"Trump Admin Should Keep Close Eye on Potential Iran-North Korea Nuclear Cooperation": Nuclear Proliferation Expert.

Mushroom Cloud Heads

"Trump Admin Should Keep Close Eye on Potential Iran-North Korea Nuclear Cooperation": Nuclear Proliferation Expert. (Algemeiner).

Paying attention to any potential nuclear cooperation between Iran and North Korea should be a priority for the Trump administration, a proliferation expert told The Algemeiner on Thursday.

“I think the main thing is to try to discover it,” David Albright — head of the Institute for Science and International Security think tank — said. “We know it [cooperation] happens in the missile and conventional weapons areas. As for the nuclear area, we look at it as an open question. We haven’t seen enough evidence yet to make an actual accusation, we just don’t know. But I think there is a real risk that Iran and North Korea could cooperate on nuclear matters. It requires a lot of attention from our intelligence services.”

“If it turns out such cooperation does exist, an argument could be made that it’s a violation of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action],” Albright went on to say. “Whether it in fact is or not, lawyers would have to decide. It would depend on the exact type of cooperation. But the bottom line is you have to develop more resources to try to figure if it’s going on. And a revelation that it is going on would be quite damaging to Iran.”

There are two types of know-how Iran and North Korea could share, Albright said. The first, he noted is “more traditional information about building nuclear weapons and testing nuclear weapons, which North Korea certainly has plenty of to give to Iran.” And the second is “reentry vehicle technology for a nuclear warhead.”

“Iran is freer to conduct reentry vehicle tests than North Korea,” Albright explained. “So both could benefit. It would look like missile cooperation, which is more tolerated, but in fact it could end up being a way to help both countries be able to mount a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile.”

In a recently published paper, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies analysts Refael Ofek and Dany Shoham claimed that Iran was “steadily making progress towards a nuclear weapon” with help from North Korea.

The Pyongyang regime, they wrote, was “ready and able” to give the Islamic Republic a “clandestine means of circumventing” the July 2015 nuclear deal it agreed to with six world powers. Read the full story here.
Related: 

'Axes of Nuclear evil' - Iran Tested a Ballistic Missile With North Korean Origins: Pentagon. 

North Korea has effective means of delivering nuclear weapons, their missile program is "close to the one developed in Iran" Russian expert.

Russia and Turkey are planning to develop a full-scale military-technical cooperation.

Russia and Turkey are planning to develop a full-scale military-technical cooperation.(SP).

On December 12-14, Russia and Turkey held the first meeting of an intergovernmental commission on military-technical cooperation since resolving the crisis in bilateral relations.

"The discussions were constructive…showing a serious drive to establish full-scale military-technical cooperation," Kozhin told reporters in Moscow.

Iran Has Bought Russia’s Most Advanced Fighter Aircraft MiG-29.

Iran Has Bought Russia’s Most Advanced Fighter Aircraft MiG-29 . (IFP).

According to a report by Mizan, as translated by IFP, Abolfazl Hassanbeigi, the vice-chairman of Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, referred to the history of Iran’s plane purchase from the Soviet Union, and then Russia, and said, “Iran has purchased Sukhoi and Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters before.”

“MiG-29 is manufactured in three ranges. The first is sold to small countries; the second to Russia’s allies, and the third to the Russian Army,” he added.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has bought the same MiG-29 fighter jet that the Russian army possesses, namely the most advanced type.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, he further referred to the negotiations with China, Ukraine and Russia for joint manufacture of fighter jets.

“However, we haven’t bought Chinese aircraft because they were not as advanced as we expected them to be,” he noted, dismissing the reports about Iran’s secret negotiations with China about fighter aircraft purchase.

“Nothing can remain secret in today’s world. […] The world will naturally know and announce anything purchased or sold by Iran,” he added.


“As Iran is aware of the large number of weapons sold by Germany, France, China and the United-States to ISIS allies, others know about Iran’s deals as well,” Hassanbeigi went on to say.

Europe unlikely to buy Russian gas from Turkish stream, while Turkey might depend on Russian gas.

Europe unlikely to buy Russian gas from Turkish stream, while Turkey might depend on Russian gas. (Taz).

Likelihood of Russian gas supplies to Europe by Turkish stream pipeline is remote given the current state of play in EU- Russia relations, Constantine Levoyannis, head of the Greek Energy Forum's Brussels branch told Trend by email on Oct. 12.

This week an intergovernmental agreement on the Turkish Stream pipeline has been signed in Istanbul in the presence of both presidents. The agreement envisages the construction of two pipeline strings, each with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters.

The first string will supply gas directly to Turkey, while the second is to be used to deliver gas to European countries through Turkey.

Levoyannis noted that the first stream supplying Turkish gas demand should come as no surprise.
“It is likely to happen. It makes commercial sense and the demand is there,” he said.

On the other hand, the expert noted that the likelihood of the second string to Europe materializing is remote, given the current state of play in EU Russia relations, adding that a top priority for the EU is the Southern Gas Corridor.

“To me the second announcement bears more of a political message towards the EU,” Levoyannis said.


Within the negotiation on the Turkish Stream this week, the parties also agreed on a mechanism by which to provide a discount on Russian gas for Turkey.

The agreement on gas price discount is interesting news, Levoyannis said.
“This could have a significant macroeconomic impact - particularly on gas on gas competition,” he noted. Hmmm....I'm sure Iran won't be happy with this.

Israel confirms upgraded NATO ties as Turkey said no longer to object.

Israel confirms upgraded NATO ties as Turkey said no longer to object. (ToI).

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Wednesday that Israel would upgrade its ties with the 28-member NATO military alliance by opening a permanent mission to its Brussels headquarters.

The move comes as NATO member Turkey reportedly agreed to end its objection to closer links to the Jewish state.

“I announce that Israel will accept the invitation; we will open an office soon,” he said at the start of a cabinet meeting.

“I think that this is also an important expression of Israel’s standing in the world. The countries of the world are looking to cooperate with us due to – inter alia – our determined fight against terrorism, our technological know-how and our intelligence services,” Netanyahu added, according to a translation released by his office.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Tuesday that NATO had invited the Jewish state to “open an office at NATO headquarters in Brussels and complete the process of accrediting its representatives to NATO.”

On Wednesday, NATO issued a statement averring that “the North Atlantic Council has agreed ‎to accept the request that an official Israeli Mission be established at NATO headquarters.

“Israel is a very active partner of the Alliance as a member of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue, established in December 1994,” the statement continued. “NATO has invited all partners to open diplomatic missions to the Headquarters of the Atlantic Alliance in Brussels.”

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon corrected the NATO statement, telling The Times of Israel that Israel’s Ambassador to the EU David Walzer, and not its envoy to Belgium, Simona Frankel, would head the mission to NATO.

An Israeli expert told AFP that the invitation was a result of pressure by other NATO members on Turkey, which joined in 1952, to drop its veto on closer alliance ties with its former ally.

“It’s a Turkish confidence-building measure vis-a-vis Israel,” said Tommy Steiner, an expert on NATO-Israel ties at the Institute for Policy and Strategy near Tel Aviv.

“Since the introduction of the new [NATO] partnership policy in 2014 Israel was formally invited,” he said. “But Israel never did that because there was a Turkish veto on such a measure.” Hmmm.......Israel needed to face Russia? And they took the bait. Read the full story here.

North Korea and Iran exchanging mutual advance in 'Nuclear?' missile technology.

North Korea and Iran exchanging mutual advance in 'Nuclear?' missile technology. (WaTi).

The Iranian nuclear “deal” just keeps getting better; it’s the gift that keeps on giving in a morbid sort of way. Tal Inbar of Israel’s Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, while testifying at a congressional hearing on the “ballistic axis,” a reference to Iran’s and North Korea’s space program, said that a solid rocket engine tested in March by North Korea was built with technology acquired from Iran. 

 North Korea has also made significant progress is ballistic missile technology. The analyst stressed that North Korean advances in missile technology were also being shared back with the Islamic Republic, reported UPI.

So not only is Iran thumbing its nose at the Iranian nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration by openly and routinely testing ballistic missiles, it is sharing this technology with the unstable regime of North Korea, which just so happens to be routinely threatening the United States with nuclear destruction. Hmmm........High crimes and misdemeanors. Read the full story here.

The North Korea - Iran connection.

The North Korea - Iran connection. (JPost).

Former US intelligence officer Bruce Bechtol sheds light on North Korea’s pervasive involvement in the military buildups of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas.    

Hamas’s attack tunnels in Gaza, Hezbollah’s Scud D missile stockpiles in southern Lebanon, and the Fordow Iranian nuclear facility, dug into a mountain, all have one thing in common. None of them would exist in their current form without North Korea’s assistance and worldwide weapons proliferation network.  

In the early days, when Iran was embroiled in a lengthy and bloody war with Iraq, North Korea sold it Scud B missiles. “The Iranians instantly started firing them at Iraq. They then bought artillery, tanks and trucks – legacy Soviet-made gear from the ’50s and ’60s,” and used them throughout the Iran-Iraq war, Bechtol said.

Since then, North Korea has sold Iran Scud Bs, Cs, Ds, extended-range scuds, and played a crucial role in every step taken by Iran’s domestic missile program. It helped Iran build the Safir two-stage missile and the Sejil solid fuel missile, according to Bechtol’s research.

Within the past two years, at least two long-range missile parts shipments from North Korea arrived in Iran, he said. Iranian technicians traveled to North Korea for help in developing an 80-ton rocket booster.

Then, more missile parts arrived in the Islamic Republic in the fall of 2015, he said.  Read the full story here.

Afghanistan: Harrowing crimes Taliban gangs committed on civilian in Kunduz is Shocking !

Afghanistan: Harrowing crimes Taliban gangs committed on civilian in Kunduz on three-days-stay is SHOCKING! HT: Amnesty.

Mass murder, gang rapes and house-to-house searches by Taliban death squads are just some of the harrowing civilian testimonies emerging from Kunduz as Afghan forces today claimed to have regained control of key areas of the northern city, Amnesty International said.

The organization has spoken to numerous people, the majority of them women, who have fled Kunduz since Monday, when the Taliban launched a sudden assault on the city. Women human rights defenders from Kunduz spoke of a “hit list” being used by the Taliban to track down activists and others, and described how fighters had raped and killed numerous civilians.

“The harrowing accounts we’ve received paint a picture of a reign of terror during the Taliban’s brutal capture of Kunduz this week. The multiple credible reports of killings, rapes and other horrors meted out against the city’s residents must prompt the Afghan authorities to do more now to protect civilians, in particular in areas where more fighting appears imminent,” said Horia Mosadiq, Afghanistan Researcher at Amnesty International.

One woman who provides assistance to victims of domestic violence in Kunduz and escaped to safety in a nearby province told Amnesty International that Taliban fighters were using a “hit list” to track down their targets. It allegedly includes the names and photos of activists, journalists and civil servants based in Kunduz.

The woman said the Taliban’s roadblocks on exit routes from the city forced her and numerous other women and men to flee on foot. They trekked for more than seven hours over rough terrain, leaving them exhausted and with bloodied feet.

When the Taliban took control of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and other government and NGO offices in Kunduz on Monday, they gained access to reams of information about NGO staff, government employees and members of the security forces – including addresses, phone numbers and photos.

Since then, Taliban fighters have allegedly been using young boys to help them to conduct house-to-house searches to locate and abduct their targets, including women.

Another woman human rights defender had her home and office burned and looted by Taliban on Tuesday night. Taliban fighters kept calling her to ask about the whereabouts of the women whom she had been helping.

She and several other women managed to receive assistance for themselves and their children to flee to safety. But she told Amnesty International she and her family escaped with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and were left terrified by the ordeal.

According to local activists, Taliban fighters also raped female relatives and killed family members, including children, of police commanders and soldiers, especially those working for Afghan Local Police (ALP). The Taliban also burnt down the families’ houses and looted their belongings.

The relative of a woman who worked as a midwife in Kunduz maternity hospital told Amnesty International how Taliban fighters gang-raped and then killed her and another midwife because they accused them of providing reproductive health services to women in the city.

The Taliban released all the male prisoners held in Kunduz and gave them arms to fight against government forces. Female prisoners were raped and beaten, then the Taliban abducted some and released others.

An eyewitness told Amnesty International that a civilian woman in his neighbourhood had been shot amid fighting between Taliban and the Afghan security forces. Taliban fighters responded to her screams of pain by entering her house and shooting her point blank in the head, forcing her husband to watch her die. Hmmmm........Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq! Read the full story here.

Our boys captured this Taliban trashbag from inside textile factory in western Kunduz city.Trapped there since morng pic.twitter.com/9U8Mqvppbw

— Asif Khan (@Afghan_Security) October 1, 2015

North Korea will “retaliate against the US with tremendous muscle” if the US does not cancel the war games - Official.

North Korea will “retaliate against the US with tremendous muscle” if the US does not cancel the war games - Official. (Taz).

North Korea says it will attack the United States if Washington does not cancel the multinational military exercises which are slated to begin on Monday, PressTV reported.

The yearly exercises, called Ulchi Freedom Guardian, will be carried out by the US, South Korea and other allies to enhance “readiness, protect the region and maintain stability on the Korean peninsula," read a statement from the Korea-US Combined Forces Command.

“The further Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military exercises are intensified, the stronger military counteraction the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] will take to cope with them,” said a spokesman for North Korea’s National Defense Commission on Saturday.

North Korea will “retaliate against the US with tremendous muscle” if the US does not cancel the war games, he said

The spokesman added that the North Korean army and people “are no longer what they used to be in the past when they had to counter the US nukes with rifles.”

Pyongyang is an “invincible power” and the country’s army possesses the “latest offensive and defensive means unknown to the world,” he stated.

Also, North Korean state television KCNA said Saturday that Washington has to stop the exercises “immediately” if the “United States wants its mainland to be safe.”

Tens of thousands of American and South Korean military forces are scheduled to take part in the joint exercise which will last for 12 days.

In addition, other US allies, including Australia, Britain, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France and New Zealand will participate in the drills.

North Korea is under UN sanctions over launching rockets considered by the US and South Korea as ballistic missiles aimed at delivering nuclear warheads, but Pyongyang says its numerous missile tests seek to boost defense capabilities in the face of enemy threats.

Russia Changing details & Price S-300 Contract with Iran, delivery by 2016

Russia Changing details and Price S-300 Contract with Iran, delivery by 2016.(Presstv).

Russia is assembling its S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system to begin its shipment to Iran by 2016, the Kremlin’s top official for the arms trade says.

Speaking in an interview on Tuesday, Vladimir Kozhin, President Vladimir Putin’s aide on military-technical cooperation, added that Moscow is also modernizing some parts of the system and changing contract terms such as the pricing.

“The Iranians want them as soon as possible, and we are trying too. There is activity to prepare new legal contracts, new conditions and thus prepare systems for delivery,” Kozhin said.

He added that some of the military systems that had been intended for sale to Iran were supplied to other clients, and that some parts of other S-300 systems stored across Russia have undergone “serious modernization” with the passage of years. Hmmm.....As i pointed out months ago, the S-300 Iran bought years ago is no longer produced, left only the possibility of delivery of that type from Russian army units who have that type....or change the contract. Read the full story here.

Obama's BFF Iran says IAEA report legally problematic.

Obama's BFF Iran says IAEA report legally problematic. (Taz).

Iran has said that a recent report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the Iranian nuclear program contains legal problems.

Behrooz Kamalvandi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said that the report is repetitive and contains unfounded accusations, Mehr news agency reported May 30.

The report is going to be referred to the UN Security Council Board of Directors next week.

Referring to IAEA Secretary General Yukiya Amano’s statement of inability to express any idea about Iran's “unannounced” nuclear activities, Kamalvandi said that the issue can be addressed via the Additional Protocol to the NPT and furthermore, Iran believes its activities are peaceful, something the IAEA also confirms.

He also pointed to the impression that the IAEA may have the authority to inspect any place in Iran at any time and said that the impression is not true.

“Even the Additional Protocol would not give the IAEA such a privilege, neither about Iran nor about any other country,” Kamalvandi asserted.

Commenting on IAEA request to visit Iran's Parchin military site, Kamalvandi said that upon a request by the agency in 2011, a report was filed that listed people, documents, and places demanded by the IAEA in 23 items.

Access was given so as to give the IAEA the chance to say that it has had no unvisited place.
“Under situations when we are holding talks with the group 5+1 (the US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany) as UN Security Council members and have granted that Iran's peaceful activities be continued with some voluntary limitations, the IAEA points to the issue of the suspension of our activities in the Security Council,” Kamalvandi said.


“If the IAEA considers UN Security Council resolutions, then it must take into consideration the agreements we had with the 5+1 as well. Therefore, the IAEA secretary general’s report has problems,” he concluded. Hmmm.....How dare the IAEA ask all these Questions when Obama already approved everything.

UN Nuke agency report: 'Assessment of allegations that Tehran worked on atomic arms essentially stalled.'

UN Nuke agency report: 'Assessment of allegations that Tehran worked on atomic arms essentially stalled.' (NCRI).

Amid nuclear negociations between the six world powers and the Iranian regime, the U.N. atomic agency on Friday reported that work on a key element — an assessment of allegations that Tehran worked on atomic arms — remains essentially stalled, The Associated Press reported from Vienna.

The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency also reiterated that more cooperation is needed by Tehran for full clarity on its present activities. 

Without it, the IAEA said it cannot "conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities."

Diplomats in Vienna view Iran's reluctance to open up to investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency as a sign of its reluctance to cooperate fully until punitive sanctions imposed on it are lifted as part of any settlement with the powers, Reuters reported.

The IAEA is focused on 12 activities that point to clerical regime’s attempts to make nuclear weapons, including activities related to work on the development on a nuclear payload for missiles.

The IAEA relaunched its probe two years ago by asking for information on less sensitive work related to nuclear arms that may have been carried out by Tehran, with hopes of moving to larger issues later.

Since August, "Iran has yet to propose any new practical measures" to bring the investigation forward, said the report.

The IAEA report, issued to the agency's 35-nation board and the U.N. Security Council, said it remains "concerned about the possible existence in Iran of undisclosed nuclear-related activities involving military-related organizations, including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for missiles."

"Iran is required to cooperate fully with the Agency on all outstanding issues."

The Vienna-based IAEA also said it remained vital that Iran respond to the agency's questions on and access to the Parchin military base, where Western officials suspect Tehran conducted explosives tests relevant to nuclear bombs.

"The (IAEA) remains ready to accelerate the resolution of all outstanding issues under the Framework for Cooperation. This can be realized by increased cooperation by Iran and by the timely provision of access to all relevant information, documentation, sites, material and personnel in Iran as requested by the agency," the report said.

A tentative agreement was reached between the Iranian regime, the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China on April 2.

But pivotal issues remain unresolved, including the pace of easing Western sanctions and the extent of monitoring and verification measures to ensure Tehran honours any agreement.


The Iranian regime has ruled out any nuclear inspector access to its military bases, a position rejected by the Western powers.

Video - IRAN: Nuclear cooperation between Iran regime & North Korea, NCRI reveals

According to the information from various sources inside of the clerical regime, a delegation from North Korea including experts in nuclear warhead, and various elements of ballistic were present in the country for one week at the end of April.

The information obtained by the PMOI (MEK) network is based on dozens of reports from various sources inside of the clerical regime, in particular from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Ministry of Defense (MoD), the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), which is in charge of working on the weaponization aspect of the nuclear program, and also the Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO).

Due to high security sensitivities, the nuclear and missile delegations from North Korea both enter and leave Iran in total secrecy. The revelations provided detailed information on the exact location of the place where North Koreans stayed in the country.

Iranian officers in North Korea

Those that visited this year stayed in the special guest house of the AIO near a Hemat Industries site in the Khojeir area, located in North-east of Tehran. According to complied reports, delegations of experts and commanders of the IRGC and MoD, particularly those in the fields of nuclear and missile-related activities visit North Korea regularly.

The Iranian resistance exposed the activities and work on a nuclear warhead in Khojeir area in February 2008.

The next delegation of North Korean experts is scheduled to arrive in Iran in June and will be comprised of nine experts.

Mr. Shahin Gobadi, PMOI spokesman, said: “the above information reveals another aspect of the Iranian regime’s secret nuclear weapons program. It is another indication that so far as the clerical regime is concerned, it has no intention of giving up its nuclear weapons program and that the drive to acquire nuclear weapons remains at the core of the regime’s nuclear program. This is the message of extensive cooperation with North Korea and presence of Tehran’s key nuclear figure during North Korean nuclear test.”

“This conduct is in keeping with the positions of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior officials of the regime”

Mr. Gobadi added: “Both IAEA inspections of military sites and interviews with nuclear scientists. Tehran’s objectives are nothing but continuing the regime’s policy of concealment and duplicity in a bid to complete and advance its nuclear projects. “ Hmmmm......Obama's BFF Iran.

North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile Experts Visit Iran’s Nuclear Sites – Report.

North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile Experts Visit Iran’s Nuclear Sites – Report. (SP).

A team of North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile experts visited a military site near Tehran in April amid talks between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program, media reported Thursday, citing an exiled Iranian opposition group.

Citing information from sources inside Iran, including within Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said the seven person North Korean Defense Ministry team was in Iran during the last week of April.

It was the third time since January that North Koreans had travelled to Iran, and a nine person delegation was due to return in June.

There have previously been unconfirmed reports of ties between the two countries on ballistic missile cooperation, although nothing specific in the nuclear field.

The IAEA, which for years has been investigating alleged nuclear arms research by Tehran, declined to comment. Iranian officials declined to comment.

North Korean officials were not available for comment.

Several Western officials said they were not aware of a North Korean delegation traveling to Iran recently.

North Korea said earlier this month that it has the ability to miniaturize nuclear weapons, a key step toward building nuclear missiles.

In October 2015 Pyongyang plans to launch a long-range ballistic missile. Hmmm.....What could go wrong?

Related: North Korea Can Miniaturize a Nuclear Weapon, and use on ICBM.

South Korea: North Korea Has 'Significant' Tech To Build Mini Nuclear Device.

North Korea Can Miniaturize a Nuclear Weapon, and use on ICBM.

North Korea Can Miniaturize a Nuclear Weapon, and use on ICBM.(Fortuna)

North Korea has deployed its new road-mobile KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile and is capable of mounting a miniaturized nuclear warhead on it, the U.S.’s top homeland security commander said.

“Our assessment is that they have the ability to put a nuclear weapon on a KN-08 and shoot it at the homeland,” Admiral William Gortney, the head of the U.S. Northern Command, told reporters Tuesday at the Pentagon. “We have not seen them do that” and “we haven’t seen them test the KN-08.”

He said “yes sir” when asked if the U.S. thinks North Korea has succeeded in the complicated task of miniaturizing a warhead for use on such a missile. North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests since 2006.

Gortney’s remarks are the strongest to date by a U.S. military official about the status of the KN-O8 missile and North Korea’s progress in making a nuclear weapon small enough to put on it, although they reflected the customary caution about what’s going on in the insular country.

Gortney said in congressional testimony last month that the KN-08’s mobility “will complicate our ability to provide warning and defense against an attack.” On Tuesday, he said that if North Korea were to fire a missile at the U.S., “I am confident we can knock it down.”

North Korea probably needs to improve the reliability and accuracy of its intercontinental ballistic missile, “hurdles that even more advanced industrialized countries would find challenging,” Schilling and Kan wrote.

“North Korea is seriously pursuing the deployment of more capable, longer-range, more survivable weapons,” they wrote. “In short, North Korea has already achieved a level of delivery system development that will allow it to establish itself as a small nuclear power in the coming years.” Hmmmm.......What worries me is how much of this technology have they shared with their buddy Iran? Read the full story here.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un Wednesday toured plant in Pyongyang Ahead of Missile Test.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un Wednesday toured plant in Pyongyang Ahead of Missile Test. (SP).

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un Wednesday toured a plant in Pyongyang that produces missile parts and other electronic parts for military supplies, as Pyongyang prepares to test-fire a medium-range ballistic missile.

Kim was accompanied, among others, by a deputy defense minister and a senior official overseeing the country’s machine-building industry.

South Korean analysts, citied by Yonhap news agency, said Kim’s visit came ahead of the planned test-firing of Pyongyang’s KN-8 medium-range ballistic missile, timed for the April 15 birthday of Kim’s grandfather, North Korea’s first president Kim Il-sung.

“Speeding up the development of indigenous new products is the only way for us to have light electric machine building industry that will be all our own,” Rodong Sinmun quoted Kim as saying.

Kim Jong-un set out the task of modernizing existing machine tools, slash production costs and ensure stringent quality control at the country’s enterprises. Read the full story here.

Hezbollah: Iranian IRGC Gen. Mohammad Allahdadi Killed by Israel because "He kept his cellphone on".

              Photo credit: Lebanese TV screenshot of the convoy hit by the Israeli airstrike.

Hezbollah Findings of Israeli Airstrikes that Killed Iranian IRGC Gen. Mohammad Allahdadi: "He kept his cellphone on". HT: UskowiOnIran.


An Iranian general killed in an Israeli airstrike last Sunday in Syria may have died because he did not turn off his cellphone.

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Joumhouria reported today that a Hezbollah investigation into the strike found that IRGC Gen. Mohammad Allahdadi kept his cellphone on in a sensitive area targeted by Israeli intelligence.

11 people, including Allahdadi and senior Hezbollah commanders, Jihad Mughniyeh and Mohammas Issa, and their entourage were killed in the strike.

At the time of the attack, Gen. Allahdad and Hezbollah commanders were in the Quneitra area on the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan Heights at outposts housing a joint Iranian-Hezbollah “operations room” built recently as a command post to counter the Syrian rebel forces in the area, the paper said.

@MFS001 @ColorMeRed This is not Al-Joumhuriya exclusive info but copied from this http://t.co/llqsIRYkQB two days ago.

— Elijah J. Magnier (@EjmAlrai) January 24, 2015

Video #Hezbollah #SAA ambush #JAN n Suweida road, using heat footage (waiting for the convoy) showing intel gathering http://t.co/gPh6bNbTWl

— Elijah J. Magnier (@EjmAlrai) January 24, 2015

South Korea: North Korea Has 'Significant' Tech To Build Mini Nuclear Device.

South Korea: North Korea Has 'Significant' Tech To Build Mini Nuclear Device. (Defense News).

South Korea's defense ministry said Tuesday that North Korea appeared to have achieved a "significant" level of technology to miniaturize a nuclear device to be fitted on the tip of a missile.

The ministry made the warning in a white paper due to be released later Tuesday, although defense officials said the nuclear-armed North has yet to demonstrate its miniaturization capacity.

"North Korea's capabilities of miniaturizing nuclear weapons appear to have reached a significant level," the ministry said in a statement.

Although there is no doubt that North Korea has an extremely active ballistic missile development program, expert opinion is split on how much progress it has made.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed defense ministry official as saying the North's Taepodong-2 long-range missile is believed to have increased its range to 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) from the previous estimate of up to 7,000 kilometers.

But no signs have been detected that Pyongyang has put long-range missiles into service, it said. Hmmmm.....How much have they shared with Iran? Read the full story here.

Assad's Secret: Evidence Points to Syrian Push for Nuclear Weapons with Iran's help.

Assad's Secret: Evidence Points to Syrian Push for Nuclear Weapons with Iran's help.(Spiegel)

For years, it was thought that Israel had destroyed Syria's nuclear weapons capability with its 2007 raid on the Kibar complex. Not so. New intelligence suggests that Bashar al-Assad is still trying to built the bomb. And he may be getting help from North Korea and Iran.

Secret information obtained by SPIEGEL indicates that the world is once again being misled by Assad. Syria's dictator has not given up his dream of an atomic weapon and has apparently built a new nuclear facility at a secret location. It is an extremely unsettling piece of news.

Suspicious Uranium Particles.

According to findings of Western intelligence agencies, however, the situation is much more explosive than previously assumed. Based on documents that SPIEGEL has in its possession, the agencies are convinced that Assad is continuing in his efforts to build the bomb.

Analysts say that the Syrian atomic weapon program has continued in a secret, underground location. According to information they have obtained, approximately 8,000 fuel rods are stored there. Furthermore, a new reactor or an enrichment facility has very likely been built at the site -- a development of incalculable geopolitical consequences.

Some of the uranium was apparently hidden for an extended period at Marj as-Sultan near Damascus, a site that the IAEA likewise views with suspicion. Satellite images from December 2012 and February 2013 show suspicious activity at Marj as-Sultan. The facility, located not far from a Syrian army base, had become the focal point of heavy fighting with rebels. Government troops had to quickly move everything of value. They did so, as intelligence officials have been able to reconstruct, with the help of Hezbollah, the radical Shiite "Party of God" based in Lebanon. The well-armed militia, which is largely financed by Iran, is fighting alongside Assad's troops.

Intercepted Conversations

Intelligence agency findings indicate that the material was moved to a well-hidden underground location just west of the city of Qusayr, not even two kilometers from the border with Lebanon. They managed the move just in time. Marj as-Sultan ultimately did fall to the rebels, but has since been retaken by government troops.

Work performed at the site by members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard is also mentioned in the intercepted conversations. The Revolutionary Guard is a paramilitary organization under the direct control of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. It controls a large part of the Iranian economy and also plays a significant role in Iran's own nuclear activities. Not all of its missions abroad are cleared with the government of moderate President Hassan Rohani. The Revolutionary Guard is a state within a state.

Experts are also convinced that North Korea is involved in Zamzam as well. Already during the construction of the Kibar facility, Ibrahim Othman worked closely together with Chou Ji Bu, an engineer who built the nuclear reactor Yongbyon in North Korea. Read the full story here.

Seems a little far from a decent water source to be an underground reactor. Enrichment is possible. pic.twitter.com/vxwRZIU9nr
— Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) January 9, 2015

Construction dates to sometime between June 2008-September 2009. pic.twitter.com/xK9nlyYlP9
— Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) January 9, 2015

It's certainly a military UGF. pic.twitter.com/MpcjOFDT1v
— Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) January 9, 2015

@moscow_ghost For fun, I have mapped this very base before: http://t.co/XbNEtKSzSI @DR_SHAHID @MFS001 @green_lemonnn pic.twitter.com/hnDX5qe2xm

— Chris Kabusk (@ckabusk) January 6, 2015

DIA: North Korea Planned Attacks on US based Nuclear Plants

DIA: North Korea Planned Attacks on US based Nuclear Plants. (FreeBeacon).

North Korea dispatched covert commando teams to the United States in the 1990s to attack nuclear power plants and major cities in a conflict, according to a declassified Defense Intelligence Agency report.

The DIA report, dated Sept. 13, 2004, reveals that five units of covert commandos were trained for the attacks inside the country.

According to the report, the “Reconnaissance Bureau, North Korea, had agents in place to attack American nuclear power plants.”

The document states that the North Korean Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, the ministry in charge of the military, “established five liaison offices in the early 1990s, to train and infiltrate operatives into the United States to attack nuclear power plants and major cities in case of hostilities.”

“One of the driving forces behind the establishment of the units and infiltration of operatives was the slow progress in developing a multi-stage ballistic missile.”

North Korea is known to have at least two long-range missiles capable of hitting the United States, the Taepodong-2 intercontinental ballistic missile, and the KN-08 road-mobile ICBM, which has not yet been flight tested. Read more at FREE BEACON.