IRAN // A week after announcing it would send two aid ships to Gaza, the Iranian Red Crescent made clear yesterday it has yet to receive ministerial approval for the voyage.
"We are ready but awaiting permission from the foreign ministry, given the political, military and security conditions in the region," Mojtaba Majd, a senior Red Crescent official, said.
That approval is likely to come, say analysts, who argue that Iran cannot risk losing face by rowing back on plans to challenge Israel's blockade of Gaza after announcing them with such fanfare.
The Iranian regime, which has long portrayed itself as the main champion of the Palestinians, also feels it has lost ground to its recent ally, Turkey.
A Turkish-flagged ship led the "freedom flotilla" convoy that suffered a deadly Israeli commando raid earlier this month as it tried to deliver aid to Gaza. Nine people on board the Turkish vessel were shot dead.
"Iran has sent hundreds of millions of dollars to Gaza, yet there are lots of Turkish flags there and not one Iranian flag in sight," Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born analyst living in Israel, said in an interview.
Iranian leaders revelled in the international condemnation of Israel's botched and bloody attack on the flotilla, joining in with their own denunciations of what the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called the "brutal and barbaric Zionist regime". Iran's opposition green movement leaders also condemned the Israeli raid.
Despite its tough rhetoric, however, the Iranian regime did not authorise mass anti-Israeli demonstrations, as it usually does on such occasions.
It feared that any pro-Palestinian protests would be hijacked by green movement supporters and turned into demonstrations against the Iranian regime, commentators said. It was a concern based on recent experience. The regime was deeply embarrassed last September when protestors exploited an ostensibly legitimate opportunity - Iran's annual al-Quds rally in support of the Palestinians - to take to the streets in huge numbers to vent their fury against their government.
Sending two aid vessels to Gaza, the regime calculates, will help restore its stature on the Palestinian issue. One of the Iranian ships is to carry food, medicine and medical equipment, the other medical staff. They are expected to sail this week, the Iranian Red Crescent said.
But other far-fetched plans appear certain to come to nothing. Mr Majd declared yesterday that more than 100,000 Iranians had volunteered to sail to Gaza as aid workers and that the registration of others would continue for another fortnight.
He acknowledged, however, that they may not be sent, given the conditions in the region. "The important point is that the people of Gaza know that hundreds of thousands of brave Iranians have signed up and prepared themselves to offer help to Gazans."
It also seems unlikely that anything will come of last week's suggestion by a senior Iranian regime official that Revolutionary Guard naval units could be sent to escort the two Iranian aid vessels.
Any intervention by the Iranian military would be considered highly provocative by Israel, which accuses Tehran of seeking to build a nuclear bomb, and of backing Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza.
Egypt, which has no diplomatic ties with Iran, would be unlikely to allow Iranian military vessels to pass through the Suez Canal on such a mission, according to regional diplomats and analysts.
But Cairo is likely to allow aid ships passage and let Israel deal with the fallout when they approach Gazan waters, Mr Javedanfar said.
The Iranian Red Crescent sent an aid ship carrying food and medicine to Gaza in December 2008 but it was prevented from reaching the impoverished Palestinian territory by the Israeli navy.
Iran and Israel have had no diplomatic ties since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The autocratic, US-backed Shah enjoyed good relations with the Jewish state. But the revolutionary new regime swiftly closed the Israeli embassy, turning it over to the Palestinians to use as their diplomatic mission.
A major Tehran thoroughfare called Kakh, or Palace, because it was next to one of the ousted Shah's palaces, was renamed Palestine Avenue.
Mr Ahmadinejad regularly predicts the demise of Israel. In turn, Israel, which has the Middle East's sole, if undeclared nuclear arsenal, has refused to rule out a resort to military action against Iran to prevent it acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely peaceful in nature. Any military-escorted Iranian aid effort would be most unwelcome in the Arab world, which opposes the blockade on Gaza, but is also wary of Iranian interventions.
Mr Javedanfar said: "No one wants Iranian participation turning the attention of the world away from the humanitarian issue [in Gaza] into an [Israeli] confrontation with Iran."
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
'THE WORST THING YOU CAN EAT'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Mane points for safe home colouring
- Natural and grey hair takes colour differently than chemically treated hair
- Taking hair from a dark to a light colour should involve a slow transition through warmer stages of colour
- When choosing a colour (especially a lighter tone), allow for a natural lift of warmth
- Most modern hair colours are technique-based, in that they require a confident hand and taught skills
- If you decide to be brave and go for it, seek professional advice and use a semi-permanent colour
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
