Israel Criticizes Biden's 'Tolerance' with Iran

Defense Minister Benny Gantz with US secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Jerusalem (Reuters)
Defense Minister Benny Gantz with US secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Jerusalem (Reuters)
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Israel Criticizes Biden's 'Tolerance' with Iran

Defense Minister Benny Gantz with US secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Jerusalem (Reuters)
Defense Minister Benny Gantz with US secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Jerusalem (Reuters)

Officials in Tel Aviv condemned the US silence over Tehran's procrastination, accusing the administration of President Joe Bide of delaying the deadline on the nuclear talks.

Israeli sources said that the US, through its National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, had set a deadline for the talks last December.

Sullivan said that the United States and its partners would not accept continuing negotiations indefinitely and initially set February as the time to halt the talks, and then the deadline was moved to March, which has also passed.

Officials in Israel believe that the Iranians are having difficulty deciding whether to move toward signing the agreement and are also awaiting Biden's announcement on removing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from its terrorist list.

Israel continues to believe that Iran has taken advantage of the time during which it held talks with the world powers to strengthen its nuclear program.

According to Haaretz, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said earlier this month that while "treading water" in Vienna, Iran has completed the enrichment of about 50 kilograms of uranium to 60 percent and continues to advance its military nuclear program.

The newspaper confirmed conflicting positions within the Israeli government on the agreement.

Several officials in Tel Aviv believe the faltered negotiations are promising for Israel and evidence of the difficulty of reaching an understanding. It may lead the talks to a dead end.

They believe the agreement's failure will put the West, led by the US, in a military alliance that threatens clashes with Tehran, forcing it to reverse its policy.

Yair Golan, a former Deputy Israeli Chief of Staff and Israel's Deputy Minister of Economics and Industry, believes that reaching an agreement is the best option.

He said Washington is not interested in a military solution, as are the allies in Europe. They believe that the 2015 nuclear agreement, despite its many disadvantages, contains monitoring and accountability devices for the Iranians, and its duration is until 2031, which is not very long.

However, it is sufficient to limit Iranian nuclear activity and examine other means of pressure.

Golan says that relying on sanctions isn't right, adding that removing al-Quds Force from the terrorist list is not an issue.

Sources in Tel Aviv indicated that the pressure campaign launched recently by the Israeli government against withdrawing the IRGC from the US terrorist list is bearing fruit.

Biden now supports the Israeli position in this regard, unlike officials in the US State Department, and he will announce his position very soon.

Haaretz quoted high-ranking Israeli officials involved in talks with Washington saying that Israel is currently preparing for two scenarios.

One is an Iranian decision to retract its demand from the negotiating table, mainly to benefit from the skyrocketing global oil price due to the war in Ukraine. In that event, Israel would have a hard time scuttling the US plan to sign a new agreement with Iran within days.

The second scenario is that Iran insists that the Revolutionary Guards be removed from the terrorist organization list, which could delay and complicate signing a new agreement and lead the parties to further confrontation.



US Cancels Joint Marine Drills with SKorea over Iran War

Apache choppers take off at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, 04 March 2024, to join the Freedom Shield 2024 exercise on the first day of the 11-day annual South Korea-US joint drill against North Korean provocations.  EPA/YONHAP
Apache choppers take off at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, 04 March 2024, to join the Freedom Shield 2024 exercise on the first day of the 11-day annual South Korea-US joint drill against North Korean provocations. EPA/YONHAP
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US Cancels Joint Marine Drills with SKorea over Iran War

Apache choppers take off at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, 04 March 2024, to join the Freedom Shield 2024 exercise on the first day of the 11-day annual South Korea-US joint drill against North Korean provocations.  EPA/YONHAP
Apache choppers take off at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, 04 March 2024, to join the Freedom Shield 2024 exercise on the first day of the 11-day annual South Korea-US joint drill against North Korean provocations. EPA/YONHAP

The United States cancelled a joint amphibious landing drill scheduled for next month with South Korea, Seoul's Marine Corps said on Monday, after Washington cited constraints on the availability of US forces due to the war in Iran.

The US Marine Corps formally notified its South Korean counterpart in June that force availability would be constrained for the division-level exercise, known as Ssangyong, a South Korean ⁠Marine Corps spokesperson ⁠told a press briefing.

The allies remain in close consultations on resuming the drills, Reuters quoted the spokesperson as saying. He did not specify what measures might be taken to prevent future cancellations or to make ⁠up for lost training opportunities.

US Forces Korea did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The cancellation follows US President Donald Trump's surprise order to scale back a separate annual joint military exercise that ended last Friday, citing the cost and Seoul's refusal to take part in the Iran war.

Trump also wrote on his Truth Social ⁠platform ⁠that the Ulchi Freedom Shield drills sent "a signal that was totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful."

Despite the reduction of the exercises, Pyongyang fired 10 short-range ballistic missiles last week and issued a statement denouncing the exercises.

North Korea has long condemned such joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion.


Oman FM to Visit Iran to Discuss Hormuz Strait

Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi. (Reuters file)
Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi. (Reuters file)
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Oman FM to Visit Iran to Discuss Hormuz Strait

Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi. (Reuters file)
Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi. (Reuters file)

Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi will visit Tehran on Tuesday to ‌continue talks between ‌Iran and ‌Oman ⁠on the Strait ⁠of Hormuz, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil ⁠Baghaei said ‌on ‌Monday.

Al-Busaidi will hold the "ongoing political consultations between the two sides, as two littoral states of the Strait of Hormuz, to help strengthen peace and security in the region," Baqaei added in a statement.

"The visit is aimed at strengthening Iran-Oman bilateral cooperation and al-Busaidi will meet with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to discuss bilateral and regional issues," he went on to say.

Iran has exerted control over Hormuz, a key waterway for oil and gas shipping, since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East on February 28. It requires vessels to obtain permission and pay transit fees before using the waterway.

The United States wants the strait to return to its pre-war system of free navigation, while US President Donald Trump claims Washington "has total control" over Hormuz, through which around one fifth of the world's oil and LNG exports passed before the war.

Iran and Oman have been in talks to establish a new route through the strait, the only entrance to the Gulf and which separates their two countries, but a deal has not yet been finalized.

Tehran, however, says even if the talks bear fruit, that would not on its own open the waterway unless the US meets Iran's broader demands including the lifting of its blockade on Iranian ports.


Greece Moves Patriot System over Reported Iran Threats to US Bases

A view of the port of the tiny Greek island of Kastellorizo, officially Megisti, the most southeastern inhabited Greek island in the Dodecanese. (AFP)
A view of the port of the tiny Greek island of Kastellorizo, officially Megisti, the most southeastern inhabited Greek island in the Dodecanese. (AFP)
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Greece Moves Patriot System over Reported Iran Threats to US Bases

A view of the port of the tiny Greek island of Kastellorizo, officially Megisti, the most southeastern inhabited Greek island in the Dodecanese. (AFP)
A view of the port of the tiny Greek island of Kastellorizo, officially Megisti, the most southeastern inhabited Greek island in the Dodecanese. (AFP)

The Greek military on Monday moved one of its Patriot missile interceptor systems to the island of Crete in response to Iranian threats to hit US military bases in Europe, media reports said.

The battery was moved from the eastern island of Karpathos to Crete, where there is a major US base at Souda, the reports said. Media images showed the Patriot system on a truck waiting to be loaded on a barge, said AFP.

The Financial Times reported last week, quoting Iranian sources, that Iran would fire missiles at US targets in Europe if President Donald Trump steps up military pressure over the Strait of Hormuz.

The Greek defense ministry did not comment on the reported transfer of the missile system.