Archive for July 2018
Israeli advocacy group goes after $1B in Iranian assets in Europe
July 30, 2018Source: Israeli advocacy group goes after $1B in Iranian assets in Europe – Israel Hayom
Shurat Hadin Israel Law Center petitions Washington court to order European Investment Bank to divulge the scope of Iranian assets it holds, ensure restitution to terror victims • If petition is granted, it will cripple Iran’s business ventures in Europe.
Ariel Kahana
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The headquarters of the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg
|Photo: Reuters
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Dozens of American terror victims have filed a civil lawsuit against the European Investment Bank over its financial ties with Iran.
The Shurat Hadin Israel Law Center, which represents the plaintiffs, has asked a Washington district court to seize $1 billion in Iranian funds held at EIB, saying the money is used to sponsor terrorism.
The Israeli advocacy group argued that Iran has never met any previous ruling ordering it to pay damages to hundreds of terror victims and their families, saying that the money should be used to pay some of those debts.
The group has also petitioned the court to force EIB to disclose the exact nature and scope of the assets its holds for Iran.
If the motion is granted, every Iranian dollar that enters one of the Tehran government’s EIB accounts would be automatically deferred to the plaintiffs. This would make Iran’s efforts to conduct business in Europe and worldwide exceedingly difficult.
Shurat Hadin’s motion was reportedly filed against the backdrop of a dispute between the European Investment Bank’s captains and the European Union officials controlling it.
EIB’s management has reportedly decided to sever its business ties with Iran over the serious implications these ties will have once the U.S. reimposes financial sanctions on the Islamic republic next month.
EU officials, however, have been sparing no effort to appease Iran in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s exit from the 2015 nuclear deal, and have therefore instructed the bank to increase its investments in Iran.
EPA”There are close to $43 billion in unresolved American verdicts against Iran, which has been found liable for terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. Iran has refused to compensate the victims and is continuing to provide monetary support to terrorist groups around the world,” Shurat Hadin Director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner said Sunday.
”Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. No bank in the Western world can carry on doing business with Iran as long as it continues to support murderous terrorist attacks, and as long as the Iranian regime refuses to pay out the judgments awarded against it on behalf of victims of terror,” she said.
Darshan-Leitner further asserted that “if the European Investment Bank continues to do business with Iran, funds sent to Iran through it will be diverted directly to financing terrorism.
”We will not rest and we will pursue the Iranian regime until it takes responsibility for its atrocities it has supported and compensates the victims, as ordered by U.S. courts,” she said.
Iran secretly explores Trump’s terms for negotiating new nuclear deal
July 30, 2018Source: Iran secretly explores Trump’s terms for negotiating new nuclear deal – DEBKAfile
DEBKAfile Exclusive: On July 2, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei initiated secret inquiries into the Trump administration’s conditions for negotiating a new nuclear deal.
Our exclusive sources report he was driven to look for an escape from the tough US sanctions clamped down on Iran, after his advisers warned him that the full weight of those penalties scheduled to fall in August, plus a US ban on Iran’s oil exports in November, would bring the Tehran regime to breaking-point.
On Sunday, July 29, Foreign Minister Muhammed Javad Zarif boasted: “We have enough power to show the United States that it should abandon this addiction. We believe that the world has come to the conclusion that the US should overcome its dependence on sanctions.” The timing of Zarif’s words was telling. They were meant for the ears of US Defense Secretary James Mattis, who that day was receiving at the Pentagon the Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah. According to Oman sources what they discussed was how to de-escalate tensions between the US and Iran.
The Omani minister had previously met with Zarif on July 2 and was able to report to Mattis that the Iranian minister had asked Oman, at Khamenei’s behest, to undertake the role of go-between with Washington. It may be recalled that, during 2012-2015, the Omanis performed on behalf of the Obama administration this same secret diplomatic mission. It led to the signing of Iran’s 2015 nuclear accord with six world powers.
Last May, President Donald Trump ditched that accord as “the worst deal every made.” But according to DEBKAfile’s sources, Trump last week gave Mattis the green light to ask the Omani foreign minister to reopen an indirect channel to Tehran, thus repeating the secret diplomacy pattern used by his predecessor for dealing with the Islamic Republic.
The exploratory steps in motion for a fresh round of nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran will be uncovered in the coming issue of DEBKA Weekly out next Friday, Aug. 3, along with its wide-ranging significance for the Middle East and Gulf regions. If your are not yet on the list of subscribers to his unique publication, click here.
Boat trying to break Gaza blockade seized by Israeli navy
July 30, 2018Source: Boat trying to break Gaza blockade seized by Israeli navy | The Times of Israel
Organizers says vessel ‘hijacked’ and towed to Ashdod; IDF confirms it intercepted the boat, says it was in violation of blockade
The ‘Freedom,’ one of the boats headed to the Gaza Strip in a flotilla defying Israel’s blockade, July 2018 (screen capture: Press TV/Twitter)
The Israeli Navy on Sunday stopped a boat that was trying to break the maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip and started to tow the vessel to the port in Ashdod.
The “Freedom Flotilla” group said that the boat had been “seized” and that the ship had received a warning from the navy prior to the interception.
According to the group, the navy said it would “take all necessary measures” if the vessel did not adjust its course.
The IDF confirmed that it had intercepted the boat and was towing it to the nearby Ashdod port.
“The forces made it clear to the boat that it was violating the blockade and that any humanitarian supplies [it is carrying] can be delivered to Gaza through the port of Ashdod,” the military said in a statement. “The activity ended without any unusual incidents. The boat is being towed to the port of Ashdod at this time.”
Freedom Flotilla@GazaFFlotilla#FreedomFlotilla boat carrying medical supplies for #Gaza hijacked by Israeli forces. Please contact your governments & demand #FreePassage #FreedomOfMovement for #AlAwda with her cargo of solidarity & hope for a Just Future for #Palestinehttps://jfp.freedomflotilla.org/news/freedomflotilla-boat-carrying-medical-supplies-for-gaza-hijacked-by-israeli-forces … #CountdowntoGaza
The “Return” (al-Awda) is one of two vessels making up the flotilla, alongside “Freedom.”
The flotilla was organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an umbrella of organizations aiming to end the closure of Gaza, and set sail from the Danish port of Copenhagen.
Those on board the ships include Prof. Ismail Nazari, chairman of Malaysia’s boycott Israel campaign; Charlie Andreason of Sweden, who spent time in Israeli detention for his role on the Marianne, a Swedish-flagged trawler leading a flotilla of boats in June 2015; Spanish Jewish activist Zohar Shamir Chamberlain; and Heather Milton-Lightening, an activist for indigenous Canadians.
The flotilla’s two-month journey saw the ships stopping off at several European ports to take part in activities supporting the Palestinians’ so-called “March of Return.”
It is under the “March of Return” banner that more than 100 Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed in violent clashes with Israeli security forces along the border fence since March 30.
Most of the Palestinians killed were members of the Hamas terror group, according to the group itself.
Teargas canisters fired by Israeli troops fall over Palestinians during a protest at the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel, Friday, July 13, 2018 (Wissam Nassar/Flash90)
Hamas has promised Gazans that they will “return” to homes in what is now Israeli territory. The Palestinians claim that tens of thousands of original refugees, displaced at the time of Israel’s creation in 1948, and their millions of descendants, have a “right of return.”
Israel will not agree to such a “return,” which would see a Palestinian majority outnumbering Jews and effectively bringing an end to the Jewish state.
Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza since Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, seized the territory from the internationally backed Palestinian Authority in 2007. It says the blockade is in place in order to prevent weapons and other military equipment from entering the Strip.
Critics point to worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza and say the blockade amounts to collective punishment of the two million Palestinians living there. There have been many reports that the coastal strip is “on the verge of collapsing,” and could plunge into a new round of fighting with Israel if conditions do not improve.
A picture taken on June 13, 2017, shows Palestinian children at home reading books by candle light due to electricity shortages in Gaza City. (AFP/ THOMAS COEX)
Egypt, too, has kept its Gaza border crossing largely closed during several years of sour relations with the Islamist group ruling Gaza.
Many attempts have been made to draw attention to the Palestinian cause using blockade-busting flotillas.
Two years ago, 13 women, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland, were detained and then deported after their sailboat, “Women’s Boat to Gaza,” was stopped around 35 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza on its way to break the blockade.
The Israel Navy said at the time that it had stopped the boat to prevent a “breach of the lawful maritime blockade” of the Palestinian enclave and after advising it “numerous times to change course prior to the action.”
The most notorious flotilla sailed in 2010 and involved the Turkish flag-bearing Mavi Marmara, the biggest ship in a six-vessel convoy. IDF commandos who boarded the ship were violently attacked by those on board. Nine Turkish citizens, including one with American citizenship, were killed in the ensuing melee, and a tenth died of his wounds years later. A number of Israeli soldiers were injured in the raid.
Iran currency extends record fall as U.S. sanctions loom
July 30, 2018
Reuters Staff Jul 29, 2018
Source Link:
Iran currency extends record fall as U.S. sanctions loom
{It might help if they removed the Ayatollah’s picture from the note. – LS}
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s currency hit a new record low on Sunday, dropping past 100,000 rials to the U.S. dollar as Iranians brace for Aug. 7 when Washington is due to reimpose a first lot of economic sanctions.
In May, the United States pulled out of a 2015 deal between world powers and Tehran under which international sanctions were lifted in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.
Washington decided to reimpose sanctions upon its withdrawal, accusing it of posing a security threat. It has told countries they must halt imports of Iranian oil from Nov. 4 or face U.S. financial measures.
On Sunday, the rial plunged to 112,000 on the unofficial market, down from about 97,500 rials on Saturday, according to foreign exchange website Bonbast.com. Other websites said the dollar was exchanged between 108,500 and 116,000 rials.
The rial has lost about half of its value since April because of a weak economy, financial difficulties at local banks and heavy demand for dollars among Iranians who fear the effects of sanctions.
The central bank blamed “enemies” for the fall of the currency and a rapid rise in the prices of gold coins and the judiciary said 29 people had been arrested on charges that carry the death penalty.
“The recent developments in the foreign exchange and gold markets are largely due to a conspiracy by enemies with the aim of exacerbating economic problems and causing public anxiety,” the central bank said in a statement read on state television.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei told state television: “29 people have been arrested for economic disruption and will be soon put on trial … More may be arrested tonight and tomorrow.”
“Many of them face the charge of ‘spreading corruption on earth’,” Ejei said, referring to a capital offence under Iran’s Islamic laws.
Besides the currency fall, the expected return of sanctions has triggered street protests including by bazaar traders usually loyal to the Islamist rulers, and a public outcry over alleged profiteering and corruption.
On Saturday, Ejei said 18 people had been arrested over alleged profiteering from foreign exchange dealings and the illegal importing of luxury cars.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called the agreement one of the worst deals ever negotiated but in a bid to salvage the accord, Iran’s European partners in the deal are preparing a package of economic measures.
But France said this month it was unlikely European powers could put the package together before November.
On Aug. 7, Washington will reimpose sanctions on Iran’s purchase of U.S. dollars, its trade in gold and precious metals and its dealings with metals, coal and industrial-related software.
Sanctions also will be reapplied to U.S. imports of Iranian carpets and foodstuffs and on certain related financial transactions.
Iran’s oil exports could fall by as much as two-thirds by this year due to sanctions, straining oil markets amid supply outages elsewhere.
Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg
Mental health break for today .
July 29, 2018
Germany: Rise of the Salafists
July 29, 2018 by Soeren Kern
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12773/germany-salafists
- “Salafists see themselves as defenders of an original, unadulterated Islam…. As a consequence, Salafists want to establish a ‘theocracy’ according to their interpretation of the rules of sharia, one in which the liberal democratic order no longer applies.” — Annual Report of Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
- “Under the guise of humanitarian aid, Islamists succeed in radicalizing migrants. In the past, Salafists in particular tried to reach out to migrants. They visited refugee shelters for this purpose and offered assistance. The target group was not only adult migrants, but also unaccompanied adolescents, who, due to their situation and age, are particularly susceptible to Salafist missionary activities.” — Annual Report of Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
- The BfV report makes a direct link between the increase in anti-Semitism in Germany and the rise of Islamist movements in the country: “The ‘enemy image of Judaism’ therefore forms a central pillar in the propaganda of all Islamist groups…. This poses a significant challenge to the peaceful and tolerant coexistence in Germany.”
The number of Salafists in Germany has doubled over the last five years and now exceeds 10,000 for the first time, according to Germany’s BfV domestic intelligence agency. BfV estimates that Germany is home to more than 25,000 Islamists, nearly 2,000 of whom pose an immediate threat of attack.
The new figures are included the latest annual report of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV), and presented by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and BfV President Hans-Georg Maaßen in Berlin on July 24.
The report, considered the most important indicator of internal security in Germany, draws a bleak picture. The BfV estimates that the number of Islamists in Germany increased to at least 25,810 by the end of 2017, up from 24,425 in 2016.
Strangely, the report does not provide any estimates for the number of followers of the Islamic State or al-Qaeda living in Germany. As a result, the actual number of Islamists in Germany is undoubtedly higher than 25,810.
According to the report, Salafists comprise the single largest Islamist group in Germany. The number of Salafists in Germany jumped to 10,800 in 2017, up from 9,700 in 2016; 8,350 in 2015; 7,000 in 2014; 5,500 in 2013 and 4,500 in 2012.
The BfV report states:
“Salafists see themselves as defenders of an original, unadulterated Islam. They model their religious practice and lifestyle exclusively on the principles of the Koran, the Prophet Mohammed and the first three Muslim generations, the so-called righteous ancestors (Al-Salaf al-Salih in Arabic). As a consequence, Salafists want to establish a ‘theocracy’ according to their interpretation of the rules of sharia, one in which the liberal democratic order no longer applies.
“Political and jihadi Salafists share the same basic ideology. They differ primarily in the means by which they wish to achieve their objective, the ‘Salafist theocracy.’ Political Salafists spread their Islamist ideology through intensive propaganda activities — which they describe as ‘missionary work’ (Dawa) — to transform society, through a long-term process, according to Salafist norms.
“Many political Salafists position themselves as being against terrorism. They emphasize the peaceful nature of Islam and reject open calls for violence. Nevertheless, it should be noted that political Salafism has an ambivalent relationship to violence because in principle it does not exclude religiously inspired violence as a means to achieve its goals.
“In their interpretations of Islam, political Salafists make selective use of the classical works of the Islamic legal literature, which affirms a strong affinity to violence when dealing with non-Muslims. Salafists believe that the universal claim of Islam, due to its superiority as the divine plan of salvation for all of humanity, must be imposed by force if necessary. Therefore, the fundamental affirmation of violence is an intrinsic part of Salafist ideology.
“The two Salafist currents have different but easy-to-bridge views on under which prerequisites violence may be used. This explains why the transition from political to jihadist Salafism is fluid.”
The BfV report states that Salafists are focusing their proselytizing and recruiting efforts on migrants seeking refuge in Germany:
“Under the guise of humanitarian aid, Islamists succeed in radicalizing migrants. In the past, Salafists in particular tried to reach out to migrants. They visited refugee shelters for this purpose and offered assistance. The target group was not only adult migrants, but also unaccompanied adolescents, who, due to their situation and age are particularly susceptible to Salafist missionary activities.
“The diverse propaganda activities of Salafists, which they play down as ‘proselytizing’ or ‘inviting people to Islam’ — it is in truth a systematic indoctrination and often also the beginning of radicalization — are successful: Salafism is the fastest growing Islamist trend in Germany.
“The Salafist scene represents the essential recruitment field for Jihad. Almost without exception, all persons with a German connection who have joined the jihad were previously in contact with the Salafist scene.”
According to BfV, the growth of Germany’s Salafist movement is being fueled in part by migrants from Chechnya:
“Within the Salafist scene in Germany, actors of North Caucasian origin — especially from the Russian Republic of Chechnya — have gained importance. Particularly affected are federal states in Eastern and Northern Germany, as well as North Rhine-Westphalia.
“The North Caucasus Islamist scene is characterized by sprawling, Europe-wide networks and characteristics. It is largely sealed-off to the outside. A critical factor for radicalization is the personal contact spectrum, which connects elements from the religion and the traditional clan structure. The North Caucasus Islamist has established contacts with Middle Eastern jihadi groups due to the ‘successes’ of the North Caucasus fighters in Syria or Iraq.”
The BfV report makes a direct link between the increase in anti-Semitism in Germany and the rise of Islamist movements in the country:
“Islamist propaganda often combines religious, territorial and/or national-political motives with an anti-Semitic worldview. The ‘enemy image of Judaism’ therefore forms a central pillar in the propaganda of all Islamist groups….
“The BfV recorded a large number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2017. The spectrum of incidents ranged from anti-Israeli banners at public events and anti-Semitic sermons to anti-Semitic posts on social media and verbal or physical attacks against individual Jews.
“The BfV has found that all the Islamist groups active in Germany spread and nurture anti-Semitic ideas. This poses a significant challenge to the peaceful and tolerant coexistence in Germany.”
According to BfV, the second-largest Islamist movement in Germany is Millî Görüş (Turkish for “National Vision”), which has around 10,000 members in the country. The movement is strongly opposed to Muslim integration into European society:
“The movement believes that a ‘just’ political order is one founded on ‘divine revelation’ while those systems designed by humans are ‘vain.’ At present, the ‘vain’ Western civilization dominates, based on violence, injustice and exploitation of the weak. This ‘vain’ system must be replaced by a ‘just order,’ based exclusively on Islamic principles, rather than man-made ones and thus ‘arbitrary rules.’ All Muslims should contribute to the realization of the ‘just order.’ To do this, Muslims must adopt a certain vision (Görüş) of the world, namely a national/religious (‘Milli’) vision, a ‘Millî Görüş.'”
In addition to the Salafists and Millî Görüş, BfV estimates that Germany is now home to 1,040 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, 950 members of Hezbollah and 320 members of Hamas.
After presenting the BfV report Interior Minister Horst Seehofer demanded that the government speed-up deportations of Islamists. “We do not have anything under control in any area,” he concluded.
 Pictured: Thousands of people listen as Salafist preacher Pierre Vogel speaks during a gathering of sympathizers on July 9, 2011 in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Christian Augustin/Getty Images) |
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
UNRWA U.N. agency for so-called Palestinian ‘refugees’ to cut 1,000 jobs after U.S. cuts more than $300 million in annual funding
July 29, 2018by
Employees of the corrupt UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza staged a protest for the second day in a row against the agency’s recent decision to scale down its operations and lay off up to 1,000 employees.
U.S. Business Insider“This is a death sentence for us,” said Sabri al-Malawani, who held up his termination letter at a protest outside an UNRWA office.
The United Nations agency that helps Palestinian refugees said on Wednesday it would reduce jobs in Gaza and the West Bank at the end of this month following U.S. budget cuts. The job losses, which trade unionists say will eventually affect 1,000 people, have been prompting protests in Gaza.
SIPSE (h/t Maurice) Earlier this year, the U.S. cut around $300 million in funding to Unrwa, resulting in a $217 million budget shortfall. U.N. officials say the cuts are “the largest ever reduction in funding Unrwa has faced.”
Employees of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency escalated their protest Wednesday in the Gaza Strip against sweeping pay cuts and dismissals as the organization blamed U.S. funding cuts on the crisis.
Hundreds of Unrwa staff continued a sit-in that began Monday at the organization’s Gaza office and announced plans to go on an openended strike, demanding the agency cancel recent job eliminations and downgrading of contracts.
Obviously, it is. Let your oil-rich Arab brothers fund this UN agency for Muslim freeloaders
After the strike tomorrow, we will take more steps that could paralyze life in the Gaza Strip,” Amir al-Miss’hal, head of Unrwa’s Palestinian employees union, told The Associated Press. Al-Miss’hal says the agency technically canceled about 1,000 more jobs by stopping hiring new employees to fill in for those who retired.
One staffer who received a dismissal notice Wednesday attempted to set himself on fire during the sit-in, but bystanders and colleagues stopped him after he poured gasolina on his body. Unwa provides basic services to millions of Palestinians and their descendants, who were made refugees in Gaza, West Bank and neighboring Arab countries after Israel’s creation in 1948.(Um, no, they were ordered to leave the area by Arab leaders who promised they could all return in a few weeks, once the 4 Arab armies had killed all the Israelis and taken back the land that belonged to Israel)
“The American administration’s decision to withhold $300 million had a deep impact on UNRWA’s ability to cater to Palestine refugees’ increasing demands.
Founded in 1949, UNRWA serves an estimated five million Arab refugees in the West Bank, in Gaza (why are there refugees in Gaza which Israel left in 2005?), Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. It is funded mainly by voluntary contributions from U.N. member states…apparently not anywhere near enough now that US has pulled out.
Learn the truth about the so-called Palestinian refugees:
Iran’s Mullahs Must Be Stopped
July 29, 2018By Amil Imani – on
Karl Marx once said derisively about spiritualism: “Religion is the opiate of the people.” If so, one of them is more like crack cocaine.
Islam is a creed of an ignorant people in a primitive and barbaric age. It is fixated in time and place; it harbors the ambition of taking the 21st century world back 14 centuries and ruling it by its dogma of violence, intolerance, injustice and death. Yet Islam is not only an obsolete vestige of a defunct era, but is itself an infinitely fractured belief that can hardly put its own house in order. The numerous Islamic sects are at each other’s throats; sub-sects and schools despise one another as much as they hate non-Muslims. Hatred, not love, drives Islam.
The mullahs take pleasure and pride in their lavish lifestyle and power, and they want to bequeath it to their children, not to the people of Iran. So they assure their minions that Allah does not approve of the anti-Islamic practice of democracy, an invention of “western devils.” Be sure to remember that these crafty, evil men are also long-term planners. They have messianic plans to rule the world someday. And with their lifestyle, they can have their cake and eat it, too: leisure, power, and destruction, insulated from the corrective forces of the political marketplace.
The mullahs are superb practitioners of the art of making a deal. In this practice, as in the game of poker, much depends on how one plays their hand. In the game of deal making, beating around the bush is a standard operating procedure. They know that weak-willed Westerners feel productive when they “talk,” and engage in “negotiations.” These activities do nothing; but then again, accomplishing anything other than advancing their own careers and generating an undeserved sense of self-importance is never the goal of pinheaded diplomats.
Presently, the mullahs have been doing all they can to imprison, rape and kill with impunity the internal opposition, and want the rest of the world to keep its nose out of their “family” business. Executions in Iran have skyrocketed.
Crimes committed by this cult of savagery are too numerous to fully enumerate here. Sallying out of the Arabian desert with the sword of avarice, Muslims attacked civilized people in search of booty. Their early success inflamed their lust and propelled them in their march of death and destruction.
The disciples of Muhammad, following his example, swept away other people’s heritage, antiquities, and way of life at the point of the sword. The agenda left by Muhammad is still the guiding life pattern for his followers. The world is Islam’s, and anyone and anything non-Islamic must be wiped out by any and all means, Muslims believe.
No need to repeat that Islam has never been content to limit itself to the land of its birth. It has always been on a quest for conquest, by force, by migration, and by any other means.
Fourteen hundred years of suffering is far too long for any people, although the Jews hold the record for that misfortune. The Jews have at long last returned to their homeland, even though they are still encircled by the vicious Arab Islamists, who would like nothing better than to drown every last one of them in the sea, similar to the way the Islamists forced our Zoroastrian people out of the country or the remaining few to the edges of inhospitable desert.
With the passage of time, blaming the historical foreign invaders for our sorry plight failed as an explanation. Replaying the long-ago tragic drama of the Imams’ sufferings did little more than supply a superficial psychological relief. Real new enemy-making was in order to keep the victimization mentality alive and prevent the people from self-examination to find the true culprit for their misery.
Selected president Hassan Rouhani’s bellicosity notwithstanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran is on the verge of collapse upon the head of the despised mullahs and their emblematic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). A few nudges from the outside world would serve as the tipping point for the long-suffering Iranians to rise and bury the mullahs in the graveyard that they so richly deserve and have made of Iran.
My advice to the President Trump and the people of my adopted country is this: while enjoying life, don’t let down your guard, and make sure that no one lulls you into the deadly trap of complacency.
Yes, if the mullahs get the bomb, they will make use of it in numerous ways. They will use it for blackmail, they will use it in small packages through untraceable proxies, and they might even launch it by their missiles in a homicide-suicide fashion which is their trademark. After all it is the mullahs’ deeply-held belief that their cataclysmic act will expedite the coming of the Saheb-ul-Zaman (the Lord of the Age), whence he would set the world on the righteous course while those who have hastened his coming will be immersed eternally in the joys of pleasure in Allah’s promised paradise.
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