IMPACT

خسن و خسین هر سه‌ خواهران مغاویه اند

Arash Irandoost;

What's the game?  

Who might you be?

I did not find any website listed for your organization.

It seems that you, all by yourself, is the 'organization'.

There Goes the NIAC…Again! by Arash Irandoost

//newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/1847

There Goes the NIAC … Again!
Dr. Arash Irandoost
June 13, 2011

There is a preponderance of publicly available NIAC documents that
clearly show NIAC is at the service of the Islamic Republic. NIAC’s
pretense of being a voice for human rights and other gimmicks are
cleverly orchestrated to exploit the Iranian-American community and
masterfully hide its true intentions. Many of NIAC internal documents
attest to this fact. NIAC is not alone in its efforts to support the
Islamic republic and covering up crimes committed by the regime.

A complex network
of individuals and organizations with direct ties to the clerical
regime and with a deliberate synchrony are hard at work to influence the
U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic. Iranian lobby network,
spearheaded by partnership of radical Islamists, liberal and left
leaning individuals and organizations, Iranian cultural centers,
religious organizations and pro regime entities, includes well-known
American diplomats, congressional representatives, figures from
academia, the legal profession, and the think tank world, who serve as
mouthpieces for the mullah’s party line.

NIAC: With a new push
for even more "crippling" Iran sanctions coming out of Congress, and
renewed signs from the president that further sanctions may be in the
offing, it is more important than ever for Americans, particularly
Americans of Iranian descent, to evaluate the unintended impact these
sanctions are having here in the U.S.

PDMI: The question to be asked of NIAC and other regime
apologists is why sanctions are imposed on Iran in the first place? For
the past 32 years various U.S. administrations have tried
unsuccessfully to court the mullahs. Any attempt at dialogue and
diplomacy with Iran has failed. The regime is intent on ensuring its
survival and wiping Israel off the map by developing its nuclear weapon’s
program. Sanctions are a way of pressuring rouge countries such as the
Islamic government in Iran to change their behavior, short of
resorting to a disastrous war. Yes, NIAC is right. Sanctions do affect
Americans and Iranian-Americans, but only those who want to do
lucrative business with Iran and not the ordinary Iranians. Ordinary
Iranians have been suffering under the theocratic regime for 32 years.
Unemployment is in double digits. Inflation is at 30 percent annually.
Corruption is rampant and almost legal. Political prisoners fill the
Islamic Republic’s prisons. For NIAC to claim that sanctions hurt the
ordinary people is simply dishonest. Sanctions are targeted at regime’s
top echelon. NIAC ignores the fact that the world community will not
tolerate an Islamic government with nuclear weapons. The alternative to
sanctions is war. Let’s not buy into NIAC’s fuzzy logic and avoid war
at all cost.

NIAC: Yesterday, the civil rights organization Asian Law Caucus released its latest guide, The Impact of U.S. Sanctions Against Iran on You,
which lays out some of the effects of sanctions on ordinary Iranian
Americans and provides guidance for how to navigate the maze of new and
existing restrictions.

PDMI: NIAC and its proxies actually are providing Americans and
Iranians with tools and legal expertise to legally get around Iran
Sanctions. ALC claims to be a center for advancing justice. Even though
ALC is careful that the publication should not be regarded as legal
advice, ALC’s 24 page report is compiled with pro bono assistance from
the WilmerHale law firm with “expertise” on Iran sanctions and a cast of
pro regime Iranians. The ALC is ill-advised to engage in Iranian
political affairs and perhaps it should advocate for human rights and
speak against the brutal repression of basic human rights by a criminal
regime. ALC should realize that there is a clear distinction between
the Iranian people and the Iranian government. Iranians do not
recognize the Islamic Republic as a legitimate government and neither
do they believe NIAC represents their interests. 97 percent of
Iranian-Americans surveyed believe that NIAC is a lobby organization
for Islamic Republic. Sanctions are aimed at changing the behavior of
the Iranians officials who disregard the basic human rights of the
Iranians. Stories of rape, floggings, hangings, stoning, and killing of
Iranian pro-democracy protesters since June 2009 and for that matter
for the past three decades, are well documented. Perhaps it would be
more appropriate for ALC to address the human rights violations by
China, North Korea, Pakistan, and other Asian countries, not Iran,
where it does not have the knowledge or the expertise!

NIAC and its proxies act as if the Iranian regime has the right to smuggle goods
from abroad for its nuclear, missile and conventional weapon’s
programs. Homeland Security agents have arrested many Iranians who have
attempted to smuggle F-14 fighter aircraft parts for use by the Iranian military. Most Iranians and entities arrested
for violating sanctions have had proven ties to Islamic Republic,
buying arms, laundering huge sums of money, exchanging millions, not
thousands.

NIAC: Last year, when Iranian-American Mahmoud Reza Banki was sentenced
to two and a half years in prison for facilitating remittances between
families in the U.S. and Iran, shock waves rippled through the
Iranian-American community. That's because even under ramped up
sanctions, Iranian Americans are still legally permitted to send family
remittances to loved ones in Iran. However, because banking sanctions
have closed off most of the legal channels for such transactions, many
turn to workarounds that may seem innocuous, but are often illegal.

PDMI: Most Iranians arrested
have been involved in purchasing arms and sensitive technologies in
defiance of the international embargo. The Institute for Science and
International Security (ISIS) has identified numerous cases in which
U.S. actions have led to the arrest of Iranians believed to be in the
regime’s smuggling core. In May 2008 Iranian citizen Amir Hossein Ardebili
pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of buying arms
equipment for the ministry of defense. In March 2009, U.S. authorities
arrested Majid Kakavand for sending electronic equipment usable in military, avionic and aerospace programs. In March 2009, U.S. authorities arrested Hossein Ali Khoshnevisrad,
an Iranian national, during a layover at a U.S. airport for allegedly
buying U.S. military aircraft parts illicitly through his Iranian
trading company, Ariasa, and an Irish trading company Mac Aviation
Group, on behalf of Iran’s Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company
(HESA) and Iran Aircraft Industries (IACI). In January 2010, German
authorities arrested Amirhossein Sairafi,
an alleged Dubai and Iran-based middleman who transshipped vacuum
equipment believed to be for nuclear gas centrifuge plants in Iran.
Sairafi allegedly managed a front company out of Dubai and Iran called
AVAC to receive U.S.-origin items from a middleman stationed in
California.

For NIAC to claim that innocent Iranians are arrested for spurious
charges by the U.S. authorities is intellectually dishonest and
misrepresents the facts. NIAC should be investigated
for violation of tax laws, the Foreign Agents Registration Act and
lobbying disclosure laws. Anecdotal stories by ALC are carefully crafted
to give a human face to otherwise illegal smuggling activities by the
regime.

NIAC: The ALC effort is important in ensuring that Iranian
Americans understand their rights and don't end up unintentionally
violating the law. But even with this understanding, many Iranian
Americans have been unable to avoid the chilling effect caused by the
increasing breadth of sanctions. Banks have frozen the accounts of
Iranian Americans who simply checked their bank balance online from
Iran. In at least one case, a bank closed an account when it determined
its customer was a "resident" of Iran because she had been thrown in jail on frivolous espionage charges.

PDMI: Let’s not forget that Trita was Congressman Bob Ney’s chief
of staff in Washington when Bob Ney was caught trying to smuggle
aircraft parts to Iran. Former congressmen Bob Ney pleaded guilty
and served two and a half years in prison for trying to circumvent
Iran Sanctions, while Trita Parsi continues to pressure Congress about
the sale of aircraft parts to Iran.

NIAC: Website owners have found that certain web hosts refuse to
allow Iranian IP addresses to access their sites. Iranian Americans who
formerly worked and retired in Iran report that they are now unable to
receive their pensions here in the U.S. due to banking restrictions.
Charity and relief organizations have been shocked when, despite going
through the long and arduous process of obtaining a U.S. license to work
on humanitarian projects in Iran, they are suddenly and wrongly
dropped by their financial institution. And researchers have been
unable to conduct studies or obtain grants related to Iran because of
concerns about sanctions.

PDMI: This is yet another of NIAC’s disingenuous and distorted
statements. Such statements made by NIAC simply lack validity and are
designed to mislead the American policy makers.

Fact: IRI has imposed the strictest filtering on the Internet and
does not want Iranians access information about demonstrations, rapes,
hangings, unemployment, poverty and prostitution, drug trafficking and
human smuggling committed by regime handlers. Iran recently announced
that it wants to create its own Internet (Intranet).

Fact: NIAC was complicit about identifying the Iranian NGOs using
NED funds. Many humanitarian NGOs were identified and closed down
during the Khatami era and NIAC was at the center of it. NIAC is guilty
of helping a criminal regime and should be tried in the US courts.
There are too many documents and facts linking NIAC to the Islamic
government in Iran. In 2007, the National Iranian American Council
(NIAC), which is a recipient of NED funding, wrote a letter
objecting to the “Democracy Fund” money (70 million) being included in
the fiscal year 2008 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.

Fact: The US prominent universities are filled with so-called
Iranian experts from Harvard to Princeton. Yet, they only spew their
liberal and leftist, anti-Semite and America and Israel bashing
ideology. They never denounce Hezbollah or Hamas or acknowledge them as
terrorist organizations. They do not recognize Baha’ism as a religion.
Even though they claim to have escaped regime’s atrocities, they never
write about crimes committed by the regime. Iranian petro dollars are
invested on American campuses and classrooms where future diplomats are
created. Such students will continue to apply the principles that they
have been receiving by pro Hamas professors sitting on Jihadi grants.
Neither NIAC nor the Iranian regime is interested in facts. Information
on political prisoners, refugee, economy, torture and killings are
ignored or sugarcoated by these “so-called” academicians and
researchers.

NIAC: None of these activities are illegal, but the broad,
untargeted nature of Iran sanctions have convinced companies and banks
that facilitating such activities is simply not worth the risk.

PDMI: During a recent campaign to ease sanctions on Iran organized by NIAC and NIPOC, titled U.S. Iran Sanctions, How Does it Affect you?,
there were four companies that sponsored the February 26th event in
California. All were in the business of selling sensitive technologies;
telecommunication, sophisticated applications, military equipment,
chemicals, oil and gas and nuclear technologies. Not a single one of
them dealt with food and medicine to ease the pressure on the ordinary
Iranians. The big oil and Iranian front companies are salivating to do
lucrative business with Iran at the expense of human rights violations
and contrary to their company’s code of conduct. Nokia, Siemens, Sony
come to mind who have admitted helping the regime to crackdown on
dissidents.

NIAC: Even with these difficulties, many, if not most, Iranian
Americans would be happy to make these sacrifices if doing so held the
promise of helping improve the situation in Iran. But the results we
have seen from broad sanctions have consistently been the opposite.
Economic sanctions regarding Iran's nuclear program have not stopped or
even stemmed the human rights abuses in Iran. They have failed to
change the Iranian government's behavior for over three decades and
have hurt, not helped, the Iranian people.

PDMI: Despite Trita’s whining's, sanctions are working. Iranian-Americans want the strictest form of non- food and medicine sanctions against the criminal regime. 80 percent of Iran’s economy
is controlled by the IRGC. "I think our discussion (on Iran) today was
really about the fact that the sanctions have ended up being more
effective and more severe than perhaps we might have expected before the
U.N. resolution was passed," Robert Gates said emerging from talks
with France’s Herve Morin. Secretary Gates continued by saying the U.N.
sanctions approved in June had provided a crucial legal platform for
individual nations to enact additional measures.

NIAC: For instance, restrictions on aircraft parts and repairs
have helped leave Iran's civilian aircraft fleet in disrepair, resulting
in at least fifteen Iranian plane crashes in the past decade.

PDMI: Iran leases most of air fleet. Many civilian air fleets are
Russian made and Iran freely trades with Russian and China purchasing
military and civilian aircraft parts.

NIAC: We also now know that, in June 2009, as Iranians took to
the streets to demand accountability from their government in the face
of brutal repression, U.S. sanctions were preventing Iranians from
accessing even the most basic communication software and hardware.

PDMI: Iranians took to streets demanding regime change. They
shouted that Mousavi was a pretext and the entire regime was the target.
They already knew the regime was corrupt. They demanded a secular
democracy for Iran. Iranians effectively used Twitter, Facebook and the
Internet to send videos of regime’s brutality while NIAC advised
president Obama to say nothing and remain quiet. The Iranian government
lowered the Internet bandwidth almost to zero to prevent protesters
from uploading videos of the brutal atrocities and shootings during
protest. Yet NIAC never complained and instead advised the American
policy makers to raise the software purchase limit to $20,000. NIAC has
forgotten that Iran does not honor copyright laws and most
sophisticated applications are readily available for less than 5
dollars all over Iran. Also, Iran’s’ telecommunication is owned by the
IRGC, and therefore the bandwidth is controlled by the IRGC, in case
Trita and Mr. Abdi have forgotten.

NIAC: Fast forward two years and many of these sanctions remain
in place, new ones have been ratcheted up, and even more may be on the
way. Meanwhile, Tehran continues to put thirty years of experience in
leveraging the sanctions to use by enriching government officials and
further consolidating their share of Iran's economy by controlling the
sale of sanctioned products.

PDMI: Mullahs defiance of the international laws and UN mandates
necessitates the need for strictest sanctions. The alternative to
sanctions is war. Nobody wants war as much as NIAC using the threat of
imminent war as a scare tactic. Actually, NIAC’s attempts to prop a
criminal regime and buy it time to develop nuclear weapons will have
disastrous consequences for Iran, and will ultimately lead to
confrontation with the West.

NIAC: Hopefully, efforts like those of the ALC to educate the
Iranian-American community can help ensure that innocent people do not
unknowingly get swept into the wake of the broad sanctions or have their
rights violated. But going forward, we will need to continue to press
policymakers to pay more attention to the unintended consequences of
these sanctions.

PDMI: ALC should focus on protecting and defending human rights
and not appeasing a criminal regime. We will be more than happy to meet
and inform ALC on complex matters related to Iran if they wish to
engage. As a non-profit, ALC might be violating federal laws by engaging
in politics and supporting the Islamic Republic. Hopefully by having
the strictest sanctions imposed on them, the regime will be forced to
observe International laws and adhere to Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.

NIAC: With Congress considering oil embargo measures that will
make Iran policy look even more like the policies carried out on Iraq --
which failed to depose Saddam, resulted in humanitarian disaster, and
ultimately ended in war -- elected officials must hear this message.

PDMI: The Iranian-American community demands the strictest
sanctions against the regime. For as long as the regime is able to sell
the Iranian oil at $90 plus a barrel, it will continue to threaten its
neighbors, finance its terror proxies, and develop its nuclear weapon’s
program. Sanctions are the best way to convince the regime to change
its behavior and avoid a costly and dangerous war.

NIAC: It is critical that Americans, and especially Iranian Americans, take action
to oppose sanctions that invite dangerous outcomes for the U.S. and
the Iranian people, and fail to discriminate between Iran's government,
the Iranian people, and Iranian Americans.

PDMI: Iranians-Americans are well aware of NIAC’s games. ALC
should not be conned by NIAC and should denounce regime’s violations of human rights. ALC must not inadvertently serve as a mouthpiece for the
regime, and instead should help expose regime’s blatant human rights
violations in Asian countries.

NIAC’s strategy, ever since its inception, has been to infuse human
elements to hide and advance its hidden agenda. On various occasions
NIAC has exploited Human Rights (even though Trita Parsi has clearly
stated that NIAC is not a human rights organization and it does not
possess the expertise), discrimination, student visas to appeal to
Iranians and distance itself from the lobby role it is engaged in. ALC’s
publication might as well have been written by NIAC since the intent
and message is uniquely similar to Trita writings and speeches aimed at
easing of Iran Sanctions.

There Goes the NIAC…Again! by Arash Irandoost

//newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/1847

There Goes the NIAC … Again!
Dr. Arash Irandoost
June 13, 2011

There is a preponderance of publicly available NIAC documents that
clearly show NIAC is at the service of the Islamic Republic. NIAC’s
pretense of being a voice for human rights and other gimmicks are
cleverly orchestrated to exploit the Iranian-American community and
masterfully hide its true intentions. Many of NIAC internal documents
attest to this fact. NIAC is not alone in its efforts to support the
Islamic republic and covering up crimes committed by the regime.

A complex network
of individuals and organizations with direct ties to the clerical
regime and with a deliberate synchrony are hard at work to influence the
U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic. Iranian lobby network,
spearheaded by partnership of radical Islamists, liberal and left
leaning individuals and organizations, Iranian cultural centers,
religious organizations and pro regime entities, includes well-known
American diplomats, congressional representatives, figures from
academia, the legal profession, and the think tank world, who serve as
mouthpieces for the mullah’s party line.

NIAC: With a new push
for even more "crippling" Iran sanctions coming out of Congress, and
renewed signs from the president that further sanctions may be in the
offing, it is more important than ever for Americans, particularly
Americans of Iranian descent, to evaluate the unintended impact these
sanctions are having here in the U.S.

PDMI: The question to be asked of NIAC and other regime
apologists is why sanctions are imposed on Iran in the first place? For
the past 32 years various U.S. administrations have tried
unsuccessfully to court the mullahs. Any attempt at dialogue and
diplomacy with Iran has failed. The regime is intent on ensuring its
survival and wiping Israel off the map by developing its nuclear weapon’s
program. Sanctions are a way of pressuring rouge countries such as the
Islamic government in Iran to change their behavior, short of
resorting to a disastrous war. Yes, NIAC is right. Sanctions do affect
Americans and Iranian-Americans, but only those who want to do
lucrative business with Iran and not the ordinary Iranians. Ordinary
Iranians have been suffering under the theocratic regime for 32 years.
Unemployment is in double digits. Inflation is at 30 percent annually.
Corruption is rampant and almost legal. Political prisoners fill the
Islamic Republic’s prisons. For NIAC to claim that sanctions hurt the
ordinary people is simply dishonest. Sanctions are targeted at regime’s
top echelon. NIAC ignores the fact that the world community will not
tolerate an Islamic government with nuclear weapons. The alternative to
sanctions is war. Let’s not buy into NIAC’s fuzzy logic and avoid war
at all cost.

NIAC: Yesterday, the civil rights organization Asian Law Caucus released its latest guide, The Impact of U.S. Sanctions Against Iran on You,
which lays out some of the effects of sanctions on ordinary Iranian
Americans and provides guidance for how to navigate the maze of new and
existing restrictions.

PDMI: NIAC and its proxies actually are providing Americans and
Iranians with tools and legal expertise to legally get around Iran
Sanctions. ALC claims to be a center for advancing justice. Even though
ALC is careful that the publication should not be regarded as legal
advice, ALC’s 24 page report is compiled with pro bono assistance from
the WilmerHale law firm with “expertise” on Iran sanctions and a cast of
pro regime Iranians. The ALC is ill-advised to engage in Iranian
political affairs and perhaps it should advocate for human rights and
speak against the brutal repression of basic human rights by a criminal
regime. ALC should realize that there is a clear distinction between
the Iranian people and the Iranian government. Iranians do not
recognize the Islamic Republic as a legitimate government and neither
do they believe NIAC represents their interests. 97 percent of
Iranian-Americans surveyed believe that NIAC is a lobby organization
for Islamic Republic. Sanctions are aimed at changing the behavior of
the Iranians officials who disregard the basic human rights of the
Iranians. Stories of rape, floggings, hangings, stoning, and killing of
Iranian pro-democracy protesters since June 2009 and for that matter
for the past three decades, are well documented. Perhaps it would be
more appropriate for ALC to address the human rights violations by
China, North Korea, Pakistan, and other Asian countries, not Iran,
where it does not have the knowledge or the expertise!

NIAC and its proxies act as if the Iranian regime has the right to smuggle goods
from abroad for its nuclear, missile and conventional weapon’s
programs. Homeland Security agents have arrested many Iranians who have
attempted to smuggle F-14 fighter aircraft parts for use by the Iranian military. Most Iranians and entities arrested
for violating sanctions have had proven ties to Islamic Republic,
buying arms, laundering huge sums of money, exchanging millions, not
thousands.

NIAC: Last year, when Iranian-American Mahmoud Reza Banki was sentenced
to two and a half years in prison for facilitating remittances between
families in the U.S. and Iran, shock waves rippled through the
Iranian-American community. That's because even under ramped up
sanctions, Iranian Americans are still legally permitted to send family
remittances to loved ones in Iran. However, because banking sanctions
have closed off most of the legal channels for such transactions, many
turn to workarounds that may seem innocuous, but are often illegal.

PDMI: Most Iranians arrested
have been involved in purchasing arms and sensitive technologies in
defiance of the international embargo. The Institute for Science and
International Security (ISIS) has identified numerous cases in which
U.S. actions have led to the arrest of Iranians believed to be in the
regime’s smuggling core. In May 2008 Iranian citizen Amir Hossein Ardebili
pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of buying arms
equipment for the ministry of defense. In March 2009, U.S. authorities
arrested Majid Kakavand for sending electronic equipment usable in military, avionic and aerospace programs. In March 2009, U.S. authorities arrested Hossein Ali Khoshnevisrad,
an Iranian national, during a layover at a U.S. airport for allegedly
buying U.S. military aircraft parts illicitly through his Iranian
trading company, Ariasa, and an Irish trading company Mac Aviation
Group, on behalf of Iran’s Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company
(HESA) and Iran Aircraft Industries (IACI). In January 2010, German
authorities arrested Amirhossein Sairafi,
an alleged Dubai and Iran-based middleman who transshipped vacuum
equipment believed to be for nuclear gas centrifuge plants in Iran.
Sairafi allegedly managed a front company out of Dubai and Iran called
AVAC to receive U.S.-origin items from a middleman stationed in
California.

For NIAC to claim that innocent Iranians are arrested for spurious
charges by the U.S. authorities is intellectually dishonest and
misrepresents the facts. NIAC should be investigated
for violation of tax laws, the Foreign Agents Registration Act and
lobbying disclosure laws. Anecdotal stories by ALC are carefully crafted
to give a human face to otherwise illegal smuggling activities by the
regime.

NIAC: The ALC effort is important in ensuring that Iranian
Americans understand their rights and don't end up unintentionally
violating the law. But even with this understanding, many Iranian
Americans have been unable to avoid the chilling effect caused by the
increasing breadth of sanctions. Banks have frozen the accounts of
Iranian Americans who simply checked their bank balance online from
Iran. In at least one case, a bank closed an account when it determined
its customer was a "resident" of Iran because she had been thrown in jail on frivolous espionage charges.

PDMI: Let’s not forget that Trita was Congressman Bob Ney’s chief
of staff in Washington when Bob Ney was caught trying to smuggle
aircraft parts to Iran. Former congressmen Bob Ney pleaded guilty
and served two and a half years in prison for trying to circumvent
Iran Sanctions, while Trita Parsi continues to pressure Congress about
the sale of aircraft parts to Iran.

NIAC: Website owners have found that certain web hosts refuse to
allow Iranian IP addresses to access their sites. Iranian Americans who
formerly worked and retired in Iran report that they are now unable to
receive their pensions here in the U.S. due to banking restrictions.
Charity and relief organizations have been shocked when, despite going
through the long and arduous process of obtaining a U.S. license to work
on humanitarian projects in Iran, they are suddenly and wrongly
dropped by their financial institution. And researchers have been
unable to conduct studies or obtain grants related to Iran because of
concerns about sanctions.

PDMI: This is yet another of NIAC’s disingenuous and distorted
statements. Such statements made by NIAC simply lack validity and are
designed to mislead the American policy makers.

Fact: IRI has imposed the strictest filtering on the Internet and
does not want Iranians access information about demonstrations, rapes,
hangings, unemployment, poverty and prostitution, drug trafficking and
human smuggling committed by regime handlers. Iran recently announced
that it wants to create its own Internet (Intranet).

Fact: NIAC was complicit about identifying the Iranian NGOs using
NED funds. Many humanitarian NGOs were identified and closed down
during the Khatami era and NIAC was at the center of it. NIAC is guilty
of helping a criminal regime and should be tried in the US courts.
There are too many documents and facts linking NIAC to the Islamic
government in Iran. In 2007, the National Iranian American Council
(NIAC), which is a recipient of NED funding, wrote a letter
objecting to the “Democracy Fund” money (70 million) being included in
the fiscal year 2008 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.

Fact: The US prominent universities are filled with so-called
Iranian experts from Harvard to Princeton. Yet, they only spew their
liberal and leftist, anti-Semite and America and Israel bashing
ideology. They never denounce Hezbollah or Hamas or acknowledge them as
terrorist organizations. They do not recognize Baha’ism as a religion.
Even though they claim to have escaped regime’s atrocities, they never
write about crimes committed by the regime. Iranian petro dollars are
invested on American campuses and classrooms where future diplomats are
created. Such students will continue to apply the principles that they
have been receiving by pro Hamas professors sitting on Jihadi grants.
Neither NIAC nor the Iranian regime is interested in facts. Information
on political prisoners, refugee, economy, torture and killings are
ignored or sugarcoated by these “so-called” academicians and
researchers.

NIAC: None of these activities are illegal, but the broad,
untargeted nature of Iran sanctions have convinced companies and banks
that facilitating such activities is simply not worth the risk.

PDMI: During a recent campaign to ease sanctions on Iran organized by NIAC and NIPOC, titled U.S. Iran Sanctions, How Does it Affect you?,
there were four companies that sponsored the February 26th event in
California. All were in the business of selling sensitive technologies;
telecommunication, sophisticated applications, military equipment,
chemicals, oil and gas and nuclear technologies. Not a single one of
them dealt with food and medicine to ease the pressure on the ordinary
Iranians. The big oil and Iranian front companies are salivating to do
lucrative business with Iran at the expense of human rights violations
and contrary to their company’s code of conduct. Nokia, Siemens, Sony
come to mind who have admitted helping the regime to crackdown on
dissidents.

NIAC: Even with these difficulties, many, if not most, Iranian
Americans would be happy to make these sacrifices if doing so held the
promise of helping improve the situation in Iran. But the results we
have seen from broad sanctions have consistently been the opposite.
Economic sanctions regarding Iran's nuclear program have not stopped or
even stemmed the human rights abuses in Iran. They have failed to
change the Iranian government's behavior for over three decades and
have hurt, not helped, the Iranian people.

PDMI: Despite Trita’s whining's, sanctions are working. Iranian-Americans want the strictest form of non- food and medicine sanctions against the criminal regime. 80 percent of Iran’s economy
is controlled by the IRGC. "I think our discussion (on Iran) today was
really about the fact that the sanctions have ended up being more
effective and more severe than perhaps we might have expected before the
U.N. resolution was passed," Robert Gates said emerging from talks
with France’s Herve Morin. Secretary Gates continued by saying the U.N.
sanctions approved in June had provided a crucial legal platform for
individual nations to enact additional measures.

NIAC: For instance, restrictions on aircraft parts and repairs
have helped leave Iran's civilian aircraft fleet in disrepair, resulting
in at least fifteen Iranian plane crashes in the past decade.

PDMI: Iran leases most of air fleet. Many civilian air fleets are
Russian made and Iran freely trades with Russian and China purchasing
military and civilian aircraft parts.

NIAC: We also now know that, in June 2009, as Iranians took to
the streets to demand accountability from their government in the face
of brutal repression, U.S. sanctions were preventing Iranians from
accessing even the most basic communication software and hardware.

PDMI: Iranians took to streets demanding regime change. They
shouted that Mousavi was a pretext and the entire regime was the target.
They already knew the regime was corrupt. They demanded a secular
democracy for Iran. Iranians effectively used Twitter, Facebook and the
Internet to send videos of regime’s brutality while NIAC advised
president Obama to say nothing and remain quiet. The Iranian government
lowered the Internet bandwidth almost to zero to prevent protesters
from uploading videos of the brutal atrocities and shootings during
protest. Yet NIAC never complained and instead advised the American
policy makers to raise the software purchase limit to $20,000. NIAC has
forgotten that Iran does not honor copyright laws and most
sophisticated applications are readily available for less than 5
dollars all over Iran. Also, Iran’s’ telecommunication is owned by the
IRGC, and therefore the bandwidth is controlled by the IRGC, in case
Trita and Mr. Abdi have forgotten.

NIAC: Fast forward two years and many of these sanctions remain
in place, new ones have been ratcheted up, and even more may be on the
way. Meanwhile, Tehran continues to put thirty years of experience in
leveraging the sanctions to use by enriching government officials and
further consolidating their share of Iran's economy by controlling the
sale of sanctioned products.

PDMI: Mullahs defiance of the international laws and UN mandates
necessitates the need for strictest sanctions. The alternative to
sanctions is war. Nobody wants war as much as NIAC using the threat of
imminent war as a scare tactic. Actually, NIAC’s attempts to prop a
criminal regime and buy it time to develop nuclear weapons will have
disastrous consequences for Iran, and will ultimately lead to
confrontation with the West.

NIAC: Hopefully, efforts like those of the ALC to educate the
Iranian-American community can help ensure that innocent people do not
unknowingly get swept into the wake of the broad sanctions or have their
rights violated. But going forward, we will need to continue to press
policymakers to pay more attention to the unintended consequences of
these sanctions.

PDMI: ALC should focus on protecting and defending human rights
and not appeasing a criminal regime. We will be more than happy to meet
and inform ALC on complex matters related to Iran if they wish to
engage. As a non-profit, ALC might be violating federal laws by engaging
in politics and supporting the Islamic Republic. Hopefully by having
the strictest sanctions imposed on them, the regime will be forced to
observe International laws and adhere to Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.

NIAC: With Congress considering oil embargo measures that will
make Iran policy look even more like the policies carried out on Iraq --
which failed to depose Saddam, resulted in humanitarian disaster, and
ultimately ended in war -- elected officials must hear this message.

PDMI: The Iranian-American community demands the strictest
sanctions against the regime. For as long as the regime is able to sell
the Iranian oil at $90 plus a barrel, it will continue to threaten its
neighbors, finance its terror proxies, and develop its nuclear weapon’s
program. Sanctions are the best way to convince the regime to change
its behavior and avoid a costly and dangerous war.

NIAC: It is critical that Americans, and especially Iranian Americans, take action
to oppose sanctions that invite dangerous outcomes for the U.S. and
the Iranian people, and fail to discriminate between Iran's government,
the Iranian people, and Iranian Americans.

PDMI: Iranians-Americans are well aware of NIAC’s games. ALC
should not be conned by NIAC and should denounce regime’s violations of human rights. ALC must not inadvertently serve as a mouthpiece for the
regime, and instead should help expose regime’s blatant human rights
violations in Asian countries.

NIAC’s strategy, ever since its inception, has been to infuse human
elements to hide and advance its hidden agenda. On various occasions
NIAC has exploited Human Rights (even though Trita Parsi has clearly
stated that NIAC is not a human rights organization and it does not
possess the expertise), discrimination, student visas to appeal to
Iranians and distance itself from the lobby role it is engaged in. ALC’s
publication might as well have been written by NIAC since the intent
and message is uniquely similar to Trita writings and speeches aimed at
easing of Iran Sanctions.

Interesting fact

I have a friend who does work to help the poor in Nicaragua. He asked some of the poor when were they the best off. The majority told him under Samosa.

VPK Why USA wants IRI? Why try and understand?

NeoColonialism is the US Policy for last 32 years.

Green movement was the wests aim at keeping Islam in power, but the group that does what it's told.

The KEY is not for US to explain what USA policy makers want and why.  Just having access to such secretive information is impressive enough.  God knows why they think this way.

They believe they can dominate and control irans and middle easts oil resources, while putting a stop to peoples development.

They discovered with the Shah, they lost control of Iran and after trying to prevent Iranians from developing a complex multisource economy and losing that battle they needed a more proven way of retarding Irans development.

Read the books on how Shah brought a certain prime minister to power in order to buy a steel plant from USA and how the USA put pressure on the shah to replace this prime minister with a USA chosen one and how his mission was to change Irans goals and no longer seek a steel industry and then how 10 years later at the first opportunity Shah signed a deal with the Russians, with the opposition of all major powers. USA/Germany/Japan/France/UK.

It was on the Island of Guadelope that all western countries decided to support khomeini and install fundamentalism against the shah and to this day they have fought tooth and nail to keep Akhunds.  Those are the facts.  Why? It serves their interests.

That was the reason Shah wanted to create Rastakhiz, because after almost 40 years he discovered, as only a person with access to coveted secret information can have, that the greatest enemy Iranians had were their own politicians pursuing power and selling out the country. 

In hindsight Shah was right, iranians were and still are wrong.  Its why countres that have been able to grow strong and develop are not democracies, but autocracies like russia, china.

Iranians today all want democracy for Iran because they have no idea, they will be worse off with such a system and it will serve western govts in controlling Iran.  Give Iranians just 20 years experience as a democracy, like india and they will all come back crying why no one gave them the accurate information of what the wests intentions really are for Iran.

See this video and enjoy what Shah did, in 100% opposition to the world, //www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUGRjr-VCxQ

When someone has accurate information for you, try not to spend so much time understading why it is true, just be glad you have it.  It can save you a life time of wasting your life following the wrong path.  And has comed from a lifetime of experience of people that had access to the most valuable information. 

Meherdad Jan

You present reasonable arguments as I think I do. There are pluses and minuses. US multinationals could care lees about brain drain. They just want cheap and educated skill. They will find it in Iran as in India. 

Israel would benefit from not having a sponsor for Hizbollah. IRI is a pain in a *** for them. Who knows how powerful a hostile Iranian regime may get. They are better off with a friendly Iranian government.

I think there are elements in USA that want IRI and those that do not. There is a struggle between them. As there is between Iranians. You are right that the real decision will be made by Iranian people. If Syria and Gaddafi go IRI will be seriously weakened. Obama is working on them both. That makes me think he is on the side of getting rid of IRI. But what do I know about his real intentions: nothing. In time we will know what happens; only in time.

VPK jaan: obviously I can only speculate, right?

But I would think US would want IRI in power or at least not want to [actively] work to remove it for following reason

- What would be the alternative to IRI for the US in that part of the world (a possible power vacuum)

- What are the ill for US that is coming out of IRI that is detrimental to US? (IRI is not posing any [real] threat to US that is not manageable

- Would the cost &effort of removing IRI, out benefit a new regime in Tehran specially that we don't know who? If it ain't broke why fix it

My logic:

IRI's antagonistic rhetoric towards US & Israel is providing both governments a good reason for justifying and growing its military power in the area, this is all the while they know that IRI military power is only a tabl to khali (hot air)

IRI systematic way of destroying Iran resources and ever more relaying on the West for its technology and goods, makes Iran for the foreseeable future a great market place for the West while keeps Iran dependent on its revenue from OIL only so no serious reduction/stop of oil flow from Iran.

A dissatisfaction population in Iran means an easy source for brain drain and other resources from Iran to the West and the potential for a "revolution" at any time the West really wants a regime change.

Of course these could represent only a sample of why IRI is beneficial to US and US would want to keep it in place.

Mehrdad

Mehrdad Jan

We are impotent and let us face it. But that was not my point. I like to hear someone refute my points as to why USA wants IRI in power.

Molla Shotor Khan

"When all else fails demonize your opponent."

Our opponent is a demon and does not need to be demonized. All you need is a pair of eyes and an open mind.

There is no excuse for the impotence

But we ought to think in the context of US, IRI & Iranians as Iranians are not choghondar here

Whether US wants to keep IRI in place or choose to replace it, such decision and task MUST be of Iranians and only they ought to aim, work and be the lead player in replacing this dictatorial regime with one that they choose. America can help in building and fostering a democratic system if she aims to have a friend in the future of Iran.

Only with such thinking, Iranians can get out of the quicksand

Mehrdad

....

 Technique #1 'Demonization'

"When all else fails demonize your opponent."

taken straight from the handbook.

Lack of credibility. by

by Roozbeh_Gilani on Tue Jun 14, 2011 01:14 PM PDT

The author of this blog, has a  history of defending the murderous, terrorist, fascist  islamist regime of Iran on this site and not being able to respond to the readres' requests in proving his wild claims.  

As long as there are people eating from IRI's trough, we will see articles such as this one popping up like an ugly zit every morning on IC. Pop that zit...lol

USA & IRI

Does US really want the IRI to stay in power? I keep hearing this from people. Perhaps to excuse our own impotence in getting rid of IR. Oh, it is the US and we can do nothing. So back to Chelo Kabab!

Here are my arguments for why US may not want IR in power:

• US foreign policy changes from administration to administration. While some things like support for Israel and big corporations remain others change. Examples: Truman refused to help overthrow Mossadegh while Eisenhower supported it. Nixon strongly supported the Shah while Carter actively undermined and eventually brought down the Shah. A Ford administration would have never allowed the Shah to fall.
• Obama could have easily allowed an Islamist regime to take over Egypt. But it did not. Instead it basically supported a military mediated transition to a pseudo democracy.
• America is stuck in Afghanistan with no way out. A friendly Iranian regime such as Pahlavi would take care of it. They could outsource the Afghan war to Iran and get it done on pennys on the dollar.
• America may be willing to live with a nuclear IR but Israel is not. A few years ago Bush vetoed an Israeli attack on Iran. The compromise was the infamous virus that wrecked the IR centrifuges. This while good for a few years will just buy time. The issue will surface again and this time they will need something else. Such as a friendly regimes.
• The Mullahs provide little good for USA. American firms could use an educated force to outsource their work to just like India and China. Iran does have such a work force. A friendly regime is the key to it.
• Obama is taking out other troublesome leaders like Gaddafi. He already removed OBL. I think this is a systematic approach to reshape the ME. Syria is next and then the big prize is the IRI.

Now  I like to read some other arguments for why I am wrong. 

Complete Embargo of Islamist regime, political and economical

 Is what is needed to help Iranian people themselves topple this savage fascistic regime. It worked for South African Blacks, it will work for Iranian people.

 Further, there is not a single shred of evidence that Iranian people are harmed by the existing mild "sanctions" or are likely to be harmed by a complete embargo.

There is however daily news of defenceless unarmed Iranians being hanged, raped and tortured by this islamist regime armed to teeth thanks to huge oil revenues.

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."

I Despise...

Dear I despise fascists and stalinists,

Thank you for your comments. I agree with much of what you wrote.

Full sanctions on the purchase of oil from the fundamentalist regime by the UN Security Council would be the most effective and the best way to bring down the terrorist regime. As the saying goes, a bird in hand is better than two in the bush. Or as we say, kachi behtar az hichieh. So other sanctions that are less effective should be supported. As you said they have been effective to some extent.

So, I support oil sanctions by various governments and entities as well as UN SC sanctions on IRGC, and individual leaders of the terrorist regime. They are not as effective as a full strong sanctions, but better than nothing.

I was hoping that President Obama would be able to convince the Chinese and Russians to support a full UNSC sanction on purchase of oil from the VF regime. The sanctions that are currently working their way through at the U.S. Congress could be a good beginning.

Best,

Masoud

Sanctions are a joke, from the point of view of mullahs.

They will have no effect on the behavior of the Regime.

They are cause for celebration to the basiji's, it just reminds them that the USA won't lift a finger to destablize the IRI.

The USA is in a catch 22, they don't want to remove the regime, they want to alter its behavior, the regime is neither containable nor will they negotiate or modify their behavior.

So long as the USA wants to keep the mullahs in power, the sanctions are pointless and ineffective.  The chances of the USA or Israel bombing the regime are ZERO.  The USA can cope with a nuclear armed IRI, so it's not a Red Line.  Don't listen to the Media.

When Bush was in power the USA didn't do a thing, nothing will change that approach.  They would never sanction or block the regimes oil sales, that would undermine their entire foreign policy and collapse the regime.

The USA just wants to be seen pretending to do something about Iran, they have alot of chumps to fool.

Mehrdad

I am not talking about Iranian assets. Just that belonging to IR leadership. And only available to *Iranian* victims not anyone else. Not for so called victims of Hizbollah or anything like that. 

If you had property confiscated; you get paid damages out of their "assets" If you or your relatives got victimized you get damages right out of Rafsanjani. As well as other IR leadership. In fact the assets should be handed over to an Iranian controlled "Government in Exile" with UN supervision. It would then be distributed under strict supervision of an international system. Whatever is left is turned over to a democratic Iranian regime when IR is replaced. 

Other items like frozen Iranian assets should also be handed to the "Government in Exile". But that would not be available for reparations. Only to be turned over to a legitimate democratic Iranian government.

Thanks Onlyiran

...for the Office of Foreign Assests link--they give phone numbers for questions. As the blog author points out, Iranian American--individuals, charity organizations, etc.--need more education on how to navigate the legal labyrinth of the Iran sanctions. Just a couple of weeks ago someone asked me for donation to a cancer patient in Iran, and I had no idea if donating to an Iran bound fund constituted a violation of US law. All I could do was state in an email that this money is being donated only if legal means are found to transfer the funds, otherwise it should go to a US charity.

VPK: Cautiously agreed

Such proposition if it is to take place, it needs to be authorized by the UN and managed by the UN.

First, there are lots of "sharks" around just waiting to use any excuse to milk Iranian assets for their benefit. Secondly, if not adopted and mandated by the UN, IRI thieves will just move their $$$ where it is safe and there are a lot of countries who don't mind if that $$$ is tainted with blood as long as it is in their banks.

Mehrdad

Lack of credibility.

The author of this blog, has a  history of defending the murderous, terrorist, fascist  islamist regime of Iran on this site and not being able to respond to the readres' requests in proving his wild claims.  

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."

Everything has been only

Everything has been only effecting ordinaary people in Iran and In the U.S ....

The Regime is laughing hard and does not give a damn .......

Even U.S restriction for Visa only applies to ordinary Iranian parents who for example want to come for their kids graduation or wedding ... I know many ordinary people who  have been denied visa while at the same time people like Ayatoaallh Khazali ( a hard liner in Shora Negahban ) and the  Funny clown Gharaati and many more have been granted visa to come to the U.S and lecture bull shits in the mosques  here ...

It is just a joke .....  

Mehrdad

You are right. That is why the other sanctions are a waste of time. The one other thing that may work is to confiscate the holdings of IR rulers. At least it will allow their victims to have some thing.

No it will not bring down the IR. But it will punish the "right" people. Including Rafsanjani who owns vast amounts of real estate in Canada. Plus the Swiss bank accounts of the Mollahs.

Iran Sanctions = NIMBY

The US sanctions on Iran makes a normal life difficult for the folks who have to undertake financial dealings with relatives in Iran. It is a hassle and a lot of trouble and a pain in the ass.

No doubt.

But all of this could be completely eliminated if Iran was a free, functioning, fair, and reasonable country.

It isn't. By the very best estimates, estimates NIAC would be proud of, Iran is the definitive rogue state run by a shameless, ruthless series of dictators at various levels, all of whom directly piss on and into the cornflakes of EVERY Iranian both inside and outside Iran, on a daily, if not hourly basis.

Not one hour goes by, that the fate of good, decent, fair minded Iranians is not jeopardized by the evil-doing mad men who run every single detail of life in Iran today.

It is true that the US policy hurts good Iranians as well as these thugs. But it hurts these thugs. Who are the ones hurting everyone.

Not one mention of this as the root and primary cause of the US sanctions?

It's always the fault of the US for not willingly allowing these thugs to prosper off their ill-gotten concessions and monopolies on import export of Iranian goods?

The US should make it free and easy for them to transfer millions to banks outside and do god knows what with?

Really? A US that is still shocked and wounded after 911?

As much as I hate for any innocent Iranians to suffer the difficulties faced in transferring cash for relatives health, or to deal with inheritance and property issues back home, it doesn't sound like the US should stop making it mildly difficult for the thugs who hold us all hostage with their bad ideas and worse ideologies.

If the argument is that the thugs are still getting away with their dash with the cash, and why hurt common Iranians with a policy that the thugs cheat their way around, I'm down with that argument. Although I haven't seen any specifics on that position.

Who, What, Where, When, How Much?

Lifting sanctions on an impudent Iranian government that would deprive even it's women's soccer team from participating in the world cup, just doesn't sound like the right thing to do.

At least not without an alternative idea.

And this is what is missing in this piece. Actually always missing in these pieces.

So, what's the alternative idea to sanctions?

There may be none. It may well be that the fate and responsibility for ridding Iran of the thugs that infest her today, rests in the hands of Iranians and not the US. Maybe Iranians need to rise up and cleanse themselves of the scourge that has befallen them now. According to the Asian Law Caucus though all we need to do to be free again (have we ever been free?) is get the US to drop the sanctions without any plan as to what to do afterwards. Seeing as we don't appear to deserve our own Law Caucus, we always need someone else to speak for us apparently.

Maybe US sanctions against Iran would be lifted better and more permanently if Iranians changed their lot and stopped wriggling around the laws of other nations as they are almost always logically applied to Iran.

Maybe when Iranians stand up for themselves against their own internal oppressors, and self regulate, and make Iran free and fair from the inside out, all the bad stuff will stop happening from the outside in.

At the end of the day, Iran is by and for Iranians, and if the famous quote by Alexis de Toqueville who lifted and changed it subtly from Joseph de Maistre who said "Every country has the government it deserves (Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite"), holds, then all is right with the world and Iranians simply deserve the mess they are in.

I don't believe that quote, or in the other myth of Iranian apathy. Especially I don't believe it when bad guys insist on cheating.

The heads of the Iranian government today, are cheaters. The biggest cheaters of Iranians in history. They don't deserve to be rewarded by the loosening of US sanctions, or have their questionable financial transactions emboldened.

The best compromise would be to make an itemized list of the top Iranian government officials and apparatchiks who serve to gain financially by the lifting of US sanctions carte blanche, and limit the sanctions to prohibiting them from moving money.

That is difficult, because by now, even the most corrupt officials conniving the smallest industries will employ innocent Iranians who will be hurt by sanctions.

But by letting the bad guys win by letting everyone win with removing sanctions, this also pushes the patience of the US with an Iranian Politburo that has continually tried and tried and tried that patience since the hostage crisis.

Iranians are not hostage takers, Iranians don't want nuclear weapons, Iranians aren't religious zealots.

Iranians want to be free to prosper under their own effort. Which if I am not mistaken was and is the same founding principles of the US.

While there is no apparent answer, to sanction or not to sanction, what is clear is that when Iranians finally decide to take responsibility for their country, and choose the right way over this current proven wrong way, nothing, not keeping or lifting sanctions, will have any effect on allowing Iranians to truly prosper.

canot have your cake and eat it too

you guys cant live in the US, want all the freedoms, work with Iran, reclaim your properties, etc. etc.  Then support friendly relations with the islamic Rapist Republic, oppose sanctions and surgical attacks, but then sit back and say the Islamic Rapist Republic is "Akho toof". People, people, people, something has got to give.  The US is not gonna sit back and see this demonic regime continue its course.  Something needs to happen, either very heavy sanctions which will encroach upon your cushy life styles or surgical attacks.  Choose.....

....

No sanctions against Iran.

Sanctions will lead to Embargo,

Embargo will lead to War with Iran.

War with Iran will kill handreds of thousands in Iran and bankrupt American government.

That's not what Iranian Americans who live and raise their family here want. 

Mehrdad, right...

the key is the "people". And totally agree that oil is the lifeline of this establishment much like it is for all the countries whose economies are grossly dependent on oil revenues. 

I am afraid, however, that the "people" need to be like the "people" that removed the last regime. When the "people" see that this regime is no longer to their benefit to stay in power, the "people" will remove and the "people" will install another bloodsucking parasite until the day the oil is gone. Then Iran will be like Afghanistan.

The ONLY remedy here is for Iranians to wake up soon. Will they?

____________

IRAN FIRST

____________

Oil boycott or even embargo?!?!?!

I think we all know the answer to above suggestion. Anybody who think any American president will risk to be the sole cause of high gasoline price just to bring IRI to its knees, or the big corporation will risk their handsome profit just to bring democracy to Iran which will probably end up cutting their hands even more of the almost free oil from Iran must be living in another planet.

Cutting the IRI oil revenue is one of the keys to bring IRI to its demise and that key is in the hand of Iranians as only Iranian workers can affectively shutting down the flow of oil.

Mehrdad

Dear Molla Shotor

My father owned a home in Tehran. They took it from him without any reason. I want it back and by God I am going to get it back. From Rafsanjani to Khamenei they owe me. We had a business they took. I want it.

All their victims should be paid from their personal accounts. Not one penny of the IR leadership should be left to them .The one thing they deserve is a nice cell and meals. In the Hague.

Oil & Sanctions

You may put all the sanctions in the world. But as long as oil flows nothing will happen. Sure you stop rugs and pesteh from coming in. Great ! But that is not where IR is making its money.

Stop the oil coming in and you stop IR. Any other "sanction" is a joke. The one thing I like to see is the right to sue IR rules outside Iran. For confiscated assets; for pain and suffering and so on by their victims. A lot of IR rulers own massive holdings in Canada. How about we sue Rafsanjani for confiscation of our homes? Take every penny the SOB got in Canada. Divide it among those whose homes and businesses where taken. That will teach him a lesson and the other IR thugs from reformer to regular.

COP Jaan

Sanctions is their "thing."  The funny thing is that a lot of times they contradict themselves on the issue.  They often claim that sanctions are creating hunger and despiare in Iran.  But when it's "let's make IRI look like a super power" propaganda time, they declare that sanctions have actually made the IRI stronger and it's about to put a man on the moon.