Showing posts with label iran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iran. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
U.S. SPEEDING UP MISSILE DEFENCES IN PERSIAN GULF
January 31, 2010
By DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is accelerating the deployment of new defenses against possible Iranian missile attacks in the Persian Gulf, placing special ships off the Iranian coast and antimissile systems in at least four Arab countries, according to administration and military officials.
The deployments come at a critical turning point in President Obama’s dealings with Iran. After months of unsuccessful diplomatic outreach, the administration is trying to win broad international consensus for sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, which Western nations say control a covert nuclear arms program.
Mr. Obama spoke of the shift in his State of the Union address, warning of “consequences” if Iran continued to defy United Nations demands to stop manufacturing nuclear fuel. And Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton publicly warned China on Friday that its opposition to sanctions was shortsighted.
The news that the United States is deploying antimissile defenses — including a rare public discussion of them by Gen. David H. Petraeus — appears to be part of a coordinated administration strategy to increase pressure on Iran.
The deployments are also partly intended to counter the impression that Iran is fast becoming the most powerful military force in the Middle East, to forestall any Iranian escalation of its confrontation with the West if new sanctions are imposed. In addition, the administration is trying to show Israel that there is no immediate need for military strikes against Iranian nuclear and missile facilities, according to administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
By highlighting the defensive nature of the buildup, the administration was hoping to avoid a sharp response from Tehran.
Military officials said that the countries that accepted the defense systems were Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait. They said the Kuwaitis had agreed to take the defensive weapons to supplement older, less capable models it has had for years. Saudi Arabia and Israel have long had similar equipment of their own.
General Petraeus has declined to say who was taking the American equipment, probably because many countries in the gulf region are hesitant to be publicly identified as accepting American military aid and the troops that come with it. In fact, the names of countries where the antimissile systems are deployed are classified, but many of them are an open secret.
The general spoke about the deployments at a conference at the Institute for the Study of War here on Jan. 22, saying that “Iran is clearly seen as a very serious threat by those on the other side of the gulf front.”
General Petraeus said that the acceleration of defensive systems — which began when President George W. Bush was in office — included “eight Patriot missile batteries, two in each of four countries.” Patriot missiles are capable of shooting down short-range offensive missiles.
He also described a first line of defense: He said the United States was now keeping Aegis cruisers on patrol in the Persian Gulf at all times. Those cruisers are equipped with advanced radar and antimissile systems designed to intercept medium-range missiles. Those systems would not be useful against Iran’s long-range missile, the Shahab 3, but intelligence agencies believe that it will be years before Iran can solve the problems of placing a nuclear warhead atop that missile.
Iran contends that it is not trying to develop nuclear weapons, and that its program is for energy production. The White House declined to comment on the deployments.
But administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the moves have several aims. “Our first goal is to deter the Iranians,” said one senior administration official. “A second is to reassure the Arab states, so they don’t feel they have to go nuclear themselves. But there is certainly an element of calming the Israelis as well.”
As Iran’s nuclear program proceeds — more slowly, American intelligence officials say, than the United States had once thought — Israel has hinted at various times that it might take military action against the country’s military facilities unless it is convinced that Mr. Obama and Western allies are succeeding in stopping the program.
Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, took an unannounced trip to Israel this month, partly to take the temperature of the Israeli government and to review both economic and covert programs now under way against the Iranian program, according to officials familiar with the meeting.
American officials argue that the willingness of Arab states to take the American emplacements, which usually come with a small deployment of American soldiers to operate, maintain and protect the equipment, illustrates the region’s growing unease about Iran’s ambitions and abilities.
Gulf countries are also taking steps of their own to harden their defenses. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have bought more than $15 billion in American arms in the past two years, including missile defense systems. The United States is helping support a plan by Saudi Arabia to triple the size, to 30,000 people, of a Saudi force that protects the kingdom’s ports, oil facilities and water-desalinization plants, a senior military officer said. The Washington Post reported both steps on its Web site on Saturday.
One senior military officer said that General Petraeus had started talking openly about the Patriot deployments about a month ago, when it became increasingly clear that international efforts toward imposing sanctions against Iran faced hurdles, and the administration’s efforts to engage Iran were being rebuffed by the Tehran government. In October, the two countries reached an agreement in principle to move a significant portion of Iran’s nuclear fuel out of the country, but Iran backed away from the deal.
In discussing the Patriots and missile-shooting ships, General Petraeus’s main message has been to reassure allies in the gulf that the United States is committed to helping defend the region, said the military officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the topic. But the general’s remarks were also a pointed reminder to the Iranians of American resolve, the officer said.
By DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is accelerating the deployment of new defenses against possible Iranian missile attacks in the Persian Gulf, placing special ships off the Iranian coast and antimissile systems in at least four Arab countries, according to administration and military officials.
The deployments come at a critical turning point in President Obama’s dealings with Iran. After months of unsuccessful diplomatic outreach, the administration is trying to win broad international consensus for sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, which Western nations say control a covert nuclear arms program.
Mr. Obama spoke of the shift in his State of the Union address, warning of “consequences” if Iran continued to defy United Nations demands to stop manufacturing nuclear fuel. And Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton publicly warned China on Friday that its opposition to sanctions was shortsighted.
The news that the United States is deploying antimissile defenses — including a rare public discussion of them by Gen. David H. Petraeus — appears to be part of a coordinated administration strategy to increase pressure on Iran.
The deployments are also partly intended to counter the impression that Iran is fast becoming the most powerful military force in the Middle East, to forestall any Iranian escalation of its confrontation with the West if new sanctions are imposed. In addition, the administration is trying to show Israel that there is no immediate need for military strikes against Iranian nuclear and missile facilities, according to administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
By highlighting the defensive nature of the buildup, the administration was hoping to avoid a sharp response from Tehran.
Military officials said that the countries that accepted the defense systems were Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait. They said the Kuwaitis had agreed to take the defensive weapons to supplement older, less capable models it has had for years. Saudi Arabia and Israel have long had similar equipment of their own.
General Petraeus has declined to say who was taking the American equipment, probably because many countries in the gulf region are hesitant to be publicly identified as accepting American military aid and the troops that come with it. In fact, the names of countries where the antimissile systems are deployed are classified, but many of them are an open secret.
The general spoke about the deployments at a conference at the Institute for the Study of War here on Jan. 22, saying that “Iran is clearly seen as a very serious threat by those on the other side of the gulf front.”
General Petraeus said that the acceleration of defensive systems — which began when President George W. Bush was in office — included “eight Patriot missile batteries, two in each of four countries.” Patriot missiles are capable of shooting down short-range offensive missiles.
He also described a first line of defense: He said the United States was now keeping Aegis cruisers on patrol in the Persian Gulf at all times. Those cruisers are equipped with advanced radar and antimissile systems designed to intercept medium-range missiles. Those systems would not be useful against Iran’s long-range missile, the Shahab 3, but intelligence agencies believe that it will be years before Iran can solve the problems of placing a nuclear warhead atop that missile.
Iran contends that it is not trying to develop nuclear weapons, and that its program is for energy production. The White House declined to comment on the deployments.
But administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the moves have several aims. “Our first goal is to deter the Iranians,” said one senior administration official. “A second is to reassure the Arab states, so they don’t feel they have to go nuclear themselves. But there is certainly an element of calming the Israelis as well.”
As Iran’s nuclear program proceeds — more slowly, American intelligence officials say, than the United States had once thought — Israel has hinted at various times that it might take military action against the country’s military facilities unless it is convinced that Mr. Obama and Western allies are succeeding in stopping the program.
Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, took an unannounced trip to Israel this month, partly to take the temperature of the Israeli government and to review both economic and covert programs now under way against the Iranian program, according to officials familiar with the meeting.
American officials argue that the willingness of Arab states to take the American emplacements, which usually come with a small deployment of American soldiers to operate, maintain and protect the equipment, illustrates the region’s growing unease about Iran’s ambitions and abilities.
Gulf countries are also taking steps of their own to harden their defenses. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have bought more than $15 billion in American arms in the past two years, including missile defense systems. The United States is helping support a plan by Saudi Arabia to triple the size, to 30,000 people, of a Saudi force that protects the kingdom’s ports, oil facilities and water-desalinization plants, a senior military officer said. The Washington Post reported both steps on its Web site on Saturday.
One senior military officer said that General Petraeus had started talking openly about the Patriot deployments about a month ago, when it became increasingly clear that international efforts toward imposing sanctions against Iran faced hurdles, and the administration’s efforts to engage Iran were being rebuffed by the Tehran government. In October, the two countries reached an agreement in principle to move a significant portion of Iran’s nuclear fuel out of the country, but Iran backed away from the deal.
In discussing the Patriots and missile-shooting ships, General Petraeus’s main message has been to reassure allies in the gulf that the United States is committed to helping defend the region, said the military officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the topic. But the general’s remarks were also a pointed reminder to the Iranians of American resolve, the officer said.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Iran threat on nuclear fuel talks
Jeffrey Fleishman, Cairo
October 21, 2009 - 12:00AM
IRAN has threatened to accelerate its uranium enrichment capabilities if talks with world powers in Vienna don't reach a compromise.
The talks are exploring an international plan to provide materials for Iran's nuclear program.
Negotiators from the US and Europe are seeking a deal that would allow Russia to enrich uranium as much as 20 per cent to fuel an Iranian medical research reactor to produce isotopes for treating cancer. The agreement would ease Western concern over Iran developing the ability to raise its own enrichment levels, which the US says could move Iran closer to building a nuclear weapon.
Iran has indicated it would allow another country to enrich a portion of its uranium. But officials said hours before the Vienna gathering that Iranians would step up their enrichment capacity if the talks failed.
The talks opened with acrimony as Iran threatened to ''retaliate'' against the US and Britain after Sunday's suicide bombing in the south-east that killed six commanders in the Revolutionary Guard. The Sunni Muslim militant group Jundallah claimed responsibility for the attack, which also killed 36 other people.
Tehran insists the organisation has direct ties to the US, British and Pakistani intelligence services. The three countries have denied the claims.
''If the Vienna talks fail to satisfy Iran, a letter will be written to the International Atomic Energy Agency to announce that Iran will take the necessary action to supply nuclear fuel to the Tehran reactor,'' Ali Shirzadian, spokesman for Iran's nuclear agency, said. ''Iran can enrich uranium at 20 per cent, and it will do so, if needed, to provide fuel for the reactor.''
Uranium in nature has very low levels of the isotope uranium-235, which is necessary for a nuclear reaction. It can fuel nuclear power plants if the isotope is enriched to about a 3 per cent level and can be used for medical treatments at higher levels. Ideally, it must be enriched to about 90 per cent to provide weapons-grade uranium, but cruder weapons can be made at lower levels.
The plan is for Russia to import Iran's stockpile of 3.5 per cent-enriched uranium, enrich it to 20 per cent and ship it to France to be turned into fuel rods that would be sent to Iran for use in the medical reactor.
''We need between 150 and 300 kilograms of nuclear fuel, and it would not be economical to produce it in Iran,'' Mr Shirzadian said. ''Iran's offer to have its uranium enriched abroad is a test of honesty for the West.''
But even as negotiations began, Iran signalled it would probably oppose France's involvement in the enrichment process. Iran's state-owned Press TV stated: ''Sources close to the meeting (said) that Iran might remove France from the list of bidders as Paris has failed to deliver its nuclear materials in the past.''
LOS ANGELES TIMES
This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/world/iran-threat-on-nuclear-fuel-talks-20091020-h6wh.html
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
From the New York Times
October 20, 2009
Iran Issues Threat as Talks Begin
By DAVID E. SANGER
VIENNA — Iran on Monday opened two days of nuclear talks with the United States, Russia and France with veiled threats that it could back away from an agreement reached this month to ship more than three-quarters of its stockpile of nuclear fuel out of the country, unless the West accedes to Iranian demands for new fuel.
The threats, broadcast on Iranian television and in statements from the country’s atomic energy organization, may have simply been negotiating tactics ahead of negotiations that started in Vienna, the city that saw so many Cold War nuclear talks between the United States and the Soviet Union.
In the runup to the talks, President Obama’s aides said the talks, while advertised as a meeting of technical experts about a proposal to ship three-quarters of Iran’s nuclear fuel out of the country for conversion into a form that could be useful in a medical research reactor, would take on far more importance.
“By the end of these next two days,” one senior administration official in Washington said, “we’ll know if the Iranians are serious and whether we have time” to pursue further diplomacy with Iran without fearing that it could race ahead to produce a weapon.
After the talks adjourned for the evening, Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is playing host, told reporters that it was “quite a constructive meeting.” He did not elaborate on what was discussed.
If Iran carries through on what the European nations said was its commitment on Oct. 1 to temporarily send its nuclear fuel to Russia and France, Washington will be able to claim that its diplomacy reduced the threat of an Iranian “nuclear breakout,” a sudden race to convert reactor fuel into bomb fuel.
Iran’s total known stockpile of fuel amounts to enough for one to two bombs, if it were further enriched. If it exports that fuel for further refinement abroad, experts believe it could not replace it for another year.
But in recent days the Iranians have repeatedly suggested that they may not ship the fuel out of the country at all, and would demand that the West sell it new fuel for its research reactor in Tehran, which is used largely for medical purposes. That would leave the existing fuel in the country, a situation that the United States, Europe and Israel has said is too dangerous, given Iran’s history of hiding nuclear activity from international inspectors.
“The talks will be a test of the sincerity of those countries,” Iranian Atomic Energy Organization spokesman Ali Sharisdian said. “Should talks fail or sellers refuse to provide Iran with its required fuel, Iran will enrich uranium to the 20 percent level needed itself,” he said.
So far Iran is not known to have enriched fuel beyond 5 percent, the level needed for reactors. Enrichment at 90 percent or more is needed for a sophisticated weapon.
Next Sunday the I.A.E.A. is also supposed to begin inspecting Iran’s just-revealed enrichment center at Qum, beneath a mountain on an Iranian revolutionary guard site.
October 20, 2009
Iran Issues Threat as Talks Begin
By DAVID E. SANGER
VIENNA — Iran on Monday opened two days of nuclear talks with the United States, Russia and France with veiled threats that it could back away from an agreement reached this month to ship more than three-quarters of its stockpile of nuclear fuel out of the country, unless the West accedes to Iranian demands for new fuel.
The threats, broadcast on Iranian television and in statements from the country’s atomic energy organization, may have simply been negotiating tactics ahead of negotiations that started in Vienna, the city that saw so many Cold War nuclear talks between the United States and the Soviet Union.
In the runup to the talks, President Obama’s aides said the talks, while advertised as a meeting of technical experts about a proposal to ship three-quarters of Iran’s nuclear fuel out of the country for conversion into a form that could be useful in a medical research reactor, would take on far more importance.
“By the end of these next two days,” one senior administration official in Washington said, “we’ll know if the Iranians are serious and whether we have time” to pursue further diplomacy with Iran without fearing that it could race ahead to produce a weapon.
After the talks adjourned for the evening, Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is playing host, told reporters that it was “quite a constructive meeting.” He did not elaborate on what was discussed.
If Iran carries through on what the European nations said was its commitment on Oct. 1 to temporarily send its nuclear fuel to Russia and France, Washington will be able to claim that its diplomacy reduced the threat of an Iranian “nuclear breakout,” a sudden race to convert reactor fuel into bomb fuel.
Iran’s total known stockpile of fuel amounts to enough for one to two bombs, if it were further enriched. If it exports that fuel for further refinement abroad, experts believe it could not replace it for another year.
But in recent days the Iranians have repeatedly suggested that they may not ship the fuel out of the country at all, and would demand that the West sell it new fuel for its research reactor in Tehran, which is used largely for medical purposes. That would leave the existing fuel in the country, a situation that the United States, Europe and Israel has said is too dangerous, given Iran’s history of hiding nuclear activity from international inspectors.
“The talks will be a test of the sincerity of those countries,” Iranian Atomic Energy Organization spokesman Ali Sharisdian said. “Should talks fail or sellers refuse to provide Iran with its required fuel, Iran will enrich uranium to the 20 percent level needed itself,” he said.
So far Iran is not known to have enriched fuel beyond 5 percent, the level needed for reactors. Enrichment at 90 percent or more is needed for a sophisticated weapon.
Next Sunday the I.A.E.A. is also supposed to begin inspecting Iran’s just-revealed enrichment center at Qum, beneath a mountain on an Iranian revolutionary guard site.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Reuters
Chavez says Iran helping Venezuela find uranium
Teresa Cespedes, Reuters October 18, 2009, 8:49 am
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday Iran is helping his country explore for uranium, but stressed his government would only seek to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Venezuela says it is working with Russia to develop nuclear energy for non-violent purposes, and the country's mining minister said last month Iranian officials were helping to look for uranium, with preliminary tests indicating big deposits.
"We're working with several countries, with Iran, with Russia. We're responsible for what we're doing, we're in control," Chavez told reporters in the central Bolivian region of Cochabamba during a gathering of leftist Latin American presidents.
U.S. President Barack Obama and other western leaders have accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, and Washington has expressed concern about Venezuela's increasingly close ties with the Islamic Republic.
Iran supplies the oil-rich South American country with tractors and consumer goods, including bicycles and dairy products, and last month Chavez agreed to supply Iran with 20,000 barrels per day of gasoline.
Chavez said Venezuela would only use nuclear energy for peaceful means, adding that neither Venezuela nor Iran was planning to build a nuclear bomb.
"What we propose is for nuclear bombs to be eliminated. Venezuela will never build a nuclear bomb," he said, adding that Venezuela had been unfairly singled out for planning to exploit uranium.
"What about those that already have atomic bombs? ... Why aren't the governments of France, the United States, China and Russia under pressure to eliminate their atomic bombs?", he asked.
Chavez said his government considers the development of a uranium mining industry as "strategic." Venezuela has known about the presence of deposits of the nuclear fuel, but it has not studied them extensively and uranium is not mined.
Latin American leftist presidents, Chavez, Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Bolivia's Evo Morales are fierce critics of U.S. foreign policies and have forged close ties with Iran and Russia in recent years.
(Additional reporting by Diego Ore; writing by Eduardo Garcia; editing by Todd Eastham)
Chavez says Iran helping Venezuela find uranium
Teresa Cespedes, Reuters October 18, 2009, 8:49 am
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday Iran is helping his country explore for uranium, but stressed his government would only seek to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Venezuela says it is working with Russia to develop nuclear energy for non-violent purposes, and the country's mining minister said last month Iranian officials were helping to look for uranium, with preliminary tests indicating big deposits.
"We're working with several countries, with Iran, with Russia. We're responsible for what we're doing, we're in control," Chavez told reporters in the central Bolivian region of Cochabamba during a gathering of leftist Latin American presidents.
U.S. President Barack Obama and other western leaders have accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, and Washington has expressed concern about Venezuela's increasingly close ties with the Islamic Republic.
Iran supplies the oil-rich South American country with tractors and consumer goods, including bicycles and dairy products, and last month Chavez agreed to supply Iran with 20,000 barrels per day of gasoline.
Chavez said Venezuela would only use nuclear energy for peaceful means, adding that neither Venezuela nor Iran was planning to build a nuclear bomb.
"What we propose is for nuclear bombs to be eliminated. Venezuela will never build a nuclear bomb," he said, adding that Venezuela had been unfairly singled out for planning to exploit uranium.
"What about those that already have atomic bombs? ... Why aren't the governments of France, the United States, China and Russia under pressure to eliminate their atomic bombs?", he asked.
Chavez said his government considers the development of a uranium mining industry as "strategic." Venezuela has known about the presence of deposits of the nuclear fuel, but it has not studied them extensively and uranium is not mined.
Latin American leftist presidents, Chavez, Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Bolivia's Evo Morales are fierce critics of U.S. foreign policies and have forged close ties with Iran and Russia in recent years.
(Additional reporting by Diego Ore; writing by Eduardo Garcia; editing by Todd Eastham)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
SAUDI'S OFFER AIRSPACE TO ISRAEL FOR PROPOSED IRANIAN INVASION
from; http://www.federaljack.com/?p=11563
Riyadh ‘offers airspace’ for Israel attack on Iran
September 29, 2009 by Rick
(PressTV) Israeli fighter jets have been allowed to use Saudi airspace to launch go-it-alone air strikes on Iranian nuclear installations, says a recent report.
The issue has been discussed in a closed-door meeting in London, where British Intelligence Chief Sir John Scarlett, his Israeli counterpart, Meir Dagan, and Saudi official have been present, Daily Express reported.
According to the report, Scarlett has been told that Saudi airspace would be at Israel’s disposal should Tel Aviv decide to move forward with his military plans against Iran.
The British daily added the likelihood of an Israeli attack against Iran has increased significantly after the country announced plans to launch its second enrichment facility in the central city of Qom.
Press TV contacted the Saudi Embassy in Tehran for information on the report. The embassy, however, was reluctant to elaborate.
In line with its policy of nuclear transparency, Iran announced the construction of a second enrichment plant in a letter to the UN nuclear watchdog on September 21. The new plant is due to produce enriched uranium up to 5 percent.
The letter was sent 12 months before the agency’s regulations oblige its member states to inform the body of new developments.
With eyes firmly fixed on Iran’s nuclear progressions, the right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to bomb the country’s enrichment facilities out of existence.
Tel Aviv accuses Tehran of nuclear weapons development – a charge rejected by both Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog, which has so far made “21 unannounced inspections” of the country’s nuclear facilities.
The UN nuclear watchdog in its previous reports has confirmed that Iran only enriches uranium-235 to a level of “less than 5 percent.”
Uranium, which fuels a nuclear power plant, can be used for military purposes only if enriched to high levels of above 90 percent.
Details of the controversial Israeli plans to attack Iran emerged after John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, recently told a group of intelligence analysts that “Riyadh certainly approves” of Israel’s use of Saudi airspace in the event of war with Iran.
Bolton, had previously said he had discussed the possibility with Saudi officials in closed-door meetings. “None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success.”
The recent revelations follow a flurry of media reports in July, which suggested the Saudi government had approved the use of its airspace for an attack.
While Saudi officials deny having diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv, an Israeli defense source has confirmed that the Mossad spy agency maintained “working relations” with the kingdom.
According to a study published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a military exchange between Iran and Israel could result in the death of as many as 6 million people.
Source: PressTV http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=107317§ionid=351020104
Visit False Flag American's Youtube Page for heaps of important videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/FalseFlagAmerican
Herman Blount's Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1002575757&ref=name
Sign the "Stop Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccination (Aust - Federal)" petition now!
Riyadh ‘offers airspace’ for Israel attack on Iran
September 29, 2009 by Rick
(PressTV) Israeli fighter jets have been allowed to use Saudi airspace to launch go-it-alone air strikes on Iranian nuclear installations, says a recent report.
The issue has been discussed in a closed-door meeting in London, where British Intelligence Chief Sir John Scarlett, his Israeli counterpart, Meir Dagan, and Saudi official have been present, Daily Express reported.
According to the report, Scarlett has been told that Saudi airspace would be at Israel’s disposal should Tel Aviv decide to move forward with his military plans against Iran.
The British daily added the likelihood of an Israeli attack against Iran has increased significantly after the country announced plans to launch its second enrichment facility in the central city of Qom.
Press TV contacted the Saudi Embassy in Tehran for information on the report. The embassy, however, was reluctant to elaborate.
In line with its policy of nuclear transparency, Iran announced the construction of a second enrichment plant in a letter to the UN nuclear watchdog on September 21. The new plant is due to produce enriched uranium up to 5 percent.
The letter was sent 12 months before the agency’s regulations oblige its member states to inform the body of new developments.
With eyes firmly fixed on Iran’s nuclear progressions, the right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to bomb the country’s enrichment facilities out of existence.
Tel Aviv accuses Tehran of nuclear weapons development – a charge rejected by both Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog, which has so far made “21 unannounced inspections” of the country’s nuclear facilities.
The UN nuclear watchdog in its previous reports has confirmed that Iran only enriches uranium-235 to a level of “less than 5 percent.”
Uranium, which fuels a nuclear power plant, can be used for military purposes only if enriched to high levels of above 90 percent.
Details of the controversial Israeli plans to attack Iran emerged after John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, recently told a group of intelligence analysts that “Riyadh certainly approves” of Israel’s use of Saudi airspace in the event of war with Iran.
Bolton, had previously said he had discussed the possibility with Saudi officials in closed-door meetings. “None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success.”
The recent revelations follow a flurry of media reports in July, which suggested the Saudi government had approved the use of its airspace for an attack.
While Saudi officials deny having diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv, an Israeli defense source has confirmed that the Mossad spy agency maintained “working relations” with the kingdom.
According to a study published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a military exchange between Iran and Israel could result in the death of as many as 6 million people.
Source: PressTV http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=107317§ionid=351020104
Visit False Flag American's Youtube Page for heaps of important videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/FalseFlagAmerican
Herman Blount's Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1002575757&ref=name
Sign the "Stop Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccination (Aust - Federal)" petition now!
Monday, September 28, 2009
New York Times Article on Possible Iranian Invasion
By Teractys Merkaba, Editor-in-Chief
The United States is looking more and more likely to invade Iran after U.S President Barack Obama turned up the political rhetoric on Iran by demanding that Iranian areas be opened up to American inspection.
Barack Obama has mentioned his desire to invade Iran during the 2008 U.S Presidential campaign.
This demand to open up Iran to U.N weapon inspectors was the same methodology used by both Bill Clinton and George W Bush before the failing neoliberalist oilvasion of Iraq began in 2003. This was despite overwhelming evidence that Iraq had no Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Weapons of Mass Destruction were never found and George W Bush was forced to later admit that there had never been any in existence.
Sign the "Stop Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccination (Aust - Federal)" petition now!
From the New York Times
September 27, 2009
U.S. to Demand Inspection of New Iran Plant ‘Within Weeks’
By DAVID E. SANGER and WILLIAM J. BROAD
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to tell Iran this week that it must open a newly revealed nuclear enrichment site to international inspectors “within weeks,” according to senior administration officials. The administration will also tell Tehran that inspectors must have full access to the key personnel who put together the clandestine plant and to the documents surrounding its construction, the officials said Saturday.
The demands, following the revelation Friday of the secret facility at a military base near the holy city of Qum, set the stage for the next chapter of a diplomatic drama that has toughened the West’s posture and heightened tensions with Iran. The first direct negotiations between the United States and Iran in 30 years are scheduled to open in Geneva on Thursday.
American and European officials say they will also press Iran to open what they suspect are nuclear-related sites to international inspectors, and to turn over notebooks and computers that they think may document efforts to design weapons.
President Obama has repeatedly said that Iran must show significant cooperation by the end of the year, establishing what officials say is effectively a three-month deadline. Interviews with American and European officials, however, suggest differences of opinion about how much time Iran should be given to show full compliance.
On Saturday, Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said the International Atomic Energy Agency would be invited to visit the site near Qum that American intelligence agencies estimate was designed to house 3,000 centrifuges, enough to produce about one bomb’s worth of material a year. But he did not say when, nor did he say whether Iran would meet any of the other American and European demands.
Mr. Salehi, who spoke on Iranian state television, added that Mr. Obama’s dramatic release of the information about the site at a global economic summit meeting was a “plot” meant to “unite the whole world against us.”
Iranian officials have long maintained that their nuclear program is designed to produce energy, not weapons, and they said the facility near Qum is for peaceful purposes. They have not explained why it was located inside a heavily guarded base of the Revolutionary Guards.
From the White House to Europe, senior officials were pushing to exploit the disclosure of the covert facility as a turning point in negotiations to try to get Iran to halt its nuclear program.
“This is the most important development in the three and a half years since the U.S. has offered negotiations with Iran,” said R. Nicholas Burns, a Harvard professor who served as the Bush administration’s chief strategist on Iran. Mr. Burns said Mr. Obama “now has much greater leverage to organize an international coalition to confront” the country’s leaders with sanctions should the negotiating effort fail.
David A. Kay, a nuclear specialist who led the fruitless American search for unconventional weapons in Iraq, said the discovery “reopens the whole question of the military’s involvement in the Iranian nuclear program.”
For now, the most urgent issue, current and former officials agree, is gaining immediate access to the hidden tunnel complex that Iran now acknowledges is a uranium enrichment plant still under construction. Quick access to the facility is considered crucial because of fears that Iran would move incriminating equipment or documents.
It is still unclear what kind of incentives the United States and its allies might offer Iran if it completely opened, and ultimately dismantled, its nuclear program. On Saturday, Mr. Obama, in his weekly radio address, said he remained committed to building a relationship with Tehran.
“My offer of a serious, meaningful dialogue to resolve this issue remains open,” he said. “But Iran must now cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and take action to demonstrate its peaceful intentions.”
Now that the clandestine site has been revealed, however, American and European officials say they see an opportunity to press for broader disclosures. Iran will be told that to avoid sanctions, it must adhere to an I.A.E.A. agreement that would allow inspectors to go virtually anywhere in the country to follow suspicions of nuclear work.
Iran would also have to turn over documents that the agency has sought for more than three years, including some that intelligence agencies obtained that they say appear to suggest work was done on the design of warheads and technologies for detonating a nuclear core.
The negotiators would also insist, officials say, that Iran abide by I.A.E.A. rules, which Iran agreed to and then renounced, requiring it to announce in advance any plans to build nuclear facilities. Iran says it will adhere only to an older rule, requiring notification when a plant is about to become operational.
For several years, Iran has deflected I.A.E.A requests to interview key scientists, presumably including those who ran the highly secret Projects 110 and 111. American intelligence officials, after piercing Iran’s computer networks in 2007, said they believe that those projects are at the center of nuclear design work. Iran has denied that the projects exist and has denounced as fabrications the documents the United States has shared with the agency, and with other nations.
Administration officials acknowledge that it is unlikely that Iran will accede to all of their demands. But they say this is their best chance to move the seven-year standoff over Iran’s nuclear program sharply in their favor.
In interviews and public comments, the administration’s tone has clearly changed in recent days, becoming tougher and more confrontational.
In an interview to be broadcast Sunday on ABC, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the hidden facility was “part of a pattern of deception and lies on the part of the Iranians from the very beginning with respect to their nuclear program.”
But he deflected a question that has been circulating inside the government: Is the Qum facility one of a kind, or just one of several hidden facilities that were intended to give Iran a covert means of enriching uranium, far from the inspectors who regularly visit a far larger enrichment facility, also once kept secret, at Natanz.
“My personal opinion is that the Iranians have the intention of having nuclear weapons,” Mr. Gates concluded, though he said it was still an open question “whether they have made a formal decision” to manufacture weapons.
In recent years, Tehran has slowly and systematically cut back on the access of atomic sleuths. Early in 2006, for instance, it unilaterally began redirecting the international inspectors from dozens of sites, programs and personnel all over the Islamic republic to a single point: Natanz, where Iran is enriching uranium.
Pierre Goldschmidt, a former I.A.E.A. official who is now a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the revelation of the secret enrichment plant drove home the urgent need for enhanced legal authority for tough inspections. “It’s proof that, without additional verification authority, the agency cannot find undeclared nuclear activities,” he said.
Beneath the dry language of reports issued every three months by the international agency lies the story of an intense cat-and-mouse game in which inspectors seek documents or interviews with key scientists.
The I.A.E.A.’s agenda of inspection is already huge, as is its record of failing to get the Iranians to address the most serious clues and charges, inconsistencies and suspicions.
The departing chief of the agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, recently argued that the case for urgent action against Iran was “hyped,” even as he acknowledged that the country has refused, for two years, to answer his inspectors’ questions about evidence suggesting that the country has worked on weapons design.
In May 2008, the atomic agency in Vienna issued an uncharacteristically blunt demand for more information from Tehran and, even more uncharacteristically, disclosed the existence of 18 secretly obtained documents suggesting Iran’s high level of interest in atom bombs.
But the wording of the public portion of the 2007 United States National Intelligence Estimate had already frozen the effort to force Iran to reveal more. Its conclusion that weapons design work was halted in 2003 was a surprise that ended talk of sanctions.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called the report an exoneration.
In fact, the classified portion of the intelligence estimate listed more than a dozen suspect locations, though officials last week would not say whether the list included the site that was revealed Friday. It is also unclear if Washington and its allies believe they have enough evidence to justify demanding access to those sites.
David E. Sanger reported from Washington, and William J. Broad from New York. Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting from Washington.
The United States is looking more and more likely to invade Iran after U.S President Barack Obama turned up the political rhetoric on Iran by demanding that Iranian areas be opened up to American inspection.
Barack Obama has mentioned his desire to invade Iran during the 2008 U.S Presidential campaign.
This demand to open up Iran to U.N weapon inspectors was the same methodology used by both Bill Clinton and George W Bush before the failing neoliberalist oilvasion of Iraq began in 2003. This was despite overwhelming evidence that Iraq had no Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Weapons of Mass Destruction were never found and George W Bush was forced to later admit that there had never been any in existence.
Sign the "Stop Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccination (Aust - Federal)" petition now!
From the New York Times
September 27, 2009
U.S. to Demand Inspection of New Iran Plant ‘Within Weeks’
By DAVID E. SANGER and WILLIAM J. BROAD
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to tell Iran this week that it must open a newly revealed nuclear enrichment site to international inspectors “within weeks,” according to senior administration officials. The administration will also tell Tehran that inspectors must have full access to the key personnel who put together the clandestine plant and to the documents surrounding its construction, the officials said Saturday.
The demands, following the revelation Friday of the secret facility at a military base near the holy city of Qum, set the stage for the next chapter of a diplomatic drama that has toughened the West’s posture and heightened tensions with Iran. The first direct negotiations between the United States and Iran in 30 years are scheduled to open in Geneva on Thursday.
American and European officials say they will also press Iran to open what they suspect are nuclear-related sites to international inspectors, and to turn over notebooks and computers that they think may document efforts to design weapons.
President Obama has repeatedly said that Iran must show significant cooperation by the end of the year, establishing what officials say is effectively a three-month deadline. Interviews with American and European officials, however, suggest differences of opinion about how much time Iran should be given to show full compliance.
On Saturday, Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said the International Atomic Energy Agency would be invited to visit the site near Qum that American intelligence agencies estimate was designed to house 3,000 centrifuges, enough to produce about one bomb’s worth of material a year. But he did not say when, nor did he say whether Iran would meet any of the other American and European demands.
Mr. Salehi, who spoke on Iranian state television, added that Mr. Obama’s dramatic release of the information about the site at a global economic summit meeting was a “plot” meant to “unite the whole world against us.”
Iranian officials have long maintained that their nuclear program is designed to produce energy, not weapons, and they said the facility near Qum is for peaceful purposes. They have not explained why it was located inside a heavily guarded base of the Revolutionary Guards.
From the White House to Europe, senior officials were pushing to exploit the disclosure of the covert facility as a turning point in negotiations to try to get Iran to halt its nuclear program.
“This is the most important development in the three and a half years since the U.S. has offered negotiations with Iran,” said R. Nicholas Burns, a Harvard professor who served as the Bush administration’s chief strategist on Iran. Mr. Burns said Mr. Obama “now has much greater leverage to organize an international coalition to confront” the country’s leaders with sanctions should the negotiating effort fail.
David A. Kay, a nuclear specialist who led the fruitless American search for unconventional weapons in Iraq, said the discovery “reopens the whole question of the military’s involvement in the Iranian nuclear program.”
For now, the most urgent issue, current and former officials agree, is gaining immediate access to the hidden tunnel complex that Iran now acknowledges is a uranium enrichment plant still under construction. Quick access to the facility is considered crucial because of fears that Iran would move incriminating equipment or documents.
It is still unclear what kind of incentives the United States and its allies might offer Iran if it completely opened, and ultimately dismantled, its nuclear program. On Saturday, Mr. Obama, in his weekly radio address, said he remained committed to building a relationship with Tehran.
“My offer of a serious, meaningful dialogue to resolve this issue remains open,” he said. “But Iran must now cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and take action to demonstrate its peaceful intentions.”
Now that the clandestine site has been revealed, however, American and European officials say they see an opportunity to press for broader disclosures. Iran will be told that to avoid sanctions, it must adhere to an I.A.E.A. agreement that would allow inspectors to go virtually anywhere in the country to follow suspicions of nuclear work.
Iran would also have to turn over documents that the agency has sought for more than three years, including some that intelligence agencies obtained that they say appear to suggest work was done on the design of warheads and technologies for detonating a nuclear core.
The negotiators would also insist, officials say, that Iran abide by I.A.E.A. rules, which Iran agreed to and then renounced, requiring it to announce in advance any plans to build nuclear facilities. Iran says it will adhere only to an older rule, requiring notification when a plant is about to become operational.
For several years, Iran has deflected I.A.E.A requests to interview key scientists, presumably including those who ran the highly secret Projects 110 and 111. American intelligence officials, after piercing Iran’s computer networks in 2007, said they believe that those projects are at the center of nuclear design work. Iran has denied that the projects exist and has denounced as fabrications the documents the United States has shared with the agency, and with other nations.
Administration officials acknowledge that it is unlikely that Iran will accede to all of their demands. But they say this is their best chance to move the seven-year standoff over Iran’s nuclear program sharply in their favor.
In interviews and public comments, the administration’s tone has clearly changed in recent days, becoming tougher and more confrontational.
In an interview to be broadcast Sunday on ABC, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the hidden facility was “part of a pattern of deception and lies on the part of the Iranians from the very beginning with respect to their nuclear program.”
But he deflected a question that has been circulating inside the government: Is the Qum facility one of a kind, or just one of several hidden facilities that were intended to give Iran a covert means of enriching uranium, far from the inspectors who regularly visit a far larger enrichment facility, also once kept secret, at Natanz.
“My personal opinion is that the Iranians have the intention of having nuclear weapons,” Mr. Gates concluded, though he said it was still an open question “whether they have made a formal decision” to manufacture weapons.
In recent years, Tehran has slowly and systematically cut back on the access of atomic sleuths. Early in 2006, for instance, it unilaterally began redirecting the international inspectors from dozens of sites, programs and personnel all over the Islamic republic to a single point: Natanz, where Iran is enriching uranium.
Pierre Goldschmidt, a former I.A.E.A. official who is now a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the revelation of the secret enrichment plant drove home the urgent need for enhanced legal authority for tough inspections. “It’s proof that, without additional verification authority, the agency cannot find undeclared nuclear activities,” he said.
Beneath the dry language of reports issued every three months by the international agency lies the story of an intense cat-and-mouse game in which inspectors seek documents or interviews with key scientists.
The I.A.E.A.’s agenda of inspection is already huge, as is its record of failing to get the Iranians to address the most serious clues and charges, inconsistencies and suspicions.
The departing chief of the agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, recently argued that the case for urgent action against Iran was “hyped,” even as he acknowledged that the country has refused, for two years, to answer his inspectors’ questions about evidence suggesting that the country has worked on weapons design.
In May 2008, the atomic agency in Vienna issued an uncharacteristically blunt demand for more information from Tehran and, even more uncharacteristically, disclosed the existence of 18 secretly obtained documents suggesting Iran’s high level of interest in atom bombs.
But the wording of the public portion of the 2007 United States National Intelligence Estimate had already frozen the effort to force Iran to reveal more. Its conclusion that weapons design work was halted in 2003 was a surprise that ended talk of sanctions.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called the report an exoneration.
In fact, the classified portion of the intelligence estimate listed more than a dozen suspect locations, though officials last week would not say whether the list included the site that was revealed Friday. It is also unclear if Washington and its allies believe they have enough evidence to justify demanding access to those sites.
David E. Sanger reported from Washington, and William J. Broad from New York. Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting from Washington.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)