Zakaria’s soft interview with Ahmadinejad, his friendly article about the regime and his advice to US administration to coexiste with the Mullahs should be interpreted as a campaign by special interest groups that try to prevent harsher sanctions against the Iranian regime.
Obama’s electoral calculation could prove totally wrong as the emboldened Iranian regime will certainly use its growing influence in Iraq to undermine the Arab spring and jeopardize US interests. In fact, empowering Iran in the region contradicts US policy of isolating and containing Iran and could negatively affect Obama’s image as a weak President who retreated from the Iranian challenge.Obama is completing the catastrophe in Iraq that has started with George W Bush.
Officially, Khavari has been heading the largest bank in Iran that is targeted by international sanctions. The Melli Bank along with other financial institutions are involved in regime’s terrorism and pursuit of nuclear weapon. However, Khavari’s involvement in such activities has not been a hurdle to obtain Canadian citizenship that facilitated his escape from Tehran and settling in North America.
U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for the Administration to directly sanction the Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, as well as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s “Supreme Leader” after the Administration today imposed sanctions on the Syrian foreign minister and several other Syrian regime officials.
Parsi presents his lobby as a crusade against Israel and AIPAC: the spoiler of Iran-US friendship, the sole force behind the sanctions against Iran, and the bullying force that dictates US policy. Iran, a victim of Israel, seeks its legitimate place in the region and …..
The Iranian regime’s desperate hunt for raw uranium highlights the fact that its nuclear program is uniquely designed to acquire the nuclear weapon. Iran’s main response to the question of why pursuing such a costly program for a country that owns the second global reserve of oil and gas combined, has been its desire to remain “independent” in case that reserves are ended.
In an interview published today by the Iranian website “Iran Diplomacy”, the former President Rafsanjani declared that “the time has come to negotiate with US”. He recounted his presidency (1988-1997) and how he tried to reach out to the West but the Supreme Leader prevented the mush necessary rapprochement with the US “In 1998 the war with Iraq has ended and Imam (Khomeini) has passed away.
On July 3, the Iranians warned India to find a solution to the issue but India has offered to pay in its own currency Rupee, an offer that Iran has so far refused to accept. According to financial reports, ” Korea and China use their own currency to pay for Iranian imports.