As a result of the fighting and Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip, Saudi Arabia appears to have suspended negotiations to normalize diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. It seems it was all part of the plan.

 
Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.today @JordanSchachtel
·
The leader of Hamas lives at the Four Seasons in Doha. Today he told everyone in Gaza to stay put and act as human shields instead of evacuating to safety.

Joe Truzman @JoeTruzman
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Qatar today.
Embedded video
4:47 PM · Oct 14, 2023 //

Ariel Oseran @ariel_oseran
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IDF says Hamas placed roadblocks in the Gaza Strip to prevent Palestinians from evacuating south. Earlier, the IDF warned it would strike in the north of the enclave. Hamas leader Haniyeh: "Our people will not leave or migrate. We call on them not to fall for the enemy's lies."

1:45 PM · Oct 14, 2023

The United States made recent concessions to Iran, potentially in violation of the Iranian Nuclear Review Act (INARA). These concessions occurred as Mr. Malley—the Administration’s top negotiator with Iran—is under investigation for the alleged mishandling of classified material. Mr. Malley already had a history of appeasing United States’ adversaries, including meeting with the terrorist group Hamas. The ongoing investigation into Mr. Malley’s security violations are so serious that he was suspended from his position without pay. Further, the investigation was initially hidden from Congress, the American people, and even his fellow State Department officials. //

Gabriel Noronha @GLNoronha
·
The Tehran Times - an Iranian state media outlet - has published a “Sensitive But Unclassified” memo to Iran Envoy Rob Malley explaining why his clearance was suspended.

The letter looks authentic to me. Indicates Malley also lied about not knowing why his clearance was pulled.
6:42 PM · Aug 27, 2023

Note the date on that - August 2023, long after the suspension, and while the State Department was actively stonewalling Congress' inquiries about the situation.

The trail that leads from Tehran to D.C. passes directly through the offices of Robert Malley and the International Crisis Group

For some of us, few things get the nostalgia flowing like vintage airline advertisements. This one is from Gourmet magazine, of all places, in 1976.

There’s a lot to pull from here…

For starters, looking at the collage of tails, we spy three classic carriers that no longer exist: Sabena, Swissair, and of course Pan Am. Of all the many airlines that have gone out of business, few were more historically significant than these three.

The ad also celebrates the advent of the Boeing 747SP — the short-bodied, long-range 747 variant that debuted in the mid-1970s. This focus on aircraft type is a hallmark of older ads and something rarely seen any more. When was the last time an airline spent advertising dollars to boast about a particular plane? It made sense in the 1970s, when models were vastly different from one another and some, like the 747 or Concorde, were media stars. Nowadays, with jets so tediously similar, carriers don’t bother and passengers couldn’t care less.

With that in mind, notice that every tail in that panel except for one features a 747. The single exception is the Aeroflot image, which shows an Ilyushin IL-62. These were the days when you could be at Kennedy Airport and watch ten or more 747s take off in a row.

And, of course, the whole premise of the ad — Iran Air showcasing a new link between Tehran and New York — is itself striking. How things change. Iran in 1976 was still three years away from its revolution, and the country’s national carrier was a regular visitor to New York.

Neither did they shy away from including an El Al tail (top row, third one in) up there with the others. This implies that El Al offered a connecting service to Tehran from New York, presumably via Tel Aviv, which is maybe the most remarkable aspect of the entire page.

But the idea that Iran “returns to its commitments under the JCPOA” is ludicrous. Those commitments are beyond salvaging, including Iran restraining its enrichment activities not to exceed 5%. Today, they have a stockpile of enriched uranium at the 60% level. They have also vastly improved the efficiency and modernization of their centrifuges and have yet to promise to supply the IAEA with data they refused to hand over that was denied the agency for nearly six months. //

Which country is going to take possession of Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched beyond 5%? Russia stepped forward last time — a dubious choice considering it’s in Russia’s interest to strengthen Iran against the U.S. But what about those ultra-modern centrifuges? What kind of access will be granted to the IAEA? And what to do about many unresolved nuclear issues from the past decades?

Those questions are irrelevant. Joe Biden is in deep, deep, political trouble and needs an international “success” to bolster his standing and give the Democrats a shot in the arm going into the November midterms.

And his new friends in Tehran will be more than happy to oblige.

Richard Goldberg Retweeted



Noah Pollak

@NoahPollak

Helping Iran develop its nuclear program in order to stop Iran from developing its nuclear program seems like a smart way to do foreign policy

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AFP News Agency

@AFP

· 5h

#BREAKING US waives sanctions on Iran's civil nuclear program

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5:59 PM · Feb 4, 2022

Fadavi crowed that the Obama administration was extremely accommodating: “However, the Americans realized very soon that they were the accused, that they were the criminals on death row, and that they are at risk of being targeted by the full force of the IRGC. So they acted quickly.” Clearly the Obama team was trying to smooth over the situation, and Fadavi saw this as a sign of submission: “They replaced the person communicating with us from the aircraft carrier with a woman who spoke Persian. Two out of every three words she said was ‘fine,’ which translated into ‘I am obeying your orders.’ They did very quickly what we asked them to do.”

That incident, Fadavi asserted, was an indication of the nature of the relationship between Iran and the United States today: “This is the status of the Americans, this is the status of the enemies of Allah, and this is the status of those who stand with the axis of Falsehood. We do not have the slightest doubt that at the right time, when we strike America — the Great Satan — and its Zionist followers, we will strike them with great force.” //

Fadavi crowed that the Obama administration was extremely accommodating: “However, the Americans realized very soon that they were the accused, that they were the criminals on death row, and that they are at risk of being targeted by the full force of the IRGC. So they acted quickly.” Clearly the Obama team was trying to smooth over the situation, and Fadavi saw this as a sign of submission: “They replaced the person communicating with us from the aircraft carrier with a woman who spoke Persian. Two out of every three words she said was ‘fine,’ which translated into ‘I am obeying your orders.’ They did very quickly what we asked them to do.”

That incident, Fadavi asserted, was an indication of the nature of the relationship between Iran and the United States today: “This is the status of the Americans, this is the status of the enemies of Allah, and this is the status of those who stand with the axis of Falsehood. We do not have the slightest doubt that at the right time, when we strike America — the Great Satan — and its Zionist followers, we will strike them with great force.”

Canceling sanctions is a telling example of modern Democrats’ dangerous naivete in foreign affairs. Because they’re uncomfortable with using power, appearing strong. That’s what Barack Obama was apologizing for on that global apology tour. They seem to think goodwill gestures will be reciprocated in big-power diplomacy.

In 2009, Obama tried the same stupidity. As a product of the Chicago Democrat machine, you’d think he would understand that not using your political strengths is a sign of weakness. //

NATO is a defensive alliance coming off 20 years of unsuccessful nation-building in Afghanistan. About half its 29 members do not meet their alliance defense expenditure commitments. And Trump called them out.

But Putin’s position is that the alliance threatens Russia. So, he creates a likely empty threat to invade Ukraine, then maneuvers to be paid off by Biden concessions.

So, tomorrow in Geneva, Russia and the U.S. will meet and then later with NATO ministers in Brussels. Administration officials leaked last week that Biden was going to offer a reduction of U.S. troops in Europe to buy Putin off from doing what he wants us to think he might do.

The U.S maintains about 70,000 troops in Europe, including some 6,000 rotating through Poland and the Baltic states, which used to be in the USSR but now are independent and NATO members.

And, the officials said, Biden would expect similar pullbacks by Russian forces, especially near the Baltic states. Try listing any concessions that Vladimir Putin has made to anyone in recent years. We’ll wait.

According to a new IAEA report, they haven’t been able to access data that monitors Iran’s nuclear program since late February, not just with the surveillance cameras but also it has “not had access to the data from its online enrichment monitors and electronic seals, or had access to the measurement recordings registered by its installed measurement devices” since Feb. 23.

The IAEA had 2,000 tamper-proof seals on nuclear material and equipment that provided for electronic information to be communicated to inspectors. They also had automated measuring devices that generated data. Now that access has been cut off.

That’s not all.

The IAEA is also saying that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is around 16 times the limit laid down in the 2015 nuclear deal.

On top of that, Iran refuses to explain traces of uranium found at several undeclared sites to the IAEA.

Iran’s hard-line parliament in December approved a bill that would suspend part of UN inspections of its nuclear facilities if European signatories did not provide relief from oil and banking sanctions by February.

The IAEA struck a three-month deal with Iran to have it hold the surveillance images, with Tehran threatening to delete them afterward if no deal had been reached.

It’s not clear now if they’ve deleted those three months’ worth of images. But, it means the IAEA has no ability to assess what Iran has been doing. Imagine the temerity to play around IAEA like this.

So, the normal reaction one should have to this is that they’ve been playing these games, one should not bend over for them — because they haven’t acted in accordance with the deal, to begin with.

Iran has already shot far past the maximum allowable uranium enrichment levels defined in the Obama-era deal. They’re now up in the range of 63 percent enrichment using their new IR-4 centrifuges and have announced that they will soon be installing their IR-9 centrifuges which are allegedly far faster and more efficient. This puts them only a few steps away from being able to make a bomb.

Why would you continue to lift sanctions, given these games? But, unfortunately, that’s exactly what Biden is doing.

In short, there is no reason to think Zarif’s oral history is anything but accurate. He has maintained a close relationship with Kerry since rolling him on the Iran nuclear deal. The oral history is damaging to Zarif both at home and abroad. If you are going to claim this was a clever ruse to further discredit John Kerry, you have to answer two questions: a) why bother? and b) why Zarif made himself and Iran look bad in the process. Everything we know about Kerry since he flung someone else’s medals over a fence in front of the US Capitol in 1971 screams, “THIS IS TRUE!!”

In a sane party or in a sane “administration,” passing on classified information to a US adversary like you were giving away Lebron James trading cards would get you shown the door if not actually prosecuted. But we have neither. We are governed by a party where the chairman of the subcommittee overseeing the CIA was boinking a Chinese spy, and when the relationship was disclosed to the Democrat leadership, nothing was done, (read While Eric Swalwell Was Sleeping With a Chinese Spy Adam Schiff Put Him in Charge of CIA Oversight). We have as our selected president a man who is deeply compromised by the Chinese and by the Russians. In that environment, Kerry’s giving aid and comfort to Zarif is more properly viewed as a job application for a higher position. //

Genna
3 hours ago
Why should we believe the NYT lied about John Kerry when John Kerry believed every word the NYT wrote about Donald Trump? //

monster
3 hours ago
Streiff, without any hyperbole, how is what you have described truly not legally traitorous activity?

streiff monster
2 hours ago
we aren't at war with Iran...that is something the Constitution sets as a prerequisite for treason. That's why I say Espionage Act

How does Price know when the conversation was or that it had “already been disclosed?” Does he know the date of the conversation and what was discussed? Why would Zarif be “astonished” if this information was already publicly available?

Moreover, classified information is still classified information even after media might report on it, and it’s not clear exactly what is alleged to have been discussed about the ops.

Meanwhile Kerry claims, not that the information was already out there, he claims he never had the conversation at all.

So which is it? Did he have the conversation that didn’t mean anything or didn’t he?

According to his own comments in 2019, Kerry said he met with Zarif in 2018 “three or four times” to discuss the nuclear deal and other issues.

As we’ve previously said, why was he meeting with the Iranians at all at that time, when he didn’t represent our government and was trying to save the nuclear deal, which was against the U.S. position at the time? What did he say in these admitted conversations and what were the “other issues?”

It isn’t just the revelations about Israel, that’s bad enough. But what he’s already essentially admitted to, the conversations about the nuclear deal, needs serious investigation and is an even bigger issue. He’s never been held to account for it and now he’s on the National Security Council as Biden’s “special envoy” on climate. Joe Biden needs to answer up on this, and the answer can’t just be more avoidance.

Meanwhile, and not a small point, Iranian surrogates were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans in Iraq over the years and Iranian-backed militias have been attacking American targets in Iraq.

Final point? If Kerry isn’t telling the truth and Iran knows it or has audio tape, he’s now compromised.

Now, leaked tapes of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif are exposing just how the terrorist nation responded to the killing. Further, it shows how much of an idiot our current president is. //

Mike Pompeo
@mikepompeo
Our Administration’s exquisite strike on Qasem Soleimani had a massive impact on Iran and the Middle East. You don’t have to take my word for it. Ask ⁦⁦@JZarif⁩. President Biden still thinks it was a mistake. #AmericaFirst #AbrahamAccords //

What the tapes reveal is an Iran where Zarif is a nobody, with Soleimani and the IRGC basically running the show, including regarding relations with Russia. //

In other words, the death of Soleimani was a massive blow to Iran’s ability to project strength to its allies and to continue terrorist attacks in places like Iraq. Joe Biden, being the idiot that he is, opposed the attack on Soleimani just as he opposed the attack on Osama Bin Laden. The one consistent in our foreign policy the last forty years has been Biden being continually wrong about it. //

The Jerusalem Post notes exactly how this will be spun, and I think they are dead on.

The leaked tapes lead to one of several conclusions. They seem to cater to a Western worldview that depicts Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani as “moderates” who are confronting the “hardliners” in the IRGC and Supreme Leader’s office. This leak appears timed to encourage this view as the US considers re-entering the Iran Deal. //

This is how Biden will try to pivot after the leaking of these tapes. They will claim that Soleimani was actually a detriment to peace, even though Biden opposed his killing and removal from power, and that it is now safer to make a new “deal” with Iran. Biden, in a laughable fashion, will actually try to use his own past idiocy as proof his current idiocy is acceptable.

This isn’t some anonymous claim made up by a political enemy and because of that, Kerry doesn’t get to play both sides of the fence on this. Given that, let’s assume Zarif is lying and that Kerry never actually shared intelligence with him.

If that’s true, then Kerry has just backed himself into a corner. He can’t simultaneously say not to believe Zarif, the supposed “moderate” in Iran, while at the same time stumping for a return of the Iran deal and lauding his previous work on that front. That extends to the Biden administration as well because they have chosen to employ Kerry as some kind of climate czar. If they are going to not fire Kerry and instead buy his denials here, then they are now in the position of enforcing the assertion that Iran is led by liars who can’t be trusted.

Do you know what you don’t do with liars who can’t be trusted? You don’t sign nuclear agreements with them. //

I see no reason to believe John Kerry on this front. In my view, Zarif had no incentive to lie in the leaked tapes as he was talking to someone he trusts. Further, we already know that Kerry was colluding with the Iranians during the Trump years, advising them on how to get around U.S. policy. It should surprise no one that he would share intelligence with Zarif.

For whatever reason, John Kerry has, time and again, chosen to basically operate as a foreign agent at the behest of the Iranians. Someone should probably figure out why sooner rather than later before something really dangerous happens.

Back in February 2013, Fox’s James Rosen asked the State Department’s Victoria Nuland if the Obama Administration had been holding secret talks with Iran. Nuland denied it. //

So later in the year after it became obvious that that was in fact a lie and that they had been holding secret talks, Rosen asked then State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki about it.

QUESTION: Is it the policy of the State Department, where the preservation or the secrecy of secret negotiations is concerned, to lie in order to achieve that goal?

MS. PSAKI: James, I think there are times where diplomacy needs privacy in order to progress. This is a good example of that. . . //

Fox then later discovered that exchange between Psaki and Rosen then mysteriously edited out from the video on the State Department’s official website and Youtube channel. Eight minutes including that part and other comments on the Iran Deal were replaced with a white-flash effect.

The Obama Administration initially denied it was deliberate, blaming it on a “glitch.” But they later were forced to admit that the very same day of the comments, a video editor got a call from a State Department official to eliminate that portion of the briefing from the video. //

But the ACLJ, through their FOIA efforts in the whole matter, were able to discover an email from Jen Psaki with information relevant to the lie about Iran and when the secret negotiations actually started. But it’s so redacted it’s hard to tell what it says. So the ACLJ is requesting an unreacted version. The Biden State Department is refusing to turn it over, claiming security reasons.

Now a federal judge has ordered that the Biden State Department has to turn it over to the court by March 12, 2021.

According to a new report from The Washington Times, multiple members of the Obama administration met with Iran in the attempt to undermine the Trump Administration including Kerry; Robert Malley, Obama’s Middle East adviser; and Obama Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.

UN international inspectors reportedly have found new evidence of nuclear activity in Iran that they failed to report, violating their international agreements. The activity could show that they have been working on making nuclear weapons. The evidence was found in areas that Iran had prevented the inspectors from checking for months last year.

More than any other group in Lebanon, the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah bears responsibility for the conditions that led to the blast. //

According to an extensive report by Politico, the project “amassed evidence that Hezbollah had transformed itself from a Middle East-focused military and political organization into an international crime syndicate that some investigators believed was collecting $1 billion a year from drug and weapons trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activities.”

But allowing Project Cassandra to go forward would jeopardize the Iran deal, so the Obama administration undermined it as a matter of policy. At the same time, it advanced a policy of appeasement toward Hezbollah. Before he became CIA director under Obama, John Brennan advocated for “greater assimilation of Hezbollah into Lebanon’s political system,” and later said the administration was seeking to build up “moderate elements” in Hezbollah.

Project Cassandra members say the administration blocked their efforts to go after top Hezbollah operatives, investigate its envoy to Iran, or charge the group’s military wing as an ongoing criminal enterprise under federal racketeering laws. At every turn, the Obama administration protected Hezbollah.

Lebanon today, including the smoldering ruins of Beirut, is a dispiriting portrait of what happens when groups like Hezbollah are allowed to flourish and wield political power—and a powerful reminder that the United States should never encourage it.