America’s Regional Integration Scheme Benefits Iran
Barack Obama’s realignment doctrine in the Middle East was predicated on recognizing what he dubbed Iranian “equities” and buttressing them supposedly so as to create strategic parity or “balance” between America’s onetime foes and its regional allies. In doing so, Obama’s theory went, America would no longer be drawn into Middle Eastern wars to defend allies or to deter enemies—since the very concept of friends and foes would have been turned on its head. Without the burden of a regional security alliance structure, America would be free to redefine its role and posture in the region—which, as Obama saw it, was to force an accommodation with a nuclear-armed Iran on a nuclear-armed Israel and presumably a nuclear-armed Saudi Arabia, and make them work out their own security arrangements in a no-doubt rational fashion.Caroline Glick: Abu Akleh and Biden’s pro-Iran realignment
The fact that every element of Obama’s realignment has been shown to have little or no grounding in the geopolitical and physical realities of the Middle East has done little to deter the former president’s Mideast team, which is also Biden’s Mideast team, from seeking to restore the tarnished luster of what was supposed to be Obama’s signature policy achievement. By paying any price to get the Iranians to resurrect a Frankenstein agreement, the Obama-Biden team will now seek to once again demonstrate that, in their version of the Middle East, mullahs fly on carpets that run forever on a drop of rosewater. And if they can’t, it will be the fault of the Israelis, the Saudis, and whoever dared to question the beauty of the emperor’s new clothes.
And so, as the Biden administration readies to revive Obama’s agreement with Iran, the terminology for the realignment has been duly updated. Ahead of his trip to the Jeddah Security and Development Summit in July, an op-ed published in The Washington Post under Biden’s byline emphasized, no less than three times, what it called an “integrated” Middle East as a core element of the administration’s regional policy. While Biden’s trip included a stop in Israel, which fostered the belief that the strategy of integration was about furthering Israeli-Arab relations within the Trump administration’s Abraham Accords framework, nothing was further from the truth—the strategic concept of the accords being antithetical to realignment, which is why the Biden administration and its various spokespeople uniformly downgrade and slight the accords at every possible turn.
As a concept within the realignment framework, “integration,” as a term of art (much like “de-escalation,” in an earlier phase), is about Iran, as the Biden op-ed makes clear: “A more secure and integrated Middle East benefits Americans in many ways. … a region that’s coming together through diplomacy and cooperation—rather than coming apart through conflict—is less likely to give rise to violent extremism that threatens our homeland or new wars that could place new burdens on U.S. military forces and their families.” Any attempt by America’s old allies to counter Iran’s subversiveness and expansionism, let alone its nuclear weapons program, threatens the United States by generating terrorism and embroils America in Israeli and Saudi Arabian wars, into which American boys would be dragged to fight. The only acceptable option is to “integrate” Iran.
The term is an elaboration on Obama’s remark that U.S. allies, namely the Saudis, needed to “find an effective way to share the neighborhood” with Iran. Put differently, in Obama’s language, integration means fostering Arab investment in Iran’s U.S.-recognized regional “equities”—meaning strong-arming Arab states to pay for Iran’s tottering Middle Eastern empire.
The current state of play with the administration vis-à-vis the nuclear deal is a disaster because the deal itself poses an existential threat to Israel in three ways: First, it enables Iran to become a nuclear-armed state. Second, it provides Iran with a massive financial windfall—$275 billion in the first year of the deal alone and $1 trillion by 2030—which will give Iran the resources to fund a war between Israel and Iran’s Palestinian and Lebanese proxies that Israel will be hard-pressed to contend with.Khaled Abu Toameh: What Iran's Terrorist Proxies Will Do with Biden's Concessions and Billions
Finally, the deal endangers Israel’s survival because it is a testament to the Biden administration’s betrayal of the U.S.-Israel alliance on behalf of Iran.
On Tuesday, Lapid went to an F-35 squadron to deliver a message to Iran. Lapid said, “It is still too early to know if we have indeed succeeded in stopping the nuclear agreement, but Israel is prepared for every threat and every scenario. If Iran continues to test us, it will discover Israel’s long arm and capabilities. We will continue to act on all fronts against terrorism and against those who seek to harm us. As President Biden and I agree, Israel has full freedom to act as we see fit to prevent the possibility of Iran becoming a nuclear threat.”
Lapid obviously inserted Biden into his statement in the hopes of persuading Iran that the Biden administration has Israel’s back. Unfortunately, since administration policies across all fronts communicate the opposite message, rather than projecting strength, Lapid projected weakness.
At this point, for Israel to restore its deterrence against Iran, it must stop bowing to the Biden administration’s pressure. It must reinforce its refusal to accept culpability for Abu Akleh’s death and reject U.S. pressure to change its rules of engagement. Indeed, it should refuse to discuss the issue with administration officials.
Likewise, Israel should walk away from the maritime economic zone talks with Lebanon/Hezbollah. And it should dramatically scale back its intelligence sharing in light of the Biden administration’s pro-Iran policies.
The majority of Americans do not support these policies. Israel’s best move given this state of affairs is to stop enabling the administration to claim that it has Israel’s back when Biden’s actual policy is to stab Israel in the back, exposing it to existential peril.
Hezbollah and its patrons in Tehran have done nothing to help end the disastrous economic crisis in Lebanon, where nearly 80% of the people live below the poverty line. The World Bank has warned that the crisis ranks as one of the three most severe the world has seen since the mid-19th century.
Hezbollah does not pose a threat just to Israel, but also to the Lebanese people, America's Arab allies, including Saudi Arabia, and to America itself, especially from Cuba and Venezuela. " Iran's outreach to Venezuela, Asia Times notes, " is partly driven by economic interests and partly a desire to gain a foothold in 'America's backyard,' as the government parlance asserts. That explains the increasing appetite of the Islamic revolutionary God corps for building up ties in Latin America and even entertaining the idea of a military presence in Venezuela's waters....
"The problem for each of the states," according to Richard Hanania, president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at the University of Texas, this July "is lack of access to global capital." It is a problem that the promised billions from the Biden administration would immediately fix.
Yet, instead of working to alleviate the suffering of the Lebanese people, Hezbollah is continuing to gin up for war with Israel, a move that will bring still more disaster on Lebanon.
"What is happening in Lebanon today is an organized terrorist threat by Iran and its militias, especially the terrorist Hezbollah. Hezbollah wants to destroy Lebanon and turn it into a state similar to Iran. We appeal to all the Arabs to help Lebanon before it drowns in the sea of Iran." — Rami Naeem, Lebanese political analyst, Twitter, August 29, 2022.
"Who cares about a country such as Lebanon that has no water, electricity, university, school, hospital, and banks? Lebanon has no Arab, Gulf or international relations. Forty years have passed since Lebanon was brought into the [Iranian-led] axis of conflicts, wars, misery, bankruptcy and the collapse of the state." — Dr. Charbel Azar, member of the Sovereign Front for Lebanon, Akhbar Al-Yawm, August 25, 2022.
J Street lobbies against the Jewish state on Iran
Only in the Orwellian world of J Street would support for an agreement that will allow Iran’s genocidal mullahs to build a nuclear weapon be considered “pro-peace.” The Israeli government has been lobbying the United States for months to impose stricter limitations on Iran’s nuclear program than the original agreement (JCPOA) or to abandon it and pursue other options. Naturally, J Street is lobbying against the government. This is nothing new, but they can no longer hide behind the fig leaf of trying to save Israel from Benjamin Netanyahu. They’ve been opposing the broadest government coalition in Israel’s history for more than a year.
After AIPAC sent out a memo outlining the problems with the JCPOA, J Street was compelled to disseminate a seven-page rebuttal. I don’t have enough space to refute every point, but let’s look at a few of them.
J Street cherry-picks Israeli quotations by supporters of the pact to avoid acknowledging that it is opposing the government on its most vital security issue. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has said, “the current deal is a bad deal” and “does not meet the standards set by President Joe Biden himself: preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear state.” He also stated, “if a deal is signed, it does not obligate Israel.” He has repeatedly said Israel “will act to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state.”
J Street says Congress can review the agreement and that opponents failed in their attempt to block the JCPOA. That is because former President Barack Obama knew that if he submitted the deal as a treaty, as he should have, it would never have been ratified. Biden knows it would be rejected now, too, and is following Obama’s playbook to force the American people to accept a deal that endangers the security of the United States and its allies.
Congresswoman, you're abusing both your First Amendment rights and your congressional privilege when you accuse a nation of *murder*. I urge you to amend your condemnation to something that fits the available *evidence*.
— Samawal Foundations (@Samawal_LLC) September 7, 2022
He can’t even bring himself to concede Israel has a right to exist, the bare minimum, without use of quotations. What a tortured, arrogant, racist soul. pic.twitter.com/g2Qws34j4K
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 8, 2022
We hope you all find someone who loves you as much as amnesty loves defaming and maligning the only #Jewish State. #LoveisLove https://t.co/zkMDBrHfVK
— Israel ????? (@Israel) September 8, 2022
Lapid: Shin Bet thwarted hundreds of attacks this year, including suicide bombings
The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security and counterintelligence service, thwarted hundreds of terror attacks this year, Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Thursday at an awards ceremony for the organization’s agents who excelled in intelligence operations in 2021.
“The Shin Bet foiled hundreds of attacks since the beginning of the year. Shooting attacks, explosives, suicide [attacks], and kidnappings,” Lapid told assembled agents and staffers from the Shin Bet and other intelligence and defense agencies gathered for the biennial event at the Shin Bet’s northern Tel Aviv headquarters.
“You are not working against a static reality, but against a changing reality,” he said.
According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, seven operations in 2021 were recognized in the ceremony for their “excellence, innovation, professionalism, extraordinary creativity, planning, professional and impeccable execution, and a result that has a major contribution to achieving the service’s goals.”
One operation recognized at the event involved the arrest of more than 60 Hamas members in the West Bank in late 2021, disrupting alleged plans for major terror attacks “in the immediate term,” according to Lapid’s office. Dozens of weapons and explosives were seized in the operation, which sought to crack down on Hamas efforts to build a terror infrastructure in the West Bank.
“Intelligence organizations from around the world come here regularly to learn from the Israeli Shin Bet how to fight terrorism and threats that no Western country faces. The advanced technology that is developed in the service allows the State of Israel to always be one step ahead of the enemy,” Lapid said.
"I conveyed this message again to the PA leadership, we will not allow armed men who seek to murder Israelis to roam the area. They will be chased and stopped in villages, cities, roads and wherever necessary."
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) September 7, 2022
Palestinian planned attack against Israelis, caught with pipe bombs, gun in Jaffa
A Palestinian was caught by the Special Patrol Unit (Yasam) of Israel Police carrying two pipe bombs and a submachine gun at the Clock Tower in Jaffa on Thursday afternoon.
The suspect was in Israel illegally and was arrested and transferred for questioning.
The Yasam officers stopped the suspect after he raised their suspicions. Later in the evening, security forces set up checkpoints around Ariel after receiving intelligence on the escape of a suspect who aided the attempted terrorist.
Police chief Kobi Shabtai headed to the scene of the incident on Thursday afternoon.
The suspect is reportedly from Nablus and was arrested earlier this year after he was caught carrying a knife near the Temple Mount. He has reportedly confessed to police that he planned to carry out a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid responded to the capture of the attempted terrorist, saying "The State of Israel will act harshly and uncompromisingly against those who try to harm us."
"We must continue to act with all tools in order to restore security stability to the region."
Earlier in the day, Lapid held a situation assessment with the defense establishment at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv due to the recent spike in terrorist attacks.
Breaking: terror attack prevented in Yafo: Israeli Police detained a Palestinian man in Yafo with a Kalashnikov rifle and two IEDs. pic.twitter.com/aqA75cHPpm
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) September 8, 2022
Palestinian man arrested in Jaffa with pipe bombs and rifle
A Palestinian resident of Nablus was apprehended in Jaffa today after rousing the suspicion of police. He was found carrying a rifle and pipe bombs. Israeli media reported the suspect was on his way to launch a terror attack. pic.twitter.com/hgcKgdmpoq
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) September 8, 2022
We should start reading @AFP in Hebrew, right to left: Palestinian terrorist tries to kill Israeli soldiers, who act in self-defence in eliminating the threat. https://t.co/3CliXYaWnT
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 8, 2022
Terrorist killed after attacking IDF soldier with hammer
A terrorist was killed Wednesday night after attacking a soldier stationed at a military post near a Palestinian village of Baytin in the Binyamin region.MEMRI: Palestinian Writer Slams Jordan For Opposing Israeli Decision To Let Palestinians Fly Abroad From Israel's Ramon Airport, Not Just Through Amman: Jordan Used Us For Years, Now We Should 'Pay It Back'
A knife was also found on the terrorist's body. The soldier suffered minor injuries and received medical treatment at the scene.
The soldier was attacked after leaving a military vehicle, with the terrorist charging at him and striking him on the head.
"He hit me over the head with a hammer. Think what would have happened had I fainted from the hammer – I would have been stabbed and nobody would have known where I was, because I was in the pillbox," the soldier said in a recording to a friend.
Israel recently decided to allow residents of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to fly abroad via Ramon Airport, near Eilat. This decision, apparently taken as a gesture of good will towards the Palestinians ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to Israel in July 2022,[1] could make it considerably easier for Palestinians to fly abroad, since until now they have been compelled to cross the border to Joran through Allenby Bridge and fly from Amman. Flying through Ramon will spare them the time, money and trouble involved in crossing the border to Jordan – especially given that, according to reports, there has recently been unprecedented crowding and delays at the Allenby border crossing. Elements in the PA and in Jordan accused Israel of deliberately causing this in order to motivate the Palestinians to travel through Ramon Airport.[2]PMW: Always blame it on a Jew: PA distortion - “Extremist Jew deliberately set the Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire” in 1969
The opening of the Ramon Airport to PA residents soon sparked fury in Jordan, due to the financial loss it is bound to cause, especially to Jordanian tourism companies and the Jordanian airline. The anger was directed not only at Israel but also at the PA, which was accused of cooperating with Israel in a measure that hurts Jordan's economy.[3] The criticism was voiced by Jordanians on social media and by Jordanian officials. For example, former communication minister Samih Al-Ma'aita stated that the PA had coordinated with Israel on the issue of the Ramon Airport in order to gain economic benefits, for which it would pay with political concessions. This PA conduct, he added, significantly harms Jordan's economic interests, and reflects ingratitude towards Jordan's King 'Abdullah II, who has always taken care to support the PA.[4] Muhamad Al-Momani, a former spokesman of the Jordanian government, urged the PA to join Jordan in opposing this Israeli measure and to keep its residents from using Ramon Airport, or any other Israeli airport, but rather to continue traveling through Jordan until a Palestinian state is established.[5]
In response to the criticism, PA officials hurried to renounce the plan and stressed that the PA had no intention of hurting Jordan's interests. In a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Bisher Al-Khasawneh, PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh stated that the Palestinians would not be party to any program aimed at sabotaging Palestinian-Jordanian relations, and that Ramon airport would not be a substitute for the Palestinians' relations with Jordan.[6] Nabil Abu Rudeina, the spokesman of PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas, said on the radio station of the Jordanian armed forces that the Palestinians would not take any decision on the issue of the Ramon Airport that would harm Jordan's interests.[7]
Against this backdrop, Palestinian writer Majdi 'Abd Al-Wahhab posted an article on the Al-Hiwar Al-Mutamadin website in which he harshly criticizes Jordan, stating that for years it has taken advantage of its position as the Palestinians' sole gate to the outer world. Jordan, he says, used this situation to generate profits and to control the Palestinians and their affairs, while subjecting the Palestinians to humiliation and difficulties at the border crossing. The Ramon program drives Jordan "mad with fury," he adds, because they are afraid to lose this source of revenue and their leverage over the Palestinians, and thus also their very raison d'etre as a state. He calls on the Palestinians to fly through Ramon, or through any other Israeli airport, in order to free themselves of Jordan's grip and "pay it back" for its conduct over the years.
From the PA’s perspective it seems the truth doesn’t really matter. What matters is the narrative and the constant brainwashing of Palestinians to believe that Israelis and Jews are the root of all evil.
So too with the 1969 Al-Aqsa Mosque arson.
It doesn’t matter that the arsonist, Michael Denis Rohan, was an Australian Christian with a mental health disorder.
What matters is to tell a tale that supports the PA storyline. Therefore the PA has turned Rohan into a Jew. And not just any Jew, but “an extremist Jew” and “an extremist settler”:
Official PA TV newsreader: “Today is the 53rd anniversary of the burning of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. On this day in 1969, an extremist Jew (sic.) with Australian citizenship, a terrorist named Denis Rohan, infiltrated the Al-Aqsa Mosque and deliberately set the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque’s eastern wing on fire.”
Official PA TV reporter: “53 years since the crime of burning the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in August 1969, which was committed by an extremist settler with Australian citizenship, a terrorist named Michael Denis Rohan, who deliberately set the Al-Aqsa Mosque’s eastern wing on fire.”
[Official PA TV News, Aug. 21, 2022]
Not only has the PA falsely and repeatedly accused Israel – through its framing of “a Jew” - of setting the fire, but the PA, in general, promotes the libel that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is in danger because Israel wants to destroy it in order to build “the alleged Temple.”
PMW: The PA’s inverted narrative: Terrorist stabber is poor youth whose “dream” to study at university was “murdered” by Israel
The following is a perfect example of how the PA changes facts, feeding an inverted, alternative narrative to the Palestinian population.
Reality: Fadi Ghattas was a 19-year-old Palestinian terrorist who stabbed and wounded a 19-year-old Israeli soldier next to Kiryat Arba near Hebron on Sept. 2, 2022. Another soldier at the scene shot and killed Ghattas, thereby ending the attack.
The PA’s inverted narrative: Fadi Ghattas was an innocent, poor Palestinian youth who was “murdered” by Israel together with “his dream of completing his university studies.”
The article below in the official PA daily conveniently left out the fact that Fadi Ghattas stabbed an Israeli soldier. Instead it portrays him as an innocent youth and diligent student targeted and “executed” by Israel for no reason. This omission serves the PA general narrative and libel, documented by Palestinian Media Watch, that Israel deliberately “executes” innocent young Palestinians:
Headline: “Martyr Fadi Ghattas – the occupation murdered him together with his dream”
“Palestine Ahliya University in Bethlehem is preparing to take in the new students for the 2022-2023 academic year in the coming days. But one of the students who recently registered will not come to the university, after the occupation murdered him and his dream of completing his university studies. Fadi Ghattas, age 19 (i.e., terrorist, stabbed and wounded 1)… ascended to Heaven as a Martyrafter the occupation’s soldiers executed him on Friday evening [Sept. 2, 2022]…
‘He prepared for studies at the university. He succeeded in the high school graduation exams last year, and he preferred to work to help his father with [paying] his university tuition. But the occupation murdered his dream of completing studies’ – thus said his mother while pointing at his picture on the tablet she held in her hand…
The bereaved mother noted her son’s traits: ‘He was quiet and beloved. Everyone in the refugee camp loves him. He never angered anyone. He loved sports, and he swam and laughed a lot.’ She said that she will accompany him to his wedding as a groom when she takes back his body from the occupation (i.e., Martyr's funeral is considered wedding to the 72 Virgins in Paradise in Islam).”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 4, 2022] In addition to stressing the PA libel that Israel targets children and youth, the report in the official PA daily also implicitly reinforces another false PA narrative documented by Palestinian Media Watch that Israel fabricates Palestinian terror attacks as a pretext for killing the alleged perpetrators.
Fatah Central Committee Member Samir Al-Rifai Defends Abbas’ Holocaust Comments: The Greatest Crime of the 20th Century Was the Expulsion of the Palestinian People; This Is Worse Than What the Jews Suffered in WWII #Palestinians #Fatah #Antisemitism pic.twitter.com/wcDlPXf06M
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 8, 2022
Fatah admits its Brigades shot at Jews, song instructs Shake them and burn them
Fatah’s terror wing the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades sides with past terror leaders and suicide bombers
Fatah praises as “heroes” members of its terror wing the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades
Fatah glorifies shooting terrorist and its terror wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades
Dore Gold: Tehran's Mounting Violations of the Iran Deal and Its Accelerating March to A Nuclear Weapons Arsenal
Since the start of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West, Tehran has managed to create an impression that it has kept to the terms of the various agreements that were reached, and it was the West and, above all, the United States which violated past agreements. There were two purposes to pursuing this diplomatic strategy.Iran nuclear program hasn't crossed Israel's red line yet - opinion
First, placing the onus for the breakdown in these talks on Washington provided a critical instrument for driving a wedge between the United States and its European allies. Secondly, Iran succeeded in exacerbating the domestic debate within the United States over the Iranian question by leaving the impression that hawkish forces in the American government were sustaining the hostility between the two countries and that Iran was the innocent party in this conflict.
But now, as the United States and Iran appear to be on the verge of finalizing a new nuclear deal, an important debate has emerged between the parties which could correct the misimpressions that have arisen in recent years. Indeed, it is Iran that has violated past agreements with the West.
The most glaring issue has been Tehran’s refusal to provide an answer to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about uranium particles that were discovered at three undeclared sites in Iran. In the American tradition, a disarmament negotiation with former adversaries is legitimate if it is based on a credible inspection system. It was President Ronald Reagan who quoted the famous Russian proverb, “Trust but verify.” It is here that the Iranians were repeatedly caught red-handed.
Iran lied when it claimed that the heavy water reactor core at the Arak plutonium reactor had been filled with cement and decommissioned. Iran presented a photoshopped picture of the filled core.
Looking back, Iran proved consistently that it had been a totally unreliable partner for the West. In November 2004, the IAEA determined Iran had been in breach of its Safeguards Agreement when it declared that many Iranian activities in the areas of uranium enrichment, uranium conversion, and plutonium separation were not declared to the agency. The Iranians sometimes razed six buildings to hide evidence, like at the Lavizan – Shian complex. They dug out the earth around these buildings to a depth of several meters so that incriminating soil samples could not be taken.1 As articulated by President Ebrahim Raisi on August 29, 2022, the official Iranian position was short and to the point: “Without resolving the safeguards issues, it is meaningless to talk about an agreement.”
On Monday night, Mossad chief David Barnea boarded a plane from Israel to the US. His trip is part of Israeli efforts to scuttle a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and Barnea, who came armed with Israel’s latest intelligence assessments, used it for meetings with administration and intelligence officials as well as members of Congress.IAEA sees spike in Iran's enrichment level, suggests program 'not exclusively peaceful'
Fifteen years ago, at around the same time that Barnea’s plane left Ben-Gurion Airport, another group of Israelis took off for a destination abroad. They were four Israeli Air Force crews – pilots and navigators – who took off from northern Israel in their F-16Is and made their way to a target in northeastern Syria. There, just after midnight on September 6, they bombed and destroyed a nuclear reactor that North Korea was constructing for Bashar al-Assad.
In the 15 years that have passed, the Middle East has undergone a tremendous transformation. The Arab Spring, the American withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Abraham Accords. One constant throughout this time has been Iran, which like then and still today, continues to pursue a nuclear capability despite Israeli and international efforts to stop it.
And while Barnea likely appreciated the timing of his flight and the anniversary it fell on, the mission that he was sent on this week by Prime Minister Yair Lapid was far from anything like what the four pilots and four navigators embarked on back in 2007.
The international atomic watchdog said Wednesday it believes Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium that is highly enriched to one short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. The International Atomic Energy Agency also voiced increasing concerns over Tehran's lack of engagement with a probe that has become a sticking point in efforts to revive the Islamic Republic's nuclear deal with world powers.Seth Frantzman: Israel's doctrine: Make Syrian airports pay for hosting Iran
In its confidential quarterly report, the IAEA told member nations that it believes Iran has an estimated 55.6 kilograms (122.6 pounds) of uranium enriched to up to 60% fissile purity, an increase of 12.5 kilograms since May.
"Iran now can produce 25 kg (of uranium) at 90% if they want to," a senior diplomat said in response to Wednesday's International Atomic Energy Agency report seen by Reuters when asked if Iran had enough material enriched to 60% for one bomb.
That enrichment to 60% purity is one short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Nonproliferation experts have warned that Iran now has enough 60%-enriched uranium to reprocess into fuel for at least one nuclear bomb. The IAEA report, which was seen by The Associated Press, also estimated that as of Aug. 21, Iran's stockpile of all enriched uranium was at 3621.3 kilograms – an increase of 365.5 kilograms since the last quarterly report in May.
The Vienna-based IAEA said it was unable to verify the exact size of Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium due to limitations that Tehran imposed on UN inspectors last year and the removal of the agency's monitoring and surveillance equipment in June at sites in Iran.
Aleppo International Airport was damaged in an airstrike on September 6. Syrian regime media has blamed Israel for airstrikes in Syria over the last month, and Iranian media has reported on the airstrikes. According to satellite images from ImageSat International, the runway of the airport appears out of service. Back in June, Damascus International Airport was also damaged in an airstrike. Tel Aviv University's INSS Managing Director Maj. Gen. (res.) Tamir Hayman commented on the attack on Damascus International Airport, which foreign sources attribute to Israel: "On the strategic level, the operational pressure in Syria is intended to halt Iran's consolidation in Syria and demonstrate to the Syrian regime the cost of hosting the Iranians. On the operational level -- three objectives: Work against strategic arms shipments (missiles and UAVs); prevent the transfer of weapons, money, and precision technology to Hizbullah; work against the infrastructure of Shiite militias, whose purpose is to attack Israel."
Turkey-Based Egyptian Islamic Scholar Salama Abdulkawy Criticizes Claim That Women Are Not Required to Cook for Their Husbands: Who Is Going to Cook for Them? Such Perverse Ideas Destroy Homes@salamaawy @DrHebaKotb #misogyny pic.twitter.com/LQhHRWeqXE
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 8, 2022
Australian Islamist Sheikh Abu Bakr Zoud: Homosexuality Leads to Anal Cancer, Monkeypox; Rainbow Flags Should Include Warning Pictures of People with STDs #Australia #homophobia #monkeypox pic.twitter.com/057wbADsVG
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 8, 2022
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