RUSSIA, N.KOREA AND IRAN.....
Iran warns of 'crushing response' if US deems Revolutionary Guard terrorists -
Tehran Foreign ministry spokesman says America will bear consequences of 'grave mistake' if it sanctions elite unit
Iran warned Monday of a "crushing" response if the US designates the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist entity.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said US plans to target the Revolutionary Guard, a powerful branch of the Iranian military, as part of punishments against the regime, would be a "grave and strategic mistake."
"But if they do, our response will be firm, decisive and crushing and the US needs to accept the consequences," Qasemi said at a press conference, according to Iranian media reports.
"I hope wise people in US will take necessary measures to stop this."
Qasemi also described as "baseless" claims that Iran is working with North Korea on nuclear weapons development. Such accusations are, he said, "Iranophobia."
The warning came the day after the chief of Revolutionary Guard threatened that if the United States designates the unit as a terrorist group, Iran will consider the US Army equivalent to the Islamic State terror group.
Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari also said that if new sanctions against Iran go into effect, the US will have to "find a new place for its military bases, 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) away, outside the range of Iranian missiles," according to Iran's official IRNA news agency.
"If reports on the US decision to enlist Iran's IRGC as a terrorist group happen to be true, the Iranian force would also treat the American Army everywhere in the world and especially in the Middle East in the same way as Daesh (IS) terrorists," he said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif also said Iran would issue an "appropriate response" to the move, vowing that the IRGC would not stop its activity.
The moves are expected to come in concert with a decision by US President Donald Trump to decertify Iranian compliance with the nuclear accord, while not dismantling the deal itself.
The move to target Iranian organizations allows Trump to show he is not easing the pressure against the Islamic Republic, even though the nuclear deal he has long criticized may continue.
The planned actions against Iran include financial sanctions on anyone who does business with the IRGC, as well as millions of dollars in rewards for information leading to the arrest of two operatives of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group.
They form part of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act passed in August which relates to Iran, Russia and North Korea.
It was reluctantly signed into law by Trump.
Currently, US military bases are located in countries neighboring Iran, less than 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Iran's borders.
Revolutionary Guard troops are currently fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
Trump's 'Calm before the Storm' Is A Message to North Korea And Iran - By Alan M. Dershowitz -
Reporters continue scratching their heads about what President Trump meant when he spoke of the "calm before the storm" Thursday as he was hosting a dinner for military commanders and their spouses.
It seems clear to me that he was sending a powerful message to North Korea and Iran: change your behavior now, or prepare to face new but unspecified painful consequences.
North Korea and Iran are taking the measure of President Trump to see how far they can push him and how much they can get away with. The North Koreans continue testing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles and threaten to launch a nuclear attack on America and our allies that could kills millions.
Iran is likely engaging in activities that could contribute to the design and development of its own nuclear explosive device.
If these worrisome actions by the two rogue nations persist, there will be a storm. And as candidate Trump said during his campaign for the White House, he will not tell our enemies what kind of storm to expect -- only that he will not allow current trends that endanger our national security and that of our allies to continue unabated.
The president must make some difficult decisions: whether to continue to rely on economic sanctions that don't appear to be working against North Korea; and whether to refuse to certify Iranian compliance with the bad nuclear deal and demand that additional constraints be placed on the Islamic Republic's dangerous and provocative activities.
President Trump faces an Oct. 15 deadline to decide whether to certify Iranian compliance with the nuclear agreement, which is designed to keep it from developing nuclear weapons for the next few years. News reports say he is expected to refuse to make that certification.
U.S. policy toward both Iran and North Korea is closely related, because we must prevent Iran from joining the nuclear club and becoming another, even more dangerous version of North Korea.
The sad reality is that even if Iran were to comply with the letter of the nuclear agreement, it will still be able to develop the capability to build up a vast nuclear arsenal within a relatively short time. This is the fundamental flaw of the agreement.
And Iran claims that the nuclear deal permits it to refuse to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect military facilities. This has led the IAEA to conclude that it cannot assure the world that Iran is not even now designing and developing a nuclear arsenal with missiles capable of delivering them to American allies in the Mideast and Europe, and soon the U.S. itself.
All the Iranians need to do to become a nuclear power is to resume spinning centrifuges. The nuclear agreement, which was reached with the Obama administration in 2015, will allow them to do that in a few years.
So whether we like it or not, a storm is coming. Whether that storm will be diplomatic, economic or military depends on the leaders of North Korea and Iran. If they choose to negotiate constraints on their increasingly dangerous activities, they can avoid the other more painful options.
Our military options are and should always be a last resort. They are the worst possible options -- other than Iran developing a nuclear arsenal and North Korea developing a nuclear delivery system that can reach our population centers and wipe out major American cities.
With fanatical dictators like those in control of North Korea and Iran, we cannot rely on containment and deterrence as acceptable policies to prevent them from using nuclear weapons, as we have done for years with the Soviet Union (and now Russia) and China.
So President Trump cannot afford to wait and do nothing as Iran and North Korea grow ever stronger, ever more menacing and become greater and greater threats. He must do something -- now. The nature of what is done, and what kind of storm it may be, is up to our enemies. I hope they choose wisely.
Washington Sources Say President Will Reject Iran Nuclear Deal Next Week - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz -
"As for those peoples that warred against Yerushalayim, Hashem will smite them with this plague: Their flesh shall rot away while they stand on their feet; their eyes shall rot away in their sockets; and their tongues shall rot away in their mouths." Zechariah 14:12 (The Israel Bible�)
Multiple sources in Washington D.C. have reported that President Donald Trump plans on decertifying the Iran nuclear deal next week.
On Wednesday, The Washington Free Beacon and The Washington Post reported that President Trump is expected to declare Iran in breach of the deal next week. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal that was brokered by former President Barack Obama with Iran first signed in 2015, has to be recertified by the president every ninety days and the next deadline is October 15. President Trump has recertified the deal twice since entering the Oval Office. If the Iran deal is decertified by the president, the decision is then moved to Congress which will have 60 days to decide the future of the deal, which might include reinstating sanctions that were removed under the agreement.
The president is scheduled to deliver a speech on October 12, but the White House has not confirmed that the speech will take place or what its subject matter will be. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said in a press conference on Thursday, "The president is going to make an announcement about the decision that he's made on a comprehensive strategy that his team supports, and we'll do that in the coming days."
Opponents of the nuclear deal have claimed that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the nuclear watchdog tasked with verifying Iranian compliance, have been prevented from doing their job.
"The IAEA's admission that they are unable to verify a fundamental provision under the nuclear deal-that the Iranians are not engaging in activities or using equipment to develop a nuclear explosive device-is highly alarming. In these circumstances, issuing a compliance certification would be a serious mistake," Texas Senator Ted Cruz said to the press.
"If the Iranians are serious about a peaceful program, they need to prove it. Iran's continued refusal to allow IAEA access to military sites-a clear requirement of the terms of the deal-renders the JCPOA utterly ineffective, and, even worse, a sham that only facilitates Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. This absence of any meaningful verification is yet another reason to vitiate this foolhardy agreement."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last month that he will not reopen the deal for negotiations.
President Donald Trump is expected this week to �decertify� the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known simply as the Iran deal, declaring that the agreement reached in 2015 by the U.S. and five other international powers is not in America�s national interest. The matter will then be tossed back to Congress, which will have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose hefty pre-2015 sanctions.
The Iranian Resistance has been monitoring the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-controlled entity tasked with building the nuclear bomb, the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (Sazman-e Pazhouheshhaye Novin-e Defa�i), known by its Persian acronym SPND, for nearly two decades. SPND is comprised of 7 subdivisions, each of which carries out a certain portion of nuclear weapons research.
The unit responsible for conducting research and building a trigger for a nuclear weapon is called the Center for Research and Expansion of Technologies for Explosion and Impact (Markaz-e Tahghighat va Tose�e Fanavari-e Enfejar va Zarbeh), known by its acronym METFAZ.
Since April 2017, when the NCRI found out about a new military location being used by SPND, the coalition has focused its attention on all the potential SPND sites that we suspected were tasked with building the bomb. The NCRI�s investigation inside Iran was conducted by the network associated with the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which was responsible for blowing the cover off the program, particularly since 2002.
�The more we investigated, the more we realized that the weaponization program is fully operational,� Jafarzadeh said. �The military sector has gone through changes in name, location and reorganizations over the years. However, it has never halted its work and key figures in the sector have remained unchanged.�
One of the key issues of the verification process, the report states, has been access to Iran�s military sites. The regime�s highest officials � from Ali-Akbar Velayti, a foreign policy advisor to Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader of Iran, to Gholam-Hossein Sa�edi, brigadier general of Iran�s elite IRGC, have stated publicly over the past month that they will continue to refuse to allow IAEA inspections of their military sites.
�An important feature of the Iranian regime�s nuclear program is that several sites and centers where nuclear-related activities are conducted are situated in sprawling military complexes that also house scores of tunnels and silos. This not only makes IAEA access to these locations more difficult, but also makes it possible to relocate these centers and projects to other locations within the complex,� Jafarzadeh explained. �As such, if it becomes necessary to relocate a project or center, it can easily be moved to a different silo or tunnel within the parameters of the military site. This makes pinpointing the exact location of nuclear research and activities more challenging, and reduces the chance of exposure.�
As detailed in the report, the Iranian Resistance has identified four major sites that �with high degrees of certainty� have been involved in various aspects of the allegedly ongoing nuclear weapons project.
The first one pinpointed is Pazhouheshkadeh, located at the Parchin military complex 30 miles southeast Tehran, which the report claims has in recent times become the main center for METFAZ�s tests. Parchin, where the country�s military Research Academy is situated, is a sprawling military district run by the Defense Ministry with 12 military and missile complexes. The Defense Ministry refers to each of these units as a �plan,� and the METFAZ center is said to be placed at Plan 6 � officially part of the chemical industries of Parchin complex � a fully IRGC-protected and -fenced in 500-acre parcel.
�To conceal the true nature of its work, the Research Academy conducts its research and activities under the cover of conventional research. However, the Research Academy itself is completely independent and closed off,� the report mandates, adding that since the end of 2015 the IAEA is able to have �very limited access with all sorts of restrictions� to that area inside Parchin.
The report then distinguishes the Nouri Industrial site, situated at the completely secure Khojir military complex southeast of Tehran and spanning 75 square miles.
�The project to actively pursue production of nuclear warheads is conducted in Khojir by the Hemmat Missile Industries Group,� the report notes. �Due to the extreme sensitivity of manufacturing nuclear warheads, Nouri Industry has its own security and military police; individuals who have clearance to other parts of Khojir site are not allowed to go to this section.�
Intelligence findings also reveal that �scores of large underground tunnels have been constructed in this military complex,� this providing �the possibility and flexibility of covering up the activities of the warhead project, or transferring it to a different location in the complex.� Furthermore, the Iranian Resistance states that North Korean experts cooperate with the regime�s experts in the project, and have been �particularly helpful in designing the aerodynamics aspects, the shape of the warhead, and have also provided the design for the Hemmat site, its tunnels, and underground centers.�
IRANIAN EX-PATS RALLY WHILE ROUHANI RAILS
Third, the report claims that the Hafte Tir site � which belongs to the Defense Ministry and is positioned in the military zone near the city of Isfahan, in a mountainous region adjacent to the Isfahan-Shiraz highway six miles from the town of Mobarakeh � is constructed with underground tunnels under the supervision of SPND under the supervision of IRGC Brigadier General Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi.
�In addition to all its security advantages and its location far removed from public sight, it is part of a sprawling military complex which provides the possibility of relocating within the complex and covering up the transfer,� the report states. �The research site related to nuclear activities is located inside of a tunnel, which is about 0.4 miles and contains four galleries. Since Hafte Tir military industries in Isfahan constitutes a major part of the regime�s ammunition production, the cover of a conventional military site protects the work and keeps it secret.�
INSIDE IRAN: WESTERN TOURISM A GROWING GOVERNMENT MONEY-MAKER
Workshops at the Hafte Tir reportedly were used in the past to produce centrifuge components, such as rotor cylinders, and it is believed that in addition to activities in the tunnels, the site �still has a capability to produce those components clandestinely.�
The last site to be identified is the Sanjarian site, east of Tehran on the banks of the Jajrood River around 10 kilometers south of the end of the Babaei Highway, which until recently was deemed the central testing site of METFAZ and a SPND subdivision.
A major portion of the tests and experiments that used to be conducted at Sanjarian, have recently been transferred to Pazhouheshkadeh in Parchin, the findings indicate. While Sanjarian is still functional, it has seemingly become semi-active of late.
IRAN FOREIGN MINISTER DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM US CITIZEN�S ESPIONAGE SENTENCING, �DOUBTS� SYRIA USED CHEMICAL WEAPONS
�Iran�s Nuclear Core: Uninspected Military Sites� concludes that specific intelligence relating to the aforementioned facilities and a further two headquarters �confirms that a significant portion of the various aspects of Iran�s nuclear project have been conceived and developed� even despite the landmark 2015 agreement.
�What is even more troubling is that none of the key nuclear sites situated in military centers have been inspected by the IAEA, certainly not since the JCPOA,� Jafarzadeh added. �Congress should step up pressure by introducing new sanctions to target the IRGC, as well as the apparatus of domestic repression. Because Tehran is vulnerable domestically, such pressure would effectively empower the people of Iran and the organized opposition, who demand fundamental change and seek a secular, democratic, nonnuclear republic in Iran.�
Nonetheless, the Iranian regime has threatened �crushing� retaliation if Trump does indeed decertify its compliance, a move likely to come before the October 15 deadline.
�If the news is correct about the stupidity of the American government in considering the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, then the Revolutionary Guards will consider the American army to be like Islamic State all around the world,� IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said Sunday, according to Reuters.
Ali Akbar Velayati, the adviser to Iran�s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said if the U.S. labeled the IRGC a terrorist organization, then �all options were on the table,� Iranian news agency ISNA reported Monday.
�The Americans are too small to be able to harm the Revolutionary Guards,� Velayati said. �We have all options on the table. Whatever they do, we will take reciprocal measures."
IRANIAN ARMED FORCES SPOKESPERSON: 'IT'S TIME TO TEACH AMERICANS NEW LESSONS'
The president is expected to reveal his Iran policy plans this week, though no date has been set.
Two sources tell Fox News that the plan at the moment is for the president to announce he will not �re-certify� the Iran nuclear deal -- a decision he is expected to make every 90 days. This would trigger a congressional process to determine whether the United States should stay in the deal or seek changes, the sources said.
The president also is expected to call for a broader-approach strategy to confront Iran, including tougher measures against the regime.
On Tuesday, the head of Iran's nuclear agency argued Washington's international standing would suffer if the United States undermined the deal.
"The failure of the nuclear deal will undermine the political credibility and international stature of the U.S. in this tumultuous political environment," Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said.
He expressed hope that "common sense shall prevail."
The U.S. administration has faced two 90-day certification deadlines so far to state whether Iran is meeting the conditions needed to continue enjoying sanctions relief under the deal. Each time, the U.S. has certified the deal.
But Trump more recently has said he does not expect to certify Iran's compliance with an Oct. 15 deadline looming.
While the President�s likely move has generated wide condemnation from foreign policy leaders � who reiterate that the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has maintained Iran is in compliance � a new 52-page investigative report by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), entitled: �Iran�s Nuclear Core: Uninspected Military Sites,� obtained exclusively by Fox News and slated for release Wednesday, asserts that the country�s nuclear weapons program has far from halted.
�It has been known for years that Iran has two nuclear programs � one is civilian and the other, the military, has the goal of giving Iran its first nuclear bomb,� Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the Washington office of the NCRI, also referred to as the Iranian Resistance, and considered the primary opposition coalition to the clerical administration of Iran, told Fox News. �The civilian sector of the nuclear program has systematically provided a plausible logistical cover for the military sector, and acts as a conduit for it. The military aspect of the program has been and remains at the heart of Iran�s nuclear activities.�The Iranian Resistance has been monitoring the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-controlled entity tasked with building the nuclear bomb, the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (Sazman-e Pazhouheshhaye Novin-e Defa�i), known by its Persian acronym SPND, for nearly two decades. SPND is comprised of 7 subdivisions, each of which carries out a certain portion of nuclear weapons research.
The unit responsible for conducting research and building a trigger for a nuclear weapon is called the Center for Research and Expansion of Technologies for Explosion and Impact (Markaz-e Tahghighat va Tose�e Fanavari-e Enfejar va Zarbeh), known by its acronym METFAZ.
Since April 2017, when the NCRI found out about a new military location being used by SPND, the coalition has focused its attention on all the potential SPND sites that we suspected were tasked with building the bomb. The NCRI�s investigation inside Iran was conducted by the network associated with the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which was responsible for blowing the cover off the program, particularly since 2002.
One of the key issues of the verification process, the report states, has been access to Iran�s military sites. The regime�s highest officials � from Ali-Akbar Velayti, a foreign policy advisor to Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader of Iran, to Gholam-Hossein Sa�edi, brigadier general of Iran�s elite IRGC, have stated publicly over the past month that they will continue to refuse to allow IAEA inspections of their military sites.
�An important feature of the Iranian regime�s nuclear program is that several sites and centers where nuclear-related activities are conducted are situated in sprawling military complexes that also house scores of tunnels and silos. This not only makes IAEA access to these locations more difficult, but also makes it possible to relocate these centers and projects to other locations within the complex,� Jafarzadeh explained. �As such, if it becomes necessary to relocate a project or center, it can easily be moved to a different silo or tunnel within the parameters of the military site. This makes pinpointing the exact location of nuclear research and activities more challenging, and reduces the chance of exposure.�
As detailed in the report, the Iranian Resistance has identified four major sites that �with high degrees of certainty� have been involved in various aspects of the allegedly ongoing nuclear weapons project.
Parchin Military Complex at South East Tehran
Plan 6 Zeinoddin in Parchin military complex
Plan 6 of Parchin as well as other sections in the vicinity
General area of Khojir
Parking entrance for Nouri Industry
IRANIAN EX-PATS RALLY WHILE ROUHANI RAILS
Third, the report claims that the Hafte Tir site � which belongs to the Defense Ministry and is positioned in the military zone near the city of Isfahan, in a mountainous region adjacent to the Isfahan-Shiraz highway six miles from the town of Mobarakeh � is constructed with underground tunnels under the supervision of SPND under the supervision of IRGC Brigadier General Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi.
�In addition to all its security advantages and its location far removed from public sight, it is part of a sprawling military complex which provides the possibility of relocating within the complex and covering up the transfer,� the report states. �The research site related to nuclear activities is located inside of a tunnel, which is about 0.4 miles and contains four galleries. Since Hafte Tir military industries in Isfahan constitutes a major part of the regime�s ammunition production, the cover of a conventional military site protects the work and keeps it secret.�
INSIDE IRAN: WESTERN TOURISM A GROWING GOVERNMENT MONEY-MAKER
Workshops at the Hafte Tir reportedly were used in the past to produce centrifuge components, such as rotor cylinders, and it is believed that in addition to activities in the tunnels, the site �still has a capability to produce those components clandestinely.�
Hafte Tir military Complex near Isfahan
Hafte Tir Military Industrial Complex under the supervision of SPND
NCRI exposed METFAZ location near Sanjarian Village in 2009.
METFAZ near Sanjarian village
Nour Bldg and Mojdeh Site of SPND, considered headquarters for nuclear development
Nonetheless, the Iranian regime has threatened �crushing� retaliation if Trump does indeed decertify its compliance, a move likely to come before the October 15 deadline.
Tehran is firing rhetorical warning shots at the United States as President Trump prepares to announce what is expected to be a tougher policy toward Iran, including possibly declining to 're-certify' the 2015 nuclear deal and designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.
In the runup to the decision, Iranian officials have threatened consequences if Trump targets the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.
�I hope that the U.S. ruling body would not make the strategic mistake ... but if it does so, then Iran�s response will be firm, decisive, and crushing and the U.S. should accept its consequences,� Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted saying Monday by the Tasnim News Agency.�If the news is correct about the stupidity of the American government in considering the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, then the Revolutionary Guards will consider the American army to be like Islamic State all around the world,� IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said Sunday, according to Reuters.
"The failure of the nuclear deal will undermine the political credibility and international stature of the U.S. in this tumultuous political environment," Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said. (AP/Gregorio Borgia )
�The Americans are too small to be able to harm the Revolutionary Guards,� Velayati said. �We have all options on the table. Whatever they do, we will take reciprocal measures."
The president is expected to reveal his Iran policy plans this week, though no date has been set.
Two sources tell Fox News that the plan at the moment is for the president to announce he will not �re-certify� the Iran nuclear deal -- a decision he is expected to make every 90 days. This would trigger a congressional process to determine whether the United States should stay in the deal or seek changes, the sources said.
The president also is expected to call for a broader-approach strategy to confront Iran, including tougher measures against the regime.
On Tuesday, the head of Iran's nuclear agency argued Washington's international standing would suffer if the United States undermined the deal.
"The failure of the nuclear deal will undermine the political credibility and international stature of the U.S. in this tumultuous political environment," Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said.
He expressed hope that "common sense shall prevail."
The U.S. administration has faced two 90-day certification deadlines so far to state whether Iran is meeting the conditions needed to continue enjoying sanctions relief under the deal. Each time, the U.S. has certified the deal.
But Trump more recently has said he does not expect to certify Iran's compliance with an Oct. 15 deadline looming.
PLEASE VISIT MY WIFES WEBSITE. SHE RUNS "YOUNG LIVING" WHICH PROVIDES ALL NATURAL OILS THAT CAN BE USED INTERNALLY AND EXTERNALLY INCLUDING A DEFUSER WHICH PUTS AN AMAZING ODOR IN THE AIR. THIS PRODUCT IS SO AMAZING AND KNOW THAT YOU WILL GET YEARS OF ENJOYMENT FROM IT. GOTO HTTP://WWW.YOUNGLIVING.ORG/CDROSES
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.