IRAN ACQUIRES ITS OWN SUPERTANKER FLEET


"Some of Iran’s [oil sanction] problems came from the unwillingness of tanker companies to risk US retaliation by carrying Iranian oil. Iran therefore has bought from China 12 huge oil tankers, each of which can carry 2 million barrels of petroleum. Iran just took delivery of 4 more of these tankers. It will therefore be in a position over coming years to export to China and India with its own tankers, holding itself harmless from Congressional sanctions."
http://www.juancole.com/2013/08/china-congress-iranian.html

"The National Iranian Tanker Co. has acquired four new supertankers in mid-2013... from China as part of a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2009. In all, 12 supertankers were ordered. The supertankers were said to have a capacity of two million barrels each... The latest acquisitions boost NITC’s supertanker fleet to 37 vessels with a maximum carrying capacity of 64 million barrels of oil... The company also has 14 small crude oil tankers with another 12.5 million barrels in capacity.”
http://www.worldtribune.com/2013/08/09/china-helping-keep-iran-oil-industry-afloat-with-four-new-supertankers/

NEW PRESIDENT ROUHANI WANTS NEGOTIATIONS

"Iran's incoming President Hassan Rouhani... offered an olive branch to the United States in talks on Tehran's disputed nuclear program... that he was "seriously determined" to resolve the dispute and was ready to enter "serious and substantive" negotiations... Rouhani said Iran would not abandon its nuclear program, which it would uphold "on the basis of international law... However, we are for negotiations and interaction. We are prepared, seriously and without wasting time, to enter negotiations which are serious and substantive..."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/07/us-iran-nuclear-idUSBRE9750Q020130807