Iran is not racing toward a nuclear weapon
“We know what’s going on in (the monitored sites) now, and what’s going on in them now is not indicative of an Iran that’s racing toward a nuclear weapon,”
Analysis: Iran’s nuclear showdown with West still short of war, msnbc.com 11/22/2011 LONDON — Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West has led to much harsher
words and new economic sanctions, but Tehran has yet to cross the red lines that would prompt Israel or the United States to contemplate military action…..
For now at least, experts say 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. Continue reading
Iran and nuclear issues: diplomacy is the only answer
Let’s be clear: there is still no concrete evidence Iran is building a bomb.The latest report from the IAEA, despite its much discussed reference to “possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme”, also admits that its inspectors continue “to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material at [Iran’s] nuclear facilities”.
The simple fact is there is no alternative to diplomacy, no matter how truculent or paranoid the leaders of Iran might seem to western eyes. If a nuclear-armed Iran is to be avoided, US politicians have to dial down their threatening rhetoric and tackle the very real and rational perception, on the streets of Tehran and Isfahan, of America and Israel as military threats to the Islamic Republic. Iranians are fearful, nervous, defensive – and, as the Middle East map shows, perhaps with good reason…
If you lived in Iran, wouldn’t you want the nuclear bomb? Mehdi Hasan, guardian.co.uk, 19 Nov 11 The best way for the US to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons is to dial down the rhetoric and adopt some diplomacy
Imagine, for a moment, that you are an Iranian mullah. Sitting crosslegged on your Persian rug in Tehran, sipping a cup of chai, you glance up at the map of the Middle East on the wall. It is a disturbing image: your country, the Islamic Republic of Iran, is surrounded on all sides by virulent enemies and regional rivals, both nuclear and non-nuclear… Continue reading
Support for a diplomatic solution to issue of Iran’s nuclear programme
International officials call for diplomatic solution to Iran nuclear issue TEHRAN TIMES, 19 Nov 11– A number of international officials, including the Russian foreign minister, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, and Indian prime minister, have called for the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program to be resolved through diplomatic channels.Iran’s nukes – a matter of national pride
At Tehran University, a group of hard-line students starts a petition urging Iran to withdraw from an international treaty regulating nuclear development. There’s no doubt Iran carefully stage manages much of its backlash to Western pressures over its nuclear efforts. But not all.
Iran’s defiance remains one of the few patches of common ground in a nation with multiple divisions: Hard-liners against opposition groups; power struggles between the ruling clerics and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; infighting among various parliament factions.
“Iranians don’t agree on much these days, but you could say the nuclear issue is one where they more or less speak in a common voice,” said William O. Beeman, aUniversity of Minnesota professor who follows Iranian affairs. Continue reading
The psychology of attitudes in Iran to nuclear power
what about Ahmadinejad’s promise to “wipe Israel off the face of the map?” Several problems exist with the idea.
Firstly, scholars of the Persian language say that his oft-cited words have been mistranslated and taken out of context. Ahmadinejad was actually quoting the revolutionary regime’s founder, Ayatollah Khoemeni, not making a policy statement.. (Read here for more on this dispute).
The Threat of a Nuclear Theocracy, Act II. Slate, By Michael Moran , Nov. 15, 2011 As the U.S. debate over Iran’s nuclear program has heated up, an issue of war and peace is being framed in a very dangerous way. The United States, with all its other problems right now, must get this right, because all options on Iran’s nuclear program are laden with risk, and the truth is very inconvenient.
The debate—roughly sanctions and diplomacy versus airstrikes—fails to acknowledge some important facts, the most important of which is that neither a military option—short of the lunacy of an all-out invasion of Iran—nor diplomacy will guarantee that Iran won’t soon gatecrash the nuclear club. Continue reading
“Duqu” new virus hits Iran’s nuclear programme
It was not clear on Monday from the Iranian statement whether Duqu had also struck nuclear facilities, but it was the first admission of damage.
“We are in the initial phase of fighting the Duqu virus,” Gholamreza Jalali, the head of Iran’s civil defence programme, said. “The final report which says which organisations the virus has spread to and what its impacts are has not been completed yet….. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8888967/Iran-claims-defence-computer-systems-hit-by-another-supervirus.html
Terrorist act kills Iran’s nuclear missile chief: Israel responsible?
Israel reported ‘behind blast’ that killed Iran’s missile chief, by Julian Borger 14 November 2011 guardian.co.uk Time magazine quotes ‘western inteligencel source’ as saying Mossad carried out blast at missile base near Tehran
Time’s correspondent in Jerusalem, Karl Vick, is reporting that Israel was responsible for the huge blast on Saturday at a Revolutionary Guard missile base, about 35 km west of Tehran. Vick quotes a western intelligence source as saying that Mossad carried out the sabotage attack, adding that more such attacks are to be expected – “There are more bullets in the magazine.”
If true, it would be the most damaging blow to date in the covert waragainst Iran‘s nuclear weapons programme. It killed 17 Iranian revolutionary guardsmen, including the head of the missile programme, General Hasan Moghaddam, decribed in the Iranian press as “a pioneer” of Iran’s missile project [Farsi]. His official job description was head of the ‘self-sufficiency department” for munitions. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was at the funeral today…. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/julian-borger-global-security-blog/2011/nov/14/iran-nuclear-weapons?newsfeed=true
Open anti nuclear activism in Iran
Iran Activists Join Antinuclear Push, WSJ, 14 Nov 11, By FARNAZ FASSIHI, A group of Iranian dissidents for the first time openly called on their government to suspend uranium enrichment, in an open letter published Monday that adds to the momentum of the international effortto convince Tehran to abandon its alleged nuclear weapons program.
“The current deadlock over Iran’s nuclear ambitions and empty power play will set the stage for war and the people of Iran will have to pay the price,” said the letter. Continue reading
Doubts and inconsistencies in IAEA report on Iran’s nukes
Careful examination of the “alleged studies” documents has revealed inconsistencies and other anomalies that give evidence of fraud. But the IAEA, the United States and its allies in the IAEA continue to treat the documents as though there were no question about their authenticity.
IAEA report on Iran contains falsified information allegedly supplied by Israel, Moral Outrage, 11 Nov 11 The Hindu reports that the latest report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran appears to have falsified information about a Russian scientist who allegedly helped Tehran advance its nuclear weapons program. The IAEA report published by a Washington think tank Tuesday included a sensational claim that a former Soviet nuclear weapons scientist had helped Iran construct a detonation system that could be used for a nuclear weapon.
However, the Russian media has found out that the scientist, Vyacheslav Danilenko, had never worked in nuclear physics but their field of expertise was instead the production of nanodiamonds by explosion. Nanodiamonds are used in the manufacture of lubricants and rubber.
Contacted by the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant, the 76-year-old scientist, now retired, refused to discuss his work in Iran, saying only: “I’m not a nuclear physicist and I’m not a father of Iran’s nuclear programme.” Continue reading
Obama gets no support from China and Russia on tougher measures to Iran
Russia and China stay silent after Obama seeks their support over Iran nuclear bomb threat Absolutely no consensus’ between three leaders By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 14th November 2011 Barack Obama was met with a wall of silence from his counterparts in China and Russia when he brought up the increasing problem of Iran’s nuclear programme at a global summit. Continue reading
Iran’s history – how the West promoted the tragedy of Iran
Iran a tragedy of the West’s own making. SMH, November 14, 2011 “…..The tragedy of this now oppressive theocratic state is that it was once the sole exemplary democracy in the Middle East. Its secular democracy was destroyed in 1953 by the US and Britain in a self-interested move to prevent Iran falling under the influence of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
The imposition by the West of the Shah saw the establishment of a murderous and corrupt regime protected by the West to ensure the survival of Britain’s oil interests.
When the excesses of this regime became an embarrassment the West stood back as the Islamic revolution swept to power. Again the democratic forces were violently repressed by the new government…..
the West later supported the Saddam Hussein government in its war on Iran. Small wonder then that Iranians feel they have strong reasons to distrust and fear the West and its protege, Israel.
And given that the current oppressive Iranian regime has largely destroyed the remnant democratic forces in Iran, any chance of a democratic revolution is remote. The constant threat of military intervention and the sanctions imposed play into the hands of the present Iranian government… http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/iran-a-tragedy-of-the-wests-own-making-20111113-1ndx3.html#ixzz1djIAWf2u
USA’s under cover terrorism against Iran
VIDEO US confesses to covert ops against Iran Press TV 13 Nov
11 Washington is seeking to stop Iran’s nuclear program by means of maximum covert operations including the assassination of Iranian scientists.
Iran warns against Israeli military strike
Nuclear standoff: Iran warns US, Israel against strike News.com.Au 11 Nov 11 IRAN will hit back against any attack or even threat of military action, the country’s supreme leader says after Israel warned the world must act to prevent Tehran getting nuclear weapons.Iran “will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within”, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told students at a Tehran military college, according to his official website. Continue reading
Unwisdom of attack on Iran, and not much new in IAEA report
despite the rhetoric about last chances, there is still time for a peaceful way out of the crisis. The Obama administration has no stomach nor money for another war, and its generals insist that every way they game the scenarios, America comes out the loser.
The IAEA report: what does it really mean and will it lead to war with Iran? byJulian Borger 9 November 2011 guardian.co.uk Tuesday’s IAEA report has rekindled the global debate over what to do about the Iranian nuclear programme with a familiar array of options on the table: engage, sanction or attack. The various protagonists are familiar too. Russia is complaining the IAEA report has spoilt the chance of renewed dialogue, the US, Britain and France want a new push towards tighter sanctions, and Israel is threatening to strike unless the international community sorts the matter out in the next few months.
There is something a little phoney about all the sound and fury. There is nothing in the report that was not previously known by the major powers. The West and Israel supplied most of the original tip-offs for the annex on weapons development, while Russia was briefed and no doubt knew one of its own scientists had been lecturing the Iranians on how to make explosive implosion devices (ostensibly for making tiny diamonds).
Furthermore, the bulk of the report is historical, referring to the years leading up to 2003. Continue reading
A British warning against an attack on Iran
Iran is a far more sophisticated and divided society than the picture generally painted in the west.
An attack on Iran would halt and reverse moves to reform. The Arab spring would become an Arab winter with disastrous consequences for US and European interests as well as Arab societies, including Saudi Arabia. The alternatives are many – to continue to apply economic sanctions, a policy of carrot and stick, but with much more emphasis on the carrot. Embraces are far more difficult to withstand than attacks…
An attack on Iran would be disastrous Britain must resist US pressure for military action. Even if Iran had nuclear weapons, engagement is the only course to take, Guardian UK 6 Nov 11
“Would a British prime minister ever refuse a plea from a US president to join America in a controversial military operation?” This was the response, rhetorical and unanswerable as far as they were concerned, by Whitehall mandarins whenever they were asked why Tony Blair agreed to invade Iraq. It was not a matter of whether the invasion was wrong or right; it was that the occupier of 10 Downing Street would simply not turn down such a request from the White House.
For the US, Britain could offer not only political and “moral” support but a juicy physical asset – Diego Garcia, the base conveniently placed for American bombers, on the British Indian Ocean Territory.
This is what so worries Whitehall, and Britain’s top brass in particular – a growing fear that Barack Obama will find it difficult to oppose increasing pressure for military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities within the next 12 months. Continue reading
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