November 1998, Week 2

U.S. relaxes rules on petrochemical deals with Iran

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. government on Tuesday relaxed the reporting requirements for foreign affiliates of U.S. comp anies that engage in petrochemical transactions with Iran. But a U.S. State Department official on Tuesday emphasized that this is not an attempt by the Clinton administration to improv e relations with Iran: "This is not intended as a signal to Iran." Iran is the Middle East's second-largest petrochemical producer after Saudi Arabia and plans to triple its annual output to 30 million tons in 25 years with a $24 billion development program. By 2001, Iran expects to build about a dozen petrochemical facilities to produce methanol, acetic acid and fertilizers. Iran exported $560 million in petrochemicals during the last Iranian year, which ended on March 20, 1998. The amount was up fr om $506 million in the previous year, but short of a $650 million target. Under the policy change, which takes effect immediately, transactions involving Iranian-origin petrochemicals no longer have t o be reported to the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). In addition, affiliates of U.S. companies don't have to report certain goods sold to Iran related to petrochemical transaction s, such as oilfield supplies or equipment, or services provided like financing and insurance. The reporting change was requested by a U.S. company that believed the requirement was burdensome. The U.S. policy change, which was published in today's Federal Register, does not alter the reporting requirements for crude o il and natural gas transactions. Since 1995, OFAC has required U.S. companies to report certain Iranian oil-related transactions entered into by their foreign subsidiaries. In November 1996, the reporting requirements were extended beyond transactions in crude oil and natural gas to also cover petr ochemicals and certain related goods (oilfield supplies) and services (financing and insurance). Reporting requirements were restricted in April 1997 to those transactions totalling $1 million or more during the quarter of a calendar year.

Iranian tuna lorry caught carrying satellite dishes

From:BBC The Iranian authorities have seized a lorry smuggling satellite receivers into the country under the guise of a cargo of tuna fish. The official news agency said police found more than two-hundred-and-fifty receivers in the vehicle, although the driver's papers said it was carring tuna. The Iranian government has banned satellite dishes in its drive to check what it says is the threat to Islamic values from decade nt western culture. However, many Iranians continue to circumvent the ban by concealing the dishes on their rooftops or yards.

Iran puts out one forest fire, contains second

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Iranian firefighters on Tuesday extinguished a raging forest fire and contained another blaze threaten ing a nature reserve in northwest Iran, officials said. Wildfires fanned by winds destroyed 170 hectares (420 acres) of woodland and pasture in 12 hours on Tuesday near Piranshahr on t he border with Iraq before being put out, a local official told Iran's news agency IRNA. Firefighters, helped by rain, brought under control the other blaze, which had raged for the past five days in Arasbaran forest, some 320 km (200 miles) to the east, Tehran radio said. "Due to increasing rainfall, we foresee that the fire will be totally put out by tomorrow (Wednesday)," the radio quoted Hamid K alantari, Iran's top forestry official, as saying. Kalantari said the fire had destroyed 60 hectares (150 acres) of woodlands in Arasbaran, which is home to some 100 species of bi rds and animals and about 800 kinds of plants. He blamed the blaze on negligence.

Rafsanjani urges liberal transplant rules in Iran

TEHRAN(Reuters) - Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday urged the adoption of more liberal laws on organ transplants in Iran, saying Islam did not oppose the procedure. "Parliament's refusal to pass a law (allowing transplants) a few years ago has caused problems for some doctors," said Rafsanjani, who now heads a top state body, in a prayer sermon carried by Tehran radio. Rafsanjani did not elaborate, but physicians say they could face prosecution if they perform some transplants because of unclear guidelines. Iran's parliament in 1993 rejected a law allowing the transpantation of organs from dead persons, a procedure opposed by some traditionalist senior Shi'ite Moslem clerics. But Rafsanjani said the late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior clerics had issued fatwas (religious decrees) approving the procedure, including transplants of organs of persons who were brain dead. "I hope, considering there are such fatwas, that parliament will help in this regard," said Rafsanjani, who is himself a cleric. He said Iran performed about 100 kidney transplants a month from volunteer donors, a procedure allowed under current laws, but that the country needed to boost transplantaions of other organs to help patients and develop its medicine.