Saudi Crown Prince Meets Iran's Foreign Minister In Jeddah

Criticism has been coming thick and fast as the State Department continues to deny any sort of update of “nuclear understanding”

Republican Senator Bill Hagerty slammed the secrecy surrounding the latest talks which saw at least $6b in frozen Iranian funds freed up in South Korea and handed to Qatar to manage, in exchange for five dual citizen hostages, as “a Biden family business deal”.

Demanding transparency, he said: “Follow the law by writing these understandings down and sharing them with Congress”, referring to the fact the administration has skirted the legislation to protect any changes being made to the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act which requires President Biden to notify Congress of any agreement with Iran related to its nuclear program.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer on Thursday in Washington, Iran one of the key elements of the talks, including the formation of a ‘limited defense treaty’.

Reports about a potential treaty have been mooted many times in the past, as recently as 2019. This issue died down only to resurface now while being pushed by Dermer, who has not hidden his support for such a treaty for more than a decade.

But, now the talks might become more serious, connected to a possible comprehensive US-Saudi deal, involving Israel and a potential normalization between Israel and the kingdom.

In a press release, the State Department confirmed talks delved into “cooperation on regional challenges, including threats posed by Iran and its regional proxies in Lebanon and elsewhere”, in addition to ongoing discussions about further normalization deals across the region.

Talks to normalize with Saudi Arabia have also come under fire as the implications to Israel’s position regarding its arch-enemy Iran remain at the heart of talks. Jacob Nagel, who previously served as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's national security advisor and head of the National Security Council warned that “a limited defense treaty between the US and Israel as part of a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia and a trilateral agreement between the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, contains much more cons than pros”.

Writing in Israel Hayom, he said this was especially critical when it might come at the expense of Israel's top priority concern: preventing a bad Iran nuclear deal that will lead Iran on its sure path to a bomb in a very short timeframe.

For the US, there is a wide-reaching ripple effect of the talks, suggesting there is more on the table than merely hostages and Iran’s nuclear program. According to The New Arab, Iran has sent General Esmail Qaani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force, for secret talks in Iraq this week in a bid to soften tensions with the US and urge a halt to military action against US forces in Iraq.

The US’ years-long shadow war has seen more than 80 attacks on its facilities in Iraq and Syria with multiple casualties and fatalities among them, and just five retaliations by the US.

As calls for transparency continue to ring loud for the Biden administration, the acting US envoy to Iran remains silent, and the State Department continues to gaslight questions. In its latest press briefing, spokesman Vedant Patel reiterated earlier lines about remaining tough on Iran, claiming the US “will continue to take steps to hold the Iranian regime accountable for their malign, destabilizing activities in the region, as well as more broadly as well”.

Talks behind the scenes remain unclear, but what is clear is regional changes are afoot.

The incident at Taleghani Tower was successfully brought under control by the firefighting team, local authorities announced.

Mehdi Samiei, the spokesperson for the Fire and Safety Services of Karaj Municipality said, "The fire originated on the 16th floor of a commercial complex, and through the efforts of firefighting teams, it was extinguished."

"Unfortunately, three firefighters sustained injuries during the firefighting operation," he added. Samiei also disclosed that an investigative team is onsite, scrutinizing the circumstances that led to the incident.

Furthermore, he highlighted the scale of the response, stating, "A total of fifty personnel, complemented by fifteen emergency vehicles from twelve stations, were dispatched to the scene to engage in firefighting and rescue operations."

Although hundreds of buildings in Tehran are at high-risk of fire, authorities are withholding the list of endangered buildings to avoid public concern.

In January 2017, the Plasco Building's fire caused its 20-story collapse, claiming 20 firefighter lives and injuring 70 more.

According to information obtained by Iran International the shutdown of Iran’s second biggest steel producer started a week ago following several weeks of reduced operations due to persistent electricity outages. 

According to an informed source, each day of the shutdown results in a substantial loss of around $15 million. Khuzestan Steel Company is in southwestern Iran near Ahvaz, the provincial capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, whose residents are grappling with regular power outages in the midst of one of the worst heatwaves in recent history. 

The company's CEO Amin Ebrahimi told IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency Thursday that the plant is undergoing regular repair and maintenance at the moment, but he did not confirm the shutdown. He cited the Energy Ministry as announcing a 29% increase in electricity supply to steel plants, claiming that this will result in a boost in production. 

Earlier in the year, reports by industry sources revealed that steel production in Iran had plummeted because the country faced a severe shortage of electricity and gas, both vital for running the plants. Iranian industrialist Reza Shahrestani said In January the steel industry needed 40 million cubic meters of gas daily, but their consumption was at 15 million cubic meters per day at the time. He added that almost 50% of the electricity supply for industries has been cut off too.

The World Steel Association, in its March report, removed Iran from the list of the 10 largest steel producers in the world. Iran has always been among the top 10 in the world, and in the first two months of 2023, Iran was the ninth largest steel producer ahead Turkey.

Economist Ahmad Alavi told Iran International that the total loss from the shutdown of Khuzestan Steel Company is not limited to the estimated $15-million because there are a lot of other businesses in different sectors that depend on the steel industry and will suffer losses. He added that the poor infrastructure in the steel industry – as well as other industries – is a result of decades of mismanagement and lack of investment, therefore the regime will not be able to resolve these issues in the near future. 

Germany-based journalist Ata Hosseinian told Iran International that the shutdown is only one of the many consequences of the disparity between power generation and consumption. He added that now the power shortage in the country is not only impeding small businesses or plants but also damaging key industries. 

In early August, Iran implemented a two-day shutdown of businesses and factories nationwide, initially presented as a health safety measure. However, it was later revealed that it was an excuse to deflect attention from the ongoing electricity, gas, and water shortages.

Payam-e Ma newspaper cited an informed yet unnamed source from the Energy Ministry as saying that the reason behind the shutdown was the country's electricity shortages. The constant rise in temperatures and decrease in rainfall across the country in the last decade have made electricity supply a challenge during peak consumption periods that happen in summers and winters. In July, Iran’s electricity usage hit a record of 72,500 megawatts, increasing the strain on power grids that were already struggling to meet demand.

"High temperature and increased electricity consumption in the past days have led the hydroelectric power plants of Karun-3 and Karun-4 dams – on the Iranian river with the highest water flow -- to produce electricity beyond their nominal capacity," the daily said. The power plants were reportedly generating electricity for more than 20 hours per day in the past several days, leading to a "depletion of water resources," which caused the plants to "temporarily cease production."

Power plant capacity and fuel supply are both inadequate to meet demand, and blackouts regularly happen in summer. Even so, Iran exports electricity to Iraq. Iran's electricity grid is overstretched and has failed to realize its annual growth plan for several years in a row, while consumption continues to grow, in part driven by extremely low prices. It is in dire need of significant investment and technological upgrade, which have been hindered for years by sanctions imposed because of Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.

Iranian environmentalist Kaveh Madani -- the former deputy head of Iran's department of environment who heads the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, posted on X on Wednesday, stating that Iran’s bankruptcy of water, electricity, and gas cannot be solved by simply shutting down the country.

According to a report in the Washington Post, leaked documents from an insider within the Russian Republic of Tatarstan's Alabuga Special Economic Zone, indicate that, despite delays and a production process that affected by sanctions affecting essential components, Moscow has made steady progress toward its goal of manufacturing the Iranian Shahed-136, an attack drone capable of traveling more than 1,000 miles.

The source, opposing Russia's military involvement in Ukraine, also shed light on the complexity of the situation. Iran acknowledges supplying drones to Russia but insists these transactions occurred prior to Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

While Russia had initially denied deploying Iranian drones in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin supports expanding domestic drone production, envisioning an industry value exceeding $20 billion. Russian officials are yet to respond to the Washington Post's findings.

The report also asserts that Russia has built an autonomous drone production facility in the Tatarstan region, 500 miles east of Moscow, with plans to manufacture around 6,000 drones by mid-2025. Engineers at the facility are working on enhancing the Iranian drone's design, aiming for larger-scale production and improved quality. They are also exploring capabilities for coordinated "swarm attacks." Spanning from winter 2022 to spring 2023, the documents encompass blueprints, schematics, and crucial details, some of which were previously reported by the Russian news outlet Protokol.

In response, Washington has imposed sanctions on Russia and Iran, targeting key figures within a defense firm associated with drone supply to Russia. Several entities and individuals engaged in drone-related activities are also subject to sanctions.

Over the past two days, long queues formed at gas stations in the southern city of Shiraz over fears of price hikes and deficit in supply.

The government continues to deny the shortage, saying that people are reacting to "rumors” with the Minister of Oil insisting there is an adequate gasoline supply nationwide.

However, local officials and members of parliament are concerned. Ruhollah Nejabat, Shiraz’s representative in parliament, stated, "In Shiraz, gasoline has not been adequately supplied to the people for two days, despite the Minister's claims to the contrary."

Long queues of vehicles formed at gas stations across the country on Wednesday, despite assurances from regime officials that prices would not increase, and the country's fuel tanks “remained full”.

A video released by the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency highlighted the severity of the situation, showing a queue of vehicles at a gas station in Karaj, west of Tehran, stretching over a kilometer.

Iran's Minister of Oil responded saying that fuel station cards are intended for emergency situations and that the lines forming at gas stations are a result of increased travel.

The current situation harks back to November 2019 when a sudden increase in gasoline prices sparked widespread protests, leading to anti-government sentiments and a strong response from security forces.