Iran’s has announced plans to invest $46 billion in oil refineries to make the country self sufficient.
Alireza Zeighami, Iran’s deputy oil minister, said the country would invest the funds to develop and optimize the country’s oil refineries. United Nations sanctions, he said, would not curb the refineries’ construction.
The announcement comes as Iran’s import of gas has nosedives as a result of a new round of UN sanctions. According to a report by Reuters, only three ships brought gas to Iran in July, as international traders begin to shy away from doing business in Iran.
“This is a hopeful stab at defiance against the sanctions regime being imposed on Iran,” Rory Fyfe, an expert on the Middle East oil and gas industry with the Economist Intelligence Unit told the Media Line. “But it will be some time before we know whether the sanctions are having their desired effect.”
The United Nations Security Council slapped a fourth round of sanctions on Iran last month, barring dealings with firms linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Revolutionary Guard is a separate organization from the Iranian army and operates its own armed forces, navy, air force and militia. Its goal is to preserve the theocracy in Teheran, but over the years it has widened its scope and runs a vast business empire, ranging from construction to telecommunications.
Potkin Azarmehr, an Iranian opposition blogger, said the sanctions seem to be having a… >>>
