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an obvious target because those two pariah regimes already have a relationship," Abrams went on.
"Venezuela is paying in gold to buy gasoline from Iran, and there is an Iranian presence in the country. Venezuela’s economy has collapsed, so every bar of gold for Iran is tens of thousands of dollars the Venezuelan people need for food and medicine," he added.
Where medicine is concerned, Iran has repeatedly expressed its outrage that crushing sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic by Washington have led to financial system difficulties that have caused shortages of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment it needs to address its severe coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Despite claims from the US that a decade-long UN arms embargo on Iran did not expire last week—all other major powers insist it did—Tehran says it is now free to export and import conventional weapons.
"Iran has shipped missiles to the Houthis [in Yemen], so we know they are ready, willing, and able to ship them to Venezuela and other possible buyers," Abrams said.
9.1.12 ​Utilities & power sector news
Tehran to decommission three high pollution oil-fired power plants
Start-up for Iran’s first geothermal power plant approaching says official
Tehran has plans to decommission three high pollution oil-fired old power plants within the next three years as part of an energy efficiency drive, ILNA has reported.
Much of the electricity and power infrastructure in Iran dates back to before the 1979 revolution. Big American companies like General Electric that were ejected from the country after the coup had helped create the infrastructure in conjunction with the former Pahlavi monarchy. Since then the Islamic Republic has continued to operate much of that infrastructure but has had to fabricate parts locally as US sanctions have made it impossible to continue importing replacement parts.
According to the Thermal Power Plants Holding Company (TPPH), there is now a programme to decommission the old power stations of Arasht, Rey, and Be’sat in Tehran over the next few years. They contribute 60 megawatts (Mw) of power to the grid.
TPPH managing director Mohsen Tarztalab said: “Despite the low efficiency of these three old power plants of Tehran, they should operate in the summer due to the high electricity consumption, and to prevent possible blackouts during the peak period, but now we also have plans to replace these power plants.”
The first power station in the capital earmarked for closure is Rey. The authorities say it needs to be shut down by December this year, as the city continues to suffer from temperature-induced heavy pollution or the "inversion effect", to which Rey power plant contributes a significant portion as it sits within the boundaries of the capital.
Iran's first geothermal power plant will go into operation before the end of the present 2020/2021 Persian calendar year (March 20), according to Deputy Energy Minister Homayoun Haeri.
First-phase primary electricity generation capacity of the $40.4mn plant would be five megawatts (MW), he said, adding that there were plans for further phases to gradually take that up to 50 MW.
Thermal Power Plants Holding (TPPH) is working on the plant in Meshkin Shahr county in the northwestern Ardebil province. The power plant will be located at the foot of Mount Sabalan, almost 85 kilometres northwest of
52​ IRAN Country Report December 2020 www.intellinews.com