Rising levels of global violence are helping to highlight the rogue and destabilizing role that Iran plays on the world stage, supporters of the main Iranian opposition movement declared Saturday.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, retired Generals Wesley Clark and Jim Jones, and Robert Joseph, under-secretary of state for arms control and international security, spoke Saturday at a Washington hotel at an event hosted by the Organization of Iranian American Communities.
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The Biden administration faced several major problems on the international stage throughout 2023, some of which will bleed into the new year.
President Joe Biden and his administration have tried to manage major threats and circumvent obstacles from several foreign nations in 2023, including from those in East Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South America. Many international problems the Biden administration dealt with in 2023 have not been solved and have continued to metastasize going into 2024.
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President Joe Biden’s decision to reward Iran with $6 billion in unfrozen assets is coming under withering criticism after Tehran-backed Hamas militants unleashed an unprovoked deadly attack on Israel that generated condemnation worldwide.
The political peril for the 46th president, who has banked his foreign policy in part on an effort to woo Iran into a new nuclear deal, was apparent from the campaign trail to the marble halls of Congress within hours of Saturday’s unprovoked and unprecedented attack on Israel.
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The outrage was aired first of all on social media forums — before spilling chaotically on to the streets with Saturday’s mass protests catching Iranian authorities off-guard and exposing how many Iranians hold the country’s embattled regime in disdain.
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President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton vowed Tuesday to “squeeze” Iran “until the pips squeak,” a week after a tough new round of sanctions came into force. Trump has dramatically increased pressure on Tehran, withdrawing from an international agreement aimed at ending its nuclear program and introducing several rounds of unilateral U.S. sanctions. The latest tranche of measures have been touted as the toughest yet, and aim to significantly reduce Iran’s vital oil exports and cut off its banks from international finance. Speaking in Singapore, Bolton said: “We think the government is under real pressure and it’s our intention to squeeze them very hard.” “As the British say, squeeze them until the pips squeak….We are also going to significantly increase the enforcement of sanctions,” Bolton said. The United States has repeatedly said that humanitarian needs, food and medicine are exempt from the sanctions and the Iranian people are not the targets. But Iran says the sanctions are inhumane and go against international law. The sanctions on banks have meant that few if any international lenders are ready to facilitate transactions for fear of upsetting the United States, even for humanitarian purposes such as medical supplies. Coupled with…
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by Will Racke Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday the U.S. will terminate a 63-year-old treaty with Iran, hours after a top United Nations court ruled in favor of Tehran in a lawsuit challenging U.S. sanctions. Pompeo said the abrogation of the 1955 Treaty of Amity was “39 years overdue,” referring to the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran that resulted in the overthrow of the U.S.-friendly shah. Until Pompeo’s announcement, the Treaty of Amity had remained in force even though Washington and Tehran have not had normal diplomatic relations since 1980. The move follows a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that ordered Washington to lift any sanctions on Iran affecting humanitarian exports. Iran had sued the U.S. in July, arguing the renewal of sanctions that had been lifted as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal violated the 1955 treaty. At a press briefing Wednesday morning, Pompeo called Iran’s claims under the treaty “absurd.” He also accused Tehran of exploiting the ICJ for propaganda purposes as it tries to preserve the framework of the nuclear deal. In its ruling, the ICJ said U.S. sanctions had violated Iran’s rights under the treaty by making it “difficult if not…
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