Is Iran Preparing Assassination Squads To Target Israeli And Western Leaders If Their Nuclear Sites Are Attacked?

Arab Paper: Iran To Target Netanyahu If Nuclear Sites Attacked -- Jerusalem Post

The Kuwaiti newspaper al-Sayissa reported Wednesday that Iran has urgently summoned either Syrian Vice President Farouk Sharaa or Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. They are apparently being called to the Iranian capital to receive orders to be carried out in the event of Iranian nuclear sites being targeted in war, Israel Radio reported.

The newspaper quoted a Gulf state diplomat as saying that Nasrallah will travel to Teheran in the coming days in order to receive his marching-orders.

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Hat Tip: Information Dissemination

My Comment: This is serious .... and if true (this) can be perceived as a declaration of war by Iran against Israel and other Western countries .... mind you .... an Israeli attack on Iran can also be perceived as the same thing.

Six Nations Hold Iran Summit ..... Nothing Decided

As Iran Stalls on Nuclear Deal, New Sanctions Weighed -- New York Times

PARIS — Senior officials from Western powers discussed the possibility of new sanctions on Iran on Friday for flouting the United Nations Security Council’s demands and expressed disappointment that Iran had not yet accepted a draft agreement to export most of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel.

The officials met in Brussels to discuss where matters stand with Iran and the possibility of new sanctions should Iran continue to play for time. While a joint statement after the meeting was expressed in diplomatic language, the meeting itself was a sign of exasperation with Iran.

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More News On Iran's Nuclear Program

Dangerous Game: The Next Round of the U.S.-Iran Nuclear Face-Off -- Time Magazine
6 world powers press Iran on nuclear issue -- AP
Six nations hold Iran summit -- UPI
World Powers Consider Next Steps on Iran Nuclear Standoff -- Global Security Newswire
Iran nuclear deal: six world powers mull sanctions -- Christian Science Monitor
U.S. Talks Tougher on Dealing With Iran -- Wall Street Journal
World powers meet over Iran nuclear plan -- CNN
Dismay at Iran nuclear response -- Al Jazeera
Mohamed ElBaradei says Iran nuclear deal still possible -- Christian Science Monitor

Expert Says U.S. Could Use Cold War Strategy To Prevent Iran From Producing Nukes

A technician pictured at the control room of the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facilities in 2007.
Photo AFP

From Global Security Newswire:

WASHINGTON -- The United States might have to adopt a "mini Cold War" strategy to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a leading arms control expert said yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 3).

"You have to think along those lines that if you're going to contain and isolate Iran that it's going to require some of the same thinking that went into containing the Soviet Union," David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, said during a presentation at George Washington University.

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My comment: Iran is no Soviet Union .... not even close.

The Language Of Limbo

From Threats Watch:

Language Indicates US Ceding Leadership And Principle To Russia On Iran.

Are we winning the diplomatic battle with Iran? Are we, for that matter, winning the diplomatic battle with Russia, which, with China, serves as Iran's principal protectorate? To put it necessarily bluntly, there is no indication that we are and every indication that we are indeed losing. Not simply losing, but ceding. A brief but careful examination of language reveals the unfortunate and frustrating truth.

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My Comment: The short answer is no .... we are not winning the diplomatic battle with Iran, and what is worse is that Iran knows this.

Leon Panetta's Mission To Stop Israel Bombing Iranian Nuclear Plant

President Obama and CIA Director Leon Panetta

From Times Online:

America’s spy chief was sent on a secret mission to Israel to warn its leaders not to launch a surprise attack on Iran without notifying the US Administration.

As Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, prepares to visit Washington, it emerged yesterday that Leon Panetta, the head of the CIA, went to Israel two weeks ago. He sought assurances from Mr Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, that their hawkish new Government would not attack Iran without alerting Washington.

Concerns have been rising that Mr Netanyahu could launch a strike on Tehran’s atomic programme, in the same way that Israel hit Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in 1981. Israel has been preparing for such an eventuality. It has carried out long-distance manoeuvres and is due to hold its largest civil defence drills this summer. The country’s leaders reportedly told Mr Panetta that they did not “intend to surprise the US on Iran”.

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My Comment: When the CIA Director is knocking at your door .... the news is never good. I fail to understand why President Obama's administration is making these moves publicly. It only reinforces Iran's determination to proceed with the development of its nuclear program with the understanding that (for now) the U.S. does not have the stomach to launch an attack against their nuclear facilities.

For the Israelis .... I am sure their concern is magnified by a factor of 100. They are probably seeing the same thing that I have noticed after 100 days with this new administration in Washington. They have a great vision on what they want to do .... but they do not have a strategy. For example .... they want to close down Gitmo .... but they do not know where to place these inmates. With reference to Iran .... they want them to stop their nuclear processing .... but they do not know what steps are necessary to get there.

U.S. Plans On Attacking Iran's Nuclear Infrastructure

The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.

US Prepares Military Blitz Against Iran’s N-Sites -- Daily News

* UK paper says prospect of military action could put Washington at odds with Britain
* Pentagon planners believe raids can hold back Iran’s nuclear programme

LAHORE: Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran’s nuclear sites as a “last resort” to block Tehran’s efforts to develop an atomic bomb, the Sunday Telegraph reported on Friday.

The British newspaper reported that US Central Command and Strategic Command planners had been identifying targets, assessing weapon-loads and working on logistics for an operation. “This is more than just the standard military contingency assessment,” the newspapers quoted a senior Pentagon adviser as saying. “This has taken on much greater urgency in recent months.”

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My Comment: Nothing new in the above news story. I believe that plans to attack Iran's nuclear facilities were drawn up a long time ago .... and are being revised constantly. The big question is political. Will the U.S. administration give the green light to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities?

We will find probably find out very soon on what that answer is.

How Wide Spread Is Support In Iran For Its Nuclear Enrichment Program?

From Time Magazine:

When U.S. officials appeal to the Iranian people over the heads of its regime, they like to assume that Tehran's defiance on the nuclear issue reflects only the extremist position of an unrepresentative revolutionary leadership. Plainly, they haven't met Dr. Akbar Etemad, who ran the nuclear program of the Shah's regime, which was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The scientist who first launched Iran's nuclear technology program under a U.S.-backed regime in 1974 today urges the regime that stripped him of his job to reject any international demand that it halt uranium enrichment.

Dr. Etemad told an academic conference in Toronto last weekend, "Iran already stopped nuclear enrichment at the behest of Europe for more than a year [a reference to Tehran's suspension of enrichment between late 2003 and mid-2005, to allow negotiations with the European Union]. And what happened? Nothing."

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My Comment: In the past month I have had a few posts on Iran's nuclear enrichment program. The comments and emails that I received on those posts surprised me. They were 100% supportive of Iran's nuclear drive.

I personally hold a different view, but not for the reasons that supporters of Iran may think. A nuclear program opens a can of worms that will not provide the benefits that supporters may think it may bring. Safeguards against disaster, security issues, environmental concerns, nuclear waste products, and the most important of them all .... painting a big bull-eye on ones country for conducting a program of nuclear enrichment IN SECRET was and is not the way to go. The hope- for benefits from such a program will not cover even a fraction of the costs that sanctions and international isolation will bring.

The best policy for Iran was to be up front in the beginning on what they were doing. That if they were honest in their intent they would then have had nothing to hide. But having their clandestine nuclear program leaked to the international media by Iranian dissidents changed these dynamics completely. I cannot say that I am surprised.

Iran is not a homogeneous country that is 100% Persian. There are numerous ethnic and religious groups in Iran that are not sympathetic with the Regime. To consolidate their power, the government has always appealed to the nationalistic element within their population. Like all insecure governments, it is easy to blame foreigners for ones problems .... that if given the chance the Americans will install a puppet government in their country that will exploit the people and their resources. Decades of this propaganda has made it easy for people to believe that this is true. Nationalism, a lousy history with the west, coupled with a religious faith that is now hostile to foreigners, has made this effort even easier.

Among the Persian population of Iran, I believe support for the nuclear enrichment program probably runs at 90%. This will not change. But as Libya's Qadaffi mentioned a few days ago, Iran is the arrogant one who believes that they are immune to what world public opinion wants and believes in.

I expect comprehensive sanctions will be applied to Iran in the next few months. Banking, trade, and even limiting Iranian oil sales will also be applied .... even if it means higher oil prices. Iraq's oil sales were limited for a decade .... there is no reason to believe that Iran cannot be limited also. The impact on Iran will not be immediate, but over the years they will start to bite.

The Iranians will have their nuclear enrichment program, but the economic and social costs are going to be heavy. But the real cost to the Iranian people will be the realization that if Iranian nuclear material should ever be found in a dirty bomb and/or atomic bomb attack, the retaliation against their country will put Persian culture and society back into the stone age.

If one trusts one government to act responsibly, there should be no worries. The problem is that the Iranian Government has made it very clear on what they want to do in the world. It is this public stand on their part that makes this current situation the crisis that it is.