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FORMER OBAMA DEFENSE SEC: Yeah, Obama Was Never Serious About Stopping Iran From Getting Nukes

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Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta would “probably not” believe that President Barack Obama was serious about his promise to take action to stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb if Panetta could make his assessments over again, he conceded in a New York Times Magazine article published on Thursday.

Panetta, who was the director of the CIA from 2009-2011 and then served as defense secretary until 2013, told reporter David Samuels that one of his most important jobs in the Pentagon was preventing Israel from launching a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak wanted to know if the president was serious about his commitment to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

“They were both interested in the answer to the question, ‘Is the president serious?’” Panetta recalls. “And you know my view, talking with the president, was: If brought to the point where we had evidence that they’re developing an atomic weapon, I think the president is serious that he is not going to allow that to happen.”

Panetta stops.

“But would you make that same assessment now?” I ask him.

“Would I make that same assessment now?” he asks. “Probably not.”

Panetta explained that defense and foreign policy veterans like him and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would be asked for policy opinions, only for White House staffers such as Ben Rhodes, the Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications and the subject of Samuels’ piece, to narrow them down to “to where they thought the president wanted to be.”

They’d say, ‘Well, this is where we want you to come out.’ And I’d say ‘[expletive], that’s not the way it works. We’ll present a plan, and then the president can make a decision.’ I mean, Jesus Christ, it is the president of the United States, you’re making some big decisions here, he ought to be entitled to hear all of those viewpoints and not to be driven down a certain path.”

Rhodes disputed this, saying that the president rejected policy options that he didn’t like was because he didn’t agree with the traditional foreign policy establishment, of which Panetta was a part. But Rhodes did not dispute the process that Panetta described.

Panetta also said that in his capacity as CIA director, he never assessed that there was a meaningful difference between Iranian moderates and hardliners. “There was not much question that the Quds Force and the supreme leader ran that country with a strong arm, and there was not much question that this kind of opposing view could somehow gain any traction,” he said.

Rhodes, the White House’s chief foreign policy communications manager, promoted the narrative that the election of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani presented an opportunity to engage with moderates to limit Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons program. But he admitted to Samuels that “we are not betting” that Rouhani or foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are actually moderates.

Wendy Sherman, who served at the administration’s lead negotiator with Iran, made a similar statement earlier this year in a speech at Duke University, admitting that “there are hardliners in Iran, and then there are hard-hardliners. Rouhani is not a moderate, he is a hardliner.” (For more from the author of “FORMER OBAMA DEFENSE SEC: Yeah, Obama Was Never Serious About Stopping Iran From Getting Nukes” please click HERE)

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Iran Threatens to Sink US Warships

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The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) threatened to “drown” any US warships approaching Iran, a top general said Tuesday, according to state-controlled media.

“We have informed Americans that their presence in the Persian Gulf is an absolute evil,” Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi stated to state media. “Americans are aware that Iran would destroy their warships if they take a wrong measure in the region.”

He further threatened that the US would “lose control of everything” by drawing others into Middle-East affairs.

“There has never been normal conditions in the Persian Gulf and Americans can feel the presence of IRGC navy forces at any spot,” he added. “Iran’s great power has forced US to consider creation of deterrent capabilities” . . .

The threats surface just days after top White House adviser Ben Rhodes revealed the US deliberately misled the American public about the 2015 Iran deal. (Read more from “Iran Threatens to Sink US Warships” HERE)

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Major Iranian Missile Test to Coincide With U.S. Presidential Inauguration

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hqdefaultIran is preparing to conduct a major ballistic missile test in February 2017, following the inauguration of the next U.S. president into the Oval Office, according to a timetable issued by the Islamic Republic.

Iran is continuing work on advanced ballistic missile technology and has been engaged in various tests to perfect this work.

Iran conducted a test launch earlier this month of its Simorgh space vehicle, which has emerged as a key piece of the Islamic Republic’s goal to perfect intercontinental ballistic missiles that would be capable of striking the United States with a nuclear warhead.

The most critical test of this system will take place in February 2017, when Iran is scheduled to perform a “full launch” of the system, according to research performed by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

The test is being viewed by experts as just the latest in a string of provocative military moves by Iran aimed at testing the United States’ resolve and commitment to international provisions barring these types of missile tests. (Read more from “Major Iranian Missile Test to Coincide With U.S. Presidential Inauguration” HERE)

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Iran Spurns Kerry Bid for ‘New Arrangement’ on Missile Tests

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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday rebuffed US Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposal Thursday to negotiate a “new arrangement” for Tehran’s ballistic missile program.

Speaking at a joint press conference in Tehran with Estonia’s foreign minister, Zarif said that Iran’s missile and defense programs are nonnegotiable, echoing similar statements by other Iranian officials over the weekend.

Washington has denounced Iran’s ballistic missiles program, including a March 9 test of two ballistic missiles, as a violation of a United Nations ban. Iran maintains they not covered by the UN ban, which is linked to last year’s landmark nuclear agreement.

Kerry said the US and its partners were telling Iran that they were “prepared to work on a new arrangement to find a peaceful solution,” but that Iran first had to “make it clear to everybody that they are prepared to cease these kinds of activities that raise questions about credibility and questions about intentions.”

Zarif retorted Sunday saying Kerry’s comments were “baseless.” He said that if the US were serious about the issue, it should stop selling weapons “which are used for killing innocent Yemenis or used by the Zionist regime against civilians,” the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported. (Read more from “Iran Spurns Kerry Bid for ‘New Arrangement’ on Missile Tests” HERE)

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Congress Investigating Obama Administration for ‘Intentional Deception’

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US lawmakers are questioning the Obama administration’s commitments to Congress over the Iran nuclear deal and its numerous guarantees that the Islamic Republic would not be granted extra concessions for signing it, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Over the course of the last year, administration officials confirmed in Congressional testimony that the Iranian regime would not gain access to the US financial system and missile technology under the terms of the nuclear agreement. In one such instance, Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury Adam Szubin assured lawmakers in September that Iran would not be given the opportunity “to execute a dollarized transaction where a split second’s worth of business is done in a New York clearing bank.”

In March, however, the Associated Press reported that the Obama administration was contemplating “easing financial restrictions that prohibit US dollars from being used in transactions with Iran,” which is currently outlawed. This change in policy would result in a significant boost to Iran’s hard-hit economy.

US lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed their outrage over the president’s alleged policy backtrack, the report said, adding that Obama “promised to maintain a strict ban on dollars along with other non-nuclear penalties on Iran.” Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) wrote in a letter to the president that allowing Iran access to the dollar “is clearly not required” by the terms set forth in the nuclear agreement. In a statement, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WA) called the reports “deeply concerning,” and said, “The president should abandon this idea.”

In a second policy shift, Reuters reported, Washington has ceased referring to Iran’s ballistic-missile launches as a “violation” of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which codifies the nuclear deal. In March, Iran test-fired a missile capable of carrying a nuclear payload, the report said, and US, British, French and German officials called this “inconsistent with” and “in defiance” of the resolution. (Read more from “Congress Investigating Obama Administration for ‘Intentional Deception'” HERE)

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Obama Admin Engaged in Secret Talks to Pay Iran Nearly $2 Billion

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The Obama administration has spent three years engaged in secret talks with Iran that resulted in the payment of nearly $2 billion in taxpayer funds to the Islamic Republic, with more payouts likely to come in the future, according to a recent letter issued by the State Department and obtained exclusively by the Washington Free Beacon.

The administration’s disclosure came in response to an inquiry launched in January by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.), who was seeking further information about the Obama administration’s payment of $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds to Iran, which many viewed as a “ransom payment” for Iran’s release that month of several U.S. hostages.

The administration’s official response to Pompeo was sent earlier this week, just days after a Free Beacon report detailing a months-long State Department effort to stall the lawmaker’s inquiry.

“We apologize for the delay in responding,” Julia Frifield, an assistant secretary for legislative affairs, states in the letter’s opening.

Obama administration officials first began talks to settle a number of outstanding legal claims leveled against the United States by Iran in 2014. The administration predicts that more taxpayer-funded payments are likely to be granted to the Islamic Republic in the future, according to the letter. (Read more from “Obama Admin Engaged in Secret Talks to Pay Iran Nearly $2 Billion” HERE)

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Washington Made It Easy for Iran to Fire Its Ballistic Missiles

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D5LAUNCHIranian officials spent the frantic final weeks before last year’s nuclear agreement pushing Washington to eliminate a long-standing U.N. prohibition on its ballistic missile program. They didn’t get the ban scrapped, but they did get it softened.

Now, eight months later, a recent series of Iranian missile tests has many in Washington angrily calling for new sanctions on Tehran. But Obama administration officials shouldn’t be surprised by Iran’s decision to test its standing on the international stage to fire the missiles: To the contrary, the nuclear deal may have made the missile launches inevitable.

Before the July 2015 nuclear pact, Iran was expressly prohibited by U.N. resolutions from launching ballistic missiles capable of developing nuclear weapons. U.N. Security Council resolution 1929 states that the 15-nation body “decides that Iran shall not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.” In U.N. legal parlance, invoking the word “decides” places an unambiguous legal obligation on all states to comply.

But in exchange for Iran’s signature on the landmark nuclear accord, the United States granted Tehran greater wiggle room to advance its ballistic missile program. Last July’s U.N. Security Council resolution 2231 — which endorsed the nuclear pact — replaced the prohibition with more permissive language: “Iran is called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.” (Read more from “Washington Made It Easy for Iran to Fire Its Ballistic Missiles” HERE)

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Missiles From Iran-Allied Territory Intercepted on Way to US

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This is an interesting, but still very much developing story.

Serbia’s authorities are investigating reports that a cargo package bound for the U.S. containing two missiles with explosive warheads was found on a passenger flight from Lebanon to Serbia.

N1 television said the package with two guided armor-piercing missiles was discovered Saturday by a sniffer dog after an Air Serbia flight from Beirut landed at Belgrade airport.

Serbian media say documents listed the final destination for the AGM-114 Hellfire missiles as Portland, Oregon.

The Lebanon origin is what makes this story somewhat different because the country is currently dominated by Iran and its Shiite terrorist allies. So if this was a terrorist plot, which we don’t know that it was, it appears likelier to have originated from Iran than from ISIS. Portland however was the site of a more conventional Sunni Islamic terror plot. But Shiites also have a presence there.

Another twist was the recently “misplaced” Hellfire that ended up in Cuba.

But where would Iran have gotten hellfire missiles? Like most of the US equipment in the hands of Shiite terrorists, Iraq. The US has sold plenty of hellfires to Iraq. And Iraq’s government and military these days is controlled by Iran’s Shiite puppets. (For more from the author of “Missiles From Iran-Allied Territory Intercepted on Way to US” please click HERE)

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House Churches Multiplying Inside Iran Despite Persecution

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Christianity is spreading swiftly inside Iran despite a government crackdown against house churches.

Some Christians argue the actions of the Islamic Republic’s have actually created an opposite effect.

A London-based organization that trains Iranian Christians reports hundreds of thousands of new Christians–former Muslims–are worshipping secretly in a rapidly accelerating house church movement inside the Islamic Republic.

According to The Christian Post, a source affiliated with the Pars Theological Centre said the rapid church growth will eventually change Iranian society.

“This is not a political movement at all, but it will have political implications because it is touching the core foundations of society. This is battling prostitution and drug addiction. If you want to live in a country that doesn’t fund terrorists, you have to develop the values of the grassroots,” the source said. (Read more from “House Churches Multiplying Inside Iran Despite Persecution” HERE)

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Ahead of Election, Iran’s Leader Warns of Western ‘Plot’

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By Samia Nakhoul. Iran’s top leader warned voters on Wednesday the West was plotting to influence elections pitting centrists close to President Hassan Rouhani against conservative hardliners in a contest that could shape the Islamic Republic for years to come.

In remarks reflecting an abiding mistrust of Rouhani’s rapprochement with the West, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he was confident Iranians would vote in favor of keeping Iran’s anti-Western stance on Friday in the first elections since last year’s nuclear accord with world powers.

Rouhani’s allies, who hope the deal will hasten Iran’s opening up to the world after years of sanctions, have come under increasing pressure in the election campaign from hardliners who accuse them of links to Western powers including the United States and Britain.

Those accusations seek to tap into Iranians’ wariness of Western motives and memories of a 1953 coup against nationalist prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh that was orchestrated by the United States and Britain and strengthened the Shah’s rule. (Read more from “Ahead of Election, Iran’s Leader Warns of Western ‘Plot'” HERE)

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Iran Arrests Elderly Father of Jailed U.S. Citizen

By Yeganeh Torbati. Iranian authorities this week arrested the elderly father of an American jailed in Iran since October, the man’s family said on Wednesday.

Siamak Namazi, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, was detained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in October while in Iran visiting family. Officials have yet to announce charges against him.

Baquer Namazi, Siamak’s father, was arrested late on Monday in Tehran, his wife Effie Namazi said in a Facebook post on Wednesday. The 80-year-old Namazi, also a dual Iranian-American citizen, was taken to Evin Prison, where his son is also being held, she said.

Asked at a Senate hearing about the elder Namazi’s arrest, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said: “I am very familiar with this and I am engaged on it specifically, but I am not permitted due to privacy reasons to go into details here.” (Read more from ” Iran Arrests Elderly Father of Jailed U.S. Citizen” HERE)

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