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Israel - Iran nuclear bomb 'still three years away'

Dec. 30, 2010 - Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon told Israeli radio that Iran's nuclear weapons program has suffered technical problems, and could therefore still be three years away from making a bomb. He was evidently referring to the Stuxnet worm, a computer program that specifically attacked their nuclear program a few months ago.

However, experts say the worm has been specially configured to damage motors commonly used in uranium enrichment centrifuges by sending them spinning out of control.

Source: BBC

Top Middle East story of 2010: The Stuxnet virus - Jerusalem Post

Top US officer says Iran still driving for a bomb

Dec. 18, 2010 - After meeting with the King of Bahrain, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that Iran is a threat to its gulf state neighbors because it is trying to build a nuclear bomb.

"We're very ready," Mullen said, an unusually direct acknowledgment that the United States has contingency plans to counter Iran should it make a move.

The U.S. has a large U.S. Navy base in Bahrain, directly across the Gulf from Iran, that would be on the front lines of any war with Iran.

Source: Fox

'Stuxnet virus set back Iran’s nuclear program by 2 years'

Dec. 16, 2010 - A German computer consultant, identified as "Langer," told reporters that the Stuxnet virus, which is generally agreed to be an Israeli invention, was very successful in slowing down Iran's nuclear development.

“It will take two years for Iran to get back on track,” Langer said in a telephone interview from his office in Hamburg, Germany. “This was nearly as effective as a military strike, but even better since there are no fatalities and no full-blown war. From a military perspective, this was a huge success.”

Source: Jerusalem Post

Wikileaks: Israeli attack on Iran may lead to nuclear war

Dec. 13, 2010 - US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks show that Australian intelligence agencies feared that Israel would attack Iran, fomenting a nuclear war. They were concerned that the U.S. would become involved and might even draw Australia into the conflict. A cable from the US embassy in Canberra expressed the opinion that the Australian government was,

"more broadly concerned about the potential for renewed nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, driving south-east Asian states to abandon the [nuclear non-proliferation treaty] and pursue their own nuclear capabilities, which could introduce a direct threat to the Australian homeland."

Source: Jerusalem Post

Iran conducts large military exercise - Yahoo

See who's working together to stop Iran - WorldNetDaily

Ahmadinejad fires Iran foreign minister, brings in top nuclear official - Haaretz

U.S. Defense Secretary: Gulf Arab states back Iran nuclear sanctions

Dec. 10, 2010 - After visiting two Gulf states, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said there is strong support for U.S. efforts to curb Iran's nuclear plans. He told reporters,

"You can see the general support in the region for applying the sanctions and for doing what we can to make the sanctions effective and try to influence the Iranian government to walk away from their nuclear weapons program."

Source: Haaretz

Bolton: Military strike only way to stop Iran nukes

Dec. 1, 2010 - Saying that the present administration is very weak on asserting American interests or defending them, John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the UN, may run for the presidency. By doing so he would hope to bring national security back into the center of the debate.

Bolton identified proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and international terrorism as the top challenges facing America, along with the threat of nuclear Iran.

He advocates a military strike against Iran to stop their development of nuclear weapons. He is also opposed to a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Source: Jerusalem Post

Russia Positions Warheads Near NATO Allies, Fueling U.S. Concern

Nov. 30, 2010 - U.S. officials say that they believe Russia has responded to the installation of U.S. and NATO missile-defense systems by moving some of their own short-range tactical nuclear warheads to facilities near NATO countries.

The U.S. has long voiced concerns about Russia's lack of transparency when it comes to its arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons, believed to be many times the number possessed by the U.S.

Source: Fox

U.S. fears Iran has long-range missile, but Russia calls it a 'myth' - CNN

WikiLeaks documents shed light on U.S.-Israel talks over Iran

Nov. 29, 2010 - A cable from the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, disclosed by the WikiLeaks website, indicated that Israeli officials told the US that the window of opportunity to stop Iran's nuclear development would be between 6 and 18 months from June 2009.

After that, Barak's view was that "any military solution would result in unacceptable collateral damage," according to the cable.

Source: CNN

U.S. scrambles to contain WikiLeaks fallout - In our Wars section.

Wikileaks: 'US: Turkish leadership divided, unreliable' - Jerusalem Post

Obama piles more military pressure on Iran - conspicuously

Nov. 8, 2010 - President Barack Obama has ordered the Pentagon to put visible and tangible pressure on Iran to counter their nuclear threat. In the last few days, three aircraft carriers, four nuclear submarines and marine assault units have piled up opposite Iranian shores.

According to Senator Lindsey Graham, who is a member of the Armed Services and Homeland Defense committees,

The US should consider sinking the Iranian navy, destroying its air force and delivering a decisive blow to the Revolutionary Guards... They should neuter the regime, destroy its ability to fight back and hope Iranians will take the chance to take back their government.

Source: DEBKAfile

Intel: Iran banks use growing trade with Turkey to bypass sanctions

Oct. 21 - The U.S. has warned that Turkish companies that work with Iranian banks under U.S. or United Nations sanctions may incur sanctions on their own activities.

"Turkey is seen by Iran as a convenient arena for activity aimed at bypassing international sanctions to enable Iranian financial activity in Europe and the rest of the world," a U.S. intelligence report said.

Source: World Tribune

High military alerts as Ahmadinejad, Nasrallah call for Israel's destruction

Oct. 13, 2010 - Israel declared a high military alert because of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to southern Lebanon with a belligerent message about Israel.

Ahmadinejad and Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared their common goal was Israel's destruction. The IDF, the Lebanese army and UNIFIL raised their war alert further when it was discovered that Nasrallah was not standing beside the Iranian president but had relayed his speech by videotape.

Source: DEBKAfile

Ahmadinejad tells Lebanese at rally near Israel border: The Zionists will disappear - Haaretz

Ahmadinejad in Beirut: We'll keep supporting Lebanon, fighting Zionist enemy

Oct. 13, 2010 - A highly-publicized visit by Iran's President Ahmadinejad to Lebanon has been celebrated by Hezbollah supporters but resented by the pro-Western contingent of the country.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the visit is intentionally provocative. "It is quite clear that he is the bearer of a violent message. He comes to a highly volatile region with the intention to play with fire, " he said.

Palmor says that a state within a state [meaning Hezbollah] has emerged in Lebanon over the last few years.

Ahmadinejad told the crowds, that Lebanon and Iran oppose the occupation and the crimes committed by the "Zionist enemy" and those who support it.

Source: Haaretz

Ahmadinejad makes a show of strength in Lebanon - Yahoo

Palin Warns of ‘Armageddon,' 'Third World War' in Exclusive Newsmax Broadcast

Oct. 12, 2010 - In an interview with NewsMax, Sarah Palin sounds like a serious contender for the presidency in 2010. Among the topics she addressed, the most startling was a warning that Iran may acquire nuclear weapons.

"We have to realize that, at the end of the day," Palin warns in the interview, "a nuclear weapon in that country's hands is not just Israel's problem or America's problem — it is the world's problem. It could lead to an Armageddon. It could lead to that World War III that could decimate so much of this planet."

Source: NewsMax

'U.S. believes Chinese companies are helping Iran develop nukes'

Sept. 30, 2010 - The Washington Post said that the U.S. government had given China a long list of banks and businesses in China that are violating U.N. sanctions against Iran. The paper also quoted a senior U.S. official saying,

The United States government believes that several Chinese companies are violating United Nations sanctions and providing Iran with assistance in improving its missile technology and developing nuclear weapons.

Source: Haaretz

Ahmadinejad: US "Orchestrated" 9/11 Due To Failing Economy, Israel

Sept. 24, 2010 - See the video of Ahmadinejad. He claimed that the US orchestrated the 9/11 attacks.

The US delegation walked out of Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's address at the United Nations. At the time Ahmadinejad was denouncing the United States' history of colonialism while incorporating it with the September 11th attacks on the nation.

Source: Real Clear Politics

U.S. Walks Out as Iran Leader Speaks - N.Y. Times

Transcript of Ahmadinejad's U.N. Speech

President Ahmedinejad Threatens U.S. With War 'Without Boundaries'

Sept. 21, 2010 - While in New York for the annual meetings of the United Nations General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad warned that an attack by Israel or the U.S. would be considered an act of war.

Such a war "would know no boundaries," Ahmedinejad said. "War is not just bombs."

Source: ABC

Ahmadinejad admits sanctions aren't working, keeps pushing for New World Order - Examiner

Stuxnet malware is 'weapon' out to destroy ... Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant?

Sept. 22, 2010 - Maybe the reason the U.S. or Israel has not attacked Iran's nuclear facilities is that a computer virus was sent to do the job.

The Stuxnet malware has infiltrated industrial computer systems worldwide. Now, cyber security sleuths say it's a search-and-destroy weapon meant to hit a single target. One expert suggests it may be after Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Experts who are studying the software do not know who developed it, but they have determined it was designed to destroy one specific target--presumably Iran's Bushehr nuclear installation, but has evidently infected other nuclear facilities in various countries. It apparently has the ability to cause the control computers in these targets to allow malfunctions of equipment that could cause it to self-destruct.

The attackware may have already disabled the Bushehr plant. It was expected to startup in late August, but has been delayed.

Source: Christian Science Monitor

See earlier Articles: before Sept. 22, 2010