Spanningen tussen Iran en Israël & de VS #5

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Iran dreigt over Amerikaans vliegdekschip

TEHERAN - Tussen Iran en de Verenigde Staten is enorme spanning ontstaan over een Amerikaans vliegdekschip. Iran wil niet dat het enorme schip terugkeert naar zijn basis in de Perzische Golf, vlakbij Iran.

„We waarschuwen slechts een keer”, zei bevelhebber Ataollah Salehi van het Iraanse leger dinsdag. De ongekende waarschuwing is een van de agressiefste van Iran tegen aartsrivaal VS van de laatste weken.
Vliegdekschip USS John C. Stennis behoort tot de grootste schepen van de Amerikaanse marine. Het schip van 333 meter lang wordt aangedreven door twee kernreactoren. Het kan 90 vliegtuigen herbergen en heeft een prijskaartje van 3,5 miljard dollar.
Het schip voer vorige week door de Straat van Hormuz op weg naar de Golf van Oman. Washington heeft altijd een vliegdekschip in of nabij de Perzische Golf met als basis Bahrein.
In een reactie op de Iraanse dreiging zeiden de VS dat Amerikaanse oorlogsschepen in de Golfregio blijven varen. „We houden onze defensie-eenheden in de Perzische Golfregio, zoals al tientallen jaren het geval is”, liet het Amerikaanse ministerie van Defensie weten. „Onze doorvaart door de Straat van Hormuz is volledig in overeenstemming met internationaal recht.”
Het ministerie voegde eraan toe dat het geen confrontatie zoekt met Iran. „Het is belangrijk even af te koelen”, verklaarde een woordvoerder van het ministerie.
De opgelopen spanning zorgde direct een hogere olieprijs. Die steeg dinsdag 3 procent, omdat de olielevering via de Straat van Hormuz in gevaar kan komen.
De sfeer tussen de VS en Iran was de afgelopen tijd al verslechterd. Zo dreigde Teheran onlangs met de afsluiting van de Straat van Hormuz. En maandag sloot de Iraanse marine nog een 10 dagen durende oefening af in de Straat van Hormuz waarbij drie nieuwe raketten werden getest.
Bovendien speelt er nog het gesteggel over Iraans nucleaire activiteiten. Wegens de Europese zorgen over de vermoedelijke bouw van een atoombom, werkt de westerse wereld aan verscherping van de sancties tegen Iran. De EU-ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken kwamen dat in december overeen. De zegsman verwacht dat de sancties op 30 januari ingaan. Het gaat daarbij om het bevriezen van tegoeden van de Iraanse centrale bank en een boycot van de Iraanse olie-export.

Aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis filmed by Iranian spy plane

Hou het netjes aub. Danku

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Russia has modernized two radars in Syria and Lebanon that could threaten U.S. or Israel’s ability to launch a surprise attack against Syria and Iran, Israeli DEBKAfile portal said on Monday.

The range of the Jabal Al Harrah electronic and surveillance station south of Damascus has been increased to cover all parts of Israel and Jordan, the Gulf of Aqaba and northern Saudi Arabia.

The range of a Russian-equipped Syrian radar stationed on Lebanon’s Mount Sannine has also been extended, and the data-sharing capability of both radars has been improved.

As a result, the radars are now capable of tracking “U.S. and Israeli naval and aerial movements in the Eastern Mediterranean up to and including Cyprus and Greece.”

“Moscow decided to boost its radar tracking and surveillance reach for Iran’s benefit in response to a complaint from Tehran that it could not longer count on Russia for a real-time alert on an incoming U.S. or Israeli military strike, because those resources were stretched to the limit in support of the Assad regime,” DEBKAfile said citing its sources in the U.S. military.

Russia is alarmed by the growing threat of a military strike on Iran, which is increasingly reported as being an option under consideration by Israeli and U.S. military planners as Tehran continues to move ahead with its uranium enrichment program.

Moscow proposes to recognize Iran’s right to develop a civilian nuclear program, including the right to enrich uranium in exchange for placing the country’s nuclear activities under the tight control of the International Atomic Energy Agency

At the same time, Russia has strongly opposed foreign interference in a political crisis in Syria and warned against a “Libyan scenario” in the country.

Earlier in February, Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-backed resolution calling on the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Moscow believes that attempts to bring democracy through military intervention in the Arab world would compromise the existing system of international security and “backfire with catastrophic consequences to the world.”

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WikiLeaks: Israel, Kurdish fighters destroyed Iran nuclear facility

In exchange released by website, worker at Stratfor intelligence firm doubts validity of a source claiming an Israeli ground force had already wiped out Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

By Haaretz, 27.02.12

The mega-leaks website, WikiLeaks, has partnered with the hackers cooperative Anonymous, to publish internal emails of the American strategic intelligence company Stratfor. In one of the hacked emails, Stratfor officials discuss information obtained from one of their sources who reports that Israeli commandos, in cooperation with Kurdish fighters, have destroyed Iranian nuclear installations.

WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, will hold a press conference today in London where he plans to reveal new details from the Stratfor emails, including details on the company's dealings with the American government and major corporations, and its network of paid sources.

In a WikiLeaks press release last night, the group said that it had obtained over five million emails generated by the Stratfor headquarters in Texas, from 2004 until the end of 2011. Though the organization does not specify the source of the emails, it has already been published that Stratfor was a target of the Anonymous hackers.

According to the emails, among Stratfor's clients are American government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Marine Corps, the Dow Chemical company, for whom Stratfor is alleged to have kept tabs on activists fighting the company for compensation over the Indian Bhopal chemical plant disaster in 1984, and defense giants Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.

According to the WikiLeaks release, Stratfor also "monitored" activists supporting the blight of the 1984 Bhopal chemical disaster on behalf of the US chemical giant Dow Chemical.

In one of the emails from November 2011, Startfor officials discuss the explosion at an Iranian missile base near Tehran and quote a source who "was asked what he thought of reports that the Israelis were preparing a military offensive against Iran. Response: I think this is a diversion. The Israelis already destroyed all the Iranian nuclear infrastructure on the ground weeks ago."

One company analyst responded dismissively to the possibility of an Israeli attack having already taken place, asking: "How and when did the Israelis destroy the infra on the ground?"

"Would anyone actually accept that this could let the Europeans forget about the Euro crisis, something they have been experiencing every day for over a year?!" the analyst added, asking: "Do we attribute any credibility to this item at all? I don't even see what possible disinfo purposes this could serve."

Some of the Stratfor analysts expressed the opinion that Israel had sent commandos into Iran, perhaps with the assistance of Kurdish fighters or Iranian Jews who had immigrated to Israel, to carry out these operations.

The emails also mention a plan to coerce an Israeli source into updating the firm on the medical condition of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

"[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control... This is intended to start our conversation on your next phase," Stratfor CEO George Friedman is quoted of instructing one of the firm's analysts.

According to the emails, many Stratfor operatives are former employees of the U.S. government and they routinely pay sources for information in cash.

The WikiLeaks press statement also mentions "private intelligence staff who align themselves closely with U.S. government policies and channel tips to the Mossad – including through an information mule in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Yossi Melman, who conspired with Guardian journalist David Leigh to secretly, and in violation of WikiLeaks' contract with the Guardian, move WikiLeaks U.S. diplomatic cables to Israel."

Mr Melman who until recently covered intelligence affairs for Haaretz said in response that at the time "I worked for Haaretz and with the approval of my editors I obtained the WikiLeaks documents."

"Harretz published some of them. I am proud of my journalistic achievements which was praised by my editors and the readers. Julian Assang of Wikileaks tried to prevent the publication arguing that the documents belonged to him," he added, saying, "I and my editors rejected his claim and went head with the publication."

"Now [Assange] tries to take revenge on me by hinting that I was a channel to the Israeli intelligence community. This is a complete lie. He also by way of innuendo tries to create the impression that I was a source for Stratfor. This is another lie. I do not have any control whatsoever about what Stratfor personnel wrote about me in their private in house correspondence," Melman added.

In Novmber 2010, WikiLeaks published, along with a number of major media organizations, including the Guardian, Der Spiegel and the New York Times, a cache of U.S. State Department diplomatic cables. American intelligence analyst, Bradley Manning, is being court-martialed for allegedly leaking the cables to WikiLeaks.

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Dutch donation to boost Palestinian trade
By HERB KEINON 02/28/2012 22:45
Netherlands to supply 2 state-of-the art container scanners; sign of Israeli-PA cooperation despite talks' breakdown.
Truck carrying fruit leaves Kerem Shalom crossing By REUTERS

While Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are stalemated, economic cooperation continues between the two sides with the Netherlands announcing this week it will supply two state-of-the art container scanners to facilitate Palestinian trade.

According to a joint agreement signed Sunday by Dutch Ambassador Caspar Veldkamp and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj.-Gen Eitan Dangot, the scanners are to "promote the economic development of the Palestinian Authority through expanded trade flows, while safeguarding" Israel's security.
Related:

'We need to beef up imports and exports with Israel'
PM in Amsterdam: Iran is our biggest threat

The first scanner will be installed at the Allenby Bridge "as fast and efficiently" as possible, expected within six to nine months, and the second one – possibly at the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza -- at a later date. In a unique form of cooperation, the scanners will be donated to and owned by the Palestinian Authority, but will be operated by Israel "to maintain and ensure" its security requirements.

According to a statement put out by the Dutch embassy, the scanners will boost Palestinian trade by "reducing transit costs for businesses and increasing the volume and range of goods allowed through the crossings." The statement said that the scanner at the Allenby Bridge could increase the amount of trade flowing through the crossing by up to 33%, something that will "help the Palestinian economy grow."

Currently, if glass manufacturers in Hebron want to export pitchers abroad they must load them into boxes and onto wooden pallets that are then placed on trucks. The trucks then go to the Allenby Crossing where each pallet is individually scanned by a pallet scanner at the site, and then loaded onto Jordanian trucks waiting on the other side of the border. These trucks then drive to Aqaba where the pallets are unloaded again, the boxes of pitchers taken out and then re-packed into containers for ship export.

Exporters complain that this significantly increases both their cost, and the time it takes for their goods to get to market, since each pallet must be unloaded at Allenby, and then at Aqaba the boxes of pitchers must be repacked into containers. The re-packing itself into containers is an additional expense.

The new container scanners will allow the manufactures to load their product at their factories directly into the containers, and the goods will not have to be touched again in shipment, reducing the risk of damage in handling, theft, and exposure to the elements.

Since the scanners are expected to lead to greater volume of import and export into the West Bank, it is also expected to raise additional tax revenue for the PA. An estimate from the office of Quartet envoy Tony Blair, which was instrumental in brokering the deal, the introduction of container scanners at Allenby could increase Palestinian trade by $35.5 million a year, which would yield the PA an additional $10.4 million a year in tax revenue.

Talks about putting container scanners into place have been ongoing for years. Veldkamp said it was the "trust and friendship between Israel and the Netherlands" that was able to seal the deal at this time.. "This benefits Palestinian economic development, and takes into account Israel's security needs, which we really care about," he said.

Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal announced the deal in Brussels on Monday at the monthly meeting of EU foreign ministers. The issue was discussed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte when they met last month in Holland. Rutte and Rosenthal previously discussed it with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.