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