WarSclerotic

Iran to hold drills for protecting atom facilities | Special Coverage | Reuters.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran plans to hold air defense maneuvers aimed at protecting its nuclear facilities, a senior commander was quoted as saying on Saturday.

The official IRNA news agency said the war games, involving both the elite Revolutionary Guards and the regular armed forces, would be staged during the Iranian week that started on Saturday but did not give any further details.

“This week’s air defense maneuvers will be held with the intention of protecting the country’s nuclear facilities,” Fars News Agency quoted Brigadier General Ahmad Mighani as saying. He heads the armed forces’ air defense headquarters.

Iran often holds defense drills and announces advances in military capabilities in a bid to show its readiness to counter any military threats over its disputed nuclear program.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the row over nuclear work that the West suspects is aimed at making bombs.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is a peaceful drive to generate electricity, has threatened to hit back at Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf if it is attacked.

The Weekly Standard.

Calling Iran’s Bluff.

Iran’s Nuclear Sites

Calling Iran’s Bluff

By Alan Caruba Thursday, November 19, 2009

If the endgame were not so serious, I would confess to enjoying the way the Israelis and much of the rest of the world are getting ready to call the Iranian ayatollah’s bluff as they hope to avoid a military response to their nuclear quest and the threat it represents.

It wouldn’t surprise me that the ayatollahs who have had Iran by the throat since 1979 are beginning to have serious misgivings about embarking on their nuclear mission.

As the Iranian intelligence community watches the comings and goings of their counterparts, it has surely not escaped their notice that two high-ranking teams of American CIA and DIA intelligence officials were conferring with the Israelis this week, shortly after attending a four-nation intelligence summit held in Amman, Jordan. It brought together key players in the U.S., Egyptian, Jordanian, and Israeli clandestine services.

Such cooperation is unprecedented in recent years and it making the Iranians very nervous. Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said of these comings and going, “Iran is a great world power whose strength is unlimited and on whom no other state would dare impose sanctions.” This is straight out of the late Saddam Hussein’s Book of Hilarious Claims.

Then, too, despite extensive economic ties with Russia, the Iranians are so upset with the delayed delivery of a Russian S-300 air defense system they actually went public with their complaints. It was expected in April.

It is a $1 billion contract and one suspects that the Russians have calculated that the Israelis will attack soon enough, so why waste a perfectly good air defense system that can be sold elsewhere? I hope they got paid in advance.

“Don’t Russian strategists realize Iran’s geopolitical importance to their security,” asked Iranian Chief of Staff, Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi. Yes, they do and so do the Chinese with whom the Iranians also have extensive economic ties, but both nations are hardly in a rush to see a nuclear-armed Iran, run by religious fanatics who might decide to threaten them or worse.

Meanwhile, earlier this month the UN International Atomic Energy Agency announced it found “nothing to be worried about” after a quick, first look at a previously secret uranium enrichment site in Iran. Are you worried? Am I worried? Certainly not, after all, Mohammed ElBaradei is a Nobel Peace Prize winner just like President Obama.

It has been reported that the U.S. has delivered a number of “bunker-buster” bombs, MOABs, to the Israelis and they are designed for use against nuclear facilities buried deep in mountains or underground.

All their bravado and boasting has only managed to get the Iranians further isolated and at considerably greater risk. Instead of sinking billions into their nuclear program, they could have been building oil refineries and other infrastructure of value. Instead, they have to import much of their gasoline. This is a definition of stupid.

The Iranians (by which I always mean the leadership, not the people) have managed to sour relations with Europe by jerking them around in an endless series of “negotiations” concerning their nuclear program. It is not lost on Europe that Iranian missile systems permit them to target much of that continent. Ditto Russia. Ditto China. Ditto the entire Middle East.

The immediate target, of course, is Israel and Israel has a history of destroying nuclear reactors in their neighborhood, first in Iraq and more recently in Syria when the combined talents of U.S. and Mossad intelligence revealed where the Syrians were building a secret nuclear facility.

There is a historic irony in this because ancient Iran, Persia, provided a sanctuary to Jews when they were exiled from Israel and facilitated their return. Modern Iran’s leaders have mocked the Holocaust and threatened the Israelis with nuclear annihilation.

All of which is to say that, if I were an ayatollah in Tehran these days, I would be thinking about opening a dry cleaning business just about anywhere else on planet Earth.

Get ready to bomb Iran – Washington Times.

Representatives from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia are scheduled to meet today in Brussels to discuss future steps to dissuade Iran from developing the capacity to build nuclear weapons. Our message to the world leaders: If you want peace, prepare for war.

President Obama said yesterday that the international community intends to send a “clear message” to Iran. Unfortunately, Iran has clearly gotten the message already: It has nothing to fear. The United States has shown no desire to take serious steps to confront Tehran on the nuclear issue. It’s doubtful that anything will come out of Brussels to change the substance of that message.

Iran has learned the lesson of the international community’s spectacularly flawed attempt to prevent North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. Years of negotiations, sanctions, agreements, breakdowns and breakthroughs resulted in one of the poorest countries in the world joining the nuclear club. The missing ingredient throughout the confrontation with Pyongyang was the credible threat of force. The idea of a strike against North Korea’s nuclear facilities was never on the table, which freed the state to pursue a two-track strategy of pretending to negotiate away its program while pressing ahead on weapons development.

The United States has never really admitted that diplomacy failed with Pyongyang, and Mr. Obama sealed the sense of cognitive dissonance by rewarding the architect of failure, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher R. Hill, with the important ambassadorship in Baghdad.

Tehran is taking a page from Pyongyang’s book – indeed, the countries collaborate on nuclear matters – by bending just enough to hold out hope to the diplomats without actually delivering. There is no reason to believe Iran will give up its nuclear program, the true extent of which is still unknown. Yesterday, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency examined the nuclear facility at Qom that Iran had concealed for seven years, and an IAEA report released Monday implies that Iran is hiding other nuclear facilities. It is bewildering that U.S. intelligence agencies still maintain that Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons.

The case for using force against Iran is growing more plausible as the threat intensifies. Compared to the 2002 case for war against Saddam Hussein, it is a slam-dunk. Unlike Saddam’s Iraq, Tehran has a functioning nuclear program and is close to being able to assemble nuclear weapons. It is developing long-range delivery systems and has tested a rocket that could be the basis for an ICBM. Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, with a global network of operatives. Tehran has given safe haven (what it calls house arrest) to dozens of members of al Qaeda and supplied sophisticated anti-armor weapons to Iraqi insurgents and the Taliban to use against coalition forces. Iran is more of a threat than Iraq ever was.

Force need not be used to be effective, but the threat of force must be credible to have any chance of influencing Iranian behavior. Right now, there is no credible threat emanating from the United States. The Obama administration unambiguously opposes military action against Iran, particularly by Israel. But it would help to have a little ambiguity on this issue. So long as Tehran thinks the United States will work actively to prevent Israel from taking action, it has one less reason to worry. It would be most helpful if the United States began to send signals to Tehran that the United States will assist Israel in its preparations for military action and maybe even participate when the attack ultimately is launched.

If the regime in Tehran is not made to fear serious consequences for its continued intransigence, it has no reason to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

Iran-Backed Rebels Gaining in Yemen War
Saudis Ask Jordanian Elite Force to Pitch in

The Saudi army failed in its strategy to end Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebellion with a blitz operation launched ten days ago on both sides of the kingdom’s southern border with Yemen, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources report. The deteriorating situation of this proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran on Yemeni soil is drawing the US and other Middle East nations ever more deeply into the conflict.

Riyadh has deployed a large force including a light brigade backed by a battalion of artillery, marines and engineers, and Saudi F-15s and Tornados. They bombarded Houthi units which had taken up position inside the kingdom near the town of Jebel Dukhan. Yet the tide of war was not reversed and the Saudi reconnaissance teams which infiltrated Houthi positions inside Yemen were overwhelmed.

Although the Saudi and Yemeni commanders announced Thursday, Nov. 19, that they had killed a large number of Houthi commanders in battle, all Saudi attempts to break through to the rebel positions in northern Yemen and the Saudi side of the border in Jebel Dukhan and Harp Sufiyan have been thrown back.

The Yemeni insurgents are attacking Saudi armored vehicles advancing through the mountain passes and planting thousands of roadside bombs to blow them up.

The Saudi army also failed to create a 10-kilometer buffer zone on both sides of the 1,500-km long border to isolate the Houthi pocket and gain greater freedom of movement.

Jordan to the rescue

In desperation, Saudi King Abdullah is reported by DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s Gulf sources, as putting through an urgent phone call to the Jordanian monarch on Nov. 16 with an appeal to send over the Jordanian army’s elite Royal Special Force of 2,000 commandoes to support the Saudi war effort in Yemen. He promised to defray all its expenses.

Trained in 2007 by the US security giant Blackwater, the Jordanian force’s main task is to defend the Hashemite throne in Amman.

Our sources report that, shortly before this issue closed, Jordan’s Abdullah instructed the Royal Special Force to prepare to set out for Saudi Arabia over the weekend. Their mission when they reached the war arena was to break through to the narrow mountain passes on foot and fight the Yemen rebel intruders to the finish and flushed out.

As the fighting spreads, the United States has started airlifting arms to Yemen. This was no easy task. The Yemeni army is trained in the use of Russian weapons, supplied by the Soviet Union for the civil war that raged in Yemen in the 1970s and 1980s. The Americans went shopping for Russian ammunition and spares in East European countries and are flying them into Yemen from US air bases in Romania and Bulgaria.

Al Jazeera English – Middle East – US warns Iran over nuclear standoff.

Iran says the enriched uranium will be used in Tehran reactor which produces medical isotopes [EPA]   The US president has warned Iran of consequences of its failure to respond to the offer of a nuclear deal, saying that Washington has begun talks with allies about fresh punishment. Barack Obama’s tough comments on Thursday came as Iran indicated it would not ship its low-enriched uranium to Russia for processing, the centerpiece of deal aimed at a peaceful resolution to Iran’s contested nuclear programme. “Iran has taken weeks now and has not shown its willingness to say yes to this proposal … and so as a consequence we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences,” Obama said at a joint news conference with Lee Myung-bak, the South Korean president, during a visit to Seoul. He said Iran would not be given an unlimited amount of time, comparing the Iranian nuclear issue to the years of stop-and-start negotiations with North Korea about its nuclear ambitions. “We weren’t going to duplicate what has happened with North Korea, in which talks just continue forever without any actual resolution to the issue,” Obama said. He has advocated a policy of increased engagement, rather than confrontation, on thorny international issues. Iran was supposed to export the low-grade enriched uranium to Russia and France where it could be enriched to be used as fuel in Tehran’s medical-purpose reactor. Iran rejected the offer and said instead it was prepared to directly exchange the low-enriched uranium for processed nuclear fuel, providing the swap took place on Iranian soil. “It means that we will [instead] consider swapping the [nuclear] fuel simultaneously in Iran,” Obama said. ‘Sanctions outdated’ Iran said the Islamic republic was ready for another round of talks with world powers over securing fuel for its Tehran research reactor. The first meeting was held in Vienna on October 19. The US rejected calls for amendments and further talks on the deal, with Obama saying that time was running out for diplomacy to resolve the issue and hinted of imposing further sanctions on Iran. Iran’s foreign minister rejected talk of further sanctions, saying the West had learnt from “failed experiences” of the past. “Sanction was the literature of the 60s and 70s,” Manouchehr Mottaki, who is currently visiting Philippines, said at a news conference. “I think they are wise enough not to repeat failed experiences,” he said.

Al Jazeera English – Middle East – US warns Iran over nuclear standoff.

Iran says the enriched uranium will be used in Tehran reactor which produces medical isotopes [EPA] The US president has warned Iran of consequences of its failure to respond to the offer of a nuclear deal, saying that Washington has begun talks with allies about fresh punishment. Barack Obama’s tough comments on Thursday came as Iran indicated it would not ship its low-enriched uranium to Russia for processing, the centerpiece of deal aimed at a peaceful resolution to Iran’s contested nuclear programme. “Iran has taken weeks now and has not shown its willingness to say yes to this proposal … and so as a consequence we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences,” Obama said at a joint news conference with Lee Myung-bak, the South Korean president, during a visit to Seoul. He said Iran would not be given an unlimited amount of time, comparing the Iranian nuclear issue to the years of stop-and-start negotiations with North Korea about its nuclear ambitions. “We weren’t going to duplicate what has happened with North Korea, in which talks just continue forever without any actual resolution to the issue,” Obama said. He has advocated a policy of increased engagement, rather than confrontation, on thorny international issues. Iran was supposed to export the low-grade enriched uranium to Russia and France where it could be enriched to be used as fuel in Tehran’s medical-purpose reactor. Iran rejected the offer and said instead it was prepared to directly exchange the low-enriched uranium for processed nuclear fuel, providing the swap took place on Iranian soil. “It means that we will [instead] consider swapping the [nuclear] fuel simultaneously in Iran,” Obama said. ‘Sanctions outdated’ Iran said the Islamic republic was ready for another round of talks with world powers over securing fuel for its Tehran research reactor. The first meeting was held in Vienna on October 19. The US rejected calls for amendments and further talks on the deal, with Obama saying that time was running out for diplomacy to resolve the issue and hinted of imposing further sanctions on Iran. Iran’s foreign minister rejected talk of further sanctions, saying the West had learnt from “failed experiences” of the past. “Sanction was the literature of the 60s and 70s,” Manouchehr Mottaki, who is currently visiting Philippines, said at a news conference. “I think they are wise enough not to repeat failed experiences,” he said.

Syria suspected of concealing nuclear activity – wtop.com.

November 19, 2009 – 6:41am

A photo of the destroyed al-Kibar reactor in Syria. The IAEA says Syria has uranium as its other nuclear sites. (Photo courtesy of U.S. government)

J.J. Green, wtop.com

Obama: U.S. mulling new nuclear sanctions on Iran – Haaretz – Israel News.

By Haaretz Service and News Agencies

United States President Barack Obama said Thursday that Washington has begun talking with its allies about fresh penalties against Iran for defying Weestern efforts to halt its pursuit of nuclear weapons.   Obama’s remarks came as Iran indicated it would not ship its low-enriched uranium to Russia for processing, the centerpiece of deal aimed at a peaceful resolution to Iran’s contested nuclear program. “They have been unable to get to yes, and so as a consequence, we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences,” Obama said in a brief news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.   Obama did not elaborate on the nature of any new sanctions, which would require the commitment of international support that is not yet clear. Earlier on Thursday, Iran’s foreign minister dismissed the possibility of sanctions over Tehran’s rejection of a deal to send enriched uranium abroad for further processing. “Sanction was the literature of the 60s and 70s,” Manouchehr Mottaki said at a news conference during a visit to the Philippines. “I think they are wise enough not to repeat failed experiences,” he said, speaking through an interpreter. “Of course it’s totally up to them.” Iran’s ISNA news agency quoted Mottaki on Wednesday as rejecting the draft deal brokered by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA had said Iran should send some 75 percent of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be turned into fuel for a Tehran medical research reactor. The decision is expected to anger the United States and its allies, which had called on Iran to accept a deal which aimed to delay Tehran’s potential ability to make bombs by at least a year by divesting Iran of most of its enriched uranium. Mottaki reiterated that Tehran was willing to discuss the deal but only if the swap of enriched uranium for nuclear fuel took place within Iran. “Iran raises its readiness in order to have further talks within the framework which is presented,” he said. “It’s not our proposal to have a swap,” he added. “They raised such a proposal and we described and talked about how it could be operationalised.” On Wednesday, Mottaki told the ISNA students’ news agency that Iran could not afford to send its uranium to be enriched outside the country, as the UN proposed deal stipulates. “Surely we will not send our 3.5 percent fuel abroad but can review swapping it simultaneously with nuclear fuel inside Iran,” Mottaki told . The United States has rejected Iranian calls for amendments and further talks on the deal and U.S. President Barack Obama said time was running out for diplomacy to resolve a dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. Mottaki criticized the United States for pressuring Iran to accept the deal. “Diplomacy is not black or white. Pressuring Iran to accept what they want is a non-diplomatic approach,” Mottaki said. Mottaki did not say what would happen to the low-enriched fuel it was prepared to swap, but authorities have said in the past that it could be stockpiled in Iran under IAEA supervision. “Our experts will tell us how much fuel was needed to be swapped. We do not accept their experts’ views,” Mottaki said