{"id":9277,"date":"2018-02-18T10:56:22","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T15:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/?p=9277"},"modified":"2018-02-18T10:56:22","modified_gmt":"2018-02-18T15:56:22","slug":"mcmaster-when-you-are-investing-in-iran-you-are-investing-in-the-irgc-you-might-as-well-cut-the-irgc-a-cheque-and-say-go-ahead-kill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/9277\/","title":{"rendered":"McMaster: When you are investing in Iran you are investing in the IRGC, You might as well cut the IRGC a cheque and say go ahead, kill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran applying ‘Hezbollah model’ to other Arab countries: McMaster<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

The US National Security Adviser tells an audience of senior security officials in Munich that the time has come to confront Tehran\u2019s expanding influence<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The National, <\/span>February 18, 2018<\/span><\/em>:<\/span><\/strong> Iran is using a \u201cHezbollah model\u201d of building and arming militias in neighbouring Arab countries to create weak states that are effectively brought under Tehran\u2019s control, the US National Security Adviser warned on Saturday.<\/p>\n

In a call to action, HR McMaster told an audience of senior security officials in Munich that the time had come to confront Iran\u2019s expanding influence.<\/p>\n

He said Iran was replicating its strategy in Lebanon \u2014 where it fostered the birth of the powerful Shiite militant group Hezbollah \u2014 in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, setting up militias that answer directly to Tehran.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s particularly concerning is that this network of proxies is becoming more and more capable, as Iran seeds more and more capable, destructive weapons into these networks,\u201d Mr McMaster said. \u201cSo the time is now, we think, to act against Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lieutenant general, who served with distinction on successive tours in Iraq, said there was a stand-alone new military force being created in the sectarian ruins of the Syria conflict. He added that Iranian allies were gaining access to more sophisticated weapon technologies, including missiles and rockets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran is applying the Hezbollah model to the region,\u201d he said. \u201cTehran wants the Arab world to be perpetually weak while they grow terrorist groups outside weak government controls that they can use against these governments. This is the case in Syria, Iraq, Yemen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The urgency of the challenge posed by Tehran is one of the main factors behind President Donald Trump\u2019s demand that the 2015 agreement on Iran\u2019s nuclear weapons programme be revisited. The sanctions relief that followed in the wake of that deal has provided a dramatic increase in resources for the country\u2019s efforts to promote its interests in the region.<\/p>\n

The revival of economic ties with big trading nations \u2014 Mr McMaster noted that Germany was one of Iran\u2019s top three investors \u2014 has in particular boosted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC has provided arms, training and funds for Houthi rebels in Yemen, as well as fighters for President Bashar Al Assad\u2019s regime in Syria.<\/p>\n

Any review of the 2015 nuclear deal is expected to put in place mechanisms to ensure that a legitimate commercial economy is established in Iran. That would mean banning deals that benefit the IRGC.<\/p>\n

Mr McMaster warned investors who dealt with IRGC-linked operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are investing in Iran you are investing in the IRGC,\u201d he said. \u201cYou might as well cut the IRGC a cheque and say go ahead, kill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a matter of international security and moral conscience we must stop doing business with IRGC-affiliated business.”<\/p>\n

Mr McMaster served in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and praised the country’s global moral authority. He called for its authorities to take a stand against Mahan Air, an airline that ferries supplies from Iran to allies in Syria. It also operates regular flights \u201cright here in Munich\u201d, he said, calling on Berlin to show that such activities were unacceptable.<\/p>\n

Diplomats are working behind the scenes on a package of additional restrictions that could be imposed on Iran ahead of deadline in May when Mr Trump has said he will no longer waive sanctions suspended by the US.<\/p>\n

The president has two main demands to fix what he has called the deals’ \u201cdisastrous flaws\u201d: new sanctions against Iran\u2019s regional destabilisation and the removal of sunset clauses that would see restrictions on the country\u2019s nuclear activity eventually lifted.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Friday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK and Europe remained strong supporters of the nuclear deal but that governments were ready to take new measures against Tehran.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe agreed that as we continue to work to preserve the deal we also share the US concerns about Iran\u2019s destabilising activity in the Middle East, and we stand ready to take further appropriate measures to tackle these issues,\u201d she said after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran applying ‘Hezbollah model’ to other Arab countries: McMaster The US National Security Adviser tells an audience of senior security officials in Munich that the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,37],"tags":[256,258,82,408],"class_list":["post-9277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-terrorism-fundamentalism","tag-hezbollah","tag-iranian-regime","tag-irgc","tag-us-national-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9280,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9277\/revisions\/9280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}