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But thanks chiefly to the efforts of the Levinson family and of former Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, where Mr. Levinson and his wife lived, the truth about his relationship with the C.I.A. slowly emerged. Over time, Mr. Levinsons family made repeated efforts either directly or through intermediaries to learn about his fate. His wife, Christine, and son Dan traveled to Tehran and to Kish Island.

After an internal investigation, the C.I.A. disciplined 10 employees, including the three veteran analysts who were forced to leave the agency. The C.I.A. eventually paid Mr. Levinsons family a $2.5 million annuity and an additional $120,000, the cost of renewing Mr. Levinsons contract. Both sides wanted to avoid a lawsuit that would publicly reveal details of the arrangement.

Mr. Levinson was last seen alive in a 2010 hostage video pleading for help and in photographs wearing a Guantnamo-style orange jumpsuit. Neither the video nor the images disclosed the identities of his captors. The video had a Pashtun wedding song popular in Afghanistan playing in the background, but F.B.I. investigators concluded that it was so artfully staged that it was probably made by a state-sponsored intelligence group.

At one point during the Obama administration, Iranian officials secretly informed American officials that they had received intelligence that the remains of an American had been buried in Balochistan, a rugged, lawless region in western Pakistan that borders Afghanistan and Iran. Americans officials assumed that the remains were Mr. Levinsons.

But the Pakistani authorities found no remains at the site, and American officials concluded that the report, rather than a gesture of good will, was a gambit by Iran to further cloud its role in Mr. Levinsons fate.

During the Obama administration, officials overseeing efforts to find him had no clear evidence that Mr. Levinson was either alive or dead.

Last year, Iran acknowledged for the first time that it had an open court case involving Mr. Levinson. In a filing to the United Nations, Iran said the case was ongoing before its Revolutionary Court, without elaborating.

Read the original:
Ex-F.B.I. Agent Who Vanished on C.I.A. Mission to Iran Is Most Likely Dead, U.S. Concludes - The New York Times

Tensions between Tehran and Washington further deteriorated in early January, when top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was assassinated in a US drone strike on his car in Baghdad.

Major General Hossein Salami, Chief Commander of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), has urged the US to use its military for domestic purposes instead of sending it abroad.

When the Americans are in the region, they will both harm themselves and the nations [in the region], and their existence results in nothing but the deterioration of their own power and damage to these nations, Salami pointed out on Saturday.

He referred toan IRGC missile attack on a US airbase in January, saying that some US officials announced after the strike that they wanted to carry out limited operations against the Iranians, which was no more than a political bluff".

Salami noted that after Washington tested the power of the Islamic Republic, the US knows very well how Iran will react to any efforts to undermine it.

He called on US officials to really care about the lives of their people in New York and the states involved with coronavirus rather than thinking about Hollywood scenarios and killing people in Iraq.

Instead of deploying their troops around the world to displace people, it is better to keep their army in the United States to solve the problems of its people, like Iran, which has used its armed forces to fight the coronavirus, Salami said, adding that from the first day of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran, Tehran used all the capabilities of the IRGC [] to combat the virus.

Iran hasthe highest COVID-19 infection ratesin the Middle East and ranks sixth in the world in total infections after the US, China, Italy, Spain, and Germany.

Salamis remarks come after he signaled on Thursday Irans readiness to help the US grapple with the coronavirus, adding that Tehran doesnt need Washingtons assistance in this regard.

The statement followed Salami pledging last week that Iran will continue to respond to the US assassination of the top Iranian general in Iraq earlier this year.

The Americans assassinated our great commander. We have responded to that terrorist act and will respond to it, Salami said in a televised address.

Salami also commented on the economic situation in the country amid the tough US sanctions against Iran, stressing that Tehrans enemies have not been able to subjugate Iran through economic pressure".

Assassination of Qasem Soleimani

On 3 January, a US drone strike, authorised by President Trump, killed Soleimani and Shia militia commander Abu Mahdi Muhandis who both were in a car at the Baghdad International Airport. Washington alleged that the two men were involved in an attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad in late December.

Soleimanis assassination led toa major escalation of tensions between Tehran and Washington, with Iran officially responding by launching airstrikes against two Iraqi military bases housing US troops.

The strikes caused no deaths or serious injuries, but the Pentagon has since reported that at least 109 US servicemembers have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries.

Bilateral tensions have been simmering since Trump announcedWashington's unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on 8 May 2019, also reinstating harsh economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Exactly a year later, Iran announced that it was suspending implementation of some of its obligations under the JCPOA.

See original here:
IRGC hief warns US not to further test the Power of Iran - The Nation

A group of artistes from Iran have written a moving open letter to the artiste community of the world about the despairing COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, aggravated in the light of the U.S.-led Security Council sanctions. The signatories 302 as of March 28 include stalwarts of cinema such as Majid Majidi and Rakshan Banietemad, popular actor-filmmaker-writer Niki Karimi, actor Babak Karimi and Shahab Hosseini who won the best actor award at Cannes Film Festival in 2016 for Asghar Farhadis celebrated film, The Salesman.

The people of Iran are facing a crisis today; the Corona crisis you are aware of, as well as the Crisis of Unjust Imposed Sanctions you might not be aware of, the artistes letter states. There is implicit hope that their global counterparts would be able to influence public opinion and politicians so that theyd act before its too late. Iran is currently fighting the worst Corona outbreak in the Middle East.

The letter starts off by saying that artistes, no matter what their nationality, are citizens of a borderless utopia called art which exists in a world entitled culture . They strive to improve their nations with their collective works and have talent to influence people and make them understand issues. Regardless of our religious backgrounds and ideologies, using our individual tastes, styles and cultural characteristics, we all create narratives and images with our works of art; for peace over war, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and of course for our salvation and resurrection, the letter states.

It goes on to say that though global politics and its superpowers have created gaps to keep the artistes separated, they have become stronger and more determined in transferring their collective messages of humanity and peace to the world.

It talks of everyone, regardless of their geographic or political situation, coming face to face with a common enemy COVID-19. We are all equally vulnerable to this microscopic adversary. The salvation of one, depends on the salvation of all. Corona is not just a virus, it is a simple and historic question that is waiting for complex answers from the people and governments of the world. It then goes on to focus on the debilitating effect of the sanctions on Iran in the countrys fight against the pandemic saying that its breaths are limited by inhumane global sanctions.

Also read: Indias health diplomacy cannot ignore Iran

This crisis shall pass too, with small or catastrophic losses, but the collection of tales will remain as well. The stories of exhausted nurses dancing in contaminated hospital hallways to raise the morale of patients, as they hide their worries about the lack of medicines and basic hospital facilities; stories of physicians who havent been home in weeks and are forced to work without masks, gloves, gowns as they search for Corona victims in the hallways of the hospitals. These will all remain in the micro-historical memories of our time, and will be heard by all, sooner or later, either from us or from you all, it states.

Hoping that it will not be too late for influential and unified artistes of the world to tell the stories of the injustices towards the Iranian people, so that the powerful politicians of the world may make the right choices, it informs them that a large number of infected victims (including the elderly who are the most vulnerable) are facing shortages of medical supplies. It ends with questions posited to the artistes of the world What do you think? What do you say? And what will you do?

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Continued here:
Coronavirus | Iranian artistes write open letter on COVID-19 and U.S. sanctions - The Hindu

March 27, 2020, 8:57 PM

6 min read

6 min read

Iran, already struggling to fight the growing spread of novel coronavirus, is now coming to grips with an alcohol poisoning problem that has killed hundreds of people this year.

In the wake of the deaths, officials initially blamed misinformation on social media for convincing victims that drinking alcohol could protect them against coronavirus. But a change in explanation from doctors is opening eyes to a larger problem of bootleg alcohol in the country.

"The first few days we all thought patients had drunken alcohol to protect themselves of corona, as some of them claimed so," Gholam Hosein Mohebbi, head of the public relation of Imam Hospital of Ahwaz, told ABC News.

"But later we realized from their families and friends that they were mostly alcohol users who would get their alcohol from bootleggers, but this time what they had been handed over was a methanol-based drink, not their usual booze, named araq, mixed with water and ethanol," he added.

Trading and drinking alcohol is illegal in Iran, and those seeking alcoholic drinks often rely on a chain of black market dealers without knowing where and how the drinks are produced. The dealers themselves are often not sure of the source of the alcohol.

Members of firefighters wear protective face masks, amid fear of coronavirus disease, as they disinfect the streets, ahead of the Iranian New Year Nowruz, March 20, in Tehran, Iran March 18, 2020.

"One of those [who] died of poisoning in our hospital was an alcohol dealer," Mohebbi said, cautioning people not to trust anyone selling alcoholic drinks and pleading on behalf of a medical staff already overwhelmed with coronavirus infections.

At least 2,197 people have been poisoned by alcohol across the country since the first reported cases of coronavirus in early February and 244 had died as of Sunday, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Iran is already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic; it is the hardest hit country in the Middle East.

The country has an official death toll of 2,378 from 32,332 infection cases, the spokesman of the health ministry, Kianoush Jahanpour, said on Friday, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.

The rising number of poisoning casualties alarmed other alcohol users to avoid trusting their former dealers.

"People are afraid of buying booze from their dealers," said a 29-year old student who did not want his name to be mentioned for security reasons. He lives in Ahwaz, the capital of the province of Khuzastan, which ranks second in the number of alcohol poisoning casualties. The shortage and increasing price of ethanol has led some producers to end up adding poisonous methanol to the drinks instead of drinkable ethanol, he believes.

"My friend has started making alcohol at home after he lost a friend to poisoning earlier this month," he added.

However, making alcohol at home can also be dangerous.

"If you are unfamiliar with the process, you might end up poisoning your own stuff with a minor mistake. That's why I can't trust his first products," the student said. He said he rejected his friend's invitation to a drink at his place.

"I said no, but can't stop thinking about him as he is an alcoholic and can't just quit easily, especially now with so much free time he has under quarantine," he added.

Members of Iranian Red Crescent test people with possible coronavirus COVID-19 symptoms, as police blocked Tehran to Alborz highway to check every car following ordered by the Iranian government, outside Tehran on March 26, 2020.

Mohebbi expressed his concerns about people with alcohol problems, too.

"We know that those who have alcohol problem[s] have a tough time, but it is banned in our religion. I hope they try to stop drinking at least for now," Mohebbi said.

Despite the illegality of drinking alcohol, those who are poisoned and taken to the hospital are not being prosecuted or arrested, Mohebbi emphasized.

"As medical staff, we are loyal to our duty, which is treating everyone. It doesn't matter if a patient is poisoned by alcohol or is infected by corona," he said. However, to reach the main sources of methanol contamination, police ask questions from the patients.

"Police does not pressure the patients at all. They just try to gain as much information as they can to find the source and prevent more casualties," Mohebbi said.

Go here to see the original:
Iran confronts deadly alcohol crisis in midst of dealing with coronavirus - ABC News

To the Editor:

Re Lifting Sanctions on Iran (editorial, March 26):

Two and a half years ago, my wife and I were tourists in Iran. For nearly two weeks, every day, groups of young Iranians stopped us in the street, in restaurants and at historical sites wanting to talk about their government and ours. We were astounded by their openness and forthrightness. We were amazed by how many of these young people were opposed to their leaders and were willing to say so.

The editorial correctly notes that compassion is a good foreign policy. More important, if the United States does not stand in the way of emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund, that could only encourage the young people we met to struggle to gain some power over their autocratic leaders.

Stephen GoldPhiladelphia

To the Editor:

Re Tommy John Surgery Will Sideline Mets Syndergaard for the 2020 Season (Sports, March 25):

So a 27-year-old multimillionaire who plays a game was able to get immediate surgery for a non-life-threatening injury at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Florida despite the Florida governors order prohibiting any medically unnecessary, non-urgent or nonemergency procedure. But I, an 82-year-old woman who has been waiting more than five long, painful months for a hip replacement, had her surgery canceled by the same Hospital for Special Surgery, in New York.

You report that his operation was defined as essential care by the hospital in Florida and could proceed as planned. How is this an ethical decision? Or is it based on his economic stardom?

Clearly, my agonizing wait, with no end in sight, doesnt count against an elite sports figure who commands essential care and the use of scarce resources. He can walk. I cant.

Susan AddelstonNew York

To the Editor:

Re At the Frontlines of Coronavirus, Turning to Social Media, by Helen Ouyang, M.D. (Doctors, nytimes.com, March 18):

Social media has become a pivotal communication tool in the 21st century and central to information and misinformation dissemination in the Covid-19 pandemic. While there are potential drawbacks, social media has enabled the scientific community to analyze and discuss data in nearly real time allowing for informed decision-making and multidisciplinary global research collaborations.

In our on demand society, it is vital to balance rapid dissemination of information with scientific integrity. Social media has been crucial for dispelling myths surrounding Covid-19 and building relationships between the media and experts. These relationships are critical to ensure proper context and information flowing to the public.

As the world becomes increasingly technologically sophisticated and interconnected during this time of uncertainty, scientists and the media must ensure that accurate scientific information is shared and promoted.

Krutika KuppalliCarlos Del RioJason KindrachukAngela L. RasmussenMuge CevikDr. Kuppalli is vice chair of the Global Health Committee, Infectious Diseases Society of America. Dr. Del Rio is a professor of medicine at Emory University. Dr. Kindrachuk is Canada research chair in emerging viruses, University of Manitoba. Dr. Rasmussen is associate research scientist at the Center for Infection and Immunity, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Cevik is clinical academic in the Division of Infection and Global Health Research, School of Medicine, University of St. Andrews.

Read the rest here:
For Better Relations With Iran - The New York Times