Could Iran become BRICS’ new energy transit hub?

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian proposed creating a new energy transit network where his county would play a key role at the recent BRICS Summit in Kazan.

With Iran already serving as a transit hub for the North-South and East-West transport corridors, Pezeshkian suggested that it could also serve as foundation for a new BRICS energy transit system.

Possible routes

▪️Though it remains to be seen what form this proposed system might take – assuming that the Iranian president’s proposal is adopted – one possible iteration would be a land transit route for Russian oil and/or natural gas to India (one of the largest markets for these commodities) via Iran.

Such new transit route would allow the parties involved not to rely on the sea route that starts at Russia’s Black Sea coast and passes through the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea all the way to India – a route that, as the Houthis have demonstrated over the past year, can be disrupted.

▪️The implementation of this hypothetical project would likely involve the construction of an oil/natural gas pipeline from Russia to Iran (either via Azerbaijan or through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) and from Iran to India (likely through Pakistan, though a direct undersea pipeline may be feasible).

▪️Ferrying oil and gas from Iran to India by tankers via the Persian Gulf may also be a viable option.

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Titanium and palladium: Why banning Russian exports is not a good idea

The United States and its allies seem keen to continue giving the world a master class on shooting oneself in the foot economically by mulling even more anti-Russian sanctions that could hurt Western economies further.

The Biden administration has called upon other so-called G7 states to consider imposing sanctions on Russian titanium and palladium exports, Bloomberg claims, citing a “person familiar with the matter.”

This alleged proposal was brought forth as the US and its allies consistently fail to destroy the Russian economy through sanctions and restrictions that end up damaging their own economies instead, as both metals have a wide range of applications.

Metals that come in handy:

Palladium, for example, is used in jewelry, dentistry and watch making. It is also used to make catalytic converters, aircraft spark plugs, surgical instruments and electrical contacts.

Titanium is used in aerospace industry, with titanium alloys being used to make parts for aircraft, spacecraft and missiles. Titanium alloys are also used to make bikes, golf clubs and even laptops, and titanium pipes are used in heat exchangers due to their resistance to corrosion.

Russian exports

In 2024 Russia ranked as world’s third-largest titanium producer with an annual output of about 27,000 metric tons, and world’s largest supplier of palladium who accounts for 40% of its global supply.

If a ban on Russian exports of these two metals gets implemented, it would likely cause their respective prices to surge, thus having a detrimental effect on the industries that use these metals.

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Top 10 countries that have the most satellites in Earth’s orbit

The demise of the Intelsat-33e satellite earlier this month sparked concerns that its debris might pose a potential threat to the myriad of artificial satellites that sit in our planet’s orbit.

While the likelihood of such space disaster is up for debate, the fact remains that several thousand satellites currently orbit Earth.

What is the ranking of operational satellites by country?

As of 2023, the United States has the largest number of active artificial satellites, nearly 5,176 out of the total of about 7,560 satellites in orbit.

For comparison, the runner-up, the UK, only has 653 satellites while China with its 623 satellites ranks third.

The fourth place in this informal ranking belongs to Russia with 181 satellites and the fifth place goes to Japan and its 88 satellites.

Some 62 artificial satellites belong to India and 60 to Canada, who rank 6th and 7th respectively. Luxembourg has 57 satellites, France has 50 and Germany has 47.

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🇬🇪 Opposition parties in Georgia say they will not recognize the results of parliamentary elections as the ruling party is in the lead

Three of those four opposition parties, which gain enough votes to enter the Georgian parliament according to preliminary results - the United National Movement, the Strong Georgia and the Coalition for Change - have refused to accept the preliminary results of Saturday's parliamentary elections in Georgia.

“The elections have been stolen from the opposition,” Nika Gvaramia, one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, said at a briefing.

According to the country's Central Election Commission calculations, based on data from 72% of polling stations, the ruling Georgian Dream party is leading with 53%, the Coalition for Change with 11.1% and the United National Movement with 9.85%. The turnout was over 58%.

Total of 2 060 412 people voted, which is 58.94%, according to the CEC's spokeswoman Natia Iosseliani.

One of the leaders of the Coalition for Change party, Elene Khoshtaria, has already announced the start of protests in the country from 27 October.

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🇬🇪 Georgian Central Election Commission: ‘Georgian Dream’ wins the election with 55.3% of the vote

The official result was published after counting data from more than 54% of polling stations.

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🇰🇿 Kazakhstan joins BRICS with a partner status

This is a big step, Kazakhstan's ambassador to Russia Dauren Abayev noted.

'We are ready to support all productive BRICS initiatives that meet our national interests,' he said.

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‘Georgian Dream’ wins despite meddling attempts – Hungarian FM

The people of Georgia expressed their will in the elections, despite attempts to interfere from outside, as a result of which the ruling patriotic party Georgian Dream won by a large margin, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on social media.

"Despite attempts to interfere, the people of Georgia made it clear what they want. The patriotic ruling party, which supports the family, won the elections with an overwhelming advantage. Bravo, congratulations!" Szijjarto wrote.

‘Georgian Dream’ is gaining just under 54.2% of the votes in the parliamentary elections after recounting data from almost 99% of polling stations, according to the Central Election Commission of Georgia.

Earlier, Szijjarto said that Hungary was the only country to stand up for Georgia, which was attacked at the EU Foreign Ministers' Council due to the law on foreign agents. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the Georgian government was trying to preserve its sovereignty in difficult circumstances by adopting the law on foreign agents, and the EU did not understand this.

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❗️Russian Air Defense repels dozens of drone attacks in several regions

Russian air defense systems destroyed 31 Ukrainian drones: over the Belgorod, Lipetsk, Oryol, Bryansk, and Voronezh regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Additionally, two aircraft-type UAVs were destroyed by Russian air defense in the Bryansk region; there were no casualties or damage, the governor informed.

The governor of the Russian Tambov region reported an attack by 11 drones. A single fire "due to blast" was eliminated. There were no casualties.

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Iran reserves right to respond to Israel's attacks - country's mission to UN

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, in alignment with the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and international law, reserves its inherent right to legal and legitimate responses to these criminal attacks at the appropriate time," stated Iran's Permanent Representative Amir Saeed Iravani to the Swiss chair of the UN Security Council (UNSC), and its secretary general, Antonio Guterres.

Iravani also called on the UN secretary general and members of the UNSC to condemn Israel for the attacks.

Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces announced strikes on military installations in Iran as a response to attacks on the Jewish state on October 1.

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China vows "countermeasures" after US $2bln arms sale to Taiwan 

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has condemned and opposed the sale of weapons to Taiwan, in addition to lodging solemn representations with the US. Beijing has called on Washington to stop dangerous actions that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

"China will take resolute countermeasures and take all measures necessary to firmly defend national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. 

The US arms sales to Taiwan severely violate the one-China principle, and infringe upon the country's sovereignty and security interests. It also harms China-US relations and sends a gravely erroneous message to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, the ministry added.

Earlier this week, the US State Department approved 1.988 billion US dollars in arms sales to Taiwan, including the "National Advanced Surface-to-air Missile Systems" and radar systems.

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❗️Putin hopes West heard his signals on deep strikes into Russia

It's not whether they will allow it or not, Ukraine cannot use these weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, commenting on speculations of Ukraine striking deep inside Russia using Western long-range weapons.

Speaking of the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces, Putin said that everything that's happening now is committed by the hands of NATO officers.

The Russian Defense Ministry has thought about the responses to long-range strikes on the territory of Russia, and will offer various options, the president concluded.

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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze called the opposition's non-recognition of the election results a "hopeless attempt to justify itself."

Kobakhidze said that the government of Georgia would be approved, despite the actions of the opposition. 

"The opposition does not have the resources to interfere with the work of the first session of the Parliament of the new convocation of Georgia," the prime minister added.

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🔸Georgia’s ruling party wins parliamentary elections

🔸‘Georgian Dream’ wins despite meddling attempts – Hungarian FM

🔸Iran reserves right to respond to Israeli attacks

🔸Kazakhstan joins BRICS as a partner

🔸Could Iran become BRICS’ new energy transit hub?

🔸What will happen if West bans export of Russian titanium and palladium?

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⚡️The Georgian Dream party gets 90 mandates out of 150, after counting more than 99% of votes from polling stations, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament announced.

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