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despite questioning economic sanctions from the west, the islamic republic has succeeded in developing its aerospace capabilities. iran has put a third homegrown satellite into orbit, and that's a big deal, because sanctions have failed to stop iran's advancement technologically, especially in the aerospace sector, not to mention many other sectors like the military. why has iran been so successful in these advancements? why has the us maximum pressure campaign failed to stop iran despite decades of sanctions? just some of the questions. will be asking in this edition of the spolt light. our guests for this program are, julia gassam joins us, she's a journalist and political analyst. also joining us is shabia rizmy, political commentator. welcome to you both uh julia, i'll first start with you. so. so we're

looking at what's called the neur 3 and i'm looking at the description, an imaging satellite gone into orbit, successfully placed into a 450 km orbit of the earth, with the iranian cassette satellite carrier, which means messenger, and this comes a year and a half after the nur 2 went into orbit, that altitude was 500 kilometers, and then uh you also had the neur one back in april 20, which was the first military reconnason satellite launched by iran. why this is significant? well, the speed of the progress uh from newer one to newer 3 uh, which is the most final and most successful edition of the the spy satellite, um, is uh, definitely a feet in itself. um, the us uh played down the new one lot and that was just only three years ago, and right now it's a fully capable um imaging satellite that's able to uh... really have a

full range of uh capturing all of the us spy activities uh and bases in the illegally put bases in the region um which is what has uh which is really putting the us its toes um it's uh effectively knock down the moled in the us is um um monopoly on uh intelligence and on um espionage and and imaging basically and region now uh iran is emerging as a uh western asian power that's having a home grown capability over intelligence and over satellite imagery um and you know iran was already really beating off the us's basis in iraq and and around the region before the satellite what can uh this be capable what can uh the threats to the us occupation in the region uh mulsad presence in the region reach uh now that uh that the new 3 is

successful uh this is really worrying uh the us occupation and and israel uh for sure uh so much that the us once again it's launching its uh military nuclear capability um pretext uh you know giving as its opposition to uh the the newer three um but of course that's just a pretext to that to basically hide the level of anxiety that uh the us occupation and its allies have in in losing its uh monopoly on intelligence gathering and technology in the region. yeah this that's a very good point. mean if we want to take a look at this uh shabir in terms of uh what the accomplishment really entails um this technology of a satellite carriers is only available to 12 countries in fact there are uh even though there are countries that produce satellites but because of this uh technology the launcher itself um they uh

don't have the full cycle of space technology um tell us of course what your thoughts are on that but when our guest there from beirout says the... us monopoly, i think the us wants to monopolize industries like the aerospace, but probably their real interest is the military industry, so that these countries in west asia, as referred to by us, become reliant on the us when it comes to things like military equipment, is is that a correct uh perspective on it or way of looking at it? thank you for having me, and yes i believe that's a correct uh kind of. of having it, i mean if you look at how the united states has handled pretty much any single technology, it can, it looks to monopolize uh the the technology or the field, it looks to dominate it and it looks to push other people out of the way and have complete control over it, now what iran has done, as you mentioned with

you, 11 other countries, iran being now the 12th, is it can stand its own two feet and say, yes we can do this, that presents a very unique threat to the united states, as you know the united states has always been trying to put its claws into the region um and now that it has you know a significant resistance not only in the form of you know resistance on the ground but now quite literally resistance in the sky um iran has effectively leveled the playing field here um and this is a concrete step that iran is taking into kind of ensuring that the region itself is not reliant on uh the united states or the west uh in its entirety because iran is always willing to you know look out for its neighbors uh be a re key a real key regional player uh and unlike the united states which looks to kind of monopolize and exert control over it uh as you as we see here with iran joining for example bricks and the shanghai cooperation council iran is really looking

for you know uh trade and trust based on mutual mutual growth mutual trust mutual respect between two nations and so what this presents as a challenge to the united states. is that iran can now partner up with these different uh, these different nations, these different states that are looking to, you know, increase their capacity for four production, not rely so much on the united states and also establishing a key economic relationship that isn't predatory, that isn't linked to the imf, that isn't linked to the world bank, but rather based off mutual trust and cooperation with iran and its allied states. yeah, and since you're in um beirout there, julie, in terms of... the way that uh the us has prevented uh or tried to prevent uh the for example transfer of iranian oil to uh to lebanon, what's wrong with iran transferring its aerospace technology to lebanon or its missile technology? i think maybe the us then is very concerned about that because uh obviously one of the things

that stands out in this region is the israeli regime and i think that's probably one of the driving factors that the us has uh when it comes to preventing iran from advancing is that is... that right? yeah, by preventing iran from advancing, you're preventing the whole region from advancing. um, you know, aside from the fact that we have limited capabilities in lebanon, limited military capacity on itself, as a as a small country, um, the you, our country, lebanon has been structurally dependent on the west, um, economically and on the us, militarily, and this is done specifically to ensure. that there is no um independence uh that's that's really uh reached a a military level but also so that um we're always receiving the end of old stock piles um you know terrible grade equipment uh to keep uh the country

militarily subservience but also uh within the balance and control of the of the west um so that uh whatever we have is also ensures that there is that uh constant dependency, now what iran does in bringing over um military technology and oil goods, it breaks uh that dependency, and it um ensures that there is actually um some self-sufficiency and some level of sovereignty um with iranian allies in the region um that can effectively challenge the comprador dependent status that uh countries like lebanon have been in. uh four decades uh president uh shabir has thanked there was space uh for doing what it did this major achievements uh i'd like to get your thoughts however on how he has said once again this is shown that threats and

sanctions have no effect on the determination of our dear young scientists for the progress and excellence of the islamic republic of iran. iran's leader has time it again said that the... west's main worry, in particular the us and what they're targeting is uh these minds, the minds of the youth in particular, and scientists for example and how uh they are the ones that are progressing and advancing uh iran with it, and that's what they're what they're targeting. we can talk about the scientist in another question, but uh, just uh, how uh, what you think, and whether you agree with what is leader has said, in terms of these young minds being targeted, and of course uh, in this case and point in the aerospace industry. yeah, of course, no, i agree completely, i mean, i think it's very important to kind of... assess exactly uh what he means by targeting right, because the west has several different

tactics that it deploys in order to ensure that progress is stifled, one of course is the very obvious you know threat of actually murdering right, as we've seen time and time again in the past, you know, whether it's the cia or mosad fladout assassinating nuclear scientists, the west isn't afraid to not only conduct such horrific uh acts of cowardice, i would say, but also it flants it, um, it says very openly that yes we were responsible or yes that we we um we killed xy z scientists in order to stop progres in order for example uh fear monger the us public uh into saying these these scientists were developing weapons of mass destruction they were developing nuclear weapons and then i think there's also the process of um using sanctions to target them as well right uh if you lock them out of having a good uh financial life if you draw them into the west at self by promising them, oh you'll get you, x, y, z uh, you know, degree, will be able to

give you nice paying job, that's a process that we refer to as brain drain, where you are taking the best that the that that a country has to offer, pulling them out of the country, stifling the the country's progress and then integrating them into the west, and in the west, as we were talking about uh just few moments ago, the west is laser focused on creating weapons of murder, uh, they pour billions and billions and billions of dollars as we see into their war machines uh and into into wars such as the ukraine war for example where we have a looming government shut down happening right now but the the government has essentially said that we'll keep pouring money into weapons weapons of war for ukraine and so again all this to say that those threats are very real, the united states is constantly looking to sink its teeth into these scientists into these young minds and try to either pull them out of the country if they can and have them work. for the united states, for example, or just flat out, kill them if they can't. yeah, uh, the fact that

iranian nuclear scientists have been targeted july, i'm sure it's no, not new news for you, we know how musad has operated in that regards, and we know how they have assassinated number of iranian uh scientists in the nuclear field in particular. now we know that iran is not after nuclear weapons. ivan, even not only israel's intel agencies, but also the us have uh confirmed that iran is not after weaponization of its nuclear. your program, but yet uh israel has targeted uh iranian scientists, what are they afraid of? why do they want, why do they want to get rid of iranian scientists? well, this was uh, even uh back in homani's time he wrote about this, he wrote about how israel is uh afraid, the zionists are afraid, the west is afraid of uh an intellectual society, um, intellectual society that works for sovereignty. um and an intellectual society that can build the capability for economic sovereignty too. um, as we as it's you know

known as it's been proven um from years and years worth of international investigations into iran's nuclear program that it's a program of building uh alternative energy, it's a peaceful nuclear program um where iran can uh develop like a um a variety. diverse um array of um energy capabilities um that could be the foundation for uh you know its future sovereign scientific development and programs was again like um the development that leads to uh political as well as economic sovereignty is uh angers the us in the west more than uh a military challenge um and that is why uh science are are the target, that's why uh youth are the target through soft power, um, that's why in the

latest siap, it focused lot, like all of the the siops from the west uh do, they focus on um undermining iran's cultural and social values, especially targeting youth, targeting women, um, because iran's social uh, iran's social values as country are the foundation for its development um and for encouraging development as a major um scientific uh player today also uh program has been uh obviously a subject that is not sitting well with the us and israel in turn, shaver, we know that that has been a thorn uh on the side of the us for quite some time and still is uh, i'm trying to understand how it is that the us, which was involved in the iran-iraq war in terms of providing weapons

along with other western countries uh where uh missiles and bombs were raining down on iran. can expect uh uh this country not to have its own missile program, they blame iran for weaponizing its missile program to carry nuclear warheads. we just had the other day, the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu uh place nuclear threat on an international stage by the name of the unga at the podium to the entire world saying there should be nuclear threat against iran. shouldn't iran be equipped then with missiles? non-nuclear missiles? yeah, um, i think first, first, first and foremost, everything the west says about you know, a country not being able, a country shouldn't arm itself, a country shouldn't have these defensive capabilities is pure hypocrisy, because the moment that you know a country would let it guard down, um, the west is going to take whatever or create whatever boogy man it can in order to

invade it right, for example, the example i think of almost immediately is uh qaddafi's libya where khadafi kind of put down his arms and then immediately we saw a nato-back invasion uh that overthrew gaddafi and now libya is a slave state that's suffering from uh infrastructure collapse um and so i think it the threat of nuclear war against iran um from netanyahu uh is one cowardice it's two it's fear mongering right um we all know that israel is in a very desperate situation right now. now it's it's entering it's almost its 40th straight week of internal protests uh the netanyahu government is not very popular at all in fact on the global stage no matter which government uh it is that's running uh the occupation um the occupation itself is losing any credibility any credibility it had and it already had very little credibility to start off with and so all this to say i think

iran should 100% um have the defensive capabilities it it thinks it needs in order to protect. itself, because the moment i believe that you know a country lets guard down, especially against the west, the west will always, always, always look into penetrating other countries into sewing chaos, into ensuring that the western influence is the dominant influence in the region, and we see this now more than ever as the west is willing to actually engage in not only war against russia, but slowly creeping towards war against china, it's completely willing to fight a multifront war, and if countries think for... one second that the west would hesitate to take advantage of a situation where it's guards where it's guard is down um they would be in for some for root awakening because the west would 100% exploit any situation it can in order to take over and control any other region uh it possibly can. well evan has not actually swayed from his missile program or limited in any shape

or form actually has advanced it to the point where it is now from what i'm reading over here: um to have the largest uh missile uh stock pile uh in west asia and it's the only country to have one that has range of 2,00 kilometers which obviously reaches israel uh julie my question to you is uh there was a case where uh you had the murder general lieutenant general haj qasim sulaymani that was assassinated by the us and uh iran retaliated and it retaliated by using the fatih 110 uh family of solid fuel missiles to the uh um us base uh the nl assad base uh to show not only it strength but to uh give uh us a little um rattling of the cage um there could be other instances where iran needs to be equipped and therefore it needs these types of weapons for its defensive posture

aside from israel threatening iran time and again you also have the us that has that famous saying all options are on the table, so uh iran has obviously a reason to have these missiles, correct? absolutely, justification and reason, but um, oh, did you want to say something? no, no, i thought you, i thought you had ended your sense, go ahead, no, no, no, no, go, i'm just going to continue on the answer, um, yeah, so has the justification, has reason, has the historical precedence, um, any... a country in iran's position or any country in west asia's position um not only has the right and to develop itself but any other option is suicide um for it. especially um put up against uh how iran is probably one of the most targeted countries by the us in the world um and after the assassination of haj

qasim sulaymani this was to send you know iran was sending message that um not only should you really think about continuing to attack iran in such cowardly ways but also um all options are on the table regionally. just across the region um just last week uh, you know, just a couple days ago, not even last week, yemen was celebrating its uh anniversary of its revolution, where it's transformed into a sovereign resistance government and administration from the its comparador uh government in 2014, um, they held a military parade also showcasing very advanced uh weaponry that nobody would have thought um just a couple you know just dozen of years ago um that yemen would be in possession of uh such advanced missiles and

weapons um and you know the same across is across the board with iran's allies in the region uh iran's strength and justification for defending itself it goes to all of its allies and all of its countries in the position of uh being in the cross. of occupation and imperialist assault, and we can, you know, expect that's capability to grow across the board, israel already knows, it can't challenge lebanon militarily, and a lot of us allies in the region that have gone for years head to head with resistance access countries are finding that out that their capability and their morale is um being... finished day after day, so um iran is clearly sizing up in this in this equation, and it's

all you know due to uh just you know the the the will of breaking the sanctions that have been put on it since the revolution in 1979 um and i think those sanctions have as he has said many times. the opportunity to develop a truly sovereign defense program that our region should look to as a model. final question, based on follow-up on what just julie said there shabir, why does the us continue down a failed uh road of maximum pressure campaign? it can't suppress iran's technological advancements and advancements in many other fields. why doesn't it try to engage? nobody says they're going to call each other and wish each other merry christmas or have. pin, nobody wants that, but at the same time, engagement, if they were to have done that, they maybe the world wouldn't be where it's at now, where iran, saudi arabia, the region itself is united,

there's bricks, there's sco that iran is part of, and the lack of engagement has actually and maximum pressure campaign, shot themselves in the foot, uh, why does the us continue down this path? in under a minute, please, yeah, and under a minute, okay, so under a minute, okay, that's a lot that i'm going to try to crush in here, but essentially the ideological position of the united states. is full hajomany over the world, it it likes it's unipolar world and it's willing to fight for it, it's willing to fight dirty for it, as we've seen with assassinations, with maximum pressure campaigns, with pulling out of the jcpoa, and now as we're emerging into this new multipolar world that's you know multilateral and and power spheres, um, the united states is not going to want to engage, it knows that if it goes down this route it will lose all influence in in the regions that currently has control over and so... any pivot to that sort of thinking is going to endanger the defense ministry that reaks in billions of dollars, any pivot to peace from the united states is going to shut down every single

military base um all 700 plus of them and and so the the bricks will come falling down uh lasting to say um you can't have peace with the united states in its current form because it is a government of warmongers should we really the political commentator from chicago thank you julie cassam journalists and political. from bayroot a pleasure with that we come to an end for this edition of the news review, i'm sorry of the spotlight, thanks for tuning in, it's bye bye for now, thank you so much david ambassador yeah all

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