Iranian official calls for negotiations with Washington in Iraq

[Pitcher]

A former high-ranking MEK official confirmed long-held suspicions that Saudi Arabia has been financing the political-militant group bent on violent regime change in Iran through sophisticated channels to provide the group with valuables like gold and Rolex watches, according to a new report.

In an interview with Jordanian news outlet Al-Bawaba Tuesday, a former MEK member who oversaw the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of materials explained how the group has stayed financially afloat.

Massoud Khodabandeh explained that 3 tons of solid gold, a minimum of four suitcases of customized Rolex watches and fabric that had been used to cover the Muslim holy site of Kaaba in Mecca were among the commodities shipped from Saudi Arabia to MEK operatives in Baghdad as part of the scheme. From there, the valuables would be sold on the black market in Jordan's capital, Amman, to Saudi-aligned merchants.

 

 

"Aided by two Iraqi and two Saudi representatives, Khodabandeh smuggled three trucks filled with gold bars from Saudi Arabia to Baghdad. He estimated that each truck held about a ton of gold, making the shipment's contemporary worth almost $200 million," Al-Bawaba reports. After selling the gold, funds would be sent to offshore MEK bank accounts, Khodabandeh said.

The report says that the US also supported the MEK by providing the UN Refugee Agency with $20 million in order to transport thousands of MEK members from Iraq to Albania. The US then gave Albania funds to construct a "military-style facility for the MEK, in which it is currently holed up."

War hawks in Washington point to the MEK as the most viable proxy force for bringing down the Iranian government. The group doesn't support within Iran, according to Saeed Jalili, a Tehran-based writer. "I have not heard anyone asking them [MEK] to make a comeback in Iran or anything like that," Jalili told Al Jazeera in March.

 

"There is a viable opposition to the rule of the ayatollahs. And that opposition is centered in this room today," John Bolton, once the US ambassador to the UN and now White House national security adviser, said during a speech at an MEK conference in Paris last year.

Bolton went so far as to conclude his remarks by predicting the overthrow of the Iranian government by the end of 2018, according to Iranian expat journalist Bahman Kalbasi. "Any that's why, before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran," Bolton said to a round of roaring applause.

 

"We resettled a lot of the MEK people from Iraq in Albania," Daniel Benjamin, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator at the time, told Foreign Policy in April. "It became the goal of the US government to get them out of there. That is the reason they were delisted" from the US list of terror groups in 2012.

"It happened under the secretary's authority, not because they had met the requirements for not being a terrorist group," said Benjamin, who is now director of the Center For International Understanding at Dartmouth University. Hillarious Clinton was the US secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, before John Kerry assumed the post until the arrival of the Trump administration in 2017.

"Bolton is positively predisposed to the MEK," a foreign policy Capitol Hill staffer told Foreign Policy in April, when Bolton joined the White House as national security adviser. "They will have some access to this White House at least.

https://sputniknews.com/world/201809191068150041-saudi-arabia-bankrolled-mek-gold-rolexes/

[yota691]

Newspaper: Iran's economic crisis affected its institutions in Iraq

 

Tuesday 18 September

 

 

Alsumaria News / Baghdad A Gulf newspaper reported that the Iranian economic crisis affected its institutions in Iraq , noting that those institutions have reduced many of its employees and some of them have been closed.  Al-Arabi newspaper quoted a source familiar with saying that "the features of Iran'seconomic impact after the series of recent US sanctions, began to appear, where not only the financial crackdown at the level of the interior in Iran, but led to the retreat of Iranian institutions in Iraq, indicating that" most of those institutions Reduced the number of employees and some of them closed completely under the pretext of lack of need from them. "     The source, who asked not to be named, said that "the end of this month will witness the closure of a number of other institutions in addition to reducing other cadres by 50 percent," noting that "most of the employees of these institutions have not received their salaries and rights for a few months ago."  The United States has imposed sanctions on Iran since August 7, despite pleas from allies of Washington , which led to the collapse of the Iranian currency in the world market, while Trump wrote on Twitter : "These are the worst sanctions ever, will arrive in November to Level up.

[trident]

Senior US official to speak with Halbousi, new Speaker of Iraqi Parliament

Laurie Mylroie |

4 hours ago

 

---

Iraq elects Mohammed al-Halbousi as the new speaker of parliament. (Photo: Archive)

 

Iraq USA Washington Baghdad

 

 

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) — On Tuesday, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert announced that “somebody at a high level” in the State Department would speak with Mohammed al-Halbousi, formerly the governor of Anbar province, who is now the newly-elected speaker of the Iraqi parliament.

“I would imagine that at the appropriate point, somebody at a high level—perhaps it’s the Secretary—perhaps it’s someone else—would be speaking with him,” Nauert said, as she answered a question from Kurdistan 24 regarding Halbousi’s recent statement that he opposed sanctions on Iran and would invite his Iranian counterpart to Baghdad. 

Halbousi ran on the Iranian-backed Fatih (Conquest) list in Iraq’s May 12 elections. His main rival for the position of speaker of parliament was Iraq’s former Defense Minister, Khalid al-Obeidi, whom the US had backed.

Following the vote on Saturday that chose Halbousi over Obeidi, Qais al-Khazali, head of the Iranian-backed militia, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, tweeted his congratulations to Halbousi.

Khazali’s congratulatory tweet concluded with the old Arab proverb, “me and my brother against the foreigner.”

The US Congress is seeking to impose sanctions on Khazali and his militia for their pro-Iranian and anti-American activities going back to the 2003 Iraq war.

Since Saddam’s overthrow, Iraq’s speaker of parliament has been a Sunni Arab, as is Halbousi. But he is the most pro-Iranian of those figures, as was suggested to a senior State Department official.

However, the official merely responded, “We respect Iraq’s sovereignty.”

Analysts have begun to suggest that Iran is beating the US in the competition for influence in Iraq. Ranj Alaaldin, a Brookings Institution scholar, suggested, “Iran’s favored candidates are also set to get the presidency and premiership,” while the Middle East news magazine, Al-Monitor, titled its report on Halbousi’s victory “Iran 1, US 0.”

The US had counted on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi securing a second term. But since last week, when Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq’s highest Shia religious authority, and Muqtada al-Sadr, the mercurial Shia cleric whose list won the most parliamentary seats, expressed opposition to Abadi, that outcome has come to seem extremely unlikely.

The Trump administration, however, apparently remains unfazed and continues a long-established policy. But it does seem that the difficulties that Washington is experiencing in Baghdad are driving it toward increased engagement in the Kurdistan Region.

Over the past week, Brett McGurk, Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition against the Islamic State (IS), has held numerous meetings in the Kurdistan Region: with Masoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and former president of the Kurdistan Region; with the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government; and with the head of the Kurdistan Region Security Council, as well as officials from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

One leading contender for the position of prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, who has previously held the positions of Iraqi Oil Minister and Finance Minister, has said that the Kurds will have the “main word” in choosing the next prime minister because they are the swing vote between the Shia blocs.

Editing by Nadia Riva

[yota691]

Iran America can not stop our oil embargo

 

Arab and international Agencies  The expected US sanctions on the Iranian energy sector can not stop the country's crude sales due to high levels of demand in the market, said Moayad Hosseini, advisor to the Iranian oil minister. "In light of the high demand and the low supply in the market, US sanctions can not cut Iran's oil sales to zero," the adviser to Iran's oil minister said in a televised interview. "The Iranian official added that other oil producers can not replace Iranian oil." Iran's envoy to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Hossein Kazempour, has warned of what Saudi Arabia and Russia have called the oil market and their attempts to take part of his country's share. In May, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the international nuclear deal with Iran and announced sanctions on OPEC's third-largest oil producer. Washington is pressing its allies to halt Iranian oil imports and impose a new round of sanctions on Tehran's oil sales in November. The United States encourages other oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and other Opec members and Russia to pump more to offset any shortages. But Washington said this month it would consider exemptions for Iranian oil buyers like India, but such buyers would have to stop imports eventually. Under the nuclear deal signed in 2015, most of the international sanctions imposed on Tehran in 2016 were lifted in return for curbing Iran's nuclear program. OPEC's report said last Thursday that global demand for oil will rise 1.4 million barrels per day this year and then to 1.5 million in 2019. But the Organization said there were signs of weakening demand in some markets, and pointed to the stagnation of demand for gasoline in the United States as prices rise. The report said that oil markets are entering a crucial stage in light of the deterioration of the situation in Venezuela, the possibility of the return of the conflict in Libya and the near entry of US sanctions against Iran. Views 15   Date Added 19/09/2018

[Pitcher]

US names Iran world's top sponsor of terrorism

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Iran has been named as the world's top state sponsor of terrorism in an annual report from theUS State Department.

 

In the report released Wednesday, the US accused Iran of undermining various governments in the Middle East, as well as deepening the state of violence in various conflicts in the region, particularly in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Afghanistan.

 

Iran and its proxy organizations, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, have been at the forefront of instigating violence in the region, seeking to sow discord and disrupt any chances at peace.

 

The report added that Iran and the militias it supports now seek to use their battle experience in Syria elsewhere.

 

Meanwhile, following the defeat of ISIS in Iraq, terrorist attacks have decreased worldwide by 24 percent between 2016 and 2017, according to the report.

 

https://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/Story/31560/US-names-Iran-world-s-top-sponsor-of-terrorism

[Pitcher]

A comprehensive strategy that secures real and lasting changes in Iran’s behavior

 

© Getty Images

Last month the Trump administration took the first concrete step in a new, potentially forceful approach to Iran by renewing sanctions and effectively departing the nuclear deal. Yet Tehran has responded with its usual defiance, including recently deepening its presence in Syria, threatening the Strait of Hormuz and reportedly putting missiles in Iraq. To truly be effective, the administration’s initial moves must become part of a broader strategy that utilizes all elements of American and allied power to compel real changes in Iran’s malign behaviors.

Amid widespread persistent demonstrations, sanctions appear better poised now than before the deal to starve the Iranian regime of precious resources for maintaining control at home and exporting its revolution.

But economic measures alone are unlikely to secure the administration’s demands that Iran roll back its nuclear program, support for terrorism and pursuit of Middle East predominance. Nor can they convince the regime its very survival could be at stake if its aggression persists. Added forms of pressure, including credible options for use of force, are needed.

The Gemunder Center Iran Task Force at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), which we co-chair, recently issued a report laying out diplomatic, economic and military measures to maximize the coercive impact of U.S. policy against the Iranian regime, including by targeting its underlying vulnerabilities.

Currently U.S. regional allies provide the readiest options to pressure Iran, given uncertainties about America’s willingness to remain engaged in the Middle East beyond defeating ISIS. Always proactive in self-defense, Israel is shouldering the burden of pushing Iran out of Syria and preventing proliferation to Hezbollah. The United States should ensure Israel has the proper tools to defend itself by itself, including precision munitions and missile defense interceptors, as well as unmistakable support for its redlines in Syria and Lebanon.

In addition to Israel, American policymakers should capitalize on growing coordination between Gulf allies against Iran by supporting their interdiction efforts and promoting maritime domain awareness in the Red, Arabian and Mediterranean seas. The United States, Saudi Arabia and U.A.E. should also pursue integrated missile defense and shared early warning systems, including joint command and control centers, and Washington should articulate explicit military backing for Saudi Arabia and U.A.E. against direct Iranian attack.

Support for allies against Iran is essential, but not an adequate substitute for credible U.S. commitments. The United States can pose real obstacles to Iranian expansion with help from partners on the ground in Syria and Iraq, chiefly the Kurds. It must make clear it will maintain a limited military presence, primarily special operations forces, in and over Syria and Iraq to preserve relations with partners on the ground, prevent the reemergence of ISIS – whose persistence only increases Iran’s influence in these countries – and maintain diplomatic leverage over Tehran’s efforts to dominate postwar Syria. Recent administration statements to this effect are steps in the right direction.

Going forward, the United States should bolster military support for Syrian and Iraqi partners, first and foremost the multi-ethnic, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and update rules of engagement to appropriately defend its forces, the SDF and other partners.

A concerted U.S. political warfare campaign can reinforce these measures and amplify the administration’s strong rhetoric criticizing the regime, by targeting growing fissures in the regime’s domestic power and exploiting its fear that the United States is making progress in undermining its security and longevity. Building from Secretary Mike Pompeo’s July speech at the Reagan Library, U.S. information operations, cyber, sanctions and support for dissidents could counter the regime’s anti-American propaganda, curtail its repressive powers and bolster the Iranian people and their demand for change by exposing the rampant corruption of the theocracy and the costs of its imperial adventures abroad.

Diplomacy is also vital to coerce Iran. The United States should explore areas of cooperation with European, Asian and Middle East allies to isolate Tehran and mitigate fallout from leaving the JCPOA. Proactive public diplomacy can expand on the strategic rationales already provided by the administration in announcing its new approach to Iran, and highlight Iran’s legally-binding non-proliferation obligations regardless of the nuclear deal’s fate.

Last but certainly not least, the United States must rebuild direct military leverage over Tehran. By updating contingency plans against Iran’s nuclear program and military forces – including ballistic missiles – American policymakers can strengthen their hand in pursuing the other elements of this strategy. With the potential for Iran to leave the JCPOA and resume nuclear progress, these preparations are also vital to deter or prevent Tehran from advancing toward nuclear weapons capability.

Having made initial moves to redefine U.S. policy toward Iran, the administration’s recent creation of a group to manage government-wide policy and coordinate with allies could be the next step toward a comprehensive strategy that secures real and lasting changes in Iran’s malign behaviors.

 

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/407392-a-comprehensive-strategy-that-secures-real-and-lasting

[Pitcher]

Iranian Hackers Step Up Attacks On Energy Firms

Iranian cybercrime group APT33 has stepped up its attacks on a variety of companies in the Persian Gulf, including energy firms, The National reports, citing research from security company FireEye.

The National notes that there is wide belief that the hacker group is linked to the government in Tehran and adds that the attacks became more frequent after President Trump pulled the Untied States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, more commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.

As an example of the step-up in attacks from APT33, FireEye describes a spear phishing attack against companies in the Gulf, disguised as an email from an oil and gas company from the region. Phishing attacks as a rule aim to trick recipients into clicking a malicious link and inadvertently sharing sensitive information with the attackers.

 

The National quoted a FireEye official as saying the hacker group likely targeted energy industry companies because of the impact U.S. sanctions are having on its own energy industry. Although the executive declined to give any specific numbers with regard to the attacks, Alister Shepherd noted that the increase had been tenfold, adding that most of the attacks took place during days coinciding with the Iranian week. “Its operatives primarily worked “Saturday through Wednesday…which fits with the Iranian week. When it happens consistently over time that’s a strong indicator.”

Shepherd went on to say he expected the number of attacks to continue growing as the effects of the sanctions begin to bite more deeply.

Bloomberg yesterday reported that Iranian oil exports had dropped by 35 percent since May, when Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal, and further declines are on the way. This will hit the Iranian economy hard as, according to the IMF, oil revenues account for as much as 80 percent of Iran’s tax revenue.

 

 

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Iranian-Hackers-Step-Up-Attacks-On-Energy-Firms.html

 

 

 

 

[10 YEARS LATER]

Great to see Iran,  year in year out: always clinching that # 1 Top Spot !

 

I have my own ideas about how we could change Iran’s behavior- it involves a “ BBQ & Fireworks “ Show. 

😎

Edited September 19, 2018 by 10 YEARS LATER

[Pitcher]

Awesome, straight up, call it like you think it should go down.  

[ChuckFinley]

22 minutes ago, 10 YEARS LATER said:

Great to see Iran,  year in year out: always clinching that # 1 Top Spot !

 

I have my own ideas about how we could change Iran’s behavior- it involves a “ BBQ & Fireworks “ Show. 

😎

I for one would love to attend.  

[Pitcher]

Iran's economy plummets amid US sanctions

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In another blow to Iran's clerical regime, the country's economy is plummeting less than two months before new sanctions by the US take effect.

 

Following the election of US President DonaldTrump in 2016 and the dissolution of the Iran nuclear deal that had been reached under formerUS President Barak Obama, Iran's economy has taken a major hit.

 

With oil sanctions introduced by the Trump administration in August, Iran's oil exports have decreased by roughly 35 percent since April, and with a new set of sanctions set to be introduced in November, the decrease is expected to become even more dramatic.

 

The drop in oil exports is seriously affecting Iran's economy, as 80 percent of the country's tax revenue comes from oil, according to the IMF (International Monetary Fund).

 

Meanwhile, as the Iranian rial has hit a record low against the US dollar, Iran's central bank stated in August that inflation is expected to reach 60 percent this year.

 

With 40 percent of youth unemployed and more than 30 percent of citizens living under extreme poverty, widespread protests that have plagued the country since last December are expected to become more prevalent.

 

As the clerical regime is focused more on spreading chaos in Syria, Yemen and the rest of the region rather than spending on its own citizens, chants of "leave Syria alone; think of us instead" and "death to the dictator" are now common.

 

In addition, Iran's tourism sector has seen a major decline since 2016, affecting hotels and local businesses, and the UK Foreign Office, under Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, has just warned British-Iranian dual nationals against traveling to Iran.

 

As Iran's economy crumbles and protests become more widespread and desperate, international experts are wondering how much longer the regime of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei can last.

 

https://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/Story/31563/Iran-s-economy-plummets-amid-US-sanctions

 

[Butifldrm]

America wants a new treaty with Iran that includes the nuclear program and ballistic missiles

 

2 hours ago

15809 views

+ -

NRT

America wants to sign a new treaty with Iran, including its nuclear programs and "ballistic missile development," US State Department envoy Brian Hawk said Wednesday.

"Tehran is not interested in negotiating, despite statements by US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about their willingness to meet the Iranian leadership," Hawk said during a speech at the Hudson Institute.

"Washington has clearly said it is ready for negotiations with Iran, but Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rowhani and Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif are not interested in negotiations," he said. "That is their position, and we respect it."

US President Donald Trump announced in May 2018 Washington's withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal signed between Iran and the 5 + 1 countries. By November, the United States expects to recover all sanctions lifted from Iran under the agreement .

 Washington has consistently urged Tehran to sign another treaty that includes not only issues related to the nuclear program, but also the issue of ballistic missiles in particular, while Iranian authorities say they do not intend to conduct such negotiations with the United States.

H

 

http://www.nrttv.com/AR/News.aspx?id=4580&MapID=3

[10 YEARS LATER]

3 hours ago, ChuckFinley said:

I for one would love to attend.  

 

Consider it done . . . and did I forget to mention; for the first 100 guests to arrive, EACH receives a most SPECIAL PARTY FAVOR !

 

Their very own Cruise Missile with a list of 10 destinations that you may choose 1 Special Destination from, and a FAT piece of White Chalk or Black Magic Marker to inscribe your very personal greeting on your very own Special Party Favor Cruise Missile. 

 

Example shown does not necessarily express the views of Management . . . We're " Walking Dead " Fans - 

[yota691]

Volkswagen finally withdraws from Iran

 

 

Volkswagen plans to end almost all its operations in Iran, Bloomberg news agency said, quoting an American official who led discussions with the automaker.

Bloomberg said the administration of US President Donald Trump convinced Volkswagen to comply with US sanctions on Iran.

It has not yet been possible to comment on the report from the White House and Volkswagen, according to "Reuters."

In May, Trump announced his country's withdrawal from the 2015 agreement between Iran and the world powers under which sanctions were lifted from Tehran in return for agreeing to restrict its nuclear program.

According to the Bloomberg report, US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell led the talks with the Wolfsburg-based automaker.

The report pointed out that Volkswagen will be able to conduct some activities in Iran for humanitarian reasons.

Keywords: 

[yota691]

US official: We seek to conclude a treaty with Iran

US official: We seek to conclude a treaty with Iran

 19 September 2018 08:58 PM
Direct : A US official said the United States is seeking to negotiate a treaty with Iran include both its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

US special envoy to Iran Brian Hawk told the Hudson Institute on Wednesday that the new agreement, which we hope to be able to sign with Iran, will not be a personal agreement between two governments such as the recent deal, but Washington is seeking a treaty.

US President Donald Trump announced Washington's withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran in May.

But Hawk noted that the Iranians did not care to talk, despite Trump's remarks and Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo that the administration was ready to meet.

Last July, Trump said he was ready to meet Iran's leaders "anytime they wanted," sparking speculation that a meeting could be held at the United Nations next week.

 

[yota691]

Nasrallah: Iraqi people reject US dictates and Syria is heading for great calm

Editorial Date: 2018/9/19 23:01 • 379 times read

[Ayna-Baghdad] 
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah stressed that the Iraqi people had rejected American dictates despite threats and pressure, while he felt that Syria was heading for great calm.

"We applaud the full coordination between Hezbollah and the Amal movement in the commemoration of Ashura nights in all regions, and we look at the American administration as an enemy and some in the region are looking at it," Nasrallah said in a speech during a ceremony on the night of 10 Muharram in the Ashura area in the Buffalo area in Beirut's southern suburb. Friend and ally ". 
Is it in the interest of the Palestinian people to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel? Is it in the interests of the Lebanese and Palestinian people to write off the right of return and to abolish UNRWA? Is not it America that came The Tkfir groups to the region? ".
"The US is the one that threatens the peoples of the region by imposing sanctions on it, and the American administration is even fed up with the International Criminal Court," he said, adding that "those who started the war against Yemen are Saudi Arabia and the United States justifying the crimes of this regime." 
He pointed out that "America is pushing for resettlement in Lebanon to serve Israel, which is the real ruler in some Arab and Islamic countries," directed his question to the Arab League, "America interfere in your internal affairs. Does any of you dare to issue a statement condemning it?" 
"The real enemy in the region is America and its policies and Israel is a tool in this project," he said, adding that "those who do not want to classify America as an enemy cell must deal with it with caution and attention" , Noting that "
He added that "distancing oneself is the subject of serious disagreement in Lebanon, what is happening in the region is for the Lebanese people fateful," and wondered "Is not the deal of the century and the way the US administration addresses the issue of Palestine implications for Lebanon ?, and how Washington's handling of the Palestinian issue has no repercussions on Lebanon?". 
"If Syria were to be in favor of Syria, what would have happened to Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and the Gulf countries?" He said, referring to "the interference of the political parties in Lebanon in the Syrian crisis according to its capabilities." "Adding that" the prolongation of pockets of support in some areas north-east of Syria is due to American support. "
Nasrallah said the Kurds: Washington has Etbiekm in any market and invite you to negotiate with the Syrian government, and the issue of eastern Euphrates linked to the decision the US and I call on the Kurds not to bet on Washington, "adding that" the Turkish Russian agreement on Idlib good and reasonable and is subject to the results. " 
And completed the" Hezbollah remains in Syria as long as the Syrian leadership sees a need for our existence, "adding that" the Israeli arguments used by the enemy in launching the raids on Syria are false arguments, and the Israeli attacks on Syria are linked to the failure of the US-Saudi-Israeli project, and Israel is working to prevent Syria from acquiring missile capabilities Check v Weazn deterrent, "pointing out that" on the axis of resistance studied these repeated Israeli attacks and must be resolved. "
Nasrallah said that "our determination to imitate Imam Hussein [peace be upon him], who wants to weaken and spread to prove us betrayal, we say to him we lovers of Abu Abdullah al-Hussein [peace be upon him] fought and lived with the slogan [humiliation of humiliation], and I say to these also will fail because we Every tenth night of Muharram we repeat the same slogan and the same language. " 
"Do you believe that if you kill our children or our leaders, we can change our course? Do you believe that if you besiege us and impose financial sanctions or our siege or starvation, we can change?" We say, as the owners of Hussein said on the tenth night in Lebanon and in all countries. "If we knew we were being killed or burned, then we would live, then we would kill and do it a thousand times."

[yota691]

Newspaper: Washington accuses Shiite forces in Iraq to plan to strike its soldiers and bear responsibility Baghdad

Published: 20.09.2018 | 12:58 GMT |Arab World News

Reuters Alaa Al-Marjani

One of the elements of the US military in Iraq

348

 

The newspaper "Okaz" Saudi Arabia that the US administration sent a letter to the Iraqi government to hold the government of Baghdad responsible for any harm to the elements of the US Marines present in the country.

The newspaper quoted in a report published today reliable sources confirmed that the message was handed over to the Iraqi side through the US ambassador to Baghdad, Douglas Seelman, and noted in Washington and the arrival of information on the existence of a scheme of Shiite forces allied with Iran to launch attacks on the Marines In one of the American camps in the country.
 

 

The sources pointed out that the United States pointed the finger at the alliance, "open" led by Hadi al-Amiri, who came in second place in the parliamentary elections last May, as well as popular mobilization.

The letter stressed that the mastermind behind the plan was the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Maj. Gen. Qassim Soleimani, in the name of the Baghdad government, with the intention of Washington to include Iraqi pro-Iranian factions and forces, including al-Fath, Terrorism.

In parallel, the MP of the alliance, "conquest", the victory of Moussawi, a sharp attack on the United States, saying that the priority of his alliance during the next phase is to work to get US troops out of the country.

Moussawi said in a statement that any US sanctions against the Iraqi and regional Shiite forces "worthless," adding that this comes in retaliation for "supporters of the resistance."

The newspaper "Kuwaiti" reported last week that the envoy of US President for Iraqi Affairs, Brett McGork, held a secret meeting with Sulaymani on July 11, where they discussed the latest developments in Iraq, and asked the US official from the Iranian side to instruct his allies in Iraq to avoid attacking US interests, In order to avoid any escalation that may be out of control and do not praise its aftermath, which was denied by the US State Department.

Source: Okaz

[gregp]

Nuke Iran. Nuff said. 

[Pitcher]

Iranian Attacks in Iraq Are More About Messaging Than Reality

 

Protester poses in front of torched Iranian mission in Basra, Iraq (mashreghnews.ir)

 

US and Iranian officials traded accusations earlier this month over an attack on Iran’s consulate in the southern city of Basra, followed by mortar or rocket attacks that appeared to target US missions in the capital, Baghdad.

Tehran blames Washington for being behind the trashing of its consulate. The allegation was simply untrue. The protesters that did it were possibly loyal to the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr—whose bloc recently won the majority of seats in parliament—and is no ally of America by any stretch of the imagination. More likely the young men were angry over persistent unemployment, power cuts, and lack of services, and were probably behind the sacking—a means of venting against Iran because it is perceived as dominating the political class.  

Washington accused Iranian-backed militias of firing the rockets targeting its missions. That allegation was likely accurate. But the attacks also may have taken place without Tehran’s sign-off. In any case, the rockets appeared to be more message than menace. 

“Iran took a bloody nose and their militias soaked up that humiliation and struck back at the US for no particular reason,” said Michael Knights, an Iraq expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “But the Iranian-backed militias seem to have deliberately missed when they targeted the consulate and embassy. This is pretty mild messaging. Because they know exactly where to fire.”

This month Iran also fired missiles at a Kurdish Iranian opposition base inside Iraq. Tehran has been bombing Kurdish opposition encampments inside Iraq for decades. But this was different. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used strategic Fateh 110 missiles which sailed over Koya, a city of 50,000 in the Kurdistan region, and killed at least eleven people. Iran targeted the base in response to rising tensions with the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (DPKI), a group seeking autonomy for Kurdish Iranians. It was also a bit of messaging aimed at the United States. Iran had urged its armed forces days earlier to “scare off the enemy,” as tensions rose with Washington. A base used by the US-led coalition lies not far away from the target.

That attack came a month after Turkish warplanes bombed the Iraqi city of Sinjar, targeting an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkey considers the PKK a terrorist group, but its fighters also played a heroic role in saving members of the Yazidi minority in that corner of Iraq from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham’s (ISIS) wrath several years ago. 

The geopolitical violence coincided with political troubles in Baghdad, Iraqi parties and coalitions are struggling to form a new government more than four months after general elections in May. That process, too, has become enmeshed within global struggles, with Tehran and Washington duking it out to promote factions viewed as more sympathetic to its interests. 

But that, too, is more about messaging and shaping narratives within circles of punditry back home rather than reality: the Iraqi government is too ineffective to actually implement policy one way or the other. The United States is in Iraq to stay, and its hasty withdrawal may facilitate a disastrous return of an already resurgent ISIS that would hurt Iran and the rest of the region.  

Iran and Iraq share a 900-mile border, overlapping historical, religious, and ethnic ties that make them inextricable. “Iran’s economic interests are deeply linked into Iraq and breaking those connections will be difficult at the local level,” said Theodore Karasik, a senior advisor to Gulf State Analytics. “One cannot separate the peoples by an international border anymore.” 

Increasingly, the contrast between how Iraqis and those inside the country experience its reality and the way it’s described by powerful officials abroad is jarring, as if it were not just two different countries but two different dimensions of reality.

There is the Iraq that officials and pundits in world capitals talk about: an oil-rich Persian Gulf land that is a playground of empires, where proxies of Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United States vie for influence in a tough, zero-sum game played out on desert flatlands and in the villas of the Green Zone in Baghdad. 

Then there is the Iraq as lived by the people inside in the country, even those have spent more than a few weeks there: a place where psyches damaged by decades of war and deprivation struggle through frequent power cuts, sewage-filled streets, tedious traffic jams, and disastrous services overseen by utterly corrupt and incompetent officials seemingly getting rich off public office. 

Both Iraq’s neighbors and its Western patrons pay lip service to the latter version of the country, lamenting the suffering of the Iraqi people and expressing the wish to ameliorate their hardship, while actually acting as if it were the former.

“This is one of the problems we have in Iraq,” said Abbas Kadhim, an Iraq expert. “Stability doesn’t hinge on Iraqi problems alone. International powers are all are playing their game in indirect battles.”

In fact, no country is playing a positive role right now in Iraq. In addition to its so-far failing and ham-handed plot to get an “anti-Iran” faction into power in Baghdad, the Trump administration has refused to contribute to Iraqi reconstruction. Iran has so far been more successful at installing those perceived as more sympathetic to it into positions of power, but has also made itself despised among many Iraqis for its maneuvering, and for skimping on promised aid. 

World powers such as Russia, China and the EU play hardly any role, disengaging from Iraq and preferring to direct investment and business toward more stable countries in the Persian Gulf.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are believed to bankrolling politicians to do their bidding inside the Green Zone, according to Kadhim.

Turkey increasingly views Iraq through the prism of its hostility toward the PKK, and no longer seems engaged either in the politics of Baghdad or Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan. 

Jordan facilitates the transfer of ill-gotten gains siphoned out of the country. “All of the dirty deals happen to be taking place by Iraqi actors take place in Jordan,” added Kadhim. 

Iraq’s governance failures gave birth both to Sunni ISIS and the proliferation of Shia militias across the region. Iraq’s neighbors and world powers recognize that. But they do not act on it. Instead they continue to play high-stakes geopolitical games of messaging and menacing that destabilize the country, drain its political class of even more credibility and authority, and perpetuate its cycle of failures.

 

http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/iransource/iranian-attacks-in-iraq-are-more-about-messaging-than-reality

[Pitcher]

Hezbollah acquires precision missiles despite Israel's efforts: Nasrallah

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Hassan Nasrallah

Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Iranian-backed Hezbollah, said Thursday that the party managed to acquire precision missiles, despite Israel's repetitive attempts to obstruct the delivery of such missiles through its attacks on Syria.

"Whatever you do, it is done," Nasrallah told Israel while displayed on a big screen before his followers.

Nasrallah said that the opposition now acquires precision and non-precision rockets and other arms that enable it to drive Israel toward an unexpected destination if Israel decides to start a war on Lebanon.

Earlier in September, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed that its army has carried out more than 200 airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria and fired over 800 missiles and mortar shells over the past year and a half.

 

https://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/Story/31582/Hezbollah-acquires-precision-missiles-despite-Israel-s-efforts-Nasrallah

[Pitcher]

Japanese Refiners Stop Buying Iran Oil Ahead Of Sanctions

By Irina Slav - Sep 20, 2018, 11:30 AM CDT

Japanese refiners have stopped buying Iranian crude ahead of the November 4 deadline set by Washington to all countries doing business with Iran before economic sanctions return. Reuters quoted today the head of the Petroleum Association of Japan as saying, “It is my view that each firm is taking the same stance and temporarily suspending (the loading) and watching the situation carefully.”

Japan is one of Iran’s largest oil importers, but it is also the United States’ staunchest ally in Asia—and the combination of the two has not worked to Tokyo’s advantage. While the government has been trying to secure a waiver from the U.S. State Department, the Japanese economy seems to be dependent enough on U.S. lending to make local refiners extra-cautious.

Reuters confirmed the sentiment by noting many Japanese refiners had resigned themselves to the reality that they must stop importing Iranian crude and instead, look for feedstock elsewhere. Iran currently accounts for 5 percent of Japan’s crude oil intake, and as per PAJ’s chief, Takashi Tsukioka, Tokyo will try to maintain a good relationship with Tehran despite the sanctions. How realistic this is remains to be seen.

 

The last time Iran was the subject of sanctions, Japan curbed its imports of Iranian crude. It did not, however, shut them down completely. Now, it seems like it might have to, unless Washington grants Japanese refiners a waiver. So far, U.S. officials have been guarded about the possibility of granting sanction waivers, although the possibility remains, on a case-by-case basis, as per an earlier statement from the State Department.

Although Japan, along with South Korea, is an important buyer of Iranian crude, which Tehran has done its best to keep on its books by deepening its sales discounts, China is the country that Tehran has pinned most its hopes on. “If China . . . buys Iran’s oil, we can resist the U.S.,” one Iranian analyst told the Financial Times in July, amid reports of import cuts among Iran’s Asian clients. “China is the only country which can tell the US off.”

 

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Japanese-Refiners-Stop-Buying-Iran-Oil-Ahead-Of-Sanctions.html

[trident]

Middle East

Hezbollah rallies behind Iran ahead of new sanctions, boasts new missiles

Nadia Riva |

2 hours ago

 

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Nasrallah is known for his fiery speeches during Ashura that challenge Israel. (Photo: Reuters)

 

Hezbollah Iran United States

 

 

ERBIL (Kurdistan) – The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Thursday asked supporters to stand by Iran, while boasting of its new “highly accurate” missiles, which, he claimed, would help the two allies shift the “regional balance of power.”

According to AP, Hassan Nasrallah, head of Lebanese Hezbollah, in a televised speech commemorating Ashura, a major Shia religious holy day, told supporters to “be confident in Hezbollah’s capabilities,” and in what seemed an allusion to Iranian expansionism, affirmed that the “regional balance of power has changed.”

“I tell (Israel) no matter what it did to cut the route, the matter is over,” he said, adding that Hezbollah “now possesses precision missiles and non-precision and weapons capabilities.”

On Sep. 15, alleged Israeli missile strikes targeted a cargo plane from Iran, reportedly delivering weapons in Damascus to pro-regime forces fighting in the country’s civil war, including Hezbollah.

The route mentioned by Nasrallah also suggests he was referring to Tehran’s push for a corridor straight to the Mediterranean, which the US and Israel have been attempting to block by targeting Iranian militia positions in Syria.

Indeed, the Hezbollah leader reiterated the militant group’s strong ties to Iran, calling for supporters to rally behind the Islamic republic as the November sanctions loom.

“It is our duty to stand behind Iran against the US, which is entering the next stage of sanctions,” Iran news outlet Tasnim, which has close ties to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), quoted Nasrallah as saying.

The US government has been engaged in “round-the-clock operations” to pressure Iran with sanctions, imposed a blockade on the belligerent country, and has pushed other countries to discontinue the purchase of Iranian oil, he asserted.

“Iran is being punished for fighting America’s domination and refusing to be a slave to the US.”

Despite calls by its own people to desist from costly external operations in regional conflicts, Iran continues to supports its proxies in Syria and Iraq, while recent reports claim Tehran has transferred ballistic missiles to allied Shia militias.

Iran’s malign activities in the Middle East are a matter of increasing US concern.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R, Texas), head of the Committee on Homeland Security and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, this week called for designating the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, explaining that the IRGC was expanding into Iraq, as well as Syria, and manufacturing rockets in Lebanon to be used by Hezbollah.

Editing by Laurie Mylroie

[10 YEARS LATER]

Nothing like a good ole Boys Day Out at the Always fun and frolics Party Faithfuls Rally complete w/“ The Salute “

 

A fine body of men, and with a bit of luck and encouragement from the Leader: soon to become fine bodies of men. Paradise ( and not by the Dashboard Lights - Meatloaf fans get it ) Awaits !

 

Some folks just ain’t happy unless the world is burning. 🔥

 

 

[yota691]

Iran hires financial arsonist to fight its financial fires

BY TYLER STAPLETON AND SAEED GHASSEMINEJAD, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS — 09/18/18 03:00 PM EDT 

 

 

 

© iStock

With its economy reeling and its currency in free fall, Iran hired a new central banker in August to restore public confidence. President Hasan Rouhani appointed Abdolnaser Hemmati to replace Valiollah Seif as the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI). Hemmati has a long history of laundering money and violating U.S. sanctions, just as Seif did. Neither the United States nor European governments should be fooled into believingthat Hemmati is any sort of reformer.

The CBI has a Herculean task before it, with decades of corruption and mismanagement weighing down the economy. But the bank itself is reeling, too. The Treasury Department in May sanctioned both Seif, the outgoing CBI chief, and his staff for their roles in laundering money through an Iraqi bank to Tehran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah and the IRGC Quds Force. Washington has previously designated both Hezbollah and the Quds Force as terrorist organizations.

 

There is a long history of criminal behavior at the central bank. The Obama administration sanctioned the CBI itself in 2012 for facilitating transactions with smaller banks to circumvent previous global sanctions. An executive order by President Obama justified the move by noting “the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks to conceal transactions of sanctioned parties, the deficiencies in Iran's anti-money laundering regime and the weaknesses in its implementation, and the continuing and unacceptable risk posed to the international financial system.”

Not surprisingly, the rot at the CBI has infected the rest of the Iranian financial system. In 2011, the United States labeled Iran a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern, which led the global financial messaging service known as SWIFT to expel Iranian banks. The U.S. Treasury Department “identified the entire Iranian financial sector, including Iran’s Central Bank, private Iranian banks, and branches, and subsidiaries of Iranian banks operating outside of Iran as posing illicit finance risks for the global financial system.”

The regime has now tapped Hemmati to restore public confidence, but he is an integral part of this corrupt system. From 2006 to 2016, Hemmati served as CEO of Sina Bank and Bank Melli, both of which the United States and the EU sanctioned for facilitating weapons proliferation, providing services to the Quds Force, and acting at the behest of the regime in Tehran. According to the U.S. Treasury, Bank Melli in particular was sanctioned in 2007 for facilitating numerous purchases of materials for Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.

Hemmati also currently serves as chairman of the board at the Future Bank, which the United States sanctioned in 2008 for acting at the behest of Bank Melli. While the United States removed Sina Bank, Bank Melli, and Future Bank from its sanctions list in order to reach a nuclear accord with Iran, that was purely a political concession, not an exoneration of these banks for their illicit activity while Hemmati was at the helm. 

As if that were not bad enough, in 2011, the EU sanctioned Hemmati for his role as the head of Sina Bank, which was working on behalf of Bank Melli to evade U.S. sanctions and proliferate weapons for Iran. Why the United States did not follow suit with its own designation is unclear. But such a measure could be on the way. Now that America has exited the nuclear accord, it is free to re-impose sanctions on institutions engaged in illicit finance. 

Earlier this month, the Trump administration took such action by issuing a new executive order and official guidance outlining new targeted measures to combat the full range of threats posed by Iran, including threats to the international finance sector. The executive order imposes sanctions on entities attempting to finance individuals or entities on the U.S. sanctions list, along with institutions providing financing to Iran’s energy, shipping, and automotive sectors.

The administration has stated that Washington on November 5 will begin sanctioning transactions made through the Central Bank of Iran. As governor, Hemmati will be a central figure in attempting to circumvent those sanctions. At least in that regard, he is extremely qualified. With the bank’s practices under scrutiny, the Treasury Department should determine whether Hemmati himself meets the criteria for sanctions. If he does, designating him would send the message that Iran’s banking sector is poisonous for foreign investment and would ensure that other central banks could not interact with Hemmati without facing potential U.S. sanctions. 

[yota691]

Washington warns Iran against harming US interests in Iraq

Friday, 21 September 2018 02:00 p

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

WASHINGTON (AFP)

The US State Department has warned the Iranian regime against harming US interests in Iraq, which it blamed for any attacks on US installations.

Iran is destabilizing the region and continues to attack governments and individuals through its own militias, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Noiret said in remarks published by Sky News on Thursday.

This came at a time when US special envoy on Iran Brian Hawke said Washington would tighten its sanctions on Iran to prevent it from getting the revenue it needs to finance terrorism, calling it "the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism."

The sanctions imposed by Washington last month and extended to the oil and banking sectors in November "encourage the stability of the region," the envoy said.