President Trump’s current approach relies on diplomatic and economic pressure rather than immediate military action.

By World Israel News Staff

As rumors and intelligence warnings about a growing Iranian missile threat continue to mount, concern is rising across the region.

At the same time, senior U.S. officials are signaling that the Trump administration is not, at this stage, inclined to approve direct Israeli military action against Iran’s ballistic missile program, despite heightened tensions and intensified Iranian military activity.

A senior U.S. State Department official told Israel’s Wallah News that while Washington continues to view Iran as a destabilizing force in the Middle East and beyond, President Donald Trump’s current approach relies on diplomatic and economic pressure rather than immediate military action.

The official said the administration has reinstated its “maximum pressure” policy, aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, scaling back its ballistic missile program, and limiting its support for terror groups.

The U.S. stance comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to raise renewed military options against Iran in a planned meeting with Trump at the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on December 29.

According to U.S. and Israeli sources cited by NBC News, Israeli assessments indicate that Iran is accelerating efforts to rebuild and expand its ballistic missile capabilities following strikes earlier this year.

Israeli officials quoted in the report said they now view Iran’s missile production and recovery of air defense systems as a more immediate threat than its nuclear program, which they believe was significantly damaged during U.S. and Israeli operations in June.

Netanyahu is expected to argue that Iran’s expanding missile arsenal threatens not only Israel but also regional stability and U.S. interests, and to present a range of options that could include Israeli action alone or varying levels of American involvement.

The debate is unfolding amid growing alarm over recent Iranian military activity.

According to U.S. and Israeli sources, Western intelligence has detected unusual air activity in Iranian airspace over the past several days involving drones and missiles, appearing to be part of a large-scale missile exercise.

A report published by Axios said Israel’s security establishment is increasingly concerned that the drills, following similar recent activity, could serve as cover for a planned surprise attack on Israel.

While Washington is emphasizing sanctions, diplomacy, and deterrence for now, Israeli officials continue to warn that Iran’s accelerating missile capabilities represent a rapidly evolving threat.

The upcoming meeting between Netanyahu and Trump is set to underscore the growing strategic debate between the two allies over how and when to confront the expanding Iranian missile threat.

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The IRGC claims it can target Israel’s nuclear facilities with newly obtained classified intelligence.

By World Israel News Staff

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened to strike Israel’s “secret” nuclear sites on Monday, claiming that they had obtained classified intelligence regarding the exact location of sites and other critical details about the Jewish state’s nuclear assets.

“Access to this information and the completion of the information and operational cycle have enabled the warriors of Islam [the Iranian military] to immediately counter any potential attack by the Zionist regime on the country’s nuclear facilities by attacking its secret nuclear facilities,” read the statement by IRGC, which is designated by the U.S. as a terror organization.

The IRGC now has “a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents,” the entity claimed.

Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib said that Iran has obtained a “treasure trove” of intelligence regarding Israel’s nuclear sites, but the Islamic Republic has yet to publicly present any of the alleged critical information it has obtained.

In an interview with i24 News and the Jerusalem Post published Monday, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi said an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities could push Tehran further towards creating a nuclear weapon.

“A strike could potentially have an amalgamating effect, solidifying Iran’s determination – I will say it plainly – to pursue a nuclear weapon or withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,” Grossi told the outlets.

“I’m telling you this because they have told me so directly,” he added.

Talks for a nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran are ongoing, with the next round of discussions slated to begin in Oman next week.

President Donald Trump has changed his previously optimistic tone regarding the potential outcome of the negotiations, telling reporters on Monday that he stressed that the deal would ensure that “there’s no destruction and death.”

He added that the Iranians are “tough negotiators.”

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Should the U.S. sign a new nuclear agreement with Iran, “ultimately, [Israel will] end up with an even worse deal” than the original 2015 agreement, says Israeli official.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli officials have expressed their concerns to the U.S. as a deal aimed at lifting sanctions on Iran in exchange for the country curbing its nuclear development program appears imminent.

A number of recent developments have signaled that an agreement may be on the horizon. For instance, Iran reportedly walked back its previous demand that the U.S. remove the IRGC from its official list of terror organizations, and the European Union offered Iran and the U.S. a “final” draft of the potential nuclear deal.

A senior Israeli intelligence official, speaking anonymously to Hebrew-language news outlet Ynet, said that after months of delaying and stalling, Iran has “suddenly” expressed a renewed interest in actively reaching a deal.

“The Iranians do not work too fast. We hope the situation is reversible,” the official said. “If they go to a deal, we’ll try to maximize the achievements [for Israel] within the agreement.”

The official also referenced former President Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the original deal in 2018, a move that was praised by Israel at the time.

But, the official said, it may be that the original deal was better for Israel than that currently on the table.

It could be that “ultimately, we’ll end up with an even worse deal,” he said.

Zvi Yehezkeli, a prominent Israeli analyst and political commentator, said during an interview on 103FM on Friday that the new deal would be disastrous for Israel, but that the Americans seemed determined to sign an agreement with Tehran.

“The White House is preparing a package of lifting sanctions, which will allow the Iranians to pour a lot of money [into Iran] in a short time,” Yehezkeli said.

“We will get a stronger, more determined Iran, with [the ability] to arm a lot of terrorist groups in the region. Israel will have to solve [the problem] alone,” he continued.

“My assessment is that the Europeans and Americans will fold again. Yes, the Americans are eager for an agreement.”

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“Some friendly health advice to Iran: If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible,” tweeted Trump.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

President Donald Trump threatened Iran with military action on Tuesday, after three rockets struck the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday.

One rocket was diverted by the C-RAM air defense system, but the two additional rockets damaged a building. No casualties were reported.

The rocket attack on Sunday is the latest in a string of such attacks over recent months. Pro-Iranian militias are said to be behind the launches.

“Our embassy in Baghdad got hit Sunday by several rockets. Three rockets failed to launch. Guess where they were from: IRAN. Now we hear chatter of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq,” he tweeted.

“Some friendly health advice to Iran: If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over.”

Our embassy in Baghdad got hit Sunday by several rockets. Three rockets failed to launch. Guess where they were from: IRAN. Now we hear chatter of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq… pic.twitter.com/0OCL6IFp5M

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2020

Iran denied involvement in the rocket attack. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to Trump’s tweet, writing, “Putting your own citizens at risk abroad won’t divert attention from catastrophic failures at home.”

Zarif then attached Trump’s tweets from 2011 to 2013, in which Trump predicted that then-President Obama would start a war with Iran in order to win the election.

Putting your own citizens at risk abroad won’t divert attention from catastrophic failures at home.

In your own words @realDonaldTrump: pic.twitter.com/kbtL8GWLHm

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) December 24, 2020

The heated Twitter exchange comes on the heels of rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Navy announced that an American missile-guided submarine and two warships had passed through the Strait of Hormuz, in what appeared to be a demonstration of the U.S.’s military strength.

The Strait of Hormuz links Iran to the Arabian Peninsula, and the statement by the U.S. Navy implies that American ships passed through Iran’s territorial waters.

A senior U.S. official told Reuters that Trump was presented with a range of options on “deterring attacks on U.S. military or diplomatic personnel in Iraq.”

The official did not elaborate on the possible military aspects of the options.

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Javad Zarif warns President-elect Biden against continuing Trump’s “rogue regime.”

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Thursday that Iran will never renegotiate the 2015 nuclear deal that the United States pulled out of, sending a clear message to the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.

“We will not renegotiate a deal which we [already] negotiated,” Zarif said during a video conference with the European Council on Foreign Relations. “This was the subject of two years of negotiations.”

“It will never be renegotiated, period,” Zarif said, “because that’s a sign [of] a clear case of bad faith.”

Zarif said the issue of Iran’s ballistic missile program was purposefully left out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly referred to as the Iran nuclear deal, and Iran was not willing to talk about the issue or make any other changes to something that had already been agreed upon.

The veteran Iranian minister then attacked Western countries for what he called their support of “Israeli terrorism,” alleging that Israel was behind the assassination last week of Iran’s top nuclear scientist.

Zarif also slammed the West and called on the U.S. and its European allies to “stop its malign behavior in our region,” referring to forces fighting the Iran-backed Houti rebels in the Yemen civil war.

He singled out the U.S. for supporting “the dismemberment of a journalist in Turkey by their very close ally, Saudi Arabia.”

Although Iran has been recognized by most major human rights organizations as one of the world’s most oppressive regimes, Zarif said that only if the West backed down can they “start talking about other things.”

“As long as they are not able to put up, they have to shut up,” Zarif said.

The minister also rejected the idea of a Biden Administration trying to continue any anti-Iran policies put in place by President Donald Trump, saying that the “Trump administration has been a rogue regime.”

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“The situation will improve in the next few months,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif. “Biden can lift all sanctions with three executive orders.”

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Iran is ready to reenter the 2015 nuclear deal if U.S. President-elect Joe Biden ends sanctions on Tehran, said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

“We are ready to discuss how the United States can re-enter the accord,” Zarif told Iranian state media. “The situation will improve in the next few months. Biden can lift all sanctions with three executive orders.”

Biden served as vice-president during the administration of Barack Obama, who entered into the nuclear deal.

“This can be done automatically, and with no need to set conditions: the United States carries out its duties under (Security Council Resolution) 2231 (lift sanctions) and we will carry out our commitments under the nuclear deal,” said Zarif in the state media video.

Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018, re-imposing harsh sanctions on Iran.

Unlike President Hassan Rouhani, Zarif did not demand compensation from the U.S. for re-imposing the sanctions.

“With their illegal and inhuman sanctions and terrorist actions, the Americans have inflicted 150 billion dollars of damage on the people of Iran,” Rouhani said in a televised speech in September.

“We’ve never before seen such an extent of savagery … The address for Iranian people’s curses and hatred is the White House.”

Last week, a bombshell report by nuclear watchdog group the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revealed Iran has further violated its 2015 nuclear deal by stockpiling 2,442.9 kilograms of enriched uranium.

According to the IAEI report, the Iranian government said that Iran’s goal is to “concentrate” all its enrichment research and development – a phrase which is almost exclusively used for advanced centrifuges – to an underground plant.

The report also explained that uranium particles were found in areas that had not previously been declared to the IAEI.

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Pence, Pompeo helped talk the president out of a military strike on Iran to stop its nuclear program.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

President Donald Trump asked top American officials about conducting a military strike on Iran in the final weeks of his presidency but was talked out of making the move, the New York Times reported Monday.

Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was 12 times what was allowed under the Iran nuclear deal.

On Thursday, Trump asked his top advisers about a strike against Iran’s main nuclear site in the coming weeks, the Times report said.

Those present at the meeting who advised against an attack included Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

Trump’s top advisers warned that a military strike on Iran now could spark a wider conflict. Officials told the Times that the president may still be considering ways to hit Iran and its proxy militias in the region.

“Any strike — whether by missile or cyber — would almost certainly be focused on Natanz,” considered to be the main Iranian nuclear development facility, the Times report said.

Last week, the president fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper and several other top Pentagon aides, sparking concerns among defense officials that Trump might take action against “Iran or other adversaries” before leaving the White House in January.

“A strike on Iran may not play well to his base, which is largely opposed to a deeper American conflict in the Middle East,” according to the Times.

An American strike on Iran would “poison relations with Tehran” and block President-elect Joe Biden from getting America back into the Iran nuclear accord from which Trump withdrew in 2018, the article said.

“It is concerning that Iran continues to breach limits set by the nuclear deal,” the Washington-based Arms Control Association said in its assessment of the latest IAEA report.

The IAEA report noted the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency’s continuing frustration with “Tehran’s failure to provide satisfactory and timely answers” as to why uranium particles were found at an undeclared site in February 2019, the Association said.

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President of American Jewish Congress says Abrams “will have little time to settle in,'”citing upcoming deadline to extend UN arms embargo on Iran.

By Jackson Richman, JNS

American Jewish and pro-Israel groups reacted to the news on Thursday that Elliott Abrams has replaced Brian Hook as U.S. Special Representative for Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the announcement that Hook was resigning after being the main point person for the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against the Iranian regime.

Abrams has been serving as the U.S. State Department’s special representative for Venezuela, a post he will continue to retain.

President of the American Jewish Congress Jack Rosen told JNS that Abrams “will have little time to settle in,” citing the upcoming deadline to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran. He expressed faith that the new appointee, like his predecessor, will “work determinedly towards countering Iran’s malignant activities in the Middle East.”

The United States will present a resolution at the U.N. Security Council next week to extend the U.N. arms embargo on Iran, announced Pompeo on Wednesday.

The 2010 arms embargo is set to be lifted on Oct. 18, in accordance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The Trump administration withdrew from that agreement in May 2018, reimposing sanctions lifted under it, along with enacted new financial penalties against the regime.

B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel Mariaschin told JNS that his organization welcomes the appointment of Abrams, whose “deep experience and longtime knowledge  of the region and its players, and his long record of calling out those who engage in malign behavior and incessant support for terrorism, especially Iran, make him eminently qualified for this post.”

Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) founder and president Sarah Stern called Abrams “extraordinarily” capable, and “an experienced diplomat and negotiator.”

She also told JNS that “Brian Hook did an exemplary job, while acting as the administration’s chief envoy on Iran—first in trying to strengthen the flawed [2015] Iranian nuclear deal, and then in an attempt to isolate Iran from the community of nations as a result of the highly stringent U.S.-led sanctions. He has exerted maximal effort in trying to convince the international community about the degree to which Iran had been in violation of the agreement.”

Zionist Organization of America president Mort Klein told JNS that Abrams “is a very knowledgeable, highly intelligent, and a committed Zionist and American patriot whom I’m pleased was chosen.”

“We appreciate Brian Hook’s service and his determined efforts to combat the Iranian regime’s destabilizing actions,” AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann told JNS. “Elliot Abrams brings impressive experience to the effort  to ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon and prevent its regional aggression.”

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations said in a statement that it welcomed Abrams, “a formidable diplomat,” taking on the new role and maintaining his duties concerning Venezuela. Abrams, the Conference said, is a “strong advocate for the U.S.-Israel relationship and will capably advocate American policy at a critical time. We look forward to working with him as he builds upon Special Representative Hook’s success.”

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The latest rise of tensions comes after Iranian naval gunboats harassed American Navy warships in the Persian Gulf last week.

By Associated Press

The leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) warned on Thursday that he has ordered his forces to target the U.S. Navy if threatened after President Donald Trump’s tweet the previous day threatening to sink Iranian vessels.

“I have ordered our naval forces to destroy any American terrorist force in the Persian Gulf that threatens the security of Iran’s military or non-military ships,” IRGC General Hossein Salami told state television, adding, “Security of the Persian Gulf is part of Iran’s strategic priorities.”

“I am telling the Americans that we are absolutely determined and serious in defending our national security, our water borders, our shipping safety, and our security forces, and we will respond decisively to any sabotage,” he said.

The latest rise of tensions comes after the U.S. Navy said last week that 11 Iranian naval gunboats had carried out “dangerous and harassing approaches” to American Navy and Coast Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf. The Americans said they used a variety of nonlethal means to warn off the Iranian boats, which eventually left. Iran, meanwhile, accused the U.S. of sparking the incident, without offering evidence for the claim.

Iran has had tense encounters at sea for years with the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil passes. The U.S. has patrolled the area to protect global shipping for decades, something Iran describes as akin to it patrolling the Gulf of Mexico.

Trump on Wednesday, facing a collapsing global energy market and the coronavirus pandemic amid his re-election campaign, tweeted out a warning to Iran, saying that he ordered the Navy to “shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.”

“We don’t want their gunboats surrounding our boats, and traveling around our boats and having a good time,” Trump told reporters Wednesday evening at the White House. “We’re not going to stand for it. … They’ll shoot them out of the water.”

Iran has also begun pushing back against the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” policy both militarily and diplomatically. The Guard on Wednesday launched Iran’s first military satellite, unveiling a previously secret space program.

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Initially overwhelmed, Tehran now seeks to sway international opinion on U.S. sanctions by highlighting its struggles with COVID-19.

By Associated Press

Even as both face the same invisible enemy in the coronavirus pandemic, Iran and the United States remain locked in retaliatory pressure campaigns that now view the outbreak as just the latest battleground.

Initially overwhelmed, Tehran now seeks to sway international opinion on U.S. sanctions by highlighting its struggles with COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Iran asked for $5 billion from the International Monetary Fund even as it enriches uranium beyond the limits of its 2015 deal with world powers.

The U.S., which unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 under President Donald Trump, insists that aid can reach the Islamic Republic — though humanitarian organizations say Washington’s sanctions disrupt even permitted trade.

At the same time, the U.S. is now withdrawing troops from Iraqi bases, redeployments it insists are pre-planned even as Trump alleges Iran plans “a sneak attack” against them.

The risk of open conflict between the countries is overshadowed by the pandemic. Yet it persists — some say at levels as high as immediately after the January drone strike by the U.S. that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.

“After Soleimani’s killing, everybody thought there will be war, but nothing happened,” said Mahsa Rouhi, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “Whereas we were so close to war that it’s not that nothing happened. And we are not back to normal. … We are back to a situation where any move could easily escalate into a conflict.”

The current tensions can seem trivial, compared to the pandemic, which has infected at least 1.9 million people worldwide and killed over 119,000. This perception has been helped by mocking social media posts from the U.S. State Department and a former leader of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seemingly backing the fringe idea of California seceding from the U.S.

The stakes, however, are anything but. The night Iran retaliated for the Soleimani killing, it also accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 people aboard. Allied Shiite militias in Iraq also continue to threaten American forces deployed there in the aftermath of the fight against the Islamic State group.

While largely silent in the initial days of the outbreak in Iran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has begun a concerted campaign targeting American sanctions. It’s a way to absolve Iran’s civilian government of responsibility for an outbreak it hasn’t contained. But Zarif’s allegations of “medical terror” by the U.S. also highlight the challenge Tehran faces in accessing some medical supplies.

While the U.S. says medical and humanitarian aid remains exempt, Human Rights Watch said American laws as written affect Iran’s access to crucial equipment, “including ventilators, CT scanners, decontamination equipment and full-mask respirators.” Meanwhile, international firms remain leery of running afoul of U.S. sanctions even for authorized transactions with Iran.

“One of the problems for international aid has been to clarify the legal issues related to sanctions to ensure that medical supplies and medicines can be brought into Iran,” Olivier Vandecasteele, Relief International’s country director for Iran, said in a statement “This slowed down the health response in the first weeks of the outbreak.”

A European system called INSTEX did get aid through, as has a Swiss channel. China also has contributed, as have regional Gulf Arab countries, likely worried about Iran further spreading the virus into their own nations. Meanwhile, Iran insists it can produce masks and gloves, something the U.S. has argued undercuts Tehran’s $5 billion request to the IMF, which would be its first loan since 1962.

All this comes as Iran continues to produce low-enriched uranium with equipment and sites barred by the nuclear deal. Its nuclear program chief recently reiterated a threat that Iran could withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, though Iran didn’t make a show of its program during its recent annual National Day of Nuclear Energy.

That bolsters suspicions of behind-the-scenes talks between intermediaries, particularly over the release of U.S. prisoners and other Westerners. Iran’s judiciary acknowledged ongoing prisoner-swap discussions on April 6, without elaborating.

But overall tensions remain extraordinarily high. Online video and Iranian media reports suggest Iran has deployed Fajr-5 missile batteries on beaches along the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded in the world passes.

There have been reported maritime incidents in and around the strait as well. On March 27, two boats with a raised ladder approached a U.S.-flagged container ship, while Revolutionary Guard vessels approached a ship on April 2, according to private maritime security firm Dryad Global.

The U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, which routinely has tense interactions with Iranian forces. declined to comment. However, last summer saw a series of tense encounters at sea and on land that included the seizure of oil tankers.

The U.S. pressure campaign in part seeks to force Iran into spending at home rather than on its regional allies. Tehran views such groups as part of its defensive deterrence in the region.

Meanwhile, people continue to die of the virus in Iran in the pandemic that could spread further into American allies in the region, forcing the world to still work with Tehran, Rouhi said.

“At the end of the day, it’s still that bad actor that is governing a country of more than 80 million,” she said. “You don’t have an alternative.”

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Iran’s people deserve sympathy for their coronavirus suffering. But the regime that oppresses them and is still working on a dangerous nuclear program deserves none.

By Jonathan S. Tobin, JNS

The tyrants of Tehran are in trouble. The coronavirus pandemic has hit Iran particularly hard. That’s due, in no small measure, to the fact that, like their counterparts in China, the theocrats running the country suppressed news about the spread of the deadly disease, hampering efforts to contain it.

Nevertheless, they are determined to exploit the natural sympathy generated by the country’s plight in order to advance their political agenda.

Unfortunately, those who wish to resurrect America’s former policy of appeasement of Iran—a group that includes Obama administration alumni, Obama’s mainstream media “echo chamber,” and European nations that are desperate to trade with and avoid confrontation with Tehran—are supporting the Iranian government’s efforts.

They’ve tried to mobilize their considerable influence in an effort to undermine the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” effort to force the regime to renegotiate the 2015 nuclear deal in order to end Iran’s nuclear program, as well as to stop supporting international terrorism and building illegal missiles.

Unfortunately, they’re now also being aided by one of the most important figures in the Trump administration: Treasury Secretary Mnuchin. As JNS reported, Mnuchin has apparently succeeded, despite objections from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in getting the White House to agree to extend a waiver on U.S. economic sanctions that will allow Russian, Chinese and European companies to keep operating at Iranian nuclear facilities.

Those waivers are among the last remaining vestiges of Obama’s disastrous pact that enriched and empowered the regime, while also allowing it a legal path to a nuclear weapon.

Why is Mnuchin pushing for the extension of the waivers?

It appears that Mnuchin is seeking to change the administration’s basic purpose in dealing with Iran from one that is aimed at replacing Obama’s deal to one that bows to European and Russian pressure to maintain it in place. Mnuchin is apparently more interested in good relations with the international community than in using American economic power to roll back the alarming gains that Iran has made in the Middle East as a result of Obama’s misguided attempt to bring about a rapprochement with Tehran.

This is a huge mistake. As Richard Goldberg of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies—a key resource on Iran—has written, the argument for retaining the waiver would be if the Europeans, Russians and Chinese promised to hold Iran accountable for their violations of the deal and to “snap back” sanctions, as they are pledged to do under the pact.

But none of them have any intention of doing so. What they want is to preserve the nuclear deal at all costs and to roll back Trump’s sanctions policy that has made it harder for the Iranians to go on funding terror. As opponents of extending the waivers have argued, Iran’s ability to defy U.S. policy is immeasurably strengthened by this exception.

Iran declined US aid to fight virus

The notion that undermining Trump’s “maximum pressure” efforts will help the Iranian people deal with the pandemic is a big lie. The United States does not sanction humanitarian and medical aid; in fact, Iran even refused an American offer of help to deal with the virus.

The rogue Islamist regime has been tottering in the last year as its subjects have risen in protest against its misrule that has prioritized funding foreign terror and nuclear ambitions over the needs of ordinary Iranians. The Iranian people took to the streets last December by the tens of thousands to demonstrate against the theocrats who oppress them, and thousands were shot down by the regime’s praetorian guard—the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which also controls much of that nation’s economy.

Any sanctions relief will simply be a gift to the IRGC and the foreign terror groups it funds. For decades, Iran has funneled its oil wealth into a nuclear program whose ultimate aim is intimidating its neighbors and threatening Israel with extinction. For the Trump administration to continue to allow the civilian component of that program to go on functioning with foreign help undermines its entire policy agenda, as well as worries the Arab states and Israel, which felt abandoned by Obama.

The timing for this decision is also particularly tragic because it comes just after a public acknowledgement that Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who became a part-time CIA operative who had been kidnapped by the IRGC in 2007, died while in Iranian custody.

Levinson’s disappearance is still officially unsolved since Iran has not produced his body. But his family has now said that it has been told by the Trump administration that newly discovered intelligence—reportedly including intercepted Iranian communications—show that he died while in Iranian hands at some point during the last several years.

The story of Levinson’s mission is still classified and involved CIA officials using him on a mission not officially authorized by the agency. This allowed the Obama administration to act as if freeing Levinson was not their prime responsibility.

Sadly, along with other U.S. concessions made during the negotiations with Iran that led to the nuclear deal, Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry decided that insisting on Iran granting freedom for Levinson or producing his body was not worth holding up the agreement.

The recent history of American dealings with Iran has been dominated by that kind of callous expediency. Obama’s successful efforts to end sanctions on Iran not only did nothing to make the lives of the Iranian people better, it also bolstered the ability to tyrannize its people at home and threaten its neighbors. Strengthening it by again—as Mnuchin seems to want—loosening sanctions out of misplaced sympathy or a desire to accommodate the Europeans or Russians won’t help anyone but the IRGC and its theocratic masters.

Trump’s withdrawal from the deal and reimposition of sanctions was a step in the right direction. Extending the nuclear sanctions, as the U.S. Treasury Department appears willing to do, is a blunder that will only help strengthen the very people who are responsible for Iranian repression and inadequate help for coronavirus victims.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS—Jewish News Syndicate. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.

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Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer tells AIPAC conference “security and technology” will be the cornerstone of the U.S.-Israel alliance going forward.

By Aaron Bandler, JNS

Israel is going to be “America’s most important ally in the 21st century,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., Dermer said the two most important things the United States looks for in an ally are “security and technology.”

When it comes to security, both Israel and Britain are America’s most reliable allies, said Dermer, but when it comes to technology Britain is “not in the same time zone as Israel.”

The future of technology will involve artificial intelligence, and the four countries that have made the most progress in that field are the United States, Israel, China and Russia, said Dermer.

“China and Russia are not allies of the United States,” he added. “Israel is.”

He went on to say that “10 years from now, when an Israeli ambassador is going to sit here, people are going to say, ‘Of course Israel is America’s most important ally in the 21st century.’”

Additionally, Dermer recalled how in 2018, while he was touring the crematorium in Majdanek, a Nazi concentration camp in Poland, he discussed with U.S. national security advisers how to deal with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“If you ever needed to encapsulate the great transformation that has happened in the life of the Jewish people from a stateless and powerless people to a sovereign people that is capable of defending itself, it was right there,” said Dermer. “And that’s why it was a remarkable moment.”

Dermer also said that the Israeli government is thankful for President Donald Trump’s policies on Iran, arguing that Trump’s exit from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and sanctions on the Iranian regime have starved the “regime of the fuel, the money it needs to fuel its war machine in the region.”

The Israeli ambassador said that the U.S. decision to kill Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani “has helped restore American power and deterrence in the Middle East,” arguing that Iran and its proxies now know that the U.S. will take action to protect itself.”

This article first appeared in the Jewish Journal.

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President Trump is expected to veto the motion as soon as it reaches his desk.

By Associated Press

The Senate approved a bipartisan measure Thursday aimed at limiting President Donald Trump’s authority to launch military operations against Iran, with eight Republicans joining Democrats in a post-impeachment bid to constrain the White House.

Trump is expected to veto the war powers resolution if it reaches his desk, warning that if his “hands were tied, Iran would have a field day.’”

The measure, authored by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., says Trump must win approval from Congress before engaging in further military action against Iran. Kaine and other supporters said the resolution, which passed 55-45, was not about Trump or even the presidency, but instead was an important reassertion of congressional power to declare war.

While Trump and other presidents “must always have the ability to defend the United States from imminent attack, the executive power to initiate war stops there,″ Kaine said. “An offensive war requires a congressional debate and vote.″

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a co-sponsor, called the resolution “much needed and long overdue.″ In recent decades, “Congress has too often abdicated its constitutional responsibility on authorizing the sustained use of military force,″ she said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. and many other Republicans opposed the resolution, saying it would send the wrong message to U.S. allies. “Just as we have successfully sent Iran this strong signal of our strength and resolve (by killing that country’s top general), a blunt and clumsy war powers resolution would tie our own hands,” McConnell said.

The Senate vote comes after the Pentagon announced earlier this week that over 100 U.S. servicemen have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries following an Iranian missile attack against U.S. troops stationed at al-Asad Air Base in Iraq on Jan. 8.

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Sunday’s failure came after two failed launches of the Payam and Doosti satellites last year, as well as a launchpad rocket explosion in August. 

By Associated Press

An Iranian rocket failed to put a satellite into orbit on Sunday, state television reported, the latest setback for a program the U.S. claims helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile program.

The launch happened at 7:15 p.m. local time at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran’s Semnan province, some 230 kilometers (145 miles) southeast of Iran’s capital, Tehran. A Simorgh, or “Phoenix,” rocket couldn’t put the Zafar 1 communications satellite into orbit, however, due to a low speed, Iranian state TV reported.

“Stage-1 and stage-2 motors of the carrier functioned properly and the satellite was successfully detached from its carrier, but at the end of its path it did not reach the required speed for being put in the orbit,” Defense Ministry space program spokesman Ahmad Hosseini told state TV.

Hosseini still sought to portray the failure as a “remarkable” achievement for its space program. Previous Simorgh launches of the 80-ton satellite carrier suffered other failures.

In the days leading up to the launch, Iranian officials had been promoting the mission, including the country’s Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi. His quick rise through the Islamic Republic’s carefully managed political system already is generating speculation he could be a candidate for Iran’s 2021 presidential campaign.

Jahromi acknowledged the unsuccessful launch in a tweet shortly after the news broke on state TV, comparing it to a “few samples of US launch failures.”

‘But we’re UNSTOPPABLE!’

“But We’re UNSTOPPABLE! We have more Upcoming Great Iranian Satellites!” Jahromi tweeted in English, including a satellite emoji. He later tweeted in Farsi that “sometimes life does not go the way we like it to go.”

He added: “Please do not pay attention to fake news.”

The launch had been planned amid celebrations ahead of the February anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran routinely unveils technological achievements for its armed forces, its space program and its nuclear efforts during this time. Satellite images by Colorado-based Maxar Technologies obtained by The Associated Press showed the launch tower for the rocket bore massive images of the revolution’s leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and the current Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran had spent just under 2 million euros to build the Zafar 1, Jahromi previously said. Officials planned for the satellite, whose name means “victory” in Farsi, to remain in orbit for 18 months before crashing back through the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrating.

Sunday’s failure came after two failed launches of the Payam and Doosti satellites last year, as well as a launchpad rocket explosion in August. A separate fire at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in February 2019 also killed three researchers, authorities said at the time.

The rocket explosion in August drew even the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump, who later tweeted what appeared to be a classified surveillance image of the launch failure. The three failures in a row raised suspicion of outside interference in Iran’s program, something Trump himself hinted at by tweeting that the U.S. “was not involved in the catastrophic accident.”

Iran postponed the launch from Saturday, the same day the country faced a major cyberattack.

The U.S. alleges such satellite launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Iran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. American officials, as well as European nations, worry such launches could help Iran develop intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

No comment from Washington

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the White House did not immediately acknowledge the launch.

Iran, which long has said it does not seek nuclear weapons, maintains its satellite launches and rocket tests do not have a military component. Tehran also says it hasn’t violated the U.N. resolution as it only “called upon” Tehran not to conduct such tests. Western missile experts have also questioned the U.S. contention that Iran’s program could have a dual use for nuclear weapons.

Over the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space.

The launch comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. since Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in May 2018. Iran since has begun breaking terms of the deal limiting its enrichment of uranium.

Meanwhile, a series of attacks across the Persian Gulf culminated with a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad killing Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani and a retaliatory ballistic missile strike by Iran on Iraqi bases housing American troops earlier this month. Iran also accidentally shot down a Ukrainian commercial airliner taking off from Tehran amid the tensions, killing all 176 people on board.

Earlier Sunday, Iran unveiled a new ballistic missile.

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“No Thanks,” tweets U.S. President Donald Trump after Iran’s foreign minister tells a German newspaper that Tehran wants sanctions lifted ahead of any new nuclear negotiations.

By JNS

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that any negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program would have to be conducted with U.S. sanctions in place.

In an apparent response to comments made by Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during an interview on Friday with German newspaper Der Spiegel, Trump posted on Twitter in English and Farsi:

“Iranian Foreign Minister says Iran wants to negotiate with The United States, but wants sanctions removed. @FoxNews @OANN No Thanks!”

Iran’s Foreign Minister responded by tweeting on Sunday: “@realdonaldtrump is better advised to base his foreign policy comments & decisions on facts, rather than @FoxNews headlines or his Farsi translators.”

Zarif’s tweet also included an excerpt from the Der Spiegel interview:

Der Spiegel: “Do you rule out the possibility of negotiations with the U.S. following Soleimani’s murder?

Zarif: “No, I never rule out the possibility that people will change their approach and recognize the realities. For us, it doesn’t matter who is sitting in the White House. What matters is how they behave. The Trump administration can correct its past, lift the sanctions and come back to the negotiating table. We’re still at the negotiating table. They’re the ones who left. The U.S. has inflicted great harm on the Iranian people. The day will come when they will have to compensate for that. We have a lot of patience.”

Separately, the deputy head of Iran’s nuclear agency, Ali Asghar Zarean, said in a report published on the agency’s website that “at the moment, if [Iranian authorities] make the decision, the Atomic Energy Organization [of Iran], as the executor, will be able to enrich uranium at any percentage,” Reuters reported.

Iran said earlier this month it would remove limitations on enriching uranium, going against commitments it made in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal.

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Attacking the Democrats for being “outraged” at the recent U.S. assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, President Donald Trump noted that many people no longer have arms or legs “because of this son of a b—h.”

The post WATCH: Trump defends killing ‘son of a b***h’ Soleimani at Wisconsin rally appeared first on World Israel News.