WarSclerotic

US condemns Iran for illicit arms shipment, Israel Hayom, March 9, 2014

(Assume, at least for the sake of argument, that irrefutable evidence shows that Iran knew what the ship contained and that she is now lying about it. Lying has been her consistent practice vis a vis her nuke activity and continuing to lie is not a rational basis for crediting material statements she has made or later makes during the P5+1 negotiations. Why should negotiations proceed on that basis, allowing Iran to continue to garner funds and other types of international support which make effective sanctions highly unlikely to be reinstated?

Defense Secretary Hagel’s spokesman reiterated “the United States’ commitment to holding Iran accountable for its destabilizing activities in the region, even as we continue efforts to resolve our concerns over Iran’s nuclear program through diplomacy.” Destabilizing activities are bad. However, habitual lying as to matters material to the P5+1 negotiations is even more consequential for those negotiations. If Iran’s persistent lying is ignored, how can the U.S. “resolve” her “concerns over Iran’s nuclear program through diplomacy,” unless her concerns are so ephemeral that they can be “resolved” by ignoring them? — DM)

Pentagon praises Israel’s interception of Klos C, says U.S. is “holding Iran accountable for its destabilizing activities in the region” • Analyst: Either Iranian FM knew about the shipment or U.S. is negotiating with an envoy who is out of the loop.

The U.S. over the weekend condemned Iran for the illicit weapons shipment that was intercepted by the Israeli Navy last Wednesday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Friday. After their conversation, Pentagon press secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby issued a statement saying that the Hagel had congratulated Ya’alon on the success of the interception of the Klos C, and reiterated “the United States’ commitment to holding Iran accountable for its destabilizing activities in the region, even as we continue efforts to resolve our concerns over Iran’s nuclear program through diplomacy.”

Hagel made clear that “illicit actions by Iran are unacceptable to the international community and in gross violation of Iran’s U.N. Security Council obligations.”

Meanwhile, Forbes Magazine’s foreign news analyst Claudia Rosett addressed the connection between the attempted shipment of missiles to Gaza and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

“While Zarif was in Vienna, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, reading a statement to the press about their ‘very productive’ nuclear talks, the freighter, secretly stuffed with weapons, was already en route from Iran toward the Red Sea,” Rosett pointed out.

The analyst went on to question whether Zarif really had not known about the arms shipment to Gaza, or had chosen to lie.

“If Zarif knew anything about this, that’s damning. If he was clueless, that’s alarming. Which is it?” the analyst asked.

Rosett then concluded that if in fact Zarif had been ignorant of the illicit arms smuggling, the U.S. was negotiating with an Iranian envoy who was “so far out of the loop that he believes his own lies.”

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