Maximum Trump Regime Hostility Toward Iran

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Longstanding US hostility toward Iran escalated to a fever pitch since Trump took office.

It's all about Iranian sovereign independence, refusing to subordinating it to US interests, opposing Washington's imperial agenda, supporting fundamental Palestinian rights, resisting the Trump regime's aim to transform the Islamic Republic into a US client state.

So far, hostile Trump regime policies are confined to war by other means, mainly by illegal sanctions, along with pressuring other countries to observe them — or face the force of US wrath.

On Thursday in the despotic UAE, Trump's point man for regime change in Iran Brian Hook discussed the Islamic Republic. 

He and other Trump regime officials boasted about having (illegally) pulled out of the JCPOA nuclear deal, an international agreement unanimously affirmed by Security Council members, making it binding international law.

They relish how tough sanctions created enormous hardships for ordinary Iranians, including high inflation impacting essentials to life, making them increasingly unaffordable.

They take pride in how millions of Iranians are struggling to get by, how homelessness increased, how vital medicines are hard to get or are unavailable, how young children, the elderly, ill, and infirm are harmed most, how incomes aren't enough to support families in many cases.

Economic strangulation is official US policy against nations targeted for regime change. According to Hook, the Trump regime imposed "26 rounds of sanctions" on Iranian enterprises and officials in the last two years — denying its ruling authorities revenues to provide vital public services for their people.

Trump regime policy toward Iran is based on Pompeo's 12 unacceptable demands no responsible leadership would accept.

They include ceasing all uranium enrichment and pledging no plutonium processing ever. The JCPOA permits enough of the former for energy use.

Tehran must allow "unqualified access to all sites throughout the country," including off-limits military ones excluded under the JCPOA.

Its government must cease its regional military activities – entirely involved in combating US supported terrorists in Syria on request of its government.

It must stop supporting legitimate entities Washington illegally declared terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Yemeni Houthis. 

US citizens held by Iran must be released, no matter what offenses they're accused of committing.

The Islamic Republic must cease being a threat to Israel. It never was and isn't now, the Jewish state a major threat to regional and global security.

It "must end its…ballistic missiles…launching or development of nuclear-capable missile systems" – the latter something it doesn't have or want, the former it has every right to develop.

It "must…permit the disarming, demobilization, and reintegration of Shia militias" in Iraq. Tehran supports what Washington rejects – Iraqi sovereignty.

Iran must "cease harboring senior al-Qaida leaders" – a US specialty, the Islamic Republic strongly opposed to the scourge they represent.

"Iran…must end the IRGC Quds Force's support for terrorists and militant partners around the world" — what Iran abhors and Washington supports.

In his remarks, Hook stressed the above demands, insisting Iran comply, barely stopping short of threatening war on the country.

He lied about what he called "many (JCPOA) failings." He lied about an Iranian threat that doesn't exist. He lied claiming Iran is involved in "regional aggression" — a US specialty, not how the Islamic Republic operates.

He lied calling Iranian missiles illegal — not according to international law and JCPOA provisions. They're entirely for self-defense, the legal right of every country, especially at a time when the US and its imperial partners threaten world peace.

He lied claiming US intelligence "detected a number of threats against American interests" from Iran. No such intelligence exists about nonexistent threats.

In Berlin with his counterpart Heiko Mass and Angela Merkel, Mike Pompeo lied about a nonexistent security threat posed by Chinese tech giant Huawei's 5G infrastructure.

He lied about a nonexistent Iranian threat, about the myth of what he called "the Iranian torrent of destruction."

He falsely claimed Tehran's ballistic missile program violates Security Council Resolution 2231, affirming the JCPOA. None of its provisions ban Iran's ballistic or cruise missile programs.

He lied calling Iran "the world's number one state sponsor of terror" — what defines Washington, NATO, Israel, and their imperial partners, not the Islamic Republic.

He lied about nonexistent Russian aggression in Ukraine, its nonexistent "use of chemical weapons in the United Kingdom," its nonexistent "pattern of military aggression."

All of the above apply to the US and its partners in high crimes — not how Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and other countries on Washington's target list for regime change operate.

The US agenda is all about seeking global dominance by whatever it takes to achieve its objectives — naked aggression and other hostile actions its favored strategies.

To their disgrace and discredit, EU and most other countries subordinate their interests to Washington's agenda — making world peace and stability unattainable.

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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

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