Zitat:Iran Sanctions Take Unexpected Toll on Medical Imports

TEHRAN — Sitting on one of the many crowded benches in the waiting room of the International Red Crescent’s pharmacy in central Tehran, Ali, 26, was working his phone. After nearly six weeks of chasing down batches of Herceptin, an American-made cancer medicine, Ali, an engineer, was wearing out his welcome with friends and relatives in other Iranian cities, who had done all they could to rustle up the increasingly elusive drug. At home his mother waited, bald and frail after chemotherapy for her breast cancer, but Herceptin had disappeared from pharmacies and hospitals in the capital. [...]

Herceptin, like many other Western-made medicines, has become increasingly hard to obtain in Iran as a result of the American-led sanctions meant to force Iran to stop enriching uranium, a critical element in what the United States says is a nuclear weapons program. Iranian doctors, patients and officials say that, in particular, a ban on financial transactions is so effective that even medicines and other critical supplies that are exempted from the sanctions for humanitarian reasons are no longer exported to the Islamic Republic.

Zitat:Iran to host 3rd United Nations ESCAP conference

The Islamic Republic of Iran is slated to host the 3rd Ministerial Conference of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Ministers and representatives from 62 countries are set to participate in the event which will be held in the Iranian capital, Tehran, from November 11 to 14.
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Zitat:Iran vice president in Iraq for talks

Iranian Vice President for International Affairs Ali Saeedlou has travelled to Iraq to discuss the expansion of economic and political cooperation between Tehran and Baghdad.
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Zitat:Iranian Judiciary to investigate Iranian blogger’s death

Iranian Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights says it will investigate the death of Iranian blogger Sattar Beheshti immediately and decisively.
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The statement said that “any person involved in the case, because of his negligence or fault,” would be subjected to prosecution in the country's judicial system.
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Zitat:Teherans Schwachpunkt sind die Menschenrechte

Wie kann man das iranische Regime im Atomstreit zum Einlenken bewegen? Die Antwort darauf lautete bisher: durch Druck, immer mehr und stärkeren Druck. Nur, bisher hat der Iran nicht eingelenkt.
Die Frage nach dem Nachgeben, ist natürlich eine Frage nach dem Schwachpunkt dieses hartleibigen Regimes. Wo ist es empfindlich? Wo tut es ihm weh?

Die Antwortet lautet: Dort, wo den Mullahs und ihren Schergen die Zustimmung der Bevölkerung verloren geht. Auch propagandistisch sind Wirtschaftssanktionen eine stumpfe Waffe. [...]

Es gibt einen ganz anderen Punkt, an dem das Regime die Zustimmung der Bevölkerung verloren hat: die Menschenrechte. Die Iraner erleben Tag für Tag, dass sie als Bürger keine Rechte haben. Jederzeit kann jedermann von der Straße weg verhaftet und ins Gefängnis geworfen werden. Was ihnen dort droht, sind Folter und Tod. So ist es jüngst dem iranischen Blogger Sattar Beheshti ergangen. Seine Leiche wurden von den Behörden ohne Angaben über die Todesursache der Familie übergeben. So ergeht es auch der iranischen Menschenrechtlerin Nasrin Sotoudeh, die in einen Hungerstreik getreten ist, damit ihre Kinder sie besuchen können. [...]

Aber es redet fast niemand mehr über Menschenrechte. Regierungen tun es schon lange nicht mehr, auch die Medien halten sich immer mehr zurück. Alles ist dominiert von der Nuklearfrage. Dem iranischen Regime ist das ganz Recht. Denn es weiß: Das ist nicht unser Schwachpunkt.

Zitat:US-led sanctions victimize Iranian patients: Academy of Medical Sciences

Mon Nov 26, 2012 2:28PM GMT

Although the US-led sanctions do not directly ban selling medicine and medical supplies to Iran, the sanctions on the banking sector are effectively hindering the import of medicine to the country, thereby jeopardizing the lives of millions of patients suffering from special diseases such as thalassemia, hemophilia, hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and many others.

Dr. Seyed Alireza Marandi, President of Academy of Medical Sciences, has written a letter to Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General and called on him to do his utmost for the effective exemption of medicines, medical supplies, and foodstuffs from the brutal sanctions. Following is the text of Dr Marandi's letter to Ban Ki-moon.
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Zitat:Wenn im Iran Menschen aufgrund ihrer politischen Position hingerichtet würden, dann wäre das ein massives Problem. Dem ist meines Wissens nach aber nicht so!

Zitat:Iran könnte auf Plutonium-Bombe hinarbeiten

Der jüngste Bericht der Internationalen Atomaufsicht über Irans Atom-Projekte enthält ein brisantes Detail. Demnach könnte Teheran unmittelbar vor der Produktion von waffenfähigem Plutonium

Zitat:Danach hat der Iran die IAEA mit einem Schreiben vom 15. Oktober informiert, dass ab dem 22. Oktober aus dem Leichtwasserreaktor in Buschehr Brennelemente entnommen und in ein Abklingbecken verbracht würden. Die IAEA habe, so der Bericht weiter, bereits am 6. und 7. November aus diesem Anlass den Reaktor Buschehr überprüft und bestätige, dass sich die Brennelemente tatsächlich im Abklingbecken befänden.

Dieser für jeden Nichtfachmann harmlos wirkende Sachverhalt hat es in sich.

Zitat:Material für 70 Bomben

Ist ein Leichtwasserreaktor, der mit schwach angereichertem Uran (vier Prozent) betrieben wird, auf maximale Energieproduktion eingestellt, bleiben die Brennelemente bis zu 60 Monate im Reaktor. Entnimmt man jedoch die Brennelemente bereits nach wenigen Monaten, ist das Endprodukt nur leicht verunreinigtes Plutonium 239 – waffenfähiges Plutonium.

Ein eher zufälliges Ereignis hat hierfür den Praxistest erbracht. In den 70er-Jahren musste eine britische Firma einen Reaktor vorzeitig herunterfahren. Das Ergebnis: rund 450 Kilogramm Plutonium mit einem Verunreinigungsgrad von nur fünf bis zehn Prozent: Material für etwa 70 Bomben.

Zitat:Transit of goods via Iran grows 22% in current year: Official
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“Since the beginning of the [current Iranian] year, 7.583 million tons of goods have been transited, showing a 22-percent rise compared with the same period last year,” said Shahriyar Afandizadeh in a Wednesday interview.
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The major part of the Iranian transit has taken place between Iraq and the UAE, Turkey and Turkmenistan, and the UAE to Iraq which were the most important origins and destinations of transit through Iran.

Transit consignments mostly consist of fuel, oil products, petrochemicals, construction materials, cotton, home appliances, vehicles, foodstuff and fertilizers, the official pointed out.
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Zitat:Iran to offer investment opportunities in China fair: Official

Iran's deputy economy minister says the Islamic Republic will offer investment opportunities worth USD 50 billion during the Fourth China Overseas Investment Fair.
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Zitat:A thermal power plant, with a generation capacity of 2.8 gigawatts, was officially inaugurated on Tuesday in Pakdasht, a city near Tehran. The project started in 2003 and cost €270 million plus 5 trillion rials to complete, IRIB reported.

Zitat:The Indian rupee has been made the official currency for trading between India and Iran.

Zitat:Iran needs moderates: Aref
Political Desk

On Line: 17 December 2012 17:47
In Print: Tuesday 18 December 2012

TEHRAN – Mohammad Reza Aref, who has been mentioned as a possible reformist candidate in the 2013 presidential election, has said that the country is in need of moderates.

At the present juncture, the society is in need of “moderation” and “moderate” forces, Aref, who formerly served as vice president under Mohammad Khatami, stated during a meeting with a number of members of the Popular Front of Reforms.

Commenting on the principlist and reformist camps, he said, “In both camps, there are conscientious people who are loyal to the causes. There have been some differences of opinion, but through the exercise of patience, the potential of these two camps can be utilized to lead the society toward the causes of the revolution. However, there are extremist people in both camps.”

Aref, who is a member of the Expediency Council, added that reformism is a “genuine current” of the revolution and reformists can never be “irresponsible” and should have the right to play a role in determining the country’s destiny.
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Zitat:EU approves new sanctions against Iran

The EU has agreed to new sanctions against Iran on Friday, adding 18 companies or institutions and one person to its blacklist. The banned entities are “involved in nuclear activities or providing support to the Iranian government,” AFP reported, quoting an EU statement. The move brings the total number of entities subject to sanctions to 490, and the total number of people whose assets will be frozen to 105. The EU also approved the implementation of legislation for new financial and trade sanctions against Iran agreed on by foreign ministers in October.

Zitat:Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that the budget plan for the next Iranian year of 1392 (to start on March 21) envisaged less dependence on crude oil revenues.
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"The government is required to reduce oil exports up to one third compared with the last year (March 20, 2011 to March 19, 2012) in line with the goals of the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan, the Islamic Republic's overall goal of preserving national independence and as a requirement of the present time," the bill said in one of its paragraphs.
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Zitat:Basij Commander: Iran at Economic War with Enemy

TEHRAN (FNA)- Commander of Basij (volunteer) force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi said enemies have waged an all-out economic war on the country, and stressed that the economy of resistance is the best way for Iran to win this war.

"We are now in economic war with the enemy," Naqdi said in a meeting in Iran's Southwestern city of Shahr-e Kord on Wednesday.
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Zitat:..
A five-year multibillion-dollar government investment programme has helped bring millions of duel-fuel cars on to the roads, softening the impact of rising gasoline prices and petrol rationing.
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The number of dual-fuel cars on Iran’s roads has risen from 1,500 in 2006 to 2.95m this year, while the number of compressed natural gas filling stations in the country has mushroomed from 60 to about 2,000.
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Iran is now the world’s leader in terms of numbers of natural gas vehicles, ahead of Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil and India.
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