The Cradle | July 20, 2023

The US Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York have barred 14 Iraqi banks from conducting transactions in US dollars as part of a sweeping crackdown to stop Iran and other sanctioned nations from acquiring the greenback, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on 19 July.

US officials say the new sanctions were issued after discovering information showing the banks engaged in money laundering and fraudulent transactions, some of which may have involved sanctioned individuals and raised concerns that Iran could benefit.

We have strong reason to suspect that at least some of these laundered funds could end up going to benefit either designated individuals or individuals who could be designated, a senior US official told the WSJ.

The banks targeted by the punitive measures are small institutions reportedly heavily involved in US dollar transactions.

According to Iraqs Shafaq News, the targeted banks include the Islamic Advisor for Investment and Finance, the Islamic Qartas for Investment and Finance, Al Mustashar Islamic Bank, Elaf Bank, Erbil Bank, the International Islamic Bank, Trans-Iraq Bank, Mosul Bank, Al-Rajeh Bank, Sumer Commercial Bank, Trust International Islamic Bank, the World Islamic Bank, and Zain Iraq Islamic Bank.

The sanctions came only one day after the US State Department issued a new 120-day sanctions waiver to allow Baghdad to deposit payments for Iranian natural gas into non-Iraqi banks in response to criticism that the White House is responsible for recent power cuts at the height of Iraqs blistering hot summer.

Since 2003, all Iraqi oil revenues have been paid into an account with the US Federal Reserve. Although Iraqis formed a sovereign government after the US invasion and occupation of their state, Iraq is still restricted from opening accounts for its oil earnings outside the US.

Given its dominance of the global financial system, Washington can control all funds of Iraq...

Western thinking of Turkish and Azerbaijani Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ilham Aliyev has been very wrong. Both countries are Ukraines strongest allies in the Greater Middle East, where Arab countries and Israel are sitting on the fence and trying to play both sides or hiding their heads in the sand. This is not the case with Turkiye and Azerbaijan.

Turkiye and Azerbaijan have a close military and political alliance drawn up after the 2020 Second Karabakh War. Both countries are critically disposed toward Russia and align with the pro-Western camp: Turkiye as a NATO member and Azerbaijan as a non-aligned country that has stayed away from Russian-led Eurasian integration projects.

Turkiye is home to millions of Crimean Tatars who moved to the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. Their Crimean homeland was occupied by the Russian Empire in 1783 which changed its ethnic balance. Crimean Tatars, who closely follow developments in Russian-occupied Crimea, where racism, Islamophobia, and political repression is endemic, are a powerful anti-Russian lobby in Turkiye.

Iran meanwhile has become Russias staunchest ally in the Kremlins fight against the US-dominated unipolar world and its replacement by an allegedly more democratic multipolar world. Iran is constructing a facility to build Shaheed drones in Russia, while Turkiye is building a plant to build Bayraktar drones in Ukraine.

Western governments have wrongly portrayed President Erdogan as being in bed with Vladimir Putin, Russias president, and were therefore wrong-footed by his recent steps. In the space of a week, Erdogan released Ukrainian POWs from the Spring 2022 battle for the port of Mariupol, infuriating the Kremlin because they had been released from Russian captivity on the basis that they would spend the entirety of the war in Turkiye.

But Erdogan went even further. On the eve of the recent NATO summit, Erdogan extended strong support to Ukraine becoming a member of NATO. Turkiyes support infuriated the Kremlin who has expressed strong opposition to Ukraine joining NATO and the EU because this would definitively end any possibility of bringing the country into the Russian World.

In addition to 35 Bayraktar TB2 and 24 Mini-Bayraktar reconnaissance drones, Turkiye is sending other types of military equipment to Ukraine. Before the US announcement, Turkiye said it would supply Ukraine with cluster munitions. Turkiye sent up to 200 TRLG-230 Rokestan missiles to Ukraine that can be fired from multiple rocket launchers and have a range of 20 to 70 kilometers. Turkiye also sent 200 Kirpi mine-resistant armoured personnel carriers and 20 COBRA II 44 Tactical Wheeled Armoured Vehicles.

During the same week of NATOs summit in Vilnius, Turkiye said its navy would escort Ukrainian grain ships through the Black Sea. Turkiyes offer will be tested later this month after R...

Iranian press review: Oman held secret meetings in Tehran on US prisoner exchange

• Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Maryland-based think tank, has been indicted on multiple charges related to international criminal schemes.
• The charges include willful failure to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), arms trafficking, Iranian sanctions violations, and making false statements to federal agents.
• Luft is accused of conspiring to advance the interests of China in the U.S., illicitly brokering arms transactions, and attempting to broker deals for Iranian oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
• Luft has made allegations of corruption against Biden family members, and Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said he hoped to interview Luft as part of his investigation into the Biden family.  Read More

The post Think Tank Director Indicted for Acting as Unregistered Foreign Agent appeared first on The Clarion Project.

19 Jul 2023 Source: The Wall Street Journal By Al Mayadeen English Analysts believe that Irans alleged ramped-up seizing of ships and bold maritime activities are payback for Western oil seizures and a blatant failure of US sanctions on Tehran. According to individuals familiar with the situation, US federal prosecutors are unable to sell nearly []

July 20, 2023 By Staff, Agencies Hundreds of Iraqi protesters have stormed the Swedish embassy in the capital Baghdad and set part of it on fire in protest against the second planned desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden. The angry protesters, who were reportedly the supporters of prominent Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, stormed []

Iraq tells Swedish ambassador in Baghdad to leave over Quran burning

US bans 14 Iraqi banks in dollar smuggling crackdown: Report

The Cradle | July 19, 2023

Oil firms in the US are reluctant to unload a shipment of stolen Iranian oil sitting in a Greek tanker off the coast of Texas, saying they are too worried about Iranian reprisal to touch the cargo, sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

Companies with any exposure whatsoever in the Persian Gulf are literally afraid to do it,  a Houston-based energy executive told the US outlet, adding that companies fear the Iranians would take retribution against them.

I dont know if anybodys going to touch it, another executive at a shipping company told the WSJ.

Washington illegally seized the Marshall Islands-flagged...

The Cradle | July 18, 2023

US video-sharing and social media platform YouTube on 17 July closed 18 channels affiliated with Yemens ruling Ansarallah resistance movement, including those of the media bureau of Yemens Operations Command Center (OCC) and the resistances art and documentary production unit.

In a statement issued to Yemens SABA news agency, Yemeni officials called the move an arbitrary measure and intellectual terrorism that reaffirms the aggressive intentions of the US-Saudi-Emirati coalition of aggression against Yemen by harnessing their media assets to serve their colonial project. It also reveals the falsity of the slogans of freedom of opinion and expression raised by western countries.

The suspended channels reportedly had over 500,000 subscribers and hosted over 7 thousand videos with over 90 million views.

According to officials, many of the closed channels hosted art and music and did not promote any form of political hatred or incitement.

This is not the first time that YouTube and other social medial platforms have deleted Yemeni accounts or pages without any prior justification.

In 2021, the US Justice Department seized the website domain of the Yemeni Arabic-language Al-Masirah television channel and nearly three dozen other regional websites.

Social media giants often purge content that supports the Axis of Resistance and works to silence journalists who document Israeli and US war crimes in the region.

Western censorship often targets non-hegemonic news organizations like PressTV and RT.

Last year, a leak of internal Twitter files offered evidence that the Pentagon collaborated with Twitter to wage a secret PsyOps campaign across West Asia to sway public opinion in favor of Washingtons military interests in the region.

July 19, 2023 In an interview with Qatar-based Al Jazeera networks Arabic service on Wednesday, Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, the secretary-general of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), lauded the normalization of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, highlighting its positive impact on regional stability. Budaiwi expressed the GCCs willingness to engage in profound discussions with []