'Iran May Be Allowed to Develop Nukes If Stops Supporting Palestine': Grand Mufti of Syria.

'Iran May Be Allowed to Develop Nukes If Stops Supporting Palestine': Grand Mufti of Syria. (IFP).

The Grand Mufti of Syria believes that the West would permit Iran to have nuclear weapons if it stops supporting Palestine and its cause.

“If Iran abandoned the Palestinian cause, the West would have allowed it to manufacture nuclear weapons,” Syrian Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Badr al-Din Hassoun said, according to a Farsi report by Bultan News.

He then criticized other Islamic countries for not supporting Palestine, saying, “We are witnessing in the Arab and Islamic countries that they have forgotten the Palestinian cause.” Hmmm.....The whole 'Nuclear Fatwa' claim is BS. 

'Iran's Ballistic Missile Development Program Not Confined to Any Range': Defense Minister.

'Iran's Ballistic Missile Development Program Not Confined to Any Range': Defense Minister. (Fars).

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan underlined that his country sees no limit for the range of the ballistic missiles that it is developing.

"We don’t have any limit for the range of liquid or solid-fueled ballistic missiles," Dehqan said in a meeting in the Central city of Isfahan on Saturday.

He underlined the indigenous nature of most Iranian weapons and military equipment, and said, "90 percent of the country's defense systems have reached an acceptable standard and enjoy competitive quality compared with the weapons of advanced countries; production of the national individual weapons and efforts to improve the quality and precision-striking power of ballistic missiles are among the defense ministry's achievements in the defense field."

General Dehqan added that Iranian experts have also taken long strides in building satellites, satellite carriers, missile launchpads and research work in defense areas.

His remarks came as the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) fired 2 home-made 'Qadr H' ballistic missiles from the Eastern Alborz Mountains at a target in Iran's Southeastern Makran seashore some 1400km away in March.

The missiles were fired on the sidelines of the main stage of the IRGC drills in Central Iran and various parts of the country.

One missile had a message written on it that said in Hebrew: "Israel should be wiped off the Earth".

Qadr is a 2000km-range, liquid-fuel and ballistic missile which can reach territories as far as Israel.

The missile can carry different types of ‘Blast’ and ‘MRV’ (Multiple Reentry Vehicle) payloads to destroy a range of targets. The new version of Qadr H can be launched from mobile platforms or silos in different positions and can escape missile defense shields due to their radar-evading capability.

Improved warhead designs allow smaller warheads for a given yield, while better electronics and guidance systems allowed greater accuracy. As a result MIRV technology has proven more attractive than MRV for advanced nations. 

Because of the larger amount of nuclear material consumed by MRVs and MIRVs, single warhead missiles are more attractive for nations with less advanced technology. The United States deployed an MRV payload on the Polaris A-3. The Soviet Union deployed MRVs on the SS-9 Mod 4 ICBM. Hmmmm.....Anyone remembering how Iran's BFF North Korea is working on miniaturized nuclear warheads?

Video - The Secrets of the Sands - Saudi Arabia’s undisclosed missile site and nuclear effort.

HT: Janes.

How Iran Went Nuclear and how far are they now?

How Iran Went Nuclear and how far are they now?(Matzav).By Dovid Feith It has been more than three years since President Obama revealed the existence of the secret Iranian nuclear facility at Fordo-a uranium-enrichment plant buried deep inside a mountain and surrounded by missile silos and anti-aircraft batteries. Is the world due for another surprise soon?

If anyone has standing to speculate, it is Olli Heinonen, who says he first “got a whiff” of Fordo six years before Mr. Obama acknowledged it. In the fall of 2003, Mr. Heinonen was in his office at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna when a man appeared unannounced. The “walk-in”-whom Mr. Heinonen hasn’t previously discussed, and whose nationality he won’t disclose-claimed that Iran was replicating its existing uranium-enrichment facility in an underground site near the holy city of Qum. And so it was, as the IAEA and Western spy agencies later confirmed.

But that isn’t all the walk-in shared in 2003. Also under construction in Iran, he said, was a duplicate of the Arak heavy-water facility designed to produce plutonium. In other words, the walk-in said that Iran had at least two secret sites, and he was correct on the first. What about the second-is there a plutonium facility that remains secret today?

“People talk a lot about how intelligence has penetrated all this,” he says of Iran’s weapons program, “but if you go back to the nuclear programs which have been revealed [elsewhere], they all came with a surprise. If there is no undeclared installation today . . . it will be the first time in 20 years that Iran doesn’t have one.”

Even assuming that Iran’s regime has no secret facilities, it could go the North Korea route-defined by Mr. Heinonen as deciding “Enough is enough, to heck with this, we’ll build a nuclear weapon”-in “a month or two,” he says. The precise timing would depend on how (and how well) Iranian engineers go about enriching their uranium stocks to weapons-grade purity. But in any case, Mr. Heinonen notes, Iran’s breakout would likely outpace the ability of the “international community” to respond.

Mr. Heinonen cites a 2003 episode in which former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani helped convince the supreme leader to reverse his public position against signing an additional-protocol agreement with the IAEA.

Then again, as Mr. Heinonen confirms, Iran cheated on that agreement and terminated its implementation after two years, so it doesn’t inspire much confidence. If a grand-and honest-bargain can’t be struck, and Iran is recognized as a de facto or overt nuclear power, then what? Will the Middle East see a nuclear-arms race as rival nations try to catch up?

“Yes, it might, but not overnight,” Mr. Heinonen says. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and others would need five to 10 years to build a bomb “even in a crash course.”Yet that is only if the countries are “starting from zero,” he notes. Saudi Arabia may already be on the move.

In 2011, the kingdom announced plans to build 16 nuclear power reactors by 2030. “That’s actually a funny number,” Mr. Heinonen says-just what a country would need to justify developing domestic fuel-cycle capabilities that could have both civilian and military uses. “If you want to maintain your own uranium enrichment, that’s the right number. . . . It’s a perfect match.” He adds: “Remember, there was no one military program which took place without civilian. It’s always under the civilian umbrella.”

For now, Mr. Heinonen is most concerned about Pakistan. The country is unstable, its nuclear arsenal huge, and “they are building these tactical nuclear weapons, which means that they need to move them around. . . . So how do you maintain the control?”Read the full story here.

Obama 'Leading from behind' drops demand to close Fordow uranium enrichment plant.

Obama 'Leading from behind' drops demand to close Fordow uranium enrichment plant.HT: IsraelMatzav.(NYT).In an amazing concession to Iran, the West has dropped its demand that the Mullahcracy close its Fordow uranium enrichment plant, instead offering an agreement that Iran will not enrich uranium there - except for a 'tiny bit' of 20% enriched uranium that Iran claims to need for medical isotopes.

But the six powers dropped their demand that Iran shut down its enrichment plant at Fordo, built deep underneath a mountain, instead insisting that Iran suspend enrichment work there and agree to take a series of steps that would make it hard to resume producing nuclear fuel quickly. The six also agreed, in another apparent softening, that Iran could keep a small amount of 20 percent enriched uranium — which can be converted to bomb grade with modest additional processing — for use in a reactor to produce medical isotopes.

Before you decide that this is 'reasonable,' keep in mind that Iran is a regime that has consistently deceived the world as to what it is doing and what its intentions are - just yesterday I reported on a newly discovered Iranian attempt to make a bomb out of plutonium.

For that it's worth, the Iranians are now exuding optimism about the negotiations, and the West is a little less optimistic. The chief Iranian negotiator, Saeed Jalili, called this week’s meeting positive, asserting at a news conference that the six powers, representing the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, had offered a revised proposal that was “more realistic” and “closer to the Iranian position.”

Mr. Jalili, whose comments were notably short of the aggressive wording he has used in the past, called the meeting “a turning point.”

But senior Western diplomats were less enthusiastic, saying that Iran had not in fact responded to the proposal of the six and that real bargaining had not yet begun. A senior American official described the meeting as “useful” — refusing to call it positive — and emphasized that it was “concrete results” that counted, not atmospherics.

A senior European diplomat was even more skeptical, saying that the technical meeting was essentially to explain the proposal to the Iranians once again, and that Iran might very well come back in April with an unacceptable counterproposal that swallows the “carrots” of the six and demands more.

The West thinks it has imposed enough conditions to make sure Iran cannot resume enrichment again, and it regards letting Iran keep the plant as a 'face-saving measure.' But what will happen when Iran bars IAEA inspectors again?

Hmmmm.......Remember Jan 2012 - The Swiss ambassador to Tehran quoted the US president as saying that 'we (the US) recognize your nuclear rights'." That's why they no longer ask for closure of Fordow...according to me.Read the full story here.

Surprise? Or not - Kerry Calls for Bilateral Talks with Iran.

Surprise or Not? Kerry Calls for Bilateral Talks with Iran.(CNSnews).U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Iran nuclear talks in Almaty was “useful” and added that if Iran engages seriously it could lead to longer-term, comprehensive agreement. Kerry also said the U.S. is prepared to engage in bilateral discussions with Iran. 
Newly confirmed Secretary of State John Kerry has proposed direct negotiations again. Kerry also said that Obama “has made it clear that he will entertain the notion of a bilateral discussion” with Iran. 
 “The president has said publicly on any number of occasions, and it’s a matter of public record that he personally communicated to the supreme leader, that he was prepared to engage and to discuss these issues,” he said.
“So as a matter of record, I restate today, the United States is prepared to engage in a serious bilateral negotiation with respect to this course we’re on, with the belief that Iran, that has a remarkable history, the Iranian people – there are many Iranian Americans today who contribute to our society. “We would like to move to a better relationship, and it begins by resolving this nuclear issue.”
The personal communication from Obama to Khamenei referred to by Kerry was reportedly a letter sent shortly before Iran’s disputed June 2009 presidential election, a development not disclosed by the administration but first reported by the Washington Times on June 24, 2009.
With Chuck Hagel sworn in as Secretary of Defense earlier this morning, Iran now faces a national security team in Washington that is led by Obama, Kerry and Hagel. If the Iranians ever wanted to deceive the U.S., this is the best opportunity ever.Hmmmm......'By Peace They Will Deceive The World.'Read the full story here.

Chess player Iran hints it will allow UN inspectors at Parchin plant, Converting Enriched Uranium to Reactor Fuel.

Chess player Iran hints it will allow UN inspectors at Parchin plant, Converting Enriched Uranium to Reactor Fuel.(JPost).Iran hopes positive steps will be made at talks on its nuclear program with world powers in Kazakhstan this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Tuesday during a trip to Russia, one of the countries that will take part in the talks. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast hinted that the Islamic regime may permit United Nations inspectors to visit its Parchin facility as part of an agreement with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspectors are due in the country on Wednesday.
Mehmanparast also confirmed that Iran is converting some of its higher-grade enriched uranium into reactor fuel.
"This work is being done and all its reports have been sent to the IAEA in a complete manner," Mehmanparast was quoted as saying on Tuesday by Iran's state news agency IRNA.
He was responding to a question on news reports that Iran has converted some of its 20-percent-enriched uranium into fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor, IRNA said.
Diplomats accredited to the IAEA in Vienna told Reuters that Iran had apparently resumed converting into fuel small amounts of higher-grade enriched uranium - a process which if expanded could buy time for negotiations between Washington and Tehran on its disputed nuclear program.
The possibility of Iran converting enriched uranium into fuel - slowing a growth in stockpiles of material that could be used to make weapons - is one possible way in which the nuclear dispute between Iran and the West could avoid hitting a crisis by the summer.Hmmm....They really take the rest of the world for fools.Read the full story here.

Kerry to Iran: "The president has made it clear ... he is prepared to talk about a peaceful nuclear program,"

Kerry to Iran: "The president has made it clear ... he is prepared to talk about a peaceful nuclear program," (JPost).Major powers are ready to respond if Iran comes to February 26 nuclear talks ready to address questions about its nuclear program, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday.
The powers - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - are scheduled to meet Iranian negotiators in Almaty, Kazakhstan, later this month to see if there is a way to address Western concerns about Iran's nuclear program.
"The international community is ready to respond if Iran comes prepared to talk real substance and to address the concerns, which could not be more clear, about their nuclear program," Kerry said in an opening statement at a news conference with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird.
"It's disturbing," Kerry said. "And so my plea to the Iranians - or my statement - is a clear statement. We are prepared to let diplomacy be the victor in this confrontation over their nuclear program."
Kerry appeared to put the accent on the possibility of a diplomatic solution that could allow Iran to continue its civilian nuclear program as long as it convinces other states that its program is not to obtain weapons.
"The president has made it clear ... he is prepared to talk about a peaceful nuclear program," Kerry said.
"Iran has a choice. They have to prove to the world that it is peaceful and we are prepared to sit reasonably and negotiate how they can do that ... . Or they can chose to be more isolated," he said.
"The president has made it clear that his preference is to have a diplomatic solution. But if he cannot get there, he is prepared to do whatever is necessary to make certain that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon," he added.Read the full story here.

Experts: "Iran could build nuclear bomb in 4-6 months."

Experts: "Iran could build nuclear bomb in 4-6 months."(TOI).ran has what it needs to to build a nuclear bomb in a matter of four to six months, Amos Yadlin, the head of the Institute for National Security Studies, said Monday.
“Iran has completed in the last two years two components that… give it all of the necessary means to manufacture a nuclear weapons as soon as it chooses to do so,” Yadlin, a former Israeli army intelligence chief, told journalists at a presentation of the INSS annual report on Israel’s strategic status.
Yadlin noted, however, that despite the narrow window of opportunity to thwart Iran before it breaks out toward a weaponized nuclear capability, there was still time for diplomatic and/or military action.
An Israeli attack on Tehran’s nuclear facilities, he assessed, would elicit an Iranian response, but not of a magnitude that would precipitate a regional war.
“It may be that they’ll decide to act in 2013, and then we’ll require Israeli and perhaps also American action,” he said. “If Iran is attacked, there’ll be a military conflagration in the Middle East. But our assessment is that the Middle East won’t be enveloped in all-out war and the Iranians will respond in a calculated, limited fashion.”
Turning to Syria, the former head of IDF intelligence said Israel’s strategic situation would improve after the fall of President Bashar Assad. “Removing Syria from the axis of radicalism, if Assad falls, will be an important strategic line for the State of Israel,” he said. A post-Assad Syria, “whatever form it takes,” will be preoccupied with rebuilding. “I don’t see Syria looking for war with Israel… The [Syrian] army will face inwards, not outwards.”
On the diplomatic front, Yadlin said the greatest challenge for Israel was to break its isolation. “The Europeans are at the stage where they are considering sanctions against Israel,” he warned.Hmmm....Whenever Israel Attacks Iran and Iran closes the strait of Hormuz the West and the US left will turn on Israel due to the high gas prices.Read the full story here.

Ex-CIA man Reza Khalili: Iran Fordow blast largest sabotage act in decades.

Ex-CIA man Reza Khalili: Iran Fordow blast largest sabotage act in decades.(JPost).HT: IsraelMatzav.Former Iranian Revolutionary Guard turned CIA agent Reza Khalili has told the Jerusalem Post that the destruction of the Fordo uranium enrichment plant is the largest case of sabotage in decades.
Speaking to the Post on Monday, Khalili expressed confidence that the alleged blast will receive "further coverage in the US," and that "more information" will become available to verify the incident.
"This is the center of the Iranian nuclear program. It's essential for the regime, its activities, and its nuclear program. If such a blow was given to Fordow, it definitely harms [Iran] drastically. They were reaching for 20 percent uranium enrichment, and were increasing output," he added. ...
Asked why satellite imagery was not being released of rescue efforts at Fordow, Kahlili said only state intelligence agencies have access to live satellite feeds. "Why don't they put it out? My only assumption is that no one wants to take credit because of what the consequences could be by the regime," he said. "This is a very sensitive time. I'm sure that soon, very soon, more information will leak out. Chatter will get loud enough to provide further information."
Kahlili went on to say that the "first suspicion is Israel" within the Islamic Republic. "I have verified information that there was a meeting [called by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei. A decision was made to act in Lebanon. A request was made to [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah to vacate southern Lebanese villages. Islamic Republic Guards are on their way there. A decision has been made to prepare for missile launch from a certain area in Lebanon against Israel," he said.
Khalili said one of the sources who initially leaked information of the blast came from within the security forces guarding Fordow, adding that precise information of the attack was not being released in order to protect the source. "The source has been collaborating for a long time," he said. A second source came from the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, he said, adding that it was very difficult to safely get information out of Iran.
Iranian authorities have not yet made any progress in their attempt to enter Fordow, Kahlili asserted, adding, "I fear there is radiation involved." Iran's defense ministry dispatched drilling vehicles, "the same they used to carve tunnels and create underground facilities, to see if they can make any headway in opening emergency exists, because they collapsed. Among those stuck in the facility are dozens of foreign nationals. These are contracted scientists," he said.
Kahlili said a second mysterious blast occurred in Tehran last week, at an IRGC base called "21 Hamza." "There are injuries, and there have been arrests of IRGC members who are being questioned. The Intelligence Ministry suspects sabotage," he added.Read the full story here.

Iran plan to send monkey into space end of January......Next Nuclear payload?

Iran plan to send monkey into space end of January......Next Nuclear payload?(NDtv).Tehran: Iran will try again to send a live monkey into space after a previous attempt failed in 2011, media reports said on Tuesday quoting the space chief, who gave a launch date of before mid-February.
"The final tests for launching the capsule, carrying a monkey, have been completed," Iran's Space Organisation chief Hamid Fazeli said in remarks reported by the Mehr news agency.
Mr Fazeli said the launch would take place during a 10-day period starting January 31, which marks the 34th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, the state television website reported.
Iran has already sent small animals into space - a rat, turtles and worms - but its previous attempt to send a live monkey into space failed in 2011, which was announced without explanation.
Mr Fazeli said the monkey project would help Iran "implement the preparations of sending a man into space," which officials say is scheduled for 2020.
The previous project envisaged launching a capsule with life support using the Kavoshgar-5 rocket to an altitude of 120 kilometres (75 miles) for a 20-minute sub-orbital flight.
Iran says it has successfully launched three satellites - Omid in February 2009, Rassad in June 2011 and Navid in February 2012.
But it postponed, without explanation, the planned launch in May of another satellite called Fajr.
Iran's space programme deeply unsettles Western nations, which fear it could be used to develop ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads they suspect are being developed in secret.Read the full story here.

Iranians burn U.S. flags to mark embassy seizure.

Iranians burn U.S. flags to mark embassy seizure.(AA).Thousands of Iranians chanting “Death to America” burnt U.S. flags on Friday to mark the 33rd anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, just days before the American presidential election. The demonstrators also chanted anti-British and anti-Israeli slogans, and burnt Israeli flags, in front of the site of the former embassy, dubbed the “den of spies” by the authorities who sponsor the annual commemoration, an AFP photographer reported.
This year's rally came just days before Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election in which Republican challenger Mitt Romney has made Iran's controversial nuclear program a top foreign policy issue. “The greatest threat the world faces is a nuclear Iran,” Romney said in a campaign debate with Democratic incumbent Barack Obama.
Iran dismisses Western suspicions that its nuclear program is cover for a drive for a weapons capability, insisting that it is for peaceful power generation and medical purposes only. The United Nations, the United States and the European Union have levied a series of sanctions on Iran to stop its atomic program. Speaking at Friday’s rally, the commander of Iran’s volunteer Islamist Basij militia, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, said the Islamic republic will face the sanctions head on. “The Iranian nation has chosen its path and will overcome the sanctions by adopting the 'economy of resistence’,” he said, referring to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s policy of confronting the punitive measures. After long denying the impact of these measures, Iranian leaders are now beginning to acknowledge the extent of the damage and denouncing what they say is an “economic war” against the Islamic republic. 
“Those who say that by compromising with the U.S., the economic situation will improve... (should know that) this is a big lie and deceit,” Naqdi said.
“We have declared a 10 kilo (22 pounds) in gold reward for researchers and historians, who have 10 years to prove that there is a more criminal country than America in the world... the U.S. is the most hated among all nations.”
The anniversary of the November 4, 1979 embassy seizure, in which Islamist students captured and held 52 U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days, is commemorated in Iran according to the Persian calendar. The hostage-taking, which came just months after the Islamic revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed shah, was seen as a big factor in then U.S. president Jimmy Carter’s loss of the 1980 election. Now painted with anti-U.S. murals, the former embassy is currently a training and educational facility controlled by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.Read the full story here.

US rejection of red lines on Iran disturbing, has no problem to put 'Red Lines' on Israeli settlements.

US rejection of red lines on Iran disturbing, has no problem to put  'Red Lines' on Israeli settlements.(JPost).Senior Israeli arms control expert Dr. Emily Landau says she feels deeply uneasy over the unprecedented public dispute raging between Israel and the US over Iran's nuclear program. "The very public display of the US and Israel undermining each other must cease. The only winner is Iran," she told The Jerusalem Post over the Rosh Hashana vacation. Landau, of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, is particularly disturbed by the Obama Administration's refusal to set red lines over Iran's nuclear weapons program development, as well as the justifications coming out of Washington over this refusal. Responding to comments made by US President Barack Obama and senior administration officials, who said last week that states do no set red lines, and that red lines limit their freedom of action, Landau said, "States do set red lines, and Obama himself has done so twice over the past year."
She added that Washington effectively set red lines in response to Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, and, more recently, "to Assad about moving chemical weapons in Syria or to Lebanon." Red lines are routinely used in international diplomacy as effective ways to leverage pressure and means to deter the other side, she added.

Landau noted that Washington has repeatedly and publicly told Jerusalem it must refrain from attacking Iran's nuclear facilities, but then implicitly mocked Israel for not setting a red line itself on Iran, a position she found "disturbingly cynical."

"Red lines should be understood as a lever of pressure on Iran to get it to (finally) be serious about a negotiation. While the US is a party to the negotiation with Iran, and setting a red line makes sense in this context, Israel most certainly is not, and therefore it would be inappropriate for it to set a red line. The responsibility for stopping Iran is on the shoulders of the P5, not Israel," she said. Last week, the New York Times cited an Obama Administration official as saying that America's only red line on Iran is nuclear weapons. But that position "is obviously not taken seriously enough by Iran," Landau argued. With Tehran closely following the public tit-for-tat between Israel and the US, Iranian decision makers have concluded that "the US is projecting a sense that it does not want things to come to military force, and it will be willing to go to great lengths to avoid it."
This is further reinforced by the fact that, on the one hand the US is still publicly supporting diplomacy, but on the other, there is no sign of any negotiations on the horizon. Back in June, ahead of rounds of talks (that failed) in Istanbul, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said that time was running out, "but time is now looking very elastic," Landau said. "This is all bad news for a more effective negotiation. And the only thing moving right now is Iran's nuclear activity, as evidenced by the latest IAEA report of August 30," she added.
Hmmm......Obama said that “I’ve said very clearly to the Israelis both privately and publicly that a freeze on settlements, including natural growth, is part of [Israel’s] obligations.”Read the full story here.

Obama's '08 campaign manager David Plouffe got $100K from Iranian affiliate

Obama's '08 campaign manager David Plouffe got $100K from Iranian affiliate.HT: IsraelMatzav.A senior adviser to President Obama, who was also his 2008 campaign manager, received a $100,000 speaking fee in 2010 from an affiliate of a company that does business with the government of Iran.

A subsidiary of MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company, paid [David] Plouffe for two speeches he made in Nigeria in December 2010, about a month before he joined the White House staff.

Since Plouffe’s speeches, MTN Group has come under intensified scrutiny from U.S. authorities because of its activities in Iran and Syria, which are under international sanctions intended to limit the countries’ access to sensitive technology. At the time of Plouffe’s speeches, MTN had been in a widely reported partnership for five years with a state-
owned Iranian telecommunications firm.

There were no legal or ethical restrictions on Plouffe being paid to speak to the MTN subsidiary as a private citizen. But for a close Obama aide to have accepted payment from a company involved in Iran could prove troublesome for the president as the White House toughens its stance toward the Islamic republic. In recent weeks, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney has accused the administration of being soft on Iran.

The White House declined to make Plouffe available for an interview. Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman, said Sunday that criticizing Plouffe would be unfair because MTN Group’s role in Iran was not a high-profile issue when he was invited to speak to the affiliate.

In other words, the White House is trying to argue that since this should have been below the radar screen, it was okay. This administration is reminding me more and more of the Clinton administration, which made legalistic arguments to avoid the spirit of US laws and regulations.
Plouffe is no minor official.

With a broad portfolio mixing politics and policy, Plouffe is a key member of Obama’s inner circle, a confidant whose desk is just steps from the Oval Office. There is no evidence that he has been involved in policy discussions about Iran sanctions, though he has spoken publicly about the need to restrain Iran’s nuclear program.Read the full story here.

Video - Islam was not for me – Amil Imani (Free Iran).

Video - Islam was not for me – Amil Imani (Free Iran).(TCJR).Iranians are leaving Islam behind. If any country is ready to leave Islam, it is Iran. Good luck to all Iranians fighting for freedom.Amil Imani is an Iranian-American writer, poet, satirist, novelist, essayist, literary translator, public speaker and political analyst who has been writing and speaking out about the danger of radical Islam both in America and internationally. He has become a formidable voice in the United States against the danger of global jihad and Islamization of America. Imani is the author of the riveting book Obama Meets Ahmadinejad and a new book “OPERATION PERSIAN GULF".By Amil Imani.