The US-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported that 60 Iranians and Americans of Iranian descent were detained and questioned by US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents as they attempted to cross from Vancouver into Washington state.

Many others were turned away because the CBP detention facilities had reached capacity.

CAIR reported:

"A source at CBP reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a national order to CBP to “report” and detain anyone with Iranian heritage entering the country who is deemed potentially suspicious or “adversarial,” regardless of citizenship status. CBP at the Peace Arch Border Crossing did not confirm or deny this report."

CAIR spoke with one young woman who stated that the majority of people being held were American citizens, and that they were asked questions that had "nothing to do with [their] reason for traveling." 

Many of the people were returning to their homes in the United States after attending an iranian pop concert in Vancouver.

It is illegal under the US constitution to detain citizens without cause, or to detain citizens based on their ethnicity.

 

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The Iranian government released a statement on Sunday declaring that it will no longer abide any restrictions imposed by the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear accords. 

The Iranian government will not comply with any of the limitations set regarding enrichment, level of enrichment, stocks of enriched nuclear material and research and development regarding nuclear enrichment and the application of enriched nuclear material.

The United States unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2016, reimposing economic sanctions on Iran, but the rest of the world's major powers had been attempting to salvage the accords. 

The Iranian government stated that despite its disregard for restrictions imposed by the JCPOA, it would continue to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA is an independent organization, but reports to both the UN general Assembly and the UN Security Council.

#Iran’s 5th announcement re #JCPOA could have been far worse given circumstances. Crucially, IAEA acces intact to oversee nuclear program & enrichment levels not shot up to 20% as feared.E3/EU should take- & seize- this as signal that Tehran allowing narrow window for diplomacy.

— Ellie Geranmayeh (@EllieGeranmayeh) January 5, 2020

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 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Iran will probably try to attack American troops after a US strike killed a top Iranian commander.

"We think there is a real likelihood Iran will make a mistake and make a decision to go after some of our forces, military forces in Iraq or soldiers in northeast Syria," he told Fox News in remarks aired Sunday.

His comments came as the military advisor to Iran's supreme leader said there would be a "military" response "against military sites" by Tehran after the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the powerful commander of Iran's Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of its Revolutionary Guards.

"It would be a big mistake for Iran to go after them," Pompeo told Fox.

The US has about 60,000 troops in the region, including around 5,200 in Iraq. Washington ordered thousands more soldiers to the region on Friday after Soleimani's killing.

"We're preparing for all kinds of various responses," including cyber attacks, Pompeo told Fox.

 

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Iraqi parliamentarians voted on a resolution Sunday to remove all foreign troops from Iraq.

It is not clear if the resolution is binding, or if the provisions passed by Iraqi parliament, including severing ties with the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraqi soil, will be implemented by Iraq's caretaker government.

While the anger of Iraqis about US air strikes on their sovereign soil is clear, the constitutionality of laws enacted by a Prime Minister who has already submitted his resignation is not.

In the wake of widespread protests about the corruption and foreign influence that dominate Iraqi affairs and calls for a constitutional overhaul and the mitigation of both US and Iranian influence, this is the strongest call yet for full Iraqi sovereignty.

The vote took place in an emergency legislative session which required a quorum of at least 165 of parliament's 329 total members in order to take place. Dominant Shiite blocs of parliament, some of whom have strong ties to Iran, were the driving force behind the call for the emergency session and the language of the resolution.

While the parliament's Kurdish factions and many Sunni legislators, all of whom oppose breaking ties with the US military, did not attend the session, a quorum was reached and the majority of the approximately 180 members in attendance voted in favor of the resolution.

 

This post was updated at 6:46 PM GMT +3.

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The United States announced on Saturday that the Coalition to defeat ISIS would suspend anti-ISIS operations in Iraq, as well as the training of Iraqi troops.

In response to heightened tensions between the United States and Iran and after threats against US forces by the Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, the Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) released a statement today indicating that their focus would be on the protection of Iraqi bases which host Coalition personnel.

The statement, which was issued as Iraqi parliament initiated an emergency session that may result in legislation severing ties with the Coalition and demanding the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, said that the prioritization of protecting Coalition personnel has, "limited our capacity to conduct training with partners and to support their operations against Daesh and we have therefore paused these activities, subject to continuous review."

It also stated that CJTF-OIR "remains resolute as partners of the Government of Iraq and the iraqi people" and remained ready to return its full attention back to defeating ISIS. Continue Reading

The scheduled emergency session was delayed until enough legislators arrived to meet the quorum of 165 MPs necessary to initiate a legislative session, but there are now 168 MPs in attendance, along with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi.

As the session began, lawmakers chanted, "No, no to America!" and "No, no to Israel!" 

Shiite blocs have prepared a draft bill detailing mechanisms to expel American troops from Iraq in response to the killing of Iran's Gen. Qasem Soleimani and Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike in Baghdad early Friday. 

According to a copy seen by Rudaw, 170 lawmakers have signed the document. This is more than half the 329 seats in the parliament. 

The document also states that the government should "terminate the activities of any foreign force on its land and prevent the airspace of the country from being used for any purpose.”

Quorum for the emergency legislative session has been reached despite the fact that Kurdish lawmakers are boycotting the meeting. 

"As Kurdish blocs, we will not attend the session," Viyan Sabri, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) bloc in Baghdad, told Rudaw. "As far as we are aware, some of the Sunnis MPs will not attend either," she added. 

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Qasem Soleimani’s body has arrived in the holy city of Mashhad, in northeast Iran. 

The city, Iran’s second largest, is home to the shrine of Imam Reza, a revered Shiite figure. A ceremony will be held at the shrine.  Continue Reading

The Taliban issued a statement condemning the killing of Qasem Soleimani and vowing to fight American “savagery.”

“With great sadness, we were informed that General Qasem Soleimani was killed in an attack by the barbaric American forces. We are all from god, and we will return to him [Quran aya] … may he rest in paradise,” read a statement from the Afghani Islamic militant group, dated January 4, 2020 and quoted by Tasnim News, an Iranian news agency affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Describing the killing as a daring move – “a big adventure” – by the Americans, the Taliban warned there will be consequences: “Afghanistan Islamic Emirate affirms that jihad will continue against the savagery and the American occupation.”

On the other end of the spectrum in Afghanistan, the son of renowned military commander Ahmad Shah Masoud, a vociferous opponent of the Taliban, posted on Instagram a photograph of his father with Soleimani. Masoud fought the Soviets in the 1980s and was killed in a suicide bombing two days before September 11, 2001 at the behest of Al-Qaeda and Taliban. His son, also named Ahmed, described Soleimani as a lion. 

In the early years of his military career, Soleimani operated in eastern Iran in the Baluchistan area fighting Baluch insurgents and narcotic smugglers. There he had dealings with Afghan fighters led by Ahmad Shah Masoud. In 1999, Soleimani was appointed by the Supreme Leader to head the Quds Force of the IRGC.

The US is trying to revive peace talks with the Taliban that fell apart last year. Washington’s lead negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad is expected to meet with the Taliban in Qatar.
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Gen. Qasem Soleimani’s body has arrived in Iran. The national TV broadcast scenes of large crowds surrounding the slow-moving truck making its way through the southern city of Ahvaz, carrying the coffins of Soleimani and three other Iranians killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad on Friday. The body of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy leader of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), has also been brought to Iran where it will undergo DNA testing before being returned to Iraq for burial, according to Fars News.

Amid religious hymns and chants of “God is great” and “Death to America” in Arabic and Farsi, a message to Iran’s enemies was broadcast over the loudspeaker: "America, Israel and Saudi Arabia, these people have not come to mourn. We are crying for ourselves. From today anyone in this country who talks about negotiation [with the West] we will seal their mouth with mud."

 

“The blood that flows through our veins is a gift to our leader,” was another phrase proclaimed to the crowd in the city where less than a year and a half ago, at least 25 people were killed in an attack on a military parade. Nearly half of those killed were members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). An anti-government Arab group claimed responsibility.

From Ahvaz, the bodies will be brought to Mashhad, then to Tehran, Qom, and Kerman. 

 

 

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