WarSclerotic

Iran to extend nuclear enrichment – FT.com.

Iran has declared that it plans to start uranium enrichment in a highly-protected underground bunker south of Tehran in the “near future”, in a move that could seriously inflame tensions with western countries over its nuclear programme.

Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, said on Saturday that the Fordow underground site, which is near the Iranian holy city of Qom, would become operational soon and would produce enriched uranium at concentrations up to 20 per cent.

“The Fordow nuclear enrichment plant will be operational in the near future,” Mr Abbasi-Davani, said, with some Iranian media reporting that Tehran would soon have a ceremony to open the site officially.

Iran has been enriching uranium at its main site at Natanz for some years. But the US, Israel and European powers have long expressed concern that Iran might also begin uranium enrichment at the Qom site.

The Qom facility is located below a mountain in a highly-protected bunker, making it difficult, if not impossible, to attack from the air. The start of uranium enrichment at this site could, therefore, be seen by western nations as Iran reaching a point of no return with its programme.

Some western intelligence experts also believe that the Qom site has been designed ultimately to produce weapons grade uranium for a nuclear weapon.

Mr Abbasi-Davani gave no further details on when enrichment at Qom would start and did not specify how many centrifuges would be working at the site.

But Kayhan newspaper, a mouthpiece for regime hardliners, said in an editorial on Sunday that the enrichment of 20 per cent uranium began at Fordow two weeks ago, with the injection of gas into the centrifuges.

The newspaper added that the shift made the country’s nuclear programme “immune forever” against the threat of a military attack by western countries.

Iran has always insisted that its nuclear programme is aimed at providing it with civil nuclear power. But some leading western analysts believe it may be under two years away from testing a nuclear device.

The move at Qom comes amid mounting tensions between Iran and the west over plans by the US and European Union to impose sanctions on Iranian oil exports.

Since December, Iran has repeatedly threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-third of the world’s seaborne oil trade passes, should the west impose oil sanctions on Tehran. Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, Iran’s navy chief, reiterated on Sunday the country could close the Strait of Hormuz “easily”.

General Martin Dempsey, US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, acknowledged on Sunday that Iran did have the ability to block the Strait of Hormuz “for a period of time,” but added: “We’ve invested in capabilities to ensure that if that happens, we can defeat that.”

Leon Panetta, US defence secretary, said such a move would constitute a “red line” for the US, as would Iranian efforts to build a nuclear weapon. But he said while Iran was laying the groundwork for making nuclear weapons, it was not yet building a bomb.

He reiterated US concerns about a unilateral strike by Israel against Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying the action could trigger Iranian retaliation against US forces in the region.

U.S. Top Officer: Closing Hormuz would be Red Line – Middle East – News – Israel National News.

General Martin Dempsey

Israel news photo: Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Defense

Iran has the ability to temporarily block the Strait of Hormuz but the U.S. “would take action and reopen” it, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey said Sunday, making clear to Iran that in threatening to close the straits, it is literally playing with fire. .

“They’ve invested in capabilities that could, in fact, for a period of time block the Strait of Hormuz,” Dempsey said in an interview for CBS‘s “Face the Nation.”

“We’ve invested in capabilities to ensure that if that happens, we can defeat that.”

Blocking the strategic shipping lane linking the Gulf of Oman with the Persian Gulf would constitute a “red line” for the U.S., Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on the same program.

He assessed that Iran is preparing groundwork for making nuclear weapons someday, but is not yet building an atomic bomb. He called for continued diplomatic and economic pressure to dissuade Tehran from taking that step.

Panetta warned that a unilateral strike by Israel against Iran’s nuclear facilities could trigger Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces in the region. “We have common cause here” with Israel, he said. “And the better approach is for us to work together.”

According to AP’s analysis, Panetta’s remarks “suggest the White House’s assessment of Iran’s nuclear strategy has not changed in recent months, despite warnings from advocates of military action that time is running out to prevent Tehran from becoming a nuclear-armed state.”

The Obama administration has come under attack from Republican presidential hopefuls for what they say is a soft approach to Iran. “If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon,” said Mitt Romney. “And if you elect Mitt Romney, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”

Iran’s Secret Nuke Facility Antagonizes West – Los Angeles City Buzz | Examiner.com.

Thumbing its nose at attempts to half its secret nuclear activity, Iran acknowledged that it’s currently building underground, a bomb-proofed nuclear enrichment facility in Fordow, near the Shiite holy city of Qom.  Western security experts have known since 2009 that Iran began developing the secret site to shield its enriched uranium production from more accessible facilities like Natanz.  Iran has been under constant threat from the U.S. and Israel to halt enriching uranium or face possible military action.  With the Iranian Navy threatening to attack the U.S.S. John C. Stennis aircraft carrier as it passes through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, tensions could not be higher between Washington and Tehran.  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has told the West that Iran will not allow “bullying powers” to stop Iran’s rights to the nuclear fuel cycle.

Western officials believe Iran is up to no good with regard to its nuclear enrichment activities, namely, that the Persian nation seeks nothing short of atomic weapons.  After threatening to “wipe Israel off the map,” Ahmandinejad made Iran’s nuclear ambitions more dicey.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees Iran as an “existential” threat to the Jewish State.  “The Fordow nuclear enrichment plant will be operational in the near future,” said Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.  Acknowledging work on a bunker-proof underground nuclear facility antagonizes the West busy applying draconic economic sanctions on the Persian State.  Banning companies from transacting oil business with Iran paralyzes 80% of Iran’s economy, already reeling from a 40% currency devaluation in just the last year, with more devaluation sin sight.

Blocking U.S. companies from dealing with Iran’s central bank, Obama hopes to turn the screws on Iran to cease-and-desist on its uranium enrichment program.  Iran believes that, like Pakistan, which got the bomb in 1998, the bomb will force the U.S. and Israel to back off.  Neither Israel nor the U.S. is willing to wait until Iran gets the bomb to find out Ahmadinejad’s promise to “wipe Israel off the map.”  Starting up Fordow would signal that Iran has no intent of halting its nuclear enrichment program.  Placing enrichment facilities in underground bunkers makes U.S. and Israeli threats of military action less tenable.  “I would see it as another escalatory step on the Iranian side,” said an unnamed Pentagon official.  U.N. Security Council officials, including Germany, are growing more impatient with Iran after a Nov. 8, 2011 report indicated that Iran sought a nuclear warhead.

Time for diplomacy could be running out on Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities.  Western powers aren’t inclined toward Iran’s latest stalling tactics, asking the West for more face-to-face negotiations.  IAEA officials believe that Iran is already feeding uranium hexafluoride gas to centrifuges at Fordow.  Officials at the IAEA and Pentagon also believe that Iran refines uranium to at least 20%, the last stage before it’s spun into weapons’ grade material at 90%.  Iran insists that its 20% uranium is for medically-related radioactive isotopes, not to continue refining to weapons grade fissile material.  No one has seen any real willingness on Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program, causing growing concern about an eventual military confrontation.  Iran threatened last week to close the Strait of Hormuz should the U.S. and EU continue to apply punitive economic sanctions.

Iran’s right to uranium enrichment under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty permits uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes.  Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes but isn’t clear whether that includs A-bomb development for future deterrence.  Iran often sites Pakistan to demonstrate how its nuclear arsenal has kept its archenemy India from war since 1999.  Had Ahmadinejad not threatened Israel, the West probably wouldn’t object so strongly to Iran’s nuclear activities.  Building underground sites like Fordow shows the kind of defiance that pushes an inevitable military confrontation.  Iran’s mullah’s probably aren’t reckless enough to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.  Whether a mishap occurs with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard or offshoots like the radical al-Quds forces is anyone’s guess

Mounting tensions in the Persian Gulf draw Iran and the U.S. closer into a military confrontation.  While it’s still unlikely that the mullah’s would risk their power by attacking a U.S. aircraft carrier, there’s no accounting for mishaps.  With the U.S.S. John C. Stennis carrier steaming toward the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranians play a dangerous game of chicken.  Obama must pull out all the stops to get Tehran to back down without acquiescing to Iranian bluster.  Because nuclear experts see Fordow as equipping on 3,000 centrifuges, they don’t believe it’s enriching uranium for generating electric power.  Nuclear experts also know that it’s not too difficult to go from 20% fissile material to weapon’s grade  90%.  Both the U.S .and Iran must decide what’s more important:  Maintaining the peace or pushing ahead toward nuclear weapons.  So far it looks like A-bombs win out.

‘Iran will be stopped if it pursues nuclear path’ – Israel News, Ynetnews.

On heels of defense budget cut announcement, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says nuclear Iran is ‘red line’, America would protect its forces if Israel strikes Islamic Republic

Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON – Days after US President Barak Obama’s official announcement on major budget cutbacks to the US defense budget, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is trying to send a massage of deterrence to Iranand the US’ other enemies.

In an interview given by Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey to CBS News, Panetta made it clear that “our red line to Iran is to not develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line for us.”

Related stories:

• Panetta: Iran can assemble bomb in year or less
• Obama: US to stay world’s top military power
  

General Martin Dempsey tried to avoid answering how hard it would be for the US to take out Iran’s nuclear capability but eventually answered, saying: “I’d rather not discuss the degree of difficulty and in any way encourage them to read anything into that.”

“But I will say that — our — my responsibility is to encourage the right degree of planning to understand the risks associated with any kind of military option… in some cases to position assets, to provide those options… in a timely fashion. And all those activities are going on.”

When pressed whether the US could “take out their nuclear capability” without using nuclear weapons, Dempsey said this: “I certainly want them to believe that that’s the case.”

Panetta added: “I think they need to know that… if they take that step – that they’re going to get stopped.”

Dempsey also declared that while the Iranians have the capability to block the Hormuz Straits for a time, the US would also be able to “defeat” them if it happened.

As for the possibility of an Israeli strike against Iran and the US’ response to such a strike, Panetta said the US would protect its forces in the region.

“If the Israelis made that decision, we would have to be prepared to protect our forces in that situation. And that’s what we’d be concerned about.”

Israel Navy to devote majority of missile boats to secure offshore drilling rafts – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Navy officers confirm security mission will amount to thousands of hours of missile boats’ operational hours each year.

By Gili Cohen

The Israel Navy will be in charge of protecting Israeli offshore drilling rigs, even though this will take up a huge portion of the battleships’ operational hours, Haaretz has learned.

The IDF General Staff decided several months ago that the flotilla in charge of the navy’s missile boats will be responsible for naval patrols between the natural gas fields Tamar, Leviathan and Yam Tethys, including any drilling rigs that might be erected in the future.

	A drilling rig in the Leviathan gas field in the Mediterranean.
	Photo by: Albatross

Navy officers confirmed that the mission will amount to thousands of hours of missile boats’ operational hours each year.

They also said the navy won’t be the only force protecting the rigs, which are drilling for oil and natural gas, since the Israel Air Force will have aircraft on alert in case of an attack.

The rigs are located beyond Israel’s territorial waters – 12 nautical miles from land – but within Israel’s “economic waters,” which stretch up to 70 nautical miles offshore. This means that legally, the navy may act to prevent the rigs from being attacked.

“The whole issue of ‘economic waters’ actually triples the size of Israel, but also creates strategic threats not only concerning the rigs and those working there, but also a threat to Israel’s energy supply,” said a senior naval officer. “A possible strike against the rigs is a nightmare scenario.”

The navy has therefore decided to add two missile boats in the next few years, at the cost of several million shekels each.

Still, according to the IDF analysis, even more sea crafts will be needed to secure the rigs, and the navy is well aware that these operations will come at a cost.

“We’ll get more boats for the mission, but that isn’t enough,” the officer said. “We need even more. It will come at the expense of other things. One can’t strengthen the navy in the long term like this. It means changing the operations of missile boats.”

The IDF considers the drilling rigs to be potential targets. A senior navy officer in the reserves told Haaretz that the rigs could be “easy prey” for terrorists, or during an armed conflict.

The main method of a possible attack on the rigs include massive rounds of missiles (probably meaning the Syrian Yahount missiles, recently defined by the navy as “game-changing” weapons ), the intentional crashing of manned or unmanned aircrafts, a collision with an approaching water craft, or a maritime explosion.

The navy does not intend to create a separate unit that would function as a coast guard of sorts, but rather split the responsibility among all missile boats. The IDF has recently held maneuvers and exercises in areas surrounding the rigs, but that was done without a direct order stating that their security is part of the navy or IDF’s responsibilities.

The drilling companies are responsible for security within the rigs, and they hire private security companies, mostly staffed by former navy and IDF officers. Private security guards might be able to prevent rigs from being taken over, but are unlikely to help them withstand an outright attack.

“I consider securing the rigs an operational mission like any other,” said an officer in the missile boat flotilla. “We’re talking about an issue of national security with wide repercussions.”

“I certainly do not see Iran as a threat.” | Jerusalem Post – Blogs.

These words are destined for the history books.

They were uttered by Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, during a recent visit to Tehran.

Bahrain to Jewish leade… JPost – Jewish World – Jewish Features.

    Iran is a common threat to Bahrain, Israel and the US, the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa was quoted as saying by a Jewish official on Sunday.

Rabbi Marc Schneier, vice president of the World Jewish Congress, said the king told him he was alarmed by the Islamic Republic during a 45- minute meeting held in the capital city of Manama late last month.

“I made a point how it’s ironic how we share a common enemy and he acknowledged that Iran has been a threat,” said Schneier, who gave the king a hanukkia at the end of their conversation.

The oil-rich island nation has a troubled history with its northern neighbor across the Persian Gulf, which once laid claim to its territory.

Schneier said Hamad agreed to his request to host a Jewish-Muslim dialogue in the oil-rich country later this year. The rabbi, who is also president of the Foundation for Interfaith Dialogue, said there was no set date or list of participants yet but that the conference would aim to improve ties between the Abrahamic faiths.

The news comes at a time when the Sunni elite that rules Bahrain has been accused of oppressing the country’s Shi’ite majority.

Last year Sunni security forces and Shi’ite protesters clashed for weeks, leaving 51 people dead, according to local human rights groups.

Schneier said he did not believe Hamad was reaching out to Jews to rebuff charges of religious intolerance against him, saying the ruler had “implemented reforms and reached out to his opponents and tried to help.”

He said it was imperative to hold talks between Jews and Muslims now because the perfect conditions to conduct such a conversation would never arise.

“Whether we chose to have it [in Bahrain] or not you can’t wait,” he said. “It’s a genuine sincere effort to expand Muslim-Jewish dialogue.”

During his stay Schneier met with the small but influential Jewish community in Bahrain including Jewish- Bahraini member of parliament Nancy Khadouri and Houda Nonoo, the country’s ambassador to the US.

Arab League stops short of turning to UN o… JPost – Middle East.

    The Arab League signaled Sunday it would call for an end to violence in Syria, but stopped short of asking the UN to send experts to bolster the Arab peace mission to the country.

A leaked draft statement says violence by Syrian security forces against anti-government protesters has continued and the military has failed to withdraw from cities. It says the government has only partially complied with its pledge to release political prisoners, with citizens complaining that some are still being detained in unknown locations.

The Arab plan also called for Assad’s government to permit peaceful protests, start dialogue with political opponents and allow foreign media to travel freely to the country. Syria agreed, but the pledge remains unfulfilled.

Recalling the monitors might send a signal that Arab efforts to bring one of their own to heel have failed and be taken as a green light for foreign military intervention, which many Arab governments fiercely oppose, like that which helped topple Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi last year.

But Marc Hussein of the exiled Reform Party of Syria said Syria presents a fundamentally different situation than Libya, because of both Western economic interests in the former and lingering Arab support for the latter.

“Libya is a big land, not close to Israel, and it has oil and gas.

Libya is more attractive in terms of economics and investing,” he told The Jerusalem Post from Paris.

Hussein said rallying Arab support for Libya-style military intervention would be extremely difficult. “The situation in Syria is different. Russia, China, Iraq and Iran support Syria. Lebanon is still under Syrian control, and in Jordan there are 1.5 million Palestinians, who also support Syria,” he said.

The Arab League convened an emergency meeting in Cairo on Sunday, attended by the foreign ministers of Egypt and Qatar and officials from Saudi Arabia and other influential Arab states. Delegates examined monitors’ findings since starting work December 26, and discussed ways for observers to work more independently of Syrian authorities.

The presence of Saudi and Egyptian representatives gives weight to the committee’s decisions because other League states tend to follow their lead.

But despite pressure from Qatar, which chairs the committee on Syria, and regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, some are playing down the chances of a harsh rebuke of Syrian President Bashar Assad, saying it could burn bridges with his government.

“We don’t expect today’s meeting will come up with something that would fully condemn one party, because this will mean an end to the relationship between the Arab League and this party,” a League source said Sunday.

The initial report from the monitors would acknowledge the Syrian government’s release of 3,484 detainees and make “a request to the Syrian regime for full cooperation with the monitors,” a League source said.

It would also call on the Syrian opposition to help monitors by providing names and locations of people detained by the government, the source said.

About 50 of Assad’s opponents gathered outside the Cairo hotel where the meeting was taking place, chanting: “The people want the president dead” and “Down, down with Bashar.” Some waved caricatures of Assad that likened him to the vampire Dracula, sucking the lifeblood from the Syrian people.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said on Friday there had been no end to the killing in Syria and the monitors could not stay in the country to “waste time.”

Assad’s failure to abide by an Arab League peace plan saw Syria suspended from the 22- member regional body in November and the country now faces economic sanctions.

Eleven Syrian soldiers were killed and 20 were wounded in clashes with army defectors on Sunday in the village of Basr al-Harir in the southern province of Deraa, the Britishbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It did not report any casualties among the army defectors.

Syria says it is providing the monitors with all they need and has urged them to show “objectivity and professionalism.”

The UN and opposition groups estimate that between 5,000 and 6,000 people have been killed in the uprising against Assad since March.

Russian naval flotilla docks in Syria: state media.

Al Arabiya

Sunday, 08 January 2012

Despite strong Western criticism, Russia has stood by Syria in the face of a mounting international outcry over the death toll from a government crackdown on protesters. (File photo)

inShare2

U.S. orders expulsion of Venezuelan consul for suspected links to Iranian plot.

Al Arabiya

Monday, 09 January 2012

The United States has declared the Venezuelan consul general in Miami persona non grata and ordered her expulsion (AFP)

inShare3