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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; p5+1</title>
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		<title>Obama’s Surrender to Iran</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/joseph-klein/obamas-surrender-to-iran/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obamas-surrender-to-iran</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 28 Nov 2014 05:17:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Joseph Klein]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nuclear Weapons]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=246196</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Islamic Republic moves one step closer to the bomb. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Obama_Iran.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-246197" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Obama_Iran-450x305.jpg" alt="Obama_Iran" width="388" height="263" /></a>The commander of the Iranian Revolution Guards Corps, Iran’s top military force aligned with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, openly mocked the United States for having “clearly surrendered to Iran’s might,” according to a report quoted by the <i>Washington Free Beacon</i>.  “Despite the military embargo on the Islamic Republic, there is no weapon that our military is not able to manufacture,” he added.</p>
<p>The commander, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, was commenting on the Obama administration’s agreement to a further seven-month extension in the talks with Iran over its nuclear program, which were supposed to have expired on November 24<sup>th</sup>. Sadly, Iran’s top military thug is right. The extension gave the Iranians what they have most wanted out of the talks all along – more time within which to further develop their nuclear arms technologies while still gaining some relief from the economic sanctions. Indeed, Iran will continue to get its hands on $700 million per month in frozen assets under the terms of the nuclear negotiation extension.</p>
<p>Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters that “we would be fools to walk away.” As usual, Kerry was being played for a fool. And once again, the United States looks weak under President Obama&#8217;s failed leadership.</p>
<p>Iran’s leaders are out to prove to the world that Iran can be counted on to stand up to the “arrogant powers,” as Iranian leaders like to refer to the U.S. and its allies. So far, they are succeeding.</p>
<p>“In the nuclear issue, America and colonial European countries got together and did their best to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees, but they could not do so – and they will not do so,” said Ayatollah Khamenei on November 25<sup>th</sup> according to his personal website.</p>
<p>The year-long negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program have been going nowhere, even as the Obama administration was reportedly willing to allow Iran to maintain its own nuclear enrichment program. Dismantlement of large parts of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, presumably an original goal of the negotiations for the so-called P-5 countries (the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany), is no longer on the table, if it ever really was.  Iran’s missile program never was on the table. Nor were its possible imports of any nuclear materials, technologies and weapons delivery system components from North Korea.</p>
<p>Yet, the Iranians were still not satisfied with the offers they received during the negotiations. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani boasted in a television interview following the announcement of the talks extension that his country’s “centrifuges will never stop.”  He added that “Today we have a victory much greater than what happened in the negotiation. This victory is that our circumstances are not like previous years. Today we are at a point that nobody in the world [in which no one says] sanctions must be increased in order that Iran accept P5+1 demands. No one says to reach agreement we must increase pressure on Iran.”</p>
<p>Rouhani has a history of using negotiations as a delay tactic to achieve by stealth Iran’s strategic objectives. This time, Iran set out, in the words of its Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, to reach a final deal that will result in “a serious and not a token Iranian enrichment program coupled with removal of sanctions. This is the objective that we’re working on and this is the objective we will achieve.”</p>
<p>What additional evidence does the Obama administration need to demonstrate that Iran’s strategic objective is irreconcilable with a deal that would truly protect the world against Iran’s emergence as a nuclear-armed power? Apparently, they have learned nothing from the disastrous results of negotiations with North Korea. Instead of walking away from the talks after a year of futility and immediately reinstituting the full array of economic sanctions that have been melting away over the last year, the Obama administration buckled.</p>
<p>During the next seven months, the Obama administration will be deluding itself and sacrificing the security of the American people if it thinks that Iran will simply stand still and freeze all of its vast nuclear technology and production programs in place. According to Greg Jones, a senior research and nuclear analyst at the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, “They have a stockpile now that’ll probably support the production of about four nuclear weapons, and that’s slowly increasing over the course. It’ll probably gain another nuclear weapons worth by the end of June 2015 when this agreement runs out. So certainly that’s been continuing.”</p>
<p>John Kerry remarked that the Obama administration has “earned the benefit of the doubt” in agreeing to the further extension of talks, even though he conceded that “significant points of disagreement” remain. To the contrary, the administration has run out of excuses. Its quixotic quest for an elusive deal with a rogue state that continues to refuse the International Atomic Energy Agency access to all of its sites does nothing but raise more doubts about the administration’s intentions and competence.</p>
<p>For example, Iran has persistently refused to allow international inspectors to visit Parchin, Iran’s military facility where the agency seeks to probe for itself evidence that Iran may have been conducting experiments on nuclear detonators. Just days ago, the agency’s director Yukiya Amano complained that Iran was not cooperating “concerning issues with possible military dimensions.” Mr. Amano also warned that his agency, while able to assess Iran’s compliance with the interim agreement regarding its declared nuclear materials, was “not in a position to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.”</p>
<p>Yet Kerry’s message to Congress is to hold off on re-imposing or adding any sanctions at this time. Some members of Congress in both parties are understandably frustrated by the lack of concrete results. They believe that preserving the threat of increased sanctions if an acceptable, verifiable deal is not reached by a date certain is the most realistic strategy.</p>
<p>“The cycle of negotiations, followed by an extension, coupled with sanctions relief for Iran has not succeeded,” the outgoing Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said in response to the latest extension. “I continue to believe that the two-track approach of diplomacy and economic pressure that brought Iran to the negotiating table is also the best path forward to achieve a breakthrough.”</p>
<p>Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), whom has co-authored a sanctions bill with Senator Menendez, said it was now “critical that Congress enacts sanctions that give Iran’s mullahs no choice but to dismantle their illicit nuclear program.”</p>
<p>The chances for Congressional passage of a sanctions bill will improve next year when the Republicans take control of the Senate. However, President Obama is likely to veto such a bill. If the current extension runs out in June 2015 with no final deal concluded, expect the Obama administration to once again plead for more time so that it can kick the can down the road for the next president to handle – if it is not too late by then. Even worse, in a rush to try and improve his tarnished foreign policy legacy, President Obama may end up accepting just about any bone Iran offers him in a deal that he can spin as a positive achievement. The lethal consequences will be for the next president to worry about while the world becomes much less safe.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
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		<title>Obama&#8217;s Generous Deal With the Mullahs</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/obamas-generous-deal-with-the-mullahs/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obamas-generous-deal-with-the-mullahs</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Nov 2014 05:00:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[deadline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kerry]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=245714</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Winner: Islamic Republic.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Rouhani_1.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-245717" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Rouhani_1-431x350.jpg" alt="Rouhani_1" width="337" height="274" /></a>There are two issues which have become crystal clear about the nuclear talks with Iran. First of all, the Obama administration wants to reach a final nuclear deal regardless of how flimsy and weak the comprehensive nuclear deal might be and regardless of whether the ultimate nuclear deal will leave the Islamic Republic with a path to obtain nuclear capabilities and lift economic and political sanctions.</p>
<p>Secondly, the Iranian leaders have masterfully captured the weakness of the Obama administration and its desperation to strike a final nuclear deal. As a result, Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has been playing with the naiveté of the Obama administration by taking a tough stand and pointing out that Tehran will resist the “excessive demands” over its nuclear program. In other words, Iranian leaders are looking for a diluted, flimsy and sweet nuclear deal that would allow them to pursue their path to become a nuclear state and would help them phase out the economic and political sanctions as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>In the intense final few days of nuclear talks, the destiny of a historic nuclear deal and the outcome of the concentrated international negotiations over the future of Iran’s nuclear program will be determined. The deadline for nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) is approaching a deadline of 24 November.</p>
<p>There are some crucial hurdles which are still unresolved. These barriers are the process and phases through which sanction will be lifted as well as limitation on uranium enrichment, reducing the stockpile of already-enriched uranium, and the number of centrifuges that the Islamic Republic can retain. The Islamic Republic currently holds approximately 19,000 centrifuges. However, the Obama administration appears to be willing to ignore these gaps in order to save face by striking a deal and in order to add to his questionable and superficial records of Middle East achievements.</p>
<p>Although many scholars, politicians and policy analysts thought that the interim nuclear deal was far off and out of reach last year, the Obama administration, which desperately needed the interim nuclear deal, gave a significant amount of concessions and “closed the gaps” in the eleventh hours in order to persuade the Islamic Republic to sign the short term deal and reach an accord. This might occur again in the face of the final nuclear deal.</p>
<p>President Obama and Secretary of the State John Kerry will robustly push for any kind of final nuclear deal in order to avoid the post-failure consequences of the comprehensive nuclear deal and years of negotiations. The Obama administration has long been reluctant to carry out particular robust foreign policies such as ratcheting up political and economic sanctions on Iran and further isolating the Islamic Republic for  its nuclear defiance.</p>
<p>In addition, the other reason for the White House&#8217;s weak and desperate position to reach a final nuclear deal, is that the Obama administration&#8217;s attempts to create a narrative domestically that the spending of a considerable amount of political capital, months of negotiations, release of billions of dollars to the Iranian government, and diplomacy have “worked.” As a result, in order to avert any criticism, President Obama and John Kerry are willing to jeopardize the security threat that a nuclear state of Iran might pose to the Middle East.</p>
<p>On the other hand, whether the nuclear talks fail or succeed, the Islamic Republic will come out of this game as a winner. The major winner of the success or failure of nuclear talks will be Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamnenei. Shrewdly and masterfully, Khamenei placed himself in a position to not lose his legitimacy and credibility whether the nuclear talks succeed or scuttle. On the one hand, Khamenei has been arguing that he does not trust the United States and these nuclear negotiations, while he has been willing to give his blessing and a chance to President Rouhani, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and their technocrat team to pursue their objectives with these nuclear talks. As a result, if nuclear talks fail, the Supreme Leader will argue that he told them so from the beginning, and if the nuclear talks succeed, he will get credit for being flexible and giving the president a chance. In addition, the Supreme leader has reached his economic, hegemonic, and political objectives in the meantime.</p>
<p>In case of failure, the Iranian leaders have already received billions of dollars, they bought more time to stabilize their economy, regain the value of their currency, reduce inflation, and further consolidate the hold on power of the ruling clerics. In addition Russia, China and some other Asian countries, and European companies have ratcheted up their economic and business deals with the Islamic Republic, particularly in the oil sector due to the prospects of these nuclear talks in the last year. In either ways, the ruling politicians of the Islamic republic will emerge as the winners.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
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		<title>Iran: &#8216;The Great Satan&#8217; Still Our &#8216;Number One Enemy&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/iran-the-great-satan-still-our-number-one-enemy/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=iran-the-great-satan-still-our-number-one-enemy</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Nov 2014 05:20:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Ayatollah Khameini]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[The deadline for nuclear negotiations draws near -- and the Islamic Republic isn't backing down. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Hassan-Rouhani.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-245076" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Hassan-Rouhani-450x299.jpg" alt="Hassan-Rouhani" width="324" height="215" /></a>The deadline for a final and comprehensive nuclear deal between the Iranian leaders and the six world powers (the P5+1: China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) is approaching in less than two weeks on November 24<sup>th </sup>.</p>
<p>It seems that the White House is also investing in the notion that after a final nuclear deal is struck between Tehran and the P5+1, and after economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic are removed, Iranian leaders will alter their foreign policies and regional hegemonic ambitions. This argument is anchored in unrealistic and naïve expectations. If we closely analyze the Islamic Republic’s political and power structures, as well as its major sources of legitimacy, it becomes evident that a major and fundamental change in Iranian leaders’ political calculations is completely unlikely.</p>
<p>Domestically speaking, for over thirty years, by blaming and pointing fingers to the United States and Israel for almost every social and political challenge that the Islamic Republic encounters, the government has been capable of deflecting attention from the high unemployment rate among the youth, high inflation, corruption, nepotism, social injustice, lack of freedoms (speech, press, assembly, etc.), and lack of equal opportunity. The fundamental and underlying tenets of the Islamic Republic are anchored in opposing the United States and Israel and their foreign policies in the Middle East.</p>
<p>Secondly, from the Iranian leaders&#8217; perspective, in order to be capable of legally oppressing and cracking down on domestic opposition, the regime must maintain an anti-American posture. Normally, any individual that criticizes the structure and legitimacy of the Iranian government, ruling clerics and the Supreme Leader, is characterized as a US agent, conspirator and traitor. These charges allow the government to use its judiciary system to oppress opposition and maintain its power.</p>
<p>Recently, in the midst of the international tensions and negotiations regarding Iran’s contentious nuclear program, Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released a statement to Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency pointing out that the United States, “the Great Satan,” remains the Islamic Republic’s &#8220;number one enemy.&#8221; The IRGC’s statement <a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/joseph-perticone/35-years-after-takeover-embassy-tehran-us-still-great-satan-iran"><span style="color: #0433ff;">read</span></a>, “The U.S. is still the great Satan and the number one enemy of the (Islamic) revolution and the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation.”</p>
<p>Also recently, thousands of pro-government Iranians gathered around the US embassy to mark the 35<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the capture of the U.S. embassy and fifty-two Americans in Tehran by militant students. Demonstrators <a href="http://cdn.defenseone.com/defenseone/interstitial.html?v=2.1.1&amp;rf=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.defenseone.com%2Fthreats%2F2014%2F11%2Firanians-mark-35th-anniversary-hostage-crisis-protests%2F98165%2F"><span style="color: #0433ff;">chanted</span></a>  “Death to America,” “ Death to the Great Satan,” “Death to the United Kingdom” and “Death to Israel.”</p>
<p>Even if a comprehensive nuclear deal is reached between the Islamic Republic and the six world powers by November 24th, Iranian leaders’ position towards the United States, Western allies and Israel will not be altered for the following ideological reasons.</p>
<p>Having the largest Shiite population in the region, the Islamic Republic views itself as the major epicenter of Shiite revivalism across the region. Iran’s support for its proxies, Shiite militant political groups in the region (such Hezbollah in Lebanon, Liwa al-Imam al-Husayn in Syria, Asaib Ahl al-Haqq in Iraq, etc.), will remain to define Tehran’s foreign policy.<b> </b>Establishing itself as the front runner and leader of Shiism has been at the fundamental core of Iran’s foreign policy and regional hegemonic ambitions since 1979. This foreign policy objective will continue to define the Islamic Republic’s identity as long as the Ayatollahs are in power.</p>
<p>In addition, Iranian leaders have been investing in the Syrian regime, economically and politically, for over three decades. It is totally unrealistic to argue that if a final nuclear deal is sealed and if economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic are removed, Tehran will alter its unrelenting military, financial, advisory, and intelligence support to the Alawite-based government of al-Assad.</p>
<p>Without a doubt, some minor changes might occur if a final nuclear is struck. For example, Iran would be more incorporated in international organizations, particularly economically, and it would gradually open up its market to foreign and Western investors. It follows that the Islamic Republic will have to embed some international financial standards into its economic system. Nevertheless, the office of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and IRGC will remain the key economic generators with a monopoly over major industries and will be reluctant to allow equal opportunity and redistribution of wealth to the lower classes.</p>
<p>Furthermore, being incorporated more into world economic systems does not necessarily indicate that more political freedom, as well as civil liberties, will be granted to ordinary Iranian citizens. Historical evidence reveals that economic prosperity for some states can result in implementation of robust policies to tighten control over the population and further centralize power. In other words, similar to other authoritarian governments, economic liberalization will not go hand in hand with political liberalizations in the Islamic Republic.</p>
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		<title>Third Round of Nuclear Talks: Ignoring the Threats</title>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jan 2014 05:00:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[The international community abandons all responsibility for holding Iran accountable. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Mideast-Iran-Leader-v_Horo-e1372334994569-635x357.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-214370" alt="Mideast-Iran-Leader-v_Horo-e1372334994569-635x357" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Mideast-Iran-Leader-v_Horo-e1372334994569-635x357-450x252.jpg" width="315" height="176" /></a>This week, another agreement was reached between the Ayatollahs, the ruling leaders in Islamic Republic of Iran, and the P5+1 (the US, Russia, France, China, Britain and Germany). Iran and the P5+1 launched the third round of nuclear negotiations with expert-level talks in Geneva in an attempt to discuss the mechanisms and platforms for implementing Tehran’s Joint Plan of Action, the interim and temporary nuclear deal reached in November.</p>
<p>This round of nuclear talks were conducted in one day, and did not address Iran’s clandestine nuclear activities, its underground nuclear site, or the level, scope and sophistication of Tehran’s R&amp;D of advanced centrifuges. These talks also did not discuss Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and its heavy water reactors. A positive image was portrayed to the world though, by the Iranian media and other liberal mainstream outlets.</p>
<p>Several news agencies in Iran, including the Fars news agency, reported this week that Iranian officials claimed to have made progress, reaching an understanding with the six world powers on the details and nuances of how to implement the provisional nuclear deal.</p>
<p>In addition, Iran&#8217;s semi-official ISNA news agency, recently released a report quoting Hamid Baidinejad, a nuclear negotiator, as saying that Iran and the P5+1 had &#8220;achieved mutual understanding on implementation [of] the nuclear deal.&#8221;  According to the report, Baidinejad also said that the deal will likely be implemented in late January. Additionally, Iran&#8217;s lead negotiator Abbas Araqchi made announcements reported by the official news agency IRNA as stating, “The two sides have made good progress on different issues.&#8221; These comments came after the third round of nuclear negotiations that took just one day in Geneva.</p>
<p>From the current political perspective of the ruling clerics, Iranian officials, and liberal leaders, it is crucial to be prompt in depicting these negotiations as positive and progressive, as these types of verbal agreements and projections of advancement are key to Iran’s ability to regain its economic standing, and to strengthen the prospect of political survival of the establishment. For liberal leaders, this will give them the excuse to not take serious action.</p>
<p>It should be optimistic news for the Ayatollahs, that Iran has already gained almost 20 percent of its currency back in just the last seven months (since Hassan Rouhani assumed office). While one US dollar equaled approximately 31,000 Rial a few months ago, the currency exchange is now about 24,100 Rial.  Before Rouhani came to office, the exchange rate had even reached to around 40,500 Rial to the US dollar. Several business sectors are also showing improvement, with increasing sales and profits.</p>
<p>Tehran has also been capable of improving its economy by bolstering its trade ties, particularly regarding its oil industry, with nations such as China and India along with other Asian countries, as a result of the projections of progress from nuclear negotiations.</p>
<p>While the Obama administration attempts to depict the Iranian leaders as trustful players, this week hardliners staged rallies around Iran to reinforce their dominance and power, essentially playing good cop/bad cop. This was conducted in cooperation with the moderates and other Iranian political parties to pressure the P5+1.  This also marks the fourth anniversary of what is considered in Iran as the hardliners&#8217; Islamist victory over other groups regarding Ahmadinejad’s reelection.  The loyalists around the country chanted “death to seditionists,” “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Furthermore, according to local media outlets, this week the hardliner Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami gave a speech in the city of Kerman, stating, “The seditionists should know that the playing arena is not open to them.”</p>
<p>Additionally, in the Majlis (Iranian parliament), lawmakers have proposed a bill to enrich uranium up to 60 percent, going beyond the current level agreed upon between Iran and the P5+1.</p>
<p>This level of nuclear enrichment can produce bomb-grade nuclear material. This bill was introduced by approximately 105 lawmakers, with a &#8220;double urgency&#8221; status that calls for the bill to be discussed in parliament within a week of introduction. According to the website of Iran’s Press TV, hardline lawmaker Mehdi Mousavinejad stated that this bill &#8220;If approved, will oblige the government to&#8230; enrich uranium to 60 percent level in order to provide fuel for submarine engines if the sanctions are tightened and Iran&#8217;s nuclear rights are ignored (by major powers).&#8221;</p>
<p>These acts by Iranian leaders are being overlooked by President Barack Obama, other liberal leaders, and mainstream media outlets. These political moves indicate that no matter how rational and genuine Iranian Mullahs and Ayatollahs are depicted, any nation should be cautious in trusting the underlying infrastructure of the Islamic Republic of Iran. For the last decades, the fundamentals of the nation have been based on the Ayatollah Khomeini, Khamenei, and other Iranian leaders’ ideals of anti-Americanism.</p>
<p><b>What About the Recent Persecution of Minorities in Iran? </b></p>
<p>Rather than the effort that President Obama is putting forward in Iran, projecting Iran’s nuclear program as trustful, and Iranian leaders as rational actors, it would actually be helpful and humane if President Obama would condemn Iran for its recent intensified campaign to persecute minorities and converts.</p>
<p>Today, the US Senate unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by Senators Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), condemning the Iranian regime’s continued persecution of its Baha’i minority. But what about President Obama? Will he take a stand on this issue?</p>
<p>The bipartisan resolution, which condemns the Iranian regime for its state-sponsored persecution of those who practice Baha’i Faith, urges President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to identify and designate those Iranian officials who are directly responsible for such human rights abuses and egregious violations. The resolution also calls on the Iranian regime to release Baha’i political prisoners.</p>
<p>According to the 2013 U.S. Commission on the International Religious Freedom Report, “During the past year, the already poor religious freedom conditions continued to deteriorate, especially for religious minorities, in particular for Baha’is.” In addition, the UN Special Rapporteur on the condition of human rights in Iran reported in February 2013, that there are 110 Baha’is currently imprisoned in Iran. Incarcerated solely for practicing their faith. The Baha’i faith is the largest non-Muslim minority in Iran. On December 18, 2013, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling on the Iranian regime to end its persecution of members of the Baha’i Faith.</p>
<p>Yet, the question remains: Will President Obama also take a stand in condemning the Iranian regime for such egregious human rights violation?</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
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