America launches the economic side of the Middle East peace plan amid skepticism

[Butifldrm]

"You Can't Control Us" - Turkey Threatens To Retaliate If US Blocks Sale Of 116 F-35s

by Tyler Durden

Mon, 05/07/2018 - 04:15

25

SHARES

TwitterFacebookRedditEmailPrint

 

In the latest sign that Turkey is seriously considering leaving NATO as its relationship with the security bloc (and the US in particular) continues to deteriorate, Turkish Prime Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned on Thursday that the country would retaliate if a bill being pushed by House Republicans to block arms sales to Turkey becomes law.

As Reuters reports, lawmakers released details on Friday of a $717 billion annual defense policy bill that included a provision to temporarily halt weapons sales to Turkey. During an interview with broadcaster CNN Turk, Cavusoglu criticized the measure, saying it was wrong to impose such a restriction on a military ally, alluding to the fact that Turkey has graciously allowed the US to use its Encirlik air base to launch its air strikes against ISIS (as well as against Turkey's enemy the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad).

"If the United States imposes sanctions on us or takes such a step, Turkey will absolutely retaliate," Cavusoglu said. "What needs to be done is the U.S. needs to let go of this."

While still a ways away from becoming law (and its unclear if President Trump, who has publicly praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan) the proposed US National Defense Authorization Act would block sales of "major" arms to Turkey until a report on the relationship between the US and Turkey (which is also a component of the law) is completed by the Pentagon.

The implied target of the bill would be the 116 F-35 Lightning II fighters that Washington has promised to sell Ankara, of which 100 are almost ready to be delivered.

The bill is in many ways a response to Turkey's recent purchase of S-400 air defense systems from Russia. Though Turkey's relationship with Russia is still far from amicable (indeed, the two countries almost became embroiled in a military confrontation after Turkey shot down a Russian jet that was allegedly flying through its airspace back in 2015), the purchase has unnerved NATO and the US. The Russian weapons, Reuters notes, aren't compatible with NATO's defense systems. 

Turkish Prime Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Cavusoglu last month that the US was "seriously concerned" about Turkey's buying of the S-400s (of course, we imagine American defense contractors weren't thrilled either).

Cavusoglu criticized NATO's consternation over the sale of Russian arms and accused it of trying to control Turkey and infringing on its sovereignty.

"Turkey is not a country under your orders, it is an independent country... Speaking to such a country from above, dictating what it can and cannot buy, is not a correct approach and does not fit our alliance," he said.

Despite Trump's warm feelings toward Erdogan, the Turkish president's recent visits to the US have only served to inflame the conflict as his body guards repeatedly attacked Kurdish protesters that showed up to confront Erdogan during a trip to the home of the Turkish ambassador outside Washington DC and during a speech he gave in New York City while he was attending a session of the UN General Assembly. The beatings elicited charges against one of Erdogan's body guards and a Turkish national living in New Jersey.

Last year, both countries temporarily curtailed embassy processing of visas after Turkey arrested an employee of the Turkish consulate in Istanbul as tensions flared.

Turkey leaving NATO would only be the latest sign that the Cold War alliance has entered a state of collapse as President Trump has repeatedly criticized it and castigated most of its members for not paying their fair share for their defense.

Of course, we doubt the bill will be successful - as it stands, it appears to be merely a threat by hawkish Republicans in the House. But if Turkey does eventually leave NATO, would that too be Russian President Vladimir Putin's fault?

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-06/you-cant-control-us-turkey-threatens-retaliate-if-us-blocks-sale-116-f-35s

[Butifldrm]

Trump to announce decision on Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday

By ZEKE MILLER and CATHERINE LUCEY | Associated Press

 

Email

WASHINGTON –  President Donald Trump is set to reveal his decision on whether to keep the U.S. in the Iran deal on Tuesday, a move that could determine the fate of the 2015 agreement that froze Iran's nuclear program.

The announcement is set to cap more than a year of deliberation and negotiation that has at time pitted Trump against some of his closest aides and key American allies. Trump is facing a self-imposed May 12 deadline over whether to uphold the 2015 nuclear agreement, which he long has criticized. The president has signaled he will pull out of the pact by the deadline unless it is revised, but he faces intense pressure from European allies not to do so.

"I will be announcing my decision on the Iran Deal tomorrow from the White House at 2:00pm," Trump tweeted Monday.

The president has been the subject of an intense lobbying effort by American allies to maintain the agreement, with British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson making a last-ditch appeal to the administration in a visit to Washington this week. European leaders say that they are open to negotiating a side agreement with Iran, but the existing framework must remain untouched for that to happen.

It is not immediately clear what Trump will announce Tuesday or whether he will announce the end of the deal or push for a renegotiation. Trump in October "decertified" the deal with Iran, but did not move to re-impose sanctions, known as a "snap-back."

On Monday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would be willing not to abandon the nuclear deal even if the United States pulls out, providing the European Union offers guarantees that Iran would keep benefiting from the accord.

Rouhani said that "what we want for the deal is that it's preserved and guaranteed by the non-Americans" — a reference to other signatories of the 2015 agreement.

U.S. officials and European allies share the conclusion that the deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has halted Iran's development of nuclear weapons. Trump has objected to a sunset provision that would allow Iran to restart some nuclear development in 2025.

Supporters of the deal argue that withdrawing from the JCPOA would undermine Trump's push for North Korea, which has a far more advanced nuclear program than ever possessed by Iran, to denuclearize. Trump is planning on meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un within the next month.

Earlier Monday, Trump criticized John Kerry after reports that the former secretary of state has been promoting the Iran nuclear deal.

Trump said on Twitter: "The United States does not need John Kerry's possibly illegal Shadow Diplomacy on the very badly negotiated Iran Deal. He was the one that created this MESS in the first place!"

Kerry, who was also the lead negotiators for the Obama administration on the Paris climate accord, has been promoting both agreements since he left office.

The Boston Globe reported Friday that Kerry, the lead negotiator on the deal for the Obama administration, had been privately meeting with foreign officials to strategize on how to keep the U.S. in the deal.

Kerry has met with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. At least one of their meetings was at a June 2017 public event in Oslo, Norway, where they sat on the same panel with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and extolled the virtues of the nuclear deal.

Kerry, a keen environmentalist who regularly derided climate change skeptics and championed ocean health while secretary of state, has also continued to speak out on those issues since becoming a private citizen.

Last week at an event in Dallas, Trump mocked Kerry over a bicycle accident he had three years ago.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/05/07/trump-to-announce-decision-on-iran-nuclear-deal-on-tuesday.html

[Butifldrm]

urges Trump threatens poster propaganda: The war is not over

 

 Twilight News    

 

 8 hours ago

 

 

A terrorist organization threatened to launch terrorist attacks in the United States in a new leaflet showing a member of the organization cutting off US President Donald Trump's head, the Daily Mail reported. 
The poster shows Trump on his knees in an orange dress with an armed gunman about to slay him, while New York City burns in the background.

"The war is not over, God willing, we will defeat you," he wrote on the poster.

The poster harnesses the successful efforts to eliminate a full-fledged advocate in Syria and Iraq, and claims that America is "floundering in the failed Trump plan."

The poster, "Asbury America", was distributed in a letter on the application of Telegram by media loyal to Daish.

This appalling picture is accompanied by the message that "a preacher has never been defeated and has become stronger."

This is the latest threat that Tadeb makes against Trump, two weeks after a publication depicts the execution of Trump while Seattle is burning in the background.

Da'ash's propaganda wing continues to launch threats despite the heavy losses suffered by the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq.

Cheers

 

Keywords: 

http://www.shafaaq.com/ar/Ar_NewsReader/63a2a5cc-c3b0-4a93-9806-45eef475ecb1

[Butifldrm]

 

Special update on Trump’s decision on Iran & Jerusalem, May 8, 2018

15,048 views

 

1.8K20SHARE

 

 

 

 

 

Behold Israel/ Amir Tsarfati

Published on May 8, 2018

 

SUBSCRIBED 93K

Amir's special update on President Trump’s announcement on the United States' exit from the Iran deal and its Biblical implications, the false reports and rumors that he will cause the division of Jerusalem, regional developments and much more.

[Butifldrm]

One thing that most people don't realize is that Iran never signed the Uranium Deal:

 

State Department says Iran NEVER SIGNED nuclear deal and it's not 'legally binding' as it tells Congress to butt out of Obama's 'political commitments'

 

By J. Taylor Rushing, U.s. Political Reporter, For Dailymail.com

PUBLISHED: 17:46 EDT, 25 November 2015 | UPDATED: 18:50 EDT, 25 November 2015

 

The Obama administration has disclosed to Congress that this summer's controversial nuclear arms agreement with Iran was never signed and is not legally binding, according to a new report this week.

The State Department made the disclosures in a letter to Kansas congressman Mike Pompeo, a Republican, who had written the department to inquire why the agreement as submitted to Congress in July did not bear the signature of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

'The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is not a treaty or an executive agreement, and is not a signed document,' Julia Frifield, an assistant secretary for legislative affairs wrote Pompeo last Thursday.

 

Secretary of State John Kerry took a leading role in negotiating this summer's controversial nuclear arms deal with Iran

Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a meeting in Tehran in early July, as the finishing touches were being put on a complex nuclear arms agreement between Iran and six other countries including the US

As detailed in a story in National Review, Frifield went on to describe the agreement as a group of 'political commitments' instead of a legally binding document, telling Pompeo that the success of the agreement will depend on other factors.

'The success of the JCPOA will depend not on whether it is legally binding or signed, but rather on the extensive verification measures we have put in place, as well as Iran’s understanding that we have the capacity to re-impose — and ramp up — our sanctions if Iran does not meet its commitments,' she wrote.

Congress took a series of votes in September on the deal but never formally approved it - a step that was ultimately considered unnecessary by the White House since President Obama could have vetoed any attempt to strike it down.

In Iran, Rouhani persuaded the Iranian parliament not to vote on the deal to avoid creating 'an obligation for the government.'

'It will mean the president, who has not signed it so far, will have to sign it,' Rouhani said, according to news reports in August. 'Why should we place an unnecessary legal restriction on the Iranian people?'

Pompeo had referenced Rouhani's remark in his initial letter, which was addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry, who negotiated the agreement.

'This is not a mere formality,' Pompeo wrote Kerry on Sept. 19. 'Signatures represent the commitment of the signatory and the country on whose behalf he or she is signing. A signature also serves to make clear precisely who the parties to the agreement are and the authority under which that nation entered into the agreement.'

'In short, just as with any legal instrument, signing matters.'

Iran ready to help bring democracy to Syria, Yemen: Iran in 2015

 

Iranian Supreme Leader claims US is using 'money and sex' to...Trump says it's 'highly, highly, highly, highly unlikely'...Revealed: Number of people killed by terrorists worldwide...'Destroy ISIS': Obama uses tough new language as he stands...

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

Share

The controversial agreement is expected to start taking effect in January. Under its terms, Iran has agreed to reduce by two-thirds its number of centrifuges which purify or 'enrich' uranium.

The country has also agreed to lower its stockpile of uranium and to modify a new nuclear reactor that is being built.

The six countries that signed the deal - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - have agreed to lift sanctions against Iran in return.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3334249/State-Department-says-Iran-NEVER-SIGNED-nuclear-deal-s-not-legally-binding-tells-Congress-butt-Obama-s-political-commitments.html#ixzz5Exv2mN2C 
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[Synopsis]

4 minutes ago, Butifldrm said:

The State Department made the disclosures in a letter to Kansas congressman Mike Pompeo, a Republican, who had written the department to inquire why the agreement as submitted to Congress in July did not bear the signature of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

 

Well, there we have it. The JCPOA was NOT a Treaty AND was NOT even an agreement. Doesn't there have to be TWO sides to agree AND sign??? So, what is England, France, and Germany all whining about? They, too, aught to know the "agreement" wasn't going to have the effect on the Iranian side while the other six gave Iran EVERYTHING.

 

Barry and Scary John Kerry - Traitors To The Core

 

                                 

 

              

[Floridian]

OMG!  Iran never signed the agreement?

This is unbelievable!

[Butifldrm]

Why aren't we seeing this on the Mainstream Media?

 

 

State Department: Iran Deal Is Not ‘Legally Binding’ and Iran Didn’t Sign It

By JOEL GEHRKEovember 25, 2015 1

 

By JOEL GEHRKE

•  
•  

November 25, 2015 12:35 AM

 

 

Secretary Kerry testies about the Iran nuclear deal, July 28, 2015. (Olivier Douliery/Getty)

President Obama didn’t require Iranian leaders to sign the nuclear deal that his team negotiated with the regime, and the deal is not “legally binding,” his administration acknowledged in a letter to Representative Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.) obtained by National Review.

“The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is not a treaty or an executive agreement, and is not a signed document,” wrote Julia Frifield, the State Department assistant secretary for legislative affairs, in the November 19 letter.

Frifield wrote the letter in response to a letter Pompeo sent Secretary of State John Kerry, in which he observed that the deal the president had submitted to Congress was unsigned and wondered if the administration had given lawmakers the final agreement. Frifield’s response emphasizes that Congress did receive the final version of the deal. But by characterizing the JCPOA as a set of “political commitments” rather than a more formal agreement, it is sure to heighten congressional concerns that Iran might violate the deal’s terms.

“The success of the JCPOA will depend not on whether it is legally binding or signed, but rather on the extensive verification measures we have put in place, as well as Iran’s understanding that we have the capacity to re-impose — and ramp up — our sanctions if Iran does not meet its commitments,” Frifield wrote to Pompeo.

#share#Iranian President Hassan Rouhani discouraged his nation’s parliament from voting on the nuclear deal in order to avoid placing legal burdens on the regime. “If the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is sent to [and passed by] parliament, it will create an obligation for the government. It will mean the president, who has not signed it so far, will have to sign it,” Rouhani said in August. “Why should we place an unnecessary legal restriction on the Iranian people?”

Pompeo cited that comment in his letter to Kerry, but Frifield did not explicitly address it in her reply. “This is not a mere formality,” Pompeo wrote in his September 19 letter. “Those signatures represent the commitment of the signatory and the country on whose behalf he or she is signing. A signature also serves to make clear precisely who the parties to the agreement are and the authority under which that nation entered into the agreement. In short, just as with any legal instrument, signing matters.”

The full State Department letter is below:

COMMENTS

 

— Joel Gehrke is a political reporter for National Review.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/11/state-department-iran-deal-not-legally-binding-signed/

[NEPatriotsFan1]

32 minutes ago, Synopsis said:

 

Well, there we have it. The JCPOA was NOT a Treaty AND was NOT even an agreement. Doesn't there have to be TWO sides to agree AND sign??? So, what is England, France, and Germany all whining about? They, too, aught to know the "agreement" wasn't going to have the effect on the Iranian side while the other six gave Iran EVERYTHING.

 

Barry and Scary John Kerry - Traitors To The Core

 

                                 

 

              

100%

[Pitcher]

Whatever it is, Iran made it null and void by breaking the agreement by continuing their Nuclear program.  

 

[Butifldrm]

• international

Iranian parliament signs urgent resolution on nuclear deal

12:35 - 09/05/2018

0

Post it on Facebook

 

Twitter on Twitter

  

Information / Baghdad ..

The chairman of the nuclear committee of the Islamic Shura Council Mujtaba Zulanor announced on Wednesday the formulation and preparation of a project very urgently obliges the government to implement the law of appropriate and reciprocal action after the US exit from the nuclear agreement.

"The draft resolution includes three parts," he said, adding that "the deputies of the Council signed this draft resolution in various political orientations."

"The project obliges the government to take the necessary guarantees from the Europeans and the 5 + 1 group, except America, and of course, these guarantees must be complete, comprehensive and sophisticated," he said.

"If the Europeans did not give guarantees, give guarantees and then violate them, the government could start the full fuel cycle," he said. That is, we have ordered the government to increase its uranium enrichment capacity to more than 190,000 sues. "

On the second part of the project, he said that "if the Europeans did not give the necessary guarantees or give the guarantees and then violated them, the government can start the full fuel cycle, that is, we have commissioned the government to increase uranium enrichment capacity of more than 190 thousand Su," noting that " The project to follow up and take the necessary measures to enrich any size we need. "

"The draft resolution states that if the Europeans do not give the necessary guarantees, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran must take the necessary measures," he said. Ending / 25

http://www.almaalomah.com/2018/05/09/307931/

[nannab]

Good morning Butifldrm. 

[Butifldrm]

Good morning Nanna and DV 😉

 

Urgent policy .. Iraq announces its position on the withdrawal of America from the Iranian nuclear agreement

 Twilight News    

 14 minutes ago

 

The President of the Republic of Iraq Fuad Masoum on Wednesday regretted the decision of US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Geneva Convention on the Iranian nuclear program signed at the end of 2015 between Iran and the group (1 + 5), while praising the insistence of other parties signatory to the Convention to continue commitment To urge the United States not to prejudice the Convention and avoid obstructing its full implementation by those parties.

"The agreement represents a great achievement to enhance the chances of establishing peace and progress for all the countries of the region and the international community through the activation of good diplomacy to end the dangerous tensions and avoid the disasters that beset the adoption," a statement issued by the presidency said. On wisdom, humanitarian dialogue and constructive understanding based on the principles and principles of the United Nations. "

He stressed "Iraq's opposition to all forms of weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons," expressing concern "that the decision to withdraw the United States of America unilaterally from the historic agreement on Iran's nuclear file."

The statement quoted Masoum as saying that America's withdrawal from the agreement "will not serve the possibility of enhancing security and stability in our region and the world."

Trump announced on Tuesday evening his country's withdrawal from an international nuclear deal with Iran, raising fears of conflict in the Middle East and angered Washington's European allies and creating uncertainty about the world's oil supplies.

The agreement, signed by Tehran and the United States and five other major powers in 2015, has eased sanctions against Iran in return for its commitment to curb its nuclear program. The agreement aims to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.

But Trump said the deal, which was Barack Obama's most outstanding achievement in foreign policy, did not address Iran's ballistic missile program or its nuclear activities after 2025 or its role in the wars in Yemen and Syria.

Keywords: 

http://www.shafaaq.com/ar/Ar_NewsReader/8c057cb5-def5-4bb2-a935-88fd8f82b3fc

[Synopsis]

5 hours ago, Butifldrm said:

The President of the Republic of Iraq Fuad Masoum on Wednesday regretted the decision of US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Geneva Convention on the Iranian nuclear program signed at the end of 2015 between Iran and the group (1 + 5), while praising the insistence of other parties signatory to the Convention to continue commitment To urge the United States not to prejudice the Convention and avoid obstructing its full implementation by those parties.

 

Fuad Masoum aught to know the JCPOA WAS NOT signed by Iran and LIKELY knows Iran has been advancing their nuclear weapons capability. Further, Fuad Masoum should know Iran is not Iraq's or the Iraqi Kurdistan Region's friend.

 

So, Fuad Masoum may be an Iranian stooge especially since Fuad Masoum stalled the implementation of the 2018 budget. Hopefully, the upcoming elections will get Fuad Masoum deposed since, hopefully, the Iraqis are keen to corruption.

[Butifldrm]

Israel Strikes Iranian Targets in Syria as Tensions Escalate

Image

Missiles seen from Damascus, Syria, on Thursday.CreditOmar Sanadiki/Reuters

By Isabel Kershner

May 10, 2018

JERUSALEM — Israeli fighter jets struck dozens of Iranian targets in Syria overnight, Israeli officials said, following soon after what the Israeli military described as an unsuccessful Iranian rocket attack against its forces in the Golan Heights.

The response — which Israeli officials claimed struck a severe blow to Iran’s military capacity in the area — came amid drastically ramped up tensions in the Middle East after President Trump’s move this week to pull the United States from a multinational nuclear deal with Tehran. Israel had railed against the agreement, and Mr. Trump had campaigned on the promise of withdrawing from it, but European countries and many analysts had seen it as a crucial element holding Iran and Israel, implacable foes, from all-out conflict.

In the aftermath of the president’s decision, the rhetoric between the two sides has heightened sharply. And while Israel and Iran have been conducting a shadow war in Syria for months under the cover of the civil war there, the conflict has now burst into the open.

Overnight, Iranian forces fired around 20 rockets at the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, targeting forward positions of the Israeli military, according to an Israeli military spokesman. The rockets were all either intercepted or fell short of their mark in Syrian territory, the spokesman said, but were nevertheless a significant escalation in Iran’s maneuvers in the Middle East. Though Israel has hit Iranian forces in Syria with a number of deadly airstrikes, Tehran has been restrained in hitting back, until now.

 

Hours later, Israel responded. By Thursday morning, the country’s air force had destroyed “nearly all” of Iran’s military infrastructure in Syria, according to Israel’s defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman.

“If there is rain on our side, there will be a flood on their side,” Mr. Lieberman said in remarks broadcast from a policy conference in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv. He added, “I hope we have finished with this round and that everybody understood.”

 

 

In all, at least 23 people were killed in the strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitoring group. Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency said the Syrian Army had responded by firing 68 missiles at Israel.

In a sign of international concern that the conflict could escalate, Britain, France, Germany and Russia were quick to call for calm. Moscow — which enjoys warm ties with Israel and has had ever-closer relations with Iran in recent years — in particular called for “restraint from all parties,” Mikhail Bogdanov, a Russian deputy foreign minister, was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency Interfax.

Iran has taken advantage of the chaos in Syria to build a substantial military infrastructure there. It has built and trained large militias with thousands of fighters and sent advisers from its Revolutionary Guards Corps to Syrian military bases.

 

Israel’s political and security establishment has been unified and vocal in vowing to thwart Iran’s efforts to entrench itself militarily across Israel’s northern frontier and to build what Israeli and American officials refer to as a land corridor from Iran, through Iraq and Syria, to Lebanon.

The tensions between Iran and Israel have been complicated further by Mr. Trump’s pulling out of the nuclear agreement. The same day he did so, Israel put its troops on “high alert,” called up reservists, set up Iron Dome batteries and instructed the authorities in the Golan Heights to prepare public bomb shelters after detecting what it said was irregular activity by Iranian forces.

Mr. Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal could rekindle the appetite of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to carry out military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Israel’s strikes overnight were one of the country’s largest aerial operations in decades across the Syrian frontier, and by far its broadest direct attack yet on Iranian assets.

“This was an operation we prepared for, and were not surprised by,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israeli military.

In a statement, the military said the targets included what it described as Iranian intelligence sites; a logistics headquarters belonging to the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards; military compounds; munition storage warehouses of the Quds Force at Damascus International Airport; intelligence systems associated with those forces; and military posts and munition in the buffer zone between the Syrian Golan Heights and the Israeli-occupied portion of the strategic plateau.

There was no immediate information about casualties in Syria. Israel reported none on its side. Colonel Conricus said the barrage of approximately 20 Grad and Fajr-5 rockets fired from Syria and aimed at Israeli positions after midnight was launched under the command of the Quds Force and utilized Iranian weapons.

 

Four of the rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome antimissile defense system, and the rest fell short of the Israeli-controlled territory, the military said. Indeed, by Thursday morning, Israeli life returned to routine in the Golan Heights, with children going to school.

The barrage came after an apparent Israeli missile strike against a village in the Syrian Golan Heights late Wednesday.

Mr. Netanyahu said this week that the Revolutionary Guards had moved advanced weapons to Syria, including ground-to-ground missiles, weaponized drones and Iranian antiaircraft batteries that he said would threaten Israel’s military jets.

While appearing to almost goad the Iranians to strike, Israel had warned Tehran that it would respond to any attack. Israel also broadcast warnings to Syria, saying that allowing Iranian entrenchment in its territory put Mr. Assad’s government at risk.

Israel said Russia, whose forces have been supporting Mr. Assad, had been informed before the overnight attack. On Wednesday, Mr. Netanyahu spent about 10 hours in Moscow with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

In recent years, Israel has carried out scores of strikes against what it says are advanced weapons and convoys destined for Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed force in Lebanon. But since February, when Israel intercepted what it later called an armed Iranian drone that had penetrated its airspace from Syria, setting off a day of heated cross-border exchanges, Israel’s efforts appear to have been more focused on Iranian assets in Syria.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/10/world/middleeast/israel-iran-syria-military.html

[Butifldrm]

Israel retaliates after Iran 'fires 20 rockets' at army in occupied Golan Heights

 

Oliver Holmes in Jerusalem

Wed 9 May 2018 21.21 EDTFirst published on Wed 9 May 2018 18.46 EDT

Shares

15,430

 Missile fire is seen from Damascus, after Israel responded to a rocket attack on the Golan Heights with strikes inside Syria. Photograph: Omar Sanadiki/Reuters

Arch-enemies Iran and Israel edged closer to all-out war on Thursday after Israel’s military said its positions in the Golan Heights were fired at with a barrage of Iranian rockets, prompting it to respond with extensive strikes targeting Tehran’s forces across Syria.

The attack, if confirmed, would mark the first time Iran has fired rockets in a direct strike on Israeli forces, dramatically ratcheting up what has for years been a conflict fought through proxies.

 

Read more

Several but not all of the Iranian rockets were intercepted by Israeli defences, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman, Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, told reporters.

“At approximately 12.10, 10 minutes past midnight, forces belonging to the Iranian Quds Force fired approximately 20 projectiles – most of them are probably rockets but that is yet to be determined – towards the forward line of IDF positions in the Golan Heights,” he said.

“So far we are not aware of any casualties, any IDF casualties,” he said. A preliminary assessment found there was minimal damage, he added.

Israel accused the general in charge of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ external operations branch of orchestrating the attack.

“It was ordered and commanded by Qassem Soleimani and it has not achieved its purpose,” Conricus said.

The occupied Golan Heights has been on high alert since Donald Trump confirmed he was pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear deal.

“The IDF views this Iranian attack very severely,” Conricus said. “This event is not over.”

In the early hours of Thursday morning, the IDF’s Arabic-language Twitter account said its military was “moving” against Iranian targets in Syria and warned Damascus not to intervene. Conricus said Israel had notified Russia before the strikes began. The military later said it had hit “dozens” of Iranian military targets in Syria.

The Syrian capital was shaken with explosions as jets flew overheard before dawn, with residents posting videos online of what appeared to be air defence missiles running bright streaks through the night sky and reporting loud sounds that rocked their buildings.

 

Syrian state media said its anti-aircraft batteries were responding to a “new wave of Israeli missiles and is dropping them one by one”. However, it added, missiles struck radar, air defence positions and ammunition warehouses. Explosives fired from Israel also hit southern Syria’s Quneitra province, adjacent to the Golan Heights, it said. There were no reported casualties.

Iran did not immediately comment.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted an unidentified security official as saying Israel’s attacks inside Syria were the most extensive since the two nations signed a disengagement agreement after the October war of 1973.

Israel has warned it will not permit Tehran to establish a permanent military presence in Syria, accusing Iran of moving drones and missiles into its Arab neighbour. Iranian forces have been sent to aid the Syrian government in a devastating seven-year civil war against insurgents.

Donald Trump’s move to exit the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran was welcomed by Israel but has stoked fears of a regional flare-up.

Just minutes before Trump was due to speak on Tuesday, the IDF said it had identified “irregular activity of Iranian forces in Syria” and had decided to unlock and ready bomb shelters in the Golan, where it shares a frontier with Syria.

“Additionally, defence systems have been deployed and IDF troops are on high alert for an attack,” it said. “The IDF is prepared for various scenarios and warns that any aggression against Israel will be met with a severe response.”

Hours after Trump’s announcement, Syrian state media said that its air defences had brought down two Israeli missiles. The Syrian Observatory monitoring group, which tracks the conflict, said that attack killed 15 people, including eight Iranians. Israel did not comment on the strikes.

In February, Israel said it had downed an armed Iranian drone that penetrated its airspace. Since then Israel’s air force is believed to have struck Iranian targets operating in Syria several times, including a 9 April strike on the country’s largest airbase, killing seven Iranians. Tehran has vowed revenge.

The Quds Force is an external arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, which Israel’s intelligence community said was tasked with a retaliatory attack.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the biggest critics of the Iran deal and close Trump ally, told his cabinet on Sunday he was “determined to block Iran’s aggression against us even if this means a struggle”.

“Better now than later,” he said. “We do not want escalation but we are prepared for any scenario.”

Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, are due to arrive in Israel in the next few days for the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. The US president’s decision in December to recognise the city as Israel’s capital has infuriated Palestinians and reverberated across the region.

The occupied Golan Heights is a plateau captured from Syria in 1967 by Israel in a move not recognised by the international community.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/09/iran-fires-20-rockets-syria-golan-heights-israel

[Butifldrm]

 2018-05-10 BY SOTALIRAQ

British analysis: Iran encourages its militias in Iraq to attack US forces in response to Trump

 

 

The newspaper "I" published an analytical article by David Osborne, highlighting the implications of Trump's decision on the Middle East.

"When the Muslim state controlled the majority of the territory in Iraq in 2014, Iran quickly armed and trained thousands of Shiite fighters in Iraq to fight the terrorist organization," the author said.

He added that if the agreement fails after the withdrawal of America, Iran may encourage some of its Shiite militias to launch attacks against US forces.

Osborne said Iran, which has been involved in the war in Syria since 2012, would not seek to prevent Hezbollah, its ally in Lebanon, from launching attacks on Israel.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah, which fought Israel for 34 days in the July 2006 war, receives Iranian support for the construction of precision-guided missiles to renew long-range missile systems, and the failure of the agreement could lead to several consequences, including the removal of Hezbollah opponents in Lebanon. Destabilizing the country.

 

https://www.sotaliraq.com/2018/05/10/تحليل-بريطاني-ايران-تشجع-ميليشياتها-ب/

[Butifldrm]

 

Amir's update on Israel's operation in Syria overnight, May 10, 2018.

[Texstorm]

24 minutes ago, Butifldrm said:

 

Amir's update on Israel's operation in Syria overnight, May 10, 2018.

Thanks butifldrm ! The 4th of July in May ! Let the party begin ! 

[Butifldrm]

2018-05-10 BY SOTALIRAQ

Iraq pays for the failure to amend the nuclear agreement

 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the nuclear deal has added importance to Iraq's general election, which has already begun a special vote on Thursday and Friday, with a vote next Saturday.

Iraqi politicians say their country may become a battleground between Washington and Tehran. They believe that Iran may give up some of its influence in Syria and Yemen, which are geographically distant, but will seek to strengthen its influence in neighboring Iraq, with which it has more than 1,000 kilometers.

Trump's speech on withdrawal from the nuclear deal included an explicit reference to Iran's negative influence in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. But he avoided referring to Iraq. Observers in Baghdad say the administration knows the difficulty of extracting Iraq from Iranian influence, but that does not mean it will give up this oil-rich country.

Unlike most Arab and Western countries, which hastened to announce their position on the declaration of the American withdrawal, Iraq waited until Wednesday noon to announce its position, which came from the presidency of the republic, the formal role between the Iraqi authorities.

Iraqi President Fuad Masoum expressed "regret for the decision of US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Geneva Convention on the Iranian nuclear program signed at the end of 2015 between Iran and the group of 1 + 5."

He called on the United States to "reconsider its decision", saying that "the Convention represented a major achievement to enhance the chances of establishing peace and progress for all the countries of the region and the international community through the activation of good diplomacy to end the dangerous tensions and avoid the disasters that depend on wisdom, humanitarian dialogue and constructive understanding based on the principles and principles of the United Nations." United Nations ".

The issuance of the Iraqi position on infallible, which does not have any important powers, in accordance with the Iraqi constitution, a reference to the desire of the Iraqi government to distance itself from this file.

According to observers, the policy of "self-restraint" announced by Prime Minister Haider Abadi, may not withstand any Iranian desire to implicate the Iraqi arena by the consequences of the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement.

Iran will have to focus on the Iraqi file if the United States and its allies try to exert pressure on Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Iran will not find a better way than the Iraqi general elections, to push its loyalists to positions of responsibility in Iraq.

Iran has other tools, not political, to confront the United States in Iraq, a group of armed factions carrying the slogan "Islamic Resistance"

In practice, the Iraqi elections are witnessing the nomination of two lists linked to Iran, the first led by Hadi al-Amiri and the second headed by Nuri al-Maliki, both planning to get the post of prime minister. Moreover, Iran has considerable intelligence, religious and financial influence in Iraq. All these forms of influence can become tools in the Iranian-American conflict on Iraqi soil. Iran has used these tools together, in 2010, to ensure that Maliki remains in power for a second term, despite losing the election to the list of Iyad Allawi.

The Iraqi general elections are crucial to Iran, as they are the only chance to stabilize their supporters in the top positions.

According to author David Osborne, Iran, which has armed and trained thousands of grass-roots militias to fight an insurgency in Iraq since 2014, could encourage some of its Shi'ite militias to launch attacks against US forces after the nuclear deal was scrapped.

For the United States and its allies in the region, who support Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the worst scenario for the Iraqi elections is the victory of Hadi al-Amiri or Nuri al-Maliki by a majority of seats reserved for Shiite deputies in the Iraqi parliament, giving them a crucial role in naming the prime minister.

If this scenario materializes, al-Maliki or al-Amiri will be the new prime minister, and Iran will not have a hard time convincing one of them to give up the other. But Iran has other, not political, tools to confront the United States in Iraq, a group of armed factions that carry the banner of "Islamic resistance" and part of which is part of the popular mobilization forces.

Observers say that some of these factions are actively involved in the Iranian-American conflict in Syria, and will not hesitate to transfer the battle to the land of his country Iraq. According to opinion polls, if Abadi, who is too American in the eyes of the Iranians, wins the general election, the closest scenario to verification, Iran may find itself forced to move the armed factions inside Iraq to maintain its influence and gains. For Abadi, this scenario is a nightmare for him, because he is counting on bringing foreign investment to rebuild the war-ravaged areas with a sympathetic organization. If Iraq loses its current relative security stability, its chances are not to convince foreign companies to come.

https://www.sotaliraq.com/2018/05/10/العراق-يدفع-ثمن-فشل-تعديل-الاتفاق-النو/

[ChuckFinley]

This was a deal that never should have been done in the first place. We are now left cleaning up a mess that who know how this is going to end. If Iran starts something, I  can see Trump carpet bombing the heck out Iran and causing all kinds of turmoil from within. It is interesting that the 1 + 5 had no ME countries participating. That is like the EU deciding what states remain in the Union and who get left out. Would have been nice to have SA, Israeli, Jordan, Bahrain and others deciding if Iran should have nuclear capabilities.  

[Butifldrm]

Politician

Political: Iraq is divided and will be consumed by war

09:50 - 11/05/2018

0

Post it on Facebook

 

Twitter on Twitter

  

Information / Special ...

Iraq is divided between supporters of the United States and its allies and a supporter of Iran and the Islamic resistance, Iraq's political analyst Ahmad al-Abyad said Friday, pointing out that Iraq will be engulfed by the war between Iran and the axis of resistance and between America and the Zionists on the other axis.

"Iraq is divided between those who support American positions as they exert pressure on Iraq and its government, and between those who support Iran and the axis of resistance against American aggression and terrorism," he said.

He added that "things in the region are moving towards escalation and the establishment of war, especially after the victory of the axis of resistance in Lebanon and the exit of America from the nuclear agreement and the Syrian strike on the occupied Golan by targeting the Zionist entity in that region, which is said that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is the one who carried out such strikes inside the occupied territories, Which is leading towards igniting a new war. "

"Iraq is in the midst of fire, especially if American or Zionist missiles are directed at Iran. On the contrary, when the airspace of Iraq is used for Iranian planes and missiles to bomb the Zionist entity, Iraq will be in the middle of the fire," he said.

"The position of the next government can not be talked about at the moment, but it certainly will remain divided and do not give a single opinion where some parties will be with Iran and others with the United States and its allies." End 25 n

http://www.almaalomah.com/2018/05/11/308472/

[Butifldrm]

France slams ‘unacceptable’ new US sanctions on Iran

Foreign minister says White House overreached by forcing European companies to pull out of country without first negotiating with EU

By AFPToday, 5:06 am  20

12shares

French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian leaves the Elysee Presidential palace in Paris, on May 9, 2018, after the weekly cabinet meeting. (AFP / CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT)

PARIS — France’s foreign minister on Thursday condemned the United States for reimposing sanctions against foreign companies trading with Iran, labeling the move “unacceptable” in comments that expose the deepening rift between Washington and its European allies on the issue.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump announced he was pulling out of the landmark deal curbing Iran’s nuclear program and reintroducing sanctions on the Islamic Republic and those who trade with it.

The decision overturned years of painstaking diplomacy and left European allies scrambling to save the hard-fought deal.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top storiesFREE SIGN UP

Washington has given European firms doing business in Iran up to six months to wind up investments or risk US sanctions and they are also forbidden from signing any new contracts with Iran.

On Thursday France’s top diplomat Jean-Yves Le Drian slammed those conditions, saying Washington needed to negotiate with its European allies on any sanctions that might affect their companies.

“We feel that the extraterritoriality of their sanction measures are unacceptable,” he told the French daily Le Parisien.

Workers inspect a Peugeot 508 at the Iran Khodro car factory in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, October 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

“The Europeans should not have to pay for the withdrawal of an agreement by the United States, to which they had themselves contributed,” he said.

Europeans, he added, would “do everything to protect the interests of their companies” and planned to lead “tight negotiations” with Washington via the European Union.

Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran deal has left his country diplomatically isolated.

Tehran agreed in 2015 to curb its uranium enrichment programme in exchange for sanctions relief after mammoth negotiations with the US, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, China and Russia.

All the other signatories to the deal had called on Trump to stay with the agreement and condemned his decision to leave — although Le Drian’s criticisms are some of the most forceful yet from a key European ally.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/france-slams-unacceptable-new-us-sanctions-on-iran/

[ChuckFinley]

Call France a key European ally may be reaching it. 

[Butifldrm]

Jews, Arabs Clash At Temple Mount As Ivanka and Jared Arrive For Jerusalem Embassy Opening

by Tyler Durden

Sun, 05/13/2018 - 13:24

7

SHARES

TwitterFacebookRedditEmailPrint

 

A day after Israel fired over 20 missiles into the Gaza Strip, tensions exploded in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City where Jewish settlers attempted to storm Islam's third holiest site, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and raise Israel's flag.  “Hundreds of settlers stormed the compound along with a large Israeli police force,” Firas al-Dibis, a Palestinian official who oversees the city's Islamic religious sites said in a statement.

Image via journalist Aya Isleem/Twitter.

Though tensions are already high with the impending American embassy opening in Jerusalem as part of the White House's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, today also marks 'Jerusalem Reunification Day' (or simply Jerusalem Day) - an Israeli national holiday commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem in the aftermath of the June 1967 Six-Day War, when the Israelis gained permanent control over the Old City. 

During the morning hours on Sunday, hundreds of Jewish settlers reportedly forced their way into East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound and unfurled a large Israeli flag in the courtyard before being pushed back by police as fighting ensued.

 

Israelis refer to the area on top of which Islam's third holiest mosque sits as the "Temple Mount" as it is purported to be the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times, now the location of the Western Wall. 

Much of the event was filmed and shows the aftermath, with both Israelis and Arabs chanting and screaming at each other while being separated by Israeli police. At the moment the flag was unfurled, however, Israeli police do appear to briefly allow the stunt to take place, before pushing the crowd of Jewish settlers back. 

Palestinian Authority (PA) government spokesman Yousef al-Mahmoud formally condemned the incursion: “What the settlers have done is a heinous crime against our people, our nation, our sacred sites and our history.” Neighboring Arab countries like Jordan also issued formal statements of condemnation of "Israeli violations and provocations against Al-Aqsa Mosque"

 

Middle East based reporter Nasser Atta put the Jewish settler numbers at 500. Meanwhile video footage shows the Palestinian side of the melee to be much smaller, and it appears that Muslim clerics were present. Atta further reported, "Israeli settlers who stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque raised the Israeli flag inside the the Plaza of al-Harem al-Sharif in Jerusalem, very tense now and several Palestinians were arrested.

And fighting in the Old City and around Jerusalem is sure to vastly increase in the coming days as Palestinians prepare for Nakba Day on May 15. The "Nakba" which literally translates to 'disaster' or 'catastrophe' is an annual day remembering the Palestinian displacement that preceded and followed the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.

 

Widespread protests and violence break out every year, but this week promises to be particularly explosive as ceremonies marking the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem are set to begin Monday — one day before the Nakba.

A number of high US officials will be in attendance for Monday's embassy opening ceremony, including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner who have already arrived in Israel on Sunday. 

 

According to USA Today:

About 800 guests are likely to attend Monday’s ceremony, including members of Congress. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan will lead the U.S. delegation, along with Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and adviser; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; and U.S. Middle East peace envoy Jason Greenblatt, the White House said this week.

Good timing? We think not. Or perhaps it's a purposeful and forceful message to both Hamas and Palestinian National Authority leadership, and to Palestinians in general. But clearly they are not going to receive the message with any level of resigned passivity. 

Religion Belief

War Conflict

 

 

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/