Arab League Decries Iran For Destabilizing Acts In Morocco
The Arab League has once again criticized the Islamic Republic for its support of militant groups in Arab countries and its ballistic missile program.
The Arab League has once again criticized the Islamic Republic for its support of militant groups in Arab countries and its ballistic missile program.
The Council of the League of Arab States, which was held at the level of foreign ministers on Wednesday in Cairo, expressed concerns over Iran’s support for separatist elements that threaten Morocco's integrity.
The meeting endorsed a resolution proposed by the Ministerial Committee of the Arab Quartet – comprised of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt as well as the Secretary-General of the Arab League, and tasked with monitoring and countering Iran’s interventions.
The resolution calls for solidarity with Morocco in confronting the interference of Iran and its ally Hezbollah through arming and training the separatists, describing them as an extension of the Tehran's actions aimed at undermining regional security and stability.
In January, Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita’s claims that the Islamic Republic wants to infiltrate Africa and expand Shiite ideology on the continent, describing the remarks as “unfounded projections”.
Morocco severed diplomatic ties with Iran in 2018, saying the Tehran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah was training Polisario Front separatist fighters against Morocco in Western Sahara.
Iran-backed Houthis have also launched missile and drone attacks on three occasions against the UAE in January.
Many countries in the region accuse Iran of interference in their domestic affairs by using armed proxy groups.
Nour News close to Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the supreme national security council said on Thursday that Iran will not negotiate over its defense capabilities. The website also praised Tehran’s negotiators in the Vienna nuclear talks for having thwarted US attempts to force Iran to discuss its missile program.
The website boasted that while the Revolutionary Guard unveiled two underground bases for missiles and military drones on March 5, the rocket carrying the satellite lifted off on March 8.
“These developments took place while the United States and Europe, both in the JCPOA talks [in the past] and in the new process [in Vienna] were insisting that simultaneously missile and regional issues to be discussed and an agreement similar to JCPOA be signed between Iran and the West,” Nour News said.
When former president Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal known as JCPOA, one his main demands was that Iran should stop its ballistic missile program that threatened the region and could be developed into a nuclear delivery system in the future. He imposed ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions to force Iran to renegotiate the JCPOA and accept other conditions, including limiting the missile program.
Nour news said that US pressures failed, and sanctions could not force Iran to make any concessions on other issues.
The Biden Administration took office having already signaled that it wanted to return to the JCPOA and kept Iran’s missile program and the issue of its aggressive regional policies off the table, saying that these could be pursued in future talks.
Referring to statements by Biden officials that Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ was the wrong policy that failed, Nour News said, “negotiations not only had no impact on pursuing [Iran’s] defense, missile and space projects, but the largest military drills involving missiles and drones, as well as unveiling new missile bases,” have been accomplished during nuclear talks.
Nour News then goes on enumerating two “messages”. First, “Iran is not willing to hold any sort of negotiations over its defense, space and regional issues,” and second, “any negotiations and possible agreements cannot be factors limiting Iran’s defense, missile and space programs.”
The issue of Tehran’s space program worries the United States because rockets developed to put satellites in orbit can be easily used as intercontinental ballistic missiles to deliver nuclear warheads, directly putting Europe and the American mainland in danger.
Nour news then delivers a message to domestic political circles who advocated flexibility in talks with the West that their reasonings were wrong and refusing to compromise bears fruit.
“Unfortunately, in the past there was a mentality that Iran’s missile and space programs were provocative and should not be pursued while economic agreements were being signed with Western countries,” the website said. But now, amid nuclear talks in Vienna, Iran “has launched its second military satellite.”
"We assess that Iran will threaten US persons directly and via proxy attacks, particularly in the Middle East,” said the 2022 Annual Threat Assessment published by the Office of Director of National Intelligence Tuesday. “Iran also remains committed to developing networks inside the United States—an objective it has pursued for more than a decade.”
While “proxy attacks” refers mainly to Iraqi militia targeting US troops, CBS News on Tuesday said it had two "non-public" assessments submitted to Congress by the State Department in January 2022 citing a "serious and credible threat" on the lives of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Trump administration Iran envoy Brian Hook.
This, the network said, had necessitated "round-the-clock, US taxpayer funded diplomatic security details" for both men. Former president Donald Trump reportedly cost the secret service over $1.3 million last year in transport and hotel bills alone.
CBS also cited an 2021 indictment of four Iranians, including intelligence agents, over a plan to kidnap “a Brooklyn journalist,” subsequently self-identified as Masih Alinejad, an Iranian opposition activist who supported of Trump’s tough position on Iran. Niloufar Bahadorifar, one of the Iranians, who was arrested last July, awaits trial on charges of sanctions violations and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
The US intelligence report ranks Iran with Russia, China, and North Korea as countries posing serious threats to US national security. It also argues Iran’s conventional missiles and support for Hezbollah and Palestinian groups endangers the security of Washington's ally, Israel.
‘Pan-Islamic power’
The report claims that the election of President Ebrahim Raisi (Raeesi) − after three years of US ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions and two years of deep recession − in 2021 has "invigorated" Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to try to mold Iran into a "pan-Islamic power" that tries to spread its influence in the Muslim world.
The intelligence services do concede that “Iran is not currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activities that we judge would be necessary to produce a nuclear device.” The report notes that Iran had expanded its nuclear program since the US left the 2015 non-proliferation agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), including enriching uranium to 60-percent purity. The report also predicts Tehran will consider further enriching uranium up to 90 percent – considered ‘weapons grade - if it does not receive relief from ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions.
With Iran and world powers reported close to agreeing the restoration of the JCPOA, including the easing of ‘maximum pressure,’ US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that this would not preclude the US from acting against Iran "when it's engaged in actions that threaten the US, its allies and partners.”
The report also highlighted Iran's cyber capabilities. "Iran’s growing expertise and willingness to conduct aggressive cyber operations make it a major threat to the security of U.S. and allied networks and data," it maintains, noting multiple cyber-attacks between April and July 2020 on Israeli water facilities.
