{"id":7227,"date":"2025-03-11T08:18:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T13:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/?p=7227"},"modified":"2025-03-13T17:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T22:57:10","slug":"7227","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2025\/03\/11\/7227\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIran\u2019s defense minister travels to Belarus to discuss coop,\u201d<\/a> Mehr, 3-11-25.<\/p>\n

“Iran Update, March 11, 2025,”<\/a> ISW Press, 3-11-25.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran’s President to Trump: I will not negotiate, ‘do whatever the hell you want’,\u201d<\/a> Reuters, 3-11-25.<\/p>\n

I already advise potential grad students to not attend Columbia until the anti-Semitism and pro-Hamas language and actions and teaching stops.\u00a0 Here is a story that, when you read the quotes, you\u2019ll say the same for potential students of King College\u2019s Jeroen Gunning and the University of Westminster\u2019s Catherine Charrett, and \u201clearning\u201d from Helena Cobban and Rami George Khouri regarding their book \u201cUnderstanding Hamas: And Why That Matters.\u201d\u00a0 We already understand Hamas, and don\u2019t need to side with a terror group.\u00a0 See \u201cJews protest launch of Hamas \u2018propaganda\u2019 book at London School of Economics,\u201d<\/a> Times of Israel, 3-11-25.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran Update, March 11, 2025,\u201d<\/a> ISW Press, 3-11-25.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina, Iran and Russia hold joint naval drills in Mideast as tensions rise between Tehran and US,\u201d<\/a> AP, 3-11-25.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cChina, Iran and Russia conducted joint naval drills Tuesday in the Middle East, offering a show of force in a region still uneasy over Tehran\u2019s rapidly expanding nuclear program and as Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels threaten new attacks on ships. The joint drills, called the Maritime Security Belt 2025, took place in the Gulf of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude oil traded worldwide passes. The area around the strait in the past has seen Iran seize commercial ships and launch suspected attacks in the time since President Donald Trump first unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran\u2019s nuclear deal with world powers. The drill marked the fifth year the three countries took part in the drills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Food and other items are once again more expensive, and Nowruz is approaching.\u00a0 \u201cIran\u2019s coupons and taxes: Giving with one hand, taking with the other,\u201d<\/a> Al Jazeera, 3-11-25.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIranian authorities are rolling out an electronic coupon scheme in recognition of the dire economic conditions under sanctions, but they are also hiking taxes across the board to cover budget deficits.\u201d\u00a0 \u2026 \u201cStarting this week, low-income and middle-class Iranians are being given up to 5 million rials (just over $5) per person that can be used to buy limited quantities of food like red meat, chicken, eggs, milk, cooking oil, rice and sugar at government prices. About 60 million people are eligible to use the credit.\u201d \u2026 \u201cPeople can buy only 11 items from a list of select suppliers and shops across the country, and the credit purchases are separate from monthly government cash handouts that currently amount to about $4.85 per person.\u201d \u2026 \u201cThe government\u2019s approved budget for the Iranian calendar year 1404, which starts on March 21, shows considerably increased taxes and costs of services \u2013 in many cases much higher than Iran\u2019s current 35 percent inflation rate.\u201d\u00a0 \u2026 \u201cTaxes are increasing months after Iran raised the age of retirement for men by two years to 62 and increased the years of service required to receive full pensions for men to 35 from 30. That was aimed at reducing alarming pension fund deficits that have threatened financial sustainability and exerted more pressure on the government.\u00a0 Amid another currency freefall and a lingering energy crisis, the embattled government has also been accused by hardline lawmakers of intentionally devaluing the national currency to make short-term gains.\u201d\u00a0 I wonder in the history of mankind, if any country has so mismanaged vast oil and gas reserves to keep their people poor.<\/p>\n

Just ask Panama, Canada, and Ukraine how that\u2019s going for them.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the subject quote by Muhammad Sahimi at UCLA\u2014\u201cWhile negotiations between Iran and the United States should take place, no self-respecting nation, let alone Iran, a proud nation with 7,000 years of written history, will agree to negotiate if it is asked to capitulate.\u201d\u00a0 See \u201cHow Iran quietly buttressed its pledge to not build nukes,\u201d<\/a> Responsible Statecraft, Muhammad Sahimi, 3-11-25.\u00a0\u00a0There are other parts of the article to challenge.\u00a0 \u201cDespite the threat, the fact that he sent the letter is positive. But to bear fruit, it must be backed up by action. The president should suspend imposing the \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d policy until negotiations take place and their outcome becomes clear.\u201d\u00a0 No, they have to be forced to talk, they won\u2019t otherwise, that is Iran\u2019s history.\u00a0 Next, \u201cTrump has said that he needs guarantees that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons. Iranian officials point to Khamenei\u2019s Fatwa [religious edict] banning production of weapons of mass destruction, as that guarantee. This may not be reassurance enough for the West, but there is already a strong guarantee of the sort that Trump seeks.\u201d\u00a0 Well Dr. Sahimi, show us the fatwa.\u00a0 No else has yet.\u00a0 Finally, \u201cThe fact that Iran has agreed to uphold the NPT\u2019s major requirement of peaceful nuclear activities under a binding bilateral agreement with a major world power is legal affirmation of its religiously declared position on prohibition of nuclear arms.\u201d\u00a0 Dr. Sahimi, why does Iran have purify their uranium to such high levels, so far above what is needed for electricity production?<\/p>\n

What Iran doesn\u2019t want to see.\u00a0 \u201cAtop Mt. Hermon, Katz says Syrian leader will see indefinite IDF deployment,\u201d<\/a> Times of Israel, 3-11-25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIran\u2019s defense minister travels to Belarus to discuss coop,\u201d Mehr, 3-11-25. “Iran Update, March 11, 2025,” ISW Press, 3-11-25. \u201cIran’s President to Trump: I will not negotiate, ‘do whatever the hell you want’,\u201d Reuters, 3-11-25. I already advise potential grad students to not attend Columbia until the anti-Semitism and pro-Hamas language and actions and teaching … <\/p>\n

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