Jubin Katiraie
On Friday October 13, After President Trump unveiled a new strategy against Iran that included decertifying the nuclear agreement negotiated under the Obama administration. The Pentagon said it is reviewing its “entire breadth” of methods to counter Iran.
The review includes security cooperation activities, force posture and plans, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway said in a statement.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Oct – A relationship between al-Qaeda and Iran is an unlikely one considering the very volatile Sunni – Shia problems and differences. However, when aims coincide, these differences can be put to one side. The Iranian regime has been working with al-Qaeda ever since the beginning of the nineties in Sudan.
Later, in Afghanistan, the two worked together and cooperation continued after the 9/11 attacks in New York. It was not until years later, in 2011, that Iran and al-Qaeda were formally accused of having links and co-conspiring in the 9/11 attacks.
Iran Focus
London, 12 Oct – Regarding the law requiring the president to determine every 90 days if Iran is abiding by the accord, Mr. Trump said, “If it was up to me, I would have had those noncompliant 180 days ago.” Although Trump has certified Iran’s compliance twice, he has done so reluctantly.
The Iran nuclear deal, formally known as The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), did not pass the Senate with the two-thirds majority the Constitution requires of treaties, giving Trump the ability to abandon the deal as soon as he took office. In fact, as president, it was his duty, since he declared, as a candidate, his belief that, “The Iran deal poses a direct national-security threat.”
Iran Focus
London, 12 Oct – While everyone agrees that Iran must not be allowed to produce nuclear weapons, some go further and say that if the world’s number one supporter of terrorism is allowed to produce nuclear weapons, no other state can be denied them. Proliferation will result in a world of nuclear horror and chaos.
These critics say that Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPCOA), known as the Iran nuclear agreement, makes Iran a threshold nuclear weapons state. Further, they say that Iran must only wait for the “sunset clause” and it will be permitted to produce nuclear weapons. They believe that the outcome of this is that Mideast politics cannot permit Iran to be the sole regional possessor of nuclear weapons. In fact, other states such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, are already making covert preparations to go nuclear.
By Jubin Katiraie
The Iranian regime has been meddling in conflicts across the Middle East for a long time. For example, Iran has been involved in the Syrian civil war since the very beginning and it has provided extensive military support and training to the country’s president – Bashar al Assad. The Iranian regime has propped him up and it must be said that without Iran’s intervention, the Syrian civil war would have ended years ago.
The Iranian regime has also been meddling in the long and messy Israeli-Palestine conflict. It has been fuelling rifts between several different Palestinian groups. It is no secret that one of the Iranian regime’s goal is to exacerbate the situation by providing economic and arms assistance to Hamas.
Iran Focus
London, 11 Oct – Born in Shiraz, Iran, in 1972, Mohammad Rasoulof is an award-winning independent filmmaker, famous for his works, “A Man of Integrity”, which won this year’s prize at Cannes, as well as “Goodbye” and “Manuscripts Don’t Burn”.
On September 15th, Rasoulof had his passport confiscated when he returned to Tehran after screening his latest film at the Telluride Film Festival in the United States. He was told to report to the prosecutor’s office, and then ordered to attend a court hearing.
Iran Focus
London, 11 Oct – Intelligence reports from Germany have indicated that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been trying to obtain illicit technology that could be used in the country’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs. This calls into question Iran’s compliance with the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal that was set up to stop the nuclear weapons race.
Fox News got hold of the three reports which provide details about more than thirty attempts by Iran to procure items that were probably or definitely wanted for “the benefit of proliferation programs”. The procurement attempts happened in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Iran Focus
London, 10 Oct – The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), more commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, has faced much criticism from the Trump administration. The whole purpose of the nuclear deal was to put an end to the nuclear threat posed by the Islamic Republic. Many leaders, especially in Europe, support the deal and maintain that it is the only way to keep Iran’s nuclear ambitions in check.
However, President Trump disagrees with this. In fact, he very strongly disagrees and has said that the nuclear deal does the opposite – it actually paves the way for Iran to becoming nuclear.
Iran Focus
London, 10 Oct – Saudi Arabia has all of a sudden shown a great interest in the import of weapons. It is looking for an increase in quantity and an increase in quality. But why?
Quite simply, the kingdom is under more of a threat that it has ever been for two main reasons.
Firstly, the threat from Iran is getting bigger and bigger every day. It is still unknown what action the United States President Donald Trump will take on the 15th October when his deadline expires for informing Congress of his decision to recertify, or decertify, Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal. No matter what happens, the future is still uncertain and this is adding to the risk for Saudi Arabia.
Iran Focus
London, 9 Oct – During a dinner for military commanders and their spouses last week, United States President Donald Trump made reference to the “calm before the storm”. There has been much speculation about what the president meant by this comment, but there are rumours that he was sending a strong message to Iran and North Korea about their current behaviour. It may be his way of warning the two countries that unless they change their behaviour, there will be some serious consequences.
Both countries have been testing to see how far they can push Trump and to see what action he will take. Iran is working on its own weapons and North Korea is testing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons.
