Top Iran News - Sarkhat

US officials to go to China to push shunning Iran

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:17:26 -0700

>Chinese companies have been pursuing trade with Iran despite the threat of U.S. sanctions and a June United Nations Security Council resolution imposing more punitive measures on Tehran over its nuclear program, the officials told a House of Representatives committee."China is of concern to us," said Robert Einhorn, special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control at the State Department."We need for them to enforce the Security Council resolution," he said, noting China was a member of the council that agreed new measures to press Iran, including action against Iranian banks and shipping lines.China should not "backfill" by doing more deals with Iran while "responsible countries are distancing themselves from Iran," Einhorn said.Joseph Christoff, head of the Government Accountability Office's international affairs and trade department, told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that Chinese companies are aggressively investing in Iran's energy sector despite the threat of sanctions.Einhorn said he and Dan Glaser, the Treasury Department's deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing, would be going to China in August.Glaser said they would travel to South Korea and Japan next week as part of a plan to visit countries in Asia, the Middle East and South America to urge governments and companies to cut business ties with Iran.The aim is to get Iran to halt its nuclear work, which Washington believes is aimed at making a bomb. Iran says the work is aimed at generating electricity.Einhorn said the State Department was reviewing past activity that could have triggered penalties under the U.S. Iran sanctions law first passed in the mid-1990s.He said officials had identified fewer than 10 cases dating from before President Barack Obama took office which appeared "problematic".Once companies are determined to be violators, the U.S. law requires sanctions such as denial of Export-Import Bank financing. But U.S. lawmakers have...

Reuters - *foxbusiness.com

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Probing ship security incidents hard to do fast

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:22:01 -0700

>LONDON (Reuters) - The confusion around what the owners initially called a possible "attack" on a Japanese tanker in the volatile Straits of Hormuz shows the difficulties markets and policymakers face reacting to security events offshore. As with the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, the hijacking of the freighter Arctic Sea last year or even the Gulf of Tonkin incident that helped spark the Vietnam war, getting to the truth of what happened could prove hard or impossible.Port officials in the United Arab Emirates blamed a collision, possibly with a submarine or sea mine for the damage inflicted on the M.Star on Wednesday near the Strait of Hormuz -- a key choke point for global oil supplies overlooked by Iran.Owner of the world's second largest tanker fleet Mitsui O.S.K. Ltd 9104. T said they had hired a Dubai-based specialist military attacks to help investigate.The story briefly spooked oil markets particularly in Japan -- a sign of the heightened focus on the Gulf after new sanctions were imposed on Iran at the beginning of the week."In international waters, it is always difficult to tell what happened," said Jonathan Wood, global issues analyst at Control Risks. "It could be an accident or it could be an attack. If you are an investor, there is not much you can do except sit and wait and watch the news and market reaction."It took weeks to raise the South Korean corvette Cheonan after it sank in March and for Seoul to blame North Korea. Investigating this could be easier -- the ship is still afloat.Attacks on land are hard enough to probe, but at sea independent witnesses may be scarce, radar and satellite coverage patchy and physical evidence at the bottom of the sea.Darkness and bad weather can all play a...

Reuters - *alertnet.org

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Syria-Saudi ties not Washington's business: Syria

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:34:59 -0700

>Abdullah arrived for talks with President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian capital before they travel together to Beirut on Friday to try to calm tension over a tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese statesman Rafik al-Hariri.The official Syrian news agency said the Syrian president personally met the Saudi monarch at Damascus airport, a departure from protocol reflecting the importance of the visit.U.S. State department official Philip Crowley said on Wednesday Washington hoped Syria would play a constructive role in the region and would respond to the Saudi monarch's concerns about Iranian "threats" to Middle East stability."Obviously, King Abdullah has played a significant leadership role in the region. So his prospective travel to Syria and to Lebanon is consistent with his search for peace," Crowley said.A Syrian foreign ministry statement said the United States "has no right to define our ties with the countries of the region and interfere in the content of the talks the Saudi monarch will have in Damascus.""Syria and Saudi Arabia ... know better than others the interests of the people of the region and how to achieve them without outside interference and they are able to define their policies to achieve peace and stability in the region," the statement said.Relations between Damascus and Washington improved after President Barack Obama took power last year but major differences persist, including Syria's strong ties with Iran and the two countries' backing for the Lebanese group Hezbollah."The Syrian statement seems to express a preference in Damascus not to focus on the Iran issue again during King's Abdullah's visit," a Syrian source said.Iran was a focus of talks by King Abdullah when he visited Damascus last year, diplomats in the Syrian capital said. The visit helped mend ties between Saudi Arabia and Syria, which had deteriorated after...

Reuters - *nz.news.yahoo.com

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Japan supertanker probe reveals crash impact

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:51:23 -0700

>FUJAIRAH/TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese supertanker, which triggered fears of an attack in the sensitive Strait of Hormuz oil shipping route, collided with something, possibly a submarine or mine, UAE port officials inspecting the ship said on Thursday. Damage to the massive crude carrier's hull suggested a collision, although the nature of the incident was under investigation."What we know is some collision happened. We don't know what it was," said Captain Mousa Mourad, a general manager at the UAE port of Fujairah."It's possible that it could be a submarine collision, or that it could be a sea mine," he said, adding the investigation was ongoing.A Reuters reporter taken to see the damaged vessel, the M.Star, moored off the port of Fujairah, said there was a very large, square dent and puncture marks on one side of the hull.Photographs released by the UAE's WAM news agency on Thursday also showed a lifeboat missing and smashed windows and doors.The incident took place near the Strait of Hormuz, gateway to the oil-producing Gulf, bordered by Iran and several hundred kilometers north of where Somali pirates have hijacked supertankers over the last two years, including a South Korean tanker bound for the United States in April.No oil leaked from the supertanker and the Strait remains open, with normal traffic flows, port officials said.Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd, owner of the world's second largest oil tanker fleet, said on Thursday it had hired a Dubai-based specialist on military attacks to help investigate damage to the 333-meter supertanker laden with oil for Japan.Warships from the U.S. Navy and other nations patrol the region, but were not near the supertanker at the time of the incident early on Wednesday, a spokesman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain told Reuters.BLAST REPORTEDMitsui O.S.K.'s general manager of tanker...

*gulf-times.com - *foxbusiness.com - *thestar.com.my - Reuters - *au.news.yahoo.com

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Talecris Biotherapeutics Announces Second Quarter 2010 Financial Results

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:19:55 -0700

Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings Corp. today announced its financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2010 and filed its 2010 Form 10-Q with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission .

Reuters - *biz.yahoo.com

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Japan's Mitsui hires military expert for tanker checks

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:19:54 -0700

>TOKYO/FUJAIRAH (Reuters) - Japanese shipper Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd said on Thursday it had hired a specialist on military attacks to help investigate damage to a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz as a Gulf port official said the vessel had been involved in a collision. The supertanker, named M. Star, was diverted to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) port of Fujairah on Wednesday.Authorities in the UAE launched an inquiry into the incident after officials initially said the damage was caused by a quake-related wave, but a general manager of Fujairah port ruled out that possibility."What we know is some collision happened. We don't know what it was," Captain Mousa Mourad told reporters."It's possible that it could be a submarine collision, or that it could be a seamine," he said, adding that the cause of the damage, under investigation by UAE authorities, was unclear.The incident had for a time stirred fears of an attack in the Strait, the route for 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil and gateway to the oil-producing Gulf, where Al Qaeda has threatened to attack shipping.In Tokyo, Masahiko Hibino, Mitsui O.S.K.'s general manager of tanker safety, said reports of a wave caused by an earthquake were difficult to believe."There were some media reports saying that strong waves that come with earthquakes may have damaged the vessel...but the doors that were broken were not wet, so that kind of thing is hard to believe," he told a news conference.A photograph released by the UAE's state-run news agency showed a big dent in the side of the tanker.Photographs of the damage provided by the shipping company showed shattered glass and fittings from corridors and other areas below decks and twisted paneling ripped from walls.INVESTIGATION TO BEGINThe company will begin an investigation on Thursday.A Dubai-based military specialist...

Reuters - *reuters.com - *khaleejtimes.com

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