Thursday, June 13, 2013

SHAHRIYAR GOURGI WORKS FOR AXJ

 HE CLAIMS HE WORKS FOR THE DR BILL SHOW I9N LA BUT REALLY HE IS A TERRORIST

HE GOES FROM WOMAN TO WOMAN 

SAY IN HE IS A UN DIPOLMATE AND WORKS AT THE UN FOR RUSSIA AND IRAN

BUT WHEN I ASKED HIM ABOUT THE REAL UN AMBASSOR 

HE DONT KNOW WHO I AM TALKING ABOUT

EVERY TIME I HAVE TALKED TO HIM IT WAS ASKING ME FOR MONEY AND GETTING HIM A PASSPORT TO GET HIM IN TO THE USA

HE IS A TERRORIST

HE CLAIMED HIS LIFE WAS IN DANGOR FOR HE WAS A CHRISTIAN 

 

IN IRAN

BULL SHIT

HE IS A FAKE CONNING WOMEN OUT OF MONEY 

WHAT IS HIS ENVOLEMANT WITH AXJ

WELL WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT AXJ

AXJ USES WOMEN TO GET TO KIDS 

ME AT THIS POINT IF YOU GO TO HIS FACE BOOK PAGE YOU SEE HE SAYS HE WOKS FOR AXJ

NOW I DONT HAVE PROOF ABOUT WHAT HE DONES FOR AXJ 

BUT EVERY ONE KNOWS AXJ IS INTO CHILD PORN 

ENJOY

 JUST LOOK AT HIS FACEBOOK PAGE HE CLAIMS HE WORKS FOR AXJ AND THE DR BILL SHOW 

HE IS A CON MAN

 

Shahriyar Gourgi

To see what he shares with friends, send him a friend request.

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Monday, June 10, 2013

Hand-To-Hand Combat With The Insidious 'FBI MoneyPak Ransomware Virus'

“STOP! YOUR COMPUTER HAS BEEN LOCKED BY THE FBI”
I had to ask myself on Super Sunday, “Am I the only Internet user on the planet who has not heard about the evil “FBI Moneypak Ransom Virus”?
English: The Seal of the United States Federal...
The Seal of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
After doing a fair amount of research, the answer has to be a “resounding NO!” Reportedly many innocent people are opening their wallets and paying anywhere from $200 to $400, and in some cases more, to theoretically pay off the FBI.  The virus claims, pretty convincingly, that the FBI has “seized and frozen access” to your computer based on your illegal downloading of copyrighted material from one or more websites.
Ok, let’s back up just a bit here.
I was sitting with my wife on Sunday watching the Super Bowl pre-game when my son came running into the family room quite upset. (He was planning to join us at kick-off time for the game and our traditional Super Bowl nachos, chili and wings.)
But with little interest in the pre-game, he was doing his usual thing on a Sunday early evening: watching 2-3 TV shows at once, communicating with friends in at least four different ways, and surfing the Internet, especially regarding his deep interests in music and hot cars.
So, this was just a bit unsettling as he burst in and informed us that “the FBI has locked down” his computer.
Now, knowing all the publicity in recent years for penalties for illicit downloading of movies and music, our first reaction was one not of total disbelief but rather: “Geez, what the heck has he gotten himself into?”
“Ok, bring in your computer and let’s take a look at this.” (I do want to note that our son is a good kid and we have had many conversations about the topic of unsafe and illegal websites and think he has been very responsive to our warnings, playing things very straight and safe on the Internet.)
And here is what we saw, or a close version of it:


Now, folks, this is very scary, especially when you think in the back of your mind there is even a 1% chance that the person owning that computer either intentionally or inadvertently downloaded something which in some way was copyright protected.
Let’s look more closely at some of the elements here:
-An “official” FBI seal
-The blaring warning: “Your computer has been locked!”
-Some variation of the message, “You have been violating copyright and related rights law.”
-Your IP address (or at least what purports to be).
-Realistic-looking and very detailed instructions on how you can pay a fine within the next 48 hours (here’s where MoneyPak comes in) and have your computer unlocked. Green Dot MoneyPak (which I had never heard of before this), per the notice, can be purchased at major retailers such as WalMart, CVS, Walgreens, Kmart, etc.
According to the Green Dot MoneyPak website:
MoneyPak is an easy and convenient way to send money to where you need it. The MoneyPak works as a ‘cash top-up card’. Once you purchase it at a participating retailer with cash, you can use it to reload prepaid cards, add money to a PayPal account without using a bank account, or make same-day payments to major companies.
-But most importantly, the absolute inability to do anything on the computer and each repeated log-in only leads back to a frozen screen and “the FBI warning.”

Whistleblower Exclusive: Benghazi cover-up is the proxy battle with the war with Iran

28 May 2013 15 Comments

Appearing in CFP.
The immediate concern for the Obama administration after the attack in Benghazi was to cover up the connection with Iran and Syria to Ansar al Sharia and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) according to my Benghazi whistleblower source. The attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, was not a terrorist attack; it was a nation-state attack, an escalation of war, and an opening of a new front in the tit for tat conflict with Iran and by extension their proxy partner Russia that is now being fought in Syria.
For anyone who thinks Americans will be told that Benghazi was a nation-state attack by ex-CIA chief David Petraeus in the near future they are in for a disappointment. He is part of the problem and has been for years. He sold his soul for shiny medals and financial perks and circuses long ago—and as his record shows, he will roll over again and again. Recall how Petraeus fell into lock-step rank-and-file with President Obama and Hillary Clinton when he joined them in falsely misleading America before the 2012 elections by blaming an “out-of-control demonstration prompted by a Youtube video” for the Benghazi attack to the House Intelligence Committee three days after the attack. He’s as dirty as they are.
In addition, tell me please, how can a man who sends troops to war, on multiple deployments, with duffle bags full of medications, under suicidal, unwinnable polices like catch and release and COIN, while watching the military suicide numbers soar (22 a day or one every 65 minutes) have a conscience or any sense of right and wrong? To be fair that question includes the morally bankrupt Congress, particularly the long serving members who have allowed these policies that are destroying America’s military to continue unabated for years through the Bush and Obama administrations. As I previously reported, Petraeus is getting off easy for simply apologizing about sex. Take the scales off your eyes, and stop idolizing this gravely flawed, evil man with blood on his hands—the “celebrated General,” as some media types call him. By their fruits you shall know them. Indeed, we know David Petraeus and his fruits are rotten to the core—unless Petraeus finds his soul, a conscience, and makes a deal in exchange for criminal leniency, he will keep toeing the line.
Moreover, freshman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx) is correct. You can’t trust the Republicans either. As I reported, the Republican Committee in their Benghazi Interim report already rolled over when they shockingly confirmed the administration’s dishonest story that no one was denied help during the Benghazi attack. As their report states: “No U.S. government element refused or denied requests for emergency assistance during the crisis (page 15),” which as previously reported was a lie and here’s why. The Republicans have yet to explain why they were wrong when they backed up the Obama-Clinton regime’s latest falsehood, and thus far have refused to answer my queries. Everyone makes mistakes but at least have the decency to admit it and explain what happened.
Therefore it is up to us, you and I, and all the brave whistleblowers and journalists, who at great risk must reveal the truth of Benghazi. “What difference does it make?” declared Hillary Clinton during the Foreign Relations Committee hearings—a big one because the truth of Benghazi affects not only America’s future but the entire world.
Here we go.
Let’s break it down. Remember the pictures of the three suspects that the FBI released in relation to the Benghazi attack on May 1? One of my sources with direct information on Benghazi informed me that of those three terrorists, the one on the right is a Yemeni national who was part of the jihadist group Ansar al Sharia. Ansar Al Sharia, according to Saudi intelligence, is backed, funded and directed by Iran. They are enemies of the Saudis and are trained by Iran’s Quods forces.
Photo credit FBI
Normally, if the FBI is trying to track down bad guys who are possibly involved in something like a terrorist attack that killed Americans, the FBI offers some sort of reward for any information that will lead to their arrest. Notice how that did not happen with the men in Benghazi? Where’s the incentive for anyone to cooperate? As my source explained, “The game was given away when they gave that picture out. They did the same thing with the Boston Marathon bombers—played dumb, even though we now know they knew who these guys were all along. They are doing the same thing with the Benghazi guys. Saudi intelligence and Western intelligence agencies are very aware of who they are.”
It was these Iranian-backed men in the FBI photos, Ansar al Sharia, who went to Benghazi to build up a militia and radicalized some locals. As my source explained, “when you have an Iranian funded group sent into Benghazi to radicalize the locals that means you are in a proxy battle with the war in Iran.” Why? That’s a two part answer.
First do you think Iran was happy when seven Iranian Red Crescent workers were kidnapped by gunmen in Benghazi on July 31, 2012? Recall how these Red Crescent workers (equivalent to the Red Cross) were still held captive during the Benghazi attack, were released less than a month after, and flown out of the Benghazi Benina International Airport. These weren’t your typical aid workers handing out food and supplies. According to my source; they were taken off the streets because they were probing the gunrunning operation into Syria when someone picked them up.
Next it’s been well documented that the Saudis have been heavily involved in everything in Benghazi and Libya in general, the Muslim Brotherhood in the region, as well as supplying arms to the rebels in Syria to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad—with US assistance despite the line drawn by Russia.
Who else was in Benghazi? A faction of AQIM Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb backed by Syria. Syria, like Iran was in Benghazi. What was going on in Syria? There was gunrunning and arms smuggling from Libya through Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan into Syria as well as bringing in fighters to engage in a war with Syrian President Assad—the backdoor to Iran.


Meanwhile shortly after the Benghazi attacks reports of secret meetings with Obama’s chief advisor, Valerie Jarrett, with representatives of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Qatar regarding Iran’s nuclear weapons program that had been going on before the Benghazi attack began to widely surface. The Obama administration wanted to announce a breakthrough agreement in Iran’s nuclear standoff— a diplomatic victory to ensure his reelection. While the Obama administration denied these reports, my source confirmed they are true. “The Iranians played them.”
Because the attack in Benghazi was a nation-state attack, with the 2012 elections coming up the Obama-Clinton regime did not want American voters to know that thanks to their under-handed policies of gunrunning into Syria to overthrow Assad with the Saudis that America was in a proxy war with Iran, and by extension their proxy partner Russia. Do you think American voters would have re-elected President Obama had they known that America is about to be pulled into another major conflict?
Nine months later, the administration still doesn’t want the public to know the truth about Benghazi which is why, as the Associated Press reported last week, despite the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) identifying five men who might be responsible for the attack no arrests have been made. “The men remain at large while the FBI gathers evidence”—the same FBI that the Obama-Clinton regime denied access to Benghazi for almost a month after the attack— the perfect way to thwart evidence collection and skew official conclusions as previously reported and documented here.
This is also why President Obama, last week during his speech at Ft. McNair’s National Defense University in Washington, called the attack in Benghazi a “localized” threat. Obviously he doesn’t want you to see the bigger picture that is literally unfolding in the Middle East before your eyes as you read this that his administration is responsible for, the so-called Arab Spring.
What is happening is America is the final stages of the run up to the next major military conflict coming up in the Middle East. But unlike Iraq and Afghanistan or the smaller operations in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, Syria won’t implode it will explode and spread throughout the region in an epic bloody, deadly Sunni-Shiite conflict. Christians, people of all faiths, non-believers will be persecuted if not outright slaughtered. Think Islamic Caliphate time.
The security and existence of Israel will also be in jeopardy. As Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz recently warned; Israel must prepare for a three-front war, presumably having to defend themselves from Syria, Lebanon, and Iran. Already sectarian violence is flaring up in Lebanon and Syria. On top of Iran’s nuclear program, Israel will have to defend herself from Syria’s massive weapons arsenal that includes “advanced anti-aircraft missiles, anti-ship missiles and surface- to-air missiles. Syria also has large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, advanced artillery as well as the other components of a large conventional military force,” reports Caroline Glick. In addition Israel could also become the target of the weapons that went missing from Libya and Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s vast weapons arsenal that the Obama-Clinton funded rebels looted from Gaddafi’s warehouses and includes the most advanced Russian surface-to air missiles, SA-24s that are easily launched from a person’s shoulder or a truck bed that can take down low-flying military and commercial aircraft.
I repeat massive bloodbath ahead, genocide and ethnic cleansing draws near if Obama’s underhanded policies are not stopped. As Time Magazine reported from Libya this magnified nightmare awaits the troops:
“Stockpiles of old Soviet artillery shells and land mines gave Iraqis enough car bombs, roadside bombs and suicide vests to run an eight-year insurgency that has killed thousands of Americans and many tens of thousands of Iraqis. “If you just take one of these, you have a car bomb,” [Tom Bouckaert of Human Right’s Watch during an interview in Libya] says, pointing to a box containing 130-mm antitank shells. There are hundreds more stacked in the same room.
A nearby sandy lot holds thousands more antipersonnel and antitank mines, with trip-wire triggers to rig booby traps already available nearby. Hundreds of such stockpiles have been located across Libya. Human Rights Watch found some 60 weapons warehouses in the eastern city of Ajdabiyah alone, all of them looted. “The storage facilities we found in Iraq were minuscule compared to what we’re finding here,” says Bouckaert (emphasis mine).”
One can’t help but ask what did the Obama-Clinton regime think would happen when they funded al Qaeda rebels to topple Gaddafi? Either they are dangerously stupid or this is what they wanted to happen considering they have been gearing up for the next stop Syria for well over a year now. As previously reported, the State Department will not provide an inventory or location of the weapons recovered in Libya as part of the MANPAD weapons recovery program that Hillary Clinton funded using $40 million tax dollars.
Are you awake yet? Is it becoming clear now? I repeat. According to my source, Benghazi was a nation-state attack—not simply a terrorist attack. There has been a U.S. proxy war with Iran since Benghazi. It is heating up by the day.
Look, events are confirming my source’s accuracy. Iranian soldiers and Hezbollah are fighting for Assad in Syria—even the State department had to recently, finally admit this.
Ding! Ding! Russian soldiers and the Syrian Army are fighting the Syrian rebels.
Cannibalism alert! A Syrian rebel, Al Hamad, a Sunni, with a sectarian hatred of Alawite Muslims (that would include Shiites and all other “infidels”), cuts out the heart and lung of a Syrian soldier and eats it.
Now do you understand why Russian President Vladimir Putin recently kept Secretary of State John Kerry waiting for three hours? You know the world is upside down when Putin rightfully distrusts the truth-challenged Kerry who already betrayed his own country and the troops during Vietnam. Moreover, Putin has been warning for over a year the “catastrophic” consequences that would befall if the West and Arab nations persist with their military intervention in Syria which will lead to war with Iran. Obviously, Putin does not want the Muslim Brotherhood on his doorstep either. Would you? (Incidentally, the FBI denied my Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on John Kerry prior to his Secretary of State confirmation. As previously reported, Kerry participated in the Benghazi cover-up as well.)
Still not awake or retreating into denial? Think about this. Could the Saudis, without the U.S./NATO intervention, have overthrown Assad by arming the Syrian rebels alone to install the Muslim Brotherhood and expand their reach? No, if the Saudi’s could have accomplished that, Assad would have been gone months if not over a year ago. The Saudis need U.S./NATO intervention. Do not be deceived. As reported here, the same applied for Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Col. Muammar Gaddafi in Libya—two leaders who had banned the Muslim Brotherhood in their countries. Are you awake yet?
Remember when the Benghazi nation-state attack that killed four Americans happened, America was in the final weeks of the 2012 presidential election cycle. A proxy war with Iran could not be known to the public. It was unacceptable for Americans to know that at any time troops could be sent into Syria which will explode into Iran. This is the reason why the Obama-Clinton regime pulled out this obscure Youtube video as the chief culprit to blame for the attack in Benghazi— a YouTube video that doesn’t appear anywhere in their infamous “Talking points” that were repeatedly edited to deceive Americans. The Youtube video was intended to distract the public’s attention to what is really going on in the Middle East. It worked. Indeed. Under a heavy fog of deception Obama was reelected.


Hillary Clinton and the cover-up
If you don’t address the Iranian and Syrian connection to the nation-state attack in Benghazi, you can’t get to the Clintons. Hillary’s starring role is definitely in the Benghazi cover-up because nine months later it still has not been “officially” confirmed whether Ambassador Christopher Stevens was wearing his State Department hat or his CIA hat at the time when he was murdered. What is undeniable is Hillary was one of the first top administration officials to publicly falsely blame the Youtube video. She, with President Obama, appeared in a paid advertisement costing $70,000 to disavow the Youtube video that aired in Pakistan. She lied to Tyrone Woods’ father face about the death of his son. Her State Department self-investigation, the Advisory Review Board (ARB), blamed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and a lack of funding for the Benghazi attack to conceal the truth. Hillary’s friends, Admiral Mike Mullen and Tom Pickering, who headed the ARB, as reported in the fix was in, didn’t bother to interview the Turkish Counsel General who Ambassador Stevens last saw before he was killed—neither have the Republicans thus far. Pickering finally admitted on NBC’s Meet the Press what I and others, like Doug Hagmann, have been reporting for months that the ARB was a rigged travesty. As Pickering put it, “The Accountability Review Board was there to look at the question of security. We did not examine talking points after the fact. It was not in our remit (emphasis mine).” Indeed. A lot was not in Pickering’s remit.
The next time someone, be it in the media, President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry or members of Congress, like the insufferable Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.S.), say the U.S. needs to overthrow Syrian President Assad for humanitarian purposes, ask them what they think will happen next. Are they really so stupid to actually believe that freedom, democracy, unicorns, peace and lollipops will take over Syria after Assad is removed or will another vacuum be created for the Muslim Brotherhood to fill? A vacuum that will be filled by massive bloodshed, ethnic cleansing, genocide that could set the entire region on fire with American and NATO troops being dragged in to serve the interests of someone else who are using America’s military might to create the United States of Islam. You already can see it happening in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Wake up America. Wake up the useful idiots now. The Obama administration has picked a fight with Iran and Russia in Syria which could trigger World War III. It intensified with the Obama-Clinton regime’s gunrunning out of Libya into Syria. As the WSJ reported, Hillary’s State Department provided the “diplomatic cover” in Benghazi. Do not be deceived. Benghazi was a nation-state attack.
By their fruits you shall know them.
You have been warned.
Update: That was fast. The soulless Petraeus cashes in.
Thanks to Rare for the link.
Thanks to Freedom Outpost for link.
Thanks to Western Center for Journalism for link.

Obama Admin Gives CIA,NSA,FBI & DHS Complete Access to Your Banking Records + FBI Already Seizing Accounts


In an attempt to pursue terrorists across the globe, the Obama administration has proposed legislation that will give spy agencies access to citizens’ finances. Currently, the FBI is the only agency that has access to these databases, but the plan will give the CIA and NSA the same access. So does this proposition take the war on terror too far? Private investigator Kenneth Cummins explains the legality of the legislation.

Is it Time to Stop using all Banks? Obama Admin gives CIA,NSA,FBI & DHS Complete Access to Your Banking Records.
FBI Already Seizing Accounts
According to a story from Reuters, The Obama administration is in the process of giving all U.S. spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains financial data on every American citizen who banks in the country.
As the government’s war on the public ramps up, Treasury Department documents reveal a plan to monitor American Citizens through their financial transactions.


The document from the U.S. Treasury revealed Obama Administration plans that will give intelligence agencies, like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA), full access to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) database. FinCEN, a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury, collects and analyzes information about financial transactions and keeps records on anyone who withdrawals more than $5,000 in cash.
http://offgridsurvival.com/bankaccount-terrorwatchlist/
SNIP
If the federal government has its way, United States intelligence agencies will soon be able to sift through a massive database containing information about banking transactions of U.S. citizens.
The Obama administration is drafting a plan that will give the CIA and NSA access to a database of suspicious financial transactions that until now only law enforcement agencies have been able to access.
The database, known as Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, is maintained by the Treasury Department and contains reports of suspicious customer activity that financial institutions are required by law to file. They track large money transfers and cash transactions above $10,000 and also report unusual bank accounts. It’s designed to uncover money laundering and other financial crimes, including loan fraud.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/03/spy-agencies-to-get-access-to-u-s-bank-transactions-database/

4 DIFFERENT INVESTIGATIONS INTO OBAMA’S IRS MESS Launched By GOV

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Capitol Hill aides spent their Memorial Day weekend scanning hundreds of pages of documents related to the IRS scandal in order to prepare their bosses for what will inevitably be a frantic month of June involving multiple simultaneous investigations into government wrongdoing. By the time lawmakers return to session next week, at least four different investigations will be underway.
As The Daily Caller has reported, at least five different IRS offices including Cincinnati, Ohio; Baltimore, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois and El Monte and Laguna Niguel, California improperly targeted conservative nonprofit groups for extra scrutiny between 2010 and 2012.
The IRS’ shenanigans, chronicled in a damning report by Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George, started when a “team of [IRS] specialists” came together in April 2010 to process the tax-exempt nonprofit status of conservative groups that might be “potential political operations” (page 13 of the IG report). The IRS added “additional specialists” to this effort in December 2011.
The IRS also launched audits of existing conservative nonprofit groups including the Virginia-based Leadership Institute, demanding to see training materials and personal information about the organization’s 2008 college interns.
So for those of you keeping score at home (this reporter is still waiting for Ken Starr to send in his bracket picks) The Daily Caller presents a list of some of our favorite investigations into potential IRS wrongdoing. Which one will come up with the “Alexander Butterfield” quote?
1. The House Ways and Means Committee – Oversight Subcommittee
As head of the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee, Republican Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany has conducted the toughest probe into the IRS scandal so far. Boustany managed to acquire “all communications containing the word ‘tea party,’ ‘patriot,’ or ‘conservative,’” from recently-resigned IRS acting director Steven T. Miller. He also got the names of everyone involved with the improper targeting.
Republican Ways and Means chairman Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan also raised awareness of the issue by reaching out to the public, asking Americans to write in with their own stories of IRS harassment.
“Your story is critical to moving the investigation forward,” according to a form created on the Ways and Means’ Committee’s website asking for users’ stories, which also includes a two-year timeline of the scandal beginning in August 2010.
Read more at http://www.secretsofthefed.com/4-different-investigations-into-obamas-irs-mess-launched-by-gov/#mKk48zybZOF0Y5vx.99

Obama Freezes Iranian Government, Bank Assets in U.S.

By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan
February 10, 2012
(Updates with comments from analysts starting in fourth paragraph)
Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama ordered a freeze on all Iranian government and financial institutions’ assets that are under U.S. jurisdiction, the White House said today.
The president cited “deceptive practices” of the Iranian central bank in hiding transactions of sanctioned parties and its failure to prevent money laundering, concluding that Iran activities pose an “unacceptable risk” to the international financial system.
Obama’s executive order follows comments by U.S. officials, such as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who have expressed concern that Israel may attack if international sanctions fail to stop Iran’s suspected pursuit of nuclear-weapons capability.
“The practical impact is less important than the message it sends to Iran,” Nigel Kushner, chief executive officer of Whale Rock Legal, a London-based law firm whose clients include Europeans involved in legal trade with Iran, said in a telephone interview today. “It’s a declaration of economic warfare, to the extent that it’s not already been declared,”
The order blocks all property and interests in property belonging to the Iranian government, its central bank, and all Iranian financial institutions, even those that haven’t been designated for sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Lawyers such as Kushner who specialize in Iran sanctions said the blanket freeze on Iranian government assets, including those belonging to entities not proven to be involved in illegal activities, underscores the mounting pressure on Iran.
‘Severe Reaction’ Predicted
Kushner predicted a “severe reaction by Iran” that might include further naval exercises or threats related to the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf sea passage through which one-fifth of the world’s globally traded oil transits.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast couldn’t be reached to comment on the asset freeze when called at his office in Tehran after work hours.
Previously, only assets of sanctioned Iranian entities or individuals determined by the U.S. to be involved in weapons proliferation or other illicit activities were frozen.
Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington policy group that has advised the administration and Congress on sanctions, called Obama’s executive order the logical next step in the “administration’s economic war on the Iranian regime.”
Dubowitz, an attorney and sanctions specialist, said that freezing assets of Iran’s central bank and its government institutions, including the National Iranian Oil Company, makes them “subject to much tougher enforcement by the U.S. government and the global financial sector.”
Obama ‘Crystal Clear’
NIOC is owned by the government of Iran and is the world’s second-largest oil company by volume produced, after the Saudi Arabian Oil Co.
David A. Harris, president of the National Jewish Democratic Council, which promotes Jewish support for Democrats, said the action today demonstrated Obama’s record of building economic and diplomatic pressure to halt any illicit nuclear activities by Iran.
This “should end any doubt about the president’s singular commitment to ensuring Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon,” Harris said in a statement. “Obama’s record is crystal clear; he has done more than any president in history to isolate Iran and encourage Iran’s leaders to change course.”
Long-standing U.S. regulations already prohibited American citizens or entities from virtually all direct and indirect transactions involving Iran or its government, aside from those exempted under general licenses for transactions involving food, medicine, remittances and humanitarian relief.
‘Deceptive Practices’
The new measure was mandated as part of Iran sanctions legislation that was passed by Congress and signed by the president Dec. 31.
“I have determined that additional sanctions are warranted, particularly in light of the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks to conceal transactions of sanctioned parties, the deficiencies in Iran’s anti-money laundering regime and the weaknesses in its implementation, and the continuing and unacceptable risk posed to the international financial system by Iran’s activities,” Obama said in his congressional notification.
Iran, the second-largest oil producer in OPEC after Saudi Arabia, pumped about 3.545 million barrels of oil a day last month, a Bloomberg survey showed, and exported an average 2.58 million barrels a day in 2010, according to OPEC statistics. Crude for March delivery fell 93 cents to settle at $96.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
--With assistance from Roger Runningen in Washington and Ladane Nasseri in Dubai. Editors: Terry Atlas, Larry Liebert
To contact the reporter on this story: Indira A.R. Lakshmanan in Washington at ilakshmanan@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net