Tuesday, July 19, 2022

07/19 Links Pt1: On anniversary of AMIA and Burgas bombings, US urges global front against Hezbollah; Biden Poised To Give Iran More Than $100 Billion, Haley Warns

From Ian:

On anniversary of AMIA and Burgas bombings, US urges global front against Hezbollah
The US urged countries around the world to step up action against Lebanese terror group Hezbollah on Monday, as relatives and others marked the anniversaries of two deadly bombings by the group nearly two decades apart.

On July 18, 1994, a van packed with explosives crashed into the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and wounding hundreds more in the country’s deadliest-ever attack. Exactly 18 years later, a bomb placed on a bus readying to transport Israeli tourists from an airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, exploded, killing five Israelis and a local bus driver and injuring nearly 40 others.

Emphasizing Iran’s sponsorship of the attacks, the US State Department called on more capitals to join “more than a dozen countries across Europe, South America, Central America, and the Pacific [that] have issued national level designations, bans, or other restrictions” against Hezbollah.

“The callous murder of civilians must not stand,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in the statement. “We urge more countries to take similar measures, which make it harder for the group and its backers in Tehran to threaten peace and security around the globe.”

The comments came days after US President Joe Biden visited the Middle East for meetings focused on bolstering countries in the region against Iranian aggression. During the trip, Biden and Prime Minister Yair Lapid signed a joint declaration in Jerusalem in which they committed to “work together with other partners to confront Iran’s aggression and destabilizing activities, whether advanced directly or through proxies and terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”

While the State Department has urged action against Hezbollah in the past, it has not previously tied the call for more sanctions to the anniversaries of the bombings.

In Buenos Aires, hundreds gathered near the site of the former AMIA building to commemorate the victims and urge that those responsible be brought to justice. Iran and Hezbollah have long been linked to the suicide bombing. Based on the investigations of Argentine Jewish prosecutor Alberto Nisman, six Iranians and one Lebanese have been on Interpol’s most-wanted list since 2007.

However, Iranians accused of involvement in the plot are still able to move about freely. In January, a public appearance of Iranian official Mohsen Rezaei at the investiture of Nicaragua’s president angered Argentina and drew a harsh response from its Foreign Ministry, which called Rezaei’s presence “an affront to Argentine justice and to the victims of the brutal terrorist attack″ in the Argentine capital.


Israeli research institute publishes database of Palestinian child soldiers
Israeli research institute NGO Monitor released on Sunday a database of Palestinian youth combatants on its website. The database is intended to provide accurate information about young Palestinians whom Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) misrepresent to allege that Israel has violated children’s rights in order to get the international community to sanction the country.

According to NGO Monitor’s website, “terror-tied Palestinian NGOs — including Defense for Children International –Palestine (DCI-P), Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), and Al-Haq — regularly distort the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Palestinian minors in terror incidents. They ignore or minimize the violent attacks perpetrated by the minors that precipitated their deaths and blame Israel for deploying self-defense measures to protect the victims of such attacks.”

These NGOs also “erase [the] essential element” of violent rioting when Palestinian youths die under such circumstances, and make claims that contradict media reports, the institute added. NGO Monitor further claims that organizations that employ these tactics attempt to have the IDF added to a UN blacklist of child abusers including prominent terror organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

“Palestinian NGOs that claim to promote human rights agendas deny evidence of the recruitment and use of children by Palestinian terror orgs. Our new database of child combatants exposes the terror context ignored by NGOs that demonize Israel,” NGO Monitor tweeted.

The database, which uses sources including statements from official Israeli bodies, media organizations, social media and NGO reporting, features two sections: one focuses on Palestinian minors who attacked Israelis and/or died in clashes with Israeli security personnel, while the other deals with minors who died in Gaza border riots.


Will the Media Report on UN Probe Into PA and Hamas Torture of Palestinians?
The UN Committee Against Torture is holding hearings this week in Geneva to determine if the Palestinian leadership is in compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The 10-member expert panel is meant to review all 174 parties to the Torture Convention every four years. Although the Palestinian Authority does not qualify as a state under international law, Ramallah signed on to the treaty in 2014.

For years, rights groups have raised serious concerns about torture and other violations by both the PA and Hamas, the US-designated terror group that governs the Gaza Strip.

As Palestinians fight for change against their increasingly repressive rulers, the mainstream media continues to act as the communications department for the PA and Hamas. The conclusions of the UN committee, which will include recommendations for reforms, are expected to be published later this month. Will the media report on the findings…or continue its de facto black out?


Situation Report: Joe Biden’s Middle East trip
Saudi and the UAE are furious over the attempts by U.S. Secretary of State Blinken to force PLO and Jordan into the most sensitive Abraham Accords forums in all facets, including defense and investment, which has caused the Saudis walk back what they were willing to do in terms of normalization with Israel. As Ehud Yaari, the Arab affairs correspondent for Israel’s channel 12, noted, this U.S. effort is a severe blow because it would allow the PLO, which is committed to undermining the accords, to serve as a spoiler, which this U.S. policy will essentially allow.

By the time the President arrived in Saudi Arabia at the end of the week, the atmospherics had already changed from warm expectations to coldness. Whatever remnant of original expectations that the Saudis did deliver on was pro-forma. Israeli flights beyond the UAE could now pass-through Saudi airspace, but no further normalization, and at best a small increase of oil production only without a firm promise publicly from the Saudi side, and no timeline.

Finally, of course, the idea of a regional security alliance, which only a week ago seemed to be already happening, suddenly vaporized the moment the U.S. said that it was going to put itself in charge of shepherding it to completion. This attempt to insert the U.S. on top of the security ties in the region was perhaps the most destructive failure on several levels. First, it demoted the direct ties between Israel and the Arabs – which were developing nicely without the U.S. — and devastated the confidence the regional players had in such a structure since they have measured up the administration and believe it is not serious about regional defense. Trying to force Qatar –Saudi Arabia’s nemesis–and Jordan –serving as an agent of the Palestinians– was the death blow to the whole scheme.

Notably, under the table, it seems Saudi, UAE, Morocco and Israel are proceeding alone to create such a structure without the U.S.’ involvement. The IDF’s chief of staff is, in fact, traveling to Morocco today and several top military officials have also been moving around their Arab neighbors as well in recent days.

The final verdict on the trip appears to be that the Saudis, Bahrainis, and UAE trust Israel more than the U.S.


Biden's east Jerusalem visit was not meant as political statement - interview with Nides
US President Joe Biden’s visit to east Jerusalem, without Israeli accompaniment or an Israeli flag on his car, was not meant to send a political message about the status of Jerusalem, US Ambassador Tom Nides said on Monday.

“The capital of Israel is Jerusalem,” Nides said. “The president said it, I said it, it is the position of the US.”

Biden’s visit to the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem on Friday was “a healthcare event, nothing to do with politics,” the ambassador said. “It had nothing to do with the status of Jerusalem. We could not have been clearer about it. Those who want to make it political, that’s their problem. It was about giving money to these hospitals.”

Biden’s remarks during the hospital visit were about his first wife and daughter who died in a car accident, and his son who died of cancer, not about Jerusalem or political issues, Nides pointed out.

“It was about helping sick families,” the ambassador said. “We didn’t want to make it political, and we did exactly what we said. We gave $100 million for the Palestinian people who use that hospital. And 20% of those who use it are Israeli.”

The ambassador was unsure why Biden’s armored vehicle had two American flags on it when it carried an Israeli and an American flag during other stops in Jerusalem, suggesting the flags had not been changed after his visit to Bethlehem earlier that day. However, in Bethlehem, the car had a US and a Palestinian flag.

The change in flags and the refusal to have Israelis accompany the president sparked interpretations that Biden was unwilling to view the part of Jerusalem that he was visiting – near the 3,000-year-old Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives – as Israeli.

In addition, Biden in his remarks at the hospital compared the Palestinians to the Irish, who were under British occupation for 400 years, and quoted an Irish poem about hoping for a “tidal wave of justice,” which critics viewed as a political remark.
The Israel Guys: Joe Biden LIED About Israel & Jerusalem
President Joe Biden visited the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday as one of his last stops in Israel before leaving for Saudi Arabia. In a joint press conference after the meeting, the two leaders both said some pretty disturbing things. Well, they were disturbing in the fact that they were filled with lies. Also, we are already seeing the first repercussions of Joe Biden’s visit. As a “gesture’ to Biden, Israel’s defense ministry just gave authorization to 1,000 illegal Arab structures being built in Samaria.


Nikki Haley hints at 2024 presidential run, promises no Iran Deal at Christian Zionist rally
Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley hinted that she would become a candidate for the 2024 US presidential elections, during a speech she made late Monday night at Christians United for Israel’s (CUFI) 17th annual Washington Summit.

“If this president signs any sort of [Iran nuclear] deal, I’ll make you a promise: The next president will shred it on her first day in office,” Haley said near the end of her speech at the event, entitled A Night to Honor Israel. “Just saying, sometimes it takes a woman,” she told the cheering crowd.

No Iran deal
“If it ever looks like Iran is getting to a nuclear weapon, we must act, and we must act swiftly and decisively,” said Haley. “Our national security depends on keeping the bomb away from Iran, and if America won’t, then Israel must, and we should help them. At the minimum, we should give Israel everything it needs to defend itself and destroy Iran’s nuclear program.”

Haley criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration for its efforts to negotiate with Iran and come to a compromise with the regime on its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

“Due to America’s weakness, Iran is in the strongest position it’s ever been. Everyone knows what Iran wants. It wants nuclear weapons, it wants ballistic missiles to carry those nuclear weapons, and it wants to use those missiles and nukes to destroy both Israel and America,” said Haley. “The president is desperate to get back into the Iran nuclear deal. He’s made that clear, and he’s said he’ll do almost anything to get the ayatollahs to sign on the dotted line.”

American weakness led to the Ukraine war
Haley asserted that Iran, North Korea, China and Russia had been emboldened by perceptions of US weakness over its failures during its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“When America is weak, evil reigns,” said Haley. “If America hadn’t failed so miserably in Afghanistan, there never would have been a war in Ukraine.”
Kohavi meets Morocco’s defense minister, army chief on second day of landmark trip
Israel Defense Forces chief Aviv Kohavi was greeted on Tuesday morning by Moroccan defense officials and an honor guard, after landing in the North African nation the previous evening.

Kohavi is the first IDF chief of staff to visit Morocco on an official trip.

He met Tuesday with Morocco’s Defense Minister Abdellatif Loudiyi, chief of the Royal Armed Forces Belkhir El Farouk, chief of Morocco’s Intelligence Directorate, Brahim Hassani, as well as other senior defense officials.

“The meetings addressed opportunities for military cooperation, both in exercises and training, as well as in the operational and intelligence fields,” the IDF said in a statement.

“The officials noted the historical and cultural ties between the two nations and their common interests in the Middle East,” the statement added.

Earlier, Kohavi toured the Mausoleum of King Muhammad V, where he laid a wreath on behalf of the IDF and Israel and signed a guest book at the site, the military said.

Kohavi traveled with the military’s international cooperation commander, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, and the head of the Intelligence Research Division, Brig. Gen. Amit Saar.

As Kohavi arrived in the country, a few dozen people gathered in Rabat to protest against the visit, raising banners and burning pictures of him.


Man moderately hurt in Jerusalem stabbing attack, Palestinian assailant shot
An Israeli man was moderately hurt in a suspected terror stabbing attack on a bus near Jerusalem’s northeastern Ramot neighborhood on Tuesday, police and medics said.

The 41-year-old man was stabbed in the head by a Palestinian man, also in his 40s, while traveling on bus line 137, near the Ramot Junction, officials said.

He was taken to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, which said his condition was not life-threatening.

According to police, the assailant attacked the man on the bus with a screwdriver during the ride, as the bus left Ramot. The driver then halted and the passengers fled the bus, police said.

The alleged assailant was shot and wounded by a passerby, Meshi Ben Ami, who noticed the incident shortly before officers arrived at the scene.

“I got out of the car, loaded my gun and realized it was a terror attack. The stabber came to me, I did not hesitate and fired one bullet at him. I heard him praying in Arabic,” Ben Ami told the Kan public broadcaster.

The suspected stabber was listed in serious condition, the Zaka emergency service said.


Arab Gang that Torched Buses in Northern Israel Captured
An Arab crime gang that terrorized bus companies in northern Israel and was responsible for the torching of dozens of buses in recent months was captured.

The police announced Sunday that three suspects, residents of the Arab town of Tuba Zangaria, were caught on the way to another arson incident, with materials for setting fires in their vehicle. Following their arrest, another eight suspects were arrested in connection with the series of arsons.

An undercover police operation on Friday night in the north led to the stop of the vehicle and the three suspects. A search of the vehicle uncovered flammable material, ready-made torches, observation and burglary tools, flashlights, fake license plates, gloves, and changes of clothes.

After the interrogation of the three, police forces raided a number of targets in the village of Tuba Zangaria and the city of Sakhnin on Sunday morning, arresting another eight suspects on suspicion of involvement in arson.

The three suspects, in their 20s, are suspected of involvement in the arson incidents at the Tzfat Central Station, in which 18 buses were set on fire, in the city of Kiryat Shmona, and other arson incidents throughout the north in the past month. Their detention has been extended in court until Tuesday.

According to the suspicion, the three acted on behalf of a criminal organization that extorted racketeering fees from businesses under the guise of security companies.
IDF strikes Gaza after gunfire from Strip hits building in southern Israel
The IDF struck outposts belonging to Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon, after a bullet fired from the Strip hit an industrial building in the Israeli town of Netiv Ha'asara near the border earlier in the day, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

No injuries were reported in the shooting on Netiv Ha'asara nor in the IDF strikes later in the day.

The IDF's confirmation of the gunfire came over three hours after it was first reported by Israeli media. The incident comes just days after four rockets were fired from Gaza towards southern Israel.

In June, machine gunfire from Gaza also hit a building in the town.

A Hamas outpost was constructed earlier this year overlooking Netiv Ha'asara. While the outpost was hit by the IDF in strikes conducted in response to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip last month, it was rebuilt in a matter of days.

On Saturday, four rockets were fired from Gaza towards southern Israel. The IDF struck military sites belonging to Hamas in the Strip in response.


PMW: Abbas calls to end “74 years of... occupation" - Israel - at press conference with US President Biden
Standing next to US President Joe Biden at their joint press conference, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas unblinkingly called to end “74 years of... occupation." In other words, Abbas called for the end of Israel, as Israel was established in 1948 – 74 years ago:
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “After 74 years of Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the establishment of Israel), expulsion, and occupation, has the time not come for this occupation to end, for our people that is standing firm to achieve its freedom and independence, and for the wishes of our young men and women… to be realized in a promising future without occupation?”

[Official PA TV News, July 15, 2022]

Making his intentions clear, Abbas added that the path to destroying Israel starts with creating a Palestinian state:
“In this regard, we say that the key to peace and security in our region begins with recognizing state of Palestine and enabling the Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions, and ending all the permanent status issues, including the Palestinian refugees issue.

And the way to that begins with ending the Israeli occupation of our land, the land of state of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the 1967 borders.”

[Website of the White House, July 15, 2022]

Abbas’ speech was a momentary display of clarity and honesty.

On most occasions, when speaking before foreign audiences and leaders, Abbas sticks to the false message that the Palestinians only seek to create a Palestinian state comprised of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem - living beside Israel.

For example, when speaking recently in front of EU Representative to the PA Sven Kuhn von Bergsdorff and other ambassadors of European countries Abbas spoke of “the vision of the two-state solution on the 1967 borders,” a “Palestine” on only 22% of “historic Palestine,” as opposed to demanding “45%” of that area, as allocated by the 1947 UN partition plan for the “Arab country.”


MEMRI: Palestinian National Council Member: The Right Of Return Is A Divine Right That The Palestinians Will Never Relinquish; The Zionists Are Aryan In Origin, Not Semitic
Faisal Abu Khadra, a member of the PLO’s Palestinian National Council (PNC) and a columnist for the East Jerusalem daily Al-Quds, wrote in a July 5, 2022 column that the Palestinian refugees’ right of return is a “divine right” that the Palestinians will never relinquish. Palestine, he added, is the Palestinians’ homeland, whereas the Zionists originate in northern Germany and are therefore “Aryan, rather than Semitic, in origin.” He criticized the countries neighboring Israel for signing the armistice agreements with it in 1949 without making this conditional on allowing the return of the Palestinian refugees to their homes. This is a historic mistake no less grave than the Nakba itself, he said.

The following are translated excerpts from his column:[1]
“The Palestinians cannot conceivably agree to be settled anywhere except in their cities and villages in Palestine. The logic of this is acknowledged throughout the world… No matter what the material and moral incentives, the Palestinians will never accept any [other] proposal, [no matter how] generous, for a very simple reason: Their land is in the grips of an occupation that has no historical roots in it.

“Many Palestinians are nationals of [countries] other than Palestine, but this does not in any way mean that they have forgotten their country, their homeland, and their historical roots in that blessed soil.

“The Zionist leaders said that [the Palestinians of] the Nakba generation will die and their children and grandchildren will forget [Palestine and the right of return]. But those ignorant people discovered that no person of Palestinian origin can conceivably forget his homeland. The Palestinians, thank God, both the refugees and elsewhere, have not forgotten and will never forget their country, Palestine. Successive [Israeli] governments tried and are still trying, along with their ally, the U.S., to abolish UNRWA using every possible trick, thinking that, if they do this, it would eliminate the most important element in the right of return. [But] the Palestinian people, including all its sectors… has never and will never give up the right of return, by any means.

“The Palestinian people respects all the international resolutions [on the Palestinian issue] and will never relinquish them, chief of them the one about the right of return. This is a divine right, and the mere thought of an alternative homeland or of [the Palestinians] living outside historical Palestine is an illusion that exists [only] in the mind of the occupiers and their supporters.

“Every people in the world is entitled to live in its land. So why do the occupiers and their supporters want the Palestinians to live on foreign soil that is not the soil on which their forefathers lived since 5,000 BCE and where they still live today? The ones who built the harbors of Jaffa, Haifa, Acre and Ashdod are our forefathers, the Canaanites.


PreOccupiedTerritory: After Audio Of Eichmann Admitting Final Solution His Project, Palestinian Authority Seeks To Pay His Heirs (satire)
The contents of a 1957 interview with the chief architect of Nazi Germany’s genocide against Jews emerged two weeks ago, to the effect that he enthusiastically managed the logistics of the mechanized laughter, contradicting the man’s contention at his 1962 trial that he served as a mere cog in the system that killed millions – and prompting President Mahmoud Abbas to order his aides to identify and locate the man’s family to give them a generous pension.

Yesterday, Abbas directed officials in charge of “martyr payments” for those who attack and kill Jews to determine the whereabouts of Adolf Eichmann’ surviving relatives and set up a channel to send them funds, with the amount backdated to 1942, plus interest. Experts estimate the total amount will exceed eight billion dollars, which accounts for the bulk of the Palestinian Authority’s annual budget, itself largely underwritten by foreign donors.

Eichmann directed the section of the Schutzstaffel (SS), tasked with implementing the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem during the Second World War. Mobile killing squads had followed the Wehrmacht into Poland in 1939 to target Jews for mass execution, and the same program expanded into former Soviet-held territory when Operation Barbarossa began in June 1941. However, the resources, time, and logistics of exterminating millions of Jews while prosecuting a war required the Third Reich to reconsider its extermination methods; even with enlisting local Jew-haters in occupied areas, the efficiency of the Holocaust by Bullets suffered from inherent human and equipment limits. In early 1942 the SS began operating killing centers to which thousands of Jews at a time were taken by train for killing and disposal; as head of the Gestapo’s “Jewish Section,” Eichmann coordinated the deportations and saw to the confiscation of Jewish property throughout the Reich. After Germany’s defeat he eluded capture as a wanted war criminal and found refuge in Argentina with his family under an assumed name, among other German expatriates, but the Mossad found him and kidnapped him to Israel where the state tried and convicted him for his role in the Holocaust. He was executed in 1962.
Dems Kill Bills To Stop Taxpayer Funds From Reaching Iran
Congressional Democrats killed a handful of measures that would have stopped the Biden administration from providing U.S. taxpayer funds to the hardline Iranian regime and increased economic sanctions on the country.

Democrats running the House Rules Committee last week shot down seven Republican-led measures targeting Iran. Republican foreign policy leaders were pushing for the measures to be included in the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the sprawling annual funding bill for national security priorities.

Congressional sources who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon said House Democrats rejected the measures to help the Biden administration in its push to secure a revamped version of the 2015 nuclear accord. Those negotiations are ongoing, and the White House is pushing its allies in Congress to avoid passing any measures that may upset the hardline regime and erode progress in talks.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) "opposed the original JCPOA, and I hoped congressional Democrats might come to their senses and oppose Biden's disastrous Iran reboot," Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.) told the Free Beacon, referring to the nuclear deal by its official acronym.

Banks said he expected at least some Democrats who have been critical of the Iran nuclear deal to back measures that would stop the Biden administration from awarding Tehran with taxpayer funds.

"But Democrats' foreign policy is even weaker now than it was during the Obama years," Banks said. "House Democrats voted to pave the way towards a JCPOA 2.0 that will enrich terrorists and bring Iran even closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon. It's not just Joe Biden—the whole party is to blame."

Banks and his Republican colleagues attempted to pass what they described as a common-sense measure to block the Pentagon from sending any taxpayer dollars to the Iranian regime. The measure would have stopped any funds allocated in the fiscal year 2023 NDAA from going to "the government of Iran," "any person owned or controlled by the government of Iran," and "any person identified on the list of specially designated nationals," according to a copy of the rejected amendment.
Iran nuclear deal makes absolutely no sense: National security expert
Former National Security Council director Richard Goldberg voices his concerns about President Biden seeking a nuclear deal with Iran on 'Kudlow.'


Biden Poised To Give Iran More Than $100 Billion, Haley Warns
The Biden administration is poised to give Iran "more than a hundred billion dollars" in cash windfalls if it signs a new nuclear deal, according to former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who also hinted to a group of pro-Israel activists on Monday that she will run for president in 2024.

With negotiations over a revamped nuclear deal ongoing, Haley warned an audience of pro-Israel activists that the Biden administration is preparing to unload billions of dollars to Tehran—money that "will fund terrorist attacks on Israel and America."

Biden has "made clear that he’ll do almost anything to get the ayatollahs to sign on the dotted line," Haley said in a speech before the Christians United for Israel organization during its annual gathering in Washington, D.C. "And do you know who Biden allowed our lead negotiator on the Iran deal to be? Russia." An advanced transcript of her remarks was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Haley said that with Moscow’s help, the Biden administration is laying the groundwork for Iran to obtain "missiles and nukes to destroy both Israel and America."

Haley’s speech, which focused heavily on Israel and the threats posed by both Iran and Russia, comes amid speculation that she will throw her hat into the ring for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination—rumors that she appeared to confirm in her speech. It also laid the groundwork for a foreign policy approach that would refocus America on countering Iran and its growing alliance with Russia.

"Anything Joe Biden signs [with Iran] will all but guarantee that Iran gets the bomb. No deal is better than a bad deal," she said. "And if this president signs any sort of deal, I’ll make you a promise. … The next president will shred it—on her first day in office."
Putin visits Iran on first trip outside former Soviet Union since Ukraine war
Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran on Tuesday, the Kremlin leader's first trip outside the former Soviet Union since Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

During his visit to Tehran, Putin will also hold his first face-to-face meeting since the invasion with a NATO leader, Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan, to discuss a deal that would resume Ukraine's Black Sea grain exports as well as peace in Syria.

Putin's trip, which comes just days after US President Joe Biden visited Israel and Saudi Arabia, sends a strong message to the West about Moscow's plans to forge closer strategic ties with Iran, China and India in the face of Western sanctions.

Footage of Putin's meeting with Khamenei showed the Russian leader and the Iranian president sat together a few metres from the Supreme Leader, in a spartan white room. Only an Iranian flag and a portrait of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini could be seen in the background.

"The contact with Khamenei is very important," Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy adviser, told reporters in Moscow. "A trusting dialogue has developed between them on the most important issues on the bilateral and international agenda."

"On most issues, our positions are close or identical."


Seth Frantzman: What's behind Iran's claims of Iraqi women trafficking crackdown?
Iranian media on Monday published accounts of a major bust of a human-trafficking operation. The story, however, is more salacious than the usual reports coming out of Iran’s pro-government media.

The report said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence organization was involved in arresting the leader of a “gang” involved in trafficking Iranian women and girls to northern Iraq.

The report is interesting because it references Iran’s intelligence officers, known as “anonymous soldiers of Imam Zaman.” Why the IRGC and its intelligence arm was involved is unclear. The report said the agents arrested the leader of the trafficking organization and accused the group of involvement in promoting vice.

Human trafficking between Iran and Iraq
According to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, which is close to the IRGC and is pro-government, vice can mean the promotion of “homosexuality, gambling, fraud and illicit sexual relations.”

It would appear that the report insinuates that young women were trafficked for sexual exploitation.

The Iranian intelligence agents “reached Erbil,” the report said. This means they operated deep inside northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish Region. Erbil is the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

The intelligence agents penetrated the network, supposedly, and were able to stop this gang of traffickers, which Iran said was the “largest” of its kind. Several months of surveillance took place. The trafficking group had several operators and was accused of taking “hundreds” of girls to Erbil and that some “thousand people” were “sold” by this group.

Rudaw media in the Kurdistan Region also reported the story. The Erbil police department had not commented on the arrest yet, the report said.




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