Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

[superbeets]

Iranian-American Baquer Namazi (left) and his son, Siamak Namazi (right), were sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly spying and cooperating with the US government


ranian authorities have sentenced a dual Iranian-American national and his elderly father to 10 years in prison for allegedly spying for the United States, the Islamic republic's state media reported on Tuesday.
Siamak Namazi, a businessman in his mid-40s with dual US-Iranian citizenship, was detained by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in October 2015 during a visit to relatives in the capital of Tehran.
This past February, the IRGC arrested his 80-year-old father, Baquer Namazi, a former Iranian provincial governor and former UNICEF official who also has dual citizenship.
Both men were sentenced to 10 years in prison for spying and cooperating with the US government, said Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, according to the Fars news website, without specifying when exactly the sentences had been handed down.




The US State Department's deputy spokesman, Mark Toner, said the father and son had been 'unjustly detained' in Iran, and called for their immediate release.
The sentences were the latest against dual nationals directed by hardliners who are powerful in Iran's judiciary and security forces, in the aftermath of Iran's historic nuclear deal with the United States and other world powers last year.
Washington and Tehran have not had formal diplomatic relations since the 1979 revolution where the United States-backed Pahlavi dynasty under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was overthrown.
Babak Namazi, Siamak's brother and Baquer's son, called the sentences unjust.
'My father has been handed practically a death sentence,' Babak Namazi said in a statement.
Baquer Namazi has a serious heart condition and other medical issues requiring special medication, his wife wrote on Facebook in February. On Tuesday, UNICEF called for his release on 'humanitarian grounds.'

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The US State Department's deputy spokesman, Mark Toner, said the father and son (pictured in this undated photo) had been 'unjustly detained,' and called for their immediate release

'We join recent calls by international organizations and UN human rights experts for the immediate release of all US citizens unjustly detained in Iran, including Siamak and Baquer Namazi, so that they can return to their families,' said a State Department spokesman, Mark Toner.
UNICEF, the UN children's agency, expressed 'deep sadness and personal concern' over the sentence of Baquer Namazi.
'The entire UNICEF family are deeply concerned for his health and well-being,' UNICEF said.
'Baquer has been a humanitarian all his life. We appeal for his release on humanitarian grounds.'
The Mizan news agency report said Nizar Zakka, a US permanent resident from Lebanon, also received a 10-year prison sentence.
His supporters had earlier told The Associated Press about the sentence, though the Mizan report was the first official Iranian confirmation of it.
It said two others had been convicted as well, without naming them or identifying their nationalities.
Later Tuesday, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying three Iranians were sentenced to 10-years imprisonment for 'espionage and cooperating with the US government.'
He named them as Farhad Abdesaleh, Kamran Ghaderi and Alireza Omidvar, without elaborating.
It was unclear if they had lawyers or if they were among the two previously mentioned by Mizan.
The Namazi family fled after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but appears to have kept business ties in Iran, and the younger Namazi traveled back several times.
He also wrote several articles calling for improved ties between Iran and the US, and urging Iranian-Americans to act as a bridge between the rival governments.

 

[superbeets]

[h=1]US destroyer fires three 'warning shots' at Iranian military ships which were closing in too fast in crucial strait[/h]

• The USS Mahan was escorting two other ships through the Straits of Hormuz
• It was forced to fire on Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels as they closed in

By CHRIS SUMMERS FOR MAILONLINE and REUTERS
PUBLISHED: 13:03, 9 January 2017 | UPDATED: 15:27, 9 January 2017

 

[superbeets]

A US Navy destroyer fired three warning shots towards four Iranian ships after an incident in the Straits of Hormuz, near Dubai.
The vessels from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reportedly closed in on the USS Mahan yesterday at a high rate of speed.
The Mahan established radio communication with the boats but they did not respond to requests to slow down.

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The USS Mahan (pictured) is a 20-year-old Arleigh Burke class destroyer

The destroyer then fired warning flares and a US Navy helicopter also dropped a smoke float before the warning shots were fired.
Pentagon officials said the Iranian vessels came within 900 yards of the Mahan, which was escorting two other US military ships.



The Iranian government has not commented on the incident, which comes only days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has threatened a tougher line against Iran.
In September, Trump vowed any Iranian vessels that harass the US Navy in the Gulf would be 'shot out of the water.'

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The Revolutionary Guard have a large number of small but fast vessels (pictured) which they use to patrol the Iranian coast

In August another US Navy ship fired warning shots towards an Iranian fast-attack craft that approached two US ships.
The official said the warning shots were one of seven interactions the Mahan had with Iranian vessels over the weekend, but the others were judged to be safe.
The Straits of Hormuz is a crucial pinch point at the eastern end of the Persian Gulf, where ships carrying millions of tons of oil from Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates pass through every day.
Iran yesterday announced the death of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 82, a key figure who was relatively moderate.

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The Straits of Hormuz (at the top of this map) is a stretch of water between Iran and the Arabian peninsula, which is crucial to the oil industry

 

[ScottL]

Iran to Get Shipment of Uranium from Russia
Iran is to receive 130 tons of natural uranium from Russia to compensate it for exporting tons of reactor coolant, diplomats say. Tehran received a similar amount of natural uranium in 2015 as part of negotiations leading up to the nuclear deal, in a swap for enriched uranium it sent to Russia.
David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, said the shipment could be enriched to enough weapons-grade uranium for more than 10 nuclear bombs, "depending on the efficiency of the enrichment process and the design of the nuclear weapon." (AP-USA Today)

 

[ScottL]

Whitewashing Rafsanjani's Record - Michael Rubin
The New York Times called the death of former Iranian president Rafsanjani "a major blow to moderates and reformists in Iran." The whitewashing of Rafsanjani's record is akin to praising Pol Pot or Fidel Castro. Rafsanjani signed off on attacks like the 1994 bombing of the Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires and assassinations of Iranian dissidents worldwide. He also helped birth Iran's covert nuclear weapons program. If Rafsanjani was a moderate, then moderation in the Islamic Republic includes an embrace of incitement to genocide, assassination, torture, and terrorism.

The desire to find moderation and meaning within factional struggles expands beyond just Iran. Talk to European or American diplomats who work in the Middle East about Hizbullah or Hamas and they will describe a nuanced view that divides the movements into hardline and more pragmatic factions. The fact that those moderate Hamas factions still embrace a covenant that calls for genocide against Jews is left unsaid.
Moral clarity is important. Moderates neither engage in terrorism nor endorse it. They do not seek to wipe other nations off the face of the earth. They do not preach religious hatred. Accepting relative moderation only legitimizes different flavors of extremism. The writer, a former Pentagon official who dealt with Middle East issues, is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. (Commentary)

 

[ScottL]

Video: Rethinking the Iran Agreement - Dore Gold (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

• President Trump's invitation to Prime Minister Netanyahu to visit Washington for a summit meeting is very likely to bring into relief the whole question of the future of the P5+1 agreement with Iran over its nuclear program. As currently constituted, the Iran agreement is extremely dangerous for Israel, Western European countries, and for the United States, and requires careful consideration about whether and how the West should proceed with it.
  
• First, the agreement doesn't cover, in any way, ballistic missiles. Back in the early 1990s when the UN had to define which Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to destroy, it related to nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, biological weapons, and ballistic missiles beyond a certain range - in those days 150 km. For some reason, when the Iran agreement was concluded, no prohibitions were put on Iran's ballistic missile program.
• Iran has the largest arsenal of missiles and it's growing. The Iranians are testing missiles of greater range and greater potency that perhaps today can strike at Israel or Turkey, but in a decade will be able to hit the English Channel or even the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. That can't be permitted.
• A second issue, even more fundamental, is the fact that the Iran agreement has a sunset clause. That's like a point in time in the future when the agreement is no longer in force. The Iran agreement is like a carton of milk that goes sour at some definite date in the future and what happens at that point is that Iran could then go ahead and enrich as much uranium as it wants, to whatever level it wants, including weapons-grade uranium, and the West can't say anything or do anything about it.
• If you take those missiles that the agreement allows Iran to manufacture and you marry them up with the weapons-grade uranium that Iran will be able to enrich in any quantity that it wants, what you're left with in another decade or so is another Soviet Union, not run by godless Communists, but run by ayatollahs with a Shiite ideology, radical Islamic in intent, and extremely dangerous not just for the Middle East but for the world.
• Therefore, the stakes behind these discussions over the future of the Iran agreement are so important. They're important for the security of America, they're important for the security of Israel, and they're important for the security of us all.
  
  Dr. Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, is a former Israeli UN ambassador and director-general of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

[Greenbacks]

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, you clueless Idiot. Of course they are "Nuclear capable". But not Nuclear Bomb Capable. Good Riddance to Bad Trash, coming soon if you have any honor. Tick Tock, Tick Tock.

The day before the election....You meant Good Riddance to Crooked Hillary

byebye)(&^

 

[superbeets]

NO MORE OF THIS

 

[superbeets]

NEVER UNDER TRUMP

 

[Acebb]

Pretty much now we will. As long as they live up to the treaty. Trust, but verify. Obama's foreign Policy has been mixed, to put it kindly, as he has kept us in wars FAR too long. Today was a good day for the World, and us. You'll have your sick War Mongers like Casper and the McCain's and his GF Lindsay Graham of the world, who never met a war they didn't like or want to escalate. But for the sane among us, preventing Wars and conflicts is desirable and today that was the outcome.

 

[ScottL]

Trump has called the deal "terrible" and "the worst." But according to a recent statement by the EU Trump is going to stick to it:
[h=1]EU leader: US 'committed' to Iran nuclear deal[/h]Washington (CNN)The United States is committed to the "full implementation" of the Iran nuclear deal, the European Union's foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said Friday.

"I was reassured by what I heard in my meetings on the intention to stick to the full and strict implementation of the agreement in all its part," Mogherini told France 24.


After two days of meetings with US officials, Mogherini said she will "return from Washington tomorrow reassured that the United States is committed to the full implementation of this deal."
Iran was Mogherini's priority on this visit, she said, but she also came to draw some clear lines for the new administration. The EU-US relationship may be changing, she said, but the 28-member bloc remains committed to policies on issues such as Middle East peace, refugees and Russia, even as they diverge from US positions.


"A new era in our relationship can mean that we can enter into a more pragmatic and transactional time," Mogherini said. "This can also mean that we differ in our political views from time to time and that we will be very clear on this."
Mogherini's Iran conversations with Trump officials stands in sharp contrast to the White House's public statements.


President Donald Trump has labeled the Iran nuclear agreement a "terrible deal," while National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said last week that he was "putting Iran on notice" after a January 30 missile test. New sanctions on Iran followed on February 3.


A senior Trump administration official responded to Mogherini's comments on Iran deal by saying that its intended vigilance on enforcement of the deal "would be far harder on Iran than the policy of the previous administration, which didn't seem terribly interested in enforcing the spirit of the deal. That is very much administration policy, to make sure that the agreement is being followed."
The official added, "The President is also being clear that he is reviewing all of its effects. It is not clear to me that a final policy on this been established."


On the Middle East peace process, Mogherini said the goal of a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians "continues to be the basis" of the body's engagement with the issue. And she critiqued the Trump administration's proposal to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, an issue traditionally left for final-status peace talks.


"We're not moving our embassies anywhere, they stay where they are," she said. "Not only the European Union Embassy, but also those of our member states."


The Trump administration officials she spoke with, including Flynn, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Trump son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, agreed on the need to maintain sanctions against Russia for its aggression in Ukraine, she said, and to lift them only when the Minsk ceasefire agreement conditions are met.


On Iran, she emphasized to her US interlocutors that it's "a must that the nuclear agreement is fully implemented in all its parts by all sides," even as outside the nuclear deal, including on Iran's missile tests, terrorist activities and human rights abuses, the EU has restrictions and sanctions in place.


But she made clear that the EU would not isolate Tehran.

"The European Union and its member states continue and will continue, as the nuclear deal is implemented, to have open channels with Iran," she said. The European Union is "not introducing additional sanctions" on Iran.


And she pushed back on Trump's dismissive comments about the EU. The President said in a January interview that other EU members would follow the UK's decision to leave the union and that "I don't think it matters much for the United States."
"I'm not going to be politically correct, it's not the time or history for that," Mogherini said when asked about Trump's stance. "The European Union is here to stay."

 

[ScottL]

Iran Continues to Call for Israel's Destruction Despite Nuclear Deal - Herb Keinon
Iranian leaders' calls for Israel's destruction have not abated at all since the Iranian nuclear deal was signed in July 2015, former Israel Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold said on Wednesday. "There is absolutely no indication of one iota of moderation by the Iranian elite in their hostile intentions toward Israel since the conclusion of the Iran nuclear agreement. Iranian policy in this regard is driven by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. In September 2015, Khamenei himself said that the nuclear agreement would not change the destruction of Israel in 25 years. Those who asserted that the Iran nuclear agreement would lead to a moderation of Iranian attitudes were completely wrong."
Gold's comments came as the think tank he heads, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, put out a compilation of poisonous statements made by Iranian leaders since the Iran deal was signed. Just three months after the deal was signed, Khamenei himself said: "You [Zionist regime] will not see 25 years from today! By Allah's favor and grace, nothing called the 'Zionist regime' will exist by 25 years from now." Khamenei even re-tweeted himself, saying that the "people" had picked this quote as his most significant remark of the year. (Jerusalem Post)

 

[Greenbacks]

The Gooser @)azzkick(&^ointer:Shush()*dbanana0-9Bowling^&%:hammeritSlapping-silly90)):smoking::>(@)kth)(&^##):neenee:Stop-SS--:scared:

 

[ScottL]

Iran Establishes Network to Train Foreign Terrorists - Rowan Scarborough
Iran has escalated its overseas terrorist operations, establishing a network of 14 training bases for foreign fighters, the National Council of Resistance of Iran said Tuesday in Washington, specifying the camps' locations and the countries represented. The council said Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has approved a directorate inside the Revolutionary Guards' Quds force "to expand its training of foreign mercenaries as part of the regime's strategy to step up its meddling abroad, including in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain, Afghanistan and elsewhere."
"Every month, hundreds of forces from Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Lebanon...receive military training and are subsequently dispatched to wage terrorism and war." Some Quds graduates have shown up on the U.S. doorstep in Latin America. (Washington Times)

 

[ScottL]

• Iran Grabs the Reins in Gaza - Pinhas Inbari
  Hamas has chosen Yahya Sinwar, one of the security prisoners released in the "Shalit deal" in 2011, as its senior leader in Gaza. The implication of the selection means that Iran has retaken the reins in Gaza after a long hiatus during which Egypt, on one hand, and Turkey and Qatar, on the other, tried to fill the vacuum.
  Iran chose to take back the reins in Gaza because of the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. Iran fears that in Wednesday's talks in Washington, Trump and Netanyahu will discuss an aggressive option vis-a-vis Iran.
  It is doubtful if any "elections" were held in Gaza to choose Sinwar. The result is due to pressure by Hamas' military wing on the political wing, and the announcement's timing is Iran's way of conveying a message before the Trump-Netanyahu talks.
  If that's the case, don't expect that Sinwar's "election" foretells a new escalation from Gaza against Israel - just the opposite. Iran will restrain Hamas in order to keep the Gaza front available for Iran's own needs, and Iran's alone. The writer is a veteran Arab affairs correspondent for Israel Radio and is an analyst for the Jerusalem Center. (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

 

[ScottL]

• Netanyahu: Iran Is Dangerous for America and the Arabs Too
  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Thursday that he is speaking up on behalf of the whole region that is threatened by a malevolent Iran. "Iran has become more aggressive, more deadly, sponsoring more terrorism with more money. And people are saying 'wait a minute, this roaring tiger, if it's not stopped, it will devour all of us.'"
  The Iranians "sponsor terrorism against Americans all over the place. Now they're going to build ICBMs? Intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach the United States? And have the multiple warheads to do that? That's horrible. It's dangerous for America, dangerous for Israel, dangerous for the Arabs. Everybody now understands it. And there's an American president who understands it. And we're talking about what to do about this common threat."
  "Radical Islam has two fountainheads. One is the radical Sunnis led by ISIS and before that by al-Qaeda, and the radical Shiites led by Iran. The Arab countries are threatened by both. And when they look around they say, 'who's going to help us against these twin threats?' And they say, 'there's one country in the region that's powerful, that's determined, that's resolved to fight this common enemy, and that's Israel.'"
  "I believe that the great opportunity for peace comes from a regional approach, from involving our new-found Arab partners in the pursuit of a broader peace and peace with the Palestinians." (Times of Israel)

 

[ScottL]

How Trump Can Take on Iran (Without Sparking War) - Aaron David Miller and Richard Sokolsky
The U.S. should sanction Iran for testing ballistic missiles in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, and hold Tehran accountable for strict compliance with its obligations under the nuclear agreement. It should also impose sanctions against Hizbullah to deter and punish its acts of terrorism.
An effective U.S. approach toward Iran will mean defending allies and partners against Iranian attacks, using force to protect freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf, preventing and responding to Iranian or Iranian-sponsored terrorist attacks against U.S. facilities and personnel, and using force to prevent Tehran from breaking out of the nuclear agreement in violation of its commitments. Full Article:

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/how-trump-can-take-iran-without-sparking-war-19460?page=show

Aaron David Miller is a vice president and distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Richard Sokolsky is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former member of the secretary of state's policy planning staff. (National Interest)

 

[ScottL]

• Video: The False Narrative of Iranian Moderation - Dore Gold
  The Iranian threat to Israel over the last number of years has been measured either by looking at the capabilities the Iranian armed forces have and are able to employ in any future conflict, and by the intentions that Iran harbors with respect to Israel's future and its security.
  In May 2016, the chief strategist for the previous administration, who marketed the Iran agreement to the American public, was Ben Rhodes. He explained that in order to make this agreement palatable in the United States and internationally, he needed to present Iran as a country that was moving in a much more moderate direction. But was it true?
  We've all seen evidence that Iran's behavior in the Middle East has become far more dangerous and severe. The Iranian navy is regularly moving throughout the Middle East region, from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, and has even visited the Mediterranean. Iran is testing new generations of missiles, despite the fact that the UN Security Council prohibited this type of activity.
  But where we have gotten a real reminder that this analysis of Iranian moderation is completely false is from the statements of Iranian leaders in just the last few months. In fact, on February 21, the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khomenei, once again referred to Israel as a cancerous tumor in the Middle East that had to be removed. He spoke about the complete liberation of Palestine - which means the complete destruction of Israel. And he called for a holy jihad.
  That is not the voice of moderation. That is the voice of continuing conflict and escalation. When one considers the future of sanctions on Iran and whether the Iranian budget should be enriched so that it can procure more weapons, one has to take into account that Iran is not moving in the direction that we were promised and that Iran remains a very dangerous state. The writer, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, is a former Israeli UN ambassador and director-general of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
  
  
• Iranian Official and Social Media Call for the Destruction of Israel after the Iran Deal (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

 

[ScottL]

• America Is Right to Keep Up the Pressure on a Belligerent Iran
  The hardliners who are in charge in Tehran need to reconsider their priorities. Judging by their actions and rhetoric, they appear to believe that the nuclear agreement marked the end of a process of rehabilitation. In fact, it goes only part of the way. The purpose of the deal was to put tight limits on Iran's destabilizing enrichment program - nothing more, nothing less. In return, the rest of the world agreed to lift the UN-mandated economic sanctions that had crippled Iran's economy.
  However, other American sanctions on Iran remain, imposed a decade earlier to penalize Iran's human-rights abuses, support for terrorism, and development of weapons of mass destruction, including the missiles to deliver them. Congress extended these sanctions for ten more years in December. The Senate backed the extension by 99-0 and the House by 419-1. Iran's record of making trouble continues unabated. (Economist-UK)
• For Trump and Arab Leaders, Confining Iran Is Top Priority - Dina Ezzat
  Containment of Iran and rolling back its expanding regional influence, not the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, will top the agenda for leaders of the Middle East, including Arab leaders, when they start to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump throughout March and April. A Washington-based Arab diplomat said, "I think it is safe to say that the U.S. is acting to make it very hard for Iran to maintain its current regional influence. This is precisely what two leading Middle East countries, Saudi Arabia and Israel, have been working for."
  In Cairo, one official said any plans that Cairo had to explore further cooperation with Tehran have been suspended. According to another source, Washington is already making it clear that it expects Egypt to have a leading role, "political and otherwise," in "handling Iran." (Al-Ahram-Egypt)

 

[superbeets]

NETANYAHU: IRAN RESPONSIBLE FOR MORE THAN 80% OF ISRAEL’S SECURITY CONCERNS
BYHERB KEINON
MARCH 6, 2017 11:50
According to foreign reports, Israel has acted on a number of occasions to disrupt arms shipments from Iran intended for Hezbollah.


Iran is responsible for more than 80% of Israel's security problems, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, quoting one of the country's security agencies.

“We are not deterred, and are also building out strength,” he said at a ceremony in the Foreign Ministry marking 25 years to the bombing of the embassy in Buenos Aires. “Since the attack in Argentina, Israel has gotten much stronger.”



Netanyahu said that it was clear from the very beginning that Iran was behind that bombing, which killed 29 people, including Israeli diplomats, and injured 250 more.

“Iran initiated and planned it, and Hezbollah, which does what it [Iran] says, carried it out,” he said.

That alliance will be foremost on Netanyahu's mind when he travels to Russia on Thursday. The premier has made clear in recent weeks that Jerusalem is very concerned that Iran is increasingly establishing a permanent foothold in Syria, and he will discuss this – and the close Iranian-Hezbollah alliance – when he meets in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We will strongly oppose arming Hezbollah with dangerous weapons,” Netanyahu said. “Our red-lines are thick and clear, and we do not hesitate to act in order to preserve them.”

According to foreign reports, Israel has acted on a number of occasions to disrupt arms shipments from Iran intended for Hezbollah.

If the 1992 bombing wasn't enough proof of the reach of Iran's terrorist tentacles, the blast two years later at the AMIA building in Buenos Aires – where 87 people were killed and 100 injured – was another indication of the Islamic republic's malicious designs, Netanyahu said.

“Iran is the greatest generator of terrorism in the world,” Netanyahu said, adding there is a need to fight this terrorism which is just one of of Iran's arms of aggression. He said the other arms included its desire for nuclear arms, its development of ballistic missiles, and its sowing of instability through the Middle East.

In addition, he said, the Iranian regime “continue to threaten Israel with destruction.”


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