Rebuffing Hassan Rouhani Would Be 'Diplomatic Malpractice', John Kerry Says

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: America would be guilty of "diplomatic malpractice" if it rebuffed offers by Hassan Rouhani to seek an agreement over Iran's disputed nuclear programme, John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has said.

Speaking in Tokyo, Mr Kerry said the US had an obligation to respond positively to the olive branch extended by Mr Rouhani, the Iranian president, who has embarked on a charm offensive aimed at achieving rapprochement with the West and ending the decade-long stand- off over his country's uranium enrichment programme.

"It would be diplomatic malpractice of the worst order not to examine every possibility of whether or not you can achieve that before you ask people to take military action and do what you have to do to prevent it," he told reporters. "You have to exhaust the remedies before you ratchet up to a next tier of remedies that may have more dramatic consequences."

Mr Kerry words jarred with the belligerent message of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, who gave a series of interviews on US television warning of the dangers of engaging Mr Rouhani. » | Robert Tait, Middle East Correspondent | Thursday, October 03, 2013

Henry Kissinger - Exclusive Interview
Former Secretary of State,Henry Kissinger sits down to discuss foreign policy issues facing the next president in the first of our series, "Unfolding: 2013 Challenges."

Benjamin Netanyahu: Iran Containment Supporters 'Set A New Standard For Human Stupidity'

Netanyahu Accuses West of Weakness on Iran

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Israel's prime minister attacked the international community yesterday for failing to set Iran a "red line" over its nuclear weapons programme in a speech seen as a direct intervention in the US elections.

Benjamin Netanyahu, embroiled in a major domestic dispute over whether Israel should go it alone with an attack on Iran to delay or destroy its nuclear sites, suggested it was policies in the United States and Europe that had allowed Tehran to push its programme further ahead with impunity.

"I believe the truth must be stated: the international community is not placing a clear red line for Iran and Iran does not see international resolve to stop its nuclear programme," he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. "Unless Iran sees this clear red line and this clear resolve it will not stop moving forward with its nuclear programme, and Iran must not have nuclear weapons."

Although he did not mention the United States by name, his vice prime minister, Moshe Yaalon, did so when making similar comments on Friday and more significantly Mr Netanyahu's message meshed with that presented in the foreign policy segment of Mitt Romney's presidential nomination acceptance speech to the Republican convention this week. » | Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Sunday, September 02, 2012

N.Korea Says U.S. Hostility Forcing It to "Reexamine" Nuclear Programme
REUTERS INDIA: North Korea said on Friday it was being forced to "reexamine" its nuclear programme because of fresh signs the United States remains hostile towards the country, indicating it will step up defiant efforts to boost its nuclear arsenal.

The new leadership of North Korea, headed by the third generation of the Kim family, reinforced its control on the reclusive state this week by further promoting its young leader Jong-un and purging a top general who was seen as opposing his reforms.

The North has denied in recent months that it was preparing to conduct a third nuclear test, after a failed rocket launch widely seen as a long-range missile test in disguise, which effectively scrapped a deal on moratorium on such tests reached with Washington in February.

"The consistent hostile policy towards the DPRK pursued by the U.S. is giving rise to the evil cycle of confrontation and tensions on the Korean Peninsula, making the prospect of denuclearizing the peninsula all the more gloomy," the North's unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman said. » | Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Daniel Magnowski | SEOUL | Friday, July 20, 2012

REUTERS INDIA: EXCLUSIVE - Kim to reform North Korean economy after purge: source – Impoverished North Korea is gearing up to experiment with agricultural and economic reforms after young leader Kim Jong-un and his powerful uncle purged the country's top general for opposing change, a source with ties to both Pyongyang and Beijing said. » | Benjamin Kang Lim | BEIJING | Friday, July 20, 2012

MI6 Chief Sir John Sawers: 'We Foiled Iranian Nuclear Weapons Bid'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: MI6 agents have foiled Iran’s attempts to obtain nuclear weapons but the Middle Eastern state will succeed in arming itself within the next two years, the head of the Secret Intelligence Service has warned.

Sir John Sawers said that covert operations by British spies had prevented the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons as early as 2008.

However, the MI6 chief said it was now likely they would achieve their goal by 2014, making a military strike from the US and Israel increasingly likely.

Sir John gave a secret briefing to the Cabinet in March about Iran’s growing military threat but this is the first time his views on the issue have been made public.

It is extremely rare for the head of MI6 to disclose details of operations by the intelligence service.

Sir John made the remarks at a meeting of around 100 senior civil servants in London last week in only his second public speech since he was appointed to the post in 2009.

Speaking at the Civil Service Live event in Olympia he said that Iran was now “two years away” from becoming a “nuclear weapons state”.

He said that “when that moment came” Israel or the United States would have to decide whether to launch a military strike. » | Christopher Hope, Senior Political Correspondent | Thursday, July 12, 2012

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Ex-Revolutionary Guards General Reveals Dissent Within Elite Iranian Force

THE GUARDIAN: Former senior officer accuses Khamenei of having 'blood on his hands' and questions intentions over nuclear programme

A former general of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards has accused the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of having blood on his hands over the brutal crackdown on the opposition, and described government claims that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful as a "sheer lie".

In a letter to prominent opposition activist Mohammad Nourizad (website in Farsi), the former officer gives a rare glimpse of political dissent within the ranks of the elite force in charge of the nuclear programme and Khamenei's personal security.

Identified only by his initials, the general says that he and a number of his colleagues were threatened with execution for disloyalty and then – after a series of secret courts-martial – dismissed "because we refused to participate in the betrayals and the crimes committed by our seniors".

"I'm writing this letter to you to tell our people that there are still many generals and members of staff within the Revolutionary Guards who are opposed to these crimes and are waiting to join the people," the letter reads. » | Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Thursday, July 12, 2012

Ayatollah: West Fearful of Islamic Iran
UPI.COM: TEHRAN -- Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, said Sunday the West was more fearful of Iran's fervent Islam than its nuclear program.

The religious leader spoke Sunday at the 23rd anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Khomenei and claimed Iran was stronger than ever despite Western efforts to keep the country at bay. » | UPI | Sunday, June 03, 2012

Benjamin Netanyahu Raises Fresh Fears Over Iran Strike

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Benjamin Netanyahu has triggered fresh speculation that he could authorise military action against Iran by declaring that a unilateral Israeli strike would not cause an irreparable rupture in relations with the United States.

The Israeli prime minister countered domestic critics who have argued that an attack would antagonise the Jewish state's most powerful patron by pointing to predecessors who had defied Washington without doing long-term damage. The Six Day War of 1967, the Suez Crisis of 1956 and the bombardment of an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 were all launched in opposition to US wishes.

In his first public comments since returning from a tense encounter with President Barack Obama at the White House this week, Mr Netanyahu yielded few clues over his intentions with regards to Iran, but again hinted that his patience with diplomacy was waning.

"We're not standing with a stopwatch in hand," he said in an interview with Israeli television to be broadcast on Saturday evening. "It's not a matter of days or weeks, but also not years. The result must be the removal of the threat of nuclear weapons in Iran's hands." » | Adrian Blomfield | Jerusalem | Friday, March 09, 2012

Obama droht Iran mit Angriff auf Atomanlagen
REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Washington - Kurz vor einem Treffen mit dem israelischen Regierungschef Benjamin Netanjahu hat US-Präsident Barack Obama dem Iran mit einem Angriff auf dessen Atomanlagen gedroht.

Zwar sei alles offen, sagte Obama in einem am Freitag veröffentlichten Interview der Zeitschrift "The Atlantic". Die letzte Option sei aber die militärische Komponente. "Ich bluffe nicht", sagte Obama. Es sei nicht hinnehmbar, wenn der Iran Atomwaffen besitze. Zugleich sagte Obama, die Sanktionen gegen das Land seien wirksamer als jeder erwartet hätte. Sie böten die Chance, das Problem dauerhaft zu lösen. » | Reuters | Freitag, 02. März 2012

Netanyahu: Israel Reserves the Right to Defend Itself against Iran
HAARETZ: PM makes first public comments during North American visit, says international community must not allow 'Iran's relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons' [to] succeed.

In his first public comments on a North American visit that will include talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday Israel reserved the right to defend itself against Iran.

Netanyahu will meet with Obama on Monday to address growing differences over what Washington fears could be an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear sites.

Netanyahu said the international community should not allow what he called "Iran's relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons" to succeed. » | Reuters | Friday, March 02, 2012

Israel Won't Warn US of Attack on Iran
Pronouncement sets tense tone ahead of meetings at White House, Capitol Hill

Iran Warns Israel Not to Attack Its Nuclear Facilities
THE GUARDIAN: Iranian general says attack would lead to collapse of Israel amid rising international tension over uranium enrichment

Iran has warned Israel against mounting an attack on its nuclear facilities amid rising international tension over its uranium enrichment programme.

General Ahmad Vahidi issued a statement warning Israel that an attack would lead to the collapse of the Jewish state.

The warning on Iran's state-run Press TV website came after a UN report said Iran had tripled its production rate of enriched uranium over the past three months. » | Damien Pearse and agencies | Saturday, February 25, 2012

Iran Claims Significant Advance in Nuclear Programme
Iran has claimed a significant advance in its nuclear programme, installing new fuel rods in a research reactor and claiming to have developed a more advanced model of centrifuge.

Read the article here | David Blair | Wednesday, February 15, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran to stop oil exports to six EU countries causing prices to rise: Iran will stop exporting oil to six European Union countries including Greece, the state media has claimed. » | David Blair | Wednesday, February 15,

Iran to Announce 'Major Nuclear Progress'
THE GUARDIAN: Ahmadinejad tells Tehran rally that world will soon hear news of 'very important and very major nuclear achievements'

Iran will soon reveal "very big new achievements" in its controversial nuclear programme, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced.

Speaking at a rally in Tehran to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic revolution, Ahmadinejad also said Iran would never give up its uranium enrichment progamme.

"In the coming days the world will witness Iran's announcement of its very important and very major nuclear achievements," Ahmadinejad told a crowd at Tehran's Azadi [Freedom] Square broadcast on state television. » | Staff and agencies | Saturday, February 11, 2012

Iran Warns Arab States Against Alliance with West
THE GUARDIAN: As nuclear dispute intensifies, foreign minister tells neighbouring countries not to be dragged into dangerous position

Iran's foreign minister has warned Arab neighbours not to put themselves in a "dangerous position" by aligning themselves too closely with the US in the escalating dispute over Tehran's nuclear activity.

Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, used for a third of the world's seaborne oil trade, if pending western moves to ban Iranian crude exports cripple its energy sector.

Tehran, which denies it is seeking nuclear weapons, was riled earlier this week when Saudi Arabia asserted it could quickly raise oil output for key customers if needed.

"We want peace and tranquility in the region. But some of the countries in our region, they want to direct other countries 12,000 miles away from this region," the foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, said during a visit to Turkey.

The remark was an apparent reference to the alliance of Iran's Arab neighbours with Washington, which maintains a huge fleet in the Gulf and says it will keep the waterway open. » | Reuters in Ankara | Thursday, January 19, 2012

Iran Tells EU It Is Willing to Restart Nuclear Talks
THE GUARDIAN: Tehran ready to hold talks 'in a place and on a date convenient to both sides', says letter to EU foreign policy chief

Iran has said it is willing to resume the stalled international talks over its contentious nuclear programme, the EU said today.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, sent the EU's foreign policy chief, the British peer Lady Ashton, a letter saying he was prepared to continue the talks, which halted a year ago, "in a place and on a date convenient to both sides" after 10 November.

"I think this is a very significant move," Ashton told reporters at the EU summit in Brussels. Earlier this month Ashton – who is the main contact point for Iran in talks involving Britain, France and Germany along with the US, Russia and China – invited Jalili for three days of negotiations in Vienna next month.

One unnamed EU diplomat told Reuters the meeting could now take place in Geneva instead and that the aim was for three days of talks with "everything on the table", including a general discussion of Iran's nuclear activities. "We see this all as a very positive sign, there is a strong sense of optimism," the diplomat said. >>> Peter Walker and agencies | Friday, October 29, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran agrees to nuclear talks as sanctions bite: Iran has succumbed to international pressure to enter talks on its nuclear programme with the EU's top diplomat next month, after the country suffered a series of economic setbacks as sanctions began to bite. >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Friday, October 29, 2010

Iranian Scientist Was CIA Mole
THE TELEGRAPH: The scientist claiming to have been kidnapped and tortured by the United States was a CIA mole who spied on Iran's nuclear programme for several years, American officials have said.

Shahram Amiri arrives at Imam Khomini Airport with his wife and son. Photo: The Telegraph
Shahram Amiri was a vital source whose "significant, original" intelligence allowed his US minders to build up a comprehensive assessment of Iran's clandestine nuclear capabilities, the officials claimed.

The allegations are the latest twist in an increasingly perplexing saga that has embarrassed the United States and prompted jubilant crowing in Iran, which has long maintained that the CIA kidnapped Mr Amiri during a visit to Saudi Arabia last year.

Mr Amiri was reunited with his wife and seven-year-old-son after flying back to a hero's welcome in Iran on Thursday. He repeated allegations that he had been abducted, tortured by Israeli and American officers, and later offered $10 million (£6.5 million) to say that he had come to the United States of his own volition.

But US officials told the New York Times that Mr Amiri had in fact been a long-serving CIA asset working under cover at Tehran's Malek Ashtar university. >>> Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent | Friday, July 16, 2010

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Iran Scientist: CIA Offered Me $50m to Lie About Nuclear Secrets
THE INDEPENDENT: An Iranian scientist who says he was abducted and taken to the United States by the CIA returned to Tehran yesterday to a hero's welcome and claimed that he had been pressured into lying about his country's nuclear programme.

Shahram Amiri said that he was on the hajj pilgrimage when he was seized at gunpoint in the city of Medina, drugged and taken to the US, where he says Israel was involved in his interrogation. In the US, officials were reported to have admitted that Mr Amiri was paid more than $5m (£3.2m) by the CIA for information about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

The US claims to have received useful information from him in return for the money, but is clearly embarrassed by his very public return to Iran. The offer of a large bribe is reportedly part of a special US programme to get Iranian nuclear scientists to defect.

Flashing a victory sign, Mr Amiri returned to Tehran International Airport to be greeted by senior officials and by his tearful wife and seven-year-old son, whom he had not seen since he disappeared in Saudi Arabia during a visit 14 months ago. Iran said it was demanding information about what had happened to him.

The US says that he entered the US of his own free will and had relocated to Tucson, Arizona. The US is claiming that Mr Amiri, who had worked for Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, re-defected because pressure was placed on his family back in Iran, something he denied yesterday. Officials suggested that Iran had used his family to get him to leave the US. >>> Patrick Cockburn | Friday, July 16, 2010

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Missing Iranian Scientist Arrives Home: A missing Iranian scientist who claims he was kidnapped by the United States returns to Iran, as U.S official says he provided "useful" information


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