Tag Archives: Iran

Russia Agrees to Provide S-300 Missiles to Iran

Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday that Russia is honoring its deal with Iran and delivering S-300 surface-to-air missiles that could protect Iran from multiple targets and shoot down other missiles.

Russia and Iran were able to write a contract for their deal after international sanctions on Iran were lifted due to the nuclear deal with the U.S. and its allies. However, BBC New reports that Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States are against the new missile contract between Iran and the Kremlin.

According to Russian officials, the first missiles could be delivered 18 months after Iran decides what type of S-300 missiles they want; talks between the two countries continue.

“The deal to supply the S-300 to Iran has not only been signed between the parties but it has already come into force,” said Sergei Chemezov, head of Russia’s Rostec arms firm, speaking at the Dubai Airshow-2015.

The deal was originally signed in 2007, but international sanctions forced Russian leaders to freeze the deal. President Putin unfroze it in April. CBS News reports that the original model of the S-300 that was proposed in the first deal are no longer manufactured, and Russian officials had to modify the agreement.

Israel and the U.S. worry that if Iran receives these missiles they could effectively protect their nuclear sites from airstrikes. CBS News adds that Israel also fears that the Islamic State could get their hands on the S-300 if they are in Iran.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Allegedly Behind Cyberattacks Targeting U.S.

Protesters in Iran celebrated the 36 year anniversary of the 52 Americans in the U.S. Embassy of Teyran that were took hostage for 444 days by supporters of the Iranian revolution, by chanting the familiar, “Death to America”.  The U.S. has continued to attempt proceeding towards a more constructive dialogue with Iran, only to be shown time and time again through rhetoric and violence that Iran has no intention of becoming an ally of America.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has been behind a recent wave of cyberattacks on email and social media accounts of White House personnel.

Though the White House had hoped the recent nuclear deal would further cooperation between the two nations, the cyberattacks from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has shown that Iranian headliners have not toned down their hostility.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed US officials, said people working on Iran policy appeared to be the focus of the cyber attacks, with personnel in the State Department’s Office of Iranian Affairs and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs among those hacked. Other targets included journalists and academics.

The  Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)  has developed a team of hackers, trained by Russia, to focus on different Wall Street banks and Saudi oil companies, U.S. officials say, adding that Iran’s cyber attacks have regularly been a test of U.S. defenses.

Reports are that these hacking attempts have increased since the arrest of Siamak Namazi in mid-October, head of strategic planning for Crescent Petroleum, an oil and gas company in the United Arab Emirates and has worked for think tanks in Washington. He had been detained and interrogated regularly by the Revolutionary Guards before his arrest.

US officials believe some of the more recent attacks may be linked to reports of detained dual citizens and others,” a source told the Journal.

Iran Begins Deactivating Centrifuges But Still Shouting “Death to America”

Iran has begun the process of deactivating and decommissioning the first of thousands of centrifuges.  The centrifuges are used for enriching uranium and this action is in response to Iran’s part of it’s commitment according to the nuclear deal reached with U.S. and other major world powers.  

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, told Kyodo News agency, during a visit to Japan, that the entire process will “take some time.”  

“We have already started to take our measures vis-a-vis the removal of the centrifuge machines — the extra centrifuge machines,” Ali Akbar Salehi told Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, according to the Reuters news agency.

Iran needs to take most of its centrifuges, spread over two facilities, out of service, reducing their numbers from 19,000 to around 6,000. Also under the agreement Iran has promised to reduce its enrichment capabilities.

According to Reuters, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has stated his approval of the nuclear deal, allowing the work to begin, but the lawmakers said that the pace at which the centrifuges are being decommissioned is in direct violation of the Ayatollah’s directives.  

On Tuesday,  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke to Iranian students in Tehran about mistrust for U.S. policies and the nuclear deal and said that the slogan “Death to America,” was directed at the U.S. government and not its people.  

“Your ‘Death to America’ slogan, and the cries by the Iranian nation, have strong logical support behind them,” he told the students, “Obviously by ‘Death to America’, we don’t mean death to the American people. The American nation is just like the rest of the nations. It … means death to U.S. policies and its arrogance.”

Ted Koppel States that the U.S. is Unprepared for an Attack on the Power Grid

Veteran journalist, Ted Koppel, is getting the word out to the American public that the U.S. does not have a plan for a cyberattack against the power grid.

In his latest book “Lights Out,” Koppel writes on what would happen if another country took out the nation’s power grid via hacking, and how it would be difficult for unprepared American residents to survive.

“It’s frightening,” Koppel told CBS News. “I mean, it is frightening enough that my wife and I decided we were going to buy enough freeze-dried food for all of our kids and their kids.”

Koppel went on to say that the former Chief Scientists of the NSA told him that Russia and China were already in the power grid. And soon, Iran and terrorist groups like ISIS may be able to hack their way into the power grid’s system that is connected to the Internet.

“I’m not sure why it hasn’t happened yet,” cyber security consultant Larry Pesce told CBS. “It’s definitely not for lack of capability on various parts, be it us or the enemy. I think it comes down to timing. I think we need to make the right people mad at the right time.”

According to Koppel, he has talked with every former secretary of Homeland Security and they all said the same thing: there is no plan for a cyberattack against the power grid. However, Homeland Security replied to CBS saying that there is a plan, but they did not give details.

A former Defense Department official, Paul Stockton, told CBS that Koppel is wrong. While there is a plan in place, Stockton did admit that there could be improvement in security measures both through the government and the power companies.

“The government is building plans very, very quickly now to help manage the consequences of an attack on the grid,” Stockton said.

Stockton did add that Koppel was smart for stocking up on food and water for him and his family.

Average citizens need to be able to take care of their own families and their own neighborhoods and their own communities, and not assume that Uncle Sam is somehow going to magically bring in the cavalry and rescue them,” he said.

TruNews: Iran to Participate in Syria Talks in Vienna

TRUNEWS – Talks will be held in Vienna starting Thursday to discuss an end to the war in Syria.

The U.S. announced Tuesday Iran would be participating. But Syria’s opposition party, which is backed by the U.S. and its allies, claims Iranian attendance could be a hindrance to peace. Iran is an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“The Russian intervention blocks a political solution and Iran’s involvement was, and still is, able to obstruct a political solution,” said Hisham Marwa, Vice President of the Syrian National Coalition, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Iran’s Khamenei conditionally approves nuclear deal with powers

ANKARA (Reuters) – Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday approved the Iranian government’s nuclear deal with world powers but said Tehran should not give up core elements of its atomic program until allegations of past military dimensions had been settled.

In a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, whose pragmatist approach opened the door to nuclear diplomacy with the West, Khamenei ordered the July 14 agreement to be implemented, subject to certain security conditions the Iranian parliament stipulated in a law passed last week.

Under the Vienna agreement, Iran is to curb sensitive parts of its nuclear program to help ensure it cannot be diverted into developing bombs, in exchange for a removal of sanctions that have isolated the Islamic Republic and hobbled its economy.

Khamenei’s green light was the last procedural hurdle to carrying out a deal that ended a decade-long stand-off which raised fears of a wider Middle East war.

But the Supreme Leader has ruled out any detente with the West beyond the nuclear deal, and he said Iran would stop implementing it if the six powers – the United States, Britain, France, Germany China and Russia – imposed any new sanctions.

“Any comments suggesting the sanctions structure will remain in place or (new) sanctions will be imposed, at any level and under any pretext, would be (considered by Iran) a violation of the deal,” Khamenei said in the letter published on his website.

He said implementation of the deal should be “tightly controlled and monitored” because of some “ambiguities” in it.

“Lack of tight control could bring significant damage for the present and the future of the country,” he said, while praising the efforts of Rouhani’s negotiating team.

POSSIBLE MILITARY ASPECTS

The United States and the European Union took formal legal steps on Sunday that will rescind sanctions once Iran meets certain conditions such as reducing the number of centrifuges used to enrich uranium, and its enriched-uranium stockpile.

Another condition will be a resolution of a U.N. nuclear watchdog inquiry into whether Iran conducted atom bomb research at a military complex in the past – “possible military dimensions (PMD)” to the program, as the agency terms it.

On that point, Khamenei said that until U.N. inspectors settled the PMD issue, Iran should delay sending its stockpile of enriched uranium abroad and reconfiguring a heavy water reactor to ensure it cannot make bomb-grade plutonium.

The International Atomic Energy Agency finished collecting samples from Iran’s Parchin military complex earlier this month and is expected to announce its conclusions on PMD by Dec. 15.

Iran has long denied covertly researching bombs and says its nuclear program has always been for civilian energy purposes.

“Any action regarding Arak (reactor) and dispatching uranium abroad … will take place after the PMD (possible military dimensions) file is closed,” Khamenei said in the letter.

Iran agreed with the powers to fill the Arak reactor’s core with concrete so that it could not yield plutonium, which along with highly enriched uranium constitutes the standard fuel for nuclear bombs.

Iran is also required to export more than 90 percent of its refined uranium stocks, keeping just 300 kg of the material enriched to 3.67 percent fissile purity – suitable for running civilian nuclear power plants – for 15 years.

Since the deal was struck, Khamenei, who holds together Iran’s multi-tiered, faction-ridden power structure, has ruled out normalizing relations with the United States, overriding Rouhani’s expressed wish to pursue further areas of cooperation.

In comments meant to reassure hardline acolytes particularly in the security services, Khamenei said U.S. President Barack Obama had sent him two letters pledging America had no intention of toppling the Islamic Republic’s clerical establishment.

“But this was soon proved a lie … Neither on the nuclear issue nor in any other cases has America taken any position except hostility and trouble (towards Iran). Therefore any change in the future is unlikely,” Khamenei’s statement read.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Sam Wilkin; Editing by William Maclean and Mark Heinrich)

Iran Broadcasts Rare Images of Underground Missile Base

Iran revealed a secret underground missile base in an unprecedented broadcast on Iranian state television on Wednesday, showing where medium and long-range missiles were being stored.

The pictures were from The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force and gave the world a look into tunnel that is about 10 meters high and houses many missiles that were sitting on their launch pads, ready to be fired. Also featured in the pictures were numerous Iranian soldiers and other pieces of hardware. The tunnel is reportedly buried 500 meters (1,640 feet) underneath a mountain, but the exact location is unknown.

The underground missile bases make it more difficult for spy satellites to pinpoint the location of the missiles and arms caches.

A senior general told state media that there were numerous missile bases scattered across the country and that all of their weapons would be getting an upgrade very soon.

“As of next year, a new and advanced generation of long-range liquid and solid fuel missiles will replace the current products,” said Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

“The missiles in various ranges are mounted on the launchers in all bases and (are) ready to be launched.”

The broadcast comes days after Iran tested a ballistic missile, which French and American officials are calling a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution. The Security Council resolution 1929, which went into effect in 2010, states that Iran is banned from ballistic missile tests.

It has also been reported that Iran recently sent hundreds of troops into Syria to join their Hezbollah ally in an offensive against the rebels. The Iranian fighters have been deployed near Aleppo to retake the city with the help of Russian air strikes, rocket launchers, and artillery.

Iranian Lawmakers Approve Nuclear Deal

The Iranian Parliament has given its approval to the deal Tehran reached with world powers over its nuclear program, state media reported.

The deal was passed with 161 votes in favor, 59 against and 13 abstentions, the official IRNA news agency said. Debate over the legislation was so intense that physical fights broke out among lawmakers, and some hard-line opponents of the deal cried when the bill passed.

The deal, which has been widely praised by some and completely criticized by many, including politicians in the United States and especially Israel, regards Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Government international sanctions on Iran will be lifted in return for restrictions on its nuclear program. This agreement has been hard fought in order to prevent Iran from being able to develop an atomic bomb.

The bill now goes before the Guardian Council for review. The 12-member clerical body, which is charged with interpreting the country’s constitution. This body could approve or reject it as well as revise and send back to the parliament for reconsideration.

The final say on all matters of state, including the nuclear deal, rests with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has vowed that the historic agreement won’t change his government’s stance toward the United States. Khamenei has made many threats to the United States and Israel even during the negotiations and continues to do so.  

Under the agreement, Iran is expected to start work on rolling back its nuclear program from 18 October – labelled as adoption day – which includes taking out thousands of centrifuges at its enrichment facilities and pulling out its heavy-water reactor and filling it with concrete.

Russia Denies Missiles Landed in Iran, Despite Pentagon Reports

Pentagon officials reported Friday that the 4 of the 26 missiles fired by Russian warships in the Caspian Sea landed in a rural area of northern Iran.

Both Iran and Russia deny the claims, saying that it’s propaganda. Russia states that all 26 missiles hit ISIS targets in north and northwest Syria. The Russian defense ministry posted this on Facebook: “No matter how unpleasant and unexpected it is for our colleagues in the Pentagon and Langley, our strike yesterday with precision-guided weapons at Isis infrastructure in Syria hit its targets.”

Reports on Iranian TV indicated that an “unidentified flying object” had crashed and exploded in a village, killing a number of cows. At this time it’s still unclear if that object was a Russian missile, but social media posts showed missiles flying overhead at low altitudes.

A U.S. defense official said that the missiles used by Russia to attack Syrian targets are typically used to attack heavy air defenses, which the Syrian rebel groups do not have. They speculate that the use of the cruise missile is a sign of Russia’s power to the rest of the world.

The Pentagon report comes days after Russian forces coordinated attacks with the Syrian military to attack Syrian rebel groups. Russia continues to claim that their presence in Syria is to fight ISIS, despite their continuous attacks on groups that are against the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regime.

U.N Summit, World Leaders Meet to Discuss Global Problems

Today five of the most powerful men in the world will be speaking at this historic meeting at the U.N. United States President Obama, Russia’s President Putin, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani

U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki Moon called for a political solution to the war in Syria that has left more than 200,000 dead and unleashed a torrent of refugees. “The global humanitarian system is not broken; it is broke,” he said. He also urged world leaders to work together in order to banish the “blatant brutality” of extremist groups, such as the Islamic State.

U.S. President Barack Obama said they would work with any country to solve the crisis and war in Syria but that we must also not allow Syrian President Bashar Assad to stay in office. When speaking about the conflict in Ukraine, he said the world cannot stand by while Russia violates Ukraine’s integrity and sovereignty.

The need to protect and nurture the environment was first thing on Chinese President, Xi Jinping’s agenda in his speech today. “We should care for nature and not place ourselves above it. We should reconcile industrial development with nature.” He added that China would never pursue “hegemony, expansion or sphere of influence” in the world. And he pledged $1 billion over the next decade to support U.N. efforts to further global peace and development.

Russian President Putin stressed the importance of combating the ISIS threat in Syria stating that it must be done in cooperation with the Syrian government. “We think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to work with the Syrian government and its armed forces,” Putin said. “No one but the Syrian forces and Kurdish militia are seriously fighting against the Islamic state.” The alternative is to arm terrorists who threaten Europe, Russia and other countries, he said.

The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani praised the Iranian/U.S. agreement on nuclear weapons as an example of global cooperation. On the terroristic threats in the middle east, he stated firmly the terrorist “wave of destruction has gone beyond the Middle East and the Arab world and reached the shores of the United States and Europe,” he added. “Without the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and U.S. support for the Zionist regime, the terrorists would not have justification for their actions.”

President Obama and Putin are scheduled for an intense meeting this afternoon at the White House to discuss their differences on Syria and the Ukraine.