Feed Editor 24 May 2007 13:45:59 GMT Iran Latest News http://www.ourworldoursay.org/iran.php http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss en THE chances of the United States "stumbling" into a confrontation with Iran through skirmishes in Iraq "are very low", US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said today. When asked on CBS television if such a scenario was inevitable the longer US troops stayed in Iraq, he said: "I think the chances of us stumbling into a confrontation with Iran are very low. "We are concerned about their activities in the south. We are concerned about the weapons that they are sending in - that they continue to send into Iraq. "But I think that the process that's underway is, as I said, headed in the right direction." 29 Apr 2008 12:13:24 GMT http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23535203-12377,00.html 4EE6C097-448F-4D26-8F24-024840E1A9B5 The Australian The Shia “martyrs" of this hill village are normally killed in the dangerous, stony landscape of southern Lebanon, in Israeli air raids or invasions or attacks from the sea. The Hizbollah duly honours them. But the body of the latest Shia fighter to be buried here - from the local Hashem family - was flown back to Lebanon last month from Iran. He was hailed as a martyr in the village Husseiniya mosque but the Hizbollah would say no more. For when a Lebanese is killed in live firing exercises in the Islamic Republic, his death brings almost as many questions as mourners. Yet it is an open secret south of the Litani river that thousands of young men have been leaving their villages for military training in Iran. Up to 300 men are taken to Beirut en route to Tehran each month and the operation has been running since November of 2006; in all, as many as 4,500 Hizbollah members have been sent for three-month sessions of live-fire ammunition and rocket exercises to create a nucleus of Iranian-trained guerrillas for the “next" Israeli-Hizbollah war. 10 Apr 2008 10:22:44 GMT http://rinf.com/alt-news/war-terrorism/fisk-hizbollah-turns-to-iran-in-war-on-israel/2921/ Robert Fisk 85C4C316-4E91-42FB-91DB-F6CF796BBE61 RINF Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the U.S. Tuesday of using the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 as a "pretext" to attack Afghanistan and Iraq. "On the pretext of this incident a major military operation was launched and oppressed Afghanistan was attacked. Tens of thousands of people have been killed until now," he said in a speech broadcast on state television. "Poor Iraq was attacked. According to official figures ... 1 million people have been killed." 10 Apr 2008 10:21:47 GMT http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080408\ACQDJON200804081421DOWJONESDJONLINE000710.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.na D1C9E6E8-F5A7-4F53-9E87-B405AE5802B7 NASDAQ/AFP Iran said on Saturday it would press ahead with plans to expand its nuclear programme, after diplomats in Vienna said Tehran was installing advanced centrifuges in its key uranium enrichment plant. The government spokesman also rejected any idea of halting work the United States suspects is aimed at building nuclear bombs in return for trade, technology and other benefits. Speaking a few days before the Islamic Republic's annual National Nuclear Technology Day on April 8, Gulam Hussain Elham said he hoped for "good news" on that day but did not elaborate. The world's fourth-largest oil producer says it needs to produce nuclear fuel for a planned network of power plants to satisfy soaring electricity demand. 10 Apr 2008 10:20:47 GMT http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10203445.html A88A68F3-CE64-4CB9-8EFC-66F44B4330C3 Gulf News/Reuters errible rumors from Russia continue to swirl around the Middle East that the Cheney-Bush junta has decided to bomb Iran on April 4th or 6th, targeting not only nuclear-power research facilities but ships, planes, antiaircraft installations, and the Iranian pentagon. Apparently the nuclear-power reactor being built by Russian companies will be spared, but not much else. Will it happen? Certainly the neocon hate network is working overtime to make it so. Bush fired the anti-neocon Admiral Fallon. One thing we know for sure: it will be the typical Bush administration snafu, with horrific consequences for the region and the world, not to speak of the Iranian people, and reap much trouble for the US empire. Indeed, it could mark the end of the empire if, as Bill Lind worries, the Iranians in retaliation cut off water-food-ammo supply routes to US troops in Iraq, and, with the help of Shiite militians, capture large numbers of them. Need I mention that Ron Paul, our champion of peace, is the leading opponent of war on Iran? 10 Apr 2008 10:19:43 GMT http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19641.htm Lew Rockwell F69CC682-7899-40F8-9E97-0499F3B811FD Information Clearing House Arab online newspaper published in London, is the only newspaper to report this a week ago but I waited few days to see if there is any development provides evidence to the newspaper claims, and the military campaign in Basra was what i am waiting for.Arab online says that there are secret Iranian - American negotiations at Ahmadinejad's visit to Iraq [please remember there were other developments in this week period, like the U.S. embassy refused to meet the Iranian delegation.etc] The report contains details and names of people who attended the meeting from both sides which we don't need here, so this is what the newspaper said in short: Ahmadinejad offered to calm the situation in Iraq, using the three days attacks-free visit to Iraq as a demonstration of what can Iran do, the second offer is to accept the long term Iraqi - American agreement 10 Apr 2008 10:16:58 GMT http://rinf.com/alt-news/war-terrorism/the-secret-american-iranian-security-deal-in-iraq/2798/ 0FAF2458-9C50-43E7-B345-05EC7857F8AD RINF The Arab media has raised US-Iran confrontation alarms, saying the US has a proxy war with Iran going at the tail end of the Bush administration. The UAE-based newspaper, Gulf News, in its Friday's editorial said that with George W. Bush in office the Washngton is effectively maintaining low intensity warfare with Iran and the potential exists to ratchet it up to more open hostilities. The source asserted that the recurring visits by the US Vice President Dick Cheney and John McCain to Iraq and occupied Palestine are surely not 'coincidences' but a means to ensure Israel remains fully in the picture for any "plans the US could have against Iran" 10 Apr 2008 10:14:19 GMT http://www.payvand.com/news/08/mar/1246.html 35C53D91-9622-4CFE-8215-5AAC82973626 Payvand's Iran News The approval of fresh sanctions on Iran marks the third time that the United Nations Security Council has been galvanized to stem the Islamic Republic's feared uranium enrichment efforts. Unfortunately, the new sanctions are unlikely to be any more effective than the first two rounds. Consider the two earlier Security Council resolutions. The December 2006 resolution curbed international assistance to Iran in mastering the nuclear fuel cycle. The March 2007 resolution called for "vigilance and restraint" in the sale of heavy weapons to Iran and avoidance of new grants, financial assistance or concessional loans. Neither moved the country's ruling mullahs. Few expect a different outcome from the new sanctions, which authorize international interception of Iranian contraband and tightened monitoring of the regime's financial institutions, along with travel limitations and asset freezes applied to people and companies involved in Iran's nuclear program. 10 Apr 2008 10:15:21 GMT http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=136193 Bennett Ramberg D5EDC58A-B8DE-493C-B31C-BED7DABCAD4D Todays Zaman The invasion had one clear purpose - the removal of a tyrant. But the consequences have been far more complex, throwing up a new regional power, intensifying Sunni-Shia divisions, and prompting a painful US rethink On a brisk spring morning four years and 11 months ago, a truck driver on the Iraqi-Turkish border killed time in a queue at customs by telling a Western reporter of the terrible consequences of the fall of Baghdad a month earlier. At the time, his doom-laden predictions of civil war and regional chaos seemed far-fetched. Now they seem far less so. From the distant, tsunami-struck tip of Sumatra to Wall Street, from the specialist world of counter-terrorism to that of contemporary feminist literary criticism, the war, the occupation and the continuing conflict in Iraq have left their mark. The effects will not be known for some time, but some broad effects are already all too evident. The Iraq of the Nineties - run by a nationalist, broadly secular Sunni Muslim elite; brutalised and terrorised, but stable under Saddam Hussein - has been replaced by a weak, violent, unstable state racked by a largely communitarian civil war and crime. Where once the fear in Ankara, Riyadh, Tehran or Tel Aviv was of an unpredictable dictator, now it is of a spillover of chaos. 10 Apr 2008 10:13:09 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2008/mar/16/iraqandiran?gusrc=rss&feed=fromtheobserver Jason Burke 0236D4D0-1F5E-4701-8062-EBB14EA45AFB The Observer On the face of it, the victory was fairly overwhelming. By Sunday evening, conservatives had won four times as many seats as the reformists, retaining control of the Iranian parliament. No doubt they will take it as an endorsement of their uncompromising view of Iran's Islamic system, of the nuclear programme, and of Iran's assertive foreign policy. No doubt they will conveniently forget that a large proportion of the reformist candidates were disqualified. 10 Apr 2008 10:11:50 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7299733.stm Jon Leyne BC1FE0C1-0FBF-44FA-B3C0-6C3361091049 BBC Iran's Students for Justice Movement has gathered a million dollars to be awarded to whoever manages to kill three top Israeli figures including defence minister, Ehud Barak, hardline journalist Forouz Rajaifar announced. The hardline student group is offering a 400,000 dollar bounty for the slaying of Barak, 300,000 dollars to kill Mossad spy agency chief Meir Dagan, and the same sum for the assassination of military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin. Whoever kills these three criminals will receive these sums, and if acts of martyrdom are involved, the money will be paid to their families, Rajaifar told Iranian state news agency IRNA. 10 Apr 2008 10:10:56 GMT http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.1959594498 680BEBF0-5F03-4517-BD1A-01C597EEDC85 AKI Britain and America are flying in the face of world public opinion as they push for tougher measures against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme, according to a BBC World Service poll which shows that opinion worldwide is overwhelming in favour of a diplomatic solution. It says that support for economic sanctions or military action has dropped “`significantly" in most countries, including India, since a similar poll in June 2006. Worldwide, options of economic sanctions or military strikes were rejected in 27 out of 31 countries, covered by the poll. Instead, the most preferred approach was to either use only diplomatic efforts or not put any pressure on Iran at all. 10 Apr 2008 10:09:52 GMT http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/11/stories/2008031154921300.htm Hasan Suroor 9D765ABF-1081-4E6C-BDB5-1390DD7A5B87 The Hindu "What election?" On the ski slopes just outside Tehran, few of the young skiers say they will heed a call by Iran's religious leaders to vote in Friday's parliamentary election. "I'll never vote. I'll come here to ski instead," said Babak, a university student in his early 20s enjoying the sunny weather and good skiing conditions in the resort of Darbandsar. "It won't change anything," agreed his female friend Maniya, sporting Western-style ski wear as well as pink lipstick and nail varnish. Like others critical of the government, they were wary of giving their last names. 10 Apr 2008 10:08:32 GMT http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=March2008&file=World_News2008031112248.xml 69C8A2DB-4130-4662-A146-70C298D73288 The Peninsula Qatar / Reuters Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said on Sunday that the Islamic Republic of Iran will consider any proposal offering cooperation in its nuclear program. In response to a question made by the reporter of Christian Science Monitor regarding some proposals about uranium enrichment in Iran, Mottaki said "More than two years ago President Ahmadinejad offered a proposal to establish a consortium for uranium enrichment in Iran." 8 Apr 2008 20:00:05 GMT http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=251732 56AD2A35-5781-4316-8333-04BD07E38819 IRBM Iran will ask for compensations during the halt of its nuclear activities for more than two years, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili said on Sunday. Jalili made his comment to local media when he was attending an International Conference on Iran's Peaceful Nuclear Program and Activities, adding that "those who made us stop uranium enrichment based on false accusations will have to pay for compensations as a result." The Iranian official also expressed readiness for dialogue with the western powers, noting that "Tehran welcomes any talks on the issue, however dialogue must come with conditions," but he did not mention what are those conditions. 8 Apr 2008 19:59:00 GMT http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1890336&Language=en D0242444-8965-47E9-B396-072A59443090 KUNA President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is set to become the first Iranian leader since the revolution to visit Baghdad after the Iraqi foreign ministry announced he had accepted an invitation, at a time of high tension in the Gulf. The visit was confirmed by the Iranian president's office, but no firm date has been agreed. The visit would mark a breakthrough in relations between Iran and Iraq, which fought an eight-year war in the 1980s that cost hundreds of thousands of lives. It would also represent a challenge to American influence in Iraq, at a time when the US and Iran are vying for regional supremacy. US warships in the Gulf have fired across the bows of Iranian patrol boats once and come close another two times over the past two months. 24 Jan 2008 17:15:20 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2245666,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12 Julian Borger 050DA5C1-C3D4-4F89-A2A5-0B36D753D426 The Guardian Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday held out the prospect of a better relationship with Iran, a day after the US and other world powers drafted a fresh United Nations resolution against Tehran. The US Secretary of State used an appearance at the World Economic Forum to offer the prospect of a more normalrelationship between the two countries should Iran end its uranium enrichment programme. Ms Rice went on to say she would meet her Iranian opposite number any place, any time, anywhere to talk about anything. Critics asked why the US would not engage Iran's government diplomatically, she said, but why won't Tehran talk to us? There have been diplomatic contacts between Tehran and Washington over the past 10 months to discuss the situation in Iraq and Ms Rice has previously held out the prospect of improved relations. Her address on Wednesday said any improved relationship could include growing co-operation, expanding trade and exchange, and the peaceful management of differences The US had no desire for a permanent enemy in Iran she said. We believe we can resolve this problem through diplomacy. 24 Jan 2008 16:54:22 GMT http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1e149e62-c9f2-11dc-b5dc-000077b07658.html Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson 858EB410-22F1-4422-85EC-06414D644FD4 FT World powers ended weeks of deadlock over whether to press ahead with a fresh raft of sanctions against Iran by agreeing to a new United Nations draft resolution that is weaker than the US might have wished but leaves the international community united. The resolution, agreed at a meeting of foreign ministers from the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany in Berlin on Tuesday, represented a moderate tightening of the sanctions regime against Tehran, diplomats said. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German foreign minister, said Britain, France and Germany would table the resolution at the Security Council in the next few days. The foreign ministers of China, Russia which had been reluctant to support any new action against Tehran and the US, who were also present in Berlin, supported the draft text. European diplomats indicated that the agreement had been reached because all sides had been willing to compromise. They argued that the US now accepted last month's assessment by US intelligence that Iran had abandoned its plans to militarise its nuclear capability in 2003 made a tough new resolution impossible. But at the same time, Russia and China accepted that the international community would look weak if it failed to press home its concerns about Iran's continued uranium enrichment. 24 Jan 2008 17:18:51 GMT http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/26109124-c93a-11dc-9807-000077b07658,dwp_uuid=be75219e-940a-11da-82ea-0000779e2340.html Hugh Williamson 03B239CB-C6D6-4C26-8EF3-D39D664A83D7 FT The US diplomat at the heart of the Bush administration's Iran policy is to leave his post, in a move that represents a setback for Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state. Nicholas Burns, the number three at the state department, has been a close colleague of Ms Rice for almost 20 years, and has been trusted by her as the point man not only on US policy on Iran, but also on Kosovo and the US's nuclear pact with India. Mr Burns announced on Friday that he was retiring for personal reasons, making him the latest in a series of senior officials to leave the administration as it enters its final year. He first worked under Ms Rice at the National Security Council during the presidency of George H. W. Bush. He will leave office in March, although Ms Rice said he would continue to work on the agreement with India after that 24 Jan 2008 17:16:24 GMT http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c8108034-c632-11dc-8378-0000779fd2ac.html Daniel Dombey 3B823D3C-474E-41DD-B789-7FAC8428B163 FT A senior advisor to Rudy Giuliani says the next US president must discharge President Bush's 'responsibility' of waging war on Iran. Writing for the February edition of Commentary, Norman Podhoretz said if the next US president doesn't have the 'courage' to attack Iran, the outcome will be catastrophic for Washington. We had all better pray that there will be enough time for the next president to discharge the responsibility that Bush will have been forced to pass on, Podhoretz added. If not - God help us all - the stage will have been set for the outbreak of a nuclear war that will become as inescapable then as it is avoidable now, continued the 78-year-old politician. 24 Jan 2008 17:17:39 GMT http://rinf.com/alt-news/politics/pray-next-us-president-bombs-iran/2251/ E12003B9-9F74-4421-8B10-A4EF3A46E364 RINF The great chess match in Iran seems to be moving towards the endgame, and this may prove the most momentous world event of 2008. To everyone's surprise, the United States has been reduced to a passive observer, while the remaining players are Iran, Israel and Russia. A dazzling act of sabotage directed against the Republican Administration by Democratic sympathizers within the intelligence agencies (see: "NIE report is folly or treason," Dec.18, 2007) has almost totally paralyzed American policy towards Iran. What matters is less that an American preventive strike against Iran's nuclear sites has been ruled out (it was never very likely), but that even hard-hitting economic sanctions which might have forced Iran to halt its nuclear program, and which the countries of Europe and even China were beginning to favor, are out of the question. After publication of the NIE, Bush would make himself a laughing stock if he called for them now. In short, the U.S. is out of the game, leaving Israel alone to confront an Iran which, in full view of the rest of the world, is acquiring uranium enrichment technology. Moscow's supplying of the TOR-M1 anti-aircraft missile system to Iran made any attempt at a preventive strike by Israel highly problematical, but it retained the capacity to launch an effective missile strike at least against the key centrifuge complex in Natantz. Until 5 December (NIE publication), Israel could also hope for support from the far more daunting technological capacity of its American elder brother. On December 26, just 3 weeks after the scandalous publication of the NIE and a week after the fourth meeting of the Russo-Iranian intergovernmental commission on military technology cooperation, Iranian Defense Minister M. Madzhar made an announcement that radically changed the strategic situation in the region. Russia was to deliver C-300 ground-to-air missile systems to Iran. 24 Jan 2008 17:11:06 GMT http://www.insightmag.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=5D3B38F8A2584DB5A77BA05660C6045C&nm=Free+Access&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=1CF37E4BB0A349FFB5E270AF6F632EFD Andrei Piontkovsky C542829F-D31F-4EDF-B90C-D01495BD01EB Insight How to prevent a naval war with Iran. Just how serious was the half-hour standoff Sunday morning between three American warships and five Iranian speed boats in the Strait of Hormuz? Did we come close to war? Was there any provocation? Was the Pentagon's version of events, as the Iranians claim, a fake? In response to the Iranians' charge, the Defense Department released excerpts from a videotape of the incident. In response to that, the Iranians issued their own video. Both clips are strange. They are also very different from each other. There's a good reason, however, for the strangeness and the contradictions. The Pentagon's footage shows five speed boats making provocative maneuvers a couple of hundred yards from an American warship. Speaking in English over the standard radio frequency, a U.S. Navy officer identifies his ship. Suddenly, an Iranian voice, in heavily accented English, is heard saying, "I am coming to you. You will explode in [unintelligible] minutes." The voice sounds superimposed; it is much louder than the other voices; there's also no background noise of engines or waves, as there would be if the speaker were on one of the speed boats. 24 Jan 2008 17:13:50 GMT http://www.slate.com/id/2181851/fr/rss/ Fred Kaplan 10F0BA96-1222-4518-AFE9-A33D478EF230 Slate Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said relations with the US could be restored in the future. In a speech to students, he said the time was not right to restore ties, but if it were ever in Iran's interests he would endorse such a move. The US and Iran cut their diplomatic ties after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the subsequent takeover of the US embassy by militants in Tehran. Relations have been further strained by the row over Iran's nuclear programme. "We have never said these relations should be suspended indefinitely," said Ayatollah Khamenei. 24 Jan 2008 17:12:48 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7170381.stm BA2A4BA5-DDDE-4524-A5D8-F32388B78686 BBC A heckling radio ham known as the Filipino Monkey, who has spent years pestering ships in the Persian Gulf, is being blamed today for sparking a major diplomatic row after American warships almost attacked Iranian patrol boats. The US navy came within seconds of firing at the Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz on January 6 after hearing threats that the boats were attacking and were about to explode. Senior navy officials have admitted that the source of the threats, picked up in international waters, was a mystery. 24 Jan 2008 16:53:23 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2240533,00.html Matthew Weaver D41E3B56-6711-4715-B06D-BD6879B33457 The Guardian Russia has delivered the first shipment of nuclear fuel to Iran's Bushehr atomic power station, a step both Moscow and Washington said should convince Tehran to shut down its disputed uranium enrichment program. But a senior Iranian official said his country would under no circumstances halt its efforts to enrich uranium -- fuel it says it needs for other power plants but which foreign powers fear could be used in a nuclear bomb. Western nations led by the United States had urged Russia not to deliver fuel to Bushehr, a plant in southern Iran that Russian engineers are building under a $1 billion contract. In a change of tactics apparently the result of consultations between Moscow and Washington, the White House signaled that the arrival of the fuel could help international efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. 24 Jan 2008 16:52:30 GMT http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL177524820071217?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews Christian Lowe 0F9A9B13-F1FA-42EB-A189-0E3701DED589 Reuters Russia and Iran have settled all differences over the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power station and agreed on a timetable for its completion, the Russian contractor building the station said on Thursday. Russia's role in building Bushehr, Iran's first nuclear power station, is a key element in a diplomatic dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions. "We have resolved all the problems with the Iranians," said Sergei Shmatko, president of state controlled Atomstroiexport, which is building the Bushehr plant on the Gulf. "We have agreed with our Iranian colleagues a timeframe for completing the plant and we will make an announcement at the end of December," Shmatko told reporters. 24 Jan 2008 16:48:38 GMT http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL1355362320071213?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews Guy Faulconbridge 12392E31-603A-4047-916D-1746D406A47C Reuters If the US can reach an accommodation with Iran before quitting, there is still the chance of a tolerable outcome in Iraq A few months ago, I suggested here that all of us who are sceptics about Iraq should subject ourselves to regular brain scans, just in case we were wrong. That is to say, enthusiasm to see George Bush's nose rubbed in his follies must never tip over into eagerness for US failure in Iraq. Its consequences for the world, and above all for the Iraqi people, are far too grave to indulge schadenfreude. There are three reasons today to revisit our thinking about Iraq even if, at the end of the process, we end up back where we started. James Forysth rightly remarked in the Guardian's media pages yesterday that the British press has under-reported the success of the US troop surge. It is a notable achievement by General David Petraeus and his forces that insurgent attacks have fallen by two-thirds, and civilian fatalities have declined steeply. Second, Gordon Brown told British troops outside Basra at the weekend that their role is almost over. Within weeks responsibility for security in the southern province will pass to local Iraqi forces. Finally, last week's amazing US national intelligence estimate, which declared that Iran has no current nuclear weapons programme, could carry critical significance for Iraq. It removes the overriding obstacle to dialogue between Tehran and Washington, which itself is indispensable to stabilising Iraq. 24 Jan 2008 16:47:31 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2225391,00.html Max Hastings 34BE4E66-55E1-4D18-96A2-B81948383CC6 The Guardian Bush is so fact-phobic that he might as well declare a war on reality, in which anything palpably authentic is the enemy So let's get this straight. A US intelligence report decides that Iran isn't as big a threat as once feared, and Bush decides this proves that, actually guys, I think you'll find it is. You've got to admire his steadfast refusal to acknowledge anything that doesn't complement his monochromatic world view. He's a true tunnel visionary. Awkward facts simply ricochet off him, like peashooter pellets bouncing harmlessly from an elephant's hide. He knows what he wants to believe, and he'll carry on believing it until it kills him. Or us. Preferably us. He can always recant and say, "Oops, I was wrong" in his bunker. We'll be long gone by then, so what does he care? Very little, in all probability. Bush is a bit like an unhinged iconoclast who has arbitrarily decided he doesn't believe in cows, and loudly and repeatedly denies their existence until you get so annoyed you drive him to a farm and show him a cow, and he shakes his head and continues to insist there's no such thing. At which point it moos indignantly, but he claims not to hear it, so in exasperation you drag him into the field and force him to touch the cow, and milk the cow, and ride around on the cow's back. And, finally, he dismounts and says, "That was fun'n'all, but dagnammit, I still don't believe in no cow." And then he shoots it in the head regardless, just to be on the safe side. Just so it isn't a threat. 24 Jan 2008 16:21:23 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,2225028,00.html Charlie Brooker EB411706-1AD0-4487-8FC9-6A2EB61EC63D The Guardian GP dies in custody after arrest for sitting with her fiancé in the park - and the police say it is suicide Nothing about Zahra Baniyaghoub's life suggested she would have wanted to end it. With a flourishing career as a doctor and a stable relationship with a man she loved, she seemed to have everything to live for. But when she died suddenly in the custody of Iran's morals and virtues police - an organisation empowered by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to enforce Islamic behavioural standards - officials reported it as suicide. 24 Jan 2008 16:20:15 GMT http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2220406,00.html Robert Tait E807DC9E-A966-428C-B8B9-ACE062FDA194 The Observer The mystery of Iran's nuclear plans has deepened, and the prospects of war seem to have receded, with the publication of a new United States intelligence report. But this is only one episode of an unfolding story The status and intentions of Iran's nuclear-energy plans are again at the top of the international agenda, and in a dramatic and unexpected way. The publication of the latest United States national-intelligence estimate (NIE) on 3 December 2007 - in the declassified digest released to the public - contained the striking assessment that Iran halted its nuclear-weapons programme in 2003 "in response to international pressure"; a judgment, moreover, backed with "high confidence". The report, which gathers material from the US's sixteen leading intelligence agencies, does admit: "We do not know whether (Iran) currently intends to develop nuclear weapons." But the tenor of the report is - as has been instantly understood around the world - to challenge the narrative of an Iranian nuclear danger that the George W Bush administration and its supporters has assiduously been building, and to make more difficult the argument for armed confrontation with Iran as a way of resolving the perceived problem. 24 Jan 2008 16:19:03 GMT http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/iran/nuclear_complex Jan De Pauw C8A6F86F-6048-49E7-B2C2-D92EFD7DFE23 Open Democracy Iran poses a threat to the United States and the Middle East despite a U.S. intelligence assessment that Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Saturday. In a speech to the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain, the Pentagon chief argued Iran still has the capability to restart its weapons program and continues to enrich uranium, an essential part of atomic weapons development. He also accused Iran of actively supporting insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Islamist groups Hezbollah and Hamas, and that its missile program poses a wider threat throughout the region. 24 Jan 2008 16:18:05 GMT http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSPAR82748720071208?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews Kristin Roberts 0FCA2251-13BC-4DAF-9FC1-42AB82FF4846 Reuters Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah urged Iran to avoid escalation in its standoff with the West over its nuclear program as Israel's deputy prime minister called for the resignation of the head of the UN nuclear watchdog. King Abdullah called for a solution that would allow Tehran to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes 24 Jan 2008 16:12:02 GMT http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=86644 B17899BE-FDEE-42F8-8CC9-7A404A50C6D8 Daily Star German Chancellor Angela Merkel told U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday she would be willing to support a third round of U.N. sanctions against Iran if Tehran continues to resist demands to halt sensitive nuclear work. Merkel, in a visit to Bush's ranch in Crawford, also said she would consider possible cuts in her country's brisk trade flows with Iran should other efforts fail to secure Tehran's cooperation over its nuclear program. Bush agreed with Merkel that diplomacy was the best way to resolve the standoff with Iran. "We were at one in saying that the threat posed through the nuclear program of Iran is indeed a serious one," Merkel said at a joint news conference with Bush. 24 Jan 2008 16:08:40 GMT http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKN0936347520071111?rpc=401& Caren Bohan D2F59C62-D59C-4C4A-A758-0D886E10A468 Reuters Senior officials from the permanent five members of the UN Security Council and Germany are meeting in London to discuss the next steps over Iran's nuclear programme. The gathering comes at another crucial juncture in the long-running stand-off, in which Western countries say they suspect Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, and the Iranians repeatedly deny the charge. As a backdrop, Saudi Arabia has said it and its Gulf allies have proposed as a compromise setting up a consortium with Iran to enrich uranium in a neutral country. 24 Jan 2008 16:02:37 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7075152.stm Nick Childs DF3B6686-097A-4D27-A67A-C47C7D2466C8 BBC News Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday she does not believe a Senate resolution authorizes President Bush to take military action against Iran. ``There is nothing in this particular resolution that would suggest that from our point of view. And, clearly, the president has also made very clear that he's on a diplomatic path where Iran comes into focus,'' Rice said. The Senate in late September voted 76-22 in favor of a resolution urging the State Department to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. While the resolution, by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., attracted overwhelming bipartisan support, a small group of Democrats said they feared labeling the state-sponsored organization a terrorist group could be interpreted as a congressional authorization of military force in Iran. 24 Jan 2008 16:01:35 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7072004,00.html BE4AE994-DBD6-4610-BB36-815FA1EB6392 The Guardian/AP Brown should be blunt about al-Qaeda and Afghanistan It is a slightly strange but perhaps appropriate arrangement that Remembrance Sunday is followed by the Lord Mayor's Banquet. At one level there is a disconnection between the sombre ceremonies witnessed yesterday and the feast in Guildhall tonight. At another, however, it is right that ceremonies to mark the sacrifice of those who died in conflict precede an event at which the Prime Minister makes an annual address on international relations. The tragic truth is that war is part of foreign policy, even if peace and prosperity are the long-term goal. And that harsh reality must be recognised by Mr Brown. The attention this evening will probably be on the words and tone that Mr Brown adopts concerning Iran. This is perfectly understandable. The consequences of Tehran acquiring the bomb would be profound. It is right that the Prime Minister has not ruled out any course of action on Iran - including a military response - because a lack of resolve would only encourage extremists there to seek nuclear weapons. If that ambition is not rebuffed, then at some point difficult decisions may have to be taken. 24 Jan 2008 15:36:18 GMT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article2852667.ece 98AAEE8E-4935-46AE-AFC6-2B9EB44F5A65 The Times While US attack plans against Iran are in an advanced state of readiness, there are growing divisions between the military and the White House regarding these attacks. "U.S. defense officials have signaled that up-to-date attack plans are available if needed in the escalating crisis over Iran's nuclear aims, although no strike appears imminent .... Among the possible targets, in addition to nuclear installations like the centrifuge plant at Natanz [are] Iran's ballistic missile sites, Republican Guard bases, and naval warfare assets that Tehran could use in a retaliatory closure of the Straits of Hormuz, a vital artery for the flow of Gulf oil." (AP, November 8, 2007) These ongoing war preparations are consistent with official statements and political threats directed against Iran by the US president and vice president. On October 12, President Bush dropped a bombshell by intimating that the confrontation with Iran could lead to a "World War III". In a recent TV interview Bush clarified that the reason he mentioned World War III was "because this is a country [Iran] that has defied the IAEA.." This statement is a barefaced lie by the US head of State. The IAEA confirmed in an August report the civilian nature of Iran's nuclear program. 24 Jan 2008 15:34:18 GMT http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0711/S00204.htm Michel Chossudovsky 1751EE84-0F52-4065-ADA8-90D4177A8008 Scoop/Global Research The next five days will show whether President Ahmadinejad gets what appears to be his wish: a growing row with the West over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Despite deep unease within the regime about his taste for confrontation, the chances are that he will. There is good news for those who want Iran to back down: factions within the top leadership are now fighting with each other about whether to risk defiance of the United Nations Security Council. The bad news is that none of them, even the so-called moderates, appears to want to give up uranium enrichment, the work that could give Iran nuclear weapons. The worse news is that the countries trying to curb Tehran are even more divided among themselves than are Iranian leaders. On Monday a meeting in Brussels of the five permanent members of the Security Council may well show that the US, Britain and France do not have support from China and Russia for more sanctions, and will have to try their best alone. 24 Jan 2008 15:27:39 GMT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2866014.ece Bronwen Maddox 769BBA86-966A-4FDE-9B3B-B34FC0EA77D5 The Times Gordon Brown last night proposed a worldwide ban on companies developing Iran's oil and gas fields if it failed to curb its nuclear ambitions. He promised to take the lead in seeking tougher penalties through the United Nations and the European Union as Britain and the United States seek to increase the pressure on Tehran. In his first major speech on foreign policy the Prime Minister said that Iran had a choice confrontation with the international community and stringent sanctions against it; or dropping its nuclear plans, ending support for terrorism and having a transformed relationship with the world. Unless imminent reports from the EU and the International Atomic Energy Agency suggested movement from Iran, there would be stronger sanctions, including on oil and gas investment and the financial sector. Iran should be in no doubt about our seriousness of purpose, he said. 24 Jan 2008 15:26:11 GMT http://rinf.com/alt-news/politics/gordon-brown-threatens-iran%E2%80%99s-oil-interests/1732/ Philip Webster DD85CEB6-821B-49D9-B7CA-2FDA59270C3D RINF The US has vowed to push for further UN sanctions against Iran, following the latest report on its nuclear programme. The UN's nuclear watchdog said Tehran had made moves towards transparency, but was continuing to enrich uranium in defiance of the Security Council. The White House said "selective co-operation" was "not good enough". The US and its allies fear Iran is building a nuclear weapons capability. Tehran denies this and insists the report gave it a clean bill of health. 24 Jan 2008 15:25:28 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7097561.stm 5807575D-626E-44BE-9378-4C361B9F2005 BBC The government faces a diplomatic row with America over disclosures that it has provided the Iranian regime with financial support worth about £290m while at the same time calling for sanctions. The money was offered by the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) to support British firms exporting to Iran, mainly to the country's petrochemical industry. Many of the loans were being negotiated while British ministers were threatening sanctions against Iran for creating a nuclear enrichment facility to make atomic weapons. 24 Jan 2008 15:22:34 GMT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2890957.ece Jonathan Leake and Sarah Baxter 138C678E-B89B-4B4D-A4E3-EBDFDBD6F4A1 The Sunday Times Some OPEC mavericks want to switch to the euro as oil's pricing basis. But analysts say there are several factors keeping the greenback in the game. Despite calls from Iran and Venezuela - OPEC's steadfast bashers of the U.S. government - experts say there's little chance the cartel will shift from pricing oil in dollars to something like the euro. At a summit of leaders from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, over the weekend, Venezuelan head Hugo Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad indicated the historic link between crude oil and the dollar should be severed. 24 Jan 2008 15:20:28 GMT http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/19/news/international/oil_opec/index.htm?section=money_latest Steve Hargreaves E50A9600-EFCF-42F5-8D2A-35B63AB5AC90 CNNMoney.com The United States has accepted an Iraqi proposal to hold new talks with Iran about the security situation in Iraq, the State Department said Tuesday. The as-yet unscheduled meeting would be the fourth round of talks between Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, and his Iranian counterpart. Two previous sessions ended inconclusively with Iran rejecting U.S. allegations that Iran is supporting Shia insurgent groups in Iraq by providing bombmaking material responsible for the deaths of American troops. Amid a decline in attacks involving such devices, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington had responded favorably to a suggestion from the Iraqi government that it was now ``the appropriate time'' for another meeting at the ambassadorial level in Baghdad. 24 Jan 2008 15:19:30 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7091829,00.html Matthew Lee 49F94469-A9C7-4348-8D76-6B8EC5931847 The Guardian/AP US President George W. Bush on Tuesday played down his warning of "World War III" if Iran gets nuclear arms but refused to rule out using force to keep Tehran from getting atomic weapons. "I think it's very important for us to pursue our objectives diplomatically. I also know it's important for all options to remain on the table, and they are on the table," Bush told ABC television in an interview. "No one wants to use military force to achieve any objective. But, but it's important for all parties to understand that, you know, while I'm optimistic we can solve it diplomatically, options are available to the president," he added. 24 Jan 2008 15:18:22 GMT http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/312827/1/.html 1176D8DB-701D-4A52-B8B9-EF423155F6FB Channel News Asia The most important player in the push for Mideast peace that President George W. Bush launches with a high-stakes conference next week may be one that is not on his long list of invited guests. For varying reasons, Iran is a force driving the United States, Israel, the Palestinians and their Arab backers to seek a deal now. Many other motives come into play, but the growing influence and uncertain aims of Tehran provide rare unity of purpose among states that are key to solving the six-decade Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United States has asked nearly 50 nations and organizations to attend next week's coming-out party for what U.S. diplomats say will be serious, continuing set of negotiations to establish an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. 24 Jan 2008 15:17:31 GMT http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/22/america/NA-GEN-US-Mideast-Peace-Iran.php 3979EBE2-2379-4383-A64E-CFCF29C3BEEC International Herald Tribune/AP British intelligence was behind the US' altered assessment of Iran's nuclear intentions, the Guardian newspaper claims. On Tuesday a new US national intelligence estimate (NIE) said it believed Iran had ceased its active pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability in 2003, contradicting its previous belief that Iran was interested in an atomic bomb. According to the Guardian a Washington source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said GCHQ intercepted Iranian communications on which the intelligence was eventually based. 24 Jan 2008 15:12:22 GMT http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/news/uk-behind-usiran-u-turn-18383403.html A9A2E15F-44C8-4BBC-9F51-45D3744E6C18 View London There's been no letup in attacks and weapons-smuggling by Iranian-backed Shiite militants in some parts of Iraq's capital, the area's top U.S. commander said Monday. The comment by Army Col. Don Farris contrasts with suggestions in recent weeks that Iran was slowing the flow of bombs, money and other support to Shiite extremists in Iraq. Farris is commander for coalition forces in northern Baghdad, an area including the huge Shiite slum of Sadr City, which he called ``really a hub for these activities coming from Iran.'' It also includes the Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah. Despite a 75 percent decline in overall attacks in his area, there was an increase last month in the most lethal kind of roadside bombs - the explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) that officials say come from Iran, Farris said. 24 Jan 2008 15:11:02 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7105531,00.html Pauline Jelinek 57C39A48-5258-4721-BD61-EECCFBC872C9 The Guardian/AP The United States-led war in Iraq has hardly affected the residents of Sidikan, a small Kurdish town nestled in the mountains where the borders of Iraq, Iran and Turkey converge, but the surrounding area has fast become the frontline of another conflict. In recent weeks, residents say, Iranian artillery shells have been heard almost daily, raining down on the nearby hills where anti-Tehran guerrillas of the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) are based on both sides of the Iran-Iraq border. Since August, thousands of Kurdish villagers on the Iraqi side of the frontier have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the barrage. "Iran is creating a lot of problems for the Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG]," said the chief of security police in the nearby town of Soran, who only revealed his first name, Gafar. "Border areas are being shelled every day." The KRG is the governing authority of the predominantly Kurdish region of northern Iraq, or Iraqi Kurdistan. 24 Jan 2008 15:09:27 GMT http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/29000 Nelson Rand C5CB1616-2C8C-4BC8-AE8E-63D0A7C4CC11 After Downing Street/Asia Times · Bush hopes for progress despite press scepticism · US to monitor parties' compliance to road map George Bush formally relaunched Israeli-Palestinian negotiations yesterday, inviting Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas to meet again at the White House the morning after the Annapolis summit showcased US determination to bring peace to the Middle East despite near-universal scepticism about the prospects. In the face of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, Hamas rocket fire into Israel, violence in the West Bank and Iranian taunts that his policies had failed, the president was keen to show he was serious about supporting the search for a two-state solution in his remaining 14 months of office. 24 Jan 2008 15:08:37 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2218607,00.html Ian Black 75CD3336-1AB1-4C03-911A-466838AB87B9 The Guardian That's the main implication of the startling new intelligence estimate that Tehran isn't working on a bomb. But the long-term impact is just as significant. A look at the winners and losers. President Bush, in his news conference today, said "nothing's changed" about the U.S. approach to Iran. On the contrary, everything has. What the U.S. president failed to acknowledge was that there had been an earthquake in Washington, which came in the form of this week's new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran. The most immediate impact is that the NIE resolved the big question hanging over the last 12 months of Bush's troubled tenure as president: will he attack Iran? The answer now is almost certainly no. The report also means that a host of international actors who are not necessarily friendly to America from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Russia's Vladimir Putin to Mohamed ElBaradei, the controversial head of the International Atomic Energy Agency come out looking like winners. America's reputation in the world is the biggest loser. 24 Jan 2008 12:56:18 GMT http://www.newsweek.com/id/73761 Michael Hirsh 478BB540-B47F-4BF5-86EF-A8FD1C8A530F Newsweek Iran says that a newly published US intelligence report proves that its intentions for its nuclear programme are benign. So does Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the United Nations watchdog, who has greeted the report as if it confirms what he has always maintained that a resolution of the row with Iran is within reach. However, the offers no reassurance; on the contrary, it supports fears that Iran could soon have nuclear weapons. It argues that Iran has been deterred from pursuing them mainly by the fear of US military action, a fear that has now faded. That may seem like support for the case for tough action against Iran, and yesterday Downing Street and President Bush were keen to emphasise the seriousness of the threat. But it seems that the report's conclusions will be even more easily appropriated by the doves, partly because ElBaradei has thrown his weight behind that interpretation. 24 Jan 2008 12:55:20 GMT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/bronwen_maddox/article3001210.ece Bronwen Maddox B389FF16-5006-442E-9C3E-0D40913BB8F3 The Times A report by US intelligence agencies has contradicted Washington's claims that Iran is actively pursuing a nuclear weapons programme, concluding instead that such work stopped four years ago. Reaction to the surprise findings has been varied: 24 Jan 2008 12:54:21 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2221754,00.html 4693DB63-7353-4F2A-8349-C08865F56C78 The Guardian A new U.S. intelligence report concludes that Iran's nuclear weapons development program has been halted since the fall of 2003 because of international pressure - a stark contrast to the conclusions U.S. spy agencies drew just two years ago. The finding is part of a National Intelligence Estimate on Iran that also cautions that Tehran continues to enrich uranium and still could develop a bomb between 2010 and 2015 if it decided to do so. The conclusion that Iran's weapons program was still frozen, through at least mid-2007, represents a sharp turnaround from the previous intelligence assessment in 2005. Then, U.S. intelligence agencies believed Tehran was determined to develop a nuclear weapons capability and was continuing its weapons development program. The new report concludes that Iran's decisions are rational and pragmatic, and that Tehran is more susceptible to diplomatic and financial pressure than previously thought. 24 Jan 2008 12:53:17 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7124869,00.html Pamela Hess 3FD85A9C-6CD5-49C7-BE2E-6BD97193337A The Guardian/AP In 2001, 83% of the Pakistanis supported the Taliban[i]. Six years later, in a 2007 World Public Opinion poll[ii], 84% of the Pakistanis thought attacks on civilians for the purpose of reaching a political goal was justified. Given that there are radicals who support terrorism with the possibility of gaining access to nuclear bombs in a country that is currently under emergency rule, common sense demands that world leaders turn their attention to Pakistan. Yet, inexplicably, the United States continues to hand out aid to its 'ally' Pakistan while quietly upgrading special stealth bomber hangars on the British island of Diego Garcia in preparation for a military assault against Iran[iii]. What motivates the United States to take such paradoxical action? America and Israel have accused Iran of intending to diversify its program - they allege that Iran is using its civilian program as a cover to build nuclear bombs. This supposition begs the question why Iran would place itself in the spotlight instead of renouncing the energy program for history has shown that having an operating nuclear power reactor is no longer a prerequisite or even a necessary condition of obtaining fissile material which can be used for the development of nuclear materials. South Africa was able to develop five nuclear bombs without having a nuclear energy program. North Korea was able to acquire enriched uranium with mundane centrifuges and other technologies to constitute the critical mass needed for a low-yield "dirty" bomb (Meshkati[iv]). 24 Jan 2008 12:52:18 GMT http://www.payvand.com/news/07/dec/1000.html Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich 216C6571-43D5-4012-A5CB-B337B7AD312D Payvand's Iran News Noam Chomsky interviewed by Paul Jay 24 Jan 2008 12:50:13 GMT http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20071119.htm Paul Jay C770086E-41FD-4D6C-820E-2A69A6230FE6 The Real News Network UK Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Kim Howells says the US is reluctant to invade Iran, despite its rhetoric, PressTV reported. The Pontypridd MP warned that the ongoing standoff between Iran and the West would have dire consequences for the international community. He added that another US-led military attack would spark opposition in the British Parliament. It's not fashionable to say it, but I didn't meet anybody in the States who wants to invade Iran. The US was heavily involved in Iraq and Afghanistan and could do without a further war in Iran,? the British official said in a meeting with members of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. We certainly never threatened Iran with military action and we have no intention of doing so," he said. "I can't speak for other countries in the world, but no one has said they think it would be a good idea to take military action in Iran, and quite frankly I don't think there is any requirement for it,? Howells concluded 24 Jan 2008 12:48:31 GMT http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=55952&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs 49CBFDD5-EB59-4E2E-B771-AF3402752E16 IranMania Iran has welcomed a major US intelligence report that suggests its government is not currently trying to develop nuclear weapons. The latest National Intelligence Estimate says it is now believed Iran stopped its weapons programme in 2003. Tehran has always maintained its nuclear programme is being developed purely for peaceful purposes. But the US and other Western powers say Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapons capability. 24 Jan 2008 12:47:41 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7126422.stm 9727A7C5-E866-4009-BEC5-F839B7EABDBB BBC Iran halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003 and has not restarted it since, a stunning new assessment released yesterday by intelligence agencies in the United States has found. The findings contradict an assessment by US intelligence officials two years ago that Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons and appear to undercut President Bush's repeated warnings about Iran becoming a nuclear power. As recently as August Mr Bush warned that Iran's pursuit of nuclear technology could lead to a holocaust and that the US will confront this danger before it is too late. In October he said that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to a third world war. Last night, however, Mr Bush's closest aides claimed that the finding was vindication for the White House's muscular but diplomatic approach. Stephen Hadley, Mr Bush's National Security Advisor, said that the White House was only told last week about the new assessment of Iran's nuclear programme. 24 Jan 2008 12:43:55 GMT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2995111.ece?EMC-Bltn=KJVHI4 Tim Reid DFE9E6A4-EDA3-4CD0-AE9E-A73BF437FA07 The Times The European Union said it was disappointed after talks with Iran on Friday seen as a last chance to avert U.S. pressure for tougher international sanctions over Tehran's disputed atomic program. The absence of a breakthrough at the London talks means six world powers meeting in Paris on Saturday will try to agree new penalties to propose to the United Nations, despite differences in their approach to halting Iran's nuclear program. "I have to admit that after five hours of meetings I expected more. I am disappointed," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters, adding he would talk to Iran's negotiator Saeed Jalili again before the end of December. 24 Jan 2008 12:42:14 GMT http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL3037761520071130?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews Parisa Hafezi and Adrian Croft 0E97D637-4EED-45DE-8803-FA3D78E3CCD4 Reuters Iran has agreed to hold a new round of talks soon with the United States on how to improve security in Iraq, Iran's foreign minister said on Tuesday. Ambassadors of the two old enemies, deeply at odds over who is to blame for the violence in Iraq as well as over Tehran's disputed nuclear ambitions, have held three meetings in Baghdad since May on Iraq, but the last one was three months ago. Washington accuses Iran of arming, funding and training Shi'ite militias in Iraq. Tehran blames the sectarian violence, which has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis, on the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003. 24 Jan 2008 12:41:09 GMT http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSDAH82773820071120?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews Zahra Hosseinian F6A68479-28CA-4C99-A423-55ED04128592 Reuters Interrogator says US military seeks evidence incriminating Tehran US military officials are putting huge pressure on interrogators who question Iraqi insurgents to find incriminating evidence pointing to Iran, it was claimed last night. Micah Brose, a privately contracted interrogator working for American forces in Iraq, near the Iranian border, told The Observer that information on Iran is 'gold'. The claim comes after Washington imposed sanctions on Iran last month, citing both its nuclear ambitions and its Revolutionary Guards' alleged support of Shia insurgents in Iraq. Last week the US military freed nine Iranians held in Iraq, including two it had accused of links to the Revolutionary Guards' Qods Force. 24 Jan 2008 12:39:12 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2209036,00.html David Smith E6D4F3CC-B10A-4480-9FD8-559B71429B34 The Observer Three people explaining why it's essential we start a war with Iran 24 Jan 2008 12:08:45 GMT http://observer.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,,2200790,00.html Armando Iannucci DD3AAEB0-0155-45C0-A3A9-AC600C165A96 The Observer Russia's nuclear chief on Friday said only full nuclear powers should create centers for enriching uranium, in a swipe at a Saudi proposal for Arab states to help supply Iran with enriched uranium. U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states are ready to set up a body to provide enriched uranium to Iran in a bid to defuse Tehran's stand-off with the West over its nuclear plan, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister told a magazine this week. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries -- Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates -- have proposed creating a Middle East consortium for users of enriched uranium, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED). 24 Jan 2008 12:06:47 GMT http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL0214924020071102?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews 5FCB674D-0D8F-4803-8E02-F8A5090A3A29 Reuters A polished silver Spitfire on the desk of Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa recalls two centuries of close and cordial ties between Britain and Bahrain. But even its most powerful friends cannot guarantee the security of this strategic island caught in the Gulf between worsening Iranian threats and deadly serious talk of a US military strike. It is not a position from which to mince words. In an interview with The Times the Crown Prince has become the first Arab leader to jettison the language of diplomacy and directly accuse Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons. While they don't have the bomb yet, they are developing it, or the capability for it, he said the first time one of Iran's Gulf neighbours effectively has accused it of lying about its nuclear programme. 24 Jan 2008 12:03:02 GMT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2789056.ece?EMC-Bltn Giles Whittell C9C9675D-341D-476A-BA76-45D8590DB656 The Times Iran treats its Arab minority as second-class citizens. Now it is planning to hang six of them after rigged trials held in secret. President Bush justifies his imposition of sanctions against Iran on the grounds that Tehran supports the insurgency in Iraq and is seeking nuclear weapons. Not a word from Washington about the way the Iranian regime is abusing the human rights of its own people. Bush doesn't care about their fate. In this sense, he mirrors the Iranian state. The charge sheet against Tehran includes the probably true allegation that it is supplying Iraqi insurgents with weapons that are being used to kill US soldiers. But it doesn't include any mention of Tehran's murder of its own citizens. Surprise. Surprise. US policy on Iran is dictated primarily by selfish geo-political interests. Concern about terrorism and nuclear weapons is, in part, a populist cover. It disguises a secret neo-imperial agenda. Washington's real goal is to extend its sphere of influence, remove a non-compliant regime and guarantee its access to already diminishing global oil supplies (of which Iran holds about 10% of the world's known reserves). 24 Jan 2008 12:01:37 GMT http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/peter_tatchell/2007/10/irans_antiarab_racism.html Peter Tatchell 475595B0-9C76-4416-ACDB-A56D668ED4DE The Guardian High-ranking military experts say an attack would lead to world economic chaos, or even what Bush calls 'World War III.' US Vice President Dick Cheney the power behind the throne, the eminence grise, the man with the (very) occasional grandfatherly smile is notorious for his propensity for secretiveness and behind-the-scenes manipulation. He's capable of anything, say friends as well as enemies. Given this reputation, it's no big surprise that Cheney has already asked for a backroom analysis of how a war with Iran might begin. In the scenario concocted by Cheney's strategists, Washington's first step would be to convince Israel to fire missiles at Iran's uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Tehran would retaliate with its own strike, providing the US with an excuse to attack military targets and nuclear facilities in Iran. 24 Jan 2008 11:58:17 GMT http://rinf.com/alt-news/war-terrorism/white-house-leak-cheneys-plan-for-iran-attack/1584/ Gregor Peter Schmitz and Cordula Meyer 91B1DCCE-74EE-4F02-B360-B83969B6C0CA Der Spiegel/RNIF Signs of a split over nuclear policy at the heart of Iran's leadership emerged yesterday after MPs and an adviser to the country's most powerful political figure criticised the departure of its chief negotiator, Ali Larijani. Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign policy adviser to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised Mr Larijani and said his resignation should not have happened. His comments coincided with a letter of support for Mr Larijani signed by 200 MPs in Iran's parliament. The parliament's foreign and national security committee wrote to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, complaining that Mr Larijani's departure "put the country in danger". 24 Jan 2008 11:57:20 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2197748,00.html Robert Tait 00C321E9-0940-47F6-AC0F-828DAEB9F11A The Guardian The Middle East peace conference proposed by the Bush administration is clearly a smokescreen, aimed at concealing the true intentions of US foreign policy in the region. In the predictable process of rewarding 'moderate' allies and chastising 'extremist' foes, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will most likely receive the accolades befitting a peacemaker, while his protagonists in Hamas are reprimanded, demonised and further isolated. But the ultimate goal of this charade is not even so much to isolate Hamas, but rather to set in motion events that will further isolate Iran and Syria. The significance of the anti-Iran campaign already underway in the US should not be missed in light of the conference next month. The media circus demonising Iran was unleashed a few years ago, when leading neoconservatives, notwithstanding Richard Perle himself, went on accusing President Bush, some of his advisors and military generals of being 'stupid' for failing to recognise the threat posed by Iran. However, more recently, and most notably after the failure of the Israeli military adventure in South Lebanon in the summer of 2006, the war drums sounded by the media began to take on a new and deafening volume, reminiscent of that which preceded the US war on Iraq in March 2003. Those who appreciate the symbiotic relationship between the media and the state in the US can understand well that such a campaign is anything but genuine intellectual concern over the state of human rights in Iran, or the outcome of a sudden realisation that Iran is impairing US war efforts in Iraq. Considering the level of determination in Washington and Tel Aviv to confront Iran militarily and the media's decided role in gathering the public support for such a prospect, it is difficult to imagine a peaceful way out of the crisis. 23 Jan 2008 14:56:47 GMT http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2007/October/opinion_October82.xml&section=opinion&col= Ramzt Baroud 28AF337E-4251-4F44-8B16-8F3DEF097D38 Khaleej Times The prospect of Turkish tanks rolling into northern Iraq - current oil exports: virtually zero - was enough to send crude prices soaring. So what would happen if bombs started dropping on Iran, the world's fourth-largest exporter? The debate in Washington remains unresolved but the US has clearly made preparations for a potential strike on Iran's nuclear programme. A wider attack on its oil facilities is highly unlikely, as is an Iranian response of cutting off supplies. Even if this occurred, Iran's net exports of 2.5 million barrels a day could, in theory, be covered by spare capacity in Saudi Arabia and the world's four billion barrels of commercial and strategic stocks. More important would be Iran's military response - most likely, asymmetric retaliation against US interests. The possibilities, which include attacks on Saudi facilities handling one in 10 of the world's barrels, may read like the jottings of the "techno-thriller" writer Tom Clancy. But the vulnerability of the region's oil network is real enough. The mere threat of such attacks would push oil beyond $100 a barrel. What then? Big economies have so far proved resilient to high oil prices. Yet falling oil demand in the US and efforts to run cars on hooch and chip-fat show high prices are biting. Three-digit oil prices would accelerate this trend, particularly if they sparked a US recession. Economic expansion across the Middle East - an important region in terms of incremental oil demand growth, not just supply - would reverse. A short-term spike, therefore, could well be quickly followed by a sharp drop - as happened with oil after the 1991 Gulf war and with gas after 2005's hurricanes. 23 Jan 2008 14:42:50 GMT http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/10/24/10162276.html 1D30200F-43F2-4371-A022-D533C67682D9 Gulf News/FT President Bush has said that a US-led missile defence system in Europe is urgently needed to counter the emerging threat of attack by Iran. He said intelligence estimates showed Iran could have the capability to strike the United States and many European allies by 2015. "If (Iran) chooses to do so, and the international community does not take steps to prevent it, it is possible Iran could have this capability," he said. "And we need to take it seriously now." 23 Jan 2008 14:41:45 GMT http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/bush+warns+of+iran+attack+threat/952257 89874C19-160C-481A-9E76-E33E746CC009 C4 News The barely reported highlight of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran for the Caspian Sea summit last week was a key face-to-face meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A high-level diplomatic source in Tehran tells Asia Times Online that essentially Putin and the Supreme Leader have agreed on a plan to nullify the George W Bush administration's relentless drive towards launching a preemptive attack, perhaps a tactical nuclearstrike, against Iran. An American attack on Iran will be viewed by Moscow as an attack on Russia. 23 Jan 2008 14:39:52 GMT http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IJ26Ak06.html Pepe Escobar 00D5602A-883E-4B3A-8A6F-11851A4620C8 Asia Times Statement by Secretary Paulson on Iran Designations Washington, DC-- U.S. Treasury released the following statement by Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. on Iran designations announced today: "Iran exploits its global financial ties to pursue nuclear capabilities, develop ballistic missiles and fund terrorism. Today, we are taking additional steps to combat Iran's dangerous conduct and to engage financial institutions worldwide to make the most informed decisions about those with whom they choose to do business. "The Iranian regime's ability to pursue nuclear and ballistic missile programs in defiance of UN Security Council Resolutions depends on its access to the international commercial and financial systems. Iran also funnels hundreds of millions of dollars each year through the international financial system to terrorists. Iran's banks aid this conduct, using a range of deceptive financial practices intended to evade even the most stringent risk-management controls. In dealing with Iran, it is nearly impossible to know one's customer and be assured that one is not unwittingly facilitating the regime's reckless conduct. The recent warning by the Financial Action Task Force, the world's premier standard-setting body for countering terrorist financing and money laundering, confirms the extraordinary risks that accompany doing business with Iran. 23 Jan 2008 14:38:32 GMT http://www.payvand.com/news/07/oct/1249.html 4F3F325E-9F33-4A43-B01A-6911335009E0 Payvand's Iran News The United States today imposed its harshest programme of sanctions on Iran since the Islamic Republic's 1979 revolution. Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, announced that 22 Iranian Government agencies and three state-owned banks were being blacklisted, in an attempt to punish Iran for refusing to stop enriching uranium. In particular, the sanctions target Iran's elite Quds Force, a military unit which the US says helps to train worldwide Islamist militant groups, as well as its Revolutionary Guards. Announcing the measures, Ms Rice told journalists: "These actions will help to protect the international financial system from the illicit activities of the Iranian government. 23 Jan 2008 14:37:06 GMT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2739711.ece David Byers 8FE41B7B-CADB-44A7-8A9E-2EFE246F8612 The Times Iran would need another three to eight years to make a nuclear bomb, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in an interview published on Monday, warning against any rush to use force to curb its nuclear ambitions. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told France's Le Monde newspaper there was plenty of time for diplomacy, sanctions, dialogue and incentives to bear fruit. Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday the world would not stand by and let Iran develop a nuclear weapon, and Washington has not ruled out an attack. Iran says its nuclear plans are peaceful and denies it wants to make an atomic bomb. 23 Jan 2008 14:35:33 GMT http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0710/S00376.htm 56382303-C6BA-49AE-9AD4-AF7866AFCD7F Scoop US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday warned that a nuclear-armed Iran would set off a regional arms race and raise the risk of a major Mideast war "with who knows what consequences." Gates' remarks at a Pentagon news conference came in response to questions about a warning by President George W. Bush on Wednesday that Iran must be prevented from obtaining nuclear weapons to avoid a "World War III." "If Iran acquires nuclear weapons it seems very probable that there will be other states in the region that will decide for their own protection they will have to obtain nuclear weapons as well," Gates said. "So you would very likely have a nuclear arms race in the Middle East." 23 Jan 2008 14:33:33 GMT http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Nuclear_armed_Iran_raises_risk_of_major_Mideast_war_Gates_999.html CF3CA011-D5F9-40FF-9E4E-686EC0DAFFB5 SpaceWar Vice President Dick Cheney said Iran faces ``serious consequences'' if it continues to pursue development of nuclear weapons. ``The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays its present course, the international community is prepared to impose serious consequences,'' Cheney said in a speech before the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in Lansdowne, Virginia. ``We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.'' He also accused Iran of being a ``subversive'' force in Iraq and working to ``destabilize'' the Middle East. 23 Jan 2008 14:32:09 GMT http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aOBorZpm1oY4&refer=worldwide Nicholas Johnston 968743B5-ECB4-4D72-B702-28DF1BF50664 Bloomberg Iran's top nuclear negotiator resigned Saturday in a move seen as a victory for the hardline president that could push the country into an even more defiant position in its standoff with the West. Ali Larijani was viewed as more moderate than President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and the two often clashed over how to negotiate with the world on the nuclear issue. His resignation and replacement by the little known deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs, Saeed Jalili, puts the nuclear portfolio firmly in the president's hands just days before a key meeting with European negotiators. It was not clear whether Larijani left his post under pressure, but his departure was interpreted by many here as giving Ahmadinejad a free hand in dictating his views to the less experienced Jalili. 23 Jan 2008 14:30:13 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7011631,00.html Ali Akbar Dareini 2DF02AE5-E3FC-4C5D-ACEE-81B672E48E50 The Guardian/AP UK ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair has accused Iran of backing terrorism and warned the world faces a situation akin to "rising fascism in the 1920s". Mr Blair told a charity event in New York that Iran was prepared to destabilise peaceful countries. In his first major speech since leaving office, Mr Blair again defended the decision to go to war in Iraq. He urged continued vigilance by the United States, Britain and their allies in combating the threat of extremism. Mr Blair - now an envoy for the Middle East Quartet - warned against being "forced into retreat" as the world faced a situation similar to "rising fascism in the 1920s". 23 Jan 2008 14:25:46 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7052080.stm 9B6BE641-2443-49D2-9B42-0B6A383BF167 BBC Two former high-ranking policy experts from the Bush administration say the U.S. has been gearing up for a war with Iran for years, despite claiming otherwise. It'll be Iraq all over again. In the years after 9/11, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann worked at the highest levels of the Bush administration as Middle East policy experts for the National Security Council. Mann conducted secret negotiations with Iran. Leverett traveled with Colin Powell and advised Condoleezza Rice. They each played crucial roles in formulating policy for the region leading up to the war in Iraq. But when they left the White House, they left with a growing sense of alarm -- not only was the Bush administration headed straight for war with Iran, it had been set on this course for years. That was what people didn't realize. It was just like Iraq, when the White House was so eager for war it couldn't wait for the UN inspectors to leave. The steps have been many and steady and all in the same direction. And now things are getting much worse. We are getting closer and closer to the tripline, they say. "The hard-liners are upping the pressure on the State Department," says Leverett. "They're basically saying, 'You've been trying to engage Iran for more than a year now and what do you have to show for it? They keep building more centrifuges, they're sending this IED stuff over into Iraq that's killing American soldiers, the human-rights internal political situation has gotten more repressive -- what the hell do you have to show for this engagement strategy?'" 23 Jan 2008 14:26:36 GMT http://www.esquire.com/features/iranbriefing1107 John H. Richardson 2C35D24D-1C68-4EB2-9448-60CB7C18832B Esquire Vladimir Putin yesterday brushed off efforts by Nicolas Sarkozy to persuade Russia to be more co-operative in its dealings with the world. He notably stuck to his refusal to put more pressure on Iran over its nuclear plans. President Sarkozy, on a two-day tough-love mission to Moscow, was visibly embarrassed when his Russian counterpart failed to share in his upbeat account of the rapport that the pair had struck at a private dinner at Mr Putin's home. Talking in formal, deadpan tones in the white-and-blue splendour of the Catherine Hall, in the Kremlin, President Putin said nothing to substantiate the French President's claim on Tuesday night of a Russian change of heart over Iran. “We do not have information that Iran is trying to create a nuclear weapon, Mr Putin said. We operate on the principle that Iran does not have those plans. But she shares in the concerns of our partners. 23 Jan 2008 14:23:39 GMT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2631090.ece?EMC-Bltn Charles Bremner E424C5A1-7A59-4173-8CC6-AE7B5BE80860 The Times · Outgoing ambassador dismisses sabre-rattling · Negotiations can solve nuclear issue, he believes The outgoing British ambassador to the United States, Sir David Manning, insists the US remains committed to the diplomatic route over Iran rather than contemplating air strikes, despite recent sabre-rattling from the White House. Although Washington continues to hum with predictions of military action - one insider on Capitol Hill said there was a 50-50 chance of such a strike next year - Sir David said he had not heard anything from inside the US administration. 23 Jan 2008 13:55:34 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2180742,00.html Ewen MacAskill C6717464-C06C-4705-984D-B6F927D541B0 The Guardian When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was first elected president, he said Iran had more important issues to worry about than how women dress. He even called for allowing women into soccer games, a revolutionary idea for revolutionary Iran. Today, Iran is experiencing the most severe crackdown on social behavior and dress in years, and women are often barred from smoking in public, let alone attending a stadium event. Since his inauguration two years ago, Mr. Ahmadinejad has grabbed headlines around the world, and in Iran, for outrageous statements that often have no more likelihood of being put into practice than his plan for women to attend soccer games. He has generated controversy in New York in recent days by asking to visit ground zero - a request that was denied - and his scheduled appearance at Columbia University has drawn protests. 23 Jan 2008 13:53:56 GMT http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/world/middleeast/24iran.html?ex=1348286400&en=5fc22b145a4fd93a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss Michael Slackman 57B761CE-F68D-46EC-843A-B6B1DB7A9462 New York Times n his continuing effort to bolster support for the Iraq war, President Bush traveled to Reno, Nevada, on August 28 to speak to the annual convention of the American Legion. He emphatically warned of the Iranian threat should the United States withdraw from Iraq. Said the President, "For all those who ask whether the fight in Iraq is worth it, imagine an Iraq where militia groups backed by Iran control large parts of the country." On the same day, in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala, the Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, battled government security forces around the shrine of Imam Hussein, one of Shiite Islam's holiest places. A million pilgrims were in the city and fifty-one died. The US did not directly intervene, but American jets flew overhead in support of the government security forces. As elsewhere in the south, those Iraqi forces are dominated by the Badr Organization, a militia founded, trained, armed, and financed by Iran. When US forces ousted Saddam's regime from the south in early April 2003, the Badr Organization infiltrated from Iran to fill the void left by the Bush administration's failure to plan for security and governance in post-invasion Iraq. 23 Jan 2008 13:52:44 GMT http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20651 Peter W. Galbraith 07DDC69E-F5C5-4126-A286-8544AD9AD8DF NYR Books German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier opposes French calls for European Union sanctions against Iran. He will back up his case with German Foreign Ministry data showing that leading French and American companies are conducting large amounts of business with Iran. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is to oppose French calls for European Union sanctions against Iran and is planning to back up his case with evidence of French and American hypocrisy over sanctions against Iran. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, the economics department of the German Foreign Ministry has collected revealing data which Steinmeier will use to back up his argument against EU sanctions. 23 Jan 2008 13:51:19 GMT http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,507443,00.html 292CF978-497F-4F0B-B184-812440268A18 Spiegel Senior American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow Iran's nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail. Pentagon and CIA officers say they believe that the White House has begun a carefully calibrated programme of escalation that could lead to a military showdown with Iran. Now it has emerged that Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, who has been pushing for a diplomatic solution, is prepared to settle her differences with Vice-President Dick Cheney and sanction military action. 23 Jan 2008 13:50:04 GMT http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/16/wiran116.xml Philip Sherwell and Tim Shipman 3F950559-C7C6-401B-B5ED-2FACA05CCBD3 The Sunday Telegraph If Bernard Kouchner had been Foreign Affairs Minister in 2003, no doubt France would have troops in Iraq at this time, just as bogged down as those of the United States. Bernard Kouchner has been the head of French diplomacy for three months and here he is, already talking to us about "war," this time with Iran. Strangely, it's France that is talking the most about war with Iran right now. Nicolas Sarkozy had already used a martial tone with respect to Iran's nuclear program in his speech to France's ambassadors at the end of August, which startled people right up to The New York Times. Bernard Kouchner went one step further yesterday on LCI: "We must prepare for the worst," which is, he specified, "war." 23 Jan 2008 13:49:07 GMT http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091707G.shtml Pierre Haski A218FBA7-F0F7-4902-9373-35EB14DCA430 Rue89/Truthout The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany agreed Tuesday to impose new sanctions on Iran over its suspect nuclear program, yet the measures appeared to fall short of what the Bush administration had wanted. After months of diplomatic bickering and U.S. pressure, Washington and its European allies overcame strong Chinese and Russian resistance to a third U.N. sanctions resolution and they all approved a draft that expands and strengthens the penalties that were in the two earlier ones. The draft was presented as a sign of international resolve that Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons and unity on the need to press the country into suspending its uranium enrichment that can produce material needed to make the bomb. 23 Jan 2008 13:48:08 GMT http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-Nuclear.html?_r=1&oref=slogin AP FCE35E7F-EF1D-4720-BF8C-EBD88DAD1B09 New York Times The heart of the United States's autumn flurry over Iraq is to shift focus towards Iran. The fallout of the war in Iraq has helped to make the George W Bush administration one of the least popular in US political history. The domestic political repercussions are a matter of intense debate and speculation as the campaign for the presidential and congressional elections in November 2008 gets underway. It is likely that the outcome of the elections will be greatly affected by the progress of United States efforts in Iraq and the experience of its military forces. The most recent of a number of assessments of the US's current predicament - the reports, and testimony before Congress, of General David Petraeus (the US military commander in Iraq) and Ryan Crocker (the US ambassador there) - have drawn intense media coverage in this respect. There is a danger here, however: too narrow a focus on the domestic political implications of the Iraq imbroglio creates a tendency to ignore the fact that Iraq (and the US story there) is only one element in a broader regional picture (see Volker Perthes, "Iraq in 2012: four scenarios", 11 September 2007). If the accumulated US effort in Iraq is seen in this light, a deeper logic might be discerned in which not Iraq, but Iran, is coming to play a central role in United States calculations. 23 Jan 2008 13:46:47 GMT http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/conflicts/global_security/iran_surprise Paul Rogers FD2F9FBE-B962-4B3E-9E12-5F260A976E4F Open Democracy · President claims country has no gay population · Bad-tempered exchanges as leader visits US college Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, told Americans yesterday his country had no nuclear weapons programme, but then called his own credibility into question by insisting it had no gay people either. The claim came in the midst of a bad-tempered occasion at Columbia University, where the Iranian leader had been invited to speak but was denounced before he began as a "petty and cruel dictator" by the university president. 23 Jan 2008 13:45:38 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2176530,00.html Julian Borger and Ewen MacAskill EE814A05-0E3C-4344-B266-450E57AD0365 The Guardian Four fresh developments - involving Israel, France, and Washington and Tehran themselves - are bringing closer a war that could happen by accident. The two most recent columns in this series have focused on the increasing tensions between the United States and Iran, evident in the belligerent statements coming out of Tehran and the even more sustained, hostile rhetoric emanating from the George W Bush administration and the neo-conservative wing of the Republican Party (see "Baghdad spin, Tehran war" [6 September 2007] and "Iran: war and surprise" [13 September 2007]). On the American side, the political offensive has been accompanied by comments from the United States military and diplomatic leadership, not least General David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker's related criticisms of Iranian involvement in Iraq at the congressional hearings of 10-11 September 2007. There are strong arguments that the warlike rhetoric aids the political leaderships on both sides in their respective domestic predicaments. The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has even been criticised within his own party for a cavalier attitude to inflation (now running at over 20%), while for his part Bush is widely seen as a lame-duck president. In these circumstances, the danger is that a febrile, antagonistic atmosphere reinforces a climate that could - quite possibly by accident - quickly escalate into war. 23 Jan 2008 13:44:25 GMT http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/conflicts/global_security/spark_of_war Paul Rogers 7532EB84-ADD4-4E05-AE99-2A6FDF7FA764 Open Democracy Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday U.S. President George W. Bush's Middle East policies had failed and he and others would one day be put on trial for "the tragedies they have created in Iraq". "America has failed in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine. America's policies have failed in the Middle East region," Khamenei told worshippers at Tehran University in a speech broadcast live on state television. Washington accuses Shi'ite Muslim Iran of providing funds, arms and training to Iraqi Shi'ite militants and of supporting terrorism across the Middle East. Iran denies the charge and blames the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 for the bloodshed between Iraq's majority Shi'ite and minority Sunni Arabs. 23 Jan 2008 13:41:46 GMT http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSHAF43691520070914?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews Parisa Hafezi F0154300-AA1A-4BA1-A76F-BFF66FB716D1 Reuters French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says the world should prepare for war over Iran's nuclear programme. "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war," Mr Kouchner said in an interview on French TV and radio. He was speaking ahead of a visit to Russia on Monday, during which Iran is likely to feature prominently. Iran's nuclear programme will also be one of the main issues for the UN nuclear watchdog's annual conference, starting in Vienna on Monday. Iran denies it is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and says it only wants nuclear power to generate electricity for civilian purposes. 23 Jan 2008 13:42:58 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6997935.stm BE65C593-E796-406D-B292-D121FB00F9D3 BBC Israel must prepare itself for the worst-case scenario -- a nuclear attack by Iran -- even though it is not clear what Iran's intentions are, the former head of Israel's Intelligence agency said on Thursday. The U.S., Israel, and most of the Western world believe that Iran is using the development of a nuclear program to conceal its pursuit of atomic weapons. Iran denies the charges. According to a recent deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran pledged to answer outstanding questions about its nuclear program. But it never agreed to suspend uranium enrichment -- a key Security Council requirement. 23 Jan 2008 13:40:41 GMT http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11553418/ C059C14B-DF3D-4ED3-9A88-C2C2D51BE597 CrossWalk British forces were engaged in a "proxy war with Iran" in the south of Iraq, the officer who planned this week's withdrawal from Basra Palace said today. Lt Colonel Patrick Sanders, commanding officer of the battlegroup which pulled out to an airbase outside the city, admitted there was still a significant threat from militias linked to Tehran. He said: "We are engaged - or we have been engaged - effectively in a proxy war with Iran and if that resumes then they will need us to help." 23 Jan 2008 13:39:29 GMT http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/british+troops+proxy+war+with+iran/771452 4443A5C0-75AD-420A-83D7-8A775945E749 C4 News Gordon Brown must do everything in his power to dissuade George Bush from launching military action against Iran should the US decide to do so, a report has urged. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warns that open conflict between Washington and Tehran over the latter's nuclear ambitions is "fraught with risks". Commenting on the report, a Foreign Office spokesman said its main assumption that military action from the US against Iran was increasingly likely was both "hypothetical and unfounded". 23 Jan 2008 13:38:24 GMT http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/news/brown-warned-off-iranian-strikes-18269244.html Adfero Ltd A121B2F2-AAF4-44AB-A642-122DA5AACDB9 View London The former President of Iran, Hashemi Rafsanjani, has called on the West to engage in talks on the nuclear issue. His plea is in marked contrast to defiant comments made by President Ahmedinejad earlier this week. Mr Rafsanjani has just been voted head of Iran's Assembly of Experts - one of the most influential positions in the country's political system. His comments suggest he may use his influence to challenge the hardline approach of President Ahmedinejad. 23 Jan 2008 13:37:32 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6983871.stm Jon Leyne 91590198-3964-44F7-A2AB-68546CDD0DD5 BBC There is considerable international discussion that the confrontation between Iran and the international community over its nuclear programme may change in character into a major war between Iran and either US or Israel or both in conjunction with allies such as the United Kingdom. This study uses open source analysis to outline what the military option might involve if it were picked up off the table and put into action. The study demonstrates that an attack can be massive and launched with surprise rather than merely a contingency plan needing months if not years of preparation. The study considers the potential for US and allied war on Iran and the attitude of key states. The study concludes that the US has made military preparations to destroy Iran's WMD, nuclear energy, regime, armed forces, state apparatus and economic infrastructure within days if not hours of President George W. Bush giving the order. The US is not publicising the scale of these preparations to deter Iran, tending to make confrontation more likely. The US retains the option of avoiding war, but using its forces as part of an overall strategy of shaping Iran's actions. 23 Jan 2008 13:35:07 GMT http://www.rawstory.com/images/other/IranStudy082807a.pdf Dr Dan Plesch and Martin Butcher FC1123D4-C858-4D85-9E2E-EBC2B8419712 Raw Story The Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians' military capability in three days, according to a national security expert. Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center, said last week that US military planners were not preparing for "pinprick strikes" against Iran's nuclear facilities. "They're about taking out the entire Iranian military," he said. Debat was speaking at a meeting organised by The National Interest, a conservative foreign policy journal. He told The Sunday Times that the US military had concluded: "Whether you go for pinprick strikes or all-out military action, the reaction from the Iranians will be the same." It was, he added, a "very legitimate strategic calculus". 6 Sep 2007 12:58:33 GMT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2369001.ece Sarah Baxter 20BBD34C-408A-42CD-B36D-ABADB1D474C7 The Times In a nondescript room, two blocks from the American Capitol building, a group of Bush administration staffers is gathered to consider the gravest threat their government has faced this century: the testing of a nuclear weapon by Iran. The United States, no longer prepared to tolerate the risk that Iranian nuclear weapons will be used against Israel, or passed to terrorists, has already launched a bombing campaign to destroy known Iranian nuclear sites, air bases and air defence sites. Iran has retaliated by cutting off oil to America and its allies, blockading the Straits of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf bottleneck, and sanctioned an uprising by Shia militias in southern Iraq that has shut down 60 per cent of Iraq's oil exports. 6 Sep 2007 12:57:07 GMT http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/02/wiran102.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox Tim Shipman DBF9E2E2-2D21-456E-B173-4179E6F0F3DA Sunday Telegraph · US president accuses Tehran of arming militants · Speech aimed at shoring up support for 'surge' George Bush yesterday ramped up the war of words between the US and Iran, accusing Tehran of threatening to place the Middle East under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust and revealing that he had authorised US military commanders in Iraq to "confront Tehran's murderous activities". In a speech designed to shore up US public opinion behind his unpopular strategy in Iraq, the president reserved his strongest words for the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which he accused of openly supporting violent forces within Iraq. Iran, he said, was responsible for training extremist Shia factions in Iraq, supplying them with weapons, including sophisticated roadside bombs. Iran has denied all these accusations. 6 Sep 2007 12:55:59 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2158014,00.html Ed Pilkington 2E99CA75-23A7-4D28-8742-612513E7705D The Guardian As President Bush escalates the United States' confrontation with Iran across a broad front, U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East are growing worried that the steps will achieve little, but will undercut diplomacy and increase the chances of war. In the latest step, Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are considering designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the elite military force that serves as the guardian of Iran's Islamic state, as a foreign terrorist organization. News of the decision was leaked to newspapers in what a senior State Department official and Washington-based diplomats said was a sign of an intensifying internal struggle within the U.S. government between proponents of military action and opponents, led by Rice. 6 Sep 2007 12:54:48 GMT http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/19039.html Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef 02677F88-77D2-42BB-92B4-69023B88D547 McClatchy Newspapers America's allies are increasingly concerned about the Bush administration's plans to unilaterally escalate pressure on Iran, fearing that an evolving strategy may also set in motion a process that could lead to military action if Iran does not back down, according to diplomats and officials of foreign countries. Although they share deep concern about Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions, European and Arab governments are particularly alarmed about new U.S. moves, including plans to cite Iran's entire Revolutionary Guard Corps as a "specially designated global terrorist." The move would block the elite unit's assets and pressure foreign companies doing business with its vast commercial network. 6 Sep 2007 12:53:52 GMT http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/15/AR2007081502199.html Robin Wright 14DBA873-8089-451E-A505-348943A4E51E The Washington Post President Bush charged Thursday that Iran continues to arm and train insurgents who are killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and he threatened action if that continues. At a news conference Thursday, Bush said Iran had been warned of unspecified consequences if it continued its alleged support for anti-American forces in Iraq. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker had conveyed the warning in meetings with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad, the president said. Bush wasn't specific, and a State Department official refused to elaborate on the warning. 6 Sep 2007 12:52:58 GMT http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/18834.html Warren P. Strobel, John Walcott and Nancy A. Youssef 4E4BAA83-D157-4003-AFB3-A696A5B5ABC8 McClatchy Newspapers Taking military action against Iran could put President Bush on a collision course with Congress, leading Democrats and a Republican lawmaker cautioned Friday following Bush's threat of unspecified consequences for alleged Iranian meddling in Iraq. It's been the consensus for months among the Democrats who hold the majority that Bush must get congressional authorization before any military strike. 6 Sep 2007 12:52:04 GMT http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/18852.html Matt Stearns 32A10941-3C15-43A8-A019-62D6172EC13E McClatchy Newspapers Although there seems to be consensus amongst Iranians on the fact that Iran is pursuing nuclear power, most Iranians also feel strongly that Iran is not after a nuclear weapon. "Why would we ever need a nuclear weapon?" a man in Tehran asked. "The US has eliminated all our threats and now there is no need for it." He went on to say, "Mr. Bush has killed Saddam and taken out the Taliban, so Iran is the only power in the Middle East." In response to a question about whether he thinks the larger Middle-Eastern power of Israel will attack, he simply shrugs his shoulders, saying, "Ehh, anything is possible." Not all Iranians would agree with his rationale, but many agree with his conclusions. "We are surrounded by countries that have been invaded by the US [Iraq and Afghanistan] and nuclear powers all over [Pakistan and Israel], plus the US is giving arms to all these other countries [ the recently announced arms deal from the US to Saudi Arabia has captured much of the news coverage in the Middle East for days], so if we ever even came close to a weapon like that we would be killed." 6 Sep 2007 12:49:30 GMT http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081007A.shtml Geoffrey Millard 570FCF78-6008-42FD-8886-3889A7E4A871 t r u t h o u t Paper written by well-respected British scholar and arms expert Dr. Dan Plesch reaches a conclusion that the US has made military preparations to destroy Iran's WMD, nuclear energy, regime, armed forces, state apparatus and economic infrastructure The United States has the capacity for and may be prepared to launch without warning a massive assault on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities, as well as government buildings and infrastructure, using long-range bombers and missiles, according to a new analysis. http://www.rawstory.com/images/other/IranStudy082807a.pdf - SOAS paper 6 Sep 2007 12:48:20 GMT http://mathaba.net/rss/?x=562310 Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane 99E19070-9A21-4C97-AC89-0DB0C81FAA23 Mathaba President Bush gave warning last night that Iran's pursuit of the atomic bomb could lead to a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East, and promised to confront Tehran "before it is too late". Mr Bush's remarks, the starkest warning that he has made about Iran's nuclear ambitions, came hours after President Ahmadinejad of Iran said that a power vacuum was imminent in Iraq and that Tehran was ready to fill it. Mr Bush also talked for the first time of "two strains" of Islamic radicalism causing chaos in Iraq and the region: not only Sunni jihadists, about whom he has spoken often, but also "Shia extremism, supported and embodied by Iran's Government" 6 Sep 2007 12:46:33 GMT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2343791.ece Tim Reid 0C0B465F-35AF-41EB-9EC3-7648A82298F0 The Times George Bush's policy on Iraq and the Middle East is full of contradictions, particularly where Iran is concerned. In his second major speech on Iraq and the region on Tuesday - with its focus on the alleged depredations of the Iranian regime - the US president, George Bush, found himself wrong-footed by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations watchdog on nuclear issues. Addressing the American Legion in Reno, Nevada, Bush said: "Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust." 6 Sep 2007 12:45:23 GMT http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dilip_hiro/2007/08/wrong-footed_at_every_turn.html Dilip Hiro 938145B4-D0AA-44BB-9759-F656F68A04E4 The Guardian The George W Bush administration has seemingly taken advantage of the Congressional recess to escalate tensions with Iran. This month, the State Department revealed plans to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a global terrorist organization. On Tuesday, in a speech to US war veterans in Nevada, Bush raised the temperature further by declaring his intent to "confront Tehran's murderous activities" in Iraq. 6 Sep 2007 12:44:31 GMT http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IH31Ak01.html Trita Parsi DDB7833A-2FD3-4AED-9A9E-4EB5F69666F4 Asia Times According to Bush, Iran is ?responsible for training extremist Shia factions in [Iraq] which it supplied with arms and weapons, including sophisticated roadside bombs. He referred specifically to 240mm rockets that he said had been made in Iran this year and smuggled into Iraq by Iranian agents,? the Guardian reports from Reno, Nevada, where Bush read from a yet another neocon generated script, this time at the 89th annual American Legion convention. 6 Sep 2007 12:43:03 GMT http://infowars.com/articles/ww3/iran_bush_calls_for_mass_murder_of_iranians.htm Kurt Nimmo 0131FAEE-C3DA-4C05-A6D4-85A24DB4A118 InfoWars With Iraq reaching previously unimaginable levels of violence, with the US military stretched to the breaking point and with America's international reputation in tatters, it's remarkable that any sane person could argue for a preemptive US attack against Iran. But there do seem to be some in government and the media calling for this course of action. Last month, The Guardian reported that the balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favor of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months. Dick Cheney--no surprise!--is said to be strongly in favor of an attack while Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates are resisting him. More recently, ex-CIA agent Robert Baer writing in Time magazine argued that an attack could be imminent. 6 Sep 2007 12:41:40 GMT http://www.thenation.com/blogs/actnow?bid=4&pid=226169 Peter Rothberg B2FB20B5-EC61-406F-96CA-CD83C3D1BA46 The Nation President Sarkozy called Iran's nuclear ambition the world's most dangerous problem yesterday and raised the possibility that the country could be bombed if it persisted in building an atomic weapon. The French leader used tough language towards Tehran in the first broad survey of his plans for extending Gallic influence in the world since the start of his hyperactive presidency in May. President Sarkozy also gave full backing to Bernard Kouchner, his Foreign Minister, who was forced to apologise yesterday for calling for the replacement of Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister. 6 Sep 2007 12:40:40 GMT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2337190.ece?EMC-Bl