Iranian Roads and Urban Development Minister Ali Nikzad and Iraqi Transport Minister Hadi al-Amiri inked a memorandum of understanding in Tehran on Thursday to give a boost to their cooperation in the transport sector.

The MOU also envisaged exchanging technical and engineering services by the...

Iran’s copper production capacity stands currently at around 220,000 tons per year and the capacity is projected to be doubled by the end of the fifth five-year development plan (2015), the industry, mine and trade announced on Thursday.

Mehdi Ghazanfari made the announcement on the sidelines of a ceremony inaugurating a number of copper production development plans in southeastern Kerman province.

Ghazanfari said Iran holds around 57 billion tons of proven and probable mineral reserves, worth around $ 770 billion, placing"...

Turkish lender Halkbank will continue to handle customers' oil payments to Iran as long as they comply with international, and not the US, regulations, the bank's general manager said in the wake of fresh, unilateral US and EU sanctions against Tehran, FNa reported.

General Manager Suleyman Aslan underlined that his bank is not acting illegally. He said a decision to reject an application from another Indian refiner late last year was unrelated to its trade deals with Iran.

In an interview with Reuters Aslan said decisions on whether to take business are based on banking rather...

Iran has announced an 8 percent devaluation of the rial and said it would enforce a single exchange rate, aiming to stamp out a black market where dollars have soared due to fears over new sanctions imposed by the West.

"I announce it right here at 12,260 rials (to the dollar)," Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani said.

"This new price will go into effect starting Saturday in all banking outlets and all banking transactions will be calculated on the basis of this new rate," he said.

The bank's reference rate, posted"...

As the European Union prepares to ban Iranian oil and the United States turns the screw on payments, oil executives and policymakers say China and Russia stand to gain the most and Western oil firms and consumers may emerge the biggest losers.

Iran will continue to sell much the same volume of oil - 2.6 million barrels per day or around 3 percent of world supply - but almost all of it will flow to China, they reason. And being pretty much Iran’s only remaining customer, Beijing will be able to negotiate a much reduced price.

The EU will ban Iranian oil from July. The United...

Heater sales have increased dramatically in the last week as Bahrain as winds of up to 30 knots battered the country, with temperatures dropping as low as 8C.

Among the stores reporting bumper heater sales was Home Electronics in Isa Town.

"People haven't been buying heaters for the last two years and now it's been flying out so quickly," said a spokeswoman.

"We bought 1,800 heaters originally. However, 700 heaters were sold in just five days and now, less than 2,000 heaters are available in stock."

Staff at Emax, which has three branches in Muharraq, Manama and Riffa,...