The US-Iran deal: prisoner swap or new nuclear agreement?

SEP 20, 2023

Photo Credit: The Cradle

The successful prisoner swap and the release of frozen Iranian assets, suggests a complex diplomatic maneuver by the Biden administration that may serve to ease tensions, potentially pave the way for broader agreements, not least a revival of the nuclear deal.

Robert Inlakesh

The secret US-Iran deal revealed to the public last month has largely been portrayed as a “humanitarian agreement” – the release of US prisoners in exchange for the return of frozen Iranian funds that will bring relief to the people of Iran.

But as tidbits of new information emerge on the agreement, it has become clear that Washington and Tehran have agreed on a far more comprehensive array of arrangements.

The US, for instance, has quietly approved the release of significantly more Iranian funds than the $6 billion figure touted in the media. Dr. Mohammed Marandi, former media advisor to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team in Vienna, confirms to The Cradle that almost $20 billion of Iran’s internationally frozen assets have already been released as part of the agreement. 

The reported $6 billion only constitutes Iranian funds frozen in South Korea, while an additional $11 billion was held by Iraq, with the remaining portions scattered across various other countries. These assets, Marandi says, have now been successfully released and are under the control of Iran’s Central Bank.

Based on information from Iranian and Arab diplomatic sources who requested anonymity, the US-Iran deal terms include – but are not restricted to – the following commitments from the two sides:  

Iran’s commitments include:

• The release of the 5 Americans detained in Iran (and 2 relatives who were reportedly barred from leaving the country). 
• Capping uranium enrichment at 60 percent, accompanied by a reduction in production pace.
• Reactivating the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s surveillance cameras at several nuclear sites.

US commitments include:

• The release of Iranian prisoners held in the US and in various other undisclosed countries.
• Unfreezing Iranian funds held in multiple countries, including South Korea, Iraq, and elsewhere.
• Easing US sanctions on Iranian oil – this sanctions relief will occur informally, not requiring an official US decision, but rather a tacit acceptance of Iranian energy trades globally.
• Iran gains access to existing provisions in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) from October 2023, which permits the Islamic Republic to import and export weapons.
• The closure of remaining IAEA “open files” regarding several Iranian nuclear, military, and civilian sites.

Reviving a ‘dead’ deal 

Already, Washington-based think tanks are suggesting that the Iran-US prisoner swap could be a pivotal maneuver by the Biden administration to publicly kickstart the easing of tensions with Tehran. This move is seen as a way to navigate around the stubborn resistance of congressional representatives and pressure from Israeli hawks against reviving the Iran Nuclear Deal, also known as the JCPOA. 

This tacit understanding between the US and Iran – which took place via Qatari mediation – was inaugurated with the release of five US prisoners held in Iran and five Iranians held by the US. 

Monday’s prisoner exchange, which received blanket coverage by both countries’ media, has agitated parties opposed to any Iranian-US detente and has them scrambling to discover the hidden significance behind the breakthrough August agreement.

On 13 September, Richard Goldberg, Director of the Iran Program at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in an interview with the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that the US-Iran prisoner swap was strategically designed to deflect congressional criticism over the renewal of the JCPOA. 

He contends that by linking sanctions relief to the prisoner exchange instead of a JCPOA revival, US President Joe Biden has effectively defused tensions with Iran and sidestepped the political hurdle of presenting a new nuclear deal to Congress – a move that would have otherwise proved contentious in the lead-up to the 2024 elections.

In June last year, indirect negotiations between the US and Iran officially fell apart, ending a year’s worth of on-and-off efforts to reach a consensus in Vienna. Later in the year, while on the sidelines of an election rally in November, Biden declared the 2015 JCPOA “dead.” 

But just a few months later, in May 2023, secret indirect negotiations between US and Iranian officials took place in Oman. 

In June, the New York Times released an article on ongoing talks between the two parties aimed at finalizing an informal agreement that could potentially replace the need to resurrect the 2015 nuclear deal and “avert a nuclear crisis.”

The Cradle’s diplomatic sources confirm this was never merely a prisoners-for-cash swap, but a quiet initiative to defuse escalating US-Iran tensions – and proponents of continued conflict – by crafting a settlement that completely bypassed the naysayers. 

This settlement, which would begin with some simpler humanitarian gestures to build goodwill and trust between the two parties, would then provide the foundation for negotiations over more complicated issues.

Beyond the prisoner swap 

Despite Biden’s public commitment to revive the Iran nuclear deal, his negotiating team has dismally failed to secure an agreement. This week’s prisoner exchange was seen as just the right kind of sweetener to pave a new, unencumbered path toward securing the basic requirements of the two adversaries.

But even this humanitarian gesture by both sides has failed to quell media criticism. US outlets and social media platforms have castigated the Biden administration for releasing $6 billion of Iran’s frozen assets to secure the release of just 5 US prisoners.

And while US officials claim that the funds were transferred to designated bank accounts in Qatar and restricted to the purchase of food and agricultural products, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi went public to make clear that Iran has full discretion on the use of these funds. 

Raisi has described the release of the five prisoners as a “purely humanitarian action” and hinted that it could serve as a foundation for future humanitarian initiatives.

His statement has further fueled speculation that the US and Iran are privately moving toward a broader agreement – well beyond the prisoner exchange – that will substitute the hotly-contested JCPOA. It’s worth noting that a prisoner exchange also took place in 2014 before the Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

Managing the naysayers

When nuclear talks fell apart in Vienna, one key factor was the US-Iranian disagreement on how to proceed. In August 2022, the EU presented its final draft plan for reviving the JCPOA. 

While the EU’s foreign policy chief, Joseph Borrell, indicated a willingness to sign the deal if Iran’s responses were positive, Iran’s negotiating team raised three areas of concern, but the US did not push further, according to Mohammed Marandi. 

When asked whether there could be a potential positive effort to revive the JCPOA, Marandi informs The Cradle that this is down to US willingness.

However, the primary regional goal of the Biden administration has been to broker a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Notably, the latter has remained relatively silent about the recent prisoner swap, which follows a 5 September phone call between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Reports suggest that the majority of the call focused on countering the threats posed by Iran and its nuclear program.

After the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement facilitated by Chinese mediation earlier in the year, Tehran and Riyadh have been moving toward increased cooperation and friendlier relations. President Raisi reiterated the potential security risks associated with normalization with Israel in his speech before the UN, something that observers have speculated could lead to conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia. 

The US is aware of the risks tied to Saudi-Israeli normalization, and it’s possible that the prisoner exchange agreement was negotiated with this in mind. In other words, the Biden administration might interpret the success of the prisoner exchange as a sign that Tehran could be less confrontational if it can secure normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.

• JCPOA
• USA
• Iran
• Qatar
• IAEA
• Nuclear

‘Israel’ has nuclear weapons, admits former PM Barak

4 Apr 2023

Source: Agencies

By Al Mayadeen English 

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak admits that “Israel” possesses nuclear weapons despite “Tel Aviv” claiming otherwise.

This Sept. 29, 1971, spy satellite photograph later declassified by the US government shows what now is known as the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near Dimona, occupied Palestine (AP)

Former Israeli occupation Prime Minister Ehud Barak admits that the occupation possesses nuclear weapons through a tweet he made on Tuesday.

“[…] political parties in the West are deeply concerned about the possibility that, if the coup in Israel succeeds, a messianic dictatorship will be established in the heart of the Middle East with nuclear weapons in its possession,” Barak said on Twitter.

Various statements have previously come from Israeli officials condemning the occupation as having or aiming to acquire an arsenal of nuclear weapons, such as former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who addressed Jewish scientists leaving Germany and called on them to put their minds to nuclear research and “do everything possible to provide the desired Jewish state with nuclear weapons.”

Furthermore, former Israeli Prime Minister and President Shimon Peres addressed the Knesset in 1966, saying: “I see no reason why Israel sought to reassure [Egyptian President Gamal] Abdel Nasser through this platform and allow him to know what we are and are not doing. I know that the Arabs have their doubts about our nuclear ambitions, and I know that this is a means of deterrence. Why would we mitigate these concerns? Why would we work on clarifying that?”

Over the years, the Israeli occupation has adhered to a policy of ambiguity when it comes to its nuclear sector, but the most prominent thing that was leaked was a team of reporters from The Sunday Times saying in the early 90s that Mordechai Vanunu, the technician who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in “Israel”, confirmed through photographs and government documents that the occupation had between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads with a variety of destructive capabilities.

Moreover, the Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper in 1977 quoted French General Georges Bouet as saying during an interview with the French Europe 1 radio that the occupation possessed at the time the means required to produce two atomic bombs a year, revealing that it also had 13 atomic bombs, as well as the means to get them to their targets.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported in 1978 that a New York radio station broadcast a classified documented report on September 4, 1974, prepared by the CIA, which stated: “We believe that Israel has indeed manufactured nuclear weapons.”

Maariv also confirmed the report on March 2, 1978, citing a high-ranking CIA official, that then-US President Lyndon Johnson was informed that the Israeli occupation had nuclear weapons, and the head of state ordered that the whole thing remains under covers.

The Israeli occupation challenged the UN Security Council Resolution 487 of June 1981, which required “Tel Aviv” to urgently submit all of its nuclear facilities to the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The IAEA on September 18, 2009, issued a resolution calling on the occupation to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as well as open its facilities to international inspection, though the occupation did not express any interest in the matter.

Again the UN General Assembly invited the occupation to become a treaty member in December 2009 following UNGA Resolution “Establishment of a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Region of the Middle East”. Though 167 countries voted in favor of the resolution, the Israeli occupation refused to acquiesce in it. Furthermore, “Tel Aviv” skipped the 2010 nuclear summit in Washington.

On an almost daily basis, Israeli occupation officials attack the Iranian nuclear program despite its pacifist nature. Meanwhile, reports indicate that the occupation has nuclear weapons, which was confirmed today by “Israel’s” former premier.

The First Committee of the UN General Assembly ruled in October 2022 in an initial 152-5 decision that “Israel” must destroy all its nuclear weapons and submit its nuclear facilities to the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Four countries – Canada, Micronesia, Palau, and the United States – as well as the Israeli entity, opposed Friday’s resolution on the “risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.” Another 24 countries abstained, including European Union members.

A proposal for a Middle East nuclear-free zone was also accepted by the First Committee with 170 votes, including Iran. “Israel” was the only entity to object to the text. The United States, Cameron, Comoros, and Tanzania were the only four nations to abstain.

According to the report, the NPT is only as meaningful as the level of compliance, according to Israeli Deputy Ambassador to the UN Michal Maayan, and it is not a solution to the “specific security challenges” of the Middle East region.

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Multipolarity was triggered by the 2003 US invasion of Iraq

March 20 2023

Twenty years after the unlawful and destabilizing US-led invasion of Iraq, Washington must face the ultimate consequence of that war: UNSC powers China and Russia laying the foundation for a genuine, UN Charter-based system of multipolarism. 

Photo Credit: The Cradle

By Karin Kneissl

On the night of 19-20 March, 2003, the US air force began bombing the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The EU and NATO were deeply divided on whether to join the aggression: While newer NATO members from Central and Eastern Europe were in favor of the war, European heavyweights Paris and Berlin opposed it.

The Iraq war also marked the onset of diplomatic coordination between Moscow and Beijing at the UN Security Council (UNSC). The two countries began in 2003 to apply similar voting patterns in the Council, first on Iraq, then on Libya in 2011, and over Syria in several key votes. That early Russia-China UN coordination has, 20 years later, transformed into a determined joint policy toward “guarding a new world order based on international law.” 

Looking back at March 2003 from the vantage point of March 2023, the invasion of Iraq unleashed geopolitical consequences far beyond the obvious ones, like the proliferation of terrorism, a decline of US power, and regional chaos. In 2003, a foundational, global shift in the balance of power was surely the last possible consequence envisioned by the war’s planners in Washington and London.

Disconnecting the dots

The destruction of Iraq, the disbanding of the Iraqi Army by the first “US Consul” Paul Bremer in May 2023, the outflow of refugees to neighboring states such as Syria and Jordan, and the exponential growth of extremism and terror attacks are among the consequences of this misguided war.

The flimsy reasons for the war, such as non-existent weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and Baghdad’s alleged support of terror groups like Al Qaeda, were debunked extensively in the following years. By the spring of 2004, evidence was already rife – whether from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or from the CIA’s Iraq Survey Group (ISG) – that Iraq had no WMD program at all.

Rarely before had disinformation campaigns – what is now commonly referred to as “fake news” – been so meticulously executed. The “with us or against us” narrative had firmly taken hold: Western think tanks were out in full force promoting regime change and “democracy” (not a stated goal of the US-led invasion) in Iraq, while those who opposed it were labeled anti-Israel or anti-America.

Despite unprecedented, massive public protests across western capitals in opposition to the Iraq war, the US and its allies had already set in motion their considerable war machine, led by figures such as British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar.

A false narrative linking Baghdad and the September 11 attacks had already been well-seeded, despite there being no connection whatsoever between the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the bombers. It should be noted that there were no Iraqi or Afghan citizens among the terrorists who piloted the 9-11 planes, who were predominantly Saudi nationals.

Unfinished Business

In the autumn of 2001, war scenarios for an invasion of Iraq and regime change were already being laid out in Washington. Johns Hopkins University dean Paul Wolfowitz – an avid supporter of regime-change and US military expansion into Iraq – was named deputy secretary of defense in February 2001, a full seven months before the 9-11 attacks. Wolfowitz’s working hypothesis was that Iraq, with the liberalization of its oil industry, would be able to finance a post-war reconstruction from its own petroleum exports.

The group around Vice President Dick Cheney, which included Wolfowitz and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, was influential in shaping President George W. Bush’s position on Iraq. Unlike his father, George H. Bush, who was an experienced CIA director and analyst, the younger Bush lacked a distinct personal worldview on foreign policy, which he outsourced to his hawkish coterie.

Nevertheless, he was determined to finish what he saw as his father’s “unfinished business” from the 1991 ‘Gulf War’ aimed at expelling Iraqi forces from Kuwait. That conflict was executed under a UN Security Council resolution, authorizing legal measures against Iraq as a state, but which did not constitute a war under international law.

In 1991, only Jordan‘s King Hussein took a position supporting Saddam Hussein, with all other nations backing the coalition assault against Baghdad. The US government adhered to the UN resolution, which aimed to restore Kuwait‘s territorial integrity – but not to overthrow the Iraqi government.

Instead, the US supported Iraqi Kurds in the north of the country and encouraged them to revolt against Baghdad. The Iraqi army crushed that rebellion, as it did an uprising in the Shia-dominated south. Perhaps the rebels had hoped for more concrete military aid from the US, but regardless, Hussein remained firmly in power despite military defeat elsewhere.

From Washington’s perspective, the US had failed to unseat Hussein, and within the Bush family, there was a desire to settle a score. For George W. Bush, the invasion of Iraq provided an opportunity to step out of his powerful father’s shadow by executing the elusive regime-change goal. The September 11 attacks provided a justification for this obsession – what remained was to connect Iraq to the US terror attacks and galvanize public and political support for a war, both domestically and internationally.

The UN Security Council in turmoil

In the run-up to the Iraq invasion, there was a great deal of division among UN Security Council (UNSC) members. US Secretary of State Colin Powell presented questionable evidence of Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction, while the foreign ministers of Germany and France publicly opposed the aggression, for which they occasionally received applause in the Council.

China and Russia, who vehemently opposed the war, began coordinating their decisions and responses, in part because of their respective oil interests in Iraq. This cooperation between Moscow and Beijing set the stage for a coordinated multilateral approach between the two nations. Both governments understood that a war would open Pandora’s box, leading to the collapse of Iraqi institutions and resulting in widespread regional disharmony.

Unfortunately, this is precisely what happened. The subsequent years saw weekly attacks, an expansion of Salafi terror groups like Al Qaeda, the rise of ISIS in 2014, and perpetual internal Iraqi conflict. Anyone familiar with the country‘s conditions was aware of the looming catastrophe when the illegal invasion of Iraq began on 20 March, 2003.

China and Russia and the multipolar order  

Twenty years to the day, Chinese President Xi Jinping will embark on a three-day state visit to Moscow, and the focus will extend beyond bilateral energy relations, which have been a consistent priority since 2004.

As previously stated in their joint declaration in Beijing in February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart aim to coordinate their foreign policy and advance it together. Their discussions may also touch on the Ukraine dossier, although media expectations in the west may be overestimated.

It may be pure coincidence that the meeting coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Iraq invasion. Yet it also highlights how extensively Russian and Chinese strategies have intertwined over the past two decades.

Today, increasingly, “orientation comes from Orient.” Cooperative geostrategic leadership and sound alternative propositions to resolve global conflicts are being shaped in Beijing and Moscow – because the old centers of power can offer nothing new.

Twenty years after the US invasion of Iraq, a failed ‘war on terror,’ the proliferation of extremism, millions of dead and displaced in West Asia, and never-ending conflict, China and Russia have finally teamed up to systematically advance their view of the world, this time with more resolve and global clout.

As catastrophic as it was, the Iraq war ended the practice of direct US military invasions, ushering in a war-weary era that desperately sought other solutions. That global division of opinion that began in 2003 over Iraq is, 20 years later, being institutionalized by emerging multipolar powers that seek to counter forever wars.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.

Window for JCPOA Revival Won’t Remain Open Forever – Amir Abdollahian

March 3, 2023

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian cautioned the United States that the window of opportunity for an agreement on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will not remain open forever, urging Washington to adopt a constructive approach to salvage the accord.

In an interview with CNN aired on Wednesday, Amir Abdollahian said Iran has informed the US through mediators that the parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action are “on the path to reach an accord,” but warned that this might change if the US side hangs back.

“Our relationship with the IAEA is on its correct, natural path, and we have said this to the US side through mediators that we are on the path to reach an accord but if the Iranian Parliament adopts a new law, then we’ll have to abide by the parliamentary act,” he said.

“So, the window for an accord is still open but this window will not remain open forever,” the top Iranian diplomat added.

Amir Abdollahian also made clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been and is the most committed of all the parties involved in the diplomatic endeavors to restore the JCPOA, which was abandoned by the United States in 2018.

“The party that left the JCPOA was [former US president Donald] Trump and the United States,” he said. “The United States should not adopt a deceptive behavior and instead should return to the JCPOA and adopt a constructive approach.”

“The US party has been sending us positive messages through diplomatic channels but in its media remarks, they made very deceptive remarks that are totally different, and really, as the Iranian foreign minister, sometimes I have serious doubts,” he added.

He also noted that even though the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi sees some flaws and shortcomings in the JCPOA, it has decided to continue with the dialogue in order to restore the multilateral accord, provided that all the parties come back to the negotiating table and do their utmost to reach an agreement.

Iran showed to the world the peaceful nature of its nuclear program by signing the JCPOA with six world states — namely the US, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China. But, Washington’s unilateral withdrawal in May 2018 and its subsequent re-imposition of sanctions against Tehran left the future of the deal in limbo.

Elsewhere in his interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Amir Abdollahian criticized the United States for playing the blame game and accusing Iran of not having the “necessary resolve.”

“I will tell you expressively that in the past few years, we saw that the US officials were unable to make a decision because of their own internal problems and the pressures they are under. They are still unable to make a courageous decision to return to the JCPOA,” he said.

The Iranian foreign minister added that the country has shown its initiative on many occasions and “the fact is that we are still on the path of dialogue and we still want to reach an accord.”

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EU pursuing Trump’s failed sanctions policy against Iran: FM

Monday, 20 February 2023 7:17 AM  [ Last Update: Monday, 20 February 2023 7:34 AM ]

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (L) and European Union foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian has censured the European Union’s new round of sanctions on the Islamic Republic, saying the 27-member bloc is sticking to former US president Donald Trump’s “ineffectual” policy of sanctions against Tehran.

In a telephone conversation with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday, Amir-Abdollahian slammed Brussels’ “overused and obsolete” policy regarding Iran.

Last month, the EU slapped new sanctions on a number of Iranian officials and organizations over an alleged crackdown on riots across the country. Some EU member states and the European Parliament have even pushed for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) to be listed as a “terrorist organization.”

“The behavior of the European Union in recent months is the continuation of Trump’s ineffective Iran policy. It further proves the continuation of dual and unrealistic standards combined with the exploitation of human rights concepts,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

He also lashed out at certain European countries for backing anti-Iran groups that sponsor terrorism.

Borrell says EU cannot designate Iran’s IRGC as ‘terrorist’ without court ruling
The European Union

Touching on the interactions between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concerning the issues related to safeguards agreements, the foreign minister said Tehran is planning for a visit by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and that joint initiatives are on the agenda.

“If the agency acts with a technical and non-political perspective, it is possible to reach a framework to resolve the issue,” he added.

Iran and the IAEA are currently in a dispute triggered by the agency’s Israeli-influenced accusations, which were leveled against Tehran’s peaceful nuclear activities just as the Islamic Republic and other parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal appeared close to an agreement on reviving the deal.

Iran says an agreement on the revival of the nuclear deal hinges on the settlement of safeguards issues between Tehran and the IAEA, and that without settling those issues, resurrecting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) makes no sense.

The negotiations to salvage the JCPOA have been at a standstill since August 2022 due to Washington’s insistence on its hard-nosed position of not removing all the sanctions that were imposed on the Islamic Republic by the Trump administration.

Tonight on telephone with @JosepBorrellF discussed Iran-EU ties, JCPOA,  Iran-IAEA cooperation and Ukraine developments. Emphasized that I.R.Iran relies upon its people and this was proven once again on February 11th (national day) this year.

— H.Amirabdollahian امیرعبداللهیان (@Amirabdolahian) February 19, 2023

‘Iran always seeks peace in Ukraine’
Referring to the Ukraine war, Amir-Abdollahian said the Islamic Republic has always stressed the need for a ceasefire and diplomatic strategies to resolve the conflict.
Iran, he added, believes that respect for other countries’ territorial integrity guarantees sustainable peace, including in Ukraine, and it has spared no efforts to push for truce and peace.
Borrell, for his part, referred to Europe’s support for Kiev and voiced pessimism about the prospects of reaching a ceasefire in the coming weeks or even months.
He also expressed hope for the progress made in the cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, underlining the need for keeping up the talks.

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Iran celebrates 44th anniversary of Islamic Revolution with nationwide rallies

Saturday, 11 February 2023 6:25 AM  [ Last Update: Saturday, 11 February 2023 10:49 AM ]

Iranians mark the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the capital Tehran on February 11, 2023. (Photo by IRNA)

Millions of Iranians have taken to the streets across the country to celebrate the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the US-backed Pahlavi regime in 1979.

The rallies in the capital Tehran began at 9:30 a.m. local time (06:00 GMT) on Saturday, with demonstrators from various social strata and different parts of the city marching toward the iconic Azadi (Freedom) Square.

People waved photos of the late founder of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and legendary General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a 2020 US terrorist attack in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, as well as the martyrs of the Revolution.

Iranian people mark the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the capital Tehran on February 11, 2023. (Photo by Fars news agency)

The flight of colored balloons and iridescent papers from the Azadi Tower, the performance of professional parachutists of the Armed Forces and the mass recital of Iran’s national anthem were among the celebratory events held in the Azadi Square.

On the eve of the 44th anniversary, fireworks displays were performed in Tehran and other cities at 9:00 p.m. overnight, as people chanted Allahu Akbar (God is the Greatest) in an expression of support for the Islamic Revolution. 

Covered by 6,000 media personnel across the country, the foot processions, which came after three years of motorcade marches due to the coronavirus pandemic, were held in 1,400 Iranian cities and 38,000 villages.

An Iranian demonstartor flashes the victory sign on the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the capital Tehran on February 11, 2023. (Photo by Fars news agency)

The mass rallies on the 22nd of Bahman in the Solar Calendar, which corresponds with February 11, are held each year with tremendous patriotic fervor in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Iranian nation overthrew the despotic regime of Pahlavi, which was fully supported by the United States in the winter of 1979. The struggle against the shah regime reached full fruition on February 11, 1979.

By December 1978, millions of Iranians had taken to the streets in protest against the policies of the shah – Shah – on a regular basis.

Imam Khomeini returned to Iran from exile on February 1, 1979. He was received by millions of people weeks after the departure of the shah in mid-January 1979.

The collapse of the Pahlavi regime became certain on February 11 when the military renounced its loyalty to the shah and joined the Revolution.

Raeisi: Bahman 22nd day of victory of ‘truth over falsity’

Delivering a speech at the Azadi Square, Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi lauded the 22nd of Bahman as the day of the triumph of “truth over falsity,” the day of the victory of “the oppressed over the arrogant,” and the realization of the “miracle of the century.”

Raeisi said the epic day put an end to tyranny and dependence and marked the beginning of independence, freedom and the Islamic Republic, adding that the day brought about the crystallization of the will of the great nation of Iran.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi delivers a speech at the iconic Azadi (Freedom) Square on the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in the capital Tehran on February 11, 2023. (Photo by president.ir)

Crowds of millions in Iran… Why?

Stressing that both the establishment and the continuation of the Pahlavi regime was against the nation’s will and accompanied with a coup d’état, the Iranian president said, “They committed crimes and treason during their rule, and they were unconcerned about [Iranian people’s] great capacities, and only cared for the pleasure of the global hegemony and the United States.”

“Pahlavi’s despotic rule only brought backwardness to this nation and country,” Raeisi added, “They came to power against the principles of the Constitution and with a coup.”

‘Enemy cannot stand Iran’s achievements’

Pointing to the country’s achievements in various areas, including science and technology, economy, defense, health and medicine, Raeisi said, “Today, we rank first in the region in many fields and we are in the fourth, fifth and sixth place in many arenas in the world. This is for our self-discovery, self-confidence, and reliance on God. Our dear nation has conquered many peaks but the enemy cannot stand it.”

The president said when the enemy saw that the country was progressing in all fields and was not stalled, they started hatching another plot and thought that they could stop the country with chaos.

“They implemented the chaos project and thought that they could bring the country to a standstill with turmoil, and for this reason, they launched a hybrid war in this field,”

Raeisi noted, referring to the recent violent riots after the mid-September death of a woman in Tehran.

“They initiated a combined work in the form of a political, economic, media, psychological and perceptual warfare, unaware that the Iranian nation knows them and their tricks.”

 The president underlined, “Today, despite the threats and sanctions, Islamic Iran enjoys the growth of fixed capital, investment growth, economic growth, and growth in other indices.”

Iran in ‘claimant’ position in nuclear issue

Elsewhere in his speech, Raeisi said Iran stands in the position of a “claimant” in the nuclear issue, adding, “We have accepted the inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and these inspections continue. The agency has for 15 times announced that Iran has no involvement in nuclear activities, but this is you who have a nuclear warhead, you have a nuclear bomb, and you are in the position of the accused.”

Pointing to the fight against terrorism, Raeisi said Iran is also in the position of the claimant, noting, “You formed, supported and armed Daesh; and scourged the lives of Muslim people, but the Islamic Republic sacrificed dear General Soleimani in the fight against Daesh. You are the accused and must be held accountable to the world and humanity.”

The Iranian president also touched on the issue of Palestine and Afghanistan, saying, “Seventy years of oppression of the Palestinian people as well as 35,000 disabled children is the result of your presence in Afghanistan…You committed crimes and acted against human rights, you must answer why you violated human rights so much.”

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Iran commemorates the victory of the revolution.. What messages?

Iran Won’t Rule Out Withdrawal from NPT in Retaliatory Gesture: FM

January, 22, 2023 – 13:06 

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The foreign minister of Iran did not rule out the possibility of suspension of Tehran’s membership in the Non-Proliferation Treaty or a decision to expel the IAEA inspectors in response to the European Parliament’s push to blacklist the IRGC.

Speaking to ICANA on Sunday, Hossein Amirabdollahian lashed out at the European Parliament for its “emotional” decision to force the European Union to designate the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist organization”.

Asked about Iran’s possible retaliatory decision to withdraw from the NPT or banish the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors, he said, “A few of European political leaders have no experience in the diplomacy field and have only taken the helm at the diplomatic body today, including the foreign minister of Germany. If they do not take the path to rationality and fail to rectify their stances, any possibility could be considered.”

The foreign minister also described the Iranian Parliament’s bill that would designate the European military forces as terrorist organizations as a retaliatory action, saying the decision will entail “far-reaching changes and significant impacts on the military formation of the military forces in the region.”

In remarks at a parliamentary meeting on Sunday, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned of swift retaliatory action against the European Parliament’s plan to blacklist the IRGC, saying Iran is going to designate the armies of the European states in the region as terrorist organizations.

The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has warned the Europeans that they will have to suffer the consequences of repeating their past mistakes.

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Iran to Grab the Initiative in the “Combined War”

November 26, 2022 

By Ali Abadi

Have the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran begun to regain the initiative in the “combined war” that was imposed on them? What is the horizon for the next stage in dealing with the emerging internal-external challenge?

When Leader of the Islamic Revolution His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei indicated in a speech to a gathering of school students earlier this month that the enemy had a “plan” behind igniting the “combined war” currently targeting Iran, His Eminence was recalling the information contained in a joint statement of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards on October 28. The statement included data, most notably:

• The involvement of the CIA and the British, “Israeli” and Saudi intelligence in the disturbances within the “plan to destroy Iran”. The planning and practical implementation of the bulk of the riots was carried out by the Mossad.

• Smuggling military and espionage equipment for subversive networks into Iran.

• The CIA organized training courses for some of its Iranian agents, including “N.H.” who took the first photo of the late Mahsa Amini while she was in the hospital.

• Setting American institutes for riots several months before they occurred, as they ordered their agents to abuse sanctities, burn the Holy Quran and mosques, and target security forces and clerics.

The decline of “protests” and the progress of assassinations

About two months after the outbreak of the protests, it can be said that their course is taking a downward turn based on several indicators. The first chapter of it, which is to stir people up and push them to the street, has exhausted its energy, even if it has not completely ended yet. Now it is mainly dependent on armed groups carrying out assassination attacks against security personnel. Over the past few days, these groups carried out attacks that led to the killing of security officers who were working to control the situation and interview some people on the street [in Mashhad, Isfahan, Kurdistan, Khuzestan, and Baluchistan]. It seems that the aim of these attacks is to escalate the situation again in the street by provoking the security forces to draw them into a reaction that sheds more blood.

The shootings took place in provinces where the activities of separatist armed groups are concentrated, such as Khuzestan, Baluchistan, Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan, and incidents took place in other regions [Isfahan, Tehran, Mashhad] to give the impression that all of Iran is a hotspot. However, the movements remain limited in comparison to the vastness of Iran, and the number of participants in each movement in the street is in the hundreds at best.

In a preliminary reading, it appears that the security services are acting according to a plan that takes into account the following objectives:

• Luring: Detecting riot groups and their organizers by giving them an opportunity to go out in public, as what happened in the past weeks, when a large number of people were arrested based on what was captured from cameras, drones and information of informants on the ground.

• Gaining public opinion: To allow people who were affected by the demands raised by the rioters to see the truth about these people through their practices and to reveal the fall of a large number of security personnel during the protests at the hands of armed and rioting groups. It is worth noting here that the climate in which these disturbances were born affected some of the political elites in the country who did not take a position on what was happening, which the Iranian president referred to as “a clouding of the minds of the elite”. This reveals a loophole similar to what happened in Lebanon after October 17, 2019, where some figured had been affected by the propaganda atmosphere on social media and foreign media. This imposes a tax on solution that has a greater political and security cost.

• Reducing casualties among people during security measures on the ground to prevent the enemy from benefiting from any mistakes that might contribute to the siding of bewildered Iranians to the rioters against public order. This may lead to losses and sacrifices among the officers of the security forces, but this price remains small given the goal of not harming the largest number of people.

The Iranian security services were able to defuse the tension in some areas after opening dialogues with many social elites, as many people who were concerned about the safety of their regions and countries confirmed that the issue was not related to specific demands, but rather to dragging the country into an open confrontation with dangerous consequences.

In parallel, the security services are carrying out local operations to dismantle many cells responsible for killing people and security personnel and arresting their members, which is expected to lead to the dispersion of these groups and the scattering of their efforts and ability to communicate. And the security services show that they have accurate information about the people involved, based on technical tracking and relying on surveillance cameras and drones that play a role in monitoring movements on the ground.

In his speech to a delegation from the people of Isfahan a couple of days ago, Imam Khamenei drew attention to two points: the first is reassuring, in which he said that the current events will be accommodated and that “rioters and those behind them are too despicable to be able to harm the regime”. The second is that the people respond to these practices with greater awareness through massive participation in the funeral ceremonies of security personnel who are killed by the enemy. This last observation was tested and seen clearly in the funerals of martyrs who died in different provinces, and this would “turn the threat into an opportunity” to mobilize the people in the face of the enemy’s plans.

Direct US Intervention

Also, within the combined war, there are direct interventions led by the United States to add fuel to the fire and encourage the continuation of the unrest through:

• Statements by American and European political leaders criticizing what they call “violations against protesters in Iran”, in an unbalanced view that reflects a strategy pursued to undermine the Islamic Republic’s government.

• The mobilization of the media and the use of the capabilities of social media platforms in order to undermine Islamic values and transform the current problem into a position on the Islamic identity of Iranian society [the hijab, turban, flag of the Islamic Republic, pictures of martyrs, various religious symbols]. This malicious endeavor is being carried out by some idiots who see the West as their reference, and not the broad masses of the Iranian people who are proud of their religious values.

• Imposing commercial sanctions on Iranian companies and others on Iranian media personalities, particularly on state television, which broadcasts video clips of confessions of those arrested in the assassination crimes.

• Pressure through the United Nations General Assembly, where Western countries pushed for a session that voted to condemn Iran regarding alleged “violations” of human rights, noting that the number of countries that supported the resolution [78 votes] represents less than half of the number of countries that participated in the session [178 countries], where the rest preferred to abstain [69 countries], and a smaller number dared to refuse to condemn [31 countries]. This comes at a time when the US State Department exempted the Saudi Crown Prince from prosecution in a case brought before US courts in the case of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in exchange for US commercial interests.

• Pressure through the United Nations Human Rights Council as well, as it will meet within days to vote on a project directed against Iran, after it was prepared in a text proposed by Western countries.

• Pressure in the United Nations Women’s Committee “to get Iran out of the committee,” as US Vice President Kamala Harris pledged.

• Pressure through the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] by holding a meeting condemning Iran for “not cooperating with the agency in the investigation of uranium enrichment activities”, without regard to the steps presented by Tehran in this context, including the signing of the Additional Cooperation Protocol. Washington hopes, in coordination with its partners, to bring Iran’s file to the Security Council, claiming that it poses a threat to international peace and security. This claim is not approved by several countries, including Russia and China, which indicates that the ultimate US goal is to defame Iran and harm its reputation and credibility in international forums, in preparation for its isolation, to prevent it from achieving great gains in the event that an agreement regarding the nuclear file was reached later.

Thus, the US administration proves that it uses the United Nations with all its bodies to implement its own agenda aimed at subjugating Iran and achieving what it failed to achieve in the Vienna meetings. It is concretely confirmed that the Biden and Trump administrations are two sides of the same coin, as the current administration completes the investment in what its predecessor began in terms of the strict blockade against the Islamic Republic.

There remains a final sign: Iranian media reported that Iran had informed Qatar that it would not respond during the period of the World Cup hosted by Doha to external parties that planned and organized interference in its internal affairs, in response to Qatar’s positive position of not cooperating with the efforts aimed at preventing the participation of Iran’s national team in the event. And if this is true – and it appears that it is according to some evidence – then this means that the authorities of the Islamic Republic will take advantage of the period of the Qatar World Cup in order to rearrange the internal security situation, after which it will devote itself to dealing with the sources of the external threat.

All of Ukraine NPPs, most of HPPs, TPPs off the grid

23 Nov 2022

Source: Agencies

By Al Mayadeen English 

Several of Ukraine’s major nuclear, thermal, and hydroelectric power plants, caused a power outage in a vast area of land in the country.

Cars are parked in front of a shop, near residential blocks which were de-energized after a Russian attack in Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022 (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

All of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and the majority of its hydroelectric and thermal power plants were temporarily off the grid on Wednesday after they were rendered de-energized, the country’s energy ministry said.

“Today’s missile attack has led to a temporary blackout of all nuclear power plants and most thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants,” the ministry said.

https://twitter.com/AZgeopolitics/status/1595457983785627648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1595457983785627648%7Ctwgr%5Ec215822842eab7d6b72742acc77870433284ca32%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fenglish.almayadeen.net%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fall-of-ukraine-npps-most-of-hpps-tpps-off-the-grid

Reportedly, the South Ukraine Nuclear Plant in Mykolaiv Region was reported to have switched into emergency mode first. Later, the same was reported for Rivne and Khmelnytsky nuclear plants in the country’s west. This was attributed to the Ukrainian side’s failure to supply its substations, leading to a decrease in power consumption.

Eventually, all of the Ukrainian nuclear power plants were off the grid after the authorities took them off the energy system, and it was not known whether engineers would be assembling energy circuits and reactivating some of the nuclear power plants.

Internet connectivity in the various oblasts. Tweeting activity from Ukraine may be light today. pic.twitter.com/4XMLKTCGZa

— Big Serge ☦️🇺🇸🇷🇺 (@witte_sergei) November 23, 2022

However, the vast majority of electricity consumers throughout the country were de-energized, the government said. It noted that emergency shutdowns occur and stressed interrupting in heating and water supply due to a power outage.

This comes days after an adviser to the head of Rosenergoatom, a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, said that further Ukrainian shelling of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant may lead to a real nuclear disaster.

“A nuclear disaster could take place. A nuclear reactor is working, its power supply stops because of the shelling… How could a reactor be cooled down? Not cooling it down could lead to the reactor’s overheating, and then it could result in a disaster,” Renat Karchaa, an advisor to Rosenergoatom’s CEO, told Russian broadcaster Channel One.

🇷🇺🇺🇦⚛️💡Еmergency shutdown of Ukrainian nuclear power plants

First, the South Ukraine Nuclear Plant in Mykolaiv Region was reported to have switched into emergency mode. Later, the same was reported for Rivne and Khmelnytsky nuclear plants in western Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/N8MVwnX3RK

— rybar_en (@rybar_en) November 23, 2022

On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian troops subjected the Zaporozhye NPP to massive artillery shelling, damaging strategic facilities by conducting strikes with 155-caliber NATO ammunition in the first mass shelling since late September.

A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) examined the damage and, while confirming its “widespread” scale, said that they had found no immediate nuclear safety threats. However, IAEA head Rafael Grossi said he had “intensified consultations” on the creation of a protection zone around the plant.

IAEA experts found widespread damage done to the territory of the ZNPP, the agency announced on Monday in a statement after four IAEA nuclear safety, security, and safeguards experts visited the ZNPP.

The four-man team carried out the visit to the ZNPP after heavy shelling hit the facility over the weekend, the UN nuclear watchdog announced, noting that the personnel at the ZNPP have already started repair works.

“The status of the six reactor units is stable, and the integrity of the spent fuel, the fresh fuel, and the low, medium, and high-level radioactive waste in their respective storage facilities was confirmed,” the statement added.

Ukrainian troops have shelled the ZNPP with massive artillery shelling, damaging strategic facilities, the same advisor said.

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Kochavi, Milley discuss drill to simulate attack on Iran: Reports

November 23, 2022

Source: Agencies

By Al Mayadeen English 

The IOF chief and US Joint Chief of Staff are considering holding a joint drill to prepare their forces for a possible confrontation between “Israel” and Iran.

Aviv Kochavi, Chief of General Staff of the Israel occupation forces, and US Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley

Aviv Kochavi, Chief of General Staff of the Israel occupation forces, discussed a possible joint drill with the United States to simulate an attack on Iran and its allies during meetings in Washington this week, Fox News Digital reported on Tuesday.

Kochavi and US Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley are considering holding a joint drill in the coming weeks to prepare their forces for a possible confrontation between the Israeli occupation and Iran or their allies, the Fox News report said.

According to the report, Kochavi met with a number of Pentagon and administration officials on Monday, including Milley and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, to discuss security threats in the Middle East.

“We are at a critical point in time that requires the acceleration of operational plans and cooperation against Iran and its terrorist proxies in the region,” Kochavi said in a statement.

Joint Staff Spokesperson Dave Butler said on Monday that Kochavi and Milley discussed opportunities for greater bilateral cooperation and coordination against a “range of threats posed by Iran,” as well as other items of mutual strategic interest.

Butler claimed that the US and the Israeli occupation maintain “strong military-to-military” ties as key partners committed to “peace and security” in the Middle East.

Israeli media reported on Tuesday that Kochavi met with a number of US officials and the two sides discussed the security situation in the occupied West Bank and their desire to “maintain stability and prevent the security situation from deteriorating,” before the IOF chief held a meeting with CIA Director-General William Burns.

This comes as Iran announced on Tuesday that it initiated enriching uranium at the Fordow nuclear power plant at a 60% purity level, in response to the recent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) anti-Iran resolution that was drafted and pushed by the US and EU.

Read more: 

• ‘Israel’ gives Russia ultimatum over ‘Iranian arms supplies’ – reports
• In the Battle of the West-administered Defamation Propaganda, Iran, As Always, Will Emerge Victorious!
• IRG Adviser Martyred in Roadside Bomb Blast in Syria: “Israel” Will Receive Response

Iran responds to IAEA hostile resolution, 60% enrichment at Fordow NP

November 22, 2022

Source: Agencies

By Al Mayadeen English 

Tehran announces new measures in response to the anti-Iranian and politically-charged resolution adopted by the IAEA and pushed by the US and E3 against Iran last week.

Advanced IR-6 centrifuges deployed by Iran earlier this year in Natanz nuclear power plant.

In response to the recent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) anti-Iran resolution that was drafted and pushed by the US and EU, Iran announced on Tuesday that it initiated enriching uranium at the Fordow nuclear power plant at 60% purity level.

The IAEA was notified by Tehran about the decision in a letter, stating that this is to convey a strong message after the board of the UN nuclear energy passed the politically-oriented resolution.

Representatives of the UN nuclear agency were also onsite in Iran as the process was launched.

Earlier last week, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani stated that Iran took on Sunday several measures in the Natanz and Fordow uranium enrichment facilities in response to the anti-Iran resolution passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors.

Kanaani considered that the IAEA resolution has political goals and is an attempt to increase pressure on Iran by the United States and E3 (France, UK and Germany).

The process is expected to be completed in the upcoming few days after Tehran deployed two new IR2M and IR4 enriching cascades and new centrifuges at the Fordow and Natanz NPPs.

Iran’s statement on the new measures also mentioned that IR-1 centrifuges at the Fordow plant were replaced by IR-6 advanced centrifuges that would speed up enrichment 10-fold, and are approved under a law previously passed by the Iranian Parliament back in 2020 in response to the illegal unilateral sanctions imposed by the US on the country.

Read more: 

• Iran starts enriching uranium to 60% purity at Fordow in response to resolution
• Iran accuses IAEA’s report of bias
• IAEA cameras to remain off until nuclear deal restored – Iran
• IAEA primary instrument of pre-aggression, sets scene for US, Israeli unilateral actions: Analyst

The Kiev regime planned to use IAEA team as ‘human shields’ – Russia

September 01, 2022

RT reports:

The Russian military has provided new details on the botched Ukrainian raid on the Zaporozhye nuclear plant

Kiev forces wanted to seize the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant in a daring military raid and use the personnel of the UN nuclear watchdog as “human shields” to maintain control over the facility, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Thursday.

The botched raid came shortly before a team of experts with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – including the organization’s head, Rafael Grossi – arrived at the plant for an inspection. According to the Russian military, multiple Ukrainian “saboteur groups” crossed the Kakhovka Reservoir in speedboats and barges near the plant early in the morning, but were intercepted and destroyed by Russian troops and National Guard forces.

“Obviously, if the operation of the Kiev regime to seize the station was a success, the head of the IAEA, [Rafael] Grossi, and the experts of the mission would become a ‘human shield’ for Ukrainian saboteurs to prevent any attempts to destroy them by the Russian armed forces,” the Russian MoD said in a statement.

The operation aimed at capturing the nuclear power plant appears to have been “planned in advance by Zelensky’s regime,” the Russian military suggested. Moreover, the delay in Grossi’s visit to the installation, originally planned for August 31, stemmed from the Ukrainians’ need for more time to get ready for that “military provocation,” it alleged.

The ultimate goal of the operation was seizing control of the plant, while the presence of the IAEA team would have allowed the “saboteurs” to not only take cover from any potential Russian actions, but also to cement the new “status quo,” the military said. The success of the operation would have likely been reinforced by a “new wave of loud statements from Washington and European capitals, calling upon Russia to establish a ‘demilitarized zone’ around the nuclear plant, with IAEA observers guarded by Ukrainian troops,” it asserted.

“In this regard, we fully understand the complete silence of all Western sponsors of the Zelensky regime, which de-facto confirms their tacit participation in the preparation of today’s provocation at the Zaporozhye plant,” the military concluded.

Western Propaganda and its Aftermath

August 31, 2022

Source

by Asia Teacher

As President Zelensky attains celebrity media status, revered by western political leaders and Hollywood’s glitterati all jostling for a photo shoot, let’s not forget the propaganda behind it and the consequences now beginning to emerge.

The western propaganda we’re currently experiencing is nothing new. Today’s President Putin joins yesterday’s Middle East “monsters” as current Ukrainian Nazi militias become “freedom fighters” and the Russians become “Nazis.” Likewise, the previous Middle Eastern terrorist groups became “moderate Islamist’s” but only if they were fighting for a US led NATO in Iraq and Syria. Yet such is the power of belief on an already stupefied majority western population that it’s become factual.

In our upside down world, reality has long vanished to 15% of our western leaders who regard themselves as the “international community.” On August 24th, only 54 countries out of 193 supported a UN resolution which condemned Russia for not stopping its intervention in the Ukraine, which begs the question of why, if the majority population loathe today’s western politicians, do they passionately and often even fanatically believe their every word?

Supplying weapons and financial aid to the Ukraine which enables Russia to get bogged down in an endless war with mounting casualties, coupled with sanctions to bring down Russian middle-class living standards is just another attempt at regime change. Moreover, having failed to control the Middle East oil producers, it has not gone unnoticed that Russia is itself a major gas and oil producer.

Bathsheba Crocker, US Ambassador to the UN warned in the New York Times on February 21^st before the incursion occurred that Russia had a ‘hit list’ of people destined for arrest, detention and torture including “vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ persons.” How she knew that is not explained, but the inclusion of homosexuals as a vulnerable group now appears mandatory in any media story.

From allegations presented as facts by Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova and picked up by The British Daily Mail and the US New York Times in May, of multiple repeated child rapes and murders near Kiev. Meanwhile, Newsweek also in May ran the headline “Russians Targeting Kids’ Beds, Rooms With Explosives: Ukrainian Bomb Team”; what kind of sick minds dream this up?! Although written in a news format, both headlines carried disclaimers that the content remained unverified. In which case, why report it as news? One assumes that in time these stories will join Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction and the Ghost of Kyiv hoaxes.

The problem with current western propaganda is that it relies on sensationalism and each manufactured story must outdo the last to retain its WOW effect. In today’s world, neighbors Poland and Slovakia propose building an oil “peace pipeline” as opposed to what Polish President Morawiecki refers to as the German Nordstream “war pipeline.” Meanwhile, debate continues to rage over why Russia is shelling itself in the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant with American made missiles and fragments of US HIMARS missiles found in Yelenovka, where 57 Azov prisoners died and 130 were wounded whilst giving testimony for the upcoming War Crimes trials. Getting rid of the evidence?

Who will western politicians blame if the weapons they’re sending to the Ukraine are responsible for another Chernobyl type incident as inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrive at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and before entering suggest the facility be handed back to the Ukrainian authorities. Am I the only one aghast at the thought of a nuclear plant in the hands of the Ukraine armed forces which number Neo-Nazi militia battalions in their ranks?

That the Ukraine is not about freedom and democracy but Russian regime change isn’t a well-kept secret. A year before the 2014 overthrow of Yanukovych, Carl Gershman, Director of US NGO National Endowment for Democracy (NED) had already stated: “Ukraine is the biggest prize … If it could be pulled away from Russia and into the West, Putin may find himself on the losing end not just in the near abroad but within Russia itself.” More recently, on the first of March 1^st 2022, a spokesman for the British Prime Minister said, “but the measures [sanctions] we are introducing, that large parts of the world are introducing, are to bring down the Putin regime.” Or as Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of the Economy and Finance stated, “We are going to wage a total economic and financial war on Russia.”

Conversely, the opposite has happened. At the beginning of the intervention the ruble stood at 85 to the dollar. Yet today it’s 61.35; in other words, the ruble is actually strengthening against the dollar. No matter the amount or severity of sanctions, major oil producers, despite what any other calamities befall them, do not go bankrupt.

Yet six months into the incursion, the adverse effects of sanctions on energy and industrial fertilizers are becoming all too visible in the west. Soaring inflation and food prices, record bankruptcies and huge energy price increases as millions of Ukrainian immigrants flood into an already weakened and recession hit Western Europe. Who will blink first?

Although the west is currently in dire social and economic straits, removing President Putin and replacing him with another 1990’s Yeltsin type puppet would be a major boost for the west and Wall Street of course.

In our highly technologically advanced western societies, cheap energy and lots of it is why we exist as first-world societies. The alternative and sustainable green energy myth hasn’t happened as it doesn’t exist. If we take away our lifeblood support, what we’re beginning to experience is a terminal collapse. Despite the political pessimism and hype, when the present situation comes to an end our economies are not going to bounce back, the lost jobs aren’t going to return and inflation will not magically return to near zero. This is it, the final battle of civilizations and personally, I can do without identity politics, the homosexuality agenda, drug and crime epidemics and open borders.

Asia Teacher is a UK citizen, retired teacher of English plus Social and Political Science.

Putin To Macron: Ukraine’s Shelling Near Zaporozhye Nuclear Plant Poses Danger of Large-scale Disaster

August 21, 2022

By Staff, Agencies

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have had their first phone call in almost three months to discuss the Ukraine conflict and nuclear security in the area of Zaporozhye, the Kremlin announced on Friday.

The call was initiated by the French side and saw the two leaders discuss “various aspects of the situation around Ukraine,” according to the Kremlin’s readout.

Putin emphasized that “the systematic shelling of the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant by the Ukrainian military poses a danger of a large-scale disaster that could lead to radiation spillover onto a large territory,” Moscow said.

The two leaders agreed that a mission under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] should be dispatched to the NPP “as soon as possible” in order to assess the situation on site.

“The Russian side confirmed it’s ready to provide the Agency’s inspectors with all the necessary assistance,” the Kremlin said.

According to the Elysee Palace, Putin agreed that the IAEA mission to Zaporozhye NPP would be dispatched on the terms already arranged by Ukraine and the United Nations. This would mean that the IAEA delegation might travel via the territory currently controlled by Kiev’s forces. Previously, Moscow insisted that such a mission could arrive only via Russian-controlled territory.

The two sides will address this issue again in the coming days, after technical teams discuss the matter in detail, the Elysee said.

According to the Kremlin, Putin once again invited international experts to visit a detention facility in Yelenovka, in the Donetsk People’s Republic. An artillery attack on the prison, which Moscow says was carried out by Kiev’s forces, killed 50 Ukrainian POWs and injured dozens more last month.

Putin also informed Macron on the implementation of the deal for Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea. This agreement, which was brokered by the UN and Turkey, is also supposed to allow Russia to deliver fertilizers and food products to the global markets. However, the Kremlin noted, “obstacles for the Russian grain [export] persist,” which continues to have an adverse effect on global food security.

The most recent call between the two leaders took place on May 28 and also involved German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. During that conversation, Putin blamed Ukraine for the stalled peace talks, assuring his counterparts that Moscow remained ready to negotiate an end to the ongoing conflict and condemning the West for supplying Kiev with weapons.

Major news day for Russia: In conclusion of his working visit to Iran, Vladimir Putin answered questions from the media.

July 20, 2022

In conclusion of his working visit to Iran, Vladimir Putin answered questions from the media.

Question: Mr President, some would think the world has forgotten about Syria amid the numerous issues on the international agenda. But we have seen today that this is not so.

We would like to hear your views on the situation on the ground in Syria. A great deal has been said today about points of contact, but there are many differences as well. Have you discussed or coordinated any fundamentally new solutions today? I am referring primarily to these differences.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: What I would like to begin with is not the differences but the fundamental issues that allow us to work and continue our efforts in the trilateral format. All of us believe that it I necessary to guarantee the territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and to eliminate all sorts of terrorists, which I will not enumerate here. This is the fundamental and the most important thing, as we have pointed out again in our joint statement. I believe that this is very important.

Yes, there are certain differences, which is obvious, but all of us support the constitutional process. Thanks to our efforts, we have brought together various conflicting parties at one negotiating platform, including the opposition and the official authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic, experts and representatives of public organisations, as well as the UN. I believe this is extremely important. This is the first point.

The second. Humanitarian aid is being provided to Syria, for which there is particularly great demand today, because the sanctions imposed on Syria and the Syrian people have produced a deplorable result: nearly 90 percent of people in Syria are living below the poverty line. The situation in Syria is extremely serious.

Of course, it would be unfair to give priority attention to certain groups, to politicise humanitarian aid.

Third. There are different approaches to organising humanitarian aid. We have always believed that it should be organised in full compliance with international humanitarian law. This means that all humanitarian aid must be provided through the official Syrian authorities, through Damascus. However, we have agreed to extend the existing procedure for six months, including for deliveries to the Idlib zone, so as to have more time for coordinating our positions.

There is some disagreement about what is happening in Northern Syria. Incidentally, we also have some common ground here: all of us believe that US troops should leave this area. This is the first point. And they should stop looting the Syrian state, the Syrian people, taking their oil illegally. But there is disagreement about how to organise and stabilise the situation in that region. As you know, Russian-Turkish observation convoys are working there together.

However, in our view, in order to ensure a long-term, stable situation there it is necessary to transfer the entire territory under the control of the official authorities in Damascus, under the control of the Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, and then it will be possible to hold a dialogue with those who are responsible – in this case the official Syrian authorities. I believe it would greatly stabilise the situation there.

But in general, it is work in progress. As I have said many times and would like to stress once again, the work of this tripartite group – Russia, Turkiye and Iran – this joint effort to search for compromises and find these compromises has led to the fact that over 90% of Syria is now under official government control and, as we say in such cases, we have broken the back of international terrorism there. This is a great result of this joint work.

Question: Mr President, you had three one-on-one meetings today, first with Mr Raisi, then with Mr Khamenei, and then with Mr Erdogan, and there were no news conferences after these meetings. All we know is the topic you were discussing, the official part.

In particular, you said that you discussed the grain issue with your Turkish counterpart, the issue of supplying Russian and Ukrainian grain to international markets. Could you tell us some more about that, please?

Vladimir Putin: There are no secrets here; in fact, almost everything is known. There are some subtleties; maybe I do not always have time to follow what is happening in the information field. I will tell you how I see it.

First, what was the highlight of the three meetings? At each meeting, there were issues that could be considered central to a particular bilateral meeting.

For example, as I said at the news conference, in my press statement, the main theme at the meeting with the Spiritual Leader of Iran was strategic issues, including developments in the region. This is natural, as it is the sphere of his activity. It was very important for me to hear his opinion, his assessment. I have to say that we have very similar views with Iran on many aspects. So, it was very important and very useful.

As for my meeting with President Raisi, we discussed primarily economic matters. I would like to note that Russian-Iranian trade has grown by 40 percent over the past six months. This is a very good indicator.

There are promising spheres for our cooperation, and there is a great variety of them, like infrastructure development. You may know that a deputy prime minister of the Russian Government chairs a group that is responsible for developing relations in the South Caucasus, including infrastructure projects in the South Caucasus, that is, in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. A great deal can be achieved in this sphere in cooperation with Iran.

As you know, the first pilot train is travelling along the North-South Railway line. It is a short route to ports in the south of Iran, which further leads to the Persian Gulf and India.

There is a practical project: the Rasht-Astara railway is a short 146-kilometre line across Iran. Azerbaijan is interested in its construction. I recently met with President Aliyev during the Caspian Summit, and we discussed this matter. Iran is interested in this as well, as our Iranian partners have told us just now. Russia is interested in this, because it will connect Russia’s northern region, St Petersburg, directly to the Persian Gulf. It is a very interesting and promising project. The task now is to build this line, which is only 146 kilometres. Russia is ready to do this.

We need to coordinate the conditions of this construction project. We have discussed its general outlines with our Iranian partners and friends, and we have coordinated it with Azerbaijan. I hope we will get down to business now. And then, it will be an interesting job for us. It actually amounts to exporting the services of Russian Railways (RZD). This is one of the relevant examples.

There are other spheres. There are security issues relevant to Iran’s nuclear programme. It was very important for us to understand the sentiments of the Iranian party regarding this work. It also involves Russia, which is contributing to the joint efforts aimed at relaunching interaction between Iran and the IAEA. I will not speak about this now, but Russia is playing a considerable role in this.

The grain issue. It is what we discussed with the President of Turkiye. I have already said that the Republic of Turkiye and personally President Erdogan have done a great deal to facilitate the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports. But initially we suggested that it should be adopted as a package, that is, we would facilitate the Ukrainian grain exports provided all the restrictions on the potential exports of Russian grain are lifted. This is what we initially agreed upon with international organisations. They pledged to formulate this as a package solution. Nobody has so far raised any objections, including our American partners. We will see what comes of it in the near future.

As you know, the Americans have actually lifted restrictions, for example, on the delivery of Russian fertilisers to the global market. I hope this will also happen with regard to the export of Russian grain if they really want to improve the situation on the global food markets. As I have said, we are ready to do this right now. We can export 30 million tonnes of grain, and our export potential based on this year’s harvest will be 50 million tonnes.

Question: Mr President, a serious energy crisis is developing in Europe, which is discussing the possibility of Gazprom cutting off gas deliveries. The company has allegedly issued an official notification to one of its German clients, citing force majeure circumstances.

Are there grounds for accusing Russia of causing this energy crisis? Will Gazprom continue to honour its obligations

Vladimir Putin: First of all, Gazprom has always honoured, and will continue to honour its commitments.

There are no grounds at all for the attempts by our partners to shift or try to shift the blame for their own mistakes on Russia and Gazprom.

What is the situation with energy deliveries? In 2020, in the first half of 2020, gas cost 100 euros per 1,000 cubic metres in Europe. The price rose to 250 euros in the first half of 2021. Today it is 1,700 euros per 1,000 cubic metres of gas.

What is happening? I have spoken about this on numerous occasions, and I do not know if we should go into detail regarding the energy policies of European countries, which underrate the importance of traditional sources of energy and have put money on non-traditional energy sources. They are big experts on non-traditional relations, and they have also decided to make a bid for non-traditional energy sources like the sun and wind.

Last winter was long, there wasno wind, and that did it. Investment in the fixed assets of traditional energy producers has decreased because of previous political decisions: banks do not finance them, insurance companies do not insure them, local governments do not allocate land plots for new projects, and pipeline and other forms of transportation are not developing. This is a result of many years, probably a decade of this policy. This is the root cause of price hikes rather than any actions by Russia or Gazprom.

What is going on today? Until recently, we supplied gas to Europe without Turkiye: we supplied around 30 billion cubic metres a year to Turkiye, and 170 billion to Europe, 55 billion via Nord Stream 1, and, if memory serves me, 33 billion were supplied via Yamal-Europe, via the two strings that run through Ukraine. About 12 billion were delivered to Europe through Turkiye via TurkStream.

Ukraine suddenly announced that it was going to close one of the two routes on its territory. Allegedly because the gas pumping station is not under its control but on the territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic. But it found itself under the control of the Lugansk People’s Republic several months before, and they closed it just recently without any grounds. Everything was functioning normally there, no one interfered. In my opinion, they closed it simply for political reasons.

What happened next? Poland imposed sanctions on Yamal-Europe, which supplied 33 billion cubic metres of gas. They used to take 34, I think, 33–34 million cubic metres a day from us. They shut it down completely. But then we saw that they turned on the Yamal-Europe pipeline in reverse mode, and they started taking about 32 million a day from Germany. Where is the gas from Germany coming from? It is our Russian gas. Why from Germany? Because it turned out to be cheaper for the Poles. They used to get it from us at a very high price, closer to the market price, whereas Germany gets it from us 3–4 times cheaper than the market price under long-term contracts.

It is profitable for German companies to sell it to the Poles at a small premium. It is profitable for the Poles to buy it because it is cheaper than to buy it directly from us. But the volume of gas in the European market has decreased, and the total market price has gone up. Who has won? All Europeans only lost. This is the second point: Yamal-Europe.

So, first one of the routes in Ukraine was shut down, then Yamal-Europe was shut down, now Nord Stream 1, which is one of the main routes – we pump 55 billion cubic metres a year through it. There are five Siemens gas compressor stations working there, and one is on standby. One compressor had to be sent out for repairs. A repaired compressor was supposed to come from Canada, from the Siemens plant in Canada, to replace it. But it ended up under sanctions in Canada. So, one pumping station, just one piece of equipment was out of order because of scheduled maintenance work and it has not been returned from Canada.

Now we are being told that the unit will be delivered from Canada soon, but Gazprom does not have any official documents yet. We must certainly obtain them, because this is our property, it is the property of Gazprom. Gazprom should receive not only the hardware, not only the gas pumping unit, but also the accompanying documents, both legal and technical documentation. We must be able to see what Gazprom is taking – the turbine’s current condition as well as its legal status, whether it is under sanctions or not, what we can do with it, or maybe they are taking it back tomorrow. But that is not all.

The problem is that at the end of July, on July 26, I think – we can ask Gazprom – another turbine should be sent for routine maintenance, for repairs. And where will we get a replacement from? We do not know.

One more turbine is actually out of order because of some crumbling of its internal liner. Siemens has confirmed this. That leaves two operational units, which are pumping 60 million per day. So, if one more is delivered, fine, we will have two in operation. But if it is not, only one will be left, and it will pump only 30 million cubic meters per day. You can count how much time it will take to pump the rest. How is this Gazprom’s responsibility? What does Gazprom even have to do with this? They have cut off one route, then another, and sanctioned this gas pumping equipment. Gazprom is ready to pump as much gas as necessary. But they have shut everything down.

And they have fallen into the same trap with the import of oil and petroleum products. We hear all sorts of crazy ideas about capping the volume of Russian oil imports or the price of Russian oil. This is going to lead to the same situation as with gas. The result (I am surprised to hear people with university degrees saying this) will be the same – rising prices. Oil prices will spiral.

As for gas, there is another route we are ready to open, which is Nord Stream 2. It is ready to be launched, but they are not launching it. There are problems here as well, I discussed them with the Chancellor about six or maybe eight weeks ago. I raised this issue; I said that Gazprom had reserved the capacity, and that this capacity needed to be used, and it cannot be suspended in mid-air indefinitely.

The answer was that there were other issues on the agenda, more important things, so it is difficult for them to deal with this right now. But I had to warn them that then we would have to redirect half of the volume intended for Nord Stream for domestic consumption and processing. I raised this issue at the request of Gazprom, and Gazprom has actually already done it. Therefore, even if we launch Nord Stream 2 tomorrow, it will not pump 55 billion cubic meters, but exactly half that amount. And given that we are already halfway through this year, it would be just a quarter. Such is the supply situation.

But – I said this at the beginning of my answer to your question and I want to end with this – Gazprom has always fulfilled and will always fulfil all of its obligations, as long as, of course, anyone needs it. First, they themselves close everything, and then they look for someone to blame – it would be comical if it were not so sad.

Question: You spoke with Mr Erdogan today. He has repeatedly stated his readiness to arrange talks between you and Vladimir Zelensky. Has this issue surfaced today? Are you ready to meet with the President of Ukraine?

Vladimir Putin: President Erdogan is making a lot of efforts to create the necessary conditions for normalising the situation. It was during our talks in Istanbul that we actually reached an agreement, and it only remained to initial it. But, as you know, after that, when our troops, in order to create the right conditions, withdrew from central Ukraine, from Kiev, the Kiev authorities backed off on those agreements. These were agreements that had actually been achieved. So, you see that the final result depends, of course, not on intermediaries, but on the parties’ commitment to fulfil the agreements reached. And we can see today that the Kiev authorities have no interest in that.

As for Turkiye’s efforts, as well as other countries’ proposals – Saudi Arabia has offered its mediation services, and the United Arab Emirates, and they do have such capabilities – we are grateful to all our friends who are interested in resolving this crisis for providing their opportunities. Even their willingness to make some contribution to this noble cause is worth a lot. We are deeply grateful for that.

IAEA claims Iran is preparing to increase uranium enrichment

The only activity Iran has confirmed is the ‘passivation of the cascade, a process that precedes enrichment and also involves feeding UF6 into the machines’

June 21, 2022

A uranium enrichment centrifuge cascade. (Photo credit: US Department of Energy/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

ByNews Desk

According to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report obtained by Reuters, the Islamic Republic of Iran is allegedly preparing to increase nuclear enrichment with advanced centrifuges at the Fordow underground nuclear facility.

The Reuters report, released on 20 June, cites IAEA allegations that Iran is getting ready to use advanced IR-6 centrifuges at the Fordow facility. The report states such centrifuges allow operators to easily switch between enrichment levels.

This is one of many gradual steps Iran has stated it will carry out in retaliation for Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) under then president Donald Trump, as well as the subsequent US sanctions placed on Iran regularly since then.

The IAEA alleges that Iran is “ready to feed uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas, the material centrifuges enrich, into the second of two cascades, or clusters, of IR-6 centrifuges installed at Fordow,” according to the report.

The only activity that Iran has directly confirmed, according to the report, is “passivation of the cascade, a process that precedes enrichment and also involves feeding UF6 into the machines.”

Iran has not confirmed as to what purity the cascade will enrich to. In the past, Iran had informed the IAEA that IR-6 cascades can enrich either 5 percent or 20 percent purity.

The Fordow nuclear facility was targeted for a sabotage attack on 15 March, but the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) thwarted the plot, which they claim was orchestrated by Israeli spies.

On 17 June, Iran informed the IAEA that it is moving some of the nuclear activities from the facility in Karaj to the facility in Natanz, despite not having an obligation to disclose this information.

The Karaj facility was subject to a sabotage attack in June 2021, which damaged several cameras. Iranian authorities asserted that Israel was behind the attack on the site infrastructure.

On 9 June, Iranian media reported on the expansion of the production and installation of advanced IR-6 centrifuge networks in the underground Natanz nuclear facility.

The decision to expand came one day after the IAEA Board of Governors passed an “anti-Iran” resolution introduced by the US, UK, France, and Germany.

The head of the AEOI, Mohammad Eslami, said on 9 June that the IAEA has been hijacked and is being exploited by Israel.

The anti-Iran resolution was adopted just days after IAEA chief Rafael Grossi traveled to Israel to meet with outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Israel has a semi-secret arsenal of several hundred atomic weapons. Its nuclear program – which includes both commercial and military applications – is not subject to inspections nor scrutiny by the IAEA.

In response to the US-backed IAEA resolution, on 8 June, Iran shut down several IAEA-owned CCTV cameras that surveil the activities of Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Iranian foreign ministry stated that their response was “decisive and appropriate.”

The Islamic Republic has previously presented evidence that the IAEA sends in spies and saboteurs under the guise of nuclear inspectors, who allegedly pass sensitive information on to Iran’s adversaries.

Skepticism towards the neutrality of IAEA also increased after the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

انتخابات الكيان المبكّرة وعلم الاحتمالات

June 20, 2022

ناصر قنديل

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في ظاهر الأمور جاء قرار الائتلاف الحاكم في الكيان بحل الكنيست والذهاب إلى انتخابات مبكرة يرجّح أن تجري في شهر تشرين الأول المقبل، تعبيراً عن تطوّرات المشهد السياسي الداخلي في الكيان، مع وجود حكومة تمزقها تناقضات مركبة بين مكوّناتها الآتية من أصناف اليمين واليسار، والتي تشكلت بأغلبية هزيلة، بعدما دنا موعد انتقال الرئاسة بين شركائها من ضفة اليمين الى ضفة يسار الوسط، من نفتالي بينيت إلى يائير لبيد، وفي ظل هشاشة الدعم النيابي الذي تلقاه بعدما بدأت الأغلبية بالتداعي، ووجود التحدي الدائم الذي يلوح به الخصم القوي بنيامين نتنياهو والذي يعرض على التصويت يوم غد الأربعاء لإجراء انتخابات مبكرة ويمكن لن يحصد أغلبية الكنيست، إذا صحت التقديرات بانتقال أكثر من نائب من ضفة الائتلاف الى ضفة نتنياهو، لكن هل هذا يكفي لتفسير قرار بحجم إدخال الكيان في حالة فراغ على مستوى القرار السياسي الأول في لحظات تبدو شديدة الدقة في تاريخه، حيث المواجهة مع قطاع غزة في تنامٍ، والمشهد في الضفة الغربية يتصاعد، والتوتر جمر تحت الرماد مع لبنان في ظل أزمة النفط والغاز وترسيم الحدود والبدء باستثمار حقل بحر عكا، بعد اتفاق أوروبي إسرائيلي على صفقة دسمة، بينما التحدي بين الكيان وإيران في ذروته، وكلها تحديات دفعت بالأحزاب للتفكير بحكومة وحدة وطنية في ظروف مشابهة؟

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يمنح تزامن قرار الائتلاف الحاكم في الكيان مع التحضيرات الجارية لزيارة الرئيس الأميركي جو بايدن الى المنطقة، بعداً خاصاً، حيث كشفت التقارير الصحافية الأميركية والإسرائيلية عن ضغوط أميركية على الائتلاف الحاكم والمعارضة معاً لاستبعاد اندلاع أزمة حكومية، والذهاب لحل الكنيست، بهدف تمرير زيارة بايدن بعد أقل من شهر، بوجود حكومة كاملة المواصفات في الكيان، يمكن أن تتم الزيارة بوجودها وتكون ذات جدوى، خصوصاً أن ما كشف عن مضمون الزيارة يقول إن التعاون الخليجي الإسرائيلي في بناء شبكات موحّدة للرادارات تحت قيادة أميركية، يشكل أحد أهداف الزيارة، بينما رفعت بعض الصحف الإسرائيلية سقوف توقعاتها للقول إن زيارة بايدن تهدف للحصول على موافقة سعودية على التطبيع مع «إسرائيل» كثمن للاعتراف الأميركي بشرعية تولي ولي العهد السعودي للعرش في بلاده، ويجري الترويج لزيارة الرئيس الأميركي بصفتها تعبيراً عن انسداد الخيار التفاوضي بين واشنطن وطهران، وترجيح كلفة خيار المواجهة بينهما.

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ثمة مؤشرات معاكسة يأخذها بعض المحللين ضمن دائرة الاحتمالات والفرضيّات، فالكلام الأميركي عن قرب امتلاك إيران لما يكفي لامتلاك قنبلة نووية وإرفاقه بالإعلان عن الاستعداد للعودة الى الاتفاق النووي، رغم إلقاء اللوم على إيران لتعثر التفاوض، بقي غير مفهوم الوظيفة في ظل التصعيد الأميركي بوجه إيران، وساء بحجز ناقلة النفط في اليونان وطائرة الركاب في الأرجنتين، أو التصعيد في مجلس حكام الوكالة الدولية للطاقة الذرية، ومثله الجواب الإيراني بتأكيد الجهوزية للعودة الى الاتفاق، وإلقاء اللوم على واشنطن في التعثر، في مناخ عالي السقف في الحديث عن الجهوزية لمواجهة أية اعتداءات إسرائيلية، واللغة القاسية في الرد على الوكالة الدولية، ما فتح الباب للحديث عن فرضية تقول بأن واشنطن وطهران تتجهان للتوقيع على الاتفاق. وهذا معنى تصريحات المستشار الإعلامي للوفد الإيراني في فيينا عن عدم وجود بند رفع العقوبات عن الحرس الثوري في الطلبات الإيرانية التفاوضية من جهة، وعدم استعداد إيران لتقديم أي تعهد بعدم ملاحقة المسؤولين الأميركيين عن اغتيال القائد قاسم سليماني، ووفقاً لهذه الفرضية فإن زيارة بايدن تهدف لتقديم ضمانات لـ«إسرائيل» بأنها لن تكون وحدها في حال تعرّضها للاستهداف من إيران، وأن واشنطن ستكون مسؤولة عن منظومة رادارات وتعمل في الخليج وترتبط بشبكة الباتريوت من القبة الحديدية التي تقودها واشنطن أصلاً داخل الكيان، وان الرئيس الأميركي بعد إنهاء هذه المهمة سيعتبر أنه بات طليق اليدين في العودة للتفاوض وصولاً لتوقيع الاتفاق مع إيران.

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إذا صحت هذه الفرضية تكون الإطاحة الذاتية بالحكومة الائتلافية في الكيان، استباقاً وقائياً من مثل هذا الخيار، واعتماد الفراغ الحكومي في الكيان لتحقيق الفراغ التفاوضيّ بين واشنطن وطهران.

Iran Shuts Off IAEA Cameras with Access beyond Safeguards Agreement

 June 8, 2022

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced on Wednesday that the International Atomic Energy Agency’s surveillance cameras recording data beyond the Safeguards Agreement in the country have been deactivated.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said while Tehran has extensively cooperated with the UN nuclear agency, the IAEA has unfortunately ignored the fact that such cooperation signifies Iran’s goodwill, has been ungrateful for the cooperation, and has considered it as a duty of Iran.

As a result, Iran decided to shut off the ultra-Safeguards Agreement cameras monitoring enrichment levels (OLEM or Online Enrichment Monitor) and flowmeters of the IAEA as of Wednesday, June 8, it added.

However, the statement noted, more than 80 percent of the IAEA’s cameras in Iran have access to data within the framework of the Safeguards Agreement which will continue to operate as before.

The OLEM is obviously used to monitor the enrichment of uranium gas through piping at the enrichment facilities.

The spokesperson for the AEOI visited a nuclear site on Wednesday to observe the process of deactivating the two cameras of the IAEA.

The Iranian authorities had already warned the parties seeking to submit an anti-Iran resolution at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting that they will have to take responsibility for the consequences.

The US and the EU troika –the UK, Germany and France- submitted the draft to the 35-nation board on Tuesday, accusing Iran of failing to offer transparent responses to the IAEA’s questions over nuclear activities at three sites.

Source: Iranian media (edited by Al-Manar English Website)

Has “Israel” Crossed A Red Line With Iran?

 June 2, 2022

Source: Al Mayadeen English

Robert Inlakesh 

What Iran’s retaliation in March showed was that the Islamic Republic is willing to turn up the heat on “Israel” when the time is right to do so.

Has “Israel” Crossed A Red Line With Iran?

The Zionist regimes’ provocations against Iran have been constant for years, but has its latest actions crossed a red line for which “Tel Aviv” may pay dearly?

It is no secret that “Israel” played a large role in the propaganda campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which provided the excuse for the US government to violate the Obama-era Nuclear Deal, paving the way for a sanctions war on Tehran. Israeli allegations of a coming Iranian Nuclear Weapon can be traced back to October 1992, when former Israeli President Shimon Peres claimed that Tehran would have the bomb by 1999. Therefore, such claims are rarely taken seriously by any reputable international organization.

The latest attempt to scaremonger, over an alleged Iranian pursuit of nukes, by “Israel”, came this Tuesday from Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Bennett claimed, in a similar style to former Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, through preschooler geared presentations, that “Israel” had obtained secret files which prove Iran’s lies about its nuclear weapons program. Evidently, there is no evidence that such a nuclear weapons program exists, let alone that “Israel’s” newly released documents prove that Tehran tricked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Whilst this type of propaganda from “Tel Aviv” is certainly a nuisance to Iran, it does not exactly warrant any sort of crushing response, but when it is combined with the Zionist regime’s recent actions, it may be doing the opposite of helping the Zionist cause. 

It is well known now that an Israeli role has been alleged in the assassination of Quds Force General, Qassem Soleimani, back in January of 2020. Then, on November 27, 2020, agents, said to have been working on behalf of the Israeli Mossad, assassinated Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on Iranian soil. There was also the attack on the Natanz nuclear facility in 2021, which Iranian officials blamed on “Israel”. These are but a few of the most recent provocations by “Israel” against Iran.

The latest assassination carried out by Israeli Mossad took place in Tehran, claiming the life of Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, a member of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC). The following day, “Israel’s” minister of war, Benny Gantz applauded a recent US government position to not budge on the issue of taking the IRGC off of Washington’s designated “terrorist organizations” list. It has become clear that not only will “Israel” carry out such assassinations, but it insists on attempting to rub such actions in the faces of the Iranians. 

If anything can be learned from Tehran’s newly set rules of engagement, it is that engagement in a tit-for-tat battle with “Israel” is no problem at all for the IRGC. Following the killing of 2 Iranian nationals in an Israeli airstrike, in the vicinity of Syria’s capital city, Damascus, Iran announced it would take revenge. On March 13, Iran’s IRGC launched around a dozen ballistic missiles into Erbil, Iraq, targeting Israeli Mossad bases. According to reports, three Mossad agents were killed and 7 were wounded.

What Iran’s retaliation in March showed was that the Islamic Republic is willing to turn up the heat on “Israel” when the time is right to do so. Despite clear indications that Tehran will respond to the latest assassination of its IRGC member, “Tel Aviv” can’t seem to help itself when it comes to rubbing salt into the wound. This has been done through its anti-Iranian rhetoric, and also by provoking the Palestinian Resistance and all the regional forces, by crossing all red lines in occupied Al-Quds, desecrating the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound last Sunday during the Israeli settlers’ “Flag march”.

If the Zionist regime was a boxer, it would be running around taunting its opponent blindfolded, with its chin out, confident that it won’t get hit. It’s easy to see how, with a little patience, the resistance forces in the region will dish out a serious blow. “Israel” has been repeatedly warned to not cross certain red lines and continually crosses those red lines, dancing on the graves of those it kills when it gets there.

It is just a matter of time before Iran takes its revenge, along with the other resistance forces in the region, and the immature settler leaders will surely pay dearly for their words and deeds.

The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.

Envoy: IAEA Report Fails to Reflect Iran’s Vast COOP with UN Nuke Agency

May 31, 2022

By Staff, Agencies

Iran’s permanent representative to the Vienna-based International Organizations says a latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] on the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium is one-sided and fails to reflect Iran’s extensive cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

Mohammad Reza Ghaebi made the comment on Monday after the IAEA claimed that it estimated Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium had grown to more than 18 times the limit laid down in the 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers.

The limit in the 2015 Iran deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA], was set at 300 kg [660 pounds] of a specific compound, the equivalent of 202.8 kg of uranium.

The report by Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the UN nuclear agency, also claimed that Iran was continuing its enrichment of uranium to levels higher than the 3.67 percent limit in the landmark accord.

“The IAEA Director-General’s report does not reflect Iran’s extensive cooperation with the IAEA,” Ghaebi said. “The report concludes exactly what the Director-General presented to the European Parliament before the third round of technical talks, even before the end of the steps set out in the joint statement.”

Iran’s permanent representative to the Vienna-based International Organizations said the report, by putting aside the detailed, reasoned and technical arguments put forward by the Iranian side and unfairly calling them invalid, continues to rely on the agency’s predetermined assumptions and presents its one-sided conclusion accordingly.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers this approach unconstructive and destructive to the close relations and ongoing cooperation between Iran and the IAEA,” Ghaebi noted. “And believes that the IAEA should realize the ruinous consequences of publishing such one-sided reports, which could provide the necessary excuse for opponents of Iran-IAEA relations as well as the sworn critics of the revival of the JCPOA.”

In a separate report also issued on Monday, the IAEA claimed it still had questions which were “not clarified” regarding previous undeclared nuclear material at three Iranian sites.

The report said Iran has offered the explanation of an “act of sabotage by a third party to contaminate” the sites, but added no proof had been provided to corroborate this.

Pointing to the IAEA’s second report, Ghaebi said the entire peaceful nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic have been carried out within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT], and in accordance with the legal compensatory measures in the law adopted by the Iranian Parliament following the suspension of Iran’s nuclear obligations due to non-fulfillment of obligations by other parties.

“Therefore, the Agency will not gain access to the memory information of its deployed cameras and other information in this regard until an agreement is reached for the revival of the JCPOA,” Ghaebi underlined.

The senior diplomat said the Islamic Republic has repeatedly warned the IAEA’s officials of the need to refrain from disclosing detailed information on the country’s nuclear activities based on the importance of the principle of confidentiality with regard to the IAEA regulations, but the issue has not received serious attention from the Agency.

The Monday reports come as talks in the Austrian capital of Vienna to revive the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers remain deadlocked after stalling in March.

Russia’s lead negotiator to the Vienna talks Mikhail Ulyanov reacted to the leakage of the UN agency’s reports to the mass media, and said the move would lead to a lot of speculations before and during the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors next week.

“As always, the IAEA Director General’s reports on Iran were immediately leaked to mass media today. We can expect a lot of speculations in the days to come and heated debates in the IAEA Board of Governors next week,” Ulyanov wrote in a tweet.

Several rounds of negotiations between Iran and the P4+1 group of countries – Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia – have been held in the Austrian capital since April 2021 to bring Washington back into the deal. The talks, however, exclude American diplomats due to their country’s withdrawal.

Talks have been on hold since March as the US insists on its refusal to undo its past wrongs, including removing Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards [IRG] from its foreign terrorist organization list.

Iran maintains that IRG’s designation in 2019 was part of former president Donald Trump administration’s so-called maximum pressure campaign against Iran, and therefore, it has to be reversed unconditionally.

The Joe Biden administration disagrees, even though it has admitted on countless occasions that Trump’s maximum pressure policy has been a disastrous failure. It has retained the IRG’s designation and the economic sanctions as leverage in the talks.

• Iran Blames Pause in Vienna Talks on US’ Indecision