Rebel News - Independent News and Analysis

Iran Air plans to trade shares on the public market in order to energize and rejeuvenate its fleet, the head of the Iranian flag carrier has said.

The state-owned airliner, founded in 1962, is to purchase as many as 100 new aircraft to renovate its fleet of foreign-built jetliners, Iran Air's Chairman Farhad Parvaresh said Thursday, Bloomberg reported.

Iran is considering an Iraqi request to import Iranian natural gas, as the two countries set a joint commission to raise cooperation in the gas sector.

"Subsequent to two-day talks between gas officials from both Iran and Iraq, a general agreement was reached on exporting Iran's natural gas to Iraq,” Mehr News Agency quoted Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Javad Oji as saying.

Iran's Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi says the oil-rich country has exported around 14 million tons of petrochemical products worth more than $9 billion in 2009.

Mirkazemi further pointed out that Iran, the world's fifth largest oil producer, plans to increase exports of the products by investing in new petrochemical complexes.

Israel is aiding and abetting an exiled Arab sheikh in his efforts to stage a "coup" in the Persian Gulf emirate of Ras al-Khaimeh, which is part of the United Arab Emirates, a report says.

The Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, has met Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr al-Qasimi, the exiled crown prince of Ras al-Khaimeh, who asked the Israeli envoy to provide help for his campaign to seize control of the strategically important Persian Gulf emirate only 40 miles from Iran, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

Abbas is likely to tell the Arab League that he is rejecting direct negotiations at least until the period allotted indirect negotiations formally ends.

For a while now Palestinian Authority leadership and Palestinian President Abu Mazen himself have lamented to lack of progress in the indirect negotiations.

Two projects at Morvarid Petrochemical Complex and Pardis Petrochemical Company will be inaugurated on Wednesday in the southern Iranian port city of Assalouyeh in Bushehr province.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will attend the inauguration ceremony.

Iran will invest $46 billion for the development and optimization of its refineries, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Alireza Zeighami has announced.

Seven refineries are currently under construction in Iran, and when they are completed in two years, Iran will be self-sufficient in gasoline production, Zeighami told reporters at a press conference on Sunday.

To aid in the development of Iran's energy sector, the Pars Oil and Gas Company will issue $500 million in bonds to finance the exploitation of South Pars gas field.

Ali Vakili, the managing director of the company, said that the participation bonds are expected to be offered by August 21 through Saderat Bank.

Investment in Iran's South Pars gas field has hiked by 120 percent in the current Persian calendar year, a top Iranian energy official says.

Managing Director of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) Ali Vakili told IRNA on Saturday that the boom was the result of the issuance of EUR 3 billion in foreign currency bonds and USD 3,014 billion in national participation bonds.

A senior official with the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) says Tehran will withdraw its assets from any country, which imposes financial restrictions against the Islamic Republic.

"Iran will withdraw its assets from the markets of any country that place restrictions on Iranian assets… this is a completely natural and logical course of action," CBI deputy Hamid Borhani told Mehr News Agency on Saturday.