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As promised, President Trump made his first Supreme Court nomination last week, a historic choice that dominated headlines in the subsequent days.

But 14 hours later, his White House issued an unexpected statement that could have fateful consequences too. The statement, followed by others and new financial sanctions on Iran, effectively drew a diplomatic red line designed to contain that troublesome country.

In only 244 words, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, listed a series of Iranian transgressions, including funding global terrorism, flouting U.N. resolutions on ballistic missile tests and attacking ships in international waters. He could have also mentioned seizing American sailors.

Flynn ended with: As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice.

Asked later whether military action was a possibility, Trump said what all presidents claim: Everything is on the table.

The situation is particularly precarious because after President Barack Obamas numerous empty threats, the United States has scant credibility as an enforcer, especially in the Middle East. It will take some time and perhaps the use of military force for a Trump administration to be taken more seriously.

Predictably, Iran dismissed the U.S. bluster and launched another rocket as Trumps domestic opponents protested his temporary immigration ban and its rollout.

Now remember: During the presidential campaign, two of Trumps major themes involved the Obama administrations terrible foreign deals, especially the nuclear pact with Iran, and the unfortunate predictability of Obamas foreign policies. The United States needs to be less predictable, Trump said.

Well, you may have noticed in the new presidents first two weeks there was a good deal of unpredictability. Not by accident.

Iran, Vice President Mike Pence warned, would do well not to test the resolve of this new president.

Obamas diplomacy was indeed predictable in one very serious sense: No matter what he sought, implied or threatened, there would be no serious consequences beyond words and ineffective sanctions.

Often Obama offered concessions even before they were sought. He canceled missile defense systems in Eastern Europe to coax Russian cooperation in reining in Iranian ambitions. Russia said thanks, then sold advanced military hardware to the mullahs.

Obama pledged swift justice on Benghazis murderers; nothing happened. His economic sanctions on Russia for annexing Crimea were so serious that President Vladimir Putin ignored them, armed Iran, fomented rebellion within Ukraine and moved militarily into Syria.

Obamas worst display of impotence came from his infamous 2012 threat to Syrias Bashar Assad that using chemical weapons in that civil war would cross a red line in the Democrats mind.

A year later, Assad had again used chemicals on civilians. Facing domestic criticism, Obama blustered, did nothing, blamed Congress for inaction, and Putin stepped in to broker a faux weapons disposal.

In real estate negotiations and his recent campaign, Trump has seen unpredictability as a positive bargaining tool. Sending Flynn out to read carefully from a prepared text and take no complicating questions was a clear sign that Trump will employ such strategic ambiguity and threats in diplomacy. Let Iran imagine how bad the consequences might be, starting with renewed sanctions.

A problem with ambiguity, of course, is that a paranoid opponent might overreact. More importantly, Trump must be prepared to impose consequences on his notice. And then be prepared for the enemys reaction to those consequences.

Westerners have an expression for someone who talks a lot and does little. They say hes all hat and no cattle. Trump has that familiar red baseball cap. To avoid earning the same international reputation as Obama, well soon see whether the New Yorker has any cattle in his diplomatic herd.

McClatchy Washington Bureau

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Trump draws red line with Iran - San Francisco Chronicle

TexNewMex Published 10:01 p.m. MT Feb. 12, 2017 | Updated 8 minutes ago

Letters to the Editor(Photo: The Daily Times)Buy Photo

U.S. has destabilized Middle East, not Iran

Once again, the U.S. is targeting Iran for its alleged role in sponsoring radical Islamic terrorism.

According to national security adviser Flynn, The Islamic Republic of Iran is the worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism and engages in and supports violent activities that destabilize the Middle East. However, history shows that the U.S.-- not Iran is and has been destabilizing the Middle East for decades.

After a 1953 CIA coup ousted Iran's Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, the U.S. supported the shah and his SAVAK secret police for 25 years. Inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini, Iranians rose up against the shah, but the U.S. did not support their wishes: four out of five Iranians wanted an Islamic government.

Placing economic sanctions on Iran in 1979, the U.S. supported Iraqi dictator Saddam in his war on Iran, ignored Saddams use of chemical WMD, and downed an Iranian passenger jet killing 290 people.

Yet, Iran was one of the few Muslim-majority nations that showed empathy for the U.S. after the 9/11 attacks. Iran aided the U.S. in defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan, only to have George W. Bush name Iran among the axis of evil.

Claiming that Saddam still possessed WMD, the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of refugees, many of whom Iran absorbed.

For a decade, the U.S. has pushed for military strikes based on false claims about Irans civilian nuclear program. Now, once again we are hearing about how Irans senior leadership continues to threaten the United States and our allies.

It would seem that, on the contrary, U.S. senior leadership continues to threaten Iran and her allies.

Yuram Abdullah Weiler

Las Cruces

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Letters: US leaders threaten Iran - Las Cruces Sun-News

The recent Executive Order affecting immigration by citizens of seven countries has prompted fierce discussion from all quarters, including arguments on who does or does not actually endanger the national security of the United States. As we wait to see how that debate plays out in the weeks and months ahead, there is a sense among some that we may be closing the proverbial barn door after the horse has run.

Some argue that there are people already in the US, whose words and deeds on behalf of foreign powers critically threaten America and its allies. Iran is one of the countries named in the President's Executive Action. It goes without saying that the Islamic Republic of Iran remains the number one state sponsor of terrorism according to the State Department.

However, more fundamentally, some think that the focus should also be on the threat coming from a well-knit group and gilded circle of the Islamic Republic of Iran's operatives or lobbyists, who are determined to satisfy their paymaster by cajoling, prodding and persuading US policy-makers into believing that appeasement, lifting of sanctions on IRGC, and a soft touch is the only way to contain the top state sponsor of terrorism. But appeasement policies have not worked, any reasonable observer will interject.

As Michael Flynn wrote "Every day we see evidence of Iranian espionage in the United States...". Some believe that some of Iran's lobbyists and operatives work or lobby illegally without registration in plain sights while other act less conspicuously in every critical sector of the American society.

Some believe that they can ill-afford to allow their presence among them, and in particular their access to our politicians and officials. And finally, they believe that Iranian agents pose a real and present danger and they should be dealt with swiftly and decisively.

For more details and nuances, you can read full version on Here.

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Harvard-educated, Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is an American political scientist, president of the International American Council on the Middle East, business advisor, and best-selling author. He serves on the advisory board of Harvard International Review. Dr. Rafizadeh is frequently invited to brief governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as speak, as a featured speaker, at security, business, diplomatic, and social events. He has been recipient of several fellowships and scholarships including from Oxford University, Annenberg, University of California Santa Barbara, Fulbright program, to name few He is regularly quoted and invited to speak on national and international outlets including CNN, BBC World TV and Radio, ABC, Aljazeera English, Fox News, CTV, RT, CCTV America, Skynews, CTV, and France 24 International, to name a few. . He analyses have appeared on academic and non-academic publications including New York Times International, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Farred zakaria GPS, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, The Nation, The National. Aljazeera, The Daily Beast, The Nation, Jerusalem Post, The Economic Times, USA Today Yale Journal of International Affairs, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, and Harvard International Review. He is a board member of several significant and influential international and governmental institutions, and he is native speaker of couple of languages including Persian, English, and Arabic. He also speaks Dari, and can converse in French, Hebrew. More at Harvard.

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Islamic Republic of Iran's Lobbyists and Spies Are in Our Midst? - Huffington Post

WASHINGTON

The son of Irans last monarch is appealing to U.S. President Donald Trump to distinguish between the Iranian people and their Islamist rulers as the president considers whether to impose new restrictions on immigration to the United States.

In an exclusive studio interview with VOAs Persian Service, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said Iranians are sensitive to being confused with an Iranian government long accused by Washington of sponsoring global terrorism.

Nothing hurts us more as Iranians every time the name of Iran comes up, they say, Iran terrorism. Its not Iran and Iranians, its the regime, said Pahlavi, who leads the Iran National Council for Free Elections opposition group. Many Iranians [also] have been victims of the regime thats why I think its important to make a clear distinction [between them] to make sure you dont paint everyone with the same brush.

A victim of terrorism

Iran has long denied being a state sponsor of terrorism, saying instead it is a victim of terrorism. Trump included Iran in a group of seven nations whose citizens he temporarily banned from entering the U.S. in a January 27 executive order, citing his predecessors administration identifying those nations as sources of terrorist activity.

A federal court suspended Trumps order February 3 in response to legal challenges from critics who called it an unconstitutional ban on Muslim immigration. Trumps administration rejects that characterization, pointing to dozens of Muslim-majority nations whose citizens were not affected by the measure. Trump told reporters Friday he might issue a new immigration order as early as Monday or Tuesday, saying such a move could be a faster way to protect the countrys security than waiting to defend his original order in court.

Speaking to VOA Persian in Washington Thursday, Pahlavi said he realizes that any country has a right to protect itself by deciding how much immigration to accept and how closely to vet immigrants.

Sensitivity is key

In this day and age, when we are facing so many threats that is understandable, he said. But he said the Trump administration should show sensitivity in explaining its immigration policy, to help Iranians understand the reasons for any restriction without alienating them.

So a lot of [the sensitivity] goes into the way it is presented and the language, he said.

Pahlavi also said the Trump administrations immigration policy should send a message that the U.S. respects the Iranian peoples abilities and values.

It is an asset for a country to have such [Iranian] immigrants, such a diaspora, he said, because one day, if the [political] situation in Iran changes, these people will be the best ambassadors to connect [Iran] with the country they are currently living in.

The Iranian crown prince expressed his concerns about Trumps January 27 travel ban on Iranians in a January 31 letter to the president.

In the letter, he also urged the U.S. to play a pivotal role in supporting what he called the Iranian peoples quest for liberty and justice in their homeland. Pahlavi has long called for free elections in Iran to bring about a transition from clerical rule to a democratic and secular government that he believes would bring peace to the region.

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Iranian Prince to Trump: Be Sensitive in Considering New Immigration Order - Voice of America

A man walks past the main gate of the former US embassy in Tehran also known as the Den of Espionage. (Photo by AP)

The CIAhas released documents showing that US spy agencies resorted to psychics to help conduct espionage against Iran during the time of the takeover of the American embassy in Tehran.

According to the newly published files,a secret team of half a dozen military-trained clairvoyants met over 200 times in a building in Fort Mead, Maryland, as part of an operation code-named Grill Flame.

The psychics were employedto gather intelligence on where the American hostages were being held and how closely they were being guarded.

The psychics officially worked for US Army intelligence, but their activities were monitored and supported by several government intelligence agencies as well as top commanders at the Pentagon.

On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian university students took over the US embassy, which they believed had turned into a center of espionage aimed at overthrowing the Islamic Republic in Iran following the Islamic Revolution. Fifty-two Americansfrom the mission were held for 444 days until January 20, 1981.

Documents found at the compound later corroborated claims by revolutionary students that the US had been using its Tehran embassy to hatch plots against Iran.

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After the takeover ended, the Pentagon compared the details of the incident with 202 reports provided by the Grill Flame psychics.

The comparison showed that onlysevenreports were proven correct while more than half of the reports were entirely incorrect, wrote an Air Force colonel on the staff of the Joint Chiefs.

Although 59 reports contained information that was partly or possibly right, these same reports often included erroneous data,he added.

James Randi, a former professional magician who turned his career into debunking psychics, expressed skepticism about the operation.

The intelligence agencies might as well get a crystal ball out and stare into space and hope they see something, Randi said, adding, Its a huge waste of time and money and it doesnt help the hostages one bit.

William J. Daugherty, a CIA case officer who was among those held by the Iranian students, said he had learned of the psychics from colleagues after his release.

It was at lunch, and they were laughing, he said, noting, It was in the nature of Can you believe the crazy stuff we did?

The Grill Flame operation, which was just one part of a broader US intelligence project, carried out 26,000 telepathic forays by 227 psychics before it was shut down in 1995.

This came after anoutside reviewcommissioned by the CIA concluded that remote viewing reports failed to produce the concrete, specific information valued in intelligence reporting.

For years, the US has also been usingMKO terrorists to spy on Iran's nuclear program and assassinate several scientists in collaboration with Mossad and other intelligence agencies.

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US hired psychics to spy on Iran during mission takeover: CIA files - Press TV