WarSclerotic

BY: Adam Kredo
February 11, 2014 4:59 am

The U.S. Defense Department said on Monday that Iranian warships are allowed to sail into the Atlantic Ocean so long as “they understand the responsibilities” of cruising so close to the U.S. border.

The Pentagon’s pronouncement comes just days after Iran announced that warships were approaching the U.S. maritime border in response to America’s naval presence in the Persian Gulf.

Asked to respond to Iran’s pointed military rhetoric, Pentagon spokesman Bill Speaks told the Washington Free Beacon that it would not be an issue for Iranian ships to enter the Atlantic.

“Freedom of the seas applies to all maritime nations, all navies, everywhere—so long as they understand the responsibilities, which come with that freedom,” Speaks said. “So, if they are able to send their ships to the Atlantic, I’m sure they won’t be surprised to find many, many others already there.”

Speaks added that there is no solid evidence that Iranian ships are sailing towards the United States.

“On the Iranian claim, at this point, this is merely an announcement, not an actual deployment,” he said.

Iranian naval commanders struck a much less conciliatory tone, threatening to sink U.S. warships and kill American soldiers.

“The Americans can sense by all means how their warships will be sunk with 5,000 crews and forces in combat against Iran and how they should find its hulk in the depths of the sea,” Rear Adm. Ali Fadavi, the commander of the elite Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy, was quoted as saying Sunday in the regional press.

Another Iranian general said that the dispatch of warships to the United States “has a message.”

“Iran’s military fleet is approaching the United States’ maritime borders, and this move has a message,” Iranian Adm. Afshin Rezayee Haddad said according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.

Iran dispatched the war fleet in “response to Washington’s beefed up naval presence in the Persian Gulf,” where American ships are stationed to help keep international shipping lanes safe, according to the report.

U.S. officials with knowledge of Iran’s movements said they were not particularly worried about Iran, which has a history of embellishing its military strength.

“These statements are probably more reflective of Iranian naval propaganda rather than any strategic intent,” one U.S. official told the Free Beacon. “Iranian officials have made similar statements since at least 2011, all of which turned out to be rhetorical posturing.”

Iran would also have a difficult time making it to America, the official said.

“Even if Tehran were serious about sending naval assets to the U.S. maritime border, it would be hard pressed to do so,” the source said. “Traversing thousands of miles would pose logistical challenges even for the world’s most advanced naval forces.”

White House spokesman Jay Carney also said on Monday that the United States has “no evidence” Iranian warships are on the way to the United States.

“Well, first of all, there was an Iranian announcement that they are moving ships close to the United States, and we have no evidence that Iran is in fact sending ships close to the U.S. border,” he told reporters during his daily briefing.

Iran’s amped up military threats against the United States come just one week before Western negotiators are set to meet with Tehran for another round of nuclear negotiations.

The talks could hit speed bumps given a recent series of statements by Iranian leaders who have vowed to keep the nuclear program running at full steam.

One of Iran’s senior negotiators said on Monday that the issue of Tehran’s ballistic missile program would be off the table. The statement prompted quick pushback from the White House.

“Per the Joint Plan of Action, Iran must address the [United Nations] Security Council resolutions related to its nuclear program before a comprehensive resolution can be reached,” Bernadette Meehan, National Security Council spokesperson, told the Free Beacon.

“Among other things, UN Security Council Resolution 1929 prohibits all activities involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches,” Meehan said. “So this issue will need to be addressed during the comprehensive discussions.”

TEHRAN — Anti-American and anti-Israel sentiment ran high on the streets of Tehran on Tuesday as hundreds of thousands celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

Chants of “Death to Israel” and “Down with the U.S.” reverberated and groups of young people approached NBC News’ crew to deliver their message of anger and distrust.

“I have a message for Mr. Obama: My option on the table is the destruction of Israel, be sure of that,” 22-year-old student Jamshid said during the events marking the 1979 toppling of Shah Reza Pahlavi, a close U.S. ally.

 “I have a message from the people of Iran to Mr. Obama and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu — we are ready for big war,” another young man told NBC News.

The virulent anti-Western and anti-Israeli statements come as the government of President Hassan Rouhani steers the country towards a rapprochement with the West. In November, the regime agreed to cap its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for an easing of Western sanctions.

Also on Tuesday, Rouhani said that Iran would pursue peaceful atomic research “forever,” and lashed out at Western statements that a military solution to a nuclear dispute with Tehran remained an option.

“I say explicitly to those delusional people who say the military option is on the table, that they should change their glasses … Our nation regards the language of threat as rude and offensive,” Rouhani told the crowds.

Despite the political message, the anniversary events also had a carnival feeling. Posters of Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei stood next to stalls selling food, T-shirts and balloons in the shape of Spider-Man and Miley Cyrus.

On Saturday, Khamenei said the United States was trying to undermine the country’s government.

“The Iranian nation should pay attention to the recent negotiations and the rude remarks of the Americans so that everyone gets to know the enemy well,” state news agency Fars quoted him as saying.

The statements are markedly different to more conciliatory language some officials have used during negotiations.

On Feb. 2, the country’s foreign minister said it would be a “disaster” if Tehran did not turn an interim agreement to defuse a decade-old dispute over its nuclear program into a permanent deal.

“What I can promise is that we will go to those negotiations with the political will and good faith to reach an agreement because it would be foolish for us to only bargain for six months,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said. “That would be a disaster for everybody – to start a process and then to abruptly end it within six months,” he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

TEHRAN — Iran said Monday it has “successfully tested” two missiles on the eve of the 35th anniversary of its Islamic revolution, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Iran’s ballistic missile programme has long been a source of concern for Western nations because it is capable of striking its arch-foe Israel.

“The new generation of ballistic missile with a fragmentation warhead, and a Bina laser-guided surface-to-surface and air-to-surface missile, have been successfully tested,” Defence Minister Hossein Dehgan said.

He said the new ballistic missile could “evade anti-missile systems” and was capable of “great destruction.”

The other missile can be fired from a plane or a boat to strike military targets with “great precision,” he added.

President Hassan Rouhani, elected last year on promises to engage the West diplomatically, congratulated the Iranian people and Supreme Guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the tests, IRNA reported.

The UN Security Council, the United States and the European Union have long imposed sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile programme.

Iranian officials have said they will not discuss the missile programme at talks with world powers later this month on Tehran’s controversial nuclear activities.

Western nations and Israel suspect Iran is covertly pursuing nuclear weapons alongside its civilian program, allegations denied by Tehran.

Iran’s nuclear chief declared that his country has developed a new generation of centrifuges 15 times more powerful than those currently being used to enrich uranium, and said it might resume enrichment to 60% if necessary.

“We unveiled a new generation of centrifuges that surprised the Westerners,” said Ali Akbar Salehi on Monday. “This new machine is 15 times more powerful than the previous generation,” he claimed, according to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB.

Salehi added that the development did not violate the November 24 Geneva interim agreement between Iran and six world powers that has imposed curbs on Tehran’s nuclear drive. “We successfully argued that this was allowed within the research and development article in the agreement,” Salehi said.

Talks between Iran and the six powers — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — on a long-term, “comprehensive” accord are due to start in Vienna on February 18. Ahead of them, Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs is to lead a delegation for talks with the chief US negotiator with Iran, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman.

Sherman last week told a Senate hearing that Iran’s ballistic missile program would be addressed in the comprehensive deal.

But on Monday Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi, who is also a senior Iranian nuclear negotiator, said “the defense-related issues are a red line for Iran.”

“We will not allow such issues to be discussed in future talks,” he said.

Sherman also argued that Iran does not require an unfinished heavy water reactor in Arak – which could one day produce plutonium as a by-product – nor the underground Fordo uranium enrichment site for its civilian nuclear program.

But another Iranian nuclear negotiator, Majid Takhte Ravanchi, on Monday reiterated that Iran would not accept the closure of “any of its nuclear sites.”

Last week, Salehi said Iran could make changes to Arak’s design to produce less plutonium and “allay the worries.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lambasted the US and the international community for the Geneva deal, which he called a “historic mistake,” and he is demanding that Iran’s entire “military nuclear” capability be dismantled under a permanent accord. US President Barack Obama, by contrast, has said he could envisage Iran being left with a heavily supervised enrichment capability under a permanent deal.

Iran currently has nearly 19,000 centrifuges, including 10,000 of the so-called first generation being used to enrich uranium. Some 1,000 second generation machines, three to five times more powerful, have been installed but are not in service. Under the November deal, Iran cannot increase the number of its centrifuges.

Salehi did not say when the new centrifuges would become operational, but said a first machine was to be delivered to a medical centre in Karaj, west of Tehran, “within two or three months.”

In a recent interview with The Times of Israel, former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren warned that Iran was continuing to develop its centrifuges, and that more sophisticated models would enable it to speed more quickly to nuclear weapons if it chose to try to break out to the bomb. “If the talks break down,” he warned, “and you [the Iranians] quickly install your additional 9,000 centrifuges, among them the IR2s, which really give you [the equivalent of] about 24,000 centrifuges. And you have a stockpile [of enriched uranium]. And maybe you’ve done some research and development, that actually gives you some [centrifuges] closer to an IR3, which has an even higher rate of accumulation than the IR2s, how long is it going to take you [to break out]?”

In his remarks Monday, Salehi also said that despite the current halt in Iran’s uranium enrichment above the 5% grade, as agreed in the Geneva interim deal which took effect in late January, Iran has not and will not give up its right to enrich uranium to the 20% grade and may even resume enrichment to 60% if needed.

“We have met our needs to the 20-percent-enriched fuel (for the Tehran research reactor and medical purposes) and we have enough fuel, but we have not lost our right to produce 20 percent fuel,” he said, according to the Fars news agency.

He claimed Iran was entitled to enrich uranium to any level it wanted, and said, “We have the ability to enrich uranium at 60 percent grade if one day we need it for peaceful works.”