Who do you trust??

Former US Ambassador to the United Nation tells Israel they only have days to act.  The Israeli government doesn't seem to saying much.   IRGC Politburo Chief General Yadollah Javani makes sure the entire world knows that Iranian missiles can strike any country in the World they want.   The Russians say trust us, everything's under control, would we lie? 

Obama Administration officials told Israel not to worry.  "But"  America's  Speech Maker in Chief is being uncharacteristically quiet,  did he forget his teleprompter?  If Obama's being quiet. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Isn't

Iran's Supreme Leader: No Negotiations With US

VOA News

Iran's supreme leader says his country will hold talks with the United States only if the U.S. lifts its "sanctions and threats" against Iran.


Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told top Iranian officials in a speech Wednesday that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others are right in saying Iran is ready to negotiate on its nuclear program.  But he said no discussions will be held with the United States.  The U.S., the United Nations Security Council and the European Union have issued tough new sanctions related to Iran's refusal to stop enriching uranium. Many in the international community suspect Iran's goal is to create a nuclear weapon -- a charge Tehran denies.

There is an update to this blog that hit the news overnight.. I will post the headline and link at the end of the blog, in part:

This jet, before it heralds death for enemies, is the messenger of salvation and dignity for humanity," Ahmadinejad said




All the players are in place,  The US and Israel have said in the past they'd never allow Iran to nuclear.  The Russians have make it clear sanctions won't matter, they built the reactor and they intend to profit from it in various ways.    

So click the headlines, read the articles and decide for yourself,   Personally I'd put the percentage odds at 60-40 against a strike.  Not because the Israeli's aren't willing, they are and they have expected to have to engage Iran for the last several years anyway.  At the moment though Israel has very little faith that the Obama Administration would support them after they hit.

On the other hand, US reassurances that they don't have to worry about Iran for another year .... don't sound reassuring, besides the American President is on vacation at the moment, and up to his butt in his own problems.

Somebody, everybody reading this is smarter and has a better better crystal ball than mine. What does yours say?? 



Rueters

U.S. assures Israel nuclear Iran not imminent: report
Thu Aug 19, 11:44 pm ET 



WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration has assured Israel that Iran's process of converting nuclear material into a working weapon would take at least a year, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

The newspaper cited White House officials saying they believed the assessment had dimmed prospects of a pre-emptive Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear facilities within the next year.

Israel, widely assumed to have its own atomic arsenal, has hinted at military strikes, as a last resort, to deny Iran the means to make a nuclear bomb. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.


The United States, the European Union and the U.N. Security Council have imposed sanctions on Iran over a nuclear program the West suspects is aimed at developing atomic weapons.


Jeruselem Post

'Israel has days to strike Bushehr'

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER
08/17/2010 18:24

Bolton: Russia to load fuel into reactor on Saturday
 
Talkbacks (223)

WASHINGTON – Israel has only mere days to launch an attack on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor if Russia makes good on its plan to deliver fuel there this weekend, former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton warned Tuesday.


He said that once Russia has loaded the fuel into the reactor -- slated for Saturday – Israel would no longer be willing to strike for fear of triggering widespread radiation in an attack.................................



Moscow Times

Rosatom Calls Bushehr 'International Project'
20 August 2010

By Olga Razumovskaya

Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko on Thursday called the construction of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant a "big international project" in which more than 10 European Union and Asia-Pacific countries took part in the Moscow-led project.


The state-run nuclear holding had not previously mentioned having foreign help constructing the controversial plant, which Russia first agreed to finish building in 1992.


The $1 billion project has been stalled repeatedly amid international sanctions and what Tehran has called Moscow's pandering to the West.


Russian political leaders have defended the pace of the work as Rosatom seeks to gain a larger foothold in the lucrative and highly competitive market for nuclear power construction deals.


Kiriyenko will join Iranian Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the country's Atomic Energy Organization, to open the facility on Saturday after almost four decades of sporadic work.


Inspectors from the United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency will also be on hand to open the nuclear fuel containers and oversee their transportation to the reactor, Kiriyenko said in a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.


The launch "coincides with Russia's position that any country in the world has the right to nuclear energy for peaceful use," provided that it is monitored by the IAEA, he said in comments carried on the government web site................................................................................




AL Jareeza

Bushehr reactor 'not a concern'

By Evan Hill

Experts say the Bushehr plant is not of grave concern, in part because Russia is fueling it [EPA]


Russia's state-owned Rosatom nuclear corporation has reportedly begun loading 80 tonnes of uranium fuelinto Iran's Bushehr nuclear power reactor, marking the penultimate step before the completion of a project 35 years in the making.


The long-delayed delivery prompted John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, to warn that Israel had only daysto destroy the reactor before the arrival of fuel would create a danger of nuclear fallout in the event of a bombing.


But the reactor at Bushehr - likely the first functioning nuclear power plant in the Middle East outside of Israel - has been in the works since the time of the shah, and non-proliferation experts say it is the least of their concerns in Iran.


Shah-era project


The history of the reactor at Bushehr, a town on Iran's southern coast perched across the Gulf from Kuwait, dates to the final years of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last monarch to rule Iran before an Islamic revolution radically changed the course of the country.

Is it time to strike Iran?

Thursday 19 August 2010


There is apparently growing momentum to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. The September issue of The Atlantic Monthly features a cover story suggesting Israel will soon undertake a bombing run on its own -- with or without the permission of the United States.



And John Bolton, America's former ambassador to the United Nations, said this week that such an action should take place "within eight days," before Iran fires up a reactor using Russian nuclear fuel.


Is Iran's nuclear program so advanced that military action is now required? Would such an attack be worth the costs and consequences?


Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk, the RedBlueAmerica columnists, debate the issue.


JOEL MATHIS:


An attack on Iran, whether by Israel or the United States, would have devastating consequences for the rest of us: Iran would almost certainly respond by unleashing its terrorist proxy groups to make war on Western targets, and it could easily make life miserable for shipping in the Straits of Hormuz -- a critical passage for oil exports from the Middle East to the rest of the world. Many people would die, and a shaky world economy might be plunged into depression.


And that's what would happen if the attack worked...........................................




FARS News Agency Iran
IRGC Official Underlines Iran's Ability to Hit Enemy Targets


TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) official lauded Iran's missile capability, and underlined that the country is able to hit the vital interests of the enemies across the globe.


"One of the most prominent achievements of the Islamic Republic of Iran's ruling system is its eye-catching missile progress," IRGC Politburo Chief General Yadollah Javani told FNA after Iran successfully test-fired its latest surface-to-surface missile, namely Qiam 1(Rising).


The commander noted that the launch of the newly unveiled missile has granted Iranians self-confidence and self-belief.


Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi announced on Friday that Iran's new surface to surface missile, Qiam 1 (Rising), has been successfully test-fired.


"Being a new class of Iranian missiles, Qiam 1 has been equipped with new technical specifications and exceptional tactical powers," Vahidi noted.

"Qiam 1 is part of the new generation of the Islamic Republic's surface to surface missiles with liquid fuel and completely designed and built domestically," the Iranian minister stated.



Update  it's not encouraging

..Ahmadinejad unveils new 'bomber' drone

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled on Sunday a new long-range drone, dubbed Karar, which reportedly can bomb targets at high speed, state television reported.



Television footage showed the president applauding as a blue cloth which had been covering the drone was pulled back to reveal a short aircraft painted in military-green with the words "Bomber jet" written on its side.

Images were then broadcast on television showing the aircraft flying.

"This jet, before it heralds death for enemies, is the messenger of salvation and dignity for humanity," Ahmadinejad said in his speech marking the unveiling of the drone in a hall at Tehran's Malek Ashtar university.