baseball Page 16 THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT basketball Established in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com Page 15 THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2021 / RAMADAN 3, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17664 16 PAGES 150 FILS Billions on the bottomline ... but a pass for Pasdaran Guard ... of what? Day by Day IR-6, 60% – Rouhani THE economic affairs are Failures fair game? still ‘missing’ from the state’s plans, which mean we are heading in the direction of an DUBAI, April 14, (AP): The recent rection of the Guard may in part be exceptional situation and in sabotage at Iran’s main nuclear en- due to the upcoming June presiden- future, no one will have mercy richment facility is just the latest set- tial election. on us. We do not know who is back for the country’s Revolutionary Rouhani, a relatively moderate responsible for this scenario. taunts two-hands cut Guard, though the paramilitary force cleric within Iran’s theocracy whose Even those who have tam- is rarely publicly criticized due to its administration struck a 2015 nuclear pered with public money deny power. deal that brought Iran relief on sanc- this frivolity. Rather, they are But with some of its leaders now tions, cannot run again due to term striving to take revenge on Tehran nears critical mass those who did not support considering vying for the presidency, limits. That’s created a potential free- them in their crooked acts. the Guard’s influence and failures for-all filing period for candidates Now they unjustly want to find could become fair game. when it opens in May. fault in them. DUBAI, April 14, (AP): Iran’s president on This weekend’s sabotage at the Natanz nuclear facility In just over the last year, the Guard Within Iran, candidates exist on Since the world rotates Wednesday called his country’s decision to appears to be part of an escalating shadow war between shot down a Ukrainian commercial a political spectrum that broadly around its axis, we will not the two countries. Israeli authorities have not commented airliner, killing 176 people. Its forces includes hard-liners who want to know who the real oppres- dramatically increase its uranium enrich- on the attack, but are widely suspected of having carried failed to stop both an earlier attack at expand Iran’s nuclear program and sor is and who is not plagued ment after saboteurs attacked a nuclear site Iran’s Natanz facility and the assas- confront the world, moderates who by even a greater oppressor. it out. sination of a top scientist who started hold onto the status quo and reform- They will wish this not to have “an answer to your evilness,” saying Israel Iran announced Tuesday it would increase uranium enrich- a military nuclear program decades ists who want to change the theocracy happened. hoped to derail ongoing talks aimed at reviv- ment up to 60%, its highest level ever, in response to the at- earlier. Meanwhile, its floating base from within. Those calling for radical … Yet, tomorrow is another ing Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world tack. That could draw further retaliation as Israeli Prime Minister in the Red Sea off Yemen suffered an change find themselves blocked from day. Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed never to allow Tehran to obtain explosion. even running for office by Iran’s con- Zahed Matar powers. a nuclear weapon. While Iran’s move keeps enrichment below Then on Sunday, the nuclear facil- stitutional watchdog, the Guardian weapons-grade levels of 90%, it ity, of which the Guard is the chief Council. is a short step away. protector, experienced a blackout A soldier has yet to serve as Iran’s Speaking to his Cabinet, an that damaged some of its centrifuges. top civilian leader since the Islamic impassioned President Hassan Israel is widely believed to have car- Revolution, in part over the initial Rouhani said the first-generation ried out the sabotage that caused the suspicion that its conventional mili- IR-1 centrifuges that were dam- outage, though it has not claimed it. tary forces remained loyal to the top- aged in the attack would be re- In the wake of the attack, Iran an- pled shah. However, a line of former placed by advanced IR-6 centri- nounced Tuesday it would begin Guard leaders have begun raising fuges that enrich uranium much enriching uranium at 60% purity, the their profiles ahead of the vote, and faster. highest level its program has ever many may try to run. “You wanted to make our reached. They include Mohsen Rezaei, an hands empty during the talks but No one in Iran has directly called outspoken former top commander; our hands are full,” Rouhani said. out the Guard for these failures - Hossein Dehghan, an adviser to Su- He was referring to ongoing and that isn’t surprising. The force preme Leader Ali Khamenei; Ros- talks in Vienna that are aimed created after its 1979 Islamic Revo- tam Ghasemi, a former oil minister; at finding a way for the United lution has an extensive intelligence and Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the States to re-enter Tehran’s nu- apparatus rivaling those of Iran’s speaker of Iran’s parliament known clear agreement with world pow- civilian government - and it is bru- for his support of a bloody crack- ers and have Iran comply again tal in its clampdown on dissent. down on students in 1999. with its limits. The accord, which Former detainees at Tehran’s Evin A young generation of Guard lead- former President Donald Trump prison describe the Guard as run- ers is in the mix as well, led by Saeed withdrew the U.S. from in 2018, ning an entire ward of the facility Mohammad, who once headed the prevented Iran from stockpiling housing politically sensitive prison- Guard’s powerful Khatam al-Anbiya enough high-enriched uranium to ers. Local journalists can face ar- Construction Headquarters that is one be able to pursue a nuclear weap- rest, prosecution and imprisonment of Iran’s biggest business conglomer- on in exchange for the lifting of for their work. ates. economic sanctions. Around the edges, however, criti- The debate over how much power Rouhani added: “60% enrich- cism is beginning to leak out. the Guard should wield in Iran’s poli- ment is an answer to your evil- Eshaq Jahangiri, President Has- tics is as old as the Islamic Republic ness ... We cut off both of your san Rouhani’s top vice president and itself. Yet the force has been able to hands, one with IR-6 centrifuges a reformist, lamented that “nobody portray itself as the country’s defend- and another one with 60%.” is ready to be responsible” for what er through mass media on Iranian Rouhani also accused Israel of happened at Natanz in remarks that state television. Private local chan- The iconic Haghia Sophia, illuminated for the month of Ramadan, in the historic Sultan Ahmed district of Istanbul, April being behind the Natanz attack. appeared aimed at the Guard. nels don’t exist. 13, 2021. As Muslims around the world began marking Ramadan Tuesday, in mostly-Muslim Turkey, the month of fast- “Apparently this is a crime by “Which body is responsible to That includes the Iranian spy TV ing kicked off with some restrictions amid record levels of COVID-19 infections. (AP) the Zionists. If the Zionists take identify and prevent the country’s show “Gando,” a fever dream of an action against our nation, we enemies from doing something in the conspiracy theories in line with the will respond,” he said, without country? Has anyone ever been held Guard’s worldview. Its second sea- elaborating. accountable, or been held responsible son just aired, drawing more criticism In Jerusalem at a Memorial or reprimanded, for what the biggest for its depiction of Iran’s civilian Day commemoration, Netanyahu enemy of this country is doing here?” government as being weak and over- US intel sees gloom, doom appeared to reference Iran. Jahangiri asked in a video shared whelmed by foreign powers. “We must never remain apa- widely on social media. But there’s a clear line between WASHINGTON, April 14, (AP): thetic to the threats of war and Separately quoted by the hard-line their idealized television version and The effects of the coronavirus extermination of those who seek newspaper Kayhan, Jahangiri added: the reality of these recent attacks pandemic are expected to con- to eliminate us,” he said. “People need to know what the re- striking the heart of one of Iran’s Other Voices Turmoil in tribute over the next year to “hu- Settlement sources, credibility and prestige of most powerful forces. manitarian and economic crises, the country are being spent on.” “We spent our resources and ca- political unrest, and geopolitical Rouhani in his comments That’s another apparent dig at pabilities for the production of a TV Parliament competition,” according to a new Wednesday insisted Iran is still the Guard, whose business interests series to portray ourselves as power- intelligence report that also warns hoping that the Vienna talks lead through construction and other indus- ful in the fields of security and intel- Be accountable, By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh about the threats from foreign to a negotiated settlement over its tries reach into the billions of dollars. ligence, as well as accusing our of- program — and the accompany- Arab Times Staff adversaries and from violent ex- The exact scope of all its holdings ficials of spying,” wrote the hard-line tremists inside the United States. ing lifting of punishing sanctions.