Countdown Iran » Iran

Iran Unveils New Satellite Capabilities on Eve of Revolution Anniversary

C.I. — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:07:00 +0000

FEB. 3 – “Iran test-fired a new satellite rocket and unveiled a series of what it said were home-grown advances in a space program that has worried Western officials because of possible cross-over applications in the country’s weapons program,” reports the Wall Street Journal.

Obama Aide Says Iran May Lash Out at Israel

C.I. — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 20:09:51 +0000

JAN. 30 – “President Barack Obama’s national security adviser is citing a heightened risk that Iran will respond to growing pressure over its nuclear program by stoking violence against Israel,” reports the AP.

Iran Runs Military Nuclear Office, Intel Report Alleges

C.I. — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:29:25 +0000

JAN. 27 – “An intelligence document being studied by diplomats in Israel and Western powers alleges that a secret Iranian office is charged with overseeing military elements of the nation’s nuclear program, Der Spiegel reported yesterday,” according to Global Security Newswire.

Israel’s President Peres: ‘Iran a Threat to the World’

C.I. — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:50:37 +0000

JAN. 27 – “Israeli leaders called Iran a threat to the world on Wednesday, which is International Holocaust Memorial Day, and vowed that the Jewish people would never again fall victim to a fanatical regime,” reports Reuters.

Iran to Unveil Missiles During Anniversary

C.I. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:18:30 +0000

JAN. 26 – “A top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that the country’s armed forces will unveil several missiles and weapons at the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution next month,” reports AFP.

Israel’s Defense Minister Barak: Iran Using Nuclear Talks ‘To Buy Time’

C.I. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:14:33 +0000

JAN. 26 – “Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday accused Iran of using talks with world powers on its nuclear program ‘to buy time,’” reports WashingtonTV.

Israel’s PM Netanyahu: ‘World Must Learn From Holocaust’

C.I. — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:16:01 +0000

JAN. 25 – “Israel’s prime minister has called on the international community to band together against enemies calling for the destruction of the Jewish state,” the Associated Press reports.

Clinton: US, Allies Will Not Back Down on Iran Nuclear Issue

C.I. — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:04:14 +0000

JAN. 23 – “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday the United States and allies will not back down in pressing Iran on concerns that its nuclear program is weapons related,” the VOA reports.

Jerusalem Post: ‘Nazi-Era Corporate Behavior Repeated’

C.I. — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:31:25 +0000

JAN. 22 -”Activists from political organization Stop the Bomb distributed fliers to the 3,500 stockholders of the German engineering and steel giant ThyssenKrupp here in this industrial city on Thursday, charging that 4.5 percent of the company’s stocks are in the hands of the Iranian government,” reports the Jerusalem Post.

AFP: Iran in Billion-Euro Gas Deal with Germany

C.I. — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:02:30 +0000

JAN. 20 – “Iran has signed a one-billion-euro (1.44-billion-dollar) deal with a German firm to build 100 gas turbo-compressors,” according to a report by AFP citing an industry official quoted in newspaper reports.

State Dept: Iran’s Response ‘Inadequate’

C.I. — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:19:25 +0000

JAN. 19 – The U.S. State Department on Tuesday said Iran’s rejection of a proposal by six major powers to enrich uranium for a research reactor in Tehran was “inadequate,” Ynetnews reported this evening.

Armenian Daily: Iran to Purchase Electricity From Georgia

C.I. — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:58:30 +0000

JAN. 19 -”‘Iran is ready to purchase electricity from Georgia,’ Iranian FM Manouchehr Mottaki said after the meeting with his Georgian counterpart Grigol Vashadze,” according to a report by News.am quoting the Georgian Kavkaz press news agency.

Reuters: Iran Denies Report of Gas Distribution Grid Deal

C.I. — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:51:53 +0000

JAN. 19 – “An Iranian official has denied a report that a state engineering company had signed a deal with a German company to help improve Iran’s gas distribution grid,” according to a report by Reuters.

Report: Iran Threatens Western Warships in Event of Attack

C.I. — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:46:52 +0000

JAN. 19 – “Iran will target Western warships in the Persian Gulf should the country come under attack from the U.S. and its allies,” says Iran’s Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, in a report by Bloomberg carried by Business Week.

Report: Iran Rejects Nuclear Fuel Exchange Offer

C.I. — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:17:12 +0000

JAN. 19 – The Associated Press reports that Iran has rejected a Western offer to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. See also this report by the Canadian Press.

AP: Iran Vows ‘Revenge’ Over Physicist’s Murder

C.I. — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:56:35 +0000

JAN. 18 -”Iran vowed Monday to take revenge on Israel and the United States for the slaying last week of a physics professor in a mysterious bomb attack,” the Associated Press is reporting, citing Iran’s official news agency.

William Burns: Noncompliance Will Have ‘Consequences’

C.I. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:07:11 +0000

JAN. 15 – According to an Associated Press dispatch on the Jerusalem Post web site, U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns is warning Iran of “consequences” if it does not comply with international solutions to limit its uranium enrichment program.

Israeli MK Offers Ominous Prediction

C.I. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:22:36 +0000

JAN. 15 -”The Obama administration will not initiate an offensive campaign against Iran,” predicted Israeli lawmaker and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi at a New York forum yesterday, according to several Israeli media reports.

Hanegbi, who is a member of the opposition Kadima Party, said the United States will not succeed in eliciting allied support for significant sanctions against Iran.

“The year 2010, therefore, will be the most critical year for Israel since its establishment,” said Hanegbi, ”because any resulting decision on the nuclear issue will shape the future of Israel for many years to come.”

Murdered Iranian Physicist Not Tied to Iranian Nuclear Project

C.I. — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:05:04 +0000

JAN. 13 – In the wake of Tuesday’s murder of an Iranian physicist in Tehran, several interesting details about Massoud Ali Mohammadi have emerged.

The Washington Post reports that Ali Mohammadi was involved in a regional project that included Israelis but was not connected to nuclear physics. Michael Ledeen writes that Ali Mohammadi was not involved in Iran’s secret nuclear weapons project. In fact, the scientist had opposition links, according to the Telegraph (UK).

NSC’s Jones in Israel; ‘Secret’ Talks May Focus on Iran

C.I. — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:06:30 +0000

JAN. 13 – U.S. National Security Adviser Jim Jones has arrived in Israel today for three days of talks. According to several Israeli media outlets, the meetings are ”veiled in secrecy” and are most likely to center on Iran. See today’s brief report in the Jerusalem Post.

AP: Iranian Nuclear Physicist Killed in Bomb Blast

C.I. — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 08:19:22 +0000

JAN. 12 – The Associated Press is reporting that a professor of nuclear physics at Tehran University was killed today by a bomb-rigged motorcycle parked outside his home in Iran’s capital.

AP: Six-Nation Iran Parley Being Planned

C.I. — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:00:43 +0000

JAN. 11 – The Associated Press is reporting that the United States and five other countries are likely to meet this week to discuss what to do about Iran’s nuclear program.

Required Reading

C.I. — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:49:10 +0000

JAN. 11 – The following links may be of interest to Countdowniran.com readers:

Israel and Iran: The Gathering Storm. The Economist. Jan. 7, 2010. Israel’s Government Spokesman, Mark Regev, is asked about the piece in the Jan. 8th broadcast of “Frost Over the World.”

Iranian President Ahmadinejad on Nuclear Program: ‘We Won’t Back Down’

C.I. — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:19:15 +0000

JAN. 9- AFP reports on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s defiant declaration, today, broadcast live on Iranian state television, that his country will not back down “one iota” in the face of international pressures over its nuclear program.

AP: Taiwan Firm, On Request from China, Shipped Part With Nuke Uses to Iran

C.I. — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:02:29 +0000

JAN. 9 – The Associated Press is reporting that a Taiwanese company acceded to a request from a China-based firm to procure sensitive components with nuclear uses, then shipped them to Iran.

Chinese Envoy Objects to Additional Iran Penalties

C.I. — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:33:29 +0000

JAN. 6 - Zhang Yesui, the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, said in a press conference Tuesday that his country opposed tougher sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

“Sanctions themselves are not an end,” he said. According to a report in today’s New York Times, the Chinese buy about 15 percent of their oil from Iran.

“State-run companies like the China National Petroleum Corporation have signed billions of dollars’ worth of deals to help Iran develop oil and gas fields and to expand its refining capacity,” according to the Times.

See also today’s report in the Washington Post.

On Jan. 4, the Wall Street Journal, highlighting a recent report by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, described how Chinese firms have been evading U.S. sanctions imposed because of proliferation to Iran.

NY Times: ‘Iran Shielding Nuclear Efforts in Maze of Tunnels’

C.I. — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:30:12 +0000

JAN. 6 – The New York Times’ William J. Broad is reporting, this morning, that Iran has for the last decade “quietly hidden an increasingly large part of its atomic complex in networks of tunnels and bunkers across the country.”

Required Reading: How China Evades U.S. Sanctions

C.I. — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:06:27 +0000

JAN. 4 – Today’s Wall Street Journal, highlighting a recent report by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, describes how Chinese firms have been evading U.S. sanctions imposed because of proliferation to Iran.