BEIRUT: While international sanctions have made life a struggle for many Iranians, they were a big break for businessman Babak Zanjani, who made a fortune helping the government evade the restrictions on oil sales. He also made enemies.
A $40,000 watch on his wrist and a Tehran football club for a plaything, Zanjani shuttled to meetings on private jets, arranging billions of dollars of oil deals through a network of companies that stretched from Turkey to Malaysia, Tajikistan and the UAE, he said last autumn.
“This is my work — sanctions-busting operations,” he told Iranian current affairs magazine Aseman.
Under the conservative presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the 39-year-old Zanjani was good enough at his work to amass a fortune of $10 billion until he was arrested late last month. He is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison, accused of owing the government, under moderate new President Hassan Rowhani since August, more than $2.7 billion for oil sold on behalf of the Oil Ministry.
Rowhani’s government has not said what specific charges are being investigated. But two days before Zanjani’s arrest, Rowhani had written to his first deputy demanding action against sanctions profiteers.
Billionaire’s arrest focuses on Iran’s political divisions
Billionaire’s arrest focuses on Iran’s political divisions
France deploys jets over UAE to protect its military bases
PARIS: France has deployed Rafale fighter jets over the United Arab Emirates to protect its naval and air bases against Iranian attacks, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday.
France has hundreds of navy, air force and army personnel based in the UAE. Its Rafale aircraft are stationed at Al-Dhafra base near Abu Dhabi.
“These Rafales and their pilots are mobilized to ensure the security of our facilities,” Barrot told broadcaster BFMTV in response to a question on French action in the UAE over the weekend to neutralize Iranian drones.
“They have carried out operations to secure the airspace above our bases.”
On Sunday, “a hangar at a French base in the United Arab Emirates was hit by a drone,” Barrot said.
“Exchanges are multiplying to determine both how the country can defend itself against future attacks and how France can protect its interests there,” he added.
France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was however in the North Atlantic, as part of a previously planned multinational exercise, Barrot said, after he was asked if it had been sent to the Mediterranean.
To the best of his knowledge, it had not changed course, he said.
The United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran on Saturday, killing Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran has responded by targeting US allies in the Gulf region.
Debris from a drone interception caused a fire that was contained at an oil industry zone in the Fujairah emirate on Tuesday, authorities said.
In Abu Dhabi, a drone struck a fuel tank terminal on Monday, causing a fire though operations were not impacted.
Tech giant Amazon said late on Monday that two of its data centers in the UAE were “directly struck” by drones, disrupting cloud services in parts of the Middle East.
