Iran the news again...................

[Shammu]

Iran Wants Talks With US Ambassador
Dec 24 02:01 PM US/Eastern
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and BRADLEY BROOKS
Associated Press Writers

BAGHDAD (AP) - Iran wants to renew high-level talks with U.S. officials on security in Iraq, insisting that discussions take place between ambassadors and not lower-level functionaries, Iraqi officials said Monday.

The Iranians also want a clear-cut agenda for the meeting, which the American side has not yet provided, according to Sami al-Askari, an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and a member of parliament. Three Iraqi officials confirmed his account, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the press.

There was no immediate comment or confirmation from Iran's Foreign Ministry or state media.

A May 27 meeting concerning security in Iraq between U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, broke a 27-year diplomatic freeze between the two countries.

A planned Dec. 18 meeting between Iranian and American security, military and diplomatic experts was canceled a few days before it was to be held. At the time, Iranian officials said it was a scheduling problem while U.S. officials referred questions to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.

American officials have since pointed out that Dec. 18 was the day Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Iraq, which forced the postponement of the meeting. For security reasons, they said they could not disclose Rice's arrival date ahead of time.

Since then, top Iranian officials in Baghdad have asked their Iraqi counterparts to push the Americans to hold a fourth-round of talks between Crocker and Qomi, an Iranian official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The two last met in August, shortly after the first and only meeting of low-level experts, which produced no concrete results.

Iran has long been accused by Washington of training, arming and funding Shiite extremists inside Iraq to kill American troops.

But in the past month, U.S. officials have said Tehran appears to have slowed or halted the flow of illegal weapons across the frontier. Iran has denied the arms smuggling accusations, insisting that it is doing its best to help stabilize its embattled western neighbor.

Crocker told reporters during a Sunday briefing in Baghdad that he would be willing to meet Qomi again, but said no date had been set for a meeting at any level.

"I would be open to this. We could do it at the experts' level or we could do it at my level. I would definitely see that as a possibility," he said. "We're looking at what we might talk about, which I think is the first and necessary step before deciding who talks about it."

Crocker said there were "some signs, some indicators that the Iranians are using some influence to bring down violence from extremist Shiia militias." They included a drop in the number of attacks that use high-tech shaped charge bombs, which American officials allege are made in Iran.

"How lasting a phenomenon that will be, and how Iran will define and play its role in Iraq in 2008 will be very important to the long-term future of the country," he said.

Crocker said any talks with the Iranians would focus solely on Iraqi security and would not extend into the explosive issue of U.S. accusations that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Al-Askari said a top Iranian diplomat complained to him in recent days that U.S. officials are not providing enough information about what a new round of talks at any level will achieve.

"They told us that the Americans are vague and that they want to know what is the goal, what is the purpose of these talks," al-Askari said. "They said they do not want to talk on the level of experts—that at a minimum, it should be at the ambassadorial level or even higher."

Al-Askari added that the Iranians were also upset that although they contributed to the improving security situation in Iraq, U.S. officials have not done enough to acknowledge it.

"The Iranians will not stand anymore going to talk with the U.S. one day, and the next day watch the Americans speak badly about them in the press—by saying Iran is supporting militias and supplying weapons," he said.

The Iranian Embassy in Baghdad was closed Monday for the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Iran Wants Talks With US Ambassador

[Shammu]

Iran gets 2nd Russian fuel shipment

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Fri Dec 28, 3:17 AM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran received the second shipment of nuclear fuel from Russia on Friday for a power plant being constructed in the southern Iranian town of Bushehr, the official news agency IRNA reported.

The delivery signaled continued momentum toward beginning operations at the long-delayed 1,000 megawatt light-water reactor, which the Russians are helping to construct and the Iranians say will come online in 2008.

Ahmad Fayazbakhsh, deputy head of Iran's nuclear organization, said the fuel was delivered according to a schedule agreed with the Russians, which IRNA indicated would bring 82 tons of nuclear fuel in eight shipments.

"The amount of fuel delivered to Bushehr was equal to the previous shipment," Fayazbakhsh was quoted as saying by IRNA. "It was delivered within a specified timetable."

The Russian firm helping build the Bushehr reactor, Atomstroyexport, confirmed the delivery.

Iran received the first shipment of nuclear fuel from Russia on Dec. 17 after months of dispute between the two countries, allegedly over delayed construction payments for the reactor.

Tehran heralded the initial shipment as a victory, saying it proved its nuclear program was peaceful, not a cover for weapons development as claimed by the U.S. and some of its allies.

The U.S. downplayed the first delivery, and both Washington and Moscow said the supply of nuclear fuel meant Iran had no need to continue its uranium enrichment program — a process that can provide fuel for a reactor or fissile material for a bomb.

Iran insisted it would continue enriching uranium because it needed to provide fuel to a 300-megawatt light-water reactor it was building in the southwestern town of Darkhovin.

Iranian officials have said they plan to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear energy in the next two decades.

The U.S. initially opposed Russian participation in building the Bushehr reactor and supplying it with fuel but reversed its position about a year ago to obtain Moscow's support for the first set of U.N. sanctions against Iran.

Washington also was influenced by Iran's agreement to return spent nuclear fuel from the reactor back to Russia to ensure it doesn't extract plutonium to make atomic bombs.

Russia's decision to begin shipping nuclear fuel to Iran followed a U.S. intelligence report released earlier this month that concluded Tehran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in late 2003 and had not resumed it since. Iran says it never had a weapons program.

The U.S. has pushed through two sets of U.N. sanctions against Iran demanding it suspend uranium enrichment and has been urging Security Council members to pass a third set.

Iran has defied U.N. demands, and Washington's effort to impose harsher measures has been complicated by the recent intelligence report and resistance from Russia and China.

Iran gets 2nd Russian fuel shipment

[Soldier4Christ]

Iranian boats threaten U.S. Navy gunships 
Reportedly came within 200 yards of each other in Strait of Hormuz

Iranian boats harassed and provoked three American Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, threatening to blow up the vessels, U.S. officials said Monday.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday the confrontation was “something normal” and was resolved, suggesting the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the Bush administration urges Iranians “to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future.”

Military officials told NBC News that two U.S. Navy destroyers and one frigate were heading into the Persian Gulf through the international waters of the Strait of Hormuz when five armed "fast boats" of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard approached at high speed, darting in and out of the formation.

At one point a radio message from one of the Iranian boats warned, "You are going to blow up within minutes."
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The Navy warships went into defensive mode, radioed the usual warnings to steer clear, and in the end no shots were fired. U.S. military warships believe the Revolutionary Guard boats were "testing our defenses," the officials said.

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman called it a “serious incident.” Another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called it “the most serious provocation of this sort that we’ve seen yet.”

Bush visiting region next week
The incident raised new tensions between Washington and Tehran as President Bush prepared for his first major trip to the Middle East.

A statement issued by the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain said the incident occurred at about 8 a.m. local time Sunday as Navy cruiser USS Port Royal, destroyer USS Hopper and frigate USS Ingraham were on their way into the Persian Gulf and passing through the strait — a major oil shipping route.

Five small boats began charging the U.S. ships, dropping boxes in the water in front of the ships and forcing the U.S. ships to take evasive maneuvers, said the Pentagon official. The boxes floated by, and officials said they didn’t know what was in them because U.S. sailors didn’t pick them up.

There were no injuries but the official said there could have been, because the Iranian boats turned away “literally at the very moment that U.S. forces were preparing to open fire” in self defense.

The official, who asked to speak on grounds of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the issue publicly, said he didn’t have the precise transcript of communications that passed between the two forces, but said the Iranians radioed something like “we’re coming at you and you’ll explode in a couple minutes.”

At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said he was not aware of any plans to lodge a formal protest.

“Without specific reference to this incident in the Strait of Hormuz, the United States will confront Iranian behavior where it seeks to do harm either to us or to our friends and allies in the region,” McCormack told reporters. “There is wide support for that within the region and certainly that’s not going to change.”

Whitman said the Pentagon will work with State and National Security Council officials to determine “the appropriate way to address this with the Iranian government.”

Iran's response
But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini played down the incident, suggesting it was an issue of misidentification. He did not comment on the U.S. claims of the Iranian boats’ actions.

“That is something normal that takes place every now and then for each party, and it (the problem) is settled after identification of the two parties,” he told the state news agency IRNA.

The incident was “similar to past ones” that were resolved “once the two sides recognized each other,” he said.

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard official also described the incident as nothing unusual.

“No unusual confrontation has taken place between the Guard’s patrol vessels and U.S. ships,” state-run television quoted the official as saying. The official was speaking on customary condition of anonymity. The Guard official said the Guard’s vessels were conducting normal patrols in the Strait of Hormuz when they saw three U.S. ships enter the waters of the region.

“The Guard’s navy vessels, as usual, asked the ships to identify themselves and they did so and continued their path,” the TV quoted the official as saying.
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'Potentially hostile intent'
At the Pentagon, Whitman said the U.S. vessels were in international waters, making a normal transit into the Gulf. He said the Iranian boats were operating at “distances and speeds that showed reckless and dangerous intent — reckless, dangerous and potentially hostile intent.”

The episode lasted 15 to 20 minutes, Whitman said, but he wouldn’t say whether officials know for certain whether the were vessels were Iranian Revolutionary Guard or regular Iranian navy. The Revolutionary Guard forces have been known to be more aggressive than the regular navy.

“At least some were visibly armed. Small Iranian fast boats made some aggressive maneuvers against our vessels and indicated some hostile intent,” Whitman said.

Historical tensions between the two nations have increased in recent years over Washington’s charge that Tehran has been developing nuclear weapons and supplying and training Iraqi insurgents using roadside bombs — the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq.

At about this time last year, Bush announced he was sending a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf region in a show of force against Iran. The U.S. Navy quietly scaled back to one carrier group several months later. But while the two were there, they staged two major exercises off Iran’s coast.

As one of the world’s most vital chokepoints for oil shipping, the 30-mile-wide Hormuz strait has been the subject of previous armed confrontations between the United States and Iran, most notably during the eight-year Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s.

The United States expressed concern when the Revolutionary Guard forces took over Iranian naval operations in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz from Iran's regular navy more than five months ago.

However, Sunday’s incident was the first significant one since then.

In another incident off its coast, Iranian Revolutionary Guard sailors last March captured 15 British sailors and held them for nearly two weeks.

The 15 sailors, including one woman, were captured on March 23. Iran claims the crew, operating in a small patrol craft, had intruded into Iranian waters — a claim denied by Britain.

[nChrist]

BLUNTLY - the response of the US to the charging and armed boats in International waters defies all common sense. The lives of every man and woman on those ships was placed in immediate danger with NO RESPONSE at all.

Those charging boats should have been blown out of the water. This was an act of war and should have been handled appropriately. Just what prevented these charging boats from using their torpedoes and other weapons when they got within range? What will the next charge involve? NO other country in the world would have permitted actions like this in International waters, so WHAT'S THE PROBLEM? Do they have to sacrifice a fleet before being authorized to defend themselves? THIS IS CRAZY! On top of everything else, they were allowed to drop unidentified boxes around the fleet with NO RESPONSE AT ALL! THIS IS WORSE THAN CRAZY!

[Soldier4Christ]

Israel to brief George Bush on options for Iran strike

ISRAELI security officials are to brief President George W Bush on their latest intelligence about Iran’s nuclear programme - and how it could be destroyed - when he begins a tour of the Middle East in Jerusalem this week.

Ehud Barak, the defence minister, is said to want to convince him that an Israeli military strike against uranium enrichment facilities in Iran would be feasible if diplomatic efforts failed to halt nuclear operations. A range of military options has been prepared.

Last month it was revealed that the US National Intelligence Estimate report, drawing together information from 16 agencies, had concluded that Iran stopped a secret nuclear weapon programme in 2003.

Israeli intelligence is understood to agree that the project was halted around the time of America’s invasion of Iraq, but has “rock solid” information that it has since started up again.

While security officials are reluctant to reveal all their intelligence, fearing that leaks could jeopardise the element of surprise in any future attack, they are expected to present the president with fresh details of Iran’s enrichment of uranium - which could be used for civil or military purposes - and the development of missiles that could carry nuclear warheads.

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot this weekend, Bush argued that in spite of the US intelligence assessment, Iran still posed a threat.

“I read the intelligence report carefully,” Bush said. “In essence, what the report said was that Iran had a secret plan to develop nuclear weapons.

“I’m saying that a state which adopted a nontransparent policy and had a secret plan for developing nuclear weapons could easily develop an alternative plan for the same purpose. So to conclude from the intelligence report that there is no Iranian plan to develop nuclear weapons will be only a partial truth.”

Israeli security officials believe the only way to prevent uranium enrichment to military grade is to destroy Iranian installations. Many Israelis are eager to know whether America would give their country the green light to attack, as it did last September when Israel struck a mysterious nuclear site in Syria.

Bush refused to be drawn when asked whether he would support an Israeli attack. “My message to all countries in the region is that we are able to solve the problem in a diplomatic way,” he said, “but all options are on the table.”

[Shammu]

 Ahmadinejad loses favor with Khamenei, Iran's top leader
By Nazila Fathi
Monday, January 7, 2008

TEHRAN: A rift is emerging between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suggesting that the president no longer enjoys the full backing of Khamenei, as he did in the years after his election in 2005.

In the past, when Ahmadinejad was attacked by political opponents, the criticisms were usually silenced by Khamenei, who has the final word on state matters and who regularly endorsed the president in public speeches. But that public support has been conspicuously absent in recent months.

There are numerous possible reasons for Ahmadinejad's loss of support, but analysts here all point to one overriding factor: the U.S. National Intelligence Report last month, which said that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003 in response to international pressure. The report sharply decreased the threat of a military strike against Iran, allowing the authorities to focus on domestic issues, with important parliamentary elections looming in March.

"Now that Iran is not under the threat of a military attack, all contradictions within the establishment are surfacing," said Saeed Leylaz, an economic and political analyst. "The biggest mistake that Americans have constantly made toward Iran was adopting radical approaches, which provided the ground for radicals in the country to take control."

Iran had been under increasing international pressure for its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program, which could be pursued for either peaceful or military purposes. In separate speeches last year, American and French officials did not rule out military attack against Iran if it continued its defiance. Those threats have stopped since the National Intelligence Report was released.

While the pressure was on, the leadership was reluctant to let any internal disagreements show. Senior officials, including Khamenei, constantly called for unity and warned that the enemy, a common reference to the United States, could take advantage of such differences.

The Iranian presidency is a largely ceremonial post. But Ahmadinejad used the office as a bully pulpit, espousing an economic populism that built a strong following among the middle and lower classes and made him a political force to be reckoned with. That popularity won him the strong backing of the supreme leader.

But the relationship began to sour even before the National Intelligence Report was released. A source close to Khamenei, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said Khamenei had been especially disappointed by Ahmadinejad's economic performance, which had led to steep inflation in basic necessities, from food to property values.

"Mr. Khamenei supported Mr. Ahmadinejad because he believed in his slogans of helping the poor," the source said. "But his economic performance has been disastrous. Their honeymoon is certainly over."

Economists have long criticized Ahmadinejad's economic policies, warning that his reliance on oil revenues to finance loans to the poor and to buy cheap imports would lead to inflation and cripple local industries. Inflation has risen from 12 percent in October 2006 to 19 percent this year, according to figures released by the Iranian Central Bank.

Khamenei said Thursday in a speech in the central city of Yazd that "the government has certain unique characteristics, but like any other government there are mistakes and shortcomings."

He added that continuous criticism could undermine the government, but he refrained from praising it as he had in the past.

Recently, the supreme leader appointed a hard-line military leader, Mohammad Zolghadr, as deputy head of the armed forces for Basij, which is a volunteer militia force.

Ahmadinejad dismissed Zolghadr last month as deputy interior minister for security affairs. Ahmadinejad appeared angered last week by interference from Iran's former chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, who visited Egypt as Khamenei's representative at the Supreme National Security Council. Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that his government had a Foreign Ministry that determined the country's foreign policy, and a ministry spokesman said that Larijani's trip had been personal.

Larijani's trip was important because Tehran cut ties with Egypt, a major Sunni country, when Cairo signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979 and provided asylum for the deposed Shah of Iran. Larijani, who is a close aide to Khamenei, announced that his talks with the Egyptian authorities had gone well.

In the face of rising criticism, Ahmadinejad has for the first time acknowledged that Iran was suffering from rising prices. Previously, he had called inflation a fiction invented by his political enemies.

But he blamed previous governments, Parliament and what he called a 36-percent increase in the prices of goods in international markets.

Mohammad Reza Katouzian, a conservative and onetime supporter of Ahmadinejad, said the president "should offer solutions instead of explaining past mistakes," the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Hassan Rassouli, head of Baran, a nongovernment organization created by the previous president, Mohammad Khatami after Khatami left office, said that Ahmadinejad tried only to justify inflation, not do anything about it.

"Either the president has no idea how inflation has affected people's lives or he prefers to talk unprofessionally, without referring to figures," he said, according to the Mehr press agency.

Alireza Mahjoub, a member of Parliament and the leader of a workers union, dismissed the government's claim that it had lowered the unemployment rate to 9.9 percent and said the real figure should be more than 16 percent, the Fars news agency reported.

"There are 4 million jobless in the country but a 9.9 percent unemployment rate suggests the figure is 2.2 million, out of the 21 million active population," he added. "The figure has only decreased on paper."

The coming parliamentary elections will provide a stark test for Ahmadinejad and his popularity among the poor. The conservative politicians who supported him in 2005 have, in many cases, turned into his fiercest critics and are now worried chiefly that they will be disqualified as candidates before the vote, a power that the government has exercised in the past.

Ahmadinejad loses favor with Khamenei, Iran's top leader
~~~~~~~~

This may be more important than at first glance. The President in Iran only holds power through the religious (read Shi-ite) leaders. This could mean trouble down the road............

[Shammu]

Iran Urged to Stop Stoning People to Death
By Susan Jones
January 15, 2008

(CNSNews) - Human rights activists are demanding that Iran abolish its practice of stoning people to death.

A new report, published Monday, comes as nine Iranian women and two Iranian men are now awaiting that "cruel and unusual" fate, Amnesty International said.

AI calls stoning a "grotesque and unacceptable penalty" that should be halted immediately.

The head of Iran's judiciary in 2002 issued a moratorium on stoning, and the country's Penal Code is due to be amended, Amnesty International said. But the moratorium on stoning is not always observed.

Amnesty International said it welcomes Iran's recent "advances toward reforms," said Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA executive director. But Cox also called on the Iranian government to ensure that the new Penal Code does not allow stoning to death or other means of execution for adultery.

Iran's current Penal Code prescribes execution by stoning. According to Amnesty International, Article 102 of Iran's Penal Code says that men should be buried up to their waists and women up to their breasts for before the stoning begins.

Article 104, which refers to the penalty for adultery, says the stones used should be large enough to cause pain but not so large as to kill the victim immediately.

Amnesty International noted that "serious failings" in Iran's justice system "commonly result in unfair trials," and that includes capital cases.

"Despite the moratorium imposed in 2002 and official denials that stoning sentences continued to be implemented in Iran, deaths by stoning have been reported," AI said Monday in new release publicizing its new report.

The group mentions one man, Ja'far Kiani, who was stoned to death on July 5, 2007 after being convicted of committing adultery with a woman who bore him two children and who was also sentenced to death by stoning. The stoning was carried out despite a stay of execution ordered in his case and in defiance of the 2002 moratorium, AI said.

Another couple is "known to have been stoned to death" in May 2006, AI said. And more Iranians await such a fate.

Women most affected

Amnesty International said most of the Iranians sentenced to death by stoning are women, who are "not treated equally before the law and the courts."

Amnesty International said Iranian women are more likely than men to be illiterate -- and that makes them more likely to sign confessions to crimes they did not commit.

"Discrimination against women in other aspects of their lives also leaves them more susceptible to conviction for adultery," Amnesty International said.

Amnesty International said there is reason to hope that death by stoning will be completely abolished in Iran in the future.

It noted the "courageous efforts" of local human rights defenders in Iran who launched a "Stop Stoning Forever" campaign in May 2006. The campaign is credited with saving four women and one man, and a fifth woman has had her stoning sentence temporarily stayed, AI said.

"The Iranian government should pay attention to its civil society activists who are working courageously to end stoning," said Elise Auerbach, Amnesty International USA Iran country specialist. But the activists are often harassed, arrested or otherwise intimidated by Iranian authorities, AI said.

Amnesty International says that human rights defenders in Iran believe that international publicity and pressure can help bring about change in the country.

Iran Urged to Stop Stoning People to Death

[Shammu]

Iran Plans on Destroying Tomb of King Cyrus, Friend of the Jews
 
by Ezra HaLevi

(IsraelNN.com) Iran is planning on submerging the tomb of King Cyrus (Coresh), the Persian King known for authorizing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Holy Temple.

According to a report by Omedia, an Iranian organization is demanding that the International Criminal Court take action against those responsible.

The Iranian ayatollahs are planning on destroying the tomb as part of a general campaign to sever the Persian people from their non-Islamic heritage; Cyrus was thought to be a Zoroastrian and was one of the first rulers to enforce a policy of religious tolerance on his huge kingdom. Journalist Ran Porat quoted a young Iranian who said that the measures being taken by the Islamic Republic’s regime include the destruction of archaeological sites significant to this heritage.

“The government is in the final stages of constructing a dam in southern Iran that will submerge the archaeological sites of Pasargad and Persopolis – the ancient capital of the Persian Empire,” the report states. “The site, which is considered exceptional in terms of its archaeological wealth and historical importance, houses the tomb of the Persian King Cyrus.”

Cyrus, who lived from 576-530 BCE, liberated Babylonian Jewry from their exile in the famous Declaration of Cyrus (mentioned in the book of Ezra in both Hebrew and Aramaic).

A group of Iranian academics opposed to the regime’s policies founded a group called the Pasargad Heritage Foundation with hopes of getting the United Nations involved in protecting the historical site. Most recently, the foundation filed a petition with the International Criminal Court against the Iranian official in charge of maintaining the sites, charging him and his bureau with "crimes against humanity, due to the systematic state-sanctioned destruction of the culture of the ancient Iranian world and its historical heritage."

Though the city of Pasargad is a ruin, Cyrus’s Tomb has remained largely intact and it has been partially restored to counter its natural deterioration over the years.
 
Cyrus was praised in the Tanach (Isaiah 45:1-6), though he was also criticized for believing the false report of the Cuthites, who wanted to halt the building of the Second Temple. They accused the Jews of conspiring to rebel, so Cyrus in turn stopped the construction of the temple, which would not be completed until 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, the grandson of Queen Esther.

Iran Plans on Destroying Tomb of King Cyrus, Friend of the Jews

[Shammu]

They will continue to try and rewrite history and try to destroy the truth until the flames of the lake of fire are burning their souls, then they will come to know the truth. The ayatollahs have allowed satan to have a strong influence over their country, and they will reap what they sow, and it won't be pretty!!

Whatever they want to try, no matter how hard they try, it won't change history.

[nChrist]

AMEN!

GOD'S WORD - THE TRUTH - will endure forever! Islam and the other FALSE RELIGIONS will endure only for a season, and they will be GONE FOREVER! They can read about their END in the HOLY BIBLE! The details are precise, even though they were foretold thousands of years ago. They will have a time when they THINK that their goals are being reached, and that will SIGNAL THEIR END! I think this time is growing near.

[Shammu]

Israel "would not dare attack Iran": Ahmadinejad
Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:44pm EST

By Firouz Sedarat

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that Israel "would not dare attack Iran", after Israel said it tested a missile and warned against Tehran's nuclear program.

"The Zionist regime ... would not dare attack Iran," Ahmadinejad told Al Jazeera television in remarks translated into Arabic, referring to Israel. "The Iranian response would make them regret it, and they know this."

"It knows that any attack on Iranian territories would prompt a fierce response," he added.

Israel tested a missile on Thursday and urged the West to work harder to prevent "the appearance of a nuclear Iran".

Israel Radio said the missile tested was capable of carrying an "unconventional payload" -- an apparent reference to the nuclear warheads Israel is assumed to possess, though it has never publicly confirmed their existence.

Ahmadinejad said Israel was a "criminal regime" which would not gain legitimacy through threats. "It has lost its philosophical reason to exist," he said, adding that regional countries rejected Israel for occupying Palestinian territories.

The Iranian president also said Iran was also prepared for any possible U.S. military strike.

"But we are not worried about this kind of talk...because it is aimed at American domestic consumption as they need it in the upcoming presidential elections," he said.

NEW U.N. SANCTIONS?

Ahmadinejad said new United Nations sanctions against Iran would only discredit the U.N. Security Council as they would be based on political pressure, not legal issues.

"If the world realizes that the council takes illegal measures ... it would destroy the reputation of the council," Ahmadinejad said.

"It would better for them (world powers) to ... drop the issue from the Security Council's agenda," said Ahmadinejad, whose country has agreed with the U.N. atomic watchdog to answer outstanding questions within a month about past covert nuclear work that had military applications.

Germany said on Thursday a meeting of six big powers it is hosting next Tuesday aims to show international resolve not to allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons technology.

The West fears Tehran is secretly seeking an atom bomb. Iran says its nuclear program is only for power generation. A recent U.S. intelligence estimate that it had stopped an active nuclear arms drive in 2003 has compounded disagreement among the six powers over the next steps in the stand-off.

Israel "would not dare attack Iran": Ahmadinejad

[Shammu]

Ahmadinejad: Mideast countries will erupt like a volcano

Iranian president says region's nations will follow Islamic Republic's lead and 'stand firm in the face of (Israel's) murderous operations against oppressed Palestinian people'
Dudi Cohen

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in response to US President George W. Bush's recent visit to the Middle East that "the region's countries are about to erupt like a volcano", the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Thursday.

Speaking at a mosque in Tehran Wednesday evening ahead of the Day of Ashura celebrations, the Iranian president said the region's countries would follow the Islamic Republic's lead and "stand firm in the face of (Israel's) murderous operations against the oppressed Palestinian nation and its supporters."

Meanwhile, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator said the West had failed in efforts to put pressure on the Islamic Republic over its atomic activities.

The West fears Tehran is seeking an atom bomb and has imposed two sets of United Nations sanctions. Iran says it aims only to generate electricity.

"Those countries who so far have been after imposing sanctions and putting pressure on Iran have not achieved any success," chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili told the official IRNA news agency at the start of a visit to Beijing.

"Today, global developments and Iran's logical behavior do not allow anybody to do this."

Ahmadinejad: Mideast countries will erupt like a volcano

[Shammu]

Ahmadinejad: Zionists are enemies of mankind
      
Posted: 17-01-2008 , 19:44 GMT

AhmadinejadIran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday said that Israel does not have the courage to launch any strike against Iran. The Iranian leader made this remark in an exclusive interview with Al-Jazeera news channel in response to a question on Israeli threats especially after test firing a missile Thursday.

He stressed that the "Zionist regime" would not acquire legitimacy through its threats. Ahmadinejad said this would not save it from the doomed collapse.

This illegitimate regime is doomed to rapid collapse, said Ahmadinejad. The Iranian nation would respond them and make them regret it, and they know this, he said.

The president said that the Zionists are a handful of criminals who are enemies of mankind.

Ahmadinejad: Zionists are enemies of mankind

[Shammu]

Iran receives 6th shipment of Russian nuclear fuel

IRNA reports 11-ton load of enriched uranium transferred to the light-water Bushehr nuclear power plant
Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran received a sixth shipment of nuclear fuel Thursday from Russia, destined for a power plant being constructed in the southern port of Bushehr, the official IRNA news agency reported.

 
The report said the 11-ton load of enriched uranium arrived in Iran and was transferred to the light-water Bushehr nuclear power plant Thursday morning. The remainder of the fuel will arrive in two separate shipments in the coming weeks, it said.

 
"Of 82 tons of initial fuel needed for the Bushehr nuclear power plant, 66 tons have been shipped to Iran so far," the agency reported.

 
Iran received the fifth shipment of nuclear fuel from Russia on Tuesday. The first shipment arrived on Dec. 17 after months of dispute between the two countries, allegedly over delayed construction payments for the reactor.

 
Iran has said Bushehr, the country's first nuclear reactor, will begin operating in the summer of 2008, producing half its 1,000-megawatt capacity of electricity. Russia's decision to ship nuclear fuel to Iran follows a US Intelligence report released last month that concluded Tehran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in late 2003 and had not resumed it since. Iran says it never had a weapons program.

 
It also came after the UN Nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran had been truthful about its past uranium enrichment activities. The United States and Russia have said that by supplying Iran with nuclear fuel, the Islamic state has no need to continue its own uranium enrichment program - a process that can provide fuel for a reactor or fissile material for a bomb.

 
Iran has insisted it would continue enriching uranium to fuel a 300-megawatt light-water reactor in the country's southwest.

 
Iranian officials have said they plan to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear energy in the next two decades.

Iran receives 6th shipment of Russian nuclear fuel

[Shammu]

'Iran producing 300 tons of UF6'
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST    Jan. 27, 2008

An Iranian official said Sunday that the Islamic republic has increased its production to more than 300 tons of a gas used for uranium enrichment, a semi-official news agency reported.

The announcement comes as the UN Security Council is deciding whether to impose new economic sanctions against Iran for refusing to roll back its nuclear activities.

"The Isfahan uranium conversion facility is active, and it has produced more than 300 tons of UF6," otherwise known as uranium hexaflouride gas, the Fars news agency quoted Javad Vaidi, deputy of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, as saying in meeting to members of the Revolutionary Guards. The Fars news agency is considered close to the elite branch of Iran's military.

The central Iranian cities of Isfahan and Natanz house the heart of the Iran's nuclear program.

In Isfahan, a conversion facility reprocesses raw uranium, known as yellowcake, into uranium hexaflouride gas. The gas is then taken to Natanz and fed into the centrifuges for enrichment.

Centrifuges spin uranium gas into enriched material, which at low levels is used to produce nuclear fuel to generate electricity. But further enrichment makes it suitable for use in building nuclear weapons.

A report by UN nuclear watchdog in November confirmed that Iran had stockpiled nearly 270 metric tons of the precursor gas used in enrichment.

The UN Security Council has been trying to pressure Iran to freeze uranium enrichment. But Iran has repeatedly refused, and officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency have privately said Teheran is expanding the program.

The Security Council is considering a new draft resolution that calls for additional sanctions against Iran, including bans on travel. Two sets of sanctions have already been imposed on Iran for refusing to halt enrichment.

The five veto-wielding members of the council - the US, Britain, France, China and Russia - along with Germany, agreed last week on the basic terms of the new resolution. Diplomats have said the full, 15-nation Security Council will likely approve it next month.

Iran insists its enrichment activities are intended only to produce fuel for nuclear reactors that would generate electricity, but the US and others suspect Teheran's real aim is to produce nuclear bombs. A US intelligence report released last month concluded Teheran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in late 2003 and had not resumed it since.

Iranian officials have said they plan to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear energy in the next two decades.

'Iran producing 300 tons of UF6'