WarSclerotic

White House: World security hinges on success of Iran nuclear deal | JPost | Israel News.

By MICHAEL WILNER

01/17/2014 02:15

Obama administration outlines Geneva technical agreement between world powers, Islamic Republic; calls for continued diplomatic attempts to resolve Tehran’s nuclear issue.

WASHINGTON — “For the sake of our national security and the peace and security of the world,” diplomacy with Iran must be given a chance to succeed, the White House charged on Thursday, issuing a detailed breakdown of the technical nuclear agreement reached in Geneva this week between Iran and world powers.

The Joint Plan of Action— the official name for the interim nuclear deal reached in Geneva in November— will freeze Iran’s enrichment of uranium to levels beyond any civilian energy use, and will halt progress on its production of a plutonium facility in Arak, in exchange for $6-7 billion in sanctions relief.

The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency will be “solely responsible for verifying and confirming all nuclear-related measures,” the White House said, adding that world powers and Iran would establish a joint commission that ensures IAEA is sufficiently enforcing and abiding by the Joint Plan of Action.

Iran will begin diluting half of its uranium stockpile already enriched to 20 percent on January 20, the administration announced, a condition that will be fully completed within the six-month timeframe.

Under the agreement, Iran is allowed to continue centrifuge production to replace damaged machines in Natanz and Fordow, where limited uranium enrichment will continue at low levels.

Iran is also allowed to continue research into advanced centrifuge technology, though the White House noted in the Thursday document that Iran cannot widen its research scope “beyond its current enrichment R&D practices.”

Natanz and Fordow, two of Iran’s largest nuclear plants, will be subject to daily IAEA inspector access.

“The IAEA and Iran are working to update procedures, which will permit IAEA inspectors to review surveillance information on a daily basis to shorten detection time for any Iranian non-compliance,” the White House said.

In exchange, the P5+1— the US, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany— will release eight installments of $450-550 million in restricted Iranians funds over the six-month period. Iran will have access to the remaining funds, $4.2 billion, on the very last day before the agreement expires.

The US does not yet have a plan with its international partners on how to proceed with talks toward a comprehensive agreement, the outline suggested, noting that talks between P5 and EU partners would focus on coordinating a joint approach.

“The United States will determine with our P5+1 partners our approach to the comprehensive solution,” the White House added. “Discussions with Iran will follow that coordination process.”

Reacting to the published outline, Senator Mark Kirk expressed doubt that all details had been made available in comments to The Jerusalem Post.

“The Iran deal shouldn’t be kept secret from the American people,” Kirk said. “If the White House is proud of the deal, it should be able to withstand public scrutiny in its entirety.”

IAF Strikes in Gaza After Rocket Attack – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

IAF aircraft hit terror-related sites in Gaza, several hours after a rocket barrage targeted the city of Ashkelon.

IAF strikes Gaza (archive)

Reuters

Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft targeted terror-related sites in Gaza early Thursday morning, several hours after a rocket barrage targeted the city of Ashkelon.

A statement from the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said that a concealed rocket launcher, a weapons storage site and a center of terrorist activity in northern Gaza were targeted.

Direct hits were confirmed, said the statement, which noted that the airstrikes came in retaliation to the rocket attack on Ashkelon earlier in the night.

Terrorists from Gaza fired five rockets at the city, which were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system before they could hit populated areas.

“The IDF sees as very serious any firing at Israeli territory and will continue to act strongly against anyone who uses terror against the State of Israel,” said the IDF, noting that the Hamas terrorist group which runs Gaza is directly responsible for the attacks.

Wednesday night’s rocket attack follows several attacks on Monday. Gaza terrorists fired two rockets at the Negev Monday afternoon, several hours after the conclusion of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s funeral.

The rockets exploded in an area north of Sderot. There were no physical injuries and no damage reported.

Two weeks ago, Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft struck several targets in Gaza, hitting a terror infrastructure site in central Gaza and three concealed rocket launchers in northern Gaza. All aircraft safely returned to their bases.

The airstrikes came several hours after a rocket launched by terrorists in the Hamas-ruled territory exploded in one of the communities along the Gaza security fence.

Iron Dome downs five rockets heading for Ashkelon | The Times of Israel.

No injuries or damage reported in late night barrage from the Gaza Strip

By Yoel Goldman January 16, 2014, 2:39 am

Israel Hayom | Iran mocks Obama, honors Mughniyeh.

Obama administration under pressure to release text of Iran deal – latimes.com.

The Obama administration said comments by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, left, pictured in November with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran, had been misconstrued and that there is no hidden plan. (Atta Kenare / AFP / Getty Images / November 26, 2013)

Israel’s intel succeeded where US failed on Syria nukes, Gates reveals | The Times of Israel.

Ex-defense secretary’s tell-all memoir details Israeli strike on Assad’s nuke facility, implies parallels with current Iran dilemma

By Rebecca Shimoni Stoil January 15, 2014, 1:51 pm

Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, left, and US defense secretary Robert Gates arrive for a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, Thursday, April 19, 2007. (photo credit: AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

WASHINGTON — The US prepared plans to attack Syria in 2007 after receiving evidence from Israel that the Syrian regime was en route to building a nuclear weapon, former secretary of defense Robert Gates revealed in his memoir, which was released Tuesday.

Israel has never fully disclosed the events leading up to its September 2007 strike against what was believed to be a Syrian nuclear weapons production site, but Gates’s memoir reveals that the US suffered a major intelligence failure while Israel brought back compelling evidence regarding Syria’s intentions.

In “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” a book that has drawn fire for its insider descriptions of still-sensitive material, Gates reveals that the US had identified the future site of the Syrian reactor two years earlier — some eight years after contacts are believed to have been established between Syria and North Korea. The intelligence trail, however, stopped there until spring 2007, when Israel provided the US with photos of the inside of the reactor itself.

Only then, he recounts, did US analysts conclude that the Syrian facility was similar to a North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, and based on the evidence turned over from Israel, US analysts believed that the reactor would be — once online — capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons.

Former US secretary of defense Robert M. Gates speaks during a news conference, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, at the Pentagon in Washington. (photo credit: Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP)

“Early detection of a large nuclear reactor under construction in a place like Syria is supposedly the kind of intelligence collection that the United States does superbly well. Yet by the time the Israelis informed us about the site, the reactor construction was already well advanced,” Gates recalls. “This was a significant failure on the part of the US intelligence agencies, and I asked the president, “How can we have any confidence at all in the estimates of the scope of the North Korean, Iranian, or other possible programs given this failure? Surprisingly, neither the president nor Congress made much of it. Given the stakes, they should have.”

Before and after satellite images of the Syrian nuclear reactor at al-Kibar, which was reportedly struck by Israel in 2007 (photo credit: AP/DigitalGlobe)

In a discussion that, according to Gates, “prefigured in many respects the arguments regarding the Iranian nuclear program in 2008 and later,” the second-term administration of George W. Bush was divided about how to respond.

Gates says that their “options were constrained by the fact that the Israelis had informed us of this stunning development and therefore were in a position to significantly influence — if not dictate — what could be publicly divulged and when.” Reactions from Bush’s closest advisers’ ran the gamut from vice president Dick Cheney, who pushed for an immediate attack, to Gates, who was highly reluctant.

Nevertheless, Gates did respond by asking Martin Dempsey, then acting commander of Central Command, to provide a number of military options and target lists associated with each.

At the same time, Gates argued against a military solution, leveraging a number of points that he says he listed on a piece of paper in front of him, including that “as much as US credibility on the existence of weapons of mass destruction had been limited, Israeli credibility is equally suspect, if not more so, in the Middle East, Europe, and maybe significant elements of the US public.” Gates also reiterated at least two times in the same subchapter that “US and Israeli interests are not always the same.”

Gates was also concerned that unilateral Israeli action “will be seen as provocative, aimed at restoring their credibility and deterrent after their indecisive war with Hezbollah and at shoring up a weak Israeli government.”

Gates, a former CIA official, suggested that other members of the administration — particularly those at the top — were excessively supportive of Israel. In the same chapter, Gates characterizes Bush and Cheney as “very pro-Israel” and said that Bush “greatly admired” then-prime minister Ehud Olmert.

Gates says he felt that the Israelis were pressing the US to act, perhaps even against its own interests. He claims to have warned Bush that “Olmert was trying to force the US’s hand” and told the president that “he should tell Olmert very directly that if Israel went forward on its own militarily, he would be putting Israel’s entire relationship with the United States at risk.”

The top defense official in America felt that he was trapped by the Israelis, recalling that “If we didn’t do exactly what [Olmert] wanted, Israel would act and we could do nothing about it. The United States was being held hostage to Israeli decision making.”

“I am, and always have been, strongly pro-Israel…but our interests are not always identical…and I’m not prepared to risk vital American strategic interests to accommodate the views of hard-line Israeli politicians,” Gates writes of the incident.

Gates’ account of the incident is striking for its detail regarding an otherwise secretive operation.

In his book ”Decision Points,” Bush himself recalls cagily that “in the spring of 2007, I received a highly classified report from a foreign intelligence partner. We pored over the photographs of a suspicious, well hidden building in the eastern desert of Syria.”

“Our strong suspicion was that we had just caught Syria red handed trying to develop a nuclear weapon capability with North Korean help,” he continues.

Gates’ and Bush’s accounts dovetail regarding the intense pressure that Olmert put on the American leader to pursue — or at least enable — a military strike against Syria. According to Bush, in one phone call, Olmert addressed the president, telling him “George, I’m asking you to bomb that compound.”

Gates notes that a diplomatic route with a military option proved insufficient for Jerusalem. Bush asked Olmert in mid-July to allow the US to “take care of this” but Olmert responded that Israel saw a nuclear Syria as an existential threat which it could not “trust diplomacy to fix.”

In his discussion of these events of 2007, Gates’ memoir seems to draw parallels between the outcome of the Syrian attacks and lessons for future negotiations with Iran. “By not confronting Olmert, Bush effectively came down on Cheney’s side. By not giving the Israelis a red light, he gave the Israelis a green one.”Facebook

Iran nuclear deal to go into effect January 20, sides say | The Times of Israel.

Iran confirms agreement to begin later this month, Obama hails step as advancing goal of keeping Iran from nuclear weapon

By AP and Times of Israel staff January 12, 2014, 7:02 pm

US Secretary of State John Kerry, Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, left, the EU’s Catherine Ashton, center, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, right, hold talks over Iran’s nuclear program in Geneva, November 9, 2013. (Photo credit: State Department/Twitter)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran and six world powers have agreed on how to implement a nuclear deal struck in November, with its terms starting from January 20, the Islamic Republic’s official state news agency reported Sunday.

The report from IRNA quoted Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi confirming the news, without offering any other details. There was no immediate confirmation from the other countries involved in the talks, though the semi-official ISNA news agency said a joint statement on the agreement would be released in Geneva and Tehran.

The announcement comes after Araqchi said Friday that an initial agreement had been reached and all sides would respond to it by Sunday.

US President Barack Obama hailed the agreement to implement the deal as a step to “advance our goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

“With today’s agreement, we have made concrete progress,” he said in a statement. “I welcome this important step forward, and we will now focus on the critical work of pursuing a comprehensive resolution that addresses our concerns over Iran’s nuclear program.  I have no illusions about how hard it will be to achieve this objective, but for the sake of our national security and the peace and security of the world, now is the time to give diplomacy a chance to succeed.”

British Foreign Minister William Hague wrote on Twitter that the sides had come together to set a date for implementation.

Under the November agreement, Iran agreed to limit its uranium enrichment to 5 percent — the grade commonly used to power reactors. The deal also commits Iran to stop producing 20 percent enriched uranium — which is only a technical step away from weapons-grade material — and to neutralize its 20 percent stockpile.

In exchange, economic sanctions Iran faces would be eased for a period of six months. During that time, the world powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — would continue negotiations with Iran on a permanent deal.

The West fears Iran’s nuclear program could allow it to build a nuclear bomb. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes, such as medical research and power generation. ISNA also reported Sunday that under the terms of the deal, Iran will guarantee that it won’t try to attain nuclear arms “under any circumstance.”

 

By AP and Times of Israel staff January 12, 2014, 7:02 pm

Iran sanctions have majority backing in Senate, but is it enough to override a veto? – Middle East Israel News | Haaretz.

Backers of bill say it would strengthen the U.S. hand in negotiations, but Obama plans veto, saying sanctions would upend talks between major powers and Iran.

By JTA and Haaretz | Jan. 10, 2014 | 9:25 PM |

A man pushes a cart loaded with fuel containers in Tehran on Jan. 23, 2013. Photo by AP

More than half the U.S. Senate has signed on to a bill that would intensify sanctions against Iran. But in a sign of the so-far successful effort by the White House to keep the bill from reaching a veto-busting 67 supporters, only 16 Democrats are on board, according to JTA.

The number of senators cosponsoring the bill, introduced by Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), reached 58 this week, up from just 33 before the Christmas holiday break.

Notably only one of the 25 who signed up in recent days — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) — is a Democrat, a sign of intense White House lobbying among Democrats to oppose the bill.

According to some reports, more senators are backing the bill but have yet to make their names public. Buzzfeed quoted an unnamed Senate aide on Friday who claimed that more than 67 senators have already pledged to support the bill, more than enough to override a presidential veto.

Backers of the bill say it would strengthen the U.S. hand at the negotiations. But President Obama has said he would veto the bill because it could upend talks now underway between the major powers and Iran aimed at keeping the Islamic Republic from obtaining a nuclear bomb. A similar bill passed this summer by the U.S. House of Representatives had a veto-proof majority.

On Thursday, the White House said backers of the bill should be upfront about the fact that it puts the United States on the path to war.

“If certain members of Congress want the United States to take military action, they should be up front with the American public and say so,” Bernadette Meehan, the National Security Council spokeswoman, said in a statement posted by The Huffington Post. “Otherwise, it’s not clear why any member of Congress would support a bill that possibly closes the door on diplomacy and makes it more likely that the United States will have to choose between military options or allowing Iran’s nuclear program to proceed.”

A number of pro-Israel groups, led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, are leading a full-court press for the bill’s passage, with prominent Jewish leaders in a number of states making calls and writing letters to holdouts. Dovish Jewish groups such as J Street and Americans for Peace Now oppose the bill.

The bill would expand sanctions in part by broadening existing definitions targeting energy and banking sectors to all “strategic sectors,” including engineering, mining and construction. It would also tighten the definition of entities eligible for exceptions and broaden the definition of targeted individuals who assist Iran in evading sanctions.

The National Jewish Democratic Council, in an effort to back a Democratic president while not expressly opposing intensified sanctions, issued a mixed verdict on the bill, saying it does not support its passage at present though the option of intensified sanctions should remain open down the road if the president seeks it.

“We encourage Congress to support the President’s foreign policy initiative by making stronger measures available should they be required,” the statement said. “Final action on the legislation should be dependent upon Iran’s full compliance with its obligations.”

Rabbi Jack Moline, the NJDC’s executive director, accused AIPAC and the American Jewish Committee of “strong-arm tactics, essentially threatening people that if they don’t vote a particular way, that somehow that makes them anti-Israel or means the abandonment of the Jewish community.”

David Harris, the AJC’s executive director, said he was “shocked” by Moline’s allegations.

“We support the Iran sanctions bill, as do a bipartisan majority of U.S. senators,” he said. “Can a group differ with him on a critically important issue like Iran, where potentially existential issues are at stake, without being maligned or misrepresented, or is that the price we’re supposed to pay for honest disagreement?”

A spokesman for AIPAC declined to comment.

Despite its majority, the law faces significant Senate opposition. Ten committee chairmen in the Democratic-led Senate have pushed back against new legislation in a letter to Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate majority leader. One of the committee chairman, Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) of the banking committee, has the parliamentary power to hold the bill.

Among the other committee chairs opposed to advancing the bill now are four Jewish senators: Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee; Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee; Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Environment Committee; and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the chairman of the Energy Committee.

Sharon in the eyes of world leaders – Israel News, Ynetnews.

From Obama to Ban Ki-moon, world leaders paid tribute to Ariel Sharon. ‘It was an honor to work with him, argue with him, and watch him,’ the Clintons said in a statement

News agencies

Leaders from around the world payed their respect to former-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

US President Barack Obama said: “On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the family of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and to the people of Israel on the loss of a leader who dedicated his life to the State of Israel.

Obama further noted that: “We continue to strive for lasting peace and security for the people of Israel, including through our commitment to the goal of two states living side-by-side in peace and security. As Israel says goodbye to Prime Minister Sharon, we join with the Israeli people in honoring his commitment to his country.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also paid tribute to former Israeli prime minister: “Throughout a life dedicated to the State of Israel, Ariel Sharon was a hero to his people, first as a soldier and then a statesman.

“Prime Minister Sharon will be remembered for his political courage and determination to carry through with the painful and historic decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip,” Ban added.

Former US President Bill Clinton and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement, saying: “Ariel Sharon gave his life to Israel – to bring it into being, to sustain and preserve it, and at the end of his long service, to create a new political party committed to both a just peace and lasting security.

“It was an honor to work with him, argue with him, and watch him always trying to find the right path for his beloved country,” the Clintons said in a statement.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said “Ariel Sharon is one of the most significant figures in Israeli history and as Prime Minister he took brave and controversial decisions in pursuit of peace, before he was so tragically incapacitated.

“Israel has today lost an important leader,” Cameron told the BBC.

The Kremlin filed a statment saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin “highly praised Ariel Sharon’s personal qualities and his activities to protect Israel’s interests, noting a high respect for him among compatriots and his high authority in the international arena.”

French President Francois Hollande offered his condolences to Sharon’s family, emphasizing his actions at the end of his career. “After a long military and political career, he made the choice to turn towards dialogue with the Palestinians,” Hollande said in a statement.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also she “is mourning with the Israeli people” for Sharon. “With his courageous decision to withdraw the Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip, he took a historic step on the path to a deal with the Palestinians and a two-state solution,” Steffen Seibert, Merkel’s spokesman said.

The German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also commented on Sharon’s passing, saying: “Ariel Sharon’s last battle is now over … Sharon was literally from the beginning a tireless defender of his beloved homeland, Israel.”

“Today, a strong leader has gone and my thoughts also go to his family,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said.

The Associated Press and AFP contributed to this report

Counter-Terrorism: Iran. Israel, Vengeance And South America.

January 8, 2014: A retired Israeli diplomat recently revealed that Israel had quietly tracked down and killed most of the Iranians or Iranian operatives involved in two terrorist attacks against Jews in Argentina in 1992 and 1994.

The Israeli overseas intel and special operations organization (Mossad) has handled assignments like this for decades.   The two Argentine bombings killed 114 and wounded over 200. Most of the victims were not Jews but nearly all were Argentinians. Israel often quietly goes after those behind attacks like this and kills them. There is rarely any official admission of this activity or the results. But the terrorists do take notice.

Meanwhile Iran continues to reward the survivors of the terrorists who planned and carried out those attacks. In 2009 Iranian president Ahmadinejad nominated a wanted (by Interpol) terrorist, Ahmad Vahidi, to be Defense Minister. Vahidi is wanted in Argentina for involvement in a 1994 attack on a Jewish community center. Vahidi is believed to have helped carry out other terror attacks as well. This brought him much recognition and many rewards in Iran. Vahidi served as Defense Minister until mid-2013. Vahidi has long known that the Israelis are gunning for him and takes precautions.

Iran and its professional terrorists are still active in South America.  For a decade now Iran has been close with leftist Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (recently deceased) and his successor. This led to hundreds of Iranian intelligence and special warfare (terrorism) operatives being dispatched to South America. The Argentine truck bomb attack in 1994 killed 85 Argentineans and this horrified people throughout the region. The backlash caused Iranian diplomats and terrorism operatives to run for cover. But with Venezuela as a safe, and hospitable, base, Iranian death squads are again up and running in South America. Apparently Iran is not encouraging attacks, in order to maintain its espionage networks but wants to be ready just in case.

Most of the Iranian foreign terrorist operations are handled by the Quds Force, which is an intelligence and commando operation that supports Islamic terrorism overseas. It has always attracted very bright and able people, but also recruited personnel possessing a wide range of views on just what constituted an “Islamic Republic” or the proper role for the Quds Force itself. For over two decades, one of the few things Quds officers could agree on was the need to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Many Quds officers actually warmed to the United States in 2003 for doing the deed for them. But most Quds operatives are still dedicated to Shia Islam becoming the dominant religion on the planet. Thus Al Quds can be found operating nearly everywhere, from South America (where they have a new base in Venezuela) to wherever Iran has a diplomatic presence. But the big Quds operations are in southern Iraq, western Afghanistan and Gaza. Quds Force operatives have been found carrying out assassinations in the West and organizing terror attacks all over the world (like the bombing of a Jewish social center in Argentina).

Quds Force partners with the Lebanese Shia Hezbollah in its South American operations. Iran helped create Hezbollah in the 1980s and has sustained it ever since. Hezbollah has long been involved in the drug business in South America. That gives these Iran backed Islamic terrorists access to the smuggling routes that Mexican gangs use to smuggle drugs and people into the United States. Hezbollah has also been active in narcotics and people smuggling in South America’s tri-border (Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil) region. For over a century this area has been a hotbed of illicit activity, and too many politicians and police commanders are on the take from gangsters to change this.

Thus South America, in theory, makes an excellent refuge and base for Islamic terrorists. Particularly worrisome was the cooperation between leftist rebel movements there, and Islamic terrorist groups. But the leftist rebels in South America have been on the skids for over a decade and in no position to help terrorists. Islamic radicals are known to be working in the Arab-descended communities in many Latin American countries, aided by the porous frontiers, such as in the notorious “three borders” region, where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina meet. The Islamic radicals have been able to raise some money from Latin American Arabs, often through bogus “charities.” But the extent to which they have been able to recruit active supporters is harder to gauge and has apparently been unsuccessful. In some countries, such as Bolivia and Paraguay, recruiting efforts have been reported to the police, who took action. One factor hampering the Islamic radicals down there was that many of the Arab immigrants to Latin America were Christians, and those who were Moslems often became secularized, in an environment where they found very few co-religionists.