To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran! John Bolton.

To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran! John Bolton. (NYT).

FOR years, experts worried that the Middle East would face an uncontrollable nuclear-arms race if Iran ever acquired weapons capability. Given the region’s political, religious and ethnic conflicts, the logic is straightforward.

As in other nuclear proliferation cases like India, Pakistan and North Korea, America and the West were guilty of inattention when they should have been vigilant. But failing to act in the past is no excuse for making the same mistakes now. All presidents enter office facing the cumulative effects of their predecessors’ decisions. But each is responsible for what happens on his watch. President Obama’s approach on Iran has brought a bad situation to the brink of catastrophe.

In theory, comprehensive international sanctions, rigorously enforced and universally adhered to, might have broken the back of Iran’s nuclear program. But the sanctions imposed have not met those criteria. Naturally, Tehran wants to be free of them, but the president’s own director of National Intelligence testified in 2014 that they had not stopped Iran’s progressing its nuclear program. There is now widespread acknowledgment that the rosy 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, which judged that Iran’s weapons program was halted in 2003, was an embarrassment, little more than wishful thinking.

Even absent palpable proof, like a nuclear test, Iran’s steady progress toward nuclear weapons has long been evident. Now the arms race has begun: Neighboring countries are moving forward, driven by fears that Mr. Obama’s diplomacy is fostering a nuclear Iran. Saudi Arabia, keystone of the oil-producing monarchies, has long been expected to move first. No way would the Sunni Saudis allow the Shiite Persians to outpace them in the quest for dominance within Islam and Middle Eastern geopolitical hegemony. Because of reports of early Saudi funding, analysts have long believed that Saudi Arabia has an option to obtain nuclear weapons from Pakistan, allowing it to become a nuclear-weapons state overnight. Egypt and Turkey, both with imperial legacies and modern aspirations, and similarly distrustful of Tehran, would be right behind.

Ironically perhaps, Israel’s nuclear weapons have not triggered an arms race. Other states in the region understood — even if they couldn’t admit it publicly — that Israel’s nukes were intended as a deterrent, not as an offensive measure.

Iran is a different story. Extensive progress in uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing reveal its ambitions. Saudi, Egyptian and Turkish interests are complex and conflicting, but faced with Iran’s threat, all have concluded that nuclear weapons are essential. Read the full story here.

Video - Kerry 'i will implement pres Obama's vision of the World' Criticizes Iran Talks Critics

Proposed 'garage sale' Deal with Iran Not Legal.

Proposed 'garage sale' Deal with Iran Not Legal. HT: Gatestone.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) forbids any of its signatories to have nuclear weapons. Full stop.

The P5+1 have been attempting to amend the NPT without going through the process established by the NPT itself -- and attempting to do this for just one of its 190 signatories: Iran.

Under the terms of the NPT, the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany) have no legal authority to amend the treaty unilaterally, to abrogate the treaty, or to allow nations that are signatories to the NPT to abrogate the treaty. The NPT can only be changed through a review conference of all parties. All changes agreed to after that must be consented to by the signatory nations, according to their own legal requirements.

The rules, therefore, ever since the U.S. Senate consented to the treaty in 1969, are that the Senate would have to approve any change to the treaty. Otherwise, any nation that is a signatory to the NPT could say that it is no longer bound by the terms of the agreement and decide to have their own nuclear weapons capability --- as many have already stated they would do, starting with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

If Iran is allowed by the P5+1 to violate the NPT, not only will it have nuclear weapons capability with impunity, but also lifted sanctions, and a strong economy that will enable it go on expanding its reach, while remaining the world's largest promoter of terrorism. As there already is an internationally agreed-upon law totally forbidding Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons -- even if Iran were fully to cooperate -- which, considering its proven track-record, is doubtful -- why does anyone need yet another agreement to stop Tehran's nuclear program?

Why is the international community not simply enforcing the current NPT?

Iran has already violated so many provisions of the NPT that the UN Security Council and the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) imposed a second protocol requirement on Tehran, to ensure that it abides by the 1970 treaty. The second protocol was also intended to ensure that, in the event of violations, major economic sanctions were imposed Iran by key members of the international community, including and most importantly the United States.

Iran has not abided by the second protocol of the NPT, either. Iran continues to spin its centrifuges and enrich uranium, while demanding that all sanctions immediately be ended.

Instead of simply requiring Iran to live up to its obligations under the NPT -- signed and ratified by Tehran in 1968 and 1970, respectively -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany are trying to give Iran a special deal. How special?

Well, the P5+1 have proposed unilaterally to amend the NPT -- just for Iran, no other nation. If Iran is allowed nuclear weapons capability, other nations -- including in South America, already infiltrated by Iran -- will doubtless follow suit.

The P5+1 would allow Iran, while still a member of the NPT, permanently to enrich uranium and produce plutonium in return for agreeing for some number of years (possibly ten), not to enrich "too much." There is, however, no "right to enrich" at all under the NPT or any other law, contrary to some misinformed "conventional wisdom." Hmmm......The only one willing to give the enrichment is.....the Obama 'admin' Read the full story here.

Obama's new BFF 'Moderate & Transparent' Iran Rules Out Snap Nuclear Inspections.

Obama's new BFF 'Moderate and Transparent' Iran Rules Out Snap Nuclear Inspections. (rferl).

An Iranian official has reacted to comments by the head of the UN nuclear agency demanding snap inspections of Iran's nuclear sites.

Six world powers and Iran are facing an end-of-the-month deadline to reach a framework agreement to limit Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Tehran denies it is developing a nuclear weapon, as the West suspects.

Earlier this month Yukiya Amano, the head of the the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Tehran should agree to snap inspections to reassure the international community.

Iran's nuclear spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said Amano's comments harm the delicate negotiations.

"It would be much better if Amano only talked about the IAEA's seasonal and monthly reports," he said, according to state TV on March 24.

Among the unresolved issues meant to be part of an agreement is a ruling by the IAEA on whether Iran worked on nuclear arms in the past. Tehran denies that, but the agency says it has information suggesting otherwise. Hmmm....they're lying and hiding the truth and no back room deals can hide this. Read the full story here.

Obama's BFF Iran isn’t being forthright at all, says nuclear watchdog.

Obama's BFF Iran isn’t being forthright, says nuclear watchdog. (Wapo).

With the deadline nearing for international talks on constraining Iran’s nuclear program, Yukiya Amano, director general of the IAEA, said in an interview that Iran has replied to just one of a dozen queries about “possible military dimensions” of past nuclear activities.

Amano said that Iran has provided only “very limited” information about two other issues, while the rest have not been addressed at all. “Recently, the progress is very limited,” he said.

Yukiya Amano, director general of the IAEA, explained that Iran has only replied to one of a dozen queries about “possible military dimensions” of past nuclear activities. Amano also said that any deal with Iran should include a provision that would allow all IAEA inspectors to go anywhere at any time to examine sites that may have nuclear weapons.

Amano said that near the top of his list of unanswered questions about possible military dimensions of Iranian nuclear activities was the Parchin military complex. He said that the IAEA has information that Iran conducted experiments in a high-explosive chamber there.

“We would like to have access, and we would like to clarify,” Amano said.

He said Iran had twice given IAEA inspectors access to the base, but he added that Parchin “is a huge area with many buildings.” Now, he said, the IAEA thinks it has identified “the right place to visit,” but its access has been blocked. Hmmmm...... Obama's/Kerry's claim that "Iran is in compliance and fully cooperating" is a fat lie. Read the full story here.

Iranian Journalist: Proponents Of The Deal With Iran Rely On A Fatwa By Khamenei Nobody Has Ever Seen

Iranian Journalist: Proponents Of The Deal With Iran Rely On A Fatwa By Khamenei Nobody Has Ever Seen. (Memri).

Amir Taheri, a Paris-based Iranian author and journalist, argued in a similar vein that American proponents of the deal with Iran base their position on groundless assumptions, including on the claim that Khamenei issued a fatwa banning nuclear weapons – a fatwa that nobody has ever seen.

The following are excerpts from a translation of his article published in the English edition of Al-Sharq Al-Awsat:[3]

"Campaigning for a deal on the Iranian nuclear issue, the pro-mullah lobby in the West, especially in the United States, often cites three claims in support of President Barack Obama's appeasement of Tehran. The first is that a deal will help the 'reformist' wing of the regime led by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani—which already controls the presidency through Hassan Rouhani—to capture other levers of power and embark on a genuine program of change aimed at returning Iran to normality. Rafsanjani is cast as a moderate, a turbaned version of Deng Xiaoping, capable of closing the chapter of the revolution and forging business-like relations with the US.

Much is made of Rafsanjani's recent statements that he has always favored collective leadership and that once the Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei is shown the door, he would press for a collegial system and the end of 'one-man rule' in Iran.

"The first step in that direction was supposed to come last Monday when Rafsanjani sought to get himself elected president of the Assembly of Experts... Capturing [it] was supposed to be the first step in a victorious march that would enable the Rafsanjani faction to win control of the Islamic Consultative Assembly or Majlis, the 290-member ersatz parliament.

However the Assembly of Experts elected Ayatollah Muhammad Yazdi—one of Rafsanjani's oldest foes and a close associate of Khamenei—as its new president with 47 votes to 24.

The Rafsanjani faction's hopes of winning control of the parliament next year are unlikely to prove any better. Several polls show that even if the faction manages to mobilize all those who voted for Rouhani—33 percent of those eligible to vote—it still would not be enough to secure a majority of the 230 seats on offer.

"The second claim, paradoxically, is built on a fatwa supposedly issued by Khamenei forbidding the use of nuclear weapons.

Thus, while Obama hopes that Rafsanjani will eventually evict Khamenei, he is basing his policy on a fatwa issued by the latter. Since no one, and certainly not Obama, has seen the fatwa in question it is hard to assess its political importance. However in real terms the fatwa, supposing it does exist, is nothing more than an opinion and is thus devoid of legal authority.

"The third claim is that the nuclear project is popular with the Iranian people and that by accepting a nuclear Iran the US would gain popularity there. However, ultimately there is no evidence to back that claim.

The issue has never been properly discussed in any public forum, not even in the Majlis. In fact, successive governments, including under the Shah, have suppressed a number of reports warning against the dangers of a nuclear project, especially with reference to the threat that earthquakes pose to nuclear installations on almost all parts of the Iranian Plateau...


"Obama's hope is that by making a deal he will enable Rafsanjani's 'moderate' faction to win the power struggle in Tehran and initiate a change of behavior by the Khomeinist regime.  That, many agree, is nothing but an illusion.

In his address to the US Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also seemed to share this sentiment. As Aristotle observed 25 centuries ago, character is action. In other words: You are what you do! 

A regime's nature dictates its behavior. As Sa'adi Shirazi—the famous poet of Shiraz—noted almost eight centuries ago, a scorpion does not sting because it wants to be a bad boy; it does so in accordance with its nature." Hmmm.....By the way, If there were an invisible Fatwa, there would be no need for hidden facilities.

Related:   Don’t Misunderstand Khamenei’s Nuclear Fatwa.

'Moderate Iran': 'Entire Israel within range of Iran missiles': IRGC chief

'Moderate Iran': 'Entire Israel within range of Iran missiles': IRGC chief. (presstv).

The chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the entire Israel is within the range of the Islamic Republic’s missiles.

“The [Islamic] Revolution’s missiles, [deployed] in north and south [of the country], cover the entire occupied territories,” Major General Mohammad-Ali Ja’fari said on Tuesday.

He said that Iran’s enemies have acknowledged that the Islamic Republic has turned into a major power in the Middle East but they will not stop their animosity toward the country.

In recent years, Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing important military equipment and systems.

Iran has so far designed and manufactured different indigenous missiles, including Khalij-e-Fars (Persian Gulf), Mehrab (Altar), Ra'd (Thunder), Qader (Mighty), Nour (Light) and Zafar (Triumph).

The Islamic Republic has also conducted military drills to enhance the defense capabilities of its military and to test modern military tactics and equipment.

Iran has repeatedly said that its military might poses no threat to other countries, reiterating that its defense doctrine is based on deterrence.

Iran has, however, pledged a crushing response to aggressors in case of a military attack on the country.

Iranian Minister: Several spies arrested in Bushehr.

Iranian Minister: Several spies arrested in Bushehr. (Taz).

Iranian security forces have arrested several spies in the Southern province of Bushehr, Intelligence Minister Seyyed Mahmoud Alawi announced on Tuesday, IRNA reported.
Alawi Who was addressing a number of local officials in Bushehr City said that thanks to the vigilance of the Intelligence Ministry officers who monitor the moves of the foreign intelligence services, some agents who were gathering intelligence data for the foreigners in Bushehr province were identified, arrested and sent to concerned judiciary offices.

The minister further reminded the decisive role of the Bushehr province for the country, and stressed, 'This province as the economic, industrial, military, trade and nuclear hub of the country has a special position at the national level.'

In August, Head of the AEOI Ali Akbar Salehi said not only the western, but also some developing states have been trying to sabotage Iran's nuclear installations through selling malfunctioning parts to the country.

'Unfortunately, different European and western countries and famous world industries with special positions (in this industry) have collaborated with the Zionist regime and the US efforts to sabotage Iran's nuclear industry, and if one day we reveal the names of these industries and companies to the world, all people will understand the importance of this issue,' Salehi told reporters at the time.

Senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Araqchi Terms High-Velocity Centrifuge Machines Iran's Bargaining Chip.

Senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Araqchi Terms High-Velocity Centrifuge Machines Iran's Bargaining Chip.HT: IMRA.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930728000764

TEHRAN (FNA)- Senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Seyed Abbas Araqchi underlined the country's rapid progress in nuclear technology, including the building of high-velocity centrifuge machines, and said Tehran would use the achievement as a Bargaining Chip in the upcoming talks with the world powers.

Araqchi, who is also the deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said on Sunday that production of high-velocity centrifuge machines by the Iranian nuclear scientists are the country's latest achievement in this arena.

He stated that all achievements of the Islamic Republic will provide a strong backup for the Iranian team of negotiators during their talks with the six world powers. "This new achievement will produce positive effects in the negotiations as the Iranian team will continue the talks with more power by relying on these achievements."

He further added that despite the wide differences still existing between the two sides, a final sum-up will be possible by November 24 provided that the other side of the talks shows good-will and focuses more on Iran's ideas.

He stressed that there has been no kind of agreement yet because of divergences.

Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) are due to hold experts talks in Vienna on Wednesday and Thursday.

According to Araqchi, there will also be a trilateral meeting among Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, his US counterpart John Kerry and the EU foreign policy chief in the next two weeks.

Iran and the six major world powers ended their 8th round of nuclear negotiations in Vienna on Thursday.

The 7th round of the talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 was held in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting last month.

The two sides held six rounds of negotiations in Vienna to reach a comprehensive deal after they inked an interim agreement in Geneva on November 24.

The Geneva agreement took effect on January 20 and expired six months later on July 20. In July, Tehran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations until November 24 after they failed to reach an agreement on a number of key issues.

Senator Mark Kirk: Congress Will Not Support ‘Obama-Khamenei’ Nuclear Deal.

Senator Mark Kirk: Congress Will Not Support ‘Obama-Khamenei’ Nuclear Deal.(Algemeiner).
By Ben Cohen
A leading United States senator has warned that the Obama Administration is heading for confrontation with Congress over its refusal, as reported by the New York Times, to allow congressional approval of a final nuclear deal with Iran.

In a statement to The Algemeiner, Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) declared:

“By threatening to cut out Congress from the Iran nuclear deal, the Administration is actually uniting Congress.  We will not support an Obama-Khamenei deal that condemns our children to a future where the Middle East is full of nuclear weapons.”

After the signing of the Geneva Accord with Iran in November 2013, Kirk slammed the arrangement as “the deal of the century for Iran,” and one that “undermines sanctions and doesn’t stop a future with Iranian nuclear weapons.”

In a piece for the New York Times yesterday, David Sanger pointed out that it is uncertain whether the U.S. will be able to strike a deal with the Iranians in advance of the November 24 deadline. However, Sanger added, “If agreement is reached, President Obama will do everything in his power to avoid letting Congress vote on it.”

“We wouldn’t seek congressional legislation in any comprehensive agreement for years,” Sanger quoted a “senior official” as saying.

Over the weekend, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) said that “If a potential deal does not substantially and effectively dismantle Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons program, I expect Congress will respond. An agreement cannot allow Iran to be a threshold nuclear state.” Menendez has sponsored legislation to tighten sanctions if no agreement is reached by Nov. 24.

Advocacy groups working on the Iranian nuclear issue also expressed worry.

“First the administration inappropriately characterized members of Congress as warmongers, now it is seeking to bypass Congress entirely,” David Ibsen of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) told The Algemeiner.

“This is wrong. Clearly Congress has a role to play in approving any agreement, given its authority in passing, lifting and potentially increasing sanctions as well as the historic consequences of a potential nuclear agreement with Iran.”

“Any agreement must move Iran off the path toward nuclear weapons capability with terms that ensure Iran has no fortified nuclear facilities, no heavy water reactor and no enrichment capacity that would allow it to produce sufficient weapons grade uranium to ‘break out’ a nuclear device,” said Illinois Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider.

“And importantly, any potential agreement that would lead to a potential lessening of the sanctions pressure on Iran must be presented to Congress for approval.  It was Congress that established the sanctions, and only with Congressional approval should they be altered.”

Seasoned Iran-watchers remain concerned that American efforts to secure Iranian cooperation in the war against Islamic State terrorists in Syria and Iraq will lead to a potentially fatal compromise over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Writing at The Hill, Michael Ledeen, a former consultant to the National Security Council, observed:

Nuclear deal or not, American collaboration with Iran is extremely dangerous, as Khamenei pushes for greater hegemony in the Middle East and, indeed, worldwide. Mohammed Ali Jaafari, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, made this clear in a recent speech about the Guards’ role in exporting the Iranian Revolution: 

“The mission of the Ghods Force is external, to help Islamic movements, to expand the revolution and to provide assistance to suffering people across the world … and to people who need help in such countries as Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. The Guards … views its duty to support and defend the nations under the hegemony of America and Israel and to provide them any technology, something that is even more important than the transfer of weapons.”

The clash between the Obama Administration and Congress over Iran comes as a senior member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission claimed, as reported by The Algemeiner, that Washington has already made a significant concession to the Iranians.

Javad Karimi Qoddousi informed the Mehr news agency that he had been told directly by Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister and a senior nuclear negotiator, that the Americans were “now coming to terms ” with “4,000 active centrifuges,” despite the fact that in the “New York and Vienna talks, US would not accept 1,300 centrifuges.”

UPDATE: Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued the following statement on Monday night:

“I’m disappointed by reports this morning that the Obama Administration is seeking to deny Congress any role in judging a nuclear deal with Iran.

“In July, I led a bipartisan letter to the President - signed by over 340 Members of Congress - calling for ‘greater consultation with Congress on a potential sanctions relief package that may be part of a final agreement.’  That extensive engagement hasn’t come, even as the Administration is considering such hugely consequential national security decisions.  It’s tough to see a solid agreement when Congress - which was critical to putting in the strong sanctions that got negotiators to this point - is so clearly sidelined.

“When asked if the Administration would come to Congress to secure legislative relief of sanctions in a final agreement with Iran, in a Congressional hearing earlier this year, Secretary of State John Kerry responded: ‘(w)ell, of course. We would be obligated to under the law.’  He added that ‘what we do will have to pass muster with Congress.’

“This report is another sign that the Obama Administration may strike an agreement that fails to protect the vital national security interest of the United States and our allies.”

The Algemeiner Journal

Excerpt from PM Netanyahu's Remarks at the Ceremony to Dedicate Road #9 in Jerusalem in Memory of Former PM Yitzhak Shamir (Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Following is an excerpt from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks yesterday (Sunday, 19 October 2014), at the ceremony to dedicate Road #9 in Jerusalem in memory of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir:

"We are facing the danger of an agreement with the major powers that will leave Iran as a nuclear threshold state, with thousands of centrifuges with which it will be able to produce a nuclear bomb within a short period of time. This is a threat to the entire world, especially Israel, and is much more severe than the threat from ISIS."

'Moderate' Iran already won nuke talks with P5+1, Rouhani says

'Moderate' Iran already won nuke talks with P5+1, Rouhani says. (Taz).

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani believes that Iran has already won the nuclear talks with the P5+1 countries, the Iranian state IRINN TV reported Oct. 21.

“The fact that our representatives bargain the six world powers, argue with them and reject their ideas indicates the political power of Iranian people,” Rouhani said.

Rouhani went on to stress that “it is a victory for Iranian people.”

Rouhani previously said that Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries will reach a win-win agreement in nuclear talks.

“There is no doubt in Iran’s right to enrich uranium. The whole world has accepted the fact. But we just have disagreements on details,” Rouhani had said.

“There is no argument that Iran has the right to enrich uranium at the Natanz site. There is no argument in constructing a power plant in Arak, or Fordo site’s activities. The only issue is in details,” Iranian president said.

He said no one has any doubts that Iran has the right to obtain latest nuclear technologies, adding that the French president has declared his county’s willingness to provide modern nuclear technologies to Iran after the nuclear talks.

Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) held their latest round of talks in Vienna in mid-October to work out a final agreement aimed at ending the long-standing dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Last November, Iran and the P5+1 clinched an interim nuclear accord, which took effect on Jan. 20 and expired six months later. However, the two sides agreed to extend their talks until Nov. 24 as they remained divided on a number of key issues.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi said on Oct. 20 that the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 countries have differences in all topics.

Related: As Deadline Nears, Khamenei Lays Out Impossible Red Lines for Nuclear Talks


The list, essentially, rules out any agreement acceptable to the west, and particularly, Israel.
In September, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Iran missed an August 25 deadline, by which time Tehran was obligated to clarify five issues connected to developing nuclear weapons.

The tweet comes days after a reports surfaced of a mysterious massive blast and fire which gutted parts of the Parchin nuclear facility, some 30 kilometers southeast of Tehran. Western analysts believe the site conducted high-explosives tests, connected with developing triggers for nuclear weapons.
Following are the 11 points:

• The “nuclear science movement should not come to a halt or even slow down.”

• The “Iranian delegation should insist on continuing nuclear research and development.”

• “No one has the right to bargain over nuclear achievements and no one will do so.”

• “Our delegation should not accept any impositions from the other side.”

• The “International Atomic Energy Agency should establish normal and non-extraordinary relations with Iran.”

• “Officials should have meetings and talks at the level of foreign minsters.”

• “Protecting an organization like Fordow which the enemy is not able to destroy and is inaccessible to them.”

• “Supplying the final needs of the country’s enrichment capacity, which is 190 thousand SWUS” (separative work units for uranium enrichment).

• “Basic needs of the country and some issues like the sanctions should not be tied to the nuclear talks.”

• “These talks are only centered on the nuclear issue and not anything else.”

• “As long as Americans continue their enmity and their hostile remarks about Iran, interactions with them will bear no practicality.”

"Israel's Staunchest Ally" Pres Obama would bypass Congress on Iran deal.

"Israel's Staunchest Ally" Pres Obama would bypass Congress on Iran deal.(NYT).

Obama would bypass Congress on Iran deal . . . No one knows if the Obama administration will manage in the next five weeks to strike what many in the White House consider the most important foreign policy deal of his presidency: an accord with Iran that would forestall its ability to make a nuclear weapon. 

But the White House has made one significant decision: If agreement is reached, President Obama will do everything in his power to avoid letting Congress vote on it.

Even while negotiators argue over the number of centrifuges Iran would be allowed to spin and where inspectors could roam, the Iranians have signaled that they would accept, at least temporarily, a “suspension” of the stringent sanctions . . . The Treasury Department, in a detailed study it declined to make public, has concluded Mr. Obama has the authority to suspend the vast majority of those sanctions without seeking a vote by Congress, officials say.

“We wouldn’t seek congressional legislation in any comprehensive agreement for years,” one senior official said. New York Times

But Mr. Obama cannot permanently terminate those sanctions. Only Congress can take that step. And even if Democrats held on to the Senate next month, Mr. Obama’s advisers have concluded they would probably lose such a vote.

White House officials say Congress should not be surprised by this plan. They point to testimony earlier this year when top negotiators argued that the best way to assure that Iran complies with its obligations is a step-by-step suspension of sanctions — with the implicit understanding that the president could turn them back on as fast as he turned them off.

“We have been clear that initially there would be suspension of any of the U.S. and international sanctions regime, and that the lifting of sanctions will only come when the I.A.E.A. verifies that Iran has met serious and substantive benchmarks,” Bernadette Meehan, the spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said Friday, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. “We must be confident that Iran’s compliance is real and sustainable over a period of time.” Read the full story here.

Iranian official: Goal is world with no US, Israel, Wahhabism and ISIL.

Iranian official: Goal is world with no US, Israel, Wahhabism and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) . HT: IMRA.

TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior aide to the Iranian Supreme Leader underlined that all Muslim states are pursuing the common objective of confronting and defeating Israel, and said the Zionist regime's security is being threatened now.

Addressing a gathering in Mashhad, Northeastern Iran, on Wednesday, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Supreme Leader's Office for Relations and International Affairs Mohsen Qomi pointed to the ongoing regional crises, and said, "Confronting Israel is the common goal of all Muslim countries."

He reiterated that Israel's security is now at risk, and said, "We should imagine a world where there will be no US, Israel, Wahhabism and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and we should make use of the youth's potentials to this end." 

In August, Iranian Parliament Speaker’s top adviser for international affairs Hossein Sheikholeslam underlined that the recent victory of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas against Israel would intensify Tel Aviv's internal problems.

"After the end of war in Gaza, the real problems of Israel will begin," Sheikholeslam said, addressing a meeting on the latest developments of Gaza attended by Islamic Jihad Representative in Tehran Abu Sharif.

He noted that Israel failed to achieve its goals in its war against the Palestinians in Gaza, and said, "Israel is diminishing now."

Joyous Palestinians streamed into the streets of Gaza and celebrated victory after seven weeks of resistance against the Israeli offensive.

Iran loses 1983 Marine Corps barracks bombing case.

Iran loses 1983 Marine Corps barracks bombing case. (Taz).

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has slapped Iran with another whopping financial penalty for the 1983 Marine Corps barracks bombing in Beirut, the Newsweek newspaper reported Oct. 15.

Calling it “an evil and cruel attack, intended to cause death, destruction, and emotional devastation,” Judge Royce Lamberth awarded the 62 relatives of six Marines and two Navy corpsmen $454 million, the latest setback for Iran in a flurry of cases dating back to 2001.

Since 2007, D.C. courts have awarded more than $10 billion to victims and their families of the 1983 suicide bombing, which killed 241 Marines and Navy medics, known as corpsmen, and wounded many others.

“The Court applauds plaintiffs’ persistent efforts to hold Iran accountable for its cowardly support of terrorism,” Lamberth wrote in the Oct. 14 judgment, saying “Iran must be punished to the fullest extent legally possible for the bombing in Beirut on October 23, 1983."

“This horrific act harmed countless individuals and their families, a number of whom receive awards in this lawsuit,” Lambeth added. “This Court hopes that the victims and their families may find some measure of solace from this final judgment.”

Joseph Peter Drennan, an Alexandria, Va. attorney for some of the plaintiffs, said the judgment “stands as a testament to the rule of law.

“It’s an alternative way of dealing with the scourge of state-sponsored terrorism,” Drennan told Newsweek in a brief telephone interview Oct. 15. “It puts them on notice that whatever Iran gained from terrorism is far outweighed by the cost to them.”

Drennan said Iran was “totally unrepentant” about the bombing, noting that a Tehran cemetery has a memorial to the suicide bomber, dispatched by the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.

The next hurdle will be actually collecting money from Iran.

Last year a federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled that Iranian central bank money held in a New York Citibank account should be turned over to victims’ families to help satisfy a $2.65 billion default judgment against Iran in 2007. The central bank has until next month to take its case to the Supreme Court.

As Deadline Nears, Khamenei Lays Out Impossible Red Lines for Nuclear Talks

As Deadline Nears, Khamenei Lays Out Impossible Red Lines for Nuclear Talks. HT: Algemeiner. By D. Bender.

Some six weeks before the conclusion of crucial nuclear talks between P5+1 world powers and Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a Twitter feed he is believed to operate, posted a graphic laying out 11 non-negotiable “red lines,” beyond which his country’s negotiators would, presumably, not budge.

“During the past year, Ayatollah Khamenei, in line with his support for the Iranian negotiators, has also stressed on the Iranian nation’s rights and has called it necessary to observe the red lines in the course of the nuclear talks,” the infographic, which was posted on Sunday, said.

The talks with the P5+1 include the U.S., Britain, France, China and Russia - the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany.

The list, essentially, rules out any agreement acceptable to the west, and particularly, Israel.
In September, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Iran missed an August 25 deadline, by which time Tehran was obligated to clarify five issues connected to developing nuclear weapons.

The tweet comes days after a reports surfaced of a mysterious massive blast and fire which gutted parts of the Parchin nuclear facility, some 30 kilometers southeast of Tehran. Western analysts believe the site conducted high-explosives tests, connected with developing triggers for nuclear weapons.
Following are the 11 points:

• The “nuclear science movement should not come to a halt or even slow down.”

• The “Iranian delegation should insist on continuing nuclear research and development.”

• “No one has the right to bargain over nuclear achievements and no one will do so.”

• “Our delegation should not accept any impositions from the other side.”

• The “International Atomic Energy Agency should establish normal and non-extraordinary relations with Iran.”

• “Officials should have meetings and talks at the level of foreign minsters.”

• “Protecting an organization like Fordow which the enemy is not able to destroy and is inaccessible to them.”

• “Supplying the final needs of the country’s enrichment capacity, which is 190 thousand SWUS” (separative work units for uranium enrichment).

• “Basic needs of the country and some issues like the sanctions should not be tied to the nuclear talks.”

• “These talks are only centered on the nuclear issue and not anything else.”

• “As long as Americans continue their enmity and their hostile remarks about Iran, interactions with them will bear no practicality.”

On October 1, at a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of the danger of leaving Iran with nuclear capabilities.

“Iran seeks a deal that would lift the tough sanctions that you worked so hard to put in place and leave it as a threshold nuclear power,” Netanyahu told Obama during a press conference before their private meeting in the Oval Office. “And I firmly hope under your leadership that would not happen.”

Speaking at the UN General Assembly on September 29, Netanyahu declared that “The Islamic Republic is now trying to bamboozle its way to an agreement that will remove the sanctions it still faces and leave it with a capacity of thousands of centrifuges to enrich uranium. This would effectively cement Iran’s place as a threshold military nuclear power. And in the future, at the time of its choosing, Iran, the world’s most dangerous regime, in the world’s most dangerous region, would obtain the world’s most dangerous weapons.”

Dissidents have said in recent days, that some of the weapons research work that was carried out at Parchin, has been transferred elsewhere. Hmmmm........The 'Invisible' nuclear Fatwa does not object to building a few....just in case we retract the fatwa.

The Algemeiner Journal

Iran Admits Testing Nuclear 'Bridge Wires' at Exploded Parchin plant

Iran Admits Testing Nuclear 'Bridge Wires' at Exploded Parchin plant. (INN). HT: IsraelMatzav.

Reports quote Iran as saying it tested devices to detonate nuclear reaction at secret facility that blew up this week.

In the wake of the reported massive explosion at Iran’s secret nuclear facility at Parchin on Sunday, it was reported by USAToday that Iran has admitted it had “tested ‘exploding bridge wires’” at Parchin, and “not neutron initiators.”

Just last Friday, Arutz Sheva published an article explaining how the IAEA in November 2011 reported that it had received “highly credible” information that Iran had tested “neutron initiators" at the site, and that Iran had told it that it had exploding bridge wire technology.

The same November 2011 IAEA report also reported that Iran had tested exploding bridge wires. Exploding bridge wires act to simultaneously trigger the conventional explosives components of a nuclear bomb, so as to create the right condition for the nuclear core to fully detonate in a nuclear reaction.

In specific, the IAEA November 2011 Annex stated that "among the alleged studies documentation are a number of documents relating to the development by Iran, during the period 2002–2003, of fast functioning detonators, known as 'exploding bridgewire detonators' or 'EBWs.'"

It added that in 2008, Iran told the IAEA that "before the period 2002–2004, it had already achieved EBW technology. Iran also provided the Agency with a short undated document in Farsi, understood to be the specifications for a detonator development program, and a document from a foreign source showing an example of a civilian application in which detonators are fired simultaneously. However, Iran has not explained to the Agency its own need or application for such detonators."

"Given their [EBWs’] possible application in a nuclear explosive device, and the fact that there are limited civilian and conventional military applications for such technology, Iran’s development of such detonators and equipment is a matter of concern," warned the IAEA document.

As recently as September 5, the IAEA reiterated that Iran is still trying to explain its civilian, non-nuclear-weapon, "need" for explosive bridge wires

Such an implosion bomb was estimated by A.Q. Khan, father of the Pakistani nuclear-bomb, to be able to achieve a 20-21 kiloton yield equivalent to the plutonium implosion bomb code-named “Fat Man” that was dropped on Nagasaki August 9, 1945, and killed an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 people outright. Hmmm.....Nuclear Fatwa my A*@$%. Read the full story here.

Satellite images: Obvious Damage at the Military Research Complex at Parchin.

Satellite images: Obvious Damage at the Military Research Complex at Parchin. (IsraelDefence).


24 hours after the reports from Iran regarding a mysterious explosion at the military compound in Parchin, evidence has been received that refutes the denials of the Iranian government.

Satellite images of the Parchin area, to the east of Tehran, prove: the explosion reported by the Iranian media had, indeed, occurred inside the military compound in Parchin, where, according to western intelligence agencies, trials are being conducted on nuclear missile fuzes. 

Satellite images obtained by Israel Defense and analyzed by specialist Ronen Solomon clearly show damage consistent with an attack against bunkers in a central locality within the military research complex at the Parchin military compound.

The locality in question is situated at the center of the compound, adjacent to another installation where, according to intelligence sources, the trials being conducted involve controlled detonation of fuzes intended to serve as triggers for nuclear devices. The locality consists of a sizable testing center and what appears to be an area with bunker-shaped structures. "Before and after" images indicate that a complete section of structures was simply eliminated by an unexplained explosion. The explosion wiped several testing units off the face of the earth while inflicting collateral damage on adjacent buildings, with traces of fire clearly visible in a section located in a sparsely afforested area. Hmmm.....I can hear already Iran says it was a BBQ that got out of hand....Nothing to see, move along. Read and see the full story here.

Iran defends refusal to let in U.N. nuclear expert

Iran defends refusal to let in U.N. nuclear expert. (Taz).

Iran has dismissed criticism by the International Atomic Energy Agency of its refusal earlier this year to let one IAEA expert into the country as part of a team investigating allegations of nuclear weapons research, Reuters reported Oct. 8.

Tehran said it had a sovereign right to decide who to admit onto its territory. 

But its failure to issue a visa to an IAEA official, who diplomatic sources said was probably a Western atomic bomb expert, may deepen longstanding Western suspicions that it is stonewalling the U.N. agency's inquiry.

The IAEA said last month that Iran had not issued a visa for one member of a team that visited Tehran on Aug. 31 to try to advance the investigation into what the U.N. agency calls the possible military dimensions of the country's nuclear program.

It was the third time the person, whom the U.N. agency did not identify, had been unable to obtain an entry permit. It was unclear whether this official had received one to join an IAEA delegation holding talks in the Iranian capital this week.

It is important, the IAEA said in a Sept. 5 report on Iran's nuclear program, that "any staff member identified by the agency with the requisite expertise is able to participate in the agency's technical activities".

But, in a statement distributed to IAEA member states this week, Iran said that granting visas was "our sovereign national right and we will issue it when we deem it appropriate".

The IAEA has for years been trying to get to the bottom of allegations that Iran has worked on designing a nuclear bomb.

Iran says its nuclear activity is a peaceful, but suspicions in the West that the civil nuclear program is a front for weapons development have led to punishing economic sanctions, which Tehran hopes will be lifted if ongoing negotiations with world powers succeed in ending the standoff.

IAEA member states have the right to deny access to individual inspectors proposed by the U.N. agency, and Iran has for several years blocked staff from some Western nations, including the United States, to check its nuclear sites.

A separate, high-level IAEA team in charge of the Iran inquiry - which at least on some occasions has included officials from France, the United States and Britain - has held several meetings in Tehran since early 2012, including one this week.

Iran said it had provided visas on time to three new members of the IAEA team in recent months.

NUCLEAR "AMBIGUITIES"

Western officials say Iran needs to cooperate with the IAEA inquiry if it wants to reach a breakthrough diplomatic settlement with world powers.

Last month's IAEA report said Iran had failed to answer questions about possible military dimensions of its nuclear program by an agreed Aug. 25 deadline, in a possible setback for the farther-reaching diplomacy between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia.

Iran rejects the accusations as baseless. But it has promised, since relative pragmatist Hassan Rouhani was elected president last year on a platform to end its international isolation, to work with the IAEA to clear up the suspicions.

"We continue to cooperate with the IAEA on some of the ambiguities in order to clarify and resolve them," said the Iranian communique to IAEA member countries, which was dated Sept. 19 but only posted on the IAEA's website this week.

While the powers seek to limit the size of Iran's future nuclear program - and thereby extend the time it would need for any attempt to accumulate fissile material for a weapon - the IAEA is investigating purported research and experiments in the past that could be applied to making the bomb itself.

Underlining its determination to press ahead with efforts to modernize its nuclear capacity - an area of concern for the United States and its allies, the Iranian statement said it installed a new, advanced centrifuge, the IR-8, last year in a research and development facility at its Natanz enrichment plant. 

Centrifuges refine uranium, a nuclear fuel which can have both civilian and military applications.

It said the IR-8 was a "complete new centrifuge" and criticized the IAEA for calling it a "casing" in its reports. If Iran were to successfully replace its current, breakdown-prone IR-1 model, it could amass potential bomb material much faster.

Iran, P5+1 agree on principle issues- Rouhani

Iran, P5+1 agree on principle issues- Rouhani. (Taz).

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says there is consensus between the country and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) on principle issues.

Speaking at a gathering of cabinet members and parliamentarians at Iran’s Parliament, Rouhani said the two sides’ difference lied only in details, the country’s Press TV reported Oct. 8.

“There is no difference between the two sides over whether a power plant should be constructed in Arak, or whether Iran should possess enrichment technology, or about the Fordow center and the continuation of Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities, or whether alleged military issues should be resolved; and there is difference only about details and the quantity of matters,” Rouhani said.

“Today, no one says Iran should be eliminated from equations and developments, and everybody admits that Iran is not omissible. All countries have said that Iran should play its role in fighting terrorism and there is no doubt about this,” the Iranian president added.

Iran and the P5+1 held their latest round of talks in New York on September 18-26 to work out a final agreement aimed at ending the longstanding dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program before a November 24 deadline.

Last November, Iran and the P5+1 clinched an interim nuclear accord, which took effect on January 20 and expired six months later. However, the two sides agreed to extend their talks until November 24 as they remained divided on a number of key issues.

Iran - Massive blast reported at suspected Parchin nuke facility.

Iran - Massive blast reported at suspected Parchin nuke facility.(TOI).

Explosion shatters windows kilometers away from secretive Parchin site, believed to be part of Iran’s nuclear program.

A massive explosion on Sunday night reportedly ripped through Iran’s secretive Parchin facility, suspected to be part of the country’s controversial nuclear weapons program.

The BBC, citing a report from the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported on Monday that the incident happened in an “explosive materials production unit” at the site that is south-east of the capital Tehran.

According to ISNA the blast was so powerful it shattered windows up to 12 kilometers away and the glare from the explosion lit up the night sky.

Iran’s defense industries organisation reportedly said in a statement that two workers at the site lost their lives.

Parchin is known to be an explosive production facility but is also suspected as being a key element in Iran’s nuclear weapon development program.

The International Atomic Energy Authority has not been given access to the site since 2005 and experts believe the Iranians may be developing specialized explosives used to trigger nuclear weapons.