Don’t Let Iran’s Rulers Abuse the Humanitarian Channel to the Detriment of the People

The following is an excerpt:

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced today that the global financial messaging service SWIFT “would be subject to U.S. sanctions” if it does not remove designated Iranian banks from its system “as soon as technologically feasible.” He noted that humanitarian transactions with non-designated Iranian entities are permissible but warned, “People need to be careful that those are real humanitarian transactions,” not illicit transactions disguised as food and medical trade. The warning is well deserved, as that is exactly how the Islamic Republic exploited the humanitarian exemption after its banks were “de-SWIFTed” in 2012.

Six years ago, in response to congressional initiatives threatening to sanction SWIFT, the organization removed sanctioned Iranian banks from its network. The ban, however, was not total. The U.S. Treasury and EU regulators intentionally left a few Iranian banks connected as a humanitarian channel to avoid measures that would unduly harm the Iranian people. Officials had committed to monitoring Iran’s transactions to prevent illicit funds from moving through the SWIFT system.

Despite these assurances, a December 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey revealed that Iranian banks were using SWIFT for illicit financial transactions. A leaked prosecutor’s report showed SWIFT transaction receipts as Iranian banks processed sanctions-busting transactions. Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, at the center of the scheme, pleaded guilty in U.S. court last year to facilitating billions of dollars in illicit transactions.

Read the complete policy brief by Mark and Annie Fixler on FDD’s website here.

At this year’s Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) National Security Summit, the State Department’s Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook spoke with the Honorable Juan Zarate about U.S. foreign policy toward Iran, FDD Senior Vice President Jonathan Schanzer presented the Alberto Nisman Award for Courage to the FBI Speical Agents and Southern District of New York Assistant U.S. Attorneys who worked on United States vs. Atilla sanctions-busting case, and FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz presented the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Statesmanship Award to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who later joined FDD President Clifford D. May for a conversation on foreign policy and national security.

I’m very honored…delighted to introduce the FDD Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Statesmanship Award
and this year’s recipient, Ambassador Nikki Haley.
—Mark Dubowitz at FDD’s 2018 National Security Summit

At this year’s FDD National Security Summit, CEO Mark Dubowitz presented Ambassador Nikki Haley with the FDD Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Statesmanship Award which honors President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 U.S. ambassador to the UN and former board member of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

FDD President Clifford D. May described her as, ‘combative, authoritative, eloquent, and elegant.’

Ambassador Kirkpatrick, who passed away 12 years ago, was born in rural Oklahoma to a dollar-a-day oil rig laborer. Grit and determination were in her nature. Even as a member of Reagan’s opposition party, she proved her mettle and became a trusted member of his cabinet—the first woman to hold the position. Ambassador Kirkpatrick foresaw that it was only a matter of time before the terrorism threatening American allies and interests abroad would come to its shore. Two weeks before the attacks on 9/11, she pulled together a bipartisan group of policymakers and philanthropists. FDD was created shortly thereafter, and Ambassador Kirkpatrick served as a founding board member. FDD President Clifford D. May described her as, “combative, authoritative, eloquent, and elegant.”

Ambassador Haley also fits that description. From overcoming prejudice as a the child of Sikh immigrants to representing the United States’ Mission to the United Nations, Ambassador Haley has exemplified the American dream pursued and fulfilled.

Since assuming this role, Ambassador Haley has has led efforts to increase pressure on North Korea, called out Iran and Russia for their role in Syria, extended U.S. deterrent warning in Syria beyond chemical weapons to include wider military operations, told the truth about Venezuela becoming a “criminal narco-state,” and confronted the relentless anti-Israel bias in the UN. In a word, she is the nemesis of totalitarians.

Displaying great devotion to her role as the American advocate at the UN, Ambassador Haley has led the U.S. to exit organisations and deals that are “beneficial to other countries but not to us.”

She also withdrew the U.S. from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), describing the organization as “a protector of human rights abusers.” Many countries were embarrassed by it and agreed reforms were necessary, “but they would only tell me that behind closed doors.” As a strong supporter of human rights, Ambassador Haley wasn’t one to turn a blind eye while bad actors used UNHRC membership as immunity from scrutiny—she took action: “It was a problem, and we got out.”

She has cut U.S. funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)—a move FDD has long recommended. UNRWA has served not as a refugee agency, but as a welfare agency that keeps millions of people in a permanent state of dependency and poverty. As a promoter of human rights, Ambassador Haley recognized the genuine need of the Palestinian people and did not deny that the U.S. is a generous nation, very willing to partner with those countries that share our values. But she wasn’t willing to continue financing a Palestinian government that shamelessly bashes America, harbors terrorists, commits human rights abuses, and threatens the security of Israel—America’s chief ally in the region.

Ambassador Haley has also spearheaded efforts in the UN to get serious about targeting terrorists’ use of human shields. The international community has largely failed to condemn those who are using human shields to protect combatants, missiles, and terrorists. It is her aim to have the UN acknowledge who is behind this “most cowardly act” and eventually have a resolution in the Security Council.

What I love about Jeane Kirkpatrick and what I see in the similarities about both of us was we both fight for freedom and we love defending America. It’s a pleasure and an honor to defend a country you just love so much.

These are just a few examples of the tenacious leadership that makes Ambassador Haley so suited for the FDD Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Statesmanship Award. Upon receiving the award, Ambassador Haley remarked: “What I love about Jeane Kirkpatrick and what I see in the similarities about both of us was we both fight for freedom and we love defending America. It’s a pleasure and an honor to defend a country you just love so much.”

[Read more…]

Prior to President Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Mark Dubowitz joined Fox News to discuss the issues that Trump should raise with Putin. Below are highlights from Mark’s interview on Fox News’ America’s News HQ.

Eric: So Mark, if the President is intent on defending democracy, you would think that this meeting would be the time to do it directly to Putin’s face. What do you think the President should say?

Mark: Eric, the President has to go to the summit with Putin and understand that Putin is not an ally. He is not an American friend. He’s an adversary—and he’s probably one of the most formidable and dangerous adversaries that the United States has in the world.

So, the President has to go with no illusions about who he is going to be speaking to, and he is going to make it very clear that we have serious problems with Putin’s Russia. Not only interference in our elections—but Russian foreign policy in the Middle East and in Eastern Europe and around the world. So, he’s got to put it all on the table and not go in there with any illusions or delusions about the man that he’s talking to.

Eric: Do you think anything he says will indeed potentially change Putin’s policies?

Mark: I don’t think it’s necessarily what he says. I mean, the President’s policies have been actually fairly strong. If you look at the Trump administration’s policies versus [those of] his predecessor, he’s engaged in nuclear modernization, he’s unleashed US energy against Russian energy,  he has provided lethal weaponry to the Ukrainians to defend themselves from the Russian military, and he’s also countering Iran which is Russia’s closest ally in the Middle East. So, from a policy perspective—very good. But the President needs to continue to reinforce that, continue to make it very clear to Putin that policy—anti-Putin policy—will continue as long as Putin remains a threat to this country.

Eric: And the administration, I mean it doesn’t jive really with the President’s rhetoric, because the administration has even slapped on tougher sanctions against some of the oligarchs and people close to Putin in connection with the election interference as well—of course we know that Mueller has indicted 13 Russians for that. You know, the President somehow keeps on giving Putin a pass. Here’s a tweet from last Thursday. He says:

“Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with meddling in our election! Where is the DNC server, and why did Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption!”

Why do you think the President seems almost intent on looking the other way when it comes to Putin on this issue?

Mark: That’s exactly right, and I think the President unfortunately remains obsessed with this argument that somehow the Russians gave the President the election—that they handed the election to Donald Trump. I think most of us realize that’s just not true. I mean, the President won because of his policies, because he was able to actually tap into the concerns and fears of many Americans. So I think he needs to move beyond this obsession, and he needs to not only fashion his policies and his rhetoric to a much more robust and aggressive policy against this Russian president, and stop denying what is so obvious to everyone: that Vladimir Putin of course interfered in our elections. But he didn’t do so with any consequence this time. He might do so with some consequence next time.

Eric: What type of consequence would you like to see? What type of action do you think the President should tell Vladimir? I mean, President Obama on the sidelines of that meeting told him to knock it off. That doesn’t seem like very much of a strong message at all. What would you like to see from the President when it comes to this issue?

Mark: Well, he’s going to bring it up. He’s going to bring it up and make it very clear to Putin that if there’s any Russian interference in the midterms or the next Presidential election or any large elections, that there will be serious consequences that Putin will pay, and not just sanctions, but other consequences using all instruments of American national power. And if Putin has any desire to have a better relationship with this President and this country, then Russian interference in our elections will be absolutely antithetical to that objective.

Eric: And meanwhile he’s also raising some eyebrows with his criticisms of NATO. He’s going to go to a NATO summit a few days before the meeting with Putin. Why is that significant? You know he’s going to get an earful when he sits down in Brussels. What do you think he will take from that NATO confab that he will take into the meeting with Vladimir Putin?

Mark: I think the President needs to do at NATO what he didn’t do at the G7 in Canada—which is he needs to find a way to unify our allies, our European and Canadian allies against Moscow and against some of the threats that we all face. I mean, I understand the President’s frustration that the Europeans and Canadians can sometimes be very frustrating, but they are our allies. They’ve been our longtime allies: they share our interests, they share our values, and they certainly are people that are on our side and not on Putin’s side. But if the President remains angry and  divisive at the NATO summit, he’ll be handing Putin a major victory as he did in Canada and as he has increasingly [done] by creating a division—a transatlantic division between the United States and Europe as well as a North American division with our friends up in Ottawa.

Eric: Russia and Iran continue to back Bashar al-Assad with such horrible consequences. And you know that Putin wants the US to withdraw troops from Syria. What do you think the President can say? I mean, look at The Wall Street Journal. Here’s an editorial pretty tough on the President saying:

“The Trump administration has reacted by waving its hands and begging Mr. Putin to stop…Mr. Putin has been watching all this and wondering if Mr. Trump can be conned as easily and as often as Barack Obama was.”

What possible agreement, if any, could come on Syria, and do you see any possibility that US troops will be withdrawing—which is exactly what Putin and the Mullahs in Iran want of us.

Mark: Well, Eric, exactly. That’s exactly what they want. I’m very worried that President Trump may withdraw US troops from Syria. I think it will be a disaster. I think it would be an Obama 2.0. President Obama withdrew Troops from Iraq in 2011. That gave rise to ISIS. It proved an open path for Iran to continue its hegemonic activity—its destructive activities in the Middle East. I think if President Trump withdrew US troops from Syria, we would be giving up all of our leverage. We will be creating an opportunity to finish the land bridge between Tehran and the Mediterranean, and I believe it would rise again. So this would be Obama 2.0, and I hope the President does not go down that path.

Watch the full America’s News HQ interview on FDD’s website here or on FDD’s YouTube page here.

 

Just moments before President Trump’s announcement of his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal–formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA–Mark Dubowitz was among the experts featured on Fox News to help viewers understand the situation as it unfolded live. The following are highlights from Mark’s appearance on Fox News’ Outnumbered.

Arthel: I want to start with this idea, Mark, that there is a way to go forward that is much better than where we are—what is it?

Mark: Look, the other way to go forward was to fix the agreement and apply maximum pressure to the Iranian regime, which is already facing an economic crisis and a political crisis of its own making. The U.S. and the Europeans were negotiating a supplemental agreement to address some of the fundamental flaws of this agreement and the severe deficiencies that were negotiated by President Obama and his team. I think they were fairly close and I think a fix plus maximum pressure could have gotten us there. I think the President has decided a nix to a fix. I think he’s going to walk away from the deal in order to build leverage to bring the United States back into the agreement. It’s very ‘Trumpian,’ and it’s very much the ‘art of the deal.’

Arthel: Well, the details that we’re getting into Fox News is that there would be this 90-day window for other countries and, I would imagine, lawmakers on Capitol Hill to come together to try to get to a better deal—a better place.

Mark: Well look, the fundamental problem that Europe has now is that they’re between an Iranian ‘rock’ and a ‘Trumpian’ ‘hard place.’ The Iranians are going to threaten nuclear escalation unless the Europeans put billions of dollars into the Iranian economy to save Iran from collapse, while Donald Trump, I’m sure, is going to threaten to enforce sanctions against European companies and banks. The escape hatch for Europe right now is that they have to come to an agreement with the United States on these last remaining issues. I think the President is going to put pressure on President Macron to bring Iranian leaders back to the table negotiate a comprehensive agreement that addresses the fatal flaws of the original agreement but is more expansive in addressing the full range of Iran’s malign activities.

Watch the full Outnumbered interview on FDD’s website here or on FDD’s YouTube page here. To hear more from Mark on a nuclear Iran, check out this podcast episode of FDD’s Foreign Podicy, “The Future of the Iran Deal.” 

Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made his third visit to Pyongyang, North Korea. This visit marked his first follow-up since the U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore last month. My FDD colleague, senior advisor on science and nonproliferation Olli Heinonen, joined Bloomberg TV to discuss Secretary Pompeo’s consequential visit. Here are the highlights:

Ahn: “We’re seeing evidence of new efforts by Kim to expand his nuclear arsenal. How surprised should we be?”

Heinonen: “Well, first of all, we have to look really the situation on the ground. We have to remember that there’s no agreement yet about what does denuclearization means. There is also no agreement about the freeze or suspension of the program.

And I would like to remind to listeners also that when the people were negotiating the joint plan of action with Iran, all the time Iran was enriching more uranium building its centrifuges, testing centrifuges and making tests with its missiles.

So, we face here a similar situation. But this is I think maybe the most important negotiation with Mr. Pompeo will have in the coming days because this is the real start of the definition what we mean with denuclearization.”

Ahn: “And you worked at the IAEA for almost three decades and you were there when IAEA officials were kicked out of North Korea in 2009. How can this time be different?”

Heinonen: “First of all, it has to be different because now, we tried for the third time to address the North Korean nuclear program. And it’s much more complicated. It’s much more advanced. It’s a bigger challenge than ever before.

How we can make sure that all of those nuclear capabilities have been dismantled in a verifiable matter in such a way that verification is credible. It’s a challenge to the IAEA but not only to the IAEA because we need also to take care of the other weapons of mass destruction as well as the missile program. So, this is not only for the IAEA but we need something much wider to be in place a verification starts.”

Westin: “Olli as I understand it, you understand it better than I. The first step is actually either complete inventory of what that nuclear program is in North Korea. Does that include the people, the scientist who worked on it? How far is that inventory have to go and how difficult is that to verify, just the inventory itself?”

Heinonen: “It will be difficult and this is the way the whole thing what I’m looking needs to have a very different start compared to the start of the equity framework or the monitoring they’re seeing in 2007.

The first step from North Korea is to provide a full declaration on its weapons of mass destruction program. All expected from production on nuclear material where other facilities, where is the infrastructure, what kind of test has been done, where are these locations, which are the institutes, which are the key people, et cetera.

And this will be a litmus test for the international community and U.S. government to see it’s distant to North Korea taking this seriously because they don’t know what the U.S. government knows. So, if they tried to falsify this first step, they might be caught. And then, that will be not the right start for the verification.

And, at the same time, when this declaration is provided, starts to monitoring inspectors and technicians go to all of these facilities, take us stocks what is there and install the verification and monitoring equipment.”

Westin: “Is it realistic to expect them to do that sort of it’s really extensive declaration before we’ve made any specific concessions? Will they do that unilaterally?”

Heinonen: “Well, this is the deal. Certainly, a deal always has other parts and there might be other the certain agreement which we don’t know because we have noticed that there has been no missile test. There has been no nuclear test. They blew up their nuclear test site.

On the other hand, certain activities continue. But, also U.S. has done some concessions like publicly postponing some of the military exercises. So, I think there might be something more behind which we have not yet seen. But I said the taste is in the pudding itself. Let’s see what Mr. Pompeo comes back with from this, I think are most important negotiations at this stage.”

Ahn: “How important is to involve the manufacturing industry because in South Africa, that was the case when you have these firms behind some of the illicit procurement network of nuclear materials. Is this also a concern in a centralized dictatorship in North Korea?”

Heinonen: “It’s also to be addressed because North Korea has got a little technology from abroad both for its missile program and its nuclear program. But, it has also been delivering these things. It has been proliferating. It was building a nuclear research — nuclear reactor put on your products of reactor to Syria.

So, in order to have a full picture on North Korea’s nuclear program, it has to be very forthcoming on these proliferation activities.”

Westin: “So Olli, we’re mindful of the Iranian situation even as President Rouhani has been having meetings in Switzerland. We’ve heard the Trump administration repeatedly say that that system for really enforcing the non-nuclear parts of that agreement was deficient. How good was that system? Was it something that we could replicate in North Korea successfully?”

Heinonen: “I don’t think so honestly. First of all, JCPOA is not a denuclearization agreement. It doesn’t address Iran’s ballistic missile program. It puts our certain restrictions for them but they are not mandatory.

There’s no dismantlement. Actually, there’s no investigation on Iran’s design on nuclear payloads for the ballistic missiles to have three. Also the cachet which Prime Minister Netanyahu presented a couple of months ago which needs still to be address why Iran is going, maintaining such kind of information and then it’s the investment program itself.

It doesn’t stop the uranium enrichment. Uranium enrichment is to stay in the Middle East under the JPOA. And this is therefore a matter of concerns because maybe some other countries in the region, particularly Saudi Arabia may want to have the same capabilities.

While here, we are aiming to complete denuclearization which if we believe the 1992 joint statement, we’ll not include any uranium enrichment in the Korean peninsula. Not in the North Korea, not in the South Korea. And this is a huge difference.”

Read more about Olli and his work on FDD’s website, the IAEA’s website, and on 38 North’s website — and listen to his NPR interview on the Trump-Kim summit here. For more on how a nuclear North Korea compares to a nuclear Iran, check out this podcast episode of FDD’s Foreign Podicy, “The Future of the Iran Deal,” as well as, “Countering Kim’s Nuclear North.”