‘Maximum Pressure’ on Iran from Trump > Biden

Other nations desiring global multilateralism seem to be wearying of endless pressures: crushing sanctions (or war by other means), bombastic military threats, lies presented as truths: China, Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia.  But given the power of US client-state Zionist Israel,  Iran deserves special attention right now.

From Iranian FM Javad Zarif on Twitter:

Apr 14
Nuclear terrorism at Natanz has unleashed dangerous spiral that can only be contained by ending US economic terrorism initiated by Trump

From the Guardian, April 11, 2021:

‘Israel appears to confirm it carried out cyberattack on Iran nuclear facility; Shutdown happened hours after Natanz reactor’s new centrifuges were started

And what of US mega-aid to client state Israel?

‘Anti-Israel Push to Restrict Aid Faces Huge Rebuke in Congress,  April 22, 2021, national review online:

( https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/anti-israel-push-to-restrict-aid-faces-huge-rebuke-in-congress/ )

“A bipartisan group of more than 300 lawmakers is pouring cold water on a campaign by progressive lawmakers to restrict U.S. military aid to Israel, as the country faces continued threats from Iran and Hezbollah.

“Congress is committed to maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge and its ability to defend itself, by itself, against persistent threats,” write the 330 members of Congress to the top lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee in a letter spearheaded by Representatives Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Ted Deutch, who chairs a subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and terrorism. It goes on to call U.S. aid to Israel “a vital and cost-effective expenditure” that is in America’s national security interests. “For decades, Presidents of both parties have understood the strategic importance of providing Israel with security assistance,” they write.  […]

In recent weeks, over a dozen lawmakers have signed onto a bill introduced by Representative Betty McCollum to prohibit the use of U.S. funds toward certain Israeli activities. “I don’t want $1 of U.S. aid to Israel paying for the military detention and abuse of Palestinian children, the demolition of Palestinian homes, or the annexation of Palestinian land,” McCollum told The Intercept, which first reported on the legislation.”

You’ll likely remember that the Pentagon had admitted that Donald Trump had ordered the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general, that took place on  January 3, 2020 when the United States launched a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport that targeted and killed Soleimani while purportedly on his way to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi in Baghdad. Soleimani was commander of the Quds Force, one of five branches of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard…

You may also remember the assassination of:

“Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, dubbed the “father of the Iranian bomb,” died from injuries after armed assassins fired upon his car, according to reports by Iranian media’, according to cnbc.com.

 Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif condemned the killing and alleged “serious indications” of Israeli involvement.”

What I’d just discovered was that on Nov. 29, 2020, the Daily Mail published leaked documents detailing Mossad’s assassination plotters and logistical co-conspirators.

One might have hoped that the Biden administration would have eagerly rejoined the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA or the Iran nuke deal’) post-Trump withdrawl…but all indications have been that he and SoS Anthony Blinken have wanted to ‘re-negotiate’ it.

While Javad Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani staunchly maintain that nuclear weapons are forbidden by their religion, the Western Empire is adamant that they are seeking nuclear weapons.

In any even, talks and ‘negotiations’ have been underway (off and on) for weeks in Vienna, and various media sources report differently.  Iranian spokespeople have often said in effect:

Remove the sanctions, we’ll quit enrich uranium to higher levels; the plan does NOT require new ‘negotiations’.

From Tasmin News English on April 27, 2021:

‘Iran, Russia, China Insist on Removal of US Sanctions ahead of JCPOA Meeting, April, 27, 2021

Aha; from yesterday via globalsecurity.org/wmd:

“Representatives of Iran and the signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have agreed to accelerate the process of the talks on the revival of the agreement.

The negotiators agreed that expert groups would continue their work in two areas of lifting the US sanctions against Iran and the nuclear-related measures required to be taken by Tehran in an “intensive and fast” way.

It was also decided to set up a third expert group to examine practical arrangements needed to implement the process of sanctions removal and then the return of the United States to the JCPOA.

Iran and the P4+1 group of countries have been involved in the diplomatic process in Vienna since April 6 to save the JCPOA. The nuclear deal has survived almost three years of unilateral US sanctions on Iran, which in turn prompted Tehran to reduce its own commitments in a legal move under the accord.

The US, which withdrew from the deal in 2018, is also in talks with the JCPOA participants, except for Iran. The talks have so far failed to lead to concrete results as the US insists on pushing its own narrative with regard to several issues – including which sanctions need to be removed – into the talks.

The US is also pressing for a step-for-step removal of the sanctions, which has been rejected categorically by Tehran.” […]

“Following the end of the new round of the Vienna talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, said in a post on his Twitter account that the participants have consensus on the full restoration of the JCPOA in its original form and decided to expedite the process.

The top Russian negotiator added that the session of the JCPOA Joint Commission proved that the “participants are guided by the unity of purpose which is full restoration of the nuclear deal in its original form.”

So…stay tuned; the egregious sanctions are also playing hell as far as Covid19 cases and vaccines in Iran.

And yet, with all that’s afoot in Iran, FM Zarif had Tweeted on April 14:

@JZarif

On #SaadiDay, as relevant today as in 1258 CE:

All humans are members of one frame
Since all, at first, from the same essence came.
When time afflicts a limb with pain
The other limbs cannot at rest remain.
If thou feel not for other’s misery
A human being is no name for thee.

 ~ Saadi Shirazi, Persian Poet

#SaadiDay on Twitter

(cross-posted at caucus99percent.com)