Reuters: U.S. enforcement of Iran arms embargo slipped during nuclear talks: sources
Addressing concerns that a landmark nuclear deal reached this year could boost Iran's military power, the Obama administration reassured critics that it would maintain and enforce its remaining tough sanctions against the country.
Yet the U.S. government has pursued far fewer violations of a long-standing arms embargo against Iran in the past year compared to recent years, according to a review of court records and interviews with two senior officials involved in sanctions enforcement.
The sharp fall in new prosecutions did not reflect fewer attempts by Iran to break the embargo, the officials said. Rather, uncertainty among prosecutors and agents on how the terms of the deal would affect cases made them reluctant to commit already scarce resources with the same vigor as in previous years, the officials said.
Update: Enforcement of Iranian arms embargo by US dropped during nuclear talks -- i24 News/AFP
WNU Editor: Another broken promise from the White House (to enforce the arms embargo) .... and aside from Reuters and a few Israeli news organizations, no one else is covering this story.
1 comment:
Is the U.S.pushing Israel to take military actions that it would not take if not for the action or inaction of the U.S. and now Russia?
Seems like Israel is being pushed hard into a no win corner that will bring military actions out of desperation.
Putin's recent moves have negated Israeli air superiority and freedom of action in Lebanon and Syria and reduced its ability to project power in the Middle East. Netanyahu has decreased the army budget and is dramatically reducing troop and training levels. This likely means that any major conflict will force the use of more powerful and dangerous weapons rather than simpler conventional forces. The last time this happened Golda Meir rolled out nuclear capable F-4 Phantoms to signal her last resort intentions.
The U.S. and Russia are taking actions that bring Hezbollah, Iran and other hostile forces right to the borders of Israel with modern military equipment and a will to fight. These are not the weak and poorly trained Arab soldiers of the past.
The U.S. and Russia have created a dynamic on the ground where the correlation of forces arrayed against Israel must look overwhelming to military planners. Given all the military action in a relatively small space, the odds of deconfliction not working increase to very high levels.
Will a MANPAD bring down a Russian fighter or transport? Will ground action destroy a sensitive Russian installation or kill high ranking officers? Russia has a bad habit of punishing those who cause it damage. What happens then?
The Israeli press is starting to talk about Dayenu. Enough. This is a very bad sign. Obama and Putin need to pay attention to this feeling as their actions are driving this feeling in the population.
I studied under Netanyahu's father at University. If the son is like the father then the last thing you want to do is push him into the corner of doing nothing while the Israeli people are being threatened with annihilation. Iran and the U.S, appear to have no idea what Iran's rhetoric and U.S sophomoric diplomacy mean to the mind of people who strongly believe in the Alinksky view of the world. You just cannot sit by until you are destroyed.
Both Russia and the U.S. are using strong arm power politics on a nuclear power as if it were merely a weak client state or enemy. At some point pluralism, Western Values, and self interest will give way to Dayanu.
The Russian's in Israel often see the world like Putin. They are very numerous and important in modern Israeli society. How would a Russian deal with the dangers at their border or an actual attack on the Rhodina?
It is time for the U.S. and Russia to start seeing the Israeli's as a badly stressed nuclear power that is getting very nervous and feeling surrounded and increasingly isolated. if Israel were to react to military threats like the U.S. and Russia do on a regular basis, then we would be in for a very bad time. It is time for Russia and the U.S, to start thinking of ways to calm Israel rather than push its back further towards the wall of no return.
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