U.S. Issues New Warning to Europe: End Business With Iran or Face Harsh Sanctions

Iran Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif meets with representatives of the European Union for Foreign Affairs / Getty Images

 

Trump admin, Congress issue warnings that could impact international financial institutions

Congress and the Trump administration are issuing a stern warning to European partners: End all business ties with the Iranian regime or face harsh new sanctions in the coming months, a move that could impact international financial markets and U.S. banks tied to foreign monetary institutions, according to multiple senior U.S. officials who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon about diplomatic efforts to pressure Europe on Iran.

Europe Plotting to Undermine New U.S. Sanctions on Iran

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, and Germany Foreign Minister Heiko Maas / Getty Images

 

Lawmakers working to ensure harsh repercussions for skirting new U.S. sanctions

European countries are currently examining a range of options to counter the reimposition of harsh U.S. sanctions on Iran in a bid to continue doing business with the Islamic Republic, a move that is being met with chilly reception on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are already putting in place measures to ensure that any European nation caught skirting U.S. sanctions faces harsh repercussions, according to a new policy paper being examined by lawmakers and viewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

Iranian-Backed ‘Sleeper Cell’ Militants Hibernating in U.S., Postiioned for Attack

It’s been known for years already that Iran’s proxies have infiltrated the United States and have been here for years, if not decades.

Laugh, scoff and dismiss the truth all you want. It won’t stop the fact that they’re embedded into America and waiting for the green light.

For more information on Iranian sleeper cells and Iranian proxies within the United States, see the following previous posts:

Iranian Military Agent Caught Trying to Enter U.S.

Iranian commander: We have targets within America

Sleeper Cells in the USA

Iranians prepare terror campaign inside U.S.

Iran moving sleeper cells into America?

TANCREDO TO REQUEST AL-QAIDA NUKE BRIEFING

PAUL WILLIAMS DETAILS ‘AMERICAN HIROSHIMA’

Former CIA spy advocates overthrow of Iranian regime

Gingrich Warns of Iranian Nuclear Attack

American Hiroshima

Military Leader: Iran Sending Elite Fighters Into U.S., Europe

Dick Cheney predicts US will suffer a terrorist attack ‘far deadlier’ than 9/11 before the decade is over

Iran: ‘We Welcome War With the U.S.’

Nuclear Terrorism in America

 

Members of Hezbollah / Getty Images

 

Iranian militants poised to attack U.S. homeland

Iranian-backed militants are operating across the United States mostly unfettered, raising concerns in Congress and among regional experts that these “sleeper cell” agents are poised to launch a large-scale attack on the American homeland, according to testimony before lawmakers.

Iranian agents tied to the terror group Hezbollah have already been discovered in the United States plotting attacks, giving rise to fears that Tehran could order a strike inside America should tensions between the Trump administration and Islamic Republic reach a boiling point.

Intelligence officials and former White House officials confirmed to Congress on Tuesday that such an attack is not only plausible, but relatively easy for Iran to carry out at a time when the Trump administration is considering abandoning the landmark nuclear deal and reapplying sanctions on Tehran.

Chinese Banks Are Laundering North Korean Cash

A truck returns over the Friendship Bridge from the North Korean town of Sinuiju to the Chinese border city of Dandong, in China’s northeast Liaoning province. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

 

‘The North Korea crisis is a massive distraction from the real threat posed by China and Russia.’

Chinese support of the North Korean government remains firmly in place and vital to the regime’s survival. Revelations emerged on April 12 that two major Chinese banks are providing a key financial lifeline to the nuclear-armed rogue regime of tyrant Kim Jong-un.

Both the Agricultural Bank of China and China Construction Bank have been “identified in a 2016 U.S. asset-seizure case as providing accounts for a Chinese trading company that helped North Korea launder its money,” Bloomberg wrote.

The two have been shown to hold and transfer cash entering and leaving Pyongyang, and facilitating its laundering through United States financial institutions.

These two banks, China’s second- and third-largest, each have more assets than JPMorgan Chase & Co., America’s largest bank.

In 2016, the Obama administration declined to enforce money-laundering laws against the banks. The Wall Street Journal noted at the time that this decision sent a signal to Beijing that “Chinese banks aiding North Korea are untouchable.”

Iran Threatens To Restart Nuclear Enrichment Program

 

Iran is threatening to restart its controversial nuclear enrichment program, as the head of the Islamic Republic’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) revealed on Sunday that they have maintained the ability to quickly restart the full-scale enrichment of uranium “within 4 days,” reports FARS news.

“If senior Islamic Republic officials issue an order to resume the 20 percent enrichment, we can do it in Fordo within 4 days,” said Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the AEOI – referring to the Fordo nuclear facility in northern Iran. Of note – 20 percent enrichment is considered above the required level for nuclear energy production, however it is still well below the 80-90 percent required for a nuclear weapon.

Iran Unveils New Homemade Nuclear-Capable Ballistic Missiles Amid Massive War Celebrations

An Iranian medium range missile Zelzal passes by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during the annual military parade / Getty Images

 

As Tehran cracks down of protesters, military rolls out nuclear technology

Iran unveiled a series of new homemade nuclear-capable ballistic missiles during military parades held over the weekend, a move that experts view as a bid to bolster the hardline ruling regime as dissidents continue efforts to stir protest.

On the heels of an encounter between an Iranian drone and Israeli forces, Iranian leaders showcased their ballistic missile capabilities, which includes a nuclear-capable medium-range missile that appears to share similarities with North Korean technology, according to experts.

Iran Threatens Ballistic Missile Strikes on American Forces, Can Hit ‘All U.S. Bases’

Getty Images

 

Iran beefs up missile program as U.S. targets rocket research

A top Iranian military commander has threatened to launch ballistic missile attacks on U.S. forces in the region amid a public effort by the Islamic Republic to show off its advanced missile capabilities, according to U.S. officials and regional reports.

Iranian leaders disclosed that their advanced ballistic missile technology, which could be used as part of a nuclear weapons program, is sophisticated enough to strike U.S. forces up to nearly 1,300 miles, or 2,000 kilometers, away, which encompasses all U.S. bases in the region.

Iran Caught Shipping Soldiers to Syria on Commercial Flights in Violation of Nuclear Deal

 

Congress demands investigation, imposition of new sanctions

New photographs obtained by congressional leaders show Iran shipping militant soldiers to Syria on commercial airline flights, a move that violates the landmark nuclear agreement and has sparked calls from U.S. lawmakers for a formal investigation by the Trump administration, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Photographs published by a Washington, D.C., think-tank and provided to Congress show Iran using its flagship commercial carrier, Iran Air, to ferry militants to Syria, where they have joined the fight against U.S. forces in the region.

Iranian Military Agent Caught Trying to Enter U.S.

Protestors rally at a demonstration against the new ban on immigration issued by President Trump at Logan International Airport in Boston / Getty Images

 

Member of Iranian fighting force tied to IRGC turned away in Boston

An Iranian citizen identified as a senior member of the country’s Basij military force was caught trying to enter the United States posing as a cancer researcher, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation who told the Washington Free Beacon that the Trump administration should begin investigating how the individual was granted a U.S. visa in the first place.

Iran May Have Received as Much as $33.6 Billion in Cash, Gold Payments From U.S.

New questions emerge on several billions paid out to Iran by Obama admin

Iran may have received an additional $33.6 billion in secret cash and gold payments facilitated by the Obama administration between 2014 and 2016, according to testimony provided before Congress by an expert on last summer’s nuclear agreement with Iran.

Between January 2014 and July 2015, when the Obama administration was hammering out the final details of the nuclear accord, Iran was paid $700 million every month from funds that had previously been frozen by U.S. sanctions.

US officials: Up to 100,000 Iran-backed fighters now in Iraq

As many as 100,000 Iranian-backed Shiite militia are now fighting on the ground in Iraq, according to U.S. military officials — raising concerns that should the Islamic State be defeated, it may only be replaced by another anti-American force that fuels further sectarian violence in the region.

The ranks have swelled inside a network of Shiite militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Since the rise of Sunni-dominated ISIS fighters inside Iraq more than two years ago, the Shiite forces have grown to 100,000 fighters, Col. Chris Garver, a Baghdad-based U.S. military spokesman, confirmed in an email to Fox News. The fighters are mostly Iraqis.

Iran ‘Blackmailing’ U.S. for Greater Nuke Concessions

Experts: Obama admin going above and beyond nuke deal to aid Iran

The Obama administration is taking steps to aid and please Iran far beyond U.S. commitments under last summer’s nuclear accord, according to experts, who warned Tuesday during testimony on Capitol Hill that the White House is becoming “dangerously close to becoming Iran’s trade promotion and business development authority.”

The Obama administration’s efforts to boost Iran’s economy and resurrect its financial sector are not required under the comprehensive nuclear agreement, yet the White House is undertaking this role to soothe relations with the Islamic Republic, nuclear experts told the Senate Banking Committee.

US may allow Iran to trade in dollars: expert

Trading in dollars will make it easier for Iran to undermine the dollar by weakening it, trying to crash it, etc…

 

The United States appears to be laying the groundwork to let Iran begin trading in dollars, experts believe, after a landmark accord with the West last year saw the country limit its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in Washington Wednesday that US sanctions should not be used lightly, though a Republican-controlled Congress remains dead set against easing restraints on Tehran.

U.S. Spots Russian Commandos in Syria

AP

 

Spetsnaz troops helping Syrian, Hezbollah, foreign forces near Aleppo, Latakia

Russian special operations troops are working covertly in Syria to support an array of Iranian-backed fighters, including members of the international terrorist group Hezbollah, U.S. defense officials and counterterror experts say.

The Spetsnaz commandos were detected working closely with military forces of the regime of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, as well as several Iranian-backed groups, which even include armed Iraqis and Afghans.

Officials did not disclose the specific numbers of Spetsnaz troops in Syria but said the numbers were in the dozens.

Iran: ‘Knowledge and Capability to Build the Atomic Bomb is Necessary’

Mahdi Taeb, a prominent mullah and political figure tied to the country’s hardline regime, said in recent comments that Iran must obtain the knowledge and technology necessary to build a nuclear weapon in order to boost the Islamic Republic’s global standing.

…

“The Islamic Republic’s centrifuges are, in reality, getting power for this divine government,” said Taeb, whose brother, Hossein, heads the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence branch.