WarSclerotic

Pay Day for the Mullahs, Front Page Magazine, February 4, 2014

Iran is receiving $550 million of its frozen oil revenues under the interim nuclear deal the Obama administration has pushed forward with Iran. The United States “helped facilitate the transfer” of the funds to Iran through unnamed foreign banks according to Reuters, citing a U.S. Treasury spokeswoman.  Iran’s official IRNA news agency has reported that the $550 million already has been transferred to Iran’s Central Bank account in Switzerland. This transfer is just the first installment of the $4.2 billion of blocked Iranian oil revenues held abroad that the U.S. has committed to help unfreeze.

“The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them,” Vladimir Lenin once famously said. The Obama administration is going one step further. It is involved in handing the mullahs money with no strings attached, which they will undoubtedly use for a further military build-up with which to threaten the United States and its allies.

Consider the following chilling words from a top Iran military official, Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, as quoted by the Daily Caller on February 1^st.  He made these remarks during a televised interview:

America, with its strategic ignorance, does not have a full understanding of the power of the Islamic Republic.  We have recognized America’s military strategy, and have arranged our abilities, and have identified centers in America [for attack] that will create a shock. We will conduct such a blow in which they [America] will be destroyed from within.

Another top Iranian military official said last month: “Know that a direct conflict with America is the strongest dream of the faithful and revolutionary men around the world.”

Consider that nothing in the interim agreement stops Iran from continuing its research and development of a nuclear triggering device.  The money flowing to Iran, as the Obama administration opens the spigot wider and wider, will help pay for it.

Consider too that nothing in the interim agreement stops Iran from continuing to develop or acquire long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles which can reach the United States and Europe, as well as Israel. Indeed, the latest annual “Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community” states that Iran “wants to improve its nuclear and missile capabilities” on which it has already “made technical progress.”

This same intelligence assessment warned of the continued danger that North Korea will remain an exporter of ballistic missiles and nuclear technology to Iran. Nothing in the interim nuclear agreement would hamper Iran’s ability to use the money we are letting loose to purchase nuclear materials or weapons from its buddies in Pyongyang. Instead of oil-for-food, as the fault-ridden program in Iraq was known, the Obama administration is enabling an unfrozen-oil-revenues-for-weapons program.

Among the non-nuclear-related weapons that a senior Iranian Air Force commander just announced Iran is planning to build are semi-heavy and training jets. The announcement was made on February 3^rd – the very day the first installment of Iran’s frozen oil revenues was released.  The plan to build the jets was sent to senior officials to receive their approval, and “once approved, the Defense Industries will start building them,” the senior Air Force commander, Islamic Republic Air Force Chief Liaison Officer General Aziz Nasirzadeh, said. “We have taken very good measures in producing aircraft ammunition, long-range ammunition and smart missiles,” he added. Now Iran will have more money in its hands to continue to do so.

Iran will also be able to obtain insurance, previously subject to sanctions, for the tankers carrying its crude oil to its remaining major customers in China, India, Japan, Korea, Turkey and Taiwan. This will mean “Iran’s crude oil exports will not decline and our customers will be able to purchase oil from Iran without any anxiety and they will not have to look for alternatives to Iran crude oil,” Ali Majedi, a deputy minister for international affairs and trading explained.  And with the lifting of sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical industry as part of the interim agreement, Iran will be able to increase its hard currency revenues from that source as well. Again, Iran will get its hands on more money to pay for further militarization and to fund its mischief in the Middle East and beyond, thanks to the current lifting of sanctions under the interim agreement.

The Intelligence Assessment referenced above describes just some of the mischief that Iran and its proxy Hezbollah are pursuing, in addition to Iran’s continued work on developing a nuclear arms capacity:

Outside of the Syrian theater, Iran and Lebanese Hizballah [Hezbollah] continue to directly threaten the interests of US allies. Hizballah has increased its global terrorist activity in recent years to a level that we have not seen since the 1990s…Iran will continue to act assertively abroad in ways that run counter to US interests and worsen regional conflicts. Iranian officials almost certainly believe that their support has been instrumental in sustaining Assad’s regime in Syria and will probably continue support during 2014 to bolster the regime. In the broader Middle East, Iran will continue to provide arms and other aid to Palestinian groups, Huthi rebels in Yemen, and Shia militants in Bahrain to expand Iranian influence and to counter perceived foreign threats.

In short, the Obama administration and its fellow negotiators of the interim agreement with Iran have sent Iran the first installment of money, with more to come, that Iran will turn around and cheerfully use against us.

by Joseph Klein

Israeli settlers mock Kerry’s peacemaking with spoof video, U.K. Telegraph, February 4, 2014

(Ridicule can, occasionally, be the most effective form of protest —  DM)

The main settlers’ lobby has released a video ridiculing John Kerry’s Middle East peace efforts, undermining a plea from the White House for Israeli politicians to desist from personal attacks on the US secretary of state.

The main settlers’ lobby has released a video ridiculing John Kerry’s Middle East peace efforts, undermining a plea from the White House for Israeli politicians to desist from personal attacks on the US secretary of state.

At one point, the Mr Kerry character is seen down-playing the importance of the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism, in Jerusalem’s old city Photo: YOUTUBE

Iran Nuclear Substance Could Face New U.N. Scrutiny – Global Security Newswire.

Iran could face new international scrutiny over previous activities tied to a potential ingredient for initiating nuclear detonations, Reuters reports.

The International Atomic Energy Agency might discuss Iran’s past work with polonium 210 at a Saturday meeting with Iranian delegates, the news agency reported on Monday, citing recent comments by IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano. The U.N. organization is seeking to shed light on Iran’s atomic ambitions by investigating allegations that the Middle Eastern nation may once have conducted experiments relevant to nuclear-bomb development. Tehran insists its atomic activities are nonmilitary in nature.

“Polonium can be used for civil purposes like nuclear batteries, but can also be used for a neutron source for nuclear weapons. We would like to clarify this issue,” Amano said at the Munich Security Conference this past weekend.

The U.N. agency in 2008 said it was satisfied with prior Iranian disclosures tied to polonium, and the IAEA chief’s reason for calling new attention to the rare substance was uncertain. A number of Iranian researchers in the 1980s had suggested pursuing an investigation on generating the material, but the effort ended prematurely following the departure of a key scientist, according to past disclosures reported by the agency.

The 2008 statement said the agency would also continue its probe on the matter with the intention of verifying its initial conclusions. Mark Hibbs, a nuclear expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Amano’s organization might have obtained new data pertaining to Iran’s work with the substance.

IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor, though, said the polonium issue was not new.

“The agency is keeping an eye” on the matter, and its understanding would “benefit from further clarification,” she said.

Meanwhile, Iran has gained access to $550 million in previously restricted funds under a six-month accord with the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany, Reuters reported on Monday.

Tehran agreed in November to restrict some of its nuclear activities in exchange for curbs on international economic pressure. The United States and other nations hope the interim arrangement will pave the way for long-term restrictions aimed at preventing any Iranian actions to develop nuclear arms.

Iranian Ballistic Missile Program Can Continue Under Deal – The Washington Free Beacon.

U.S. Negotiator Wendy Sherman: ‘We’ve not shut down’ Iran’s nuke delivery program 

Kerry tells Iran that existing sanctions will stay in place as nuclear negotiations continue – Washington Post.

Key senator: Sanctions after Iran talks fail might be too late – The Jerusalem Post.

Pushback against White House during Senate hearing on Iran as senators say Tehran still conducting nuclear research during negotiations; chief negotiator Sherman says coming months will be test for the Islamic Republic

WASHINGTON — In a Senate hearing on negotiations with Iran on Tuesday, Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez challenged US President Barack Obama on the weight of his vow to seek new sanctions against Iran should talks over its nuclear program fail.

Questioning Wendy Sherman, the chief US negotiator with Iran, Menendez (D-NJ) noted that Iran’s continued nuclear-related research and development would shorten the window of time required by the Islamic Republic to produce a nuclear weapon— even as negotiations take place.

“In reality, the only effect we have is over time,” Menendez said. “To enforce sanctions then would be far beyond the scope or the window.”

“It’s not simply about passing sanctions,” Menendez added. “It’s about the timeframe necessary to have them be effective.”

In his fifth State of the Union address, the president said he would be the first man in Washington to call for new sanctions if Iran fails to agree to a comprehensive nuclear accord satisfactory to the US and its allies.

In the same speech, he promised to veto any new sanctions legislation that might compromise the diplomatic process. Menendez introduced just such a bill in December that he described as an “insurance policy” for Congress. That bill has earned 59 cosponsors across party lines.

Midway through the hearing, Menendez pushed back against the Obama administration for referring to his strategy as tantamount to a “march to war,” a phrase stated multiple times by Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, after the bill’s rollout.

“I don’t believe any of you, any senator, any member of the House are warmongers. I don’t believe anyone prefers war,” Sherman agreed. “Tactical considerations may lead us to that choice. But that is an issue of tactics, not an issue of intent.”

Sherman conditioned her testimony by noting that she would not negotiate with Iran in public. But she noted that Iran’s scientists “cannot unlearn what they know” about nuclear weaponry, and that the US delegation was focused instead on preventing Iran from being physically able to build such a weapon.

“The coming months will be a test of Iran’s intentions,” she said.

Sherman defended a short-term nuclear agreement reached in Geneva in November between Iran and world powers, a negotiation she led personally.

“This is not perfect,” she said, referring to the six-month pause known formally as the Joint Plan of Action. “But we agreed on a six-month program that freezes where they are, and rolls back their program in significant ways.” The US would be willing to tolerate a “small, limited enrichment program,” Sherman added— a position vehemently opposed by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.

Menendez asked the lead diplomat to comment on recent statements by Iranian leaders, including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, that the Islamic Republic would never dismantle its expansive centrifuge program.

“It is their maximalist negotiating position,” Sherman said, chalking up the comments to political talk for domestic consumption. “I wouldn’t expect any less.”

Also testifying was David Cohen, under secretary for terror and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department, who repeated the administration’s assertions that most sanctions against Iran would be vigorously enforced.

But Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) asked Cohen whether European allies would comply just as well, noting that “expansive EU trade delegations” were preparing to travel to Tehran to explore newfound business opportunities.

“If these talks turn into deals that violate the elaborate sanctions we have in place, then we’ll take action,” Cohen said, repeating that Iran “is not open for business.”

Ranking member of the committee, Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), said he was concerned that the interim agreement would gel into a new status quo.

“Somehow, because Congress wants to ensure that we end up with a proper end state, there’s been a lot of unfortunate things that have been said,” Corker said, calling for continued pressure from his colleagues.

Corker is a strong supporter of Menendez’s sanctions bill, the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013, which would trigger new sanctions tools against Iran if a deal is not reached in one year.

In his opening remarks, Menendez tacitly ceded that Iran is already a nuclear-threshold state.

“If all we achieve is the essence of an early-warning system in Iran’s future break-out ability, and the sanctions regime has collapsed, and the only options for this or any future President is to accept a nuclear-armed Iran or a military option, in my view,” Menendez said, “that is not in the national security interests of the United States.”

“I know that is not anyone’s goal or plan, but I also think we need to guard against wanting a deal so much that we concede more than we gain,” he added.

US: Iran ‘not open for business’ – The Straits Times.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – United States officials declared on Tuesday that Iran is “not open for business” and vowed to scrutinize the companies heading to the Islamic republic since it entered a temporary nuclear agreement.

Testifying before skeptical lawmakers, President Barack Obama’s administration detailed initial sanctions relief to Iran, including the transfer of US$550 million (S$697.9 million) in frozen oil revenues as part of a six-month nuclear agreement.

But Ms Wendy Sherman, who is spearheading the diplomacy with Tehran, said that the United States was warning the growing number of business delegations heading to Iran that sweeping sanctions remained in place.

“Tehran is not open for business because our sanctions relief is quite temporary, quite limited and quite targeted,” Ms Sherman, the under secretary of state for political affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Islamic Jihad threatens to torpedo peace talks – The Times of Israel.

Gaza-based terror group promises to ‘destroy any accord that legitimizes the Zionist occupation’

Israel grateful for Kerry’s peace efforts, Peres says  The Times of Israel

(“Please, Sir, may I have another bowl of soup?” — DM)

In effort to counter criticism, president insists US secretary of state ‘hasn’t come to fight with us, but to bring reconciliation’

President Shimon Peres meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on November 6, 2013. (Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

President Shimon Peres on Tuesday praised US Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace efforts, defending the top American diplomat from recent criticism leveled at him from local right-wing politicians.

Kerry’s peace effort “comes at the behest of both sides – we, the Palestinians, the whole world,” Peres said at a ceremony at the President’s Residence honoring Israeli exporters.

“We thank him for his efforts,” the president continued, “and we’re strengthening his hand and looking forward to positive results.”

Peres’s comments come amid a flood of fierce criticism against the American diplomat from Israeli right-wing politicians in recent days following a speech in which Kerry warned that boycotts and delegitimization of Israel would only expand without a peace deal.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Kerry said that Israel faces an “increasing delegitimization campaign that has been building up. People are very sensitive to it. There are talk of boycotts and other kinds of things.”

Kerry said he was utterly certain that the current status quo was “not sustainable… It’s illusionary. There’s a momentary prosperity. There’s a momentary peace.”

Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz called the comments “offensive and intolerable,” and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett accused Kerry of incitement and of serving as a “mouthpiece” for anti-Semitic elements attempting to boycott Israel.

“Only security will bring economic stability, not a terrorist state close to Ben-Gurion Airport. We expect our friends around the world to stand by our side to face the anti-Semitic attempts to boycott Israel, not to be their mouthpiece,” Bennett said on Saturday.

But Peres seemed to reject the criticism on Tuesday.

“[Kerry] himself has emphasized that the result [of peace talks] must be acceptable to both sides,” he said. “He hasn’t come to fight with us, but to bring reconciliation between us,” said Peres.

Within two hours of Peres’s comments, Housing Minister Uri Ariel of the Jewish Home party once again railed against the American administration, albeit in more veiled terms. Speaking at the Jerusalem Conference underway Tuesday in the capital, he criticized those “who are repeating to the public again and again the same slogan of ‘two states for two peoples.’ So let me say again, in a loud and clear voice, to them and to friends across the ocean” – a reference to the Obama administration – “between the Jordan and the sea there will be just one state – the State of Israel.

“These pressures from outside are unfair and won’t bring peace. And I say to our friends across the ocean, don’t threaten us with boycotts and sanctions. The Jewish people won’t surrender its land and won’t surrender its home…. This pressure will not succeed.”

That theme, the accusation that Kerry himself had threatened Israel with boycotts, has been vociferously denied by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel’s chief peace envoy, and the US administration itself.

“Secretary Kerry has a proud record of over three decades of steadfast support for Israel’s security and well-being, including staunch opposition to boycotts,” State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said Sunday. “Secretary Kerry has always expected opposition and difficult moments in the process, but he also expects all parties to accurately portray his record and statements.”

Livni was even harsher in her condemnation of the critics.

“Some of those who speak harshly against the US secretary of state would lower their eyes in embarrassment if they knew what Kerry has done to prevent these threats and these boycotts,” she said Sunday.

Netanyahu, after speaking to Kerry on Sunday night, said in comments apparently targeted at the right-wing critics that Kerry had unambiguously clarified he opposed such boycotts.

“The peace process is delicate. There may be periods of misunderstandings and disagreements,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “The best way to clarify misunderstandings or express differences of opinion is by substantively discussing the issues and not by engaging in personal attacks.”

On Monday night, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice continued the American response, lashing out at the criticism of Kerry and calling the attacks “totally unfounded and unacceptable.”

In a series of tweets, Rice wrote that “John Kerry’s record of support for Israel’s security and prosperity [is] rock solid.” She also said the US government “has been clear and consistent that we reject efforts to boycott or delegitimize Israel.”

Off Topic: Kerry Tells Senators That Obama Syria Policy Is Collapsing – Bloomberg Opinion.