Mediaboss Marketing

On the lonely drive deep into Iran's southwest, the barren landscape gives away little, interrupted only by the occasional caravan of camels, or the glow of a distant flame.

Still, our escorts from the Ministry of Petroleum politely ask us to refrain from filming.

This is Iran's coveted oil territory, and it is sensitive terrain.

Khuzestan province is up against the border with Iraq, once the front line in the calamitous war between the two countries in the 1980s.

It's also brimming with untapped oil and home to Iran's biggest oilfield and its boldest sales pitch.

A steady trickle of foreigners have been visiting, more than usual in this remote part of Iran.

Once inside the perimeter of a lustrous processing facility, we are allowed to do all the filming we want.

Barely a year old and built with China's help, the oil-processing facility has reached an output of 80,000 barrels per day and rising. (Nahlah Ayed/CBC News)

With China's help, a state-owned oil company constructed the facility while Iran was still under international sanctions. It is a model of international co-operation Iran is now looking to duplicate with Western outfits.

"This is our future," saidReza Golhaki, the health, safety and environment supervisor at the site, and our guide for the day.

"We'd be grateful working with the Canadians as well."

More than a year after sanctions against Iran were lifted in exchange for putting its nuclear program on ice, the country has opened up to Western investment.

Foreign companies have rushed in and signed billions of dollars worth of contracts since sanctions were lifted in Iran. (Nahlah Ayed/CBC News)

Tens of billions in contracts have been signed, says Cyrus Razzaghi, anIranian-Canadian who runs ARA Enterprise, a Tehran-based business consulting firm. Companies like France's Airbus, even Boeing in the U.S., have closed deals, the latter to the tune of $16.6 billion US for new jets the biggest contract with a Western firm since the 1979 revolution.

Oil giants are also on the verge.

After years of withering under quarantine, the largely state-owned industry needs outside investment. It also requires new oil-recovery technology. The kind Canadians have in spades.

But while Europeans rushed in for once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, Canadians have lagged behind. Holding them back, partly, are Ottawa's still-strained relations with Iranand the unexpected election of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Iran Aseman Airlines flight from Tehran into Ahvaz embodies Iran's problemsand its promise.

The plane is a worse-for-wear Boeing 727-200 a model first manufactured by the U.S. company in the '60s. A relic of the pre-sanctions era.

Yet it is ferrying people from abroad with knowledge of the latest in oil-recovery technology right into the heart of Iran's oil country.

Aseman Airlines, Irans aging fleet of regional aircraft, presents an opportunity for outside manufacturers like Canadas Bombardier to potentially enter the Iranian market. (Stephanie Jenzer/CBC News )

It was at the airport in Ahvaz, capital of Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province, where we met Iranian-Canadian businessmanEhsan Ghayoominia. He had just finished showing a potential Canadian client around. Unsurprisingly, several of his clients are Albertans, still suffering the effects of the oil crash.

Ghayoominia remembers watching the nuclear talks closely. He says he considered the apparent determination of the negotiators, and the terrible prospects in Alberta where he worked, and came up with a plan: he would move to the country where he was born to a family steeped in the oil and gas business and start his own firm.

"I saw an opportunity," he said at his Tehran offices. He decided he would "bring Canadian companies to Iran and also bring new technologies to Iran."

"So that way we benefited both the countries."

The Trudeau government says its policy for re-engaging with Iran remains 'cautious and incremental.' (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

In light of the nuclear deal, the Canadian government lifted some of its sanctions to make it easier for Canadian companies to enter the Iranian market.

It also downgraded its warning against all travel to Iran.

Canadians have shown interest. Ghayoominiasays he has several serious Canadian clients.

Even Canadian giant Bombardier is seeking to carve out a slice of the aviation market.

But the inordinate number of Europeans coming to Iran and the Peugeots and Citroens on the congested streets is an indication of who is pulling ahead in this race.

A shot of Tehran on a smog-free winter day. Iran is in the market for everything from planes and trains, to fashion and cosmetics. (Stephanie Jenzer/CBC News)

"We took the delivery of the first [Airbus] aircraft after almost four decades. That's a good sign," saidRazzaghi. "So I am very optimistic."

And yet Canadian companies have been cautious.

A major concern is that Canada has no diplomatic presence in the country. Canada, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are the only G20 countries without embassies in Tehran.

The rupture occurred in 2012 when Stephen Harper's government decided to shutter its embassy in Tehranand expel Iranian diplomats from Ottawa, citing security concerns and opposition to Iran's regional policies.

Ghayoominia says he's trying to bridge the gap for potential Canadian investors.

"A lot of what I'm doing is what really the Canadian Embassy should be doing, answering their questions, their concerns."

There are questions about the sturdiness of the nuclear deal, since both the U.S. and Iran have constituencies who would prefer to see it die.

Donald Trump's evolving hard line on Iran adds to the uncertainty.

U.S. President Donald Trump says the nuclear agreement that lifted tough sanctions against Iran is the 'worst deal ever made.' (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

President Trump is a merciless critic of the nuclear deal. He calls it the "worst deal ever made," a cash infusion for the terrorist groups Iran finances.

And when he was elected, Washington's stance on the deal it helped negotiate changed overnight.

Iran points out all the world's major powers signed on to the deal putting aside longtime concerns about who owns what in Iran, and whoexactly benefits from the lifting of sanctions on state-owned businesses.

Tehran warned that if Trump tears up the deal, it could quickly restart its nuclear program.

"We will deliver what we have committed to, that's for sure, and we expect the same thing from the other side," Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's atomic energy chief and vice-president, told CBC News in an interview in January.

"I think both countries have to take this opportunity seriously to not destroy the trust which has been built up."

Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's atomic energy chief and vice-president, says Iran could quickly restart its nuclear program if Trump kills the deal. (Stephanie Jenzer/CBC)

Tehran has pressed on, meanwhile, with its ambitious sales pitch. But for potential foreign investors, the Trump effect has caused a detectable chill.

"Now the attitude of foreign investors is like, 'Wait and see,'" saidRazzaghi.

Things have only gone from bad to worse.

Trump included Iranians on his list of banned migrants. Then, just nine days into his presidency, Iran tested a new type of ballistic missile.

The Trump administration "put Iran on notice," then imposed new sanctions.

Potential investors with strongties to the U.S. like Canadian companies became even more guarded. Some, like British Petroleum, got cold feet and walked away.

Cyrus Razzaghi moved from Vancouver to Tehran three years ago to run a trade consultancy. He sees Canada lagging behind European countries pursuing business opportunities in Iran. (Stephanie Jenzer/CBC News)

Bahram Rezaie, head of a private oil service company, says the Trump effect suspended his talks with two Canadian firms.

"Both of them suddenly decided not to continue the relationship although they claim they spent several hundred thousand dollars on lawyers," he said.

"One was the same day Trump was elected."

It didn't help when even a former Norwegian prime minister was questioned upon arrival in Washington because of an Iranian visa stamp in his passport.

The Trump effect could alsobe influencing how quickly Ottawa re-engages with Iran and its advice to Canadians seeking to do business there, according to sources familiar with those conversations.

The Trudeau government says nothing has changed.

A Global Affairs spokesperson said Ottawa's approach to re-engaging Iran has always been "cautious and incremental."

Potential investors are advised to approach the market "cautiously," and ensure they comply with "Canadian and ongoing UN sanctions" and U.S. trade law.

Despite the complexities, the deal-making continues. Including with Canadians.

It is, after all, the last major emerging market opportunity in the world, says Peter Sibold, CEO of Globex Business Centres Inc., a Canadian company that's about to open a serviced business centre in north Tehran for use by visiting investors.

"We've already pre-booked about half the work stations with European and Asian companies," he said.

"Iran is going to be a golden opportunity."

The historic markets of Tehrans Grand Bazaar run along corridors that stretch several kilometres. (Stephanie Jenzer/CBC News)

Meanwhile, some 50 oil and gas fields were opened to bids from foreign companies. Memorandums of understanding and preliminary deals have been signed with France's Total and Russia's Gazprom.

There is no indication the Boeing deal, which will support tens of thousands of U.S. jobs, is being scuppered suggesting perhaps some pragmatism on Trump's part.

But mostly, Canadians are missing out, says consultant Razzaghi.

"Canada can be a great partner," he said. "There are political issues that need to be addressed before that can happen I think it's a matter of time."

More CBC News reports on Iran:

The rest is here:
Iran oil sector needs investment and Canadian technology but the Trump effect fuels uncertainty - CBC.ca

In a leaky old building in Fort Meade, Md., a psychic hired by American spies had a mind-bending breakthrough.

It was July 1980 when a vision of a sick man on stretcher in an airplane struck him.

He and five other psychics had already spent months on secret mission. Their job: Save the 52 Americans seized in November 1979 in the Iran hostage crisis and spy on the Iranian captors using only paranormal powers.

They are going to release one of the hostages, the psychic, a heavy-set 60-year-old man with glasses, name withheld by The Post, announced. I dont know his name yet but its found in a deck of cards. And he has multiple sclerosis.

Intelligence honchos were skeptical but nevertheless sent out orders to deploy doctors. Four days later, the Iranians let go Richard Queen, a 28-year-old US Embassy worker whose poor health had spiraled downhill after 250 days in captivity.

The world soon learned that Queen whose last name is indeed a playing card suffered from multiple sclerosis and would have likely died without specialized doctors and a quick flight out of Tehran.

We predicted some remarkable things, said Joseph McMoneagle, a 71-year-old retired military-trained clairvoyant, who worked on the operation. We were just as effective as any spy on the ground.

Freshly released CIA files, along with The Posts interviews with psychics, spies and hostages, tell the tale of Operation Grill Flame, a paranormal-intelligence program that unfolded like a Hollywood spy thriller. (Think James Bond meets The Sixth Sense.)

In the operation, military-trained clairvoyants met more than 200 times to conjure up visions about the health, treatment and whereabouts of the Iran hostages before they were finally released in January 1981.

The so-called remote viewing program was set up by Army intelligence and the Defense Intelligence Agency, supported by the CIA and lasted more than 20 years before it was shut down in 1995. It was used to attempt to track everything from soviet submarines to Chinese nuclear weapons and truckloads of drugs, under at least three different code names.

All told, a total of 227 psychics conducted 26,000 of the supernatural sessions, costing taxpayers roughly $20 million, according to documents and insiders.

The psychics came up with useful information less than half the time a rate the clairvoyants tout as a glowing triumph and former CIA officials slam as a laughable failure.

Its borderline ludicrous, said William Daugherty, a 69-year-old ex-CIA case officer who spent 15 months as a captive in Iran. Most of the time, they were dead wrong.

But Paul Smith a retired Army intelligence officer-turned-government-trained clairvoyant, who worked on the program said America has plenty to gain from the use of psychic spies.

I was a skeptic at first. But we did things I never thought were possible, Smith said. Ive become a true believer.

American intelligence agencies first started taking psychics seriously in the early 1970s, when the Stanford Research Institute launched its then-radical parapsychology program. The CIA took note of the remote viewing experiments and sponsored it.

By the late 1970s, American intelligence agencies began internally recruiting officers to become psychics. Recruiters believed that extrasensory perception was a skill anyone could learn with the right training, said Smith, who taught some of the training courses.

To find officers who wanted to sharpen their sixth sense, recruiters passed out surveys with questions about ESP. At total of 1,500 officers said they were interested, according to Smith.

But like playing basketball or writing poetry, some of them were more naturally gifted at viewing.

Officers with creative hobbies, including writing, painting and playing music, tended to be better at paranormal readings, Smith said. So were candidates who had miraculously lived through deadly missions.

They brought us in because they thought, Either you are extremely lucky or extremely intuitive, said McMoneagle, who survived a dangerous mission, in enemy territory in Vietnam before becoming a Grill Flame psychic.

Soon, hundreds of officers were narrowed down to just six. One of them had a near-death experience, another was a Native American whod had intuitive experiences, but none of them considered themselves psychics before that point, Smith said.

The psychics came up with useful information less than half the time a rate the clairvoyants tout as a glowing triumph and former CIA officials slam as a laughable failure.

The paranormal military training sessions looked more like a meditation retreat as officers learned to channel their minds. When it comes to you, it feels like a vague distant memory of an experience you once had, Smith said. It usually starts off with sensory experience, colors, sights and smells.

He added, You learn to recognize what the signal is like as it comes in. And you learn to recognize the difference between that and mental noise.

Once trained, the psychics met for months in a windowless, soundproof room inside a leaky building in Fort Meade.

The paint was flaking and it was badly run-down. It didnt look presentable, but it was a great cover, Smith said. No one would have ever guess what was going on inside.

Each day, the Grill Flame 6 showed up to work not knowing a thing about what theyd be asked to see. Usually, they sat at a table across from an interviewer, who gave them prompts in the form of random numbers and photographs in sealed envelopes.

Using a pen and a pad of paper, theyd sketch out the visions of the target, often of a building, person or event. The sessions lasted about 30 minutes and were sometimes recorded.

The mission included checking on the condition, location, and confinement of selected hostages, said Skip Atwater, a former training officer for the remote-viewing program.

For psychics who were skilled enough to get specific, for details like the health of an Iranian hostage, relevant medical inquiries were initiated, according to Atwater.

Sessions like that helped save Richard Queen, Atwater said.

In that case, the 60-year-old psychic, reported perceiving a man lying on some sort of gurney inside an airplane, Atwater said. The man had tubes connected to him and he was having difficulty breathing.

In another successful session, a psychic stopped an Iran hostage rescue attempt that would have likely ended in disaster, McMoneagle recalled.

There was a courtyard in one of the compounds. To plan a rescue, you would almost certainly have had to fly a helicopter into courtyard as part of a raid, or at least to create distraction, he said.

But the psychics warned government officials to hold off when one was struck by a powerful vision. He saw cobwebs linked to the trees around the courtyard, warning they were actually bomb-triggering trip wires.

He was right, McMoneagle said. If someone had flown in that way it, could have killed everyone.

But meanwhile the hostages who sat in cramped cells thousands of miles away were growing hopeless.

Daugherty had lost 50 pounds as he wasted away behind bars in Tehran.

At points, he said was interrogated from dusk until dawn, nearly starved and stuffed in a cell alone.

There were 52 of us spread over country heavily in guarded cell blocks, he said. Even if [the psychics] had been successful with their viewings, to what end? No rescue would have been possible.

He says the clairvoyants had almost no clue about what was really going in inside the heavily guarded compound.

The psychics were wrong about captors using tear gas and wearing flowing robes, and other logistics such as a large fireplace in the compound, said Daugherty, who has read through the Grill Flame files.

One transcript from a recorded session shows just how inaccurate the team could be.

In the file, an interviewer shows a psychic a photo of CIA station chief Tom Ahern, one of the hostages.

I want you to hold the image of that individual in your mind while you visualize the area where he is located, the interviewer says, according to the Miami Herald, which was first to report the documents.

Describe his locations and his surroundings. Relax and concentrate, relax and concentrate, the interviewer urges.

I seemed to be in the midst of an explosion of activity, the psychic says. [There] appeared to be a lot of people dressed in, of all things, flowing robes.

He adds, People were running helter-skelter all over the place, as if there were a crowd of people. Suddenly, somebody started shooting into the crowd.

None of those predictions not one detail was right, Daugherty said.

These days, the American government has higher-tech forms of spying, ranging from drones to robotic insects with hidden microphones. But those methods often fail, too, former intelligence officers point out.

In the two decades the paranormal program was active, it worked about 30 percent of the time, which is ultimately not bad, Mcmoneagle said. Thirty percent is a batting .300 you have to understand, thats very good in the world of intelligence.

The proof lies in how long the federal government paid for it, he added. We got our funding on a year-to- year basis, a million a year.

Each year, the psychics had to prove to the American government that their visions were useful, to keep the program alive, he said. If it didnt work, then why did it last 20 years?

Read more here:
Inside the CIA psychic squad that helped get US hostages out of Iran - New York Post

Netanyahu lands in Russia. (photo credit:Courtesy)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Moscow Thursday afternoon, and used Russian President Vladimir Putin's greetings for Purim as a chance to blast Iran.

I think you for your good wishes on Purim, Netanyahu said alongside Putin before their meeting in the Kremlin. Some 2,500 years ago in ancient Persia, there was an attempt to wipe out the Jews, which did not succeed, and which we commemorate with this holiday.

Today, Netanyahu said, Iran the continuation of ancient Persia has similar designs: to wipe out the state of the Jews. They say this clearly, and it is etched on their ballistic missiles, Netanyahu said.

The prime minister continued: I want to say clearly that Israel is today a state with an army, and we are able to defend ourselves. Extreme Shia Islamic terror does not only threaten Israel, but rather the region and the world. I know that we are partners in the desire to prevent any victory for Islamic terror, from any direction.

In his comments, Netanyahu said that Russia has played an important part in the fight against Sunni Islamic terror represented by Islamic State and al-Qaida.

It is obvious that we would not want that terrorism to be replaced by extreme Shia Islamic terrorism, led by Iran, he said.

Netanyahu said prior to his trip that one of the main objectives of the visit was to relay to Putin Israels unequivocal objection to Iran gaining any kind of permanent military foothold in Syria in the aftermath of any accord that will be reached on the future of the war-torn country.

Relevant to your professional network? Please share on Linkedin

Prev Article

By the Book: Passover vacation for the religious

Israeli chefs take hamantaschen to a new culinary level

Next Article

Go here to see the original:
Netanyahu in Moscow leverages Putin Purim greeting to slam Iran - Jerusalem Post Israel News

Estonia stands with Israel on security issues, including opposing Russias role in supporting both Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iran's military presence there, its Foreign Minister Sven Mikser told The Jerusalem Post.

The role that the Russians play [in Syria] by way of trying to keep Assad in power and by the apparent collusion with the Iranians, yes, that is a shared concern, Mikser said.

He arrived Tuesday night for a two-day trip and met Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Thursday the Israeli leader flew to Moscow to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the importance of halting Iranian activities in Syria.

The small former Soviet bloc country that borders Russia has a population of only some 1.3 million people and a long history of resisting Russian expansionist drives.

We have seen the expansionist ambitions of the leadership in the Kremlin, said Mikser, including Russias recent activity in illegally annexing Crimea.

We can say with some confidence that they [Russia] will not shy away from using military force to achieve political aims, Mikser told The Jerusalem Post during a Wednesday interview in Jerusalem.

The Kremlin is doing this in Syria, where it is working to keep Assad in power and operating in some sort of symbiosis with the Iranians, Mikser said, adding that this is a legitimate concern for Israel.

Putin is not an irrational player. He is a cool and calculating player who sees the world very much in zero sum terms, Mikser said. He is in constant competition and standoff with the West in general and with the Americans in particular. Whenever he sees the lack of unity and resolve on behalf of the adversaries, [he knows] that is a weakness [that can] be exploited, Mikser said.

It is important to present [Putin] with a resolute and unified front and by doing that, he can be deterred. So it is important that we speak with a very unambiguous and unified voice, Mikser said.

The bigger the coalition or the community of democratic states that can speak with a unified voice, the better, Mikser added.

Addressing the common struggles Israel and Estonia share, Mikser went on to say that Israel has its own security interests and concerns, but there are things [concerns] we share, the way the Russians have dragged or facilitated the Iranian entry into the Syrian situation."

I can imagine that is very threatening to the Israeli security interests, he said.

It is in Israel and Estonias joint interest to put pressure on Russia to make them return to the internationally accepted behavior by way of not unduly interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, he concluded.

His country, is a member state of the European Union and in July, Estonia will take over the presidency of the EU Council, which is a rotating six-month position.

Estonia is a strong supporter of Israel in the EU and the United Nations, but when it comes to the Palestinian conflict, it has a no-tolerance policy toward Israeli settlement activity.

Its positions falls within the larger EU belief that settlement building is an obstacle to peace and to the achievement of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

We are definitely looking for ways to get to the two-state solution in such a way that does not compromise Israeli security on one hand, but would also allow the Palestinians to realize their national aspirations, Mikser said.

Speaking on behalf of both Estonia and the EU, he said, we do not think that the settlement activity should continue at all, in that sense it is impossible for me to say that [this] much is acceptable and not more.

Similarly, he said, Estonia opposes unilateral Palestinian steps to achieve statehood, holding that such recognition should come only as part of a final status agreement for a two-state solution.

We do not think that unilateral action by the Palestinians can bring about the realization of their national ambitions or be helpful in moving toward a sustainable settlement of the conflict, Mikser said.

The only way to get there is to engage in direct talks, he said. The international community can act as a facilitator that supports the parties in hammering out an agreement, he added.

Pre-conditions for talks are not helpful and both sides have to be prepared to make compromises, he said.

We are ready to work together with the Palestinians just as we are ready to work with the Israelis for the achievement of a two-state solution, he stated.

Resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as broader peace in the Middle East is in the best interest of Estonia and the EU, he said.

Without this, he said, it is very difficult if not impossible for Europe to be secure.

Stressing the importance of remaining proactive in the attempts to bring about a resolution to the conflict, Mikser concluded by saying that History has proven that if there are unresolved conflicts, even far away, they will eventually come to our doorstep."

Relevant to your professional network? Please share on Linkedin

Read this article:
Estonian FM in Israel: 'We're concerned by Russia's collusion with Iran in Syria' - Jerusalem Post Israel News

Nikki Haley. (photo credit:SAUL LOEB / AFP)

UNITED NATIONS - The United States supports the UN-led Syria peace talks, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Wednesday, saying Syria could no longer be a "safe haven for terrorists" and that it was important "we get Iran and their proxies out."

Haley spoke to reporters after UN Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura briefed the Security Council behind closed doors on 10 days of talks between the warring parties in Geneva, which ended last week.

She did not respond to questions on whether the United States believed Syrian President Bashar Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, should step down.

All eyes have been on how Washington would approach ending the six-year war in Syria, given pledges by President Donald Trump to build closer ties with Russia, especially in the fight against Islamic State. Trump's Syria policy has been unclear.

"The United States absolutely supports Staffan de Mistura and the work that he's doing, we support the UN process, we support the talks in Geneva, we want to see them continue," Haley said.

"This is very much about a political solution now ... and that basically means that Syria can no longer be a safe haven for terrorists, we've got to make sure we get Iran and their proxies out, we've got to make sure that, as we move forward, we're securing the borders for our allies as well," she said.

Iran is backing fighters in Syria from Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah.

A crackdown by Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to civil war and Islamic State militants have used the chaos to seize territory in Syria and Iraq. Half of Syria's 22 million people have been uprooted and more than 400,000 killed.

De Mistura told reporters after briefing the council that he planned to convene another round of peace talks on March 23.

He said the most recent round ended with an agenda and a timeline and "some agreement even on substance."

"We did not expect miracles and frankly we did not have miracles, but we achieved much more than many people had imagined we could have. No one left, everybody stayed," de Mistura told reporters.

The remarks came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that Israel hopes to reach specific understandings with Russia to prevent Tehran from permanently setting up a base of operations in Syria against Israel.

At the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu announced that he will be traveling to Moscow on Thursday for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the discussions will focus on current efforts to put together new arrangements in Syria. Those efforts have taken place in recent weeks in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, and Geneva.

With the framework of these arrangements, and also without them, there is an Iranian effort to become firmly established on a permanent basis in Syria, either through the presence of ground forces, or naval forces, Netanyahu said. He also said the Syrians are involved in a gradual attempt to open up a front against us on the Golan Heights.

Herb Keinon contributed to this report.

Relevant to your professional network? Please share on Linkedin

Prev Article

Jordan: Israeli bill to quiet mosques is a violation of international law

Estonian FM in Israel: Were concerned by Russias collusion with Iran in Syria'

Next Article

Read more:
US envoy to UN: We must oust Iran, terror proxies from Syria - Jerusalem Post Israel News