Iran’s Central Bank warns German banks not to close operations in the country

Iran’s Central Bank warns German banks not to close operations in the country

FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) – Iran’s Central Bank has warned German banks that their withdrawal from the country may result in business disadvantages in the future, the bank’s vice governor Mohammad Jafar Mojarrad said in an interview with Financial Times Deutschland. “There is no guarantee that they may return in good times. Our economic relations are based on trust and it’s very difficult to restore trust once it has been breached,” he said. Mojarrad added that banks from Asia, Russia and the Gulf Region are prepared to take over the German banks’ business in Iran. Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank gradually shut down their Iranian operations in the past months and last week Allianz’s Dresdner Bank said it will also discontinue its business relations with the country. According to the report, the banks were put under pressure from Washington to cut ties to Iran as part of the United States’ plan to cut the country off from international money transactions as long as it refuses to stop its nuclear programme. judith.csaba@thomson.com jcs/rw COPYRIGHT

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Iranian intelligence overtaking Sunnis houses in north of Iraq and arresting number of people

Iranian intelligence overtaking Sunnis houses in north of Iraq and arresting number of people

Friday, 17 August 2007

Iranian intelligence overtaking Sunnis houses in north of Iraq and arresting number of people… HAQ agency- exclusive Iranian intelligence (Ettela’at) troops raided several houses of the Sunnis in Kurdish areas in northern Iraq in a brutally way and then arrested a group of youths of Sunni, mosques imams and preachers, including Sheikh Abdul Hamid al-ALY in the city of Marivan, Sheikh Abdul Ghaffar imams and preachers of the Peachosh village and another group of youths then who were taken to detention centers in Tehran and Kermanshah.

Last Updated ( Friday, 17 August 2007 )

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Iran arrests ’separatists’ in oil-rich province

Iran arrests ’separatists’ in oil-rich province

AFP

August 22, 2007

TEHRAN –  Iran has arrested several members of a “separatist group” in its oil-rich western province of Khuzestan, and seized a stash of weapons from their hideout, Iranian media reported Wednesday. “Over recent days, members of a separatist group were arrested in Khuzestan,” the Mehr news agency cited a statement from the intelligence ministry as saying.

“They were arrested after a tip-off from the public. In searches of their hideout, a substantial number of military weapons were found,” it added.

There were no details provided about how many people had been arrested, or who they were.

“The aim of this separatist group was to create division and also to propagate religious sectarian division,” the statement said.

The restive province of Khuzestan borders Iraq, and is home to a substantial Arab community that includes both Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

The provincial capital, Ahvaz, was the scene of deadly attacks in October 2005 and January 2006, which Iran blamed on elements linked to Britain, whose forces are stationed in the region around the Iraqi city of Basra, over the border.

Earlier this month, the intelligence ministry said it had foiled a rebel plan to carry out a “terrorist act” in the oil-rich border province.

Iran regularly accuses archfoe the United States and its Western allies of being behind unrest in its sensitive border provinces, many of which are home to ethnic and religious minorities.