Tasnim � A senior political expert and activist based in Atlanta slammed a recent move by the US Congress to impose new sanctions against Iran and said it was another hoax attempt by Washington to demonize the Islamic Republic.





�So this current Congressional sanctions move is just another attempt to put Iran in the bogeyman box again, with this bogus claim that its capability of putting satellites in orbit with domestic launch vehicles which cannot be sanctioned is a military threat to the US,� Jim W. Dean said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency.

Jim Dean is the managing editor of Veterans Today wearing many hats, including development, writing and editing articles. He has an active schedule of TV and radio interviews.

Following is the full text of the interview:

Tasnim: As you know, the US House of Representatives and then the Senate recently passed a sweeping package of bills on sanctions against Iran, Russia, and North Korea. The US legislation would impose mandatory penalties on people involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them. Many have described the new legislation as another breach of the spirit of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) while some others believe the US move has even violated the text of the nuclear deal. What is your assessment of the move and in your opinion, what would it signal to the world�s public opinion on the US commitment to the international and multilateral agreements?

Dean: The Republicans in Congress are still bitter over Obama getting the Iran nuclear deal not only approved by the P5+1 but also the US Security Council vote, which made it international law. US media at the time never covered a key part of the story that the successful completion of the agreement proved that the long time claims of Iran having a secret nuclear weapons program had been a complete hoax. For the US initially, the purpose was to justify the deployment of a missile shield against Russia, using Iran as a cover. For the Israelis, they had claimed for decades that Iran was a year or two away from the bomb as an excuse to threaten a preemptive strike on Iran.

At Veterans Today we always knew it was a hoax, via briefings from our top nuclear weapons expert, Clinton Bastin, before he died in 2014, who spent 40 years with the Dept. of Energy and was a world-renowned expert. I had a chemical engineering background so I was able to follow the science.

So this current Congressional sanctions move is just another attempt to put Iran in the bogeyman box again, with this bogus claim that its capability of putting satellites in orbit with domestic launch vehicles which cannot be sanctioned is a military threat to the US.

Tasnim: US President Donald Trump recently repeated his claims on Iran, saying, �We face new threats from rogue regimes like Iran...� US Defense Secretary Mattis has also recently accused the Islamic Republic of sponsoring terrorism and called for regime change in the country. The suggestion of regime change is not the first by a Donald Trump administration official. In June, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stated that the US would support those wanting to bring about regime change in Iran. In your opinion, what are the reasons behind such hostile remarks by the new US administration?

Dean: This is just the US trying to divert attention as to who the real rogue regime is. No country can hold a candle to the offensive acts of the current US regime since Bush (43). Whether it is using proxy terrorist forces, rigging elections, or overthrowing countries that refuse to be controlled puppets of the US and the West, the US coalition comes in first place.

One of the historical pillars of US foreign policy is regime change. Since this is a violation of not only international law, but the UN charter, excuses must be found to use as a cover; and charging a target with �supporting terrorism� has always been the number one fake claim.

This even includes staging terror attacks, usually via groups that have been infiltrated so they can be left to take the blame. This old Cold War trick was dusted off for attempting to frame Assad with using chemical weapons, where there is absolutely no justification for doing so.

Eventually, the White Helmets, funded by the US Coalition, including Turkey, went into the movie business staging make believe attacks, some so sloppily done as to be at the amateurish level. This was all done to hide the US Coalition�s real motives of wanting to Balkanize Syria.

Tasnim: As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump repeatedly slammed the nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, US, Britain, France, and Germany) as �horrible�, pledging to �tear up� the accord if elected. Do you think that these recent regime change comments by the White House officials have their roots in Trump�s failure to terminate the deal or you think that some regional developments are behind the remarks?

Dean: After Trump�s visit to Saudi Arabia and the huge US weapons deal signed there, we could see that with the US coalition�s fortunes sinking in Syria, a pivot toward making Iran the main target once again was taking place. Qatar and the UAE also were approved for big US weapons deals, despite Iran�s not having deployed forces outside its borders, other than on counter terrorism operations in Iraq and Syria, at the invitation of those respective governments.

The rising economic power, built on the diversified strengths of the highly educated and hard-working Iranians has the Saudi Royal family and tribes shaking in their boots, with their slave labor-based economy. The Saudis are kidding themselves to think that their money can buy leadership over the region.

It can certainly be effective in bribing top government officials and media in the region, and Congressmen here in the US. But the Saudis are trying to copy the Israelis in putting the fix in at the top, so they do not care what the people think.

The Saudis and the US are doing a dirty dance, with each thinking that it has made a puppet of the other, and that together they can use their combined military and financial power to contest Iran�s peaceful development.

Tasnim: Given the close ties between the Saudi regime and the new US administration and the oil-rich kingdom�s hostile policies against Iran, in your opinion, what role has the Saudi Lobby played in Washington�s recent regime change rhetoric?

Dean: Washington is getting a ton of money out of the Saudis, which is desperately needed to stem the red ink of America�s imbalance of trade on top of its huge and growing national debt. Another Cold War trick was to manufacture a threat by a country, real or imagined, to help stimulate US weapons sales.

The bigger the production runs are for expensive weapons systems like the F-35, the cheaper they are per copy for the US. This US and Saudi aggression is not only a threat to countries like Iran, Iraq, and Syria but to the America taxpayers, where our middle class is already shrinking, with even college graduates looking at being indentured debt servants their entire lives.

We have seen the New Cold War cranked up against Russia after the failure of the Western coup in Ukraine to deliver all of the country, including Crimea with its strategic Russian naval and military bases. But what we see happening in the Mideast now is the pursuit of a new shooting war after the Syrian war winds down. The US and Saudi Arabia have chosen Iran as their target as a de facto way of renouncing the JCPOA agreement.