WarSclerotic

Iran says fuel not removed at Bushehr nuclear site | Reuters.

(Reuters) – Iran has not yet removed fuel from its Bushehr nuclear power plant, its foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday, signaling a further possible delay to the Russian-built plant’s operation date.

Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. nuclear watchdog had said on February 26 that Tehran was having to remove fuel from the reactor of its only nuclear power station, the latest glitch to hit Bushehr in Iran’s decades-long attempts to bring it on line.

But foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Reuters: “The nuclear fuel has not been unloaded at the Bushehr power plant and this plant is continuing its routine activities.”

He added: “We hope that Russia can meet the schedule … and have the Bushehr plant join Iran’s national grid on time.”

It was not clear when the removal of the fuel might begin.

Amid confusion over the status of the plant, Iranian officials have said the fuel was being unloaded for tests on the advice of Russian engineers, and that it was being removed for safety reasons.

Russia’s state-run nuclear agency said on Monday that the problem was caused by damage to internal elements in a cooling pump.

A senior Iranian official said in February that suggestions should be investigated that the Stuxnet computer worm, believed to have been an attempt by Iran’s enemies to sabotage the nuclear program, had caused harm to the 1,000 megawatt Bushehr reactor.

Russia’s NATO ambassador has said the computer virus could have triggered a nuclear disaster on the scale of the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.

Bushehr was started by Germany‘s Siemens in the 1970s, before Iran’s Islamic revolution, and has been dogged by delays. Fuel was loaded into the reactor four months ago but a January deadline for it to start producing electricity was missed.

Further delays could be an embarrassment not only to Iranian politicians who have made Bushehr the showpiece of what they insist are Tehran’s peaceful nuclear ambitions, but also for Russia, which would like to export more of its nuclear know-how to emerging economies.

Many analysts believe Stuxnet was a cyber attack by the United States and Israel aimed at disabling Iran’s nuclear equipment and slowing down a program they suspect is aimed at making nuclear weapons, something Tehran denies.

Iranian officials have confirmed Stuxnet hit staff computers at Bushehr but said it did not affect major systems.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report March 1, 2011, 8:51 PM (GMT+02:00)

Honor guard on Iranian waship for Iranian, Syrian Navy chiefs at Latakia

Just two days after two Iranian warships reached the Syrian port of Latakia via the Suez Canal, Friday, Feb. 25, an Iranian-Syrian naval cooperation accord was signed providing for Iran to build its first Mediterranean naval base at the Syrian port, debkafile‘s military and Iranian sources reveal.
The base will include a large Iranian Revolutionary Guards weapons depot stocked with hardware chosen by the IRGC subject to prior notification to Damascus. Latakia harbor will be deepened, widened and provided with new “coastal installations” to accommodate the large warships and submarines destined to use these facilities.

Iran has much to celebrate, debkafile‘s military sources report. It has acquired its first military foothold on a Mediterranean shore and its first permanent military presence on Syrian soil. Tehran will be setting in place the logistical infrastructure for accommodating incoming Iranian troops to fight in a potential Middle East war.

According to our sources, the “cadets” the Kharg cruiser, one of the two Iranian warships allowed to transit the Suez Canal, was said to be carrying were in fact the first construction crews for building the new port facilities.
Two more events were carefully synchronized to take place in the same week.

On Feb. 24, as the Iranian warships headed from the Suez Canal to Syria, Hamas fired long-range made-in-Iran Grade missiles from the Gaza Strip into Israel, one hitting the main Negev city of Beersheba for the first time since Israel’s Gaza campaign two years ago. Tehran was using its Palestinian surrogate to flaunt its success in getting its first warships through the Suez Canal in the face of Israeli protests. The Iranians were also parading their offensive agenda in deploying warships on the Mediterranean just 287 kilometers north of Israel’s northernmost coastal town of Nahariya.
The second occurrence was a contract announced by Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov for the sale of advanced Russian shore-to-sea cruise missiles to Syria. The Yakhont missile system has a range of 300 kilometers and skims the waves low enough to be undetected by radar. debkafile‘s military sources take this sale as representing Moscow’s nod in favor of the new Iranian base at Latakia, 72 kilometers from the permanent naval base Russia is building at the Syrian port of Tartous.

The Russians are willing to contribute towards the Iranian port’s defenses and looking forward to cooperation between the Russian, Iranian and Syrian fleets in the eastern Mediterranean opposite the US Sixth Fleet’s regular beat.

This unfolding proximity presents the United States with a serious strategic challenge and Israel with a new peril, which was nonetheless dismissed out of hand by Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barak. In a radio interview Monday, Feb. 28, he brushed aside the Iranian warships’ passage through the Suez as “an outing for cadets” which did not require an Israeli response. He added, “For now, there is no operational threat to Israel.”
According to Barak, the Suez Canal is open to all of the world’s warships and the two Iranian vessels’ transit could not have been prevented. He omitted to explain how Egypt did prevent it for 30 years and why it was permitted now. The defense minister went on to speak of “fresh signs that President Bashar Assad is willing to resume peace talks with Israel.”

Both Barak’s assessments were knocked down by Damascus on the same day.

Syrian Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Ali Mohammad Habib soon put him right on the “cadets’ outing.” At a ceremony in honor of the Iranian Navy Commander Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, Habib said: “Iranian warships’ presence in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time after 32 years is a great move that is going to cripple Israel.”

Israel: Pressure must be mounted on Iran.

A new IAEA report that Iran may be seeking to develop a nuclear-armed missile only underscores the importance of upgrading pressure on Iran and convincing Tehran that a military option is a real possibility if it doesn’t stop pursuing nuclear arms, Israeli government sources said on Monday.

The officials were responding to a confidential document leaked over the weekend that signaled the UN body’s growing frustration at Iran’s lack of cooperation.

The report made clear Tehran’s determination to press ahead with sensitive atomic activity despite four rounds of UN sanctions since 2006, saying the country had informed the IAEA it would soon start operating a second uranium enrichment plant.

Israeli officials said that while stepped-up military and economic pressure was necessary, the only thing likely to stop the Iranians was their belief that the West had a credible military option, and would be willing to use it.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has conveyed this message in recent days during private meetings, including one on Sunday with a congressional delegation. If there is a credible military option, he said, the chances that it will have to be used are, paradoxically, reduced.

The IAEA report comes at a time of concern in Jerusalem that the rapid and dramatic developments in the region are diverting the world’s attention from the Iranian nuclear program, with all eyes focused on Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, but not Iran.

The report may provide the United States and allies with additional arguments for further tightening sanctions on the Islamic Republic, after talks in December and January failed to make any progress toward resolving the dispute.

However, Israeli officials said momentum for a fifth round of sanctions seemed unlikely at the present time, since Russia, China and even some European countries were believed to be opposed. The officials were satisfied, however, that the IAEA report revealed to the world the degree to which Iran was not cooperating.

“Iran is not engaging with the agency in substance on issues concerning the allegation that Iran is developing a nuclear payload for its missile program,” the report read.

For several years, the IAEA has been investigating Western intelligence reports indicating Iran has coordinated efforts to process uranium, test explosives at high altitude and revamp a ballistic missile cone in a manner suitable for a nuclear warhead.

An official with knowledge of the IAEA’s investigation said the new information, if it turned out to be correct, concerned both Iran’s past and more recent activities.

The report said that based on an analysis of “additional information which has come to its attention since August 2008, including new information recently received, there are further concerns which the agency… needs to clarify with Iran.”

In a surprise development, the report said the Islamic Republic had said it “would have to unload fuel assemblies” from the core of the Russian-built Bushehr reactor, which Iranian officials had previously said would soon start generating electricity.

Iran is believed to have told the IAEA that a broken pump was forcing it to remove fuel from its first nuclear reactor, in a fresh setback for the $1 billion project, experts familiar with the issue said on Monday.

They said it was a potentially serious problem that could cause months of further delays for the Bushehr plant, which has yet to start injecting power into Iran’s national grid.

Iran has said Bushehr, first in a planned network of nuclear power plants, would start producing electricity early this year.

One independent expert said the problem apparently concerned an old back-up pump in the reactor.

“I think what happened is that the pump failed but it didn’t just fail, it broke up, so that … there are pieces of metal that are now circulated throughout the primary cooling system,” the expert told Reuters.

If not fixed, it could ultimately have led to a small radioactive leakage into the reactor’s cooling water.

“They are probably very happy it happened before it went critical (the plant starting to operate) because now they can inspect the fuel a lot more easily,” the expert added.

Fuel was loaded into the reactor four months ago but a January deadline for it to start producing electricity was missed.

Further woes could be an embarrassment not only to Iranian politicians who have made Bushehr the show-piece of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, but also for Russia which would like to export more of its nuclear know-how to emerging economies.

US warships, aircraft near Libya, $30b in assets frozen.

The United States moved warships and aircraft closer to Libya on Monday and froze $30 billion in assets, ramping up pressure on what a top US envoy called a “delusional” Muammar Gaddafi to relinquish power.

In the hardest-hitting US denunciation yet of Libya’s leader, US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said Gaddafi is “disconnected from reality,” is “slaughtering his own people” and is unfit to lead.

The United States also pressed Gaddafi’s inner circle to abandon their leader. “You have to think very, very seriously which side you want to be on. … You will be held accountable,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

The military preparations and tougher US rhetoric follow days of criticism of US President Barack Obama’s administration by Republican lawmakers, conservative commentators and others for an initially cautious response to the turmoil in Libya.

The administration has defended its response, saying it had been reluctant to take any steps that could endanger US citizens in the North African country. Washington imposed sanctions on Libya on Friday just hours after a plane carrying some of the last Americans flew out of the capital Tripoli.

While its position on Gaddafi is now clear, the United States is still struggling to develop a coherent policy toward the various rebel groups. US officials are in contact with them but have ruled out any immediate military aid.

One major problem is that while Libyan opposition groups have demonstrated they are capable of organizing themselves to confront Gaddafi, they are “not coalescing,” a senior US national security official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The rebellion largely remains bereft of obvious leaders who the United States could deal with, he said.

US Freezes Gaddafi’s assets

In the meantime, US authorities are putting the financial squeeze on Gaddafi to pressure him to go.

A US Treasury Department official said about $30 billion in assets in the United States have been blocked from access by Gaddafi and his family. David Cohen, acting Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the sum was the largest ever blocked.

Gaddafi appeared to shrug off the stepped-up pressure in an interview with ABC’s Christiane Amanpour, laughing when asked if he would step down and insisting that Libyans loved him.

Asked about Gaddafi’s comments, Rice said: “It sounds just, frankly, delusional. And when he can laugh in talking to … an international journalist while he is slaughtering his own people, it only underscores how unfit he is to lead and how disconnected he is from reality.”

Foreign governments are increasing pressure on Gaddafi to leave in the hope of ending fighting in Libya that has claimed at least 1,000 lives and forced thousands of people to flee.

Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said the US military is moving ships closer to Libya “in case they are needed.” Lapan also said the Pentagon is repositioning planes nearer to Libya.

The US ships could be used for humanitarian and rescue missions, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Geneva, where she told the UN Human Rights Council it was “time for Gaddafi to go — now.”

“There is not any pending military action involving US naval vessels,” Clinton said.

The Pentagon gave no details of the forces being moved but the United States has a major base near Naples, Italy, home to its Mediterranean headquarters, as well as in Rota, Spain.

As of Monday, the US Navy had eight ships in the Sixth Fleet’s area of operations, which includes the Mediterranean Sea and parts of the Atlantic Ocean usually patrolled by frigates and destroyers. It has two aircraft carriers further southeast in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

Washington is also working with allies on imposing a possible “no-fly” zone over Libya, US officials said.

A no-fly zone would stop Gaddafi from using warplanes or helicopters to attack rebels who have seized large parts of the country, although it is unclear how big a role the Libyan air force has played in the crisis so far.

The Obama administration has said military action is one option it is looking at, although many analysts say the United States is highly unlikely to launch a ground invasion or air strikes because of the volatile situation on the ground.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 28, 2011, 10:52 PM (GMT+02:00)

USS Kearsarge to be “repositioned” off Libya

The US is repositioning its naval and air forces around Libya, Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan stated Monday, Feb. 28, indicating possible military steps to break the standoff between Muammar Qaddafi’s army and rebel forces in the fighting for control of the towns commanding the roads to the capital Tripoli where Qaddafi is barricaded.  The reported rebel capture of the key towns of Misrata and Zawiya is technically correct. In fact, they are both surrounded by Libyan troops who control their road links with Tripoli. In Misrata, the army has a valuable edge over opposition forces in its control of the local airfield.

The Pentagon spokesman’s indeed remarked that there are “various contingency plans” for the North African country where Muammar Qaddafi’s forces and rebels in the east “remain locked in a tense standoff.”

Most military observers interpreted his remark as referring to potential US military intervention in Libya to break the stalemate. It was strengthened by the imminent redeployment off the Libyan coast of USS Enterprise from the Red Sea and the amphibious USS Kearsarge, which has a fleet of helicopters and about 1,800 Marines aboard.

This US naval movement appeared to be running ahead of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who, speaking in Geneva, Switzerland, earlier Monday said “nothing is off the table” but added “there is no pending naval action planned against Libya.”
debkafile‘s military and intelligence sources report that the presence of the two US warships opposite Libya gives Washington and its allies a flexible option for military intervention should Qaddafi be seen to prevail over the opposition or if the standoff lingers too long. Among the 1,800 marines aboard the Kearsarge are units especially trained for guerrilla or covert raids behind enemy lines. They would have air cover from the Enterprise to protect them from Libyan air and helicopter strikes. They primary mission would be to disable the Libyan air force and put its air fields out of commission. The rebels would not then be stalled by the Libyan ruler’s ability to bring in fresh troops and drop them at any point and give them a better chance of carrying the day.
The other “contingency plan” in discussion between Washington and European allies is creating a no-fly zone to protect the people from air assault.  The American UN Ambassador Susan Rice said later that  Washington is discussing militlary options with its allies but a determination is premature.

On the sanctions front, the US government Monday blocked a record $30 billion in Libyan assets, the largest amount ever frozen, in line with the Obama administration’s decision to impose unilateral and multilateral sanctions on Qaddafi.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.