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Iran Has Reportedly Quadrupled Its Production of Enriched Uranium

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Iranian nuclear officials are claiming that the country is quadrupling its production of enriched uranium.

The state-run IRNA news agency in Iran is claiming that Iran is increasing its uranium production and that the International Atomic Energy Agency had been alerted to this development. The Independent cited Iranian officials who insisted that the uranium would only be enriched to 3.67 percent purity. In order to be used in an atomic bomb, uranium purity needs to be at 90 percent.

At this increased rate of production, it won’t be long before Iran has a larger stockpile of enriched uranium than is permitted under the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration. While the United States pulled out of this deal in 2018, other signatories have tried to keep it going.

James Clapper, former President Barack Obama’s director of national intelligence, dismissed the announcement, telling the BBC that he did not think it was “necessary to go into panic mode yet.”

This announcement from Iran comes just two days after President Donald Trump tweeted, “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called Trump’s comments “genocidal taunts.”

National security adviser John Bolton also announced that the U.S. was sending a carrier strike group to the region “to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.”

Bolton said that this was “[i]n response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” from Iran. (For more from the author of “Iran Has Reportedly Quadrupled Its Production of Enriched Uranium” please click HERE)

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Trump Issues Big Warning to Iran

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Days after the Trump administration ordered American diplomatic personnel to leave the United States’ embassy in Baghdad, a rocket attacked the very area they were in on Sunday, The Washington Times reported. The area that was attacked was the Green Zone in the Iraq capital. It’s where the U.S. embassy and the main headquarters for combating the Islamic State sat.

As of now, no casualties have been reported and no group or person has taken responsibility for the attack. Iraqi officials did, however, confirm that one rocket landed inside the diplomatic compound. Eyewitnesses say a second rocket landed inside the Green Zone but that has not been officially confirmed.

British Major General Chris Ghika, the deputy commander of the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS publicly disagreed with America’s assessment earlier this week, saying there was no increased threat. . .

Although the U.S. wants to negotiate with Iran, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to make a stark warning: come after America and you will be defeated.

(Read more from “Trump Issues Big Warning to Iran” HERE)

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Signs Point to Iran Behind Gulf Ship Attacks

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By Jordan Schachtel. Assessment: Iran’s IRGC likely organized Gulf oil tanker attacks

Reuters reports that Iran is the likely culprit behind recent attacks on vessels belonging to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

According to the report:

“A confidential assessment issued this week by the Norwegian Shipowners’ Mutual War Risks Insurance Association (DNK) concluded that the attack was likely to have been carried out by a surface vessel operating close by that despatched underwater drones carrying 30-50 kg (65-110 lb) of high-grade explosives to detonate on impact.”

The U.S. has sent more military resources into the region to protect our interests and allies. Iran has repeatedly threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil is transported. (For more from the author of “Signs Point to Iran Behind Gulf Ship Attacks” please click HERE)

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Insurer Says Iran’s Guards Likely to Have Organized Tanker Attacks

By Reuters. Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) are “highly likely” to have facilitated attacks last Sunday on four tankers including two Saudi ships off Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, according to a Norwegian insurers’ report seen by Reuters.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Norway are investigating the attacks, which also hit a UAE- and a Norwegian-flagged vessel. . .

The attacks took place against a backdrop of U.S.-Iranian tension following Washington’s decision this month to try to cut Tehran’s oil exports to zero and beef up its military presence in the Gulf in response to what it called Iranian threats. (Read more from “Insurer Says Iran’s Guards Likely to Have Organized Tanker Attacks” HERE)

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Watch: President Trump Asked About War With Iran, Here’s How He Responded

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President Donald Trump indicated that the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, is skating on very thin ice with its recent provocations in the Middle East and that if Iran does “anything, they will suffer greatly.”

“Are we going to war with Iran?” a reporter asked the president in the White House. “Are you seeking regime change?”

“We’ll see what happens with Iran,” Trump responded. “If they do anything it will be a very bad mistake, if they do anything. I’m hearing little stories about Iran. If they do anything, they will suffer greatly. We’ll see what happens with Iran.” . . .

“There was no immediate indication as to who may have been responsible or why the damage was inflicted, but the incidents occurred at the same time and place off the coast of the United Arab Emirates only days after the United States has dispatched warships and bombers to the area to deter alleged threats from Iran,” The Washington Post reported. “The location is near a sea lane critical to the world’s supply of oil, and the incidents followed a warning by U.S. maritime authorities that Iran might seek to disrupt commercial shipping in the area.” (Read more from “Watch: President Trump Asked About War With Iran, Here’s How He Responded” HERE)

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Trump Sends ‘Clear and Unmistakable’ Message to Iran

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By Daily Wire. The Trump administration is sending a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East to send a “clear and unmistakable message” in response to “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings.”

“The deployment comes less than a month after the Trump administration designated Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization,” Fox News reported. “The deployment also comes amid the bloodiest fighting in five years between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.”

“In response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings, the United States is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the U.S. Central Command region to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force,” Bolton said. “The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.”

Former Israeli national security adviser Yaakov Amidror said on Sunday that Iran was behind the increasing escalation in Gaza.

“What made Friday’s shooting on the IDF patrol interesting, Amidror said, was that it took place precisely when Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders were in Cairo putting the finishing touches on an agreement drawn up by Egypt that was designed to ease the tension in the South,” The Jerusalem Post reported. “But while its leaders were in Cairo, Islamic Jihad fired on the soldiers. At first, the organization tried to deny responsibility for the attack.” (Read more from “Trump Sends ‘Clear and Unmistakable’ Message to Iran” HERE)

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Trump Sending Navy Strike Group to Middle East to Send ‘Message’ to Iran

By Washington Examiner. The United States is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the Middle East region in response to “troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” from the Iranian government. . .

The latest move continues to ratchet up tensions between Washington and Tehran. Last month, in a bid to put further pressure on the Iranian government, the Trump administration announced that it would stop providing waivers to countries that import Iranian oil. Also last month, the U.S. designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organization. Iran has since labeled the entire U.S. military as “terrorist.” (Read more from “Trump Sending Navy Strike Group to Middle East to Send ‘Message’ to Iran” HERE)

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Trump Administration Hits Iran With New Sanctions

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By Daily Wire. On Friday, the Trump Administration smacked the terrorist, jihad-exporting, sharia supremacist Iranian regime with a fresh round of sanctions. . .

The Iranian regime is the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism. Iran is deeply embedded with Bashar al-Assad in Syria, supports the fundamentalist Islamist Houthi rebels in Yemen, supports Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad alike in the Gaza Strip, retains the Lebanese jihadist group Hezbollah as a Shiite proxy, and more generally funds lethal terrorism and sows chaos the world over. The U.S. has not had formal diplomatic relations with Iran ever since the fateful Islamic Revolution there in 1979. (Read more from “Trump Administration Hits Iran With New Sanctions” HERE)

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Trump Administration Slaps New Sanctions on Iran

By Fox News. The Trump administration announced Friday that it is slapping new sanctions on more than two dozen Iranian individuals involved in the country’s nuclear and missile research programs, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced Iran’s growing influence.

The Treasury Department said the sanctions target 31 Iranian scientists, technicians and companies affiliated with Iran’s Organization for Defense Innovation and Research, which is known to have been at the forefront of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

“Individuals working for Iran’s proliferation-related programs—including scientists, procurement agents, and technical experts—should be aware of the reputational and financial risk they expose themselves to by working for Iran’s nuclear program,” the State Department said in a statement on Friday.

The administration’s move to impose sanctions is unusual, because they are not focused on what the individuals are currently doing, but rather because of their past work in nuclear weapons development, and the potential that they could attempt to restart the nuclear activities. (Read more from “Trump Administration Slaps New Sanctions on Iran” HERE)

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2020 Democrats Have A Terrifying Goal

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MIDGA, or Make the Iran Deal Great Again, appears to be 2020 Democratic presidential candidates’ unified foreign policy platform.

Several major 2020 Democratic presidential candidates want to resuscitate the Iran nuclear deal, the controversial Obama-era agreement that President Trump withdrew from in May 2018.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., told the pro-Tehran Al Monitor that they would support re-entering the nuclear agreement with the Iranian regime.

The report adds:

“The other 10 candidates did not respond to Al-Monitor’s request for comment, including Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke. All four voted for the deal in 2015, while O’Rourke was one of only 20 House members to vote against new Iran sanctions opposed by Obama in 2015.

And former Vice President Joe Biden, who is expected to announce whether he is running next month, remains a champion of the pact negotiated under his watch.”

President Trump withdrew from the Iran deal last year, citing its disastrous ramifications for American interests and global stability.

“The fact is this was a horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made. It didn’t bring calm, it didn’t bring peace, and it never will,” he said in remarks announcing his commitment to stopping Iran from acquiring nukes.

The agreement, decried by President Trump as the “worst deal in history,” gave the terrorist regime that rules Iran $150 billion, provided a road map to deliverable nuclear weapons, and allowed the Tehran regime’s unchecked advances throughout the Middle East. It also allowed Iran to quadruple annual aid to the Hezbollah terrorist group while continuing to fund and aid its worldwide terrorist and criminal proxies.

As I explained last year for Conservative Review, the Iran deal was not solely about nuclear weapons. The Iran deal was fundamentally an agreement designed to reorient the balance of power in the Middle East away from traditional U.S. allies and to restructure the region by providing a huge boost to the Tehran regime.

In the era of Orange Man Bad, whatever Trump does, 2020 Democrats must take the opposite approach, and this of course applies to U.S. foreign policy too. 2020 Democrats are pledging to re-engage in a weapons-grade disaster of an agreement with the world’s foremost state sponsor of international terrorism, U.S. national security interests be damned. (For more from the author of “2020 Democrats Want to Make the Iran Deal Great Again” please click HERE)

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Iran Reaches Verdict in Case Against Detained Navy Veteran

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By ABC News. Iran’s judiciary has delivered a verdict against U.S. Navy veteran Michael White who was detained last July in Iran but there is no information as to what the ruling contained, a semi-official news agency reported Monday.

A prosecutor in the northeastern city of Mashdad, Gholamali Sadeghi, was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency that the “verdict has been issued” against White and that he faced unspecified security charges.

Sadeghi’s remarks counter a February statement by the Iranian foreign ministry, which said White faces no security or espionage charge. There was no immediate explanation on the discrepancies. . .

White, who has been held in Mashhad, is the first American known to be detained since Donald Trump became president. Trump has pursued a maximalist campaign against Tehran that includes America’s withdrawal of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers. Iran has in the past detained Westerners and dual nationals to use them as leverage in negotiations.

White’s family says he traveled to Iran to visit his girlfriend — the two met online — and was arbitrarily detained. Joanne White, the detainee’s mother, said in January that he was undergoing cancer treatment and that she feared he would not survive prolonged detention. (Read more from “Iran Reaches Verdict in Case Against Detained Navy Veteran” HERE)

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Verdict Issued Against US Navy Veteran Held in Iran

By AP. Iran’s judiciary has delivered a verdict against U.S. Navy veteran Michael White who was detained last July in Iran but there is no information as to what the ruling contained, a semi-official news agency reported Monday.

A prosecutor in the northeastern city of Mashdad, Gholamali Sadeghi, was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency that the “verdict has been issued” against White and that he faced unspecified security charges.

Sadeghi’s remarks counter a February statement by the Iranian foreign ministry, which said White faces no security or espionage charge. There was no immediate explanation on the discrepancies. (Read more rom “Verdict Issued Against US Navy Veteran Held in Iran” HERE)

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Iran Spy Allegedly Radicalized at U.S. University

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A former U.S. Air Force intelligence specialist accused of espionage for Iran, Monica Witt, was allegedly radicalized in part during a stint at a Washington university that has taken $100 million from Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries.

Certain American universities have received funding from the U.S. government with a partial goal of training students to be diplomats and intelligence specialists for the U.S., while simultaneously accepting financial donations from Middle East countries. In some cases, the programs have been staffed by academics who are critical of U.S. policy and who publicly espouse fringe positions. . .

Witt’s radicalization “was rooted in Ms. Witt’s military service and … accelerated while she was in graduate school” at George Washington University, where she earned a master’s degree in its Middle East Studies program, The New York Times reported. . .

Muslim-majority nations — plus a handful of private groups associated with them — have given $100 million to George Washington University in the form of gifts and contracts since 2011, according to Department of Education disclosures. That includes $80 million from Saudi Arabia, $14 million from Kuwait, $4.5 million from the United Arab Emirates, and $730,000 from Turkey. Most of those countries gave as recently as June 2018.

The Middle East centers of Washington-area universities provide a direct line to shaping U.S. policy. In 2011, for example, GWU’s now-director of the Middle East studies program Nathan Brown testified before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence: “We have no policy toward the [Muslim] Brotherhood. And let me stake out what might seem to be an odd position here: I do not think we need a policy.” (Read more from “Iran Spy Allegedly Radicalized at U.S. University” HERE)

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Former Air Force Officer Accused Of Being Iran Spy, Charged With Espionage

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By Daily Wire. On Wednesday, former Air Force intelligence office Monica Witt was charged with espionage for allegedly defecting to Iran and helping create a cyber-spying operation which targeted her former colleagues.

CBS News reports that Witt is accused of defecting to Iran in 2013 and sharing highly-classified U.S. intelligence about a classified Department of Defense program. Authorities claim Witt collaborated with the elite Iranian military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The FBI’s wanted listing says that Witt was indicted by a grand jury on February 8, and charged with “Conspiracy to Deliver National Defense Information to Representatives of a Foreign Government and Delivering National Defense Information to Representatives of a Foreign Government.”

“Monica Witt is charged with revealing to the Iranian regime a highly classified intelligence program and the identity of a U.S. Intelligence Officer, all in violation of the law, her solemn oath to protect and defend our country, and the bounds of human decency,” assistant attorney general John Demers wrote in a statement.

Witt, 39, had high-level security clearances and was in the Air Force from 1997 to 2008, then became a Defense Department contractor until 2010. She also reportedly went abroad several times on counterintelligence missions. (Read more from “Former Air Force Officer Accused of Giving Information to Iran, Charged With Espionage” HERE)

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Former Air Force Officer Charged With Espionage, Accused of Helping Iran

By CBS News. The Department of Justice charged former U.S. Air Force special agent and counterintelligence specialist Monica Witt with espionage, accusing her of defecting to Iran in 2013 and revealing highly-classified U.S. intelligence to the government in Tehran.

In a grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday, prosecutors said Witt, 39, provided the Iranian government information about a classified Defense Department program and helped Tehran’s intelligence services target her former colleagues in the U.S. intelligence community. According to authorities, Witt collaborated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite military unit charged with exerting Tehran’s influence around the world.

“[Witt] appears to have switched her allegiance to thinking that the United States, where she was born and raised and worked, was not where her allegiance was anymore,” assistant attorney general John Demers told CBS News Wednesday. Witt’s actions, the FBI said, put the life of the officer whose identity she revealed at risk.

The government issued an arrest warrant for Witt, who remains at large. U.S. officials believe she is still in Iran. (Read more from “Former Air Force Officer Charged With Espionage, Accused of Helping Iran” HERE)

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