U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., was first elected to Congress in 1989. She is the first woman to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She is also the chairwoman of the House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, who held a hearing on “Testing the Limits: Iran’s Ballistic Missile Program, Sanctions, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps” on Wednesday.
Her opening remarks are presented here:
Last weekend, authorities in Bahrain arrested several people that are part of a terrorist cell backed by Iran. They were accused of planning to assassinate senior government officials and are suspected of being involved in a bus bombing last month that wounded numerous policeman.
A large quantity of domestically-manufactured explosives were found during the raid on Sunday, as well as numerous weapons and communications equipment.
Iran’s economy has undergone a so-called ‘privatization’ for a number of years. The ‘privatization campaign’ as it is called, began with a turn of events that occurred in 2005. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had become the regime’s president, and the executive branch was filled with loyalists who agreed with Khamenei’s strategic blueprint for the future.
Oil revenues were rapidly increasing, and Khamenei saw the opportunity to restructure Iran’s economy. Shortly after Ahmadinejad came to office, in May, 2005, the first official order was issued for the purpose of placing 80% of all economic enterprises under the supervision of “non-government public, private and cooperative sectors,” to be completed by the end of 2009.
A well-known ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a Turkish banker, arrived in the United States earlier this week to speak to investors about new dollar bonds that his (state) bank is planning to sell.
However, Atilla was arrested on Monday by US authorities in New York at the John F. Kennedy International Airport and was charged with colluding to violate sanctions. He is said to have teamed up with Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab and they had plans to carry out illegal transactions that would direct hundreds of millions of dollars from the US to the Iranian government.
On Sunday 26th March, members of a terrorist cell sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran were arrested by members of the Bahrain security forces.
The cell is suspected to have been involved in the bus bombing that killed a number of policemen last month. They were also charged with plotting to assassinate senior government officials.
The news comes from the BNA – Bahrain’s state news agency – and it also reported that the IRGC (Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) provided military training to six of those who were arrested. Five other suspects are said to have been trained by the Iraqi Hezbollah and three others received training in Bahrain.
The al-Arab daily published a piece titled, “Iraqi Prime Minister in Washington announces plan to limit the Popular Mobilization Units.”
In a clear message Haider al-Abadi emphasized on his determination to join the U.S. option aimed at annihilating Iran’s control over Iraq and supporting steps to tighten relations with Saudi Arabia. The Iraqi Foreign Minister’s meeting with his Saudi counterpart in Washington is a reference in this regard.
Relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States continue to deteriorate. Iran refuses to comply with norms accepted by the international community and is boasting that it plans to launch “roaring missiles”. It has already launched several ballistic missiles that were capable of carrying a nuclear payload.
Iran has also stepped up its support of Houthi rebels in Yemen with the supply of weapons. They are using the weapons to target the missile defence units employed by Saudi-led coalition units as well as to threaten shipping lines in Bab el-Mandeb and Saudi Navy ships.
Last week, House and Senate lawmakers revealed details about new sanctions legislation in the biggest effort to crackdown on Iran for several years. The legislation has bipartisan support and imposes mandatory sanctions on the country’s ballistic missile program. It also enforces existing legislation banning the sale of weapons to Iran.
The legislation was announced just in time for the 2017 AIPAC policy conference which has just started in Washington.
Despite the Iranian regime’s efforts, the UN Human Rights Council approved on Friday March 24 the resolution suggested by Sweden, United States, Macedonia, and Moldavia to extend the mission of Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Human Rights Rapporteur in Iran.
The draft resolution was approved on Friday with 22 votes in favor, 12 votes against and 13 abstentions, while Iranian regime’s representative called it ‘political and biased’.
Washington has been debating whether the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) should be designated as a foreign terrorist organisation. Congress has taken into account several bills but lobbies of the Iranian regime are claiming that there will be terrible consequences to this.
The lobbies say that there will be a big backlash from Iran if the designation happens. However experts deny this will happen – they say that it will finally start to put limits to how far the Iranian regime can reach outside its own country.
To designate the IRGC will happen in one of two ways. Firstly, President Trump could issue an executive order. Alternatively, a bill can be passed by Congress.
