In news reports, I noticed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel after 18 years in office and leading the Christian Democratic Union is stepping down from her post with uttering this sentence “I have not been born Chancellor. I have always dreamed to act honorably in any job that I take its responsibility and leave it honorably.”

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

It seems she leaves a position that in the current condition U.S. President Donald Trump is fighting fiercely for keeping it. I do not believe that Merkel during her years as Chancellor has been beneficial for her country and not for the world. Her policies regarding Iran’s nuclear deal, the JCPOA, have caused damages to Iran and fortunately she took the same path that Trump had taken although it did not show to be positive.

The European and American policies have inflicted damages on the people in the West Asia that they may not be recouped in the next 100 years. Although Merkel, by concentrating on more empowering Europe against the U.S., inflicted heavy investment to her country, she kept Germany’s stand in the West Asia to some extent. That Europe and the U.S. both see their interests in the Middle East have ended will be of the strategic points in the 2021 to 2030 outlook.

The U.S. and Germany’s partners and allies in the Middle East will definitely react to this shift of concentration by Europe to other regions for finding new partners and allies. Some of them will side with the U.S. and Germany’s friends and some will join their adversaries. In the near term, at least, these countries through weapon proliferation or armed conflict are likely to engage in riskier behaviors. We’ve seen signs of all of those things happening already—in Yemen, in Iraq, in Libya, and elsewhere—and they’re likely to happen more.

Perhaps this analysis may be correct that none of these issues except weapons proliferation is important for Westerners, including Europe and the U.S., though, who have watched refugee crises shape their politics, and for East Asian allies, who import three-quarters of their oil from the Middle East, rising instability is a major worry.

Jon B. Alterman, the director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), recently in article published in the website of the center wrote, “Amid a robust discussion about the appropriate U.S. posture in the Middle East (it means the NATO), one element is underemphasized, and sometimes it is entirely missing. Too often, people assume that the United States will fundamentally reorient its strategy toward the Middle East, and other powers (China, Iran and Russia) will essentially roll with the punches.”

But that’s not true. While the West engagement in the Middle East has grown, the world’s engagement in the region has grown as well. Allies and adversaries alike are tied into the Middle East’s status quo and try to plan strengthening their stand. When it shifts, they will shift, and when allies and adversaries feel effects, the West, including the U.S. and Europe, will feel effects. The United States might feel it is done with the Middle East, but the reverse isn’t true for the NATO and his adversaries.

China, which lacks the domestic oil and gas necessary to drive its economy, seems lashed to the Middle East for years to come. It will almost certainly seek to increase its footprint there, and it is likely to use a more dominant position in the Middle East to exert leverage over East Asian neighbors who are also reliant on the region. As Middle Eastern states view a future in which the United States is receding and China is rising, Germany, as the super power of Europe and the U.S. and as the “reeve” of the world, will be hard pressed to prevent China from embedding itself in the region’s physical and technological infrastructure. China is averse to replicating the U.S. military footprint in the Middle East, or anywhere else, but is keen to advance its security by other means. If it is able to establish pervasive surveillance capabilities, it will do more than be a force multiplier for a limited Chinese military presence. It will also build good relations with Middle Eastern governments, almost all of which are concerned by the prospect of popular discontent and are impressed by the Chinese model of economic development without destabilizing social and political change.

Merkel’s parting with her consent, under the tough coronavirus condition and virus-hit economy and Europe’s pressure in dealing with the Brexit and UK’s double standard, is her savior but costly for Europe. But exerting pressure on Trump for leaving the White House is very beneficial for the U.S. and other countries especially for the West Asia.

  By: Hamid Reza Naghashian

The post Trump, Merkel to Leave the Office Simultaneously appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The U.S. in President Donald Trump era has had a special difference with other editions of presidencies in the U.S. history and the difference has been that the decision-makers in the White House were not military. In this four-year period, Trump has always accused previous administrations of expending which has not benefitted the U.S. in the whole world, and especially in the West Asia. This method of administering the country by Trump has led to restriction in the U.S. military budget and massive withdrawals from the U.S. ambitious stances in any part of the world by the U.S. military.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

Emergence of morale lacking ambition and motivation in all military elements and its spread to the security structure has made the U.S. suffer from multidimensional confusions. That the U.S. with such deafening propagation and even with explicit claim of fight with terrorism and with fell to assassination of Martyr Qassem Soleimani and his comrades in Iraq is one of these confusions. That the U.S. in its haplessness regarding managing the COVID-19 pandemic accuses China is one of these confusions. That the U.S. presidential election structure has turned into an unusual bipolarity with norm-breaking behaviors is one of these confusions.

Of course, by writing this article I mean mostly attention on a strange confusion that has targeted the U.S. cyber system. In the news it has been reported that the U.S. after discovering a cyber-attack has noticed that the attack has been underway for over ten months with the most complicated methods and also realized that its control and its methods of prevention and defense against it had no plans, and it has not found yet the possible discovery of the source and trace of these attacks.

The U.S. president has recently assured that the cyber-attack is under control. Experts believe that under control in view of the U.S. officials means shutting down the cyber systems that for the time being that the systems could remain immune from the Russian detriment. Of course, despite different U.S. officials’ charges against Russian hackers, Russians have strongly denied those charges and have asked the U.S. officials to show down genuine, logical and documented evidence for their claim.

However American officials are not sure that Russians have a hand at this cyber-attack and they have not presented any evidence and document on Russian engagement in this attack and speculations believe this idea that Americans have moved on course to accusing Russians. However what is seen in the U.S. media climate is that the U.S. cyber army has been inflicted with heavy and irrecoverable blows.

One should take this point into consideration that the U.S. Administration has suffered heavy blows in several occasions and has lost many of its classified documents and secrets of its state-of-the-art technologies but in none of the previous occasion it had been involved with such a structural confusion.

The biggest hacking action that one can see its result openly is the manufacture of the fifth generation of fighter jets by China that by employing the confidential designing knowhow and technologies of the U.S. F-35 and F-36 in less than three years bore fruit, and the Chinese unveiled and flew their fighter jets before the Americans unveiled their F-35s.

Although data and information about the military technology is of great importance, the biggest concern of the Americans is not limited merely to the military technology and hacking some parts of air systems information but this concern is about the more strategic dimensions which will have more perils in the longtime. Let’s have a look back at what one of the American news agencies, the Associated Press, has covered on this issue recklessly, “Could Hackers Have Obtained Nuclear Secrets? COVID-19 Vaccine data? Blueprints for Next-Generation Weapons Systems?”

This type of speculations by the media is stated while it shows itself that these media outlets do not have actually any certain achievement and the amount of their information is very little and it is mostly speculations because if they had had anything special, they would not have passed it very easily and they would go for exposing the elements and currents, and would take the issue into the political scene.

In this complicated case, probably it may take several weeks, several months or even more time for experts of the digital sleuths combing through U.S. government and private industry networks to get the answers that show the infiltration holes and methods of hacking. Experts say these hackers are consummate pros at covering their tracks. What’s seems clear is that this campaign — which cybersecurity experts says exhibits the tactics and techniques of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency — will rank among the most prolific in the annals of cyberespionage.

However Americans should be asked, with taking into consideration of the past experience of their sophisticated drone being hacked and being landed on the land of the Islamic Republic of Iran, how they have dared to dispatch their nuclear submarine to the Persian Gulf and they have not feared the route of it towards northern coasts is not been traced.

It seems the aim behind hacking systems in different organizations in the U.S. from the Treasury Department and industries to the intelligence agencies is to wear out and to disappoint the American systems of getting the gesture of being a super power and to accept the federative collapse that fortunately by the U.S. refrain from retreating its political stand and insistence on its false ambition of being a super power, it itself foments more the materialization of hackers’

  By: Hamid Reza Naghashian

The post Collapse, the Main Aim of Hackers appeared first on Iran News Daily.

According to President Hassan Rouhani government’s promise to the nation, it was supposed after signing the JCPOA, all cruel sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran would have been completely lifted but with arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump at the U.S. political scene suddenly everything changed and not only were sanctions increased more and more but also all the promises that the maladroit  diplomacy team of the government had given to the government did not materialize and Iranian nation endured the tribulation of the indecisive JCPOA for four years.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

Today all in the world have seen that the U.S. not only in the JCPOA but also in many international treaties has been presented as unethical and commitmentless. However, the president-elect who has won in the election is himself witnessing misconduct of his predecessor Trump who does not intend to hand over the power to the one who has won the people’s votes. But regarding Iran, the winner of 2020 U.S. presidential election, Joe Biden, claims the U.S. leadership of the world.

This very claimant of the world leadership at first should first show the world his leadership of morality in the U.S. in order to have shown at least a little bit difference with his predecessor. For him the smallest step to show him a different one is that he should lift without wasting time all sanctions which have targeted only Iranian people and have made them suffer from endless cruelty, and should suspend playing with words and avoid being the captive of the Zionist policies.

Today most of culture-oriented people in the U.S. politics and economy believe that the U.S. cannot push ahead its policy and goals in other countries by creating poverty and hopelessness; such policy is opposite of the U.S. verbiage of being the leader of morality in the world. Biden only by putting an end to these sanctions can both advance the U.S. interests and revive the lost reputation of the country. The U.S. interests can be better achieved through dialogue. For some time after Trump announced the pullout of the U.S. from the JCPOA, Iran according to the IAEA verification did not pursue enrichment process above the level which had been agreed in the JCPOA. But now the condition is totally different from that time. Iranians according to the paragraphs of 35, 36 and 37 of the JCPOA are allowed to pull out of the NPT Treaty and allowed not to let IAEA inspectors to have access to its nuclear facilities and verification.

All the world believe that the U.S. by returning to the negotiation table will benefit, and to materialize it, it is necessary that Biden cancels all Trump’s executive orders regarding Iran outright and without any negligence. Only such an action can revive the U.S. lost reputation in a short time that Biden needs it for an agreement, and it can provide the ground for broader talks over the other issues.

That Iran accepts Biden to resist for an all-out agreement may make the case more complicated and in this issue, the U.S. may probably gain nothing but “nothing”. Iranians believe sanctions have benefited them and they have succeeded in putting behind major part of the sanctions, and have relied on domestic power and capabilities, and have overcome the unpleasant effects of sanctions.

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution recently during his clear remarks whose words were misused and distorted by the West-oriented media has said, “We must be strong in all areas, including economics, science, technology, and defense. Because the enemies will not give up their greed, aggression, and invasions until we become strong. So I strongly advise that you do not trust the enemy. Do not trust any of their promises regarding solving the problems of the people and the future of the country. You saw what the U.S. did to you under Trump and what they did under Obama. The hostilities are not particular to Trump’s America for this to end when he leaves office. Obama’s America was also malicious to you and the Iranian nation.”

The Leader went on to say, “The three European countries too have displayed a total lack of commitment and extreme malice, duplicity, and hypocrisy. Officials should not harm this unity and synergy of the people (referring to the national unity regarding to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks) and should not divide the nations, and the three branches of power should strengthen national unity through convergence and cooperation and resolve their differences through dialogues. Don’t you say that we should negotiate with the world? Well, is not it possible to resolve differences with the domestic element, either? This is a fact that lifting of sanctions is in the hands of the enemy, but nullifying them is in our hands. Thus, we need to focus more on nullifying them than on having them lifted. Of course, we do not mean that we should not seek to have the sanctions lifted, because if the sanctions can be lifted, we should not hesitate for even an hour. However, this has been delayed for four years now. Since 2016 when all sanctions were supposed to be lifted at once, not only have they not been lifted, they have even increased.”

The Supreme Leader, who was addressing a group of the organizers of the first memorial ceremony of Martyr Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and his comrades who were martyred by the blood-sucker Trump, emphasized, “If the sanctions can be lifted in a correct, wise, Iranian-Islamic, and dignified manner, this should be done. But our main focus should be on neutralizing the sanctions, and the initiative for this is in your hands.”

This method of leadership in tackling Western immorality and misconduct especially by the Americans has kept Islamic Iran on its feet, and for this reason this belief exists that even if Biden moves in the same direction of the past misconducts of Barack Obama or Trump, Iranians would be stronger than before both to overcome the effects of sanctions on their economy and to have independence of their nuclear power.

  By: Hamid Reza Naghashian

The post Iranians Have Surmounted Sanctions appeared first on Iran News Daily.

IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

TEHRAN – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says revenge for Iran’s senior commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimeni, who was assassinated by the United States, is certain and will be exacted at the right time.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks on Wednesday at a meeting with organizers of programs to commemorate the first martyrdom anniversary of top Iranian and Iraqi anti-terror commanders, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and a group of their comrades.

The two commanders were martyred in a drone strike ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump near the Baghdad International Airport on January 3. Back then, General Soleimani was in the Iraqi capital on an official visit at the invitation of the Iraqi government.

The two figures were highly popular because of the key role they played in eliminating the US-sponsored Daesh terrorist group in the region.

Ayatollah Khamenei recalled the million-strong funerals that were held for the two commanders, saying the “unforgettable” ceremonies “surprised the arrogance’s soft war generals and served as a first severe slap in the face of the Americans.”

The Leader added that Iran’s retaliatory missile strike on the American Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq had been another slap in the face of the Americans

Ayatollah Khamenei said a tougher slap will, however, be the subjugation of arrogance in the software sector, which requires the efforts of revolutionary youth and faithful elite, besides the expulsion of the United States from the region, which demands the nations’ will and resistance.

“Of course, this harsh slap is separate from revenge, because those who ordered and killed General Soleimani must see revenge, and this revenge is certain [and will be taken] at the right moment,” the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei said General Soliemnai’s “historic” martyrdom turned him into a hero for Iranians and the entire Muslim Ummah.

“The reason why martyr Soleimani became a hero for the Iranian nation and different strata of people (even those beyond imagination) honored him and expressed their feelings was that martyr Soleimani was the embodiment of cultural values of Iran and Iranians,” the Leader said.

He also mentioned courage and the spirit of resistance as two of the prominent characteristics of General Soleimani.

The Leader further said General Soleimani had “wisdom, ingenuity, sacrifice and altruism” and was a man of spirituality and sincerity, not hypocrisy.

General Soleimani defeated arrogance both during his lifetime and with his martyrdom, Ayatollah Khamenei said. “The U.S. president said that they spent 7 trillion dollars in the region but achieved nothing and finally he was forced to visit a military base for a few hours in the dark of night. The whole world acknowledge that the United States has not achieved its goals in Syria and especially in Iraq,”

“The hero of this great work is General Soleimani, which was done during his lifetime,” he added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader advised the people and officials to double their efforts to strengthen the country in economic, science, technology and defense sectors, and not to trust the enemy.

Ayatollah Khamenei further stressed the country should focus on neutralizing the sanctions instead of securing their removal, saying, “The lifting of sanctions is in the hands of the enemy, but neutralizing them is in our own hands.”

“Of course, we do not mean that we should not seek to lift the sanctions, because if the sanctions can be lifted, we should not delay that even by an hour,” he explained.

Criticizing Europe’s hypocritical behavior, Ayatollah Khamenei said that three European countries also showed extreme malice and hypocrisy.

He also urged Iranians to preserve national unity, calling on the country’s three branches of power to strengthen national unity through synergy and cooperation.

Referring to the imposed sanctions on Iran, Leader of the Islamic Revolution called on authorities to look for the ways to defuse sanctions rather than the ways to lift them.

“Of course, we are not saying that we should not seek to lift the sanctions. If the sanctions can be lifted, we should not hesitate to do it even for an hour,” he noted.

“If the sanctions can be lifted in a right, wise, Iranian-Islamic and dignified way, it should be done, but the main focus should be on defusing the sanctions,” Leader added.

“I support the officials of the country as long as they adhere to the goals of the nation,” Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted.

The post Leader Urges Nation , Officials to Focus on Defusing Sanctions appeared first on Iran News Daily.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani yesterday says that the government does not allow anyone to delay the time of ending sanctions, stressing that if the U.S. and others return to their commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran will return too.

In his press conference on Monday attended by Iranian and foreign media, President Rouhani referred to the Iran Nuclear Deal or JCPOA, saying: “Government is very hopeful that it will take good steps in the area of removal of sanctions because everyone knows that Trump’s economic war has failed.”

“The whole world is pressuring the United States that JCPOA must be resumed. One of the Twelfth Government services was that the government did not allow JCPOA to be destroyed with all its might,” the president said.

“Trump’s main goal was to destroy JCPOA, which was unsuccessful, Rouhani said, adding that “of course some people inside the country wanted to destroy JCPOA as well. We tried to keep JCPOA alive so that this agreement is able once again to play its role in due time.”

Noting that JCPOA was a historic agreement in Iran and the region, President Rouhani added: “There may be flaws in this agreement, but in relative terms, it has been a very historic agreement in Iran and the region. Some people wanted to destroy JCPOA, but we kept this agreement because one of our goals is to achieve our nuclear rights.”

Referring to the U.S.’ illegal sanctions against Iran, Rouhani said: “The end of the sanctions means that the people have achieved their rights. The end of US sanctions means that economic terrorism has stopped, and the criminal has stopped his crime. The government does not allow anyone to delay the time of ending sanctions. Sanctions must end, and this is the right of our people. America must return to its commitments, and if everyone returns to their commitments, we will return to our full commitments, too.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, in response to a question from Al Jazeera News Network about the lifting of sanctions and the possibility of his meeting with US-President Elect Joe Biden bilaterally or in the form of a P5 +1, President Hassan Rouhani said the government was doing its best to lift the oppressive sanctions as soon as possible. “We will do our best to lift these sanctions even an hour earlier.”

“Whenever other parties fulfill all their obligations, we also fulfill our obligations, and there is no obstacle in returning to our obligations,” Rouhani highlighted.

Rouhani noted: “If the United States returns to the nuclear deal and makes up for past mistakes, and Biden returns to the conditions of 2017, we will fully return to our commitments.”

President Rouhani also reiterated that “Economic terrorism has come to a halt. That is, the crime has stopped.”

One significant objective of the government is to break the sanctions, he said, stressing that the government is extremely optimistic about its initiatives in this regard as Trump’s economic war has failed and the whole world has admitted that.

With regard to the upcoming elections in Iran, Rouhani described it a great measure to happen next year (according to the Persian calendar).

He expressed the hope that Iran would witness a magnificent election with the participation of all political parties and groups along with very good competition.

He explained that the country is facing a very hard time now because of the economic war waged against the nation as well as the difficult days due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rouhani Also underlined that one of the highest economic growth rates in Iran occurred in 2016 when the country recorded the highest boom in the world and “during these seven years Iranian government fulfilled its promises to the people in many areas.”

He referred to these promises as “moderation, constructive engagement with the global states, lifting imposed sanctions and bringing people to their own rights as well as establishing the nuclear right as a legal right for Iranians.”

Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, many critical projects were inaugurated and some important projects to be started in the coming months, he said.

The President noted that Iran is one of the countries continuously informing the Iranians on the pandemic although all global states have not been open with their people.

President Rouhani stated that Israel’s goal in the assassination of Martyr Fakhrizadeh was to create a war at the last days of the Trump administration, stressing that Iran would avenge the top Iranian nuclear scientist’s blood in a proper time.

Referring to the tensions in the region after the assassination of scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, saying: “The assassination of Fakhrizadeh was the plan of Israel and its main goal in this assassination was to create instability and war in the last days of the Trump infamous administration,” he added.

He said the Islamic Republic of Iran will avenge Fakhrizadeh’s blood in a proper time.

Rouhani said that the Hormoz peace initiative is still on the table, and Iran is ready to negotiate it.

Referring to the Hormoz peace initiative, he said: “The stability of the region is very important for us. You know that we have given the Hormoz peace initiative for the Persian Gulf region. The Hormoz peace initiative was presented to the UN General Assembly. This peace initiative is still on the table, and we are ready to negotiate it.”

He referred to Iran-China cooperation in the region, saying: “Both issues are important. You know that the reason why the US President Donald Trump failed against Iran in the international community was because of Iran’s cooperation and coordination with other countries, so in every issue that Trump went to the UN General Assembly, he could not approve anything, so we continue to have close relations with all countries of the world, especially with China, Russia, the European Union, and our neighbors.”

The post If U.S. Rejoins JCPOA , Iran Will Return to Full Compliance appeared first on Iran News Daily.

IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

TEHRAN – Iran’s economy could expand by as much as 4.4% in 2021 if U.S. President-elect Joe Biden lifts sanctions that have contributed to a deep three-year recession, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) trade body said on November 26, Reuters reported.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis could, however, limit foreign investment even if it is green-lighted by Washington, it added.

Biden has said he will explore taking the U.S. back into the nuclear deal that Iran in 2015 struck with six world powers. Under that deal, sanctions were lifted in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear development programme. However U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal in May 2018 and went back to sanctions.

Iran’s rial currency has lost another 50% of its value against the U.S. dollar in 2020 to date, reflecting economic damage from the sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic, a third wave of which has taken hold in the Islamic Republic.

The IIF said that if the U.S. lifted most of the economic sanctions on Iran by the end of 2021, the Iranian economy could expand 4.4% next year following an expected 6.1% contraction in 2020.

It would then grow by 6.9% in 2022 and 6% in 2023, the IIF added. It also noted that if oil exports increase, Iran could see its foreign reserves rise to $109.4bn by the end of 2023. If Biden drops the Trump policy of using sanctions to block Iranian oil exports, Iran could be exporting around two million barrels of crude per day within a couple of years, according to some estimates.

Garbis Iradian, IIF’s chief economist for the MENA region, told Reuters foreign direct investment inflows into Iran would increase progressively from this year’s $890mn to over $6.4bn in 2025.

Assuming most sanctions could be lifted by late next year, FDI was likely to remain below $2bn in 2021, with most of the money coming from China, Iradian said, adding: “Moreover, the coronavirus pandemic will limit FDI inflows in 2021.”

The Iranian economy would remain fragile, though “not to the brink of collapse” if most of the sanctions remain in place, the IIF said.

Under such a “pessimistic” scenario, Iran would post 1.8% growth next year, while its foreign reserves would gradually fall from around $80bn this year to $46.9bn by end-2023.

Approximately 90% of Iran’s official reserves are frozen abroad due to U.S. sanctions.

The post Iran GDP Could Expand 4.4% If Sanctions Lifted appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The day when U.S. President Donald Trump announced withdrawal of the U.S. from of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the White House put on a righteous face regarding his decision and issued a perfectionist statement, the reactions in Iran were different.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

Some expressed their hatred regarding Trump and the U.S. Administration, and some other called this decision a totally ineffective and useless one. This action was praised by the U.S. conservatives who considered the JCPOA as a weak agreement. Other American political personalities like former President Barack Obama and his vice-president Joe Biden criticized Trump’s decision while European countries including UK, France and Germany which were the signatories of the JCPOA deplored this action of President Trump. By the way, all polls conducted showed that most of American people disagreed President Trump’s decision and preferred at least some part of the deal to be preserved.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action which is unofficially known as Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal was an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program which was inked in July 2015 between Iran, P5+1 (five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – China, France, Russia, UK and the U.S. – plus Germany) and EU, and Iran’s pullout of it was not considered as a legal action.

President Trump had repeatedly spoken about the modification of the JCPOA until May 12, 2018 and reiterated that if other signatories of the JCPOA (France, UK, Russia, China and Germany) did not take action for modifying the deal based on the U.S. policy (of course supporting Israel), the U.S. would reimpose the nuclear sanctions against Iran. He used to say that the U.S. would only stay in the JCPOA if it was modified and four new conditions to be included in it.

Trump during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron officially announced, “Nobody knows what will be my decisions for May 12 (the deadline for Iran’s commitment to the JCPOA).” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his equivocal remarks said that he presumed strongly that the U.S. would soon pull out of the nuclear deal. He considered the U.S. being on the verge of leaving the JCPOA. Former counselor to the U.S. Department of State Wendy Sherman expressed her concern over isolation of the U.S. after its pullout of the nuclear deal. She even in an article published in the New York Times emphasized, “The U.S. exit from the nuclear deal will provide Iran with this opportunity for uranium enrichment, and as long as the U.S. is not committed to its deal obligations, Iran will not remain committed to its obligations, either.”

She tried to make her friends taking office in the White House believe if the U.S. was not a trustable ally, its European allies would not involve it in other international equations. Most of the critics of the White House policies also believed that the U.S. exit from the JCPOA would harm seriously the relation between the U.S. and its European allies. They believed that this action, besides being a threat against the U.S. national security interests, would decrease the international capability for monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities and it would be crystal clear that the U.S. exit of the JCPOA would dishearten hostile countries to the U.S. (like North Korea which is considered a dangerous nuclear threat to the U.S.) from negotiation with this country and this exit would be more loss to the U.S. and instead in favor of Iran.

Now 22 months after the U.S. pullout of the deal, Trump is on the slope of falling from the power and legally handing over the White House to the Democrat Party representative, and he should accept this point that whatever his non-partisan rivals had criticized have come true, and if there was not President Hassan Rouhani government’s tiptoeing-around in Iran regarding the reactions to the U.S. action, today Iran could have stood three hundred steps ahead of its current position.

Trump should believe this fact that his deadly sanctions despite inefficiency of Iran government have not succeeded so much. He should believe that all of his actions in the past might turn into the encounter of him versus nothing, and the U.S. legal president-elect Joe Biden, with winning some 51 percent of Americans’ votes in the 2020 presidential election, would indisputably return to the same JCPOA in order to prove the world that the U.S. is not a uncivilized country where a government signs a deal and the next government retreats its signature under any pretext.

Now Biden should think of how he does convince Iran for the U.S. return to the JCPOA and what concessions he should give Iran or how he compensates Iranian people with the damages they have suffered in these years.

The post Return of the U.S. to JCPOA! appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Media outlets in the world during the past week have published many news items, in between of other news stuff, with embellishment regarding the pullout of the U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

On Tuesday, November 17, the American news website, The Hill, officially confirmed the reports that the U.S. Administration was to pull out some part of its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan by quoting the U.S. Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller in his presser as saying. Miller said that the decision will come into effect from mid-January 2021.

Miller took over the job as the Acting Defense Secretary last week after Defense Secretary Mark Esper was fired. Speaking to reporters on the withdrawal of more U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, Miller said, “President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to pull out 2,500 U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Iraq by mid-January.”

Although this news has pleased Iraqis, it has made Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan unhappy, each one for different reason. Saudis are concerned about decrease in the U.S. support from Saudi Arabia and today with the U.S. troops pullout they think how they can satisfy Iran with its such a dark record. But Afghanistan is very concerned about the massive presence and reinforcement of the Taliban group.

Following official report of withdrawal of some 2,500 U.S. troops, White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien announced that the complete withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan may materialize by May 2021.

He added, “The remaining troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will be employed for defending diplomats and embassies as well as assisting the U.S. allies in line with their missions. President Trump hopes all U.S.  troops would be back home by May.

I had already told that the U.S. condition due to the breathtaking coronavirus pandemic as well as poverty of over 70m people is deteriorating day in day. I had already in one of my articles explained that the U.S. had pulled out its navy forces from the Persian Gulf and its forces presence in the Persian Gulf is just part of its annual inspection of the region like inspecting other seas in the world, and arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier and two backing warships is a normal and rotating inspection and they will leave the Persian Gulf after finishing their periodic visit according the schedule. So these warships unlike the previous U.S. naval fleet are not to have permanent presence in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. after ending its permanent presence in the Persian Gulf has handed over its military base in Bahrain and they have moved its headquarters from Qatar to California in order to remain safe from possible Iran’s revenge of assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and his comrades.

So the U.S. has ended the operation for pulling out its troops from the Persian Gulf. I note here that after 1971 when the British pulled out their forces from the Suez Canal, the U.S. Navy forces replaced them, now this presence has also come to an end. And now no regional government but Iran has a strong and serious navy in the Persian Gulf and European countries’ naval presence in the Persian Gulf is just symbolic.

We should know that the current world economic condition as well as era of cheap oil price has caused the U.S. to pack its bags from the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan and experts predict that the price of oil between 40 to 50 dollars is a cheap one and the Middle East economy is in the phase of decline in demand. Of course, election of Joe Biden as the U.S. President will ease the ground for materialization of the U.S. pullout from the region.

With the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from the region, it seems natural that the regional countries would experience the color of more independence and the ground for materialization of more rational democracy will be paved more. Hope for the day when no alien may rule over the fate of the West Asia.

  By: Hamid Reza Naghashian

The post West Asia on Course to Independence appeared first on Iran News Daily.

In the current condition the judgement regarding the U.S. presidential election results is not so easy because in recent days the recounts of some votes in some swing states whose results have been questioned by the White House have been suspicious. In the U.S. elections, most of the election organizers continued counting the ballots ignoring the White House appeal for recount but U.S. President Donald Trump without having any valid evidences and revealing them has claimed about massive vote-rigging in the election and has vowed to challenge it in the highest U.S. judicial body, namely the Supreme Court.

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It is still unknown exactly how he is to lodge his complaint in the court. He and his campaign have taken independently some legal actions in some key states, and for example, in Pennsylvania and Michigan, he has requested the court for recounting the ballots and all his requests for recount have been rejected by the courts.

One of the issues which have been challenged by Trump is the mail-in ballots arriving after the state’s 7 p.m. of November 3 deadlines. According to the approved law of the state, the ballots can be counted till three days after the polls. The Republicans before the Election Day took twice this state law to the court in Pennsylvania but they failed in this state once in their effort in the state supreme court and another time in the national Supreme Court.

Now the Trump campaign is after reopening the case in the Supreme Court. This is one of the challenges that Mr. Trump and his supporters have pined hope on it to succeed. Mr. Matthew Weil, the Bipartisan Policy Research Center’s elections project, in an interview has said that he was concerned that legal explanations could have failed to create doubts for Trump, and the president might have relied on his 6-man co-party team in the Supreme Court. This historical memory shows us that last time when the Supreme Court was deadlocked, and four conservative judges versus three liberal judges as well as the Chief Justice John Roberts failed about the final verdict on the issue but this time by election of Judge Amy Coney Barrett who is a conservative, the issue would be possible to be reviewed with new approach.

Weil says before the election and when the result of votes in the Supreme Court was 4-4 and was deadlocked on this dispute, they expressed willing to take the issue to the court and review it in the future. He added, “I do think there is a risk that some of those [postal] ballots that were cast by election day and not received until Friday may be discarded”, he said. Despite this, he says “My guess is that it’s not going to be a huge number of ballots that could be thrown out, so the election would have to be very, very close for that to matter”.

Regardless of this impartial viewpoint whose impartiality is not clear because it will seal the result in favor of Joe Biden, an important issue is being shaped in the U.S. climate and it is the tensions created in line with bringing supporters to Washington and this atmosphere may move in a direction that may not  let the country to stay away from bi-polarization even if Trump himself wants to retreat from his stance.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama in a warning interview has pointed to his concern about undermining the democracy in the U.S. but the Trump clan pays no attention to such consequences.

It seems recent visits of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela Elliot Abrams to the occupied lands (Israel) and their meetings with the Zionist regime may speak of some explanations about a behind-the-scene plan that the White House has concealed it behind its claim of not conceding the defeat in the election.

The visits can appease the concerns of the Zionist regime and at the same time they can explain the secret plan that the plan essentially can be the Republican’s evaluation of the current U.S. economy and they are actually seeking dividing the country into two parts in order that they could hand the doubts over  to some part of the country, and they themselves ride the other rich part of the country.

  By: Hamid Reza Naghashian

The post The White House , Trump and the Secret Plan appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Almost one hundred prominent and experienced and even experts in the politics in the U.S. either in their articles or in their interviews and sometimes by writing books have expressed their beliefs that Donald Trump is the last U.S. president.

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In fact, if we are to analyze this theory for better understanding and making clear the intention, then we would reach these points that in order to create a climate for U.S. President Trump to remain as president who have won the votes, the U.S. should first be divided into two halves according to the number of votes each candidate has won. To this end, undoubtedly some useful and short incidents would happen, firstly based on the red-colored states, the U.S. would be a country with another name, secondly, the remaining blue states should be considered as the Blue U.S. or even with better name against Canada like Kinada. So Joe Biden will remain president of some part of the U.S. and Trump will attain his deserved right of presidency of some 50 percent of the voters.

Hence, it gives Trump this right to take action to prove himself as some of the actions have so far been cautiously uttered. Some of writers and analysts believe that Trump may take action to materialize his goal to remain in power based on the obtained evidences. The Biden front, including the Democrat Party and its supporters, will take tough stand against these actions.

The Washington Post’s famous journalist and columnist David Ignatius on Wednesday, November 11, in an article briefly went through in an article with the title of “behind-the-scenes battle to counter Trump’s threat to national security” and wrote, President Trump’s senior military and intelligence officials have been warning him strongly against declassifying information about Russia that his advisers say would compromise sensitive collection methods and anger key allies.”

Nevertheless, Trump and his camp believe that declassification of information can undo the allegations of the Russian government’s role in his winning in the 2016 presidential election. Some European security officials reacting to this issue have told Business Insider that they were concerned that disclosure of the information from the White House could expose the sources who have collected those information. These people who are working on issues related to Russia have said that those centers that they are working with them are worried about Trump hastily to publish the confidential documents which can expose the sources and methods of collecting information about Russians and even put in danger the lives of their spies.

Every president during his term collects some information and documents as some of them are archived in his private library and some other are destroyed. Every president has properties that he may not want to be revealed after he leaves the power. Trump does not know that he is not the first and he will not be the last president who does it.

Imagination of how much the dimension and volume of these documents is will depend on the power of imagination of the people. If Trump is determined to rein the power, although it is difficult task but not impossible for the one who is the commander of the armed forces and law enforcement.

Pretexts like rigging in counting of some 70m votes and almost votes of 50 percent of Americans, and arousing the people to take emotional actions like what has happened in the color revolutions like bringing supporters into the streets, creating riots in the cities and even killing scenario and resorting to pretexts for charging the opposite side and innovating hundreds of ways for convincing the supporters, all and all can be named as tools of materializing his viewpoint and even justice-seeking. And it is just enough these incidents to happen in two months or even to prolong in order that, for example, Trump would reach his legal right or even fulfill his imaginations.

  By: Hamid Reza Naghashian

The post Why Is Trump Right? appeared first on Iran News Daily.