Iran condemns ‘illegitimate’ US sanctions targeting oil exports
Press TV – February 7, 2025
Iran has strongly condemned new sanctions slapped by the administration of US President Donald Trump on the country’s oil industry, saying they run contrary to international rules and standards.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei denounced the bans as “completely unjustified” on Friday.
The remarks came a day after the US Treasury Department targeted more than a dozen individuals and companies, as well as vessels, claiming that they are facilitating the shipment of millions of barrels of Iranian oil to China.
The sanctions were the first on Iran after Trump restored his so-called “maximum pressure” campaign on the country.
“The decision of the new US administration to put pressure on the Iranian nation by preventing Iran’s legitimate trade with its economic partners is an illegitimate, illegal and wrongful act, whose responsibility lies on the US government,” Baghaei added.
“The Islamic Republic holds the US accountable for the consequences of such unilateral and bullying measures.”
On Tuesday, Trump signed the presidential memorandum reimposing a tough anti-Iran policy, which he practiced in his first presidential term after unilaterally withdrawing Washington from the historic 2015 nuclear deal.
In an X post, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Trump’s measure a failed experience.
He said the decision to restore maximum pressure policy will only compel “maximum resistance” on the part of Iran again, adding, “Smart people ought to choose ‘Maximum Wisdom’ instead.”
During his campaign trail for a second term, Trump had stated at an event in New York in September that, if re-elected, he would minimize the use of sanctions. He argued that employing sanctions excessively “kills your dollar and it kills everything the dollar represents.”
“Look, you’re losing Iran. You’re losing Russia. China is out there trying to get their currency to be the dominant currency, as you know better than anybody,” Trump remarked.
On Tuesday, The New York Times said Trump had also implemented a strategy of maximum pressure in 2018, following his decision to withdraw the US from the nuclear accord with Iran that had been established under the Obama administration three years earlier.
“Mr. Trump still claims that was a major victory, but most outside analysts say it backfired,” the newspaper wrote.
Khamenei: Negotiations with US have no effect on solving problems
Press TV – February 7, 2025
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says experience has shown that negotiations with the US have no effect on solving Iran’s problems.
His remarks in a meeting with Air Force personnel in Tehran on Friday came hours after the US imposed its first sanctions in the wake of President Donald Trump’s signing of an order to reimpose his “maximum pressure” on Iran.
“Some people pretend that if we sit at the negotiating table, some problem will be solved, but the fact that we must understand correctly is that negotiating with the US has no effect on solving the country’s problems.”
He cited the experience of 2015 when Iran and six other countries, including the US, signed the now-dormant Joint Comprehensive of Plant of Action (JCPOA) after two years of negotiations, only to be discarded by President Trump in 2018.
Ayatollah Khamenei recalled the grueling back and forth, which included a 15-minute stroll by then-US Secretary of State John Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif in downtown Geneva and along the Rhone River which landed the former Iranian foreign minister in hot water.
“Our government at the time sat down and negotiated – they continued to come and go, they sat down and stood up and negotiated, they talked, laughed, shook hands, made friends, everyone worked, and a treaty was formed.
“In this treaty, the Iranian side was very generous, giving many concessions to the other side. But the Americans did not implement the same treaty,” the Leader said.
“The same person who is in office now tore up the treaty. He said he would tear it down and he did; they didn’t act upon” the agreement, he said, referring to Trump.
“Therefore, negotiating with such a government is unwise, unintelligent and dishonorable and there should be no negotiation with it.”
Before Trump, even the US administration which had accepted the agreement, did not comply with it, the Leader said, referring to the government of president Barack Obama which had signed it.
“The treaty was meant to lift US sanctions, but they were not lifted. Adding insult into injury, they had the UN to have a constant threat hanging over Iran. This treaty was the product of negotiations that lasted about two years.”
Iran is currently in the midst of celebrations marking the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution which sealed the fate of the US-backed Pahlavi regime in 1979.
Every year on February 8, Iranian Air Force personnel meet the Leader to relive the historic allegiance of Air Force officers with the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini in 1979. The event is viewed as a turning point which led to the victory of the Islamic Revolution three days later.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the Americans are busy working “on paper to change the map of the world”, with Iran also being the subject of their plans.
“Of course, it’s only on paper, it has no reality. They also talk about us, make comments, and threaten us,” the Leader said.
Ayatollah Khamenei said, “If they threaten us, we will threaten them. If they put their threat into practice, we will do the same. If they attack the security of our nation, we will attack their security without hesitation.”
“This is a lesson taken from the Qur’an and the teachings of Islam, and it is our duty to act as such. We hope that God Almighty will make us successful in carrying out our duties,” he added.
USAID or SorosAid? How US Tax Dollars Fund Chaos Worldwide
By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 07.02.2025
Soros’ vast NGO network has spent over $20 billion since 2000 on radical liberal causes across the world. Tens of millions or even billions of US taxpayer dollars were funneled through USAID, observers suspect.
- The Soros-linked East-West Management Institute received over $260 million from USAID to influence foreign affairs in Georgia, Uganda, Albania, and Serbia.
- Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center, backed by Soros, began receiving USAID grants in 2014 – the same year the US-backed Euromaidan coup ousted elected President Viktor Yanukovych with neo-Nazi support. Over $1 million has been funneled by USAID to the center.
- In August 2024, a coup against Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina was allegedly fomented by USAID, IRI, and Soros-linked groups. Her successor, Muhammad Yunus, is a known Clinton and Soros ally. According to The Grayzone, US taxpayer money funded rappers, transgender activists, and LGBT initiatives to create a “power shift.”
- Soros and USAID have long sought to unseat Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, who has actively opposed the globalist billionaire since 2017. During the 2022 elections, the Soros-linked NGO Action for Democracy funneled $7.6 million to his opposition.
Election Meddling at Home?
- Soros-linked groups, backed by USAID, led resistance efforts against Donald Trump during his presidency, influenced the 2020 election through Black Lives Matter protests, and worked to flip battleground states in 2020–2021.
- Soros funded the Electoral Justice Project, Black Lives Matter’s voter mobilization effort, and gave $22 million to Tides Advocacy, which supported the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s pre-election nationwide protests aimed against Trump in 2020.
- USAID and Soros allegedly spent $27 million on anti-Trump prosecutions, claims journalist Mike Benz. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was also accused of being “bought” by Soros.
USAID’s Color Revolutions: Destabilizing States for US Interests
By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 06.02.2025
USAID openly acknowledged its role in regime change operations through “democracy” programs by 2006.
“USAID played a critical role in influencing color revolutions by providing financial, logistical, and strategic support to opposition movements” in Ukraine, Lebanon, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan, Dr. Marco Marsili of the Portuguese Catholic University’s Institute of Political Studies tells Sputnik.
These regime change operations advanced US geopolitical interests but brought no real benefits to the affected nations, he argues.
“USAID’s activities were framed as democracy promotion, electoral assistance, and civil society development,” Marsili notes. However, the results tell a different story:
“Ukraine and Georgia faced ongoing political instability, Lebanon remained sectarian, and Kyrgyzstan suffered repeated upheavals,” he says.
Here’s a breakdown:
Georgia – Rose Revolution (2003)
- US aid: $103M (2002), $141.16M (2003)
- “Democracy programs” received $23.5M (2002), $21.06M (2003) via USAID, IRI, and NDI for NGOs, activists, and media.
- In 2004, the US admitted it “helped” prepare Georgia’s 2003 election, with US-funded NGOs playing a key role in the regime change.
- USAID noted Georgians “borrowed” Serbia’s 2000 pro-democracy tactics, later influencing Ukraine in 2004.
Ukraine – Orange Revolution (2004)
- US aid: $188.5M (2003), $143.47M (2004)
- “Democracy programs” received $54.7M (2003), $34.11M (2004) via USAID, NED, and the Eurasia Foundation.
- To push a pro-US candidate, USAID launched the Strengthening Electoral Administration in Ukraine Project (SEAUP) in Dec 2003, influencing Ukraine’s parliament and judiciary.
Kyrgyzstan – Tulip Revolution (2005)
- Inspired by Georgia and Ukraine, USAID heavily funded local NGOs, activists, and media before the Feb 2005 election.
- US aid: $56.6M (2003), $50.8M (2004), with “democracy programs” receiving $13.5M (2003), $12.2M (2004).
- George Soros’ Open Society Institute funneled $5M (2003) to Kyrgyzstan’s American University of Central Asia.
Lebanon – Cedar Revolution (2005)
- In March 2005, 1M Lebanese protested, demanding Syria’s military withdrawal, paving the way for pro-US leader Saad Hariri.
- USAID’s 2006 report claimed years of work laid the foundation for the uprising.
- US aid to Lebanon tripled in the early 2000s from $15M to $45M.
Trump sanctions ICC
RT | February 6, 2025
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigating the US and its allies. Last November the Hague-based court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, in a move that angered US officials.
Trump’s executive order will enforce financial and visa-related sanctions on individuals and families who support ICC investigations into US citizens or allied nations.
The ICC has been preparing for a “swift assault” from the new US administration, the Guardian reported last month, citing sources within the organization. The measures could affect the ICC’s access to banking and payment systems, IT infrastructure, and insurance providers, the publication said. It could also “paralyze” the court’s work and pose “an existential threat” to its functioning.
Earlier this month, the US House of Representatives voted to impose sanctions that would cancel US visas and place financial restrictions on any ICC officials prosecuting US “allies.”
The US adopted the American Service-Members’ Protection Act in 2002 – nicknamed “The Hague Invasion Act.” The legislation was designed to protect American military personnel, as well as elected and appointed officials, from prosecution by international legal bodies which Washington has not recognized.
The act authorizes the US president to use “all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any US or allied personnel” detained or imprisoned on behalf of the ICC, since the US is not a party to the Rome Statute regulating its activities. The authorization implies potential military action, leading to the act’s informal name.
The ICC’s attempt to investigate alleged American war crimes in Afghanistan in 2020 resulted in the US placing sanctions on then prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
The court has accused Netanyahu and Gallant of using starvation as a method of warfare in Gaza, as well as deliberately depriving the enclave’s civilian population of essential supplies such as food, water, and medicine without any “obvious military necessity.” Washington says the ICC lacks jurisdiction over Israel, since it is also not a signatory to the Rome Statute.
Last year, however, the US praised Karim Khan, the same ICC prosecutor who requested arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, when he brought charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow is not a party to the agreement establishing the court.
Trump hands “best friend” Israel gift for false-flag assassination
By Finian Cunningham | Strategic Culture Foundation | February 6, 2025
Iran will be obliterated if it assassinates U.S. President Donald Trump. He told reporters this week of his “dead man’s switch” while announcing tougher sanctions on Iran in a renewed maximum pressure campaign.
Asked about the danger of being assassinated by Iranian operatives, Trump appeared to dismiss such fears but disclosed that he had left instructions with his aides to destroy Iran in the event of being killed.
“If they did that, they would be obliterated. I’ve left instructions if they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left.”
It is unclear who the aides are to whom Trump has entrusted the instructions for retaliation. And it is not a done deal that his orders would be carried out if such an extreme scenario materialized.
Several news media reported his dramatic remarks, including ABC, the New York Times, and Sky. The Associated Press editorialized: “If Trump were assassinated, Vice President JD Vance would become president and would not necessarily be bound by any instructions left by his predecessor.”
Nevertheless, the 47th Commander-in-Chief may be tempting fate. His death wish for Iran could be taken as an opportunity for a false-flag operation by Israel.
Bluntly put, if Israeli agents were to kill Trump in a way to frame Iran, then the Israelis stand to gain their big prize of wiping the Islamic Republic off the map, or so they might calculate.
It would, of course, be a treacherous double-cross by Israel. This week Trump hosted Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, during which the American president was praised as the “best friend” Israel has ever had in the White House. The praise was in response to Trump’s proposed resettlement of all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to neighboring Arab countries. No wonder Netanyahu was beaming with delight, as Trump’s proposal effectively completes Israel’s long-held desire to ethnically cleanse the enclave.
So would the Israelis really contemplate whacking “best friend” Trump?
Knowing how the Israelis are serial violators of international law, a rogue regime that exults in war crimes, it is not beyond their thinking or doing.
False flag operations are, by definition, designed to be carried out to blame someone else for the foul deed. If an “executive action” job on Trump were done well, Israel would not be seen as the perpetrator. Instead, all the American fury would be directed at Iran.
There is precedent for such treachery. On June 8, 1967, Israeli forces launched a deadly attack on the USS Liberty in the Mediterranean, killing 34 American Navy crew. The incident was during the Six-Day War between Israel and Arab countries. The Israelis tried to blame Egypt for the deadly attack until an official investigation found that it was Israel. The Israelis later apologized and said it was a mistake in the fog of war. U.S. crew members, however, testified that it was a deliberate attack by a supposed ally.
Another alleged false-flag operation was the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, DC, in 2001, in which 3,000 Americans were killed. Some investigators believe that Israel masterminded that atrocity to mobilize American military intervention in the Middle East to weaken Arab nations. Investigators pointed to the strange case of the “dancing Israelis” – a group of Mossad agents who watched the planes from a distance as they crashed into the Trade Center towers and duly celebrated the spectacle. The offensive revelers were reported by witnesses (who suspected them of being Arabs) and were later arrested by U.S. law enforcement, only to be released weeks later without charge and sent back to Israel, where they were feted on TV shows and disclosed to be Mossad agents.
Several analysts contend that Israel’s priority goal is to inveigle the United States into a war against Iran. That has been Tel Aviv’s de facto policy for many years, viewing Iran as its top threat. Over the past year, Israel has become emboldened by inordinate U.S. military support and its impunity despite genocide in Gaza and aggression towards Lebanon and Syria.
With the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance across the Middle East subdued by a relentless Israeli onslaught, Netanyahu and the Israeli leadership may feel that Iran is vulnerable. But Iran’s firepower is formidable, having struck Israel twice in recent months with large-scale air assaults that broke through Israel’s defense systems.
The Israelis know that they cannot succeed in attacking Iran alone. They need the U.S. to assist in a calculated devastating blow.
During his election campaign last year, Trump endorsed Israeli air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, but even the impulsive Trump does not seem ready to launch a war on Iran.
That’s where the Israelis may be tempted to carry out a daring false-flag operation to assassinate Trump and bet on his death wish to obliterate Iran being delivered.
Iran has already been fingered for plotting to kill Trump ever since he ordered the assassination of the revered Iranian military commander, Major General Qasem Soleimani, in Baghdad in January 2021, during his first term in the White House.
Last November, the U.S. Department of Justice under the Biden administration claimed to have uncovered an Iranian plot to murder Trump. The claim was dismissed by Iran as an Israeli psyops to ramp up tensions with the U.S. Tehran has denied any such intention to assassinate Trump. Iran said Trump’s latest speculation was “provocative”.
The DOJ’s allegations of an Iranian plot were flimsy and not credible. But, conveniently for Israel, the reports may have planted the seed of thought in the public mind that the Iranians are out to get Trump.
Israel’s crimes against international law seem to know no bounds. Its military intelligence operates on the principle of “waging war by deception.”
Israel has viewed the Islamic Republic as its nemesis since the Iranian revolution in 1979. All the proxy threats surrounding Israel emanate from Iran – the “head of the snake”. If Iran could be wiped out to install a more pliant pro-Western regime then Israel will feel free to expand its “Greater Israel” ambitions in the Middle East. The prospect of knocking out Iran for the Israelis is the ultimate prize.
Trump’s rashly outspoken arrangement to destroy Iran if he is assassinated just handed Israel a nefarious, golden opportunity.
As Iran said, Trump’s loose talk about assassination is provocative. The question is: provoking who?
US President resets ‘maximum pressure strategy’ on Iran but adds a nuanced message on US-Iran deal
By M. K. BHADRAKUMAR | Indian Punchline | February 7, 2025
France’s distinguished former career diplomat Sylvie Bermann, wrote an op-ed recently in the leading financial paper Les Echos that a new chapter of ‘transactional geopolitics’ has begun with Donald Trump.
Extremely unlikely events can be expected, metaphorically called ‘black swans’. The so-called ‘black swan theory’ characterises events that come as a surprise, have a major effect, but can be rationalised only after the fact, with the benefit of hindsight.
One may say, on February 4, a black swan appeared in the White House, as President Donald Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) restoring “maximum pressure” on Iran, denying that country “all paths to a nuclear weapon.”
A White House Fact Sheet detailed that NSPM establishes the following truism:
- “Iran should be denied a nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missiles”;
- “Iran’s terrorist network should be neutralised”; and,
- “Iran’s aggressive development of missiles, as well as other asymmetric and conventional weapons capabilities, should be countered.”
The black swan was intriguing. On the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrival in DC on Tuesday, Jerusalem Post had written:
“The Trump administration is in the process of formulating its Iran policy, and Netanyahu’s visit at this early stage in the president’s second term affords him a golden opportunity to give his input. And Iran remains Israel’s number one threat and problem…
“While his (Trump’s) administration still seeks to contain Iran’s regional influence and prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon, there have been early signs of shifts in tone and priorities.
“These shifts may reflect internal divisions within the administration – between Iran hawks like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and isolationists like Vice President JD Vance, who said in October: “Our interest very much is in not going to war with Iran… this is where smart diplomacy really matters.”
At any rate, Trump decided to sign the NSPM without waiting for Netanyahu’s “input.” Equally, Marco Rubio was conspicuous by his absence in Trump’s team for the talks with Netanyahu. And Vice-President Vance not only assisted Trump at the talks but the president made it a point to ostentatiously convey his appreciation by hailing him in the presence of Netanyahu and his entourage, which was striking.
And the mother of all surprises was that the NSPM document as such studiously avoided any threat of war against Iran. Trump avoids anti-Iran rhetoric, which used to be a running feature of his first term as president. Trump, although a mercurial personality, is not tweaking, either, the complex web of unwritten ground rules and norms of conduct that kept the four decades-old US-Israeli standoff from turning into military confrontation (which of course neither side wants).
Meanwhile, all indications are that Trump senses that the Iran question has transformed as Tehran’s deterrent capability began surging, and is no longer a ‘stand-alone’ challenge for the US, as the external environment has changed phenomenally since the Ukraine war began. Russia and Iran are in a quasi-alliance today. That said, Russia is also a stakeholder in nuclear non-proliferation and has a congruence of interests with the US that Iran abides by the NPT.
A sense of proportions is always necessary to assess the US-Iran tensions. Therefore, Trump’s remarks after signing the executive order on NSPM need to be properly understood. Suffice to say, It was a carefully choreographed performance by Trump, caught on camera and speaking with an eye on a prompter — rather unusual for Trump who is famous for his stream of consciousness on such occasions.
An announcer in the background introduced almost apologetically that NSPM seeks to impose “maximum pressure” on Iran, but qualified it saying that many provisions in the document are only “similar to action taken” during the first Trump administration.
He continued that the “basic idea” is to ensure every government department and agency acts in unison, “and the intent here is to give you all the possible tools to engage with the Iranian government.”
Trump spoke calmly in a measured tone of resignation. He noted stoically, “This is what everybody told me to sign. It is very tough on Iran. The Iran situation — hopefully, we don’t have to do very much.
“We will see whether we can arrange to work out a deal with Iran and everybody can live together. Maybe it is possible, maybe it is not possible.”
Trump continued: “So, I am signing this and am unhappy to do it. But I really have not so much choice because we have to be strong and firm. And I hope that it does not have to be used in any great measure at all.
“We could have a Middle East and a world in total peace. Right now, we don’t have that. I like to have peace all over the world but now you have the world blowing up.”
Trump repeated, “I am signing this but, hopefully, it will be a document which will be important but hardly has to be used.”
When asked what kind of a deal is envisaged with Iran, Trump replied, “We will see. They (cannot) have a nuclear weapon. With me, it is simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. We don’t want to be tough on Iran…This (deal) could have been done long ago.” But Biden did nothing for whatever reason.
When asked about alleged Iranian plots to assassinate him, Trump reacted, “They (Iranians) have not done that. That will be a terrible thing to do. Not because of me, but they will be obliterated… I have left instructions. If they do it, they will get obliterated. There won’t be anything left. If anything like that happens (from any quarter), there will be total obliteration of that state — not only Iran…
Trump concluded by repeating again, “So, I am signing this. It is a very powerful document (read maximum pressure strategy) but, hopefully, I will not have to use it.”
In essence, Trump conveyed a nuanced message to Tehran before Netanyahu’s arrival that he has an independent line of thinking regardless of what the hotheads in Tel Aviv might be saying. And that is to work for a deal through smart diplomacy — the JD Vance line.
Trump understands that the Masoud Pezeshkian government also seeks dialogue and negotiations. Trump does not believe that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, no matter the Israeli propaganda to the contrary through the past decade.
Without doubt, Tehran will grasp Trump’s nuanced message of ‘transactional geopolitics’. Iranian officials have welcomed Trump’s remark that he is willing to work out a deal. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a message on X: “In addition to being one of the committed parties to the NPT and other global non-proliferation treaties, Iran has already explicitly declared that ‘Iran will not seek to produce or acquire nuclear weapons under any circumstances’.”
Araghchi added: “Obtaining practical guarantees that Iran will not attain nuclear weapons is not difficult, provided that, in return, concrete assurances are given to effectively end hostile actions against Iran—including economic pressures and sanctions.”
Tehran has taken note that Trump did not rule out a meeting with Pezeshkian. When asked about Trump’s remark, the government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told reporters at a press conference in Tehran on Wednesday, “Our international issues have been founded upon the principles of dignity, wisdom and expediency. All issues, specifically relations with other countries, are being pursued on the basis of these three principles.”
In effect, Iran has responded positively to Trump’s estimation that a deal is possible and signalled flexibility and pragmatism on its part. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told Fox News today that his country is ready to act as mediator.
How CIA & USAID Used Coup Playbook Against Trump
Sputnik – 06.02.2025
Donald Trump’s 2019 impeachment was driven by CIA and USAID operatives, claims US author Michael Shellenberger, known for his work on Elon Musk’s Twitter Files project.
What does Shellenberger assert?
- The whistleblower behind Trump’s July 2019 call with Volodymyr Zelensky, which triggered the impeachment probe, was a CIA analyst
- RealClearPolitics and Washington Examiner previously identified the whistleblower as Eric Ciaramella, a senior Ukraine and Russia analyst at the NSC, CIA, and National Intelligence Council
- The analyst’s complaint relied heavily on an Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) report
- That report alleged two Soviet-born Florida businessmen were “key hidden actors” in Trump’s effort to investigate the Bidens and had linked Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani to former Ukrainian prosecutors
- The OCCRP story was central to House Democrats’ impeachment claim that Trump sent Giuliani to pressure a foreign country to interfere in the 2020 election
- The OCCRP is not independent since 2024 findings by German investigative journalists show that USAID funds it, controls its hiring, and oversees its work plan
- The OCCRP has been involved in regime change operations alongside USAID and the CIA, comparing Trump’s impeachment to past coup d’état efforts
Trump’s Foreign Policy – Strategy Behind the Noise?
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs with Prof. Glenn Diesen
Glenn Diesen | February 5, 2025
Trump’s actions in the international system are defined by the aims to remake US foreign policy, and the tendency to make noise that keeps him in the headlines. A key challenge for analysts is therefore to distinguish between the strategy and the noise. Some of Trump’s messaging has a deliberate purpose while at other times he is seemingly improvising.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio dropped a bombshell by arguing that the unipolar world order is over and the natural condition is multipolarity. Does this represent Trump’s decision to retire the “hegemonic peace” in Europe through NATO expansion (that triggered a war in Ukraine), or was it simply an independent commentary by Rubio? Trump wants peace with Russia and recognises that NATO provoked the war, but he also attempts to threaten Russia to accept US terms. Trump wants to end the wars in the Middle East, but he also sends 2000-pound bombs to Israel and casually suggests ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians from Gaza. Trump wants to get along with China, but also to end China’s technological leadership. What is foreign policy and what is noise?
Hamas: Trump’s remarks on Gaza reflect “deep ignorance about Palestine”
Palestinian Information Center – February 5, 2025
DOHA – Member of Hamas’s political bureau Ezzat al-Resheq said that US president Donald’s latest remarks about taking over Gaza and relocating its residents elsewhere reflect “misperception and deep ignorance about Palestine and the region.”
“Gaza is not a common land for any party to decide to control, but rather it is part of our occupied Palestinian land, so any solution must be based on ending the occupation and fulfilling the Palestinian people’s rights and not on the mentality of a real estate businessman or the mentality of muscle and domination,” Resheq said on Wednesday.
Resheq added that Trump’s remarks on Gaza “vindicated further the unlimited US bias in favor of the Israeli occupation regime and the Zionist aggression against the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights.”
The Hamas official affirmed that the Palestinian people and their leaders, backed by their Arab and Islamic nations and the world’s free people, would frustrate all the displacement plans targeting them.
In another statement, the Hamas Movement condemned in the strongest terms Trump’s remarks on Gaza, describing them as “hostile to the Palestinian people and their national cause.”
Hamas said that such remarks by Trump would “not serve regional stability” and would only “pour fuel on the fire.”
“We, alongside our Palestinian people and national leaders, will never allow any country in the world to occupy our land or impose guardianship over our great people whose blood flowed like rivers in order to liberate our land from the occupation and establish our Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Hamas said.
Hamas called on the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the UN to convene urgent meetings to take firm and historic positions that preserve the Palestinian people’s national rights.
In a joint news conference with the Israeli prime minister in the White House on Tuesday, Trump said the US would “take over” and “own” Gaza after resettling Palestinians elsewhere under a redevelopment plan that he claimed could turn the Palestinian coastal enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
In a flagrant announcement upending decades of US policy towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Trump claimed that his administration would spearhead development in Gaza to “supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
‘I much prefer a nuclear deal’: Trump dismisses talk of US–Israeli attacks on Iran
The Cradle | February 5, 2025
US President Donald Trump has denied that Washington and Tel Aviv are planning military attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran, saying that he would “much prefer” a nuclear agreement preventing Tehran from acquiring an atomic weapon.
“I want Iran to be a great and successful Country, but one that cannot have a nuclear weapon. Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens, ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED,” Trump said early on 5 February on his social media platform Truth Social.
“I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper. We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East celebration when it is signed and completed. God Bless the Middle East!” the president went on to state.
In early February, reports said that Trump shot down Israeli plans for an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Trump expressed hope late last month that a nuclear deal could be “worked out without having to go that further step,” referring to an attack.
A Wall Street Journal report in December said Trump’s team was mulling options for strikes on the Iranian nuclear program and that there was a “rare opportunity to counter Iran’s nuclear buildup.”
This week, the US president signed an executive order restoring his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions on the Islamic Republic, as reports had said he would prior to his second presidential term.
“If the main problem is Iran not having nuclear weapons, this problem can be solved,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday, adding that “maximum pressure is a failed experiment and testing it again will lead to another defeat.”
Trump withdrew from the 2015 US–Iranian nuclear deal in 2018 – during his first term – and restored harsh sanctions against Iran.
Tehran is subject to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1970, as well as a religious fatwa outlawing the development and use of any form of weapons of mass destruction.
Former CIA director said last month that “we do not see any sign” that Iran is planning to weaponize its nuclear program.
Iran to Trump: Another maximum pressure, another defeat for Washington
Press TV – February 5, 2025
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has asserted that another round of deployment of the “maximum pressure” policy on the part of the United States against Iran will only lead to another defeat.
“The policy of maximum pressure has already proven to be a failure, and any attempt to revive it will only lead to another defeat,” the top diplomat told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Araghchi was referring to the policy that the US adopted during Donald Trump’s former tenure, as part of which Washington quit a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and world powers, returned the sanctions that the agreement had lifted, and piled up even more illegal and unilateral bans against the Islamic Republic.
Retaliating against the measures, Iran took legitimate nuclear steps that have featured its operationalizing advanced centrifuges among other things.
The country also explored various means to skirt the sanctions and boost its economy by fostering foreign trade and enhancing domestic production, causing Washington to suffer “maximum defeat” in adoption of such policy.
On Tuesday, Trump promoted new “tough” measures aimed at, what Washington has called, “deterring” Iran from obtaining a “nuclear weapon.”
Trump also signed a presidential memorandum, authorizing stricter illegal actions against Iran, while saying, “They can’t have a nuclear weapon, we’d be very tough if they insist on doing that.”
Washington’s adversarial stance comes despite Tehran’s repeated assurances that its nuclear activities remain in full compliance with international regulations, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s invariable verification of the peaceful nature of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.
Reacting to Trump’s remarks, Araghchi said, “If the main issue is that Iran should not pursue nuclear weapons, this is achievable and not a difficult matter.”
“Iran’s stance is clear, and it is a member of the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty), and there is also the fatwa (religious decree) of the Leader, which has clarified the matter for us,” he added.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s has prohibited pursuance, attainment, and storage of such non-conventional arms through an official decree as per religious and moral grounds.
“The Leader’s fatwa has made Iran’s position crystal clear,” Araghchi concluded.
‘Iran has never had, will never have nuclear weapons program’
Also on Wednesday, Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), likewise reacted to Trump’s remarks, saying, “Iran has never had, does not have, and will not have a nuclear weapons program. Iran’s approach in this regard is absolutely clear.”
He added, “Iran’s peaceful nuclear program is being implemented within the framework of Safeguards [Agreement] and the NPT.”
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Israel’s recurring use of terror on civilians
By Bob Finch | January 26, 2009
Insanely disproportionate use of violence against unarmed civilians… continue
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