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Recent Appearances...

Home Front: WoT

US sanctions 3 Iranian officials linked to death of ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson

2025-03-26

[IsraelTimes] Treasury department says the three, who work in Tehran’s Ministry of Intelligence, all played a role in Levinson’s abduction, detention and probable death

The United States has imposed sanctions on three Iranian intelligence officers for their alleged involvement in the disappearance of former FBI Special Agent Robert Levinson, the US Treasury and State departments said in blurbs on Tuesday.

The sanctions on Reza Amiri Moghadam, Gholamhossein Mohammadnia, and Taqi Daneshvar of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security are the latest linked to the disappearance of the former FBI agent, who Washington believes was kidnapped in 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...
and died in captivity.

As a result of the sanctions, any property of the men under US jurisdiction must be blocked, and Americans are generally barred from dealing with them. Foreign persons also risk blacklisting for dealing with them.

"Iran’s treatment of Mr. Levinson remains a blight on Iran’s already grim record of human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
abuse," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. "The Department of the Treasury will continue to work with US government partners to identify those responsible and shine a light on their abhorrent behavior."

Levinson, who was working as a private investigator, disappeared in March 2007 after traveling to an island controlled by Iran for a meeting seeking information on alleged corruption, but the Washington Post reported in 2013 that Levinson, who had retired from the FBI, was working for the CIA and had gone on a rogue mission aimed at gathering intelligence on Iran.

The three sanctioned individuals all played a role in Levinson’s abduction, detention, and probable death, as well as efforts to cover up Iran’s responsibility, the Treasury Department said.

The sanctions are being imposed under an executive order signed by former President Joe The Big Guy Biden
Joe <q>The Big Guy</q> Biden

...46th president of the U.S. The very model of probity....
, which seeks to hold to account terrorist organizations, criminal groups, and other "malicious actors" who take hostages for financial or political gain.

The US previously sanctioned two other Iranian officials in December 2020 whom it accused of involvement in Levinson’s disappearance.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Jamshid Sharmahd daughter blames Biden-Harris admin for his execution in Iran

2024-10-30

[NYPOST] The daughter of a Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, resident and German-Iranian dual citizen who was executed by Tehran on Monday slammed the Biden-Harris administration and German government for their alleged incompetence in saving him.

Gazelle Sharmahd posted a video of herself Monday night — dressed in all black — as she silently mourned her father, Jamshid Sharmahd's, death while tying her hair back in a similar fashion to female protesters in Iran's Women, Life, Freedom movement.

Gazelle criticized the silence from President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. Old, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call brilliant....
, Vice President Kamala Harris
former senatrix from California, 2020 Dem presidential hopeful and ultimately Joe Biden's intended successor
, Secretary of State Antony Blinken

...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm...
and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose governments she labeled ''incompetent and corrupt.''

''What have they (#US & #German) done for 4 years when their German-American national was kidnapped in Dubai and taken to 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...
by force?'' Gazelle posted on X.

''As an American-German national was brutally and shamelessly kidnapped, tortured, held hostage for 4 years and (if confirmed) murdered by the biggest terrorist Organisation in the world, apparently for retaliation of Israeli strikes on the regime, this must have immediate and unmistakable grave consequences for them now,'' she added.

Iranian officials announced that Jamshid, a dissident who lived in Glendora outside L.A. with his family, was executed Monday morning after the Islamic republic found him guilty of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people and maimed over 200 others, in a trial slammed by Amnesty International as a sham.

Gazelle and her family have long disputed the claims from Tehran, spending years advocating for Jamshid's release after he was kidnapped during a flight layover in Dubai in 2020.

He was notably excluded in the 2023 deal that saw $6 billion — which are currently frozen — handed to Tehran in exchange for five prisoners because as the 20-year US resident was not an American citizen.

The heartbroken daughter has long-claimed that her father, a green card holder, should have been included in the deal over the Levinson Act — named after former FBI agent Robert Levinson who disappeared in Iran, which provides protections to US citizens and US nationals taken hostage abroad.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

After US prisoner swap, a dozen Westerners remain captive in Iran

2023-09-19

[IsraelTimes] Rights groups say imprisonment of Western nationals is a ploy designed by regime to extract concessions from rival powers

A dozen Western passport holders remain detained in Iran, even after the release on Monday of five US citizens in a swap deal with Tehran.

Rights groups say those held are innocent of any crime and are being held as part of a deliberate policy of hostage-taking by Iran
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...
to extract concessions from foreign governments.

Earlier, the five Americans including Siamak Namazi, a businessman held since 2015, were released by Tehran and were flying home via Doha. The deal also sees the release of five Iranians held by the United States and the unfreezing of Iranian funds totaling $6 billion by US ally South Korea.

Tehran insists all the foreigners held have been subject to proper judicial process. Activists fear there may be more cases, as governments usually advise families not to publicize arrests in the hope a solution can be found without publicity.

BRITANNIA
British-Iranian labor rights activist Mehran Raoof was arrested in October 2020, and is being held in solitary confinement, ~~Amnesia~~ Amnesty International says.

GERMANY
German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi, in her late 60s, was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in jail in August 2021, after being arrested at her Tehran apartment in October 2020. She is being held in Evin prison.

Jamshid Sharmahd, a German citizen, was captured by Iran in August 2020, while traveling through the UAE, according to his family. He was charged with terrorism over a lethal 2008 bombing. His family has denounced the accusations.

A US resident, he was sentenced to death in February, a verdict that has been upheld by the Supreme Court. His family fears he could be executed any day.

LA BELLE FRANCE
French teachers’ union official Cecile Kohler and her partner, Jacques Gay Paree, were detained in May 2022, while sightseeing in Iran. They are accused of spying.

Banking consultant Louis Arnaud was arrested in September 2022 while visiting Iran. Described as a passionate traveler, he is jugged
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
in Evin Prison in "extremely harsh" detention conditions, according to his parents.

Another French citizen is confirmed by Gay Paree to be held but that person’s identity has never been revealed.

French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah was released earlier this year, but has still been unable to leave the country.

AUSTRIA
Iran in June released two Austrian citizens held for several years, but a third Austrian, who has not been named, was sentenced earlier this year to seven and a half years in jail in Iran for spying, according to Vienna.

SWEDEN
Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali, a resident of Sweden, was arrested during a visit to Iran in April 2016, and sentenced to death in 2017, on charges of spying for Israel’s Mossad.

He was granted Swedish citizenship while in jail. His hanging was postponed, but his family says he remains on death row.

Habib Chaab, an Iranian-Swedish dissident, disappeared during a visit to ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
in October 2020.

He turned up in Iran accused of being a leading figure in an Arab separatist group and of perpetrating kabooms. He was sentenced to death and executed on May 6, 2023.

Sweden and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
this month said Johan Floderus, 33, who works for the EU diplomatic service, was arrested in April 2022 at Tehran’s airport, as he was returning home from a trip with friends.

His detention was not officially disclosed until it was first reported by the New York Times

...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
this September.

SPAIN
Spanish citizen and football fan Santiago Sanchez Cogedor has been in detention in Iran since October. He was arrested while trying to walk to Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
for the football World Cup.

UNITED STATES
According to Washington, the release of the five US citizens on Monday means there are no more US nationals detained in Iran.

However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate...
the family of Virginia-based Iranian Shahab Dalili, who was arrested in 2016 while visiting Tehran, has expressed dismay that the US resident was not included in the swap, as have the family of Jamshid Sharmahd.

Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising. And then he smelled the smoke...
former FBI agent Robert Levinson vanished in 2007 on a trip to Iran. The US has accused Iran of abducting and detaining him and being responsible for his "probable" death.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Disgraced FBI Official Charles McGonigal Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy

2023-08-17

[RedState] As anticipated, former FBI official Charles McGonigal pled guilty on Tuesday to one count of conspiracy in federal court in New York arising out of his efforts to aid Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in evading U.S. sanctions.

The Information filed Tuesday (and which can be viewed in its entirety below) alleged one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which authorizes the president to regulate international commerce, including investigating and imposing controls on transactions and freezing foreign assets under U.S. jurisdiction when a national emergency is declared as to any external "unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States."

The Information alleges that in furtherance of the conspiracy, McGonigal:

a. From in or about August 2021 through in or about November 2021, McGONIGAL and others, acting at the behest of Oleg Deripaska, whom the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated as a Specially Designated National on or about April 6, 2018, sought to gather derogatory information about a rival of Deripaska, in violation of IEEPA.

b. From in or about August 2021 through in or about November 2021, McGONIGAL and others received and routed payments from Deripaska through two corporations, neither of which was registered in the name of McGONIGAL or Deripaska, in an effort to conceal that the payments originated from Deripaska.

McGonigal was originally charged with five counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, money laundering (and conspiracy to commit same), and violating the IEEPA (and conspiracy to commit same). Pursuant to Tuesday's plea, the remaining four charges will be dismissed.

McGonigal, 55, was formerly the FBI special agent in charge of the bureau's counterintelligence division from 2016 to 2018, which ironically meant that he was involved in investigating former President Donald Trump for Russian collusion, then essentially engaged in it himself. As streiff explained in January:

McGonigal was a key figure in creating the Russian Hoax. He’s the guy who received the allegation made by Australian High Commissioner to the UK Alexander Downer that Trump campaign aid George Papadopoulos said the Russians have “dirt on Hillary.” For a trip down memory lane, read Was a Drunken Conversation Really All the Probable Cause the FBI Needed to Investigate a Presidential Campaign?

While the media is harping on the “Russian oligarch” narrative because they can never admit Hillary Clinton’s opposition research team thoroughly punked them, it is useful to remember that in 2009, FBI Director Robert Mueller approached Deripaska about funding a private effort to locate American citizen, former FBI agent, and suspected CIA asset Robert Levinson who had gone missing in Iran. More memories can be found at There Might Be a Very Good Reason Why Mueller Is Not Indicting Paul Manafort’s Russian Business Partner. Even as the Russia Hoax was unfolding, Hillary’s oppo team at Fusion GPS was working on getting sanctions removed from Deripaska, which is the same activity that got McGonigal indicted; see
New York Times Forced To “Correct” Major Story on the Manafort Case. I don’t know the trajectory of McGonigal’s career, but it is entirely possible he was in the New York Field Office when Mueller tried to turn Deripaska into an FBI asset.

At the plea hearing on Tuesday, McGonigal expressed remorse for his actions.

The former FBI special agent in charge of the agency's counterintelligence division from 2016 to 2018 told the federal judge that he took over $17,000 from Deripaska in exchange for collecting derogatory information on a different Russian oligarch. Deripaska was a business competitor with the person McGonigal was paid to find derogatory information on.

Additionally, McGonigal was allegedly working to help get Deripaska removed from the sanctions list, prosecutors said.

The American was in talks, along with co-conspirators, to get a $650,000 to $3 million fee to search for hidden assets of $500 which belong to Deripaska's business rival.

...

"This, as you can imagine, has been a painful process not only for me, but for my friends, family and loved ones," McGonigal said. "I take full responsibility as my actions were never intended to hurt the United States, the FBI and my family and friends."

In addition to facing up to five years in prison, McGonigal must forfeit $17,500 pursuant to his plea agreement. He is scheduled to be sentenced in December.

Charges against McGonigal for misleading the FBI regarding his contacts with foreign nationals and concealing $225,000 he allegedly received from an Albanian intelligence employee remain pending in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C.

Link

Home Front: WoT

NBC BS Begins: ‘Americans in Iran placed under house arrest, Tehran will be allowed to use $6 billion in Iranian assets blocked under U.S. sanctions to buy food, medicine or other humanitarian aid.’ ValJar Delivers

2023-08-11

[NBC] Five Americans imprisoned in Iran have been placed under house arrest in the first step of a planned prisoner exchange between Tehran and Washington that will include the release of roughly $6 billion in Iranian government assets blocked under U.S. sanctions, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter. If the proposed agreement goes through, Iran will be allowed to access the funds only to buy food, medicine or other humanitarian purposes, in accordance with existing U.S. sanctions against the country. Under the agreement, which could take weeks to carry out, Qatar’s central bank will oversee the funds, the sources said.

Republican lawmakers harshly criticized then-President Barack Obama when he made a similar agreement in 2015. The new deal has been under negotiation for months, with Qatar and other governments acting as intermediaries.

Several of the detained Americans were taken on Thursday from their cells in Tehran's notorious Evin prison to a location in the capital where they will remain under house arrest until the prisoner exchange occurs. One of the Americans was apparently already under house arrest before Thursday, a lawyer for one of the detainees and the other sources said. In the past, Americans and other foreign inmates due to be freed have been put under house arrest before their transfers abroad. The U.S. government has identified three American citizens held in Iran — Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz. Two additional Americans are being held in Iran, but their families have chosen not to identify them publicly, the White House National Security Council said.

“We have received confirmation that Iran has released from prison five Americans who were unjustly detained and has placed them on house arrest,” said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.

“While this is an encouraging step, these U.S. citizens — Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and two Americans who at this time wish to remain private — should have never been detained in the first place.”

The U.S. “will not rest until they are all back home in the United States,” she said.

“Until that time, negotiations for their eventual release remain ongoing and are delicate. We will, therefore, have little in the way of details to provide about the state of their house arrest or about our efforts to secure their freedom,” Watson added.

An unknown number of permanent U.S. legal residents, or green card holders, are under detention in Iran, including Shahab Dalili, who has been held since 2016. The prisoner exchange appears to involve only U.S. citizens.

Iranian law does not recognize dual citizenship or legal residence elsewhere, only its own. This is why I was so concerned when my first fosterling and her father went to visit his relatives in Iran some years ago — she was a dual citizen, her father has both Canadian and Iranian passports.

A source familiar with the negotiations told a group of reporters earlier: “It’s the start of a process that eventually will see these Americans leave Iran and come home.”

Jared Genser, pro bono counsel for Namazi, called the move to house arrest “an important development,” adding: “While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release, this is at best the beginning of the end and nothing more. But there are simply no guarantees about what happens from here.”

NBC News first reported on the prisoner exchange negotiations in February.

The families of the Americans held in Iran say their loved ones are “hostages” taken captive on false charges and used as bargaining chips by the government.

Yep.

Human rights groups say Iran has been engaged in hostage-taking for decades, wielding foreign prisoners as leverage over other governments.

As is the tradition...

Iran denies the accusation and says the foreign nationals have been treated in accordance with the country’s laws.

This does not contradict the above in light of Koranic injunctions.

Apart from the exchange of prisoners held in both countries, the prisoner swap deal involves the release of roughly $6 billion that has been frozen in South Korean banks by U.S. sanctions.

ValJar, who grew up in Iran, and maintains as sentimental attachment as President Obama does to the sound of the call to prayer, is no doubt pleased.

From 2012 to 2019, Washington allowed South Korea and other countries to buy Iranian oil but blocked Tehran’s access to proceeds from the sales. The funds could only be used by Iran for permitted humanitarian-related purchases. Iran’s government has long demanded access to the money in return for the release of Americans imprisoned in Iran.

The source familiar with the negotiations told reporters that “this was not an account that was ever intended to be frozen for all time for any purpose. It was always meant to be available for non-sanctionable trade.”

President Joe Biden will likely face a torrent of criticism from Republicans if the funds in South Korea are released.

Republicans pounce.

Administration officials are expected to argue that the funds can be used only for humanitarian purposes and that it was the only way to secure the freedom of the detained Americans, several of whom have been held for years with no prospect of an early release.

Obama came under fire from Republicans in 2015 when his administration gave Iran access to cash that had been blocked by sanctions, just as Tehran released a group of imprisoned Americans.

Republicans pounced then, too.

The movement of the Americans out of prison is only the first step in a protracted process that could last weeks. The funds to be unfrozen in South Korea will have to be converted into different currencies as requested by Iran, a lengthy process due to the provisions of U.S. sanctions.

As part of the swap, an unknown number of Iranians detained in the U.S. will be transferred from U.S. custody to Iran. The timing of that step remained unclear.

Apart from Qatar, the governments of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq also played supporting roles as intermediaries in the discussions, the source familiar with the negotiations said. Switzerland, which handles U.S. interests in Iran as Washington has no diplomatic relations with Tehran, will help implement the agreement and the Swiss ambassador is expected to have access to the American detainees during their house arrest.

In addition to the prisoner exchange, the two sides have also discussed a possible informal verbal agreement aimed at averting a crisis over Iran’s nuclear program, NBC News has previously reported.

The proposed arrangement would have Iran possibly freeze its uranium enrichment at current levels of 60 percent purity

...as well enforced as the Obama agreement? Golly...

and fully cooperate with inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. In return, the U.S. would not impose new sanctions or possibly not strictly enforce some existing sanctions. The precise outlines of the proposed arrangement remain unclear.

No doubt.

U.S. officials have denied there is any interim nuclear agreement but sources with knowledge of the talks say the two sides have been discussing an informal, verbal understanding designed to freeze the status quo and avoid a confrontation. Under U.S. law, any formal agreement would have to be reviewed by Congress.

Iran has steadily expanded its uranium enrichment work and has enough fissile material for more than one nuclear weapon if it chose to enrich the material to 90% purity, experts say. If it takes that step, U.S. officials fear Israel might opt to take military action to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Iran has denied it is planning to develop nuclear weapons and says the program is for purely civilian purposes.

Taqqiya.

Biden came into office promising to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers known as the JCPOA that imposed limits on Iran’s nuclear activities in return for lifting U.S. and international sanctions.

Then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2018, reimposed sanctions and introduced additional ones. Negotiations on restoring the 2015 nuclear accord collapsed last year.

The three Americans held in Iran that have been publicly identified by the U.S. are Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian American who also holds British citizenship

...three passports? That seems a bit excessive...

and was arrested in January 2018 and convicted of espionage in 2019. Tahbaz was part of a group of environmental activists carrying out research on Iran’s endangered cheetah population.

Emad Shargi, an Iranian-born businessman who moved to the U.S. as a young man, was arrested in April 2018. He was released on bail and cleared of all charges in December 2019, but Iranian authorities refused to return his passport. Shargi was charged again in 2020 and convicted on espionage charges without a trial.

And Siamak Namazi has been held prisoner in Iran for nearly eight years, longer than any of the other current American detainees. A business consultant with degrees from Tufts and Rutgers universities, Namazi was arrested in 2015 and convicted of espionage in a trial that lasted a few hours. His elderly father, Baquer, was arrested in 2016 when he traveled to Iran to visit his son and detained. Baquer Namazi was released in 2022.

Siamak Namazi has criticized the U.S. for not doing more to secure his release and that of other Americans held in Iran and appealed to Biden to meet with the families of those detained. In January, he went on a weeklong hunger strike. Namazi was not included in previous prisoner exchanges with Iran dating to 2016.

The American captive held longest in Iran is believed to have been Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who disappeared during a business trip on Iran’s Kish Island in 2007. U.S. officials later admitted that Levinson was there doing contract work for the CIA. In 2011, his family released photos and a video in which Levinson pleaded for help and said he was in poor health. Iranian officials steadfastly denied knowing anything about him.

In 2020, the family announced that they had concluded that Levinson had died in captivity, citing information provided to them by U.S. officials. “Those who are responsible for what happened to Bob Levinson, including those in the US government who for many years repeatedly left him behind, will ultimately receive justice for what they have done,” the family said in a statement.

He chose to spy for the CIA. That merits the death sentence according to international law. One assumes he went in knowing the risks.

Link

Government Corruption

Man accused of trying to extort Matt Gaetz admits he asked for cash

2021-04-07

[NYPOST] The man accused of trying to extort $25 million from Rep. Matt Gaetz’s family admitted Monday that he asked the congressman’s dad for cash — but denied that it was a shakedown. Bob Kent, an ex-Air Force intelligence officer,

...not all that intelligent, as it turned out...

confirmed to Sirius Radio host Michael Smerconish that he approached the Florida Republican’s dad, Don Gaetz, for money last month.

The funds, Kent said, were to pay for an effort to free Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran
Iran

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

US blames Iran in abduction, death of ex-FBI agent Levinson

2020-12-16

[THEBAGHDADPOST] The Trump administration for the first time on Monday formally blamed 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...
for the presumed death of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, publicly identifying two Iranian intelligence officers believed responsible for his abduction and imposing sanctions against them.

Levinson disappeared in Iran under mysterious circumstances more than a decade ago, and though US diplomats and Sherlocks have long said they thought he was taken by Iranian government agents, Monday’s announcement in the final weeks of the Trump administration was the most definitive assignment of blame to date.

The announcement is the latest in a series of tough actions the Trump administration has taken toward Iran as it works to cement an aggressive posture that may complicate any efforts by incoming President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden
Joe <q>Foreign Policy Whiz Kid</q> Biden

Joe <q>Foreign Policy Whiz Kid</q> Biden

...Candidate for president in 2020. Old, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call brilliant...
and his national security team to radically change course once they take office next month. US officials preemptively made clear Monday that no deal with Iran should be finalized without providing for the release of Americans who remain detained there.

Besides calling out two high-ranking intelligence officers by name, US officials also said the Iranian regime sanctioned the plot that led to Levinson’s abduction and lied for years about its involvement in his disappearance through disinformation campaigns aimed at deflecting responsibility and covering up the government’s role.

"The abduction of Mr. Levinson in Iran is an outrageous example of the Iranian regime’s willingness to commit unjust acts," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The Iranian intelligence officers, Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai, are alleged to have been involved in Levinson’s abduction and probable death.

Under the sanctions, any property or assets they hold in the US would be frozen. Though it’s unlikely they have bank accounts in the US, the sanctions could also limit their movements or financial dealing outside Iran. The men have met with intelligence officials from other countries and also led delegations, US officials say.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Loyalty to Resistance Bloc Calls on Banks to Open All Branches to Avoid Congestion

2020-04-03

[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Loyalty to Resistance® Parliamentary Bloc in Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
stressed Thursday that the government is taking all the suitable measures with the least possible capabilities to confront the current challenges, especially the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
outbreak.

After its weekly session, the bloc issued a statement which highlighted the importance of protecting the depositors’ funds, controlling the price of the US dollar and organizing the mechanism of the cash withdrawals from the banks.

Hezbollah bloc also called on the banks to open all their branches in order to avoid congestion in accordance with the governmental health plan to cope with the coronavirus,

The bloc also greeted the Paleostinians on Land Day and their steadfastness in face of the Zionist aggression, reiterating support to the Paleostinian people in their strife to regain their national rights.

The Loyalty to Resistance® bloc also hailed the Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
is’ confrontation of the US-Saudi war on their country, calling on KSA to stop exhausting the Umma’s capabilities and exposing it to the foreign blackmail and intervention.

The bloc also denounced the ongoing US sanctions on the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran, which deprives the Iranians from their right to obtain the medical equipment to face the coronavirus.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson believed dead in Iranian custody, family says

2020-03-26

[NYP] Former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran in 2007, is believed to have died while in the custody of the Middle Eastern nation, his family said.

"We recently received information from US officials that has led both them and us to conclude that our wonderful husband and father died while in Iranian custody," his family said in a Wednesday statement.

Levinson’s family said they don’t know how or when he died, but only that it occurred before the global coronavirus outbreak.

"It is impossible to describe our pain," the family said. "Our family will spend the rest of our lives without the most amazing man, a new reality that is inconceivable to us."

Levinson vanished in 2007 after being apprehended on Iran’s Kish Island while conducting a secret mission for the CIA.

In November 2010, video emerged of Levinson wearing an orange jumpsuit and pleading to be released and returned to the United States.

But efforts to bring him back home had been impeded by the lack of formal relations between the two countries.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

US hits Iranian transport firms with sanctions, hopes for more prisoner swaps

2019-12-12

[AlAhram] The Trump administration on Wednesday hit Iran
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 a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
with new sanctions that target several transportation firms as it continues its ``maximum pressure campaign`` against the Islamic Theocratic Republic over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The sanctions target Iran's state shipping line and a China-based company that has been involved in delivering missile parts to Iran.

They also add a layer of new penalties to a previously sanctioned Iranian airline, Mahan Air, which is accused of sending weapons to Iranian proxies in Leb and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
, and three of its sales agents.

The moves were announced by the Treasury and the State Department and will subject foreign firms and governments that do business with the targeted entities to sanctions themselves, including a freeze on any assets they may have in US jurisdictions.

``Today's designations put the world on notice that those who engage in illicit transactions with these companies will risk exposure and sanctions themselves,`` Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

Pompeo announced the sanctions even as he expressed hope that a weekend prisoner swap with Iran could lead to a dialogue between Washington and Tehran over prisoners.

He called Saturday's release of Princeton graduate student Xiyue Wang in exchange for an Iranian locked away
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
in the US a ``happier note'' that could yield progress.

``I do hope the exchange that took place will lead to a broader discussion on consular affairs. We are working to use this as an opportunity to continue that effort,`` he said.

``I hope that it portends well. We have had some indication that that may be the case, but I don't want to be overstate that, I don't want to give false optimism about that pathway.''

``If we can find an opening and deliver these people back to their families and back to America we will certainly do that,'' he said.

US authorities say Iran is holding one American national and five dual US-Iranian nationals.

They include Navy veteran Michael White, who is serving a 10-year espionage sentence, as well as environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian with US and British citizenship also initially sentenced to 10 years in prison, and Iranian-American father and son Siamak and Baquer Namazi. Former FBI agent Robert Levinson has been missing for 13 years since disappearing in Iran.

Iran says American authorities are holding about 20 Iranian nationals in jail and on Monday said it was ready for more prisoner swaps with the US.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran: We are ready for full prisoner swap, 'ball is in the US’ court'

2019-12-10

[Jpost] "After getting our hostage back this week, fully ready for comprehensive prisoner exchange," Zarif said.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday the Islamic republic is ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States, tweeting: "The ball is in the US' court."

"After getting our hostage back this week, fully ready for comprehensive prisoner exchange," Zarif said.

The United States and Iran
Iran

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

US sanctions Iran supreme leader's aides on embassy anniversary

2019-11-05

[Rudaw] The United States on Monday slapped sanctions on nine aides to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...
on the 40th anniversary of revolutionary zealots seizing the US embassy in Tehran.

The United States said it was also offering a $20 million reward for information to find Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent and CIA contractor who went missing in Iran

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