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

IRAN PREPARING TO SUPPORT PALESTINIANS AGAINST ISRAEL

"... Ayatollah Ali Khameini in his speech Sunday... issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to stand up and defend Palestinians against Israel. He said "true believers" were "duty-bound to defend" the Palestinians. Khamenei did not spell out what he intended... On Monday, Dec. 29, Day 3 of Israel's Gaza operation, (a) spokesman said Iran had embarked on preparations for operations against Israel in line with the directives laid down by... Khameini... A group of hardline clerics is signing up volunteers to fight "against the Zionist regime" in the Gaza Strip "in either military, financial or propaganda fields"... (as) reported by the semi-official Fars news agency. Iranian lawmaker Ali Motahari told the Iranian news agency IRNA that it was time for Iran and Arab nations to go to war with Israel..."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), Tuesday, December 30, 2008
http://www.debka.com/index1.php

RUSSIA IMPLEMENTING CONTRACT FOR S-300 AIR DEFENSE MISSILE SYSTEMS

"... The RIA news agency reported... "Moscow has earlier met its obligations to supply Tor-M1 (short-range) systems to Iran and is currently implementing its contract to deliver S-300 systems"... the highly sophisticated medium-range air defense... S-300 deliveries began two weeks ago... coinciding with the return home of members of Iranian air defense officers from training in Russia... after Iran, Moscow will install the S-300 in Syria, focusing on securing the Russian naval bases going up in the Mediterranean port of Tartous..."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), December 18, 2008
http://www.debka.com/index.php

UKRAINE PROVIDED U.S. WITH A RADAR FROM S-300 SYSTEM

"Ukraine has provided the U.S. military with radar used in the S-300 air defence system... to research ways of counteracting it... Ukraine’s state arms exporter Ukrspetsexport supplied one such radar at the Pentagon’s request..."
http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2008-11-24/How_Ukraine_armed_the_US_against_Iran.html

RUSSIA: IRAN INCAPABLE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

"... Vladimir Voronkov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of European Cooperation... (contends) that Iran is presently incapable of developing nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them... Russia's word has a notable significance on the matter because it enjoys unparalleled access to Iran's nuclear facilities... Moscow's combined intelligence agencies are in agreement that Iran does not have nuclear-weapons capability... (this) calls for serious rethinking about whether the "crisis" built up over Tehran going nuclear was nothing but a bogey..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JL17Ak03.html

IAEA REFUTES FEARS OF IRAN MAKING NUCLEAR WEAPONS

"... (a) false assumption that has been adopted like an article of faith by nearly all the pundits and nuclear experts in the US today, is that Iran is fast approaching a "nuclear breakout capability"... This... is a line of thinking that simply evades the obvious: that is, the fact that Iran's entire stock of enriched uranium is kept in containers sealed by the IAEA and the whole fuel enrichment plant is constantly monitored by the IAEA's surveillance cameras.... any Iranian attempt to tamper with the IAEA seals and or divert some of the stored low-enriched uranium to some clandestine facility would be quickly uncovered..."

"... (Consider) the robust IAEA inspection regime in place at Natanz and other nuclear facilities in Iran, as well as... the IAEA's declared confidence that it has been able to "continue to confirm the absence of any diversion". (Also consider) the IAEA's other important admission that it has not detected any diversion of nuclear material toward the "alleged weaponization studies..."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JL06Ak01.html

IRAN EXTENDS FRIENDLY HAND TO OBAMA

"In a gesture of goodwill toward the next United States administration, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has sent a letter to president-elect Barack Obama, congratulating his victory, praising the American people and raising the expectation of significant change in the US's foreign policy... the letter represents a small Iranian olive branch toward the US that will be taken into consideration by Obama and his foreign policy advisors..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JK08Ak02.html

ALLEGED IRANIAN NUKE DOCUMENTS A FRAUD?

"Documents linking Iran to nuclear weapons push may have been fabricated... The new evidence of possible fraud has increased pressure within the IAEA secretariat to distance the agency from the laptop documents... The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents..."
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/IAEA_suspects_fraud_in_evidence_for_1109.html

GULF STATES SIDE WITH IRAN, SEE NO NUCLEAR THREAT

"... the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) states - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have finally set aside their various misgivings and decided to take up Ahmadinejad's proposals on economic, political and security domains... proposing the conclusion of a security agreement... the GCC oil states are in a new assertive mood to stand up to the US's perceived arrogant and destabilizing moves, including with respect to Iran... the GCC states are today fairly comfortable with Iran's nuclear program and are no longer sold to the Washington and Tel Aviv-led "Iranophobia"... (Most of the) foreign policy advisors surrounding Obama are unanimously sold to the "grave threat" of a "nuclear-armed Iran" and, thus, it must come as a shocking surprise to them that Iran's Arab neighbors in the Persian Gulf do not share this threat perception..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JK04Ak03.html

IRAN'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM STOPPED IN 2003

"... 16 agencies of the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a formal National Intelligence Estimate last November that work on the nuclear weapons-related part of Iran's nuclear program was halted in mid-2003. And... Thomas Fingar, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell's deputy for national estimates, reiterated that judgment as recently as Sept. 4... (while) the Post's Walter Pincus reported on Sept. 10 that Fingar added that Iran has not restarted its nuclear weapons work..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/18-2

ISRAELI STRIKE ON IRAN NOW MORE PROBABLE

"... a U.S.-backed Israeli strike on Iran (is) now considered more probable... The U.S. has deployed a sophisticated long-range radar system in Israel capable of providing crucial early warning in case of a missile attack. The U.S. has also agreed... to sell a thousand GBU-39 bunker-busting bombs capable of penetrating reinforced concrete...Israel also sought upgraded refuelling jets, which would be necessary to refuel fighter jets returning from an attack on Iran, as well as a clear flight path over Iraq in order to reach Iran without being accidentally hit by U.S. fighter jets... the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out a military exercise involving more than 100 F-15 and F-16 fighter jets over eastern Greece, in what was said to be a dummy attack on Iran. The distance covered was approximately 900 miles, the same distance to Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant from Israel..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44235

U.S. CLOSER TO BLOCKADING IRAN

"The United States government has imposed new sanctions on Iran, this time targeting its shipping industry, by blacklisting the main shipping line and 18 subsidiaries, accusing the maritime carrier of being engaged in contraband nuclear material... (Sanctions could be) a prelude for more serious and dangerous actions in the near future... the interdiction of Iranian ships on the high seas and even incremental steps toward imposing a regime of "smart blockade" aimed at denying Iran access to badly needed imported fuel... the US might seek to seize Russian nuclear goods bound for Iran, thus raising the ire of Moscow and using this as a payback for Russia's offensive in pro-West Georgia..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JI13Ak01.html

U.S. STRIKE FORCES GATHER IN MID EAST, IRAN PRACTICES DEFENSE

"... the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier headed out to the Mediterranean for missions “in support of maritime security.” Its arrival will bring the number of US aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea to four... .The Roosevelt will be followed by its strike force, which includes the guided missile cruiser Monterey , the guided missile destroyers Mason and Nitze , with 7,300 sailors and marines aboard, and the attack submarine Springfield... the USS Ronald Reagan carrier and its strike group began engaging in assault and support missions for US and NATO forces in Afghanistan... The Iwo Jima carrier group, whose decks carry 6,000 sailors, air crews and marines, supports the US Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean and Fifth Fleet in the Gulf with a massive amphibious capability.The USS San Antonio amphibious transport dock ship is the first vessel of its class to be deployed in the region as a platform for supporting Marine movements and operations ashore. The USS Peleliu carrier patrols the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. It is escorted by vessels carrying a large Marine contingent... (Meanwhile) Iran launched a three-day naval-air-missile exercise to practice defense tactics for its nuclear sites."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), September 10, 200
http://www.debka.com/index1.php

AL-QAEDA AND McCAIN AGAINST IRAN

"... Seven years after 9/11... al-Qaeda remains the golden motive that justifies the Bush administration threatening, invading, bombing or occupying Muslim countries. But, in fact, al-Qaeda's top strategic enemy nowadays, in a battle to seduce Muslim hearts and minds, are Shi'ites - be it Tehran or Hezbollah - and not the US. Similarities are eerie. Iran is part of Bush's "axis of evil" as well as al-Qaeda's "axis of evil". The US tries very hard to pit Sunnis against Shi'ites all over the Middle East while al-Qaeda also incites a war between Sunnis and Shi'ites.... al-Qaeda - fundamentalist Saudi Wahhabis - want a "long war" as much as the Bush administration and its extension, Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JI12Ak02.html

IRAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM STILL STOPPED

"... The NIE of November 2007 stated that, contrary to what President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney had been saying throughout 2007, the nuclear weapons-related portion of Iran's nuclear program had been stopped in the fall of 2003, and as of mid-2007 had probably not been restarted... The relevant NIE key judgment reads: "We assess with moderate confidence Tehran has not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007"... Thomas Fingar, the U.S. government's top intelligence analyst, in a public speech on Sept. 4, repeated the intelligence community's key judgment that Iran's work on the "weaponization portion" of its nuclear development program "was suspended" in 2003."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/09/11-4

DUTCH: U.S. ATTACK ON IRAN IMMINENT

"... the Dutch intelligence agency recently recalled operatives from Iran in response to information that a United States attack on the Islamic Republic is "imminent"... targets of the impending American bombing campaign include facilities infiltrated by one of the Dutch agents... Iranian nuclear plants, military installations, missile supply lines and the like are expected to be targeted by unmanned bombers... American naval vessels are making their way towards the Persian Gulf in... preparation for a maritime blockade of Iranian fuel supplies..."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127444

RUSSIA-IRAN ALLIANCE

"Iranian Trump Card. Russia Can Take Control of Persian Gulf"... the signing of a new large-scale military political treaty with Iran could change the entire geopolitical picture of the contemporary world... (A Russian) military base... on the Island of Qeshm in the Persian Gulf... would allow Russia to monitor the United States' and NATO's activities in the Persian Gulf zone, Iraq and other Arab states. With the help of special equipment Russia could effectively monitor who is sailing toward this sea bottleneck, from where, and with what cargo on board... Russia will have a possibility to stop suspicious vessels and ships and inspect their cargo... In exchange for the deployment of its military bases Russia could help the Iranians to deploy modern air defense and missile defense systems..."
http://www.juancole.com/2008/08/osc-russia-iran-alliance.html

IRAN SUPPLYING POWER TO IRAQ

"The Bush administration and western companies like Bechtel have failed to deliver on promises to improve infrastructure... "Now, the (Diyala) province gets power from Iran under a contract signed about two years ago between the Iraqi government and Iran," Naseer Milmy, an employee with the directorate-general of electricity told IPS... Through the difficulties, people look now to Iran, not the U.S., for a better life."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43477

MOST UN MEMBERS SUPPORT IRAN

"... the bulk of the UN member states are solidly behind Iran's position - that it is entitled to a peaceful nuclear fuel cycle that is fully monitored by the IAEA and lawful under the articles of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to which Iran is a signatory..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JH09Ak01.html

BUSH ADMINISTRATION BEING PUSHED TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS WITH IRAN

"... A torrent of studies suddenly coming out of US think tanks in recent weeks shows how hard American research and intelligence circles are leaning on the administration to expand its dialogue with Tehran. Bush is being urged to call off sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program and withdraw US backing from Iran’s disaffected minorities’ revolt against the Islamic regime – all for the purpose of putting US-Iranian relations on a normal footing."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), August 5, 2008
http://www.debka.com/index1.php

BUSH FOLDED ON IRAN

“Bush sent the No. 3 man in the State Department to sit at a table on July 19 across from an Iranian negotiator, without any preconditions… What drove W. to undermine John McCain by suddenly adopting Barack Obama's foreign policy prescription on Iran?...

(It was because) Oil companies and European governments are not happy with U.S. policy toward Iran. American and European energy corporations are losing billions in potential profits because… sanctions on companies that attempt to develop Iran's oil and gas. The sanctions do not produce regime change, but they do reduce the world supply of oil and gas… The U.S. has therefore simultaneously been interfering with the availability of cheap petroleum products globally and making the case for military action against Iran less compelling.

(Bush’s) opening to Iran was … a victory … of realism… Bush's Iran policy (now) looks more like that of Barack Obama than that of John McCain…”

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/07/31/iran/index.html

SECRET U.S.- IRANIAN DIALOG ON OIL AND WAR

"Secret US-Iranian Dialogue Brings Oil Prices down... yielded ad hoc understandings on controversial issues. One is an agreement not to allow the price of oil to rocket past $150 the barrel... common ground was covered for three key objectives:

1. The American side was willing to refrain from military action against Iran before the end of the Bush presidency in January 2009...

2. Iran undertook to open the way for the US military to continue to go from strength to strength in fighting al Qaeda and the Sunni guerrilla insurgents in Iraq, to allow President Bush to claim his Iraq campaign had ended successfully before leaving the White House.... Tehran ordered Iranian intelligence officers working undercover in Iraq to halt attacks on US troops by pro-Iranian militias, including Moqtada Sadr’s Mehdi Army....

3. In the background of the secret dialogue is the Bush administration’s ambition to help fellow-Republican Senator John McCain get elected to the White House..."

http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1356

IRAQ FORBIDS USE BY U.S. FOR IRAN ATTACK

"Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has cautioned the United States against using Iraqi territory to carry out attacks on Iran... adding he would not permit U.S. forces to use Iraqi land, airspace and waterways as a means for attacking states in the region..."
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/07/05/Maliki_cautions_US_against_Iran_attack/UPI-47341215306714/

MEDIA COMPLICIT IN NUCLEAR MISPERCEPTIONS LEADING TO WAR

"... the US media in particular have allowed themselves to become an unwitting accomplice of Israel's anti-Iran propaganda machine, dutifully recycling the line that Iran is actively pursuing nuclear weapons, has amassed "weapons-grade" enriched uranium, and is thus on the verge of arriving at "the point of no return" with respect to bomb-making... (but) their claim that Iran has manufactured "weapons-grade" enriched uranium simply cannot stand the weight of scrutiny and are refuted by the IAEA's findings to the contrary.... The IAEA has never declared Iran in material breach of its obligations and, certainly, has never "accused" Iran of pursuing a program sanctioned under the NPT..."

"... the misperceptions of Iran's nuclear activities form an important prerequisite for a major military offensive against the country."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JF24Ak04.html

OLMERT SAYS BUSH AGREED TO VANQUISH IRAN BEFORE END OF TERM

"... Emerging from a 90-minute White House meeting with President George W. Bush on June 4, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the two leaders were of one mind:
“We reached agreement on the need to take care of the Iranian threat. I left with a lot less question marks [than] I had entered with regarding the means, the timetable restrictions, and American resoluteness to deal with the problem. George Bush understands the severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it, and intends to act on that matter before the end of his term in the White House.”
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/061908c.html

IF WE ATTACK IRAN...

"... The instant we attack Iran, oil prices will double, perhaps triple. This price increase will devastate the American economy. The ensuing retaliatory strikes by Iran on Israel, as well as on American military installations in Iraq, will leave hundreds, maybe thousands, of dead. The Shiites in the region, from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, will see an attack on Iran as a war against Shiism. They will turn with rage and violence on us and our allies. Hezbollah will renew attacks on northern Israel. And the localized war in Iraq will become a long, messy and protracted regional war that, by the time it is done, will most likely end the American empire and leave in its wake mounds of corpses and smoldering ruins..."
http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20080608_the_iran_trap/

IRAQ REFUSES TO LET U.S. ATTACK IRAN FROM IRAQ

"Iraq will not allow its territory to be used to attack Iran, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has said during a visit to Tehran... "We will not allow Iraq to become a platform for harming the security of Iran and neighbours."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7441329.stm

OBAMA CAPITULATES TO THE ISRAELI WAR LOBBY

"... Barack Obama... In his speech to AIPAC, he clearly signed on to the Lobby's latest project, departing from his prepared text to declare: "I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my power. Everything"... It is almost certain we will be at war with Iran before a new President is inaugurated: now that Obama has capitulated to the Lobby, nothing but Divine Providence can stop it..."

"Everything" includes murdering tens of thousands of Iranians, mostly civilians – driving the price of oil up above $300 a barrel and destroying the US economy – and involving us in a war that will make the Iraq conflict look like a Sunday school picnic. And for what?"

"... The irony, of course, is that Iran is nowhere near obtaining nuclear weapons, as the President's own intelligence agencies recently informed him... (But) The coming war with Iran has nothing to do with "weapons of mass destruction" – no more than the invasion of Iraq ever did. It's all about preserving Israeli hegemony in the Middle East by wiping any and all recalcitrant Arab-Muslim states off the map. First Iraq, then Iran – and Syria will have its turn soon enough..."

http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12944

BUSH TO ATTACK IRAN BY AUGUST

"... Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months... the White House views the proposed air strike as a limited action to punish Iran for its involvement in Iraq... The source (is) an ambassador during the administration of president H W Bush... a retired US career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state still active in the foreign affairs community... Two key US senators briefed on the attack... Senator Diane Feinstein, Democrat of California, and Senator Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana... planned to go public with their opposition to the move..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE28Ak01.html

"... retired US career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state still active in the foreign affairs community..."
= Richard Clark: Assist. Sec. of State for Politico-Military Affairs, 1989-1992 ??
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Richard_A._Clarke

U.S. FAILS TO FIND ANY IRANIAN ARMS IN IRAQ

"The United States military command in Iraq continues to talk about an alleged pipeline of Iranian weapons to Iraqi Shi'ites opposing the US occupation... But US officials have failed thus far to provide evidence that would support that claim... General David Petraeus insisted last October that there is "absolutely no question" that Iran is providing RPG-29 rocket-propelled grenade launchers to Iraqi Shi'ite groups. But RPG-29s are manufactured by Russia, not Iran... "

"In weapons caches reported from Shi'ite locations, not a single RPG-29 has been identified. Of the 160 RPG launchers reported in Mahdi Army caches, along with 800 RPG missiles, none were identified as Iranian, although some were identified as being Soviet-made. Only 11 were reported to be RPG-7s - a type of launcher that is made by Russia and China as well as Iran and used by 40 countries around the world."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE24Ak02.html

ATTACK ON IRAN A VIOLATION OF U.S. CONSTITUTION

"... an attack on Iran would be a flagrant violation of the Constitution of the United States, which stipulates that treaties ratified by the Senate become the supreme law of the land; that the United Nations Charter treaty — which the Senate ratified by a vote of 89 to 2 on July 28, 1945 — expressly forbids attacks on other countries, unless they pose an imminent danger; that there is no provision allowing some other kind of “pre-emptive” or “preventive” attack against a nation that poses no imminent danger; and that Iran poses no imminent danger to the United States or its allies..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/20/9068/

BUSH PLOT ABOUT IRANIAN ARMS FAILS

"... The Bush administration and top Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus had plotted a sequence of events that would build domestic U.S. political support for a possible strike against Iran over its "meddling" in Iraq and especially its alleged export of arms to Shiite militias.... (but) The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki refused to endorse U.S. charges of Iranian involvement in arms smuggling to the Mahdi Army, and a plan to show off a huge collection of Iranian arms captured in and around Karbala had to be called off after it was discovered that none of the arms were of Iranian origin..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42373

BUSH AND AHMADINEJAD: THE NEW BLUES BROTHERS

"Think of George W. Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the new Blues Brothers: Both believe they are on a mission from God. Both are religious fundamentalists. Ahmadinejad believes fervently in the imminent return of the Mahdi, the Shi'ite messiah, who "disappeared" and has remained hidden since the ninth century. Bush believes fervently in a coming end time and the return of Jesus Christ. But only Bush, despite his actual invasions and constant threats, gets a (sort of) free pass from the Western ideological machine, while Ahmadinejad is portrayed as a Hitlerian believer in a new Holocaust."
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174926

CLINTON THREATENS TO OBLITERATE IRAN

"... Clinton threatened to "totally obliterate" Iran if the Islamic Republic was ever "reckless" enough to launch a nuclear attack on Israel... "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton said..."
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080422/twl-us-vote-clinton-iran-7e07afd.html

CLINTON THE TERRORIST

"... On primary election day in Pennsylvania... (asked) how she would respond to a nuclear attack by Iran, which doesn’t have nuclear weapons, on Israel, which does, Hillary... promis(ed) to “totally obliterate them,” in an apparent reference to the population of Iran... an assertion of the right of our nation to commit genocide on an unprecedented scale... Neither the Japanese then nor the Iranian people now were in a position to hold their leaders accountable, and to approve such collective punishment of innocents is to endorse terrorism."
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080422_robert_scheer_apr_23_clinton_and_iran/

IRAN IS LATEST REASON FOR IRAQ WAR

"The US rationale for war in Iraq has morphed from ousting strongman Saddam Hussein, to countering Al-Qaeda militants to its latest incarnation -- facing down what officials in President George W. Bush's administration call the Iranian "threat".

"... Brookings Institution expert Suzanne Maloney said that "disastrous Bush policies fostered a sectarian Iraq that has helped empower Iranian hardliners. "Rather than serving as an anchor for a new era of stability and American pre-eminence in the Persian Gulf, the new Iraq represents a strategic black hole, bleeding Washington of military resources and political influence while extending Iran's primacy among its neighbors."

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080414/twl-us-iran-iraq-bush-politics-unrest-7e07afd.html

U.S. SET TO ATTACK IRAN, BEGIN MID-EAST WAR

"... (on) April 8, US Iraq commander, Gen. David Petraeus and ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, will stress in their report to Congress that Iran is waging war on America in Iraq... the US is set to attack Iranian military facilities... the USS Abraham Lincoln Strike Force is heading for the Persian Gulf... Russian military and intelligence officials have been leaking claims of intensified American military movements around Iranian shores... (here are) Washington’s intentions as combined with Israel’s military steps:
1. US is preparing to attack the Iranian military installations linked to subversion in Iraq. The operation will widen out into strikes on the Islamic Republic’s suspect nuclear sites.
2. Israel will use the chance for a concurrent attack on Syria.
3. Israel will attack Hizballah’s strongholds in Lebanon.
4. A broad, coordinated US-Israeli offensive will be mounted against Iran, Syria and Hizballah..."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), April 7, 2008
http://www.debka.com/index.php

U.S. COMMANDER AFFIRMS NO WAR ON IRAN

"... CENTCOM commander Adm. William Fallon confirms his public statements last fall ruling out war against Iran... That was the second time in less than a week and the third time in seven weeks that Fallon had publicly declared that there would be no war against Iran. In an interview with Al-Jazeera television in September... he had said, "This constant drum beat of conflict is what strikes me which is not helpful and not useful".
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41500

BOLTON ENCOURAGES ISRAEL TO ATTACK IRAN

"At a lecture in Herzliya, Israel... the former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton said: “One can say with some assurance that in the next year the use of force by the United States is highly unlikely. This increases the pressure on Israel in that period of time... the time to take the plan of action is before Iran acquires the weapons”... Bolton was of the view that Iran’s response “will be a lot more measured than people think.”
--DEBKAfile (Israel), Wednesday, January 23, 2008
http://www.debka.com/index.php

RUSSIA TO DEFEND IRAN WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS

"Russia's military chief of staff (Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky) said Saturday that Moscow could use nuclear weapons in preventive strikes to protect itself and its allies (like Iran)... "
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i1fg9K4w_OQvYX65kemvhiOOJTZAD8U92Q881

"... The China-Iran-Russia alliance can be considered as Beijing's and Moscow's counterpunch to Washington's global ambitions. From this perspective, Iran is integral to thwarting the Bush administration's foreign policy goals. This is precisely why Beijing and Moscow have strengthened their economic and diplomatic ties with Tehran. It is also why Beijing and Moscow are providing Tehran with increasingly sophisticated weapons..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GF04Ad07.html

IRAQI POLICE SAY IRAN NOT INTERFERRING

Iraqi Police Commander in Basra Dismisses Accusations Against Iran
Al-Alam Television
Thursday, January 17, 2008
(Text of report by state-run Iranian Arabic-language television news channel Al-Alam)
The commander of Basra Police, Staff Maj-Gen Jalil Khalaf, has described the US-British accusations that Iran is meddling in Iraqi affairs and undermining the security situation as nothing more than a political game. He said the Iraqi security services have not obtained any evidence pointing to a negative Iranian interference in southern Iraq... The commander of Basra Police, Staff Maj-Gen Jalil Khalaf, described the US and British accusations against Iran as nothing more than a political game, saying that the Iraqi security services have not found any evidence which would point to an Iranian interference in southern Iraq... As regards the countries (concerned), it is their problem and this is politics."
http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/basra-police-chief-denies-iran-mischief.html

HOW PENTAGON PLANTED SPEEDBOAT STORY

"... the Navy disseminated a short video into which was spliced the audio of a phone call warning that U.S. warships would "explode" in "a few seconds"... Pentagon officials had all day Sunday, Jan. 6, to discuss what to do about the encounter in the Strait of Hormuz. The result was a decision to play it up as a major incident... The decision came just as President George W. Bush was about to leave on a Middle East trip aimed in part at rallying Arab states to join the United States in an anti-Iran coalition... A separate audio recording of a voice, which came across the VHS channel open to anyone with access to it, was spliced into a video.. That was a political decision... made in the office of the secretary of defence. That decision involved a high risk of getting caught in an obvious attempt to mislead."

"... The decision to treat the Jan. 6 incident as evidence of an Iranian threat reveals a chasm between the interests of political officials in Washington and Navy officials in the Gulf. Asked whether the Navy's reporting of the episode was distorted by Pentagon officials, Cmdr Robertson of 5th Fleet Public Affairs would not comment directly. But she said, "There is a different perspective over there."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40801

GOD AND CONSTITUTION

The Iranian Constitution:
"Article 1
The form of government of Iran is that of an Islamic Republic...
Article 2
The Islamic Republic is a system based on belief in the One God... Allah, His exclusive sovereignty and the right to legislate, and the necessity of submission to His commands...
Article 4
All civil, penal financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic criteria..."
--Iranian Constitution
http://www.iranonline.com/iran/iran-info/Government/constitution-1.html

The Afghan Constitution:
"Article Three Ch. 1, Art. 3
In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam."
http://www.afghansite.com/afghanistan/afghanConstitution.asp

A Proposed Amendment to the US Constitution:

"... I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."
--Mike Huckabee

"... Ours will.. be a worldview with... with God at the center... will dominate public policy, the laws we make, and every other detail of our existence."
--Mike Huckabee, book titled "Character Is the Issue: How People With Integrity Can Revolutionize America", 1997.

VOICE ON U.S. VIDEO IS "FILIPINO MONKEY"

"... "I am coming at you. You will explode in a few minutes" - that was what the American navy men heard. An indignant Washington announced the US Navy was on the verge of firing ... But the Iranian footage of the "incident" makes a laughing stock of the US administration. The funny thing is, it was an incident that didn't happen. Commander Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, put a brave face, while admitting, "We don't know for sure where they [threats] came from. It could have been a shore station." Chief of Naval Operations in the Pentagon, Admiral Gary Roughhead, backed up explaining, "Based on my experience in operating in that part of the world, where there is a lot of maritime activity, trying to discern is very hard to do."

"Filipino Monkey" is the code name given by the US Navy to a mysterious but profane voice which often challenges it in the Strait of Hormuz. The voice could be, if The Seattle Times newspaper is to be believed, "likely more than one person, who listens in on ship-to-ship radio traffic and then jumps in, shouting insults and jabbering vile epithets". US Navy women are said to suffer particularly degrading treatment...."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA16Ak02.html

SPEEDBOAT VIDEO FABRICATED

US video on official DoD site first was blocked so it would not play completely and now has been taken down:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/briefingslide.aspx?briefingslideid=320

Same US video posted to YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNMqbjwxHV4&NR=1

The Iranians said the US video was compiled using earlier file pictures of the speedboats, and the audio was been fabricated so clumsily that the pictures and voices in the video are not even synchronized. The Pentagon admits the video is a fabrication in the sense that the video and the audio were recorded separately and then combined. And they can't even be sure where the audio came from. The foreign-accented voice was recorded from the internationally recognized channel for ship-to-ship communications, and Navy officials have said they are still trying to determine if the transmission came from the speedboats or elsewhere.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/world/middleeast/10iran.html?bl&ex=1200200400&en=ab0fa0fbe1b14f9c&ei=5087%0A
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/10/AR2008011000692_2.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008011001831

A video of the routine encounter was recorded by the Iranians and posted on YouTube:

S-300 MISSILES ADDED TO NUCLEAR SITE DEFENSES

"... (Iran) just signed a contract for the supply of another Russian anti-air weapon, the highly sophisticated S-300, rated the most effective killer of ballistic missiles on the market... Moscow has designed the multi-layer air defense system to make Iran proof against Israel’s AirAir ForceForce and the ballistic missiles in its armory... While TOR-M1 can locate and destroy moving targets at low altitudes, the S-300 system uniquely zaps high-flying, medium-range ballistic missiles of the type which is the backbone of Israel’s surface missile units at a distance of 1-40 km. Together, they lend Iran air superiority over any missiles and aircraft. Another of S-300’s significant features is its advanced guidance method which relies on a single phased array radar to trace missiles in the air. This reduces its deployment time to five minutes; secondly, the missiles are sealed rounds and require no maintenance over their lifetime..."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), December 26, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php

TOR-1 MISSILE BATTERIES INSTALLED AT NUCLEAR SITES

"The head of the Russian Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation announced the imminent installment of sophisticated Russian TOR-M1 missile batteries at Iran’s nuclear installations... the multi-functional, multiple layer hardware substantially upgrades the shield protecting Iran’s banned uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz and Isfahan, as well as Bushehr, from many types or air and missile attack.
The TOR-M1 is designed to intercept “stealth” aircraft, helicopters and drones as well as laser-guided precision bombs, rockets and cruise missiles... it can destroy any of these incoming objects 12 km before they make contact with target.... Its 3D pulse Doppler electronic beam feeds data on 48 targets simultaneously to the system’s firing computers, selecting the ten most dangerous and responding in 5-8 seconds..."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), December 25, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php

THREE U.S. CARRIER STRIKE GROUPS AND TWO MARINE CARRIERS OFF IRAN

"... in recent months, the USS Enterprise was the only US nuclear carrier cruising Gulf waters with its strike force. On Nov. 5, a second nuclear carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman set out quietly from its Norfolk base for the Gulf with 7,500 sailors and marines aboard the carrier and its strike force. It will be followed by the USS Nimitz. All three carrier groups are escorted by fast nuclear submarines, cruisers and missile destroyers... (also present are) the two US Marine carriers the USS Wasp and the USS Kearsage, with thousands of marines and landing craft on their decks...."
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1314

CHENEY UNABLE TO STIFLE DISSENTING N.I.E. ON IRAN
(But key findings will be kept secret from public)

"A National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran has been held up for more than a year in an effort to force the intelligence community to remove dissenting judgments on the Iranian nuclear programme, and thus make the document more supportive of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's militarily aggressive policy toward Iran... The White House wants a document that it can use as evidence for its Iran policy... (but) some analysts have refused to go along... The White House has now apparently decided to release the unsatisfactory draft NIE, but without making its key findings public..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39978

ARAB STATES OFFER IRAN A NUCLEAR COMPROMISE

"Gulf Arab states is reported to have proposed providing enriched uranium to Iran via a multinational consortium... the six states of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - would develop a uranium enrichment plant in a state outside the Mideast... (to) provide nuclear fuel... for all users of enriched uranium in the Middle East..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A415ACD4-2E69-49AF-8E06-49FCAFB2780A.htm

48-HOUR ATTACK WOULD LET IRANIANS TAKE COUNTRY BACK

"... The air campaign will be easy,” says retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a FOX pundit who was a rabid advocate of shock and awe over Iraq. “Ahmadinejad has nothing in Iran that we can’t penetrate,” he adds, and several hundred aircraft, including stealth bombers, will be enough to do the trick: “Forty-eight hours duration, hitting 2,500 aim points to take out their nuclear facilities, their air defense facilities, their air force, their navy, their Shahab-3 retaliatory missiles, and finally their command and control. And then let the Iranian people take their country back.”
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/31/4914/

JUST SAY GO TO BOMBING IRAN

"... A senior foreign policy adviser to the Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani, has urged that Iran be bombed using cruise missiles and "bunker busters" to set back Teheran’s nuclear programme by at least five years... Norman Podhoretz, one of the founders of neoconservatism, also imparted his stark advice personally to a receptive President George W. Bush...

"We’ve got three carriers in the region and a lot of submarines," Mr Podhoretz said."I would say it would take five minutes. You’d wake up one morning and the strikes would have been ordered and carried out during the night. All the president has to do is say go."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=ABJE3WKV1UZZZQFIQMFCFF4AVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/10/27/wbomb127.xml

U.S. KNOWS THAT IRANIANS ARE NOT FURNISHING EFPs

"When the U.S. military command accused the Iranian Quds Force... of providing the armour-piercing EFPs (explosively formed penetrators) that were killing U.S. troops, it knew that Iraqi machine shops had been producing their own EFPs for years... (and) the U.S. command had considerable evidence that the Mahdi army had gotten the technology and the training on how to use it from Hezbollah rather than Iran..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39810

IRAN ARMS TO TALIBAN?

"The United States has "irrefutable evidence" that Tehran is transferring arms to Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, a top U.S. diplomat told CNN..."
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/06/13/iran.taliban/index.html

"(Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta said) "Iran is our neighbor, is our friend and Iran has had major role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The government of Afghanistan has no documents (to show) that Iran's government is involved in the shipment of arms."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071019/ts_nm/afghan_iran_dc

EFFECT OF NEW SANCTIONS ON IRAN

"... The new sanctions package includes US financial penalties for any world firms trading with the Revolutionary Guards. They would apply to more than 1,000 companies in Europe, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf and Asia.... the new sanctions will have a crippling effect on its national economy... already hard hit by Washington’s systematic blockage of Iran’s dealings with international banks, which has left Tehran seriously short of cash flow, foreign currency and basic commodities....

"Iran very recently sent Indonesia an “emergency appeal” for gasoline and heavy oil, because it has run out of currency to pay for imported refined oil products....

"Iranian sources recall that the Islamic regime announced in advance that approval of these (sanctions) would be deemed tantamount to an American declaration of war on Iran and call forth retaliation. Tehran would target US interests in the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan or Israel by means of Special Groups, i.e. Iran’s foreign intelligence networks, Hizballah or Hamas... that these reprisals may be delayed some days because of a profound power struggle taking place in Iran’s leadership. However... Tehran cannot afford to let Washington’s accusations go unanswered."

--DEBKAfile (Israel), October 25, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php

NEW U.S. SANCTIONS ON IRAN

"The Bush administration announced... new sanctions against Iran... accusing the elite Quds division of the Revolutionary Guard Corps of supporting terrorism.... The immediate legal consequence... will make it unlawful for anyone subject to United States jurisdiction to knowingly provide material support or resources to it... Any United States financial institution that becomes aware that it possesses, or has control over, funds of a foreign terrorist organization would have to turn them over to the Treasury Department... the larger point of the designation would be to... persuade foreign governments and financial institutions to cut ties with Iranian businesses and individuals. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/world/middleeast/25cnd-iran.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

ISLAMO-FASCISM AWARENESS WEEK TO OPPOSE LIES OF LEFT

"... October 22-26, 2007... will be... Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week... to confront the two Big Lies of the political left: that George Bush created the war on terror and that Global Warming is a greater danger to Americans than the terrorist threat.... Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is a national effort to oppose these lies..."
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/islamo-fascism-awareness-week/

IRAN PREPARES FOR U.S. ATTACK

"Iran has opened a new air base, unveiled new domestically produced military hardware...
* ... a new, medium-range ballistic missile... the Qadr-1 is capable of striking Israel, southern Europe and US bases in the Middle East.
* ... a domestically manufactured fighter jet... the Saeqeh (Thunderbolt), is ... similar to the US F-18 fighter jet.... they have begun industrial-scale production of the Saeqeh.
* ... a production line for the manufacture of a one-ton smart bomb called the Qadr... an optically guided, air-to-surface, long-range bomb.
* ... opened a new air base near its eastern border with Afghanistan... named Qa'em Al-e Muhammad...
* ... (also) received a US$750 million shipment of 29 Tor-M1 short-range, mobile surface-to-air missile systems from Russia to help guard nuclear facilities."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IJ24Ak05.html

KURD TERRORISTS AGAINST IRAN ARE NOT CALLED TERRORISTS

"... The guerrillas from the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, or P.J.A.K., have been waging a deadly insurgency in Iran and they are an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the P.K.K., the Kurdish guerrillas who fight Turkey....Americans classify the P.K.K. as a terrorist group because it is fighting Turkey, an important American ally, while the P.J.A.K. is not labeled as such because it is fighting Iran.
In fact, the two groups appear to a large extent to be one and the same, and share the same goal: fighting campaigns to win new autonomy and rights for Kurds in Iran and Turkey. They share leadership, logistics and allegiance..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/world/middleeast/23kurds.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

"... The label of the word terrorist is so devoid of meaning now, it's hypocritical... First we find groups around the world we don't like, then we find ways to label them as terrorists"... (refering to) the U.S.'s double-standard with regard to two Kurdish separatist groups that, on either side of Iraq's borders, attack Turkish and Iranian troops. "One [the Kurdish Workers Party] is a terrorist, the other [Party for Free Life in Kurdistan] receives support from us."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39861

IRAN READY TO RETALIATE AGAINST ATTACK

"... Ahmadinejad has laid down the gauntlet... He sent the Revolutionary Guards missile and artillery commander, Gen. Mahmoud Chaharbaghshe, to warn that, in the first minute of an attack on Iran, the Islamic Republic would fire 11,000 missiles and mortars against enemy (US and Israeli) bases. The scale of ordnance threatened implied Tehran’s certainty that Syria, Hizballah, Hamas and the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq would join the assault... the president’s venture into brinkmanship points to his confidence that neither the US not Israel can or will dare to strike at Iran’s clandestine nuclear facilities..."
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1308

U.S. MILITARY PREVENTING BUSH ATTACK ON IRAN
Trying to put administration "crazies back in the box"

"... the uniformed military leaders rejected a strike against Iran's nuclear programme.... Bush had asked the Joint Chiefs at the meeting about a possible strike against the Iranian nuclear programme, and that they had unanimously opposed such an attack... the Joint Chiefs had expressed opposition to a strike against Iran... (and) were soon joined in opposition to a strike on Iran by Admiral William Fallon... Fallon made his opposition to war against Iran clear to the White House... Fallon had indicated privately that he was determined to prevent an attack on Iran and even prepared to resign to do so.... vowing that there would be "no war with Iran" while he was CENTCOM commander and as hinting very strongly that he would quit rather than go along with an attack.... Fallon's opposition to a strike against Iranian nuclear, military and economic targets would make it very difficult, if not impossible for the White House to carry out such an operation..."

"There are several of us who are trying to put the crazies back in the box."
--Admiral William Fallon, Commander, US Central Command

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39716

AFGHANISTAN DENIES U.S. ACCUSATIONS AGAINST IRAN

"U.S. leaders have accused Iran of supplying weapons to Taliban insurgents... (but) Tehran strongly denies the charge... (and) Afghanistan said... it had no evidence the government of Iran was behind a shipment of weapons to Taliban insurgents...."

"(Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta said) "Iran is our neighbor, is our friend and Iran has had major role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The government of Afghanistan has no documents (to show) that Iran's government is involved in the shipment of arms."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071019/ts_nm/afghan_iran_dc

SYRIA MOBILIZES DEFENSES FOR U.S. ATTACK ON IRAN

"... Syria placed its civil defense services on a state of preparedness and mobilized their reservists. Government and military hospitals across Syria have also been alerted... Syrian president Bashar Assad told the Tunisian daily Al-Shorouk Thursday: I am working on the premise that the Americans will attack Iran.”
--DEBKAfile (Israel), October 12, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php

IRANIAN AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM VULNERABLE TO U.S.

"... from the way Damascus described the episode... the electronic systems and radar of the Pantsyr-S1 air defense missiles were a letdown because they failed to down the intruders and therefore leave Syria and Iranian airspace vulnerable to hostile intrusion. Such information on the Russian weapons systems sold to Syria and Iran is essential to any US calculations of whether to attack Iran."
--DEBKAfile (Isael), October 11, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php

BUSH VIOLATING NUCLEAR TREATY

"... The Bush administration must stop violating a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty-related commitment by holding out the option of a nuclear attack on Iran and other countries not possessing nuclear weapons..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39421

BUSH FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER HATES IRANIANS


"... "I hate all Iranians."
--Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates

"Britsh MPs visiting the Pentagon to discuss America's stance on Iran and Iraq were shocked to be told by one of President Bush's senior women officials: "I hate all Iranians"... (an) MP said: "I formed the impression that some in America are looking for an excuse to attack Iran. It was very alarming."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=484762&in_page_id=1770

SENATE AMENDMENT FOR WAR AGAINST IRAN DRAFTED BY AIPAC

"... the first call for cross-border attacks on Iranian targets was made by the Senate's "independent" Democrat, Joseph Lieberman, who is regarded as particularly close to the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Indeed, it was Lieberman and Republican Senator John Kyl... who co-sponsored the Senate amendment... which according to several Capitol Hill sources was drafted by AIPAC... deploying language that some senators argued could be interpreted as authorizing war against Iran..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II29Ak01.html