Last week, President Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson both announced that Iran was violating the spirit of the nuclear deal, despite technically adhering to its terms. The Trump administration announced that more action would be taken once a comprehensive review of Iran’s behaviour was carried out.
It was on Tuesday that Tillerson announced to Congress that Iran’s compliance had been certified.
The US representative to the United Nations – Ambassador Nikki Haley – was the chair at the latest UN Security Council debate regarding the situation in the Middle East. At these meetings, Israel is always discussed, and not often in a positive light.
However, Haley wanted this latest debate to be different. She acknowledged that it was essential that an Israeli-Palestinian solution was negotiated, but said that the debate has a tendency to get nowhere.
In spite of governmental warnings to presidential candidates on the ground that they “should not be providing food to counter-revolutionaries”, gang-fighting to claim the presidency continues within Iranian regime’s various factions. It is reported that some well-known candidates, who are enrolled in any way and manner, are trying to get their accreditation.
They have threatened that if they did not get approved, they will use the method of open revelations, which would inflame the public.
A Paris conference recently weighed the critical situation in Yemen and the possibility of establishing peace.
General Ahmed al-Asiri, an advisor to the Saudi Defense Minister and spokesman of the Arab coalition provided further explanations in this regard and referred to Iran’s meddling throughout the region.
The Trump administration confirmed that Iran has complied with the 2015 nuclear disarmament deal, but says the White House is conducting an internal review of the landmark arms control accord. Trump once called it “the worst deal ever.”
In a letter to Congress, Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State, said that the National Security Council will lead an interagency review of whether easing economic sanctions against Iran as part of the accord “is vital to the national security interests of the United States.” He added, “Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror through many platforms and methods.”
On April 18, Iranian President Rouhani, acknowledged that, “Figures show that in the eleventh government (his government) the budget of defense capability compared to the beginning of this government has had 145% growth and that means that in hard economic times, the government efforts were to further strengthen the country’s armed forces. The eleventh government is proud to have taken steps in three and a half years, from the armed forces’ strategic equipment and facilities viewpoint, equal to ten years prior to it.” He added, “The feature of our armed forces is that they have a commander in chief and this command is derived from Islam, Islamic jurisprudence, justice, and moderation.”
A video of the new version of Iran’s Qaher F-313 stealth fighter has made an appearance showing the aircraft performing taxi trials. Although there appears to be improvement over the last iteration of the Qaher, this new version of the alleged stealth fighter is probably just a model, according to Dave Majumdar in his article for the National Interest.
On Feb. 2, 2013, Tehran originally showed off the Qaher F-313. Many believed this debut to be a poorly executed propaganda stunt. It seemed that the purported fifth-generation stealth fighter was merely subscale mockup with dubious aerodynamics. Majumdar writed, “Indeed, the ‘aircraft’ was too small for a normal-sized human pilot and lacked a nozzle for an engine. That’s of course assuming Iran had access to a propulsion system that could fit into something so tiny. Quite simply, it was a farce.”
Syria and North Korea are a large concern for the Trump administration but Syria’s civil war has created a greater concern. Millions of refugees have fled, and continue to flee the war in Syria. Diseases like polio, once thought to be extinct, have been revived, and the country has become a haven for Islamic State terrorists, as well.
And yet, according to Jennifer Rubin in her article for the Washington Post, “these should be lesser concerns in the bigger scheme.”
On Friday, amid the conflict of Iran’s upcoming presidential election on May 19, Senator John McCain, Chairman of the US Senate Armed Forces Committee and senior member of the Republican Party, visited Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in Albania.
He met with Maryam Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a combination of Iranian dissident organizations and individuals all seeking regime change in Iran. The PMOI/MEK is the largest of five different organizations in the NCRI.
Senator McCain congratulated PMOI/MEK members on their successful relocation to Albania from Iraq after having suffered several attacks in both Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty from 2009 to 2016.
Disputes between factions vying for Iran’s presidency continue, especially regarding economics, as each faction accuses the other.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Tehran’s Mayor, said as he registered his candidacy, “[Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani speaks of economic conditions improving. But he would be more informed about the economic situation if he took a step out of his office. It would become crystal clear for him that only 4% of the society is happy with the status quo. The truth is that people from all walks of life are very unhappy as small and large production units are forced to shut down one after another.” Ghalibaf slammed Hassan Rouhani, describing his performance as “pointless and promotional plans” over the past 4 years.
