Posts

U.S. Seizes Internet Domains Tied to Iran’s Government

/0 Comments/in , /by

More than 30 web domains linked to the Iranian regime were seized by U.S. agencies on Tuesday, a U.S. government official said.

The U.S. seized sites operated by government-run PressTV as well as social media channels affiliated with Iran-backed militias in Iraq. The seizures come as the Biden administration is in the midst of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program and follow the election of a new president who has rebuffed calls from Washington to curb its support for proxies fighting across the region.

Visitors to the affected websites were greeted with a banner that said the domains had been seized by the U.S. government as part of enforcement action taken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but Tehran’s government has condemned previous seizures of Iranian websites as unlawful and part of an influence campaign against Iran. (Read more from “U.S. Seizes Internet Domains Tied to Iran’s Government” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

New Israeli PM Warns U.S. Before Rejoining Iran Nuclear Deal

/1 Comment/in , /by

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned the US and other nations seeking to rekindle the nuclear agreement with Iran to “wake up” following the election of a hardline judge as the country’s president.

Speaking at a televised cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Bennett said Ebrahim Raisi, a protege of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would establish a “regime of brutal hangmen,” Reuters reported.

“Raisi’s election is, I would say, the last chance for world powers to wake up before returning to the nuclear agreement, and understand who they are doing business with,” said Bennett, who replaced Benjamin Netanyahu last week after the former prime minister failed to form a new government.

“A regime of brutal hangmen must never be allowed to have weapons of mass-destruction,” Bennett said. “Israel’s position will not change on this.” (Read more from “New Israeli PM Warns U.S. Before Rejoining Iran Nuclear Deal” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

GOP Demand Answers After Biden Admin Lifts Iran Sanctions Without Consulting Congress

/0 Comments/in , /by

Last week, the Biden administration gave Iran what it wanted. Without consulting Congress, the administration lifted sanctions on multiple former Iranian officials and businesses, thereby relaxing U.S. pressure on the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.

Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee weren’t amused. On the contrary, they continue to assert that the administration chose not to consult Congress about the lifted sanctions in order to intentionally bypass legislative oversight. These Republicans are now demanding an explanation.

The State Department announced the sanctions were lifted “as a result of a verified change in status or behavior on the part of the sanctioned parties” and that “[t]hese actions demonstrate [America’s] commitment to lifting sanctions in the event of a change in status or behavior by sanctioned persons.” The Treasury Department echoed this announcement. Meanwhile, the State Department imposed new sanctions on “an Iranian-backed supply network” to the Houthi terrorists in Yemen.

While the Biden administration contends that the lifted sanctions are unrelated to continued negotiations with the Iranian regime in Vienna, Rep. Claudia Tenney and some of her colleagues say the Biden administration is lying. They demand that the State Department share its internal plans. (Read more from “GOP Demand Answers After Biden Admin Lifts Iran Sanctions Without Consulting Congress” HERE)

[Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/youngrobv/2470379323]

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Senior Swiss Diplomat in Iran Found Dead After Fall From Building

/0 Comments/in , /by

The first secretary at the Swiss embassy in Tehran was found dead on Tuesday after falling from a high-rise building where she lived in the north of the city, a spokesman for emergency services was quoted as saying by Iranian news agencies.

The Swiss foreign ministry (FDFA) said an employee at its embassy in Iran had died of an accident, without identifying the victim. “The FDFA and its head Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis are shocked by the tragic death and express their deepest condolences to the family,” it said.

Iranian emergency services spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi said the diplomat’s body was found by a gardener after an employee who arrived at her apartment early on Tuesday noticed she was missing, the news agency Fars reported. (Read more from “Senior Swiss Diplomat in Iran Found Dead After Fall From Building” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Iran Reaches Deals to Release Prisoners; U.S. Denies

/0 Comments/in , /by

Iran will free prisoners with Western ties in Iran in exchange for billions of dollars from the United States and the United Kingdom, state television reported Sunday. The U.S. immediately denied the report, while the U.K. did not respond.

The state TV report quoted an anonymous official just as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei began giving what authorities earlier described as an “important” speech. However, Khamenei did not immediately discuss any proposed swap amid negotiations in Vienna over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers.

The official quoted by Iranian state TV said a deal made between the U.S. and Tehran involved a prisoner swap in exchange for the release of $7 billion in frozen Iranian funds.

“The Americans accepted to pay $7 billion and swap four Iranians who were active in bypassing sanctions for four American spies who have served part of their sentences,” state TV said, quoting the official in an on-screen crawl. (Read more from “Iran Reaches Deals to Release Prisoners; U.S. Denies” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Iran Foreign Minister: John Kerry Gave Me Intel on Israeli Covert Ops; Kerry Isn’t the First Massachusetts Democrat Accused of Assisting an Enemy; Kerry’s Possible Defense in Iran Leak Uproar Could Show He Undermined Trump

/1 Comment/in , , /by

By WND. Iran’s foreign minister disclosed in leaked audio reported by the New York Times that John Kerry informed him that Israel engaged in more than 200 covert operations against Iran in Syria.

Mohammad Javad Zarif – who was Iran’s chief negotiator in the 2015 nuclear deal – claimed he received the intel while Kerry was serving as secretary of state, according to the report. Zarif said that at the time, the Revolutionary Guard Corps and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei kept him in the dark about Iran’s government negotiations and military operations.

The Times reported, citing the audio, that Kerry’s disclosure shocked Zarif.

After widespread condemnation on Monday, Kerry denied the report. . .

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh confirmed the authenticity of the recording, explaining it was part of a seven-hour interview Zarif made for a think tank tied to the Iranian presidency. Khatibzadeh called the leak “illegal,” insisting it was “selectively” edited. But he said nothing about how it might have been released. (Read more from “Iran Foreign Minister: John Kerry Gave Me Intel on Israeli Covert Ops” HERE)

________________________________________________________

John Kerry Isn’t the First Massachusetts Democrat Accused of Assisting an Enemy

By Breitbart. The news about John Kerry is startling. The former U.S. senator from Massachusetts and secretary of state, now President Joe Biden’s climate czar, is accused of leaking sensitive—possibly classified—information to an enemy power, Iran. . .

Back in 2010, investigative journalist Kevin Mooney recalled the sneakiness—some would call it treasonous—committed in the early 1980s by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and a close friend, former Sen. John Tunney (D-CA).

Mooney’s article pieced together various earlier reports—including from a Russian defector, Vasiliy Mitrokhin, as verified by American scholars Herbert Romerstein and Paul Kengor—to summarize serious accusations against Kennedy and Tunney.

Back in 1983, Kennedy dispatched Tunney, whom a KGB spy memo described as Kennedy’s “close friend and trusted confidant,” to deliver a message to Moscow; the message was that the the Russians should work with Democrats, and not the Republican president at the time, Ronald Reagan, to advance the joint interests of Democrats and Russians.

Tunney explained that if the Soviet Union played ball with him, then American liberals in the media would repay the favor by showcasing favorable coverage of the communist empire and its leader, Yuri Andropov. (Read more from “John Kerry Isn’t the First Massachusetts Democrat Accused of Assisting an Enemy” HERE)

________________________________________________________

John Kerry’s Possible Defense in Iran Leak Uproar Could Show He Undermined Trump

By Washington Examiner. A leaked recording of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has prompted allegations that John Kerry gave classified information to Iran, but the former secretary of state’s most persuasive defense could depend on his willingness to explain whether he undercut former President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign” against Tehran.

Zarif’s statement that Kerry notified him about “more than 200 attacks on Iranian forces in Syria” strikes some Republican lawmakers as an indication that Kerry betrayed Israeli secrets. Other observers, including the London-based Persian outlet that first published the audio, think it more likely that Zarif is referring to comments made during meetings after Kerry left office, when the Israeli barrages were well known — and the new U.S. administration suspected that their Democratic critics were encouraging Iranian officials to defy Trump’s use of economic sanctions to pressure them to begin negotiating a stricter nuclear deal.

“This is an impetus, many of us have been waiting for, to press current senior officials to disclose as much detail as possible about their ongoing relationships with senior officials of the leading state sponsor of terrorism over the last four years,” said Richard Goldberg, one of Trump’s top Iran advisers. “How did these now-current officials of the U.S. government actively undermine the United States of America in front of a leading state sponsor of terrorism. That’s the outrage.”

The trajectory of the controversy could depend on the timing of Kerry’s conversations with Zarif, provided that the dialogue took place as the Iranian diplomat says. . .Iran International, a media outlet reviled by the regime in Tehran, published the audio but assessed that Kerry was referencing public information well after leaving office. (Read more from “John Kerry’s Possible Defense in Iran Leak Uproar Could Show He Undermined Trump” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Iran Responds to Alleged Sabotage, To Begin Enriching Uranium At Highest Ever Level Of 60%, Moving Closer to Weapons-Grade Capabilities

/0 Comments/in , /by

According to an Iranian negotiator on Tuesday, Iran will begin enriching uranium to 60% purity, which greatly exceeds its current level of 20%, placing one of the world’s biggest state sponsors of terrorism within reach of the 90% enrichment required for weapons-grade capabilities.

The announcement is an apparent response to an alleged attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility by Israel, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stating, “The Zionists want to take revenge because of our progress in the way to lift sanctions… We will not fall into their trap…We will not allow this act of sabotage to affect the nuclear talks. … But we will take our revenge against the Zionists.”

“The announcement marks a significant escalation after the sabotage, suspected of having been carried out by Israel. It could result in further action by Israel, whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed never to allow Tehran to obtain a nuclear weapon, and further raise tensions across the Mideast,” reported CBS News.

“We believe that this round of negotiations is the time for the U.S. to present a list. I hope that I can go back to Tehran with the list of sanctions that will be lifted,” nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi said in Vienna, where the talks have been taking place. “Otherwise, I don’t believe we can continue like this. Otherwise, I believe this would be a waste of time.” (Read more from “Iran Responds to Alleged Sabotage, To Begin Enriching Uranium At Highest Ever Level Of 60%, Moving Closer to Weapons-Grade Capabilities” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

GOP Grills Biden Nominee for Top Defense Post

/0 Comments/in , /by

Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee hammered President Joe Biden’s nominee for a top Pentagon post over his support for the Iranian nuclear deal, his criticism of the U.S. embassy’s move to Jerusalem, and his history of “inflammatory” comments against Republicans and members of Congress on Twitter.

Republican members on Thursday cited numerous heated public statements by Colin Kahl, a former Obama State Department official whom Biden tapped for undersecretary of defense for policy, including some of his Twitter posts reported by the Washington Free Beacon on Thursday.

In one tweet, Kahl called the Republicans “the party of ethnic cleansing,” and in another he claimed that critics of the Iran deal “won’t be satisfied until they get the war they’ve pushed for decades.” Kahl’s Twitter feed includes numerous barbs at individual Republican senators, as well as the party as a whole, which he described in 2017 as “a clown show.”

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R., Okla.), the ranking member on the committee, said, “What concerns me here is that hyper-partisanship, especially in regards to our national security, is inappropriate for a position of undersecretary of defense for policy.”

Kahl apologized during the hearing for some of his Twitter posts, calling them “disrespectful.” (Read more from “GOP Grills Biden Nominee for Top Defense Post” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

U.S. Strikes Facilities in Syria Used by Iran-Backed Militia in Retaliatory Action

/0 Comments/in , /by

The United States launched airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, targeting facilities near the Iraqi border used by militia groups backed by the Iranian regime. The Pentagon said the strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops.

The airstrike was the first military action undertaken by the Biden administration, which in its first weeks has emphasized its intent to put more focus on the challenges posed by China’s communist party.

“This proportionate military response was conducted together with diplomatic measures, including consultation with coalition partners,” the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, John Kirby, said in announcing the strikes.

“The operation sends an unambiguous message: President Biden will act to protect American and coalition personnel. At the same time, we have acted in a deliberate manner that aims to deescalate the overall situation in eastern Syria and Iraq.”

Kirby said the U.S. airstrikes “destroyed multiple facilities at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed militant groups.” (Read more from “U.S. Strikes Facilities in Syria Used by Iran-Backed Militia in Retaliatory Action” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

Report: Biden Officials ‘Colluded’ With Iran Behind Trump’s Back During His Presidency

/1 Comment/in , /by

Members of the Biden administration, including former Secretary of State John Kerry and current special envoy on Iran policy Robert Malley, held backchannel meetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif during Trump’s presidency in attempt to undermine the Republican president, according to a new report from the Washington Times.

The meetings were reportedly part of a counter-diplomacy effort by the former Obama-era officials — who now serve in the Biden administration — which “allowed for the Iranian regime to bypass Trump and work directly with Obama administration veterans that Tehran hoped would soon return to power in Washington,” according to several unnamed national security and intelligence sources.

One former senior U.S. official told the Times that the “underlying goal” of the meetings was “to devise a political strategy to undermine the Trump administration” and set the stage for a more accommodating U.S. stance towards Iran in anticipation of Obama-era officials returning to power.

The meetings reportedly occurred between 2017 and 2019. One of the meetings, between Zarif and Malley, took place after former President Trump withdrew from the Iran deal, which was signed during Obama’s presidency. (Read more from “Report: Biden Officials ‘Colluded’ With Iran Behind Trump’s Back During His Presidency” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE