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Beijing says the balloon was meant to conduct “meteorological” research and had strayed into American airspace because of heavy winds.

Experts have echoed the account, saying the hard to maneuver and high-altitude weather test balloon was blown by winds across North America.

The U.S. accusations are actually quite laughable as balloons were used for surveillance purposes some 70 to 80 years ago.

Technology has since developed and Beijing has advanced satellites operating in space if it had actually wanted to spy on U.S. territory.

The China Daily rightly described the spy balloon claims as a lie, saying “to spy on the U.S. with a balloon, one must both fall far behind to use 1940s technology and be advanced enough to control its flight across the ocean. Those fabricating the lie are only exposing their ignorance.”

But the U.S. government, including NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), continues to track and monitor it closely.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson says “the unintended entry of a Chinese unmanned airship into the U.S., was ‘due to force majeure’,” in reference to a legal term that means unforeseeable circumstances.

The ministry has voiced its strong opposition to “some politicians and media in the U.S. [that] have hyped [the situation] up to attack and smear China.”

The U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has reportedly convened a meeting of senior military and defense officials to review the profile of the balloon and possible responses, which were presented to President Joe Biden.

Military and defense leaders have considered shooting the balloon out of the sky but decided against it citing a safety risk from falling debris.

The weather balloon has caused alarm in the Pentagon which says it is tracking its progress but has decided against shooting it down citing safety issues for civilians on the ground.

This is while U.S. officials have acknowledged it is flying above civilian air traffic and below “outer space”, but declined to say how high it was flying.

Prominent figures in the U.S. establishment, including candidates for the 2024 presidential election Donald Trump and former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley, demanded that the U.S. military immediately shoot down the balloon.

This is while U.S. mainstream media have been running a rolling live coverage over the incident in an attempt to scaremonger the American public toward China.

Senior U.S. State Department officials described the incident as a “clear violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law”, while U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has cancelled his planned visit to China, using the incident as a pretext.

On Blinken’s announcement to cancel his planned visit to Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry pointed out that “in fact, neither side has ever announced that there would be a visit. It is a matter for the U.S. to make its latest announcement, and we respect that.”

The ministry further explained, “It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological purposes. Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course. This is entirely an unexpected situation caused by force majeure and the facts are very clear. China always acts in strict accordance with international law and respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries.”

Dismissing U.S. accusations of a Chinese violation against U.S. “territorial integrity and sovereignty”, Beijing said, “We have no intention to violate and [China] never violated the territory or airspace of any sovereign country.”

Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder appeared to contradict the hype about the purpose of the balloon for surveillance purposes, saying it was currently over the center of the continental U.S. and did not “present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”

President Biden, speaking at a White House conference, refused to answer questions on the topic.

That’s quite possibly because he had none.

The other possible reason for his refusal to comment on the issue is because this is also a cause of embarrassment for Washington’s PR campaign.

How did all the American advanced radar military equipment fail to detect a slow incoming balloon?

The intensity of the wind led the object to have reportedly strayed unintentionally through Latin America, the Aleutian Islands, off the coast of Alaska, and Canada before entering the U.S.

Why have countries in Latin American or elsewhere not lodged any complaints with Beijing over violations against their territorial integrity and sovereignty?

Answer: it is precisely what the Chinese government stated it to be: “a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes” and because it had “limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course.”

The wider question is that there is no country on the planet Earth that the United States has refused to violate its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Looking at China alone, Washington has been violating its sovereignty and territorial integrity by regularly sending high ranking politicians to Taiwan (a Chinese province led by self-ruled administration with a separatist agenda) in a clear violation of China’s territorial integrity, sovereignty as well as a violation of the one-China policy as well as international law.

Add to that, the tens of billions of dollars’ worth of weapons that Washington have shipped to Taipei, the numerous U.S. aircraft carriers and strike groups that have sailed in the South China Sea.

The U.S. is also forging new military alliances with various countries around China in a bid to contain Beijing.

While Washington seeks escalation, Beijing seeks the opposite.

In reaction to the recent unintentional incident China says that maintaining communication channels at all levels was important, “especially in dealing with some unexpected situations in a calm and reliable manner”.

Nevertheless, Washington has effectively dismissed Chinese statements.

“We are aware of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] statement,” Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said. “However, the fact is, we know that it’s a surveillance balloon. And I’m not going to be able to be more specific than that. We do know that the balloon has violated U.S. airspace and international law, which is unacceptable.”

This raises the question of what is unacceptable?

The U.S. violations of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of pretty much all the countries in West Asia, Latin America, Africa and beyond.

Washington has waged invasions, wars, drone attacks, terror, unrest and hybrid warfare in all continents.

It has used proxies, such as Israel, to destabilize West Asia and instigate terror in the region.

The U.S. has used sanctions to starve tens of millions of civilians in Latin America, West Asia and beyond.

The balloon incident has however led to a number of amusing posts on social media, including this one from the … the US Naval Institute … which accurately stated:
“Since ‘Chinese Spy Balloon’ is trending: In 1945, the crew of USS New York spotted a sphere that they thought might be a Japanese balloon weapon. The captain ordered it shot down but none of the guns could score a hit. Finally, a navigator realized they were attacking Venus.”

The Planet is also referred to as the Morning Star or the Evening Star because it shines so brightly.

Only the minds of the foreign policy makers in Washington DC have the ability to operate so brightly.

The post U.S. hysteria over Chinese weather balloon appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has always said that it will cooperate with the IAEA based on its obligations and even it gave some concessions during the JCPOA agreement in 2015 and let the body for more monitoring of Iran’s nuclear activities but it seems the IAEA now thinks that Iran should continue giving concessions for more inspections while the West does not observe its obligations regarding the JCPOA agreement

On Tuesday, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) described the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) demands as “excessive,” saying they cannot be implemented due to the sanctions in place against the Islamic Republic.

“We consider the IAEA’s demands excessive, because their implementation is impossible due to sanctions,” Behrouz Kamalvandi said.

Kamalvandi elaborated on the current scope of Iran-IAEA ties, saying Tehran’s cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog is based on the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA), which, he added, revolves around the agency’s inspection of nuclear materials.

Aside from the CSA, he added, countries adhering to the Additional Protocol, have undertaken to give the IAEA access for inspection of their uranium enrichment equipment as well.

The official said Iran used to provide the UN nuclear watchdog with even broader access for inspection as part of the 2015 nuclear deal, which is currently in trouble due to Washington’s unilateral exit.

Iran, he said, decided to restrict the scope of its cooperation with the IAEA to the SCA under a law approved by the Iranian Parliament in late 2020, entitled “The Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions.”

Kamalvandi added, however, that “if the West lifts the sanctions and lives up to its own commitments under the nuclear deal, Iran will reciprocate,” he added.

Referring to Iran’s removal of 27 surveillance cameras at different nuclear sites, Kamalvandi said that if the other parties return to their commitments, it would be possible for the devices and cameras to be reinstalled.

Tehran will continue its constructive cooperation with the UN nuclear agency in line with its commitments under the CSA, the official added.

Iran ratified the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1970, which requires nonnuclear-weapon states to accept comprehensive IAEA safeguards. Four years later, Tehran concluded a comprehensive safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

As a goodwill gesture, Iran voluntarily chose to have extensive cooperation with the UN nuclear agency, beyond the safeguards agreement.

Iran and the IAEA are currently locked in a dispute triggered by the agency’s Israeli-influenced accusations, which were leveled against Tehran’s peaceful nuclear activities just as the Islamic Republic and other parties to the Iran deal appeared close to an agreement on reviving the Iran deal.

Iran asserts that an agreement on the revival of the Iran nuclear deal hinges on the settlement of Safeguards issues between Tehran and the IAEA, and that without settling those issues, reviving the 2015 accord makes no sense.

Although Iran has always shown its good-will and cooperated with this body, this body is getting bold and wants one-sided concessions from Tehran but it should know this fact that there will be no more free concessions and this time Tehran will give concessions in case it benefit otherwise it will not cooperate with the IAEA more than Its international obligations.

And IAEA chief Rafael Grossi is better to stop repeating accusations against the Islamic Republic, calling on Iran to explain what he claimed to be “traces of enriched uranium” found at the country’s nuclear research sites three years ago.

Tehran now will abide by law and will cooperate with the IAEA according to its commitments stipulated for cooperation with this body and extra cooperation and concession will not be available any longer until the West comes to its senses and observe its obligations regarding the JCPOA otherwise the IAEA and the West should dream of Iran’s concessions any longer.

The post No More One-Sided Concession appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Major General Hossein Salami made the comments in an IRGC ceremony on Sunday during which he added that the Islamic Revolution led by late Imam Khomeini has grown stronger despite all the problems and difficulties as well as the psychological warfare waged by the enemy.

The IRGC chief added that the Islamic Revolution is advancing on both different fronts of mind (soft power) and the geographical, political and economic front (hard power), the impact of which can be seen around the world.

On the contrary, Major General Salami pointed to the failure of the US sanctions in the form of Trump-era “Maximum Pressure Campaign” against Tehran and said that “When we are in an economic war, but we don’t look to be a defeated country, this is a sign of victory and a manifestation of the fact that people believe that the country is moving towards getting stronger, progress and being aspiring in the military, political and cultural fields.”

Salami also pointed to the U.S. failures in Afghanistan and its withdrawal from the country and said, “It is a fact that the enemy is retreating from the trenches that it had created in the depths of the human mind and geography.”

He also pointed out that the United States has lost power to create dependent governments and underscored that “America’s political territory is dwindling and witnessing failures.”

In addition to the disgraceful US exit from Afghanistan, he also pointed to the U.S. failures in Syria and Egypt and said, “Look at the big plans and plots that were designed by the Zionist regime, but were pushed to be put aside. These cases are signs that announce a big event, which is the failure of America.”

The IRGC Commander-in-Chief emphasized that today “neither can Saudi Arabia do anything for America, nor America for Saudi Arabia,” adding, “Saudi Arabia, which used to help America with money, has lost its ability to solve its economic problems today.”

He went on to point to the U.S. president’s recent West Asia tour and said, “Joe Biden returned home from his recent trip to the region with no achievements.”

General Salami also said that the Islamic Revolution has spread its power to the Mediterranean Sea’s coasts today while the enemy is desperate and does not know with to do with growing Iran and Islam’s power.

The post America’s Power in Decline, Witnessing Failures appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Speaking in his weekly press conference on Monday, Saeed Khatibzadeh pointed out some international issues and answered a number of questions raised by the reporters.

Stressing that the pause in Vienna negotiations is at the request of the EU coordinator to the talks, Khatibzadeh said that the negotiations can resume and the agreement would be reached as soon as the US makes the necessary decisions.

Iranian spokesman added that the current U.S. administration has every day shown a different act in the negotiations and thinks it could deprive Iran of its national interests by bringing up issues like the deadlines.

Answering a question about the U.S. deadline for Moscow to reclaim its demands to the talks, Khatibzadeh said that the U.S. is not yet a party to the deal since it has withdrawn from the deal in 2018 and cannot decide such issues.

The date for returning to the talks will be announced by the EU coordinator Enrique Mora and Josep Borrell, Khatibzadeh noted.

Referring to the Tehran-Riyadh talks, the senior Iranian diplomat stressed, “A date was announced by our friends in Iraq for the fifth round of talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia. This date is not finalized yet. I will announce the date as soon as it is finalized and the two sides agree on a date.”

Khatibzadeh also condemned the massive execution in Saudi Arabia, saying, “This is inhumane and contrary to the axioms of international law, and unfortunately in the days when the whole world is talking about human rights, human rights assemblies are silent and the European Union and the Commissioner for Human Rights are silent.”

Commenting on the IRGC’s missile attack on Mossad bases in Erbil on Sunday, Khatibzadeh said that Iran by no means accepts that one of its neighbors, who has deep relations and interaction with it, will be the center of threat to Iran.

Citing that the Zionist regime has repeatedly caused insecurity from inside Iraq, and has formed several counter-revolutionary and terrorist groups in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, Khatibzadeh noted that Iran would not let the centers of sabotage and sending terrorist groups to be near its borders.

He also called the Iraqi central government to end such situations and not to allow the Iraqi borders to be abused.

Khatibzadeh went on to warn the Israeli regime by saying that Iran has the intelligence aristocracy about all the places they have a presence.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Khatibzadeh announced that the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is set to visit Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the Vienna talks and crisis in Ukraine.

The post Agreement Possible as Soon as U.S. Makes Decision appeared first on Iran News Daily.

In a statement on Thursday, Biden said the national emergency declared by former president Bill Clinton on March 15, 1995, must continue in effect beyond March 15, 2022.

The actions and policies of the Government of Iran continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States, the statement read.

“Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency with respect to Iran declared in Executive Order 12957,” it added.

Earlier, the European Union’s deputy foreign policy chief, Enrique Mora, who coordinates the Vienna talks, tweeted that “we are at the final stages of the Vienna Talks on JCPOA.”

In recent days, diplomats participating in the eighth round of negotiations in the Austrian capital have said that “a deal is within reach” provided that the remaining, narrowed-down issues are resolved.

What Biden did shows this point that the U.S. presidents either Democrat or Republican cannot be trusted and they just differ in forms  and they have no major difference in content which is arrogance regarding other states.

Biden with extending national emergency revealed his true nature that he does not do a favor regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran in Vienna talks and what the West is doing in Vienna is just because of Iran’s power which has forced Biden and his colleagues to give in Iran’s demands.

As the Supreme Leader has repeatedly emphasized, the U.S. cannot be trusted and the country is a wolf in disguise which tears apart any country which is weak or shows weakness.

Fortunately the current government in Iran and the negotiating team is determined to end the talks with defending full rights of the nation and they will not bow down to pressures like what Iran’s former reformist president and negotiating team did in 2015.

In recent days Western negotiating teams in Vienna talks have tried to increase the pressure on their Iranian counterparts by resorting to different claims. On Monday, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price threatened that Washington is prepared to “walk away” if Iran displays “intransigence to making progress.”

Iran has maintained that if the Vienna talks do not lead to an agreement, the U.S. and its three major European allies are to blame due to their failure to guarantee their strict adherence to the JCPOA.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also said the Western side’s hurriedness to reach an agreement via the Vienna negotiations will not make Tehran turn a blind eye to its red lines.

Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a phone call with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday, referring to the diplomatic efforts to revive the 2015 Iran deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“We are ready to immediately finalize a good agreement,” he said. “But the Western side’s rush and haste cannot prevent Iran’s red lines from being observed.”

The problem for reaching an agreement lies in the West’s arrogant attitude towards Iran and as long as this attitude exists, there will be no agreement between Iran and the JCPOA signatories because Iran will never accept any bully from any country and bully will lead to duly and strong response to those who resort to bully.

So Biden and his allies are better to forget the current arrogant approach towards Iran because they are too weak to stop Iran as they have shown their weakness regarding Ukraine crisis. If Biden wants to reach a deal with Tehran in the JCPOA, he is better to put aside his hostile approach because hostility brings hostility and he is better to quit former U.S. President Donald Trump’s path of creating chaos in the international relations.

The Islamic Republic of Iran since its establishment in 1979 has proved that it is not a country which can be brought to its knees by bully and arrogance of any country, especially world arrogance and the West is better to put aside hostility against Iran and stretch friendship hands towards Iran which will benefit all parties.

The post Can Biden Be Trusted? appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Last week the U.S. administration had a controversial decision which shocked the world, and even some of its allies have criticized this decision and called it “theft”.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to effectively seize the Afghan central bank’s funds in the United States and repurpose half of the money as compensation to the victims of the 9/11 attacks drew rebuke and accusations of “theft” against Washington.

Biden issued an executive order last Friday that would split $7.1b belonging to Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) almost evenly between humanitarian assistance to the struggling country and funds to cover judgments from lawsuits that 9/11 victims and their families had filed against the Taliban in U.S. courts.

This arrogant decision drew criticisms from friends and foes of the U.S. “The people of Afghanistan had nothing to do with 9/11; that is an undeniable fact,” Bilal Askaryar, an Afghan-American activist, told Al Jazeera.

“What Biden is proposing is not justice for 9/11 families, it is theft of public funds from an impoverished nation already on the brink of famine and starvation brought on by the United States’ disastrous withdrawal.”

The U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed in August of last year, with the Taliban capturing Kabul amid the pullout of US troops from the country after a 20-year war.

Washington, which had negotiated its withdrawal with the Taliban, quickly moved to freeze DAB’s US-based assets. The 9/11 victims’ families then sought the money through the courts. One particular case that had obtained a default judgment against the Taliban in 2012 became central in that effort.

The plaintiffs originally sued a host of entities and individuals across the Middle East and Afghanistan – many at odds with one another and adversarial to al-Qaeda, which carried out the attacks in 2001. The defendants included former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – and the Taliban.

Halema Wali, cofounder of Afghans for a Better Tomorrow, a U.S.-based advocacy group, stressed that the money in the Afghan central bank belongs to the people of Afghanistan, who are experiencing a dire humanitarian crisis.

With skyrocketing inflation and the state institutions in shambles, the Afghan economy – which has depended on foreign aid – is all but falling apart. The UN World Food Program has warned that 23 million people are facing “severe hunger” in the country.

Reacting to this decision, the Taliban said Afghanistan will be forced to reconsider its policy towards the United States unless Washington reverses a decision to freeze part of the country’s assets as compensation for victims of the 9/11 attacks.

The move drew an angry response from the country’s new Taliban leaders, which branded the seizure a “theft” and a sign of U.S. “moral decay.”

“The 9/11 attacks had nothing to do with Afghanistan,” said Monday’s statement, signed by deputy spokesman Inamullah Samangani.

“Any misappropriation of the property of the Afghan people under the pretext of this incident is a clear violation of the agreement reached with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” the statement added, using the Taliban’s name for the country.

“If the United States does not deviate from its position and continues its provocative actions, the Islamic Emirate will also be forced to reconsider its policy towards the country.”

This is not the first time that the U.S. confiscates the wealth and money of the nations in its own or nationals’ favor under different pretexts.

The U.S. governments once in a while perform new form of their piracy and looting which are sometimes inspired from the Hollywood movies or inspire the Hollywood directors to copy the U.S. officials’ innovation in theft or action thrillers in countries.

Iranians very well  know this type of sophisticated theft of the Americans as they have experienced it since 1979 when the Islamic Republic was established and billions of dollars of the country were blocked in the U.S. banks and every time some incident happens in the world and against American nationals, the American officials use Iran’s frozen money to pay damage to the victims of the incidents while Iran has no role in them.

Afghan people gradually will realize that for years they have been fooled by the U.S. officials and it is time to stand against this arrogant country to get back its money. Although the UN has urged the U.S. to release the whole amount of Afghanistan’s money, the U.S. officials have ignored it while Afghans are struggling with poverty and several shortages.

It is time for the world and international bodies to rise against the U.S. theft under different pretexts because the number of countries falling prey to the U.S. is on the rise and nations are the main victims of the U.S. theft and sanctions.

The post Theft in American Style appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Ortel says, “Perhaps we all should have listened far more closely to America’s founders who warned, ‘beware foreign entanglements’ at a time when America was insulated by two vast oceans.”

“Under both established political parties we have not only squandered precious lives and trillions of dollars, but we have also eroded trust in the basic decency of our people by tolerating if not enabling grievous errors in our foreign policies from Baghdad, to Benghazi and more recently Kabul to pick just three cases,” notes Ortel, also an investor who is interested in lasting peace.

Following is the text of the interview:

Q: Do you expect Donald Trump to run again for president in the 2024 election? What will be its ramifications if he runs for the post?

A: Donald Trump will play a significant role in the 2022 and 2024 election season trying to eject country club globalists from the Republican Party, promoting conservative economic policies and candidates, reaching out to moderate Democrats and trying to attract support from independents.

On the one hand, Trump might relish returning to the White House as President to undo Joe Biden’s already disastrous missteps and “policies”. But given his age and the range of his business interests, opportunities and family obligations, he may ultimately choose to play kingmaker and decide to remain a potent power behind the throne.

Either way, Donald Trump will remain a strong force with which domestic and foreign interests must reckon.

Q: Many political observers believe Republican measures under Trump’s leadership will put U.S. democracy at risk. What is your comment?

A: The United States is, in fact, a republic and not a democracy. In 2020, if we are to believe reported results, millions more voted than in any prior election, so there is scant evidence that is credible to suggest that potential voters were denied voices then.
If anything, the biggest threats to freedom inside the United States emanate from overreach by our gargantuan government that is left unchecked by captured corporate media, academia and multinational corporations who are each enthralled with unchecked, crony globalism.

Q: Don’t you think the current division in the U.S. is dangerous to its future? 

A: The biggest danger inside the United States is that our education bureaucracy puts blinders on students who are, sadly, encouraged not to learn from the mistakes and triumphs seen in history inside and outside our country.
The division you speak of is a false contest, designed to distract attention from issues that affect all of us across the political spectrum. These include assaults against private-sector workers and incomes, overreach by our surveillance apparatus, and addiction to foreign meddling and military actions.

In truth, a sweeping trend that gathers force now is a rejection of both established political parties and growing belief that independents can work together, as we certainly must, to solve vexing problems at home not simply wallow in misery asking for more and more resources but never checking to see how effectively these sums are spent.

Q: How do you describe U.S. foreign policy in recent decades? Cooperative or militant? 

A: In a word, incompetent.

In 1992, the United States was the sole superpower with a national debt and annual government deficit that both were trending downward.

Q: It seems people in street don’t care about U.S. foreign policy. However, who are the main foreign policy decision-makers? Hawkish politicians or lobbyists?  

A: The perpetual and vast bureaucracies in our State and Defense Departments, and in our National Security complexes seem impervious to regulation or control. Its actions are cheered on by media, academia and think tanks, and supported by the donor class who all too frequently benefit in material ways by choices to intervene and/or to stand down.

Until conflict erupts, you are correct to say that most Americans are much more preoccupied providing for their own families here at home.

Perhaps we all should have listened far more closely to America’s founders who warned, ‘beware foreign entanglements’ at a time when America was insulated by two vast oceans.

Whoever has been in charge of America’s foreign policies should hang heads in shame.

The post Whoever has been in charge of America’s foreign policy should hang heads in shame: American writer appeared first on Iran News Daily.

According to reports the Iranian delegation in the Vienna talks have announced that Tehran has put many offers on the table and encouraged the other side to come up with new proposals to resolve the outstanding issues. So Iran has done its job and now the ball is on the West’s court to show their sincerity towards its claims.

Actually the Islamic of Republic of Iran has proved the U.S. that all the Washington pressures on Tehran have been repelled by the genuine resistance of the Iranian nation and the country will not give in the U.S. maximum unilateral pressures and many American politicians have admitted that the pressures have been futile and Iran has continued advancing its nuclear progress.

As diplomats from Iran and the 4+1 countries press on to undo former U.S. president Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran, an American senator says the only upside of the policy was that it proved unilateral sanctions make things worse.

In a tweet, Senator Chris Murphy last week strongly criticized Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 Iran deal, which he followed by imposing illegal sanctions against the Islamic Republic with the objective of crippling the Iranian economy.

The deal is formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Negotiations were launched in April 2021 under the Joe Biden administration to have the US return to the JCPOA and lift U.S. sanctions in exchange for Iran returning to its nuclear obligations.

“The only upside of Trump’s disastrous ‘maximum pressure’ Iran policy was that it definitively proved that unilateral sanctions make things worse, not better,” Murphy said.

However, the Democratic lawmaker resorted to fear-mongering about Iran’s nuclear activities and its regional influence so as to attack the Republican president.

“Iran got stronger and their behavior got more dangerous after we left the deal,” he asserted.

“There is nothing about the last four years that tells us America or the world is safer with no nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran,” Murphy said in another tweet.

He claimed that once Trump exited the deal, “Iran began shooting at our troops, sped up nuclear research, and increased support for dangerous regional proxies.”

Murphy has been a vocal critic of the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA and his maximum pressure sanctions on Iran. He has also slammed the move as “one of the dumbest, most dangerous foreign policy decisions of the last fifty years.”

Murphy has not been the first and the last American politicians who has admitted and will admit Iran’s resistance and success in thwarting the U.S. pressures and sanctions.

Iranian officials have also dismissed the so-called maximum pressure campaign as a humiliating failure, stressing that the Iranian nation’s “maximum resistance” defeated the aggressive policy.

“When the Americans officially acknowledge that they have failed in their maximum pressure [policy], an ignominious failure, this is a victory for the Iranian nation,” President Ebrahim Raisi has said.

“Today, the nation’s maximum resistance to [acts of] sedition and sanctions has borne fruit and the maximum pressure has failed,” he added.

President Raisi on the eve of the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution once against reiterated that Iran welcomes interaction with the world but it will not bow down to any pressure and the country has not pinned its hopes at Vienna talks or at the U.S. decision because the country is independent and relies on its own capabilities.

So any pressure on Iran’s negotiating team in Vienna from the Western party is in vain because this team is totally different from the previous one who started the talks on Iran’s nuclear programs in 2015 and signing the JCPOA, and the current team which is formed by revolutionary experts will not retreat any inch from getting the country’s rights.

The U.S. as well as its allies in Vienna are better to come to their senses and stop pressuring Iran if they want to reach a deal and they should take this point into consideration that this time Tehran is after a real win-win deal rather than getting a fist of void promises and obligations which have nothing for Tehran but waste of time and energy and killing its nuclear energy industry.

The post U.S. Pressures Against Iran “Futile” appeared first on Iran News Daily.

TEHRAN (Iran News) –  According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, hospitals in nearly half of American states are close to near full capacity as the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the Coronavirus sweeping across the country hits record numbers of infections.

President Joe Biden has ordered the deployment of more military health personnel to “hard-hit” states to help with staff shortages and provide relief efforts.

Biden announced the phased dispatch of 1,000 military health personnel saying “I know we’re all frustrated as we enter this new year”, reiterating his message that COVID-19 remains a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” He says the military deployment would help hard-pressed hospitals “nationwide”.

Hospitals that are set to receive the military deployments have cautioned that teams ranging in size from seven to 25 might not be enough to slow the surge.

Bob Riney, the president of healthcare operations at Detroit’s Henry Ford Health System, which has already received some federal help and expects to receive more military medics says “We have systemic challenges (with) incredible volume and very, very tired medical practitioners … and that is true of all health systems that have been in the middle of this surge”, adding “there is not a silver-bullet solution”.

The military will assist health care systems in states where patients suffering from other diseases that are being deemed “not urgent” will get their treatment postponed to make space for covid infections. They will also fill staffing gaps as more and more infected health care workers themselves are taking days off to recover, while patient demand grows.

The Pentagon says it has around 1,000 additional active-duty medical troops ready for deployment to civilian hospitals around the country if needed.

In addition to the active-duty assistance, more than 15,000 National Guard troops have been activated in 49 states to help with the pandemic response in areas including clinical care, testing and vaccinations.

The announcements are strikingly similar to the earlier days of the pandemic in the United States when the active-duty military was called up, hospitals struggled to treat waves of patients sick with COVID-19. The only difference is that during those difficult times, vaccines had not been approved yet.

Alabama, Missouri, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin have been reported to be among the states suffering from a particular shortage of ICU beds.

Texas had the fewest free ICU beds available at around seven percent. Data suggests Southern and Midwestern states have been disproportionately affected.

In Washington state, Governor Jay Inslee says hospitals will temporarily stop non-urgent procedures “so as much capacity and staff can be dedicated to emergent needs, the people who need this right now”.

In Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers says National Guard members will be trained as certified nursing assistants to support hospitals and nursing homes. He says “we’re estimating the first round of staffing and relief rollout will allow skilled nursing facilities to open up 200 or more beds by the end of February” as the state announced a record number of confirmed cases.

Alabama state reported a record number of children hospitalized with coronavirus this week, due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant. At least 60 children had been hospitalized with 13 receiving treatment in intensive care.
The state has recorded a number of record case highs throughout January as state health officials told the media they were “extremely concerned” about the rise of hospitalizations among children and parents to get their children inoculated.

As the surge ripples from state to state, the impact on health systems has been worsened by the exhaustion of even the reserve of traveling nurses who are also becoming infected in droves.

Lisa Greenwood, the associate dean of nursing at Madison College, which is training the Guard members has warned that “our health care providers are beyond exhausted. We simply do not have enough staff to care for all those who are ill”.

Data from the Department of Health and Human Services shows at least 85% of adult intensive care unit beds were in use across 19 entire states, while in 24 states at least 80% of staffed hospital beds were occupied.

More than 5.5 million new cases were recorded over a seven-day timeframe, by far surpassing all previous records. The number of people hospitalized with the virus has also hit new highs.

According to U.S. media, more than 2,224 deaths from COVID-19 were recorded on January 13. The daily average in deaths is 1,873, twice as high as at the end of November 2021. Experts say these trends are strongly expected to continue with the fast spread of infections.

The average in new cases has reached over 800,000 per day, an unprecedented pandemic high. On January 13, more than 889,000 new cases were reported, and more than nine million cases have been logged since the New Year. At the present rate, the U.S. can expect to have documented 70 million COVID cases anytime now depending on which data being published that the American public deems as a reliable source.

The cumulative death toll has reached 870,000. However, according to the Economist, excess deaths are now over 1.1 million. In historical terms, the scale of death is reaching the proportions of death that occurred in the population during the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Meanwhile, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the national infection rate has reached 26 percent, which underscores the massive undercounting being announced and the scale of infection that continues to run rampant across the country.

Biden has also promised he would direct his administration to procure an additional 500 million COVID-19 home tests to help meet surging demand. The White House had previously pledged to make 500 million tests available starting in January.

The U.S. President won the Presidential race pledging to lift the threat of the pandemic and promising to handle the virus much better than his predecessor. Having finished his first year in office, things are not going to plan. Over the past few weeks, Covid-19 cases have reached record levels; deaths are rising nationally and the number of Americans hospitalized with the disease is higher now than at any previous point during the pandemic.

Long lines to get a Covid test and low availability of at-home tests have sparked criticism of the White House’s readiness, while different guidelines and confused messaging from public health officials has left the disease-weary public both frustrated and confused.

That has led to a significant drop in public confidence with the new White House coupled with a drop in Biden’s overall approval ratings.

Despite attempts by the Biden administration to downplay the dangers posed by Omicron, the pressure on health systems is creating a severe health crisis in America led by the staff shortages to which the White House has no serious response apart from pledging to deploy more medical troops.

The U.S. President blames too many Americans for still “sitting on the sidelines” of the pandemic fight because they haven’t taken the vaccine. “If you haven’t gotten vaccinated, do it” he says. “But as long as we have tens of millions of people who will not get vaccinated, we’re going to have full hospitals and needless deaths” Biden added.

Critics argue the administration has not done enough to convince the public to take the vaccine.

This comes as the Supreme Court last week dealt another blow to the president’s vaccine-only plan by rejecting a national vaccine-or-test requirement for large US businesses.

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