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

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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)

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GOP Grills Biden Nominee for Top Defense Post

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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)

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

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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)

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

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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)

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Evidence Shows Iran Violating Nuclear Deal Biden Wants to Rejoin

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There’s evidence that Iran has been violating the nuclear deal that President Biden wants America to rejoin.

“One of the most basic requirements of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a party, as well as one of the terms of the 2015 ‘nuclear deal,’ was that the Iranian regime is required to reveal its nuclear activities to the IAEA – a condition with which it also failed to comply,” explained Majid Rafizadeh, in a report at Gatestone Institute.

He’s a Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. And he’s authored books on Islam and U.S. foreign policy.

The violations were first brought to the world’s attention in 2018, he noted, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Yukiya Amano to inspect an “atomic warehouse” in Iran.

Netanyahu charged that the Iranian government had a “secret atomic warehouse for storing massive amounts of equipment and material from Iran’s secret nuclear weapons program.” (Read more from “Evidence Shows Iran Violating Nuclear Deal Biden Wants to Rejoin” HERE)

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Trump Sends Warning To Iran After ‘Several Rockets’ Hit U.S. Embassy in Baghdad

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President Trump tweeted a warning at Iran on Wednesday after the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was hit by “several rockets.”

“Our embassy in Baghdad got hit Sunday by several rockets,” Trump said in a social media missive as he was traveling to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida from the White House for the Christmas holiday. “Three rockets failed to launch. Guess where they were from: IRAN. Now we hear chatter of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq.”

Iraqi security officials said Sunday that at least three rockets had landed inside Baghdad’s Green Zone in an attack that reportedly targeted the U.S. Embassy.

(Read more from “Trump Sends Warning To Iran After ‘Several Rockets’ Hit U.S. Embassy in Baghdad” HERE)

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U.S. Blames Iran in Abduction, Death of Ex-FBI Agent Levinson

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The Trump administration for the first time on Monday formally blamed Iran for the presumed death of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, publicly identifying two Iranian intelligence officers believed responsible for his abduction and imposing sanctions against them.

Levinson disappeared in Iran under mysterious circumstances more than a decade ago, and though U.S. diplomats and investigators have long said they thought he was taken by Iranian government agents, Monday’s announcement in the final weeks of the Trump administration was the most definitive assignment of blame to date.

Besides blaming two high-ranking intelligence officers by name, U.S. officials also said the Iranian regime sanctioned the plot that led to Levinson’s abduction and lied for years about its involvement in his disappearance through disinformation campaigns aimed at deflecting responsibility and covering up the government’s role.

“The abduction of Mr. Levinson in Iran is an outrageous example of the Iranian regime’s willingness to commit unjust acts,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “The United States will always prioritize the safety and security of the American people and will continue to aggressively pursue those who played a role in Mr. Levinson’s detention and probable death.” (Read more from “U.S. Blames Iran in Abduction, Death of Ex-FBI Agent Levinson” HERE)

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Iran Changes Its Story on Killing of Top Nuclear Scientist

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Accounts of the killing of a top Iranian nuclear scientist have devolved into finger-pointing and shifting narratives.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the man widely described as one of the leading architects of Iran’s secretive military nuclear program, was killed on Friday when his convoy was ambushed on a rural road 40 miles east of Tehran. Initial news reports indicated there was an explosion and a cacophony of gunfire from several assailants.

Iran claims Israel’s elite intelligence agency Mossad was behind the attack, and the New York Times reported that a senior U.S. official also said that Israel was responsible for the operation. Israel has yet to comment on the killing. Early reports from Iranian authorities, corroborated by an eyewitness, detailed an explosion and gun battle between up to a dozen attackers and Fakhrizadeh’s bodyguards.

No one behind the attack has been arrested, and now, officials have begun to spin a new story about what happened on Friday in an apparent attempt to shift the blame from Iran’s massive intelligence failure that allowed the operation to be successful and the supposed gunmen to escape.

Ali Shamkhani, secretary for Iran’s National Security Council, claimed on Monday that there were not actual operatives on the ground during the attack and that the killing was carried out by a remote-control robotic machine gun affixed to a parked Nissan, according to the Associated Press. (Read more from “Iran Changes Its Story on Killing of Top Nuclear Scientist” HERE)

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Biden’s Security Picks a Worrisome Sign for Iran Policy

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Why on Earth would the United States rush to rejoin the unreformed 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the Iran nuclear accord?

. . .One key failing is the accord’s inability to restrain Iran’s rampant research of ballistic missile technology. Cloaked under the absurd pretense of civilian satellite research, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has spent the past five years steadily improving its means to deliver a nuclear warhead. Considering the severe economic pressure Tehran is suffering, the fact that it continues to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at its ballistic missile program is good evidence for the regime’s desire to be able to wage nuclear war.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry’s diplomatic masterpiece also retains totally inadequate inspection protocols. Iran has a 30 days’ notice grace period before it must give international inspectors access to a site. Helpfully for Iran’s warhead weaponization research, military sites are off-limits.

Perhaps most important of all, the accord’s so-called “snapback” sanctions mechanisms have been proved impotent. The International Atomic Energy Agency recently reported that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is now 12 times the level that is allowed under the accord. In addition, Iran has installed new centrifuges and is enriching uranium up to a 4.5% purity, beyond the 3.67% cap imposed under the deal. Iran has accomplished these patent breaches of its pledges in the open, proudly proclaiming its disdain for the remaining members of the accord it once solemnly signed.

Astonishingly, President-elect Joe Biden, his State Department nominee Antony Blinken, and his national security adviser Jake Sullivan don’t seem terribly concerned about this reality. Instead, they present the speedy return to the nuclear accord as an exigent requirement of regional stability and restored confidence with our European allies. (Read more from “Biden’s Security Picks a Worrisome Sign for Iran Policy” HERE)

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Democrats Erupt After Scientist Behind Iran’s ‘Clandestine Nuclear Ambitions’ Is Killed

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Democrats lashed out on Friday in response to the news that the scientist who was at the center of Iran’s clandestine nuclear ambitions had been killed in an attack.

“Iran’s top nuclear scientist, who American and Israeli intelligence have long charged was behind secret programs to design an atomic warhead, was shot and killed in an ambush on Friday as he was traveling in a vehicle in northern Iran,” The New York Times reported. “The scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, believed to be 59, has been considered the driving force behind Iran’s nuclear weapons program for two decades, and continued to work after the main part of the effort was quietly disbanded in the early 2000s.”

The attack comes after President Donald Trump was reportedly dissuaded from attacking a nuclear facility in Iran a couple of weeks ago after he spoke with top U.S. officials about the idea. The attack also comes just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in Saudi Arabia for talks.

News that Fakhrizadeh had been killed rankled Democrats, who called the action a “criminal act.”

“This was a criminal act & highly reckless. It risks lethal retaliation & a new round of regional conflict,” former Obama-era CIA Director John Brennan said. “Iranian leaders would be wise to wait for the return of responsible American leadership on the global stage & to resist the urge to respond against perceived culprits.”

(Read more from “Democrats Erupt After Scientist Behind Iran’s ‘Clandestine Nuclear Ambitions’ Is Killed” HERE)

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