Netanyahu: squeeze Iran with sanctions

As usual, he talks sense.

"We cannot wait for them [Iran] to obtain nuclear weapons; we must prevent it now. This has to be the focus of all responsible countries," opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday.

"The military option must stay on the table, but countries like the US and some in Europe must squeeze Iran with sanctions, voluntary sanctions - not through the UN," Netanyahu said at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism's Seventh Annual Conference at IDC Herzliya.

"The UN is paralyzed from launching effective sanctions. They can do a lot to bring economic pressure on the Iranian regime," he added.

Netanyahu suggested to "focus on the 20 to 30 European countries that prop up the Iranian oil and gas sector."

UN expanded talks with Iran

Remember that old song 'You talk too much'?...This story reminds me of it.

Senior UN officials are holding a third round of talks in Tehran to discuss Iran's nuclear programme.

In July, the two sides announced a two-month arrangement aimed at clearing up outstanding questions and giving the IAEA better access to nuclear sites.

Under threat of further UN sanctions, Iran appears anxious to co-operate and has kept to the timetable it agreed with the UN, a BBC correspondent says.

Russia can't complete Iranian nuclear plant until 2008

Delayed. Wonder if this is a result of US lobbying...

The article is here.

Another Israeli has it right

Here's what Meridor said:

Israel's ambassador to the United States, Sallai Meridor, said Wednesday that Israel and the free world are under attack by Iran, with a combination of fanaticism, terrorism and nuclear capability posing the most serious threat since the 1930s.

"We must prevent this nightmare," Meridor said at the "Night to Honor Israel" event, part of the second annual Christians United for Israel summit in Washington, D.C. "The world must act and act now."

Meridor said Israel would take any steps necessary to ensure that Iran does not develop a nuclear bomb. "All options are on the table, and no matter what, they will not be able to get a nuclear weapon," he said.

50 German firms smuggled nuclear material to Iran

Always suspected it, and now it's coming out...NCRI reports. How does this not make bigger news? Oh yeah, I forgot who controls the Western media for a second...

German prosecutors on Thursday said they are investigating some 50 companies suspected of smuggling technology to Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant via Russia.

Berlin-based company Vero is suspected of having smuggled material to build the nuclear reactor through Poland to Moscow, from where it was taken to Iran, said Christoph Lange from the prosecutor's office in Potsdam near Berlin.

He said Vero appeared to have been buying up nuclear technology in Germany and elsewhere in Europe since 2000 at the orders of Russia, which is constructing Iran's first nuclear power plant in the town of Bushehr.

Lange said prosecutors have so far only traced material worth about five million euros (6.8 million dollars), but that this appeared to be the tip of the iceberg. Up to 150 million euros' worth of material may have left Germany for Iran, he estimates.

Avigdor Lieberman has it right

He has said the UN deal with Iran over its nukes is a ruse. And he's right.

Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman warned Saturday that Iran's announcement it would allow UN officials to inspect its nuclear reactors is a diversionary tactic.

The rightwing Yisrael Beiteinu party head said the Islamic Republic's permission for International Atomic Energy Agency members to return to the reactors after they had been banished is an attempt by Tehran to "buy time."

"The world must not fall into this trap and should continue to push for further sanctions against Iran," Lieberman said.

Commercial satellite photos reveal tunneling near Iran nuke site

Gee, what a surprise - tunnels like these have always existed to hide the mullahs' real nukes. The story can be found here, with excerpts below.

A U.S. research group reported that Iran was constructing a tunnel inside a mountain near a uranium enrichment facility. The group said the tunnel could be designed to conceal nuclear activity or anti-aircraft batteries.

"The construction activity is taking place in the closest mountainous area to the Natanz site, strongly suggesting that the site is affiliated with Natanz," the Institute for Science and International Security said.

UN hails Iran nuclear agreement

Wohoo! Now the UN can go back in and look at some more areas and be denied from looking in others and then we can go through this whole charade again! What a joke.

Al-BBC reports.

UN delegation in Tehran for talks

Talk, talk, talk. The UN and the Iranian regime's stooges are both very good at that. Will the UN actually do anything? Well that would be about as likely as the current Iranian regime ceasing to execute its own citizens without fair trial. HabibiC (BBC) is on the case.

US House Foreign Affairs Panel passes Iran Sanctions Bill

Good news. CNN Money has the headline.

A key House panel Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to pass a wide-ranging bill that would toughen U.S. sanctions on Iran and on companies that invest in the country.

The Foreign Affairs Committee voted 37-1 to pass the Iran Counter- Proliferation Act of 2007. The bill is part of a concerted congressional effort to tighten an economic stranglehold on Iran to deter it from a nuclear fuel enrichment program which the U.S. and other countries believe is for nuclear weapons.

IAEA chief is mad

He says it would be 'madness' to attack Iran. I think it's more mad to support the mullahs, but, hey, that's what he's been doing for a long time now. You can read the full article on al-Beeb; excerpts below. He (and his bribers) must be getting worried about something, no?

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has warned that resorting to military action against Iran over its nuclear programme would be "an act of madness".

Mohammed ElBaradei also said Iran was close to reaching large-scale levels of uranium enrichment without providing assurances its programme was peaceful.

Enriched uranium can be used to fuel nuclear reactors but can also be made into nuclear weapons material.

The West has accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.
Mr ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) , said the stalemate between Iran and the UN Security Council was leading to confrontation.

He said any use of force to shut down Iran's nuclear programme "would be catastrophic, it would be an act of madness, and it would not solve the issue".

UK company accused of selling weapons-grade uranium to Iran and Sudan

Big news. The company has now been closed down.

The most hilarious thing about this article is that MI6 is carrying out the investigation. Like they didn't know about it already and weren't somehow involved in the brokering of the deal in the first place (?!).

Details can be found on al-Guardian's website and below.

British company has been closed down after being caught in an apparent attempt to sell black-market weapons-grade uranium to Iran and Sudan, The Observer can reveal.

Anti-terrorist officers and MI6 are now investigating a wider British-based plot allegedly to supply Iran with material for use in a nuclear weapons programme. One person has already been charged with attempting to proliferate 'weapons of mass destruction'.

During the 20-month investigation, which also involved MI5 and Customs and Excise, a group of Britons was tracked as they obtained weapons-grade uranium from the black market in Russia. Investigators believe it was intended for export to Sudan and on to Iran.

A number of Britons, who are understood to have links with Islamic terrorists abroad, remain under surveillance. Investigators believe they have uncovered the first proof that al-Qaeda supporters have been actively engaged in developing an atomic capability. The British company, whose identity is known to The Observer but cannot be disclosed for legal reasons, has been wound up.

A Customs and Excise spokesman said: 'We continue to investigate allegations related to the supply of components for nuclear programmes including related activities of British nationals.'

Richard Perle: Democratic transformation is possible in Iran

He said so during a recent interview with Radio Free Europe:

RFE/RL: What should be done about Iran now?

Perle: Well, I'm saddened by the fact that we don't have a political strategy for Iran. It's an unpopular regime -- and deservedly unpopular, because it's an oppressive regime. Most Iranians would rather be governed differently, and we're doing, as far as I can tell, almost nothing to help those Iranians.

RFE/RL: What should be done? What political strategy should be adopted?

Perle: Well, one thing we should be doing is communicating a great deal more with the Iranians and facilitating the communication among Iranians. You and I are broadcasting right now. We should be doing a lot more of that into Iran. We should be working with those Iranians who want to change things inside Iran in a multiplicity of ways. We did it during the Cold War with Solidarity in Poland. We did it in Spain and Portugal when they had dictatorships. We had political strategies for encouraging the evolution of free institutions. And we should be doing that in Iran, as well.

RFE/RL: But in the United States, Iran seems to be threat No. 1 of the day, and you're saying Washington doesn't have a political strategy for the country?

Perle: I'm afraid we have no political strategy at all. And one result of that is that we will find ourselves, because of a failure to have a political strategy, with only a military option.

RFE/RL: Do you think that's a reasonable option right now with Iran -- the military option -- if things reach a critical mass with their uranium enrichment?

Perle: It's important to define what is meant by a military option in the Iranian context. It is not an invasion of Iran. It is nothing like what has happened in Iraq. But no one can exclude the possibility that precision air strikes against critical infrastructure supporting a nuclear-weapons program could be undertaken as a last resort. And I believe that such strikes, if it came to that, would be effective in significantly impairing the Iranian nuclear program. I'm not advocating it. And as far as I know, no one else is advocating it. But in the real world, if you're the president of the United States, and you're informed that the last moment has arrived at which it is possible to stop Iranian nuclear weapons, but it will require precision strikes against a dozen targets, can you rule that out?

Republican candidates agree: Iran must not have nukes

Al-Reuters is on the case.

Republican candidates for U.S. president agreed on Tuesday that Iran must not develop nuclear weapons, even if a tactical nuclear strike is needed to stop Tehran, and accused Democrats of being soft on the issue.

The front-runners for the Republican Party nomination in the November 2008 election also squabbled among themselves over a broad immigration overhaul being debated by the U.S. Congress.

But in a debate in New Hampshire where the country's first primary will be held next year, they were largely in agreement on an issue that President George W. Bush considers vital -- preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

Ahmadin-jihad and his bid to wipe out Israel

Two takes on the same thing:

1. Countdown to Israel's destruction has begun, says Ahmadinejad (Ynet)
   Iranian president says Israel's disappearance imminent, 'Zionist regime' will have to bow down to Palestinians. Iranian FM meets with Hamas, Jihad, leader in Damascus, urging them to continue struggle against Jewish state...
2. Ahmadinejad: Israel Will Be Destroyed (al-AP)
   ..."God willing, in the near future we will witness the destruction of the corrupt occupier regime,'' Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying during a speech to foreign guests mostly from African, Arab and neighboring countries who attended ceremonies marking the 18th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who is known as the father of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

UN nuke inspection chief: 'My job is to prevent war with Iran'

"Don't worry, my darling, I won't let them hurt you..."

Good spot & post from Hot Air:

Really? I thought his job was to prevent Iran from getting the bomb. From the IAEA website:

The IAEA is the world’s nuclear inspectorate, with more than four decades of verification experience. Inspectors work to verify that safeguarded nuclear material and activities are not used for military purposes. The Agency is additionally responsible for the nuclear file in Iraq as mandated by the UN Security Council.

He’s a reporter, in other words. Yet like so many other reporters, it seems his job description has somehow magically migrated from collecting facts to “making a difference.” How else to explain this bit from his interview today with BBC radio:

Dr ElBaradei said a nuclear-armed Iran would be terrible but the jury was still out as to whether the country even wanted nuclear weapons.

But he said you could not “bomb knowledge”, and he was scathing towards those who still favoured air strikes after the experience of intervention in Iraq.

“I wake every morning and see 100 Iraqis innocent civilians are dying,” he said. “I have no brief other than to make sure we don’t go into another war or that we go crazy into killing each other. You do not want to give additional argument to new crazies who say ‘let’s go and bomb Iran.’”

Laying aside the fact that the “crazies” who think we should bomb Iran are a small and dwindling group (even Bibi Netanyahu prefers a divestment strategy), how can ElBaradei’s nuclear inspections be taken seriously now that he’s made his agenda plain? There have been hints in the past that he’s in the tank for Iran, from a dissembling interview with Spiegel last July to his preemptive apologia for Iranian nuclear weapons a year ago. Just this month, in fact, he used the latest UN report of Iranian noncompliance as an argument for why Iran should be allowed to enrich uranium without fear of sanctions, even though their noncompliance was only made possible by the UN dragging its feet. Western powers were outraged at the suggestion; Tehran actually thanked him for his campaigning on its behalf.

But don’t you worry. They’re ready to come clean now.

Exit question one: If the west can’t trust him to tell the truth about Iran’s program, doesn’t that force them to err on the side of caution, assume the worst, and end up making an air attack more likely? Exit question two: Which Nobel Peace Prize winner will ultimately have done more damage to peace, Arafat or this guy?

Rice says Iran must 'change its tactics' on nuclear issue

Full story can be found here.

G8 threatens new actions against Iran

Some excerpts are below; the full thing is here.

..."Should Iran continue not to heed the call of the Security Council, we shall support further appropriate measures as agreed in Resolution 1747," the Group of Eight (G8) foreign ministers said in a statement issued at a meeting in Potsdam, Germany.

The term "appropriate measures" is widely seen as diplomatic code for sanctions. The U.N. has already imposed two rounds of sanctions on Iran for failing to suspend uranium enrichment, a process of purifying uranium for power plants or weapons....

Sickening - US meets with IRI on Memorial Day

This kind of says it all, as most C&F cartoons do in a succinct/unique way.

Will the new frog on the block (Sarkozy) get tougher on Iran?

Not if you judge by history, but hey, you never know...

Iran must decide whether it wants to cooperate with the international community over its nuclear programme or face harsher sanctions, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was quoted as saying.

In his first detailed comments on the West’s standoff with the Islamic republic to be published since he took office, Sarkozy said the concept of a nuclear-armed Iran was ”unacceptable”.

”I for my part think one should not hesitate to toughen the sanctions,” Sarkozy said in an interview published on Wednesday in the German monthly magazine Cicero.

The comments were carried in German and were part of an interview conducted by what Cicero said was its exclusive partner in France, the French magazine Politique Internationale, between the first and second rounds of the presidential election.