Ahmadinejad: West Unable To Ruin Economy

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran has weathered the worst of the West’s economic pressure, and the enemies’ plots to ruin the Iranian banking and economic system have proven futile.
Speaking on Channel One of the IRIB television network live on Saturday evening, he stated that the adversaries are preparing to take new anti-Iran measures, but Iran has grown stronger and prepared some contingency plans to counter the West’s pressure.
“We can pass through this stage and prevent them (Western states) from using economic development plans as a pressure lever against our nation,” he said.
Smart Economic War
He went on to say that the country is engaged in a “smart economic war” with Western powers that have imposed several rounds of unilateral sanctions on the country over its peaceful nuclear program.
“Targeted sanctions, which the enemies say are supposed to be crippling, have led to a drop in our oil” sales, Ahmadinejad said, referring to an oil embargo imposed by the European Union.
“They do not even let us transfer the oil money,” he said. “They thought Iran’s economy would break down, but it did not.”
“Iran is engaged in a smart economic war with the enemy,” he said.
The EU measure, which came into effect in July, ended European purchases of Iranian crude, and has since decreased Tehran’s oil exports to its Asian customers from between 10 to 30 percent.

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India Rocked by Deadly Protests Against Rape

Police shot dead a journalist during a protest over a sex assault on an actress in northeast India Sunday as security forces in New Delhi fired tear gas at new demonstrations over a student’s gang-rape.
After the victim of last Sunday’s gang-rape in Delhi began recounting her ordeal to police, a wave of revulsion over sex crimes spread to the remote state of Manipur where a protest was held over the attempted rape of an actress, AFP reported.
A police spokesman said the 36-year-old cameraman, who was working for the national Doordarshan network, was “killed in police firing” while covering a protest which turned violent in the town of Imphal.
Police have yet to arrest anyone over the December 18 assault on the 22-year-old actress and model known as Momoko who has waived her right to anonymity and appeared on television to demand justice. Momoko has said that a local militant dragged her away during a concert last week and then tried to rape her before she managed to fight him off and flee.
“We want a strong message to be sent that perpetrators of such crimes have no place in our society,” said Bala Bedi, a woman rights activists in Imphal who took part in Sunday’s protest. India has seen a string of protests across the country in the wake of the Delhi gang-rape which has shone the spotlight on the frightening incidence of violence against women in India.

Turkey OKs Israel’s Involvement in NATO

Israel has received approval to participate in NATO activities in 2013 that had been held up amid tensions with Turkey.
Israeli officials told The Jerusalem Post that the approval had come as Turkey’s request that NATO station Patriot missile batteries along its border with Syria was granted, leading them to assess that NATO was using the deployment as leverage to induce Ankara to thaw its relations with Israel.
Turkey, a full NATO member, has opposed increasing Israel’s participation within the military alliance as ties between the two countries deteriorated, according to NATO officials.

2013 OutlookFor Gold, Silver

Gold futures closed below $1,650 an ounce, sharply lower than the $1,700 or so the yellow metal fetched at the beginning of December 2011, but well above the price of around $1,550 entering 2012.
Forecasts for the price of gold at the end of 2013 range from a high of $2,200 an ounce to around $1,800, 24/7Wallst reported.
Silver, which currently trades around $34 an ounce, could rise by nearly 40 percent in 2013 according to some estimates. One estimate has the price rising to $54 an ounce next year.
Bloomberg records a median estimate of $40.25 an ounce for 2013.

Other Precious Metals
The other precious metals--platinum group metals (PGMs) platinum and palladium, among others--are also expected to rise from current palladium levels of around $680 an ounce to $736, according to Barclays, and $750, according to HSBC. Current platinum prices of around $1,550 an ounce are expected to rise to $1,710 next year, according to HSBC.
The report in 24/7 Wall Street looked at some of the drivers behind these price estimates and what 2013 might hold for stocks related to precious metals.
The demand for gold is down to two big drivers going into 2013: emerging market central banks and exchange-traded products backed by physical gold.

Suicide Attack Kills Pakistan Minister, 8 Others

A suicide bomber in Pakistan killed nine people including a provincial government official at a political rally held Saturday by a party that has opposed the Taliban, officials said.
The rally in Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was held by the Awami National Party, whose members have been repeatedly targeted by the Taliban, AP reported.
Among the dead was Bashir Bilour, the second most senior member of the provincial Cabinet, said Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, the politician’s brother and federal railways minister.
Over 20 others were wounded by the blast, said local police officer Sabir Khan.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the bombing in a statement, reiterating the United Nations’ support for Pakistani efforts “to combat the scourge of terrorism.”
Bilour was leaving the rally after delivering the keynote speech when the attack occurred, said Nazir Khan, a local Awami National Party leader.
“There was smoke and dust all around, and dead and wounded people were lying on the ground,” he said.
The suicide bomber was on foot, said another police officer, Imtiaz Khan.

US Must Reconsider Support for Al-Qaeda in Syria

Iran’s Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Hassan Firouzabadi said the United States should reconsider its support for Al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria.
Firouzabadi said on Sunday that US President Barack Obama has received wrong reports about events on the ground in Syria.
Washington must rethink its “hasty stance” on supporting the Al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria and allow the new US secretary of state to map out his job according to the reality on the ground in the Arab country, Firouzabadi said, referring to the nomination of Democratic Senator John Kerry to replace Hillary Clinton as the next US secretary of state.
On December 21, President Obama nominated Kerry and said he was the “perfect choice” for the position.
The Iranian commander said the “majority of Syrians” want peace to be established in the country. He called on the international community not to be deceived by the “false reports of Western, Hebrew and Arab media” about the events in Syria.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 and many people, including a large number of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.
The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country.

Two Quakes Strike Azarbaijans

Two earthquakes struck Northwestern part of Iran on Sunday.
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake which struck the city of Khoy, was epicentered at 10 km (6 miles) south-west of the city of Khoy in the province of West Azarbaijan at a depth of 10 km, the US Geological Survey reported on Sunday.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage after the earthquake, IRNA reported.
Another earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale hit the county of Tasuj in East Azarbaijan province, Northwestern Iran, on Sunday, Fars News Agency reported.
The Seismological center of East Azarbaijan province affiliated to the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University registered the quake at 10:09 hours local time (0639 GMT).
The epicenter of the quake was located in an area 45.1 degrees in longitude and 38.4 degrees in latitude.
In August, a couple of strong quakes, measuring 6.4 and 6.3 in magnitude, struck East Azarbaijan province. The tremors destroyed villages around the towns of Ahar, Varzaqan, and Herees near the provincial capital of Tabriz.
The two quakes in northwestern Iran claimed the lives of 306 people and injured more than 4500 others.
Iran is located on seismic faults and is frequently shaken by earthquakes.
In 2003, a 6.6 magnitude quake killed some 26,000 after it flattened historic city of Bam in the country’s southeast.

Iran Bypasses Oil Sanctions

Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi said that Iran has successfully circumvented sanctions on the sale of its oil.
IRIB on Sunday broadcast comments by Qassemi that the industry was in “bad shape” about two months ago due to the oil embargo by the West, “but we left the bottleneck behind, almost.”
Qassemi also said that Iran has set up its own insurance for ships that carry its oil after Western companies refused to cover them.
Iran’s oil exports have fallen in recent months due to the punitive oil and banking measures enacted by the US and Europe over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
Iran denies that it is developing weapons. It has taken a consistently defiant tone toward the sanctions.

OPEC Meeting
Meanwhile, Shana News Agency quoted Qassemi as saying the OPEC will hold an extraordinary meeting if oil price comes down below $100.
“According to projections, oil prices will remain higher than $100 per barrel in 2013. However, if the prices go under $100, OPEC will hold an urgent meeting to cut production ceiling,” Qassemi said.
During the 162nd regular ministerial meeting of the OPEC in Vienna, Austria, on Wednesday, member states agreed to maintain the organization’s production ceiling of 30 million barrels per day (bpd).
OPEC, which provides about 35 percent of the world’s oil, is a permanent intergovernmental organization of 12 oil-exporting countries -- Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.

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Pakistan FirmOn Pursuing Iran Gas Project

Islamabad will pursue a joint project with Tehran on the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan despite foreign political pressures, says a Pakistani official.
Asim Hussain, an advisor to Pakistani prime minister on petroleum and natural resources, said on Sunday the joint project will continue regardless of foreign pressures, Press TV reported.
He added that Pakistan would start construction of the section of the pipeline in its territory with Iran’s technical support.
The Pakistani official also stated that the project will help the country overcome energy shortage in various states and improve its industry.
The remarks came a few days after Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said Islamabad is determined to push ahead with the gas pipeline project.
Khar said on December 20 that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was scheduled to visit Iran in the near future to discuss the finalization of the project. The Pakistani foreign minister also underscored Pakistan’s growing demand for Iran’s gas and said the project would continue “under any condition”.
The pipeline, projected to cost about $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion, will enable the export of 21.5 million cubic meters of Iran’s natural gas to Pakistan on a daily basis. Iran has already built more than 900 kilometers of the pipeline on its soil.