U.S FREEZES $2 BILLION IN IRAN CASE
WASHINGTON -- More than $2 billion allegedly held on behalf of Iran in Citigroup Inc. accounts were secretly ordered frozen last year by a federal court in Manhattan, in what appears to be the biggest seizure of Iranian assets abroad since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Source:The Wall Street Journal
- The legal order, executed 18 months ago by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, is under seal and hasn't been made public. The court acted in part because of information provided by the U.S. Treasury Department.
- President Barack Obama has pledged to enact new economic sanctions on Iran at year-end if Tehran doesn't respond to international calls for negotiations over its nuclear-fuel program.
- The frozen $2 billion stands at the center of an intensifying legal struggle between Luxembourg's Clearstream Banking S.A., the holder of the Citibank account, and the families of hundreds of U.S. Marines killed or injured in a 1983 terrorist attack on a Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.
- Clearstream is primarily a clearing house for financial trades and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Boerse AG. Luxembourg's bank secrecy laws have helped it grow into a major European financial center.
- There is no indication that Citibank knew the funds may ultimately belong to Iran. U.S. firms that do business with Iran face stiff civil and criminal penalties.
TEHRAN RAPS OBAMA U-TURN OVER MIDDLE EAST POLICY
Tehran has warned Washington not to make the same mistakes that the former administration of George W. Bush did when it came to Middle East peace talks.
Source: Press TV
- The top Iranian diplomat said neither the new US administration nor any other Arab state should think that they could ignore the right of Palestinians when addressing the issue of peace.
- "We warn the US government and (President Barack) Obama not to fall into the trap laid by former US politicians on the issue of Palestine," Iran's Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said on the sidelines of Friday prayers in Isfahan.
- He also noted that a new Israel-Palestinian peace plan should at least grant Palestinians the minimum rights they deserve, and not take the pro-Tel Aviv approach of the former administration.
- Mottaki also pointed out that Iran's national interests were tied up with "the effort to obtain Palestinian rights."
- The Iranian foreign minister's comments came after US President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East held a four-hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in London to discuss a settlement freeze.
- The Wednesday meeting ended without satisfactory results as Netanyahu refused to heed international calls for a complete end to the expansion of settlements on Palestinian land.
- Furthermore, Israeli officials and Western diplomats said after the talks, that Mitchell had recognized that Netanyahu could not announce a settlement freeze in East Jerusalem (al-Quds).
- They said Washington no longer demands that Tel Aviv make a public announcement about freezing settlement building in the occupied holy city.
- This is while, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met with Netanyahu in Berlin on Thursday, identified Israel's settlement building in Palestinian territories as an urgent issue which must be addressed before peace could be established in the region.
U.S. LAWMAKERS WANT TERRORISTS TO TAKE DOWN IRAN GOVT.
Two hard-line US lawmakers have called for greater efforts to topple the Tehran government, going as far as to suggest support for anti-Iran terrorist groups.
- Democratic Representative and Chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, Bob Filner called, on June 26, for greater support for what he called "resistance groups" in Iran, putting a special emphasis on the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO), UPI reported.
- On Sunday, Former House Speaker and leading Republican hawk Newt Gingrich also called on the Obama administration to "sabotage" Iran's oil and gas industry to trigger an economic crisis - which he claimed would bring down the Iranian government.
- "[We] should use covert operations to create a gasoline-led crisis to try and replace the regime," he was quoted by UPI as saying.
- The idea of attacking Iran's oil industry is not a new concept in US politics as many leading analysts and politicians have already explored its feasibility and effectiveness, but outward talk of support for a group that is listed as a terrorist organization in the United States is a rare move.
- The MKO, listed as a terrorist group in Iran, Iraq, Canada, and the US, has claimed responsibility for bombings, killings and attacks against Iranian government officials and civilians over the past 30 years.
- he attacks include the assassination of the late president Mohammad-Ali Rajaei, prime minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar and judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti.
- The MKO is also known to have cooperated with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hossein in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.
- The organization is also notorious for using cult-like tactics against its own members and for torturing and murdering its defectors.
Source: Press TV
U.S. INVITES IRAN TO THE 4 OF JULY PARTIES
In a new overture to Iran, the Obama administration has authorized US embassies around the world to invite Iranian officials to Independence Day parties they host on or around July 4th
A State Department cable sent to all US embassies and consulates late last week said that US diplomats could ask their Iranian counterparts to attend the festivities, which generally feature speeches about American values, fireworks, hot dogs and hamburgers.
The notice, sent on Friday, said that the posts "may invite representatives from the government of Iran" to the events, a State Department official said Tuesday, quoting from the document. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal communication.
It was not immediately clear how many embassies and consulates would actually invite Iranian diplomats to the July 4 parties or whether any Iranians would accept the invitations. .
A State Department cable sent to all US embassies and consulates late last week said that US diplomats could ask their Iranian counterparts to attend the festivities, which generally feature speeches about American values, fireworks, hot dogs and hamburgers.
The notice, sent on Friday, said that the posts "may invite representatives from the government of Iran" to the events, a State Department official said Tuesday, quoting from the document. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal communication.
It was not immediately clear how many embassies and consulates would actually invite Iranian diplomats to the July 4 parties or whether any Iranians would accept the invitations. .
Courtesy: Jerusalem Post
JAILED U.S. JOURNALIST GOES ON HUNGER STRIKE
American journalist Roxana Saberi is said to be on a hunger strike.
TEHRAN, Iran — The American journalist convicted of spying in Iran has gone on a hunger strike to protest her imprisonment, her father said Saturday.
Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was convicted of spying for the United States and sentenced to eight years in prison after a swift, closed door trial earlier this month.
Saberi was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials, but earlier this month, an Iranian judge leveled the far more serious allegation of espionage.
"She went on a hunger strike Tuesday to protest her imprisonment. Today is the fifth day," Reza Saberi told The Associated Press. "She will remain on hunger strike until she is freed."
Her father said Roxana’s lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, has appealed the sentence. "The lawyer filed his appeal today," he said.
Iran’s judiciary chief,Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, ordered a full investigation into the case Monday, a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged Tehran’s chief prosecutor to ensure Saberi be allowed a full defense during her appeal.
It is the first time Iran has found an American journalist guilty of spying, and it is unclear how it would affect recent overtures by the Obama administration for better relations and engagement with Washington’s longtime adversary.
TEHRAN, Iran — The American journalist convicted of spying in Iran has gone on a hunger strike to protest her imprisonment, her father said Saturday.
Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was convicted of spying for the United States and sentenced to eight years in prison after a swift, closed door trial earlier this month.Saberi was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials, but earlier this month, an Iranian judge leveled the far more serious allegation of espionage.
"She went on a hunger strike Tuesday to protest her imprisonment. Today is the fifth day," Reza Saberi told The Associated Press. "She will remain on hunger strike until she is freed."
Her father said Roxana’s lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, has appealed the sentence. "The lawyer filed his appeal today," he said.
Iran’s judiciary chief,Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, ordered a full investigation into the case Monday, a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged Tehran’s chief prosecutor to ensure Saberi be allowed a full defense during her appeal.It is the first time Iran has found an American journalist guilty of spying, and it is unclear how it would affect recent overtures by the Obama administration for better relations and engagement with Washington’s longtime adversary.
Courtesy: Associated Press
VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
