ISNA | Ali Taghavi: Iranian Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri has formally inaugurated a direct reduction iron (DRI) plant and a steel pelletizing plant in the southeastern province of Kerman. The two plants, built with more than half a billion dollars of investment, will add 1 million tonnes of DRI, otherwise known as sponge iron, and 2.5 million tonnes of iron ore pellets to Iran’s burgeoning steel production. The first plant commissioned Tuesday was the Butia pelletizing near the city of Kerman which has been producing pellets on a trial basis since April. Jahangiri then traveled to Bardsir to open its 1 million-tonne DRI plant for production of billets and blooms.