For ease of reading of the full analysis, COPY this link below and PASTE it into your browser to see the original document:

www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/dwtf439o5sm879s9al65u/Oil-and-Trade-Western-Media-Media-Propaganda.docx?rlkey=gk3g8rn4xvdljrl3iws0aicwe&st=6cufwa4p&dl=0

90% of the Iranian GDP is oil and gas. 
 
It extracted by BP, Shell, Total of France, Asian producers, and converted to fuels for our vehicles, trains, and aircraft. Iran has the fourth largest oil reserves, and the largest gas reserves. The Middle East region has been declared a fossil fuel 'carbon bomb' by Greenpeace. 
 
There is a very longstanding, active, and feature a close and ongoing relationship between the highest strata of the UK Government and Foreign Office, and Chairmen, Board Members, and Vice Presidents of BP and Shell. There have been around 400 meetings between BP/Shell and Government Departments uncovered by The Guardian since 2010.

Oil and Gas come under UK National Security, not Economy, and under this heading there are a number of Industry/Government committees that meet regularly to discuss issues including, substantially, the Middle East. These included in 2003, the FCO, MI5 DTI (IPOD), Interdepartmental Oil Sector Liason Group (source: Chilcott). to (today), the Oil and Gas Authority, the (former) Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), and now Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).
 
The Iranian economy is completely wedded to oil and gas sales. The regime has made no economically grounded plans to deal with the end of the oil era.
 
Much is being made of the JPCOA or 'nuclear deal' signed between the Western powers and the Iranian regime. Trade expansion is assumed to be a major benefit for all parties, and two very large aircraft orders between the regime and Boeing $25bn and Airbus $27bn are early examples. Arms sales is also likely to be in the region of $ (cite).
 
Iran has the fourth largest oil reserves, and largest gas reserves in the world. Iran's exports fell from $592bn before sanctions to 417bn (2015 estimate), and post sanctions relief are now likely to rise sharply. The Iranian regime is immutably connected to Big Oil.
 
Presently the UK terrorist Threat Level is Severe - an attack is highly likely. Oil and gas companies such as BP have heavily influenced FCO policy on dealing with dictatorial regimes in the Middle East, and the FCO/BP classification of oil and gas under 'Security' and not 'Economy' is a distinction pushed by BP and Shell. Leif Wenar writes in the book Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules that Run the World: “The global jihadi movement that we now see would not exist without that oil money.” 
 
Yet even with European sanctions against until the 2015 signing of the JPCOA, global oil prices fell sharply.
 
The Iranian regime is heavily involved in sponsoring and supporting wars in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. It provides cash, arms, and training to Hezbollah and Hamas. (Evidence showed Hezbollah were behind the Burgas Bulgaria bus bombing in 2012). The regime’s external activities include supporting Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina in 1994. The regime is also heavily present in Syria and guiding the attacks on civilian populations that have caused depopulation and the European refugee crisis.
 
But the regime is 90% funded by oil revenues and investments from Shell, BP, France’s Total, and others. We pay the Iranian regime to start wars against us to protect procurement of an environmentally damaging commodity that we demonstrably no longer need to procure from them?
 
Western policy towards the Iranian regime.
 
(The late) Professor Anthony Jenkins noted that Government policy is significantly shaped by multinational companies, the media, and organised pressure groups. In both the US and UK, oil companies run powerful high level government lobbying programs. The Guardian has uncovered a very active program of meetings, around 400 since 2010, between the Government and the FCO and Shell, BP, and the other fossil fuel companies. It has also tracked the one-way drift of around 15 senior Civil Servants to Shell and BP over the last 12 years.
 
Oil energy is seen as so important that it comes under National Security, not the Economy, and monthly meetings between the Government and energy companies are recorded on the UK Government webite under Security.
 
Because the oil business depends on the interworkings of oil companies and despotic regimes, and widespread knowledge of this by consumers would cause resistance to build against fuel purchases, the Government and oil industry actively avoid attention being drawn to their activities in the Middle East in the UK mainstream news. In-region trade journals including regime publications do cover the activities extensively. Consideration of renewable energy or the fact that scientists say the Middle East oil and gas should not be used (The Caspian Sea is No. 13 on Greenpeace's Carbon Bomb list) does not occur. Both BP and Shell run attack adverts reminding the Government about the number of jobs the industry supports, and that BP and Shell dividends make up about 12% of the UK's total pension dividend income.
 
No evidence has yet been found to answer a concern that the Iranian regime uses it's BP connections to influence UK Government policy towards the regime, but it would be entirely reasonable to take this as a given. BP are presently setting up a representative office in Tehran. (Questions about it's purpose were answered by 'No comment.')
 
It is therefore difficult to escape a conclusion that Western Government policy towards the Iranian regime is informed and shaped by the oil industry, the defences to awkward question raised by using the fake regime-focussed think tanks as a shield. That an active policy to chill media coverage can be firstly informed by the active coverage in Middle East oil trade journals, and a sufficiently large number of 'no comment' responses given usually by BP when journalists seek to discuss Middle East investment and trade matters.
 
It also appears the case that at different levels the UK Government's Civil Service is comfortably held in a timewarped worldview by the Oil Companies. 
 
Media propaganda.
 
The regime has an active propaganda operation to challenge Western Government thinking based primarily on falsehoods, deception and 'fake experts'. Its most public examples are Press TV, edited and broadcast from Tehran, the National Iranian American Committee, (NIAC), a Washington based regime lobbying organisation, and a low level and generally ineffectve UK organisation, Iran Interlink which acts as an echo chamber for Press TV.
 
In the UK, Press TV was banned and fined £100,000 over impartiality by OFCOM in 2012 (the fine remains unpaid). NIAC was found to be funded and backed by The Ploughshares Fund, an organisation connected to the Koch Brothers, heavily involved with oil and coal interests. In 201X NIAC lost a court case against (name) who they had sued for libel after he documented their pro-Tehran position. Iran Interlink attempt to push the view that the Iranian Opposition is some sort of cult, and busy themselves with writing falsehoods. These are easily disproved, one notably outrageous one was a claimed visit by themselves to Camp Ashraf in September 2014. Their financing is opaque. Forensic publicly collected evidence showed the writers never even left the UK! 
 
However the collective propaganda appears to play well with complicit departments of state in Western Governments who, driven by the oil industry, place oil security above human rights, and have strong oil company lobbyists to contend with. Oil companies much prefer to deal with authoritarian regimes. The UK, and French Governments are particularly featured here as going along with the 'cult' line and use this effectively to avoid campaigners' calls foe accountability.
 
UK Press coverage of Iranian Opposition
 
It has long been the case that getting coverage of outrages at Camp Ashraf, and NCRI campaigning in general in UK news and broadcast media has been very difficult. The Telegraph occasionally publishes an article querying UK support of the regime studiously avoiding any talk of oil. The Guardian lately publishes, carrying an article by Lord Carlile in 2012, and good coverage of the October 2015 Camp Liberty outrage after a mass emailing to journalists by LFF. 
 
One reason for the non-coverage may be an advertiser-influenced editorial problem. BP and Shell are heavy ad-spenders, and LFF assert that the regime can easily apply pressure on them to threaten the media with ad cancellations. Indeed The Telegraph's ex journalist Peter Oborne asserted this over HSBC and their tax evasion (cite) activities.
 
However as it appears clear that the Government's classification of oil under National Security would make it very easy for the regime to demand that BP to ask the FCO for coverage to be discouraged, and the FCO to apply pressure on the media. 
 
LFF have no direct evidence of this, but we do have evidence of BP (less so Shell) actively discouraging UK media attention in their Middle East activities. We have other direct evidence of the FCO actively discouraging coverage of a rising list of UK dual passport detainees held by the regime, yet a totally opposite case of the FCO actively pushing India to release a number of UK nationals, and going so far as to send FCO Minister Minister Hugo Swire to India in May 2016 to demand their return.
 
Link for Freedom are calling for three specific actions:
 

• To highlight to the UK Foreign Office the high cost in lives and wars taking place that is paid for by our oil companies.
•  To link UK oil contracts to human rights abuses in Iran 
•  To publicise oil sales to terrorists risks in Europe and the UK.

 
References:
 
Blood for oil? Documents reveal talks between Government and oil giants BEFORE invasion of Iraq
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1378428/Iraq-war-documents-reveal-talks-Government-oil-giants-BP-invasion.html
 
Revealed: BP's close ties with the UK government 
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/20/revealed-bps-close-ties-with-the-uk-government

Peter Obone quits Telegraph (Resignation article)
http://order-order.com/2015/02/17/breaking-oborne-quits-telegraph/?iframe=true&preview=true
 
Britain bans Iran's Press TV from airwaves
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9028435/Britain-bans-Irans-Press-TV-from-airwaves.html
 
Pro-Iran NIAC Found Liable to Pay Judgment for Disobeying “Multiple Court Orders”
http://www.thetower.org/1715-niac-found-liable-to-pay-judgment-for-disobeying-multiple-court-orders/
 
Ofcom reverses decision to revoke licence of Iran's Press TV 
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/nov/30/ofcom-iran-press-tv
 
Foreign minister visits British seamen held in India
http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2016-06-01/foreign-minister-visits-british-seamen-held-in-india/