Mediaboss Marketing

During a week in which all signs point to Republicans enshrining President Obama's top domestic achievement into law, it's now looking like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has tricked President Trump into keeping the main pillar of Obama's foreign policy legacy in place indefinitely: the disastrous Iran deal.

On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that as part of Trump's move to certify Iran's compliance with the deal, the administration is pushing to "test" the deal with more inspections. On the surface, this may seem like a move to step up enforcement and lay the groundwork to unwind the deal theoretically consistent with Trump's vow to "get tough" on Iran. But in practice, it looks like a stalling tactic designed by Tillerson and Obama holdovers in the State Department to handcuff Trump, with endless bureaucratic delays, from ever being able to pull out of the deal.

Last week, Iran deal supporters in the administration, led by Tillerson, talked Trump into sticking with the deal and certifying Iran compliance for the second time of his presidency, even as he told the Wall Street Journal, "If it was up to me, I would have had them noncompliant 180 days ago."

Under the agreement that secured his decision recertify the deal, the United States will push for more inspections of Iranian military sites. As the AP puts it, "If Iran refuses inspections, the argument goes, Trump finally will have a solid basis to say Iran is breaching the deal, setting up Tehran to take most of the blame if the agreement collapses. If Iran agrees to inspections, those in Trump's administration who want to preserve the deal will be emboldened to argue it's advancing U.S. national security effectively."

The problem is twofold one logistical, and one more fundamental.

Logistically, the process of requesting inspections of Iranian sites is long and arduous, with plenty of opportunities for international institutions and foreign governments to gum up the works, delaying any firm resolution indefinitely, and thus putting pressure on Trump to constantly renew the deal to let the process play out. The prospect of this has not been lost on opponents of the Iran deal, who have been furiously emailing and texting with each other in despair as they contemplate the implications.

In an email to reporters, Omri Ceren, managing director of the Israel Project and one of the most dogged and informed opponents of the deal, observed that, "The push [for inspections] can drag on literally indefinitely: It requires the State Department to persuade the Europeans to persuade the [International Atomic Energy Agency] to persuade the Iranians to allow inspections, and in between there need to be bilateral and multilateral intelligence exchanges, and anyway the [Iran deal] allows Iran to engage in dialogue with the IAEA indefinitely without ever violating the deal."

There are a number of scenarios in which this convoluted process can be exploited by Tillerson and his band of Iran deal proponents at the State Department to maneuver Trump into holding off on his desire to escape the Iran deal.

"One scenario: In 3 months, Iran deal advocates will tell the president he has to certify because the deal is still being tested,'" Ceren wrote. "Another scenario: In 3 months, the Europeans (or Iran deal advocates channeling them) will tell the president he has to certify because they've bought into the testing,' and would backlash against decertification while it's ongoing. These are a half-dozen of these scenarios getting bounced around this morning."

As I noted, these are the logistical problems with substituting the "more inspections" approach in the place of a more focused strategy specifically unwinding the deal. But there's also a more fundamental problem: Regardless of whether it's enforced, the Iran deal is still a really crappy deal.

That is, even if Iran completely complies with the deal, it will still be given space to become a much more dangerous conventional threat while putting it on a glide path to nuclear weapons over time.

One of the main conservative cases for an unconventional outsider like Trump was that at least he was willing to burn things down that needed to be burnt down. But he's been consistently outplayed by swamp creatures. He vowed to reverse eight years of damaging Obama policies, yet more than six months into the Trump presidency, Obama's legacy at home and abroad looks increasingly secure.

View post:
Looks like Rex Tillerson tricked Trump into keeping the Iran deal forever - Washington Examiner

Heres a prediction by yours truly that you can take to the bank: In just a few years Iran will have intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, that can attack targets all over the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

And it might all be thanks to the rogue state the Trump administration has labelled the biggest national security threat of our time: North Korea.

Oh, and to twist the knife in a little deeper, those missiles could be armed with nuclear weaponsonce the Iran deal expires. That is, unless America puts a stop to this threat once and for all.

Now wait a second. Youre shocked? You really shouldnt be.

Before we get to all that, maybe we should take a step back for a moment.

You see, making such predictions isnt always popular, but they spur action. Foreign policy analysts here in Washington love to hedge their bets with words like possibly, perhaps, likely and so on when trying to predict the next big threat. However, there is always certain trends that are easy to seeand even easier to run away from because they arent super solvable.

The American people didnt vote for such dithering last cycle. To be frank, they voted for the opposite of Barack Obama.

When it comes to matters abroad voters wanted an America that would seek out the challenges of the future and take them on before they were aimed at our collective heads. And that is what President Trump has done by taking on North Koreas nuclear and missile programs as well as calling out Iran for its own menacing missile plans.

While all of this is great news, the Trump administration is now facing a much bigger problem: the potential for North Korea and Iran to collaborate on long-range missile technology that can be used to strike our allies and the homeland.

In many respects, the evidence is right out in the open of past collaboration, according to some experts.

In an interview with Fox News, Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey explained that the very first missiles we saw in Iran were simply copies of North Korean missiles. He also noted that over the years, we've seen photographs of North Korean and Iranian officials in each other's countries, and we've seen all kinds of common hardware.

Many experts have been warning for years now that Tehran and Pyongyang have been trading missile technology. If the Trump administration doesnt act fast it wont be just the hermit kingdom that has nukes that can strike at targets thousands of miles awaybut it will also be the only nation on planet Earth that has turned chanting death to America into a national pastime.

Now, to be fair, there are those who downplay the linkages between Iran and North Korea. But if history tells us one thing it is that to never, ever, dismiss the power of a common threat. And both of these countries seek to offset U.S. military mightat any price. Clearly long-range missiles armed with nuclear payloads do that quite nicely.

One could easily imagine a scenario in a decade or so when the Iran nuclear deal has lapsedsomething many on the left seem to forgetand Tehran decides that it no longer needs to hide its intentions.

Iran instead takes what it feels is its rightful place as the dominant power of the Middle East and hold on to its arsenal of nuclear weapons and the missiles to carry them into battle. With the nuclear research it already has done in the past, along with careful cooperation with Pyongyang on missile technology the nuclear deal currently in place never restricted such cooperationit decides to push ahead unabated.

So what should the Trump administration do about this threat? Thankfully, Washington has considerable options to explore.

First, we should name and shame any North Korean, Iranian or outside partners that are helping these rogue regimes collaborate on missile technologies.

Pentagon and intelligence officials have told me on several occasions they have strong leads on who is helping facilitate these exchanges. Its time to shine a light on these groups or individualsnow. They need to be outed for the whole world to see and publicly shamed.

The Trump administration should declare that if you help Pyongyang or Tehran build long-range missiles you are an enemy of the international community and will be treated accordingly. Such shaming should include those providing material or technical assistance or any banks, financial institutions or front companies passing along funds for such assistance between both nations.

Second, with such entities out in the open, Team Trump should impose sanctions on such groups as soon as possible. The goal should be to drive up the costs for both sides and make them feel the financial pinch as much as possible.

Third, we should get creative in how we try to stamp out such cooperation. In a 2012 report by the National Bureau of Asian Research, author John S. Park offers the idea of using a a monetary reward program to interdict components or technicians central to ballistic missile development. He notes that:

Hiding in the open is a particularly effective tactic employed by North Korea. Contracting private Chinese companies to serve as middlemen to facilitate cargo launderinga creative process of disassembling components and moving them through different logistics routesenables North Korean state trading companies to utilize commercial shipping containers. Monetary rewards would offer a double payday for some Chinese companies, who could collect the commission fee from a North Korean client as well as the reward for anonymously providing a copy of the freight insurance to local authorities in busy Southeast Asian ports.

And finally, all of this is the clearest argument yet for Washington to lead a much more robust effort at ensuring more missile defense platforms are brought into the Middle East, Asia and also upgraded for the defense of our homeland.

Stopping an Iranian ICBM armed with a nuclear weapon by way of North Korea is one of the greatest challenges America faces today. The Trump administration must act now before its too late.

Harry J. Kazianis (@grecianformula) is director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, founded by former President Richard M. Nixon. Click here, for more on Mr. Kazianis.

Link:
Iran will soon have ICBMs armed with nukes by way of North ...

The strikes are the first time Iran has fired missiles at another country in three decades and represent a major escalation of Iran's role in the war in Syria.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on its official news website, Sepah News, that several "ground-to-ground, mid-range missiles" were fired from bases in Kermanshah province, western Iran.

The operation "targeted Takfiri forces in the Deir Ezzor region in Eastern Syria."

Iran's Revolutionary Guard uses the term Takfiri to describe ISIS.

Iran backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his fight against anti-government rebel groups and ISIS, which is primarily based in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

Lt Col (ret) Rick Francona, CNN military analyst, described Iran's move as a "real escalation."

"The selection of targets is interesting. They say they are firing at the same people who planned the attacks in Tehran but it also bolsters the Syrian army effort right now."

Amir Daftari, a CNN producer in Tehran, said that Iran hadn't hidden its support for Assad "but up until now they've led us to believe that they've provided things like military advisers, volunteers and money."

Shiite-majority Iran and Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia have long been embroiled in a sectarian feud.

CNN's Nadeem Muaddi, Shirzad Bozorgmehr and Angela Dewan contributed to this report.

Read more:
Iran launches missiles into Syria - CNN.com

A file picture taken on August 16, 2008 shows an Iranian flag fluttering in front of an Iranian Safir rocket designed to carry a communications satellite before it's test launch in a space station at an undisclosed location in the Islamic republic.

VAHIDREZA ALAI/AFP/Getty Images

Last Updated Jul 27, 2017 9:32 AM EDT

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran successfully launched a satellite-carrying rocket into space on Thursday, the country's state media reported without elaborating.

Iranian state television described the launch as involving a "Simorgh" rocket that is capable of carrying a satellite weighing 550 pounds. The state media report did not elaborate on the rocket's payload.

"Simorgh" means "phoenix" in Farsi.

Play Video

The White House is saying that Iran is in compliance with the nuclear deal put in place by the Obama administration in 2015. CBS News' Margaret B...

The website YJC.ir, which is affiliated with Iranian state television, as well as the semi-official Fars news agency, also reported the launch on Thursday, saying it was successful.

The launch comes as the United States has criticized Iran's ballistic missile tests.

Such tests are allowed under the 2015 nuclear deal that Iran struck with world powers. However, American officials argue that they violate the spirit of the accord that saw the Islamic Republic limit its uranium enrichment program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Iran has pursued a satellite launch program for years. The U.S. and its allies worry that the same technology could be used to develop long-range missiles.

2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Read the original post:
Report: Iran successfully launches satellite-carrying rocket into space - CBS News

Iran could be on the verge of decriminalising some forms of drug use to allow the government to distribute drugs to addicts.

By allowing the government to give out diluted rugs to addicts, the proposal aims to cut the relationship between drug addicts and drug traffickers.

The plan to distribute [low-grade] drugs is similar to what used to be implemented before the [1979 Irans Islamic] Revolution, said Hassan Norouzi, the spokesperson for the Parliaments Judicial and Legal Commission, according to IFPNews.

Global commission call for legalisation of drugs

Mr Norouzi said diluted drugssuch asMethadone wouldbe distributed instead of opium, cannabis and other common drugs in Iran. He went on to say all relevant authorities had given the proposal the go-ahead.

He added: Given the special emphasis that the Establishments macro-policies put on the necessity of cutting off the relationship between drug addicts and narco-traffickers, we decided that the government hand out diluted drugs to addicts, so that they will be able to give up their addiction gradually and, instead of being drawn to drug-traffickers, turn to the Establishment and meet their needs through official channels."

The spokesperson said the Judicial and Legal Commission will continue its work to finalise the plan's approval.

When he was asked what kinds of narcotics the government would distribute among addicts, he said:These drugs include methadone and substances more diluted than previous ones, and the authority to decide on that rests with bylaws which are to be jointly drawn up by the Ministry of Justice and [Irans] Drug Enforcement HQ, and which could come into effect after getting the all clear from the Cabinet."

The judicial committee has also proposed a draft law halting the death penalty for carrying and distributing less than 100kg of traditional drugs such as opium or less than two kilograms of synthetic drugs.

Irans Drug Control Organisation said there are now 2.8 million people regularly consuming drugs" in the strictly conservative country.

The figure increased from 1.3 million users in the Islamic Republics 80 million strong population six years ago, spokesperson Parviz Afshar said, with opium fuelling 67 per cent of consumption.

Last year, the UN said Iran has one of the worst addiction crises in the world, affecting people from all walks of society.

See more here:
Iran plans to decriminalise drug use allowing government to give diluted drugs to addicts - The Independent