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Join Us at the Iranian Alert -- August 14, 2003 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

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Zanganeh says increasing Iraqi supply will push down OPEC prices

Tehran, Aug 13, IRNA -- Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said here
Wednesday that an increase in Iraq's oil exports would be highly
significant in pushing down prices of OPEC crude on the market.
Commenting on the outcome of Iraq's entry to the oil market,
Zanganeh told reporters at the end of the weekly cabinet meeting that
higher supply has a reverse impact on demand.
Zanganeh turned to Iran's oil exploration and exploitation
projects, saying a semi-submersible oil rig is under construction in
the resource-rich sea by Iranian Company Sadra with an almost 50
percent progress and the capacity to operate in water and drill depths
of up to 800 to 900 meters.
He said the new-generation rig will be delivered to contractors in
the inland sea by end of the current Iranian year in March.
Public Relations Department at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)
had recently reported that operations on the project had shown more
than 59 percent progress until the end of `Khordad', the third month
in Iranian calendar, and the project is going to get complete by mid
next year.
The NIOC Public Relations Department had said the consortium of
Iran Maritime Industries (Sadra) and Swedish GVA-C Corp., had won a
bid on the dlrs 215 million contract in 2001.
Sadra has also won a dlrs 50.6 million plus rls 48 billion
contract in two chunks of international tenders in January 2002 for
construction of three more such rigs.

http://www.irna.ir/en/tnews/030814181154.etn03.shtml

Iran to rule next month on nuclear protocol

Tehran |Reuters | 14-08-2003

The head of Iran's atomic energy programme yesterday said the Islamic Republic planned to allay international concerns about its nuclear ambitions. "I believe that we will remove the international concerns," Gholamreza Aghazadeh told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.

Iran has come under mounting international pressure to allow closer inspections of its sophisticated network of nuclear facilities which the U.S. says could be a cover for a nuclear weapons programme.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely ge-ared to producing electricity and has so far resisted calls to sign the Additional Protocol of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which would allow intrusive inspections without prior notice.

Aghazadeh said Iranian officials had held "good" talks in recent days with a team from the United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency about signing the protocol.

"We predict that before the (IAEA's) September meeting we will have positive information regarding this issue (the Additional Protocol)," he said.

The IAEA is due to report on Iran's nuclear programme again in September in a follow-up to a June report in which it criticised Tehran for failing to disclose some aspects of its nuclear programme.

President Mohammed Khatami yesterday denied newspaper reports that his government approached U.S. officials asking for a resumption of talks between the two countries.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=95150

TEHRAN: ARMS DEALER'S MEETING WITH U.S. OFFICIALS UNAUTHORIZED

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi said on 11 August that Iranian arms dealer Manuchehr Ghorbanifar is not authorized by Tehran to negotiate and meet with U.S. officials, state television reported.

Western news agencies reported on 8 August that two officials from the Pentagon working for Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith have held "several" meetings with Ghorbanifar, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld confirmed that the meetings occurred but said this happened more than one year ago (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 11 August 2003). Rumsfeld said a purpose of the meetings was to gather information about Iran. Assefi said on 11 August: "There is clear evidence that American officials are confused about Iran. This new scenario is also proof of this fact." BS

Source:RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 152, Part III, 12 August 2003