TEHRAN
- More than 6 years after the Iranian parliament passed a law allowing the government to borrow externally to overcome the financial crisis, an Iranian official revealed that the Russian government agreed to grant a government loan of 5 billion euros to finance economic projects in his country.
The Executive Director of the Thermal Power Production Company, Behnam Khafenejad, explained that the Russian approval to grant Tehran a loan came within the framework of bilateral cooperation treaties, and that the Iranian and Russian sides had proposed joint projects inside Iran to finance it from the mentioned loan.
Khafeinejad added - in a press statement - that it is scheduled to build 3 power plants in the provinces of Hormozgan and Khuzestan (southern Iran), with funding from the Russian loan.
And the last Russian loan was not unique, as Iranian media reported in 2017, granting the Russian ally a loan of 2.1 billion euros to finance an economic project in Hormozgan province, and Russia funded another project worth 2.1 euros in 2018 in Semnan province (central Iran).
loans and cooperation
For his part, Gholam Ali Rahimi, the assistant loan office at the Iranian Ministry of Economy, revealed in a statement to Iranian radio station "Keft Woko" that an agreement had been reached to give Moscow another loan of 5 billion euros to Tehran, in addition to the ongoing negotiations for a third commercial loan.
In this context, the editor-in-chief of the "Tehran Times" newspaper, Ali Akbar Janabzadeh, believes that the latest Russian loan is only a link in the chain of strategic cooperation between the two countries, and that the Iranian and Russian sides are on their way to finance other joint projects inside Iran.
Janabzadeh - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - referred to the Western sanctions imposed on both Tehran and Moscow, considering that the financial cooperation between them is in the interest of the two countries that are under American pressure, adding that his country is the most affected by the Western financial blockade, and this confirms the necessity of borrowing from allies. To face the financial embargo imposed on Tehran.
He considered the financial cooperation between Iran and Russia primarily aimed at nullifying the effect of US financial sanctions on Tehran, stressing that the Iranian market, in turn, represents a great opportunity to support the Russian economy in the face of Western sanctions.
Raisi's government attaches great importance to heading east (Iranian press)
face sanctions
Janabzadeh stressed his country's intention to liberalize its trade cooperation with some other countries - especially Russia - from the US dollar, considering that the announcement of joint financial cooperation between Tehran and Moscow sends a message that Iran is not in a hurry to reach a nuclear agreement through Vienna negotiations, and that it can no longer The United States manipulated the financial sanctions paper to put pressure on its opponents.
Janabzadeh concluded by saying that the government of President Ibrahim Raisi attaches great importance to heading towards the east - especially China, Russia and neighboring countries, and that the experience of concluding long-term strategic agreements can be repeated between Tehran and other Asian countries.
And the announcement of Russia's agreement to grant Iran billions of euros in loans comes in conjunction with Tehran's planning to implement other joint projects in cooperation with its eastern allies.
In this context, the CEO of the Iranian Airports and Air Navigation Company, Syaoush Amir Makri, revealed his country's intention to cooperate with China and Russia to establish several international airports on a world level in line with the country's future needs.
In statements he made to reporters, Makri explained that the airports in Iran meet the needs of its airlines for the next 15 years, and that cooperation with China and Russia aims to establish several airports within 25 years.
Iran River
The Iranians are counting on Russia to help advance their national economy by extending the Iran Rod (meaning Iran River) canal, which is supposed to link the Caspian Sea in the far north of Iran to the Gulf waters in its southernmost regions.
Observers in Iran believe that the project to build a water canal between the Seas of Oman and the Caspian Sea will contribute to a large extent in achieving geostrategic and geoeconomic interests alike. However, there are those who see the project as an absolute necessity in light of the drought that the country has been suffering from for decades.
In order to contain the cycle of protests over water scarcity, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, during his recent visit to Moscow, signed an agreement worth $15 billion to build nuclear desalination plants in his country, especially in the desert areas through which the "Iran Rod" canal is scheduled to pass.
Despite the expected benefit from the development of a sea corridor to transport goods from the Indian Ocean to the Black Sea, economists stress the need to raise the efficiency of the railway network and develop it to promote the transportation sector between Chabahar port on the northern bank of the Sea of Oman and Astara port on the waters of the Caspian Sea.
In this context, Iranian Economy Minister Ehsan Khandozi announced the financing of the purchase of 2,000 locomotives from Russia through the Russian loan.
For his part, the director of the Iranian-Russian Friendship Association, Amir Mahmoud Zadeh, urged - in an interview with Channel One on Iranian TV - to attract Russian capital to complete the railway projects between Chabahar and Astara ports.