Raisi visit to Syria

Two Iranian lawmakers have welcomed the upcoming visit by President Ebrahim Raisi to Syria, saying the visit would strengthen the Axis of Resistance. 

Javad Karimi Quddousi, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said the visit is meant to strengthen the Resistance Front and the economies of the two countries. 

“After 13 years, the president of Islamic Iran will travel to Syria and I wish he had at least one trip to Syria during the 11th and 12th governments so that the Resistance Front will be strengthened even more,” Quddousi told IRNA.

“Among the closure of the country's diplomacy in the previous government was the closure of the diplomacy of the Resistance area, which in fact resulted in indifference to the member countries of the Resistance Front, including Syria.”

He added, “In these 44 years that have passed since the victory of the revolution, countries such as Syria and the oppressed people of Palestine were an important support for the resistance front. The proxy wars that the Zionist regime and the West started with the support of ISIS in Syria took place because of the Syrian people's support for the Resistance Front.”

Quddousi considered Raisi's visit to Syria as the culmination of Ayatollah Raisi's presidential and strategic trips. “At this point, when there has been a great victory for the Resistance Front in all fields, the president will visit this country because the plans and movements of Iran and Syria have been shared and they have formed a united front against their enemies,” he continued. 

Stating that today Gaza is not separated from the West Bank, he said, “Quds is not separated from Gaza and the West Bank, and Syria and Lebanon are connected to all these areas. Along with these countries, the Yemenis formed a united front which caused the defeat of the Hebrew, Arab, and Western united front against the Resistance Front.”

Underlining that today Zionists and Westerners admit that Bashar al-Assad and his people won, Quddousi noted, “Ayatollah Raisi's trip at this point is very effective in terms of politics, security and strategy for the liberation of Quds. And the second dimension will be the reconstruction of Syria.”

He said, “The reconstruction of Syria with the mobilization of the private sector is a good opportunity to provide civil and economic services, especially in the construction industry sector and take over the Syrian economic market.”

The lawmaker added, “During a visit to the Syrian city of Aleppo, half of this city has been razed to the ground, and Syrian statesmen suggested to the 12th government [the Rouhani administration] to undertake the reconstruction of this city, in which case twice the amount proposed to European countries will be paid to Iran. But the previous government did not make an effort in this regard.”

Ebrahim Azizi, another lawmaker sitting on the Committee, said the visit is an indication that Iran’s regional policies won. 

“The President's visit to Damascus shows the victories of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the regional and international scene and shows the depth of greatness that Muslim nations created in different scenes in the fight against arrogance,” Azizi said in remarks to IRNA.

“The media of the West has been presenting the Americans as invincible for years, but the victory of the Resistance Axis in Syria showed that it is possible to stand against the domination system and defeat them.”

He added, “The normalization of relations with Syria can be effective in the path of economic, commercial, cultural and security exchanges in the region, since the countries of the region have turned to the view of the Islamic Republic today, it is a wise and intelligent move, it can help the development of peace and stability in the region.”

 

 

Indian top security official meets Iranian counterpart

Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval visited Tehran on Monday to hold talks with his Iranian counterpart Ali Shamkhani. They discussed economic, political, and security issues concerning the two countries as well as the most important regional and international developments, according to Iran’s official news agency IRNA. 

The Indian official visited Iran at the invitation of the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. 

In the meeting, Shamkhani pointed out the deep-rooted civilizational, historical, and cultural commonalities, the will of the leaders of the two countries, as well as the strategic independence of Iran and India as the main platforms for the development of bilateral cooperation.

“The relations between Iran and India are not against any other country and are not affected by the will of third parties. Global and regional developments have created very suitable conditions for strengthening bilateral interactions in the fields of energy, transportation and transit, technology and banking between Iran and India,” Shamkhani stated, according to Nour News. 

He added, “Activating the rial-rupee mechanism is a necessary and important action that will play a decisive role in advancing common goals in various economic fields.”

Welcoming the promotion of India's role and position in regional and international developments, Shamkhani said, “We consider New Delhi's active presence in political, economic and security initiatives with the participation of Central Asian and Persian Gulf countries to be necessary and faciliatory.”

The top security official of Iran added, “The participation of the two countries to assess and take advantage of the opportunities resulting from regional and global developments, as well as active cooperation in the Shanghai Organization and the BRICS group, provides the national interests of Iran and India.”

He stated, “Decisions taken to remove obstacles to continued cooperation in the Chabahar project can be very effective in changing the current inappropriate situation.”

The Indian official also met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and President Ebrahim Raisi.

In his meeting with Doval, Raisi said, “Today, the leaders of Iran and India want to expand relations, especially in the economic and commercial fields, and this issue was emphasized in the meeting between me and Mr. Narendra Modi in Samarkand.”

He pointed out that the conditions of the world are changing and a new world order is being formed.

“In the heart of the ongoing changes in the world, regional and international organizations, especially the Shanghai and BRICS organizations, can be very effective due to their considerable power and resources,” Raisi added, according to IRNA. 

He noted that strengthening bilateral cooperation between Iran and India, in addition to providing mutual benefits, can have constructive effects in resolving regional issues, including the Afghanistan issue.

Raisi said, “Iran and India, as two influential countries in the region, can be more effective in the changes caused by the establishment of the new world order by promoting their cooperation to a new level.”

 

Oil price slips to five week low on US default worries

Oil prices sank 4% to a five-week low on Tuesday along with a drop in Wall Street stocks on worries about a US bond default, weak economic data from China and expectations the US and Europe will raise interest rates again this week, reports Reuters.

Brent futures fell 4.0% to US$76.15 a barrel by 1444 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 4.2%, to US$72.47. That put both Brent and WTI in technically oversold territory and on track their lowest close since March 24, 2023.

Wall Street's main indexes DJI, SPX, IXIC fell after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US government could run out of money within a month, while investors awaited the Federal Reserve's policy decision.

The cost of insuring against a US default hit fresh highs after Yellen said the government will be unlikely to meet all payment obligations by early June, prompting President Joe Biden to summon four top congressional leaders to the White House next week.

Oil prices also came under pressure after official data at the weekend showed manufacturing activity in China, the world's top crude importer, fell unexpectedly in April. This marks the first contraction in the manufacturing purchasing managers' index since December 2022.

"Most sub-indicators show that this might not be a short-term aberration," said Iris Pang, Greater China chief economist at financial services company ING, pointing to a weakening export market, lower imports in March and falling wages.

A cloudy economic outlook in other parts of the world also weighed on prices, analysts said.

"The unpredictable action of central banks in their mission to tame elevated consumer and producer prices, the rhetoric and action of consuming and producing nations have all cast a rather long shadow of doubt on prospects going forward," oil broker PVM's Tamas Varga said.

Investors will look for market direction from expected interest rate hikes by inflation-fighting central banks, which could slow economic growth and dent energy demand.

The US Federal reserve is expected to increase interest rates by another 25 basis points on Wednesday.

The European Central Bank is also expected to raise rates at its regular policy meeting on Thursday.

On the supply side, the market shrugged off news that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) oil output fell in April, as sanctioned countries Russia and Iran continued to find outlets for their crude.

Iran's oil production has surpassed 3 million barrels per day (bpd), the country's oil minister said on Tuesday.

Iran pumped 2.4 million bpd on average in 2021 and has been under US sanctions since 2018.

Iraq, meanwhile, produced 3.938 million bpd of crude in April, down by 262,000 bpd from March, a source at state-owned crude marketer SOMO told Reuters.

Another factor that should provide some support for oil prices, a Reuters poll showed US crude oil stockpiles declined about one million barrels last week, putting inventories down for a third week in a row for the first time since December 2022.

The poll was conducted ahead of reports from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday and the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.

 

Arab foreign ministers affirm priority of resolving Syrian crisis

The Arab foreign ministers affirmed on Monday the priority of resolving Syria's crisis through a political settlement that would safeguard its sovereignty and meet the people's aspirations.

During the meeting held in Amman with the participation of the foreign ministers of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt, they called for creating proper conditions for safe and voluntary return of the Syrian refugees to their homeland.

Additionally, they called to rid Syria of terrorism, withdrawing all illegitimate foreign forces from the country and achieving national conciliation.

The foreign ministers also exchanged views on the efforts exerted to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis, which would contribute to ending all its repercussions and preserving its unity, security, stability, and Arab identity.

This is in addition to returning it to its Arab surroundings, in a way that achieves prosperity for the Syrian people.

At the end of the meeting, they confirmed that there will be more meetings at this level in the future to work on attaining the objectives outlined in the Security Council Resolution 2254.

It is noteworthy that the meeting held in Amman comes as a follow-up to a gathering that comprised foreign ministers of the GCC states with their peers from Jordan, Iraq and Egypt on Syria, which was held in Saudi Arabia on April 14, 2023.

Iran Petrochemical Forum inaugurated

The 14th Iran Petrochemical Forum (IPF) kicked off at IRIB International Conference Center (IICC) in Tehran on Monday.

The inaugural ceremony of the event was participated by Rouhollah Dehqani-Firouzabadi, the vice president for science and technology, Majid Chegeni, the managing director of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), and senior director of the country’s petrochemical sector.

Focusing on “Value Chain, New Opportunities”, the two-day forum revolves around eight topics, including: “Feedstock, products and supply chain”, “Solutions and advanced optimization technologies”, “Integration and coordination between petrochemical and refining complexes”, “Production process and market”, “Methanol market and its roles”, “Global energy crisis and future of the petrochemical industry”, “Investment and financial supply opportunities”, and “Energy optimization and production without pollution”.

As stated by the managing director of National Petrochemical Company (NPC), “Our today’s important objective of completing the production chain in the country’s petrochemical sector highlights the significance of holding this conference”, 

Morteza Shahmirzaei has expressed hope that IPF can pave the way to achieve all strategic petrochemical products in the world.

As reported, 15 countries, including the members of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) as well as some European countries, are participating in IPF, which is a famous scientific conference in the world, and the latest products and achievements of the petrochemical industry are being presented and introduced in the two-day event.

 

McCarthy pledges to invite Netanyahu to Washington

US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy arrived in Israel with a bi-partisan delegation of 19 other members of Congress to celebrate Israel’s 75th anniversary. He promised to bring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Capitol Hill in Washington if US President Joe Biden continued to refuse to invite him to the White House.

"I'll invite the prime minister to come meet with the House. He's a dear friend, as a prime minister of a country that we have our closest ties with,” McCarthy told the Hebrew daily Yisrael HaYom on the first day of his two-day trip to Israel.

McCarthy arrived with a bi-partisan delegation of 19 other members of Congress to celebrate Israel’s 75th anniversary. He is expected to address the Knesset plenum on Monday, a rare move that has been done only once before by Newt Gingrich in 1998.

The bi-partisan delegation’s visit is viewed as symbolic of the strong Israeli-US ties at a time when tensions are high between Biden and Netanyahu over the latter’s judicial overhaul plan.

Netanyahu had expected to be invited to the White House after his new government was sworn in at the end of December. Despite initial promises that an invitation would be forthcoming, Biden publicly stated he had no plans to invite Netanyahu at this time.

The Biden administration fears that the overhaul would weaken Israeli democracy, while Netanyahu has argued that it would strengthen it.

McCarthy told Yisrael HaYom that too much time had lapsed.

"I think it's too long now. He [Biden] should invite him soon,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy has in the past spoken strongly in support of Netanyahu who he is expected to meet during the visit.

 

 

IsDB Annual Meetings being held in Jeddah

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group has announced to hold its Annual Meetings in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from May 10th to 13th, 2023, under the patronage of The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The meetings will take place under the theme "Partnerships to Fend off Crises," highlighting the importance of collaboration in addressing challenges faced by IsDB member countries.

The IsDB Group Annual Meetings serve as a significant platform for global leaders, policymakers, development practitioners, and other stakeholders to come together and discuss critical development issues.

This year's meetings will also include the Private Sector Forum (PSF), hosted by the IsDB Group entities comprising the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD). The PSF aims to provide a unique platform for networking, establishing business relations, and exploring investment and trade opportunities offered by member countries.

The four-day event will feature high-level plenary sessions, interactive panel discussions, technical sessions, and side events covering a wide range of topics, including poverty alleviation, infrastructure development, health, education, food security, climate change, and innovation. The Annual Meetings will provide a platform for member countries to showcase their development projects and initiatives, fostering partnerships for impactful outcomes.

In addition to the official program, the Annual Meetings will offer opportunities for networking, knowledge sharing, and engagement with global leaders and experts in the field of development. The IsDB Group will also host a dedicated exhibition space, showcasing the Group's innovative projects and initiatives, as well as the achievements and success stories of its member countries.

The 2023 IsDB Group Annual Meetings will bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, including ministers from the 57 member countries, senior government officials, heads of international organizations, representatives from the private sector, civil society, academia, and the media, among others.

The occasion will provide a conducive environment for dialogue and collaboration, with the aim of identifying actionable solutions to foster inclusive and sustainable development in IsDB member countries.

As IsDB Group continues its mission to promote economic and social development in its member countries, the Annual Meetings serve as a crucial platform to advance the bank's strategic priorities and initiatives. With the theme of "Partnerships to Fend off Crises," the IsDB Group is committed to fostering meaningful partnerships to address the challenges faced by its member countries and beyond and drive positive change.