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50 Top Officials Urge President Trump To Keep US Sanctions On Iran

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Iran nuclear weapons program

Fifty-one former senior U.S. officials and foreign policy experts sent a joint nonpartisan letter, obtained and published first by SaraACarter.com on Thursday, to President Donald Trump urging him ‘not to lift sanctions on Iran’ as Democratic lawmakers continue to pressure his administration to lift them arguing it’s a necessary measure in supporting Iran’s efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The letter to President Trump, signed by many former senior officials who served in Democratic and Republican administrations, asserts that sanctions can only be lifted “until and unless the regime ceases its sponsorship of terrorism, dismantles its nuclear and missile programs, releases all American hostages, removes its forces from other countries in the Middle East, and ends its relentless abuse of the Iranian people.”

Some of the most important names to sign the letter include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mark Wallace, and Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Mark Dubowitz, along with others.

“President Hassan Rouhani recently revealed that the Islamic Republic is waging a global influence campaign to use the spread of COVID-19 as a pretext for obtaining sanctions relief – money the regime wants to help subsidize its malign activities. Since Iran has not suspended its engagement in these activities amidst the outbreak of COVID-19, U.S. sanctions – which do not impede the flow of humanitarian goods to Iran – should not be suspended either,” the letter states.

The Iranian government continues to push the Trump administration to lift sanctions complaining that sanctions are hindering Iran’s ability to handle the pandemic. The State Department, however, created a loophole in February to allow for the free and unrestricted flow of humanitarian and medical aid to Iran.

Additionally, there are questions as to whether Iran’s sufficiently and transparently handled the virus. Israel’s Foreign Intelligence Agency’s (Mossad) Director Yossi Cohen said during a briefing Thursday that Iran is ‘intentionally’ lying about their coronavirus numbers, officials who attended the event told Axios.

“There [has] been widespread infection and they are lying about it,” Cohen said, according to reports. “The numbers the Iranians are reporting about are not true. The numbers of infected and dead I know about are much higher.”

The recent letter applauds President Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign” for hampering “the Islamic Republic’s ability to generate revenue to support its malign activities, the clerical regime is still able to draw on billions of escrowed oil dollars to fund the importation of humanitarian goods.”

It continues, “Moreover, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has access to billions of dollars in his own business empire – money stolen from the Iranian people. Billions more are available in Iran’s sovereign wealth fund, which Khamenei has tapped in recent months to fund the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, nuclear expansion, and human rights abuses.”

Several U.S. lawmakers have echoed Iran’s calls to ease sanctions including Senator Chris Murphy, who along with ten other Democratic Senators, sent a letter on March 26 to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin asking the Trump administration to permit “the free flow of desperately needed medical and humanitarian supplies” by lifting sanctions. Days later, on March 31, ten other Democratic lawmakers wrote a similar letter addressed to Secs. Pompeo and Mnuchin advocating for a suspension of sanctions.

The U.S. government has imposed sanctions against Iran since 1979, the year the Iranian hostage crisis occurred. With Iran’s more recent efforts to ramp up nuclear weapons capabilities and its ongoing global terrorism campaign, the U.S. has imposed additional pressure on the country.

Read the full letter below:

Open Letter to President Tr… by Sara on Scribd

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Economy

Home foreclosures soaring nationwide

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A new report published by real estate data provider ATTOM found that there were 32,938 properties in February with foreclosure filings, which includes default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. That marks an 8% increase from the prior year, although it is down 1% from the previous month.

The February rise of foreclosures is another symptom of Americans struggling with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. 

Fox Business reports that according to Zillow, housing affordability is the worst it has been in decades, thanks to a spike in home prices and mortgage rates. Combined, the two have helped to push the typical salary required nationwide for homeownership up to $106,500 — a stunning 61% increase from the $59,000 required just four years ago.

In South Carolina, foreclosures surged 51%, while Missouri saw a 50% jump and Pennsylvania a 46% increase. Foreclosures in Texas rose 7%, and in Indiana they climbed 0.8%. Although foreclosures are rising, they remain well below the levels recorded during the 2008 financial crisis, reports Fox Business.

However, the average rate for a 30-year fixed loan rose to 6.74% this week, Freddie Mac reported, which is well above the pandemic-era lows of 3%. And even though mortgage rates have more than doubled in just three years, home prices have hardly budged.

Fox Business states that the problem could soon get worse as high home prices, mortgage rates and property taxes bite Americans:

The Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest-rate hike campaign sent mortgage rates soaring above 8% for the first time in nearly two decades last year. Rates have been slow to retreat, hovering near 7% as hotter-than-expected inflation data dashed investors’ hopes for immediate rate cuts.

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