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The United States should expect a "strong slap in the face"if it underestimates Iran's defensive capabilities, a commander of Irans Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday, as Tehran concluded war games.

Chinahas nearly finished building almost two dozen structures on artificial islands in the South China Sea that appear designed to house long-range surface-to-air missiles, two U.S. officials told Reuters.

Swiss engineering group ABBwas hit by a $100 million "sophisticated criminal scheme" in its South Korean subsidiary. The alleged theft was limited to South Korea, where it employs around 800 people and generated sales of $525 million in 2015.

Britain's top court backed a government attempt to limit immigration by ruling on Wednesday that an income test for those who want to bring their non-European spouses to the UK is acceptable and does not infringe human rights.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeausaid Canada would continue to accept asylum seekers crossing illegally from the United States. The number of crossings has ticked up in recent weeks amid fears that the Trump administration would crack down on illegal immigrants.

Vehicles are seen partially submerged in flood water at William Street Park after heavy rains overflowed nearby Coyote Creek in San Jose, California, U.S., February 21, 2017. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

A growing number of Republican lawmakers are pushing for an investigation into the Trump administrations ties to Russia.

It would seem that Daniel Ramirez Medina is a textbook "dreamer" a 23-year-old man who came to this country as child and granted a work permit under the Obama administration. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement calls him a "self-admitted gang member," an accusation Ramirez "unequivocally denies." His arrest could make him the first person covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to be detained under the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigrants.

That's how many days into the Trump administration there were before the first top level resignation. The person was Michael Flynn. The post was national security adviser. And the reason was that he discussed U.S. sanctions with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office this after promising otherwise to Vice President Mike Pence. Such contacts could run afoul of the Logan Act, which bans private citizens from engaging in foreign policy.

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Wednesday Morning Briefing: Iran ready to give US 'strong slap in the face' - Reuters

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Speaking at the Munich Security Conference last weekend, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused Iran of pursuing a sectarian policy agenda aimed at destabilizing the entire region. In particular, he charged Iran with exacerbating Sunni-Shiite tensions in Iraq and Syria, with the goal of making both into Shiite satellites of Iran.

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Turkey firmly opposes any division, whether religious or sectarian, Cavusoglu declared.

Reporting on Cavusoglus remarks, the Middle East Observer argues that Turkey hasthreemotivations for its larger-than-expected intervention in Syria. The diplomatically stated reason is to liberate cities near the Turkish border from ISIS. Theobvious but less loudly statedobjective is to prevent Syrian Kurds from occupying territory along the border and working with Kurdish separatists in Turkey. The third objective, little discussed until now, is to checkmate Irans drive to create a Shiite hegemony in the Middle East:

Syrian rebels supported by the Turkish Army are currently advancing southward, having pushed the Islamic State out of the towns of Jarablous, al-Rai and Dabiq near the Turkish border between August and October. They are nowat the gatesof the town of al-Bab, and the stage is set for confrontation. The strategically important city is held by the Islamic State but coveted by others: the United States-backed P.Y.D. closing in from the east, and the Syrian Army and Iranian-allied forces from the south.

Irans response to Cavusoglus accusations was swift and vehement.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemisnarled:

Those who have immature dreams about rebuilding an empire, and have taken meddlesome, illegal and illegitimate measures, supportedterrorist groups and causedbloodshed and escalationof tensions and instability in the region cannot evade liabilityfor such moves by playing a blame game. They should be aware that insecurity and instability in the region has no perpetrator other than them and some other paranoid states.

Iran, like the Syrian government, routinely accuses foreign powers of supporting terrorism if they supported any rebel faction in the Syrian civil war. Turkey has also been accused of indulging the Islamic State in the past, for example, by allowing ISIS recruits to pass across its border with Syria.

The Islamic Republic of Irans regional policy has always been and will be based on maintaining the stability and security of all countries and neighbors, Qassemi insisted.

Qassemi called Cavusoglus remarks counterproductive and reiterated the charge that Turkey cannot escape from the self-created whirlpool by accusing others.

More ominously, he warned Turkey not to test Irans patience.

Iran was so angry that it summoned the Turkish ambassador in Tehran on Monday to complain about Cavusoglus comments.We will be patient with their positions, but there is a certain cap to our patience, Qassemi repeated on Monday.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu fired back in a written statement:

It is neither acceptable nor comprehensible for a country, which does not even hesitate to push to the battlefield refugees seeking shelter from crises, accuses others of being responsible for regional tensions and instabilityIran should take constructive steps and review its regional policies instead of putting the blame on countries which criticize it.

TheTehran Timesnotes another point of contention between Iran and Turkey is the latters support for creating safe zones in Syria to accommodate civilian refugees. The idea is wrong and unacceptable to us as it adds to problems, Qassemi said on that point.

Of course, the Tehran Timessees the anti-Iran regional front led by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Israel as the obstacle to an immediate end to conflicts in the region.

Theres no question a regional front is shaping up against Iran. TheJerusalem Postreports that both Saudi and Israeli representatives at the Munich Security Conference warned about Irans threat to regional stability, just as Turkey did.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman explicitly called for an alliance between Sunni states and Israel to thwart Tehrans ambitions, warning that their main destination at the end of the day is Saudi Arabia.

However, while Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir agreed that Iran was rampant in its support of terrorism and posed an existential threat to his country, hedeclined the opportunity to embrace an alliance with Israel publicly.

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Iran Warns Turkey Not to 'Test Iran's Patience' with Terrorism Accusations - Breitbart News

Three months before presidential elections in Iran, it appears incumbent Hassan Rouhani will not fulfill a key pledge he made before winning office: to free opposition leaders held under house arrest since a 2009 crackdown.

The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has rejected calls for national reconciliation, effectively guaranteeing that opposition leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi leaders of the Green Movement protests that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election will remain under house arrest.

It was the latest setback to reformists who back the moderate Rouhani, who signed the historic nuclear agreement that improved Irans relations with the West, but is facing criticism from conservatives as the economy has failed to improve even as many international sanctions were lifted.

Reformists had proposed the idea of reconciliation as a show of national solidarity in the face of the Trump administration, which has threatened to reconsider the nuclear deal and take a tougher line against the Islamic republic. It was floated by former reformist President Mohammad Khatami in a short statementthis month before the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought Irans theocracy to power.

But days later, Khamenei, who has the final say in all political matters in Iran, quashed the prospect by dismissing reconciliation as meaningless and arguing that Iranians were united.

Are people not on speaking terms with each other? Khamenei said in a speech televised nationally last week.

He went on to say that people will not reconcile with those who beat up the Basiji on Ashura a reference to the view among hard-liners that Green Movement supporters sullied the Shiite Muslim holiday of Ashura in 2009 by taking to the streets, where they clashed with members of the state Basij militia.

News reports at the time suggested that it was the demonstrators, of whom several were killed and hundreds arrested, who bore the brunt of the violence.

Since the 2009 unrest, many educated Iranians and civil society leaders have pushed officials to release the protest leaders. Khameneis refusal showed how hard-liners have suppressed the hopes for greater political freedoms that accompanied Rouhanis election.

Ayatollah Khameneis rejection of national reconciliation is no surprise. It is in keeping with the unforgiving nature of Iranian politics and his character, said Ali Vaez, Iran analyst with International Crisis Group.

Vaez noted that previous Iranian leaders placed under house arrest never reemerged including Mohammad Mossadegh, ousted as prime minister in a CIA-backed coup in 1953, and Hussein-Ali Montazeri, a leader of the Islamic Revolution who was marginalized after a falling out with Khamenei. Both died while under house arrest.

Khatami, who ran afoul of the conservative establishment when he backed the Green Movement leaders, has been the subject of a media blackout since 2015, with authorities ordering publications and television not to print his name or photo. His remarks on reconciliation were made in a short speech over the Telegram social messaging network, accessible to Iranians using proxy servers.

Khatami was also a key supporter of Rouhanis 2013 campaign.

As long as Ayatollah Khamenei lives, the door remains shut on Khatami and his close associates, Vaez said. They still have influence, but cannot regain power.

Nader Karimi Juni, a former political prisoner and analyst close to the reformist camp, said conservatives were unwilling to consider the release of Green Movement leaders until after the May 19 electionso that Rouhanis supporters will not be able to use it intheir campaign.

Rouhani is expected to vie for reelection, although the ultraconservative Guardian Council, which oversees the vote, has not released the list of candidates.

The push for reconciliation gathered urgency with the death last month of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful ally ofreformists. One of the few establishment figures to push for greater social freedoms and better relations with the United States, Rafsanjanihas left a void in Iranian politics and underscored, for some, the shortcomings of Rouhanis administration with his passing.

At state-sponsored services this month marking 40 days since his death, mourners said it was clearer than ever that Rafsanjanis leadership could not be replaced.

I liked him very much, Hasan Alizadeh, a 40-year-old electrician, said at a security checkpoint at the entrance to the mausoleum. He was a capable politician, but his protg, President Rouhani, is not running the country well. Unemployment is increasing and the peoples purchasing power is plunging.

Special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran and Times staff writer Bengali from Mumbai, India.

shashank.bengali@latimes.com

Follow @SBengali on Twitter for more news from South Asia

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Iran's Supreme Leader rejects calls to release leaders of the 2009 Green Movement protests - Los Angeles Times

AP

BY: Bill Gertz February 22, 2017 5:00 am

After a four-year hiatus, Iran recently resumed destructive cyber attacks against Saudi Arabia in what U.S. officials say is part of a long-term strategy by Tehran to takeover the oil-rich kingdom and regional U.S. ally.

Late last month, the Saudi government warned in a notice to telecommunications companies that an Iranian-origin malicious software called Shamoon had resurfaced in cyber attacks against some 15 Saudi organizations, including government networks.

The Shamoon malware was last detected in the 2012 cyber attack against the major Saudi state oil producer Aramco. That cyber attack damaged or destroyed some 30,000 computers and was considered one of the more destructive state-linked cyber attacks to date.

A State Department security report issued Feb. 10 stated that the 2012 attack destroyed over three-fourths of Aramco's computers, and that the damagetook five months to mitigate at "an extreme cost."

Shamoon also was used in Iranian cyber attacks against RasGas, a liquified natural gas company located in neighboring Qatar.

A new version of the malware, Shamoon 2, was linked to the recent cyber attack, which took place in November. Security officials linked that attackto a Middle East hacker group known as Greenbug that used fraudulent emails in phishing scams to acquire login credentials for Saudi networks.

A cyber security expert familiar with details of the latest Saudi cyber attack who spoke on condition of anonymity said the November incident was Iranian-directed and linked to two hacker groups in Iran known as "Cadelle and Chafer in cyber security circles.

The new Shamoon 2 "is meant to do damage," the expert said, noting that the recent cyber attack was not as effective as the earlier one in 2012.

Once inside compromised computer networks, the Iranian hackers were able to steal large amounts of data. They then destroyed the computers using a digital wiping tool that removes all data from the system. The hacked computers were left with a screen image.

In the 2012 Saudi Aramco attack, the Iranians left an image of a burning American flag image. After the November cyber attack, the hackers left a screen imageof a dead Syrian refugee boy.

The Saudis received U.S. government cyber security and technology training after the 2012 attack.No Shamoon malware was detected until the new variant, Shamoon 2, appeared in November. The U.S. government believes the same Iranian hackers carried out both attacks.

A National Security Agency document from 2013 warned that Iranian government cyber attacks are part of an expansion of Iranian influence in the Middle East. "NSA has seen Iran further extending its influence across the Middle East over the last year," states thetop secret memo, which was disclosed by renegade contractor Edward Snowden.

NSA believed Iran's 2012 cyber attack was carried out in retaliation for the earlier U.S. cyber attacks against Iranian nuclear facilities. Those attacks causednuclear centrifuges to self-destruct using an industrial control software known as Stuxnet.

"NSA expects Iran will continue this series of attacks, which it views as successful, while striving for increased effectiveness by adapting its tactics and techniques to circumvent victim [computer network] mitigation attempts," the NSA said.

The Iranian cyber attacks are one element of a larger Iranian strategy to subvert and ultimately take overSaudi Arabia, the location of Islam's holy sites, according to U.S. officials.

Predominantly Shiite Iran and predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia are bitter rivals that vie for influence over the world's Muslims.

The State Department report, "Devastating Cyber Attack Program Returns to Saudi Arabia," warned that U.S. companies operating in the kingdom could be the next targets of Iranian cyber attacks.

"The increased tensions and unpredictable future between Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. raises the potential for U.S. organizations in the region to be future targets for a cyberattack, either with Shamoon or similar malware tuned for destruction rather than corporate espionage or theft," the report said.

In addition to cyber attacks, Iran seeksto subvert Saudi Arabia through a proxy war in Yemen.

Tehran is backing Houthi rebels against the pro-Saudi government of Yemen. The Houthis took over the capital of Sanaa in 2014. Oneyear later, a Saudi-led coalition of nine regional states intervened in the conflict.

Concerned by large numbers of civilian casualties in the conflict, the Obama administration last year delayed delivery to Saudi Arabia of an arms sale package for large numbers of precision-guided bomb kits. The kits turn gravity bombs into precision-guided weapons that can be directedto targets.

U.S. officials say the Trump administration is ready to lift the ban on the the bomb kits to theregional allybecause it is no longer concerned by the Obama administration's goal ofwarmer relations with Tehran.

Under Obama, then-Secretary of State John Kerry tried to negotiate a settlement of the Yemen conflict in a deal with the Houthis. Critics said the dealwould have been advantageous to Iran and harmful to the Saudis.

Iran has dispatched a large number of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps fighters to Yemen, along with pro-Iranian militia members from Iraq, in a bid to help the Houthis.

Additionally, U.S. officials say Iran ishelping the Houthis plant sea mines off the coast of Yemen near the strategic Red Sea choke point known as the Bab-el-Mandeba strategic shipping lane between the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, and Suez Canal.

Controlling the Bab-el-Mandeb is said to be a key element of the Iranian strategy of targeting Saudi Arabia. Once in control of the Bab-el-Mandeb, the Iranians could use their control of the region's other strategic chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz, to exert political leverage throughout the region.

A commercial maritime security notice was sent recently to shipping companies warning that vessels transiting the region should check with the U.S. Navy aboutthe threat of sea mines.

A Saudi warship was recently attacked in waters near Yemen by what is now believed to have been a small, remotely pilotedboat loaded with explosives.

The guided missile destroyer USS Cole was recently dispatched to the area following the rebel attack on the Saudi ship.

Read the rest here:
Iran Renews Destructive Cyber Attacks on Saudi Arabia - Washington Free Beacon

Email a copy of "Irans Leader Urges Palestinians to Launch Violent Uprising" to a friend

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran. Photo: Wiki Commons.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is urging Palestinians to launch another violent intifada targeting Israelis, according to Reuters.

Speaking at a recent conference in Tehran, Khamenei called for Israels destruction and referred to the Jewish state as a cancerous tumor.

by Allahs permission, we will see that this intifada will begin a very important chapter in the history of fighting and that it will inflict another defeat on that usurping regime, Khamenei said, according to a transcript of the remarks featured on his website.

February 22, 2017 7:54 am

The Palestinian intifada continues to gallop forward in a thunderous manner so that it can achieve its other goals until the complete liberation of Palestine, headded.

For years, senior Iranian figures have called for Israels destruction. These statements, however, are not just rhetoric to invigorate domestic audiences. Iran has invested considerable resources to prop up terrorist proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah, in order to militarily confront Israel. Iran also finances and explicitly encourages Palestinians to engage in individual terrorist initiatives.

Furthermore, sanctions relief in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal enabled Iran to enhance its terroractivities, and to increase funding for Palestinians who attack Israelis. Last year, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanonconfirmedthat every Palestinian terrorists family will receive $7,000 for attacking Israelis, and $30,000 if a familys home is demolished by the Israel Defense Forces. Financial transferswillbe distributed through the Palestinian branch of Irans 25-year-old Shahid Institutions.

The martyrs blood will release the entire Palestine, from the river to the sea, Ambassador Mohammad Fathali said.

In January 2016, Hezbollahs Unit 133 tried tocoordinate a Palestinian terrorist cellin the West Bank, sending operatives there $5,000 to buy weapons to kill Israeli soldiers. Its believed that Hezbollah was trying to escalate Palestinian violence into a full-fledged uprising.

Acting on Iranian orders, Hezbollah directed and coordinated dozens of Palestinian terrorist cells during the Second Intifada. And from 2002 to 2007, Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollahdirected and coordinated dozens of Palestinian terrorist networks, mostly cells that were part of Fatahs Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Throughout the 1990s, Hezbollah (at Irans behest) also worked to cripplethe Oslo peace process and damage the Palestinian Authority.

Ayatollah Khameneis latest call for the Jewish states destruction is much more than political bluster. His remarks were intended to ignite widespread terrorist violence.

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Iran's Leader Urges Palestinians to Launch Violent Uprising - Algemeiner