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In 2014, that bet began to pay off. The Obama administration announced an end to Americas decades-long enmity with the Cuban government, and soon everyone from Conan OBrien to Andrew Cuomo to Steve Nash began showing up in Havana. As a University of Miami Cuba expert, Michael J. Bustamante, noted at the time, the American flag has even become the most stylish national standard, appearing on Cubans T-shirts, tights and tank tops.

Then Mr. Trump entered the White House and it all fell apart. In 2019, he imposed the harshest economic sanctions in more than a half-century. A month later, Cuba began rationing soap, eggs, rice and beans. Around that same time, according to The Wall Street Journal, Chinas surveillance network on the island underwent a significant upgrade (the Cuban and Chinese foreign ministries have denied reports of a Chinese surveillance facility in Cuba). Evan Ellis, a Latin America analyst at the U.S. Army War College, told The Journal that the deal is basically Chinese pay-to-play, adding that China gives money to Cuba it desperately needs, and China gets access to the listening facility. Last fall, China agreed to restructure Cubas debt and donate $100 million to the island. One reason Cuba still needs Beijings money is that the Biden administration has kept key Trump sanctions in place.

U.S.-Iran relations follow a similar pattern. When the two countries signed the 2015 nuclear deal, Irans foreign minister at the time, Mohammad Javad Zarif, called it not a ceiling but a solid foundation. We must now begin to build on it. Irans leaders, like Cubas, hoped better relations with the United States would spur Western investment. Although some Iranian hard-liners feared that economic ties to the West would weaken the regime, Mr. Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani gambled that a stronger economy would strengthen Irans regional position and defuse popular discontent, thus helping solidify the countrys despotic political system.

It didnt work out that way. Mr. Trump canceled the nuclear deal and reimposed harsh sanctions. Rather than re-enter the agreement on its first day in office, the Biden administration made additional demands, which helped thwart efforts to revive the deal. And as the prospect of substantial U.S. and European investment disappeared, so did Washingtons leverage over Irans relationship with Moscow. Iran now has little to lose by developing what a National Security Council spokesman recently called a full-scale defense partnership with Russia.

This isnt the first time the United States has driven smaller nations into the arms of its superpower adversaries. It did so during the Cold War. In his book Embers of War, Fredrik Logevall notes that until the late 1940s, Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese nationalist leader, believed the United States could be the champion of his cause of independence from France. During World War II, Mr. Hos rebel army, the Viet Minh, worked alongside the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor of the C.I.A., in Americas fight against Japan.

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Opinion | Why Iran and Cuba Turned Their Back on the U.S. - The New York Times

Ukraine, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Sweden will go to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in their bid to hold Iran accountable for the downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 in January 2020. The Boeing 737-800 crashed after being shot down by Iranian army personnel shortly after taking off from Tehrans Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA), killing all 176 people onboard.

A few days ago, the International Coordination and Response Group for the victims of Flight PS752, including the UK, Ukraine, Canada, and Sweden, issued a joint statement after Iran published a technical report on the accident stating the downing of the aircraft was a human mistake.

The International Coordination and Response Group said,

We, the members of the International Coordination and Response Group for the victims of Flight PS752, representing Canada, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom, note that no agreement on the organization of arbitration was reached between Iran and the Coordination Group pursuant to Article 14 of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation.

Accordingly, the Group will pursue its collective effort to ensure Iran is held accountable for the downing of flight 752 by referring the dispute to the International Court of Justice as soon as is practicable, the group added.

Photo:Grand Warszawski/Shutterstock.

In January 2022, the Coordination Group had said that efforts to resolve the downing of the Ukraine International Airlines flight with Iran were futile. Ten Iranian army personnel were jailed earlier this year for their role in the accident. The primary defendant was sentenced to 13 years in prison: three years for downing the plane and ten years for disobeying orders. Nine other members were also found guilty of wrongdoing and were each sentenced to between one and three years in prison.

The tragedy took place on January 8, 2020. Ukraine International Airlines was operating a scheduled service from Teheran to Kyivs Boryspil International Airport (KPB). The airline employed a Boeing 737-800, registered as UR-PSR, for the service. At the time of the accident, the aircraft was 3.5 years old, having just been delivered in July 2016.

Onboard the aircraft, there were 176 people (167 passengers and nine crew members). Of this total, 138 were bound for Canada, with a connection in Kyiv, as many of them were Iranian Canadian students and academics.

Photo: Real_life_photo/Shutterstock.

Shortly after taking off, the plane crashed down after being taken down by the Iranian armed forces. At the time, there were heightened tensions in Iran following the killing of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani by US forces in Baghdad, Iraq. Iran was on edge about possible attacks after it fired missiles at Iraqi bases housing US forces.

The United Commander had mistaken the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 for a cruise missile and hit it with two missiles in contravention of the commanding center's order and without obtaining the necessary permit.

What do you think about taking Iran to the ICJ to hold it accountable for the downing of Flight 752? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Ukraine Will Take Iran To The International Court Of Justice Over ... - Simple Flying

One of the pillars of Iran’s long-term strategy to destroy Israel is to encircle and strangle the Jewish state with proxy armies. This works particularly well targeting nations like Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen, whose governments are dysfunctional and corrupt and whose citizenry is in economic despair.

Combine this with asymmetric military and terror tactics and a good dose of decades-old incitement against Jews, and you get Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-directed Popular Mobilization Units in Syria and Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen.

This has worked so well that it is only logical that Iran’s next victim would be the Kingdom of Jordan, a nation with profound socio-economic problems and endemic antisemitism. Jordan hosts millions of refugees and its disgruntled populace suffers from high unemployment. It sits strategically to the east of Israel and the West Bank, whose Palestinian citizens have never given up hope for a Palestinian nation “from the river to the sea.”

Jordan is listed by Freedom House as “not free.” Adam Coogle, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East, writes that “despite the view of Jordan as a stable country, public discontent has become increasingly visible in recent years.” A visiting fellow at Brookings Doha, Yasmina Abouzzohour, said Jordan is best described as a “soft dictatorship,”

So why have the U.S. and Israel considered Jordan a stable, reliable ally? Good question.

In fact, Jordan is the next logical target of Iran in its crusade to demoralize Israelis, knowing winning a conventional war is not now in the cards. Iranian destabilization of the kingdom makes perfect sense, to create an environment where Iranian allies like Hamas and Islamic Jihad can flourish and destabilize the West Bank.

Ten years ago, when I asked Israeli political and security leaders what they would do if Jordan were attacked, I often heard they would put IDF soldiers in harm’s way to prop up King Abdullah II, as it was a vital strategic interest. Today when I ask that same question to Israelis, I rarely hear anyone recommending that option, even if Jordan is under intense pressure.

They still consider Jordan essential for strategic interests, but their willingness to fight for those interests has dramatically decreased.

The use of proxies allows the Iranians to claim plausible deniability that they aren’t involved in terrorizing Israel or Jews worldwide. Sadly, the Europeans believe this. They cannot hold themselves back from economic opportunities, even with a state sponsor of terror.

In the north, Iran controls Lebanon through its Hezbollah proxy. In Syria, the dysfunctional state reciprocates Iran’s support for its genocidal president by allowing the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps free rein to set up military posts on Israel’s border, purge Sunni Muslims from southern Syria, and transfer precision-guided missiles through Syria to Lebanon. To the West, Iran effectively controls, in whole or part, the Iraqi military and parliament.

In fact, Iraq can be considered a model for what Iran wants to do to control Jordan. As the headline of Michael Knight’s article in Foreign Affairs put it, “Iraq is quietly falling apart.” Iranian-controlled Popular Mobilization Units have been incorporated into the Iraqi army, and many Iraqi politicians are either too fearful to resist or outright supportive of Iran. This has turned Iraq into an Iranian hegemonic success story.

To Israel’s south and east, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad work closely with Iran in their shared goal to threaten Israel in a multi-front war. And far to the south, don’t forget about Yemen’s Houthis, under the direction of Iran. They too can be activated in a regional war, sending cruise missiles toward Tel Aviv, as they have attacked Saudi Arabia.

Where is Iran’s gaze now? Seth Frantzman writes that Iran is closely watching the results of its instigation in the clashes in the West Bank, primarily in Jenin. It is trying to destabilize the territories to create a power vacuum. “Iran seeks to not only move weapons to the West Bank but also create conditions to threaten Israel from multiple areas.”

To the east of a destabilized West Bank is Jordan, a poverty-stricken nation on Israel’s doorstep — a country we take for granted as stable because its westernized king makes his rounds in Washington, seeming the essence of the enlightened despot, talking up the supposed stability of his country.

So how would Iran destabilize Jordan to set the stage for a pro-Iranian regime — or, better yet, set up mobilization units to dominate the country, as they did in Syria?

Since Abdullah has control of his parliament and loyalty from his professional military, the most likely scenario is a ground-up approach, targeting Jordan’s vulnerable population. They will cultivate support among the poor, the ignorant, Islamists, the disgruntled majority of Palestinians, and the millions of displaced refugees from the Syrian and Iraqi wars, who have little hope for a better life.

Now is the time to help stabilize Abdullah and his “soft” authoritarian regime. Claiming it is stable while ignoring the reality would be a head-in-the-sane approach, not unlike President Jimmy Carter’s infamous characterization of the Shah’s Iran as “an island of stability.”

The U.S. must respond by leveraging Jordan’s dependence on our generous financial aid to warm relations between Israel and Jordan. Jordan receives more economic support from the U.S. than Egypt, a nation whose population is ten times as great. American assistance has more than doubled in less than ten years.

With American help, Jordan, Israel, and the UAE agreed to a deal for Jordanian solar plants to power Israel. Israel, in turn, will provide the parched Kingdom with water. New economic initiatives between the nations fostered by the U.S. are essential to allow Jordan to become economically self-sufficient.

Let’s redirect the $140 million of American aid we send to the Lebanese Armed Forces, who are under the thumb of Hezbollah, for economic development in Jordan.

Next, we must convince our European allies to ante up with financial aid to Jordan, as an Iranian-controlled Levant would be much closer to their doorstep.

Finally, we should remind the King that American support needs to be reciprocated. He must end the endemic anti-Semitism that pervades the Jordanian schools, media, mosques, and government, and which flies in the face of President Biden’s just-released anti-Semitism initiative. Without change, the incitement will one day backfire on his monarchy.

Eric Mandel is director of the Middle East Political Information Network.

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Will Jordan be Irans next target? - The Hill

Iran is formally joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an important regional group that includes China and Russia. Russias Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that Iran would soon be formally admitted to the group.

At the same time Irans Ali Akbar Velayati, a close advisor to Irans Supreme Leader, said in an interview that Iran-Saudi ties are very important. He urged countries in the region to unite against the Zionists, according to pro-Iran regime media outlet Fars News.

"The strategic relations between Iran, China, and Russia are gradually taking shape," Velayati said. Stating that Iran's relations with Russia are strategic, the Iranian official added that differences in some issues do not have a negative impact on them, Mehr News in Iran said. The recent interviews with this key Iranian figure clearly illustrate Irans current strategic thinking. Iran is supposed to join the SCO on July 4. Iran also wants to join the BRICS grouping, alongside

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. This is important because the more Iran joins these regional groups the more it can work against Israel in forums where Israel may not be present. As the US administration encourages regional integration clearly Iran is thinking of a different type of integration.

Its important therefore to note that the comments from Tehran come as the US also announced that the US State Department had selected Dan Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, to work in the State Departments Near Eastern Affairs bureau towards regional integration.

The US wants to strengthen the Abraham Accords and Negev Forum. However, it is clear that Iran is trying to spoil this and other issues are also creating tensions in the region.

Velayati now believes that there are key ties between Iran and Russia that are growing. These are strategic relations he says.

We have seen that the two countries have developed their cooperation significantly.What is certain is that a kind of strategic tripartite relationship between Iran, Russia, and China is gradually being formed, which is unprecedented in the foreign policy of the three countries. The membership of the three countries in the Shanghai Pact has become very decisive and influential in the balance and strategic correlations.

He also highlighted the recent joint military exercises the countries have embarked on. He characterized this as a challenge to the Aukus grouping, that unites Australia, the UK, and the US.

This new arrangement of the forces of the two sides, on the one hand, the United States, England, and Australia, and on the other hand, Iran, Russia, and China, determine the future of the defense balance in Asia and the Pacific.

What comes next? The advisor suggests that Iran, Russia, and China are working on strategic issues and that this will enable Iran to get around sanctions. In addition, the hostile policies of America against Iran and Russia have caused the two countries to expand their cooperation in various political, military, and economic fields.

Iran believes that Russia will rely on Iran now to challenge NATO. Russia considers the US-NATO combined war against Iran and the weakening of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a threat to its security and national interests.

As such Iran supplies Russia with drones to target Ukraine. He didnt mention this, but this is the clear implication behind his statements. Velayati referenced Qasem Soleimani, the Quds Force commander who was killed by the US in 2020, as one of the key figures behind Iran-Russia ties.

Indeed, it is believed Soleimani was responsible for encouraging Russia to intervene in Syria. After the first Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and the Syrian intervention in 2015, Russia likely believed the US and the West would not back Ukraine in 2022 when the invasion began on a larger scale. Russia was wrong, but Iran has now benefited and is becoming a necessary ally for Russia.

The Iranian official also praised renewed ties with Egypt and Saudi and framed them as a way for Iran to challenge Israel. Clearly, Iran believes it is making important diplomatic inroads in the region.

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Iran-Russia-China: Tehran believes it is moving toward triple alliance - The Jerusalem Post

TEHRAN, Iran The sleek, polished dark blue 1978 Cadillac Seville eased slowly out of a showroom near Iran's capital, its driver carefully inserting the 8-track tape that came with it to blast the sounds of a time long since past.

The Sevilles, once assembled in Iran, represented the height of luxury in the country just before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. General Motors had partnered with an Iranian firm to build the sedans, selling them for 2times the price in America at the zenith of the country's oil wealth.

Khosro Dahaghin drives out his restored Cadillac Seville at his dealership store in Roudehen, Iran, on June 7. The Sevilles, once assembled in Iran, represented the height of luxury in the country just before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Today, Khosro Dahaghins passion for restoring the cars means he carefully examines each frame, component and stitch of the Sevilles in Iran, a challenge that's only grown as parts become scarce, the vehicles get older and as the country faces U.S. sanctions over its nuclear program.

The most luxurious and the most special car that was assembled in Iran was Cadillac Iran, said Dahaghin, wearing a necklace bearing the iconic Cadillac crest. The first time this car was assembled outside U.S soil was in Iran. At that time I can say no other brand could rival this car in any aspect imaginable.

To the uninitiated, the Seville may seem like a strange pick for a sought-after antique car with its almost boxy frame and wood-accented interior. However, it represented a sea change for Cadillac at a time when American buyers sought the smaller luxury cars coming from European manufacturers. Cadillac had been better known for the massive, finned cars of the past and the Sevilles fuel economy and handling caught the attention of drivers.

In the Seville, car buyers got a powerful, fuel-injected V8 engine, a pillowy interior, power seats and automatic door locks and windows. A base model Seville initially sold for $12,479 in 1975 when it entered the market the equivalent today of more than $70,000. General Motors produced nearly 57,000 Sevilles in the 1978 model year alone.

Khosro Dahaghin inspects an under-restored Cadillac Seville at his workshop in Roudehen, Iran, on June 7. The Sevilles, once assembled in Iran, represented the height of luxury in the country just before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Back then, Iran had the only Cadillac production outside of the United States. GM created General Motors Iran Ltd., which produced the Seville and other vehicles from so-called knock-down kits from Detroit. The Seville represented the most luxurious vehicle on the road assembled in Iran, under the supervision of American engineers.

The Sevilles went for some $35,000 at the time they were introduced more than what American consumers paid, in part due to higher import duties.

As soon as they have the money, they want a pair of Levis and a car, a General Motors official said of Iranians, according to a New York Times story about the Seville there in 1977.

How many were built remains a question among Irans car aficionados.

Khosro Dahaghin, left, talks with a worker at his workshop while restoring a Cadillac Seville in Roudehen, some 30 miles east of downtown Tehran, Iran, on June 7.

Saeed Shobeiri, the editor-in-chief of Machine Magazine in Tehran, said estimates ranged as high as over 2,600. Michael T. Albano, a Cadillac spokesman in the U.S., said he believed some 2,500 were built.

But the 1979 Islamic Revolution saw the overthrow of the American-backed shah and the installation of Irans theocratic government. Americans and GM left the country. Sevilles continued to be built from the remaining knock-down kits for several more years as Iran nationalized the GM Iran plant, creating the manufacturer Pars Khodro that stills exists today. Today, Shobeiri estimated as many as 60 Sevilles are street-worthy, with more than 100 others unable to be driven.

That's where Dahaghin and his colleagues come in. Since 2013 after being inspired by the former MTV reality show Pimp My Ride, Dahaghin restores Cadillac Sevilles at his garage in Roudehen, some 30 miles east of downtown Tehran.

But the restoration is not easy. Each vehicle can take up to a year and a half to finish to Dahaghin's specifications. Finding components can be a challenge as well, with some occasionally being hand-carried back into Iran by those traveling abroad.

I will not sell this piece of art to anyone who makes an offer, Dahaghin said. The buyer must appreciate the value of this artwork.

Workers clean an under-restored Cadillac Seville at Khosro Dahaghin's workshop in Roudehen, Iran, on June 7.

A restored Seville can go for as much as $40,000 in Iran now, said Mohammad Khorshidizadeh, a classic car specialist. That's a fortune as the Iranian rial now trades at 492,000 to $1. However, Iran has shut itself off from the foreign car market since the reimposition of sanctions since then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal in 2018. That means a vehicle like a 2016 Mercedes-Benz S-Class can go for $400,000.

General Motors isn't selling cars now to Iran to comply with U.S. sanctions, but should economic situations evolve, GM will assess the market situation and our business priorities, Albano said.

"We were unaware. However, not surprised about Iranians rehabilitating old Sevilles, Albano said. Cadillacs appeal among young customers continues to increase around the globe.

For fans of the classics and the Iranian automotive history, like 29-year-old Arsalan Asgharzadeh who recently bought a refurbished Seville from Dahaghin, nothing compares to a vintage Cadillac.

If you experience driving a Cadillac, you will always want to drive a Cadillac," Asgharzadeh said.

Buying an affordable used car in the U.S. has been costly since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. First, supply chain shortages reduced the number of new cars. Then pandemic-related economic relief checks boosted Americans' spending, including on used cars. Those forces drove down the supply of affordable used carswhile the demand increased, according to the Associated Press. In 2023, some used cars can average over $30,000, a price tag arguably close to that of an affordable new car.

Stacker used data from iSeeCars.com to identify the 25 most popular used cars sold nationwide in 2022. Cars are ranked by market share, rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent; though some appear the same, the more precise percentages are not equal. The iSeeCars.com analysis included more than 9.8 million used car sales from the most recent five model years, 2017 to 2021.

Though supply chain issues pushed used car prices up drastically in 2021 and 2022, they have finally begun to dip. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Indexthe most common measure for inflationthe price of used cars and trucks dropped 13.6% from February 2022 to February 2023.

Nonetheless, used cars are available to buy as long as you seek out the right ones. For example, nearly half the vehicles on the list (12 out of 25) are SUVs. The rest are split between five pickup trucks and eight midsized or compact cars. In the top five are three pickup trucks, an SUV, and a compact car.

Before shopping for a used car, you may want to see if any brands or models have been recalled due to a failure of safety protocols. For instance, the 2021 recall of Takata's air bags aims to prevent any more fatalities. Check out the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website to see if there's a recall on a used car you may want to buy.

You may also like: Cost of gold the year you were born

- Share of used car sales: 0.9%

- Share of used car sales: 1.0%

- Share of used car sales: 1.0%

- Share of used car sales: 1.1%

- Share of used car sales: 1.2%

- Share of used car sales: 1.2%

- Share of used car sales: 1.2%

- Share of used car sales: 1.2%

- Share of used car sales: 1.4%

- Share of used car sales: 1.4%

- Share of used car sales: 1.5%

- Share of used car sales: 1.5%

- Share of used car sales: 1.5%

- Share of used car sales: 1.5%

- Share of used car sales: 1.7%

- Share of used car sales: 1.7%

- Share of used car sales: 1.8%

- Share of used car sales: 2.2%

- Share of used car sales: 2.3%

- Share of used car sales: 2.8%

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In Iran, a restorer brings back to life famed Cadillac Sevilles once ... - North Platte Telegraph