Major energy producing countries are using energy exports to increase political influence in consumer countries. Energy exports are one of the most important ways to create interdependence as well as stability and security in the region. Iran ranks second in the world’s gas reserves, but  domestic gas consumption increased sharply in the cold seasons of the year, in addition, at ...

While crude oil exports (Iran’s most important foreign exchange industry) have sharply reduced with no hope of recovery, other resources such as petrochemicals, mines and metals could have been a way out for the Islamic Republic… however, these sectors were also sanctioned in Spring 2019. Iran’s petrochemical and steel sectors have grown rapidly over the past two decades, but that ...

US President Donald Trump has maintained strong economic pressure against Venezuela, having signed numerous decrees blocking the assets of the Venezuelan authorities within US jurisdiction. Giants such as the Central Bank of Venezuela and the state-owned oil company PDVSA were also included in the sanctions list. Now, Washington has announced it will even impose sanctions against foreign citizens supporting or ...

The Chinese economy has recently boosted its foreign exchange earnings and substantially increased its currency reserves. The increase in China’s foreign exchange reserves and resources has provided the government with the opportunity to become one of the major actors in the supply of international relations and the global economy. China is one of the emerging geopolitical actors who have presented ...

As the situation around Iran continues deteriorating, Japan has taken up an initiative to broker peace and to scale down the tensions between Washington and Tehran. While the situation kept aggravating, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was heading on a diplomatic mission to Iran. The reports on the Japanese Prime Minister’s forthcoming visit on the background of the reciprocal ...

Exactly a year ago, on May 8, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump took a pivotal decision on pulling his country unilaterally out of the international nuclear agreement on the Iran nuclear deal brokered by international mediators — the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany. Trump claimed that the Administration of his predecessor in the Oval Office, ...

After more than nine months of delay, the Europeans have announced the registration of their so-called economic package to convince Iran to stay in the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), which was signed between Iran and the P5+1. The package which should have been called SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle for Iran) is now called INSTEX (Instrument in Support of ...

The EU has been on a collision course with Iran despite European leaders’ former promises that they would not to adhere to the terms of Trump’s sanctions package. Most damningly, Europe agreed to implement  sanctions against  two Iranian diplomats and  the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence  “for their assassination plots on European soil”. In November, Danish authorities announced  that a Norwegian ...