Iran Nuclear Standoff

[Cryomaniac]

Iran will probably expand it since they got the go ahead from Pyongyang

Pyongyang is now confident that we will not do anything to stop their plans

Exactly. Too much appeasement.

From this link:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3028ceae-20b1-1 ... ck_check=1

US may cede to Iran's nuclear ambition

By Daniel Dombey in Washington

Published: April 4 2009 03:00 | Last updated: April 4 2009 03:00

US officials are considering whether to accept Iran's pursuit of uranium enrichment, which has been outlawed by the United Nations and remains at the heart of fears that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons capability.

As part of a policy review commissioned by President Barack Obama, diplomats are discussing whether the US will eventually have to accept Iran's insistence on carrying out the process, which can produce both nuclear fuel and weapons- grade material.

[cycloneye]

U.S to join in talks with Iran.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In a major departure from previous policy, the United States will join direct talks between U.N. and European powers and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, the State Department announced Wednesday.

The Obama administration has asked the European Union's international policy chief, Javier Solana, to invite Iran to new talks with the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

Washington, which does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, has stayed out of those talks to date.

"If Iran accepts, we hope this will be an occasion to seriously engage Iran of how to break the logjam of recent years and work in a cooperative manner to resolve the outstanding international concerns about its nuclear program," Wood said.

Iran has so far refused Security Council demands to halt its production of enriched uranium, which it has said will be used to fuel nuclear power plants. The United States has accused Tehran of concealing efforts to develop a nuclear bomb, and the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency said it has failed to resolve questions about the aim of Iranian program.

Wednesday's announcement is the latest step in the Obama administration's efforts to engage the Islamic republic diplomatically after nearly three decades without formal ties. Iran has so far responded coolly to the American overtures.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04 ... index.html

[cycloneye]

U.S. Drops Key Demand to Start Talks

The Obama administration and its European allies are considering dropping a long-standing U.S. demand that Iran immediately shut down its nuclear facilities if it enters talks over its atomic program, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The proposal would also allow Tehran to continue enriching uranium for some period during the talks in what is considered a sharp break from the Bush administration, which had demanded Iran halt its enrichment activities, the report said.

Enriching uranium can produce fuel for a nuclear power plant or, if purified to a much higher degree, provide material for an atomic bomb. The West suspects Iran's nuclear program is cover for building an atomic bomb but Tehran says it is to generate electricity.

The proposals, still under discussion, were aimed at drawing Iran into nuclear talks that it has so far shunned, the newspaper said, citing officials involved in the strategy sessions.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04 ... ear-talks/

[cycloneye]

Iran Tests Missile

(AP) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran has test-fired a new advanced missile with a range of about 1,200 miles, far enough to strike Israel and southeastern Europe.

The solid-fuel Sajjil-2 surface-to-surface missile is a new version of the Sajjil missile, which Iran said it had successfully tested late last year with a similar range.

The announcement comes just two days after President Barack Obama declared a readiness to seek deeper international sanctions against Iran if it shunned U.S. attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear program. He said he expected a positive response to his diplomatic outreach by the end of the year.

[cycloneye]

Ahmadinejad rejects Nuclear talks

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday ruled out nuclear negotiations with other nations, saying, "Iran's nuclear issue is over, in our opinion."

At a news conference in Tehran, the hardline president also said that if re-elected he again will call for a debate with President Obama.

Ahmadinejad previously urged a debate with President Bush and offered to debate both Obama and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain during last year's U.S. presidential campaign.

"I will extend that invitation one more time, so that there and then at the United Nations headquarters, President Obama sits there at the table and discusses world issues management and the way toward peace," Ahmadinejad said, according to a live translation of his remarks.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast ... index.html

[cycloneye]

Iran sends 6 warships to international waters


May 25: Iran has sent six warships into international waters and the Gulf of Aden Monday in a 'historically unprecedented move by the Iranian Navy.'
'
Iran has sent six warships into international waters in a move security experts are calling a "muscle flexing" show of defiance following missile tests last week.

"Iran has dispatched six ... warships to international waters and the Gulf of Aden region in a historically unprecedented move by the Iranian Navy," Iranian Adm. Habibollah Sayyari told a gathering of armed forces officials, Reuters reported.

Sayyari said the ships were moved to preserve Iran's territorial integrity in its southern waters, but foreign policy experts are calling it an aggressive move targeted at a Western audience as much as for regional powers like rival Saudi Arabia.

The deployment is "a signal of military strength, resolve and continued defiance to U.S. and U.N. Security Council efforts to end the impasse over Iran's nuclear program," said Jim Phillips, senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Heritage Institute.

"What's very important here is the timing of this move — and this naval muscle flexing comes after Iran's missile test earlier this week, which was saber rattling that was meant to send the same signal as this naval dispatch."




http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,521730,00.html

Now what are they up to?

[Derek Ortt]

they got their orders from Pyongyang is what they're up to

[vbhoutex]

Trying to provoke Israel and the US at the same time? Or just plain loco??????

[Derek Ortt]

noptice they are doing this at the exact same time as NK is

[vbhoutex]

noptice they are doing this at the exact same time as NK is

We all know whose puppets they are. Scary-puppets that think they are real and puppet masters who are loco.

[Derek Ortt]

noptice they are doing this at the exact same time as NK is

We all know whose puppets they are. Scary-puppets that think they are real and puppet masters who are loco.

can't we just end this bad puppet show. Take out the puppet master... puppets cannot move without their master

[Ed Mahmoud]

Iran reaps what it sows


Not sure if it was a suicide or a car bomber, but Iran's Arab Foreign Legion, Hezb'Allah, at Iran's direction has been committing suicide and car bombings since the early 1980s, US Marine peace keepers in Beirut, the US Embassy, Khobar Towers, a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires.


Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind...

[brunota2003]

Gunmen Open Fire at Ahmadinejad's Campaign Office

Friday, May 29, 2009

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TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's official news agency says three gunmen opened fire at one of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign offices in the southeast, wounding three people.

The shooting took place in Zahedan on Friday, a day after a bombing at a Shiite mosque in the city killed 25 people.

The report by the Islamic Republic News Agency quoted the campaign office chief, Mohammad Zahed Sheikhi, as saying the three men threatened people before opening fire, injuring two office workers and an infant.

Sheikhi said the men were captured after a short chase.

Ahmadinejad and three other candidates are competing in the June 12 presidential election.

Iran said the U.S. and Israel were behind the mosque bombing, a common accusation both countries have previously denied.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,522981,00.html

[cycloneye]

Israel will not take military action against Iran

MOSCOW — Israel does not intend to bomb Iran, Israel's foreign minister said Wednesday in the most explicit comments on the matter by a top minister of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to date.

Speaking at the end of a three-day visit to Russia, Avigdor Lieberman also said that other countries in the Middle East and around the world should be concerned about Iran's nuclear program.

But he said those countries should not expect Israel to solve the problem for them.

"We do not intend to bomb Iran, and nobody will solve their problems with our hands," he told reporters. "We don't need that. Israel is a strong country, we can protect ourselves.

"But the world should understand that the Iran's entrance into the nuclear club would prompt a whole arms race, a crazy race of unconventional weaponry across the Mideast that is a threat to the entire world order, a challenge to the whole international community," he said. "So we do not want a global problem to be solved with our hands."

The comments appeared to be a slight softening from recent statements made by Netanyahu's government that have suggested Israel might be forced to take military action against Israel.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,524862,00.html

[cycloneye]

Iran Election race tightens

Lets see what happens in the election and see if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can survive or not.

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- The day before polls open in Iran's presidential election, the streets are suddenly quiet again as official campaigning comes to an end, and voters prepare for what is expected to be a record turnout.

Whereas President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a sure bet just 10 days ago, the race has closed this past week, in what is clearly turning into a referendum on his four years in office.

Rivers of green have flowed through the streets, those decked out in the colors of his main challenger, former Prime Minster Mir Hossein Moussavi.

The week started with tens of thousands of his supporters forming a human chain along 17 kilometers of the main Tehran artery Vali-Asr Street.

Called out by text message and email the numbers exceeded all expectations, their ranks swelled by thousands more who joined the chain spontaneously or just lined the route to watch.

"Ahmadi bye bye, Ahmadi bye bye," they sang. Others held up posters that said 'NO LIARS.' It has become the opposition slogan. Watch the campaign fill Tehran streets »

They accuse the president of lying about the shape of the economy, overseeing higher prices, higher unemployment and higher inflation over the last four years.

One woman said she came out "because we want a change, because we want freedom."

By the end of the week Moussavi's supporters stretched as far as the eye could see from one end of Tehran to another, in scenes not witnessed here since the Islamic Revolution swept this country back in 1979.

Wednesday night a deputy leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard posted a warning on their Web site, vowing to "crush" any attempts at a "velvet revolution" in Iran.

President Ahmadinejad also drew large crowds, but even his most fervent supporters conceded, they didn't come close to Moussavi's. His staunchest supporters are among the traditional, the poor and the religious faithful.

One woman wrapped in a black chador and tight headgear said: "He's the best president we have had in all the past 30 years in every way."

Another woman says: "He is truly our courageous champion and he'll definitely win, we believe in him"

Ahmadinejad has courted this base by constantly traveling around the country handing out cash, and favors in the rural provinces.

But he has not been able to keep the election promise he made four years ago -- to "put the nation's oil wealth on everyone's dining table."

Azam, who works as a domestic help, says she can barely make ends meet even though she works 16 hours a day. She can't afford the soaring price of meat or vegetables. And most of her salary goes to paying her rising rent.

Leading Iranian economic and political analyst Saeed Leylaz says the president's huge handouts and his monetary policies have driven the country to the brink of disaster.


Ahmadinejad has managed the economy "in a catastrophic disaster way in my opinion" says Leylaz. "Under President Khatami (four years ago) we earned $100 billion with average 5.6% economic growth. We tripled oil revenues but the economic growth stayed about the same," he said. " What does this mean?" asks Leylaz. " It means this machine is corrupted, it does not work anymore and you have to change it."

With the stakes so high at home and on the world stage, many are calling this a turning point election for Iran.


http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast ... index.html

[cycloneye]

I am posting about the Iran election here because depending who wins,this nuclear standoff will go one direction or another.

Turnout is heavy

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Long lines of voters massed at many Iranian polling stations early Friday in an heavy turnout believed to be unprecedented for the hotly contested presidential election.


The polling stations were to stay open for 12 hours after officials extended the polling time to accommodate the high turnout.

The election is pitting incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against reformist Mir Hossein Moussavi, and two other candidates.

Kamran Daneshjoo, head of the election office, said the turnout was unprecedented, and that several polling places had already requested to stay open for two more hours.

But text messaging was not working in Iran on Friday, an issue that could affect Moussavi, who has used technology to inform his supporters.

In addition to Moussavi, two other challengers -- former parliament Speaker Mehdi Karrubi, another reformist, and hard-liner Mohsen Rezaie, secretary of Iran's Expediency Council -- hope to unseat Ahmadinejad in the election.


http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast ... index.html

[cycloneye]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is ahead in the first results

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was leading in early results from Iran's presidential election Friday, the election chief said.

With almost 20 percent of ballots counted, Election Commission Chief Kamran Daneshjoo said Ahmadinejad was leading with 69 percent of the vote.

Daneshjoo said Ahmadinejad's chief rival, reformist candidate Mir Hossain Moussavi, had 28 percent.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast ... index.html

[x-y-no]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is ahead in the first results

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was leading in early results from Iran's presidential election Friday, the election chief said.

With almost 20 percent of ballots counted, Election Commission Chief Kamran Daneshjoo said Ahmadinejad was leading with 69 percent of the vote.

Daneshjoo said Ahmadinejad's chief rival, reformist candidate Mir Hossain Moussavi, had 28 percent.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast ... index.html

Must be that the rural districts are reporting in first. I can't believe he's going to get anything near that kind of a majority once the cities are counted.. (If he does, then I'd say it was rigged.)

[Nimbus]

Ahmadinejad has 66.18 percent of the votes with 61 percent of the votes in.

Head of the Elections Headquarters Kamran Daneshjoo told reporters Saturday morning that 27,924 ballot boxes had been counted until 2:47 am which were 61 percent of the total boxes.
According to Daneshjoo, out of 21,170,263 counted votes, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has got 14,011,664 votes which constitutes 66.18 percent of the total counted votes.

So looks like the leader who would be willing to glass over Israel is going to stay in power.

[Brent]

Ugh. I actually thought his challenger had a good shot at winning.