Delay in recognizing Taliban government could initiate anarchy in Afghanistan

The animosity of United States with Taliban is evident from the fact that despite taking an exit from Afghanistan as back as on August 15, 2021, the super power has not recognized the Taliban government.

To further add to Taliban insults the US has also not unfrozen foreign exchange reserves of Afghanistan. It looks too funny that the super powers are trying to arrange aid for Afghanistan, on the pretext of hunger etc. However, Afghans are barred from using their own foreign exchange reserves.

There is a consensus among the analysts that since the Taliban's takeover of Kabul, the United States has fundamentally altered its approach towards Afghanistan.

The United States is defeating its stated goals of countering terrorism, maintaining regional stability and protecting rights of Afghans, particularly females.

The United States has been beating the drums that the violent conflicts among the armed groups have proliferated.

The fragile economy of Afghanistan is deteriorating fast and the Afghan people are facing an extraordinarily grave humanitarian crisis. The Taliban's interim government is widely viewed as insular and exclusive.

The western media is constantly running stories that Taliban have curtailed rights of girls and women. It is also alleged that Taliban at times have turned a blind eye to abductions, beatings and, in some cases, the torture and killing of journalists, human rights activists and former civilian and military officials. 

Tom West was appointed the US Special Representative for Afghanistan in October 2021, and assigned task of advancing US objectives in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US and NATO forces and the Taliban takeover.

As part of his efforts, he engages in dialogue representatives of Taliban, regional leaders, the international community and Afghan political and civil society members to find ways to assist the Afghan people while protecting US national security interests.

I am shocked to know that a US Think Tank intends to invite the US Special Representative for consultations with the Taliban, other Afghans and the international community to find ways of supporting the Afghan people during this period of significant transition for the country.

According to the critics of Afghanistan policy of the United States, it is feared that whatever armaments the super power has abandoned in Afghanistan may be ultimately repossessed and used by ISIS and/or anti-Taliban groups.

United States interested in working closely with Bangladesh

The newly-appointed Ambassador of United States to Bangladesh, Peter D. Haas has said he looks forward to working with Dhaka to further advance the relationship between the two countries. 

He was speaking at an interaction session with the officers of the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC. Haas is expected to arrive in Dhaka in early March to assume charges.

The new envoy was received by the Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States, M. Shahidul Islam and other officials of the Mission.

During the discussion, the ambassadors of the two countries expressed their resolve to work closely to further strengthen the friendly relations between Bangladesh and the United States.

They also laid emphasis on greater engagements of the two sides and undertaking mutually beneficial program and actions to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and the United States.

Bangladesh’s location holds significant strategic value for Beijing. China relies on the Strait of Malacca, a narrow waterway between Malaysia, Singapore, and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, to import energy and goods from the Middle East and Africa via the Indian Ocean.

The Strait of Malacca could become a high-risk passageway in the event of a potential conflict either in the South China Sea or the India-China border. Consequently, China has taken a number of initiatives to build alternative routes aimed at reducing dependence on the Strait of Malacca. Seeking port facilities in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal region along with overland connections to them is one of the efforts in this direction.

It may be recalled that Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming recently expressed concerns that China-Bangladesh relations will suffer if Dhaka joins the Quad, an informal grouping that aims to counterbalance Beijing.

Though China shares no border with Bangladesh, the distance between the two countries is only about 100 kilometers. Beijing hopes to bridge this distance through infrastructure that would link the two countries closer.

The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor is one of the six proposed economic corridors of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Bangladesh enjoys a strategic location in Beijing’s strategic advances in the Indian Ocean.

US troops arrive in Poland to reinforce NATO

The dichotomy of Military Policy of United States is evident. It recently asked 160 troops to move out of Ukraine, but landed fresh troops in Poland. The troops reinforcing NATO allies in Eastern Europe arrived at a military base in southeastern Poland on Saturday.

The US troops arrived in a small Beechcraft C-12 Huron that landed at Rzeszow military base on February  05, Polish military spokesman Major Przemyslaw Lipczynski told the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Lipczynski said the arrivals included some support and command-level staff, adding that a much larger contingent is expected to arrive at the airfield on Sunday. The second transport was initially slated for arrival on Saturday afternoon, but those plans were changed for undisclosed reasons, Lipczynski added.

“We await the arrival of our allies,” Lipczynski told PAP, adding that “our collaboration has been going very smoothly.”

In total, some 1,700 US soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, are expected to be stationed in Poland, the spokesman said, describing it as an elite rapid response force that Polish troops have worked with on multiple occasions.

“We served alongside them on missions, including Iraq and Afghanistan,” Lipczynski said, adding that the soldiers had also trained together during international war games like Dragon and Anaconda.

“We can count on each other, and trust one another,” he added.

The US troop contingent arrived on the same day that the Russian Defense Ministry announced it had sent a pair of long-range nuclear-capable bombers on patrol over Moscow ally Belarus, which shares a border with Poland.

“In the course of their flight, the long-range aircraft practiced joint tasks with the air force and air defense of the Belarusian armed forces,” according to Russian state news agency TASS. The patrol mission lasted around four hours, after which the Russian planes returned to base in Russia.

The patrol mission came as the Kremlin has moved troops from Siberia and other remote parts of Russia to Belarus for sweeping joint drills, with the deployment adding to a large Russian military buildup near Ukraine that has fueled Western fears of a possible invasion.

Russia has denied any plans of attacking Ukraine and has asked the United States and its allies for a binding commitment that they won’t accept Ukraine into NATO.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed for his country’s admission into the military alliance.

The Kremlin has also asked the United States and its allies to promise not to deploy offensive weapons and to roll back NATO deployments to Eastern Europe.

Washington and NATO have rejected those demands.

“From our perspective it can’t be clearer—NATO’s door is open, remains open, and that is our commitment,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in late January, though he renewed an offer of “reciprocal” measures to address mutual security concerns between Russia and NATO, including missile reductions in Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled Moscow’s readiness for more talks with Washington and its NATO allies.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were scheduled to make separate trip to Kyiv and Moscow as part of a high-level diplomatic effort to defuse tensions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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First US Troops Arrive in Poland to Reinforce NATO Amid Russia–Ukraine Tensions

By Tom Ozimek

 

February 5, 2022 Updated: February 6, 2022

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The first U.S. troops reinforcing NATO allies in Eastern Europe amid Russia–Ukraine tensions arrived at a military base in southeastern Poland on Saturday.

A handful of U.S. troops arrived in a small Beechcraft C-12 Huron that landed at Rzeszow military base shortly after 10 a.m. on Feb. 5, Polish military spokesman Major Przemyslaw Lipczynski told the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Lipczynski said the arrivals included some support and command-level staff, adding that a much larger contingent is expected to arrive at the airfield on Sunday. The second transport was initially slated for arrival on Saturday afternoon, but those plans were changed for undisclosed reasons, Lipczynski added.

“We await the arrival of our allies,” Lipczynski told PAP, adding that “our collaboration has been going very smoothly.”

In total, some 1,700 U.S. soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, are expected to be stationed in Poland, the spokesman said, describing it as an elite rapid response force that Polish troops have worked with on multiple occasions.

“We served alongside them on missions, including Iraq and Afghanistan,” Lipczynski said, adding that the soldiers had also trained together during international war games like Dragon and Anaconda.

“We can count on each other, and trust one another,” he added.

The U.S. troop contingent arrived on the same day that the Russian Defense Ministry announced it had sent a pair of long-range nuclear-capable bombers on patrol over Moscow ally Belarus, which shares a border with Poland.

“In the course of their flight, the long-range aircraft practiced joint tasks with the air force and air defense of the Belarusian armed forces,” the ministry said, according to Russian state news agency TASS. The patrol mission lasted around four hours, after which the Russian planes returned to base in Russia.

The patrol mission came as the Kremlin has moved troops from Siberia and other remote parts of Russia to Belarus for sweeping joint drills, with the deployment adding to a large Russian military buildup near Ukraine that has fueled Western fears of a possible invasion.

Russia has denied any plans of attacking Ukraine and has asked the United States and its allies for a binding commitment that they won’t accept Ukraine into NATO.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed for his country’s admission into the military alliance.

The Kremlin has also asked the United States and its allies to promise not to deploy offensive weapons and to roll back NATO deployments to Eastern Europe.

Washington and NATO have rejected those demands.

“From our perspective. I can’t be more clear—NATO’s door is open, remains open, and that is our commitment,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in late January, though he renewed an offer of “reciprocal” measures to address mutual security concerns between Russia and NATO, including missile reductions in Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled Moscow’s readiness for more talks with Washington and its NATO allies.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are set to make separate trips on Feb. 7–8 and Feb. 14–15 to Kyiv and Moscow as part of a high-level diplomatic effort to defuse tensions.

 

Lloyd Austin orders 160 US troops to move out of Ukraine

I have often highlighted in my blogs that hundreds of CIA operators work in different countries, where the United States has vested interest. The most naked was the involvement of US Ambassador in Bin Ghazi, capital of Libya, who was killed later. 

The latest is the order of US Defense Secretary to 160 US troops in Ukraine to reposition themselves in Europe.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered 160 US troops in Ukraine to be repositioned in Europe. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby tweeted Saturday that Austin has ordered 160 Florida National Guardsmen out of Ukraine and into Europe temporarily.

“Abundance of caution, safety and security of our personnel is his paramount concern. We remain committed to our relationship with the Ukrainian armed forces,” Kirby said.

The decision came after Austin had a call with Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu.

The Department of Defense said the two discussed Russia’s build up of troops and equipment along Ukraine's border. 

Russia has more than 140,000 troops on the border of Ukraine as well as military vehicles and helicopters. The buildup has remained for weeks now, prompting the US, Canada, UK and its allies that Russia will invade. 

The announcement from Kirby comes as the US continues to encourage Americans — both government employees and other citizens — to leave the Ukraine amid threats of Russian aggression. 

White House Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that the US would not send in troops to the country for rescue missions should Americans choose to stay in the former Soviet state. 

The State Department announced early Saturday morning that it was evacuating most employees from the US Embassy in Kyiv, citing the military situation on the border. 

US officials say an attack by Russia could happen at any time in the near future. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday there will be a "resolute, massive, and united Transatlantic response" if an invasion occurs, and thousands of US troops have been sent to Poland amid rising tensions.

Trucker blockades at US-Canada border crossings

Blockades at major United States-Canada border crossings caused by truckers protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates could worsen the existing car shortage that has driven up prices to record levels.

The skyrocketing cost of cars and trucks — which has played a major role in fueling the 40-year high inflation rate in United States was just beginning to level off before truckers blocked the Ambassador Bridge and with it the most efficient way to transport auto parts between Canada and the US 

Without access to key components, auto manufacturers were forced to shut down some of their plants and some factories remain closed or are operating at reduced capacity.

Toyota delayed production at its plants in West Virginia, Alabama and Kentucky, affecting its output of its best-selling RAV4 vehicle, the company said Friday, adding the disruptions could continue through the weekend. 

Ford said that two of its Ontario-based factories are running at reduced capacity and an Ohio plant had to shut down. General Motors said it resumed production at its Michigan factory on Friday after canceling two shifts on Thursday. 

The situation could get worse if the blockade doesn’t end soon, according to the American Automotive Policy Council, Equipment Manufacturers Association and Original Equipment Suppliers Association. 

“The US automakers and suppliers are doing everything possible to maximize production with what they have, working to keep lines running and shifts scheduled to minimize the impact on American autoworkers, but the situation has already led to reduced production and may spread the longer the disruptions persist,” the groups said in a statement.

Production cuts and delays are bad news for the already meager US inventory of cars and trucks of roughly one million vehicles, down from more than 3 million in a normal year, according to J.D. Power.

Insufficient supply caused the price of used cars and trucks to increase by a stunning 40.5% in the year ending in January 2022, while the price of new vehicles grew by 12.2%, according to a Labor Department report released Thursday.

Those are some of the biggest price jumps of any product or service included in the report, which found that overall consumer prices increased by 7.5% annually, the fastest rate since February 1982.

The blockade could upend the trend. The Ambassador Bridge carries 25% of Canada’s trade with the US, with more than 8,000 trucks crossing the bridge on a typical day.

Workers in the Michigan auto industry alone may have lost up to US$51 million in wages this week due to production slowdowns, a number that would climb dramatically if the blockade continues, according to an analysis from the Anderson Economic Group.

“We are at an economic crisis at this moment because of this illegal blockade,” Michigan Governor. Gretchen Whitmer told CNN.

Experts say that the impact of the protests isn’t comparable to the semiconductor shortage, which forced automakers to cut production dramatically because they couldn’t get their hands on computer chips. This time around, manufacturers are working out other ways to get their hands on auto parts, such as air transport.

A Canadian judge on Friday ordered the protestors to end the blockade, though it remained unclear just how and when their trucks would be removed.

The protestors, dubbed the “Freedom Convoy,” have been blocking the bridge for five days in addition to disrupting another key US-Canada border crossing near Alberta. On Friday, they agreed to open one lane of traffic on the Ambassador Bridge for vehicles entering Canada but continued to block vehicles going into the US.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency on Friday afternoon that will allow the Canadian province to fine protesters blocking the bridge up to US$100,000 and sentence them to up to a year in jail.  

Canadian business groups have warned that if the government doesn't crack down on the protests, US companies could view the nation as an unreliable trading partner.

The US Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and Business Roundtable, three of the largest business lobbying groups in the US, called on the Canadian government to intervene on Thursday night to prevent “production cuts, shift reductions, and temporary plant closures” 

“The North American economy relies on our ability to work closely together, including our manufacturing sectors,” the groups said in a statement. “We need to apply the same spirit of cooperation to tackle this problem.”

US President Joe Biden this week urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to end the crisis and offered American support, though Trudeau has insisted on working with local leaders rather than have the Canadian government step in.

Canada implemented a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for foreigners entering the country on January 15, this year, while the US enacted its own border mandate on January 22.

The rule drew criticism from some US business groups, which said that it would further exacerbate supply chain disruptions stemming from a shortage of truck drivers and chassis.

Anne Reinke, President and CEO of the Transportation Intermediaries Association, said that the cross-border mandate has made it far more difficult to find truckers willing to haul goods between the United States and Canada, driving up transportation prices. 

“By itself, the vaccine mandate would be bearable, but now along with all the other headwinds, it’s becoming a real huge challenge,” she said. “Ultimately, there’s a ripple effect on the consumer.”

 

Palestinian groups reject appointment of Abbas loyalists

Three Palestinian groups – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have rejected the appointment of loyalists of Palestinian Authority (PA) President, Mahmoud Abbas to senior positions in the PLO.

“No recognition of, and no legitimacy to, the appointments announced by the Palestinian Central Council (PCC) during its illegitimate meeting on Sunday and Monday,” the groups said in a joint statement.

The 142-member PCC – a key decision-making body of the PLO – consists of various PLO factions, including the PFLP. Hamas and PIJ are not part of the PLO or any of its bodies.

During the session in Ramallah earlier, the council approved the appointment of Abbas associates Hussein al-Sheikh, Rouhi Fattouh, Mohammed Mustafa and Ramzi Khoury to fill vacancies in the PLO Executive Committee and its parliament in exile, the Palestinian National Council (PNC).

Abbas’s critics said that he convened the council to promote his loyalists, especially Sheikh, and consolidate his power over the Palestinian leadership.

Sheikh, 62, head of the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs, is regarded as one of Abbas’s most trusted aides. Some Palestinians are convinced that the 86-year-old Abbas is grooming him as his successor.

Sheikh was elected to replace Saeb Erekat, who served as Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee and chief Palestinian negotiator until his death in 2020.

Fattouh, another longtime Abbas associate, was chosen as speaker of the PNC, replacing Salim Zanoun, who retired after 30 years on the job.

Mustafa and Khoury, who are also closely associated with Abbas, were picked by the PCC members to serve as members of the PLO Executive Committee, the organization’s most important decision-making body.

The promotion of the Abbas loyalists is seen by some Palestinians as an attempt by the PA president to determine the identity of the future leaders of the Palestinians.

The appointments, in addition, send a message to the Palestinians, Israel and the US that their next leaders will continue with the same policies of Abbas.

The rare joint statement by Hamas, PIJ and the PFLP said that the appointments “do not represent our people, and constitute a breach of the national consensus and a suppression of the will of the Palestinian people.”

The groups called on the Palestinian leadership to immediately cancel the appointments and end its hegemony over Palestinian institutions. They further called for the establishment of a transitional PNC that would pave the way for holding general elections.

The parliamentary and presidential elections were supposed to take place in May and July. Abbas, however, called off the elections on the pretext that Israel had refused to allow them to take place in Jerusalem. Abbas’s political rivals have rejected the claim, saying he canceled the vote over fear that his fragmented and corruption-riddled Fatah faction would lose.

Hamas, PIJ and PFLP said in their statement that there will be no return to the Oslo track, referring to the 1993 accords signed between the PLO and Israel. The groups stressed that the only way to deal with Israel was through resistance, and called for the formation of a national unified command of the popular resistance to act against IDF soldiers and settlers.

The PCC issued a final communiqué on Wednesday night saying that it has decided to end security coordination between PA security forces and the IDF, and suspend Palestinian recognition of Israel. The statement, issued a day after the IDF killed three Fatah gunmen in Nablus, is seen as an attempt by the PA leadership to placate the Palestinian public.

A similar statement issued by the council in 2018 was completely ignored by the PA leadership.

The three men killed were responsible for a series of shooting attacks on soldiers and settlers in the Nablus area in the past few weeks. Their killing sparked widespread anger among many Palestinians, some of whom claimed that this was the direct result of the security coordination with Israel.

The slain gunmen belonged to Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Some of their friends in Nablus accused the PA of helping Israel track them down, noting that two of them had been previously harassed and threatened by the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank.

The PCC decision to end security coordination and suspend Palestinian recognition of Israel has not been taken seriously by many Palestinians, including members of Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction.

“I thought I was reading the same statement that the council issued in 2018,” said a senior Fatah official in Ramallah. “Whoever issued the statement on Wednesday must think that the Palestinians are stupid. Everyone knows that decisions like these are just intended for international consumption and are never implemented.”

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem played down the significance of the PCC statement, saying its decisions will remain ink on paper. The council meeting, he said, did not represent the aspirations of the Palestinians.

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia for financing anti-Iran elements

Iran has alleged Saudi Arabia for financing anti-Iran elements. It is being said that the controversial anti-Iran satellite channel, Ahwazna TV in Rijswijk is being financed by the Saudi intelligence service. 

The Saudis were also billed for demonstrations by the separatist movement ASMLA.

The financing of the TV channel and at least one demonstration in The Hague is apparent from research by Argos, the Danish public broadcaster DR and the Norwegian NRK.

The Denmark-based leadership of the Arab-Iranian movement ASMLA requested and received large sums through the Saudi intelligence service for its organization in Europe and its armed branch in Iran. The ASMLA – Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz - fights against oppression of the Arab minority in the Iranian region of Khuzestan and for independence.

ASMLA leader Habib Jabor and two other leaders were found guilty of spying and financing terrorism in Iran after months-long closed-door trial in Denmark. However, many details have not been disclosed. A journalistic investigation made it clear that the group also spied against people in the Netherlands, including the well-known activist Abdullah Mansouri.

Last autumn, the Rotterdam court convicted another ASMLA member, presenter and manager of Ahwazna TV Eisa S. from Delft. Despite denials, he was jailed for four years for coordinating and financing attacks in Iran in conjunction with the Danish ASMLA leaders.

The Arab-Iranian separatist movement ASMLA has secretly collected information for the Saudi intelligence service about a large number of people in Europe, including the Netherlands. Among them is the Dutch-Iranian activist Faleh Abdullah al-Mansouri.

Ahwazna TV

Satellite channel Ahwazna TV of ASMLA has been based in Rijswijk since 2017 and calls for a fight against the Iranian 'occupier'. The channel even brought news of attacks that ASMLA was probably behind. An example is the liquidation of two alleged members of the Revolutionary Guards on a motorcycle on November 12, 2018 in Abadan. This action was filmed and published through Ahwazna TV's social media channels.

In app conversations between Eisa S., ASMLA leader Habib Jabor and a contact person 'Issi' in Iran, the attackers are called 'our boys', it is about the amounts that the perpetrators have received and it is stated that the attack should be breaking news.

Of a total budget for ASMLA of more than seven million euros for the period 2017-19, about 1.2 million was earmarked for Ahwazna TV in the Netherlands, according to police documents that were viewed by journalists from DR in collaboration with Argos and NRK. The TV channel is one of the targets for which funding has been sought through liaison officers from the Saudi intelligence agency GIP. While it cannot be ruled out that part of the final budget came from other donors, the Danish court has assumed that ASMLA did in fact receive "significant sums" from the Saudis in response to these applications.

Response

Ahwazna TV says in a response to Argos that Iranian media are behind the allegations and that they have 'unfortunately' been taken over by the Danish prosecutor. The station says it has never promoted terrorism. The TV station reportedly only reported on the situation in Iran: "There are daily crimes against the Arabs, the original population of Ahwaz, by the Iranian regime."

Ahwazna TV said the channel "must be silenced as it has become a source of disruption to Iran." According to Ahwazna TV, the amount of 1.2 million euros cannot be correct, because the channel uses volunteers and second-hand equipment. The broadcasts from the Netherlands would have been suspended in the meantime. The Saudi embassy in the Netherlands has not responded to a request for a hearing.

In Denmark, Ahwazna TV has been banned for two years because the channel 'has grossly broken the law by showing programs that promote both direct and indirect terrorism'.

Demonstrations

ASMLA also organized demonstrations in Europe against Iran and for the Ahwaz cause. For this, the ASMLA leadership also requested funding from Saudi Arabia and a budget was drawn up. Money was needed for plane tickets, hotels, buses and allowances for journalists. Refugees from asylum seekers centers also had to be paid to participate. That would have cost 60 euros per person. Arab news channels were promised to report. 

Police documents mention an amount of 400 thousand euros, including 190 thousand euros for a demonstration in The Hague and 80 thousand for a demonstration in Copenhagen. The communication dates from late 2014 and early 2015. In 2015, there were manifestations of ASMLA in Copenhagen and Brussels, among others, and in 2016 at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where Eisa S. and Habib Jabor were present.

Armed Branch

Despite public statements approving and even claiming responsibility for attacks in Iran, it has long remained unclear whether ASMLA leaders in Europe themselves had a hand in violence. Significant is a tapped board meeting of ASMLA in February 2020. There it was discussed that it would be better to refrain from aggressive and violent statements from now on, because the Danish authorities and international partners would no longer tolerate this. When asked 'does this mean that we should put aside the armed struggle', Habib Jabor answers that this is not the case, but that 'there must be a new definition'.

Chat conversations between the ASMLA leaders, Eisa S. and individuals in Iran explicitly discussed targets, payments, recruiting perpetrators, purchasing weapons and filming attacks. 'If you can hit them and shoot the film well and there will be deaths, then help will come for you that is unimaginable to you,' said Eisa, for example, to his contact person 'Issi' in Iran. In 2018, in particular, there was a series of bank arson attacks and attacks associated with ASMLA in the Iranian region of Khuzestan. The Danish criminal case showed that converted at least 2 million euros was obtained from Saudi Arabia for the armed branch of ASMLA. 

Hunt for ASMLA Leaders

Tehran has accused ASMLA and Saudi Arabia of terrorism for years and repeatedly asked the Dutch and Danish governments to intervene. Meanwhile, Iran was hunting for ASMLA leaders. In the Netherlands, co-founder Ahmad Mola Nissi was shot dead in The Hague in 2017, although he had already broken up with Habib Jabor's group in 2015, precisely because of Saudi Arabia's influence on the group. An assassination attempt on Jabor in Denmark was narrowly thwarted in September 2018. Habib Chaab from Sweden was lured to Turkey in 2020 and kidnapped to Iran. An investigation by Argos in 2019 showed that Iranian spies had great interest in Ahwazna TV in Rijswijk. Eisa S.'s life may have even been in danger.

 

Frustrating Afghan evacuation process

An Army investigative report obtained by The Washington Post documented frustration among military personnel with the White House and State Department over the US evacuation from Afghanistan. 

The report, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, was ordered after the suicide bombing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport that killed 13 American military personnel on August 26, 2021. It detailed the decisions made by US military personnel assigned to guard the airport. 

“The military would’ve been much better prepared to conduct a more orderly operation, if policymakers had paid attention to the indicators of what was happening on the ground,” Navy Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, who leads US Forces Afghanistan Forward, told investigators, according to the newspaper.

According to the report, military officials said planning for the operation began months earlier, and evolved from using Bagram Air Base and the Hamid Karzai airport to just using the airport.

Military officials said they wanted two weeks to evacuate the US Embassy in Afghanistan, but on August 12, 2021 Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan demanded the process move more quickly.

US Central Command chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told the Post in an interview that he wasn’t surprised commanders felt the evacuation should have been handled differently. However, he said “we came together and executed a plan.”

“There are profound frustrations; commanders, particularly subordinate commanders, they see very clearly the advantages of other courses of action. However, we had a decision, and we had an allocation of forces. You proceed based on that,” he told the newspaper.

Asked about the report, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told the Post that the evacuation effort was a “historic achievement.”

“We are committed to, and are intensely engaged in, an ongoing review of our efforts during the evacuation, the assessments and strategy during the conflict, and the planning in the months before the end of the war,” Kirby told the newspaper. “We will take those lessons learned, and apply them, as we always do, clearly and professionally.”

Separately, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Todd Breasseale said, “Throughout this evacuation and in the months following – as we welcomed Afghans to begin their new lives in the United States, the US government has led a coordinated and cohesive interagency effort. The Department of Defense is proud to have worked shoulder to shoulder with our partners at the Departments of State and Homeland Security, the intelligence community, and others in support of this historic mission.”

The Army referred questions on the article to Central Command, which had no comment when reached by The Hill. The Hill has also reached out to the White House for comment.

The US officially withdrew from Afghanistan on August 31, 2021 ending America’s longest conflict. In the process, more than 124,000 people were evacuated from the country — the vast majority of which were Afghan refugees.

A State Department spokesperson didn’t directly address the concerns from military leaders raised in the Post report when reached by The Hill, but said “we continue to improve resettlement processes, reducing the time Afghans spend at overseas facilities and ensuring more effective resettlement and integration.”

The spokesperson said the Trump administration had no plan to move Afghans out of the country when it committed to leaving by May 2021 and “purposefully” gutted the nation’s refugee resettlement program. The spokesperson further said the Biden administration took steps to improve the special immigrant visa process.

“As we prepared to leave Afghanistan, we pre-positioned military assets in the region that enabled us to execute one of the largest airlifts in history, facilitating the evacuation and relocation of 124,000 individuals,” the spokesperson added.

The report also revealed several instances of violence American personnel faced during the effort, according to the Post.

For instance, there was an exchange of gunfire after two Taliban fighters allegedly menaced a group of Marines and Afghan civilians, which left those fighters dead.

In another instance, seven people — one of which was part of an elite Afghan strike unit — fired on American troops. In return US troops killed the strike unit member, and wounded six others. 

Who is responsible for ongoing turmoil in Lebanon?

“Saudi Arabia and the United States are exerting economic pressure on Lebanon to isolate Hezbollah” says Jamal Wakim, a professor at the Lebanese University (LU). “Saudi Arabia believes that exerting pressure on the Lebanese economy would help them achieve their political objective by isolating Hezbollah,” Wakim tells the Tehran Times.

“As the US could not get rid of Hezbollah militarily, it thought of doing so by exerting economic pressure on the Lebanese economy in order to incite the whole population against Hezbollah,” he adds.

Lebanon is going through a financial crisis that the World Bank says could rank among the world’s three worst since the mid-1800s in terms of its effect on living standards.

According to Jamal Wakim, after the Civil War in Lebanon, country’s economy has become solely dependent on the tertiary sector and the financial sector and on marginalizing the productive sectors, i.e. agriculture and industry. 
As the US could not get rid of Hezbollah militarily, it thought of doing so by exerting economic pressure on the Lebanese economy in order to incite the whole population against Hezbollah. By controlling the Lebanese financial system, the US was able to dry it off, leading the whole economy to collapse.

Rafiq al-Hariri governments between 1992 and 2004 were the ones that led to the restructuring of the economy to fit the interests of the financial and tertiary sectors. After his assassination, the class which benefited from the al-Hariri policies continued the policies that led to the current crisis. 

Saudi Arabia wants to exert pressure on Hezbollah so they thought that exerting pressure on the Lebanese economy would help them achieve their political objective by isolating Hezbollah. 

The incumbent government is not able to tackle the economic problem because the Prime Minister and the government members represent the interests of the political-financial class that rules the country and whose interests lay in continuing the previous policies that protect the interests of the financial capitalist class. 

To find a sustainable solution to Lebanese malice it is necessary to understand the main areas of economic cooperation between Iran and Lebanon. It is too bad that there are no areas of cooperation between Lebanon and Iran, because Lebanon is under full Western control. 

While Lebanon is still struggling to get over the ramifications of a deadly 2020 blast at Beirut Port, some people on Capitol Hill are busy drawing up plans to further exacerbate the situation in the country.

Lebanon is in bad shape economically and its people are grappling with day-to-day hardships to make ends meet regardless of their religion or political persuasions. However, this does not seem enough for some the US congressmen to refrain from fanning the flames of political divisions in Lebanon at a delicate moment.

Ever since the 2020 destructive explosion devastated the port of Beirut and the surrounding area, the economic situation in Lebanon has been steadily deteriorating. The country’s currency has significantly lost its value against the US dollar. Many gas stations and power stations ran out of fuel needed to power Lebanese cars and light homes.

The explosion led to a political vacuum in Lebanon after Hassan Diab, who assumed premiership in late 2019 by virtue of consensus among Lebanon’s main religiopolitical factions including Hezbollah, resigned. Diab remained in power as caretaker Prime Minister for about 13 months, highlighting the challenges of forming government in a country where political factions are divided along sectarian lines and pulling in different directions. Diab sought to strike a balance and render services to the Lebanese people without prioritizing foreign pressure to undermine certain groups that are part and parcel of Lebanon’s political system. 

Saad Hariri sought to form a government but he was given the cold shoulder due to a perception in some regional and transregional countries that he was unable to undertake reforms long demanded by these countries. And the main target of reforms is Hezbollah. In other words, Hariri was under pressure to form a government bent on weakening Hezbollah. Hariri simply withdrew and then went into self-exile.  

The external pressures continued unabated even after Lebanese leaders across the political spectrum formed a new government led by veteran politician Najib Mikati. 

Mikati has been trying to improve the economic situation in the country. But he is facing daunting challenges in this regard. Because Lebanon is resource-poor and relies, to large extent, on foreign aid to shore up its economy. To overcome economic woes, Lebanon needs foreign loans. The Mikati administration has formally begun negotiations with the International Monetary Fund to reportedly extend US$4 billion loan. 

The loan is part of a broader reform plan that aims to improve the economic situation. But it has been conditioned on the Lebanese government undertaking painful economic reforms and more importantly making a pledge to undermine Hezbollah.

The Tehran Times has learned that Senator James Lankford is spearheading efforts at the US Congress to draw up some legislation on the situation in Lebanon that would direct the US administration to refrain from supporting IMF assistance until needed reforms are made. 

The proposed bill also directs the US to support incremental IMF assistance to Lebanon once reforms are made. 

In addition, the bill calls on the US to impose sanctions on Lebanese leaders thought to be obstructing reforms. 

It goes without saying that reforms here mean measures against Hezbollah, which has long been in the crosshairs of the US. On the surface, the bill seeks to ensure stability in Lebanon, but deep down, it may well end up destabilizing Lebanon by pitting the Lebanese against each other.

The draft prepared by Senator Lankford lays out an array of measures to be taken by the US administration with regards to Lebanon.

 

Is Israel-Palestine confederation a plausible solution?

Former Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators have drawn up a new proposal for a two-state confederation that they hope will offer a way forward after a decade-long stalemate in Mideast peace efforts.

The plan includes several controversial proposals, and it’s not clear if it has any support among leaders on either side. But it could help shape the debate over the conflict and will be presented to a senior US official and the UN Secretary General.

The plan calls for an independent state of Palestine in most of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel and Palestine would have separate governments but coordinate at a very high level on security, infrastructure and other issues that affect both populations.

The plan would allow the nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to remain there, with large settlements near the border annexed to Israel in a one-to-one land swap.

Settlers living deep inside the West Bank would be given the option of relocating or becoming permanent residents in the state of Palestine. The same number of Palestinians, likely refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, would be allowed to relocate to Israel as citizens of Palestine with permanent residency in Israel.

The initiative is largely based on the Geneva Accord, a detailed, comprehensive peace plan drawn up in 2003 by prominent Israelis and Palestinians, including former officials. The nearly 100-page confederation plan includes new, detailed recommendations for how to address core issues.

Yossi Beilin, a former senior Israeli official and peace negotiator who co-founded the Geneva Initiative, said that by taking the mass evacuation of settlers off the table, the plan could be more amenable to them.

Israel’s political system is dominated by the settlers and their supporters, who view the West Bank as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people and an integral part of Israel.

The Palestinians view the settlements as the main obstacle to peace, and most of the international community considers them illegal. The settlers living deep inside the West Bank — who would likely end up within the borders of a future Palestinian state — are among the most radical and tend to oppose any territorial partition.

“We believe that if there is no threat of confrontations with the settlers it would be much easier for those who want to have a two-state solution,” Beilin said. The idea has been discussed before, but he said a confederation would make it more “feasible.”

Numerous other sticking points remain, including security, freedom of movement and perhaps most critically after years of violence and failed negotiations, lack of trust.

The main Palestinian figure behind the initiative is Hiba Husseini, a former legal adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team going back to 1994 who hails from a prominent Jerusalem family. Other contributors include Israeli and Palestinian professors and two retired Israeli generals.

Husseini acknowledged that the proposal regarding the settlers is “very controversial” but said the overall plan would fulfill the Palestinians’ core aspiration for a state of their own.

“It’s not going to be easy,” she added. “To achieve statehood and to achieve the desired right of self-determination that we have been working on — since 1948, really — we have to make some compromises.”

Thorny issues like the conflicting claims to Jerusalem, final borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees could be easier to address by two states in the context of a confederation, rather than the traditional approach of trying to work out all the details ahead of a final agreement.

“We’re reversing the process and starting with recognition,” Husseini said.

It’s been nearly three decades since Israeli and Palestinian leaders gathered on the White House lawn to sign the Oslo accords, launching the peace process.

Several rounds of talks over the years, punctuated by outbursts of violence, failed to yield a final agreement, and there have been no serious or substantive negotiations in more than a decade.

Israel’s current Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, is a former settler leader opposed to Palestinian statehood. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who is set to take over as prime minister in 2023 under a rotation agreement, supports an eventual two-state solution.

But neither is likely to be able to launch any major initiatives because they head a narrow coalition spanning the political spectrum from hardline nationalist factions to a small Arab party.

On the Palestinian side, President Mahmoud Abbas’ authority is confined to parts of the occupied West Bank, with the Islamic militant group Hamas — which doesn’t accept Israel’s existence — ruling Gaza. Abbas’ presidential term expired in 2009 and his popularity has plummeted in recent years, meaning he is unlikely to be able to make any historic compromises.

The idea of the two-state solution was to give the Palestinians an independent state, while allowing Israel to exist as a democracy with a strong Jewish majority. Israel’s continued expansion of settlements, the absence of any peace process and repeated rounds of violence, however, have greatly complicated hopes of partitioning the land.

The international community still views a two-state solution as the only realistic way to resolve the conflict.

But the ground is shifting, particularly among young Palestinians, who increasingly view the conflict as a struggle for equal rights under what they — and three prominent human rights groups — say is an apartheid regime.

Israel vehemently rejects those allegations, viewing them as an anti-Semitic attack on its right to exist. Lapid has suggested that reviving a political process with the Palestinians would help Israel resist any efforts to brand it an apartheid state in world bodies.

Next week, Beilin and Husseini will present their plan to the US Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Beilin says they have already shared drafts with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Beilin said he sent it to people who he knew would not reject it out of hand. “Nobody rejected it. It doesn’t mean that they embrace it.”

“I didn’t send it to Hamas,” he added, joking. “I don’t know their address.”

 

Iran society set to explode due to crippling sanctions, writes The Jerusalem Post

It is known to all and sundry that Israel is using a multi-pronged strategy to malign Iran and it ruling regime. One of its favorite tools is ‘disinformation’. The conventional media, mostly owned the West also love to run anti-Iran stories.   

The Jerusalem Post has revealed a highly sensitive Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps document that asserts Iranian society is in a state of explosion because of the crippling sanctions imposed on the nation due to its nuclear program.

The US government news organization Radio Farda obtained the document from Edalat-e Ali (Ali’s Justice), the whistleblower entity that has also secured confidential documents and video footage about the torture of Iranian prisoners.

According to Radio Farda’s Golnaz Esfandiari, who authored the exclusive article, “The document covers a meeting with IRGC’s intelligence wing and quotes an official named Mohammadi saying that Iran’s “society is in a state of explosion.” Mohammadi added, “Social discontent has risen by 300% in the past year.”

Radio Farda said it could not verify the authenticity of the document beyond the sourcing of Ali’s Justice.

The official noted that several shocks in recent months have shaken public trust in the regime of President Ebrahim Raisi, who is listed as a US-sanctioned person for his role in several mass murders, including the massacre of at least 5,000 Iranian political prisoners in 1988.

Radio Farda reported[ “Mohammadi referred to soaring inflation, including hikes in the price of food items, energy, and cars. He also noted the sharp declines in stock prices.”

“The leaked document includes notes from a November 2021 task-force meeting chaired by Brig.-Gen. Hossein Nejat, a senior IRGC commander and deputy head of Sarallah, a key IRGC base that oversees security in Tehran,” the station said.

Omri Ceren, the national security adviser for US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has tweeted, “The Biden administration is giving Iran a nuclear weapons arsenal,” with a link to a Daily Mail article that declares, “Biden removes some Iran sanctions imposed by Trump, including unfreezing US$29 billion in bank accounts overseas, in a bid to return to Obama-era deal that three negotiators have resigned over.”

In addition to officials at the meeting from the IRGC, a US-classified terrorist organization the IRGC document noted that the meeting of the Working Group On the Prevention Of A Livelihood-Based Security Crisis was attended by the Basij militia, intelligence bodies, and the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office.

The Basij militia is a volunteer force frequently used to crush demonstrations against political and economic corruption of the theocratic state.

The Jerusalem Post had reported last month that Iran’s deputy interior minister, Taghi Rostamvandi, outlined factors during a speech that could shake the foundations of the theocratic state.

The Islamic Republic News Agency, the regime-controlled news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran, reported that Rostamvandi warned that Iranians are seeking with greater frequency fundamental changes in the country and a secular government and way of life.

Revolts against the clerical state have erupted in Iranian society since the 1979 Islamic revolution, including the widespread Green movement protests in 2009 and massive unrest in 2019. 

 

Israeli response to the US waiver for Iran

Over the weekend, the United States made stunning news giving Iran a sanctions waiver to return to the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal. Israel and critics of the JCPOA immediately took this as a bad sign of the emergence of a weaker deal, but how bad is it really?

The Iran nuclear deal that world powers are negotiating in Vienna will make it harder to stave off a nuclear Iran, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned at the opening of Sunday’s cabinet meeting.

“Foremost among the threats to the State of Israel is Iran,” Bennett said. “We, as the cabinet, are responsible for taking on the Iranian nuclear [threat], and are closely following what is happening in the talks in Vienna.”

Bennett said, “The agreement and what appears to be its conditions will damage the ability to take on the nuclear program.

“Whoever thinks an agreement will increase stability is wrong,” he added. “It will temporarily delay enrichment, but all of us in the region will pay a heavy, disproportionate price for it.”

According to The Jerusalem Post, it is a very clear sign that the United States is trying to close a return to the deal by mid-February when the IAEA issues its next report or by March 7, 2022, when the IAEA Board of Governors meets. These are opportunities that only come up once every three months to exercise additional pressure on the Islamic Republic.

Put simply, Washington's leverage to get the ayatollahs to return to the nuclear limits is the existing sanctions leverage. If the US starts to lift sanctions before Iran has given anything up, why should the Islamic Republic show any readiness to compromise?

This goes along with other recent signs, such as a split in the US negotiating team in which three members resigned over their view that the Biden administration's approach to the negotiations was too flexible and lenient toward Tehran.

For one, leaks to the Wall Street Journal last week indicated that those resigning were unhappy with a return to the JCPOA which would leave Iran closer to six months away from crossing the uranium enrichment threshold as opposed to the deal's original 12-month goal.

The waiver from this weekend covered the conversion of Iran’s Arak heavy water research reactor - which relates to its potential plutonium path to a nuclear weapon, delivering to it enriched uranium for its Tehran nuclear research reactor and facilitating the transfer of spent and scrap reactor fuel abroad.

None of these sanctions relief helps Iran's economy one iota. They also do not advance its nuclear program at all. Rather, all of these items were part of the JCPOA itself and were actions that either kept or maintained Iran's ability to have a civil nuclear program, while cutting it off from military options.

The truth is that the Trump administration's decision in May 2020, only a few months before the November 2020 presidential election, to cancel these sanctions waivers was bizarre. It served no purpose other than to remove an exit ramp for Iran to return to the nuclear deal if it wanted to.

Essentially, it was an attempt to preemptively sabotage the Biden administration from being able to return to the JCPOA given that Biden was leading Trump in the polls.

These items are all basically part of the machinery of how the JCPOA operates at a civil nuclear level completely within the nuclear limits.

For example, the provisions regarding the Arak reactor actually prevent Iran from advancing a plutonium path to a bomb, transferring spent and scrap reactor fuel abroad prevents Iran from using it at home, and even transferring a tiny amount of non-weaponized enriched uranium keeps Iran under the 300 kilogram and 3.67% enrichment level limits of the deal.   

Tactically, this is the Biden administration trying to show it is eager to facilitate the machinery of the JCPOA and it can box Tehran into needing to show good faith on its part, or risk being blamed for the failed negotiations.

Of course, this is not the result that the Israeli government wants , though a rising number of voices in the Israeli defense establishment want a deal if only to slow and freeze Iran's march to the 90% uranium weaponization level.

It does signal Washington's desperation for a deal and all other signs are that the new deal will be weaker than the JCPOA had been.

But of all of the recent signs pointing in this direction, this sanctions waiver was actually the least significant and the smallest concrete negative change from an Israeli government perspective.

Signs of an imminent full or partial deal would involve sanctions waivers to countries like China, India, Greece, Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey and South Korea.

These were eight countries that even the Trump administration granted exemptions to from sanctions during May 2018 to May 2019.

Iran welcomes US sanctions move but terms these insufficient

The steps taken by the United States on lifting sanctions are ‘good but not enough’, Iran said following Washington’s announcement it was waiving sanctions on Iran’s civil nuclear program.

The US action came as talks to restore a 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers over its nuclear program reached an advanced stage, with the issue of sanctions relief a major issue.

“The lifting of some sanctions can, in the true sense of the word, translate into their goodwill. Americans talk about it, but it should be known that what happens on paper is good but not enough,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, quoted by ISNA news agency.

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council also reflected Tehran’s view that the US move falls short.

“Real, effective and verifiable economic benefit for Iran is a necessary condition for the formation of an agreement,” Ali Shamkhani said in a tweet.

“The show of lifting sanctions is not considered a constructive effort.”

The US State Department said on Friday it was waiving sanctions on Iran’s civil nuclear program in a technical step necessary to return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

Former US President, Donald Trump withdrew from the pact in 2018 and re-imposed crippling sanctions on Iran, prompting the Islamic Republic to begin pulling back from its commitments under the deal.

The waiver allows other countries and companies to participate in Iran’s civil nuclear program without triggering US sanctions on them, in the name of promoting safety and non-proliferation.

Iran’s civil program includes growing stockpiles of enriched uranium.

Amir-Abdollahian reiterated that one of the main issues in the JCPOA talks is obtaining guarantees that the US will not withdraw from the 2015 deal again.

“We seek and demand guarantees in the political, legal and economic sectors,” he said, adding “agreements have been reached in some areas”.

Iran is negotiating with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia directly and with the US indirectly in the Vienna talks, which different parties say have reached a stage where the sides have to make important political decisions.

“Our negotiating team in the Vienna talks is seriously pursuing obtaining tangible guarantees from the West to fulfill their commitments,” said Amir-Abdollahian.

Foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said, “Iran is carefully considering any action that is in the right direction of fulfilling the obligations of the JCPOA”, Iranian media reported.

The European parties to the talks urged Iran to seize the opportunity of the US waivers.

“This should facilitate technical discussions necessary to support talks on JCPOA return in Vienna,” negotiators of Britain, France and Germany said in a joint statement on Saturday.

“We urge Iran to take quick advantage of this opportunity, because the timing of the waiver underscores the view we share with the US, we have very little time left to bring JCPOA talks to a successful conclusion.”

Iran joins Russia to end petrodollar dominance

In a commentary on February 04, 2022, The National Interest said Iran and Russia, as two countries subject to US sanctions, are seeking to undermine the petrodollar’s dominance in global finance and trade.

Following is an excerpt of the article:

During Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s recent visit to Moscow, a number of agreements with Russian oil and gas companies related to constructing petro-refineries and transferring technology and equipment were signed.

Vladimir Putin is the first Russian president to visit Iran since Josef Stalin’s visit in 1943. Since 2007, Putin has traveled to Tehran twice to attend a summit of Caspian littoral states, and in each visit, he met with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In 2007, Ayatollah Khamenei told Putin “A powerful Russia is in Iran’s interest,” to which Putin replied, “The interest of the Russian nation lies in a powerful and influential Iran in the international scene.”  

Prior to the 1979 Revolution, the United States had total domination over Iranian politics. After the revolution and during Saddam Hussein’s protracted war against Iran, both Washington and Moscow heavily supported Iraq’s invasion of Iran.

But, after the Iraq-Iran War, Moscow changed its policy toward Iran and sought to build a friendship while the United States and the West embraced hostility. The détente between Tehran and Moscow has had significant consequences for the region’s geopolitics. 

Both Iran and Russia “admonish the United States’ hypocrisy on human rights, terrorism, and unilateralism.”

Ayatollah Khamenei made it clear, “Tehran and Moscow must step up cooperation to isolate the United States and help stabilize the Middle East.” As a result, Tehran and Moscow have directed their policies in West Asia to isolate the United States. Tehran and Moscow’s full-blown support prevented the Assad government from collapsing, while the United States and its allies supported the war in Syria aimed at overthrowing Bashar al-Assad. 

There are numerous areas that Iran and Russia can find common ground. To elaborate further, both combat extremist groups, such as ISIS and al-Qaeda; both admonish the United States’ hypocrisy on human rights, terrorism, and unilateralism; both grapple with US sanctions and hope to topple the petrodollar’s dominance in global finance and trade. 

On the economic front, geographical proximity and transit connections are likely to strengthen trade and business between the two countries. In some ways, the North-South corridor of trade, which passes through the historic cities of the Caucasus through the Persian Gulf and India, will be restored. The Russian dream to access the warm waters of the Persian Gulf may soon materialize.  

Nevertheless, there are also divergences between Iran and Russia on some issues. For example, Russia has close ties with Israel, while Iran considers Israel an enemy. Russia also seeks to attract Turkey and Saudi Arabia away from the United States.

Kazem Jalali, Iran’s Ambassador to Russia emphasizes how President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Moscow is a “turning point” in relations between the two countries. “Iranians begrudge the Tsarist Russia” but “today’s Russia is different from the Tsarist Russia.”

Jalali added, “Russia is facing the West, and Putin and his close associates look positively at Raisi’s presidency.”

Today, Iran is dealing with the “White Tsar” (current Russia), which is different from “Red Tsar” (the old Russia).

In his meeting with Putin, President Raisi said, “The relations between Tehran and Moscow are on the path towards strategic ties.”