Sanction Iran or Attack them says Lieberman

Senator Joe Lieberman

The world faces a stark choice between imposing tough sanctions on Iran to stop its nuclear program, or attacking it, United States Senator Joe Lieberman said Saturday.

Lieberman is the influential chairman of the Senate committee on homeland security. He was speaking a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that his country was ready to accept an international swap of uranium, but only under certain conditions.

“We have a choice here: to go to tough economic sanctions to make diplomacy work or we will face the prospect of military action against Iran,” Lieberman told the annual Munich Security Conference.

Top U.S. commanders are already working out how such a strike should be conducted, and although “no-one wants this to happen … unless we together act strongly and do more than talk that is exactly what will happen,” Lieberman said.

A nuclear-armed Iran would provoke chaos in the Middle East, send world oil prices soaring and end any hope of a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Lieberman said.

IAEA chief seeks ‘accelerated’ dialogue with Iran

Earlier Saturday, the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said, after talks with Iran’s foreign minister on a nuclear fuel swap plan, that he sought an accelerated dialogue with Tehran.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Yukiya Amano told reporters after his talks in Munich with Mottaki that dialogue on Iran’s nuclear program is continuing.

Asked if he was confident of a breakthrough, Amano told reporters on the sidelines of an annual security conference in the German city “I prefer not to provide my perspective. Dialogue is continuing, this should be accelerated. That’s the point.”

Meanwhile, Mottaki described his meeting with the IAEA chief as “very good,” but repeated Iran’s insistence on determining the amount of fuel to be exchanged and said it might be less than the 1,200 kg of low-enriched uranium (LEU) which world powers have asked it to part with in one go.

In exchange, Iran would receive uranium of a higher grade which it could use to fuel a Tehran research reactor producing medical isotopes.

“It is very common that in business, the buyer talks and offers about the quantity, and the seller only offers the price,” Mottaki told reporters at the Munich Security Conference.

In the proposed swap, he said, “we determine the quantity on the basis of our needs and we would inform the parties about our requirements. Maybe it is less than this quantity you have already mentioned [1,200 kilograms] or a little more than the quantity we may need for our reactor.”

From the point of view of the United States and others, the proposed swap would reduce the risk of Iran enriching its low-grade uranium to the degree required for potential use in a nuclear weapon – an intention Tehran denies.

“We discussed and exchanged views on a wide range of issues – views about the proposal that is on the table,” Mottaki said.

“I tried to explain the views of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the Director-General,” Mottaki said.

He was elaborating on comments he made on Friday, suggesting an agreement was close. The United States and Germany on Saturday voiced skepticism about Iran’s intentions and said those remarks had not gone far enough.

Mottaki rejected a questioner’s suggestion that Iran’s leadership was divided over the proposed uranium deal.

“In Iran there is only one voice about the issue. And that is, the exchange of fuel has been accepted and recognized. As I told you before, there have been certain doubts about it, and efforts were made to remove these doubts,” he said.

Mottaki did not address the timing of a proposed swap, a problematic issue in negotiations. On Friday he spoke of a ’simultaneous’ swap, whereas the six-power group wants Iran first to ship its LEU abroad and then receive it back when sufficiently enriched to use in Tehran reactor.

The IAEA’s last report in November said Iran had registered a total of 1,763 kilograms of LEU, a quantity experts say would be more than enough for one nuclear bomb if it were enriched to the level of 90 percent.

Here is a Related Post by the NY Times

Missile Shield Relocated to Israel

Deputy US army chief, Gen. James Cartwright and defense secretary Robert Gates amplified President Barack Obama’s statement on the US missile shield in East Europe in Washington Thursday, Sept. 17, by announcing that a new and better anti-missile missile system would be deployed in Israel and the Caucasus.

Some Sources disclosed exclusively that the system would be installed at a Russian military base in Azerbaijan. Referring to the Israeli component, he said: “It is already working perfectly.”

Military sources disclose he was referring to the advanced American FBX-T radar system deployed last year in Israel’s Negev base at Nevatim, which is capable of tracking a missile launched from the Persian Gulf, the Middle East and beyond. The system, product of Raytheon, is mobile and capable of detecting incoming bodies the size of a baseball from a distance of 4,700 km, determining its speed and angle of flight and transmitting the data to an interceptor at any point on earth.

Reported earlier Thursday:

The Obama administration’s decision to shelve the plan to install US missile interceptors and radar systems in Poland and the Czech Republic was released Thursday, Sept. 17. The shield was promoted by the Bush administration in the face of strong Russian opposition for the purpose of shielding Europe from long-range Iranian ballistic missile attack.

A report that Barack Obama’s decision prompted Russian president Dmitry Medvedev’s surprise comment Monday, Sept. 14, that his government no longer rules out further sanctions against Iran – although the Kremlin has always denied its cooperation with the US on the Iranian nuclear issue was contingent on the removal of the US missile shield plan.

A shared US-Russian wish to avert an Israeli military strike against Iran produced Obama’s decision to ditch the missile shield in East Europe.

Our Washington sources report that the decision follows a 60-day assessment of the issue announced by Obama. “The US will base its decision on a determination that Iran’s long-range missile program has not progressed as rapidly as previously estimated, reducing the threat to the continental US and major European capitals,” said unnamed current and former US officials.

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On Aug. 29, DEBKAfile reported exclusively from East European sources that Washington was considering the transfer of its missile plan from Poland and the Czech Republic, possibly to Israel and Turkey.

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6242

This decision is an important foreign policy step for Obama; it is a prize for Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, who fought the US shield plan on Russia’s doorstep tooth and nail, and a major strategic reversal for Iran. Moscow’s cooperation removes a key obstacle on the road to harsh sanctions against Iran. Acting in concert with Moscow, Washington can dispense with Beijing’s endorsement.

Nonetheless, Moscow sources stress, it is not entirely clear how far the Kremlin is willing to go in partnering the US drive against Iran. Russian leaders will take good care not to appear to the Muslim and Arab world as Iran’s enemy or a trading and diplomatic partner who reneges on its commitments.

Russian Media Say’s Israel Planning Iranian Attack

Russian report: Netanyahu may be planning attack
The Israeli Prime Minister’s rushed visit to Moscow under a cloud of secrecy occupies the Russian media. Kommersant paper quotes ‘informed Israeli’ source as saying ‘It can’t be ruled out that Israel may be ready to move on to decisive actions with regards to Iran, and Netanyahu decided to inform the Kremlin of this.
Olga Gouresky
Published: 09.10.09, 14:16 / Israel News
Russian media on Thursday continued to cover Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s mysterious visit to Moscow, that was leaked to the media from his office.

Kommersant newspaper quoted “experts” as saying they believe a visit of this kind could have stemmed from urgent circumstances, “for example, in the event that Israel plans to attack Iran”.
Cloud of Mystery
Report: PM held secret talks in Russia / Ynet
Yedioth Ahronoth says Netanyahu’s Monday ‘disappearance’ was actually Moscow visit meant to discuss arms deals between Russian, Iran. PMO asserts Netanyahu was ‘handling classified matters,’ never left the country

At first, Moscow denied a visit ever took place, but after Netanyahu’s office was forced to admit to the PM’s Military Secretary Meir Kalifi’s lie, a senior Kremlin source also confirmed to Kommersant that the Israeli prime minister did indeed visit the city.

Russian media also directed questions on the visit to the Israeli embassy in Moscow, but embassy sources said that if there was such a visit, “We know nothing about it.”

The paper then quoted what it called an “informed” Israeli source, who wished to remain anonymous, as saying, “Such a visit could be related to new information and could threaten the Iranian nuclear program. It should not be ruled out that Israel may be ready to move on to decisive actions with regards to Iran, and Netanyahu has decided to inform the Kremlin of this.”

Russian Foreign Minister Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko published an announcement saying, “We have no knowledge of a Netanyahu’s ’secret’ visit to Moscow. We saw reports in various media. They are inconsistent. Other than that, I cannot tell you anything. I have no detailed information in the matter, or any information in the matter. We have seen the reports.”

On Wednesday, Ynet revealed that Netanyahu left Israel on a private jet belonging Israeli millionaire Yossi Maiman. Earlier Wednesday, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that his destination was Russia.
The prime minister’s aides who published the false announcements of his whereabouts were at a loss for words.
Wednesday night the Prime Minister’s Office published yet another announcement in an attempt to rectify the damage, said, “The prime minister was busy with secret, classified activity. The military secretary took his own initiative to defend this activity.”

Iranian Cops out of Control

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Here we see a young man being harassed by members of the Iranian Police, a victim of police brutality.

They cut his hair, burn his hair, and he gets a slap in the face somewhere in this short video.

It just leaves me wondering what he may have looked like upon his final release, it appears that the cop on the right started to partially restrain the cop on the left after he started burning the prisoners hair, it seemed as if the police were in some way offended by the prisoners “appearance”

To me this looks like cops out of control, but over there?, who knows, behavior like this may be common practice.

Think Tank Releases Iranian Attack Scenario

In a hare-brained nightmare scenario dreamed up by the Center for Strategic and International Studies — home-base for neocon crackpots such as Michael Ledeen and war criminals of Madeleine Albright’s caliber — Iran manages to produce a nuclear weapon and drops it on Israel, ultimately killing 800,000 people. “Retaliatory Israeli nuclear strikes, with higher-yield bombs and accurate rocket delivery systems, would be far more destructive,” writes Peter Goodspeed for the National Post. “A full-fledged Israeli nuclear response, using some, but not all, of its 200 nuclear weapons, would target most major Iranian cities and major military bases. It would kill 16 million to 28 million people within three weeks.”

Fallout From Nuclear Attack on Natanz and Isfahan. With scale showing levels of radiation exposure. Over a few days, exposure at greater than 10 rems per hour will cause death, and at 1 rem per hour exposures lead to radiation sickness.

It is estimated Israel has around 400 nuclear weapons. As Israeli arms technician Mordecai Vanunu revealed in 1986, the Israelis have produced 100 to 200 advanced fission bombs and have mastered a thermonuclear design. In 1986, it appeared to have a number of thermonuclear bombs ready for use. According to the Institute for Defense Analyses, Israel’s facilities at Soreq and Dimona have the same mission as the Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge National Laboratories in the United States. More than twenty years ago, Israel was developing the computer “codes which will enable them to make hydrogen bombs.”

Meanwhile, Iran is not up to speed, never mind the scary science fiction story weaved by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Iran did manage to enrich a small amount of uranium using a cascade of 164 centrifuges that spin uranium hexafluoride gas at supersonic speed. The enriched uranium that Iran produced cannot be used in a nuclear weapon because it contains just 3.5% U-235, whereas a nuclear weapon typically requires highly-enriched uranium that contains more than 90% U-235. … Continue Reading