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Obama To Hit New "Friend" Iran With Fresh Sanctions Over Contested Ballistic-Missile Program
Spot what’s wrong with the following sentence: “The Obama administration is preparing to impose its first financial sanctions on Iran since it forged a landmark nuclear agreement in July.”
That’s from WSJ and it underscores how truly absurd the relationship between Washington and Tehran has become. Just as the US is preparing to lift crippling international sanctions against Iran in connection with the country’s nuclear program, The White House is set to slap new sanctions on the country to punish the Iranians for advances in ballistic-missile development.
You might recall that back in October, Tehran test-fired the Emad, a new generation, precision-guided, surface-to-surface ballistic missile with the capability of hitting arch enemy Israel. According to The Center for Strategic and International Studies, the liquid-propelled Shahab-3 variant has a range of 1,700 kilometers, is accurate to within 500 meters of the target, and can carry a 750-kilogram payload. For those who might have missed it, here’s the test-fire:
As we wrote at the time, Iran simply doesn't seem to care how Washington feels when it comes to the development of what Tehran calls “defensive” weapons. If you read between the lines, Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan essentially said in October that Iran will continue to exploit any and all ambiguities in the nuclear deal to its advantage up to and including building new ballistic missile systems, an act which certainly goes against the spirit of the deal if not the letter.
And while the launch of the Emad may not have violated the letter of the “historic” nuclear accord, it did, apparently, violate paragraph 9 of Security Council resolution 1929 (see here). As Reuters notes, “a team of U.N. sanctions monitors said in a confidential report that a medium-range Emad rocket that Iran tested on Oct. 10 was a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, making it a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution.” That finding prompted the likes of Chris Coons - who, you’re reminded, wants to impose a new tax on Americans to fund the “war” on ISIS - to call for the imposition of new sanctions going into the new year.
Now, on the heels of a “close call” in the Strait of Hormuz where the US claims rockets fired by the Iranians passed within 1,500 yards of the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman, Washington is preparing sanctions against a handful (or two) of companies and individuals tied to Tehran’s ballistic-missile program.
“The planned action by the Treasury Department is directed at nearly a dozen companies and individuals in Iran, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates,” WSJ reports, adding that “the sanctions being prepared by the Treasury Department relate to two Iran-linked networks alleged to be involved in developing the country’s missile program and include sanctions on many of the individuals involved.”
"We've been looking for some time at options for additional actions related to Iran's ballistic missile program based on our continued concerns about its activities, including the October 10th launch,” an unnamed White House official said. "We are considering various aspects related to additional designations, as well as evolving diplomatic work that is consistent with our national security interests."
Here’s the new sanctions list:
- U.A.E.-based Mabrooka Trading and its founder, Hossein Pournaghshband
- Hong Kong-based Anhui Land Group
- Five officials from Iran’s Ministry of Defense for Armed Forces Logistics, or MODAFL including Sayyed Javad Musavi, a key figure at a MODAFL subsidiary which has been the subject of Treasury Dept. sanctions in the past
Amusingly, Washington is playing the Kim card. Here's The Journal again:
Among the reasons for the potential new sanctions are ties the Treasury is alleging between Iran and North Korea on missile development. This includes Iran buying components from Pyongyang’s state-owned Korea Mining Development Trading Corp., which is sanctioned by both the U.S. and the European Union.
The U.S. also alleges that Tehran sent technicians to North Korea over the past two years to jointly work with its defense industries on the development of an 80-ton rocket booster.

The "Axis of Evil" is alive and well apparently.
Chris Coons is pleased. “Strict, aggressive, and consistent enforcement is critical to punishing Iran for its destabilizing behavior and making the nuclear deal work,” he said. John McCain, who accused The White House of “turning a blind eye to Iranian saber rattling for fear Iran will walk away from the nuclear deal” after the rocket “incident” on Sunday, along with other war hawks, will likely say the punishment doesn’t go far enough.
Make no mistake, there are important political implications for Iran as well. "Inside Iran, hard-liners fear that President Hassan Rouhani will use the deal, and the imminent lifting of the nuclear-related sanctions, to bolster his party in the coming parliamentary elections," The New York Times wrote on Wednesday. The same "hard-liners" have in the past derided the Rouhani's nuclear accord.
As WSJ also notes, “Iranian officials have warned the White House in recent months that any such financial penalties would be viewed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a violation of the nuclear accord.” And make no mistake, the Ayatollah isn’t a man who enjoys being embarrassed.

Sure enough, Tehran was out on Thursday calling the new sanctions “arbitrary and illegal.”
"Iran's missile program has no connection to the (nuclear) agreement," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said. “Iran will resolutely respond to any interfering action by America against its defensive programs.”
All of this speaks to an underlying debate about why the US should be allowed to interfere when sovereign countries pursue the very same technologies that their sworn enemies are pursuing. As a reminder, the US is also staunchly opposed to the sale of Russian S-300 missile defense systems to Tehran. According to Sergei Lavrov, those weapons cannot be used for offensive purposes and yet Washington still insists Iran shouldn't have them. Ayatollah rants notwithstanding, the idea that Tehran would launch a preemptive strike on Israel (or anyone else for that matter) is borderline absurd. One shouldn't simply expect a major world power to sit idly by while the rest of the world makes advances in both offensive and defensive weapons.
"Secretary of State John Kerry delayed the nuclear deal reached in July in Vienna by days as he haggled with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, over the side issue of whether, and how long, a United Nations resolution banning missile development and testing would remain in place," The Times reminds us. "The Iranians dismissed that part of the accord as soon as it was announced: Nothing, they said, could infringe on their fundamental right to build a 'defensive technology,' intended to counter Saudi Arabia and Israel."
And why should there be impediments to Iran building defensive technology? Why is a weapon a "threat" in the hands of one nation and a "deterrent" in the hands of another? Consider that, along with the fact that American troops have been operating on Iran's western and eastern borders for over a decade. In fact, when it comes to who's a "threat," there's some evidence to suggest that the reason the Quds cooperated with the US in the wake of 9/11 (at least initially, before Tehran's Shiite militias began attacking US troops years later in Iraq), was that Iran feared it was next on Bush's invasion agenda.
Leaving all of that aside, the more immediate question is whether the new sanctions end up derailing the nuclear deal. The accord will almost certainly go into effect, but if implementation is beset by intractable bickering and mutual distrust, one of Obama's defining "achievements" could well disintegrate into a pile of radioactive ashes. More importantly, US-Iran relations could once again backtrack just as Tehran is resurgent on the world stage.
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0bama: “Look, I can smother myself with my own pillow!” ;-)
Looney
So the US gets to decide who gets weapons and what weapons they are allowed to have? Maybe Iran, a country that has never invaded another country, just wants to be able to defend itself from their new friend in case that friend turns on them.
Translation : Saudi Arabia agrees to put a floor under broke back mountain by cutting oil production .. in exchange for new Iranian sanctions.
Well that deal lasted a long time.
Yanqui speak with forked tongue.
Whoop-de do. Iran is still getting their billions from the nuclear deal. This is just bucket full of nothing.
I've only interacted with 1 "fresh off the boat" Iranian; a 20-'something woman.
VERY IMPRESSED!
Smart, Sharp, Polite, No body tent, spoke well of her parents, and perfect English even though she was born/raised in Iran.
Hair "fixed', makeup, drop dead beauty...appears as though women are actually worth more than a goat in Iran...amazing...If she's the standard, why all the anger at Iran?
I'm feeling like we should swap "friends"...DUMP the Saudi's for the Iranians.
Independent film on public TV about Iran; daily life of the average people in a city...ice cream and coffee shops, cell phones, modern "nightlife". While they are not fans of Israel, they're not all "Allan's SnackBar!" ready to carry out the wishes of the religious nuts running the country.
I see a real need for "Regime Change"...in WASHINGTON DC...and I'm not just talking about showing Obama the door!
(Hey spelling Nazi's, did I use the right word; woman?)
You must have missed that Iraq-Iran War a few years back.
FORWARD NUKED UP ARYANS!
Which part of Iraq invading Iran in 1980 do you not undertand?
Obviously all of it!
This seems to be a deliberate lie, presumably originating in some US Armed Forces think-tank. Even Wikipedia, so tolerant of US atrocities, acknowledges that Iraq invaded Iran. It did so with the approval of the US government, and with US arms. During that conflict, the US shot down an Iranian civilian airplane - a deed which was rewarded with medals for the captain and crew.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War#1984:_.27Tanker_War....
This latest allegation (the firing of rockets near the US carrier) has been denied by the Iranian government. I wonder if it was intended to be another Gulf of Tonkin provocation. We should never, ever, accept the Western MSM's version of any event.
"the firing of rockets near the US carrier"
It's 2016...where's the video? I mean really, our ships have NO video surveillance?
Doesn't common sense hint, even just a bit, that if an "enemy ship" is approaching, maybe video documentation of what occurs would be usefull as evidence before you decide to start a war?
The 'problem' with video evidence is that it proves one side to be a LIAR...usually, the side that didn't make the video but is making "official statements" about what happened.
Google first, then open mouth....
"The Iran–Iraq War began when Iraq invaded Iran via air and land on 22 September 1980."
Looks like Iran was defending itself against WESTERN MACRO AGGRESSION!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War
Well UN sanctions against Iran are over after reaching deal. Rest US can do whatever they want with their sanctions. No one cares :)
Happy New Year Eve! 2016
Obama leads from the 19th green.
...at the afterparty some one asks to Obummer: what is your new resolution? Obummer responds: starting a new war, allowing me to get a another Nobel Peace Prize!
Best deal......EVA!!!
Student Government with real money (and bombs)
Is that Mulla wearing sunglasses? How Western!
"As long as I am President, ISIS shall never raise it's flag over the eighteenth hole!"
- Braack "Nobel" Obama
FORWARD NWO SOVIET!
"an unnamed White House official said"
That tells me the story about the missle 1500 meters away is bullshit. They want sanctions and the American People will be told we NEED sanctions. Everyone except me and those around here will believe we are so fucking exceptional.
They are absolutely itching for a war. They must know that even a minor attack on Iran would have a disastrous response. So the ships in the region must have disposable crews, nobody "connected" aboard, they're just matches to ignite conflict.
I never understood the Nork thing, either. They are completely hemmed in, worldwide sanctions piled on, yet they can maintain a highly sophisticated weapons program. Where do they get the money for that? A massive army that needs to be trained, fed, housed, and ever at the ready. That's more mountains of money? Where does it come from?
Now they're talking about Iran and the Norks, right in the middle of sky-high tensions with Russia, Syria, and Iran. Could someone please make sense of this? Our leaders are up to no good as usual, but going after Iran again doesn't add up.
Sanctions for a “close call”.
What will the US do when China throws a missile next to our destroyer next time it passes one of their new islands?
Ban I phones?
lasts gasp of a dead empire...
happy "not" new year...
the storm is here.
The Storm has been here. For a while now.
the storm is always there, has always been. perceptions of the storm may differ, though
as often, there is a lot of debate about offensive versus defensive weapons, the sword and the shield. irrelevant categories. the shield allows you to strike where or when you could not, without it
. dup. happy new year
New year was on 22nd December. The calendar is wrong.
And while the world is getting more fucked each day, FUCK OFF BARRY is doing comedy skits with Jerry Seinfeld.
http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/president-barack-obama-just-tell...
FUCK YOU SEINFELD YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!!! NEVER WATCHING YOUR SHIT AGAIN!!!!
AND FUCK YOU BARRY YOU LAZY PIG - DO YOUR FUCKING JOB - NOT A COMEDIAN, BUT THIS BIGGEST FUCKING JOKE OF A US PRESIDENT IN HISTORY.
EAT SHIT AND DIE BARRY!!!
Well Seinfeld is a Jew after all.
Seinfeld has joined the hollywood ranks of sucking barry's cock dry for a living. Hollywood is an industry of substance abusing deviants.
Keep your anti-semitism to yourself.
I don't think he was being 'anti-semitic'. I think he was merely pointing out the veritable cornucopia of talented jewish-American comedians we have in and around Hollywood, Washington DC & New York. Perhaps I read his comment wrong.
I think tyler ran a story about this last week........
proactive application of control eventually results in lack thereof. Something about sand, fingers, & grip pressure & all that.
There is no such thing as 'anti-semitism'. It is a ruse, employed to end debate. The term itself, along with its 'usefulness', is well long past its sell date.
Comedian, president, what's the difference? Both are in entertainment.
Him and his fucking racist pig of a wife Moooooochele !!!!!!
gee, I thought Horse-Face and O-Traitor made a deal to fix all this stuff just a few months ago? Didn't work out huh? what a fucking shocker.
The Nobel Prize Winner wants to start the New Year ramping up tensions. US has 7100 nuclear weapons and Iran has 0. But, apparently, Iran is still a threat to the US.
Using Stuxnet to destroy Iranian equipment and murdering Iranian nuclear scientists are rights allowed to the hegemon of this world.
Neocons have always wanted a war with Iran. 2016 is the year that they may get their wish.
Happy New Year - Peace on earth.
here is a free speech story........be careful, very careful
''Italian police have opened an investigation after a controversial website published a list of "influential Jews" working in the country. The names of journalists, businessmen, actors and personalities of Jewish faith were published on the Italian page of Radio Islam, a multi-language platform hosting essays from renowned holocaust deniers.''
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/radio-islam-italian-website-investigated-influe...
here is another 'story' ------- Using surveillance video from other area businesses to identify the arsonist, Gary Nathaniel Moore, 37, was arrested and charged with starting the Christmas Day fire that devastated a Houston, Texas mosque. Moore is a devout Muslim who attended this same mosque for years, praying up to five times a day every day of the week.Also up in smoke is the DC Media’s hoped-for anti-GOP Narrative. Before any facts were known, numerous DC Media outlets immediately exploited the tragedy to place the blame for the fire on Donald Trump.CBS News:Advocacy groups believe there has been a spike in anti-Muslim incidents across the United States in recent weeks that can be linked to the mass shooting in California and the inflammatory rhetoric of Donald Trump and other Republican presidential candidates. And they say that Muslims are fearful the backlash could lead to further harassment and violence.CNN:The Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on authorities to investigate the fire for an anti-Muslim motive.“Because of the recent spike in hate incidents targeting mosques nationwide, we urge law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for this fire,” Mustafaa Carroll, the chapter’s executive director, said in a statement.NBC News:The Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on authorities to investigate a possible bias motive in the case, citing what it called a “recent spike in hate incidents targeting mosques nationwide.
Now that a devout Muslim has been charged, the DC Media will forget all about the incident.
http://www.valentinosghost.com/
So, when Obama is out golfing in Hawaii, is Bibi in charge? Or is Bibi just in charge all the time? /rhetorical
Same boss, different face...Dick Cheney is in charge.
The president of what?
RIPS
Let the US shove the nuke deal already!
Agreed; so long as Iran gets to shove the US $ (without the threat of being nuked) before it implodes .
Agreed ?
Obama reminds me of your first girl friend in Junior High..... Bipolar
Psychotic. Unable to determine reality from fantasy.
Fuck you HoserF16, my first girlfriend in JH was a hot thing called Michelle, cool, big boobs, smoked, could roll a nice joint, gave hand-jobs. Don't EVER compare her to Obama...although I do hear he gives good hand jobs!
Is this anything more than a pathetic joke? What have sanctions acheived in the last 35+ years? The Iranian Republic has become stronger over that time not weaker. Are they trying to make themselves look like fools and improve the image of Iran? Because that is what is happening.
Yes. An observant person would definitely see a pattern. One must expose evil. Before destroying it. Otherwise people don't recognize it. For what it is. Obama does a good job exposing evil. Whether by intent or accident.
Let them sanction Iran if there is no tomorrow and come up with a new trade embargo. When that happens oil will go full Volkswagen.
Iran got rocket scientists!
Wow ...
Didn't Obama already take credit for "peace with Iran".
Gee ...
(he's so awesome)
(that magical white-guy ... Obama)
(and, yes - Obama is whiter than me)
Glad obama isn't running a sports team. His draft picks suck.
brinkmanship... one foot with Saud one foot with Ayatollah.
Washington's revenge against Iran for its successes so far in routing Washington's most favored terrorist group in Syria: ISIS.
Washington's revenge against Iran for its successes so far in routing Washington's terrorist group in Syria: ISIS.
Sorry Smacker, your post had two too many words in it.
HA-HA. Yeahbut, Washington has a handful of terrorist groups operating in Syria. I'm just saying that ISIS is its most favored.
;-)
I up-voted ya, for your enthusiasm.
This is just a death thrashing of the Jimmy Carter upper level bureaucrats that still infest the towers of the "departments of Carter" including State ( energy, education, etc.) I'm not sure which is worse--a "true believer" on an evangelical bent or a "hedonistic narcisist" out for gain. Both the Carter and Clinton administrations undermined foriegn policy (good relations with other nations) I'm not trying to detract from the "not exceptional" last years of RR or the Bush Dynasty years which were truly disasterious for the US ---just trying to show where the "hate Iran" vitriol comes from.
You are joking right? (not downvoting you). The "hate Iran" vitriol comes from neocons because Iran isn't owned by the banks and a US vassal state. The type of government Iran has isn't relevant, it could be a strongman dictator, democracy, Islamic theocracy, oligarchy, etc. What matters is that the people and natural resources are controlled by the banks and the US government.
Agreed. Although there are guys like Zbig who continue to stir the pot. The neocons-neobolsheviks total take-over occured over the past 25 years. More and more Americans see it -- even if they can't name it -- for what it is.
Who is lying?
Iran denies it fired rockets near US aircraft carrier in Gulf, brands claim 'psychological warfare'https://www.rt.com/news/327526-iran-denies-rockets-us-warship/
"Tehran has officially denied that its Revolutionary Guards’ patrol vessel launched rockets in imminent proximity to the USS Harry S. Truman and its convoy entering the Persian Gulf, calling the allegation an act of “psychological warfare.”
"The naval forces of the Guards have not had any exercises in the Strait of Hormuz during the past week and the period claimed by the Americans, for them to have launched missiles and rockets," Reuters quoted Revolutionary Guards spokesman Ramezan Sharif as saying.
We should get Nutandyahoo's OK before we do anytthing regrettable.
Can Purple lipped Fuck in the White Castle FUCK UP any more than he already has ???????????
This is going to be an interesting year - no telling how much damage he is going to cause on his way out (if he leaves that is.....)
Of course he could fuck up more. England and France are not at war with each other yet.
Cough up the billions Washington,just print the fiat paper.
Last scream of the dying empire.
Death RIPS
The next President will give ZH the war they so desperately want.
don't presume to speak for me unless you're referring to a "war against bankers"
Iran the 53rd. state.
...and just who is that handsome, white-shirted, happy, fedora hat wearing guy? He's a catch!
So let's get this straight. The US has had carrier groups with an untold number of weapons, warplanes and soldiers off the Iranian coast and in neighboring countries for how long now ? We've destabilized and essentially ruined both Afghanistan and Iraq which it shares a large border with and then there's Turkey and ISIS who it also shares a border with. Then there's the coup , the special op's missions, the psyops , Iran/Iraq war etc...
You know the world lives in a state of brain dead delusion when the US can do all of this and then cry foul because Iran is building...A MISSILE.
You forgot Libya.
America & Europe should be sanctioned & boycotted for sharing nuclear weapons . They should first learn to practice what they preach.
With Sanctions forcing RUS, CHN, IND, and IRN to work more closely, does the Hegemon's POTUS really think "Moar" or Future Sanctions are going to Work?