US and Iran Relations (News and Discussion)

[China]

Iranian governor slapped in the face during public speech

 

An event introducing a newly appointed Iranian governor was dramatically interrupted Saturday after a man walked on stage and slapped him in the face.

 

Zeinolabedin Khorram, the new governor of East Azerbaijan province, was on stage delivering a speech at the Imam Khomeini Mosque in the northeastern city of Tabriz when the incident took place.

A video posted online by Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency shows a man calmly walking up to Khorram, slapping him in the face and then shoving him. Security guards can then be seen running toward the offender and pulling him off stage.

It was a rare breach of security in Iran -- the event was attended by the country's Interior Minister, representatives of Ayatollah Khamenei's office and other state officials.

 

The motive for the attack is unclear. According to Khorram, the offender told the police after he was arrested that he slapped him because he was upset that a man had vaccinated his wife at a Covid-19 vaccine clinic, rather than a woman, IRIB said in its report.

 

Click on the link for the full story

[China]

Iran says cyberattack closes gas stations across country

 

A cyberattack crippled gas stations across Iran on Tuesday, leaving angry motorists stranded in long lines.

 

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which rendered useless the government-issued electronic cards that many Iranians use to buy subsidized fuel at the pump.

It bore similarities to another attack months earlier that seemed to directly challenge Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the country’s economy buckles under American sanctions. Those economic problems worsen as the U.S. and Iran have yet to jointly re-enter Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers.

 

State television quoted an unnamed official in the country’s National Security Council acknowledging the cyberattack, hours after it aired images of long lines of cars waiting to fill up in Tehran. Associated Press journalists also saw lines of cars at Tehran gas stations, with the pumps off and the station closed.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Well, good thing Trump nixed the Iran deal:

 

 

[China]

 

[China]

Trump Targeted by Drone in Animated Video Leads Twitter to Ban Account Linked to Iran Leader

 

Twitter permanently banned an account linked to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday after it shared an animated video this week showing a robot and drone attempting to carry out a strike against former President Donald Trump.

 

Khamenei and Iranian leaders have repeatedly vowed to exact revenge against Trump after he ordered a January 2020 air strike to kill Iranian Lt. General Qasem Soleimani. The Khamenei account @KhameneiSite last week shared the animated video, classifying it as the best entry into a competition to commemorate the two-year anniversary of the military leader's assassination at the orders of the former U.S. president.

 

"The account referenced has been permanently suspended for violating our ban evasion policy," a Twitter spokesperson confirmed to Newsweek on Saturday. Twitter first confirmed the decision to the BBC and then Fox Business, saying it had permanently blocked the @KhameneiSite account for sharing the clip.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Iran strikes pact with IAEA on probe, paving way for agreement

 

Iran agreed to provide international atomic monitors with documents that will help resolve a contentious investigation, paving the way for a broader nuclear agreement with world powers and a potential return of Iranian oil to global markets by the third quarter.

 

The agreement was announced on Saturday in Tehran between International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami. Potentially, it represents a key step toward restoring a 2015 agreement that curbed the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

 

“We reviewed the outstanding issues and reached the conclusion to exchange necessary documents between the Atomic Energy Organization and the IAEA by May 21 at the latest,” Eslami said. “These issues should be resolved by the day of return to the nuclear deal.”

 

If successfully implemented, the pact with the IAEA removes one of the last remaining hurdles for Iran to resume JCPOA compliance and increase oil exports. The Trump administration abandoned the deal four years ago and unilaterally imposed U.S. sanctions, prompting Iran to retaliate by ramping up its nuclear activities beyond the levels agreed in the JCPOA. Negotiators have been huddled in Vienna for more than 10 months trying to salvage the accord.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Russia obstructs Iran nuclear deal as the Kremlin frets over its oil income

 

Moscow is throwing up last-minute demands that could scupper an international nuclear deal with Iran — and the timing is unlikely to be coincidental as the Kremlin frets about the growing threat to its critical oil revenue after its invasion of Ukraine.

 

Hopes had been high that international negotiators from the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council, Germany and the EU would be able to secure a deal with Tehran on Saturday to put strict limits on Iran’s atomic work in exchange for sanctions relief for the Islamic Republic.

 

Such a deal would bring significant volumes of Iranian crude oil back to global energy markets in the months ahead, and that could spell trouble for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The return of Iranian supplies would help offset market turmoil and price spikes if the West were to ramp up its sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine and ban Russian crude sales.

 

Oil sales are critical to Russia’s budget. Although Western countries have not yet directly targeted oil and gas, they have said they are prepared to do so and many oil traders have already started imposing an effective embargo.

 

At the Iran talks, Russia is demanding guarantees from the U.S. that the sanctions targeting the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine would not hinder its trade with Iran.

 

This fresh demand, which one Western senior official called a potential “trap,” could up-end negotiations aimed at securing a return to a 2015 accord on Iran’s atomic work. It has created yet another twist in a long-running saga that has seen the nuclear talks nearly fall apart over and over.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Remove Russian from the UN Security Council.  Problem solved.

[TheGreatBuzz]

20 minutes ago, China said:

Remove Russian from the UN Security Council.  Problem solved.

Easier said than done.  I doubt China would go along with it.

[China]

Woman blindfolded, stabbed date in revenge for Iranian leader’s death, police say

 

A woman is accused of stabbing a man on Saturday at Sunset Station as revenge for the killing of an Iranian military leader.

 

Nika Nikoubin, 21, is being held on $60,000 bail after she was charged with attempted murder, two counts of battery and burglary of a business, according to jail records.

 

 

A man called police around 10:30 p.m. Saturday from the 14th floor of Sunset Station to report that he had been stabbed in the neck by a woman he met on a dating app, according to an arrest report from the Henderson Police Department released Friday.

 

The woman told police she wanted revenge for the death of Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated during a U.S. Air Force drone strike on Jan. 3, 2020. The arrest report indicated that the woman began to have sex with the man, and after she put a blindfold on him, she reached into her purse and pulled out the knife.

 

“She advised that there are injustices, in particular the killing of Qasem Soleimani in Iran,” homeland security detectives added to the Henderson arrest report. “Nikoubin stated she wanted revenge.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

Edited March 12, 2022 by China

[China]

Iran nuclear talks close to collapse over Russian demands

 

The Iran nuclear talks are on the precipice of collapse over last-minute Russian demands for sanctions protection, according to two diplomats.

 

Negotiations have reached an impasse over the Russian requests, diplomats said, imperiling the revival of a 2015 landmark deal under which Iran limited its nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief. 

 

Russia is requesting that any return to the agreement include guarantees that any future Russian business with Iran be exempt from EU and U.S. sanctions — a late curveball from Moscow in response to the crippling penalties the country is facing over its invasion of Ukraine.  

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Thanks Trump!

 

White House worries Iran weeks away from bomb

 

The White House is worried Iran could develop a nuclear weapon in weeks, press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday, after Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted earlier in the day the country has accelerated its nuclear program.

 

"Yes it definitely worries us," Psaki said, adding the time needed for Iran to produce a nuclear weapon is down from about a year to "just a few weeks or less."

 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Iran’s breakout time was “down to a matter of weeks.”

The breakout period warned against by the U.S. secretaries refers to the amount of time it will take Iran to amass enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon. 

Obtaining enough nuclear material for a bomb doesn't not equate to building the core of a nuclear weapon that could be detonated on Iran's enemies immediately- There are several other conditions and processes necessary for Iran to have a nuclear bomb ready.

“If we go back, under the Iran nuclear deal, Iran’s nuclear program was tightly constrained,” Psaki said, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. “Since the Trump administration ceased US participation in the deal, Iran has rapidly accelerated its nuclear program.

“That is a direct impact of pulling out of the nuclear deal, making us less safe, giving us less visibility, and it’s one of the reasons we pursued a diplomatic path again,” she said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Renegade7]

"This isn't gonna be World War III."

 

*Israel bombing Iran to stop them from building a nuke has entered the chat

[China]

Iran currency drops to lowest value ever amid US sanctions

 

Iran’s currency Sunday dropped to its lowest value ever as talks to revive the country’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers remained deadlocked.

 

Traders in Tehran exchanged the rial at 332,000 to the U.S. dollar, up from 327,500 on Saturday. That marked more than a 4.4% change compared to June 1 when it traded at 318,000 to the dollar.

 

Iran’s currency was trading at 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

 

The rial’s new low came as U.S. sanctions against the country are still in force. Iran’s economy is struggling mightily mostly because of the U.S. pullout from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that restored sanctions on Iran’s oil and banking sectors. Talks in Vienna to renew the agreement have been deadlocked for months.

 

In central Tehran, dozens of shop owners took to the streets in protest over the worsening economic situation, after many shut their businesses following a recent rise in business taxes. Police were present in force, but did not intervene.

 

Meanwhile, police arrested 31 currency and gold traders accused of creating “false demand” in the market, state TV reported without elaborating.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Predatory Sparrow: Who are the hackers who say they started a fire in Iran?

 

It's extremely rare for hackers, who operate in the digital world, to cause damage in the physical world.

 

But a cyber-attack on a steel maker in Iran two weeks ago is being seen as one of those significant and troubling moments.

 

A hacking group called Predatory Sparrow said it was behind the attack, which it said caused a serious fire, and released a video to back up its story.

 

The video appears to be CCTV footage of the incident, showing factory workers leaving part of the plant before a machine starts spewing molten steel and fire. The video ends with people pouring water on the fire with hoses.

 

In another video that surfaced online, factory staff can be heard shouting for firefighters to be called and describing damage to equipment.

 

Predatory Sparrow, also known by its Persian name, Gonjeshke Darande, says this was one of three attacks it carried out against Iranian steel makers on 27 June, in response to unspecified acts of "aggression" carried out by the Islamic Republic.

 

Click on the link for the full article and video

[ixcuincle]

 

[TheGreatBuzz]

Sounds like a good way to die.

[China]

Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is 22 times above 2015 deal’s limit, says IAEA

 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has estimated that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium has reached 22 times the limit set out in the since-collapsed 2015 nuclear accord, according to a new report by the UN nuclear watchdog.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Thanks, Trump!

[ixcuincle]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/24/opinions/why-iran-hates-america-zakaria/index.html

 

The answer is complicated, but its major elements will be well known to many. In 1953, the US and Britain colluded to support the overthrow of Iran’s democratically elected prime minister and elevate the Shah, the son of Iran’s former strongman ruler. In 1979, the Islamic Revolution overthrew the Shah, who fled. The US admitted the Shah for cancer treatment, sparking ire among his many critics in Iran. Americans in the US embassy in Tehran were taken prisoner. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter ordered an operation to rescue them, which failed. The US would later support Iraq with critical intelligence in its long and violent war with Iran. Mutual enmity between Washington and Tehran would continue, entrenched.

There are two ideas that often underpin American strategy that should be dispelled. The first is that the Iranian regime will collapse and suddenly morph into a pro-American ally as it was under the Shah. It’s not that this is impossible. Repressive regimes are often more fragile than they seem. But premising a strategy on hope is not a sound path forward.

In addition, it’s worth looking at America’s recent experiences with regime change — in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and beyond — to recognize that even after the end of a bad regime, things do not always steadily improve. In fact, look at Washington’s relations with Moscow more than three decades after the Soviet system collapsed. It has not worked out as many had wished.