As of February 12, 2020, my former blog site at https://irannationorcause.blogspot.com has moved to https://blogs.acu.edu/coatesn

February 12, 2020.  A really good way to lose your job.  “Iran’s information minister apologized Wednesday for posting a photo on Twitter of what appeared to be a Halloween-type costume representing a spacesuit, in an effort to promote the idea of a manned space program for his country. The official IRNA news agency quoted Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran’s information and communications technology minister, as saying his department’s advertising team “undeniably made a mistake in choosing the image” and expressed his apologies to “the people and space scientists” of Iran.  [He didn’t even take personal responsibility but blamed the team].  The photo, posted on Jahromi’s Twitter account and depicting what looks like costume of a spacesuit with an Iranian flag sowed on the front, caused a stir on social media, with many Iranians turning to sarcasm and commenting about the fake spacesuit. After his apology, Jahromi removed the photo from his account.  The timing of the minister’s faux pas was also unfortunate. An Iranian rocket failed to put a satellite into orbit on Sunday, the latest setback for a program the U.S. claims helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile program.  The attempted launch followed two failed launches last year, of the Payam and Doosti satellites, as well as a launchpad rocket explosion in August. Also, a fire at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in February 2019 killed three researchers, authorities said at the time.  Jahromi acknowledged the unsuccessful launch in a tweet shortly after the news broke on state TV, comparing it to a “few samples of US launch failures” and insisting that Iran’s space program was unstoppable.  The failed launch had been planned amid celebrations ahead of this week’s anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran routinely unveils technological achievements for its armed forces, its space program and its nuclear efforts during this time.”  See “Iranian minister apologizes over mock spacesuit post,” AP, WTMJ, February 12, 2020.

February 12, 2020.  Incredible reporting by Frantzman reveals what most of the press doesn’t cover—the sudden additional pressures on Hezbollah due to the removal of Qasem Soleimani from heading Iran’s terror efforts.  It is so significant to anti-terrorism efforts by multiple countries and to eventual peace that the linchpin of Iran’s foreign policy use of terrorism was removed from the long war against terrorism.  Here’s the story, “Inside Iran’s push to get Hezbollah to take a role in Iraq,” Seth Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, February 12, 2020.

“Facebook removes accounts run from Iran targeting Americans,” Donie O’Sullivan, CNN Business, February 12, 2020.

“Iran FM stresses Tehran’s rejection of US ‘peace deal’,” Middle East Monitor, February 12, 2020.