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Netanyahu and May. (photo credit:GALI TIBBON / AFP,REUTERS)

Hours before leaving for London for his first meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May since she took office in May, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday morning that Israel is on the cusp of a very significant diplomatic period.

Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that in his discussions with May and with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, he will emphasize the need for a common stand against the Iranian aggression that has reared its head in recent days. This needs to be done on a regular basis, especially in light of their defiance of the world order.

His comments come just days after US President Donald Trump and his National Security Adviser Michael Flynn put the Iranians on notice that their disruptive behavior in the region and the world will not be tolerated.

National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz praised Trump for his position on Iran, telling reporters before the cabinet meeting that finally a US president has stood up and said 'we will restrain Iran's misbehavior and its spread in the Middle East. We will not let them continue to develop ballistic missiles, we will not let them continue to transfer weapons to Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.'

Netanyahu told the cabinet that he will talk to May about strengthening the two countries diplomatic, security, economic and technological ties, including close cooperation in the field of cyber security.

Netanyahu will be in London for 24 hours, coming back to Israel on Monday evening.

He did not mention in the brief opening statements to the cabinet either the controversial settlement regulation bill, that is expected to come for a vote Monday evening, or the White House statement on settlements issued on Friday.

That statement said that the US desire for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians has remained unchanged for 50 years. While we dont believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal. As the President has expressed many times, he hopes to achieve peace throughout the Middle East region.

The statement said that the Trump administration has not taken an official position on settlement activity and looks forward to continuing discussions, including with Prime Minister Netanyahu when he visits with President Trump later this month.

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Trump on February 15.

Steinitz, however, did relate to the White House statement, saying that it was positive from Israel's perspective.

Steinitz said the statement was a fresh, positive change for Israel that unequivocally states that settlements are not an obstacle to peace, and that building and construction inside the settlements is acceptable to the US.

He said he did not remember the last time there was such a reasonable and logical US statement about settlements.

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Netanyahu to press Britain for 'common stand' against Iran - Jerusalem Post Israel News

Eshaq Jahangiri, Iran's first vice president, dismissed the remarks from Mattis as "useless claims," saying that Iran had been instrumental in the fight against ISIS, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA.

"The Iranian government and nation do not care in the least for the worn-out and threadbare remarks made by the American officials," Jahangiri said.

Mattis said Iran's "misconduct and misbehavior" would have to be addressed.

"We have a responsibility with the rest of the nations to be absolutely clear with Iran in this regard. It does no good to ignore it. It does no good to dismiss it," Mattis said in Tokyo, where he met with his Japanese counterpart to discuss security issues.

But he said the recent tensions with Iran did not warrant an increase in the number of US forces in the Middle East.

"We always have the capability to do so, but at this time I don't think it's necessary," he said.

As Mattis made his comments Saturday, Iran's air force was conducting military drills, including missile systems, radar and electronic warfare command and control exercises, in the northern Semnan province, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported.

These drills are aimed at "showing strength, intelligence and readiness for all-round defense against any threat" and are being done "in contempt of sanctions and threats," the report said.

The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force spoke Saturday on drill sidelines.

"I'd say with confidence that foreign threats against the Islamic Establishment (of Iran) are futile," said Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, quoted by the Tasnim News Agency.

He said US outcry over Iranian missile tests is a pretext for expressing hostility toward Iran.

"Should the enemy make a mistake, our roaring missiles will rain down on them," Hajizadeh said.

On Friday, the US Treasury Department said it was applying sanctions on 25 individuals and companies connected to Iran's ballistic missile program and those providing support to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force. That included three separate networks linked to supporting the missile program, which the United States opposes.

Trump tweeted Friday that Iran was "playing with fire" and he would not be as "kind" to Tehran as former President Barack Obama.

Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday it too would ensure "legal restrictions" were imposed on the "American individuals and companies which have a role in aiding extremist and terrorist groups or contribute to the suppression and murder of the defenseless people in the region," IRNA reported.

Trump has been a longtime critic of the accord, which was brokered after two years of talks with the five members of the UN Security Council and Germany in 2015.

Nasser Hadian, a professor of international relations at Tehran University, told CNN this week it was unlikely the Trump administration would tear up the agreement.

Abandoning the accord "would serve hard-line interests in Iran," he said.

CNN's Jennifer Deaton contributed to this report.

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Iran world's 'biggest state sponsor of terrorism,' Mattis says - CNN

ISTANBUL Iran on Saturday began extensive military exercises in a defiant response to a week of warnings from the Trump administration, including new sanctions, with a senior Iranian military commander calling the actions futile and threatening to rain missiles down on the countrys enemies.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Irans most influential security institution, said it would test missile and radar systems as part of the drill, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. A statement on the IRGC website said that the aim of the exercise was to showcase the power of Irans revolution and to dismiss the sanctions, Reuters reported.

Should the enemy make a mistake, our roaring missiles will rain down on them, IRGC Air Force commander, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, told the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.

Iran also threatened its own sanctions on unnamed U.S. individuals and companies, saying it would take action against those it deemed to have played a role in generating and supporting extremist terrorist groups. The statement from Irans foreign ministry came a day after the Trump administration announced new sanctions on individuals working on Irans ballistic missile programs, as well as those who have helped the IRGC support U.S.-designated terrorist groups.

Those sanctions were in response to Irans successful testing of a medium-range ballistic missile last week, which the United States says is a violation of the 2015 nuclear deal aimed at curbing Irans nuclear weapons development. President Trump said that Iran was playing with fire and that Iran had been put on notice for the missile test. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also called Iran the biggest state sponsor of terrorism on Friday.

[Trump administration sanctions Iran over missile test]

At least three types of missiles were scheduled to be tested during the drills in Iran on Saturday, the privately owned Mehr News Agency reported, as well as radar systems and cyber warfare technology. The drills capped a week of rising tensions between the United States and Iran, which the Trump administration has also faulted for an attack by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels on a Saudi Arabian frigate off the coast of western Yemen.

For nearly two years, the United States has supported a Saudi-led coalition in a devastating war in Yemen that the United Nations says has killed 10,000 civilians.

Experts say the escalation between the United States and Iran probably wont unravel the nuclear deal, a multilateral agreement made to ease sanctions on Iran exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. . The deal was negotiated by China, France, Russia, Britain, the United States and Germany.

Trump is unlikely to tear up the deal and shoulder the full wrath of the international community, Cliff Kupchan, chairman of political risk firm, Eurasia Group, wrote in a briefing note.

In addition to the multilateral deal, a follow-up resolution from the U.N. Security Council calls on Iran to refrain from testing ballistic missiles capable of nuclear payloads. But there is disagreement over whether such tests violate the resolution Iran insists the missile tests are part of its conventional weapons program and do not violate the nuclear agreement.

[ Iran bars U.S. wrestlers from tournament in response to Trumps travel ban]

Throughout his campaign for the presidency, Trump blasted the nuclear deal and vowed to renegotiate the terms.

US-Iran relations will be volatile under the Trump Administration, Kupchan wrote. And Trump will likely implement sanctions more frequently.

Iranian officials reiterated the countrys right to maintain defense capabilities. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted Friday that Iran was unmoved by the threats.

We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defense, he said.

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Iran holds military exercises in response to US sanctions - Washington Post

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) said, "keeping four-month-old babies out of our country does not make us safer." (Reuters)

As Rep.Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) prepared to address her colleagues Friday morning in the House of Representatives, another woman adjusted a nearby easel with a large photograph of a wide-eyed baby girl.

Mr. Speaker, this is Fatemeh, Bonamici said. She is not a terrorist.

She explained the babys predicament: Fatemeh was a 4-month-old infant from Iran in immediate need of open-heart surgery. She had been diagnosed several weeks ago with structural abnormalities and two holes in her heart, and she would die unless she receivedtreatment that Iranian hospitals were not equipped to provide, the Associated Press reported.

Her parents desperately want the best care for her, so they planned to bring her from their home in Iran to Portland, Ore., to one of the best hospitals for pediatric heart surgery, Bonamici said. Thats where Fatemehs uncle and grandparents all live. They are U.S. citizens.

However, the family soon found their plans in turmoil after President Trumps executive order temporarily banning travelers and revoking visas from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iran.

[Justice Dept. lawyer says 100,000 visas revoked under travel ban; State Dept. says about 60,000]

Trump signed orders on Jan. 27 not only tosuspend admission of all refugees into the United States for 120 days but also to implement new vetting measures to screen out radical Islamic terrorists. Refugee entry from Syria, however, would be suspended indefinitely, and all travel from Syria and six other nations Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen would be suspended for 90 days.

Fatemehs family had an appointment in Dubai to obtain a tourist visa to the United States, but it was abruptly canceled after Trumps order, according to the AP.They were told they could reapply in 90 days.

But Fatemehs family does not know if she can wait that long, Bonamici said Friday on the House floor.I dont know what the president had in mind when he signed that order, but it probably wasnt baby Fatemeh.Keeping 4-month-old babies out of our country doesnt make us safer. It puts her life in danger and diminishes the United States in the eyes of the world.

The familys life-or-death situation had caught the attention of a group of lawmakers in Oregon, including Bonamici.

It is heartbreaking and disgraceful that this even happened, she said. I hope the courts invalidate this unconstitutional Executive Order soon, and I hope its in time for baby Fatemeh.

On Friday, several of those lawmakers filed for a waiver from the State Department and Homeland Security, the Oregonian reported.

Whether [Fatemeh] and her family are allowed access to this urgent and necessary medical care in the United States will determine whether she lives or dies, the lawmakers said, according to the newspaper. Granting her familys request to travel to the U.S. is not only the moral and humanitarian decision, but would signal to Iran and the rest of the world that, even in the face of highly strained diplomatic relations, the United States offers help to those suffering tragic circumstances.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) told the Oregonian he couldnt fathom a waiver wouldnt be granted when a little girls life is at stake.

The conversation in Washington, D.C., is about national security, Merkley said, according to the newspaper. The reality is that there are thousands of other people whose lives are being disrupted in similar ways.

Late Friday night, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo released a statement indicating the baby and her family had been cleared for travel to the United States.

This evening we were pleased to learn that the federal government has now granted Fatemeh Reshad and her family boarding documents to come to the United States, Cuomo said in a statement. We will continue to work with the International Refugee Assistance Project and their partners to ensure this baby receives the treatment she needs, and fight for those being unfairly shut out of Americas gates by this policy.

The right thing happened tonight, Cuomo tweeted Friday.

[Travelers from Iran board flights to the United States following stay, attorney says]

The statement added the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison would pay for the familys travel costs. Mount Sinai Hospital also offered to provide the surgery free, but attorneys told the Oregonian the family would still seek to have the baby treated at Oregon Health and Science University Hospital in Portland, as planned.

Jennifer Morrissey, a Portland immigration lawyer, told the newspaper she spoke with the infants uncle, Portland resident Samad Taghizadeh, on Friday night.

I would describe him as extremely overwhelmed and grateful, she told the Oregonian.

On Friday night, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart in Washington state issued a ruling that would temporarily block enforcement of Trumps controversial ban. The following day, the State Department said it would reverse the revocation of visas under Trumps executive order, allowing previously banned travelers to enter the United States.

Read more:

Trump lashes out at so-called judge who temporarily blocked travel ban

After four years and Trumps travel ban, a child meets her family

Lawyers continue airport campouts amid Trump travel ban

Continued here:
'She is not a terrorist': Iranian baby caught in travel ban is granted entry for heart surgery - Washington Post

There could be dire consequences.

National Security Adviser Michael Flynn speaking at a news briefing at the White House on February 1, 2017. (AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster)

The Trump administration is continuing to make reckless threats against Iran. On Wednesday, in response to recent missile tests, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn announced that the White House was officially putting Iran on notice, and refused to say whether military force is under consideration. The administration is now escalating sanctions against Iran, which will further ratchet up tensionseven though the missile tests are not a violation of the Iran nuclear agreement, and the White House hasnt even tried to say they are. But thats not stopping Trump. Just hours ago, he tweeted: Iran is playing with firethey dont appreciate how kind President Obama was to them. Not me!

The escalation is also taking hold in the mainstream press. Earlier this week, Business Insider published a piece with the headline US May Have to Consider Firing on Iranian Boats After Latest Houthi Attack, further raising tensions across the region. Seriously, the United States might have to attack Iran? The article was about an attack by Houthi rebels in Yemen against a Saudi warship that is part of the continuing US-backed Saudi assault against Yemen. There have been baseless claims that the Houthi attack was actually aimed at a US shipand the administration and now some in the mainstream press are continuing a popular but false claim that the Houthis are merely a proxy of Iran.

The realities are that

1) The Houthis are a longstanding part of Yemeni society with their own grievances; Iran has provided some funds, but they are not controlled by Tehran. The Houthis are fighting against the Saudi-backed former government in Yemen, in an internal war that predates the direct Saudi assault on Yemen that began in early 2015.

2) The Saudi war against Yemen is brutal, killing thousands of civilians through bombing and hunger, shutting off access to ports needed for food and medicine, and leaving the already-impoverished country to face near-famine conditions, with 50 percent of its population food insecure and dependent on UN food aid for survival.

3) The United States is already part of the war in Yemenselling billions of dollars worth of warplanes, weapons, and other war materiel to Saudi Arabia, and participating in the war directly by providing in-air refueling by US Air Force planes flown by US Air Force pilots.

4) Congress has never authorized any US involvement in the Saudi war against Yemen.

The biggest dangerat least right nowis less a direct US military assault on Iran than a massive escalation of the US war against Yemen, in the name of going after Iran. It will no longer be US support for the Saudi war, but instead risks becoming Washingtons own Yemen War against Iran. The humanitarian consequences for Yemenis would be horrifying.

The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

This weekends US special forces raid in Yemen killed 14 suspected Al Qaeda militants, according to the Pentagon, and reportedly as many as 16 civilians, including childrenone of whom was an 8-year-old US citizen. So the press headlines that the raid killed one American, referring to the Navy SEAL who died in the assault, are false. This raid, against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda, is being treated by the United States as separate from US engagement in the Saudi war against Yemen. But it sets the stage for much greater direct military involvement.

Representative Ted Lieu from California has asked for a Pentagon briefing on the Yemen raid, but no one in Congress so far has demanded that the War Powers Act provisions be brought to bear on the ongoing unauthorized US military involvement in the Yemen war.

And things could escalate even further. There is a particular danger of even more reckless actions by a president unlikely to walk back his tweeted threats against Iran, even if advisers warn him of the dire potential consequences. And with the National Security Council now seemingly run largely by White House strategic adviser Steve Bannon, a leading white supremacist and Islamophobic ideologue, its not clear which advisers might do so.

Further, can we really assume that Trump Inc.s investments in Saudi Arabia, and newly confirmed Secretary of State and former Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillersons oil connections, are playing no role in the decisions that could send the United States to war in Yemen on the side of Saudi Arabia against Iran? Trump has complained that Iran is taking too much in Iraqand he has also said that the perhaps there will be another chance to take the oil from the country. Maybe instead hes thinking about taking the oil in Iran?

Stay tuned.

Originally posted here:
The Trump Administration Is Recklessly Escalating Tensions With Iran - The Nation.