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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Zarif resignation connected to nuke treaty?
2019-02-26
[TWITTER]

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif Announces Resignation Via Instagram

[Haaretz] Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stepped down on Monday, announcing his resignation on Instagram.

"I am apologizing to you for all the shortcomings ... in the past years during my time as foreign minister ... I thank the Iranian nation and officials," he wrote on his Instagram page jzarif_ir.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency confirmed the resignation, citing Abbas Mousavi, a government spokesman. There was no immediate reason offered for what prompted Zarif's resignation.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said "some sources have confirmed Zarif's resignation," but it was not clear whether President Hassan Rohani would accept it.

Zarif played an important role in striking the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. But he came under attack by anti-Western hardliners in Iran after the United States pulled out of the agreement last May and reimposed sanctions that were lifted under the deal.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iranian President scrambling to sell nuke deal as 'Win'
2017-01-16
Iranian President Hassan Rohani was riding a wave of optimism one year ago. The long-negotiated nuclear deal with world powers he had sold to Iranians as an end to their economic woes was finally being implemented.

But as the first anniversary of implementation day approaches on January 16, Rohani has been saddled by the high expectations he set, as Iran's economy continues to struggle and the great boost in foreign investment and other benefits he envisioned has so far failed to materialize. With hard-liners seizing on the opportunity to criticize Rohani for a deal they opposed from Day One, the relatively moderate president is once again scrambling to sell the advantages of the deal to the Iranian people.

Rohani has been accused of overhyping the agreement and being duped by Washington and five other world powers at the negotiating table. In many ways, it mirrors the situation in the United States, where supporters have fended off consistent opposition to the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA), in which Tehran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, since it was signed in July 2015. With President-elect Donald Trump preparing to take office, his campaign promises to rework a deal he portrays as poorly negotiated and bad for the American people have cast a pall on the future of the JCPOA.

Rohani, who is expected to run for another term in Iran's May presidential election and who has banked a lot of his political capital on the deal, has responded to his critics by touting the agreement's "win-win outcome." He has urged Iranians to remain patient, promising that the benefits of the deal are "appearing."

Indeed, the main economic indicators point to improvement in Iran. Economic growth is projected to reach 4.3 percent and 4.8 percent in 2016 and 2017, respectively, compared to 0.5 percent in 2015. The effort to bring inflation to under two digits has seen success and the fiscal deficit has fallen.

But that is only part of the picture. The Iranian currency, the rial, hit a record low against the dollar in recent weeks, prompting fears that efforts to boost the exports of industrial goods will suffer and anticipated foreign goods will be prohibitively costly. The unemployment rate is on the rise, reaching 11.3 percent in 2016 compared to 10.8 in 2015.

In a nutshell, the limited economic progress Rohani's government has made has yet to trickle down to the average Iranian household in terms of jobs, salaries, and the prices of basic goods. This is something that none other than Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pointed out, saying in August that Iranians had yet to see a "tangible effect" in their daily lives.

Rohani has had to contend with internal resistance from hard-liners, including clerics, the judiciary, and the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which is estimated to control much of the economy. Meanwhile, Khamenei has sharpened his criticism. He has continued to emphasize a "resistance economy" aimed at boosting domestic production for export and warned against Western "infiltration" by way of the agreement.

"Rohani is the lightning rod for the economic issue and the nuclear deal, so if they ever go south, the supreme leader can blame Rohani, and that's where we are right now," says Scott Lucas, an Iran specialist at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. "The two men had a pragmatic relationship where each needed the other at a certain point. But the value of each to the other is quickly running out."
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iranian Officials Reveal That Secret Negotiations With U.S. Began In 2011 after US knuckled under Teheran's demands
2015-09-18
We like your contributions, BU. Please make it a little easier on us by classifying your submission properly
Here's how I do it:

o P.1 War on Terror is for kinetic action, explosions, murder and kidnapping, and arrests and convictions.

o P. 2 WoT Background is for army maneuvers short of kinetics, politics, statistics and background about P.1 activities, trials, and release of prisoners, unless kinetic action is involved.

o If it's an op-ed or from most blogs, it's P.4 Opinion -- if you want it in P.1 or P.2 news, go to the original news report the blogger was discussing, then add perspective via in-lines.

o If Communists, Russia, China, or North Korea are involved, it's P.3 Non-WoT, unless connected to Iran, Syria, or other WoT actors doing WoT things, eg. Russia supporting Assad or NorK selling Iran nuclear device technology.
[MEMRI] American administration spokesmen have explained the nuclear agreement with Iran as both leveraging the opportunity created by the election of a pragmatic Iranian president, Hassan Rohani in June 2013, and as vital because the sanctions have not set back Iran's nuclear program, and the West has grown weary of enforcing them.[1]

However, it has emerged that the U.S. began secret negotiations even earlier, in 2011, during the presidency of the extremist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Moreover, during that time, not only had the Western countries not lost interest in maintaining the sanctions, but they had intensified them significantly after the beginning of the secret negotiations -- both in March 2012, when sanctioned Iranian banks were disconnected from the SWIFT system, and in July 2012, when the European sanctions on Iranian oil sales were imposed.
Furthermore, according to recent reports in Western media from Western sources, the Obama administration had, since President Obama took office in 2008, constantly and consistently pushed for negotiations with Iran. President Obama's messages in this regard to Iran's leadership on various levels -- letters, public speeches, and so on -- began as early as 2009; details of these media reports and of Obama's messages will be published in a separate MEMRI report.

Additionally, it is evident from statements by top Iranian officials that the secret contacts initiated by the Obama administration with Iran did indeed begin in 2011, during the extremist Ahmadinejad's presidency -- before harsh sanctions were imposed.

This paper will present the Iranian narrative, as related by senior Iranian regime officials, about the beginning of the secret contacts between the U.S. and Iran that ultimately led to the announcement of the JCPOA in July 2015:
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Khamenei calls 'Death to America'
2015-03-23
[TIMESOFISRAEL] ran's Supreme leader Ali Khamenei called for "Death to America" on Saturday, a day after President Barack Obama
They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them...
appealed to Iran to seize a "historic opportunity" for a nuclear deal and a better future, and as US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
 claimed substantial progress toward an accord.

Khamenei told a crowd in Tehran that Iran would not capitulate to Western demands. When the crowd started shouting, "Death to America," the ayatollah responded: "Of course yes, death to America, because America is the original source of this pressure.

"They insist on putting pressure on our dear people's economy," he said, referring to economic sanctions aimed at halting Iran's nuclear program. "What is their goal? Their goal is to put the people against the system," he said. "The politics of America is to create insecurity," he added, referring both to US pressure on Iran and elsewhere in the region.

Khamenei's comments contrasted with those of Iranian President Hassan Rohani, who said "achieving a deal is possible" by the March 31 target date for a preliminary accord.

Kerry was more circumspect, as he spoke to news hounds after six days of negotiations in the Swiss city of Lausanne. The talks, made "substantial progress," he said, but "important gaps remain.
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Terror Networks
Advisor To Iranian President Rohani: lots of stuff
2015-03-11
Iran Is An Empire, Iraq Is Our Capital; We Will Defend All The Peoples Of The Region; Iranian Islam Is Pure Islam“ Devoid Of Arabism, Racism, Nationalism
Yeah yeah tough guy, whatever...
[MEMRI] On March 8, 2015, Ali Younesi, advisor to Iranian President Hassan Rohani and previously intelligence minister (2000-2005) in the government of president Khatami, spoke at the "Iran, Nationalism, History, and Culture" conference in Iran; his statements were published by the Iranian ISNA news agency the same day.

According to Younesi, Iran is once again an empire, as it was in the past, and its capital, Iraq,
Huh?
is "the center of Iranian heritage, culture, and identity." Delineating the borders of the Persian Empire, or, in his words, "greater Iran," he included countries from China, the Indian subcontinent, the north and south Caucasus, and the Persian Gulf. He added that since the very dawn of its history, Iran had been an empire and a melting pot of different cultures, languages, and peoples.
That's so, though China and India have never lain within its borders, as far as I know. That members of the etno-linguistic group settled elsewhere does not make those elsewheres part of the maximum historic extent of those lands ruled by the Medes & Persians, else almost the entire planet would belong to Israel.
Younesi stressed that despite the current obstacles to the unification of the countries in the region under Iranian leadership, Iran cannot disregard its regional influence if it wishes to preserve its national interests. Iran, he said, has been operating in this region, particularly in Iraq, with the aim of ensuring the security of the peoples there,
How utterly noble and disinterested of them.
whose connection to Iran is obvious because of history and culture. Saudi Arabia has nothing to fear from Iran's actions, he added, because the Saudis themselves are incapable of defending the peoples of the region.
Huh? again. Yes, the Saudis cannot defend beyond their borders, though thus far they've managed to defend the borders themselves. This does not mean they have nothing to fear from Iran, which most memorably tried -- and eventually failed -- to conquer the Kaaba some years back, demonstrating Iranian designs on Arabia.
He also assured the peoples of the region that Iran is operating there
Where? I've lost track.
against Islamic extremism as embodied by ISIS, as well as against the Saudi Wahhabis, Turkey, secularists, Western rule, and Zionism.
Golly. No doubt that will reassure somebody.
Further emphasizing that anything that enters Iran is improved by becoming Iranian, especially Islam itself, he added that Islam in its Iranian-Shi'ite form is the pure Islam,
How can it be pure if it was improved?
since it has shed all traces of Arabism, racism, and any other element that divides the various Islamic groups.

Following are excerpts from Younesi's statements:
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Rohani: Israel Will Rue The Day It Attacks Iran's Nuclear Facilities
2014-01-27
[Ynet] Iran's President Hassan Rohani said in an interview with CNN that Israel will rue the day in which it decides to attack the nuclear sites in the Islamic Theocratic Republic.

In an interview conducted in Davos, which parts of it were broadcasted last week, Rohani added: "Israel knows very well what the response would be. Israel knows well our regional capability."
It sounds like the Mad Mullahs aren't certain their frenemy President Obama can hold Bibi back.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran's Revolutionary Guards committed to 'Death to America'
2013-11-03
Was there ever a doubt?
In light of negotiations with US, conservative groups in Iran call for continued use of 'Death to America' as official slogan, celebrate anniversary of US Embassy hostage crisis.
Personally I think they are just trying to get on Obama's good side by showing they, and him (and of course ValJar) do have some common goals.
The Revolutionary Guards, the elite Iranian regime's army, said Saturday they are committed to the slogan "Death to America," chanted at official ceremonies, just days before the 34th anniversary of the storming of the American Embassy in Tehran.

"The slogan Death to America is the symbol of strength and determination of the Iranian nation against the dominance of the United States, which is an oppressive and untrustworthy nation," said the Revolutionary Guards on their official website.

In recent weeks, a debate was launched in Iran on the merits of continuing to chant "Death to America " during official ceremonies, while some relaxation occurred in relations between Tehran and Washington since the election in June of moderate President Hassan Rohani.
Moderate?
Hard-liners in Iran have unveiled two new "Death to America" songs at the former US Embassy in Tehran, hoping to keep anger high ahead of nuclear talks with Western powers. They performed the songs Saturday ahead of a planned massive protest Monday to mark the anniversary of the US Embassy takeover in 1979.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
ISIS: Iran's bomb-making timeline shortens
2013-10-25
[Ynet] Institute for Science and International Security estimates Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium for one bomb in less than two months, if it uses all its 20% stockpile. Tehran parliamentarian says Iran has enough enriched fuel for medical reactor

A US think-tank that closely tracks Iran's nuclear programme warned the time Iran would need to produce enough weapons-grade material for a bomb was getting shorter.

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) estimated that Iran could now produce enough weapons-grade uranium for one bomb, about 25 kg, in as little as about 1-1.6 months, if it used all its 20% stockpile.

Additional time would be required to make the actual nuclear weapon but such work would likely be carried out at secret sites and would be difficult to detect, it said in a report.

"The most practical strategy to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons is to prevent it from accumulating sufficient nuclear kaboom, particularly in secret or without adequate warning," ISIS said.

"The shortening breakout times have implications for any negotiation with Iran," it said on Thursday.

Inspectors from the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency are believed to visit Iran's enrichment facilities about once a week. The UN agency, based in Vienna, said it had no comment on Hosseini's remarks for now. Diplomats accredited to the IAEA said they were not aware of any halt of higher-level enrichment.

Iranian MPs have in the past made statements about Iran's nuclear programme that the government later denied.

While members of parliament's national security commission are regularly briefed on the nuclear programme, they are not directly involved in policy-making. The big decisions are made by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Western officials have said Iran must stop enriching uranium to 20%, increase the transparency of its nuclear programme, reduce its uranium stockpiles and take other steps to reassure the world that it is not seeking nuclear weapons.

Iran and six world powers -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany -- emerged from a new round of nuclear negotiations in Geneva last week saying these had been positive and constructive.

The meeting was the first since Iran's diminutive President Hassan Rohani came to office in August promising to try to resolve the nuclear dispute and win an easing of sanctions.

Follow-up talks will be held in Geneva on Nov. 7-8.

Tehran denies allegations by Western powers that it is seeking the capability to produce nuclear arms.

'Iran halts most sensitive uranium enrichment work'
Iran has halted its most sensitive uranium enrichment work, a senior Iranian parliamentarian was quoted as saying, a move that would meet a main demand of world powers negotiating with Tehran over its disputed nuclear work.

Any such development would be a big surprise however, as Western experts believe Iran would want to use its higher-grade enrichment as a bargaining chip to win relief from stringent sanctions which have mangled the Iranian economy.

Iran's enrichment of uranium to levels of 20% is sensitive as it is a relatively short technical step to increase that to the 90% needed for making a nuclear warhead.

Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, a senior member of the parliamentary national security commission, said Iran had stopped enriching uranium above the 5% required for civilian power stations as it already had all the 20% enriched fuel it needs for a medical research reactor in Tehran.

"Enrichment over five percent depends on the needs of the country; Iran's nuclear industry requires 20% enrichment for providing the fuel for its Tehran reactor, but this site has its required fuel at the moment and there is no need for further production," parliament's website quoted Hosseini as saying.

"Tehran will decide whether to have over 5% enrichment or not itself, but the issue of suspension or halt of enrichment activities is meaningless because no production is taking place at the moment," he said.

Iran's production and stockpile of 20% uranium is closely watched in the West and Israel.

The Jewish state, believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East, has suggested it could launch military strikes if Iran acquired enough of the material for one bomb, but Iran has kept its 20% stockpile below that level.
Link


Home Front: WoT
Obama: Iran 'year or more' from nuke capability
2013-10-06
[Ynet] In AP interview, US president expresses optimism about blossoming diplomacy between his administration and Iran's president, but stresses US won't accept 'bad deal' on Tehran's nuke program
So it is written, so it shall be. The One at whose ascension the climate stopped warming and the seas ceased to rise has spoken. (Do stop worrying about nuclear genocide, little Bibi!)
President Barack Obama
Republicans can come along for the ride, but they've got to sit in the back...
disclosed that US intelligence agencies believe Iran continues to be a year or more away from building a nuclear weapon, an assessment that is at odds with Israel, which contends Tehran is on a faster course toward a bomb.

Obama, in an interview with The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, expressed optimism about the blossoming diplomacy between his administration and Iran's new president, but said the US would not accept a "bad deal" on the Islamic republic's nuclear program.

The president spoke to the AP on Friday.

Obama has launched a diplomatic outreach to Iran, aimed at resolving the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program. Last week, he spoke by phone with President Hassan Rohani, marking the first direct exchange between US and Iranian leaders in more than 30 years.

"Rohani has staked his position on the idea that he can improve relations with the rest of the world," Obama said. "And so far he's been saying a lot of the right things. And the question now is, can he follow through?"

But Obama said Rohani is not Iran's only "decision-maker. He's not even the ultimate decision-maker," a reference to the control wielded by Iran's supreme leader, Ayotollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei said Saturday that some aspects of Rohani's trip to New York last month were "not appropriate," but reiterated his crucial support for the president's policy of outreach to the West.

The comments by Khamenei, summarized on his website, came after hard-liners criticized the 15-minute phone conversation between Rohani and Obama.

Hard-liners, including commanders in the powerful Revolutionary Guard, have said the president went too far with the phone call in reaching out to the US.

But Rohani's outreach has received broad support from Iranian politicians and it appears popular at a time when Iran is facing crippling economic sanctions due to the nuclear impasse.

Khamenei also said the US was "untrustworthy." He has previously said he's not opposed to direct talks with the US to resolve Iran's nuclear standoff with the West but is not optimistic.

"We are skeptical of Americans and have no trust in them at all. The American government is untrustworthy, arrogant, illogical and a promise-breaker. It's a government captured by the international Zionism network," said Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state.

Given Khamenei's broad influence, some countries, most notably Israel, have questioned whether Rohani actually represents real change in Iran or just new packaging of old policies.

Obama also put distance between US and Israeli assessments of when Iran might have the capacity to build a nuclear weapon. Israeli officials have said Iran is just months away from being able to build a bomb, while Obama said Tehran was a year or more away.

But Obama said, "Our assessment continues to be a year or more away. And in fact, actually, our estimate is probably more conservative than the estimates of Israeli intelligence services."

The president used the same timetable in March, before traveling to Israel. The US and Israel contend that Iran's nuclear program is aimed at building a bomb, while Tehran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes.

On the 12-year war in Afghanistan, Obama said he would consider keeping some American forces on the ground after the conflict formally ends next year, but acknowledged that doing so would require an agreement from the Afghan government. He suggested that if no agreement can be reached, he would be comfortable with a full pullout of US troops.

"If in fact we can get an agreement that makes sure that US troops are protected, makes sure that we can operate in a way that is good for our national security, then I'll certainly consider that," he said. "If we can't, we will continue to make sure that all the gains we've made in going after al-Qaeda we accomplish, even if we don't have any US military on Afghan soil."

All US forces left Iraq at the end of 2011 after no deal could be reached to keep some there longer.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Netanyahu To Claim Iran Has Enough Enriched Uranium For Bomb
2013-09-30
[Ynet] Britannia's The Sunday Times newspaper reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will claim in his UN speech that Iran holds 219 kilograms of enriched uranium, enough to make a nuclear weapon, quoting an Israeli source.

According to the paper, Netanyahu will further claim that Iran has made significant progress in its nuclear program since the election of President Hassan Rohani.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Report: Rohani Will Shut Nuclear Site For Sanctions Lifting
2013-09-17
[Ynet] If West agrees to lift Islamic republic's sanctions, Iran is willing to shut down nuclear facility in Fordo, Rohani says, according to Der Spiegel report.

Intelligence sources told the German newspaper Der Spiegel that Iran's President Hassan Rohani was willing to shut down the nuclear facility in Fordo, if the West agreed to remove all sanctions imposed on the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
Taking a page from the North Korean playbook...
According to the sources, Rohani is also willing to allow international inspectors to monitor the dismantling of the Fordo reactor.
Bet they'd sell our president the Brooklyn Bridge for a fair price, too.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Analysts advise G5+1 to offer Rohani government new package
2013-08-21
The analysts quoted here are curiously single-minded...
Analysts believe the Group 5+1 should offer a new package of incentives to President Rohani's government in the course of the new round of talks, inclusive of both sides' demands and a chronological chart for both sides' expected steps to be taken, IRNA reported.

According to the IRNA correspondents in Vienna, Bern, Geneva, and Zurich, the European analysts believe the West must distance itself from its sanctions and pressure diplomacy and stop ruining the opportunities for reaching a win-win compromise. According to them, the new package of incentives should be inclusive of the most natural expectations of both sides so that both sides will know what steps they would have to take at which expected times.
It's like they all read each other's briefing papers...
The analysts reiterate that for the west, Iran's commitments to cooperate maximally with the IAEA, full transparency in Tehran's nuclear program, and guarantee not to deviate towards military purposes in the future are the matters of great significance. They believe on the other side, the Iranians expect that their right to enrich uranium in accordance with the nuclear NPT and lifting the unjustly imposed economic sanctions would be met, as key points of mutual cooperation.
Everyone agrees that international law allows the Iranians to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes, IF they submit to proper IAEA inspection and declare all their sources and stockpiles. The problem is that the Iranians don't want to be inspected and don't want to declare anything, because they want the bomb. No amount of "incentives" will change that.
They propose that the new package of incentives should be inclusive of those four demands of the two sides, while simultaneously efforts aimed at resolving the regional security conflicts, too, should be born in mind.

Zurich-based International affairs analyst, Martin Walker, voicing opposition against the imposed sanctions against Iran reiterates, "The west, and particularly the United States and the EU must have realized by now that the sanctions do not pave the path for purposeful negotiations."
They do, however, slow down the rush to the bomb...
Stuxnet was probably more effective for that.
He refers to the emerged hopes at the international scene after coming to power of President Hassan Rohani for resolving the Iranian nuclear issue and refers to some political experts viewpoints who believe the nuclear talks must go beyond the nuclear issue to include security issues as well.
Why would anyone think Rohani is going to be different than Short Round? Both take their marching orders from the Mad Mullahs™, and those jokers haven't gone anywhere...
The Swiss analyst points out that there probably are negotiations between Tehran and Washington today, noting that Iran, too, like the United States, is one of the serious opponents of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group, and Washington is well aware of this fact, but the US problem in this respect is its unilateral and unlimited support for Israel in Middle East disputes.
Oh sure, Iran is an opponent of al-Qaeda -- when they aren't funding them and supplying shelter...
Walker believes in the nuclear file, too, despite the existence of differences of opinion among the different political factions, they are all agreed that Iran's natural right to take peaceful advantage of the nuclear technology should be recognized.

He believes the west will in its upcoming nuclear talks, just like the past, speak about three axes, namely the level of nuclear enrichment, the amount of the thus far enriched uranium, and providing facilities for easy access of the inspectors to Iran's entire nuclear facilities.

Another Swiss political analyst in Bern, Michael Warze, too, advises the EU and the United States to present positive proposals to the new Iranian president.
Yes, yes, we have to concede everything now...
He notes that the new Iranian President Hassan Rohani has asked for détente with the world, emphasizing, "Rohani's remarks on moderate approach and lenience are not hollow mottoes; he has thus far spoken very precisely and is after keeping his promises."
The man doesn't want détente, he wants a hudna.
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