NightBlogger

Guardian.co.uk
Syria’s President Bashar Assad has publicly stepped up his outreach to old ally Russia in recent days, seeking aid to build up Syrian military forces and offering Moscow help in return - in an apparent effort to exploit a new Russian-American rift. U.S. officials have noticed: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Mideast leaders this week that they should worry about Syria’s efforts to gain more sophisticated weapons. Syria’s long-term aim, however, remains unclear, in part because Assad also continues to pursue peace efforts with Israel - a key U.S. and European goal - even as he makes overtures to Russia that are sure to antagonize the West. Syria has a long history of apparently contradictory diplomatic moves as it maneuvers to find options and balance its interests. More

One plan on the table in Moscow to punish Israel, DEBKAfile’s sources report, is the establishment of big Russian military, naval and air bases in Syria and the release of advanced weapons systems withheld until now from Iran (the S-300 air-missile defense system) and Syria (the nuclear-capable 200 km-range Iskandar surface missile). To prepare the ground, Gen. Nagovitsyn charged Israel with arming the Georgian military with mines, explosive charges, special explosives for clearing minefields and “eight kinds of unmanned aerial vehicles.” He added: “In 2007, Israeli experts trained Georgian commandos in Georgia and planned to supply Tbilisi heavy weaponry, electronic weapons, tanks and other arms at a later date, but the deal didn’t work out,” he said without explaining why. More

Stephen Lendman
From July 21 - 31, Joint Task Force (mostly US, but also UK, Brazil and Italy) “Operation Brimstone” large scale war games were conducted off the US East coast in the North Atlantic. Its purpose may have been to prepare for a naval blockade of Iran. Initial reports after its completion were that participating ships were deployed to Persian Gulf and Arabian and Red Sea locations to join up with the present American strike force in the region. The major media cover none of this, and US Navy sources deny it. So precise information is unclear. From what’s known, however, redeployment may be planned, and a blockade may ensue. The situation remains tense and worrisome.

Under international and US law, blockades are acts of war and variously defined as:

– surrounding a nation or objective with hostile forces;

– measures to isolate an enemy;

– encirclement and besieging;

– preventing the passage in or out of supplies, military forces or aid in time of or as an act of war; and

– an act of naval warfare to block access to an enemy’s coastline and deny entry to all vessels and aircraft.

In 2009, it’s believed that the International Criminal Court in the Hague will include blockades against coasts and ports as acts of war.

International law expert Professor Francis Boyle is very outspoken on this topic as well as on others of equal importance. He defines blockades under international and US law as: More

The United States is in a huge foreign policy muddle in the Middle East. It wants to dominate and control Iran but requires the support of the world community to accomplish its aims. Diplomacy and sanctions require only a low level of support. On the other hand, to launch a military attack or green-light one by Israel, the United States needs far more backing. This support does not appear to exist, and recent U.S. foreign policy actions are eroding that support even further. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on August 13 that the United States refused to give the go-ahead to Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities in talks between Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Could it be that the Bush administration finally knows when it is licked?

Israeli officials acknowledge that it would be difficult to launch such an attack without approval from Russia, China, and India, something that the United States would have to lobby those nations to achieve. The chances at present are extremely slim that any of the three will acquiesce. U.S. condemnation of Russia’s military action to defend the breakaway region of South Ossetia, combined with the determination of the Bush administration to install missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, virtually guarantee that Russia will not do anything to help the United States foment more violence in its neighborhood.

Beijing owns much of the U.S. debt, continues to be one of Tehran’s largest trade partners, and is not about to be dictated to by Washington. India has defied the United States by entering into a pipeline deal with Iran. Exhaustive three-year nuclear treaty negotiations between the United States and India are utterly stalled. If the treaty is not presented to Congress in September, it will be dead. More

Itamar Rabinovitch
Now that the fighting in Georgia has died down, policy shapers and pundits in the West are free to analyze the maneuvers and results, and draw lessons. The picture that emerges is a dismal one. Vladimir Putin’s Russia exercised brutal force with the object of bringing a rebellious neighbor to its knees. The United States, which encouraged Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to defy Moscow, did not give him any real support. Former Soviet republics and satellites will now think twice before confronting Russia, or will be tempted to seek shelter beneath the cover of the U.S., NATO or the European Union. Oil is now much less likely to reach the Caspian Sea without Russia’s involvement.

The Georgian crisis will have specific repercussions on the Middle East. There is less of a chance that the United States and Russia will be cooperating to stop Iran’s nuclear program. There is a greater chance that Russia will wage a more ambitious and aggressive policy, including selling advanced weapons systems to Iran and Syria. There will also be a host of indirect repercussions. In this context, there is a striking similarity between the Russian move in the Caucasus, and Iran and Syria’s move in Lebanon. More

The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes. - Justice Felix Frankfurter.

The Grin Reaper
Well it’s been a busy week with the 63rd anniversary of Hiroshima, the 44th anniversary of the non existent Gulf of Tonkin incident, and the 7th anniversary of the Presidential briefing Bush got with the infamous memo entitled “Bin Laden Determined To Strike in the US” supported by the warnings from 17 separate foreign intelligence agencies detailing the time, method, and location of the “attack.” Seems the FAA and NORAD and the office workers in WTC 1,2 and 7 didn’t get copied on the memorandum distribution list.

Luckily after 1 trillion dollars spent on holding down 1/5 of Baghdad we have a glorious victory! Osama’s driver has been convicted in a split decision in the military’s kangaroo court of changing flat tires..

Private interests use public monies to built private armies amassing public data to be put in private data bases so the private interests can protect themselves against the public. Your tax dollars will go to support the salaries of your future Blackwater jailers. You gotta problem with that?

Cheney/Bush have the pedal to metal, planning their next move. As the 2008 Diebold Selection nears the famous narrowing of the gap that characterizes American politics (poli = many, tics are blood sucking bugs). So look for McCain to magically win the electoral college through the greatest arm twisting event since Ghenghis Khan ruled Eurasia. Obama will be stuck with “second place”. It’ll be easy, because no citizen knows the electors’ identities. Just another one of the arcane “back doors” that transmogrify the democracy into a republic serving the elite.

Cheney/Bush will then sit back and watch whether the American will swallow the Diebold, uh I the mean the mockracy. They are assuming the Americans will swallow the medicine, as they did in ‘00 and ‘04 compliantly. Things look good for Cheney/Bush as the Americans are currently swallowing the “Lone Gunman” story about the suicided Dr. Ivins. Seems the CIA was fresh out of the “David Kelley facial” treatment, and had to subcontract the work to Dr. Ivins himself. He is just the latest entrant in the US’s vaunted Lone Gunman Hall of Shame.

But Cheney/Bush can’t be sure that the Americans will drink the Kool Aid. So they have a plan to meet such non-compliance with an “Iranian” false flag attack either on Israel, or the US. According to Sy Hersh, Cheney has argued for dropping some navy seals in Republican Guard outfits in a rubber ducky, and then start firing on them.

Opposition to the coming Iranian strikes (underway since we brought “freedom” to Iraq) will allow the grand opening ceremonies of Fatherland Security’s newly constructed immigrant detention facilities with the idea of bringing the Gitmo franchise stateside to coincide with the launch of martial law, and the cancellation of the election, should Diebold fail them.

There are maps depicting the new facilities show that Washington’s is in Oroville across from Osooyoos B.C. Where’s your local camp? Once the immigrants, muslims, and other “persons of interest” are rounded up, it’ll be time for Fatherland Security to take a look at the terrorist list, which by now includes thousands of homeless vets, anti-war protesters, church sanctuary volunteers, investigative journalists, and outspoken citizens attempting to use the rights than were taken from them over the last eight years. Are you on the list yet? Can I offer you a free microchip? You’ll look nice in an orange jumpsuit with no rights, honest.

Then Cheney/Bush will then plan the next moves in the GWOT, Venezuela, Nigeria, Indonesia, anywhere there are resources that they have interests in. You just need to feel safer now that Dr. Ivin’s suicide has closed the case on another aspect of 911.

So on the seventh anniversary of the Neocon’s assault on the citizens of Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Palestine. We are all familiar with the playbook that they are trying to repackage for Iran. The question is what the Americans do?

After losing their rights guaranteed by the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Magna Carta, FISA, and Geneva Conventions they have chosen to so far to shop, turn on American Idol, and watch who is dancing with the stars brought to them by Uncle Sam and his handmaiden the media. Can’t let all that “programming” to go to waste. The question is, will they turn off the electronic sewer pipe, stand up, and demand their rights and their country back. Hope springs eternal.

Happy Anniversary,

The Grin Reaper

George Galloway talks to a caller about an impending attack on Iran.

Iraqi Shiite assassination teams are being trained in at least four locations in Iran by Tehran’s elite Quds force and Lebanese Hezbollah and are planning to return to Iraq in the next few months to kill specific Iraqi officials as well as U.S. and Iraqi troops, according to intelligence gleaned from captured militia fighters and other sources in Iraq. More

Source: Globalresearch
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) has warned millions of radio listeners that the United States is heading into an illegal attack on Iran, stating his amazement at members of Congress who have openly voiced support for a criminal nuclear strike. “If we do (attack) it is going to be a disaster,” the congressman told the Alex Jones radio show. “I was astounded to see on one of the networks the other day that the debate was not are we going to attack, but are we going to attack before or after the election?” Paul continued. Paul recently voiced concern over House Congressional Resolution 362 which he has dubbed a “virtual Iran war resolution.” “If that comes up it is demanding that the president [put in place] an absolute blockade of the entire country of Iran, and punish any country or any business group around the world if they trade with Iran,” Paul told listeners. Experts have predicted gas will rise to $6 per gallon if the resolution passes. Paul believes that may happen anyway, just by anticipation. “The frightening thing is they say they are taking no options off the table, even nuclear first strike,” Paul said. Paul believes from talking with his contacts in and around Congress that a strike on Iran has already been green-lighted.

ABC News
Obama told the caucus, according to an attendee, “Nobody said this to me directly but I get the feeling from my talks that if the sanctions don’t work Israel is going to strike Iran.” Others in the room recall this as well. The notion that Israel is preparing for such an action against Iran’s myriad nuclear facilities is not new, with conjecture heating up in May after an Israeli military exercise featuring 150 aircraft flying almost a thousand miles over the Mediterranean Sea in what was seen as a dress rehearsal for an air strike. More

Thinkprogress
CBS News reports, “Israel is building up its strike capabilities amid growing anxiety over Iran’s nuclear ambitions and appears confident that a military attack would cripple Tehran’s atomic program, even if it can’t destroy it.” The country has also “purchased 90 F-16I fighter planes that can carry enough fuel to reach Iran, and will receive 11 more by the end of next year.” According to the Times of London, President Bush has given an “‘amber light‘ to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties.”

Thinkprogress.org
Speaking at the Campus Progress journalism conference earlier this month, Seymour Hersh — a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist for The New Yorker — revealed that Bush administration officials held a meeting recently in the Vice President’s office to discuss ways to provoke a war with Iran. In Hersh’s most recent article, he reports that this meeting occurred in the wake of the overblown incident in the Strait of Hormuz, when a U.S. carrier almost shot at a few small Iranian speedboats. The “meeting took place in the Vice-President’s office. ‘The subject was how to create a casus belli between Tehran and Washington,’” according to one of Hersh’s sources. More

Iran has warned it is ready to shut down the shipping lanes of the Gulf as it boasted of a new missile system designed to “prolong” war at sea. The fusillade of belligerence fired at “major powers” came as Tehran was poised to reject demands to curtail its nuclear programme. The country’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, spoke to Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign affairs supremo, to tender a belated response to an offer of compensation in return for a suspension of its uranium production.

Officials in Tehran said the country was not yet ready to accept the core requirement that its suspect research programme is abandoned. In advance of the discussion Iran announced it had developed a “unique” new surface-to-ship missile with a range of 200 miles. General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) hinted the missile would boost Iran’s defensive capabilities in the Gulf, the key oil artery where it regularly contests the dominance of the US Navy. He warned that Iran was ready to force the closure of the Gulf, a development that would push oil prices to levels. He said: “The possibility of closing the Strait of Hormuz easily and on an unlimited basis.” More

Israel has entered the last phase of its war preparations against Iran. Recent resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a proponent of negotiations and concessions, and several other factors speak well for the imminent war. Israel’s recent creation of the US missile defense shield can be another addition on the list. The US administration also tries to use the Israeli forces to play a dirty trick on Russia. The resignation of the Israeli prime minister has become another reason to raise the subject of imminent war between Israel and Iran. Many Israeli politicians dislike Ehud Olmert’s views on the need to conduct negotiations with neighboring states, as well as his intention to discuss an opportunity to return Golan Heights to Syria.

There are other aspects which testify to a possible war in the nearest future. The USA is going to ship a radar station to Israel to track down missile launches. Furthermore, the United States intends to use the radar together with Israel . The USA will provide Israel with early missile launch prevention information, as well as technical and financial aid for the creation of the missile defense system. According to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the radar station will be deployed in Israel before the new US administration officially takes the White House in January 2009. The US administration believes that the radar station is required to defend Israel against Iranian missiles. It does not go about the deployment of interceptor missiles yet. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the distance to Iran is almost the same as the distance to Russia, which vehemently opposes the deployment of US missile system in Europe. More

TFEX 08-4 “Operation Brimstone” Flexes Allied Force Training

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS080715-21
Release Date: 7/15/2008 5:17:00 PM

From Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet Public Affairs

NORFOLK (NNS) — More than 15,000 service members from four countries will participate in Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) 08-4 “Operation Brimstone”, July 21-31 in North Carolina and off the eastern U.S. coast from Virginia to Florida.

JTFEX 08-4 serves as a ready-for-deployment certification event for the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TR CSG) and the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group (IWO ESG). The exercise will also serve as a Joint Task Force Capable Headquarters sustainment event. In addition, JTFEX 08-4 will offer preliminary accreditation for 2nd Fleet’s Maritime Headquarters with Maritime Operations Center (MHQ with MOC)). MHQ with MOC is a new approach to command and control for fleet commanders.

“This exercise is a tremendous opportunity to train; not only as the Navy and Marine Corps team, but with our joint and coalition partners as well,” said Commander, 2nd Fleet Vice Adm. Marty Chanik.

“JTFEX 08-4 will flex our warfighting capabilities from the operational level through expeditionary strike force and strike group operations with several of our coalition partners – France, Brazil and the United Kingdom.”

The exercise also marks the first time that forces from Navy Expeditionary Combat Command are participating in an East-Coast JTFEX. NECC forces operating in the littorals and riverine environment are supporting integrated operations.

“Navy Expeditionary Combat Command provides a self-contained adaptive force package with a command element tailored to support the full spectrum of operations from major combat operations to unconventional and irregular warfare,” said NECC commander Rear Adm. Mike Tillotson.

U.S. and coalition naval assets underway for the exercise include the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) with associated units including the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (RO 7), the Brazilian Navy frigate Greenhalgh (F-46) and the French submarine FS Amethyste (S 605). BNS Greenhalgh is the first Brazilian Navy ship to operate integrated in a U.S. strike group.

French Rafale fighter aircraft assigned to the 12th Squadron, and Hawkeye early warning aircraft assigned to the 4th Squadron will conduct carrier qualifications and cyclic flight operations with U.S. Carrier Air Wing 8 during Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group’s Joint Task Force Exercise. This marks the first integrated U.S. and French carrier qualifications and cyclic flight operations aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier. More

Iran must decide between confrontation and co-operation in the dispute over its nuclear plans, the US has warned. At talks in Geneva, envoys from the US, EU and UN asked Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment in return for a pledge not to introduce new sanctions. Iran gave no guarantees it would halt its activities, so the diplomats gave Tehran two weeks to provide an answer. The meeting was the first time US and Iranian officials have held face-to-face talks on the nuclear issue. Senior US official William Burns was present at the Geneva talks - although he made no public comment. Instead, state department spokesman Sean McCormack issued a strongly-worded statement in Washington. More

GENEVA (Reuters) - Iranian officials ruled out any freeze in uranium enrichment on Saturday at the start of talks over Tehran’s nuclear program attended for the first time by a senior U.S. diplomat. “Any kind of suspension or freeze is out of the question,” an Iranian official told Reuters, rejecting the main condition set by the United States and other major powers for formal negotiations to end the long-running dispute. More

The Telegraph
In a Wall Street Journal editorial, the leading voice of Washington’s hawks warned that time is running out for efforts to stop the Islamic Republic’s covert nuclear research programme. “We will be blamed for the strike anyway, and certainly feel whatever negative consequences result, so there is compelling logic to make it as successful as possible,” Mr Bolton writes. “At a minimum, we should place no obstacles in Israel’s path, and facilitate its efforts where we can.” Mr Bolton said that further rounds of United Nations sanctions were no longer a realistic deterrent. “We have almost certainly lost the race between giving ’strong incentives’ for Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and its scientific and technological efforts to do just that. Swift, sweeping, effectively enforced sanctions might have made a difference five years ago. No longer.” More

27 October 2004
The Iranians are about to commit an “offense” far greater than Saddam Hussein’s conversion to the euro of Iraq’s oil exports in the fall of 2000. Numerous articles have revealed Pentagon planning for operations against Iran as early as 2005. While the publicly stated reasons will be over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, there are unspoken macroeconomic drivers explaining the Real Reasons regarding the 2nd stage of petrodollar warfare - Iran’s upcoming euro-based oil Bourse.

In 2005-2006, The Tehran government has a developed a plan to begin competing with New York’s NYMEX and London’s IPE with respect to international oil trades - using a euro-denominated international oil-trading mechanism. This means that without some form of US intervention, the euro is going to establish a firm foothold in the international oil trade. Given U.S. debt levels and the stated neoconservative project for U.S. global domination, Tehran’s objective constitutes an obvious encroachment on U.S. dollar supremacy in the international oil market.

“Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes…known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. . . No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” - James Madison, Political Observations, 1795

More

TEHRAN - Iran’s president said that even before its enemies “get their hands on the trigger” the country’s military would “cut” them off, media said Sunday, in an escalating war of words that has stoked Middle East tension. The comments by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came a day after a senior Iranian official said Iran would strike Israel and U.S. bases in the region if the Islamic Republic was attacked over its disputed nuclear program. U.S. leaders have not ruled out military options if diplomacy fails to assuage fears about Iran’s nuclear activities, which Tehran says is only to produce electricity. More

According to journalist Jason Leopold, sources at former Cheney company Halliburton allege that, as recently as January of 2005, Halliburton sold key components for a nuclear reactor to an Iranian oil development company. Leopold says his Halliburton sources have intimate knowledge of the business dealings of both Halliburton and Oriental Oil Kish, one of Iran’s largest private oil companies.

Additionally, throughout 2004 and 2005, Halliburton worked closely with Cyrus Nasseri, the vice chairman of the board of directors of Iran-based Oriental Oil Kish, to develop oil projects in Iran. Nasseri is also a key member of Iran’s nuclear development team. Nasseri was interrogated by Iranian authorities in late July 2005 for allegedly providing Halliburton with Iran’s nuclear secrets. Iranian government officials charged Nasseri with accepting as much as $1 million in bribes from Halliburton for this information.

In an attempt to curtail Halliburton and other U.S. companies from engaging in business dealings with rogue nations such as Libya, Iran, and Syria, an amendment was approved in the Senate on July 26, 2005. The amendment, sponsored by Senator Susan Collins R-Maine, would penalize companies that continue to skirt U.S. law by setting up offshore subsidiaries as a way to legally conduct and avoid U.S. sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). More

Times Online
President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official. Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an “amber light” to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times.

“Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,” the official said. But the Israelis have also been told that they can expect no help from American forces and will not be able to use US military bases in Iraq for logistical support. Nor is it certain that Bush’s amber light would ever turn to green without irrefutable evidence of lethal Iranian hostility. Tehran’s test launches of medium-range ballistic missiles last week were seen in Washington as provocative and poorly judged, but both the Pentagon and the CIA concluded that they did not represent an immediate threat of attack against Israeli or US targets. More

Christopher King
As provocation, I would have thought that a much better example was the approval recently given by the US Congress for a USD 400 million package for clandestine operations against Iran. More an act of war, really. Clandestine operations apparently means supporting terrorist groups, subversion, sabotage, kidnapping and assassination within Iranian territory. What would be the USA’s reaction if, say, China were to openly allocate similar funds and undertake similar activities against the USA? After years of American intervention in its affairs, sponsored war against it together with current lies and threats, Iran’s missile test seems a very sensible and modest defensive measure.

This is reminiscent of the USA’s attitude to water-boarding. It’s merely “enhanced interrogation” when the USA does it but if anyone else waterboards a US citizen, President Bush will seek the death penalty. Surely, this says something about the president’s mentality and American ethics.

Still considering provocation, however, wasn’t Israel’s recent rehearsal of an attack on Iran provocative? No? Or the USA’s agreement with the Czech Republic for the installation of a missile system component on Russia’s border? Condoleeza Rice says that these missiles won’t be aimed at Russia and I think that she’s right. The purpose of this missile system is puzzling because Condoleeza’s statement that it protects the US and European Union from Iran and other rogue states is obviously nonsense. Militarily, it’s useless. However, if it can irritate Russia into retaliatory missile deployment and cold-war rhetoric, this gives multiple perceived benefits for the USA:

► Ability to blame Russia for more military spending, giving profits for firms such as Haliburton
► Ability to sour relations between the EU and Russia and disrupt further rapproachment
► Distract from US violence in the Middle East by giving Europeans problems nearer home to worry about
Read More

Israel’s defense minister has hinted at readiness to attack Iran, saying his country “proved in the past that it won’t hesitate to act when its vital security interests are at stake.” But Ehud Barak added “the reactions of (Israel’s) enemies need to be taken into consideration as well.” Tensions with Iran intensified after Tehran launched war games and long-range missile tests this week, warning Tel Aviv would be “set on fire” if Israel attacks Iran over its nuclear program. More

BBC News
The US has said it will not hesitate to defend its interests and those of its allies as Iran continues missile tests. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US had increased its security in the region and Iran should not be “confused” about US capabilities. Iran has tested missiles, including one that could reach Israel, over the past two days. Meanwhile French energy giant Total has said it will not invest in Iran because it is too politically risky. Israel has responded to the missile tests by putting on display one of its aircraft that it says can spy on Iran. Rice said: “We take very strongly our obligation to defend our allies and we intend to do that. “In the Gulf area, the United States has enhanced its security capacity, its security presence and we are working closely with all our allies… to make [sure] they are capable of defending themselves.” More

Source: Press TV
Iran has test fired additional long and medium range missiles over the Persian Gulf waters on the third day of military maneuvers. The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) successfully test fired various classes of missiles Thursday including shore to sea, surface to surface and sea to air rockets in what is now the third day of a large-scale military maneuver dubbed Great Prophet III. IRGC forces also test fired the ‘Hoot Torpedo’, which only Iran and another country are said to be capable of building. On Wednesday, the IRGC fired nine long and medium range missiles including the Shahab 1, 2, 3, Fateh and Zelzal rockets. The maneuvers have also included IRGC scuba divers and marines who conducted practice assaults with speed boats on hypothetical enemy targets.
Also See: Iran test fires 9 long-range missiles

OPEC would not be able to replace Iran’s oil production if supplies were halted in case of a war with Israel or the US, the oil cartel’s chief said today. “I hope there will be no attack on Iran. I hope that problem will be solved peacefully,” the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ secretary general Abdalla Salem El-Badri told a news conference in Vienna. “But if something were to happen it is impossible to replace the production of Iran.” Iran is OPEC’s second-largest oil producer with an output of about four million barrels per day. More

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has test fired nine long- and medium-range missiles, including one which it has previously said could reach Israel and U.S. bases in the region, state media reported on Wednesday. The tests occurred at a time of increased tension between Iran and Israel over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, which the West fears is aimed at making bombs. Iran says its nuclear program is only for power generation. State Press TV said the missiles tested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards included a “new” Shahab 3 missile, which officials have said could reach targets 1,250 miles away. More

IRAN has warned it will “set fire” to Israel and US forces in response to any attack over its nuclear drive, as the world’s leading industrial powers told Tehran to freeze uranium enrichment. Leaders of the Group of Eight nations at a summit in Japan today urged Iran to fully comply with UN Security Council resolutions “in particular to suspend all enrichment-related activities”. They also urged Tehran to respond positively to a new package by six major powers aimed at bringing an end to the five-year-old nuclear standoff which has led to a string of sanctions against Iran. The United States and its top regional ally Israel have never ruled out military action against Iran over its nuclear drive, which the West fears could be aimed at building an atomic bomb. There has been concern a strike could be imminent after it emerged Israel had carried out manoeuvres in Greece that were effectively practice runs for a potential strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. More

Source: AFP News
Iran would launch attacks against Israel and the US navy in the Gulf as its first response against any American attack over its nuclear programme, an aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday, according to the Fars news agency.

Source: BBC
The US has imposed new financial sanctions on Iranian individuals and companies suspected of involvement in the country’s nuclear programme. A senior defence ministry scientist and several companies thought to be linked to Iran’s arms industry were among those placed on the restricted list. The move will ban US companies from trading with those on the list, who will also have US assets frozen. It came as G8 leaders called for Iran to halt uranium enrichment work. Western leaders have been attempting to convince Tehran to stop enriching uranium, which it has continued despite the imposition of sanctions by the UN and the European Union. Iran denies Western assertions that it is developing nuclear weapons and insists its nuclear programme is intended for peaceful purposes. Correspondents say the latest sanctions move is intended to increase the pressure on Tehran to comply with the calls to end enrichment.

The Iranian sentenced to death after being convicted of spying for Israel tells of his dealings with the Mossad in an interview with Iranian television on Monday. The spy, Ali Ashtari, detailed the demands made of him by his Mossad handlers, who he said took advantage of his occupation as a computer broker whose clientele included top Iranian military officials. More

DUBAI, July 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy said on Monday it was carrying out an exercise in the Gulf, days after vowing that Iran will not be allowed to block the waterway which carries crude from the world’s largest oil-exporting region. “The aim of Exercise Stake Net is to practise the tactics and procedures of protecting maritime infrastructure such as gas and oil installations,” Commodore Peter Hudson said in a U.S. Fifth Fleet statement. The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in remarks published late last month that Tehran would impose controls on shipping in the Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormuz if it was attacked. Speculation about a possible attack on Iran because of its nuclear programme has risen since a report last month said Israel had practised such a strike. More

Iran’s parliament is set to debate a draft bill which could see the death penalty used for those deemed to promote corruption, prostitution and apostasy on the Internet, reports said on Wednesday. Internet is widely used in Iran despite restrictions on access and the blocking of thousands of websites with a sexual content or deemed as insulting religious sanctities and promoting political dissent. Blogging is also very popular among cyber-savvy young Iranians, some openly discussing their private lives or criticising the system. Human rights groups have accused Iran of making excessive use of the death penalty but Teheran insists it is an effective deterrent that is carried out only after an exhaustive judicial process. More

Gore Vidal: …Congress has never been more cowardly, nor more corrupt. All Bush has do is to make sure certain amounts of money go in the direction of certain important congressmen and that’s end of any serious investigation. After all, one of the bravest members of Congress is Denis Kucinich who brought the article of impeachment in to the well of the House of Representatives.

On MSNBC today, New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh said that Vice President Dick Cheney privately said “we can’t let Israel go” attack Iran because the U.S. would be blamed. Thus, Cheney prefers a U.S. led strike.

A former CIA agent has alleged that the US intelligence agency ignored evidence Iran had suspended work on a nuclear bomb, a US newspaper has said. The man’s lawyer told the Washington Post that the ex-agent was told on “five occasions” to either falsify his reporting on weapons of mass destruction in the Near East, or “not to file his reports at all”. Details of the claims emerged after the ex-agent filed a motion in a US federal court last week asking the US government to declassify legal documents which he said described a deliberate suppression of findings on Iran’s nuclear programmes that ran against the CIA’s view. More

Bernard Weiner
The question is not whether Iran will be attacked, but by whom and whether the bombing will commence within the next several months or shortly after the November election. The U.S. for many months has made bellicose noises about thwarting Iran’s nuclear ambitions with force — complete with a virtual repeat of its pre-war propaganda campaign prior to “shock&awe” against Iraq. Israel is reported to have just carried out a military exercise practicing for an attack on Iran. Iran is letting it be known how destructive and unconventional its retaliation would be if it is bombed. What is going on?

Though one can decry it, at least one can understand why Israel, just a short missile flight from Iran, might want to take “pre-emptive” action against that country were it to possess nuclear-weapons capabilities. But what’s driving the neocons in the White House to push so insistently for an attack on Iran? It seems clear that Cheney and Bush want Iran’s nascent civilian nuclear program taken out now before it could become operational in a military sense five or ten years down the road. If this is true, why would the Administration have wanted to attack Iraq? More

ABC News—Senior Pentagon officials are concerned that Israel could carry out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities before the end of the year, an action that would have enormous security and economic repercussions for the United States and the rest of the world. A senior defense official told ABC News there is an “increasing likelihood” that Israel will carry out such an attack, a move that likely would prompt Iranian retaliation against, not just Israel, but against the United States as well. The official identified two “red lines” that could trigger an Israeli offensive. The first is tied to when Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility produces enough highly enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon. According to the latest U.S. and Israeli intelligence assessments, that is likely to happen sometime in 2009, and could happen by the end of this year. More