Iran: Obama administration is in diplomatic overdrive

[chill_wind]

The loose noose of Iran sanctions

Oct 12, 2011 10:37 PM by
Jill Dougherty -

WASHINGTON, DC - Intent on punishing Iran for a brazen alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador on U.S. soil, the Obama administration is in diplomatic overdrive, urging countries around the world to cut whatever ties they still have with Tehran and "isolate" it from the international community.

"We will work with our international partners to increase Iran's isolation and the pressure on its government. And we call upon other nations to join us in condemning this threat to international peace and security," a steely Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday.

Soon after American authorities detailed the allegations and tied the plot to elements of Iran's military, the Treasury Department invoked new economic sanctions against top members of the Quds Force, the part of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that allegedly directed the assassination plot. Treasury says a top member of the Quds approved up to $5 million to pay for the plot.

(snip)

But the administration's headlong press for more sanctions raises a question: If sanctions work, why didn't they stop Iran from allegedly making a down payment on the plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador?

see the article for the rest of the admin action today:

http://www.ktvq.com/news/the-loose-noose-of-iran-sanctions/

Congress getting classified briefings from admin. Wendy Sherman from State Dept will be on the Hill tomorrow. Susan Rice is very busy, too.

[leveymg]

1. Here's your "top member of the Quds": Mansour Arbabsiar, used car salesman.

Manssor Arbabsiar

Friends Say Used Car Dealer Was Too Much Of A Mess To Pull Off Iranian Plot
Ryan J. Reilly | October 13, 2011, 6:00AM

Manssor Arbabsiar

Friends of Manssor Arbabsiar, the man accused of trying to get a man he thought was affiliated with a Mexican drug cartel to arrange for the killing of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S., aren't exactly painting a picture of a criminal mastermind. In fact, they're saying that straight out.

"He's no mastermind," David Tomscha, who once owned a used car lot with Arbabsiar, told the Associated Press. "I can't imagine him thinking up a plan like that. I mean, he didn't seem all that political. He was more of a businessman."

[chill_wind]

2. I have yet to read a single account in any type of source anywhere that

finds this official story credible as a whole.

Seems that's not stopping Hillary or Susan Rice, who's running individually to all the members of the UN Security Council. (Rice, you'll remember finally got Obama to turn on a dime on Libya) Meantime Congress is getting itself worked up into a fever pitch, with a lot of help from DiFi.

Don't buy the "plot" as narrated by Holder and CO? Well never mind, then. Hey- how about a whole CHAIN of plots we can't tell you about.

October 13, 2011 8:08 AM

Intel chair: "Chain" of Iran plots possible

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/13/earlyshow/main20119740.shtml

[leveymg]

4. Ken Pollack at "Daily Beast" (Barry Diller,Sid Harm) swallows it whole. No chewing required.

Newsweek light for Neocons. No surprises here.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/11/iran-s-covert-war-against-the-united-states-shows-tehran-has-no-fear-of-us-military-retaliation.html
Iran’s Covert War Against the United States
Oct 11, 2011 8:55 PM EDT

The Iranian attempt on the Saudi ambassador’s life shows that Tehran is meaner and nastier than ever before. And no longer fears U.S. military retaliation. says Brookings’ Ken Pollack. Plus, Eli Lake on the escalating shadow war.

It’s shocking, but not entirely surprising to learn that the United States government has evidence that the Iranian regime was trying to kill Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel al-Jubeir.

[chill_wind]

5. And what to make of a possible prior relationship between

the informant and the used car salesman?

(hat tip to emptywheel.net observers- )

http://www.emptywheel.net/2011/10/13/the-iran-plot-hillary-tries-to-involve-the-un/#comments


Some years ago, Arbabsiar befriended a Corpus Christi, Texas, woman whose nephew he believed to be a member of the Zetas cartel, according to officials. The nephew was actually a confidential DEA informant “with direct access to key leadership elements” of the Zetas and the rival Gulf cartel, according to a U.S. law-enforcement official.

(ProPublica)

Analysis: Alleged Assassination Plot Doesn’t Fit Past Iranian Behavior

http://www.propublica.org/article/analysis-alleged-assassination-plot-doesnt-fit-past-iranian-behavior

Are the Iranian terror charges a Mexican “Curveball”?
http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/13/is_the_iran_terror_case_informant_a_mexican_curveball/


For fun: Alleged Iran Plot Is More 'Caper Novel' Than Spy Novel

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/10/13/141305576/alleged-iran-plot-is-more-caper-novel-than-spy-novel

[uponit7771]

3. There were 2 50k dollar transfers FROM OVERSEAS. That in and of itself is impossible and illegal...

...without some alphabet boys getting involved.

[chill_wind]

6. "As a whole". The questions are about swallowing the problematic story

as told so far as a whole.

[chill_wind]

7. Good read: Are the Iranian terror charges a Mexican “Curveball”?

Are the Iranian terror charges a Mexican “Curveball”?

Sensational allegations from an unknown informant justify talk of war in the Middle East. Sound familiar?

Jefferson Morley
Thursday, Oct 13, 2011

The key to the U.S. government’s case against two Iranian-born men charged Tuesday with plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington is an anonymous member of a Mexican drug cartel who has been charged with narcotic-related offenses and is currently on the payroll of the U.S. government.

One anonymous source is not considered the basis of a credible news story but “CS-1,” as he is identified in court papers, appears to be the linchpin to the U.S. government’s five-count indictment of Mansoor Arbabsiar, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and Gholam Shakuri, allegedly an Iranian intelligence officer. The Obama administration has seized on the indictment to mobilize the U.S. government worldwide to a more confrontational stance against Tehran, something advocates of U.S. military action against Iran have long sought.

(snip)

Yet the government’s sensational charges depend largely on one unknown informant’s credibility, a situation reminiscent of the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Then the uncorroborated claims of one anonymous source, known as “Curveball,” proved to be influential in justifying war. They were also completely fabricated.

Curveball’s allegations were used by the Bush White House to drive policy toward Iraq, just as the Arbabsiar indictment is being used by the Obama White House to drive Iran policy. Curveball claimed he had worked on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program; the indictment says Arbabsiar and Shakuri sought to obtain “weapons of mass destruction” to carry out the assassination. One disillusioned CIA official later described Curveball as “a guy trying to get his green card” — which might be CS-1′s goal too, if there is any truth to his reputation ratting out legendarily vicious Mexican drug traffickers.

more: http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/13/is_the_iran_terror_case_informant_a_mexican_curveball/singleton/#comments