Morgan Ortagus: Iranian regime is actively trying to kill Americans
Former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus reacts to reports of bounties by the Iranian regime to assassinate former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other American officials on 'The Next Revolution.'
JERUSALEM, Israel – Leaked audio from the Iranian regime’s parliament reveal the controversial nuclear agreement could enable Tehran to partially bypass U.S. congressional review of the atomic accord. That, according to one report, could mean the lifting of sanctions on Iran and senior officials involved in the mass murder of 241 American service personnel in 1983 in Beirut, Lebanon.
The leaked audio covered in a briefing by Ali Bagheri-Kani, the lead Iranian negotiator to the nuclear talks in Vienna, to its parliament (Majlis) in Tehran earlier last week.
The London-based Iran International news organization obtained the leaked audio last month and disclosed the outline of the nuclear deal, including the Biden administration's ostensible agreement to drop sanctions against Iranian officials who were implicated in the murder American soldiers and other terror attacks.
Gabriel Noronha, a former special adviser for Iran in the U.S. State Department, analyzed Bagheri-Kani’s briefing. Noronha wrote in a report that the proposed Iran deal is "designed to partially circumvent congressional review of the deal under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act."
U.S. Marines search for survivors and bodies in the rubble – all that was left of their barracks in Beirut – after a suicide car bomb was driven into the building and detonated in 1983, killing 241 U.S. service members and wounding over 60. (LightRocket via Getty Images)
According to the revelations in his report, the Biden administration agreed to lift U.S. Executive Order 13876, which targets the theocratic state’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi, as well as the former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan, Noronha noted.
Dehghan was responsible for the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, wrote Noronha, a fellow in the Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy for the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA.)
The Iran expert said that based on Tehran’s disclosures, "In total, over 170 individuals and entities could be removed from U.S. sanctions before congressional review."
The nuclear pact could also erase the sanction against former IRGC Commander Mohsen Reza’i, responsible for the bombing of the Jewish community center AMIA in 1994 in Buenos Aires, resulting in the mass murder of 85 people.
Raisi was sanctioned by the Trump administration for his role in the massacre of 5,000 Iranian political prisoners in 1988 and the mass killing of nearly 1,500 peaceful protestors in 2019.
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When asked about Noronha’s report based on the leaked audio coming from Iran’s regime, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital "We are not going to comment on purported leaks or ideologically motivated claims, many of which are inaccurate."
Responding to the State Department spokesperson on his report, Noronha told Fox News Digital "I would love to be proven wrong – none of these Iranian terrorists, torturers, or their banks deserve sanctions relief. However, U.S. officials have privately confirmed the veracity of the Iranian government documents which detail the breathtaking concessions given by the State Department's negotiators. That's why three U.S. officials involved in the talks quit in protest and why Russia's ambassador was bragging in March that ‘Iran got much more that it expected’ out of the United States."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital "The Biden administration is finding every last way to show weakness and appeasement toward our enemies, including and especially toward Iran and the terrorist groups the Ayatollah controls. The nuclear deal that Biden is trying to finalize with Iran will be catastrophic. If kept in force, it will inevitably lead to Iran acquiring a nuclear arsenal."
Cruz added "Thousands of people will die because of the money the deal will send to Iran and its terrorist groups. And millions may die because of the nuclear arsenal that Iran ultimately will be able to create."
Both Republican and Democratic administrations have designated Iran’s regime as the world’s worst state-sponsor of international terrorism, and the Biden administration has continued to add sanctions on the regime since taking office.
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The flag of Iran waves in front of the International Center building with the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna, May 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)
According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Iran expert, Saeed Ghasseminejad, "The new nuclear deal would allow Tehran to access up to $275 billion in financial benefits during its first year in effect and $1 trillion by 2030."
The Biden administration, and other world powers (China, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany) are seeking to impose temporary restrictions on Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program as part of the deal in exchange for a massive infusion of cash into Tehran’s coffers. The formal name for the Iran nuclear deal is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Yet, a new deal is still far from certain. Late last week a State Department spokesperson gave notice that it was not impressed with Iran's responses to a new European Union draft. The spokesperson noted in a statement that: "We can confirm that we have received Iran’s response through the EU. We are studying it and will respond through the EU, but unfortunately it is not constructive."
President Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 because his administration said it did not stop Iran’s drive to develop a nuclear weapon and pumped money into the clerical regime to finance its global terrorism.
Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, a former deputy commander of the Israel Defense Forces’ Gaza Division, told Fox News Digital, "When we talk about terrorists who have blood on their hands who have attacked U.S. forces, the West needs to convey a clear message that we don’t forgive and forget."
He continued that right now "Iran is attacking American troops. Why is the U.S. rushing toward concessions [with Iran]. The [U.S.] administration is saying that Iran is conducting countless attacks on U.S. troops in Syria and Iraq."
U.S. officials said in August Iranian regime-sponsored combatants in Iraq have launched attacks from on an American compound in Syria.
Fox News Digital reported in August the U.S. military launched airstrikes in eastern Syria to knock out facilities used by groups linked to the Iran’s IRGC.
Avivi, the founder and CEO of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, said "Lifting the sanctions following the agreement will be devastating for the Middle East and will completely destabilize the region. The funds will be used by Iran to weaponize their militias and enhance their aggression all over the Middle East."
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The Iranian regime’s reported terrorism targeting American military personnel has not been limited to Lebanon. Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tehran and its militias were behind the murders of more than 600 American troops in Iraq.
Avivi, the former Israeli general, noted, "The West is funding its own enemies and its path to destruction. There is no reason for this."