Another Secret Deal for Iran via Obama, Missile Technology

It is apparent we don’t know enough with regard to who is in this country, why they are here and how they are being used and exploited as bargaining tools by the White House and John Kerry advancing Iran’s position in the world. John Kerry and the State Department have given into every request and thrown in so much more to sweeten the pot, but to what end is the big question.

IranWatch: Arrested on June 8, 2010, in connection with an indictment filed on June 2, 2010, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, charging Modanlo, along with Iranian citizens Hamid Malmirian, Reza Heidari, Mohammad Modares, Abdol Reza Mehrdad, and Sirous Naseri, with conspiring, between January 2000 and November 2007, to supply Iran with satellite technology and hardware in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA); convicted, on June 10, 2013, of conspiracy to defraud the United States, violating the Iran Trade Embargo, and money-laundering; the remaining defendants in the case have not been arrested (as of June 2013).

Allegedly attended meetings with Iranian officials that facilitated contact with POLYOT, a Russian government-owned aerospace enterprise, which led to the launch of an Iranian satellite on October 27, 2005; allegedly chairman and managing member of New York Satellite Industries, LLC, which allegedly received $10 million from a front company, Prospect Telecom, as consideration for facilitating the agreement between Iran and POLYOT, as well as for providing telecommunications services as part of that agreement; New York Satellite Industries allegedly used Modanlo’s home address as its business address; allegedly served as chairman and president of Final Analysis, Inc., and was president of its subsidiary, Final Analysis Communication Services; reportedly was refused entry into Russia for attempting to acquire technical documentation on satellites and missiles to be transferred to Iran in violation of Russian export controls.

An Iranian-born naturalized U.S. citizen and a mechanical engineer; 52 years old (as of June 2013).

Potomac Man Sentenced To 8 Years In Prison For Conspiring To Illegally Provide Satellite Services To Iran

Exclusive: White House dropped $10 million claim in Iran prisoner deal

Reuters: Nader Modanlo was facing five more years in federal prison when he got an extraordinary offer: U.S. President Barack Obama was ready to commute his sentence as part of this month’s historic and then still-secret prisoner swap with Iran. He said no.

To sweeten the deal, the U.S. administration then dropped a claim against the Iran-born aerospace engineer for $10 million that a Maryland jury found he had taken as an illegal payment from Iran, according to interviews with Modanlo, lawyers involved and U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

The surrender of the U.S. claim, which has not previously been reported, could add to scrutiny of how the Obama administration clinched a prisoner deal that has drawn criticism from Republican presidential candidates and lawmakers.

A Washington-based spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment on discussions over the $10 million, which the jury found that Modanlo was paid to help Iran launch its first satellite in 2005. Modanlo says the money was a loan from a Swiss company for a telecoms deal.

In the prisoner swap, five Americans held in Iran were released at the same time as seven Iranians charged or imprisoned in the United States were granted pardons or had their sentences commuted. The deal accompanied the Jan. 16 implementation of a landmark agreement that curbs Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Even after receiving the improved offer on Friday, Jan. 15, Modanlo said he didn’t budge at first. He wanted a chance to clear his name in court, he says.

“I was mostly disappointed that I have to give up my right to appeal,” Modanlo, 55, told Reuters in one of his first interviews since being released.

“If they believe in their justice system why would they deprive me of it? Let them prove me wrong.”

As part of their clemency agreements, all of the Iranians had to renounce any claims against the U.S. government. All but one had been accused of violating the economic sanctions the United States has enforced against Iran for decades.

Modanlo’s reluctance to accept Obama’s offer became an eleventh-hour complication to an otherwise carefully staged deal with Iran that had been negotiated in secret for months by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart.

He only agreed to accept the clemency offer on Saturday, Jan. 16 as the clock ticked toward what U.S. officials said was the final deadline, according to Modanlo and U.S. officials.

He was freed the next day from a federal prison near Richmond, Virginia. The release marked an abrupt conclusion to his case after a sprawling, decade-long investigation into Modanlo’s role in brokering Iran’s access to space technology. U.S. federal agents had pursued evidence from the suburbs of Washington to Switzerland and Russia.

Modanlo was serving the longest sentence of any of the seven Iranians and had the most extensive, established connections to Iran’s government.

He was also the only one known to have initially declined Obama’s offer, according to interviews with lawyers for the men.

An official at Iran’s interests section in Washington, Iran’s de facto embassy, testified in Modanlo’s defense at his 2013 trial. The same Iranian representative, Fariborz Jahansoozan, was instrumental in brokering the prisoner exchange in recent months, lawyers for those involved have said.

“This story is done and over with,” Jahansoozan said when reached by Reuters, declining to discuss the case in detail. “Please let it go and move forward.”

After two years in prison, Modanlo says he is finding that hard. “I know this cloud is going to be over my head forever,” he said.

 

AMERICAN DREAM SOURED

Modanlo grew up in northern Iran, the son of a wealthy landowner. As a child, he remembers watching the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 that put American astronauts on the moon and being inspired to become a space engineer.

Decades later, after moving to the United States and becoming a U.S. citizen, Modanlo had become a space entrepreneur with a company valued at $500 million.

He helped launch an American satellite from a Russian rocket in 1995. His company, Final Analysis, focused on the emerging field of low-orbit satellites for data services.

But a series of missteps drove the company into bankruptcy in 2001, and Modanlo was sued by a former partner, who accused him of selling missile technology to Iran.

Modanlo says U.S. authorities used the missile claim to win assistance from Switzerland in obtaining evidence against him. Raids at Modanlo’s Maryland home and office seized a truck load of documents and 120 computer hard drives but no supporting evidence for that claim, he said.

“They knew this was false. They knew I had no missile technology,” he said.

The ensuing investigation uncovered documents prosecutors say showed Modanlo brokered a deal between Iran and Russia to launch the satellite in exchange for a $10 million fee. A Maryland jury convicted him of sanctions violations after a six-week trial. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.

In an appeal, Modanlo’s lawyers argued that private communications between the trial judge and prosecutors had excluded evidence that could have changed the outcome.

Robert King, one of the judges who heard Modanlo’s appeal, admonished prosecutors for that practice in an October hearing.

U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said the evidence against Modanlo had been disclosed in court and proved “beyond any reasonable doubt that Mr. Modanlo secretly helped Iran launch a satellite for $10 million.”

Modanlo said he felt certain the appeal would go his way. Then his lawyer told him that he would have to give up that appeal and be stuck with the $10 million forfeiture claim if he took the clemency offer.

“I waive my right to bring a claim against you, but your claim continues for God knows how many years against me?” Modanlo said. “After back and forth a number of times they agreed to take the $10 million off the table.”

After calls from his attorneys and Iranian representatives failed to convince Modanlo to take the clemency, it was a pleading and tearful call from his sister in Iran that finally made him relent, he said.

“If it was for me, I would never have taken the deal,” he said.

Militia, Burns, Oregon: Several Arrested, One Dead

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LaVoy Finicum Dead: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Heavy: Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum was killed on the night of January 26 as the militia standoff near Burns, Oregon, appeared to come to an end. Famously, Finicum, 55, had told the media on January 6 that he would choose death over surrender in the case. His death was confirmed by Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore. She wrote on Twitter:

 

My heart & prays go out to LaVoy Finicum’s family he was just murdered with his hands up in Burns OR.Ryan Bundy has been shot in the arm

— Michele Fiore (@VoteFiore) January 27, 2016

Finicum was killed during a traffic stop, reports CNN. He died one day before his 56th birthday.

Oregon Public Radio reports that Finicum and some of his comrades were pulled over between the towns of Burns and John Day at around 4:30 p.m. local time.

Since January 2, activists have been occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. Those armed protesters, led in-part by Ammon Bundy, were protesting the sentence of Dwight and Steve Hammond. They were found guilty of committing arson on federal land.

Here’s what you need to know:


1. Cliven Bundy Said Finicum Was Sacrificed ‘For a Good Purpose’

LaVoy Finicum Funeral

His full name was Robert LaVoy Finicum. He was a neighbor of Cliven Bundy’s ranch, where the infamous 2014 ranch standoff occurred. They were neighbors despite Finicum living in Arizona and Bundy living in Nevada. On January 5, 2016, Finicum told NBC News that he may want to go home to Arizona soon saying, “I need to get home. I got cows that are scattered and lost.”

When he heard about the arrests and death, Cliven Bundy told Los Angeles Times reporter Matt Pearce, “Isn’t this a wonderful country we live in?” He added, “We believe those federal people shouldn’t even be there in that state, and be in that county and have anything to do with This issue. … I have some sons and other people there trying to protect our rights and liberties and freedoms, and now we’ve got one killed, and I can say is, he’s sacrificed for a good purpose.”

LaVoy Finicum funeral

(Getty)

Bundy later confirmed Finicum’s death to CBS Las Vegas reporter Patranya Bhoolsuwan. In a statement on his Facebook page, Bundy wrote:

The resolve for principled liberty must go on. It appears that America was fired upon by our government. One of liberty’s finest patriots is fallen. He will not go silent into eternity. Our appeal is to heaven.

2. During the Standoff in Oregon, He Had Become Known as ‘Tarp Man’

 

During his involvement in the Malheur standoff, the 11 foster children that were in the care of Finicum have been taken away. Finicum complained that those children were he and his wife’s major source of labor and money on their ranch, reported Time Magazine. An MSNBC report on the standoff dubbed Finicum “Tarp Man” as he could be seen covered in a blue tarp with a rocking chair during the incident.

When asked by NBC News why he chose to sit out in such a visible position, he said that he wanted officers to be able to find him. Finicum said, “I do not want the FBI federal agents to have to go running around in the dark, kicking in doors looking for me, OK? I want them to know exactly where I’m at.” He added, chillingly, “I’m telling them right now — don’t point guns at me.”


3. He Posted a Video of His Family Singing ‘Amazing Grace’ Just Hours Before His Death

 

On his Twitter page, Finicum goes by the moniker “@OneCowboysStand.” His bio on the page reads, “Rancher, Loves Freedom and willing to fight and die defending it.” His last post on the site was a video of a group of children singing “Amazing Grace.” His Twitter pseudonym is taken from his book title, One Cowboy’s Last Stand for Freedom. In an interview with NBC News, Finicum said that he would rather be killed than arrested saying, “I have no intention of spending any of my days in a concrete box. There are things more important than your life and freedom is one of them. I’m prepared to defend freedom.”

According to Mormon tradition, cremation is not encourage and a proper funeral burial is preferred.

4. He Was a Man Who Loved ‘Nothing More in Life Than God, Family & Freedom’

Lavoy Finicum Dead Dies

(Getty)

On his official website, Finicum wrote:

As he has watched the ever increasing encroachment of government into the lives of the American people he has felt to make a stand for freedom. He has drawn a line in the sand and that line is the Constitution in its original intent.

The Constitution of the United States of America is a charter to protect the freedom of man by putting strict limits on government. We are living in a day when that supreme law of the land has been shredded by the very government that took an oath to uphold it. By their actions the Federal Government has become lawless and stalks the liberties of this land under the guise of social justice.

Shown below are LaVoy and Jeanette’s 11 children. This is why freedom is so important!

He also describes himself as a rancher who “loves nothing more in life than God, family, and freedom.”

Meanwhile on his wife, Jeanette’s LinkedIn page, she lists foster care provider as her full time job.

One of the couple’s daughters, Arianna Finicum Brown, 26, told the Oregonian that she wasn’t worried for her father’s safety during the standoff. She said, “I talked to him, and he said they were telling people to go if they weren’t there for the right reasons, they didn’t want anyone there who could make everything go bad. He had no plans to be violent. My dad was a really good guy.”


5. Ammon Bundy Has Been Arrested in Oregon

Ammon Bundy

Ammon Bundy pictured on his Facebook page.

KATU reports that Ammon Bundy and other members of the militia, including Ryan Payne, were arrested by the FBI and Oregon State Police on the night of January 26 during the traffic stop where Finicum was killed.

It’s unclear who shot first but one person was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Michele Fiore said that person was Ryan Bundy, another son of Cliven, who was shot in the arm.

New Technology for Diplomacy, the Blackberry for Wendy/Hillary

Primer: Anyone subpoena the Blackberry call records and meta-data?

Wendy Sherman worked for both the Clinton administration and the Obama administration. Wendy’s early background included: She has formerly worked as a social worker, the director of EMILY’s list, the director of Maryland’s office of child welfare, and the founding president of the Fannie Mae Foundation. During the Clinton Administration, she served as Counselor of the United States Department of State and Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State and North Korea Policy Coordinator. In the latter role, she was instrumental in negotiations related to North Korea’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs that failed to stop North Koreas nuclear program. She was also the lead negotiator for the Iran nuclear deal. She currently serves as a resident fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics (IOP). Sherman directed Campaign ’88 for the Democratic National Committee, where she oversaw field and political operations, communications, Congressional relations, constituency operations, issue development and coordination with all federal, state and local campaigns during the 1988 general election. Wendy Sherman was the Clinton administration’s policy coordinator for North Korea. The Clinton Administration had first arrived at the 1994 Agreed Framework under which, North Korea agreed to freeze and dismantle its nuclear weapons program, including its main reactor at Yongbyon (Sherman continues to defend the 1994 deal and her involvement in it, stating that “during the Clinton administration not one ounce of plutonium was added to the North Korean stockpile”). Sherman later headed North Korean negotiation policy until 2001.

Fox: 2013 Video Shows Wendy Sherman Boasting About Clinton Using Blackberry to Send Classified Material

FreeBeacon: Fox News correspondent Ed Henry reported Monday on a 2013 video showing State Department official Wendy Sherman boasting at a private event about Hillary Clinton and her aides sending, as Henry put it, “sensitive information on unclassified systems.”

“Now we have Blackberries, and it has changed the way diplomacy is done,” Sherman says in the 2013 tape. “Things appear on your Blackberries that would never be on an unclassified system, but you’re out traveling. You’re trying to negotiate something.“

Henry said Fox News had exclusively obtained the clip, where Sherman is shown speaking with the American Foreign Service Association.

“Sherman cited the example of Clinton’s September 2011 visit to the United Nations General Assembly, where the then-Secretary of State met with Lady [Catherine] Ashton of the European Union, and they conducted delicate Middle East peace negotiations,” Henry said.

The clip then returned to Sherman in 2013.

“And so they sat there as they were having the meeting with their Blackberries transferring language back and forth, between them and between their aides, to multitask in quite a new fashion,” Sherman said.

Fox reports:

Previous email releases by the State Department of Clinton’s official correspondence show that in September 2011, Clinton aide Jake Sullivan forwarded her an email chain on the Quartet statement.

The State Department considered the correspondence sensitive enough that the department deemed some of those emails to now be classified, and officials redacted details before the emails were released to the public.

The conservative super PAC America Rising declared that under National Archives guidelines, the information deemed classified involves “foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States, including confidential sources,” so it was born classified when the emails were created.

“Despite her numerous protests, evidence continues to grow showing Secretary Clinton knowingly sent and received classified material using her private email,” Jeff Bechdel, communications director for America Rising, said in a written statement. “This new video again puts Clinton on defense, forcing the former Secretary of State to explain why she put U.S. intelligence at risk by exclusively [using] a private email account for government business.”

A Clinton aide would not comment on the video, which was revealed as new Fox News polls showed a tightening race between Clinton and Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders. Clinton’s once double-digit lead in Iowa has dwindled to just 6 points, while Sanders has opened a 22-point lead in New Hampshire.

Both Iowa and New Hampshire polls showed that a candidate’s trustworthiness topped the qualities Democratic voters look for most in their preferred candidates.

Non-Stop Flight: NYC to Tehran?

As an aside note, one of the 7 in the prisoner swap and 14 people that Obama lifted the Interpol ‘red-notice’ on was the CEO of Mahan Air.

See more on Mahan Air here.

Obama Admin Denies Resumption of U.S.-Iran Commercial Flights

Iran Air / Wikimedia Commons

Iran Air / Wikimedia Commons

BY:

Obama administration officials on Monday denied that they are holding talks with Iran aimed at resuming direct flights between the two countries, according to information provided by the administration to the Washington Free Beacon.

The head of Iran’s national air carrier, Iran Air, announced over the weekend that negotiations are taking place between the United States and Iran regarding the resumption of direct flights between the countries.

The announcement, which Obama administration officials denied Monday when asked by the Free Beacon, comes as Iran engages in talks with French airplane manufacturer Airbus about the purchase of more than 100 new planes.

Farhad Parvaresh, Iran Air chairman, said that talks are underway with the United States to begin direct flights from America to Iran now that international sanctions on the Islamic Republic have been lifted as part of the recent nuclear agreement.

The “Iran Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is conducting talks on direct flights between Iran and the US,” Parvaresh said, according to the country’s state-controlled press. “Daily flights to New York used to take place before the Islamic Revolution and they will hopefully get resumed in near future.”

Obama administration officials say this is not true, citing a number of concerns that would complicate any such resumption.

The administration officials maintain that, to their knowledge, no talks have take place between the U.S. government and Iran regarding the resumption of direct flights.

“There are no U.S. government officials involved in such talks,” a State Department official who was not authorized to speak on record told the Free Beacon.

A resumption of U.S.-Iran flights is “not something we’re considering,” the official said. “There are a number of issues, regulatory and otherwise, that would prevent direct flights between the U.S. and Iran.”

A second administration official also confirmed that direct U.S.-Iran flights are “not something we are considering.”

Primarily, Iranian travelers would be unable to obtain a U.S. travel visa since America has no diplomatic ties with Iran and does not maintain an embassy in the country.

However, dual U.S.-Iranian citizens might benefit from such an arrangement.

Iran is continuing to explore ways in which it can expand its aviation industry. A portion of the nuclear agreement centered on lifting restrictions on Iran’s ability to conduct business with international airlines and plane manufacturers.

Iran has long been operating an aged fleet of commercial planes that are in dire need of spare parts. Since the nuclear deal was implemented and international sanctions were lifted, Iranian officials have begun talks with European airliners and airports.

France’s Airbus confirmed Monday that talks are underway to sell Iran some of the newest commercial jetliners.

The sales could encompass “100-seat turboprops to the 555-seat twin-deck Airbus A380 superjumbo,” according to reports in the U.S. and Iranian media.

“We have been negotiating for 10 months” about the purchase, but “there was no way to pay for them because of banking sanctions,” Iran’s transportation minister told the country’s state-controlled press.

The release by the United States of some $150 billion in once-frozen cash assets has enabled Iran to more seriously negotiate a deal.

“Following the lifting of international economic sanctions, Iran seeks [to] purchase 114 Airbus jets to renovate the aging fleet,” said Iran Air chairman Parvaresh. “Hopefully, a part of the financing will be carried out by the National Development Fund of Iran.”

Iran also is in talks to boost relations with many European airports. This will enable Iran’s commercial airplanes to more easily land, refuel, and resupply.

“Currently, on the basis of a contract with France’s Total, Iran Air flights are supplied with necessary fuel in French airports,” Parvaresh was quoted as saying. “So far, London Heathrow, Amsterdam, Hamburg Fuhlsbuttel and Vienna airports have also resolved the issue for Iranian aircrafts while talks with other fuel companies are underway.”

Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon adviser and terrorism analyst, dismissed the Obama administration’s denial, saying that time and again, Iranian press reports have more accurately reported the status of U.S.-Iran negotiations.

“The sad truth is that the Iranian press has been more accurate than the White House with regard to anything dealing with secret talks or American concessions,” Rubin said, saying the denial “means nothing.”

Rubin also warned that European nations should consider that boosting aviation ties with Iran means that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps will gain access to major airports.

“Why not trust airplane security to Revolutionary Guards baggage handlers?” Rubin asked. “And if they pilfered electronics from luggage, they could avoid the tricky issue of evading what few sanctions remain on electronics.”

Lowell, the Stupid City in Massachusetts

What font point, how many words, who reads it? How long in committee? Trigger words? Ah ha ha

Would any criminal do this? Cursive or print?

Who thinks of this crap and then votes with it?

Critics blast Massachusetts city’s new ‘essay’ rule for gun-carry applicants

FNC: Critics are blasting a Massachusetts city’s new law that they claim requires residents applying for a license to carry handguns to write “an essay” and pay upwards of $1,100 for training.

The new laws take effect this week in Lowell, a city of 110,000 that lies 35 miles north of Boston. Pushed by Police Superintendent William Taylor and passed by the City Council, they require applicants for unrestricted handgun licenses to state in writing why they should receive such a license. Taylor, who was unavailable for comment on Monday, has sole discretion for approving or denying the applications.

“It is absurd that people should have to write an essay to the town to explain why they should be able to exercise their constitutional rights,” said Jim Wallace, executive director of Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts. “We already have a very strict set of gun laws in the state, but this is way over the top.”

“It is absurd that people should have to write an essay to the town to explain why they should be able to exercise their Constitutional rights.”

– Jim Wallace, Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts.

State law sets guidelines and requirements, but gives local chiefs of police broad discretion in implementation. While other cities and towns in Massachusetts have tough licensing regulations, Lowell’s new requirements, which also include taking a gun safety course over and above one already required by the state, prompted complaints at a public hearing last week.

“I will never write an essay to get my rights as an American citizen,” resident Dan Gannon told the City Council.

The new policy was prompted in part by a year-old federal lawsuit brought by Commonwealth Second Amendment, a Bay State gun-rights group. Attorney David Jensen said the suit stems from Lowell’s history of denying qualified applicants permits to carry handguns without what the plaintiffs consider a legitimate rationale.

Jensen said the jury is still out on whether the new policy will prove a remedy or just a more formal system for rejecting applications.

“The question right now is what they actually do,” Jensen said. “Our initial response to that would be that the Second Amendment secures the right to keep and bear arms. You really shouldn’t be required to write an essay explaining why you would like to exercise this fundamental right.”

Lowell Police spokesman Capt. Timothy Crowley said characterizing the written requirement as an “essay” is not accurate.

“If you want a license to carry a firearm unrestricted wherever you want and whenever you want, the superintendent is just looking for some documentation as to why,” Crowley said. “That is not unreasonable to most people.”

Despite the criticism, the new rules were adopted unanimously and are set to take effect this week.

“We’re no longer taking a cookie-cutter approach to issuing firearms licenses,” City Manager Kevin Murphy told the Lowell Sun, noting that the new policy will allow Taylor to look more closely at each applicant.

That’s exactly what concerns Wallace, who urged Lowell residents not to adhere to the new rules and to simply turn to the courts if and when their applications are denied.

“It’s like having a college professor say, ‘I’m going to read your essay and if I don’t like it, I’m going to give it back to you,’” Wallace said.

A 1998 state law known as the Gun Control Act included a raft of new regulations, fees and requirements that contributed to an 80 percent reduction in gun licenses over time, according to Wallace. The new law in Lowell, which Taylor said has about 6,000 gun owners with licenses to carry, will require a specialized training course.

A local firearms-safety instructor, Randy Breton, told the Sun the training requirement appeared designed to purposely make it cost-prohibitive to apply for a gun permit. He said one five-day course approved by the city costs $1,100.

“It’s beyond ridiculous,” Breton told the newspaper.