Category Archives: Department of Homeland Security

The Timeline and Iran Back-Channel People

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The Iranian Timeline of Terrorist Activities

Written by : Asharq Al-Awsat

Saturday, 16 Jan, 2016

Washington- 1979: On the year of the Iranian revolution, and after Ayatollah Khamenei returned to Iran, Iranians broke into the US embassy in Tehran, capturing 90 people. Later on they released women, African Americans, and indigenous Americans, while keeping 50 other diplomats captive for 444 days.

1980: With the start of the Iranian-Iraqi war, The Quds Force division unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was established, answering only to the Supreme leader’s authority.

1982: During the Iranian-Iraqi war, Iran recruited troops from the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Democratic National Union of Kurdistan to fight along their side.

1982: Ali Akbar Mohtashami, Iranian 1982-1985 ambassador, and minister of interior affairs, founded Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah until today remains a political, military, and security, proxy for the Iranian plans for both Lebanon and Syria.

1983: 58 Americans were killed when a truck exploded in front of the US embassy in Beirut, which, later on, the United States held both Hezbollah and Iran responsible for.

1983: Two suicide attacks on American and French marine troops’ bases in Beirut lead to the death of 241 Americans, 58 French troops, and 6 civilians aside from the two attackers, tens were injured too. On 2002, the US court condemned Hezbollah and Iran for the attacks.

1983: Coinciding explosions target 6 institutes both Kuwaiti and foreign, including the US embassy in Kuwait. Iran and its proxies were accused for the attacks.

1985: A civil plane boarding 153 people was hijacked during its flight between Athena and Rome, and driven to Beirut. The plane was later moved from Beirut to Algeria, with two passengers killed, and the rest released. The Hijack was later traced back to an organization associated with Hezbollah and the kidnappers were: Imad Mughniyah, Hassan Ezzeddine, Ali Atweand Mohammed Ali Hamadeh; all Hezbollah members.

1989: An attempted murder of the novelist Salman Rushdie for writing Ayate Sheitani, “Satanic verses” failed. Lebanon-based Hezbollah declared coordinating with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard for the attempt.

1992: An explosion targeting the Israeli embassy in Argentine. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard was accused for perpetrating the attack.

1994: The Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aries, Argentine, was subjected to an explosion, and the Revolutionary Guard Stands was held responsible.

1995: The Iranian Revolutionary Guard organized an international gathering in Tehran, inviting several terrorist organizations, some of which were: the Japanese Red Army, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, the Iraqi Islamic Dawa Party, and the Lebanese Hezbollah.

1996: The terrorist Khobar Towers’ bombing in Saudi Arabia killed 19 Americans; Iran and proxies were held responsible.

1998: Two bombings targeted American embassies in Nairobi- Kenya and Dar es Salaam- Tanzania.

2001: After the US September attacks, American reports published report on Iran supporting al-Qaeda, and that it had allowed the 9/11 perpetrators to pass through its grounds. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah were enlisted as terrorist organizations.

2002: An American report issued that Hezbolla is granted an annual support from Iran ranging between 60 to100 million dollars. (Other reports estimated support to have reached 200 million dollars).

2002: Pentagon issued a report accusing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Hezbollah, Egyptian Islamist group, and al-Qaeda for participating in terrorist operations carried out on the border region between “Argentine, Brazil, and Paraguay”.

 

2005: Rafic Hariri, Lebanese Prime Minister, alongside two of his companions were assassinated in an explosion that targeted Harir’s convoy to Beirut. The prosecution of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon requested a number of accused figures (all members of Hezbollah), for investigation purposes, however, Hezbollah refused to hand them in. Later on, multiple political assassinations following Rafic al-Hariri’s assassination were added to the case files of the tribunal.

 

2005: An American report accused Iran of harboring al-Qaeda militants in Afghanistan, some of which were relatives of Osama bin Laden.

2007: American General of forces in Iraq, David Petraeus in a congressional interrogation: Iran supports “Jaysh al-Mahdi” militia in Iraq in addition to other Shiite militants. Those supported by Iran are responsible for the death of over a thousand US soldiers in Iraq (by then).

2008: The Israeli embassy in the Baku capital of Azerbaijan is targeted with attempted bombing. Iran and its proxies were accused to also stand behind the operation.

2011: The Iranian plot to blow up a restaurant in Washington, DC, which was frequented by the Saudi ambassador (at the time) Adel al-Jubeir, who is today the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Although the target was the Saudi ambassador, the Iranian operation was going to kill many American citizens found at the restaurant.

2012: Blowing up a bus carrying Israeli tourists at an airport in Bulgarian city of Burgas. Five tourists were killed in addition to the bus driver and the bomber. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah were accused.

2012: In a court in Kenya, two detained Iranians were accused of being members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and of having plans to blow up embassies of the United States, Britain and Israel in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

2012: Indian police announced that they had confirmed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was behind the terrorist attack in New Delhi, which targeted Israeli diplomats in that year.

2013: Iranian plot in Nigeria against an Israeli shipping company and Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources. 2013: Discovering secret filming operations Iran was behind, targeting the Israeli embassy in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan.

2014: Accusing Hezbollah of planning an attack on Israeli tourists in Bangkok, capital of Thailand. 2014: The arrest of spies working for Iran in Lima, capital of Peru, with the aim of attacking the Jewish synagogue, among them a Hezbollah member.

2015: Bahrain police discovered weapons and explosives factory, arresting agents of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

2016: The Ministry of the Interior in Bahrain discovered a terrorist cell affiliated with the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

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Hostage Swap: Obama’s Secret Second Channel to Iran

Brett McGurk, a senior State Department official, led a small American team in secret prisoner-swap negotiations with Iran, which culminated in today’s agreement. Photograph: Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty

Fourteen months ago, President Obama authorized a top-secret, second diplomatic channel with Tehran to negotiate freedom for Americans who had disappeared or been imprisoned in Iran. It was a high-risk diplomatic gamble. The initiative grew out of nuclear negotiations, launched in the fall of 2013, between Iran and the world’s six major powers. On the margins of every session, Wendy Sherman, the top American negotiator, pressed her Iranian counterparts about the American cases. The Iranians countered with demands for the release of their citizens imprisoned in the United States for sanctions-busting crimes. More than a year of informal discussions between Sherman and her counterpart, Majid Takht Ravanchi, the Iranian Foreign Ministry official in charge of American and European affairs, led to an agreement, in late 2014, that the issue should be handled separately—but officially—through a second channel. After debate within the Administration, Obama approved the initiative. But it was so tightly held that most of the American team engaged in tortuous negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program were not told about it.

What heightened the risk was the fact that the new Iranian team was headed by a senior intelligence official, a sharp departure from the traditional but still tentative diplomatic channels with the Iranian Foreign Ministry developed in the nuclear talks. The involvement of Iranian intelligence made prospects far more unpredictable—and potentially controversial. Brett McGurk, a senior State Department official, headed the small American team, which also included officials from the Department of Justice, the F.B.I., and the intelligence community. The meetings—facilitated by the Swiss government and often held in Geneva—repeatedly hit snags, complications, legal hurdles, and last-minute demands. The swap—officially referred to as a “humanitarian gesture”—came close to fruition three times over more than a year of secret meetings, only to collapse again and again, an Iranian official said.

The deal finally came together this morning, just as Iran and the six major powers also moved toward Implementation Day of the Iran nuclear deal. It will mark the point when the U.N. confirms that Iran has complied with terms to dismantle its program, allowing international sanctions to be lifted. Secretary of State John Kerry held one final meeting with his Iranian counterpart, in Vienna, hosted by the European Union foreign-policy chief, Federica Mogherini. The separate diplomatic channels happened to mature at the same pace, according to U.S. officials. The second channel accelerated after the nuclear deal was announced last July.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met one final time in Vienna before Implementation Day and the separate but simultaneous announcement that the two countries had agreed on a prisoner swap.

The United States had hoped to make the announcement of the Americans’ release this morning, but Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency preëmpted Washington with its own announcement that four Iranian-Americans imprisoned in Iran had been freed as part of a prisoner exchange, following a decision by the Supreme National Security Council. The State Department scrambled to get out its statement. “We offered clemency to seven Iranians, six of whom are dual U.S.-Iranian citizens, who had been convicted or are pending trial in the United States,” it said. “The United States also removed any Interpol red notices and dismissed any charges against 14 Iranians for whom it was assessed that extradition requests were unlikely to be successful.” The number was pared down significantly from the original Iranian list, U.S. officials said. And not all the American cases against Iranians were resolved by the swap.

The release marked the end of a troubled saga that had been further politicized during the U.S. electoral season. Many Republicans had criticized President Obama for agreeing to a nuclear deal—which will give Iran access to tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues that had been locked in foreign banks because of sanctions—while Americans were still held in Iran.

Indeed, the reaction was swift and biting among Republican Presidential candidates. “The fact of the matter is that this tells us everything we need to know about the Iranian regime—that they take people hostage in order to gain concessions,” Senator Marco Rubio said. “And the fact that they can get away with it with this Administration, I think, has created an incentive for more governments to do this around the world.”

U.S. officials remained upbeat. “We think this is a very good day,” a senior Administration official said, during a teleconference briefing this morning. “We think this proves that we are able to resolve issues when we have diplomatic channels.” But he hastened to add, “This was not a traditional spy swap. We are pursuing this in context of an extraordinary moment in U.S.-Iranian relations as implementation of the nuclear deal is upon us.”

“In many ways, this was harder than the nuclear deal,” Wendy Sherman told me on Friday. “Because these were about American citizens, human lives, the pain of their families, the pain of their daily existence. I’m very glad to see them coming home.”

Brett McGurk, the point man on the American team, began his career in Washington as a law clerk to William H. Rehnquist, the late Chief Justice. He has been given some of the toughest assignments at the State Department. His official biography describes him as one of the architects of President George W. Bush’s “surge” of U.S. troops to combat Al Qaeda. He was a key adviser during the Obama Administration’s review of our Iraq policy, and later helped manage the transition as the United States withdrew its troops. McGurk is now Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. He was in Geneva negotiating right through Saturday morning, State Department officials said.

The most widely known American released today is the Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, who had been detained since July, 2014.  Born in California, of Iranian parents, he went to Iran as a young reporter, married an Iranian journalist, and settled in. He was charged with espionage, “collaborating with hostile governments,” and “propaganda against the establishment.” Among Rezaian’s alleged crimes, according to Iranian press reports, was writing to President Obama and offering advice based on his wide range of Iranian contacts. Rezaian was convicted last year, but his sentence, curiously, was never announced. Even his lawyer said that she didn’t know what it was.

Rezaian’s wife, the journalist Yaganeh Salehi, was detained at the same time. She was later released on bail, but the charges were never dismissed. She is being allowed to fly out of Iran with her husband, U.S. officials said.

Of the four prisoners released by Iran, Amir Hekmati, a former Marine, had been imprisoned the longest. He was born in Arizona, grew up in Michigan, and served in Iraq. He was visiting his grandmother in Tehran when he was arrested, in August, 2011, and charged with espionage, waging war against God, and “corrupting the earth.” He received the death sentence. A retrial overturned that conviction, and he was sentenced to ten years for “coöperating with hostile governments.”

The Reverend Saeed Abedini, who was born in Iran, converted to Christianity from Islam. Christianity is legal in Iran, and Christians have special, and proportionate, seats in Parliament. But Abedini was a convert, and reportedly helped to establish underground churches in Iran for other converts. He eventually married an American, moved to the United States, in 2005, and was ordained by the American Evangelistic Association. But he returned to Tehran in 2009. He was picked up in 2012 and charged with undermining national security. He was sentenced to eight years.

The fourth released prisoner is Nosratollah Khosrawi-Roodsari, about whom little is known. The United States was not even aware that he had been detained until it received a diplomatic note about him from the Iranians during the negotiations. He was detained sometime in the past year, U.S. officials said.

In a separate case, a fifth American, Matthew Trevithick, was also allowed to leave Iran today, before the others. Imprisoned early last month, on unknown charges, he was a young businessman who ran a research organization in Turkey and had been in an intensive language-training class in Tehran. He was just completing his course when he was arrested. Shortly after he graduated from Boston University, Trevithick worked as my research assistant at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, in Washington. He later worked for two years at the American University in Sulaymaniyah, in Iraqi Kurdistan, and for four years at the American University in Kabul. He was allowed to call his parents this morning en route to the airport.

At least two Americans are not coming home. Siamak Namazi was detained in October, although the judiciary has never confirmed his arrest or charges against him. A young analyst from a prominent Iranian family, he came to the United States as a boy, received dual citizenship, and attended college at Tufts, then returned to Iran to do compulsory military service. He did stints as an analyst at think tanks in Washington, including the National Endowment for Democracy. He later set up shop in Dubai as a consultant on energy issues. He had avoided going back to Iran after the arrests of other Iranian-Americans, but he received signals that it was safe to visit his family. He was soon picked up. “We’re doing everything we can to resolve his case,” a senior official said.

Robert Levinson, a retired F.B.I. agent, who has been missing for more than eight years, is a more complicated case. He was last seen on Iran’s Kish Island in 2007. Levinson told colleagues that he was working on a cigarette-smuggling investigation, but the Washington Post reported, in 2013, that he had actually been on a C.I.A. contract, and was dispatched by intelligence analysts who had no authority to run operations overseas. The revelation of the rogue operation led to a shakeup at the agency.

In 2013, Levinson’s family released a series of “proof of life” photos sent to them of a bearded, bedraggled, and chained Levinson in an orange prison jumpsuit, the type worn by detainees at Guantanamo Bay. In each photo, he carried a sign. In one, he pleaded, “Help me.” Another read “I Am Here in Guantanamo Do You Know Where It Is?” U.S. officials say that Iran’s claims not to know Levinson’s current status are credible. There have been suggestions over the years, never confirmed, that he might have been taken to Baluchistan, an unruly area that overlaps the borders of Iran and Pakistan. In its announcement of the prisoner swap, the State Department said, “Iran has also committed to continue cooperating with the United States to determine the whereabouts of Robert Levinson.”

The Fars New Agency identified the seven Iranian inmates freed by the United States as Nader Modanlou, Bahram Mechanic, Khosrow Afqahi, Arash Ghahreman, Touraj Faridi, Nima Golestaneh, and Ali Sabounchi. All had been charged with violations of sanctions or trade restrictions. None had ties to terrorist activity, U.S. officials said Saturday.

Despite the timing, U.S. officials insisted that the two big breakthroughs on Saturday—on the nuclear deal and on the detainees—were not initially designed to conclude simultaneously. “As unbelievable as it will be for a lot of people, the two channels were really separate,” a U.S. official familiar with the talks told me. “They steamrolled in such a way that they ended up coming together at a time Iran wanted to clean the decks.”

The release set the stage for at least one additional step that could resolve some remaining differences between Tehran and Washington, but those negotiations are still under way. The Obama Administration also hopes today’s events will foster further coöperation when the United States and Iran participate in new Syrian peace talks, set to begin on January 25th—a process far more complex than the negotiations over nukes or hostages.

December, Obama: Apply Sanctions on Iran, No Wait

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No wait something with regard to humanitarian causes is brewing. Another cup of eggnog? Michelle, hold on….got a meeting, oh another conference call. John, I am not going to notify Congress, you do it and pick only those need to know Democrats to advise them. Is Jack Lew on line 5? Suspend, hold, where do I sign?

Freed Americans are on a Swiss jet w/ Giulio Haas, Swiss amb. to Iran. From Geneva they will go to a U.S. military base in Germany. Previously, Iran released them to the Swiss embassy.

Here comes the backstory on how all the Iran sanctions, prisoner swaps began and regardless of what Josh Earnest said, or the scolding of the media that Obama did and dismissing what John Kerry was promising, we and the Congress were lied to. Oh…imagine that….the Iran nuclear did DID include the prisoner swap that was being handled by the Swiss delegation and the Ayatollah.

Under Obama, millions or rather billions have been released to Iran for months.

The European Union Council lifted their sanctions, that statement is found here.

The full sanctions architecture listed by the U.S. Department of Treasury is found here.

As of 4:00 PM, EST POTUS formally revokes Executive Orders 13574, 13590, 13622 and 13645, in compliance with the JCPOA.

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Exclusive: In negotiating to free Americans in Iran, U.S. blinked on new sanctions

Reuters: The day before the Obama administration was due to slap new sanctions on Iran late last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry the move could derail a prisoner deal the two sides had been negotiating in secret for months.

Kerry and other top aides to President Barack Obama, who was vacationing in Hawaii, convened a series of conference calls and concluded they could not risk losing the chance to free Americans held by Tehran.

At the last minute, the Obama administration officials decided to delay a package of limited and targeted sanctions intended to penalize Iran for recent test-firings of a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.

This account of previously unreported internal deliberations was provided by two people with knowledge of the matter.

A third official said Obama had approved the decision to delay the sanctions.

Those unilateral U.S. sanctions are expected to be imposed quickly now after Iran freed five Americans, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, on Saturday. Eight Iranians accused in the United States of sanctions violations were having charges dropped or sentences commuted on Saturday under the complex prisoner deal, according to court filings and sources familiar with the cases.

The moves came as broader U.S. and international sanctions were set to be lifted after verification that it had met commitments to curb its nuclear program.

But Kerry’s decision not to call Iran’s bluff in December shows how months of clandestine negotiations to free Rezaian and other Americans became deeply intertwined with the final push to implement the nuclear deal, despite the official U.S. line that those efforts were separate.

A U.S. official said on Saturday there was no connection between the nuclear deal and the release of the Americans.

The prisoner swap could also come under scrutiny from critics who have questioned the Obama administration’s resolve in dealing with Iran and ability to follow through on its pledge to keep a hard line on sanctions outside those imposed on its nuclear program.

The episode was one of several diplomatic and military near misses between Iran and the United States in recent weeks, including a quickly defused crisis when 10 U.S. sailors were detained after entering Iranian waters.

 

TENSE CALLS AND BUREAUCRATIC ERRORS

Details of the prisoner talks were a closely held secret, so even within the Obama administration few people realized how perilously close the swap came to falling through.

On Dec. 29, Kerry told Zarif the United States intended to impose new sanctions on Iran over the missile test firings, which were deemed to have violated a United Nations ban, according to a U.S. official and congressional sources.

Zarif countered that if Washington went ahead, the prisoner swap was off, the sources said.

Kerry spoke by phone that night with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and a White House official and the decision was made to hold off on any sanctions announcement, they said.

Zarif’s ability to fend off new U.S. sanctions, even temporarily, may have bought him some breathing space with Iranian hardliners who oppose the terms of nuclear deal. They have insisted that any new sanctions would be a show of bad faith by Washington.

But a bureaucratic misstep almost undid Kerry and Lew’s decision. Word of their last-minute intervention to delay the sanctions never filtered down to working-level officials at the State Department during the holiday lull.

Unaware of the change of plan, the State officials went ahead and quietly informed key congressional offices the next morning about the new Iran sanctions targeting about a dozen companies and individuals. They included copies of a news release that the Treasury Department intended to issue.

Officials then abruptly pulled back, telling congressional staffers the announcement had been “delayed for a few hours,” according to an email seen by Reuters. The next day the State Department emailed that sanctions were delayed because of “evolving diplomatic work that is consistent with our national security interests.”

Administration officials then told some congressional staffers confidentially that something big involving Iran was in the works, in an apparent attempt to tamp down criticism from Capitol Hill, a congressional source said.

Leading lawmakers, including some of Obama’s fellow Democrats, chided the White House for delaying the sanctions package and suggested it could embolden Iran to further threaten its neighbors and destabilize the Middle East.

 

SMALL CIRCLE OF TRUST

The nuclear deal signed on July 14 between Iran and world powers had been widely hailed as a major boost for Obama’s legacy. But he also faced criticism for refusing to make the accord contingent on Iran’s release of Americans known to be held by Iran. The prisoners, accused of spying and other charges, included Rezaian and several other Iranian-Americans.

At a White House news conference the day after the nuclear accord was signed, Obama bristled at a reporter’s suggestion that while basking in the glow of the foreign policy achievement he was all but ignoring the plight of Americans still detained in Iran.

“You should know better,” he said, adding that U.S. diplomats were “working diligently to try to get them out.” But Obama insisted that linking their fate directly to the nuclear negotiations would have encouraged the Iranians to seek additional concessions.

Once the deal was done, Kerry told his staff to redouble efforts to secure the Americans’ release, a U.S. official said. By that time, Brett McGurk, a State Department official, had already been conducting secret negotiations for months with an unnamed Iranian representative, the official said.

In a sign that Iran was looking for a way forward, officials of the Iranian interests section in Washington – Tehran’s de facto embassy – began meetings in August with some of the 12 Iranians held in the United States for violating sanctions. The aim was to see whether they would be willing to return to Iran if a swap could be arranged, according to a person familiar with the cases.

In recent months, senior Iranian officials repeatedly floated the idea of a prisoner exchange, despite apparent opposition from Iranian hardliners.

Kerry informed only a handful of senior lawmakers on a confidential basis on Thursday night that a release of Americans held in Iran was imminent, a congressional source said.

Obama has had some success in keeping such proceedings under wraps in the past. His aides negotiated a deal in late 2014 that led to Cuba’s release of former U.S. aid contractor Alan Gross and a U.S. intelligence operative while Washington freed three Cuban spies.

But it was a prisoner swap earlier that year – the Taliban’s release of alleged U.S. army deserter Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for five Taliban commanders held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – that caused a backlash from Republican lawmakers. They argued that Obama failed to give Congress the legally required notice for transfer of Guantanamo prisoners and questioned whether Bergdahl endangered fellow soldiers by slipping away from his post in Afghanistan, provoking a massive manhunt.

On Saturday, Kerry and Zarif joined with European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini in Vienna for planned “Implementation Day,” which would end a decade of nuclear sanctions on Iran and unlock billions of dollars of its frozen assets.

With the U.S. prisoners free, Obama may now feel freer to go ahead with the missile sanctions, which are far more limited than the nuclear sanctions program that crippled Iran’s economy. U.S. officials have said that the new financial penalties remain on the table and are likely to be revisited soon.

 

Prisoner Swap with Iran, So Far 4 for 7 and Counting

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1:35 PM, EST Update:

The names of those who had Interpol red notices lifted by the State Department, the Department of Justice and the White House:

Mohammad Abbas Mohammadi, Kurosh Taherkhani, Sajjad Farhadi, Seyed Ahmad Abtahi, Gholamreza Mahmudi, Hamid Arabnezhad, Ali Mo’attar, Mohammad Ali She’rbaaf, Amin Ravan, Behruz Dowlatzadeh, Said Jamili, Jalal Salami, Matin Sadeghi, Alireza Mo’azami-Gudarzi.

***

Today, Barack Obama issued at least 3 pardons to Iranians in U.S. prisoners for violating Iran sanctions. Likely, there are other prisoners that will be part of a future swap in coming days.

Switzerland facilitated Iran-U.S. prisoner swap, Iran’s UN ambassador tells state TV.

Confirmed: Hamid Arabnejad, CEO of Mahan, which delivers weapons to Assad daily, to be taken off Interpol list as part of swap.

12:46p

America does not do prisoner swaps, at least until Barack Obama, where it has become and epidemic. Further, we still don’t know the status of former DEA/FBI operative Robert Levinson who was last heard from in 2011 and was kidnapped on Kish Island, as the Iranians continue to say they never heard of him.

The State Department has dropped Interpol ‘red notices’ on several others, those names have not been formally announced but several included those involved in the AIMA bombing in Buenos Aries, Argentina.

August, 2015: BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — An international arrest warrant for Iran’s former defense minister in the AMIA Jewish center bombing will not be lifted under the Iran nuclear deal, U.S. officials said.

Ahmad Vahidi is still being sought in connection with the deadly 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires center and nothing will change under the agreement between Iran and the world powers reached last month, according to the State Department.

“Nothing in the recently concluded Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action, or JCPOA, on Iran’s nuclear program has an impact on or removes the Red Notice for General Vahidi issued by Interpol, in relation to the 1994‎ bombing in Argentina,” the State Department said in a statement Friday, two days after Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman asked Secretary of State John Kerry about Vahidi’s status in a letter. “And we continue to urge the international community and Argentine authorities to do whatever is necessary to hold the AMIA bombers accountable for that atrocity.

Along with Vahidi, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and its officials remain sanctioned in the United States because they were listed for reasons outside the scope of the agreement, the statement said.

Timerman’s letter also was sent to European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that “the E.U.’s planned delisting of Tehran’s former minister of defense, retired Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, is among a group of Iranian military officers, nuclear scientists and defense institutions set to be rehabilitated internationally in the wake of the nuclear accord.”

The State Department added in its response that “our secondary sanctions will also stay in force, which means that foreign banks and companies could be exposed to sanctions if they engage in transactions with these listed individuals.”

Since Vahidi is not listed under any nuclear-related activities, the State Department said, he will remain on the Interpol list for eight more years.

Timerman, who is Jewish, in February asked Kerry to include the AMIA attack in the negotiations with Iran, but the attack was not part of the talks.

March of 2015:

Interpol won’t lift warrants for 6 Iranians in AMIA bombing

Arrest orders to remain active despite Tehran’s participation in probe of 1994 terror attack

The above position of not lifting the red notices has been declared null and void by Barack Obama as of January 16, 2016 in the larger mission of additional prisoner swaps.

VIENNA (AP) — The latest developments as Iran and world powers prepare to implement a landmark deal reached last year to curb Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions (all times local).

5:30 p.m.

U.S. and Iranian officials say Iran is releasing four detained Iranian-Americans in exchange for seven Iranians held or charged in the United States.

The major diplomatic breakthrough was announced Saturday as the implementation of a landmark nuclear deal appeared imminent.

U.S. officials say the four Americans, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former Marine Amir Hekmati and pastor Saeed Abidini, were to be flown from Iran to Switzerland on a Swiss plane and then brought to a U.S. military base in Landstuhl, Germany, for medical treatment.

In return, the U.S. will either pardon or drop charges against seven Iranians — six of whom are dual citizens — accused or convicted of violating U.S. sanctions. The U.S. will also drop Interpol “red notices” — essentially arrest warrants — on a handful of Iranian fugitives it has sought.

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5:10 p.m.

There are conflicting reports about the identities of the four prisoners released by Iran.

Iranian state TV on Saturday announced that four prisoners holding dual Iranian-American citizenship were released, without elaborating. The announcement fueled speculation that Jason Rezaian, the jailed Washington Post bureau chief, was among them.

An official close to Iran’s judiciary told The Associated Press that the prisoners included Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati and pastor Saeed Abedini. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

It was unclear who the fourth person was. Iranian state TV later reported it was Siamak Namazi, the son of a politician from the era of the shah, while the official IRNA news agency said it was Nosratollah Khosravi. The accounts could not be reconciled immediately.

— Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Iran

4 p.m

A source close to Iran’s judiciary is telling The Associated Press that four Iranian-Americans have been freed from prison in Iran: Washington Post bureau chief Jason Rezaian as well as Amir Hekmati, Saeed Abedini and Siamak Namazi.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the four were freed Saturday in exchange for the release of seven Iranians held in U.S. prisons. He didn’t name the Iranians but said the seven have already arrived in Tehran.

He says “authorities at the top had agreed to free the four Iranian-Americans only after the Iranian prisoners land in Tehran.”

— Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran

3:45 p.m.

A source close to Iran’s judiciary is confirming to The Associated Press that jailed Washington Post bureau chief Jason Rezaian is one of four dual-national prisoners freed today by Iran’s government.

Iranian state television announced the release of the four prisoners on Saturday but gave no names.

The source spoke on condition of anonymity since he was not authorized to publicly speak to the media.

— Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran

3:30 p.m.

Iranian state television says the government has freed four dual-nationality prisoners.

The report Saturday did not identify the prisoners but it comes amid speculation that jailed Washington Post bureau chief Jason Rezaian, a dual Iran-U.S. citizen convicted of espionage in a closed-door trial in 2015, could be among them.

The report by the semi-official ISNA news agency quotes a statement from the Tehran prosecutor’s office as saying the inmates were freed “within the framework of exchanging prisoners,” without elaborating.

The U.S. would not immediately confirm the Iranian report. But the family of one of the U.S prisoners received unofficial word from Iran that their relative was being released today, according to a person close to that family.

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11:20 a.m.

The EU’s top diplomat has met with Iran’s foreign minister for talks on implementing the nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers, as the U.N. atomic agency works on a report certifying that Iran has met its commitments under the accord.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will join Federica Mogherini of the European Union and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Vienna, the headquarters of the U.N’s International Atomic Energy Agency, later Saturday.

IAEA certification that Iran is honoring its obligations would trigger sanctions relief for Iran worth an estimated $100 billion.

Under the July 14 deal between Iran and six world powers, Tehran Iran agreed to crimp programs it could use to make nuclear weapons in return for an end to international nuclear-related sanctions

Iran says it has no interest in such arms.

___

11:15 a.m.

Iranian hard-liners are accusing moderate President Hassan Rouhani of “burying” the country’s nuclear program as Tehran and world powers are on the verge of implementing a historic nuclear accord.

Under the front-page headline “Nuclear Burial,” Hard-line daily Vatan-e-Emrooz on Saturday criticized the removal of the core of Iran’s only heavy water reactor, which was filled in with cement earlier this week as one of the final steps under the agreement.

The Javan daily says filling in the reactor is “hurting national pride.”

It says the Iranian people hope that the “bitterness of filling the Arak reactor with cement will be accompanied with the sweetness of filling their table,” referring to the lifting of crippling international sanctions.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif earlier said that the imminent release of a U.N. compliance report would trigger “Implementation Day,” with Iran receiving billions in sanctions relief in return for limiting its nuclear activities.

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10:40 a.m.

Iran’s foreign minister says an imminent compliance report by the U.N. nuclear agency will trigger the implementation of the historic nuclear accord reached with world powers last year, bringing a “good day” for Iran.

Mohammad Javad Zarif says the report will mark “Implementation Day,” when world powers provide Iran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for it curbing its nuclear program.

Speaking in Vienna on Saturday, where he was to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and top EU diplomat Federica Mogherini, Zarif called for greater cooperation to fight the “terrorism and extremism” that has engulfed the Middle East. His comments were broadcast on state TV.

******

WaPo: The full story of Jason Rezaian: On July 22, 2014, Iranian authorities crashed into the Tehran home of Washington Post Iran correspondent Jason Rezaian and arrested him and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, also a journalist. Rezaian was taken to Iran’s infamous Evin Prison, where he was put in solitary confinement for months, without a word of explanation to his family or to the outside world. Salehi, an Iranian citizen, was released on bail last fall.

Iran has said it will release Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, according to Iranian media.

Along with Rezaian, three other detained Americans are being released in a swap for seven people imprisoned or charged by the United States.

Rezaian’s incarceration was the longest, by far, for a Western journalist in Iran since the 1979 revolution that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power.

Throughout his captivity, the 39-year-old California native has been subjected to grueling interrogations and repeated deprivations, forced to stay for weeks in a bare cell without a mattress or even a toilet, family members said after they were allowed to speak with him.

Rezaian has been periodically deprived of medicine for his high blood pressure, family members said, and his physical condition has deteriorated, with dramatic weight loss, back pain and chronic eye and groin infections.

Top U.S. officials, including President Obama and Secretary of State John F. Kerry, have repeatedly demanded Rezaian’s release, echoing similar calls by other Western governments, human rights groups and Washington Post leadership, which has asserted the correspondent’s innocence.

July 25, 2014 : Iran confirms that Rezaian has been detained.

July 29, 2014: Wendy Sherman, undersecretary of state for political affairs, tells the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the United States formally called for the immediate release of Rezaian, his wife and two other U.S. citizens detained the same night.

Aug. 6, 2014 : Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Hassan Ghashghavi, says the detention is “an internal matter” and says the country does not acknowledge Rezaian’s U.S. citizenship.

Aug. 20, 2014:A photojournalist who worked with Rezaian and Salehi and also was detained is released on bail.

Sept. 17, 2014: In an interview with NPR, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Rezaian is “facing interrogation in Iran for what he has done as an Iranian citizen” but declines to name any crime. He says Iran’s judiciary “has no obligation to explain to the United States why it is detaining one of [Iran’s own] citizens.”

Douglas Jehl, The Post’s foreign editor, responds in a statement that Rezaian and his wife are “fully accredited journalists, and we remain mystified by their detention and deeply concerned about their welfare.”

Ali Rezaian, Jason’s older brother, says in a statement: “Neither I nor my mother have been permitted any communication with Jason. We remain concerned about their health and implore the Iranian authorities to release them in compliance with Iran’s existing laws and constitution.”

Oct. 5, 2014: Ali Rezaian says Salehi was released on bail during the previous week and was permitted one visit with her husband.

Dec. 6, 2014: After nearly five months of detention, Rezaian is charged after a 10-hour court proceeding that is closed to the public. He is denied legal representation and is accompanied by a government-appointed Farsi translator. He is denied bail.

Dec. 11, 2014: Mary Rezaian appears on video and pleads for her son’s release.


Jason Rezaian’s wife, Yeganeh Salehi, and his mother, Mary Rezaian, in Tehran on July 13 after the Washington Post correspondent’s third hearing at the Revolutionary Court. They were not allowed to attend the closed-door session, and Jason Rezaian’s attorney was barred from publicly discussing the proceedings. (Vahid Salemi/AP)

Jan. 14, 2015: Jason Rezaian’s case is transferred to a branch of the Revolutionary Court, which is closely aligned with Iranian intelligence services.

Feb. 1, 2015:Judge Abolghassem Salavati is picked to preside over the trial, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. He is one of six judges who are leading a crackdown on journalists and political activists in Iran, according to human rights groups. He formally charges Rezaian, then prohibits his chosen attorney from representing him.

Feb. 8, 2015: At a Munich Security Conference session, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius asks Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, about Rezaian. “I hope that he will be cleared of the charges in a court of law,” Zarif answers, “and that will be a good day for me.”

Much more to his story is found here.

 

al Qaeda at Southern Border, Shurkrjumah an Informant?

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New State Department Intel Confirms Arab Smuggling “Cells,” Al Qaeda Leader in Mexico   This week, Judicial Watch published another in our series of Pulitzer Prize-worthy reports the narco-terror threat, one of the many existential threats as a result of purposefully lax border security at the U.S.-Mexican reporter. I reprint the chilling report below from you from our Corruption Chronicles blog:

For more than a decade the U.S. government has known that “Arab extremists” are entering the country through Mexico with the assistance of smuggling network “cells,” according to State Department documents obtained by Judicial Watch that reveal among them was a top Al Qaeda operative wanted by the FBI. Some Mexican smuggling networks actually specialize in providing logistical support for Arab individuals attempting to enter the United States, the government documents say. The top Al Qaeda leader in Mexico was identified in the September 2004 cable from the American consulate in Ciudad Juárez as Adnan G. El Shurkrjumah. The cable was released to Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act.

The new intelligence records were released as a result of an ongoing JW investigation into the critical national security threats on the southern border, specifically those created by Islamic terrorists teaming up with Mexican drug cartels to infiltrate and attack the U.S. In response to JW’s reporting in the last two years the Obama administration-through various spokespeople, including FBI Director James Comey-has vehemently denied that Islamic terrorists are operating in Mexican towns near American cities or entering the U.S. through the famously porous southern border. The State Department documents, which include substantial redactions supposedly to protect classified and personal information, contradict this. JW obtained them as part of an investigative series into Shukrijumah, an Al Qaeda operative also known as Javier Robles. In December, 2014 Shukrijumah was killed by the Pakistan Army in an intelligence-borne operation in South Waziristan. But before he died Shukrijumah helped plan several U.S. attacks, including plots to bomb Oprah Winfrey’s studio and detonate nuclear devices in multiple American cities. For years Shukrijumah appeared on the FBI’s most wanted list and, despite being sought by the agency, he crossed back and forth into the U.S. from Mexico to meet fellow militant Islamists in Texas. JW has reported that, as one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, Shukrijumah piloted an aircraft into the Cielo Dorado airfield in Anthony, New Mexico. The new State Department records show that U.S. authorities knew Shukrijumah was in Mexico because they say that the Regional Security Office (RSO) at the consulate in Ciudad Juárez used newspapers to distribute information throughout Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico about the Al Qaeda operative at the request of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in El Paso. This appears on page 17 of the documents, which are linked above in their entirety. Of interesting note is that the government uses an exemption that applies to classified information to continue to withhold some of the records when the entire file was already declassified back in September, 2014. Information about Middle Eastern terrorists entering the U.S. through Mexico appears in a September 2, 2004 cable-declassified 10 years later-titled “CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANT, A PROVEN CI TO USG IN THE PAST, REPORTS ARAB CELLS WITHIN MEXICO.” It explains that a reputable government informant went to the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juárez and provided information pertaining to suspect Arab extremists who have been smuggled into the U.S. through the Mexican border. “The confidential source (SUBJECT) stated his family member, who is a human trafficker, knows the exact whereabouts of three Arabs who are currently being hidden in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico,” the State Department cable reads. “Although not absolutely positive, one of the three is likely Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, alleged to be a Saudi Arabian terrorist cell leader thought to be in Mexico. SUBJECT also provided information on two smuggling networks, “cells,” that specialize in providing logistical support for Arab individuals attempting to enter the United States.” Many questions remain about the U.S. government’s relationship with Shukrijumah, but last spring JW obtained records from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) that indicate he was a Confidential Source/Informant for the government. Shukrijumah lived in South Florida’s Broward County and graduated from Broward Community College with a degree in computer engineering. Four months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks Shukrijumah fled the U.S. He was one of the suspected actors in a number of planned terror attacks in the U.S., including a plot to simultaneously detonate nuclear devices in several U.S. cities. Convicted terrorist Jose Padilla claimed to have trained with Shukrijumah to blow up U.S. apartment buildings using natural gas explosions. In 2010 Shukrijumah was indicted in the Eastern District of New York for his role in a terrorist plot to attack targets in the United States-including New York City’s subway system-and the United Kingdom, according the FBI. The plot against New York City’s subway system was directed by senior Al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan, the FBI says, and was directly related to a scheme by Al Qaeda plotters in Pakistan to use Western operatives to attack a target in the United States. A year earlier Shukrijumah helped plan a terrorist truck-bomb targeting Winfrey’s Harpo Studios in Chicago as well as the iconic Sears Tower. Two of his fellow conspirators-Emad Karakrah and Hector Pedroza Huerta-were arrested in 2014 for unrelated state crimes in different parts of the country. Karakrah got busted in Chicago on charges of making a false car bomb threat after leading police on a high-speed chase with an ISIS flag waving from his vehicle. Huerta, an illegal alien twice convicted for driving intoxicated, got nabbed in El Paso for drunk driving. Both Karakrah and Pedroza were released from custody in 2015 under highly unusual plea deals. The men formed part of a sophisticated narco-terror ring, exposed in a JW investigative series, with connections running from El Paso to Chicago to New York City. The operation includes an all-star lineup of logistics and transportation operatives for militant Islamists in the United State, drug and weapons smugglers for the Juarez drug cartel in Mexico, an FBI confidential informant gone rogue and two of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists. Shukrijumah was one of them and, though he’s dead, he is an important part of the puzzle and extremely relevant when connecting the dots in the narco-terror ring.

The crisis at the Mexican border – and the government’s lies about the worsening Islamist terror threat – could result in a terrorist attack calamity for the United States. But you can see that we can make a difference – as I’m convinced JW’s reporting flushed the al Qaeda operative out of Mexico and resulted in his demise in Mexico.
 

Judicial Watch Clinton Records Lawsuits Uncovers More Hidden Documents

As if the hidden Clinton email cache wasn’t enough, apparently, the Obama State Department recently found “thousands” of new records from Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State. According to information provided to Judicial Watch by various Justice Department attorneys, the new documents appear to be “working” records in electronic format located on both “shared” and “individual” drives accessible to or used by persons identified as being relevant to Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits on the Benghazi scandal and controversies from Clinton’s term at State. The State Department confirmed the new find in a court filing earlier this month as part of a FOIA lawsuit concerning records about Clinton aide Huma Abedin:

After State filed its motion for summary judgment in this case [on November 11, 2015], State located additional sources of documents that originated within the Office of the Secretary that are reasonably likely to contain records responsive to Plaintiff’s request. State has informed Plaintiff that it intends to search these locations, produce non-exempt portions of any responsive records, and file a supplemental declaration in support of its motion for summary judgment (which is presently stayed).

This is how the Washington Free Beacon reported on JW’s find:

The watchdog group Judicial Watch has been suing the State Department for years to turn over public records related to Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, the Clinton Foundation, the employment arrangements of Clinton’s top aides, and her response to the Benghazi attack. According to the State Department, the newly found records are likely to include information relevant to Judicial Watch’s requests. Officials said they would need until at least Feb. 1 to review the documents.

In another modified limited hangout, the State Department admitted in another JW court case that the new records include the files of two of Clinton’s top aides:

The newly identified files that need to be searched in this case consist of office files that were available to employees within the Office of the Secretary during former Secretary Clinton’s tenure as well as individual files belonging to Jake Sullivan and Cheryl Mills.

The notorious Mills was Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff at State and Sullivan was her top policy advisor. Both now work on her presidential campaign. As best as I can tell, the Obama State Department is still withholding key facts. We still don’t where exactly these newly identified records are located; why they were not identified and searched previously; and how and when they were just identified. This is the statement we issued to the press about this new Clinton records scandal:

This latest find of Clinton records, at this late date, is astonishing. The State Department waited to last possible moment, as it did with the Clinton emails, to tell Judicial Watch and the federal courts about thousands of records that haven’t been searched, as the law requires. Who knew what – and when did they know it – about these new Clinton documents? These newly recovered Clinton records are a potential game changer – and will be of interest to the courts, Congress, and the FBI’s criminal investigation. It sure looks like more of the same in terms of Obama administration officials’ obstructing our FOIA requests, obstructing the courts, obstructing Congress, and obstructing justice. Judicial Watch exposed this new cover up on the heels of a finding by State Department’s Inspector General that Hillary Clinton and the Obama State Department thwarted specific Judicial Watch FOIA requests by lying about her email system with “inaccurate” and “incomplete” responses.

Despite this new obstruction, there was some success last week over our legal fight for all the emails of Huma Abedin, another Clinton State consigliere. We forced the State Department to agree to review and release under FOIA at least 29,000 Abedin emails over the next year. As Politico’s Josh Gerstein reported:

At a court hearing in September, a Justice Department attorney said State had no plans to process for release all of the emails submitted by Abedin and other top aides such as Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills and Director of Policy Planning Jake Sullivan. However, a legal filing Monday in a lawsuit brought by the conservative group Judicial Watch indicated State has acceded to a request to process all the emails Abedin turned over, except for news articles and summaries. “The parties have agreed that State will produce to Judicial Watch responsive, nonexempt records from within the recently received documents, excluding news clippings/briefings contained therein,” said the court filing (posted here). The schedule the two sides agreed to has the disclosure of the records overlapping significantly with Clinton’s presidential campaign and will have the State Department ramping up release of Abedin’s private emails just as the agency winds down its disclosure of Clinton’s messages.

So now a court will supervise the release of records the Obama gang had previously opposed. Though we all would have like to have the records released years ago, as opposed to within a year, you should know that the Obama operatives trying to protect Hillary Clinton’s quest for the presidency wanted us to wait three years! Looking back over this week, it’s remarkable that JW’s numerous lawsuits continue to make waves on the Clinton records issue. Mrs. Clinton is probably worrying about 150 FBI agents, investigating her potential crimes on her records scandal and her evident abuse of office to help out those funding the Clinton Foundation and her own bank accounts. But as JW’s work first led to the disclosure of both these scandals, you can see how JW is the key driver of the effort to hold her accountable for her corruption.

Until next week…

Tom Fitton President

Iran Sanctions, the Agenda of Congress

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50 House republicans calls upon Kerry to change course on and support US allies in the region.
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Report paving way for Iran sanctions relief likely on Saturday – source

An IAEA report verifying that Iran has kept its promises under a nuclear deal it reached with world powers last year is likely to be issued on Saturday, paving the way for sanctions on Tehran to be lifted, a diplomatic source said on Friday.

Iranian and other officials had previously said they expected the report to come out on Friday.

“Almost all details are ironed out,” said another diplomatic source, based in the Austrian capital.

Vienna is home to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog in charge of monitoring Iran’s implementation of the measures required in the deal Iran reached with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany last July.

The July deal calls on the agency to release its report once it has verified Iran has implemented all nuclear-related measures. The IAEA had no comment on Friday on the timing of the report.

Iranian officials have said Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the European Union’s Federica Mogherini would issue a statement on Saturday or Sunday on the “Implementation Day” of the nuclear deal and the lifting of sanctions.

Under the July agreement, Iran agreed to shrink its atomic programme in exchange for the lifting of some EU, U.S. and U.N sanctions, which would allow billions of dollars of investment to flow into the country.

Since July, Iran has drastically reduced the number of centrifuges installed at its enrichment sites, shipped tonnes of low-enriched uranium materials to Russia and dismantled the core of its Arak nuclear reactor.

Some officials said a meeting in relation to Iran might take place on Saturday in Vienna, where the deal was reached.

“There may be some sort of a meeting tomorrow in Vienna, after which, if everything goes well, we will issue a statement from the Secretary-General,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

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WSJ: BRUSSELS—The European Union has rolled over until January 28 the modest sanctions suspension Iran won following the 2013 interim nuclear deal.

The move comes as Western and Iranian officials say they expect the full implementation of last July’s final nuclear deal to take place in coming days. That will trigger the suspension of broad European, U.S. and United Nations sanctions on Iran.

“As soon as the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms that Iran has taken the nuclear measures under” July’s deal, member states “will give effect to the lifting of all EU economic financial sanctions taken in connection with the Iranian nuclear program,” the bloc said in a news release. That “will supersede the limited sanctions relief extended today,” the bloc said.

Related

Under the interim deal, struck in November 2013, Iran won relief from sanctions on gold and precious-metals trading and some measures affecting its auto and petrochemicals exports. The sanctions relief, which included the unfreezing of some oil revenues held under U.S. sanctions abroad, was estimated at the time to be worth some $7 billion.

In exchange, Iran agreed modest restraints on its nuclear program.

July’s final deal lifts most sanctions on Iran in exchange for major steps to wind back Tehran’s nuclear activities.

According to EU diplomats, the bloc was originally considering rolling over the sanctions suspension for three weeks but as Iran raced to complete the work needed for the final nuclear deal to take effect, they cut the rollover period to two weeks.