and doing propaganda against the state in our lyrics.

After they captured us, they kept us in solitary confinement in Evin prison for three months. And then [there were] interrogations. Then they sent us to [the] public sector of Evin prison.

Altogether, we were in jail for almost a year and a half.

Eighteen months and not even knowing what would happen to you. How did you endure that?

I really don't know. I just had this hope that one day I'm gonna come out.

I remember that I used to look at this door in the solitary confinement. And I was [thinking] like, one day I got to get out of here. I don't know how, but I'm just going to keep doing this. I don't know how because I cannot be anything else. This is the love of my life, and I'm innocent.

The day that I could make bail for $80,000 and come out of jail, it was great, but I felt like even living outside of jail is not way better than inside because with all the stress that what's going to happen to me and what's going to be my trial look like.

You were just out on bail, but you weren't out in the clear, were you? You were still facing those charges. At what point did you realize that you were going to have to leave?

After the first trial. They gave us six years like they were tossing candies.

The moment I got out of the Justice Department, [which is] basically an injustice department my family [was] like, "You got to go."

And now you're a political refugee in Norway.

Yeah.

We're not saying where you are in Norway, so obviously you're still not completely safe. But you do have this album out, Revenge At All Costs. How is it being received? Are people in Iran hearing your music?

We're very happy to note this fact that we have a huge number of fans now in Iran, too, because we're getting messages on social media from them, emails that they are digging our music and they can relate to it.

One of the messages that really moved me was [from] this teenage boy He [was] like, "One day I'm going to be like you."And I was like, "Oh I don't want you to go to jail."You know? It's like a double-edged sword. You want to speak for people and at the same time you don't want them to be in danger.

But at the same time, the regime trying to punish you has given exposure to your music to another generation.

That's the biggest mistake they made. Because I literally dedicated my album to my judge and my main interrogator in jail.

It's in the physical copy. I wrote a couple of paragraphs and at the end I dedicated the album to them. Because I remember that they were like, "You're not going to see the light of day again."And now I'm here.

Written by Mehek Mazhar. Interview produced by Kate McGillivray. Q&A edited for length and clarity.

Read the original here:
They were jailed for their metal songs in Iran. Now they're releasing an album in Norway - CBC.ca