RSS
Why Confronting Iran Should Be a Major Priority for the Trump Administration
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi meets with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 14, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Following Donald Trump’s major victory in the 2024 US presidential elections, the new administration is facing a number of international crises that extend from the Korean Peninsula, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and last but not least, the escalating war in the Middle East ignited by the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023 on Israel. It doesn’t require a political expert to figure out that Iran’s unconditional support to Hamas and Hezbollah are behind the current 14-month regional crisis.
In the past year, Hamas and Hezbollah received a heavy beating by Israeli attacks on their strongholds in Gaza, southern Lebanon and Syria, especially with the elimination of both terrorist groups’ leaders Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah. Even with the fall of the longstanding Assad regime in Syria on December 8th, Iran remains the catalyst and purveyor of chaos in the region.
Americans who lost family members during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel filed lawsuits in November against Iran, presenting new evidence that Iran was involved in the terrorist attacks which claimed the lives of 46 American citizens — in addition to the 1,200 Israeli civilians and soldiers — while other Americans were among the more than 250 taken hostage.
Four Americans remain in Hamas captivity according to former hostage Aviva Siegel. Hamas released a video titled “Time is running out” on Dec. 1, 2024, of 20-year-old Edan Alexander who is still being held hostage in Gaza.
Iran endorsed the terrorist attack, and its Supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, lauded the attacks and applauded his Hamas allies.
President-elect Trump vowed on Dec. 2 that there will be “hell to pay” if the hostages in Gaza are not freed before his inauguration.
Iranian Regime’s Threats and Abysmal Human Rights Record
Hardly a week passes without an Iranian leader or commander issuing threats against another country, but these are not empty threats, as some may claim or estimate. Iran has been vehemently working on destabilizing other countries in the Middle East, threatening Israel with annihilation and nearing the completion of a nuclear military program that turn its threats into a nuclear one.
In the span of less than five decades, the Iranian regime created a bizarro world of its own within the country and has been vehemently attempting to export its twisted state model across the Middle East through what it calls “Exporting the Revolution.” The Islamic revolution in Iran of 1979 that toppled the reigning Iranian Shah (emperor) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi shook the foundations of the Middle East, as it initiated a new grim chapter of extremism and terrorism.
Nowadays, Iran is a country producing ballistic missiles that it would launch indiscriminately on enemy militaries and citizens alike, case in point the barrage of over 300 ballistic missiles on Israel last October. At the same time, Iranian citizens are living in an archaic world that belongs to medieval times where adulterers are publicly flogged. Even young women such as Kurdish-Iranian Roya Heshmati are not spared from these punishments simply for appearing on social media without hijab. Barbaric punishments such as public executions using cranes, remain a common scene in Iranian streets and the regime uses them to send warning messages to dissidents.
Women’s rights in the country can only be compared to the same rights women had millennia ago. Iran’s abysmal record of women rights was condemned by every human rights NGO including the United Nations.
Following the September 2022 uprising in Iran, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amina in police custody, the repression of women has increased with new measures like the inhumane Noor Plan.
Though mass protests have subsided over the past two years, the ongoing defiance of women and girls remains a stark reminder that they continue to live in a system that relegates them to second-class status. The regime doesn’t even attempt to cover these abuses; they happen in broad day light and the videos of them have gone viral across the Internet. Nationwide protests for Mahsa’s death resulted in 551 deaths, including 49 women and 68 children, according to a United Nations report.
Roots of Religious Extremism of the Iranian Regime
The Iranian regime represents Shi’a Islam’s most extreme sect which is called the Twelver Shiism. The current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is the earthly representative of the last Imam or the Twelfth Imam and hence his word trumps all others in importance. The Twelver Shiism doctrine was adopted following the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, and is used to suppress opposition.
According to the doctrine, an army of believers must be formed which is called the Al Mahdi Army which would be tasked to fight all the other faiths and nations around them to restore justice and equity in the world after it became a place of violence and corruption.
One can only imagine what would happen if the Al Mahdi army was armed by a nuclear arsenal to complete its “holy mission.”
Following the Islamic revolution, the regime believes and endorses the aforementioned set of beliefs as a creed. It is a cult-like doctrine that imposes an inevitable war with everyone who doesn’t believe in it.
The Iranian regime repeatedly stresses that it is the Middle East’s Shia Muslims who are defenders of the faith and protectors from the tyranny of the region’s regimes against them.
Nuclear Threats to the Middle East
Last month, during nuclear program negotiations with Britain, France, and Germany, Iran vehemently repeated the message it has been peddling for years — that its nuclear program is for peaceful and civilian purposes even as it brazenly produces far more fissionable material than would be required for military purposes. Nevertheless, Iran repeatedly threatens to convert its “peaceful” program into a military one or change its nuclear doctrine if it feels threatened. This redundant message is always in the form of threats to annihilate Israel and the United States.
Western countries and politicians who ignore the atrocities of the Iranian regime and seek rapprochement at any cost, are precisely the ones the regime welcomes, However, these politicians are doing a disservice to their countries, as Iranian regime behavior towards anything Western is characterized by disdain and haughtiness.
“The European Union must stop its “arrogant and irresponsible behavior,” said Iranian deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Kazem Gharibabadi on November 29th.
He added that “Europe should not project its own internal issues, particularly those surrounding the Ukraine war onto others.”
Earlier in November Iranian authorities threatened to turn their nuclear program into a military one in case of further threats or pressures.
“If an existential threat arises, Iran will modify its nuclear doctrine. We have the capability to build weapons and have no issue in this regard,” said Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Supreme leader Ayattolah Khamenei on November 2nd.
This threat was reiterated on Nov. 28th by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi who was more direct in his threats of militarizing the nuclear program and changing Iran’s nuclear doctrine if his country remains subjected to “pressure.”
Europe imposed further sanctions on Iran last month as a result of its continuous military involvement and support to Russian aggression in Ukraine by supplying a range of its drones and ballistic missiles. These sanctions were added to previous sanctions imposed in response to its abysmal human rights record and its nuclear program.
Continued Financing and Political Support of the Three H’s (Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis)
It is safe to say that without Iranian funding, training and political support none of the three above mentioned perennial global terrorist threats would have ever existed in the first place. Yet, this fact seems to elude most politicians namely Western liberal ones when addressing the issue of Iran.
Hezbollah was founded in 1982 in Lebanon through political and financial support just three years after the Islamic revolution overtook Iran.
The Yemeni Houthi movement is a Shiite terrorist group that was founded in northern Yemen in the 1990s. Funding and support from Iran eventually enabled it to overtake the country in 2014 after a decade of fighting with the Sunni-majority government. The Houthis now represent the most dangerous terrorist group threatening the naval supply line.
Last but not least in terrorist impendence is the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which was formed in 1987 as an offshoot of the global Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas leaders have been and still pledge allegiance to Iran openly.
If Trump’s upcoming second term will be deemed a successful one four years from now, a lot of that success will be measured on how his administration will firmly deal with an Iranian regime that has been a menace to the world and namely America for over four decades. Taking down or neutralizing the Iranian regime may prove to be a gargantuan task for Trump, but if Trump is unable to do it, then it seems unlikely that any other American president or Western leader will be to do it in the foreseeable future.
This is not simply about a regime comprised of lunatics who call America the “Great Satan” or antagonize it with every political decision or speech. As explained above, it goes much further than that — to world security.
Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) Senior Fellow Hany Ghoraba is an Egyptian writer, political and counter-terrorism analyst at Al Ahram Weekly and a regular contributor the BBC. He is the author of Egypt’s Arab Spring: The Long and Winding Road to Democracy He is a writer and contributor for over a dozen international outlets, periodicals and networks including Newsmax, OANN, BBC Radio, CSP, MEF, American Spectator, American Thinker, Arab Weekly and Al Arabiya News. A different version of this article was originally published by IPT.
The post Why Confronting Iran Should Be a Major Priority for the Trump Administration first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Iran Rejects US Nuclear Proposal, Says ‘Counteroffer’ Coming as Talks Stall Over Uranium Enrichment, Sanctions
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iran has denounced the latest nuclear proposal from the United States as “unprofessional and untechnical,” reaffirming the country’s right to enrich uranium and announcing plans to present a counteroffer in the coming days.
“After receiving the American proposal regarding the Iranian nuclear program, we are now preparing a counteroffer,” Ali Shamkhnai, political adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in an interview on Wednesday.
Shamkhani criticized the White House draft proposal as “not well thought out,” emphasizing its alleged failure to address sanction relief — a key demand for Tehran under any deal with Washington.
“There is no mention whatsoever of lifting sanctions in the latest American proposal, even though the issue of sanctions is a fundamental matter for Iran,” Shamkhnai said.
The Iranian official also warned that Tehran will not allow the US to dismantle its “peaceful nuclear program” or force uranium enrichment down to zero.
“Iran will never relinquish its natural rights,” Shamkhani said.
Washington’s draft proposal for a new nuclear deal was delivered by Omani officials — who have been mediating negotiations between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff — during last month’s talks in Rome.
On Wednesday, Khamenei dismissed such an offer, saying it “contradicts our nation’s belief in self-reliance” and runs counter to Iran’s key objectives.
“The proposal that the Americans have presented is 100 percent against our interests,” the Iranian leader said during a televised speech.
“The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?” Khamenei continued.
After five rounds of talks, diplomatic efforts have yet to yield results as both adversaries clash over Iran’s demand to maintain its domestic uranium enrichment program — a condition the White House has firmly rejected.
In April, Tehran and Washington held their first official nuclear negotiation since the US withdrew from a now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal that had imposed temporary limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanction relief.
Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has sought to curtail Tehran’s potential to develop a nuclear weapon that could spark a regional arms race and pose a threat to Israel.
Meanwhile, Iran seeks to have Western sanctions on its oil-dependent economy lifted, while maintaining its nuclear enrichment program — which the country insists is solely for civilian purposes.
As part of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran — which aims to cut the country’s crude exports to zero and prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon — Washington has been targeting Tehran’s oil industry with mounting sanctions.
Amid the ongoing diplomatic deadlock, Israel has declared it will never allow the Islamist regime to acquire nuclear weapons, as the country views Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to uphold any agreement that prevents Tehran from enriching uranium.
“But in any case, Israel maintains the right to defend itself from a regime that is threatening to annihilate it,” Netanyahu said in a press conference last month, following reports that Jerusalem could strike Iranian nuclear sites if ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran fail.
The post Iran Rejects US Nuclear Proposal, Says ‘Counteroffer’ Coming as Talks Stall Over Uranium Enrichment, Sanctions first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Day After Colorado Attack, Founder of Anti-Israel Group Chides Activists Who Are Insufficiently ‘Pro-Resistance’
Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of WithinOurLifetime (WOL), leading a pro-Hamas demonstration in New York City on Aug. 14, 2024. Photo: Michael Nigro via Reuters Connect
Nerdeen Kiswani, the founder of the radical anti-Israel organization Within Our Lifetime, chastised those within the pro-Palestinian movement who only support “resistance” in the abstract but not in practice following Sunday’s antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado.
“A lot of people who call themselves anti-Zionist or pro-resistance don’t actually understand what resistance is,” Kiswani posted on X/Twitter on Monday. “They support it in theory, but when it shows up in practice, they hesitate, distance themselves, or shift the conversation entirely.”
She continued, “And it makes it even harder for those of us who are principled to take public stances. We’re already marginalized, already painted as extreme or dangerous and that isolation only deepens when others in the movement won’t stand firm when it counts.”
Kiswani’s comments came the day after a man threw Molotov cocktails at a Boulder gathering where participants were rallying in support of the Israeli hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza — which resulted in 15 injuries, including some critically, in what US authorities called a targeted terrorist attack. Her tweets also came less than two weeks after a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they were leaving an at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by the American Jewish Committee. In both attacks, the perpetrator yelled “Free Palestine” as they targeted innocent civilians, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
After Kiswani’s social media posts sparked some backlash among pro-Israel users on X, she provided limited pushback on the idea that it was an expression of support for the prior day’s attack in Colorado.
“Zionists are freaking out in the QTs about this, insisting it’s about Colorado,” she wrote. “Newsflash: the world doesn’t revolve around you. Resistance hasn’t stopped in Gaza, look at what just happened in Jabalia [where three IDF soldiers were killed] for instance. The perpetual victimhood is getting old.”
However, Kiswani did not say her comment had no connection to the attack in Colorado, and she did not say that she opposed the firebombing.
Kiswani and her group, Within Our Lifetime (WOL), have been at the forefront of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas activism since Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages during their invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, a massacre that started the war in Gaza.
On Oct. 8, 2023, one day after the biggest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, WOL organized a protest to celebrate the prior day’s attack, which it described as an effort to “defend the heroic Palestinian resistance.” Kiswani notably refused to condemn Hamas and the Oct. 7 massacre following the atrocities.
Then, in Apil 2024, Kiswani refused to condemn the chant “Death to America” and organized a mass demonstration to block the “arteries of capitalism” by staging a blockade of commercial shipping ports across the world in protest of Western support for the Jewish state. That same month, she was banned from Columbia University’s campus in New York City after leading chants calling for an “intifada,” or violent uprising.
The following month, Kiswani led a demonstration in Brooklyn, New York in which she lambasted the local police department, claimed then-US President Joe Biden will soon die, and called for the destruction of Israel.
That proceeded the activist saying she does not want Zionists “anywhere” in the world while speaking in defense of a person who called for “Zionists” to leave a crowded subway car in New York City.
WOL, which planned a protest last year to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre, was also behind demonstrations at the Nova Music Festival exhibit, which commemorated the more than 300 civilians slaughtered by Hamas while at a music festival.
The latter protest prompted widespread condemnation, including from Biden and even progressive members of the US Congress who are outspoken against Israel.
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), for example, posted on social media that the “callousness, dehumanization, and targeting of Jews on display at last night’s protest outside the Nova Festival exhibit was atrocious antisemitism – plain and simple.”
The post Day After Colorado Attack, Founder of Anti-Israel Group Chides Activists Who Are Insufficiently ‘Pro-Resistance’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel’s Defense Exports Hit Record $15 Billion in 2024 Despite European Pressure, Calls for Arms Embargo
Israeli troops on the ground in Gaza. Photo: IDF via Reuters
Israel reached a new all-time high in defense exports in 2024, nearing $15 billion — the fourth consecutive year of record-breaking sales — despite mounting international criticism over the war in Gaza and growing pressure from European countries to suspend arms deals.
In a press release on Wednesday, Israel’s Defense Ministry announced that defense exports reached over $14.7 billion last year — a 13 percent increase from 2023 — with more than half of the deals valued at over $100 million.
According to the ministry, Israel’s military exports have more than doubled over the past five years, highlighting the industry’s rapid expansion and growing global demand.
“This tremendous achievement is a direct result of the successes of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] and defense industries against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, the Ayatollah regime in Iran, and in additional arenas where we operate against Israel’s enemies,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
“The world sees Israeli strength and seeks to be a partner in it. We will continue strengthening the IDF and the Israeli economy through security innovation to ensure clear superiority against any threat – anywhere and anytime,” Katz continued.
In 2024, over half of the Jewish state’s defense contracts were with European countries — up from 35 percent the previous year — as many in the region have increased their defense spending following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Despite increasing pressure and widespread anti-Israel sentiment among European governments amid the current conflict in Gaza, this latest data seems to contradict recent calls by European leaders to impose an arms embargo on the Jewish state over its defensive campaign in Gaza against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
On Wednesday, Germany reversed its earlier threat to halt arms deliveries to Israel, reaffirming its commitment to continue cooperation and maintain defense contracts with Jerusalem.
“Germany will continue to support the State of Israel, including with arms deliveries,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told lawmakers in parliament.
Last week, Berlin warned it would take unspecified measures against Israel if it continued its military campaign in Gaza, citing concerns that exported weapons were being used in violation of humanitarian law.
“Our full support for the right to exist and the security of the State of Israel must not be instrumentalized for the conflict and the warfare currently being waged in the Gaza Strip,” Wadephul said in a statement.
Germany would be “examining whether what is happening in the Gaza Strip is compatible with international humanitarian law,” he continued. “Further arms deliveries will be authorized based on the outcome of that review.”
Spain and Ireland are among the countries in Europe that have threatened or taken steps to limit arms deals with Israel, while others such as France have threatened unspecified harsh measures against the Jewish state.
According to the Israeli defense ministry’s report, since the outbreak of war on Oct. 7, 2023, after the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, the operational successes and proven battlefield performance of Israeli systems have fueled strong international demand for Israel’s defense technology.
Last year, the export of missiles, rockets, and air defense systems reached a new high, making up 48 percent of the total deal volume — up from 36 percent in 2023.
Similarly, satellite and space systems exports surged, accounting for 8 percent of total deals in 2024 — quadrupling their share from 2 percent in 2023.
While Europe dominated Israel’s defense export market in 2024, significant portions also went to other regions. Asia and the Pacific made up 23 percent of total sales — slightly lower than in previous years, when the region approached 30 percent.
Exports to Abraham Accords countries fell to 12 percent, down from 23 percent in 2022, while North America remained stable at around 9 percent.
The post Israel’s Defense Exports Hit Record $15 Billion in 2024 Despite European Pressure, Calls for Arms Embargo first appeared on Algemeiner.com.