WarSclerotic

Israel opposes alleged Iran nuclear proposal | JPost | Israel News.

Israeli official: Tehran will offer to cease 20% enrichment, slow down work in Arak in return for sanctions relief; US official: Washington willing to offer “reversible sanctions relief” in exchange for “first steps” on nuclear program.

Israel urges world powers to reject a deal Iran is planning on presenting to world powers in nuclear talks in Geneva on Thursday, offering to partly cut back its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, AFP reported on Wednesday evening.

“Israel in the last few hours has learned that a proposal will be brought before the P5+1 in Geneva in which Iran will cease all enrichment at 20 percent and slow down work on the heavy water reactor in Arak, and will receive in return the easing of sanctions,” an Israeli official told AFP.

He went on to say Jerusalem considers this a bad deal, and “will oppose it strongly.”

According to the official, the P5+1 group was in a position of strength, as Western sanctions were crippling the Iranian economy.

“Iran is feeling the pressure and the P5+1 has the capability to compel Iran to end all enrichment and to stop construction of the facility in Arak,” he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, a senior US official said that Washington was willing to offer Tehran “very limited, temporary, reversible sanctions relief” in return for the Islamic Republic making a “first step” that stops its nuclear program advancing further and starts reversing parts of it.

“What we’re looking for is a first phase, a first step, an initial understanding that stops Iran’s nuclear program from moving forward and rolls it back for first time in decades,” the Obama administration official told reporters.

This phase must involve levels of Iran’s uranium enrichment, its stockpiles of the material as well as international monitoring, the official said.

“We’re looking for ways to put additional time on the clock,” the administration official added.

Such a first step by Tehran, which denies seeking the capability to make nuclear weapons, would create space for further negotiations on a comprehensive settlement, the official said.

Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful energy and medical purposes only. But its refusal to curb sensitive nuclear activity that can also have military applications has drawn sanctions, damaging its oil-dependent economy.

The P5+1 includes the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, Russia, France, United States and China – as well as Germany.

The world powers will meet with the Iranian nuclear team in Geneva on Thursday and Friday for the second round of nuclear talks since Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was elected in June.

US says willing to relieve sanction if Iran takes ‘first step’ – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Senior White House official says US wants Islamic republic to agree to stop nuclear program in this week’s talks. Gullup survey indicates most Iranians support nuclear program despite suffering sanctions.

Ynet

The United States wants Iran to agree in negotiations this week a “first step” that stops its nuclear program advancing further and starts reversing parts of it, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.

In return for such a move, Washington would be willing to offer Iran “very limited, temporary, reversible sanctions relief,” the official said, giving no detail on what those measures might be.

The official was speaking on the eve of the two-day talks between Iran and six world powers in Geneva that seek to build on a diplomatic opening created by the election of relatively moderate Hassan Rohani as Iran’s new president in June.

“What we’re looking for is a first phase, a first step, an initial understanding that stops Iran’s nuclear program from moving forward and rolls it back for first time in decades,” the official told reporters.

This phase must involve levels of Iran’s uranium enrichment, its stockpiles of the material as well as international monitoring, the official said.

“We’re looking for ways to put additional time on the clock,” the administration official added.

Such a first step by Tehran, which denies seeking the capability to make nuclear weapons, would create space for further negotiations on a comprehensive settlement, the official said.

Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful energy and medical purposes only. But its refusal to curb sensitive nuclear activity that can also have military applications has drawn sanctions, damaging its oil-dependent economy.

Report: Iranians support nuclear program

A Gullup survey, conducted in Iran in December 2012 and released Wednesday, revealed that 56% of Iranians reported that sanctions imposed by the United Nations, the US and Western Europe have hurt Iranians’ livelihoods a great deal. Some 29% noted sanctions have hurt somewhat.

Despite these data, the survey indicated that 63% of Iranians believe that Tehran should continue to develop its nuclear program. According to Gallup, this is a sign of a strong Iranian nationalistic sentiment growing as a result of the huge international pressure on the country.

Gallup stressed that when the question was phrased differently, Iranian expressed lower support in the nuclear program: When asked if they “support” their country’s strive for nuclear ability without regard to the conflict with the West, 56% of Iranians backed a non-military nuclear program, with only 34% supporting a race for military nuclear ability.

According to the poll, Iranians consider the US as responsible for the sanctions against them. One out of ten Iranians considers the Iranian government to be at fault. Only 9% consider Israel responsible for the sanctions, and 6% blame the Western European countries. Some 16% of Iranians say they have no opinion in the matter; the survey polled 4,507 Iranians aged 15 and up.

The survey was published as the negotiations between Iran and the West were underway, and as US and Europe expressed hope for a peaceful end to the Iran nuclear program. Iran has made it clear that its main goal is to remove sanctions, which include a ban on gas and a prohibition on trade with Iranian companies. The sanctions caused a dramatic rise in prices and a severe weakening of the Iranian currency.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been continuously warning the West from succumbing to what he referred to as the Iranian stunt, imploring the US not to allow Iran to use the talks as means to stall as it develops a nuclear bomb.

Last week, the US government asked Congress to avoid approving further sanctions against Iran, so as not to hurt trust between the negotiating teams. Netanyahu, on the other hand, is calling for more sanctions, and insists the West must use Iran’s current weakness to disarm it of a nuclear program completely.

Meanwhile, Noble Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi critized Iranian president Hassan Rohani Wednesday, saying a rise in executions and deterioration in human rights in Iran followed his taking over the presidency. According to Ebadi, Rohani is ignoring his promise to improve human rights in Iran.

Israel (not US) leads global drone export market – YouTube.

( I believe this technology will play a big role in any operation against the Iranian nuclear program. – JW )

Published on Nov 6, 2013

The Drone market is booming worldwide, moving so quickly that aviation experts predict unmanned aerial vehicle sales will soon take the largest market share of all aircraft sales. The front-running drone exporter is, surprisingly, not the U.S., it’s Israel.
Israel leads global drone export market – IDF among pioneers of military drone technology

In the world of new age surveillance and cutting-edge military technology, UAVs are the path of the future unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, outfitted with advanced radar, cameras, satellite communications, infrared sensors and missiles can be put to use for everything from spying on neighbor countries to executing precision hits on targets Within the realm of unmanned systems, Israel is the world’s top exporter.

A report released earlier this year by international consulting firm Frost and Sullivan cites Israel’s Unmanned Aerial System exports at four and a half billion dollars between the years 2005 to 2012. The top clients are the UK, Brazil and India.

For a tiny country – population eight million – elevated export numbers are attributed to several factors. Main competitor, the United States, probably produces more drones, but strict export limitations and internal supply demand cut down on numbers of drones being shipped out. And Israel offers potential buyers options they can’t get anywhere else.
With prohibitive price tags – 140 million dollars for this Global Hawk – interested clients can sample the technology and pay by the hour, week, month or year and return the drone when the contract expires. UAV demand is expanding, and incorporating drones in civil realms is growing. Experts say Israel’s continuous upgrade and innovation in response to market demand keeps the country’s UAV industry in a front-running, competitive slot.

The next level is domestic aviation – unmanned cargo movement and farther down the road, pilotless commercial flights.

US willing to offer Iran ‘reversible sanctions relief’ in exchange for ‘first steps’ on nuclear program | JPost | Israel News.

( Obama must be betting that Netanyahu is bluffing.  He may be right.  If he isn’t, the war should begin shortly.  God help us. – JW )

REUTERS

11/06/2013 21:04

“What we’re looking for is a first phase, a first step, an initial understanding that stops Iran’s nuclear program from moving forward and rolls it back for first time in decades,” US official tells reporters.

Iran ‘Prepared for Exit of Foreigners from Syria’ – Middle East – News – Israel National News.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

Reuters

Iran has said it is ready to call for the withdrawal of foreign fighters in Syria – presumably including its own fighters, who have been assisting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces combat a 2.5-year old rebellion.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was asked if Iran would use its influence over Lebanese Hezbollah fighters in Syria.

“Iran is prepared to call for the withdrawal of all foreign forces. We are prepared for everybody with influence to push for (the) withdrawal of all non-Syrians from the Syrian soil,” Zarif replied, according to Euronews.

He also said a framework deal on nuclear talks was possible this week. Iran will resume negotiations with the United States, Russia, France, Britain, China and Germany in Geneva on Thursday.

In an interview with France 24 as he was in Paris for talks with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius, Zarif said, “I believe it is possible to reach an agreement during this meeting, but I can only talk for our side, I cannot talk for the other side.”

Zarif added, however, that a failure to strike a deal in Geneva would not be “a disaster”.

“I believe we’ve come very far in the last three rounds [of talks], so we [only] need to make a few more steps,” he told France 24.

“We are prepared to make them in Geneva. But if we can’t take them in Geneva, we’ll take them in the next round.”

Meanwhile the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Yukiya Amano, said he is considering an invitation to visit Tehran, which would also be a sign of progress in the long stalled talks.

Report: Obama Linking ‘Peace Talks,’ Iran – Middle East – News – Israel National News.

President Barack Obama

Daily newspaper Maariv reports Wednesday that the US Administration under President Barack Obama has relayed a series of messages to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, according to which – if Netanyahu makes progress in “peace talks” with the Palestinian Authority (PA) – “it will be easier for the US to support Israel’s position” in the negotiations between the western powers and Iran, and to refrain from easing sanctions on Iran in exchange for partial concessions by the Islamic Republic.

The paper quotes ” American sources” who said that in messages relayed to Netanyahu by Secretary of State John Kerry as well as President Obama, the US leaders explained that most of the international community is working to bring about a diplomatic solution regarding Iran’s nuclear development, and that Israel’s position regarding these talks is well-known.

The message, says Maariv, is that if he makes meaningful progress vis-à-vis the PA, this will help him receive US support for his position on Iran.

The trade-off – some would say blackmail – was dubbed “Bushehr-for-Yitzhar” by Israeli pundits when it was first floated during Obama’s first term in office. Bushehr is an Iranian nuclear plant, while Yitzhar is a community in Samaria that the Israeli left wing dreams of seeing torn down.

Arutz Sheva‘s Mark Langfan wrote earlier this year that “Obama’s very ‘linkage’ of the Iran’s nukes with Israel coughing up a Palestinian State only means Obama intends to allow Iran to get nukes, and wants Israel to be the his ‘scapegoat’ cover for the failure of Obama’s own catastrophic Iranian nuclear appeasement.”

However, Maariv adds, the Administration is making efforts not to get into a confrontation with Israel.

Israel preps for massive air drill with US, Greece, Italy | The Times of Israel.

IAF pilots conduct practice runs, brush up their English ahead of country’s largest-ever air exercise later this month

By Elie Leshem November 6, 2013, 10:22 am

Two Israeli F-15I ‘Ra’am’ fighter jets during maneuvers (illustrative photo: CC BY-TSgt Kevin J. Gruenwald/USA/Wikimedia)

The Israeli Air Force will conduct a joint drill with a bevy of some 1,000 pilots from three other nations in the Negev Desert later this month.

The two-week exercise will take place at the Uvda air base, near the southern resort city of Eilat, and will include air crews from the United States, Italy and Greece, the IAF announced Tuesday.

The drill, which has been dubbed “Blue Flag,” will be modeled after the US Air Force’s annual Red Flag desert exercise. More than 100 aircraft will be on hand to participate in simulated dogfights and surface-to-air exercises.

It will be the largest international drill ever held in Israel, requiring the IAF to conduct extensive preparations.

“A moment before the start signal, Israeli squadrons are embarking on a preparatory workshop during which they’ll take off, maneuver and drill for four full days so as to ready themselves, as much as possible, for the impending international exercise,” the IAF said in a statement on its website.

Israeli pilots have also been practicing their in-flight English.

“Blue Flag is a highly advanced drill and we have to conduct it in English – something that we aren’t accustomed to,” said Second Lieutenant Omri, who is in charge of one squadron’s preparatory workshop.

The IAF has been drilling extensively in recent years for the possibility that it will be called upon to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Last month, as talks over Iran’s nuclear program kicked off in Geneva, the IAF conducted several large exercises over the northern border and the Mediterranean Sea, with fighter aircraft practicing a simulated strike on a distant target.

Those flights included midair refueling, coordinated strikes to an exceptionally long distance, and dogfights. They were carried out over the territorial waters of Greece, which will be among the countries participating in Blue Flag this month.

Former MK meets with Iranian expat general over nuclear issue | The Times of Israel.

After meeting, Doron Avital, a former Sayeret Matkal commander, confirms ‘serious shift toward the West’ in Tehran

By Raphael Ahren and Mitch Ginsburg November 6, 2013, 10:55 am

Illustrative photo of Iranian Revolutionary Guards (photo credit: @MidEastNews_Eng via Twitter/File)

A former Israeli lawmaker recently met with a former general from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards at a conference in France to discuss the country’s rogue nuclear program, reportedly with the backing of the Defense Ministry in Jerusalem.

Avital, a former Knesset member and commando who led Operation Poison Thorn – seizing the pro-Iran Amal commander Mustafa Dirani from his home in Lebanon – spent this past weekend at a French chateau with former senior French, Chinese, American and Iranian officials. The group discussed China’s increased standing in the Middle East and Iran’s nuclear program and newfound openness to the West.

The Iranian, described by Britain’s Financial Times newspaper as a general and labeled by Avital only as an expat, discussed the three pillars of Iranian society — Islam, nationalism and Western civilization – and managed to convince Avital that Iran was in the midst of significant change.

“There’s been a serious shift toward the West,” Avital told The Times of Israel, “and if I take everything that he said and corroborate it with what I heard recently from [military intelligence commander Maj. Gen.] Aviv Kochavi and [newly retired national security adviser] Yaakov Amidror, then I think there has been a strategic shift and not just a tactical one.”

He said the implications of a strategic shift were that there is a willingness in Iran to sacrifice the country’s military nuclear program.

The meeting took place at the home of Jean-Christophe Iseux Baron von Pfetten, the president of the Royal Institute of East-West Strategic Studies, an Oxford University-affiliated think tank, and was attended by former French defense minister Michèle Alliot-Marie, former Australian prime minister Robert Hawk, former British cabinet member Peter Mandelson and a former US ambassador.

Avital confirmed that he spoke with Israeli officials before leaving and briefed them upon his return. “I updated whomever I needed to update,” he said, adding later, “I have friends in the political and defense establishments and of course I updated them before leaving and after returning.”

The meeting came ahead of a new round of nuclear negotiations between six world powers and the Islamic Republic in Geneva.

“I was particularly impressed in the gradual warming up between Doron and the Iranian general,” von Pfetten told the Financial Times, noting that Avital’s participation was backed by Israel’s Defense Ministry.

The Defense Ministry, however, denied it had any link to the meeting.

“It’s something independent, not connected to us at all. The last time he had any connection to the Defense Ministry was back in 1992 when he was the commander of Sayeret Matkal,”  Ofer Harel, a spokesperson for Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, told The Times of Israel.

Avital commanded the elite Sayeret Matkal (General Staff Reconnaissance) Unit in the 1990s and served as Kadima MK between 2011 and early 2013. He described the meeting to the Financial Times as a “private academic gathering.” The 54-year-old retired major-general said discussions focused on China’s role in the Middle East and whether Iran was “taking a strategic change or not,” according to the paper.

Doron Avital in 2008. (photo credit: Kobi Gideon/Flash90)

On Thursday, representatives of the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – the so-called P5+1 – are scheduled to hold another round of talks with Iran in Geneva to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program.

Last month, Israeli officials reportedly participated in a rare meeting in Switzerland with representatives from an array of regional states — including Iran — and other major powers to discuss convening an international conference on making the Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destruction.

An Israeli official told Reuters that the October 21-22 meeting was a “preparatory session” ahead of the planned conference. “There were no contacts between our representative and Arab or Iranian representatives, not direct nor indirect. The meeting was mainly technical,” the Israeli official said.

Israel Hayom | Netanyahu to tell Putin: Don’t ease sanctions on Iran.

Israel Hayom | Kerry: America will stand by Israel’s side.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Israel, lays wreath at monument in Rabin Square, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu • Palestinian official to AFP: Peace talks can’t move forward if settlement construction continues.

Shlomo Cesana, Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff