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US Warns Iran Moving Towards ‘Further Provocative Actions’

The United States is warning Iran has taken “further provocative actions” rather than moved towards cooperation on nuclear activities.

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By Chana Ya’ar

First Publish: 3/6/2013, 4:06 PM

US envoy to IAEA Joseph Mcmanus

US envoy to IAEA Joseph Mcmanus

Reuters

The United States is warning that Iran has taken “further provocative actions” rather than moving towards compromise and cooperation on its nuclear development activities.

Speaking at a meeting of the agency’s board of governors in Vienna, the chief U.S. envoy to the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, Joseph Mcmanus said Iran’s unwillingness to halt its activities in the face of ever-tightening sanctions “cannot be accepted as normal.”

As such, Mcmanus said the Islamic Republic appeared to be using the ploy of deliberately dragging out talks with world powers on its uranium enrichment program and other nuclear developments.

Tehran, he warned, is committed to “deception, defiance and delay,” the Voice of America reported.

Iran is adding thousands of advanced centrifuges to further enrich uranium into nuclear fuel, Tehran announced Sunday. Some 3,000 centrifuges are being built, according to the report by Iranian state-run media, which said the equipment is being installed at the Natanz nuclear plant.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano was forced to agree, having said on Monday that without more cooperation from the Islamic Republic, his own inspectors could not conclude that all its nuclear plants were working towards a peaceful goal. The U.N. agency’s inspectors were refused entry to Iran’s Parchin military site, which is suspected to contain technology aimed at producing a nuclear warhead.

High-level negotiations between Iranian and international experts are scheduled to be held in Istanbul on March 18, followed by talks between top negotiators beginning on April 5.

Iran has denied that it is producing atomic weaponry and insists its nuclear development activities are dedicated to peaceful domestic purposes. But its uranium enrichment program is galloping ahead despite numerous sanctions imposed by the international community. Uranium has already been enriched to a 20 percent-plus level, which is possible for military use and can be employed as fuel for a crude atomic weapon.

Both the U.S. and Israel have repeatedly expressed concern that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon of mass destruction. Iranian leaders have often threatened to annihilate the State of Israel in vitriolic speeches made on various nationalistic holidays.

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has also underscored to the world community that under no circumstances will Jerusalem allow Iran to complete development of a nuclear weapon and pose an existential threat to the Jewish State.

via US Warns of Iran’s ‘Further Provocative Actions’ – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

UN: Syria rebels seize about 20 Golan Heights peacekeepers near Israel borderUnited Nations confirms in response to YouTube videos posted on Wednesday; man in video, saying he is from the ‘Martyrs of Yarmouk’, says convoy would not be released until Assad forces withdrew from the village of Jamla.

via UN: Syria rebels seize about 20 Golan Heights peacekeepers near Israel border – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

‘If Iran reaches critical point in nuke drive, Israel will attack’

Outgoing US Central Command chief James Mattis: I take the Israelis at their word, and they won’t need our help

By Aaron Kalman March 6, 2013, 1:43 pm 0

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Iran’s nuclear program

James Mattis

Senate Armed Services Committee

In a little-noticed exchange Tuesday at the Senate Armed Services Committee, a top US general said he had no doubt Israel would attack Iran if the Islamic Republic reached a critical point in its nuclear weapons drive. Furthermore, said General James Mattis, Israel could so without the assistance of the United States.

Mattis, who is retiring this month as head of the US army’s Central Command, which includes the Middle East and North Africa, was responding to questions from Sen. Lindsey Graham, who asked him whether he believed Israel would strike at Iran if the regime “reached a critical point in terms of nuclear capability.”

Responded Mattis: “The Israelis have said so; I take them at their word.”

Graham followed up by asking whether Israel would need US assistance to carry out such an attack. Said Mattis, “They could conduct a strike without our help.”

Asked next whether the US should assist in such an Israeli attack, Mattis said, “That would depend on what the objective of the strike is. Is it to stop them, is it to delay them, is it how long do you want to delay them, is there a broader effort…?”

Last summer, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said he would not want to be “complicit” in an Israeli strike on Iran, which could undo US-led international pressure on Iran if carried out prematurely.

Graham then asked the general what kind of US attack he would recommend — a limited strike or one that targeted Iran’s navy, air force and Revolutionary Guard. Mattis said that “I owe confidentiality to the president” on that question.

Finally, Graham asked him whether a nuclear Iran would lead other regional states to seek similar nuclear capabilities. Mattis said he had been told by “the leadership” of at least one Sunni state that they would indeed pursue a nuclear capability in such a case, and he believed other states would too.

In the same session, Mattis said flatly that sanctions were not preventing Iran’s nuclear progress, adding that he had prepared a military option for the president.

A simple “No, sir” was Mattis’s response when asked whether “the current diplomatic and economic efforts to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear capability” were working.

He said the regime in Iran knows “it can’t win the affection of its own people,” was concerned sanctions could turn its people against it, and might be prepared to even give up its nuclear effort if it feared its survival in power was at stake. “I think we have to continue sanctions, but have other options ready.”

Mattis said Iran could be convinced to alter its course by “a purely cost-benefit ratio,” but at the moment, he noted, the “nuclear industry continues” apace, despite sanctions.

“Between economic sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and encouragement of behavior that does not cost them such a degree of political support that they end up losing power, there may yet be a way to bring them to their senses,” the general stated.

Such means to bring Iran “to its knees,” Mattis commented in response to another question, did not necessarily entail “open conflict,” but a military operation is “one of the options that I have to have prepared for the president.”

Mattis’s statements came in the wake of a fresh effort on the part of the West to curb Iran’s nuclear program via diplomatic means, and echoed comments made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

“We have to stop Iran’s nuclear enrichment program before it’s too late. Words alone will not stop Iran. Sanctions alone will not stop Iran. Sanctions must be coupled with a clear and credible military threat if sanctions fail,” Netanyahu told a room of some 13,000 AIPAC supporters in Washington by satellite feed from Jerusalem.

In an earlier speech, US Vice President Biden told the same crowd that President Barack Obama isn’t bluffing when he says he’ll use military action, if ultimately necessary, to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

An Iranian spokesman on Tuesday said the country’s nuclear talks with world powers yielded “positive results” and assailed what he described as “negative” remarks by some Western officials following those negotiations.

According to Ramin Mehmanparast, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, some Western officials and media outlets are trying to portray the results of the talks last week in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in a bad light because of their own political agenda.

“It is a matter of surprise that some Western and regional countries, as well as their media outlets, are trying to cast a negative image on the talks, which had positive conclusions,” said Mehmanparast.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

via ‘If Iran reaches critical point in nuke drive, Israel will attack’ | The Times of Israel.

Saudi FM: Negotiations with Iran are a waste of time

Arab observers turn to the Muslim Brotherhood for answers on ongoing violence along the Suez Canal

By Elhanan Miller March 5, 2013, 3:58 pm 5

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Egyptian army soldiers and military police secure a funeral procession for civilians killed overnight during street battles with police forces, in Port Said, Egypt, Monday, March 4, 2013 (photo credit: AP/Ahmed Ramadan)

Egyptian army soldiers and military police secure a funeral procession for civilians killed overnight during street battles with police forces, in Port Said, Egypt, Monday, March 4, 2013 (photo credit: AP/Ahmed Ramadan)

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John Kerry

Saud al-Faisal

American impatience with the seemingly endless negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program features high in Arab news Tuesday, which quotes statements by Secretary of State John Kerry in Saudi Arabia and Vice President Joe Biden at the AIPAC conference in Washington.

“Washington: All the options are on the table with Iran,” reads the headline of a report in Al-Jazeera‘s Arabic website, featuring a photo of Biden with a backdrop of US and Israeli flags at the AIPAC conference.

According to the Qatar-based station, Biden told participants at the pro-Israel lobby conference on Monday that the window of opportunity for negotiations with Iran will not remain open forever.

The issue of Iran’s nuclear program also came up in talks between Secretary of State John Kerry, visiting Saudi Arabia on a Middle East tour, and his Saudi counterpart Saud Al-Faisal.

According to London-based daily Al-Hayat, Faisal was no less impatient with Iran’s procrastination than Kerry. Using unusually blunt terms, Faisal waged a scathing attack on Iran’s negotiating tactics.

“The meaning of negotiation is to discuss matters seriously and rationally and place clear commitments for all,” said Faisal. “Negotiation is not to bring someone who will deceive us and play with us. This is the wrong way to negotiate.”

“These elements are missing with the Iranians. They have not proved their seriousness in negotiations to anyone, and have continued to negotiate for the sake of continuing to negotiate in the future.”

Faisal added that if negotiations continue in such a manner, and no clear timetable is put in place, Iran will produce a nuclear weapon.

Violence in Egypt; Brotherhood soul-searching

Mass demonstrations in the northern Egyptian city of Port Said lead the news in the London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

The daily reports that civil disobedience continues in numerous Suez Canal cities, reaching Cairo as well and thus “expanding the map of violence and the unknown.”

Egyptian daily Al-Ahram‘s website reports that clashes between police and protesters continued on Tuesday near the security building, with protesters hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at police cars, which responded by firing teargas. The daily, siding with the government, dubs the protests “violent acts.”

“The schism of the Egyptian street between political Islam and civil forces may seem like a political divide, but it may be a class divide in essence,” writes Al-Ahram columnist Mostafa El-Feky. “Both camps are internally divided as well, with the ruling Islamic stream not able to provide a clear road map.”

Meanwhile, Egyptian columnist Fahmi Huwaidi argues in Al-Jazeera that a delicate balance must be struck in Egypt between religion and state, with neither complete separation nor the alternative of a “religious state.”

“The Islamic condition is facing a major challenge following the revolution, as a result of the crash landing from the skies of its slogans and teachings to the ground of reality, fraught with landmines. This has forced [Islamism] to reconsider many of its positions and statements,” writes Huwaidi.

Liberal columnist Mohammed Salmawi, writing for the independent Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, comments on the misguided reasons that led the US to support the Muslim Brotherhood as successors to Mubarak.

“All the reasons that led the United States to support the Brotherhood in reaching power in Egypt following the revolution were proved wrong. The main reason was its naive belief that on the merit of being the largest political organization after the disappearance of the National Party, the Brotherhood would be able to achieve stability in a way that would guarantee American interests.”

“In fact, this theory, which the United States adopted in its support of the Muslim Brotherhood, collapsed the moment Mohammed Morsi took office, before the initial 100-day period had lapsed.”

Al-Quds Al-Arabi, as is its custom, looks for the silver lining around the Egyptian cloud. It dedicates its lead editorial Tuesday to Israel’s concern regarding Egypt’s instability.

“The democratic change which toppled the regime of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt has disrupted Israel’s military and security calculations. The Egyptian front has remained peaceful for over 40 years thanks to the Camp David accords first and foremost, and the former Egyptian regime’s steadfastness in respecting them.”

“The first direct reflections of Israel’s concern regarding the Egyptian and Syrian fronts is the building of a security wall which is close to completion on the border with Sinai, and a plan to build another security wall on the Golan Heights.”

via Saudi FM: Negotiations with Iran are a waste of time | The Times of Israel.

Describing Iran as the “most significant threat’ to regional stability, a top American commander has accused Tehran of carrying out clandestine activities in more than a dozen countries including India.

An Iranian miscalculation raises the risk of sparking disastrous conflict, General James Mattis Commander of the US Central Command, told members of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing.

“Iran remains the single most significant, regional threat to stability and prosperity. It’s reckless behaviour and bellicose rhetoric, characterise a leadership that cannot win the affection of its own people or respect of any responsible nation in the region,” he said yesterday.

He added that Iran’s continued support to the murderous Assad regime in Syria coupled with its malign activities in India, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen, Gaza, Sudan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Thailand, Georgia, Bulgaria, Nigeria.

“In Washington DC it attempted to kill the Saudi ambassador and elsewhere in the world, as well as in the cyber-domain, raise the risk of Iranian miscalculation that could spark a disastrous conflict,” he said.

Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said that all options, including military options, need to remain on the table and preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon is not only US policy but US is determined to achieve the policy goal.

“Iran is actively expanding threat network that has promoted violence across the regions in Yemen, Gaza, Sudan, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. It provides financial and material support to overthrow or undermine governments or terrorise innocent civilians,” he said.

General Mattis added that the collapse of Assad regime in Syria would be the biggest strategic setback for Iran in 25 years. “I believe they will arm militias inside the country to try to create a Lebanese Hezbollah-type effect. They would redouble their efforts vis-a-vis Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen and elsewhere,” he said.

Mattis said that Iran obtaining a nuclear weapons would be very dangerous for the world. ,”It would be dangerous, because it would enable Iran to continue to act like a revolutionary cause, vice a responsible country and they would sense fewer limitations, and more invulnerability to conducting the kind of attacks that killed Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, provide MANPADS to Yemen, which they were just caught at. I believe we would see more of this irresponsible, reckless behaviour,” he said in response to a question.

via Iran using India for clandestine activities: US – Indian Express.

Washington: Hizballah has got hold of chemical weapons

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report March 6, 2013, 6:55 AM (GMT+02:00)

Tags: Syria Golan Israel Russia Chuck Hagel Ehud Barak

Ehud Barak greeted by Chuck Hagel at Pentagon

Ehud Barak greeted by Chuck Hagel at Pentagon

For the first time in many years, voices in the US administration were criticizing the Israeli defense forces for under-reacting and, in this case, also underestimating the chemical weapons threat emanating from Syria and neglecting to pursue counter-measures. This is what visiting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak heard when he met US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon Tuesday, March 5, as the new defense secretary’s first foreign visitor.

debkafile’s military and Washington sources disclose that Barak was berated for “inadequate and cursory” military preparations which failed to take into account that a chemical attack on Israel would make it necessary for the IDF to enter Syria – most likely for an offensive operation coordinated against the common threat with the Turkish and Jordanian armies.

Present at the meeting between Hagel and Barak were also Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Chiefs of Staff and Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren. Our sources add that the conversation ranged over the Syrian crisis with no reference to a nuclear Iran.

From the defense secretary, Barak heard intelligence estimates confirmed for the first time by an American official that Hizballah has been able to procure a quantity of chemical weapons from Syria – a development which Israel’s leaders have vowed to prevent.

The proliferation of chemical weapons to HIzballah and other armed bands on Israel’s borders was apparently in the mind of Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin, UN Security Council president for March, when he cautioned Monday that trouble was building up between Israel and Syria.

Read debkafile’s earlier report:

At UN Center in New York, Israeli and Russian delegates separately warned Monday, March 4, of a dangerous situation developing in the area of separation on the Golan captured by Israel in the 1967 war. Syrian troops were forbidden to enter this area under a ceasefire formalized in 1974 between Syria and Israel.

Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor complained to the Security Council about five shells fired from this very area which landed in Israel Saturday, March 2. “Israel cannot be expected to stand idle as the lives of its citizens are being put at risk by the Syrian government’s reckless actions,” Proser wrote in a Note to the council. “Israel has shown maximum restraint thus far.”

Russia’s UN Ambasador Vitaly Churkin then spoke of “a very new and dangerous phenomenon” of armed groups operating in the Golan area of separation. “It’s something which potentially can undermine security between Syria and Israel,” said Churkin, who is acting Security Council president for March. He pointed out that the UN peacekeeping force is unarmed and unable to cope with this new situation. Israel and Syria are technically in a state of war.

debkafile’s military and intelligence sources note that the exchange of warnings between Israel and Russia touched two sensitive nerves:

1. It occurred the day before definitive talks open in Moscow between the Syrian government and opposition. The Russians fear Israel might embark on military action in response to the round of shells fired from the Syrian Golan Saturday, and force a delay in the talks. The last time this happened, in late January, Israel reacted with a cross-border attack on Syrian military installations.

2. Saturday, too, debkafile exposed the no-man’s lands unfolding along Syria’s borderlands with Israel and Jordan following the withdrawal of the bulk of Syrian forces from these areas. Moscow fears additionally that Israel’s armed forces will seize strategic points in the abandoned territory to clear out armed bands of the pro-al Qaeda Jabhat al Nusra, which are believed responsible for the latest round of shelling into the Israeli Golan.

Churkin’s warning referred to “armed groups” as the potential troublemakers, but he was also cautioning Israel to desist from fighting back so as not to upset Moscow’s diplomatic initiative for resolving the Syrian civil war.

via Washington: Hizballah has got hold of chemical weapons.