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Iran has said it may cancel its high-profile, US$7-billion peace pipeline project with Pakistan over lengthy construction delays, with would deprive energy-starved Pakistan of the some 22 million cubic meters of gas a day it would have received from its neighbor.

If negotiations fail to come up with a way to feasibly realize the project, Irans National Gas Company Head Hamid Reza Araqi said on Friday that the project could be cancelled entirely.

The project has already undergone 15 years of negotiations, beginning as the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. Pakistan and Iran finally signed the initial agreement in 2009, while India withdrew from the deal. The deal was signed by Pakistani President Zardari and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. In accordance with this deal, Iran was to provide 22 million cubic meters per day of gas.

Pakistan was slated to begin importing Iranian gas imports in early 2015, but the country has not yet begun construction of the related pipeline, nor has Iran completed its project to transit South Pars gas to the Pakistani border. Iran was planning to build a 180-kilometer pipeline.

The pipeline was intended to connect Iran's giant South Fars gas field with Pakistan's southern Baluchistan and Sindh provinces.

The project is crucial for Pakistan if they are to avert a growing energy crisis already causing severe electricity shortages in the country of about 170 million, while it also grapples with Islamist militancy.

Tehran had at one point offered to loan Pakistan US$500 milliona third of the cost of Pakistans portion of the pipelineto start pipeline construction in Pakistans territory. This offer was later revoked due to financial problems caused by sanctions.

Pakistans Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi recently noted that in order for the Peace Pipeline to be feasible, all sanctions against Iran would have to be removed.

The deal has also been plagued by pricing disputes, with Pakistan demanding that Iran lower gas prices. Pakistan has also claimed that gas prices offered by Turkmenistan through the TAPI pipeline are lower than those proposed by Iran.

By Damir Kaletovic for Oilprice.com

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Iran May Cancel $7B Pipeline Project With Pakistan - OilPrice.com

PARIS France's foreign minister travels to Iran on Monday, seeking to reaffirm Europe's commitment to the nuclear deal that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to annul.

The deal struck in 2015 with three European countries, Russia, China and the United States gave Iran relief from a range of sanctions, allowing it to strike major business deals with Europe for the first time in years.

After taking one of the hardest lines in the negotiations, France has been quick to restore trade ties. Planemaker Airbus, oil major Total and automobile manufacturers Peugeot and Renault have all signed deals.

Some 50 French firms will take part in a Franco-Iranian economic forum on Tuesday at which more will be signed.

"Jean-Marc Ayrault is going to underline the importance that all sides which backed the deal strictly respect their commitments," Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal told a daily briefing.

Trump has called the deal, which imposes limits on Iran's nuclear activities, "the worst deal ever negotiated" threatening to annul it or seek a better agreement.

Despite their often fraught ties, the EU says it is in full agreement with China and Russia over the need to keep the nuclear deal alive.

"That the Iranians have been destabilized by Trump's election and statements is certain and I think they must be worried," a French diplomatic source said.

"But developing commercial ties strengthens the moderates in Iran. We want to reinforce them to show the population that the deal is good for them because the radicals won't be able to say that they have got nothing from it."

Despite the sanction relief, including on banking restrictions, Iran continues to struggle to access Western finance, partly due to banks fears about penalties related to remaining U.S. sanctions.

France's relationship with Shi'ite Muslim Iran is complicated by its political and commercial ties with Sunni Gulf Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia, Tehran's main regional rival.

Ayrault was in Riyadh on Jan. 24 partly to discuss the trip to Tehran with an eye on Iran's role in the region, especially in Syria where Paris and Riyadh back opponents to Iranian ally President Bashar al-Assad.

"We don't agree on Syria and will remind them that France and the European Union are directly concerned by the Syria crisis and among the first to suffer its consequences. So we must have a role in helping find a solution," the source said.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

GENEVA The United Nations refugee agency and International Organization for Migration (IOM) called on the Trump administration on Saturday to continue offering asylum to people fleeing war and persecution, saying its resettlement program was vital.

BEIRUT Several Syrian Islamist factions including al Qaeda's former branch in the country said on Saturday they were joining forces, as clashes between jihadists and more moderate rebels raged on in northwestern areas.

ANKARA British Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday signed a $125 million defense equipment deal with Turkey and promised to push for more trade between the NATO allies, but cautioned Ankara on human rights following last year's failed coup.

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French foreign minister heads to Iran amid Trump uncertainty - Reuters

Theresa May has warned about Irans malign influence in the Middle East in a speech delivered to Republicans in Philadelphia.

The Prime Minister said pushing back on Irans aggressive efforts to increase its "arc of influence from Tehran through to the Mediterranean" was a priorityfor the UK, taking a markedly tougher tone since reestablishing diplomatic relations 18 months ago.

During his election campaign Donald Trump claimed he would rip up the deal brokered with Iran by Barack Obama, which aims to prevent the country developing nuclear weapons in return for easing sanctions and opening trade.

Ms May said while the deal was controversial it had been successful in neutralising the threat posed by the country.

However, she warned that it should be rigorously policed and any potential breaches of the deal should be dealt with firmly and immediately".

The nuclear deal with Iran was controversial but it has neutralised the possibility of the Iranians acquiring nuclear weapons for more than a decade, she said.

It has seen Iran remove more than 13,000 centrifuges together with associated infrastructure and eliminated its stock of 20 per cent enriched uranium. That was vitally important for regional security but the agreement must now be very carefully and rigorously policed and any breaches should be dealt with firmly and immediately.

CIA director John Brennan previously warnedit would be the height of folly if the next administration were to tear up that agreement, adding that it would also be an unprecedented move.

However Mike Pompeo, who will replace Mr Brennan in Mr Trumps new administration, wrote on Twitter in January that he looked forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the worlds largest state sponsor of terrorism".

CIA director warns Donald Trump over the worst mistakes he could make with Iran, Syria and Russia

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Theresa May warns Donald Trump about 'Iran's malign influence' during speech to Republicans in Philadelphia - The Independent

Taraneh Alidoosti with co-star Shahab Hosseini and director Asghar Farhadi on the red carpet in Cannes. Photograph: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images

The lead actor in an Iranian drama nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign language film category has said she will boycott this years ceremony over Donald Trumps expected decision to impose visa bans on Iranians.

Taraneh Alidoosti, who takes a central role in Asghar Farhadis The Salesman about a couple whose relationship is thrown into disarray after an intruder surprises her in the shower, said she considered the blanket ban on her fellow countrymen to be racist. She would boycott the awards ceremony, the actor said, even if she was excluded from the ban despite it being the first time she has qualified to attend.

Trumps visa ban for Iranians is racist, she tweeted. Whether this will include a cultural event or not, I wont attend the #AcademyAwards 2017 in protest.

Restrictions on all Iranian nationals entering the US are part of Donald Trumps expected new measures against seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The bans have not yet been confirmed but a draft executive order obtained by journalists on 25 January showed a decision was imminent.

Alidoosti recently starred in a popular Iranian online TV series set in the 1950swhich has echoes in politics today. Shahrzad, the most expensive production of its kind in Iran, brought Iranian lifestyle under the late Shah to the screen, depicting snooker clubs, women and men partying together, cabarets and drinking alcohol.

The reports about the visa bans have prompted outrage in Iran, dominating newspaper front pages in Tehran and drawing huge reactions online. Iranians describe the measures as discriminatory and observers warn that they could alienate ordinary Iranians, who are among the most pro-American people in the Middle East.

On 24 January, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) said in a statement that it was against a blanket ban based on nation of origin. Even if this were the right approach, it is notable that the list doesnt include Saudi Arabia and would have done nothing to prevent 9/11 or the other terrorist attacks committed by radical Wahhabi jihadists in the US. But it does include Iran from which no national has committed a terrorist act in America.

7NIAC condemned the move and said: This is dangerous, as it pits Americans against Americans while undermining the very principles of inclusivity and tolerance that define America. We will not be silent, and will use every resource at our disposal to fight these shameful actions and protect the values and people who make America great.

By announcing the new restrictions, President Trump would be implementing the most shameful and discriminatory promises he made on the campaign trail, NIAC said, before adding: We never imagined the US would become a country that bars its doors and formally condones xenophobia.

Other Iranian voices have weighed in. Ahmad Sadri, Iranian-American professor of sociology and anthropology at Lake Forest College, in Illinois, asked: How many Muslims countries where Mr Trump owns a tower or a golf course are on his list?

Sadri said: From this day forward, Islamophobia is no longer a mere racist sentiment in America. Today, discrimination against Muslims is [becoming] a legally enforced government policy. The cover is, of course, counterterrorism. Mr Trump says he is worried about radical Islamic terror. One would believe that if one would [also] believe that Nazis denouncing Jewish bankers they were talking about finance.

Sadri added: Why are some affluent and friendly Muslim countries (most tainted by the scourge of terrorism) exempted from this ban? Is the exclusion a matter of political convenience, as in the past? Or does it have to do with the presidents financial empire?

Farhadi, who directed Alidoosti in The Salesman, is one of Irans best-known film-makers. His 2012 film A Separation won the best foreign language Oscar, becoming the first movie ever to take an Academy Award to Iran, which prompted nationwide celebrations.

Farhadi, who has not yet commented on whether he would attend this years ceremony, used his Oscar speech in 2012 to protest against measures that isolated Iran, saying: At the time when talk of war, intimidation, and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their country, Iran, is spoken here through her glorious culture, a rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics.

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Iranian Oscar contender: I'll boycott awards over Trump's 'racist' visa ban - The Guardian

Netanyahu speaks during Holocaust Remembrance Day memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem,. (photo credit:MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

The worlds view of Iran is likely to change with US President Donald Trump in the White House, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated on Thursday during a speech at Yad Vashem to the diplomatic corps.

The prime ministers address marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day (which is commemorated around the world on January 27), said that even as antisemitism is on the rise in Europe, the greatest hatred of the Jewish people and the Jewish state comes from the East.

It comes from Iran, he said. It comes from the ayatollah regime that is fanning these flames and calling outright for the destruction of the Jewish state.

This is the second time in a week that Netanyahu has made a public comment regarding the Iranian threat, after an extended period when this was not at the center of his remarks.

On Saturday night, just a day after Trumps inauguration and in what appeared to be an effort to put the issue back on the international agenda just as Trump took office Netanyahu posted a video on social media saying he plans to speak with the new president about how to counter the threat of the Iranian regime, which calls for Israels destruction.

He picked up on this theme at Yad Vashem.

I want you to think about a regime that openly declared its intention to eliminate every black person, every gay person, every European. I think the entire world would be outraged, and rightly so, he said.

But when a regime [Tehran] merely calls to wipe out every Israeli which is what they say day in, day out, their most prominent leaders, they say it what do we encounter? A deafening silence.

Now, he said, this may change.

I hope it will change. I believe it will change, he said.

Because I spoke a few days ago to President Trump and he spoke about the Iranian aggression.

He spoke about Irans commitment to destroy Israel.

He spoke about the nature of this nuclear agreement and the danger it poses.

The prime minister and former president Barack Obama were at loggerheads for years over the Iranian issue.

Netanyahu said that he will not be silent in the face of those saying they want to destroy the Jewish people or Jewish state.

I havent been silent, and we dont intend to be inactive either, he said. We dont merely intend to speak out but we will take all the measures we need to defend ourselves, and we will take all the measures necessary to prevent Iran from getting the means of mass murder to carry out their horrible plans.

Netanyahu noted that the regime that spawned the Holocaust ended up in the dustbin of history, saying that this is a lesson for Iran and all enemies of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.

Meanwhile, the United Nations will hold a ceremony in the General Assembly on Friday to mark the day. The event will include speeches by the Secretary- General Antonio Guterres, General Assembly President Peter Thomson; Israels Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon; and Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN Michele Sison.

The keynote speech will be delivered by Auschwitz survivor and Israeli journalist Noah Klieger, 90, who has dedicated his life to educating the next generations about the horrors of the Holocaust.

The UN must take a leading role in combating antisemitism and preserving the memory of the Holocaust, Danon said.

The members of the UN must all pledge to speak out against hate and never allow the parliament of nations to become a platform for the promotion of intolerance.

Last week, Guterres spoke at an annual Saturday morning service in memory of the victims of the Holocaust at Manhattans Park East Synagogue and told worshipers he would be on the front lines of denouncing antisemitism and condemning all forms of expressions of it. He pledged to work so the Holocaust will never be forgotten.

Antisemitism is not a question about religion, but a manifestation of racism, the secretary-general stated, adding that he is troubled by the new forms and expressions of hatred against Jews, which shows that antisemitism is alive and well.

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Netanyahu hopeful world's attitudes toward Iran will change because of Trump - Jerusalem Post Israel News