LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 14/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 20/20-28/:"Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favour of him. And he said to her, ‘What do you want?’ She said to him, ‘Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.’ But Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We are able.’He said to them, ‘You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.’When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’"

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on June 13-14/2019
US, Argentina Holds Workshop On Countering Hezbollah Terror
Aoun awards President of French Court of Cassation National Order of the Cedar in rank of officer
Hariri receives the Countess of Wessex
Berri welcomes Muselier, British delegation
Jumblat Lambasts Possible Tax Imposition on Retirement Pensions
President of Ireland welcomes Basil, praises generosity of Lebanon
Abu Sleiman: Syrian delegation withdrawal says regime does not want to facilitate return of refugees
Loyalty to Resistance rejects tax increase that will affect poor
Report: Russian Delegation to Visit Beirut for Refugees Initiative Talks
Israeli Releases the Two Shepherds
Sayyed: Govt. Must Target Basic Sources Where Funds are Wasted
Hariri Receives American Task Force for Lebanon
Israel Inspects Technical Fence, Reconnaissance Airplanes Hover Nabatieh

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 13-14/2019
Tankers attacked with ‘mine and torpedo’ in Gulf of Oman
Pompeo: Iran ‘responsible’ for Gulf tanker attacks
Iran said It Rescued 44 Crew after Tanker 'Accident'
Japan PM Meets Iran Supreme Leader Seeking to Ease US Tensions
UK warns Iran over ‘deeply unwise’ attacks on oil tankers
U.N. chief condemns tanker attacks, says facts must be established
Oil Prices Surge after US Reports Tankers Attacked
White House spokeswoman Sanders leaving job at end of month
Moscow Announces Ceasefire in Northwest Syria
Putin fires police officers involved in journalist’s case
China Snubbed Trudeau Request for Talks about Detained Canadians
Boris Johnson Wins First Round of UK Leadership Vote

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 13-14/2019
US, Argentina Holds Workshop On Countering Hezbollah Terror/Jerusalem Post/June 13/2019
Analysis/Trump Sold Three More Bahrain Tickets, but Program Still TBD (To Be Discussed)/Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz/June 13/2019
Washington Times: ‘War College Cancels Speaker on Islam/Raymond Ibrahim/Washington Times/June 13/2019
With No Progress In Indirect U.S.-Iran Contacts, Tehran Sends Threatening Messages Via Its Proxies In Gaza/MEMRI/June 14/2019
In Light Of Impasse In Indirect Iran-U.S. Negotiations, Upsurge In Iranian Terrorism Anticipated On Various Fronts/A. Savyon and Y. Carmon/MEMRI/June 14/2019
The Suppressed Plight of Palestinian Christians/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/June 13/2019
Refugees in Turkey: Mistreated by Ankara, Ignored by the UN/Sirwan Mansouri/Gatestone Institute/June 13/2019
Iran thinks it can pressure the US. It can’t/Dr. John C. Hulsman/Arab News/June 13/2019
The terrorism of Iran and its militias must be confronted/Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri/Arab News/June 13/2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on June 13-14/2019
US, Argentina Holds Workshop On Countering Hezbollah Terror
جيرالزوم بوست: ورشة عمل أميركية_ارجنتينية لمناقشة سبل مواجهة إرهاب حزب الله
Jerusalem Post/June 13/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/75752/%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%b2%d9%88%d9%84%d9%85-%d8%a8%d9%88%d8%b3%d8%aa-%d9%88%d8%b1%d8%b4%d8%a9-%d8%b9%d9%85%d9%84-%d8%a3%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%83%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%ac%d9%86%d8%aa%d9%8a/
Workshop held month before 25th anniversary of the AMIA bombings.
The United States and Argentina held a workshop this week on countering Hezbollah’s terror activities in the Western Hemisphere, a month before the 25th anniversary of the AMIA bombings.
The workshop, held in Buenos Aires on Tuesday and Wednesday, included law enforcement personnel and financial practitioners from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Paraguay and Peru, as well as representatives from Ameripol.
Officials from the US Departments of State, Justice and the Treasury, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Counterterrorism Center, and Drug Enforcement Administration, also participated in the meeting.
The summit was held ahead of Western Hemisphere Ministerial that the Government of Argentina will host commemorating the 25th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in the Argentine capital on July 18, 1994 which killed 85 people and injured over 300 others.
According to a statement released by the US State Department, the workshop focused on Hezbollah’s global modus operandi and its terrorist and criminal infrastructure and activities in the Americas.
“Participants discussed various techniques to constrain and counter the group’s illicit activities, including the financial and law enforcement tools available to identify, investigate, and prosecute Hezbollah’s global support and facilitation networks. Participants also discussed Hezbollah attempts to continue and expand its fundraising in the Western hemisphere, especially in light of the current financial pressure on Hezbollah,” the statement said.
The finances of the Lebanese Shi’ite militant group, designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by dozens of countries across the globe, has been hit hard due in recent years by sanctions placed the United States.
The US has also passed the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act threatening sanctions against anyone who finances the group in any significant way. But the designation has not affected Hezbollah’s patron, Iran, which continues to provide the terrorist group with financial and military support.
Hezbollah also receives significant financial aid by supporters who live abroad as well as through charities and a wide variety of criminal activities including fraud and trafficking in drugs, arms and blood diamonds.
Not based in Lebanon, Hezbollah’s crime network is global, and based primarily in Africa. The group also runs an international network of criminal and narcotic rings in Africa, as well as both North and South America.
Hezbollah operatives also rely on legitimate business enterprises that in truth are shell companies which raise, launder and transfer vast sums to the group.

Aoun awards President of French Court of Cassation National Order of the Cedar in rank of officer
Thu 13 Jun 2019/NNA - President of the Republic General Michel Aoun awarded the President of the Court of Cassation of France, Bertrand Louvel, the National Order of the Cedar in the rank of officer, in the presence of Ministers of Justice Albert Sarhan, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Salim Jreissati and the President of the Supreme Judicial Council Judge Jean Fahd.

Hariri receives the Countess of Wessex
Thu 13 Jun 2019/NNA - The President of the Council of Ministers Saad Hariri received today at the Grand Serail the Countess of Wessex Princess Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones and the UK Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the United Nations Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, in the presence of the British Ambassador Chris Rampling. They discussed the situation in Lebanon and the bilateral relations between the two countries. Princess Sophie is the wife of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Lord Ahmad is also the British Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict and the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

Berri welcomes Muselier, British delegation
Thu 13 Jun 2019/NNA - Speaker Nabih Berri received this Thursday the head of the regional council of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region, Renaud Muselier, and the French ambassador to Lebanon, Bruno Foucher, with whom he discussed the situation in Lebanon and the region, as well as bilateral relations. The Speaker also welcomed Princess Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones, Countess of Wessex, accompanied by British Minister of State, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and British Ambassador Chris Rampling, with talks touching on bilateral relations and the preset situation. In the afternoon, he welcomed a delegation of the American Task Force headed by its president Edward Gabriel. The delegation stressed the importance of interaction between the Lebanese parliament and the US Congress, and expressed its readiness to exert more efforts to support Lebanon and its issues. Berri then met with General Security Chief, Abbas Ibrahim, and briefed him on the security situation.

Jumblat Lambasts Possible Tax Imposition on Retirement Pensions
Naharne/June 13/2019/Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat on Thursday criticized as “unjust” the possible government imposition of taxes on retirement pensions. “The tax on retirement pensions is the highest level of injustice and contempt for hardworking employees and members of the armed forces,” said Jumblat in a tweet. Jumblat accused what he described as the “new modern ruling class” of exploiting these employees. The Finance and Budget Committee on Wednesday said it will work to amend an article in the government's draft 2019 state budget that imposed a new tax on retirement pensions. On May 27, Lebanon's government approved a long-awaited austerity budget aimed at rescuing an economy crumbling under massive debt and unlocking billions in international aid. Some of the austerity measures included in the budget are expected to include a temporary hiring freeze in the public sector, a reduction of public sector benefits and pensions, and tax hikes. Lebanese public employees, however, have warned that their benefits are a red line.

President of Ireland welcomes Basil, praises generosity of Lebanon
Thu 13 Jun 2019/NNA - President of the Republic of Ireland, Michael de Higgins, received Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Gebran Bassil, with whom he tackled relations between Lebanon and Ireland and the contribution of the latter to the UNIFIL.The pair tackled the situation in the region, whereby the Irish President stressed "the importance of the implementation of international law on the Arab-Israeli conflict," praising "Lebanon's generosity in hosting the displaced Syrians. History will remember Lebanon's role and its humanitarian gesture towards a people suffering from war."Bassil underlined the "relationship between Lebanon and Ireland and the need to develop and strengthen ties economically and politically in the coming years."

Abu Sleiman: Syrian delegation withdrawal says regime does not want to facilitate return of refugees
Thu 13 Jun 2019/NNA - Labor Minister Camille Abou Sleiman said on Thursday that the withdrawal of the Syrian delegation during Lebanon's speech at the International Labor Organization conference in Geneva confirmed that the Syrian regime does not want to facilitate the return of refugees to their country. Abu Sleiman said his speech at the ILO conference reflected Lebanon's official position on the issue of Syrian displacement.

Loyalty to Resistance rejects tax increase that will affect poor
Thu 13 Jun 2019/NNA - The parliamentary bloc "Loyalty to the Resistance", affirmed after its periodic meeting held this Thursday in Haret Hreik under the presidency of MP Mohammad Raad, its refusal to any increase of tax which will affect the poor and people with low income, calling for the adoption of substitutes that would ensure the same revenues to the State. "The Finance and Budget Parliamentary Committee and the deputies participating in its meetings are committed to the need to finalize the study of the draft budget for the year 2019," said the statement.

Report: Russian Delegation to Visit Beirut for Refugees Initiative Talks
Naharne/June 13/2019/Lebanon expects a Russian delegation in Beirut next week to follow up on the Russian initiative to repatriate the Syrian refugees back to their homeland, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday. The delegation will reportedly meet with Lebanon’s three senior leaders, said the daily. According to media circles close to the delegation, the Russian members are familiar with the Syrian file and are also running negotiations with the Iranian party in that regard. In 2018, Syria's ally Russia has put forward plans to the United States to cooperate for the safe return of refugees to Syria.
Moscow has proposed the establishment of working groups in Lebanon and Jordan, to where many refugees have fled. Seven years into Syria's war, Lebanon hosts around 1.5 million Syrian refugees, compared with a local population of 4.5 million.Over the past few months, several hundred Syrians have left Lebanon in operations organised by the governments of Beirut and Damascus. Several thousand have also independently left in recent years.

Israeli Releases the Two Shepherds
Naharne/June 13/2019/The Israeli enemy forces released the shepherds who were taken hostage on Wednesday, the National News Agency reported on Thursday. NNA said that two shepherds were handed over through the Naqoura crossing to the Lebanese Army which, in turn, will hand them over to the Intelligence Directorate of the South for interrogation.On Wednesday, an Israeli commando force kidnapped them in the vicinity of the southern border town of Shebaa. It identified the shepherds as Lebanese national A.D., who hails from Shebaa, and Syrian national M.A., saying they were taken into the occupied Shebaa Farms

Sayyed: Govt. Must Target Basic Sources Where Funds are Wasted
Naharne/June 13/2019/MP Jamil al-Sayyed on Thursday said the government must collect the funds it needs to slash the budget deficit from the main sources where public funds are being wasted instead of imposing additional taxes on people. In a televised press conference he held at the parliament, Sayyed called on the state “to go to the main sources where money is wasted instead of collecting it from the pockets of citizens.”Lashing at the two mobile operators in Lebanon, Sayyed said: “They activate mobile services that customers are unaware of, who later find out that they are charged for services they did not request.”
“Subscribers must know the entire details before deciding what service to ask for,” he added. The MP named three individuals “Najib Abu Hamzah, Hisham Itani and Ayman Jumaa,” whom he accused of “monopolizing” the mobile services sector in Lebanon. He went on saying: “The amounts which the government plans to collect from (state budget) articles related to retired government employees amounts only to $40 million dollars, compared to the amounts collected for one service by the mobile service providers,” he said. Sayyed also touched on how maritime property tax would secure sufficient funds for the treasury. Said tax imposes fines on private beaches and facilities built on the Lebanese coast and on government property.

Hariri Receives American Task Force for Lebanon
Naharne/June 13/2019/Prime Minister Saad Hariri received Wednesday evening at the Grand Serail a delegation from the “American Task Force for Lebanon”, headed by its president Ambassador Edward Gabriel, Hariri’s press office said.
Gabriel said after the meeting that the organization is seeking to improve the relation between Lebanon and the United States. “The delegation is visiting Lebanon this week to achieve this goal and to discuss the issue of military assistance and other topics that concern the country, especially the issue of Syrian refugees and the economic situation. In this regard we held a very good meeting with Prime Minister Hariri from which we came out with a very positive feeling about Lebanon and its future,” said Gabriel.

Israel Inspects Technical Fence, Reconnaissance Airplanes Hover Nabatieh
Naharnet/June 13/2019/Members of the Israeli army forces and Hummer vehicles have on Thursday combed the military road opposite the Adaiseh checkpoint in Marjayoun, the National News Agency reported. NNA said some 20 Israeli troops and two Hummer vehicles combed the military road, and inspected the technical fence opposite the checkpoint of Adaiseh - Marjayoun district. Earlier, NNA said that Israeli reconnaissance airplanes hovered over the southern town of Nabatieh and Iqlim al-Tuffah.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 13-14/2019
Tankers attacked with ‘mine and torpedo’ in Gulf of Oman
Arab News/June 13/2019/ DUBAI: Two oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman Thursday, leaving one ablaze and both adrift.
The attacks sent oil prices up by more than 3 percent by mid-afternoon over worries about Middle East supplies. They come at a time of heightened tensions over Iran’s activities in the region and after Tehran has repeatedly threatened to disrupt shipping in and out of the Arabian Gulf.Thursday’s attacks took place to the east of the Strait of Hormuz, a major strategic waterway for world oil supplies, that leads into the Arabian Gulf. The first ship, the Front Altair was on fire in between the coast of Iran and the UAE after an explosion. The Norwegian owner said its crew were safe.
A second Japanese-owned tanker, the Kokuka Courageous, was abandoned after being hit by a suspected torpedo, the firm that chartered the ship said. The crew were also picked up. Bernhard Schulte Ship management said the hull of the Kokuka Courageous was breached above the water line while transporting methanol from Jubail in Saudi Arabia to Singapore. It said the ship was afloat and the crew safe with one minor injury reported. A shipping broker said the blast that struck the Kokuka Courageous might have been caused by a magnetic mine. Japan’s Kokuka Sangyo, owner of the Kokuka Courageous, said its ship was hit twice over a three-hour period. Taiwan’s state oil refiner CPC said the Front Altair, owned by Norway's Frontline, was “suspected of being hit by a torpedo” around 4 a.m. GMT, as it carried 75,000 tonnes of the petrochemical feedstock naphtha to Taiwan. Frontline said its vessel was on fire but afloat, denying a report by the Iranian news agency IRNA that the vessel had sunk. The Bahrain-based US Navy Fifth Fleet said it was assisting the two tankers after receiving distress calls.
TV images showed huge, thick plumes of smoke and fire billowing from one of the tankers as it lay out to sea. The master of the Front Altair ordered the 23-member crew to abandon ship after a blast, International Tanker Management, the technical manager of the vessel, said. It said the crew were picked up by the nearby Hyundai Dubai. The Front Altair loaded its cargo from Ruwais in the UAE, according to trade sources and shipping data on Refinitiv Eikon. Iran’s IRNA reported that Iranian search and rescue teams had picked up 44 sailors from two damaged tankers and had taken them to the Iranian port of Jask. That report could not immediately be confirmed.
Ship tracking websites showed the two ships halting their course early Thursday after they had passed through the Strait of Hormuz. The Front Altair performed a hard turn to starboard just before 3 a.m. GMT and turning full circle. The Kokuka Courageous changed course after 7 a.m. GMT
Tensions have risen in the Gulf since an Iranian threat prompted the US last month to deploy an aircraft carrier strike group and B-52 bombers to the region. Teams putting out a fire on board an oil tanker attacked in the Gulf of Oman. (AFP) Within days of the announcement, four ships were attacked with limpet mines while moored off the UAE coast. Saudi Arabia and the US blamed the incident on Iran. On Wednesday, a missile fired by Yemen-based Houthi militants, which are supported by Iran, struck Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport, injuring 26. The Houthis also claimed an armed drone strike last month on Saudi oil pumping stations. President Donald Trump, who has demanded Tehran curb its military programmes and influence in the Middle East, pulled the United States out of a deal between Iran and global powers to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions. In recent months, the US has used punishing sanctions to reduce Iran’s oil exports to a trickle. Saudi Arabia and other oil producers in the region have increased production to fill the void and keep prices on track. Thursday’s attacks prompted strong international condemnation and deep concern of the impact on shipping in an area which carries so much of the world’s oil supply.
“We need to remember that some 30 percent of the world’s (seaborne) crude oil passes through the Straits. If the waters are becoming unsafe, the supply to the entire Western world could be at risk,” said Paolo d’Amico, chairman of INTERTANKO tanker association.

Pompeo: Iran ‘responsible’ for Gulf tanker attacks
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/hursday, 13 June 2019/US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a press conference on Thursday that the United States has assessed, based on intelligence, type of weapons used and sophistication of assaults, that Iran is responsible for the attacks on tankers in the Gulf of Oman. The Secretary of State said Iran’s unprovoked attacks are part of a campaign to escalate tension, adding that Iran is working to disrupt the flow of oil through Strait of Hormuz. It is the assessment of the U.S. government that Iran is responsible for today's attacks in the Gulf of Oman. These attacks are a threat to international peace and security, a blatant assault on the freedom of navigation, and an unacceptable escalation of tension by Iran. pic.twitter.com/cbLrWNU5S0
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) June 13, 2019
“Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe made a historic trip to Iran to ask the regime to de-escalate and enter into talks, Iran’s Supreme Leader rejected PM Abe’s diplomacy today by saying he has no response to President Trump and will not answer,” Pompeo said during the press conference. “The Supreme Leader’s government then insulted Japan by attacking a Japanese oil tanker just outside of Iranian waters, threatening the lives of the entire crew, creating a maritime emergency,” he added. Pompeo said: “Iran’s Foreign Minister today responded to these attacks, he said sardonically: ‘suspicious doesn’t begin to describe what likely transpired this morning.’”“Foreign Minister Zarif may think this is funny, but no one else in the world does.”Pompeo also said he has instructed US ambassador to UN to raise Iran issue before Security Council. Two tankers were hit in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman and the crew have been evacuated, shipping sources said on Thursday, a month after a similar incident in which four tankers in the region were struck. With agencies.

Iran said It Rescued 44 Crew after Tanker 'Accident'
Agence France Presse/Naharne/June 13/2019/Iran's navy rescued 44 crew members from two oil tankers which caught fire after an "accident" in the Sea of Oman on Thursday, official news agency IRNA reported.
"Forty-four sailors from the two foreign oil tankers which had an accident this morning in the Sea of Oman were saved from the water by the (navy) rescue unit of Hormozgan province and transferred to the port of Bandar-e-Jask," IRNA quoted an "informed source" as saying.
The news agency said the first accident occurred at 8:50 (0420 GMT) 25 nautical miles off Bandar-e-Jask in southern Iran. The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker was carrying a load of ethanol from Qatar to Taiwan, the source said. "As the ship caught fire, 23 of the crew jumped into the water and were saved by a passing ship and handed over to the Iranian rescue unit. "An hour after the first accident the second ship caught fire at 9:50 am 28 miles off the port." That Panama-flagged ship was headed to Singapore from one of Saudi Arabia's ports with a load of methanol, and 21 of its crew jumped and were rescued, said the source. The US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, said that its vessels in the Middle East had received distress calls from two tankers reportedly under attack in the Gulf of Oman. "We are aware of the reported attack on tankers in the Gulf of Oman," it said in a statement. "US naval forces in the region received two separate distress calls at 6:12 am. local time and a second one at 7:00 am," it said. "US Navy ships are in the area and are rendering assistance."

Japan PM Meets Iran Supreme Leader Seeking to Ease US Tensions
Agence France Presse/Naharne/June 13/2019/Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Thursday, seeking to ease tensions between Tehran and Washington during the first visit by a Japanese premier since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Tokyo is a key ally of Washington and has also traditionally enjoyed good ties with Tehran. "Meeting with Mr. @AbeShinzo, the Prime Minister of Japan," said a tweet on Khamenei's official English-language Twitter account accompanied by a photograph of the two men. Iran has been locked in a bitter standoff with the United States since US President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal in May last year. Washington has since reimposed crippling unilateral sanctions -- which have forced Tokyo to halt its once-substantial purchases of Iranian oil -- and launched a military buildup in the Gulf. There have also been rising tensions in the Gulf region, with Saudi Arabia on Thursday warning Iran of "grave consequences" after Tehran-linked Huthi Yemen rebels wounded 26 people in a missile attack on a Saudi airport. "It is essential that Iran plays a constructive role in building solid peace and stability in the Middle East," Abe told a joint news conference in Tehran on Wednesday with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani. "Today, tension is rising in the Middle East. Some experts point out that the conflict might be triggered accidentally," said Abe. An armed clash "must be avoided by all means", the premier stressed. He added that Japan "wishes to play an utmost role in its capacity to ease the tension. This is the one single thought that brought me to Iran." Addressing the same news conference, Rouhani said he expected a "very positive change" in the Middle East and the world if the United States stops its economic pressure on Iran through sanctions. "If there are some tensions, (their) roots stem from America's economic war against Iran. Whenever it stops we will witness a very positive change in the region and the world," Rouhani said. "We will not initiate a conflict in the region, even against the US, but if a war starts against us we will then give a crushing response," the Iranian president added.
Lower the temperature
Abe began his visit to Iran on Wednesday with the stated aim of defusing tensions between Tehran and Washington. Japan stopped importing Iranian crude oil in May to comply with US sanctions against the Islamic republic. The Asian powerhouse has an interest in keeping the Middle East stable in order to ensure the flow of hydrocarbons to fuel its economy. Rouhani said he saw "Japan's interest in continuing to buy oil from Iran and fixing financial issues" as a "guarantee" for the ongoing development of bilateral ties. The spokesman for Japan's foreign ministry, Takeshi Osuga, later said that, on the questions of Iranian oil sales to Japan, "our understanding is that this was the wish of the Iranian side."But he added: "Oil purchase (from Iran) is the decision of private companies. I cannot predict their decision."The Iranian president also underlined a convergence of views with his visitor on the issue of nuclear weapons, which he said "both of us are against". Abe discussed "the situation in Iran" in a telephone call with Trump on Tuesday, a Japanese government spokesman said. The Japanese premier won Trump's blessing for the mediation mission when the US president visited Tokyo last month.
"We believe it is extremely important that, at the leadership level, we call on Iran as a major regional power to ease tension, to adhere to the nuclear agreement and to play a constructive role for the region's stability," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.

UK warns Iran over ‘deeply unwise’ attacks on oil tankers
Reuters, London/Friday, 14 June 2019/Britain is working on the basis that Iran is responsible for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, and warned Iran that these actions were “deeply unwise,” Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said. “This is deeply worrying and comes at a time of already huge tension. I have been in contact with (US Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo and, while we will be making our own assessment soberly and carefully, our starting point is obviously to believe our US allies,” Hunt said in a statement. “We are taking this extremely seriously and my message to Iran is that if they have been involved it is a deeply unwise escalation which poses a real danger to the prospects of peace and stability in the region,” he added. Pompeo told reporters earlier on Thursday that the US government believed Iran was to blame, based on the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation, and other factors.

U.N. chief condemns tanker attacks, says facts must be established
Thu 13 Jun 2019/NNA - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned attacks on two oil tankers on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman that left one ablaze and both adrift, warning that the world cannot afford “a major confrontation in the Gulf region.”
“I strongly condemn any attack against civilian vessels. Facts must be established and responsibilities clarified,” he told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States. The attacks were the second in a month near the Strait of Hormuz, a major strategic waterway for world oil supplies.The United States and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for last month’s attacks using limpet mines on four tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a charge Tehran denies. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit called on the U.N. Security Council to act against those responsible to maintain security in the Gulf region. “Some parties in the region are trying to instigate fires in the region and we must be aware of that,” he told the 15-member council, without specifically naming anyone. -- REUTERS

Oil Prices Surge after US Reports Tankers Attacked
Agence France Presse/Naharne/June 13/2019/Oil prices soared Thursday after the US Navy reported two tankers had been attacked in the Gulf of Oman, fanning geopolitical concerns in the crude-rich region. Both main contracts jumped about three percent after the Navy said its vessels had received distress calls following a "reported attack on tankers", while a merchant shipping information service run by Britain's Royal Navy reported an "incident". The news follows the sabotage of four ships in the strategically crucial Gulf last month with the United States saying Iranian naval mines were "almost certainly" to blame. "We know that geopolitical tensions in the region are worsening and raise supply-side concerns in terms of short-term outages," said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com. However, he warned prices would not likely stay elevated for long, adding: "With the demand outlook so clouded there is no sense that the bear market will end any time soon," he added.The spike in crude prices came as the commodity was wallowing around five-month lows after data on Wednesday showed a surge in US inventories, which exacerbated uncertainty caused by the China-US trade war. The jump of more than two million barrels of crude -- compared with an expected drop of one million -- fuelled worries about demand in the world's top economy and sent both main contracts to levels not seen since January. Hopes that OPEC and other key producers led by Russia will reach an agreement to extend output cuts beyond June were also giving support to prices, although no date has been set for their meeting due later this month. While the Gulf blasts spurred talks of increased Gulf tensions, Asian equity markets recovered from a morning sell-off to end mixed.
-- Hong Kong recovers --
Hong Kong stocks pared earlier losses to end only slightly lower, having shed more than one percent early Thursday, as the demonstrations that shook the city the day before did not re-materialise. The Hang Seng Index had taken a hammering Wednesday owing to huge protests against a planned extradition law that critics fear will entangle people in China's courts and hammer the city's reputation as an international business hub. And with Beijing backing the law, observers warned the issue could have a detrimental effect on the mainland. "Beijing’s push for this extradition bill could prove costly as investors and businesses value Hong Kong’s autonomy," said OANDA senior market analyst Edward Moya. "Uncertainty with Hong Kong’s autonomy will dampen business prospects and put a further strain on Chinese growth. If the US and Europe become involved it could complicate relations and future trade deals."The amount Hong Kong's banks charge each other to borrow cash -- known as the Hong Kong Interbank Borrowing Rate (Hibor) -- hit a fresh 11-year high Thursday as cash is sucked out of the financial system. The gains saw the local dollar hit a six-month high. While the withdrawals are expected at this time of year for various seasonal reasons as well as preparations for IPOs, analysts said the protests were also having some effect. Among other regional markets Shanghai and Singapore were up 0.1 percent, Tokyo slipped 0.5 percent and Seoul shed 0.3 percent. Sydney was flat. Wellington and Manila rose but Taipei and Mumbai fell.
In morning London trade the FTSE index rose 0.2 percent, while Paris added 0.4 percent and Frankfurt was up 0.1 percent.
- Key figures around 0900 GMT -
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.5 percent at 21,032.00 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.1 percent at 27,294.71 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 2,910.74 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 7,380.38
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1299 from $1.1288 at 2100 GMT
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2682 from $1.2687
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 108.33 yen from 108.51 yen
Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP $1.44 at $52.58 per barrel
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White House spokeswoman Sanders leaving job at end of month
Reuters, Washington/Friday, 14 June 2019/White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, a fierce loyalist of President Donald Trump who evolved into one of his closest advisers, will leave her job at the end of the month to return to her home state of Arkansas, Trump said on Thursday. “She’s a warrior,” said Trump, who announced her departure on Twitter shortly before calling Sanders on stage at an event at the White House. “We’ve been through a lot together, and she’s tough, but she’s good.”Trump did not immediately name a replacement. The Republican Sanders, who is 36 and has three young children, has drawn fire from the White House Correspondents Association for ending daily briefings, with Trump preferring to take questions himself from reporters and command the White House stage. The last briefing was 94 days ago, but Trump answers questions from reporters on a near-daily basis, including two extended sessions with them on Wednesday. Sanders called the job “the honor of a lifetime.”“I’ve loved every minute, even the hard minutes,” she said, her voice trembling with emotion. “I have three amazing kids and I’m going to spend a little more time with them.”Sanders evolved into a senior adviser and confidante of the president, one who is regularly brought into senior-level meetings. Speculation immediately turned to whether Sanders might run for governor of Arkansas, a position once held by her father, Mike Huckabee. “If we can get her to run for the governor of Arkansas, I think she’ll do very well,” Trump said.

Moscow Announces Ceasefire in Northwest Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharne/June 13/2019/Moscow has announced a ceasefire in Syria's northwestern Idlib province after weeks of intensified rocket fire and air strikes by regime and Russian forces. "At Russia's initiative, with the mediation of Turkey and Russia, a ceasefire agreement was concluded in the Idlib de-escalation zone as of midnight on June 12," the Russian Reconciliation Centre for Syria said in a statement late Wednesday. "As a result, a significant reduction has been observed in the number of bombardments by illegal groups," said the centre, which is operated by Russia's armed forces. Idlib, the last major area of Syria outside government control, has faced intense regime bombardment in recent weeks, despite a months-old buffer zone deal. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said Monday that 25 civilians including seven children had been killed in recent strikes, with more than 360 civilians killed since the end of April. Syria's war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests. Russia launched a military intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad's regime in 2015, helping his forces to reclaim large parts of the country from opposition fighters and jihadists.

Putin fires police officers involved in journalist’s case
The Associated Press, Moscow Thursday, 13 June 2019/Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday dismissed two senior police officers involved in the arrest of an investigative journalist on drug charges that were later dropped for lack of evidence, in a case that provoked national outrage. The firings, which came a day after massive arrests at a protest rally in the Russian capital, reflect a careful balancing act by the Kremlin, which seeks to assuage public anger while maintaining a tight lid on dissent. Last week’s arrest of Ivan Golunov on drug-dealing charges he rejected as sham drew an unprecedented show of solidarity, with three top national newspapers publishing front pages demanding his release. The interior ministry dropped all charges against the reporter on Tuesday in a highly unusual move, and asked Putin to dismiss two senior officers who oversaw the case.
The Kremlin on Thursday announced the ouster of Moscow police’s anti-drugs chief, Yuri Devyatkin, and head of the police department for western Moscow, Andrei Puchkov. The firings follow arrests at an unsanctioned but peaceful rally supporting Golunov in Moscow on Wednesday. Moscow police said about 200 people were detained, while independent monitoring group OVD-Info said over 500 were taken into custody and some of them were beaten. The vast majority were released quickly without charges. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Thursday that the Kremlin is aware of complaints about excessive use of force by police and expects an official inquiry to look into that. Peskov told reporters that the president will consider proposals to revise legislation to prevent police from using drug charges to frame innocent people. “If such initiative is formulated it will be considered,” he said. He added that it’s premature to conclude that Golunov’s case highlights an urgent need for sweeping police reforms, saying that the Kremlin would await the results of an official probe. The decision to drop charges against Golunov and fire police generals responsible for his arrest marked an unusual shift for the Kremlin, which has staunchly backed law enforcement officials in other cases widely seen as trumped up. Observers say that this time the damage from Golunov’s arrest was too big for the Kremlin to stick to the familiar pattern. They also say that the officials allegedly involved in fabricating the case were too insignificant to merit high-level protection. “Moscow police’s expectations for political support were rooted in their belief that the Kremlin wouldn’t act against those protecting its own security, and that was a major mistake,” analyst Tatiana Stanovaya wrote in a commentary for Moscow’s Carnegie Center. Stanovaya noted that the Kremlin was angry to see a big image problem resulting from a case apparently driven by personal interests of minor officials. “Golunov was freed not only because of public outrage, but because those who arrested him have no political value for Putin,” she wrote. “In the world of Putin, they are like dust.”

China Snubbed Trudeau Request for Talks about Detained Canadians
Agence France Presse/Naharne/June 13/2019/China ignored Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's personal request for dialogue to end a spiralling diplomatic row, his office revealed Wednesday. rudeau requested the call in January with Premier Li Keqiang so he could "personally advocate" for the immediate release of two Canadians detained a month earlier and for clemency in the case of another Canadian who would later be sentenced to death for drug trafficking, his spokeswoman Chantal Gagnon said in a statement. "Our appeal for clemency (in the drug case) was also made directly to senior Chinese officials," she added. The disclosure comes amid growing domestic calls for Trudeau to step up pressure on China to release the two Canadians, whom his government has said were arbitrarily detained. Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor were detained after the December 1 arrest of a top Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver on a US warrant. China has said it suspects Kovrig, who works for the International Crisis Group think tank, of espionage and alleged that Spavor provided him with intelligence. But Trudeau retorted that the pair "had been detained for political reasons." Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said last month she also sought a meeting with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to no avail. The detentions have thrown relations between Ottawa and Beijing into crisis. China has also blocked Canadian agricultural shipments worth billions of dollars. In response, Ottawa has rallied a dozen countries to its side, including Britain, France, Germany and the United States, as well as the European Union, NATO and the G7. Meng is living in a Vancouver mansion on bail awaiting an extradition hearing scheduled to start in early 2020.

Boris Johnson Wins First Round of UK Leadership Vote
Agence France Presse/Naharne/June 13/2019/Boris Johnson overwhelmingly won the first round of voting Thursday in the race to replace outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May, with the field of candidates narrowed to seven from 10.The Brexit-backing former foreign minister picked up 114 of the 313 votes cast in a secret ballot of Conservative Party lawmakers in the lower House of Commons. Mark Harper, Esther McVey, and Andrea Leadsom, who came in second to May in the last leadership race in 2016, failed to collect the required 17 votes and were knocked out. "Obviously we're happy with the results but there's still a long way to go to winning the contest," a spokesman for Johnson told reporters. "You have to hold the numbers to go through to the next round," the spokesman said. "That's a challenge." The outcome, if repeated in subsequent rounds which will further whittle down the field starting next Tuesday, is above the 105 votes Johnson would need to make the final two. The last pair standing will go up before 160,000 voting Conservative Party members across the country. The winner will become new party leader and automatically replace May as premier, most likely at the end of July. Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt was a distant second with 43 votes. Environment Minister Michael Gove was third with 37 votes, former Brexit minister Dominic Raab picked up 27, Home Secretary Sajid Javid won 23 votes, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock had 20.
International Development Secretary Rory Stewart snuck through in seventh place with 19 votes after running an original social media campaign that endeared him to more liberal party members -- and the British public at large. "This is now neck-and-neck going into the next round," Stewart told reporters after watching the results announcement. "I feel really inspired and encouraged."Hunt and Gove are widely seen as going head-to-head for votes from the more moderate wing of the party which favours a softer line on Brexit negotiations with the European Union. Raab, like Johnson, has warned that he was ready to take Britain out of the EU without an agreement when the new Brexit deadline arrives in October, if the EU does not offer better terms.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 13-14/2019
Analysis/Trump Sold Three More Bahrain Tickets, but Program Still TBD (To Be Discussed)
تحليل للمحلل زفي برئيل من الهآرتس يتناول فيه حيثيات المؤتمر الإقتصادي الذي سيعقد في البحرين بدعوة من ترامب وصهره في سياق ما يسمى صفقة العصر
Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz/June 13/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/75749/%d8%aa%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%82-%d9%84%d9%84%d9%85%d8%ad%d9%84%d9%84-%d8%b2%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%a6%d9%8a%d9%84-%d9%85%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%87%d8%a2%d8%b1%d8%aa%d8%b3-%d9%8a%d8%aa%d9%86%d8%a7/
With Egypt, Jordan and Morocco now on board, attendance of upcoming economic conference isn't really about the Palestinian issue
The announcement by the White House Tuesday that Egypt, Jordan and Morocco will attend the economic workshop that U.S. President Donald Trump is convening in Bahrain this month has been measured in terms of losses and wins: a loss for the Palestinians, who failed to persuade the Arab states to stay away; a win for Trump, who succeeded in selling an additional three tickets to the show, without knowing the program and the level of representation.
The expected attendance at the “Peace to Prosperity” workshop of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and the most recent invitees to RSVP should be examined in the context of the relationships among these countries and between Washington and Israel, rather than as a test of enthusiasm for the opportunity to take part in solving the Palestinian problem.
Jordan delayed its response for weeks, and then hinted at first that it didn’t plan to attend. But Jordan is dependent on U.S. aid. Even more important, it cannot afford to skip any gathering at which decisions might be made with implications for its role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jordan fears that Riyadh might assume control of the holy places and exclude Amman from the political processes in the region. Of even more concern is that while the economic plan is expected to give Jordan billions of dollars in aid, their price could include agreeing to accept tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Palestinians in a bid to neutralize the right of return issue.
Saudi Arabia is on a collision course with Congress, which is currently debating four bills aimed at blocking weapons sales to the kingdom because of the unending war in Yemen, which the United Nations has declared a major humanitarian disaster. The status of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Washington isn’t great, particularly after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the demand by the U.S. House of Representatives to continue to investigate the crown prince’s responsibility for the murder.
Saudi Arabia, however, sees the United States as a crucial anchor in the struggle against Iranian influence in the Middle East, so responding to any Trump initiative is a strategic necessity, whether the initiative yields a diplomatic solution or not. For Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian problem is secondary, if not marginal, to its own regional interests; the importance of its participation in the Bahrain conference is similar to a celebrity appearance at an international festival.
Egypt’s attendance at the conference is also part of the close relationship between President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi and Trump. Egypt isn’t a vocal rival of Iran and its involvement in the war in Yemen against the Houthis is symbolic. But its economic dependence on Riyadh and Washington doesn’t allow it to ignore the American initiative. In addition to the billions of dollars Egypt has gotten from Saudi Arabia since Sissi took power in 2013, and the annual aid it gets from the United States since signing the Camp David Accords, there are the support and guarantees that the United States gave the loans Egypt has taken from the International Monetary Fund totalling $12 billion, and the grandiose investment plans to be funded mostly by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are cooperating militarily with the private army of Libyan Gen. Khalifa Haftar, while Egypt has an unofficial military alliance with Israel in the war against terror near Israel’s borders. But Egypt, like Jordan and even Bahrain, have made it clear that it supports the two-state solution, a formula unacceptable to Israel and one that Washington is also apparently shying away from. Morocco has an interest in preserving its status as a partner to diplomatic developments in the region, and in the past helped mediate between Israel and the Palestinians, but it, too, is needy and its strong ties with the United States give it the financial security it needs in order to function.
It is clear to all countries and businessmen participating in the conference that the burden of funding the plan, which is expected to total nearly $70 billion, will fall on the Gulf states. The United States hasn’t even stated how much it will agree to put toward realizing its plan. The European Union has made it clear that any plan that does not offer a realistic diplomatic solution and contradicts the principle of two states is not worthy of discussion. Trump aide and son-in-low Jared Kushner visited the EU only on June 4, the day before EU foreign ministers convened to discuss the Palestinian problem. The EU countries have learned from previous conferences, like the one in Warsaw in February and the one convened by the White House in March 2018, that they are meant to serve as an ATM for Trump’s ideas, with no input. Many EU leaders believe it would be a mistake to go to Bahrain, which they see as an attempt to bypass the negotiations that must precede any discussion of funding and investment.
To the Palestinians, the decision by Arab states to attend the conference despite Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ great efforts at dissuasion is more proof, if any were needed, that the “Palestinian problem” helps these countries to strengthen their ties with the United States and Israel and create a map of Arab hegemony in the Middle East. Abbas believes these countries prefer to maintain a status quo that promises them American backing without having to pay a political price in the form of recognizing and establishing relations with Israel, which would be expected of them in the event the peace process were to end in an agreement.
Even if Abbas were to accept Trump’s invitation, in order to at least get the generous aid the plan is expected to offer, bitter experience has taught him that there is no one he can count on for assistance. For example, at this year’s Arab League summit the Arab states pledged $100 million a month to the Palestinian Authority to offset the tax payments that Israel is withholding. Not a single dollar has been paid. Qatar agreed to give the PA $480 million, but only in installments.
The Bahrain conference cannot and is not meant to replace negotiations or to propose a solution that circumvents negotiations. It’s doubtful that it will even result in concrete agreements regarding the extent and time frame for the economic aid. Trump will be able to add this event to his resume of paltry efforts invested in the peace process, which he trampled on when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moved the U.S. embassy there and accepted Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.

Washington Times: ‘War College Cancels Speaker on Islam’
Raymond Ibrahim/Washington Times/June 13/2019
Note: The following report by national security columnist Bill Gertz on the US Army War College’s surrender to CAIR’s slander campaign appeared in the Washington Times, June 12, 2019:
A Muslim activist group has pressured the U.S. Army War College into postponing a speech by Ray Ibrahim, an expert on the historical roots of Islamic terrorism, after the group falsely labeled him as a racist and “Islamophobe,” he said.
The Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group critics say is linked to the Islamist international group Muslim Brotherhood, protested the speech in a letter to the college superintendent, Army Maj. Gen. John S. Kem, and provost James G. Breckenridge. Purporting to represent the “Muslim community” in Pennsylvania, CAIR stated that it opposed Mr. Ibrahim’s planned June 19 speech on “Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War Between Islam and the West,” which is also the title of his latest book.
The group asserted that Mr. Ibrahim’s publicly stated view — that Muslim hostility for and terrorization of the West is not an aberration but a continuation of Islamic history — has the potential to instigate hatred against Muslims.
“We also do not believe that there is any benefit to the U.S. in promulgating the inaccurate thesis that Islam is our enemy, as this stereotype only alienates millions of Muslim-Americans,” the May 28 letter states.
Mr. Ibrahim, in an interview, denied the CAIR allegations and said the group set up straw man arguments against him in a smear campaign that involved taking his statements out of context.
The War College initially informed Mr. Ibrahim that the lecture could proceed despite the opposition. But after CAIR organized a publicity campaign alleging Mr. Ibrahim was a white nationalist, the college buckled to the group’s pressure.
Mr. Ibrahim, an Egyptian by ethnicity, vehemently denied he is a racist. “They are playing the race card,” he said.
After the Army announced it was postponing the speech, Jacob Bender, CAIR-Philadelphia executive director, issued a statement urging full cancellation. “A postponement is not enough — the college should reject hate,” he said.
Robert Martin, a spokesman for the Army War College, said Mr. Ibrahim’s speech was postponed so the Army education unit can “pair Mr. Ibrahim’s military history insights in close proximity with another historical perspective, at a time when [the Army War College] curriculum has addressed historical analysis of influences on conflict.” He did not respond when asked about the pressure from CAIR.
Mr. Ibrahim said the speech was canceled and the college’s claim of a postponement is not correct.
His 352-page book covers nearly 14 centuries in great detail, and CAIR provided no documentation for any research shortcomings in its campaign against him. “The history I present in ‘Sword and Scimitar’ is ironclad, verifiable and beyond well documented, with about a thousand endnotes, it is heavily based on primary sources, many of which are Muslim, and from eyewitnesses,” Mr. Ibrahim said.
CAIR and its affiliates have been known to engage in similar coercive campaigns against people and organizations it views as anti-Islamic.
The group forced NPR to fire commentator Juan Williams over comments he made about Muslims. Nike, also under pressure from CAIR, was forced to destroy 38,000 basketball shoes after the group claimed Muslims were offended by the word “Air” in stylized letters on the sneakers that appeared similar to the Arabic word for Allah.
CAIR was first identified as a member of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee and an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2008 federal terrorism funding case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in Texas. Five former leaders of the Muslim charity were found guilty of funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas….

With No Progress In Indirect U.S.-Iran Contacts, Tehran Sends Threatening Messages Via Its Proxies In Gaza
MEMRI/June 14/2019
In recent statements and speeches, Yahya Al-Sinwar, head of Hamas's political bureau in Gaza, and Ziyad Al-Nakhalah, secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), threatened new confrontations with Israel and praised Iran for its support of their organizations. Some of their statements were delivered at a rally organized by the Palestinian factions in Gaza on the occasion of Qods Day, an annual event that was initiated by the Iranian regime and is held on the last Friday of Ramadan.
Coming at this time, these statements by the leaders of Hamas and the PIJ highlighting Iran's support and its contribution to their fighting abilities are more than just a threat aimed at Israel. They constitute a threatening message sent by Iran, via its proxies, to the U.S. and its allies, in light of the lack of progress in the indirect contacts between Iran and the U.S. over the nuclear issue.
As part of these threatening messages, Hamas leader in Gaza Al-Sinwar stressed the increase in the number and quality of the organization's rockets, and its intention to stage massive attacks on targets in central Israel in the next confrontation. He also declared that Hamas plans to provide the participants of the weekly March of Return protests on the Gaza-Israel border with military training. He praised Iran for the financial and technical assistance it has extended to Hamas, which has enabled it to develop its military capabilities. "All the Arabs have sold out Palestine, but not the Islamic Republic of Iran, which continues to support our people against the Israeli enemy," he said.[1]
PIJ leader Al-Nakhalah said, in an interview with Hizbullah's television channel, that the Palestinian resistance is capable of striking strategic targets in the heart of Israel with its locally-manufactured rockets, including rockets with half-ton warheads, stressing that the PIJ utilizes Iranian weapons and expertise and is closely assisted by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). IRGC Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani "knows the men of the [Palestinian] resistance, and they know him well," he said. He added that the PIJ would be part of any regional confrontation between the resistance axis and Israel, and that "the Arab regimes have relinquished Palestine," so their leaders are unfit to lead the Arab nation, whose rights they have relinquished.[2]
Both leaders slammed the Trump administration's Middle East peace plan known as the "Deal of the Century" as well as the U.S.-led "Peace to Prosperity" economic workshop scheduled to be held in Bahrain on June 25-26, 2019 to discuss the economic dimensions of the peace plan.[3] This is in line with Iran's position on the Deal of the Century and with Iran's efforts, reported recently in the Arab press, to unite the resistance axis against it.[4]
It should be noted that on Qods Day, similar statements were made in Iran regarding this country's support of the Palestinian armed struggle. In a speech at a Qods Day march in Ahwaz, capital of the Khuzestan Province, Yahya Rahim Safavi, advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said: "The [Iranian] Islamic Revolution's support for Jerusalem is not [merely] tactical, but is born of faith that is anchored in the Quran. It follows from the aspirations of the [Islamic] Revolution and is a major and immutable strategy. We will continue this support until the occupying [Israeli] regime is expunged... Palestine's courageous fighters are now continuing the struggle they started using trees and stones, as well as rockets... Khamenei said that the Zionist regime will cease to exist within 25 years. The countdown to this regime's demise has already begun. Trump's Deal of the Century is a plot to save the Zionist regime using the money of the countries of the region... The strategy of arming the West Bank, which Khamenei underscored, is now being implemented."[5]
The following are excerpts from Al-Sinwar's and Al-Nakhalah's recent statements.
Statements By Hamas Leader In Gaza Yahya Al-Sinwar
In The Next Confrontation, We Will Double The Number Of Rockets Fired At Tel Aviv And Its Environs
On May 28, 2019, Yahya Al-Sinwar attended an iftar (Ramadan dinner) in honor of young people who participate in the March of Return protests on the border, whom Hamas calls "revolutionary youths," from central and southern Gaza.[6] The event was organized by the Supreme National Council for Return Marches and Breaking the Siege, which organizes the marches on behalf of Hamas and the other Gaza factions.[7] Addressing the participants, Al-Sinwar declared that in any future confrontation, Hamas's military wing, the 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, will direct massive rocket fire at Tel Aviv, saying: "In the 2012 war we fired 17 rockets at Tel Aviv and its environs and in the 2014 war we fired 107 rockets. [Ahead of] any future confrontation, we have more [rockets] than before, even twice as many as we fired [in the past]."[8]
Return March Protesters Will Undergo Military Training
Al-Sinwar also stated that Hamas intends to provide the "revolutionary youths" with military training, saying: "A plan will be formulated to bring the revolutionaries into military training camps, in preparation for the liberation campaign."[9] It should be noted that the violent character of the protests on the border, and the presence of militiamen among the protesters, turn them into volatile events that often trigger rounds of fighting between Israel and the Gaza factions.[10]
Without Iranian Assistance, We Wouldn't Have The Capacity To Fire Rockets At Tel Aviv
On May 30, 2019, Al-Sinwar attended the International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada.
The conference was held by the Gaza factions on the occasion of Qods Day, which is marked in many Arab countries, as well as by Muslims in the West, with mass marches against Israel. Hamas's mouthpiece Al-Risalah reported that, at the event, Iran extended a grant of over $500,000 to "1,700 families of [Gazan] martyrs whose benefits have been cut [by the Palestinian Authority]."[11]
Coming against the backdrop of the recent Arab and Islamic summits in Saudi Arabia, at which decisions were taken against Iran,[12] and the economic workshop associated with the Deal of the Century, scheduled to take place in Bahrain in late June, Al-Sinwar's address at the event, which included threats against regional leaders and incitement directed at the Bahraini people, clearly expressed Hamas's support for Iran and its axis. Al-Sinwar stressed Iran's central role in enhancing the military capabilities of Hamas and other Palestinian organizations, noting the progress they have made over the years: "In 2008-2009, the resistance fired several dozen locally-manufactured Grad rockets [into Israel]. In the 2012 war it managed to develop its means and bombard Tel Aviv with 18 Fajr rockets, and in 2014 it fired over 170 Fajr rockets at Tel Aviv. All this was with the support of the Islamic Republic of Iran."[13]
He added: "We will continue to develop our capabilities to fight the occupation. Iran assisted us with rockets and supported us financially and technically in developing the rockets of the resistance that were fired at Tel Aviv. Without its support, the resistance would not have attained such military capabilities at a time when the [Arab] nation has deserted us... Nobody should blame us for our gratitude towards Iran, for it behooves us to thank everyone who helps us realize the goals of our people and our nation." Al-Sinwar advised the Arab leaders to take an example from Iran and support the Palestinian resistance if they wish to stay in power.[14]
The Arabs Have All Sold Out Palestine; Only Iran Continues To Support Us
Al-Sinwar stated further: "This is a decisive moment, and the Arab leaders, kings and rulers must stand united against the Deal of the Century. The Arabs have all sold out Palestine, and only the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to support our people against the Israeli occupation."[15] He said that Hamas's next "genuine campaign" will take place in the West Bank, in order to thwart the Deal of the Century: "We are willing to be the fuel that will cause this deal to collapse, and we will not hesitate to achieve this at the cost of the lives of our leaders and our sons. This deal will not come to pass as long as we have a single drop of blood still flowing in our veins... In the next stage, our genuine campaign will be over the [West] Bank, because the occupation's expansionist dreams focus on [the West Bank]. We urge Fatah to talk [to us] with one voice, and to join forces [with us] in foiling and thwarting the Deal of the Century. Our people in the [West] Bank can cause the deal to collapse, at a cost to the enemy... We know who our friends are and who our enemies are... Whoever supports the resistance and Jerusalem is a friend, and whoever wants to sell Jerusalem is an enemy." In the same address, Al-Sinwar called on the Bahraini people to declare the days of the economic workshop a period of mourning, and said: "Stay home, put up black banners [as a sign of mourning] and do not go out into the streets. Declare to the world that you support Jerusalem and that you will not stab your Palestinian brothers in the back."[16]
In another speech before Gaza dignitaries, at a June 3, 2019 event titled "United against the Deal of the Century," Al-Sinwar renewed his attack on the Arab leaders and what he called the campaign in the Arab media in favor of normalizing relations with Israel, saying: "Arabs, shrieking like crows, are spreading Zionist propaganda and saying that Jerusalem now belongs to the Jews and the Zionists and that we have no right to it. We in Palestine feel that we have been deserted by the official Arab regimes, which possess weapons and capabilities while we in Gaza dig into the soil with our fingernails so that our jihad fighters will be able to defend themselves."[17] Al-Sinwar expressed amazement at what he called the efforts of some Arab countries to appease Israel, "that cowardly entity that fears young men who emerge from tunnels and crush the heads of its soldiers."[18]
Statements By Islamic Jihad Leader Ziyad Al-Nakhalah
Arab Leaders Are Unfit For Their Roles And Belong To Enemy Camp
At the International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada, held, as noted, on May 30, 2019 to mark Qods Day, PIJ secretary-general Ziyad Al-Nakhalah stressed, in a recorded speech, that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 'Abbas's opposition to the Deal of the Century was a manifestation of "the failure of the plan for a [peace] arrangement with the Zionist entity" and was also a reason to convene "a national meeting of all our people's [political] power elements, by means of which we will return to the [original] PLO plan and to its national charter that calls for liberation and [the right of] return."
In his speech, Al-Nakhalah, like Al-Sinwar, condemned Arab leaders, stating: "We have always said that the Arab regimes have relinquished Palestine, and we say today as well that the leaders, kings, and presidents of the [Arab] countries are unfit to lead [the Arab] nation, that they are abandoning its rights, and are relinquishing the holy sites. How can they be leaders accepted by their people while they act this way?! We will all shout together, in their faces: Get away from us, you belong to the enemy camp."
Underlining also the increased strength of the Palestinian resistance, Al-Nakhalah said: "Every day, the world is witness to the resistance of our people – through the Marches of Return at the Gaza border, through the unceasing clashes against the settlement [enterprise] in the West Bank, and through the bold resistance that imposes a new equation on the Zionist enemy in every battle that it wages against it and proves that the time when Israel imposed what it wanted is over. With the daring of its fighters, and with the development of its capabilities, the resistance has proven, in its battles in recent years, that it can act in ways no one expects. We are not far off from the equation of 'if you shell Gaza, we will
The Resistance Can Crush Israel With Over 1,000 Rockets A Day; We Will Use Rockets With Half-Ton Warheads
In an interview the same day, May 30, with Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV, Al-Nakhalah pointed out the increased strength of the PIJ's military wing, saying: "The Palestinian resistance has fighters willing to fight and freely give their lives on the battlefield, [a fact] that lends great value to [even] the simplest weapon on the battlefield... Under the shadow of the siege, most of the weapons in Gaza are manufactured by the resistance. The occupation thinks that the siege will impact the resistance – on the contrary, the resistance is manufacturing and developing its own weapons, such that they reach Tel Aviv and all Israeli cities." He added: "The resistance is capable of crushing the Zionist cities with over 1,000 rockets a day for months... In every future clash with the occupation, the resistance will use rockets with half-ton warheads...
"The resistance is capable of attacking strategic centers and facilities in the Zionist entity... The resistance will have no 'red lines' in any future confrontation. Israel needs to understand this equation full well. It must not carry out violations against the Palestinian civilians. Any aggression against Gaza will be followed by the shelling not only of Tel Aviv, but of all the Israeli cities, regardless of the outcome..."
Al-Nakhalah went on to say that IRGC Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani "knows the men of the resistance, and they know him well," and that Iran is committed to supporting the Palestinian resistance and developing its capabilities so that it can fight Israel. He said that this aid "can help develop the resistance to the point of achieving liberation, not only standing fast in the face of the occupation," and added:
"The claim that Iran is an enemy [of the Arabs] is untrue. On the contrary, it is standing against Israel, and it is the only country that is supporting the Palestinian people as they confront it... Without Iran and its support for the Palestinian people by all means at its disposal, the situation would be completely different. Palestine would become Israel, and the Palestinians would become slaves of the Israelis... The resistance is fighting with some of Iran's weapons and knowhow... The resistance axis is a single axis in the confrontation with the [Israeli] aggression, and all the [resistance] organizations that comprise it share all its knowhow and capabilities..."
He stated further that the PIJ is part of the regional battle against the Zionist enemy, and clarified that the West Bank is a central part of the agenda of the resistance movements and that "day and night, work is ongoing to develop the resistance capabilities there..."[20]
A few days later, senior PIJ official Muhammad Shalah said that the resistance in Gaza would not be capable of facing the Israeli enemy without support from Iran, Syria and Hizbullah, and called for joining the resistance axis because it was "the quickest way to expel the American-Zionist occupation from the region." He also condemned the upcoming economic workshop in Bahrain, and the "treasonous" Arab leaders planning to attend it.[21]
[1] Moqawmh.ps, May 30, 2019. For additional statements by Al-Sinwar praising Iran's support of Hamas, see MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1389, Hamas Supporters Deeply Divided Over Movement's Links With Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), April 4, 2018.
[2] Paltoday.ps, May 30, 2019.
[3] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 8098, Arab Writers Urge Palestinians Not To Reject 'Deal Of Century' Out Of Hand, Make Most Of Economic Workshop In Bahrain, May 31, 2019.
[4] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), June 3, 2019; raialyoum.com, June 5, 2019.
[5] Farsnews.com, May 31, 2019.
[6] Palsawa.com, May 29, 2019.
[7] On the marches, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 7476, The 'Great Return March' Campaign: An Initiative Sponsored By Hamas, Whose Goal Was To Breach The Border Fence, Penetrate Israeli Territory, May 18, 2018.
[8] Gazaalaan.net, May 28, 2019.
[9] Gazaalaan.net, May 28, 2019.
[10] Hamas often describes the protests as "nonviolent," but at the same time the organization, and Al-Sinwar himself, have admitted that many of the protesters are members of its military wing in civilian clothing. See MEMRI TV Clip No. 6576, Hamas Leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar: Our People Took Off Their Military Uniforms and Joined the Marches; We Decided to Turn the Bodies of Our Women and Children into a Dam Blocking Arab Collapse, May 16, 2018. Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar stated that calling the marches "peaceful resistance" is "terminological deception," for "this is a peaceful resistance bolstered by a military force and by security agencies," i.e., by Hamas's military wing. See MEMRI TV Clip No. 6573, Senior Hamas Official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar on Gaza Protests: This Is Not Peaceful Resistance, It Is Supported by Our Weapons, May 13, 2018. Hamas political bureau head Isma'il Haniya likewise explained that the Return Marches combine "popular resistance" and "military resistance," with the latter defending the former. Hamas.ps, June 7, 2018.
[11] Alresalah.ps, May 28, 2019. PIJ official Khader Habib thanked Iran for its willingness to help the Palestinians despite all the difficulties it is facing, adding that, "since the beginning of the [Islamic] Revolution, it did not withhold assistance from our people and from its resistance for a [single] day." Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), May 30, 2019.
[12] In the last days of May 2019, three regional summits were held in Mecca. Two of them, emergency summits of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and of the Arab League, were convened by Saudi Arabia to present a united Gulf front vis-à-vis Iran in response to recent incidents: the attack on the Saudi oil facilities by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the Fujairah attack on the oil tankers, two of which were Saudi. A third summit, which had been scheduled in advance, was held under the aegis of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). FIX
[13] Moqawmh.ps, May 30, 2019.
[14] Palinfo.com, May 30, 2019.
[15] Moqawmh.ps, May 30, 2019.
[16] Palinfo.com, May 30, 2019.
[17] Filastin (Gaza), June 3, 2019.
[18] Hamas.ps, June 3, 2019.
[19] Paltoday.ps, May 30, 2019.
[20] Paltoday.ps, May 30, 2019.
[21] Alwatan.sy, June 3, 2019.

In Light Of Impasse In Indirect Iran-U.S. Negotiations, Upsurge In Iranian Terrorism Anticipated On Various Fronts
By: A. Savyon and Y. Carmon*/MEMRI/June 14/2019
Introduction
In the past month, Iran has escalated its violent activity against the Gulf states – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – with the aim of bringing the U.S. into negotiations with it on Iran's own terms: indirect negotiations aimed at lifting the U.S. sanctions on it. For the U.S., the aim of the negotiations is completely different; it is demanding changes to the JCPOA nuclear deal and a halt to Iran's expansion and subversive activity in the region, as well as limitations on Iran's development of its ballistic missile capability.
The U.S. response to Iran's military escalation (see below) was twofold: it dispatched aircraft carriers to the region and decided to beef up its forces in the Gulf, while at the same time it expressed willingness to conduct indirect negotiations with Iran and took conciliatory measures to make this possible. These measures included delaying the aircraft carriers' entrance into the Persian Gulf, delaying the implementation of the sanctions on Iran's petrochemical industry, and the June 2, 2019 announcement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the U.S. was willing to negotiate with Iran without the preconditions that he had previously released.
Indirect Iran-U.S. negotiations via intermediaries are apparently already underway, but have led nowhere for either Iran or the U.S. due to the unbridgeable gap between the sides' demands and goals.
Although the U.S. rejected Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif's April 24, 2019 proposal for negotiations for a prisoner exchange deal, it apparently did negotiate, and U.S. permanent resident and Lebanese citizen Nazar Zaka, detained by Iran since November 2015 on accusations of spying, was released June 11, 2019. Additionally, indirect negotiations are underway in the matter of determining the marine border between Israel and Lebanon, with Israel's and Hizbullah's participation, which require indirect American and Iranian involvement.
These conciliatory U.S. measures have been presented by Iran as shows of weakness. Iranian President Hassan Rohani said in a speech at an athletes' conference in Tehran on June 1: "The same enemy who up to a year ago declared 'my aim is to destroy the regime of the Islamic Republic [of Iran]' announced clearly today that it does not want to do a thing against the [Iranian] regime. The same enemy who up to a few months ago stated that it is the greatest military power in the world, and that if it wanted it could break Iran's armed forces, announced today that it has no intention of fighting. Up to a few months ago, the Persian Gulf was a place where its aircraft carriers sailed freely, but today nothing is heard from its navy, and it has anchored in international waters, 300 and 400 miles [from the Persian Gulf]. During this time, we have shown that we are not submitting to the bullying and greedy superpowers. We are men of reason and negotiation, provided we sit around the negotiating table fully respected and in the framework of international law, not on orders to negotiate. If that is the case, we will not obey..."[1]
The head of the Iranian judiciary Ebrahim Raisi stated on June 3, 2019: "We see how America is begging to negotiate with Iran. This is further proof of the correct and clear-sighted position of [Supreme] Leader [Khamenei], who has said time and again: 'In the face of the excessive demands of the enemy, resistance is the only way for the Iranian nation to achieve victory.' Today America needs negotiations, and if we insist on our principles positions, the enemy will retreat, as the recent positions of U.S. officials indeed demonstrate."[2]
On June 2, 2019, Gen. Yahyah Safavi, advisor and aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said: "America is only boasting politically and militarily, and in fact two weeks ago it began to retreat. We are ready for war. Today we are the superpower in the Middle East."[3]
Against the backdrop of the unbridgeable gap between Iran's and the U.S.'s positions, and following the failure of the various mediation channels used by Iran with the U.S. (see below), the IRGC-affiliated Javan daily published on its June 11 front page a cartoon depicting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who had recently visited Tehran in an effort to bridge between the sides, as Hitler carrying out the orders of his American and Israeli masters. This depiction of Maas' visit reflects the unlikelihood that indirect negotiations, whether on the JCPOA, on the issues of Iran's expansion in the region and its missiles, or on the continuation of the sanctions, will succeed, and also expresses the Iranian regime's frustration at its failure to compel the Trump administration to change its position vis-à-vis Iran.
In light of the impasse, Iran is expected to escalate its violent activity. Signs that it is doing so can be seen in the upsurge of activity in various sectors, including in the Iran-Israel conflict in the Syrian and Gaza arenas.[4]
Also anticipated is an escalation in the conflict between Iran and the Gulf states, that is, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. On June 4, Amir Abirabdollahian, special aide to the Majlis speaker, tweeted about Saudi Arabia:
"If #Saudi rulers do not stop aiding & abetting the #US in its economic war against #Iran, they must wait for its new and shocking decision. The clock is ticking so fast for the continuity of Saudi-#Emirati-#Israeli dirty policies."
In its May 22, 2019 editorial, the regime-affiliated Kayhan daily called for destroying the Saudi regime.[5] Indeed, the Houthi militia is continuing to attack targets on Saudi soil. On June 12, 2019, the Houthis announced that they had attacked the Abha civilian airport, situated some 200 km from the Yemen-Saudi border, with a cruise missile; before that, on June 9, they attacked the Najran airport, in southwestern Saudi Arabia, with drones. Houthi spokesman Yahyah Sari'a also reported, on June 5, that 20 outposts along the Saudi border had been attacked and taken over by his forces.[6]
At a June 10 joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Maas, at the conclusion of Maas' Tehran visit, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif warned: "The tension in our region is because of America's economic war on Iran. The only way to reduce the tension in the region is to stop this economic war. You cannot expect the economic war on the Iranian people to continue [while] the people who began it or support it are protected."[7]
On June 12, Zarif's deputy Abbas Araghchi also conveyed a warning, in his meeting with Special Envoy for the Singapore Foreign Minister Zainul Abidin bin Mohamed Rasheed. He said: "America has entered into an economic war with Iran, and this is the root of the rise of the tension in the region. The American economic sanctions are in fact aimed against the security of the entire region; therefore, it is impossible to expect tranquility and security in the region without a ceasefire in [this] economic war [against us]."[8]
This morning (June 13, 2019), the escalation reached a new peak with the attack on two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz.[9]
The Iran Condition For Negotiations: The Lifting Of The Sanctions
As noted above, in all its contacts with the U.S. since as early as 2015, the Iranian regime aims to get the sanctions on it lifted.[10] This was stressed most recently in statements by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on May 29 , when he said: "The problem is [not the negotiations themselves but rather] setting the topic of the talks. We are not negotiating on every topic. I want to be clear: We will not negotiate on topics considered to be the honor of the revolution. We will not negotiate with anyone on our defensive capabilities. Because negotiation means a deal... not only sitting and talking... When they say [to us], 'give up and abandon the defensive options that strengthen you, it is impossible to negotiate on such a thing... This [is the essence of] negotiating with America; America's strategy is pressure, and negotiation is only secondary to pressure.
"The way to fight this [American] stratagem... is for the other side [i.e. Iran] to have means of pressure as well, and utilize them. This is the only way... to stop the other side. We have the means of counter-pressure against the American pressure. These means are not military or anything like that, despite what they say and what they want to publicize. If a time comes when [military means] become necessary, we possess [such means], but this is not what we are considering [at the moment]. We have [other] means of pressure. The steps that the Supreme Council for National Security has taken and also announced [regarding the issues of uranium enrichment and heavy water] is one of them... That is, stopping [America's pressure] is not limited [to the steps being carried out] at the moment. The current steps are sufficient for now, [but] in the next stage, when the need arises, we can use other means of pressure..."[11]
Addressing the cabinet on May 29, 2019 the occasion of Qods Day, Iranian President Rohani said: "[The Americans] talk a lot, and there are many ups and downs in their talk. The steadfastness of the [Iranian] people has occasionally forced them to contradict themselves. Our yardstick is not what they say but what they do. When they stop their injustice towards the Iranian nation, lift the cruel sanctions, keep their promises and return to the negotiation table – which they themselves left and destroyed – they will not find their way blocked. The Iranian nation is alert and clever, and its yardstick is action."[12]
Iran's Modus Operandi: Using Terror And Diplomacy Simultaneously
Iran's usual mode of operation is to make simultaneous use of two means: its terror capabilities – which it calls "defense policy" (see Zarif's statements in the ABC interview below), implemented either by its own forces or by its proxies in the Middle East – and its diplomatic capabilities, to achieve its aims and improve its political and regional standing. This policy of employing terror, directly or via proxies, in varying degrees of intensity in order to achieve diplomatic aims, is Iran's regular strategy, as has been demonstrated again by the events of the past month in several arenas: in the UAE (the May 12 attack on the oil tankers), in Saudi Arabia (the May 12 Houthi attack on the Aramco oil facilities, as well as the May 26 Houthi attack on the aircraft hangars in Jizan on the Red Sea[13]), in Gaza (the activation of the Islamic Jihad to stage attacks on Israel on May 3, the day on which the U.S. retracted its exemption from sanctions for several countries still buying oil from Iran), and in Iraq (the May 19 firing of rockets at the Green Zone in Baghdad, which houses foreign embassies). Alongside its use of terror, Iran has proposed to negotiate a non-aggression pact with the Gulf states it has attacked.[14]
Both the terror and the diplomacy vis-à-vis the Gulf states are aimed at changing the policy of the U.S., which Iran is unable to confront directly. The goals of the terror attacks of the past month are the following: pressuring the U.S. to indirectly negotiate with Iran,[15] extracting an American commitment to refrain from attacking it, and securing the alleviation or lifting of the sanctions. The first two goals have in fact been achieved, but as for the sanctions, it seems that U.S. President Trump is unlikely to succumb to the Iranian pressure, and therefore Iran can be expected to renew its terror attacks, carried out by its proxies and targeting its Arab rivals and their global oil trade.
This strategy explains the repeated Iranian attempts to initiate negotiations with the U.S. on Iran's own terms via various mediators – including Oman, Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait, Japan, Switzerland and Germany.[16] Foreign Minister Zarif visited Japan on May 17 and Baghdad on May 26, while his deputy Abbas Araghchi visited Oman and Kuwait and met with their respective foreign ministers.[17] Furthermore, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas visited Tehran on June 10 and Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo came there two days later to mediate and convey messages.
Iran's strategy was explicitly articulated by President Rohani's advisor Hessameddin Ashna, who said on May 21: "We want [to achieve] two things simultaneously. First, we will not allow a war to break out in this region. Second, we will not agree to remain under [U.S.] sanctions. Our answer to the U.S. is 'no to war and no to sanctions.' The U.S., which fears a war [with us], wants to force us to negotiate [with it]... The reply we gave [the Americans], and what our foreign policy [in the nuclear and diplomatic domains] and our defense strategy [a hint at the terror attacks attributed to Iran] accomplish, are the following: achieving a situation where America can neither frighten us with war nor maintain its sanctions [on us]."[18]
Iranian Threats
Iranian officials complement the diplomatic pressure with harsh threats directed against the U.S. For example, Foreign Minister Zarif used threatening language in a June 2, 2019 interview with ABC: "We don't differentiate between economic war and military war. The U.S. is engaged in war against us, and a war is painful to our participants. We have a very clear notion that in a war, nobody wins. In war, everybody loses the loss of some will be greater than the loss of others…
"'All options are on the table' belongs to the time when the use of force was legal, and that is about 100 years ago. What we say is that we exercise our self-defense. Self-defense is allowed. President Trump has announced that he is engaged in a war and economic war against Iran, and we have an obligation to defend our people against that economic war."[19]
Khamenei aide and advisor and former IRGC commander Yahya Safavi said on June 2: "The Americans have 25 military bases in the region, including the CENTCOM air command in Qatar, the ground forces command in Kuwait and the naval command in Bahrain. These bases house over 20,000 troops. The Americans know very well that this military force is in range of Iran's missiles. Moreover, in the Persian Gulf, all of the American navy [vessels, and the vessels of other] foreign [countries], are within range of the IRGC's surface-to-sea missiles. These missiles have a range of 300 km, i.e., can span the distance between the Iranian shore and the opposite shore.
"Trump has turned security into an economic [issue], and he will never launch any war unless it is economically profitable. Trump knows that any war against Iran will result in a military defeat [for the U.S.] and will also be very costly in economic terms. The very first bullet fired in the Persian Gulf will cause the price of oil to skyrocket to over $100 [a barrel], and America, Europe and America's allies, such as Japan and South Korea, will not be able to bear oil prices of $100 [per barrel]...
"If Trump asks the opinion of the U.S. army [generals], who have learned the lessons of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, they will certainly prevent him from fighting in Iran, for they know that Iran has a strategy of surprises and it will deliver a shocking blow [to the U.S.]. They know very well that Iran has kept many of its military strategies under wraps, and can deliver a shattering blow to foreign forces.
"The war being waged today is an economic and psychological one. The withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, and the oil sanctions, are actually [a kind of] war. I hope we will win this war as well, using the same strategy of resistance, soft war and internal unity.
"The strength of America, the Zionist regime and some of the Arab countries is steadily waning. The reactionary countries in the region [i.e., the Arab Gulf states] must know that the Americans have never been loyal to any of their slaves, such as the [Iranian] Shah, [Tunisian president] Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, [Egyptian president] Hosni Mubarak, [Libyan president] Mu'ammar Qaddafi, etc., and they will not be loyal to their slaves in the future. The Americans will definitely leave the Middle East, as Khamenei said...
"Iran will be the neighbor of the states in the region forever, and if they are wise, they will not capitulate to America, which calls them 'milk cows' and extracts money from them.
"Iran always seeks to maintain friendly relations with the countries of the region, and Khamenei, too, has been stressing the unity of the Islamic nation for years. Our strategy is non-aggression towards our neighbors. Iran is even willing to sign a non-aggression pact with the neighboring countries. Foreign Minister [Zarif] mentioned this [only] recently. My suggestion is to sign a non-aggression pact with some of the countries and form a coalition with others. I hope that the countries of the region will regard America and the Zionists as their enemies, instead of Iran..."[20]
Responding to the dispatching of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, IRGC navy commander Alireza Tangsiri said on May 13: "We are absolutely ready [for its arrival], and if the enemy missteps, our first move will be to attack and destroy all the American gear and infrastructures in the region."[21]
* A. Savyon is director of MEMRI's Iran Media Project; Y. Carmon is the president and founder of MEMRI.
[1] President.ir/fa, June 1, 2019.
[2] Mashreghnews.ir, June 3, 2019.
[3] Farsnews.com, June 2, 2019.
[4] A video released May 30, 2019 by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades showed drones attacking an Israeli tank. Saraya.ps.
[5] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 8082, Iranian Regime Mouthpiece 'Kayhan' Announces A War To Bring Down Saudi Regime And Reduce Saudi Oil Exports To Zero; States: America Has No Desire, Or No Capability, To Support Saudi Arabia And The UAE, May 22, 2019).
[6] Almasirah.net, June 5, 2019.
[7] Tasnim (Iran), June 10, 2019.
[8] Isna.ir, June 12, 2019.
[9] Alarabiya.net, June 13, 2019.
[10] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6151, Khamenei Declares That He Will Not Honor The Agreement If Sanctions Are Merely Suspended And Not Lifted, September 4, 2015; Inquiry & Analysis No. 1196, Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei's Letter Of Guidelines To President Rohani On JCPOA Sets Nine Conditions Nullifying Original Agreement Announced July 14, 2015, October 22, 2015; Special Dispatch No. 6191, Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, Iranian Officials Speak Out Against Iranian Approval Of JCPOA, October 18, 2015; MEMRI Daily Brief No.65, MEMRI: 'The Emperor Has No Clothes', October 30, 2015.
[11] Farsi.khamenei.it, May 29, 2019.
[12] President.ir/fa, May 29, 2019. It is important to note that the Iranian regime does not rule out negotiations with the West, providing it can ensure compliance with its demands in advance. This is what happened during the Obama administration, when the Iranian regime announced it would not negotiate with the U.S. over its long-range missiles, but eventually did enter negotiations in which it demanded in advance, and received, American approval for missiles with a range of up to 2000 km. See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6100, Leaks From The Negotiation Room: Iran, Russia vs. U.S. In Verbal Clash Over Iran's Ballistic Missiles, July 10, 2015.
[13] In late May the Houthi Al-Masirah channel also reported a Houthi suicide drone attack on Saudi military infrastructure. Fars (Iran), May 26, 2019.
[14] Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif repeated this proposal to the Gulf states during his May 25, 2019 visit to Baghdad. ISNA (Iran), May 26, 2019.
[15] Iran refuses to hold direct and open negotiations with the U.S., since this is perceived as capitulation, based on the ideology of the Islamic Revolution (which regards the U.S. as the "Great Satan") as well as from a political perspective. Secret and indirect negotiations are Iran's customary solution in times of crisis. The open nuclear negotiations came only after lengthy secret contacts during which the Obama administration accepted Iran's position in full, namely recognized Iran's right to enrich uranium, which was an Iranian precondition for launching the open negotiations. See MEMRI Special Dispatch No.6131, Iranian Senior Officials Disclose Confidential Details From Nuclear Negotiations: Already In 2011 We Received Letter From U.S. Administration Recognizing Iran's Right To Enrich Uranium, August 10, 2015.
[16] There have been numerous reports in the regional and global media about mediation efforts by countries inside and outside the region, including reports on a secret visit by Qatari Foreign Minister Muhammad Bin 'Abd Al-Rahman Aal Thani in Tehran in mid-May; willingness by Iraq and Kuwait to mediate between Iran and the U.S. in order to ease the tensions (Al-Hayat, London, May 27, 2019, arabi21.com, May 25, 2019, raialyoum.com, May 21, 2019, aljazeera.net, May 17, 2019), a visit by the Omani foreign minister in Tehran and contacts between him and the Americans (elaph.com, May 21, 2019), and a report by the Iraqi Almaalomah news agency on a visit by Iraqi Prime Minister 'Adel 'Abd Al-Mahdi in Qatar and Kuwait as part of the mediation efforts between Iran and the U.S. This last report also mentioned mediation efforts by Russia, Qatar, Iraq, Switzerland, Oman and Japan (almaalomah.com, May 20, 2019). The online daily raialyoum.com reported on May 26 that Zarif's deputy Abbas Araghchi will relay a message to the Arab countries that Iran is interested in dialogue with them to resolve the problems, and also relay Iran's replies to proposals presented by Qatar's foreign minister during his visit to Tehran.
[17] Tasnim (Iran), May 26, 2019, ILNA (Iran), May 27, 2019.
[18] Tasnim (Iran), May 21, 2019.
[19] Abcnews.go.com, June 2, 2019.
[20] Fars (Iran), June 2, 2019.
[21] Fars (Iran), May 13, 2019.

The Suppressed Plight of Palestinian Christians
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/June 13/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14358/palestinian-christians-persecution
"Fatah regularly exerts heavy pressure on Christians not to report the acts of violence and vandalism from which they frequently suffer, as such publicity could damage the PA's image as an actor capable of protecting the lives and property of the Christian minority under its rule.... That image could have negative repercussions for the massive international, and particularly European, aid the PA receives." — Dr. Edy Cohen, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
Considered another way, the bread and butter of the PA and its supporters, media and others, seems to be to portray the Palestinians as victims of unjust aggression and discrimination from Israel. This narrative could be jeopardized if the international community learned that Palestinians themselves were persecuting fellow Palestinians — solely on account of religion.
"Far more important to the Palestinian Authority than arresting those who assault Christian sites is keeping such incidents out of the mainstream media. And they are very successful in this regard. Indeed, only a handful of smaller local outlets bothered to report on these latest break-ins. The mainstream international media ignored them altogether." — Dr. Edy Cohen, Israel Today.
As Justus Reid Weiner, a lawyer and scholar well-acquainted with the region explains, "The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs... In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving."
Christianity is on the verge of disappearing in the place of its birth, including Bethlehem (pictured). According to lawyer and scholar Justus Reid Weiner, "The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs... In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving." (Image source: Daniel Case/Wikimedia Commons)
At a time when Christians throughout the Muslim world are suffering from a variety of persecution, the plight of Palestinian Christians is seldom heard.
It exists. Open Doors, a human rights group that follows the persecution of Christians, notes that Palestinian Christians suffer from a "high" level of persecution, the source of which is, in its words, "Islamic Oppression":
"Those who convert to Christianity from Islam, however, face the worst Christian persecution and it is difficult for them to safely participate in existing churches. In the West Bank they are threatened and put under great pressure, in Gaza their situation is so dangerous that they live their Christian faith in utmost secrecy....The influence of radical Islamic ideology is rising, and historical churches have to be diplomatic in their approach towards Muslims."
That said, while reports of the persecution of Christians emanate regularly from other Muslim majority regions around the world — Pakistan, Egypt, and Nigeria as three examples — little is mentioned of those Christians living under the Palestinian Authority.
Why is that? Is it because they experience significantly less persecution than their coreligionists around the Muslim world? Or is it because of their unique situation — living in a hotly contested arena with much political and media wrangling in the balance?
"The Persecution of Christians in the Palestinian Authority," a new report by Dr. Edy Cohen, published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies on May 27, goes a long way in answering these questions.
First, it documents three recent anecdotes of persecution of Christians, none of which was reported by the so-called "mainstream media":
"On April 25, the terrified residents of the Christian village of Jifna near Ramallah ... were attacked by Muslim gunmen ... after a woman from the village submitted a complaint to the police that the son of a prominent, Fatah-affiliated leader had attacked her family. In response, dozens of Fatah gunmen came to the village, fired hundreds of bullets in the air, threw petrol bombs while shouting curses, and caused severe damage to public property. It was a miracle that there were no dead or wounded...
"The second incident occurred during the night of May 13. Vandals broke into a church of the Maronite community in the center of Bethlehem, desecrated it, and stole expensive equipment belonging to the church, including the security cameras.
"Three days later it was the turn of the Anglican church in the village of Aboud, west of Ramallah. Vandals cut through the fence, broke the windows of the church, and broke in. They desecrated it, looked for valuable items, and stole a great deal of equipment.
"According to its Facebook page, this is the sixth time the Maronite church in Bethlehem has been subjected to acts of vandalism and theft, including an arson attack in 2015 that caused considerable damage and forced the church to close for a lengthy period."
These three attacks, which occurred in the span of three weeks, fit the same pattern of abuse that Christians in other Muslim majority regions habitually experience. While the desecration and plundering of churches is prevalent, so too are Muslim mobs rising against Christian minorities, whenever the latter — perceived as dhimmis, or third-class, tolerated "citizens" who are often expected to be grateful they are tolerated at all — dare speak up for their rights, as occurred the Christian village of Jifna on April 25:
"[T]he rioters called on the [Christian] residents to pay jizya—a head tax that was levied throughout history on non-Muslim minorities under Islamic rule. The most recent victims of the jizya were the Christian communities of Iraq and Syria under ISIS rule."
Moreover, as often happens when Muslims attack Christians in Islamic nations, "Despite the [Christian] residents' cries for help" in Jifna, "the PA police did not intervene during the hours of mayhem. They have not arrested any suspects." Similarly, "no suspects were arrested" in the two church attacks.
Palestinian Christians, in short, are suffering from the same patterns of persecution — including church attacks, kidnappings and forced conversion — as their co-religionists in dozens of Muslim nations. The difference, however, is that the persecution of Palestinian Christians has "received no coverage in the Palestinian media." In fact, Cohen explains, "a full gag order was imposed in many cases":
"The only thing that interests the PA is that events of this kind not be leaked to the media. Fatah regularly exerts heavy pressure on Christians not to report the acts of violence and vandalism from which they frequently suffer, as such publicity could damage the PA's image as an actor capable of protecting the lives and property of the Christian minority under its rule. Even less does the PA want to be depicted as a radical entity that persecutes religious minorities. That image could have negative repercussions for the massive international, and particularly European, aid the PA receives."
Considered another way, the bread and butter of the PA and its supporters, media and others, seems to be to portray the Palestinians as victims of unjust aggression and discrimination from Israel. This narrative could be jeopardized if the international community learned that Palestinians themselves were persecuting fellow Palestinians — solely on account of religion. It might be hard to muster sympathy for a supposedly oppressed people when one realizes that they themselves are doing the oppressing of the minorities in their midst.
So sensitive to this potential difficulty, "PA officials exert pressure on local Christian to not report such incidents, which threaten to unmask the Palestinian Authority as yet another Middle East regime beholden to a radical Islamic ideology," Cohen writes in another report.
"Far more important to the Palestinian Authority than arresting those who assault Christian sites is keeping such incidents out of the mainstream media. And they are very successful in this regard. Indeed, only a handful of smaller local outlets bothered to report on these latest break-ins. The mainstream international media ignored them altogether."
Notably, a similar dynamic sometimes exists concerning Muslim refugees. Although West European politicians and media present them as persecuted and oppressed, in need of a welcoming hand, Muslim migrants themselves sometimes persecute and oppress Christian minorities among them — whether by terrorizing them in refugee camps, or drowning them in the Mediterranean.
The sad and simple fact, by all counts, is that Christianity is on the verge of disappearing in the place of its birth, including Bethlehem. As Justus Reid Weiner, a lawyer and scholar well-acquainted with the region, explains:
"The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs... In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving."
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Sword and Scimitar, Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Refugees in Turkey: Mistreated by Ankara, Ignored by the UN
Sirwan Mansouri/Gatestone Institute/June 13/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14368/refugees-turkey-unhcr
Turkey, which is located between the Middle East and Europe, was one of the first countries to establish a UNHCR regional office in 1960, and was given economic incentives to do so. Every year after that, the Turkish government received a large budget with which to provide aid to refugees.
The UNHCR, the organization that is supposed to advocate for the rights of refugees, has done the opposite. It has placed their care in the hands of an indifferent and hostile Turkey, which they leave to its own terrible devices.
Perhaps the UN has washed its hands of the misery of refugees in Turkey -- who have become virtual slaves -- but the rest of the international community must hold Ankara accountable for its inexcusable treatment of people who escaped danger in their countries of origin, only to be abused by the authorities that vowed -- and took money -- to protect and resettle them.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the organization that is supposed to advocate for the rights of refugees, has done the opposite. It has placed their care in the hands of an indifferent and hostile Turkey, which they leave to its own terrible devices. Pictured: The Adiyaman refugee camp in Turkey. The UNHCR has provided "technical support" to the Turkish government for maintaining the camp.
Over the past half century, the Geneva-based United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has created and managed mechanisms to protect people whose lives are in danger at the hands of repressive regimes by providing them with political asylum in other countries. The war-torn Middle East has been home to the highest number of such asylum-seekers.
Turkey, which is located between the Middle East and Europe, was one of the first countries to establish a UNHCR regional office in 1960, and was given economic incentives to do so. Every year after that, the Turkish government received a large budget with which to provide aid to refugees.
With an increase in cuts to UN refugee budgets, Turkey was able to provide even less money to asylum-seekers under its auspices. When the Syrian Civil War began in 2011, a huge number of refugees flowed into Turkey from Syria and Iraq. Initially, Turkey seems to have believed that this situation could be financially lucrative, as the UN would have to increase its refugee budget for Ankara. This is not what happened, however. In fact, UN assistance to Turkish mediators, such as the Human Resources Development Fund (UNHCR) and the Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (SGDD-ASAM), was even severely reduced, and in 2018, it was cut off completely.
This has led Ankara to provide even less help than before to those refugees who arrived in Turkey prior to the war in Syria. Furthermore, many of the UNHCR quotas for the resettlement of refugees in third countries (such as in Europe), which formerly belonged to Iranians, Afghans and Iraqis, were allocated to Syrians.
Given that Turkey bars refugees from the labor market, many refugees -- including those with university degrees, have no choice but to work in menial jobs. To make matters worse, many employers take advantage of these refugees by not paying them.
Not permitted to work in the first place, these refugees do not complain to authorities, for fear of being fined or fired. The same fear of complaining goes for female refugees, who are often sexually abused by their Turkish employers.
Living in poverty and despair -- and ignored by the Turkish government and the UNHCR -- these refugees often engage in anti-social behavior, including drug addiction, theft, and sex-trafficking. Many have sold their organs. Turkish immigration offices and police, instead of helping these refugees, instill fear in them, thereby adding to their frustration.
The UNHCR, the organization that is supposed to advocate for the rights of refugees, has done the opposite. It has placed their care in the hands of an indifferent and hostile Turkey, which they leave to its own terrible devices.
The heaviest blow to non-Syrian refugees in Turkey was dealt by the UNHCR on September 9, 2018, when it announced that its "registration activities for applicants for international protection in Turkey [would end the following day], as part of the transition of refugee status determination responsibility to the Turkish Directorate General for Migration Management (DGMM)."
The UN, in other words, has delegated all registration of asylum-seekers in Turkey to Turkish immigration authorities.
Perhaps the UN has washed its hands of the misery of refugees in Turkey -- who have become virtual slaves -- but the rest of the international community must hold Ankara accountable for its inexcusable treatment of people who escaped danger in their countries of origin, only to be abused by the authorities that vowed -- and took money -- to protect and resettle them.
Sirwan Mansouri is an Iranian Kurdish journalist based in the Middle East.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Iran thinks it can pressure the US. It can’t
Dr. John C. Hulsman/Arab News/June 13/2019
Confusion surrounds the attack on the two tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, with the stricken ships ablaze just south of the Strait of Hormuz and their 44 crewman rescued by the Iranian navy.
Precisely what weapons were used to cripple the Japanese and Norwegian-owned tankers is unclear, although it has been reported on US television that eyewitnesses saw shell-like projectiles before one of the ships was struck above the waterline.
Predictably, following the incident, the global price of oil spiked by 4.5 percent, due both to the lingering uncertainty about the nature of the attack and the fact that it is the second such outrage in a month, following the May 12 incident in which four ships were damaged off the coast of Fujairah. But while the foreground remains murky, the background is far clearer. Despite their expected denials, there is little doubt that Iran lies behind the attack, either directly or through the sponsorship of its Houthi militia allies, fighting Saudi forces for control of Yemen.
Simply put, Tehran had the motive, means, and opportunity to perpetrate the crime. And the Iranians always act for a reason.
From Tehran’s perspective, there are reasons a-plenty for staging the attacks, as Iran’s fragile economy becomes ever-more constrained by American sanctions and the “maximum pressure” the Trump administration is bringing to bear on the republic.
Tehran is hoping that, just short of war, it can make itself such a nuisance on the international stage that the Europeans will plead its case with the US to halt the unremitting pressure on the greatly threatened regime.
The timing of yesterday’s attack is particularly suspect. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — who is both personal friends with the volatile Trump while still maintaining a good relationship with the Iranian leadership — is presently on a mission to Tehran, where he is attempting to defuse the increasing tensions between the US and Iran.
Striking a Japanese-owned tanker while Abe is attempting to negotiate some sort of rapprochement between the two countries is an especially effective way for hard-liners in the Iranian government — think the Iranian Revolutionary Guards leadership who both economically and politically benefit from the conflict — to derail any effort to defuse tensions.
But at a broader, strategic level, this slow-moving crisis already has a sort of inexorable logic. On May 8, 2018, Donald Trump overturned the key foreign policy legacy of the Obama administration, declaring US determination to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Scorning the accord, the Trump administration made clear that it had no intention of trying to woo Iran, to bring it in from the geostrategic cold, using trade and a relaxation of sanctions to entice it to behave as a status quo power and to halt its nuclear program.
Rather, the Trump administration views the JCPOA as the dangerous result of the Obama administration’s wishful thinking. Instead, the president and his senior advisers feared that continuing with the accord would lead to an economically strengthened Iran, now with debilitating sanctions removed, which could patiently out-wait the rest of the world.
Within the course of a generation, and without straying from the terms of the agreement, this economically emboldened Tehran would instead simply resume its nuclear program once the JCPOA’s time limits ran out, and waltz into the nuclear club with few questions asked.
Determined to avoid this happening, the White House has dramatically altered US policy on Iran, returning it to its traditional post-1979 stance of animosity. Trump has placed “maximum pressure” on the Iranian leadership, re-imposing US sanctions, threatening European countries and businesses (which still adhere to the JCPOA) with the potential loss of access to the vast US market if they continued doing business with Iran, and announcing his intent of sanctioning the whole of the Iranian energy industry, the life-blood of the country.
This latter initiative, even if only partially achieved, would drive a stake through the heart of the Iranian body politic. With unemployment running at over 12 percent, growth set to nosedive by 1.6 percent of GDP in 2018-19, and a further negative 3.8 percent in 2019-20, any further economic perils could well call into question the continued existence of the Iranian regime itself.
All this explains Iran’s defiant response. Tehran is hoping that, just short of war, it can make itself such a nuisance on the international stage that the Europeans would plead its case with the US to at least halt its unremitting pressure on the greatly threatened regime.
Iran is illustrating that the price to be paid for its continued ostracism will be an increasingly high one for the global economy, since it can disrupt global energy supplies at will while claiming a semi-plausible deniability.
This is brinksmanship of the first order and signals a major global political risk for the foreseeable future.
However, while Tehran may think counter-pressure will work with the anti-Iran hawks in the Trump administration, more likely their folly will merely confirm the administration in its thinking that Tehran is a revolutionary power that must be destroyed.
*Dr. John C. Hulsman is the president and managing partner of John C. Hulsman Enterprises, a prominent global political risk consulting firm. He is also senior columnist for City AM, the newspaper of the City of London. He can be contacted via https://www.chartwellspeakers.com.

The terrorism of Iran and its militias must be confronted
Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri/Arab News/June 13/2019
The Houthis’ targeting of Abha Airport with a missile, injuring 26 civilians, is clear and explicit evidence of the group’s terrorism. This targeting of a civilian airport makes us re-evaluate the comprehensive Yemeni peace process at all levels. First is the mechanism for dealing with the Houthis — the rules of engagement should now be expanded, making the military option the only option. Not only have the Houthis rejected the Stockholm agreement and its implementation, but Wednesday’s escalation in targeting vital facilities within Saudi Arabia threatens the security of the Kingdom’s citizens and residents.
This escalation from the Houthi side is considered a war crime and evidence that the militia is playing the role of Iran in the war and fighting on Tehran’s behalf. This is what the Arab League has always warned of. The re-evaluation this time should include the role of the UN and the international community, which has not done its job properly. The Houthis’ attacks on civilians inside Saudi Arabia have reached record levels.
Why should we re-evaluate the UN’s role in Yemen? Because Security Council resolution 2216 has, since 2015, called for the Houthis to withdraw from the Yemeni cities they occupy, hand over their heavy weapons, and engage in political negotiations to end the coup against the legitimate government. But the UN and its envoys, including incumbent Martin Griffiths, have not worked to implement the resolution. Instead they have emptied the resolution of its value and entered into negotiations with the Houthis, which has led to a prolonging of attempts to restore the legitimate government and slowed the liberation of Hodeidah port. Comically, Griffiths praised the Houthi leadership personally and even gave them gifts of four-wheel drive cars.
Why has the international community not confronted Iran over its use of sectarian terrorist militias?
Iranian terrorist militias such as the Houthis must be dismantled and eliminated. The Daesh “caliphate” was eradicated by the international community forming a coalition to defeat it — this should be no different.
The question remains: Why has the international community not confronted Iran over its use of sectarian terrorist militias? They have ballistic weapons and drones and have used them to target international waterways and global interests, oil pipelines inside Saudi Arabia, and oil tankers in the region’s waters. They have targeted international airports and carried out terrorist acts inside Yemen, including kidnappings, extrajudicial killings, starving the civilian population and the theft of international aid. Why is there so much patience and so many cover-ups of the Houthis’ crimes? This was also the case for some members of Hezbollah in the UK in 2015, when it was discovered they were storing materials involved in the manufacture of bombs in London but it was not disclosed at the time.
If the international community wants to defeat terrorism, it must confront it in all its forms. Militias must be forced to disarm. It should be unacceptable for militias to use weapons to destabilize the security and stability of other countries.
Iran is responsible for them and legally should bear the consequences of all the violations and terrorist attacks carried out by these militias. They are armed and trained on the basis of being sectarian terrorists in the mold of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and they serve the interests of Iran in the region and beyond. Therefore, Tehran must be held accountable for the actions of such militias. This issue should be as important as preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
*Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri is a political analyst and international relations scholar. Twitter: @DrHamsheri