Iran 01 (Jul 08 - Apr 18)

[kennynah]

what is in Iran besides oil that the brits and yankees would want to motivate them to deliver any invasion?

[winston]

IAEA report on Iran set to raise Middle East tension by Fredrik Dahl

VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog is expected this week, to issue its most detailed report yet on research in Iran seen as geared to developing atomic bombs, heightening international suspicions of Tehran's agenda and stoking Middle East tensions.

The report is tentatively scheduled to be submitted to IAEA member states on November 9 ,before a quarterly meeting the following week of the agency's 35-nation board of governors in Vienna.

Israel bombed an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 and launched a similar strike against Syria in 2007 -- precedents lending weight to its veiled threats to take similar action against Iran, if foreign pressure fails to curb its atomic activities.

But many independent analysts see any such mission as too much for Israel to take on alone. Israel lacks long-range bombers that could inflict lasting damage on Iran's widely dispersed and fortified facilities.


Source: Reuters US Online Report Top News

http://www.newsmeat.com/

[winston]

Khamenei warns U.S., Israel against attack on atom sites

TEHRAN, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader warned the United States and Israel on Thursday not to launch any military action against its nuclear sites, saying it would be met with "iron fists," state television reported.

"Our enemies, particularly the Zionist regime (Israel), America and its allies, should know that any kind of threat and attack or even thinking about any (military) action will be firmly responded to," the television quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying.

Source: Reuters US Online Report World News

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

[winston]

Defense chief warns on Iran strike consequences by Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Military action against Iran could have "unintended consequences" in the region, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday, hours after Tehran warned that an attack against its nuclear sites would be met by "iron fists."

Panetta, who took over the Pentagon's top job in July, said he agreed with an assessment of his predecessor, Robert Gates, that a strike on Iran would only delay its nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb.

Gates also warned it could unite the country and deepen its resolve toward pursuing nuclear weapons.

"You've got to be careful of unintended consequences here," Panetta told reporters at the Pentagon, when asked about his concerns about a military strike.

He acknowledged military action might fail to deter Iran "from what they want to do."

"But more importantly, it could have a serious impact in the region, and it could have a serious impact on U.S. forces in the region," he said. "And I think all of those things, you know, need to be carefully considered."

Iran has warned that it will respond to any attacks by hitting Israel and U.S. interests in the Gulf.

Analysts say Tehran could retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway where about 40 percent of all traded oil passes.

Asked whether the United States could live with a nuclear Iran, Panetta said Washington has made it very clear that "it's unacceptable for Iran to develop a nuclear capability."

Source: Reuters US Online Report Politics News

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

[winston]

Iran: Explosion occurred during military research
by Ramin Mostafavi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A massive explosion that killed 17 troops, including an officer regarded as the architect of Iran's missile defences last week, took place during research on weapons that could strike Israel, the Islamic Republic's military chief said on Wednesday.

"This recent incident and blast has no link to Israel or America but the outcome of the research, in which the incident happened as a consequence, could be a strong smack to the mouth of Israel and its occupying regime," armed forces chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi was quoted as saying by the student news agency ISNA.

Iran already has missiles, the Shahab-3, first tested in 1998, that it says could reach Israel, which has threatened to strike Iran's nuclear sites if diplomacy and pressure fail to stop it getting the bomb.

Source: Reuters US Online Report World News

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

[winston]

Iran says could target Turkey missile shield

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran could target installations in Turkey that are part of a planned NATO missile shield in any future conflict, a senior military official said on Saturday, upping the rhetoric against its neighbor with whom relations have soured in recent months.

"We are ready to attack NATO's missile shield in Turkey if we face a threat and then we will follow other aims," the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace division, as saying.

Tehran has made clear its displeasure at Turkey's agreement in September to deploy a NATO missile early warning system which it sees as a U.S. ploy to protect Israel from any counter-attack should the Jewish state target Iran's nuclear facilities.

Once warm relations between Iran and Turkey have been strained this year due to the missile shield and Ankara's outspoken criticism of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's violent crackdown on popular unrest.

Major-General Yahya Rahim-Safavi said earlier this week that any attack from Israel would trigger a response from Tehran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

"The Zionists know well that if they start a war they will be targeted strongly from South Lebanon, from Hamas and also from Iran," he told state broadcaster IRIB.

Source: Reuters US Online Report World News

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

[winston]

Iran Moves Forces To War Alert by Tyler Durden

Whether it is just posturing or this time Iran feels it has little to lose, following a spate of mysterious explosions and a downed US attack drone (for those who can put 2 and 2 together), it seems that the oil-rich country is increasingly seeing war as the probable endspiel.

YNet reports that Iran is "moving missiles to secret sites, Western officials tell British paper; earlier, Tehran residents reported to stockpile goods, fearing imminent strike.

The commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards has ordered his forces to raise their operational readiness ahead of a possible war or strike on the country’s nuclear facilities, the Telegraph reported late Monday."

The move is for now precautionary: "The British newspaper quoted Western intelligence sources as saying that Iran is repositioning ballistic missiles, explosives and troops into defensive positions, in order to offer a quick response in the case of an attack by Israel or the United States."

And while all this is happening, Iran is busy shipping of the downed US drone to the highest regional bidder (with substantial reverse engineering skills).

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/iran-move ... -war-alert

[winston]

U.S. Fifth Fleet says won't allow Hormuz disruption

TEHRAN/DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.S. Fifth Fleet said on Wednesday it would not allow any disruption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran threatened to stop ships moving through the world's most important oil route.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/ ... safternoon

[winston]

Iran test-fires missiles in Gulf exercise

U.S. imposes sanctions on banks dealing with Iran
Boeing wins $3.48 billion U.S. missile contract

By Ramin Mostafavi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it had successfully test-fired what it described as two long-range missiles, flexing its military muscle in the face of mounting Western pressure over its nuclear program.

The announcement came at the climax of 10 days of naval exercises in the Gulf, during which Tehran has warned it could shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of world oil is shipped, if sanctions were imposed on its crude exports.

"We have successfully test-fired long-range shore-to-sea and surface-to-surface missiles, called Qader (Capable) and Nour (Light) today," Deputy Navy Commander Mahmoud Mousavi told state television.

Despite his use of the term 'long-range', the semi-official Fars news agency said the Qader's range was only 200 km (125 miles), and no figure was given for the Nour.

Iran is about 225 km (140 miles) at its nearest point from Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based, and about 1,000 km (625 miles) from Israel.

Its longest-range missile, the Sajjil-2, has a range of up to 2,400 km (1,500 miles).

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/ ... pnewsearly

[winston]

What is the chance that the US will move the aircraft carrier back ?

Iran threatens U.S. Navy as sanctions hit economy

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran threatened Tuesday to take action if the U.S. Navy moves an aircraft carrier into the Gulf, Tehran's most aggressive statement yet after weeks of saber-rattling as new U.S. and EU financial sanctions take a toll on its economy.

The prospect of sanctions targeting the oil sector in a serious way for the first time has hit Iran's rial currency, which has fallen by 40 percent against the dollar in the past month.

Queues formed at banks and some currency exchange offices shut their doors as Iranians scrambled to buy dollars to protect their savings from the currency's fall.

New sanctions signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve would cut off any financial institutions that work with Iran's central bank from the U.S. financial system, blocking the main path for payments for Iranian oil.

The EU is expected to impose new sanctions by the end of this month, possibly including a ban on oil imports.

Even Iran's top trading partner China - which has refused to back new global sanctions against Iran - is demanding discounts to buy Iranian oil as Tehran's options narrow. Beijing has cut its imports of Iranian crude by more than half for January and, paying premiums for crude from Russia and Vietnam to replace it.

The new U.S. sanctions law, if implemented fully, would make it impossible for many refineries to pay Iran for crude. It imposes measures gradually and allows Obama to offer temporary waivers to prevent an oil price shock.

The European Union is expected to consider new measures by the end of this month, possibly including a blockade. EU members such as such as crisis-hit Greece are still buyers of Iranian oil, which trades at a discount.

"France ... wants sanctions toughened and the president (Nicolas Sarkozy) has made two concrete proposals on that front - the first being the freezing of Iranian central bank assets, a tough measure, and the second an embargo on Iranian oil exports," Juppe told i>tele, a French TV channel.

Beijing has been driving a hard bargain. China, which bought 11 percent of its oil from Iran during the first 11 months of last year, has cut its January purchase by about 285,000 barrels per day, more than half of the close to 550,000 bpd that it bought through a 2011 contract.

The economic impact is being felt ahead of a nationwide parliamentary election on March 2, the first vote since a disputed 2009 presidential election that led to the worst unrest since Iran's 1979 revolution.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/ ... pnewsearly