Iran

Some of the perpetrators in the brutal assassination of Fakhrizadeh were identified and even arrested by our security apparatus, special assistant to the speaker of Iran's Parliament Hossein Amir-Abdollahein said.

09 December 2020
 
27.12.2020 22:16:51
This is a special program from the ANNA NEWS. I am Constantine Reztsov.

Iran is enhancing the air defenses due to the fears of the missile attacks from the USA. The Kuwaiti newspaper «Al Qabas» reported with a reference to the Iranian sources that additional AA missile systems, including Russian-made systems, are being deployed around the nuclear facilities. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps deployed the Iranian ’Bavar-373’ systems together with the Russian S-300 air defense systems for the additional protection near the important uranium enrichment plants in Fordow and Natanz.

It was noted that the additional measures were taken due to the anticipation of the sudden military attacks that could happen due to the current tensions between the USA and Iran on the eve of a change of the government in Washington. As the American mass media reports — before leaving the White House, Donald Trump is ready to go to war against Iran. The pretext for the invasion could be the Iranian nuclear program that was resumed after the collapse of the «nuclear deal». The US President has repeatedly raised the issue of the need to destroy the Natanz facility.

Iran also seemingly had to enhance their defenses due to the threats from Donald Trump, and due to the accusations from the US State Department that the recent missile attack on the US embassy in Baghdad «was almost certainly carried out by a group of militias, supported by Iran». Donald Trump stated on Twitter to the Iranian authorities the following message: “A friendly advice to Iran: if even one American dies — I will blame Iran. Think hard.»

On Monday the US nuclear submarine «Georgia» of the «Ohio» class, armed with 154 cruise missiles «Tomahawk», with a range of 1,600 kilometers, entered the Persian Gulf. The submarine is being escorted by two missile cruisers. According to the Arab sources — an Israeli submarine armed with cruise missiles with a range of at least 1,500 kilometers could be in the gulf as well.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has 17 nuclear facilities. After the return of anti-Iranian sanctions, Tehran ceased to comply with the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan. The country has increased its reserves of highly enriched uranium, suitable for the nuclear weapons.

ANNA News follows the events. Stay tuned.



#Meet_Quds #Meister_shuhdai_resistance #Gaza #Palestine
 
2 Jan, 2021 16:28
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has accused Israel of plotting false flag attacks on Americans in Iraq in a bid to frame Iran and prompt Washington start an all-out war with Tehran.

Zarif on Saturday tagged Donald Trump on Twitter – the US president’s social media of choice – as he repeated the claim of a false flag plot.
New intelligence from Iraq indicate that Israeli agent-provocateurs are plotting attacks against Americans – putting an outgoing Trump in a bind with a fake casus belli.

The foreign minister then warned Trump against falling for the alleged Israeli plot. He said that any hostilities against Tehran will backfire not only for Washington but also for its chief ally in the Middle East.

“Be careful of a trap, [President Trump]. Any fireworks will backfire badly, particularly against your same BFFs,” Zarif wrote.

Iran's top diplomat first brought up the topic of an allegedly impending false flag attack earlier this week.

On Thursday, he revealed Tehran had received a tip about such a plan brewing from Iraqi intelligence. While Zarif did not name a culprit behind the alleged plot, the tone of his message suggested that the US itself was actively seeking a pretext for war with Iran. He scolded Trump for flying B-52s and sending “armadas” to the Gulf region “instead of fighting Covid in [the] US.”

The already hostile relations between Tehran and Washington have reached a boiling point recently due to the upcoming anniversary of the US assassination of Qassem Soleimani. The late Iranian general and leader of the elite Quds force within the country's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was killed in a drone strike outside Baghdad, Iraq on January 3 last year.

While Iran retaliated shortly after the attack by striking several military installations housing US troops in Iraq, it has repeatedly pledged to extract further revenge on the Americans. Late in December, shortly after a rocket attack on the US embassy in Baghdad, Trump vowed to hold Iran responsible for the potential death of any American in Iraq.

Iran's top officials openly cheered Trump's election defeat in November, with President Hassan Rouhani stating his US counterpart was just days apart from going into the "dustbin of history."

Featured Post I’m a former CIA agent: Iran was behind Lockerbie and should be made to pay
Despite former US AG Barr's claims, Libya did not carry out the horrific 1988 bombing of a plane over Scotland. The US should bring Iran to justice now
Jan 3, 2021, 11:46 AM
AP_9111141173-640x400.jpg

Acting U.S. Attorney General William Barr points to a fragment of a circuit board during a news conference on Pan Am Flight 103 in Washington, Nov. 14, 1991. The tiny fragment was described as part of the bomb inside a portable radio. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma)
As a former CIA operations officer, I am breaking 20 years of silence about one of the most heinous plane bombings on record, Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988. I can now tell you, as I have been telling the CIA and FBI since being interviewed by them in early 2000, that I and many other intelligence officers do not believe that Libya is responsible for the bombing. Iran, as the original evidence clearly showed, is the true perpetrator of this deadly attack and should be brought to justice.

Two weeks ago, just before stepping down as US attorney general, William Barr, who was also AG in 1992 and oversaw the investigation and indictment of the case, announced new charges against a Libyan man known as Masud for supposedly constructing the bomb that detonated on the plane. I believe Barr and the Justice Department announced this new indictment purely for the purpose of shoring up Barr’s original, faulty 1991 indictments.

The evidence and logic in the current case against Mr. Masud are as flimsy as the cases were two decades ago when Barr steered focus away from the obvious culprit, Iran.

I know Libya is not behind the bombing because I was the long-time handler for the principal US government witness Abdul Majid Giaka, a Libyan agent who never provided any evidence pointing to Libya or any indication of knowing anything about that nation’s involvement in the two years after the bombing. Yet years later, he testified against the convicted Libyan intelligence officer, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, at the Lockerbie bombing (Pan Am 103) trial conducted at The Hague in 2000.

The US Government prevented my testimony and hid from evidence the cables I wrote that proved Giaka knew nothing. When my cables were finally released to the trial at the demand of the defense, the court dismissed Giaka along with the two CIA operations officers sent to the trial to testify to his credibility.

Yet today, the charade continues. The FBI acknowledges they have not even interviewed Mr. Masud themselves and are entirely dependent on an 8-year-old statement by an unnamed Libyan police officer from a country in the midst of a devastating civil war. Moreover, Masud had no history or signature for making the type of bomb that brought down Pan Am 103 nor for concealing bombs in Toshiba radios. The PFLP-GC (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command) did.

We just observed the 32nd anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am 103. It is time to drop the routine CIA procedure of embellishing intelligence reporting to fit a preconceived outcome rather than following the facts. The families of Pan Am flight 103 victims have suffered long enough and deserve to now be able to rest assured that the real perpetrators of this act of terrorism, Iranian actors, are brought to justice.

I am asking that the case be reexamined due to the availability of evidence against Iran and irregularities in the US government presentation of evidence at the first trial. The son of the man convicted made a similar request. He recently appealed the conviction of his father to the High Court in Scotland. The panel of five judges is currently reviewing the appeal, which was presented in late November 2020.

Now is the time for former Attorney General Barr, who signed the original warrants against Megrahi, and former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who led the DOJ investigation, to answer some questions: If Libya is truly the culprit, why did the US not indict Libyan intelligence chief Sanussi, who has reportedly been sitting in a Libyan jail since that nation’s revolution in 2011, and would have been in charge of any such high profile operation at the time of the bombing? And why was credible evidence pointing toward Iran ignored, given Iran’s clear motive for the attack as retaliation for the downing of a civilian Iran Air Airbus and its proven capacity to carry out attacks similar to the bombing over Lockerbie?

Just a brief time remains for the current US administration to take action. President Trump has reportedly reluctantly shelved the idea of striking Iran over its nuclear program. At the same time, he is no longer aligned with an attorney general invested in the falsehood that Libya committed the bombing. This president still has an opportunity to take action.

I served for more than 40 years in the Middle East and saw numerous Americans killed by terrorist attacks, all orchestrated and supported by the mullahs in Iran. I urge President Trump to bring Iranian religious leadership to justice for the Pan Am 103 bombing now. The US and Israel should work together to strike key Iranian military facilities, IRGC training camps and all nuclear development sites, both open and secret, before Iran gathers enough strength to strike again, which they will.



The Times of Israel
Yemen PM: Airport attack by Iran-backed rebels meant to ‘eliminate’ government
Missile attack in Aden killed 25 people, targeted prime minister’s plane as it landed, the arrival hall and the VIP lounge
By Samy Magdy Today, 12:54 am


he explosive slaying of Iran's leading general as he departed in a convoy from Baghdad International Airport set the stage for a year wrought with worsening tensions between Washington and Tehran, even as both governments were confronting severe outbreaks of the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Donald Trump's administration argued that the assassination of Revolutionary Guard Quds Force Major General Qassem Soleimani last January made the Middle East and the world a safer place. But on the one-year anniversary of the incident, officials of Iran, Israel and Iraq told Newsweek that tensions remain high across the region.

With less than three weeks left in Trump's tenure, the temperature was especially high for fear of a sudden escalation, planned or miscalculated, which could quickly lead to a conflict of unknown proportions and unforeseen consequences.

Alireza Miryousefi, spokesperson for Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations, said his country was ready to act should the U.S. seek to stir trouble.

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"While it is true that there is an appearance that the U.S. is setting traps or provocations to provide an excuse to initiate armed conflict in the last days of the administration," Miryousefi told Newsweek, "Iran is fully prepared to defend itself and will, if it comes to pass, react openly and decisively."

The mission denounced "the military adventurism of the United States of America" in a New Year's Eve letter to the U.N. Security Council, taking note of recent high-profile U.S. military moves such as the flight of nuclear-capable B-52 bombers over the Middle East.

It was the second such aerial show of strategic force that month, and the first since Trump tweeted a direct warning to Tehran in the wake of a rocket attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone. While the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier was set to depart the region, Trump remained more than capable of directing assets toward the Persian Gulf.

The Pentagon referred Newsweek's request for comment to U.S. Central Command, which did not immediately respond.

January 2, 2021 at 2:57 pm | Published in: Asia & Americas, Iran, Israel, Middle East, News, Palestine, UN, US
The administration of outgoing US President Donald Trump voted against the United Nations (UN) budget over issues related to Israel and Iran, AFP reported.

Only Israel followed in the footsteps of the US regarding the vote, while 167 countries voted in favour of the General Assembly's approval of the $3.231 billion UN budget for 2021.

US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft rejected the budget because it would fund a 20th anniversary event for the 2001 UN conference on racism in Durban, South Africa.

In solidarity with Israel, the US walked out of the conference over what it said, according to AFP, was a fixation by Muslim-majority countries against the Jewish state.

Craft told the General Assembly that the US: "Called for this vote to make clear that we stand by our principles, stand up for what is right and never accept consensus for consensus's sake."

She added: "Twenty years on, there remains nothing about the Durban Declaration to celebrate or to endorse. It is poisoned by anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias."

UN states separately approved a resolution, passed 106-14 with 44 abstentions, backing the follow-up efforts on the Durban conference. US and Israel, along with some Western powers including the UK, France and Germany, voted against it.

Read: Iran's foreign minister says Trump trying to 'fabricate' pretext to attack Iran

According to AFP, the US envoy also complained that the UN members did not support its decision to impose sanctions on Iran after Trump abandoned the nuclear deal reached during Barak Obama's administration.

"We don't find comfort based on the number of nations voting with us, particularly when the majority have found themselves in an uncomfortable position of underwriting terrorism, chaos and conflict," Craft expressed, referring to the rejection of the members of the international community to support sanctions on Iran.

However, she affirmed the US vote would not change its UN contribution, including 25 per cent of peacekeeping expenditures and some $9 billion a year in UN-channelled humanitarian relief.

AFP reported that US President-elect Joe Biden is expected to seek a more cooperative relationship with the UN, including stopping a US exit from the World Health Organisation, which Trump blamed for not doing more to stop COVID-19.

Read: Via US general, Israel seeks to sway Biden over Iran


Confused, Search:
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Middle east tensions pick up under the dire straights of the US election stand off.



Deep states actions.

Snip South Front 4-5 minute:
Iran has found an original way of dealing with sanctions and limitations imposed on it by the so-called “maximum pressure” campaign launched by the Trump administration.

On January 4, the Navy of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained a South Korea-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz over an alleged environmental pollution issue. The chemical tanker HANKUK CHEMI was inbound to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Ahead of the incident, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations naval authority reported that an “interaction” between Iranian authorities and a merchant vessel in the Strait of Hormuz led the ship to alter its course and proceed into Iranian waters.

Following the incident, the South Korean Defense Ministry said that it will send its anti-piracy Cheonghae unit, normally based in the Gulf of Aden, along with helicopters to the Persian Gulf. The 302-strong Cheonghae unit operates a 4,500-ton destroyer, a Lynx anti-submarine helicopter and three speed boats.

Joyce Karam@Joyce_Karam 3hr@Joyce_Karam
Video above via @ELINTNews
https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam


Day after upping uranium enrichment to 20%, Islamic Republic’s atomic chief announces steps to increase production further

By TOI staff and Agencies 5 January 2021, 9:07 pm 5-7 minutes


Today, #Iran’s IRGC seized a South Korean-flagged oil tanker that was headed for the UAE - the seizure was over ‘oil pollution’ according to Iranian officials https://twitter.com/ASBMilitary/status/1346156904146481153 Jan.4 2021
 
Iran has asked Interpol to issue a red notice for four individuals involved in the assassination of prominent nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, police spokesman Mehdi Hajian said.

11.01.2021
 
Alleged Israeli cyberattack said to strike serious blow to Iranian atomic program; security cabinet to meet next week to discuss recent exchanges with Tehran


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Israel’s Mossad security service was behind a major power cut that halted uranium enrichment at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility on Sunday, unidentified intelligence sources told Hebrew media outlets, in what Iran described as an act of “nuclear terrorism.”

In the early hours of Sunday morning, the underground Natanz facility suffered an electrical disruption in what was widely speculated to be an Israeli cyberattack. Iran said the attack did not cause any casualties and did not cause radioactive pollution. Israel has officially refrained from commenting on the matter, and Iran has not specifically accused the Jewish state of being responsible for the incident.

On Sunday evening, unnamed intelligence sources were cited by a number of Hebrew news outlets as saying that the Mossad was involved in the attack, which was reportedly more severe than Iran had indicated.
 
Fanning the flames by questionable sources.

Iran’s IRGC chief, general Salami, addresses rally held in Tehran in support of Palestinian people
Video / RT/ 15:23 PressTV MAY 19 2021

Iran’s Supreme Leader: The Global Balance of Power Is Tilting toward “Palestine” and Muslims

Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall May 19, 2021
Snip: Read time 15:00 + Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Iran is once again trying to leverage the latest round of escalation in Jerusalem and present itself as the main power fighting for the Palestinians, in particular, and the Muslim nation, in general. Events in Jerusalem – the disturbances at the al-Aqsa Mosque and tensions in Sheikh Jarrah – corresponded this year with the Iranian International al-Quds Day. This day has been marked every year since 1979 by the decision of Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of the Iranian revolution, and the Iranian government to mark the “longing” of all Muslims for the “liberation of Jerusalem” and the “restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinians in Palestine.” Iranian media is giving full coverage to the clashes on the Temple Mount and the ongoing rocket fire on Israel by the “Resistance Organizations.”

A poster and statement issued by the Supreme Leader’s office present the shifting power equations and clearly illustrates the changing balances of power. In Tehran’s view, the Palestinians have progressed from stones to missiles (displayed alongside the Palestinian resistance and Hizbullah’s flag in the background). Khamenei praises the unity of the Muslim nation, and above all, the Iranian nuclear power that provides – and will provide – the strategic blanket to enable continued terror and subversive activity.

The poster, based on the main points of the Supreme Leader’s speech on al-Quds Day, reads:

Today, the world is changing: we must always remember this fact. Today, the balance of power has shifted in favor of the Muslim world… The growth of resistance forces in the most sensitive Islamic areas, strengthening their defensive and attack capabilities, increasing self-awareness and motivation and hope among the Nations of Islam, growth in Islamic understanding and refrains, scientific growth, growth in the desire for independence and nations’ self-reliance These are all welcome signs that herald a better future.

Khamenei: The Strengthening of the Jihad and Sacrifice Inclination
“The Supreme Leader’s Predictions of Israel’s Disappearance within 25 Years Will Come True”
Khomeini’s Legacy: The Elimination of Zionism Is a Necessary Condition

The Soleimani Myth

This year, too, International al-Quds Day was associated with the mythical image of Revolutionary Guards al-Quds commander, Gen. Qasem Soleimani. As part of Soleimani’s glorification after his assassination and his beatification as an integral part of Shi’ite mythology, the Iranian military leader is likened to Malik al-Ashtar, one of the closest loyalists to the founder of Shiite Islam, Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (Imam Hasan’s father). Al-Ashtar fought at legendary battles at the beginning of Islam (the Battles of the Camel, Siffin, Yarmuk) and was seen as a trained and fearless fighter.
Iran, Gaza, and Vienna
Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall
IDF Lt.-Col. (ret.) Michael (Mickey) Segall, an expert on strategic issues with a focus on Iran, terrorism, and the Middle East, is a senior analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and at Acumen Risk Advisors.
View all posts by Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall

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Inbound traffic to #TelAviv Ben Gurion holding.
https://twitter.com/GDarkconrad/status/1395018371658391555
 
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Iran’s president Rouhani says oil sanctions will be lifted​


Iran
Iran's President Hasan Rouhani

(Bloomberg) - Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said world powers have accepted that major sanctions on his country -- including those affecting oil, banking and shipping -- will be lifted, triggering a drop in crude prices.
Negotiators in Vienna, where Iran and the U.S. have engaged in indirect talks to restore a troubled nuclear deal from 2015, have taken a “major step,” Rouhani said Thursday, according to Iranian state TV. “The main agreement has been made.”
Diplomats are still discussing “details and finer points” before there’s “a final agreement,” he said.
The comments echo those on Wednesday from the European Union’s top envoy in Vienna, who said he was “quite sure” a of a “final agreement, not far from here.”
Brent crude slipped 1.8% to $65.47 a barrel by 11:11 a.m. in London on Thursday, extending its loss this week to almost 5%. Iran’s already preparing its oil fields so it can ramp up exports if sanctions are eased.

Under the most optimistic forecasts, the country would be able to increase production to 4 million barrels a day from around 2.4 million in a few months. Analysts at Citigroup Inc. said it’s more likely that Washington will allow Tehran to boost exports by 500,000 barrels a day from the middle of the third quarter. The U.S. would want to see evidence of Iran abiding by the terms of the deal before permitting more shipments, the Wall Street bank said.
Negotiators ended their latest round of talks on Wednesday. The EU and Russia said they were close to finalizing a document outlining how the U.S. would return to the accord, which former President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, and how Iran would scale-back its nuclear program.
Iran holds presidential elections on June 18 and Rouhani, who’s served a two-term limit, will step down around two months later. His government is keen to strike a deal before the vote.
 
A couple of articles of the recent events ongoing in Iran (you decide).

The largest vessel operated by the Iranian Navy, the IRIS Kharg, caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Oman. The logistical and training ship was on fire for around 20 hours before finally sinking off the southern port of Jask.

The ship, which was the largest in terms of tonnage operated by the Navy, sank early Wednesday, Iranian media reported, citing the Navy’s second maritime zone in Jask.

“All efforts to save the vessel were unsuccessful and it sank,” Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency said.

The Kharg caught fire on Tuesday, and the blaze raged for around 20 hours before the vessel sank. All crew members reportedly disembarked from the burning vessel, with no information on potential casualties immediately available.

Footage circulating online purportedly shows the vessel at sea with open flames visible on the stern.

The burning ship emitted a large plume of smoke visible from the Iranian coast, another video shows.

The Kharg was a large British-built fleet replenishment tanker, which was used by the Iranian Navy since the early 1980s. The blaze hit the vessel during a “training naval operation,” and the cause of the fire has yet to be determined. The ship had light armament and was capable of carrying three helicopters on board, one on the helipad and two more stashed in hangars.

The fire is the latest in the series of incidents that have plagued Iranian vessels over the past few months. In early April, the Iranian cargo vessel MV Saviz, anchored off Yemen in the Red Sea, came under attack, sustaining “minor damage.” According to Iranian authorities, the vessel has been used as a logistics hub for anti-piracy operations in the region.


AP , Wednesday 2 Jun 2021

The Fars and Tasnim news agencies said efforts failed to save the support ship Kharg, named after the island that serves as the main oil terminal for Iran

The largest ship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, semiofficial news agencies reported.

The Fars and Tasnim news agencies said efforts failed to save the support ship Kharg, named after the island that serves as the main oil terminal for Iran.

The blaze began around 2:25 a.m. and firefighters tried to contain it, Fars said. The vessel sank near the Iranian port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz - the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Photos circulated on Iranian social media of sailors wearing life jackets evacuating the vessel as a fire burned behind them. State TV and semiofficial news agencies referred to the Kharg as a ``training ship.'' Fars published video of thick, black smoke rising from the ship early Wednesday morning.

Satellite photos from Planet Labs Inc. analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Kharg off to the west of Jask on Tuesday. Satellites from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that track fires from space detected a blaze at the site of the Jask that started just before the time of the fire reported by Fars.

The Kharg serves as one of a few vessels in the Iranian navy capable of providing replenishment at sea for its other ships. It also can lift heavy cargo and serve as a launch point for helicopters. The ship, built in Britain and launched in 1977, entered the Iranian navy in 1984 after lengthy negotiations that followed Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iranian officials offered no cause for the fire aboard the Kharg. However, it comes after a series of mysterious explosions that began in 2019 targeting ships in the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. Navy later accused Iran of targeting the ships with limpet mines, timed explosives typically attached by divers to a vessel's hull.

Iran denied targeting the vessels, though U.S. Navy footage showed members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard removing one unexploded limpet mine from a vessel. The incidents came amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

The sinking of the Kharg marks the latest naval disaster for Iran. In 2020 during an Iranian military training exercise, a missile mistakenly struck a naval vessel near the port of Jask, killing19 sailors and wounding 15. Also in 2018, an Iranian navy destroyer sank in the Caspian Sea.

This incident follows sinking of Kharg (“ a training ship”), with a fire at the Tehran refinery.


#فيديو Gas leak causes huge fire in Tehran oil refinery #إيران #مصافي_النفط #الطاقة#الغاز#الغاز_الطبيعي
https://t.co/KiWSJ3HDVS?amp=1
First an Iraqi ship sunk in the Gulf of Oman, now a fire at the Tehran refinery. Agreements are not likely to go smoothly.#WTI at the tops after yesterday #OPEC also positive sentiments in the market #OIL #OOTT#IRAN#GulfofOman

Opinion:

Two theories on the topic: 1- Recurring problems in the oil sector as a result of sabotage operations, whether driven by internal or external factors 2- Or as a result of old and worn out infrastructure and the inability to maintain or renew it due to penalties on the one hand, and administrative corruption on the other hand.#إيران
 


US authorities have apparently seized the web domains of Iran’s international media outlets Press TV and Al-Alam, along with the Yemeni TV channel Al Masirah, run by the Houthi faction, and an Iraqi Shia satellite channel.

Visitors to the three domains were greeted on Tuesday with a notice that they were seized under US laws that allow civil and criminal forfeiture of property involved in “trafficking in nuclear, chemical, biological, or radiological weapons technology or material, or the manufacture, importation, sale, or distribution of a controlled substance.”

The seizure notice by the US Department of Justice also invokes a law governing presidential authority in dealing with “unusual and extraordinary threat; declaration of national emergency,” which includes the Iran Nonproliferation Amendments Act of 2005 and the ironically named Iran Freedom Support Act of 2006.

Launched in July 2007, Press TV is the international English-language service of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Tehran’s state media agency. Al-Alam goes back to 2003 and is broadcast in Arabic, Farsi and English to audiences in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

Al-Masirah is not owned by Iran, but by Ansarullah – the movement of the Houthis in Yemen, a faction the US has accused of being “proxies” of Iran on account of them being Shia Muslims and resisting the invasion of Yemen by Saudi Arabia since 2015. The TV channel is headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon.

Neither the US nor the Iranian authorities have commented on the seizures just yet. Meanwhile, the NGO Yemen Solidarity Council (YSC) condemned “the deliberate silencing of the Yemeni voice by the American regime.”

In a statement released through the YSC, Al Masirah said it was “not surprised” by the apparent seizure, as it “comes from those that have supervised the most heinous crimes against our people.”

The“banon the website “reveals, once again, the falsehood of the slogans of freedom of expression and all the other headlines promoted by the United States of America, including its inability to confront the truth,” the outlet said.

PressTV only said that a seizure message has appeared "on the websites of a series of Iranian and regional television networks" in "what seems to be a coordinated action."

Another site that displayed the seizure notice on Tuesday was that of Al Forat Network, an Iraqi satellite TV outlet owned by a Shia Muslim cleric and politician Ammar al-Hakim.

In the absence of any official word, there has been speculation that the domains may have been hacked instead. Furthermore, the seizures appear to have affected only the .com and .net domains that are under US jurisdiction. PressTV remains available at the .ir domain.

Washington’s apparent move comes just a day after the newly elected Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi urged the US to lift all sanctions on Tehran and rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal, negotiated by the Obama administration but unilaterally repudiated by President Donald Trump in 2018.

Raisi called on the US to “live up to your commitments” in the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He also said the Iranian ballistic missile program was “not up for negotiation.”

While the Trump administration took a hard-line approach to Iran, imposing unprecedented sanctions and even assassinating a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general – resulting in Iranian missile strikes against US bases in Iraq – it never moved against legitimate media outlets.

Back in October 2020, the Trump administration seized 92 domains accused of being “fake news” outlets waging a “disinformation campaign” on behalf of the IRGC. The seizure was overshadowed by sanctions against the Iranian banking sector announced the same day, however.

The Biden administration was thought to be open for relaxing tensions. Just last week, Iranian negotiators said they had reached a deal with their US counterparts to lift the Trump-era sanctions.


 
'The trilateral meeting in Tehran will be "a nail in the coffin" for the US and Israel.'

Putin to discuss bilateral, regional issues with Iran’s leadership, Turkey’s Erdogan

18 JUL, 2022
According to Dmitry Peskov, the leaders will be able to discuss bilateral relations at the meetings, "first and foremost, trade and economic relations with both Iran and Turkey"

MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold meetings with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Tehran on July 19, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the National Iranian Radio and Television, which was broadcast on Monday on the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

He noted that the main purpose of Putin's visit to Tehran is to participate in the Astana Troika summit. "In addition, our president has three meetings scheduled: these are talks with President Raisi, with President Erdogan, and the president will also pay a visit to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. We hope it will be a very comprehensive dialogue," the Kremlin spokesman said.

According to him, the leaders will be able to discuss bilateral relations at the meetings, "first and foremost, trade and economic relations with both Iran and Turkey." "[There will be] prospects and all modalities for continuing the political dialogue with both Iran and Turkey, and exchanging views on the most relevant topics, because there are so many hot spots around us that need our cooperation in order to resolve them," Peskov noted, pointing out the topics of the upcoming talks.
 
'The attack on Iran (by US and Israel) would completely destroy the JCPOA.'

(Translated by Google)

Israeli F-35 fighters entered Iranian airspace, avoiding air defense strikes

2022-08-24
Israeli F-35 fighter jets violated Iranian airspace.

This was reported by Iranian journalists, noting that Israeli Air Force combat aircraft were detected by Israeli Russian radars, however, for unknown reasons, Iran could not shoot down Israeli fighters. Information on this subject is provided by Iranian journalist Khayal Muazzin.

“Israeli F-35s recently crossed Iranian airspace and entered the range of Russian and Iranian radars,” according to a report on the Saudi website Elaph. An unconfirmed report says that Israeli and American troops are secretly preparing for strike operations in Iran , ”an Iranian correspondent reports, referring to Arab media.

The circumstances of the incident have not yet been disclosed, however, the ADS-B Exchange service points to the fact that Israeli combat aircraft could indeed cross the airspace of Jordan, following in the direction of Iraq, with a subsequent, likely entry into the airspace of the Islamic Republic.

Exactly why the Israeli fighters were not shot down is not specified.

Russia has not yet made official statements about the discovery of the Israeli F-35 fighter with its air defense systems.

By ASH OBEL - 24 August 2022

'Keep them busy while bombing them.'

24 August 2022
 
Here, too, "boils"
2022-08-25

Israeli submarines armed with cruise missiles approached the Iranian coast within striking distance.

At the moment, Israeli submarines have left the waters of the Red Sea, where they have been recently, and after crossing the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, they approached the Iranian coast at a distance sufficient to strike at the territory of the Islamic Republic. According to preliminary data, we are talking about two Israeli submarines.

"According to information, Israeli submarines went to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and even further, in the direction of the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf, trying to get closer to Iranian territory, in order to conduct reconnaissance operations and launch naval missiles at ground targets if necessary," Elaph reports.

At the moment, there is information that one of the submarines of the Israeli Navy is located in the immediate vicinity of the coast of Yemen, without risking, however, to approach Iranian territorial waters.

The situation clearly indicates the fact that Israel is preparing to attack Iran, probably expecting the outcome of the so-called nuclear deal, which is also confirmed by the many times increased activity of Israeli aviation in the airspace of Iraq and over the waters of the Persian Gulf.
Израильские подводные лодки подошли к побережью Ирана на расстояние ракетного удара
 
'Israel is preparing to attack Iran to terminate JCPOA.'

Israeli spy chief slams Iran’s nuclear ‘charade’

12 Sep, 2022
The Mossad director vows to fight Iranian “terrorism” without regard for a possible nuclear agreement

Israel will not feel constrained by a possible renewal of the nuclear deal with Iran and intends to continue targeting the “state terrorism” of the Tehran “regime,” Mossad Director David Barnea said in a speech on Monday.

“We will not take part in this charade. We will not close our eyes to the proven truth,” Barnea said at the Reichman University in Herzliya, in his first public address since he took over the reins at Mossad last year.

“The deal is based on Iranian lies. Iran has sought to build a nuclear weapon that endangers Israel’s existence. The deal will easily help them reach this goal under international legitimization,” he said, adding that “even if a deal is signed, it will not provide immunity from Mossad operations.”

Barnea accused Tehran of masterminding “planned, systematic, and strategic terror” perpetrated by the intelligence agencies and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which he said has only become worse in recent months. Mossad, he claimed, has thwarted “dozens” of planned Iranian attacks against Israelis and Jews abroad, in places including Cyprus, Colombia and Turkey. Barnea also cited the recent US allegations that Iran plotted the assassination of John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, two former officials in the Trump administration.

Attacks against Israel or Israelis, directly or indirectly by proxies, “will be met with a painful response against those responsible, on Iranian soil. We will not pursue the proxies, but the ones who armed them and gave the orders, and this will happen in Iran, the Mossad director warned Tehran.

Barnea spoke after returning from Washington, where he visited last week to voice objections against renewing the nuclear deal with Tehran.

Israeli leaders have claimed for over two decades that Iran is months away from developing a nuclear bomb, though Tehran insists its intentions are peaceful. The original nuclear deal, signed in 2015 by the US, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, and the EU, as well as Iran, was supposed to repeal many UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic while limiting its ability to enrich uranium far below the level needed to build an atomic bomb. The US pulled out under then-president Donald Trump in 2018, declaring the treaty fundamentally flawed and slapping further sanctions on Tehran.

READ MORE: Iran provides details on new suicide drone

A draft of the new deal leaked last month shows a four-stage process starting with an immediate lifting of sanctions on 17 Iranian banks and 150 other economic entities. Iran would also immediately begin scaling back its nuclear activities, which it increased beyond levels permitted by the 2015 deal when none of the other parties held to their terms.
 
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