Latest news with #Mullahs
Telegraph
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Putin's evil war crimes will be less effective, thanks to British aid
The UK is leading the way against Russian use of chemical weapons in Ukraine, by providing effective protection against this campaign of war crimes by Putin. Russia is using chemical weapons on an industrial scale in Ukraine and has been for 18 months, because it is the only way it can make any progress. As Putin steps up his spring offensive, he also appears to be stepping up his chemical weapons usage. Medics in the Pokrovsk area told me that they have been dealing with multiple chemical casualties over the last seven days. This is despite the fact that chemical weapons were banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1996 – to which Russia is signatory. Putin fights dirty and his enemies need to be able to operate in a contaminated environment. Putin, of course, saw President Assad of Syria hold on to power through 13 years of civil war because he used chemical weapons to subjugate those who opposed him. Chemical weapons are cheap and highly effective, especially against civilians or unprotected soldiers. I would go as far as to say that if you have no morals or scruples you would use chemical weapons all the time as they are morbidly brilliant. Putin, Kim Jong Un and the Mullahs in Tehran appear to fit this mould exactly. However, the announcement this week that 65,000 British gas masks are on the way to Ukraine will severely diminish the effectiveness of Russian chemical attacks. Sometimes simple things like gas masks can make a strategic difference. The art of war is being able to identify what works and what does not and act accordingly – it is not the same as the 'Art of the Deal' as some seem to think. The world turned a blind eye when the Obama 'red line' on the use of chemical weapons in Syria evaporated. It continues to do the same regarding Russian chemical weapon usage in Ukraine. President Trump appears to be getting ready to attack Iran with missiles and China with tariffs. This is probably not going to make the world safer or America richer. Meanwhile Russia is left free of any threat from the US president at the moment, which seems deeply illogical. It is Russia that is the threat: it is probably enabling proliferation of chemical and nuclear weapons across other rogue states. We must be on our guard in case of escalation to more deadly chemical weapons, like the lethal nerve agent Novichok – already used against targets in Britain, lest we forget. At least something sensible is happening, even if it is on a smaller scale. British gas masks will make a significant difference to Ukrainian soldiers defending their land from the Russian hordes. But what we need is for the world's great powers to take hard action against those like Putin who would defy treaties like the Chemical Weapons Convention, and use truly abhorrent forms of warfare.
Asharq Al-Awsat
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Trump and the Supreme Leader's Trap
After a 3-year break, a serial that started almost 50 years ago is expected to return to world screens with a new season: Uncle Sam wooing the Mullahs of Tehran. The new season started with a letter sent by US President Donald J Trump to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei three weeks ago reportedly inviting him for a face-to-face rendezvous. A similar letter was sent by President Jimmy Carter to Ruhollah Khomeini during his exile in a Paris suburb in 1978, delivered by former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Carter wrote Khomeini another letter a year later when he had already seized power in Tehran. Delivered by Carter's national Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, at a meeting with Khomeini's Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, the letter repeated the American desire for friendly cooperation with the new regime in Iran. Carter left the White House without getting a written answer to his letter. Instead, Khomeini authorized a raid on the US Embassy in Tehran and holding of its diplomats as hostage. Despite that, Carter's successor President Ronald Reagan tried his epistolary talent by writing a 5-page letter to Khomeini accompanied by a huge cake and a beautifully morocco-bound Bible and a Colt-45 semi-automatic pistol. Khomeini replied by ordering the taking of more American hostages, funding the attack on a US barrack in 1983 that killed 241 American military personnel near Beirut Airport. Despite all that, Reagan's successor President George HW Bush couldn't resist the letter-writing temptation and penned his own invitation to Tehran mullahs for talks based on the mantra 'goodwill begets goodwill.' Bill Clinton, as president, decided to woo the mullahs that had succeeded Khamenei by 'apologizing' to them for unspecified misdeeds by the US and flatter them as 'progressives.' In response, Tehran stepped up its 'exporting revolution' campaign by bombing various spots in the Middle East where the US military was located. President George W Bush removed the two biggest enemies of the Tehran mullahs in Iraq and Afghanistan by toppling Saddam Hussein and Mullah Omar. Tehran's answer was a sustained campaign of attacks on US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan combined with the raising and deploying mercenaries in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and among Palestinian refugees in the region and beyond. As President, Barack Obama tried a different tack: instead of sending billets-doux to the mullahs, he decided to shower them with gifts including cash smuggled to them via Cyprus and treating Iran as a power not bound by the United Nations' Charter. But that, too, didn't work. Trump's first presidency stopped the Obama scheme but revived the epistolary tradition set by Carter. Trump persuaded Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to travel to Tehran to deliver the letter to Khamenei, who refused to receive the letter and sent Abe packing after an insulting harangue. Trump retaliated by issuing a 12-point desiderata which Tehran had to fulfil or face 'maximum pressure.' Khamenei ignored the whole thing and even declared that no talking with Americans was allowed. The ephemeral Biden presidency pursued the same line as Obama, cuddling Tehran while repeating the endless American demand for 'negotiations.' Now in his second term, Trump has come back with a letter. This time, Khamenei accepted the letter and even signed a reply to it only two weeks after stating that talking with Trump was 'dishonorable.' This too may lead nowhere, but something big has already happened. For the first time in his fourth decade as ruler of Iran, he has accepted responsibility for a major decision rather than exercising power without responsibility. At the same time, he has sent the ball back to Trump by rejecting direct talks and suggesting indirect ones. If Trump accepts, the supreme leader will claim and another victory. If Trump rejects it, the supreme leader will claim that he showed goodwill but was shunned. Tehran's aim is either to derail the whole thing and blame Trump or go into slow-motion mode in the hope that the US mid-term election might puncture the Trump balloon. In such a scenario, talks about who is to be mediator could take weeks if not months. The logical option would have been to name either Switzerland, which represents US interests in Tehran, or Pakistan, which does the same for Iran in Washington. On Tuesday, however, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov hinted Moscow's interest in playing mediator. Tehran has hinted it favors Oman while Washington may think the sultanate is too close to Iran. Once, and if, a mediator is agreed by both sides, talks would be needed about what level any negotiations should be held and the location of the encounter. After that talks could take place on establishing an agenda. The next step would be dealing with the so-called 'underbrush', issues that are easy to settle. Right now, it isn't clear precisely what issues Trump wishes to include in any putative agenda for his suggested talks. Tehran, however, is keen on restricting any talks to the nuclear issue in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. Tehran sources say Khamenei may agree to declaring an 18-month moratorium on his nuclear project provided sanctions are lifted and the snap-back mechanism due to be triggered at the UN Security Council in October is dismantled. The subtext in all that is Khamenei's belief that since he and Khomeini managed to play seven US presidents like a mandolin, there is no reason why it shouldn't work with an eighth one.
New York Times
06-02-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump Nominates Retired General Known for Inflammatory Remarks
President Trump has nominated Anthony J. Tata, a retired brigadier general with a history of Islamophobic and other inflammatory comments, to a senior Pentagon post in charge of jobs and deployments. This is the second time Mr. Trump has nominated Mr. Tata, who once called former President Barack Obama a 'terrorist leader,' to a senior job in the Defense Department that requires Senate approval. In 2020, Mr. Tata withdrew his name from consideration for that job after disclosures of his incendiary comments. Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, canceled Mr. Tata's confirmation hearing just 30 minutes before it was set to begin. Mr. Trump then sidestepped the Senate and appointed Mr. Tata to a Pentagon role in an acting capacity. On Monday, Mr. Trump renewed his bid to put Mr. Tata in a top job at the Pentagon, calculating that this Senate would be more amenable. If confirmed, Mr. Tata would become the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, a job that would make him vital in dismantling diversity programs at the Pentagon, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has set out to do. Mr. Tata endeared himself to Mr. Trump by praising the president on Fox News and criticizing his political opponents. Mr. Tata promoted conspiracy theories that John O. Brennan, the C.I.A. director under Mr. Obama, wanted to remove Mr. Trump from office, even through assassination if necessary. Mr. Tata also said Mr. Obama and Michelle Obama had engaged in 'borderline treasonous' behavior by expressing their dismay over a Trump presidency. He posted on social media that 'Islam fuels more terror in the modern day than any other religion or ideology' and that Mr. Obama 'is a Muslim' seeking to 'support a regime (Mullahs) that sponsors anti West hatred and violence using money US unfroze or gave,' in a reference to Iran. After the comments gained attention, several senior retired military officers dropped their support for Mr. Tata. Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the former head of the Central Command; Gen. Tony Thomas, the former head of the Special Operations Command; and Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, a former top Air Force general, all asked in June 2020 that their names be removed from a letter backing Mr. Tata's nomination sent by 36 current and former leaders to the Armed Services Committee.
