Harf-Minded Report: Iranian Nuclear Stockpiles Continue To Grow – State Dept. Perplexed By Those Who Take Issue…

(Screenshot credit, The Last Refuge)

June 3, 2015

The Last Refuge: by sundance

The U.S. State Department, via Marie Harf, is explaining Iran’s continued expansion of nuclear material with the same logic that President Obama applies to the U.S. Debt. and deficits.

Note to those harf-minded fools:

Half of something you triple, is not “less” (than you started with).

Carry on.

WASHINGTON DC – International inspectors report that Iran’s stockpile of nuclear fuel has increased about 20 percent over the past 18 months of negotiations, according to The New York Times.

The increase in Iran’s stockpile was based on a report issued Friday by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors nuclear programs for the United Nations.

The report also said Iran had stopped producing certain types of highly enriched uranium since January, 2014 and halted work on facilities capable of producing nuclear bombs.

The Times noted that should negotiators finalize a deal before a June 30 deadline, Tehran would have to reduce its stockpile by more than 9 tons within months.

The newspaper also reported that Western officials and experts were unsure how or why Iran’s stockpile had increased. Some have speculated it was to give them leverage in talks.

The Obama administration has long maintained that Tehran’s nuclear program has been “frozen” as international negotiators work to secure a deal with new limits.

A deal brokered between the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China with Iran would lift some sanctions on Iran in exchange for new limits on its nuclear program.

A framework outlined April 2 would force Iran to reduce its nuclear stockpile to 300 kilograms, or about 660 pounds.  (read more)

Disclaimer: This article was not written by Lorra B.

IRAN RISING: TEHRAN USING HEZBOLLAH IN LATIN AMERICAN ‘CULTURAL CENTERS’ TO INFILTRATE WEST

(Screenshot Credit, Brietbart, AP Photo/Iranian Presidency Office, Mohammad Berno )

May 28, 2015

Brietbart: by Jordan Schachtel and Edwin Mora

The rapidly growing number of Shiite cultural centers in Latin America have provided the Islamic Republic of Iran with a means to expand its covert recruitment operations throughout the western hemisphere, leading military officials and experts to provide Breitbart News with statements that directly contradict the Obama administration’s narrative that Iran’s influence in the region is “waning.”

Breitbart News interviewed military and intelligence officials, policy experts, members of Congress, and a former White House official for this report, all of whom warned about the threat posed by Iran’s continuing encroachment into Latin America.

Iran is infiltrating Latin America thanks largely to Hezbollah, a Shiite terrorist group that has sworn loyalty to Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, showing overt preference to the Tehran dictator over its host-state Lebanon. Hezbollah, along with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have provided the on-the-ground support needed for the proliferation of Iran’s Khomeinist ideology.

Breitbart News’ sources have unanimously refuted the assessment of Obama’s State Department, which has claimed that “Iranian influence in Latin America and the Caribbean is waning.”

A U.S. military official told Breitbart News that the estimated 80-plus Shiite cultural centers backed by Iran are continuously multiplying, and are currently being operated by Hezbollah and Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards-Quds Force.

Hezbollah provides operational and logistical support “for Iran’s covert activities in the region to include coordination and collaboration with Lebanese [Hezbollah’s] external operations arm the Islamic Jihad Organization” through Shiite Islamic centers dubbed “cultural centers,” the official told Breitbart News, contradicting the narrative put forth by the State Department.

Such centers can be found throughout Latin America, according to the official.

“Iranian cultural centers open possibilities for Iran to introduce members of its Revolutionary Guard-Qods Forces (IRGC-QF) to a pool of potential recruits within the centers population of Lebanese Shi’a Muslims and local converts to Shia Islam,” added the defense official.

David Shedd, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), echoed the U.S. military officials comments, telling Breitbart News via email that “the cultural centers may be used as platforms for truly nefarious purposes by the Iranian regime.”

“Iran has expanded its ‘cultural centers’ presence in locations such as Quito [in Ecuador] and Caracas [in Venezuela] where there is a strong anti-US government sentiment,” Shedd, currently a visiting distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Breitbart News.

“Iran’s overall expanded presence in the Western Hemisphere is troubling,” the former DIA director added. “The expanded presence in any capacity in the Latin American region should give the U.S. pause given the profound differences between U.S. values and those of a regime in Tehran that supports terrorism as an officially sanctioned tool of national power.”

Shedd warned that Hezbollah, which he described as the most prominent global terrorist group in Latin America, likely has “sleeper cells” in various countries in the Western Hemisphere.

“Hezbollah sympathizers also appear to have a presence in the tri-border area of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil where they are involved in black market commercial activities,” he noted.

The Tri-Border region in South America includes Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. According to the Treasury Department, the Galeria Page shopping mall in Paraguay– at the heart of the tri-border– serves as central headquarters and a fundraising source for Hezbollah members in the region.

Members of Congress have also sounded the alarm about Tehran’s growing influence in Latin America.

Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) 40%, a member of the House Armed Services, said that Iran’s presence was evident when he visited Quito, Ecuador. The congressman described it as a place where anti-American sentiment is strong and jihadist figures appear next to Latin American heroes.

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) 95% (R-S.C.), the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Subcommittee, has been warning against the presence and activity of Iran and its ally Hezbollah in Latin America, holding multiple congressional hearings on the issue, visiting the region, and sponsoring legislation — the Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012.

Chairman Duncan told Breitbart News that Iran and its proxy Hezbollah “use many tools to deepen their influence in the region, including diplomatic missions and cultural centers; ties with terrorist organizations and criminal groups; training Latin American youth in Tehran; and exploiting loose border security policies and free trade zones to smuggle contraband.”

More at Brietbart:

Disclaimer: This article was not written by Lorra B.

HEY OBAMA! HOW ARE THOSE “NUKE TALKS” GOING?

March 23, 2015

Desert Musings:

We keep hearing how the Obama administration is just dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s” on their plan to give Iran nuclear weapons. We keep hearing how it’s just moments away. We keep hearing how Obama is urging congress not to impede in the historic progress that he’s making….and building that great legacy of his…but issuing sanctions against Iran during the talks, which have gone on over 6 months longer than he originally said they would. We keep hearing how close they are to a deal, and how Iran really wants to finish this up.

So why do we hear THIS from Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s “supreme leader”?

Khamenei told a crowd in Tehran that he would not capitulate to western demands…and chanted along with the crowd, “Death to America”. He continued, “They insist on putting pressure on our dear people’s economy. What is their goal? Their goal is to put the people against the system. The politics of America is to create insecurity.”

 

One would think that if we were that close to a deal, which would grant Iran nuclear power status in ten years (probably less), and that we were “so close to an historic deal and a better future”, as John Kerry put it on Saturday, that there would be much less rhetoric coming from the Iranians, wouldn’t you agree? I mean, if I was this close to getting what I wanted from you, the last thing I would do before the deal was signed was screw it up by taunting you. At least, I’d wait until after I had a signed document before I did a victory lap.

Or, it could just be another one of Obama’s lies? He actually wants to believe he’s that close to a deal with Iran, a deal that would give him something other than a copy of Obamacare to put into his presidential library, that he can taste it? Then again, he’s probably just antsy  as hell to show congress he IS capable of negotiating something with somebody…with anybody that has more pull than his daughters. So far though, through two secretaries of state, that hasn’t happened. He can’t point to one single incident anywhere in the world since 2009 when he took office, where he has been able to negotiate a settlement of any conflict with anybody. I don’t care what the size, I don’t care the seriousness of the negotiations. It’s been a big foreign policy flop.

And it won’t be much better this time around. Here’s the scenario you’re going to witness on April Fool’s Day. John Kerry, looking haggard and tired, addressing the media, saying he’s tried everything he can think of to get a deal with the Iranians, and he’s close. Sooo close! He can feel  it. If he just had another six months without the threat of a congressional sanction. If he just could get the UN to lift their sanctions so that threat weren’t hanging over the Iranians head…so we could show them our good faith, he’s positive he could reach a deal.

And I’ve got a bridge in Lake Havasu City I’d like to sell you.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

 

Permission was given by Desert Musings for Lorra B. to post article in it’s entirety.