Report ties Parchin blast to Iran's nuclear weapons program
Israel's Channel 10 is reporting that there's a connection between last week's explosion at Iran's Parchin weapons testing facility and Iran's nuclear weapons program.
Despite the claims of an accident, chairman of Iran's national
security council Mohammed Saleh has summoned security sources to clarify
the cause of the explosion which reportedly killed a "nuclear expert,"
confirming suspicions it was not a simple accident.
The Iranian state-run Fars News Agency on
Monday in follow-up reports about the supposed ammunition explosion
admitted it happened due to a "private company" that was given a tender
to manage the transportation following government privatization.
Channel 10 reports that the inquiry apparently is focused on a private transportation company "Hamana," which roughly four years ago was
privatized and given given offices adjacent to the Parchin base
entrance, where it is authorized to transport dangerous materials in and
out of the base.
The public relations picture of Hamana features an image of a nuclear
explosion, hinting in a not-so-subtle manner that the company may also
be involved in transporting radioactive materials as part of Iran's
secretive nuclear program.
Suspicions that the blast was an act of sabotage by a foreign nation were strengthened by the reports, given that a cyber attack would be possible on Hamana's trucks.
Hamana reportedly owns five trucks allowed to enter Parchin, which
are equipped with GPS and AVL (Automatic Vehicle Location) systems. The
trucks' movements are supervised online, in a system that allows
distress signals to be sent out - and even allows remote control over
the truck's engine.
I wonder whether the Mossad has a company called Hamana. Heh.
Breaking: Jerusalem Fire Department prevents massive terror attack
The Jerusalem Fire Department prevented a massive terror attack on Tuesday after finding lit flames near cut gas lines in three apartment buildings in the capital's Armon HaNetziv (East Talpiyot) neighborhood. The police are now following leads in the neighboring Arab village of Jabel Mukhaber (Hat Tip: Gershon D).
A burning candle and other flammable materials were discovered near one of the cut lines.
Police believe the lines were intentionally cut in an attempted terror attack. The gas lines were shut down and the buildings were ventilated.
The police are currently investigating the incident, with leads to the adjacent Arab neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber.
A Jerusalem Fire Department spokesperson stated that the fire fighters’ quick action and decisiveness prevent a large scale disaster, “They prevented a tragedy while putting themselves in a great personal danger,” he said.
Two months ago a couple and their infant were killed in a gas leak blast in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Giloh. Another 11 were wounded, including one severely.
A month ago a building collapsed in Acre as a result of sabotage of the gas lines in the building, killing five.
Let me guess... they were angry about the 'peace process.'
At least four people have been arrested in Iran for trying to sabotage a nuclear site, an Iranian official was quoted by Iranian media as saying on Sunday.
The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Ali Akbar
Salehi, said officials had monitored and then arrested a "number
of saboteurs" before they could carry out their plan.
"Four of these individuals were caught red-handed and their
interrogations are ongoing," he said, according to the Mehr news
agency on Sunday. He did not identify which nuclear site they
were planning to damage or when those detained were arrested.
The pipeline that transports natural gas from Egypt to Jordan was blown up on Sunday morning for the first time in more than a year. The fire was quickly put out, but the flow of natural gas was interrupted (Hat Tip: Gateway Pundit).
Egyptian security officials say suspected
Islamic militants have bombed a natural gas pipeline to Jordan south of
the city of el-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula.
The attacks early Sunday on two points on
the pipeline started fires that were soon put out, but the flow of gas
was disrupted, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
...
The pipeline, designed to carry Egyptian
natural gas to Israel, Jordan, Syrian and Lebanon, has functioned
intermittently since the aftermath of the 2011 Egyptian revolution
caused the security situation in the Sinai to deteriorate.
Due to shortages in Egypt, it currently only supplies gas to Jordan.
In another year or so, when Israel's natural gas capability starts coming online, this will matter a lot less than it does today.
Report: Holder wants to 'counsel' terrorists Saudi style
Just when you thought the American embrace of Islamic terrorism couldn't go any further, comes this report from the Saudi Gazette that has US Attorney General Eric Holder looking into 'counseling' terrorists like the Saudis have been doing with theirs.
US Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. has shown interest in examining the
Saudi Munasaha (Counseling) counter-terrorism program so as to apply it
in the United States.
“Too many of our young people are disaffected and attracted to violent
ideologies and so we want to work with our Saudi allies and examine the
program and see how we might apply that in the United States,” he told a
press conference at the US Embassy here Sunday.
“I’m more concerned about the threat from inside the US and people who
turn to violent extremism,” he said, underscoring the importance of
cooperation with the Saudi government to ensure the safety of both
nations.
“We must work together, as equal partners, with a shared commitment to
pursuing a world with more opportunity and less violence.”
The press conference was held as part of Holder’s diplomatic visit to the Kingdom.
Note that Holder says nothing about the terrorism being Islamic. Maybe he plans to counsel 'Islamophobics'?
The Attorney General also warned of the rising threat of cyber terrorism
and cybercrime. “Cyber attacks and other incursions have the potential
to endanger the integrity of our information systems and infrastructure –
and even the safety of our citizens.
“As these threats continue to grow, it’s becoming increasingly clear
that no organization or nation can stay ahead of them on its own.
“That’s why we’re working closely with government and industry leaders
across the globe to investigate and prosecute these crimes – including
corporate and state-sponsored economic espionage.”
Let me guess: He wants to prosecute Israel for interfering in Iran's construction of a nuclear weapon?
Khalili: 'The largest case of sabotage in decades'
Former Iranian Revolutionary Guard turned CIA agent Reza Khalili has told the Jerusalem Post that the destruction of the Fordo uranium enrichment plant is the largest case of sabotage in decades.
Speaking to the Post
on Monday, Khalili expressed confidence that the alleged blast will
receive "further coverage in the US," and that "more information" will
become available to verify the incident.
"This is the center of
the Iranian nuclear program. It's essential for the regime, its
activities, and its nuclear program. If such a blow was given to Fordow,
it definitely harms [Iran] drastically. They were reaching for 20
percent uranium enrichment, and were increasing output," he added.
...
Asked why
satellite imagery was not being released of rescue efforts at Fordow,
Kahlili said only state intelligence agencies have access to live
satellite feeds. "Why don't they put it out? My only assumption is that
no one wants to take credit because of what the consequences could be by
the regime," he said. "This is a very sensitive time. I'm sure that
soon, very soon, more information will leak out. Chatter will get loud
enough to provide further information."
Kahlili went on to say that the
"first suspicion is Israel" within the Islamic Republic. "I have
verified information that there was a meeting [called by Iran's Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei. A decision was made to act in Lebanon. A
request was made to [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah to vacate
southern Lebanese villages. Islamic Republic Guards are on their way
there. A decision has been made to prepare for missile launch from a
certain area in Lebanon against Israel," he said.
Khalili said
one of the sources who initially leaked information of the blast came
from within the security forces guarding Fordow, adding that precise
information of the attack was not being released in order to protect the
source. "The source has been collaborating for a long time," he said. A
second source came from the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, he said,
adding that it was very difficult to safely get information out of Iran.
Iranian
authorities have not yet made any progress in their attempt to enter
Fordow, Kahlili asserted, adding, "I fear there is radiation involved."
Iran's defense ministry dispatched drilling vehicles, "the same they
used to carve tunnels and create underground facilities, to see if they
can make any headway in opening emergency exists, because they
collapsed. Among those stuck in the facility are dozens of foreign
nationals. These are contracted scientists," he said.
Kahlili
said a second mysterious blast occurred in Tehran last week, at an IRGC
base called "21 Hamza." "There are injuries, and there have been arrests
of IRGC members who are being questioned. The Intelligence Ministry
suspects sabotage," he added.
Now isn't that funny? Just last night, I reported that two Iron Dome batteries were moved to Northern Israel, one to Haifa and one to an undisclosed location. We were led to believe that was due to an ongoing threat that Syria's chemical weapons would fall into the hands of either Hezbullah or the Islamist rebels in Syria. But could it be that at least one of those batteries was to deployed to defend our border with Lebanon? And is Nasrallah going to be stupid enough to open the gates of hell on Lebanon again?
Asked about the story, Dichter, a former head of Israel’s Shin Bet
security service, said, “Any explosion in Iran that doesn’t hurt people
but hurts its assets is welcome.” Dichter was acting defense minister
Sunday, in the absence of Ehud Barak.
Israel and the United States have frequently been accused by the Iranian
leadership of seeking to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program. Israel,
which has been at the forefront of efforts to thwart Iran’s drive to the
bomb, generally refuses to comment on such accusations.
Report: Major explosion hits Iran's underground Fordow nuclear facility after it crosses 'red line'
A major explosion has hit Iran's underground Fordow nuclear facility, where it was enriching uranium for nuclear weapons. The explosion has trapped some 240 Iranian nuclear personnel underground. The source for the report is Reza Khalili, a former intelligence officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, who acted as a spy for, and eventually defected to, the United States (Hat Tip: Ellen S via The Right Scoop).
An explosion deep within Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility has destroyed
much of the installation and trapped about 240 personnel deep
underground, according to a former intelligence officer of the Islamic
regime.
...
The explosion occurred Monday, the day before Israeli elections weakened Netanyahu’s political control.
...
According to a source in the security forces protecting Fordow, an
explosion on Monday at 11:30 a.m. Tehran time rocked the site, which is
buried deep under a mountain and immune not only to airstrikes but to
most bunker-buster bombs. The report of the blast came via Hamidreza
Zakeri, formerly with the Islamic regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and
National Security,
The blast shook facilities within a radius of three miles. Security
forces have enforced a no-traffic radius of 15 miles, and the Tehran-Qom
highway was shut down for several hours after the blast, the source
said. As of Wednesday afternoon, rescue workers had failed to reach the
trapped personnel.
The site, about 300 feet under a mountain, had two elevators which
now are out of commission. One elevator descended about 240 feet and was
used to reach centrifuge chambers. The other went to the bottom to
carry heavy equipment and transfer uranium hexafluoride. One emergency
staircase reaches the bottom of the site and another one was not
complete. The source said the emergency exit southwest of the site is
unreachable.
The regime believes the blast was sabotage and the explosives could
have reached the area disguised as equipment or in the uranium
hexafluoride stock transferred to the site, the source said. The
explosion occurred at the third centrifuge chambers, with the high-grade
enriched uranium reserves below them.
The information was passed on to U.S. officials but has not been
verified or denied by the regime or other sources within the regime.
Though the news of the explosion has not been independently verified, other sources previously have provided WND
with information on plans for covert operations against Iran’s nuclear
facilities as an option before going to war. The hope is to avoid a
larger-scale conflict. Israel, the U.S. and other allies already have
concluded the Islamic regime has crossed its red line in its quest for
nuclear weapons, other sources have said.
However, this information was not revealed for security reasons until
several days ago when sources said the regime’s intelligence agency,
through an alleged spy in the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, had
learned of the decision to conduct sabotage on Iran’s nuclear sites on a
much larger scale than before.
As reported, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called an urgent meeting
Tuesday with the intelligence minister, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy
Organization and other officials to discuss the threat, and now it’s
clear the meeting included the sabotage at Fordow.
While this is obviously great news assuming that it's true, there is still a long list of other facilities that could potentially endanger countries within bombing range of Iran that need to be destroyed. But getting rid of this facility is definitely great news, because the others apparently can be bombed from the air. I wonder who did this.... Heh.
Report: Iran discovers 'listening device' at Fordow
A report in the Sunday Times of London claims that Iranian discovered a 'listening device' at the Fordow nuclear plant, the underground nuclear facility near the 'holy city' of Qom that is being used to enrich uranium. According to the report, the 'listening device' looked like a rock and it exploded, self-destructing when the soldiers attempted to move it.
The device was reportedly capable of intercepting data from computers in Fordow. The Iranians did not report the discovery, according to the Times.
This is not the only recently reported sabotage attempt at Fordow.
Last week, Iranian atomic energy organization chief Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani admitted that power lines between Qom and the Fordow facility had been blown up on Aug. 17.
Explosives
were used to cut the electricity power lines to Iran's Fordow
underground enrichment plant last month in an apparent attempt to
sabotage Tehran's atomic advances, its nuclear energy chief said.
It was believed to be the first time Iran has mentioned the incident.
He
also told the annual member state gathering of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) that "the same act" had been carried out on power
lines to Iran's main enrichment plant near the central town of Natanz,
without giving a date.
...
Meanwhile, Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi accused German
company Siemens of sabotaging its nuclear program on the weekend,
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported.
According to the news
agency, citing Boroujerdi, Iranian security experts discovered small
explosives embedded in equipment Tehran bought from Siemens for its
nuclear program.
Siemens says that it has no dealings with Iran's nuclear program.
An Iranian nuclear scientist is claiming that there were explosions at two Iranian nuclear sites - Natanz and Fordow - last month. The scientist, Fereydoon Abbasi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, also claims that the IAEA has been infiltrated by terrorists and saboteurs.
Abbasi claimed the attacks were acts of sabotage, and while he did not accuse the United States or Israel of being behind them, the two countries are believed to be waging a covert war against the Iranian nuclear program, using both cyberwarfare and assassinations to disrupt their ability to build a nuclear weapon. Abbasi himself survived an assassination attempt while driving in his car two years ago. The explosions knocked out power lines to centrifuge machines, a tactic that has been used to destroy such machines at Natanz in the past. He also claimed that the International Atomic Energy Agency has been infiltrated by “terrorists and saboteurs,"
Video: How the Egypt-Israel gas pipeline gets blown up
Egypt has suspended natural gas sales to Israel, but that doesn't stop those who want to blow up the pipeline anyway. There was another explosion and fire last week.
In this video, which was shown on Egyptian television, the group "Supporters of Jerusalem" in the Sinai Peninsula reveal how they blow up the Egypt-Israel gas pipeline. You will see them planting the explosives and hear them shouting Allahu Akhbar when they succeed.
There may be yet another worm that's hit Iran's nuclear agency. This one takes over computers and causes them to play the song Thunderstruck (Hat Tip: Drew G).
I am writing you to inform you that our nuclear program has once again been compromised and attacked by a new worm with exploits which have shut down our automation network at Natanz and another facility Fordo near Qom.
According to the email our cyber experts sent to our teams, they believe a hacker tool Metasploit was used. The hackers had access to our VPN. The automation network and Siemens hardware were attacked and shut down. I only know very little about these cyber issues as I am scientist not a computer expert.
There was also some music playing randomly on several of the workstations during the middle of the night with the volume maxed out. I believe it was playing 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC.
I'm not sure what to think about this. We can't confirm any of the details. However, we can confirm that the researcher was sending and receiving emails from within the AEOI.
Mikko
Well if it weren't the Nine Days, I'd turn on my sound and see if I could figure out why Thunderstruck is such an appropriate song for this. Heh.
NBC: Israel training assassins, funding assassinations of nuclear scientists in Iran
NBC reports that Israel is teaming up with the MEK, which was declared a terror group by the United States as a favor to the Shah of Iran, and has remained such for forty years, to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists. According to the report, Israel is paying the MEK for information, and is training MEK members to carry out the assassinations.
Here's an interview with Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior aide to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. Let's go to the videotape.
In a word, so what. Iran has to be stopped and if the only way to stop them short of starting a major war is to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists, then that's a lot better than a nuclear war, and so be it.
It is possible that the US has known about this for some time, and that Obama - Mr. Targeted Assassination - agreed to it.
Much of what the Iranian government knows of the attacks and the links between Israel and MEK comes from interrogation of an assassin who failed to carry out an attack in late 2010 and the materials found on him, Larijani said.
...
Two senior U.S. officials confirmed for NBC News the MEK’s role in the assassinations, with one senior official saying, “All your inclinations are correct.” A third official would not confirm or deny the relationship, saying only, “It hasn’t been clearly confirmed yet.” All the officials denied any U.S. involvement in the assassinations.
As it has in the past, Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined comment. Said a spokesman, "As long as we can't see all the evidence being claimed by NBC, the Foreign Ministry won't react to every gossip and report being published worldwide."
For its part, the MEK pointed to a statement calling the allegations “absolutely false.”
The sophistication of the attacks supports the Iranian claims that an experienced intelligence service is involved, experts say.
Israeli security expert Ronen Bergman believes - like I do - that Israel is justified if it was involved in this.
MSNBC goes on to describe how the MEK's involvement would be troublesome to the United States. But as you read what follows, please keep this in mind: James Jones, who was Obama's first national security adviser (and who is fairly anti-Israel) backed removing the terrorist designation from the MEK. And as you will see below, the European Union and the UK have removed the MEK from their lists as a designated terror organization. And here's another reason why the US may have approved Israel using the MEK: Because the MEK is a designated terror organization in the US, it gives the US deniability.
What follows is from MSNBC:
For the United States, the alleged role of the MEK is particularly troublesome. In 1997, the State Department designated it a terrorist group, justifying it with an unclassified 40-page summary of the organization’s activities going back more than 25 years. The paper, sent to Congress in 1998, was written by Wendy Sherman, now undersecretary of state for political affairs and then an aide to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
The report, which was obtained by NBC News, was unsparing in its assessment. “The Mujahedin (MEK) collaborated with Ayatollah Khomeini to overthrow the former shah of Iran,” it said. “As part of that struggle, they assassinated at least six American citizens, supported the takeover of the U.S. embassy, and opposed the release of the American hostages.” In each case, the paper noted, “Bombs were the Mujahedin's weapon of choice, which they frequently employed against American targets.”
“In the post-revolutionary political chaos, however, the Mujahedin lost political power to Iran's Islamic clergy. They then applied their dedication to armed struggle and the use of propaganda against the new Iranian government, launching a violent and polemical cycle of attack and reprisal."
U.S. officials have said publicly that the information contained in the report was limited to unclassified material, but that it also drew on classified material in making its determination to add the MEK to the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.
The MEK and its sister organizations have since the beginning been run by Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, a husband-wife team who have maintained tight control despite assassination threats and internal dissent. Massoud Rajavi, 63, founded the MEK, but since the U.S. invasion of Iraq has taken a backseat to his wife.
The State Department report describes the Rajavis as “fundamentally undemocratic” and “not a viable alternative to the current government of Iran.”
One reason for that is the MEK’s close relationship with Saddam Hussein, as demonstrated by this 1986 video showing the late Iraqi dictator meeting with Massoud Rajavi. Saddam recruited the MEK in much the same way the Israelis allegedly have, using them to fight Iranian forces during the Iran-Iraq War, a role they took on proudly. So proudly, they invited NBC News to one of their military camps outside Baghdad in 1993.
“The National Liberation Army (MLA), the military wing of the Mujahedin, conducted raids into Iran during the latter years of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War,” according to the State Department report. The NLA's last major offensive reportedly was conducted against Iraqi Kurds in 1991, when it joined Saddam Hussein's brutal repression of the Kurdish rebellion. In addition to occasional acts of sabotage, the Mujahedin are responsible for violent attacks in Iran that victimize civilians.”
“Internally, the Mujahedin run their organization autocratically, suppressing dissent and eschewing tolerance of differing viewpoints,” it said. “Rajavi, who heads the Mojahedin’s political and military wings, has fostered a cult of personality around himself.”
The U.S. suspicion of the MEK doesn’t end there. Law enforcement officials have told NBC News that in 1994, the MEK made a pact with terrorist Ramzi Yousef a year after he masterminded the first attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Yousef built an 11-pound bomb that MEK agents placed inside one of Shia Islam’s greatest shrines in Mashad, Iran, on June 20, 1994. At least 26 people, mostly women and children, were killed and 200 wounded in the attack.
That connection between Yousef, nephew of 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, and the MEK was first reported in a book, “The New Jackals,” by Simon Reeve. NBC News confirmed that Yousef told U.S. law enforcement that he had worked with the MEK on the bombing.
In recent years, the MEK has said it has renounced violence, but Iranian officials say that is not true, that killings of Iranians continue. Still, through some deft lobbying, the group has been able to get the United Kingdom and the European Union to remove it from their lists of terrorist groups.
The alleged involvement of the MEK in the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists provides the U.S. with a cloak of deniability regarding the clandestine killings. Because the U.S. has designated the MEK as a terrorist organization, neither military nor intelligence units of the U.S. government, can work with them. “We cannot deal with them, “ said one senior U.S. official. “We would not deal with them because of the designation.”
This is the Middle East. It's a tough neighborhood. And my enemy's enemy is my friend.
Report: Mossad training Iranian exiles in Kurdistan
A report in France's Le Figaro indicates that the Mossad is training Iranian exiles in Kurdistan to oppose the Iranian regime.
The article in Le Figaroclaims that the Iranian assets are being prepared for conducting operations inside the energy-rich country, as part of Israel’s undercover intelligence war against Iran’s nuclear energy program. The Baghdad source told the French daily that part of Israel’s sabotage program against sensitive Iranian nuclear facilities, which includes targeted assassinations of Iranian nuclear experts, is directed out of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, “where [Mossad] agents have stepped up their penetration”. For this, “the Israelis are using Kurdish oppositionists to the regime in Iran, who are living are refugees in the Kurdish regions of Iraq”, the source told Le Figaro. Although the article makes no mention of official or unofficial sanction of the Israeli operations by the Iraqi Kurdish authorities, it implies that the alleged Mossad activities are an open secret in Iraqi Kurdistan. This is not the first time that allegations have surfaced in the international press about Israeli intelligence activities in Kurdistan. In 2006, the BBC flagship investigative television program Newsnightobtained strong evidence of Israeli operatives providing military training to Kurdish militia members. The program aired video footage showing Israeli expects drilling members of Kurdish armed groups in shooting techniques and guerrilla tactics. The Israeli government denied having authorized any such training, while Iraqi Kurdish officials refused to comment on the report. But Israeli security experts told the BBC that it would be virtually impossible for Israeli trainers to operate inside Iraqi Kurdistan “without the knowledge of the Kurdish authorities”. More recently, in September of 2010, the government of Lebanon arrested three Kurds in Jounieh, a coastal town 15 kilometers north of Beirut, which it accused of working for Israeli intelligence. All three were members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a secessionist armed group fighting for an independent Kurdish homeland in Turkey’s far-eastern Anatolia region.
Priceless: Israeli hackers bring down Press TV, Iranian government ministry
As of the moment that I am posting this, you cannot access Iran's English language Press TV, but if you could, the picture above is what you would see.
Israeli hackers have brought down Press TV, as well as two websites belonging to Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education. The hackers, who call themselves "IDF Team," said their actions were a response to a series of attacks on Israeli sites the previous day.
Three additional Iranian sites were hacked and their servers altered to display an Israeli flag and anti-Arab text in English.
The website of Press TV, the Iranian regime's English-language satellite channel, was unavailable for a short period of time following the hackers' announcement.
"At 16:30 Israel Clock the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education website will be down until further notice. In addition to Iran's television network, broadcasting in English round-the-clock, based in Tehran that [is] called Press TV will be down until further notice," the hackers wrote in a message.
"Ahmadinejad what do you have to say about that?" they added.
Two Tel Aviv-area hospitals had their websites taken down on Wednesday.
An Iranian F-14 fighter jet mysteriously crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday morning. Near Bushehr.
An Iranian military plane crashed in the early hours of Thursday near the Gulf coast, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, saying no reason had yet been given for the incident.
"An F-14 crashed three minutes after take-off at 4:30 a.m. (8 p.m. ET) near the city of Bushehr," Fars reported, citing a local government official.
Hmmm.
Admittedly, Iran has problems maintaining its planes and therefore this may not have even been sabotage. But hmmm....
Israel Radio reports that both pilots were killed.
A 43-year-old Iranian military officer was shot to death on Saturday by two motorcyclists in the city of Khorramabad, local media reported.
Another soldier was injured in the incident. The two assailants fled the scene, according to reports.
The incident occurred when the motorcyclists fired shots at a group of soldiers who were on their way to an air force base located near the city, Israel's Channel 2 reported.
The local head of security forces said the incident occurred at 6:30 am. "The search for the assailants continues, and we have launched an investigation into the circumstances of the incident," he said.
A senior official in the Lorestan province, where Khorramabad is located, said that according to eyewitnesses "many bullets were fired at the soldiers, causing great panic in the area."
The Mehr news agency said the killed mid-level officer was identified as Raze Ali Fimani.
...
In October 2010 18 Revolutionary Guard members were killed and a number of others were injured during an explosion at a military base near Khorramabad, located some 480 kilometers (about 300 miles) southwest of Tehran.
I thought the Mossad didn't work on the Sabbath.... Heh.
Where does that leave us? Let’s go back to basics: who could operate in the midst of the armed camp that is Tehran, and might also have a motive for killing these five unfortunate souls? There’s a lot of killing in Iran, and the overwhelming majority of murders are carried out by the regime, and the victims are Iranian citizens from all walks of life. From this standpoint, the regime is the most likely perpetrator. Regime killers could also operate freely throughout the capital, and that also “explains” why there were never calls for information about the assassins. Why ask, when you know their identities, and approved the operation?
What about motive? Look at the last case. What does the regime say about the victim? That he spoke to IAEA investigators (I’m told that the conversation took place outside Iran). The regime doesn’t like that at all, they are very suspicious of their own people (and rightly so!), put very stringent limitations on foreign travel, and monitor the communications of everyone involved in important activities like weapons programs. In the padded cell of paranoiacs around the supreme leader, strong suspicion of disloyalty is probably enough to get a person on one hit list or another, and the regime has every reason to “send a message” to others involved in such activities: one false step and you’re dead.
Again, I don’t know who did it, but the rush to judgment by so many pundits smacks of political passion rather than cool analysis. And I’m struck by the uncritical expertise that would have us believe the Jews can do anything, even operate at will in the center of their most formidable enemy’s capital city. That one’s right out of the old antisemitic scrolls: whenever anything happens — anytime, anywhere — that upsets you, just blame the Jews. They can do anything, anywhere.
For those of us who are threatened by a nuclear Iran, there is a major downside to Ledeen's theory. If Ledeen is correct, those who are being killed are not crucial cogs in Iran's nuclear program (as they have been portrayed by other media in the West), and the killings are doing nothing to slow Iran down. In fact, by creating the illusion that something is being done to stop Iran, the killings may even be helping Iran to forge ahead with its nuclear threat.
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Thursday, January 19.
1) Filling in details and making stuff up
When people don't know all the details of what happened, speculation becomes rampant to fill in the missing details.
For example we know that certain facilities in Iran have been targeted as well as nuclear scientists. The assumption is that Israel's behind these attacks because it is the country that most fears a nuclear Iran. Michael Ledeen writes that he doesn't believe that these attacks are the work of foreign governments:
Before getting into the details, let me caveat this whole thing: I don’t know who did it, and neither does anybody else writing about it. The Iranian regime, which usually claims to know everything about everything, has so far accused the Brits, the Americans, the MEK, and the Israelis. However, I think that I do know this: If the Israelis (or the Americans, or the Brits) are actually capable of operating at will in the midst of the virtual military occupation in Tehran, we do not have to worry about the Iranian nukes, because if the Israelis, the Brits or the Americans can do that, they can do anything they want to.
While many people have no idea what Jundallah is, writer Mark Perry recent wrote in Foreign Policy that its members had been recruited by the Mossad posing as CIA officers. This wasn't a case of filling in details to explain something in the news. It was propaganda. Jonathan Neumann debunks the claim at Jewish Ideas Daily (h/t Hadassah Levy)
A reader might benefit from knowing who Mark Perry is. Perry has run an organization called the Conflicts Forum, which specializes in what it calls "dialogue with a wide range of leading Islamists," prominently including Hamas and Hezbollah. In 1989 he became "unofficial advisor" to Yasir Arafat, head of the terrorist Palestine Liberation Organization. Perry maintained his role until Arafat's death in 2004. None of this background is disclosed by Foreign Policy. Not accidentally, Perry's claims appear to be nonsense. The Israeli government, whose policy is not to confirm or deny involvement in intelligence operations, has broken its general silence to call his story "absolute nonsense." There is external corroboration of Israel's position. In recent years, three high-ranking Israeli intelligence and defense officials have been forced to resign their posts because of Israeli actions that U.S. officials deemed against American interests—actions far less damaging than the "false flag" operation Perry describes. Yet Meir Dagan, who was chief of Mossad at the time of the alleged operation, not only kept his job but remained a Washington favorite.
2) I'll trust the king, when he stands for re-election
King Abdullah bin Hussein has written an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, The Palestinians and the Arab Spring. He rehashes the Arab Peace Initiative, which will soon be ten years old.
The two-state solution is supported by the U.S. and the rest of the Quartet (the European Union, the United Nations and Russia), and it is at the core of the Arab Peace Initiative, adopted unanimously by the 2002 Arab Summit in Beirut. Ours was an unequivocal statement of the Arab world's commitment to a neighborhood of peace and acceptance, opening the way to a comprehensive settlement that would end the conflict, meet the Palestinians' right to freedom and statehood, and give Israel acceptance and security. This Initiative was endorsed by the entire Muslim world—57 countries—and remains a cornerstone for peacemaking in the Middle East.
The initiative was not unequivocal. It was an ultimatum, giving Israel no room for negotiation. When it was being formulated (then) Crown Prince Abdullah allowed Syria to prevail upon him to add language insisting that Israel withdraw from Lebanese territory. Since two years earlier the UN had certified Israel's complete withdrawal from Lebanon, this showed that the Arab League members saw no problem with changing their demands of Israel. It was actually quite equivocal.
As mentioned, in 2000 Israel completely withdrew from southern Lebanon and in 2005 from Gaza. Hezbollah and Hamas, respectively, used those withdrawals to build their arsenals and attack Israel leading to wars in 2006 and 2008. Did the Arab League praise the Israeli withdrawals and condemn the terrorist groups that continued to attack? Or did it condemn Israel for defending itself? If the Arab League had demonstrated good faith when Israel ceded territory, they could claim that its peace initiative is sincere. But the Arab League didn't. Clearly Israeli security is not a term the Arab League takes very seriously.
The whole idea that Palestinian statehood is somehow part of the Arab spring of freedom is ridiculous. Right now the Palestinians are ruled by a terror organization and a corrupt civil authority. Even if Abbas negotiates with Netanyahu to make peace, the Palestinians will still not be free. The only way a state of Palestine might have something in common with the Arab spring, would be if Hamas took over and the Palestinians became the next Arab polity to be ruled by Islamists.
King Abdullah ends with:
Across the entire Arab world, people are demanding freedom, dignity and hope. In Jordan we have charted our course through an irreversible, inclusive and evolutionary process of political, social and economic reform. Regional peace must be part of this future—for Palestinians, for Israelis, for all. There have been too many failed attempts. Can we all do it this time?
When King Abdullah stands for election I'll believe his claim to be supporting freedom.
3) The risk of withdrawal
To the peace processor, the Israeli refusal to give into every territorial demand of the Palestinians is the primary reason for the lack of a peace process.
As noted above, the withdrawals from southern Lebanon and Gaza have left Israel less, not more secure. Ehud Yaari (via Daily Alert) writes about how the Sinai has become A New Front (.pdf):
Yet the true surge in such activity came after Israel’s 2005 disengagement from Gaza and subsequent removal of troops from the Sinai-Gaza border—as Bedouin political activist Ashraf al-Anani put it, “a fireball started rolling into the peninsula.” Illegal trade and arms smuggling volumes rose to new records, and ever-larger sectors of the northern Sinai population became linked to Gaza and fell under the political and ideological influence of Hamas and its ilk. Sympathy and support for the Palestinian battle against Israel grew; according to al-Anani, the closer one got to the Gaza border, “the more people are inclined toward Hamas.” In short, despite then prime minister Ariel Sharon’s quiet hope that Cairo would assume unofficial responsibility for Gaza affairs, the Israeli withdrawal instead allowed Hamas to export its influence into Egyptian territory. Facilitated by the dramatic increase in the number of tunnels—which numbered no less than 1,200 at their peak—the expansion of Hamas and other Palestinian activities in the Sinai was unprecedented. In fact, the arms flow was often reversed, with weapons going from Gaza to the Sinai. During the revolution, for example, observers noted a huge demand for firearms in the peninsula.14 And even in late 2010, well before Mubarak’s ouster, Hamas was already in the process of transferring heavy long-range missiles to secret storage places in the Sinai, including Grad rockets and extended-range Qassams. On October 6 of that year, the Israeli port of Eilat and its Jordanian sister town of Aqaba were hit by a salvo of missiles fired from the Sinai. The attacks took place despite stern Egyptian warnings to Hamas not to use the peninsula as a launchpad for strikes on Israel. In a response that has since become the norm, Hamas military commanders simply ignored the Egyptian request and later denied responsibility, although both Egyptian and Israeli intelligence had more than sufficient information to prove it.
Peace has its risks. The job of the peace processors ought to be assessing those risks instead of simply dismissing them. Elder of Ziyon notes one of the effects of this new front.
In 2006, following the Israeli disengagement and pullout from the Gaza Strip, there was an increase of 436 per cent in the number of Palestinian rockets launched towards Israel from that very territory. For some time, Israel resisted a large-scale military response to such acts deliberately aimed at civilians. As a result, the attacks got worse, and every country, including Israel, has the moral responsibility to defend its people from such actions. Increased Palestinian terror attacks from Gaza were the cause of Operation Cast Lead. Yet Israel's is a conscript army. Indeed Israel goes to extraordinary lengths to protect its young soldiers (witness the efforts make to secure the release of the kidnap victim Gilad Shalit), and does not send them to war easily. In the three years since the operation, there has been an unprecedented 72 per cent decline in the number of rockets launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza. No surprise, then, that Israel's Defence Forces Chief of Staff should call the operation "an excellent operation that achieved deterrence for Israel vis-a-vis Hamas". (However, that deterrence is still not enough to have prevented Palestinians from launching 1,571 rockets since the operation, including one attack with an anti-tank missile on a clearly identifiable Israeli school bus.)
My travels around Israel surprised me completely. The people were full of get up and go, eager to live peacefully in the region; the towns and cities were energetic and cosmopolitan; and the deliverance of democracy never failed to impress upon me. So why is there such a discrepancy between what I experienced and public perception back in the UK? When was the last time you heard a good news story emanating from Israel on your TV screens or in the newspapers? And why has Israel become defined simply by its inability to solve the conflict when it is so much more than that? I raised these questions when I returned to Israel again last week with colleagues from the UK and Australia for a dialogue with Israeli and Palestinian politicians, journalists, academics and commentators. This serious problem is not being effectively addressed and Israel’s future is being undermined by its inability to promote itself both accurately and attractively. As an MP, I witness this difference between perception and reality, on a regular basis in the House of Commons. From Backbenchers through to Government Ministers and Shadow Ministers, colleagues suffer from a serial case of apathy where Israel is concerned. Seemingly no positive impression of the place has been determined in people’s minds.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
