Iran`s Khamenei issues fatwa against production and proliferation of nukes - most concrete answer and proof yet from the Iranian regime on nuke program

Fatwa against nuclear weapons political milestone

by Dr. Ismail Salami
Press TV
Thu Apr 19, 2012

The fatwa issued by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei forbidding the production, proliferation and use of nuclear bombs is to be considered a political milestone in Iranian history and one which can salvage the Islamic nation from the spate of external threats and plots.

Iranian soldier wearing gas mask during Iran-Iraq war, photo credit: PressTV

Fatwa is a religious decree issued by a Muslim leader against a specific issue and it is incumbent upon all Muslims to abide by it. However, in this particular case, the issuance of the fatwa has not only religious but political force as well as the leader in the Islamic Republic is the prime decision-maker.

The recent P5+1 talks, which the US officials hailed as “a step forward” and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton described as “constructive and useful”, were held in an ambience filled with optimism this fatwa inspired. Although the ten-hour talks between Iran and the six world powers apparently bore no tangible fruits, the two sides ended the talks with an air of sanguinity in a feel-good atmosphere. Further to that, the two sides seemed resolute to put an end to the long-standing dispute so stubbornly dragged on for years by the West.

Some Iranian officials have expressed hope and optimism the next round of talks slated to be held in Baghdad on May 23 will come to fruition.

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in Zagreb, Croatia, on Wednesday, “We are optimistic about the future of negotiations and want the other sides to put their words into action.”

The western pessimistic glasses have cast a dark haze over Iran’s nuclear energy program, making long-standing efforts to inculcate that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapons program.

Be it as it may, there is no point in believing that Iran is seeking to produce nuclear weapons as there is no evidence whatsoever pointing to this notion. Besides, modern history has proved that Iran has never been an aggressor; rather it has become a victim of aggression. During the Iran-Iraq war in 1983, the Iraqis used mustard gas, and in March 1984, they used tabun, a nerve agent used for the first time in war. The corrupt regime of Saddam Hussein continued to use chemical weapons until the end of war in August 1988 in violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol on the use of chemical weapons. They also used the nerve agent sarin.

In March 1986, the then UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar formally announced that Iraq had used chemical weapons against Iran on the strength of the report of four chemical warfare experts sent to Iran in February and March 1986 by the UN. The report concluded that "Iraqi forces have used chemical warfare against Iranian forces"; the weapons used included both mustard gas and nerve gas. The report further stated that "the use of chemical weapons appear[ed] to be more extensive [in 1981] than in 1984." However, the regime of Saddam Hussein made pointlessly egregious efforts to deny the report; yet, the influx of badly wounded chemical victims from Iran to Europe for receiving medical treatment was not something the Iraqi regime could easily deny.

In 1984 Iraq became the first country to use a nerve agent on the battlefield. Around 5,500 Iranians died as a result of the nerve agent between March 1984 and March 1985. Tabun kills within minutes. Also, over 16,000 Iranians were killed by the toxic blister agent mustard gas between August 1983 and February 1986.

In spite of all these inhumane atrocities perpetrated by a US-backed coup regime, the Islamic Republic never did the same to retaliate.

Painful as it is, the US government threw all its intelligence, financial and military support behind a regime it knew thrived on evil and havoc. In 1982, the US government started supplying the regime with dual-use vehicles such as heavy trucks, armored ambulances as well as materials for producing chemical weapons.

The then US President Ronald Reagan announced that the US "could not afford to allow Iraq to lose the war to Iran", and that it “would do whatever was necessary to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran.” Then CIA Director William Casey personally spearheaded the effort “to ensure that Iraq had sufficient military weapons, ammunition and vehicles to avoid losing the Iran-Iraq war. Pursuant to the secret NSDD, the United States actively supported the Iraqi war effort by supplying the Iraqis with billions of dollars of credits, by providing US military intelligence and advice to the Iraqis, and by closely monitoring third country arms sales to Iraq to make sure that Iraq had the military weaponry required. The United States also provided strategic operational advice to the Iraqis to better use their assets in combat. For example, in 1986, President Reagan sent a secret message to Saddam Hussein telling him that Iraq should step up its air war and bombing of Iran. This message was delivered by Vice President George H. W. Bush who communicated it to Egyptian President Mubarak, who in turn passed the message to Saddam Hussein. Similar strategic operational military advice was passed to Saddam Hussein through various meetings with European and Middle Eastern heads of state” (quoted from the sworn court declaration of former NSC official Howard Teicher, dated 1/31/95, regarding 'Iraqgate).

Under the encouragement and direction of the US government, how many bombs fell on the Iranian cities while people were sleeping? How many youths lost their lives in a war that dragged on for eight years? How many women were widowed? How many children were orphaned? Is there no remission to this political insanity?

The US government is morally and financially indebted to Iran. What seems to be the right course of action to be taken by the US government is that Washington should make it clearly known to Iran that it entertains good intentions about the Iranian nation and that it is resolute to compensate for the agony and havoc it has wrought upon Iran. In other words, it is Washington which should take first steps to dispel ambiguities as to its intentions.

There seems to be little hope the upcoming talks will bear splendid fruits unless the US dismounts its mule of obstinacy, puts an end to its animosity towards the Islamic Republic, forsakes its morbid cynicism and acknowledges that Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

The fatwa of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution can well serve as a beacon of light for Washington in order to find its way out of darkness and ignorance.

IS/MA

Iran captures Israeli-backed terrorist team

By Thomas Erdbrink,
Washington Post
Tuesday, April 10, 12:40 PM

photo credit: PressTV

TEHRAN — Iranian security forces have arrested an Israeli-backed “terrorist team” that was planning attacks inside Iran, the Intelligence Ministry announced Tuesday, four days before crucial nuclear talks with world powers.

The announcement, reported by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), said that “terrorists, backed by the Zionists,” were arrested after months of intelligence operations in central and border provinces and that the “Zionist regional headquarters” was discovered in another country in the region. The ministry did not specify when or where the arrests were made or say how many alleged terrorists were rounded up. In Iran’s ideological vocabulary, Israel is called the “Zionist state.”

Although the report did not name the regional country, Iranian media in recent months have quoted several officials as saying that neighboring Azerbaijan has sheltered operatives plotting attacks in Iran.

The Intelligence Ministry said security forces identified and arrested all of the team’s members before they implemented their plan, IRNA reported...

(click here to read the full article)

Related:
Iran busts Israeli terrorists in central, border provinces

Russian radar in Armenia to block an US/Israeli strike on Iran from the north (Debka File)

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis
April 8, 2012, 12:26 PM (GMT+02:00)

Russia's S-400 Triumf missiles posted in Kaliningrad, photo credit: Ria Novosti

Moscow has stepped into the vacuum created by US President Barack Obama’s decision to stay out of any potentially incendiary Middle East involvement while campaigning for a second term. After blocking the way to direct Western and Arab military intervention in Syria through the Mediterranean, Russia sent its Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week on a round trip to the capitals of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan – an expedition designed to secure Iran against a potential US/Israeli attack via its northern and eastern neighbors, DEBKAfile’s military sources report.

On his return to Moscow, April 6, the Russian army let it be known that highly-advanced mobile S-400 surface-to-air missiles had been moved into Kaliningrad, the Baltic enclave bordered by Poland and Lithuania, its response to US plans for an anti-Iran missile shield system in Europe and the Middle East.

In Yerevan, the Russian minister finalized a deal for the establishment of an advanced Russian radar station in the Armenian mountains to counter the US radar set up at the Turkish Kurecik air base, our sources disclose.

Just as the Turkish station (notwithstanding Ankara’s denials) will trade data on incoming Iranian missiles with the US station in the Israeli Negev, the Russian station in Armenia will share input with Tehran.

Moscow remains deeply preoccupied in Syria, successfully fending off Western and Arab pressure against its ruler Bashar Assad. DEBKAfile’s sources hear that Assad will not meet the April 10 deadline for moving his heavy armor and battalions out of Syrian cities. Monday, April 8, he sent his foreign minister Walid Moallem to Moscow for instructions for getting him off the hook of failing to comply with his commitment to the UN envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan, starting with a truce.

Lavrov, rather than US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is evidently regarded these days as the senior Middle East power broker. In a thumbs-down on Russia’s deepening footstep in the region, the London-based Saudi Sharq al Awsat captioned a Sunday op-ed item, “Nor do we want a ‘Sheikh’ Lavrov.”

For the first time since the Cold War ended, the management of a major world crisis has passed into the hands of the Kremlin in Moscow and the UN Secretariat in New York.
Weeping crocodile tears, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Saturday that the April 10 date for a Syrian truce “was not an excuse for continued killing” by the Syrian regime, ignoring the fact that “the continued killing” could have been avoided were it not for the strategy pursued by Kofi Annan, the special envoy he shares with the Arab League, with Moscow’s back-stage wire-pulling.

This is because President Barak Obama is advised by his campaign strategists that the way to the American voter’s heart in November is through burnishing his image as a “balanced and responsible” multinational diplomat, in contrast with his Republican rivals’ hawkish support of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

In the case of Syria, the White House finds itself on the same side as the UN and the Kremlin. They all share the common goal of obstructing Western and Arab military intervention in Syria at all costs.

Hundreds of Syrian protesters are still paying the price in blood - although its dimensions of the butchery are frequently exaggerate by the opposition. After brutalizing his population for thirteen months, Bashar Assad is more or less on top of the revolt in Syria’s main cities, excepting the Idlib province and one or two pockets in and around Homs. He used the extra days afforded him by Kofi Annan’s deadline for the ruthless purge of the last remnants of resistance in small towns and villages, cetain that Moscow, the UN secretary - and Washington, by default - would do nothing to stop him.

Should current circumstances shoot off in unforeseen directions – for instance, a Syrian government poison chemical or biological weapon attack causing hundreds of dead, over and above the 9,000 confirmed by UN figures – Obama might be forced to resort to limited military action, pulling in the Turkish army. This has not yet happened.

That the Russians are not letting the grass grow under their feet, turning Middle East bushfires to their advantage and closing one American Middle East option after another, appears to be a minor consideration in Washington up until November.

Iran wins 'recognition' of right to nuclear energy none other than...Germany

Germany throws weight behind Iran’s nuclear energy program
Press TV
Mon Apr 9, 2012 5:20AM GMT

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, credit:PressTV

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has underlined Iran's right to develop its nuclear energy program as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

According to a commentary by the top German diplomat in the Sunday paper Bild am Sonntag, Westerwelle stressed "Iran's right to have nuclear energy for civilian use.”

He also made reference to his country's ongoing efforts for a diplomatic solution to the Western dispute over Iran’s nuclear issue.

The German foreign minister also called for the creation of a Middle East free from nuclear arms.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear program. Washington and Tel Aviv have time and again threatened Tehran with the "option" of a military strike against its civilian nuclear facilities.

Iran argues that as a signatory to the NPT and a member of the IAEA, it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities, but has never found any evidence indicating that Tehran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.

MP/GHN/HJL

Report: Israel's Mossad scales back covert operations in Iran (Haaretz)

According to a Time Magazine report, operations reduced in areas such as high-profile missions, including assassinations and detonations at Iranian missile bases, and spy recruitment inside Iran nuclear program.

Haaretz
March 31, 2012 05:21

A Time Magazine report revealed on Friday that Israeli intelligence services have scaled back their covert operations inside Iran.

Iranian workers stand in front of the Bushehr nuclear 

power plant, about 1,200 km (746 miles) south of 

Tehran, in this October 26, 2010 file picture.

Photo by: Reuters

According to senior security officials who spoke to the magazine, operations have been reduced in areas such as high-profile missions, including assassinations and detonations at Iranian missile bases, as well as in recruiting spies inside the Iranian nuclear program, and efforts to gather on-the-ground intelligence.

The report further states that according to one official, the reductions have caused “increasing dissatisfaction” inside the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency. Another official credits the reduced activities to the reluctance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who the official says is worried about the outcome of the operations being discovered.

According to Time Magazine, Iranian intelligence already cracked a cell trained and equipped by the Mossad. Western intelligence confirmed that the detailed confession of Majid Jamali Fashid over the January 2010 assassination by motorcycle bomb of nuclear scientist Massoud Ali Mohmmadi was genuine, and blamed a third country for exposing the cell.

The magazine also states that a new U.S. reluctance to turn a blind eye to said assassinations may be a thing of the past. After the killing of nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan in January, the United States “categorically” denied involvement in the death and issued a condemnation.

Scaling back covert operations against Iran carries costs, Time Magazine said, especially as Iran hurries to disperse its centrifuges into facilities deep underground. In one intelligence finding, an Israeli official says Iran itself estimates that sabotage to date has set back its centrifuge program by two full years. The computer virus known as Stuxnet is only the best known of a series of efforts to slow the Iranian program.

That effort involves a variety of governments besides Israel, involving equipment made to purposely malfunction after being tampered with before it physically entered Iran, says the report. The setbacks have prompted Iran to announce it would manufacture all components of its nuclear program itself – something outside experts are highly skeptical Tehran has the ability to actually do.


Related:
Report: Iran Attack Postponed Until Spring 2013

Iran War pushed till Spring 2013

Report: Iran Attack Postponed Until Spring 2013

Unsuccessful war simulation has given Israelis cold feet

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Thursday, March 29, 2012

credit: Infowars

Israel’s plan to attack Iran has been postponed until spring 2013 following a war simulation that showed Iran could kill 200 Americans with a single missile strike, according to a report by senior Haaretz correspondent Amir Oren.   

“At 8:58 P.M. on Tuesday, Israel’s 2012 war against Iran came to a quiet end. The capricious plans for a huge aerial attack were returned to the deep recesses of safes and hearts. The war may not have been canceled but it has certainly been postponed. For a while, at least, we can sound the all clear: It won’t happen this year. Until further notice, Israel Air Force Flight 007 will not be taking off,” writes Oren.

According to the report, a war simulation conducted by the U.S. Central Command found that an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would immediately be followed by an Iranian missile launch that would kill 200 Americans, a price deemed not worth paying by U.S. generals.
During the same meeting, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak also acknowledged that Israel would not act alone in striking Iran before the U.S. presidential elections in November, according to Oren, meaning that, “For all intents and purposes, it was an announcement that this war was being postponed until at least the spring of 2013.”

A delay in launching the attack until next spring would scupper expectations that the military assault was set to take place before the end of this year, a time frame that Russia understood the Israelis were working to. Last month, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Nikolai Makarov stated that an Israeli decision on whether or not to attack would be made before the summer.

In January, the U.S. cancelled a joint military exercise with Israel which was perceived by many as a sign that the Americans were getting cold feet.

Earlier this month it was also reported that Israel had “agreed to hold off a strike on Iran’s nuclear sites this year in exchange for receiving U.S. military equipment,” including bunker-busting bombs and refueling planes. The deal was seen as a tacit admission that the Obama administration would support Israel in launching the attack but only after the election in November.

If a decision has been made to postpone the attack, expect the United States to withdraw at least some of its naval might from the Persian Gulf. The U.S. currently has the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Abraham aircraft carriers patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, along with the USS Makin Island, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship. Earlier this month it was announced that four additional mine countermeasure ships were also heading for the region.

As the Stratfor Naval Update map below illustrates, the USS Enterprise, which many speculated was also heading to the Strait of Hormuz in preparation for a strike on Iran, is now scheduled to visit Piraeus, Greece instead, suggesting a cooling of tensions could be taking place – at least for the time being.



*********************
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.

Off to Iran: An amphibious assault group and 2,000 Marines...already along with 2 carrier strike groups, is invasion imminent?

US gears up for land operation in Persian Gulf?
RT News
Published: 28 March, 2012, 18:40

A helicopter flies near US ship Iwo Jima 
(AFP Photo / Johan Ordones) 

The US is sending an amphibious assault group and a couple of thousand US Marines to the Persian Gulf. With another US carrier making its way to Iran’s doorstep, US military still insist that this is a “regularly scheduled deployment”.

The Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group is comprised of amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, amphibious transport dock USS New York, and amphibious dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall. It is also reinforced with an atomic submarine and a marine helicopter squadron.
The group, which is “a versatile sea-based force that can be tailored to a variety of missions,” left port on Tuesday and is heading to the Gulf, the US Navy says.

Over 2,000 US Marines are to come on board Iwo Jima when the group makes a stop in North Carolina.

Many of those marines are veterans of ground combat in Iraq and Afghanistan making their first shipboard deployment, dailypress.com points out.

The US already has an amphibious group with an expeditionary marine unit in the Gulf region. The Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group was deployed there in January, after Iran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route that allows the delivery of around 20 per cent of the world's oil.

Iran has repeatedly reiterated this threat over the last six month, while the US and its NATO partners kept increasing their naval presence in the region.

The US is aware that Iran has enough resources to mine the strait within a relatively short period of time. General Michael Dempsey, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said earlier that the US must be prepared to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force.

In March, the US sent another four minesweepers to join those already deployed there, bringing the overall number in the region to eight.

Two US aircraft carrier battle groups, headed by the USS Carl Vinson and USS Abraham Lincoln, are patrolling the waters around the strait. Another carrier, USS Enterprise, is expected to join them next month.

Although many US officials, including President Obama, still insist on using diplomacy and sanctions, they admit that “all options are on the table” to force Iran to drop its nuclear program.
Meanwhile, Israel – the closest US ally in the region – considers nuclear Iran to be “an existential threat,” which needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. Last week, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak, spoke of a three-month deadline for Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions or face imminent attack.

Rand Paul to the rescue: Blocks Senator Reid`s new Iran sanctions bill he secretly tried to pass by unanimous consent

Rand Paul Stands Between US War With Iran

Senator blocks sanctions bill saying it could be used as a means to go to war

Steve Watson
Infowars.com
March 28, 2012

Rand Paul has effectively single handedly blocked a bi-partisan bill to place yet more crippling economic sanctions on Iran, by demanding an amendment to prevent the White House using the legislation as an authorization to attack the country.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) wanted to immediately pass the sanctions bill by unanimous consent Tuesday. However, Paul intervened and blocked it, in order to ensure that unauthorized use of military force against Iran does not transpire.

• Read: Reid tries to push through Iran sanctions bill - FP 3/27/2012

Paul’s one sentence amendment reads: “To clarify that nothing in the Act shall be construed as a declaration of war or an authorization of the use of force against Iran or Syria.”

“Our Founding Fathers were quite concerned about giving the power declare war to the Executive,” Paul said on the Senate floor. “They were quite concerned that the Executive could become like a king.”

“Before sending our young men and women into combat, we should have a mature and thoughtful debate over the ramifications of and over the authorization of war and over the motives of the war,” he added.

Paul noted that in the lead up to the NATO led conflict in Libya, several Senators, including John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), were beating the war drums. The Kentucky Senator warned that the same rhetoric is now being used in relation to Iran and Syria.

“Many in this body cannot get boots on ground fast enough in a variety of places, from Syria to Libya to Iran,” said Paul. “[I] urge that we not begin a new war without a full debate, without a vote, without careful consideration of the ramifications of a third or even a fourth war in this past decade.”

Watch Rand Paul address the Senate:

The bill, S. 2101, aims to level broad sanctions at Iran and any persons and firms who supply Iran with technologies. Under the legislation, firms traded on the US stock exchanges must disclose any Iran-related activities and could have their assets frozen.

The legislation passed through the Senate banking committee in February, and was also passed in the House.

Reid said he opposed Paul’s request for the amendment, claiming that the sanctions bill had nothing to do with war and could even help prevent conflict by “preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, threatening Israel and further terrorizing other parts of the world.”

“I really am terribly disappointed,” said Reid. “There is nothing in the resolution that talks about war, in fact it’s to the contrary. This is not a declaration of war or anything in the neighborhood of that.”

Reid now has to formally decide whether to cut a deal by allowing Paul’s amendment to be considered, or to attempt to defeat the senator’s objection by obtaining 60 votes in his favor.
—————————————————————-
Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.

War with Iran, sure seems like its not a matter of 'if' but 'when'

Gunboats, Super-Torpedoes, Sea-Bots: U.S. Navy Launches Huge Iran Surge
WIRED
Spencer Ackerman
March 16, 2012 | 11:55 am

The Navy practices a mock boarding operation on the U.S.S. Princeton in the Middle East, 2010. Photo: U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet 

Sending more aircraft carriers to the waters near Iran, it turns out, was just the start. Yes, the U.S. currently has more seapower aimed at Iran in the Persian Gulf than in the fleets of most countries on Earth, Iran included. But that was just the Navy cracking its knuckles.

In the next few months, the Navy will double its minesweeper craft stationed in Bahrain, near Iran, from four to eight. Those ships will be crucial if Iran takes the drastic step of mining the Strait of Hormuz, one of the global energy supply’s most crucial waterways. Four more MH-53 “Sea Stallion” helicopters, another minesweeping tool, are also getting ready for Bahrain, to give the U.S. Fifth Fleet early warning for any strait mining.

Then the Navy will prepare to get closer to Iranian shores. Much closer. It’s got five close-action patrol boats in the Gulf right now. Once the Coast Guard returns three that the Navy loaned out, the Navy will have five other patrol craft in the United States. All those boats are getting retrofitted. With Gatling guns. And missiles.

Sure, the guns aboard the two aircraft carriers currently near Iran are the seapower equivalent of high-powered, long-range rifles. “But maybe what you need is like a sawed-off shotgun,” capable of doing massive damage from a closer distance, said Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the Navy’s senior officer. All 10 of those patrol boats, Greenert told reporters at a Friday breakfast in Washington, will get strapped with the Mk-38 Gatling Gun and should make it to the Gulf next year. (Though, alas, they won’t have the Gatling/laser gun mashup BAE Systems is working on.) They’ll also get close-range missiles that can hit Iranian shores from four miles away — the same kinds Navy SEALs use.

Consider it Teddy Roosevelt’s gunboat diplomacy for the 21st century. Over plates of greasy eggs and bacon, Greenert outlined a plan to give the U.S. what is almost certainly the biggest stick the Navy has ever had in the Gulf. The idea, which he didn’t make explicit, is to convince Iran to think long and hard before ever messing with either the U.S.’s Arab allies across the Gulf or disrupting a narrow transit point through which a fifth of the world’s energy supplies flow.

Add up the aircraft carriers, the Gatling-packing patrol craft, the Orions, the Sea Stallions and the minesweepers, and Greenert still isn’t finished with the surge. Then come the new, advanced torpedoes that can compensate for the “turpidity [and] particulate” drags of the Gulf waters. And the drone subs — or, as Greenert put it, “some underwater unmanned neutralization autonomous units” to help hunt mines. And every Navy ship that sails through the strait will come equipped with new, modular “infrared and electro-optical” visibility systems that clarify the foggy Gulf even at night. Extra spare parts and contractor crews will sustain the surge.

And if all that wasn’t enough, Greenert disclosed that he and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will soon ask themselves if the Navy needs to rotate more aircraft carriers to the Gulf. That decision, so important that it’s Panetta’s to make, will come “in the next few months.”

“I looked in every domain, undersea, surface and air,” Greenert said, “to make sure that we’re doing our best for the guys that are over there.”

Even with the prospect of an Israeli bombing campaign lingering overhead, the Navy has already proven it can get Iran to back off its bellicose rhetoric. Tehran hasn’t attacked the U.S. carriers, and it hasn’t mined the strait. Yet.

Greenert suggested that Iran’s naval forces are too sensible to actually challenge the vastly superior American force nearby. The regular Iranian navy is “professional, courteous [and] good mariners,” he said. Even the radical Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps isn’t “ramping up” in the Gulf and keeping its activities “normal.”

Perhaps true. And once the Navy’s surge forces all get into the Persian Gulf, the Iranian sea forces might not have any choice, if they want to continue existing. But if Iran’s pattern of miscalculation continues, then the larger Navy force nearby might be a provocation — and will have to end a fight quickly if it breaks out.

US warns Iran: 'Agree to talks or be bombed,' but the case for war seems set, not a "matter of if but when"

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian 

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Iranian 

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 

Photo by Reuters and AP

Report: U.S. asked Russia to warn Iran of 'last chance' to avoid military strike
Haaretz
Published 11:58 14.03.12; Latest update 11:58 14.03.12

Clinton reportedly told her Russian counterpart to rely message to Tehran that it must engage in talks with world powers or face a military strike within months, according to Russian daily Kommersant.

The United States has asked Russia to deliver an ultimatum to Iran, warning the Islamic Republic that it has one last chance for talks before a military strike, the Kommersant daily quoted Russian diplomats as saying on Wednesday.

According to the Russian newspaper, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in New York on Monday to tell Tehran that it has one last chance to solve the conflict peacefully by making progress in the talks with the P5+1 group - United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany. Otherwise, an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities will occur within months, the diplomats said.

The report in Kommersant did not give further details regarding the kind of military action the U.S. was threatening, but quoted Russian diplomats at the UN as saying they believe that it is a "matter of when, not if" Israel would strike Iran's nuclear facilities.



The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Brooks B. Patton Jr./Released) on to Iran, RT NEWS

Last week, Clinton said that there is still space for diplomacy to resolve Iran's nuclear standoff with the West shortly after European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton announced that the P5+1 group agreed to restart talks with Iran. A time and venue of the talks has yet to be set.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a series of television interviews, said last week that an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities could take place within months.

"We're not standing with a stopwatch in hand," he said. "It's not a matter of days or weeks, but also not of years. The result must be removal of the threat of nuclear weapons in Iran's hands."

Netanyahu met with U.S. President Barack Obama last week and tried to pressure him to harden his tone on Iran.

Netanyahu told Obama that he had not yet made any decision about whether to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, though he made it clear he did not rule out such a move in the future. In statements to the press both before and after the meeting Netanyahu said Israel has the sovereign right to defend itself against Iran.

Yeah...,we are addicted to WAR

RT News

US: Turning war-fear into warfare
RT NEWS
Published: 10 March, 2012, 11:49

Ever since its creation, the US has had a role to play in combat operations worldwide. Today the country’s public opinion is dominated by warfare, making American society all-too-easily manipulated and turned against practically any country.
The US has a strong record of persuading the public that war is the only way. A military industrial complex worth billions of dollars is largely America’s driving force. Deeply rooted in the system, it would serve no purpose if there was no one to fight.

“If there were no more enemies left, there would be a loss of a sense of mission,” anti-war activist and journalist Don Bebar told RT.


U.S. Military Academy cadets wave a flag in the stands prior to the 112th Army-Navy football game in Landover, Maryland. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
 
Serving Americans are on permanent stand-by to deploy to battle zones on command.
“The US army flag has 183 campaign ribbons on it. Those 183 ribbons each represent wars,” Iraq war veteran Matthis Chiroux from New York shared with RT.

“When you compare that to the 236 years that we’ve actually been around as a country, you’re talking about a war on average of once every year and three months,” he calculated. As a consequence of the American bellicosity in general, Matthis Chiroux is now soothing his nerves in company with 170,000 American soldiers suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

The US always has a bone to pick with one enemy after another. For nearly half a century it was the Soviet Union.

“The communist threat was the most useful enemy. Where legitimate, and where completely fantastical, it was always available as a global conspiracy against which to justify anything,” Roots Action campaigner David Swanson told RT.

With the Cold War declared over, the list keeps expanding to smaller antagonists.
So it was with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 1991, when then President George H. W. Bush Sr. announced that “Allied forces began an attack on military targets in Iraq and Kuwait.”
Or with the former Yugoslavia, to which former President Bill Clinton signed a sentence in 1999 by announcing that the American Air Force was conducting “Air strikes against Serbian forces.”

Then it was ex-President George W. Bush, who was let off the leash after 9/11 terror attacks and announced a global War on Terror symbolized by Al-Qaeda. He started by invading Afghanistan in 2001 and continued with the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

In 2003, the US Air Force was “Striking selective targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein’s ability to wage war,” announced George W. Bush, meaning that waging wars is an exclusive privilege of the chosen mighty ones.

Ultimately, it has been current President Barack Obama, who was elected on promises to end wars, but now looks forward to military conflict with Iran after lending a hand in toppling the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. As in previous cases, last spring he made a characteristic “We hit Gaddafi’s air defenses” statement on the American TV.

With a defense budget that surpasses the military expenditure of all other countries combined, no other nation drums up war as consistently as America.

“While people are still responding and recovering from the violence that’s been committed in one place, or even in the same place, we’re launching new operations and more atrocities in different parts of the world,” acknowledged war correspondent Keith Harmon Snow.

So Fox News cannot but reiterate that Iran is the biggest threat, Syria is a minor threat, Russia is a traditional threat and China is an emerging threat.

That makes America's top brass state that a strike on Tehran is in the planning stages.
It also makes the US President Obama latest quest for diplomacy with Iran over its nuclear program look derisive in the face of a pending military confrontation.

Year in, year out, Americans are convinced that the US has to remain on the defensive.
“We’re petrified of death by terrorism. Shoot, I think a lot of Americans wish we’d spend more money on war,” veteran Matthis Chiroux confessed.

Finding the next target is never difficult.

Campaigner David Swanson says “We are inventing the nation of Iran as an enemy, as a threat to the United States, as a possessor of nuclear weapons it does not possess, a nation that has not attacked another in literally centuries, and has no capability or desire to attack ours.”

RT's Anastasia Churkina asked people on the streets of New York “Which country is the US going to be in a war with next?”

The most common answer she got was “Iran.”

The US has been picking and choosing which countries to intervene in for centuries. As the list of nations the US loves to hate expands, the concept that no war at all is also an option seems to have been forgotten.

Possible FALSE FLAG ALERT: The oldest living carrier USS Enterprise on its 'final' journey to the Arabian Sea 'aka' Iran

Aircraft Carrier Enterprise Sets Off On Final Journey – Direction Iran
Zero Hedge
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/11/2012

Today at noon Eastern, the storied aircraft carrier Enterprise, aka CVN-65, left its home port of Naval Station Norfolk one final time for its final voyage with a heading: Arabian Sea, aka Iran. There in a week it will join CVN 72 Lincoln and CVN 70 Vinson, as well as LHD 8 Makin Island, all of which are supporting any potential escalation of "hostilities" in the Persian Gulf region. As a reminder, back in January we learned that the Enterprise's final voyage will be in proximity to Iran, and in the meantime, the aircraft carrier held extended drills off the Florida coast to attack a "faux theocracy" consisting of fundamentalist "Shahida" states. Why the Arabian Sea in about 7-10 days will be home to not two but three aircraft carriers and a big deck amphibious warfare ship is very much an open question, although we may have some thoughts.

More:

     Thousands of sailors will deploy today from Norfolk on the USS Enterprise for the last  
     time on Sunday.

     Nearly 5,500 Sailors aboard the ships of the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group (ENT CSG)     
     are scheduled to deploy from Naval Stations Norfolk and Mayport, Fla., March 9, 11 and 
     12, to support operations with the U.S. Navys 5th and 6th Fleets.

     The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65), commanded by Capt. William C. Hamilton 
     Jr., will depart from Naval Station Norfolk for the ships 22nd and final deployment March  
     11.

CVN 65 will not be alone:

     After the Enterprise leaves Sunday, three Norfolk-based guided-missile destroyers 
     will head out Monday — the USS Porter, USS Nitze and USS James E. Williams.

     The strike group is commanded by Rear Adm. Ted Carter Jr.

     Carrier Air Wing 1, based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, will be 
     embarked aboard the Enterprise.

     The Enterprise was launched September 24, 1960, by Newport News Shipbuilding and 
     Drydock Co. and commissioned November 25, 1961.

     Its record of high-profile service began with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Since then, 
     it has served in countless missions around the world.
     ...
     The aircraft squadrons of CVW 1 embarked aboard Enterprise are: Strike Fighter 
     Squadron (VFA) 11 Red Rippers, VFA 136 Knighthawks, VFA 211 Fighting 
     Checkmates, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 251 Thunderbolts, Carrier 
     Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 123 Screwtops, Carrier Tactical Electronic 
     Warfare Squadron (VAQ) 137 Rooks, Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 40 
     Rawhides, and Helicopter Anti-submarine Squadron (HSL) 11 Dragon Slayers.

Some pictures released minutes ago from Enterprise's final deployment:






Finally, this is how congested the Arabian Sea looks right about now, where two carriers and one assault ship are currently located, via Stratfor.

Israeli attack on Iran would have a "devastating effect" on Israel itself (CBS 60 Minutes interview)

Ex-Israeli spymaster: Iranian response to an Israeli attack would be devastating
Meir Dagan, who formerly headed the Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, says military action against Iran will not stop Iran from attaining the bomb.
Haaretz
Published: March 12, 2012

Ex-Mossad chief Meir Dagan, photo by

Nir Keidar, Haaretz

Former head of the Mossad, Meir Dagan says that an Israeli attack on Iran would lead to a missile attack on Israel that would have a “devastating impact” on the ability of Israeli’s to continue its daily life, in an interview that aired on Sunday on CBS’s 60 Minutes.

According to Dagan, an attack will start a regional war. Adding: “And wars, you know how they start. You never know how you are ending it.”

“I think that Israel will be in a very serious situation for quite a time,” Dagan told 60 Minutes’s Lesley Stahl, when asked about a possible Israeli response to an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

Dagan also expressed skepticism over the effectiveness of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program to deny Iran nuclear weapons. Unlike what has been reported in the past, according to Dagan there aren’t four Iranian nuclear sites but “dozens.”

Dagan said that no military attack could halt the Iranian nuclear project; rather an attack could only serve to delay it.

In his first interview to an American media outlet Dagan said he did not believe now is the time to attack Iran’s nuclear program.



Dagan said the regime in Iran is a rational one. When asked whether Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rational, Dagan responded that he was.

“Not exactly our rational, but I think he is rational,” Dagan said. Adding that though their rationality was different from the Western way of thinking, “they are considering all the implications of their actions…They will have to pay dearly…and I think the Iranians at this point in time are…very careful on the project,” says Dagan. “They are not running…”

Dagan believes that instead of military action the West should concentrate on instigating regime change in Iran. “It’s our duty to help anyone who likes to present an open opposition against their regime in Iran,” says Dagan.

When asked by 60 Minutes whether Israel had supported the youth groups that held protests across Iran after the last round of Iranian elections, Dagan refused to answer.

Dagan said he trusted the U.S. and President Barack Obama’s resolve to stop the Iranian nuclear program. President Obama said “the military option is on the table and he is not going to let Iran become a nuclear state and from my experience, I usually trust the president of the U.S,” he says.

“The issue of Iran armed with a nuclear capability is not an Israeli problem; it’s an international problem.”

During the interview Stahl suggested that it seemed he was advocating Israel wait and have the U.S. attack Iran’s nuclear sites. Dagan replied: “If I prefer that someone will do it, I always prefer that Americans will do it,” he says.

Naval blockade of Iran needed says US Senator - Really? Congress is just getting funnier by the day...

Senator Levin Calls for Naval Blockade of Iran
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
March 10, 2012

US Senator Carl Levin, Infowars

Democrat Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has called for an international naval blockade of Iranian oil exports. He said the action should be taken before the U.S. and Israel attack Iran.


“I think (these are) options that whoever is willing to participate should explore, including Israel and including the United States,” Levin told C-Span on Friday.

A naval blockade is considered an act of war.

In order to minimize the impact on world oil prices, Levin said alternative oil supplies should be put into place before the blockade. Iran is the number two OPEC oil producer. The EU has agreed on an oil purchase embargo scheduled to begin on July 1.

If sanctions do not force Iran to drop its nuclear program, a “strike is likely” within “months,” Levin warned. He said an Israeli missile system installed by the United States had minimized Iran’s ability to retaliate against Israel after an attack.

Paul Sheldon Foote: "US Steals World Natural Resources without Compromise"

Uploaded by WolkenZwemmer on Mar 8, 2012
Original report at: http://www.presstv.com/detail/230657.html
Press TV


http://youtu.be/eQ7FL6v25Ow

Wow, Netanyahu DEMANDS Obama to commit to Iran War

Israeli PM demands Obama commit to military action if Iran sanctions fail
Binyamin Netanyahu pressing for explicit threat from US ahead of crucial meeting with Obama next week in Washington

Chris McGreal
The Guardian
Thursday 1 March 2012 12.43 EST

Israeli officials say that Binyamin Netanyahu is not happy with Obama`s

'vague assertion' that all options are on the table in dealing with Iran. 

Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

(Washington) Israel is pressing Barack Obama for an explicit threat of military action against Iran if sanctions fail and Tehran's nuclear programme advances beyond specified "red lines".

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is expected to raise the issue at a White House meeting on Monday after weeks of intense diplomacy in which Obama has dispatched senior officials – including his intelligence, national security and military chiefs – to Jerusalem to try and dampen down talk of an attack.

Diplomats say that Israel is angered by the Obama administration's public disparaging of early military action against Iran, saying that it weakens the prospect of Tehran taking the warnings from Israel seriously.

The two sides are attempting to agree a joint public statement to paper over the divide but talks will not be made easier by a deepening distrust in which the Israelis...

(Click here to read the full article)