Courtesy of The Diplomat, a report on Pakistan’s energy ties with Iran: Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari arrives in Iran today to sign a series of economic agreements, including one that finalizes the Iran-Pakistan natural gas pipeline. At the end of January, the two sides agreed to set up a joint construction company to build [...]
Read more »Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required) a detailed analysis of the Iranian currency crisis: Since late September, the Iranian rial has lost as much as 40 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar. The precipitous decline in the rial’s value broadly stems from the U.S.-led economic sanctions campaign against Iran and the imperfect options at [...]
Read more »Via Energy Tribute, an updated look at Iran’s economy: Since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad first became President of Iran, in August 2005, the country’s economy has gone from bad to worse. Iran now ranks near the bottom – 144 out of 183 countries – in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2012, an authoritative report that measures the [...]
Read more »Via Time, an interesting look at Iran: On Tehran’s western outskirts is Iran’s first and only wholesale supermarket–a kind of Persian Walmart-Costco hybrid. Women push giant carts around on gleaming white floors, past rows of the latest Apple computers and Sony flat-screen televisions–perhaps contraband, perhaps fakes. They sift through racks stuffed with designer clothes and [...]
Read more »Via Energy Daily, a report on Pakistan’s efforts to advance a pipeline discussion with Iran: Pakistan, increasingly at odds with the United States over fighting al-Qaida, is reportedly moving forward with plans to build a 1,300-mile pipeline to carry natural gas from Iran. Iran would provide Pakistan with 750 million cubic feet of gas [...]
Read more »Via Foreign Policy, a report on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project: The controversial Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline has become an increasingly problematic issue in the vacillating U.S-Pakistan relationship. The United States has strongly condemned the project, but such rhetoric seems only to have made Pakistan more determined to continue with it. An energy agreement between [...]
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