Archive for the ‘Iran’ Category

Which Iranian Will Challenge Kyle Snyder At The Olympics? – FloWrestling

Mohammad Mohammadian pinned Kyle Snyder, teched Bo Nickal, and qualified Iran for the Olympic Games at 97kg. Youd think thatd be enough to earn Mohammadian the Olympic spot for Iran. However, Mohammadian is in a three-man race with Ali Shabani and Alireza Karimi for the right to represent Iran at the Olympics. Lets take a look at how Iran got in this position, their competitors' performances against Americans, and how Iran will decide the spot with less than 3 months until wrestling begins in Tokyo.

In September 2014, Mohammad Mohammadian was competing in his first Senior World Championships at 86kg in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. American fans might remember him for his 7-4 win over Ed Ruth in the round of 32. Mohammadian would go on to lose to Cubas Reineras Salas but come back to take world bronze.

Mohammadian's Win Over Ed Ruth:

At only 22 years old, he looked to be on the path to win multiple medals for Iran at the world level. However, less than a year later, Mohammadian tested positive for a banned substance and was suspended from international competition for 4 years until summer of 2019. This allowed other Iranian wrestlers the chance to emerge on the world stage.

With Mohammadians absence, Alireza Karimi seized the opportunity. In 2015, Karimi placed bronze at the World Championships at 86kg. Karimis only loss at worlds came in the semi-finals to Abdulrashid Sadulaev. That 6-2 loss was also Sadulaevs closest match of the 2014 and 2015 world Championships.

With the World Bronze, Karimi earned the right to represent Iran at 86kg at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He came up short and lost to Jden Cox in the quarter-finals-6-1. Then 74kg Olympic Champion Hassan Yazdani chose to move up to 86kg, forcing Karimi to sit the bench for a year.

In 2018, 92kg opened up as an international weight class and Karimi was back in action. Karimi would take world bronze in 2018 and followed that up with a silver at the world championships in 2019. Both years, Karimis only losses at worlds were to the 92kg World Champion, Jden Cox. Despite the losses to Cox, Karimi proved he is a top-level talent forIran and earned his consideration for the 97kg Olympic team spot through his years at 86kg and 92kg.

J'den Cox vs Alireza Karimi in the 2019 World Finals

While Karimi was holding down 92kg, Ali Shabani entered the scene at 97kg. Shabani is younger than Mohammadian and Karimi and was a 2018 U23 World Bronze medalist. He also only lost to Kyle Snyder 2-1 in the finals of the 2019 Yasar Dogu and was Irans rep at the 2019 World Championships. However, the reason Iran wasnt qualified for the Olympics at 97kg is due to Shabanis 11-8 loss to Georgias Elizbar Odikadze at 2019 Worlds. Shabanis poor performance opened the door for Mohammadians return.

The door could not have been opened at a better time. Immediately after the 2019 World Championships concluded, Mohammad Mohammadian was eligible for International competition. In January 2020, he burst onto the scene at the Matteo Pellicone and teched Bo Nickal in just over 2 minutes. Then Mohammadian would go out to a 8-0 lead before pinning World and Olympic Champion Kyle Snyder! Mohammadian looked to be in the drivers seat to take control of the 97kg spot for Iran.

Then the global pandemic happened - international events were cancelled for 7 months and the 97kg spot for Iran got crowded. UWW announced plans for a potential 2020 World Championships and Iran began their World Team Trials in November. The finals at 97kg came down to a best of 3 series between Ali Shabani and Mohammad Mohammadian (Karimi suffered an injury and was not at their trials). In surprising fashion, Shabani defeated Mohammadian in two-straight matches (8-4 and 4-0) to claim the 97kg world team spot. Iran ended up not sending either to the 2020 Individual World cup, but the waters were muddied because of Shabani's wins.

Rather than hosting another wrestle off for the Olympic Spot, Iran chose to send their 97kg wrestlers to international tournaments to help bring clarity. They sent Mohammadian to qualify the weight for the Olympics at the Asian Olympic Games Qualifier. Mohammadian looked to be back to his dominant ways-winning gold with 3 techs and outscoring his opponents 36-4. Then, Iran sent Ali Shabani to the European Championships to test him against a similar field. Shabani was equally impressive and won gold with 3 techs and outscored his opponents 33-2.

Also during this time, Alireza Karimi returned from injury. Because of his past success at the world level, Iran allowed him to stay in contention for the Olympic spot and he returned to action in March 2021. Karimi placed silver at the Matteo Pellicone at 97kg and ran into two Americans at there. Karimi defeated Hayden Zillmer 6-3, but lost to Kollin Moore in the gold medal match on criteria-3-3.

That brings the events to today. Iran has three 97kg wrestlers who have the potential to medal at the Olympics. They are all currently ranked in the top 11 in the World - #3 Shabani, #4 Mohammadian, #11 Karimi. Iran will send those three to The Poland Open (also called Ziolkowski) on June 8th to help determine who will represent them at 97kg in the Olympics. All three have proven to be successful on the international scene but only Mohammadian has not lost to an American.

The Poland Open is shaping up to be deep at many weights and Russia is reportedly sending their top wrestlers. That means the world's #1 pound for pound wrestler, Abdulrashid Sadulaev, will also be in Poland with Irans top 3 at 97kg. America will also send a contingent of athletes to Poland but the official US roster has not been released.

The Iranian's always wrestle with zeal but expect those three to show extreme passion at The Poland Open in their attempt to win the right to represent Iran at The Olympics.

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Which Iranian Will Challenge Kyle Snyder At The Olympics? - FloWrestling

What is Irans goal in the Jerusalem crisis? – The Jerusalem Post

Iran has been fanning the flames of the confrontations in Jerusalem. Days before the latest clashes developed, Irans Ayatollah Khamenei and its IRGC head, Hossein Salami, prepared speeches and media engagements in which they pushed messages throughout the region, arguing that Israel is in a downward spiral and destined to fall apart. This message was given to Hassan Nasrallah in his Lebanon bunker where he would also emphasize Israels internal divisions in a Quds Day speech on Friday, May 7. This message discipline of Iran and its proxies was clear. Days later, however, as the violence in Jerusalem has grown and western powers have joined the chorus condemning Israel, as well as countries in the Gulf, who have increased concerns. Iran has been more quiet. So what happened? Why isnt Irans regime riding the chaos, exploiting it, increasing tensions in Syria? While tensions simmer in Jerusalem on Monday, Irans Tasnim, which is linked to the IRGC, ran an all-important story about bureaucracy in Iran. Why should an entrepreneur go to 18 places to get a license? Good question, but not the usual Zionism is ending dogma. What other news from Tehran? The regime is talking about the Vienna nuclear talks and discussing the pandemic. At Fars News the stories revolve around the high cost of vaccines and reduction in smuggling. There is no doubt that in English, Iran has a different message. At Irans Press TV, its propaganda network focused on western audiences in English, it has wall-to-wall coverage of Jerusalem. Iran-backed Hamas says Israel will pay a price for the violence and Iran notes that its foreign ministry cares deeply about Palestinian issues. Of course, we know that the ministry is in the dog house with the Iranian regime in recent weeks because of leaked tapes of Foreign Minister Javad Zarif speaking with embarrassing disrespect about the late Qasem Soleimani. Iran may be fumbling a bit in trying to ride the chaos in Jerusalem. It has long backed Hamas and Hezbollah, but as usual, Iran has no real plan to confront Israel. It prefers the propaganda of claims that Israel is falling apart from within, rather than take direct action. This is because Iran knows its own capabilities fall short of confronting Israel on the battlefield, or even with its proxies. It sought to fan the flames of chaos on Quds Day, but beyond that, it has nothing to show for it. Despite its propaganda, it has made no real inroads with the Palestinians and so far it is struggling to exploit the violence.

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What is Irans goal in the Jerusalem crisis? - The Jerusalem Post

Banking Is Center Stage as Iran Seeks Nuclear Deal That Delivers – Bloomberg

  1. Banking Is Center Stage as Iran Seeks Nuclear Deal That Delivers  Bloomberg
  2. The one that gets away: Joe Bidens jaded romance with Iran  POLITICO
  3. Iran will extend deal with IAEA if needed, top negotiator says  Tehran Times
  4. Iran upbeat on reviving nuke deal, dismissing Biden's doubts  CGTN
  5. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Banking Is Center Stage as Iran Seeks Nuclear Deal That Delivers - Bloomberg

Iran’s Rouhani upbeat on accord at talks to lift sanctions – Reuters

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday he was optimistic over talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and suggested a deal had been reached to lift the main sanctions on Tehran, state media reported.

Only the details remained to be agreed, Rouhani said, though there was no immediate confirmation from U.S. officials or from the other parties to the accord.

"We've reached a point where the Americans and the Europeans are saying openly they have no choice but to lift sanctions and return to the (nuclear deal), and that almost all main sanctions have been lifted and talks continue on some details," Rouhani was quoted by state media as saying. He did not elaborate.

U.S. officials returned to Vienna this week for a fourth round of indirect talks with Iran on how to resume compliance with the deal, which former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, prompting Iran to begin violating its terms about a year later.

The crux of the agreement was that Iran committed to take steps to rein in its nuclear programme to make it harder to obtain the fissile material for a nuclear weapon in return for relief from U.S., EU and U.N. sanctions.

Tehran denies having nuclear weapons ambitions.

Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said earlier on Saturday that the United States had an obligation to help revive the nuclear deal, after U.S. President Joe Biden said it was unclear how serious Tehran was about talks on the accord.

Asked if he thought Tehran was serious about talks, Biden replied: "Yes, but how serious, and what they are prepared to do is a different story."

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Iran's Rouhani upbeat on accord at talks to lift sanctions - Reuters

Robert Gates on US action in Iran, Afghanistan and China – PBS NewsHour

Robert Gates:

I think he's doing really well.

I think there's a lot of continuity on several of the really big problems. On China, on Russia, North Korea, I think there's a lot of continuity with the previous administration, in fact, and I think that the tough line that he has taken has been the appropriate one.

And on North Korea, they have basically said they're going to try and thread the needle between the strategic patience of President Obama and the maximum pressure of President Trump.

I think, as I write in the book, we have tried we have been down this road before under four presidents, and it hasn't yielded much progress. But there's a lot of continuity there. I think the only area that concerns me is the effort to renew the nuclear agreement with Iran.

I think, first of all, the agreement is half over in terms of its duration. It was supposed to be for 10 years or so. And I was heartened initially by the administration's references to strengthening and lengthening that agreement. I think our objective ought to be for Iran never to have a nuclear weapon, not just time-limited.

And I think we also need better monitoring or verification of their adherence to the agreement. And, finally, I think we need to do something about their ballistic missile capability. So, just picking up the old agreement where we left off, I think, is probably insufficient.

But in the other areas of important areas of foreign policy, I think that they're on a good path.

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Robert Gates on US action in Iran, Afghanistan and China - PBS NewsHour