WarSclerotic

Iran announces nuclear talks and desire to be part of the Syrian solution.

( One more consequence of the destruction of Fordow.  It is probably another stalling tactic, but for the first time I’m allowing for the possibility that it’s for real. – JW )

Sunday, 03 February 2013

Iran announces fresh nuclear talks with world powers and expresses the willingness to be part of the Syrian solution.(Reuters)

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Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Sunday that fresh talks with world powers on Iran’s nuclear drive would be held in Kazakhstan on February 25.

“I have good news, I heard yesterday that 5+1 or EU3+3 will be meeting in Kazakhstan 25th of February,” Salehi said during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference.

Iran and six world powers — the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — held three rounds of talks last year aimed at resolving the standoff over Iran’s nuclear activities.

Reacting to an offer by US Vice President Joe Biden in Munich on Saturday to hold two-way talks with Iran on its nuclear programme, Salehi said Washington must come to the table with “authentic intention.”

“We have no red line for negotiations, bilateral negotiations when it comes to negotiating over a particular subject,” he said.

“If the subject is the nuclear file, yes we are ready for negotiation but we have to make sure… that the other side this time comes with authentic intention,” he said.

Also at the Munich conference, Salehi spoke with the Syrian opposition leader and said Iran could contribute to finding a solution to the war in the country.

Salehi said Syrian National Coalition chief Moaz al-khatib told him he would be willing to talk with representatives of the Syrian government if prisoners were released signified “a good step forward”.

“If we want to stop the bloodshed we cannot continue putting the blame one side on the other,” Salehi told the Munich Security Conference, adding that he was ready to talk again to the opposition and wanted to be “part of the solution.”

‘Sunday Times’: Scarfe cartoon ‘s… JPost – Diplomacy & Politics.

( A “mistake” only because of the heat they’re taking.  The Brits will never forgive Israel for kicking them out of our country. – JW )

The US Grows Two Big Ones – FWIW – YouTube.

The destruction of Fordow has enabled the US to do a 180 on its policy visa vie Iran and Israel.  Obama gave Israel the green light not only for the strike that happened, but for any other strike Israel deems necessary.

Bottom line.  A war is no longer necessary to stop Iran’s quest for the bomb. –  JW

Report: Region’s Armies All on High Alert – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

Syrian fighter

Reuters

The armies of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan are all on high alert, a report in a Lebanese newspaper said Sunday. The report in Ad-Diar said that the alerts were due to Israel’s attack on a Syrian missile transport and, according to Syrian claims, an attack on a sensitive Syrian military installation.

The report said that the Syrian army has instructed its units to break up into smaller groups, “similar to what Hizbullah has done in south Lebanon.” The strategy is designed to protect troops in the wake of another possible Israeli attack, the report said.

The report added that Syrian troops had joined Hizbullah terrorists in several areas of south Lebanon. According to the report, the Syrian and Hizbullah forces were stationed very close to the Israeli border, in the area of Har Dov (also known as “Sheba Farms”). The Lebanese and Jordanian armies are also on high alert over the possibility of a clash between Israel and Syria in the area. Unconfirmed Lebanese reports said that Israeli warplanes had been seen over Lebanon earlier Sunday.

Syria has threatened to retaliate against Israel for the attack. Israel has not commented on the attack, and has not officially confirmed its involvement, although Defense Minister Ehud Barak earlier Sunday hinted at the possibility that Israel did carry out the attack.

Erdogan: History will not forgive Israel – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Turkish PM says alleged Israeli strike in Syria ‘is unacceptable to us, against every international law’

( Turkey is making itself out to be more Islamist than anyone other than Iran.  The absurd hypocrisy of these remarks almost makes one’s head spin.  Unless you’re a radical Islamist, in which case you’re more than used to hyperbolic 180 degrees untrue views of reality. – JW )

Ynet

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed Israel on Sunday over its alleged airstrike in Syria.

“Anything could happen in the region,” Erdogan said. “Those who treated the Israeli government like a spoiled child should know that history will not forgive Israel’s state structure.”

Assad said after the meeting that “Syria, with the power of its army and adherence to resistance, is able to confront all the current threats and curb any aggression against the Syrian army and its historical and cultural role.”

The alleged Israeli strike, he said, “is unacceptable to us … It is against every international law.”

Asked about Iran’s strong reaction to Israeli following the alleged attack on Syrian targets, Erdogan told reporters that Iran should first of all “reconsider its attitude against Syria.

“What is Iran doing about Syria? While considering the acts of Israel, Iran at the same time needs to allow for common steps to be taken in the region.”

On Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged Damascus to retaliate following the alleged Israeli attack.

“Why didn’t (Syrian President Bashar) Assad even throw a pebble when Israeli jets were flying over his palace and playing with the dignity of his country?” he told reporters on his way to an international security conference in Munich.

“Why didn’t the Syrian Army, which has been attacking its own innocent people for 22 months now from the air with jets and by land with tanks and artillery fire, respond to Israel’s operation? Why can’t Assad, who gave order to fire Scud missiles at Aleppo, do anything against Israel?” Davutoglu added.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak made Israel’s first public comments on the alleged attack Sunday.

He brought the issue up at a gathering of the world’s top diplomats and defense officials in Germany, initially saying: “I cannot add anything to what you have read in the newspapers about what happened in Syria several days ago.”

But, addressing the audience in English, he then added: “I keep telling frankly that we said – and that’s proof when we said something we mean it – we say that we don’t think it should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon.”

Syrian President Assad also broke his silence on the attack on Sunday, blaming Israel and saying the airstrike was aimed at weakening and destabilizing his country.

Syria’s state news agency SANA said Assad made the remarks in a meeting with Saeed Jalili, Iran’s national security council secretary, in Damascus.

BBC News – Iran seeks ‘authentic’ bilateral US nuclear talks.

Iran seeks ‘authentic’ bilateral US nuclear talks

Iran says it welcomes a US offer of bilateral nuclear talks, but wants the US to show an “authentic… fair and real intention to resolve the issue”.

Foreign Minister Ali Akhbar Salehi said the US should stop threats to take action against Iran as it offers talks.

He was speaking at a security conference in Germany a day after Vice-President Joe Biden told the gathering Iran had to be “serious” on the issue.

International talks on Iran’s nuclear programme are due later this month.

Iran is under an array of UN-imposed sanctions. Western countries suspect it wants to develop nuclear weapons, but Tehran says its nuclear programme is for energy generation and research.

Three days ago, the US warned Iran that its plans to upgrade uranium enrichment centrifuges at the Natanz plant would be a “further escalation” of the stand-off.

Mr Biden told the Munich Security Conference that Washington was prepared to hold bilateral talks with Iran “when the Iranian leadership, Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei], is serious”.

“That offer stands, but it must be real and tangible and there has to be an agenda that they are prepared to speak to. We are not just prepared to do it for the exercise.”

Responding on Sunday, Mr Salehi said Iran had no “red lines” – that it had negotiated with the US bilaterally in Baghdad “a number of times”.

“But we have to make sure … that the other side comes with authentic intentions with a fair and real intention to resolve the issue,” he said.

The minister said Iran would take the offer into “serious consideration”, but the US had to desist from the “threatening rhetoric that everything is on the table”.

Mr Salehi also described as “good news” that international talks on Iran were to be held in Kazakhstan on 25 February. He did not confirm if Iran would attend.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany have held a series of negotiations over the years – but there has been no breakthrough.

Israel’s army chief lands in US amid Syria crisis | The Times of Israel.

IDF’s Gantz and US counterpart Dempsey begin five days of talks on security challenges in the Middle East

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, right, at a welcoming ceremony for his visiting US counterpart Martin Dempsey, at a military base in Tel Aviv on January 20, 2012. (photo credit: Gideon Markowicz/

Israel’s army chief on Sunday landed in the United States for talks with his American counterpart, amid tension with Syria following a reported Israel airstrike there last week. He arrived as Israel’s defense minister insisted that Israel “means what it says” about preventing advanced weaponry being moved into Lebanon as Bashar Assad’s regime in Damascus loses control.

IDF chief of the General Staff, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, began a five-day work visit in the United States, as the guest of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the IDF announced on Sunday afternoon.

It said Gantz and Dempsey would hold “a series of work meetings together” and with other American officials, and would “discuss current security challenges, the regional security status in the Middle East and military cooperation.”

Gantz was accompanied by the Head of the IDF’s Planning Directorate, Maj.-Gen. Nimrod Sheffer.

Apart from the Syria crisis, the two military chiefs will likely also focus on Iran’s nuclear weapons drive. Formally starting the process of building his new government on Saturday night, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said stopping Iran would be his first priority. Late last summer, amid reports that Netanyahu wanted to launch military action against Iran, Dempsey publicly and dramatically declared that he would not want to be “complicit” in any such Israeli action.

Israel’s reported airstrike overnight Tuesday is said to have targeted a convoy carrying advanced anti-aircraft defense systems toward Lebanon, presumably to Hezbollah. Syria said the IAF hit a scientific research center in Jamarya, northwest of Damascus, and on Saturday it released purported video footage of the scene. Other reports have indicated that further sites were targeted, including a biological weapons research center.

A TIME magazine article on Friday claimed Washington has given Israel a “green light” to carry out more such raids if it deems them necessary. It said the US was prepared to carry out raids of its own in the Aleppo area if it feared rebels might otherwise gain control of weapons of mass destruction in that part of Syria.

On Wednesday, US officials told The New York Times that Israel notified the United States in advance about the airstrike it carried out. An unnamed Western official told the Wall Street Journal that the convoy was carrying sophisticated Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft weapons, which could constitute a strategic game-changer were Hezbollah to possess them.

Israel has not confirmed Tuesday’s alleged air raid. But Defense Minister Ehud Barak hinted Sunday at Israel’s involvement.

Speaking at a security conference in Munich, Barak said, “What happened in Syria several days ago… that’s proof that when we said something we mean it — We say that we don’t think it should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon,” he said.

Barak added that he saw the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad as imminent, and that it would be a major blow to Iran. He added that “Hezbollah from Lebanon and the Iranians are the only allies that Assad has left.”

He said in his view Assad’s fall “is coming imminently” and when it happens, “this will be a major blow to the Iranians and Hezbollah.”

Assad responded to last week’s alleged Israeli strike for the first time on Sunday while speaking with Iranian envoy Saeed Jalili in Damascus. He said that Israel’s aggression “exposes the true role conducted by Israel in collaboration with the external forces hostile [to Syria] in destabilizing security in Syria and weakening it so that it forgoes its national principles.”

“Syria is capable of withstanding any foreign aggression through the awareness of its people and its steadfastness in clinging to the course of resistance,” he said.

Iran on Thursday threatened “grave consequences for Tel Aviv” after the air strike.

Israel Hayom | Biden: US ready to hold direct talks with Iran.

Iran is continuing to try to buy time to further develop its nuclear program, and its gambit is apparently working. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the U.S. would be prepared to hold direct talks with Iran over its nuclear program if Iran showed it was serious about such talks.

“We have made it clear at the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally with the Iranian leadership, we would not make it a secret that we were doing that, [and] we would let our partners know if that occasion presented itself,” Biden said at an international security conference in Munich.

“That offer stands, but it must be real and tangible and there has to be an agenda that they are prepared to speak to. We are not just prepared to do it for the exercise.”

Biden also said, “There is still time, there is still space for diplomacy backed by pressure to succeed.” He did not specify any time frame.

He insisted that “the ball is in the government of Iran’s court” to show that it is negotiating in good faith.

Asked when the U.S. might hold direct talks with Iran, Biden replied, “When the Iranian leadership, the supreme leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei], is serious.”

Talks involving all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany have made little headway while several rounds of international sanctions have cut into Iran’s oil sales and financial transactions. Biden called the sanctions “the most robust” in history.

“But we have also made clear that Iran’s leaders need not sentence their people to economic deprivation and international isolation,” Biden said.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Sunday that the six world powers had proposed holding a new round of talks in Kazakhstan on Feb. 25.

“I have good news,” he said at the Munich Security Conference. “I heard yesterday that the P5+1 or EU3+3 will be meeting in Kazakhstan on Feb. 25.”

He did not make clear whether Iran had agreed to the meeting.

A European diplomat said the six powers had proposed a new round of talks on Feb. 25 in Kazakhstan but that Iran had still not given a firm answer. The two sides have been haggling over a date and venue for new talks for weeks.

Salehi said he would give “positive consideration” to Biden’s remarks.

Salehi said there was “no red line for bilateral negotiations” as long as the other side had a real intention to resolve the issue.

Last month, Iran — in a defiant move ahead of new talks expected soon with world powers — announced plans to vastly increase its pace of uranium enrichment. Enriched uranium can be used to make both reactor fuel and the fissile core of warheads.

Iran insists it does not want nuclear arms and argues it has a right to enrich uranium for a civilian nuclear power program, but suspicion persists that the real aim is nuclear weapons.

Analysts have suggested that with his re-election behind him, U.S. President Barack Obama might have more leeway to take on direct negotiations with Iran.

That makes the year ahead critical for chances of overcoming a standoff that, if left to fester further, could see Iran approach nuclear weapons capability, possibly provoking military action by the U.S. or Israel and inflaming the Middle East.

Progress on Iran would also help ease regional tensions as the U.S. prepares to pull most combat troops out of Iran’s neighbor, Afghanistan, by the end of 2014.

Many believe no deal is possible without a U.S.-Iranian thaw, requiring direct talks addressing myriad sources of mutual mistrust and hostility lingering since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

Iran has avoided direct, public talks with the U.S., though some suggest Iran would eventually welcome an opportunity to end its international isolation.

Speaking at a news conference in Munich, Republican Senator John McCain said he would have no objection to direct talks, but questioned how much these would achieve if fundamental questions over Iran’s nuclear program remained unresolved.

“I don’t know when we will have direct talks between the United States and Iran,” McCain said. “That is a subject for the president of the United States. I don’t think anyone here objects to that.” But, he added, “To [say we] have grounds for optimism, I think, would be a mistake.”

With Iran holding its own presidential elections in June, hopes of progress before then are limited.

The U.S. and its allies, however, do not have an indefinite amount of time to negotiate. Notwithstanding the current stalemate, Iran’s nuclear program is advancing and international consensus on sanctions may be hard to maintain.

Israel, which describes the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat, has made clear it would be ready to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites to prevent that outcome. The U.S. has also said it will not rule out the use of military force.

“2013 is the decisive year on Iran, especially for political reasons,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said at the Munich conference. “We had elections in the United States and Israel, we will have elections in June in Iran, we see increasing capabilities especially with the issue of enrichment — let us be very frank, we did not have progress in the last 12 months, so it is obvious that we have to use this year.”

Russia, which has been impatient with decades of U.S. hostility toward Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution but has backed U.N. Security Council sanctions since 2006, repeated on Saturday the need to find a diplomatic solution.

“Iran must know the overall game plan; it must see what is in it for it in this process. We need to convince Iran that this is not about regime change … this mistrust must be overcome,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the conference.

That comment was echoed by Westerwelle, who said, “If we want to reach this goal, it would be wrong to discuss all these military options and possibilities. It is now important to focus our whole attention, all our effort for a diplomatic and political solution.”

This would have to include a relief from sanctions as well as recognition of Iran’s right to enrich uranium to the lower levels needed for civilian nuclear fuel, security analysts say.

Israel Hayom | Syria is Iran’s weakest link.

Report: IAF Warplanes Seen Flying Lebanon Skies – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

IAF F-16

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Lebanese media reported Sunday afternoon that Israeli war planes were spotted in the skies above southern Lebanon. 

It appeared the pilots were rehearsing attacks on targets in the region, local sources told media outlets.

Both Syria and Lebanon accused Israel of carrying out air strikes on a convoy last Wednesday that was transporting Russian-made surface-to-air missiles from the Damascus area towards the border with Lebanon.

The two countries also accused Israel of bombing the Jamraya military research center, where chemical weapons were being processed. At least two people died in the attack, and a number of others were wounded. Among the casualties were alleged members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

For the first time, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak this weekend obliquely acknowledged that indeed, Israel had carried out the strike, which he referred to as “proof that when we say something, we mean it.”

“We say that we don’t think it [Syria] should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon,” he told top international diplomats and defense officials at a conference Sunday in Germany.

Barak did not bluntly say that Israel had carried out the strike, skirting the issue by saying, “I cannot add anything to what you have read… about what happened in Syria several days ago.

“But I keep telling … that we said, and that is another proof that when we say something we mean it, we say that it should not be allowable to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon and Hizbullah from Syria when [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad falls.”

Barak added that in his view, “Hizbullah from Lebanon and the Iranians are the only allies that Assad has left.” He said the region has not been this unstable since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Assad’s fall could come at any time, Barak added, noting “this will be a major blow to the Iranians and to Hizbullah.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused Israel on Sunday of seeking to “destabilize” his country, in a statement released to the government-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

The air strike had “unmasked the true role Israel is playing, in collaboration with foreign enemy forces and their agents on Syrian soil, to destabilize and weaken Syria,” Assad was quoted as saying during a meeting in Damascus with top Iranian officials.