VS - Iran [#24] : 'All options' legitimate to prevent nuclear Iran

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Op woensdag 24 oktober 2007 21:21 schreef moussie het volgende:
tjeemig .. vliegtuigen alvast ombouwen voor een wapen dat nog in ontwikkeling is .. waarom moet ik aan Hiroshima denken ?

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Op woensdag 24 oktober 2007 21:21 schreef moussie het volgende:
tjeemig .. vliegtuigen alvast ombouwen voor een wapen dat nog in ontwikkeling is .. waarom moet ik aan Hiroshima denken ?

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Op woensdag 24 oktober 2007 21:04 schreef Monidique het volgende:

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http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/24/bush-budget-iran/

(Originele link niet beschikbaar.)

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came in response to “an urgent operational need from theater commanders.” […]

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Op donderdag 25 oktober 2007 09:00 schreef icecreamfarmer_NL het volgende:

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dit is natuurlijk de belangrijkste zin
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ABC News called CENTCOM to ask what the "urgent operational need" is. CENTCOM spokesman Maj. Todd White said he would look into it, but, so far, no answer.

There doesn't appear to be any potential targets for a bomb like that in Iraq. It could potentially be used on Taliban or al Qaeda hideouts in the caves along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but there would be no need to use a stealth bomber there.

So where would the military use a stealth bomber armed with a 30,000-pound bomb like this? Defense analysts say the most likely target for this bomb would be Iran's flagship nuclear facility in Natanz, which is both heavily fortified and deeply buried.

"You'd use it on Natanz," said John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org. "And you'd use it on a stealth bomber because you want it to be a surprise. And you put in an emergency funding request because you want to bomb quickly."

"It's kind of strange," Pike said. "It sends a signal that you are preparing to bomb Iran, and if you were actually going to bomb Iran I wouldn't think you would want to announce it like that."

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One congressional aide said, however, that the proposed program to fit the bombs to the B-2s might not be finished until 2009 or 2010 -- after the Bush administration has left office.

Asked what the bunker-buster had to do with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a senior defense official briefing reporters on the war funding request earlier this week said: "Look in terms of better capabilities of bringing better, quicker precision ordnance on the target."

"You have buried targets, for example particularly in Afghanistan, that you're concerned about and so, to me, I think there is in fact a direct link in terms of the kinds of possibilities that might be there in this sort of capability."

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Op vrijdag 19 oktober 2007 17:08 schreef EricT het volgende:

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Good thinking Sherlock

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US Imposes Sweeping Sanctions Against Iran

The US is imposing sweeping sanctions against Iran to punish it for missiles sales and nuclear activities.
The sanctions will hit the country's banks, Republican Guards and defence ministry, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
They are the toughest the US has levied against the Islamic Republic since the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran.


Speaking in Washington, Ms Rice said the sanctions would cut off more than 20 Iranian entities, including individuals and companies owned or controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, from the American financial system.

That is likely to have ripple effects throughout the international banking community.

The sanctions also cover three Iran state-owned banks, including Bank Melli.

The actions mean that any assets found in the US belonging to the designated groups must be frozen.

Americans are also forbidden from doing business with them.

The Revolutionary Guards was labelled "specially designated global terrorist".

The US accuses the group of providing weapons to militant groups in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It says Iran has given Shia groups in Iraq powerful bombmaking materiel blamed for the deaths of British and American soldiers.

Ms Rice called the moves part of a "a comprehensive policy to confront the threatening behaviour of the Iranians."

She said the new sanctions would "provide a powerful deterrent" for companies to sever business relationships with Iran.

But she also said Washington remained open to "a diplomatic solution."

Iran and the US have clashed over Iran's nuclear programme.

Tehran says the project is aimed at providing domestic power - Washington claims it is for weapons.

bron

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The Bush administration plans to roll out an unprecedented package of unilateral sanctions against Iran today, including the long-awaited designations of its Revolutionary Guard Corps as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and of the elite Quds Force as a supporter of terrorism, according to senior administration officials.

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De zaak rond het Iraanse kernprogramma zal alleen maar escaleren door de sancties

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Op donderdag 25 oktober 2007 14:36 schreef Monidique het volgende:

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http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3771522&page=1

Geeft natuurlijk inderdaad wel de indruk van 'hey, we gaan het echt doen, hoor! Dus werk maar mee'.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071024/pl_nm/usa_iran_bomb_dc_1

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Op donderdag 25 oktober 2007 08:59 schreef icecreamfarmer_NL het volgende:

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geen idee
Misschien een hersenspinsel want ik zie het verband niet echt

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Iran defiant at new US sanctions

Iran has responded defiantly to new sanctions imposed by the US targeting Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and three state-owned banks.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the sanctions were doomed to failure.

The US move came as a senior American diplomat accused Russia and China of aiding and abetting Iran's military.

US Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said Russia should stop selling weapons to Iran and China should stop investing in the country.

"They're now the number one trade partner with Iran. It's very difficult for countries to say we're striking out on our own when they've got their own policies on the military side, aiding and abetting the Iranian government in strengthening its own military," Mr Burns told the BBC.

Mr Burns said that despite differences with both Russia and China the US still hoped that the UN Security Council would approve a third resolution imposing new sanctions this November.

He said he hoped Iran would be persuaded to move away from confrontation and choose to negotiate.

"We want to be at the negotiating table, we want a peaceful resolution of this dispute. But to reinforce diplomacy, sometimes it has to have a tough side to it," he said.

'Hostile' Americans

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jaafari, set the tone for Iran's response to the new sanctions, saying the Guards Corps was now ready to defend the ideals of the revolution more than ever before.

Iran's foreign ministry also condemned the move.

"The hostile American policies towards the respectable people of Iran and the country's legal institutions are contrary to international law, without value and, as in the past, doomed to failure," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.

The BBC correspondent in Tehran, Jon Leyne, says the sanctions could be very damaging for Iran economically.

The Revolutionary Guards are thought to control around a third of the country's economy, including car factories, newspapers and oil and gas fields.

Foreign companies will be deterred from dealing with them or anyone connected with them for fear of economic retaliation by the United States, our correspondent says.

'Destabilising' force

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the new sanctions as part of "a comprehensive policy to confront the threatening behaviour of the Iranians".

The US declared the Revolutionary Guards a "proliferator of weapons of mass destruction", a reference to ballistic missiles they are allegedly developing, while their elite overseas operations arm, the Quds Force, was singled out as a "supporter of terrorism".

The US has repeatedly accused Iran of destabilising Iraq and Afghanistan, blaming the Revolutionary Guards for supplying and training insurgents.

Under Executive Order 13382, US authorities will be able to freeze the assets of, and prohibit any US citizen or organisation from doing business with the Revolutionary Guards.

Iran's ministry of defence, which controls the country's defence industry, three Iranian banks, and several companies owned by the Guards will also be designated.

Ms Rice has reiterated a commitment to finding a diplomatic resolution to the crisis and has offered to meet "my Iranian counterpart any time, anywhere" - words that would be unimaginable coming from the lips of Vice-President Dick Cheney, says the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington.

Mr Cheney is widely believed to be pressing for a military strike on Iran before the Bush administration's term is over, our correspondent says.

If these sanctions have no effect, Ms Rice may well have to give way to those in and around the White House who believe the time for diplomacy is over, he says.

bron: BBC

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While the US administration insists it is pursuing diplomacy in its disputes with Iran, critics of President George W. Bush see worrying parallels between recent statements on Tehran and the run-up to the war in Iraq.

The Bush administration announced new sanctions against Iran on Thursday, accusing the regime of backing terrorists, supporting insurgents in Iraq and working to build an atomic arsenal.

The following are recent comments by Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on Iran's nuclear program and statements on Iraq made prior to the 2003 US-led invasion.

IRAN

"The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course, the international community is prepared to impose serious consequences."

-- Vice President Dick Cheney speaking to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on October 21, 2007.

IRAQ

"The Council has repeatedly warned Iraq that it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations."

-- UN Security Council Resolution 1441, adopted in 2002, which the Bush administration says authorized the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

IRAN

"We got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

-- Bush speaking in a press conference on October 17, 2007.

"Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust. Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere. And that is why the United States is rallying friends and allies around the world to isolate the regime, to impose economic sanctions. We will confront this danger before it is too late."

-- Bush in a speech to the annual American Legion convention on August 28, 2007.

IRAQ

"Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."

-- Bush in a speech on Iraq in Cincinnati on October 7, 2002.

IRAN

"Our intelligence community assesses that, with continued foreign assistance, Iran could develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States and all of Europe before 2015. If it chooses to do so, and the international community does not take steps to prevent it, it is possible Iran could have this capability. And we need to take it seriously -- now."

-- Bush in a speech to the National Defense University on October 23, 2007.

IRAQ

"If the Iraqi regime is able to produce, buy, or steal an amount of highly enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year. And if we allow that to happen, a terrible line would be crossed. Saddam Hussein would be in a position to blackmail anyone who opposes his aggression. He would be in a position to dominate the Middle East. He would be in a position to threaten America. And Saddam Hussein would be in a position to pass nuclear technology to terrorists."

-- Bush in the speech on Iraq in Cincinnati on October 7, 2002.

IRAN

"Our struggle is not with the Iranian people. As a matter of fact, we want them to flourish, and we want their economy to be strong. And we want their mothers to be able to raise their children in a hopeful society. My problem is with a government that takes actions that end up isolating their people and ends up denying the Iranian people their true place in the world."

-- Bush congratulating General David Petraeus on his confirmation as commander of forces in Iraq on January 26, 2007.

IRAQ

"The Iraqi people cannot flourish under a dictator that oppresses them and threatens them. Gifted people of Iraq will flourish if and when oppression is lifted."

-- Bush signing the authorization to use military force in Iraq on October 16, 2002.

IRAN

"All options are on the table. I would hope that we could solve this diplomatically."

-- Bush, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on June 19, 2007.

"The United States joins other nations in sending a clear message: We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

-- Cheney in the October 21, 2007 speech.

IRAQ

"All options are on the table, and -- but one thing I will not allow is a nation such as Iraq to threaten our very future by developing weapons of mass destruction."

-- Bush speaking at a press conference on March 13, 2002, a year before military action against Iraq.

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Secret move to upgrade air base for Iran attack plans

The US is secretly upgrading special stealth bomber hangars on the British island protectorate of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, according to military sources.

The improvement of the B1 Spirit jet infrastructure coincides with an "urgent operational need" request for £44m to fit racks to the long-range aircraft.

That would allow them to carry experimental 15-ton Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs designed to smash underground bunkers buried as much as 200ft beneath the surface through reinforced concrete.


One MOP - known as Big Blu - has already been tested successfully at the US Air Force proving ground at White Sands in New Mexico. Tenders have now gone out for a production model to be ready for use in the next nine months.

The "static tunnel lethality test" on March 14 completely destroyed a mock-up of the kind of underground facility used to house Iran's nuclear centrifuge arrays at Natanz, about 150 miles from the capital, Tehran.

Although intelligence estimates vary as to when Iran will achieve the know-how for a bomb, the French government recently received a memo from the International Atomic Energy Agency stating that Iran will be ready to run almost 3000 centrifuges in 18 cascades by the end of this month. That is in defiance of a UN ban on uranium enrichment and would be enough to produce a nuclear weapon within a year.

Diego Garcia, part of Britain's Indian Ocean Territory, has several current missions. US Air Force bombers and Awacs surveillance planes operate from its 12,000ft runway and the USAF Space Command has built a satellite tracking station and communications facility.

The Ministry of Defence says the US government would need Britain's permission to use the island for offensive action. It has already been used for strategic strike missions during the 1991 and 2003 Gulf wars against Iraq.

The UK "sovereign territory" has a garrison of 50 British and 3200 US military personnel.

The atoll, the largest in the Chagos Archipelago chain, lies about 1000 miles from the southern coasts of India and Sri Lanka. It is ideally placed for strategic missions in the Middle East.

The US Department of Defence request for special bomb racks was hidden in a £95bn request to the US Congress last week for extra emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new Big Blu bomb is 20ft long, weighs 30,000lb and carries 6000lb of high explosives. It is designed to go deeper than even existing nuclear bunker-busting weapons.

The bomb is designed to be dropped from as great a height as possible to achieve maximum velocity and penetrating power, guided on to target by satellite and accurate to within a few feet.

Each B2 bomber would be able to carry only one weapon because of its weight. The B2s, normally based at Barksdale, Missouri, flew round-trip strikes against Baghdad in 2003, but would ideally be positioned closer to its targets for missions against Iran.

The Pentagon has drawn up contingency plans for a range of attacks on Iran. The likeliest is a five-day bombardment, aiming to disable nuclear facilities and all major airbases and radar facilities; the most devastating would involve air and cruise missile attacks on 1000 targets, including headquarters and barracks of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps, over more than a month.

The US branded the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organisation last week in the latest round of diplomatic sanctions against Tehran.

Bron: theherald

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Niet pinnen, geen Skype meer in Iran
Amerikaanse sancties maken alledaagse zaken in Iran steeds lastiger

Gepubliceerd: 30 oktober 2007 07:55 | Gewijzigd: 30 oktober 2007 08:04


Sancties van de VS treffen gewone burgers in Iran. Ook correspondent Thomas Erdbrink, en de ambassadeur die dollars in zijn onderbroek naar Iran smokkelt.
Door Thomas Erdbrink

Teheran, 30 okt. Er zijn momenten dat ik het televisienieuws kijk, en vergeet dat ik zelf in het land woon dat het onderwerp is. Toen BBC World afgelopen week over nieuwe Amerikaanse sancties tegen Iran sprak, lag ik onder een dekentje op de bank in Teheran voor de televisie. Thee en koekjes bij de hand, buiten was het donker.

Beelden van marcherende Iraanse soldaten en demonstrerende mensen flitsten over het scherm, de zoveelste unilaterale Amerikaanse sancties tegen Iraanse legereenheden en banken werden afgekondigd. „Je zal er maar wonen”, dacht ik wat verstrooid over het land waar ik nu zes jaar woon. Maar terwijl de televisie vaak een verwrongen beeld van Iran weergeeft, begint het nieuws nu steeds dichterbij de waarheid te komen. De sancties raken al veel mensen en de nieuwe Amerikaanse handelsbeperkingen gaan nog een stuk verder.

Een paar voorbeelden. Volgende maand moet ik de huur weer betalen. Net zoals veel Iraniërs ontvang ik geld uit het buitenland, maar dat overmaken naar Iran is geweldig moeilijk geworden. Alle Nederlandse banken, op de ING na, zijn na eenzijdige Amerikaanse druk uit Iran vertrokken. Sinds een paar maanden staan ze ook niet meer toe om geld naar het land te sturen. Ik moet dus vaak naar Nederland om daar geld op te halen.

Internationale creditcards en pinautomaten werken niet in Iran; na Amerikaanse druk is Iran uit het internationale bankensysteem voor dit soort krediet gezet. Dus moet ik mijn huur cash afrekenen. In echte financiële nood reis ik op en neer naar Dubai (anderhalf uur vliegen) om daar te pinnen. Een medewerker van een ambassade in Teheran vertelde me onlangs dat zijn ambassadeur tegenwoordig met duizenden dollars in zijn onderbroek naar Iran komt, om de lokale staf te kunnen uitbetalen.

En de druk gaat verder. Vorige week werd ik gebeld door een Nederlands-Iraanse vriendin. Ze had een rekening geopend bij de Rabobank, ergens in Brabant. Maar na een paar weken ontving ze het bericht dat de rekening is opgeheven omdat ze in Teheran woont. Mijn vrouw, een Iraanse, is nu bang dat haar Nederlandse rekening ook wordt opgeheven. Uit Duitsland komen soortgelijke berichten. Zonder een rekening in Europa is het voor veel Iraanse ondernemers moeilijk om internationale zaken te doen: naar Iran sturen de meeste banken immers geen geld meer. Het gevolg is dat Iran steeds geïsoleerder raakt. Ik zit te denken of ik een rekening voor mijn vrouw in Zwitserland moet openen, al heb ik geen idee hoe zoiets werkt.

Maar de Amerikaanse sancties hebben meer gevolgen. Laatst probeerde ik een Yahoo! e-mailadres aan te maken voor mijn schoonvader. Op de vraag waar hij woonachtig is, kon ik echter geen antwoord geven, want Iran staat niet bij de keuzemogelijkheden. Het hele land is simpelweg gewist. Dit is bij de Nederlandse vriendensite Hyves ook zo.

Onlangs probeerde ik een product van internetzoekmachine Google binnen te halen. Tot mijn verbazing kreeg ik de melding dat ik in een ‘verboden land’ woon. Mijn betaalde abonnement op internettelefonieaanbieder Skype werd opgezegd. Volgens een begeleidende e-mail omdat „onze financiële dienstverlener geen banden onderhoudt met het land waar u verblijft”.

Omdat iedere internetter te lokaliseren is via zijn IP-adres weten websites of iemand in Iran zit. Veel mensen vrezen dan ook dat na de laatste Amerikaanse sanctieronde bepaalde internetpagina’s wel eens helemaal op zwart zullen worden gezet. Yahoo! kan Iran dan wel wissen uit zijn landenlijst, maar wie in plaats daarvan ‘IJsland’ invult kan nu nog steeds een e-mailadres openen. Er kan ook besloten worden om een land helemaal in de ban te doen.

Dat is vrij wrang in Iran, waar de lokale overheid zelf al honderdduizenden websites filtert. Iraanse internetgebruikers werken met speciale websites (proxy’s) om de filters te omzeilen, al is dat vaak traag en worden de proxy’s vaak ook geblokkeerd. Deze zouden ook moeten werken als vanuit de VS sites worden geblokkeerd voor Iraanse bezoekers. Maar de Amerikaanse straffen op sanctieontduiking zijn extreem hoog. In 2005 werd de Nederlandse bank ABN Amro een boete van 80 miljoen dollar opgelegd omdat de bank via het kantoor in Dubai zaken deed met Iran.

Met dit soort boetes jagen de VS bedrijven uit andere landen schrik aan, want meestal zijn hun handelsvolumes met Amerika groter dan die met Iran. Gevolg: veel bedrijven kiezen eieren voor hun geld, al ondersteunen hun regeringen de sancties misschien niet.

Op de bank in Teheran krijgt het televisienieuws een steeds bitterder nasmaak. Omdat de internationale politiek steeds meer voelbare invloed krijgt op het leven om me heen. Hoe lang kan ik mijn artikelen nog per e-mail sturen?

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Op dinsdag 30 oktober 2007 09:05 schreef -jos- het volgende:

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Despite President Bush's perpetually abysmal approval ratings, it appears his increasingly hostile rhetoric against Iran has drummed up enough fear of a "nuclear holocaust" or a World War III that a majority of Americans are in favor of a US strike against the country aimed a curtailing its apparent nuclear ambitions, a new poll shows.

The Zogby International survey shows 52 percent of Americans would support a strike on Iran, while 53 percent expect President Bush to launch such an attack before the end of his second term. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is voters' No. 1 choice to deal with Iran, with 21 percent saying they would like to see her take on Tehran from the White House. Republican Rudy Giuliani was voters' second choice, with 15 percent.

Just 29 percent of Americans think the US should not attack Iran, with one in five people unsure about military action. Of those who would support a strike, 28 percent believe military action should wait until the next president is in office, while 23 percent want to see Bush let lose US missiles against Iran.

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Op dinsdag 30 oktober 2007 17:30 schreef mr.marcus het volgende:
Als de VS nou gewoon zegt:
Kappen met dat atoomprogramma of we maken echt ALLES in je land wat enige militaire / nucleaire waarde heeft met de grond gelijk. Als ik dan Iran was zou ik denk ik toch wel kappen....