TheNewsGuru

Tag: Iran

  • Why I called off retaliatory military strike against Iran – Trump

    In an extraordinary series of tweets, President Donald Trump on Friday explained his rationale for calling off a retaliatory military strike against Iran over the downing of a U.S. drone.

    He said the military was “ cocked and loaded to retaliate last night (Thursday) on three different sites” in Iran but he had to pull the brake 10 minutes from time when he was told that as many as 150 lives might be lost in the process.

    He tweeted: “10 minutes before the strike I stopped it, not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone”.

    The late reversal was first reported by the New York Times on Thursday night. The newspaper said the operation was under way “in its early stages” when Trump stood the US military down.

    “I am in no hurry,” Mr Trump said yesterday. “Our Military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go, by far the best in the world.

    “….On Monday they shot down an unmanned drone flying in International Waters. We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it, not….

    “….proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone. I am in no hurry, our Military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go, by far the best in the world. Sanctions are biting & more added last night. Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons, not against the USA, and not against the WORLD!

    He claimed that the sanctions he imposed on Tehran after withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement have “weakened” Iran.

    In follow up tweets he said:“President Obama made a desperate and terrible deal with Iran – Gave them 150 Billion Dollars plus I.8 Billion Dollars in CASH! Iran was in big trouble and he bailed them out. Gave them a free path to Nuclear Weapons, and SOON. Instead of saying thank you, Iran yelled…..”

    ….Death to America. I terminated deal, which was not even ratified by Congress, and imposed strong sanctions. They are a much-weakened nation today than at the beginning of my Presidency, when they were causing major problems throughout the Middle East. Now they are Bust!….

    Iran downed a U.S. military drone by fire early Thursday, an attack Trump erroneously said happened “Monday.” Iran claimed the drone was over its territory; the Pentagon says it was flying over international waters in the Strait of Hormuz.

    “Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false,” Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said at a press briefing. “This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset in international airspace.”

    Last week two oil tankers — the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous and the Norwegian-owned Front Altair — were damaged in attacks off the Iranian coast, attacks that the U.S. has also blamed on Iran.
    The downing of the drone sparked fears of a possible new military conflict in the Middle East, despite Trump’s stated aversion to dragging the United States into another war.

  • Iran slams new U.S. sanctions on petrochemicals

    Iran slams new U.S. sanctions on petrochemicals

    Iran condemned the U.S. for placing new sanctions on a large petrochemicals company, saying it showed that the Trump administration’s recent offer to negotiate was “empty”.

    “The recent U.S. sanctions are again a clear violation of international rules and a confirmation of American economic terrorism,’’ Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency on Saturday.

    On Friday the Trump administration said it was imposing sanctions on Iran’s largest petrochemical holding group.

    The administration accused it of providing support to the country’s Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force which the U.S. labelled as a terrorist organisation in April.

    Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this week that the U.S. was ready to talk to Iran “with no preconditions” in an effort to ease mounting tensions.

    Mousavi said the latest sanctions undercut that overture and showed that the Trump administration’s negotiating offers were “absurd, empty and fraudulent’’.

    The U.S. has been placing immense economic pressure on Iran for over a year in the form a sanctions that were reimposed as Washington abandoned the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the international community in 2015.

    Washington is seeking to renegotiate the deal, a proposition which Tehran has adamantly rejected.

  • Iran’s President says America choose wrong path on sanctions

    America has chosen the wrong path in sanctioning Iran and will be defeated, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, according to the Tasnim News Agency.

    The U.S. announced reinstatement of sanctions targeting Iran’s oil industry on Nov.7.

    The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump tries to force the Islamic Republic to curb its missile programme as well as its support for proxy forces in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

     

  • Iran executes 2 men accused of economic crimes

    Iran on Wednesday executed two men accused of economic crimes, as part of an effort to stem financial misconduct as the country faces an economic crisis and new U.S. sanctions targeting its oil sector.

    One of the two executed men was Vahid Mazloumin, dubbed the “sultan of coins” by media, a trader accused of manipulating the currency market, according to Mizan, Iranian judiciary news site.

    Mazloumin was allegedly caught with two tons of gold coins, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA).

    The second man was part of Mazloumin’s network and had been involved in the sale of gold coins, Mizan reported.

    Both of them were convicted of “spreading corruption on earth”, a capital offence under Iran’s Islamic laws.

    Special courts focused on financial crimes were set up in August with the approval of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in the Islamic Republic.

    The courts have handed out at least seven death sentences since they were set up and some of the trials have been broadcast live on television.

    The rial currency has lost about 70 per cent of its value in 2018 under the threat of revived U.S. sanctions.

    There had been heavy demand for dollars and gold coins on the unofficial market from ordinary Iranians trying to protect their savings.

    The cost of living has also soared, provoking sporadic demonstrations against profiteering and corruption, with many protesters chanting anti-government slogans.

    The U.S. in August , reimposed first round of sanctions after pulling out of 2015 deal between world powers and Iran under which international sanctions were lifted.

    Sanctions were lifted in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

  • U.S. grants eight countries Iran sanctions waivers

    The U.S. government has agreed to let eight countries, including close allies South Korea and Japan, as well as India, keep buying Iranian oil after it reimposes sanctions on Tehran from next week, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing a U.S. official.

    Iran’s biggest oil customers – all in Asia – have been seeking sanctions waivers to allow them to still buy some of its oil.

    Bloomberg reported that close U.S. allies South Korea and Japan had received waivers along with India, which relies heavily on supplies from Iran, adding that a list of all countries getting waivers was expected to be released officially on Monday.

    A Chinese official told Reuters that discussions with the U.S. government were ongoing and that a result was expected over the next couple of days.

    “We think Trump will agree to China importing some volumes, similar to the treatment that India and South Korea receive,” Clayton Allen of Height Securities said in a note on Friday.

    However, analysts said any potential Iranian oil sanction waivers would likely only be temporary.

    “The U.S. may use waivers to slow-walk implementation, but these will not apply indefinitely,” Allen said.

    Goldman Sachs said it expects Iran’s crude oil exports to fall to 1.15 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the year, down from around 2.5 million bpd in mid-2018.

     

  • Facebook removes fake accounts tied to Iran

    Facebook said on Friday it had deleted more accounts originating in Iran that attracted no fewer than one million U.S. and British followers.
    It said this was its latest effort to combat disinformation activity on its platform.
    The social media company removed 82 pages, groups and accounts on Facebook and Instagram that represented themselves as being from American or British citizens, then posted on “politically-charged’’ topics.
    Topics such as race relations, opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump and immigration, Facebook’s head of cyber-security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said in a blog post.
    In total, the removed accounts attracted more than one million followers.
    “The Iran-linked posts were amplified through less than 100 dollars in advertising on Facebook and Instagram,’’ Facebook said.
    While the accounts originated in Iran, it was unclear if they were linked to the Tehran government, according to Facebook, which shared the information with researchers, other technology companies and the British and U.S. governments.
    The action follows takedowns of hundreds of accounts linked to Iranian propaganda efforts by Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet.
    Social media companies have increasingly targeted foreign interference on their platforms.
    This follows criticism that they did not do enough to detect, halt and disclose Russian efforts to use their platforms to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential race.
    Iran and Russia have denied allegations that they have used social media platforms to launch disinformation campaigns.
     

  • Oil drops to around $83 on expectations Iran will maintain some exports

    Oil dropped to around $83 a barrel on Monday, pressured by expectations that some Iranian oil exports will keep flowing after the U.S. reimposes sanctions, easing a strain on supplies.
    Two companies in India, a big buyer of Iranian oil, have ordered barrels in November, India’s oil minister said on Monday.
    The Trump administration is considering waivers on sanctions, a U.S. government official said on Friday.
    “One way or another, it looks as though India is going to take some Iranian crude,” said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix, adding that the development was helping oil to “retrace some of the price surge we saw last week.”
    Brent crude, the international benchmark LCOc1, was down $1.07 to $83.09 per barrel at 0817 GMT. It hit a four-year high of $86.74 last week.
    U.S. crude CLc1 was down 93 cents at $73.41.
    U.S. sanctions will target Iran’s crude oil exports from Nov. 4, and Washington has been putting pressure on governments and companies worldwide to cut their imports to zero.
    “This is one of the single biggest supportive factors for crude,” said analysts at JBC Energy of the U.S. re-imposition of Iran sanctions. “Having said that, it may well be that we are already in the most supportive phase coming from this change and the effect will soon begin to ease.”
    Oil also dropped as investors focused on rising output from other producers, such as top exporter Saudi Arabia, to compensate for lower Iranian supplies.
    Saudi Arabia said last week it plans to raise production in November from October output of 10.7 million barrels per day (bpd), indicating Riyadh will be boosting its supply to the highest ever level.
    “Chatter that Saudi Arabia has replaced all of Iran’s lost oil” is weighing on prices, said Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at futures brokerage Oanda in Singapore.
    Concern that the U.S.-Chinese trade war could slow down economic growth and hit oil demand also weighed on the market, traders in Asia said. Chinese equities fell sharply on Monday.
    Oil has been supported by concern that the Iranian export loss will leave a thinner margin of unused production capacity to deal with supply shocks. The bulk of spare capacity is held by Saudi Arabia.
    These concerns remain supportive.
    Innes warned that limited spare production to deal with further supply disruptions meant “the capacity is quickly declining due to Asia’s insatiable demand”.
     

  • Iran sanctions: Oil price rises, increasing global supply caps market

    Oil markets were stable on Wednesday, buoyed by falling supplies from Iran ahead of U.S. sanctions but held in check by rising production outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

    Oil prices were a shade firmer. Brent added 7 cents to 76.05 dollars a barrel, while U.S. crude rose 9 cents to 68.62 dollars .

    Earlier sweet Brent crude oil futures were at 76 dollars per barrel at 0030 GMT, up 5 cents from their last close.

    U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 6 cents at 68.59 dollars a barrel.

    Traders said crude prices have been supported by the prospect of U.S. sanctions against Iran, which will start to target its oil industry from November.

    Bowing to pressure from Washington, many crude buyers have already reduced orders from OPEC’s third-biggest producer.

    In spite of Tehran offering steep discounts, the total volume of crude oil, including condensate, to load in Iran this month is estimated at 64 million barrels, or 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd),.

    This figure is against Tehran peak of 92.8 million barrels, or 3.09 million bpd, in April, preliminary trade flows data from media showed.

     

  • Iran sanctions row: U.S. rejects authority of UN court

    Washington rejected on Tuesday the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice – the highest UN court – as it fights an Iranian lawsuit over U.S. sanctions.

    The lawyer representing Iran, Mohsen Mohebi, had condemned the U.S. on Monday for “naked economic aggression” as it launched its case in The Hague.

    Iran argues that U.S. sanctions – imposed after the U.S. withdrew from an international nuclear deal with Iran – contravene a decades-old bilateral treaty, and are destroying the national economy and currency.

    The court did not have the appropriate jurisdiction to try the case, said Jennifer Newstead, a legal advisor for the U.S. State Department responded on Tuesday.

    “For this court to accept Iran’s legal manoeuvering would have grave and sobering consequences,” she warned.

    The U.S’ withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six other world powers was legal, she said.

    It “was made in recognition of the threat that Iran’s behaviour continues to pose to the national security, foreign policy and the economy of the US.”

    “The U.S. does intend lawfully and for good reason to bring heavy pressure to bear on the Iranian leadership to change their ways.”

    Iran is calling for the sanctions to be cancelled and for Iran to be compensated.

    Tehran had itself for years violated UN resolutions and supported terrorism and needed to be contained, Newstead said.

     

  • Google deletes YouTube accounts with ties to Iran

    Google has announced deleting 58 accounts with ties to Iran on its video sharing platform, YouTube and some other of its sites.

    The recent removals targeted 39 channels on YouTube, which had more than 13,000 views in the United States, as well as 13 accounts on the social networking site Google Plus and six accounts on Blogger, its blogging platform, the company said.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Kent Walker, Google’s senior vice president of global affairs, said in a blog post that each of the accounts had ties to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, or IRIB, which is tied to Iran’s ayatollah, and that they “disguised their connection to this effort”.

    Google’s announcement comes days after Facebook suspended hundreds of accounts on its site and photo-sharing app, Instagram, that originated in Iran as well as Russia, and Twitter made a similar move.

    At the time, YouTube confirmed it had removed one account, called Liberty Front Press, which appeared to have connections to Iranian state media.

    Google also revealed on Thursday that it took down 42 additional channels on YouTube that had ties to the Russian government’s online troll army, called the Internet Research Agency, since the company testified to Congress in November.

    Facebook had acted on a tip from the cyber-security firm FireEye, which later shared its findings with Google and Twitter.

    In response, Google briefed law enforcement officials as well as congressional investigators about its findings on Thursday, the company said.

    The revelations of further coordinated inauthentic activity online are likely to grab the attention of lawmakers.

    The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to question top executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter next month on their efforts to protect their platforms from disinformation and other digital ills.

    On Thursday, the Republican chairman of the panel, Sen. Richard Burr, said he had rejected an offer by Google to send Walker to testify. “I told them I wasn’t accepting the senior vice president,” Burr said.

    Earlier this week, Microsoft announced it had found evidence of a Russia-backed effort to spoof key websites, including those for conservative think tanks, in an apparent bid to hack into visitors to those pages.

    In its blog post, Google said it recently took similar actions to block “attempts by state-sponsored actors in various countries to target political campaigns, journalists, activists, and academics located around the world”.

    Google said it most recently notified Gmail users who received suspicious emails “from a wide range of countries” on Monday.