Iraq Approves Massive Emergency Finance Bill to Pay Iran Gas Debt

Heading a political and business delegation, Maduro is due in Tehran on Saturday at the invitation of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

The Venezuelan president is scheduled to meet his Iranian counterpart and attend a session of high-level delegations from the two countries.

Iran and Venezuela have been slapped with sanctions by the US, which doesn’t currently import oil from either nation, and has in recent years reimposed sanctions on Iranian state entities, including the national oil company NIOC, and in 2019 blacklisted PDVSA.

The two countries strengthened their cooperation in 2020, with Venezuela importing condensate from Iran, key to thin its extra-thick crude oil. Iran has also stepped in to help its South American ally with engineers, refined products and spare parts for its oil industry.

Iran and Venezuela have also recently expanded a swap agreement signed last year to increase the supply of Iranian heavy crude to Venezuela's El Palito refinery and Paraguana Refining Center (CRP).

In early May, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji traveled to Venezuela to visit oil facilities and sign contracts in the energy sector.

Later in May, an oil tanker carrying about one million barrels of Iranian crude arrived in Venezuelan waters for delivery to the country's largest refinery.

Bennett's Abu Dhabi visit, his third in recent months, had not previously been announced, an Israeli statement said, adding that the two leaders, whose countries opened relations two years ago, would discuss "various regional issues" but provided no detail.

“Today, together, we will take the special bond that has been woven between our countries to the next level," it quoted Bennett as saying.

In the statement, Bennett also commended the International Atomic Energy Agency's passing of a resolution critical of Iran for failing to explain uranium traces found at three undeclared sites.

On Wednesday, of 35 members states on the IAEA board of governors, 30 voted in favor of the resolution sponsored by the ‘E3’ (France, Germany, the United Kingdom) and the United States.

Before the vote, Iran reacted by announcing that it would turn off two monitoring devices installed by the IAEA at its nuclear installations, a decision that the US condemned. Sources say Iran will also speed up installation of advanced uranium enrichment machines.

The resolution comes with year-long talks paused since March between Iran and six world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), and with continuing preparations in Israel for an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Iranian Petroleum Minister Javad Owji, Ali Akbar Salehi, the former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and a former Foreign Minister, as well as several military commanders took part in the ceremony on Wednesday. 

Many social media users criticized the Iranian officials who attended the feast, saying never had such high-ranking political and military officials attended the Russia day ceremonies. 

Also on Wednesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi held a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss the need to continue diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement in Vienna on salvaging the 2015 Iran deal. 

Year-long talks in Vienna came to a halt in March reportedly over Iran’s demands to remove its Revolutionary Guard from the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

A meeting of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which is in progress in Vienna this week will vote on a resolution proposed by the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany to censure Iran for its lack of cooperation with the international nuclear watchdog. Russia and China have voiced their opposition to the resolution.

The newspaper said that a new one-ton bomb has been integrated into the planes’ arsenal without jeopardizing the stealth radar signature that disguises the aircraft from air defenses. The bomb was developed by the Haifa-based, state-owned corporation Rafael Advanced Weapons Systems and is said to be protected against jamming.

Israel has 33 F-35s advanced aircraft made by the United States company Lockheed Martin, and expects to have 50 by 2024. Its air-force has conducted four large-scale military drills simulating attacks against Iran in the last month.

In the first drill, the Air Force exercised confronting Iranian radar and detection systems, like those which protect its nuclear installations. The second included simulating long-range combat flights -- in this case to destinations in Europe -- and cooperation between the fourth and fifth generation of its fighter jets. The other ones included defensive measures against cyber weapons and electronic warfare systems that could be used by Iran to undermine a military operation.

Iran Wednesday announced that it had turned off two monitoring cameras used by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at Iranian nuclear sites, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urged the IAEA to take measures so that Iran paid a “heavy price” for advancing its nuclear program.

Israel has opposed restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (the JCPOA, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), which came to a halt in March reportedly over Iran’s demands to remove its Revolutionary Guard from the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

In a letter on June 7 addressed to Mark Arnold, the lawyer of six family members of the victims of the incident, the Canadian foreign ministry said the final ruling issued by Justice Edward Belobaba of Ontario Superior Court “has been transmitted to the appropriate authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

In the case -- titled Zarei et al vs Islamic Republic of Iran et al – some family members filed a civil lawsuit against Iran and senior officials they believe were to blame for the incident. The Ontario Court ruled that the downing of Flight 752 was an intentional act of terrorism and on December 31, 2021, awarded compensation to be shared by the estates of the six victims. C$100 million in punitive damages, another C$1 million to family members for the loss of guidance, care and companionship, and C$6 million for pain and suffering. 

The airliner was shot down by two air-defense missiles fired by the IRGC on January 8, 2020, as it took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport. Only hours earlier, the IRGC had fired more than a dozen missiles at Iraqi bases hosting US and coalition troops in retaliation for the killing of the IRGC Qods Force Commander Ghasem Soleimani who was targeted and killed in Baghdad by a US drone strike just five days earlier.