Posted tagged ‘Iran’

The Iranian Nuke Deal Depends on This One Myth

July 21, 2015

The Iranian Nuke Deal Depends on This One Myth

Iran just wants a lower electricity bill.

July 21, 2015

Daniel Greenfield

via The Iranian Nuke Deal Depends on This One Myth | Frontpage Mag.

Last year Iran was selling gasoline for less than 50 cents a gallon. This year a desperate regime hiked prices up to over a dollar. Meanwhile, Iranians pay about a tenth of what Americans do for electricity.

Unlike Japan, Iran does not need nuclear power. It is already sitting on a mountain of gas and oil.

Iran blew between $100 billion to $500 billion on its nuclear program. The Bushehr reactor alone cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $11 billion making it one of the most expensive in the world.

This wasn’t done to cut power bills. Iran didn’t take its economy to the edge for a peaceful nuclear program. It built the Fordow fortified underground nuclear reactor that even Obama admitted was not part of a peaceful nuclear program, it built the underground Natanz enrichment facility whose construction at one point consumed all the cement in the country, because the nuclear program mattered more than anything else as a fulfillment of the Islamic Revolution’s purpose.

Iran did not do all this so that its citizens could pay 0.003 cents less for a kilowatt hour of electricity.

It built its nuclear program on the words of the Ayatollah Khomeini, “Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males, provided they are not disabled or incapacitated, to prepare themselves for the conquest of [other] countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world.”

Iran’s constitution states that its military is an “ideological army” built to fulfill “the ideological mission of jihad in Allah’s way; that is, extending the sovereignty of Allah’s law throughout the world.”

It quotes the Koranic verse urging Muslims to “strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah”.

Article 3 of Iran’s Constitution calls for a foreign policy based on “unsparing support” to terrorists around the world.  Article 11, the ISIS clause, demands the political unity of the Islamic world.

Iran is not just a country. It is the Islamic Revolution, the Shiite ISIS, a perpetual revolution to destroy the non-Muslim world and unite the Muslim world. Over half of Iran’s urban population lives below the poverty line and its regime sacrificed 100,000 child soldiers as human shields in the Iran-Iraq War.

Iran did not spend all that money just to build a peaceful civilian nuclear program to benefit its people. And yet the nuclear deal depends on the myth that its nuclear program is peaceful.

Obama insisted, “This deal is not contingent on Iran changing its behavior.” But if Iran isn’t changing its behavior, if it isn’t changing its priorities or its values, then there is no deal.

If Iran hasn’t changed its behavior, then the nuclear deal is just another way for it to get the bomb.

If Iran were really serious about abandoning a drive for nuclear weapons, it would have shut down its nuclear program. Not because America or Europe demanded it, but because it made no economic sense. For a fraction of the money it spent on its nuclear ambitions, it could have overhauled its decaying electrical grid and actually cut costs. But this isn’t about electricity, it’s about nuclear bombs.

The peaceful nuclear program is a hoax. The deal accepts the hoax. It assumes that Iran wants a peaceful nuclear program. It even undertakes to improve and protect Iran’s “peaceful” nuclear technology.

The reasoning behind the nuclear deal is false. It’s so blatantly false that the falseness has been written into the deal. The agreement punts on the military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program and creates a complicated and easily subverted mechanism for inspecting suspicious programs in Iranian military sites.

It builds in so many loopholes and delays, separate agreements and distractions, because it doesn’t really want to know. The inspections were built to help Iran cheat and give Obama plausible deniability.

With or without the agreement, Iran is on the road to a nuclear bomb. Sanctions closed some doors and opened others. The agreement opens some doors and closes others. It’s a tactical difference that moves the crisis from one stalemate to another. Nothing has been resolved. The underlying strategy is Iran’s.

Iran decided that the best way to conduct this stage of its nuclear weapons program was by getting technical assistance and sanctions relief from the West. This agreement doesn’t even pretend to resolve the problem of Iran’s nuclear weapons. Instead its best case scenario assumes that years from now Iran won’t want a nuclear bomb. So that’s why we’ll be helping Iran move along the path to building one.

It’s like teaching a terrorist to use TNT for mining purposes if he promises not to kill anyone.

But this agreement exists because the West refuses to come to terms with what Islam is. Successful negotiations depend on understanding what the other side wants. Celebratory media coverage talks about finding “common ground” with Iran. But what common ground is there with a regime that believes that America is the “Great Satan” and its number one enemy?

What common ground can there be with people who literally believe that you are the devil?

When Iranian leaders chant, “Death to America”, we are told that they are pandering to the hardliners. The possibility that they really believe it can’t be discussed because then the nuclear deal falls apart.

For Europe, the nuclear agreement is about ending an unprofitable standoff and doing business with Iran. For Obama, it’s about rewriting history by befriending another enemy of the United States. But for Iran’s Supreme Leader, it’s about pursuing a holy war against the enemies of his flavor of Islam.

The Supreme Leader of Iran already made it clear that the war will continue until America is destroyed. That may be the only common ground he has with Obama. Both America and Iran are governed by fanatics who believe that America is the source of all evil. Both believe that it needs to be destroyed.

Carter made the Islamic Revolution possible. Obama is enabling its nuclear revolution.

Today Tehran and Washington D.C. are united by a deep distrust of America, distaste for the West and a violent hatred of Israel. This deal is the product of that mutually incomprehensible unity. It is not meant to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. It is meant to stop America and Israel from stopping it.

Both Obama and the Supreme Leader of Iran have a compelling vision of the world as it should be and don’t care about the consequences because they are convinced that the absolute good of their ideology makes a bad outcome inconceivable.

“O Allah, for your satisfaction, we sacrificed the offspring of Islam and the revolution,” a despairing Ayatollah Khomeini wrote after the disastrous Iran-Iraq War cost the lives of three-quarters of a million Iranians. The letter quoted the need for “atomic weapons” and evicting America from the Persian Gulf.

Four years earlier, its current Supreme Leader had told officials that Khomeini had reactivated Iran’s nuclear program, vowing that it would prepare “for the emergence of Imam Mehdi.”

The Islamic Revolution’s nuclear program was never peaceful. It was a murderous fanatic’s vision for destroying the enemies of his ideology, rooted in war, restarted in a conflict in which he used children to detonate land mines, and meant for mass murder on a terrible scale.

The nuclear agreement has holes big enough to drive trucks through, but its biggest hole is the refusal of its supporters to acknowledge the history, ideology and agenda of Iran’s murderous tyrants. Like so many previous efforts at appeasement, the agreement assumes that Islam is a religion of peace.

The ideology and history of Iran’s Islamic Revolution tells us that it is an empire of blood.

The agreement asks us to choose between two possibilities. Either Iran has spent a huge fortune and nearly gone to war to slightly lower its already low electricity rates or it wants a nuclear bomb.

The deal assumes that Iran wants lower electricity rates. Iran’s constitution tells us that it wants Jihad. And unlike Obama, Iran’s leaders can be trusted to live up to their Constitution.

Iranian President Rouhani Describes Nuclear Deal, Says: The Superpowers Have Officially Recognized A Nuclear Iran

July 21, 2015

Iranian President Rouhani Describes Nuclear Deal, Says: The Superpowers Have Officially Recognized A Nuclear Iran

ByPamela Geller on July 20, 2015

via Iranian President Rouhani Describes Nuclear Deal, Says: The Superpowers Have Officially Recognized A Nuclear Iran | Pamela Geller.

ihadis with nukes, that’s Obama’s legacy. And remember, he was desperate for this surrender. He usurped Congress, the American people, and our allies — his name will go down in history as one of the most notorious enemies of freedom.
“Iranian President Rouhani Describes Nuclear Deal, Says: The Superpowers Have Officially Recognized a Nuclear Iran,” MEMRI TV, July 20, 2015

On July 14, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani delivered a speech detailing the accomplishments of the new nuclear deal. President Rouhani declared that prayers of the Iranian nation had been answered and described the deal as a “win-win,” adding that Iran was not seeking a nuclear bomb.
Following are excerpts:

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Rouhani: “I hereby declare to the great Iranian people that their prayers have been answered. Today, we are at an important stage in the history of our state and of our [Islamic] Revolution, and in the history of conditions in the region – conditions that, I must say, have continued for the past 12 years, and which were accompanied by illusions on the part of the superpowers, which spread them throughout society and throughout public opinion. The page has been turned over, and a new page has begun.

[…]

“In order to resolve the nuclear issue, we had to take necessary steps in various areas. With regard to politics, we had to prepare the necessary preliminary political steps. With regard to [Iranian] public opinion, [we had to make] them realize that the negotiations were not a recitation of statements, but a give and take. Negotiations mean paying money and buying the desired house. We did not seek charity or to get something for free. We sought negotiations, and sought to advance a fair and just give and take, based on national interests. We have always stressed the point that these negotiations would not be a ‘win-lose’ situation, because such talks are not viable. If negotiations are ‘win-lose,’ they will not be lasting. Negotiations and agreements will be durable and lasting when they are win-win situations for both parties. We explained this to our society, and our negotiation team began the talks on this basis 23 months ago.

[…]

“From the day that I was sworn in [as president], I said that the West would be able to engage in talks with us if it abandons the path of threats and humiliation and embarks upon a path of respect. What was achieved today under the title of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is rooted in dialogue on the part of Iran and respect on the part of the P5+1. Without these two components, we would not have achieved a thing.

[…]

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“In the negotiations we sought to achieve four goals. The first goal was to continue the nuclear capabilities, the nuclear technology, and even the nuclear activity within Iran. The second goal was to lift the mistaken, oppressive, and inhumane sanctions. The third goal was to remove all the UN Security Council Resolutions that we view as illegal. The fourth goal was to remove the Iranian nuclear dossier from Chapter VII of the UN Charter and from the Security Council in general. In today’s agreement, in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, all four goals have been achieved.

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“At the beginning of negotiations, the other side used to tell us that during the period of restrictions – which today is set at eight years – Iran would be able to have only 100 centrifuges. After many deliberations, they have reached the figure of 1,000 centrifuges. Following much opposition on our part, they said: ‘4,000 centrifuges, and that’s final.’ Today, the agreement specifies that Iran will retain over 6,000 centrifuges, of which 5,000 will be at Natanz and over 1,000 at Fordo. All the centrifuges at Natanz will continue to enrich [uranium].

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“They said: ‘The period of your restrictions will be 20 years, in addition to 25 years.’ Later they said: ’20 years and 10 years.’ Then they said: ‘Our last word is 20 years, and we will not capitulate any further.’ In the final days of the negotiations, these 20 years shrank to eight years.

“On the issue of research and development, they used to say that Iran would be allowed only [first-generation] IR-1 [centrifuges]. This was ridiculous and unrealistic. Research and development under such conditions is meaningless. Then they said: ‘IR-2 at most.’ Eventually they said: ‘IR-8 is impossible.’ What Iran sought was IR-6 and IR-8 centrifuges. We wanted an agreement in which we would begin, on the very day of its implementations, to inject UF-6 gas into [advanced] IR-8 centrifuges. That is exactly the agreement that we achieved today.

“On the issue of Arak, they used to say: ‘The reactor can remain, but not as a heavy water facility. This is an absolute red line for us.’ Today, according to the terms agreed upon, the joint agreement explicitly mentions the Arak heavy water reactor. This reactor will be completed with the same heavy water nature, and with the characteristics specified in the agreement.

“On the issue of Fordo, they used to say: ‘It is hard to pronounce the name Fordo, even harder to hear it, so you will not say it and we will not hear it.’ Then they said: ‘At Fordo there should not be a single centrifuge, and it will be a center for isotope research.’ After months of bargaining they said: ‘Only one cascade of 164 centrifuges will remain at Fordo.’ Let me say, in a nutshell, that today, over 1,000 centrifuges will be installed at Fordo, and that part of Fordo will be used for research and development of stable isotopes.

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“On the issue of sanctions they used to say: ‘The lifting of all the sanctions all at once – never. As for the gradual lifting of the sanctions, first you need to gain our trust over the course of months, and even then, the sanctions will be gradually frozen, not lifted. Do not use the term “lift the sanctions.” We will freeze them.’ [They further said]: ‘In the years to come, if the IAEA issues a positive report and you gain our trust, the sanctions will be gradually lifted.’ Today I declare before the honorable Iranian nation that according to the agreement, on the day of its implementation, all the sanctions – even the embargo on weapons, missiles, and [dual-use technology] proliferation – will be lifted, as is stated in a [Security Council] resolution. All the financial sanctions, all the banking sanctions, and all the sanctions pertaining to insurance, transportation, petrochemical [industries], and precious metals, and all the economic sanctions will be completely lifted, and not frozen. Even the arms embargo will be stopped. There will be a kind of restriction [on arms] for five years, after which it will be lifted. With regard to proliferation [of dual-use technology], a committee will examine goods with a dual use. With regard to the revocation of the UN [Security Council] resolutions, they used to say: ‘You have not implemented any resolution, so how can we revoke the resolution? At the very least implement it for six months.’

[…]

“According to today’s agreement, which will be approved in the coming days by the UN Security Council, all six previous resolutions [against Iran] will be revoked. With regard to the permanent removal of the Iranian nuclear dossier from the Security Council, they used to say: ‘The IAEA must report for 20 years,’ then ‘for 15 years.’ In today’s [agreement], regardless of the IAEA, after 10 years of implementation of the agreement, the nuclear dossier will be completely removed from the Security Council.

[…]

“This agreement is, of course, reciprocal.

[…]

“Today, [we are talking about] the implementation of a reciprocal agreement. If they adhere to this agreement, we will too. Throughout history, the Iranian nation has always stood behind the treaties to which it committed itself. We will stand firmly behind the current treaty, provided the other side also strictly adheres to it.

[…]

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“This is the most important day in the past 12 years. Historically, this is the day on which all the large countries and the superpowers in the world have officially recognized Iran’s nuclear activities.

[…]

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Iran Parliament Wants to Revise Nuclear Deal

July 20, 2015

Iran Parliament Wants to Revise Nuclear Deal

by Joel B. Pollak

20 Jul 2015

via Iran Parliament Wants to Revise Nuclear Deal – Breitbart.

Iran’s parliament, the Islamic Constituent Assembly, or Majlis, holds the power to revise or delay key parts of the nuclear deal with Iran–even as President Barack Obama and world powers seek a UN Security Council resolution before the U.S. Congress can review the deal.

On Saturday, the Fars News Agency reported that the Majlis threatened to reject the agreement’s provision on ballistic missiles, which call for an international embargo on missile technology to be extended for eight years–a significant, last-minute concession by the U.S.

Iran wants unrestricted ballsitic missile development and access to conventional arms dealers abroad.

“The parliament will reject any limitations on the country’s access to conventional weapons, specially ballistic missiles,” said Tehran MP Seyed Mehdi Hashemi.

In addition, the nuclear deal says that the Majlis will ratify the Additional Protocol (AP) to the Non-Proliferation Treaty–but it does not say when.

The AP is the key to long-term monitoring of Iranian nuclear research and development by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Without approval of the AP, Iran may hide key information about its nuclear activity, and may accelerate advanced centrifuge research immediately when the nuclear deal expires, among other hazards. (Even then, its commitments under the AP will be somewhat voluntary.)

The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation asserts that the inclusion of the AP in the Iran deal should reassure critics:

While some aspects of the Additional Protocol are present in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, (monitoring fissile material stockpiles from cradle to grave, inspections, information regarding fuel cycle research), the signing of the Additional Protocol represents the continuation of these monitoring and verification provisions long after the comprehensive agreement between the P5+1 and Iran is implemented. Those who are worried that Iran will bide time and wait to build a bomb after the deal has phased out should take comfort in the increased access to facilities (both declared and not) and information provided in perpetuity by the IAEA’s Additional Protocol.

However, there is no guarantee that the AP will be ratified.

Moreover, as the Business Insider notes, while the interim agreement of Nov. 2013 provided that Iran would ratify the AP within one year, there is no such deadline in the final Iran deal. The AP is merely to be applied “provisionally,” while the Majlis decides whether to accept it or not.

Meanwhile, if the Obama administration has its way, the U.S. Congress will have no opportunity to amend the deal–and will have to accept the lifting of international sanctions regardless of whether legislators accept or reject the agreement.

 

Netanyahu: No way to compensate Israel if Iran deal goes through

July 19, 2015

Netanyahu: No way to compensate Israel if Iran deal goes through

By Roi Kais

via Netanyahu: No way to compensate Israel if Iran deal goes through – Israel News, Ynetnews.

In divergent appearances on US media, PM says ‘There are many things to be done to stop Iran’s aggression and this deal is not one of them,’ while Kerry hits back: ‘If the Congress turns this down, there will be conflict in the region because that’s the only alternative’.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to do battle against a pro-deal media campaign Sunday, urging US lawmakers to hold out for a better Iran deal, and saying there was no way to compensate Israel if the nuclear agreement goes through.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz also gave competing interviews Sunday, contesting Netanyahu’s point of view.

“I think the right thing to do is merely not to go ahead with this deal. There are many things to be done to stop Iran’s aggression and this deal is not one of them,” Netanyahu said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” as he continued a string of US media interviews denouncing the deal reached on Tuesday between Iran and six major powers.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo:Reuters)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo:Reuters)

Netanyahu said he felt obligated to speak out because the deal endangers his country, the region and the world and there was no way Israel could feel safe if it takes effect.

The strain in US-Israeli relations was further evident over the weekend, when it was revealed that Kerry spoke with Netanyahu on Thursday, saying that the idea of reaching a better deal with Iran over its nuclear program is a “fantasy.”

As part of media offensive launched by President Barack Obama after the signing of the deal, Kerry has given several interviews with the intent of explaining the agreement to the public – an agreement that Congress lawmakers have up to 82 days to review.

The secretary of state rejected Netanyahu’s position that the West should maintain pressure until Iran entirely capitulates its nuclear ambitions. “They won’t be crushed by sanctions; that’s been proven. We’ll lose the other people who are helping to provide those sanctions. They’re not going to do that if Iran is willing to make a reasonable agreement.

“If the Congress turns this down, there will be conflict in the region because that’s the only alternative,” said Kerry. “The Ayatollah, if the United States says no, will not come back to the table to negotiate and who could blame him under those circumstances?”

Kerry also addressed Netanyahu’s concerns that Iran will use its newly recovered financial capabilities to fund its proxies throughout the region and increase its military influence, directly endangering Israel’s security interests.

“They’re not allowed to do that, even outside of this agreement. There is a UN resolution that specifically applies to them not being allowed to transfer to Hezbollah.”

 

Kerry with the deal in hand. (Photo: AFP)
Kerry with the deal in hand. (Photo: AFP)

 But according to Kerry, Iran will struggle to find additional cash for its proxies for the next several years at least. “President Rouhani needs to deliver to the Iranian people. They have high expectations from this deal for a change in their lifestyle. Iran needs to spend $300 billion just to bring their oil industry capacity back to where it was five years ago.

 

President Barack Obama has promised to exercise his veto if Congress rejects the deal. Overriding the veto will require a two-thirds majority of both the House of Representatives and Senate, so the administration is working to win over enough of Obama’s fellow Democrats to offset strong Republican opposition.

 

Rueters contributed to this article.

 

First Published: 07.19.15, 12:01

Steinitz slams Kerry claim that better Iran deal was ‘fantasy’

July 19, 2015

Steinitz slams Kerry claim that better Iran deal was ‘fantasy’

Likud minister calls assessment by top US diplomat ‘baseless,’ says Tehran must be accountable for past actions

By Tamar Pileggi and Times of Israel staff July 19, 2015, 4:53 pm

via Steinitz slams Kerry claim that better Iran deal was ‘fantasy’ | The Times of Israel.

Yuval Steinitz (Photo credit: Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

Yuval Steinitz (Photo credit: Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

National Infrastructure Minister Yuval Steinitz on Sunday slammed remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who over the weekend dismissed as “fantasy” an Israeli claim that it was possible to have penned a better nuclear deal than the one signed by world powers and Iran last week.

“To the best of our professional assessment, these remarks are baseless,” Steinitz, a close associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Army Radio on Sunday.

“One can easily think of a better agreement in which, as is the international practice in such cases, Iran must reveal everything it has done in the past and not simply answer questions of procedure, which really ignores the issue,” he said.

Speaking on US television Friday, Kerry insisted that Israel that “will be safer” under the terms of the nuclear deal, and that the concept of a more stringent nuclear deal was unrealistic.

Kerry said that Netanyahu and other detractors of the deal had not offered an alternative, and promised to increase US support to Israel and America’s other Mideast allies.

“American security cooperation and help will only increase,” he promised. “President [Barack] Obama is prepared to upgrade that,” he told PBS.

John Kerry speaks to Judy Woodruff of PBS's "Newshour" on the Iranian nuclear deal, July 17, 2015. (screen capture/PBS/YouTube)

John Kerry speaks to Judy Woodruff of PBS’s “Newshour” on the Iranian nuclear deal, July 17, 2015. (screen capture/PBS/YouTube)

 

Obama, he said, would be willing “to work to do more to be able to address specific concerns” Israel has over the details of the agreement, intended to curb Iran’s nuclear drive in exchange for sanctions relief.

“But we still believe that Israel will be safer with a one-year breakout [to a nuclear weapon] for the ten years [of restrictions stipulated by the deal], than two months,” Kerry said. The assessment that it would currently take two months for Iran to “break out” to a nuclear weapon is based on many Western intelligence estimates.

Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog, Yesh Atid head MK Yair Lapid and other political leaders have slammed the deal, which leaves much of Iran’s enrichment infrastructure and offensive missile programs intact, and, they say, depends on trusting the Iranian regime to adhere to the agreement despite a long record of breaking previous promises.

Those worries are shared by many US lawmakers working to pass congressional resolutions and bills that might stymie the deal, or at least curtail America’s implementation of its part of the agreement.

“Now there’s no alternative being provided by all these other people,” Kerry charged.

“There’s a lot of fantasy out there about this – quote – ‘better deal.’ The fact is we spent four years putting together an agreement that had the consent of Russia, China, France, Germany, Great Britain and Iran. That is not easy, and I believe the agreement we got will withstand scrutiny and deliver an Iran that cannot get a nuclear weapon,” he said.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter was scheduled to arrive in Israel Sunday to discuss the deal and American help in countering Iranian actions in the region. He will also visit Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states sharing similar concerns over the regional repercussions of the agreement.

Kerry will follow him to the region a week later, meeting with Israeli officials as well as Persian Gulf Arab leaders in Doha.

AP contributed to this report.

Iran’s Khamenei hails his people for demanding Death to America and Israel

July 18, 2015

Iran’s Khamenei hails his people for demanding Death to America and Israel

WATCH: Supreme leader says he hopes God will answer these prayers; vows nuclear deal won’t change Iran’s position for Palestine, against ‘arrogant US’

By Times of Israel staff and AFP July 18, 2015, 4:37 pm

via Iran’s Khamenei hails his people for demanding Death to America and Israel | The Times of Israel.

ran’s supreme leader on Saturday hailed the Iranian masses for demanding the destruction of Israel and America, and said he hoped that God would answer their prayers.

In a speech in Tehran four days after Iran and the world powers signed an accord designed to thwart Iran’s nuclear program, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised “the slogans of the people of Iran” which “indicated what directions they’re heading for,” according to the English translation of his speech by Iran’s Press TV.

At Al-Quds day rallies last week, Khamenei noted appreciatively, “You heard ‘Death to Israel’, ‘Death to the US.’ You could hear it. The whole nation was shaken by these slogans. It wasn’t only confined to Tehran. The whole of the nation, you could hear, that was covered by this great movement. So we ask Almighty God to accept these prayers by the people of Iran.”

Khamenei also vowed in the speech, which was broadcast live on state television, that the nuclear agreement with the major powers would not change Iran’s policy against the “arrogant American government” nor would it change the Islamic Republic’s policy of supporting its “friends” in the region.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not give up support of its friends in the region — the oppressed people of Palestine, of Yemen, the Syrian and Iraqi governments, the oppressed people of Bahrain and sincere resistance fighters in Lebanon and Palestine… Our policy will not change with regards to the arrogant US government,” said Khamenei.

Crowds in Tehran listen to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on July 18, 2015 (YouTube screenshot)

His remarks were greeted intermittently by chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” at the ceremony, held in Tehran to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan

Under the deal announced Tuesday, Iran’s nuclear program will be scaled back and closely monitored as the US and world powers seek to cut off its ability to develop an atomic weapon. In exchange, Iran will see biting economic sanctions gradually lifted, freeing up tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue and frozen assets.

President Barack Obama on Saturday defended the deal with Iran, saying it “actually pushes Iran further away from a bomb. And there’s a permanent prohibition on Iran ever having a nuclear weapon.”

Khamenei backed up his words Saturday with a series of Twitter posts repeating his key messages. “Even with #IranDeal, our policies toward US Arrogant system will see no change. US policies in the region differ through 180° from Iran’s,” said one.

“The text approved or not, we won’t stop supporting the oppressed nation in Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Bahrain and Lebanon,” said another.

He added: “We have no talks with US on any intl& regional issues.We’ve had occasional talks with US on basic issues like NuclearTalks based on prudence.”

Iran has long been a sponsor of the Syrian regime headed by embattled President Bashar Assad, as well as Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah. The Shiite Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, has sent forces to fight alongside the Assad regime against rebels sworn to overthrow it.

The supreme leader’s comments reflected his longstanding position that Iran‘s engagement with the six powers was solely to reach a nuclear deal that was in its national interest.

He stressed that the deal with Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany was not yet law and would have to be carefully scrutinized.

“They really took pains and worked hard,” Khamenei said of Iran‘s negotiating team.

“The text that has been prepared, whether it is approved or not, they have done their part and they should have their reward,” he added.

As Iran‘s supreme leader, Khamenei has the final word on all policy matters, foreign and domestic, including on the nuclear deal.

In numerous speeches before this week’s accord, he appeared ambiguous about the talks, consistently talking down the chances of success but at the same time praising Iran‘s negotiators as trustworthy and brave.

In his first comment on the deal, Khamenei had warned Wednesday that some of the world powers are unreliable, and that the agreement must be scrutinized to ensure the other parties don’t violate it.

“We know it well that some of the six governments from the opposite party are by no means reliable,” Khamenei told Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a letter published on the supreme leader’s Persian-language website, in a possible allusion to the United States. Translations of the letter’s text were published on Iranian English news sites.

Khamenei had the final say in approving the deal, despite cautioning weeks earlier that the United States couldn’t be trusted in the talks. On the Saturday before the deal was struck, Khamenei also told students that Iran would continue to fight the US’s “global arrogance” whether or not an accord was reached.

Iran Extends Olive Branch to Muslim Countries

July 18, 2015

Iran Extends Olive Branch to Muslim Countries Following Deal

Iran tells fellow Muslim countries it hopes nuclear deal would pave the way for more cooperation.

By Elad Benari, Canada

First Publish: 7/18/2015, 2:14 AM

via Iran Extends Olive Branch to Muslim Countries – Middle East – News – Arutz Sheva.

Iran, embarking on a diplomatic offensive in the wake of its nuclear deal with world powers, told fellow Muslim countries on Friday it hoped the accord could pave the way for more cooperation in the Middle East and internationally, Reuters reported.

The country’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, made the comment in a message to Islamic and Arab countries on the occasion of the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the ministry’s website said.

“By solving the artificial crisis about its nuclear program diplomatically, a new opportunity for regional and international cooperation has emerged,” Zarif said, according to Reuters.

The Iranian foreign minister will travel to Gulf countries at some point after the Eid holiday, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told state news agency IRNA late on Thursday.

She said Iran was seriously determined to further expand ties with regional states and its neighbors, some of which include Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab states who accuse Shiite power Tehran of interfering in the Arab world.

The nuclear deal might be a tough sell for the Gulf states, which have voiced their opposition to the deal. The major Sunni states have warned that a final agreement could allow Shiite-dominated Iran, their regional rival, to keep the technologies needed to produce nuclear weapons.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, on Thursday warned Iran not to use the nuclear deal to pursue “adventures” in the Middle East, but rather use it to improve its own economy.

On Tuesday, after the deal was announced, the official Saudi news agency quoted unnamed officials in the kingdom as calling on Iran not to abuse funds that will follow from the deal to cause turmoil in the region.

And, even before the deal was signed, the United Arab Emirates said it would be seeking a written guarantee from the United States with regards to Iran “given its behavior in the region.”

According to Reuters, as part of the reaching out to other countries, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Friday also had a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and underlined that importance of the Vienna agreement for Tehran-Ankara relations.

Congress Lines Up to Oppose Iran Nuke Deal

July 17, 2015

Congress Lines Up to Oppose Iran Nuke Deal

Nearly 200 House lawmakers express disapproval

BY:
July 17, 2015 8:20 am

via Congress Lines Up to Oppose Iran Nuke Deal | Washington Free Beacon.

 

Nearly 200 House lawmakers have lined up behind a resolution opposing the recently signed Iran nuclear deal, according to a copy of the measure obtained by the Washington Free Beacon and congressional sources apprised of the situation.

Less than a week after the Obama administration agreed to a deal with Iran that will provide it with billions of dollars in economic sanctions relief, at least 171 Republican House lawmakers have backed a measure expressing disapproval of the deal, the Free Beacon has learned.

As the Obama administration works to wrangle a coalition of lawmakers in support of the deal, the House resolution appears to be a sign that many in Congress have already decided to oppose it.

Congress has 60 days to review the deal and then take an up or down vote on it. The Obama administration has already vowed to veto any rejection of the deal by Congress.

The House resolution, which has already garnered widespread support from leading lawmakers, expresses “form disapproval” of the nuclear deal and reiterates congressional support to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon, according to a copy of the measure, which was spearheaded by Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.)

The resolution also rejects key portions of the deal, including ones providing Iran with billions of dollars in assets and approving of the Islamic Republic’s right to construct ballistic missiles and freely purchase arms.

In addition, it highlights that the deal “allows key restraints on Iran’s nuclear program to expire within 10 to 15 years, including those on Iran’s domestic uranium enrichment program and heavy-water reactor at Arak,” according to the measure.

“The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] fails to address Iran’s egregious human rights record, Iran’s role as the world’s leading state-sponsor of international terrorism, and Iran’s unjust imprisonment of innocent United States citizens,” the resolution states.

Lawmakers and analysts in recent days have accused the White House of trying to bypass congressional approval of the deal by going straight to the United Nations.

If the U.N. approves the deal before Congress signs off, the Obama administration could have leverage to begin removing key sanctions on Iran.

The deal also prohibits American nuclear inspectors from entering any contested Iranian site.

The resolution has already attracted the support of 171 House lawmakers and is expected to garner many more, according to congressional sources.

In addition to Roskam, 14 of 22 House committee chairs have lent their support for the resolution, as well as three members of the House leadership and other notable legislators, such as Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.), Jim Jordon (R., Ohio), and Bill Flores (R., Texas).

Roskam told the Free Beacon that the final deal fails to adequately address key nuclear concerns and rein in Tehran’s rogue behavior.

“This agreement fails on every level to ensure Iran never acquires a nuclear weapons capability. Tehran is allowed to keep much of its nuclear infrastructure intact and is rewarded a $150 billion cash infusion from sanctions relief,” Roskam said. “The so-called ‘anytime, anywhere’ inspections regime in reality provides Iran nearly a month’s notice on inspections.”

“And, in an unprecedented last-minute concession, the U.N. arms embargo and ban on ballistic missiles will be lifted in just a few short years,” he added. “This is a bad deal and it must be stopped.”

Roskam explained that his legislation will “set the stage” for the 60-day review period being undertaken by Congress.

“The unprecedented outpouring of support for this resolution proves that Congress will not rubber-stamp a deal that severely threatens the United States and our allies by paving Iran’s path to a bomb,” he said.

One senior congressional aide familiar with the resolution said that a large number of lawmakers have already made their mind up about the deal.

“Attracting this level of opposition to the deal so early in the process is remarkable,” the source said. “Members are lining up behind this resolution for one simple reason: the administration’s nuclear agreement is an unmitigated disaster. Iran gets everything it wants and more—sanctions relief, lax inspections, conventional weapons, and even ballistic missiles.”

While the Obama administration “may be confident that it has a veto-proof majority in both chambers,” the quick “outpouring of dissent from Congress with two months before a vote could halt the agreement in its tracks,” the source said.

Investors eye rewards and risks in post-sanctions Iran

July 17, 2015

Investors eye rewards and risks in post-sanctions Iran

Foreign companies are flocking to seize business opportunities in Tehran, though analysts warn market is tricky

By AFP July 17, 2015, 9:25 am

via Investors eye rewards and risks in post-sanctions Iran | The Times of Israel.

TEHRAN, Iran — Foreign firms are eager to exploit the potential of Iran’s long-isolated economy following a landmark nuclear deal, but experts say doing business in the Islamic Republic will remain hugely challenging.

The agreement between Tehran and major powers announced in Vienna on Tuesday offers an opening for international companies as sanctions are rolled back in return for steps to rein in Iran’s nuclear program.

With the ink barely dry, Germany said its vice-chancellor and economy minister Sigmar Gabriel would visit Iran for three days from Sunday with a “small delegation of industry and science representatives.”

His ministry said there was “great interest on the part of German industry in normalizing and strengthening economic relations with Iran.”

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Italian Economic Development Minister Federica Guidi also plan to visit Iran following the nuclear accord.

But despite the buzz over the historic agreement, analysts said Iran was no El Dorado for foreign firms.

“Doing business in Iran will not change overnight as the country suffers from an outdated legal system, restrictive labor laws and a lack of significant experience in dealing with international investors,” said Firas Abi Ali, an analyst at London-based research firm IHS.

French firms, particularly in the car industry, are already well established in Iran although they have suffered from the international sanctions imposed since 2006.

“Companies set to benefit most immediately” from the rollback of sanctions “are those that are already present in Iran,” said Ramin Rabii, head of Turquoise Partners Group, an investment firm in Tehran. They include firms such as Danone, Airbus and LVMH.

French manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroen, which quit Iran, its second-largest market, in early 2012, is discussing a renewed partnership with IranKhodro.

PSA said that the nuclear agreement “should allow significant progress in ongoing discussions.”

Germany’s BDI industry federation believes exports to Iran could rise fourfold to more than 10 billion euros ($10.9 billion) in the medium-term, up from 2.4 billion in 2014, thanks to the need to modernize industry, especially the oil sector.

Italian exports — which stood at 1.15 billion euros before the sanctions, led by machine tool sales — could reach four billion euros in 2018, according to estimates from export credit company Sace quoted in the Italian press.

For major companies a priority is for Iran to be reconnected to the global network of SWIFT banking transactions to enable companies present in Iran to transfer funds directly to and from that country.

One area in need of urgent investment is the creaking oil sector.

Iran, which has the world’s fourth-biggest oil reserves, has seen its production fall to less than three million barrels per day (bpd) since 2012.

Its oil exports have roughly halved to about 1.3 million bpd, from 2.5 million bpd in 2011.

Iran also has the world’s largest reserves of gas and was the number four producer last year.

“Our priority is to develop our oil and gas fields using domestic and foreign potential,” Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said.

He said his country wanted to “accelerate” the development of the petrochemical industry, but experts said foreign energy companies face numerous hurdles.

“Although the deal will present foreign oil and gas companies in particular with a broad range of opportunities, the operating environment in a post-sanctions Iran will almost certainly remain challenging,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst with Verisk Maplecroft.

“While Iran has committed to improving the fiscal terms offered to oil and gas companies, the country’s petroleum bureaucracy remains bloated and inefficient.”

Obama’s Iran Nuke Deal Lies

July 15, 2015

Obama’s Iran Nuke Deal Lies

The dirty details of the agreement that the president is trying to hide.

July 15, 2015

Joseph Klein

via Obama’s Iran Nuke Deal Lies | Frontpage Mag.

The United States and its five negotiating partners (Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and Germany) reached an agreement July 14th on the final terms of a deal with Iran, under which Iran would curb its nuclear program for a period of time in return for sanctions relief.

The agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (or JCPOA for short), will go into effect on what is called “Adoption Day” –  the date 90 days after the endorsement of the JCPOA by the UN Security Council, or such earlier date as may be determined by mutual consent of the JCPOA participants. The Security Council is expected to act within days to endorse the deal.

During his victory lap announcing that a final deal had been reached with Iran, President Obama warned that he would veto any congressional legislation blocking his legacy foreign policy achievement. The president declared that the agreement was “built on verification,” not trust.  In this regard, Obama claimed that international inspectors will have 24/7 access to Iran’s key nuclear facilities to ensure Iran is fulfilling its commitments. “[Inspectors] will have access to Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain – its uranium mines and mills, its conversion facility, and its centrifuge manufacturing and storage facilities,” he said. “This ensures that Iran will not be able to divert materials from known facilities to covert ones.”

A so-called “fact sheet” issued by the White House assures the public that “Iran won’t garner any new sanctions relief until the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] confirms that Iran has followed through with its end of the deal.” If Iran violates the deal, any lifted sanctions can be snapped “back in place,” according to the White House.

Looking down the road long after he has left office, Obama said that “I have no doubt 10 or 15 years from now the person who holds this office will be in a far stronger position with Iran further away from a weapon and with the inspections and transparency that allow us to monitor the Iranian program. For this reason I believe it would be irresponsible to walk away from this deal.” He added that “no deal means a greater chance of more war in the Middle East.”

As is so often the case, President Obama is misleading the American people. The fact is there will be no 24/7 “anywhere, anytime” inspections allowed of undeclared suspicious sites. The fine print of the final JCPOA agreement provides Iran with the means to delay any inspections of undeclared suspected sites requested by the IAEA. Iran is empowered to raise objections to inspections of suspected sites, which would then have to be assessed by a commission that includes Iran itself as a member. Iran will thus have opportunities to exploit the mechanisms for international verification inspections, allowing it to rotate its covert nuclear arms activities from secret site to secret site during a protracted dispute resolution process:

If the absence of undeclared nuclear materials and activities or activities inconsistent with the JCPOA cannot be verified after the implementation of the alternative arrangements agreed by Iran and the IAEA, or if the two sides are unable to reach satisfactory arrangements to verify the absence of undeclared nuclear materials and activities or activities inconsistent with the JCPOA at the specified locations within 14 days of the IAEA’s original request for access, Iran, in consultation with the members of the Joint Commission, would resolve the IAEA’s concerns through necessary means agreed between Iran and the IAEA. In the absence of an agreement, the members of the Joint Commission, by consensus or by a vote of 5 or more of its 8 members, would advise on the necessary means to resolve the IAEA’s concerns. The process of consultation with, and any action by, the members of the Joint Commission would not exceed 7 days, and Iran would implement the necessary means within 3 additional days.

Russia and China (who are sympathetic to Iran’s positions on a number of issues, including sanctions relief) and Iran itself will be members of the Joint Commission, along with the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the European Union. Masters at deception, the Iranian regime will be able to play for time and conduct a shell game, while the inspectors struggle to catch up and the Joint Commission tries to reach some sort of resolution. Undisclosed underground sites can easily hide work on developing nuclear warhead technologies, for example.

Sanctions relief will not be linked solely to verifiable proof of Iran’s compliance with each of its specific commitments, such as reducing its stockpile of enriched uranium, de-commissioning thousands of its centrifuges, and redesigning its Arak heavy-water nuclear reactor so it cannot produce any weapons-grade plutonium. An estimated $100 billion in frozen assets could be made available to Iran reasonably soon, with no restrictions on Iran’s spending to sponsor more global terrorism. The money can be used to buy conventional arms including missiles, since the JCPOA contemplates the removal of sanctions on the import and export of conventional arms. And again, one needs to look at the fine print. Buried in the JCPOA text is a provision that would appear to allow for the removal of certain sanctions 8 years after the JCPOA goes into effect (Adoption Day) or the date on which the Director General of the IAEA submits a report stating that the IAEA has reached the “Broader Conclusion” that all nuclear material in Iran remains in peaceful activities, whichever is earlier. This means Iran can obtain sanctions relief even if it does not prove to the IAEA’s satisfaction that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful as Iran has claimed all along that it is.

There is also some confusion as to whether sanctions will be lifted against Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Maj. General Qasem Soleimani, who has American blood on his hands. The Obama administration is saying no at least as to non-nuclear related sanctions, but the Iranians are claiming that under the terms of the agreement “Major Gen. Qassem Soleimani will be taken off sanctions lists.”

In any event, once the unraveling of the sanctions regime begins to take place, it will be practically impossible to put the genie back into the bottle with some sort of “snap back.” Russia and China, eyeing lucrative arms deals, can be expected to take Iran’s side against any snap back. France, protecting its business interests in Iran developed after the lifting of sanctions, would most likely be reluctant to reverse course absent compelling evidence of widespread violations that present an imminent threat.

Longer term, the deal as presently structured will put our children and grandchildren under the threat of an Iranian nuclear mushroom cloud even if Iran were to abide by the temporary restrictions in place for the next decade or so. Iran will be able to reach a breakout time (the time it would take to amass enough nuclear material to produce a nuclear bomb) of near zero after the expiration of those restrictions, because its core nuclear enrichment infrastructure and research program to develop advanced centrifuges will not have been dismantled. Obama admitted last April that Iran could have near zero breakout time starting in Year 13 when Iran would have “advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium fairly rapidly.” However, he said nothing about this overhang in his praise of the final deal.

As for President Obama’s claim that “no deal means a greater chance of more war in the Middle East,” a bad deal will inevitably set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. And based on the details we know so far, the negotiated JCPOA is a bad deal that Congress should overwhelmingly reject. Despite Obama’s pro-forma calls of reassurance to the leaders of Israel and Saudi Arabia after the deal was announced, Obama has pivoted away from them towards a policy of rapprochement with the Iranian regime. He has done so against the drumbeat of continued cries by Iran’s leaders for “Death to America” and their holding of four Americans hostage.