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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Iran and Iraq look to heal old wounds with oil deal |
| 2005-07-19 |
| Old foes Iran and Iraq on Tuesday signed an oil deal they hope will pave the way to further diplomatic rapprochement between them. The signing was the keystone of a visit to Iran by an Iraqi ministerial delegation led by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the first Iraqi leader to visit Tehran in decades. Iran and Iraq bludgeoned each other to a standstill in a war between 1980 and 1988 characterized by trench warfare and Starting to rebuild bridges, Iraq signed a preliminary agreement to export 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from the southern city of Basra to Abadan refinery in southwest Iran, a spokeswoman for Iran's oil ministry said. In return, fuel-starved Iraq will import gasoline, gas oil and kerosene across its eastern border. "Fuel starved" is a bit of an editorialized comment, but nevermind, it's Reuters Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum has said the project could be running within a year as pipeline construction should take only three to six months. The United States has reservations about growing ties between the two neighbors, but the language from Iranian and Iraqi officials alike has been warm throughout the visit. "Iran's first priority is to have a united, independent stable Iraq as a neighbour," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying by Iranian state media. Be nice if he means that. On the other hand, a favorable Iraq-Iran deal may force the Iranians to control some of the terrorists crossing the border into Iraq. U.S. SUSPICIONS Washington has cooled its rhetoric on keeping some distance between predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Iraq and Iran, the Shi'ite world's centre of gravity, but still remains suspicious of ties blossoming too quickly. "Suspicions" and "rhetoric" aside, the US government knows that money talks, and an ecomomic deal between the two stands a good chance of quelling a certain amount of hostility coming across the Iranian border. The United States has accused Iran of backing attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq, funding anti-Israeli militia and seeking nuclear weapons. All true. Tehran denies the charges. No kidding. Iran has ambitious plans for a 350,000 bpd oil swap with Iraq which has raised eyebrows in Washington. However, officials said no headway had been made on the scheme during Jaafari's visit and the oil-for-fuel deal signed was far smaller than the sort of agreements Iran wants. Iraq will probably make a deal, but not at the point of a gun. Iran will get just enough of a deal to be profitable, but not enough for them to assume it's a result of the Islamofascists forcing the deal thru terror. Iran has also suggested plans to operate border oilfields jointly, but that is very much on ice and Iran has said that Washington is blocking such moves. Joint management = bad deal. However, the ministerial visit sealed other preliminary agreements on commercial ties, including a $1 billion credit line from Iran to get its exports flowing into its violence-stricken neighbor. Iran will pay its exporters to send goods to Iraq and will get the money back later from the Trade Bank of Iraq at a very low rate of interest. Making Iranian terror unprofitable and giving incentive to the Iranian govt to prevent future attacks. Smart from Iraq's POV. Iran also concluded a deal to export about 200,000 tons of flour to Iraq. The two neighbours, both members of the OPEC producers' group, vie with each other for the honour of holding the world's second biggest reserves of crude after Saudi Arabia. |
| Posted by:Chris W. |
| #1 jafaari didn't spend 20 years in iran for nada--follow da money |
| Posted by: SON OF TOLUI 2005-07-19 14:33 |