‘Iran Will Definitely Respond to Zionist Mischief’ President Erdogan: U.S. Supports Terrorists

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The spokesperson for the Is- ANKARA (Dispatches) -- Turkey’s President Recep lamic Revolution Guards Corps warned the Zionist re- Tayyip Erdogan said Monday the United States is gime on Monday that it will definitely get its comeup- supporting “terrorists” who have just recently killed pance for criminal actions against the Iranian nation. more than a dozen Turkish forces in northern Iraq. “The blood of innocent people martyred in northern Brigadier General Ramazan Sharif condemned the Iraq is on the hands of all defending, supporting and Israeli regime’s rogue measures against the Iranian sympathizing with PKK terrorists,” said Erdogan. An- nation, scientists and elites. “The usurping and fake kara said on Sunday that PKK terrorists had executed Zionist regime will certainly receive the response for 13 captives kidnapped in southeast Turkey and kept in its mischievous acts,” he said. an Iraqi cave.

VOL NO: LV 11366 TEHRAN / Est.1959 Tuesday, February 16, 2021, Bahman 28, 1399, Rajab 4, 1442, Price 40,000 Rials

Viewpoint Iran Complains Persepolis, Bahrain Opposition Why is the Catholic Pope to IAEA Esteghlal Strikers Calls for Continued Over Leak of Among Best Headers Fight Against Al Coming to Iraq? 2 Confidential Info of 2020 AFC Khalifah 2 Time6 for West to Face the Music8 Bahrain: The Making of a Police State Iran to Suspend Additional Protocol From Next Week LONDON (MEE) -- In his recent book A Promised Land, former president meeting can result in for it to have Barack Obama reflects on his time as the U.S. leader at a moment when the Middle East was erupting in a cascade of demonstrations that would come to meaningful substance,” he said. be known as the Arab Spring. “We are calling on the U.S. to In the book, Obama discusses how he tried to ease Hosni Mubarak out show political will and send a sig- of Egypt as the 2011 uprisings seemed poised to topple his administra- nal to Iran and other members of tion, despite the autocrat’s well-established relationship with the U.S. After the international community show- Mubarak’s removal, Obama notes that he was “cautiously optimistic” about ing readiness to rejoin the JCPOA,” the country’s future. Ryabkov said. But when it comes to the small Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, which despite its size had managed to grab headlines with mass demonstrations “It would be important to start by against the embattled Khalifa monarchy, Obama doesn’t split hairs about lifting all sanctions, which formed where the U.S. stood. the backbone of the so-called pol- “In concert with the Saudis and the Emiratis, the Bahraini regime was go- icy of maximum pressure towards ing to force us to make a choice, and all were aware that when push came to Iran under the Trump administra- shove, we couldn’t afford to risk our strategic position in the Middle East by tion,” Ryabkov stressed. severing relations with three Persian Gulf countries,” he writes. In the 10 years since Bahrain was shaken by pro-democracy protests, the Ryabkov said that the removal government has brutally crushed all dissent while the world powers have of the anti-Iran sanctions will stop largely looked on and done nothing. further deterioration of the situa- The 14 February “Day of Rage” that marked the beginning of the major tion. country-wide demonstrations saw tens of thousands of people pour out onto The nuclear deal granted wide- the country’s streets calling for democratic reforms, an end to discrimination ranging access to the International against the majority Shia Muslim population and, eventually, the end of the 245-year-old rule of the House of Khalifa. Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Today, the figures who led those protests and were hailed as the future of to gather information on Iran’s democracy in the Persian Gulf are either in jail, silenced, in exile or dead. nuclear energy program. But under What had once been viewed as perhaps the most liberal and relatively plu- a law enacted last year, Iran’s gov- ralistic country in the Persian Gulf is now described by campaigners as a Iran’s parliament has obliged the government to revoke wide-ranging access to IAEA inspectors ernment is obliged to revoke that “police state”. access on Feb. 21 if other parties A new report compiled by the London-based campaign group Bahrain In- to the country’s nuclear facilities on Feb. 21. stitute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), and shared with Middle East Eye are not complying with the nuclear ahead of its release for the 10th anniversary of the uprising on Monday, said TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran honors its obligations,” he said, al- indicate its readiness to rejoin the deal. that since 2011 at least 51 people have been sentenced to death in Bahrain. said on Monday it will block snap in- luding to the United States. landmark nuclear deal. “According to this law, the in- Just nine executions had been carried out between the independence of the spections by the UN nuclear agency The Biden administration claims Sergei Ryabkov told reporters spections beyond the Safeguards state in 1971 and 2017, but six were carried out in the two-and-a-half years from next week if other parties to the it aims to return the United States that Russia and China have dis- Agreement will be halted, which following that. Twenty-seven people are currently on death row in the king- 2015 nuclear deal do not fulfill their to the nuclear deal, which his pre- cussed an initiative by Beijing that we had voluntarily accepted within dom, with 26 at risk of imminent execution. obligations. decessor Donald Trump abandoned aims to arrange for a multilateral the framework of the Additional There are thought to be around 4,000 political prisoners in the country’s heavily stretched jail system, while torture is rife. “If others do not fulfill their obli- in 2018. meeting with the final goal of con- Protocol,” Khatibzadeh said. A leading Bahraini activist and lawyer, who has previously spent time in gations by Feb. 21, the government After Trump quit and reimposed vincing the U.S. to rejoin the Joint Iran will nonetheless continue to prison and asked for anonymity so as not to risk another sentence, told MEE is obliged to suspend the volun- sanctions, Iran began scaling back Comprehensive Plan of Action cooperate with the IAEA and re- that even the most modest criticisms were being ruthlessly stamped out in the tary implementation of the Addi- its compliance as per two articles (JCPOA), Russia’s TASS news port its new nuclear undertakings kingdom. tional Protocol,” Foreign Ministry of the deal. Washington now insists agency reported. to the IAEA beforehand, as has al- “We can’t speak. You won’t find any single society or movement, or wom- spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh that Iran should return to full com- “We discussed it with both Chi- ways been the case, he said. en’s association or trade or legal association, which can function inside Bah- rain,” he said. said. pliance even as the U.S. is the party nese and American colleagues. Asked to offer his take on the new “There is no society which can organize a single lecture or a single gather- “It does not mean ending all in- which has violated the deal. We are open to taking part in this U.S. administration of Joe Biden’s ing or a conference for anything, except what the regime accepts.” spections by the UN nuclear agen- Russia’s deputy foreign minister event, even though it is clear that Iran policy almost a month into his Although the activist said he wanted to continue speaking out openly about cy...All these steps are reversible if on Monday called on the United it is crucial to at least set out in- presidency, the spokesman said the the injustices in Bahrain, he felt there was no possibility of doing so without the other party changes its path and States to show political will and dicative understanding of what this (Continued on Page 7) facing prison time. “I have to raise my kids,” he explained. Speaking to MEE from prison in Bahrain, where he has spent eight years as an inmate following his arrest for taking part in pro-democracy protests, Ali Hussain Haji said the situation in the country was currently the worst Trump Acquittal Further since 2011. Yemeni Drones Hit Two He described torture and abuse as still commonplace in Jau Central prison, where he has spent most of his sentence. Since Haji’s arrest in 2013, brutal Divides Wounded U.S. ill-treatment has left him with partial deafness and permanent damage to his WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- facing swift backlash in their Saudi Airports in Retaliation jaw and testicles, as well as a broken nose that has required two operations Former President Donald Trump’s home states. to fix. acquittal on charges of inciting a Trump ally Senator Lindsey SANAA (Dispatches) -- A high- citizens to stay away from airports “My experience of eight years of prison is maltreatment and physical and deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol Graham said he had talked to ranking Yemeni military official said and other places used for military mental abuse as a form of punitive measures,” he told MEE by phone. left Democrats and Republicans Trump on Saturday night about “There is discrimination against political prisoners - the discrimination in- Monday the country’s forces sepa- purposes. volves lack of proper healthcare, putting the lives of many political prisoners deeply divided on Sunday even uniting the Republican party un- rately pounded two airports inside The retaliation came only a day at great risk.” as his Democratic successor, Joe der his leadership. Saudi Arabia’s southwestern prov- after Yemeni forces launched a Ten years on, the situation for pro-democracy activists in the country can Biden, sought to move on with his “You know, he is ready to move inces of Asir and Makkah, in retali- drone attack on Abha airport in re- seem pretty grim, though the problems that sparked the original uprising political and economic agenda. on and rebuild the Republican ation for the kingdom’s aggression. taliation for the kingdom’s aggres- have not gone away and privately anger is beginning to mount. Democrats said they looked to Party. He’s excited about 2022,” Brigadier General Yahya Saree, sion on their impoverished country. “We were asking for change, some positive change, after more than 240 the courts for possible civil and Graham told Fox News Sunday, years,” said Haji. “Now no one can talk, no freedom of speech - nothing.” the spokesman for Yemeni armed Saree said two Qasef-K2 and According to academics Ala’a al-Shehabi and Marc Owen Jones in their criminal charges against the for- referring to congressional elec- forces, said domestically-manu- Sammad-3 combat drones accu- 2015 book Bahrain’s Uprising: Resistance and Repression in the Persian mer Republican president over tions next year. factured Sammad-3 (Invincible-3) rately struck the airport on Sunday, Gulf, the Khalifas have long cultivated a “ruling core” that allowed the fam- the assault by his supporters on But Senator Bill Cassidy, one and Qasef-2K (Striker-2K) combat hitting designated targets. ily to engaged in a kleptocratic “exclusionary politics” with regards to the Jan. 6, which left five people of the Republicans who found drones were used to strike desig- On Saturday, Yemeni Air Force rest of the nation. dead. Trump guilty, said on Sunday he nated targets inside Abha Interna- units also targeted an important As non-members of the majority Bahrana ethnic group, sectarianism has The Senate trial concluded on believed more of his constituents tional Airport and King Abdulaziz and sensitive target at the same been seen as playing a pivotal role in the monarchy’s grip on power, and is believed to have contributed to widespread inequalities in wealth and power Saturday with a 57-43 vote in would come to agree with him as International Airport in the Red Saudi airport with a Sammad-3 across the kingdom. favor of convicting Trump. The the facts became known. Repub- Sea port city of Jeddah on Monday drone. Following outcry at the police’s killing of protester Ali Mushaima, demon- vote was bipartisan, with seven lican party leaders in Cassidy’s morning. Saudi Arabia and a number of its strators occupied the central Pearl Roundabout in Manama on 15 February. Republicans joining Democrats home state of Louisiana voted on The attacks led to the suspension regional allies launched the war on According to some estimates as many as 100,000 people had gathered at the and independents, but the tally Saturday to censure the senator of flights at the airports for two Yemen in March 2015, with the Pearl Roundabout by 23 February, roughly a sixth of the total citizenship of fell short of the two-thirds needed for his vote. hours, he said. goal of bringing the government the country, making it the largest per capita demonstration of the Arab Spring. With the Bahraini security services unable to contain the protests, Emirati to secure conviction. “I’m attempting to hold Presi- The airstrikes, he said, come of former president, Abd Rabbuh and Saudi forces entered the country on 14 March and within a few days After the verdict, a fractured dent Trump accountable ... I am within Yemen’s legitimate right to Mansur Hadi, back to power and they had cleared the roundabout, at the cost of five lives and with hundreds Republican party was battling very confident as time passes, respond to the Saudi devastating crushing the popular Ansarullah wounded and arrested. over the way forward, with some people will move to that position,” war and all-out blockade. movement. (Continued on Page 7) senators who voted to convict (Continued on Page 7) Saree renewed his call on Saudi (Continued on Page 7)