TToI:‘"Sparks fly"’ over US policy on Iran at meeting between Netanyahu and US envoy

[twa]

sorta OT, but will probably get a reaction from Iran....Clinton to remove terrorist designation from MEK

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/0...m-terror-list/

[JMS]

U.S. Warns Israel: Iran Strike May Affect Peace
U.S. officials recently warned Israel that Egypt and Jordan could annul their peace treaties with the Jewish State if it attacks Iran.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/160157

That is the highest card in the US hand to get Israel to not strike Iran. Only problem is the Israeli's know the mood in Egypt and Jordan about 10 times better than we do.
If it's true we aren't telling them anything new... If it's not true we loose credibility.....

Looks to me like a last ditch effort to get Israel to abort.

[visionary]

The MEK thing makes me nervous.
They are not much liked in Iran.
And they are generally considered terrorists to most people there.

[twa]

That is the highest card in the US hand to get Israel to not strike Iran. Only problem is the Israeli's know the mood in Egypt and Jordan about 10 times better than we do.
If it's true we aren't telling them anything new... If it's not true we loose credibility.....

Looks to me like a last ditch effort to get Israel to abort.

if they break the treaty the money stops....as does the restrictions on Israel

weak ...the US threatening to cut them off might be enough to sway them,but I don't see O as willing to suffer the backlash inherent in that

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/wo...oots.html?_r=0

Iran’s President, in New York, Says Israelis Have No Mideast Roots

Mr. Ahmadinejad, who arrived in New York on Sunday for the annual General Assembly meeting, made the remarks in a breakfast session with selected members of the media. Later on Monday he spoke at the United Nations; he will speak there again on Wednesday.

At the breakfast meeting, he said that the Israelis had been around the region for only 60 or 70 years, in contrast to the Iranians, whose civilization has existed for thousands of years.

“They have no roots there in history,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said of the Israelis, according to Reuters. “They do not even enter the equation for Iran.”

In a meeting with Iranian expatriates in New York on Sunday evening, Mr. Ahmadinejad belittled Israel’s significance and the military threats Israel has made against his country over its disputed nuclear program. “A number of uncultured Zionists that threaten the Iranian nation today are never counted and are never paid any attention in the equations of the Iranian nation,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said, according to a summary of his remarks on his English-language Web site.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...88N0HF20120924

In New York, defiant Ahmadinejad says Israel will be "eliminated"

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday disregarded a U.N. warning to avoid incendiary rhetoric and declared ahead of the annual General Assembly session that Israel has no roots in the Middle East and would be "eliminated."

In remarks to reporters in New York, he also said he does not take seriously the threat that Israel could launch a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, denied sending arms into Syria, and called economic conditions in his sanctions-hit country "not as bad as they are portrayed."

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...532197217.html

Iran's rial plunges as Western sanctions bite

Iran's currency has lost more than a quarter of its value against the dollar over the past week, a sign that Western sanctions are having a serious impact on the country's economy.

"This speaks to the unrelenting and increasingly successful international pressure that we are all bringing to bear on the Iranian economy"

The losses include a 17 per cent drop in one day: The black-market exchange rate plunged to about 34,500 per dollar on Monday, down from Sunday's rate of about 29,600, according to currency-tracking websites. (The official rate remains has been pegged at 12,260 rials on the dollar for several years.)

The decline comes after a week of tough talk at the United Nations, where US President Barack Obama said his country would "do what we must" to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hinted at a military strike next year.

The US and European Union have imposed increasingly-tough economic sanctions to pressure Iran into suspending its nuclear programme. Iran insists that the programme is peaceful.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in its latest report that Iran was blocking access to one site suspected of conducting research connected to nuclear weapons.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8910JW20121002

Iran may still be years away from any nuclear-armed missile

Iran already has enough low-enriched uranium for several atomic bombs if refined to a high degree but it may still be a few years away from being able to build a nuclear-armed missile if it decided to go down that path.

Israel's warning last week that Iran will be on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon by mid-2013 seemed to refer to when it could have a sufficient stock of higher-grade uranium to make a quick dash to produce a bomb's worth of weapon-grade material.

But, analysts say, Tehran would need time also for the technologically complicated task of fashioning highly refined uranium gas into a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a missile - if it opts for such weapons of mass destruction.

"If they haven't worked out all the steps with dummy materials beforehand they will have a lot to do," said a Vienna-based diplomat who is not from one of the six world powers involved in diplomacy over Iran's disputed nuclear activity.

"Maybe they have all of the equipment ready. Maybe they have played with surrogate materials. I don't think anyone knows."

[twa]

"Maybe they have all of the equipment ready. Maybe they have played with surrogate materials. I don't think anyone knows."

ask NK or Pakistan, they might have a clue

http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire....esign?page=0,1

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/0...8JC18D20120812
'BOOSTED' NUCLEAR EFFORTS

Citing an unnamed senior Israeli official, the Haaretz daily said a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) compiled by the Obama administration included a "last-minute update" about significant Iranian progress in the development of a nuclear warhead "far beyond the scope known" to U.N. inspectors.

The Israel Hayom daily reported NIE findings that Iran had "boosted efforts" to advance its nuclear programme, including work to develop ballistic missile warheads, and said U.S. and Israeli assessments largely tallied on this intelligence.

Neither newspaper provided direct quotes or detailed evidence. For Haaretz, it was the second report since Thursday purporting to draw on a new NIE.

Washington has not commented on whether such an NIE exists.

[AsburySkinsFan]

I'm always amused by those who think that any and all communication happens through the face to face photo ops. By a show of hands who honestly believes that the Obama adminstration has for even a single day been out of communication with Bibby and his adminstration?

[JMS]

"Maybe they have all of the equipment ready. Maybe they have played with surrogate materials. I don't think anyone knows."
.

Years away from nuclear missile is irrelevant. The thing that concerns the Israeli's is not a nuclear missile years into the future. It's a nuclear warhead which they, the Israeli's are saying is six months to a year out.
Coarse we've all heard that before with Iraq. But the Israeli Massad might have a little more credibility than G W. Condi, et. al.

I think the impasse with the President and the Israeli PM is where to draw the line. Iran could perfect all the steps in producing a bomb, but just not actually build a bomb nor test a bomb. Don't think that would be OK with the Israeli's. But where is the line? If Iran never actually builds or tests a bomb, but continues to work on the components is that tolerable? If not when does it become so intolerable you are willing to commit up to a million US troops in order to stop them?

---------- Post added October-2nd-2012 at 01:45 PM ----------

I'm always amused by those who think that any and all communication happens through the face to face photo ops. By a show of hands who honestly believes that the Obama administration has for even a single day been out of communication with Bibby and his administration?

Someone in the US gov probable talks to someone in the Israeli government daily. I'll bet Obama and Bibi talks don't occur all that often. The way Bibi has treated the administration, I'm sure giving him access to the President when he wants to chat is one stick the administration has deployed which impacts BiBi politically and personally. US administrations have often employed access to swat bad behavior among our allies. Bibi has gotten this treatment a few times from various Presidents, and Bibi as bad ans he's been historically, he's been an order of magnitude more egregious to Obama.

[Teller]

I'm always amused by those who think that any and all communication happens through the face to face photo ops. By a show of hands who honestly believes that the Obama adminstration has for even a single day been out of communication with Bibby and his adminstration?

A single day? I do. But I agree with your overall premise.

[visionary]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-midd...12#TWEET250214

Protests in capital over Iran currency crisis

3 October 2012 Last updated at 12:30 ET

Riot police in Iran have clashed with protesters in the capital over sharp falls in the currency, the rial.

Tear gas was used to disperse the demonstrators, some of whom were setting fire to tyres and rubbish bins. There were many arrests, reports say.

Eyewitnesses told the BBC that scores of people gathered outside the central bank, calling for the governor to stand down, chanting anti-government slogans.

There's a short video with the article.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...hes?CMP=twt_gu

Iran currency crisis sparks Tehran street clashes

Hundreds of demonstrators in the Iranian capital, Tehran, clashed with riot police, who used batons and teargas to disperse the crowd, which had gathered on Wednesday in protest against the crisis raging over the country's national currency.

The day after president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appealed to the market to restore calm, the Grand Bazaar – the heartbeat of Tehran's economy – went on strike, with various businesses shutting down and owners gathering in scattered groups chanting anti-government slogans in reaction to the plummeting value of the rial, which has hit all-time lows this week.

"Mahmoud [Ahmadineajd] the traitor ... leave politics," protesters chanted against the president, according to witnesses who spoke to the Guardian. Other slogans included "leave Syria alone, instead think of us," opposition website Kaleme.com reported.

The mention of Syria is a reference to the alleged financial and military support of Iranian leaders to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, which appears to have infuriated protesters in the wake of the country's worst financial crisis since the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

Witnesses in Tehran said angry protesters and foreign exchange dealers were demonstrating in areas close to the Bazaar in the south of the capital, where many exchange bureaux are located.

Conservatives are using the crisis to blame Ahmadi and up their own influence though.
https://twitter.com/oxfordgirl

Grand Ayatollahs in Qom blame Ahmadinejad and his government for fall of currency and economic decline
1:08 PM

Ali Larijani, speaker of Iran Majlis (parliament) 2day accused Ahmadinejad of mismanagement of the economy
1:10 PM

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/04/wo...obal-home&_r=0

Clashes and Protest Over Iran Currency Plunge Hit Tehran

Clashes and at least one spontaneous protest erupted in Tehran on Wednesday over the plunging value of Iran’s currency, as black-market money-changers fought with riot police who were dispatched to shut them down, and hundreds of angry citizens demonstrated near the capital’s sprawling merchant bazaar, where many shops had closed for the day. The official media reported an unspecified number of arrests including two Europeans.

The clashes were the first instance of a violent intervention over the money-changing business in Tehran since the currency, the rial, which had been gradually losing value in recent years, dropped drastically over the past week, losing 40 percent of its worth against the dollar, to a record low.

Economists have called the rial’s plunge a stark reflection of the economic pain in Iran caused in part by government mismanagement and the Western sanctions on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Witnesses in and around Manoucheri Street, where the black-market money changers do business, described cat-and-mouse chases between motorized riot police armed with tear gas and batons, and money changers and their customers, who were forced to scatter.

The anger over the rial’s plunge spread to Tehran’s grand bazaar, where many merchants closed their stores and hundreds of shoppers joined in what appeared to be a spontaneous protest, accusing the government of failing to protect their currency from collapse.

“They spend billions of dollars to keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power, but now they say they have no money!,” one garment seller screamed as he was cheered on by others, witnesses reported. A team from Iran’s state television was nearly attacked when its reporter turned to the camera saying that the people behind him had been upset over a robbery

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/wo...pagewanted=all

Iran’s Master of Iraq Chaos Still Vexes U.S.

[visionary]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/04/world/...sts/index.html

Iran arrests 16 'main players' in currency crisis

Iran arrested 16 people Thursday, accusing them of contributing to the currency crisis plaguing the country that has triggered protests in the streets.

Those arrested "were the main players in the recent fluctuations in the foreign currency market," the Tehran Judiciary said in a statement.

The move came a day after riot police worked to disperse protests in the capital's main bazaar and nearby streets. Demonstrators chanted slogans opposing firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and decrying the skyrocketing cost of basic goods.

Some "agitators" and two European tourists who were gathering information about the protests were arrested Wednesday, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

The government did not identify the 16 arrested Thursday. In a written statement, the judiciary said they "had used an atmosphere of psychological war created by the enemy" and colluded with "certain domestic and foreign groups" to exacerbate conditions."

They traded extensively in "smuggled" currencies "outside of the banking network" in order to increase the value of foreign currencies and disturb the public, the judiciary claimed, adding that they "amassed illegal fortunes."

One of the accused had $300 million going through a bank account, the statement said.

Iran warned that others "are being accused as well and will be dealt with soon."

Now everything will be just fine....


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...89313F20121004

Exclusive: EU poised to agree ban on Iranian gas imports

The European Union is poised to ban imports of Iranian gas as part of a set of new measures to ratchet up pressure on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme, diplomats said on Thursday.

Diplomats from EU member states have started preparing a package of sanctions against Iran with a goal of formally adopting them at a meeting of foreign ministers on October 15 in Luxembourg.

Late on Wednesday, they reached a preliminary deal to ban gas imports, the first measure to win approval in the package, which also consists of various finance and energy-related proposals, three EU diplomats said.

"There is agreement on gas," one of the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The big states back it, Germany, Britain, France," another one said.

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/wo...rael.html?_r=0

Hezbollah Says It Flew Iranian-Designed Drone Into Israel

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militant group and political party Hezbollah, declared Thursday that his fighters had assembled and piloted a drone that flew 35 miles into Israel on Saturday, calling the flight an unprecedented achievement in “the history of the resistance.”

In a televised, 50-minute speech, Mr. Nasrallah said the drone, which was shot down by Israeli forces, had been designed in Iran and assembled by Hezbollah experts in Lebanon.

“It is our right to send other drones whenever we want,” Mr. Nasrallah said, noting that Israel frequently violated Lebanese airspace. “It was not the first time and it will not be the last.”

Hours earlier, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Hezbollah in the episode, saying that Israel had “thwarted over the weekend Hezbollah’s attempt” to penetrate its airspace. The group has sent a drone over Israel at least once before.

There was no immediate official reaction from Israel to Mr. Nasrallah’s speech, or warnings about the need for a military response against Hezbollah in Lebanon. If anything, there seemed to be an attempt to point a finger at Hezbollah’s patron, the more distant Iran.