Category Archives: WMD’s

Iran has ‘sanitised’ military base, IAEA may find inspection ‘pointless’: Western diplomats

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VIENNA: Iran has “sanitized” to such an extent a military base where nuclear weapons research allegedly took place that the UN atomic watchdog may say next week there is now little point inspecting it, Western diplomats told AFP.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been pushing Iran to allow access to Parchin, most recently at a failed meeting in Vienna on Friday, where it suspects explosives testing consistent with nuclear bomb research occurred.

Iran, subject to unprecedented Western sanctions and amid heightened speculation of Israeli military action, denies seeking or ever having sought nuclear weapons but has so far blocked the IAEA’s requests to see the site.

Western nations have accused Iran of bulldozing parts of the sprawling base near Tehran and the IAEA said in May that activities spotted there by satellite “could hamper the agency’s ability to undertake effective verification.”

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Pakistan airbase with nuclear weapons comes under sustained attack from Taliban fighters

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Daily Mail:

  • Taliban kill 1 in attack on Pakistani air base linked to the country’s nuclear program
  • Heavy battle leaves insurgents dead and parts of the base in flames
  • U.S told of Pakistani plans to launch operation against Taliban in the ‘near future’

By Katy Dartford

PUBLISHED: 09:58 EST, 16 August 2012 | UPDATED: 11:14 EST, 16 August 2012

A team of nine Taliban militants who attacked a Pakistani air force base in Kamra in the northwest of the country have been killed during a heavy battle before dawn today.

The insurgents also killed a security official and left parts of the base, which is believed to be linked to the country’s nuclear program, destroyed by flames.

Hours later in northern Pakistan, gunmen forced 20 Shiite Muslims off buses, lined them up and killed them.

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Police officers make way for a firetruck at it leaves an air force base in Kamra, in northwest Pakistan after a militant attack before dawn todayPolice officers make way for a firetruck at it leaves an air force base in Kamra, in northwest Pakistan after a militant attack before dawn today

The separate incidents emphasize two daunting challenges the nuclear-armed country faces: a still-potent threat from the Pakistani Taliban despite numerous military offensives against their sanctuaries along the Afghan border and sectarian violence in a Sunni majority country where Shiite Muslims often feel under attack.

While the Pakistani Taliban have carried out hundreds of bombings and other attacks throughout the country, raids against military bases are uncommon.

Militants armed with guns and rocket launchers stormed the key Pakistani air force base sparking hours of heavy clashes that killed eight peopleMilitants armed with guns and rocket launchers stormed the key Pakistani air force base sparking hours of heavy clashes that killed eight people

The large air base, located only about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Islamabad, hosts a variety of fighter jets, including F-16s, and contains a factory that makes aircraft and other weapons systems.

Some experts suspect the base could be linked to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal because of the weapons development there and the presence of jets that could be used to deploy bombs.

The army has denied the base has any links, but the nuclear program’s secret nature makes independent evaluation difficult.

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Four men arrested in raids across Germany in bid to stop illegal exports of nuclear technology to Iran

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H/T EDL Buck

Mail Online:

  By Allan Hall

PUBLISHED: 15:52 EST, 15 August 2012 | UPDATED: 15:52 EST, 15 August 2012

Raids across Germany have seen four men arrested in an operation aimed at thwarting illegal exports of nuclear technology to Iran.

Some 90 customs officers backed up by armed police raided homes and offices in Hamburg, Oldenburg and Weimar. In custody by Wednesday afternoon were three Germans and a man with dual Iranian-German citizenship.

The raids were triggered after long and complex surveillance operations authorities said they believe they will prove showed the individuals were part of a conspiracy to provide Iran with nuclear know-how.

Iran has attracted controversy over its plans to develop nuclear reactors, which are fed by heavy water tanks like this in ArakIran has attracted controversy over its plans to develop nuclear reactors, which are fed by heavy water tanks like this in Arak

‘In 2010 and 2011 the suspects are believed to have helped in the delivery of special valves for the construction of a heavy water reactor in Iran and therefore to have broken the Iran embargo,’ prosecutors said in a statement.

Ironically, news of the arrests came on the same day that Israel was reported to be firming up its battle plans to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme in a series of air strikes over 30 days that would cost the lives of an estimated 500 Israeli citizens.

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KAHLILI: Iran admits giving WMDs to terrorists

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Washington Times:

         By Reza Kahlili

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

  • Illustration Nuclear Israel by Alexander Hunter for The Washington Times
    Illustration Nuclear Israel by Alexander Hunter for The Washington Times

Israel will be obliterated by chemical, microbial and nuclear bombs, Iran is warning, but those weapons of mass destruction will be used first on Tel Aviv by Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad at the start of a decades-old Muslim dream of destroying the Jewish state.

An alarming commentary last week in Mashregh, the media outlet of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, confirmed that the Islamic regime not only has WMDs but has armed its terrorist proxies with them. Mashregh speaks for the regime.

It warned Israel that if the fighting in Syria does not stop, an all-out attack on the Jewish state will be launched and that at zero hour, Tel Aviv will be the first city to be destroyed.

“The threat to retaliate against Israel with weapons of mass destruction is credible,” said Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, who previously served on the House Armed Services Committee and with the CIA. “A highly credible source in 2005 warned that a decision had been made at the highest level of the Iranian government to arm numerous ballistic missiles with chemical and biological warheads to retaliate against Israel if Iran’s vital interests were endangered. The fall of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad would constitute endangerment of Iran’s vital interest.”

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Decision by Netanyahu, Barak to strike Iran is almost final — Israel TV

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Times of Israel:

PM believes Iran’s regime is aiming to ‘destroy the Jewish people,’ does not think Obama will resort to force. Nuclear drive ‘further ahead’ than previously thought. In a year, Israeli action could have only ‘negligible effect’

By August 11, 2012, 12:31 am 71

 

President Barack Obama with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington in March (photo credit: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/Flash90)

President Barack Obama with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington in March (photo credit: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/Flash90)

Channel 2 News, the country’s leading news program, devoted much of its Friday night broadcast to the issue, detailing the pros and cons that, it said, have taken Netanyahu and Barak to the brink of approving an Israeli military attack despite opposition from the Obama administration and from many Israeli security chiefs.

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KAHLILI: Iran’s radical rulers close in on the bomb

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Washington Times:

It’s not too late to stop nuclear ambitions

By Reza Kahlili

 

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Iran continues unabated with its illicit nuclear and missile programs despite a decade of negotiations, being targeted by cyberwarfare and recent harsh sanctions on the Iranian Central Bank and oil industry piled on top of earlier, crippling sanctions.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a recent meeting with the Islamic regime’s officials, called for a “resistance economy,” urging them to work on lowering consumption, help with the private sector and reduce Iran’s dependence on oil.

Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that the enemy has been plotting to pressure Iran. “They clearly say that with pressure through sanctions, our officials will be forced to re-evaluate their decisions,” the ayatollah said. “However, realization of the facts are that not only will we not rethink our decisions, but we will continue the chosen path with more confidence.”

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US closer to backing Israeli Iran position

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AFP via Al Akhbar:

 Published Thursday, August 9, 2012

The US and Israeli evaluation of Iran’s nuclear program are closer than ever following a secret US intelligence report, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday.

“It seems there really is a report by US intelligence agencies. I don’t know if it’s by the National Intelligence Estimate or a different agency circulating between senior chambers,” he told public radio, asked about the report which Israeli daily Haaretz ran on its front page.

“As far as we know, it brings the American assessment much much closer to ours,” Barak said. “I’d say that compared to previous American appraisals, it makes the Iranian issue a bit more urgent.”

Israel, the sole nuclear power in the Middle East, says Iran’s nuclear program poses an existential threat to it and has repeatedly threatened to carry out bombing raids on Iranian nuclear facilities.

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Iran commander: We have reached a sensitive, fateful stage

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Jerusalem Post:

Commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Mohammad Jafari warns against West’s “soft war” attacks; Ayatollah Jannati says Iran in midst of “economic crisis,” warns country will not succumb to sanctions.

Mohammad JafariPhoto: REUTERS/Stringer Iran

Members of Iran’s top leadership brass on Friday expressed concern about the state of the Islamic Republic as its economy continues to spiral due to international sanctions.

“We have reached a very sensitive and fateful stage,” said General Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), in a message posted on the IRGC website.

Jafari’s comments came amid an uptick in public discussions over a potential Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear program. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that US-led sanctions and diplomatic efforts have had no impact on the Iranian nuclear program, and warned that time is running out to peacefully resolve the issue.

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Top Obama security official ‘briefed Israeli prime minister on plans for U.S. military strike on Iran’ in nuclear row

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Daily Mail:

  • America fears Tehran nuclear programme is aimed at developing bombs

By Craig Mackenzie

PUBLISHED: 07:20 EST, 29 July 2012 | UPDATED: 08:26 EST, 29 July 2012

One of President Barack Obama’s top security officials has briefed Israel’s prime minister on U.S. plans for a possible attack on Iran, it was claimed today.

National security adviser Tom Donilon sought to reassure Israel that Washington is prepared to act militarily should diplomacy and sanctions fail to pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear enrichment programme.

He met premier Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to the country earlier this month, according to the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz.

Threat: Iran's Revolutionary Guards test missiles in the desertThreat: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards test missiles in the desert

An Israeli government spokesman did not respond to a request for comment and a U.S. Embassy spokesman could not be reached.

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Hezbollah may get chemical weapons if Syria collapses, Benjamin Netanyahu says

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 National Post:

  Jul 22, 2012 – 1:57 PM ET

Getty Images

Getty Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opens the weekly cabinet meeting at his office on July 22, 2012 in Jerusalem, Israel.

WASHINGTON — The “great threat” to Israel from the Syrian conflict is that the Damascus government may collapse and its stock of chemical weapons and missiles fall into the hands of the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

Interviewed on the U.S. “Fox News Sunday” television program, Netanyahu said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government would fall, but he was more concerned about a chaotic “regime collapse” that would leave Syria’s weapons sites unguarded than a regime change.

“We certainly don’t want to be exposed to chemical weapons falling into the hands of Hezbollah or some other terror groups. … It’s a great threat,” he said.

“We will have to consider our action. Do I seek action? No. Do I preclude it? No,” Netanyahu said when asked whether Israel would act alone or prefer the United States to take the lead.

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‘Iran could have enough material for bomb within 4 months’

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Israel Hayom:

U.S. officials warn that Iran is close to producing enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon, French report says • It says despite setbacks due to cyberattacks, Iran has accelerated its uranium enrichment program.

Israel Hayom Staff and News Agencies
Iranian technicians at the underground Fordo nuclear plant.

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Photo credit: Reuters

U.S. officials believe Iran will be able to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon within four months, according to a report by French news agency AFP on Wednesday. The report says that despite setbacks from cyberattacks like the Stuxnet attack in 2009, Iran has quickened its pace of uranium enrichment.

High-level nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers in Moscow fizzled on Tuesday, creating an increased opportunity for Israel to use the setback to argue that military force is the only way to stop Tehran from developing atomic arms.

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Islamic world must have nuclear weapons, says Iran

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Daily Caller:

MURUROA ATOLL, FRANCE: Picture taken in 1971, showing a nuclear explosion in Mururoa atoll. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Iran is now telling the world that in order to confront aggression from America and Israel, it must have nuclear weapons.

Official Iranian media outlets published a commentary Sunday titled “The necessity for the Islamic world to have the atomic bomb,” laying the groundwork for Iran’s refusal to accept limits on its illicit nuclear program.

The essay’s author, Alireza Forghani, is the former governor of southern Iran’s Kish Province and an analyst and a strategy specialist in the camp of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“The fatwa from Imam Khomeini [the founder of Iran’s Islamic revolution] said ‘all Islamic countries have Islamic blood,’” Forghani wrote. “Therefore the Islamic world should rise up and shout that a nuclear bomb is our right, and disrupt the dreams of America and Israel.”

“Having a nuclear bomb is our right,” he argued. “Israel would have been destroyed completely 30 years ago” but has survived because it has nuclear weapons. (RELATED: Complete coverage of developments in Iran)

 

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