Iranian, Russian Presidents Set To Meet In Turkmenistan June 29

Revolutionary Guard’s commander Hossein Salami in a meeting with the visiting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Pakistan General Nadeem Raza Nishan on Tuesday, also said that “Israel is the enemy of the Islamic world and humanity.” 

A military alliance is being formed in the region under the leadership of Washington with many Arab countries starting to coordinate with Israel as the member of CENTCOM, the US Central Command, covering the Middle East. 

Seriously concerned about the growing ties, the Islamic Republic is repeatedly warning neighbors against allowing Israel to establish a presence in the Persian Gulf region.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett addressed Iran saying, “You can no longer hit Israel indirectly and through proxies and think you’ll get away with it.”

The outgoing premier said “wreaking havoc in Tehran” is not a policy, “Our policy is, if you mess with Israel, you’ll pay a price,” apparently referring to air raid sirens that sounded in Jerusalem and Eilat last week, reportedly triggered by a cyberattack possibly by Iranian hackers. On Monday, Iran’s major steel companies were hit by a cyberattack.

Israel intends to ask the US to approve the delivery of an Israeli laser-powered air defense system to Arab countries aligned against Iran, including Saudi Arabia, as part of a US-led effort to establish the regional alliance. 

In a statement, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said the talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal – the JCPOA, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – would be coordinated by the European Union.

Ali Bagheri-Kani, leading the Iranian delegation, arrived in Doha Tuesday morning. Welcoming him, Tehran’s ambassador Hamidreza Dehghani, tweeted, "Without any prejudice and expression of unrealistic pessimism or optimism, I wish them success in carrying out their important mission.”

United States special envoy Robert Malley met Tuesday with Qatar's Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. The US embassy said they discussed “the strong partnership and our joint diplomatic efforts to address issues with Iran.”

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan reiterated Monday that restoring the JCPOA was the best way to preclude any possible Iranian path to a nuclear weapon, and reiterated that Washington put the onus on Tehran to make the necessary moves. “There is a deal available on the table to Iran, and it’s up to Iran to decide whether or not it wants to take it,” Sullivan said.

Some analysts portray the talks – which, although US and Iran still talk indirectly, are separate to stalled Vienna talks between Iran and six world powers – as the last chance for Washington and Tehran to revive the JCPOA. 

Iran's membership in the BRICS group, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, "would result in added values for both sides," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said separately that Argentina had also applied to join the group. Argentinian officials could not be reached for immediate comment.

Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez, currently in Europe, has in recent days reiterated his desire for Argentina to join BRICS.

"While the White House was thinking about what else to turn off in the world, ban or spoil, Argentina and Iran applied to join the BRICS," Zakharova wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Both Iran and Russia are under wide-ranging international and US sanctions, looking for ways to expand trading ties to survive export bans.

Russia has long been pushing to forge closer ties with Asia, South America and the Middle East, but it has intensified its efforts recently to weather sanctions imposed by Europe, the United States and other countries over its invasion on Ukraine.

Iran has long espoused closer ties with “the East”, meaning China and Russia as it has continued nuclear and ballistic missile programs seen as threats by the United States and several regional countries.

The BRICS is not a formal alliance, but a nascent international grouping intended to expand the power of emerging economies in larger international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Most of Iran's largest steel factories are located in arid regions such as Esfahan, Yazd, and Kerman provinces despite the very high water use in steel production. 97 percent of Iran’s land is arid or semi-arid.

To produce every metric ton of steel, the industry in Iran uses 230,000 liters of water. According to official figures, the steel industry uses around 70 percent of water reserves of dams, leaving only 30 percent for other industries, agriculture, and urban use.

According to the head of Iran’s National Standards Organization, the industry uses 60 percent more electricity to produce one metric ton of crude steel in comparison with developed countries. The annual wastage of electricity in the industry is around 24 billion KW/H.

At the height of cold and hot months, steel mills have to cope with electricity outages, as usage in Iran is far more than what it can produce. This month, there are reports of industrial plants including steel production shutting down intermittently due to electricity shortages.

The rapid growth in demand for water in Iran – resulting from the growth of population, agriculture, and industries -- has led to severe depletion of available water. The annual renewable water availability per capita reached a crisis level in 2021. Studies by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) indicate that by 2040 Iran is likely to face a severe water stress level.

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According to official figures, in December 2021, the volume of water stored behind the country's dams had dropped by 44% in comparison with the same month in the previous year.

Iran is also among the ten countries in the world that extract most groundwater and a hotspot of land subsidence induced by groundwater withdrawal. Ground subsidence has become a serious threat in 18 out of the 31 provinces of Iran and has become a threat to around a quarter of Iran’s urban population.

Hydro-electric electricity production amounts to 15 percent of Iran’s total electricity production which also dropped by around 40 percent in the previous calendar year (ended March 20, 2022) in comparison with the previous year mostly due to drought.

According to the World Steel Association (WSA), Iran produced over 28 million metric tons of steel in 2021, putting it just behind Brazil. The country, however, ranked 15th in net exports.

Iran is planning to produce 32 million metric tons of steel in the current Iranian calendar year (ending March 20, 2022) and authorities hope to climb to the seventh place among the world’s top steel producers by the 2025.

Production of all the top ten suppliers, including top steelmaker China, declined in the first 5 months of 2022, except India that had an increase of 6.5 percent. But Iran had the highest drop.

The steel industry has highly contributed to the drying of Zayandeh Roud river in Esfahan Province and seriously damaged agriculture in the region, giving rise to water protests in the past year.

Amid United States' sanctions on Iran's oil exports, steel is one of the main exports earning foreign currency for the government, which faces a serious financial crunch.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu before he held a meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday. 

Amir-Abdollahian, whose plans to visit Ankara had earlier been cancelled twice because of IRGC's plot to harm Israelis in Turkey, said during the presser that, “We consider the fake Israeli regime as the number one enemy of Muslims and the Islamic world.”

Earlier in June, Turkey reportedly warned the Islamic Republic against attacking Israelis in Turkey, saying it is not prepared to allow Iran to use its territory to carry out acts of terrorism against other nations.

According to Iran’s top diplomat, the EU's foreign policy chief’s recent trip to Iran was also discussed with his Turkish counterpart. “I briefed my brother Mr. Cavusoglu on the visit to Tehran by Mr. Josep Borrell... and our agreement to continue negotiations on the removal of sanctions. We hope that in the new round of the negotiations between Iran and the other parties we will achieve a final agreement, if the United States and three European countries act realistically.”

He told reporters that Tehran would not oppose a new proposed Turkish military operation targeting Kurdish forces in Syria, saying that “We understand Turkey’s security concerns very well.”