Iran
June 11, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Having just stepped down as head of the Mossad last week, Yossi Cohen sat for an Israeli television interview regarding the agency’s mind-boggling operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran over the past several years. The Times of Israel has posted the story “In stunning, revelatory interview, ex-Mossad chief warns Iran, defends Netanyahu.” I recommend the whole thing to the attention of Power Line readers. That is one impressive intelligence
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June 7, 2021 — Scott Johnson
I subscribe to Jewish Insider’s emailed Daily Kickoff roundup. Most of the time it strikes me as an arm of the Democrats’ press relations team. Occasionally, however, I find an item of interest. One such is Matthew Kassel’s interview with Barack Obama posted this morning in connection with the publication of Obama’s memoir A Promised Land. Saying I found the interview of interest is a slight overstatement. Jewish Insider is
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May 21, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The Times of Israel reports that “Hamas claims victory as Palestinians celebrate after first night of calm,” and maybe they have a point. Before we take up the point, consider the problem that Israel faced in the hostilities just terminated, however tentatively. The New York Post’s Yaron Steinbuch draws attention to the Israeli military video showing the scope of its airstrikes against Hamas tunnels. Steinbuch links to the video to
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May 14, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Elliott Abrams is author of the memoir Tested By Zion: The Bush Administration and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served, most recently, in the Trump administration State Department as Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela. Mosaic editor Jonathan Silver called on Abrams for a live briefing on the Hamas hostilities against Israel via Zoom yesterday afternoon. In the
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May 12, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Donald Trump, the former president of the Untied States and the current de facto leader of the Republican Party, is barred from Twitter. The ban is permanent. Twitter says that even if Trump were to run for president again, he could not use its platform. The ban is for “inciting violence.” I think it’s true that Trump’s words inspired violence on January 6. However, Trump did not advocate violence, nor
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May 4, 2021 — John Hinderaker
European intelligence agencies report that Iran has been trying to acquire technology needed to facilitate manufacture of nuclear weapons. From the Jerusalem Post: A damning new report authored by the Netherland’s General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) asserts that the Islamic Republic of Iran attempted to obtain technology in 2020 for weapons of mass destruction. The Dutch intelligence document, which was published in April, says the security service “investigated networks
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April 30, 2021 — Scott Johnson
If you want to understand the perverse foreign policy of the Obama administration, Michael Oren’s memoir Ally is in invaluable text. It provides a first-hand account of Obama’s dishonesty and deceit toward Israel while his administration worked toward an arrangement facilitating the Iranian regime’s pursuit of nuclear weapons while funding it terroristic pursuits. It’s hard to come up with an innocent explanation, or at least one that is not stupefying.
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April 27, 2021 — Scott Johnson
In my early morning assessment of the credibility of John Kerry’s denial of Javid Zarif’s leaked disclosures, I cited my own initial exposure to Kerry’s lies. I also referred without elaboration to the circumstantial evidence that weighs in favor of the credibility of Zarif’s disclosures in this case. Since I wrote this morning, Jim Geraghty has now weighed in with a detailed assessment of the circumstantial evidence in today’s NR
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April 27, 2021 — Scott Johnson
John Kerry denies that he confided in Javad Zarif what Zarif told his interlocutor in the recording leaked to the New York Times (tweet below). The Washington Examiner reports Kerry’s denial here. I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened – either when I was Secretary of State or since. https://t.co/BTOdFE1khW — John Kerry (@JohnKerry) April 26, 2021 Now in assessing the
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April 26, 2021 — Scott Johnson
I think we sussed out in real time that the would-be alliance of the United States with the mad mullahs of Iran during the Obama administration was something other than an exercise in grand strategy on the part of Barack Obama et al. The Obama administration, in my view anyway, was on the other side. They hated our friends and supported our enemies. The New York Times buries an illuminating
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April 25, 2021 — Scott Johnson
It is news of a kind that President Biden has now recognized atrocities against Armenians as “genocide.” The Associated Press has three reporters with a byline (including the excellent Matthew Lee) on its story covering this development. As the AP notes at the top, the genocide in issue is a matter of history. It was perpetrated by the rulers of the Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century. You might
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April 13, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
We’re learning more about Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz. Initially, the event was reported as a cyber attack and cyber may, in fact, have played a part. However, explosives were the main component. The Jerusalem Post reports that the attack was carried out through a device smuggled into the facility and detonated remotely. The explosives reportedly took out both the primary and backup electrical systems. (At Natanz,
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April 12, 2021 — Steven Hayward
When we look out on the world scene and how the Biden Administration is positioning itself, everyone should keep in mind the summary statement of former Defense Secretary and CIA director Robert Gates (no one’s idea of a partisan firebrand, as he’s been serving presidents of both parties since the Carter Administration): Joe Biden, Gates said, “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the
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April 11, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
With Donald Trump out of office and Joe Biden desperately trying to strike a deal with Iran, the mullahs are ramping up their nuclear program. Thus on Saturday, with great fanfare, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, unveiled the centrifuges designed to produce enriched uranium needed for nuclear weapons. Israel had other ideas. It responded by crashing the electrical grid at Iran’s Natanz facility, where the centrifuges are located. Iran at first
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April 6, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
U.S. negotiators, led by the ardently anti-Israel Robert Malley, will begin “indirect” talks with Iran. Team Biden craved direct negotiations, but Iran wouldn’t oblige. Thus, the U.S. representatives won’t actually attend the talks, which will take place in Vienna. Instead, the European members of the Iran nuclear deal — Britain, France, and Germany — will serve as go-betweens with Iran. Iran is demanding that the U.S. lift all sanctions against
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February 17, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Reuters relates the news from Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “U.S.’s Blinken: ‘The path to diplomacy is open right now’ with Iran.” I infer that talks with the mullahs are underway in some form. Whether or not that is the case, the Biden administration is embarrassingly eager to make nice with the genocidal madmen running the Iranian regime. The gentleman from Madame Tussauds has appointed an impressive roster of knaves
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February 16, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Last week, I wrote about the Biden administration’s attempt to appease Iran by removing the terrorist designation from the Houthis, a bloodthirsty proxy of the mullahs in Yemen. Biden also announced that “we are ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales.” How have the Houthis responded? By stepping up their offense, of course, and by increasing their level of terrorism. On
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