Wednesday saw two positive signals for a return to the JCPOA nuclear pact with Iran, with three UK citizens freed from Iranian custody amid reports that the White House is considering dropping sanctions on the country’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Russia says it has received “written guarantees” that US sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine will not impact its nuclear cooperation with Iran, as diplomats on all sides of negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal say the talks are nearly complete.
On COI #207, Kyle Anzalone and Connor Freeman update the JCPOA talks’ recent developments and the Russians’ security proposals presented to Washington. Kyle discusses the Russians pulling 10,000 troops off the border with Ukraine and sending them back to their bases. This is potentially a show of goodwill before the upcoming talks with the U.S. next month. Kyle and Connor then cover some recent escalations that do not necessarily bode well for substantive diplomacy like the Americans flying spy planes over Ukraine not far from the separatist Donbas region. There is also talk of a...
Covid The CDC says people who test positive for covid but do not have symptoms only need to quarantine for five days. The CDC then recommends five days of mask-wearing. The World Bank says nearly 100 million people fell into poverty during the covid pandemic. [Link] The State Department sends over 600,000 Pfizer covid vaccines to Nepal through Covax. [Link] US News Biden extended the student loan payment freeze to May 1, 2022. [Link] Las Vegas will pay over $500,000 to Jason Funke who was shot in the back by a police officer. The officer is still employed. [Link] Cedric Lofton was killed...
Scott celebrates eleven years on the radio by interviewing Gareth Porter about Biden’s first year in office. They discuss the negotiations between the Administration and Iran over a return to the JCPOA. Despite many crossovers with the team that reached an agreement with Iran back in the Obama years, Biden’s people appear set on squeezing more concessions out of the Iranians. But Porter points out that, as he had predicted, the U.S. reluctance to return to the deal led to hardliner victories in Iran’s last elections. But even with a more anti-American regime, Porter sees no evidence...
Having unilaterally stepped out of the Iran nuclear deal in May, the Trump administration reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic earlier this week, part of another so-called “maximum pressure” campaign. The new sanctions will target Iran’s purchases of U.S. dollars, precious metals trading, industrial software, Iran’s coal industry and its automotive sector. Sanctions on Iran’s oil industry are also set to begin in November. All of the above is sure to inflict pain on Iran’s civilian population. Indeed, that is a common intended effect of sanctions: to impose suffering on civilians...
On FPF #198, I discuss the 12 demands the US gave Iran in a speech by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Many of the demands are based on false information or where agreed to in the JCPOA. Other demands require Iran to completely dissolve Iranian sovereignty. I show how Iran is not the enemy that Mike Pompeo claims them to be.
President Trump’s announcement last week to pull out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was the latest step towards military conflict with Iran. The decision comes after the confirmation of a hawkish Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State and places us on a collision course with Iran. The neoconservatives are finally smiling again. The prospect of a conflict with Iran really started to form when the president nominated former CIA Director Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State and infamous Iran-hawk John Bolton as his new National Security Advisor. John Bolton has a history as one of...
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