Saudi Foreign Minister: Iran is largest sponsor of global terrorism

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Saudi Foreign Minister: Iran is largest sponsor of global terrorism

February 19 2017 02:07 PM

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir asserted on Sunday that Iran is the largest Sponsor of global terrorism, terming Tehran as a country which doesn't cherish citizenship.
 

There might have been secret deals between Iran, al-Qaeda and ISIS, the Saudi top diplomat said, noting that Tehran have a history of harboring  al-Qaeda leaders during the US war against the terrorist organization.

Al-Jubeir's remarks were made during his speed before Munich Security Conference which was held over the past two days.
 

Al-Jubeir also accused Iran of smuggling ballistic missiles to Houthi terrorists in Yemen

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/6228/Saudi-Foreign-Minister-Iran-is-largest-sponsor-of-global-terrorism

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Iran’s Rouhani under fire as tensions with US rise

February 19 2017 05:32 PM

Trump and Rouhani

 

 

When the United States suddenly issued a ban on entry by nationals from Iran and six other countries, sending the world’s airports into chaos, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani gave a muted response, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
 

A burgeoning crisis between Iran and the United States has threatened to undermine the pragmatic Rouhani, who was elected four years ago on promises to end the country’s isolation from the West. But now, amid new tensions with the Trump administration, Rouhani’s pro-dialogue approach is under attack. The shift — from detente with the Obama administration to open hostility with the White House under Trump — has left Rouhani particularly vulnerable as he gears up for a presidential vote in May.

In the few weeks since Trump took office, the two sides have sparred over Iran’s ballistic missile program, the ban on Iranian nationals entering the United States and new White House sanctions targeting Iran’s weapons systems. Trump’s then-national security adviser, Michael Flynn, announced that the United States was putting Iran “on ­notice” over its ballistic missile tests, which the White House said defied a UN Security Council resolution. Iran responded with more military exercises and a threat to “rain down” missiles on its enemies.

“The conventional wisdom is that if the US really begins to crack down — to put Iran on the defense, keep it under threat, and take away some benefits — that it will work against Rouhani,” said Gary Sick, who was the principal White House aide on Iran during the 1979 revolution and subsequent holding of US Embassy personnel as hostages.

Iran’s conservatives have yet to field a viable candidate to oppose Rouhani, said Sick, who is now a research scholar at Columbia University’s Middle East Institute. But in Iranian election campaigns, which normally last just a few weeks, “things happen very fast,” he said.

Rouhani, a cleric turned politician, has the political advantage of an incumbent. And, despite disagreements over policy and ideology, he appears to still have the support of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose broad power can make or break candidates. Khamenei recently nudged Rouhani’s chief rival — former president and right-wing firebrand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — out of the race, after rumors swirled of a dramatic political comeback.

“It strikes me as unlikely that the regime will switch horses at this stage or that a rival can offer a compelling alternative to the electorate,” said Suzanne Maloney, senior fellow at the Brookings Center for Middle East Policy. But “making predictions on Iranian elections is a fool’s game.”

Indeed, the trouble for Rouhani started when Iranians, sick of a sluggish economy, grew sour on the 2015 nuclear deal he said would boost investment and ease poverty. That agreement — between Iran, the United States and five other nations — promised sanctions relief if Iran halted its nuclear enrichment program, and it was hailed as a diplomatic achievement.

Since then, some restrictions have been lifted. But others, such as those targeting Iran’s alleged financial support of terrorist groups, remain in place, sanctions experts say.

Foreign banks have also continued to avoid transactions with Iran, where corruption and money laundering are rife, said Richard Nephew, former principal deputy coordinator for sanctions policy at the State Department. Iran also resumed selling oil on the international market, but low prices stunted what many Iranians hoped would be a swift economic recovery.

“Residual sanctions, particularly those associated with Iran’s support for terrorism, continue to hamper [Iran’s] economic performance, but so, too, did Iran’s poor business climate and low oil prices,” said Nephew, who also served as Iran director on the National Security Council under President Barack Obama.

As a result, “the majority of people are not satisfied with the economy,” said Ali Omidi, professor of international relations at the University of Isfahan.

 “People are following the recent tensions [with the United States] with worry,” Omidi said.

Iranians “think Trump is an unusual person” who may deliberately “start a crisis,” he said.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/6237/Iran-s-Rouhani-under-fire-as-tensions-with-US-rise

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Iran closes road to Ahwaz International Airport

February 19 2017 01:10 PM

Breaking

Iran on Sunday closed down a road leading to Ahwaz International Airport.

The decision comes in the wake of the Iranian authorities receiving information on the intention of Ahwaz opposition groups to control the airport.

Iranian regime continues its severe discrimination against Arab people of Ahwaz, a region that has been occupied by Iran since 1925, preventing them from employment and from benefiting from their natural resources in empowering their economy.

http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/6224/Iran-closes-road-to-Ahwaz-International-Airport