Mediaboss Marketing

Members of Iranian Basij paramilitary force reenact the January capture of U.S sailors by the Revolutionary Guard in the Persian Gulf at a rally to mark the 37th anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Azadi Square (Freedom Square) on Feb. 11, 2016 in Tehran, Iran. Majid Saeedi / Getty Images file

Sattari said Dehnavi and his family were denied entry to the U.S. "under unconventional pretexts," despite obtaining all legal documents, the report said.

The Children's Hospital in Boston issued a statement Thursday saying that Denhavi had not previously worked there.

"He was due to come to Boston Children's as a visiting scholar on a J-1 visa. His visa had been approved by the State Department prior to travel," it said. "Boston Children's has no additional information about the basis for denying Dr. Denhavi entry to the U.S."

Also Thursday, Stephanie Malin, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that "due to privacy law, CBP is prohibited from discussing the details of any individual's admissibility inspection."

See more here:
Iranian Researcher Denied US Entry Allegedly Has Ties to Militia - NBCNews.com

A top Iranian military commander is the latest official to speak out against U.S. chatter of pursuing a policy of regime changeagainstthe government in Tehran, something Washington has successfully done once before.

Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff for the Iranian military, attacked remarks made recently by high-ranking U.S. officials such as Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggesting they may seek to topple the Iranian government, which they accuseof sponsoring terrorism and political oppression.The military leader'swords echoed long-held suspicions by Iran that the U.S. is plotting to forcefully oust the nation's political and religious leaders in favor of ones more sympathetic to the West, as it did by sponsoring a coup in 1953. More than half a century later, Jazayeri said Iran was unphased by such comments from the administration of President Donald Trump, but vowed to respond with action.

Related:U.S. has no proof ISIS leader Baghdadi is alive, Russia thinks it killed him and Iran is sure he's dead

Daily Emails and Alerts - Get the best of Newsweek delivered to your inbox

"The ridiculous dreams of the Americans about the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran is nothing more than disturbeddelusionsand we are not worried that they have preoccupied themselves in such a way," Jazayeri said, according to Press TV, an English-language affiliate of the semi-official Islamic Republic Broadcasting Agency.

"We will respondto the nonsensical talksof the American authorities in the theaters of action," he added.

A man holds burning flags during the annual pro-Palestinian rally marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, in Tehran, Iran, June 23, 2017. Since deposing a U.S.-backed ruler in 1979, Iran's leadership has been deeply suspicious that Washington will once again try to overthrow its government in order to install leaders more friendly to Western interests. Nazanin Tabatabaee Yazdi/TIMA via REUTERS

Prior to 1953, Iran's government was headed by a democratically elected prime minister named Mohammad Mosaddegh whose popularity ultimately allowed him to supersede the authority of the country's monarch,Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, known as the Shah. Mosaddegh nationalized Iran's oil industry in 1951, infuriating the U.K., which heavily invested in Iranian oil. The U.K. ultimately appealed to the CIA to sponsor a coup d'etat againstMosaddegh, which U.S. intelligence did in 1953, arresting Mosaddegh and replacing him with Iranian General Fazlollah Zahedi. The Shah regained his former authority and implemented an authoritarianrule backed by the West for over 25 years until he himself was deposed in the Islamic Revolution of 1979 that saw Shiite Muslim cleric Ayatollah Khomeinitake power and pursue anti-West policies that persist to this day.

The U.S. only publicly admitted its role in the 1953 coup in 2013, and last month the CIA released a trove of previously top-secret documents publicly revealing new details of the affair, known as Operation AJAX. Relations between the U.S. and Iran somewhatwarmed during the administration of President Barack Obama, who signed a deal that lifted U.S. sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program. Trump, however, has taken a more hardline stance toward the majority-Shiite Muslim power and some of his most senior officials have suggested that a second regime change may be in order.

"Until the Iranian people can get rid of this theocracy, these guys who think they can tell the people even which candidates they get a choice of. Its going to be very, very difficult," Mattis said Monday in an interview he granted to a high school journalism student, according to the Middle East Institute. Mattis went on to target the Iranian government, linking it to groups abroad considered by the U.S. to be terrorist organizations, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Ansar Allah, commonly referred to as the Houthi movement.

Comments by Mattis, who has long advocated for tougher U.S. action against Iran, followed Tillerson's response to the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month in which the statesman explained U.S. policy toward Iran as being "to push back on [its regional] hegemony, contain their ability to develop, obviously, nuclear weapons and to work towards support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government."

Jazayeri is not the first Iranian official to respond to the Trump administration's comments. Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General HosseinDehghan told reporters Wednesday that, before the U.S. goes after Iran's internal political affairs, it should address its own scandals and potential shortcomings.

"Whenever the Americans have intended to make any type action against us or hire proxies to this end, our nation has proved that it makes them regret their deeds," Dehghan said, according to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency.

"The U.S. secretary of defense and the ruling system had better think of resolving their internal issues and study the root causes that will most possibly cause the current U.S. administration to collapse in a not so far future and will make the country's political system face a lot of serious challenges," he added.

Read the rest here:
Iran to US: Don't Even Think About Overthrowing Our Government Again - Newsweek

President Trump must increase pressure on Iran to disclose the whereabouts of Robert Levinson -- the former FBI agent who disappeared in the country a decade ago -- and return him to his family, several U.S. lawmakers said.

A delegation of lawmakers -- led by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. -- penned a letter Tuesday to Trump, calling on the administration to "re-engage" with Iran over Levinson, a Florida native who was last seen in 2007 on Iran's Kish Island. Levinson disappeared while traveling on an unauthorized mission to recruit an intelligence source for the CIA. If alive, he is the longest-held hostage in American history.

"As you know, our government has long pressed Iran to return Bob," read a copy of the letter obtained by Fox News.

"After ten years, Bob is still not home, and despite repeated promises, Iran has yet to cooperate in any meaningful way. Iran is responsible if Iranian officials dont have Bob, they know where to find him," the lawmakers wrote. "Bobs return is an urgent humanitarian issue."

The letter was signed by 19 lawmakers, including Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democratic U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The lawmakers also asked that Trump meet with Levinson's wife, Christine, and seven children to, "hear first-hand their struggle and tireless effort on Bob's behalf."

In March, on the 10-year anniversay of his father's disappearance, Levinson's son, Daniel, told Fox News that he's hopeful Trump will make good on his promise to bring his father home.

Iranian leaders have repeatedly denied knowing anything about Levinson's fate, but U.S. officials have indicated for years they believe the former agent is alive.

Trump had pledged to make Levinson's case a priority during his presidential campaign. The White House said in March the administration "remains unwavering in our commitment to locate Mr. Levinson and bring him home."

Levinson, from Coral Springs, Fla., retired from the FBI in 1998. He was working as a private investigator when he traveled to Kish Island, Iran, on March 8, 2007, on a 24-hour rogue assignment. He was last seen leaving the Hotel Miriam on the island and getting into a taxi to go to the airport.

Iranian state-run television reported at the time that Levinson was in the hands of Iranian security forces -- but no group officially claimed responsibility for taking him.

In October 2009, the FBI told Fox News it had received unconfirmed reports of sightings of Levinson in the Islamic Republic. Two years later, in March 2011, the U.S. government said it "received indications" that Levinson was being held somewhere in southwest Asia.

Levinson's wife criticized the Obama administration last year when she learned, through media reports, of a prisoner exchange with Iran that did not include her husband. At the time, Levinson's son, Daniel, said it felt like "once again, he's been left behind."

Levinson, left, disappeared in Iran in 2007.

Following the release of five American prisoners, President Obama said the U.S. would continue working to find Levinson. When asked by reporters whether Levinson was still alive, then-Secretary of State John Kerry said, "We have no idea." Kerry also said Tehran had pledged to assist the U.S. in its quest for answers.

Shortly thereafter, the Iranian government told the Obama administration it had intelligence that an American's remains had been buried in western Pakistan, near the country's border with Afghanistan and Iran, according to Levinson's son. But when Pakistan officials searched the site in question, no remains were found.

The Levinson family insists he is alive and that Iranian officials know where he is. They last received some visual record of him in video and photos that were sent about five years ago.

"Bob has suffered long enough," the lawmakers said in their letter to Trump.

Levinson is pictured with his daughters in 2006, about seven months before his kidnapping.

"We must never rest until he is returned to his family. We owe them nothing less."

Cristina Corbin is a Fox News reporter based in New York. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaCorbin.

Originally posted here:
Lawmakers to Trump: Iran must return American hostage Bob Levinson - Fox News

It's been a fiery couple of days on the set of "Tucker Carlson Tonight." The famously combative Fox News host, who also happens to be my former boss, has been engaged in something of a foreign policy royal rumble with Republican foreign policy analysts Ralph Peters and Max Boot.

The fireworks started when Peters compared Carlson to Charles Lindbergh because Tucker questioned whether Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian leader Bashar Assad were really serious threats to the United States. Shockingly, being compared to a Nazi apologist didn't sit well with Tucker and the segment quickly became, shall we say, more lively? The next night, Tucker brought on Boot (who had praised Peters on Twitter) for another entertaining, if not always illuminating, display of verbal fisticuffs.

Who you think won these rather nasty battles likely depends on what your foreign policy worldview is. But whether or not you agree with Carlson's foreign policy worldview which is close to, if not exactly the same as, Rand Paul's non-interventionism he is asking legitimate questions that deserve to be answered and debated.

Why is it in America's interest to stand up to Russia? As vile as Assad is, are we sure he is really worse both morally and for U.S. interests than many of those vying to replace him? Is Iran really a serious threat to the U.S.?

It is the last question I want to attempt to reply to here, because I actually think it is the most important of the three questions, as well as the one with the clearest answer. At one point during Tucker's debate with Boot, Tucker asked: "Tell me how many Americans in the United States have been murdered by terrorists backed by Iran since 9/11? You say Iran is a primary threat to us."

After some name-calling, Boot gave a partial answer to Tucker's question by noting that Iran has killed U.S. troops in Iraq and, through its terror proxy Hezbollah, hundreds of U.S. Marines in Beirut in 1983.

But as compelling an answer as this may be for some, it won't satisfy people with Tucker's foreign policy worldview not because they don't care about U.S. soldiers as Boot suggested, but because, as they would be quick to point out, the U.S. would never have been in Iraq and Lebanon if their foreign policy ruled the day.

But there is an answer that could appeal to even those with Tucker's foreign policy orientation. If I were on his show, I would have answered his question this way:

You make a fair point, Tucker, by pointing out that neither Iran nor its terrorist proxies have killed Americans on U.S. soil, like Sunni terror organizations have, though we probably should not forget the Iranian-sponsored plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador at Caf Milano in Georgetown that surely would have also killed Americans if it wasn't foiled. (That one should hit close to home since you occasionally eat there, or at least you once ate there with me.)

But, again, I take your point. Nonetheless, I would still maintain that Iran is an even greater threat to America than Sunni terrorist groups, which is saying something because I believe Sunni terrorist groups pose a serious threat. The difference between Sunni terror groups like al Qaeda and the Islamic State and an Iranian-sponsored Shia terror group like Hezbollah is that there is an actual modern state supporting the latter and states are most capable of producing weapons of mass destruction.

As you know, Iran has a rather sophisticated nuclear weapons program going, even if it may and I emphasize may have been temporarily suspended. Neither al Qaeda nor ISIS can say the same. If Iran were to develop a nuclear bomb, it would be the first theocratic state in history to have such a weapon.

Just take a look at the havoc North Korea is causing in Asia. Imagine a North Korea in the Middle East, but a North Korea with leaders who believe at least they say they believe that cataclysmic war is necessary in order to usher in a heavenly age. That strikes me as a very scary prospect, especially considering Iranian leaders are fond of leading their people in chants of "Death to America."

Even if Iran's mullahs are more rational than we sometimes give them credit for being a risky bet they would still be a serious threat to us. If Iran gets nuclear weapons, many other countries in its region will try to get nuclear weapons to counter it. That doesn't strike me as a stupendous outcome for the stability of the region. Beyond the potential cost to human life in the region if war broke out, as you know as well as anyone, the Middle East has lots of oil, which is kind of important to our economy. I don't think double-digit per gallon gas is a key ingredient in MAGAnomics.

Perhaps most importantly, let's not forget that Iran's terror proxy Hezbollah reportedly has terror cells in the U.S. And as the State Department once noted, Hezbollah is the A-Team of international terror, al-Qaida's just the B-Team. I can't imagine a graver threat than a theocratic regime that affectionately refers to the U.S. as the Great Satan having the means to annihilate a U.S. city with a suitcase nuke, can you?

So, yes, I'd argue Iran poses a very real and potentially grave threat to the United States, especially if it obtains nuclear capability, as many experts seem to think is inevitable. Whether it is really inevitable and how best deal with the Iranian threat are questions for another day.

Jamie Weinstein (@Jamie_Weinstein) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He hosts The Jamie Weinstein Show podcast and is founding partner at JMW Strategies.

If you would like to write an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, please read our guidelines on submissions here.

See more here:
Answering Tucker Carlson: Why Iran is a grave threat to the US - Washington Examiner

Last week the Iranian authorities arranged a rare international visit to one of the countrys most infamous places of detention Evin Prison in Tehran.

This visit wasnt arranged for an international prison expert or a human rights body. It was for representatives of over forty foreign diplomatic missions from Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. The UK had a representative there.

The foreign delegates were shown around some limited areas of the prison, and there was a roundtable discussion, held outdoors in a lush garden. There are photos in circulation and you can see various countries flags perched on al fresco tables, the Union Jack amongst them. By the standards of diplomatic meetings, it all looks rather idyllic.

Benjamin Netanyahu urges Theresa May to back fresh sanctions for Iran

But what was it all for? For the Iranian authorities it was very clearly a PR exercise. In the days after the visit, Iranian state media outlets were flooded with gushing stories about Evins supposedly state-of-the-art conditions. The excellent facilities were showcased, including an in-house beauty salon, a gym, a library and even a restaurant. And articles featured congratulatory comments from the Indian, Indonesian, Portuguese and South Korean delegates.

What these stories left out was the fact that Evin is a vast prison complex made up of multiple buildings where conditions vary enormously. The visitors saw only a handful of sections in buildings 4 and 7, mostly housing wealthier prisoners convicted of financial crimes. In these areas prisoners have used their own money to improve conditions, buying carpets, curtains, televisions, air-conditioning units and kitchenware. The beauty salon, gym, library and restaurant are only accessible to prisoners held in building 7.

Away from these select parts of Evin, things are much bleaker. Research reveals widespread inhumane and unsanitary conditions. Theres chronic overcrowding, severely limited hot water, poor ventilation, and infestations of cockroaches and mice. Prisoners have described being forced to sleep on the floor because of a shortage of beds and being fed barely edible meals.

Unsurprisingly the visitors didn't see any of this.

Ahead of the visit, some prisoners in building 4 were also transferred to create an illusion of humane living conditions. Walls were freshly repainted and the remaining prisoners warned against approaching the diplomats to voice any concerns they might have.

Meanwhile, the delegation was entirely barred from accessing areas of Evin controlled by the Ministry of Intelligence and Revolutionary Guards, where detainees are routinely held in prolonged solitary confinement and tortured. Similarly, they werent allowed to see where the dozens of prisoners of conscience are held. This includes building 350, where the prominent human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani and severely-ill human rights activist Arash Sadeghi languish; building 8, which holds human rights activist Omid Alishenas; and the women prisoners wing where human rights activists Narges Mohammadi, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and Atena Daemi are serving their sentences.

And neither were they able to meet several dual-nationals jailed on spurious charges, including the British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe or the British-Iranian businessman Kamal Foroughi. Meanwhile, the Iranian-born Swedish resident Dr Ahmadreza Djalali was transferred to solitary confinement for the entire duration of the visit.

After the delegation had made their Potemkin village-like tour of Evin, Kazem Gharibabadi from Irans High Council of Human Rights said that Evins supposedly comfortable conditions are typical of the countrys high prison standards. With one ludicrous claim after another, he insisted that prisoners in Iran enjoy perfect access to medical care notwithstanding a report from last year showing how Irans political prisoners are denied access to adequate medical care as a particularly cruel form of punishment.

Back in the real world, Gharibabadis remarks are an affront to the hundreds of prisoners peaceful activists, journalists, intellectuals and human rights lawyers whove suffered miserably at Evin throughout its disgraceful history. Every year, scores of prisoners in Evin and other prisons go on hunger strikes in protest at appalling conditions.

The unvarnished, un-PR-able truth about Evin Prison is that its a place of suffering and torment as well as a wider symbol of rampant political repression in Iran.

The foreign delegates may not have known the details of their highly-controlled visit in advance, but it should be clear to them now theyve been used by the Iranian authorities in a piece of propaganda. They ought to speak out against torture and other ill-treatment of prisoners in Iran, as well as the arbitrary detention of human rights activists and other peaceful critics. And they ought to demand that the Iranian authorities open Evin and other Iranian prisons to independent international monitors.

This wasnt a genuine prison visit, it was crude political theatre.

Raha Bahreini is Amnesty Internationals Iran researcher

See original here:
Iran just gave foreign delegates a tour around a 'luxury' part of one of their most notorious prisons - The Independent