Iran

[LFC]

Now that the crazy orange man is out of the White House the adult who has taken up residence is set to begin indirect talks with Iran.

The US State Department on Friday said the US has agreed to talks next week with European, Russian and Chinese partners to identify issues involving its return to the 2015 Iran nuclear accord, nearly three years after Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price called the resumption of negotiations, scheduled for Tuesday in Austria, "a healthy step forward". But Price added: "These remain early days, and we don't anticipate an immediate breakthrough as there will be difficult discussions ahead."

Agreement on the start of multiparty talks – being held to get Iran and the US over their differences on conditions for returning to the 2015 nuclear deal – came after talks Thursday brokered by other countries in the accord.

[andydp]

They may have removed the previous guy from the White House but there's always another Joker in the mix...

Iran Vows Revenge for Alleged Israeli Attack on Nuclear Site

JERUSALEM — The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, vowed revenge against Israel on Monday morning, a day after a blackout at an Iranian nuclear enrichment site was attributed to an Israeli attack.

Mr. Zarif’s comments highlight the risk of escalation in a yearslong shadow war between Iran and Israel. They also threaten to overshadow efforts in Vienna to encourage Iran to reimpose limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of American sanctions.


www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/world/middleeast/iran-israel-nuclear-site.html

[LFC]

Apr 12, 2021 12:52:56 GMT andydp said:

The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, vowed revenge against Israel on Monday morning, a day after a blackout at an Iranian nuclear enrichment site was attributed to an Israeli attack.

Mr. Zarif’s comments highlight the risk of escalation in a yearslong shadow war between Iran and Israel. They also threaten to overshadow efforts in Vienna to encourage Iran to reimpose limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of American sanctions.

Israel has a hawk as a leader who is losing both his political grip and potentially his freedom. If there's one thing Netanyahu knows how to do it's to use Israel's military might to gin up conflict for personal gain.

[goldenvalley]

Apr 12, 2021 12:52:56 GMT andydp said:

They may have removed the previous guy from the White House but there's always another Joker in the mix...

Iran Vows Revenge for Alleged Israeli Attack on Nuclear Site

JERUSALEM — The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, vowed revenge against Israel on Monday morning, a day after a blackout at an Iranian nuclear enrichment site was attributed to an Israeli attack.

Mr. Zarif’s comments highlight the risk of escalation in a yearslong shadow war between Iran and Israel. They also threaten to overshadow efforts in Vienna to encourage Iran to reimpose limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of American sanctions.


www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/world/middleeast/iran-israel-nuclear-site.html

Iran will begin enriching uranium to 60 percent purity, a top official said Tuesday, far exceeding its current level in a defiant move following the attack on a key nuclear site, Iranian news agencies reported.

Iran’s state-run Press TV quoted Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araghchi, as saying the country informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of plans to start 60 percent uranium enrichment.

This puts Iran far closer to weapons-grade levels at more than 90 percent enrichment and far exceeds the current 20 percent level.

I want to know if the Agency really was informed of the plans before I react beyond what I just did.

[LFC]

Iran has a new president. One day soon he may become Supreme Leader.

He’s a hardliner and staunch critic of the West, but he’s not expected to fundamentally change Iran’s policy toward the US. He’s loyal to the supreme leader, but he may soon replace him. And he’s just been imbued with substantial power, but he’ll mostly use it to do his boss’s bidding.

That’s what the world can expect from new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who won the country’s presidential election on Friday — a contest that was heavily rigged in Raisi’s favor — with extremely low voter turnout.

Raisi is an ultraconservative judge currently serving as head of the country’s judiciary. He’s long faced allegations of involvement in severe human rights abuses, including the mass execution of thousands of prisoners, mostly political dissidents and protesters — activities for which Raisi was sanctioned by the Trump administration in 2019.

As president, Raisi will face several daunting challenges. He’ll have to negotiate America’s reentry into the 2015 nuclear deal. He’ll have to address both the sharp economic downturn and the coronavirus pandemic plaguing his nation. And he may have to oversee the succession of 82-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — Iran’s first real power change in over 30 years.

Experts say Khamenei orchestrated Raisi’s election victory, mainly by barring strong challengers from competing against him, to ensure the supreme leader’s vision for Iran far outlives him.

“Khamenei wants someone who sees the world the way he sees the world,” said Ilan Goldenberg, director of the Middle East security program at the Center for a New American Security think tank in Washington, DC. As a former student of Khamenei’s who was appointed to every major job he held by his mentor, Raisi is a safe bet to assure the supreme leader’s legacy.

[LFC]

Iran hackers are attacking our infrastructure. The sad thing is that they're using patched exploits. There's no excuse if one of these companies gets hacked. If you're going to use publicly facing systems then you have to money to have them administered and updated constantly and properly.

Organizations responsible for critical infrastructure in the US are in the crosshairs of Iranian government hackers, who are exploiting known vulnerabilities in enterprise products from Microsoft and Fortinet, government officials from the US, UK, and Australia warned on Wednesday.

A joint advisory published Wednesday said an advanced-persistent-threat hacking group aligned with the Iranian government is exploiting vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange and Fortinet’s FortiOS, which forms the basis for the latter company’s security offerings. All of the identified vulnerabilities have been patched, but not everyone who uses the products has installed the updates. The advisory was released by the FBI, US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the UK’s National Cyber Security Center, and the Australian Cyber Security Center.

[goldenvalley]

Nov 18, 2021 21:11:01 GMT LFC said:

Iran hackers are attacking our infrastructure. The sad thing is that they're using patched exploits. There's no excuse if one of these companies gets hacked. If you're going to use publicly facing systems then you have to money to have them administered and updated constantly and properly.

But that would cost $$$.  

[LFC]

Nov 18, 2021 21:13:54 GMT goldenvalley said:

Nov 18, 2021 21:11:01 GMT LFC said:

Iran hackers are attacking our infrastructure. The sad thing is that they're using patched exploits. There's no excuse if one of these companies gets hacked. If you're going to use publicly facing systems then you have to money to have them administered and updated constantly and properly.

But that would cost $$$.  

[LFC]

Well isn't THAT interesting. One might even call it an opportunity missed.

The Justice Department on Wednesday charged a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, alleging that he attempted to arrange the murder of former Trump national security adviser John Bolton in 2020.

The DOJ accused the suspect, Shahram Poursafi, of attempting to pay individuals $300,000 to murder Bolton in D.C. or Maryland. Poursafi remains at large abroad, the DOJ said. If Poursafi is found and convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire. Additionally, Poursafi faces up to 15 years imprisonment and a fine up to $250,000 for providing and attempting to provide material support to a transnational murder plot.

The DOJ said the plot to attempt to kill Bolton was likely devised in retaliation for the death of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, a top commander of the Revolutionary Guard, in Jan. 2020. Then-President Trump authorized the drone strike that killed Soleimani. Trump at the time said that the authorization was justified because of an “imminent” threat Soleimani posed to four U.S. embassies.