Tag Archive for Iran Nuclear threat

| June 24, 2012
No comments

Eyeballing Iran? US commissions 361 cruise missiles

US Navy to get 361 new Tomahawk cruise missiles, most of which are meant for Fifth Fleet destroyers based in Bahrain. Meanwhile, pressure to mount military strike against Tehran is permeating presidential campaign

by Yitzhak Benhorin

 

 

WASHINGTON – The United States has commissioned 361 new Tomahawk cruise missiles, and some 238 of them are meant to find their way to the Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain, Ynet learned on Sunday.

Tomahawk launch (Archives) Photo: US Navy website

Tomahawk launch (Archives) - Photo: US Navy website

According to the Business Insider, the deal – inked on the backdrop of repeated deadlocks in the nuclear negotiations between the West and Iran – may suggest that the US is gearing for a possible military campaign against the Islamic Republic. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| June 23, 2012
No comments

U.S. blog Business Insider: U.S., Israel continue preparations for strike on Iran nuclear facilities

The website cites U.S. defense contracts and Israel’s new military preparations, suggesting that ‘all sides are getting ready for whatever may come.’

 

 

Israel and the U.S. are pushing forward with preparations to jointly strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, the U.S. blog Business Insider reported on Saturday.

“U.S. defense contracts, an… F-16 acquisition, and Israel’s new military preparations suggest that all sides are getting ready for whatever may come,” the report says.

An Iranian security directs media at the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

An Iranian security directs media at the Bushehr nuclear power plant - Photo by AP

According to the blog, the U.S navy has recently signed a $338 million contract with defense contractor Raytheon to “provide the Navy with 361 Tomahawk cruise missiles in their most recent configuration. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags:
| June 12, 2012
No comments

Khamenei adviser: Islamic countries need nukes

Forghani, who formerly called on Iran to annihilate Israel, argues that Islamic Republic needs nukes to repel US threat.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK

 

While Iran continues to deny its nuclear program is anything but peaceful, the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards-linked Fars News published an op-ed on Monday arguing that Islamic countries – and Iran – need a nuclear arsenal.

Islamic countries need nukes - Photo: Thinkstock/Imagebank

Islamic countries need nukes - Photo: Thinkstock/Imagebank

The op-ed, entitled “Nuclear Confrontation: The Islamic World Needs to have the Atomic Bomb”, is written in Persian by Alireza Forghani, an analyst and strategy strategist allied with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

After citing Khamenei, Forghani writes that the “Islamic world should arise and scream that an atomic bomb is our right, and so smash America’s and Israel’s dreams.”

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags:
| June 1, 2012
No comments

Israeli officials link Tehran to Assad’s massacres

“The Iranian regime is in a very concrete manner lending its support to the Syrian government’s murder of the Syrian people.”

 

A day after Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, said a Western military intervention in Syria would “engulf” Israel, Israeli government officials tried to shine the light on Iranian involvement in the Syrian bloodshed.“The Iranian regime is in a very concrete manner lending its support to the Syrian government’s murder of the Syrian people, and this is part of their very aggressive and dangerous behavior in the region,” one official said.

 

If this is what Iran does without atomic weapons, the official added, “what would Iranian behavior look like if they had nuclear capabilities?”Meanwhile,

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| May 27, 2012
No comments

U.S. study: Iran has enough uranium for five nuclear bombs

ISIS analysis, based on IAEA report, finds Iran has significantly stepped up output of low-enriched uranium in the last five years; Iran reportedly downplays IAEA report.

 

Iran has significantly stepped up its output of low-enriched uranium and total production in the last five years would be enough for at least five nuclear weapons if refined much further, a U.S. security institute said.

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a think-tank which tracks Iran’s nuclear programme closely, based the analysis on data in the latest report by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which was issued on Friday. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags:
| May 20, 2012
No comments

Russia: More Countries Now Favor Iran Attack

Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov says Russia is worried by “signals” of growing support for an attack on Iran.

Russia is concerned about a shift in the positions of some countries that now favor a military attack on Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Sunday.

Iranian Warship, Suez Canal

Iranian Warship, Suez Canal - Reuters

“We [Russia] are concerned that the opportunity to try to solve the problem [in Iran] by military means is still real. We get signals, public and from private channels, that this option is now considered in some capitals as much more applicable to the situation than it was before,” Ryabkov said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| May 16, 2012
No comments

Shapiro: US Military Ready for Iran Strike – If Needed

US Ambassador tells Israelis that America’s military is not only ready to strike Iran, but has made all the necessary preparations to do so.

US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said this week his nation’s military is ready to execute “the military option” on Iran’s nuclear program if need be.

Makor Rishon reported that Shapiro, speaking at a meeting of the Israel Bar Association for Tel Aviv and the Central Region, said that not is an American military option available, but that made all necessary preparations to carry it out were complete.

“We do not know if sanctions and diplomacy will work,” Shapiro said of Western efforts to force Tehran to halt its controversial uranium enrichment program. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| May 16, 2012
No comments

Wikileak perhaps led to Iran’s ‘Mossad’ hanging

‘Times of London’ finds similarities between accused spy and Wikileaks description of Iranian intelligence source.

 

Iran may have used a secret cable published by Wikileaks to target and hang an alleged Israeli spy, The Times of London reported Wednesday.

While the report is inconclusive and the evidence anecdotal, it notes striking similarities between a Wikileak cable’s description of its Iranian source and twenty-four year old Majid Jamali Fashi, hanged in Tehran on Tuesday in connection with the murder of an Iranian nuclear scientist in 2010.

Majid Jamali Fashi, accused of killing scientist -Photo: REUTERS

Majid Jamali Fashi, accused of killing scientist -Photo: REUTERS

Though Wikileaks redacted the source’s name before releasing the cable penned by an intelligence operative in Baku, Azerbeijan, it published the description of the source as “a licensed martial arts coach and trainer.”

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| May 16, 2012
No comments

Israel’s Military Intelligence chief visited U.S. for secret talks on Iran, Syria

Maj. Gen. Kochavi, warns against Hezbollah’s increasing strength in south Lebanon, says he sees possibility for convincing Russian President Vladimir Putin to cooperate with the west against Assad.

 

Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi made a secret visit two weeks ago to Washington and to UN headquarters in New York, where he discussed the Iranian nuclear program, the Syria crisis and Hezbollah’s increasing power in Lebanon, a senior Israeli official has said.

Kochavi met in Washington with senior White House and State Department officials, as well as senior officials in the Defense Department Intelligence agency and the CIA.

Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi

Military Intelligence chief Maj.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| May 14, 2012
No comments

More than 60 nuclear experts at work building Iranian nuclear bomb

The names and addresses of 60 Iranian experts employed by 11 different Iranian agencies under the control of the Iranian Defense Ministry were revealed Saturday, May 12, by the main Iranian opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI). 

This is the first time an extensive, highly secret, central organizational structure dedicated to building a nuclear weapon has been revealed in detail – specifically the Ministry of Defense under the command of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which also runs the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.

The information updated to April 2012 was provided by “sources within the Iranian regime’s agencies, including military institutions.”

Malek Ashtar University: Nuclear bomb project HQ
Malek Ashtar University: Nuclear bomb project HQ

It contradicts the fundamental conclusion reached by the US and five world powers and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – that Iran’s nuclear program is not run by a single organization – on the basis of which they entered into negotiation with Tehran. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| May 14, 2012
No comments

Iran to Execute Spy for Israel

Iran upholds a death sentence against a man convicted for assassinating a nuclear physicist. Thirteen others may face the same fate.

Iran upheld on a death sentence against a man convicted for assassinating a nuclear physicist two year ago, and 13 others may face the same fate after having been found guilty on Sunday for working for the Israeli Mossad spy agency.

Motorcyle bomb aftermath (illustrative)

Motorcyle bomb aftermath (illustrative) - Reuters

The Tehran prosecutor said on Sunday that Majid Jamali Fashi, convicted for assassinating nuclear physicist Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, will be executed as planned, the Tehran Times reported. The death sentence reportedly will be carried out on Tuesday. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags:
| April 28, 2012
No comments

US deploys fighter jets to base near Iran

US Air Force deploys several F22s to UAE base, Fox News reports; Officials deny deployment linked to potential Iran strike

 

The United States military has deployed several F-22 fighter jets to an allied base less than 200 miles (320 km) from Iran, Fox News reported Friday.

The F-22, US' best fighter jet Photo: Reuters

The F-22, US' best fighter jet - Photo: Reuters

According to the report, the US Air Force strongly denied ordering the deployment in a show of force against Iran, or that it is in some way related to a potential strike on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. It claimed the measure is part of routine activity and “security cooperation with regional partners. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| April 16, 2012
No comments

Israeli TV report shows air force gearing up for Iran attack, says moment of truth is near

‘IAF expects losses, and knows it can’t destroy entire Iranian program’

 

A major Israel TV station on Sunday night broadcast a detailed report on how Israel will go about attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities in the event that diplomacy and sanctions fail and Israel decides to carry out a military strike.

The report, screened on the main evening news of Channel 10, was remarkable both in terms of the access granted to the reporter, who said he had spent weeks with the pilots and other personnel he interviewed, and in the fact that his assessments on a strike were cleared by the military censor. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| April 6, 2012
No comments

Beijing steps up pressure to prevent an attack on Iran

China official Chen Xiaodong issues strongest warning yet against using force on Iran over its nuke program, says a strike would incur retaliation, drive up oil prices; Iran, world powers to restart talks this month.

 

BEIJING – A senior Chinese diplomat said on Friday an attack on Iran would invite devastating retaliation that would envelop the region and destabilize the global economic recovery, and added that the international community had to restrain itself from war.

Iranian military in the Strait of Hormuz - By REUTERS/Fars News/Hamed Jafarnejad

Iranian military in the Strait of Hormuz - By REUTERS/Fars News/Hamed Jafarnejad

Iran is locked in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags:
| April 3, 2012
No comments

Clinton: Unilateral Israeli strike on Iran is in no one’s interest

In an interview with ABC, U.S. Secretary of State says Washington working closely with Israel ‘on all level.’

 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told ABC news on Tuesday that a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran is “not in anyone’s interest.”

Hillary Clinton - 16.11.11 - Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - Photo by: Reuters

“The U.S. has “worked very hard with Israel on all levels from the military, intelligence, strategic, and diplomatic level to make sure we were sharing information,” she said. “It’s our very strong belief, as President Obama conveyed to the Israelis, that it is not in anyone’s interest for them to take unilateral action.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags:
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »