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