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Involvement of the West in sabotage and assassinations in Iran?

 former officials said, the U.S. and its allies have secretly ramped up covert actions aimed at slowing Iran’s nuclear progress toward a bomb….

Ex-officials see signs US and allies have stepped up sabotage against Iran’s nuclear efforts Washington Post, 26 Sept 11WASHINGTON — Iran’s star-crossed nuclear and energy programs have suffered a rash of setbacks, mishaps and catastrophes in the past two years.

Assassins killed three scientists with links to Iran’s nuclear programs. The Stuxnet computer worm that famously infected computers worldwide zeroed in on a single target in Iran, devices that can make weapons-usable uranium. Dozens of unexplained explosions hit the country’s gas pipelines, and Iran’s first nuclear power plant suffered major equipment failures as technicians struggle to bring it online.

Has Iran just been unlucky? Probably not. Continue reading →

September 26, 2011 Posted by | Iran, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Qatar urges international action on Nuclear Non Proliferation

this aim remains elusive in light of Israel’s continued building of nuclear weapons and construction of other reactors and the pursuit of other countries in the region to have nuclear energy, our main concern is the need for the international community to think of a formula to avert environmental disaster, as the one that occurred in Japan or in Chernobyl,” al-Sada said.

Qatar stresses nuclear free Middle East, Gulf Times, 26 Sept, QNA /New York, Qatar has reiterated the importance of activating and implementing the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and turn the Middle East into a nuclear weapons-free zone.   Continue reading →

September 26, 2011 Posted by | MIDDLE EAST, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Israel should come clean about its nuclear weapons

Muslim nations demand Israel open its nuke program to IAEA viewing, Washington Post, 23 Sept 11, VIENNA — Muslim countries at a 151-nation conference demanded Friday that Israel open its nuclear program to international purview, asserting that its undeclared arsenal is a threat to Mideast peace.

Unlike in recent years, however, Arab states did not push for a resolution directly targeting Israel by name after such an attempt was narrowly voted down at last year’s International Atomic Energy Agency general conference.

And with few exceptions, the tone of the verbal attacks on the Jewish state appeared less confrontational. A planned IAEA meeting in November would bring Arab nations and Israel to the table to explore what can be learned from other regions that have set up zones free of weapons of mass destruction.

As in past years, the conference did pass a resolution calling on all Middle East states to adopt the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in an indirect demand on Israel, the only country in the region not bound by the treaty.

But even Israel did not oppose that document, abstaining instead of voting against it after failing to have a specific paragraph that effectively singled out the Jewish state without naming it struck from the document…… http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/islamic-nations-demand-israel-open-its-nuke-program-to-iaea-viewing/2011/09/23/gIQAl0N8pK_story.html

September 24, 2011 Posted by | MIDDLE EAST, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Iran ‘s offer to stop enriching uranium

Iran offers to halt enrichment, if West provides uranium, Dawn.com, 22 Sept 11, WASHINGTON: Iran has offered to stop its production of low enriched uranium, provided the West gives it the nuclear material, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview published in Thursday’s New York Times…. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Iran nuclear experts subjected to spying and assassinations

Iran nuclear chief says UK spies shadowed him, By Fredrik Dahl, VIENNA   Sep 20, 2011 (Reuters) – Iran’s nuclear energy chief accused British spies on Monday of shadowing him around the world — even to the “back door” of his university office — to gather information ahead of a failed assassination attempt on him last year. Continue reading →

September 21, 2011 Posted by | Iran, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Iran’s call for nuclear talks is refused by USA

U.S. Rejects Iran’s Call For Nuclear Talks Payvand.com Source: Radio Zamaneh, 16 Sept, 11, The U.S. has rejected the proposal to resume nuclear talks with Iran, accusing the country of a “charm offensive” in a letter to the European Union. The U.S. says Tehran has made no new commitments to address international concerns around its nuclear program…..
http://www.payvand.com/news/11/sep/1152.html

September 17, 2011 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Libya lied about nuclear weapons – documents reveal

MI6 caught Libyans lying about nuclear weapons, documents reveal MI6 caught the Libyans lying about their stock of nuclear weapons after uncovering a secret network of arms supplies from Pakistan, documents found in Tripoli reveal.Telegraph, By , and Richard Spencer 05 Sep 2011…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8743226/MI6-caught-Libyans-lying-about-nuclear-weapons-documents-reveal.html

September 6, 2011 Posted by | Libya, weapons and war | Leave a comment

France’s President warns on possibility of pre-emptive military strike against Iran

Sarkozy says Iran nuclear bid could provoke preemptive military action, 31 August 2011,By AL ARABIYA AND AGENCIES ,PARIS French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned on Wednesday that Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions could provoke preemptive military action against it.

“Its military nuclear and ballistic ambitions constitute a growing threat that may lead to a preventive attack against Iranian sites that would provoke a major crisis that France wants to avoid at all costs,” he said.

 Sarkozy did not say which country might launch such a strike, but it has been reported that Israel – perhaps with US support – has considered bombing Iranian nuclear sites if it believes Tehran is close to building a weapon.

The French leader placed the blame for the crisis on Iran, which insists it has no intention of building a nuclear weapon, and is merely enriching nuclear fuel for medical research and a domestic atomic energy program…. http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/08/31/164882.html

September 1, 2011 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Envoy says that Iran showed U.N. all its nuclear sites

Iran shows U.N. official all nuclear sites: envoy, By Fredrik Dahl, VIENNA  Aug 23, 2011 (Reuters) – Iran allowed a senior U.N. nuclear inspector rare access to a facility for developing advanced uranium enrichment machines during a tour of all of the country’s main atomic sites, an Iranian envoy said on Tuesday. Continue reading →

August 29, 2011 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Death sentence for man convicted of killing Iranian nuclear scientist

‘Mossad assassin handed death penalty’ PRESS TV 28 Aug 11, Iran’s judiciary spokesman says the man convicted of assassinating Iranian nuclear physicist Masoud Ali-Mohammadi in 2010 has been handed the death sentence.

“According to the verdict of the Islamic Revolution Court the death verdict of terrorist Majid Jamali Fashi, who assassinated martyr Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, has been announced,” IRNA quoted Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei as saying on Sunday.  He said that Jamali Fashi has been found guilty of Moharebeh (waging war against god) and Fesad fel Arz (spread of corruption on earth).

The prosecution session of the defendant was held on Tuesday, August 23, 2011 in Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolution Court during which the defendant confessed to having been funded and supported by Israeli agents in assassinating the Iranian professor.

Professor Ali-Mohammadi, a lecturer at Tehran University, was killed when an explosive-laden motorbike was detonated with a remote-controlled device near his home in the Qeytariyeh neighborhood of northern Tehran on January 12, 2010.

Upon comprehensive investigations, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said it had dismantled an Israeli network comprising of Israeli-trained spies and terrorists, and arrested the main perpetrators in connection with the assassination of Ali-Mohammadi. …….

http://www.presstv.com/detail/196203.html

August 29, 2011 Posted by | Iran, Legal | Leave a comment

USA declares that Gaddafi’s nuclear materials are secure

U.S.: Gadhafi Chemical, Nuclear Materials Secure, ABC News 25 Aug 11,  — American officials said today that Moammar Gadhafi’s stock of chemical and nuclear materials are secure, amid fears they could fall into the wrong hands as the longtime leader’s regime falls.

“Our judgment is that they remain secure,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters. “We have no reason to believe that there is anything else of that nature anywhere else.”……

The State Department has already spent $3 million on contracts to help destroy weapons and mines inside parts of Libya that have been taken over by rebel forces. Gadhafi had promised in 2003 to dismantle its nuclear program as part of an agreement that eventually led the U.S. to take Libya off the list of states that sponsor terrorism in 2006.

After the agreement, the U.S. sent millions in aid to the Gadhafi regime “focused on bolstering Libya’s commitments to renouncing weapons of mass destruction,” according to State Department records….http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-gadhafi-nuclear-chemical-weapons-secure/story?id=14381560

August 26, 2011 Posted by | Libya, safety | Leave a comment

Risk of radioactive “dirty bomb” in Libya

Former UN nuclear expert warns of ‘dirty bomb’ Research centre has large quantities of radioisotopes and radioactive waste even after programme was abandoned, Gulf News, Reuters, August 25, 2011,Vienna: A research centre near Tripoli has stocks of nuclear material that could be used to make a “dirty bomb”, a former senior UN inspector said yesterday, warning of possible looting during turmoil in Libya.

Seeking to mend ties with the West, Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi agreed in 2003 to abandon efforts to acquire nuclear, chemical and biological weapons — a move that brought him in from the cold and helped end decades of Libyan isolation.

A six-month popular insurgency has now forced Gaddafi to abandon his stronghold in the Libyan capital but continued gunfire suggests the resistance fighters have not completely triumphed yet.

Olli Heinonen, head of UN nuclear safeguards inspections worldwide until last year, pointed to substantial looting that took place at Iraq’s Tuwaitha atomic research facility near Baghdad after Saddam Hussain was toppled in 2003.

In Iraq, “most likely due to pure luck, the story did not end in a radiological disaster,” Heinonen said. In Libya, “nuclear security concerns still linger,” the former deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in an online commentary.http://gulfnews.com/news/region/libya/former-un-nuclear-expert-warns-of-dirty-bomb-1.856887

 

August 25, 2011 Posted by | Libya, safety | Leave a comment

Targeted killing of investigative journalists in Libya

Order: Kill non-mainstream reporters in Libya, What U.S. is hiding, , Human Rights Examiner, August 22, 2011,  Targeted Killings of non-mainstream reporters in Libya ordered: Attempts to bury truth

The Examiner learned in communications from human rights defenders and independent journalists throughout Monday that they were shaken with news of 1300 Libyans killed and 5000 wounded Saturday, plus, the U.S. allegedly ordered Targeted Killings of Voltaire Network reporters, Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya and Thierry Meyssan, non-mainstream reporters in Libya covering the NATO war, while other independent reporters there are being fired upon and one, Mohammed Nabbous was killed Saturday according to ABC News.  In an interview with journalist Don DeBar on KPFA radio, he reported most mainstream “news” about Libya has been untrue, as alternative news sites heavily report but are increasingly persecuted according to their recent reports.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Order: Kill non-mainstream reporters in Libya, What U.S. is hiding – National Human Rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/kill-non-mainstream-reporters-libya-ordered-trapped-hiding-shot?CID=examiner_alerts_article#ixzz1W5cmLRq

August 25, 2011 Posted by | Libya, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Real or show trial? – guilty plea in assassination of Iran nuclear scientist

Man pleads guilty to assassinating Iranian nuclear scientist, Iran accused Majid Jamali-Fashi in suspected show trial of ‘Israeli sponsored’ murder of Masoud Ali-Mohammad, , guardian.co.uk,  23 August 2011 A man accused by Iran of carrying out an assassination “sponsored and designed by Israel” has pleaded guilty to the murder of an Iranian “nuclear scientist”. Continue reading →

August 25, 2011 Posted by | Iran, Legal | Leave a comment

What if the West has misjudged Ahmadinejad about nuclear weapons?

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has certainly come out with some powerful statements against Israel, and he has sounded very threatening.

Yet Ahmadinejad also comes out with some powerful statements against nuclear weapons., and arguing that Iran is not developing them and would never use them, especially as a “first strike”.

We need to remember that Ahmadinejad is a popular leader, trying to function in an Islamic State, – where supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and the Mullahs wield extraordinary power and influence. Ahmadinejad has to “keep them on side” – has to come out with fiery nationalistic statements.  But perhaps he really does believe that nuclear weapons are dangerous, immoral, and unnecessary.  Perhaps the world could do worse than Ahmadinejad for an Iranian leader. – Christina Macpherson

August 15, 2011 Posted by | Christina's notes, Iran | Leave a comment