European leaders have threatened to start withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal in November if Tehran does not return to full compliance.

President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018, and has since reinstated old sanctions and imposed new ones on Tehran in the hope of crippling its economy and forcing it into falling in line. 

Since then, Europe says it has strived to preserve the deal, setting up a financial mechanism called INSTEX to help Iran circumvent US sanctions. But in reality not much has been achieved. Trade with Iran has not surged via INSTEX, and Europe has not stood up to the US over its illegal sanctions and unceremonious withdrawal from the historic deal. And yet Iran is the signatory being asked to cooperate.

Three separate steps have been taken so far by Iran and the fourth is scheduled for November. Tehran wants the US sanctions to be lifted, but as pressure on the Iranian people increases with inflation skyrocketing and vital goods and medicines becoming increasingly scarce, the government is losing patience.

This past week European leaders tried to orchestrate a meeting between Trump and Rouhani at the UN General Assembly. Macron told Rouhani it was an opportunity he shouldn’t miss, but Iran’s president was candid.

So no talks on any level until all US sanctions are lifted. During and after the UN general assembly Europe’s tone became increasingly aggressive towards Tehran. The JCPOA’s European trio blamed Iran for the attacks on Saudi oil refineries and threatened to withdraw from the nuclear deal in November if Iran did not return to full compliance. 

Source: Presstv

The whistleblower complaint at the heart of the burgeoning controversy over President Donald Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president claims not only that Trump misused his office for personal gain and endangered national security, but that unidentified White House officials tried to keep it a secret even within the government.

In seven stark, carefully worded pages, the unidentified whistleblower alleged the commander in chief pushed his foreign counterpart to investigate Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, and that senior White House officials then tried to “lock down” records related to the matter.

The pressure, the whistleblower alleged, came in a phone call July 25 between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, an exchange that turned so politically problematic that White House lawyers directed other officials to remove the electronic transcript of the conversation from the computer system where it was stored.

The transcript, the whistleblower alleged, was then loaded onto a separate system meant for highly classified information. And according to White House officials who informed the whistleblower, that was “not the first time” a transcript was put there due to concerns about politics rather than national security, the complaint alleged.

Trump, the whistleblower wrote, was “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.”

The whistleblower’s assertions — made public Thursday after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) released the person’s complaint — fueled an already intense political battle that this week led congressional Democrats to formally launch an inquiry into whether Trump should be impeached.

At a hearing to question Trump’s acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, Democrats pressed him on why he had not given them the complaint sooner, as they say the law required. Republicans attacked the reliability of the whistleblower’s information as unproven hearsay.

Maguire told lawmakers he believed the whistleblower had acted “in good faith,” but declined to offer any conclusion about the allegations.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) read portions of the complaint to reporters Thursday, declaring: “This is a coverup.”

Trump lashed out publicly and privately against the accusations. At a closed-door event in New York to thank U.S. personnel who had worked on Trump’s visit to the United Nations General Assembly, the president suggested darkly that the people who spoke about his conversation with Zelensky should be viewed as traitors.

“I want to know who’s the person, who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy,” he said in a recording of the remarks obtained by the Los Angeles Times. “You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”

(Source: The Washington Post)

Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has announced the launch of a formal inquiry into whether President Donald Trump should be impeached over a controversial Ukraine call.

Pelosi made the announcement on Tuesday after meetings with Democratic congressional leaders and working out plans to move toward impeachment proceedings against Trump over his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

During the phone call, Trump allegedly sought Ukraine’s help to smear the former vice president and current front-runner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Joe Biden.

“The actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections,” Pelosi said in a televised address.

“Therefore, today I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry,” Pelosi added. “The president must be held accountable; no one is above the law.”

Trump reportedly urged Zelensky about eight times during the phone call to work with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate government corruption involving Biden and his son, Hunter.

Source: Presstv

Pressure is escalating for Democrats in the US Congress to launch impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump over allegations that the Republican president had asked his Ukrainian counterpart to launch an investigation that could damage Democratic political rival Joe Biden.

Speaking to reporters as he arrived at the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, a defiant Trump said he is taking the impeachment threat “not at all seriously”

“The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, was largely corruption… and largely the fact that we don’t want our people, like vice president Biden and his son, creating… the corruption already in the Ukraine,” Trump said.

Trump also sought to deflect any blame from himself and redirect it towards Biden, accusing the former vice president, without evidence, of engaging in corruption in Ukraine.

The latest crisis for Trump was sparked earlier this month after The Washington Post reported that Trump made a phone call in July to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and allegedly attempted to coerce Zelensky into finding damning information about Biden’s son’s business dealings in Ukraine.

On Sunday, Trump acknowledged that he discussed Biden and his son in a call with the Ukrainian president.

Several Democrats now argue that Trump’s call for Ukraine to investigate Biden, and what they suspect was a threat to condition $250 million in aid to Ukraine on an investigation of Biden, is impeachable conduct.

That view may be pushing House leaders towards a tipping point for launching removal proceedings.

The Democratic leader of a key congressional panel said on Sunday the pursuit of Trump’s impeachment may be the “only remedy” to the situation.

Amid the growing pressure, several Republicans in the US Senate, which would hold a trial of Trump should the House impeach him, have signaled they want the president to be more transparent about the call and the whistleblower’s complaint.

“I would just urge the president — you know, he’s talking openly about the conversation — to release as much as possible,” Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump loyalist, told the Hugh Hewitt radio show.

However, Democrat leaders have hesitated to pull the impeachment trigger. Launching impeachment proceedings could be a politically risky move ahead of a presidential election.

Source: Presstv

The chairman of US House intelligence committee has threatened President Donald Trump with impeachment amid controversy over his phone call with Ukraine’s president.

Adam Schiff said on Sunday that impeachment would be the “only remedy” if an investigation revealed that the US president had pressured his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate possible corruption involving former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

“If the president is essentially withholding military aid at the same time that he is trying to browbeat a foreign leader to do something illicit, to provide dirt on his opponent during a presidential campaign, then that may be the only remedy that is co-equal to the evil that conduct represents,” Schiff told the CNN.

Schiff, who has so far been reluctant to push for presidential impeachment, said it “may be that we do have to move forward with that extraordinary remedy” if Trump sought information on Biden and his son.

“[I] want the country to understand this is the last resort,” Schiff added. “The president is pushing us down this road.”

News outlets reported last week that Trump urged Zelensky about eight times during a phone call to work with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani on a probe that could hamper the US president’s potential 2020 opponent.

Biden said there should be an investigation into Trump’s call, denouncing the action as “an overwhelming abuse of power.”

Trump on Saturday dismissed the Ukraine allegations as another witch-hunt attempting to smear his already tarnished reputation and damage his popularity as the Americans get closer to the 2020 presidential election.

Now that the Democrats and the Fake News Media have gone “bust” on every other of their Witch Hunt schemes, they are trying to start one just as ridiculous as the others, call it the Ukraine Witch Hunt, while at the same time trying to protect Sleepy Joe Biden. Will fail again!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2019

In an interview with local media on Saturday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko insisted that his country was independent and that Kiev would never take sides with either party in US politics.

Addressing a July phone conversation between Trump and Zelensky, the Ukrainian minister said there was no coercion and the conversation was friendly.

Biden is the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination for the 2020 election.

Since launching his bid for 2020 presidency, Biden has been referred to as “Sleepy Joe” by Trump, among other cases of name-calling.

The 76-year-old politician has also been lambasted for what his opponents and others have deemed inappropriate touching, hugging and sniffing of women and children. Biden has dismissed such allegations.

Source: Presstv

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strongest rival, Benny Gantz, has thrown out his offer for a coalition, after their battle in the regime’s latest general elections ended up in a deadlock.

Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party is slightly ahead of Netanyahu’s Likud in the second round of voting this year, which was held Tuesday. However, they both lack the numbers of seats in the 120-member parliament to form a ruling bloc.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, urged Gantz, the former military chief of the regime, to meet him Thursday, because he had pledged to form a right-wing government led by Likud.

“But to my regret, the election results show that this is impossible,” Netanyahu said in a video message on Thursday. “Benny, we must set up a broad unity government, as soon as today.”

Gantz, in response, said without mentioning Netanyahu and his request that he himself was going to form a “liberal” coalition, implying that he would not become allies with Netanyahu.

Moshe Yaalon, another top leader of the Blue and White, gave a more detailed response later in the day, saying his party was not willing to join forces with Likud mainly because of the looming corruption charges against Netanyahu.

“We will not enter a coalition led by Netanyahu,” Yaalon said.

“The time has come for you to tell Netanyahu: ‘Thank you for all you’ve done’,” Yaalon urged Likud members, who are yet to show signs of rebellion against the PM.

The swift rejection left Netanyahu “surprised and disappointed,” prompting him to repeat the call.

“It’s what the public expects of us,” Netanyahu said later in the day.

Gantz had taken a similar position over the course of the campaign and suggested several times that an alliance would only be possible if Likud dumped Netanyahu.

The election came five months after an inconclusive vote in August, where Netanyahu once again failed to form a majority government.

With 99 percent of votes counted, Israeli media are saying that a Likud-led right-wing bloc looks set to control 55 of the parliament’s 120 seats, with up to 57 for a center-left alliance.

Despite their rivalry, Netanyahu and Gantz had only narrow differences on key issues during their campaigns, meaning that even if Netanyahu was to stand down after five terms in office, significant changes in the Tel Aviv regime’s policies on relations with the United States, the standoff with Iran or the Palestinian conflict would most likely remain unchanged.

Once all the votes are counted, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin will meet with the parties that won seats and will ultimately give one party leader up to 42 days to form a government.

The deadlock has turned the regime’s former minister of military affairs Avigdor Lieberman, who is now head of the far-right Yisrael Beitenu party which has eight seats, as a key influence in the coalition-building process.

Lieberman remained open to the idea of a secular unity government but said Thursday that he was unconvinced by Netanyahu’s unity offer.

In a statement, he called Netanyahu’s offer “no more than a trick and an attempt to paint a false picture to prepare public opinion for a third round of elections.”

Lieberman resigned from Netanyahu’s cabinet earlier this year and has become one of his firm critics ever since.

Source: Presstv

US Vice President Mike Pence has said the United States is “locked and loaded” to defend America’s allies like Saudi Arabia but added that the Trump administration doesn’t want to go to war with anyone.

“In the wake of this unprovoked attack, I promise you, we’re ready,” Pence said on Tuesday following the attacks on two Saudi Aramco oil facilities on Saturday that knocked out more than half the kingdom’s production.  The strike sent oil prices soaring.

“We’re locked and loaded and we’re ready to defend the interests of our allies. Make no mistake about it,” he added.

Yemen’s Houthi fighters have claimed responsibility for the attack, but the United States has rejected their claim with President Donald Trump saying that Iran appears to be responsible for the strike.

Pence also said that it “looks like” Iran was responsible for the attack, but added US intelligence agencies were working to confirm the details.

The US vice president said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss the attack with Saudi officials.

“We’re evaluating all of the evidence, we’re consulting with our allies,” Pence said.

He added that the United States “will take whatever action is necessary” to defend US allies.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Monday the American military was preparing a response to the attacks.

Esper briefed President Donald Trump in the White House on Monday. He did not directly put blame on Iran for the attack but accused it of undermining international order.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put the blame for the operation on Iran, claiming, “Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia” and that “there is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.”

Tehran, however, dismissed the allegation, saying Washington seems to be shifting from a failed campaign of “maximum pressure” to one of “maximum lying” and “deceit” against the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet that “US & its clients are stuck in Yemen because of illusion that weapon superiority will lead to military victory.”

Yemen said it used 10 drones for Saturday’s operation, which was one of their largest retaliatory attacks ever inside the kingdom.

The Yemeni army has said the raids were carried out on the back of an intelligence operation and in cooperation with “certain honorable and freedom-seeking individuals within Saudi Arabia.”

Source: Presstv

Japan’s Shinzo Abe on Wednesday appointed new foreign and defense ministers and promoted a popular rising political star, in a cabinet reshuffle that fueled speculation over the prime minister’s successor.

The spectacular appointment as environment minister of the telegenic Shinjiro Koizumi, the 38-year-old son of much-loved former PM Junichiro Koizumi, set tongues wagging in Tokyo political classes as the Abe era draws to a close.

“Abe intends to start an open race to pick the next prime minister or even the one after that,” said SMBC Nikko Securities chief market economist Yoshimasa Maruyama.

A darling of the Japanese media, Shinjiro Koizumi received blanket coverage for his recent marriage to television broadcaster Christel Takigawa, which was announced at the prime minister’s office.

He is the third-youngest minister appointed to the cabinet in Japan since the end of World War II, in a country where seniority is prized in politics and many other walks of life.

Despite intense media spotlight, he has been coy on expressing his view on the issues of the day and there will be close scrutiny over his policies on nuclear power, particularly on whether he will break with his father’s anti-nuclear stance.

Abe is set to become Japan’s longest-serving prime minister in November but is expected to step down at the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election in 2021 and the jostling for position is already beginning.

Japan’s new foreign minister is Toshimitsu Motegi, who was promoted as a reward for his work in negotiating a trade deal with the United States.

Outgoing foreign minister Taro Kono was shifted to the defense portfolio, in a move seen as reinforcing Tokyo’s hard line towards South Korea at a time of worsening ties between the two neighbours.

Kono, who has amused commentators by interacting with people on social media — even offering relationship advice at times — struck a hard line during the recent spat with Seoul that has infected their trade and security ties.

Motegi, 63, is a Harvard-educated political veteran who worked as a McKinsey consultant before winning a lower house seat in 1993.

Analysts do not expect the shake-up to herald significant changes to Japan’s diplomatic policy, which is managed largely by the prime minister’s office.

But it may also put Motegi in the starting blocks in the race to succeed Abe, noted Tobias Harris, an expert on Japanese politics at consultancy Teneo.

Speed skating Olympics minister

Abe retained the services of his trusted associate Taro Aso as deputy prime minister and finance minister, as well as Yoshihide Suga as the powerful chief cabinet secretary.

The PM also kept key allies and aides within the cabinet and top layers of the party to shore up his position for the next two years.

The Abe government is poised to hike its consumption tax from eight percent to 10 percent on October 1, amid fears this could act as a brake on the world’s third-largest economy.

He is also hoping to achieve his long-cherished ambition of amending Japan’s post-war constitution to change the status of the country’s Self Defense Forces.

Ahead of the cabinet announcement, Abe told party members he wanted a “united front in the party, and (to) powerfully push for a revision of the constitution,” calling it the LDP’s “long-term earnest desire.”

Abe also kept LDP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai, who has deep contacts in China, as Japan prepares for an expected state visit by Xi Jinping in 2020.

Among other key figures are former Olympic speed skater Seiko Hashimoto, who became the latest in a string of Olympic ministers ahead of the 2020 summer Games.

Hashimoto is one of just two women out of 19 in the new cabinet despite Abe’s much-heralded “womenomics” programme. His previous cabinet included just one woman.

Japan ranked 125th in the 2018 World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report in terms of women’s political empowerment.

The other woman is Sanae Takaichi, appointed as interior minister. She is seen as a hard-right nationalist, who regularly visits the Yasukuni shrine housing war criminals that enrages South Korea and China.

During her previous stint as interior minister, she threatened to cut off TV news stations over perceived unfriendly coverage.

(Source: AFP)