OPEC: Iran's Oil Production Decreased Again in October

According to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Iran's daily oil production decreased by 156,000 barrels in October, reaching 3,296,000 barrels. This figure shows a reduction of more than 530,000 barrels compared to Iran's production before the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA (May). In its latest monthly report published on Tuesday, OPEC stated that despite Iran's production decline, Saudi Arabia and the UAE increased their production by a total of 270,000 barrels last month. In recent months, Iran has faced a continuous decline in production, while it has denied the extent of this drop in its official reports to OPEC, and last month completely refrained from providing its statistics. Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran in the parliament, announced that the Anti-Money Laundering Center in Iran has discovered about 14 trillion tomans of tax evasion classified as money laundering over the past two to three years. According to Mr. Sadeghi, this statistic was presented by the head of this center in August. The Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Center operates under the Iranian Ministry of Economy. Mr. Sadeghi also mentioned that the identification of attackers on the Iranian parliament last June was made possible through money laundering mechanisms. He responded to comments regarding the difficulty of circumventing sanctions with the implementation of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulations, stating that money laundering generally occurs through conventional banking mechanisms, while circumventing sanctions is primarily done informally. Commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated media, Friday prayer leaders, and other appointees of the Supreme Leader are the most serious opponents of the approval of bills related to the implementation of FATF regulations. Meanwhile, a bill for Iran's accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism was recently rejected by the Guardian Council. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, attributed the 'atmospheric pressures' against bills related to money laundering in Iran to the 'economic interests of tens of thousands of billions of tomans' for some individuals, stating that the cost of one of these 'atmospheric pressures' is equivalent to the 'budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.' These remarks have led to protests from several conservative parliament members. Eshaq Jahangiri, Iran's First Vice President, promised on Tuesday that the Iranian economy would reach 'relative calm' in the next two months, adding that we are currently in the stage of 'overcoming the country's economic problems.' Mr. Jahangiri did not provide further details about this promise. Previously, Islamic Republic officials had expressed hope that the establishment of a special financial mechanism in Europe would resolve some of the issues arising from U.S. sanctions. However, Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, announced on Friday that due to the dominance of the dollar and the U.S. financial system over European institutions, creating a mechanism that does not involve the dollar and cannot be sanctioned by the U.S. is 'not easy.' The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence announced that it had seized a six-ton heroin shipment destined for Europe and subsequently dismantled five international drug trafficking gangs. According to the IRNA news agency, the ministry added that 'eleven individuals related to just one of the dismantled gangs have been arrested, some of whom have European nationalities.' However, the report did not specify the nationalities of the detainees. Drug trafficking is one of the major challenges that Iran has faced for decades as a neighboring country to Afghanistan, which is considered the largest producer of opium in the world. Hossein Dehghan, an advisor to President Rouhani, reacted to John Bolton's statements, writing that Bolton, speaking ahead of a conference in Singapore, stated regarding Iran: 'We think the Iranian government is under real pressure, and our intention is to increase that pressure significantly.' He continued, saying, 'Or as the English say, we will increase the pressure so much that the kernel will pop out of the skin,' like a fruit that is pressed so much that it is crushed and its kernel pops out. God forbid our kernel pops out. If it does, it will burn your existence.' Mr. Dehghan published his stance on both his Twitter page and Telegram channel, but shortly after, he deleted it without providing any explanation. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, called on Tuesday for the establishment of a single and real army for the European Union, referencing World War I and stating that lessons must be learned from the divisions that caused that war. This statement comes as a similar remark by her French counterpart has drawn dissatisfaction from the U.S. President. Donald Trump's critical tweets against his French counterpart followed recent comments by President Macron about the necessity of forming a European army for defense against China, Russia, and even the United States, which Trump called 'very insulting.' However, the French President's office stated that Trump misunderstood the issue, and Macron's intention was that Europe should reduce its reliance on the U.S. for defense. Nevertheless, the U.S. President tweeted several more times on this issue on Tuesday, reiterating his criticisms of Emmanuel Macron. In one of these tweets, he stated: 'Emmanuel Macron has suggested establishing his own army to defend Europe against the United States, China, and Russia. In World War I and II, the danger came from Germany - what was the situation for France then? They had started learning German in Paris until the United States entered the scene. Either pay NATO or don't pay.' Another tweet read: 'The problem is that Emmanuel's popularity in France is very low, 26 percent, and the unemployment rate is almost 10 percent. He has tried to change the subject. By the way, no country is more nationalist than France; the people of France are very proud of their country, and they have every right to be!' Saad Hariri, the Prime Minister of Lebanon, stated on Tuesday that the process of forming a new government in the country is facing a major obstacle, blaming the Hezbollah group for this failure. According to Reuters, this heavily armed group is pressuring for a Sunni lawmaker allied with Hezbollah to take a position in the cabinet, which Saad Hariri has refused. He stated that under the current circumstances, there is no way to resolve this issue. The Iranian Civil Registration Organization published a list of 'strange names' that individuals sought to change in 1395 (2016). According to a report by ISNA news agency, this list includes names such as 'Button,' 'Chalvari,' 'Banknote,' 'Ugly,' 'Beggar,' 'Excess,' 'America,' 'Israel,' 'Lemon,' 'Ali known as Agha,' 'Ali Mohammad known as Brigadier,' 'Kaaba,' 'Salt,' 'Good Time,' 'Beg for Money,' and 'Morad Kloakh.' Other strange names on this list include 'Burned Face,' 'Property of God,' 'Son-in-law,' 'Shepherd,' 'Mr. Wing,' 'Pigeon Sayyid,' 'Qitas,' 'Constitution,' 'Customer,' 'Lulupar,' 'Sadafarin,' 'Sixteen,' 'Nile,' 'England,' 'Candy,' 'Cheese,' 'Cake,' 'Wild Animals,' and 'Maimoon.' The Mountaineering Federation of Khorasan Razavi Province announced in a circular that married women must have their husband's permission to participate in nature tourism and mountaineering programs. The federation added that single women and those under 20 years old must also obtain permission from their 'legal guardian.' According to IRNA news agency, this circular was sent to mountaineering clubs on November 4 this year, citing 'Article 1105 of the Civil Code and the fatwas of religious scholars,' stating that 'to protect the foundation and basis of families, permission from husbands for married women and permission from legal guardians for single women and teenagers up to the age of 20 is mandatory.' The issuance of such a circular comes at a time when previously only permission from husbands for married women and legal guardians for single women was required for leaving the country and obtaining passports.