JEWS LIVE FREELY IN IRAN

"Some 25,000 to 30,000 Jews live relatively freely among the country's majority Shiite Muslims... and many say that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's fiery anti-Israeli rhetoric is about politics, not religion... They caution against comparing Iran's official and visceral opposition to the creation of Israel and Zionism with the regime's acceptance of Jews and Judaism itself. "If you think Judaism and Zionism are one, it is like thinking Islam and the Taliban are the same, and they are not."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0427/p01s03-wome.html

U.S. NEGOTIATING INDIRECTLY WITH IRAN

"... Using Switzerland as an intermediary, American and Iranian officials have exchanged diplomatic messages on a variety of nuts-and-bolts subjects, including the fate of an American citizen missing in Iran, the future of five Iranian operatives whom American forces seized in Iraq, and old financial and property disputes. The contacts amount to a shift for the White House, which rebuffed an Iranian offer of wide-ranging talks on Iran’s nuclear program, Middle East peace, and direct relations after the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq..."
http://www.kansascity.com/136/story/82718.html

KUWAIT PREPARES FOR U.S. ATTACK ON IRAN

"Kuwait government sets up emergency team to prepare for an Iran-US military conflict... Deputy Saleh Ashour reported Tuesday that the Kuwait cabinet had formed a team to draw up plans to keep the country running during a war..."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), April 25, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php

U.S. SPONSORING TERRORISM AGAINST IRAN

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

U.S. MILITARY IN IRAQ POSITIONING FOR IRAN WAR

"... It now appears that the US military intends to place as many as five mechanised brigades - comprising about 40,000 men - south and east of Baghdad, at least three of them positioned between the capital and the Iranian border. This would present Iran with a powerful - and potentially aggressive - American military force close to its border in the event of a US or Israeli military strike against its nuclear facilities later this year..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2439530.ece

IRAN PRESENTS GULF SECURITY PLAN

"Iran has proposed a 10-point plan for ensuring collective security in the Persian Gulf region...
The 10-point proposal is as follows:
1. Establishment of a Persian Gulf Security and Cooperation Organization comprising the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as well as Iran and Iraq in accordance with Clause 8 of Resolution 598 of the United Nations Security Council.
2. Preparing common security grounds for fighting terrorism, organized crime and drug smuggling, as well as other joint security concerns.
3. Gradual removal of all restrictions in political, security, economic and cultural fields.
4. Development of trade ties by taking the countries' potentials into consideration and conducting joint investment in economic projects to achieve a regional free-trade mechanism.
5. Guaranteeing the security and energy export of regional countries to secure their interests and achieving a sustainable mechanism for energy needed by the world.
6. Building confidence among regional countries in the nuclear field.
7. Setting up a joint consortium for uranium enrichment among regional countries to procure nuclear fuel and other peaceful nuclear activities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
8. Forging serious cooperation among regional countries for having a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.
9. Putting an end to arms races in the region by providing resources for the purpose of economic development and fighting poverty.
10. Making foreign military personnel exit the region and establishing full security by the regional countries..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East.html

BRITISH ASKED U.S. TO NOT PROVOKE A WAR

"The US offered to take military action on behalf of the 15 British sailors and marines held by Iran, including buzzing Iranian Revolutionary Guard positions with warplanes... Pentagon officials asked their British counterparts: what do you want us to do? They offered a series of military options... The British declined the offer and said the US could calm the situation by staying out of it. London also asked the US to tone down military exercises that were already under way in the Gulf... At the request of the British, the two US carrier groups, totalling 40 ships plus aircraft, modified their exercises to make them less confrontational..."

"A senior Iranian source with close ties to the Revolutionary Guard, told the Guardian: "If this had been between Iranian and American soldiers it could have been the beginning of an accidental war."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2051971,00.html

U.S. SPONSOR OF TERROR GROUP AGAINST IRAN

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

BOTCHED U.S. RAID LED TO SAILOR HOSTAGE CRISIS

"A failed American attempt to abduct two senior Iranian security officers on an official visit to northern Iraq was the starting pistol for a crisis that 10 weeks later led to Iranians seizing 15 British sailors and Marines...
"(on) 11 January, helicopter-born US forces launched a surprise raid on a long-established Iranian liaison office in the city of Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. They captured five relatively junior Iranian officials whom the US accuses of being intelligence agents and still holds... The aim of the raid, launched without informing the Kurdish authorities, was to seize two men at the very heart of the Iranian security establishment... Mohammed Jafari, the powerful deputy head of the Iranian National Security Council, and General Minojahar Frouzanda, the chief of intelligence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard... The two men were in Kurdistan on an official visit during which they met the Iraqi President, Jalal Talabani, and later saw Massoud Barzani, the President of the Kurdistan Regional Government..."
"The abortive Arbil raid provoked a dangerous escalation in the confrontation between the US and Iran which ultimately led to the capture of the 15 British sailors and Marines.."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2414760.ece

NAVY ADVISES U.S. INVESTORS IN BAHRAIN TO FLEE

"American investors in Bahrain advised to pack up business operations and leave... The advice came from officers with US Central Command 5th Fleet HQ at Manama, who spoke of security tension, a hint at an approaching war with Iran. Arab sources report the positioning of a Patriot anti-missile battery in Bahrain this week; they say occupancy at emirate hotels has soared past 90% due mostly to the influx of US military personnel.

NIMITZ STRIKE DEPLOYS TO JOIN STENNIS ANDE EISENHOWER STRIKE GROUPS

"The USS Nimitz and its support ships will be departing San Diego Monday, April 2, to join the John C. Stennis Strike Group in the Persian Gulf. The nuclear carrier is due to relieve the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower , but military sources in the Gulf believe all three US carriers will stay put if tensions continue to climb... the Nimitz group is composed of the Princeton guided-missile cruiser, and four guided missile destroyers – the Higgins , Chafee , John Paul Jones and Pinckney... The mighty American armada is further supported by the USS Bataan and USS Boxer (helicopter assault) strike groups..."

--DEBKAfile (Israel), March 31, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php

TWO ACCOUNTS OF LOCATION OF CAPTURED BRITS

UK and Iranian versions of events...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6502805.stm

IRANIAN AND U.S. TREATMENT OF CAPTURED PRISONERS

"... Turney may have been "forced to wear the hijab"... but so far as we know she has not been forced into an orange jumpsuit. Her comrades have not been shackled, blindfolded, forced into excruciating physical contortions for long periods, or denied liquids and food. As far as we know they have not had the Bible spat on, torn up or urinated on in front of their faces. They have not had electrodes attached to their genitals or been set on by attack dogs. They have not been hung from a forklift truck and photographed for the amusement of their captors. They have not been pictured naked and smeared in their own excrement. They have not been bundled into a CIA-chartered plane and secretly "rendered" to a basement prison in a country where torturers are experienced and free to do their worst..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2046324,00.html

"... the status of five Iranian officials captured in a U.S. military raid on a liaison office in northern Iraq on Jan. 11 remains a mystery... the Iranians have disappeared into the U.S.-sanctioned "coalition detention" system that has been criticised as arbitrary and even illegal by many experts on international law.... five men remain in U.S. custody and have not been formally charged with a crime... and so are being held unlawfully..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37142

IF IRANIANS HAD SEIZED YANKS, WAR

"... The U.S. Navy rules of engagement say we have not only a right to self-defense but also an obligation to self-defense... If the Revolutionary Guards had... attacked an American boarding party (instead of Britsh)... (Bush) would have his excuse now, and bombs might already be falling on Iran. All the pieces are in place, and the war could start at any time..."
http://www.startribune.com/562/v-print/story/1086014.html

RUSSIAN AGENCY PREDICTS U.S. WILL ATTACK IRAN IN APRIL

"... the Russian News and Information Agency Novosti (RIA-Novosti) quoted military experts predicting the US will attack Iran on April 6th, Good Friday. According to RIA-Novosti, the imminent assault will target Iranian air and naval defense capabilities, armed forces headquarters as well as key economic assets and administration headquarters. Massive air strikes will be deployed, possibly tactical nuclear weapons as well, and the Bush administration will attempt to exploit the resulting chaos and political unrest by installing a pro-US government..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/28/150/

U.S. SPONSORING TERRORISM AGAINST IRAN

"... the U.S. is fomenting opposition and supporting military operations in Iran among insurgent groups and Iranian ethnic minority groups, some of whom are operating from Iraq... the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK) is one such group. PEJAK is based in the Kurdish region of Iraq, a few miles from the Iranian border, and has staged attacks across the border in Iran since 2004... Iran has denounced PEJAK as a terrorist group and has accused the U.S. of funding PEJAK.... Iranians and Turks both believe that the U.S. is supporting PEJAK..."

"The Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK), an Iranian anti-government group which has been listed as a “terrorist group” by the State Department since 1997, is another anti-government group that has received U.S. support... U.S. Special Forces have been directing members of the MEK in carrying out reconnaissance and intelligence collection in Iran from bases in Afghanistan and Balochistan, Pakistan since the summer of 2004..."

http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=42505

FRENCH CARRIER TASK FORCE JOINS U.S. FLOTILLA OFF IRAN

"The French nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle and its task force enter(ed the) Arabian Sea... (and) rendezvoused with the USS John C. Stennis... Its arrival raises to four the number of Western aircraft carriers cruising within striking distance of Iran, including the USS Eisenhower and USS Boxer.... US and French carriers are sailing and operating in concert opposite Iranian shores for the first time... The Charles de Gaulle is accompanied by French Task Force 473, which consists of five warships: the FNS Cassard guided missile destroyer, the FNS Tourville anti-submarine frigate, the FNS Dupleix destroyer adapted for escorting oil tankers and the FNS Marne, a command and supply vessel.
--DEBKAfile (Israel), March 22, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php

U.S. SPONSORING TERRORISM TO OVERTHROW IRAN

"... the United States is officially funding armed groups to overthrow the Islamic government" in Tehran... Secretly, U.S. intelligence services are sponsoring armed attacks within Iran... from so-called former MEK members... The U.S. asks a Mujahedin-e Khalq Organisation (MEK or MKO) member ... if they support democracy. If they answer yes, they can be trained and armed for clandestine actions inside Iran..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36961

IRAN'S STRATEGY FOR IRAQ

"... A successful US withdrawal from Iraq would free up military resources and restore US political will to focus on Iran. On the other hand, a hopelessly deteriorating quagmire in Iraq may force to US to seek an alternative path to victory by widening the war with an attack on Iran, or instigate an internal coup by supporting Iranian dissident groups. Thus Iran's strategy for Iraq is neither US withdrawal nor escalation, just a slow bleed to drive home the awareness of superpower impotency to the whole world..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IC21Ak06.html

BUSH HAS SNATCHED WAR FROM JAWS OF PEACE

"Washington had the opportunity at the turn of 2007 to isolate and neutralize the Mahmud Ahmadinejad regime in Tehran, but through stupidity and arrogance has made war the most probable outcome... It is pointless to read the signals out of Washington to divine US intentions... no one can make sense of what the US wants to communicate... no one is in charge... different agencies of government are pursuing their own agendas without accountability to a central authority...

"... Washington has done everything possible to destroy the prospects for a diplomatic solution. Whether it was possible to begin with, the historians will have to debate. For the time being, Bush has snatched war out of the jaws of peace."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IC06Ak03.html

ATTACK ON IRAN WOULD ACCELERATE BOMB MAKING

"... If Iran is moving towards a nuclear weapons capacity it is doing so relatively slowly, most estimates put it at least five years away... an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities (now) "would almost certainly lead to a fast-track programme to develop a small number of nuclear devices as quickly as possible... a bit like deciding to build a car from spare parts instead of building the entire car factory..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6418049.stm