Shafaq News / A source in the local police in the city of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, said at dawn on Tuesday, the arrest of two Iranians on suspicion of involvement in spying for the Revolutionary Guards in targeting several city sites late last night in Erbil.
The source told Shafaq News that the people arrested an Iranian at 11:00 last night inside a mosque in Erbil on suspicion of spying, where they handed him over to the security forces.
The parents arrested this person inside the mosque and handed him over to the security forces.
He added that a second Iranian was arrested inside a cemetery near the house of the businessman (Peshro Dzii), indicating that the detained Iranian was carrying two mobile phones.
An official security source said earlier this morning that a well-known businessman died as a result of the bombing launched by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which targeted various locations in the city of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region.
Among the victims was the businessman (Bishro Dziy) who was confirmed to have died with him and his wife, the source told Shafaq News.
The same source had told Shafaq News, earlier in the day, that a number of strikes targeted the house of the Kurdish businessman (Bishro Dziy), owner of the Empire complex and a number of commercial and investment companies.
For his part, a member of the political bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Haimin Horami, said in a post on the “X” website that the unexplained attacks launched by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards tonight in Erbil targeted a civilian home. The owner of the house (Peshro Dzei) and four members of his family were martyred.”
The Revolutionary Guards had claimed responsibility for the strikes that targeted Erbil and said in a statement that they came “in response to the crimes of the Zionist regime against the Islamic Republic, the latest of which was the killing of a number of Guard commanders by Zionist fire. A main Mossad spy headquarters in the Kurdistan region of Iraq was targeted and destroyed by ballistic missiles.”
“This main Zionist center was responsible for the development and launch of espionage operations and the planning of terrorist activities in the region, especially against Iran,” the statement added.
At dawn today, the Kurdistan Regional Security Council promised the rocket shelling launched by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which targeted areas of a city in the city of Erbil, a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty” of the region and all Iraq.
The Council said in a statement today that at 11:30 on the night of January 16, 2024, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards bombed several civilian areas in Erbil, which unfortunately, according to the initial outcome, killed 4 civilians and injured six others, some of them in unstable health.
The statement added that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced that the attack targeted several sites of anti-Iran groups, pointing out that this excuse is unfounded and we reject it, and unfortunately they always use unfounded excuses to attack Erbil.
“Erbil as a stable region has never been a source of threat to any party,” the statement stressed.
The statement added that the strikes launched by the Revolutionary Guards on Erbil “are a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the territory and Iraq, and the federal government and the international community should not be silent about this crime.”
There are 4 major reasons Kuwait, Iraq's next-door neighbor has the strongest currency in the world...Kuwait dinar is $3.36... 1. Major exporter of oil. Kuwait is estimated to hold 10% of the world's oil reserves. The tiny country has a population of 4.3 million people vs Iraq who has approximately 43 million people and a lot more oil than Kuwait. 2. Kuwait has an excellent reinvestment of oil revenue. Kuwait uses its oil revenue to build infrastructure and develop microeconomic sectors to increase its GDP.
What will it take for the Iraqi dinar to strengthen against the US dollar?
Imagine a country as a business. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is essentially its annual report showcasing the value of all goods and services produced.
A high GDP indicates a booming economy...The currency rate on the other hand is a bit like a company's share price. It's the global market's way of saying how much it thinks that...country is worth.
The stronger the currency, the more confidence the world has in the country's economic stability and growth potential. How does a GDP affect a country's currency rate?
Simply, a higher GDP signals a stronger, productive economy. This attracts foreign investors, who need to buy the country's currency to invest. This surge in demand for the currency increases its value, or 'rate'...A rise in Iraq's GDP implies a healthier economy and a potential increase in the dinars value.
What would it take for the Iraqi dinar to strengthen against the US dollar? The answer lies in economic development and stability. The Development road project...aims to boost Iraq's GDP by improving infrastructure, fostering foreign investment and stimulating economic growth... With the right steps and sustained growth the dinar's narrative can only get stronger.
The Iraqi dinar is not on the Forex market, yet. The Iraqi dinar is an exotic currency, as is the Vietnam dong... Currencies are traded in pairs on the Forex Market. The 3 main types... majors, minors and exotics...The more liquid an asset the easier and more efficient it is to turn it back into cash. Major currency pairs have the highest trading volume... Exotic currencies...are not traded that often. There is little technical analysis or data available to support trading decisions for exotic currencies.
The Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Service announced on Tuesday the downing of three drone bombs that tried to target Erbil International Airport.”According to counter-terrorism information, three drone bombs sent to the military base of the international coalition against ISIS were destroyed at Erbil International Airport this morning, 05:05,” a statement said to the agency.Earlier in the day, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for the ballistic missile attack that targeted Erbil.
IRAQ IS APPROACHING THE COMPLETION OF DOZENS OF OIL PROJECTS AND SPECIALIZED REFINERIES
Economy News – Baghdad
Despite the relative delay and intertwined conditions that the country has witnessed, Iraq is approaching the completion of dozens of oil projects and specialized refineries, which can achieve self-sufficiency for various derivatives and oil products, and thus save billions of dollars that were spent every year, to supply these derivatives from neighboring countries such as gasoline, gas oil and others.
Aging of refineries
Ali Nehme, an expert in oil and energy affairs, said that “most Iraqi refineries suffer from antiquity, so the production of these refineries is mostly heavy products, and even gasoline produced by Iraqi refineries is low-octane in the sense of pumped as regular gasoline in filling stations and perhaps worse, meaning octane between 80-86,” according to the official newspaper.
“As is well known, all modern cars need improved or high-octane gasoline (more than 95), as these types of gasoline produced by Iraq from its refineries do not suit Iraq’s needs, and therefore caused the country to need to import some products as a result of increased demand,” he said.
Heavy acid pads
“Most of the Iraqi oil is medium or heavy, especially Basra oil, and perhaps the best type of oil we have is Kirkuk oil, which reaches 35-36 IBM, compared to some global oil that reaches 40 or more in the countries of the world,” he adds.
“The use of these medium or heavy acid oils in refineries is the basis of obsolete refineries, as their production cannot naturally be like the modern and complex refineries currently in the developed countries of the world, and therefore the majority of their products are heavy products,” Nehme said. “Therefore, we find that there are large quantities of black oil produced by these refineries in excess of Iraq’s needs, and therefore they are exported in exchange for light products, which are imported to compensate for the shortage in demand, which is greatly compounded by the high imports of cars, generators and trucks,” he said.
Modern quality refineries
With Iraq opening some projects or laying the foundation stone for new high-tech projects, such as the Faw refinery, the Karbala refinery, the Najaf refinery and other projects, the country is looking forward to changing this equation and starting to achieve self-sufficiency in some petroleum products and their derivatives, such as gas oil fuel for cars, white oil and liquid gas, and reducing the consumer need for regular and high-octane gasoline fuel.
Haider al-Husseini, director of the Karbala refinery, confirms the refinery’s uniqueness with two advantages, namely the quantity of light products needed by the country and the quality of products, and al-Husseini explained that “what must be focused on is the quality of the product, because the Karbala refinery produces derivatives of the Euro 5 category, which is better than imported from outside Iraq, and therefore this product gives a good addition to the Ministry of Oil.”
White Products
“The aim of building the refinery is to maximize white products, the most important of which is improved and high-octane gasoline, as the refinery is now operating at full capacity and production has entered the local market for many months,” he said.
“The trial operation phase has passed, and the refinery is working at full capacity excellently, and the products have been discharged to the local market for some time successfully, and we have our laboratories in the refinery and all products are within the specifications of international markets,” al-Husseini said.
The Karbala refinery was planned to produce about 9 million liters per day, but al-Husseini points out that “the production of 8 million liters of gasoline, more than 4 million liters of gas oil, as well as 2.5 to 3 million liters of kerosene (white oil), jet fuel and sulfur, as well as asphalt with high purity is unique to the Karbala refinery with qualities that are not found in all joints of the country,” as he described.
Covering the country’s need
The Karbala refinery does not fill the local need for these products in the province of Karbala only, but extends to the provinces of the Middle Euphrates such as Najaf, Babylon and Diwaniyah, and the warehouses withdraw the product from the Karbala refinery, to pump it to other provinces in central and southern Iraq, because of its high quantity and great quality, and it is hoped that it will cover the range of fifty to six 50-60 percent of the country’s need at the present time, and can be increased in the future after adding other units and increasing the production capacity of the refinery, under a plan supervised by the Ministry of Oil.
Jet fuel
As the Karbala refinery is about to expand its production lines of jet fuel and wheel gas, the biggest goal of the refinery is to maximize the production of improved and high-octane gasoline, and reduce the volume of imports in this direction, as well as seeking to develop the production of liquefied gas and jet fuel, and the latter will be one of the most prominent products for the Karbala refinery, due to its direct geographical proximity to Karbala International Airport, and the need for incoming and departing aircraft for this type of fuel.
Self-sufficiency
After reaching this year to meet the consumer need of citizens of white oil, liquid gas and gas oil, the Ministry of Oil plans to be the middle or end of 2024, the deadline to reach meet the consumer need for gasoline, according to Undersecretary for Liquidation Affairs, Hamed Younis Al-Zobaie, who explained, “We have many projects, which we hope after completing to improve and develop the quality of products, such as FCC units and Azmra units, the latter of which will enter work soon.”
Completion of Shuaiba Refinery
At the Shuaiba oil refinery in Basra, the fourth refining unit was inaugurated, with a capacity of 70,000 barrels per day after maintenance operations carried out by our national resources, which saved an amount exceeding three hundred million dollars, which would have been received by Japanese companies if the work was completed.
Hossam Hussein Wali El-Din, General Manager of the South Refineries Company, said: “The work of this refinery was withdrawn from one of the Czech companies implementing the project, as a result of violating the terms of the contract with the Ministry of Oil, but our cadres in the Systems and Control Department of the South Refineries Company were able to carry out this great work and save millions of dollars in hard currency.”
Billions of imports For its part, the Oil and Gas Committee in the Iraqi Council of Representatives (Parliament) described the continuation of Iraq, a rich oil country, to import oil derivatives in amounts of up to five billion dollars annually, as (defective), because Iraq is the second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, and demanded actual measures to improve the performance of refineries and achieve the country’s self-sufficiency of oil products.
As for the Minister of Oil and Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs, Hayyan Abdul Ghani, he pointed out that the second quarter of 2024, Iraq will achieve self-sufficiency in oil derivatives, adding, “The Karbala refinery now produces more than seven thousand five hundred cubic meters of high-octane gasoline per day, meaning that the purity of gasoline reaches 95, in addition to many other refining products.”
Abdul Ghani pointed out that “this achievement will provide large quantities of white oil products, and when these projects are completed, we will reach the stage of complete sufficiency, God willing,” as the minister put it.
Reducing Imports With the inauguration of the fourth phase project at the Shuaiba oil refinery, which has a production capacity of seventy thousand barrels per day, and which has been long overdue for the stages of completion, due to maintenance work in it for eight years, national oil engineers hope to find larger development areas, to break what is known as the monopoly of control of foreign companies in the implementation of projects in Iraq.
The entry of many refineries into service with advanced production lines is an important contribution to reducing the import of derivatives and high-octane car fuel, to about half of the country’s daily consumption need, and according to the Ministry of Oil, next year will witness Iraq’s declaration of self-sufficiency in all oil derivatives and fuel, and the closure of the import file after dozens of advanced refineries entered service with large production capacities in most provinces of the country.
Thank you MarkZ for all your time, and encouragement daily….. PDK
MarkZ Update- Some highlights by PDK-Not verbatim
MarkZ Disclaimer: Please consider everything on this call as my opinion. People who take notes do not catch everything and its best to watch the video so that you get everything in context. Be sure to consult a professional for any financial decisions
Coffee with MarkZ, MilitiaMan, and Andy Schectman. 01/17/2024
Member: Good Blessed Morning to everyone!
Member: Really praying for good news today.
MZ: In Iraq: “Al Sudani discusses with JP Morgan the opening of accounts with Iraqi banks.” This is a worldwide thing and to me this means international.
Member: So JP Morgan is closing some branches here in the US but opening branches in iraq
MZ: “China awarded major contract by Iraq for Supergiant oil and gas field” Many believe their natural gas will someday surpass their oil production.
MZ: Here is a great BRICS article : “3 Countries Agree To Launch BRICS Currency To Challenge US Dollar” out of the original 5 members- Brazil, Russia and S. Africa have agreed. They want a asset backed currency pegged to gold-most likely…….China is trying to launch its own CBDC digital currency and is not on board yet. India has one foot in the east and one foot in the west-trying to ride that fence.
MZ: “Iraq recalls ambassador from Iran after missile strikes-Ministry” This is concerning while we watch what is going on in the middle east. . There were missile strikes launched from Iran to the Kurdish region of Iraq.
MZ: “Big US banks ask for a redo on contentious capital rule” They are talking about Basel 3. Banks do not like it. Banks are supposed to have 13-14 % in actual capital assets to back up what they are digitally printing in this fractional system.
MZ: MilitiaMan has arrived!! Welcome
MM: Good Morning….I have several articles to talk about today. Basically Iraq is in the arena at Davo. I think there may be some big stuff coming out of there.
MM: Economic experts in Iraq are talking about using a basket of currencies . They are talking using other currencies and for the dinar to compete with the value of the dollar.
MM: I see that JP Morgan/Chase is in Iraq now. I went into Chase bank down the street. I have never banked with them before and opened a savings account. I found an article from the VP of JPMorgan Chase being in Iraq. I showed the guy at Chase the article and asked him if he knew anything about Iraq? He said no….he did not know the VP was in Iraq or anything about it…..I guess not everyone knows the big players in their own companies.
MM: JP Morgan is planning on potentially opening 3 private banks in Iraq. The buna platform with JP Morgan is tested and cleared. They are talking about this in Davo. We will have to see how they develop this financial system.
MZ: When you said Iraq plans to compete with the US dollar- They cannot compete with the USD at 1 dollar buying 1310 dinar.
MM: I just read that the basket of currencies with the Euro , the Chinese yuan, and the UAE durham will be used to value the Iraqi dinar in the way that competes with the US dollar. . That is the quote.
MZ: That is telling.
MM: Al Sudani came to the UN Assembly a while ago and said he was doing things to solidify his position and standing in the future of the world……what did they say to him? That Iraq was going to effectively be the savior of the financial system and was going to bring confidence to the largest banks of the world ….and one of those banks is JP Morgan. That was in September. .
MM: Are they going to do that at the rate of 1310? Does that makes sense? Absolutely not.
MM: Last July Al Alaq said the “Drop the 3 zero” project still exists. Not a lop….They are going to add value to the dinar and adjust the exchange rate. . To drop the 3 zeros they will change is from .007 to .7…That is what Dr. Shabibi was talking about years ago.
MM: A good thing is Sudani keeps warning the citizens that the dinar is going to be stronger then the dollar….he said it more than once.
MM: These meetings at Davo are pretty heavy….. At 10:30 tomorrow (The 18th) in Switzerland …. John Harris for Politico is going to be talking to Sudani. Interestingly enough…what time do the banks close in Iraq? My research says they close at 12:30….the same time as that meeting….. That is interesting.
MM: John Harris is the head founder of Politico…..and years ago wrote about the Kuwait RV /era
MZ: I wonder how the US managed to balance our budget (President Clinton) at that time? Lol
MM: And boy did they brag about it.
MZ: Yes they did…..They went down in history with that.
Member: Do you think the attacks on our embassy….in Erbil, Kurdistan will hinder/delay the RV?
MZ: To me this doesn’t change what’s going on economically….and if anything may put the pressure on to move things faster.
MM: Iran is in a pinch….their cash cow is going away. Stopping the graft at the Iraq border will stop their ability to do the money laundering and smuggling through customs. So, imo this attack is blow back….
Member: Why does everyone attach such importance to get rid of the illegal black market exchange rate in Iraq.
MM: Because it’s illegal. When Iraq comes out with the Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) and increases the dinar value….that black market rate will just go away. That’s my view on it.
MZ: I agree.
MZ: Iraq is positioned well for the world wide economy. Thanks for being here today MM.
MM: Iraq is going to be a very wealthy country.
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Member: whiplash 347 says 2 weeks. Basel 3 deadline yesterday. citi bank throwing fits. Basel 3 is fixing to make all the adjustments in the market and banking
Member: Went to chase today in AZ you should have seen the wealth management office had all the bells and whistles. Coffee stations, luxe lobby area by apt only:
Member: Mark, thanks as always for all the latest updates and news.
Member: Have a great day and see you tonight,
Andy Schectman also joins the stream today. Please listen to replay for the full MM interview……and all of Andy’s information and opinions.
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