Late last week, Republicans in the House or Representatives unveiled H.Res.1553, a resolution providing explicit support for an Israeli bombing campaign against Iran. The measure, introduced by Texas Republican Louie Gohmert and forty-six of his colleagues, endorses Israel's use of "all means necessary" against Iran "including the use of military force".

"We have got to act," Gohmert has said in regard to the measure. "We've got to get this done. We need to show our support for Israel. We need to quit playing games with this critical ally in such a difficult area."

But Gohmert's resolution may be an unprecedented development -- Congress has never endorsed pre-emptive military strikes by a foreign country. What's more, this is the minority party signaling to Israel that they can count on Republican support should the President object to Israeli strikes on Iran -- as did George W. Bush in 2008. The resolution also explicitly endorses "any means necessary", a carte blanche for the use of nuclear bunker-busting bombs.

As part of Washington’s intensifying campaign against Iran, the European Union (EU), Canada and Australia imposed hefty new sanctions this week against Tehran over its nuclear programs. While promoted as means of pressuring Iran, the sanctions are a further escalation of a dangerous confrontation that is setting the stage for war [for Israel].

Here we see one of the most bizarre twists in the story: US government sources now using the leaked documents to buttress the current anti-Iran narrative and in the process acting as though the intelligence reports are providing information that hadn’t been accessible inside government until they were leaked!

At the very same time, the State Department’s leading expert on Iran, John Limbert — a genuine source of intelligence and “the most qualified person on the Iran team at State in the three decades I have lived in the United States,” according to Haleh Esfandiari, head of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars — is about to resign.

At Foreign Policy, Barbara Slavin writes:

[I]t’s hard not to view Limbert’s departure as a turning point and yet another missed opportunity in U.S.-Iran relations. A number of players with more skeptical views about the prospect of rapprochement with Tehran — such as White House aide Dennis Ross and nonproliferation experts like Robert Einhorn and Gary Samore — appear to be driving U.S. policy now, and the president himself blames the Iranian government for failing to respond to his outreach.

What could please the attack-Iran lobby more than to see the departure of the most skilled American proponent of engagement and at the same time to be served a prize piece of propaganda by an outfit aligned with the anti-war movement?!

Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani warns over US constant plots against the Islamic Republic, saying the US lacks courage to make any anti-Iran move. “The United States still seeks to break the Iranian nation's will. The more sanctions they issue against us, the stronger the Iranian nation's will becomes,” Larijani said in western Iranian city of Kermanshah on Tuesday. He further added that the Iranian nation still opposes the United States and stressed the importance of maintaining readiness to encounter the US. The Iranian official deplored dual policies of the US government on Iran, saying, “US President Barack Obama cannot stretch his hands to the Iranian nation while the US Congress adopts moves against Iran.” Larijani also stressed that these efforts have no impact on the will of the Iranian nation. PressTV: Iran independent of world powers.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the United States and Israel plan to attack two countries in the Middle East as part of a conspiracy to apply pressure on Iran.

"We have precise information that the Americans have devised a plot, according to which they seek to launch a psychological war on Iran," Ahmadinejad stated in an exclusive interview with Press TV on Monday. "They plan to attack at least two countries in the region within the next three months," he added.

He said the US seeks to achieve two main objectives with the scheme.

"First of all, they want to hamper Iran's progress and development since they are opposed to our growth, and secondly they want to save the Zionist regime because it has reached a dead-end and the Zionists believe they can be saved through a military confrontation," Ahmadinejad explained.

He also advised US President Barack Obama not to follow the policies of George W. Bush.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Europe on Sunday not to join U.S. "plots" against Iran, saying that any cooperation with Washington will be regarded as hostile by the Iranian nation, the official IRNA news agency reported. The Americans have managed to persuade a part of Europe and Russia to join them in their latest anti-Iran scenario, Ahmadinejad made the remark in a festival in Tehran, according to IRNA. Any actions against Iran including disturbing Iranian airplanes or ships will be met with speedy responses from Iran, the Iranian president was quoted as saying. UN Security Council adopted last month a resolution on the Iranian nuclear issue, prohibiting Iran from investing abroad in nuclear and enrichment operations, imposing new restrictions on Iran's import of conventional arms and allowing the Iranian ships in the international water to be checked. On Thursday, the European Union agreed on sanctions against Iran's energy sector including its oil and gas industry. The agreement will come into effect if it is approved at the EU foreign ministers' meeting on Monday. PressTV: Iran deplores new EU sanctions.

Republicans in the US House of Representatives have introduced a measure that would green-light a possible Israeli bombing campaign against Iran. Resolution 1553 provides explicit support for military strikes against Iran, stating that Congress backs Israel's use of 'all means necessary' against Iran, "including the use of military force," BBC Persian reported. The introduction of the measure coincides with a pattern of renewed calls for military strikes that have escalated since President Obama signed Congressional Iran sanctions into law. Neoconservatives who were instrumental in orchestrating the Iraq War, such as Bill Kristol and Reuel Marc Gerecht, have led the stepped up calls for military action. Hawkish former Bush administration official John Bolton recently laid out the game plan to prod Israel into attacking Iran, arguing that outsiders can "create broad support" for a strike by framing it as an issue of Israel's right to self-defense. Supporters for military strikes, Bolton says, should "defend the specific tactic of pre-emptive attacks" against Iran. He said that Congress can 'make it clear' that it supports such strikes and that 'having visible congressional support in place at the outset will reassure' Israel. In spite of support from the neocons, top US military leaders have warned of the many dangers of military strikes against Iran.

Iranian Commerce Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari has warned against any plan for the inspection of the country's cargo ships, saying perpetrators will regret the act. Ghazanfari questioned West's authority to scrutinize Iranian ships and said, "Iran reserves the right to respond to inspections as any such attempts will be a move beyond the sanctions resolution," Mehr news agency reported on Friday. He also slammed the fourth round of UN Security Council sanctions against Iran's nuclear program and said the new measure will fail to change the country's stance on its nuclear program. The Iranian official further pointed out that the Islamic Republic will continue to "fully" support its cargo fleet.

After about two and a half years during which the danger of war between the United States and Iran was at a relatively low level, this threat is now rapidly increasing. A pattern of political and diplomatic events, military deployments, and media chatter now indicates that Anglo-American ruling circles, acting through the troubled Obama administration, are currently gearing up for a campaign of bombing against Iran, combined with special forces incursions designed to stir up rebellions among the non-Persian nationalities of the Islamic Republic. Naturally, the probability of a new fake Gulf of Tonkin incident or false flag terror attack staged by the Anglo-American war party and attributed to Iran or its proxies is also growing rapidly.

TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian nuclear scientist who returned home last week from the United States provided valuable information about the CIA, a semiofficial news agency reported Wednesday, adding that his spy's tale would be made into a TV movie. American authorities have claimed Shahram Amiri willingly defected to the U.S. but changed his mind and decided to return home without the $5 million he had been paid for what a U.S. official described as "significant" information about his country's disputed nuclear program. The Fars news agency quoted an unidentified source as saying that Iran's intelligence agents were in touch with Amiri while he was in the U.S. and that they won an intelligence battle against the CIA. Iran has portrayed the return of Amiri as a blow to American intelligence services that it says were desperate for inside information on Iran's nuclear program. Iran has sought to make maximum propaganda gains from the affair, allowing journalists to cover Amiri's return, sending a senior Foreign Ministry official to greet him and preparing to make a movie about the story.

"This was an intelligence battle between the CIA and us that was designed and managed by Iran," the source was quoted as saying. "We had set various goals in this battle and, by the grace of God, we achieved all our objectives without our rival getting any real victory."

CBC News: Iranian nuclear scientist spied on CIA: report.

The international conference on Afghanistan has opened in Kabul amid tight security with the country's security and development at the top of the agenda. The meeting, which was inaugurated Tuesday by the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, is the first-ever international conference on Afghanistan held inside the country. The conference seeks additional support for rebuilding from the international community. Delegates from more than 70 countries and several international bodies, including United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki- moon, are attending the one-day conference. The conference is marking a new phase into deepening and broadening of our international partnership," the corrupt & unelected Karzai said in his inaugural statement. PressTV: Iran outlines solutions to Afghan crisis.

Two bombs were detonated in quick succession in front of the Zahedan Grand Mosque in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan last Thursday. At least 27 people lost their lives and more than 100 others were injured in the terrorist act. Iran's president says US and NATO forces offer financial and material support to terrorists, yet US President Barack Obama, ironically enough, sends a condolence message on the recent deadly terrorist attacks in southeast Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that US troops in Afghanistan and Pakistan sponsor such acts of terror, reported IRNA. "No grouping other than US-backed terrorist groups which are devoid of human feelings can commit such acts," added President Ahmadinejad. The president further called on the Iranian Foreign Ministry to follow up the terror attack through the Pakistani government. "We are friends with the Pakistani nation, … but the Pakistani government should be held accountable", he said. Mahmoud Ahmadi also instructed his office to lodge a complaint with international circles base on the 'existing documents', and follow up on NATO and Israel's cooperation with the terrorists. "The puppeteers pulling the strings in this show will get nothing", President Ahmadinejad said.

An Iranian scientist who says he was abducted a year ago by US agents has said that the United States wanted him to confess to being a spy as part of a plan to get three Americans released by Iran. Shahram Amiri said on Saturday that he was also pressured to lie about Iran's nuclear programme. In an interview with Iran's state television, Amiri said he was presented with fake nuclear documents by US officials who asked him to publicly claim that he had brought them to the US from Iran. "They said 'if you say that you are an agent of the Iranian intelligence services, the US can swap you as a spy who has been arrested in a foreign country with the three [American] spies who were arrested near the Iraqi border inside Iran." "I totally trusted the Islamic Republic and the Republic was confident that I was not defecting to the US," he said during the interview. Amiri, who claims he was abducted in Saudi Arabia by the CIA 14 months ago, returned to Tehran, the capital of Iran, on Wednesday. But US officials deny kidnapping Amiri and insist he was living freely in the United States.

A poll by TIPP, the polling unit of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, a U.S. research firm of both syndicated and custom Market Research solutions, offers a surprising angle on an Israeli attack on Iran: 56% of American would back an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. According to the poll, 43 percent of U.S. Democrats approve of Israel taking military action against Iran to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons, while 40 percent disapprove. However, when Republicans were asked the same question, 74 percent voiced approval while 17 percent disapproved. In another poll, conducted by Pew Research Center, dated June 17, 2010 found that strong majorities of the people in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt view Iran negatively, lack confidence in Ahmadinejad and oppose Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. A majority of those in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon opposing a nuclear-armed Iran actually favor the use of military force if necessary to stop them. The popular backlash resulting from an Israeli strike may not be as much of a threat as is assumed. In Egypt, 55% supported a military strike on Iran, while 16% opposed it. In Jordan, the figures were 53% to 20% in favor. As for Europe, More than eight-in-ten in Germany (86%) and France (81%) view Iran unfavorably, as do 73% in Spain; a somewhat smaller majority in Britain (58%) shares this opinion.

Comment by Truth Seeker: Across the planet Americans are increasingly seen as ignorant or at best, naive. But this writer cannot believe that the majority of them are stupid enough to support an Israeli strike on Iran. Do they know where this will lead? An Israeli strike on Iran would naturally invite retaliation, probably in tandem with Syria and Hezbollah. This would lead to U.S. intervention, which in turn would lead to Chinese and maybe even Russia involvement. In other words an Israeli strike on Iran could potentially lead to a world war. Does the average American understand this? Or are they so brainwashed by their corporate media that they cannot think for themselves anymore? Or maybe there is another reason for these poll findings? Like most U.S. elections now, I suspect that the above polls were rigged: the questions were posed and the answers framed in such a way as to fit preordained results. The giveaway comes with findings that claim to reveal: “strong majorities of the people in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt view Iran negatively”. The majority of Americans, ignorant of the world around them might accept such claims but I doubt that many Turks or Lebanese would. However, the above goes even further with claims that: “A majority of those in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon opposing a nuclear-armed Iran actually favor the use of military force if necessary”. If anything these supposed “opinion polls” look more like attempts to convince us that there is widespread support for a strike on Iran; and that the consequences will not be as bad as we might fear. Or as the above claims: “The popular backlash resulting from an Israeli strike may not be as much of a threat as is assumed”. So it seems that U.S. presidential elections are not be the only polls being rigged nowadays.

More than 20 people have been killed and over 100 others have been wounded after two explosions hit the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan in Sistan-Baluchestan Province. "Two explosions in the front of Zahedan's Grand Mosque have left more than 20 martyrs and over 100 injured," Fariborz Rashedi, the head of Sistan-Baluchestan's emergency unit told IRNA. The first explosion occurred at 9:20 p.m. local time (1650 GMT) in front of the city's Grand Mosque, and was followed by a second blast within minutes, IRNA said. Jalal Sayyah, a police official, said emergency forces have arrived at the scene of the incident, adding that an investigation into the incident was underway. Deputy Interior Minister Ali Abdollahi described the incident as a "terrorist act," Fars news agency reported.

An Iranian nuclear scientist claimed today that he suffered extreme mental and physical torture at the hands of US interrogators after disappearing last year, adding to Tehran’s allegations he was abducted by American agents. The US said he was a willing defector who changed his mind and decided to board a plane home from Washington. Shahram Amiri was embraced by his family – including his tearful seven-year-old son – after arriving in Tehran in the latest spectacle of a puzzling series of events that left Iran and Washington with starkly different accounts.

Mr Amiri flashed a V-for-victory sign as he stepped into the terminal. Iran [correctly] portrayed the return of Mr Amiri as a blow to American intelligence services that were desperate for inside information on Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran sought maximum propaganda value – allowing journalists to cover Mr Amiri’s return and having a top envoy from Iran’s Foreign Ministry on hand to greet him. Washington described the 32-year-old Mr Amiri as someone who reached out to US officials, but offered few other details.

Speaking to journalists after a flight via Qatar, Mr Amiri repeated his earlier claims that he was snatched while on a pilgrimage last year in the Saudi holy city of Medina and carried off to the United States. He claimed he was under intense pressures during the first few months after his alleged kidnapping. “I was under the harshest mental and physical torture,” he said at Tehran’s international airport, with his young son sitting on his lap. AWIP: Major Embarrassment for US as Long-Missing Iranian Scientist Turns Up a DC Embassy. PressTV: Iranian scholar speaks about abduction. + Amiri 'rejected bribe offer of USD 50mn'. Wapo: U.S. paid Iranian nuclear scientist $5 million for aid to CIA, officials say.

Long missing Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri has finally emerged publicly after over a year of speculation as to his whereabouts. Incredibly enough, and giving a big boost to those who claimed he was kidnapped by Western spy agencies, Amiri showed up at the door of the Pakistani Embassy in Washington DC (which houses the Iranian interest section) asking for help in returning to Iran. Amiri, a nuclear scientist at a Tehran university, disappeared last summer during his pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Iranian officials claimed Amiri had been kidnapped by the United States and with the help of Saudi Arabia. For months the US State Department declined having ever heard of the incident. But earlier this year media reports, citing unnamed US officials, claimed that Amiri had “defected” and has helping the CIA to uncover the truth behind Iran’s civilian nuclear program.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says the US compelled the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against Iran in order to weaken the country and lay the ground for a military attack. "The world is made to believe once again the lie that Israel's existence is being threatened by a nuclear armed Iran," Mohamad said at the opening of the Breaking the Gaza Siege summit in Kuala Lumpur. He went on to add that these sanctions were adopted despite the fact that Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had repeatedly stated that there is no evidence of Iran pursuing military nuclear program. Mohamad said that the US followed the same pattern in its previous war against Iraq, and attacked Baghdad after weakening the country by imposing crippling sanctions against it. The former Malaysian premier added, "It is a matter of time before the war criminals in Israel and the United States launch another war of aggression, once Iran has been weakened by sanctions." The one-day International Conference on Breaking the Gaza Siege is expected to conclude with a clear plan on measures and efforts to be undertaken to challenge the siege and eventually put an end to it.

"[I]f Washington initiates war with Iran over the nuclear issue, it will be primarily in response to pressure from Israel and the more Likudnik parts of the pro-Israel community in the United States." Israel wants the U.S. to attack Iran. This is Netanyahu's wish, the wish of his government, above all, and of American Likud promoters and agents. And if it happens, the disaster will have been brought to us by Israel.

Despite opposition from the US, Pakistan signed an agreement with Iran on June 13 to go ahead with a $US7.6 billion gas pipeline between the two countries that will provide a desperately-needed supply of energy to Pakistan from 2014. The deal cuts across Washington’s efforts to isolate Iran economically through UN Security Council sanctions and its own unilateral penalties against Tehran’s nuclear programs.

The agreement signed between the Iranian Gas Export Company and the Pakistan Inter State Gas Limited will provide 21.5 million cubic metres of gas daily to Pakistan. The pipeline will run from Iran’s large South Pars gas field. Islamabad will carry out a feasibility study over the next year for its section of the pipeline before beginning construction. US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, has warned that the pipeline agreement could fall foul of Congressional legislation aimed at penalising foreign companies doing business with Tehran, including those engaged in Iran’s energy sector. He told the media on June 20 that it would be “a disaster” if “an agreement was reached which then triggered something under the law.” PressTV: Iran eyes '$30 bn trade' with India.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that the U.S. is a "dictatorship" as it tries to control world affairs. Ahmadinejad made the comments Wednesday night during a speech at the Iranian Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria's capital. He is in Nigeria for a summit of an organization known as the D-8, or the Developing Eight nations. In full, Ahmadinejad says the U.S. is "the self-proclaimed leader, and everybody should know that a self-proclaimed leadership is (a) dictatorship. I am going to say, on behalf of you, that the years of dictatorship are over."

The corporate media have been given their orders to throw the focus back on to Iran. Here is a recap of what they are trying to make you forget.

No ban has been imposed on refueling Iranian planes in British airports, an informed source in Iran Air's Britain and Ireland office says. "No limitation has been placed on the refueling of Iranian passenger planes in Britain so far. The Iranian flights to London are being conducted regularly and on a daily basis and Iran National Airlines Company conducts three direct flights to Tehran and one direct flight to Shiraz (from London) each week," the informed source told IRNA on Monday. "No unusual behavior by the companies providing fuel for Iranian planes has been observed so far. Iran Air Lines Company, however, is fully ready to encounter any likely limitations in this regard," the source added.

BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) has instructed its European operations not to refuel Iranian airlines after U.S. President Barack Obama signed sanctions targeting Iran's gasoline supplies, people familiar with the matter said Monday. The document ordered a ban on refueling for several Iranian airlines, including Iran Air, the people said. "It's due to a decision from the U.S. Congress," one person said. But not all non-U.S. companies have decided to enforce the sanctions when it comes to refueling. A spokesman for Dubai's airport told AFP on Monday that Iranian passenger planes are still able to refuel at the airport.

US and British intelligence services are working on a fake video clip aimed at diverting blame for failures in Afghanistan to Iran, an informed US military source says. A source at the US base in Bagram, told Press TV on condition of anonymity that the US and British spies have employed renowned American film editors to produce the video. The video consists of footage doctored in a way to show that Iran is providing weapons and military equipment to "anti-government forces" in the war-torn country. The montage sequence will rely on false satellite imagery and radar images allegedly taken by spy drones. This is while pressure is mounting on the US over its failure in Afghanistan, amid rising causalities among foreign troops in the country.

The legislation provocatively targets 1) foreign companies selling refined petroleum products, such as gasoline and diesel, to Iran, including producers, insurers and those involved in transportation and 2) foreign banks and corporations doing business in Iran and sets out unilateral US penalties against those that do not fall into line.

Companies could be denied access to the US Export-Import Bank, restricting their ability to sell into the US market, or denied US government contracts. Democrat congressman Ron Klein told the Wall Street Journal: “Foreign companies are going to have to make a choice: Do they want to do business with us or with the Iranians?” By threatening to penalise foreign banks and companies for activities that are not banned under UN resolutions, the law will inevitably fuel international resentment and intensify frictions. PressTV: Sanctions won't hurt Iran: Ahmadinejad.

Gloabal Research: Obama’s New Iran Sanctions: An Act of War. When the UN refused to agree to the severe sanctions that the U.S. wanted, Obama responded with typical Bush flair and went solo. The new U.S. sanctions against Iran — signed into law by Obama on July 1st — are an unmistakable act of war. If fully enforced, Iran’s economy will be potentially destroyed.

Daily Telegraph: Britain, Germany and UAE refuse to refuel Iran planes. ArabianBusiness: UAE airports open to refuel Iranian passenger jets.

Iran's foreign minister has dismissed recent remarks by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying "people in the region and in the whole world do not take her comments very seriously." Manouchehr Mottaki's statements came in reaction to Clinton's remarks that a missile defense shield agreement between the United States and Poland aims to counter the Iranian threat, reported IRNA. He told reporters that the US-Poland missile defense deal is an issue between the United States and Russia, recommending the two states settle the case peacefully. Mottaki further underlined that he and his opposite numbers from Brazil and Turkey are trying to set a date for a trilateral meeting on nuclear fuel swap.

The purpose of this archive is to permanently document public statements made pertaining to the 1953 coup in Iran. These testimonies have significant historical value, revealing international attitudes and perspectives, past and present, on a key event in Iranian, British and American history. When an American or British leader or representative acknowledges the coup in any way, they are admitting to their nation's conspiracy in a supreme international crime for which no restitution has ever been paid. If the atrocity of 1953 were ever tried by an international tribunal court (a la the Nuremberg Trials), these testimonies would be admissable as confessions.

"In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government." - President Barack Obama - June 4, 2009

Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has said the Islamic Republic will strike back if Iranian cargo ships come under inspection. "Iran will retaliate if some countries want to use violent ways to inspect Iranian ships which carry goods," Larijani said in an interview with Mehr news agency on Saturday. The UN Security Council passed a US-sponsored anti-Iran resolution on June 9 that imposes restrictions on the Iranian shipping industry in addition to other sectors. Under the new sanctions regime, "countries" have the authority illegitimate power to inspect cargo ships, heading to or from Iran, in their own territorial waters.

When the UN refused to agree to the severe sanctions that the U.S. wanted, Obama responded with typical Bush flair and went solo. The new U.S. sanctions against Iran — signed into law by Obama on July 1st — are an unmistakable act of war. If fully enforced, Iran’s economy will be potentially destroyed. The New York Times outlines the central parts of the sanctions:

“The law signed by Mr. Obama imposes penalties on foreign entities that sell refined petroleum to Iran or assist Iran with its domestic refining capacity. It also requires that American and foreign businesses that seek contracts with the United States government certify that they do not engage in prohibited business with Iran.” (July 1, 2010).

Iran must import the majority of its oil from foreign corporations and nations, since it does not have the technology needed to refine the fuel that it pumps from its soil. By cutting this refined oil off, the U.S. will be causing massive, irreparable damage to the Iranian economy — equaling an act of war. Antiwar: Outgoing UN Nuclear Inspector Pushed Dubious Iran Nuclear Weapons Intel. PrisonPlanet: Israel Suspected in Bogus Claim Iran Developing Nuclear Trigger.

Embargo 'Not a Good Way to Settle Differences'. Speaking today at an economic forum Christophe de Margarie, the CEO of French oil giant Total S.A., condemned the recent series of international sanctions targeting Iran’s petroleum industry as a mistake. “The embargo affects the population, too many things are politicized, de Margarie insisted, adding that “we do not think an embargo on the delivery of petrol products is a good way to settle differences of a political nature.” The unilateral US sanctions against Iran, which were signed by President Obama this week, have ordered every energy company in the world to stop delivering refined petroleum to Iran, nominally to punish it for its civilian nuclear program. Total announced on Monday that they would be suspending all deliveries to Iran to avoid US punishment. Though Iran is one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil, they have comparatively little refining capacity and have had to rely on imports from international companies like Total for civilian needs like gasoline. Since the sanctions Iran has pledged it will increase its refining capacity and become self sufficient. Antiwar: Outgoing UN Nuclear Inspector Pushed Dubious Iran Nuclear Weapons Intel.

Alan Grayson - The wars have cost us over 3 Trillion dollars - i.e. $10,000 for every man, woman and child in this country. A quarter of a million young soldiers have permanent brain abnormalities. It is time to end the wars.

Official documents point the finger at the US and 14 other European countries for equipping former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons, says a top Iranian official. Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Saeid Jalili said those weapons were used by the former Baghdad regime, including in the 1987 gas attack on the northwestern Iranian city of Sardasht and in another chemical strike on the northern Iraqi city of Halabcha in 1988. Referring to Saddam Hussein's repeated use of chemical arms against Iran during his eight-year imposed war on the Islamic Republic in the 80's, the senior official underscored the international community should call for the United States together with the 14 European governments to stand trial for supplying chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein. Jalili was speaking at a conference in Tehran on Tuesday June 29, marking the day, 23 years ago, when the former Iraqi regime launched a deadly gas attack on the northwestern Iranian city of Sardasht. Many of the survivors are still suffering from very serious health conditions, including severe respiratory problems and skin disorders.

As we first reported last week, in an article that was met with much original skepticism, the Pentagon has now confirmed that a fleet of 12 warships has passed the Suez Canal, and is now likely awaiting orders to support the escalation in the Persian Gulf. The attached image from Stratfor shows the latest positioning of US aircraft carrier groups as of June 23: the USS Harry Truman (CVN-75) is now right next to USS Eisenhower (CVN 69), both of which are waiting patiently just off Iran. As for the catalyst the two carriers may be anticipating, we provide the following update from the Gulf Daily News where we read that Israel may be on the verge of an attack of Iran, with an incursion originating from military bases in Azerbaijan and Georgia. Gulf Daily News: ISRAEL 'PLOTS TEHRAN RAID'.

Iran on Monday accused the US Central Intelligence Agency of waging psychological warfare against it through "fake reports," saying the CIA knows Tehran's nuclear programme has no military aims. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast dismissed CIA director Leon Panetta's comments that Iran could have nuclear weapons ready to use by as early as 2012. "Such remarks fall within the framework of psychological warfare aimed at creating a negative perception about Iran's peaceful nuclear activities," Mehmanparast told state news agency IRNA. [CIA's Panetta: Iran has enough uranium for 2 bombs]

As unconfirmed reports of an imminent Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities pick up steam in the Middle Eastern media, a US-based strategic intelligence company has released a chart showing US naval carriers massing near Iranian waters. The chart, published by Stratfor and obtained by the Zero Hedge financial blog, shows that over the last few weeks a naval carrier -- the USS Harry S Truman -- has been positioned in the north Indian Ocean, not far from the Strait of Hormuz, which leads into the Persian Gulf. The carrier joins the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was already located in the area. The chart is dated June 23, 2010. Reports of mass movements of Israeli and US naval warships have been circulating through the media for weeks. On June 19, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported that 12 US and Israeli warships were seen moving through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. Gulf Daily News: ISRAEL 'PLOTS TEHRAN RAID'.

World leaders meet in Ontario for two days of talks, urge Iran to 'respect rule of law' and 'hold transparent dialogue' over its nuclear program. World leaders "believe absolutely" that Israel may decide to take military action against Iran to prevent the latter from acquiring nuclear weapons, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Saturday. “Iran is not guaranteeing a peaceful production of nuclear power [so] the members of the G-8 are worried and believe absolutely that Israel will probably react preemptively,” Berlusconi told reporters following talks with other Group of Eight leaders north of Toronto.World leaders "believe absolutely" that Israel may decide to take military action against Iran to prevent the latter from acquiring nuclear weapons, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Saturday.

The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad has failed in an attempt to assassinate Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Jordanian weekly says. Informed sources in Turkey say that the Mossad plot has been foiled by the country's security forces, al-Manar quoted a report in the most recent edition of the Al-Majd weekly as saying. There are also reports that Israel has been trying to incite violence inside Turkey by lending support to the militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

[The Starry Night of Alamut Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)] Explanation: A meteor's streak and the arc of the Milky Way hang over the imposing mountain fortress of Alamut in this starry scene. Found in the central Alborz Mountains of Iran, Alamut Castle was built into the rock in the 9th century. The name means Eagle's Nest. Home of the legendary Assassins featured in the adventure movie Prince of Persia, Alamut was also historically a center for libraries and education. For a time, it was the residence of important 13th century Persian scholar and astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. To identify the stars in a night sky Tusi certainly pondered, just slide your cursor over the image. Highlights include bright white stars Deneb (in Cygnus), Vega, and Altair, nebulae near the Galactic Center, and the dark obscuring dust clouds of the Milky Way also known as the Great Rift. Lights at the lower right are from small villages and the capital Tehran, over 100 kilometers away to the southwest.

The US Congress has voted in favor of new unilateral sanctions on Iran's energy and banking sectors over the country's civilian nuclear program. Described by US Capitol Hill members as "the toughest unilateral sanctions ever," the new economic and energy access restrictions target Iran's fuel imports and international financial transactions, AFP reported on Thursday. The legislation has been forwarded to the White House for US President Barack Obama to sign it into law. PressTV: Russia slams unilateral Iran sanctions.

Pakistan has brushed aside the unilateral US sanctions against Iran, saying it will go ahead with the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project as planned. "We could start the project as soon as possible to meet the energy crisis which the country faces," a Press TV correspondent reported Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit as saying on Wednesday. Basit added that measures were underway by the Pakistani government to start implementing the multi-billion-dollar contract on the import of natural gas from Iran in 2014. The comments come days after Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced the sealing of a deal between Islamabad and Tehran in view of Pakistan's growing energy needs. "This agreement is in the interest of Pakistan and it will only see its interests and the international laws…… the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline agreement will not come under the ambit of the sanctions on Tehran," Qureshi said on Monday. AWIP: Pakistan ignores US on Iran gas deal.

Kabul circles say the dismissal of US commander was over leaking information including NATO's connection with the executed leader of the Jundallah terrorist group, Abdolmalek Rigi. Head of Press TV's office in Kabul, Mohammad Ruhi, says US commander General Stanley McChrystal was sacked for acknowledging NATO's connection with the executed leader of the Pakistan-based Jundallah terrorist group, Abdolmalek Rigi. He dismissed the official reasons for the firing of McChrystal, saying his growing friendship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and intelligence leaks may have triggered the replacement.

Israel launched a spy satellite called "Ofek 9" late Tuesday, Israel's Defense Ministry and officials said, increasing Israel's capacity to keep an eye on enemies like Iran. The Defense Ministry issued a statement saying the satellite was launched late Tuesday from the Palmachim air force base on Israel's coast south of Tel Aviv. An hour later, after the satellite completed its first circuit, the ministry said it had achieved its proper orbit, describing it as "a surveillance satellite with advanced technological capabilities." Defense officials said Ofek 9 is a spy satellite with a high resolution camera. It would join two other active spy satellites in the Ofek series already orbiting the earth. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because details were not made public, said the three satellites would give Israel considerable coverage of sensitive areas. Addition of a new satellite gives Israel the capability of sending space-borne cameras over sensitive areas more frequently. One of Israel's main targets for spy photos is Iran, because of its [alleged] nuclear program. [ + of course the satelite could be useful for co-ordinating the numerous attacks that nuclear armed Israel intends to unleash on non-nuclear Iran.]

An important part of The Cause of Effect : Hijacking Humanity, Chapter 2 of the series, titled, "It's a Rich Man's World.. Government?" presents evidence about the North American Union, as well as a brief history on Currency and the Banking Banksters who control our money today. Writer/Director Paul Verge relays his personal story about coming to terms with the grand deception of society's System.

His journey travelling across Canada and the United States reveals insights rarely heard in today's mass media, because it is simply too profitable to keep this information secret. The Banking cartels today seem to be trying to centralize their power to lead us towards a World Currency that has no intrinsic value, and will be controlled by a World Dictatorship. In order to further this goal, a step at a time, the Banksters, with their IMF, World Bank and Federal Reserve System operating in conjunction with members of the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg Group are taking the United States into a financial nosedive, purposely, to devalue the currency, and thus introduce the Amero - A North American Currency for a North American Union. Do you think Canada, the US and Mexico should have a HARM-onization of laws, rules and regulations? Me neither. Watch the whole Film for Free in Higher Quality or get it on DVD at http://hijackinghumanity.com

JERUSALEM - ISRAEL should launch a pre-emptive strike to prevent arch-foe Iran from going nuclear, a former head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency said on Monday. 'I am of the opinion that, since there is an ongoing war, since the threat is permanent, since the intention of the enemy in this case is to annihilate you, the right doctrine is one of pre-emption and not of retaliation,' Shabtai Shavit told a conference. Mr Shavit, who served as chief of Israel's foreign spy agency from 1989 to 1996, was speaking at a conference held at the hawkish Bar Ilan University outside Tel Aviv. 'To use retaliation as the main strategy means to sit idly and wait until the enemy comes to attack you,' a university statement quoted Mr Shavit as saying. Alternet: Are U.S. Warships Gearing Up for a Confrontation With an Iranian Aid Flotilla to Gaza?

US efforts to punish Iran are unjustified and will have no meaningful impact, says Gwynne Dyer. The mountain laboured for a year and a half, and finally gave birth to a mouse. On June 9, the United Nations Security Council agreed on a fourth round of sanctions against Iran, for its alleged attempt to build nuclear weapons. They will cause Iran no grave inconvenience. But that's only fair, since the crime of which Iran is accused has not been proven either. In November 2007, all 16 United States intelligence agencies contributed to a National Intelligence Estimate that said Iran had stopped work on nuclear weapons in 2003. It was a bureaucratic pre-emptive strike, intended to head off real air strikes against Iran by the Bush Administration. And even now, the US intelligence agencies haven't changed their view. In March 2009, then Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, and the Defence Intelligence Agency's head, Lieutenant-General Michael Maples, told Congress that Iran did not have highly-enriched uranium for bomb-making and had not made the decision to produce any. They also testified that Iran's missile programme was not related to its nuclear programme.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister says his country needs energy, emphasizing that Islamabad will continue a gas pipeline deal with Iran despite sanctions on Tehran. Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters on Sunday that the present government has struck the gas pipeline deal with Iran in view of Pakistan's energy requirements. "This agreement is in the interest of Pakistan and it will only see its interests and the international laws…… the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline agreement will not come under the ambit of the sanctions on Tehran," he said, a Press TV correspondent reported. Pakistan's Foreign Minister disclosed that all the different phases of the gas pipeline agreement have been finalized and Islamabad wants it to proceed as planned. On Sunday, Tehran and Islamabad finished signing a multi-billion-dollar contract, which supplies Pakistan with Iranian natural gas from 2014.

Jerusalem Post: US warns Pakistan gas pipeline deal with Iran defies new sanctions. Richard Holbrooke delivered the message during a visit to Pakistan, his first since Iran inked a contract earlier this month to export 21.5 million cubic meters (760 million cubic feet) of gas per day to Pakistan beginning in 2014. "We cautioned the Pakistanis to try to see what the (congressional) legislation is before deciding how to proceed because it would be a disaster if ... we had a situation develop where an agreement was reached which then triggered something under the law," Holbrooke said.

Egypt allowed at least one Israeli and 11 American warships to pass through the Suez Canal as an Iranian flotilla approaches Gaza. Egypt closed the canal to protect the ships with thousands of soldiers, according to the British-based Arabic language newspaper Al Quds al-Arabi. One day prior to the report on Saturday, Voice of Israel government radio reported that the Egyptian government denied an Israeli request not to allow the Iranian flotilla to use the Suez Canal to reach Gaza, in violation of the Israeli sea embargo on the Hamas-controlled area. International agreements require Egypt to keep the Suez open even for warships, but the armada, led by the USS Truman with 5,000 sailors and marines, was the largest in years. Egypt closed the canal to fishing and other boats as the armada moved through the strategic passageway that connects the Red and Mediterranean Seas. Despite Egypt’s reported refusal to block the canal to Iranian boats, the clearance for the American-Israeli fleet may be a warning to Iran it may face military opposition if the Iranian Red Crescent ship continues on course to Gaza. AWIP: Report: US battleships cross Suez Canal.

AWIP/Kurt Nimmo: Most Americans and Europeans Support Impending Attack on Iran. Naturally Americans are more susceptible to neocon propaganda than other people around the world. In America, a sucker is born every minute, as P. T. Barnum said (actually it was “Paper Collar Joe” Bessimer who made the cynical comment). “Americans are among the most supportive of a military option to deal with Iran with 66 per cent of those who oppose a nuclear-armed Iran saying they would consider the use of force, a figure second only to Nigeria’s 71 per cent.” No explanation why Nigerians are more brain-dead than Americans who spend large periods of time sucking up fallacious and absurd propaganda disseminated by a corporate media that works hand-in-glove with transnational corporations and the military-industrial complex, or maybe that should be military-industrial-media complex.

Was I the only person who got a flash of déjà vu the other day when US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned that Iran could fire 'scores or hundreds' of missiles against Europe and it could do this in salvos rather than one at a time. When I first came out to the Middle East in January 2003 to work in Dubai most people had never heard of the little emirate and only people in the oil industry seemed to have heard of the UAE. But most of my friends told me I was mad to move to the region because Saddam Hussein's Iraq had a massive stockpile of weapons of mass destruction and the US and the UK were about to launch a very dangerous conflict in the region. The US and UK did in fact launch that conflict from which they are a long way from extricating themselves, but no weapons of mass destruction, as we now know, existed. Indeed in the early days of the conflict the US managed to capture masses of documents many of which seemed to make it clear that Saddam had given up on these weapons in the mid 1990s. That did not stop the continuation of Shock and Awe and the destruction of much of the country's infrastructure.

Eleven American battleships and an Israeli one crossed the Suez Canal Friday en route to the Red Sea, the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper reported. According to the report, traffic in the canal was halted for several hours in order to allow US Navy vessels, which included an aircraft carrier and carried infantry troops, armored vehicles and ammunition, to pass from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. It was further reported that eyewitnesses detected an Israeli warship among the vessels. No confirmation has been received from Egyptian authorities. The report also noted that fishing activities in the area were stopped during the ships' passage as well as traffic on the bridges above the canal. InfoWars: Armada of U.S. and Israeli Warships Head for Iran. PressTV: US, Israeli warships move to PG: Report. Haaretz: Report: U.S., Israeli warships cross Suez Canal toward Red Sea.

Iran will offer a "firm" response to the European Union if it pursues its plan to impose sanctions on Tehran, Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Ahani was quoted on Saturday as saying on the Press TV website. "The European Union will face an appropriate and firm response from Iran should it pursue the policy of imposing sanctions," Ahani told Germany's State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office Wolf-Ruthart Born in a meeting on Thursday, the website of the English-language television reported. Dismissing the Western and European dual-track policy of diplomacy and sanctions as "deceitful and useless," Ahani urged the EU to end its confrontational policy towards Iran, the report said. "The policy of imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme will not help to settle the disputes but will inflict damage on European firms," he said. AWIP: US and EU impose extra sanctions on Iran.

The US and European Union (EU) ratchetted up the pressure on Iran over its nuclear programs this week with additional sanctions on top of those adopted last week in a UN Security Council resolution. The latest moves set the stage for an escalating confrontation with Iran, which has denounced the latest UN resolution as “illegal”. PressTV: Iran responds to UNSC resolution. + Israel-South Africa nuke deal exposed. NYT: Iran Security Officials Call West’s New Sanctions Illegal -Sanctions imposed based on false allegations against Iran’s nuclear program.

The following is the statement by Brazil, a UN Security Council member, read to the council yesterday, strongly opposing the new sanctions resolution against Iran. The resolution was adopted today under the pressure of the US, UK and France. Turkey and Brazil voted against and Lebanon abstained.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the main purpose behind the UN Security Council's (UNSC) anti-Iran resolution was to save the Israeli regime from worldwide criticisms. Addressing a large crowd of people in the central Iranian province of Chaharmahal- Bakhtiari Province, President Ahmadinejad said that the Iranian nation is vigilant and will respond to the Israeli regime. On June 10, twelve Security Council members, including Russia and China, voted in favor of a US-proposed resolution for a fourth round of sanctions against Iran. Brazil and Turkey voted against the resolution while Lebanon abstained from voting. President Ahmadinejad also said that Israel backed by propaganda campaign and US military force has occupied the Palestinian territories.

Israel is stationing three of its five Dolphin class submarines in the Red Sea, and will keep one of them operating off the Iranian coast at all times. These subs will be armed with cruise missiles (equipped with nuclear warheads). Last year, Israel has received two more German built Dolphin class submarines, giving it a total of five (the others were received 9-10 years ago). The older boats have since been upgraded to include larger fuel capacity, converting more torpedo tubes to the larger 650mm size, and installing new electronics. The fuel and torpedo tube mods appear to have something to do with stationing the subs off the coast of Iran. Larger torpedo tubes allow the subs to carry longer range missiles. The larger fuel capacity makes it easier to move Dolphins from the Mediterranean to the Indian ocean. Although Israel has a naval base on the Red Sea, Egypt had, until recently, had not allowed Israeli subs to use the Suez canal. So the Dolphins were modified to go around Africa, if they had to. But now the Egyptians, who are also feuding with Iran, regularly allow Israeli subs to use the canal.

A senior Iranian lawmaker urges Moscow to "stand by its commitments" after the Kremlin made a snap decision to freeze the sale of the S-300 defense system to Tehran. In the wake of a UN Security Council decision to impose fresh sanctions on Iran, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has reportedly assured fellow Western leaders that Moscow would shelve a long-stalled deal to deliver the S-300 air-defense missiles to the government in Tehran. Deputy Head of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Esmail Kowsari reacted to the sudden decision made by the Kremlin on Saturday, asserting that Russia is "bound by an agreement to provide Iran with the advanced defense system." Don't Bomb Iran: Israel stations nuclear missile subs off Iran [The London Times scrubbed this article.] Global Research: UN "Green Light" for a Pre-emptive US-Israel Attack on Iran? Security Council Resolution Transforms Iran into a "Sitting Duck".

Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf refutes Times of London report saying Saudi Arabia practiced standing down its anti-aircraft systems to allow an Israeli bomb run. Saudi Arabia would not allow Israeli bombers to pass through its airspace en route to a possible strike of Iran's nuclear facilities, a member of the Saudi royal family said Saturday, denying an earlier Times of London report. PressTV: Saudis say they won't help Iran's enemy.

Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal. In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran. To ensure the Israeli bombers pass unmolested, Riyadh has carried out tests to make certain its own jets are not scrambled and missile defence systems not activated. Once the Israelis are through, the kingdom’s air defences will return to full alert. Google/AFP: Russia moves to scrap Iran missile sale. PressTV: Saudis to allow airspace for Iran war.

While the US and the EU have refused to put Israel's nuclear program under the spotlight, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA says Israeli nukes pose a major threat to piece and stability across the world. Iran's Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh slammed Israel's nuclear weapons program on Thursday. "Its (Israel) nuclear weapons capabilities shall undoubtedly increase the potential threat to peace and security of the Middle East and the world at large," he said. Israel, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is widely believed to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, with around 200 warheads in its arsenal, but has maintained a policy of deliberate ambiguity about its capabilities. PressTV: Iran flays UN nuclear hypocrisy.

After wavering at first, Russian now maintains that the new round of UN Security Council sanctions on Iran do not forestall a sale by Moscow to Tehran of S-300 surface-to-air missiles, which are defensive in character. It is reassuring that the US State Department in the end agreed with Russia on this matter. If the US had been gung-ho to deprive Iran of a defensive weapon, it would have indicated that Washington had serious plans for an attack.

A day after the UN Security Council voted on a US-drafted resolution for new anti-Iran sanctions, Tehran's IAEA envoy reiterates that Iran's nuclear enrichment will not be suspended. Iran's Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali-Asghar Soltanieh expressed regret about the persisting trend of misleading assessments made by the West regarding Iran's nuclear policy. "It is regretful that this small number of Western countries do not want to learn a lesson from their past mistakes…they suppose that by passing the new resolution, the Islamic Republic would falter in its decision," Soltanieh said in an interview with IRNA on Wednesday. The Iranian envoy criticized the new sanctions resolution for not having any "legal basis," adding that it would only strengthen the Iranian nation's resolve in defending their rights to such technological achievements. WaPo: A resilient Iran shields itself from pressure by building alliances.

The British Broadcasting Corporation is showering Afghan cable networks with lucrative deals to cut broadcastings of Iran's English-language news channel, Press TV. The Press TV bureau in Kabul was informed on Wednesday that "a number of BBC employees have recently contacted the cable networks' union in Herat to persuade them into breaking contract with Press TV and blocking all satellite transmission of its programs." "The BBC reportedly offered to triple the union's pay once it agrees to strip Press TV of its broadcasting rights in Herat," the bureau added. Last year, US military forces confiscated technical equipment of Press TV's Afghanistan bureau, only days before Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a visit to the country. Local reports revealed that Press TV has started to emerge as a popular news source among the people and even journalists in Afghanistan.

Amid a US-led push for fresh UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against Iran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the move will only result in the council losing more of its credibility. Speaking in an interview with Turkey's Channel 24 on Wednesday, President Ahmadinejad described a decision by the UNSC to impose fresh sanctions on Iran as illogical, adding that it comes in violation of the Iranian nation's inalienable rights. The Iranian president said the international body would only damage its reputation and put an end to its own existence through such measures. "If under pressure and driven by double standard policies they put [sanctions resolutions against Iran] in writing on a piece of paper, this [paper] will be of no value," President Ahmadinejad added. PressTV: Iran: New UN resolution 'big mistake'. NYT: U.N. Is Set to Vote on Iran Sanctions. BBC: Iran faces 'most significant UN nuclear sanctions'. + UN votes for new sanctions on Iran over nuclear issue. + US welcomes new Iran sanctions. NYT: U.N. Security Council Passes New Sanctions Against Iran. PressTV: UNSC slaps new sanctions on Iran. + 'Iran won't give up nuclear rights'.

WSJ: U.N. Imposes New Iran Sanctions. "The US government and its allies are so mistaken if they think they can brandish the stick of resolution and then sit down to talk with us. Such a thing will not happen," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said ahead of the vote at a conference in Istanbul on Tuesday. "We will talk to everyone if there is respect and fairness, but if someone wants to talk to us rudely and in a domineering manner, the response is known already."

I thought since the content of this Farsi video is related to principles expressed in Race for Iran I better translate the important content and let you people know about it. Here is a quick translation:

Today is 17th of Farvardin 1389 (April 5, 2010)... right now I, Shahram Amiri, professional (expert) and researcher of the University of Malek Ashtar am in Tucson Arizona USA. I was kidnaped on 13th of Khorad 1388 (May 3, 2009) in a joint operation of Terror and Kidnaping teams of the Intelligent Services of CIA and Estekbarat? of Saudi Arabia. I was transferred to an unknowable (unknown) house in Saudi Arabia. Inside this house I was injected with drugs for making me unconscious. When I woke up I was next to a Big American person on my way to USA.

[From a comment to Scott Horton Interviews Jason Ditz]

"Since I was abducted and brought to the US I was heavily tortured and pressured by US intelligence". The Iranian government says it has evidence that one of its nuclear scientists was abducted and is being held in the US against his will. Shahram Amiri disappeared a year ago while on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Iranian television broadcast a video purporting to show the scientist saying he was kidnapped and is now living in Arizona. It comes a day after another video, posted on YouTube, appeared to show Mr Amiri saying he was happy in the US.

Two Iranian aid ships carrying humanitarian relief and medical supplies for the people of Gaza will set sail for the coastal sliver in the upcoming days. Iran's Red Crescent announced Monday that the cargo will include food, medicine and appliances and it will be accompanied by a group of Iranian doctors and relief workers. "The aid consists of food and medical supplies, which will be transported into Gaza via the Rafah border in Egypt before the week is through," the country's Red Crescent Director Abdolraoof Adibzadeh said. The Rafah border crossing is the only escape route from Gaza that does not lead to Israel.

The Obama administration, backed by the US media, is exploiting the latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report—released to member states on Monday—to turn up the heat on Iran over its nuclear programs. Amid overblown press reports that Iran is building a nuclear weapon, the US and its European allies are pushing for the finalisation of a new round of sanctions against Tehran in the UN Security Council this month.

A Press TV journalist detained on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla describes mistreatment of activists attacked on the aid convoy and his own ordeal in Israeli custody. Still suffering from a lack of sleep, Hassan Ghani explained how Israeli navy forces suddenly encircled the Turkish-flagged vessel he was traveling on and launched an attack on the aid Flotilla. "We were some 90 miles off the Israeli coast and we were by no means within the so-called military exclusion area, which was originally 20 miles but later extended to 68 miles," Ghani told Press TV on Thursday. He described measures taken by the campaigners onboard the ships for repelling the invaders, saying water hoses were used to drive back the Israelis. Meanwhile, helicopters belonging to the Israeli army landed on the deck and a number of frigates approached the vessel from either side. Ghani added that Israeli commandos, each armed with at least two weapons, landed on the ship eventually. "They came down and we heard gunfire... at this stage we did not know if they were rubber bullets or live ammunition but we heard gunfire," he said, adding that the activists used objects at hand and mostly their bare hands to defend themselves. Sydney Morning Herald: I was 'Tasered' by Israelis, says Herald photographer. The Guardian: Israelis opened fire before boarding Gaza flotilla, say released activists -"They came up and used plastic bullets, we had beatings, we had electric shocks, any method we can think of, they used." Daily Telegraph: Gaza flotilla attack: British activists tell of abuse by Israelis. AlterNet: Israeli Legislator Reveals Her Terror on Ship, Accuses Israel of Intentionally Killing Peace Activists to Deter Future Flotillas.

PressTV: IHH: Israel shoots Gaza activists dead. Turkish organizers of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla attacked by Israeli naval commandos accuse Israel of shooting activists dead at a close range. Bulent Yildirm, who heads the Foundation of Humanitarian Relief (IHH), told reporters at Istanbul airport how a journalist called Cevdet was killed by Israeli soldiers for no good reason. "He was just taking pictures. He was shot at from no more than a meter and his brain exploded ... one of our friends was shot even after he had surrendered," AFP quoted Yildrim as saying. He accused Israeli naval forces of killing "whoever they laid hands on" and even throwing some activists into the sea. "We were given the bodies of nine martyrs, but we have a longer list. There are missing people. Our doctors handed over 38 injured, on our return they (the Israelis) said there were only 21 injured."

DN.se: Gardell: Israel begick överlagt mord. Swedish Ship to Gaza participant Mattias Gardell University professor was aboard the boat where the deaths occurred, says: Premeditated Murder , two people killed by shoot to forehead, one shoot in back of head. [DsV: Israel har använt massivt militärt övervåld mot en fredlig hjälpinsats. De har begått överlagt mord och gjort sig skyldiga till sjöröveri, säger Mattias Gardell, som var ombord på det fartyg där nio människor dog.] [GOOGLE Translate]

Just imagine if these were Iranian commandos attacking a multinational, six-boat aid flotilla in international waters. The United States, the European Union and Israel would instantly make sure to shock and awe Iran to kingdom come. Instead, it was Israeli commandos who perpetrated this bit of gunboat diplomacy - or "self-defense" - in the dark hours of the early morning, in international waters, some 130 kilometers off the coast of Gaza. MEDIAite: Helen Thomas Rails At White House Over Stance On Israeli “Flotilla Massacre” -Video. Vancouver Sun: No weapons on stormed Turkish ship: Report. Ma'an News: Reporters Without Borders: 15 journalists still missing. The Guardian: Israelis opened fire before boarding Gaza flotilla, say released activists. Birmingham Star: Member of the Israeli parliament who was on board the international flotilla corroborate the videotape showing that Israeli forces were firing before they boarded: “They wanted many deaths to terrorise us".

Juan Cole: Eyewitnesses Confirm Israeli Gunplay; Egypt’s lifting of the Blockade likely Temporary. More eyewitness accounts are emerging from released aid activists whom the Israelis had imprisoned.” They corroborate the videotape showing that Israeli forces were firing at the deck of the Mavi Marmura before they boarded it. The Israeli forces also broke their own rules of engagement, requiring them to shoot at the legs of resisters. They instead shot humanitarian workers in the face, shoulder and chest. It may be that such violence on the part of Israeli soldiers provoked the attack with sticks on the Israeli commandos as they landed, videotape of which the Israeli army has released. The Israeli army is sending back home all of the kidnapped aid workers seized on the ships within 48 hours.

The Guardian: Gaza flotilla raid: 'We heard gunfire – then our ship turned into lake of blood'. As Gaza flotilla activists are released, the awful truth is emerging. '"We expected them to shoot people in the legs, to shoot in the air, just to scare people, but they were direct. Some of them shot in the passengers' heads. Many people were murdered – it was unimaginable."

Irish Times: Israel to deport activists detained after flotilla raids. Israel has tonight decided to free hundreds of foreign activists detained aboard a Turkish-backed aid flotilla to Gaza, including some it had threatened to put on trial. Sources in Israel told Reuters that cabinet ministers had made the decision amid rising world protests against Israel's raid of the flotilla yesterday. The raid resulted in the deaths of at least nine people. Tonight it emerged that some 680 activists seized on the boats would be released. "It was agreed that the detainees would be deported immediately," Nir Hefez, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a written statement. Earlier today, Taoiseach Brian Cowen warned there would be “most serious consequences” should any harm come to Irish citizens involved with an aid flotilla destined for Gaza. [For Prime Minister Cowen's domestic audience, since Ireland has no military, political or economic clout at all. The EU would never stand up for Ireland.]

Israel’s action against the Gaza aid flotilla is in line with its increasingly bellicose stance on all fronts. Coinciding with last week’s air raid on Gaza, Israel conducted its biggest ever annual war drill. The army, security and rescue services ended their five day military exercises with a mass mobilisation of Israeli citizens who were required to dash to bunkers and safe rooms across the country in response to a simulated missile attack. The exercise prompted accusations from Lebanon and Syria of warmongering by Israel, which is attempting to pick off Iran’s allies in the region. Ahdaf Soueif/The Guardian: Israel reveals its true face. -The murder of these peace activists will count. Sanctions must surely be the price. Green Party Watch: Green Party condemns Freedom Flotilla massacre, urges immediate aid cutoff and end to impunity for Israel. The National: World unites to condemn attack on Gaza convoy. Daily Mail: UN condemns Israel's deadly raid on blockade-busting aid convoy as British relatives face anxious wait for news. Reuters: Thousands protest flotilla deaths, clashes in Athens.

EMERGENCY PROTEST - TODAY 5.30pm @ Israeli Embassy .. KENSINGTON HIGH STREET LONDON
PLEASE COME .. and SPREAD THE WORD

EMERGENCY PROTEST - TODAY .. Tuesday 1st June 2010 .. 5.30pm @ Israeli Embassy .. KENSINGTON HIGH STREET, LONDON

PROTEST TODAY - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE - 5pm @ GREYS MONUMENT

BE PREPARED FOR RAIN AND COLD WEATHER .. BRING A COAT IDEALLY WITH A HOOD or WOOLY HAT and SOME GLOVES .. WHISTLES and MEGA-PHONES ARE ALSO GOOD .. ALSO BEST TO WEAR DARK CLOTHES AND REMEMBER THAT WE ARE PEACEFUL PROTESTERS

JORDAN - AMMAN
Peaceful sit-in from AL-Kaluti mosque to israel embassy - Rabyeh
today to support Freedom Fleet, Starting at 8 PM
..إعتصام سلمي أمام المسجد الكالوتي دعماً لأسطول الحريه لكي
نوصل صوت احرار العالم, يبدأ الإعتصام في ال 8 مساءً14

Daily Telegraph: The Gaza flotilla: Israel's leaders are lost at sea. Nihilism, not policy, seems to be the driving force of the current Israeli government. The botched assault flotilla, following on from the calamitous assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai, makes no sense except to a deranged mind permanently jammed on the “kill” setting. As a result, nine people from Turkey, a key regional ally of Israel are dead and ten young Israeli servicemen have been injured to maintain the fiction that the blockade of Gaza is in some way hurting Hamas, when in fact it’s enhancing the jihadis’ power and prestige.

Pravda: Israel: The Pariah of the International Community. The most striking feature about Israel’s most recent act of terrorism, an act of piracy and murder on the high seas, is that it surprises nobody. A robber steals. Israel commits war crimes. What is even more remarkable is its attempts at self-justification, claiming that its soldiers were attacked. Well of course they were attacked. They were illegally boarding a ship carrying peace activists trying to feed the starving people of Gaza in international waters. This was an act of piracy, this was an act of terrorism. Someone invades your space. You fight back. What Israel has to understand is that to be accepted as a member of the international community, it has to act like one and this involves abiding by UN Resolutions, it means not only halting the building of colonies on land which has been stolen from Palestinians, it involves dismantling each and every colony set up on land outside the original borders of Israel.

Palestinian Center for Human Rights: PCHR Condemns Israeli Attack on Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Today's crime is hideous, and it is a shame for the international community to remain silent while IOF commits systematic war crimes against civilians. PCHR believes that Israel would not continue to commit crimes and attacks against civilians, including the crime committed today against the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" and those international solidarity activists aboard, if the international community did not remain silent, thereby failing to fulfill its obligations and duties to enforce international law and provide protection for civilians. Today's attack is characteristic of a long series of war crimes and grave violations carried out by IOF against civilians, including the latest Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip, in addition to the imposition of collective punishment measures against civilians through the ongoing siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. Unfortunately and regrettably, the world has remained motionless and there has been no intervention to stop such crimes or prosecute the perpetrators.

Three German-made, nuclear-armed submarines named Dolphin, Tekuma and Leviathan have previously been sent to the region but according to the British daily's report, the Israeli Navy has fresh plans to keep at least one of the submarines in the region on a permanent basis. The report comes as an unnamed flotilla commander confirmed a 'very far' mission in an interview with an Israeli daily. TimesOnline: Israel stations nuclear missile subs off Iran. Lataan: ISRAELI SUBMARINES OFF IRAN WILL PROVIDE U.S. WITH ‘PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY’ AGAINST ACCUSATIONS OF INVOLVEMENT OF STARTING WAR AGAINST IRAN.

Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has hailed a UN nuclear non-proliferation document calling on Israel to open its undeclared atomic facilities to international inspection. "It is a step forward in creating a world without atomic weapons," Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh told IRNA on Saturday. Soltanieh went further to explain that the United States, despite its opposition to the NPT deal on Israel, would have to fall in line with other members of the international community. "The US reservation is only political sloganeering and it is obliged to go along with the global request that Israel join the NPT and open its installations to IAEA inspectors," he added. BBC: Nearly 200 nations, signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), have agreed to work towards a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East. AntiWar: US Signs, Then ‘Regrets’ Call for Nuclear Free Mideast.

PressTV: US rages at NPT over Israel decision: In a statement issued on Friday, US President Barack Obama said the agreement reached at the 2010 NPT review conference singled out Israel with regard to a nuclear weapons-free Middle East. "We strongly oppose efforts to single out Israel and will oppose actions that jeopardize Israel's national security," President Obama said.

[Editor's Comment:] The NPT review conference has correctly singled out "Israel" because the Zionist Entity is the only power in the Middle East that actually has any nukes. Mr. Obama is a windbag and a Zionist stooge. The world does not listen to him anymore. "Israel" is a lost cause. Mr. Obama should try and save the US instead.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has conceded that there is a “very serious” split with Brazil over the third party enrichment deal on Iran, saying it is her belief that Iran will only negotiate once the sanctions are in place. The hypocrisy of the US position, and the absurdity of Clinton’s claims considering Brazil and Turkey just finished negotiating successfully with Iran is not lost on either nation, and both have taken the US and other members of the P5+1 to task for their sudden opposition to diplomacy. “Who are they to talk against the idea of having nuclear weapons,” Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council all have significant nuclear weapons arsenals.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismisses Iranian criticism that Russia is susceptible to Western influence and says Tehran has obstinately refused to address concerns about its nuclear program. A top Russian official Thursday dismissed criticism from the Iranian president as "emotional," and expressed frustration over what he portrayed as Tehran's obstinate refusal to confront suspicions over its nuclear program. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed back at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who a day earlier described the Kremlin as a potential enemy that was overly susceptible to pressures from the international community. "Russia has never been manipulated by anyone," Lavrov told reporters. "It has always been guided by national interests." AWIP: Iran warns Russia over nuclear stance.

Iranian naval forces have detected a US nuclear submarine in the Persian Gulf waters, amid growing concerns over the safety of one of the most important energy routes in the world. An Iranian patrol on Thursday spotted the nuclear-armed and -powered submarine in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which allows the passage of 90 percent of the oil produced by Persian Gulf states to Asia, the US and Western Europe.

There are currently 48 logistic and 18 combat US vessels in the Persian Gulf waters, among them the USS-Eisenhower aircraft carrier. Experts say aside from the risk of ecologically disastrous accidents, the presence of a nuclear submarine in a narrow waterway also poses a threat of nuclear pollution. In 2009, a US Navy Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered submarine collided with a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock in the strait. The incident caused a spillage of nearly 25-thousand gallons of diesel fuel. In 2007, a submerged US nuclear vessel collided with a huge Japanese crude tanker in the south of the strait. The US is yet to comment on the report. PressTV: Israeli war game rehearses 'Iran attack'.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned that Russia's stance against the Tehran declaration could turn it into an "enemy" of the Iranian nation. "Russian leaders should not create a situation that makes Iranian people place Russia in the ranks of their historic enemies," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Kerman on Wednesday. His comments came in response to Russia's decision to back a US-proposed UN Security Council resolution against Iran. "Today, it has become difficult for us to explain [Russian President Dmitry] Medvedev's behavior to the Iranian nation. The [Iranian] people don't know whether they [Russian officials] are our friends or are after something else," the Fars news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "If I were the Russian president, when taking decisions on subjects related to the great Iranian nation, I would think things through more," he said. Juan Cole: Ahmadinejad Blasts Medvedev over UNSC Sanctions; Brazil still Reaching out to Obama on Nuclear Deal. PressTV: Russia vows support for Iran fuel swap.

One of the items on the agenda of the talks is Iran's nuclear issue. Speaking at a business conference in Sao Paulo on Wednesday, Erdogan stated that Turkey and Brazil have the courage to tackle the issue that is "making the international community very uncomfortable." Erdogan was referring to the Tehran nuclear declaration, which has been strongly supported by Turkey and Brazil as the solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program. The declaration, signed by the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil in the Iranian capital on May 17, commits Tehran to deposit 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of its low-enriched uranium in Turkey that would be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment. Erdogan's visit to Brazil is the first by a Turkish prime minister. His Latin American tour will also take him to Argentina and Chile. PressTV: Brazil writes to Western leaders on Iran.

The US has authorised a sweeping expansion of covert military operations in the Middle East and Africa, aimed at destroying terrorist networks in the region, and preparing the ground ahead of any presidential decision to attack Iran. According yesterday's The New York Times, a directive, called the Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force Execute Order, was signed on 30 September by General David Petraeus, head of Central Command and in charge of US military operations in the Middle East, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa. Under its provisions, units of the Navy Seals, the Army's Delta Force and other Special Forces will be able to operate both in friendly countries, and in hostile countries with which the US is not technically at war. AWIP: Secret order prepares new US wars in Middle East and Central Asia. + Criminal Empire: US to expand secret "operations" [state terrorism]

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Iran, like any other country in the world, is entitled to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. "If a country enriches uranium at low levels for peaceful purposes and not production of nuclear weapons, then this is its right … and this is what Iran is doing," Erdogan said in a meeting with the South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe in Ankara on Tuesday. "Now, Turkey has also signed a deal with Russia, according to which we will have launched our nuclear power plant within the next 6-7 years. We will also have the chance to enrich uranium at low levels, and having this chance is our right as long as it has peaceful purposes," Haber Turk newspaper quoted Erdogan as saying. PressTV: China still opts for diplomacy on Iran.

America doesn't have a friendship with Israel, I have a friendship with Israel, what America has is that basically Israel is a parasite, it has attached itself to the United States and uses the United States to empower itself illegitimately. [...] It's not that we need to be educated; we need to develop intellectual curiosity. Intellectual curiosity comes from people who aren't as arrogant as the American people. We are so arrogant about who we are, the status we hold in the world today, that we don't feel the kind of curiosity to find out what's going on around us. We need intellectual curiosity and that's only going to come when we become truly a more humble people. Barak Obama spoke of being humble. He may be humble, but I can tell you that the people that he represents, the three hundred million Americans, there is no humbleness about the American people. We are arrogant.

The head of a parliamentary foreign affairs committee was quoted on Friday as saying that sanctions on Iran being discussed by world powers would not stop Russia from delivering S-300 surface to air missiles to Tehran.

Blair’s long-anticipated departure is a culmination of protracted internecine struggles within the US intelligence apparatus. These frictions, in part, pitted Blair against the politically connected director of the Central Intelligence Agency, former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta. They have intensified, under conditions in which the state conspiracies that underlay the launching of two US wars of aggression and sweeping attacks on democratic rights continue unabated under the Obama administration. Much of the media commentary has centered on the “failure” of US intelligence, under “Blair’s watch,” to prevent a series of highly publicized, but abortive, terrorist attacks over the past several months. These include the recent failed car-bombing in Times Square, and the so-called Christmas Day attempt to set off a bomb aboard a US passenger jet flying into Detroit.

Xymphora: Another realist gone: Admiral Dennis Blair was fired immediately after the Brazil-Turkey-Iran deal, and right after Hillary made a fool of herself and her country by continuing the sanction talk. The fangs are just dripping with blood. Blair was a 'realist' (i.e., 'anti-Semite'), and an anti-hawk on Iran.

The King of Norway supports cooperation between Oslo and Tehran on international issues, welcoming Iran's role in maintaining peace and security in Afghanistan. King Harald V made the remarks during a meeting with Iran's new ambassador to Norway Seyyed Hossein Rezvani on Thursday. The king also expressed hope that the Iranian envoy could help boost Norway-Iran ties in the political, economic and cultural fields. Citing Iran's "influential role" in regional developments concerning the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan, Rezvani said that Tehran is ready to expand its relations with Oslo regarding such issues based on "mutual respect."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has warned the UN Security Council against imposing new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. Lula urged the Security Council to show willingness to negotiate with Tehran in response to the nuclear declaration that was signed in the Iranian capital on Monday. "It depends on the UN Security Council to sit down with a willingness to negotiate, because if it feels it does not want to negotiate, everything will be put back," he told a business conference in Madrid on Wednesday. Lula was commenting on a draft UN resolution introduced by the United States on Tuesday that would slap tough new sanctions on Iran.

PressTV: No chance for new Iran sanctions: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says Tehran's recent nuclear declaration has left no chance for new sanctions to be imposed on Iran. "We don't take the developments in New York seriously because countries that support the resolution are in a minority," Mottaki stated, referring to a draft UN Security Council resolution that was introduced by the United States on Tuesday with the aim of putting more pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

Turkish PM Questions Security Council Credibility. After declaring the Turko-Brazilian diplomatic push with Iran the “last chance” to settle the Western dispute with Iran without sanctions, the US did an end-around of the diplomatic process today, announcing that they had made a deal to sanction Iran even though a deal had been successfully reached in the talks. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan: [said that] the move seriously damaged the credibility of the UN Security Council, particularly as its permanent members are all armed with nuclear weapons while seeking to punish Iran for its purely civilian program. PressTV: Brazil wants Iran sanctions dropped. RTT News: Russia Warns US, EU Against Unilateral Sanctions On Iran.

China welcomes a nuclear fuel declaration Iran issued after talks with Brazil and Turkey, signaling that it may oppose a US-led drive to impose sanctions on Tehran. The presidents of Iran and Brazil and the Turkish prime minister issued a landmark nuclear declaration in the Iranian capital Tehran on Monday. Based on the statement, Iran is to ship around 1,200 kilograms of its low-grade uranium to Turkey for replacement with higher-enriched fuel required for producing radio medicine for cancer patients at the Tehran Research Reactor. AWIP: Iran, Brazil, Turkey sign nuclear declaration. PressTV: Iran awaits West's reply to declaration. AntiWar: White House Slams Iran Uranium Deal. VOA: Clinton: "Big Powers" Agree on Iran Sanctions Resolution.

Tehran has agreed to a draft proposal whereby Iran will ship its domestic low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for 20 percent enriched uranium in return. After several hours of intense negotiations on Monday, the trilateral meeting between Iran, Brazil and Turkey ends with Tehran agreeing to send some 1,200 kilograms of its 3.5 percent enriched uranium over to Turkey in exchange for a total of 120 kilogram of 20 percent enriched uranium, Press TV reported. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki read the ten-point detailed declaration on the nuclear swap deal at a press conference held in the Iranian capital Tehran. AWIP: Turkey, Brazil seal deal on Iran nuclear fuel swap.

Turkey said on Sunday Iran had agreed on a nuclear fuel swap deal which could help end Tehran's stand-off with the West over its atomic programme. Full details of the agreement were not immediately released by Turkish and Brazilian officials mediating in Iran's dispute with leading world powers, who suspect Tehran of covertly developing a nuclear bomb. Turkey's foreign ministry said a formal announcement might be made on Monday after any final revisions by the Brazilian and Iranian presidents and the Turkish prime minister. "Yes, it has been reached after almost 18 hours of negotiations," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Tehran when asked if there would be an agreement. HuffPo: Iran & Turkey Agree To Uranium Swap In Nuclear Deal.

DUBLIN, Ireland—Trilateral Commission (TC) members, angry over their failure to establish a world government and the economic crisis they generated, called for war with Iran when they gathered behind closed doors here in Dublin, Ireland May 7-10. War plans were revealed by Mikhail Slobodovsici, a chief adviser to the Russian leadership, when he strolled off the grounds of the Four Seasons resort, where TC had hunkered down behind armed guards and locked doors. He thought he was talking to a TC colleague when speaking with Alan Keenan, who operates the web site WeAreChange.org. “We are deciding the future of the world,” Slobodovsici said. “We need a world government,” he said, but, referring to Iran, said “we need to get rid of them.”

Slams Iranian Refusal to Abandon Civilian Nuclear Program. At a news conference today with incoming British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that Iran had “proven” the need for sanctions itself by refusing demands to abandon its civilian nuclear program. “Every step along the way has demonstrated clearly to the world that Iran is not participating in the international arena in the way that we had asked them to,” Clinton claimed

Iran's military warned off a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft trying to approach Iranian naval manoeuvres, the semi-official Fars News Agency said on Tuesday. The incident involving the two old adversaries happened on Monday, it quoted the armed forces chief as saying. Iran's navy last week launched eight days of exercises in the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, a region crucial for global oil supplies. "A U.S. reconnaissance aircraft which had intended to approach our operational war games left ... upon the timely warning of our air defence forces," Fars quoted armed forces commander Ataollah Salehi as saying. He was speaking to reporters as the military test-fired two surface-to-sea missiles in the Gulf of Oman, it added. There was no immediate U.S. comment on the report.

A senior advisor to US President Barack Obama says delivery of a Russian anti-aircraft system to Iran would have serious consequences for US ties with Moscow. Gary Samore, the White House coordinator for arms control, weapons of mass destruction proliferation and terrorism, said he thought Russia understood Washington's position and he would be surprised if Moscow shipped the S-300 anti-aircraft system that Iran has ordered.

[Editor's Comment:] -The gall! The US is in no position to warn Russia about anything. The overextended American forces are very vulnerable. When eventually the American fools learn the facts of life (and death), it may be too late.

Israel is primed for a war on Iran, a deputy to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, in a rare break with his government's reticence as world powers try to talk Tehran into curbing its nuclear plans. By spearheading assaults on guerrillas in neighboring Lebanon and Palestinian territories, the Israeli air force had gained the techniques necessary for any future strikes on Iranian sites, Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon said. "There is no doubt that the technological capabilities, which improved in recent years, have improved range and aerial refueling capabilities, and have brought about a massive improvement in the accuracy of ordnance and intelligence," he told a conference of military officers and experts. "This capability can be used for a war on terror in Gaza, for a war in the face of rockets from Lebanon, for war on the conventional Syrian army, and also for war on a peripheral state like Iran," said Yaalon, a former armed forces chief. Israel, which is assumed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981 and launched a similar sortie in Syria in 2007. PressTV: Medvedev in unprecedented Syria visit.

IAEA to Maintain Iran-Israel Double Standard. In an attempt to salve over concerns that the IAEA’s discussion of the Israeli nuclear arsenal would bring any actual policy change, officials are saying that the IAEA will not, under any circumstances, attempt to draw a parallel between Israel and Iran. While this was meant to reassure Israel, it seems that the stark differences between Israel and Iran on the nuclear front are very apparent, and from a proliferation standpoint the Iranians are better served by not being in the same company. While Israel is a non-signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and possesses one of the world’s largest undeclared nuclear arsenals, Iran has only a modest civilian enrichment program which is under intense IAEA scrutiny at all times. The IAEA is continually able to verify the non-diversion of Iranian nuclear material to weapons purposes, the same has never been true of Israel. Officials insist the IAEA position on Israel has not changed, though what exactly that position is remains unclear. They also say, contrary to reports, that Israel was discussed in IAEA meetings before, but was removed from the agenda of those meetings for some reason. AntiWar Newswire: Israeli scientist calls for nuclear disclosure. PressTV: 'Israel must stop nuclear tomfoolery'. Rense: Israeli Professor - 'We Could Destroy All European Capitals'. PressTV: 'US in favor of Israel nuclear ambiguity'.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has highlighted the “necessity” of political discourse with Iran in ending an impasse over its civilian nuclear program. In a meeting with ambassadors from Arab states on Wednesday, Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow's support for diplomatically engaging Tehran and warned against the “disastrous” consequences of taking military action. “It was generally felt that there is no alternative but to solve the Iran's nuclear program problem by politico-diplomatic methods and avoid regionally disastrous military options,” said a foreign ministry statement. Lavrov also called on the international community to “proceed from the imperative of maintaining and expanding cooperation by Iran with the IAEA, as well as from the necessity to continue political dialogue with Tehran.”

GREAT HUMOR FROM IRAN: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's President, has denied reports that Osama bin Laden is in Tehran and insisted that the al-Qaeda leader is, in fact, in the US capital of Washington. "Rest assured that he's in Washington. I think there's a high chance he's there," the Iranian leader told ABC television in an interview. Without backing up the claim, the Iranian leader said he had "heard" that bin Laden was in the US capital. "Yes, I did. He's there. Because he was a previous partner of Mr. Bush," he said referring to former President George W. Bush. "They were colleagues, in fact, in the old days. You know that. They were in the oil business together. They worked together. Mr bin Laden never co-operated with Iran but he co-operated with Mr. Bush," Mr Ahmadinejad said. He added that, at any rate, US officials ought to know the extremist Islamic leaders whereabouts. AWIP: Ahmadinejad's take on ties with US (Video). + Usama Bin Laden Is Living Comfortably in Iran, "Documentary" Asserts.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says countries that possess nuclear weapons cannot pass judgment on Tehran's nuclear program. "The fact that some nuclear-armed countries seek to stop Iran's peaceful nuclear program violates the NPT and international law. They cannot deprive Iran of its legal rights through threats or pressure," Ahmadinejad told ABC on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference, which is currently underway in New York. He said that it is "discriminatory" to allow a country to manufacture nuclear weapons while other nations are denied the right to use nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes. The NPT requires all nuclear weapons states to dismantle their nuclear weapons, so everyone is wondering why these weapons have not been eradicated, Ahmadinejad noted.

Arab countries sought to turn attention Tuesday to Israel as delegates from 189 countries debated how to stem the spread of nuclear weapons. On the second day of the month-long meeting at the United Nations, Arab countries were reiterating calls for a nuclear-free Middle East with criticism of Israel's unacknowledged nuclear arsenal and failure to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). U.S. officials have said they will be looking to isolate Iran at the conference and to produce an unofficial document calling for stricter enforcement of the NPT that could be signed by the overwhelming majority of signatory countries.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at the start of a UN conference in New York reviewing the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). He said there wasn't a shred of credible evidence his country was developing nuclear weapons, and attacked the US, accusing it of double standards. You Tube: US, Iran go 12 rounds in nuclear punch-up at UN conference -Video. PressTV: Iran slams Clinton's 'irrational' words.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, addressing a U.N. nuclear conference that opened Monday, sought to turn the tables on the United States over its criticism of Iran's nuclear program, asserting that his country does not need nuclear weapons and accusing Washington of fomenting a global nuclear arms race. Ahmadinejad also described the issue of nuclear terrorism as "misleading" and "phony," charging that the Obama administration was using it to divert the world's attention from U.S. "noncompliance" with disarmament obligations. He claimed that "major terrorist networks" are supported by "U.S. intelligence agencies" and Israel, but he provided no details or evidence. During his 35-minute speech, delegates from the United States conspicuously walked out of the conference hall in protest. Reuters: Iran: US should be punished for nuclear threats. Refreshing News: US has more than 5,000 nuclear warheads.

PressTV: Iran wants US nukes dismantled.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the United States should dismantle its nuclear bases around the world as a step to create a nuke-free world. "Nuclear weapons stationed in military bases in the US and those in its allied countries such as Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands must be dismantled," President Ahmadinejad said in an address before the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday. "Those who used nuclear weapons for the first time in history are the most detested and disgraceful people in the world," he said, adding that nuclear arms are "the most disgusting and shameful kind of weapons in the world." Ahmadinejad, who is the only head of state attending the summit, said world powers should set a deadline to create a nuke-free world, calling on the UN to rebrand the NPT as the "Disarmament NPT."