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Iran should invest in the Iraqi cement industry to have a sustained share in the neighboring market, the head of Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce said. During a meeting with Iraqs minister of industry and minerals, the Iraqis said they intend to make their industries self-sufficient and that they do not want to be a sole importer of goods [such as cement] from Iran, Yahya Al-e Eshaq added. He noted that the French are securing their foothold in the Iraqi cement market by investing in the sector, hence Iran must follow suit. Close to 70% of Iraqs cement plants are working below capacity and can be revitalized through investments, he said. The improvement in Iraqs security condition is a hopeful sign. We can turn the country into one of our main technical and engineering service export markets for the next 10-15 years, if we can improve bilateral trade relations. Al-e Eshaq emphasized that Iranian investors have to move fast, since improved conditions in Iraq will definitely attract other global competitors. In July 2010, Iraqs Industries Ministry signed a contract with the French company Lafarge to renovate Karbala Cement Factory and raise output from 300,000 tons to 1.8 million tons per year. The French company also invested in three other factories in the province of Sulaymaniyah. In the same year, the firm created Lafarge Iraq as a subsidiary of the Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim Group, a world leader in the building materials industry. It was formed by a merger in 2015 of cement companies Holcim and Lafarge. For years, Iraq was the main destination of Iranian cement and clinkerthe raw material used in the first stage of cement manufacturing. The neighboring country once used to account for nearly 65% of Irans overseas cement shipments. However, since 2015, the rise of IS terrorist group in Iraq and falling oil prices reduced demand for cement in the country. Further exacerbating the situation, the Iraqi government slapped heavy tariffs on Iranian cement and clinker imports, and eventually banned it in 2015, citing poor quality as well as dumping on the part of Iranian producers. Iran is currently the worlds seventh largest cement producer after it dropped three steps last year due to reduced production. Production stood at 58.6 million tons in 2015, down 12% year-on-year, according to Cement Employers Associations data.

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Iranians Urged to Make Iraq Cement Investment - Financial Tribune

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Feb. 17, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterdays strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Coalition military forces conducted 34 strikes consisting of 35 engagements in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, five strikes destroyed seven oil tanker trucks, three oil refinement stills and two oil wellheads.

-- Near Bab, a strike destroyed a decoy tactical vehicle.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, 11 strikes destroyed 20 oil tanker trucks, six oil wellheads, two artillery systems, an oil storage tank and a crane.

-- Near Raqqa, 17 strikes engaged two ISIS staging areas and an ISIS tactical unit; and destroyed four tunnels, three fighting positions, three ISIS-held buildings, two weapons storage areas, two ISIS headquarters, a vehicle bomb storage facility, a fuel station and a bridge.

Strikes in Iraq

Coalition military forces conducted seven strikes consisting of 27 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraqs government:

-- Near Kisik, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.

-- Near Mosul, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed four watercraft, three front-end loaders, two shipping containers, a mortar system, an artillery system, a vehicle bomb facility, a vehicle and an ISIS-held building; damaged 11 supply routes and a tunnel; and suppressed a mortar team and an artillery team.

-- Near Tal Afar, three strikes destroyed an improvised bomb facility, a weapons storage facility and a fuel storage area.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect. For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

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Officials Provide Details of Latest Counter-ISIS Strikes in Syria, Iraq - Department of Defense

Iran has agreed to design and build industrial townships in a number of provinces in Iraq. The deal will help unlock investment from within the war-torn country, Irans Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said during a visit to Baghdad on February 14, Fars News Agency reported. The minister said Iran would begin with several pilot projects, for which it would also supply industrial equipment and investment. Welcoming the news, his Iraqi counterpart, Mohammad Shiya al-Sudani, said the construction of industrial townships was among the countrys priorities. Given Irans experiences in the construction of such townships, Iraq is willing to cooperate with Iran in this field, he said. Building industrial townships to attract investment in manufacturing is a popular strategy pursued by many developing countries. Iran has already built 750 such townships and estimates that they host 40,000 factories and plants, according to Global Construction Review. India is also relying on such projects to industrialize while avoiding problems with setting up factories in urban centers. Industrial townships also help attract foreign investment. At the end of 2015, Japan announced plans to double its investment in India by setting up 11 industrial townships, each with around 30 Japanese factories, all of which are eligible for special tax incentives.

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Iran to Build Industrial Townships in Iraq - Financial Tribune

Tony Blair says it is his mission to encourage British people to "rise up" and challenge Brexit.

He believes that over time, enough people will consider that they have made a mistake voting to leave the EU.

And when they do, "it is their right to change their mind".

Like when people changed their mind about the war in Iraq. When people realised, contrary to what they were told, that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. Then opinion changed.

Unsurprisingly, Tony Blair didn't use this analogy, but, if you want to make the point it is quite a good one.

According to YouGov polls from March to December in 2003 - on average 54% of people backed the war in Iraq - so more than those who supported Brexit.

A few years later people didn't just change their minds - many denied ever supporting it. A study in 2015 found only 37% remember ever agreeing with the war.

Could this turnaround happen with Brexit? Could people reverse their decision? Might people decide, as many did with the war, that they have been lied to?

I may have just demonstrated why Tony Blair is probably the wrong person to lead the counter-revolution.

However, he also stands head and shoulders above most other politicians when it comes to making a case.

It's clear that the former prime minister feels there is a gaping gap in politics where pro-EU politicians have been left impotent by the referendum result.

That even though Remain supporters Theresa May and Philip Hammond hold the seat of power in Downing Street, "they're not driving this bus. They're being driven," he said.

He points to a "jumble of contradictions" between what leading politicians said during the campaign about the consequences of Brexit and what they are saying now.

He cites the Chancellor, who said leaving the single market would be "catastrophic" but is now "very optimistic".

He also accuses Leave figurehead Boris Johnson of flip-flopping.

Mr Blair said: "Two years ago the Foreign Secretary was emphatically in favour of the single market. Now ditching it is 'brilliant'."

The former PM is clearly furious that his own party has failed to challenge the Conservatives.

He said: "The debilitation of the Labour Party is the facilitator of Brexit. I hate to say that, but it is true."

This cuts to the heart of his frustration. What happened, albeit on David Cameron's watch, might not have happened if a progressive EU enthusiast had been leading Labour.

And now he can see his party waving through what Blair describes as a "Brexit at all costs". He sees Corbyn as the ultimate pacifist to the Conservative thrust.

Many will see Blair's intervention as an arrogant rant, by an out-of-touch senior member of the liberal elite.

Others might regard it as a rallying call. But what is Blair hoping to achieve?

Recently 47 Labour MPs defied Corbyn's three-line whip to support the triggering of Article 50, and shadow cabinet ministers resigned. It could be he senses a weakening in Corbyn's position.

His call was to "build a movement which stretches across party lines", and he wants to devise new ways of getting the pro-EU message out. But he also wants to splinter Corbyn's support.

Meanwhile, if enough people are persuaded that Brexit wasn't what they thought it was Blair doesn't rule out a second referendum.

But part of this is about reminding people about his vision of the Labour Party.

He still wants a party that embraces the advantages of globalisation and clings on to Europe as hard as it can.

While this message seems to have lost its appeal in many Labour heartlands, in Blair's eyes the counter revolution against Brexit ultimately has to come from the Labour Party.

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Blair's anti-Brexit mission evokes memories of Iraq war - Sky News

Iraq's Oil Minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi talks to journalists during a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna, Austria, November 30, 2016. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader -

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq plans to acquire a "large fleet" of oil tankers to transport the OPEC nation's crude to global markets, Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said in a statement on Friday.

The nation's tanker fleet was largely destroyed during the U.S.-led offensive to dislodge Iraq from Kuwait in 1991, according to the state-run Iraqi Oil Tankers Company's website. The company owned as many as 24 tankers in the 1980s.

"The ministry is keen to restructure the company and develop its operations by building and buying a large fleet of tankers," Luaibi told the company's management, according to the statement.

Iraq is OPEC's second-largest producer, after Saudi Arabia.

(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Adrian Croft)

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Iraq plans to acquire 'large fleet' of oil tankers - Yahoo Finance