the Saudi official referred to here who Barrack told the UAE he had forced the WH to elevate for protocol purposes was then deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), shortly thereafter made Saudi crown prince
“US Person 1,” a former US govt official, who was being worked by Barrack et al to benefit UAE with Trump.
Was the Barrack/Grimes/Malik AhShahhi track competing with the Nader/Broidy track to win UAE’s confidence/money to demonstrate their ability to influence Trump Middle East policy to UAE’s specifications?
after reading previous 40 pages of indictment, this seems —gobsmackingly dumb.
more
one thing missing from the indictment unless i missed it was mention of UAE paying Barrack.
was struck by lines like this, re: possible competition between Barrack/AlShahhi and Nader/Broidy channels. p. 17, AlShahhi informed Barrack that UAE official #4 had confirmed that “Barrack would be the only channel to the candidate” Trump for UAE justice.gov/opa/press-rele…
I think “US Person 1” in Barrack indictment (left) may be Steve Bannon, who traveled to UAE in September 2017 and met with MBZ (pics of Sept2017 NYT report), & who had recently been fired from the Trump WH, so was an ex US official justice.gov/opa/press-rele…nytimes.com/2017/09/22/us/…
think the “congressman” in the Barrack indictment who the UAE may have favored in 2017 as an ambassador to UAE may have been Ed Royce. (appointment did not happen, but believe his wife got job in pompeo state dept) justice.gov/opa/press-rele…apnews.com/article/north-…
UAE wanted Tillerson fired for being one of the officials telling Trump two sides to Gulf Qatar dispute and replaced by Pompeo as Sec State, which they got
working backwards from reported Bannon MBZ meeting in UAE in Sept. 2017, that would suggest that “Emirati Official 1” in Barrack indictment is Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) (which others had previously suggested) justice.gov/opa/press-rele…nytimes.com/2017/09/22/us/…
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US negotiators have said the effort to bring detained US citizens home is being pursued independently of the JCPOA negotiations and as a top priority. So the Iranian implication that US/UK holding up a prisoner swap by linking it to JCPOA issue seems inconsistent with that
🧵New from me: Iran notifies parties won’t be ready to resume Vienna talks before Raisi inaugurated in August. Delay could indicate Raisi team believes they can negotiate a better deal. diplomatic.substack.com/p/iran-notifie…
“I don’t think this delay is only because they want to basically get the credit for restoring the deal & reaping the economic benefits. I think it is indicative of the fact that they…are dissatisfied with where the negotiations are,” @AliVaezdiplomatic.substack.com/p/iran-notifie…
“Either the Raisi team will come in and begin negotiations pretty quickly to try to get a marginally better agreement…Or, they would decide this is not good enough and engage in this dangerous game of brinksmanship,” @AliVaezdiplomatic.substack.com/p/iran-notifie…
Thread: State spox: US is prepared to resume indirect talks w Iran, to resume that 7th round of negotiations...
We are ready to go if & when the Iranians signal they are as well. That is because we want to see Iran nuclear program constrained....1/
State spx, contd: But this process is not indefinite. There will come a point where our calculus will change
Where the benefits it accrues may one day outweigh than benefits the international community might accrue from return to JCPOA. We are not there yet. 2/
State spox, cont'd: There is a broader issue you raise that suggests because Iran is engaging in this behavior in other realms, does that implicate our view of the nuclear negotiations. Our view continues to be that every other challenge Iran poses becomes 3/
"Prior to the kidnapping plot, the gov't f Iran attempted to lure Victim-1 to a 3rd country in order to capture Victim-1 for rendition to Iran. In appr. 2018, Iranian gov't officials attempted to induce relatives of V-1, who reside in Iran, to invite V-1 to travel to a 3rd cntry
"On multiple occasions in 2020 & 2021,...Farahani and his network procured the services of private investigators to surveil, photograph and video record Victim-1 & V-1's household members in Brooklyn.... As part of kidnapping plot, the Farahani-led intel network also researched
"methods of transporting V-1 out of the US for rendition to Iran. Sadeghi, for ex., researched a service offering military-style speedboats for self-operated maritime evacuation out of New York City, & maritime travel from New York to Venezuela...
“Whether it is nailed down while Rouhani is president or not is not a big determinant in the success of the deal,” @hrome2 “My expectation is that this can and will still come together.” diplomatic.substack.com/p/iran-transit…
Iran committee reviewing Vienna negotiatons to date includes Raisi fopo advisor Ali Baqeri, SNSC’s Shamkhani & deputy Ali Hoseini Tash, AEOI’s Salehi, DepFM Araghchi, parliament’s 2nd Vice-speaker Abdolreza Mesri & nat sec comm’s Vahid Jalalzadeh diplomatic.substack.com/p/iran-transit…
Psaki, on strikes on Iraq/Syria border: The president's view is that it was necessary, appropriate and deliberate action, and the strikes were designed to limit risk of escalation..
Psaki: We continue to believe &never held back from noting that Iran is a bad actor in the region
At same time, we feel we are moving forward & seek opportunity to move forward on negotiations to prevent Iran from ever obtaining a nclr weapon.
No link w Isrl Prs. Rivlin visit
Psaki, asked if US looking to post JCPOA talks to deal with UAV threat from Iran-backed militias in Iraq:
I would say as it relates to responding to attacks on men & women serving, threats to our facilities in region, don’t see that as on the same exact track.