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.'

Tehran MP slams Guardian Council, fellow legislators

Iranian regime Majlis [Parliament]

A fiery speech delivered by Tehran MP Mahmoud Sadeghi on December 17 kicked off heated debate among pro-reform and conservative legislators in the Iranian Parliament, Madia's reported.

Sadeghi criticized the Guardian Council (GC) for disqualifying competent candidates, insisted on the necessity of fighting corruption in the ruling echelons, and said the newly proposed budget bill was ambiguous.
Addressing his fellow legislators, he asked, “Are we the essence of the nation’s virtues? [No,] we are the essence of the Guardian Council’s virtues.”
Sadeghi was referring to a comment made by Khomeini in 1980 when he met the members of Iran’s first post-revolution parliament and described them as the “essence of nation’s virtues.”
According to Sadeghi, the members of the current parliament do not represent the Iranian people. “By disqualifying merited candidates, the Guardian Council has not allowed figures brave enough to fight corruption to have a seat in the parliament,” he said.
While attacking President Hassan Rouhani’s budget bill for a lack of transparency, Sadeghi said, “If we really want to combat corruption, we should start right here among ourselves. All ruling bodies of the country including the three powers of legislation, judiciary, and the executive need an iron will to fight corruption.”

Mahmoud Sadeghi

According to state-run Iran Students News Agency (ISNA), the speech widely angered conservative MPs, including those affiliated with the ultraconservative Consistency Front of Iran (CFI).
Ali Adyani Rad, MP for the city of Qaem Shahr, said, “If the parliament is really the essence of the GC’s virtues, then, one should ask whether your presence is legitimate. Based on Islamic laws, do you even have the right to vote or make comments [on bills and motions]?”
Deputy Speaker Ali Motahari then stepped in. “It is not an insult, I believe, to call members of the parliament the essence of the GC’s virtues i.e. the essence of virtues of a number of virtuous, pious, and righteous people. Yet, it could be insulting in an implicit manner. And the protest is sustained.”
However, a CFI member, Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, responded, “If somebody says MPs are the essence of the GC’s virtues, it [explicitly] means that the members of the parliament are not elected by the people.”
Immediately after these comments, Motahari switched off Hosseini’s microphone, declaring an end to the debate.
Hosseini rushed to the speakers’ podium and demanded time to continue his comments. Motahari told him to sit down, and several reformist MPs stepped in to take Hosseini back to his seat while conservative legislators pushed them away.
“Are you the essence of the nation’s virtues?” reformist MP Mohammad Reza Tabesh asked Hosseini.
Sadeghi’s outburst can be viewed as a direct challenge to conservatives, who control the crucial centers of power in Iran.

Iran regime a hundred times more dangerous than ISIS

Maryam Rajavi addressing the conference

 Maryam Rajavi , President of National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ) said the clerical regime in Iran is a hundred times more dangerous than ISIS and confronting it is far more imperative.
Speaking at an international conference in Paris to combat Iranian terrorism, Rajavi said, “Just as it was necessary to confront ISIS, it is far more imperative now to fight a hundred-times greater danger: the religious dictatorship in Iran, the IRGC and its mercenary militias.”
The conference in Paris focused on “Explosive Conditions in Iran, Mullahs’ Regime in Crises”, on Saturday, December 16, 2017.
Mrs. Rajavi pointed out, “The international community has finally acknowledged the dangers and threats posed by the IRGC albeit long overdue. These statements are a positive step forward but not sufficient to confront the increasing damages caused by this destructive force and the heavy price the nations in the region have paid because of western governments’ appeasement of the regime over so many years.”
She emphasized, “The overthrow of the clerical regime is certain and within reach. This is the only solution to the problems in Iran, the region, and the world.”
The conference opened by Jacques Boutault, Mayor of the 2nd District of Paris, consisted of three panels of European, Arab and Islamic, as well as North American dignitaries.
The speakers of the first panel included Gilbert Mitterrand, President of France Libertés; Roger Godsiff and Matthew Offord, members of the British Parliament; Michele de Vaucouleurs, Member of the French National Assembly and President of the Parliamentary Committee for Democratic Iran; Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, former German Minister of Justice; Rama Yade, former French Minister for Human Rights; Gerry Horkan, Chair of the Senate Budget Committee and deputy leader of the opposition party in the Irish Senate; Michael Kaminski, member of the Parliament of Poland; Romeo Nicoara, Member of the Romanian Parliament; and Otto Bernhardt, former Member of German Federal Parliament.
The speakers of the second panel included Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former Prime Minister of Algeria; George Sabra, President of the opposition Syrian National Council; Selva Oksoy, Vice Chair of the Syrian Coalition; Michel Kilo, a prominent Syrian opposition figure; Bassam Alamoush, former Ambassador of Jordan to Iran and former Minister of Administrative Development; Abdallah Altayar, Head of the Center for Future Gulf; Issa Turki, member of the Parliament of Bahrain; and Reyad Yassin, Ambassador of the Republic of Yemen in France and former Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The third panelists included Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield, former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State; General James Conway, former Commandant of the U.S. Marines; and John Baird, former Foreign Minister of Canada.
Mrs. Rajavi pointed out in her speech, “If the mullahs’ religious tyranny was not so detested within the country, it would not have needed the IRGC, the Quds Force, and a dozen mercenary groups in the region. And if the regime was not so unstable, it would not have needed to engage in destructive wars in the region. The regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and IRGC commanders have reiterated time and again that if they don’t fight in Syria and Iraq, they would have to fight in Tehran, Hamedan and Isfahan.
“Despite massive repression, they are terrified of the ultimate showdown with the Iranian people. They fear the Iranian people’s resolve for change, embodied in their organized resistance.”

Underlining the fact that the clerical regime is more vulnerable than ever, the Iranian Resistance’s President-elect called on western governments to undertake the following measures:
• Designate the IRGC as a terrorist entity and deny this criminal force and the entire Iranian regime access to the international banking system;
• Expel the IRGC and its militias from Syria, Iraq, and other countries in the region and prevent their transfer of troops and arms via these countries;
• Expel the operatives of the terrorist Quds Force and the Intelligence Ministry (MOIS) from Europe and the U.S.;
• Predicate all diplomatic and commercial relations with the mullahs’ religious dictatorship on an end to torture and executions in Iran;
• Call on the UN Security Council to set up a special tribunal on or refer the dossier of the Iranian regime’s crimes, particularly the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, to the International Criminal Court;
• Support reimbursing the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and the National Liberation Army of Iran for their properties, equipment, arms and basecamps by the government of Iraq.
• Recognize the National Council of Resistance of Iran as the sole democratic alternative to the religious, terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran. This is indispensable to ending and rectifying the disastrous policy of appeasement pursued by the US and Europe in the previous years.

Iranian missile program "aggressive": UAE minister

Anwar Gargash, UAEs Minister of State for Foreign Affairs

A senior official of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Saturday through his Twitter account that Iran is 'a serial missile exporter in the region.'
Anwar Gargash, UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said the defensive nature of Iran's missile program has been exposed for being 'a blatant lie.'
Gargash stated in English (he usually tweets in Arabic) as 'jittery Iranian reactions to evidence showing its culpability in the missile attacks on Saudi Arabia expected.'
'Iran's missile program is both aggressive and exportable,' added the minister, who regularly comments on geopolitical issues in the Middle East through social media channels.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia accuse Iran of providing and operating ballistic missiles for the Shiite Houthi rebels which they have been fighting militarily in a pan-Arab coalition since March 20 15 in order to restore Yemen's President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who was ousted by Houthis in September 2014.
Earlier the week, the UAE called on international community 'to more forcefully address Iran's threat.'
On Nov. 23, the chief commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said that the Islamic republic provides 'advisory assistance' for Houthi militants, Tasnim news agency reported.

Decision Time on Iran

The time has come to make hard decision on Iran

 Very soon, President Trump will have to decide whether America should remain a bystander to Iranian expansionism or take steps to confront this menace to international security and sponsor of global terrorism.
In October, when the president failed to certify Iranian compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aka the Iran nuclear deal, he began a process that is almost certain to force him to make controversial decisions in the coming months.
The Congress has had 60 days to propose measures that would punish Iran for its misbehavior and strengthen the JCPOA. It has not done so. The issue will therefore wind up once again in the Oval Office in January, when President Trump will choose between maintaining an agreement with a noncompliant signatory and re-imposing sanctions on Iran.
The pressure will be great from Democrats, Europeans, realists, and the remnants of the Obama echo chamber to persist in the fiction that a bad deal is better than no deal at all. Relenting to such pressure would signal to Iran that America is comfortable with a terrible status quo, and would bolster the impression among our allies that we are willing to cede the region to the Russian-Turkish-Iranian axis. Which would be a mistake.
To date, President Trump's Iran policy has been mostly rhetorical. Other than decertification and shooting down two Iranian drones over Syria, the United States, writes Middle East analyst Tony Badran, 'has relied on an indirect approach, premised on avoiding direct confrontation with Iran and its instruments,' such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, Shiite militias in Iraq, and Houthi rebels in Yemen. But, adds Badran, 'this indirect, long-term approach has proven futile and counterproductive.' Iranian proxies have used the opportunity to consolidate their positions and expand their reach.
That has led to an Iranian presence on the border of Israel, inflamed sectarian tensions in Iraq, and missiles fired at Riyadh from the portions of Yemen under Houthi control. And all the while the mullahs in Tehran and their Revolutionary Guard Corps continue to benefit from the economic opportunities realized in the JCPOA.
The Trump administration seems to have recognized that Iran has the upper hand and started to resist. In recent days H.R. McMaster and Mike Pompeo have warned against Iranian influence in Syria, the administration has said that American forces will remain in Syria in the aftermath of the ISIS campaign, and Nikki Haley has denounced Iran's illegal transfer of weaponry and technology to the Houthis. Monday brings the release of the president's national security strategy, which is sure to have similar harsh language.
What has been missing is direct action against either Iran or its proxies. Instead we have a patchwork policy of containment that does not contain. Reuel Marc Gerecht describes it this way: 'The White House annoys Tehran with minor sanctions, sells more weaponry to Gulf Arabs, occasionally has a second-tier official—the secretary of state—give a speech on Iranian oppression, leaves some troops in Syria and Iraq, and calls it progress.' Gerecht's language is illustrative of the limits on American power that we have imposed on ourselves. A gnat annoys. A superpower overwhelms.
Having already to deal with tensions on the Korean peninsula, war in Afghanistan, and a global counterterrorism campaign, the temptation must be strong for the president to use the Sunni powers as U.S. subcontractors in the fight against Iran. He of all people should know that subcontractors are sometimes unreliable. But the cost of enhanced Iranian power in the Middle East and Persian Gulf is not printed on an invoice that the United States can refuse to pay.
Last week the president ignored received opinion and acted on the common sense notion that reality is indeed as it seems, that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and that willful ignorance is no escape from that fact. The conflagration that his internal and external critics predicted would follow this assertion of truth failed to materialize. Is it too much to hope that in 2018 he will follow his instincts once more, and act upon a concrete appraisal of the situation despite the insistence of elite opinion to the contrary?
For the JCPOA really is, as the president has said, a terrible deal. Iran does not have the interests of either the United States or our allies in mind. And speeches are no substitute for the unapologetic assertion of might in the right.

US leads world’s hardline stance against Iran's malign influence in ME

US President Donald Tramp

As part of the US and the world’s push to curtail Iran's malign influence and hold it accountable for the terrorist activities it carries out in the Middle East, Washington presented on Thursday “concrete” proof that Iran is violating UN resolutions by supplying weapons to Houthis in Yemen.
“In this warehouse is concrete evidence of illegal Iranian weapons proliferation, gathered from direct military attacks on partners in the region,” US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said, standing in front of a charred ballistic missile the size of a car during a press conference at Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling in Washington, DC.
Gesturing to the massive rocket behind her, she argued for stronger international sanctions against Tehran.

 Ambassador Nikki Haley

Concrete evidence

“These are the recovered pieces of a missile fired by Houthi terrorists from Yemen into Saudi Arabia,” she said.
“The missile’s intended target was a civilian airport in Riyadh through which tens of thousands of passengers travel each day.
“Just imagine if this missile had been launched at Dulles Airport or JFK, or the airports in Paris, London or Berlin. The fight against Iranian aggression is the world’s fight,” she added.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates provided the Pentagon with the recovered munitions. Trotting out the weapons required having them declassified by the Pentagon, an unprecedented move, Haley said.
Saudi Arabia is a major rival of Iran and is providing support to the Yemeni government in its struggle to crack down on Houthi terrorists.
Under the terms of the Iran nuclear deal, the country is barred from selling weapons without the UN Security Council’s approval.

Houthis fighters

Coalition against Iran

Haley promised that the US could convince international partners to crack down on Iran.
“You will see us build a coalition to really push back against Iran and what they’re doing,” Haley said.
A US official said prior to Haley's remarks that the presentation is part of a new Trump administration effort to ratchet up pressure on Tehran as the administration weighs whether to stay in the Iran nuclear deal which was negotiated by the previous administration.
The US has long believed that Iran is providing weaponry to proxies and partners and militias throughout the region, and what we have here to show you today is proof,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Laura Seal.
The unprecedented move by the Pentagon is part of its follow-through on US President Donald Trump’s new Iran policy, which promises a far harder line toward Tehran.

The Hill

US sales of aircraft

For Tehran, it seems it never rains but it pours. On Thursday, the US House passed legislation that would require Treasury Department officials to report to Congress on Iranian purchases of US aircraft and how those sales are financed, and certify that they would not aid Iran's effort to distribute weapons.
The bill is another effort by lawmakers to highlight how US sales of aircraft to Iran might boost the regime's terrorist activities in the Middle East.
On Wednesday, US House of Representatives approved a draft resolution stating that the Treasury Department is required to publish a list of the assets of Iranian leaders, more specifically Mullah's regime leader Khamenei.
This comes amid congressional calls for investigations on how these resources are spent on supporting and spreading terrorism.
The US House of Representatives approved law number HR 1638 on Wednesday titled “Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act”.
The draft resolution also needs to be approved by the Senate and signed by the US president in order to become a law.
“As the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran has consistently violated its people’s basic human rights and has ignored United Nations sanctions against its dangerous weapons programs,” said Congressman Poliquin.

Khamenei is giving presidential decree to Rouhan 

Leaders' assets

The law also requires the US Treasury Department to create a full report about the movable and immovable property of prominent figures including Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani, members of the Council of Guardians, members of the Expediency Council and the top military leaders.
The bill reaffirms that these political figures, military leaders, governmental heads and Revolutionary Guard officials in Iran have received vast amounts of wealth through corruption and embezzlement.
Iran is now caught between a rock and a hard place. Amid mounting international pressure, denouncement of its support and funding of terrorists groups, and looming additional sanctions, Tehran will eventually stop its heinous practices, observers told The Baghdad Post. 
There is no room for leniency. The hardline stance is the only method that can work with a state sponsor of terrorism, they noted, adding that the US recent decisions are just an introduction to more serious and decisive international movements. 

Trump administration showcases weapons to allege Iran is increasing its role in Yemen

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley briefs reporters against a backdrop of the remains of an Iranian Qiam ballistic missile, at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington on Dec. 14, 2017

The Trump administration said Thursday it would use what it describes as evidence of Iran’s deepening military involvement in Yemen’s civil war to secure a new international consensus for harsher action against Tehran, part of a plan to isolate its chief adversary in the Middle East.

U.S. officials have seized on a series of missile strikes by a Yemeni rebel group against Saudi Arabia as an opportunity to intensify global pressure on Iran.

At an elaborately staged presentation at a Washington military base, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the  United Nations , showcased weaponry that she said constituted “undeniable” proof that Iran had expanded its support for Houthi rebels in Yemen as it continues to back armed groups in Lebanon, Syria and other countries.

“This evidence demonstrates a pattern of behavior in which Iran sows conflict and extremism,” ­Haley said, flanked by an array of mangled missile parts, a broken-up drone and other weaponry recovered by Persian Gulf allies of the United States.

The rare decision to publicly present materiel exploited by intelligence analysts underscores the Trump administration’s determination to galvanize new international action against Iran even as President Trumpthreatens to abandon the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated by his predecessor and other world powers.

The focus of Haley’s presentation were remnants of what officials say are two ballistic missiles manufactured in Iran, smuggled into Yemen and used by Houthi fighters to launch a series of attacks this year on targets deep within Saudi Arabia, including one of the country’s busiest civilian airports.

U.S. officials point to design features and markings — described as being from government-run defense firms — that indicate the missiles areIranian Qiam short-range ballistic missiles.

“The weapons might as well have had ‘Made in Iran’ stickers all over” them, Haley said, accusing Iran of violating U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Iran has denied the allegations. In a message on Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif compared Haley’s presentation to then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell’s 2003 allegations about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which were later found to be false. “When I was based at the U.N., I saw this show and what it begat,” he said.

While administration officials have already privately briefed allied officials on the new information, it is unclear whether it will be enough to sway European and other U.S. allies that continue to back the nuclear deal and may be reluctant to embrace new punishments against Tehran.

Jarrett Blanc, who served as a senior official on the Iran deal under the Obama administration, said European countries did not share the United States’ “pathological fear” of Iran but are worried about Iran’s military support for groups such as the Shiite Houthis in Yemen.

“The question is, what do the Europeans need in terms of confidence that the United States is not going to blow up the [Iran deal] in order to do something on ballistic missiles?” said Blanc, who is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The public affairs blitz in Washington takes place as a punishing three-year-old civil war continues in Yemen. The conflict, which began in 2014 when Houthis seized control of Sanaa, the country’s capital, and drove the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi from power, has killed thousands and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.

The United States has provided military support to Saudi Arabia, which leads a coalition of Arab states that entered the war in March 20 15 to beat back what Saudi Arabia said is an Iranian proxy force. Most analysts agree the war has driven Shiite Iran and the Houthis toward greater cooperation.

“Most people agree at this point that the Saudis are facing a legitimate security threat and that Iran is part of the problem,” said April Alley, aYemen researcher at the International Crisis Group.

“Critics would say that by continuing down this road, things will just get worse,” Alley said. The Houthi missile offensive — and its potential to spark retaliation by the Saudis or their allies — “raises the specter of escalation in other locations in the region,” she said.

The war took another chaotic turn this month with the breakdown of the wartime alliance between the Houthis and Ali Abdullah Saleh, a former president who retained significant influence in the country. After days of clashes in Sanaa, the Houthis killed Saleh, routed his forces and embarked on a withering crackdown on Saleh loyalists.

The events of the past few weeks have both emboldened the Houthis and stiffened the determination of the Saudi-led coalition to defeat them at any cost, analysts said.

“We believe the Houthis will never come to peace voluntarily,” Abdulmalik al-Mekhlafi, the foreign minister of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, said in an interview last week. “On the contrary — after what happened in Sanaa, they have this false sense of victory.”

“This has to be broken,” he added.

The military materiel showcased Thursday also included what officials said was a drone that could be used for “kamikaze” purposes, equipment from an attack speedboat and remnants of an antitank missile, all of which were described as having been made in Iran. One piece of computer equipment had been mined to extract photos that officials said were taken at a facility of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The officials said the materiel was handed over by the governments ofSaudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and that there was no doubt about its provenance, even though in some cases U.S. officials did not have specific information on where the materiel was recovered.

Haley declined to give specifics about what actions the United Stateswould ask allies to take against Iran at the United Nations or elsewhere. The administration might also seek to use the display to increase support among congressional Republicans for taking steps that could ultimately lead to the scuttling of the nuclear deal.

In October, Trump withheld certification of the nuclear pact but did not pull the United States out of it entirely. The next certification deadline is in January.

Richard Nephew, a former U.S. government specialist on sanctions and a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, said there were few options for imposing new sanctions or other measures on Iran, at least in the United States.

“It may be pretty straightforward and easy to convince a U.S.congressperson,” Nephew said. “It is an order of magnitude more difficult to prove that to a European or Japanese official

Haley cited a report from U.N. Secretary General António Guterres that she said illustrates U.N. certainty about Iran’s behavior.