Oil up on Greek austerity measures, Iran tensions

Oil prices rose on Monday after Greece approved austerity measures needed to acquire more aid and avoid default, sparking another round of investor optimism, and as tensions between Israel and Iran reinforced concerns about supply disruptions.

U.S. crude futures trading resumed post-settlement after electronic trading of oil futures was halted for more than an hour on the New York Mercantile Exchange because of an unspecified technical issue.

The glitch in electronic trading occurred in the last half hour of the open outcry floor session and did not stop floor trading.

Brent March crude rose 62 cents to settle at $117.93 barrel, reaching $118.61 to match Friday's intraday peak. The Brent March contract expires on Tuesday.

U.S. March crude rose $2.24 to settle at $100.91 a barrel, having pushed through the 20-day and 50-day moving averages. U.S. March crude options expire on Tuesday.

Brent's premium to U.S. crude narrowed to $17.02 a barrel, pulling back after ending Friday at $18.64 based on settlements.

"Crude oil prices continue to draw support from a familiar set of factors: progress on Greek sovereign debt, risk of supply disruption linked to sanctions against Iran, and refinery outages that are seen limiting gasoline supply," Tim Evans, energy analyst for Citi Futures Perspective, said in a note.

Total crude trading volumes were below 30-day averages for Brent and U.S. crude with less than an hour of post-settlement trading remaining on Monday.

Weakness in gas oil futures pulled Brent off highs, as Europe's recent deep freeze eased and uncertainty about economic prospects for the euro zone lingered.

U.S. heating oil futures slipped, hemmed in by another below-normal weekly heating demand forecast for the country, with heating oil demand alone expected to be 10.7 percent below normal.

U.S. gasoline futures rose 1.26 percent as refinery closures and anticipated spring maintenance are expected to limit supply and as investor focus turns from the winter heating season toward an approaching summer driving season.

EURO ZONE UNCERTAINTY

The euro rose against the dollar after Sunday's approval by Greece's parliament of drastic cuts in wages, pensions and jobs, but concerns about hurdles still ahead as Greece tries to avoid a disorderly default limited gains.

U.S. stocks rose, led by banks supported by developments in Greece.

The European Union on Monday gave Greece's government until Wednesday to specify how 325 million euros of the 3.3 billion euros in budget savings demanded will be achieved.

IRAN, MIDDLE EAST TENSIONS

Israel accused Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of being behind twin bomb attacks that targeted Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia, wounding four people.

Iran denied involvement, while Hezbollah declined comment, but the incident amplified tensions between the West and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.

China has urged Iran to cooperate more closely with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency and rejoin talks on its nuclear program.

Assistant Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said the purpose of his visit to Tehran was to "candidly discuss" the Iran nuclear issue with Deputy Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Baqeri.

China's Foreign Ministry on Monday backed Arab League mediation in Syria but offered no clear sign of support for the League's call to send in peacekeepers to halt the Syrian government's violent crackdown on opposition groups.

U.S. OIL INVENTORIES

U.S. crude oil inventories were expected to have risen last week when industry and government provide their latest weekly supply snapshots, according to a Reuters survey of analysts on Monday.

Distillate stockpiles were expected to be lower and gasoline stocks up, the survey showed.

Industry group the American Petroleum Institute will release its inventory data on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT), with the government report following on Wednesday.

Alleged terror scenarios psychological war against Iran: spokesman

Tehran, Feb 13, IRNA – Terror scenarios in India and Georgia and claims by Zionist regime about Iran’s role in the terrorist operations is another phase of psychological war against Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said here Monday.

He added that the Zionist regime has bombed its embassies in New Delhi and Tbilisi to tarnish Iran's friendly ties with the host countries.

Mehmanparast brushed aside Zionist regime's accusation on Iranian involvement in the bombing and said that Israel perpetrated the terrorist actions to launch a new psychological war against Iran.

He said that such terrorist actions reflected the innate nature of Tel Aviv regime.

'Tehran condemns terrorism in strongest term as Iran has been a victim of terrorism.'

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said 'The Zionist regime itself is based on state terrorism and occupation' in reference to Israeli occupation of the Palestinians' lands.

Referring to the removal of some well-known terrorist groups including the armed terrorist group of MKO from the blacklists of some western countries, Mehmanparast added that those countries which support the Zionist regime state's terrorism as well as terrorist groups in Iran and the region should be held responsible for their advocacy on behalf of the terrorist groups.

“The Zionist regime has a high record of criminal actions against humanity and it is the first suspect of any terrorist operation in the world,” he continued.

The foreign ministry spokesperson underlined that eliminating the roots of terrorism in the world needs an international commitment.

Iran's ambassador to India has categorically denied Iran's any type of involvement in the attack on the New Delhi embassy, whatsoever.

'Any terrorist attack is condemned (by Iran) and we strongly reject the untrue and irresponsible comments by an Israeli official,' Mehdi Nabizadeh was quoted as saying. 'These accusations are untrue and sheer lies, like the previous times.'

Speaking to some members of his rightwing Likud party, Zionist regime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly blamed Iran for the attacks that wounded at least two people, one of them an Israeli woman.

A hitman on a motorbike fixed a suspected magnetic bomb on an Israeli embassy car in the Indian capital on Monday, police said.

Separately, the Georgian interior ministry confirmed that police in the capital Tbilisi had defused an explosive device found in the car of an Israeli embassy employee.

In the Georgian capital Tbilisi, 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) to the west, an embassy employee found a suspicious device in his car and contacted police who were able to defuse the bomb before it went off.

The embassy car exploded in a ball of flames in central New Delhi, injuring a 42-year-old female embassy employee and her Indian driver who was pulled from the wreckage by bystanders, police and witnesses said.

Witnesses described hearing an explosion in the middle of the afternoon around 3:30 pm (01:00 GMT) and then seeing the car on fire.

The blast was of relatively low intensity. The charred remains of the car surrounded by debris stood in the street until the early evening, with the roof still intact but the back door missing.

'We heard a huge explosion and then me and my workers ran to the site where we found the car on fire,' petrol pump supervisor Ravi Singh told reporters.

'I think there was a woman and a driver in the car and I think (other) people pulled her out. And then the fire tenders (trucks) arrived at the site,' he said.

A Jewish center run by the the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitch movement was among the targets in the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai blamed on the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba in which 10 gunmen killed at least 166 people.

The last militant strike in New Delhi was last September when a bomb outside the High Court killed 14 people -- the latest in a series of blasts that has shaken public confidence in the Indian government's counter-terror capabilities.

This new round of anti-Iranian scenarios follows another scenario in which US officials claimed that Iran has tried a plot including an assassination attempt against the Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel Al-Jubeir, with a bomb and subsequent bomb attacks on Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington. Bombings of the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Buenos Aires, Argentina, were also discussed, according to US officials.

Iranian officials had strongly dismissed the US allegations as a fabricated scenario which is totally unfounded and described it as worn-out approaches which are based on the old hostile American-Zionist attempt to sow discord among Muslims.

While Iran is allegedly accused of terrorism, western states are real supporters of world terrorism. The EU removed the MKO terrorist group from its terrorism list in 2009, but it is still considered a terrorist organization by some countries, including the United States and Iran.

The MKO is designated as a terrorist organization under the United States law, and has been described by State Department officials as a repressive cult. The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq's executed dictator, Saddam Hussein. The MKO is also known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds. The group has carried out numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.

Iranian diplomat in India

Any terrorist attack is condemned: IRI Envoy in India

New Delhi, Feb 14, IRNA – Any terrorist attack anywhere in the world is condemned, Iranian Ambassador to India Mehdi Nabizadeh said here on Monday.

The official has categorically denied Iran's any type of involvement in the attack on the New Delhi embassy, whatsoever.

“Any terrorist attack is condemned and we strongly reject the untrue and irresponsible comments by an Israeli official; these accusations are untrue and sheer lies, like the previous times,” Nabizadeh added.

Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast also in reaction to the Zionist regime claims noted that Tel-Aviv as source of international terrorism is trying to deviate world public opinion from its criminal acts by accusing Iran of terrorism.

“Recent Zionist regime terror scenarios in India and Georgia and claims by this regime about Iran’s role in these terrorist operations is another phase of psychological war against Tehran and meanwhile, a fruitless effort to deviate the world opinion from the Zionists' crimes, such as this regime assasination of the Iranian nuclear scientists as well as the innocent Palestinians,” he underlined.

Iran foreign ministry spokesperson noted that existence of Zionist regime depends on dangerous adventurism and terrorism.

“Islamic Republic response to any illogical action by the Zionist regime would be discouraging,” the official underlined.

He added that the Zionist regime has bombed its embassies in New Delhi and Tbilisi to tarnish Iran's friendly ties with the host countries.

Mehmanparast brushed aside Zionist regime's accusation on Iranian involvement in the bombing and said that Israel perpetrated the terrorist actions to launch a new psychological war against Iran.

He said that such terrorist actions reflected the innate nature of Tel Aviv regime.

'Tehran condemns terrorism in strongest term as Iran has been a victim of terrorism.'

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said 'The Zionist regime itself is based on state terrorism and occupation' in reference to Israeli occupation of the Palestinians' lands.

Referring to the removal of some well-known terrorist groups including the armed terrorist group of MKO from the blacklists of some western countries, Mehmanparast added that those countries which support the Zionist regime state's terrorism as well as terrorist groups in Iran and the region should be held responsible for their advocacy on behalf of the terrorist groups.

“The Zionist regime has a high record of criminal actions against humanity and it is the first suspect of any terrorist operation in the world,” he continued.

The foreign ministry spokesperson underlined that eliminating the roots of terrorism in the world needs an international commitment.

Speaking to some members of his rightwing Likud party, Zionist regime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly blamed Iran for the attacks that wounded at least two people, one of them an Israeli woman.

A hitman on a motorbike fixed a suspected magnetic bomb on an Israeli embassy car in the Indian capital on Monday, police said.

Separately, the Georgian interior ministry confirmed that police in the capital Tbilisi had defused an explosive device found in the car of an Israeli embassy employee.

In the Georgian capital Tbilisi, 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) to the west, an embassy employee found a suspicious device in his car and contacted police who were able to defuse the bomb before it went off.

The embassy car exploded in a ball of flames in central New Delhi, injuring a 42-year-old female embassy employee and her Indian driver who was pulled from the wreckage by bystanders, police and witnesses said.

Witnesses described hearing an explosion in the middle of the afternoon around 3:30 pm (01:00 GMT) and then seeing the car on fire.

The blast was of relatively low intensity. The charred remains of the car surrounded by debris stood in the street until the early evening, with the roof still intact but the back door missing.

'We heard a huge explosion and then me and my workers ran to the site where we found the car on fire,' petrol pump supervisor Ravi Singh told reporters.

'I think there was a woman and a driver in the car and I think (other) people pulled her out. And then the fire tenders (trucks) arrived at the site,' he said.

A Jewish center run by the the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitch movement was among the targets in the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai blamed on the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba in which 10 gunmen killed at least 166 people.

The last militant strike in New Delhi was last September when a bomb outside the High Court killed 14 people -- the latest in a series of blasts that has shaken public confidence in the Indian government's counter-terror capabilities.

This new round of anti-Iranian scenarios follows another scenario in which US officials claimed that Iran has tried a plot including an assassination attempt against the Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel Al-Jubeir, with a bomb and subsequent bomb attacks on Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington. Bombings of the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Buenos Aires, Argentina, were also discussed, according to US officials.

Iranian officials had strongly dismissed the US allegations as a fabricated scenario which is totally unfounded and described it as worn-out approaches which are based on the old hostile American-Zionist attempt to sow discord among Muslims.

While Iran is allegedly accused of terrorism, western states are real supporters of world terrorism. The EU removed the MKO terrorist group from its terrorism list in 2009, but it is still considered a terrorist organization by some countries, including the United States and Iran.

The MKO is designated as a terrorist organization under the United States law, and has been described by State Department officials as a repressive cult. The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq's executed dictator, Saddam Hussein. The MKO is also known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds. The group has carried out numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.

Iran among top 25 exporters of world: Ghazanfari

Tehran, Feb 13, IRNA - According to the global figures, Iran ranked among the top 25 exporters and the 20 biggest economies of the world, Industries, Mines and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said on Monday.

He said Iran ranks among the top 20 countries of the world in terms of some of the mother industries, including steel, copper and automobile.

Ghazanfari added the country is the 30th biggest food exporter in the world.

Earlier, industries, mines and trade minister said that around 50 percent of Iran's non-oil exports pertained to 100 top companies in the past Iranian year (ended on March 20th March 2011).

He noted the companies exported goods worth 14.3 billion dollars last year.

This shows an increase of 42 percent compared to the figure for the preceding year, the official added.

Speaking in the closing ceremony of the 11th meeting of Iran-Belarus Joint Economic Commission, Mehdi Ghazanfari expressed satisfaction over the talks held in Minsk and said Iran and Belarus have reached agreements to expand trade.

During the meetings, he said, the prospects of Tehran-Minsk cooperation for the coming year were discussed.

The minister added that grounds have been prepared for the implementation of the projects set to increase bilateral cooperation.

Israeli embassies in India, Georgia targeted

Diplomat among 4 hurt in Delhi car blast; Bomb defused in time by Georgian police in Tbilisi

An Israeli embassy car in flames after an explosion in it near the mission in New Delhi on Monday. — PTI

Jerusalem/New Delhi, February 13
Bombers targeted staff of Israel’s embassies in New Delhi and Georgia on Monday, wounding four persons. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of involvement.
In Delhi, an Israeli embassy car exploded when a magnetic bomb stuck to it went off in a high-security area here, critically injuring a woman diplomat besides three others. The injured woman, Talyesshova, is the wife of the Defence Attache of Israel posted at New Delhi. The incident in Delhi occurred hours after a car bomb was defused near Israel’s mission in Georgian capital Tbilisi.

The Delhi blast took place around 500 m away from the official residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. According to initial investigations, two motorcycle-borne youths tailed the Israeli Embassy vehicle on the Aurangzeb road and allegedly attached a device to the rear of the car when it stopped at a traffic signal.
Minutes later, there was an explosion and Toyota Innova (109-CD-35) vehicle was engulfed in flames. Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said two Israeli Embassy employees were injured in the incident. An eyewitness Ravir Singh said he heard a loud noise following which he rushed to the spot.
“I was at my petrol pump. I heard a loud noise. I rushed to the spot and found a car in flames. A fire tender from nearby Air Force station reached the site to douse the blaze," he said. The police said four cars were damaged in the incident.
Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said Israel’s allegations against Iran were not being taken on the “face value”. New Delhi would opt to wait for its investigators to send reports and track down motorcyclists.
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna called up his counterpart in Tel Aviv and assured him that “the law of the land will take its course”. The case would be fully investigated, Krishna told reporters here. Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta refused to comment on the nature of the explosive saying the forensic laboratory was studying it and they would give a report on that.
COORDINATED STRIKES
Delhi: Two motorcycle-borne youths tail the Israeli Embassy car and allegedly stick a magnetic device on the rear of the car when it stopped at a traffic signal. Minutes later, explosion takes place.

Georgia: The Georgian police prevents a major attack by defusing a bomb found in a car of an Israeli embassy staff member in Tbilisi.

 India assures Israel of complete probe
NEW DELHI: India today assured Israel of a complete investigation into the car blastincident here in which an Israeli diplomat was injured, saying it strongly condemns any incidents of violence. 

Hours within the blast occurred in an Israeli embassy car, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna spoke to his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, assuring him that the law of the land will take its course. 

"I just came to know about the unfortunate incident a little while earlier in which a staff member's family woman of the Israeli embassy establishment was injured. She has been rushed into the hospital. We are awaiting further information about the well being of the woman," Krishna told reporters on the sidelines of a function. 

Asserting that the country very strongly condemns such incidents, Krishna said it will be fully investigated and culprits will be brought to justice. 

"I just spoke to the Israeli Foreign Minister and reassured that the law of the land will take its course. We will continue with the investigations and keep him posted about the progress of the investigation," he said. 

An Israeli diplomat was in the embassy car when a suspected terror blast took place in it.
We feel very secure in India, says Israeli envoy
NEW DELHI: India will not tolerate attacks on diplomats on its soil, Israel's envoy here said on Monday, adding that Israeli diplomats "feel very secure" in India. 

"It is very clear to me that no one in India is going to tolerate such a vicious attack on diplomats on its soil," Israeli ambassador Alon Ushpiz told TimesNow television. 

The ambassador, however, declined to discuss security issues related to the Israeli embassy and its staff in India. 

"We feel very secure in India, we have the full cooperation of your authorities, we have full confidence in the Indian authorities," he said. 

He added that India and Israel had "very solid cooperation" in many areas. 

Indian external affairs minister S M Krishna has telephoned his Israeli diplomat to offer his apologies over the attack, the envoy said.

Indo-Iran trade ties under pressure: US Jewish lobby wants Delhi to join embargo

WASHINGTON: America's renowned " Jewish lobby" has turned the spotlight on India over its continuing ties with Iran. Pressure from supporters of Israel comes even as US lawmakers, administration officials and editorial pundits are giving New Delhi a hard time over what India insists is a relationship based on energy exigencies and tied to the situation in Afghanistan. 

Maintaining that it has been "India's long-time friend and an advocate of increasingly close cooperation between Washington and New Delhi," the powerful American Jewish Committee told India's ambassador to the USNirupama Rao in a letter last week that it was "deeply troubled" by recent reports of India's efforts to intensify trade relations with Iran "at the very moment when the US and fellow democracies are applying new economic pressures to persuade Tehran to halt its nuclear programme". 

The letter took particular exception to the announcement made by commerce secretary Rahul Khullar this week that "a huge delegation" of Indian business representatives would soon travel to Iran to capitalize on opportunities created by European withdrawal from the Iranian market. 

"This suggests that New Delhi is attempting to take advantage of sanctions adopted by like-minded nations for the explicit purpose of preventing nuclear proliferation by a dangerously aggressive regime - and which could, in turn, trigger an escalating arms race - in a highly volatile region," the letter said. It expressed alarm and dismay at "this apparent move to elevate commercial interests over vital security concerns". 

The letter was written before Monday's blast targetting Israeli embassy staff in Delhi, but after a three-day visit to Washington by India's foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai, who during his trip tried to explain India's stand on continued trade with Iran to a skeptical US audience. The Iran question surfaced at almost every meeting Mathai had with US administration officials and lawmakers. 

New Delhi's explanation that it is an energy starved country that has to perforce buy supplies from the most logical and economical source did not make much of an impression. Lawmakers pointed to Japan and South Korea as examples that had, in effect, toed the US line while administration mandarins offered to mitigate the situation by suggesting alternate supply possibilities. India's pledge that supplies from Iran were already down to less than 10% also did not impress players in Washington determined to collar Tehran. 

For a change though, New Delhi did not employ its usual rhetoric of "civilizational ties" with Iran. Instead, Indian officials tried to explain to the Americans that peeling India off from Iran and isolating Tehran will make things more difficult for India and the US in Afghanistan. But the US is already playing footsie with the Taliban in its effort to extricate itself from Afghanistanmaking things very difficult for New Delhi. 

Much of India's refining capacity is also premised on sourcing oil from Iran and shifting the supply to other sources brings its own logistical problems, one official explained. While serving officials have been circumspect in explaining India's constraints to the US, former diplomats have made no secret of their disdain for the US's conflicting policies in the region.