Japanese PM Shinzo Abe says Iran has ‘no intentions’ to make or use nuclear weapons

Iran has ‘no intentions’ to make or use nuclear weapons, Abe says, Aljazeera, 13 June 19
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said Iran’s Supreme Leader made the comment during a meeting in Tehran.Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has assured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Iran has no intention to make, hold or use nuclear weapons, while saying that the country will not negotiate with the United States.

Abe met Khamenei – Iran’s top decision-maker – on Thursday during a trip to Iran in an attempt to ease tensions between the Islamic republic and the US.

Following the meeting, which Iranian President Hassan Rouhani appeared to have also attended, Abe told reporters that Khamenei had told him that Iran “will not and should not make, hold or use nuclear weapons, and that it has no such intentions”.

Shortly after, Iranian state news agency FARS confirmed the comment, but added that Khamenei had said Iran will not negotiate with the US and did not consider President Donald Trump “worthy” of a message from Tehran.

“I do not see Trump as worthy of any message exchange, and I do not have any reply for him now or in the future,” Khamenei was quoted as saying.

The supreme leader also reportedly said that he does not believe Trump’s offer of honest negotiations and that he thinks the US president’s promise not to seek regime change in Iran is a lie.

The comments likely came as a blow to Abe, who told reporters at a joint press conference with Rouhani on Wednesday, that helping to ease tension in the region was “the one single thought that brought me to Iran”.

Abe is completing a two-day visit to Iran, becoming the first sitting Japanese premier to visit the country since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. ………. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/iran-intentions-nuclear-weapons-abe-190613064055043.html

June 15, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Trump is more interested in helping nuclear companies to sell to Saudi Arabia, than in the well-being of Americans

WASHINGTON ,WATCH: IS TRUMP HELPING THE SAUDIS GO NUCLEAR? https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Washington-Watch-Is-Trump-helping-the-Saudis-go-nuclear-592310,BY DOUGLAS BLOOMFIELD, JUNE 12, 2019

US President Donald Trump recently took another step toward bringing Saudi Arabia into the nuclear club. While Israeli-Saudi ties have warmed in recent years, helping the desert kingdom go nuclear – with its ongoing support for the most extreme Islamic radicals in the world – can hardly be good for the Jewish state.

Secret negotiations with the US Energy Department over many months have led Washington to “transfer highly sensitive US nuclear technology, a potential violation of federal law,” to Saudi Arabia, according to House Oversight Committee sources cited by The Washington Post.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) revealed last week that at least two transfers were approved since the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Saudis say they want to begin building their own nuclear power plants with their own enriched uranium, even though it could be purchased elsewhere more cheaply. That raises suspicions that their real goal isn’t producing electricity. By enriching their own uranium, they could begin diverting it to highly enriched weapons grade, especially if they bar international inspectors, as they’ve insisted.
Given its record of obeisance to Saudi demands for top technology and weapons, it is unlikely the Trump administration would object, but instead continue helping to conceal the kingdom’s plans. Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, the de facto ruler, has said that the kingdom would build nuclear weapons if the Iranians did. He may have taken encouragement from a speech in the UAE last month by Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton.

The Iranians are threatening to leave the nuclear pact with the major powers – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – in the wake of the Trump administration’s unilateral exit last year and imposition of sanctions to tighten the economic screws on Tehran.

There’s “no reason” for Iran to walk away from JCPOA, “unless it is to reduce the breakout time to nuclear weapons,” said Bolton, a decades-long advocate of regime change in Iran. Bolton offered no evidence to back his claim.

That should give MBS the rationale he seeks to develop his version of the bomb.

When he turns to Trump for help, he will remind the president that if America won’t sell it to him, there are others who will. Trump is a sucker for that pitch.

North Korea would be a good place to go shopping, since they tried helping Syria build nukes until the Israeli Air Force stopped the plan, something it had done earlier in Iraq. Then there’s Pakistan, which is believed to have built its own nuclear weapons stockpile with Saudi financial help.

THERE MIGHT BE some resistance on Capitol Hill, where Saudi support is low and sinking, but Trump has shown himself more responsive to the wishes of the Saudis than the US Congress.

Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina may moan and groan and make threatening sounds toward Riyadh, but he and majority leader Mitch McConnell are Trump’s poodles, and will make sure the president gets what he wants.

All US administrations – Republican and Democratic – have indulged the Saudi appetite for top technology and weapons. They’ve been driven by pressure from industry and its friends in the Pentagon to sell, sell, sell – and an inexplicable attitude that we need the Saudis far more than they need us. Trump has just raised this to a new level.

Trump’s latest selling spree includes 120,000 conversion kits to produce smart bombs. It is part of an $8.1 billion package that Trump labeled “emergency” to bypass Congressional review.

Most alarming is the Trump administration’s approval for the transfer of highly sensitive weapons technology and equipment to Saudi Arabia so the kingdom can produce electronic guidance systems for Paveway precision-guided bombs, according to congressional sources cited by The New York Times.

The administration assured Congress that it is confident in the Saudi ability to protect the technology, that the need is urgent and that it won’t alter the balance of power in the region – which is exactly what it is intended to do.

Look for Trump to justify massive sales to the Saudis and the UAE as also helping protect Israel from Iran. Historically, all administrations have justified arms sales around the Middle East as harmless to Israel’s qualitative military edge. But they aren’t. Especially when the US is selling the Arabs the same planes, missiles and technology it sells Israel. Trump values his oil-rich customer so much that he has rejected the findings of his own CIA that the crown prince was complicit in Khashoggi’s murder.

Saudi Arabia is the Pentagon’s favorite cash cow. Arms sales are a lucrative business for the US Defense Department, which charges commissions and other fees, and gets economies of scale for its own purchases while selling off old inventory to help pay for replacements. Military attachés around the world are top salesmen for defense contractors as they lay the groundwork for post-uniform careers. Then there are the former – and possibly future – defense industry executives at the highest levels of the Pentagon, starting with the Secretary of Defense.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) said the administration “has effectively given a blank check to the Saudis – turning a blind eye to the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi and allowing their ballistic missile program to expand.”

The United States is not allowed to sell ballistic missiles, so the Saudis have turned to China. CNN reported last week that American intelligence believes Beijing is helping enhance the kingdom’s strategic missile program. In the 1980s, it secretly bought Chinese DF-3 missiles and based them within range of Israel. It bought more advanced missiles in 2007 with the approval of then-president George W. Bush. Unconfirmed published reports suggest they also bought other missiles from Pakistan, which produces a version of the North Korean Nodong missile.

If the Saudis decide to pursue nuclear weapons, they can turn to Trump’s dear friend Kim Jong Un, whose cash-strapped regime has developed its own and the missiles to deliver them.

With Trump looking for business that will create jobs he can claim credit for – and with John Bolton rattling sabers and B-52s, and calling for regime change in Iran – can Saudi Arabia be knocking on an open door to the nuclear club?

June 13, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, politics, politics international, Saudi Arabia, USA | Leave a comment

Germany’s foreign minister has arrived in Tehran in hopes of saving nuclear agreement

German minister lands in Iran in bid to save nuclear pact, Sabine Siebold, TEHRAN (Reuters) 9 June 19, – Germany’s foreign minister has arrived in Tehran to hold talks with President Hassan Rouhani on Monday, as part of a concerted European effort to preserve Iran’s nuclear pact with world powers and defuse rising U.S.-Iranian tensions.A cautious thaw in relations between Tehran and Washington set in in 2015 when Iran struck a deal with six big powers limiting its nuclear activity. But tensions with the United States have mounted again since President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the accord in 2018 and reimposed sweeping sanctions.

West European signatories, including Germany, want to try to keep the nuclear accord alive although they share the Trump administration’s disquiet about Iran’s ballistic missile program and its role in conflicts around in the Middle East.

Germany, France and Britain maintain that the nuclear pact remains the best way to limit Iran’s enrichment of uranium, a potential pathway to the development of nuclear weapons……. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-germany/german-minister-to-meet-irans-rouhani-in-bid-to-save-nuclear-pact-idUSKCN1TA0JW

June 10, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Soon after the Saudi Arabian killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump administration authorised share of sensitive nuclear information with Saudi Arabia

US shared nuclear info with S Arabia after Khashoggi http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/us-shared-nuclear-info-with-s-arabia-after-khashoggi-143952– 5 June 19, WASHINGTON– Reuters The Trump administration granted two authorizations to U.S. companies to share sensitive nuclear power information with Saudi Arabia shortly after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October, a U.S. senator who saw details of the approvals said on June 4.The timing of the approvals is likely to heap pressure on the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump from lawmakers who have become increasingly critical of U.S. support for Saudi Arabia since Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

Khashoggi, a native of Saudi Arabia, left in 2017 to became a resident of the United States where he published columns in the Washington Post critical of the kingdom’s leadership.

Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, where Khashoggi lived, called the timing of the approvals “shocking” and adds to a “disturbing pattern of behavior” of the administration’s policy on Saudi Arabia. The Department of Energy granted the first part 810 authorization on Oct. 18, 16 days after Khashoggi was killed. The second occurred on Feb. 18.

U.S. authorities have concluded that responsibility for Khashoggi‘s death went to the highest levels of the Saudi government. Riyadh has denied that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved.

The authorizations were among seven granted to U.S. companies by Trump’s administration since 2017, as Washington and Riyadh negotiate a potential wider agreement to help Saudi Arabia develop its first two nuclear power reactors.

The Energy Department has kept the companies involved in the sharing of nucleartechnology information with the kingdom confidential, citing the need to protect business interests. In the past, 810 approvals have been made available for the public to view at department headquarters. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Kaine’s statement.

Lawmakers have been anxious to be kept updated about talks on nuclear power development between the administration and Riyadh to make sure any deal contains strict nuclear nonproliferation standards.

Saudi Arabia and Washington had begun talks about nuclear power development before Trump’s presidency. But progress has been slow as the kingdom opposes measures that would prevent it from enriching uranium and reprocessing plutonium, two potential pathways to making fissile material for nuclear weapons.

Last year the crown prince said the kingdom did not want to acquire a nuclear bomb, but if its archrival Iran did, “we will follow suit as soon as possible.”

Kaine, who had urged the administration to release the authorizations, said the approvals were “one of the many steps the administration is taking that is fueling a dangerous escalation of tension in the region.”

Late last month, Trump declared a national emergency because of tensions with Iran and swept aside objections from Congress to complete the sale of more than $8 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

Riyadh plans to issue a multibillion-dollar tender in 2020 to build its first two nuclearpower reactors, sources said in April. Originally expected last year, the tender has been delayed several times.

The United States, South Korea, Russia, China and France are competing for the business. Reactor builder Westinghouse, which has been hit by a downfall in the U.S. nuclear power industry, would likely sell components to Saudi Arabia in any deal involving U.S. technology. Westinghouse is now owned by Brookfield Asset Management Inc.

June 6, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, Saudi Arabia, USA | 1 Comment

Investigation by IAEA finds no evidence that Russia is violating nuclear test ban

Nuclear watchdog chief: no evidence that Russia is violating test ban, US general said Moscow had ‘probably’ violated moratorium, Guardian, Julian Borger 31 May 19
Lassina Zerbo contradicts claims of testing at remote island The head of the international watchdog that monitors signs of nuclear testing has said there is no evidence to support a US allegation that Russiahas conducted low-yield tests in violation of an international ban.Lassina Zerbo, the executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO), said the agency had already investigated the claim made on Wednesday by the head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt Gen Robert Ashley, that Russia had “probably” violated the moratorium on tests of any yield.

In a public appearance in Washington, Ashley did not give details, and in response to follow-up questions, he said only that Russia had the “capability” to carry out such tests. The US has long voiced suspicions that Russia could be carrying out low-yield testing at a remote Arctic island base, Novaya Zemlya.

Zerbo said the agency had conducted a test of its global network of sensors on Wednesday to estimate what size of nuclear blast it would be able to detect at Novaya Zemlya.

The test found that its monitoring system would have picked up a blast of 3.1 on the Richter scale, which would be roughly equivalent, in that area, to a nuclear detonation of 100 tons – tiny in comparison to the yield of most nuclear warheads, which are normally measured in thousands of tons. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 and 20 kilotons, respectively………

It is unclear why Ashley chose to revive the allegation about Russian low-yield testing now, in the apparent absence of any new evidence. Some observers pointed to the fact that Ashley made the claim that testing had “probably” taken place only in his prepared remarks, but did not repeat the claim in a question and answer session, leading to speculation the claim could have been inserted into Ashley’s speech by the White House. The national security adviser, John Bolton, has a long record of hostility to arms control agreements.

On his watch, the US has pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) agreement with Russia. He is believed to be opposed to the extension of the New Start agreement, signed in 2010 with Russia, limiting deployed strategic nuclear warheads and their delivery systems on both sides. It is due to expire in 2021.

Sarah Bidgood, Eurasia programme director at the Centre for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, suggested the issue had been rehashed “in order to support the narrative that Russia is an unreliable partner in arms control, with whom verification does not work”. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/30/nuclear-watchdog-no-evidence-russia-violating-test-ban

June 1, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

IAEA Nuclear inspectors reported Iran continued adhering to its 2015 accord with world powers

Iran Sticking to Nuclear Deal as EU Vies to Prevent Its Collapse https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-31/iran-sticks-to-nuclear-limits-under-2015-deal-with-world-powers By Jonathan Tirone, June 1, 2019,

IAEA issues quarterly inspections report on Iran program

Tensions rising in region between Iran, U.S. and Gulf states

Nuclear inspectors reported Iran continued adhering to its 2015 accord with world powers, giving European nations room to pursue their troubled efforts to prevent a total collapse of a pact facing intensifying U.S. pressure.

International Atomic Energy Agency monitors said Iran’s inventories of enriched uranium and heavy water remained below the thresholds allowed under the 2015 agreement, according to a restricted report seen by Bloomberg News.

It’s the 15th consecutive quarterly report showing that Iran has observed its obligations, and comes amid growing concerns that the Trump administration’s campaign to counter Iranian influence in the Middle East could spill into war.

The IAEA conducted snap inspections “to all the sites and locations in Iran which it needed to visit,” read the 6-page IAEA report that was circulated Thursday among diplomats in Vienna. “Throughout the reporting period, Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile has not exceeded” the maximum permitted 300 kilograms, it said.

Iran’s president signaled May 8 that stockpiles of nuclear material would soon exceed limits after the U.S. revoked waivers permitting it to be shipped abroad. That declaration was made on the one-year anniversary of the U.S. decision to unilaterally exit the nuclear accord and reimpose sanctions, including on vital oil exports. With its economy plunging into recession, Iran said it will violate even more sensitive provisions of the deal unless European signatories deliver the financial relief offered in return for moderating its nuclear program.

Tensions have since spiked further after the U.S. accelerated the deployment of a carrier strike group to the Gulf to counter unspecified Iranian threats, suggested without providing proof that Iran and its proxies were to blame for attacks on ships in the crucial waterway as well as a Saudi oil pipeline, and sent more troops to the region.

President Donald Trump has made confronting Iran a cornerstone of his foreign policy and is squeezing its economy to force it to roll back its ballistic missile program and support for groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which the U.S. deems a terrorist organization.

The White House is counting on Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies to form a united front to contain Iran, prompting a series of meetings involving regional leaders in the kingdom this week.

The stockpile of low-enriched uranium rose 7%, to 174 kilograms (384 pounds), the IAEA said. Its inventory of heavy-water was unchanged at 125 metric tons, less than the 130 metric tons permitted by the agreement.

Iran has been enriching uranium well below capacity and should be able to boost its rate of production, according to a senior diplomat with knowledge of Iran’s program. The country said May 22 it would ramp up the rate at which it produces the material by four times. That implies accumulating as much as 18 kilograms of new low-enriched uranium a month rather than some 4 to 4.5 kilograms previously, the person said.

The stored uranium is still well short of what would be needed to construct a bomb, were the material to be further enriched, and if Iran made the decision to pursue weapons. Iran had previously accumulated enough of the heavy metal to construct more than a dozen weapons before the agreement forced it to eliminate some 97% of its stockpile. Tehran says its nuclear program is solely for civilian energy and medical use.

Heavy water, so named because it contains extra hydrogen atoms, can moderate neutrons inside a nuclear reactor or act as a tracer in medical applications. Iran had been shipping excess inventory to Oman before the U.S. blocked that activity. IAEA inspectors continued to confirm Iran’s Arak reactor, for which the heavy water production was originally intended, remained disabled as agreed under the 2015 accord. Tehran says it could reconstitute that project in the third quarter without sanctions relief.

The IAEA report follows U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton’s statement on Wednesday in the United Arab Emirates that a violation of the deal would show Iranians haven’t “constrained their continuing desire to have nuclear weapons.” The Trump administration has threatened to sanction Europeans for trying to hold the atomic pact together via a non-dollar-denominated financial channel.

Critically, the IAEA report said Iran continued allowing access to sites under what its director general has called “the most robust verification system in existence anywhere.” Inspectors conducted a record number of surprise visits in Iran last year.

Iran has also stuck to the number of centrifuges — the supersonic spinning machines that separate uranium isotopes — allowed for enrichment. Iran is holding “technical discussions” about new generations of more powerful centrifuges that are undergoing testing.

June 1, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

USA National Security Adviser John Bolton Accuses Iran of Seeking Nuclear Weapons,

National Security Adviser John Bolton Accuses Iran of Seeking Nuclear Weapons, TIME BY JON GAMBRELL / AP , MAY 29, 2019 (ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates) — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser warned Iran on Wednesday that any attacks in the Persian Gulf will draw a “very strong response” from the U.S., taking a hard-line approach with Tehran after his boss only two days earlier said America wasn’t “looking to hurt Iran at all.”

John Bolton’s comments are the latest amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran that have been playing out in the Middle East.

Bolton spoke to journalists in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which only days earlier saw former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warn there that “unilateralism will not work” in confronting the Islamic Republic……..

A longtime Iran hawk, Bolton blamed Tehran for the recent incidents, at one point saying it was “almost certainly” Iran that planted explosives on the four oil tankers off the UAE coast. He declined to offer any evidence for his claims.

…….Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has repeatedly criticized Bolton as a warmonger. Abbas Mousavi, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said later Wednesday Bolton’s remarks were a “ridiculous accusation.”

Separately in Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani said that the “road is not closed” when it comes to talks with the U.S. — if America returns to the nuclear deal. However, the relatively moderate Rouhani faces increasing criticism from hard-liners and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the collapsing accord…….

Bolton also said the U.S. would boost American military installations and those of its allies in the region. …..

Bolton’s trip to the UAE comes just days after Trump in Tokyo appeared to welcome negotiations with Iran. http://time.com/5597424/john-bolton-iran-nuclear-weapons/

May 30, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

President Rouhani says that Iran might hold a referendum on its nuclear programme

Rouhani: Iran could hold vote over nuclear deal, Gulf News, 26 May 19, Tehran- Iran’s president has suggested the Islamic Republic could hold a referendum over the country’s nuclear programme amid the unravelling deal with world powers and heightened tensions with the United States, Iranian media reported Sunday

According to the official IRNA news agency, President Hassan Rouhani, who was last week publicly chastised by the country’s supreme leader, made the suggestion in a meeting with editors of major Iranian news outlets on Saturday evening.

Rouhani said he had previously suggested a referendum to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2004, when he was a senior nuclear negotiator for Iran.

At the time, Khamenei approved of the idea and though there was no referendum, such a vote “can be a solution at any time,” Rouhani was quoted as saying……

In recent weeks, tensions between Washington and Tehran have escalated over America deploying an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the region over a still-unexplained threat it perceives from Tehran. The US also plans to send 900 additional troops to the 600 already in the Middle East and extending their stay amid the tensions.

Rouhani’s remarks could also be seen as a defence of his stance following the rare public chastising by the supreme leader………

Earlier last week, Iran said it quadrupled its uranium-enrichment production capacity though Iranian officials made a point to stress that the uranium would be enriched only to the 3.67 per cent limit set under the deal, making it usable for a power plant but far below what’s needed for an atomic weapon.

Zarif, the foreign minister, was in the Iraq capital on Sunday for talks with officials. On Saturday, Mohammad Halbousi, the parliament speaker in Iraq, a key Iranian ally, said Baghdad is ready to mediate between the United States and Iran if it is asked to do so. https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/rouhani-iran-could-hold-vote-over-nuclear-deal-1.64197846

May 27, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics | Leave a comment

Trump may use ’emergency’ powers to bypass Congress, to sell missiles to Saudi Arabia

Trump prepared to bypass Congress on Saudi arms sale: senators
Democrats warn Trump may use ’emergency’ loophole to sell missiles to Saudi Arabia without congressional approval. Aljazeera, by William Roberts, 24 May 2019 Washington, DC – Democrats in the United StatesSenate have warned that the Trump administration is preparing to approve a major new arms sale to Saudi Arabia, using an “emergency” loophole to bypass Congress.

“I am expecting that the administration is going to notice a major arms sale through emergency powers,” Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, told Al Jazeera on Thursday, after he said an administration official gave the Senate Foreign Relations Committee “informal notice” of the forthcoming announcement.

US arms control law allows Congress to reject weapons sales to foreign countries but an exemption in the law allows the president to waive the need for congressional approval by declaring a national security emergency. …..

‘Terrible mistake’

Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who has previously blocked missile sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, warned the administration would be making “a terrible mistake”.

In a statement, Menendez said he would “pursue all appropriate legislative and other means to nullify” the planned sale and he warned US weapons makers could be subject to criminal and civil penalties if they export weapons under “potentially invalid licenses”.

Calling Saudi Arabia “one of the worst human rights abusers in the world”, Menendez said the US’s reputation would suffer from “delivering deadly weapons to governments that clearly intend to misuse them”. …….

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/trump-prepared-bypass-congress-saudi-arms-sale-senators-190523203131884.html

May 25, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, politics international, Saudi Arabia, USA | Leave a comment

Wildfires rage in Israel during heatwave

24 May 19, JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Firefighters on Thursday battled wildfires that scorched swathes of forests in central Israel, forcing some small towns to be evacuated, during a heatwave that brought record temperatures to parts of the country.

Rescue efforts focused on a wooded area between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where ground teams and airplane tankers fought back the flames for hours. By nightfall, the fires were mostly under control, according to police……. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-wildfires/wildfires-rage-in-israel-during-heatwave-idUSKCN1ST2F1

May 25, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, Israel | Leave a comment

Renewable energy, replacing nuclear plans with solar, is the obvious way forward for Jordan

Since renewable sources of energy are getting more promising in the country, and domestic gas production has risen, it is time to close the door on nuclear projects and rely more on other sources of energy.

Replace nuclear with renewables http://www.jordantimes.com/opinion/editorial/replace-nuclear-renewables May 22,2019 Head of the Lower House’s Energy and Mineral Resources Committee Haytham Ziadin raised recently, and rightly so, the viability of the plan to build a nuclear plant to satisfy the energy needs of the country. Ziadin went as far as calling for ending altogether all plans to build such a plant, and called them simply as squandering of badly-needed funds.

The comments of the head of the Lower Houses’ Energy and Mineral Resources Committee must be seen against the backdrop of an earlier ambitious plan to construct a huge nuclear plant, by signing first an agreement to do so with Russia’s Rosaton agency in 2015 for this purpose that would cost $10 billion at a time when the country is dry of funds and nearly broke! The defunct nuclear plant project would have generated only 2,000 Megawatts of electricity anyway. The cancelled deal was replaced by a less ambitious project to build smaller nuclear reactors.

In retrospect though, the idea to go nuclear in the country was marred with strong objections from several well-informed sources in the country, which raised the spectrum of its safety and the non-availability of sufficient amounts of water anywhere in the country for cooling purpose.

The economic feasibility of any such project was always on the minds of various shades of opinion on a national nuclear plant. When Aqaba was dropped as a site for this purpose due to strong objections from different circles, the sponsors of the nuclear plant project shifted their attention to other regions of the country, despite the fact that water resources are scant and the country can ill-afford depleting whatever is left of precious water on a dubious nuclear plant.

An increasing number of developed countries with a wide experience in nuclear energy have begun to phase out nuclear energy plants for safety reasons, among them Germany, so why would Jordan opt to go the other way?

When all is considered, the limited financial resources available to the country, in addition to rising safety hazards associated with nuclear plants, Ziadin and like-minded cautious people are right in objecting to the construction of even small nuclear reactors.

According to the Minister of Energy and Minerals Resources Hala Zawati, the country is now producing 11 per cent of our electricity by renewable energy sources and is projected to produce no less than 20 per cent of its energy needs by solar and wind sources of energy by 2021.

On balance, whatever benefits that nuclear plants may have for Jordan, they are outweighed by lack of financial resources, high safety risks associated with nuclear plants, shortage of water resources in all parts of the country and the lack of an appropriate geographic area for any such nuclear project.

May 23, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Jordan, renewable | Leave a comment

Danger of war – Israel vs Russia – could lead to nuclear war

Israel vs. Russia: The Middle East War That Could Become a Nuclear Train Wreck
Yes, this could happen. The National Interest, by Michael Peck 20 May 19, As always with the Arab-Israeli (or Iranian-Israeli) conflict, the real danger isn’t the regional conflict, but how it might escalate. In the 1973 war, the Soviets threatened to send troops to Egypt unless Israel agreed to a cease-fire. The United States responded by going on nuclear alert.

Could Israeli air strikes in Syria trigger war between Israel and Russia?

Israel remains determined to continue pounding Iranian forces in Syria in a bid to keep Tehran’s forces away from Israel’s northern border. At the same time, Russia has thousands of troops in Syria that could be caught in the crossfire—or even become belligerents if Moscow tires of its Syrian ally being pummeled.

And if Israel and Russia come to blows, would Israel’s big brother—the United States—feel compelled to intervene?

Not that Jerusalem or Moscow are eager for such a fight. “Neither of us desire a military confrontation,” a senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) official told me during a recent interview in Jerusalem. “It would be detrimental to both sides.”

Yet Israel’s policy boils down to this: it will do whatever it sees as necessary to eject Iranian forces from Syria. And if Russia doesn’t like it, then that’s just the price of ensuring that Syria doesn’t become another Iranian rocket base on Israel’s border…….

Just how easily Israeli military operations can trigger an incident became evident during a September 2018 strike on ammunition depots in western Syria. Anti-aircraft missiles launched by Syrian gunners accidentally shot down a Russian Il-20 surveillance aircraft, killing fifteen people. Israel denies Russian accusations that it deliberately used the Russian plane as cover, or failed to give Moscow sufficient warning of the raid. Yet Russia still blamed Israel for the mishap and retaliated by supplying advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria. ……

Can Israel target Iran in Syria without triggering a clash with Russia?

There are deconfliction mechanisms in place, including a hotline between the Israeli and Russian militaries. “We are very strict about informing the Russians about our activities and that their operational picture is up to date,” said the IDF official. Yet those procedures were not sufficient to avoid a downing of a Russian plane………

As always with the Arab-Israeli (or Iranian-Israeli) conflict, the real danger isn’t the regional conflict, but how it might escalate. In the 1973 war, the Soviets threatened to send troops to Egypt unless Israel agreed to a cease-fire. The United States responded by going on nuclear alert.

Were the Israelis and Russians to come to blows, or if Moscow were to seriously threaten military force against Israel, could the United States risk a grave loss of prestige by not intervening to back its longtime ally? Could Russia—whose Syrian intervention is a proud symbol of its reborn military muscle and great power status—not retaliate for another downed Russian plane or a dead Russian soldier?

Which leads to the ultimate question: could tensions between Israel and Russia lead to a clash between American and Russian troops?

In the end, somebody will have to back down. But Iran isn’t about to give up its outpost on Israel’s border, and Russia probably can’t force them to. Then there is Israel, which is grimly determined to stop Iran. …… https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/israel-vs-russia-middle-east-war-could-become-nuclear-train-wreck-58482

May 21, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Israel, politics international, weapons and war | 2 Comments

Preparations for Middle East peace plan for June conference

Trump says US has not reached out to Iran for talks Times of Israel 20 May 19,

UN voices concern over fiery rhetoric from Tehran and Washington, says it’s mediating with officials on both sides to calm situation…….

The White House announced Sunday that it will unveil the first phase of its long-awaited Mideast peace plan at the conference in Bahrain in late June, saying it will focus on economic benefits that could be reaped if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved. The plan envisions large-scale investment and infrastructure work, much of it funded by wealthy Arab countries, in the Palestinian territories.

But officials say the June 25-26 conference will not include the core political issues of the conflict: final borders, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees or Israeli security demands.

The Palestinians have said they will not send representatives to the conference. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-may-20-2019/

May 21, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | MIDDLE EAST, politics international | Leave a comment

Iran’s top diplomat presses efforts to save nuclear deal

By NASSER KARIMIMay 18, 2019, TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister traveled Friday to China on his Asian tour aimed at keeping world markets open to Tehran amid an intense sanctions campaign from the U.S. as tensions across the Persian Gulf remain high.

Concerns about a possible conflict have flared since the White House ordered warships and bombers to the region to counter an alleged, unexplained threat from Iran that has seen America order nonessential diplomatic staff out of Iraq……

mposing sanctions while seeking talks is like “pointing a gun at someone and demanding friendship,” said Iranian Gen. Rasool Sanaeirad, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.

That comment was echoed by Majid Takht-e Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations.

“They want to have the stick in their hands, trying to intimidate Iran at the same time calling for a dialogue,” Ravanchi told CBS. “What type of dialogue is this?”…..https://www.apnews.com/04eabdee60dc4a399b22a2c6a5f0c672

May 20, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Iran officially ends some of its nuclear deal commitments, local media reports

CNBC, MAY 15 2019 Natasha Turak @NATASHATURAKA “program has been launched” to end some of Iran’s obligations to the 2015 nuclear deal on orders from the country’s Supreme National Security Council, the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported…… https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/15/iran-officially-ends-some-of-its-nuclear-deal-commitments-isna.html

May 16, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

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