Iran the Next Battlefield - Thread Renamed

[Aplomb]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...348748,00.html

Iranian official: If threatened, we will use nuclear weapons
After countless declarations of peaceful intentions of nuclear plan, Iran's chief nuclear envoy confirms fears by saying if county is threatened, situation may change Associated Press

Published:

01.05.07, 15:04

Iran's chief nuclear envoy Ali Larijani said on Friday that Iran is committed to the peaceful use of nuclear technology but warned the situation could change if his country is threatened.
"We oppose obtaining nuclear weapons and we will peacefully use nuclear technology under the framework of the Nonproliferation Treaty, but if we are threatened, the situation may change," He told a news conference after two days of talks in Beijing.

Rare Remark

Mubarak hints: We’ll develop nukes / Roee Nahmias During summit with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Egyptian president hints that if Iran attains nukes, Egypt will have to also in order to defend itself. Up until now Egypt has claimed its nuclear program was for energy purposes only Full story

Iran's nuclear chief said his country has produced and stored 250 tons of the gas used as the feedstock for uranium enrichment, state-run television reported Friday.

Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who is also the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Iran has kept the uranium hexaflouride gas, or UF-6, in underground tunnels at a nuclear facility in Isfahan to protect it from any possible attack.

"Today, we have produced more than 250 tons of UF-6. Should you visit Isfahan, you will see we have constructed tunnels that are almost unique in the world," State-run television quoted Aghazadeh as saying.


Larijani during press conference (Photo: Reuters)

While China has strong trade ties with oil-rich Iran, it is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which voted unanimously to bar all countries from selling materials and technology to Iran that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs.

It also froze the assets of 10 Iranian companies and 12 individuals related to those programs.
'Iran will stand up to coercion'
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday said international sanctions won't stop Iran from enriching uranium, vowing not to give into "Coercion," State-run television reported.

"Iran will stand up to coercion. ... All Iranians stand united to defend their nuclear rights," State-run TV quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

Iran has refused to comply with international demands that it suspend uranium enrichment. It also has condemned as "Invalid" And "Illegal" a UN Security Council resolution passed last month that imposes sanctions against the Islamic Republic for refusing to halt enrichment.
"Enemies have assumed that they can prevent the progress of the Iranian nation through psychological war and issuing resolutions, but they will be defeated," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on state-run TV.
Reuters contributed to this report

[Aplomb]

http://jewishworldreview.com/1206/glick122906.php3

"Is it now too late to act against Iran" by Caroline Glick

[Jag]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

Jan. 7, 2007 1:44 | Updated Jan. 7, 2007 4:22
Report: Israel planning to attack Iran's nuclear sites


Israel has drawn up plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons, according to a report in the London-based Sunday Times on Sunday morning.

The British newspaper said that two IAF squadrons had been training to blow up an enrichment plant in Natanz using low-yield nuclear "bunker busters."

A heavy water plant at Arak and a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan would also be targeted, using conventional bombs, according to the Sunday Times.
Reportedly, the plan envisaged conventional laser-guided bombs opening "tunnels" into the targets.

Nuclear warheads would then be fired into the plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce radioactive fallout.

IAF pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 2,000 mile round-trip to the Iranian targets, the Sunday Times said, adding that three possible routes to Iran had been mapped out including one over Turkey.

The Sunday Times suggested that Israel may be trying to scare Iran or to cajole the US into taking stronger action against Teheran's nuclear program.

However, the report went on to speculate that Israel may strike at Iran's nuclear facilities and pressure the Americans to agree with the move after the event.

In March 2005 The Sunday Times reported that Israel had drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy failed to halt the Iranian nuclear program.
The newspaper then claimed that the inner cabinet of former prime minister Ariel Sharon, had given "initial authorization" for an attack at a private meeting on his ranch in the Negev.

Jag

[Sean Osborne]

Israel has drawn up plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons, according to a report in the London-based Sunday Times on Sunday morning.

FYI to the TAA forum... the referenced original Times of London report is Psywar in its purest, simplest form and as such should be blatantly obvious to everyone.

• Israel is faced with an existential threat from Iran.
• Operation Opera (The raid on the Osirak reactor of June 7, 1981) was a highly compartmented operation in which the specific target was not identified to the pilots until the last possible moment.
• "Israeli military sources" would not and have not leaked the tactical details of such a preemptive Israeli strike. Only those in a very small "need to know" compartment would know such details - and these "Israeli military sources" ain't them.

The objective of this report is not to reveal anything except the enemy intent.

[American Patriot]

BACK OFF, IRAN WARNS ISRAEL
NY Post ^ | 01/08/07 | GEOFF EARLE

Iran warned Israel that it would "regret" any attack on its nuclear facilities - following a stunning report that Israel had drawn up plans and trained pilots to use tactical atomic weapons to take out Iran's nuclear program.

"Anyone who attacks will regret their actions very quickly," said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Muhammad Ali Husseini, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The Sunday Times of London reported that Israel has developed plans to destroy Iran's uranium-enrichment facilities using bunker-busting tactical nukes, which are smaller than the bomb used on Hiroshima in World War II.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...

[American Patriot]

Alive: Iran’s supreme leader makes public appearance in Tehran

posted at 8:03 am on January 8, 2007 by Allahpundit
Send to a Friend | printer-friendly

A little sweaty but otherwise none the worse for wear. Beware Iranian dissidents bearing good news — or bad news. Unless it’s nuclear in nature.
The purpose of his appearance, by the way? To order the government to defy the UN sanctions and press ahead with uranium enrichment.

More photos at Fars and Mehr: pages 1, 2, and 3.

[American Patriot]

Iran will never abandon nuclear work - Khamenei
Reuters by way of BusinessDay ^ | 08JAN06 | Reuters


Iran’s highest authority,
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, appeared in relatively
good health during a public
meeting today, invalidating rumours
that he had died. Khamenei, 67, has
final say on all state matters in
Iran as supreme leader, a post he
has held since 1989. Picture: AP


TEHRAN - Iran’s highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said today Tehran would never yield to international pressure to deprive it of its right to nuclear technology, state radio said.


"The Iranian nation surely will not abandon its right and Iranian officials have no right to deprive the nation of its right," Khamenei was quoted as saying on the occasion of the Shi’ite Muslim feast of Eid al-Ghadir.


Khamenei, who was shown on television, was making his first public appearance since rumours appeared on websites on Thursday that he had died. Iran last week denied the reports.


Khamenei has final say on all state matters in the Islamic Republic, including Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West.


The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on December 23 to impose sanctions on Iran’s trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology in an attempt to stop uranium enrichment work that could produce material that could be used in bombs.


Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called the resolution a "piece of torn paper" and has vowed to press ahead with Iran’s peaceful nuclear programme. The West fears Iran may be pursuing nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian programme.

[American Patriot]

War with Iran is imminent
WND ^ | January 8, 2007 | JEROME CORSI


In addition to moving additional military forces into the region, President Bush is putting into place a new political and military command team, all in preparation for an expanded war in the Middle East. We have already noted that the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) aircraft carrier battle group is heading to the Persian Gulf to join the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) aircraft carrier battle group currently on station there.

Additionally, the USS Boxer (LHD 4) amphibious assault ship, the flagship of the Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group, is on station in the Persian Gulf. On January 4, 2007, the USS Bataan (LHD 5), the command ship of the Bataan Expeditionary Strike Group, departed from Norfolk, Va., headed for forward deployment. Typically, we would expect the USS Bataan to replace the USS Boxer in normal rotation. Even if that is the destination of the USS Bataan, we would have two amphibious strike forces in the Gulf as the rotation is completed.

Along with each carrier attack group comes a fleet of 12 ships, including two guided missile-cruisers, generally Ticonderoga-class, two guided missile destroyers, generally Arleigh Burke-class, and an attack submarine that is usually Los Angeles-class.

U.S. Admiral William J. Fallon, head of U.S. Pacific Command is taking over as the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, following the retirement of Gen. John Abizaid. The transition of command from the Army to the Navy should be noted, especially with this much naval power concentrating in the Gulf. We should also note that Admiral Fallon has command experience in the 1991 Gulf War, where he commanded the Carrier Air Wing Eight on the USS Theodore Roosevelt during Operation Desert Storm. In 1995, he was the Commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet battle force supporting NATO's Operation Deliberate Force in Bosnia. He is considered one of the Navy's top commanders in combined forces operations and an expert in amphibious landings.

Quietly, the Bush administration is changing the entire command structure in the Middle East. The U.S. top commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey is being replaced by Gen. David Petraeus. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Gen.Petraeus commanded the famed 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), leading the ''Screaming Eagles'' in combat. Following that, he commanded the Multi-National Security Transition Command in Iraq, assuming responsibility for training Iraqi forces. Petraeus is on record supporting a five-brigade expansion of U.S. forces in Iraq, in direct contrast to Gen. Casey, who expressed skepticism that increasing U.S. troop levels in Iraq would help stabilize the country. The political deck shuffling also reflects a Bush administration decision to expand the war in the Middle East.

Immediately following the Republican Party electoral defeat in Nov. 2006, Bush announced that Robert Gates would be nominated to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. In 1987, Gates withdrew his nomination to become Director of the CIA because of a controversy that had developed concerning his role in the Iran-Contra affair.

Credentials in the Iran-Contra affair seem right now to be a plus in the White House. John Negroponte is being moved from Director of National Intelligence to being the top deputy at the State Department to Condoleezza Rice. During Iran-Contra, Negroponte was U.S. ambassador to Honduras, where he encouraged the expansion of U.S. military and intelligence presence in Central America. Replacing Negroponte as Director of National Intelligence is Admiral Mike McConnell, who served as the intelligence officer of the Joint Chiefs during Operation Desert Storm.

Maybe the best way to understand the Iraq Study Group (ISG) is that it was only Round One, George H. W. Bush's attempt to get his old team together to convince his son to abandon Iraq. The ISG included both James Baker III, Reagan's chief of staff who advised that Iran-Contra could well be illegal and might lead to impeachment, as well as Edwin Meese, who as Reagan's attorney general lead what amounted to a whitewash internal investigation of Iran-Contra. Baker typically represents the Council on Foreign Relations line on the Middle East – protect the oil, use military sparingly, and abandon Israel to Arab oil interests whenever possible. With this approach having been rejected by George W. Bush, the next alternative, Round Two, was for George H. W. Bush to bring in key hawks from the Iran-Contra days, to implement his son's expansion of the war.

Much of the plan for an Iraq surge in force seems to originate from Frederick Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute, whose report, ''A Plan for Success in Iraq,'' has been joined by retired Gen. Jack Keane. Kagan is a military historian who has taught at West Point. Gen. Keane was a career Army paratrooper (featured in Tom Clancy's book, ''Airborne''), who rose to being vice chief of staff of the Army.

Notably, one AEI expert on Iran who is not being consulted by the Bush administration is Michael Ledeen, whose Iran-Contra credentials are also quite strong. Ledeen has continuously argued that we could produce peaceful change in Iran, if only the Bush administration would define regime-change as our policy in Iran and the State Department would release the millions Congress has allocated to support non-governmental organizations around the world who would work toward the regime-change objective.

If President Bush were truly to follow Ronald Reagan's example with the ex-Soviet Union, he would support Michael Ledeen's objectives, while stepping up military pressure in the region. I continue to press for implementing Michael Ledeen's strategy of creating Ukraine-like peaceful change from within Iran, although truthfully I fear the window for that happening may have passed.

President Bush may feel he has no alternative but to push military options in the Middle East. Following the Iraq Study Group's advice and staging a military withdrawal from Iraq could well support a Democratic effort in Congress to investigate the Iraq War as a prelude to impeachment. We should also note that Harriet Miers has resigned as White House counsel, setting the stage for Bush to bring in a lawyer with heavy duty Washington credentials in fending off hostile investigations.

Also somewhat cornered right now is Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister. Olmert, like Bush, is experiencing a level of low public opinion that typically precedes removal from office. Olmert has consistently lost public favor by following the White House ''roadmap to peace,'' which has involved an old James Baker plan calling for Israel to cede territory to the Palestinians in exchange for peace. Condi Rice, a James Baker protégé, has gotten nowhere following this plan for two years, only to see Hamas control the Palestinian Authority and launch rockets back on Israel from the newly-returned Gaza Strip. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a strong opponent of the Ahmadinejad regime in Iran, and the Likud Party would welcome a vote of no-confidence in the Knesset and a call for new elections.

Ahmadinejad himself is the third leader in this drama who may well be on a short leash. Having just lost a round of local elections throughout Iran, Ahmadinejad finds himself facing once again student protests in the street. Ahmadinejad has pursued nuclear weapons and funding terrorist groups including Hezbollah and now also Hamas, rather than keeping his campaign promise to return oil wealth to the people of Iran. The Iranian parliament has moved up the date for the presidential election by one year. Now, with Supreme Leader Khamanei dying of cancer, there may soon be a fight in the Assembly of Experts to see if former president Rafsanjani can wrest control away from Ahmadinejad and his spiritual leader Ayatollah Hasbah-Yazdi, a chief adherent of the belief that the Twelfth Imam, the Mahdi, will soon come out of the well from centuries-long occlusion to lead Shi'ite Islam in worldwide triumph.

The one wild card that would change the equation would be an aggressive move by Iran. Should Iran launch a cruise missile at a U.S. Navy ship in the Gulf, we will have war right now. Should an Iranian missile sink a U.S. carrier, the U.S. population would experience another 9/11 moment. At that point, a massive U.S.-led military strike on Iran would become inevitable. Would President Bush provoke Iran to make just such a move? A pre-emptive strike on Iran would never be approved by a Democratic Congress, but U.S. massive retaliation for a serious act of war by Iran would be a totally different matter.

Truthfully, we are already at war with Iran. My concern stems from the realization that the internal politics in Iran may be such that Ahmadinejad cannot allow a massive U.S. military build-up in the region without making some kind of a response. With Iraq's borders as open as is our southern border with Mexico, Iran has now sent into Iraq a sufficient number of terrorists and arms to create a real civil war. Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi militia, which featured so prominent in the Shi'ite rejoicing that reduced Saddam's hanging to a partisan event, is an Iran-funded creation. Ahmadinejad cannot afford to see a strengthened U.S. military destroy Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army.

If a broader war breaks out in Iraq, Olmert will certainly face pressure to send the Israel military into the Gaza after Hamas and into Lebanon after Hezbollah. If that happens, it will only be a matter of time before Israel and the U.S. have no choice but to invade Syria. The Iraq war could quickly spin into a regional war, with Israel waiting on the sidelines ready to launch an air and missile strike on Iran that could include tactical nuclear weapons.

With Russia ready to deliver the $1 billion TOR M-1 surface-to-air missile defense system to Iran, military leaders are unwilling to wait too long to attack Iran. Now that Russia and China have invited Iran to join their Shanghai Cooperation Pact, will Russia and China sit by idly should the U.S. look like we are winning a wider regional war in the Middle East? If we get more deeply involved in Iraq, China may have their moment to go after Taiwan once and for all. A broader regional war could easily lead into a third world war, much as World Wars I and II began.

Odds are that we will not enter 2008 with all three of these leaders – Bush, Olmert, and Ahmadinejad – as heads of state. If President Bush does go the military route in the Middle East, he will bet his presidency on that decision.

[American Patriot]

Wanna bet on this one????


Top Iran officer threatens to block strategic oil strait
The News ^ | Monday, January 08, 2007

TEHRAN: A top officer in the volunteer Basij militia said on Monday Iran could block oil traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz if the West threatens its economy over Tehran's nuclear program.

"Given Iran's authority over the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway to more than 40 percent of the world's energy, we have become so strong that the world's economic and energy security are in the hands of Iran," deputy Basij commander General Majid Mir Ahmadi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Iranian news agency.

"We can exert pressure on the US and British economies as much as we ourselves are put under pressure," he said.

"US allies, especially those who host US military sites or facilitate American strategies against us, are exposed to our threat," Mir Ahmadi added.

"This is the Islamic republic's strategy in the Persian Gulf -- security for everyone or for nobody." Iran vehemently denies charges that it wants to manufacture nuclear weapons, insisting that it wants to enrich uranium purely for peaceful energy ends.

The country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran would not refrain from its right to use nuclear technology, shrugging off the UN resolution.

"The Iranian nation undoubtedly will not refrain from their right (to nuclear energy) and the country's officials do not have the right to refrain from the nation's right," Khamanei said, according to state television.

[American Patriot]

Here's a map...

[frankrm]

great assesment and map. When will Russia make the delivery?
thanks

[Jag]

Associated Press
Government Moves Against Iranian Bank
01.09.07, 12:33 PM ET

The Bush administration, tightening the financial vise on Tehran, moved Tuesday to block the assets of a major Iranian bank suspected of helping spread weapons of mass destruction.

The action against Bank Sepah, Iran's fifth-largest state-owned financial institution, means any banks accounts or other financial assets belonging to the bank found in the United States must be frozen. Americans also are prohibited from doing business with the financial institution.

"Bank Sepah is the financial linchpin of Iran's missile procurement network and has actively assisted Iran's pursuit of missiles capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction," said Stuart Levey, Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

The Treasury Department also added to its terror-blocking list Bank Sepah International Plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank Sepah, and Ahmad Derakhshandeh, chairman and director of Bank Sepah.

The department alleges that Bank Sepah provides financial support and services to Iran's Aerospace Industries Organization as well as to two Iranian missile firms - Shahid Hemmat Industries Group and the Shahid Bakeri Industries Group. The United States has previously accused all three of helping to spread weapons of mass destruction.

The government said that Bank Sepah is the "bank of choice" - at least since 2000 - for Iran's Aerospace Industries Organization, a subsidiary of the Iranian Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, that oversees all of Iran's missile industries and is the overall coordinator of Iran's missile program.

Bank Sepah "has provided a variety of critical financial services to Iran's missile industry, arranging financing and processing dozens of multimillion dollar transactions" for Iran's Aerospace Industries Organization and its affiliates, Levey said.

The government also alleged that the bank has facilitated business between the Aerospace Industries Organization and North Korea's chief ballistic missile-related exporter, KOMID, which the government says has provided Iran with missile technology.

"The financial relationship between Iran and North Korea, as represented by the business handled by Bank Sepah, is of great concern to the United States," Levey said.

Levey said Tuesday's action applies to all branches of Bank Sepah, including those in Paris, Rome and Frankfurt, its wholly-owned subsidiary in London, as well as more than 290 branches based in Iran. The bank's Rome branch, he said, conducted a "great deal" of the transactions the United States is concerned about.

The department has the power to act against Bank Sepah under an executive order issued by President Bush in June 2005.

It marked the United States' latest move against Iran, a country the United States accuses of fostering terrorism and whose nuclear ambitions have drawn international rebuke.

Last year, the Treasury Department moved to cut off from the U.S. financial system Bank Saderat - a big Iranian state-owned bank. The government said Iran used the bank to transfer money to terrorist groups, including Hezbollah.

Last month, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to impose economic sanctions on Iran. It did so because the country has refused to end a uranium enrichment program that the United States says is aimed at building nuclear weapons.

Jag

[American Patriot]

China, Israel to discuss Iran nuke issue
AP on Yahoo ^ | 1/10/07 | Audra Ang - ap



BEIJING - Iran's nuclear program will be a main topic of discussion when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meets China's leaders, an Israeli official said Wednesday.


Olmert, scheduled to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao during his three-day visit, will talk about the importance of U.N.-imposed sanctions on Iran, said a member of his delegation.


"He will surely talk about how Israel is concerned by Iranians becoming a nuclear state and what are the consequences that can take place if the Iranians will hold a nuclear bomb or weapon," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as the person wasn't authorized to speak to the media. "It will be high on the agenda."


China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has strong trade ties with Iran and has been leery about imposing punitive measures.


But it supported the U.N. resolution that orders all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs. The resolution also freezes Iranian assets of 10 key companies and 12 individuals related to those programs.


The security council has warned that it will adopt further nonmilitary sanctions if Iran continues to refuse to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that produces the material for either nuclear reactors or bombs.
Iran denies that it seeks to build atomic weapons, saying its nuclear program is limited to generating electricity.


Israel's considers Iran one of its most serious threats, fears fueled by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated calls to wipe the Jewish state off the map. Olmert has not ruled out a military strike against Tehran's nuclear program, but has said he hopes diplomatic means will work in keeping Iran from becoming a nuclear power.


Olmert's trip marks the 15-year anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and China, whose good relations have been marred by occasional political and trade tensions.


Both sides have emphasized that the visit is aimed at fostering a deeper friendship and strengthening economic and trade ties.


China is now Israel's third-largest trading partner, following the United States and Germany. According to the federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, Israeli exports to China jumped 31 percent to $740 million in the first 11 months of last year, when compared to the same period the previous year.

[American Patriot]

Maybe Israel should bust Iran's bunkers
Los Angeles Times ^ | January 10, 2007 | Zev Chafets



LAST WEEKEND, the Sunday Times of London reported that Israel is preparing a strike on the Iranian nuclear program at several bases scattered throughout the country. The paper claimed that the attack would be carried out with tactical nuclear "bunker busters" supplied by the United States.


Israel quickly denied the Times' report. But the story, which may be wrong in its details, has a certain truthiness. Israel is certainly thinking about how to stop Tehran from getting its hands on nukes.


And why wouldn't it? Given the evident failure of American diplomacy and U.N. sanctions, Israel has two basic choices. It can sit and wait, hoping the Iranians do not drop a bomb on Tel Aviv; or it can preemptively attack, hoping to destroy, or at least retard, the Iranians' nuclear capacity.


American foreign policy "realists" tend to favor the first option. At the core of their argument is the idea that Israel has nuclear weapons and can therefore rely on Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) just as the U.S. did during the Cold War. Does Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say he wants to wipe Israel off the map? It's probably just rhetoric. After all, he knows that if he tried, Israel would retaliate, turning Tehran into a parking lot.


This may seem realistic in Washington or Cambridge, but not in Tel Aviv.


Israel is a small, crowded country with a very poor civil defense infrastructure and a population traumatized by its own recent history.


Perhaps the Iranian government doubts that the Holocaust happened, but there are 6 million Israeli Jews (that population figure is a macabre coincidence) who don't doubt it. For Israelis, "never again" is more than a phrase over a museum gate.


(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...

[Jag]

Iran Runs Iraq Terror Network

UPI International Editor
Washington (UPI) Jan 08, 2007

Newly obtained intelligence reports indicate Iran is increasing its efforts to destabilize Iraq just as President George W. Bush is reviewing his policy options. While Bush is looking at changing key military and political personnel and is considering deploying 20,000 to 40,000 additional U.S. troops in a last-ditch effort to try and impose security in the chaos that Iraq has become, new intelligence reveals Iran may have other plans.


"Al-Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards is stepping up terrorism and encouraging sectarian violence in Iraq," says Alireza Jafarzadeh, president of Strategic Policy Consulting in Washington, an Iranian dissident who keeps close contact with the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or MeK.

It was Jafarzadeh who first revealed the existence of the Islamic Republic's clandestine nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak in August 2002.

"There is a sharp surge in Iran's sponsorship of terrorism and sectarian violence in the past few months," said Jafarzadeh at a conference organized by the Iran Policy Committee, a lobby group pushing to get the MeK off the State Department's terrorist list.

Retired U.S. Air Force General Thomas McInerney, an IPC member, said Jafarzadeh's presentation was "powerful evidence" that Iran has become the primary killer of U.S. forces in Iraq.

The spike in terror activities in Iraq according to Jafarzadeh is the work of the al-Quds Force, which the Iranian dissident calls "the deadliest force" within the Revolutionary Guards. Al-Quds Force is responsible for what they call "extra-territorial activities," which Jafarzadeh says is a euphemism for terrorism.

"Nothing but terrorism," says Jafarzadeh. "All they do is terrorism. This deadly force has been heavily involved in Iraq."

Al-Quds Force is headquartered in the building that once used to house the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and where American diplomats were held captive for 444 days shortly after the Islamic revolution overthrew the Shah in 1979. It is from here, according to MeK sources, that al-Quds Force directs all its activities in Iraq.

They secretly build improvised explosive devises, or IEDs, train, finance and arm an extensive terrorist network in Iraq, says Jafarzadeh. "Iran's goal is to create insecurity in Iraq and compel the coalition forces to leave in order to establish an Islamic Republic in Iraq."

This vast Iranian terrorist network is commanded by a brigadier-general by the name of Abtahi, who formerly served in Lebanon. Abtahi is based in the Fajr Base in Ahwaz, in southwestern Iran. He is aided by a number of senior commanders, according to Jafarzadeh.

"Iran has been heavily involved, to say the least, in Iraq; destabilizing the situation there, sending arms, ammunition, intelligence agents, providing training since 2003, not to mention the more than two decades of opportunity the ayatollahs had to network," he said.

Al-Quds Force (which means Jerusalem Force) has established a command and control center in Iraq from where it runs its terror network. The Iraq network is under the command of Jamal Jaafar Mohammad Ali Ebrahimi, who is also known as Mehdi Mohandes.
According to the MeK, Mohandes was responsible for planning the bombing of the U.S. and the U.K. embassies in Kuwait in the 1980s.

Interpol placed Mohandes on its wanted list in 1984. He has not traveled outside Iran since. until 2003. when he moved to Iraq. Ebrahimi is considered a veteran and senior officer of the Revolutionary Guards. He has completed the command curriculum at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Imam Hossein University, and is currently on the payroll of al-Quds Force.

The new terror network established in Iraq, still according to Jafarzadeh, was named "Hezbollah," after Lebanon's own Shiite movement with which Mohandes, aka Ebrahimi, is allegedly in contact. The network is operational in Basra, in the south, and in the capital, Baghdad.

Members of the outfit undergo military and "terrorist" training in Basra. Their arms and munitions are smuggled to Basra through the Shalamche border passage.

Sustaining such a large-scale terror network demands huge sums of money. According to MeK sources, Abtahi, the brigadier-general, "sends millions and millions of dollars from Ahwaz into Iraq every month." The money is transported to Iraq by a special courier who picks up the funds in Ahwaz and carries them across the Shalamche border where "affiliate" border guards whisk him through.

Gen. McInerney urged George Bush to confront Iran's role directly if he wants to stabilize Iraq.
"Just sending more troops to Iraq doesn't solve the problem unless you attack this problem (of Iran's involvement)," McInerney said. "And it must be attacked in a covert way in Iran. We're going against a very formidable enemy that thinks we will not respond."

Jag

[Jag]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L11580349.htm

US forces raid Iranian consulate in Iraq - Iran agency
11 Jan 2007 09:36:21 GMT
Source: Reuters

ARBIL, Iraq, Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. forces raided the Iranian consulate office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil on Thursday and arrested five employees, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said.


There was no immediate comment by the U.S. military on the raid which came hours after President George W. Bush vowed in a speech to interrupt what he called the "flow of support" from Iran and Syria for insurgent attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq.


The raid was the second such operation in the past month against Iranian interests in Iraq by U.S. forces.


"Around 5.00 a.m., after disarming the guards they (U.S. troops) broke into the office, without giving any explanation and arrested five employees," the official IRNA news agency reported, adding that documents and computers were seized.


It said Iran had sent a protest letter to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.


Earlier Iraqiya state television reported the raid on the building in central Arbil and a Kurdish station said Kurdish security forces had taken over the building after the Americans left the area.


U.S. officials have repeatedly accused non-Arab, Shi'ite Iran of interfering in Iraq, where the long-oppressed Shi'ite majority is now in power.


In December, U.S. forces in Baghdad arrested a number of Iranians they said were suspected of planning attacks on Iraqi security forces, including diplomats who were later turned over to Iraqi authorities.


Jag

[American Patriot]

Bush Warns Iranians

By ELI LAKE
Staff Reporter of the Sun
January 11, 2007

http://www.nysun.com/article/46481


WASHINGTON — President Bush says we are effectively at war with Iran.
Mr. Bush, in a much-anticipated televised speech to the nation last night, accused the Islamic Republic of "providing material support for attacks on American troops." Eschewing advice from his father's secretary of state, James Baker, to open a dialogue with Iran and Syria, the president said American forces in Iraq would "disrupt" attacks from Syria- and Iran-backed terrorists, "interrupt" the supply lines reaching back to those countries, and "seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq." That last sentence is the closest Mr. Bush has come to announcing attacks on Iranian territory, where American intelligence and military leaders have said the most destructive improvised explosives used against American convoys are made.

AP

President Bush addresses the nation from the White House library in Washington yesterday.

The new strategy yesterday also eschewed the advice of the outgoing general in charge of Central Command, John Abizaid, and committed America to a two front war to save Iraq from Shiite death squads and Al Qaeda.


The new war strategy will focus on defeating Al Qaeda forces gathered predominantly in the Anbar province of Iraq and will officially end the American-brokered talks with Sunni insurgents in Amman. A new surge of 20,000 troops, predominately for securing Baghdad, will for the first time consider members of the Shiite Mahdi Army legitimate targets in the quest to win back Iraq's capital.


The strategy is in sharp contrast to the counsel of General Abizaid, who warned against the prospect of opening a two front war in Iraq that was narrowly avoided in 2004 when American troops faced down Mahdi Army political leader, Moqtada al-Sadr. Mr. Bush said that the plan to secure Baghdad would be developed by Iraq's leaders. But he also announced that as part of the plan, American soldiers would be embedding with the Iraqi national army units sent out around Baghdad to establish regular patrols.


A Power Point summary of the new Iraq strategy released yesterday by the White House notes that Iran has been "burrowing" Iranian actors inside the Iraqi government. Yesterday a senior administration official told reporters that members of Mr. Sadr's Mahdi army would no longer be off limits. The new war strategy also contradicts the most prominent recommendation of the Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker, which called for opening new negotiations with Iran and Syria and also for pressing negotiations with Israel. Indeed, Mr. Bush did not specifically mention the Arab-Israeli conflict, only referencing in passing the Middle East mission this week from Secretary of State Rice as a quest for Middle East peace.

[American Patriot]

US threatens Iran over its Iraq 'meddling'
The Telegraph | 11/01/2007 | Toby Harnden in Washington



The United States has delivered a blunt warning to Iran that it will not "stand idly by and let these activities continue" if Teheran persists in its support for insurgents in Iraq, and pointedly declined to rule out military action.


Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, gave a series of interviews today in which she put Iran on notice and called on Iran and Syria to end their destabilising behaviour in the region before any diplomatic talks could take place.


"I don't want to speculate on what operations the United States may be engaged in, but you will see that the United States is not going to simply stand idly by and let these activities continue," she said.


The tough language came after President George W Bush in his Iraq strategy speech said: "We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."


In a thinly-veiled message to Iran, he also stated that he had "recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region". Mr Bush has also appointed Adml William Fallon, a naval aviator, to command all US forces in the Middle East.


Gen Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said that recent raids by American forces showed that Iran was deeply involved in fomenting violence in Iraq.


"So it is clear that the Iranians are complicit in providing weapons, and it's also clear that we will all we need to do to defend our troops in Iraq by going after the entire network regardless of where those people come from."

[American Patriot]

Intelligence Services Believe the Natanz Site is a Front (Iran)
AP/USA Today via IranvaJahan ^ | January 11, 2007



Intelligence Services Believe the Natanz Site is a Front


January 11, 2007 Associated Press USA Today


VIENNA -- Iran's uranium enrichment program appears stalled despite tough talk from the Tehran leadership, leaving intelligence services guessing about why the country has not made good on plans to press ahead with activities that the West fears could be used to make nuclear arms, diplomats said Thursday. Outside monitoring of Iran's nuclear endeavors is restricted to International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of declared sites, leaving significant blind spots for both the agency and intelligence agencies of member countries trying to come up with the full picture.


Still, Tehran's reluctance to crank up activities at its declared enrichment site at Natanz when it seems to have the technical know-how for at least experimental work is puzzling the diplomatic and intelligence communities — with some saying it was potentially worrisome.


Diplomats accredited or otherwise linked to the Vienna-based IAEA said some intelligence services believed the Natanz site is a front.


While the world's attention is focused on Natanz, Iranian scientists and military personnel could be working on a secret enrichment program at one or more unknown sites that is much more advanced, the diplomats, who demanded anonymity in exchange for discussing restricted information, said.


(Excerpt) Read more at iranvajahan.net ...

[Jag]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

Iraqi official seeks release of Iranians

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 30 minutes ago



BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi foreign minister called Sunday for the release of five Iranians detained by U.S. forces in what he said was a legitimate diplomatic mission in northern

Iraq, but he stressed that foreign intervention to help insurgents would not be tolerated.

The two-pronged statement by Hoshyar Zebari highlighted the delicate balance facing the Iraqi government as it tries to secure Baghdad with the help of American forces while maintaining ties with its neighbors, including U.S. rivals

Iran and

Syria.

"Any interventions — or any harmful interventions to kill Iraqis or to provide support for insurgency or for the insurgents should be stopped by the Iraqi government and by the coalition forces," Zebari said in an interview with CNN's "Late Edition."

But he also stressed Iraq has to keep good relations with its neighbors in the region.

"You have to remember, our destiny, as Iraqis, we have to live in this part of the world. And we have to live with Iran, we have to live with Syria and Turkey and other countries," he said. "So in fact, on the other hand, the Iraqi government is committed to cultivate good neighborly relations with these two countries and to engage them constructively in security cooperation."

The U.S. military said the five Iranians detained last week in the Kurdish-controlled northern city of Irbil were connected to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard faction that funds and arms insurgents in Iraq. It was the second U.S. raid targeting Iranians in Iraq in less than a month.

The military said the Quds Force faction of the Revolutionary Guard, a hard-line military force that reports directly to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is "known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilize the Government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces."

"Al-Quds" is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, and a frequent term for political or military factions across the Muslim world.

Iran's government denied the five detainees were involved in financing and arming insurgents and called for their release along with compensation for damages.
"Their job was basically consular, official and in the framework of regulations," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Sunday. "What the Americans express was incorrect and hyperbole against Iran in order to justify their acts."

In Nicaragua, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the U.S. was trying to hide its failures in Iraq by accusing his nation of funding Iraqi insurgents. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of his meeting with Nicaragua's president, Ahmadinejad ducked the question of whether his country was in fact arming and supporting insurgents responsible for attacks in Iraq.

The United States repeatedly has denied the office targeted in the raid was a consulate, and the State Department has said no legitimate diplomatic activity was being carried out at the site.

Bush's national security adviser

Stephen Hadley said Sunday that the U.S. had the authority to pursue Iranians in Iraq because they "put our people at risk."

"We are going to need to deal with what Iran is doing inside Iraq," he said.

Vice President

Dick Cheney added: "Iran is fishing in troubled waters inside Iraq."

Hadley was interviewed on "This Week" on ABC while Cheney was on "Fox News Sunday."

Zebari, a Kurd, said those detained had been working in a liaison office issuing travel permits for the local population, and he reiterated that the office was in the process of being regularized into a consulate.


"Well, we have asked for their release," he told CNN. "They are being interrogated by the U.S. forces. But we have established all the information that this office has been there for many years with the approval of the Kurdish regional authorities with their knowledge of the Iraqi government."

Bush accused Iran and Syria of not doing enough to block terrorists from entering Iraq over their borders in his speech last week outlining his new strategy for Iraq. The U.S. has accused them of funneling arms and fighters to aid the insurgency.

In another indication of Iraqi efforts to reach out to neighbors hostile to the U.S., Iraqi President Jalal Talabani visited Syria on Sunday, becoming the first Iraqi president to travel to the country in nearly three decades.

Syria's official news agency SANA said the talks between Syrian President Bashar Assad and Talabani focused on "bilateral relations," and that both sides expressed a desire to strengthen ties between their countries. Assad also stressed Syria's readiness to help Iraq achieve national reconciliation and political stability to help end the increasing sectarian violence in the country, the state news agency said.

Mahmoud Othman, an Iraqi lawmaker close to Talabani, said the Syria trip was not intended as a snub to Bush. It had been planned for nearly a year, but its date was finalized about two weeks ago, he said from Baghdad.
Hosseini, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the United States was resorting to "hostility and conflict toward neighbors of Iraq" because it did not want to acknowledge it had failed to stabilize Iraq.

Jag