Israel issues warning on Iran bomb

A new report that says Iran may need as little as a month to produce enough uranium for a nuclear bomb is further evidence for why Israel will take military action before that happens, an Israeli defense official said Friday.

A new report that says Iran may need as little as a month to produce enough uranium for a nuclear bomb is further evidence for why Israel will take military action before that happens, an Israeli defense official said Friday. "We have made it crystal clear – in all possible forums, that Israel will not stand by and watch Iran develop weaponry that will put us, the entire Middle East and eventually the world, under an Iranian umbrella of terror," Danny Danon, Israel's deputy defense minister told USA TODAY.

 Iran is developing and installing new and advanced centrifuges that enable Iran to enrich even low-enriched uranium to weapons grade uranium needed for nuclear weapons within weeks, Danon said. "This speedy enrichment capability will make timely detection and effective response to an Iranian nuclear breakout increasingly difficult," he said.

 http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/10/25/iran-bomb-uranium-israel/3186567/

Iran may be month from a bomb

Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb in as little as a month, according to a new estimate by one of the USA's top nuclear experts.

Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb in as little as a month, according to a new estimate by one of the USA's top nuclear experts. The new assessment comes as the White House invited Senate staffers to a briefing on negotiations with Iran as it is trying to persuade Congress not to go ahead with a bill to stiffen sanctions against Iran. "Shortening breakout times have implications for any negotiation with Iran," stated the report by the Institute for Science and International Security. "An essential finding is that they are currently too short and shortening further." David Albright, president of the institute and a former inspector for the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, said the estimate means that Iran would have to eliminate more than half of its 19,000 centrifuges to extend the time it would take to build a bomb to six months. The Obama administration has said Iran is probably a year away from having enough enriched uranium to make a bomb.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/10/24/iran-bomb-one-month-away/3181373/

Bashar al-Assad dismisses Syria war initiative

SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad has dealt a blow to efforts for a peace conference, saying factors are not in place for it to succeed, as Western and Arab powers prepare to meet the country's opposition.

"No time has been set, and the factors are not yet in place if we want (the US-Russian initiative, dubbed Geneva 2) to succeed," Assad told Lebanese television channel Al-Mayadeen yesterday. "Which forces are taking part? What relation do these forces have with the Syrian people? Do these forces represent the Syrian people, or do they represent the states that invented them?" Assad asked in typically defiant fashion. In the lengthy interview, Assad also said he was willing to run for re-election next year, in remarks that came soon after US Secretary of State John Kerry said that if he were to win, it would extend Syria's civil war. "Personally, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't run in the next election," Assad declared.
Full Story:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/bashar-al-assad-dismisses-syria-war-initiative/story-e6frg6so-1226744782657

U.S. and Saudi Arabia are moving apart

Ever since the United States and Saudi Arabia fell into something of an alliance in the late 1970s, the world's most unlikely partnership has had lots of down moments. Another big one came this weekend, when Saudi intelligence chief Bandar Bin Sultan al-Saud told European diplomats that his country would step back from cooperating with the United States on Syria, according to the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. Bandar said that his country's recent decision to refuse a seat at the U.N. Security Council was meant as a show of public protest against the U.S. This very public Saudi jab at the U.S. is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent disputes between the longtime allies. They are probably not on the verge of breaking up, as observers have been predicting since 1990, when the kingdom was roiled by popular outrage against the alliance. But many of the mutual interests that have brought the two countries together seem to be falling apart.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/10/22/six-reasons-the-u-s-and-saudi-arabia-are-moving-apart/

Saudi Arabia warns U.S. that policy on Syria, Iran straining decades-old alliance

They're mad, but we haven't broken up yet," Miller said on "CBS This Morning." "What we are seeing is a strong signal that they are uncomfortable with key aspects of a friendship that dates back to the Roosevelt Administration, that was always based on security for oil," said Miller. "This is about more than the Saudis," he adds. "In Bahrain, where we have the key naval base, they have demanded that Washington recall our ambassador because of our criticism of their tactics to put down an ongoing rebellion has been interpreted as disloyalty. 

In Turkey, we've been criticized by the president there and they recently purchased missiles from the Chinese" instead of getting them from the U.S. "What we are seeing behind the scenes is that military, intelligence and law enforcement relationships are holding for now because we share the common enemy of al Qaeda," explained Miller. "But there is a real disdain for the State Department and President Obama and U.S. policy. The question is, as that disdain increases -- where Sunni-led nations see a U.S. seeking some diplomatic dialogue with Iran, the dominant Shiite power, will those other relationships hold up?"

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57608848/saudi-arabia-warns-u.s-that-policy-on-syria-iran-straining-decades-old-alliance/

Kerry Seeks to Reassure Israel on Iran

ROME — Secretary of State John Kerry, facing new frictions with America’s most important Middle East allies over its policies in the region, sought to assure Israel on Wednesday that the United States would insist on strict constraints on Iran’s nuclear program in its newly reinvigorated negotiations with Tehran.

Mr. Kerry’s public statements before his meeting with Mr. Netanyahu were focused largely on reassuring the Israelis. “No deal is better than a bad deal,” Mr. Kerry said, a phrase that American officials have frequently used in recent weeks to try to reassure lawmakers in the United States as well as Israel and Persian Gulf states that the White House will not make risky concessions. But Mr. Netanyahu listed a range of steps that Israel says Iran needs to take to demonstrate that it is not developing nuclear weapons, steps that appeared to go well beyond a compromise that the United States and other world powers are prepared to explore with Tehran, which insists its nuclear program is for civilian use only. The United States and other world powers are scheduled to resume talks with Iran in Geneva on Nov. 7. Mr. Netanyahu, in a joint appearance with Mr. Kerry, said Iran must get rid of all of its fissile material and should not be allowed to have any centrifuges to enrich uranium. Iran should also close its underground nuclear facilities and abandon its construction of a heavy-water plant that would produce plutonium, Mr. Netanyahu added. Having staked out broad demands on the Iranian nuclear program, Mr. Netanyahu argued that the international sanctions against Iran should not be eased in return for a “partial deal.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/world/middleeast/kerry-reassures-israel-on-iran-but-divisions-remain.html?_r=0

Signs of Rift Between Israel and US Over Iran

Just days after the first round of global nuclear talks with Iran, a rift appears to be emerging between Israel and its closest ally, the United States. Israel's prime minister on Sunday called on the U.S. to step up the pressure on Iran, even as American officials hinted at the possibility of easing tough economic pressure. Meanwhile, a leading Israeli daily reported the outlines of what could be construed in the West as genuine Iranian compromises in the talks. The differing approaches could bode poorly for Israel as the talks between six global powers and Iran gain steam in the coming months. Negotiators were upbeat following last week's talks, and the next round of negotiations is set to begin Nov. 7.

 Convinced Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes the Iranians are trying to trick the West into easing economic sanctions while still pushing forward with their nuclear program. Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes. "I think that in this situation as long as we do not see actions instead of words, the international pressure must continue to be applied and even increased," Netanyahu told his Cabinet. "The greater the pressure, the greater the chance that there will be a genuine dismantling of the Iranian military nuclear program." Israel considers a nuclear-armed Iran a threat to its very survival, citing Iranian references to Israel's destruction.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/israeli-leader-step-pressure-iran-20625381

Syrian Refugees top 6 Million

According to the United Nations, the flood of Syrian refugees is comparable to the crises caused by the war and sectarian violence in Iraq and by the conflicts that accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia.

The Syrian refugee crisis has exploded from about 270,000 people a year ago to today’s tally of more than two million who have fled the country. The pace of the diaspora has been characterized by the United Nations as the worst since the Rwandan genocide in 1994. In addition, an estimated 4.25 million Syrians have been displaced within their country, bringing the total number forced into flight to more than six million. 
FULL PHOTO PICTORAL
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/10/16/world/middleeast/syrian-refugee-crisis-photos.html?_r=0

Iran’s nuclear concessions ‘cosmetic’

Netanyahu to take argument against Tehran to European media following WSJ reports on Iran offers for nuclear talks.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will flood the European media in coming days with interviews trying to sway public opinion against easing sanctions on Iran in return for what Jerusalem views as cosmetic concessions. Netanyahu’s media blitz comes as The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Iran will come to talks in Geneva next week with the world powers – the US, Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain – willing to stop enriching uranium to 20-percent purity, which is close to weapons-grade capability.

 According to the report, the Islamic Republic – in exchange for scaling back the sanctions – will also be willing to open up its nuclear facilities to more invasive international inspections, and is considering closing the underground uranium enrichment facility near Qom. Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz, who met on Wednesday with the head of the French team to the negotiations with Iran, called what Iran was reportedly willing to bring to the table “laughable.” “Closing the facility in Qom means that Iran will be able to produce in its first year of nuclearization five bombs instead of six,” he said. “Giving up on enriching to 20% is less significant at a time when Iran already has 20,000 centrifuges.”

 Steinitz said that Israel was amenable to a “true and serious diplomatic solution” whereby Iran’s nuclear capabilities would be similar to those of Canada or Mexico – it would be able to generate electricity from a reactor, but would need to buy the nuclear fuel to work the reactors from another country.

http://www.jpost.com/Iranian-Threat/News/Jlem-dismisses-reports-of-Iranian-willingness-to-end-high-grade-uranium-enrichment-as-cosmetic-concession-328313

Why Assad Will Win

When the Syrian civil war began in 2011, it seemed like another example of the Arab Spring which led to the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya and the ouster of Mubarak in Egypt. The end of the rule of the Assads (father and son) seemed likely. Some who were widely optimistic saw this as a chance for a democratic secular regime in Syria.

 Now, after more than 100,000 dead and hundreds of thousands more uprooted from their homes or taking refuge in Turkey and Jordan, the muddled situation is becoming clearer. Several factors will ensure Assad not only survives, but continues to rule Syria.

 First is that Assad is critical to Iran's foreign policy, and Tehran will not let Assad fail. Two of Iran's objectives are control of Lebanon through Hezbollah and the destruction of Israel. These two are interrelated.

 A second factor is Putin and Russia. The relationship between Russia and Syria is long and deep. For decades, Syria was the Soviet Union's primary client state in the Middle East. The Soviets, offsetting Washington's support for Israel, not only supplied military aircraft and other arms to Syria but stationed troops as military advisors in that country. Not surprisingly, many Russians married Syrian women and took them back to Russia.

 A third factor is the sectarian nature of the conflict. Syria has become the newest and most lethal battlefield in the bitter war within the Muslim world between Shiites and Sunnis which has raged since Mohammad's death in 632 A.D. This means that we have two militarily powerful nations on Assad's side -- Iran and Russia. Both have supplied heavy arms to Assad. They have also added their own fighters, namely Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah's troops, who enabled Assad to prevail in critical battles. Russian warships are on the coast of Syria ready to help Assad.

Full Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allan-topol/why-assad-will-win_b_4058866.html

Iranian Economy to Brink of Collapse

 T

he Iranian economy is just 18 months away from collapse according to Israeli intelligence minister Yuval Steinitz. Steinitz, speaking at a conference Monday at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, said that international sanctions have effectively caused major damage to Iran’s economy. The Jerusalem Post reports: Steinitz, speaking at a conference at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, said that over the last 18-24 months the international sanctions have caused about $100 billion in damage to the country’s economy, which has an annual $450 billion GDP. In addition, he said, inflation in Iran is currently running at 40 percent a year, and the unemployment rate is between 25 percent-30 percent, with the rate among youth at about 40 percent. The rial, Iran’s currency, has been devalued by 180 percent, and the country has a negative economic growth of 5.4 percent. He said that the sanctions have effectively cut Iran off from the world’s financial system, making it very difficult to do business. At this rate, he predicted the Iranian economy will collapse in another year-and-a-half, something that led to the rise of Iranian President Hassan Rowhani. “The pressure works, it is effective,” Steinitz said. “If we add to this pressure a credible military threat, the chances will be greatly improved.” Steinitz added that he believed that the same combination of a credible threat of military force and diplomacy that worked against Syria could work on Iran. “The greater the pressure, the greater the chances for diplomacy to succeed,” said Steinitz. - See more at: http://freebeacon.com/sanctions-pushing-iranian-economy-to-brink-of-collapse/#sthash.7ipHtwaO.dpuf

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? United Nations Picks Iran to Serve on Disarmament Committee

Folks...I am beside myself...

The United Nations has selected Iran to serve in a senior role on its Committee on Disarmament and International Security, an international body that deals with major global security issues. Iran announced on Wednesday that it had been selected by UN member states to serve as the disarmament committee’s rapporteur, according to reports. The position would put Iran in charge of reporting on the committee’s proceedings and actions. The appointment was made shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN’s General Assembly to warn the world that Iran is only months away from having the capabilities to build a nuclear weapon.

- See more at: http://freebeacon.com/united-nations-picks-iran-to-serve-on-disarmament-committee/#sthash.1zukB2qA.dpuf

“I’m just surprised that the UN never got around to hiring Michael Jackson to work in its daycare center,” said former Pentagon advisor Michael Rubin. “This seems about as good an idea.” The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) also slammed the UN for allowing Iran to join the committee. “This action, which comes on a day dominated by the discussion about Iran’s nuclear weapons program and Syria’s use of chemical weapons, represents the height of hypocrisy at the UN,” the ADL said in a statement. “Iran’s appointment to a leadership role in a body charged with disarmament and counteracting threats to peace is simply unbelievable.” -

Iran's 'Plan B' for a nuclear bomb

The Telegraph can disclose details of activity at a heavily-guarded Iranian facility from which international inspectors have been barred for 18 months. The images, taken earlier this month, show that Iran has activated the Arak heavy-water production plant. Heavy water is needed to operate a nuclear reactor that can produce plutonium, which could then be used to make a bomb. The images show signs of activity at the Arak plant, including a cloud of steam that indicates heavy-water production.


The Telegraph’s images were analysed by Stuart Ray of McKenzie Intelligence Services, a consultancy firm. He said: “The steam indicates that the heavy-water plant is operational and the extent of the air defence emplacements around the site make it suspicious.” Based on its own analysis of satellite images, the IAEA has reached a similar conclusion. In a report distributed to its board last week, the agency reported “ongoing construction” at the Arak site and active heavy water production. According to the Institute for Science and International Security, a US think tank, if the heavy-water plant reaches full capacity, it would produce about 20lb of plutonium a year. That could be enough for two nuclear warheads if the plutonium was reprocessed.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9896389/Irans-Plan-B-for-a-nuclear-bomb.html

Israel wants walk...not just talk

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz warned Monday that Israel must consider actions, not declarations, when assessing the conflicts in the Middle East. “In an area characterized by so much uncertainty, we must be sure that we are conducting ourselves in light of actions, not just declarations," Gantz said. "In other words, what counts is action, not just fancy words. This is the nature of the situation with regard to the end of the [Bashar] Assad period [in Syria] and with regard to the possibility that Iran will halt its nuclear development program.” The chief of staff devoted much of his lecture to the attempts to assess the nature of the next war and to the threats the Israel Defense Forces will have to deal with in 2025. “The enemy’s capabilities are just around the corner,” he noted. “These organizations [i.e., the terrorist groups and the global jihad movement] have capabilities that many states do not have. Hezbollah has a capacity that many states do not have – in terms of scope, power, quality and accuracy.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.551246

 There is a lot of suspicion and even paranoia about some secret deal between Iran and America,” said Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist who is close to the royal family. “My concern is that the Americans will accept Iran as it is — so that the Iranians can continue their old policies of expansionism and aggression.” Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni-dominated gulf countries share a concern about a shift in the balance of power toward Iran’s Shiite-led government and its allies. For Israel, Iran remains the sponsor of global terrorism and of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, both avowed enemies of Israel’s existence. “They can change the regime, but one thing won’t change and that is the hostility against Israel,” warned Uzi Rabi, chairman of a Middle East studies center at Tel Aviv University. “Part of the plan is to drive a wedge between Americans and Europeans and Israel. I hate to say it, but what the Iranians managed to do is to change the whole game.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/world/middleeast/israel-and-others-in-mideast-view-overtures-of-us-and-iran-with-suspicion.html?pagewanted=all

U.S. fears radical Islamists could take root in Syria

Officials say Syria is now the global focal point for militants who want to wage holy war, eclipsing Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officials are increasingly concerned that Al Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups could carve out a haven in Syria that will offer the kind of sanctuary they once enjoyed in northwestern Pakistan, current and former U.S. officials say. Officials say a clandestine CIA program that provides rudimentary training and weapons to U.S.-backed politically moderate insurgents is unlikely to curb the growing strength of extremists among the opposition militias seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad. Though the fighting remains limited to Syria, U.S. intelligence officials already are looking at worst-case scenarios if the country breaks into distinct government- and rebel-controlled enclaves.

 The alarm grew recently when militants from Al Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda affiliate considered the most capable and best-armed rebel force, and its allies seized a border crossing between Syria and Jordan near the Syrian city of Dara. "I think Syria is heading toward becoming the next FATA," said a U.S. official regularly briefed on intelligence, referring to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, where Al Qaeda and its allies plotted attacks against the West until U.S. drone strikes and other counter-terrorism efforts decimated their forces.
full story: http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-syria-islamists-20131008,0,5605017.story

Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia...fragile new powers to join Iran?

CAIRO — The lethal conflict between Egypt’s military-backed government and its Islamist opponents escalated on Monday, with an expansion of attacks against government targets, signs that the authorities have failed to secure the streets and a refusal by either side to back down.

Three months after the military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, the violence was the latest evidence that the new government installed on July 3 by Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi had failed to neutralize the Islamist opposition even after arresting its leadership and demonstrating its willingness to use lethal force.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/world/middleeast/egypt-violence.html?_r=0

Daniel 11: 40 “At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. 41 He will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. 42 He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape. 43 He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Cushites[e] in submission.

The emphasis here in verses 42 and 43 is on Egypt—then we have Libya and Ethiopia. This shows that EGYPT IS THE BIG CONQUEST! It is the REAL power behind Libya and Ethiopia, which suggests that it is going to have a heavy hand in swinging those two nations into the Iranian camp.

 We need to understand the ENORMOUS IMPACT that Egypt working with Iran will have in the Middle East and even globally. This Iran-Egypt axis is going to change the game in the Middle East—particularly in Libya and Ethiopia.

 TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya’s fragile interim government condemned the United States on Sunday for what it called the “kidnapping of a Libyan citizen” from this capital city a day earlier, and Libyan lawmakers threatened to remove the prime minister if the government was involved.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/world/africa/american-raids-in-africa.html

 That leaves the government with a more unsettling question to answer—its ability to control a country dominated by divisive, militant factions. Libya is still fractured among several powerful militia groups, and in Eastern Libya, they have effectively established mini-states that take no orders from the capital—and that succeeded in shutting in much of Libya’s crucial oil production for months this summer. Whether or not Libya approved Saturday’s commando raid, the government could stand to lose big. “It will be widely assumed that either Zeidan gave the U.S. permission, or that he did not, and that Libya is incapable of preventing the U.S. from doing this,” says Issandr el-Amrani, North Africa director for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, speaking to TIME from Cairo. “The Libyan government is barely in control of Libya. It has no ability to enforce the rule of law, or even establish the control of the Libyan national army on the territory.”
http://world.time.com/2013/10/07/u-s-tripoli-raid-deepens-sense-of-chaos-in-libya/?iid=gs-main-lead


 Put simply, this means that we can expect Egypt—with Iran’s help—to lead Libya and Ethiopia into the Iranian camp! This is very alarming because of the power Egypt has.  For years, America has given Egyptbillions and billions of dollars’ worth of military aid. The Egyptians are certain to use their formidable military power to swing much of the Middle East toward Iran. Here’s what Barnes’ Notes says about this passage: “A conquest of Egypt was almost, in itself, a conquest of Libya and the Ethiopians.” THAT’S EXACTLY RIGHT! The real powerhouse here is Egypt. Iran and Egypt are going to work together to swing Ethiopia and Libya into that Iranian-led “king of the south” camp—and they’re going to do it with a lot of violence! They’re very good at creating violence.

AMERICA HELPED GREATLY IN REMOVING HOSNI MUBARAK FROM POWER. The U.S. should have been supporting Hosni Mubarak. I tell you that removing him was a grave mistake that leaders from both political parties in the U.S. do not really understand. They simply don’t grasp how things work in the Middle East. Learn More:

So How will this affect America intially?
If you thought Mubarak was evil, wait till you see Morsi in action. In the early months of 2011, when Egyptians were protesting and the Western world was self-righteously demanding that Mubarak resign, the Trumpet was warning—based on Daniel’s prophecy—that this was the worst mistake the United States could make. But no one listened. Who today listens to God and what He prophesies—the God of the Bible who wants to save us from all this suffering?

 “This is a coup,” lamented Middle East expert Barry Rubin. “Morsi is bound by no constitution. He can do as he pleases unless someone is going to stop him, and the only candidate, the military, is fading fast, far faster than even we pessimists would have predicted” (PJmedia.com, August 11). Have you seen some of the atrocities being committed under Mohammed Morsi? Egypt’s new leaders are destroying the freedom of the press, and even going so far as to CRUCIFY some of their opponents! (“Shockingly Rapid Radicalization,” below). This is a black, bleak nightmare! This is so ghoulish that you wouldn’t even expect it to happen in this age. BUT IT’S HAPPENING IN EGYPT TODAY! America helped bring it about—but we don’t like to talk about that, for obvious reasons.

 The rest of the Middle East is shaken by what is happening. Saudi Arabia also gave millions of dollars of aid to Egypt, but very much wanted Hosni Mubarak to remain in office. Peoples and nations greatly fear events in Egypt now that that nation is backed by a powerful Iran. There is a lot of deadly peril there that America simply refuses to see, and we continue to act as though nothing happened in the Middle East. This level of ignorance is almost beyond belief! “Egypt will certainly seek to export its Islamic revolution to other countries,” Glick warned.

Exactly right. That is just what will happen—and it is exactly what is prophesied: Egypt is going to export its revolution to Libya and Ethiopia. This is already well underway in Libya. But the radicals in Egypt will ensure it is shaped and molded to fit their plan. All of this is taking place along the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, which is one of the most important trade routes in the world. If you think your gas prices won’t go up, you’d better take a close look at what’s going on in the Middle East. “The U.S.’s astounding sanguinity in the face of Morsi’s completion of the Islamization of Egypt is an illustration of everything that is wrong and dangerous about U.S. Middle East policy today,” Glick wrote. Can anybody logically disagree?

http://www.thetrumpet.com/article/9885.20893.148.0/middle-east/egypt/egypt-unites-with-iran-and-fulfills-a-bible-prophecy

Iran blames Israel for nuclear sabotage

Iran has accused four workers of trying to sabotage its nuclear power programme, tacitly blaming Israel for the plot. The Iranian nuclear power chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said yesterday that the authorities had monitored the suspects as they worked in one of the country’s nuclear facilities and made the arrests at 'exactly the right time'. Although he did not spell out who he believed was responsible, he blamed 'hostile' nations – usually a reference to either Israel or the U.S. – which were opposed to current diplomatic efforts to resolve the row over Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons ambitions. As Iran is currently engaged in an all-out charm offensive with America while Israel has warned the world not to trust the Iranians, experts believe it is obvious where Mr Salehi is pointing the finger of blame. He later claimed Iranian authorities had foiled 'several cases' of similar sabotage attempts in the past 'two or three weeks' but did not elaborate. 'Hostile countries are not interested in finding way out of current situation and they are trying to block agreement on the nuclear case though acts of sabotage.'

 Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2447951/Iran-blames-Israel-nuclear-sabotage-Tehran-accuses-hostile-nations.html#ixzz2h332KwxA 

New sanctions likely despite thaw in US-Iran ties

WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers from both parties have expressed a willingness to give President Barack Obama's outreach to Iran a chance to end to Tehran's nuclear standoff with the West, but at the same time they are crafting tough new U.S. economic sanctions to further isolate the Islamic republic. Obama's phone call last week to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was a groundbreaking conversation. It was the first contact in more than 30 years between the leaders of the two countries and an about-face from when Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, included Iran in his "axis of evil" with North Korea and Iraq.

Obama wants Rouhani to prove that he's willing to curtail some of his country's uranium enrichment activity, which many believe is being used to give Iran nuclear weapons capability. Rouhani said Wednesday in Tehran that Iran is open to discussing "details" of its nuclear activities to reach a deal with world powers. He emphasized Tehran's longstanding position that Iran has a fundamental right to enrich uranium, a key ingredient of nuclear weapons that Iran says it needs for peaceful purposes. But his statement was a veiled hint that Iran is open to negotiate on the level of uranium enrichment as part of a deal in return for lifting of sanctions.

 "Iran's enrichment right is not negotiable, but we must enter into talks" to see what the other side proposes, he said in remarks after a meeting with his Cabinet. Rouhani said Iran had drawn up a "precise plan" to present later this month at the next round of talks with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany. The U.S. engagement with Iran, meanwhile, is straining relations with Israel, a key American ally. -

See more at: http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/10/new_sanctions_likely_despite_thaw_in_us_iran_ties#sthash.43BeDO21.dpuf

US-Iran relations: A brief guide

From the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of Iran's prime minister in 1953 to Friday's phone call between Presidents Obama and Rouhani, BBC News looks at 60 years of tricky relations between Iran and the US.

 Click Here:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24316661

Netanyahu warns Iranians of 'immortal regime'

"If they want civilian energy, they don't need enrichment. Uranium enrichment is necessary only if you want nuclear weapons."

"If they get nuclear weapons this brutal regime will be immortal, like North Korea. It will go on repressing the people of Iran, who deserve better. They are a great people."

Israel's prime minister says Iranians "deserve better" than their current government and that their lives could get worse if it gains nuclear weapons. In an interview with BBC Persian, Benjamin Netanyahu warned: "If they get nuclear weapons this brutal regime will be immortal, like North Korea." He also said the new President, Hassan Rouhani, could not "change the real decisions" made by the Supreme Leader.

 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mr Rouhani have said they reject nuclear weapons. They insist Iran's nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes, but world powers suspect they are not being truthful. There has nevertheless been a recent thaw in relations between Iran and the United States, with Mr Rouhani and President Barack Obama recently discussing the issue - the first top-level conversation between the two countries for more than 30 years. On Tuesday, Iranian diplomats at the United Nations reacted angrily after Mr Netanyahu described their president as a "wolf in sheep's clothing" in a speech to the General Assembly.

Full Story:   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24395917

Syrian Christians Under Fire

When radical Islamists tore down a cross and hoisted a black flag above a church in the northern Syrian city of Raqqah last week, it underscored the increasingly hostile environment for the country’s Christians.

Although Syria is majority Sunni Muslim, it is one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse countries in the Middle East, home to minorities including Christians, Druze and Shiite-offshoot Alawites and Ismailis. But the country’s conflict, now in its third year, is threatening that tapestry.

While the primary front in the war has pitted Sunni against Shiite, Christians are increasingly caught in the firing line. The perception that they support the government — which is in many cases true — has long made them a target for rebel groups. Now, Christians say radical Islamist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) , an affiliate of al-Qaeda, are determined to drive them from their homes.

 “The Christian community in Syria is stuck between two fires,” said Nadim Nassar, a Syrian from Latakia who is director of the Awareness Foundation, a U.K-based interfaith charity. “One fire is a corrupt regime, and everybody agrees there needs to be a change. And on the other hand, there’s a fragmented and diverse opposition on the ground who can’t control jihadist forces coming from outside the country.”


 Read More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/christians-under-threat-in-syria-as-islamist-extremists-gain-influence/2013/10/03/214607ee-2a75-11e3-b141-298f46539716_story.html

You're "Putin" me on. The Peace Prize?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. The former KGB agent has been recommended by an activist group because he 'actively promotes settlement of all conflicts arising on the planet'. His attempts to prevent a US air strike on Syria after suspected chemical weapons attacks on civilians was also given as a reason behind the recognition. Despite being the main supplier of weapons to Bashar Al-Assad's regime, fellow politicans have rushed to his defense, with one claiming he is 'more worthy' than Barack Obama. Activist group The International Academy of Spiritual Unity and Cooperation of Peoples of the World put his name forward but made no mention of the violent campaigns he waged against the separatists in
Chechnya or the war in Georgia.

 Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442079/Russian-President-Vladimir-Putin-nominated-Nobel-Peace-Prize.html#ixzz2gh3ZdGZ1

Iran-US relationship angers Israel

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said that Israel was "upset and angry" with signs of an emerging new relationship between the Islamic republic and the West. His statement on Wednesday comes a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a UN summit that his country was ready to act alone to halt Iran's alleged efforts to build a nuclear bomb. "We don't expect anything else from the Zionist regime," Rouhani told reporters after a cabinet meeting. Israel is "upset and angry because it sees that its blunted sword is being replaced with logic as the governing force in the world, and because the Iranian nation's message of peace is being heard better," the moderate cleric said. Iran's new president was referring to his outreach last week on a visit to the UN General Assembly in New York, where he offered constructive dialogue with the West in a bid to ease tensions.

 In his UN speech, Rouhani said Iran would never seek a nuclear weapon and was ready to negotiate with world powers on ending a decade-long showdown over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. His charm offensive culminated in a landmark 15-minute phone call with US President Barack Obama. But Netanyahu told the same UN forum that a sanctions regime hurting Iran's economy must be strengthened as the Tehran regime was hell-bent on building a nuclear bomb. "Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone," he said. Iran's armed forces chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi on Wednesday rejected the Israeli threat of military action as an "act of desperation" by a "warmonger".

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/10/rouhani-iran-us-relationship-angers-israel-2013102185832931333.html

U.N. overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons

Wading into the world spotlight, international inspectors arrived in Damascus on Tuesday to begin the monumental task of overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons in the middle of a civil war. The inspectors from a Netherlands-based chemical weapons watchdog have around nine months to complete their mission that calls for finding, dismantling and eliminating President Bashar Assad's estimated 1,000-ton arsenal. Their task has been endorsed by a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for Syria's chemical stockpile to be scrapped by mid-2014. The deadline is the tightest that the experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have ever faced. An advance team of 19 inspectors and 14 U.N. staff members arrived in Damascus late Tuesday afternoon in a 19-vehicle convoy escorted from the Lebanese border by two Syrian Foreign Ministry representatives. The experts set up a logistics base for its immediate work, the U.N. said in a statement. Experts at The Hague, where the OPCW is based, said Sunday the inspectors' priority is to reach the first milestone of helping Syria scrap its ability to manufacture chemical weapons by a Nov. 1 deadline, using every means possible. The destruction mission could include smashing mixing equipment with sledgehammers, blowing up delivery missiles, driving tanks over empty shells or filling them with concrete, and running machines without lubricant so they seize up and become inoperable.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/01/20777597-disarmament-experts-arrive-in-syria?lite