Middle East Madness > Iran arrests 700, executes 6, in response to Rising Lion; Damage to Iran's nuclear program limited - IAEA; Iran is furious at IAEA Chief

 

Six executions hardly qualify as 'mass executions' as I quoted in a previous report. My apologies for the hyperbolic headline in that report.

Islamic Republic of Iran: Security forces arrest at least 700 people for alleged ties to Israel

Jun 28, 2025 12:00 pm By Robert Spencer5 Comments

This is a pretext for the Islamic Republic to be able to round up all manner of dissidents.

Iran arrests at least 700 nationals for alleged ties to Israel – report

Jerusalem Post, June 27, 2025:

Iran has arrested at least 700 people since Operation Rising Lion began due to alleged ties with Israel, the Iranian exiled women’s organization Association Femme Azadi reported on Thursday night.

“Reports confirm the arrest of rabbis and religious leaders in Tehran and Shiraz, accused, without evidence, of ties to Israel,” the organization wrote on its social media.

Six additional people have been executed on suspicion of collaborating with Mossad, Israel’s public broadcaster KAN News noted.

JPost Videos

Iran has executed nine individuals accused of espionage so far in 2025, KAN added….

Editor’s note: The headline of an earlier version of this report said that 700 Jews were arrested, instead of 700 people. This mistake has since been corrected.

Wave of arrests among Iranian Jews – despite loyalty to regime

by Nitzan Kedar, Israel National News, June 27, 2025 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Jewish and international sources report a marked increase in pressure and alleged persecution of Iran’s Jewish community following Operation Rising Lion, despite public expressions of loyalty to the regime by Jewish leaders in the country.

According to Iran International, security forces recently raided the homes of Jewish families in Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan. During these operations, authorities confiscated mobile phones, computers, and other personal belongings. Individuals with any digital ties to relatives in Israel were reportedly detained for questioning, with some held for extended periods. In several cases, past travel to Israel was cited as grounds for arrest — a serious allegation under Iranian law.

The number of detainees remains unclear, though the names of dozens have been published. Jewish community sources describe an atmosphere of fear, with reports of entire families being taken into custody.

Today, Iran’s Jewish population is estimated at around 10,000, down from 80,000 before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Most live in the same cities where these incidents have been reported.

In a statement this week, Dr. Younes, the Jewish representative in Iran’s parliament, acknowledged the community has faced difficulties, saying, “Air Force attacks in Iran have created many problems for the Jewish community,” including damage to homes. He emphasized that Iranian Jews remain committed to the Islamic Republic and its ideals….

If that's true, then you probably deserve everything you get. You are not in God's grace.

IAEA chief: Iran could resume uranium enrichment

‘in matter of months’

Jun 30, 2025 8:30 am By Christine Douglass-Williams2 Comments

The Islamic Republic of Iran remains a grave threat, given the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency. For years, Grossi has been sounding the alarm about Iran’s uranium enrichment, which proved to be accurate. Should his threat be ignored, and should a Democrat government follow the Trump administration, it’s obvious what will happen.

There’s no negotiating with Iran; such talks only serve to buy the Islamic regime more time. Israel was correct to continue its attacks before Trump intervened.

Iran could resume uranium enrichment in ‘matter of months,’ IAEA chief says

AFP, June 29, 2025:

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months,” despite damage to several nuclear facilities from US and Israeli attacks, CBS News said Saturday.

Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iranian nuclear and military sites on June 13, saying it was aimed at keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Then, last Sunday, the United States subsequently bombed three key facilities used for Tehran’s atomic program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that the extent of the damage to the nuclear sites is “serious,” but the details are unknown, while US President Donald Trump insisted Iran’s nuclear program had been set back “decades.”

Trump's declaration of total destruction of the nuclear program was way too premature.  

In Israel, IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effi Defrin said Israel thinks Iran’s nuclear program had been set back years by the war, but that it was “still too early” to tell.

But Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said “some is still standing.”

“They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,” Grossi said Friday, according to a transcript of the interview released Saturday….

=============================================================================================== 

Iran: Khamenei-linked newspaper calls for arrest and execution of IAEA chief

Jul 1, 2025 10:30 am By Christine Douglass-Williams1 Comment

The gloves are finally off with Iran after years of its manipulation of Western leftists in negotiations. Obama and Biden poured billions into its coffers in sham nuclear deals. International Atomic Energy Agency Chief Rafael Grossi has been sounding the alarm for years about Iran’s uranium enrichment, warning since 2021 that only countries making bombs are enriching uranium at Iran’s level. Iran already has a record of arbitrarily detaining, imprisoning and executing those inside its own country who oppose it. Since the Israeli and American destruction of its nuclear capabilities, not to mention humiliation, its Khamenei-linked Kayhan newspaper is now resorting to threatening whoever crosses its path, even if they are outside Iran.

Condemnation from the UK, France and Germany will fall on deaf ears among leaders of the Islamic regime and its loyalists.

UK, France, Germany condemn threats against IAEA head after Iran newspaper calls for his arrest

Reuters, June 30, 2025:

DUBAI, June 30 (Reuters) – Britain, France and Germany denounced threats against the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Monday, after a hardline Iranian newspaper said IAEA boss Rafael Grossi should be tried and executed as an Israeli agent.

“France, Germany and the United Kingdom condemn threats against the Director General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi and reiterate our full support to the Agency and the DG in carrying out their mandate,” said a statement from the three countries’ foreign ministries.

“We call on Iranian authorities to refrain from any steps to cease cooperation with the IAEA. We urge Iran to immediately resume full cooperation in line with its legally binding obligations, and to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of IAEA personnel,” they added.

The statement did not specify what threats had been made against Grossi, but it follows an article in Iran’s hardline Kayhan newspaper, closely associated with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which accused Grossi of ties to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. Should Grossi enter Iran, he should be tried and sentenced to death, it said.

Grossi has not directly responded to the newspaper’s allegations. He has said his top priority is ensuring IAEA inspectors can return to nuclear sites in Iran as soon as possible….

=====================================================================================

 

Military Madness > Iran very close to Nuclear Weapons grade uranium - Bloomberg

..

Iran: International nuclear inspectors alarmed to find

uranium enriched to 84% purity, now in talks

FEB 21, 2023 9:00 AM 

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

Jihad Watch

The IAEA is backpedaling and trying to save face. In 2020, a report in the Guardian stated:

Iran has admitted a further breach of the 2015 nuclear deal by firing up advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges installed at its underground plant at Natanz.

The finding was made by the UN nuclear weapons inspectorate, the International Atomic Energy Association, and confirmed by the Iranian ambassador to the IAEA.

And in 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered extensive proof that the Obama Iran nuclear deal was based on lies, but the world chose to side with the Shia doomsday regime — except, that is, for Donald Trump, who abandoned the nuclear deal and slapped new sanctions on Iran. As reported by Haaretz:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed a cache of documents he says proves Iran lied to the world about its nuclear program for years, even after the 2015 nuclear deal with the world. “Iran did not come clean about its nuclear program,” Netanyahu said in a prime time address in English. Iran, for its part, blased the speech as “propaganda.”

In 2021, Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned that Iran was enriching uranium at purity levels that “only countries making bombs are reaching.”

Iran has now returned to full denial mode despite its previous admission, while the IAEA also hides in denial, thus abandoning its duty to monitor Iran.

Now the IAEA says that it is in discussions with Iran, which means nothing, if the past is any indicator. As danger rises steadily from states that are armed with lethal weaponry, America under Joe Biden is absent and lost.

Iran Nuclear Inspectors Find Uranium Enriched to 84% Purity

by Jonathan Tirone, Bloomberg, 

February 19, 2023:

(Bloomberg) — International atomic monitors in Iran have detected uranium enriched to levels just below nuclear weapons-grade, risking an escalation over Tehran’s expanding program.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is trying to clarify how Iran accumulated uranium enriched to 84% purity — the highest level found by inspectors in the country to date, and a concentration just 6% below what’s needed for a weapon.

Iran says its decades-long atomic program is for peaceful purposes but Western powers and Israel have accused it of working toward a nuclear bomb. Building a bomb would require further technical steps which have so far not been detected by the IAEA and a political decision to go ahead.

The development was reported by Bloomberg on Sunday, citing two senior diplomats. Iran had previously told the IAEA that its centrifuges were configured to enrich uranium to a 60% level of purity.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had seen the report and is in close contact with the IAEA and European countries about the matter, adding he’ll have more to say when he has more information, according to comments made to reporters in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Monday.

The development comes as Iran is increasingly isolated from the West, nuclear talks with world powers are suspended and regional tensions have sharpened. Israel has blamed Iran for a Feb. 10 attack on an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea, that Iran has denied. It came about a fortnight after a drone strike on a weapons depot near Iran’s city of Isfahan that Tehran blamed on Israel, the latest incident in a string of suspected tit-for-tat attacks.

Iran has also faced widespread condemnation for its deadly crackdown on major protests and the US and European Union have tightened sanctions on Iran over its military support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Inspectors need to determine whether Iran intentionally produced the material, or whether the concentration was an unintended accumulation within the network of pipes connecting the hundreds of fast-spinning centrifuges used to separate the isotopes. It’s the second time this month that monitors have detected suspicious enrichment-related activities…..

Yeah, they accidentally enriched uranium from 60% to 84%!

The next accident could be a really big one. How long will Isreal wait before blowing Natanz to Hell?

Middle East Military Madness > US Prolonging Syrian War; Iran Ends IAEA Monitoring; Brit's Childish Games With Russia

Like I said...

US push to extend cross-border aid opening is aimed at supplying terrorist groups

& prolonging war – Syrian FM

26 Jun, 2021 19:56

The Bab al-Hawa crossing at the Syrian-Turkish border, in Idlib governorate. © Reuters / Khalil Ashawi

The US is fighting hard to keep the border crossing from Turkey into Syria’s Idlib open because it allows them to supply arms to terrorists under the pretense of delivering aid, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told RT.

A diplomatic standoff is underway as the seven-year-long UN mandate to keep the Bab al-Hawa crossing point between Turkey and northern Syria open expires in July. The US and its allies, including Turkey, which has military presence in Idlib and maintains contacts with the local armed groups, are pushing for the crossing to remain operational for at least another year, citing concerns over civilians in the last terrorist stronghold in the country. But Syria’s main ally, Russia, threatens to veto the relevant UN Security Council resolution, insisting that all aid to the population should be channeled through Damascus.

Mekdad said Washington’s policy on cross-border aid was “pure hypocrisy.” Their efforts to keep the crossing operational are just “another attempt to help terrorist groups and to provide them with all necessary materials to prolong the terrorist war against Syria,” which has been ongoing since 2011.

Cross-border activities by the US and Turkey are a “direct violation of the sovereignty of our country,” Mekdad said, claiming arms are being sent to the militants as part of this “so-called humanitarian assistance.” He pointed to the presence in Idlib of Jabhat al-Nusra, an Al-Qaeda offshoot and UN-designated terrorist group.

Mekdad also slammed US sanctions on Syria. “If the Western countries are really careful (concerned) about Syrian citizens, they should lift their sanctions…,” he said, adding that they “aren’t allowing us to even import medical instruments, not to mention foods and other necessary materials.”The “unilateral coercive measures” by the US and other Western countries “are killing the Syrian people” and some 95% of the population are affected by them, Mekdad added.

On Friday, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Joey Hood said that Washington will maintain a “limited military presence” in the southern enclave of At Tanf and in the northeast of Syria in order to counter Islamic State and support their allies from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces militia.

But Syria’s top diplomat reiterated the demand by Damascus for some 900 American troops to finally withdraw from the country.

“[The US] have to stop their infringement on the territorial integrity of Syria because they are illegally entering into Syria…they have to stop stealing Syrian oil, and Syrian wheat, and other Syrian property,” Mekdad continued, adding that without American support, “Daesh would have been eliminated a long time ago.”

Mekdad also said that Damascus was looking forward to the resumption of talks next month in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan aimed at a Syrian peace settlement.

The so-called Astana format – brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran – is “the most effective mechanism” for finding solutions to the crisis, given that the negotiations are attended by the Syrian government, the opposition and international players that support each of the sides.  

“Most recent positive developments in Syria have proven that the Astana format is the best format for finding a political settlement to the crisis,” the foreign minister said.

It's absurd to think that America, since the 2nd World War, ever entered a theatre of war for the purpose of ending it. America enters wars for the purpose of using its inventory of war. Having war-time vehicles, materials, weapons, etc., etc., standing unused in the USA is very bad for the profit levels of America's war-loving oligarchs. 

I believe America wants to keep the war in Syria going until they can come up with an excuse for a full-on invasion. Meanwhile, they are happy to steal Syrian oil. 

Iran says it will ‘NEVER’ give nuclear site images to UN watchdog

as monitoring deal expires

27 Jun, 2021 18:20

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Austria. © Reuters / Heinz-Peter Bader

Iran won’t hand over images from some of its nuclear sites to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as Tehran’s monitoring agreement with the UN agency has expired, Iranian parliament’s speaker stated.

“The agreement has expired... any of the information recorded will never be given to the IAEA and the data and images will remain in the possession of Iran,” Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said during a parliament session on Sunday.

Those recordings were made in offline format and they’re going to be stored in Iran in full compliance with the country’s laws, he said, as quoted by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council is expected to decide, at its first session after the deal’s expiration, whether to prolong the monitoring agreement, Mahmoud Vaezi, chief of staff to outgoing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, said midweek.

The deal, which IAEA and Iran signed after Tehran decided to reduce cooperation with the agency in February, allowed the watchdog to keep receiving at least some data about Iran's nuclear activities. It was agreed for a three-month period and later extended for another month.

But earlier this week the monitoring deal expired, after a letter from IAEA with an offer to extend it again or to sign a new one went unanswered by Tehran.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi called on Iran to provide “an immediate response” on the crucial matter, but was brushed off by Iranian envoy to the IAEA, Kazem Gharibabadi, who insisted that his country “was not required to comply” with the demand.

Gharibabadi later said on Twitter that past data recording was “a political decision” by Tehran aimed at facilitating the talks on the US return to the Iranian nuclear deal and “shouldn’t be considered as obligation.”

On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Iran’s reluctance to cooperate with the IAEA could negatively affect the outcome of the ongoing talks to revive the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The JCPOA, which Tehran and six world powers signed after years of diplomatic efforts in 2015, saw Iran curbing its military nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

But in 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the landmark deal and imposed new sanctions against Iran, much to the shock of other signees – China, France, Russia, UK, Germany and the EU. The move by Washington prompted Tehran to renege on some of its commitments under JCPOA, including intensifying its uranium enrichment.

Indirect talks between Washington and Tehran have been underway in the Austrian capital Vienna since April, as Joe Biden, who replaced Trump in the White House, has expressed eagerness to restore the agreement.

The negotiations are currently on pause, likely until early July, with differences still not settled between the sides. Washington says that a deal will only be struck after Iran returns to full compliance with JCPOA, but Tehran insists that US sanctions must be lifted first.

Secret British military docs allegedly found near BUS STOP reveal

UK foresaw furious Russian reaction to Crimea incursion 

27 Jun, 2021 09:48 

The British Royal Navy warship HMS Defender approaches the Black Sea port of Batumi, Georgia, June 26, 2021.

©  Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia/Handout via REUTERS

Britain mulled what Moscow might do if it sent a warship into disputed waters, near Crimea, according to "secret" documents allegedly found at a bus stop. The leak comes after London was discovered to have lied about the incident.

The 50-page dossier, containing classified information about the HMS Defender’s journey through the Black Sea, was reportedly discovered in a “soggy heap” behind a Kent bus stop on Tuesday morning. The person who discovered the documents, the story goes, contacted the BBC upon realizing their sensitive nature. The dossier includes emails and PowerPoint presentations, and is believed to have originated in the office of a senior Ministry of Defence (MoD) official. 

A spokesperson for the ministry said that an employee had reported the loss of sensitive papers, adding that it would be “inappropriate” to comment further. An investigation is now underway to determine how the documents ended up at the bus stop, the BBC said. 

The MoD viewed the Royal Navy destroyer’s mission, dubbed “Op Ditroite,” as an “innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters,” the secret documents reportedly show. British military planners believed that they had a “strong, legitimate narrative” for passing through the disputed area, and said that having journalists aboard the warship would help provide “independent verification” of the vessel’s actions. 

However, there was apparently an understanding that the Russian military would likely view the HMS Defender’s travel itinerary differently. 

“What do we understand about the possible 'welcome party'…?” asked one British military official, during high-level discussions that were detailed in the classified dossier. 

A series of slides prepared by the UK’s Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) offered two potential routes through the Black Sea, with one described as “a safe and professional direct transit from Odessa to Batumi.” The plan included a short stretch through a “Traffic Separation Scheme” located near the southwest tip of Crimea. Choosing this route would  “provide an opportunity to engage with the Ukrainian government… in what the UK recognises as Ukrainian territorial waters,” one of the slides explained.

The BBC said that the mislaid dossier outlined potential Russian responses, ranging from “safe and professional” to “neither safe nor professional.”

The documents also discussed the possibility of keeping the HMS Defender away from contested waters. This plan would avoid any potential confrontation but would also allow Russia to claim that the UK was “scared” or “running away,” the secret dossier stated. 

One of the presentations contained in the trove of classified documents noted that contact between Russian and British forces in the area have largely been “unremarkable” but that, “following the transition from defence engagement activity to operational activity, it is highly likely that... interactions will become more frequent and assertive.”

Moscow said Wednesday's mission had prompted it to fire warning shots at the vessel. Which was quickly denied by the UK's Ministry of Defence, claiming that its vessel was conducting “innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law,” and the Russian shots were part of a pre-planned gunnery exercise.

On Thursday evening, video emerged showing Russian forces repeatedly demanding that the British leave their waters and, after several warnings, targeting warning shots at the intruding ship. 

Journalists who were aboard the British warship at the time suggested that the confrontation with Russian forces was expected. One reporter noted that “increasingly hostile warnings were issued over the radio” by the Russian coast guard. 

Russia summoned the British ambassador, as well as the UK’s military attache in Moscow, to protest over the incident. 

While it would have taken a huge mistake by one side or the other to have started a real conflict from this event, mistakes do happen. The point of challenging the other guy to respond is a stupid, adolescent thing to do. It is such a pity that militaries seem to have to resort to such childish behavior. Wouldn't it be nice if we all grew up and acted like adults?