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
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)
