U.S. bunker-buster request prompts Iran attack fears !!!

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U.S. bunker-buster request prompts Iran attack fears
By Susan Cornwell

Wed Oct 24, 6:59 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071024/pl_nm/usa_iran_bomb_dc_1
 


Some Democratic lawmakers questioned on Wednesday whether a new Bush administration request for $88 million to fit "bunker-busting" bombs to B-2 stealth bombers was part of preparations for an attack on Iran.

The proposal was included as part of a nearly $200 billion request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that the Bush administration sent to Capitol Hill on Monday.

The request included $87.8 million for further development of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, a conventional bomb designed to destroy hardened or deeply buried targets.

Many of Iran's nuclear development facilities are believed to be underground. The United States accuses Iran of trying to develop a nuclear bomb while Tehran insists its nuclear program is only for power generation.

A Bush administration summary said the request was needed for "development of a Massive Ordnance Penetrator for the B-2 aircraft in response to an urgent operational need from theater commanders," but gave no details.

"My assumption is that it is Iran, because you wouldn't use them in Iraq, and I don't know where you would use them in Afghanistan, it doesn't have any weapons facilities underground that we know of," said Rep. Jim Moran, a Virginia Democrat who is on the House defense spending committee and intends to argue against the request.

"I suppose you could try to bomb out a cave (in Afghanistan), but that seems like taking a sledgehammer to a tack. A little excessive," Moran said in a phone interview.

Another Democrat, Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington, said the bunker-buster request worried him because of the rising tide of criticism of Iran coming from the Bush administration. Last week, Bush warned that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to World War Three.

"The drumbeats of war are beating again, this time against Iran and we have to step in while there is still time," McDermott said through a spokesman.

'BURIED TARGETS'

One congressional aide said, however, that the proposed program to fit the bombs to the B-2s might not be finished until 2009 or 2010 -- after the Bush administration has left office.

Asked what the bunker-buster had to do with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a senior defense official briefing reporters on the war funding request earlier this week said: "Look in terms of better capabilities of bringing better, quicker precision ordnance on the target."

"You have buried targets, for example particularly in Afghanistan, that you're concerned about and so, to me, I think there is in fact a direct link in terms of the kinds of possibilities that might be there in this sort of capability."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeated the administration's position on Wednesday that Bush prefers diplomacy to resolve problems with Iran, although she said all options are on the table.

The Democratic majority in Congress, which opposes prolonging the Iraq conflict, is in no hurry to give Bush more war money. House appropriators said earlier this month they would not even consider the new war funding request until early 2008, and they want to link it to a plan to bring troops home.

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U.S. will cut off Iran's 'malignant' actions !

By Sue Pleming and Susan Cornwell
Wed Oct 24, 11:25 AM ET
 http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071024/pl_nm/mideast_rice_iran_dc


U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday the United States would cut off Iran's "malignant" activities in Iraq and was working urgently to impose more punitive measures against Tehran.

Speaking to the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Rice said Washington was looking closely at "new designations" against Tehran, which the United States accuses of fomenting violence in Iraq and of pursuing an atomic bomb.

"One of our best levers, and it is a really simple proposition, Iran should not be able to use the international financial system to move its ill-gotten gains from proliferation or terrorism around the world," she said.

"We are working very urgently to get some of that ready," she said of new sanctions against Iran. She did not provide details of when or what might be imposed.

However, U.S. officials say the Bush administration is very close to imposing restrictions on the elite Qods force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the United States accuses of arming and training militants in Iraq.

Florida Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said the Bush administration appeared to be taking a "slow, deliberative course" on Iran and should designate the entire Revolutionary Guards Corps a terrorist group.

"Why not put the whole corps on the list?" Ros-Lehtinen asked.

Demonstrators greeted Rice with screams of "war criminal" and one woman waved her blood-colored hands in Rice's face before she was shoved away by police and the group was removed from the hearing room.

JEOPARDIZING SECURITY

In her prepared testimony, Rice said Iran was jeopardizing the security and prosperity of its neighbors by supporting extremist forces across the region.

"Iran is supporting select Shia militants in Iraq who kill innocent Iraqi civilians, Iraqi security personnel and coalition forces," she said.

"We are determined to cut off Iran's malignant activities in Iraq by apprehending and eliminating Qods Force members and other actors who endanger human life and overall national stability," she said.

Iran strongly denies that it has destabilized Iraq and says it is the actions of the United States that have led to chaos in its neighbor.

Rice said Iran also provided support to the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Palestinian Territories and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The United States is pushing the U.N. Security Council to impose a third round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, which Tehran says is for civilian power use and the West says is aimed at building a nuclear bomb.

Rice said the combination of terrorism, its own domestic politics and the pursuit of nuclear weapons was a "very dangerous mix" and the United States would push hard for a third U.N. sanctions resolution.

Russia and China are lukewarm to further punitive measures against Iran and Moscow has said dialogue rather than sanctions or military action is how to deal with Tehran.

Rice reiterated the U.S. position that diplomacy was the way forward: "The president has been very clear, that while he doesn't take any options off the table, he is committed to a diplomatic course on Iran."

Rice said it was unclear what Tehran's change from Ali Larijani as nuclear negotiator to the more hard-line Saeed Jalili meant for Iran's approach to the nuclear issue.

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Iran, Syria need to be part of Iraq solution, says US diplomat !!


Web posted at: 10/25/2007 3:40:17
Source ::: The Peninsula 
Thomas Pickering
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=October2007&file=Local_News2007102534017.xml

DOHA • Neither the US nor the parties concerned in Iraq have made any headway in resolving the Iraqi crisis, which remains a key deterrent in improving US-Middle East relations, according to Thomas Pickering, a well-known American diplomat.

He said four countries in the region are to be taken in to account when considering any solution to the crisis – Saudi Arabia, with its hold over the Sunni community in Iraq, Turkey, which does not want a separate Kurdish state, Iran, which has a strong influence on the Arab Shi’ite community in Iraq and Syria, which has the capability to contribute towards a solution.

Along with the US and its close allies in the West, three other countries- Germany, Japan and India- must also be involved in the peace efforts.

“The US alone cannot solve the problem. A careful diplomacy is required which is also very difficult,” he commented.

He was delivering the keynote address at a seminar on the US-Middle East relations at the Al Sharq Village yesterday.

Pickering, who held the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the US Foreign Service said, addressing the three key issues in the Middle East – Iraq, Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – is extremely important for the US in the current political scenario.

“The military operation in Iraq was well-conducted but the pre-military diplomacy was conducted in the opposite way,” said Pickering. “ If we are not moving forward, we will be falling down,” he added.

On the Iranian issue, Pickering said, the US must start talks with Iran not only on the nuclear crisis, but also on other issues concerning bilateral relations. It is necessary to reach an agreement with Iran, with the support of the international community, to ensure that latter will not use its nuclear capability to develop nuclear weapons.

To resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, the two-state solution must be pursued further even with limited right of return for Palestinian refugees, in a way that does not destabilise the demographic pattern of Israel, Pickering said.

He said it is not wise to isolate Hamas, since it enjoys the support of about half of the Palestinian population. The US should support a unity government in Palestine. The role of Syria is also important in resolving the issue, he added.

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October 25, 2007

New Steps by U.S. Against Iranians

By HELENE COOPER
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/washington/25tehran.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=login&oref=slogin

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 — The Bush administration will announce a long-debated policy of new sanctions against Iran on Thursday, accusing the elite Quds division of the Revolutionary Guard Corps of supporting terrorism, administration officials said Wednesday night.

The administration also plans to accuse the entire Revolutionary Guard Corps of proliferating weapons of mass destruction, the officials said. While the United States has long labeled Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism, the decision to single out the Guard reflects increased frustration in the administration with the slow pace of diplomatic negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Both designations will put into play unilateral sanctions intended to impede the Revolutionary Guard and those who do business with it. This is the first time that the United States has taken such steps against the armed forces of any sovereign government.

The action against the Revolutionary Guard, first reported by The Washington Post, would set in motion a series of automatic sanctions that would make it easier for the United States to block financial accounts and other assets controlled by the Guard. In particular, the action would freeze any assets the Guard has in the United States, although it is unlikely that the Guard maintains much in the way of assets in American banks or other institutions.

The decision will be announced jointly on Thursday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the administration officials said. “This is going to be a broad and wide-ranging effort,” a senior administration official said. “We will be freezing assets, and there will be ripple effects of where we can go from there.”

The announcement also intensifies the strained relations between the two countries. The administration has accused Revolutionary Guard members of providing weaponry and explosive devices used by Shiite militias against American troops in Iraq — a charge that Tehran has denied.

In August, White House officials said they intended to declare the entire Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organization, but reports of such a move so raised the hackles of America’s European allies and some officials of the State and Treasury Departments that the administration put those plans on hold while the internal debate continued. The announcement planned for Thursday reflects a compromise.

In the internal debate over American policy toward Iran, Ms. Rice has been struggling for more than a year to hold together a fragile coalition of world powers that have been trying to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions through what was supposed to be a gradually escalating series of United Nations sanctions. But after two rounds of sanctions, Russia and China have balked at escalation to another round.

Last week Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, caused consternation in the administration when he visited Tehran and said publicly that there was no need for military strikes. The guard and its military wing are identified as a power base for Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Under his administration, American officials said, the Guard has moved increasingly into commercial operations, earning profits and extending its influence in Iran in areas involving big government contracts, including building airports and other infrastructure, producing oil and providing cellphones.

The immediate legal consequence of designating the Quds unit as a terrorist organization would be to make it unlawful for anyone subject to United States jurisdiction to knowingly provide material support or resources to it, according to the State Department. Any United States financial institution that becomes aware that it possesses, or has control over, funds of a foreign terrorist organization would have to turn them over to the Treasury Department.

Because Iran has done little business with the United States in more than two decades, the larger point of the designation would be to heighten the political and psychological pressure on Iran, administration officials said, by using the designation to persuade foreign governments and financial institutions to cut ties with Iranian businesses and individuals.

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http://debka.com



DEBKAfile Reports: An Iranian organization (Hizballah's Friends) declares every American a “terrorist” after Washington unveils a new package of extra-tough sanctions Thursday

October 25, 2007, 3:28 PM (GMT+02:00)

The package was to be announced jointly by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and treasury secretary Henry Paulson and include branding Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and the al Qods Brigade sponsor of terrorists. The defense ministry is also singled out for sanctions.

These steps are unprecedented. DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources recall that the Islamic regime announced in advance that approval of these measures would be deemed tantamount to an American declaration of war on Iran and call forth retaliation. Tehran would target US interests in the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan or Israel by means of Special Groups, i.e. Iran’s foreign intelligence networks, Hizballah or Hamas.

DEBKAfile’s sources reveal that these reprisals may be delayed some days because of a profound power struggle taking place in Iran’s leadership. However, since the supreme ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is directly affected as commander-in-chief of Iran’s armed forces, including the IRGC and its al Qods Brigade, Tehran cannot afford to let Washington’s accusations go unanswered.

The new sanctions package includes US financial penalties for any world firms trading with the Revolutionary Guards. They would apply to more than 1,000 companies in Europe, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf and Asia. Our Iranian sources note that since IRGC-owned companies control more than 35 percent of Iran’s economic activities, the new sanctions will have a crippling effect on its national economy. This is already hard hit by Washington’s systematic blockage of Iran’s dealings with international banks, which has left Tehran seriously short of cash flow, foreign currency and basic commodities.

According to DEBKAfile’s sources, Iran very recently sent Indonesia an “emergency appeal” for gasoline and heavy oil, because it has run out of currency to pay for imported refined oil products. Tehran offered to reward Jakarta with a concession for building big new oil refineries, which Iran lacks.

Indonesia has not yet replied. Its government must take into account that no serious world oil enterprise would be willing to cooperate in a refinery project in Iran for fear of a backlash from the American boycott.