Yesterday, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Thailand-based My Aviation Company Limited for acting for/on behalf of Mahan Air, an Iranian airline previously designated for supporting #Iran’s terrorism activities. home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel… Mahan Air has transported IRGC-QF operatives, weapons, equipment, and funds abroad in support of the IRGC-QF’s destabilizing regional operations. Mahan Air has also routinely facilitated the movement of IRGC-QF personnel, fighters, and material, between Iran and #Syria.

Twitter has attempted to define rules for acceptable behavior and mechanisms of enforcement. They have used a mix of algorithms and human oversight. The results have been mixed at best and neither those who favor free speech or more civility have been pleased. In addition, some of the methods used by Twitter have created viewpoint discrimination which is unacceptable. securitystudies.org/twitter-viewpo…

Reminder from the National Security Strategy: America’s competitors weaponize information to attack the values and institutions that underpin free societies, while shielding themselves from outside information.

whitehouse.gov/wp-content/upl… Risks to U.S. national security will grow as competitors integrate information derived from personal and commercial sources with intelligence collection and data analytic capabilities based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

As an enabler of Iranian expansion and Russian force projection, the regime of Bashar al-Assad presents problems for the U.S. and our allies. Here is what keeps the regime afloat and how vulnerable it is at this juncture. securitystudies.org/assad-regimes-… Syrian civil war destroyed 3/4 of the national economy & wreaked havoc on all sectors, but the regime of Bashar al-Assad was able to weather the storm. While Iran and Russia secured his rule and turned the tide of the war in his favor, Assad managed to remain financially afloat.

VOA Mandarin Service correspondent and a multimedia journalist working for VOA were detained Monday by Chinese authorities while interviewing a retired Chinese professor who was taken away by police during a live interview with @VOANews nearly 2 weeks ago. voanews.com/a/voa-reporter… Correspondent Yibing Feng and VOA contractor Allen Ai were taken into custody in Jinan, Shandong province after talking to professor Sun Wenguang, 84, through the closed door of his apartment.

The Obama Administration decided that the Iranian regime was a partner for peace. They were wrong. Now that reality has set back in, all decent people should be standing with the citizens of Iran against the regime. SSG President @Uncle_Jimbo explains with @LizMacDonaldFOX The Iranian people are sick & tired of their repressive leaders who rule with an iron fist and the religious police who enforce a strict Islamist code. Protests by citizens in Iran keep getting bigger & more widespread & the regime is getting more violent. foxnews.com/opinion/2018/0…

Today, the United States is taking action to reimpose nuclear-related sanctions with respect to Iran that were lifted in connection with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action of July 14, 2015 (the “JCPOA”). whitehouse.gov/briefings-stat… These actions include reimposing sanctions on #Iran’s automotive sector and on its trade in gold and precious metals, as well as sanctions related to the Iranian rial. These measures will take effect on August 7, 2018.

Trump Admin has maintained the closure of two Russian compounds and the expulsion of 35 diplomats in response to Russian interference in the 2016 election. In March 2017, the Admin obtained the indictment of 3 Russians for the 2014 Yahoo hack, including 2 officers of the FSB.... Sept 2017, Trump admin banned the use of Kaspersky Labs software on US Govt computers due to Kaspersky ties to Russian intelligence. In Dec 2017, the Admin imposed export controls against 2 Russian companies that were helping Russia develop missiles which violate the INF treaty.

The goal of achieving a final Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement based on the concept of a two-state solution is possible. freebeacon.com/national-secur… Since the start of the Oslo process in 1993, there have been three serious, U.S.-led negotiating attempts that culminated in offers to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with a two-state solution:

Despite receiving over $80M from Western taxpayers over the last 10 years, including over $700,000 from the U.S. government, Islamic Relief is an prominent Islamist institution, closely tied to Muslim Brotherhood networks, w/ branches in over 20 countries. meforum.org/articles/2018/… Islamic Relief is one of the largest Islamic charities in the world. It maintains branches and offices in over 20 countries and it has reported franchise-wide income of hundreds of millions of dollars. Western governments provide a significant proportion of this income.

The #IranDeal seems poised to die as President Trump, who was never a fan, is set to make remarks on Tuesday about its fate. The deal was a low point in American politics. Even before Iran’s essential bad faith was laid bare by Israel’s capture of their nuclear weapons plans. The #IranNuclearDeal did nothing to control ballistic missile development, enriched Iranian proxy forces including named terrorist groups, and empowered and emboldened the worst excesses of the regime. securitystudies.org/america-iran-i…

Nine Iranians charged with conducting massive cyber theft campaign on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). justice.gov/opa/pr/nine-ir… The defendants were each leaders, contractors, associates, hackers-for-hire or affiliates of the Mabna Institute, an Iran-based company that, since at least 2013, has conducted massive coordinated campaigns of cyber intrusions into computer systems.

National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster has always been skeptical of the Iran nuke deal. In an interview with Chris Wallace in Sept of 2017 McMaster laid out the fundamental flaws in the deal. In October, McMaster further explained "the fundamental flaw of the sunset clause" in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as “cover” for Iran to reach a nuclear “threshold capability.” jpost.com/International/…

President Trump Delivers Remarks Regarding the Administration’s National Security Strategy Today at 2PM EST. A strong America is in the vital interests of not only the American people, but also those around the world who want to partner with the United States in pursuit of shared interests, values, and aspirations. This National Security Strategy puts #AmericaFirst.

Detailing Iranian non-compliance with UN Resolution 2231, the Secretary General's new report explains violation after violation of weapons transfers and ballistic missile activity on behalf of the Iranian's. The fourth report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of UN Resolution 2231 can be read here drive.google.com/file/d/1M9SBdW…

With the fall of ISIS and the submission of the Kurds, Iran has largely succeeded at achieving its grand strategic goal of establishing a Shia Crescent. The Saudis are facing a northern Middle East that is close to being completely dominated by #Iran. securitystudies.org/saudi-arabia-c… The Saudis rightly recognize that Iran’s push for regional hegemony is a danger to their interests. It was in this new environment that Iran’s proxies executed a missile attack on the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The missile originated in #Yemen, and was clearly of Iranian origin.

Russian govt has inherited the Soviet Union’s understanding of war, in which the war for the mind is the most important battlefield. As a result, Russian propaganda efforts here are central to their foreign policy, military strategy, & politics in general securitystudies.org/understanding-… Unlike the United States, which always considered physical force primary and which disbanded its Department of Information after the Cold War, the Russians have never lost focus on winning victories by manipulating thought.