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Southeast Asia
US slaps sanctions on Malaysian, Indonesian firms over Iran drone program
2024-01-07
2023.12.20
[BenarNews] The United States has sanctioned four firms in Malaysia and one in Indonesia as part of a fresh round of restrictions targeting Iran’s drone program.

Washington accuses Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
of supplying deadly drones to terrorist proxies in the Middle East and to Russia for use in Ukraine.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it had targeted 10 entities and four individuals — located in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia — for their alleged involvement in a network that facilitated the procurement of components worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization.

The U.S. has issued two previous rounds of sanctions targeting the Revolutionary Guard’s production of Shahed-series one-way attack drones, which carry built-in warheads and self-destruct on impact, the department said in a statement Tuesday.

"The United States, in close coordination with our allies and partners, will continue to use the full range of our tools and authorities to disrupt these illicit procurement networks, as well as hold accountable the individuals and entities who seek to support them," Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said.

The U.S. accused Iran-based Hossein Hatefi Ardakani of leading the network, which operated a string of front companies in Asia and the Middle East that exported sensitive technology to Iran. The goods ranged from servomotors to electric fuel pumps and antennas — most of which are classified as dual-use technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

The Malaysian entities sanctioned by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control were listed as Arta Wave, Integrated Scientific Microwave Technology, Nava Hobbies, and Skyline Advanced Technologies.

Indonesia-based firm Surabaya Hobby, which on its website advertises itself as an authorized seller of Chinese-made DJI drones, was also sanctioned for allegedly aiding shipments of at least 100 servomotors destined for Iran’s Pishgam Electronic Safeh Company, another sanctioned company.

Agung Surya Dewanto, the owner of Surabaya Hobby, was sanctioned individually for his coordination of the shipments, the department said.

Sanctions deny people or companies access to assets within the U.S. and prevent American citizens or financial institutions from doing business with them.

Concurrent with fresh restrictions, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Ardakani and Chinese-national Gary Lam, also known as Lin Jinghe, for crimes related to the illegal procurement and export of American-made dual-use and sensitive technology to Iran.

"Today’s coordinated action with the Treasury Department demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to keeping military-grade equipment out of the hands of the Iranian regime," said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

Iran has been the subject of a range of U.S. sanctions since 1979, following the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by radical students.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US announces new batch of sanctions against 10 entities, four individuals behind production of Iranian drones
2023-12-20
[IsraelTimes] The US Treasury Department announces a new batch of sanctions against 10 entities and four individuals based in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia that it says are behind the production of Iranian drones.

The network has facilitated the acquisition of UAV parts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization and its drone program, the Treasury Department says in a statement.

"Iran’s illicit production and proliferation of its deadly UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) to its terrorist proxies in the Middle East and to Russia continues to exacerbate tensions and prolong conflicts, undermining stability," Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson says.
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Home Front: WoT
Sam Faddis - Hezbollah Is Already Here
2023-10-13
[And Magazine] Hezbollah has launched rocket and mortar attacks on Israel. There are unconfirmed reports of Hezbollah fighters crossing into Israel from Lebanon. The United States has warned Hezbollah to stay out of the fighting between Israel and Hamas, and Hezbollah has responded by saying it considers the United States as much of an enemy as Israel. We have sent a carrier battle group to the area in preparation for possible air strikes against Hezbollah if they intervene.

Is anyone focused on the possibility that Hezbollah may start a war with the United States right here not in the Middle East?

Hezbollah is a massive organization with huge resources. It has a longstanding presence in Latin America and has carried out numerous terrorist attacks there. The only thing separating us from Hezbollah’s Latin American networks is our now largely fictitious border.

That is to say nothing.

Hezbollah has a longstanding relationship with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. It has fighters on the ground right now in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. Sixty-one nations worldwide have designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. It may well be the largest, most lethal group on the planet. Hezbollah’s External Security Organization (ESO), otherwise known as "Unit 910" or the alias "Islamic Jihad Organization" is active in multiple countries in Latin America. Its criminal component sometimes called the Business Affairs Component (BAC), is involved in massive money-laundering schemes throughout Central and South America.

About the Author: After Faddis retired from the CIA, he published And Magazine, a news and conspiracy newsletter.[1] He is a political operative and former US Senate Candidate in Maryland, now organizing statewide coalitions in Pennsylvania to spread disinformation about 2020 election conspiracies.[8] Faddis organizes a coalition of self described Patriot groups in Pennsylvania.[7] WIKI

WIKI Definition of a thinker, analyst, and writer - Conspiracy Theorist.
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Home Front: WoT
New Jersey software developer, 45, was sleeper Hezbollah agent who planned to carry out terror attacks on famous US landmarks if Iran was bombed, court hears
2022-04-26
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Gee, he doesn't look like a spy.
  • Alexei Saab
    ... age 45, he was also known as Ali Hassan Saab, Alex Saab, and Rachid. Until his 2019 arrest he worked as director of information technology for a Morristown, New Jersey energy company, supplementing his income as an adjunct lecturer at Baruch College. He joined Hezbollah in 1996, soaked up all sorts of advanced spy & sabotage training, and by 2003 was collecting information about potential targets in the US, which proved no barrier to his naturalization in the fateful year of 2008. There is also the small matter of marriage fraud...
    allegedly worked for Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad Organization
    ...not the same as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which operates in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, financed by Iranian money...
    as a spy

  • Investigators allege he planned to carry out attacks on famous U.S. landmarks if Iran were to be bombed and would photograph his potential targets

  • The naturalized US citizen worked as a software engineer in New Jersey by day and as a terrorist operative by night, officials allege

  • He faces numerous charges including conspiracy, supporting a foreign terrorist organization, citizenship application fraud and more

  • Saab has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is currently on trial in NYC
He is also facing a marriage fraud charge for allegedly marrying a co-conspirator in 2012 under false pretenses. Saab's lawyer did not contest that charge.

The most serious charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 25 years in prison, though the charges collectively carry potential penalties of over 100 years in prison.
Related:
Alexei Saab: 2019-09-24 Who is the Morristown man charged as a Hezbollah sleeper agent?
Alexei Saab: 2019-09-21 Hezbollah terrorist scouted NYC-area locations: feds
Alexei Saab: 2019-09-20 NJ man charged with scouting landmarks for Hezbollah, trying to kill Israeli spy
Related:
Islamic Jihad Organization: 2019-09-20 NJ man charged with scouting landmarks for Hezbollah, trying to kill Israeli spy
Islamic Jihad Organization: 2019-05-21 Hizballah operative convicted of terror charges after surveilling targets in New York City
Islamic Jihad Organization: 2019-05-05 The Hezbollah Sleeper Agent Who Allegedly Ran Black Ops in America
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Home Front: WoT
NJ man charged with scouting landmarks for Hezbollah, trying to kill Israeli spy
2019-09-20
[IsraelTimes] Alexei Saab allegedly recorded video of US sites including Statue of Liberty, White House and Boston’s Fenway Park as potential terrorism targets in the early 2000s.

A New Jersey man who allegedly photographed or recorded video of landmarks including the Statue of Liberty, the White House and Boston’s Fenway Park as potential terrorism targets in the early to mid-2000s has been charged with terror offenses by authorities who say he was working on behalf of Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
Organization.

Alexei Saab, 42, of Morristown, was arrested July 9 after being questioned during 11 separate sessions with FBI agents since the spring. Besides terror charges in a nine-count indictment returned Thursday, he was also charged with marriage fraud. A message for comment was left with Saab’s attorney.

During interviews, Saab told agents he took photographs of buildings and locations including Quincy Market and the Prudential Center in Boston and the Capitol Building, Congress and the White House in Washington, D.C., according to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court. A video of Fenway Park that authorities say was recovered from one of Saab’s electronic devices was included in the complaint.

Authorities say Saab took surveillance at dozens of locations in New York City, including the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
, the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the Empire State Building and airports, tunnels and bridges and provided information on those locations to the Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO, distinct from the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad).

Besides surveillance activities in the United States, authorities said he also operated abroad, including trying to murder a man he later understood to be a suspected Israeli spy and gathering intelligence for Hezbollah in Istanbul, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
. The complaint said he pointed a weapon at the individual at close range and pulled the trigger twice, but the firearm did not fire.

Authorities said Saab joined Hezbollah in 1996 and attended training in 1999, where he learned about firearms, including how to handle military assault rifles and grenades. In 2004 and 2005, he was trained in explosives in Leb, they said.

Saab entered the US legally in November 2000 and became a citizen in 2008.

Saab was charged with marriage fraud for allegedly marrying a co-conspirator in 2012 under false pretenses.

"As a member of the Hizballah component that coordinates external terrorist attack planning, Alexei Saab allegedly used his training to scout possible targets throughout the U.S. Even though Saab was a naturalized American citizen, his true allegiance was to Hizballah, the terrorist organization responsible for decades of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds, including U.S. citizens and military personnel," U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in a release. Hizballah is an alternate spelling for Hezbollah.

William F. Sweeney Jr., head of New York’s FBI office, said the charges against Saab highlight "the persistent efforts of a sophisticated international terrorist organization to scout targets at home and abroad, identifying vulnerabilities, and gathering essential details useful for a future attack."

He said what law enforcement authorities can do to prevent terrorism has its limits.

"We cannot do this work alone. I would like to thank the countless private security professionals who protect many of these sites, remind them to remain vigilant in order to make the enemy’s job more difficult, and I would ask the general public to continue to report suspicious activity to law enforcement like you have so many times in the past," Sweeney said.

Charges lodged against Saab include providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy, receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization, unlawful procurement of citizenship to facilitate international terrorism and citizenship application fraud. The most serious charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 25 years in prison, though the charges collectively carry potential penalties of over 100 years in prison.
Update from Hot Air at 12:55 p.m. EDT, quoting the Justice Department on the subject:
In 2000, Saab transitioned to membership in Hizballah’s unit responsible for external operations, the IJO, and he then received extensive training in IJO tradecraft, weapons, and military tactics, including how to construct bombs and other explosive devices.

The feds claim that Saab applied for naturalized citizenship in the U.S. in 2005 in order to facilitate his real mission, which was scouting American landmarks for security and structural weaknesses he could transmit back to Hezbollah:

In 2005, Saab applied for naturalized citizenship and falsely affirmed, under penalty of perjury, that he had never been “a member of or in any way associated with . . . a terrorist organization.” In August 2008, Saab became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

While living in the United States, Saab remained an IJO operative, continued to receive military training in Lebanon, and conducted numerous operations for the IJO. For example, Saab surveilled dozens of locations in New York City—including the United Nations headquarters, the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the Empire State Building, and local airports, tunnels, and bridges—and provided detailed information on these locations, including photographs, to the IJO. In particular, Saab focused on the structural weaknesses of locations he surveilled in order to determine how a future attack could cause the most destruction. Saab’s reporting to the IJO included the materials used to construct a particular target, how close in proximity one could get to a target, and site weaknesses or “soft spots” that the IJO could exploit if it attacked a target in the future. Saab conducted similar intelligence gathering in a variety of American cities.

Update from An Nahar at 3:45 p.m. EDT:
Saab faces nine indictments, including a charge related to supporting a terrorist organization, for which he could face 20 years in prison if convicted.

Saab could face 25 years in prison if convicted of offenses related to the fraudulent marriage charges.

In May, another American of Lebanese origin, Ali Kourani, was found guilty of supporting Hizbullah attacks and collecting information about the security operations of US airports, including John F. Kennedy in New York.

His sentencing is set for later this month.
We may or may not be interested in war with Iran, but Iran has clearly been preparing to fight us on our soil for decades.
Related:
Ali Kourani: 2019-06-17 Hezbollah Isn’t Just in Beirut. It’s in New York, Too.
Ali Kourani: 2019-05-21 Hizballah operative convicted of terror charges after surveilling targets in New York City
Ali Kourani: 2019-05-18 Who Wants This War with Iran?
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Home Front: WoT
Hizballah operative convicted of terror charges after surveilling targets in New York City
2019-05-21
[Long Wars] On May 16, a jury in Manhattan found Ali Kourani guilty of committing various crimes on behalf of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), which plans terrorist operations around the world. The Department of Justice announced the jury’s verdict the following day.

Among other offenses, Kourani surveilled various targets in New York City for possible IJO-orchestrated terrorist attacks. Kourani, who lived in the Bronx, scoped out JFK Airport, US military and law enforcement facilities, including the Jacob Javits federal building at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan.

The IJO, which oversaw Kourani’s work, has an extensive terrorist history. Hizballah’s external operations arm first began targeting the US in Lebanon during the 1980s. It was led by Imad Mugniyah, Iran’s master terrorist, who was responsible for orchestrating some of the first jihadist suicide bombings in the modern era. Mughniyah was killed in 2008, but Hizballah obviously stayed in the terrorism business after his demise.

[For an overview of the case against Kourani, his alleged role within the IJO, and Hizballah’s anti-American terrorism, see FDD’s Long War Journal report, Analysis: 2 US cases provide unique window into Iran’s global terror network.]

The DOJ describes the IJO as a "highly compartmentalized component of Hizballah" that is "responsible for the planning, preparation, and execution of intelligence, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities" outside of Lebanon’s borders.

It is also known as External Security Organization and "910." The IJO was responsible for a worldwide Iranian terror campaign in 2012, targeting a bus full of Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria, a bombing that left six people dead and wounded 32 others. Other IJO plots that same year were thwarted by authorities.
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Home Front: WoT
The Hezbollah Sleeper Agent Who Allegedly Ran Black Ops in America
2019-05-05
[Daily Beast] Naomi Rodriguez is an emergency medical technician who works 12-hour shifts in the streets of The Bronx, so she immediately recognized the irony when the unremarkable-looking man who lived one floor above her was alleged to be a terrorist sleeper agent.

"I save lives, and here’s this one trying to take them," she remarked this week from the doorway of her apartment on West 238th Street in the borough’s Kingsbridge Heights section.

Neither Ali Kourani’s attire nor demeanor gave any hint of his religion or ideology.
A scion of the clan described as the bin Ladens of Lebanon, he came to the U.S. for school after learning the basics of the terror trade as a teen. Here he studied biomedical engineering and got an MBA, then American citizenship on orders of Hizb’allah to become a sleeper agent while scouting potential Israeli and American targets. He and Samer el Debek, a fellow sleeper agent based in Detroit who scouted potential American and Israeli targets in Panama, were arrested on the same day...
"How do you say, it’s just unexpected," Rodriguez added. "Very unexpected."

She recalled that at the time of his arrest last June,
...June 2017, actually...
the news called 34-year-old Kourani "the Kingsbridge Heights Terrorist." But he was not just another lone wolf inspired to Islamic radicalism by internet hate sites and following online instructions to build a bomb in the kitchen of his mom.

As will become clear when he goes on trial Monday, this seemingly unremarkable man whom Rodriguez saw in the stairway is alleged to have been a longtime undercover operative for an international terrorist organization.

Kourani had allegedly been recruited as part of a plan to exact revenge for the car-bomb killing of a terror mastermind whom a former CIA agent called "probably the most intelligent, most capable operative we’ve ever run across, including the KGB or anybody else." Kourani was, by his own multiple admissions, trained in explosives and small arms, along with secure communications, survival and interrogation as a member of Hezbollah’s External Security Organization (ESO), also known as the Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO). Or simply 910.

"Or Hezbollah black ops," the FBI adds in court papers.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iranian commander claims Iran is among top 5 drone powers in the world
2019-04-19
Yes, yes it’s is just as you say, O noble Lion of Shiism.
[ALMASDARNEWS] An Iranian military commander said on Thursday that the Islamic Theocratic Republic is one of the top 5 drone powers in the world.

"Today, thanks to the blessings of the Islamic Revolution, we enjoy indigenized production lines and technology to use drones. Actually, we have reached the peaks and a high degree in production of the UAVs," Commander of the Army Ground Force’s Drone Unit General Shahram Hassannejad told FNA.

"Based on official sources, the Islamic Iran is standing among the 5 advanced world states in production of drones," he added.

Iran has recently made major advancements in their aerospace industries, especially in designing and manufacturing death droids.

Kaman-12, the first home-made wide-body drone with a jet engine, was unveiled in late January in an exhibition held by Armed Forces in Tehran.

Also, in March, Commander of the Iranian Air Force Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh and Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari officially opened the mass-production lines of Kaman-12 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

During the Thursday ceremony, also the first aeronautical center, equipped with laser technology of Launch Services Program (LSP), was inaugurated in Army Aerospace Force Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization (ASF SSJO).

Iranian experts have omitted hydraulic system in the plane and replaced it with electromechanical operators.

The drone is able to send information obtained by sensors to the automatic pilot system and uses INS/GPS navigation system. The Iranian-made plane also enjoys capabilities to send high-quality images to the earth.

The J33 engine has also been replaced with J85 engine which is more powerful and displayed more proper operational capabilities.

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Terror Networks
The 'Immediate' Threat of Khorasan and the Link to Iran
2014-09-24
A good backgrounder on the Khorasan Group, the target of American bombs in Syria. Herewith, a taste:
[PJMedia] White House won't provide "granular detail" about training cell managed by Zawahiri
... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
's deputy as P5+1 nuclear talks resume.

On the evening of Sept. 17, rumors began swirling across the Internet that al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had been killed in an Arclight airstrike in Wazoo.

Then came the tweets from jihadist accounts that Zawahiri was alive and kicking, "according to Khorasan sources."


"News coming from Khurasan Mujahideen saying Sheikh Zawahiri is safe & sound! Alhamdulillah," tweeted an English-language jihadist account.

Khorasan, on the map circulated by ISIS, includes Iran, reaching deep into central Asia through Afghanistan and Turkmenistan and swallowing the Indian subcontinent. The sudden focus on this name comes in the same month that Zawahiri announced a long-planned expansion into India, Burma, Bangladesh and beyond -- the Al-Qaeda Jihad Organization in South Asia.

It's also the name for a chapter of al-Qaeda in Syria, led by the former commander of al-Qaeda in Iran.
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Africa North
ElBaradei condemns fatwa approving murder of NSF members
2013-02-07
[Egypt Independent] Political powerhouse Mohamed ElBaradei denounced a fatwa Wednesday that authorized the murder of National Salvation Front members.

The NSF leader and Dostour Party head said the fatwa issued by Mahmoud Shaaban, a professor of religious rhetoric at Al-Azhar University, was an attempt to incite violence.

"When such people incite killing in the name of religion without being arrested, we can kiss the regime goodbye," tweeted ElBaradei. "How many crimes were committed against and in the name of Islam."

Shaaban based his fatwa on a Hadith that says: He who swore allegiance to an imam and gave him his hand and the fruit of his heart shall obey him, and he who disputes him shall have his neck smitten.

Several Islamist figures have attacked NSF leaders recently for refusing to support President Mohamed Morsy, claiming the NSF was behind violent clashes that swept across Egypt following the revolution's second anniversary last month.

Mohsen Rady, the Freedom and Justice Party's Secretary in Qalyubiya, told Al-Masry Al-Youm Monday that the NSF wanted to bring Egypt to its knees through violent protest.

Other religious groups have also called for the murder of protesters. Last week, Islamist groups Jihad Organization and Jama'a al-Islamiya said members of the elusive Black Bloc, a group of masked protesters that have not made their agenda clear, should also be killed.

"God orders us to kill, crucify or cut off the hands and feet of those who spread mischief on earth," said Jama'a al-Islamiya's Mufti Abdel Akhar Hammad, citing a verse from the Quran. "The president must give that order."
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Caribbean-Latin America
Argentina, Iran to form "truth commission" for 1994 bombing
2013-01-28
Argentina said on Sunday it had agreed with Iran to establish a "truth commission" in a bid to resolve the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish community center that Argentine courts accuse the Iran of sponsoring, Reuters reported.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez agreed to open talks with Tehran on the attack last year in a sharp change in diplomatic policy that irked Israel and drew criticism from Jewish leaders in Buenos Aires and the United States.

Fernandez said foreign ministers from Argentina and Iran had signed a memorandum of understanding during a meeting in Ethiopia. The accord between Argentina and Iran establishes a truth commission made up of foreign legal experts "to analyze all the documentation presented to date by the judicial authorities of Argentina and Iran," Fernandez said in a series of Twitter messages.
This is a prelude to a major whitewash. Wonder how much money Iran is giving Argentina and Fernandez?
Fernandez, who has close ties with other Latin American leaders who are on good terms with Tehran, such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, hailed the agreement as historic.
That's actually true in a sad way...
The five commissioners will be jointly nominated and will not be residents of Argentina or Iran, according to a document posted on Fernandez's Facebook page.
"Paging Carla del Ponte to the brown courtesy phone..."
After analyzing the evidence, "the commission will give its vision and issue a report with recommendations about how the case should proceed within the legal and regulatory framework of both parties," according to the agreement.
What 'legal framework' of Iran comes into play? The bombing occurred in Buenos Aires.
It also outlines plans for Argentine legal officials to meet in Tehran to question "those people for whom Interpol has issued a red notice."

In 2007, Argentine authorities secured Interpol arrest warrants for five Iranians and a Lebanese in the bombing of the center, which killed 85 people. Iran denies links to the attack. Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi is among the Iranian officials sought by Argentina, which is home to Latin America's largest Jewish community.

Western and Israeli sources have voiced concerns that Argentina may have lost its interest in pursuing investigations of the 1994 attack, as well as the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people two years earlier.
Lost interest right around the time Fernandez started playing snuggle bunnies with Hugo and Short Round...
The Islamic Jihad Organization, believed to be linked to Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, claimed responsibility for the 1992 bombing.

Fernandez said the accord, which must be ratified by Congress, showed Argentina "would never let the tragedy (attack) become a chess piece in the game of wider geopolitical interests."
"No, no, certainly not!"
"Dialogue (is) the only way to resolve conflicts between countries, however severe they are," she said via Twitter.
No. In this case you need to unearth the truth and punish the guilty.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran to conduct joint military maneuvers
2012-04-12
Iranian army, Revolutionary Guards to hold exercises; Islamic Theocratic Republic announces upgrades to tanks, new vertical wind tunnel.

The Islamic Theocratic Republic Army of Iran and the Revolutionary Guards are to conduct joint military exercises in the southwest or southeast of the country, a senior Iranian army commander said on Wednesday.

Brig.-Gen. Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan, commander of the Iranian ground forces, said that the army and the Revolutionary Guards will carry out a special joint air exercise that will be the first of its type since the Islamic Revolution, Iran's ISNA news outlet and hardline Mashregh news reported. A further eight joint military exercises would be held in the upcoming year, Pourdastan said.

The ground forces commander added that the exercises would be performed using live ammunition and in battle conditions, to prepare soldiers for war.

The Revolutionary Guards and the Islamic Theocratic Republic Army of Iran act as parallel ground forces, but while the regular army is tasked with defending the country and maintaining civil order, the job of the Revolutionary Guards is to protect Iran's Islamic regime. The Revolutionary Guards, which the US designated a terrorist organization in 2007, also controls Iran's Basij militia, and the secret Quds Force, which conducts operations outside Iran.

The announcement came days before Iran and six world powers are due to restart negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, and as the Islamic Theocratic Republic continues to give mixed messages about its position.

According to Pourdastan, who made the announcement during a speech for Iran's Army Day, the Islamic Theocratic Republic has also developed its own vertical wind tunnel for military use. Vertical wind tunnels are used to teach skydiving to elite troops.

The military commander said that while there are several such wind tunnels in Arab countries, those were of Western origin, whereas Iran's had been built domestically, in cooperation with the Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization.

Pourdastan also said Iran plans to improve its domestic- built Zulfiqar tank by adding a new firing control system and laser range-finder.

Iran's Zulfiqar is a second-generation main battle tank, developed and mass-produced since the 1990s and believed to be based on components from Russia's T-72 tank as well as American M48 and M60 Patton tanks.

Currently, the most updated model, Zulfiqar-3, is equipped with a firing system based on a Soviet design.

According to Pourdastan, Iran has produced a Gatlingtype 7.62 caliber machine gun, dubbed the Akhgar, which has an effective range of over 2 kilometers.

The maneuvers would be the latest in a series of military exercises and war games Iran has staged since the start of the year, amid growing tensions and concerns of war with Israel.

In February, the Revolutionary Guards announced they had begun a two-day military exercise outside the central Iranian city of Yazd, which Iran said was designed to upgrade its defense capabilities.

Also in February, Iran announced that it had deployed anti-aircraft artillery and warplanes to protect its nuclear sites from possible Israeli Arclight airstrikes, in a military exercise it dubbed Sarollah, from an Arabic term meaning "the vengeance of God." That same month, the Revolutionary Guards conducted military exercises in the south of Iran.
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