Iran's Supreme Leader ( IDIOT) Rebuffs Ahmadinejad ( his deputy Idiot ) in Gas Row

January 21, 2008 The Guardian Robert Tait
The political authority of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, suffered a serious blow today after the country's most powerful figure sided with MPs by ordering him to supply cheap gas to villages undergoing power cuts amid an unexpectedly harsh winter.In a humiliating rebuff, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader who has the final say over all state matters, ordered the enactment of a law requiring the government to provide £500m of gas supplies from emergency reserve funds.Ahmadinejad had refused to implement the measure, accusing parliament of exceeding its powers in passing the bill in response to plummeting temperatures and gas cuts, which have left many areas without heating during the country's coldest winter in years.At least 64 people are reported to have died after gas supplies were turned off in sub-zero temperatures. The cuts, belying Iran's status as possessor of the world's second biggest natural gas reserves, have provoked public outrage and threaten to turn a mood of rumbling unhappiness into a winter of discontent for Ahmadinejad.The president, who was elected on a platform of economic justice for the poor, rejected parliament's measure on budgetary grounds and blamed the gas cuts on neighbouring Turkmenistan, which has stopped supplies to Iran over a payment dispute.But in a letter to the parliament's speaker, Gholamali Hadad-Adel, Khamenei unceremoniously overruled Ahmadinejad, writing: "All legal legislation that has gone through [the required] procedures stipulated in the constitution is binding for all branches of power."Khamenei's intervention is the latest in a series of recent signals that he is losing patience with a president to whom he once showed staunch loyalty, defending him whenever he came under fire from political opponents.
The leader once described Ahmadinejad's government as Iran's best since the 1979 Islamic revolution, but in a speech this month in the central city of Yazd, he conspicuously refrained from praising it.Instead, he put it on a par with previous administration, saying that "the government has certain unique characteristics, but like any other government there are mistakes and shortcomings".Reports from inside Iran suggest Khamenei has grown increasingly disenchanted with Ahmadinejad's economic record, which has been marked by surging inflation and dramatic rises in basic food and housing costs.Such misgivings have been given added piquancy by a report last month from 16 US intelligence agencies concluding that Iran abandoned its nuclear weapons programme in 2003. The report appeared to ease the threat of American military strikes against Iran's uranium enrichment activities, which Ahmadinejad had used to silence opponents and clamp down on domestic dissent.The diminishing external threat appears to have emboldened the president's opponents in the run up to parliamentary elections on March 14. It may also have removed the need for Khamenei to keep his displeasure quiet.Previously the supreme leader had condemned criticism of Ahmadinejad as undermining national unity in the face of "enemy" threats.But in a possible sign of his changing attitude, Khamenei recently appointed Mohammad Zolghadr as deputy head of the armed forces for Basij just weeks after Ahmadinejad sacked him as deputy interior minister.
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US pension funds ask Shell to scrap £5bn Iran project : Steve Hawkes - July 26, 2007

Shell is coming under intense pressure to scrap a £5 billion natural gas project in Iran after a call from a group of leading US pension funds for energy companies around the world to cut their ties with the Middle Eastern state. Some of America’s most influential institutional investors have written to Shell and seven of its major rivals, including Russia’s Gazprom and Total, warning that there is an increasing risk that sanctions imposed on the country will hit their business.
In a two-page letter sent to Jeroen van der Veer, Shell’s chief executive, the funds have revealed they are even concerned that infrastructure developed by the company could be targeted in any future war. It stated: “Historically, regional conflict has exposed facilities and infrastructure to the risk of attack, as evidenced by the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.” The move threatens to overshadow what promises to be one of the best set of quarterly results from Shell for nine months today. Analysts expected the group to reveal second quarter profits of $6.7 billion (£3.2 billion). The concerned shareholders include New York City’s five main pension funds and the influential California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers), which has $700 million invested in Shell. The funds are coming under increasing pressure from State legislators in the US to divest their holdings in companies with ties to Iran. American oil and gas companies have already been barred from dealing with Iran, a stance backed by Lord Browne of Madingley, the former chief executive of BP, two years ago. He said: “Politically, Iran is not a flyer.” Shell has a long history with the Middle Eastern state, and three years ago signed a framework agreement to develop part of the giant South Pars gasfield and a liquefied natural gas plant with Spain’s Repsol. Mr van der Veer has continually refused to clarify Shell’s position regarding Iran, insisting that a final investment decision is more than a year away. A spokesman last night refused to comment on the letter except to confirm it had been received. He said: “When we come to deciding on Iran, we will take political considerations into account.” Iran holds the second-biggest gas reserves in the world behind Russia and is seen by analysts as a key part of Shell’s portfolio, given the company’s need to replenish its oil and gas developments. Other companies on the pension funds’ hit list include Repsol, Italy’s ENI, China National Petroleum Corp, ONGC of India and Japan’s Inpex Corporation. In total they hold $3.7 billion worth of shares in energy companies involved in Iran. Industry sources last night told The Times that pressure from the US is already making it harder for British exporters to bank letters of credit from Tehran. UK companies sell hundreds of products for oil pipelines in Iran. A spokesman for Calpers insisted that the letter sent to Shell and its rivals was little more than a “fact-find-ing mission” to establish the extent of their operations in the country. However, he admitted there was increasing concern about the companies’ ties to a “state sponsor of terrorism”. “It is increasingly likely that the worsening situation will negatively impact companies doing business there,” he said.
Iran’s pool
— Iran has 132.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves – 10 per cent of the world’s total
— It holds 970 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, second only to Russia
— The country is the second-biggest Opec member behind Saudi Arabia, producing nearly four million barrels of oil a day, more than either BP or Shell’s global daily output
— Oil exports generate more than $45 billion a year for Iran, half its annual budget
— Exports are up by 40 per cent compared with the level just three years ago

SHAM ON SHELL

WASHINGTON (AFX) - A proposed multi-billion dollar agreement by oil giants Repsol YPF SA of Spain and Royal Dutch Shell to help commercialise Iranian gas deposits could trigger US sanctions, a senior US official said. (read more-see link)

SHAMFULL DEAL. DEATH TO THIS COMPANY

Shell defies US pressure and signs £5bn Iranian gas deal
Terry Macalister / Monday January 29, 2007 /Guardian Unlimited

I HOPE THAT THEY GO BUST....

Shell has signed an important deal to help Iran develop a major gas field, ignoring growing pressure from George Bush to isolate the country for being part of what he alleges is an "axis of evil". The Anglo-Dutch group, which is struggling to bring more momentum to its business after being forced to hand over vital Russian reserves at Sakhalin island to the Kremlin, confirmed it had finally reached agreement on various aspects of its "Persian LNG" - liquefied natural gas - project centred on the South Pars gas field. Shell insisted last night it was still a year away from a final decision on whether to proceed with the multi-billion-dollar project to build a liquefied natural gas terminal capable of handling 8m tonnes a year. "We have signed an upstream service agreement as part of our work to assess the feasibility of the project," a spokeswoman said, referring to the production deal. "Implementation of the upstream service agreement is subject to taking a final decision to proceed with the midstream LNG project." The move is a bold one by Shell because its arch-rival BP has declared itself unwilling to invest in Iran at a time when the international political climate surrounding the country is so forbidding. The United Nations has imposed limited sanctions on Iran to stop it enriching uranium and Washington is pushing for harsher sanctions against a programme it believes is aimed at building an atom bomb - an accusation Tehran rejects. Washington has increased pressure on non-US companies in the past year not to invest in Iran and some analysts believe it could be hard for oil companies to maintain operations in both Iran and the United States, where Shell and its Spanish partner Repsol both have fields. Fadel Gheit, oil analyst with the Oppenheimer & Co brokerage in New York, said Shell was right to proceed in Iran. "This is very positive for the company because those that get in at an early stage will be rewarded. They are clearly willing to ignore Bush because he is coming to the end of his presidency and when he goes everything could change." On Sunday, Gholamhossein Nozari, head of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company, told Iran's student news agency ISNA that Iran had signed an initial deal worth $10bn (£5bn) with Repsol and Shell to produce liquefied natural gas from the South Pars field. The Shell spokeswoman said the upstream side of the project would be developed under a buyback agreement. Shell and Repsol would build the production facilities, which would be owned and operated by an Iranian company. Shell and Repsol would be paid back their costs plus a pre-agreed profit. Separately yesterday, Shell agreed to sell its Los Angeles refinery to Texan oil firm Tesoro in a deal worth nearly $2bn.

BAN SHELL, DO NOT BUY PETROL FROM SHELL

I call on all the peace loving people everywhere to help the world by boycotting and banning all the Royal Dutch Shell's products.

Do not buy petrol from Shell

Boycott shell products

Do not trade in Royal Dutch shell's shares

Join me in a campaign to stop Royal Dutch Shell to do this dirty deal with the IRI.

Islamic Republic will only use this money to kill and mime innocent people.

They are terrorist . DO NOT SUPPORT THEM.

STOP IT SHELL. STOP IT NOW!

Shell Says Signs Iran Upstream Deal
January 29, 2007 Reuters today.reuters.co.uk

LONDON -- Royal Dutch Shell said on Monday it had signed a deal with Iran that could see the oil major develop gas fields under a service agreement. "The upstream service agreement relates to the development of the upstream facilities under a buyback agreement," a spokeswoman said. "Implementation of the upstream service agreement is subject to taking a final decision to proceed with the midstream LNG (liquefied natural gas) project. A final decision is a year or so away," she added. Shell had earlier said it expected a final investment decision in 2007.

Join me in condemning SHELL.