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Iran Tag

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on July 12, 2016 3 Comments
Iran has been making repeated attempts to acquire nuclear-, chemical- and biological weapons technology from Germany, reveals the annual domestic intelligence report published by the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) last week. According to the report, last year Iran made 141 attempts to illegally secure technologies related to [nuclear, chemical, biological] proliferation in the state of NRW alone. This indicates an almost 100 percent rise compared to 83 such attempts in 2014. If this intelligence report is to be believed, than German government was aware of Iran’s continued efforts to acquire Nuclear and WMD technologies while it was pushing for a Nuclear Deal with Tehran 0n the world stage. Chancellor Merkel’s Government enthusiastically backed Obama-sponsored Nuclear Deal and was one of the six countries that worked out a nuclear agreement with Iran last year.

Posted by David Gerstman on July 04, 2016 10 Comments
Numerous news reports have covered the Navy's report on the capture of ten U.S. sailors in January by Iran, notably the Navy's decision to discipline nine officers and sailors over the incident. But the media buried a bigger part of the incident in the Navy's report. Here's Politico, quoting from Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson:
Richardson said a number of serious mistakes contributed to the sailors’ capture, but he reiterated they broke no international laws and “had every right to be where they were on that day” because the laws of the sea allow for what’s called innocent passage. “The investigation concluded that Iran violated international law by impeding the boats’ innocent passage transit. They violated sovereign immunity by boarding, searching and seizing the boats and by photographing and videotaping the crew,” Richardson said.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on June 21, 2016 6 Comments
As the U.S. disengages from Latin America as part of President Obama’s broader policy of reducing American presence in the world, Iran is moving in fill parts of that geopolitical vacuum, says a report published by Washington D.C. based Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS). The report used documents and legal wiretaps related to the circumstance surrounding the death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman who died of a bullet shot on January 19, 2015, a day before he was going to testify before Argentina’s Congress about Buenos Aires Jewish community center bombing carried out by Iranian terrorists. The report cited by the Wall Street Journal shows how the death of Argentine prosecutor “paved the way for [Iran] to move into a new phase of its information and intelligence operations in Latin America.” WSJ concluded that unfettered access for international financial system and assets worth $150 billion given to Iran as the result of Obama-Kerry Nuclear Deal “will increase Iran’s penetration of the Western Hemisphere.” The revelation comes just days after a senior Israeli diplomat in New Delhi warned of a concrete threat of Iran-sponsored terrorism targeting Israelis in India and abroad. In February 2012, Iranian terrorists carried out a bomb attack targeting Israeli mission in New Delhi.

Posted by David Gerstman on June 05, 2016 17 Comments
In a brutal report on the administration's dishonesty regarding the nuclear deal with Iran, CNN's Jake Tapper last week concluded that Americans "have a right to know who lied to us." Tapper walked us through the basics, but let's review. The story began in February 2013, when Fox News reporter James Rosen asked then State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland, "There have been reports that intermittently, and outside of the formal P-5+1 mechanisms the Obama Administration, or members of it, have conducted direct, secret, bilateral talks with Iran. Is that true or false?"

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 03, 2016 9 Comments
President Obama press advisor Jen Psaki attacked Fox News after reporter James Rosen asked for clarification over her statement about deleted footage from a 2013 press briefing about secret Iran and U.S. talks. Rosen asked then-State spokeswoman Psaki about the meeting in 2013, a year after the department denied such talks existed. Psaki admitted they took place, but Rosen found someone deleted his questions from the old video:
The department acknowledged Wednesday that several minutes of video from the 2013 briefing – at which then-State Department spokeswoman Psaki appeared to acknowledge misleading the press over the Iran nuclear deal – had been intentionally cut. The order apparently came from an official in the public affairs office, but that individual has not been identified.
Fox News published their complete email exchange, where Psaki berates Rosen for politely asking for an explanation after Psaki referred to the transcript and not the video.

Posted by David Gerstman on May 25, 2016 6 Comments
How's the Iran nuclear deal working out? I'm not asking the broader foreign policy question that Tom Nichols just addressed, but how is the nuclear aspect of the deal by itself working out? According to Jonathan Broder of Newsweek, the deal is unraveling. And it is the fault of the United States.
Probably the biggest source of friction is a U.S. law that bars Iran from using the U.S. financial system and the American dollar, even indirectly. The law, enacted in 2012, was aimed at punishing Iran for a variety of alleged sins: the country’s ballistic missile program, human rights abuses and state-sponsored terrorism. Because these issues haven’t been resolved, there is virtually no chance Congress would repeal the law in the foreseeable future, experts say. As long as that statute remains in place, foreign banks holding Iran’s funds in dollars will be wary of doing business with the country.

Posted by David Gerstman on May 22, 2016 5 Comments
In his testimony last week before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, concerning the grand Iran deal deception described in a recent New York Times article that was carried out by Obama and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, Michael Doran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, laid out five areas where the White House deceived the American people. First, Doran in his testimony established that even before he became president, Obama had expressed an interest in rapprochement with Iran. He cited former CIA chief and Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, from The New York Times expose on the echo chamber saying that the administration knew that "They’d have gotten “the [expletive] kicked out of them,” if they had been upfront about their intention to engage Iran. Doran summed it up:

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on May 19, 2016 5 Comments
China will play a greater geostrategic role in the Middle East and Africa thanks to the construction of the new transnational corridor. The 2,500 km-long network of highways, railways, pipelines and ports will connect the Western Chinese city of Kashgar with Pakistan's deep-sea port of Gwadar. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as the project is officially called, comes at an initial cost of $46 billion within the next 10-15 years. The corridor reduces China’s dependence on its main Malacca route. Presently 85 percent of the China's oil imports pass through the single chokepoint of the Strait of Malacca, located between Indonesia and Malaysia. With Pakistan's ports Gwadar and Karachi under control, Beijing would have direct access to resources and markets in Middle East and Africa. China already operates several ports in Africa, including its first overseas naval and military base near Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa.

Posted by David Gerstman on May 16, 2016 9 Comments
There continues to be fallout from the profile of Obama adviser Ben Rhodes that appeared in Sunday's New York Times magazine last week. Much of discussion of the article has surrounded who demonstrated bad faith, the Obama administration or Samuels. There are two targets of the criticism. In the MSM and left-leaning media the villain is David Samuels for writing a hatchet job on the administration. In the right-leaning media the villain is the administration for lying about the nuclear deal with Iran. But the question of dishonesty or bad faith is less important than the system Samuel described. From the administration's view, the article was, according to Lee Smith, "a victory lap," a boast of how they bested their political opponents and mastered the media. Little attention has been paid to exactly how the "echo chamber" Ben Rhodes boasted about actually worked.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 14, 2016 9 Comments
Back in January, Iran seized two U. S. Navy vessels and detained 10 of our sailors, and though they were released amid a flurry of genuflections and gushing gratitude from John Kerry, our sailors were purposefully and publicly humiliated by Iran.  Not only did they release photos, but they are going so far as to erect a statue to memorialize their "victory" over the United States. The Navy announced that Commander Eric Rasch who was the executive officer of the riverine squadron has been fired as a result of the Navy's "lack of confidence in his ability to command." The Navy Times reports:
The head of a riverine squadron at the center of an international incident in January was fired Thursday, the first officer to be publicly disciplined for errors that led to 10 sailors being captured by Iran after getting lost in the Persian Gulf — a debacle that nearly scuttled the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal at the 11th hour.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 13, 2016 4 Comments
There have been a series of assinations of top Hezbollah commanders in the recent past, including Imad Mughniyeh (mastermind of almost all attacks on Israel and the U.S.), his son Imad Mughniyeh (who was killed along with several high level operatives and an Iranian general), Hassan Laqqis (key Hezbollah link to Iranian weapons procurement) and Samir Kuntar (who killed an Israeli girl by smashing her head against the rocks on a beach). In some of the cases (Imad Mughniyeh) Israeli involvement was clear, in the others it's presumed. Hezbollah just lost another top commander, the brother-in-law of Imad Mughniyey, and its top commander in Syria, Mustafa Amine Badreddine. The BBC reports:

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on May 12, 2016 3 Comments
One year after the Obama-backed Nuclear Deal came into effect, Islamic Republic of Iran remains the leading sponsor of international terrorism, says a policy paper published by British policy think-tank Henry Jackson Society. According to the report released on Wednesday at the House of Lords in London, Iran maintains a large and lucrative illegal financing network to bypass the remaining sanction that are in place to stop Tehran from funding terrorist outfits and regime. The report quotes an economist close to current Iranian regime describing the extent of the network, stating that “between 5,000-10,000 people worked in the [illicit financing] network, handling deals worth between $300 billion and $400 billion over the past decade.” Even after easing of sanction by the U.S. and the West, Iran seems to have no intention of giving up this illicit financing network which also acts as a lucrative source of income for the members of the military and the regime.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 09, 2016 9 Comments
Iran's Tasnim agency reported the regime tested a ballistic missile, but the defense minister denied the claims.
“Two weeks ago, we test-fired a missile with a range of 2000 kilometers and a margin of error of eight meters,” declared Brigadier General Ali Abdollahi. "We can guide this ballistic missile."

Posted by David Gerstman on May 06, 2016 33 Comments
Perhaps the most famous person on the internet right now is Ben Rhodes, Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser. Rhodes is profiled in a The New York Times Magazine cover stroy that rips to shreds both the story line sold to the American public and the notion that we have independent media in the age of Obama. Rhodes' job was to message and ensure that the White House's narrative of the nuclear deal with Iran was the media's. Rhodes, in the profile written by David Samuels, displays no shame about his job; in fact he seems quite pleased with himself.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on April 21, 2016 2 Comments
Germany-based activists linked to the terrorist outfit Hezbollah could be getting large amounts of financial support from the German government, the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung reveals. In one instance, city of Berlin is set to grant €100,000 to a 'refugee project' allegedly run by Hezbollah sympathisers. ‘Refugee Impulse Club’, as the group is called, has also been nominated for a €10,000 prize offered by the German Ministry of Culture. The nomination alone brings €2,500 to the group. Hezbollah, the Iran-funded Shia terrorist group, controls most of Lebanon and has made large territorial gains in Syria fighting on behalf of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Hezbollah also acts as the long arm of Iranian regime, with a long history of involvement in international terrorism under the direction of Tehran. According to a German intelligence report, Berlin is home to some 250 active Hezbollah members. Estimated 950 Hezbollah members and 300 Hamas members are thought to be operating on German soil. Berliner Zeitung reports:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 20, 2016 3 Comments
I guess I knew this case was percolating through the system, but I didn't pay much attention to it. The Supreme Court upheld a law which paved the way for terror victims to recover damages from Iran. The Opinion is here. The legal issue was not terrorism, but whether Congress exceeded its authority. Here's the opening of Justice Ginsburg's majority opinion:
A provision of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, 22 U. S. C. §8772, makes available for postjudgment execution a set of assets held at a New York bank for Bank Markazi, the Central Bank of Iran. The assets would partially satisfy judgments gained in separate actions by over 1,000 victims of terrorist acts sponsored by Iran. The judgments remain unpaid. Section 8772 is an unusual statute: It designates a particular set of assets and renders them available to satisfy the liability and damages judgments underlying a onsolidated enforcement proceeding that the statute identifies by the District Court’s docket number. The question raised by petitioner Bank Markazi: Does §8772 violate the separation of powers by purporting to change the law for, and directing a particular result in, a single pending case? Section 8772, we hold, does not transgress constraints placed on Congress and the President by the Constitution....
The NY Times describes the background, Supreme Court Rules Iran Bank Must Pay for Terrorist Attacks:

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on April 12, 2016 3 Comments
Terrorist group Hezbollah is using the conflict in Syria to prepare for a war with Israel, reveals a report published by the UK-based research group BICOM. In 2015, Iran funnelled a billion dollars to the Lebanon-based terrorist group. According to a strategic analysis released by Britain Israel Communications & Research Centre (BICOM) on Monday, Iran-backed Hezbollah's missile stockpile is now estimated to be around 100,000-150,000, with large portion of it hidden among Lebanon's civilian population. Hezbollah entered the Syrian civil war 5 years ago to fight on behalf of Iran-backed dictator Bashar Al Assad. Since then 5,000 of its 20,000-strong fighting force is pinned down in Syria. The terrorist militia now controls territory within Syria, creating a base for Iran -- a fallback option in case Assad regime were to collapse. The Obama-Kerry Nuclear Deal gave Iran a signing bonus of  $150 billion. Flushed with fresh cash, regime in Tehran is making up for the past cuts it had to make in funding its proxy terrorist group across the Middle East including Hezbollah.

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 03, 2016 19 Comments
Stewardesses for Air France have been ordered to wear headscarves when flying into Iran's capital of Tehran and they're not happy about it. The order has sparked a backlash. The Telegraph reports:
Air France stewardesses mutiny over order to wear headscarves Air France stewardesses, furious at being ordered to wear headscarves in Tehran, say they will refuse to fly to the Iranian capital when the airline resumes the service later this month.
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