Prominent Rights Defender Says Iran Jailed Her For Nobel Nomination

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani's visit, the first since Biden took office last year, comes as Washington discusses with energy-producing states and firms a potential diversion of supplies to Europe if Russia invades Ukraine.

Russia that supplies one-third of Europe’s natural gas can stop deliveries amid cold winter months if sanctioned by the West over a possible attack on Ukraine.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had a telephone conversation with his Qatari counterpart on Tuesday, ahead of Emir's visit to the US.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the matter with the foreign minister of Qatar, a top liquefied natural gas producer, in a phone call on Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity, Reuters reported.

Other issues will include "promoting security and prosperity in the Gulf and the broader Middle East region" and "supporting the people of Afghanistan," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Qatar has maintained friendly ties with Iran as tensions have remained high in the region. Washington has been trying to reach an agreement with Tehran to revive the Obama-era nuclear agreement, the JCPOA, as Iran is getting dangerously closer to a nuclear breakout point.

Experts say government plans to tax petrochemical exports to curb the projected deficit in next year's budget was the biggest factor pushing the index down this week, with the proposal immediately affecting shares in petrochemical industries.

But Iranian are widely blaming President Ebrahim Raisi for falling stock prices for failing to deliver election promises to quickly revive the troubled Tehran Stock Exchange.

The experts also blamed power and gas cuts to various industries in recent days for a fall in share prices of companies like steel and cement plants with high demand for power, which would lose export revenues.

"Tehran stocks posted the second big loss in two straight sessions amid small investors struggling to exit the market and the nonstop outflow of capital," wrote Financial Tribune, an English-language economic daily Monday.

According to Tejarat News, shares on the bourse have on average lost 40 percent of their value in the past 18 months.

The official news agency IRNA reported Tuesday the government had introduced changes in the budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year (starting March 21) “to protect stock market stability” in coming years.

Some Iranian Twitterati, blaming President Ebrahim Raisi for the fall in share prices, created hashtags in Persian such as "Ebrahim, the stock exchange buster" and "stock exchange sacrificed to budget" as investors sold their shares en masse.

"The stock market is the thermometer of the country's economy,” opined an Iranian on Twitter. “It is showing high fever andconvulsions. What happened to your promises of giving top priority to the stock market, Mr. Raisi?"

In campaign speeches before June’s presidential election, Raisi said aiding the stock market, which had been losing value for nearly a year, was one of his top priorities.

Politicians and the public alike speak about the stock market as if it is a bank that has to guard investors’ savings. They have been even proposals to withdraw money from the national hard currency reserves to prop up a market, which is naturally unstable due to the current economic crisis.

Hundreds of small investors rallied outside parliament last Thursday to demand their "stolen savings.” Chanting "Raisi, liar, liar" and "No nation has ever seen so much injustice," they claimed they had been encouraged over the past 18 months to invest in shares but had been robbed as the market was manipulated by large, often state-owned companies.

Retail trade dropped 23% to 24.45 trillion rials (around $87 million) Monday. The market featured net capital outflow, the highest in the past five months mainly by retail investors, with 4.16 trillion rials ($14.8m) exiting the market just on Monday.

The deal for the joint project was signed on Tuesday by Deputy Road Minister Kheirollah Khademi and his Azerbaijani counterpart Rahman Hummatov.

Astarachay is a small river that defines part of the border between Iran and Azerbaijan.

Khademi described the construction of the bridge as an important part of the International North–South Transport Corridor that is a multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight across India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.

He added that the Astarachay Bridge will be about 100 meters long with a width of 31 meters and connects the Iranian city of Astara near the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan’s capital Baku.

The agreement was inked while Iran’s Road Minister Rostam Ghasemi is visiting Azerbaijan to follow up on the implementation of several joint infrastructure projects.

The two countries are also increasing their military cooperation as Azerbaijan’s defense minister was in Tehran upon an invitation by the Islamic Republic’s military.

Earlier on Tuesday, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov held a meeting with Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri.

The two commanders called the meeting constructive in boosting military ties between the two neighbors without any further details.

The Iranian president’s deputy for rural development said on Tuesday that many of these units cannot be revived but some 20 to 25 percent can be brought back to production and the supply chain.

Amir-Hossein Madani added that most of these units are from sectors of mining, agriculture and small industries.

He said the priority of the current administration is to activate the stagnant sectors in rural areas.

Madani pointed out that some of these units were closed or underperforming due to the consequences of sanctions, but many of them are not operational because of other financial and legal problems.

According to reports by Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, during the last Iranian year (from March 20, 2020 to 2021) over 1,500 inactive units returned to the production cycle through various methods such as providing liquidity and facilities, modifications in the production line and management changes.

Iran suffers from a lack of investments and a centralized economy. Pundits say Iran’s economy is at its most dangerous historical pointin the past four decades with rising inflation, lack of liquidity and international sanctions that would not allow Western companies to have any business dealings with Iran.

Briere, 36, has been held in Iran since May 2020, when he was arrested after flying a helicam - a remote-controlled mini helicopter used to obtain aerial or motion images - in the desert near the Turkmenistan-Iran border.

Briere was charged with spying and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic". He had through his lawyers consistently denied wrongdoing.

Briere’s lawyer, Philippe Valent, said the spying charges was the result of a "purely political process", and added that his family was worried about his mental and physical health.

In recent years, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.

Briere's trial came as the United States and parties to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal, including France, tried to revive the pact after then-US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the agreement in 2018.

US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley told Reuters on Sunday that he could not imagine reaching an agreement without prisoners in Iran being released.

Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests. Western powers have long demanded that Tehran free their citizens, whom they say are political prisoners.

Reporting by Reuters