TEHRAN POLICE SHOOT INTO PROTESTERS, KILL 4

"Iranian police opened fire on protesters in Tehran... killing at least four people... crowds marched down a central avenue ... They refused to retreat even as police fired tear gas, charged them with batons and discharged warning shots. The police then opened fire directly into the crowd... One of the dead was Ali Moussavi... a nephew of the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi... He was shot near the heart..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/world/middleeast/28iran.html?_r=1&hp

ISRAELI ATTACK WOULD RESULT IN RETALIATION AGAINST U.S. SPONSOR

"... it must be a distinct possibility that Israel will indeed launch a massive air assault, feasibly backed up by cruise missiles launched from submarines in the Arabian Sea sometime next year... A very significant proportion of the munitions... would be "Made in the USA".... Iran may... be far more vengeful against those who made the weapons, trained the pilots, built the aircraft and who Tehran ultimately blames for sponsoring and protecting its attacker... Iran's response may therefore be to blindly strike back at any and all available targets, whether Israeli or Western, and by any means left to it, including missile strikes and attacks by its worldwide network of supporters, including Hezbollah and Hamas... "
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KL22Ak04.html

AHMADINEJAD SAYS U.S. SPURNED NUCLEAR DEAL

"Ahmadinejad... said his country's cooperation on its nuclear programme had been spurned... He once again dismissed a year-end deadline on a U.N.-drafted fuel deal, saying it was "meaningless"... The deal requires Iran to ship most of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad in exchange for fuel for a Tehran research reactor... Ahmadinejad said Iran had made the proposal, and according to the regulations the offer of fuel was unconditional but "they are insisting that to have conditions for giving us the fuel -- political conditions"...

"Iran says its uranium enrichment programme is solely aimed at generating electricity so it can export more gas and oil.The West believes Iran wants to make atomic bombs..."

here
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE5BM1IY

NUCLEAR MEMO A FABRICATION

December 22
"Ahmadinejad, rejected the notion that a memo published last week by a British newspaper shows that Iran has been working on a trigger for a nuclear weapon... said that the document was one of “a fabricated bunch of papers continuously being forged and disseminated by the American government”...
"Intelligence officials say they have yet to authenticate” the two-page Persian-language document... which describes research Iran would need to conduct on an advanced technology to detonate a nuclear weapon, if it was to develop one... (and that) This information’s been sloshing around for well over a year..."
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/ahmadinejad-calls-nuclear-claims-a-joke/?sudsredirect=true

December 28
"U.S. intelligence has concluded that the document... which purportedly describes an Iranian plan to do experiments on what the newspaper described as a "neutron initiator" for an atomic weapon, is a fabrication... intelligence sources say that the United States had nothing to do with forging the document, and that Israel is the primary suspect... The Rupert Murdoch chain has been used extensively to publish false intelligence from the Israelis... (the) Murdoch publishing empire... includes the Sunday Times, Fox News and the New York Post. All Murdoch-owned news media report on Iran with an aggressively pro-Israeli slant..."
http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=2758

OBAMA SAYS U.S. UNABLE TO PREVENT ISRAELI ATTACK

"President Barack Obama has warned... that the United States would not be able to keep Israel from attacking Iranian nuclear installations for much longer... ... if it does not accept Western proposals for its nuclear program... The Iranian government, its military and intelligence services go out of their way to needle the West in a manner that suggests that they still harbor the illusion of surviving such a military confrontation..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KL22Ak04.html

LIMBAUGH CALLS FOR MASSIVE BOMBING, WAR


"On his show Friday, Rush Limbaugh warned his listeners that "if we don't pound Iran into submission at some point they are going to get the bomb." Unhappy with Obama's "appeasement mentality," Limbaugh insisted that the only choice was to go to war:
'Let's be blunt here: the only way to stop them is to destroy the Iranian regime, the mullahs, and that can only be accomplished through war. And by war I don't mean ground troops; I mean massive bombing raids intended to destroy every one of the key targets..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/18/limbaugh-calls-for-massiv_n_397715.html

CAMPUS PROTESTS ACROSS IRAN

"Campuses across Iran erupted in protests Monday as defiant college students chanting anti-government slogans clashed with security forces armed with clubs in a forceful new round of confrontations over the nation's disputed June presidential election... amateur videotape posted on the Internet showed thousands of anti-government students chanting slogans and gathering on various campuses around the country... in the central Iranian cities of Esfahan, Shiraz and Kerman, in the eastern city of Mashhad and in the western cities of Tabriz, Kermanshah, Hamedan and Ilam as well as in Rasht on the Caspian Sea... Fewer of the slogans were aimed at Ahmadinejad and more at Iran's theocracy-based political system, a shift that could... destabilize the Islamic Republic..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-iran-protests8-2009dec08,0,7136715.story

IRAN DEBATES LEAVING NUCLEAR TREATY

"... Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said there was little point in Iran staying in the treaty if it was liable to be reprimanded by the International Atomic Energy Agency for exercising its right to develop peaceful nuclear energy... However, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's atomic energy agency... (said) Tehran had no wish to leave the NPT... (saying) "Our spiritual leader says that to obtain nuclear weapons is a sin -- if we wanted to obtain nuclear weapons we would leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty. We are naturally enduring a lot of pressure but we will remain in the treaty..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSHAF93199320091130

IRAN TO BUILD 10 MORE ENRICHMENT PLANTS

"The Iranian government approved a plan... to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities... just two days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency censured Iran, demanding it immediately stop building a newly revealed enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom and freeze all uranium enrichment activities...

"... the new sites (will) be on the same scale as Iran's only other industrial-scale enrichment plant currently in operation, near the town of Natanz in central Iran. About 8,600 centrifuges have been set up in Natanz, but only about 4,000 are actively enriching uranium... The facility will eventually house 54,000 centrifuges...

"Iran,... says it seeks only to generate electricity... (and) aims to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear power plants in the next 20 years... the new plants are needed to produce enough fuel for its future reactors... Iran will need to install 500,000 centrifuges throughout the planned enrichment facilities to produce between 250 to 300 tons of fuel annually..."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_nuclear

IRAN'S TRUE NUCLEAR AMBITION: BREAKOUT CAPABILITY

"... Iranian leaders say that nuclear weapons are contrary to the Islamic law of war, that they do not want them and could not legally deploy them. They hold that the enrichment facilities are intended to produce fuel for a string of nuclear reactors that will keep Iran from having to use its precious petroleum, a key earner of foreign exchange and guarantor of national independence, for domestic power generation...

"Iran's leadership is seeking what is sometimes called the "Japan option" or a "rapid breakout capability." Unlike North Korea, India and Pakistan... Tehran genuinely does not want to actually construct and detonate a nuclear device. India and Pakistan are such large and important countries that they defied the First World nuclear club successfully and so joined it. North Korea, much smaller, weaker and poorer, has made itself an international pariah in this way, and is suffering more and more severe UN sanctions... most senior Iranian leaders wish to avoid those heavy sanctions, having seen what they did to Iraq...

"But having a rapid breakout capability-- being able to make a bomb in short order if it is felt absolutely necessary to forestall a foreign attack-- has a deterrent effect. So Iran would have the advantages of deterrence without the disadvantages of a bomb if it could get to the rapid breakout stage.."

http://www.juancole.com/2009/11/iaea-condemnation-of-iran-omen-of-new.html

IRAN CONFISCATES NOBEL PEACE PRIZE MEDAL

"Iranian authorities have confiscated Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi's medal... from a safe-deposit box in Iran... They also seized her Legion of Honor and a ring awarded to her by a German association of journalists... Authorities froze the bank accounts of her and her husband and demanded $410,000 in taxes that they claimed were owed on the $1.3 million she was awarded... the government also appears intent on trying to confiscate her home. In Norway, where the peace prize is awarded, the government said the confiscation of the gold medal was a shocking first in the history of the 108-year-old prize. Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts in promoting democracy."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/shirin_ebadi_nobel_seized

AHMADINEJAD VISITS BRAZIL

"... The most concrete result of the visit was the signing of eight cooperation agreements in areas like science, technology, agriculture and industry, which reflect the desire of both Brazil and Iran to strengthen South-South cooperation and increase bilateral trade, which currently stands at around two billion dollars, while the goal is to raise that amount to 10 billion dollars in the near future. Some 200 business leaders accompanied Ahmadinejad on his visit…"

"... the visit made it clear that both Brazil and Iran are keen on playing a more active role on the world stage, based on each nation's clout in their specific areas of influence.... Iran enjoys significant territorial, linguistic and cultural cohesion, added to its abundant natural resources and considerable technological development - it launched a domestically made satellite in 2008, and 48 percent of the population has access to the internet - all of which give it a strong sense of national pride and a central role in Middle Eastern geopolitics. Brazil, for its part, buoyed up by strong economic indicators, besides its position as Latin America's giant, has expanded its influence on the international scene..."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49403

U.S. CONTINUING TO BE STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM IN IRAN

2009
"... At least five commanders of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed and dozens of others left dead and injured in two terrorist bombings...The bombers struck early Sunday as the Guards prepared to bring together leaders of the region’s Shiite and Sunni Muslim communities to try to reconcile differences... A terrorist group calling itself Jundallah — or Soldiers of God — took responsibility for the attacks, according to the state-owned Press TV. The group is made up of ethnic Baluchis... and Iranian officials say it has been encouraged, financed and armed by the United States..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html?_r=1&hp

2007
"... American intelligence has been training and equipping anti-Iranian terrorists belonging to the so-called Jundallah in camps inside Afghanistan. The Voice of America recently interviewed Jundallah leader Abdul Malek Rigi. He is a wanted by Tehran for several kidnappings and over 50 killings. In the latest incident, on March 25, Jundallah terrorists blocked the Zahedan-Zabol highway in Sistan-Balochistan province, killing 22 people, injuring six others and taking eight people as hostages. Later, four of these hostages were killed and the video footage of their killing was broadcast on a number of Arab television channels..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ID21Ak01.html

2007
"A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005... The group, called Jundallah, is made up of members of the Baluchi tribe and operates out of the Baluchistan province in Pakistan, just across the border from Iran. It has taken responsibility for the deaths and kidnappings of more than a dozen Iranian soldiers and officials. U.S. officials say the U.S. relationship with Jundallah is arranged so that the U.S. provides no funding to the group, which would require an official presidential order or "finding" as well as congressional oversight.."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/abc_news_exclus.html

IAEA SAYS NO EVIDENCE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS TECHNOLOGY IN IRAN

"... the IAEA's Safeguards Department... only has suspicions - not real evidence - that Iran has been working on nuclear weapons in recent years... the agency "assesses that Iran has sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable implosion nuclear device". But other passages indicate the authors regard such knowledge only as a possibility, based on suspicions rather than concrete evidence... The IAEA affirmed that it has found no evidence that Iran ever acquired such technology..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KJ08Ak05.html

U.S. STORY ON IRAN NUKE FACILITY DOESN'T ADD UP

"The story... was the official assertion that U.S. intelligence had caught Iran trying to conceal a "secret" nuclear facility.... (but Iran notified) the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the second enrichment facility in a letter on Sep. 21 A major question surrounding the official story is why the Barack Obama administration had not done anything – and apparently had no plans to do anything - with its intelligence on the Iranian facility at Qom prior to the Iranian letter to the IAEA... there had been no plan for briefing the IAEA or anyone... the senior administration official briefing the press was deliberately portraying the new enrichment facility in more menacing terms than the actual intelligence assessment... The circumstantial evidence suggests that Iran never intended to keep the Qom facility secret from the IAEA but was waiting to make it public at a moment that served its political-diplomatic objectives..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48649

IRAQ STANDS WITH IRAN AGAINST U.S. SANCTIONS

"Iraq's president said new sanctions against Iran won't work and warned Saturday that Iraq will never allow Israel or any other country to use its airspace to carry out an attack against Iranian nuclear facilities... President Jalal Talabani (said) "I think the Iranian leadership explained that the bomb is against Islam because it's killing innocent people," he said. "So they said openly that they are not for having the bomb but only the use of technology."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090926/ap_on_re_us/us_us_iraq_2

SANCTIONS WOULD BE UNFAIR, ENCOURAGE IRAN TO LEAVE NUCLEAR TREATY

"... sanctions against Iran are deeply unfair if Israel, India and Pakistan are held harmless for ignoring the NPT altogether and for developing their bombs. In fact, the way the UNSC is proceeding against Iran is such as to destroy the NPT, because any country in its right mind would prefer to withdraw from it and just do as it pleases, a la Israel, than to submit to it and have that submission be a pretext for sanctions, even where the signatory country had done nothing contrary to the letter of the law..."
http://www.juancole.com/2009/09/qom-enrichment-facility-revealed-moves.html

SECOND SECRET UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR PLANT FOUND, VIOLATES NPT TREATY

"President Obama and leaders of Britain and France accused Iran on Friday of building a secret underground plant to manufacture nuclear fuel, saying the country has hidden the covert operation from international weapons inspectors for years... The three men demanded that Iran allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct an immediate inspection of the facility, which is said to be 100 miles southwest of Tehran... the new site (is) built inside a mountain near the ancient city of Qum... one of the holiest Shiite cities in the Middle East...

"ISNA, an Iranian news agency, quoted an “informed source” as confirming the existence of the second uranium-enrichment site, describing it as similar to Iran’s known enrichment facility at Natanz... information unearthed by an Iranian dissident group led to the discovery of the underground plant at Natanz in 2002..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/world/middleeast/26nuke.html?hp

IRAN LOSES ITS ONLY AWACS PLANE




"... above a big military parade in Tehran... two air force jets collided in mid-air. One was Iran's only airborne warning and control system (AWACS) for coordinating long-distance aerial operations... it collided with one of escorting planes, a US-made F-5E, and both crashed to the ground in flames... (Iran's) first and only AWACS went into service in April 2008. It was a renovated version of the Russian Ilyushin 76, part of Saddam Hussein's air force before it was transferred to Iran in 1991 during the first Gulf War.
Tehran hired Russian technicians to carry out renovations and install up-to-date radar... Air Force commander Brig. Gen. Ahmad Miqani boasted its new radar systems were made in Iran and able to spot any airplane or missile at a distance of 1,000 kilometers from Iran's borders. The loss of this airborne control system has left Iran's air force and air and missile defenses without "electronic eyes" for surveillance of the skies around its borders."
--DEBKAfile, September 23, 2009
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6280

U.S. STILL FINDS NO EVIDENCE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM

"The U.S. intelligence community is reporting to the White House that Iran has not restarted its nuclear-weapons development program... U.S. agencies had previously said that Tehran halted the program in 2003... (and) the status of Iranian work on development and production of a nuclear bomb has not changed since the formal National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran's "Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities" in November 2007.... (which) had "moderate confidence" that it had not restarted weapons-development efforts..."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/215529

ALLEDGED IRANIAN NUCLEAR DOCUMENTS FABRICATED

"... the IAEA has refused to acknowledge publicly significant evidence brought to its attention by Iran that the documents were fabricated.. Iran has submitted serious evidence that the documents are fraudulent. Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations in Vienna, Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh... said he had pointed out to a team of IAEA officials in a meeting on the documents in Tehran in early 2008 that none of the supposedly top-secret military documents had any security markings of any kind, and that purported letters from Defense Ministry officials lacked Iranian government seals..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KI16Ak01.html

FRENCH GENERAL SAYS WAR ON IRAN = CATASTROPHE

"The head of the French military... Chief of Staff Jean-Louis Georgelin... has warned that any military attack aimed at halting Iran's nuclear program could cause a "Catastrophe"... because there is no guarantee that 'one shot' would solve the problem.
"If you fail in one shot, it is a catastrophe," Georgelin concluded..."
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=105877§ionid=351020104

PUTIN WARNS AGAINST U.S. ATTACKING OR SANCTIONING IRAN

"... the US and Israel have never ruled out the option of air strikes on Iran to stop it acquiring an atomic weapon... (but) Russian PM Vladimir Putin has warned against military action targeting Iran or imposing new sanctions... on Iran's oil sector... to curb its nuclear programme... Putin... said any attack on Iran would be "very dangerous, unacceptable" and would lead to "an explosion of terrorism... "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8251531.stm

IAEA SAYS NO EVIDENCE OF NUKE PROGRAM

"... Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said there was no concrete evidence that Tehran has an ongoing nuclear weapons program... Iran is not going to produce a nuclear weapon any time soon and the threat posed by its atomic program has been exaggerated..."
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre5811v1-us-iran-nuclear-elbaradei/

REPORT DEBUNKS IRAN HAWKS

"... hawks in the US and Israel have argued that there is no time to spare in dealing with the Iranian nuclear program, and that the US should quickly move to sanctions targeting Iran's refined petroleum imports if engagement does not bear fruit by the end of September.... (But) Iran is unlikely to be able to produce enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) for a nuclear weapon until at least 2013, according to a United States government intelligence estimate made public last Thursday... (by) the US State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR)..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KH11Ak01.html

IRAN AND RUSSIA CONDUCT MILITARY EXERCISE

"Iran and Russia performed... a joint military exercise in the Caspian Sea, aimed at boosting maritime navigation and security... "
http://www.kuwaitobserver.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=255377

ANTI-IRAN JUND-ALLAH TERRORIST GROUP

"Jund-Allah is an armed Islamic movement. Most members are from the religious Sunni Baluchi minority who live in the Sistan-Baluchistan Province, which lies in southeastern Iran at the borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan... the leader of the group, Abd-al-Malik Righi, announced the change of its name from Jund-Allah (Soldiers of God) to the Popular Resistance Movement...
The Iranian regime maintains that the United States is behind Jundu'llah's terrorist activities, as a means of destabilizing or even partitioning Iran..."
http://www.juancole.com/2009/07/brief-history-of-sunni-jundullah.html

KHOMEINI TURNED SHIITE ISLAM INTO AN AUTHORITARIAN STATE

"... Throughout much of its history, the Shi’ite clergy have abstained from direct intervention in political life... Shi’ites await the promised return of the missing Twelfth Imam to rule a world of perfect peace and justice, but until that time no political authority is seen as fully legitimate.

"... as a religious radical... (Ayatollah) Khomeini... turned one thousand years of Shi’ite thought and practice on its head with the creation of his Islamic republic... a revolution carried out in the name of both Islam and democracy has been badly tarnished, perhaps forever...

"Khomeini... (made the) Islamic political system – revolutionary maslahat – the “most important of God’s ordinances”... so, he effectively cost the Islamic republic any claim on special religious or moral legitimacy and turned it into just another authoritarian state...

"Today, the damage Khomeini inflicted on the Shi’ite religious institution is on full display, as the system he left behind on his death in 1989 lurches from internal crisis to internal crisis... the Islamic republic seems headed – not today but eventually – for the dustbin of history."

http://www.juancole.com/2009/07/lyons-spectre-of-khomeini-as-religious.html

BIDEN SAYS ISRAEL IS FREE TO ATTACK IRAN

"Vice President Joe Biden signaled that the Obama administration would not stand in the way if Israel chose to attack Iran's nuclear facilities... Biden said... that Israel, like the U.S., has a right to "determine what is in its interests..."
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/nation-world-news/biden-israel-free-to-set-own-course-on-iran-190800.html

THE U.S. NED AGENCY, NIAC AND IRAN

"... One mechanism by which the U.S. interferes in the internal political affairs of other nations is the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a quasi-governmental agency with funding from both Congress and private individuals whose purpose is to support foreign organizations sympathetic to U.S. foreign policy goals...

"The idea behind NED was to create an organization to do overtly what the CIA had long been doing clandestinely, and the organization has developed its own history of foreign interference. “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA,” acknowledged Allen Weinstein, one of NED’s founders...

"NED is also active in Iran, granting hundreds of thousands of dollars to Iranian groups. From 2005 to 2007, NED gave $345,000 to the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation (ABF). The group claims “no political affiliation” on its website, but is named for the founder of the National Movement of the Iranian Resistance (NAMIR), an opposition group to the clerical regime founded in 1980...

"Another recipient of NED grants is the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), which received $25,000 in 2002, $64,000 in 2005, and $107,000 in 2006. The 2002 grant was to carry out a “media training workshop” to train participants representing various civic groups in public relations. The 2005 money was given in part to “strengthen the capacity of civic organizations in Iran,” including by advising Iranian groups on “foreign donor relations.” The 2006 grant was similarly designed to “foster cooperation between Iranian NGOs and the international civil society community and to strengthen the institutional capacity of NGOs in Iran.” The group’s president is Dr. Trita Parsi, whose parents fled political repression in Iran when he was four. He studied for his Doctoral thesis at the Johns Hopkins’ School for Advanced International Studies under Professor Francis Fukuyama.

"Fukuyama wrote in 2007 that “Ahmadinejad may be the new Hitler,” but that the use of military force against Iran “looks very unappealing,” and that airstrikes “would not result in regime change,” which was “the only long-term means of stopping” Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. The NIAC similarly opposes the use of military force against Iran, and instead “supports the idea of resolving the problems between the US and Iran through dialogue in order to avoid war.”

"Following the Iranian election and subsequent violence, NIAC issued a statement saying that “The only plausible way to end the violence is for new elections to be held with independent monitors ensuring its fairness...”

"NIAC president Trita Parsi explained the goal of the U.S. policy by saying, “The administration is trying to make regime change through democratization the policy, instead of making confrontation by military means the policy..."

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2009/06/23/has-the-u-s-played-a-role-in-fomenting-unrest-during-irans-election/

ANALYSIS OF VOTE FRAUD IN IRAN

• In two conservative provinces, Mazandaran and Yazd, a turnout of
more than 100% was recorded.
• At a provincial level, there is no correlation between the increased
turnout and the swing to Ahmadinejad. This challenges the notion that
Ahmadinejad’s victory was due to the massive participation of a
previously silent conservative majority.
• In a third of all provinces, the official results would require that
Ahmadinejad took not only all former conservative voters, all former
centrist voters, and all new voters, but also up to 44% of former
Reformist voters, despite a decade of conflict between these two
groups.
• In 2005, as in 2001 and 1997, conservative candidates, and
Ahmadinejad in particular, were markedly unpopular in rural areas.
That the countryside always votes conservative is a myth. The claim
that this year Ahmadinejad swept the board in more rural provinces
flies in the face of these trends.

The summary of "Preliminary Analysis of the Voting Figures in Iran’s 2009 Presidential Election", published by Chatham House and the Institute of Iranian Studies, University of St Andrews.

http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/14234_iranelection0609.pdf

OR - NOT FRAUDULENT

"Many experts are claiming that the margin of victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of fraud or manipulation, but our nationwide public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin... Conducted by telephone from a neighboring country, field work was carried out in Farsi by a polling company whose work in the region for ABC News and the BBC has received an Emmy award. Our polling was funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund...

"Iranians view their support for a more democratic system, with normal relations with the United States, as consonant with their support for Ahmadinejad. They do not want him to continue his hard-line policies. Rather, Iranians apparently see Ahmadinejad as their toughest negotiator, the person best positioned to bring home a favorable deal...

"Allegations of fraud and electoral manipulation will serve to further isolate Iran and are likely to increase its belligerence and intransigence against the outside world... Consider all independent information. The fact may simply be that the reelection of President Ahmadinejad is what the Iranian people wanted."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/14/AR2009061401757_pf.html

FRAUDULENT ELECTION THEORY

"... on Friday, it became clear that Mousavi was winning. Mousavi's spokesman abroad, filmmaker Mohsen Makhbalbaf, alleges that the ministry even contacted Mousavi's camp and said it would begin preparing the population for this victory. The ministry must have informed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has had a feud with Mousavi for over 30 years, who found this outcome unsupportable. And, apparently, he and other top leaders had been so confident of an Ahmadinejad win that they had made no contingency plans for what to do if he looked as though he would lose. They therefore sent blanket instructions to the Electoral Commission to falsify the vote counts. This clumsy cover-up then produced the incredible result of an Ahmadinejad landlside in Tabriz and Isfahan and Tehran... The regime's legitimacy will take a critical hit, and its ultimate demise may have been hastened, over the next decade or two..."
http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/stealing-iranian-election.html

IRAN OPINION POLL

"More than three out of every four Iranian citizens favour improved relations with the United States... Just over half (52 percent) of the pool of 1,001 respondents also said they believed Tehran should develop nuclear weapons, although more than 70 percent said they would support a deal by which the government would agree to forgo that option in exchange for outside aid and investment... Only one in four respondents said they favoured a peace treaty recognising the Jewish state, even with the creation of an independent Palestine alongside it. Sixty-two percent said they opposed any such treaty, while nearly two out of three respondents said they supported Tehran's provision of military and financial aid to Palestinian resistance groups... however, 52 percent said they would support a peace treaty recognising Israel if it were part of a larger deal leading to better relations with Washington..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47141

IAEA: IRANIAN ENRICHMENT OUT OF CONTROL

"According to the... International Atomic Energy Agency in its new report, Iran will be able to produce one nuclear bomb by the end of this year, doubling that figure in 2010... The IAEA admits its investigations are stalled in Iran... Iranian officials insist their nuclear program is peaceful and refuse to answer questions or cooperate in any way with UN inspectors. At one point in its new report, the IAEA asked for cameras with different wide-range angles for Natanz, indicating that even there, the Iranians are playing cat and mouse to conceal the real scale of their activities from view..."
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6111

IRAN NOT COOPERATING WITH IAEA

"The IAEA... says Iran is continuing to enrich uranium in defiance of the UN Security Council... the IAEA says Iran now has about 7,000 centrifuges - the machines used for enriching uranium. The agency says that Tehran is running almost 5,000 of them. It also says that Iran has boosted its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) by 500kg to more than 1,300kg in the last six months... the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security think-tank has said that Iran now had enough LEU to convert into high-enriched uranium (HEU) to make one atomic bomb... (however) Iran would need to overcome some technical hurdles to achieve this - a process that could take several years or more. A senior official close to the IAEA says the agency has made little progress in its investigations in Iran and in Syria. The agency has urged both countries to co-operate with its inspectors."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8086565.stm

TERRORISTS IN IRAN HIRED BY U.S.

"A provincial official in Iran has accused the United States of being behind Thursday's bombing of a mosque that killed at least 19 people.... Jalal Sayah, deputy governor of Sistan-Baluchestan province, said three people had been arrested following the attack. "According to the information we obtained they were hired by America"... (BBC says) it is an open secret that former US President George W Bush directed large amounts of money to try to destabilise Iran and there is no sign the policy is any different under President Barack Obama..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8073336.stm

TERRORISM BOMBING IN IRAN

"A bomb in a mosque in south-east Iran has killed at least 15 people and wounded 50, the governor of Sistan-Baluchestan province said. The explosion happened in Zahedan, the provincial capital... members of a terrorist group had been arrested... There are a number of militants in the area... Two years ago at least 11 people, including members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, were killed by a bomb in Zahedan.... the Iranian government also accuses the US and Britain of supporting the militants..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8072795.stm

IRAN-PAKISTAN IP PIPELINE FOR CHINA AND RUSSIA
US policy toward Iran has directed a critical resource to Pakistan, China and Russia

"A silent, reptilian war had been going on for years between the US-favored Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline and its rival, the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, also known as the "peace pipeline". This past weekend, a winner emerged. And it's none of the above: instead, it's the 2,100-kilometer, US$7.5 billion IP (the Iran-Pakistan pipeline), with no India attached.... Iran and Pakistan finally signed a deal this week in Tehran, by which Iran will sell gas from its mega South Pars fields to Pakistan for the next 25 years... The last 250 km of a 900-km pipeline stretch in Iran between Asalouyeh and Iranshahr, near the border with Pakistan, still needs to be built. The whole IP pipeline should be operational by 2014..."

"For Beijing, IP could not be more essential. Iranian gas will flow to the Balochistan province port of Gwadar... which China itself built, and where it is also building a refinery... Gwadar is supposed to be connected to a proposed pipeline going north, mostly financed by China... (through) Pakistan (which) is the absolutely ideal transit corridor for China to import oil and gas from Iran and the Persian Gulf. With IP in place and with multi-billion-dollar, overlapping Tehran-Beijing gas deals, China can finally afford to import less energy via the Strait of Malacca, which Beijing considers exceedingly dangerous, and subject to Washington's sphere of influence. With IP, not only China wins; Russia's Gazprom also wins. And by extension, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) wins. Russian deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yankovsky told the Kommersant business daily, "We are ready to join the project as soon as we receive an offer..."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KE29Df02.html

IRAN HOSTS ANTI-EXTREMIST SUMMIT MEETING

"... Tehran is not wasting any time in deepening its ties with Pakistan and Afghanistan. A trilateral mini-summit in Tehran over the weekend brought the leaders of the countries together and culminated in a comprehensive "Tehran declaration"... It could be termed an anti-extremism summit, as the primary focus of the Tehran talks was regional coordination in the fight against terrorism and extremism... The three presidents are scheduled to meet again in the near future in the Pakistani capital Islamabad..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KE27Ak02.html

SAJJIL-2 MISSILE TEST SUCCESSFUL

"Iran says it has successfully test launched a mid-range surface-to-surface missile... described by officials... as a highly accurate "defensive" weapon... the Sajjil-2 missile used "advanced technology" and had "landed exactly" on the unspecified target... (the) two-stage missile... with a range of 2,000km (1,240 miles)... used solid fuel and was "able to go beyond the atmosphere then come back and hit its target". Solid-fuel missiles are reputedly more accurate than liquid-fuel missiles, which make up the majority of Iran's long-range arsenal..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8059104.stm

IAEA REPORT ON IRAN RELATED TO U.S. PROPOSED FUEL SANCTIONS
Because Iran has not satisfied the IAEA

Verification of Nuclear Non-Proliferation.
Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"The Agency has been able to continue to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran, including all declared low enriched uranium. As the Report states, contrary to the request of the Board of Governors and the Security Council, Iran has not suspended its enrichment related activities, or its work on heavy water related projects. Nor has Iran implemented the Additional Protocol, which, as with other countries with comprehensive safeguards agreements, is a prerequisite for the Agency to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities. Iran has not permitted the Agency to perform the required design information verification at the IR-40 reactor currently under construction, and it has not implemented the modified text of its Subsidiary Arrangements General Part on the early provision of design information.

The Agency regrettably was unable to make any progress on the remaining issues which give rise to concerns about possible military dimensions of Iran´s nuclear programme because of lack of cooperation by Iran. For the Agency to be able to make progress, Iran needs to provide substantive information and access to relevant documentation, locations and individuals in connection with all of the outstanding issues.

Unless Iran implements the transparency measures and the Additional Protocol, as required by the Security Council, the Agency will not be in a position to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran. I again urge Iran to implement all measures required to build confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme at the earliest possible date and to unblock this stalemated situation...

Finally, I am hopeful that the apparent fresh approach by the international community to dialogue with Iran will give new impetus to the efforts to resolve this long-standing issue in a way that provides the required assurances about the peaceful nature of Iran´s nuclear programme, while assuring Iran of its right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

--From Introductory Statement to the Board of Governors, 2 March 2009, Vienna, Austria, by IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Statements/2009/ebsp2009n002.html

RUSSIAN MISSILE SALES TO IRAN

"Belarus fronts Russian Iskander-M surface missile sale to Iran, Syria... the Iskander-M (advanced cruise missile) sale to Tehran has gone through and negotiations are ongoing for Iran and Syria for another transaction: the sale of Russia's advanced S-300 anti-air anti-missile multi-targeting shield systems as well..."
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6055

RECANTED CONFESSIONS ARE ROUTINE

“Delara Darab.... was an Iranian woman executed ... initially confessed to the crime but later recanted... persuaded her to confess by convincing her she would not be executed...”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delara_Darabi

“Damaging Forced Confessions... there is an all too familiar ring about the supposed confessions of arrested journalist Roxana Saberi... They had promised to release her after the confessions and she denies all of her confessions... Forced confessions made before television cameras by high profile detainees are routine in Iran...”
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46713

IRAN TO SUPPLY NATURAL GAS TO WEST

"Iran is about to become a major fuel supplier to the West... For the sake of dialogue and cooperation, Washington is ceding Tehran the chance to feed its natural gas into the 3,000 kilometer-long Nabucco pipeline project (from the Caspian to the EU via Turkey). The strategic-economic consequences of the Obama administration's (action is a) major perk for Iran..."
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6047

IRANIAN CORRIDOR FOR U.S. TO AFGHANISTAN

"Talks on Iranian corridor for US troops, supplies to Afghanistan on fast track... Barack Obama's plans to ... (ask) Tehran to permit the passage to Afghanistan of fresh US troops, weapons and supplies across Iranian territory... the US Air Base at Al Udeid in Qatar would be the main hub for the air corridor taking US transport planes over the Persian Gulf, crossing the Iranian border and flying over southern and central Iran up to their destination, the US airbase near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. The sea route would hinge on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' main naval base at Chah-Bahar, which is situated on the Arabian Sea near Iran's border with Pakistan... an ideal port of call for US provisions to reach Afghanistan by a predominantly sea route. From this Arabian Sea port, consignments would head north through Iran's Sistan-va-Baluchistan up to the Iran-Pakistan-Afghanistan border intersection and then turn east by convoy to their destination at Kandahar..."
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6048

PROPOSED FUEL SANCTIONS DEFEAT DIPLOMACY

"... The Iran Sanctions Enhancement Act, introduced by a bipartisan group of US senators, states in its preamble that its purpose is "to enhance US diplomatic efforts with respect to Iran by expanding economic sanctions against Iran to include refined petroleum... (this) new White House-backed legislation in the US Congress... aims to impose "crippling sanctions" on Iran by targeting its energy imports... to include refined petroleum... The powerful pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), over the weekend, (indicated that) the purpose of this pending legislation is to provide "a powerful new weapon to use against Iran".

"... It appears that pseudo-engagement has replaced true engagement with Iran and the new legislation camouflages its true intention - to restrict, postpone and ultimately nip in the bud the flashes of a diplomatic change in the US's hitherto coercive diplomacy toward Iran."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KE02Ak01.html

DIPLOMATIC ENHANCEMENT?

"H.R. 1985, The Iran Diplomatic Enhancement Act of 2009, would amend the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 to enhance United States diplomatic efforts with respect to Iran by expanding economic sanctions against Iran to include refined petroleum.... 4/21/2009... Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, Oversight and Government Reform, and Ways and Means..."
http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_HR_1985.html

U.S. SAYS IRAN REMAINS A STATE SPONSOR OF TERROR
Mainly for supporting groups against Israeli occupation

Iran... remains the "most active state sponsor of terrorism" in the world, the US government charged Thursday. Iran was lumped with Syria, Sudan and Cuba as terrorism sponsors in the State Department report for 2008, the same countries that appeared in previous annual reports... It singled out the Qods Force, an elite branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as the Islamic republic's main means to cultivate and support terrorists overseas. The Qods Force gave "weapons, training and funding" to Hamas and other Palestinian anti-Israeli groups, Lebanon's Shiite Muslim fundamentalist Hezbollah as well as Iraq-based militants and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, the report said..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090430/wl_mideast_afp/usattacksintelligenceiran

ISRAEL ALMOST DESTROYED 140 IRANIAN PLANES
"Iran canceled air show when Russia warned Israel planned to destroy all 140 warplanes... Israel was planning to destroy all 140 fighter-bombers concentrated at the Mehr-Abad Air Force base for an air show over Tehran on Iran's Army Day... Moscow had informed the Iranians that its spy satellites and intelligence sources had picked up preparations at Israeli Air Force bases to destroy the 140 warplanes, the bulk of the Iranian air force, on the ground the night before the display, leaving its nuclear sites without aerial defense. A similar operation wiped out the entire Egyptian air fleet in the early hours of the 1967 war."
--DEBKAfile, April 24, 2009
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6040

ISRAEL PREPARING TO BOMB IRAN SITES

"The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government... it was unlikely that Israel would carry out the attack without receiving at least tacit approval from America... An Israeli attack on Iran would entail flying over Jordanian and Iraqi airspace, where US forces have a strong presence... it was unlikely that the Americans would approve an attack... the leaks or statements made by Israeli leaders and military commanders are meant for deterrence..."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6115903.ece

IRAN AND THE NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY (NPT)

"... Iran is a signatory state of the NPT and has recently (as of 2006) resumed development of a uranium enrichment program. The Iranian government states its enrichment program is part of its civilian nuclear energy program. This is allowed under Article IV of the NPT... Iran states it has a legal right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes under the NPT, and further says that it "has constantly complied with its obligations under the NPT and the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency".

There are currently 189 countries party to the treaty... Five states are recognized by the NPT as nuclear weapon states (NWS)... the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the People's Republic of China (the permanent members of the UN Security Council).

Only four recognized sovereign states are not parties to the treaty: India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea...

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that by some estimates thirty-five to forty states could have the knowledge to develop nuclear weapons

Key Articles

Article I: Each nuclear-weapons state (NWS) undertakes not to transfer, to any recipient, nuclear weapons...

Article II: Each non-NWS party undertakes not to receive, from any source, nuclear weapons...

Article III: Each non-NWS party undertakes to conclude an agreement with the IAEA for the application of its safeguards to all nuclear material in all of the state's peaceful nuclear activities and to prevent diversion of such material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

Article IV: Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes...

Article VI. The states undertake to pursue "negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament", and towards a "Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control".

Article X. Establishes the right to withdraw from the Treaty giving 3 months' notice..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Non-Proliferation_Treaty

ISRAEL HAS RESOURCES TO SUCCESSFULLY ATTACK IRAN
(Unless enrichment stops by late 2009)

"(A) detailed report compiled by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)... Study on a Possible Israeli Strike on Iran's Nuclear Development Facilities... concludes that the Jewish state has all the resources necessary for a successful strike. The CSIS paper ... maintains there is no need to destroy dozens or hundreds of sites; the destruction of seven to nine targets would be enough to cripple the Iranian program, and lists them as follows:
1. Lashkar A'bad, site of secret uranium enrichment plants in the north near the Turkish border.
2. Tehranb, for the central laboratory for developing atomic armaments as well as more uranium enrichment facilities.
3. Arak, in central Iran, where a heavy water plant is under construction to manufacture plutonium for weapons.
4. Isfahan, in central Iran, near which a small research reactor and a cluster of laboratories for uranium enrichment, centrifuges and weapons development, are situated.
5. Natanz, the main center for uranium enrichment.
6. Ardekan, at the southern tip of Iran, where more uranium enrichment facilities are located.
7. Saghand, Iran's main uranium mining region.
8. Bushehr, on the Persian Gulf shore, Iran's biggest nuclear reactor built by Russia:

9. Gachin, near the Strait of Hormuz, the site of more uranium mines and enrichment facilities...
The authors propose three attack routes for a potential Israeli operation against Iran: an eastern route over Saudi Arabia; a central route over Iraq, and a northern route over Turkey, Syria and northern Iraqi Kurdistan. They point to the third as Israel's best option in view of the superiority of its electronic warfare (EW) capabilities."

"... an Israeli official (said) that Jerusalem would give the Obama administration until late 2009 to stop Iran's uranium enrichment projects; after that, Israel will be forced to act..."

http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1386

OBAMA PROPOSES URANIUM FUEL BANK FOR IRAN

"... the US is also probing a solution to the Iran nuclear problem with Kazakhstan's helping hand...President Barack Obama has already hinted that he intends to pay a visit to Kazakhstan... the Obama administration is "carefully considering" the setting up of an international uranium fuel bank in Kazakhstan... as part of a US-backed plan to put all uranium enrichment under international control... which could form the exit strategy for the historic US-Iran standoff. That is why the visit by the Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to Astana, Kazakhstan, on Monday assumes exceptional importance..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KD10Ak03.html

OBAMA MAY ACCEPT IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM

"... It now appears that the US might cede to Iran's nuclear program... as part of a policy review commissioned by Obama, "diplomats are discussing whether the US will eventually have to accept Iran's insistence on carrying out the [enrichment] process, which can produce both nuclear fuel and weapons-grade material"... the Obama administration's message to Tehran is increasingly shaping up as "Don't develop a nuclear weapon" - a nuanced stance that would not rule out a deal accepting Iranian enrichment as such...."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KD10Ak03.html

IRAN A POSSIBLE NATO SUPPLY ROUTE INTO AFGHANISTAN

"An Iranian diplomat has held informal talks with NATO officials for the first time in 30 years... ... the talks with Iran's ambassador to the European Union, Ali-Asghar Khaji, had concentrated on Afghanistan... news reports have suggested that NATO countries with forces in Afghanistan might have an interest in using Iran as a supply route..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7966263.stm

IRAN ACCEPTS U.S. AFGHAN INVITATION

"Iran has confirmed it will attend a US-backed international conference on the future of Afghanistan... US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said earlier this month that Iran should attend the high-level meeting... the two share an interest in a stable Afghanistan."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7965529.stm

IRAN RESPONDS TO OBAMA OVERTURE

"... President Obama on Thursday offered "a new beginning" in relations with Iran... Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has demanded concrete policy changes from the US as the price for new relations between the two states... singling out US support for Israel and sanctions against Iran... a minimum requirement for Iran would be a move by Washington to ease US sanctions..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7956504.stm

EXTREMIST ARABS NEED IRAN - U.S. CONFLICT

"... There are extremist views among the Arab world, which perceive Iran as an opponent... Arab countries are not pleased with the prospect of [improved] Iran-U.S. relations, and whenever they think this relationship might be re-established, they react negatively. These reactions manifest in their talks with the U.S. or in creating an Iran 'fear factor' in the region, emphasizing regional disputes and trying to create a distorted image of Iran. They see their interests in keeping the current state of continual conflict among the west, the U.S., and the Islamic Republic."
"(But) It is not in the Arab and Islamic world’s best interests to enter into a family feud with Iran. We must be united with other Islamic countries, so that we may focus on the bigger challenges facing the Islamic world."
--Dr. Kazem Jalali, an influential conservative member of Iran’s parliament, the Majlis, and rapporteur of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46138

U.S. STATE DEPT. COMMENTS ON IAEA REPORT ON IRAN

U.S. Department Of State
Office Of The Spokesman
February 19, 2009
Question Taken At The February 19, 2009 Daily Press Briefing

"Question: Does the United States have any comment with regard to the latest IAEA report on Iran?

Answer:... The IAEA’s latest report on its efforts to resolve all outstanding issues on Iran’s nuclear program is clear. Key elements of the report include:

• Iran’s continued refusal to suspend its proliferation sensitive nuclear activities as required by the UN Security Council. Iran has instead continued to enrich uranium and has a stockpile of over 1010 kilograms of low enriched uranium as of 19 February.

• Iran’s refusal to respond constructively to the IAEA’s requests regarding its past work to develop a nuclear weapons capability. The report notes that Iran has refused to work with the IAEA on this issue since August 2008. This is deeply troubling.

• Iran’s noncompliance with its international obligations, having refused to permit the IAEA to conduct an inspection at the under-construction Arak reactor, a facility which Iran should have suspended per the requirements of the UN Security Council.

We once again urge Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment-related reprocessing, and heavy water-related activities, to make a full disclosure to the IAEA of all nuclear weapons activities, and to facilitate full IAEA verification of its nuclear program, including through the application of Additional Protocol measures, without delay."

http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2009/February/20090220100344eaifas0.4128687.html

IRAN READY TO AID AFGHANSTAN

"... Iran has accepted an invitation from Italy to participate in the Group of Eight summit on Afghanistan, to be held in Trieste in June. This conference will discuss the "spillover" of conflict in Afghanistan and ways to secure the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan have already begun a trilateral initiative in this regard.... An important axis of cooperation between the Islamist states of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan is on the horizon... closer cooperation between the three nations is imminent..."

"This week's landmark summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) again highlighted the increasingly important regional dimension of Tehran's foreign policy. "Iran is ready for cooperation to aid Afghanistan," the spokesperson said at the closing of the ECO meetings...."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KC13Ak03.html

IRAN NOT MAKING NUCLEAR WEAPON

"Public confusion over Iran comes from misunderstanding nuclear enrichment...

Iran is producing low-grade uranium-235 (LEU U-235), enriched to only 2.5%, to generate electricity. Tehran has this absolute right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Its centrifuge enrichment process at Nantaz is under 24-hour international inspection. Iran's soon-to-open nuclear plant at Bushehr cannot produce nuclear weapons fuel.

Today, some 15 nations produce LEU U-235, including Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France, and Japan. Israel, India and Pakistan, all nuclear weapons powers, refused to sign the non-proliferation treaty. North Korea abrogated it.

UN inspectors report Iran has produced 1,010 kg of 2% to 3% enriched uranium for energy generation. Theoretically that is enough for one atomic bomb. But to make a nuclear weapon, U-235 must be enriched to over 90% in an elaborate, costly process. Iran is not doing so, say UN inspectors.

Highly enriched U-235 or plutonium must then be milled and shaped into a perfect ball or cylinder. Any surface imperfections will prevent achieving critical mass. Next, high explosive lenses must surround the core and detonate at precisely the same millisecond. In some cases, a stream of neutrons must be pumped into the device as it explodes.

This process is highly complex. Nuclear weapons cannot be deemed reliable unless they are tested. North Korea recently detonated a device that fizzled. Iran has never built or tested a nuclear weapon.

Even if Iran had the capability to fashion a complex nuclear weapon, it would be useless without delivery. Iran's sole medium-range delivery system is its unreliable, inaccurate, 1,500-km ranged Shahab-3. Miniaturizing and hardening nuclear warheads capable of flying atop a Shahab missile is another complex technological challenge.

It is inconceivable that Iran or anyone else would launch a single nuclear weapon. What if it didn't go off? Imagine the embarrassment and the retaliation. Iran would need at least 10 warheads and a reliable delivery system to be a credible nuclear power.

Israel, the primary target for any Iranian nuclear strike, has an indestructible triad of air, missile and sea-launched nuclear weapons. An Israeli submarine with nuclear cruise missiles is on station off Iran's coast. Iran would be wiped off the map by even a few of Israel's 200 nuclear weapons...

Much of the uproar over Iran's so far nonexistent nuclear weapons must be seen as part of efforts by Israel's American partisans to thwart President Barack Obama's proposed opening to Tehran, and to keep pushing the U.S. to attack Iran's nuclear infrastructure. They and many Israeli experts insist Iran has secret weapons programs that threaten Israel's existence."

http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/eric_margolis/2009/03/08/8671731-sun.html

U.S. INVITES IRAN TO AFGHANISTAN CONFERENCE
May open office in Tehran

"... the Obama administration intends to invite Iran to an international conference on Afghanistan... Iran borders Afghanistan and worked closely with the United States after the U.S. military offensive there to topple the Taliban and fight al Qaeda following the September 11, 2001 attacks... The United States is doing a full policy review of the traditional isolation policy of Iran, including whether to open up a low-level diplomatic office in Tehran..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090305/ts_nm/us_iran_usa_3

FORMER IRANIAN PRESIDENT VISITS IRAQ

"One of Iran's most powerful political and religious figures — former President Hashemi Rafsanjani — began talks Monday with Iraqi leaders in the latest high-level contacts between the neighboring countries... Rafsanjani, an influential Shiite ayatollah, was given a red carpet welcome by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at Baghdad's airport... Talabani said Iraqi authorities could benefit from Rafsanjani's "long experience" as a leader who helped rebuild Iran after its war with Iraq."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090302/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

IAEA SAYS IRAN NOT PRODUCING WEAPON GRADE URANIUM

"Iran has not converted the low-grade uranium that it has produced into weapon-grade uranium, inspectors belonging to the International Atomic Energy Agency have said... (in) a report to the U.N. Security Council... (which said) “so far, Iran has carried out good cooperation with us in relevant verifications”... Iran has denied accusations by the United States and its allies that it has been engaged in a clandestine nuclear weapons programme.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2009/02/22/stories/2009022253751300.htm

IRAN PLEDGES NOT TO BUILD NUCLEAR WEAPONS

"... former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rasanjani's Friday sermon... extended his government's first overt invitation for talks on the nuclear issue: "We don't make false promises. Therefore I declare that Iran's nuclear plan is not to build weapons... and we are ready to prove it in negotiations..."
--DEBKAfile, February 28, 2009
http://www.debka.com/index1.php

REVIEW OF FACTS ON IRAN

"... let us review a few facts that seem to contradict the war propaganda.

First, last week's acknowledgement that Iran has enough enriched uranium for one atom bomb does not mean Iran is building an atom bomb.

To construct a nuclear device, the ton of low-enriched uranium at Natanz would have to be run through a second cascade of high-speed centrifuges to produce 55 pounds of highly enriched uranium (HUE).

There is no evidence Iran has either created the cascade of high-speed centrifuges necessary to produce HUE or that Iran has diverted any of the low-enriched uranium from Natanz. And the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors retain full access to Natanz.

And rather than accelerating production of low-enriched uranium, only 4,000 of the Natanz centrifuges are operating. Some 1,000 are idle. Why?

Dr. Mohamed El-Baradei, head of the IAEA, believes this is a signal that Tehran wishes to negotiate with the United States, but without yielding any of its rights to enrich uranium and operate nuclear power plants.

For, unlike Israel, Pakistan and India, none of which signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and all of which ran clandestine programs and built atom bombs, Iran signed the NPT and has abided by its Safeguards Agreement. What it refuses to accept are the broader demands of the U.N. Security Council because these go beyond the NPT and sanction Iran for doing what it has a legal right to do.

Moreover, Adm. Dennis Blair, who heads U.S. intelligence, has just restated the consensus of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that Iran does not now possess and is not now pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

Bottom line: Neither the United States nor the IAEA has conclusive evidence that Iran either has the fissile material for a bomb or an active program to build a bomb. It has never tested a nuclear device and has never demonstrated a capacity to weaponize a nuclear device, if it had one.

--Return of the War Party, by columnist Patrick Buchanan
http://www.lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan104.html

IRAN AND U.S. MAY COOPERATE AGAINST TALEBAN IN AFGHANISTAN

"... high ranking authorities in Iran and America Iranian First Vice-President Parviz Davudi and US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) have arrived in Kabul one after the other to visit Afghan government authorities... the terrorism concern is not only threatening Afghanistan, it has also created joint concerns for the authorities of America and Iran. The three countries are concerned about the Taleban reorganizing and reinforcing in Afghanistan and Pakistan... (this has) created an opportunity for America and Iran to correct their relations using Afghanistan..."
--Editorial on the possibility that cooperation against the Taliban might prove grounds for an improvement in Iran-American relations, in Afghan newspaper Chiragh, February 23, 2009.
http://www.juancole.com/2009/02/negotiations-in-afghanistan-iran.html

IRAN STARTS BUSHEHR REACTOR TEST RUN

Iranian and Russian nuclear officials have begun a test run of Iran's first nuclear power plant. The test - carried out in front of international journalists - involves the reactor being switched on and loaded with dummy rods made of lead... to imitate the enriched uranium needed to run the Russian-built plant at Bushehr... Iran is currently defying Security Council resolutions ordering it to suspend the enrichment of uranium. It says it is simply doing what it is allowed to do under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The country has pledged not break its obligations under the NPT and will not use the technology to make nuclear weapons..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7908621.stm

IRAN WINS $1.5 BILLION CONTRACT TO BUILD NEW TOWN IN IRAQ

"An Iranian firm has won a $1.5 billion contract to build a new town in the southern city of Basra... The new town will have all the facilities of a modern city... there will be a supermarket, 2,000 commercial shops as well as annexes offering different services... The town will include 5,000 housing units as well as modern amenities like schools, markets, parks and health facilities... It is Iran’s largest construction contract in Iraq since the 2003-U.S. invasion and signals Tehran’s economic arm... the countries were reported to have drawn a roadmap to boost trade exchange value to $5 billion..."
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2009-02-15\kurd.htm

RUSSIA CLOSE TO SALE OF S-300 ANTI-AIR MISSILES

"... Iran's defense minister Mostafa Najar travels to Moscow... to tie up the last ends of Tehran's purchase of a brigade of advanced Russian S-300 air defense missiles to guard its nuclear sites... Their acquisition would make an air attack on Iran's nuclear facilities extremely difficult and dangerous...."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), February 15, 2009
http://www.debka.com/index1.php

OBAMA OVERTURE TO IRAN IS RECIPROCATED

"Obama made his most pronounced overture so far to Iran in his press conference on Monday, and Tehran promptly grasped it within hours... Obama specifically offered that he was "looking at areas where we [US and Iran] can have constructive dialogue". Renewing his call for direct dialogue with Iran, Obama said he hoped to create conditions to "start sitting across the table, face-to-face" in the coming months with "diplomatic overtures that will allow us to move our policy in the new direction"... President Mahmud Ahmadinejad responded within hours, "Our nation is ready to hold talks based on mutual respect and in a fair atmosphere..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KB14Ak03.html

U.S. AND NATO TO SEEK IRAN'S AID IN AFGHANISTAN

"... NATO's top military commander in Afghanistan, General John Craddock, admitted that the alliance would not oppose individual member nations making deals with Iran to supply their forces in Afghanistan... (NATO) secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had said only a week ago that NATO member countries, including the United States, should engage Iran to combat the Taliban in Afghanistan..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/KB06Ag02.html

ISRAEL TURNS BACK AID SUPPLIES FOR GAZA

"The (Isreali) Navy intercepted an Iranian ship loaded with medicine, food and clothing destined for Gaza... (and) would not allow it to enter the waters around Gaza..."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231917085424&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

IRANIANS WORRIED ABOUT ECONOMY, NOT WAR OR REFORM

"Iranians are more concerned about their country's finances than tension with the West or political reform... there is strong support inside Iran for the country having its own nuclear industry.... Those surveyed were asked for the two most important issues facing Iran today and 45% of respondents said unemployment and poverty... 1% said hostile relations with the United States and 1% said lack of democracy or need for political reform... 94% of those surveyed agreed Iran should be allowed to develop a nuclear industry..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7827198.stm

BUSH REJECTED ISRAELI ATTACK ON IRAN

"President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran’s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons... Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates (convinced Bush) that any overt attack on Iran would probably prove ineffective, lead to the expulsion of international inspectors and drive Iran’s nuclear effort further out of view... (with) the possibility that an airstrike could ignite a broad Middle East war in which America’s 140,000 troops in Iraq would inevitably become involved...

"The covert American program, started in early 2008, includes renewed American efforts to penetrate Iran’s nuclear supply chain abroad, along with new efforts, some of them experimental, to undermine electrical systems, computer systems and other networks on which Iran relies.... Obama must decide whether the covert actions begun by Mr. Bush are worth the risks of disrupting what he has pledged will be a more active diplomatic effort to engage with Iran..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/washington/11iran.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bush%20rejected%20israel%20attack&st=cse

IRAN BACKS AWAY FROM FIGHTING IN GAZA

"At the outset of Israel's offensive against Hamas... Tehran called on volunteers to fight in Gaza. Two weeks later, they are being sent home... because Egypt would never grant them access to the embattled enclave through its ports and territory, but mainly because Iran has decided to stay clear of direct military engagement with Israel... Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei thanked groups of volunteers waiting at Iranian airports... to be dispatched to Gaza to fight Israel, but told them:...one must pay attention that in this regard our hands are tied."
--DEBKAfile, January 10, 2009
http://www.debka.com/index1.php

IRAQ DEPORTS ANTI-IRAN MEK TERRORISTS

"Iraq plans to close a camp for Iranian dissidents who used to cross into Iran to mount assassinations and sabotage... The US and EU placed the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) on their lists of terrorist organisations after the September 11th attacks. ... US troops disarmed them after the 2003 invasion... but kept the camp intact because some Bush administration officials allegedly saw the MEK as a potential tool for regime change in Iran... The Shia-led government in Baghdad has forged close relations with fellow Shias in Tehran and rejects such ambitions..."
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0102/1230842350664.html