One of the ramifications of finalizing the nuclear deal with Iran would be a shifting of the balance of Middle East power in Tehran’s favor, wrote longtime State Department negotiator Dennis Ross in Politico on Monday.
If negotiators emerge from their chambers in Vienna with a finalized deal — and right now the deadline has been postponed for the second time to July 10 — and sanctions are phased out according to Iranian compliance, then within six to 12 months Iran could receive up to $150 billion in frozen assets, wrote Ross.
And “even if it chose to use 90 percent of those funds to address real domestic needs, $15 billion could have a dramatic effect on Iran’s ability to use Hezbollah and other Shiite militias to pursue its ‘resistance’ agenda in the region and continue to shift the balance of power in its favor,” wrote Ross, who was a special adviser to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Iran . . .
Ross said the deal basically amounted to lifting international sanctions on Iran, which have crippled the country’s economy, in exchange for full transparency, though Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared recently that inspectors would not have access to all of Iran’s military sites, even if the International Atomic Energy Agency had substantiated suspicions. (Read more from “Dennis Ross: Unfrozen Iranian Funds Will Shift Mideast Balance of Power Toward Tehran” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-08 02:49:572016-04-11 10:59:11Dennis Ross: Unfrozen Iranian Funds Will Shift Mideast Balance of Power Toward Tehran
By Adam Kredo. White House officials on Monday held a private conference call with liberal organizations to discuss ways of pressuring Democrats and other lawmakers on Capitol Hill into supporting a nuclear deal with Iran that is expected to be finalized in the coming days, according to an audio recording of that call obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The call, in which there were more than 100 participants, was organized by the liberal pro-Iran group Ploughshares Fund, which has spent millions of dollars to slant Iran-related coverage and protect the Obama administration’s diplomatic efforts.
The White House officials described a nuclear deal with Iran as President Obama’s “signature foreign policy accomplishment” and urged liberal groups to launch an all-out lobbying campaign to pressure lawmakers, especially Democrats, to back the deal.
Progressive leaders on the call told participants to prepare for a “real war” and repeatedly declared that “the other side will go crazy” in the coming days. The call also included the anti-war group MoveOn.org.
“This has really been on the front burner from a foreign perspective, although not in the public eye necessarily, since the very beginning,” Matt Nosanchuk, an official in the White House Office of Public Engagement, told participants. “This is not an issue of the day, this is really an issue of the presidency.” (Read more from “White House Officials Plot Ways to Pressure Lawmakers Into Supporting Iran Deal” HERE)
Iranian Official: US Will Remain Our Enemy Despite Emerging Nuclear Deal
By JPost Staff. A senior Iranian military official said Sunday that despite the emerging nuclear deal between Iran and the US-led P5+1 group of world powers, America will remain Tehran’s enemy.
Iranian Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said that even if a nuclear deal comes to fruition in Vienna, where Iranian and western negotiators are currently trying to reach an agreement by a Tuesday deadline, Tehran and Washington will not become friends.
“The US might arrive at some agreements with us within the framework of the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany), but we should never hold a positive view over the enemy,” Iran’s Fars News Agency quoted Pourdastan as saying.
“Our enmity with them is over the principles and is rooted because we are after the truth and nations’ freedom, but they seek exploiting nations and putting them in chains,” he explained further.
Pourdastan’s comments came as differences still remained between the two sides over the country’s disputed nuclear program ahead of Tuesday’s deadline for a final agreement to end a 12-year-old dispute. (Read more from “Iranian Official: US Will Remain Our Enemy Despite Emerging Nuclear Deal” HERE)
By John Irish and Louis Charbonneau. A year and half of nuclear talks between Iran and major powers were creeping toward the finish line on Friday as negotiators wrestled with sticking points including questions about Tehran’s past atomic research.
Iran is in talks with the United States and five other powers – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – on an agreement to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
“We are coming to the end,” said a senior Western diplomat, who added there was no plan to carry on for long past next Tuesday. “Either we get an agreement or we don’t.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said a deal was close.
“We are ready to strike a balanced and good deal and open new horizons to address important common challenges,” he said in a statement broadcast on YouTube, referring to the rise of Islamist militancy. (Read more from “Iran Nuclear Talks in Endgame, Negotiators Push on Sticking Points” HERE)
U.S. Stockpiles Powerful Bunker-Buster Bombs in Case Iran Nuclear Talks Fail
By W.J. Hennigan. As diplomats rush to reach an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program, the U.S. military is stockpiling conventional bombs so powerful that strategists say they could cripple Tehran’s most heavily fortified nuclear complexes, including one deep underground.
The bunker-busting bombs are America’s most destructive munitions short of atomic weapons. At 15 tons, each is 5 tons heavier than any other bomb in the U.S. arsenal.
In development for more than a decade, the latest iteration of the MOP — massive ordnance penetrator — was successfully tested on a deeply buried target this year at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The test followed upgrades to the bomb’s guidance system and electronics to stop jammers from sending it off course.
U.S. officials say the huge bombs, which have never been used in combat, are a crucial element in the White House deterrent strategy and contingency planning should diplomacy go awry and Iran seek to develop a nuclear bomb.
Obama has made it clear that he has no desire to order an attack, warning that U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s air defense network and nuclear facilities would spark a destabilizing new war in the Middle East, and would only delay Iran by several years should it choose to build a bomb. (Read more from this story HERE)
It’s very simple, if Republicans allow Obama to continue our dangerous alliance with Iran for even one hour after the June 30 deadline, they are just as complicit in the malfeasance. Republicans can take a few days off from rubber-stamping Obama’s agenda and growing government in order to deal with Iran.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported that UN monitors have received no reports from the U.S. or European countries pointing out Iranian violations of sanctions, “even though some have unfolded in plain sight.”
The White House would have you believe that they will not lift sanctions on Iran until they comply with the terms of a potential nuclear agreement. The problem is they have already de facto lifted sanctions, not just through the $700 million per month in unfrozen assets given to Iran for stringing us along in these negotiations, but by turning a blind eye to their violation of travel bans and importing nuclear materials.
For example, nobody bothered to report that General Qassem Suleimani, the head of the terrorist Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, broke his travel ban and has been seen all over the Middle East promoting the Iranian proxies. The U.S. and other governments also turned a blind eye to recent shipments of nuclear missile materials from North Korea to Iran. And when it comes to Iran’s growing piracy of international ships and international waters, the “international community” has pursued a ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ approach.
Moreover, as the Financial Times reports, Iran is already negotiating contracts with OPEC and international oil companies with the full confidence that sanctions will be lifted, irrespective of their behavior or willingness to cooperate with nuclear disarmament.
It gets worse.
Not only has Obama turned a blind eye to existing violations, he is now reneging on his promise to keep the “non-nuclear” sanctions on Iran, even if they strike a deal to curb their nuclear program. In the April 2 factsheet, the White House boasted, “U.S. sanctions on Iran for terrorism, human rights abuses, and ballistic missiles will remain in place under the deal.” The notion that the UN and U.S. could untangle the nuclear sanctions without affecting the rest of the sanctions was always dubious, but now the AP reports that the Obama administration is officially backtracking.
Officials say the administration can meet its obligations because of how it interprets nuclear sanctions.
For example, they say measures designed to stop Iran from acquiring ballistic missiles are nuclear-related because they were imposed to push Iran into the negotiations. Also, they say sanctions that may appear non-nuclear are often undergirded by previous actions conceived as efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program.
The officials who provided information for this story spoke only on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the private discussions.
The AP goes on to explain that this convoluted designation will essentially free 23 of the 24 Iranian banks from all sanctions. So Obama will treat Iran’s ballistic missile program like its nuclear program for purposes of rewarding them with sanctions relief, but not for the purpose of forcing them to abandon it.
Consider this in the context of several other appalling developments:
Last week, the Obama administration shipped another supply of weapons, including AGM-114 Hellfire II missiles, to the Lebanese Army – a force that is completely controlled by Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah.
The White House made sure to publicly celebrate their victory at the Supreme Court this week granting them the continued authority to refuse to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on passports of those born in the Israeli capital. This was clearly another groveling exercise before the Iranians.
Obama has announced that he is sending 400 additional “advisors” to Iraq in order to train the “Iraqi security forces.” The reality is that these are not advisors to an independent Iraqi force. Instead of directly arming the Kurds, Obama is sending 3,500 of our finest troops into a meat-grinder of an Islamic civil war in order to deliver Iraq into the hands of Iran, which currently controls Baghdad.
What should boil the blood of anyone who loves America most is that Iran and Hezbollah are responsible for more military deaths than any other country or entity in modern history. According to the Jerusalem Center for Public Policy, Iran and Hezbollah were responsible for killing 1,100 U.S. soldiers in Iraq and incapacitating thousands more. And this is all putting aside the vast history of killing American troops, from the Marine barracks in Beirut to the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia.
This is how we are going to repay Iran for their genocide? Are Republicans, with their endless timidity, prepared to be complicit in this immoral appeasement of Iran?
June 30 will be a time for choosing. (“When You Thought the Appeasement of Iran Couldn’t Get Any Worse…”, originally posted HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-16 03:49:452016-04-11 10:59:59Just When You Thought Obama’s Appeasement of Iran Couldn’t Get Any Worse [+video]
Photo Credit: Free Beacon Iran is continuing to develop missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons despite an interim agreement on its nuclear programs, according to a Pentagon report.
“Although Iran has paused progress in some areas of its nuclear program and fulfilled its obligations under the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA), it continues to develop technological capabilities that also could be applicable to nuclear weapons, including ballistic missile development,” a one-page unclassified summary of the report says . . .
The report was due to Congress in January but was not sent to the Armed Services Committee as required by law until this month. Analysts said the delay appeared designed to avoid upsetting Tehran and the nuclear talks.
Disclosure of the continuing development of nuclear delivery capabilities comes amid reports that Iran increased the amount of nuclear material that could potentially be used to build nuclear weapons despite the JPOA.
The State Department sought to challenge International Atomic Energy Agency reports on the increase in Iranian nuclear material, despite President Obama’s claim that the nuclear agreement had halted Iran’s nuclear program. (Read more from “Pentagon: Iran Continuing Work on Nuclear Systems” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-04 03:29:452016-04-11 11:00:26Pentagon: Iran Continuing Work on Nuclear Systems Despite Agreement with Obama
Photo Credit: Over the past 18 months, Obama has paid Iran $700 million a month to come to the negotiations table and string along the West with promises of dismantling their nuclear program. This may sound like an exaggeration – it’s not. In addition to paying them what will amount to $12 billion in unfrozen assets by the end of June, Obama has ceded half of the Middle East to the Iranian hegemony, including control of critical international waterways, as well as the security of Israel.
So what is the return on Obama’s investment?
Not only has Iran refused to dismantle its program or even allow weapons inspectors on any relevant nuclear sites, a new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reveals that Iranian nuclear fuel stockpiles expanded by 20% since negotiations began in November 2013. You might call this investment the ‘Solyndra of the Middle East,’ except that this is not a joke; it’s an existential threat to global security.
This is the grand lie of the entire negotiations. Proponents of negotiations are giving off the impression that there is no harm in trying to forge a deal and that sanctions will not be lifted unless they abide by the terms of the Joint Plan of Action (JPA) laid out by the P5+1 nations on November 24, 2013. The reality is that Iran has already benefited from a smorgasbord of preliminary sanctions relief for the past 18 months. They have everything to gain and nothing to lose by continuing to blow through deadlines and dragging out these specious negotiations.
It is for this reason that the element of time is so important to Iran, Obama, the phony “Hawkish” Democrats, and AIPAC. The longer they can drag out negotiations the more Iran and Obama benefit, while Senate Democrats and AIPAC can express tacit concern, albeit continue to delay sanctions or any meaningful step to curtail the immoral appeasement of Iran.
There is already a quiet consensus growing among the political class to allow the June 30 deadline to expire without any action. And in fact, the reckless Corker-Cardin bill implicitly blesses a tardy agreement by establishing dates of faux congressional approval well into September.
Well, the time is up and the dangerous negotiations must end now. June 30 was the final promised deadline after failing to meet three other timelines. Unless Iran agrees by June 30 to completely dismantle its nuclear program and allow inspectors at any installation, Republicans must immediately defund negotiations and move to reinstate and strengthen all existing sanctions. Forget about removing additional sanctions.
A Republican Party committed to actually protecting our national security would hold the 10 Democrat sponsors of the Kirk-Menendez sanctions bill accountable for failing to fulfill their promises. The 10 Democrats (Menendez, Schumer, Blumenthal, Peters, Casey, Cardin, Coons, Manchin, Donnelly, and Stabenow) signed onto sanctions well over a year ago, yet continued to allow Obama to negotiate away sanctions relief for terror and miss several deadlines. In January, they committed to voting for the sanctions bill in the event that Iran failed to accede to a preliminary framework on March 24 and a final agreement by June 30.
March 24 has come and gone without an agreed upon a framework, yet nobody has held them accountable. How can Republicans allow them to play ‘Lucy and the Football’ for the 4th time after June 30?
To this day, Rep. Ed Royce (R- CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has not moved a single Iran bill through committee, even though Republicans can easily pass a solid bill out of the chamber with a simple majority and pressure Senate Democrats to fulfill their stated commitments. Why would Democrats and their protectors at AIPAC ever feel the pressure to move off their current double-game of protecting Obama while sounding an alarmed tone on Iran – if Republicans fail to pursue them and make them choose sides once and for all?
In addition to passing standalone bills to hold Democrats accountable, conservatives can use the “State-foreign Ops” appropriations bill to cut off funding for negotiations. They can also use the pending NDAA to force policy changes on Iran.
Time is of the essence. There is no reason we should be paying the Iranians – a regime that killed and incapacitated thousands of our soldiers in Iraq – billions of dollars so they can expand their nuclear stockpiles, grow their military power, and control even greater parts of the Middle East.
In the coming weeks, Republicans will be pushing Obama’s trade deal, the Ex-Im Bank, and a massive highway bill with much alacrity – along with a slew of “suspension bills” on issues nobody even understands. Is it too much to ask that they muster the same urgency about one of the biggest threats to national security? (See “Obama Drops Iran Sanctions, Nuclear Stockpile Increases 20%”, originally posted HERE)
Last week, I noted that the House would be the last line of defense against passage of the Corker-Cardin Iran bill, which will grant Obama full cover and de facto authority to continue his dangerous appeasement of Iran. Sadly, it appears that not only will the House leadership decline to stand athwart to history and yell STOP, as Bill Buckley always suggested, they will silence conservatives from having a debate and offering amendments to at least improve this ill-conceived bill. It’s important to note, the average Liberty Score™ of the current House GOP leadership team stands at a solid 53% (F).
In other words, it is now clear that conservatives are just as marginalized even in the body of Congress that is completely controlled by Republicans with a simple majority as they are in the Senate.
The House plans to bring up the Corker-Cardin Iran bill under “suspension,” which means that there will be almost no debate and absolutely no amendments offered to this Democrat cover bill.
What are “suspension bills?”
“Suspension bills” are typically reserved for non-controversial issues that don’t require debate, such as non-binding resolutions and the naming of post offices, for instance. Leadership coerced the House Rules Committee to waive the rule against bringing up suspension bills at the end of the week (they are typically reserved for the beginning of the week) just so they can cram through this Iran bill without any input from conservatives.
There is nothing controversial in this bill. Nothing?
What is so jarring about this decision is that it comes on the heels of four years of GOP control without any debate over Iran. The Iran appeasement is the “Obamacare” or “executive amnesty” of Obama’s foreign policy in terms of its importance, yet the House has refused to move any significant legislation through committee, much less on the floor, that would draw a sharp contrast with Obama and hold Iran accountable for its terrorism, aggression against our allies and naval vessels, holding Americans hostage, and killing hundreds of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. But the minute Obama asks for a cover vote on the issue, they have no qualms about slamming it through the House without a committee process, debate, or amendments.
The GOP capitulation and appeasement of Obama’s appeasement comes a day after Iranian officials formerly rejected demands from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran open its military installations to inspection. This runs counter to Obama’s own longstanding demands as well as the fact sheet the White House published on the preliminary framework of the deal allegedly forged on April 2. It is quite evident that Iran will only allow access to sites that have already been discovered and dismantled while continuing their program on their covert sites. Yet, in return for this “agreement,” they will receive an immediate $50 billion signing bonus in sanctions relief.
This means that beyond a shadow of a doubt, no preliminary agreement was struck at the end of March to satisfy the public demands of 10 Senate Democrats. In January of this year, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and 9 other Senate Democrats (Schumer, Blumenthal, Peters, Casey, Cardin, Coons, Manchin, Donnelly, and Stabenow) sent a letter to Obama stating their intention to re-impose sanctions on Iran if the regime fails to agree to “a political framework that addresses all parameters of a comprehensive agreement” by March 24.
Well, March 24 has come and gone, yet Iran has rejected any semblance of a framework.
But instead of holding these Democrats accountable for their red line and passing a sanctions bill through the House, GOP leaders are silencing conservatives and passing a bill that will give these Democrats full cover. It will also ensure that Republicans will never have the votes to overturn the deal but retain a degree of responsibility for giving the public the perception that there is legitimate congressional oversight.
Folks, this is deceitfulness at its worst. You can’t make this stuff up.
Coupling this with Boehner’s betrayal on so many issues, it’s becoming harder and harder for conservative members to justify their reluctance to vacate the chair and throw Boehner out as Speaker. What is it going to take? (See “House Leadership Blocking out Conservatives on Iran Deal”, originally posted HERE)
The Senate has passed a resolution demanding Iran to release Pastor Saeed Abedini and three other Americans presently imprisoned in Iran.
In the middle of ongoing nuclear talks between U.S. and Iran, U.S. senators on Monday voted 90-0 in favor of the resolution authored by Senator James Risch calling on Iran to set Abedini, Amir Hekmati, Jason Rezaian and former FBI agent Robert Levinson free.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the resolution directs the administration to “use the tools it has in pursuit of what should be a bipartisan goal: securing the release of American citizens being held as hostages by the regime in Iran,” according to Charisma News. . .
White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said that involving the captivity of these Americans in the discussion with Iran is unacceptable.
He said, “The President would certainly veto any amendment or any bill with an amendment that undermined the unanimous compromise that was reached in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or that interfered with the ongoing negotiations.” (Read more from “Saeed Abedini Update: U.S. Senate Unanimously Approves Resolution for Release of Iranian-American Pastor and Others in Iran” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-15 01:38:392015-05-15 01:38:39Saeed Abedini Update: U.S. Senate Unanimously Approves Resolution for Release of Iranian-American Pastor and Others in Iran
In a disturbing turn of events, the White House has warned that it will veto a proposed amendment that would demand release of Pastor Saeed Abedini and three other American citizens held prisoners in Iran before any final nuclear deal agreement is reached.
The American Center for Law and Justice called the Obama administration’s admittance “despicable” and “appalling.”
“That is simply unbelievable. Refusing to discuss the Americans being held hostage by Iran at the bargaining table and rejecting any congressional attempt to make any deal with Iran contingent on the release of the Americans is unacceptable. It’s quite frankly appalling,” the law group wrote in an update on Thursday.
“This is despicable. This is outrageous. And it is an insult to the captive Americans and their families,” it added.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest made the announcement on Wednesday after an ABC News reporter asked about the Corker Bill and amendments being debated by the U.S. Senate that would require Iran to release the captured U.S. citizens before any sanctions are lifted. (Read more from “Imprisoned Pastor Saeed Abedini Abandoned by President Obama” HERE)
If Iran strikes a deal with the West, all sanctions will be lifted very quickly and there’s nothing the U.S. Congress can do to stop it, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told a New York audience Wednesday.
In a set of blustery and self-righteous remarks, Iran’s top diplomat assured the crowd at New York University that President Barack Obama would be compelled to stop enforcing sanctions only days after any nuclear agreement was signed and would have to figure out how to lift congressional sanctions on Iran within weeks, no matter what Congress has to say about it. He also said that any future president, even a Republican, would be compelled to stick that agreement.
Zarif also took several shots at the U.S. Senate, just as it debated amendments to a bill designed to slow the lifting of sanctions against Iran and give Congress an oversight role on the deal.
“As a foreign government, I only deal with the U.S. government. I do not deal with Congress,” Zarif said. “The responsibility of bringing that into line falls on the shoulders of the president of the United States. That’s the person with whom we are making an agreement.”
Zarif said that if there is a nuclear agreement by June 30, the negotiators’ latest self-imposed deadline, then within a few days the United Nations Security Council would pass a resolution lifting all UN sanctions and requiring Obama to stop enforcing all of the U.S. sanctions immediately. (Read more from “Iran’s Zarif Says Congress Can’t Stop Obama” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-04-30 03:57:582015-04-30 03:57:58Iran’s Zarif Says Congress – Even New President – Can’t Stop Obama’s Nuclear Deal
