Iranian officials have warned of historic drought while experts blame years of poor water management.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/58012290
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Numerous videos and accounts have come out of Khuzestan despite internet restrictions.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/21/violence-intensifies-after-six-nights-of-water-crisis-protests-in
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Republican lawmakers are determined to preserve President Joe Biden’s power to wage military campaigns in Iraq, even against the commander-in-chief’s wishes.
It’s a strange dynamic for members of Congress, who have long seen presidents of both parties expand and sometimes abuse their war powers even after campaigning on ending conflicts in the Middle East. Nearly 20 years after the horrors of Sept. 11, GOP lawmakers are now in the awkward position of fighting to maintain a Democratic president’s authority to conduct military operations without congressional approval.
It largely stems from Republicans’ desire to project an aggressive posture toward Iran — whose proxies in Iraq and Syria attack Americans on a near-daily basis — and concerns about the rapid destabilization of Afghanistan amid the U.S. withdrawal.
“Presidents should be authorized … to go after terrorists or other armed groups who seek to harm the United States or our personnel deployed anywhere in the world, on an ongoing basis, and to do whatever is necessary to degrade their capability to strike us — and if possible to wipe them out of existence,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), vice chair of the Intelligence Committee and a senior member of the Foreign Relations panel.
The debate on Capitol Hill comes as the Senate is set to vote this year on a bipartisan bill to repeal authorizations for the use of military force (AUMFs) enacted in 1991 for the Gulf War and 2002 for the Iraq War. The bill is sponsored by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.).
The House already repealed both authorizations, in addition to a never-used 1957 AUMF. If the repeal measures reach Biden’s desk, it would be the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks that Congress will have clawed back its constitutional war powers.
Proponents of repeal got a major boost when Biden came out in support of scrapping at least the 2002 measure, which gave then-President George W. Bush the authority to topple Saddam Hussein’s government. It was used by subsequent presidents to legally justify military action against terror threats that only developed after the AUMF was first adopted.
At a classified briefing Monday evening for members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, top administration officials argued that the 2002 authorization was functionally obsolete, according to two people familiar with the briefing. Officials were “unequivocal” that the AUMFs are not “exclusively” relied upon for ongoing operations, and that no current military actions will be impacted by the repeal, said another person familiar with the meeting.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, said after the briefing that he plans to move forward with a markup of the AUMF repeal measure before senators leave Washington for the summer recess in August. He said the information given was “helpful” in outlining the case for repeal, but he acknowledged it wouldn’t satisfy everyone.
“There are other members who have ideological issues,” Menendez said. “There’s no briefings in the world that I could ultimately provide that will deal with that.”
Most Republicans are expected to oppose repealing the 2002 AUMF, with many arguing that Congress should not deprive Biden of legal authority to protect American troops in light of a barrage of attacks from Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq. In two recent bombing campaigns against the Iranian proxies, Biden notably did not cite the AUMF as legal justification; he instead pointed to his Article II constitutional authority to defend Americans by launching retaliatory strikes.
“The president’s constitutional Article II authorities appropriately give him the power to defend our troops and our core national interests,” said Young, the Republican leading the effort to repeal the outdated AUMFs. “He’s proven that by doing that — without any exception being taken by my colleagues whatsoever.”
Still, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), an Armed Services Committee member, said scrapping Iraq-related AUMFs could “embolden” terror groups that some lawmakers assert Biden has no authority to go after. That includes al Qaeda, the terror group that was behind the Sept. 11 attacks, and which Republicans believe will reconstitute in Afghanistan once the U.S. pullout is complete and potentially expand into Iraq and Syria, where American troops are continually attacked by Iranian proxy forces. GOP lawmakers instead want Biden to develop a clearer strategy to deter the attacks, even if that includes launching preemptive strikes using the AUMFs currently on the books.
“It would be a very powerful start for the Biden administration to be very forceful and clear and unequivocally saying, we do not believe we are constrained from carrying out as many strikes that would be necessary to protect Americans against Iranian-backed militias or any militias that seek to harm us,” Rubio said. “Degrading these groups’ ability to strike America or strike Americans anywhere in the world requires sustained pressure.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a Foreign Relations Committee member, said the AUMF is necessary for troops in Iraq to “defend themselves properly,” adding: “You don’t want to have to only react after you’ve been attacked.”
But even some of Biden’s allies say that the president does not and should not have the authority to launch offensive strikes against the Iranian proxies without first seeking congressional approval. They also argue that the 2002 AUMF could not be legally employed to justify attacks on Iranian proxies.
“I think that there are some colleagues, who never want to see repeal, who are advocating that that’s the reason not to repeal,” Menendez said of the GOP push to preserve the Iraq AUMFs.
It’s no surprise that Republicans would push for a harder line against the government in Tehran. The GOP largely supported the Trump administration’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, which included pulling out of the Obama-era nuclear deal and imposing a raft of biting sanctions.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a Foreign Relations Committee member, told POLITICO that he is planning to introduce an amendment to the AUMF repeal measure that would “make clear that there is ample authority to protect our servicemen and women and to protect American lives from Iranian military aggression.”
Such a position would grant Biden expansive authority to attack Iran over its malign activities in the region, including its nuclear ambitions and its support for terror groups that are targeting Americans. But Biden has no interest in that authority, officials say, as his administration is seeking to revive the nuclear agreement that Trump scrapped in 2018.
Democrats are expected to double down on their efforts to repeal AUMFs on Tuesday when the House Appropriations Committee votes on annual Pentagon spending legislation.
Progressive Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who has led the House effort to scrub the broad suite of war powers, plans to offer amendments that would repeal the 2002 Iraq War authorization and sunset the 2001 AUMF that governs a myriad of military operations around the world, including the war in Afghanistan. Lee has tacked the measures onto the must-pass defense funding bill in previous years, though the effort has not survived in compromise spending legislation negotiated with the Senate.
Pro-repeal lawmakers are projecting confidence about the prospects of breaking a GOP-led filibuster in the upper chamber when Majority Leader Chuck Schumer puts the Kaine-Young bill up for a vote later this year. Already, several Republicans have come out in favor of it. If all 50 Democrats vote for the measure, it would need the backing of at least 10 GOP senators to pass.
After that, the House and Senate would need to reconcile their bills into one large legislative package. Kaine, the lead Democratic sponsor of the effort, has said it’s likely that the issue gets resolved as part of the annual defense policy bill, must-pass legislation that will head to Biden’s desk this year. He has already discussed potential options with Lee.
“Just get it done,” Kaine said when asked about his strategy. “How can we get it to Biden’s desk promptly?”
Connor O’Brien contributed to this report.
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/13/gop-senators-biden-war-powers-iran-499496
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Andrew Desiderio
The action was a response to drone attacks on American personnel and facilities in Iraq, an official said.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-forces-launch-airstrikes-against-iran-backed-militias-n1272489
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Tim Stelloh and Courtney Kube
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s hard-line judiciary chief won the country’s presidential election in a landslide victory Saturday, propelling the supreme leader’s protege into Tehran’s highest civilian position in a vote that appeared to see the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history.
Initial results showed Ebrahim Raisi won 17.8 million votes in the contest, dwarfing those of the race’s sole moderate candidate. However, Raisi dominated the election only after a panel under the watch of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei disqualified his strongest competition.
His candidacy, and the sense the election served more as a coronation for him, sparked widespread apathy among eligible voters in the Islamic Republic, which has held up turnout as a sign of support for the theocracy since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Some, including former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called for a boycott.
In initial results, former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaei won 3.3 million votes and moderate Abdolnasser Hemmati got 2.4 million, said Jamal Orf, the head of Iran’s Interior Ministry election headquarters. The race’s fourth candidate, Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, had around 1 million votes, Orf said.
Hemmati offered his congratulations on Instagram to Raisi early Saturday.
“I hope your administration provides causes for pride for the Islamic Republic of Iran, improves the economy and life with comfort and welfare for the great nation of Iran,” he wrote.
On Twitter, Rezaei praised Khamenei and the Iranian people for taking part in the vote.
“God willing, the decisive election of my esteemed brother, Ayatollah Dr. Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, promises the establishment of a strong and popular government to solve the country’s problems,” Rezaei wrote.
The quick concessions, while not unusual in Iran’s previous elections, signaled what semiofficial news agencies inside Iran had been hinting at for hours: That the carefully controlled vote had been a blowout win for Raisi amid the boycott calls.
As night fell Friday, turnout appeared far lower than in Iran’s last presidential election in 2017. At one polling place inside a mosque in central Tehran, a Shiite cleric played soccer with a young boy as most of its workers napped in a courtyard. At another, officials watched videos on their mobile phones as state television blared beside them, offering only tight shots of locations around the country — as opposed to the long, snaking lines of past elections.
Balloting came to a close at 2.a.m. Saturday, after the government extended voting to accommodate what it called “crowding” at several polling places nationwide. Paper ballots, stuffed into large plastic boxes, were to be counted by hand through the night, and authorities said they expected to have initial results and turnout figures Saturday morning at the earliest.
“My vote will not change anything in this election, the number of people who are voting for Raisi is huge and Hemmati does not have the necessary skills for this,” said Hediyeh, a 25-year-old woman who gave only her first name while hurrying to a taxi in Haft-e Tir Square after avoiding the polls. “I have no candidate here.”
Iranian state television sought to downplay the turnout, pointing to the Gulf Arab sheikhdoms surrounding it ruled by hereditary leaders, and the lower participation in Western democracies. After a day of amplifying officials’ attempts to get out the vote, state TV broadcast scenes of jam-packed voting booths in several provinces overnight, seeking to portray a last-minute rush to the polls.
But since the 1979 revolution overthrew the shah, Iran’s theocracy has cited voter turnout as a sign of its legitimacy, beginning with its first referendum that won 98.2% support that simply asked whether or not people wanted an Islamic Republic.
The disqualifications affected reformists and those backing Rouhani, whose administration both reached the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and saw it disintegrate three years later with then-President Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of America from the accord.
Voter apathy also has been fed by the devastated state of the economy and subdued campaigning amid months of surging coronavirus cases. Poll workers wore gloves and masks, and some wiped down ballot boxes with disinfectants.
If elected, Raisi would be the first serving Iranian president sanctioned by the U.S. government even before entering office over his involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988, as well as his time as the head of Iran’s internationally criticized judiciary — one of the world’s top executioners.
It also would put hard-liners firmly in control across the government as negotiations in Vienna continue to try to save a tattered deal meant to limit Iran’s nuclear program at a time when Tehran is enriching uranium at its highest levels ever, though it still remains short of weapons-grade levels. Tensions remain high with both the U.S. and Israel, which is believed to have carried out a series of attacks targeting Iranian nuclear sites as well as assassinating the scientist who created its military atomic program decades earlier.
Whoever wins will likely serve two four-year terms and thus could be at the helm at what could be one of the most crucial moments for the country in decades — the death of the 82-year-old Khamenei. Speculation already has begun that Raisi might be a contender for the position, along with Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba.
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/19/ebrahim-raisi-iran-presidency-495200
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Associated Press
The Iranian navy ships believed to be originally headed toward Venezuela changed course early this week and are now steaming north up the west coast of Africa, U.S. officials said.
The ships, which U.S. officials believe may have been preparing to conduct an arms transfer, have appeared to change course several times during their journey from Iran — and could do so again. But after the course change early this week, they are likely now headed either into the Mediterranean — potentially planning to sail off of Syria — or north toward Russia, according to a defense official briefed on the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject.
U.S. officials believe the course change indicates that a diplomatic campaign to urge governments in the Western Hemisphere to turn away the ships was successful, the official said. The Iranian frigate Sahand and afloat staging base Makran charted a new course after Biden administration officials publicly and privately urged the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and other countries in the region not to allow them to dock, POLITICO reported.
Spokespeople for the White House, State Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
But whether the ships cross the Atlantic, their journey is a significant demonstration of the naval capability of Iran, a longtime U.S. adversary that has sought to make inroads in Latin America. Last week marked the first time Iranian warships had rounded the Cape of Good Hope; none has ever successfully crossed the Atlantic or circled around the entire coast of Africa.
U.S. officials began closely monitoring the ships’ progress in mid-May as they left the Gulf and headed down the east coast of Africa. Officials believe they are carrying fast-attack boats and potentially other weapons to fulfill a deal that Iran and Venezuela inked a year ago; satellite images from May 10 show seven such vessels on the Makran’s deck.
Former officials from across the political spectrum urged the Biden administration to seize the ships if they attempted to carry out the transfer.
“They are in effect pirate ships,” said John Bolton, former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, noting that Iran has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism and Washington has levied heavy sanctions on Tehran and Caracas. “The United States has a legitimate right of self-defense against both of them.”
Retired Adm. James Stavridis, the former commander of U.S. European Command and U.S. Southern Command who was considered a possible running mate to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign, wrote that “intervention may be justified” because arms transfers are a potential violation of U.S. sanctions.
“If the U.S. was willing to seize Iranian oil shipments for violating sanctions last year, it should be prepared to take direct action to stop these small but lethal machines of war from being delivered to a corrupt and dangerous regime in Caracas,” he wrote in a Bloomberg op-ed last week.
The website TankerTrackers.com on Monday said it had assessed that the ships are now headed to Syria to participate in naval exercises with Russia. The site estimated the ships will pass Gibraltar on July 4, which is the two-year anniversary of the seizure of the Grace 1 supertanker as it sailed toward Syria.
This is not the first time Iran has been suspected of attempting to send arms to Venezuela. Last summer, Trump administration officials suspected that Venezuela was considering purchasing missiles from Iran, including long-range ones that could reach the United States.
Officials grew so concerned that they discussed options to seize the cargo, including sending Coast Guard cutters to intercept and board Iranian commercial ships that could be carrying weapons, according to two former defense officials with direct knowledge of the discussions. Aides engaged in lengthy discussions about justification, concluding that the administration could use Article II of the Constitution, which gives the president authority to defend against a threat to the homeland, one of the former officials said.
However, the key difference is that last year the discussions involved Iranian commercial vessels, while this year they involve warships. Coast Guard vessels may not be equipped to withstand a kinetic conflict with an Iranian warship, forcing U.S. officials to consider sending in U.S. Navy assets. However, the U.S. military has a limited naval presence in the Latin America region, typically deploying only a few smaller littoral combat ships at one time. The Pentagon would have to pull assets from other regions — a move the Navy is likely to resist.
Another challenge is that warships and other government ships are granted sovereign immunity in international waters by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, said Cornell Overfield, an associate research analyst at the Center for Naval Analysis. In this case, seizure of the vessels, even if they are found to be carrying arms, would be unlawful, he said.
“So long as the Iranian warships do not threaten use of force, sovereign immunity protects them wherever they are,” Overfield wrote in Foreign Policy.
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/17/iran-ships-venezuela-495013
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Lara Seligman and Nahal Toosi
The U.S. national security community is monitoring two Iranian naval vessels whose ultimate destination may be Venezuela, according to three people familiar with the situation, in what would be a provocative move at a tense moment in U.S.-Iran relations.
An Iranian frigate and the Makran, a former oil tanker that was converted to a floating forward staging base, have been heading south along the east coast of Africa, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject.
U.S. officials do not know for sure the destination of the Iranian ships, these officials said, but believe they may be ultimately headed for Venezuela. Iran’s intent in sending the vessels in the direction of the Western Hemisphere remains a mystery, the people said, as does their cargo.
The two countries — both of them facing severe U.S. sanctions — have developed closer ties over the last few years, with cooperation ranging from gasoline shipments to joint car and cement factory projects.
Senior officials in President Nicolás Maduro’s government in Caracas have been advised that welcoming the Iranian warships would be a mistake, according to a person familiar with the discussions. But it’s not clear whether Maduro has heeded that warning: At one point on Thursday, U.S. military officials understood the ships had turned around, but as of Friday morning they were still steaming south, one of the people said.
Lawmakers privy to the most sensitive intelligence information were informed over the past few days that the U.S. believed the Iranian ships may be heading toward Venezuela, but cautioned that the destination could change, according to a person briefed on the matter.
The mere presence of Iranian warships in America’s backyard would represent a challenge to U.S. authority in the region — and would likely inflame the debate in Washington over President Joe Biden’s decision to re-open negotiations with Tehran.
Iranian media has claimed the 755-foot long Makran, which was commissioned this year, can serve as a platform for electronic warfare and special operations missions, and Iranian officials have boasted of the ship’s missile and weapons capabilities. It is able to carry six to seven helicopters, as well as drones, they have said.
A spokesperson for the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry declined to comment. A spokesperson at the Iranian Mission to the U.N. declined to comment. And White House and Pentagon spokespersons declined to comment.
The timing of Iran’s apparent westward foray is especially inopportune for those hoping for a lowering of tensions with Tehran.
Since entering office, Biden has explored rejoining the 2015 agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which his predecessor Donald Trump abandoned in 2018. Those talks are ongoing in Vienna. The recent fighting between Israel and the militant group Hamas, long backed by Iran, also has fueled criticism from Republican lawmakers about the wisdom of re-entering the JCPOA.
Successive governments in Tehran and Caracas have made a habit of defying the United States, with whom each country has a complex history. The Venezuelan government was one of the first to recognize the Islamic Republic after the 1979 overthrow of the shah, a U.S. ally in the Middle East.
Tehran regularly objects to the presence of U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf region, and it has previously threatened to make a similar show of force in America’s backyard but never followed through.
Maduro’s authoritarian regime has been shunned by many countries, including its Latin American neighbors. The United States has imposed successively harsher rounds of sanctions that have punished an economy already wracked by mismanagement, corruption and Covid. Iran is one of Venezuela’s few close allies.
As Venezuela’s oil refining sector has collapsed in recent years, the Islamic Republic has sent multiple fuel tankers to the country to help with crippling gas shortages. In exchange, Venezuela’s government has supplied Tehran with much-needed cash and helped it build relationships in Latin America.
U.S. officials have watched those ties blossom with varying levels of concern.
In December, the top commander of U.S. troops in Central and South America described Iran’s growing military presence in Venezuela as “alarming.” In comments reported by The Wall Street Journal, Adm. Craig Faller, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, said the presence of personnel from Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force is particularly concerning.
The Trump administration designated the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization in 2019, and killed its Quds Force commander, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, last year in an airstrike in Iraq.
Last summer, U.S. authorities seized four ships carrying cargo from Iran to Venezuela, as the Journal reported. At one point on their journey, those ships and five others were traveling with an Iranian naval intelligence ship, U.S. officials told the paper. The ships did not reach Venezuela.
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/29/iranian-warships-venezuela-491414
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Betsy Woodruff Swan, Lara Seligman, Andrew Desiderio and Nahal Toosi
Coast guard vessel fires about 30 shots after 13 Iranian fast boats come within 150 yards
A US coast guard ship fired about 30 warning shots after 13 vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) came close to it and US navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon said on Monday.
A Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, said the warning shots were fired after the Iranian fast boats came as close as 150 yards (450ft) of six US military vessels that were escorting the guided-missile submarine Georgia.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/10/iran-navy-us-coast-guard-warning-shots
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Reuters
The State Department on Sunday denied reports of a prisoner swap deal between the United States and Iran.”Reports that a prisoner swap deal has been reached are not true,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said…
Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/551373-state-department-denies-reports-of-prisoner-swap-with-iran
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Morgan Chalfant
Russia is menacing Ukraine’s borders, China is sending increasingly ominous signals over Taiwan and Iran is accelerating its uranium enrichment to unprecedented levels.
The big picture: Ukraine, Taiwan and Iran’s nuclear program always loomed large on the menu of potential crises President Biden could face. But over the last several days, the lights have been blinking red on all three fronts all at once.
Driving the news: Within 24 hours beginning last Sunday, an explosion rocked Iran’s underground nuclear site at Natanz, 25 Chinese warplanes entered Taiwan’s air defense zone, and Ukraine announced that the number of Russian troops massing in Crimea and on its eastern border had risen to 80,000.
Russia has now assembled enough troops for a “limited military incursion,” CIA director Bill Burns warned Wednesday.
The threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is less urgent, but carries a far greater risk of plunging the U.S. into a direct military confrontation.
After the apparent act of Israeli sabotage at Natanz, Iran announced it would begin enriching uranium to 60%, approaching the levels required for a nuclear weapon.
What to watch: Just about all that’s missing from this cocktail of crises is another North Korean missile test.
Source: https://www.axios.com/biden-crises-taiwan-ukraine-and-iran-4cd34240-309b-42a5-b6b6-8bb6127da206.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Dave Lawler
The two countries have signed a long-term agreement worth billions of dollars.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2021/3/30/what-is-behind-china-and-irans-strategic-deal
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Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/us-uk-europe-allies-reaffirm-iran-nuclear-deal-stance-paris/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Charlie Cooper and David M. Herszenhorn
Analysis: Fiery rhetoric of Trump era is gone, but flare-up in northern Iraq is a microcosm of tension to come
Joe Biden faces his first real test with Iran. A barrage of 15 rockets in northern Iraq that struck a US base, killing a military contractor and wounding a soldier, were likely aimed as much at testing the new president’s mettle as they were at causing damage.
In the hours after the attack on Erbil airport, where much of the remaining US presence in Iraq is based, a Shia group loyal to Iran felt emboldened enough to claim it. Although the boast was from a hitherto unknown group, it left no doubt who was behind the first such barrage since Biden’s inauguration.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/16/middle-east-biden-resumption-traditional-diplomacy-analysis
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Martin Chulov Middle East correspondent
Hundreds of advanced centrifuges with a higher capacity for uranium enrichment have been installed at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site, the country’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Tuesday.
“Thanks to our diligent nuclear scientists, two cascades of 348 IR-2m centrifuges with almost four times the capacity of IR1 are now running with UF6 successfully in Natanz,” Kazem Gharibabadi said in a tweet.
He promised there is “more to come soon,” and announced that the installation of two cascades of IR6 centrifuges was also underway in Fordow, another of Iran’s nuclear sites.
The envoy to the UN’s nuclear watchdog in Vienna added that the agency had been “informed of the progress as planned.”
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Iran says it is exceeding uranium enrichment targets, leaving return to nuclear deal in a quagmire
The IAEA is yet to comment publicly on the matter, but Reuters said on Tuesday it had obtained a confidential report from the agency showing that Iran has started enriching uranium with 174 IR-2m centrifuges underground at Natanz.
The country was already enriching uranium with a set of the advanced machinery at the plant last year, but the IAEA has reportedly said that a third cascade is nearly ready for use and a fourth is being installed.
Last week, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Behrouz Kamalvandi, said 1,000 of the IR-2m centrifuges would be installed within three months.
Iran’s enrichment of uranium is strictly limited by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed with major world powers in 2015.
Also on rt.com
Iran has transgressed its commitments under the deal a number of times since then-US President Donald Trump pulled America unilaterally out of the agreement in 2018, most recently by announcing in January it had almost stockpiled 17 kilograms of 20-percent-enriched uranium.
The JCPOA sets out a purity limit of 3.67 percent.
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Source: https://www.rt.com/news/514388-iran-new-nuclear-centrifuges/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
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The Article Was Written/Published By: RT
Iranian parliament speaker says scientists produced 17kg of 20 percent enriched uranium in less than a month.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/28/iran-says-production-of-enriched-uranium-exceeds-goals
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The Article Was Written/Published By:
Iran is experiencing wide-scale blackouts and unhealthy levels of smog. The government says bitcoin mining operations, which use a great amount of electricity, are to blame. The government has already shut down at least one licensed mining operation and is now going after rogue mining operations. — Read the rest
Source: https://boingboing.net/2021/01/18/irans-government-blames-smog-and-massive-blackouts-on-bitcoin-mining-operations-in-its-country.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Mark Frauenfelder
President Donald Trump was behind the abrupt decision announced on Sunday night to reverse course and keep the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the Middle East due to Iranian threats against top U.S. officials, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
The move was the latest in a string of reversals that befuddled observers and sent mixed signals to Iran.
The Pentagon, alarmed by increased Iranian activity ahead of the one-year anniversary of the death of Iranian leader Qasem Soleimani, has in recent weeks taken action to shore up its forces in the Middle East and signal that the U.S. will respond to any attack. So Iran watchers were surprised on Thursday when acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller ordered the Nimitz, which had been on station in the Middle East, to return home.
Miller made the move over the objections of top commanders, a development first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by a defense official. He announced he was sending the carrier home as a “de-escalation” tactic as tensions with Tehran continued to simmer. But the ship was also scheduled to return around that time for routine maintenance anyway, and the Navy had pushed for the departure, officials said.
After public threats from Iranian leaders over the weekend, Trump abruptly ordered Miller to turn the carrier around and keep it in the Middle East, according to two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The White House and the Pentagon declined to comment.
Miller said in the new statement on Sunday that the reversal was due to “recent threats issued by Iranian leaders against President Trump and other US government officials.” But one senior defense official said there had been no change in the threat level leading up to the decision.
“The USS Nimitz will now remain on station in the US Central Command area of operations,” Miller said. “No one should doubt the resolve of the United States of America.”
The reversal came after the head of Iran’s judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, seemed to implicitly threaten Trump on Friday, saying that all those who had a role in Soleimani’s killing would not be able to “escape law and justice” — even if they were a U.S. president.
And on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif cited “new intelligence” from Iraq indicating that “Israeli agent-provocateurs” are plotting attacks against Americans, which some took as a preemptive effort to deflect blame for any attack.
“Be careful of a trap, @realDonaldTrump,” Zarif tweeted. “Any fireworks will backfire badly, particularly against your same BFFs.”
Some former defense officials criticized the latest reversal, noting that the mixed messaging increases the risk of a miscalculation that could lead to conflict.
“When you already have a volatile situation, a tension between two powers with large military formations, the risk of miscalculation is higher,” said Dave Lapan, retired Marine colonel who served as DoD and Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. “It’s hard to see what the strategy is.”
Lapan also expressed concern for the Nimitz sailors and their families, who were told they were headed home only to be abruptly sent back again.
In recent weeks, the Pentagon has sent B-52 bombers over the Persian Gulf as a signal to deter an Iranian attack. Late last month, the military also sent a guided-missile submarine on an unusual transit through the Strait of Hormuz, and an additional fighter squadron to the region. The military also published photos and videos of the flights and transits as a message to Iran.
The U.S. is reducing its troop level in Iraq from 3,000 to about 2,500 on Trump’s orders.
The deployments to the region reflect growing concern that Iran will take additional military action in response for the Jan. 3, 2020, killing of Soleimani. Tehran’s initial response, five days later, was a ballistic missile attack on Iraq’s Camp Taji base, which caused concussion-like injuries to about 100 U.S. troops.
Even after the anniversary passed on Sunday, the Pentagon is still on high alert for an attack from Iran on U.S. or allied forces in the Middle East, according to one of the officials. Adding to the tension was a Dec. 20 rocket attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad by Iranian-backed Shiite militia groups, which caused no casualties. Days later, Trump blamed Iran for the attack and put Tehran on notice.
“Some friendly health advice to Iran: If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/04/trump-pentagon-iran-nimitz-454548
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Lara Seligman
The world is waiting to see whether Iran will strike back at Israel or the U.S. over the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the architect of Iran’s military nuclear program.
Why it matters: Senior Iranian officials have stressed that Iran will take revenge against the perpetrators, but also respond by continuing Fakhrizadeh’s legacy — the nuclear program. The key question is whether Iran will accelerate that work now, or wait to see what President-elect Biden puts on the table.
The backstory: Iran has waited out two years of “maximum pressure” under President Trump, breaching the enrichment limits of the 2015 nuclear deal after Trump withdrew but stopping short of more drastic steps.
State of play: Hardliners in Tehran have long been critical of President Hassan Rouhani’s “strategic patience” policy, and their voices have grown louder in the wake of Fakhrizadeh’s assassination.
The other side: The more pragmatic camp, led by Rouhani, argues that such steps on the nuclear program would play into the hands of the Trump administration and Israel.
The latest: Biden and his transition team have been silent on Fakhrizadeh’s assassination, and several Biden aides refused to comment on the matter for this story.
Flashback: The two-tiered debate over Iran’s response echoes the aftermath of the killing of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, by the U.S.
What to watch: Diplomats from world powers who are still part of the nuclear deal (Russia, China, France, Germany, the UK and the EU) will meet Iranian officials in Vienna on Dec. 16 to discuss ways to preserve the deal, get Iran back to full compliance and prepare for the new U.S. administration.
Source: https://www.axios.com/iran-nuclear-program-mohsen-fakhrizadeh-a49ef6e7-58dd-4702-b897-db689ab9cbbf.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Barak Ravid
President Hassan Rouhani blames Israel for attack as supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls for ‘definitive punishment of the perpetrators’
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-nuclear-assassination-israel-mohsen-fakhrizadeh-b1763334.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Peter Stubley
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, identified by Israel as director of nuclear weapons programme, ambushed in street
Iran has vowed retaliation after the architect of its nuclear programme was assassinated on a highway near Tehran, in a major escalation of tensions that risks placing the Middle East on a new war footing.
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was ambushed with explosives and machine gun fire in the town of Absard, 70km (44 miles) east of Tehran.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/27/mohsen-fakhrizadeh-iranian-nuclear-scientist-reportedly-shot-dead-near-tehran
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Patrick Wintour and Oliver Holmes
