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- Iran boasts new fighter jets as rhetoric with US mounts over final sanctions
Iran boasts new fighter jets as rhetoric with US mounts over final sanctions
Iran’s defense minister boasted this morning that they had begun mass production of their new fighter jets
Two days before the full re-imposition of US sanctions against Iran, the rhetoric and social media wars have intensified between the two countries’ leaders.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that President Donald Trump has "disgraced" US prestige and would be the ultimate loser from renewing sanctions on the Islamic republic.
"This new US president... has disgraced the remnant of America's prestige and that of liberal democracy. America's hard power, that is to say their economic and military power, is declining too," he said on his Persian Twitter account, quoting a speech in Tehran.
“America’s goal has been to re-establish the domination it had (before 1979) but it has failed. America has been defeated by the Islamic Republic over the past 40 years,” Khamenei also said on Saturday in a meeting with thousands of students, state media reported.
Major General of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Qasem Soleimani also took to social media on Saturday, posting on Instagram a meme of himself with the phrase, “I will stand against you."
The writing set to a photo of the military leader inspired by the TV drama Game of Thrones, came in response to a post by US President Donald Trump a day earlier that read “sanctions are coming” with their enforcement date of “November 5th” beneath as if advertising the new season of a television series.
The final leg of sanctions will take effect on Monday.
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1058500596670652416
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HBO responded to Trump's use of their "trademark" in a scathing tweet that followed his:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1058424663972478976
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Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Trump for his "historic move".
"For years, I've been calling for sanctions to be fully reimposed against Iran's murderous terrorist regime, which threatens the entire world. The effect of the initial sanctions is already being felt -the rial has plummeted, Iran's economy is depressed and the results are evident. Thank you, President Trump, for this historic move. The sanctions are indeed coming," Netanyahu said in a statement on Saturday.
Iran’s defense minister boasted this morning that they had begun mass production of their new Kowsar fighter jets equipped with advanced multi-purpose radar.
"We will soon produce the necessary number of planes and place them in the air force," Iranian Defense Minister Amir Khatami said on local television.
Last August, the Iran presented the new model for the first time, touting it was "100% locally produced."
Tensions have escalated since Trump reinstated a first round of sanctions on Iran in August after pulling out in May from the 2015 international deal.
Two days before the full reimposition of US sanctions against Iran, the rhetoric and social media wars have intensified between the two countries’ leaders.
The US aims to cripple the Iranian economy to pressure Tehran to halt its nuclear activities and what the US says is broad support for "terrorism" in the region, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
The reimposition of sanctions "is aimed at depriving the regime of the revenues it uses to spread death and destruction around the world," Pompeo said.
The US will add 700 individuals and entities to its Iran blacklist and pressure the global SWIFT banking network to cut off Tehran when expanded sanctions are put in place next week, US officials said Friday.
But eight countries will be able to continue importing Iranian oil at lower levels in order to avoid upsetting global crude markets when the sanctions take effect on Monday, they said.
Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal has been welcomed by Israel and Saudi Arabia who share the Trump administration's concern about Iran's intentions in the region.
Last month, Saudi Arabia, along with the US and five other gulf countries, blacklisted Soleimani and other high-ranking Iranian officials who “facilitated Iranian support to bolster” the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The United Arab Emirates’ minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, said on Saturday that Iran’s “aggressive policies” were “largely responsible” for the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Tehran.
Following the re-imposition of sanctions, the UN's top court ordered the United States to lift restrictions on humanitarian goods for Iran in a surprising rebuke to US President Donald Trump.
But the US said the case was "meritless" and only concerned a few sanctions.
It is likely the judgment will remain nothing more than symbolic because both Washington and Tehran have ignored ICJ decisions in the past.