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posted by martyb on Tuesday April 25 2017, @02:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the left-hand-meet-your-right dept.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/24/obama-iran-nuclear-deal-prisoner-release-236966

When President Barack Obama announced the "one-time gesture" of releasing Iranian-born prisoners who "were not charged with terrorism or any violent offenses" last year, his administration presented the move as a modest trade-off for the greater good of the Iran nuclear agreement and Tehran's pledge to free five Americans.

[...] But Obama, the senior official and other administration representatives weren't telling the whole story on Jan. 17, 2016, in their highly choreographed rollout of the prisoner swap and simultaneous implementation of the six-party nuclear deal, according to a POLITICO investigation.

[...] The biggest fish, though, was Seyed Abolfazl Shahab Jamili, who had been charged with being part of a conspiracy that from 2005 to 2012 procured thousands of parts with nuclear applications for Iran via China. That included hundreds of U.S.-made sensors for the uranium enrichment centrifuges in Iran whose progress had prompted the nuclear deal talks in the first place.

When federal prosecutors and agents learned the true extent of the releases, many were shocked and angry. [...] Through action in some cases and inaction in others, the White House derailed its own much-touted National Counterproliferation Initiative at a time when it was making unprecedented headway in thwarting Iran's proliferation networks. In addition, the POLITICO investigation found that Justice and State Department officials denied or delayed requests from prosecutors and agents to lure some key Iranian fugitives to friendly countries so they could be arrested. Similarly, Justice and State, at times in consultation with the White House, slowed down efforts to extradite some suspects already in custody overseas, according to current and former officials and others involved in the counterproliferation effort.

And as far back as the fall of 2014, Obama administration officials began slow-walking some significant investigations and prosecutions of Iranian procurement networks operating in the U.S. These previously undisclosed findings are based on interviews with key participants at all levels of government and an extensive review of court records and other documents. "Clearly, there was an embargo on any Iranian cases," according to the former federal supervisor. "Of course it pissed people off, but it's more significant that these guys were freed, and that people were killed because of the actions of one of them," the supervisor added, in reference to [Amin] Ravan and the IED network.


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  • (Score: 2) by Lester on Tuesday April 25 2017, @06:23PM

    by Lester (6231) on Tuesday April 25 2017, @06:23PM (#499465) Journal

    A: Being stronger than they. Or at least strong enough to deter them from bombing you.

    That is why North Corea and Iran want nukes, to deter USA from bombing them. And that is why USA don't want them to have nukes, so USA can bomb them whenever USA's geostrategic agenda demands it, or just because USA's administration wants to divert attention from any domestic issue (like president caught with a intern [wikipedia.org]).

    They will not bomb anybody (let alone bomb USA) the retaliation would be terrible for them. They have a strong instinct of survival and nuking anyone would be a political suicide, and probably a physical suicide as well. Think of it, USA and USSR have been without nuking one each other for years. Pakistan and India also.

    Nukes are here to stay. We must live with it. It is a danger, but the knowledge is out there. The policy of "I'm entitled to have the bomb, but you aren't" can be maintained only by force, and even in that case you won't get many allies. Most countries only approved sanctions against Iran because of USA's pressure, the truth is that most countries were more interested in trading with Iran than in Iran's nuclear power.

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