Iran
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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February 10, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Spectator USA has published the mind-blowing column by Jake Wallis Simons “Revealed: how Mossad eliminated Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.” The column is based on Simons’s detailed Jewish Chronicle article linked in the column. Who isn’t a fan of successful undercover operations performed by the good guys, especially one with the abject humiliation of the wrongdoers thrown in for good measure? If Simons has the story right, this is one for the ages.
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February 9, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Joe Biden is determined to appease Iran, and the appeasement has already commenced. Its public manifestation centers now on Yemen, and the Houthi rebels there. The Houthis have long received considerable Iranian financial and military support, including in recent years cruise missiles and drones. They have used Iranian weaponry not just against the government of Yemen, but also against Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Iran’s arch enemies and allies of
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February 8, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Barack Obama realigned the position of the United States in the Middle East with the regime whose motto is “Death to America” rotating with “Death to Israel.” When it came to the regime’s nuclear program, Obama sought to extend the timeline while extending generous financial support. Why would he do that? The mullahs never even offered a timeout from the “Death to America” routine. I think the simplest hypothesis explaining
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January 31, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Joe Biden has selected Robert Malley to be his envoy to Iran. There could no clearer sign that Biden’s foreign policy (or that of whoever is running the show) will be pro-appeasing the mullahs and anti-Israel. We have written about Malley from time to time. This post (via Ed Lasky) collected some of Malley’s greatest anti-Israel hits (most of which apparently are no longer available on the internet): Playing Into
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January 25, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The Biden administration is determined to reenter the nuclear deal with Iran (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA) in some form. See, for example, the Jerusalem Post/Reuters story “US already in Iran deal talks, officials met in New York – report.” It’s a critical component of the great undoing in which Biden and his cast of retreads are engaged to set us back to where we were when Barack
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December 23, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the Iranian nuclear scientist, was assassinated in late November. Israel is believed to have executed the killing. Iran certainly believes it did. As far as I know, Iran hasn’t taken any major punitive action against Israel in response to the assassination of Fakhrizadeh. However, the regime continues to talk publicly about retaliating. Is this a bluff? Is Iran waiting for President Trump’s departure before acting? Who knows? Israel
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December 14, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Anne Gearan has an article in today’s Washington Post about Joe Biden and his likely approach to Israel and Saudi Arabia. I classify it as mostly good news, if true. I’m thinking, for example, of this passage: Biden has welcomed diplomatic deals among Israel and three Arab neighbors that Trump helped midwife and that are bitterly opposed by the Palestinian Authority. Biden also has said he will not revisit the
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December 8, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
In the mid-1980s, I asked a retired French diplomat whether he thought the Iranian regime would be overthrown within the next ten to fifteen years. It seemed plausible to me that the mullahs, who seemed to be ruining the country, would lose power by the end of the century. The retired French diplomat had grown up in Iran, served France there among other countries, and maintained strong connections with and
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November 30, 2020 — Scott Johnson
I’ve been following the stories on the assassination of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, but they are confusing and conflicting. On November 27, for example, the New York Post reported that Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in “an ambush.” The story added that Fakhrizadeh was “seriously wounded” during a battle between the gunmen and his bodyguards before being rushed to a nearby hospital. On November 29 the Post reported that the
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November 19, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
There are reports that President Trump wanted to launch a strike on Iran’s main nuclear facility last week. According to these reports, Trump’s advisers talked him out it. I don’t know whether these reports are true, but let’s say they are. And let’s suppose, hypothetically, that Trump had decided to go through with the attack. Finally, let’s say, again hypothetically, that Trump or his team had briefed Biden about the
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August 24, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Democrats concede nothing to President Trump and his reversal of Obama foreign policy in critical matters involving Russia, China, and Iran. They seek a return, for example, to the putative alliance of the United States with the enemies of the United States in the Iranian mullahcracy. Obama Secretary of State John Kerry helped deliver the disgraceful nuclear “agreement” that resulted in our funding the Iranian regime and placing it on
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August 9, 2020 — Scott Johnson
The best analysis I have found so far on the August 4 explosions in the port of Beirut is set forth in David Wurmser’s August 7 column “Lebanon: What happened?” Also useful is this backgrounder disseminated by the Shurat HaDin/Israel Law Center. I thought readers might find it of interest. With Shurat HaDin’s kind permission, I am posting it below: As the Lebanese people struggle to recover from the catastrophic
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August 7, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
American intelligence officials “assess” that China and Iran hope that Joe Biden defeats President Trump, but that Russia is trying to undermine Joe Biden. These assessments have generated lots of buzz. Democrats have been unhappy that Bill Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, wasn’t more alarmist about alleged Russian plans. Now they are unhappy that he has thrown China and Iran into the mix. I assess that
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July 23, 2020 — Scott Johnson
In the podcast below the Tikvah Fund’s Jonathan Silver interviews former IDF military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin on the explosions rocking Iran. At the least, Yadlin offers informed speculation on what is happening. I get the impression, however, that Yadlin knows a little bit more than he lets on. At one point, for example, he responds to Silver that he’d prefer not to address operational issues. Tikvah introduces the podcast
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July 22, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
We’ve written about the explosions and fires at various facilities associated with Iran’s nuclear program, though perhaps we haven’t given them as much attention as they deserve. The attacks are believed to be the work of Israel. At a minimum, Israel is thought to be behind the most significant explosion — a July 2 attack on the Natanz centrifuge facility. This attack may have set back Iran’s breakout time for
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