A top U.N. expert is taking aim at the Trump administration’s efforts to tighten the screws on Iran’s theocratic regime, saying that U.S. sanctions are “illegitimate” and are driving Iranians into poverty.
The Trump administration has been criticized by members of both the U.N. and E.U. leaders for its decision this month to reimpose sanctions of the Islamic regime. The sanctions targeted Iran’s financial, automotive and precious metals industries and will also target its oil and banking system in November.
A senior administration official told Fox News this month that the restored sanctions are designed to constrict the revenue Iran uses to fund “terrorists, dictators, proxy militias, and the regime’s own cronies.”
But Idriss Jazairy a former Algerian ambassador who was appointed by the controversial U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) as the special rapporteur “on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on enjoyment of human rights,” chose to direct his criticism at the U.S.
“The reimposition of sanctions against Iran after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, which had been unanimously adopted by the Security Council with the support of the U.S. itself, lays bare the illegitimacy of this action,” he said in the statement published Wednesday.
“International sanctions must have a lawful purpose, must be proportional, and must not harm the human rights of ordinary citizens, and none of these criteria is met in this case.” – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]On Tuesday, Iranian state media aired videos and photos of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in what they called the “first domestically manufactured” fighter jet. International aviation experts are now casting doubt on the claims of the “Kowsar” fighter jet being Iranian-designed and manufactured, and suggest that the design is actually of a U.S. F-5F jet built in the early 1970s, CNBC reports.
Joseph Dempsey, a research associate for the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS,) shared photos of the two aircraft on Twitter with striking similarities.
#Iran 'Kowsar' indigenous fighter – prototype 3-7400 (2018)#US Northrop F-5F Tiger II combat capable trainer – prototype 00889 (1974) pic.twitter.com/b8vJ7qGd9n
— Joseph Dempsey (@JosephHDempsey) August 21, 2018
In an interview with CNBC, Douglas Barrie, a senior fellow for military aerospace at IISS, claimed that the Kowsar fighter jet appeared to be a two-seater F-5F. He claimed that Iran may have manufactured new parts, but the idea that the jet was an Iranian creation should be taken with “a massive pinch of salt.”
“The markings on the side, particularly the slightly unusual air intakes that slope backwards slightly, are those of the F-5F,” he said.”It is all a bit of a giveaway really.”
Tehran purchased F-5Fs from the U.S. in 1974, five years before the 1979 Iranian Revolution when a new regime hostile to the U.S. came into power. – READ MORE
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