Biden: "We Will Free Iran"; Raisi: "Mr. President! Iran was liberated 43 years ago, and it’s determined to never become a milk cow."

Biden: "We Will Free Iran"; Raisi: "Mr. President! Iran was liberated 43 years ago, and it’s determined to never become a milk cow."

    Friday, November 04, 2022   No comments

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden vowed to "liberate" Iran.

On Friday, a White House spokesman flet the need to clarify: President Joe Biden was expressing his solidarity with protesters in Iran by telling a crowd of his supporters, "We will liberate Iran."

White House national security spokesman John Kirby made the remarks to reporters a day after Biden made his comment at a rally in California.

On Friday, too, Iran's president said that the country had been freed by the 1979 Islamic revolution in response to a vow by US president Joe Biden to "free Iran". Ebrahim Raisi said: “Maybe he said this because of a lack of concentration...He said we aim to liberate Iran," 

“Mr. President! Iran was liberated 43 years ago, and it’s determined not to become your captive again. We will never become a milk cow.”

   

Iran's President, Raisi: Iran's positions on the nuclear deal are right, and we will not retreat from them

Iran's President, Raisi: Iran's positions on the nuclear deal are right, and we will not retreat from them

    Thursday, July 14, 2022   No comments

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi stressed that "the Islamic Republic of Iran will not retreat from its logical and correct positions" in the negotiations to revive the nuclear deal.

Raisi said, in his speech on Wednesday, "We recommend the Americans to adopt a realistic view, and to draw lessons from the past, instead of repeating the failed experiment of the policy of maximum pressure on the Iranian people."

The Iranian president added, during a cabinet meeting, that "those who violated the nuclear agreement should be vigilant and not think of repeating previous wrong experiences," noting that "the Islamic Republic of Iran did not present any demands outside the framework of the nuclear agreement, and practiced a rational approach in the negotiations."

Raisi reiterated that Iran's positions are "right and logical, and we will not retreat from them, and no party has the right to address us with the language of force," adding: "We recommend Washington to take a realistic view instead of repeating the failed experiment of the policy of maximum pressure," which it knew mainly during the rule of former President Donald Trump.

Raisi continued, "The Americans say that Iran must return to the nuclear agreement, while they are the ones who withdrew from it and violated their obligations, not us," referring to the "unjust US embargo imposed on the Iranian people."

"The United States has repeatedly declared that the pressure it is imposing on the Iranian people is unprecedented, but the Iranian Foreign Ministry has officially confirmed that these pressures have failed shamefully," he said.

Raisi noted, "The Americans must have realized over the past 43 years that they cannot speak to the Iranian people with the language of force, but they continue this approach, which will certainly not bring them any results."

Referring to the visit of the US President and other officials to the region, Raisi stressed that "if these visits aim to strengthen the position of the Zionist entity and normalize its relations with some countries, then Washington must know that its efforts in the region will not achieve security for the Zionist entity."

Addressing the US administration, Raisi said: "If you want to know the impact of your movements in the region, then look at the attitude of its peoples toward the Zionist entity, for the hatred against the Zionists and their crimes has increased in the hearts of the peoples of the region."

Raisi stressed that Iran "is closely monitoring developments in the region, and we will not lose sight of any movement in it," saying, "We have repeatedly told the Americans that we will respond firmly to the slightest move that affects Iran's territorial integrity."

Tehran denies selling drones to Moscow

In related news, on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian affirmed that his country "rejects America's allegations regarding Iran's sale of hundreds of drones to Russia."

In an interview with the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica", Amir Abdollahian added: "We have various types of cooperation with Russia, including defense cooperation, but we do not provide support to both conflicting parties, because we affirm the necessity of stopping the war, and we are working on that."

The Iranian foreign minister stressed that "Tehran is making efforts to stop the Ukrainian war," noting that "the problem lies elsewhere, as some Western countries, especially America, manufacture weapons and are trying to sell them."

Yesterday, Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, said that "the record of cooperation between Iran and the Russian Federation, in the field of modern technologies, dates back to the period before the Ukrainian war," noting that "no remarkable development occurred in this regard, during Recently".

"These allegations by US officials came at a time when America and Europe turned the occupying and aggressor countries, including in West Asia, into stockpiles of deadly weapons," the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Russia: The Iranian rallies deal with Russia is misleading the American media

In turn, the Russian Foreign Ministry commented on the matter, stressing that "the Iranian rallies deal to Russia is a US media misinformation that accompanies President Joe Biden's tour in the Middle East."

"This kind of disinformation by Washington has become commonplace," a State Department source said. "It's yet another baffling and ridiculous statement by a high-ranking American representative, but we're leaving it to Jake Sullivan (National Security Adviser)."

According to the source, "this statement was apparently timed to coincide with Biden's Middle East tour scheduled for July 13-16."

He noted that this disinformation "is aimed at further heating up anti-Iranian sentiment in Arab countries, through the deliberate dissemination of misinformation about cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the sensitive military-technical field."

The source added, "Although the official representative of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanaani, actually refuted this misinformation, it must be noted that the media event itself was chosen in vain, and that Jake Sullivan's logic is not convincing, and completely devoid of logic."

Moreover, the transfer of a large number of highly efficient Iranian-made drones to the Ukrainian theater of operations far from the Middle East, would significantly reduce the risks of their use directly in the region, and could not raise the concerns of the Arab countries.

And the US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, had said, earlier, that his country had information that “Iran is preparing to supply Russia with hundreds of drones,” and “train Russian soldiers to use them in the Ukrainian war,” claiming that “Iran will begin this in current month".

President Tebboune receives President Abbas and Haniyeh in a meeting on the sidelines of Algeria's Independence Day Celebrations

President Tebboune receives President Abbas and Haniyeh in a meeting on the sidelines of Algeria's Independence Day Celebrations

    Tuesday, July 05, 2022   No comments

On Tuesday evening, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune held a meeting that brought together Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with a delegation from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), led by the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh.

According to the official Algerian television, the meeting was held at the Conference Palace, west of the capital, Algiers, on the sidelines of the participation of the Palestinian delegation in the celebrations of the sixtieth anniversary of the country's independence from France on July 5, 1962.

In addition to Abbas and Haniyeh, Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Omar, Palestinian intelligence chief Majed Faraj, Palestine Chief Justice Muhammad al-Habbash and Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri participated in the meeting.

The television broadcast scenes in which Abbas, Haniyeh and the rest of the leaders appear in one session, with President Tebboune in the middle.

Algerian television did not report the content of the meeting, which it described as “historic.”

Abbas visited Algeria in December 2021, and the two sides announced at the time an agreement for Algeria to host a conference for Palestinian reconciliation that precedes the Arab summit.

Saudi Arabia: The Hariri and Khashoggi files are an example of media failure

Saudi Arabia: The Hariri and Khashoggi files are an example of media failure

    Friday, November 05, 2021   No comments

 

Exactly four years ago, Saad Hariri spent his first night in detention in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, by order of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The latter was in the process of carrying out a coup in Lebanon, re-shuffling the cards in the Levant. After this coup failed inside Lebanon, Western and Arab countries intervened to rescue Hariri from captivity and return him to Beirut.

Bin Salman did not preach, and repeated the crime a year later, in his country's consulate in Istanbul, where Jamal Khashoggi was murdered. No one in the world objected to what the Rising Prince had done within the confines of his kingdom. But the two crimes of kidnapping Hariri and killing Khashoggi left him in more embarrassment than the aggression on Yemen. The crime that a besieged people has been subjected to, continuously for more than six years, is being waged by Ibn Salman with full Western support, breached from time to time by slight criticism from American or European officials, while they leave their official positions, or when they want to blackmail the milking cow in Riyadh.

Hariri's kidnapping crime was the basis. The Saudi crown prince did not pay for it, which encouraged him to commit others. Khashoggi's murder may have been a direct result of bin Salman's impunity after he kidnapped the prime minister of a supposedly sovereign country in the twenty-first century. It can also be concluded that the failure to hold him accountable, even verbally, for his actions on November 4, 2017, made him dare to repeat the coup attempt in Jordan, where he could not invoke confronting the non-existent Iranian influence, nor fighting Hezbollah and its arsenal. Today, it is opening a new chapter of recklessness in Lebanon, by punishing it and seeking to bring about political change in it, through blackmail and threats, under the pretext of statements made by a media person who happened to become, after that, the Minister of Information. George Kordahi's case is also based on the passing of the crime that took place four years ago, without any blame. The former Lebanese prime minister acted like a Saudi citizen, seeking the consent of the guardian, by all possible means. But the problem was that official Lebanon had also given up its right. Despite the passage of four years since bin Salman’s aggression, the authority agreed to be in the position of the accused, not the accused, which prompted the Saudi regime to carry out more attacks on the “younger brother”: the Lebanese security services help their Saudi counterparts in the fight against drugs, so the reward is penalties in the commercial field . (Former) Foreign Minister Charbel Wahba makes a verbal mistake against Saudi Arabia, so he is forced to resign. George Qardahi says a word of truth about the criminal war on Yemen, so Ibn Salman decides to punish the whole of Lebanon.

The problem is not so much with the emir's recklessness as it is with the authority that has made Lebanon a country "with low walls". The strong performance of that authority in November 2017, which eventually led to the release of the prime minister, was quickly wasted in the following days. The crime of kidnapping Hariri, humiliating him and forcing him to resign, was an occasion to correct part of the distortion in the dysfunctional relationship between the Saudi regime and Lebanon. The latter was not required to wage war, but rather his duty was to manage the post-crisis phase in a manner that preserves the country's rights and dignity, and deters Ibn Salman from repeating his crime. Leaving him in this way, he turned the crime of kidnapping the prime minister, as was the killing of Khashoggi later, into a public relations problem that Ibn Salman addresses by spending some money on image-improving companies, and encouraging him to make Lebanon a servile country that obeys his orders. As usual, official Lebanon is looking for a way to acquiesce again, ignoring that whoever kidnapped a prime minister one day, without anyone questioning him, will repeat it in the coming days. This is the conclusion that Najib Mikati should be aware of today, while he is talking about “predominantly the national interest.” Achieving this “interest” by conceding to bin Salman again and again means placing the neck of the concessioner between two future options: slapping and kicking at the Ritz-Carlton, or sawing off in a consulate.

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Source: Alakhbar

Two competing stories about the US-Iranian armed forces confrontation in Sea of Oman

Two competing stories about the US-Iranian armed forces confrontation in Sea of Oman

    Wednesday, November 03, 2021   No comments

 On November 3, 2011, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards boarded a tanker carrying oil in the Sea of Oman. US forces in the area tried to recover the tanker, prompting confrontation between the two forces. The tanker was ultimately directed to Iranian territorial waters, US forces withdrew. Some media outlets explained that the second tanker was carrying Iranian oil, which was transferred from an Iranian tanker. This was the preliminary report.

A second report published by a telegram account connected with the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps provide a different account. This report claims that sometime ago, US forces intercepted an Iranian tanker loaded with Iranian oil on its way to Venezuela. US forces boarded that tanker, transferred its content to a second tanker and let the crew of the Iranian tanker go. The Crew reported to Iranian authorities what happened and described the tanker used by US forces. Days ago, Iranian auth
orities identified the same tanker used by US forces in this earlier incident in the area and continued to monitor it. When the tanker was loaded with oil from some country in the region and started its journey out of the Gulf, it was intercepted by Iran’s revolutionary guards corps in the Sea of Oman and directed it to Iranian territorial waters while US tried several attempts to rescue the tanker, but failed.

As of this writing, no official statement was issued by US and Iran governments. It is likely that now the tanker is in Iranian waters, an official statement will be released by the Iranian authorities.

It should be noted however that the second report is the more likely the factual one when cross-referencing other events. US authorities under the Trump administration have already disclosed that US forces intercepted Iranian shipments of oil to Venezuela, seized the oil, and sold it. This event might be the payback for that event.

Developing Story: Iran says thwarts US attempt to 'steal' oil in Oman Sea

Hezbollah takes journalists in Lebanon on a tour to prove Trump wrong

Hezbollah takes journalists in Lebanon on a tour to prove Trump wrong

    Monday, July 31, 2017   No comments

...
On Saturday, Hezbollah took a party of journalists on a tour that helped explain, trumpeting the results of the militia’s recent fight against Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate in barren mountains near the northeastern Lebanese town of Arsal.

The arduous trek into the rocky terrain underscored the sway the Iran-backed Hezbollah exerts in Lebanon, where it remains the most effective and best-armed military force and retains the ability to strike at will almost anywhere in the country.

It also illuminated the complexity of the political and military landscape in Lebanon — a U.S. ally, whose government includes Hezbollah, which is in turn branded a terrorist organization by Washington. Whether the Trump administration can navigate the pitfalls of this complexity may determine if this tiny, relatively calm country can continue to escape the turmoil raging elsewhere in the Middle East.

Trump’s comment was made alongside Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who was on a visit to the United States to seek U.S. support. “Lebanon is on the front lines in the fight against ISIS, al-Qaeda and Hezbollah,” Trump said, without apparently realizing that Hariri struck an alliance with Hezbollah late last year to secure his appointment as prime minister.

The comment coincided with the conclusion of a two-week offensive by Hezbollah in the Arsal area that drove out scores of al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters belonging to the group known as Jabhat al-Nusra, as well as well as several hundred former Free Syrian Army rebels — whose allies until recently had received support from the United States.

Hezbollah officials said they took journalists on the tour to demonstrate that Hezbollah, not the United States, is the one doing most of the fighting against terrorism.

“The current American president is ignorant of the region,” said Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif, speaking to reporters in a cave until recently occupied by Nusra. “We are the force that fights terrorism while the United States continues to support terrorism in many forms.”

Guided by a vanguard of Hezbollah officials in black-windowed armored vehicles, a convoy comprising over 40 journalists’ four-wheel-drive vehicles set out Saturday from the nearby Bekaa Valley and trundled slowly up a rocky mountain into the area where the battles took place... source
  

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