Indictments of conspiracy against members of a far-right group in the attack on the US Congress

U.S. prosecutors on Thursday charged Stuart Rhodes, founder of the far-right "Oath Guard" militia, and 10 alleged members of the group with conspiracy to sow discord for their role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Prosecutors said Rhodes had urged his group to prepare for a "bloody and bloody battle" in the days leading up to the attack in which supporters of then-President Donald Trump tried to prevent Congress from certifying his election defeat.

This is the first time that charges of plotting to sow discord have been brought against people suspected of participating in the attack. The law defines sedition as any attempt to “overthrow, subjugate, or destroy by force the Government of the United States.”

Prosecutors said Rhodes told allies via the messaging app Signal, "We're going to have to fight a battle... it can't be avoided."

The “Oath Guards” are a loose group of activists who believe that the federal government is infringing their rights, and focus on recruiting current or former members of the police, emergency services, and army.

Nine of the 11 people charged with sedition conspiracy already face other charges in connection with the congressional attack. Members of two other far-right groups have also been charged with taking part in the attack.

California governor refuses parole for murderer of presidential candidate Robert Kennedy

California Governor Gavin Newsom said Thursday he has refused to parole Sirhan Sirhan , the Palestinian refugee serving a life sentence for the assassination of presidential candidate Robert Kennedy in 1968.

Newsom's announcement came after a California review board in August recommended Sarhan's conditional release, with the decision subject to review by the board's legal staff and the governor himself. Sarhan has previously been denied parole 15 times.

Clarifying his decision in an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times, Newsom said he did not agree with the Parole Board's conclusion that Sarhan, 77, was eligible for parole.

"After carefully reviewing the case, including the records of the California State Archives, I have determined that Sarhan has not acquired the responsibility and insight necessary to support his safe release into the community," Newsom wrote.

Sarhan's lawyer, Angela Berry, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She previously said that Sarhan had never been charged with a serious prison abuse and that prison officials considered him low-risk.

Sarhan was convicted of shooting Kennedy, 42, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968.

The shooting occurred minutes after the senator and former attorney general gave his victory speech after winning the California Democratic primary. Kennedy died the next day. Kennedy's older brother, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas in 1963.

Sarhan said he did not remember the killing of Robert Kennedy, although he also said he shot him because he was angry at his support for Israel.

After the Parole Board issued its recommendation, Kennedy's widow, Ethel, 93, voiced opposition to Sarhan's release, saying, "Our family and our country have suffered an unspeakable loss because of one man's brutality."

Sarhan was sentenced to death in 1969, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after California banned the death penalty.

Politico: The Biden administration is attacking Trump and may start a policy of diplomatic and economic pressure against Iran in February

Politico published a report in which it said that the White House may adopt a coercive policy towards Iran at the beginning of February. In the report prepared by Nahal Tosi, she said that the White House tried on Wednesday to frame Washington's position on the nuclear agreement with Iran in a new way and to stress that former US President Donald Trump's decision to leave it was what led Iran to advance its nuclear program to the point of obtaining a nuclear deal. nuclear bomb.

Trump's criticism came at a time when indirect negotiations in Vienna between the United States and Iran did not lead to an agreement and the resolution of important differences. Aides to President Joe Biden have hinted at the possibility of increasing diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran if there is no breakthrough soon. Some analysts expect a US and European coercion policy early next month. In Washington, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Trump's "reckless" decision to exit the agreement "without thinking about what would happen next" was behind the lack of containment of the Iranian nuclear program, which is "no longer in the box, no longer under the most closely negotiated oversight and no longer It is subject to severe restrictions on nuclear activity.”

Baskey's comments come as critics of the nuclear agreement signed in 2015 and abandoned by Trump in 2018 are trying to persuade the Biden administration to abandon its efforts to revive the agreement. Some of his enemies call Biden preparing for military action against Iran's nuclear facilities. There are many who criticize the administration for not imposing sanctions on the Iranian regime.

After the US and international sanctions against Iran were lifted in return for curbing its nuclear programs, Trump said that the agreement is weak and does not include all features of Iranian activity, and that is why he decided to leave it, promising to negotiate a stronger and broader agreement. He reimposed previous sanctions and announced new ones in the hope of forcing Iran to enter into new negotiations.

Iran initially complied with the terms of the agreement, hoping that the European signatories to it would persuade Trump to reverse his decision. But the failure of European countries to help Iran forced it to abandon provisions of it. And when Biden came to power, he promised to revive the agreement, but Iran changed its government with a hard-line one, other than the one that signed the agreement and proceeded with its programs. According to the agreement, the time Iran needs to build a nuclear bomb is a year, but it is now just a month. Iran insists that its nuclear programs are for civilian purposes, not bomb-building. Negotiations between the American and Iranian delegations continued with a 5-month break due to a change of leadership in Tehran. 

The negotiators, who were mediated by the Europeans, did not reach any agreement to bridge the deep differences between them, such as agreeing on steps to return to the original agreement. Tehran wants Washington to lift sanctions first and allow it to use billions of dollars in frozen funds. But the United States is reluctant to lift any of the sanctions until Iran returns the progress it has made in its nuclear program. Biden wants to start negotiating a tougher agreement. The discussions "are making progress, but it is slow and unacceptable in the opinion of the United States," said Ali Vaez, Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group. He added that the nuclear agreement will not be returned until after 6 months if negotiations continue at this rate. But the progress Iran has made with its nuclear programs means that a return to the original agreement will not matter. 

Faiz expects the United States to turn to coercion if there has been no achievement by the end of January. This could include tightening or increasing sanctions as well as increased discussion with US partners in the Middle East about how Iran should be contained. Critics of the agreement have attacked the Biden administration for not doing much to prevent China from buying Iranian oil. Beijing is a signatory to the agreement, but its steps are not always consistent with the United States. Frustrated with the Iranian position, European countries may allow the re-imposition of UN sanctions. 

According to Faez, the operation is in order to avoid the Chinese and Russian vetoes. Although it will not be enough to change the behavior of the regime in Tehran, it may represent a psychological blow to it. It could technically be the end of the Iran nuclear agreement, which is officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Even if America and its partners adopt a hard line, it may continue the diplomatic path, says Fayez. US officials did not issue threats or deadlines, but they warned for months that they would not tolerate Iranian hesitation. In December, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken attacked Trump for abandoning the nuclear agreement and failing to offer an alternative, as he had promised.

He described Trump's decision as "one of the worst decisions in American foreign policy in the past decade." He also warned Iran that the time to return to the agreement is "very, very, very short" and "what will not continue is Iran playing time at the negotiating table by not participating in good faith and quickly and at the same time continuing to build its program." and “This is a non-permanent position.” Psaki noted the same as Blinken and the desire for progress in the negotiations. Experts in controlling the spread of nuclear weapons believe that the biggest sin is Trump's departure from an agreement that international inspectors have said was successful in curbing Iran's activities. 

But there is a sense that Biden has moved slowly in the past year as he has had time to engage a moderate regime and begin negotiations. In any case, the negotiations are worth the effort, according to Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association. “While Biden and his team did not move early and quickly last year to negotiate with Iran the necessary steps to return to the nuclear agreement from both sides, it is possible and necessary for Iran and the United States to negotiate an agreement.” disease for both of them and prevent a major nuclear crisis.”