Category Archives: WMD’s

Charles Adler and Michael Rubin on Iran

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Everyone is talking about Iran all of a sudden. If only they had been reading Vlad.

For all interested in how the U.N. and especially the IAEA works, try and find the superb movie, U.N. Me. a really good expose on the UNd its role in international terrorism, genocide and funding prostitution rings in the third world. Not to mention how they are responsible for the proliferation of nuclear weapons to dangerous third world states.

Below, a very short excerpt from the film showing the trophy Pakistan gave the UN IAEA for it’s help in its nuclear weapons program

IAEA says foreign expertise has brought Iran to threshold of nuclear capability

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H/T Richard.

Nov 6 2011

Washington Post:

  By , Published: November 6

Intelligence provided to U.N. nuclear officials shows that Iran’s government has mastered the critical steps needed to build a nuclear weapon, receiving assistance from foreign scientists to overcome key technical hurdles, according to Western diplomats and nuclear experts briefed on the findings.

Documents and other records provide new details on the role played by a former Soviet weapons scientist who allegedly tutored Iranians over several years on building high-precision detonators of the kind used to trigger a nuclear chain reaction, the officials and experts said. Crucial technology linked to experts in Pakistan and North Korea also helped propel Iran to the threshold of nuclear capability, they added.

The officials, citing secret intelligence provided over several years to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the records reinforce concerns that Iran continued to conduct weapons-related research after 2003 — when, U.S. intelligence agencies believe, Iranian leaders halted such experiments in response to international and domestic pressures.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog is due to release a report this week laying out its findings on Iran’s efforts to obtain sensitive nuclear technology. Fears that Iran could quickly build an atomic bomb if it chooses to has fueled anti-Iran rhetoric and new threats of military strikes. Some U.S. arms-control groups have cautioned against what they fear could be an overreaction to the report, saying there is still time to persuade Iran to change its behavior. Continue Reading →

Israel debates military strike against Iran

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 From DW-World.DE

Israeli media, politicians and analysts have been discussing for a week the possibility of a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, but the country and its allies are far from a unified stance.

Iran is the greatest threat facing Israel and the rest of the world, Israeli President Shimon Peres said over the weekend as the nation debates whether it should carry out an airstrike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“Iran is the greatest danger, both for Israel and for the entire world,” Peres told a meeting of Druze leaders in a village in northern Israel on Sunday.

Shimon PeresPresident Peres says Iran is the greatest threat for Israel and the worldHis comments came after a weekend of appearances by Israeli leaders on domestic and international media outlets, as they campaigned for increasing international pressure on Tehran to halt its nuclear program.

“The Iranians are determined to turn into a military nuclear power,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak told CNN. “They are ready to deceive, to defy and to deter the rest of the world from doing something about it.”

Barak also told the BBC that “paralyzing” sanctions could force Iran to abandon its nuclear program, but that “no option should be removed from the table.”

Warnings against unilateral action

Peres also said Israel must build an international consensus on Iran, and that Israel could not take unilateral action. Nearly all the former intelligence chiefs in Israel stressed this point, with former Mossad chief Meir Dagan several months ago calling a military strike against Iranian nuclear centers the “stupid” and something that would risk starting a region-wide war.

Amiram Levin, ex-general and deputy intelligence chief from 1998 to 2000, told Israeli radio that Israel “must have an interest in preserving the balance of power in the Middle East.”

Iranian nuclear facilityIran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes“We are a tiny drop in this enormous Arab and Muslim sea, and we have no reason to destroy the balance of power and create an escalation that will last for many years,” he said, adding that Israel was “too small and in the wrong region” to play the role of world police.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe echoed those concerns, telling Europe 1 radio on Sunday that “everything must be done to avoid the irreversible.”

“We will continue on this path [of sanctions] because a military intervention could create a situation that completely destabilizes the region,” he said.

IAEA report

Speculation is growing that Israel may be planning a preemptive strike against Iran. The Haaretz newspaper reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has support from Defense Minister Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liebermann for such a strike.

Barak was in London over the weekend, which Israeli media interpreted as evidence of the government’s desire to build international support for military action against Iran. The daily Guardian newspaper reported that the British military was already preparing for an attack.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Ahmadinejad says Iran will fight back against any attackMeanwhile Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the Egyptian state-owned newspaper Al-Akhbar accused Israel and the United States of building international support for a military strike, and that “the arrogant should know that Iran will not allow them to take any action against it.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to release a report on Iran’s nuclear program later this week. Previous reports have focused on Iran’s uranium enrichment program, which it says are solely for civilian purposes. The latest report is to focus on allegations that Iran plans to use the material to build a nuclear warhead.

Author: Bettina Marx, Tel Aviv / acb
Editor: Nancy Isenson

UK military steps up plans for Iran attack amid fresh nuclear fears

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The Guardian:

British officials consider contingency options to back up a possible US action as fears mount over Tehran’s capability

Two technicians in protective wear, alongside a box containig uranium ore concentrate, in Iran

Iranian nuclear technicians in protective wear. Photograph: Mehdi Ghasemi/AP

Britain’s armed forces are stepping up their contingency planning for potential military action against Iran amid mounting concern over Tehran’s nuclear enrichment programme, the Guardian has learned.

The Ministry of Defence believes the US may decide to fast-forward plans for targeted missile strikes at some key Iranian facilities. British officials say that if Washington presses ahead it will seek, and receive, UK military help for any mission, despite some deep reservations within the coalition government.

In anticipation of a potential attack, British military planners are examining where best to deploy Royal Navy ships and submarines equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles over the coming months as part of what would be an air- and sea-launched campaign.

The Guardian has spoken to a number of Whitehall and defence officials over recent weeks who said Iran was once again becoming the focus of diplomatic concern after the revolution in Libya.

They made clear the US president, Barack Obama, has no wish to embark on a new and provocative military venture before next November’s US election. But they warned the calculus could change because of mounting anxiety over intelligence gathered by western agencies, and the more belligerent posture that Iran appears to have been taking. Continue Reading →

SYRIA’S NEW NUKE COMPLEX EXPOSED……?

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Assad’s NORK ace up the sleeve?

And we all now know that these Arab regimes have learned from the Libyan and Egyptian experience not to trust anything that the West says. Give up your nukes and you’re toast, promise not to use force and you’re toast. KGS

New suspected nuclear complex exposed in Syria

Ynet/Associated Press
Published: 11.01.11, 08:40 / Israel News

UN investigators have identified a previously unknown complex in Syria that bolsters suspicions that the Syrian government worked with A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb, to acquire technology that could be used to make nuclear arms.

The buildings in northwest Syria closely match the design of a uranium enrichment plant provided to Libya when Moammar Gaddafi was trying to build nuclear weapons under Khan’s guidance, officials told The Associated Press.

More here.

WATI: KAHLILI: Iran already has nuclear weapons

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This is a partial article. Please click below for the whole thing.

From the Washington Times:

         By Reza Kahlili

–

The Washington Times

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Illustration: Iran nukes by Alexander Hunter for The Washington TimesIllustration: Iran nukes by Alexander Hunter for The Washington Times

The pressure the United States and the West is bringing to bear on Iran to keep it from acquiring nuclear weapons is all for naught. Not only does the Islamic Republic already have nuclear weapons from the old Soviet Union, but it has enough enriched uranium for more. What’s worse, it has a delivery system.

The West for nearly a decade has worried about Iran’s uranium enhancement, believing Iran is working on a nuclear bomb, though the government maintains its uranium is only for peaceful purposes.

When Iran began its nuclear program in the mid-1980s, I was working as a spy for the CIA within the Revolutionary Guards. The Guards‘ intelligence at that time had learned of Saddam Hussein’s attempt to buy a nuclear bomb for Iraq. Guard commanders concluded that they needed a nuclear bomb because if Saddam were to get his own, he would use it against Iran. At that time, the two countries were at war.

Mohsen Rezaei, then-chief commander of the Guards, received permission from the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to start a covert program to obtain nuclear weapons, so the Guards contacted Pakistani generals and Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist.

Commander Ali Shamkhani traveled to Pakistan, offering billions of dollars for a bomb, but ended up with a blueprint and centrifuges instead. The first centrifuge was transferred to Iran on Khomeini’s personal plane.

In a second but parallel attempt to amass nuclear weapons, Iran turned to the former Soviet republics. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1990, Iran coveted thousands of tactical nuclear warheads that had been dispersed in the former republics.

In the early 1990s, the CIA asked me to find an Iranian scientist who would testify that Iran had the bomb. The CIA had learned that Iranian intelligence agents were visiting nuclear installations throughout the former Soviet Union, with particular interest in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan, which had a significant portion of the Soviet arsenal and is predominately Muslim, was courted by Muslim Iran with offers of hundreds of millions of dollars for the bomb. Reports soon surfaced that three nuclear warheads were missing. This was corroborated by Russian Gen. Victor Samoilov, who handled the disarmament issues for the general staff. He admitted that the three were missing from Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, Paul Muenstermann, then vice president of the German Federal Intelligence Service, said Iran had received two of the three nuclear warheads and medium-range nuclear delivery systems from Kazakhstan. It also was reported that Iran had purchased four 152 mm nuclear shells from the former Soviet Union, which were reportedly stolen and sold by former Red Army officers.

To make matters worse, several years later, Russian officials stated that when comparing documents in transferring nuclear weapons from Ukraine to Russia, there was a discrepancy of 250 nuclear weapons.

Last week, Mathew Nasuti, a former U.S. Air Force captain who was at one point hired by the State Department as an adviser to one of its provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq, said that in March 2008, during a briefing on Iran at the State Department, the department’s Middle East expert told the group that it was “common knowledge” that Iran had acquired tactical nuclear weapons from one or more of the former Soviet republics.

Poland nabs 19 linked to Norway killer

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NEWS 24

2011-10-12 22:4

 Warsaw – A Polish security agency said on Wednesday that 19 people have been arrested across the country on suspicion of producing and possessing explosives.

The Internal Security Agency said the arrests were part of a wider investigation into the illegal production and sale of explosives that was launched after Norway asked Poland to investigate people with links to confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 69 people at a youth camp in July in Norway.

Poland was asked to provide information on a man who was mentioned by Breivik as a possible source of substances that could be used in the production of explosives.

The agency said the arrests were also the result of an analysis of a manifesto that Breivik had posted on the internet.

The agency said in a statement that large quantities of explosives were seized on Tuesday and Wednesday during a search of some 100 homes and houses and dozens of cars and garages across the country. The search was carried out by the agency, police, border guards and firefighters.

A few dozen people, who had obtained chemicals at a warehouse near the western city of Poznan, are suspected of using the substances to make explosives.

 

– AP

SPIEGEL Interview with Former Nuclear Watchdog: The Iranians ‘Tricked and Misled Us’

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I just have one thing to say about this. Why and how did the Iranians manage to trick the world’s nuclear experts and not for instance, me, who is an amateur geopolitics observer and blogger, or any of my readers, my readers girlfriends, my readers girlfriends tennis partners, my readers girlfriends tennis partners Portuguese maids and their children, and their children’s grade 2 finger-painting teachers, or the entirety of the English speaking world? (with respect to Black Adder Goes Forth)

Why is it the only one who was fooled was the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Could it be because the UNAEC actually works to help little crappy totalitarian rogue states get the bomb? Pakistan thinks so and told everyone with an award they gave to the UN which is on display at the UN building in NYC for all to see.

Now on to the article. A little ‘Quel Surprise’ by the UN AEA from:

Der Spiegel

Photo Gallery: 'There Are Quite a Few Things I Am Proud Of'

Photos
DPA

In a SPIEGEL interview, Olli Heinonen, the former deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, offers his first assessment of his 27 years at the global nuclear watchdog. He addresses Iran’s nuclear program, his concerns about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and mistakes made in Fukushima.  

SPIEGEL: Mr. Heinonen, if you consider your time as the United Nations’ atomic “watchdog,” do you look back in anger? Or did you succeed in making the world safer from nuclear bombs

 Heinonen: There are quite a few things I’m proud of. While I was at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), we played a significant role in putting Abdul Qadir Khan— the most dangerous nuclear smuggler of all times — out of action. But when I think about the nuclear activities of certain states, for instance Iran’s nuclear program, I have to say that we allowed ourselves to be placated too often. We should have done more than carrying out our inspections. Yes, with hindsight you could perhaps even say we failed.

 

SPIEGEL: You sound worried. Is Tehran really on a direct path to becoming a nuclear state?

Heinonen: It’s undeniable that Iran’s nuclear program is far more advanced than it was in 2003, when the discovery of the Natanz facility brought it to the IAEA’s attention. At the time, uranium enrichment tests were being carried out in secret on a small scale. But at the end of 2003, the Iranians admitted they were also planning to set up a heavy-water reactor in Arak to generate plutonium. Continue Reading →

Israel atomic chief says Iran designing nuclear weapon

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From The J Post:

By YAAKOV KATZ
09/20/2011 19:06

IAEC chief also warns of nuclear terrorism from Libyan and Syrian fallout as both countries become more unstable.

 

Iran is directly involved in activities related to the design and testing of nuclear weapons, head of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) Dr. Shaul Chorev warned on Tuesday in a speech at the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

Chorev addressed the meeting ahead of a vote expected later this week on a resolution submitted by Arab states to single out Israel for condemnation over its nuclear activities. The IAEC and the Foreign Ministry have spent the past few months recruiting states to vote down the resolution titled “Israeli Nuclear Capabilities.”

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“Not only is Iran continuing its enrichment-related activities in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, but it is also engaged in activities directly related to the design and testing of nuclear weapons,” Chorev said. “Absent an effective response by the international community, Iran may become the first country to acquire nuclear weapons while being a member of the Non Proliferation Treaty.”

Chorev said that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons under the cover of its membership in the NPT and that its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent served no real civilian purpose.

“Against this backdrop, some still prefer to find refuge in carefully worded diplomatic phrases, which are obscuring ominous realities, and obstructing effective concerted response,” he said.

Chorev also called on international community to take steps to prevent the proliferation of nuclear components by Libya and Syria which are both facing growing instability to terrorist organizations.

“With the collapse of Gaddafi’s regime, and the volatile situation in Syria, efforts by the international community should be directed towards urgent counter proliferation issues in these two countries,” he said. “This worrisome situation in Libya and Syria is a fresh reminder of the need to work together to secure nuclear materials and to prevent illicit nuclear trafficking and terrorism.”

Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threat

Iran – WORLD EXCLUSIVE: New A.Q. Khan Documents Suggest Pakistan Spread Nuclear Weapon Technology

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From FOX News:

Documents obtained by Fox News suggest that for decades Pakistan spread nuclear weapon technology around the globe in exchange for cash, political influence and help with its own atomic bomb program. Among those on the other side of the deals: China, Iran, North Korea and Libya.

The charges are contained in two documents written by A.Q. Khan, the Pakistani nuclear arms trafficker long thought to be the mastermind behind an elaborate global supply and procurement network: a thirteen-page confession to government authorities and a dramatic letter hastily written to his wife as an international manhunt tightened around him.