Iranian sanctions and war
It may seem surprising, but even today Iran continues to abide by the nuclear agreement that Obama negotiated.
Iran is still allowing intrusive International Atomic Energy Agency inspections while keeping its nuclear capacity and material below thresholds allowed under the July 2015 deal, inspectors wrote Thursday in a six-page restricted report seen by Bloomberg News. Publication of the report coincides with European Union consultations about the deal, which was jettisoned by President Donald Trump in May.
The Trump Administration, and its sponsors in the Israeli government, is after regime change in Iran. They will settle for nothing less.
While U.S. officials have conceded Iran continues to meet its nuclear obligations under the July 2015 deal signed in the Austrian capital -- which capped the capacity and production of material that could be used in weapons in return for sanctions relief -- they accuse Tehran’s government of meddling in Middle Eastern conflicts from Syria to Yemen.“When I came into here, it was a question of when would they take over the Middle East,” Trump said Thursday in an Oval Office interview with Bloomberg News. “Now it’s a question of will they survive. It’s a big difference in 1 1/2 years.”
There are all sorts of problems with this course of action, as the Iranian government has made perfectly clear on Thursday.
Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the head of the Iranian military's chief of staff, told naval commanders of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards force Thursday that the entire third of the world's oil that passes through the Persian Gulf's Strait of Hormuz would be stopped in the event that President Donald Trump's policies succeeded in reducing Iran's oil exports to zero, according to the semi-official Mehr News Agency.
Blocking access to the Gulf would lead immediately to war.
Just in case you thought Iran was bluffing, this news came out this morning.
According to three Iranian officials, two Iraqi intelligence sources and two Western intelligence sources, Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to allies in Iraq over the last few months. Five of the officials said it was helping those groups to start making their own.
Those missiles can reach both Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The US State Department has recently warned Americans not to travel to Iraq, partly due to the danger these same militias pose to U.S. troops.
Essentially if Trump gets what he wants, the entire region will explode into war, and our troops in Iraq will be surrounded and badly outnumbered.
And that's only Iran.
If Trump get's his way, there will be trouble in Turkey as well.
Turkey warned on Monday that U.S. trade sanctions against it could destabilize the Middle East and ultimately bolster terrorism and the refugee crisis, underscoring the regional impact of Ankara's deepening rift with Washington.
It's as if Washington hasn't learned a single lesson from our unbroken record of failures from regime change attempts.
Comments
I have to disagree.
Actually, the sentence should read:
It is apparent Washington hasn't learned a single lesson from our unbroken record of failures from regime change attempts.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
I’m not trying to be contrary
but offer a different perspective. They have learned a lesson. It’s the same lesson a serial abuser learns when his/her target won’t fight back. The lesson is deeply ingrained right up until the victims say “NO MORE!”
It’s what comes after the “no more” that is problematic for the whole world. The only way out is for the people of the US to wake up and be the ones to say it first. What are chances?
Yeah I don’t think there’s a chance in hell.
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."
You can be as contrary as you like.
I was being snarky.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Damn. I'll have to recalibrate my snark-o-meter.
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."
Sanctions are serious
Between those imposed on Iran and Turkey there is also the collateral effects on international banking and commerce in the EU prohibiting doing business with either and losing their US commercial relationships. Even China is at risk and hesitant based on its investments in both and its dependence on US trade and finance/banking.
It doesn't necessarily mean regime change.
Turkey, give up the your near-dictators neo-Ottoman Empire shit?
Iran, let go of the nuclear weapons (which is really what the whole world wants)?
Perhaps they should reconsider their positions for the benefit of their people?
For good or ill, Trump won't.
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
"Iran let go of the nuclear weapons"?
You say that as if it's a fact. However, Iran has no nuclear weapons. They had a development program in the 80s and 90s as a counter to Saddam Hussein's nuclear program, but they closed it down nearly 20 years ago. They're currently meeting all treaty obligations and are subjected to stringent, intrusive inspections.
If you have evidence to the contrary, please forward it to the UN so they can take action.
BTW, do you really thing Trump and his minions would be talking so big if Iran really did have nuclear weapons? Pakistan and Israel both have them, and both get away with murder.
Please then do explain
The UN reports and sanctions of their development up into 2014.
The Russians offering to take all that spun plutonium off their hands.
The signatories to the Iran Nuclear deal that Obama "negotiated" wherein 5 EU countries and IRAN acknowledged their illicit activities to create Nuclear Weapons. Where Iran forbade access to various military sites, required a 30 day notice prior to inspection that could then only be appealed if denied.
They did appreciate the plane load of cash on pallets.
Their continued development of ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear payloads to this very day.
Which of these are not a fact?
What was the point of this then? See Ben Rhodes on the record saying how the admin played the stupid 27 year old "journalists" if you need more.
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
I do not expect to find such corporate media memes at c99p
Here are some fact checks on your so-called facts.
Can you be more specific, there are a shit ton of UN reports.
The plutonium that was taken was only enriched to 20%. Weapons grade is 95%. Reactor fuel is 5%. Basically, the Iranians were doing a North Korea. They wanted to deter the US from attacking them. It worked, until Trump showed up. If they had been on the path to building nukes, they wouldn't have stopped at 20%.
I am not aware that the treaty contained any "acknowledge(ment) of illicit activities to create Nuclear weapons." It isn't in this summary "for dummies" I have no memory of the Iranians kowtowing to anyone by "acknowledging illicit activities". It sounds like some creative interpretation of the treaty to me.
Iran always maintained that the nuclear technology was for reactors. No one ever showed one document from Iran (except for the ludicrous spy raid that Netanyahu claimed this year) that proved they had weapons plans. As with all such claims, the standard rejoinder is: if such a document existed, the US and Israel would have papered the country with it. They didn't, because there is no hard evidence; only hearsay and accusations.
As for inspections, the US and Israel had already sabotaged the Iranian program via the Stuxnet virus, which destroyed thousands of centrifuges. Iranian nuclear scientists were being assassinated by Mossad hit squads. Only an idiot would let a Western team into these facilities.
The only pallets of cash I heard of were thrown off the back of a truck in Iraq in 2003. Iran had assets that had been frozen in the US since 1979 unfrozen. It was their money. If they got cash, it was only because the US has sanctioned Iran out of SWIFT. So, it was their money; and the US made cash the only way to deliver it.
Saying a missile is nuclear capable is like saying a truck is nuclear capable. If you don't have the weapon, the missile is just a conventional weapon - you know, like the missiles we've been lobbing at Syria, which are also "nuclear capable". I am more scared of our nuclear capable stuff with our nukes than I am of Iran's without nukes.
Which of these facts hasn't been spun in an ultracentrifuge?
Yeah it pretty much is the goal for regime change in Iran
Iran is the biggest prize in the Middle East for regime change which has been planned since the Shaw was outed in 1979. Regime changes usually start with 'color revolutions' and getting the citizens to protest their government and we bring in outsiders to make them go violent. This happened in Libya and Syria during Obama's tenure.
Trump even admitted that Iran has been opening up for weapons inspections since the deal was made and that they are abiding by the agreement. So why else did he go back on the deal and put extreme sanctions on Iran? Unhappy people start getting fed up with their government and demand new leadership. This country is the exception. We've been putting up with shit forever.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Will Iran military close down Persian Gulf Straits? I think so.
It was either Sun Tzu or one of his official commentators who stated that one should allow an escape path to an enemy. Meaning, if escape is available, many will take it and leave the field of battle. Otherwise, they will fight like madmen knowing it is either live or die.
This is what is being offered to Iran. No escape except utter capitulation and control of the country to the US and Israel. Nothing to lose.
Even if the US can secure the Straits, the price of oil will be astronomical. Oil companies have proved they are more than to willing to gouge consumers.
But that might the least of worries, as the US will attack andthere goes the entire area into war.
The US
will learn just how powerless it is if Western Europe, Asia, and/or our bestest ever buddies in the Middle East refuse to play along. The major players in the ME are probably enough to prevent the US from prosecuting modern warfare in their backyard. The messages are out there suggesting there will be little to no support for already announced sanctions.
War on a massive scale? Sure. The world owes us doncha know. The world has no choice but to support anything and everything we want from them. Trump will make the greatest deal ever. And make them pay for it!
This is batshit crazy to the 10th power. The worst is how many of my fellow citizens are on board.
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."
Who better than the US to limit nuclear weapons of other nations
After all, the US was the first nation to create nuclear weapons (with, I think, a big assist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_nuclear_weapons_program), as well as being responsible for their first and second (and only) uses and for stockpiling enough to destroy the world "as we know it" many times over. Heck, Senator Obama got big props for a bill limiting the US to enough nukes to destroy the world as we know it a mere one or two times over (assuming the US abides by the bill). And, of course, Senator Obama and President Obama said many wonderful things about limiting the use of nuclear weapons. So, who can speak with more authority about other nations not having them at all, you might well arsk? /s
Whatever BIBI WANTS, BIBI GETS
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--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver