Iran 01 (Jul 08 - Apr 18)

[winston]

Go ahead and do it yourself and see where you would end up . Maybe when your entire air-force is out attacking Iran, somebosy will take you out ...


AP: Israel Won't Warn US Before Iran Strike

Israeli officials say they won't warn the United States, if they decide to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, according to one U.S. intelligence official familiar with the discussions.

The pronouncement, delivered in a series of private, top-level conversations, sets a tense tone ahead of meetings in the coming days at the White House and Capitol Hill.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak delivered the message to a series of top-level U.S. visitors to the country, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House national security adviser and the director of national intelligence, and top U.S. lawmakers, all trying to close the trust gap between Israel and the United States over how to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Netanyahu delivered the same message to all the Americans who have traveled to Israel for talks, the U.S. official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive strategic negotiations.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment, and the Pentagon and Office of Director of National Intelligence declined to comment, as did the Israeli Embassy.

The secret warning is likely to worry U.S. officials and begin the high-level meetings with Israel and the United States far apart on how to handle Iran.

But the apparent decision to keep the United States in the dark also stems from Israel's frustration with the White House. After a visit by National Security Adviser Tom Donilon in particular, they became convinced the Americans would neither take military action, nor go along with unilateral action by Israel against Iran.

The Israelis concluded they would have to conduct a strike unilaterally — a point they are likely to hammer home in a series of meetings over the next two weeks in Washington, the official said.

Barak will meet with top administration and congressional officials during his visit. Netanyahu arrives in Washington for meetings with President Barack Obama next week.

"I got the sense that Israel is incredibly serious about a strike on their nuclear weapons program," Rogers told CNN on Monday. "It's their calculus that the administration ... is not serious about a real military consequence to Iran moving forward.

"They believe they're going to have to make a decision on their own, given the current posture of the United States," he added.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/U-SIsr ... /id/430749

[winston]

Very good article ...

On Israel and Iran

A very big question mark hanging over the global table is what the hell is going to happen between Iran and Israel.

I spoke with a fellow in Europe I know who has an informed opinion.

There were no secrets discussed, but his thoughts on some of the variables including Syria, bunker bombs and timing were interesting.

http://brucekrasting.blogspot.com/2012/ ... -iran.html

[winston]

IAEA Says Has Found Highly Enriched Uranium In Iran by Tyler Durden

Yesterday, when looking at recent naval developments in the Arabian Sea, we suggested that things involving Iran had gotten quiet. Too quiet. It appears that it may indeed have been the lull before the storm. Just out from Bloomberg and Reuters:

• IAEA SAYS URANIUM PARTICLES ENRICHED UP TO 27% AT FORDOW SITE, HIGHER THAN REPORTED LEVEL
• IRAN DOUBLED 20% URANIUM OUTPUT IN QUARTER, IAEA SAYS
• IAEA INSPECTORS SAY NO GUARANTEE ALL NUCLEAR MATERIAL PEACEFUL
• IRAN TELLS INSPECTORS THAT 27% URANIUM A TECHNICAL GLITCH
• IRAN HAS INSTALLED 368 NEW ENRICHMENT CENTRIFUGES AT FORDOW UNDERGROUND SITE - REUTERS

As a reminder, Uranium enriched over 20% is considered "Highly Enriched."

The only question we have is whether the enrichment level will increase the closer we get to the November presidential election, and whether there is a threshold rating in someone's popularity, pardon, in the enrichment level, which will trigger the Iranian invasion by one or more powers, now that WTI is safely in 9X handle territory and sliding.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/iaea-says ... anium-iran

[winston]

Iran to build new nuclear plant by early 2014: TV

Iran is to build a new nuclear power plant, alongside its sole existing one in the southern city of Bushehr, by early 2014, state television reported on Sunday, quoting the head of the country's Atomic Energy Organisation.

"Iran will build a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Bushehr next year," the television quoted Fereydoon Abbasi Davani as saying. He was referring to the Iranian calendar year running from March 2013 to March 2014.

The current Bushehr nuclear plant was started by German engineers in the 1970s, before Iran's Islamic revolution, and was completed by Russia, which continues to help keeping it running and provides fuel for it.

In addition, Iran has a research reactor operating in Tehran that is used to make medical isotopes for patients with cancer and other illnesses.

A new Bushehr plant would boost electricity production in Iran, which has some of the world's biggest reserves.

State television made its announcement in the wake of talks in Baghdad on Wednesday and Thursday between Iran and world powers that focused on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.

Those talks almost collapsed because of the very different positions held by the two sides, but agreement was finally reached to hold another round in Moscow on June 18-19.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful and aimed at producing energy and medical isotopes.

The world powers -- the Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- suspect the programme could include work towards developing a nuclear weapons capability, and they have backed UN Security Council resolutions calling on Iran to curb its activities.


Source: AFP Global Edition

http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?a ... &buid=3281

[winston]

And from which bully, did the Iranians learnt this from ?

Iran Guards snatch US$2b deal on dam

Iran has canceled a US$2 billion (HK$15.6 billion) contract with a mainland company to build a hydro-electric dam in its southwest and handed the project over to its Revolutionary Guards.

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... 20530&fc=4

[winston]

Spy malware infecting Iranian networks is engineering marvel to behold

Researchers are still wrapping their brains around the mind-blowing "Flame."

by Dan Goodin

Malware recently found infecting Middle Eastern networks is so complex and sophisticated that it's probably an advanced cyber-weapon unleashed by a wealthy country to wage a protracted espionage campaign on Iran, researchers from some of the world's leading security companies said.

The malware, dubbed "Flame" after one of the dozens of modules available for it, immediately evoked memories of Stuxnet, another piece of advanced malware that disabled uranium centrifuges in Iranian nuclear plants.

At least 20 modules available for the malware bring a menu of highly advanced spying capabilities to the unknown people who control it.

One plugin turns on the internal microphone of infected machines so Skype conversations can be secretly monitored in real time.

A separate module scans nearby Bluetooth-enabled devices for names and phone numbers stored in contact lists.

A third monitors machine activity by taking screenshots every 15 to 60 seconds, depending on whether Outlook or another targeted application is in use, and uses SSL-protected connections to send the images to the attackers.

Flame can also sniff traffic passing over local networks to siphon user names, passwords, password hashes, and other sensitive data that attackers can use to further monitor their targets.

http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/05 ... to-behold/

[winston]

'Thunder' will fall on Israel if it attacks: Iran by Farhad Pouladi

Any attack by Israel on Iran will blow back on the Jewish state "like thunder," Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Sunday.

His speech, broadcast on state television to mark the 1989 death of his predecessor and founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, contained no sign Iran was prepared to make any concessions on its disputed nuclear programme.

The Jewish state, he added, was feeling "vulnerable" and "terrified" after losing deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak as an ally.

Allegations that Iran was trying to develop atomic bombs were false, Khamenei also said.

Talks between the Islamic republic and the so-called P5+1 group of nations -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, plus Germany -- were revived this year and are to go to a crucial next round in Moscow on June 18-19.

Source:AFP Global Edition


http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?a ... &buid=3281

[winston]

Iran’s “change of mind”, about allowing international inspectors access to sites of suspected atom weapons work, ahead of the important June 18-19 meeting.

[winston]

US exempts India, but not China, from Iran sanctions by Shaun Tandon

The United States said it would exempt seven emerging economies including India, from tough new sanctions after they cut back on oil from Iran, but the punishment still loomed for China.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added India, Malaysia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan to the list of those exempt from the sanctions. In March, she made exemptions for European Union nations and Japan.

Under a law approved last year that irritated some US allies, the United States starting on June 28 will penalize foreign financial institutions over transactions with Iran's central bank, which handles sales of the country's key export.

Clinton said the seven economies exempted on Monday have all "significantly" reduced crude oil purchases from Iran. She cast the exemptions as proof of success in the US campaign to put pressure on Iran's clerical regime, which Israel and some Western officials fear is seeking a nuclear bomb.

"We have informed our Chinese colleagues fully about the scope and urgency" of the sanctions, a senior US official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Chinese President Hu Jintao called Friday on Iran to be "flexible and pragmatic" on its nuclear program. Some industry experts say that China, despite its public stance, has been quietly diversifying from Iranian oil.

A number of countries were angered by the US law, arguing that only the UN Security Council has the right to slap sanctions and that the reductions in oil would jeopardize an already shaky economic recovery.

But Iran's arch-rival Saudi Arabia has opened its spigots to make up for any shortfall from Tehran. To the surprise of some forecasters, oil prices have been declining despite the tensions surrounding Iran.

The International Energy Agency estimated that Iran was not selling up to one-quarter of the 3.3 million barrels it produced each day in April.

India has said that it will cut its purchases of Iranian oil by 11 percent. India has historically enjoyed warm relations with Iran but it tried to play down differences when Clinton visited last month.

Source:AFP Global Edition

http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?a ... &buid=3281

[winston]

U.S., Israel Developed Flame Computer Virus

The United States and Israel jointly developed a sophisticated computer virus nicknamed Flame that collected intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage aimed at slowing Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, according to Western officials with knowledge of the effort.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nat ... print.html