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Iran declares its readiness to return to all its obligations under the nuclear agreement


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The CIA’s Dark Prince Doesn’t Want War With Iran

By Simon Watkins - Aug 28, 2019, 6:00 PM CDT

Two comments last week highlight the dangerous security impasse in which Iran and the U.S. find themselves. The first was from Iran’s spiritual leader, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, that maritime security will remain at risk if its oil exports continue to be compromised. The second was from U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, that sanctions may be applied on any country that helps the Iranian tanker Adrian Darya 1 as it makes its way back to Iran through the Mediterranean, having been released by the U.K. overseas territory of Gibraltar.

“Iran’s view is now that the U.S. will not launch the full-scale military attack that was previously expected, that the U.S. is increasingly isolated in its actions against Iran among its allies in Europe and even in the U.K.,” a senior source who works closely with Iran’s Petroleum Ministry told OilPrice.com last week. “At the same time, Iran believes it can lever the U.S. back into a newly renegotiated nuclear deal involving the removal of all sanctions,” he added.

Up until a couple of months or so ago, the U.S. was actively considering a full-scale military operation against Iran and was “98 per cent ready” for such an all-out attack, according to senior political sources in Washington and London spoken to by OilPrice.com last week. “The remaining two percent involved the final movement of men and materiel into attack positions and finalising the technology and software involved,” said one. “At that point, [John] Bolton [U.S. National Security Advisor] was the dominant voice in [U.S. President Donald] Trump’s ear, and this meant moving at least 120,000 troops into position to augment the [U.S.S Abraham Lincoln aircraft] carrier group that was already in place.”

“At about the same point, though, some of the President’s very close longstanding personal advisers and very senior CIA figures persuaded him that it would be an utter disaster, both militarily and economically, given the scale of the Iranian military and the terrain involved, its ability to launch guerrilla warfare anywhere in the world through its military proxies Hezbollah and Hamas and others, and its ability to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz,” one of the sources added. “In short, it was put to him that such a [full scale] military attack on Iran would lead to consequences potentially of a least the same length as the Afghanistan conflict and of at least the severity of Islamic State’s peak power,” he added. Related: U.S. To “Drown The World” In Oil

As it now stands, the U.S. side is still split. On the one hand, there are the ultra-hawks Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence, the latter of whom notably said that: “The world missed an opportunity last time to confront the regime, but not this time.” Their less war-centric remarks on the subject still find backing from Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, OilPrice.comunderstands.

He and the lesser hawks still prefer the option currently being used of changing the regime in Iran by crippling its economy to such a degree that popular unrest removes the current power structures in the country, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). To this end, the past few weeks have seen the U.S. end all waivers on importing oil from Iran, designate the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organisation, and sanction 14 individuals and 17 entities linked to Iran’s shadowy Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (‘SPND’ initialism in Farsi).

Senior political sources in Washington have highlighted to OilPrice.com that the SPND, working together with the IRGC, has become quite the expert in continuing its nuclear weapons research under the cover of a range of quickly-changing front companies. These can operate unhindered in the international business community by pretending that they are engaged in legitimate non-sanctioned business activity, including accessing traditional finance, credit and banking facilities.

Opposing Bolton and the other hawks in the U.S. are some of the most senior figures in the U.S. intelligence community. One of these, Dan Coats, left his position as Director of National Intelligence U.S. National Intelligence – purportedly over differences with others in the Trump administration over Russia and North Korea – but also shortly after even he testified to a Senate Committee prior to the withdrawal of the U.S from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal that there was no indication that Iran was attempting to develop a nuclear weapon and that Tehran remained in compliance with the deal.

Another notable exception to the pro-attack view, OilPrice.com understands, is the CIA’s Head of Iran Mission Center, Michael D’Andrea. Known as ‘the Dark Prince’ for his work in the U.S.’s sharp-end counter-terrorism operations after the ‘9/11’ attacks, and even the key figure in organising the elimination of one of Hezbollah’s leaders, Imad Mougniyeh,  in Damascus, in 2008 – when D’Andrea was Head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center (from 2006) – he has voiced concerns over such an overt military strategy.

According to various intelligence analysts spoken to by OilPrice.com, D’Andrea is in favour of dialogue with Iran’s non-IRGC leadership. He is even said to be in favour of talks with Iran’s foremost military leader and the architect of its strategy to create and sustain a ‘crescent of Shia power’ running from Lebanon and Syria through to Iraq and Yemen through asymmetric warfare tactics, the long-serving head of Iran’s al-Quds (‘Jerusalem’) Force, Major General Qassem Soleimani.

The weapons that Iran could use in an asymmetric war are considerable, including further upsetting oil flows (and thus the broader economy and the all-important gasoline prices in the U.S.), undermining the U.S.’s plans in Iraq and Turkey by destabilising the Kurdish populations of each, and increasing tensions between the U.S., China and Russia. They also include fracturing the U.S.’s relationships with its NATO partners in Europe, and upping the tempo of direct attacks against the U.S.’s principal partner in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, through its Houthi allies, who control the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and much of the north of the country.

“Trump is isolated in his position on the Saudi actions in Yemen against the Houthis already, which Iran knows, but by taking the war directly into Saudi sovereign territory, as indicated that they can do at will by the drone attack on the major Shaybah oilfield [which produces around 1 million barrels of oil per day] and refinery complex, this position of backing the Saudis becomes more and more untenable,” the Iran source told OilPrice.comRelated: A Perfect Storm Is Brewing For US LNG

Iran is looking to push its advantage, the source exclusively told OilPrice.com last week, by agreeing to the opening of a Houthi embassy in Tehran, manned initially by 25 Houthi staff. This follows the unofficial appointment in the last few days of Ibrahim Mohammed Mohammed Al-Dailami as an ambassador ‘for the republic of Yemen to the Islamic Republic of Iran’, according to Houthi media sources. “This is all part of [General] Soleimani’s strategy of ‘a thousand short daggers making a thousand cuts against the U.S. for as long it sanctions us [Iran],” the source added.

Isolating the U.S. from Europe has long been at the core of this Iran strategy and the recent vetoing by the U.K. of the U.S. ‘suggestion’ to detain the Iranian tanker Adrian Darya 1 points to a much deeper opposition to the current U.S. strategy on Iran by the key European states. This has been the case form the very moment that the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA.

This was made worse by the recent revelation by the U.K.’s former ambassador to the U.S., Sir Kim Darroch – that has been disputed by Trump’s team – that Trump abandoned the nuclear deal just to spite former President Barack Obama. Obama was not only the architect of the deal but also a figure who Trump has personally despised since Obama ridiculed him at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2011, a key catalyst in Trump’s deciding to run for president in the first place, according to multiple reports.

When there were just rumours that the U.S. was going to withdraw from the JCPOA, the European Union’s (E.U.) foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, stated: “This [the JCPOA] is not a bilateral agreement,... so it is clearly not in the hands of any president of any country in the world to terminate [it],...The President of the United States has many powers, but not this one.” After the U.S. withdrew from the deal last May, the E.U. invoked the ‘Blocking Statute’ that effectively bans European companies from following the U.S.’ sanctions on Iran. Concomitant with this, Mogherini said that Brussels would not let the JCPOA deal with Tehran die, adding that: “We are encouraging small and medium enterprises in particular to increase business with and in Iran as part of something that for us is a security priority.”

The then-German Foreign Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, added at that time that: “We also have to tell the Americans that their behaviour on the Iran issue will drive us Europeans into a common position with Russia and China against the U.S.A.” Shortly afterwards, the E.U. – under the leadership of Germany – moved to solve the problem of how to deal with payments accruing from business between the E.U. and Iran by creating the Instrument for Trade and Exchanges (INSTEX). 

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28-08-2019 11:20 PM
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Baghdad / News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The US Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two networks it says were "circumvented sanctions against Iran for its government and military institutions."

"One network used a Hong Kong-based company to circumvent US and international sanctions and supply technology and components to people associated with the government and the Revolutionary Guards in Iran," the ministry said in a statement.

"The second network obtained aluminum products for companies owned or controlled by the Iranian Ministry of Defense."

The US Treasury also imposed sanctions on individuals linked to the networks.

The sanctions are part of a US campaign to increase economic pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

Washington pulled out of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 and has tightened sanctions on Tehran, including sanctions on Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

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Number Of Readings 29-08-2019 03:58 PM


29-08-2019 03:58 PM

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have threatened to target US bases and battleships in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf of Oman when the first US missile or bomb hit Iran. 

The commander of the air force, Amir Alizadeh, said his country had set US targets precisely in anticipation of the attack, noting that he was aware that America would not attack Tehran. 

He added, Zadeh, that some officials did not believe that the Europeans are part of the US plan, which he described as demonic, which seeks to scare them from the war in the event of withdrawal from the nuclear deal, describing US sanctions as an empty weapon.

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New York Times: U.S. Hacked Iran To Prevent Oil Tanker Attacks

By Irina Slav - Aug 29, 2019, 11:00 AM CDT

The United States hacked and wiped out computer systems and a database used by an Iranian paramilitary group to plan attacks on oil tankers, the New York Times reports, citing U.S. officials.

According to the report, the attack took place in June and Iran did not retaliate. It coincided with President Donald Trump’s calling off an air strike, which was planned in response to Iran downing a U.S. drone over its territory.

Iran and the U.S. have been locked in a cyber conflict for a while now, but both sides are careful not to go over the top when the conflict would be classified as a war, the New York Times source said.

They added that not everyone in Washington was certain the attack was a good decision. Some skeptics, according to the sources, believe the attack may have inadvertently provided information to the Iranian side about the United States’ hacking abilities. That’s information they would not have been able to glean into otherwise.

“Iran is a sophisticated actor. They will look at what happened,” the New York Times quoted a retired major general and former director of intelligence for the U.S. Central Command, as saying. “Russia, China, Iran and even North Korea would all be able to see how they were penetrated,” Mark Quantock added.

Another problem is that the vulnerability that allowed the attack was closed once the Iranians found the breach, which means U.S. intelligence will no longer have access to a potential channel of information.

The cyber conflict is part of the wider conflict between the U.S. and Iran that has stayed out of the public eye unlike their openly hostile exchanged regarding attacks in the Persian Gulf earlier this year which the U.S. immediately blamed on Iran and Iran denied.

According to the New York Times sources, the effects of the cyberattack were not expected to be permanent but, they added, Iran was still struggling to recover the data lost in the attack.

 

 

 

 

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Iran Offers EU Two Options To Keep Nuclear Deal In Place

By Irina Slav - Aug 29, 2019, 2:00 PM CDT

Iran has offered the European Union two options to keep the nuclear deal alive as the EU keeps failing to find a way to support the Iranian economy amid U.S. sanctions.

Bloomberg reports the options include either asking the United States to reinstate sanction waivers for the countries that import Iranian crude or providing a credit line to Tehran. The offer was made public by Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi.

Araghchi said Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani had shared the options with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron during a recent series of phone conversations.

“What Mr. Rouhani has told Macron is that if Europe wants to preserve the nuclear deal then they must establish our ability to sell oil,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said. “There are two options or solutions -- one is for them to go to the Americans and get waivers again for oil buyers so they can buy oil from Iran, or if they cannot do that, they themselves should buy that level of oil, using a credit line.”

The first option may be the less likely to succeed but the second one has a chance after President Trump said he was not against the idea of Europe providing Iran with “a letter of credit”, backed by oil, that would allow the country to meet pending payment obligations.

France’s President has spearheaded efforts to keep the Iran nuclear deal alive and last weekend met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, during the G7 summit. Zarif’s arrival at the summit surprised the United States.

Three unnamed sources told Reuters at the time that Tehran would demand increased oil exports if it was to discuss the nuclear deal. “As a goodwill gesture and a step toward creating space for negotiations, we have responded to France’s proposal. We want to export 700,000 bpd of oil and get paid in cash ... and that is just for a start. It should reach to 1.5 million bpd,” one of the sources said.

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US sanctions on three Palestinians and Lebanese and four Lebanese entities for links with Hamas and Hezbollah

World | 10:52 - 29/08/2019

 
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Follow-up Mawazine News

The United States has imposed sanctions on three Palestinian citizens and one Lebanese citizen for "involvement in Hamas activities" as well as four Lebanese entities for providing support to Hezbollah. 
According to the US Treasury Department, Washington has imposed sanctions on Jammal Trust Bank, one of Lebanon's largest banks, for allegedly providing financial support to the US blacklisted Hezbollah. 
It added that other restrictions were imposed on three insurance companies linked to the Lebanese bank, according to the United States.

is over

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The IRGC sets targets for targeting at US bases in the UAE and Qatar

World | 09:05 - 29/08/2019

 
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Follow - up - News balances 
threatened the commander of the Air Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards , Amir Ali Haji Zadeh , targeting US bases and warships in Qatar, the UAE and the Gulf of Oman at the fall of the first rocket or a US bomb on Iran. 
"We have set targets at US bases in the UAE and Qatar in advance in anticipation of a US attack," the air force commander said. The American plane has removed the specter of war from Iran. 
Haji Zadeh added: "Some officials have not yet believed that the Europeans are part of the demonic American plan, which seeks to scare us from war if we withdraw from the nuclear deal."

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Hezbollah: The Zionist-American project receives the latest strikes in Iraq, Syria and Yemen

Political | 02:00 - 30/08/2019

 
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BAGHDAD - 
The executive assistant to the Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah, former MP Mohammed Yaghi, on Friday, that the US-Zionist project supported by some Arab regimes is receiving the latest strikes in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and will not have the chances of success. 
"Hizbullah has given this nation and the nation what no one has done," Yaghi said, according to the official NNA news agency. "We paid many evils from the homeland and the nation. We are sacrificing not to divide this area after the division of the Sykes-Picot treaty." 
He added, "This American-Zionist project, supported by some Arab regimes, receives the latest strikes in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and will not have the chances of success."
He continued: "The Zionist enemy, which no one could restrict him in the region, and dragged many regimes to the box to surrender and sign humiliating agreements, terrified by the arms of the Islamic resistance men in Lebanon, and the resistance in Gaza, and the position of Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah made him live a state of terror and panic and extreme caution , And he went to cover up behind the puppets in his military mechanisms. " 
"We decided to strike this enemy who attacked us directly in an ordinary house in Aqraba and in the southern suburbs. This is not only a threat, but a real act after which the enemy will know next time not to commit new folly." 
He added: `` We have prepared to face the enemy with many equipment and equipment, and the resistance today is much stronger than it was before the aggression of 2006, and we will taste the enemy bitterness, and will regret a lot of his act and aggression, they beat us in depth and will respond in depth, and his planes drove us another matter. '' 6 n

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Clackamsh Press / Continue

Iran's central bank governor Abdel Nasser Hemti said negotiations are continuing with Paris over the latter's intention to offer a $ 15 billion credit line for a mortgage on Iranian oil.

 

Asked about the French plan to offer a line of credit for Iranian oil mortgage under the European trade mechanism with Iran INSTEX, he said that "negotiations are still going on, and we have to see what happens, and that the money will be provided to Iran as a purchase currency."

 

Earlier, media reports said French President Emmanuel Macron had proposed a $ 15 billion line of credit to Tehran in return for a mortgage of Iranian oil at the Group of Seven summit.

 

Iranian oil has been under strict US sanctions for months, with Washington banning companies and countries in the world from buying it in an effort to bring Iranian crude exports to zero and write off income sources to force Iran to renegotiate the nuclear deal.

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Baghdad Post Friday, 30 August 2019 14:45

Mullahs bow: ready to negotiate implementation of nuclear deal

Nice

 

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said his country is open to other parties to the nuclear deal to find the best way and mechanism to implement this agreement, reiterating that Iran will not renegotiate the nuclear deal. “Iran will not renegotiate its role in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (nuclear agreement), but it is ready to talk with all parties concerned to find ways to move forward,” Zarif
said in an interview with Malaysia's Bernama news agency on Friday, concluding his visit to Kuala Lumpur. Fulfillment of obligations ”. Zarifurged other European members of the agreement to fully abide by the agreement, adding that Iran "will remain faithful to this agreement, and to some extent the other members will remain faithful to this deal." 

He continued: “We are ready to talk and consult with others about the best way to implement this deal. We are talking about the coming Europe to comply with its own obligations under the deal. ” 
With regard to the US return to the nuclear agreement, Zarif replied: "If they need to communicate with the US themselves (the Europeans) so that they can comply with the obligation, this is something they will do and Iran will have no role in it." 
“It has been carefully negotiated and it is impossible to renegotiate the deal,” said Zarif, who was Iran's chief negotiator on the nuclear deal. “We have already talked extensively with the United States more than two years ago and came to a conclusion… It was 159 Page… It is a serious agreement (covering) almost all aspects of nuclear issues. As well as US sanctions against Iran. ” 
He said: “It is while IranRussia and China abide by most of the agreement, the other members did not see that they were able to comply or had no political will to comply after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from last year's agreement. ” 
 Zarif said: "But the United States has failed, and can not abide by the nuclear agreement linked to issues not included in the agreement," saying that the US withdrawal from the deal was for personal reasons for President Trump. 
"He (Trump) doesn't like the legacy of former President Barack Obama. He just wants to pull out of the deal for personal reasons, not for some fundamental reasons," he said. 
In his announcement in May 2018, US President Donald Trump called the deal a “very bad deal” and urged Iran to renew talks on recent missile programs as well as its regional role. 

https://www.thebaghdadpost.com/ar/Story/178569/الملالي-يركع-مستعدون-للتفاوض-على-تنفيذ-الاتفاق-النووي

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Clackamsh Press / Continue

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is tied to direct security, intelligence and political cooperation with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, an Israeli study published on Thursday said, citing Israeli-Saudi-Emirati cooperation in confronting Iran's nuclear deal.

Saudi Arabia and Israel are linked to a secret security cooperation aimed at countering Iran's nuclear program and Tehran's interventions in the region, the study said. The study noted earlier reports that Saudi Arabia had agreed that the Israeli air force would use its atmosphere to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities.

The study, published in the Haaretz newspaper on Thursday, showed that the Palestinian issue "is no longer an obstacle to the development of security cooperation between Riyadh and Tel Aviv." . She pointed out that Saudi Arabia "does not have leverages that can contribute to pushing forward the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with the exception of the possibility of submitting settlement projects, such as the Arab initiative."

According to the study, on the economic level, there is limited cooperation between the two sides through third parties. She explained that there is a level of relations between the "citizens" in the two countries to a limited extent, especially through participation in international forums and through social networking sites.

On the relationship with Egypt, the study noted that "there is a very high level of political coordination between the regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Israel," noting that the security and intelligence services in Tel Aviv and Cairo "are responsible for the management and development of this coordination."

She pointed out that security coordination between Cairo and Tel Aviv has evolved considerably compared to the past, pointing out that what reduces its success is the vast difference in advanced techniques on which the Israeli army and the Egyptian army depends.

With regard to the UAE, the study pointed out that there is a secret security cooperation between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi targeting the Palestinian cause and the Iranian nuclear program. According to the study, the UAE is linked to Israel by secret intelligence cooperation in addition to the purchase of security techniques, as well as participation in military exercises involving the Israeli army.

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by Ali EjamArabs and the World55 Minutes ago

Follow “احات التحريرÇ التحرير Çá التحرير التحريرÑíÑ”

The United States on Thursday unveiled sanctions it imposed on Jamal Trust Bank, a Lebanon-based financial institution that deliberately facilitates Hezbollah's banking activities.

The US Treasury Department said in a statement that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) decided to classify the Jammal Trust Bank as a global terrorist under Executive Order 13224 because of its assistance, sponsorship, or financial or material support, technology, or financial services to Hezbollah or its financial services. Or other services.

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According to the OFAC report, "Jamal Trust has a long-term relationship with a major financial entity in Hezbollah and provides financial services to the party's executive board and the Shahid Foundation," which is based in Iran.

Ofak's rating included other companies owned or controlled by Jamal Trust Bank in Lebanon, including Trust Insurance, Trust Insurance Services and Life Insurance Trust.

“The Treasury Department is targeting Jamal Trust Bank and its affiliates to rudely enable Hezbollah's financial activities,” said Segal Mandelker, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Corrupt financial institutions such as the Jamal Trust pose a direct threat to the integrity of the Lebanese financial system. ”

“The Jamal Trust provides support and services to the Hezbollah Executive Council and the Martyr Foundation, which provides funds to the families of suicide bombers.”

"The United States will continue to work with the Central Bank of Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah from accessing the international financial system," Mandelker said. "This is a warning to anyone who provides services to this terrorist group."

“Today's action shows how Hezbollah continues to prioritize its interests, and those of its main sponsor, Iran, over the well-being of Lebanese citizens and the Lebanese economy,” the Treasury statement said. We regret that Hizbullah has brought hardship to the Shiite community, in particular, and we call on the Lebanese government to make every effort to mitigate the effects on innocent account holders who have not realized that Hizbullah is putting their savings at risk. ”

The United States "is confident that the Central Bank of Lebanon and other Lebanese institutions, through their legal and regulatory policies and oversight functions, will continue to work to protect the stability and integrity of the Lebanese financial system, which is crucial to support a stable and prosperous Lebanese economy," the statement said.

Hizbullah was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Foreign Ministry in October 1997 and a global terrorist organization in October 2001. In January 1995, Hizbullah was first listed in an annex targeting terrorists who threaten to derail the peace process. In the Middle East, the same action was taken in August 2012 targeting the Syrian government and its supporters.

“Jamal Trust Bank”

The statement said that Jammal Trust Bank intentionally facilitates the banking activities of entities classified by the United States as publicly associated with Hezbollah, such as the Qard al-Hassan and the Martyr Foundation, as well as the services it provides to the Hezbollah Executive Council.

Hezbollah used accounts in the Jamal Trust to pay the salaries of its customers and families, and the bank tried hard to hide its banking relationship with several companies wholly owned by the Martyr Foundation.

When the alleged “personal accounts” were opened at Jamal Trust, Hassan al-Hassan officials clearly identified themselves with the bank as prominent members of the terrorist group.

Jamal Trust then facilitated the use of these accounts to do business on behalf of Al Hassan Loan, the statement said.

The Treasury said such a scheme is a model of deep coordination between Hezbollah and Jamal Trust, which goes back at least to the mid-2000s and extends to several branches of the bank in Lebanon.

Hezbollah member of parliament Amin Sheri coordinates Hezbollah's financial activity in the Jamal Trust with the bank's management.

Accordingly, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, Chery was included in the list of people subject to sanctions in July 2019.

The Treasury Department took a similar action against the Martyr Foundation, including its US branch, and Al-Qard Hassan, in July 2007.

The Shahid Foundation is an Iranian quasi-governmental organization that provides financial support to many terrorist organizations in the Middle East, as described by Washington, including Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The Martyrs Foundation's branches in Lebanon provided financial support to the families of those killed or imprisoned members of Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, including Palestinian suicide bombers. In addition, Hezbollah used Qard Hassan as a cover to manage its financial activity, and the company played a prominent role in Hezbollah's financial infrastructure.

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Satellite Images Appear to Show Smoke Billowing From Iran Launch Site After Failed Rocket Test

This Feb. 5, 2019, satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows a missile on a launch pad and activity at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Iran's Semnan province

 

© AP Photo / DigitalGlobe, a Maxar company

MIDDLE EAST

14:57 30.08.2019(updated 15:07 30.08.2019)Get short URL

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Known for its advances in the field of missile technology, Iran is also a fledgling space power, and has built space rockets and satellites for peaceful purposes for about a decade. The US and its allies have demanded that Tehran desist from launching satellites, considering such launches a violation of the nuclear deal. Iran dismisses such claims.

A satellite photo from the Planet Labs, a California-based Earth imaging company, has shown what appears to be smoke billowing from the launch pad at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Semnan province, northern Iran following a failed launch attempt on Thursday.

 

 

An anonymous Iranian official confirmed to Reuters that a rocket launch had failed. “It was due to some technical issues and it exploded but our young scientists are working to fix the problem,” the official said, without providing any more details.

Dave Schmerler, a researcher from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, who analysed the image, said that the snap, first shared exclusively with NPR, seemed to show that the launch vehicle “blew up on the launch pad.”

“This failure happened maybe a couple of minutes before the image was taken,” he said.

A second image taken by commercial satellite company Maxar showed more details from the damaged launch area taken from another angle, with the rocket appearing to be still attached to its erector platform.

Michael Elleman, director of the nonproliferation and nuclear policy programme at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, told NPR that the remains of the rocket seemed to indicate that the failure was caused by a problem during the fuelling stage, or by an electrical short.

Iran attempted to launch satellites into orbit in January and February of this year, but these launches similarly failed. The January launch involved the Simorgh rocket, and sought to take a domestically-developed environmental data-gathering satellite into orbit. The February launch involved a Safir rocket. After the failure of the second launch, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said Tehran was not ruling out that the US could be deliberately sabotaging the country’s fledgling space programme.

 

 

© AP PHOTO / IRINN

In this frame grab from Iranian state TV, a video, a rocket carrying a Payam satellite is launched at Imam Khomeini Space Center, a facility under the control of the country's Defense Ministry, in Semnan province, Iran, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. According to Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the rocket failed to reach the "necessary speed" in the third stage of its launch.

The US and its European, Saudi and Israeli allies have repeatedly accused Iran of violating the UN Security Council Resolution adopting the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Iran has dismissed these claims, saying its peaceful space programme has nothing to do with the nuclear deal, which doesn’t restrict the development of rocket and missile technology so long as it is not designed to carry nuclear weapons.

Iran has been working on the development of space rockets and satellites for over a decade, launching its first home-grown satellite into orbit in 2009, and successfully launching a biological payload into orbit in 2011. In late 2013, Iran launched a monkey into orbit, retrieving it after a 15 minute flight. Another satellite was launched in 2015. Iran’s Space Agency has made these advances despite having an extremely modest budget, which reportedly amounted to the equivalent of just $4.6 million during the 2017 fiscal year.

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201908301076681832-satellite-images-appear-to-show-smoke-billowing-from-iran-launch-site-after-failed-rocket-test/

 

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by Ali Ejam 10 Hours ago

BEIRUT (Reuters) -

BEIJING (Reuters) - The Jamal Trust on Friday rejected claims it was helping to finance the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, saying it planned to appeal against US sanctions.

Washington targeted the bank and its affiliates with sanctions on Thursday for allegedly facilitating Hezbollah's financial activities. The US Treasury Department accused the bank of transferring funds to the families of suicide bombers.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States was determined to cut off support for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Washington classifies the group as a terrorist organization.

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Jamal Trust, a commercial bank that started operations 50 years ago and has branches across Lebanon, said it "categorically denies all the allegations" that led to the surprise sanctions.

The bank stressed its strict adherence to “international rules and regulations related to combating money laundering and terrorist financing”, adding that it will work with the Central Bank of Lebanon to protect the interest of depositors.

Riad Salameh, governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, told Arab Economic News website on Friday that the central bank was closely following the case of Jamal Trust Bank and that "all legitimate deposits are secured".

Washington has sought to stifle Hizbollah funding as sanctions come as part of a host of anti-Tehran measures since US President Donald Trump withdrew last year from a 2015 nuclear deal.

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  • yota691 changed the title to Washington: Tehran is the biggest threat in the Middle East

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Number Of Readings 14-02-2019 06:11 PM

14-02-2019 06:11 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran is the biggest threat to peace and security in the Middle East, Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday, accusing the Iranian regime of planning a new Holocaust over its regional ambitions. 
At the Warsaw conference on peace and security in the Middle East, Pence asked European allies to withdraw from the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran, he warned, while warning against new US sanctions on Tehran.
Pence also condemned the new initiative by France and Britain to allow European companies to continue to operate in Iran despite the imposition of US sanctions. Also, 'the time has come for the Europeans to join us in imposing economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people and the region and the world peace, security and freedom they deserve'.

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Number Of Hits 31-08-2019 01:37 PM

31-08-2019 01:37 PM

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has continued to exceed the limits of a nuclear deal on enriched uranium stockpiles and enrichment to a level above the limit, a UN nuclear watchdog report showed on Monday. 

Iran has exceeded both the 200-point enrichment stockpile and two 8-kilogram intervals and the 67-percent fissile material purity limit, the agency said. 

The agency said that the stockpile of enriched uranium in Iran reached two hundred and forty-one comma six kilograms while carrying out enrichment to a level of up to four comma 5 percent.

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Trump says US ‘not involved’ in Iranian rocket failure

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This handout image obtained August 30, 2019, courtesy of Satellite image ©2019 Maxar Technologies, shows close up view of a satellite image of failed Iranian rocket launch at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Semnan, Iran. (AFP)

Updated 31 August 2019

August 31, 201905:22

Publicly available satellite photos show what appears to have been the rocket’s explosion on its launch pad

The incident comes after months of tensions between Iran and Washington

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Friday released a photograph of an apparently failed Iranian rocket launch and said that the United States had nothing to do with it.
Tehran has made no official comment on the indications from aerial photos that a rocket exploded Thursday on the launch pad at the Semnan Space Center in northern Iran.
But Trump tweeted a high-resolution picture of the location, with annotations pointing to damaged vehicles and the launch gantry, saying it involved Iran’s Safir satellite rocket.
The incident comes after months of tensions between Iran and Washington. Trump last year unilaterally withdrew from the landmark 2015 international deal that placed limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, and he reimposed crippling financial penalties.
“The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran,” Trump said in a tweet.
Publicly available satellite photos also show what appears to have been the rocket’s explosion on its launch pad.
Tehran was believed to have been planning a third attempt to loft a satellite into space, after two launches in January and February failed to place satellites in orbit.
Iran’s Minister for Communications and Information Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi rejected reports that a satellite had been lost, but did not comment on the alleged launch-pad explosion.
“Apparently there were reports that the third attempt to put the satellite in orbit were unsuccessful. In fact, Nahid 1 is alright, and is right now in the laboratory. Reporters can come visit the laboratory, too. #transparency,” he tweeted.
Washington keeps a close eye on Iranian space activities as an indicator of advances in its nuclear and ballistic missiles programs.
Iran says its rocket program is for civilian use in space. However, because the rockets use similar technology to long-range ballistic missiles, Washington eyes the country’s activities skeptically.
Earlier this week satellite photographs from Planet Labs had shown that a fresh coat of blue paint had been added to the launch pad at the Imam Khomeini Space Port, part of the Semnan Center, suggesting a launch was in preparation.
Photographs taken on Thursday showed the paint scorched off of half of the pad.
But the commercial photographs showed none of the detail that Trump’s did.
Intelligence experts said Trump may have exposed a previously unknown level of resolution US spy satellites have achieved, or that, somehow, US intelligence was able to get a closer shot of the launch site from an overflying aircraft.
Shadows and glare on Trump’s picture suggested it was a snapshot of the original taken with a cellphone, presumably in a secure environment like the White House Situation Room, which has multiple video screens for intelligence briefings.
CNBC reported that a defense official confirmed the photo of the launch pad was included in Friday’s White House intelligence briefing.
Speaking to reporters late Friday, Trump said he had the authority to release the picture.
“They had a big problem,” he said of Iran’s launch.
“We had a photo and I released it, which I had a right to do.”
Allison Puccioni, an imagery specialist at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, said on Twitter that such resolution is not available to people in the open-source, or public intelligence community.
“The dissemination of this image seems out-of-step with the US policy regarding its publication of such data. Not sure what the political objective of dissemination was,” she said.
The New York Times reported this week that the US staged a secret cyberattack in June against a database used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to plot attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf, the latest in an ongoing cyberconflict between the US and Iran.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1547716/world

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AUGUST 31, 2019 / 3:08 AM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO

 

 

 

Iran official says U.S. showing 'some flexibility' on oil sales

4 MIN READ

 

 

 

DUBAI (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official said on Saturday the United States had shown flexibility on the licensing of Iranian oil sales and this was a sign that Washington’s “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran had been defeated, state media reported.

FILE PHOTO: Iran's deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi (L), with visiting senior French diplomat Emmanuel Bonne in Tehran, Iran, July 10, 2019. Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS.

French President Emmanuel Macron paved the way at a G7 summit a week ago for a potential diplomatic solution to a confrontation between the United States and Iran brewing since President Donald Trump withdrew Washington last year from world powers’ 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

“Macron met with ...Trump during the G7 meeting and the U.S. side has shown some flexibility in the licensing of Iranian oil sales,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted by the state news agency IRNA as saying.

“This is a breach in the U.S. maximum pressure policy and a success for Iran’s policy of maximum resistance,” he said.

Araqchi did not elaborate, and there was no immediate French or U.S. comment.

Since ditching the nuclear deal, calling it flawed to Iran’s advantage, Trump has reimposed sanctions to strangle its vital oil trade and force Tehran to accept stricter limits on its nuclear activity, curb its ballistic missile program and end its support for proxy forces around the Middle East.

Araqchi said Iran and its European partners in the nuclear deal faced “difficult and complex” talks towards salvaging the pact. He said Tehran was determined to continue reducing its commitments under the accord until it received protection against sanctions on its oil sales and banking transactions.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged his people on Wednesday to unite to overcome Washington’s “economic war” while his government said it would use diplomacy to try to solve the standoff even though it distrusted Trump.

IRANIAN TANKER BLACKLISTED

On Friday, the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted the Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying Washington had reliable information the vessel was headed to Syria, an ally of Tehran.

The ship was detained by Britain off Gibraltar in July due to suspicions it was carrying Iranian oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions. It was released in mid-August after Iran gave assurances that its cargo was not destined for Syria.

Turkey said on Friday the ship was headed to Lebanese waters after changing course several times. Beirut said it was not informed of the plan, but Turkey’s information suggested that a ship-to-ship transfer of cargo might be attempted once it nears the coast of Lebanon, which borders on Syria.

A senior Iranian military commander vowed that Iran would retaliate if any of its vessels was stopped in international waters, according to Fars news agency.

“Piracy against Iran can’t be easily overlooked. It is natural for us to act when Iranian ships are stopped in any part of the world’s waters. Iran’s armed forces will certainly retaliate,” Brigadier General Kiumars Heydari, the head of Iran’s regular ground forces, told Fars.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-iran-usa/iran-official-says-u-s-showing-some-flexibility-on-oil-sales-idUSKCN1VL06I

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Edited by Butifldrm
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Under pressure from the United States .. Iraq is heading to the countries of the "Gulf Cooperation Council" in search of electric power!

 Friday 30 August 2019
 
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Special: Translation - Lamis El Sayed:

Iraq is trying to link the power grid with its Arab neighbors and strengthen its own capacity amid pressure from the United States, as it seeks to link its power grid with Tehran's Arab competitors, and develop alternatives to imports of Iranian "natural gas".

US officials, who are trying to isolate Tehran diplomatically and economically, have criticized Iraq's deep relationship with Iran. Nevertheless, the United States, Iraq, has been granted a rare exemption from sanctions, fearing most of the country will sink into the darkness without Tehran's energy, but also because Baghdad has promised to break the habit of Iranian rapprochement.

Dispensing Iran with the Gulf Cooperation Council

Iraq derives between 30% and 40% of its energy supply from Iranian electricity and “natural gas”. Electricity imports account for nearly a quarter of this total.

But Iraqi officials say they have made progress in reducing their numbers.download-18.jpg

In the past nine months, Iraq has boosted its own power generation by about 3.5 gigawatts, ensuring nearly two million homes are illuminated. Baghdad also has fast-track agreements that will enable Iraq to begin replacing Iranian energy by importing electricity from GCC countries such as Saudi Arabia via Kuwait within 10 to 12 months.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Iraqi Minister of Electricity, "Louay Khatib," in an interview; that after eighteen months from now, "Iraq" can also import electricity from "Jordan."

“I don't care whether these megawatts come from Saudi Arabia, Iran, or Jordan, as long as they offer me the best trade offer,” Khatib said. “I would not import from the GCC if their offer was not competitive enough with the Iranians.”

After years of reliance on Iran as an energy supplier in Iraq, it could take longer to replace the 28 million cubic meters of gas that Iraq imports from Iran each day. “I will be very frank: we need three to four years,” Khatib said.

Washington will not wait much!

US officials are aware of the challenges facing Iraq, but say they will not wait forever. They have maintained temporary sanctions exemptions, provided they are renewed on concrete steps on reducing Iraq's dependence on Iranian energy imports. This includes progress on several “gas” projects associated with “oil”. The administration has determined that the waiver of sanctions is subject to renewal in October 2019.

"What we hope to see is evidence that the Iraqi government is taking steps to start moving toward energy independence," said one US diplomat.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States has pressed Baghdad to connect Iraq to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) electricity grid to help it meet rising energy demand in the summer months, an Iraqi official said on Monday. An official at the State Department said the US government, while welcoming the actions of Iraq, was not facilitated by the United States.maxresdefault-4-e1567172252269.jpg

Saudi Arabia has promoted such a plan since 2011, when the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries connected their power grids. In return, Saudi officials said, the kingdom would have received "gas" resources in Iraq through a pipeline system.

The US State Department believes that linking the Jordan network to the Iraq network is promising because Jordan has extra capacity, but it could take years after logistical challenges and large investment needs.

Iran refuses ..

Iranian officials rejected US efforts; they tried to maintain Iraq's energy systems.

Iran and Iraq announced this year an agreement to maintain the flow of electricity and proposed a new Iranian-made power plant in Iraq.

Hamid Hosseini, secretary-general of the Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce, based in Tehran, rejected the energy plans proposed by Riyadh as unrealistic. Mr. Hosseini added that any energy contact between Iraq and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries would pass through an area that is insecure due to ISIS activity.

The United States has pressed Iraq to award contracts to US companies to improve their infrastructure and make better use of natural gas, including General Electric, which provides the technology used to generate 50 percent of the country's energy supply. .

US agreements ..

In July 2019, the Iraqi Ministry of Oil signed an agreement with the US energy company, Honeywell International, to increase gas production at five oil fields in Basra to 600 million cubic feet. Last April, Iraq awarded Siemens AG a new company. Three contracts worth about $ 700 million for power generation, rehabilitation and modernization of existing facilities and expansion of transmission and distribution networks. This was the first stage in a roadmap estimated at 14.5 billion euros ($ 16.1 billion) to reform Iraq's energy sector.1590702-e1567172353426.jpg

The US administration is pressing a campaign to divert Iraq from Iranian power at a difficult moment for Baghdad, as the country is unable to meet its electricity needs even with imports from Iran. Power outages are still common, especially in summer, when temperatures reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The domestic demand for energy in Iraq is rising by about 7% annually, driven by the annual population growth of one million people.

A wave of power cuts last summer sparked protests in the oil-rich city of Basra, which paralyzed much of the south of the country.

Iraq should first know how to meet its current energy needs, said Robin Mills, CEO of Qamar Energy and former CEO of Royal Dutch Shell in the Middle East. "The second step is based on Iranian supplies," Mills said.

Electricity was cut three times during a recent conference, attended by Mr. Mills, in the energy sector in Baghdad.

Khatib, one of the Iraqi ministers chosen on the basis of their technical skills and not their political connections, said the demonstrations this summer had calmed down relatively, thanks to infrastructure improvements around Basra.

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https://kitabat.com/news/تحت-ضغوط-أميركية-العراق-يتجه-لدول-الت/

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 2019/08/31 04:41:58
 

The US Treasury has listed the Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya-1 as a supporter of the Revolutionary Guards on the US sanctions list.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the ministry said the ship was carrying oil for an organization called the Qods Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Washington has listed the tanker, which carries 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil on the list of sanctions, for providing support to the Revolutionary Guards on the list of US sanctions as well, according to the statement.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a tweet on Twitter, "Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, assured the UK that the oil tanker Adrian Daria-1, belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, will not go to Syria." The tanker is heading towards the Syrian port of Tartous, I hope that the tanker will change its direction, it was a big mistake to trust Zarif.

The authorities of Gibraltar released the tanker, in mid-August, after being detained since July 4 on suspicion that it was transporting Iranian oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions.

Gibraltar authorities also rejected a US request to seize the tanker, due to European legal restrictions, and after the rejection, a US court issued the seizure decision.

It is noteworthy that Iran changed the name of the oil tanker from "Grace 1" to "Adrian Daria-1" after the release of the authorities of Gibraltar.

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  • yota691 changed the title to Iran declares its readiness to return to all its obligations under the nuclear agreement
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