IRAN: Latest and Breaking News

Report: Iran plane was carrying arms for Hezbollah


Italian newspaper says plane crash north of Tehran which left 168 people dead was caused by explosion of fuses slated to be delivered to Lebanese organization. According to report, members of Revolutionary Guards among casualties


An Iranian plane crash two weeks ago – which left 168 people dead – was caused by the explosion of sophisticated fuses slated to be delivered to Hezbollah, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Saturday, quoting sources in the Middle East.

According to the report, the pilot of the Tupolev plane, which was making its way from Tehran to Armenia, sent an emergency warning 16 minutes after takeoff. Shortly afterwards, the plane crashed in northwest Iran.  

According to the sources, the aircraft was carrying a large number of modern fuses composed of 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of explosives and electrical instrumentation.

The report is in line with testimonies on explosion sounds heard before the crash. According to the sources, the plane was meant to transfer the fuses from Iran to Armenia, and from there to Syria through Turkey, and then on the ground to Lebanon. This route was chosen, according to exiled opposition sources, so as not to draw attention.

According to the report, the transfer of arms was a special operation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and some of its members were among the crash victims. It was also reported that the presence of security forces at the site of the crash was not a coincidence.

According to information received from Lebanon, the weapon was to be hidden in one of the shelters built by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. However following an explosion which destroyed such a facility on July 14, the Iranian decided to hide the fuses north of the Litani River.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3755510,00.html

I wonder did Mossad have a hand in it at all?

crod wrote:I wonder did Mossad have a hand in it at all?

if they did , they did us a favor!

Sounds like a couple of Global Hawks got downed by the Iranian Strella's.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8236073/Iran-claims-to-have-shot-down-US-drones.html

The hilljack MF's as usual denied their shot down drones, but here's a confirmation from the horses mouth:

http://www.irna.ir/ENNewsShow.aspx?NID=30190953&SRCH=1

Funnily enough the Russians wanted them shot down hulks like conniving little bitches........

He, however, denied knowing about any offer by the Russians for purchase of such airplanes.

No they didn't.

The reporter speculated they might want them and asked if any offer had been made to which the above reply makes clear they didn't.

And congrats to the Iranians. Hope they find the contents useful.

GarryB wrote:

He, however, denied knowing about any offer by the Russians for purchase of such airplanes.

No they didn't.

The reporter speculated they might want them and asked if any offer had been made to which the above reply makes clear they didn't.

And congrats to the Iranians. Hope they find the contents useful.

The contents are shit Garry! These hilljack MF's couldn't figure out what blew them out of the sky....Thank you Russia for supplying nice strella's.

Bhuwahahahahaaaa

The U.S forces are a bunch of clowns about to get it in the fun-hole.......if you know whats goin down in Iraq and the gulf. The U.S. is welcome to stay in Iraq just so as long as it stays in front of the Saudi Suicide bombers and takes the brunt of the attacks, and fights off the assorted types from Jordan, Sunni Syrians and Saudi youth while we cajole the Iraqi's into our islamic bullshit.....

Iran rules Iraq right now, and no one dares utter a word from their fun-hole.

Russia didn't supply Iran with Strelas, Iran got them from China.

And their ATGM is a copy of a TOW so they didn't get those from Russia either.

If Iran shot down US drones... where are the photos of wreckage? They would be running that footage from here to next year. Never happened.

The Serbs were known to have shot down at least 50 UAVs in the Kosovo conflict (some figures given by the Serbs confuse UAVs with real aircraft), but not all resulted in pictures of recovered wreckage. When shot down over water or very rough country it can take weeks to find wreckage if you find it at all.

Here in Tiny NZ light aircraft that have crashed in bush have been searched for and not found till years later when someone comes across the wreckage by accident.

Having said that, I too would prefer to see footage of the UAV before I considered it real... Iran has a propaganda department that tells lies just like any western government.

The Serbs got pictures of a couple dozen downed drones... not to mention that famous footage of the F-117 wreckage. If Iran has it, they would propaganda it for all it is worth.

The Serbs got pictures of a couple dozen downed drones... not to mention that famous footage of the F-117 wreckage. If Iran has it, they would propaganda it for all it is worth.

I totally agree, but when 50 are shot down then the chance of finding a few dozen becomes easier. I read that NATO even tracked a few helos that were shadowing their UAVs and it turned out the Serbs were flying the helos along side the UAVs and simply the door gunners with PKMs were hosing the UAVs out of the sky.

Simple, cheap and effective.

Makes me think for the Russian problem with the Georgian UAVs before the conflict where Iglas couldn't get an IR lock on the tiny, high targets and the ZU-23s didn't have the altitude reach that a good solution could be just a cheap simple UAV of their own with a PKM mounted on it with no tracer ammo (that would alert the UAV it was under attack). It would be fun... you could take turns flying up and getting in behind the enemy UAV and shooting it down. You could even make the UAV a triplane and pretend you are the red baron or something... Much cheaper than firing off a BUK missile or flying a Mig-29 in and shooting it down with an R-27R or R-73.

Don't get me wrong, I don't trust the Iranians without proof, but I don't trust the Americans either.

Elite Iranian troops start exercise near Afghan border

Ground forces of Iran's elite Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have started military exercises near the border with Afghanistan, Iranian media said.

The exercises were launched as Tehran's tensions with the West continue to escalate after Western powers threatened new sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its controversial nuclear program. Iran retaliated by saying that it would block the strategic Strait of Hormuz where an estimated 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil passes, in response to the West's oil embargo plans.

"The wargames are aimed at boosting security along the Iranian borders and are part of the IRGC ground forces' routine drills staged to maintain and boost combat preparedness of the IRGC units," the Fars news agency quoted Commander of the IRGC Ground Force Brig. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour.

The exercises, codenamed codenamed "Shohaday-e Vahdat (Martyrs of Unity)" were officially launched on Saturday, but the active phase is to begin on Monday.

The Press TV said the exercises will be held near the eastern Iranian Khaf city with an aim to increase the readiness of IRGC forces under extreme climatic conditions.

"Shohaday-e Vahdat maneuvers are taking place in Khaf where the temperature drops 15-21 degrees below zero," Press TV quoted Pakpour as saying.

The United States on Saturday approved sanctions targeting Iran's oil industry, and the European Union will consider banning Iranian oil imports during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in late January.

On Friday, Iranian lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said the country's maneuvers were a response to external threats, particularly those posed by the U.S. He accused Washington of using the language of threat against Iran, and said its moves in the region can only be described as hostile.

On Monday, Iran test-fired one surface-to-surface missile and one surface-to-sea missile in a drill its navy chief said proved Tehran was in control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Iran announced on Friday it was planning to hold new "massive" naval exercises near the strategic Strait of Hormuz within the next few weeks. The drills, codenamed The Great Prophet, may coincide with major naval exercises that Israel and the United States are planning to hold in the Persian Gulf in the near future.


http://www.en.ria.ru/mlitary_news/20120108/170662998.html

Reading between the lines I would say this is a message to the EU and the US that any attempt to have a go at Iran will have consequences in Afghanistan.

GarryB wrote:Reading between the lines I would say this is a message to the EU and the US that any attempt to have a go at Iran will have consequences in Afghanistan.

Correct but it also a message to Iraq...

Americans have short memories... most probably believe US troops are all out of Iraq.

Of course this is the 21st Century and the US is changing military policy... they have a standing army to invade and occupy one country and Blackwater what ever it is called today to provide Mercs to fight their other wars.

A combination of Blackwater and the CIA will "occupy" Iraq and Afghanistan and lots of other places in secret.

Look at how much western media coverage the so called Arab spring is receiving... yet in countries like Bahrain and Iraq the footage of protestors and government forces clamping down hard on protestors is ignored...

Obama Vows to Veto New Iran Sanctions




President Obama says he will veto proposed bipartisan legislation to impose new sanctions onIran so long as diplomatic negotiations over a nuclear deal remain underway.

"I will veto a bill that comes to my desk," Obama said in response to a question from ABC News at a joint news conference with visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"There is no good argument for us to undercut, undermine the negotiations until they play out," Obama said.



http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-vows-veto-iran-sanctions/story?id=28273986



The Iranian debt: How Netanyahu is losing Israel's real battle with the Islamic Republic

With billions of dollars hanging in the balance, Israel and Iran have been waging legal war in Swiss courtrooms since 1981 – while conducting behind-the-scenes contacts over an ever-growing debt to the National Iranian Oil Company.


http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.637468

Obama: There's A Less Than 50-50 Chance Of A Nuclear Deal With Iran

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...s-than-50-50-chance-of-nuclear-deal-with-iran


The truth behind Iran’s supposed nuclear ties with Syria

A new Western intelligenceassessment points to efforts by the Syrian government to renew its operations in an underground and clandestine facility, close to Qusayr near the border of Lebanon, in order to produce nuclear weapons. Citing the Western intelligence assessment, the German weekly Der Spiegel   stated that the reconstruction of the nuclear facility is being conducted with the assistance of the Islamic Republic, North Korea, and Hezbollah.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/vie.../01/16/On-Iran-s-nuclear-ties-with-Syria.html


State Department Issues Iran Travel Warning
The State Department on Friday warnedU.S. citizens against traveling to Iran, instructing them “to carefully consider the risks    of travel to” the Islamic Republic.



http://freebeacon.com/national-security/state-department-issues-iran-travel-warning/

Iran's far right say nuclear negotiators 'loading the enemy’s weapons'

Incensed by a report Iran would transfer most of it enriched uranium to Russia, conservatives in Tehran have levelled new criticisms against Iranian negotiators for not standing firm against United States’ demands over the nuclear programme.

The Associated Press news agency on 2 January, quoting two anonymous diplomats, claimed Iran had agreed in talks with world powers to send a large portion of its enriched uranium to Russia, presumably for processing into fuel for power generation. The conservative-aligned website Nuclear Iran, which covers the nuclear negotiations including their technical aspects, noted with alarm that exporting fissile material had previously been regarded as one of the country’s “red lines”.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2015/jan/15/iran-hardliners-say-nuclear-negotiators-loading-enemys-weapons

Iran Celebrates 36th Anniversary of Islamic Revolution Victory

This is what are reduced the western medias -including CNN, Fox, CBS, Canal+, TF1, Sky News, BBC, France television, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, El Mundo, Corriere dela siera, ZDF,  etc...all the western medias-. Lies, rumors, propaganda about near all subjects, including Ukraine, Iran, Syria, and obviously Israel-in order to save the moribund zionist entity-, economy, unemployemennt, military areas as JSF, so-called US supreamaty, etc....
Here is this piece of shit from Wall Street Journal.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/irans-ayatollah-sends-new-letter-to-obama-amid-nuclear-talks-1423872638
Why now, should I consider seriously what western medias say ?

Iran denied this allegation :
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-denies-khamenei-letter-obama-082641245.html

Iran to increase home-built drones' flight range: Cmdr.

A senior Iranian official says the country is working to increase the flight range of its domestically-made drones.

Iran’s Aviation Industry Organization is manufacturing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with a longer flight range than previous models, said the organization's deputy director Karim Bani Tarafi in an interview with IRNA on Saturday.

The new drones will also be able to fly at higher speed and altitudes and capture more accurate images, he added.

All UAVs currently used by Iran’s Armed Forces have been completely designed and manufactured by local experts, he noted.

Bani Tarafi said different types of equipment, including radars, could be installed on the new drones.

In recent years, Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing important military equipment and systems, including a variety of domestically-manufactured drones.

The Islamic Republic unveiled its first domestically-developed long-range combat drone, Karrar (Striker), in August 2010. The country has, ever since, manufactured a whole range of other high-tech surveillance and combat UAVs.

In November 2014, Iran put into operation a final domestically-manufactured version of the sophisticated US RQ-170 stealth aircraft, which was downed with minimal damage by the Iranian Armed Forces’ electronic warfare unit in December, 2011 while flying over the Iranian city of Kashmar, some 225 kilometers (140 miles) from the Afghan border.

Iran Optimizing F14 Fighter Jets for New Missions

"We can firmly say that the only place in the world that F14 fighters are overhauled is Isfahan (base in Central Iran)," Deputy Commander of Air Force 8th Air Base Colonel Asqar Shafiyee told FNA on Sunday.

He also said that Iran has mounted its hi-tech home-made radar system on its F14 fighters, adding that the new radars are under durability tests.

"Also to prepare the fighter for air-to-ground assault missions, we have equipped the F14 fighters with air-to-ground missiles and with bombing capability," Pilot Shafiyee added.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in the defense sector and gained self-sufficiency in essential military hardware and defense systems.

The country has repeatedly made it clear that its military might is merely based on the state's defense doctrine of deterrence and that it poses no threat to other countries.

Iran on Wednesday announced plans to unveil a new home-made fighter jet in the near future.

"The Aviation Industry Organization plans to build new fighter jets based on the operational needs of forces," Acting Chairman of the Iran Aviation Industry Organization Amir Karim Bani Tarafi said.

"Iran's new fighter jet will be unveiled soon," he added.

"In addition to fighter jets, building training jets is also on our agenda," Bani Tarafi underlined, adding that the organization was trying to use fully indigenized equipment in its fighter jets.

Earlier this month, Iran unveiled a new home-made combat fighter, named Saeqeh 2 (Thunderbolt 2), which can also be used for training purposes.

"The double-cockpit supersonic fighter jet, which has been designed and built by the defense ministry's aerospace industries organization in cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran's Air Force, can be used for combat missions, close-range cover and backup in tactical missions, and also advanced pilot training programs," Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said, addressing the unveiling ceremony.

Let's move away slightly from the military stuff

as you already know Iranian auto industry is under  heavy sanction
Iranian company are banned from any cooperation with Foreign  companies
and because of it , IKCO company start the mass production of domestically built  DENA
DENA's base price is 11,500 $



IKCO DENA

Iran to Unveil Long-Range Version of Missile Defense System


Commander of Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said the Talash 3 is compatible with long-range missiles and has been integrated with the S-200 missile system.

The senior commander had announced earlier that the domestically-made Talash system is compatible with a varied range of missiles and hits the targets in the low, medium and high altitudes.

According to Esmaili, integration of Talash with the S-200 enables Iranian forces to shoot down “any kind of enemy targets” in the sky.

Tehran has repeatedly stated that its military might is defensive in nature and poses no threat to other countries.
http://www.tasnimnews.com/english/Home/Single/676920


Iran Navy Working on Idigenized Version of Phalanx CIWS: Commander

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Navy commander unveiled plans for the manufacturing of a homegrown version of the Phalanx, a close-in weapon system (CIWS) on board military vessels for defense against anti-ship missiles.

“The research work has now started on the Phalanx system to build its Iranian model,” Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told the Tasnim News Agency.

“The Western type of the Phalanx system is the most advanced one, and the Islamic Republic of Iran will also move to produce that system definitely,” the commander noted.
http://www.tasnimnews.com/english/Home/Single/677110

“The Western type of the Phalanx system is the most advanced one, and the Islamic Republic of Iran will also move to produce that system definitely,” the commander noted.

Yeah, I have a problem with that statement... I think even Goalkeeper is better than Phalanx... and the US Navy thinks SeaRAM is better than Phalanx...

If they want a decent CIWS they should talk to the Russians and develop their own production variant of Kashtan-M or a naval version of Pantsir-S1...

I mean both systems are rather more expensive than Phalanx on its own but really they offer performance rather better than a combination of SeaRam and Phalanx, but with more effective ammo in both the gun and missile systems.

US intel report scraps Iran, Hezbollah from terrorist threats list


BY TIMES OF ISRAEL


Softened assessment, submitted in February, comes amid marathon nuclear talks, shared interests vis-a-vis the Islamic State

An annual report delivered recently to the US Senate by James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, removed Iran and Hezbollah from its list of terrorism threats, after years in which they featured in similar reports.

The unclassified version of the Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Communities, dated February 26, 2015 (PDF), noted Iran’s efforts to combat Sunni extremists, including those of the ultra-radical Islamic State group, who were perceived to constitute the preeminent terrorist threat to American interests worldwide.

In describing Iran’s regional role, the report noted the Islamic Republic’s “intentions to dampen sectarianism, build responsive partners, and deescalate tensions with Saudi Arabia,” but cautioned that “Iranian leaders—particularly within the security services—are pursuing policies with negative secondary consequences for regional stability and potentially for Iran.

The United States and other Western nations, along with a coalition of regional allies, both Sunni and Shiite, has been launching attacks against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria in recent months. The Sunni group, also known by its acronyms IS, ISIS and ISIL, is an offshoot of al-Qaeda that has carved out a self-proclaimed caliphate across large swaths of Syria and Iraq, both of whose governments are allied with Iran’s.

The Shiite Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is funded and mentored by Tehran, has been fighting the Islamic State, independently of the American-led campaign, both in Syria and Iraq.

Meanwhile, the US has been engaged in marathon talks with Iran in an effort to reach an agreement on its nuclear program. Tehran, according to the National Intelligence threat assessment, has “overarching strategic goals of enhancing its security, prestige, and regional influence [that] have led it to pursue capabilities to meet its civilian goals and give it the ability to build missile-deliverable nuclear weapons, if it chooses to do so.”

The report said that it was unclear whether or not Iran would eventually decide to build nuclear weapons, but noted that should the Iranian government decide to pursue such a course, it would face no “insurmountable technical barriers to producing a nuclear weapon.” It lingered on Iran’s pursuit of intercontinental ballistic missile technology as a likely delivery system for a nuclear weapon, and delineated Iranian threats in the realms of counterintelligence and cyber warfare.

According to one Israeli think tank, the removal of Iran and its proxy Hezbollah from the list of terror threats, where they featured in previous years, was directly linked to the campaign against the Islamic State.


“We believe that this results from a combination of diplomatic interests (the United States’ talks with Iran about a nuclear deal) with the idea that Iran could assist in the battle against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and maybe even in the battle against jihadist terrorism in other countries,” the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center said in an analysis of the report (Hebrew PDF). It also noted the Iran and Hezbollah were both listed as terrorism threats in the assessment of another American body, the Defense Intelligence Agency.

“Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and Lebanese Hezbollah are instruments of Iran’s foreign policy and its ability to project power in Iraq, Syria, and beyond,” that assessment, also submitted to the Senate of February 26, said in its section on terrorism. “Hezbollah continues to support the Syrian regime, pro-regime militants and Iraqi Shia militants in Syria. Hezbollah trainers and advisors in Iraq assist Iranian and Iraqi Shia militias fighting Sunni extremists there. Select Iraqi Shia militant groups also warned of their willingness to fight US forces returning to Iraq.”

Israel, as well as Sunni allies of the US, has often warned that Iran, through Hezbollah and other proxies, has been sowing instability in the region. An escalating dispute between Jerusalem and Washington over the terms of an eventual agreement on Iran’s nuclear program has seen Israeli official rail against the relatively conciliatory tone adopted by US officials toward Iran, in light of the shared interest in combating the Islamic State.

In a polarizing speech before a joint session of Congress on March 3, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to persuade American lawmakers of the folly of signing an agreement with Iran, and, comparing its leaders to those of the Nazi regime of World War II, cautioned that it “poses a grave threat, not only to Israel, but also [to] the peace of the entire world.”

Iran has made bellicose statements toward Israel, threatening to destroy the Jewish state, often citing Israeli talk of attacking its nuclear facilities, which it maintains are for peaceful purposes.

Hezbollah, which is based to Israel’s north in Lebanon and the Syrian Golan Heights, has largely refrained from attacking Israeli targets since the bloody Second Lebanon War of 2006, although there have been skirmishes along the border.

In one recent confrontation, Israel struck first, purportedly destroying a Hezbollah unit near the front line of the Golan Heights. Among the seven dead on January 18 were an Iranian general, a top Hezbollah commander and the son of another former commander in chief. Some two weeks later, Hezbollah took revenge, killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding seven in a cross-border attack.
.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-report-scraps-iran-hezbollah-from-list-of-terror-threats/

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/03/16/402070/Iran-removed-from-terrorist-threats

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiep...iran-and-hezbollah-from-terror-lists-n1971154


Nice move...