Submitted by: M Mulukin
A Strange “No War, No Peace” Silence has Fallen on the Iran-US Contest.
13 October 2020
US President Donald Trump and Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appear to have declared a truce in their mutual demonization campaigns as the US presidential election approaches. The blood and thunder rhetoric and aggression marking recent years have descended into sullen silence.
Tehran is waiting on tenterhooks for the victor.
Trump is fully preoccupied with proving he can beat a more personal enemy, coronavirus, without a mask; Khamenei is weighing the pros and cons of a re-elected Trump against the Democratic Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s vice president, reaching the White House.
Both presidential contenders have said they would re-open negotiations with the Islamic Republic. Trump has promised Iran would come out of these talks “a rich country:” Biden is an unknown quantity.
Diplomatic sources report that under-the-table talks are quietly in progress between Washington and Tehran with the help of various brokers. Both administrations must therefore have some inkling about the other’s intentions.
The Trump administration has made no secret of its goals: Renegotiation of the 2015 nuclear accord with the world powers, which Trump abandoned; making sure that Iran never gains a nuclear weapon, scraps its advanced ballistic missile program and gives up its “malign operations” in the Middle East. Not a chance
Khamenei, one of the world’s few absolute rulers, has to decide whether to insist on settling unfinished business with the Trump administration or look to the future. Or read Ezekiel?
Iran’s leaders have vowed to avenge the assassination of their iconic strategist, Al Qods Chief General Qassem Soleimani, last year by a US drone, a string of sabotage attacks on its nuclear facilities, peaking last July with the destruction of an advanced centrifuge plant in Natanz, and the crippling US sanctions that have reduced the country to penury.
That revenge has not been forthcoming.
Iran has been curiously quiescent on those scores. This may be because, at 81 and long ailing, Khamenei’s eye is fixed on his legacy as the guardian of the Shiite Islamic revolution against the existential menace posed by the “Great Satan” on the ideological rather than the military battlefield.
He sees Western democratic values, the modern culture of human rights, civil liberties and gender equality as the most devastating weapons the West holds against the Muslim world and Iran’s Islamic revolutionary ideals – hence, a direct menace to its regime.
Preserving the Islamic regime and its fundamental orientation is Khamenei’s foremost concern.
In his view. US sanctions over violations of human rights are part of the American scheme for regime change, in which the Jewish state plays a leading role.
In future negotiations with the US, Khamenei would prefer to limit the agenda to the issues of nuclear and missile programs, while firmly excluding human rights and democratic issues – as Washington does in its relations with Arab and Muslim countries.
Regional aggression, in keeping with the command to “export the revolution,” will nonetheless be a sticking point if and when negotiations are launched. Meanwhile, as they wait to see who comes up on top on November. 3, Iran’s leaders have adopted a strategy of “no war, no peace.”
Iran Says 'Historic' US Defeat Close As Arms Embargo To Be Lifted.
13 October 2020
Iran on Monday said the US was facing an "historic" defeat as an arms embargo against Tehran is to be lifted within days despite Washington's bid to have it extended.
Addressing the issue at a news conference, foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh [pictured above] also lashed out at the "insanity" of the latest US sanctions against banks in the Islamic republic.
On Sunday the "historic defeat of the United States will be realised, and that came to be despite its attempts, trickery and extrajudicial moves," Khatibzadeh said.
"Iran again showed that the United States is not as all-powerful as it says," he added.
The embargo on the sale of arms to Iran is due to start expiring progressively from October 18, under the terms of a UN resolution that confirmed the 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic republic and world powers.
Washington suffered a setback in August when it failed to win support from the United Nations Security Council to indefinitely extend the embargo.
President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal in 2018 before reimposing US sanctions on Iran. Since then, the US has slapped additional sanctions on Iran as part of a campaign of "maximum pressure", with the latest on Thursday concerning 18 banks.
"We used to say they are addicted to sanctions, but now they have reached insanity," Khatibzadeh said. The spokesman added that the excessive use of sanctions had caused the Americans to "cannibalise" themselves, as well as prompted other countries to find alternatives to the US dollar.
The US claims that transactions involving humanitarian goods such as food and medicine are exempt and that sanctions are "directed at the regime".
Yet statements from experts and rights groups indicate the sanctions have had dire humanitarian consequences and caused suffering for the people of Iran.
In a speech on Monday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pointed to the role of sanctions on Iran's troubled economy and called them "a crime in the true sense of the word."
He emphasised that the "cure" for the economy "should not be sought outside of the country", and called for the "focusing on production, preventing the continuous devaluation of national currency" and fighting smuggling and corruption.
"We will continue resisting so that, God willing, this maximum pressure will turn to maximum disgrace and a cause of regret for them," he said.
Syrian Army Eliminates Daesh Terrorist Group.
13 October 2020
Damascus, A unit of the Syrian Arab Army today shot down a group of terrorists from the radical Islamic State (Daesh) organization in the centre of the country.
The military eliminated members of a Daesh remnants gang while it tried to approach army points around the towns of Mastihyeh and Tahmaz, in the eastern desert of the central province of Hama, the semi-official newspaper al-Watan reported, on the basis of reports from military sources.
It added that an artillery vehicle and quantities of weapons and ammunition belonging to the terrorists were destroyed.
The remnants of the Daesh recently intensified their attacks in the desert areas against army positions and distant localities, where they massacred civilians and looted their property and livestock, according to reports.
Several terrorists captured by the Syrian army confirmed in confessions broadcast by the official media that they received weapons, money and orders to carry out these attacks from U.S. forces positioned in the Tanef region of Syria on the common border with Iraq and Jordan.
North Korea Unveils 'Monster' Intercontinental Ballistic Missile at Parade.
13 October 2020
Analysts say that, were it to become operational, the projectile would be one of the largest road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles in the world.
North Korea unveiled a previously unseen intercontinental ballistic missile at an unprecedented predawn military parade on Saturday that showcased the country's long-range weapons for the first time in two years.
Analysts said the missile,was shown on a transporter vehicle with 11 axles, [pictured above].
"This missile is a monster," said Melissa Hanham, deputy director of the Open Nuclear Network.
Also displayed were the Hwasong-15, which is the longest-range missile ever tested by North Korea, and what appeared to be a new submarine-launched ballistic missile.
Ahead of the parade, which was held to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers' Party, officials in South Korea and the United States said Kim Jong Un could use the event to unveil a new "strategic weapon" as promised earlier this year.
Don Stewart’s BREAKING NEWS 12 October 2020
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