Free Republic

Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American citizen who helped establish a pro-Tehran lobbying group in America, has been arrested in Iran and imprisoned indefinitely. -excerpt- Namazi has been described as one of the “intellectual architects” of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group that has been accused of working in support of the regime in Tehran. He and NIAC Director Trita Parsi founded the organization as a way to continuously lobby for the removal of sanctions against Iran and to promote Iran’s foreign policy, while combating the pro-Israel sentiment in America, according to documents from a Cyprus convention...

... [C]onsider the baggage that Sanders drags into the campaign. Go back over 40 years, to the start of Iran’s long conflict with the United States. On April 1, 1979, the theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran was proclaimed. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had returned to Iran from exile to assume command of the revolt, became Supreme Leader in December of that year. His rise was accelerated by the seizure on Nov. 4 of 52 American diplomats and citizens, and citizens of other countries, at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The hostage crisis became the means by which the Ayatollah crushed...

Attorney General Loretta Lynch is declining to comply with an investigation by leading members of Congress about the Obama administration’s secret efforts to send Iran $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year, prompting accusations that Lynch has “pleaded the Fifth” Amendment to avoid incriminating herself over these payments, according to lawmakers and communications exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.) initially presented Lynch in October with a series of questions about how the cash payment to Iran was approved and delivered. In an Oct. 24 response, Assistant Attorney General...

Key documents relating to the Obama administration’s secret negotiations with Iran, including a $1.7 billion cash payment, are being stored at a highly secure site on Capitol Hill, preventing the public and many in Congress from accessing them, according to multiple sources who described the situation to the Washington Free Beacon. The documents are not technically classified but are being kept in a “secure reading space” where the majority of congressional officials cannot access them. Those cleared are forced to relinquish their cellular devices and are barred from taking notes, undermining the ability of staffers to brief their lawmakers on...

U.S. Signed Secret Document to Lift U.N. Sanctions on Iranian Banks Administration backed measures on the same day Tehran released four American citizens from prison By Jay Solomon and Carol E. Lee Sept. 29, 2016 8:02 p.m. ET 0 COMMENTS WASHINGTON—The Obama administration agreed to back the lifting of United Nations sanctions on two Iranian state banks blacklisted for financing Iran’s ballistic-missile program on the same day in January that Tehran released four American citizens from prison, according to U.S. officials and congressional staff briefed on the deliberations. The U.N. sanctions on the two banks weren’t initially to be lifted...

The Wall Street Journal has a shocking report that adds fuel to the fire over the $1.7 billion in cash paid to the Iranians to get the hostages released. On the same day the cash payment arrived in Tehran, the U.S. secretly agreed to back a U.N. effort to lift sanctions on two Iranian banks accused of assisting Iran's ballistic missile program.

The State Department issued a warning on Monday urging U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to Iran, which has made the detention of American a priority. The latest travel advisory, which emphasizes Iran’s desire to capture U.S. citizens, comes on the heels of a growing scandal over the Obama administration’s decision to pay Iran $400 million in cash on the same day that it freed several U.S. hostages. The payment has been cast by lawmakers and others as a ransom payment and prompted increasing concern among U.S. officials that Iran is making arresting Americans a priority. The travel warning is mean...

CNSNews.com) – Republicans lashed out Tuesday at the Obama administration over a news report claiming it airlifted $400 million in foreign currency to Tehran on the same day the regime released five imprisoned Americans. On that day in January, the U.S. agreed to settle a 37-year-old Iranian legal claim worth $400 million, plus an additional $1.3 billion in interest. The two developments also coincided with the “implementation day” for the nuclear deal struck between Tehran, the U.S. and five other nations. The administration has long denied that the $1.7 billion settlement was related to the prisoner releases, or that it...

The US victims of the Iran hostage crisis are to receive compensation 36 years after their ordeal, reports say. Each of the 53 hostages or their estates will receive up to $4.4m (£3m), according to a US spending bill passed last Friday. The victims of other state-sponsored terror attacks such as the US embassy bombings in East Africa in 1988 will also be eligible. The hostage-taking lasted 444 days and led the US to break off ties with Iran. The decision to award compensation follows a controversial deal between world powers and Iran over its nuclear programme. "Those negotiations resulted...

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.581113805374243.1073741831.230145907137703&type=3 thqt picture was taken in Paris when Obama was there letting ISIL take over the world

Donald Trump lambasted the Obama administration's agreement with Iran at a rally against the deal held on the west lawn of the Capitol on Wednesday. Trump promised to bring home the four Americans held hostage in Iran BEFORE becoming the next president of the United States.

1) Kerry: We’re “Hopeful” Our Citizens in Iran Will be Freed By Daniel Doherty Commentary by John Velisek USN (Ret), staff writer “That’s a politician’s answer. Secretary of State John Kerry cannot guarantee that the three Americans that we know about languishing in Iran’s prison system will be released and returned safely to their families. He can only say that he’s “hopeful” Iran will, in a gesture of good faith, set them free. ‘There was not a meeting that took place – not one meeting that took place, believe me that’s not an exaggeration – where we did not raise...

The rally is scheduled for Thursday, 12 to 1 in Lafayette Park. Speakers include Senator Ted Cruz, Gary Bauer and Faith McDonnell. It's sponsored by CWA, Concerned Women for America. If you're in the D.C. area, maybe you'll find the time to stop by and show your support for the Americans abandoned by Obama to his new Iranian buddies. Here are some of their storiesSaeed Abedini The wife of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini sent a letter to her husband on the day of their 11th wedding anniversary, describing the "excruciating pain" she's in without him while he's being held...

President Obama called Tuesday for the release of Americans held in Iran, individually naming them during a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention -- a week after his diplomatic team helped strike a nuclear accord with Iran that did not secure the prisoners' freedom. The deal's failure to address the prisoners' status has fueled criticism of the Obama administration, though State Department officials have said they raised their imprisonment repeatedly. The president also scolded a reporter last week at a White House press conference for suggesting he was "content" to leave the prisoners out of the deal.

Just returned from big “lawn party” here in DC. Not a hugely exclusive one, but loads of people, many upper level career Dept. of State types, retired general/flag rank military and agency types (now consultants,) foreign government officials and the usual Washington riff raff. Background: Many DOS do not like Obama/Kerry. Many military and agency retirees hate them. There is a certain “lets win for America” thought process, (to a much greater or much less extent,) that runs through all DOS/DOD/CIA/etc. Although there are huge differences in HOW they would achieve that “win,” there were very few people who ever...

When the guy’s right, he’s right, especially the bit about Obama dealing from desperation. When your only options are bombing Iran, doing nothing, and making a terrible deal that can be spun as successful, and you’ve already ruled out the first two, you’re going to give up whatever you need to in order to make the third option viable.You would think O might have insisted on making the prisoners part of the deal if only so that he’d have some tangible “win” to show Americans while Republicans and pro-Israel Democrats are screaming that he sold out the country. Bringing...

The White House says the administration won’t grant a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi, who had a role in the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and is Iran’s pick to serve as its ambassador to the UN. White House press secretary Jay Carney said the administration has told Iran at multiple levels that Aboutalebi’s selection was “not viable.” The move effectively keeps Aboutalebi out of the country. But it still isn’t clear whether President Obama will sign legislation that would prevent Aboutalebi from coming here as a matter of law.

President Obama offered a public prayer Thursday for two Americans held separately by North Korea and Iran, saying his administration will continue to fight for their release. Mr. Obama said at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington that the U.S. “will do everything in our power” to gain the release of Kenneth Bae, a Christian missionary in prison in North Korea, and the Rev. Saeed Abedini of Boise, Idaho, who remains imprisoned in Iran SNIP The president prayed, “Let us never forget those who are persecuted today, among them Americans of faith. “

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad engineered the release last week of two American hikers serving eight-year prison terms on trumped-up espionage charges. He may have thought the release would make him seem more humane, but the $1 million bail-for-freedom deal makes Tehran look like Somali pirates, grabbing innocent tourists, holding them hostage and then releasing them for ransom. So why did released hiker Shane Bauer say the following upon his release? "Two years in prison is too long, and we sincerely hope for the freedom of other political prisoners and other unjustly imprisoned people in America (emphasis added) and Iran." The...

Carter: 'Probably superior' to other ex-presidents *** UPDATE 3:59 pm ET *** Former President Carter issued a written statement after his comments aired: "What I meant was, for 27 years the Carter Center has provided me with superior opportunities to do good." In an interview with NBC's Brian Williams, former President Jimmy Carter, who has been a target of the right through the years, lauded his own post-presidency, telling Williams, "I feel that my role as a former president is probably superior to that of other presidents." Carter, who is out with a new book defending his legacy, backed up...