Celebrations today mark the 41st anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Iran. On this day in 1979, the shah&#8217;s monarchial rule was abruptly quashed, as fundamentalist Shiite clerics seized power under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
While President Hassan Rouhani will boast about the regime’s perceived successes, military might, and dominance in his annual anniversary speech today in Tehran, the reality of the Islamic Republic’s 40th year is grim.
Each year around the anniversary, Iranian officials typically unveil technological advancements in their armed forces, nuclear, and space arsenals. On Saturday, Ayatollah Khamenei <a href="https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1226081823610081280" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1226081823610081280&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1581529523479000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF92tKqfv5E6W9UUgkO_sTep8BfUQ">claimed</a> Iran’s air force capabilities, once weak under the Pahlavi dynasty, were thriving under the Islamist mullocracy. Over the weekend, Iran tried and failed to put a satellite into orbit. This failure came after two failed launches last year of the Doosti and Payam satellites and a botched rocket explosion over the summer.
Iran’s nuclear program has faced similar deterioration this year. The 2015 nuclear deal between Iran, the U.S., the U.K., China, Russia, Germany, and France is close to collapse. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States first from the flawed deal in May 2018, insisting any new deal must curb Iran’s ballistic missile program as well as hinder uranium enrichment. Iranian leadership unsurprisingly refused, leading to economic disaster in the country. Last month, Iran declared it will no longer fulfill its uranium enrichment commitment, compelling Germany, France, and Britain to prompt the deal’s dispute resolution mechanism. If international sanctions are indeed reinstated, the worsening economic crisis in Iran will become catastrophic.
Iran also suffered blows to its military and proxy power this past year. On January 3, a U.S. airstrike outside Baghdad, Iraq, killed Iran’s top military commander, Qassem Soleimani. Leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps&#8217; Quds Force, Soleimani was a critical player in Iran’s terror regime. President Trump ordered his killing following months of attacks on American troops by Iran proxies in Iraq. In response to Soleimani’s death, Khamenei <a href="https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1212998634264027136" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1212998634264027136&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1581529523479000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEYdHWRB7U2ca3aOkJNu_LNA5I4nA">assured</a> his Twitter followers that “jihad of resistance will continue with more motivation” as Iran <a href="https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1212991721954578432" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1212991721954578432&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1581529523479000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGL2Y7VINtjMcTIyiU5mnXfnKfU9A">must</a> “congratulate Soleimani’s pure soul and condole the Iranian nation on this great martyrdom.”
Hezbollah, Iran’s most successful export, faced protest long before Soleimani’s killing in January. Since October, fed-up demonstrators have taken to the streets of Lebanon and Iraq to voice their grievances against Iran’s infiltration in and influence upon both governments. According to the U.N. special envoy to Iraq, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/21/world/middleeast/Iraq-protests-Iran.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/21/world/middleeast/Iraq-protests-Iran.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1581529523479000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGP5zOmnYYipy_TNN3CpWeOpTVQpQ">over</a> 500 demonstrators have been killed and 19,000 wounded — the majority at the hands of Iranian-backed militias. As the Iranian regime continues to dismiss these protests as inauthentic and foreign-led, their weakening grasp on the Middle East accelerates.
Despite the propaganda Iran’s regime will put forth on today’s anniversary, the world has witnessed its monumental failures. Blows to Tehran’s nuclear arsenal, economic durability, technological development, proxy strength, and military power prove Iran is indeed losing its grip on the Middle East.
 
Maya Carlin is an M.A. candidate in Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security at IDC Herzliya’s Lauder School of Government in Israel. She is also an Analyst at the Center for Security Policy, located in Washington D.C.

Iran&#8217;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei meets students in Tehran

CARLIN: 40 Years Of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Riddled With Failures

Foreign Policy

Iran

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Khamenei

Middle East

Nuclear Weapons

Perhaps the sole silver lining of the otherwise-harrowing capitulation to fundamentalist jihadist evil that was President Barack Obama&#8217;s Iran nuclear deal was the fact that the leading Sunni Arab states — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt chief among them — began to warm up to the Jewish state of Israel. The enemy of my enemy, as the venerable maxim goes, is indeed my friend. And these Sunni stalwarts have found common cause with Israel in opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran&#8217;s decades-long hegemonic ambitions, which were only augmented by the capitulatory cash influxes provided by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
To date, however, the thawing of relations has generally taken a clandestine form — mostly on the intelligence and counterintelligence level. But the unveiling yesterday of President Donald Trump&#8217;s &#8220;Deal of the Century&#8221; peace proposal for Israel and the Palestinian-Arabs represents the clearest public sign yet of just how far this thawing has progressed.
It is nothing short of remarkable just how far we have come, when considering the &#8220;Three No&#8217;s&#8221; of the infamous 1967 Khartoum Resolution, decreed in the aftermath of Israel&#8217;s miraculous Six-Day War victory: &#8220;No peace [with Israel],&#8221; &#8220;no recognition [of Israel],&#8221; and &#8220;no negotiations [with Israel].&#8221;
For starters, as The Daily Wire&#8217;s Hank Berrien <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-deal-of-the-century-for-israel-palestinians-a-realistic-plan-with-arab-states-backing-it">reported</a> yesterday, &#8220;Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba of the UAE, Ambassador Abdullah bin Rashid Al Khalifa of Bahrain, and the Ambassador Hunaina al-Mughairy of Oman <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Bahrain-UAE-envoys-come-to-White-House-for-Trump-Deal-of-the-Century-615706">were in the East Room</a> of the White House on Tuesday as Trump announced his plan.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Three great friends of peace &#8211; you, your countries &amp; your leaders are courageous. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being at the event at the <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WhiteHouse</a> today &amp; thank you for your encouragement &amp; support! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UAE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UAE</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bahrain?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bahrain</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oman?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Oman</a> <a href="https://t.co/N3LvtQufvz">pic.twitter.com/N3LvtQufvz</a>
&mdash; Jason D. Greenblatt (@GreenblattJD) <a href="https://twitter.com/GreenblattJD/status/1222227819033518083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It is unprecedented to have such leading representatives from Sunni Arab governments effectively recognizing Israel&#8217;s right, under U.N. Security Council <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-meaning-of-un-security-council-resolution-242">Resolution 242</a>, &#8220;to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.&#8221; It is even more unprecedented for such Arab governments to effectively recognize this international law right in the context of what is quite clearly, on the underlying merits, the <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/The-Trump-Plan-How-Israel-Should-Respond-615681">most pro-Israel peace plan ever offered</a> by an American president — and one that is offered by a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-jerusalem-matters-ben-shapiro">historically pro-Israel American president</a> and a conservative Likud party Israeli prime minister, no less.
Numerous Arab governments, furthermore, have offered public endorsements of Trump&#8217;s plan that invariably refer to it as a welcoming or promising development.
From the <a href="https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&amp;newsid=2027848#2027848">Kingdom of Saudi Arabia</a>, home to the Islamic holy city of Mecca and the centuries-long epicenter of the Sunni Muslim world: &#8220;The kingdom appreciates the efforts of President Trump&#8217;s administration to develop a comprehensive peace plan between the Palestinian and the Israeli sides, and encourages the start of direct peace negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, under the auspices of the United States, and to resolve any disagreements with aspects of the plan through negotiations.&#8221;
From (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-al-jazeeras-disgraceful-holocaust-denying-josh-hammer">deeply problematic &#8220;ally&#8221;</a>) <a href="https://news.qna.org.qa/lang/en/w/article/1580250375011598800">Qatar</a>: &#8220;The State of Qatar welcomes all efforts aiming towards a longstanding and just peace in the occupied Palestinian territories. It also appreciates the endeavors of President Trump and the current U.S. administration to find solutions for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, all solutions should be consistent with international law and the relevant U.N. resolutions.&#8221;
From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1452664425061142/posts/2592875164373390/?d=n">Egypt</a>: &#8220;The Arab Republic of Egypt appreciates the continuous efforts exerted by the U.S. administration to achieve a comprehensive and just settlement of the Palestinian issue, thereby contributing to the stability and security of the Middle East, ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.&#8221;
From the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1021964141227620/posts/2670012913089393/">Kingdom of Morocco</a>: &#8220;The Kingdom of Morocco expresses the wish that a constructive peace process be launched from now on, with a view to a realistic, applicable, equitable and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian question, satisfying the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, for an independent, viable and sovereign State, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and enabling the peoples of the region to live in dignity, prosperity and stability.&#8221;
Contrast that with the leading 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidates, who have <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/democratic-candidates-censure-trump-peace-plan-warn-against-annexation/">all assailed</a> the plan. Or contrast it with Hamas/Hezbollah-loving Jeremy Corbyn of Britain, who calls it a &#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1222303875593637891">travesty</a>.&#8221;
The Arab world is desperately trying to move on and finally resolve the Palestinian issue once and for all. But the American and European Left will not let them do so.
Kudos, nonetheless, to the Trump administration and the main actors/former actors there responsible for crafting the plan — including but hardly limited to Jason Greenblatt, Jared Kushner, and Avi Berkowitz — for their work in this very <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/eugene-kontorovich-trump-israeli-palestinian-peace-plan-is-fair-and-just-but-palestinians-wont-compromise">fair and thoughtfully devised</a> peace plan.

Donald Trump at White House with Benjamin Netanyahu

HISTORIC: Arab States Welcome Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian Peace Plan

Anti-Semitism

Barack Obama

Benjamin Netanyahu

Donald Trump

Egypt

Islam

Israel

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has been doing some impressive bipartisan lobbying. Politicians from across the spectrum, from Former Secretary of State <a href="https://en.radiofarda.com/a/kerry-met-iran-zarif-several-times/29488152.html">John Kerry</a> to Sen. <a href="https://freebeacon.com/politics/mark-levin-rips-into-rand-paul-over-iran/">Rand Paul</a> (R-KY), are all taking their turns to meet with him. Their common goal: Get President Donald Trump to end his “maximum pressure” campaign against the hostile Tehran regime.
Last year, this leftist-libertarian alliance was codified into a new &#8220;non-interventionist&#8221; think tank, the Quincy Institute. On its board is Trita Parsi, a man who has for decades worked behind the scenes — often in tandem with Iranian officials, including Javad Zarif — to weaken America&#8217;s resistance to Iranian aggression and nuclear ambitions.
In the weeks since the killing of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-the-just-and-proper-strike-of-mastermind-iranian-jihadist-qassem-soleimani">terrorist mastermind</a> Qassem Soleimani, agitation by the Iranian regime&#8217;s apologists has reached a crescendo. In response, I asked <a href="https://twitter.com/AdelleNaz">Adelle Nazarian</a>, senior media fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy in Washington, D.C. and fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, India, to tell us more.
What follows is a question-and-answer interview with Nazarian.
Who is Trita Parsi?
Nazarian: Trita Parsi is the Iranian-born founder of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group that is <a href="https://freebeacon.com/national-security/congress-seeks-investigation-into-pro-iran-lobby-group-tied-to-tehran-regime/">allegedly the lobbying extension</a> and arm of the Iranian regime. That would be the same Iranian regime rife with corruption, terrorism, and the murder of its own people. Parsi and NIAC’s support for the Iranian regime is <a href="https://twitter.com/AdelleNaz/status/1217693851890126848?s=20">in violation of FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act ] law</a> and they were instrumental in helping pass the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal. Parsi is an activist who has <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2014/03/the_ayatollahs_lobby_on_k_street.html">maintained a close relationship</a> with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2015-03-31/iran-s-charmer-in-chief-wins-again">Javad Zarif</a> and was a lead advisor to the Obama administration throughout the process of executing the JCPOA. NIAC falsely claims it supports the full spectrum of Iranian interests, but it actually only cares about pushing the regime’s interests. NIAC is at odds with Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, his supporters, and any Iranians who do not share the dictatorial vision of the Iranian regime. If Iran’s regime falls, it will be seen as the failure of Trita Parsi.
What is the Quincy Institute?
Nazarian: Trita Parsi is the executive vice president and co-founder of the Quincy Institute, which is funded by both Charles Koch and George Soros. It is also co-founded by Iran deal advocates. This think tank aims to compel American politicians to adopt a non-interventionist foreign policy by actively funneling misinformation and propaganda to the media and, by extension, the American people. The think tank’s board is anti-Israel, with fellows having written books very critical of America’s close alliance with Israel. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt — both co-authors of “The Israel Lobby&#8221; and fellows at the Quincy Institute — have an issue with the so-called &#8220;Israel lobby,&#8221; but have no issue working with the Iran lobby. While on the surface, the organization presents itself with the noble aim of ending endless wars in the pursuit of international peace, its co-founders — namely Andrew Bacevich, Stephen Wertheim, Eli Clifton, and Suzanne DiMaggio — are Iran deal advocates. The group also boasts Gary Sick as a “distinguished fellow.” In 1980, Mr. Sick infamously and falsely accused officials in Ronald Reagan&#8217;s presidential campaign of making a secret deal with Iran to delay the release of the American hostages until after the election.
What are Iranians and Iranian-Americans saying? 
Nazarian: Iranians and Iranian-Americans know the Quincy Institute pushes misinformation. Parsi’s move from NIAC to the Quincy Institute is an attempt to further his lobbying and propagandizing efforts. Due to funding from Soros and Koch, Parsi has been able to shield his anti-American and pro-Iranian views and actions. Iranians do not want war with America and President Donald Trump’s neutralization of IRGC-Quds Forces Commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani pushed Iran to stop its antagonistic and provocative behavior that was swiftly deteriorating U.S.-Iran relations and leading us to war.
Though Parsi claims to speak on behalf of the full spectrum of Iranian-Americans, <a href="https://twitter.com/AdelleNaz/status/1139620277396987905?s=20">a poll conducted in June</a> shows an overwhelming 85% of participants see NIAC and its affiliates as the “enemy.” Due to President Trump’s decisive actions, the machinations and manipulations of Trita Parsi have been undone. Regardless of the future, it is clear that Trita Parsi is a menace.

Javad Zarif

MITSOTAKIS: Iran Apologists, Left And Right, Have A New Think Tank

John Kerry

Koch Brothers

Rand Paul

Progressives, never known for their sense of epistemological humility, are often fond of boasting that it is they — and only they — who are on the &#8220;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_history">right side of history</a>.&#8221; Never mind that American progressives, going back at least as far as the depths of the Cold War, have evinced a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-bernie-sanders-entire-worldview-grotesquely-josh-hammer">most peculiar obsequiousness</a> toward America&#8217;s totalitarian geopolitical foes.
President Barack Obama, the braggart who taunted then-House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) a mere three days after his first inauguration with, &#8220;<a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/08/13/too_bad_obama_didnt_follow_his_own_advice_123650.html">I won</a>,&#8221; was very fond of gloating how it was he — and not his partisan opposition — who was on the &#8220;<a href="https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/69855/right-side-history-according-president-obama">right side of history</a>.&#8221; Never mind that Barack Obama, who oversaw a most rancid realignment in the Middle East in favor of the world&#8217;s number one state sponsor of jihad, kowtowed to that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">terrorist regime</a> to the tune of $100–150 billion in funding and $1.7 billion in <a href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-iran-payment-cash-20160907-snap-story.html">cold, hard pallets of cash</a>.
Because nothing apparently says &#8220;progressive&#8221; like a regime that funds murderous <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-defund-lebanon-and-do-it-yesterday">terrorist proxies</a> the <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/houthis/">world over</a>, brazenly attempts targeted assassinations <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/08/iran-behind-two-assassinations-in-netherlands-minister">all</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/02/france-blames-iran-for-foiled-bomb-attack-near-paris">throughout</a> the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2011/10/11/justice/iran-saudi-plot/index.html">West</a>, publicly <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-publicly-hangs-man-on-homosexuality-charges-578758">hangs homosexuals</a> simply because they are homosexuals, and has been found <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-10/iran-told-to-pay-10-5-billion-to-sept-11-kin-insurers">liable by a U.S. federal judge</a> for billions of dollars in damages owed to the families of those killed on 9/11.
In a sane world, Barack Obama and his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/magazine/the-aspiring-novelist-who-became-obamas-foreign-policy-guru.html">failed novelist</a>-centric <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2016-05-24/the-secret-history-of-the-iran-deal-echo-chamber">&#8220;echo chamber&#8221;</a> of pro-ayatollah sycophants would be apologizing today to both the American people and the Iranian people. Obama will never actually do so, of course; how very un-&#8220;progressive&#8221; it would be to humbly concede the retrospective error of one&#8217;s ways. As Dennis Prager once <a href="https://www.dennisprager.com/being-on-the-left-means-never-having-to-say-youre-sorry-part-230/">quipped</a>, perhaps the nicest part of being on the Left is never having to say you&#8217;re sorry.
Instead, it is Donald Trump, recent author of the <a href="https://twitter.com/SGhasseminejad/status/1216131659986325504">most liked tweet</a> in the history of the Farsi language, who has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-the-just-and-proper-strike-of-mastermind-iranian-jihadist-qassem-soleimani">boldly defended</a> American interests against the Iranian mullocracy and stood in <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1216356280933273600">lockstep solidarity</a> with the repressed Persians <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-iranian-protesters-refuse-to-walk-on-u-s-israel-flags-attack-soleimani-posters">bravely protesting in the streets</a> against their Islamic Revolutionary overlords. The mullahs are once again shooting some of their very own in the streets, but the president of the United States has made it exceedingly clear that the eyes of the world are watching. By <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/03/trumps-strike-on-soleimani-is-about-america-first-not-reckless-interventionism/">knifing the Qassem Soleimani jugular</a>, prudently declaring victory and <a href="https://twitter.com/SohrabAhmari/status/1216363363510386688">cutting bait</a> at exact right time, and offering moral and rhetorical succor to a subjugated populace, Trump has led by example every step of the way through this most recent flare-up of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bryen-the-unyielding-iranian-menace">unceasing</a> post-Islamic Revolution <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bryen-the-dispatch-of-soleimani-and-the-escalation-of-the-war">tumor</a>.
Every step of the way.
It is Donald Trump, and not Barack Obama, who is on the &#8220;right side of history&#8221; on the issue of Iran.
You would never know that from our media elites — nor from the other sheltered denizens of our bicoastal <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ruling-Class-Corrupted-America-About/dp/0825305586">ruling class</a> clerisy who barely conceal their dripping disdain for the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-who-will-stand-for-the-forgotten-american">rubes and yokels</a> of flyover country. Really, hold aside for a moment the oh-so-predictable pro-Iran apologia of moral midgets like Rep. <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ilhan-omar-crippling-sanctions-starve-iran-bds-movement-israel-economic-warfare-measured-response">Ilhan Omar</a> (D-MN). It is our media vanguard, who on cable television and the nation&#8217;s leading broadsheets alike so often take the form — by sheer happenstance, we are assured! — of <a href="https://theresurgent.com/2020/01/10/the-obama-administrations-guerrilla-war/">Obama administration alumni</a>, that have parroted ludicrous <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/dan-gainor-anti-trump-media-attack-him-for-killing-of-soleimani-blame-him-for-iran-shooting-down-plane">Iranian regime talking points</a> in a depraved attempt to deny the dreaded orange man of anything that might be viewed as a political &#8220;victory.&#8221;
Cold War-era Sen. Arthur Vandenberg (R-MI) may have <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-democrats-and-iran-11578262553">once said</a> that &#8220;politics stops at the water&#8217;s edge,&#8221; but for today&#8217;s debased media and political Left (I repeat myself), the mantra might as well be &#8220;shilling for a uniquely evil jihadist regime to own the cons.&#8221;
Thankfully, the Iranian people — who, above all else, are the victims of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 — need not care about the American media&#8217;s temper tantrums and self-immolations; Trump&#8217;s Twitter allows him to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bryen-trump-tweets-for-liberty-in-iran">easily speak directly</a> to the American people. The Iranian people need not care about the armchair quarterbacking of those who would question the wisdom of the Soleimani strike. The Iranian people need not care about those who would haphazardly yell &#8220;warmonger!&#8221; at a president who has arguably been the most militarily restrained commander-in-chief since Jimmy Carter. And the Iranian people need not care about an idolatrous political Left that, along with abortion and global warming, has found an additional pagan sacrament in the thuggish Iranian regime.
What the Iranian people quite clearly do care for is Donald Trump&#8217;s Iran policy. The Iranian people, unlike Obama&#8217;s &#8220;echo chamber&#8221; and the leftist/media alliance that has fought so diligently to defend its rotten legacy, know what it means for an American statesman to be on the &#8220;right side of history&#8221; when it comes to their country. Barack Obama and his henchmen will never apologize for their sins, but the history books they seem to care so much about will note how it was his successor who righted his own wrongs on Iran.

John Kerry with Javad Zarif

HAMMER: On Iran, Trump Shows Obama The Real ‘Right Side Of History’

Qassem Soleimani

Radical Islam

Radical Islamic Terror

This week, President Donald Trump launched a global round of teeth gnashing when he ordered the killing of the greatest terrorist leader in the modern Middle East, Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani was unquestionably responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans in Iraq and thousands of others throughout the Middle East — mostly Muslim. His global terror network ran from South America to Europe to Africa to Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Soleimani was an unparalleled organizer and a pitiless murderer. His death was richly earned.
But for many in the media and on the domestic and international left, Trump&#8217;s action was precipitously &#8220;provocative.&#8221; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Soleimani&#8217;s killing — which came directly after a Soleimani-approved terror assault on America&#8217;s embassy in Baghdad and amidst reported further plans for escalated terror against American targets — &#8220;disproportionate.&#8221; Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., suggested that Trump, not the Iranians, had &#8220;escalated&#8221; the situation. Former Vice President Joe Biden said that Trump had &#8220;just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox.&#8221;
This reaction has been magnified by the media, many of whom have been speculating about the possibility of all-out war between the United States and Iran. Think pieces have been written about whether the United States will reactivate the draft (spoiler alert: No, we won&#8217;t). Musings have filled the newspapers about the supposed conflagration prompted not by Iranian evil but by Trumpian reactivity.
All of this smacks less of legitimate concern about what comes next than it does of sheer panic that Trump has overturned a decade of American and European appeasement of the Iranian regime. Ben Rhodes, former President Obama&#8217;s deputy national security adviser, architect of the Iran deal and an overt liar who told the American public that Iran was on its way to moderation if only the United States would loosen economic restrictions on the terror state, has placed blame for volatility squarely before Trump. Susan Rice, Obama&#8217;s national security adviser during the Iran deal and another overt liar who told the American public that Islamic terror against our Benghazi embassy was rooted in anger over a YouTube video, soberly informed Americans that &#8220;Americans would be wise to brace for war.&#8221; Biden suggested that in throwing out the Iran deal, Trump had paved the way for war — and, oh, by the way, the Iran deal was &#8220;airtight.&#8221;
This is a deliberate misreading of history designed to absolve the Obama administration of its Iran policy debacle. The administration pursued a policy of strengthening Iran economically — and did so while openly acknowledging that Iran would use that newly gained economic strength to pursue terrorism and ballistic missile testing. In speaking of the sanctions relief given to Iran, then-Secretary of State John Kerry explained in January 2016, &#8220;I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists.&#8221;
That&#8217;s precisely what happened. In March 2016, then-U.S. Central Command nominee Army Gen. Joseph Votel said that Iran had become &#8220;more aggressive&#8221; since the advent of the nuclear deal. Indeed, Iran has built up Hezbollah in Lebanon, propped up Bashar Assad in Syria, increased its presence in Iraq and bolstered its war in Yemen. In the past few months, Iran and its proxies have attacked shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi oil facilities, an American drone and an American embassy, among other targets. All of this occurred while the Trump administration did little or nothing in response.
Then Trump ordered the killing of Soleimani. Suddenly, we have been informed by dishonest Democrats and their media allies, Iran has gone rogue.
Nonsense. Iran has been rogue for decades. The Iran deal was simply an attempt to whistle past the graveyard with the terror regime — to pay it off long enough so that President Barack Obama could declare the problem handled. This was, after all, the Obama strategy in Crimea and Syria: Declare a red line; run away from it; pretend that pusillanimous inaction is bravery and deterrence provocation.
Trump thought differently. Now Iran has come face to face with the prospect that actions have consequences — and those consequences don&#8217;t involve pallets of cash being shipped over to fund terror organizations that span the globe.

John Kerry meets Javad Zarif

SHAPIRO: Trump’s Iran Policy Isn’t the Problem. Barack Obama’s Was.

Obama Administration

Trump Administration

Iran&#8217;s leaders announced late Sunday that the country will no longer abide by the 2015 nuclear deal it inked with the Obama Administration after a strategic airstrike in Baghdad killed the head of its violent Quds Force,  Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The rogue nation, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-nuclear-deal-limits-abandoned-soleimani-airstrike">Fox News reports</a>, told European officials that it remains open to negotiating with the European Union and other nations, but will abandon several &#8220;key provisions&#8221; of the agreement that limit how much uranium Iran is allowed to stockpile as it pursues nuclear weapons.
“The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has in a statement announced its fifth and final step in reducing Iran’s commitments under the JCPOA,” Iranian state-run television reported Sunday night, using the official acronym for the 2015 agreement. “The Islamic Republic of Iran no longer faces any limitations in operations.”
&#8220;Iran&#8217;s state TV cited a statement by President Hassan Rouhani&#8217;s administration saying the country will not observe limitations on its enrichment, the amount of stockpiled enriched uranium as well as research and development in its nuclear activities,&#8221; according to Fox News.
In a contemporaneous missive, Iranian officials again threatened retaliatory action for Soleimani&#8217;s death, suggesting that the country plans to attack U.S. troops stationed abroad, but, this time, adding that it believes Israel and Israeli interest are also fair targets.
Although Iran&#8217;s departure from the nuclear deal was treated as a major development by most mainstream news organizations, it has never been clear that Iran was abiding by the limitations placed on it by the Obama Administration, or that Iran had abandoned its pursuit of nuclear weapons following the 2015 meetings. At best, it seems, Iran considered its nuclear ambitions delayed and the provisions ordering the shutdown of Iran&#8217;s nuclear centrifuges and uranium enrichment operation mere suggestions.
The United States, under President Donald Trump, withdrew from the 2015 Iran deal back in 2018, citing a number of violations on the part of Iran&#8217;s leadership, even though the IAEA, which monitors rogue nations&#8217; development, storage, and use of &#8220;weapons of mass destruction&#8221; disagreed with the Trump Administration&#8217;s assessment of Iran&#8217;s nuclear capabilities.
As if to prove Trump right, just one year later, Iran&#8217;s leadership withdrew from several key provisions of the 2015 deal, announcing in June of 2019 that the country planned to increase the amount of enriched uranium it had on hand in spite of the deal&#8217;s limitations.
“We will go further from that ceiling, not only that but we will also increase production drastically. After we pass the limit of 300 kg, the pace and the speed of enriched uranium production at the lower rate will also increase,” the head of Iran&#8217;s Atomic Energy Organization <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/6/17/18681752/iran-nuclear-deal-uranium-trump">said last year</a>.
Iran then said European nations could forestall the development if they gave Iran access to global markets and allowed it to trade. European nations, of course, said no.
Since then, it&#8217;s been unclear how determined Iran was at abiding by any of the agreement&#8217;s limitations.
On Sunday, Iranian officials simply jettisoned the agreement altogether, making those questions moot. Several members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were also clear, Sunday, that the universe of Iran&#8217;s potential targets has expanded to include Israel, whom the Iranians blame for obtaining and leaking information about Soleimani&#8217;s whereabouts.
&#8220;Rest assured we will level to the ground Haifa and Israeli centers so that Israel will be wiped out,&#8221; the leader of Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guard said in an address to mourners gathered in Tehran Sunday evening. &#8220;The issue is very serious for the Iranian nation. You hit us and you should get hit. You attacked us and it is the Iranian nation&#8217;s right.&#8221;

IRAN-POLITICS-NUCLEAR

Iran Announces That It’s Done With 2015 Nuclear Deal After Baghdad Airstrike

The world has awoken today a safer and more just place. And the unraveling of former President Barack Obama&#8217;s pro-Iran regional Middle East realignment, which began with President Donald Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-trump-just-shredded-iran-deal-here-are-5-ben-shapiro">thunderous exit</a> from his predecessor&#8217;s pro-ayatollah nuclear capitulation, has now reached its logical conclusion.
The Obama Middle East foreign policy legacy is dead. As is the Islamic Republic of Iran&#8217;s infamous jihadist mastermind, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-responds-to-u-s-military-killing-2-top-iranian-military-leaders-involved-in-terrorists">Qassem Soleimani</a>.
Good riddance to both.
It is difficult to overstate the geopolitical and strategic ramifications of Soleimani&#8217;s long-overdue demise. Aside from Osama bin Laden himself, no leading international jihadist thug has had more American blood on his hands than the decades-long veteran commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force (IRGC-QF) — a U.S.-designated <a href="https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2049534/statement-by-the-department-of-defense/">Foreign Terrorist Organization</a> and umbrella organization overseeing so much regional and global evil, from Iraq to Yemen to <a href="https://ctc.usma.edu/irans-unwavering-support-to-assads-syria/">Syria</a> to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-defund-lebanon-and-do-it-yesterday">Lebanon</a> to Gaza to <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20190109-eu-sanctions-iran-over-assassinations-peoples-mujahedeen-france-bomb-plot">European</a> capitals to our very own <a href="https://mosaicmagazine.com/response/jewish-world/2019/08/the-men-responsible-for-the-amia-bombing-are-known-and-still-at-large/">western</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/man-in-iran-backed-plot-to-kill-saudi-ambassador-gets-25-years/2013/05/30/0435e7a2-c952-11e2-8da7-d274bc611a47_story.html">hemisphere</a>. From <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-defund-lebanon-and-do-it-yesterday">Hezbollah</a> to Hamas to Palestinian Islamic Jihad to Yemeni <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/houthis-explain-death-to-america-slogan-reveal-what-will-bring-them-to-peace-talks">Houthi rebels</a> to (contra Iranian <a href="https://twitter.com/JZarif/status/1212946202280579073">propaganda</a>) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/us/politics/us-iran.html">al-Qaeda itself</a>, the extraterritorial tentacles of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">inherently jihadist</a> Iranian regime are simply ubiquitous.
No nation on Earth funds, sponsors, and exports more genocidal jihad than the Islamic Republic of Iran. And no one has been more responsible for that over the past 20-plus years than Qassem Soleimani. The Hudson Institute&#8217;s Michael Doran is thus correct when he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/opinion/trump-iran-suleimani-assassination-baghdad.html">writes</a> today that, &#8220;[t]he killings of Osama bin Laden and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leaders of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, were certainly meaningful, but they were also largely symbolic.&#8221; By contrast, Doran continues, &#8220;[t]aking out the architect of the Islamic Republic’s decades-long active campaign of violence against the United States and its allies, especially Israel, represents a tectonic shift in Middle Eastern politics.&#8221;
This is <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1212943146512003073">precisely right</a>.
Soleimani, who was designated and sanctioned by the U.N., E.U., and U.S. alike, directly approved <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-now-is-not-the-time-to-go-soft-on-iran">Tuesday&#8217;s U.S. embassy storming</a> in Baghdad by Iranian proxy militia Kataib Hezbollah, and was credibly assessed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as actively planning more <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/pompeo-strike-on-soleimani-disrupted-imminent-attack-saved-hundreds/">&#8220;imminent&#8221;</a> attacks against hard American assets in the Middle East, has been directly active in the mass murder of Americans. He personally oversaw the mass arming of Shiite Iraqi insurgents and it is estimated that the IRGC-QF targeted and killed over 600 Americans in Iraq from 2003–2011. The State Department asserts that this personally amounts to a whopping <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-dept-iranian-general-killed-in-u-s-strike-responsible-for-17-of-american-deaths-in-iraq">17% of all </a>deaths of U.S. military personnel during the Iraq War. As Iraq War veteran Jesse Kelly <a href="https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1212916676167122944">tweeted</a>, &#8220;If you’ve been to a VA hospital in recent years and seen a young man missing limbs, there’s a reasonable chance Qasem Soleimani is responsible for it.&#8221;
Qassem Soleimani was a monstrous thug. In addition to the hundreds of Americans killed in Iraq via Iranian-supplied roadside IEDs, Soleimani personally oversaw the jihad-led destabilization of all nations within Tehran&#8217;s coveted <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2019/09/03/the-shiite-crescent-and-regional-disaster/">&#8220;Shiite crescent&#8221;</a> of desired regional hegemony. He likely is responsible, on net, for tens of thousands of deaths. He was a relentless and unceasing foe of Western civilization, more broadly, though he held a special disdain for the mullahs&#8217; &#8220;Little Satan&#8221; of Israel and &#8220;Great Satan&#8221; of the United States.
Totalitarian regimes the world over crave Obama administration-style trepidation and appeasement. Sharks, alas, are always on the prowl for bloodletting weaklings. But it takes righteousness to refuse to be cowed by revanchist thuggery; it takes resolve to stake one&#8217;s ground; and it takes willpower to defend one&#8217;s carefully calibrated <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/death-iranian-gen-soleimani-long-overdue-justice/">strategic interests</a>.
The only travesty here is that Qassem Soleimani was not taken out sooner. The president of the United States deserves kudos for having the courage to execute this strike. America and her allies are today safer and stronger for it. A small portion of justice has been served, and there is no more deserving target of that rough justice than mastermind Iranian jihadist Qassem Soleimani.

HAMMER: The Just And Proper Strike Of Mastermind Iranian Jihadist Qassem Soleimani

Iraq

Mike Pompeo

On Tuesday morning, Americans woke up to the news that the U.S. embassy in Baghdad was physically <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-thousands-of-terrorist-supporters-storm-u-s-embassy-in-baghdad-after-u-s-strikes-kill-dozens-of-terrorists">assaulted and besieged</a> — not by anodyne &#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1212173561856757760">mourners</a>,&#8221; as the fine folks at The New York Times would have us believe, but by Iranian regime-supporting radical jihadists. The terrorists&#8217; physical storming of the embassy was allegedly in direct retaliation for U.S. airstrikes conducted against Kataib Hezbollah, which is the Iraqi proxy for the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-defund-lebanon-and-do-it-yesterday">broader Hezbollah terrorist group</a> — itself a wholly owned and operated Shiite Islamist outfit of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">jihadist</a> Iranian regime. In many respects, Iraq is increasingly a mere Iranian satrapy.
Debate about how best to deal with the Iranian regime, which has been in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bryen-the-unyielding-iranian-menace">ceaseless state of war</a> with the West since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, continues to percolate throughout American conservative discourse. Paleoconservative-leaning Buchananites, led by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, came out swinging hard against retaliatory American military action after the mullahs <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/after-iran-shoots-down-huge-american-drone-trump-hank-berrien">downed an American unmanned aerial vehicle</a> (UAV) in June. In September, the debate rekindled after Iran and its proxies launched an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-us-must-side-saudi-arabia-against-iranian-josh-hammer">unprecedented attack</a> against Saudi Arabian oil facilities. That Iranian attack against Saudi Arabia took place roughly a week after Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-bad-trump-presidents-dismissal-john-bolton-josh-hammer">dismissal of then-National Security John Bolton</a>, who is famously hawkish on Iran.
The attack upon the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, much like the downing of the American UAV in June and the attack against Saudi oil facilities in September, ought to be viewed as the exhausted gasps of a regime that is truly hurting. Iranian <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/17/inflation-rampant-in-tehran-as-iran-struggles-to-stem-rising-food-prices.html">inflation is increasingly off the charts</a> and its entire macroeconomy is in a <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/02/13/irans-economy-is-crumbling-but-collapse-is-a-long-way-off-jcpoa-waivers-sanctions/">state of near-free fall</a>, as the panoply of U.S.-imposed sanctions following President Donald Trump&#8217;s removal of the U.S. from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-trump-just-shredded-iran-deal-here-are-5-ben-shapiro">catastrophic</a> Iran nuclear deal continue to hit the mullahs hard.
Many of those on the Left, such as Ben Rhodes — perhaps the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/magazine/the-aspiring-novelist-who-became-obamas-foreign-policy-guru.html">single most emphatically unqualified person</a> in the whole world to purport to talk credibly about the perils of the Iranian regime — would have us believe that Iran&#8217;s various attempts to lash out in frustration are the fault of the U.S. In peddling such utter tomfoolery, these capitulatory appeasers on the Left have found no shortage of allies among the ascendant forces of the isolationist Right.
It is important that conservatives get the issue of Iran right. And it is imperative that conservatives continue to properly view the Iranian regime as a uniquely evil geopolitical foe whose <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bryen-irans-imperial-overreach">regional hegemonic ambitions</a> and would-be nuclear program alike must be thwarted at every turn.
To be sure, it is long overdue for conservatives to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-never-forget-911-we-need-rethink-how-we-josh-hammer">soberly re-assess</a> the inherently non-conservative intellectual hubris that undergirded much of Bush administration-era &#8220;neoconservative&#8221; foreign policy. But there is a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-ted-cruzs-non-interventionist-hawk-foreign-josh-hammer">very prudent middle ground to be attained</a>, and the risk is increasingly greater than conservatives might overly recalibrate far too much toward the extreme isolationist end of the pendulum. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has called this hardened realism version of anti-Islamist hawkishness that of a &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-ted-cruzs-non-interventionist-hawk-foreign-josh-hammer">non-interventionist hawk</a>,&#8221; and his approach is correct.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Friendly foreign policy 101 reminder:
Closely calibrated, narrowly targeted elimination of strategically threatening jihadist actors = GOOD.
Attempts to remake backwater third-world sharia hellscapes into Madisonian republics = BAD.
&mdash; Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1212062312275861504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
There are a myriad ways that the U.S. could complement its crippling sanctions against Iran with closely targeted military actions in such a way as to be consistent with this thesis. Again, it is impossible to overstate just how pernicious the Iranian regime&#8217;s tentacles actually are. Over the past four decades, Iran has had its hands in <a href="https://mosaicmagazine.com/response/jewish-world/2019/08/the-men-responsible-for-the-amia-bombing-are-known-and-still-at-large/">more jihad</a> committed <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/08/iran-hired-dutch-criminals-assassinate-iranian-dissidents-netherlands/">against the West</a> — by far — than has any other nation. The specific means by which the U.S. can, or should, push back militarily against Iranian aggression ought to be debated. But as famed Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz <a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/19042/should-israel-invade-gaza">once said</a>: First decide on one&#8217;s policy, then one&#8217;s strategy, and only then one&#8217;s tactics.
That was, is, and will always be sound foreign policy advice.
And it is crucial that an overarching policy of deterrence of Iran — by both financial and, if need be, closely targeted military means — remain the ultimate goal of American conservatives.

ayatollah Iran street art

HAMMER: Now Is Not The Time To Go Soft On Iran

Ted Cruz

Terrorism

This will not be Tehran 1979. Nor Benghazi 2012.
There were, apparently two groups of invaders at the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-iran-behind-attack-on-u-s-embassy-in-baghdad-will-pay">U.S. embassy in Baghdad</a> — hordes of rioting protesters in the streets and well-covered, professional-looking, careful militia members entering the out building. Security forces (and some contractors) used tear gas and stun guns against the demonstrators as the United States protected its embassy compound — <a href="https://www.tribuneledgernews.com/opinion/embassies-and-consulates-are-not-foreign-territory/article_781a9a04-d64a-11e8-9977-334e978bea56.html">sovereign American territory</a> by international convention.
A bit of U.S.-Iranian history is instructive here. When the Iranians overran the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979, President Jimmy Carter dubbed the Ayatollah Khomeini “<a href="https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Father-of-the-Iranian-revolution">a holy man</a>” with whom, presumably, one could do business. President Barak Obama was certain, in 2015, that “the only alternative to the JCPOA is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-defense-of-the-iran-deal-comes-with-a-tough-love-message/2015/07/15/a7614b4a-2b04-11e5-bd33-395c05608059_story.html">war with Iran</a>,” presumably meaning that the so-called “Iran nuclear deal” was the way to avoid war and restore Iran to the family of nations.
The result of Carter’s assistance to the ayatollah, and Obama’s lapse in memory — the Iranians had, actually, been in a declared state of war with the United States (and Israel) since 1979 — was to allow the juggernaut of Shiite expansionist theology to ruin Iran, invade Iraq, incubate ISIS, occupy Syria, bring its proxy to power and ruin Lebanon, run the Houthi war in Yemen, undermine Bahrain, attack Saudi Arabia, and spread its tentacles across Africa. And this transpired all while Iran violated the U.N. ban on Iranian arms imports and exports, the U.N. ban on the development of Iranian ballistic missiles, and the P5+1-ratified-by-the-U.N. ban on the development of nuclear weapons technology.
President Donald Trump harbors no such fantasies. He has already shown that <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2018/03/05/punishing-syrian-chemical-weapons-use/">retaliation</a> for acts of war is in his playbook. But he has also shown that it isn’t necessary to retaliate every time for every single thing — including Iran’s attack on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/world/middleeast/saudi-iran-attack-oil.html">Saudi oil facilities.</a>
As Iran’s tentacles have <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2019/09/03/the-shiite-crescent-and-regional-disaster/">spread farther</a>, it has begun to show signs of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bryen-irans-imperial-overreach">imperial overreach</a>.” The re-imposition of American sanctions means Iran has fewer and fewer resources to stoke the flames of revolution extraterritorially. Rebellion against the clerical regime actually began in December 2017 — not 2019, when The New York Times began to report on it. Uprisings in Lebanon and Iraq began earlier this year — both decidedly anti-Iran and anti-clerical. And, as Iran watches Russia swallow Syria’s <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/78261">reconstruction money</a> for its own purposes, the mullahs appear to have decided it is now time for Iran to reassert itself.
Iranian forces are <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iran-says-it-shot-rioters-after-rights-group-claims-200-n1094651">out in the streets</a> of multiple Iranian cities and the U.S. confirms that the death toll among demonstrators is <a href="https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/voa-news-iran/us-confirms-report-citing-iran-officials-saying-1500-killed-protests">more than 1,500</a>, including hundreds of women. The ayatollahs have cut off the internet, to the extent they can, to prevent Western understanding of the devastation. Iranian-backed Shiite militias have been out in force in Iraq — not only in Baghdad, but in Shiite cities across the south of the county. The <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/11/lebanon-military-forces-must-end-arbitrary-arrests-and-torture-of-protesters/">Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)</a> plus Hezbollah militias are <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-defund-lebanon-and-do-it-yesterday">trying to get Lebanon</a> under control with some brutal tactics.
It hasn’t been working very well.
A wounded adversary is the most dangerous. The 1944 Battle of the Bulge reflected Hitler’s understanding that the Allies would not be held off forever, so he wanted to make it harder and bloodier to reach V-E Day. Emperor Hirohito’s determination that every Japanese civilian would fight to the death on the mainland — knowing defeat was inevitable — was the impetus for President Truman’s use of the atomic bomb (in part) to short-circuit the casualty count, assessed by analysts to be in the millions.
This is NOT a suggestion that the U.S. storm Iran — or heaven forbid, use an atomic or other weapon against Iranian cities. Not, not, not!
It is, however, a reminder of what we face. Iran has been begging for the sort of American retaliation that it could (A) use to try to bring its population together in opposition to the “Great Satan,” or (B) use to launch Hezbollah to attack Israel, presenting the U.S. with the conundrum that legitimate American retaliation might harm an ally. The death of an American contractor and wounding of several American soldiers last week in Iraq — in a barrage of more than 30 rockets — followed weeks of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-launches-strikes-in-iraq-and-syria-targeting-iran-backed-militia-pentagon-says/2019/12/29/28c12e22-2a64-11ea-be79-83e793dbcaef_story.html">Pentagon warnings</a> that Iranian-backed groups in Iraq were likely to attack U.S. forces there.
American retaliation was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-launches-strikes-in-iraq-and-syria-targeting-iran-backed-militia-pentagon-says/2019/12/29/28c12e22-2a64-11ea-be79-83e793dbcaef_story.html">precise, hitting three sites</a>: Weapons storage facilities and locations the militia used to plan attacks against coalition forces.
What happens next is unclear. At this writing, reinforcements for the U.S. embassy have been called in. But there is a clear understanding in Washington that this is not an uprising of Iraqis against the United States. These are Iranian acts of war. Where American retaliation goes will, no doubt, take that into account.
&nbsp;
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org">The Jewish Policy Center</a> in Washington, and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly.

Outraged Iraqi protesters storm US embassy in Baghdad

BRYEN: The Unyielding Iranian Menace

Islamic State (ISIS)

Lebanon

New York Times

Since December 2017, a sort of “rolling rebellion” has been occurring across Iran. It is bigger, deeper and stronger than the Green Revolution of 2009 and taking place in great measure outside Tehran, <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2017/01/04/non-persian-iran/">where the population is more diverse</a>. There have been strikes of truckers, bazaar shopkeepers, teachers, farmers, and students. See #WhiteWednesday on Twitter to watch brave Iranian women go into the streets and take off their head coverings. Sometimes they dance. Sometimes their husbands, fathers, and brothers go with them. Sometimes they are arrested and sometimes they go to jail. Unfortunately, it took the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-10-04/death-of-irans-blue-girl-casts-spotlight-on-iranian-women-and-a-growing-movement-for-equality">suicide of a young woman</a> facing seven years in prison for attending a soccer match to get the attention of the Western press.
In May of this year, <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2019/05/03/the-iranian-mullahs-are-nervous/">widespread upheaval</a> convulsed the country and thousands were arrested. This weekend, news of increasing protest in Iran comes from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) — an organization with a mixed record of acceptance by the U.S. government, but with indisputable reach inside the country. According to NCRI’s Washington office, at least 65 cities have seen violent demonstrations, with people killed and injured by authorities. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Mojahedineng/videos">Videos, presumably from cell phones</a>, show that pictures of the Ayatollah Khameini have been set on fire and demonstrators are chanting “Death to the Dictator” and “Death to Rouhani.” You can follow <a href="https://twitter.com/AlirezaNader">@AlirezaNader</a> for more.
As Iran spreads its tentacles abroad and builds its illegal nuclear capability, it is clear that the regime cannot fund domestic priorities and international revolution on the same budget — especially as that budget contracts.
Imperial overreach was the ruin of the Roman Empire, the Byzantines, Egyptians, Ottomans, Nazis, and Soviets. Could it be catching up with Iran? Wait, you say, Iran isn’t an empire. Not in the traditional sense. But it was always the belief of the hegemonic mullahs that instability across large regions, managed with a relatively small group of well-trained Iranian professionals and a lot of proxy fighters, would create a world in which Shiite supremacism held sway.
And it was working.
The Shiite Crescent — from Iran through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to the Mediterranean — was a “lid” over Iran’s Sunni enemies Saudi Arabia and Jordan, plus Israel. It was also a wedge between Sunni Turkey and the Sunni countries below — Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the Gulf states. Most of the proxy soldiers were Iraqi militias, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Pakistanis and Afghans brought to Syria under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The result was millions of Sunni Syrian refugees in the Middle East and Europe.
Sunni Hamas and Shiite Palestinian Islamic Jihad were both recipients of Iranian funds, weapons, and training to harass Israel.
There is also an underside Crescent, which is less well understood. It encircles the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia in the Gulf of Aden with a base in Yemen and a Houthi proxy at the bottom of the Red Sea, threatening the Bab el Mandeb Straits and the exit of Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia to the Gulf and the Indian Ocean. And the American base in Djibouti.
And Africa. Iran incubated Sunni jihadists in the poor, corrupt, and vulnerable states of the second tier — Sudan, Chad, Niger, and Mali. The result was waves of migrants headed north. The North African countries — Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria — were all in the NATO Mediterranean Dialogue group that helped control safety and security in the sea until the Obama administration toppled the Libyan government in 2011. Libya, no longer a member of the Dialogue, has become a hole in the dam through which hundreds of thousands of African migrants reached Europe.
But has the empire reached too far?
American-led sanctions have been an enormous financial blow to the mullahs, but sanctions are misunderstood. Not a mechanism for toppling a government, they are a means of forcing a government to make choices — between, revolution and agriculture, between weapons and water and sewer systems, between Palestinian jihadists and schools, and so forth. That is what Iran faced in 2011 and that is what led to the Iran/P5+1 negotiations. The fact that President Obama collapsed and paid off the mullahs allowed them to avoid those very choices and set back the operation by years and millions of deaths in the Middle East and Africa.
The restoration of sanctions means Iran has less to pay off its proxies — as well as less for its own people. European businesses, and even China, are leaving Iran and taking their money. Iran tried to compensate by stealing Iraqi oil.
And that’s where empire begins to break down.
There are explicitly anti-Iranian <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bryen-missing-the-point-of-the-latest-middle-east-protests">riots in Lebanon and Iraq</a>. Hezbollah fighters have announced they will <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2019/1112/Inside-Hezbollah-How-Lebanon-protests-are-breaking-fear-barrier">refuse to return to Syria</a> for Iran. Iraqis have <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2019/10/29/missing-the-point-of-the-latest-middle-east-protests/">attacked Iranian bases and depots</a>. Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi">@HeshmatAlavi</a> for the latest Iraqi moves and Iranian counter-moves. But most of the mainstream press isn’t there.
But the biggest changes may be coming in Iran itself.
&nbsp;
Shoshana Bryen is senior director of <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/">The Jewish Policy Center</a>. Portions of this article appeared in the Jewish Policy Center magazine, inFOCUS Quarterly.

Iranian flag on conference table

BRYEN: Has The Iranian Empire Overreached?

Saudi Arabia

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) will soon introduce new legislation that aims to dismantle the remaining portions of the Iran nuclear deal by revoking the nuclear sanctions waivers that the Trump administration approved last week. Those sanctions waivers allow Iran to work on the country&#8217;s nuclear weapons program while talks continue between Tehran and Washington, D.C.
The Washington Free Beacon&#8217;s Adam Kredo <a href="https://freebeacon.com/national-security/trump-admin-again-gives-iran-green-light-to-conduct-sensitive-nuclear-work/">reported</a> last week that the sanctions waivers &#8220;permit the Islamic Republic to engage in sensitive nuclear work, including at a clandestine military location that has housed the country’s weapons program&#8221; and allow &#8220;China and Russia to continue performing work at Iranian nuclear facilities, some of which have drawn concerns from the international community for potentially helping Iran gain the know-how to build a functional nuclear weapon.&#8221;
In a new <a href="https://freebeacon.com/national-security/rep-cheney-to-introduce-legislation-mandating-full-dismantling-of-iran-nuclear-deal/">report</a> by Kredo on Monday, Cheney told the Free Beacon that the waivers have legitimized Iran&#8217;s illicit nuclear weapons program.
&#8220;These &#8216;civil nuclear&#8217; waivers legitimize Iran&#8217;s illicit nuclear infrastructure and help sustain President Obama&#8217;s disastrous nuclear deal,&#8221; Cheney said. &#8220;Congress is determined to support President Donald Trump&#8217;s rightful exit from that deal and his successful maximum pressure campaign against Tehran.&#8221;
Cheney continued, &#8220;That is why I will soon be introducing legislation that revokes these exceptions and ensures that the nuclear deal is totally and completely dismantled.&#8221;
The Trump administration&#8217;s shift in policy toward Iran has caused concerned among Trump&#8217;s top allies in Washington, as it is a break from his promised &#8220;maximum pressure&#8221; campaign against the Iran, which is the world&#8217;s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed their frustration with the administration last week over the decision to give Iran its latest waivers.
In a joint statement, the senators <a href="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&amp;id=4740">wrote</a>:
<blockquote>This is disappointing and another lost opportunity to tear up the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal once and for all. President Trump should immediately order his administration to stop issuing civil nuclear waivers. These waivers allow Iran to build up its nuclear program, including at their Fordow nuclear bunker, which they dug out of the side of a mountain to build nuclear weapons. Iran is now openly violating the nuclear deal and stockpiling dangerous nuclear material. There is no justification for letting them continue to build up their program. We intend to work with our Congressional colleagues to advance legislation to reverse this misguided decision.</blockquote>
U.S. State Department Spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement last week that the decision would &#8220;help preserve oversight of Iran’s civil nuclear program, reduce proliferation risks, constrain Iran’s ability to shorten its &#8216;breakout time&#8217; to a nuclear weapon, and prevent the regime from reconstituting sites for proliferation-sensitive purposes.&#8221;
Kredo further noted that Iran announced today it is moving forward with installing key components that will allow it to quickly enrich uranium — which is a violation of the nuclear deal.
Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran&#8217;s Atomic Energy Organization, reportedly told Iranian state media, &#8220;We have installed 15 new-generation centrifuges in the past two months which is a very big achievement.&#8221;
Meanwhile, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated this week that Iran &#8220;must not engage in negotiations&#8221; in order to &#8220;prevent and block America from entering [Iran] again.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: We must Not Engage in Negotiations with America in Order to Prevent It from Entering Iran Again <a href="https://t.co/0MXlge3ma9">pic.twitter.com/0MXlge3ma9</a>
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://twitter.com/MEMRIReports/status/1191316220672385024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2019</a></blockquote>

Liz Cheney

Republicans To Introduce Legislation To Dismantle Entire Iran Nuclear Deal

It is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51924/mike-pence-warns-iran-were-locked-and-loaded-jacob-airey">increasingly likely</a> that Saudi Arabia and Iran, longtime regional foes and proxies for the broader Sunni/Shiite theological divide in the Islamic world, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-aramco-iran-rouhani/irans-rouhani-says-aramco-attacks-were-a-reciprocal-response-by-yemen-idUSKBN1W12AE">could be heading for war</a>. Both nations are governed by sharia-based legal regimes, and each has a troubled history when it comes to promoting, financing, and exporting Islamist extremism over the course of the past century. At first glance, one might be inclined to look at this internecine Islamic spat and conclude as Sarah Palin <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/sarah-palin-let-allah-sort-it-out-096128">once did</a>: &#8220;Let Allah sort it out.&#8221;
But cynicism of this magnitude is not actually warranted. The United States has a clear and strategically unmistakable interest in any potential armed conflict that were to escalate between the Saudis and the Iranians. That interest, put simply, is to stand firmly with our <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/04/10/media-war-saudi-arabia/">Saudi allies</a>.
For decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the preeminent funder and exporter of radical Sunni jihadism. The hardline Wahhabist- and Salafist-inspired brand of Sunni Islam that dominated the Saudi clerisy resulted in tangible detrimental outcomes for the liberal West. The Saudis funded more radical Sunni madrasas the world over than any other Arab nation and were oftentimes the leading miscreants in the Arab world&#8217;s decades-long (technically, still ongoing) <a href="http://www.sixdaywar.org/content/khartoum.asp">diplomatic</a> campaign against the legitimacy of Israel. Concomitantly, the Saudis were long viewed as the leading Arab cheerleaders for Yasser Arafat and his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46068/hammer-yes-united-states-was-right-deny-entry-bds-josh-hammer">inherently jihadist</a> &#8220;Palestinian liberation&#8221; cause. The Kingdom funded and promoted the global <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46714/hammer-designating-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-josh-hammer">Muslim Brotherhood</a>, the 20th-century progenitor of contemporary Sunni jihadism and the over-arching organization for which the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44732/hammer-israel-must-destroy-hamas-once-and-all-josh-hammer">genocidal death cult</a> of Hamas merely serves as the Palestinian-Arab branch. Many Saudi elites and clerics famously <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/documents/evidence-of-financial-links-between-saudi-royal-family-and-al-qaeda">mollycoddled</a> al-Qaeda in the years leading up to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/27/us/september-11th-hijackers-fast-facts/index.html">September 11, 2001</a>. And so forth.
That is all undoubtedly very, very, very bad. But it is crucial to recognize that much has changed in the Islamic world over the past decade or two.
Over the past ten to fifteen years, and rapidly accelerating under the recent leadership of the more forward-thinking and realpolitik-inclined Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), the Kingdom has taken tremendous steps to diminish the influence of the Wahhabist clerics, to cease the funding and exportation of radical madrasas abroad, and to unequivocally distance itself from the Muslim Brotherhood. MBS has even gone so far as to (accurately) <a href="http://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/46574/Bin-Salman-Muslim-Brotherhood-incubator-for-terrorists">dub</a> the Brotherhood an &#8220;incubator for all terrorists.&#8221; Jared Kushner and other Trump administration officials, seeing a natural anti-Islamist ally in the crown prince, have <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/03/jared-kushner-saudi-arabia-mbs-meeting">cultivated and nourished</a> a reinvigorated bilateral relationship. The Saudis have also <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Palestinians-in-bid-to-avert-real-crisis-with-Saudi-Arabia-597538">all but completely forsaken</a> the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48018/hammer-jared-kushner-right-palestinians-do-not-josh-hammer">noxious</a>, anti-Jewish Palestinian-Arab &#8220;liberation&#8221; cause, preferring instead to dramatically warm up to Israel in hitherto unimaginable ways. The Saudis, while still prone to military and strategic crassness, are more so than ever before manifestly allied with the United States on our key geopolitical interests and priorities in the Middle East.
The elephant in the room for much of the Middle East&#8217;s broader realignment is, of course, the so-called &#8220;Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action&#8221; — then-President Barack Obama&#8217;s harrowing nuclear deal capitulation to the mullahs of the world&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43339/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">number one state sponsor of jihadism</a>, Iran. Obama, under the cataclysmic &#8220;guidance&#8221; of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/magazine/the-aspiring-novelist-who-became-obamas-foreign-policy-guru.html">failed novelist</a> Ben Rhodes, sought to reorient America&#8217;s interests in the Middle East away from Israel and its historic Sunni allies — namely, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt — and toward Iran and the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/mohamed-morsi-who-brought-the-muslim-brotherhood-to-the-egyptian-presidency">Muslim Brotherhood</a>. In addition to empowering the terrorist, jihad-exporting mullocracy in Tehran, Obama&#8217;s disastrous shift strategic also unshackled the region&#8217;s preeminent funders of the Brotherhood and Hamas: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47456/hammer-al-jazeeras-disgraceful-holocaust-denying-josh-hammer">Qatar</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44954/report-ilhan-omar-met-2017-infamous-islamist-josh-hammer">Turkey</a>. The increasingly public thawing of tensions between the Saudis and the Emiratis — each of whom considers Iran to be something akin to an existential hegemonic threat — and Israel, in addition to the still-ongoing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017–2019_Qatar_diplomatic_crisis">embargo</a> implemented (primarily) by the Saudis and Emiratis against the <a href="https://www.meforum.org/57690/ensconced-doha-islamists">Brotherhood-funding</a> Qataris, can only be <a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/israel/2019-08-05/friends-caveats">understood through this broader prism</a>.
Iran, furthermore, is as malevolent and vicious a global actor as ever before. The mullahs still seek nuclear weapons, routinely preach &#8220;death to America&#8221; and &#8220;death to Israel,&#8221; fund Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthi rebels, and all sorts of other jihadist outfits the world over, plot <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20190109-eu-sanctions-iran-over-assassinations-peoples-mujahedeen-france-bomb-plot">targeted assassinations</a> across Europe and the broader West, and engage in deeply hostile and destructive acts of <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2019/09/16/iran-seizes-oil-tanker-allegedly-smuggling-diesel-fuel-to-uae-isna">aggression</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-tells-saudi-arabia-oil-attacks-were-launched-from-iran-11568644126">war</a> against regional foes. The Islamic Revolutionary Iranian regime has been in a state of war against the West ever since the ayatollahs&#8217; takeover in 1979, and Iran today remains one of the world&#8217;s two most rogue geopolitical actors, along with North Korea. It is a deeply hostile and repressive theocracy that has never missed an opportunity to fund jihadism against the West. Countering and thwarting Iran, in addition to the Brotherhood, is <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/43151/hammer-ted-cruzs-non-interventionist-hawk-foreign-josh-hammer">very much</a> in America&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51661/hammer-never-forget-911-we-need-rethink-how-we-josh-hammer">strategic interest</a>.
Fundamentally, the bipartisan Wilsonian foreign policy ruling class must be tempered. There is a role for morality in foreign policy, but that role is minuscule when compared with the foremost goal of a nation narrowly pursuing its own self-interest. Yes, the Saudi regime is sharia-based and is oppressive in many ways. But no, that ultimately should not deter our pursuit and defense of an indispensable strategic alliance. As I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45699/hammer-america-needs-re-think-its-global-alliances-josh-hammer">wrote</a> in April:
<blockquote>[C]onservatives must articulate a hard-headed foreign policy that, if need be, subordinates amorphous &#8220;values&#8221;-based concerns in favor of much more tangible — and much more legitimate — concerns about prioritizing and maximizing America&#8217;s national security. And in so doing, American foreign policy hands ought not to elevate the interests and clout of unaccountable transnational institutions. &#8230;
America ought to ally with self-sufficient nation-states who care about their sovereignty and share our core national security interests in deterring Russian hegemony, Chinese ambitions, and/or Islamist aggression. &#8230; [I]n the Islamic world, that means focusing more on nations like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates than it does on Islamist-exporting, Muslim Brotherhood-cozy states like Turkey and Qatar.</blockquote>
Americans should not be duped by <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/04/10/media-war-saudi-arabia/">well-oiled Qatari duplicity</a> or the Iran nuclear deal&#8217;s subversive <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2017/10/13/iran-deal-supporters-willing-sell-u-s-jihadists/">Obama bro echo chamber</a>. With Saudi-Iranian tensions flaring, America has an unambiguous interest in standing firmly with MBS and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Trump MBS Oval Office.jpg

HAMMER: The U.S. Must Side With Saudi Arabia Against Iranian Aggression

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

In 2016, We the People were promised &#8220;America First&#8221; — not &#8220;America&#8217;s Enemies First.&#8221;
Well.
Today, President Donald Trump, in what can only be described as a woefully myopic move straight out of the Barack Obama-John Kerry-Ben Rhodes axis of capitulation playbook, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51591/breaking-trump-boots-national-security-adviser-ryan-saavedra">effectively fired</a> longtime Iran hawk John Bolton from his lofty perch of national security advisor. The boneheaded move, which closely follows the fallout of the president&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51504/trump-reveals-secret-meeting-planned-taliban-heres-ryan-saavedra">aborted Camp David dalliance</a> with Taliban jihadist thugs, comes at a time when the Trump administration has been publicly doubling down in its alleged commitment to the goal of <a href="https://www.apnews.com/e6bd6334ff4148f2985de059f93dc390">&#8220;maximum pressure&#8221;</a> on the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43339/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">terrorist</a> Iranian regime. Evincing the message discipline of a woebegone high-schooler, though, the president has combined such purported commitment to &#8220;maximum pressure&#8221; with his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/28/if-trump-wants-meet-irans-rouhani-both-allies-enemies-will-stand-his-way/">ceaseless</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-usa-trump/trump-says-he-could-meet-with-iranian-president-rouhani-idUSKCN1VU25N">sycophancy</a> toward and expressed desire to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Bolton, who is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49313/hammer-inter-agency-fight-white-house-closes-door-josh-hammer">infamously hawkish</a> on the issue of jihadism and radical Islamic terror, strongly opposed the president&#8217;s dovish overtures on the Taliban and Rouhani alike. Such opposition, even amidst the purported &#8220;maximum pressure&#8221; campaign, appears to have cost Bolton his job.
Talk about cutting off one&#8217;s nose to spite the face. But hey — at least <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/magazine/the-aspiring-novelist-who-became-obamas-foreign-policy-guru.html">failed novelist</a> and Iran nuclear deal architect Ben Rhodes is happy, right?
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Bolton’s legacy is a wasteland of shattered US credibility, disorder, and abandoned democratic values. And a lot of people around the world suffered because of it. <a href="https://t.co/EAI6IOfZdw">https://t.co/EAI6IOfZdw</a>
— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) <a href="https://twitter.com/brhodes/status/1171459608877006848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Today is a sad day for those firm opponents of the genocidal brand of Islamist jihadism that has been in a state of war against the West for <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/egypts-muslim-brotherhood">at least a century</a>. Today will be remembered as a shattering blow struck in the years-long cold civil war on the foreign policy — that between those hawks (even if <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43151/hammer-ted-cruzs-non-interventionist-hawk-foreign-josh-hammer">&#8220;non-interventionist&#8221; hawks</a>) who soberly assess the threat of radical Islamism, and those whose quixotic predilections toward ideological isolationism at any and all costs leads them to effectively shill for Russia, China, Iran, Syria, and so many other of the world&#8217;s unabashedly despotic regimes. Today is a loss for &#8220;maximum pressure&#8221; on Iran, a loss for Israel, a loss for Saudi Arabia and all of America&#8217;s other Sunni allies, and a loss for a free and secure West. Today is a victory for the increasingly ascendant Tucker Carlson wing of the foreign policy — an adamantly isolationist wing whose proper negative reaction to the excesses of Bush-era interventionist neoconservatism gone awry has led them to such extremes so as to make <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tulsi-gabbard-homophobic-history-defended-tucker-carlson-glenn-greenwald-2019-1">common cause with America-hating leftists</a> in their joint pursuit of an emboldened Moscow-Tehran-Damascus axis of evil. Today is a victory for the fifth column Deep State lackeys who have so effectively helped derail &#8220;maximum pressure&#8221;:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The Deep State is hard at work, working to prevent this admin from dismantling the Iran nuclear deal completely &#8230; The Obama-Iran deal was a disaster when Obama implemented this policy &amp; if the Deep State prevails they will have deceived POTUS into making the same mistakes. <a href="https://t.co/jrGTRdWCKK">pic.twitter.com/jrGTRdWCKK</a>
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenTedCruz/status/1169009668691320833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I sincerely hope his leaving the White House does not mean that the deep-state forces at State and Treasury — who have been fighting tooth and nail to preserve the Obama Iran nuclear deal — have finally convinced the president to go soft on Iran.
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenTedCruz/status/1171489429321437189?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
The ramifications of Bolton&#8217;s ouster are potentially tragic. The jihadist regime in Tehran, augmented as it now is, will feel <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-iaea-exclusive/exclusive-iaea-found-uranium-traces-at-iran-atomic-warehouse-diplomats-idUSKCN1VT0L8">even more unrestrained to violate</a> the symbolic tatters of the Iran nuclear deal. Turkey and Saudi Arabia will expedite their nuclear bombmaking processes as part of their efforts to deter these newly unrestrained hegemonic ambitions of the world&#8217;s number one state sponsor of terrorism. Israel will feel increasingly isolated and increasingly willing to take unilateral action against Iranian nuclear facilities. Perhaps most distressingly, the United States has now once again shown — in true Obama-esque fashion — that it is less willing to protect its allies and is less willing to stand manifestly athwart its arch-foes.
Capitulations to genocidal tyrants have a long historical pedigree of working out precisely against the capitulators&#8217; expressed interests. Just ask Neville Chamberlain.
A U.S. official with direct knowledge of the situation was exasperated by Bolton&#8217;s firing, exclusively telling The Daily Wire: &#8220;Trump is so thirsty for a meeting with Iran. It&#8217;s embarrassing. He was told that Iran will meet with him, but only if he throws Bolton under the bus. Bolton found out first and resigned so he could go out on his own terms. The worry is that now Trump has no one to save him from himself.&#8221;
Spot-on. Bad, bad, bad Trump.

Rouhani&#8217;s photo set behind image of weapons in Iran

HAMMER: BAD TRUMP: President’s Dismissal Of John Bolton Is A Capitulation To Terrorist Iranian Regime

Conservatism

John Bolton

Republican Party

On Tuesday, Iranian officials asserted that the theocratic terror-supporting regime in Iran could produce 20% uranium in two days or less.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, boasted, &#8220;If Iran decides, it can have 20% enriched fuel within one to two days.&#8221; He added, &#8220;If the signatory states to the nuclear deal delay selling the 20% (enriched nuclear) fuel, it is Iran&#8217;s right to provide its needed fuel,&#8221; according to the <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-says-it-can-resume-20-uranium-enrichment-in-days-if-no-economic-relief/">Times of Israel,</a> which added, &#8220;Uranium needs to be enriched to 90% to be used in a nuclear weapon and 20% purity is considered an important benchmark toward reaching weapons grade level.&#8221;
On Monday, Kamalvandi stated, &#8220;Iran&#8217;s uranium stockpile is on the rise and its heavy water equipment are working with full capacity,&#8221; according to <a href="https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-threatens-to-further-reduce-its-commitments-under-nuclear-deal/30093623.html">Radio Farda</a>. He added, &#8220;With the continuation of the inaction of the Europeans in carrying out their commitments [to the nuclear deal] &#8230; Iran will take a third step [in reducing commitments] in approximately one month,&#8221; as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/456232-iran-warns-of-more-nuclear-steps-if-europeans-dont-act">The Hill</a> reported. The Hill noted, &#8220;Kamalvandi did not specify what Iran&#8217;s next violation would be, but Tehran warned last month it could reactivate centrifuge machines and ramp up enrichment of uranium even further.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7421775/Irans-Rouhani-rules-bilateral-talks-US.html">The Daily Mail</a> noted that the 2015 nuclear deal that Great Britain, China, France, Russia, Germany and the United States reached with Iran which President Trump exited in 2018 stated that Iran is permitted to enrich fuel by 3.67%, but a U.N. watchdog warned that Iran is already enriching uranium up to 4.5%.
Also on Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blustered, &#8220;In principle, we don&#8217;t want bilateral talks with the United States. If the United States lifts all sanctions, it would be possible to talk (with them) during 5+1 meetings as in the past.&#8221;
Last May, according to the Iranian state-run IRNA news agency, Kamalvandi <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47504/iran-quadruples-its-uranium-enrichment-capacity-hank-berrien">announced</a> that Iran had quadrupled its uranium-enrichment production capacity, saying, &#8220;We will soon be crossing the 300-kg limit in several weeks.&#8221; He added, &#8220;Iran can resume 20 percent enrichment within four days. Whether to conduct the 20-percent enrichment in Natanz or in Fordow is a question that needs to be considered by the Committee to Monitor and Supervise Implementation of the JCPOA at the Iranian Supreme National Security Council.&#8221;
Richard Nephew, a senior research scholar at Columbia University&#8217;s Center on Global Energy Policy, said, &#8220;The comparison here is they were already going 55 miles per hour and heading towards a busted bridge. And so what the AEOI is saying is that they threw a brick on the accelerator. They would have eventually breached the threshold. What they&#8217;re saying today is they are deliberately and intentionally trying to breach the threshold faster.&#8221;
Two weeks before that, The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/us/politics/iran-nuclear-deal.html?smid=tw-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur">New York Times </a>reported:
<blockquote>Mr. Rouhani said that starting on Wednesday, Iran would begin to build up its stockpiles of low enriched uranium and of heavy water, which is used in nuclear reactors — including a reactor that could give Iran a source of bomb-grade plutonium. If the Europeans fail to compensate for the unilateral American sanctions, he said, Iran will resume construction of the Arak nuclear reactor, a facility that was shut down, and its key components dismantled, under the deal. Mr. Rouhani then threatened a potentially more severe step. If the Europeans do not find a way to help Iran &#8220;reap our benefits,&#8221; especially in petroleum exports and banking transactions, in 60 days Iran will end the limits on the enrichment of uranium, he said.</blockquote>

NUCLEAR-IRAN-US-SANCTIONS-ECONOMY-DIPLOMACY

Iran Threatens: We Can Produce 20% Uranium In Two Days Or Less

Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election on Nov. 8, 2016. Badly. In the Electoral College count, the final tally was 304-227 in favor of President Donald Trump.
But she just won&#8217;t go away. Worse, the mainstream media just won&#8217;t stop covering every silly word that comes out of her mouth.
On Monday, Axios, a liberal online publication, headlined a story &#8220;Scoop: Trump suggested nuking hurricanes to stop them from hitting U.S.&#8221; The &#8220;scoop&#8221; said Trump wanted to use nuclear bombs &#8220;to stop hurricanes from hitting the United States, according to sources who have heard the president&#8217;s private remarks and been briefed on a National Security Council memorandum that recorded those comments.&#8221;
It wasn&#8217;t long before Clinton weighed in.
“We should not nuke hurricanes,” the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee wrote on Twitter.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">We should not nuke hurricanes.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) <a href="https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1165995811806879750?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Clinton&#8217;s comment gave mainstream media more opportunity to run the Axios story, which has not a single named source or document to support the claim that Trump wanted to nuke hurricanes.
<blockquote>During one hurricane briefing at the White House, Trump said, &#8220;I got it. I got it. Why don&#8217;t we nuke them?&#8221; according to one source who was there. &#8220;They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they&#8217;re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can&#8217;t we do that?&#8221; the source added, paraphrasing the president&#8217;s remarks.</blockquote>
Then Axios added this quote, again from the unnamed source: &#8220;The briefer &#8216;was knocked back on his heels,&#8217; the source in the room added. &#8216;You could hear a gnat fart in that meeting. People were astonished. After the meeting ended, we thought, &#8216;What the f&#8212;? What do we do with this?&#8217; &#8221;
Axios cites another source (unnamed, of course) saying at another time, Trump asked about bombing hurricanes to break up their rotation but didn&#8217;t mention nukes that time.
Trump, in France attending the G7 summit, dismissed the story as &#8220;FAKE NEWS!&#8221;
“The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous,” Trump tweeted from the Group of Seven summit in France. “I never said this. Just more FAKE NEWS!”
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous. I never said this. Just more FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1165918301932916736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
In the article&#8217;s final five paragraphs, the writers say &#8220;the notion that detonating a nuclear bomb over the eye of a hurricane could be used to counteract convection currents dates to the Eisenhower era, when it was floated by a government scientist.&#8221;
They also note that detonating a nuclear bomb anywhere would be in violation of the terms of the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union.

Hillary Clinton

Clinton Takes Powerful Stance: ‘We Should Not Nuke Hurricanes’

On Sunday, the news outlet Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/trump-nuclear-bombs-hurricanes-97231f38-2394-4120-a3fa-8c9cf0e3f51c.html">reported</a> that President Donald Trump had allegedly asked aides why a hurricane couldn’t be stopped with a nuclear bomb.
Using anonymous sources, Axios reporters Jonathan Swan and Margaret Talev reported that Trump made the suggestion during a hurricane briefing at the White House:
<blockquote>Trump said, &#8220;I got it. I got it. Why don&#8217;t we nuke them?&#8221; according to one source who was there. &#8220;They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they&#8217;re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can&#8217;t we do that?&#8221; the source added, paraphrasing the president&#8217;s remarks.</blockquote>
This source also claimed the person briefing Trump on hurricanes suggested he’d look into that and that he was “knocked back on his heels.” This source also said people in the room were shocked at the president’s alleged suggestion.
“You could hear a gnat fart in that meeting. People were astonished. After the meeting ended, we thought, &#8216;What the f&#8212;? What do we do with this?'&#8221; the source told Axios.
A 2017 National Security Council memo also suggested such a conversation took place, according to Axios. That memo talked about multiple topics but included a note about Trump talking about bombing hurricanes.
Axios included a statement from another anonymous senior administration official that told the outlet, “We don&#8217;t comment on private discussions that the president may or may not have had with his national security team.&#8221; Another anonymous official told the outlet that “alarm bells weren&#8217;t going off when I heard about it, but I did think somebody is going to use this to feed into &#8216;the president is crazy&#8217; narrative.&#8221;
On Monday morning, Trump tweeted that the story was “fake news.”
“The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous. I never said this. Just more FAKE NEWS!” Trump wrote.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous. I never said this. Just more FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1165918301932916736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Axios’ article also included a section stating that nuking hurricanes is not a novel idea and that National Geographic published <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/11/hurricanes-weather-history-nuclear-weapons/">an article</a> about the idea shortly after Trump won the 2016 election. The NatGeo article laid out the history of why the idea was a bad one, including the fact that it would be banned under the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty.
NatGeo also wrote that the idea dated back to 1961 and that “every year for the past six decades, government agencies have received missives from concerned citizens, urging preemptive attacks against hurricanes using nuclear weapons.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration even has a web page <a href="http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/C5c.html">debunking the idea</a>, which is apparently another one of those myths that just won’t die. The page states that exploding a nuke in a hurricane “might not even alter the storm,” and that the bomb would release “radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems.”
Likewise, nuking tropical waves or depressions to stop them from becoming hurricanes would not work either, since there is no way to tell which ones will form into a hurricane.

Nuclear Bomb

Report Claims Trump Suggested Sending Nukes Into Hurricanes. Trump Responds.

Sometimes, there are mild caves. Sometimes, there are moderate caves. And sometimes, there are full-on capitulations. This is the latter-most.
By reportedly <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/trump-hold-tightening-limits-iran-s-nuclear-work-n1037026">preparing</a> — <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/03/politics/us-iran-nuclear-waivers/index.html">yet again</a> — to issue waivers for foreign nations to collaborate in the solidification of Iran&#8217;s ostensibly &#8220;civil&#8221; nuclear program, the Trump administration is now set to fully capitulate to the forces of fundamentalist, genocidal jihadist evil. Deep state lackeys within the infamously anti-Israel/pro-Arabist Foggy Bottom bureaucracy have apparently <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/30/trump-iran-nuclear-waivers-1441065">teamed up with</a> Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to deny National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a signature victory — and, in so doing, have laid the groundwork for the Trump administration to catastrophically walk back its erstwhile hardline anti-waiver rhetoric and embarrass the White House&#8217;s counter-jihadism deterrence credibility. The result of the continuation of nuclear waivers for Iran, over a year after the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/30392/watch-trump-just-shredded-iran-deal-here-are-5-ben-shapiro">United States &#8220;exited&#8221;</a> President Obama&#8217;s harrowing Iran nuclear deal, is the de facto continuation of that deal for all intents and purposes. That is truly not an exaggeration.
Opposing a nuclear Iran was once a unifying issue on the Right — in March 2015, even more dovish senators such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) signed onto Sen. Tom Cotton&#8217;s (R-AR) <a href="https://www.cotton.senate.gov/?p=press_release&amp;id=120">infamous letter to Ayatollah Khamenei</a> that warned about the non-binding nature of Obama&#8217;s nuclear accord. Now, barely over four years later, a Republican president is set to de facto continue the Iran deal and, for the time being, <a href="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&amp;id=4610">only one U.S. senator</a> has thus far exhibited the courage to call out the administration&#8217;s perfidy.
Why do Republicans even bother to win elections? At this point, is the sole purpose of the Republican Party — and the conservative movement, at-large — to confirm black-robed denizens to the <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed78.asp">&#8220;least dangerous&#8221; branch</a> in a hopeless attempt to win the Left&#8217;s rigged <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49913/hammer-conservatives-how-much-longer-are-you-josh-hammer">judicial supremacist con</a>?
The Trump administration&#8217;s addiction to the continual doling out of &#8220;civil&#8221; nuclear waivers is utterly indefensible. Iran has one of the most abundant hydrocarbon reserves of any nation in the world. It is gullible in the extreme to believe, as the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43339/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">terrorist</a> Iranian mullocracy has posited, that the regime needs &#8220;civil&#8221; nuclear power to supply domestic energy for the <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/07/why-the-iranian-uprising-wont-die-216255">beleaguered</a> Iranian populace. Instead, as Sen. Cruz laudably notes in his <a href="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&amp;id=4610">condemnatory press release today</a>, &#8220;[t]hese waivers &#8230; allow the Ayatollahs to build up their nuclear program, including at Fordow, a bunker they dug into the side of a mountain so they could build nuclear weapons.&#8221; The entire existence of Iran&#8217;s menacing <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-fordow/iran-says-will-begin-uranium-enrichment-at-fordow-if-nuclear-deal-unravels-idUSKBN1J91KN">facility at Fordow</a>, in addition to its infamous <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/28/iran-restart-activities-arak-nuclear-facility-says-official/">heavy water reactor facility at Arak</a>, belie the notion that Iran&#8217;s nuclear program is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/30045/iran-lied-netanyahu-reveals-israel-smuggled-100000-ben-shapiro">anything other than violent, hegemonic, and (ultimately) genocidal</a> in its jihadist-inspired aims.
Proponents of extending the waivers further <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/trump-hold-tightening-limits-iran-s-nuclear-work-n1037026">argue</a> that the need for diplomatic niceties with the <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2019/03/08/caroline-glick-germanys-love-affair-with-iran-about-more-than-greed/">sycophantic pro-Iran</a> Europeans, coupled with the fear of imposing sanctions on European, Russian, and Chinese firms for their cooperation with Iran on its &#8220;civil&#8221; nuclear program, ought to caution in favor of at least one additional round of a 90-day waiver extension. But this is sophistry hiding itself under a thin veneer of pragmatism. Did the Trump administration actually extricate itself from Obama&#8217;s Iranian nuclear accord? Does the Trump administration wish to affirmatively, beyond any doubt, ensure that the Iranian ayatollahs do not acquire the most lethal forms of weapons known to humanity? If the answers to these questions are &#8220;yes,&#8221; then this is not a particularly close call. Stop empowering jihadist-inspired Shiite fundamentalists <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/iranians-chant-death-to-israel-on-anniversary-of-us-embassy-takeover/">hellbent on committing a second Holocaust</a>. Bolton and Pompeo are right. Mnuchin and the subversive State Department underlings are wrong.
A U.S. official with knowledge of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49313/hammer-inter-agency-fight-white-house-closes-door-josh-hammer">administration&#8217;s internal Iran battle</a> provided the following comment to The Daily Wire: &#8220;The president and Pompeo got left high and dry by their own staffs. For the last month, they&#8217;ve been saying that Iran doesn&#8217;t have any right to nuclear technology — then, the people around them flipped the script at the very last minute. Now they look like they don&#8217;t know what they&#8217;re talking about and aren&#8217;t in control. It&#8217;d be funnier if it weren&#8217;t about Iran building a nuke.&#8221;
The reality is that the Trump administration actually does seem to listen to the voices of conservatives and conservative activists when we raise our voices and attempt to steer the administration in the right direction. Here, the administration&#8217;s reported intention to capitulate yet again to Iran is one perfect example of when a unified and focused conservative movement would be extraordinarily helpful to help keep the White House in line.
But for now, if the reports are true, then shame on the Trump administration.

HAMMER: BAD TRUMP: Administration Would Be Dead Wrong To Once Again Cave On Iran Nuclear Waivers

Steve Mnuchin

According to sources who spoke to The Daily Wire from both inside and outside the administration, the Trump administration will not implement any policy that allows countries to import Iranian oil — thus apparently closing the door on a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/03/trump-china-iran-oil-1396052">proposal being circulated among State Department hands</a> that would have allowed China to use an obscure legal loophole to avoid U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil imports.
Last Wednesday, Eliana Johnson of Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/03/trump-china-iran-oil-1396052">reported a very interesting scoop</a>: &#8220;The State Department is seriously considering using an Obama-era loophole to allow China to import oil from Iran,&#8221; which would &#8220;violat[e] the Trump administration’s pledge to bring Iranian oil exports to zero.&#8221; Specifically, Johnson cited &#8220;three U.S. officials&#8221; who claimed that the U.S. is considering &#8220;granting China a waiver to a 2012 law [the Iran Freedom and Counterproliferation Act] intended to kneecap the Iranian oil industry.&#8221; The proposal would have effectively allowed China to avoid paying directly for Iranian oil while nonetheless still acquiring it.
For close observers of the Trump administration&#8217;s foreign policy and national security apparatus, this might have seemed more than a little strange. Why would this administration, which famously removed the U.S. from the harrowing capitulation to fundamentalist jihadist evil that was President Barack Obama&#8217;s Iran nuclear deal and has infamous Iran hawk John Bolton as its national security advisor, undercut the thrust of its own <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2019/04/29/trump-ends-waiver-grace-period-for-irans-oil-customers/">hardline Iran oil waivers policy</a> by granting an obscure legal loophole to the U.S.&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47057/hammer-china-americas-greatest-21st-century-threat-josh-hammer">number one 21st century geopolitical threat</a>?
To be sure, Politico almost assuredly did not get the story wrong. Rather, leakers in the famously Arabist/anti-Israel State Department bureaucracy were likely candid about internal deliberations in Foggy Bottom.
But reading Johnson&#8217;s scoop, one is forced to ponder the distinct possibility that the State Department could be wildly out of line with administration officials in and around the White House national security apparatus. Sure enough, a senior Trump administration official contacted by The Daily Wire categorically ruled out implementation of any proposal that would grant the Chinese such a waiver for Iranian oil imports.
&#8220;There will be no waivers issued to any country for the import of Iranian oil, in accordance with the President’s direction,&#8221; the senior administration official stated. &#8220;Importing Iranian oil is a sanctionable activity under U.S. law. U.S. secondary sanctions will be fully enforced.&#8221;
Well.
This is what a brutal inter-agency fight looks like. Hawkish Iran hardliners in the administration are battling — quite publicly now, as of this writing&#8217;s publication — with dovish State Department mandarins.
Contacted by The Daily Wire, a U.S. official familiar with the inter-agency Trump administration battle over Iranian oil waivers put it bluntly: &#8220;The president is under enormous pressure to give Iran a face-saving off-ramp and look the other way at sanctions busting. The Europeans and their friends inside the administration are selling him the delusion that the ayatollah is ready to make a deal, if only he&#8217;ll bribe Iran with a few hundred million dollars. It hasn&#8217;t worked yet. They&#8217;re still trying.&#8221;
This will be a fascinating inter-agency fight to watch unfold. Iran hawks have a very clear rooting interest — and it is surely not with the State Department. Suffice it to say there is no world whatsoever in which China ought to be granted any waivers at all for importing Iranian oil.

HAMMER: INTER-AGENCY FIGHT: White House Closes Door On Plan To Give China ‘Get-Out-Of-Jail’ Free Card For Iran Oil

National Security

Politico

State Department

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), arguably the single most authentically pro-Israel elected politician in America, has long been hard-nosed and hawkish on the uniquely evil threat posed by the radical terror mullocracy governing the Islamic Republic of Iran. As I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43151/hammer-ted-cruzs-non-interventionist-hawk-foreign-josh-hammer">noted</a> back in February, here is how Cruz recently put it in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jR2DTXJKVo">important foreign policy address</a> delivered to the American Enterprise Institute:
<blockquote>
If we ever discover the Ayatollah is on the verge of getting nuclear weapons, and I believe his ambitions will continue to be doing just that, we should be prepared to use crushing military force to make sure that doesn&#8217;t happen. Military force to destroy their nuclear capacity &#8212; that should be our objective. Why? Because that is what our national interest is. To prevent an Ayatollah who chants &#8220;death to America&#8221; and &#8220;death to Israel&#8221; from ever having weapons capable of murdering in a flash of light millions of American souls.
</blockquote>
Cruz&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43151/hammer-ted-cruzs-non-interventionist-hawk-foreign-josh-hammer">&#8220;non-interventionist hawk&#8221;</a> foreign policy profile prioritizes the blistering aggression of counter-jihadism when need be &#8212; while also prudently resisting American resources getting sucked into sharia tribal warfare in third-world backwaters, so that our military and social capital may be conserved for truly necessary military exercises.
The threat posed by Iran, which is the world&#8217;s number one state sponsor of cultivated and exported jihadism, meets any definition of a serious geopolitical threat posed to American interests. And as The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45883/senate-hawks-push-white-house-stop-extending-josh-hammer">reported</a> in April, Cruz recently found himself allied with fellow Iran hawks Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and a small handful of other Republican senators, as well as National Security Advisor John Bolton, on the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-11/fresh-u-s-divide-on-iran-emerges-over-expiring-nuclear-waivers">issue of fully ending waivers</a> for Iran&#8217;s allegedly &#8220;civil&#8221; nuclear research program. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, at the time, was opposed to the Cruz-led push to once and for all end waivers for Iran&#8217;s civil-nuclear research program.
At the time, Cruz helped craft a letter, a copy of which The Daily Wire obtained from a Republican staffer, that urged the Trump administration to take four concrete steps: (1) once and for all end all U.S. implementation of the Iran deal by refusing to reissue waivers permitting civil nuclear work, (2) urge the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to reopen its file on the possible military dimensions of Iran&#8217;s nuclear program, (3) properly designate all Iranian entities named in the Israeli government&#8217;s previously seized nuclear archive from Tehran, and (4) explicitly reference the <a href="http://urges the Trump Administration to take four concrete steps: (1) once and for all end all U.S. implementation of the Iran deal by refusing to reissue waivers permitting civil nuclear work, (2) urge the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to reopen its file on the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program, (3) properly designate all Iranian entities named in the Israeli government's previously seized nuclear archive from Tehran, and (4) explicitly reference the aforementioned nuclear archive in the Trump Administration's upcoming report to Congress on &quot;Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments.&quot;">aforementioned nuclear archive</a> in the Trump administration&#8217;s upcoming report to Congress on &#8220;Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments.&#8221;
Now, Cruz has a new proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would codify this termination of Iran&#8217;s civil-nuclear waivers into law. The proposed amendment, a copy of which The Daily Wire has also obtained, would formally amend the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 to end waivers and finally impose sanctions on Iran&#8217;s &#8220;civil&#8221; nuclear sector.
This is common sense policy, pure and simple. Iran, which has one of the world&#8217;s largest oil reserves, has no need whatsoever for a &#8220;civil&#8221; nuclear program. Instead, it is far more likely that the &#8220;civil&#8221; program is being used to hoodwink and bamboozle easily duped Westerners into inadvertently supporting the terrorist regime&#8217;s nuclear weapon ambitions.
&#8220;Sen. Cruz believes that it&#8217;s long past time to fully tear up the catastrophic Obama Iran nuclear deal, including by making Iran&#8217;s nuclear program off-limits to the international community through the sector-based designation described in his amendment,&#8221; a Cruz spokesman told The Daily Wire. &#8220;He has also called upon the Trump administration to take steps that would reinforce this measure, including ending civil-nuclear waivers that allow Iran to build up its program and invoking the snapback provision in United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 to restore international sanctions.&#8221;
While the amendment&#8217;s chances of being adopted into the NDAA may be slim, this is nonetheless a move that ought to be unambiguously applauded. Conservative Iran hawks ought to be thankful, yet again, for Cruz&#8217;s leadership on the issue of preventing a nuclear Iran.

Ted Cruz Proposes Important Amendment To Finally End Iran’s Civil-Nuclear Waivers

Marco Rubio

Tom Cotton

This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again sounded the alarm on the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47905/hamas-admits-it-receives-arms-and-money-irans-josh-hammer">uniquely venomous</a> threat posed by the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43339/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">terrorist mullocracy</a> that governs Iran. In sharp and overt language that stands in pointed contrast to the ham-handed obfuscations of many less morally righteous figures of the political Left, Netanyahu spoke of how Iran seeks to build an &#8220;arsenal of nuclear bombs.&#8221;
Per <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-tehran-working-toward-arsenal-of-nuclear-bombs/">The Times of Israel</a>:
<blockquote>
Iran is actively trying to obtain an &#8220;arsenal of nuclear bombs,&#8221; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, amid ongoing tensions between the Islamic Republic and the US after the unraveling of the 2015 landmark nuclear deal.
&#8220;It&#8217;s very clear Iran is lying. Iran is continuing to work toward an arsenal of nuclear bombs, and we&#8217;re committed to stop it,&#8221; he said during a meeting with Olli Heinonen, a former deputy director-general at the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Heinonen, in a series of interviews and lectures this week, repeatedly accused Iran of violating its commitments under the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The Islamic Republic would be theoretically be able to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon within six to eight months, he said, though building an actual bomb would take longer.
&#8220;Thank you for your forthright analysis and your clear-cut conclusion. I thank you for pointing out what Iran is doing,&#8221; Netanyahu told the Finnish-born scientist at the Prime Minister&#8217;s Office in Jerusalem.
</blockquote>
As the Times further notes, last year Netanyahu, on the eve of President Donald Trump&#8217;s ultimate removal of the United States from the harrowing capitulation to fundamentalist jihadist evil known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (i.e., Iran nuclear deal), unveiled a stunning Israeli Mossad intelligence operation that revealed the depths of Tehran&#8217;s decade-long commitment to assembling nuclear weaponry. &#8220;Last year, Mossad agents smuggled out some 100,000 documents on 55,000 pages on 183 CDs from an unmarked Tehran warehouse,&#8221; the outlet stated. &#8220;According to Israeli officials, the documents proved that the Islamic Republic had actively worked on building a nuclear weapon, something Tehran has always denied and continues to deny.&#8221;
Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/30045/iran-lied-netanyahu-reveals-israel-smuggled-100000-ben-shapiro">opined</a>, at the time, on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&#8217;s dramatic revelation of the Mossad intelligence:
<blockquote>
According to Netanyahu, Iran had a comprehensive program, Project Amad, to design and develop nuclear weapons, and they have now disassembled the program for later reassembly. The specific goal of Project Amad: designing nuclear weapons; developing nuclear cores; preparing nuclear implosions; preparing nuclear tests; integrating nuclear warheads on missiles. Iran devised a plan after the beginning of the Second Gulf War to further develop its nuclear weapons program in secret &#8212; and to form new organizations to continue the work of Project Amad. Today, Netanyahu said, the work was carried out inside the Iranian Defense Ministry, and many of Amad&#8217;s key personnel continued to work on the project. The Iranians did not declare their program to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran instead denied the existence of a program and specifically denied the Amad plan.
This presentation was undoubtedly carried out with the knowledge of the United States; Netanyahu said that the information had been shared with the United States.
</blockquote>
Netanyahu&#8217;s moral clarity is a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45868/hammer-after-much-electoral-fanfare-israelis-once-josh-hammer">unique hallmark</a> of his statesmanship.

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