The world must stop ignoring Iran's pattern of obstructing nuclear inspections

Giving Tehran a free pass is simply too dangerous

Washington Examiner, Sept. 27, 2017 - The Islamic Republic of Iran has demonstrated a long pattern of obstruction regarding inquiries and investigations into its nuclear activities, and that pattern persists more than two years after the conclusion of a landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers.
The conclusion of that agreement in 2015 was to some extent dependent upon the neglect of certain controversial issues, including access to Iranian military sites, where the regime apparently carried out research and development related to weaponization aspects of the country's nuclear program. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action effectively skirted this issue by making it theoretically possible for the International Atomic Energy Agency to ask for and receive access to military sites, but only following a month-long process during which the Islamic Republic could work to erase evidence of past activities.
This is exactly what happened at the highly suspect Parchin military base, from which the IAEA obtained soil samples that still showed the presence of some nuclear material after satellite imagery showed the site being partially demolished and sanitized. Despite this fact, the IAEA closed the file on the past military dimensions of the Iranian nuclear program so that the JCPOA could go forward toward implementation.
This and other instances of Iranian deception and international neglect were the focus of a recent report published by the International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ), the non-profit NGO that I head up in Brussels. The report drew upon public information and intelligence gathered by the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the main Iranian opposition group with a solid record of exposing information about the regime´s nuclear project. The new information identifies a much broader pattern of behaviors going far beyond well-publicized issues like Parchin.
But even without this additional intelligence, the Parchin situation and the Iranian regime's repeated insistence that military sites are simply off limits to international inspectors should be enough to demonstrate to the world that the JCPOA has likely not halted Iran's nuclear activities, much less convinced the regime to cooperate with the international community.
Sadly, various world powers seem to be well aware of the shortcomings of the JCPOA, yet remain committed to preserving that agreement and arguing that it is serving its purpose effectively.
Regardless of one's position on the JCPOA, it is indefensible to suggest that the agreement has succeeded in its objective of halting Iran's progress toward a nuclear weapon, or even that the resulting inspections have closed the issue of the past military dimensions of the program.
Anyone familiar with Tehran's pattern of deception for the past two decades should recognize the need for coordinated international insistence upon immediate and unrestricted access to Parchin and other military sites, as well as access to the sites and personnel associated with the Organization of Defense Innovation and Research, which has been identified as the institution at the heart of weaponization aspects of the Iranian nuclear program. It is simply naïve and utterly dangerous to overlook Tehran's deceptive behaviors just for the sake of preserving the nuclear deal and pretending the issue of possible military dimensions is resolved.
So far, President Trump has remained silent on whether he plans to certify before Congress that Iran is complying with its obligations under the agreement, as he will be required to do on October 15.
To the extent that the recent report relies upon information from the IAEA's publicly available documents, it establishes that the nuclear monitoring agency has effectively cast its own findings aside. For instance, the report quotes one IAEA document, published just on the verge of the JCPOA's implementation, as saying, 'The Agency assesses that the extensive activities undertaken by Iran since February 2012 at the particular location of interest to the Agency seriously undermined the Agency's ability to conduct effective verification.'
Despite this fact, the Agency now acts as if Tehran's ongoing patterns of obstruction are not grounds for suspicion about its compliance. The IAEA has repeatedly insisted to the world that Iran is in compliance with the nuclear deal, but in so doing it has not only ignored the issue of what remains unknown about possible military dimensions, but it has also ignored confirmed, if minor, violations of the JCPOA's limits on Iran's stockpiles of nuclear materials and nuclear byproducts.
To the extent that Iran refuses to cooperate with the international community, the nations of the world should show that they can do better by cooperating among themselves in order to exert the pressure that is necessary to make absolutely certain that this theocratic regime is no longer pursuing the capability to build weapons of mass destruction. Giving Tehran a free pass is simply too dangerous.

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a Spanish professor of atomic and nuclear physics, was vice-president of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2014. He is currently president of the Brussels-based International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ).

Iran regime prohibits more than 100 Baha'i students from entering universities

Bahai students denied education in the mullahs Iran (file photo)

Iran, Sep. 27, 2017 – Students of Jondi-Shapour Dental College in the southern Iranian city of Ahvaz demonstrated on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017 to protest the lack of study space in the college. It was the second time that the students were taking part in the protest in front of the main college building.

 

Jondi-shapour students rally protesting lack of study space in their college

Tension with North Korea more political than military, US chief of staff says

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford tells senators North Korea has not changed the posture of its troops despite flaring political tensions with Washington

 US relations with North Korea may be 'charged' but tensions in the standoff remain political rather than military, the US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said Tuesday.

'While the political space is clearly very charged right now, we haven't seen a change in the posture of North Korean forces,' General Joe Dunford told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

'We watch that very carefully,' Dunford said, in response to questions from Republican Senator John McCain about rising tensions with Pyongyang after US President Donald Trump mockingly labeled North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un 'Little Rocket Man' and said his regime 'won't be around much longer.'

North Korea responded to the comments by accusing Washington of having declared war, a remark brushed aside by the US administration as 'absurd.'

Kim also lashed out personally at Trump, saying his regime would 'surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire.'

Asia has been on tenterhooks as tensions soar, reaching new heights at the weekend when North Korea threatened to shoot down US bombers carrying out missions close to its airspace.

'We clearly have postured our forces to respond in an event of a provocation or a conflict. We also have taken all the proper measures to protect our allies -- the South Koreans, the Japanese -- the force, as well as the Americans in the area,' Dunford said during the hearing.

'But what we haven't seen is a military action that would be reflective of the charged political environment that you are describing,' he said.

IAEA chief calls for clarity on disputed section of Iran nuclear deal

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano reacts during an interview with Reuters at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, 

urged major powers on Tuesday to clarify a part of their nuclear deal with Iran dealing with technology that could be used to develop an atom bomb, an area Russia said the agency should leave alone.

The 2015 pact between six major powers and Iran restricts its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Compliance with those curbs is being verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano has defended the deal as a major step forward while declining to comment specifically on criticism of it by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called the accord - reached by predecessor Barack Obama - “an embarrassment to the United States”.

But while Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations , has infuriated Tehran by saying the IAEA should widen its inspections to include military sites, diplomats say Russia has been trying to restrict the agency’s role by arguing it has no authority to police a broadly worded section of the deal.

That section bans “activities which could contribute to the development of a nuclear explosive device”. It lists examples such as using computer models that simulate a nuclear bomb, or designing multi-point, explosive detonation systems.

Unlike many other parts of the deal, the provision, known as Section T, makes no mention of the IAEA or specifics of how it will be verified. Russia says that means the IAEA has no authority over it. Western powers and the agency disagree.

“Our tools are limited,” Amano told Reuters when asked if his agency had the means to verify Section T.

“In other sections, for example, Iran has committed to submit declarations, place their activities under safeguards or ensure access by us. But in Section T I don’t see any (such commitment).”

Amano said he hoped the parties to the agreement would discuss the issue in the Joint Commission, a forum created by the deal, adding that even a clearer definition of terms such as the technology referred to would be an improvement.

“More clarification would be helpful ... Russia has a different view. They believe that it is not the mandate of the IAEA. Others have different views and discussions are ongoing.” 

DIPLOMACY

Trump has hinted that he may not recertify the agreement when it comes up for review by a mid-October deadline, in which case the U.S. Congress would have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions waived under the accord, known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Amano repeated, however, that Iran was implementing its nuclear commitments under the deal. He said complementary access - often consisting of short-notice inspections carried out under the IAEA Additional Protocol, which Iran is implementing under the accord - was going smoothly.

“Complementary access in Iran is being undertaken without problem and the number of accesses is quite high,” he said.

When asked if a successful Iran deal could help encourage a political solution in nuclear-armed North Korea, to which the IAEA has no access, Amano said the two situations were quite different. But he added: “I also do not say that there’s no comparison, because in the JCPOA’s case, diplomacy worked.”

Confronting North Korea and Iran

Iran nuclear weapons - North Koreas Kim Jong

Al Arabyia, 26 September 2017 - The weak Iranian nuclear deal, which the former American administration agreed upon, is partially responsible for North Korea’s surge in developing its nuclear program.

Iran was rewarded with a sum of $150 billion as per the deal and the country managed to retrieve funds withheld since the days of the Shah, with profits. It was also granted massive contracts to develop its technical and manufacturing abilities and most international sanctions against them were lifted.

A besieged North Korea has also chosen to blackmail the world because it views this as profitable trade. Just like Iran threatened to burn Israel, North Korea is threatening Japan. Its second nuclear missile test two weeks ago sailed over Japan’s skies. There are now no doubts over the threats that North Korea poses.

Washington has two options now – either offer North Korean leader Kim Jong-un an agreement similar to Tehran’s or to end the agreement with the Iranians and propose new ideas to strip Iran and North Korea off their nuclear capabilities.

In a seminar at the Enterprise Institute, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikky Haley linked between the two threats. She warned that if nuclear agreement with Iran does not change, it will allow Tehran to pose the same threat as North Korea.

“If Iran succeeds in controlling or dominating Iraq and Syria in the next few years, its ability to impose its military nuclear project will double”

Abdulrahman al-Rashed

Amending the agreement

So will the current American administration be able to end the agreement signed with Iran two years ago?

Haley noted that the agreement should not be entirely revoked as she called for amending it in ways that do not allow the Iranian regime to secretly develop military nuclear powers. She also called for linking the agreement to Iran’s behavior in the region after its forces and militias entered several countries to fight and impose their influence.

US President Donald Trump does not have a lot of time to make up his mind. There are almost two weeks left before he has to inform the Congress whether Iran is committed to the agreement or not. If he says it is not, the Congress will impose sanctions again.

Meanwhile, Iran said it will quit the deal if sanctions are imposed and it will resume its military nuclear program and production of highly enriched uranium. Gulf and regional countries stand watching as they do not have the ability to deter Iran’s regime or to end the agreement.

Gulf countries have since the beginning thought that a legitimate agreement is good in principle but they think that the signed agreement is bad as it just defers production of nuclear military capabilities and does not put an end to them. They also think that lifting of sanctions does not rely on the condition that Tehran suspends its hostile military activity.

If Iran succeeds in controlling or dominating major countries like Iraq and Syria in the next few years, then its capabilities to impose its military nuclear project will double and the nuclear agreement will not be of great value. In this case, it will be difficult for the international community to impose sanctions on it considering its massive influence.

Iran is observing the current developments because what Trump will do to North Korea also sends a message to it. Trump is not Obama. He will not send gifts to Tehran or keep silent over its insults.

Iran's supposed missile launch was fake, US officials say

A missile is put display for the annual Defense Week in Tehran, Iran

FOX NEWS, SEP.25, 2017 -- Iranian state television released video footage Friday claiming to show the launch of a new type of medium-range ballistic missile, a few hours after it was displayed during a military parade in Tehran. 
But it turns out Iran never fired a ballistic missile, sources say.
The video released by the Iranians was more than seven months old – dating back to a failed launch in late January, which resulted in the missile exploding shortly after liftoff, according to two U.S. officials.
President Trump had originally responded to the reported launch in a late-Saturday tweet, saying, “Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea. Not much of an agreement we have!”
This was after Trump, speaking before world leaders at the United Nations , called the Iran nuclear deal an “embarrassment” to the United States.  
“We cannot let a murderous regime continue these destabilizing activities while building dangerous missiles, and we cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program,” he said.
Trump later told reporters he had made up his mind about the deal, but wouldn't say whether he would pull the United States out of the nuclear accord with Iran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani , speaking at the U.N. one day after Trump, maintained his country’s missile program was “solely defensive” in nature. 
“We never threaten anyone, but we do not tolerate threats from anyone,” he said. Rouhani returned to Tehran two days later to preside over the missile parade featuring the new medium-range design and said his country would build as many missiles as necessary to defend itself.  
Afterward, the footage was aired, with Iranian media claiming a successful test launch – though it apparently showed the failed January launch.
At the time, Iran was attempting to launch its new Khorramshahr medium-range ballistic missile for the first time. It flew 600 miles before exploding, in a failed test of a reentry vehicle, officials said at the time.
The failed late January launch was first reported by Fox News and prompted the White House to put Iran “on notice” days later.
Iran’s new medium-range missile is based on a North Korean design—Pyongyang’s BM-25 Musudan ballistic missile, which has a maximum range of nearly 2,500 miles, putting U.S. forces in the Middle East and Israel within reach if its problems are fixed.  
“The very first missiles we saw in Iran were simply copies of North Korean missiles,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a missile proliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. “Over the years, we've seen photographs of North Korean and Iranian officials in each other's countries, and we've seen all kinds of common hardware.”  
Last weekend, a senior Iranian general said the missile had a range of less than 2,000 miles.
'The Khorramshahr missile has a range of 2,000 kilometers [1,250 miles] and can carry multiple warheads,' Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted Revolutionary Guards aerospace chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh as saying.
The missile “is capable of carrying multiple warheads,” Hajizadeh added.
“I am not sure why the Iranians are lying about the range,” one U.S. official said. “I think they don’t want to piss the Europeans off.”
The official and others declined to be identified because they were not authorized to disclose sensitive information to the press.
Experts say Iran possesses the largest arsenal of ballistic missiles in the Middle East, with more than 1,000 short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. Tehran has conducted over 20 missile tests since 2015.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Iran is “supplying proxies such as Hezbollah and Syria’s al-Assad regime with a steady supply of missiles and rockets” and “likely supplying Houthi rebel groups with short-range missiles in the ongoing conflict in Yemen.”
U.N. resolution 2231 -- put in place days after the Iran nuclear deal was signed -- calls on the Islamic Republic not to conduct ballistic missile tests, but does not forbid them from doing so, after Russia and China insisted on the watered-down language in order to pass the resolution.
Iran is 'called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology,' according to the text of the resolution.
Iran claims the tests are legitimate because they are defensive in nature. 

Video : Iran's New Ballistic Missile Looks a Lot Like a Modified North Korean One

Khorramshahr medium range ballistic missil

The Iranians showed off the new missile after fiery rhetoric from President Trump and threats to scrap the Iran Deal.

BY JOSEPH TREVITHICK
The War Zone, September 23, 2017 - Shortly after revealing the new Khorramshahr medium range ballistic missile to the public for the first time, Iran released a never before seen video showing a successful test of the weapon, but did not give a date or place for the footage. The new development will undoubtedly have an impact on whether U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration decide to scrap a deal with Iran over its controversial nuclear program, but it also underscores long-standing concerns that the Iranian authorities have been working with the North Koreans and other allies to skirt their international obligations.

Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), a military-political organization that commands immense influence on the country’s domestic and foreign policy, unveiled the Khorramshahr during a military parade on Sept. 22, 2017 as part of the country’s annual Sacred Defense Week. The events commemorate the country’s bloody war with Iraq between 1980 and 1988.
 The city of Khorramshahr features heavily in Iran’s historical accounting of that conflict, as it was the site of the war’s first battle and remained under Iraqi control until 1982. The liberation marked a turning point in Iran’s favor and the new missile’s moniker is almost certainly a symbolic reference.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a senior commander from the IRGC’s Aerospace Division told reporters that the missile had a range of approximately 1,250 miles and could carry multiple warheads, suggesting it had a so-called multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) configuration and could strike more than one target at a time. “As it was observed, the missile has become smaller in size and more tactical and it will be operational in the near future,' he added.

The missile on parade had a single, solid nose cone, making it impossible to verify the multiple warhead claims. The video footage did not show any evidence of this feature, either. If the range figure is accurate, Khorramshahr could carry a warhead or warheads anywhere in the Middle East, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as hit targets in parts of Eastern Europe, East Africa, and Central Asia.

“We will promote our defensive and military power as much as we deem necessary,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech before the procession. “We seek no one’s permission to defend our land.”

Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani, second from right, speaks ahead of the start of the 2017 Sacred Defense Week military parade.

Rouhani’s remarks and the display of the missile itself, seem to be a response, at least in part, to fiery rhetoric from President Trump, who criticized Iran’s government during his first ever speech in front of the United Nations General Assembly and has slammed the deal over Iran’s controversial nuclear program. The Trump administration says that Iranian ballistic missile development and tests go against the spirit of that agreement.

“We cannot let a murderous regime continue these destabilizing activities while building dangerous missiles, and we cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program,” Trump said in front of other world leaders and international diplomats at the United Nations on Sept. 19, 2017. “The Iran Deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.  Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don’t think you’ve heard the last of it – believe me.”

President Donald Trump speaks at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 19, 2017.

The Iran Deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), does not technically cover ballistic missiles. United Nations Security Council resolutions, though, do prohibit Iran from developing such weapons, but only insofar as they can be used to deliver nuclear weapons.

Needless to say, the demonstration of the Khorramshahr has added a certain weight to calls in the United States to pull out of or otherwise reconsider the future of the JCPOA. Critics of pulling out of the arrangement say that it could only hasten Iran’s development of both newer and more advanced ballistic missiles, as well as a nuclear weapon.

However, Khorramshahr may prompt additional concerns that Iran may already be working along both of these lines with help from North Korea and other allies. Observers were quick to point out that the missile shares a number of similarities, especially in its apparent engine configuration, with the North Korean BM-25 Musudan, also known as the Hwasong-10. 

It had previously been speculated that Iran Khorramshahr MRBM may be linked the unseen BM-25 rpt based on North Korea Musudan IRBM (below)

 

Could Iran Khorramshahr tapered end be consistent with distinct (submerged within fuel tank) Soviet 4D10 engine design used by NorthKorea

 quality great but angle not quite right!

Iran claims that the new missile is an entirely domestic effort, but it makes similar statements about almost every weapon system it unveils, even those that are clearly derived from foreign designs. Its existing Shahab-3 medium range ballistic missiles are a known derivative of North Korea’s earlier Hwasong-7.

 

 Shahab 3 on parade in Teheran

In July 2016, Fox News reported that Iran had unsuccessfully tested a Musudan, citing a number of unnamed sources. This came one month after the North Korea’s first successful launch of the type.

Then, in January 2017, Fox News said that more anonymous sources had told them the Iranians had test fired a new, then unknown missile, with the name Khorramshahr. It reportedly flew approximately 600 miles with an unknown apogee before exploding. According to Reuters, a U.S. military official said this was the same type Iran had tested in July 2016. It is very possible that the video shown during the opening of Sacred Defense Week 2017 was from this test.

Separately, in July 2017, Iran formally opened the Imam Khomeini Space Center near Semnan with the launch of a Simorgh space launch vehicle, which the United States and other critics say is simply a cover for work on an intercontinental ballistic missile. This launch occurred the same a month as North Korea’s first demonstration of the Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile.

 

Iran's Simorgh space launch vehicle at the  Khomeini Space Center in July 2017. 

We cannot say conclusively that Iran and North Korea are actively working together on ballistic missile developments, but the timelines and past precedents heavily point to continued cooperation on advanced weapons. Though the Khorramshahr is liquid fueled, it is possible that this engagement could lead to improved solid fuel designs, which troops can set up and fire faster, similar to North Korea’s Pukguksong series.

“Iranian solid-propellant programs are also progressing,” the 2017 NASIC report noted. Iran already has a solid fuel weapon with the same estimated range as the Khorramshahr, the Sejjil.

We also know, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, that STRATCOM’s J321 Industrial Systems Analyst had been looking into someone’s solid fuel rocket motor development between July and December 2016. The briefing slide in question is so heavily redacted that it’s difficult to make out the exact objectives or targets of the analysis, but does mention earlier studies done on behalf of U.S. Pacific Command.

 

The briefing slide mention earlier studies done on behalf of U.S. Pacific Command.

The added fear, of course, would be that if the two are working on missiles, then they could just as easily be sharing information on nuclear weapons. There has long been a concern that Iran could easily afford to halt its domestic nuclear program because it had either already completed all the necessary research or could continue it elsewhere away from the prying eyes of international inspectors.

The appearance of ballistic missile-related facilities in Syria that look similar to those Iran adds weight to the possibility that the government in Tehran has reached out to allies to help shield various advanced weapons programs for scrutiny, to support parallel developments in those countries, or both. Iran has been very open about proliferating various artillery rocket and short-range ballistic missile technology, such as the Zulfiqar missiles it fired at ISIS terrorists in June 2017, both to states like Syria and non-state actors like the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

“Taking a definitive stand against Trump is only the beginning of the path,” General Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the IRGC, said after hearing Trump's comments, according to the organization's official Sepah News outlet. “What is strategically important is that America witnesses more painful responses in the actions, behavior and decisions that Iran takes in the coming months.”

 

 Iranian Ballistic Missile the Zulfiqar 

Since Iran insists it is not building any nuclear weapons, it says its ballistic missile work does not fall under the terms of these resolutions. The United States has challenged this interpretation, saying that there is limited utility in long-range ballistic missiles with conventional payloads and that it makes little sense to spend the time and energy on their development without nuclear warheads.

“The facts are that Iran is operating under the agreements the we signed up for under the JCPOA,” U.S. Air Force General John Hyten, head of U.S. Strategic Command, said during a talk at the Hudson Institute event. “But at the same time they are rapidly, rapidly deploying and developing a whole series of ballistic missiles and testing ballistic missiles at all ranges that provide significant concerns to not just the United States, but our allies.”

According to an unclassified 2017 report from the U.S. Air Force’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), of the countries presently the United States know are working on new medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles, only Iran has not tested a nuclear device. “Iran has ambitious ballistic missile and space launch development programs and continues to attempt to increase the lethality of its ballistic missile force,” the analysts added.

A display of IRGC missiles, including a Sejjil at left, during Sacred Defense Week in 2011.

These concerns are hardly new, of course. Since Iran Deal came into effect in 2015, there have been more than 10 reported Iranian missile tests.

“The United States is deeply concerned about Iran’s recent ballistic missile launches, which are provocative and destabilizing,” then U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said in March 2016 after a series of launches. “We condemn such threats against another U.N. member state and one of our closest allies,” she added in response to Iranian remarks that the tests were meant as a clear warning to Israel.

Still, the appearance of the Khorramshahr is likely to unsettle Iran’s regional opponents, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, which are both already in the process of expanding their ballistic missile defenses. On Sept. 18, 2017, the U.S. military announced it would set up its first-ever formal base in Israel, which appeared to be an expansion of existing missile defense cooperation.

Israel is also increasingly worried about Hezbollah’s capabilities as the group receives more Iranian and Syrian support to continue operations against rebels fighting the government of dictator Bashar Al Assad in Syria. On Sept. 22, 2017, Israeli aircraft attacked a site the group controlled near the airport in Damascus, the latest intervention in that country by the Israeli Air Force.

Earlier in September 2017, Israel also struck the Syrian Scientific Studies and Researchers Center. That most reporting focused on this organization’s work on Syria’s chemical weapons program, it is also linked to ballistic missile work.

It seems quit possible that we could see a flurry of ballistic missile developments in Iran and among its allies in the near future. It also will be interesting to see if new Iran announcements continue to come soon after similar displays in North Korea.

Note: Many news outlets reported the launch shown in the video the Iranians released during Sacred Defense Week 2017 as new, but it remains unclear whether or not this was the case. In their English language reporting, Iranian media outlets did not frame this as a new test, suggesting that it could have been footage of the January 2017 launch. As of Sept. 23, 2017, neither the Pentagon nor the U.S. State Department had released a statement about any new launch, either. Regardless, it was a clear demonstration that the missile has flown successfully on at least one occasion.

Iran tests new missile in defiance of US warnings

Iran displays a new multiple-warhead medium-range missile dubbed the Khorramshahr at a military parade in Tehran on September 22, 2017

TEHRAN (AFP) 23 September 2017 - Iran said on Saturday that it had successfully tested a new medium-range missile in defiance of warnings from Washington that it was ready to ditch a landmark nuclear deal over the issue.
State television carried footage of the launch of the Khorramshahr missile, which was first displayed at a high-profile military parade in Tehran on Friday.
It also carried in-flight video from the nose cone.
The broadcaster gave no date for the test although officials had said on Friday that it would be tested 'soon'.
Previous Iranian missile launches have triggered US sanctions and accusations that they violate the spirit of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers.
President Donald Trump has threatened to bin the agreement over the issue, saying that Iran's missile program could give it the technical knowhow for a delivery system for a nuclear warhead when a sunset clause in the deal expires in 2025.
He is due to report to Congress on October 15 on whether or not he believes Iran is in compliance with the nuclear deal.
If he decides that it is not, it could open the way for renewed US sanctions and perhaps the collapse of the agreement.
Trump said on Wednesday he had made his decision but was not yet ready to reveal it.

Iranian regime’s mafia and Nazi-style excesses

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during Friday prayers in Tehran September 14, 2007.

Al Arabiya, 22 September 2017 - Gone are the days when pious Shiite religious leaders rode on donkeys, in are the days of showy go-getters who ride around in BMWs and Porsches, all compliments of the Iranian political system created by the present theocratic regime.

With the lion’s share of cash generated by the country’s economy pouring into their coffers, it enables these fat cat clerics of the Tehran administration, to fill their bank accounts with billions of dollars that have been generated through the hard work of the Iranian workforce.

As far as Khamenei is concerned, money has come easy. Just like mafia bosses of the West, he pays no taxes on the cash he generates from his vast financial empire, which is said to have earned him in the region of $95 billion, a large portion of which is salted away in foreign bank accounts.

Khamenei’s riches far exceed the wealth of the late shah, who was vilified for his monetary excesses and was one of the main excuses given for the overthrow of the pro-Western monarchy.

In good old Mafia tradition, the theocrats have become adept at hiding their assets, not only in foreign bank accounts but also in foreign business ventures. The best way of describing all the members of the Tehran administration, is by the moniker of “the wealth and power mafia”, which ironically was bestowed on Hashemi Rafsanjani and his family by the state-run Fars news agency, in a revealing account it published: “Detailed report of the activities of the wealth and power mafia”. 

Human Rights’ Activists News Agency called Qarchak prison as having ‘the worst reputation among women’s prisons in Iran’.

Slush funds 

Just like most despots, terror groups and mafia clans, not only do the theocrats hide their cash in foreign bank accounts, real estate, and foreign business ventures, they also make apt use of charitable foundations, which come in very useful, as they serve as lucrative slush funds for both the theocrats and their cronies, who appear in the eyes of the public to be aiding the needy, which leaves them free of scrutiny.

The Abdulazim Religious charity has the perfect method for which to rake in the cash, often by using a business owner’s Shia conscience as a moral lever, they use deceit to relieve him of company shares, which they explain goes to aiding the “needy”. Then eventually, these wheelers and dealers coerce the proprietor into signing over the lion’s share of his business, including that of his own stake, leaving Khamenei’s cronies in charge of the funds, which become a part of Rey Investment Co, a company run by the Supreme Leader’s charity.

Where protecting their assets is concerned, just like their mafia counterparts, the Tehran regime uses violence to control their vast business empire, which on the part of the theocrats, extends to virtually all of Iran’s national assets. Over the years, it has taken large body counts for the clerical regime to remain in control of this lucrative empire, having used arbitrary killing, imprisonment, torture and character assassination against all rivals to protect it.

‘Hit squads’ to eliminate rivals

Another trait which has been adopted by the regime, used by both the Mafia and the Nazis is ‘hit squads’. US mobster Al Capone used them to the beneficial effect when he orchestrated the St Valentine’s Day Massacre, in which several of his opponents were machine-gunned to death by his underlings in a garage on 14 February 1929, in a bid to get rid of the rivals.

The Nazis also used such a method during the Night of the Long Knives, when from 30 June 1934 to 2 July 1934, Hitler fabricated a charge against Ernst Rohm, the leader of the three million strong Nazi militia the Sturmabteilung (SA Storm Battalion), accusing Rohm of planning a coup against him. Hitler felt that Rohm was getting too ambitious in his political aims, as he was pushing Hitler to seize power by force, while Hitler wanted to gain power through eroding democracy through political means, just like Khamenei has now done.

So, to bring an end to Rohm’s ambitions, Hitler sent out onto the streets his SS and Gestapo death squads, and during the roundup of SA commanders, Hitler used the opportunity to remove all other political rivals that might eventually stand in his way of ultimate power. The barbarity was unbelievable, many were hacked to death, others summarily executed, and it is estimated that 400 people were murdered during that bloody purge.

During the period when Khomeini was consolidating his power, anybody who voiced opposition to him also paid the ultimate price. During his 1988 purge, 30,000 dissidents – who wanted to see a more democratic form of leadership – were slaughtered in the prison system alone.

Then there was a dark period between the 1980s and 1990s when Iran’s notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) sent out death squads to silence Iranian dissidents, most of whom were living abroad. During this period, the same modus operandi as the Nazis was employed. They brutally murdered both men and women in frenzied attacks, often hacking them to pieces, in a bid to scare off dissidents from speaking out against the regime. 

In this Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013, photo, members of the Basij paramilitary militia fire their weapons during a training session, in Tehran, Iran.

‘Serial killings’ by the regime

This string of brutal slaughter was dubbed by the press as the “serial murders”, carried out with such fervour it pointed to the perpetrator being insane, and with some of these attacks having taken place in Iran, the general public was so shocked by the brutality, they thought a madman was on the loose, and the regime was forced to investigate the incident, which was eventually placed at the door of “rogue” MOIS operators, in a bid to give the Tehran regime at least some form of “plausible deniability”.

Just like it was with Hitler, the world is blind to Khamenei’s true intentions of world domination, because it sounds too incredible. But the world once thought the same of Hitler, when Neville Chamberlain stepped off a plane claiming that Hitler was a man the world could deal with, clutching a piece of paper, which he triumphantly announced would bring “peace in our time”, and then much, in the same way, Obama claimed this with his Iran Deal.

But as far as Hitler was concerned, he set off the deadliest conflict in history, ending in the deaths of over 70 million people.So, it is time to remember that oft-repeated quote: “Those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it!

 

Tony Duheaume