The commander of Iran’s ground forces said that American officials planned and executed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to justify military intervention in the region.
“These wars and these threats stem from a comprehensive American strategy. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Americans felt that a new force was beginning to materialize, namely the union between Sunnis and Shiites,” said Ahmad Reza Pourdastan in an interview with Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Alam state news network.
“The basis of this force was the blessed Islamic Revolution in Iran. This force is Islam, or the Islamic world. In order to prevent this force from materializing, the Americans did many things,” Pourdastan said, according to a translation of his remarks by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
“The first thing they did was to plan and carry out the events of 9/11, in order to justify their presence in Western Asia, with the goal of ruling it,” he said. (Read more from “Top Iranian General: America Was Behind 9/11 Attacks” HERE)
A nine-ship Iranian convoy believed to be laden with weapons bound for rebels in Yemen turned around Thursday after being followed by U.S. warships stationed in the area to prevent arms shipments, multiple sources in the Pentagon told Fox News.
The sources said the nine-ship convoy is south of Salalah, Oman, and now headed northeast in the Arabian Sea in the direction of home. The ships, which include seven freighters and two frigates, had sailed southwest along the coast of Yemen heading in the direction of Aden and the entrance to the Red Sea. The two Iranian warships escorting the convoy are Thondor Type 021-class missile boats and the other ships in the convoy are a mix of commercial vessels with some carrying shipping containers.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt, a 100,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier known as the “Big Stick” and her escort, the USS Normandy, a guided missile cruiser, have been shadowing the convoy for the past few days, the sources said.
Fighter jets taking off from the carrier have been relaying the convoy’s location to the U.S. Navy’s higher command since the start of the week.
Pentagon officials say the U.S. Navy set up the nine ships in a line parallel to the coast of Yemen stretching from the Bab-el-Mandeb Straight to waters south of Oman, which provide “continuous coverage” of the Iranian convoy. (Read more from “Fleet of Iranian Ships Heading to Yemen Turns Around After Being Tracked by US Warships” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-04-24 03:53:582015-04-24 03:53:58Fleet of Iranian Ships Heading to Yemen Turns Around After Being Tracked by US Warships [+video]
By Fox News. The wife of an American pastor locked up in Iran said prison guards have repeatedly threatened to extend the sentence for her husband, who was detained in 2012 over his Christian faith.
Naghmeh Abedini said her husband, 34-year-old Saeed Abedini, lives in constant fear of having his eight-year sentence increased for allegedly preaching his religion inside the Islamic republic.
“The urgency of getting my husband home has never felt so real,” Naghmeh Abedini told FoxNews.com Monday. “His physical and psychological strength has been greatly weakened throughout his imprisonment. The lack of clean water and good nutrition have taken a toll on Saeed’s physical well-being.”
“Guards have repeatedly told him that the price of his freedom is denying Christ and returning to Islam – and yet, Saeed’s faith in Christ remains strong,” she said.
Abedini, a U.S. citizen and father of two from Idaho, has been held in Iran for two and a half years after being accused of proselytizing in the Islamic republic. The American Center for Law and Justice and Abedini’s family have pleaded with the U.S. and UN officials to secure his release — including a meeting between Naghmeh Abedini and President Obama earlier this year in Idaho that renewed hope for the family. (Read more from “Iranian Prison Guards Threaten to Extend Sentence for U.S. Pastor, Wife Claims” HERE)
As U.S. Sits Down with Iran, Pastor Saeed Must Be Released
By Jordan Sekulow. American Pastor Saeed Abedini is facing renewed torment and hostility suffering in Iran for his Christian faith. He hears fellow prisoners being executed as he tries to sleep. Iranian authorities refuse to allow him the vital medical treatment he desperately needs. The prison guards threaten and torment him.
There is already a framework for a nuclear agreement and U.S. and Iranian negotiators are about to sit down again to begin finalizing the details, but Pastor Saeed is still not home and the situation is getting worse. Fox News has an updated report on Pastor Saeed’s horrifying condition.
With the United States sitting down with the Iranian delegation again this week, it is essential that our government not forget Pastor Saeed – a U.S. citizen whose been imprisoned in Iran for more than two-and-a-half years. President Obama communicated to Pastor Saeed’s wife and children that bringing Pastor Saeed home was a “top priority.” We urge the Obama Administration to put those words into action. Regardless of the outcome on the nuclear deal, the U.S. government should not leave the table until it has secured the freedom of Pastor Saeed. Let us leave no man behind. (Read more from this story HERE)
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is steaming toward the waters off Yemen to beef up security and join other American ships that are prepared to intercept any Iranian vessels carrying weapons to the Houthi rebels fighting in Yemen.
Navy officials said Monday that the Roosevelt was moving through the Arabian Sea. The U.S. Navy has been beefing up its presence in the Gulf of Aden and the southern Arabian Sea amid reports that a convoy of about eight Iranian ships is heading toward Yemen and possibly carrying arms for the Houthis. Navy officials said there are about nine U.S. warships in the region, including cruisers and destroyers carrying teams that can board and search other vessels . . .
The Houthis are battling government-backed fighters in an effort to take control of the country. The U.S. has been providing logistical and intelligence support to Saudi Arabia-led coalition launching airstrikes against the Houthis. That air campaign is now in its fourth week.
The U.S. Navy generally conducts consensual boardings of ships when needed, including to combat piracy around Africa and the region. So far, however, U.S. naval personnel have not boarded any Iranian vessels since the Yemen conflict began. (Read more from “US Warship Heads to Yemen Waters to Thwart Iran From Sending Weapons” HERE)
In recent weeks the Obama Administration’s attempts at reaching a nuclear deal with Iran have suffered repeated setbacks both at the negotiating table and in the court of public opinion. As a result, the storm of talking points and promises from both the White House and Congress would have the average citizen believing that the Administration’s efforts to court the Ayatollah have been thus far successful, all the while enjoying the full support of Congress and the American people. In reality the current negotiations and the congressional oversight framework for any possible deal with Tehran are proving more and more indecisive and potentially destabilizing than thought possible.
Here’s how the actual situation looks.
Myth: The Corker-Cardin Bill grants adequate constitutional approval to Congress.
Fact: Even though a deal with Iran would be tantamount to a treaty, the approval process contained in the bill compromise effectively lowers the threshold of approval from 67 to 34, in the case of President Obama’s veto. By passing this bill, Republicans will be openly legitimizing his Iran deal without formal ratification, a reversal of their stated position in the “Cotton Letter.”
Myth: The current bill language would provide congressional oversight on Iran’s terror activities.
Fact: Even though Iran has been a recognized sponsor of international terrorism since 1984, the new version of the Corker-Cardin bill scuttled the previous language requiring the Obama Administration to certify to congress that Iran is not sponsoring or committing terror activities against the United States or her citizens. By stripping out this language and allowing Iran to receive $700 million in assets per month while ramping up their support for Hamas and Hezbollah they are implicitly blessing Iran’s war on Israel.
Myth: The current deal with Iran would require a scaling back of Iran’s nuclear efforts.
Fact: No reactors or centrifuges would have to be dismantled. Despite several Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee saying that the current negotiations would lead to a reversal of Iranian nuclear activities, all current operations would continue at facilities in Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan and Arak, while enjoying the economic boon of having sanctions lifted.
Myth: Iran would have to surrender their stockpiles of enriched uranium in a transparent and secure manner.
Fact: Even though a major selling point of recent agreements would be Iran’s surrendering of enriched uranium, the surrendered materiel would be handed over to Russia, the biggest supplier of Iran’s nuclear program. This would be analogous to North Korea being forced to surrender its ballistic missiles to the People’s Republic of China. Meanwhile, there is no recognition in the deal of Iran’s longstanding clandestine program, the real threat. Besides, Iran has already rejected any weapons inspections on their “military” installations.
Myth: The Obama Administration’s current deal would protect and affirm the status of Israel as a legitimate Jewish state with a right to exist.
Fact: The compromise only contains non-binding language expressing “the sense of the Senate” that any agreement “in no way compromises the commitment of the United States to Israel’s security, nor its support for Israel’s right to exist.” This was changed from an earlier condition requiring Iran to recognize Israel’s right to exist, and exist as a Jewish state. While the language sounds good in spirit, it effectively does little to protect Israel’s security, as there is no binding language requiring terror certification or stopping the manufacture of rockets to be given to organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. Iran is stepping up their arming of those terror groups while benefiting from the relief in sanctions pending a final deal.
Myth: Iran would have to scale down its manufacture and testing of nuclear weapons.
Fact: There is no mention whatsoever in the proposed framework that would affect Iran’s continued development of inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and Tehran has even continued to test them throughout the negotiations. Rather, with the economic burden of the sanctions lifted, the Iranian government would have even more fungible assets to develop and test ICBMs. Even more troubling should be the implications of this development. While a ballistic missile may be a really impressive piece of hardware to show off at a parade, it’s essentially little more than a rocket-propelled paperweight unless tipped with some sort of hardware, usually nuclear.
Myth: Although the Corker-Cardin bill is weak, it is still better than nothing.
Fact: Corker-Cardin is not a weak bill, it’s a harmful bill. It implicitly blesses Obama’s negotiations even after both the White House and the Iranians have violated all of the stated objectives and timetables. It explicitly legitimizes ratification of the deal with just 34 votes, providing Republicans with no recourse to block it later on and little leverage to delegitimize the final agreement if they fail to muster enough votes to strike down the agreement.
Republicans have the ability to pass sanctions or vote to disapprove of the deal any time. They don’t need to provide Democrats cover in order to utilize their control of the chamber. This bill does not give them any power they wouldn’t otherwise have held. The majority party doesn’t need the permission of the minority party to conduct a vote, especially when the minority party is still committed to filibustering it. Instead of this bill being a bunt or a base-hit, it’s a groundball into a triple play.
Indeed, just days after this Corker-Cardin deal was forged, Obama used his newfound flexibility to telegraph the message that he is open to lifting sanctions immediately.
Myth: At least this puts Democrats on record as supporting scrutiny of the Iran Deal.
Fact: A dozen Democrats were already on record over a year ago supporting a straight up sanctions bill. After Republicans let them off the hook a number of times, these Democrats finally agreed to vote for sanctions if Iran failed to accede to a framework agreement on March 24. Iran has rejected every tenant of the alleged framework, yet Democrats have not only moved away from sanctions, they watered down a simple congressional oversight bill. Now, instead of Republicans holding them accountable, they are agreeing to a more liberal position than these dozen Democrats held just a year ago.
So while the popular narrative may be that the Obama Administration has finally brought Iran to the negotiating table for a definitive agreement, it seems that both the administration’s efforts, as well as the desire of Senate Democrats to laud them, will do very little, if anything, to secure a more stable and safe nuclear situation for the United States, Israel and the world as a whole. (See “Iran Negotiations: Myth versus Fact [+videos]”, originally posted HERE)
Iran and a US-led group of countries consisting of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany (called the P5+1) still have a ways to go before they reach a final nuclear deal.
But one P5+1 member is already acting as if the nuclear issue has been settled.
On Monday, the Kremlin retracted its hold on the transfer of S-300 missiles to Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported. Iran and Russia had finalized a contract to deliver the weapons in 2007, but the deal was shelved under international pressure and the embargo on arms transfers to Iran that the UN Security Council passed in 2010.
Russia is now announcing its intention to send one of the world’s most advanced anti-aircraft systems to Iran, notwithstanding that embargo — and against mounting evidence that the nuclear issue is actually far from resolved.
The Pentagon has already slammed the move, while Israel is already framing it as an unsavory result of apparent diplomatic progress on the nuclear front. US Secretary of State John Kerry has also raised a complaint with Moscow. (Read more from “Russia and Iran Just Showed How ‘They Can Do Whatever They Like’ Right Now” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-04-15 03:15:482015-04-15 03:15:48Russia and Iran Just Showed How ‘They Can Do Whatever They Like’ Right Now [+videos]
A Washington Post journalist detained in Iran for over eight months is accused of “espionage” and “acting against national security,” the semiofficial Fars news agency reported Sunday.
The report did not elaborate on the source of the information, but the agency is regarded as close to Iran’s hard-liners.
Iranian officials have previously said Jason Rezaian is facing “security” charges and that he will stand trial before the Revolutionary Court — which mainly hears sensitive cases involving national security.
Rezaian’s lawyer, Leila Ahsan, declined to comment on the specific charges against her client, but told The Associated Press she had finished studying the text of the indictment and would brief Rezaian’s family in the coming days. Ahsan added that she visited Rezaian in prison last month.
“He appeared to be in good health and spirits. I can see him anytime. Jason asked me to provide a strong defense. I’m in constant touch with his wife and family. I’ve requested that the court hold the trial as soon as possible,” she said. (Read more from “Report: US Reporter Held in Iran Facing ‘Espionage’ Charges” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-04-13 01:26:522015-04-13 01:26:52Report: US Reporter Held in Iran Facing ‘Espionage’ Charges
President Obama has long known that the real decision maker in Iran is Ayatollah Khamenei, the so-called supreme leader. While other Iranian officials have negotiated with Western powers over the mullahs’ nuclear program, Khamenei’s opinion is the only one that really counts. It is for this reason that Obama began writing directly to Khamenei early in his presidency.
Earlier today, Khamenei broke his silence on the supposed “framework” the Obama administration has been trumpeting as the basis for a nuclear accord. Khamenei’s speech pulled the rug out from underneath the administration.
Khamenei accused the Obama administration of “lying” about the proposed terms, being “deceptive,” and having “devilish” intentions, according to multiple published accounts of his speech, as well as posts on his official Twitter feed.
I trust our negotiators but I’m really worried as the other side is into lying & breaching promises; an example was White House fact sheet.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) April 9, 2015
Hours after the #talks, Americans offered a fact sheet that most of it was contrary to what was agreed.They always deceive &breach promises.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) April 9, 2015
Khamenei also disputed the key terms Obama administration officials have said were agreed upon in principle. Economic sanctions will not be phased out once Iran’s compliance has been “verified,” according to the Ayatollah. Instead, Khamenei said that if the U.S. wants a deal, then all sanctions must be dropped as soon as the agreement is finalized. Khamenei also put strict limits on the reach of the inspectors who would be tasked with this verification process in the first place.
Beginning earlier this month and in the days since, Obama and his advisers have attempted to portray the negotiations as major step forward. During an appearance in the Rose Garden on April 2, Obama said the U.S. and its allies have “reached a historic understanding with Iran.” (Read more from “Ayatollah Khamenei Accuses White House of ‘Lying,’ Being ‘Deceptive,’ and Having ‘Devilish’ Intentions” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-04-10 00:02:242015-04-10 00:02:24Ayatollah Khamenei Accuses White House of ‘Lying,’ Being ‘Deceptive,’ and Having ‘Devilish’ Intentions
There is something surreal about the media and the far-left tearing up our nation the past two weeks over the right to force religious business-owners to bake a cake, for example, for gay marriages. Meanwhile, their ideological leader, Barack Obama, has just forged a deal with the most genocidal and regressive regime that will pave the road for them to build a nuclear bomb and afford them more latitude to fund and export global terror – unencumbered by sanctions that have been in place for years. For the Left, it’s all about priorities.
While the media and Obama will continue to try to sell a different story in an attempt to paint the deal as one of Obama’s biggest ‘achievements,’ here is what the mainstream media isn’t reporting about the deal:
• Allows Iran to keep reactors, centrifuges, and infrastructure: No existing nuclear reactors or centrifuges will have to be dismantled. All of Iran’s activities will continue at their main facilities in Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan and Arak. Iran will keep its entire base infrastructure. In return, all the sanctions will be removed, granting Iran more economic breathing room to help develop a bomb and proliferate terror. Obama claims: “if Iran cheats we will know it,” but the only way we will know it is when it’s too late. And at that point, the decision to reinstate sanctions is in the hands of the UN Security Council, which means that there is no incentive for Iran to comply with the deal. Russia will never agree to reinstate sanctions.
Iran will be allowed to maintain its underground Iranian enrichment facility in Ferdo with 1,000 centrifuges spinning. According to the terms of the deal as espoused by the White House, those centrifuges must only spin non-nuclear materials, which will be almost impossible to verify in the long-run once they are allowed to keep all the nuclear infrastructure spinning and operating in a bunker. As late as 2012, Obama said “we know they don’t need to have an underground, fortified facility like Fordo in order to have a peaceful program.”
[Author David Horowitz was interviewed on The Joe Miller Show and talked about endemic problems in the US political system]
In an Orwellian twist, Iran will rename the facility the “nuclear physics and technology center.” This facility was originally built in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Iran signed in 1970. Now it will be allowed to develop far more advanced centrifuges than it currently holds.
• Obama goes back on his promise to dismantle Arak: Obama also said in the past that the Iranians “certainly don’t need a heavy-water reactor at Arak in order to have a peaceful nuclear program.” Well, the Arak facility will be intact, even according to the White House’s version of the agreement.
• The Fox Guarding the Henhouse: One of the selling points of the agreement from last Thursday was that Iran would have to surrender its current stockpiles of enriched uranium. But those stockpiles would have to be shipped to….Russia! They are the biggest supplier of Iran’s nuclear program. Now, Iran is denying that they agreed to surrender their uranium at all.
• Terrorism and threat to Israel: There is not one word in this agreement about Iran’s appalling sponsorship of terror. In fact, this agreement, and the legitimacy and economic benefits that are bestowed upon Iran therein, implicitly blesses and enables them to continue building Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal.
Obama said that “if Israel were to be attacked by any state, that we would stand by them.” The problem is that Israel will likely be attacked with rockets from the north by Hezbollah, which is not a state (although they are supplied and trained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard). Obama chose his words carefully because we all know that he would be the first world leader to condemn Israel for counter-attacking Hezbollah, much like he did with Israel’s campaign against Hamas last summer. In fact, Iran is already restocking Hamas with rockets and materials to rebuild their network of terror tunnels. Not to mention, Hezbollah’s leader voiced his support for the deal, rightfully noting that it will help them in their struggle against Israel. Obama also rejected Netanyahu’s request that Iran be forced to recognize Israel’s right to exist as part of the agreement to lift sanctions.
• Conventional Weapons: There is absolutely no mention in the framework of Iran’s continued development of long-range ballistic missiles or ICBMs. In fact, they have continued to test long rage missiles throughout the entire duration of the negotiations. The relief in sanctions will only grant Iran more resources to continue developing their military assets, which will not only threaten Israel but Europe and the U.S. as well.
Taken as a whole, this deal will allow Iran to keep all of its nuclear infrastructure and come within arm’s length of the breakout point by the time the deal expires. And this all assumes that they will allow in the weapons inspectors and comply even with the cosmetic changes to their nuclear program. In reality, once the sanctions are taken off in such spectacular fashion, there will be no incentive for them to comply with anything, much like the North Koreans did in the ‘90s. It’s akin to the deals of ‘amnesty now, promises of security later’ or ‘tax increases now in return for spending cuts later.’
Furthermore, the Iranians are refusing to recognize the White House talking points on the agreement and have made it clear that their version of the agreement is a national victory for their country. They actually have their own version of the tentative agreement circulating domestically in Persian. This means that the agreement is worthless because Iran will pocket the relief on sanctions but never agree to any of the supposed accountability measures in the White House’s version of the framework.
It is clear that the entire dog and pony show at Lausanne last week was designed by the White House and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif to serve as a dilatory tactic to block sanctions indefinitely. If there is this much public ambiguity over the details of the framework, one can only imagine what Obama has told the Iranians privately in order to secure the support of Ayatollah Khamenei.
In short, Obama has essentially told the Iranian Mullahs that if they like their nukes, long range missiles, and terror networks they can keep them. No wonder the Iranians are declaring victory.
The time for Congress to act is now. (See “#IranDeal: If You Like Your Nukes You Can Keep Them”, originally posted HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-04-08 02:23:132015-04-08 02:23:13Obama Screws the World with #IranDeal: “If You Like Your Nukes You Can Keep Them” [+videos]
Delegates from Arab and Muslim states, some without formal ties with Israel, were expected in Jerusalem next week for a conference on nuclear testing sponsored by the United Nations.
Some 100 delegates, including from Egypt and Jordan, were set to arrive for a conference organized by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), an international organization set up to outlaw nuclear weapons headed by Dr. Lassina Zerbo. Israel is a member of the treaty but has yet to ratify it.
To ensure the arrival of those invitees from states with no diplomatic relations with Israel, the Foreign Ministry had to issue travel and safety assurances, the Israeli daily Maariv reported Tuesday.
The purpose of the conference, as reported by Maariv was to discuss the results from a recent experiment in Jordan in November 2014. The experiment tested CTBTO inspectors’s abilities to monitor, identify and neutralize nuclear testing, according to the report.
Zerbo was set to meet with Intelligence Minister Dr. Yuval Steinitz, heads of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and other Israel officials to try to persuade an Israeli ratification of the treaty, according to Maariv. (Read more from “Arab, Muslim Delegates to Arrive in Israel for Nuke Conference” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-04-08 02:21:002015-04-08 02:21:00Arab, Muslim Delegates to Arrive in Jerusalem for United Nations’ Nuke Conference
The commander of Iran’s ground forces said that American officials planned and executed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to justify military intervention in the region.
