Page 52 - IRANRptOct20

Ore Company.
The output of Iran’s aluminium producers was recorded at aggregate 275,716 tonnes in the 2019/2020 Persian calendar year (ended March 20), marking an 8% y/y decrease, according to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization.
Flagship producer Iran Aluminum Company (IRALCO) accounted for 177,348 tonnes, registering growth of 4% y/y.
Second biggest producer was Hormozal Aluminum Company with 46,694 tonnes, a figure that represented a 40% y/y drop. Next were Almahdi Aluminum Company with 42,059 tonnes (20% y.y) and Iran Alumina Company with 9,615 tonnes (no annual comparison was provided).
9.1.11 ​Defence sector news
Iran steps up military presence on Azerbaijan, Armenia borders
Iran's military has stepped up patrols and deployments of soldiers along its borders with​ w​ arring Azerbaijan and Armenia​, ​Tasnim news agency reported on September 30.
Thousands of troops and anti-aircraft guns have reportedly been shipped to Iran’s northern border with Azerbaijan in particular. Iranian intelligence agencies, meanwhile, have increased efforts to apprehend and stop ethnic Azerbaijani groups openly displaying support for Azerbaijan in the conflict, according to unverified social media reports.
The military build-up on the Azerbaijani border could potentially put Iran’s military forces in a precarious position as the area surrounding the border is populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis who have become vocally supportive of Baku’s effort to liberate the ethnic Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
In recent days, video footage emerged of a military transport truck bound for Armenia being set alight by people supporting Azerbaijan’s push to take back the territory it lost to the ethnic Armenians in the early 1990s.
In regions close to the Azerbaijan border, Perso-Arabic Azerbaijani script has been graffitied on walls in support of Azerbaijan’s war efforts.
In one instance, a person sprayed, “Death to Armenia, Long Live Azerbaijan”. Such sentiments spook Iran’s clerical government who fear an ethnic Azerbaijani rebellion amid the country’s economic and coronavirus (COVID-19) crises.
Tehran claims it is neutral towards the ongoing conflict, but significant footage has emerged on social media of hundreds of Russian ​military equipment crossing the border with Armenia. The equipment appears to have been initially brought into the Islamic Republic via Caspian Sea ports including Bandar Anzali.
Iranian presidential chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi vocally dismissed the idea that Iran was supporting Armenia in a phone call with Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev on September 30.
“Such rumours [about supporting Armenia] are baseless and aimed at upsetting the good relations between Iran and Azerbaijan,” Vaezi said.
“The Republic of Azerbaijan has a special and important place in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy, and we have always seized every opportunity to strengthen and broaden our relations with that country,” Vaezi stressed.
52​ IRAN Country Report October 2020 www.intellinews.com