Turkey, Iran to sign power line deal, official says

ANKARA, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Turkey and Iran will sign an agreement in Ankara on Tuesday under which power transmission lines will be built between the two countries, a senior Turkish energy ministry official said.

He told Reuters the agreement also envisaged electricity sales and purchases between the two countries during peak hours.

Defying opposition from the United States, Turkey signed a preliminary agreement with Iran in August for construction of transmission lines, estimated to cost $1.5 billion.

Under this agreement, Ankara plans to import between 3 and 6 billion kilowatt/hour of electricity and envisages completion of construction within a year.

The agreement also includes construction of three natural gas-fired power stations with a total of 6,000 megawatt capacity and a 10,000 megawatt-capacity hydropower station.

Washington has urged its allies, including NATO-member Turkey, to cut business ties with Tehran over Iran's nuclear programme. Western countries say Iran is trying to build nuclear bombs, although Tehran says its aims are purely peaceful.

Yeah, America’s best friend! They are a bunch of Mohammedan savages who just happen to act civilized on the odd occasion, otherwise they are joyously capable of the most monstrous barbarisms. Exactly the sort we should be associated with and feel we can count on. /s

The argument made to Iran in the international scene regarding her push toward nuclear power is that the country has plenty of gas and water to drive thermal and hydro electric power plants, and that therefore nuclear power is really unnecessary. That’s the international response to Iran’s claim that the nuclear plants are for peaceful power purposes, whether its true or not. So does it not make sense to erase that argument by developing and guaranteeing Iran’s power supply?

As the isolation of Iran is reduced and finally eliminated, the utility of the fundamentalist orientation will disappear. Iranians, by and large, are not fundamentalist extremists. The regime of international isolation imposed on Iran for rejecting hegemony is not having the effect it did in the previous embargo before the shah. That’s because fundamentalism is a crutch for them this time around. Is it really worth their oil reserves to keep these loonies in power there?

Iran is isolated by the west for having nationalized their oil reserves. It happened twice in the 1900s. How dare they nationalize their oil reserves? Those stubborn fools should just bend over. Don’t they know who has the nukes?

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