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TEHRAN (Iran News) Issues such as the import of manganese, the supply of machinery and the payment of government salaries, along with the increase in wage costs, are the four main concerns of manganese mines. These problems have faced serious problems in mining. Activists of manganese mines are demanding different support and attention from the government.

Manganese metal is one of those functional metals that are used in various industries. The specific physical and chemical characteristics of this metal have made it known as a strategic metal. About 80% of manganese consumption in the world is used in steel industry. Manganese has the property of deoxygenation and causes purity and improvement of some quality parameters in iron. One of the important reasons for the quality of iron beams and rebars produced in a unit like Isfahan iron smelter is because of the manganese used by this complex.

Mohammadreza Raghebian; The CEO of Iran Manganese Mining Company stated in an interview with the reporter of “Dunya-e-Ekhtisad” that Iran Manganese Mining Company has a 55-year history in the field of manganese extraction in the country and is currently the largest manganese miner and supplier in Iran. About 60% of the needs of Isfahan Iron Smelting Company, which is one of the largest steel production companies, is supplied by Iran Manganese Mining Company. It also provides half of the Iranian Zarand Steel Company’s needs and 40% of the manganese needs of ferroalloy industries, electric arc furnaces and ferrosilico manganese production units.

The heavy cost of extracting manganese mines in Iran

Raghebian added: Currently, the focus of Iran Manganese Mining Company’s extraction is at a depth of 290 meters underground. The extraction costs and the finished price are much higher than open pit mines. There are a limited number of open-pit manganese mines in Iran. In the world, the largest manganese mines located in African countries such as Tanzania and Namibia are open and the slope of these mines is low and facing the horizon. The slope of Iran’s manganese layer is about 85 to 88 degrees and close to vertical. This also increases the cost of extraction. He further pointed out the problems in this area: the challenges we face in manganese mining are beyond and more complicated than other mines. Due to the fact that manganese mines are underground, specialized machinery is needed. Sanctions have affected the import of mining machinery. Despite the sanctions, the cost of purchasing each device and machinery has reached many times the previous rates.

For example, to buy loaders and mechanical excavators, due to the general consumption of these types of devices, many people enter the field and overcome the sanctions. According to the guidelines, the supply of these is facilitated. In the field of supplying specialized machinery, we are facing quite a challenge and therefore we are forced to impose an increase in the cost price. CEO of Iran Manganese Mining Company said: Unfortunately, what is now a serious challenge is the lack of support from the government’s legislative body. In addition to support, monitoring and control, the government should also put prioritization on its agenda. Iran Manganese Mining Company has been active in the field of manganese mining for more than 55 years and is a public company and is accepted in the stock exchange with the symbol of Manganese. This company is the supplier of materials needed by Zob Ahan Company and expects that the government will look at this company with a supportive view and in some way support will be doubled.

Calculation of unfair government rights for underground mines

Raghebian pointed out: In the last two years, government rights were the first challenge faced by Iran Manganese Mining Company. The government fee is calculated at 5% of the selling price of manganese in the mine. Although there are many factors that increase the cost price, this 5% is also considered a heavy figure. Maybe this number is not significant for open mines, but for underground mines such as manganese, it is considered a large amount. Since Iran Manganese Mining Company is a listed company, all production and sales statistics are clearly stated, so it is clear that calculating 5% government salary is not desirable for such sales.

He emphasized: the issue of machinery entry permit is also handled for manganese mines that need special devices like other mines and companies. In general, we do not see the support and distinction expected from the government. Last year, we were obliged to appoint a market operator to support the Cummins symbol, if it was predictable for all the companies that are present in the stock market that the index will fall, and the bubble that was created in 2020 was clear in 2021. It will decrease slowly, but Iran Manganese Mining Company was required to protect the share, and despite this, a listed company that prevents the share from falling is no different from a non-listed company and does not enjoy special protections in the field of government rights and taxes.

This CEO continued: Importing manganese and ferrosilicomanganese is another challenge we are facing. To prevent the sale of raw materials in the complex, we put the construction of a ferrosilicomanganese production factory on the agenda. In the first three months of this year, more than 50,000 tons of manganese were imported from Africa and 14,000 tons of ferrosilico-manganese from India, which has made the conditions difficult for units that have domestic production. When it is possible to produce manganese and ferrosilicomanganese in the country, in order to settle these conditions, the import tariff should be increased so that the incentive for domestic production and job creation remains stable. Because currently 400 people are working directly and 2 thousand people are working indirectly in this group and we have more than 35 thousand shareholders in the group, any disruption to the type of activity of this company will affect the job security of these people. puts.

The possibility of increasing definite reserves to more than 6.5 million tons

He reminded: There are not many large and integrated manganese mines in the country and more than 200 thousand tons of manganese are produced annually in Iran, of which 100 thousand tons belong to Iran Manganese Mining Company. According to the prospect of producing 55 million tons of steel by 2025, the need for manganese will increase. It can be fruitful to support domestic miners and create incentives to restrict imports and increase import tariffs.

Raghebian said: Considering that there is a need for manganese in the country, but there is no export in this sector. The confirmed and identified reserves in our company’s mines are estimated at 5.5 million tons and it is expected that during future exploration operations, the amount of definite reserves will increase to more than 6.5 million tons, and in this case, manganese mines alone will meet the country’s needs up to It will pay off in the next 25 years. Now, due to the problem of power outages that we have two days a week, and due to the increase in salaries and wages, a significant part of the total cost is spent on salaries and wages, which has been accompanied by an unprecedented increase of 57% this year. These types of cases reduce the production motivation for domestic producers, and in total, we have a production plan of 110,000 tons for the rest of this year, which will be achieved if no problems occur.

He said: In the mine exploration department, drilling and coring have been done up to a depth of 1,100 meters, which has led to the determination of a reliable reserve for the construction of a factory for the production of ferrosilicomanganese with the majority ownership of manganese mines in the Nizar industrial area, and the initial forecast For the implementation of the plan, something like 280 billion Tomans was estimated. However, due to the upcoming inflation, the capital required for this project has reached more than 400 billion tomans, and half of the project has already been completed.

The CEO of Iran Manganese Mining Company stated: Since manganese is needed in the country and the conditions of international supply and foreign policies as well as the import process are not stable, these issues will cause changes in the domestic production process. For example, Ukraine, as the second magnet producing pole, faced crisis and war in the last few months. For this reason, the government should pay attention to miners and domestic producers. The issue of import acts as an accommodation that cannot be relied upon in any way, and in order to realize the vision of 1404 and considering the heavy costs of manganese production as well as job creation, government support for manganese miners, especially those who work in the field of manganese derivatives, should be more than before. So that the tensions of foreign policies and other events do not affect domestic producers.

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The hot debates took place between five principlist candidates – especially Saeed Jalili, Alireza Zakani, and Mohsen Rezaei – with Nasser Hemmati.

The main contention was over an approval of FATF and skyrocketing prices, which most candidates held the central bank responsible for.

Some analysts said the debates had no clear winner and that candidates mostly trade accusations against each other rather than elaborate on their plans.

Hemmati was claiming that most candidates were making attacks against him which was not fair.

A presidential candidate, Nasser Imani, said the days left to the election day are important. The debate may not have a great influence on the number of people who will participate in the elections but they make shape the views of those who will vote, Imani stated.

Ebrahim Raeisi: Motivated producers are facing problems

Presidential contender Ebrahim Raeisi said today producers who have great motivation and new ideas to stimulate the economy are facing problems.

In order to create a favorable economic situation, the production sector should be strengthened, Raeisi suggested.

“We should create motivation for production and reduce motivation for non-producing sectors,” the cleric presidential candidate suggested.

Raeisi cited monopolization and an excess of regulations as the main impediments to the activities of the private sector.

He said the motivation for directing liquidity to foreign currency, gold and land property should lose its appeal. Raeisi also called trafficking of goods to the country as one of the hurdles which make the production sector suffer losses. He also said if he is elected president, he will reduce tax burden on the production sector.

Raeisi said he is serious in his view for a tight presidential competition and high voter turnout. He said based on opinion polls the people want officials show honesty.

“It is too bad that somebody as a presidential candidate tries to damage others in order to win votes,” Raeisi said in response to accusations by Mohsen Mehr Alizadeh and Hemmati.

In an open reference to the 2017 elections, he said if defamation and insults were influential in helping to resolve problems, many candidates traded accusations and made insults against others in the previous rounds of presidential debates.

“Haven’t you been tired of leveling allegations and making insults,” the presidential contender remarked. He added, “There is no problem if problems are resolved through insults and allegations against me.”

The candidate said he is talking to people honestly. He noted opponents of the Islamic Republic have been mobilized against him and unfortunately certain candidates (Hemmati and Mehr Alizadeh) have adopted such an approach toward him.

He also said since he has taken over as Judiciary chief, he has not ordered the closure of a website or a newspaper. “I have not also lodged a complaint against anybody who has criticized me.”

The presidential hopeful also defended his visits to manufacturing units that have faced problems and holding meetings with entrepreneurs. At the same time, he said, he is vising prisons.  He made these remarks in response to Hemmati that asked why Raeisi was visiting manufacturing units that were not related to his job.

The Judiciary chief said the causes of economic corruption should be uprooted which are being mostly produced by the executive body.

Injudicious measures create a foundation for corruption which the Judiciary should deal with, Raeisi lamented. He added people know well that “we don’t have red line” in cracking down on corruption and favoritism.

Today the government should counter loopholes that lead to “judicial files”.

He lambasted skyrocketing prices, saying housing prices have increased by about seven times, cars by eight times, etc.

For example, he said, the subsidized foreign currency has caused many problems for the judicial system, calling for market stability. He said the new government should take steps toward single-rate foreign currency.

He also said the country is lagging behind in cyberspace because there is a problem with the infrastructure system.

Jalili: There should be a will to fight poverty

Saeed Jalili: In the first televised debates, candidates asked about certain issues. On what is his plan in the next four years if he is elected as president, Jalili said, “One of the problems that we have had is that from an economic point of view people and poor people have not been given priority.”

Jalili said one of the main discussions by the late Imam Khomeini was to counter poverty.

In republicanism as a great legacy of Imam Khomeini due attention must be paid to the well-being of people, he noted.

“One should have plan for countering poverty but before making plans one should have belief and the will” to counter poverty, remarked said, the former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

He suggested that “certain major measures should be taken to reduce poverty.”

For example, he said, the citizens should be given an equal share in energy subsidy.  Jalili said if he is elected president, he will materialize this goal.

Jalili said his second plan is to give food baskets to the poor classes of society. He added support for the poor should not just be restricted to the “first basic rights,” but it should also include travel and health service. Jalili said he has a “detailed plan for trip,” which is possible with the available facilities.

He added people are asking if the answer to economic problems is clear, then why nothing is done.

Jalili said the important point is that “you know the answers” to the problems but the point is that there should be a will for resolving these problems and have a firm idea that they will be countered.

He also answered to Hemmati who sees some economic problems for refusal by the Expediency Council to approve the FATF (the Financial Action Task Force), saying, “When you look at the country’s problem in this way it leads to the current situation.”

Jalili said the government has accepted 39 articles out of 41 of the FATF, but the international body has not accepted them from Iran. He said certain countries have not implemented the FATF as much as Iran. “You (Hemmati) say that all the country’s problems are rooted in not accepting the FATF… this lack of correct understanding will not help you.”

He also accused Hemmati of being a part of the problem. Jalili also asked Hemmati about those who are hugely indebted to banks, but the central bank has done nothing tangible in this regard.

Jalili said during the eight years of the Rouhani administration, “Mr. Hemmati himself acknowledge that 11 persons were indebted 90 trillion tomans (22 billion dollars) to banks.  He said this has made the situation worse. Asking, “So what has been your duty”?

Jalili added there are two views, saying one view says let’s manage the country “by force” and then bring pretext for others. However, there are other views that says the country has capacities and “we not only can manage the country with a reliance on expert youth but also make the country to make a leap.”

The former chief nuclear negotiator said Hemmati clearly says the country cannot be managed in this way. “I say you cannot do it.”

Jalili cited an example, saying in 2015, the year the nuclear deal (JCPOA) was signed, he had warned that based on “this document sanctions will not be lifted.”

He said, “If in the next four years we do not just want to manage the country but create a situation to make it jump, we should have serious plan for the country’s economy. We should not invent pretexts.”

The former top security official said a jump in the production sector will lead to an increase in national currency. He said a jump in production will happen when there is an increase in export and this is possible when the country has extensive interaction with the world and “not just wait for a few countries.”

He asked Hemmati if you know how to run the county then why Iran’s export to 28 European countries is half of the country’s exports to Afghanistan.

The presidential candidate said different sectors should help produce income for the country and they should not just wait for the Oil Ministry, adding ministries of agriculture, industries, science and foreign affairs should help to increase the country’s foreign income.

He said even when Iran’s oil export is not subject to sanctions, the country can make money twice the oil export through the export of agriculture, mines, gas and electricity.

Jalili went on to say that a jump in petrochemicals, oil, gas and efficient use of energy can lead to a jump in job employment.

Zakani: Banks print money without the supervision of central bank

Alireza Zakani criticized heavy liquidity in the country, putting it at 3,500 billion tomans ($830 million). Zakani said banks are printing money outside the monitoring of the central bank.

Zakani said every day, about 1,000 billion tomans ($240 million) are added to the liquidity and this large amount of money has caused an increase in demand for foreign currency, gold, house, and cars.

This is while many production centers suffer from financial problems, he pointed out.

He rebuked Hemmati for the sharp devaluation of national currency, saying Hemmati says he is an economist “while in my view he should be given a Nobel prize in chemistry” because he has greatly depreciated national currency.

On remarks by Hemmati, who said the suggestions by certain candidates would lead to “distribution of poverty,” Zakani accused him of being an accomplice in “distribution of poverty.”

He also reacted to Hemmati, who criticized the Guardian Council for disqualifying certain candidates, saying, “If it was going to confirm other persons (candidates) you should not have been here.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, he said banks have created a situation in which 11 persons owe the banks 90 trillion tomans. He said there are many who get loans from banks but don’t use that loan for the intended essential purposes.

He asked Hemmati who are these persons who are hugely indebted to banks and why there is such disorder in different banks. “Where do banking corruption originate?” he asked.

Zakani said, unfortunately, great debtors to banks are those who have no “active role” in the economic sector.  Rather, he said, they use these huge amounts of bank loans to create turbulence in the economy.

The greatest service that Hemmati should have done was to regulate the monetary and banking system, but “unfortunately he has not done that.”

He also reacted strongly to a claim by Hemmati that he would finally withdraw candidacy in favor of Raisi, saying, “I request Mr. Hemmati to speak scientifically, precisely, and in an expert manner and do not make accusations.”

Zakani also said due attention should be paid to the economy, management, culture, society, politics and foreign policy.

He said if he wins presidency, he will focus on a jump in the production sector and decentralizing the management system. Zakani said he will focus on electronic government, counter economic corruption and try to create a sustainable economic environment, promote justice, increase wealth, etc.

Zakani, who holds a Ph.D. in nuclear medicine, said he will try to remove barriers to production. He said the government is the greatest obstacle to production sector and called banks the greatest competitor to the production sector. He claimed if the North-South corridor is activated, it can bring the country 30 billion dollars income. Zakani, a sitting MP who currently heads the Parliament Research Center, said contrary to claims by Hemmati, he is not seeking to distribute poverty and instead will try to create a jump in the production sector and “distribute wealth”.

He also said he will focus on provinces to delegate responsibilities to local officials in different provinces, especially the least developed ones.

On a question that oil has made government economically incapable, he said in the past the governments relied on oil money and the Rouhani administration tried to run his administration through “the people’s pocket” and “feed on inflation.”

He also pointed to tax evasion, saying today there is 200,000 billion tomans ($47 billion) tax evasions and the same amount of tax waivers. In general, there is 720,000 billion tomans ($170 billion) in tax arrears.

He also accused Hemmati that he represents the government in the election trying to justify eight years of government performance.

 Mehr Alizadeh: Management in my government will be rational, pragmatic

Pro-reform candidate Mohsen Mehr Alizadeh said if he is elected as president, he will follow a rational managerial system and that his approach is pragmatic and that one of his priorities is focused on the production sector.

“Management in my government will be rational, pragmatic and production-oriented,” he remarked.

He said his main plan is to build houses, create jobs and provide an environment for activities for realizing the talents of the youth.

He also expressed regret over a rise in poverty in the country, saying statistics show that about 50 percent of the population live under the poverty line.

Mehr Alizadeh also accused Raeisi that he cannot draw up plans to run the country because he is not proficient in economy.

He accused Raeisi of repeating the words of some experts, saying masses are suffering from economic problems and these problems are mostly rooted in different sectors, including lack of enough export. He added 70 percent of the production sector is dormant.

Mehr Alizadeh, who said he has is an engineer and has a Ph.D. in economic management, said making accusations have become a norm and certain “have no brake” in making accusations.

He went on to say that one of the major problems that the country has been grappling with since the 1979 Islamic Revolution is that there has never been a “proper model” for running the country. For example, one government followed a neo-liberal economy, another socialist policies, etc.

The presidential candidate suggested the model that European countries, especially Germany, have been following can resolve problems in the country.

He also said his government will seek to remove impediments in the production sector, facilitate production activities and introduce tax waivers for producers.

Mehr Alizadeh also said he will strengthen the Environment Protection Organization. He warned if attention is not paid to the environment, the country will face a water crisis in the future.

Mohsen Rezaei: I won’t say anything other than truth

Mohsen Rezaei said he has entered the presidential race to defend the Iranian nation.

Before the debates officially start, Rezaei said, “Those who have caused such a situation in the country are my competitors.”

He added, “I will adopt nothing other than telling the truth.”

The former IRGC chief went on to say that he had warned the electorate about the uselessness of President Hassan Rouhani’s “key”.

“Eight years ago, in this place I warned about that ‘useless key’. I showed you a 1,000 tomans (about 20 cents) and warned if this trend continues our national currency will fall.”

He said the relations between government and the people has not been regulated based on “relations between government and economy, and relations between economy and the people.”

The presidential hopeful said the government “put its hands in the pocket of the people and the central bank with the help of Mr. Hemmati and his friend adopted such a policy.”

He also said the Rouhani government increased the value of the foreign currency to counter the budget deficit and encourage people to buy shares in the stock market and then when they met their goal of gaining money, they kept the people helpless (share prices fall sharply).

During the presidential debates, Rezaei said if he is elected president, he will ban Hemmati from leaving the country and lodge a complaint against him.

Rezaei has called his government “the government of action and reform.”

During the debate, Rezaei also several times pointed that his government will make use of the potential of all Iranians with different ethnicities and religions.

“In the government of action and reform… I will make use of all competent Iranians.”

He also said he will employ Iranians abroad in his government.

“In the government of action and reform…..I will make use of Iranians inside and outside the country, different ethnic groups, minorities, reformists, principlists, independents and any capable person who is able to do something.”

Rezaei also said he will make use of competent persons in the current and previous governments. The former IRGC chief said only those who have been involved in corruption will have no place in his administration.

Rezaei also vowed to pay salaries to housewives.

Qazizadeh Hashemi: National currency can gain its status if we can control inflation

Amir Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi suggested his solution for raising the value of national currency, saying, “If we consider inflation as the mother of problems, then we can protect the value of national currency.”

“In our country the officials, instead of guarding the value of national currency they have become the guardian of foreign currency.”

He added, “I wish the chief of the central bank (Hemmati) consider himself as responsible for protecting the value of rial (national currency) instead of dollar.”

He said his government has introduced a project which includes 213 articles that more than 50 of them are about how to control inflation and make banking and budget structural reforms.

The presidential candidate said the major section of the budget deficit is compensated through inflation, describing inflation as a lasting tax imposed on the poor people which its money goes to the pocket of government and the rich, and this has been the norm over the past 50 or 60 years.

He added, “We seek to develop production, reinforcing production, redirecting liquidity, and controlling prices in the market.”

Qazizadeh also said it is regrettable that economic debates are being derailed by making accusations, creating a division in the society, trading insults and presenting no plans.

He said his government pays special attention to management and fighting corruption.

The sitting MP also said now the greatest favoritism is bank loans because the interest rate for loans is less than the inflation rate and this has created an impetus among debtors not to pay back loans.

He also said 65 percent of bank loans is given to the rich classes of society. Qazizadeh also said about 70 percent of bank loans are granted to Tehran but 25 provinces jut get 20 percent.

The presidential candidate also said the way to running the country is “outdated”.

“Our rules about commerce, insurance, and banking should be restructured. However, now the problem is the government’s knee is on people’s neck.”

Qazizadeh said his team has crafted a plan that during four years the inflation rate will fall under five percent.

“We have also made plans to resolve the youth’s employment and marriage.”

He added, “We also want to establish the ministry of family.”

On how to fight unfettered importation of goods, he said, “Now we are facing the great and complicated mafia, which through favoritism, has been given the permission to receive foreign currency at a cheap price and threatens production sector through monopoly and imports.”

Nasser Hemmati: Promises by rival cannot be materialized

Nasser Hemmati who was boasting of his academic career as a professor of economics accused his rivals of not knowing even the A, B, C of economics and thereby they cannot manage the country.

He also said the economic promises given by his presidential rivals cannot be realized because the country does not have the necessary resources.

“I am economist. We don’t have necessary sources (money) and I don’t lie to win votes. Many of the promises given by the Mrs. cannot be materialized.

He said as the central banker he is aware of details of the country’s economic situation.

He promised to make the “cake of economy greater and distribute it more fairly.”

“We need economic reform.”

Hemmati also rebuked Rezaei for delaying decision to approve the FATF in the Expediency Council for six months despite and order by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.

Rezaei is the secretary of the Expediency Council.

Hemmati also made the claim that except Mehr Alizadeh the other candidates are seeking to garner votes for Raeisi.

He said if they don’t swear that they will stay in the race util the election date he will not give answer to them and just answers to remarks by Raeisi.

The former chief banker said it is unfair to blame the central bank for all the problems.

Hemmati also said he was dismissed as central banker due to differences with President Rouhani.

He also rejected that he represents Rouhani in the presidential campaigns, saying, “I am not the representative of Mr. Rouhani. I was dismissed from the central bank because of differences of opinion that I had with him.”

Hemmati added that Rouhani also suffers from lack of knowledge about economics.

“He also had your problems and did not have economic view and this was my problem.”

He repeated his previous statement that politicians leave the race for the post of president for economists and let them manage the country.

He defended his record as the governor of the central back, saying he took over the post when the foreign currency market was highly volatile.

Hemmati said if it was not because of economic shrewdness the Iranian economy would become like Venezuela.  “I prevented a Venezuelization of the economy.”

On why the value of dollar in the face of national currency have increased by about seven times, he said in the normal conditions Iran had an income of 50 to 60 billion dollars, but over the past three years the flow of income has been reduced to 9 billion dollars and in such a situation what the central could have done.

He said based on these nine billion dollars the value of dollars should have increased to 55000 tomans per dollar but is now about 22,000 tomans.

He accused his candidates for the current economic situation by refusing to approve the FATF.

He accused Jalili of knowing nothing about commerce and economy. He also made stinging attacks against Rezaei.

“Mr.  Jalili I said in the Expediency Council that you don’t understand economic and commerce. Is it true or not?  When you don’t know the basics of commercial issue why do you decide for the Iranian nation.

In an interview on Sunday, Hemmati suggested that the government, instead of interfering in the market, should take actions that the market finds its right path.

It is not possible to control the market through command pricing.

“Pricing should be delegated to the market. Entry into command pricing means entering into distribution of favoritism which is not controllable,” Hemmati pointed out.

The market itself should fix itself and the government should monitor that it would act correctly.

“This is my most important policy and plan for controlling the market.”

Writing on his Twitter account on Sunday, Hemmati said it was unfortunate that in the presidential debates no candidate asked about two important things: The effects of the toughest sanctions war in the history of the war against the Iranian economy by the Trump administration and the effects of Coronavirus that has taken the lives of tens of our countrymen.

*(the dollar calculus is based on  official rate of 4,200 tomans)

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Investigating disasters caused by Yemen War and Role of Intl. Law on Armed Conflicts . The fourth pre-session of an international conference on international law and armed conflict in the region, entitled “Yemen War and Role of International Law on Armed Conflicts“, was held virtually at Qom University.

Yemen witnessing the worst human catastrophe in today’s world 

At the fourth pre-session of the international conference on international law and armed conflict in the region, a faculty member of MOFID University, Mohammad Habibi Majandeh, pointed to the issue of military intervention of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen with a focus on “criticism of the doctrine of intervention with invitation” and stated, “What we are witnessing today in Yemen, as the United Nations has described it, is the worst humanitarian disaster in the contemporary world of today.”

He continued, “This tragedy has left the small country of Yemen with a population of about 28 million, which was considered as the poorest Arab country in the region before the Saudi-led coalition military aggression, in a very critical situation in a way that about 150,000 people in Yemen have lost their lives and consequently, hundreds of thousands of Yemeni people have been injured and/or disabled.

Mohammad Habibi Majandeh, who is a jurist, raised the question whether such military intervention is justifiable from perspective of international law, saying, “I believe that this military intervention is not justified from perspective of international law. Although justifications have been raised for it, these justifications do not have the ability to stand up in the face of these challenges. The Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, which has resulted in nothing but destruction, cannot be justified under international law in the contemporary world.”

“That legitimate collective defense requires a foreign military attack which is completely rejected here. What is raised as indirect military aggression, i.e. Iran’s claim of support for the Houthis (Ansarullah Movement in Yemen), firstly because level of support does not reach the threshold that Houthis’ measures can be attributed to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and secondly the Islamic Republic of Iran is not explicitly mentioned in the documents and correspondence as intervening countries in a way that the Islamic Republic of Iran itself has categorically denied any interference in Yemen’s war, so, this claim is also rejected.”

He said, “The most important reason for recognizing Mansour Hadi’s government seems to be the resolution issued by the UN Security Council (UNSC) after the Saudi-led coalition attack, in which it (UNSC) referred to the legitimacy of Hadi’s government.”

He concluded that since many countries including Russia, China, Iran, Iraq and Oman opposed the military attack on Yemen and called it contrary to international law, therefore, it cannot be said that there was an international consensus to recognize Mansur Hadi as president.

International law cannot be indifferent to the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen

Emphasizing that international law cannot be indifferent to this humanitarian catastrophe, Majandeh said, “Any basis for justifying military intervention in Yemen, that has led to such consequences and damages, must be measured and evaluated with other areas of international law, the most important of which is the right to self-determination.”

In the end, he reiterated that a foreign interventionist cannot intervene to suppress a nation and create a human catastrophe. Therefore, the theory of intervention with invitation on the issue of Yemen should be considered and revised.

The issue of Yemen is a great human tragedy

Dr. Pourya Asgari, a faculty member of Allameh Tabatabaei University, was the next speaker who raised the issue of challenges of observing humanitarian rights in the Yemen and stated, “The scourging and destructive war in Yemen started in 2015 and the reason is not clear; but this war has been a humanitarian catastrophe. Dragging Yemeni people to famine and killing of civilians are the outcome of waging war on Yemen and today, these tragedies have aggravated the daily life of Yemeni people with the spread of coronavirus, COVID-19, in this war-torn Arab country.”

He noted that today, after 5 years of the destructive war, Yemen has become a breeding ground for expansion of terrorism, and al-Qaeda on the one hand and ISIL on the other hand,” he said.

In the Yemen crisis, the principle of segregation, proportion and caution is not observed

Another challenge in the issue of Yemen is the focus of coalition forces on air strikes. Statistics show that from 2015 up to the present time, 60,000 airstrikes have been carried out by Saudi coalition forces. That is to say, dozens of airstrikes a day have been launched in Yemen, each of which dropped a significant amount of bombs on the Yemeni people.

“What we see in the scene is that the principle of segregation, proportion and caution is not observed, and this is the main challenge and perhaps the most important humanitarian challenge in the issue of the Yemeni war,” Asgari emphasized.

“Under international law, arms sales by the United States, Britain and France must be stopped, but we do not see it,” he added.

“In a situation where civilians are victims and have no choice, it is natural to expect the international community to come to their aid,” he said, adding that in such situations, the humanitarian corridor must reach the people caught in the fire of conflict.

“Therefore, we see that the Yemeni people are left alone with the pains of war, famine, hunger and spread of COVID-19, without finding a way to get rid of them,” he lamented.

Rights of occupation must be considered in the current situation in Yemen

Following this virtual meeting, Professor Marco Sassoli, a faculty member of the University of Geneva, stated, “I want to speak about international humanitarian law. I think the sad situation in Yemen is an illustration of the pertinence of humanitarian law, because if it was respected, the situation would be totally different.”

He reiterated that it also indicates some deficiencies of the existing rules.

“The first problem in humanitarian law is obviously the classification of the armed conflict of international and non-international. Normally we have to strictly separate these to arenas. The question which rises regarding the classification of the conflicts under humanitarian law in case of Yemen’s war is who was the head of government of Yemen when Mansour Hadi asked for the intervention of the Saudi led coalition?” he remarked.

Speaking about Mansour Hadi’s administration, he said if Hadi’s government is not an effective one, then the law of international armed conflict could be applied.

“Obviously, here we can see a certain impact of the UN Security Council resolutions which asked for support for Hadi’s government. This can have an impact on the interpretation of which side is the legitimate government of Yemen at the time when the intervention was consented upon. Some experts even suggest that international humanitarian law of international armed conflict should apply when there is an outside intervention even consented by the government,” he stated.

he reiterated, “Well, this is a nice idea, but it does not correspond to state practice. Obviously, as was mentioned, the law of international conflict could also apply if there is foreign support in favor of the rebels. But I agree with what was said that in my assessment, Iran did not have overall control over the Houthi. And I remind you that internationalization could only happen if a foreign state does not just support or help, but has overall control over the rebels.”

Sassoli said that sometimes the law of international conflicts is applied, when there are hostilities between forces.

“For instance, there are hostilities between forces supported by Saudi Arabia and forces supported by the United Arab Emirates. This was the Saudi Transitional Council in Aden. Anyway, the classification of the conflict is not so important because, on most issues, the law of international and non-international conflicts is the same, but this is not the case about ‘all’ issues. Obviously, when it comes to the occupation of a territory, only the laws international armed conflict is applied. It is also true about the prisoners of war and combatants,” he said, giving an example.

He reiterated that, “That said, we can conclude that the law of non-international armed conflicts is appliable for Yemen war. Then another question pops up: whether the additional protocol to the Geneva conventions, to which Yemen is a state party, applies? At least, under the lens of article one or protocol two, only Yemen is bound to these laws, not the foreign state which intervenes too heavily. But one could say that if you intervene to help the government, which is bound by protocol two, if you are a party to the protocol, you have to respect the protocol too. The last question is whether the United States and the United Kingdom are parties? Under the support-based approach, some of you may know that the international committee of the red cross has suggested that in a non-international armed conflict if foreign States commit an act which would constitute direct participation in hostilities in the support of one of the parties, they become parties. Even if the intensity of their support would not be sufficient to trigger the applicability of the law of non-international armed conflicts.”

Sassoli remarked, “Now let’s talk about targeting or bombardments, and the distinction between civilians and combatants’ arms. As was mentioned there were residential areas, markets, funeral centers, detention facilities, medical facilities, religious sites, refugee camps which were hit. But the fact that they were destroyed and people there were killed, is not yet so decisive to be accounted as a ‘violation’ under the humanitarian law, because the question is, as you know, what was their target? One can argue that there might be legitimate targets in a residential area, such as rebel commanders or a weaponry construction factory. It may be attacked. And even in a refugee camp, there could be a legitimate target. But even in this case, obviously, the proportionality principle becomes applicable and the attacker must take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian impact. So, it is very difficult to judge whether a law was violated. There is an international commission, a group of eminent international and regional experts on Yemen, which asked all kinds of questions from the Saudi led coalition, like “why there were so often civilians killed in these attacks?” The problem is that the belligerent does not have an obligation to give an answer to that!”

“We would need to know not only what was hit, but also what was targeted. And for this, we would need to know the plans of the Saudi-led coalition. Now, one of the interesting, but also dangerous developments in Yemen is that there are no-strike lists and so-called humanitarian notifications. So there is a system in which the Saudi-led coalition is informed of the locations of humanitarian static locations and humanitarian movements in Yemen, aiming to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian, premises, personnel equipment, and activities in the areas of military operations,” he said.

Sassoli said that this is coordinated by the UN, by the Office on Humanitarian Affairs and etc. This gives the wrong impression that everything else can be hit.

“But the basic idea of humanitarian law is that you may only hit something, you may only target something if you know that it is a military objective. What we see in Yemen is somehow the reverse: it gives the impression that everything which has not been notified outside the humanitarian side is a legitimate target of attack. Now, why should a hospital under the management of an NGO like Doctors Without Borders be better protected than a local hospital? Why should offices of an NGO be better protected than a simple civilian house? The humanitarian organizations which notify those positions can control that there are no military activities there. Obviously, a humanitarian impartial organization would be very embarrassed if it has to notify lots of positions like that,” he said.

He reiterated, “Clearly, it’s much easier for these humanitarian organizations to report the locations which are being used for military activities like distributing or storing weaponry. In this case, it would be much more delicate for them to inform the Saudi-led coalition that there is no more humanitarian protection in those locations. I think this is a very doubtful idea.”

“Let’s speak about proportionality there again. There is a means of evaluation, which includes the reverberating effect in particular, in urban areas,” he said, elaborating by giving an example.

“Imagine there is a military objective which is located in midst of a town and you have to destroy it. When you destroy this military objective in a town, you will also destroy the water pipes and the electricity lines under or near it. This effect may not be disproportionate. But if you have several such attacks, then the entire infrastructure for the civilian population will be affected. Then many civilians will die, not from the bomb, but from the lack of purified water. Or hospitals can no longer operate because there’s no more electricity. This is something which should be much more taken into account, because proportionality is not only about the individuals who are standing nearby, but also about the second or third layers of the effects an attack might leave behind. In case of Yemen’s war, one thing which is particularly raising concern is that hospitals were destroyed,” he stated.

“It is often argued, including by humanitarian organizations, that abovementioned hospitals are deliberately targeted to weaken the resilience of the civilian population or of the fighters. I must say, such behavior may be beyond imagination, but unfortunately, this seems to be the case. Nevertheless, we have to understand that even if a hospital loses [humanitarian] protection, even if it is used for activities outside its humanitarian functions which are harmful to the enemy, still there must be first a warning and the appropriate time limit before you can attack. It’s not like you can bomb this place without any warnings and then announce that you bombed it because it was used by the enemy. You must first warn the hospital and the hospital must have time to rectify the situation. Things might be different when it comes to schools. In existing humanitarian laws, schools do not have special protection like hospitals. But obviously, schools are civilian locations. But on the other side, it is not unlawful to use a school for military purposes,” he stressed.

“Obviously, you have to evacuate the children. But even if then the school is destroyed after the evacuation, children will have no more educational infrastructure. In my view, this has to be taken into account in the proportionality evaluation,” he said.

He stressed that a particular issue in Yemen is also that of sieges and blockades. Sieges are on land warfare when one party besieges a town and does not let anyone in or out, which means that the civilians in the besieged town will starve.

“This is really something where humanitarian law does not fit to the reality because how can you solve this problem using humanitarian law? You can then solve this problem only if the civilians are let out. But obviously, the fighters who are besieged in the city do not like to let the civilians out because if they do so, the enemy can simply attack the entire town. So, there are always ordinary civilians in a besieged who have to be respected. In this case, humanitarian assistance for civilian population must be led in, but here the problem is the besieging party may insist on a distribution system in the besieged town to make sure that only civilians will benefit from the humanitarian assistance. This obviously never works because no organization can guarantee that in the end, the fighters will not benefit from the humanitarian assistance. It is lawful to starve, because this may make them surrender, and then they must be fed,” he said.

He remarked, “Now let’s go to the issue of blockade in Naval warfare. Well, first of all, I would say this is a very old-fashioned institution. I’m not sure if such an institution also exists in aerial warfare or not. We often make an analogy between aerial warfare and Naval warfare. Astonishingly, under traditional customary law, it is lawful to declare a blockade, but only in an international armed conflict over an enemy coast, which means that you don’t let anything in and you don’t let anything out. But blockades are unlawful if they are employed only to starve the civilian population. One could argue that humanitarian assets used for the civilian population must be led through. In my opinion, what we see in Yemen is a non-international armed conflict, and no one can use blockade in a non-international armed conflict.”

The academician said, “However, Saudi-led coalition did not officially declare a blockade in Yemen. The UN Security Council also did not authorize a blockade. So, officially the coalition only controls Yemeni ports and imports of member states and this has been authorized by the security council. If the idea would be that Hadi’s government is the legitimate government of Yemen, these measures could be taken even without a UN Security Council resolution. In this case, the excuse for deprivation of Yemenis from humanitarian assistance will be the bureaucratic flaws as we see in many other conflict areas like Syria.”

Sassoli stated, “It is clear that weapons enter Yemen, but apparently not from the sea and by the ships which are controlled both by the coalition and UN. The ships bring the food necessary for the civilian population, because Yemen is a net importer of food.

Then comes the issue of protecting wounded, sick, hospitals and ambulances. The wounded and the sick must be respected, collected, and cared for without discrimination. Both sides must be committed to this. So enemies and your own comrades have to be treated in the same way. I already mentioned that the hospitals may be targeted only under very exceptional conditions, but it’s not unlawful to search and investigate hospitals and ambulances, unless there’s a special agreement to enter a hospital and to try to find enemies in that hospital and then to arrest those enemies. But if there are patients, if they are wounded and sick, they must be treated properly.”

“Now, when it comes to detainees, unfortunately, we have reports about ill-treatment of detainees, rape, and detention conditions which are unacceptable. From a legal point of view, obviously, we have to make sure whether these people should basically be detained or not. There must be a reason for detention. There must be a legal basis and a procedure for internment. In my view, both side of conflict can and must establish courts. They must establish mechanisms, which make sure that there is a control of the legality of the detention of such persons,” he said.

“Now, an important issue is obviously humanitarian access and humanitarian assistance. The starting point is that the starvation of the civilian population is prohibited. Here, I like to read an article of protocol additional to article 18. I find it interesting because it starts well, it says: “if the civilian population is suffering from undue hardship” –  which is certainly the case in Yemen owing to a lack of supplies essential for its survival such as foodstuff and medical supplies, I would say in Yemen fuel is also an object indispensable for the survival of the civilian population, because you need fuel to operate the water pumps and the lorries which transport the food into the regions where the civilian population is in need –  ‘relief actions for the civilian population which are of an exclusively humanitarian and impartial nature, and which are conducted without any adverse distinction shall be undertaken,'” he noted.

Sassoli stressed that unfortunately, the provision continues to say, “Subject to the consent of the high contracting party concerned”.

“However, also under recent Security Council resolutions including those concerning Yemen, the arbitrary denial of consent is prohibited. And one could make the argument that for the regions controlled by the Houthi, it is sufficient if the Houthi would agree with the humanitarian assistance brought for instance from Oman. It is important to stress that humanitarian assistance is not only and mainly the task of the humanitarian organizations, but the besieging government also has the obligation to make sure that the inhabitants benefit from humanitarian assistance and all belligerence must let humanitarian assistance in if the civilian population is in need,” he said.

“Another problem is the association of children with government forces and armed groups. You know that under the Geneva conventions and the different protocols, children under 15 years not be used to participate in hostilities and may not be recruited. This is unfortunately violated sometimes in Yemen. But I think one should not overstress the association of children with the armed group, because although the governments and armed groups often do not have a civilian branch, education branch and so on, but the people fighting along with an armed group may have their children and their families by their side. Therefore, sometimes you cannot avoid association of children with armed groups. Simply they may not be used to take part in hostility.

Obviously, human rights laws also apply in Yemen. This leads us to the issue of the relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law. The advantage of human rights law is that there can be all kinds of commissions of inquiry debates in the UN human rights council,” he remarked.

The professor said that there’s often only the international committee of the red cross, which works confidentially and bilaterally.

“Therefore, we do not have public reports about the respect or the violation of those laws. Most of the humanitarian problems in Yemen are also violations of human rights law. Human rights law binds the state regarding everyone on the territory of this state, even in the respect of inhabitants who are in rebel-controlled areas. There are jurisprudences, for instance that of the European court on human rights, that imply even if a government does not control a certain area, it has remaining obligations on the human rights of the inhabitants of its territory. And this is precisely important for humanitarian accesses. So while I said that under humanitarian law, you need the consent of the government to bring humanitarian assistance in rebel-controlled areas, under human rights law, the government MUST give his consent to fulfill the right to health, the right to food, and the right to life of the inhabitants of those areas,” he reiterated.

“One big issue is the extraterritorial application of human rights law. It is clear that the government of Yemen has to comply with the human rights of inhabitants of Yemen. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also have to comply with human rights law in Yemen, but their compliance is controversial. There is no doubt that human rights law also applies if they occupy a territory, but if they just support the government or they conduct hostilities, then it is not clear whether human rights applies or not,” the academician noted.

“There has been a recent decision by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Georgia against Russia. Even this court, which is generally quite progressive, has found that during the hostilities, the persons affected by bombardments, for instance, are not under the jurisdiction of the state which is bombing. Another problem with human rights law is that it’s not clear whether human rights law binds armed groups or not? In Yemen, there is controversy over who is the government and who is the rebels? This diminishes the utility of human rights. To conclude, I would say, most of the humanitarian problems except the issue of humanitarian assistance, are adequately regulated by international humanitarian law. The problem is mainly “respecting those laws” and even a controversy about the classification of the conflict. Whether it is an international or a non-international armed conflict would not fundamentally change those rules. So, the real issue is how do we make the belligerence respect those rules? This is a problem, unfortunately in all conflict areas, including Yemen,” Sassoli noted.

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Günther Schneider, a farmer from Binsfeld, Germany has photos that show what the stream that flows through the village of Binsfeld looks like when aqueous film-forming foam is released from a fire suppression system in hangarson the Spangdahlem Airbase – like a fluffy white ribbon. All around in the meadows, shreds of foam remained like huge snowballs.The toxic substances used in fire-fighting foams on base have contaminated the sewer water, ground water, surface water, and the air, both on and off the base. The foam contains highly toxic  per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances, (PFAS).

Throughout the world, the US military has taught soldiers to practice putting out super-hot petroleum-based fires using the deadly foams on military installations. They dug one-meter-deep craters that were 30 to 60 meters in diameter, and they filled them with jet fuel. They ignited the fuel before extinguishing the flames with the PFAS-laden foams. The toxic “forever chemicals” were allowed to leach into the groundwater and pour into sewer systems to contaminate the environment.

The groundwater monitoring program of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in the vicinity of the Spangdahlem Air Base found PFAS at concentrations of 1,935 parts per trillion, (ppt). The drainage system in Spangdahlem is still spreading the chemicals. Some US states, like New Jersey, limit two varieties of PFAS found in the poisoned German ground at14 parts per trillion forPerfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and 13 parts per trillion forPerfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). There are about 8,000 types of PFAS and they’re all believed to be dangerous.

The chemicals – in the tiniest amounts – are known to contribute to testicular, liver, breast, and kidney cancers, as well asabnormalities in the developing fetus and a host of childhood diseases, ranging from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to childhood asthma. Most of the PFAS in our bodies comes from the food we eat, especially fish.

Alexander S. Neu, a member of Die Linke (The Left) in the German Bundestag, along with other Die Linke members of the parliament, have questioned the responsibility for the assumption of environmental damage caused by US troops in Germany. When the town of Wittlich-Land, close to the sprawling NATO Spangdahlem base, tried to sue the US military for poisoning the town’s sewer system and croplands with PFASwhere the contaminated sludge was spread, it discovered it was not allowed to sue the Americans in court. The poisonous sludge grows poisonous crops. Today, the town incinerates the substances at great environmental and financial cost. The PFAS in the sludge doesn’t burn. Incineration sprinkles tiny toxic particles of PFAS onto homes and fields downwind.

A German Brown Trout caught in Spanger Bach Creek, near Spangdahlem was found to contain 82,000 parts per trillion of PFAS. Public health scientists around the world have been warning people not to consume more than 1 ppt of the poisons daily.Last year, 9,000 kilometers away, a fire suppression system at an aircraft hangar discharged143,830 liters of the deadly firefighting foam from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa. Carcinogenic clouds of foam soared 30 meters into the sky settling on children at a nearby playground.

Toshio Takahashia, an Okinawan environmental activist, reported immediately after the incident that frothy foam could be seen pouring from several sewer pipes coming from the Marine Corps base into a a small stream. The deadly bubbles flow to the Hira Riverthrough Ginowan City into the East China Sea, poisoning water and fish along the way.

Tomohiro Yara, a representative of the National Diet from Okinawa, reflected the attitude of the Okinawan public when he said, “The US government should take full responsibility for cleaning up soil and water at any military base abroad. We must protect the environment for everyone on the planet.”

Swordtail, pearl danio, guppy, and tilapia caught near the base all contained more than 100,000 ppt of PFAS.

David Steele, Commanding Officer, Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawatold the Okinawan people, “When it rains it will subside.”Sadly, these are “forever chemicals” and will poison people and the environment for many generations to come.The Americans accept no responsibility for their criminality because they don’t have to.

Imperial subjects worldwide need only watch this video of a suppression system at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, in Knoxville, Tennessee to witness the criminal assault on future generations in that state. One teaspoon of this foam is enough to poison the drinking water reservoir of a large, modern city.

The US military has known these chemicals are poisonous since the 1970’s. They have contaminated huge swaths of the earth while using them, and they will continue to use them until they are forced to stop. Much of the world has moved beyond the toxic fire-fighting foams and has begun using extraordinarily capable flourine free foams while the US military sticks to its killer chemicals.

The American military is not only at war against many of the world’s peoples, butit is also at war against its own people. It is a war of poisons. Rather than being fought with bombs and bullets it is fought with an arsenal of toxins. The American military is on a mission(we’re still trying to figure out exactly what it is) and everything is subservient to it. Fetal abnormalities, altered DNA, a host of cancers and childhood diseases are no less a threat to humanity than the American missiles hurled from afar to burn human flesh.

Truths conveyed here arelargely unmarketable and unpalatable in the United States of America. The American people must learn to seek truth in media that may not include outlets like the New York Times or CNN.

Like Günther, Alexander, Toshio, and Tomohiro I’m alsoa subject of the American empire. I have no rights or protections from the abuses of the American overlords beyond those of my German and Japanese brethren.

The Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland (Pax River) reported last week that groundwater at Pax River’s Webster Outlying Field contains 84,757 ppt of PFOS. The toxins were detected at Building 8076,also known as Fire Station 3. The level of toxicity is 1,200 times the 70 ppt federal non-mandatory advisory.

The groundwater and the surface water from the small naval installation drain into St. Inigoes Creek, a short distance to the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.

I live on the beach 1,800 feet across a deep saltwater creek from the area where PFAS was routinely released into the environment over many years.

PFAS Contamination at Webster Field

Webster Field occupies the peninsula between St. Inigoes Creek and the St. Mary’s River, a tributary of the Potomac River. The Webster Outlying Field annex is home to the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, along with Coast Guard Station St. Inigoes, and a component of the Maryland Army National Guard.

Building 8076 is adjacent to the aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) Crash Truck Maintenance Area where trucks using foams containing PFAS were regularly tested. The site is less than 200 feet from St. Inigoes Creek, right across from my family.The practice, according to the Navy, was discontinued in the 1990’s, although the damage continues. The high PFAS levels recently reported are a testament to the staying power of the so-called “forever chemicals.”

==========

Firehouse 3 Webster Field

Highest Readings

PFOS                    84,756.77
PFOA                   2,816.04
PFBS                    4,804.83

==========

In February, 2020 I tested the water on my beach on St. Inigoes Creek in St. Mary’s City for PFAS.The results I published shocked the community.The water was shown to contain a total of 1,894.3 ppt of PFAS with 1,544.4 ppt of PFOS. 275 people packed into the Lexington Park Library, in early March, 2020, immediately before the pandemic, to hear the navy dismiss their concerns and defend its use of PFAS. Many were more concerned with the quality of the waters in the creeks and the rivers and the Chesapeake Bay than the drinking water. They had many unanswered questions for the navy. They were worried about contaminated seafood.

The Navy has only addressed  PFOS, PFOA, and PFBS. It  fails to address the  levels of 11 other types of harmful PFAS found in St. Inigoes Creek: PFHxA, PFHpA, PFHxS, PFNA, PFDA, PFUnA, PFDoA, PFTrDA, PFTA, N-MeFOSAA, NEtFOSAA.  Instead,Patrick Gordon, NAS Patuxent River Public Affairs Officer questioned the “veracity and accuracy” of my results.

This is pretty much a full-court press, and I don’t stand much of a chance while trying to warn the public. The Navy wants to be left alone.The Maryland Department of the Environment doesn’t give a damn, and neither do the St. Mary’s County and Maryland health departments. The five conservative Republican  County Commissioners aren’t leading a charge. Senators Cardin and Van Hollen and Rep. Hoyer have been largely silent.

The watermen see a threat to their livelihood. My neighbors say if it’s this bad the authorities would have taken care of it by now.

It’s a lonely, frightening business telling the truth in the land of the free and the brave.

In response to the findingsof high levels of the fire-fighting toxins at my beach last year, Ira May, who oversees federal site cleanups for the Maryland Department of the Environment, told the Bay Journalthat contamination in the creek, “if it exists,” could have another source. The chemicals are often found inlandfills, he noted, as well as in biosolids and at sites where civilian fire departments sprayed foam.“So, there are multiple potential sources,” May said. “We’re just at the beginning of looking at all of those.”

It appears the state’s top environmental official was covering for the military.The nearest firehouse is five miles away, while the closest landfill is 11 miles away. My beach is 1,800 feet from the deadly foam releases.

Fate and Transport of PFAS

It’s important to come to an understanding of the fate and transport of PFAS. The science isn’t settled. I found 1,544 ppt of PFOS while the Webster Field  groundwater on the facilityhad 84,000 ppt of PFOS.

Our beach sits on a cove  north-northeast of the base while the prevailing winds blow from the south-southwest – that is, from the base to our beach. The foams gather with the tide on many days.  Sometimes the foam is a foot high and becomes airborne. If the waves are too high the foam dissipates.

Within about 1-2 hours of high tide, the foams dissolveinto water, like dishdetergent bubbles left alone in the sink.Sometimes we can see the line of foam begin to form as it hits the shelf of the creek. (You can see the differences in the depths of the water in the satellite image above.)  For approximately125 meters the water in front of our house is about 1 – 1.5 meters deep at low tide. Then, suddenly, it drops to6-8 meters. That’s where the foams begin to build and move toward the beach. This is 20-30 years after the Navy says they stopped releasing the materials into the ground.

There are other factors to consider regarding the fate and transportof various PFAS in water. For starters, PFOS is the great PFAS swimmer and can travel for miles in groundwater and in surface water. The Germans and the Japanese know a lot about PFOS levels in their rivers near NATO and US bases. They know how poisoned their fish have become.

PFOA, on the other hand,seems to be more stationary and tends to contaminate the land, agricultural produce, beef, and  poultry. PFOS moves in the water, as is evidenced in the University of Michigan results of the water in St. Inigoes Creek.

After my water results were discredited by the state I tested the seafood from the creek for PFAS. Oysters were found to have 2,070 ppt; crabs had 6,650 ppt; and a rockfish was contaminated with 23,100 ppt of the substances.There’s been no official response and no mea culpa from the military.

This stuff is poison.  The Environmental Working Group  says we ought to keep the consumption of  these chemicals under 1 ppt daily in our drinking water. More importantly, the European Food Safety Authority says 86% of the PFAS in humans is from the food we consume, especially the seafood.

The state of Michigan tested 2,841 fish  for various PFAS chemicals and found the average fish contained 93,000 ppt of PFOS alone. Meanwhile, the state limits drinking water to 16 ppt of PFOS – while people are free to consume fish with thousands of times more of the toxins. The 23,100 ppt found in our St. Mary’s City, Maryland rockfish may seem low compared to the Michigan average, but Webster Field is not a major airbase and cannot service the Navy’s large fighters, like the F-35. Larger installations typically have higher PFAS levels. A single F-35 may cost more than $100 million and the Pentagon wants to make sure they’re not destroyed in a hangar fire or a training exercise, so they make a judgement that the value of the jet fighter is greater than the value of a baby in the womb.It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist; the threat is rather to life itself.”
― Rachel Carson, The Sea Around Us

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China today needs to buy oil around 800,000 barrels per day and it does it based on the short term contracts and its payment is through different means. But when it comes to the investment, the issue becomes totally different. The truth is that today in the world there is tough competition over attracting more foreign investment and those countries are more successful that they prepare the domestic grounds for attracting more foreign investment.

Nearly one of the main factors in all countries, that they have improved their economies and industries to reach the industrialist countries in recent decades, has been the success in attracting foreign investment; from China and South Korea to Malaysia and Turkey and even in the Persian Gulf states. The U.S. and European governments have a large number of laws and regulations for easing the attraction of foreign investment. The interesting part is that all efforts of President Hassan Rouhani’s government, which created void and chimerical noise on the JCPOA document, were to pave the grounds for foreign investment from Western countries through anti-security and anti-Islamic threats; more interesting is that the most important goal of the U.S. for imposing economic sanctions against Iran was to hinder foreign investment in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In this condition it is very strange that some people in the country in tune with enemies of the Islamic establishment interpret foreign investment as selling the country. In the issue of China’s investment there is essentially no issue under the title of oil trade wherein the issue of cheap oil has been raised.

China’s eager for investment abroad is not confined only to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The People’s Republic of China, according to the data published by the American Enterprise Institute, has invested over 2.1 trillions of dollars in different countries worldwide only in the past 15 years; from rich countries like Switzerland and the U.S. to the African countries like Congo. According to the data released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in only 6 years (2013 to 2019, China has invested $62b in the railways sector in 34 countries.

The active economic presence of China has not meant expanding its political influence in those countries but the nature of these investments will be a haven for economic security. China’s investments in Africa has led to huge number of analysis  in the media that even experts believe with these investments, the fourth industrial revolution would happen in Africa, and this is said while there are no enough infrastructures for materializing this development. For preparing infrastructure developmental plans for Africa, China and India have turned into macro policies in changing the structures of the agro, industrial and educational services.

The American business magazine Forbes in its different analysis says China is the biggest partner of Africa and its annual trade volume with Africa stands at $200b. Accordingly, over 100,000 Chinese companies are active in Africa. The most exports from Africa to China in 2019 were from Angola, South Africa and Republic of Congo. Africa accounts for 20 percent of China’s need of cotton. Africa possesses half of the world magnesium reserves which is used in the steel industry and Democratic Republic of the Congo by itself possesses half of this amount of magnesium reserves. China needs all of these resources.

The details of Iran-China 25-year document has not been yet revealed. American newspaper The New York Times in an article had claimed that China’s president had offered the proposal for the agreement some five years ago (2016). The draft of this agreement was signed on June 24, 2020 in Beijing. It is said the Chinese are to take $600b of their overseas forex reserves into Iran in the span of 25 years and they are to have the same amount of investment in Iran in cooperation with companies and organizations both in private or public sectors.

The required guarantee for taking capital gains could have been the sale of oil. Now if they want they can take their capital gains in cash otherwise they can buy oil instead of their cash or else, they will be free to invest their profits in expanding their investment in those sectors.

That Iran enjoys having ready infrastructure, independent land, skilful and educated workforce as a valuable guarantee as its oil, has sweetened investment for the Chinese. So inducing the idea of oil for investment of the type of selling cheap oil is a big lie which is used to ruin the agreement and to put the pressure on the public opinion.

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In the meeting which was held in a friendly climate, the bilateral relations between Iran and the European country were reviewed and the two sides emphasized the will of the two nations to deepen bilateral cooperation in various fields, and discussed other issues of mutual interest. They also discussed the latest round of talks in the JCPOA Joint Commission meeting in Vienna.

In this regard and while thanking the Austrian government for its efforts and hospitality and especially Austrian police proper reaction in wake of the MKO grouplet supporters’ gathering in front of the hotel hosting the JCPOA meeting, Araqchi explained Iran’s stance and stressed the need for the full lifting of the sanctions and the practical steps that the U.S. government must take to return to the JCPOA.

Schallenberg, for his part, stressed the readiness of the Austrian government to provide the necessary facilities and make every effort to create a suitable atmosphere for the holding of Iran-related talks in Vienna and described the JCPOA and its continuation as being in the interest of all parties (Westerns).

The Vienna meeting is being held in a condition that P4+1 countries have become content to mediate in the dispute between Iran and the U.S. and to draw up ways of protecting the JCPOA and ways of return of both countries to the JCPOA.

This point that the U.S. pullout from the JCPOA during Donald Trump’s presidency led to 80 percent failure of the JCPOA and lack of commitment of Europe and caused the trust to the sustainability  regarding the obligations and promises of the West has completely been questioned, and Iran has repeatedly emphasized that the only way for the U.S. return to the JCPOA is its full commitment to its obligations and removing effectively all of the imposed, even the re-imposed sanctions or re-named sanctions and their verifications.

The result of the meeting still with drawing up plans covering two impacts has been put on the agenda of the two expert workgroups. Although the U.S. openly and explicitly announced that it is opposed to remove all sanctions and has put on the agenda some issues beyond the JCPOA and with these methods it shows that Biden Administration despite repeated claims of its intention to return to the JCPOA and diplomacy is not ready for any practical action in this field.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Permanent Representative of Russia to International Organizations in Vienna, in his tweet regarding this issue wrote, “Two expert-level groups (on sanctions lifting and nuclear issues) were tasked to identify concrete measures to be taken by Washington and Tehran to restore full implementation of JCPOA.” In one prediction, they will try first to restore to some extent the lost reputation of the West and secondly, they will try to find a way to save President Hassan Rouhani’s government from this current ludicrous condition which has wasted almost eight years of Iranian nation for almost no achievement of course through Western diplomacy and methods.

In contradiction to this approach, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price, who had hidden in the backroom of the negotiations and moniting the pettiest detail of talks, criticized the raised topics by Iran and called it “too much” and added, “We do not expect any immediate breakthrough. We recognize this to be potentially the start of a process, knowing that we do have a long – a potentially long road ahead.” State Department’s Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley, heading the U.S. representative in the meeting in Vienna and monitoring the talks from the adjacent room, said after the meeting, “The U.S. has some concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile programs and first we should put the current nuclear issue to the side, then the talks on Iran’s regional activities will start.”

This meeting is getting executive in a condition that Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has not taken part in it and it shows seemingly the Rouhani Government has sill retained an upper hand in facing with the West.

If we notice the reasons for holding the meeting, we reach this point that the Iran-China agreement has led to the full reason for the West’s fear of Iran’s getting rid of sanctions and its defiance to the JCPOA. Of course, the West is in a great dilemma both to compensate the maximum pressure on Iran and at the same time not to give any concession for the survival of the Islamic Republic establishment and it is seeking a solution wretchedly and perplexedly.

Some believe that the upcoming presidential election in Iran causes that the West helps its West-oriented favorite candidate to win, and for this reason it wants to take an effective action on the result of the election but this wish is much closer to delusion because eight years of the resistant Iranian nation’s policy of tolerating the armed to the teeth President Rouhani’s anti-public government has had only one result for the West and it has been distribution of poverty and destitution, and as the result distrust of around 90 percent of the public to its West-ward look.

So the Westerners with their intention of gradual toppling concealed in their velvet gloves are unlikely to change their policy in encountering Iran. Of course under the influence of Iran-China agreement, they will try first to find a way for destroying this relation and secondly offering some proposals in the level of lollypops for massive induction propagation for providing stuff for the pro-Westerners in Iran.

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A climate which has been painted in these four years and a quarter between the two states means that the U.S. as flag-bearer of the West in the conflict with China sees inevitable its rivalry and hostility with this country. On the other hand, they consider insignificant the impact of these two countries on the common trend in running their overseas economies from the strategic aspect and they do not assess these impacts because of their international stands and their roles in legislating the international rules.

Of course what is obvious in the current climate of the world community is that Americans mostly fan the flames for creating tension and some sort of crisis. For example, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his recent remarks has assessed his country’s relations with China “increasingly adversarial” and in one of his interviews has said that he wants to deal with Beijing in any interaction or confrontation from a position of strength. Indeed, these types of remarks of the U.S. Secretary of the State are considered as a hidden reflection of the national security strategic guidance of the country that some part of it has been published and it has presented the U.S. approach as an anti-Asian one.

Although in this guidance it has been said that the U.S. in some fields like climate change, infectious disease, stability of world economy and also in the issues like North Korea and Iran can have close cooperation with China but verbally and in the remarks in the media, the U.S. is competing for a better position in the economic and political scenes with China and in operational field with India, and actually in Asia. On the sidelines of the effective reflection of competition and collaboration, there are also several disputable issues between Beijing and Washington which can lead to the increasing trend of adversary between the two states.

If we want to determine the priority in competition, cooperation and adversary in the ties between the U.S. and China, it should be said that currently competition comes first which is marching towards increasing adversary and the cooperation between them is in the lowest level of the priority. Of course the type of China’s behavior has been less in media spotlight and the country has shown more restraint and this does not mean that China has done nothing in direction of protecting its interest.

What is seen through a simple assessment is that China has supported the Philippines more openly in the past one year, has resisted against the adoption of UNSC’s resolutions against the Myanmar government and at the same time it has boosted its strategic relations with Pakistan and also recently signed or actually made public its 25-year cooperation agreement with Iran.

In fact, the Beijing government has resorted to the similar action taken by the U.S. in recruiting allies from the regional states for encountering China’s policies and it has started to recruit more strategic allies in competition with the U.S. in Asia. In such a condition, this strategy is shown by the American as a propagation strategy that the competition for supremacy has caused the hostility between the two countries to grow upward. So it should be said despite a new administration taking power in the U.S., the tension in relations of the both states not only has not decreased but also has been set on collision course and on more confrontation comparing to the time Trump was in office.

Therefore, it should be expected the ties between Tehran and Beijing to move in direction of more tension in the future and issues for cooperation between them like climate or infectious diseases will not let the strategic competition between the U.S. and China remain covered. Although China is currently moving on course of competing with the U.S. with a precautionary approach but one point should be mentioned that China government comparing to last year has to some extent come out of its precautionary mood in recruiting ally and it is objectively seeking providence in recruiting allies in encountering the U.S. policies.

What should be assessed as a futuristic analysis is that China due to its enormous forex reserves in the U.S. will not spearhead the production of hostility or at least in Biden’s four years in office will try not risk and adventurism in creating tension and will be more cautious than the U.S. in regulating precautionary criteria. Perhaps this precautionary policy has forced the U.S. to take initiative in propaganda war.

One should see how much the soft trend and turtle move of China in the West Asia would restrict the Western policies and especially the U.S., and it will be faced with more diligent action of the White House.

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In Friday’s talks the participants agreed to meet in person in Vienna on Tuesday, April 6, after “frank and serious talks,” according to Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, a senior negotiator in the talks.

Here is the full text of the interview with Fitzpatrick over his expectation of this round of talks:

Q: What is your prediction in regard to the results of ongoing negotiations over reviving the JCPOA? Are you optimistic about the outcome of the talks?

Fitzpatrick: It should not have taken two months for talks to begin on restoring the JCPOA. But now that all parties are at the table – albeit not exactly at the same table. I expect they will be able to work out a “compliance for compliance” agreement within the next few months.

All parties share the same goal of resuming the deal that was negotiated with such intense efforts in 2015.  It would be tragic if that goal cannot be reached due to political impediments in both capitals.

Q: What are the main domestic challenges that hinder Biden’s return to the JCPOA? Do you think Biden can contain hawkish attempts intended to completely kill the deal?

Fitzpatrick: President Joe Biden faces severe political challenges in that he cannot count on a majority of Senators to support a clean “compliance for compliance” restoration of the JCPOA.  Some key senators in his own party have said that a restored JCPOA should have additional conditions, such as an agreement to address missiles and other issues and extend the nuclear limits’ timelines.  In particular, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez opposed the JCPOA back in 2015.  Biden needs Menendez’s help on many other matters, not least of all getting officials such as Deputy Secretary of State designee Wendy Sherman through the Senate confirmation process.  So, Biden cannot afford to anger Menendez by ignoring his views.  This is one reason Biden has been cautious about lifting sanctions waivers. Ultimately, I expect Menendez will not want to be responsible for killing a deal to revive the JCPOA, but it may take additional time and some compromises that Iran will not like.

Q: Is there any Russian initiative to revive the JCPOA? How do you see Russia and China’s role in this regard as they have deep disagreements with the Biden administration?

Fitzpatrick:  Russia and China were helpful partners in negotiations that produced the 2015 accord, and their active support will be needed for efforts to revive the deal.  But frankly, they are not the most important players. The key negotiations will involve mainly the U.S. and Iran. China’s role may be more important than that of Russia because China can offer more in the way of incentives, including investment and purchase of Iranian oil. The recent cooperation deal signed between Iran and China, lacking in detail though it was, shows Iranians that the potential for global trade once U.S. sanctions are lifted.

Q: Two progressive Democratic members of Congress (Sen. Chris Murphy and Rep. Ro Khanna) argued that the United States needs to make the first move in returning to the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran also says it is the U.S. that left the agreement and it should be the first party to return to its commitments. What is your comment?

Fitzpatrick:  When two parties in a standoff insist that the other must move first, the obvious answer is to take simultaneous steps.  This is a way to work around political impediments to a deal.  Working out the arrangements for simultaneity will require detailed negotiations. This is why it is so important that “proximity talks” are finally beginning.  That said, I do think the United States can afford to take some early steps, such as releasing some of the Iranian funds frozen in South Korea. Such a step could be politically justified in Washington on the grounds that the funds will be used for humanitarian goods, especially in light of the Covid wave that is again hitting Iran.

Q: Do you think the 25-year partnership pact between Iran and China can affect the attempts to revive the JCPOA? Why is the Biden administration worried about China’s influence in West Asia?

Fitzpatrick:  China and the United States are increasingly at odds on many issues, and most Americans regard China’s foreign policy moves with great suspicion in terms of motives and potential consequences in undercutting U.S. national interests. The China-Iran partnership pact is not necessarily detrimental to the United States. In fact, it could even be helpful in acting as an incentive to restoring the JCPOA. Nebulous though the partnership pact may be, it could show Iranian citizens the economic potential if U.S. sanctions were removed and Iran could freely engage in international trade.

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