IRAN: Latest and Breaking News

Wow... Iran off the shit list... and now Kerry is talking about having to include Assad in any peace talks over Syria, when a year ago he said there was no way no how he had any future with Syria... is the sky falling?

Garry, it dawned on the hillbilly, and the jews sitting behind them that they cannot stop Iran.

The sky is falling indeed.

Now watch the Russian prostitutes fall all over themselves to try to make a bee line to lick the sweat off Iran's balls.

Anything and everything will be on offer from Moscow to Tehran now to try to compete with the U.S. and puppet EU among other vassals.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mideasts-balance-power-tips-toward-220938502.html;_ylt=AwrBEiKYkghVAj4AJvvQtDMD

Hey Russia has no ideology to to push and it doesn't claim to be the worlds policeman or therapist... it can sell weapons to anyone it wants and I am sure they will be happy to sell to Iran currently while the west has imposed sanctions on Russia.

the best way to avoid economic collapse it to produce and sell products to foreign countries... why should Russia care who to?

Garry, without these sanctions Iran wouldn't be no where near where it is today.

A big thank you to both the hillbilly and their illegitimate daddy's the zionists and lets not forget the Russians too for the sanctions.

All these jokers were forced to negotiate because of Iran being ascendant, all on its own.

This doesnt mean US lifted sanctions against Iran. The P5+1 talks are gonna still go ahead. But republicans threw a wrench in this as they said once they are in office again, they will ignore this. Simply because they dont like Iran.

lulldapull wrote:

Now watch the Russian prostitutes fall all over themselves to try to make a bee line to lick the sweat off Iran's balls.

Hey sport, then why aren't you in Teheran licking your beloved mullahs b** then? What are you doing in the infidel Melbourne and why are you using the infidel (US based, unfortunately) internet anyway?

I was always bewildered by mullah's fanatics arrogance (and ignorance), there is currently a slightly reduced chance they might not end up as Iraq or Syria (but by no means certain, seriously doubt anything will come out of this negotiation thing) and suddenly they see themselves as some superpower! Sorry, but a country led by a bunch of power hungry islamist fanatics who think the world is 6000 years old (and force their citizens to believe and live by the same rubbish) can not be a superpower, not only they don't have the manpower (just 80 million) but 21st century industry and technology (real technology, not the mock-ups and pitiful improvisations one can see from Iran on a regular basis) is beyond the comprehension of religious fanatics. They can live in their little world where they are oh so powerful, but if they hope their mahdi or whatever it's called will come on a magic carpet and start shooting lightnings out of his ass to bring down the US missiles that might be raining on Iran one day, they will have a rude surprise. I would believe any day what folks like Babak T have to say about the real situation in Iran (which i could sum it up as basically Iran's grotesque military establishment- split in two, IRGC army/navy/airforce and regular army/navy/airforce that is "supervised" at every step by IRGC- and military "industry" are nothing but paper tigers) rather than some mullah fanatics.

Hell it's probably Russia and China who prevented them becoming another Iraq or Syria or Libya all these years, in fact as i read somewhere Russia did offer way back in 2007 to settle this enrichment thing by having it processed in Russia (in exchange for increase military cooperation with Iran including delivery of SAMs and other things), but of course the mullah monkeys refused it. Even if there is some sort of deal to be signed (doubtful) quite likely they will end up with a worse deal than offered by Russia way back.

nemrod wrote:I hope Iran will continue in its anti-imperialist stance. There are no discussions possibles with US. Their annoucement about the withdrawal of their very efficient missiles solide propergol, I hope it is not a mere pretext in order "normalize" their relation with the "Great Satan". As I said you before, I have no confidence into Rouhani, I prefer the very courageous Ahmadinedjad. For me Ahmadinedjad, as Chavez, and Putin are among  the top hero in our contemporary history. Rouhani is seraglio, then, the oligarchs.

The likes of a monkey like Ahmadinejad (simply a mullah servant) do not deserve the honour of being mentioned next to Putin or even Chavez.

lulldapull wrote:Garry, without these sanctions Iran wouldn't be no where near where it is today.

A big thank you to both the hillbilly and their illegitimate daddy's the zionists and lets not forget the Russians too for the sanctions.

All these jokers were forced to negotiate because of Iran being ascendant, all on its own.

By ascendant you mean......begging Russia to buy its oil due to being embargoed from the rest of the world?

Iran is pretty far down on the list of "prospering" nations.

"Iran is pretty high on prospering nations, it is among the leading nations when it comes to become self sufficient and independend, while your "rest of the world" countries relly on almost everything from other countries and don't even try to becoming independend."

lol. We have very different definitions of prospering don't we.

mack8, be careful who you put up your chips with nowadays.

Shitbilly/ zionist/ busted ass bankrupt european ...........all these ass clowns are goin down. There's no denying it or hiding it anymore.

That's why people like you are here on these Russian, Chinese or Iranian forums.

TR1 wrote:"Iran is pretty high on prospering nations, it is among the leading nations when it comes to become self sufficient and independend, while your "rest of the world" countries relly on almost everything from other countries and don't even try to becoming independend."

lol. We have very different definitions of prospering don't we.

Not a perfect society (none exist) but are one of the most industrious nations. A bigger consumer of steel than Germany for their own production. Living standards vary but in cities like Tehran, it is quite decent.

sepheronx, that is after 36 years of continuous and the most extreme sanction regime imposed on any nation!

some ass clowns here as usual are ignorant.

All these countries werewolf are quickly becoming irrelevant. You can hold someone back for so long only........as was the case with Iran.

Both the U.S. and zionists know very well that they will get their asses kicked all over the place if they made any wrong move against Iran.

It is because of the IRI leadership, Iran is in this position.

All these shitbilly/ zionist ass clowns will bend over for us, and you see that happening gradually.

Iran to Test Intercontinental Ballistic Missile in 2015 -
US Defense Agency



The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has assessed that Iran will be capable of testing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) this year, US Missile Defense Agency Director James Syring saidIran to Test Intercontinental Ballistic Missile in 2015 - US Defense Agency


The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has assessed that Iran will be capable of testing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) this year, US Missile Defense Agency Director James Syring said.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US ground-based interceptors based in Fort Greely, Alaska and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California are sufficient to protect the United States homeland against “the future Iranian ICBM threat should it emerge,” Syring stated.



“The DIA’s assessment is that Iran is capable of flight-testing an ICBM in 2015,” Syring told members of the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

“There’s not a likelihood expressed with that assessment,” Syring said, adding that the DIA will further evaluate the likelihood of an Iranian flight test in an assessment it will conduct later in 2015.

The United States has 30 ground-based interceptors deployed on its West Coast, and will be adding an additional 14 by 2017.

The United States also has 33 Aegis warships with mobile ballistic missile defense capabilities, and will upgrade to 35 ships by the end of 2016, according to the Missile Defense Agency.




Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20150326/1020017359.html#ixzz3VfWwbEqa

Iran is building a non-nuclear threat faster than experts 'would have ever imagined'



In just over two years, the Iranian government has managed to build up a sophisticated cyberarmy that experts now say is capable of crippling key global infrastructure.



"Five years ago, I would have never imagined Iran to be where they are today," cybersecurity expert David Kennedy, founder of information security firm TrustedSec, told Business Insider. "Iran was once considered a D-grade cyber threat. Now it's almost on the same level as Russia or China."

Iran has increased its cybersecurity spending 12-fold since President Hassan Rouhani assumed office in 2013, according to a report released Monday by British technology research firm Small Media. Vowing to ramp up the country's cyber capabilities, Rouhani has given the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) an annual cybersecurity budget of roughly $19.8 million.

While Iran's initial cyber efforts were focused on countering internal dissidence, the government put its cyber experts on the offensive after an American computer worm, Stuxnet, infiltrated Iranian government servers and ruined almost one-fifth of the country's nuclear centrifuges in June 2010.

By November 2010, the Basij Cyber Council had trained 1,500 cyber-warriors who, according to IRGC commander Hossein Hamedani, "have assumed their duties and will in the future carry out many operations," according to a report released in 2013 by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

“Out of any country on the planet, I can’t think of a country that has been more focused than Iran from the high levels of government on cyber, and that includes the United States,” Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, told The Hill back in November.

And they'll only get better.


"In 10 years time, Iran's cyber capabilities will be more troubling than its nuclear program," geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasiaa group, tweeted earlier this week. He also noted that aggressive cyber operations by the US can be turned around on them by weaker adversaries.

The US government is now at a severe disadvantage when it comes to protecting the country's critical infrastructure from foreign hackers, especially given the current global political climate. The US' ongoing nuclear talks with Iran and its frosty relationship with Russia — a major Iranian ally — have made conditions ripe for Iran to try and use its cyber capabilities as negotiating leverage.



REUTERS/StringerIran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) speaks with Russia's President Vladimir Putin during an official meeting in Tehran



"Russia has probably helped Iran a lot in stepping up its cyber capabilities in the event of a conflict with NATO," Kennedy said. "If they [the Iranians] want to topple the US' financial sector, or cripple the military's ability to communicate, they can do that."

Kennedy noted that while Chinese and Russian hackers are typically motivated by competitive advantage or monetary gain, Iranian hackers are trained to infiltrate servers so that they can destroy them.

"Iran's cyber warriors ask themselves one question," Kennedy said. "Can I entrench myself in key sensitive areas and take the US down in the event of a conflict?"


Most likely, they can. Cyber security and hacking has become a booming industry in Iran — as a result, more and more Iranian students are choosing to study computer network defense, exploitation, and warfare in high school and college.

"At the Sharif University of Technology, which is like the MIT of Iran (Second only to university of Tehran*), students are participating in cyber 'capture-the-flag' games to hone their hacking skills," cyber-jihad expert Jeff Bardin, chief intelligence officer of cyber intelligence firm Treadstone 71, told Business Insider. "They compete to see who can find security holes and break through servers' encryptions and firewalls the fastest."

Colleges and universities in Iran also offer their students internships with notorious Iranian hacker groups, according to Bardin, who they then go on to work for after they graduate.

"It's all highly institutionalized," Bardin said. "The irony is that, after looking at some of the professors' resumes, you'll see that most of these cyber experts teaching students how to hack were initially trained in the US or UK."


Iran's cyber army - Business Insider

Iran's power rises, with or without deal


By Stephen Collinson, CNN





Washington (CNN)Deal or no deal in the Iranian nuclear talks, Tehran is already behaving like it's made a killing.

Sure, U.S. and international sanctions inflicted staggering damage on Iran's economy, convincing the longtime American foe to join talks aimed at limiting its nuclear program. Those talks face an important Tuesday night deadline.

But it's not just Iran's nuclear aspirations that have everyone's attention -- though just the fact that Iranian officials are at the table with the world's most powerful countries has elevated Iran's international status.

Getting the bomb would greatly magnify its regional -- even global -- role, but Tehran is also making big moves in a tumultuous Great Game of Middle East geopolitics that is challenging U.S influence and prestige and chilling Washington's allies.


As it engages on its nuclear program, Tehran has exploited the divisions of the Arab Spring and the power vacuum of America's downgraded involvement in the region. It has also taken advantage of the leeway the United States offered in prioritizing a nuclear deal over attempts to restrain Tehran's proxies that could risk breaking up the negotiations.

The result is that Iran -- often through militant groups it sponsors -- has become a key player in conflicts in neighboring states all the way to the edge of the Mediterranean.

Its drive for regional pre-eminence is becoming an increasing problem for the Obama administration as it contemplates selling a nuclear deal -- which is already drawing considerable skepticism -- to opponents in Congress and to anxious allies like Saudi Arabia and Israel, who are watching Iran's maneuvering up close.


Critics are accusing President Barack Obama of turning a blind eye toward Iran's nefarious motives and proxy wars in the Middle East to safeguard a legacy-enhancing push for a deal that could lift his presidency's historic potential after decades of hostility between Washington and Tehran.

They fear Iran is not only about to walk away with a deal that leaves its nuclear infrastructure intact, but that it is also playing the United States for a fool by using the talks to shield its hegemonic ambitions in the Middle East.

"They have completely schooled the American and European diplomats," said Michael Rubin, an Iran analyst and critic of the administration at the American Enterprise Institute.

"The Iranians used to brag that they play chess and we play checkers. It turns out that they play chess, while we play solitaire."

Iranian proxies

Iran has used its Revolutionary Guard Corps and a host of proxies to fill the power gap left by the U.S. departure from Iraq and the political tumult stirred by the collapse of authoritarian governments felled by now-defunct popular reform movements.

"Iran was destined to expand its influence one way or the other, and the U.S. was not going to prevent that, especially because of the cost involved in trying to pacify Iraq," said Reva Bhalla, vice president of global analysis at Stratfor, a global intelligence and advisory firm.

"Iran benefited from the Arab Spring as well."

Iran has also seen an opportunity in the U.S.'s shifting policies and interests in the region. The George W. Bush administration pushed out the regional strongman in Iraq, Saddam Hussein, who kept Iran in check through a hostile balance-of-power arrangement. The subsequent collapse of the Iraqi state left a festering sectarian stew that Tehran was quick to use to forge links in Shiite areas.

And Obama, in addition to withdrawing American forces from Iraq, has sought a lighter touch in hot spots like Syria, Yemen and Libya, where chaos has created an opening for outside fighters and radical domestic groups to swoop in.

The regional meltdown that has seen governance collapse and national borders redrawn on sectarian lines has provided a potent breeding ground for radical, stateless Islamic groups — like ISIS -- to grow and threaten both U.S. and Iranian national interests.

So the Obama administration also sees a common interest with Iran in fighting ISIS. But some critics say its desire to do so has blinded it to Iran's activities elsewhere.

White House assessments

This has left the White House in the uncomfortable position of having to explain why the United States appears to be tacitly cooperating with Iran, with which it has waged a de facto ideological war for 30 years.

Senior U.S. officials deny they are going soft on Iran to keep Tehran sweet on nuclear talks. They say the negotiations are walled off from concerns about Iran's aggressive moves elsewhere. And they point out that Tehran would be much more dangerous to its neighbors if it were able to build a bomb.


"Even if a nuclear deal is reached, our concerns about Iran's behavior in the region and around the world will endure," White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told the J Street policy conference last week, slamming Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism, a proliferator and a gross violator of human rights that seeks to destabilize its neighbors.

Several U.S. allies in the region, watching Iran's growing influence, worry that whatever berth the United States is giving Iran, it goes well beyond the nuclear talks and the fight against ISIS.

Instead, they fear the beginning of a wider détente with Iran that some are calling a "Persian pivot."

Saudi concerns

Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel al-Jubeir told CNN that Riyadh was "concerned about the interference by Iran in the affairs of other countries in the region, whether it is in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen."

Obama's domestic foes are less diplomatic.

"I heard repeatedly from leaders in the region that they believe we are forming some kind of Faustian bargain with the Iranians which would then lead to great danger to those countries," Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said last week.

"They believe that we are siding with Iran."

The former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, warned on Fox News on Sunday that Iran was "on the march" across the Middle East and that the administration response was one of "willful ignorance."

But a senior Obama administration official on Monday denied that Washington wanted the wider accommodation with Iran that its allies fear.


"The critics look at this as some part of a grand détente or reconciliation -- that by getting this deal we will turn another cheek or grant them carte blanche," said the official, who was not authorized to talk publicly about the nuclear talks.

"We have been and we remain just as concerned."

And at the same time that it holds marathon talks with Iran, Washington is backing its ally Saudi Arabia and a Sunni coalition that is bombarding Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi militias in Yemen.

In Syria, the United States wants close Iranian ally President Bashar al-Assad gone after his murderous rampage against his own people.

But many Washington observers believe the United States has stepped back from the region and interpret the increasingly assertive military actions of Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt as a sign that they feel Iran already has the upper hand. They see the Saudi coalition's assault on the Houthis as a signal, not just to Iran, but to Washington.

"Our traditional Arab allies are apoplectic. We are involved against ISIS in Syria but essentially did nothing in the past three years as the Houthis took over Yemen," said David Schenker, a former Bush administration official now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.


The Saudis are using Yemen to send messages "to Iran and to a lesser extent to us about their lack of confidence in the American security blanket being able to protect them from Iran's machinations in the region," said Stephen Seche, a former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen.

The White House said it has no illusions on Iran's motives, but argued that the painful lessons of the last decade show a huge U.S. military operation in the Middle East is unlikely to reshape its politics.

"It's definitely a regional power struggle," said the senior administration official, stressing that Iran's strategy dates from well before either the Arab Spring or the Iraq war, all the way back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution itself.

"It's a geostrategic play to use these groups as pressure points, in some cases playing on Shiite grievances but also just to increase pressure on the Saudi border," said the official.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been spearheading negotiations on a possible deal to rein in Iran's nuclear program.

The administration insists that a large-scale reintroduction of U.S. forces to the Middle East is not the correct policy response.

"It is going to be dictated by individual countries and the particular circumstances and what is the U.S. interest there," the official said.

And the administration is not alone in believing the United States has a limited ability to influence what happens in the region.

"We can do things at the margins to help this side, reinforce that side, train another, arm another. So the U.S. position is likely to be quite modest," said Richard Haass, chairman of the Council of Foreign Relations.

And Justin Logan, a specialist in geopolitics at the Cato Institute, warned that the United States must not get involved in the "pathological politics" of the region.

The idea that a proxy struggle between the Gulf Arabs and the Iranians can be effectively managed by the United States defies both logic and history," he said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/31/politics/irans-influence-nuclear-deal/

ShahryarHedayatiSHBA wrote:Iran's power rises, with or without deal


By Stephen Collinson, CNN





Washington (CNN)Deal or no deal in the Iranian nuclear talks, Tehran is already behaving like it's made a killing.

Sure, U.S. and international sanctions inflicted staggering damage on Iran's economy, convincing the longtime American foe to join talks aimed at limiting its nuclear program. Those talks face an important Tuesday night deadline.

But it's not just Iran's nuclear aspirations that have everyone's attention -- though just the fact that Iranian officials are at the table with the world's most powerful countries has elevated Iran's international status.

Getting the bomb would greatly magnify its regional -- even global -- role, but Tehran is also making big moves in a tumultuous Great Game of Middle East geopolitics that is challenging U.S influence and prestige and chilling Washington's allies.


As it engages on its nuclear program, Tehran has exploited the divisions of the Arab Spring and the power vacuum of America's downgraded involvement in the region. It has also taken advantage of the leeway the United States offered in prioritizing a nuclear deal over attempts to restrain Tehran's proxies that could risk breaking up the negotiations.

The result is that Iran -- often through militant groups it sponsors -- has become a key player in conflicts in neighboring states all the way to the edge of the Mediterranean.

Its drive for regional pre-eminence is becoming an increasing problem for the Obama administration as it contemplates selling a nuclear deal -- which is already drawing considerable skepticism -- to opponents in Congress and to anxious allies like Saudi Arabia and Israel, who are watching Iran's maneuvering up close.


Critics are accusing President Barack Obama of turning a blind eye toward Iran's nefarious motives and proxy wars in the Middle East to safeguard a legacy-enhancing push for a deal that could lift his presidency's historic potential after decades of hostility between Washington and Tehran.

They fear Iran is not only about to walk away with a deal that leaves its nuclear infrastructure intact, but that it is also playing the United States for a fool by using the talks to shield its hegemonic ambitions in the Middle East.

"They have completely schooled the American and European diplomats," said Michael Rubin, an Iran analyst and critic of the administration at the American Enterprise Institute.

"The Iranians used to brag that they play chess and we play checkers. It turns out that they play chess, while we play solitaire."

Iranian proxies

Iran has used its Revolutionary Guard Corps and a host of proxies to fill the power gap left by the U.S. departure from Iraq and the political tumult stirred by the collapse of authoritarian governments felled by now-defunct popular reform movements.

"Iran was destined to expand its influence one way or the other, and the U.S. was not going to prevent that, especially because of the cost involved in trying to pacify Iraq," said Reva Bhalla, vice president of global analysis at Stratfor, a global intelligence and advisory firm.

"Iran benefited from the Arab Spring as well."

Iran has also seen an opportunity in the U.S.'s shifting policies and interests in the region. The George W. Bush administration pushed out the regional strongman in Iraq, Saddam Hussein, who kept Iran in check through a hostile balance-of-power arrangement. The subsequent collapse of the Iraqi state left a festering sectarian stew that Tehran was quick to use to forge links in Shiite areas.

And Obama, in addition to withdrawing American forces from Iraq, has sought a lighter touch in hot spots like Syria, Yemen and Libya, where chaos has created an opening for outside fighters and radical domestic groups to swoop in.

The regional meltdown that has seen governance collapse and national borders redrawn on sectarian lines has provided a potent breeding ground for radical, stateless Islamic groups — like ISIS -- to grow and threaten both U.S. and Iranian national interests.

So the Obama administration also sees a common interest with Iran in fighting ISIS. But some critics say its desire to do so has blinded it to Iran's activities elsewhere.

White House assessments

This has left the White House in the uncomfortable position of having to explain why the United States appears to be tacitly cooperating with Iran, with which it has waged a de facto ideological war for 30 years.

Senior U.S. officials deny they are going soft on Iran to keep Tehran sweet on nuclear talks. They say the negotiations are walled off from concerns about Iran's aggressive moves elsewhere. And they point out that Tehran would be much more dangerous to its neighbors if it were able to build a bomb.


"Even if a nuclear deal is reached, our concerns about Iran's behavior in the region and around the world will endure," White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told the J Street policy conference last week, slamming Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism, a proliferator and a gross violator of human rights that seeks to destabilize its neighbors.

Several U.S. allies in the region, watching Iran's growing influence, worry that whatever berth the United States is giving Iran, it goes well beyond the nuclear talks and the fight against ISIS.

Instead, they fear the beginning of a wider détente with Iran that some are calling a "Persian pivot."

Saudi concerns

Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel al-Jubeir told CNN that Riyadh was "concerned about the interference by Iran in the affairs of other countries in the region, whether it is in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen."

Obama's domestic foes are less diplomatic.

"I heard repeatedly from leaders in the region that they believe we are forming some kind of Faustian bargain with the Iranians which would then lead to great danger to those countries," Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said last week.

"They believe that we are siding with Iran."

The former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, warned on Fox News on Sunday that Iran was "on the march" across the Middle East and that the administration response was one of "willful ignorance."

But a senior Obama administration official on Monday denied that Washington wanted the wider accommodation with Iran that its allies fear.


"The critics look at this as some part of a grand détente or reconciliation -- that by getting this deal we will turn another cheek or grant them carte blanche," said the official, who was not authorized to talk publicly about the nuclear talks.

"We have been and we remain just as concerned."

And at the same time that it holds marathon talks with Iran, Washington is backing its ally Saudi Arabia and a Sunni coalition that is bombarding Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi militias in Yemen.

In Syria, the United States wants close Iranian ally President Bashar al-Assad gone after his murderous rampage against his own people.

But many Washington observers believe the United States has stepped back from the region and interpret the increasingly assertive military actions of Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt as a sign that they feel Iran already has the upper hand. They see the Saudi coalition's assault on the Houthis as a signal, not just to Iran, but to Washington.

"Our traditional Arab allies are apoplectic. We are involved against ISIS in Syria but essentially did nothing in the past three years as the Houthis took over Yemen," said David Schenker, a former Bush administration official now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.


The Saudis are using Yemen to send messages "to Iran and to a lesser extent to us about their lack of confidence in the American security blanket being able to protect them from Iran's machinations in the region," said Stephen Seche, a former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen.

The White House said it has no illusions on Iran's motives, but argued that the painful lessons of the last decade show a huge U.S. military operation in the Middle East is unlikely to reshape its politics.

"It's definitely a regional power struggle," said the senior administration official, stressing that Iran's strategy dates from well before either the Arab Spring or the Iraq war, all the way back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution itself.

"It's a geostrategic play to use these groups as pressure points, in some cases playing on Shiite grievances but also just to increase pressure on the Saudi border," said the official.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been spearheading negotiations on a possible deal to rein in Iran's nuclear program.

The administration insists that a large-scale reintroduction of U.S. forces to the Middle East is not the correct policy response.

"It is going to be dictated by individual countries and the particular circumstances and what is the U.S. interest there," the official said.

And the administration is not alone in believing the United States has a limited ability to influence what happens in the region.

"We can do things at the margins to help this side, reinforce that side, train another, arm another. So the U.S. position is likely to be quite modest," said Richard Haass, chairman of the Council of Foreign Relations.

And Justin Logan, a specialist in geopolitics at the Cato Institute, warned that the United States must not get involved in the "pathological politics" of the region.

The idea that a proxy struggle between the Gulf Arabs and the Iranians can be effectively managed by the United States defies both logic and history," he said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/31/politics/irans-influence-nuclear-deal/

You can tell the author of the article is a sorry Neo-Con, meanwhile no one wants to mention Israeli nukes, or the political prisoner Mordechai Vanunu.

So apparently there isn't any deal at all and it all fell through. Guess Russia has no choice but to try and work closer with Iran regardless of what west says and both sides (Iran and Russia) needs to work out joint payment system and way both countries can deal. Since both Russia and Iran access the Caspian sea, Trade shouldn't be a problem.

sepheronx wrote:So apparently there isn't any deal at all and it all fell through.  Guess Russia has no choice but to try and work closer with Iran regardless of what west says and both sides (Iran and Russia) needs to work out joint payment system and way both countries can deal.  Since both Russia and Iran access the Caspian sea, Trade shouldn't be a problem.

Minor issues remain on Iran bans in nuclear talks: Iran negotiator



A senior member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team says Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries have reached an agreement on the removal of anti-Tehran sanctions, but minor issues still remain.


Hamid Baeidinejad, who is the director general for political and international security affairs at Iran's Foreign Ministry, told the Press TV correspondent in Lausanne that Tehran and the six states - Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany - are working to minimize the difference on the remaining minor issues regarding the bans.

"Sanctions have many aspects, there are unilateral sanctions, US sanctions, EU sanctions, UNSC sanctions... I should say that many of these aspects have been resolved, but still there are some limited areas that also need to be resolved, and we are now concentrating on those remaining technical aspects with regard to the sanctions.” Baeidinejad told Press TV.

He added that oil, gas, and banking sanctions will be lifted as soon as a comprehensive deal is implemented, noting, “The termination of oil sanctions, gas sanctions, financial banking... many of them have been resolved... But still there are a limited number of areas that are still under negotiations, which we hope we can resolve them and then we can admit that the whole issue of sanctions is resolved.”

"We are now concentrating on some limited aspects of issues related to the overall sanctions, particularly sanctions of the UNSC, and only we are concentrating on those limited aspects now," Baeidinejad added.

The senior Iranian diplomat said the talks will continue until the two sides can make the “final decision” on ways to solve the nuclear issue, adding that the Iranian negotiators will only accept an agreement, which will be based on international regulations and guarantee the “basic rights of the nation.”

Iran and the P5+1 group were supposed to reach an agreement by late Tuesday as part of broader efforts to clinch a final agreement on Tehran nuclear activities by end of June.

Ministerial delegations held three rounds of talks Tuesday in the Swiss city of Lausanne in hope of reaching the agreement, but talks still continue with some reports suggesting that negotiations may be extended into Wednesday.

Iran and the P5+1 group are working intensely to narrow their differences and hammer out a final comprehensive accord by the end of June 2015.

MS/MKA/SS

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/03/31/404150/Minor-issues-remain-on-sanctions-Iran

'Iran is placing guided warheads on Hezbollah rockets'

Jerusalem Post

Col. Aviram Hasson, of the Defense Ministry's missile defense administration says Hezbollah gets a lot of accurate weapons from Iran.

Iran is placing guided warheads on its rockets and smuggling them to Hezbollah in Lebanon, a senior Defense Ministry official said Tuesday.

Speaking at the Israel Air and Missile Defense Conference in Herzliya, Col. Aviram Hasson, who is involved in preparing IDF air defenses, said Iran was converting Zilzal unguided rockets into accurate, guided M-600 projectiles by upgrading their warheads.

Hasson, who is in charge of upper-tier missile defenses at HOMA – part of the Defense Ministry’s Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure – described Iran as a “train engine that is not stopping for a moment.
It is manufacturing new and advanced ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. It is turning unguided rockets that had an accuracy range of kilometers into weapons that are accurate to within meters.”

Hezbollah, he continued, “is getting a lot of accurate weapons from Iran. It is in a very different place compared to the Second Lebanon War in 2006.”

For Israel, the “ultimate defense is a combination of counter-attack, active defenses, and passive defense [civilian compliance with Home Front Command safety instructions],” he argued.

Riki Ellison, founder and chairman of the US Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, also spoke at the conference, which was organized by the iHLS defense website and the Israel Missile Defense Association.

The alliance is a nonprofit organization advocating for the deployment and development of missile defenses.

Ellison said the US always kept at least one warship in the Mediterranean with an Aegis naval missile defense system to ensure that Israel was protected against long-range Iranian ballistic missiles.

“It can stand off the coast and shoot long-shots coming in from Iran,” he said.

The US is keen to see Israel complete its multi-layered blanket of missile defenses, which would enable it to defend against Iranian missiles without the Aegis and thereby free up the US Navy’s ships for deployment elsewhere, he added.

Ellison told the delegates that the US remained firmly committed to Israel’s security, irrespective of recent disagreements between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He added that the US could deploy its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries “if necessary, to come into Israel to support your country’s defense.”

America is “fully supportive” of Israel getting fully capable Arrow 3 and David’s Sling defense systems, Ellison said.

'Iran is placing guided warheads on Hezbollah rockets' - Israel News - Jerusalem Post

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Iran-is-placing-guided-warheads-on-Hezbollah-rockets-395679

First on CNN: Iranian aircraft buzzes Navy helicopter in Persian Gulf


CNN ^ | March 31, 2015 | Barbara Starr

Posted on ‎3‎/‎31‎/‎2015‎ ‎1‎:‎32‎:‎18‎ ‎PM by don-o

An Iranian military observation aircraft flew within 50 yards of an armed U.S. Navy helicopter over the Persian Gulf this month, sparking concern that top Iranian commanders might not be in full control of local forces, CNN has learned.

The incident, which has not been publicly disclosed, troubled U.S. military officials because the unsafe maneuver could have triggered a serious incident.

It also surprised U.S. commanders because in recent months Iranian forces have conducted exercises and operations in the region in a professional manner, one U.S. military official told CNN.

"We think this might have been locally ordered," the official said.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3274233/posts