Tag Archives: Nuclear Deal

Iran detained American sailors at gunpoint, U.S. military says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The 10 U.S. sailors who were briefly detained by the Iranian military last week were held at gunpoint and had a verbal exchange with Iranian personnel before they were released, the U.S. military said Monday.

Just two days after the United States and other world powers lifted sanctions on Iran, the military released its most comprehensive timeline to date of the events surrounding the sailors’ brief detainment.

In a news release, the military said the sailors also had two SIM cards pulled out of their satellite phones, but that there was no gunfire exchange.

There were no details on the verbal exchange the sailors had with the Iranians.

The U.S. sailors, who were aboard two patrol craft, were detained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on January 12 when they inadvertently entered Iranian territorial waters. They were released the next day after being held for about 15 hours.

The U.S. military said the Americans were intercepted after the diesel engine in one of their boats developed a mechanical problem, although it was unclear if the crew was aware of their precise location.

The sailors were released unharmed and are in good health.

Their prompt release came just days before world powers lifted crippling sanctions on Iran in return for Tehran’s implementation of a deal curbing its nuclear program.

The Obama administration has said their speedy release shows the power of diplomacy and the promise of its new engagement with Iran.

Republicans, however, have been critical of the deal with Iran, and some say the detainment of the sailors shows how little regard Iran has for America.

Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has been among some of the vocal critics. On Fox News Sunday, Cruz said the only reason the sailors were seized was because of the “weakness of Barack Obama.”

In a speech at Liberty University on Monday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump also lambasted the administration over the incident with the sailors.

“Those young people were on their hands and knees in a begging position with their hands up and thugs behind them with guns, and then we talk like it’s OK. It’s not OK. It’s lack of respect.”

Secretary of State John Kerry said on CNN that once he heard about the sailors’ detention, he was “very frustrated and angry”, and that “I raised it immediately with the Iranians.”

He declined to give the content of his conversation, but added: “Suffice it to say that I made it crystal clear how serious this was. It was imperative to get it resolved.”

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Ian Simpson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)

U.S. prisoners leave Iran, arrive in Germany as Obama hails diplomatic win

WASHINGTON/ANKARA (Reuters) – Three Iranian-Americans arrived in Germany after leaving Tehran on Sunday in a prisoner swap that followed the lifting of most international sanctions on Iran under a deal U.S. President Barack Obama said cut off Tehran’s path to a nuclear bomb.

In a sign of sustained readiness to track Iranian compliance with remaining United Nations curbs, the United States imposed fresh sanctions on 11 companies and individuals for supplying Iran’s ballistic missile program.

The Obama administration had delayed the step for more than two weeks during tense negotiations to free five American prisoners, according to people familiar with the matter. Iran conducted a precision-guided ballistic missile test last October, violating a U.N. ban.

Speaking after the released Americans had left Iran, Obama said Iran now would not “get its hands on a nuclear bomb” and the planet would be more secure.

“This is a good day because once again we are seeing what’s possible through strong American diplomacy,” Obama said at the White House. “These things are a reminder of what we can achieve when we lead with strength and with wisdom.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hailed the nuclear deal as a “golden page” in Iran’s history and said the agreement could be used as a model to resolve other regional issues.

The lifting of sanctions and the prisoner deal considerably reduce the hostility between Tehran and Washington that has shaped the Middle East since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979.

A Swiss plane took Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Tehran bureau chief; Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Idaho; and Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine from Flint, Michigan, as well as some family members, from Tehran to Geneva, Switzerland.

Shortly afterward, the three left for a U.S. military base in Germany, arriving there later on Sunday, a U.S. State Department official said.

One more Iranian-American released under the same swap, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, was not aboard the aircraft. A fifth prisoner, American student Matthew Trevithick, was released separately on Saturday, a U.S. official said.

Several Iranian-Americans held in U.S. prisons after being charged or convicted for sanctions violations have also been released, their lawyers told Reuters on Sunday.

‘DOING A HELL OF A LOT BETTER’

Rezaian told two Post senior editors in a phone call on Sunday night that he was doing “a hell of a lot better than I was 48 hours ago.”

The newspaper, which released details of the conversation with Rezaian, said he “found escape in the fiction he was allowed to read, and today he was avidly reading whatever he wanted.”

Rezaian, 39, was arrested in July 2014 and sentenced in November to a prison term. Iranian prosecutors had accused him of espionage, charges the Post had dismissed as “absurd.”

Obama called family members of the released prisoners on Sunday, including Rezaian’s brother Ali, and Naghmeh Abedini, the wife of the Idaho pastor.

“I am thankful for our president and all of the hard work by the White House and State Department in making this happen,” said Abedini, who has appeared with U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator and a harsh critic of the Iran nuclear deal.

The American Iranian Council, which promotes better relationships between the United States and Iran, said in a statement on Sunday: “The prisoner exchange, Iran’s dutiful implementation of its nuclear obligations, and the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions all herald a new era of US-Iran relations.”

But the U.S. thaw with Iran is viewed with deep suspicion by U.S. Republicans as well as allies of Washington in the Middle East, including Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Cruz and fellow Republican presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio praised Iran’s release of five detained Americans on Sunday, but said the deal the White House made to win their freedom would lead to more Americans being taken “hostage.”

MONTHS OF TALKS

The prisoner deal was the culmination of months of contacts, secret talks and legal maneuvering that came close to falling apart on at least one occasion.

Speaking to parliament on Sunday, Rouhani, a pragmatic cleric elected in 2013 on promises to end Iran’s years of sanctions and isolation, said he looked forward to an economic future less dependent on oil exports.

The exports are nevertheless likely to jump now that the United States, European Union and United Nations have scrapped the sanctions in return for Tehran complying with the deal to curb its nuclear ambitions, which Tehran says were peaceful.

But Rouhani noted bitter opposition to the lifting of economic curbs from Israel, some members of the U.S. Congress and what he called “warmongers” in the region – an apparent reference to some of Iran’s Gulf Arab adversaries, not least Saudi Arabia.

Presenting the draft budget for the next Iranian fiscal year, which begins in March, Rouhani told parliament the deal was a “turning point” for the economy of Iran, a major oil producer virtually shut out of international markets for the past five years.

He said later he expected 5 percent economic growth in the next Iranian fiscal year and assured foreign investors of political and economic stability.

“The nuclear negotiations which succeeded by the guidance of the Supreme Leader and support of our nation, were truly a golden page in Iran’s history,” he said.

Tens of billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian assets will now be unfrozen and global companies that have been barred from doing business there will be able to exploit a market hungry for everything from automobiles to airplane parts.

After the prisoners were freed, it was announced that the United States and Iran settled a long-standing claim, releasing to Tehran $400 million in funds frozen since 1981 plus $1.3 billion in interest, the State Department said. The funds were part of a trust fund once used by Iran to purchase military equipment from the United States, which was tied up for decades in litigation at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague.

END OF SANCTIONS ERA

In Tehran, ordinary Iranians were cautious about what the future holds after the lifting of sanctions. Many have lived under sanctions or wartime austerity for so long that they have no clear expectations about what the future might hold.

Iran’s Gulf Arab adversaries were silent on news of the nuclear deal’s implementation, in what was perhaps a sign of unease at the rapprochement.

Israel’s opposition was evident in a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night, which said that even after signing the nuclear deal, Iran had not yet “abandoned its aspirations to acquire nuclear weapons.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ruled on Saturday that Iran had fulfilled last year’s agreement with six world powers to curtail its nuclear program, triggering the end of sanctions.

Minutes after the IAEA’s ruling, the United States formally lifted banking, steel, shipping and other sanctions on Iran. The EU likewise ended all nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions against the country. Most U.N. sanctions also automatically ended.

The end of sanctions means more money and prestige for Shi’ite Muslim Iran as it becomes deeply embroiled in the sectarian conflicts of the Middle East, notably in the Syrian civil war where its allies are facing Sunni Muslim rebels.

(Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Sam Wilkin in Dubai, Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo, Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Yeganeh Torbati, Joel Schectman, Arshad Mohammed, Kevin Krolicki, David Lawder and Peter Cooney in Washington and Barbara Lewis in Brussels; Writing by Yara Bayoumy and Peter Cooney; Editing by William Maclean, Dominic Evans, Janet McBride, Kevin Liffey and Jonathan Oatis)

Steps to Freedom, Iran Prisoners Released

VIENNA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The first glimpse of a secretly negotiated U.S.-Iran prisoner exchange came on Saturday in a flurry of early morning electronic filings in federal courts from New York to California as prosecutors dropped sanctions violations cases against more than half a dozen Iranians.

The legal steps were soon followed by Iran’s announcement via state media that it was freeing four Iranian-Americans, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini and Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine.

The prisoner swap was choreographed to coincide with a high-level diplomatic gathering in Vienna to seal the lifting of international sanctions on Iran in return for meeting its commitment to curb its nuclear program.

The deal, a major step toward overcoming acrimony standing in the way of any further rapprochement between longtime foes Washington and Tehran, was the culmination of months of diplomatic contacts, secret talks and legal maneuvering.

And, according to an account pieced together by Reuters on previously unreported Obama administration deliberations, the prisoner exchange came close to falling apart because of a threat by Washington in December to impose fresh sanctions on Iran for recent ballistic missile tests.

The nuclear deal signed on July 14 between Iran and world powers was trumpeted by the White House as a signature foreign policy achievement by President Barack Obama. But he also faced criticism for refusing to make the accord contingent on Iran’s release of Americans known to be held by Iran.

In public comments, Obama had insisted as recently as mid-December that linking the Americans’ fate directly to the nuclear negotiations would have encouraged the Iranians to seek additional concessions.

U.S. officials who recounted the complex process that led to the prisoner deal stuck to that assertion but acknowledged that the nuclear deal had opened up a channel of communication about the American detainees that they were eager to use.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES CONTACTS

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who developed a close rapport during months of unprecedented talks hammering out last year’s deal, played crucial roles in moving forward on the prisoner issue.

In particular, a conversation with Zarif and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s brother in Vienna once the nuclear deal was clinched last year helped spur efforts toward a prisoner deal, U.S. officials said.

But much of the diplomatic heavy lifting was handled by Brett McGurk, a State Department envoy with strong Middle Eastern experience, who conducted months of secret negotiations with an unnamed Iranian representative, a U.S. official said.

“We have been raising these American prisoners for some time and the nuclear talks gave us the opportunity to raise it face to face,” a senior U.S. official said, adding that the U.S. side would always carve out time to discuss the prisoners on the margins of the nuclear talks.

“The Iranians said they wanted a goodwill gesture on our part as a reciprocal measure. They gave us over time a list of Iranians, mostly dual nationals, that were either imprisoned or convicted or charged in our courts,” the official said. “We whittled down the list to exclude anyone that was charged with crime related to violence, with terrorism.”

But there were some bumps and missteps along the road to Saturday’s prisoner announcement.

The day before the Obama administration was due to slap new sanctions on Iran late last month over the ballistic missile tests, Zarif warned Kerry the move could derail the prisoner deal, U.S. officials told Reuters.

Kerry and other top aides to Obama, who was vacationing in Hawaii, convened a series of conference calls and concluded they could not risk losing the chance to free Americans held by Tehran.

At the last minute, the administration officials decided to delay a package of limited and targeted sanctions, the officials said.

Asked whether Obama was involved in the decision to delay the sanctions, a senior U.S. administration official said: “This absolutely requires the president’s approval and this is something he was briefed on regularly over many months.”

“SAEED IS RELEASED”

While discussions about the prisoners was occurring, another dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, was detained by the Iranians. “We insisted that he be in the mix as well,” a U.S. official said.

In the end, Iran agreed to release Rezaian, the Post’s Tehran bureau chief held in an Iranian prison for about 18 months;  Abedini, 35, an Iranian-American pastor from Idaho; the former Marine Hekmati; and Khosravi-Roodsari, about whom little is known. A fifth prisoner, American student Matthew Trevithick, was released separately from the other four, a U.S. official said.

“It is confirmed: Saeed is released from Iranian prison,” Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh Abedini, wrote on Twitter even before official U.S. confirmation. The couple had regularly traveled to Iran on Christian mission work until 2009. He was setting up an orphanage in the country in 2012 when Iranian authorities detained him.

Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent and DEA agent, who disappeared in Iran since 2007, was not on the list.  U.S. officials have believed for several years that Levinson died in captivity. Iranian officials had repeatedly denied any knowledge of his disappearance or whereabouts.

“Iran has also committed to continue cooperating with the United States to determine the whereabouts of Robert Levinson,” a U.S official said.

Obama granted clemency to three Iranians charged with sanctions violations as U.S. authorities moved to drop charges or commute prison sentences for five other men, according to court records and people familiar with the matter.

Iranian officials have met recently with some of the prisoners held in the United States to see if they would be willing to return to Iran if a swap was agreed, said a person familiar with the cases who asked not to be identified. It was not known how many of them if any would go back.

The men pardoned were Bahram Mechanic, Tooraj Faridi, and Khosrow Afghahi, according to Mechanic’s lawyer, Joel Androphy. They were accused in 2015 of shipping electronics to Iran. Mechanic and Afghahi were being held without bail in Houston, while Faridi was out on bail. All three are Iranian-American dual citizens and had pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors filed legal motions to abandon other sanctions-related cases in courts in New York, Houston, Los Angeles and Boston.

(Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan, Joel Schectman in Washington, Editing by Stuart Grudgings and Ross Colvin)

U.S. Exploring Nuclear Deal with Pakistan

Pakistan has one of the fastest-growing nuclear arsenal on Earth, and the Obama administration is exploring a deal that would attempt to limit their nuclear capabilities.

The talks will be the first in the decade since Adul Qadeer Khan, one of the founders of Pakistan’s nuclear program, was caught selling the country’s nuclear technology around the world. The discussion of a deal is also taking place in advance of the arrival of Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who will be in Washington next week. Officials are concerned that the Middle Eastern country may be close to deploying a small nuclear weapon.

“If Pakistan would take the actions requested by the United States, it would essentially amount to recognition of rehabilitation and would essentially amount to parole,” George Perkovich, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the New York Times of the potential agreement.

The deal would loosen controls on Pakistan by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a group of countries that supply nuclear materials in attempts to see the number of nuclear weapons grow rapidly.

Experts that are familiar with the discussions showed skepticism that Pakistan would agree to the deal. They are not likely to put restrictions on a program that is the pride of the nation and their only defense against India.

Whose Side Are You On?

In the news, Iran celebrates while chanting ‘Death to Israel and America’. Israel reels from a proposed contract that threatens their nation’s very existence and leaders of our American government congratulate themselves on making a deal regarding nuclear weapon capabilities with Iran.  As a lifelong, passionate student of the Word of God, I should be saying that this doesn’t surprise me.  Although the Bible has been warning of these last days and what will happen, I would not have imagined that America would turn on Israel as it has now. I am witnessing what is happening with my own eyes all the while knowing deep in my heart that it is our relationship with Israel that has that has kept us from Judgment rather than ‘given us grace with God’.   It seems the world has gone topsy turvy.  What made sense in our lives even a year ago in our country and around the world has changed. What do we do? Continue reading →

Americans Held In Iran Not Part Of Iran Nuke Deal

Four Americans being held captive by the Iranian government were not released as part of the nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran.

Marine Amir Hekmati, Washington Post Iran Bureau Chief Jason Rezaian, ex-FBI Agent Robert Levinson and Pastor Saeed Abedini all remain behind bars and their ongoing fates remain unknown.

“We continue to call on Iran to immediately release the detained U.S. citizens,” Secretary of State John Kerry said at a press conference. “These Americans have remained in our thoughts throughout this negotiation. And we will continue to work for their safe and their swift return. And we urge Iran to bring our missing Americans home as well.”

The President is coming under fire for not taking action to obtain the release of the men.  Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said the President told the family of Saeed Abedini to their face gaining release of the prisoners was “top priority.”

“President Obama told the Abedini family face-to-face that he considered the release of Pastor Saeed a ‘top priority,’” Sekulow said. “How could that be a ‘top priority’ when a deal is reached and Pastor Saeed is left behind?”

Abedini’s wife Naghmeh released a statement to Congress pleading with them to do something.

“My children have desperately missed the loving embrace of their father for the last three years of their lives,” she said. “They have grown up almost half of their lives without their father. Please help us ensure the remainder of their childhood includes both a mother and a father.”

One Senator has already responded by calling the agreement a lack of movement in a new direction.

“We owe it to our fellow Americans to elevate, not ignore, their plight,” Texas Senator Ted Cruz said, “to demand their swift and unconditional release by the implacably hostile regime that holds them.”

Netanyahu Delivers Strong Warning To Congress

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, looking and sounding like a strong, firm leader of a nation, delivered a strong warning to members of Congress concerning negotiations with Iran over nuclear weapons.

“We have been told that no deal is better than a bad deal. Well this is a bad deal. It is a very bad deal. We are better off without it,” Netanyahu said.  “We are being told that the only alternative to this bad deal is war. That is just not true. The alternative to this bad deal is a much better deal.”

Over 50 Democratic Party lawmakers, including Vice President Biden, boycotted the speech.

The speech drew multiple standing ovations from the combined houses of Congress and many of the legislators could be seen shaking heads in agreement with virtually all of the Prime Minister’s speech.

“The greatest danger facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said.

“That is exactly what could happen if the deal being negotiated is accepted by Iran. That deal would not prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons. It would all but guarantee that Iran gets those weapons, lots of them.”

Netanyahu Warns Iran Deal Could Threaten Israel’s Existence

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a very hard warning Monday to the members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.  

The nuclear deal the United States is planning with Iran could threaten the very existence of the nation of Israel.

“As prime minister of Israel, I have a moral obligation to speak up in the face of these dangers while there’s still time to avert them,” Netanyahu told a cheering audience.

Netanyahu downplayed conflicts between the White House and Israel.  

“My speech (to Congress) is not intended to show disrespect for President Obama and the office that he holds,” Netanyahu said. “I deeply appreciate all that President Obama has done for Israel.”

The White House tried to sound a conciliatory tone after Netanyahu’s speech, saying the U.S. and Israel are united in the goal of a non-nuclear Iran.