Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria expected to join ‘resistance front’ soon: Iranian official
2025-01-23
[Rudaw] Syria is expected to join the Iranian-led "resistance front" soon, a member of the Expediency Council said on Wednesday, despite the ousting of key Tehran ally Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...

"The Syrian nation will join the resistance front very soon and 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...
is also seeking the independence and illusory sovereignty of Syria. In Syria, an inclusive government should be formed, consisting of all groups in Syria," Mohsen Rezai, a member of the Expediency Council, said, as cited by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The Expediency Discernment Council of Iran is a top body established by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...>
that adjudicates on differences between the parliament and the hardline Guardian Council, which can block legislation.

Iran was a staunch supporter of Assad’s Syrian regime, which was toppled by a coalition of rebel groups spearheaded by the Islamist Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
(HTS) on December 8.

Rezai criticized the interference of external powers in Syria and emphasized its detrimental impact on the country.

" The Americans have strengthened their base in eastern Syria, and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
is present in the north and Israel in the south of Syria," he said.

But Tehran also faced regular accusations of interference in Syria’s internal affairs during Assad’s reign, when it stationed military advisors around the country and established cultural centers aligned to its agenda during the brutal civil war.

Assadist Syria was a key component of Iran’s so-called "Axis of Resistance®," a network of influence in the Middle East to expand Iran’s hegemony and counter Western interests.

Iran last month blamed the US and Israel for being behind the recent developments in Syria since the fall of Assad and accused them of having a "master plan" for the Middle East after a Washington official said there would be no place for Iran in the new Syria.

The new Syrian authorities subsequently warned Iran against "spreading chaos" in their country and called on Tehran to respect the will of the Syrian people.

Syria has also warned Iran against "spreading chaos" in their country and called on Tehran to respect the will of the Syrian people.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran says it launched satellite that West fears may advance ballistic missile program, continues to enrich uranium
2024-09-15
[IsraelTimes] Tehran claims satellite built to ‘test hardware and software systems for orbital maneuver technology validation’

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...
launched a satellite into space Saturday with a rocket built by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state-run media reported, the latest for a program the West fears helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile program.

Iran described the launch as a success, which would be the second such launch to put a satellite into orbit with the rocket. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the launch’s success.

Footage later released by Iranian media showed the rocket blast off from a mobile launcher. An News Agency that Dare Not be Named analysis of the video and other imagery later released suggested the launch happened at the Guard’s launch pad on the outskirts of the city of Shahroud, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) east of the capital, Tehran.

Meanwhile,
...back at the argument, Livia had made her point with her knee to Jane's stomach...
Iran continues to enrich uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels, raising concerns among nonproliferation experts about Tehran’s program.

Iran identified the satellite-carrying rocket as the Qaem-100, which the Guard used in January for another successful launch. Qaem means "upright" in Iran’s Farsi language.

The solid-fuel, three-stage rocket put the Chamran-1 satellite, weighing 60 kilograms (132 pounds), into a 550-kilometer (340-mile) orbit, state media reported. The rocket bore a Koranic verse: "That which is left by Allah is better for you, if you are believers."

A state-owned subsidiary of Iran’s Defense Ministry and experts at the Aerospace Research Institute built the satellite with others to "test hardware and software systems for orbital maneuver technology validation," state media said without elaborating.

Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard, praised the launch in a statement and said scientists successfully overcame "the atmosphere of extensive and oppressive international sanctions."

The US State Department and the American military did not immediately respond to requests for comment over the Iranian launch.

The United States had previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October.

Under Iran’s former president Hassan Rouhani
...Iran's moderate president, which he was, relative to his predecessor, which doesn't mean he was anything but a puppet of the nearest holy man...>
, the Islamic Theocratic Republic slowed its space program for fear of raising tensions with the West. His successor, hard-line late president Ebrahim Raisi, a protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...>
who came to power in 2021, pushed the program forward. Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May.

It’s unclear what Iran’s new president, the reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, wants for the program, as he was silent on the issue while campaigning.

The US intelligence community’s worldwide threat assessment this year said Iran’s development of satellite launch vehicles "would shorten the timeline" for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it uses similar technology.

Intercontinental ballistic missiles can be used to deliver nuclear weapons. Iran is now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers. Tehran has enough enriched uranium for "several" nuclear weapons if it chooses to produce them, the head of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency repeatedly has warned.

Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes. However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
US intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003.

The launch also came ahead of the second anniversary of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, which sparked nationwide protests against Iran’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, law and the country’s Shiite theocracy.
Related:
Shahroud: 2022-11-06 Iran Revolutionary Guard launches rocket amid more protests
Shahroud: 2020-02-10 Three doctors sentenced to flogging in Iran for ‘insulting’ cleric
Shahroud: 2018-12-31 Leader appoints Ayat. Sadeq Amoli Larijani as new Expediency Council chief


Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran supreme leader says 'enemies' involved in protests
2022-10-13


Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...
on Wednesday said "enemies" were involved in street violence that erupted last month over the death of Mahsa Amini.

Khamenei has already accused the United States, Israel and their "agents" of fomenting the unrest sparked by Amini's death after her arrest for allegedly failing to adhere to the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.

"Today, everyone confirms the involvement of the enemies in these street riots," Khamenei said Wednesday in a televised meeting with the Expediency Council, an advisory body.

"The actions of the enemy, such as propaganda, trying to influence minds, creating excitement, encouraging and even teaching the manufacture of incendiary materials, are now completely clear," he said, without identifying the enemy.

Earlier Wednesday, the judiciary said it had charged more than 100 people over the protests in Tehran and Hormozgan provinces.

"Some of these people are either enemy agents or... aligned with the enemy, and some are excited people," Khamenei said.

"The judicial and security authorities must do their duty" in dealing with the "enemy agents", he said.

Since September 16, dozens of people -- mainly protesters but also members of the security forces -- have been killed while hundreds of others have been arrested in several cities across the country.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran: election candidate threatens to try rival for treason during TV debate
2021-06-06
[Guardian] Iran’s presidential election candidates have engaged in a fiery and bruising first television debate, during which one promised to put another, the former governor of the central bank, on trial for treason and ban him and other members of the government from leaving the country.
Good. Let's you and him go fight.
The threat to put Abdolnaser Hemmati on trial was made on Saturday by the former leader of the Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezaei, currently secretary of the Expediency Council. He claimed the Iranian currency had been devalued so much by Hemmati that "the train of the revolution has turned into a scooter".

The new president will replace Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist
Either the Twelfth Imam has appeared or he hasn't
who twice won landslide votes against hardline opponents after campaigning to open up Iran’s economy to the world. Rouhani had only limited success, after the US abandoned a nuclear agreement and reimposed sanctions.
So what did he do with all our cash?
The narrow focus on the state of the economy had the effect of putting Hemmati on the back foot as five conservative-inclined candidates ganged up on him to portray him as the incumbent and blame him for his stewardship, especially for high inflation and the collapse of the exchange rate.

Hemmati hit back by saying most of the other candidates were simply cover for Raisi and dared them to give an undertaking they would not pull out of the race before polling day. He said he was proud he had not allowed Iran to go the way of Venezuela, adding he was standing to prevent the country’s economy becoming the same as North Korea’s, a reference to the heavy emphasis on state planning in his rival’s proposals.
Wait. I thought being like Venezuela was a good thing. Ask Bernie.
He ridiculed Rezaei’s remarks that the country’s foreign exchange earnings could be boosted by taking western soldiers hostage.
There's a guy who's thinking outside of the box. But why not Chinese soldiers, I wonder, or Russians?
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran hit hardest as oil price war, cornavirus cripples nation
2020-03-10
[FOXNEWS] The one-two punch of coronavirus and an escalating oil price war that is roiling world markets is hurting one country more than any other: Iran.

Already dealing with a deadly outbreak, the Islamic Theocratic Republic, heavily dependent on oil revenues, is in no position to deal with the lowest per-barrel prices seen in decades.

"$20 oil in 2020 is coming," tweeted Ali Khedery, a former U.S. official 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 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...
and onetime Middle East expert with Exxon. "Huge geopolitical implications. Timely stimulus for net consumers. Catastrophic for failed/failing petro-kleptocracies Iraq, Iran, etc. - may prove existential 1-2 punch when paired with COVID19."

Iran's oil exports, its main economic lifeline, have been under siege for quite some time. Experts say the escalation of the global price war between Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, the world's top exporter, and Russia could cripple many nations outside Saudi Arabia, with Iran topping the list.

Oil prices have plunged 30 percent, the largest one-time drop since the 1991 Gulf War. Now, with oil trading around $30 a barrel, many experts say the price isn't one Iran can survive on.

Iran furloughs 70,000 prisoners as it battles virus
[PRESSTV] Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raeisi says 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...
has temporarily released around 70,000 prisoners in order to prevent a further spread of the new coronavirus.

"Prisoners will continue to be furloughed as long as [this measure] does not interfere with the society’s security," Raeisi told judicial authorities on Monday. "The priority lies with those who have underlying health conditions," he added.

The chief justice said Iran’s judicial apparatus has also prioritized processing the cases of individuals charged with hoarding hygiene products and other medical requirements amid the country’s efforts to curb the outbreak.

"The hoarders will be tried earlier than they are due in open courts, and the hoarded items will soon be distributed throughout the nation," he said.

The novel coronavirus, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has killed more than 3,800 people and infected over 108,000 others in at least 95 countries.


Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Secret Facility At Hizballah’s Beirut Hospital Cares For Iranian High-Ups Down With Corona
2020-03-10
From Debka, salt to taste.
Hizballah’s Al-Rasool Al Aatham University hospital in south Beirut has been converted to a secret facility for treating high Iranian officials infected with coronavirus, various Lebanese sources reveal. Tehran’s Lebanese proxy boasts that its hospital operates according to strict Shiite Islamic tenets.
Meaning a defacto death sentence.
Transferring high-profile victims outside the country to a secret venue appears to be part of the Islamic regime’s cover-up of the real figures and death toll from coronavirus in a country of 80 million which, alongside Italy, is seen as a primary source of global contagion.

The Hizballah-Iran operation flies high Iranian officials down with the disease from Tehran to Beirut by direct flight. This is one means of concealing the true scale of the infection across the country, but also high officials benefit from better treatment than they would in Tehran. There are no details about the numbers of these transfers.

The regime only reports the deaths of prominent officials post factum. The last death reported on Thursday, March 5, was of Mohammad Mirmohammadi, who was a member of the Expediency Council which chooses national leaders and a close adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On Friday, a female member of parliament Fatima Rahabar, succumbed to the virus.

No international health authority engaged in halting the spread of coronavirus has laid hands on reliable information for determining the scale of Iran’s contagion. It is also kept secret from the domestic authorities in Tehran. If anyone has the true figures of the numbers of Iranians infected and/or dead of corona-19 it would most likely be a very tight circle of regime leaders within the supreme ruler’s inner circle and top commanders of the Revolutionary Guards.

In the early stages of the virus, cases were reported in the shrine city of Qom, a popular center of international Shiite pilgrimage, and therefore a primary source of contagion to other parts of the Shiite world.
Stop the lick and you may not get sick.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Former advisor to Zarif latest Iranian official to be infected by coronavirus
2020-03-03
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A senior Iranian politician and former advisor to current Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
...Persian foreign minister, Mouthpiece of Mullahs, good friend of John Kerryand similar exemplars of Merkin values...
has reportedly been infected with coronavirus.Hossein Sheikholeslam has been infected with coronavirus and is currently hospitalized in Tehran’s Masih Daneshvari hospital, the editor-in-chief of the state-run news website Entekhab, Mostafa Faghihi, tweeted on Monday.

Sheikholeslam was a senior advisor to Foreign Minister Zarif and had previously served as Tehran's ambassador to Syria.

Several officials have contracted the virus in Iran, which has the highest corpse count in the world outside of China, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi died from coronavirus, state media reported on Monday.

Iran's Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi was reported as having coronavirus by the semi-official news agency ILNA on February 25.

On Thursday, former Justice Minister and Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi was hospitalized with coronavirus symptoms.

On Saturday, Masoumeh Aghapour Alishahi became the latest Iranian member of parliament to announce that she has been infected with coronavirus.
Related:
Javad Zarif: 2020-02-19 Sen. Murphy: I Secretly Met With Zarif in His Hotel Suite Because its Dangerous Not to Meet With Adversaries
Javad Zarif: 2020-02-18 Iran Says Citizen Held in Germany at U.S. Request Freed
Javad Zarif: 2020-02-17 Pro-Mullah Dem Senators Secretly Meet w Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif, Seek to Thwart US Foreign Policy
Link


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Coronavirus round-up: 12,000 confirmed in Iran, only 125 new yesterday in China, and more
2020-03-03


Germany, France, UK offer Iran 5 mln-euro package for coronavirus

Coronavirus in Washington state: 6 dead, 12 others infected
[KOMONEWS] SEATTLE - Six people have now died from the coronavirus in the Puget Sound area and at least 12 others have been infected, health officials said Monday, as King County's top executive issued an emergency declaration in response to the outbreak.

The newest victims in King County announced Monday include:
- A man in his 70s, a resident of LifeCare who was hospitalized at EvergreenHealth. The man had underlying health conditions and died Sunday.

- A woman in her 70s, a resident of LifeCare, was hospitalized at EvergreenHealth. She had underlying health conditions and died Sunday.

- A woman in her 80s, who was hospitalized at EvergreenHealth and was one of the earlier reported infected and died Sunday.

And a Snohomish County man in his 40s at EvergreenHealth has also died. He had been a previously-announced infection.

Overall, five deaths are King County residents and one death is a Snohomish County resident. Of the 12 other reported, confirmed infections, nine are King County residents and three are from Snohomish County.

Gov. Jay Inslee earlier issued a statewide emergency declaration Saturday after a man in Kirkland died of COVID-19, the first such reported death in the United States.
Related:
Coronavirus: 2020-03-01 Breaking: Iraq's PM-designate Allawi withdraws from post, prolonging deadlock
Coronavirus: 2020-03-01 Pakistani-Canadian Wants COVID19 Sufferers To Infect Trump Rallies
Coronavirus: 2020-03-01 CDC missteps could harm ability to track, detect coronavirus in US
Related:
Jay Inslee: 2020-03-01 Coronavirus: US confirms first death, in Washington state
Jay Inslee: 2019-08-02 Joe Biden at Democrat Debate: Eliminate Coal, Fracking, Fossil Fuels
Jay Inslee: 2019-07-15 Inslee says he'll ask soccer player Megan Rapinoe to be secretary of State


Mortality rate for coronavirus patients

[Dhaka Tribune]






Iranian council member close to supreme leader dies from coronavirus
[DAWN] A member of a council that advises Iran's supreme leader died after falling sick from the new coronavirus, state radio reported, becoming the first top official to succumb to the illness that is affecting members of the Islamic Republic's leadership. Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi died at a Tehran hospital of the virus, state radio said according to AP. He was 71.




Big Pharma coming through?

First batch of experimental coronavirus vaccine shipped for human trials
From a week ago.
[Ynet] The potential treatment was developed in record-breaking 42 days; The first phase of clinical trials in humans is set to begin in April.

American biotech company Moderna Inc., which announced it has completed development of world's first version of a coronavirus vaccine, has shipped on Monday the first batch of its rapidly developed vaccine to U.S. government researchers, who will launch the first human tests, checking whether the experimental shot could help suppress the epidemic originating in China.

The new vaccine, going by the name mRNA-1273, is an mRNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus encoding for a prefusion stabilized form of the Spike (S) protein. The S protein complex is necessary for membrane fusion and host cell infection and has been the target of vaccines against the coronaviruses responsible for Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Additionally, Pharmaceutical company GSK announced on Monday it was working in concert with Chinese biotech company Clover Biopharmaceuticals on a coronavirus vaccine. The collaboration will revolve around the development of a potential protein-based vaccine known as COVID-19 S-Trimer, manufactured by the Chengdu-based pharma company.





Related:
Moderna: 2020-02-26 Human testing of coronavirus treatment begins, vaccine prep progresses
Moderna: 2017-03-31 Italy set to offer menstrual leave for female workers
Moderna: 2013-06-05 7 die in Tamaulipas
Link


Iraq
Iraq’s Hashd announces formation of Air Force
2019-09-09
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Iraqi Hashd, Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), said it is now forming its own ’Air Force’ in order to respond to hostile air strikes.

The group’s deputy chief, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes, said he had ordered to establish the air force directorate for the Hashd; naming Salah Mahdi Hantoush as its caretaker.
Update at 2:31 p.m. Mountain Time: For future searching purposes, Iraqi News spells his name Salah Mahdi Hantous.
This comes a few weeks after suspicious Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s targeted the group’s positions in Baghdad and other provinces of Iraq.

A senior US official said that Israel conducted "several strikes in recent days" in Iraq, including the July 19 attack north of Baghdad which targeted a base allegedly used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "to transfer weapons to Syria".

The claims come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at his country’s involvement in the latest attacks on ammunition depots in Iraq belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) composed of mostly Shia Moslem groups.

The Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council (EC) Mohsen Rezaei said on Sunday that both Iraq and Syria would respond to the latest Israeli attacks on their soil.

"Measures that Israel and America are jointly implementing in Syria and Iraq are against the international rules. And Syrian and Iraqi defenders will soon respond to them," Rezaie told ILNA on Sunday on the sideline of an event in Qazvin province.

Related:
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes: 2017-06-02 PMUs liberate village, evacuate 300 families, south of Baaj
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes: 2015-01-07 Number of ISIS foreign fighters is limited to 10%, says official
Related:
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: 2019-09-06 Iran to free seven crew of seized British tanker
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: 2019-08-31 U.S. Treasury Takes Action Against Oil Tanker With Iranian Ties
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: 2019-08-29 IRGC kills two members of a Kurdish opposition group in western Iran
Related:
Mohsen Rezaei: 2019-08-26 Revolutionary Guards commander denies Iranian targets hit in Syria air strikes
Mohsen Rezaei: 2019-04-11 Iranian commander issues stern warning to US to stay away from IRGC Navy
Mohsen Rezaei: 2019-04-10 Iranian commander issues stern warning to US about staying away from IRGC Navy
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran calls for piracy seizure of British ship if oil tanker isn't freed
2019-07-06
[UPI] A top adviser to Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday encouraged forces to seize a British oil tanker as a response to London's taking an Iranian supertanker off the coast of Gibraltar.

British Royal Marines detained the Iranian vessel Thursday because officials said it was transporting oil to Syria, a violation of Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
an Union sanctions. The Grace 1 tanker was boarded and detained by Marines off the British territory on the southern tip of Spain, Gibraltar minister Fabian Picardo said in a statement.

Officials said the seizure resulted from information the Gibraltar government received that gave it "reasonable grounds" to suspect the vessel was violating EU sanctions.

Friday, 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...
Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaee said a British tanker should be taken in retaliation. Rezaee demanded the Iranian ship's immediate release and called those who seized it "bullies and thugs."

"If Britannia doesn't return the Iranian tanker, the duty of responsible [Iranians] is to seize a British oil tanker in a retaliatory measure," he said.

Josep Borrell, Spain's acting foreign minister, said the United States had asked Britannia to detain the ship.

Iran Foreign Ministry front man Abbas Mousavi said via Twitter British Ambassador Robert Macaire was summoned to his office over the "illegal seizure." In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said it told Macaire the detainment was "tantamount to maritime banditry" and demanded its release.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran approves anti-money laundering bill
2019-01-06
[ARABNEWS] An Iranian arbitration body gave its approval on Saturday to an anti-money laundering bill seen as crucial to maintaining international trade and banking ties, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"The bill on amending the law to counter money laundering was approved with certain changes and will be sent to the parliament speaker to be communicated to the government," Expediency Council member Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghadam told IRNA.

The Expediency Council settles disputes between parliament, which approved the bill last year, and the conservative-dominated Guardian Council, which vets all legislation and had rejected it.

Conservatives have argued that new legislation on money laundering and terrorist financing will provide Western powers with leverage over Iran’s economy and how it funds regional allies such as Leb’s Hezbollah.

But the government of President Hassan Rouhani says the laws are needed to meet demands set by the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which monitors countries’ efforts to tackle financial crime.

Iran is alone with North Korea on the FATF’s blacklist ‐ although the Gay Paree-based organization has suspended counter-measures since June 2017 while Iran works on reforms.

The FATF will meet again in February to discuss Iran’s progress.

The government is hoping to salvage banking and trade ties after the United States walked out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between major powers and Iran and reimposed crippling unilateral sanctions.

The other parties to the deal ‐ Britannia, La Belle France, Germany, China and Russia ‐ have sought to salvage the agreement and maintain trade with Iran, but have called on Tehran to meet FATF requirements.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Leader appoints Ayat. Sadeq Amoli Larijani as new Expediency Council chief
2018-12-31
[PRESSTV] Fearless Leader of the Islamic Revolution
...Iran's doddering head theocrat...
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei
...the successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the actual dictator of Iran...
has appointed Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, the current head of Iran's Judiciary, as the new chairman of the Expediency Council and a jurist member of the Guardian Council.

In a decree on Sunday, the Leader said he has appointed Ayatollah Amoli Larijani as the head of the Expediency Council given the leading role of the body in running the Islamic establishment's affairs and following the passing away of its former head, Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, earlier this week.

Ayatollah Khamenei expressed hope that the Expediency Council’s responsibilities would be firmly handled under Ayatollah Amoli Larijani’s supervision.

The Leader also urged Ayatollah Amoli Larijani to fully focus on his important duties and get established in his new position as soon as possible.

Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi passed away on Monday at the age of 70 after months of suffering acute ill health.

Link



Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More