WarSclerotic

Iran FM says Israel trying to sabotage nuclear talks – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Addressing deal on Islamic republic’s nuclear program, Iran FM Zarif says ‘Statements coming out of Israel indicate they are not interested in finding solution; they’ve been trying to push for problems’

AFP

Iran said there was “every possibility” of a deal at international talks on its nuclear program in Geneva starting on Wednesday, but warned Israel was “trying to torpedo the process”.

“On the talks in Geneva, I think there is every possibility for success,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said after meeting his Italian counterpart Emma Bonino in Rome.

“We should engage on the basis of mutual respect and equal footing and on the basis that you cannot dictate a solution,” he said.

“I go to Geneva with the determination to come out with an agreement at the end of this round,” he said, adding: “I am willing to accept serious progress instead of an agreement but I think that with the political will we can reach an agreement.”

But he said Israel was trying to sabotage the talks.

“Statements coming out of Israel indicate they are not interested in finding solution, they’ve been trying to push for problems,” he said.

“They have been trying so hard to torpedo the process… Why is it they do not want this result?” he said.

Iran asks for China, Russia’s support in nuclear talks against ‘excessive demands’ | JPost | Israel News.

( Theater of the grotesque… – JW )

By JPOST.COM STAFF

11/19/2013 20:04

On eve of Geneva talks, Rouhani calls Putin, Xi and says while “significant progress” has been made in last round of nuclear talks, “excessive demands could complicate the process”; Iran FM: Israel trying to scuttle Geneva talks.

On the eve of the resumption of nuclear talks in Geneva, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has asked China and Russia for their support against “excessive demands of some countries.”

Nuclear talks in Geneva are due to resume on Wednesday when Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif meets with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. On Thursday and Friday, the Iranian delegation will meet with representatives from the P5+1 countries – that include Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

In phones calls this week, the Iranian president told Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin that “significant progress” has been made at the last round of negotiations, but that “excessive demands could complicate the process towards a win-win agreement.”

While Rouhani did not specify what the “excessive demands” were, French President Francois Hollande said during a visit to Israel on Sunday that Iran must talk four “essential” steps.

“First, put all the Iranian nuclear installations under international supervision right now. Second, suspend enrichment to 20 percent. Third, reduce the existing stockpile of enriched uranium. Finally, halt construction of the Arak (heavy water) plant,” Hollande said.

The French president stressed these founds were “essential to guarantee any agreement.”

Meanwhile, Iranian Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said there was “every possibility” that the next round of nuclear talks would result in a deal despite what Tehran said were Israeli attempts to scuttle the process in Geneva.

“I am willing to accept serious progress instead of an agreement but I think that with the political will we can reach an agreement,” AFP quote Zarif as saying.

However, Iran’s chief negotiator accused Israel of seeking to sabotage the negotiation process as leaders in Jerusalem have been adamant against any deal that would offer an easing of sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limited nuclear concessions.

“Statements coming out of Israel indicate they are not interested in finding solution, they’ve been trying to push for problems,” AFP quoted him as saying in Rome before flying to Geneva.

“They have been trying so hard to torpedo the process… Why is it they do not want this result?,” he added.

Incredible! Beirut bombings killing 25 people were self-inflicted by Iran and Hizballah as a diversionary tactic.

( This is so patently absurd that it might actually be true!  Even debka is calling it “incredible.”  Hey, this is a tactic of theirs even I can approve of… – JW )

Iranian embassy bombed in Beirut

A highly sensitive Saudi tip-off reaching Western intelligence agencies, including Israel, on Nov. 14, gave advance warning that Iran and Hizballah were plotting a major terrorist operation in Beirut as a diversionary stunt, debkafile’s exclusive intelligences sources report. The warning was received three days before twin suicide bombings struck the Iranian embassy in Beirut and the Hizballah stronghold suburb of Dahya Tuesday, Nov. 19, killing 25 people and injuring nearly 150.

It was on debkafile’s desk Sunday, Nov. 17.
Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar al Sultan explained that Tehran and Hizballah needed a powerful diversionary stunt to draw attention away from the consignment against their will of more than 3,000 Hizballah troops who were forced to return to the Syrian battlefield in the last ten days

There is no such organization as Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which took responsibility for the twin attacks in Beirut “on behalf of al Qaeda,” debkafile’s counterterrorism experts report. They are a random group of terrorists hired by Hizballah for ad hoc missions like, for instance, the Grad rocket attacks from South Lebanon aimed recently against Israel targets according to a list provided by Hizballah officers.

Bashar Assad told Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his friends in Tehran that he was up against the biggest battle of the Syria war, which he could not afford to lose, in the Qalamun Mountains northwest of Damascus.

Another 3,000 Hizballah fighters are standing by in Beirut ready to go across after the first batch as reinforcements.
Assad depends heavily on winning this battle because of three key strategic objectives:

1) Seizure of this mountainous region will cut the Syrian rebels’ supply routes of fighters and arms from Lebanon.
2)  It will reopen the route from Damascus to the coastal towns of Latakia and Tartus and the Alawite concentrations of Assad loyalists in the northwest.

For the Syrian ruler, the Qalamun battle is just as important as the battle of Qusayr, which his army won five months ago with the help of Hizballah forces.
3)  The Syrian rebel militias defending this region are backed by Saudi intelligence with data, fighting strength and arms. Their defeat would be a serious reverse for the Saudis, generating far-reaching fallout that would also affect the balance of power in Beirut.
Al Qods Brigades Chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of non-Syrian Shiite forces taking part in this key battle, is approaching it as a personal duel with Saudi Prince Bandar.

The problem for Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah is that his organization is still licking the wounds of its heavy losses in the Qusayr battle – 200 dead and more than 750 injured – and its members are fiercely opposed to getting embroiled any further in what they regard as a foreign conflict which is none of their business.
To rev up motivation, Iranian Al Qods strategists and Hizballah security chiefs hatched a secret plan: If Iranian and Hizballah were targeted on home ground, the involvement of Hizballah troops in the Qalamun battle could be presented as essential for defending their home bases which were under attack.

This self-inflicted attack at the cost of more than a score of lives is a rare occurrence even in the unbridled and unpredictable annals of Middle East terrorism. It is also possible that the bombers did their work too well and bringing the chickens home to roost. Certainly the Iranian cultural attaché who paid the price will be honored as a martyr.

If Tehran is capable of such atrocities merely as a diversionary tactic, then perhaps Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin ought to take a really hard look at their negotiating partner across the table before signing a major deal Wednesday, Nov. 20, which leaves Iran’s nuclear program in place.

Beirut bombing sees Iran drawn deeper into Lebanon quagmire | The Times of Israel.

Tehran learns the bitter lesson it taught Israel: Explosives plus a highly motivated terrorist make for a devastating weapon

By Avi Issacharoff November 19, 2013, 3:18 pm

Lebanese policemen extinguish burned cars, at the scene where two explosions have struck near the Iranian Embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, November 19, 2013. photo credit: AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The double suicide bombing at the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Tuesday morning was anything but a surprise. In fact, it was almost expected given the battles in Syria between radical Sunni forces, on the one hand and Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guards forces on the other, along with the threats by al-Qaeda groups in Syria to hit Iranian targets in the area. Nonetheless, the bombings raise the confrontation between Sunnis and Shiites in Lebanon and Syria to new heights. Two suicide bombers acting in coordination, bent on harming as many Shiites as possible, may be an almost routine phenomenon in Iraq, but in Lebanon it represents an unprecedented escalation in hostilities.

In similar fashion to the methods used by Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards against Western targets in Lebanon in the early 1980s, Tuesday’s assailants — who apparently belong to an al-Qaeda offshoot — sent two bombers in a coordinated attack: The first rode his motorbike to the embassy gate and blew himself up, opening the path for the second, who drove an explosives-laden car. The result was devastating: 23 fatalities and almost 150 injured.

Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards have tried to take precautions against such attacks. For months ago their leaderships have been disseminating warnings to all personnel to be on the alert for suicide attacks on Shiite targets. At the same time, Hezbollah has been taking steps to boost security around potential targets. It has deployed bomb-sniffing dogs and set up surprise road blocks in Beirut to try to intercept potential bombers, and its Dahiyeh neighborhood stronghold of Beirut has become a fortress which is impossible to enter without security checks.

Evidently, however, even such stringent security precautions — introduced at potential Iranian targets as well — could not thwart Tuesday’s bombings. The Iranians are themselves now learning the bitter lesson they taught Israel: the combination of explosives and a highly motivated terrorist make the suicide bomber a devastating and hard-to-stop weapon.

Tuesday’s bombings were immediately condemned across the political spectrum in Lebanon. This, though, was a false and temporary display of unity; there are no signs that anything in this destabilizing country is going to change dramatically in the near future. It doesn’t appear that a full-scale civil war is looming. But the stream of bombings and other attacks between Sunnis and Shiites is becoming increasingly routine. Just as extremist Sunni groups fire missiles at Shiite targets and kill people identified with Syrian President Bashar Assad from time to time, so Tuesday’s two suicide bombers are unlikely to be the last to blow themselves up in this arena of the conflict.

In the wake of this attack, Tehran may decide to send more weaponry and more personnel to Lebanon to help Hezbollah in its fight against the Sunni militias. If so it might be on the way to discovering something Israel came to know well: getting bogged down in the quagmire of Lebanon.

Israel Hayom | Netanyahu has nothing to lose except losing.

Dan Margalit

From Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s point of view, the good half of the week ended when French President Francois Hollande made his way back to Paris. It’s true that the French president doubled down on his opposition to building in the settlements. Still, the meeting with Hollande was refreshing.

On Monday, after the string of Knesset declamations, commentators were saying that Hollande had softened France’s demands over the Iranians. That forecast could turn out to be true. But, given the content of the issues, as they played out during Hollande’s visit, there is no indication that this has already happened. From the outset, France and Israel shared a critical position over the Iran deal, though Jerusalem and Paris did not coordinate their stances in advance. The French caprice over Iran’s uranium enrichment at its nuclear facilities is a perfect example of the lack of coordination.

The second half of Netanyahu’s week is going to be even more hectic. He is heading out to Moscow on the assumption that Israel cannot afford to leave even one stone unturned. Netanyahu augustly pardoned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for statements about him, and he knew better than to expect Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to curb Iran. Still, Russia has been attempting to revitalize the position it lost in Egypt 41 years ago, and Cairo is expecting somebody to confront Tehran.

Even the picture developing in the U.S. is obscure. U.S. President Barack Obama has been trying to mobilize the Senate leader behind an Iran deal. The fact that his adversary, Senator John McCain, offered him a lead does not indicate anything about the Senate’s position; that’s the political culture in the U.S. Even Obama knows he won’t be able to sign a deal with the ayatollahs’ regime, given Iran’s increasingly aggravating demands.

What could save the deal is if the Iranians fake throwing up their hands. What could save the world from a bad deal is if the ayatollahs harden their positions. The level of doubt over Iran’s behavior, to the point where even Washington, eager for a compromise with Tehran, could resist acquiescence, marked the core of Secretary of State John Kerry’s decision to take a rain check on his visit to Jerusalem this week; he’s not sure what might be in his hands come Friday.

No doubt, Israel is stuck in an inferior position. Even Hollande’s visit could not change that, mainly because the French president would not give up mixing the Iran deal with the settlement-development issue. But, in light of the current situation, just as peace talks are set to resume on Wednesday, there’s no reason Netanyahu should back off the process he has practically been leading himself. He’s still got the chance to succeed. He’s got nothing to lose by persevering. At least it shows integrity.

Israel Hayom | Jerusalem scoffs at Kerry’s assurances on Iran deal.

Israel Hayom | The Iran-Obamacare connection.

Richard Baehr

Israel Hayom | A strike on Iran: Complex, but possible.

Prof. Efraim Inbar

Statements that Israel has the ability to strike Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and cause major damage are true. Such an attack would require the capability to reach distant targets, overcome aerial defense systems and destroy the targets.

The number of facilities that would need to be hit to deal a fatal blow to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is generally overestimated. The essential ingredient for building a nuclear bomb is uranium enriched to a level of more than 90%, meaning that the enrichment facilities at Natanz and Fordo must be taken care of. The reactor at Arak, designed to produce plutonium (another fissionable material suitable for building a nuclear bomb), is not yet active, but it is a worthy target, similar to the reactor that was destroyed in Iraq in 1981.

Israel’s long arm is its air force, which has the ability to strike distant targets. According to foreign reports, the Israel Air Force has more than 400 fighter planes, a large number for any state. The IAF fleet includes the F-15I Raam, one of the world’s most advanced planes, which can carry many precision weapons over long distances.

The IAF also reportedly has a number of aerial refueling tankers that give its fighter jets the option to extend their flight range to as far away as Iran. The IAF has held a number of exercises, which received media coverage, in which dozens of aircraft flew long distances, clearly displaying the IAF’s ability to reach Iran.

The flight path to nuclear targets in Iran would, as in past long-distance IAF operations, be above Arab countries. But this time, it is possible that these countries would turn a blind eye or even cooperate with Israel, because the Sunni Arab world is very concerned about Iran attaining nuclear weapons. Moreover, the IAF has a terrific set of technological means that enable it to blind or paralyze air defense systems. Reported IAF operations in Syria and Sudan, which came to light only after the alleged strikes took place, may be an indication of such capabilities. Iran might have excellent air defense systems that could exact a price from the IAF, but it is unlikely that they could prevent the IAF from conducting a successful attack.

An important issue is the ability to destroy underground targets. The U.S. has provided Israel with bunker-buster bombs, and it is likely that Israel Military Industries is also capable of developing and producing similar weapons. An Israeli operation in Iran might also require a ground presence, mainly to ensure the destruction of the targets. The special forces units of the Israel Defense Forces are the answer for this need.

Unfortunately, it would at this point be difficult to achieve strategic surprise and it is a shame that an attack on Iran was not carried out several years ago. But despite Iran’s awareness of the possibility of an Israeli strike, there is still perhaps room for tactical surprises.

Make no mistake: An Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure would be a complicated military operation with many risks. Israeli ingenuity and determination could make such an operation a great success. Much of the world is waiting for Israel to remove the chestnuts from the fire.

Israel’s decision to strike Iran or not is a historic gamble. History and common sense point toward an attack.

Professor Efraim Inbar is director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, a political studies professor at Bar-Ilan University and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Israel blamed by Iran for Beirut bombings | The Times of Israel.

MK Tzachi Hanegbi categorically denies Jerusalem’s involvement in Tuesday’s deadly explosions in Lebanon

By Raphael Ahren and Gavriel Fiske November 19, 2013, 1:07 pm

Lebanese army soldiers help an injured man at the scene where two explosions have struck near the Iranian Embassy on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013. (photo credit: AP/Hussein Malla)

Iran’s ambassador in Lebanon accused Israel of being responsible for a blast that rocked the Iranian embassy in Beirut, killing at least 23 people Tuesday.

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Ghazanfar Rokn Abadi told Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television that “the agents of the Zionist entity Israel are behind the blasts,” according to a translation provided by the Naharnet news site.

“This terrorist attack will not affect us,” he reportedly added, “but it will make us stronger and more convinced of our stances.”

Veteran Israeli lawmaker MK Tzachi Hanegbi rejected the accusations, saying that it is sometimes “humoristic” that Israel is blamed for everything bad happening in the Middle East.

Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi (photo credit: Flash90)

“A country that is perpetrating terror all over the world, maybe feels” comfortable accusing others of the same, and “Israel is there to blame,” he told reporters at a briefing organized by The Israel Project. “There are things that we do that we do take responsibility for, because they have to do with Israel’s security. But Israel’s security gains nothing from bloodshed in Beirut or in any other Arab state,” he added.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a group linked to al-Qaeda, later claimed responsibility for the blast, according to Reuters.

The attack is likely the result of tensions in Lebanon following Hezbollah’s decision to fight in Syria on President Bashar Assad’s side in the civil war in that country, at Iran’s behest, said Hanegbi, a member of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Jerusalem played “no part” in Tuesday’s attack, and “of course Israel had nothing to do with such attacks in the past,” Hanegbi added.

Syria’s Minister of Information Omran Ahed Al Zoubi said Tuesday that it was countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states that “spread terror” in the region, according to a Ynet News report.

Zoubi said the Beirut attack could only have been carried out by a large team such as those fielded by governments and intelligence organizations.

The attack, believed by Lebanese authorities to have been carried out by a suicide bomber on foot or motorcycle, followed by a car bomb, injured some 140 people, damaged several buildings and destroyed at least 10 vehicles. 

Among those killed was the Iranian cultural attache.

Blasts rock Iranian embassy in Beirut – Al Arabiya News.

At least 23 people were killed, including the Iranian cultural attache, following two blasts near the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Tuesday.

The death of the cultural attaché was confirmed by the Iranian ambassador.

Most of the other casualties are civilians, reported Al Arabiya correspondent in Beirut, Adnan Ghalmoush.

At least 146 people have been injured, according to the Lebanese health minister.

Al Arabiya’s correspondent reported that there were two minutes between both blasts that rocked the area.

Local Lebanese media broadcast live images of smoke billowing from the embassy building. Harrowing pictures of wounded people being carried from the scene of the blast were also broadcast.

“These innocents were killed in an act of cold blooded terrorism,” former Lebanese Defense Minister Albert Mansour told Al Arabiya News.

“This attack will add fuel to the fire of sectarianism in the country and hostility between Shiite and Sunni Muslims,” Mansour added.

Mansour confirmed that an investigation was underway to identify the perpetrators of the attack.

A security source speaking to Reuters news agency denied earlier reports that the explosions were caused by rockets, saying the cause was a car bomb.

Security forces have been deployed heavily at the site where some six buildings were severely damaged, according to Al Arabiya News Channel.

The blasts occurred in an area considered a stronghold of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which is a main ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war next door. It is not clear if the blasts are related to the Syrian civil war.

“Such a blast is expected. I believe it is closely related to what’s happening in Syria and Iran has been identified as a major player in the Syrian conflict,” Ibrahim Sharqieh, a conflict resolution analyst at the Brookings Doha Center, told Al Arabiya News on Tuesday.

“The blasts have sent off a serious warning over the future of the Syrian conflict, whether we’re going to see more involvement in the neighboring countries. Lebanon has a very fragile political system which can easily pulled in to all this.

Located in a Hezbollah suburb, the embassy is considered to be one of most heavily guarded buildings in southern Lebanon.

Still, Sharqieh believes this does not grant the building immunity from such attacks.

“I don’t there is any immune spot in the southern suburbs, or anywhere in Beirut. This kind of bombing can be carried out by as little as one or two individuals.”