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Monday, May 20, 2024

Iran Links US Sanctions with Raisi's Death

Update(1653ET): Amid the international messages of condolence and support for Iran after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, the United Nations Security Council on Monday held a solemn moment of silence to observe his passing. Israel is outraged by the gesture, saying that it was tantamount to honoring a terrorist, or "Hitler" - as stated by Israeli Ambassador to UN Gilad Erdan.

"You read correctly, the UN Security Council today held a moment’s silence to remember a mass murderer, Iranian President Raisi," Erdan said in a video published to social media.

"This body, which makes no effort to free our hostages, tipped their heads today to a man who was responsible for the deaths of thousands in Iran, in Israel, and around the world."

The Israeli representative added: “What’s next? A minute of silence on the anniversary of Hitler’s death?” and charged that the UNSC has become "a danger to world peace."

Scene from Monday's moment of silence at the UN in New York City:

Meanwhile...

* * *

Update(1437ET): More details have emerge of the helicopter crash in remote far northern Iran on Sunday which killed President Ebrahim Raisi and some top officials. Iranian state media is citing a "technical failure" which caused the helicopter to crash in the site of a mountain not far from the border of Azerbaijan. Iran state media has also blamed US-led sanctions which have heavily targeted its aviation sector for years. The Bell helicopter transporting the Iranian head of state was reportedly at least 40 years old, but there was also inclement weather and heavy fog in the region over the weekend.

State funerals are being planned, reportedly which will take place over three cities in as many days, which will include public processions. Heads of state allied with Iran are expected to attend, and it will be interesting to see whether Russia's Putin and China's Xi will be attending in Tehran. As for the White House, it has released the following message via John Kirby: he offered the government’s "condolences" for the death of President Raisi, but he said "we’re going to continue to stand with the Iranian people as they fight for their own civil rights and, as they should, and we’re going to continue to hold Iran accountable for all their destabilizing behavior in the region, which continues to this day."

Kirby also emphasized that the Iranian leader had "a lot of blood on his hands" as he was responsible for "atrocious human rights in his own country." The White House further said he had long supported "terrorist networks throughout the region." Meanwhile, an interesting scene in Tehran:

The New York Times has published the following graphic:

As for the claim that US-led sanctions had something to do with this, Al Jazeera explains that things dramatically worsened for aviation repair in the Islamic Republic since then President Trump pulled out of the JCPOA nuclear deal in 2018:

The frequent need for repairs has raised plane ticket prices in Iran, and has also placed economic strain on smaller aircraft companies. Aircraft also can not be sent abroad for repair and have to be repaired locally, with limited expert manpower, Mohammad Mohammadi-Bakhsh, the head of Iran’s aviation agency, the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran (CAO), told Fars news agency in 2022.
In 2015, the Iran nuclear deal called the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA) was signed. In it, Iran agreed to halt the production of materials that could be used in manufacturing nuclear weapons. In return, sanctions on its aviation sector were relaxed, enabling it to buy aircraft from foreign manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing.

The New York Times also writes:

On Monday, Iran’s former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said that by imposing sanctions on the country’s aviation industry, the United States was responsible for the crash. His comments were carried by the official Iranian news agency, IRNA.
Sanam Vakil, a Middle East expert at Chatham House, a research group based in London, said that Iran’s aviation sector has long suffered under sanctions.
“Iran has seen a lot of airline incidents, not just helicopter but airplane crashes, and I think this is definitely tied to sanctions,” she said.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has stated firmly on Monday that the United States had nothing to do with it.

* * *

Following Tehran's early Monday confirmation of the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, 63, along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials after their helicopter went down over mountainous terrain near the border with Azerbaijan, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has named a new acting president of the Islamic Republic.

Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has assume interim duties in the wake of Raisi's death. Additionally, Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri, has been named acting foreign minister. This follows a Sunday statement by Khamenei assuring the public that there would be continuity and stability in the nation's leadership. Iranians have taken to the streets in what's expected to be several days of a national mourning period.

Bodies of the deceased were hiked out of the remote region of the crash. They had to be physically carried on stretchers by rescuers who spent hours reaching the site amid difficult Sunday and overnight weather conditions.

State media has since indicated that aboard the presidential helicopter were nine people in total, including body guards and clerics. Their aging Bell helicopter had reportedly "hit a mountain and disintegrated" amid high fog, low visibility conditions. This was not at all the "hard landing" the world was initially informed about Sunday via state officials and media.

Iran’s Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand has told international media that his team is "transferring the bodies of the martyrs to Tabriz" and that "the search operations have come to an end."

Very quickly, theories emerged over the question of foreign involvement or a covert plot to assassinate the Iranian head of state. Israel has been quick to deny speculation of its involvement:

On Monday, an Israeli official denied involvement in the crash, telling the Reuters news agency: "It wasn’t us."
Raisi, 63, was widely regarded as a hardliner in the country and was nicknamed the 'butcher of Tehran' over his role in sentencing thousands of Iranian prisoners to their deaths in 1988.

The Taliban and Hezbollah are among those issuing their condolences, with the latter referencing "great brother" Raisi. Russia is offering any assistance needed, and statements of mourning are pouring in from world leaders, including the following:

Several world leaders, including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have offered their condolences
Syria and Lebanon have declared three days of mourning following the fatal helicopter crash
Hezbollah has issued a statement offering its “deepest condolences” to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and the Iranian people.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has offered his condolences over Raisi’s death.

Already President Putin has spoken directly by phone to Iran's interim President Mokhber. The Kremlin said in the call the Russian leader emphasized "mutual intention to further strengthen Russian-Iranian interaction."

Below is some summary background information on the newly appointed Iranian leader Mokhber:

Despite his low-key public profile, Mokhber has held prominent positions with in the country’s power structure, particularly in its bonyads, or charitable foundations. Those groups were fueled by donations or assets seized after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, particularly those previously associated with Iran’s shah or those in his government.
Mokhber oversaw a bonyad known in English as the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order, or EIKO, referring to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
...Mokhber previously worked in banking and telecommunications. He also worked at the Mostazafan Foundation, another bonyad that’s a major conglomerate that manages the country’s mega-projects and businesses. While there, he found himself entangled in a bitter legal dispute between mobile phone service providers Turkcell and South Africa’s MTN over potentially entering the Iranian market.

And below is a brief backgrounder on new foreign minister Ali Bagher:

Born in 1967 in the village of Kan in northwestern Tehran, Bagheri grew up in a family deeply involved in Iranian politics.
His father, a renowned Shia leader, was a member of the Assembly of Experts tasked with selecting the supreme leader.
Bagheri worked in the Foreign Ministry in the 1990s and grew close to conservative figure Saeed Jalili.
When Jalili was appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and became Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Bagheri served as his number two.
After Bagheri concluded his own mission at the Council, he joined the judiciary when it was headed by Raisi.
He served as secretary of the Human Rights Council and then as assistant for international affairs.
Weeks after Raisi took office in 2021, Bagheri was appointed deputy foreign minister for political affairs and chief nuclear negotiator. Since then, those talks have come to a standstill over seemingly insurmountable differences, particularly with the US.

Below is a summary of the last 24 hours via Peter Tchir of Academy Securities:

Yesterday, a helicopter carrying Iranian President Raisi crashed while he was visiting a region in northern Iran.
After a 12-hour search, it was confirmed by Iranian state media earlier this morning that nine people including President Raisi and Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were killed in the crash.
Reportedly, at least 40 rescue teams (including drones, search dogs, and two helicopters from Russia) were utilized in the search effort, but bad weather, heavy fog, and darkness made it difficult for them to reach the site and confirm the deaths of the passengers.
Initial indications are that the crash was weather related, but due to sanctions on Iran, many aircraft face a shortage of parts, so officials are not ruling out a maintenance issue as a reason for the crash.
Raisi was a hardliner who was re-elected in 2021 and was viewed as a protégé of Khamenei, and a likely successor.
Under Raisi’s leadership, Iran continued to enrich uranium to near-weapons grade levels, supplied weapons to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine, launched a (largely unsuccessful) missile and drone attack on Israel in April, and continued to support proxy forces in the Middle East including the Houthis and Hezbollah.
Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, is next in line for the presidency and Khamenei announced this morning that he would serve as the country’s acting president until elections are held, which are required to happen in the next 50 days.
Mokhber was reportedly part of the group that traveled to Moscow in 2022 to finalize the deal to send Shahed drones and surface-to-surface missiles to Russia.

For now it appears 'moderates' have temporarily replaced the 'moderate' Raisi and also deceased FM Amir-Abdollahian. The coming days will be interesting given everything happening in the Middle East, especially surrounding the Gaza war and the fact that Israel and Iran very nearly entered a full-blown war in recent months.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-announces-interim-president-after-raisis-helicopter-hit-mountain-disintegrated

130 Republicans demand Biden admin withdraw ‘reckless’ $147B student loan bailout

A wide-ranging group of 130 Republicans in Congress is demanding the Biden administration withdraw $147 billion in “reckless” student-loan bailouts approved last month.

The GOPers — ranging from the moderate Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) to the far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colo.) — urged President Biden’s Education Department in a letter Friday to nix the bailout, which would provide even greater student debt relief than an earlier attempt struck down by the US Supreme Court.

“This is even broader than the Department’s first attempt: at an estimated price tag of $147 billion, taxpayers are being forced to take on the debt of nearly 28 million borrowers,” wrote the lawmakers, led by House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (NC) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee ranking member Bill Cassidy (La.).

“In addition to the fiscally irresponsible nature of this backdoor attempt to enact ‘free’ college, the administration continues to use borrowers as political pawns knowing full well these proposed actions are illegal,” said Foxx (R-NC), Cassidy (R-La.) and the others.

Senate Republican conference Chairman John Barasso (Wyo.) and House GOP conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (NY) were also co-signatories.

In June 2023, the nation’s top court struck down Biden’s bid to cancel $430 billion in student loans, which the administration argued was legal thanks to a 2003 law designed for military veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

So since then, the Education Department has adopted a piecemeal approach to writing off much of that debt based on the Higher Education Act of 1965.

But the Republicans argued in their missive, “The Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that there is zero authority to write-off federal student loans en masse last June when the Department’s ‘Plan A’ was ruled unconstitutional.

” ‘Plan B’ hinges on creating these extensive regulations based on scant statutory text written in 1965.

“This statute has no history of broad use by any previous Secretary and was previously deemed by this administration as less likely to hold up in court than ‘Plan A,’ ” they added.

Biden, 81, pledged in his 2020 presidential campaign to forgive portions of federally held student loan debt.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has said the administration is “unapologetic” about its “commitment to provide relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible.”

This year, in the run-up to the November election, the president and Vice President Kamala Harris have visited key swing states to tout their administration’s efforts to cancel the debt — a move Republicans have slammed as “buying votes.“

According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the president’s latest debt cancellation move — plus others he has already made — could up the cost of his student loan forgiveness to a total of between $870 billion and $1.4 trillion.

Of that price tag, $620 billion has already been cancelled through various programs, including Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan and other targeted debt discharges.

SAVE is an income-driven repayment plan — but will forgive up to $25,000 in debt on average for households earning more than $312,000 in annual income, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model.

“We have received the letter, which was also submitted as a public comment on our Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,” an Education Department spokesperson told The Post. “As part of the rulemaking process, we review and respond to all comments, which will be included in the final rule. We welcome input from members of the public, including from members of Congress.”

“This rulemaking process is about standing up for borrowers who’ve been failed by the country’s broken student loan system and creating new regulations that will reduce the burden of student debt in this country,” the spokesperson added.

https://nypost.com/2024/05/20/us-news/130-republicans-demand-biden-admin-withdraw-reckless-147b-student-loan-bailout/

Globus upped to Overweight from Neutral by Piper

Target to $80 from $60

https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=GMED&p=d

Larimar: FDA Removed Partial Clinical Hold for Nomlabofusp Program in Friedreich’s Ataxia

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) removed partial clinical hold following review of Phase 2 dose exploration study data
Ongoing open label extension (OLE) study initially evaluating 25 mg; Larimar plans to dose escalate to 50 mg following further characterization of frataxin pharmacodynamics (PD) at the 25 mg dose
Interim data from OLE study remains on track for Q4 2024
Biologics License Application (BLA) submission targeted for 2H 2025

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/05/20/2885137/0/en/Larimar-Therapeutics-Announces-FDA-has-Removed-Partial-Clinical-Hold-for-Nomlabofusp-Program-in-Friedreich-s-Ataxia.html

J6 Inquisitors Nail Their First Big Name

The New York Times editors could barely contain their glee. “Conservative Family Scion Sentenced to Nearly 4 Years for Jan. 6 Attack.” The subhead spelled out the details: “Leo Brent Bozell, the son and grandson of influential right-wing figures, shattered a windowpane in the Capitol, pursued a police officer and made his way into the speaker’s office during the pro-Trump riot.”

If the conservative movement has royalty, the Bozell family can rightfully claim a place in court. Leo’s father, L. Brent Bozell III, is the founder of the Media Research Center, and his grandfather, L. Brent Bozell, Jr., was a founding father of the National Review. Leo’s grandmother is Patricia Buckley Bozell, and his great-uncle is William F. Buckley, the original editor of the National Review and the public face of American conservatism for nearly a half-century.

Although Leo “Zeeker” Bozell, 44, gave up his claim to the Bozell throne long ago for the quiet life of construction work in small-town Pennsylvania, he had name enough to bring out the inner Stasi in the DOJ’s weaponized prosecutorial corps.

Bozell’s mistake was to pay more attention to the 2020 election campaign than was good for him. “He came to believe,” the Times reports with astonishment, “that the results of the race had been ‘rigged’ against President Donald J. Trump.” The Times editors chose to ignore the unconstitutional changes in state election laws and the obvious vote-harvesting in key cities. But to overlook 51 intel officials falsely swearing that Hunter Biden’s laptop was a Russian op is malpractice bordering on treason.

Although Bozell’s window-breaking would not net a top-ten spot in a list of Kennedy family disgraces, it was crime enough to trigger the partisan warriors of Biden’s DOJ. A married father of three daughters, he accepted responsibility for breaking the windows. He refused, however, to plead guilty to either obstruction of an official proceeding or assaulting a police officer, a contrived charge added at the last minute.

The trial took place before the Supreme Court agreed to review Fischer v. United States, the case that challenges the obstruction charge leveled against Bozell and more than 300 other J6ers. That specious charge is likely to be thrown out before the Supreme Court breaks for the summer in early July.

The equally bogus assault charge hinged on whether Bozell led a surge against a line of police officers. His attorneys claim he was caught up in a scrum that had a mind of its own. Although no police officers were injured, Judge John Bates ruled against Bozell on this count as well as on the obstruction charge.

The outcome of the trial shocked no one. The DOJ has close to a 100-percent conviction rate. Not coincidentally, it also has a 100-percent success rate in denying venue change out of a district that gave Trump 5 percent of its vote in 2020.

What was surprising was the “Terrorism Enhancement” prosecutors asked for, allegedly because Bozell destroyed property in a quest to alter government policy. “In DOJ’s view,” argues Bozell’s former attorney William Shipley, “breaking two windows on Jan. 6 was analogous to flying a commercial airliner into downtown high rise office buildings.”

The original probation report suggested a guideline range of 17 to 20 years. When the DOJ filed its sentencing statement, however, prosecutors asked for “only” 140 months, a little less than 12 years.

In Bates’s defense, the 45-month sentence he imposed was not unusual, at least by January 6 standards. Rachel Powell, one of the women I profile in my new book, Ashli: The Untold Story of the Women of January 6, received a 57-month sentence for window-breaking and miscellaneous pushing and shoving. In her case, however, prosecutors asked for only eight years.

Although Bates rejected the terrorism enhancement — the Times paraphrases him as calling it “excessively harsh” — it is not a stretch to believe that prosecutors went after Bozell because of his family pedigree. He was one of only seven J6ers hit with a terrorism enhancement, and five of those were Proud Boys.

“This was a political prosecution,” says Leo’s father Brent. “Leo Brent Bozell IV carries his father's name, and his father is a known conservative leader who is supporting President Trump in 2024.”

Brent Bozell owned up to his son’s mischief, but he is appalled by the disparity in sentencing between J6ers and those arrested in the Floyd riots. New York attorney Urooj Rahman, for instance, got 15 months for firebombing a police car.

The Kavanaugh protesters got off even easier. In 2018, screaming women repeatedly obstructed an “official proceeding,” the Senate vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Hundreds were arrested that day and in the days leading up to the vote. As NPR reported, “[m]ost of those charged this week with disorderly conduct, crowding or obstructing paid fines of $35 or $50” (italics added).

“This is just one more way the Biden administration is trying to shut down the conservative movement in America,” says Brent. “But in this case, they failed. I love my son and will be more outspoken than ever. The criminal investigation into this corrupt Justice Department is long overdue.”

Jack Cashill’s new book, Ashli: The Untold Story of the Women of January 6, is now on sale.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/05/j6_inquisitors_nail_their_first_big_name.html

New device helps paraplegics regain partial use of hands

More than 40 people suffering from paralysis from the neck down regained partial control of their arms and hands thanks to a relatively simple to use device, a large study said Monday.

The trial raised hopes that the non-invasive device could be help people with spinal injuries get back the all-important use of their hands.

The device, developed by Swiss medical technology firm Onward, delivers an electrical current through electrodes placed on the skin of paralyzed patients near where their spinal cord was damaged.

After two months of therapy, 43 of the 60 people participating in the trial regained strength and ability to use their arms and hands, according to the study in the journal Nature Medicine.

"I think it could be life-changing for the majority of people with spinal cord injury," lead study author US neuroscientist Chet Moritz told a press conference.

The field has seen a number of leaps forward in recent years, with electrical stimulation of the spinal cord allowing several patients to regain the ability to walk.

However, these devices require invasive surgery to implant devices near the spinal cord.

While the simpler device behind Monday's announcement may seem less revolutionary, several of the trial participants emphasized how important the use of hands are to paralyzed people.

"Everyone thinks that for a spinal injury, all you want to do is be able to walk again," said Melanie Reid, a British journalist and trial participant who was paralyzed when she fell off a horse 15 years ago.

"But if you're tetraplegic or quadriplegic, what matters most is working hands," she told the press conference.

Reid said she was "delighted" with the device, which allowed her to grip and even scroll through her phone using her left hand.

Another participant, Sherown Campbell, said the device helped him improve his typing speed, cook and write, as well as other things that enhanced his "quality of life".

Pilates for your fingers

Reid said that training with the device was hard work, comparing it to "doing a Pilates class with your fingers".

Moritz explained that this work develops new connections between the brain and the affected limbs, increasing the benefits over time—even when the device is not connected.

The study also stood out because of its size—most trials of similar devices have only involved one or a handful of patients.

French neuroscientist Gregoire Courtine, who supervised the study, told AFP it was the "first in the history of spinal cord medicine to show safety and efficacy in improving the recovery of tetraplegics".

Courtine said Onward was in discussion to get the device approved in the United States, with hopes that it could get to market there by the end of the year. Europe would ideally then follow soon after, he added.

In contrast, implants that could let paralyzed people walk again are still likely years away from being widely available.

The price for Onward's device remains unknown, though Courtine said the aim was for it to be "accessible".

More information: Chet Moritz et al, Non-invasive spinal cord electrical stimulation for arm and hand function in chronic tetraplegia: a safety and efficacy trial, Nature Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-024-02940-9

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-device-paraplegics-regain-partial.html

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