WAR Main Persian Gulf Trouble thread
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Posted for fair use.....
www.arabnews.com
Turkey launches new raid in northern Iraq
AFP
April 24, 2021 13:03
1132
ISTANBUL, Turkey: The Turkish army on Saturday launched a new ground and air operation against outlawed Kurdish militants’ bases in northern Iraq, officials and local media reported.
“Heroic commandos of the heroic Turkish Armed Forces are in northern Iraq,” the defense ministry said in a tweet without specifying how many soldiers were involved.
Turkish media said commando forces landed in the Metina region from helicopters while warplanes dropped bombs on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets.
Turkish television showed images of paratroopers jumping from helicopters and camouflaged soldiers firing guns.
The PKK, listed as a terror group by Turkey and much of the international community, has for decades used Iraq’s northern mountains as a springboard for its insurgency against the Turkish state.
The Turkish army regularly conducts cross-border operations and air raids on PKK bases in northern Iraq.
In February, Turkey launched an operation dubbed “Claw-Eagle 2” against PKK rebels holed up in the northern Iraqi region of Dohuk.
That operation created controversy because it was designed in part to rescue 12 Turkish soldiers and an Iraqi held captive by the PKK in a cave.
Turkey accused the PKK of executing the 13 men before they could be freed.
The Kurdish insurgency against the Turkish state is believed to have killed tens of thousands of people since being launched in 1984.
Turkey launches new raid in northern Iraq
ISTANBUL, Turkey: The Turkish army on Saturday launched a new ground and air operation against outlawed Kurdish militants’ bases in northern Iraq, officials and local media reported. “Heroic commandos of the heroic Turkish Armed Forces are in northern Iraq,” the defense ministry said in a tweet...
www.arabnews.com
Turkey launches new raid in northern Iraq
- Turkish media said commando forces landed in the Metina region from helicopters while warplanes dropped bombs on Kurdistan Workers’ Party targets
- The Turkish army regularly conducts cross-border operations and air raids on PKK bases in northern Iraq
AFP
April 24, 2021 13:03
1132
ISTANBUL, Turkey: The Turkish army on Saturday launched a new ground and air operation against outlawed Kurdish militants’ bases in northern Iraq, officials and local media reported.
“Heroic commandos of the heroic Turkish Armed Forces are in northern Iraq,” the defense ministry said in a tweet without specifying how many soldiers were involved.
Turkish media said commando forces landed in the Metina region from helicopters while warplanes dropped bombs on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets.
Turkish television showed images of paratroopers jumping from helicopters and camouflaged soldiers firing guns.
The PKK, listed as a terror group by Turkey and much of the international community, has for decades used Iraq’s northern mountains as a springboard for its insurgency against the Turkish state.
The Turkish army regularly conducts cross-border operations and air raids on PKK bases in northern Iraq.
In February, Turkey launched an operation dubbed “Claw-Eagle 2” against PKK rebels holed up in the northern Iraqi region of Dohuk.
That operation created controversy because it was designed in part to rescue 12 Turkish soldiers and an Iraqi held captive by the PKK in a cave.
Turkey accused the PKK of executing the 13 men before they could be freed.
The Kurdish insurgency against the Turkish state is believed to have killed tens of thousands of people since being launched in 1984.
jward
passin' thru
21 April 2021
Israel says Iranian missile could have 5,000 km range
by Jeremy Binnie
A ballistic missile based on Iran’s new Zoljanah satellite launch vehicle would be able to carry a 1 tonne warhead 5,000 km, according to an estimate of the rocket’s capabilities that Israel’s ambassador to the UN submitted to the Security Council in a letter dated 7 April.
The Zoljanah before its launch from the Khomeini Space Centre. (Islamic Republic News Agency)
This capability would make the missile by far the most powerful in Iran’s arsenal as the longest range it can currently achieve is 3,000 km with the Khorramshahr liquid-propellant missile, fitted with a 750 kg warhead, according to a European estimate submitted to the Security Council in March 2019.
A 5,000 km range would ostensibly enable Iran to target every European country, including Iceland.
The Zoljanah was unveiled with a suborbital flight test on 1 February 2020, when it was described as having two solid-propellant motor stages with 1.5 m diameters and a smaller liquid-propellant third stage that enables it to put a 220 kg payload into a 500 km orbit. A spokesman said at the time that the Zoljanah could use a mobile launcher to reach different orbits.
“Mobile launchers make prelaunch detection more complex and are typically used for the rapid deployment of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles,” the Israeli letter said. “This activity casts further doubt as to whether Iran’s space programme is really for peaceful purposes, as the regime claims.”
“These latest technological advancements point once again to the close link between Iran’s space and military programmes, which work in tandem to develop its capacity to carry nuclear warheads,” it added.
Iran’s UN ambassador responded with a letter to the Security Council dated 14 April that insisted his country’s space programme is for peaceful purposes only.
Rest of article behind paywall.
Israel says Iranian missile could have 5,000 km range
by Jeremy Binnie
A ballistic missile based on Iran’s new Zoljanah satellite launch vehicle would be able to carry a 1 tonne warhead 5,000 km, according to an estimate of the rocket’s capabilities that Israel’s ambassador to the UN submitted to the Security Council in a letter dated 7 April.
The Zoljanah before its launch from the Khomeini Space Centre. (Islamic Republic News Agency)
This capability would make the missile by far the most powerful in Iran’s arsenal as the longest range it can currently achieve is 3,000 km with the Khorramshahr liquid-propellant missile, fitted with a 750 kg warhead, according to a European estimate submitted to the Security Council in March 2019.
A 5,000 km range would ostensibly enable Iran to target every European country, including Iceland.
The Zoljanah was unveiled with a suborbital flight test on 1 February 2020, when it was described as having two solid-propellant motor stages with 1.5 m diameters and a smaller liquid-propellant third stage that enables it to put a 220 kg payload into a 500 km orbit. A spokesman said at the time that the Zoljanah could use a mobile launcher to reach different orbits.
“Mobile launchers make prelaunch detection more complex and are typically used for the rapid deployment of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles,” the Israeli letter said. “This activity casts further doubt as to whether Iran’s space programme is really for peaceful purposes, as the regime claims.”
“These latest technological advancements point once again to the close link between Iran’s space and military programmes, which work in tandem to develop its capacity to carry nuclear warheads,” it added.
Iran’s UN ambassador responded with a letter to the Security Council dated 14 April that insisted his country’s space programme is for peaceful purposes only.
Rest of article behind paywall.
Israel says Iranian missile could have 5,000 km range
A ballistic missile based on Iran’s new Zoljanah satellite launch vehicle would be able to carry a 1 tonne warhead 5,000 km, according to an estimate of the rocket’s...
www.janes.com
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jward
passin' thru
avi scharf
@avischarf
Replying to
@avischarf
For the first time (i think) in a year, the two B52s actually landed in the Gulf (Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar here) - and did not conduct the usual "show of force" round-trip back to U.S. pic: USAF Staff Sgt. Greg Erwin
View: https://twitter.com/avischarf/status/1386259421563604997?s=20
@avischarf
Replying to
@avischarf
For the first time (i think) in a year, the two B52s actually landed in the Gulf (Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar here) - and did not conduct the usual "show of force" round-trip back to U.S. pic: USAF Staff Sgt. Greg Erwin
View: https://twitter.com/avischarf/status/1386259421563604997?s=20
jward
passin' thru
There was at least one fire attribution to covid oxygen tanks in that last series of inexplicable explosions ...but of course the risk of this kind of accident is very real, too.
82 killed in Baghdad COVID-19 hospital fire: Iraqi interior ministry
An Iraqi woman cleans debris next to evcuated oxygen bottles outdoors at the Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital in Baghdad, on April 25, 2021, after a fire erupted in the medical facility reserved for the most severe coronavirus cases. (AFP)
82 killed in Baghdad COVID-19 hospital fire: Iraqi interior ministry
Published: 25 April ,2021: 12:12 PM GST Updated: 25 April ,2021: 01:46 PM GST
At least 82 people died and 110 were wounded in a Baghdad COVID-19 hospital fire overnight Sunday, the Iraqi interior ministry said in a new toll.https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMOnQlwswi_quAw?oc=3&ceid=US:en&hl=en-US&gl=US
“The interior ministry announces the death of 82 people and injury of 110 in the Ibn al-Khatib fire accident,” it said in a statement carried by state media.
82 killed in Baghdad COVID-19 hospital fire: Iraqi interior ministry
_______________________________
International Leaks
@Internl_Leaks
24m
#BREAKING: Iraqi parliament forms a group to investigate causes behind Ibn al-Khatib hospital fire #BreakingNews #Iraq #Baghdad
_____________________________
Sakshi Post
@SakshiPost
7m
82 killed in #Baghdad hospital fire #Iraq #Iraq hospital #FireAccident #COVID19 #CoronaSecondWave
View: https://twitter.com/SakshiPost/status/1386286158062133256?s=20
82 killed in Baghdad COVID-19 hospital fire: Iraqi interior ministry
An Iraqi woman cleans debris next to evcuated oxygen bottles outdoors at the Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital in Baghdad, on April 25, 2021, after a fire erupted in the medical facility reserved for the most severe coronavirus cases. (AFP)
82 killed in Baghdad COVID-19 hospital fire: Iraqi interior ministry
Published: 25 April ,2021: 12:12 PM GST Updated: 25 April ,2021: 01:46 PM GST
At least 82 people died and 110 were wounded in a Baghdad COVID-19 hospital fire overnight Sunday, the Iraqi interior ministry said in a new toll.https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMOnQlwswi_quAw?oc=3&ceid=US:en&hl=en-US&gl=US
“The interior ministry announces the death of 82 people and injury of 110 in the Ibn al-Khatib fire accident,” it said in a statement carried by state media.
82 killed in Baghdad COVID-19 hospital fire: Iraqi interior ministry
_______________________________
International Leaks
@Internl_Leaks
24m
#BREAKING: Iraqi parliament forms a group to investigate causes behind Ibn al-Khatib hospital fire #BreakingNews #Iraq #Baghdad
_____________________________
Sakshi Post
@SakshiPost
7m
82 killed in #Baghdad hospital fire #Iraq #Iraq hospital #FireAccident #COVID19 #CoronaSecondWave
View: https://twitter.com/SakshiPost/status/1386286158062133256?s=20
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Zagdid
Veteran Member
Turkey summons US ambassador after Biden recognises Armenian genocide (yahoo.com)
Turkey summons US ambassador after Biden recognises Armenian genocide
https://news.yahoo.com/turkey-summons-us-ambassador-biden-135317343.html
Louise Hall
Sun, April 25, 2021, 9:53 AM·2 min read
Turkey’s foreign ministry has summoned the US Ambassador in Ankara to protest the US decision to mark the deportation and killing of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire as ‘genocide’
Turkey has summoned the US ambassador following President Joe Biden’s decision to recognise the Armenian genocide in a remembrance day statement.
The country’s foreign ministry has summoned the American ambassador in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, to protest the description of the killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks, beginning in 1915.
Deputy foreign minister Sedat Onal met David Satterfield late on Saturday to express Ankara’s strong condemnation.
"The statement does not have legal ground in terms of international law and has hurt the Turkish people, opening a wound that’s hard to fix in our relations," the ministry said.
The White House broke with previous administrations in its adoption of the phrase, with American presidents having long avoided using the term in order to not anger a major ally in the region.
“Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,” said Mr Biden in the statement.
He added: “Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination.
The president concluded: “The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today,”
Modern-day Turkey, which emerged from the Ottoman era, has always denied that a genocide took place.
They reject the use of the word, saying both Turks and Armenians were killed, and have called for a joint history commission to investigate.
The White House declaration immediately prompted statements of condemnation from Turkish officials. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is yet to address the issue.
Mr Biden made a promise in his 2020 campaign to recognise the genocide. Former presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush made similar promises but instead referred to it as a “mass atrocity” or “mass killings.”
Turkey summons US ambassador after Biden recognises Armenian genocide
https://news.yahoo.com/turkey-summons-us-ambassador-biden-135317343.html
Louise Hall
Sun, April 25, 2021, 9:53 AM·2 min read
Turkey’s foreign ministry has summoned the US Ambassador in Ankara to protest the US decision to mark the deportation and killing of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire as ‘genocide’
Turkey has summoned the US ambassador following President Joe Biden’s decision to recognise the Armenian genocide in a remembrance day statement.
The country’s foreign ministry has summoned the American ambassador in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, to protest the description of the killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks, beginning in 1915.
Deputy foreign minister Sedat Onal met David Satterfield late on Saturday to express Ankara’s strong condemnation.
"The statement does not have legal ground in terms of international law and has hurt the Turkish people, opening a wound that’s hard to fix in our relations," the ministry said.
The White House broke with previous administrations in its adoption of the phrase, with American presidents having long avoided using the term in order to not anger a major ally in the region.
“Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,” said Mr Biden in the statement.
He added: “Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination.
The president concluded: “The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today,”
Modern-day Turkey, which emerged from the Ottoman era, has always denied that a genocide took place.
They reject the use of the word, saying both Turks and Armenians were killed, and have called for a joint history commission to investigate.
The White House declaration immediately prompted statements of condemnation from Turkish officials. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is yet to address the issue.
Mr Biden made a promise in his 2020 campaign to recognise the genocide. Former presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush made similar promises but instead referred to it as a “mass atrocity” or “mass killings.”
jward
passin' thru
Jason Brodsky
@JasonMBrodsky
8h
The U.S. must remove sanctions designations for some 1,500 individuals as part of efforts to revive the #Iran JCPOA, Abbas Araghchi, said in an interview with the state-run ICANA news agency.
View: https://twitter.com/JasonMBrodsky/status/1386338776008597504?s=20
jward
passin' thru
The Cavell Group
@TCG_CrisisRisks
Iraq: There are some yet unverified reports that Alaeddin Al-Jazaery, Deputy Secretary of Al-Nujaba was assassinated by unknown gunmen in Jadriya, Baghdad earlier.
The Cavell Group
@TCG_CrisisRisks
Several now including Rudaw reporting it
View: https://twitter.com/TCG_CrisisRisks/status/1386455320147365889?s=20
@TCG_CrisisRisks
Iraq: There are some yet unverified reports that Alaeddin Al-Jazaery, Deputy Secretary of Al-Nujaba was assassinated by unknown gunmen in Jadriya, Baghdad earlier.
The Cavell Group
@TCG_CrisisRisks
Several now including Rudaw reporting it
View: https://twitter.com/TCG_CrisisRisks/status/1386455320147365889?s=20
jward
passin' thru
Mehdi H.
@mhmiranusa
The first side picture of Shahid Soleimani class guided missile catamaran corvette.
View: https://twitter.com/mhmiranusa/status/1386361225299185672?s=20
jward
passin' thru
Morocco warns US of Iran’s ‘strategic opportunism’ in Africa- US pundit
Americas, Asia, Columns, Headlines, International, Morocco, Opinions
April 25, 2021
The US should consider Morocco’s warnings regarding Iran’s strategic offensive on the continent, said Ilan Berman, Senior Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington.
The alert comes as the US reviews its foreign policy towards Iran and the North African country, which has severed ties with Tehran accusing it of supporting the Algeria-backed separatist movement, the Polisario, Berman told The National Interest magazine, published by The Center for the National Interest.
“There is also credible evidence that Iran is working with radical regional groups. For instance, working through Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, Iran has supported the leftist Polisario Front since at least 2017,” said Berman, who visited Morocco recently at the invitation of the Foreign Minister.
Polisario delegations are also known to have traveled to Lebanon for training, security experts said.
“Likewise, Iran now has a significant presence in neighboring Mauritania and nearby Tunisia, and is believed to be actively carrying out recruitment in both places,” he said.
Iran has relied on a sympathetic Lebanese diaspora in West Africa to disseminate its influence through cultural centers, while it cooperates with anti-American groups in Latin America to gain a foothold, he said.
Iran’s activism is governed first, according to Moroccan officials, by “strategic opportunism” as Africa gains traction at the global economic and political scene, he said.
Moroccan officials also believe Iran’s intrusion in Africa aims at easing the impact of US sanctions and trying to build alliances for a retribution by targeting US interests in Africa in retaliation for the killing of Iranian commander Qassim Suleimani in January 2020.
Berman said that Morocco is monitoring Iran’s activity in the continent which aims at achieving the end goal of consolidating control over the continent’s Shi’a Muslims and use this cohort as a political lever to shape regional politics, and to create a latent operational capability through which it can retaliate against the United States.
The pundit stressed further that nuclear diplomacy should not distract Washington from other malign activities by Iran in the African continent and elsewhere.
“If the signals coming out of Rabat are any indication, however, that could end up being a costly mistake, as Iran’s radical regime erects an African presence capable of threatening America and its local partners,” he said.
Posted by North Africa Post
North Africa Post's news desk is composed of journalists and editors, who are constantly working to provide new and accurate stories to NAP readers.
Posted For Fair Use
Americas, Asia, Columns, Headlines, International, Morocco, Opinions
April 25, 2021
The US should consider Morocco’s warnings regarding Iran’s strategic offensive on the continent, said Ilan Berman, Senior Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington.The alert comes as the US reviews its foreign policy towards Iran and the North African country, which has severed ties with Tehran accusing it of supporting the Algeria-backed separatist movement, the Polisario, Berman told The National Interest magazine, published by The Center for the National Interest.
“There is also credible evidence that Iran is working with radical regional groups. For instance, working through Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, Iran has supported the leftist Polisario Front since at least 2017,” said Berman, who visited Morocco recently at the invitation of the Foreign Minister.
Polisario delegations are also known to have traveled to Lebanon for training, security experts said.
“Likewise, Iran now has a significant presence in neighboring Mauritania and nearby Tunisia, and is believed to be actively carrying out recruitment in both places,” he said.
Iran has relied on a sympathetic Lebanese diaspora in West Africa to disseminate its influence through cultural centers, while it cooperates with anti-American groups in Latin America to gain a foothold, he said.
Iran’s activism is governed first, according to Moroccan officials, by “strategic opportunism” as Africa gains traction at the global economic and political scene, he said.
Moroccan officials also believe Iran’s intrusion in Africa aims at easing the impact of US sanctions and trying to build alliances for a retribution by targeting US interests in Africa in retaliation for the killing of Iranian commander Qassim Suleimani in January 2020.
Berman said that Morocco is monitoring Iran’s activity in the continent which aims at achieving the end goal of consolidating control over the continent’s Shi’a Muslims and use this cohort as a political lever to shape regional politics, and to create a latent operational capability through which it can retaliate against the United States.
The pundit stressed further that nuclear diplomacy should not distract Washington from other malign activities by Iran in the African continent and elsewhere.
“If the signals coming out of Rabat are any indication, however, that could end up being a costly mistake, as Iran’s radical regime erects an African presence capable of threatening America and its local partners,” he said.
Posted by North Africa Post
North Africa Post's news desk is composed of journalists and editors, who are constantly working to provide new and accurate stories to NAP readers.
Posted For Fair Use
jward
passin' thru
Josh Kraushaar
@HotlineJosh
“Zarif also says that by assassinating [Soleimani] in Iraq, the United States delivered a major blow to Iran, more damaging than if it had wiped out an entire city in an attack.”
View: https://twitter.com/HotlineJosh/status/1386494984271061001?s=20
@HotlineJosh
“Zarif also says that by assassinating [Soleimani] in Iraq, the United States delivered a major blow to Iran, more damaging than if it had wiped out an entire city in an attack.”
View: https://twitter.com/HotlineJosh/status/1386494984271061001?s=20
jward
passin' thru
Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
#Iran has a ballistic missile with 5,000 km range, can hit any target in Europe, #Israel tells UN Security Council; missile is based on Iranian satellite launch vehicle, @IsraelD_Heb reports.
jward
passin' thru
Talks to revive Iran nuclear deal to resume
Delegates including diplomats from the EU, China, Russia and Iran met to discuss the nuclear accord at the Grand Hotel in Vienna on April 6. PHOTO: LARS TERNES/EU DELEGATION IN VIENNA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
25 minutes ago 108 View
SULAIMANI — Parties to the Iran nuclear agreement are expected to resume their negotiations on Tuesday (April 27) in Vienna to revive the tattered accord.
The remaining partners to the 2015 deal have been engaged in talks since early this month to try to return the United States to the accord.
Delegates from Britain, China, France, Germany, Iran and Russia are to meet from 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) in the third round of the EU-chaired negotiations in a Vienna luxury hotel, the EU said in a statement.
Iran has refused to negotiate with the US directly, but US delegates are staying in an adjacent luxury hotel and are being regularly updated by the EU negotiator in a round of shuttle diplomacy.
The 2015 accord aimed to give Iran sanctions relief in exchange for it curtailing its nuclear program, but the deal started to unravel in 2018 when then US president Donald Trump walked out of it.
In retaliation to the US re-imposing sanctions, Iran has started to step up its nuclear activities since 2019.
Tehran has insisted on its readiness to return to its nuclear commitments once it can assure sanctions relief.
US President Joe Biden is seeking to revive the agreement.
Negotiators have lauded progress in the talks, but also said that there is still a long way to go and details need to be worked out to save the accord.
EU negotiator Enrique Mora said in a column published Monday on the Spanish site Politica Exterior that "many obstacles" remained, mentioning "domestic politics in Tehran and Washington, where the agreement probably has more detractors than supporters."
The hope is to achieve a concrete result "by the end of May", before Iranian presidential elections in June, a diplomat familiar with the discussions told AFP.
Last Thursday, Iran's foreign ministry issued a defense of its negotiating team, following days of growing criticism by state media.
A senior US official last week said Washington had shared details of the sanctions it was prepared to lift with Tehran.
Posted For Fair Use
25 minutes ago 108 View
SULAIMANI — Parties to the Iran nuclear agreement are expected to resume their negotiations on Tuesday (April 27) in Vienna to revive the tattered accord.
The remaining partners to the 2015 deal have been engaged in talks since early this month to try to return the United States to the accord.
Delegates from Britain, China, France, Germany, Iran and Russia are to meet from 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) in the third round of the EU-chaired negotiations in a Vienna luxury hotel, the EU said in a statement.
Iran has refused to negotiate with the US directly, but US delegates are staying in an adjacent luxury hotel and are being regularly updated by the EU negotiator in a round of shuttle diplomacy.
The 2015 accord aimed to give Iran sanctions relief in exchange for it curtailing its nuclear program, but the deal started to unravel in 2018 when then US president Donald Trump walked out of it.
In retaliation to the US re-imposing sanctions, Iran has started to step up its nuclear activities since 2019.
Tehran has insisted on its readiness to return to its nuclear commitments once it can assure sanctions relief.
US President Joe Biden is seeking to revive the agreement.
Negotiators have lauded progress in the talks, but also said that there is still a long way to go and details need to be worked out to save the accord.
EU negotiator Enrique Mora said in a column published Monday on the Spanish site Politica Exterior that "many obstacles" remained, mentioning "domestic politics in Tehran and Washington, where the agreement probably has more detractors than supporters."
The hope is to achieve a concrete result "by the end of May", before Iranian presidential elections in June, a diplomat familiar with the discussions told AFP.
Last Thursday, Iran's foreign ministry issued a defense of its negotiating team, following days of growing criticism by state media.
A senior US official last week said Washington had shared details of the sanctions it was prepared to lift with Tehran.
Posted For Fair Use
northern watch
TB Fanatic
John Kerry told Iranians about secret Israeli operations in Syria: Report
By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times - Monday, April 26, 2021
Former Secretary of State John Kerry kept Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif informed about secret Israeli military actions in Syria, the Iranian diplomat said in recently leaked audio, casting new light on communication between the two men after Mr. Kerry returned to life as a private citizen in 2017.
In the audiotape released late Sunday night, Mr. Zarif reportedly said that Mr. Kerry told him that Israeli forces had attacked Iranian targets in Syria at least 200 times.
Mr. Zarif expressed “astonishment” at the revelation, according to the New York Times, which reviewed the audiotape that was first released by the London-based Iran International media outlet.
Mr. Zarif sat down for interviews with an Iranian journalist as part of a major government-sponsored Iran history project. Iranian officials have not denied the authenticity of the recordings but have said they were selectively edited. In the tapes, Mr. Zarif bemoans the influence of Iranian military officials in Tehran, suggesting that the military often overrules diplomats and, in effect, takes the lead on Iran’s foreign policy.
Iran-backed militias operate inside Syria and have been the target of Israeli military strikes.
President Biden also ordered an American airstrike against an Iranian militia in Syria earlier this year after the militia targeted U.S. troops stationed in neighboring Iraq.
While such strikes by Israel are not surprising, it is noteworthy that Mr. Kerry discussed the matter with Mr. Zarif, though it’s not clear exactly when those conversations took place.
The two men worked closely together crafting the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
Even after Mr. Kerry left the State Department and former President Trump came to power in January 2017, Mr. Kerry and Mr. Zarif remained in contact. By Mr. Kerry’s own admission, they met in person several times.
In 2018, the former Massachusetts senator sought to explain those meetings, telling radio host Hugh Hewitt that he intended to find out “what Iran might be willing to do in order to change the dynamic in the Middle East for the better” and claimed there was nothing secret about his discussions with Mr. Zarif. He also vehemently denied allegations that he “coached” Mr. Zarif about how to deal with a Trump administration that was taking a hard line toward Tehran.
John Kerry told Iranians about secret Israeli operations in Syria: Report - Washington Times
By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times - Monday, April 26, 2021
Former Secretary of State John Kerry kept Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif informed about secret Israeli military actions in Syria, the Iranian diplomat said in recently leaked audio, casting new light on communication between the two men after Mr. Kerry returned to life as a private citizen in 2017.
In the audiotape released late Sunday night, Mr. Zarif reportedly said that Mr. Kerry told him that Israeli forces had attacked Iranian targets in Syria at least 200 times.
Mr. Zarif expressed “astonishment” at the revelation, according to the New York Times, which reviewed the audiotape that was first released by the London-based Iran International media outlet.
Mr. Zarif sat down for interviews with an Iranian journalist as part of a major government-sponsored Iran history project. Iranian officials have not denied the authenticity of the recordings but have said they were selectively edited. In the tapes, Mr. Zarif bemoans the influence of Iranian military officials in Tehran, suggesting that the military often overrules diplomats and, in effect, takes the lead on Iran’s foreign policy.
Iran-backed militias operate inside Syria and have been the target of Israeli military strikes.
President Biden also ordered an American airstrike against an Iranian militia in Syria earlier this year after the militia targeted U.S. troops stationed in neighboring Iraq.
While such strikes by Israel are not surprising, it is noteworthy that Mr. Kerry discussed the matter with Mr. Zarif, though it’s not clear exactly when those conversations took place.
The two men worked closely together crafting the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
Even after Mr. Kerry left the State Department and former President Trump came to power in January 2017, Mr. Kerry and Mr. Zarif remained in contact. By Mr. Kerry’s own admission, they met in person several times.
In 2018, the former Massachusetts senator sought to explain those meetings, telling radio host Hugh Hewitt that he intended to find out “what Iran might be willing to do in order to change the dynamic in the Middle East for the better” and claimed there was nothing secret about his discussions with Mr. Zarif. He also vehemently denied allegations that he “coached” Mr. Zarif about how to deal with a Trump administration that was taking a hard line toward Tehran.
John Kerry told Iranians about secret Israeli operations in Syria: Report - Washington Times
northern watch
TB Fanatic
If Israel is planning a strike against Iran, the US will not be told about it.
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Explosive-laden ‘drone’ boat targets Saudi port of Yanbu
By JON GAMBRELL and ISABEL DEBRE
today April 27 2021
Graphic locates the city of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A remotely piloted boat packed with explosives targeted the Saudi port of Yanbu in the Red Sea on Tuesday, the kingdom said, with the blast sending black smoke into the sky off the coast.
Saudi Arabia claimed to have intercepted and destroyed the attack boat. However, private security firms suggested commercial traffic near the port may have been hit in the assault.
Details remained scarce, but the incident comes after a series of attacks on shipping in the wider Mideast region amid a shadow war between Iran and Israel and against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations between Tehran and world powers over Iran’s tattered nuclear deal.
The incident also comes amid the kingdom’s yearslong war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The Houthis have in the past used bomb-laden drones and explosive-packed boats in attacks targeting the kingdom. However, the rebels did not immediately claim any assaults on Tuesday and did not respond to a request for comment.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted Saudi military spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki saying the port was targeted by the drone boat.
“The booby-trapped boat was dealt and destroyed according to the rules of engagement,” the report quoted al-Maliki as saying, without providing evidence to support his claim.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, run by the British navy, simply said it was “aware of reports of an incident” and that investigations were ongoing. Private maritime security firm Dryad Global said it had reports that a ship had been “attacked,” without elaborating.
Maritime security firm Neptune P2P Group reported that black smoke was seen billowing near the south entrance of the Yanbu port.
British maritime security firm Ambrey reported an “incident” off western Saudi Arabia, between the ports of Yanbu and Rabigh. Earlier Tuesday morning, smoke was seen rising from a vessel off the Saudi oil-shipping port of of Yanbu, the firm said. Multiple tankers remain anchored or drifting in the area.
Yanbu port control broadcast a message by marine VHF radio, warning vessels to increase their level of alertness and monitor for any suspicious activity, Ambrey said.
The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet declined to immediately comment on the incident.
Yanbu, 870 kilometers (540 miles) west of Riyadh, serves as the end point of the kingdom’s crucial East-West Pipeline. It allows crude oil pumped in its eastern fields to be shipped directly via the Red Sea, avoiding the Persian Gulf’s chokepoint at the Strait of Hormuz. Yanbu is also home to an oil refinery that can process 400,000 barrels of crude per day.
In May 2019, then-U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton claimed that Yanbu had been targeted in an attack never acknowledged by the kingdom.
Meanwhile, American and Iranian warships had a tense encounter in the Persian Gulf earlier this month, the first such incident in about a year, the U.S. Navy said Tuesday.
Footage released by the Navy showed a ship commanded by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard cut in front of the USCGC Monomoy, causing the Coast Guard vessel to come to an abrupt stop with its engine smoking on April 2.
The Guard also did the same with another Coast Guard vessel, the USCGC Wrangell, said Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a 5th Fleet spokeswoman. Such close passes risk the ships colliding at sea.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the incident in the southern reaches of the Persian Gulf, which resulted in no injuries or damage.
“The U.S. crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio, five short blasts from the ships’ horns, and while the (Iranian) Harth 55 responded to the bridge-to-bridge radio queries, they continued the unsafe maneuvers,” Rebarich said. “After approximately three hour of the U.S. issuing warning and conducting defensive maneuvers, the (Iranian) vessels maneuvered away from the U.S. ships and opened distance between them.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the incident, which involved the Iranian Harth support ship and three Iranian fast-attack craft. The Coast Guard units operate out of Bahrain as part of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia, its biggest unit overseas.
The interaction marked the first “unsafe and unprofessional” incident involving the Iranians since April 15, 2020, Rebarich said. However, Iran had largely stopped such incidents in 2018 and nearly in the entirety of 2019, she said.
In 2017, the Navy recorded 14 instances of what it describes as “unsafe and or unprofessional” interactions with Iranians forces. It recorded 35 in 2016, and 23 in 2015.
The incidents at sea almost always involve the Revolutionary Guard, which reports only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Typically, they involve Iranian speedboats armed with deck-mounted machine guns and rocket launchers test-firing weapons or shadowing American aircraft carriers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil passes.
Some analysts believe the incidents are meant in part to squeeze President Hassan Rouhani’s administration after the 2015 nuclear deal. They include a 2016 incident in which Iranian forces captured and held overnight 10 U.S. sailors who strayed into the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters.
“U.S. naval forces continue to remain vigilant and are trained to act in a professional manner, while our commanding officers retain the inherent right to act in self-defense,” Rebarich said.
The incident comes as Iran negotiates with world powers in Vienna over Tehran and Washington returning to the 2015 nuclear deal, talks due to resume Tuesday. It also follows a series of incidents across the Mideast attributed to a shadow war between Iran and Israel, which includes attacks on regional shipping and sabotage at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.
Explosive-laden 'drone' boat targets Saudi port of Yanbu (apnews.com)
By JON GAMBRELL and ISABEL DEBRE
today April 27 2021
Graphic locates the city of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A remotely piloted boat packed with explosives targeted the Saudi port of Yanbu in the Red Sea on Tuesday, the kingdom said, with the blast sending black smoke into the sky off the coast.
Saudi Arabia claimed to have intercepted and destroyed the attack boat. However, private security firms suggested commercial traffic near the port may have been hit in the assault.
Details remained scarce, but the incident comes after a series of attacks on shipping in the wider Mideast region amid a shadow war between Iran and Israel and against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations between Tehran and world powers over Iran’s tattered nuclear deal.
The incident also comes amid the kingdom’s yearslong war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The Houthis have in the past used bomb-laden drones and explosive-packed boats in attacks targeting the kingdom. However, the rebels did not immediately claim any assaults on Tuesday and did not respond to a request for comment.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted Saudi military spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki saying the port was targeted by the drone boat.
“The booby-trapped boat was dealt and destroyed according to the rules of engagement,” the report quoted al-Maliki as saying, without providing evidence to support his claim.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, run by the British navy, simply said it was “aware of reports of an incident” and that investigations were ongoing. Private maritime security firm Dryad Global said it had reports that a ship had been “attacked,” without elaborating.
Maritime security firm Neptune P2P Group reported that black smoke was seen billowing near the south entrance of the Yanbu port.
British maritime security firm Ambrey reported an “incident” off western Saudi Arabia, between the ports of Yanbu and Rabigh. Earlier Tuesday morning, smoke was seen rising from a vessel off the Saudi oil-shipping port of of Yanbu, the firm said. Multiple tankers remain anchored or drifting in the area.
Yanbu port control broadcast a message by marine VHF radio, warning vessels to increase their level of alertness and monitor for any suspicious activity, Ambrey said.
The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet declined to immediately comment on the incident.
Yanbu, 870 kilometers (540 miles) west of Riyadh, serves as the end point of the kingdom’s crucial East-West Pipeline. It allows crude oil pumped in its eastern fields to be shipped directly via the Red Sea, avoiding the Persian Gulf’s chokepoint at the Strait of Hormuz. Yanbu is also home to an oil refinery that can process 400,000 barrels of crude per day.
In May 2019, then-U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton claimed that Yanbu had been targeted in an attack never acknowledged by the kingdom.
Meanwhile, American and Iranian warships had a tense encounter in the Persian Gulf earlier this month, the first such incident in about a year, the U.S. Navy said Tuesday.
Footage released by the Navy showed a ship commanded by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard cut in front of the USCGC Monomoy, causing the Coast Guard vessel to come to an abrupt stop with its engine smoking on April 2.
The Guard also did the same with another Coast Guard vessel, the USCGC Wrangell, said Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a 5th Fleet spokeswoman. Such close passes risk the ships colliding at sea.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the incident in the southern reaches of the Persian Gulf, which resulted in no injuries or damage.
“The U.S. crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio, five short blasts from the ships’ horns, and while the (Iranian) Harth 55 responded to the bridge-to-bridge radio queries, they continued the unsafe maneuvers,” Rebarich said. “After approximately three hour of the U.S. issuing warning and conducting defensive maneuvers, the (Iranian) vessels maneuvered away from the U.S. ships and opened distance between them.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the incident, which involved the Iranian Harth support ship and three Iranian fast-attack craft. The Coast Guard units operate out of Bahrain as part of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia, its biggest unit overseas.
The interaction marked the first “unsafe and unprofessional” incident involving the Iranians since April 15, 2020, Rebarich said. However, Iran had largely stopped such incidents in 2018 and nearly in the entirety of 2019, she said.
In 2017, the Navy recorded 14 instances of what it describes as “unsafe and or unprofessional” interactions with Iranians forces. It recorded 35 in 2016, and 23 in 2015.
The incidents at sea almost always involve the Revolutionary Guard, which reports only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Typically, they involve Iranian speedboats armed with deck-mounted machine guns and rocket launchers test-firing weapons or shadowing American aircraft carriers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil passes.
Some analysts believe the incidents are meant in part to squeeze President Hassan Rouhani’s administration after the 2015 nuclear deal. They include a 2016 incident in which Iranian forces captured and held overnight 10 U.S. sailors who strayed into the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters.
“U.S. naval forces continue to remain vigilant and are trained to act in a professional manner, while our commanding officers retain the inherent right to act in self-defense,” Rebarich said.
The incident comes as Iran negotiates with world powers in Vienna over Tehran and Washington returning to the 2015 nuclear deal, talks due to resume Tuesday. It also follows a series of incidents across the Mideast attributed to a shadow war between Iran and Israel, which includes attacks on regional shipping and sabotage at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.
Explosive-laden 'drone' boat targets Saudi port of Yanbu (apnews.com)
northern watch
TB Fanatic
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Unconfirmed Reports Of Oil Tanker Attacked Off Saudi Coast
BY TYLER DURDEN
ZERO HEDGE
TUESDAY, APR 27, 2021 - 08:14 AM
Maritime intelligence firm Dryad Global received "unconfirmed reports" that an oil tanker, possibly named "NCC Dammam," has been attacked off the Saudi Red Sea port of Yanbu.
Strategic Risk Consultancy MENA tweeted that "for three and a half hours the NCC DAMMAM has been showing the status of 'Not Under Command' on Marine Traffic."
Refinitiv vessel-tracking data shows around 0242GMT, the vessel deviated off course and began sailing in a zig-zag formation as speed dramatically slowed to less than a knot. The ship was en route to the port of Yanbu al-Bahr, Saudi Arabia, but appears to be stopped.
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it was informed about an incident on Tuesday two nautical miles from Yanbu. UKMTO did not say if the incident was related to NCC DAMMAM. This area has been known for commercial vessels being attacked.
According to maritime security firm Neptune P2P Group, the King Fahd Port is "transmitting a warning message" to all ships to be extra "vigilant."
Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabian forces intercepted and destroyed a small vessel packed with explosives in the Red Sea near Yanbu on Tuesday.
Unconfirmed Reports Of Oil Tanker Attacked Off Saudi Coast | ZeroHedge
BY TYLER DURDEN
ZERO HEDGE
TUESDAY, APR 27, 2021 - 08:14 AM
Maritime intelligence firm Dryad Global received "unconfirmed reports" that an oil tanker, possibly named "NCC Dammam," has been attacked off the Saudi Red Sea port of Yanbu.
Strategic Risk Consultancy MENA tweeted that "for three and a half hours the NCC DAMMAM has been showing the status of 'Not Under Command' on Marine Traffic."
Refinitiv vessel-tracking data shows around 0242GMT, the vessel deviated off course and began sailing in a zig-zag formation as speed dramatically slowed to less than a knot. The ship was en route to the port of Yanbu al-Bahr, Saudi Arabia, but appears to be stopped.
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it was informed about an incident on Tuesday two nautical miles from Yanbu. UKMTO did not say if the incident was related to NCC DAMMAM. This area has been known for commercial vessels being attacked.
According to maritime security firm Neptune P2P Group, the King Fahd Port is "transmitting a warning message" to all ships to be extra "vigilant."
The maritime security firm wrote: "King Fahd Port control are transmitting a warning message on VHF CH 11 instructing ships to be vigilant and monitor the North and South entrance for suspicious small boat activity.
"It has been reported that an unidentified vessel may have suffered an explosion and black smoke has been spotted in the approaches to the South port entrance.
"The report of an explosion has yet to be confirmed by the port authorities but the sighting of black smoke has been verified by shipping awaiting entry to the port."
Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabian forces intercepted and destroyed a small vessel packed with explosives in the Red Sea near Yanbu on Tuesday.
Unconfirmed Reports Of Oil Tanker Attacked Off Saudi Coast | ZeroHedge
vector7
Dot Collector
Gen. Keane reacts to Kerry's latest Iran controversy (11min)
Apr 27, 2021
Special Climate Envoy John Kerry denies allegations he detailed covert Israeli operations to Iran. Fox News senior strategic analyst Gen. Jack Keane reacts amid growing U.S. tensions with the regime.
View: https://youtu.be/W7ezLcOZvCg
Apr 27, 2021
Special Climate Envoy John Kerry denies allegations he detailed covert Israeli operations to Iran. Fox News senior strategic analyst Gen. Jack Keane reacts amid growing U.S. tensions with the regime.
US warships fired warning shots at Iranian gunboats during a close encounter in the Persian Gulf on Monday night for the first time in nearly four years, US Navy announced.
View: https://twitter.com/Archer83Able/status/1387138546490908673
View: https://twitter.com/Archer83Able/status/1387138546490908673
danielboon
TB Fanatic
Tick tick tick...
northern watch
TB Fanatic
jward
passin' thru
De Faakto Intelligence Research Observatory
@faakto
14m
Iran 'to use nuclear deal as opportunity to rebuild sabotaged capacity'
View: https://twitter.com/faakto/status/1387298553911934979?s=20
If Kerry got that information from US government sources then it is an espionage charge.
jward
passin' thru
Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
10m
#Israel needs new strategy against stronger and bolder #Iran as US adopts "naïve" policy; IDF must play bigger role in covert campaign against Tehran. Strong insights by
View: https://twitter.com/IsraelRadar_com/status/1387407163069505540?s=20
@IsraelRadar_com
10m
#Israel needs new strategy against stronger and bolder #Iran as US adopts "naïve" policy; IDF must play bigger role in covert campaign against Tehran. Strong insights by
View: https://twitter.com/IsraelRadar_com/status/1387407163069505540?s=20
jward
passin' thru
U.S. Sailors Fire Warning Shots to Ward Off Harassing Iranian Fast Boats in Persian Gulf
By: Sam LaGrone
April 27, 2021 4:50 PM • Updated: April 27, 2021 6:07 PM
Three Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) fast inshore attack craft (FIAC) approach the patrol coastal ship USS Firebolt (PC-10), while the U.S. vessel was conducting routine maritime security patrols in the international waters of the North Persian Gulf on April 26, 2021. US Navy Photo
U.S. sailors fired warning shots to ward off a trio of Iranian fast attack boats harassing U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf on Monday, U.S. officials told USNI News today.
At 8 p.m. local time on Monday, a trio of fast inshore attack craft belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) quickly approached Cyclone-class patrol coastal ship USS Firebolt (PC-10) and U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat USCGC Baranoff (WPB-1318), coming within 70 yards of the U.S. vessels operating in international waters, according to a statement from U.S. 5th Fleet.
“The U.S. crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio and loud-hailer devices, but the IRGCN vessels continued their close-range maneuvers. The crew of Firebolt then fired warning shots, and the IRGCN vessels moved away to a safe distance from the U.S. vessels,” reads a Tuesday statement from U.S. 5th Fleet.
“Throughout the interaction, U.S. forces proactively communicated with the IRGCN vessels and executed pre-planned responses to reduce the risk of miscalculation, avoid a collision and to de-escalate the situation.”
The report of the harassment comes a day after the U.S. detailed a similar incident in early April in which three fast attack craft and IRGCN catamaran Harth 55 harassed two cutters – USCGC Wrangell (WPB-1332) and USCGC Monomoy (WPB-1326) – over a period of three hours. Harth crossed ahead of cutter USCGC Monomoy forcing the cutter to take an evasive turn to avoid collision.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) Harth 55, left, conducted an unsafe and unprofessional action by crossing the bow of the Coast Guard patrol boat USCGC Monomoy (WPB-1326) on April 2, 2021. US Navy Photo
The pair of incidents are the first after a year of relative calm between U.S. forces in 5th Fleet, based in the Persian Gulf in Bahrain, and the sectarian IRGCN. The fleet of mostly modified speedboats is responsible for the costal security of Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
The last major incident of IRGC harassment prior to this month was in April 2020. Then, a dozen IRGC fast boats “repeatedly conducted dangerous and harassing approaches of the USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB-3), USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60), USS Firebolt (PC-10), USS Sirocco (PC-6), USCGC Wrangell (WPB-1332) and USCGC Maui (WPB-1304) while the U.S. vessels were conducting joint integration operations with U.S. Army AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in the international waters of the North Arabian Gulf,” the Navy said at the time.
U.S. Sailors Fire Warning Shots to Ward Off Harassing Iranian Fast Boats in Persian Gulf - USNI News
By: Sam LaGrone
April 27, 2021 4:50 PM • Updated: April 27, 2021 6:07 PM
Three Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) fast inshore attack craft (FIAC) approach the patrol coastal ship USS Firebolt (PC-10), while the U.S. vessel was conducting routine maritime security patrols in the international waters of the North Persian Gulf on April 26, 2021. US Navy Photo
U.S. sailors fired warning shots to ward off a trio of Iranian fast attack boats harassing U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf on Monday, U.S. officials told USNI News today.
At 8 p.m. local time on Monday, a trio of fast inshore attack craft belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) quickly approached Cyclone-class patrol coastal ship USS Firebolt (PC-10) and U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat USCGC Baranoff (WPB-1318), coming within 70 yards of the U.S. vessels operating in international waters, according to a statement from U.S. 5th Fleet.
“The U.S. crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio and loud-hailer devices, but the IRGCN vessels continued their close-range maneuvers. The crew of Firebolt then fired warning shots, and the IRGCN vessels moved away to a safe distance from the U.S. vessels,” reads a Tuesday statement from U.S. 5th Fleet.
“Throughout the interaction, U.S. forces proactively communicated with the IRGCN vessels and executed pre-planned responses to reduce the risk of miscalculation, avoid a collision and to de-escalate the situation.”
The report of the harassment comes a day after the U.S. detailed a similar incident in early April in which three fast attack craft and IRGCN catamaran Harth 55 harassed two cutters – USCGC Wrangell (WPB-1332) and USCGC Monomoy (WPB-1326) – over a period of three hours. Harth crossed ahead of cutter USCGC Monomoy forcing the cutter to take an evasive turn to avoid collision.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) Harth 55, left, conducted an unsafe and unprofessional action by crossing the bow of the Coast Guard patrol boat USCGC Monomoy (WPB-1326) on April 2, 2021. US Navy Photo
The pair of incidents are the first after a year of relative calm between U.S. forces in 5th Fleet, based in the Persian Gulf in Bahrain, and the sectarian IRGCN. The fleet of mostly modified speedboats is responsible for the costal security of Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
The last major incident of IRGC harassment prior to this month was in April 2020. Then, a dozen IRGC fast boats “repeatedly conducted dangerous and harassing approaches of the USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB-3), USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60), USS Firebolt (PC-10), USS Sirocco (PC-6), USCGC Wrangell (WPB-1332) and USCGC Maui (WPB-1304) while the U.S. vessels were conducting joint integration operations with U.S. Army AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in the international waters of the North Arabian Gulf,” the Navy said at the time.
U.S. Sailors Fire Warning Shots to Ward Off Harassing Iranian Fast Boats in Persian Gulf - USNI News
jward
passin' thru
Hmm.
Israel’s Attacks on Iran Are Not Working
The recent sabotage of the Iranian nuclear program has been spectacular—and strategically incoherent.
By Anchal Vohra
A worker walks inside of an uranium conversion facility March 30, 2005 just outside the city of Isfahan. Photo by Getty Images
April 27, 2021, 7:54 AM
Israel’s clandestine activities inside Iran have undoubtedly delayed the production of material Iran needs to make a bomb—and done so in spectacular fashion. Spies deployed months in advance to plant explosives inside an Iranian nuclear plant, a lethal cyberattack to corrupt computers that control centrifuges spinning uranium, and bullets showered on a leading nuclear scientist by remotely activating a machine gun—each of these incidents could be an episode in a gripping spy thriller.
Whether they were a success, however, is another question. These covert attacks, together with the debilitating sanctions imposed in recent years by Washington, have imposed setbacks on Iran but have not managed to convince the country to abandon its nuclear ambitions altogether. Instead, they have failed to change Iran’s approach to nuclear negotiations; if anything, they have strengthened its resolve to continue enriching uranium and thus achieve a “breakout” capacity for nuclear weapons. However impressive Israel’s attacks, they do not seem to be a sustainable strategy.
On April 11, an explosion caused a power blackout at the Natanz uranium enrichment site, one of Iran’s known nuclear facilities. Nuclear activities there were halted anywhere from a few weeks, said Iranian officials, to nine months, according to Israeli and U.S. intelligence officers quoted in news reports. This was the third attack, and the second in a year, at the Natanz nuclear station. Last July, a bomb exploded in a part of the premises that was producing a new set of centrifuges and delayed the program by months. Experts said both attacks could have only been carried out with physical infiltration.
The first attack on Natanz was launched more than a decade ago. A cyberweapon called Stuxnet disabled 1,000 centrifuges out of a total of 5,000. Centrifuges are cylindrical devices that spin at high speeds to isolate uranium-235, a radioactive isotope that generates power when enriched at less than 5 percent and becomes fuel for a nuclear bomb when enriched at 90 percent. This attack set back the program by 18 months to two years. Last November, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian nuclear scientist believed to be the brain behind Iran’s nuclear program, was shot dead near Tehran by an unmanned weapon. Seven other Iranian scientists and military officials linked to the nuclear program have been assassinated since 2007.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in any of these attacks. It has only admitted to stealing a trove of documents in 2018 that revealed how Fakhrizadeh was making elaborate plans to continue to develop a bomb in secret and hence furtively violate the terms of the nuclear deal signed in 2015 between Iran and world powers including the United States.
Israel’s clandestine activity has indeed slowed down the making of a bomb, and some Israeli intelligence officers believe it is the way forward to contain Iran’s nuclear program. They say the revival of the nuclear deal is not a deterrent against Iran’s nuclear ambitions but an unwarranted reward that would legitimize uranium enrichment and pave the path for a bomb-ready Iran. A lifting of sanctions, they contend, would allow Iran to sell its oil, fill its empty coffers, and use a chunk of cash to fund its various militias in the region. They say that instead of a deal, economic and military pressure must be used to coerce Iran to limit its influence in the region.
But many others disagree and argue that repeated Israeli sabotages have failed to convince Iran to give up on bomb readiness or to persuade the Biden administration to drive a harder bargain in the recently renewed talks.
Neither Iran nor the United States walked out of the meetings being held in Vienna. Instead, Iran used the recent attack to up uranium enrichment from 20 percent to 60 percent, further shortening the breakout time needed to build a bomb. Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said Israel’s covert attacks have only delayed and not permanently curtailed Iran’s nuclear activities. If continued, Vaez said, they would strengthen Iranian hard-liners who are pushing for developing a nuclear weapon. “Sabotage and sanctions have only led to the exponential growth of Iran’s nuclear program,” Vaez said. “Only diplomacy has rolled it back.”
Read More
Israel Should Support Biden’s Efforts to Revive the Iran Nuclear Deal
Reducing Iran’s breakout time and restoring robust monitoring are the most urgent priorities. A return to the JCPOA can achieve these goals.
Argument | Tamir Pardo, Matan Vilnai
Yossi Kuperwasser, a retired brigadier general in the Israeli army and head of research in military intelligence, defended clandestine activities as a part of a comprehensive effort that included economic pressures and a credible military option. “It’s a long-term policy, so there is no point in asking every day if the policy was successful,” Kuperwasser said. “At this time, the clandestine activities serve also to clarify that there are other ways to deal with the Iranian nuclear project than buying time in exchange for guaranteeing Iran a safe path to a big nuclear arsenal.”
Israel has long opposed the deal and not without legitimate concern. The deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), barred Iran from enriching uranium at 90 percent—weapons grade—only until 2031 and did not ban the development of long-range ballistic missiles, which Iran will likely aim in Israel’s direction. Israelis insist that the deal is not a panacea to their conflict with Iran and brings additional security risks such as the expansion of Iranian militias on Israel’s borders.
But unlike former U.S. President Donald Trump, who granted one wish after another to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden is not playing ball. The recent attacks, many say, were intended to deliver a message to the Biden administration even more than to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. The idea was to dissuade the United States from holding talks or at least to leverage Iran’s inability to guard its nuclear site to seek more concessions in negotiations. Israel is worried that Biden might rejoin the deal as it was. The recent attacks were meant to display to the United States that Israel would go alone to take on Iran, whether Biden approved or not.
Sanam Vakil, the deputy director and a senior research fellow in Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program, said Israel’s proactive strategy is designed to pressure the Biden administration to address Iran’s regional activities. “The Biden team is not currently looking to alter the JCPOA. For the time being, the objective is to see Iran return to compliance and roll back advances to its program,” she said. Vakil ruled out that the United States was seeking any more concessions that might assuage Israeli concerns. “Should this process succeed, the goal is, over time, to ‘strengthen and lengthen’ the deal to build out the timelines and some of the provisions, perhaps even addressing intercontinental ballistic missiles issue.”
Iran has demanded that the United States return to the deal first and only then would it reverse steps it took undermining the agreement. Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at Princeton University, said Iran fully complied with the deal even a year after Trump reneged on it and that the onus is on the United States to prove its commitment first. “The end state of continued Israeli sabotage would be a nuclear Iran, breaking Israeli supremacy on nuclear weapons in the Middle East,” Mousavian warned. He added that Iran cannot be denied long-range missiles when its enemies in the region are well stocked.
“Iranian ballistic missile ranges are maximum 2000 kilometers, while Saudi Arabia and Israeli ballistic missile ranges are 5,000 km. The first step should be for Israel and Saudi Arabia to limit their long-range missiles to 2,000 km. Iran is under sanctions on conventional arms, while Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other U.S. allies import hundreds of billions of dollars of the most sophisticated arms from the U.S. and all other world powers. Therefore, the second step should be a fair conventional arms arrangement for all countries in the Middle East,” Mousavian said.
Sabotage and prolonged economic sanctions have had a tactical effect by weakening Iran’s bargaining position in negotiations over the future of its nuclear program. The important strategic question is whether and when Israel and the United States will understand that neither offers a long-term solution to the deadlock with Iran.
Anchal Vohra is a Beirut-based columnist for Foreign Policy and a freelance TV correspondent and commentator on the Middle East. Twitter: @anchalvohra
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foreignpolicy.com
Israel’s Attacks on Iran Are Not Working
The recent sabotage of the Iranian nuclear program has been spectacular—and strategically incoherent.
By Anchal Vohra
A worker walks inside of an uranium conversion facility March 30, 2005 just outside the city of Isfahan. Photo by Getty Images
April 27, 2021, 7:54 AM
Israel’s clandestine activities inside Iran have undoubtedly delayed the production of material Iran needs to make a bomb—and done so in spectacular fashion. Spies deployed months in advance to plant explosives inside an Iranian nuclear plant, a lethal cyberattack to corrupt computers that control centrifuges spinning uranium, and bullets showered on a leading nuclear scientist by remotely activating a machine gun—each of these incidents could be an episode in a gripping spy thriller.
Whether they were a success, however, is another question. These covert attacks, together with the debilitating sanctions imposed in recent years by Washington, have imposed setbacks on Iran but have not managed to convince the country to abandon its nuclear ambitions altogether. Instead, they have failed to change Iran’s approach to nuclear negotiations; if anything, they have strengthened its resolve to continue enriching uranium and thus achieve a “breakout” capacity for nuclear weapons. However impressive Israel’s attacks, they do not seem to be a sustainable strategy.
On April 11, an explosion caused a power blackout at the Natanz uranium enrichment site, one of Iran’s known nuclear facilities. Nuclear activities there were halted anywhere from a few weeks, said Iranian officials, to nine months, according to Israeli and U.S. intelligence officers quoted in news reports. This was the third attack, and the second in a year, at the Natanz nuclear station. Last July, a bomb exploded in a part of the premises that was producing a new set of centrifuges and delayed the program by months. Experts said both attacks could have only been carried out with physical infiltration.
The first attack on Natanz was launched more than a decade ago. A cyberweapon called Stuxnet disabled 1,000 centrifuges out of a total of 5,000. Centrifuges are cylindrical devices that spin at high speeds to isolate uranium-235, a radioactive isotope that generates power when enriched at less than 5 percent and becomes fuel for a nuclear bomb when enriched at 90 percent. This attack set back the program by 18 months to two years. Last November, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian nuclear scientist believed to be the brain behind Iran’s nuclear program, was shot dead near Tehran by an unmanned weapon. Seven other Iranian scientists and military officials linked to the nuclear program have been assassinated since 2007.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in any of these attacks. It has only admitted to stealing a trove of documents in 2018 that revealed how Fakhrizadeh was making elaborate plans to continue to develop a bomb in secret and hence furtively violate the terms of the nuclear deal signed in 2015 between Iran and world powers including the United States.
Israel’s clandestine activity has indeed slowed down the making of a bomb, and some Israeli intelligence officers believe it is the way forward to contain Iran’s nuclear program. They say the revival of the nuclear deal is not a deterrent against Iran’s nuclear ambitions but an unwarranted reward that would legitimize uranium enrichment and pave the path for a bomb-ready Iran. A lifting of sanctions, they contend, would allow Iran to sell its oil, fill its empty coffers, and use a chunk of cash to fund its various militias in the region. They say that instead of a deal, economic and military pressure must be used to coerce Iran to limit its influence in the region.
But many others disagree and argue that repeated Israeli sabotages have failed to convince Iran to give up on bomb readiness or to persuade the Biden administration to drive a harder bargain in the recently renewed talks.
Neither Iran nor the United States walked out of the meetings being held in Vienna. Instead, Iran used the recent attack to up uranium enrichment from 20 percent to 60 percent, further shortening the breakout time needed to build a bomb. Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said Israel’s covert attacks have only delayed and not permanently curtailed Iran’s nuclear activities. If continued, Vaez said, they would strengthen Iranian hard-liners who are pushing for developing a nuclear weapon. “Sabotage and sanctions have only led to the exponential growth of Iran’s nuclear program,” Vaez said. “Only diplomacy has rolled it back.”
Read More
Israel Should Support Biden’s Efforts to Revive the Iran Nuclear Deal
Reducing Iran’s breakout time and restoring robust monitoring are the most urgent priorities. A return to the JCPOA can achieve these goals.
Argument | Tamir Pardo, Matan Vilnai
Yossi Kuperwasser, a retired brigadier general in the Israeli army and head of research in military intelligence, defended clandestine activities as a part of a comprehensive effort that included economic pressures and a credible military option. “It’s a long-term policy, so there is no point in asking every day if the policy was successful,” Kuperwasser said. “At this time, the clandestine activities serve also to clarify that there are other ways to deal with the Iranian nuclear project than buying time in exchange for guaranteeing Iran a safe path to a big nuclear arsenal.”
Israel has long opposed the deal and not without legitimate concern. The deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), barred Iran from enriching uranium at 90 percent—weapons grade—only until 2031 and did not ban the development of long-range ballistic missiles, which Iran will likely aim in Israel’s direction. Israelis insist that the deal is not a panacea to their conflict with Iran and brings additional security risks such as the expansion of Iranian militias on Israel’s borders.
But unlike former U.S. President Donald Trump, who granted one wish after another to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden is not playing ball. The recent attacks, many say, were intended to deliver a message to the Biden administration even more than to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. The idea was to dissuade the United States from holding talks or at least to leverage Iran’s inability to guard its nuclear site to seek more concessions in negotiations. Israel is worried that Biden might rejoin the deal as it was. The recent attacks were meant to display to the United States that Israel would go alone to take on Iran, whether Biden approved or not.
Sanam Vakil, the deputy director and a senior research fellow in Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program, said Israel’s proactive strategy is designed to pressure the Biden administration to address Iran’s regional activities. “The Biden team is not currently looking to alter the JCPOA. For the time being, the objective is to see Iran return to compliance and roll back advances to its program,” she said. Vakil ruled out that the United States was seeking any more concessions that might assuage Israeli concerns. “Should this process succeed, the goal is, over time, to ‘strengthen and lengthen’ the deal to build out the timelines and some of the provisions, perhaps even addressing intercontinental ballistic missiles issue.”
Iran has demanded that the United States return to the deal first and only then would it reverse steps it took undermining the agreement. Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at Princeton University, said Iran fully complied with the deal even a year after Trump reneged on it and that the onus is on the United States to prove its commitment first. “The end state of continued Israeli sabotage would be a nuclear Iran, breaking Israeli supremacy on nuclear weapons in the Middle East,” Mousavian warned. He added that Iran cannot be denied long-range missiles when its enemies in the region are well stocked.
“Iranian ballistic missile ranges are maximum 2000 kilometers, while Saudi Arabia and Israeli ballistic missile ranges are 5,000 km. The first step should be for Israel and Saudi Arabia to limit their long-range missiles to 2,000 km. Iran is under sanctions on conventional arms, while Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other U.S. allies import hundreds of billions of dollars of the most sophisticated arms from the U.S. and all other world powers. Therefore, the second step should be a fair conventional arms arrangement for all countries in the Middle East,” Mousavian said.
Sabotage and prolonged economic sanctions have had a tactical effect by weakening Iran’s bargaining position in negotiations over the future of its nuclear program. The important strategic question is whether and when Israel and the United States will understand that neither offers a long-term solution to the deadlock with Iran.
Anchal Vohra is a Beirut-based columnist for Foreign Policy and a freelance TV correspondent and commentator on the Middle East. Twitter: @anchalvohra
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Country exile in the city
U.S. Sailors Fire Warning Shots to Ward Off Harassing Iranian Fast Boats in Persian Gulf
By: Sam LaGrone
April 27, 2021 4:50 PM • Updated: April 27, 2021 6:07 PM
Three Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) fast inshore attack craft (FIAC) approach the patrol coastal ship USS Firebolt (PC-10), while the U.S. vessel was conducting routine maritime security patrols in the international waters of the North Persian Gulf on April 26, 2021. US Navy Photo
U.S. sailors fired warning shots to ward off a trio of Iranian fast attack boats harassing U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf on Monday, U.S. officials told USNI News today.
At 8 p.m. local time on Monday, a trio of fast inshore attack craft belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) quickly approached Cyclone-class patrol coastal ship USS Firebolt (PC-10) and U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat USCGC Baranoff (WPB-1318), coming within 70 yards of the U.S. vessels operating in international waters, according to a statement from U.S. 5th Fleet.
“The U.S. crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio and loud-hailer devices, but the IRGCN vessels continued their close-range maneuvers. The crew of Firebolt then fired warning shots, and the IRGCN vessels moved away to a safe distance from the U.S. vessels,” reads a Tuesday statement from U.S. 5th Fleet.
“Throughout the interaction, U.S. forces proactively communicated with the IRGCN vessels and executed pre-planned responses to reduce the risk of miscalculation, avoid a collision and to de-escalate the situation.”
The report of the harassment comes a day after the U.S. detailed a similar incident in early April in which three fast attack craft and IRGCN catamaran Harth 55 harassed two cutters – USCGC Wrangell (WPB-1332) and USCGC Monomoy (WPB-1326) – over a period of three hours. Harth crossed ahead of cutter USCGC Monomoy forcing the cutter to take an evasive turn to avoid collision.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) Harth 55, left, conducted an unsafe and unprofessional action by crossing the bow of the Coast Guard patrol boat USCGC Monomoy (WPB-1326) on April 2, 2021. US Navy Photo
The pair of incidents are the first after a year of relative calm between U.S. forces in 5th Fleet, based in the Persian Gulf in Bahrain, and the sectarian IRGCN. The fleet of mostly modified speedboats is responsible for the costal security of Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
The last major incident of IRGC harassment prior to this month was in April 2020. Then, a dozen IRGC fast boats “repeatedly conducted dangerous and harassing approaches of the USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB-3), USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60), USS Firebolt (PC-10), USS Sirocco (PC-6), USCGC Wrangell (WPB-1332) and USCGC Maui (WPB-1304) while the U.S. vessels were conducting joint integration operations with U.S. Army AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in the international waters of the North Arabian Gulf,” the Navy said at the time.
U.S. Sailors Fire Warning Shots to Ward Off Harassing Iranian Fast Boats in Persian Gulf - USNI News
Wonder if there's any video on this?
Wonder if (later) these will be identified as "the first shots of WW III"......
jward
passin' thru
Jason Brodsky
@JasonMBrodsky
13m
#Israel's intelligence minister today: "Anyone seeking short-term benefits should be mindful of the longer-term. Israel will not allow #Iran to attain nuclear arms...Our planes can reach everywhere in the Middle East--and certainly Iran."
View: https://twitter.com/JasonMBrodsky/status/1387820071645585408?s=20
jward
passin' thru
OSINTtechnical
@Osinttechnical
3h
Honestly until we get a better indication of what's happening in Iran right now, I would move forward with the assumption that the IRGC is acting completely on its own.
jward
passin' thru
Revolutionary Guards Raid President and Foreign Minister's Offices
Thursday, 29 April 2021IranWire
IranWire sources report that this morning officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Unit raided the offices of President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
After a short altercation with the security guards of the president’s office and the Foreign Ministry, the Guards took a number of documents from the premises.
The raids took place after government spokesman Ali Rabiei had stated that Iran’s intelligence ministry was investigating the source of a recently-leaked interview with Zarif.
The IRGC Intelligence Unit is a rival organisation to the Ministry of Intelligence, which is the country’s equivalent of the CIA and the FBI.
In the recorded interview, which was leaked to Iran International last weekend, Zarif had told journalist and economist Saeed Leylaz that he believed Iranian diplomacy had been "sacrificed" to the regime's military interests.
He described alleged efforts by former IRGC Quds Force commander Ghasem Soleimani and Russia to sabotage the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and shared new details about the Quds Force's regional operations.
The leak sparked widespread controversy, with various parties calling for Zarif's resignation or impeachment. Zarif has been touring Arab countries since the tape surfaced and was in Kuwait on Thursday.
The interview was one of 33 conducted by the Presidential Center for Strategic Studies for a planned oral history project. It was set to focus on the achievements of the country's 11th and 12th governments and was in its post-production phase at the time of the leak.
Earlier Thursday, the government announced that the head of the Center, Heshamoddin Ashena, who was overseeing the project, had "resigned" and been replaced by Rabiei.
Ashena took to Twitter to castigate the "professional bandits with political ambitions" he said were involved in sharing the tape, saying it had caused "an informative, methodical and non-confidential programming to be abused politically and in the media... It appears to be a political and security dilemma."
Tehran Prosecutor's Office also confirmed a lawsuit had been filed in connection with the audio file's publication.
Iranian state media reported on Thursday that 15 people involved in the production had been barred from leaving the country while investigations are ongoing.
IranWire will publish a full report soon.
Related coverage:
Zarif Blames Russia and the Guards for Harming the JCPOA in Leaked Interview
Zarif vs. the Guards: A New Round
Posted for fair use
iranwire.com
Thursday, 29 April 2021IranWire
IranWire sources report that this morning officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Unit raided the offices of President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
After a short altercation with the security guards of the president’s office and the Foreign Ministry, the Guards took a number of documents from the premises.
The raids took place after government spokesman Ali Rabiei had stated that Iran’s intelligence ministry was investigating the source of a recently-leaked interview with Zarif.
The IRGC Intelligence Unit is a rival organisation to the Ministry of Intelligence, which is the country’s equivalent of the CIA and the FBI.
In the recorded interview, which was leaked to Iran International last weekend, Zarif had told journalist and economist Saeed Leylaz that he believed Iranian diplomacy had been "sacrificed" to the regime's military interests.
He described alleged efforts by former IRGC Quds Force commander Ghasem Soleimani and Russia to sabotage the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and shared new details about the Quds Force's regional operations.
The leak sparked widespread controversy, with various parties calling for Zarif's resignation or impeachment. Zarif has been touring Arab countries since the tape surfaced and was in Kuwait on Thursday.
The interview was one of 33 conducted by the Presidential Center for Strategic Studies for a planned oral history project. It was set to focus on the achievements of the country's 11th and 12th governments and was in its post-production phase at the time of the leak.
Earlier Thursday, the government announced that the head of the Center, Heshamoddin Ashena, who was overseeing the project, had "resigned" and been replaced by Rabiei.
Ashena took to Twitter to castigate the "professional bandits with political ambitions" he said were involved in sharing the tape, saying it had caused "an informative, methodical and non-confidential programming to be abused politically and in the media... It appears to be a political and security dilemma."
Tehran Prosecutor's Office also confirmed a lawsuit had been filed in connection with the audio file's publication.
Iranian state media reported on Thursday that 15 people involved in the production had been barred from leaving the country while investigations are ongoing.
IranWire will publish a full report soon.
Related coverage:
Zarif Blames Russia and the Guards for Harming the JCPOA in Leaked Interview
Zarif vs. the Guards: A New Round
Posted for fair use
Revolutionary Guards Raid President and Foreign Minister's Offices
IranWire sources report that this morning officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Unit raided the offic ...
iranwire.com
Revolutionary Guards Raid President and Foreign Minister's Offices
Thursday, 29 April 2021IranWire
IranWire sources report that this morning officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Unit raided the offices of President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
After a short altercation with the security guards of the president’s office and the Foreign Ministry, the Guards took a number of documents from the premises.
The raids took place after government spokesman Ali Rabiei had stated that Iran’s intelligence ministry was investigating the source of a recently-leaked interview with Zarif.
The IRGC Intelligence Unit is a rival organisation to the Ministry of Intelligence, which is the country’s equivalent of the CIA and the FBI.
In the recorded interview, which was leaked to Iran International last weekend, Zarif had told journalist and economist Saeed Leylaz that he believed Iranian diplomacy had been "sacrificed" to the regime's military interests.
He described alleged efforts by former IRGC Quds Force commander Ghasem Soleimani and Russia to sabotage the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and shared new details about the Quds Force's regional operations.
The leak sparked widespread controversy, with various parties calling for Zarif's resignation or impeachment. Zarif has been touring Arab countries since the tape surfaced and was in Kuwait on Thursday.
The interview was one of 33 conducted by the Presidential Center for Strategic Studies for a planned oral history project. It was set to focus on the achievements of the country's 11th and 12th governments and was in its post-production phase at the time of the leak.
Earlier Thursday, the government announced that the head of the Center, Heshamoddin Ashena, who was overseeing the project, had "resigned" and been replaced by Rabiei.
Ashena took to Twitter to castigate the "professional bandits with political ambitions" he said were involved in sharing the tape, saying it had caused "an informative, methodical and non-confidential programming to be abused politically and in the media... It appears to be a political and security dilemma."
Tehran Prosecutor's Office also confirmed a lawsuit had been filed in connection with the audio file's publication.
Iranian state media reported on Thursday that 15 people involved in the production had been barred from leaving the country while investigations are ongoing.
IranWire will publish a full report soon.
Related coverage:
Zarif Blames Russia and the Guards for Harming the JCPOA in Leaked Interview
Zarif vs. the Guards: A New Round
Posted for fair use
Revolutionary Guards Raid President and Foreign Minister's Offices
IranWire sources report that this morning officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Unit raided the offic ...
Hummm.....
jward
passin' thru
Iran seeks tech in Sweden for nuclear weapons - Swedish intel. report
Iran, China and Russia are the biggest security threats to Sweden
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
APRIL 29, 2021 23:20
A missile unveiled by Iran is launched in an unknown location in Iran in this picture received by Reuters on August 20, 2020
(photo credit: WANA NEWS AGENCY/REUTERS)
Sweden’s Security Service disclosed in its 2020 intelligence report that the Islamic Republic of Iran seeks Swedish technology for its nuclear weapons program, The Jerusalem Post can reveal.
Iran, China and Russia are Sweden’s biggest security threats, according to the report.
A damning section states that “Iran also conducts industrial espionage, which is mainly targeted against Swedish hi-tech industry and Swedish products, which can be used in nuclear weapons programs. Iran is investing heavy resources in this area and some of the resources are used in Sweden.”
The revelations about Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons procurement activities in Sweden comes on the heels of a German intelligence document, which declared last week that Iran’s regime has not ceased its drive to obtain weapons of mass destruction during 2020.
The Swedish and German intelligence documents might add new glitches to the US calculus to rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal.
The US is indirectly negotiating with Iran’s regime in Vienna about reentering the accord, which permits Iran’s regime, according to critics, to enrich uranium for an atomic weapon within ten years.
The German and Swedish intelligence findings establish that Iran’s regime still seeks a nuclear weapons program. The JCPOA is only a temporary restriction on the Islamic Republic’s drive to join the club of nations with atomic weapons, argue critics of the 2015 deal.
The Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 JCPOA in 2018 because, the US government said at that time, the atomic deal did not prevent Iran’s regime from developing a nuclear weapon.
“Several countries engage in various forms of espionage and security-threatening activities against Sweden. Russia, China and Iran make up the biggest threat,” wrote the Swedish Security Service (In Swedish: Säkerhetspolisen).
The intelligence report added that the regimes “aim to strengthen their country’s economic, political status and military superpower.”
The 88-page document said Tehran mainly conducts observation of Iranian refugees and dissidents who are viewed as a threat to the clerical regime and wages industrial espionage against Sweden.
Iran’s regime uses its intelligence apparatus to engage in espionage, targeting dissidents in Sweden and Swedish industry.
In the section titled “Iran,” the Swedish intelligence agency writes that the Iranian regime maps critics of the regime with respect to opposition groups in Sweden who are judged by the Islamic Republic to “destabilize” the clerical regime.
Iran’s regime seeks information from Swedish universities and colleges and there are efforts to recruit staff from Sweden’s research community.
The Post reported in 2012 that the Swedish government sought to block robust EU sanctions on Iran’s regime in order to protect a business deal between Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson and Tehran.
The then-Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who has long championed diplomacy over sanctions as the method to deal with totalitarian regimes like Iran and Syria, went to great lengths to prevent the EU from forcing Ericsson to pull the plug on its contracts with Syria’s regime, according to a report in another Israeli paper in 2012.
According to the paper, Israeli diplomats, citing their European diplomatic counterparts, questioned whether Bildt had “personal interests” in Iran that were impeding his capacity to move forward with sanctions.
www.jpost.com
Iran, China and Russia are the biggest security threats to Sweden
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
APRIL 29, 2021 23:20
A missile unveiled by Iran is launched in an unknown location in Iran in this picture received by Reuters on August 20, 2020
(photo credit: WANA NEWS AGENCY/REUTERS)
Sweden’s Security Service disclosed in its 2020 intelligence report that the Islamic Republic of Iran seeks Swedish technology for its nuclear weapons program, The Jerusalem Post can reveal.
Iran, China and Russia are Sweden’s biggest security threats, according to the report.
A damning section states that “Iran also conducts industrial espionage, which is mainly targeted against Swedish hi-tech industry and Swedish products, which can be used in nuclear weapons programs. Iran is investing heavy resources in this area and some of the resources are used in Sweden.”
The revelations about Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons procurement activities in Sweden comes on the heels of a German intelligence document, which declared last week that Iran’s regime has not ceased its drive to obtain weapons of mass destruction during 2020.
The Swedish and German intelligence documents might add new glitches to the US calculus to rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal.
The US is indirectly negotiating with Iran’s regime in Vienna about reentering the accord, which permits Iran’s regime, according to critics, to enrich uranium for an atomic weapon within ten years.
The German and Swedish intelligence findings establish that Iran’s regime still seeks a nuclear weapons program. The JCPOA is only a temporary restriction on the Islamic Republic’s drive to join the club of nations with atomic weapons, argue critics of the 2015 deal.
The Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 JCPOA in 2018 because, the US government said at that time, the atomic deal did not prevent Iran’s regime from developing a nuclear weapon.
“Several countries engage in various forms of espionage and security-threatening activities against Sweden. Russia, China and Iran make up the biggest threat,” wrote the Swedish Security Service (In Swedish: Säkerhetspolisen).
The intelligence report added that the regimes “aim to strengthen their country’s economic, political status and military superpower.”
The 88-page document said Tehran mainly conducts observation of Iranian refugees and dissidents who are viewed as a threat to the clerical regime and wages industrial espionage against Sweden.
Iran’s regime uses its intelligence apparatus to engage in espionage, targeting dissidents in Sweden and Swedish industry.
In the section titled “Iran,” the Swedish intelligence agency writes that the Iranian regime maps critics of the regime with respect to opposition groups in Sweden who are judged by the Islamic Republic to “destabilize” the clerical regime.
Iran’s regime seeks information from Swedish universities and colleges and there are efforts to recruit staff from Sweden’s research community.
The Post reported in 2012 that the Swedish government sought to block robust EU sanctions on Iran’s regime in order to protect a business deal between Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson and Tehran.
The then-Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who has long championed diplomacy over sanctions as the method to deal with totalitarian regimes like Iran and Syria, went to great lengths to prevent the EU from forcing Ericsson to pull the plug on its contracts with Syria’s regime, according to a report in another Israeli paper in 2012.
According to the paper, Israeli diplomats, citing their European diplomatic counterparts, questioned whether Bildt had “personal interests” in Iran that were impeding his capacity to move forward with sanctions.
Iran seeks tech in Sweden for nuclear weapons - Swedish intel. report
Iran, China and Russia are the biggest security threats to Sweden
www.jpost.com
jward
passin' thru
Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
22m
#Iran built 20 secret missile factories across Middle East to evade #Israeli attacks on arms smuggling ops, @N12News reports; Tehran transfers technology for local production of cruise missiles & suicide drones in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Sudan and Iraq.
More details about missile factories built by Iran across the region and Israel's response to the growing threat:
View: https://twitter.com/IsraelRadar_com/status/1388115104512811008?s=20
jward
passin' thru
Jason Brodsky
@JasonMBrodsky
Significant statement from the Director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, which was released yesterday: "Overall emir Ayman al-Zawahiri remains in hiding, while a handful of #Iran-based al-Qa’ida leaders oversee al-Qa’ida’s network." #AlQaeda
View: https://twitter.com/JasonMBrodsky/status/1388131573892059142?s=20
Another interesting nugget from DIA yesterday on the late Deputy IRGC-QF Commander Mohammad Hejazi who recently died & was replaced by Mohammad Reza Fallahzadeh: Esmail "Ghaani is more likely than Soleimani to delegate responsibilities, including to his deputy Muhammad Hejazi."
@JasonMBrodsky
Significant statement from the Director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, which was released yesterday: "Overall emir Ayman al-Zawahiri remains in hiding, while a handful of #Iran-based al-Qa’ida leaders oversee al-Qa’ida’s network." #AlQaeda
View: https://twitter.com/JasonMBrodsky/status/1388131573892059142?s=20
Another interesting nugget from DIA yesterday on the late Deputy IRGC-QF Commander Mohammad Hejazi who recently died & was replaced by Mohammad Reza Fallahzadeh: Esmail "Ghaani is more likely than Soleimani to delegate responsibilities, including to his deputy Muhammad Hejazi."
Posted for fair use.....
en.mehrnews.com
May 1, 2021, 2:00 PM
Turkey to build military base in N Iraq
Süleyman Soylu, the Turkish Interior Minister said that his country will build a military base in the Mitina region in northern Iraq.
Announcing the news, Soylu stressed the importance of the region for Turkey.
Last year, Turkish officials announced Ankara's decision to build three military bases in the Sinat-Haftanin areas of northern Iraq.
A Turkish official revealed in October 2020 that Ankara is planning to build more military bases to ensure its long-term presence in Iraq and to build new military bases.
The US magazine Foreign Policy quoted the official as saying in a report that Turkey has set up 10 military bases in Iraq and plans to build more bases to ensure the security of its borders.
----------------------------
Posted for fair use.....
en.mehrnews.com
May 1, 2021, 11:00 PM
Reactions to Turkey's decision to build military base in Iraq
The Security and Defense Committee of the Iraqi Parliament announced that it will hold an extraordinary meeting to review the statements of the Turkish Interior Minister, who said that Ankara intends to establish a military base in northern Iraq.
Badr al-Ziyadi, a member of the defense and security committee, said, "Turkey's advance on Iraqi soil is a clear violation of the country's sovereignty. The Parliamentary Security and Defense Commission will hold an extraordinary meeting to review the Turkish Interior Minister's remarks about the construction of a military base in northern Iraq and to ensure its accuracy."
Mohammed al-Baldawi, a member of the Iraqi Parliament's Security and Defense Committee called the prime minister's silence over Turkey's decision to build a military base in northern Iraq "suspicious and surprising."
"Turkey's announcement of a military base in northern Iraq is a provocative step and a declaration of war," he said.
On Saturday, Ammar Ta’meh, head of the al-Nahj al-Watani faction, said Turkey's “expansionist plans” would threaten the relationship between the two countries and “bring harm and loss to everyone."
He also stressed that the existence of a unified Iraqi national position to help the government in maintaining the sovereignty of the country and ending the influence of foreigners is a necessity for maintaining the security and stability of Iraq.
The Turkish Interior Minister announced that the country will build a military base in northern Iraq.
Süleyman Soylu, the Turkish Interior Minister said that his country will build a military base in the Mitina region in northern Iraq.
Announcing the news, Soylu stressed the importance of the region for Turkey.
Last year, Turkish officials announced Ankara's decision to build three military bases in the Sinat-Haftanin areas of northern Iraq.
A Turkish official revealed in October 2020 that Ankara is planning to build more military bases to ensure its long-term presence in Iraq and to build new military bases.
The US magazine Foreign Policy quoted the official as saying in a report that Turkey has set up 10 military bases in Iraq and plans to build more bases to ensure the security of its borders.
Turkey to build military base in N Iraq
TEHRAN, May 01 (MNA) – The Turkish Interior Minister announced that the country will build a military base in northern Iraq.
en.mehrnews.com
May 1, 2021, 2:00 PM
Turkey to build military base in N Iraq
Süleyman Soylu, the Turkish Interior Minister said that his country will build a military base in the Mitina region in northern Iraq.
Announcing the news, Soylu stressed the importance of the region for Turkey.
Last year, Turkish officials announced Ankara's decision to build three military bases in the Sinat-Haftanin areas of northern Iraq.
A Turkish official revealed in October 2020 that Ankara is planning to build more military bases to ensure its long-term presence in Iraq and to build new military bases.
The US magazine Foreign Policy quoted the official as saying in a report that Turkey has set up 10 military bases in Iraq and plans to build more bases to ensure the security of its borders.
----------------------------
Posted for fair use.....
Reactions to Turkey's decision to build military base in Iraq
TEHRAN, May 01 (MNA) – A group of Iraqi parliamentarians reacted to Turkey's decision to build a military base in the north of the country.
en.mehrnews.com
May 1, 2021, 11:00 PM
Reactions to Turkey's decision to build military base in Iraq
The Security and Defense Committee of the Iraqi Parliament announced that it will hold an extraordinary meeting to review the statements of the Turkish Interior Minister, who said that Ankara intends to establish a military base in northern Iraq.
Badr al-Ziyadi, a member of the defense and security committee, said, "Turkey's advance on Iraqi soil is a clear violation of the country's sovereignty. The Parliamentary Security and Defense Commission will hold an extraordinary meeting to review the Turkish Interior Minister's remarks about the construction of a military base in northern Iraq and to ensure its accuracy."
Mohammed al-Baldawi, a member of the Iraqi Parliament's Security and Defense Committee called the prime minister's silence over Turkey's decision to build a military base in northern Iraq "suspicious and surprising."
"Turkey's announcement of a military base in northern Iraq is a provocative step and a declaration of war," he said.
On Saturday, Ammar Ta’meh, head of the al-Nahj al-Watani faction, said Turkey's “expansionist plans” would threaten the relationship between the two countries and “bring harm and loss to everyone."
He also stressed that the existence of a unified Iraqi national position to help the government in maintaining the sovereignty of the country and ending the influence of foreigners is a necessity for maintaining the security and stability of Iraq.
The Turkish Interior Minister announced that the country will build a military base in northern Iraq.
Süleyman Soylu, the Turkish Interior Minister said that his country will build a military base in the Mitina region in northern Iraq.
Announcing the news, Soylu stressed the importance of the region for Turkey.
Last year, Turkish officials announced Ankara's decision to build three military bases in the Sinat-Haftanin areas of northern Iraq.
A Turkish official revealed in October 2020 that Ankara is planning to build more military bases to ensure its long-term presence in Iraq and to build new military bases.
The US magazine Foreign Policy quoted the official as saying in a report that Turkey has set up 10 military bases in Iraq and plans to build more bases to ensure the security of its borders.
jward
passin' thru
Heshmat Alavi
@HeshmatAlavi
6m
#BREAKING May 2—Qom, central #Iran Massive blaze erupted at a local industrial complex & reports show a chemical factory was the center of the fire. -Several factories were burning -A number of firefighters suffered injures; one fire truck engulfed in fire -Blaze under control
May 2—Qom, central #Iran Considering the fact that the entire area is filled with heavy smoke it is highly like that the industrial complex will be shut down & evacuated. The smoke could be very toxic and the local fire department has said the status quo is critical.
View: https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1388725560218693637?s=20
@HeshmatAlavi
6m
#BREAKING May 2—Qom, central #Iran Massive blaze erupted at a local industrial complex & reports show a chemical factory was the center of the fire. -Several factories were burning -A number of firefighters suffered injures; one fire truck engulfed in fire -Blaze under control
May 2—Qom, central #Iran Considering the fact that the entire area is filled with heavy smoke it is highly like that the industrial complex will be shut down & evacuated. The smoke could be very toxic and the local fire department has said the status quo is critical.
View: https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1388725560218693637?s=20
jward
passin' thru
Guy Elster
@guyelster
2h
#BREAKING #Iran to free four Americans accused of spying in exchange for four Iranians held in the US and the release of $7 bln in frozen Iranian funds: Al-Mayadeen
#BREAKING #Iran|ian official confirms reports of prisoner swap with US, says UK Zaghari-Ratcliffe will be released after "payment of military debt": state TV
____________________________________________
AFP News Agency
@AFP
6m
A senior White House official on Sunday denied reports from Tehran that an agreement had been reached with #Iran for the release of four Americans detained there
View: https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1388885999573479426?s=20
@guyelster
2h
#BREAKING #Iran to free four Americans accused of spying in exchange for four Iranians held in the US and the release of $7 bln in frozen Iranian funds: Al-Mayadeen
#BREAKING #Iran|ian official confirms reports of prisoner swap with US, says UK Zaghari-Ratcliffe will be released after "payment of military debt": state TV
____________________________________________
AFP News Agency
@AFP
6m
A senior White House official on Sunday denied reports from Tehran that an agreement had been reached with #Iran for the release of four Americans detained there
View: https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1388885999573479426?s=20
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$ 7 billion dollars and four "agent provocateur" to be named later for four citizens.....So how disjointed is the behavior of the triumvirate? One thing then is they value an American life at $1.75 billion yet they squander them domestically and internationally without thought.
Zagdid
Veteran Member
'Islamic State' military leader arrested in Turkey (msn.com)
'Islamic State' military leader arrested in Turkey
Nik Martin 5 hrs ago
An Afghan national, codenamed Basim and who allegedly led the terrorist group's military structure, has been detained in Istanbul.
The alleged military head of the "Islamic State" (IS) terror group was arrested in Turkey, a police statement said on Sunday.
Codenamed Basim, the Afghan national has been dubbed the right-hand man of dead IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.
Basim was detained in a suburb of Istanbul and had been traveling on a fake passport, according to the police statement.
Basim had reportedly disappeared months after the terrorist group was overrun in Syria and Iraq in December 2017.
Photo of balding, bearded man
Turkish media published a photograph of a balding, bearded man in a light coat following the arrest and an earlier image, purportedly of the same person, showing a long-haired, heavily bearded man in military fatigues wielding a curved sword.
The Demiroren news agency said Basim was suspected of organizing training for IS while in Syria and Iraq, as well as serving on its decision-making council.
NTV reported that Basim was being interrogated after a joint operation by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and Istanbul's police force.
IS leader Baghdadi killed himself in October 2019 by detonating a suicide vest during a US-led raid on his hideout in Syria's northwestern Idlib province.
Turkey regularly detains IS suspects, many allegedly planning attacks in the country.
'Islamic State' military leader arrested in Turkey
Nik Martin 5 hrs ago
An Afghan national, codenamed Basim and who allegedly led the terrorist group's military structure, has been detained in Istanbul.
The alleged military head of the "Islamic State" (IS) terror group was arrested in Turkey, a police statement said on Sunday.
Codenamed Basim, the Afghan national has been dubbed the right-hand man of dead IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.
Basim was detained in a suburb of Istanbul and had been traveling on a fake passport, according to the police statement.
Basim had reportedly disappeared months after the terrorist group was overrun in Syria and Iraq in December 2017.
Photo of balding, bearded man
Turkish media published a photograph of a balding, bearded man in a light coat following the arrest and an earlier image, purportedly of the same person, showing a long-haired, heavily bearded man in military fatigues wielding a curved sword.
The Demiroren news agency said Basim was suspected of organizing training for IS while in Syria and Iraq, as well as serving on its decision-making council.
NTV reported that Basim was being interrogated after a joint operation by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and Istanbul's police force.
IS leader Baghdadi killed himself in October 2019 by detonating a suicide vest during a US-led raid on his hideout in Syria's northwestern Idlib province.
Turkey regularly detains IS suspects, many allegedly planning attacks in the country.