Wow? What can I say? It's the full warts and all. There can't be...

Wow? What can I say? It's the full warts and all. There can't be anything the directors have held back on. All problems put out in the open. This is a quality company with top management (except when they negotiate the price of new finance? Sorry that still rankles). Loved the risks and risk management sections and the geopolitics bits. All that needs doing to it is translating it into Farsi, and where there are uncomfortable truths to tell our partners, may be it should be done using Mullah Nasredin stories (witty Iranian parables about how to deal with life's problems, including commercial ones) (otherwise we come across as Westerners who think we know better, and that is a waste of time with Iranians, in my experience.

It seems to me serious obstacles lie in getting Mehdiabad up and running quickly: we are a punt on massive political change occuring in Iran? The speed with which they develop an A-bomb may determine just how fast political change is coming there. There must be a point at which even Russia and China will become alarmed, and President A. will have to become more and more extreme to up the stakes with the West, which will surely result in a backlash against the country's increasing isolation and its underperforming economy. If it was he who said "economics is for donkeys", those words will surely come back to haunt him one day.

Fully expecting at least another 18 month wait before any of the comments in the presentation have any effect on our partners' behaviour with respect to advancing the Mehdiabad project! Just a case of waiting for mass protests on the streets of Teheran to bring about regime change (or an invasion?). Continuing to hold 1120K.