US-Iran deal dangling in the air

Tuesday, 16 August 2022 — Indian Punchline

by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR

Author Salman Rushdie, an ‘X’ factor in JCPOA (File photo)

In an interview on The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro Show, the former prime minister of Israel — and the likely next PM — Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Sunday that he had an ingenuous Plan B for forcing regime change in Iran. Netanyahu said, “With low-flying satellites” and other miniature devices, “you might break their (regime’s) hold—their monopoly on information. That begins to challenge them.”

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Iran at the crossroads of history

Sunday, 14 August 2022 — Indian Punchline

Iranian envoy to the IAEA in Vienna, Mohsen Naziri Asl, leaves Palais Coburg,  venue of closed-door nuclear talks, August 5, 2022

From the look of it, the US-Iran rapprochement is getting on to a bumpy start. The usage ‘rapprochement’ is deliberate — and will be disputed — because in the near term at least, what can be expected if an agreement is indeed reached in Vienna, which is an open question, can only be a state of cordial relations between the two countries, no longer hostile but not yet friendly either.

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US, Iran let hopes shape their future — not hurts

Wednesday, 29 June 2022 — Indian Punchline

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani (R) with EU envoy Enrique Mora who will shuttle between the US and Iranian sides at the talks in Doha, Qatar, which began on June 28, 2022

There could be a feeling of déjà vu over the news that indirect talks began between the United States and Iran under the mediation of the European Union (EU) in the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday. Is any positive outcome to be expected in terms of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA)? Quite likely. The reason for saying so is that there is a confluence of circumstances today, internal and external, that gives hope.

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Russia hits back on “sanctions from hell”

Saturday, 5 March 2022 — Indian Punchline

Moscow Kremlin has demanded from Biden or Blinken a waiver of sanctions to allow Iran deal to go through.

An innocuous tweet from Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organisations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov earlier today in the afternoon said that he met with the EU Coordinator at the Vienna talks on Iran nuclear issue Enrique Mora and “raised a number of questions which need to be duly addressed now in order to ensure smooth civil nuclear cooperation with Iran.”

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Iran Unbound. What it means.

Thursday, 17 February 2022 — Indian Punchline

Iran’s negotiator Ali Bagheri says nuclear deal ‘closer than ever’

The negotiations in Vienna over the revival of the Iran nuclear deal, known as JCPOA, are almost certainly close to an agreement. The surest sign is that crude oil futures were sharply lower in mid-morning Asian trade Feb. 17 despite bearish developments due to the rising tensions on the Ukraine-Russia border. Even an interim deal could potentially increase oil exports by 700,000 b/d, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics, easing the persistent tightness in oil markets.

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Iran-Russia hit maximum strategy

Saturday, 22 January 2022 — The Saker

Three ain’t a crowd: The Iran-Russia summit this week, concurrent with RIC military drills in the Sea of Oman, in advance of a Xi-Putin meeting in two weeks, suggests a rapidly-advancing strategic vision for the three Eurasian powers.

By Pepe Escobar, posted with the author’s permission and cross-posted with The Cradle

Photo Credit: The Cradle

The official visit to Russia by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, at the invitation of Vladimir Putin, generated one of the most stunning geopolitical pics of the 21st century: Raisi performing his afternoon prayers at the Kremlin.

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US’ pathway to Iran has thorny shrubs

22 June 2021 — Indian Punchline

by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR

Iran’s president-elect Ebrahim Raisi addresses his first press conference in Tehran, June 21, 2021

It is painful to read the US reports commenting on the result of Iran’s presidential  election. The New York Times carried a blurb on Monday, “Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s ultraconservative president-elect, said that he would not meet with President Biden, and that Tehran’s position on its ballistic missile program was “nonnegotiable.”

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The China-Iran pact is a game changer – III

1 April 2021 — Indian Punchline

Part III: There is no timetable for an official launch

The China-Iran joint statement of last Saturday has made waves in the international media and among regional analysts from Israel to India. Israel is anxious that there is going to be security cooperation between China and Iran. Indians are brooding over the fate of their Chabahar port project in eastern Iran, integral to its “regional connectivity”.

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The China-Iran pact is a game changer – III

1 April 2021 — Indian Punchline

Part III: There is no timetable for an official launch

The China-Iran joint statement of last Saturday has made waves in the international media and among regional analysts from Israel to India. Israel is anxious that there is going to be security cooperation between China and Iran. Indians are brooding over the fate of their Chabahar port project in eastern Iran, integral to its “regional connectivity”.

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Britain’s Nuke Increase Is In Breach Of Its NPT Obligations

16 March 2021 — Moon of Alabama

Less than a month ago the British government chided Iran to ‘come back into compliance‘ with the nuclear deal:

“I don’t think that we should be sending a signal that we are going to overlook this non-compliance or just brush it under the carpet,” James Cleverly, Britain’s junior foreign minister who covers the Middle East and North Africa, told the BBC.

“This is in Iran’s hands, they are the ones breaching the conditions of the JCPOA, they are the ones that can do something about this, and they should come back into compliance,” he said.

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Dangerous Provocations Ahead for Iran

9 December 2020 — Land Destroyer

(Tony CartalucciNEO) – The recent assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has been framed by an almost gleeful Western media as an attempt to ensure incoming US President Joe Biden does not return to the so-called “Iran Nuclear Deal” signed while he was Vice President in 2015.

The story goes that Biden had hoped to return the US back to a prominent leadership role upon the global stage and that making peace with Iran was among his priorities.

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Trump’s EU Poodles – Germany, Britain And France – Obey His Order To Kill The Nuclear Deal With Iran

16 January 2020 — Moon of Alabama

The European poodles who co-signed the nuclear deal with Iran – Britain, France and Germany (the EU3) – have been told by the Trump administration to kill the agreement. Today they started the process to do so. The other co-signers, Russia, China and Iran, continue to support the deal.

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New British Prime Minister Faced with Two Major Challenges: Brexit and Iran

26 July, 2019 — Info Brics

By Sarah Abed, an independent journalist and political commentator

The two most pressing issues on newly appointed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plate right now are Brexit and Iran. Will the UK leave the EU on October 31st regardless of whether they have a new deal, as he has stated previously? Will he choose diplomacy with Iran over increased sanctions and a military confrontation?
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Imperial Overreach in Iran By Suvrat Raju

27 June, 2019 — Research Unit for Political Economy

In the last week of June 2019, as this article was being written, tensions between the U.S. and Iranian governments escalated sharply. On June 20, 2019, in response to aggressive U.S. actions, including the mobilization of troops, naval forces, and aerial provocations, Iran shot down a U.S. surveillance drone flying  near the Iranian border.[i]  The U.S. government used this as an excuse to threaten to bomb Iran.[ii] The United States might implement this threat in the near future, setting off a wider conflict.

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New York Times Supports False Trump Claims About An “Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program” That Does Not Exist

27 May 2019 — Moon of Alabama

During a press conference in Japan U.S. President Donald Trump today said (video):

And I’m not looking to hurt Iran at all.

I’m looking to have Iran say, “No nuclear weapons.”

We have enough problems in this world right now with nuclear weapons. No nuclear weapons for Iran.

And I think we’ll make a deal.

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Media Debate Best Way to Dominate Iran By Gregory Shupak

12 May 2018 — FAIR

The New York Times‘ Bret Stephens (5/8/18) is glad Trump canceled the Iran deal because that allows the US to threaten Iran with “economic ruin and possible war.”

The debate in the New York Times and Washington Post over President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iran deal, revolves around which tactics America should use to dominate Iran.

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The Iran Dilemma – The Tyrant Has Spoken By Peter Koenig

18 October 2017 — Global Research

The tyrant, of course, is Donald Trump. He launched tirade after tirade, and keeps launching them, insult after insult, lies after lies after miserable lies at the Government of Iran – about Iran not fulfilling the conditions of the Nuclear Deal. The typical mass indoctrination of the western world through the presstitute mainstream media. Goebbels might smile in his grave, how well the neolibs or neo-Nazis have learned from the Nazis of his time – and perfected this science of deceit in the last 50 years. Fortunately, the counter culture, the truth seekers have also become more sophisticated. More people are waking up to the truth every day.

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