ATTACK ON POWER LINES TO IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITIES

"... power lines between the holy city of Qom and the underground Fordow nuclear centrifuge facility were blown up with explosives on Aug. 17.... the power lines leading to Iran’s Natanz facilities were blown up as well.... power cut off is one of the ways to break down centrifuge machines... U.S. Special Forces have trained for sabotage missions inside Iran for years. “From the first reports, this attack looks like something from our guys..."

http://news.yahoo.com/sabotaging-iran-nukes-084500157--politics.html

ISRAEL SAYS NO WAR IMMANENT

"... Amos Gilad, top aide to Defence Minister Ehud Barak... signaled on Saturday that there would be no unilateral attack on Iran in the coming weeks... (saying) "... it looks like it will be quiet... it seems to me that even the Iranians understand... and are not crossing the line .. of implementing and building a nuclear bomb..."

http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-official-signals-no-war-imminent-iran-174202360.html>http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-official-signals-no-war-imminent-iran-174202360.html

IRAQ HELPING IRAN SUPPLY ARMS TO SYRIA

"Iran has resumed shipping military equipment to Syria over Iraqi airspace... to the frustration of American officials... the flights have enabled Iran to provide supplies to the Syrian government despite the efforts Syrian rebels have made to seize several border crossings where Iranian aid has been trucked in... Iraq could take several steps to stop the flights, including insisting that cargo planes that depart from Iran en route to Syria land for inspection in Baghdad or declaring outright that Iraq’s airspace cannot be used for the flights..."
"The Iranians have even provided a cargo plane that the Syrian military can use to ferry men and supplies around the country... (and) Iraqi Shiite militia fighters... are now making their way to Syria to help the Assad government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/world/middleeast/iran-supplying-syrian-military-via-iraq-airspace.html?_r=2

U.S. DISOWNS ISRAEL IF IT STRIKES IRAN

"... the US would not be “complicit” in an Israel strike against Iran... The Obama administration has put Israel on harsh notice that an attack on Iran to disrupt or delay its nuclear armament will be refused US missile backup - both in the course of the operation and to cover Israel’s back in the event of a counter-strike widening into a general Middle East conflict. The Netanyahu government will bear full and exclusive responsibility for the consequences of attacking Iran."
http://www.debka.com/article/22324/

IF ISRAEL ATTACKS IRAN, IRAN WILL ATTACK U.S. BASES

"Iran could hit U.S. bases in the Middle East in response to any Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities even if American forces played no role in the attack, the leader of Lebanon's Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah said... "A decision has been taken to respond and the response will be very great," Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said..."
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-could-strike-u-bases-israel-attacks-hezbollah-055101337.html

KHAMENEI SAYS IRAN HAS NO INTEREST IN NUCLEAR WEAPONS

"Iran has no interest in nuclear weapons but will keep pursuing peaceful nuclear energy, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told heads of state from developing countries in Tehran. Iran... host(ed) a summit of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/ayatollah-khamenei-iran-nuclear-designs_n_1842039.html

IAEA REPORT: IRAN PROGRAM MAY BE BEYOND ISRAEL'S TO ABILITY STOP

"... the International Atomic Energy Agency... report has put Israel in a corner, documenting that Iran is close to... the capability to produce nuclear weapons in a location invulnerable to Israeli attack... (there) seems to be a consensus that Iran’s program may soon be beyond the reach of Israel’s military capability... Military professionals concede the potential effectiveness of an Israeli strike is decreasing as Iran moves more of its operations underground."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/world/middleeast/report-on-iran-nuclear-work-puts-israel-in-a-box.html?_r=2

IAEA CONCERNED ABOUT NUCLEAR SITES AT FORDO AND PARCHIN

"The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)... says Iran has doubled production capacity at the Fordo nuclear site... a facility buried deep inside a mountain near the holy city of Qom... Iran says the aim of the Fordo site is to enrich uranium for civilian use up to a maximum of 20%..."

"The overall Parchin complex is one of Iran's leading munitions centres - for the research, development and production of ammunition, rockets and high explosives. The Parchin site is suspected of being used for experiments related to nuclear weapons... the IAEA said the Parchin site had been "sanitised" and that Iran had "been conducting activities at that location that will significantly hamper the agency's ability to conduct effective verification", if inspectors were granted access..."

"... the IAEA concludes that it is unable to say that all nuclear material in Iran is for peaceful activities."

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19424097

IRAN ONLY WANTS "BREAKOUT CAPABILITY"

"There is no good evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has admitted as much publicly. The goal appears to be to attempt to prevent Iran from becoming sophisticated enough to have a breakout capability (i.e. to have the ability quickly to construct a warhead were they to decide to do so). The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a signatory but Israel is not, guarantees countries the right to close the fuel cycle so as to construct nuclear electricity generation plants... (Iran says) civilian nuclear enrichment facilities... are for the production of electricity via nuclear reactors..."
http://www.juancole.com/2012/08/mitt-romneys-coming-war-on-iran-a-tale-of-two-conventions.html

IRAN CALLS FOR NUCLEAR ARMS BAN

"Iranian diplomatic leaders called for an international ban on nuclear arms by the year 2025... as the nation kicked off this year's Non-Aligned Nations Movement (NAM) Summit. Over 120 nations met in Tehran... "
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/08/27-2

IRAN COMMANDER WELCOMES ISRAELI STRIKE

"... Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guard's air force... says Israeli strike would give Iran a reason to attack Israel and get rid of the Jewish state forever... he also claims Israeli threats of a strike are just part of a psychological war against Iran."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/senior-iranian-commander-welcomes-israeli-strike-1.459065

DESCRIPTION OF ISRAELI PLAN TO ATTACK IRAN

"... leaked text suggests that an Israeli operation would begin with a massive cyber attack against Iran's infrastructure, to "paralyse the regime and its ability to know what is happening within its borders". Ballistic missiles would be fired at Iranian nuclear targets, albeit with conventional non-nuclear warheads. Cruise missiles would be fired from Israeli submarines in the Gulf... According to the text, it will not be just the main Iranian nuclear facilities that are struck, but command-and-control systems; research-and-development facilities and the residences of senior personnel in the nuclear and missile development apparatus..."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19272737

ISRAEL MAY DRAG U.S. TO WAR BEFORE ELECTION

"More Washington insiders are coming to the conclusion that Israel’s leaders are planning to attack Iran before the U.S. election in November in the expectation that American forces will be drawn in.... Netanyahu gives every evidence of believing that — for the next 12 weeks — he is in the catbird seat and that, if he provokes hostilities with Iran, Obama will feel compelled to jump in with both feet, i. e., selecting from the vast array of forces already assembled in the area. Sadly, I believe Netanyahu is probably correct in that calculation. Batten down the hatches."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/08/13-2

IRAN'S REFUSAL FOR ADVANCED NUCLEAR INSPECTIONS

"...(The) International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) verification under the Additional Protocol... (is) a voluntary but advanced nuclear safeguards standard introduced in the mid-1990s. ... if Iran wants to put an end to repeated Western calls for it to prove that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful... the Additional Protocol is the solution. The one and only proof of a peaceful program that the non-proliferation community cannot contest are the assurances that can result from the IAEA's Protocol investigations: "no undeclared nuclear activities or material".
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NH08Ak01.html

OBAMA PLAYING FOR TIME

"... U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that Tehran will not be allowed to “play for time” in the negotiations. In fact, it is the Obama administration that is playing for time... (the) administration is “buying time” for a more pernicious agenda: time for covert action to sabotage Tehran’s nuclear program; time for sanctions to set the stage for regime change in Iran; and time for the United States, its European and Sunni Arab partners, and Turkey to weaken the Islamic Republic by overthrowing the Assad government in Syria..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/19-9

AMENDMENT REQUIRES STUDY OF CONSEQUENCES OF WAR WITH IRAN

"... the House of Representatives approved by voice vote an amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act... aimed at highlighting the potential consequences of a war with Iran. The amendment requires that the Director of National Intelligence submit a report containing an assessment of the consequences of a military strike on Iran to congressional intelligence committees within 60 days of the intelligence bill's passage... the measure “will help slow down the rush towards war” with Iran by ensuring that the “broad impact[s] of a potential attack” are considered... the intention of the amendment was to ensure that the costs of a military strike on Iran, a possibility which is “openly [being] discussed as a policy option of last resort”, would first be thoroughly analyzed."
http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8278&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1

U.S. "UN-DECLARES" WAR ON IRAN

"All 535 members of Congress are now on the record declaring that they have not authorized the use of military force against Iran... (a) unanimous 'un-declaration' of war by Congress... (by) a proviso in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)... (stipulating) that "nothing in this Act shall be construed as authorizing the use of force against Iran..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/23

ISRAEL FEARS IRAN AGREEMENT WILL CANCEL OPTION OF ATTACK

"Israel fears nuclear deal between Iran, world powers as Baghdad talks draw near... an ‘intermediate agreement’ between Islamic Republic and world powers on May 23 could cancel option of military strike... the feeling in Jerusalem is that Iran and the world powers are striving to reach a preliminary agreement concerning the nuclear program, which could forge a base for a permanent agreement between Iran, the U.S. and the other powers... Such an agreement will buy time for more talks, and tie Israel’s hands in terms of carrying out a unilateral strike.... Israel views the talks... with some bitterness, perhaps even with hopes that they will fail completely..."
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/diplomania/israel-fears-nuclear-deal-between-iran-world-powers-as-baghdad-talks-draw-near-1.430423

U.S. A STATE SPONSOR OF MEK TERROR IN IRAN

"... the US has trained and funded a 'terrorist' organization in a bid to weaken the Iranian regime... the US has trained and funded members of the group know as Mujahideen-e-Khalq (M.E.K), who has become a prominent insurgent force in Iran... The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) conducted training, beginning in 2005, for M.E.K., in Nevada. The group's brutal tactics had landed it on the US State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations; however, the report shows that the US continued to actively support them..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/06-0

IRAN NUCLEAR THREAT NOT IMMINENT

"The United States, European allies and even Israel generally agree on three things about Iran's nuclear program: Tehran does not have a bomb, has not decided to build one, and is probably years away from having a deliverable nuclear warhead. Those conclusions, drawn from extensive interviews with current and former U.S. and European officials with access to intelligence on Iran, contrast starkly with the heated debate surrounding a possible Israeli strike on Tehran's nuclear facilities...

"There is little argument, however, that Iran's leaders have taken steps that would give them the option of becoming a nuclear-armed power. Iran has enriched uranium, although not yet of sufficient quantity or purity to fuel a bomb, and has built secret enrichment sites, which were acknowledged only when unmasked. Iran has, in years past, worked on designing a nuclear warhead, the complicated package of electronics and explosives that would transform highly enriched uranium into a fission bomb. And it is developing missiles that could in theory launch such a weapon at a target in enemy territory..."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/23/us-iran-usa-nuclear-idUSBRE82M0G020120323

OBAMA THREATENS FORCE AGAINST IRAN OVER BOMB
U.N. charter prohibits both threats and force

"Barack Obama has delivered his starkest threat so far over Iran's nuclear ambitions, saying America is ''not bluffing'' when it warns military action could be used to stop Tehran acquiring the bomb.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-threatens-iran-on-bomb-20120303-1u9kn.html

But the U.N. Charter, to which the U.S. is a signatory, explicitly prohibits not just a military attack on another nation, but also the issuance of threats of such an attack.
"All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations."
--United Nations Charter, Chapter I, Article 2, Paragraph 4
http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter1.shtml

U.S. AGENCIES SEE NO MOVE TO BUILD BOMB

"Even as the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said in a new report Friday that Iran had accelerated its uranium enrichment program, American intelligence analysts continue to believe that there is no hard evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb. Recent assessments by American spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program years earlier, according to current and former American officials. The officials said that assessment was largely reaffirmed in a 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, and that it remains the consensus view of America’s 16 intelligence agencies..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/world/middleeast/us-agencies-see-no-move-by-iran-to-build-a-bomb.html

IRAN REFUSES ACCESS TO SUSPECTED MILITARY NUCLEAR TECH SITE

"An IAEA report in November suggested Iran had pursued military nuclear technology... that Iran had built a large containment chamber at Parchin to conduct high-explosives tests [for bomb detonators]... (and) said there were "strong indicators of possible weapon development"... The U.N. nuclear watchdog ended its latest mission to Iran after talks on Tehran's suspected secret atomic weapons research failed... the agency team requested access to the military site at Parchin. Iran did not grant permission for this visit to take place... The failure of the IAEA's mission may increase the chances of a strike by Israel on Iran."
http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-nuclear-watchdog-tehran-talks-disappointing-004927206.html

PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN WILL STAND WITH IRAN AGAINST U.S. AND ISRAEL
--Ahmadinejad, Zardari and Karzai at summit meeting of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan


"... the tripartite summit of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan (says) that Pakistan will support Iran in case of any possible aggression against it... The joint declaration says: "Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan will ensure respect of territorial sovereignty of each other and would not allow any threat emanating from their respective territories against each other".
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/02/18-0
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/national/18-Feb-2012/pakistan-won-t-help-us-attack-iran-says-zardari

IRAN ABLE TO MAKE FUEL FOR DYING REACTOR

"Iran will present a new advance in its atomic program Wednesday by loading domestically made nuclear fuel into a research reactor in the capital Tehran... President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would attend the event at a reactor which is running out of nuclear fuel originally provided by Argentina in the 1990s... laboratory-scale production of a single element for the reactor... Iran said it was forced to take this step to make fuel for the Tehran research reactor after failing to agree terms for a deal to obtain it from the West...."
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-unveil-nuclear-fuel-advance-report-192938473.html

INTEL CHIEF: IRAN HAS NOT DECIDED TO BUILD NUCLEAR WEAPONS

"... James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, in prepared testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee... reiterated the American intelligence assessment that “Iran is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons, in part by developing various nuclear capabilities that better position it to produce such weapons, should it choose to do so.” He added, “We do not know, however, if Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/world/intelligence-chief-sees-al-qaeda-likely-to-continue-fragmenting.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2

INDIA AND CHINA TO CONTINUE TO BUY IRANIAN OIL

"... EU foreign ministers this week agreed to a ban on oil imports from Iran as of 1 July... (But) India has no intention of following suit... officials in Delhi made clear they intended to carry on importing oil from Iran, despite the imposition of Western sanctions against Tehran... India buys 12 per cent of its oil from Iran, which is its second largest supplier after Saudi Arabia... China is the Islamic Republic’s largest customer, accounting for around 20 per cent of its exports, and has already made clear it has no plan to alter this arrangement..."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-pledges-to-continue-buying-oil-from-iran-6294530.html

ISRAEL SAYS IRAN HAS NOT DECIDED TO MAKE NUCLEAR BOMB

"... Defense Minister Ehud Barak said... Israel believes Iran itself has not yet decided whether to make a nuclear bomb... (and) that Israel was "very far off" from a decision about an attack on Iran over its nuclear program..."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/barak-israel-very-far-off-from-decision-on-iran-attack-1.407953

U.S. ADDS 2nd CARRIER STRIKE GROUP AGAINST IRAN

"The U.S. military is now "fully prepared" to deal with any Iranian effort to close the Strait of Hormuz... The Navy this month added a second aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East... The carriers are the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Abraham Lincoln, under the control of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain..."
http://news.yahoo.com/panetta-us-fully-prepared-iran-challenge-193126193.html

NUCLEAR SCIENTISTS ASSASSINATED - 3 DEAD, 1 WOUNDED IN 2 YEARS
State-sponsored terrorism

"... In January, 2010, a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle killed Masoud Ali Mohammadi, 50, who “taught neutron physics at Tehran University.” In November, 2010, two separate car bombs exploded within minutes of each other on the same day, one that killed nuclear scientist Majid Shahriar and wounded his wife, and the other which wounded another nuclear scientist, Fereidoun Abbasi, along with his wife. Then, in July of last year, Darioush Rezaei, 35, was shot dead and his wife was wounded by two gunmen firing from motorcycles... Rezaei “did his doctorate in neutron transport – which lies at the heart of nuclear chain reactions in reactors and bombs” and “was a member of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the country’s official atomic energy commission.”

"And now... a 32-year-old university professor, Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, died when an assailant riding on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to his car, which then detonated and killed him... the young scientist “was believed to be involved in procuring materials for Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz.”

"... Does anyone doubt that some combination of the two nations completely obsessed with Iran’s nuclear program — Israel and the U.S. — are responsible?"

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/11/more_murder_of_iranian_scientists_still_terrorism/?source=newsletter

IRANIANS SEE PURPOSE OF OIL SANCTIONS AS REGIME CHANGE
Not nuclear negotiations

"... the U.S. and its European partners move to throttle Iran’s economy by cutting off its ability to export oil... stated goal is to bring Iran to the table to negotiate a deal that would end international concerns over a nuclear program that has given Iran the means to build nuclear weapons—even though, as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta emphasized... U.S. and allied officials believe Tehran has not yet decided to build the bomb...

"Regardless of the Administration’s intent, the new measures, which are explicitly designed to throttle the Iranian economy, are being read in Tehran as further evidence that Washington’s goal is to force regime-change. That’s hardly likely to convince Iran’s leaders that they don’t need nuclear weapons; on the contrary, Iran appears to be bracing itself for war.

http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/01/09/why-new-sanctions-raise-danger-of-iran-building-nuclear-weapons/

SECDEF SAYS IRAN NOT BUILDING NUCLEAR WEAPON

"Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta... declared... that Iran is not currently trying to build a nuclear weapon... Iran says its nuclear program is only for energy and medical research, and refuses to halt uranium enrichment.."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/01/08

U.S. SANCTIONS ON IRANIAN OIL WILL ONLY HURT THE WEST

"... A key amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act signed by United States President Barack Obama on the last day of 2011... imposes sanctions on any countries or companies that buy Iranian oil and pay for it through Iran's central bank. Starting this summer, anybody who does it is prevented from doing business with the US. This amendment - for all practical purposes a declaration of economic war - was brought to you by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), on direct orders of the Israeli government... The price of oil may be destined to soon reach $120 a barrel and even $150 a barrel by summer...

"(But)... everyone... will be bypassing this Israeli-American declaration of economic war:
- Russia already said it will circumvent it.
- India is already paying for Iranian oil via Halkbank in Turkey.
- Iran is actively negotiating to sell more oil to China. Iran is China's second-largest supplier, only behind Saudi Arabia. China pays in euros, and soon may be paying in yuan. By March they both will have sealed an agreement about new pricing.
- Venezuela controls a bi-national bank with Iran since 2009; that's how Iran gets paid for business in Latin America.
- Even traditional US allies want out. Turkey - which imports around 30% of its oil from Iran - will seek a waiver exempting Turkish oil importer Tupras from US sanctions.
- And South Korea will also seek a waiver, to buy around 200,000 barrels a day - 10% of its oil - from Iran in 2012..."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NA07Ak01.html

ISRAEL TRYING TO INVOLVE U.S. IN ATTACK ON IRAN

"... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu... is exploiting the extraordinary influence his right-wing Likud Party exercises over the Republican Party and the U.S. Congress on matters related to Israel in order to maximise the likelihood that the United States would participate in an attack on Iran. Obama, meanwhile, appears to be hoping that he can avoid being caught up in a regional war started by Israel if he distances the United States from any Israeli attack..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106361

IRAN WARNS U.S. NOT TO RETURN CARRIER TO GULF

"... Army chief Ataollah Salehi said the United States had moved an aircraft carrier (USS John C Stennis) out of the Gulf because of Iran's naval exercises, and Iran would take action if the ship returned.
"Iran will not repeat its warning ... the enemy's carrier has been moved to the Sea of Oman because of our drill. I recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf," army chief Salehi said.
"I advise, recommend and warn them over the return of this carrier to the Persian Gulf because we are not in the habit of warning more than once..."
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-threatens-action-u-carrier-returns-irna-082124042.html

IS A VOTE FOR ROMNEY A VOTE FOR WAR?

"...No one can say that a war with Iran would be a certain consequence of Mitt Romney becoming president. But... He has promised a more confrontational military policy towards Iran. His advisers include people who have been cheerleaders for war with Iran, and were cheerleaders for the Iraq war. He has pledged to increase the military budget. His advisers include people directly affiliated with military contractors who stand to profit if there were a new war and the military budget were increased.

"Furthermore, he opposes withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and he opposes the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, although the Iraq withdrawal is supported by eight in ten Americans, including the majority of Republicans. (Also)... he is a "chickenhawk", someone who loves war so much that he never served when he had the opportunity to do so, but wants to send other people's children off to die and be maimed... (So) is it not reasonable to infer that if Mitt Romney became the next President of the United States, the probability of war with Iran would significantly increase?..."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/28-4

IRAN DISPLAYS U.S. DRONE

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5MCTJ80ZSA

"... (Iran) released the first images of the highly advanced US stealth spy drone which was downed through a cyberattack by Iranian military forces... the RQ-170 Sentinel drone... was part of a fleet of secret aircraft that the CIA has used for several years in an escalating espionage campaign targeting Iran's nuclear facilities..."
"Among the United States' main concerns is that Iran could use an intact aircraft to examine the vulnerabilities in stealth technology and take countermeasures with its air defense systems. Another is that China or other US adversaries could help Iran extract data from the drone that would reveal its flight history, surveillance targets and other capabilities."
"The drone was programmed to destroy such data in the event of a malfunction, but it failed to do so. The blow has been so heavy that the US officials do not still want to accept that Iran brought down the plane by a cyberattack. Instead, explanations have focused on potential technical failures..."
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9007276579

SENATE PASSES SANCTIONS THAT MAY BENEFIT IRAN

"... the Senate unanimously passed legislation to force the President to impose sanctions on countries and companies that do business with Iran’s central bank or purchase Iranian oil... “The irony of this amendment is…there’s absolutely a risk that in fact the price of oil would go up, which means that Iran would in fact have more money to fuel its nuclear ambitions, not less, ” Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee... it could increase the cost of gas and threaten economies in Europe and Asia... (and) has the potential to actually increase revenues to Iran..."
http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7764&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1

IRAN WILL TARGET TURKISH NATO MISSILE BASES IF ATTACKED
Also Israeli nuclear facilities.

"Iran will target NATO's missile defense installations in Turkey if the U.S. or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic... (and also) will target Israel's nuclear facilities should the Jewish state attack Iran..."
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-threatens-hit-turkey-us-israel-attack-153655802.html

IAEA REPORT MAKES WAR LESS LIKELY
Nuclear knowledge cannot be destroyed by airstrikes

"... there was nothing in the IAEA report that makes military action more likely. If anything, it points to the limits of the effectiveness of a military campaign, which would have to be weighed against the risk of starting a potentially catastrophic regional war. The report was mainly based on information already known to Western intelligence agencies. It did not reveal the sort of new evidence of immediate danger that would lead Israel or the United States to take a decision now about whether they can live with an Iranian atomic bomb or must take urgent military action to prevent it. Instead, Western states are likely to stick to diplomacy and economic measures, while keeping a vigilant eye out for as-yet-untaken steps - such as expelling international monitors or diverting nuclear material from known sites - that might show Iran was embarking on an all-out bid to build a bomb."

"... The IAEA report, like earlier U.S. intelligence estimates, suggested Iran had been pursuing the science needed to make an atomic bomb at least until 2003. But that interest mostly took the form of research, rather than building actual bomb-making infrastructure. Experts refer to that knowledge as a "nuclear intangible," and you can't destroy it by air strikes, said Andrea Berger of Britain's Royal United Services Institute: "Because it would be a nuclear intangible, it's something that can't be rectified with a military strike."

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-irans-nuclear-showdown-west-still-short-war-144321024.html;_ylt=AjoxSqEngJ7Z12_XGglq05zNt.d_;_ylu=X3oDMTRvOTlpY3IxBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwNjZGExOTk0OC1jZTVhLTNmN2QtYWM0NS1kYzVmMTI4NTgwOTMEcG9zAzkEc2VjA25ld3NfZm9yX3lvdQR2ZXIDODE4ZTEzYzAtMTUyOS0xMWUxLWJkZmEtOTY4M2FjYzhiYTVj;_ylg=X3oDMTNobW90YmFoBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNWY5MmU4MTAtNWRiNi0zZTVkLWJjZmQtYWU1NWY4NGI2ODgwBHBzdGNhdANwb2xpdGljc3xkZXN0aW5hdGlvbjIwMTIEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

U.S. SECDEF WARNS AGAINST ATTACKING IRAN

"... US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said a military strike against Iran could have "unintended consequences". He said it would only delay Iran's nuclear efforts by three years at most... (and) might fail to deter Iran "from what they want to do. But more importantly, it could have a serious impact in the region, and it could have a serious impact on US forces in the region."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-middle-east-15688042

IAEA REPORT SHOWS IRAN NUCLEAR ACTIVITY IS LEGAL

"... the evidence... shows that Iran wants the knowledge and equipment that would let it build a nuclear weapon very quickly if necessary... The evidence does NOT show that Iran is actually building a nuclear weapon now, or has any present intention of doing so. And having the knowledge and equipment that would let you do so fast in an emergency is entirely legal under IAEA rules..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/10-0

IRAN ONLY SEEKS NUCLEAR LATENCY

"... the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report on Iran... reinforced the reigning assessment of the Iranian nuclear program: Tehran is, and has been for decades, seeking nuclear latency—the capacity to make nuclear weapons–but the IAEA does not conclude that it currently has an active program to build nuclear weapons... The Obama administration has been careful not to overstate the report’s conclusions. A senior administration official told reporters yesterday that “[t]he IAEA does not assert that Iran has resumed a full-scale nuclear weapons program nor does it [say] how advanced the programs really are.”
http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7710&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1

IRAN'S WARNING TO ISRAEL AND U.S.
"Iran's supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) warned Israel and the United States that… "Anybody who takes up the idea of an attack on Iran, should get ready to receive a strong slap and an iron fist… The enemies, particularly the United States and its pawns and the Zionist regime, should know that the Iranian nation does not seek to invade any country or nation. But Iran will strongly respond to any invasion or attack with such power and in a way that the aggressors and invaders will be smashed from the inside..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/10/ayatollah-khamenei-warns_n_1085925.html

IRAN WILL NOT GIVE UP PROGRAM, IS NOT SEEKING WEAPONS
"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran won't retreat "an iota" from its nuclear program but is strongly rejecting a U.N. report claiming that Tehran is seeking atomic weapons…"
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ahmadinejad-iran-retreat-nuclear-path-14912292

IAEI SAYS IRAN PURSUING WEAPONS, VIOLATING NUCLEAR TREATY
"… the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency… (says) Iran has been pursuing nuclear weapons since before 2004, testing detonators and other components that have few uses other than for a nuclear bomb… (and that) Iran, which signed the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), is violating the pact…."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-11-08/Iran-nuclear-weapons-treaty/51125744/1

ISRAEL ATTACK ON IRAN "CLOSER"

"Israeli President Shimon Peres warned on Sunday that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely... (saying that) "The possibility of a military attack against Iran is now closer to being applied than the application of a diplomatic option"... the Haaretz newspaper reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak were seeking cabinet support for an attack... (and) that US officials had failed to secure a commitment from Israel that it would coordinate any attack plans with Washington... Barak denied reports that he and Netanyahu had already decided to attack Iran over the opposition of military and intelligence chiefs..."
http://www.canada.com/technology/Israel+Peres+warns+attack+Iran+getting+closer/5665596/story.html

ISRAEL MAY ATTACK IRAN WITHOUT WARNNG U.S.

"... a senior U.S. military official said... The U.S. is "absolutley" concerned that Israel is preparing an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities... (and) that Israel will not warn (the U.S.)... The military official emphasized that the U.S. is concerned about the risk a strike against Iran could pose for American troops in Iraq and in the Persian Gulf... (and) said that the U.S. does not intend to follow a military action against Iran..."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-military-official-we-are-concerned-israel-will-not-warn-us-before-iran-attack-1.393834

VOICES FOR WAR AGAINST IRAN

"... Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee... (held) a hearing on how the U.S. should respond to the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington... Panelists recommended a dramatic escalation of U.S. actions against Iran...

“You don't want to run away from that war, you want to run towards it," said Reul Marc Gerecht of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “We are more willing to have another front on the war on terror.”

“Let’s not wring our hands,” said General Jack Keane (Ret.). “If the international community doesn’t want to step up to it, we go without ‘em. We’ve got to put our hand around their throat right now.”

http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7681&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1

ASSASSINATION PLOT A U.S. STING OPERATION AGAINST IRAN

"... the legal document describing evidence in the case provides multiple indications that it was mainly the result of an FBI "sting" operation... the legal document, called an amended criminal complaint... suggests that the idea originated with and was strongly pushed by a undercover DEA informant, at the direction of the FBI... when Arbabsiar first met with the DEA informant he thought was part of a Mexican drug cartel, it was not to hire a hit squad to kill the ambassador... there is reason to believe that the main purpose was to arrange a deal to sell large amounts of opium from Afghanistan... not a single quote from Arbabsiar shows that he agreed to assassinating the ambassador, much less proposed it... There is also circumstantial evidence that Arbabsiar may have even been brought into the sting operation to help further implicate his cousin Gholam Shakuri... an officer in the Iranian Quds Force... in the terrorist plot."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105458

IRANIAN PLOT ALLEDGED TO KILL SAUDI ENVOY

"... the U.S. Justice Department Tuesday charged a dual Iranian- American national and an alleged member of the Islamic Republic's special operations unit of conspiring to assassinate the Saudi ambassador here... the two named defendants, U.S.-based Manssor Arbabsiar and Iran-based Gholam Shakuri, sought to hire someone who they believed was a member of a Mexican drug cartel but who was actually an informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to carry out the plot in exchange for 1.5 million dollars... the Iranian mission at the United Nations (U.N.)... said in a letter expressing outrage to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that his government "categorically reject(s) these baseless allegations".

"United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI), a hawkish group... called openly Tuesday for the president to "make it clear that Iran will face consequences for its actions, including military retaliation for attacks on Americans".

"... Others voiced caution. "If the alleged Iranian action was aimed at provoking the U.S., the Obama administration should be careful not to walk into such a trap," noted Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council..."

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105425

RUSSIAN-BUILT BUSHEHR NUCLEAR PLANT ONLINE

"Iran's much-delayed Russian-built nuclear power plant in Bushehr went on line... heralding a new era for the country that promises even greater national investment in nuclear energy in the coming years... ... Russia has given cause for national joy in Iran and this may mean more nuclear contracts with Tehran; this at a time when the West knows only the language of coercion and threats against Iran..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MI07Ak02.html

THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY WITH IRAN AFTER 9/11

"... Had the George W Bush administration responded to repeated overtures from Tehran, it might have cemented a powerful ally against al-Qaeda, given the US an easier time pacifying Iraq and reduced Iranian motivation to oppose Arab-Israeli peace... allowing the 2001-2003 talks to end was "a fantastic mistake. The dialogue that existed on Afghanistan was the single unparalleled opportunity to create a diplomatic process" with Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MI09Ak01.html

WAR ON TERROR WAS ABANDONED BY BUSH AGENCIES AS INEFFECTIVE

"... The War on Terror was based on the notion that Islamic terrorism represented a unified, ideologically coherent, and operationally centralized threat, demanding a singular and predominately military response. This notion was rejected by U.S. security officials long before the killing of Bin Laden. Indeed, it was abandoned well before the election of President Obama.

By the latter years of the Bush administration, the exceptional tactics that defined the War on Terror -- preventative detentions, pain-based interrogation, ethnic and religious profiling, and widely expanded domestic surveillance powers -- were either abandoned or dramatically scaled back based on overwhelming evidence that they were ineffective. Meanwhile, the actual wars initiated in the name of the War on Terror, in Afghanistan and Iraq, rapidly evolved into counter-insurgency and then counterterrorism campaigns as military leaders recognized that the U.S. was unable to replace theocrats and autocrats with stable, western-style democracies.

The War on Terror lives on today only as political theater..."

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/08/who-killed-the-war-on-terror/244273/

SOME CENTRIFUGES MOVED UNDERGROUND

"Iran has moved some of its centrifuge machines to an underground enrichment site that offers better protection from possible airstrikes... the facility in Fordo... is carved into a mountain to protect it against possible attacks... Iran plans to triple its output of the 20 percent enriched uranium and move the entire program to the new, secretly-built Fordo facility, just north of the holy city of Qom in central Iran. The bunker facility is to house approximately 3,000 centrifuges..."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2089760,00.html

RUSSIA KNOWS IRAN'S INFLUENCE TO INCREASE

"... Moscow has hurriedly scheduled an intensive strategic dialogue with Tehran... The geopolitical reality is that Iran's regional influence is poised to increase. The West's quagmire in Libya and the collapse of its attempts to overthrow the Syrian regime; Turkey's lurch toward Muslim Middle East and the breakdown in its relations with Israel; the collapse of the US-Israeli-Saudi axis and the surge of the Syrian-Iranian axis; US predicaments in Iraq and Afghanistan; Egypt-Iran rapprochement; high probability of UN recognition for Palestinian statehood; and not least of all, China's determination to build a strategic partnership with Iran - all these work to Tehran's advantage..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/MH04Ag01.html

IRAN DOWNS U.S. SPY DRONE

"Iran's Revolutionary Guard shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that was trying to gather information on an underground uranium enrichment site... the drone was flying over the Fordo uranium enrichment site near the holy city of Qom in central Iran..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/20/iran-us-spy-plane_n_904355.html

IRAN TESTS LONG RANGE MISSILES

"Iran's Revolutionary Guards tested 14 missiles... (as) a show of strength to the Islamic Republic's enemies in Israel and Washington. The Iranian-made surface-to-surface missiles, with a maximum range of 2,000 km (1,250 miles), were fired simultaneously at a single target... the Guards fired nine Zelzal missiles, two Shahab-1s, two Shahab-2s and one upgraded Shahab-3 missile.Iranian officials have previously announced that the Shahab 3 can reach targets up to 2,000 km away, putting Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf within reach... while Iran had the technological capacity to build longer-range missiles, the 2,000-km range had been chosen precisely with Israel and U.S. bases in mind... The head of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace division (said) "Except American and the Zionist regime, we do not feel a threat from any other country."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/iran-test-fires-long-range-missiles-capable-of-striking-israel-u-s-bases-1.370029


IRAN SHOWS MISSILE SILOS



"Iran ... unveiled underground silos that can carry missiles capable of hitting Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf... State TV broadcast footage of deep underground silos, claiming that medium- and long-range missiles stored in them are ready to launch in case of an attack on Iran. The silos are widely viewed as a strategic asset for Iran in the event of a U.S. or Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities... The commander of the Guard's Aerospace Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, touted the silos as a crucial asset in its standoff with the West, saying that with "these facilities we are certain that we can confront unequal enemies and defend the Islamic Republic of Iran."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/iran-unveils-underground-silos-with-missiles-capable-of-reaching-israel-1.369924

MEK MAY GET U.S. SUPPORT FOR TERROR AGAINST IRAN

"... the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an organization with the blood of Americans and Iranians alike on its hands... a designated foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government... may succeed in getting removed from the terrorist list... as a result of an unprecedented multi-million dollar media and lobbying blitz.

:... the desire to de-list them in Washington seems partially driven by gravitation towards covert military action against Iran. Neither sanctions nor diplomacy have yielded the desired results on the nuclear issue, and some in Washington are advocating using the MEK to conduct assassination and sabotage campaigns inside Iran. As one former State Department official put it, the "paradox is that we may take them off the terror list in order for them to do more terror."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trita-parsi/washingtons-favorite-terr_b_887525.html

EGYPT MOVES TOWARD RESTORING RELATIONS WITH IRAN

"... Cairo and Tehran appear closer than ever to restoring diplomatic ties following a 31-year hiatus... "The Egyptian foreign minister and the Islamic Republic of Iran have announced their readiness to expand diplomatic relations between the two countries," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said... (and) Nabil al-Arabi, Egypt's first post-revolutionary foreign minister, declared that Cairo was ready to "turn a new page" with Iran. "The Egyptian and Iranian people," he said, "deserve to have mutual relations reflecting their history and civilisation."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56238

FALSE SPIN ON IRAN NUCLEAR ASSESSMENT

"Confusion over an assessment of Iran's nuclear program by the Rand Corporation in the past week perfectly illustrates the quagmire that anyone has to contend with when sifting through bias on media reports... A deluge of commentaries took it at face value that Rand was alleging with iron-clad certainty that Iran was "two months away from making nuclear bombs".

"... (however) the Rand report failed to mention that the US intelligence community has yet to revise its December 2009 finding that Iran as of early 2003 has stopped its nuclear weapon program. Nor does it mention that the IAEA despite its expressed concerns about the "possible military dimension" of Iran's nuclear activities has repeatedly stated that after extensive inspections it has found "no evidence of diversion of declared nuclear material".

"... A report by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh titled "Iran And The Bomb - How Real is the Nuclear Threat?" and published in the June 6 issue of The New Yorker magazine quotes former IAEA director general Mohammad ElBaradei as saying he didn't see "a shred of evidence" in 12 years in charge to suggest Iran is building nuclear-weapons facilities and using enriched materials..."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MF10Ak06.html

IRAN TO DISPLAY DOWNED U.S. SPY DRONES

"Iran will put on public display two US Navy drones shot down by its elite Revolutionary Guards..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110115/wl_mideast_afp/iranusguardsdrone

RUSSIA: STUXNET VIRUS COULD CAUSE IRANIAN CHERNOBYL

"... Russian nuclear scientists are providing technical assistance to Iran's attempts activate the country's first nuclear power plant... (and) have warned of another Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster at Iran's controversial Bushehr reactor because of... the extensive damage caused to Bushehr's computer systems by the mysterious Stuxnet virus..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8262853/Stuxnet-virus-attack-Russia-warns-of-Iranian-Chernobyl.html

FAILURE OF U.S. PRESS ABOUT WAR WITH IRAN

"... The mainstream media has also inexcusably failed to educate the public about the nature of a possible war with Iran... It fails to point out that, just like the war in Iraq, any war with Iran would be totally illegal, so long as the Islamic Republic has neither attacked nor plainly threatened the United States. The mainstream media has failed to make clear that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will seem relative child's play compared to a war with Iran. The Islamic Republic has placed many assets throughout the Middle East; if attacked, Iran's military will not hesitate to use both its own resources and those assets to quickly spread the conflict -- via asymmetrical warfare, in particular -- throughout the Middle East and quite possibly the entire Islamic world. The mainstream media does not wish to tell the American people the unpleasant truth that a war with Iran will destroy the economy of the West, and may ultimately lead to World War III."
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/12/using-wikileaks-to-advance-the-narrative-of-war-on-iran.html

SENATOR SAYS U.S. SHOULD "NEUTER" IRAN

"Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham... (said) his country should be prepared to launch a military attack on Iran that would "neuter" the hard line regime... military action against Iran that would destroy its ability to fight back while allowing its people to rise up... "sink their navy, destroy their air force and deliver a decisive blow to the Revolutionary Guard... neuter that regime."
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20101106/lindsey-graham-iran-halifax-101106/

AHMADINEJAD DID NOT ACCUSE THE U.S. OF 9-11 ATTACKS

"The Iranian leader did not accuse the U.S. of conspiring to murder thousands of its own people to create a pretext for launching wars as conveyed by the US media... the Times published a correction: "A headline on Friday with an article about an incendiary speech in the United Nations General Assembly by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran summarized his remarks about the Sept. 11 terror attacks incorrectly. In his speech, Mr. Ahmadinejad asserted various theories about the origin of the attacks, including the possibility that they had been planned by the United States. He did not say that the United States had planned the attacks... "

"Following are the few paragraphs pertaining to this matter from the Iranian leader's text:

"In identifying those responsible for the attack, there were three viewpoints.

"1- That a very powerful and complex terrorist group, able to successfully cross all layers of the American intelligence and security, carried out the attack. This is the main viewpoint advocated by American statesmen.

"2- That some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime. The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view.

"3- It was carried out by a terrorist group but the American government supported and took advantage of the situation. Apparently, this viewpoint has fewer proponents. The main evidence linking the incident was a few passports found in the huge volume of rubble and a video of an individual whose place of domicile was unknown but it was announced that he had been involved in oil deals with some American officials. It was also covered up and said that due to the explosion and fire no trace of the suicide attackers was found..."

Ahmadinejad did not suggest these were his views...."

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=SMI20100926&articleId=21198

The corrected New York Times article (correction is at the bottom):
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/world/24nations.html?scp=1&sq=ahmadinejad%20correction&st=cse

RUSSIAN SALE OF S-300 MISSILE SYSTEM IS OFF

"... Russia... (will) permanently halt delivery of S-300 missiles, which Tehran wanted to build as a deterrent to airstrikes against its nuclear facilities. The declaration by Mr. Medvedev ended equivocation by Russian officials about whether the sophisticated advanced air defense system would fall under the sanctions ban..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/world/europe/23prexy.html?_r=1

ILLUSION OF LIMITED WAR ON AGAINST IRAN
U.S. casualties on a WW2 scale

"... The range of predictable responses available to the IRGC high command include dramatic hit ad run attacks against military and commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf, the use of mid-range ballistic missiles against American bases in the region and Israel and a direct assault on American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. All these options are likely to be used within 48 hours of the start of hostilities...

"One possible response by the IRGC Qods force is spectacular terrorist-style attacks against American intelligence bases and assets throughout the region. The IRGC Qods Force is believed to have identified every key component of the American intelligence apparatus in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan...

"The IRGC navy will also play a key asymmetrical role in the conflict by organising maritime suicide bombings on an industrial scale. By manning its fleet of speedboats with suicide bombers and ramming them into American warships and even neutral commercial shipping, (they) will hope to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 40 percent of world crude oil supplies pass...

"The combination of these asymmetrical forms of warfare with more conventional style missile and even ground force attacks on American bases in the region will likely result in thousands of American military casualties in the space of a few weeks. The IRGC has both the will and wherewithal to inflict a level of casualties on American armed forces not seen since the Second World War...

"Not only will it awaken the sleeping giant of Iranian nationalism... U.S. military aggression will likely accelerate the actualisation of the very scenario that American political and military leaders insist they are determined to prevent, i.e. a nuclear armed Iran..."

http://www.juancole.com/2010/08/abedin-the-illusion-of-a-‘limited-war’-against-iran.html

AHMADINEJAD EXPECTS U.S. ATTACK SOON

"Iran expects the United States to launch a military strike... "They have decided to attack at least two countries in the region in the next three months," Ahmadinejad said..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/27-7

IRAN READY TO RESOLVE NUCLEAR DISPUTE

"Iran is ready for "effective cooperation" to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program... will talk with P5+1 as of early September, but there are some conditions... the conditions for talks include the P5+1 members announcing their positions on Israel having nuclear weapons... The P5+1 consists of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Russia, China, France and United Kingdom -- and Germany..."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/07/27/iran.nuclear.negotiations/index.html?iphoneemail

EX-CIA DIRECTOR SAYS STRIKE ON IRAN IS "INEXORABLE"

"Michael Hayden, a CIA chief under President George W. Bush...predicts Iran will build its program to the point where it's just below having an actual weapon... during his tenure a strike was "way down the list" of options. But... such action now "seems inexorable."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/25/us-iran-military-strike-likely_n_658522.html

IRAN STUDYING NUCLEAR FUSION

"Iran's nuclear agency began studies Saturday to build an experimental nuclear fusion reactor, something that has yet to be achieved by any nation... Iran will take two years to complete these studies and then another decade to design and build a reactor... The United States, the European Union, China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea signed an accord in 2006 to build a $12.8 billion experimental fusion reactor at Cadarache, southern France, aimed at revolutionizing global energy use for future generations. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, members have said no single country can afford the immense investment needed to move the science forward... Iran's nuclear chief, said Iran was willing to join any international grouping to offer its expertise to promote the project. However, he said Iran will go its own way should the world not welcome it."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iran_nuclear

IRANIAN DEFECTOR TOLD CIA IRAN HAS NO NUKE PROGRAM

"... CIA sources familiar with the Amiri case say he told his CIA handlers that there is no such Iranian nuclear weapons programme... Amiri provided "almost no information" about Iran's nuclear programme... but had picked up "scuttlebutt" from other nuclear scientists with whom he was acquainted that the Iranians have no active nuclear weapon programme... (which is a) reaffirmation... of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)'s finding that work on a nuclear weapon has not been resumed after being halted in 2003..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/19-5

GOP LAWMAKER SAYS IRANIANS INFILTRATING FROM MEXICO



"Iran is working with Venezuela. And they're transiting through Venezuela, taking Spanish for maybe six months. They're getting the false documents that they need, coming up through Mexico and if they're stopped, they just say well I'm Spanish... the other thing that we're seeing... in the prisons is Farsi tattoos. Farsi is basically a Persian language, which Iran is... That's a pretty good indication that these people coming across our border are not just coming from Mexico..."
--Representative Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/14/sue-myricks-latest-conspi_n_646093.html

This Republican congresswoman, who is on the House Intelligence Committee, believes that Iran sends agents to Venezuela to be trained in Spanish, so they can cross the Mexican border into the US, where so many end up in prison that they can be spotted by their Farsi tattoos.

This fear-mongering fantasy neatly combines Iran, Chavez, the Mexican border, immigration reform, and olive-skinned prisoners unto a call for action. Dislike of immigrants was not enough; now fear of Iran is being used to justify more defenses on the Mexican border. And it also increases the support for an attack on Iran.

In analyzing this "intelligence", I expect that:
1. There are Iranians in Venezuela as a result of the trade and military exchanges between the two countries.
2. The people in the trade and military missions are learning each other's languages.
3. No Spanish-speaking Iranian agents have been caught on the Mexican border.
3. The tattoos on the US prisoners are Arabic, and the prisoners are Hispanics and/or converts to Islam, who speak no Farsi and have no connection to Iran.

IRAN SUBJECT TO NUCLEAR DOUBLE STANDARD

"... U.S. and other nuclear-armed powers have punished Iran with the sanctions even though it doesn't have nuclear weapons, while at the same time they support Israel, which is widely believed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal...

"The Jewish state, which unlike Iran has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear program, neither confirming nor denying that it has nuclear weapons...

"(Meanwhile) ... the U.N. nuclear watchdog never found evidence of Tehran diverting its nuclear program into weapons-making... (and Iran says) it only seeks nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and insists on its rights under the nonproliferation treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel..."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/06/18-0

IRAN'S RISING INFLUENCE IN LATIN AMERICA

"Iran has undertaken its own ambitious mission in recent years to expand its influence across Latin America and the Caribbean... The expanding Iranian-Brazilian interface, as well as Iran's growing multifaceted contacts with Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba, Guyana, among a host of other nations in the Americas, reflect Iran's commitment to assert itself as a player in its own right in the Americas.... (D)iplomatic exchanges and growing business contacts between Iran and partners in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru and Mexico, coupled with the opening of new Iranian embassies, also illustrate the rapid development of the Islamic Republic's relations with the region..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LF19Ak03.html

AHMADINEJAD UP, GREEN MOVEMENT DOWN

"Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad seems be to standing on firmer political ground than any other time during his time in office... his government is now more confident at home and more respected abroad. On a broader scale, the Islamic Republic of Iran is in many ways stronger and more stable... In the international arena of geopolitical and diplomatic challenges, Iran has recently scored a number of important points and won important new allies... (with) the recent Iran-Brazil-Turkey agreement on nuclear fuel exchange...

"(Meanwhile)... the political fortunes of... Mir Hossein Mousavi... have significantly declined and their ''Green'' movement... is in disintegration... (T)he green movement ran a dishonest presidential campaign. Its candidate, Mousavi, ran for president but refused to submit to the will of the majority when it became clear that he had lost the election. This has led many observers to believe that his presidential campaign was more akin to a coup attempt..."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LF16Ak01.html

AFGHAN INSURGENTS GETTING AID FROM IRAN

"Afghan insurgents are being trained inside Iran and given weapons to fight security forces, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces said... General Stanley McChrystal said... Iran, as a neighbor, had natural interests in Afghanistan and to a certain extent the assistance and interaction it provided was healthy. "There is however clear evidence of Iranian activity, in some cases of providing weapons and training to the Taliban that is inappropriate... "

"Tehran's economic influence in Afghanistan has grown rapidly in recent years, especially in the West, where cross-border trade is brisk. A dialect of Iran's Farsi language is one of two state languages in Afghanistan, and Iran hosted millions of Afghan refugees during decades of conflict...."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_afghanistan_iran

U.S. ORDERS CLANDESTINE MILITARY OPERATIONS INSIDE IRAN

"... Gen. David H. Petraeus... has ordered a broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats in Iran... the order also permits reconnaissance that could pave the way for possible military strikes in Iran if tensions over its nuclear ambitions escalate... The secret directive, signed in September... appears to authorize specific operations in Iran, most likely to gather intelligence about the country’s nuclear program or identify dissident groups that might be useful for a future military offensive..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/world/25military.html

U.S. DENIES IRAN THE RIGHT TO PEACEFUL ENRICHMENT
Because such knowledge would be a deterrent against attack

"... the position of the U.S.... has been that Iran must be compelled to forfeit its right to enrich uranium, even for a purely peaceful nuclear program, since the technological knowledge that Iran is acquiring by enriching uranium could be diverted towards a military program in the future...

(However) Iran's goal is not the acquisition of a nuclear weapon, but the acquisition of the technological knowledge to assemble the components of a nuclear weapon without actually building one and without violating the nuclear non-proliferation treaty... this approach could give Iran much of the benefit of acquiring a nuclear weapon as a deterrent against Western attack without subjecting Iran to the negative political and economic consequences of openly violating the treaty.

(So) The U.S. goal has not been merely to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon - the U.S. goal has been to prevent Iran from acquiring the deterrent benefits of getting close to acquiring a nuclear weapon..."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/04-4

IRAN NO THREAT

"... Iran historically is not an aggressive, expansive nation. Though it is, by dint of its oil reserves and its population, one of the biggest and most powerful countries in the Middle East, it has not invaded another country since the 18th century, and there is no indication that it plans to invade any other country now... For Iran to launch a crude nuke at Israel would be an act of national suicide, and while individual terrorists may kill themselves, nations don't commit suicide....

"Iran... (is not) America's arch enemy... It has backed the same Shi'ite led government in Iraq that the US has been backing, and indeed, to the extent that Iraq has stabilized, it is largely Iran's doing. It provided key help to the US in the early invasion of Afghanistan and the routing of the Taliban government, which was never favored by the Iranians... Iran has no ability to attack the US, and even its ability to threaten US forces in Iraq or Afghanistan is severely limited, not to mention the fact that should it be foolhardy enough to initiate any such action, it would bring down the full force of the US military on its head in an instant..."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/04/22-7

IRAN AIMING FOR NUCLEAR LATENCY AS DETERRANCE
U.S. has no policy to deal with it

"... Iran (may) choose the course that many government and outside analysts consider likely: Iran could assemble all the major parts it needs for a nuclear weapon — fuel, designs and detonators — but stop just short of assembling a fully operational weapon. In that case, Iran could remain a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty while becoming what strategists call a “virtual” nuclear weapons state.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/world/middleeast/18iran.html?hp

"... Tehran (may) achieve ‘nuclear latency’ (where a country has the ability to construct a nuclear weapon but stops short of doing so), in order to avoid international sanctions and disapproval... (Secretary of Defense) Gates concurs with those analysts... that Iran does not intend actually to build a bomb, but wants the technical know-how to do so as a way of deterring foreign invasions and attacks... Gates sent the White House a memo last January observing that the US has no real developed policy for dealing with Iran should Tehran achieve ‘nuclear latency’..."
http://www.juancole.com/2010/04/gates-worries-about-iranian-nuclear-research-while-khamenei-blasts-us-for-hiroshima.html

ISRAEL THE CAUSE OF IRAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM

"... Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, is at the moment largely in compliance with it, has no nuclear arsenal, and does not even have a nuclear weapons program. (The treaty allows countries to enrich uranium for fuel, which is all that Iran is known to be doing). Yet the US has an extensive regime of economic sanctions on Iran, along with UN Security Council sanctions, both of which Obama is attempting to ratchet up. In contrast, Israel is actively constructing more and more nuclear warheads, which it is stockpiling, and which its leaders occasionally brandish at other Middle Eastern states. The Israeli arsenal, in turn, spurs a Middle East arms race..."
-- Juan Cole, Informed Comment, April 11, 2010
http://www.juancole.com/

IRAN DEVELOPING NUKES OUT OF FEAR

"... Iran is developing nuclear weapons out of a rational fear for its national safety because of the systematically threatening posture of the United States and Israel... Hostile actions of the United States and its Israeli client are a major factor in Iran's decisions of whether or not to develop a nuclear deterrent... the defiant and hypocritical insistence of the United States on holding the constant threat of military action over Iran as a punishment for its noncompliance with United Nations mandates..."
--Noam Chomsky, Memorial Church, Harvard University, March 6, 2010
http://www.hlrecord.org/news/noam-chomsky-iran-pursuing-nuclear-weapons-out-of-fear-1.1265656

IRAN ANNOUNCES CRUISE MISSILES

"Iran announced Sunday that it has started a new production line of highly accurate, short range cruise missiles... the cruise missile, called Nasr 1, would be capable of destroying targets up to 3,000 tons in size... the missile can be fired from ground-based launchers as well as ships, but would eventually be modified to be fired from helicopters and submarines... the cruise missiles would strengthen Iran's naval power..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-03-07-iran-missile_N.htm?csp=usat.me

IRAN NUCLEAR STOCKPILE OUT IN OPEN

"Iran moved nearly its entire stockpile of low-enriched nuclear fuel to an above-ground plant... with inspectors present, the Iranians moved roughly 4,300 pounds of low-enriched uranium out of deep underground storage to the small plant that they have declared they will use to re-enrich the fuel to 20 percent purity... the fuel now sits out in the open, where an air attack... could destroy it.... military officials say this is a tempting moment for the Israelis...."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/world/middleeast/27iran.html?hp

IRAN AND THE NUCLEAR TREATY

From the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty:
"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..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Non-Proliferation_Treaty

"... Greg Thielmann, Senior Fellow at the Arms Control Association, notes that it would be far better if the U.S. would stress that Iran's right to uranium enrichment, consistent with Non-Proliferation Treaty Article IV, is contingent on Iran's adherence to the treaty's Articles I, II, and III. Thielmann notes that Iran has no inherent right to uranium enrichment while it is violating its Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA. Yet this point is being lost by the West's unqualified emphasis on the demand that uranium enrichment be suspended, and inconsistent U.S. statements about Iran's intention to develop nuclear weapons. Consequently, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can posture that the West is just trying to keep Iran down and deny it the rights guaranteed under the NPT..."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/22-1

WAR GAME SHOWS ATTACK ON IRAN COULD BACKFIRE

"... (A) recent war game conducted at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, part of the Washington-based Brookings Institution, a center-left think tank, appears to dampen hopes for a simple solution to Iran's real-world nuclear challenge. The lesson is "once you start this, it's really hard to stop it"... even a "successful" airstrike on Iran's nuclear facilities — setting the program back by two to four years — could come at a tremendous, unpredictable cost..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/02/21/87061/war-game-shows-how-attacking-iran.html

ISRAEL HAS DRONE FLEET THAT CAN REACH IRAN


"Israel's air force on Sunday introduced a fleet of huge pilotless planes that can remain in the air for a full day and could fly as far as the Persian Gulf, putting rival Iran within its range.The Heron TP drones have a wingspan of 86 feet (26 meters), making them the size of Boeing 737 passenger jets and the largest unmanned aircraft in Israel's military. The planes can fly at least 20 consecutive hours and are primarily used for surveillance and carrying diverse payloads.... The unmanned plane resembles its predecessor, the Heron, but can fly higher, reaching an altitude of more than 40,000 feet (12,000 meters), and remain in the air longer... The plane's maker, state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, has said it is capable of reaching the Persian Gulf, which would put Iran within its range. Israeli defense officials said the Heron TP could be a useful tool against Iran. It could provide surveillance, jam enemy communications and connect ground control and manned air force planes..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100221/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_drones

CLINTON PROMOTES CONFLICT WITH IRAN

"In a visit to Qatar and Saudi Arabia this week, Hillary Clinton said that Iran "is moving toward a military dictatorship"... What could America's top diplomat hope to accomplish with this kind of inflammatory rhetoric?... what is the purpose of a speech like this? The most obvious conclusion is that it is to promote conflict, and to convince Americans that Iran is an actual threat to their security. Americans generally have to be prepared and persuaded for years if they are to accept that they must go to war... (Americans must be led to believe that) it's really true that all these people just want to kill us for no reason; that it has nothing to do with our foreign policy or wars; that we can effectively reduce terrorism by bombing and occupying Muslim countries; and that terrorism is the country's most urgent security threat..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/feb/18/hillary-clinton-iran

IRAN SAYS NUKES ARE BANNED BY ISLAM

"Iran's supreme leader said Friday the Islamic republic isn't seeking and doesn't believe in pursuing nuclear bombs... "Iran will not get emotional in its response to these nonsensical statements, because we have often said that our religious tenets and beliefs consider these kinds of weapons of mass destruction to be symbols of genocide and are, therefore, forbidden and considered to be haram (religiously banned)," he said. "This is why we do not believe in atomic bombs and weapons and do not seek them."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/02/19/iran.nuclear/index.html?iphoneemail

DEBATE OVER DEFINITION OF TERRORISM

"... confusion and doubt arose (after Joseph Stack's airplane attack on an IRS building) over whether a person who perpetrated a classic act of Terrorism should, in fact, be called a Terrorist: he's not a Muslim and isn't acting on behalf of standard Muslim grievances against the U.S. or Israel, and thus does not fit the "definition." It has really come to mean: "a Muslim who fights against or even expresses hostility towards the United States, Israel and their allies."
If an American Muslim argues that violence against the U.S. (particularly when aimed at military targets) is justified due to American violence aimed at the Muslim world, that person is a Terrorist who deserves assassination... if the U.S. military invades a Muslim country, Muslims who live in the invaded and occupied country and who fight back against the invading American army -- by attacking nothing but military targets -- are also Terrorists.... (And) large numbers of detainees at Guantanamo were accused of being Terrorists for nothing more than attacking members of an invading foreign army in their country..."
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/02/19/terrorism/index.html

"... Stratfor, an Austin-based global intelligence firm specializing in international risk management, said the rhetoric in Stack's rant clearly matches the USA Patriot Act's definition of terrorism: a criminal act that is intended to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by assassination or kidnapping..."
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/nation-world-news/plane-attack-prompts-debate-over-terrorism-label-558975.html

IRAN DISMISSES U.S. DEADLINE, SETS ITS OWN DEADLINE

"... Iran dismissed an end-of-2009 deadline... to accept a U.N.-drafted deal to swap most of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. The deal would reduce Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium... Under the plan, Iran would export most of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium for further enrichment in Russia and France, where it would be converted into fuel rods. The rods, which Iran needs for the research reactor in Tehran, would be returned to the country about a year later... Exporting the uranium would temporarily leave Iran without enough of a stockpile to further enrich the uranium into material for a nuclear warhead, and the rods that are returned cannot be processed further for use in making weapons..."

"(Now) Iran (has) set a one-month deadline... for the West to accept its counterproposal... (which is) to have the West either sell nuclear fuel to Iran, or swap its nuclear fuel for Iran's enriched uranium in smaller batches instead of at once as the U.N. plan requires... (Iran)... warned that otherwise it will produce reactor fuel at a higher level of enrichment on its own..."

"(However) it would likely take years before it could master the technology to turn uranium enriched to the level of 20 percent into the fuel rods it needs for a medical research reactor..."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/02/iran-warns-west-it-will-m_n_409306.html

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