Washington sanctions challenging Iranian regime’s terrorism funding

Sanctions against the clerical regime ruling Iran

Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s exiting the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iranian regime is now facing a series of unprecedented challenges in regards to its policies.

Mousa Afshar, a member of the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Foreign Affairs Committee, shed light on this subject in a recent interview with a Jordanian outlet.

“These sanctions will prevent the Iranian regime from providing financial support to its proxy militias in Yemen and across the region,” he said.

“Tehran received $150 billion of its frozen assets through signing the nuclear deal. However, not even a dollar of this money has been spent on the Iranian people. In fact, all of it was used for terrorist militias in Syria, Yemen and Iraq,” Afshar explained.

“Following the JCPOA exit we have seen U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recognizing the Iranian people’s uprising against the religious dictatorship and Washington calling for a global coalition to confront the Iranian regime’s support for terrorism,” he added.

“Any new agreement with the Iranian regime must cover a variety of issues, most importantly ending Iran’s ballistic missile program, recognizing Iraq’s independence, disarming the Iranian regime’s militias in this country, completely withdrawing all militia groups in Syria, ending ballistic missile launches against its Persian Gulf neighbors and stopping the Iranian regime’s support for terrorist militias in Yemen,” Afshar continued.

Blood money

Iran has been able to take advantage of the JCPOA’s outcome and completely disrupt stability in the Middle East.

“To compensate for their necessity of a nuclear bomb, [Iranian regime supreme leader] Ali Khamenei’s regime has attempted to place important areas of the region under its influence, and threatening regional countries with ballistic missiles,” Afshar said.

“The Iran nuclear deal had many flaws and provided blood money to the Iranian regime, especially the Revolutionary Guards and Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani,” he added. “The measures raised by Pompeo were carried out after the Iranian regime refused to abide by United Nations resolutions.”

The Iranian regime received free and unjustifiable concessions through the JCPOA, such as “the lack of any serious inspections of nuclear sites” and no inspections over the released assets.

In fact, these unprecedented concessions were the result of an appeasement policy adopted by the U.S. and Europe vis-à-vis the Iranian regime. The Iranian people, and nations across the region, expect such a drive to end. Only through such measures can the international community imagine to prevent the Iranian regime’s belligerence.

Iran transparency aim of U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton's bill

 U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, who has repeatedly clashed with Iran's ayatollahs, wants to make it harder for them to hide their financial assets from public scrutiny.

The Republican from Dardanelle on Monday introduced the Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act, which would 'require the Secretary of the Treasury to report on the estimated total assets under direct or indirect control by certain senior Iranian leaders and other figures.'
The bill, SB2353, states that 'Iran is characterized by high levels of official and institutional corruption' and alleges that 'many members of Iran's senior political and military leadership have acquired significant personal and institutional wealth by using their positions to secure control of significant portions of Iran's national economy.'
If passed, the Treasury secretary would issue periodic reports listing 'the estimated total funds or other assets held in accounts at United States and foreign financial institutions' that are controlled by Iran's supreme leader, president and numerous other officials.
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is co-sponsoring the measure. A companion bill easily passed in the House late last year.
In a written statement, Cotton said the legislation will shine a spotlight on the conduct of Tehran's leadership.
'This report will expose to all the world just how badly the ayatollahs have mismanaged the Iranian economy and just how much money they've stolen from the Iranian people,' he said.

Trump unveils details of ‘America First’ security strategy

US President Donald Trump lays out a national security strategy, in Washington, Monday, Dec. 18, 2017.

President Donald Trump declared a new national security strategy on Monday, stressing the 'America first' message of his 2016 campaign and faulting previous US leaders for failing to measure up to it and look out for the nation's citizens.

'Our leaders engaged in nation building abroad while they failed to build up and replenish our nation at home,' he said, pointing to the economy's strong performance and predicting even better under his policies.

His security strategy envisions nations in constant competition, reverses Obama-era warnings on climate change and affirms that the United States will unilaterally defend its sovereignty, even if that means risking existing the agreements with other countries that have dominated the United States' foreign policy since the Cold War.

The strategy from the Republican president could sharply alter US international relationships if fully implemented. It focuses on four main themes: protecting the homeland, promoting American prosperity, demonstrating peace through strength and advancing American influence in an ever-competitive world.

Trump's doctrine holds that nation-states are in perpetual competition and that the US must fight on all fronts to protect and defend its sovereignty from friend and foe alike. While the administration often says that 'America First' does not mean 'America Alone,' the national security strategy makes clear that the United States will stand up for itself even if that means acting unilaterally or alienating others on issues such as trade, climate change and immigration.

The last such strategy document, prepared by President Barack Obama in 2015, declared climate change an 'urgent and growing threat to our national security.' The Trump plan removes that determination - following the administration's threat to pull out of the Paris climate accord. The strategy sets a goal of being an 'energy-dominant nation' and says that the United States 'recognizes the importance of environmental stewardship.'

Despite the risk of potential isolation presented by Trump's strategy, its fundamentals are not a surprise. The strategy emphasizes that US economic security is national security. And it stresses that the US is interested only in relationships with other countries, including in alliances such as NATO that are fair and reciprocal.

The strategy also details the threats of 'rogue regimes,' like North Korea. It says that China and Russia 'challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.'

Despite international challenges, the document cites emerging opportunities to advance American interests in the Middle East. 'Some of our partners are working together to reject radical ideologies and key leaders are calling for a rejection of Islamist extremism and violence,' it says. 'Encouraging political stability and sustainable prosperity would contribute to dampening the conditions that fuel sectarian grievances.'

The strategy document asserts that 'for generations the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been understood as the prime irritant preventing peace and prosperity in the region. Today, the threats from radical terrorist organizations and the threat from Iran are creating the realization that Israel is not the cause of the region's problems. States have increasingly found common interests with Israel in confronting common threats.'

The criticism of Russia will come as a break from recent warm words between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The leaders have spoken twice in four days, with Trump calling Putin to thank him for kind words about the US stock market and Putin reaching out to Trump to thank the CIA for help in stopping a terror plot in St. Petersburg.

The strategy document also notes that 'actors such as Russia are using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies.'

Trump Grapples With the Iran Deal

Donald Trump, Iran deal rally bad

Newsmax, 20 Jul 2017 - A virtual war for Washington broke out last week. Principals in the administration were in a battle over whether to certify Iran was in accord with U.S. law and terms of the nuclear deal. On one side were President Trump, Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, and CIA Director Mike Pompeo; they urged Trump to change course and say Iran was not in accord, per the AP.

The other side included Secretary of State Tillerson and the generals, Jim Mattis at Defense, and H.R. McMaster at the White House, Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the other major powers involved in the nuclear accord — Britain, China, France, Russia, and Germany. (Contrary to conventional wisdom, the deal was not a signed document.)

The bottom line up front: President Trump controls Iran policy of certification to the Congress that Iran had met the relevant conditions of U.S. law and the nuclear accord. But at what cost? Read on!

The Facts

State, Treasury and Justice designated 18 individuals and entities they said were involved in activities including missile development, weapons procurement, and software theft. However, there is confusion over the facts about certification.

The 2015 Corker-Cardin certification requires the Trump administration certify every 90 days Iran has met four conditions related to the nuclear deal: Tehran is implementing the deal; Iran is not in material breach; is not advancing its nuclear weapons program; and sanctions relief is appropriate as well as vital for U.S. national security.

Corker-Cardin does not require certification Iran is complying with the nuclear deal. It allows certification to the Congress, even if Tehran is violating the deal.

On July 17, President Trump certified Iran had met the four Corker-Cardin conditions, not that Tehran was complying with the nuclear deal. Trump had officials remove language suggesting Iranian compliance, certification that included a list of Iranian violations. Otherwise the president was going to reject certification.

In two email messages to me (and others) on July 19, Omri Ceren of The Israel Project (TIP) said Tehran’s cheating does not make an immediate political difference: So long as the Corker-Cardin conditions for certification are met, the deal stays in place, despite Iran’s noncompliance. But Tehran’s cheating does make an enormous policy difference, all the way up to gutting the deal.

“Systematic noncompliance at the margins, never enough to breach the deal all at once, can enable Iran to erode a range of restrictions on centrifuges, nuclear material, [and] weapons,” until the cumulative effect is to reduce the time needed to build a deliverable nuclear bomb to a few weeks, per the email from Ceren.

Also see an Associated Press story, “Trump lets Iran deal live, but signals he may not for long.” Trump was eager to declare Iran in breach of the nuclear deal but was talked out of it by national security aides who rushed to the Oval Office to persuade him as a midnight deadline approached, administration officials say.

Trump agreed to let the issue go, but only for a few more months, and only after last-minute changes to distance him further from the deal. Rather than say, as planned, Iran was living up to its end of the deal, his aides found a way to let the deal continue for now without technically confirming Iran is complying. Team Trump followed up the announcement with new, nonnuclear sanctions on Iranians citizens on Tuesday to show he is serious about confronting Tehran.

The compromise, relayed to the Congress in the final few hours before the deadline, lets Iran continue enjoying relief — for now — from nuclear sanctions lifted as part of the 2015 deal. It also gives Trump some cover to declare publicly that Iran is violating “the spirit” of the deal, preserving a potent argument should he ultimately decide to exit the accord, per the AP.

The argument that ultimately won out: Letting Iran keep its sanctions relief — thus fulfilling U.S. obligations under the deal — without using the word “complying.” Trump and other critics pointed to minor infractions by Tehran to say it’s in violation of restrictions on nuclear development, although the International Atomic Energy Agency that monitors the deal says Iran is broadly complying, per the email correspondence from Ceren referenced above. A shout-out to him for providing many journalists and scholars information and his take on the facts.

The Way Forward

At issue now is the State Department’s annual Counterterrorism Report, which was announced June 19, for the year 2016. Regarding Iran, it repeats the history of Tehran’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1984 and brings that history forward to 2016:

Iran continued its terrorist-related activity in 2016, including support for Hizballah, Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza, and various groups in Syria, Iraq, and throughout the Middle East. Iran used the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps‑Qods Force (IRGC-QF) to implement foreign policy goals, provide cover for intelligence operations, and create instability in the Middle East. Iran has acknowledged the involvement of the IRGC-QF in the conflicts in Iraq and Syria and the IRGC-QF is Iran’s primary mechanism for cultivating and supporting terrorists abroad.

Also see Country Reports on Terrorism 2015. Under President Obama prior reports from State detailed Iran’s misbehavior, but the pursuit of the nuclear deal seemed at odds with State’s catalog of Tehran’s actions. But for President Trump, his skepticism about the accord is bound to be more consistent with the State Department’s details of Iran’s misbehavior than for Obama.

And with respect to State’s tougher line against Iran, consistent with President Trump’s wishes, Heather Nauert, Department’s Spokesperson, on July 18 said:

Iran’s continued malign activities outside the nuclear issue undermine the positive contributions to regional and international peace and security that the deal was supposed to provide. The United States will continue to use sanctions to target those who lend support to Iran’s destabilizing behavior and above all, the United States will never allow the regime in Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.

As stated above in the bottom line up front — President Trump controls Iran policy. The policy is that Washington certifies to the Congress, even if Tehran is violating the deal, not that Iran is in compliance with the deal.

But what cost does this American policy incur? The price might be loss of American leadership with its closest allies that are party to the nuclear accord. They include Britain, France, and Germany. But where can the allies turn? Surely, not to China and Russia, the other two parties in the deal. So, the benefits outweigh the costs by a wide margin.

Prof. Raymond Tanter (@AmericanCHR) served as a senior member on the Middle East Desk of the National Security Council staff in the Reagan-Bush administration, Personal Representative of the Secretary of Defense to international security and arms control talks in Europe, and is now Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. Tanter is on the comprehensive list of conservative writers and columnists who appear in The Wall Street Journal, Townhall.com, National Review, The Weekly Standard, Human Events, The American Spectator, and now in Newsmax.