Iran Pursues Collaboration With China Amid Oil Discounts

According to Abbas Karami-Rad, the head of the Tehran Metro Police, the incident occurred on Saturday afternoon when one woman approached three others to admonish them regarding their hijabs. 

He stated that the situation escalated, leading to the three women "attacking her and physically assaulting her." Subsequently, the three women were taken into custody.

Karami-Rad explained that metro staff, who observed the altercation through surveillance cameras, promptly reported the incident to the law enforcement officer at the station, leading to the arrest of three women.

The incident has stirred negative reactions on social media, particularly in the wake of the tragic death of Armita Geravand, a 16-year-old student, who lost her life due to a violent confrontation with a hijab enforcer in the metro, and authorities deleted all traces of evidence from CCTV footage.

Amir Kalhor, a journalist, took to social media to question the circumstances of the arrests, remarking, "How did they find out? Through the cameras that have operators sitting behind them. After the Armita Geravand incident, there was no news of cameras and operators, and in some cases, the existence of cameras in the metro was denied."

Geravand was the latest victim of the repressive policies of the Islamic Republic, falling into a coma after an altercation with hijab enforcers.

Netanyahu said a general ceasefire would hamper his country's war effort, but pausing fighting for humanitarian reasons, an idea supported by Israel's top ally the United States, would continue to be considered based on circumstances.

"As far as tactical little pauses - an hour here, an hour there - we've had them before. I suppose we'll check the circumstances in order to enable goods, humanitarian goods to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages, to leave," Netanyahu told ABC News on Monday.

Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a social media post on his personal account said that the United States has been suggesting humanitarian pauses in the fighting but accused Washington of duplicity. Tehran has been focusing its rhetoric against the United States in recent days, but so far has chosen not to get directly involved in the conflict.

However, Iran’s proxy forces in Iraq and Syria continue to target US military bases, with injuries among servicemen increasing. So far, the Biden administration has responded in kind only once, despite repeated warnings to Tehran and its militant allies.

Having encircled densely populated Gaza City in the north of the enclave, where the Hamas Islamist group is based, Israel's military said it had taken a militant compound and was set to attack fighters hiding in a warren of underground tunnels.

Israel has bombarded the enclave since the Hamas raid on southern Israel one month ago, when its fighters killed 1,400 people and seized 240 hostages.

Gaza health officials say the Israeli assault has killed more than 10,000 Palestinians, including some 4,100 children, but these figures cannot be independently verified.

Both Israel and Hamas have rebuffed mounting calls for a halt in fighting. Israel says hostages should be released first. Hamas says it will not free them nor stop fighting while Gaza is under attack.

"But I don't think there's going to be a general ceasefire."

US President Joe Biden discussed such pauses and possible hostage releases in a phone call with Netanyahu on Monday, reiterating his support for Israel while emphasizing that it must protect civilians, the White House said.

Like Israel, the US fears Hamas would take advantage of a full ceasefire to regroup.

International organizations have said hospitals cannot cope with the wounded and food and clean water are running out with aid deliveries nowhere near enough.

"We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It's been 30 days. Enough is enough. This must stop now," said a statement from the heads of several United Nations' bodies on Monday.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it took control of a Hamas military stronghold in the northern Gaza Strip, where it said the forces located anti-tank missiles and launchers, weapons and various intelligence materials.

Israeli aircraft struck several Hamas militants who had barricaded themselves in a building near the al-Quds Hospital and planned to launch an attack on Israeli forces, it said.

The Israeli military on Monday released video of tanks moving through bombed-out streets and groups of troops moving on foot. It says it has surrounded Gaza City, cutting off northern parts of the narrow coastal strip from the south.

In a press briefing, chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said troops were hunting Hamas field level commanders to weaken the militants' ability "to carry out counter attacks."

The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Monday. The 15-member body is still trying to agree a resolution after failing four times in two weeks to act. Diplomats said a key obstacle is whether to call for a ceasefire, cessation of hostilities or humanitarian pauses to allow aid access in Gaza.

At a meeting of foreign ministers from the G7 leading democracies in Tokyo, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said the group plans to call for a pause in fighting and allowing humanitarian access to Gaza.

With reporting by Reuters

This number is significantly higher than the last official figure (around 20), announced a fortnight ago.

Since the Hamas terror attack on Israel and the ensuing conflict a month ago, the US government has repeatedly warned Iran and its proxies against attacking American forces in the region. The figures released Monday seem to show, however, that the attackers remain unfazed.

If anything, the war seems to have widened in the last week or two.

Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, armed groups backed, and often guided by the Islamic Republic are targeting US troops stationed in those countries almost daily.

On Monday, one of the Iraqi armed groups used the Iranian-designed Fateh-110 ballistic missile for the first time against a US base. Hezbollah is believed to have this missile too.

A month has passed since Hamas forces attacked border regions of Israel, killing at least 1,400, mostly civilians, and taking at least 200 hostage. In response, Israel has been bombarding Hamas targets in Gaza and has sent in its army into the enclave to find and destroy Hamas fighters. Hamas officials in Gaza say ten thousand have been killed, but there is no independently verified figure on casualties. At least 1.5 million people have also been displaced, according to the United Nations.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday repeated his call for an “immediate humanitarian cease-fire” and a halt to the “spiral of escalation” across the region.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Security Council meeting, Guterres said international humanitarian law is clearly being violated in Gaza. “No party to an armed conflict” is above international law, he said, also demanding the unconditional release of hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October.

Israel insists it is conducting military operation based on the internationally recognized principle of self defense and is doing its utmost to only hit military targets.

The UN Security Council once more failed to agree on a resolution in its Monday meeting, with the US insisting on a ‘pause’ instead of a ‘ceasefire.’

The Biden administration has so far supported Israel unconditionally while the latter tries to “erase” Hamas from Gaza and retake control of the strip. Still, many in Washington blame the administration for having allowed the current crisis, even if inadvertently.

“For nearly 3 years they’ve flooded Iran with close to $100B,” Senator Ted Cruz posted on X. “Iran has used that money to fund terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.”

“The Biden Administration's approach was to put Iran first,” former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News. “We negotiated with the Iranians on the nuclear deal; we stopped enforcing sanctions; we paid a ransom of $6 billion to get back half a dozen hostages – now the Iranians hold even more.”

Pompeo seems to be referring to hostages in Gaza, whose fate is widely believed to be in the hands of the regime in Iran, which holds considerable sway over Hamas.

The Islamic Republic is evidently reluctant to engage in direct war with Israel or the US, despite non-stop rhetoric.

“This is their entire strategy,” Jonathan Schanzer of Foundation for Defense of Democracies said on CNN referring to the regime in Iran. “They are fighting Israel to the last Palestinian, to the last Lebanese, to the last Syrian and to the last Iraqi. They use proxy groups to their advantage so that they can sit safely back in Tehran and watch with delight. "

Reports emerged Monday that the Biden administration has sent strong messages to Iran and Hezbollah via Turkey that the US will intervene immediately if they attack Israel.

Nonetheless, Iranian officials are maintaining their belligerent and threatening tone.

"What has the US done to the region that its Secretary of State, Blinken, arrived in Baghdad with a bulletproof vest,” asked Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Monday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on a tour of the Middle last, visited Iraq briefly, perhaps to try and push the Iraqi government to rein in armed militias who target American bases in the country.

The ones with meaningful influence over Iraqi militias, however, sit not in Baghdad but in Tehran, who seem to remain unperturbed.

Ambassador Saeed Koozechi told local media that Iran’s financial loss “should be somehow compensated for.” He clarified his remark by adding, "We can compensate for these damages by strengthening and expanding the existing cooperation and capacities between Iran and South Korea."

South Korea had frozen between $6-7 billion of Iran’s revenues from oil sales that occurred before the United States imposed full sanctions on Tehran in May 2019. After four years of Iranian demands to free the funds, the United States agreed in August to allow South Korea to unblock the funds in exchange for the release of five US citizens held hostage by Tehran.

However, the money had already been converted into Korean currency, won, and when it was converted back to euros, Iran sustained losses. In the four years since the money had been frozen, won lost more than 10 percent of its value against the US dollar and the euro. The final amount that reached Qatar, the current custodian of the funds, it totaled 5.73 billion euros.

The US-Iran agreement to free the hostages in exchange for the funds led to criticism of the Biden administration, as many called the scheme the largest ransom payment in history.

This plan involves not only exporting oil but also repairing Venezuelan refineries to facilitate this export. The goal is to restore Iran's oil exports to pre-sanctions levels, reaching 2.5 million barrels per day, amid US sanctions.

This is noteworthy given previous efforts by Iranian companies to repair Venezuelan refineries in 2020, particularly the 'Cardon' refinery, which experienced a fire shortly after repairs, and the unsuccessful overhaul of the El Palito refinery.

Iran renewed a €100 million contract for the repair of the El Palito refinery with Venezuela last year, and the facility, operating at 20% capacity, began operations in June 2023. Previously, this refinery had a daily capacity of 140,000 barrels, and it is unclear what its current capacity is.

Iranian customs statistics suggest that the equipment needed for this refinery has not been exported from Iran to Venezuela. It is likely that the Islamic Republic has purchased second-hand equipment from other countries to repair this refinery.

In recent years, Iran's non-oil exports to Venezuela have remained around $20 million annually, equivalent to less than 0.1% of Iran's total non-oil exports.

Amid serious economic isolation, the Iranian regime clings to any small and insignificant international economic deal to show audiences at home that the government is successful in fighting sanctions and instill hope that the economic crisis can be overcome. Minor deals with developing countries in Asia and Africa are trumpeted as major successes.

Iran also signed a gas condensate barter deal with Venezuelan heavy oil, starting in the fall of 2021. Data from the Commodity Intelligence Company, Kepler, indicates that Iran delivered 28 million barrels of gas condensate to Venezuela until January 2023 and bought extra-heavy crude oil from the country for resale to China.

However, since February this year, with the reduction of US oil sanctions against Venezuela, the country has not received any shipments of gas condensate from Iran. This indicates that as soon as Caracas was offered a reprieve from sanctions, it began procurement from other sources.

Iran's ambition to repair Venezuelan refineries and export crude oil to the country is significant considering its own domestic refinery challenges. Iranian refineries have experienced a 10% decline in the past decade due to insufficient maintenance and upgrades, leading to the conversion of 30% of received crude oil into mazut and bitumen, compared to just 4% in modern refineries.

For instance, Iran's largest crude oil refinery, Abadan, converts 47% of the crude oil it receives into mazut and bitumen. The operation of this refinery is, in principle, not economically viable.

Iran had agreements with South Korean and Chinese companies in the mid-2010s aimed at reducing mazut and bitumen production from refineries to 10%. However, these deals were canceled following the US withdrawal in 2018 from the Obama-era JCPOA nuclear deal, and Iran has faced challenges in modernizing and repairing its domestic power plants.

Iran’s oil exports fell from 2.2 million barrels per day in 2017, to less than 300,000 in 2019, after full US sanctions came into force. However, recently Tehran has succeeded to boost exports close to 1.8 million barrels per day, as the Biden administration has failed to enforce the sanctions. China is the main customer of Iran’s illicitly shipped crude.

Venezuela, once possessing a refining capacity of 1.3 million barrels, has seen its capacity diminish to less than 190,000 barrels per day due to refinery aging and inactivity, exacerbated by US sanctions over the past decade.