{"id":581,"date":"2020-03-27T15:42:01","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T20:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/?p=581"},"modified":"2020-03-28T21:40:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T02:40:47","slug":"581","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2020\/03\/27\/581\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

144 deaths on Thursday.\u00a0 \u201cIran\u2019s army sets up hospital in capital as virus toll climbs,\u201d<\/a> Amir Vahdat and Josephy Krauss, AP, March 27, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmnesty International Urges Iran To Grant Furlough To Prisoners Of Conscience,\u201d<\/a> Radio Farda, March 27, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran Defense Minister Says Cruise Missile Warheads To Become More Powerful Soon,\u201d<\/a> Radio Farda, March 27, 2020.<\/p>\n

I am pasting this short story in full because it has a blatant falsehood regarding Iran\u2019s practice of hostage taking.\u00a0 \u201cTehran said on Thursday that a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran in March 2007 had left the country years ago despite his family saying he had died in Iranian custody. \u201cBased on credible evidence, Levinson has left Iran years ago for an unspecified destination,\u201d Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said, according to state television. \u201cIn the past years Iran has tried to find out his state but could not find any signs of him being alive.\u201d\u201d\u00a0 See \u201cTehran says former FBI agent Levinson left Iran years ago,\u201d<\/a> Parisa Hafezi, Reuters, March 26, 2020.\u00a0 The Regime has never before today, since he was taken in 2007, claimed that Levinson left the country, and offers no proof now of his leaving.<\/p>\n

The IRGC and its Quds Force have delivered lethal aid to Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, and have smuggled weapons to Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.\u00a0 It is no surprise that Iran\u2019s continued support (and not redirecting this terrorism funding toward better goals such as coronavirus relief for Iranians) for these groups would result in more U.S. sanctions.\u00a0 \u201cU.S. imposes fresh Iran-related sanctions despite coronavirus,\u201d<\/a> Daphne Psaledakis, Arshad Mohammed, Reuters, March 26, 2020.\u00a0 See also, \u201cTrump Admin Sanctions Vast Iranian Terror Network in Iraq,\u201d<\/a> Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, March 26, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cRouhani Seeks $1 Billion From Iran\u2019s Wealth Fund for Virus Fight,\u201d<\/a> Golnar Motevalli, Bloomberg, March 26, 2020.\u00a0\u00a0Rouhani wrote to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday requesting permission to withdraw the money from the National Development Fund, IRNA reported, quoting Rouhani\u2019s comments at a coronavirus task force meeting in Tehran.\u00a0 The National Development Fund, mainly from oil income, hasn\u2019t published any official figures in some time.\u00a0 In 2016, the Mehr News Agency reported the fund stood at $80 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

144 deaths on Thursday.\u00a0 \u201cIran\u2019s army sets up hospital in capital as virus toll climbs,\u201d Amir Vahdat and Josephy Krauss, AP, March 27, 2020. \u201cAmnesty International Urges Iran To Grant Furlough To Prisoners Of Conscience,\u201d Radio Farda, March 27, 2020. \u201cIran Defense Minister Says Cruise Missile Warheads To Become More Powerful Soon,\u201d Radio Farda, March … <\/p>\n

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