Iraq key destination of Chinese investment

In recent years, Iraq has become one of the leading destinations for Chinese investments in the Middle East and a crucial link in Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

To capitalize on its geostrategic location and central position within the Chinese BRI, Iraq is seeking to develop a sprawling new 54-square-kilometer port project in the far southern town of al-Faw, known as al-Faw Grand Port, which will reduce the country’s reliance on Arab Gulf ports and overland transit from Iran and Turkey for its imports.

The project also underscores Iraq’s growing economic rivalry with neighboring Iran, as both countries seek to carve out a similar niche in handling regional transit traffic.

A number of hurdles have hampered Iraq’s efforts to diversify its economy, including extreme underinvestment and widespread corruption. There are some signs that change may be on the horizon.

Earlier this month, Baghdad reached an agreement with France’s TotalEnergies to move forward with a massive, long-delayed US$27 billion energy project, highlighting the potential for foreign investment and partnerships to contribute to Iraq’s economic growth and development.

This follows an earlier deal, announced in July 2021, between the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and China National Chemical Engineering Co. (CNCEC), whereby CNCEC will develop an integrated petrochemicals and refining complex at al-Faw capable of producing 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil as well as, in a later second phase, 3 million tons per annum (mtpa) of petrochemicals.

International companies are increasingly showing interest in investing in Iraq's energy and infrastructure sectors in particular. This could help to improve the country’s economic prospects and reduce its reliance on oil exports, which accounted for 95% of its federal budget revenue in 2022.

The success of projects like these will depend on a range of factors, including security conditions, political stability, and the government’s ability to create a favorable investment climate.

The al-Faw project includes the construction of a new port, dry dock, oil terminal, dry canal, and associated transportation infrastructure, and once completed, it is expected to become one of the main pillars of Iraq's economy. According to recent reports, phase one is set to be finished in 2025 and will have the capacity to handle 20-45 mtpa of cargo.

The dry canal will provide land connectivity to the Turkish border via road and rail, linking up with port and rail infrastructure in Turkey, especially in Mersin and Istanbul. If successfully completed, al-Faw could leverage its location and connectivity with Turkey and Syria to become a leading container terminal and one of the largest ports in the world.

In December 2022, Basra hosted the second al-Faw International Conference, the focus of which was to highlight the al-Faw port and dry canal. Iraq’s central goal is to link this project with China's broader BRI and bill it as part of an alternative route to the Suez Canal and the North-South Corridor. China’s overall investment in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey between 2005 and 2022 totaled US$273 billion.

Iraq has become an increasingly important partner for China in recent years, with a particular focus on the energy sector. Beijing inked deals with Baghdad worth US$10.5 billion in 2021 alone.

Chinese companies have secured contracts to develop and operate several major oil and gas assets, including the Rumaila and Halfaya oil fields. Chinese firms have also been involved in building and operating power plants and other infrastructure projects in Iraq, in addition to investing in telecommunications and agriculture. China's investments have contributed significantly to Iraq’s economic development and have strengthened economic ties between the two countries.

The focus on al-Faw and China’s investments in Iraq has also underscored neighboring Iran’s limited role in international transit and trade, an area in which Tehran punches far below its weight. Given its central location and status as a land bridge between South and Central Asia and the Middle East, Iran should play a major role in both the East-West and North-South corridors — the former connects the Caucasus, Central Asia, and China to the Middle East and Europe via Iran, while the latter links Russia and Central Asia to the Persian Gulf and India through Iran — but Tehran has not capitalized on either opportunity.

Despite its natural advantages, Iran has failed to become an important strategic hub for the transportation of goods due to a combination of factors, including economic sanctions, political instability, and outdated transportation infrastructure, especially for railways and ports.

The development of al-Faw Port in Iraq could represent a further challenge to Iran’s aspirations in this area. Ali Hosseini, the head of the Transport and Logistics Commission of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, believes that, in the future, al-Faw will become a major competitor for Iran.

With help from Turkey and the UAE, Iraq is trying to link al-Faw to Iraq’s national railway and connect that railway to Turkey in the north, creating an alternative transportation corridor that will likely have a negative impact on Iran's transit traffic to Turkey.

At present, an estimated 90% of transit traffic through Iran moves by road. While there is an existing railway between Iran and Turkey, it is limited and often disrupted by political tensions between the two countries.

The volume of trade between Iran and Turkey is significant, reaching US$6.42 billion in 2022, up from US$5.59 billion the year before, but the lack of reliable transportation infrastructure has hindered its growth.

Officials in Tehran have accused the United States of interference and suggested that Baghdad is under pressure from Washington to impede Iran’s development of a viable north-west transit corridor.

They also claim that Turkey is exerting influence on Iraq to back its railway link to Asia, in line with Ankara’s ambition of becoming a regional hub for energy and communication.

As a result, it is highly likely that Iran will use Iraq’s actions in this space as leverage in their bilateral negotiations over energy and agricultural trade, and this could potentially strain the relationship between the two countries in the future.

 

Iran raises concerns over US biological labs in Ukraine

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has reacted to reports that the United States has established military biological labs in Ukraine, saying the labs are deeply worrying.

“Reports about the US military biological labs in Ukraine and some other countries are deeply worrying,” Kanaani said on Twitter. 

He added, “These activities are in breach of the US's commitments, especially the Biological Weapons Convention, and pose a threat to humanity, hence they need an impartial international investigation.”

A Russian state Duma committee has recently released a report saying that Washington is building biological weapons all over the world, according to IRNA. 

American-made biological weapons are able to destroy not only human beings, but also animals and even agricultural products to cause irreparable economic damage to the enemy. 

The Russian investigation committee called the possibility of covert use of biological weapons as completely peaceful industrial products alarming.

The Russian Duma assessed the American biological weapons program as the greatest threat to the biological security of the world. “In recent years, the US biological weapons program has not only not been limited, but has become more aggressive,” it said. 

The presence of American biological laboratories in Africa, Asia, the Caucasus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine has provided the basis for collecting information on the biological infrastructure of the host countries, according to the Russian state Duma. 

 

Saudi Arabia welcomes resumption of diplomatic ties between Bahrain and Qatar

Saudi Arabia has welcomed the resumption of diplomatic relations between Bahrain and Qatar, which was announced following the second Qatari-Bahrain follow-up committee meeting in Riyadh.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs applauded this constructive step, which affirms the robustness of relations among members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and advances joint Gulf action that achieves the aspirations of the region's states and peoples.

The United States congratulated Bahrain and Qatar on their decision to resume diplomatic ties, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said Thursday.

"This breakthrough represents a crucial step in our collective efforts to forge a more integrated, stable, peaceful, and prosperous region," Patel noted in a press release one day after the two GCC states reached a deal in this regard.

"The United States has sought to promote regional integration and de-escalation, including among these two important partners and Gulf Cooperation Council member states.

"The United States will continue to actively work with regional partners to advance this shared aim of a more integrated, stable and prosperous Middle East region," he added.

GCC Secretary-General Jassem Albudaiwi applauded the step, which stems from the directives of the leaders of the GCC countries that were issued at the "Sultan Qaboos and Sheikh Sabah Summit", which was held in AlUla in 2021.

He added that those instructions embody the GCC leaders' keenness to secure the future and protect the cohesion of the Council in line with key attributes of the links connecting the Council member states, including the bonds of kinship, friendship, brotherhood, history and common destiny, and unity which are the pillars of the GCC blessed march.

In a statement, the Cairo-based Arab Parliament hailed the Bahraini-Qatari agreement as a positive step toward enhancing joint Arab action and regional security and stability.

 

Zelensky accused for embezzlement of millions of dollars

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars that the United States allocated for the purchase of fuel, according to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh.

In his blog, Hersh writes – The Ukraine government, headed by Volodymyr Zelensky, has been using American taxpayers’ funds to pay dearly for the vitally needed diesel fuel that is keeping the Ukrainian army on the move in its war with Russia.

It is unknown how much the Zalensky government is paying per gallon for the fuel, but the Pentagon was paying as much as US$400 per gallon to transport gasoline from a port in Pakistan, via truck or parachute, into Afghanistan during the decades-long American war there.

The issue of corruption was directly raised with Zelensky in a meeting last January in Kyiv with CIA Director William Burns. His message to the Ukrainian president, I was told by an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the meeting, was out of a 1950s mob movie.

The senior generals and government officials in Kyiv were angry at what they saw as Zelensky’s greed, so Burns told the Ukrainian president, “He was taking a larger share of the skim money than was going to the generals.” 

Burns also presented Zelensky with a list of thirty-five generals and senior officials whose corruption was known to the CIA and others in the American government. Zelensky responded to the American pressure ten days later by publicly dismissing ten of the most ostentatious officials on the list and doing little else.

“The ten he got rid of were brazenly bragging about the money they had—driving around Kyiv in their new Mercedes,” the intelligence official told me.

Meanwhile, Hersh, citing an intelligence official, said that the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines and lack of strategic planning with regard to Ukraine had caused a growing rift between the White House and the US intelligence community.

“There is a total breakdown between the White House leadership and the intelligence community,” the intelligence official was quoted by Hersh as saying.

The alleged rift dates back to the covert operation last fall to blow up Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines, a move that was purportedly ordered by President Joe Biden.

“Destroying the Nord Stream pipelines was never discussed, or even known in advance, by the community,” the official said.

Another issue dividing the Biden administration and the intelligence community is the lack of planning on Ukraine. The official highlighted Biden’s decision to deploy two brigades a few miles from the Ukrainian border in response to Russia’s special military operation.

The actual manpower of the 101st and 82nd airborne divisions could total more than 20,000, but there is still “no evidence that any senior official in the White House really knows what’s going on in” the brigades, the intelligence officials told Hersh.

“Are they there as part of a NATO exercise or to serve with NATO combat units if the West decides to engage Russian units inside Ukraine? Are they there to train or to be a trigger? The rules of engagement say they can’t attack Russians unless our boys are getting attacked,” the official said.

The official said that while the White House lacks clarity on its policy in Ukraine, the Pentagon is somewhat optimistically preparing for an end to the conflict. Two months ago, the US Joint Chiefs tasked members of the staff with drafting an end-of-war treaty to present to the Russians “after their defeat on the Ukraine battlefield,” Hersh said, citing a source.

But it remains unclear what will happen if the Pentagon’s scenario goes wrong and Ukrainian forces fail on the battlefield. Will the two American brigades deployed close to the war zone join forces with NATO troops and face off with the Russian army inside Ukraine? Hersh asks.

 

Afghanistan should not be used for geopolitical rivalry

On Thursday, the foreign ministers of Iran, China, Russia and Pakistan held a quadrilateral informal meeting on Afghanistan in Samarkand, Uzbekistan to discuss the situation in the war-torn country.

Among the four countries meeting in Samarkand, Iran, Pakistan and China share border with Afghanistan, which fell to the Taliban in August 2021.

The chief diplomats released a joint statement in which they called on Taliban authorities to form an inclusive government with the participation of all ethnic groups and political institutions.

Meanwhile, the statement also asked the de facto authorities to lift all restriction measures against women and ethnic minorities in the country.

The statement also emphasized that a peaceful Afghanistan is in the international community’s interest and that the country should be a place for international cooperation rather than geopolitical rivalry.

The statement also blamed the United States and its allies for the current state of affairs in the country and asked for the immediate lifting of unilateral sanctions against Afghanistan and releasing its assets to benefit the people. 

The four foreign ministers also stressed the importance of respecting Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

They also expressed their support for the principle of “Afghan ownership and Afghan leadership” to determine the political and development path of the country, according to Press TV.

The four countries also expressed concern about the security situation and the growing terrorism in Afghanistan. They reiterated that terrorist groups based in Afghanistan severely threaten regional and global peace. 

Meanwhile, the four countries asked the de facto government in Kabul to “take tangible action in fighting against terrorism and eliminating terrorist groups in the country.”

All terrorist groups based in the country, including Daesh, East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Jaish ul-Adl pose a serious threat to regional and international security, the ministers warned.

The first quadrilateral meeting on Afghanistan was held on September 16, 2022 on the sidelines the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

 

Singapore bunker sales rebound in March

Sales of marine fuel, also known as bunker fuel, recovered at top refuelling hub Singapore in March as vessel calls for bunkering reached more than two-year highs, official data showed Friday.

Bunker sales are an indicator of sentiment at one of the world's most major ports and demand also affects fuel oil refining margins in Asia.

Singapore's bunker sales in March rose to 4.18 million tons, up 10%MoM and 11%YoY, Maritime and Port Authority data showed.

The rise reflected increasing vessel calls for bunkering, which hit more than two-year highs at 3,476 calls in March.

Demand improved after a lackluster February, when sales hit eight-month lows.

Lower upstream crude oil prices in March, which led to lower outright prices for bunkers, encouraged slightly more buying inquiries, trade sources said.

Volumes rose in March for all key bunker grades, including low-sulphur fuel oil, high-sulphur fuel oil and marine gasoil.

Bunker sales of LSFO grades totaled 2.58 million tons, up 10%MoM, the data showed.

Sales of HSFO grades totaled 1.24 million tons, up 11% from February while marine gasoil sales rose 9% to 330,200 tons.

 

 

Quds Day being observed under radically changed conditions

Today, Quds Day is being observed around the globe with mass anti-Israel protests. The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini, initiated the day of solidarity with Palestine on the last Friday of Ramadan. 

Israel is witnessing growing resistance against its colonialism, most significantly over the past year, from the occupied West Bank. 

Gone are the days when Israeli troops enjoyed the freedom to raid West Bank towns and villages to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians residing there. 

Today, newly formed armed resistance factions by the West Bank youth have changed the equation and are taking the battle to Israel's occupation troops.

They are conducting armed retaliatory operations against the regime's occupation including at its many military checkpoints scattered across the West Bank. Those retaliatory operations have struck the heart of the occupied territories, Tel Aviv.

They are also refusing to surrender to the regime's almost daily pre-dawn invasion of Palestinian towns and villages. Instead, these youths are confronting Special Forces in armed clashes, battles that usually last several hours. 

Their refusal to surrender explains the high Palestinian death toll. Israeli forces have murdered around 100 Palestinians so far this year.

It's no wonder Israel plans to set up a "National Guard" (described as a settler militia) to handle the West Bank resistance. 

That's how Israeli media described a photo published on April 9, 2023 of a meeting between the Secretary General of Lebanon's Hezbollah Sayyad Hassan Nasrallah and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political bureau. 

The two leaders met in Beirut to discuss the readiness of the axis of resistance and to further expand their cooperation in light of Israel's terrorism these days at al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The meeting between Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Hamas movement in the besieged Gaza Strip to expand and improve cooperation will be seen as a major concern among the security apparatus of the Zionist entity.

The salvo of missiles fired from Palestinian refugee camps in Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip in response to Israel’s desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque (Islam’s third holiest site) indicated one key element.

The regime responded by striking farmland in Lebanon and airstrikes in the Gaza Strip for one night. In both attacks it was careful not to kill anybody as it cannot afford a wider conflict with the Palestinian resistance.

It also cannot embark on a war with Hezbollah as it knows very well the powerful resistance movement has weapons that can strike deep inside all occupied territories, including precision missiles that can hit very sensitive sites, including Israel’s Dimona nuclear weapons plant.

The same can be said about the Gaza Strip. Israel cannot afford a conflict with the Palestinian resistance in the blockaded coastal enclave as the resistance has missiles in its hands that can hit vital Israeli infrastructure and humiliate the regime.

With the power of the resistance in Lebanon and Gaza significantly growing, Israel can’t even wage a war to divert attention from the crisis the entity is witnessing from within.

There have been mass protests by Israelis against their new coalition’s plans to overhaul the regime’s so-called judicial system.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets and clashed with forces in protest against the proposed measures by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-orthodox and fascist cabinet.

Such is the extent of the fighting within Israel and warnings by the regime’s President and other officials of a civil war, Netanyahu’s cabinet was forced to postpone the plans for a month.

But as the English say, he is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If Netanyahu drops his overhaul plans, he could end up in prison for corruption charges as well as members of his fragile coalition withdrawing, which would mean an end to his majority in the Israeli Knesset.

That would result in fifth election in less than five years. There has never been so much internal division within Israel’s 75 years of occupation of Palestine. Nevertheless, Netanyahu needs to keep his cabinet at any cost. This explains the vicious storming into al-Aqsa Mosque and committing terror on innocent worshipers in a desperate bid to appease the settlers.

If there is anything that brings a smile on the settler’s faces, it is footage of the occupation troops mercilessly attacking women and men inside al-Aqsa Mosque. But again, this comes with its ramifications that Israel will face in the near future.

So much is the division over Netanyahu’s overhaul plans of the judiciary that even segments in nearly all of the regime’s military armed forces and units withdrew from crucial training, which Israeli military officials, in turn, said poses a direct threat to the existence of the occupation.

In another major setback for Israel, its staunchest supporter, the United States has lost its clout in West Asia as witnessed by the recent detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as the steady restoration of ties between Syria and the Arab world. 

In a sign of how developments are quickly changing in West Asia, a Saudi delegation travelled to the Yemeni capital Sana’a for talks with the head of the popular Ansarullah revolution, not the other way round.

This was not the case two decades ago, when Washington had major influence on the region. That influence is now shifting to the countries in West Asia itself. 

Alongside that, such is the fascist language being publicly broadcast by the minister in Netanyahu’s cabinet, that it has forced the US to end its decades long protocol of inviting a new Israel’s Prime Minister to the White House within two or three months.

Netanyahu, who assumed power again in January is still waiting for an invitation to hold talks with President Joe Biden. And he may have to wait longer.

On March 28, when Biden stressed he is not going to invite the Israeli prime minister to Washington “in the near term”, Netanyahu publicly hit back at the US President, underscoring the tense relationship between the current White House and the Israeli occupation.

However, it all goes back to the indigenous people of the land.

On Sunday Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pointed out that the Palestinian nation’s perseverance has pushed the occupying regime to the brink of collapse.

Israel has never been in a fragile state (pardon the pun) as it is now, facing so many crises from within and from the developments in the region as well as the international community as it continues to pursue its extremely racist agenda.