IRAN: Latest and Breaking News

nomadski wrote:
Yes. The sources claim it was Usrael. Below the water line, indicates a mine or torpedo. Not placed by hand from dingy. If ship was static for prolonged period at sea, then possible for Sub or diver to place under the water. If ship not static, then torpedo to blame. Could be anyone?

Then why not attack Big fat oil Tanker?  Going through Suez now ? Oh too much pollution?  There is the answer. Perhaps one day an oil Tanker gets hit near Usrael coast by mine. And all the coast of Usrael gets polluted....

That Iranian ship has been in that location for 2-3 years. It seems to act as a transshipment distribution hub for 'goodies' fed into Yemen by fast launches. Maybe the route for missile etc parts.
A definite target for Saudi or their helpers.

EDIT ‌A US official says Israeli forces targeted the Iranian ship SAVIZ in the Red Sea at 7:30 am local time yesterday./NewYorkTimes
Israel notified Washington that its forces had struck the Iranian ship Soyuzm. The Israelis said the attack was in retaliation for previous Iranian strikes on Israeli ships



Israel seems to have recognised the potential physical and political damage of hitting a laden tanker. It now, from what little we know re the publicity of hitting Iranian ships over the past couple of years, goes for ships on their way home. Not sinking them but doing damage that slows them down and requires repair when back in Iran.

From reports it seems that the RuAF and RuN provide escorts when the important ships are in the Med, perhaps in the dangerous part of the journey north of Israel.

Iran’s nuclear facilities under attack again by the look of it.

https://apnews.com/article/358384f03b1ef6b65f4264bf9a59a458

Assuming it’s israel, they really are ratcheting the tension up that’s for damned sure.

At least the Iranian officials can no longer deny that attacks are taking place and that who is responsible, as they did so many times before. The Iranian response has recently been inadequate. It has not been smart. It has allowed them to feel emboldened to carry out more attacks. These attacks will intensify and become even more brazen. A response by Iran that will dampen down the hostilities without risk of all out war and escalation, can only be given if Iran had a Nuclear detterent. Otherwise it is clear that they will escalate and intensify attacks to the point of destroying Iranian infrastructure, without suffering much in return. Iran's only trump card, as with North Korea, could be a Nuclear detterent. The only solution. The only obstacle to this solution is a compromised political system. The sooner Iranian politics and leaders are changed and replaced by capable ones, that will serve national defence needs and build democratic progressive institutions, the better.

If Iran wanted they could just order Hezbollah to do rocket attacks on Israel.
If they supplied the same kinds of weapons they are supplying to the Houtis in Yemen I doubt Israel's defense systems would be good enough to cope.

But this kind of nuisance attack just does not warrant going into a conflict like that.

No. Their attacks are significant, taken together. Iran's response is not. These are not  mere skirmishes. They are important, more so politically. But even on a practical level, how many Nuclear scientists did they kill?  How many top Generals? How much damage to infrastructure? How many passengers died in Ukraine plane? How many industrial fires did they start? How many soldiers they killed in Syria? How many ships they destroyed?  And Iran's response to all this?  And why no proportional response? No, I am right.

They can still improve security at facilities. Greater number of CCTV camera, interview of staff by trained psychologists using lie detectors , chemical sensors to track explosives, sniffer dogs to do the same in the plant and track Rats with cameras,  electronic scan of all equipment to find spy equipment..... But there is a practical limit to security and defence. There comes a time just to blow up Demona.

Time for a micro-drone, with micro-charge to climb into the ventilation shaft, mission impossible style, and  give them indigestion........

https://youtu.be/Tvkot4jGLWU

https://youtu.be/kxpro6eGJ1Y

The Natanz incident of yesterday, allegedly done by Israel, shows again that Iran is heavily infiltrated by Israel agents.

The Iranian news said this type of attack happened before. External power lines were blown up and cables that supply emergency power to centrifuges were blown up at the same time. But lessons were not completely learnt. External power supply continued in this case. And was destroyed. And again cables that supply emergency battery power was destroyed.

It is true that the enemy can target these above ground facility, in many different ways. From afar and near. It is impossible to protect an open facility like this, open to inspections and intrusions against all forms of attack. But a similar attack should have easily been prevented. And it was not.

Using internal generators, increasing CCTV around facility and other measures that I mentioned, including hardening against micro-UAV attack drones, will cut possibility of this type of attack. Leaving only the option of long range missile attack. The real solution is to move all facilities underground, that can be. In secret and hidden location. But even this will not stop a determined enemy from say attacking another target, such as a power reactor above ground.

Therefore the ultimate  solution is to deter an enemy from attack. And Iran can not do this against the combined force of Western alliance, using conventional means. Therefore it is necessary to develop a Nuclear detterent. But the problem here is political. The leadership in Iran fears being overthrown by an attack  by pro-western internal or external elements, and has decided to use ( misuse) Islamic Fatwa, against Nuclear detterent. The entire political system is compromised by defeatist elements, who rule by the approval or diktat from the west.

We can not fix one problem, without fixing the other. As both problems have only the same solution. The removal of a compromised political system and replacement by a truly national and democratic system. One where both defence needs and social needs are subject to national interest, and not minority or foreign interests.

https://www.reuters.com/article/gulf-security-int-idUSKBN2AQ1SX

"Israeli-owned ship hit by explosion in Gulf

An Israeli-owned ship, the MV HELIOS RAY, was hit by an explosion in the Gulf of Oman overnight Thursday and a U.S. defence official said the blast left holes in both sides of the vessel’s hull. The cause was not immediately clear.

The vehicle-carrier ship is owned by a Tel-Aviv based company called Ray Shipping through a company registered in the Isle of Man, according to a U.N. shipping database."

Payback time I guess.

Also in other news, Iran claimed the power outage in Natanz damaged their IR-1 uranium centrifuges, and they will use this occasion to replace them with more modern IR-6 centrifuges with 10x the capacity.

lancelot wrote:https://www.reuters.com/article/gulf-security-int-idUSKBN2AQ1SX

"Israeli-owned ship hit by explosion in Gulf

An Israeli-owned ship, the MV HELIOS RAY, was hit by an explosion in the Gulf of Oman overnight Thursday and a U.S. defence official said the blast left holes in both sides of the vessel’s hull. The cause was not immediately clear.

The vehicle-carrier ship is owned by a Tel-Aviv based company called Ray Shipping through a company registered in the Isle of Man, according to a U.N. shipping database."

Payback time I guess.

Also in other news, Iran claimed the power outage in Natanz damaged their IR-1 uranium centrifuges, and they will use this occasion to replace them with more modern IR-6 centrifuges with 10x the capacity.

Payback for the hole in their ship in the Red Sea last week probably.

Payback for Natanz will likely be more subtle. Decent SAMs in Yemen would be a step, hit Israel's 'new' friend. Punishing proxies seems to be the done thing in today's world.

The response should not be an escalation. But given the recent Usrael attacks, they can not be covert either. They need to send a signal and be overt. Usrael Nuclear industry needs to suffer the same material damage. Ofcourse the Usraelis will want to escalate quickly and threaten use of Nukes. As they have done in the past. Here then Iran either backs down and surrenders, because it has no Nukes or they will have to display their force. Then the world has to deal with it.

On this developing sea war, Iran is the winner. Since it can still send ships to Europe, the long way, without going to Red Sea. Very difficult for Usraelis to track and destroy ships in the vast Ocean. But easy to stop them in Babelmandab narrow section. Put a Cork in. Plus Iran has land route to Syria and can still export oil to Black Sea and Med, through Russia. That is why, even if land route to Syria cut by Turks or Yanks, still no problem. Strategically Iran has the upper hand, only if it had some Nukes..........

There was an RT report that suggested in retaliation for the Israeli attack on Natanz, that Iran will now process Uranium to 60%.

Very good response... the purpose of the attack presumably was to slow down their progress to a bomb, so the response should be the opposite.

https://www.rt.com/news/520917-iran-uranium-enrichment-natanz/

I wish, I could agree. But 60% of a Tank or Rifle does not do anything. I have said enough on this. But repeat that centrifuges themselves can be made to resist attacks. New generation can be made to vent gas and slow down safely, in case of power cut or loss of process control. A mechanical device. Also the centrifuges should be mounted so as not be damaged by ground vibration by Earthquake or attack. And lastly, they seem very flimsy , and can be damaged or pierced by an ounce of explosive. The rotation then interrupted and break internal mechanism and creating fragments that damage others. Either make housings stronger or allow for resistant partition walls....

The major problem for Iran right now is that the israelis can and are hitting them within their borders with relative ease. Apart from hitting a few ships, Iran has no answer.

Only last week a senior israeli officer stated they could destroy Iran’s nuclear sites....within 7 days they set back the biggest plant by up to 9 months if we are to believe the comments from those within and from outside Iran.

Their senior people are being picked off at will.

Iran is in real trouble here as it’s clear as night follows day the jewish intelligence network inside Iran is vast and sophisticated.

Iran needs to try and hit back inside isreal’s borders to show like for like aggression and show them that an eye for eye, tit for tat attacks will ensue if you attack ‘us’.

Has Iran the ability to launch cyber attacks that cause mayhem? perhaps, I don’t know; one off assassination attacks inside israel, I doubt very much.

Iran is in a tough spot.

Once those guys from Hezbollah and Palestine who are getting battle hardened in Syria can turn their attentions elsewhere what do you think will happen?

lancelot wrote:Once those guys from Hezbollah and Palestine who are getting battle hardened in Syria can turn their attentions elsewhere what do you think will happen?

That kind of thing will lead to an all out incursion into said places with thousands slaughtered 2006 style. How is that a response?

Isreal is killing top people with no other casualties or knocking out critical infrastructure. Compare apples with apples.

Mysterious attack on a Mossad base in northern Iraq. Officer and men dead.

Three of the officers of Israel’s Mossad who were killed in an attack against a facility affiliated with the regime’s spy agency in northern Iraq have been identified.  

Iraq's Sabereen News, citing security sources, reported late on Tuesday that a facility affiliated with Israel’s Mossad spy agency had been attacked by "unknown resistance forces" in the north of the country.

According to intelligence sources, the attack on the Mossad special information and operations center resulted in the wounding and killing of 10 Israelis, three of whom were identified. The Israeli officers have been working for several months at the Mossad-affiliated center in Erbil, and there is detailed information on the location and type of Mossad intelligence activities that will be released if necessary, Sabereen News said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has declined to comment on the reports.

The incident came hours after an Israeli ship was attacked in the Emirati port of Fujairah, causing damage but no casualties.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the strike, but Israel’s Channel 12 quoted unnamed regime officials as blaming Iran for the attack. Iran has categorically rejected the accusation.

The ship, called the Hyperion Ray and sailing under the Bahamas flag, was en route to the UAE from Kuwait. The attack on the ship came after Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility was hit by a suspected attack on Sunday, which is widely believed to have been carried out by Israel. The act of sabotage, condemned by Iran as an “act of nuclear terrorism”, resulted in a power failure. Officials, however, said the incident had not led to any casualties, damage or complications.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/04/14/649486/Israel-Mossad-attack-northern-Iraq-Kurdistan-Erbil-Natanz-

Isos wrote:Iran is bringing cruise and ballistic missiles at israeli borders and lot of other stuff.

In the same time they are playing cool to reach an agreement again and stop sanctions.

Israeli attacks are just making them the bully in the story and it helps iran.

Israel has no real strategy against Iran. Their attacks are useless. Iran has a strategy and it works very good.

Concerning "attacks inside Iran" that may very well be just accidents and Iran says Israel is responsible just to have an image of innocent being attacked by israeli. It's good for their interests.

They have been assassinating top nuclear scientists for years. This has hurt them and it’s ludicrous to suggest otherwise. They also killed their top missile engineer. None of these have stopped progression completely that is true, but it has hurt progress.

If the reports from an IRCG senior officer (who granted is a hawk and very much making a name for himself) are correct and the nuke plant is offline for 9 mths, that’s significant damage - not useless by any stretch.

I have no idea if it was an accident or not but if I was a betting man, I’d put a tenner on it being attacked.

JohninMK wrote:Mysterious attack on a Mossad base in northern Iraq. Officer and men dead.

Three of the officers of Israel’s Mossad who were killed in an attack against a facility affiliated with the regime’s spy agency in northern Iraq have been identified.  

Iraq's Sabereen News, citing security sources, reported late on Tuesday that a facility affiliated with Israel’s Mossad spy agency had been attacked by "unknown resistance forces" in the north of the country.

According to intelligence sources, the attack on the Mossad special information and operations center resulted in the wounding and killing of 10 Israelis, three of whom were identified. The Israeli officers have been working for several months at the Mossad-affiliated center in Erbil, and there is detailed information on the location and type of Mossad intelligence activities that will be released if necessary, Sabereen News said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has declined to comment on the reports.

The incident came hours after an Israeli ship was attacked in the Emirati port of Fujairah, causing damage but no casualties.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the strike, but Israel’s Channel 12 quoted unnamed regime officials as blaming Iran for the attack. Iran has categorically rejected the accusation.

The ship, called the Hyperion Ray and sailing under the Bahamas flag, was en route to the UAE from Kuwait. The attack on the ship came after Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility was hit by a suspected attack on Sunday, which is widely believed to have been carried out by Israel. The act of sabotage, condemned by Iran as an “act of nuclear terrorism”, resulted in a power failure. Officials, however, said the incident had not led to any casualties, damage or complications.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/04/14/649486/Israel-Mossad-attack-northern-Iraq-Kurdistan-Erbil-Natanz-

This is the kind of response I hope came from Iran if, as reported, is true. That’s a decent bloody nose to give back and I hope Iran’s finger prints are all over it.

Reading into it, it appears the story originated from within Iran and is therefore most likely BS for the Iranian population to counter the anger at yet another israeli attack on Iran????

I wish, I could agree. But 60% of a Tank or Rifle does not do anything. I have said enough on this. But repeat that centrifuges themselves can be made to resist attacks. New generation can be made to vent gas and slow down safely, in case of power cut or loss of process control.

If Israel or the US thinks you actually have nuclear weapons capability or are on the brink of getting it they will most likely attack.
Actually having sufficient weapons to defend yourself should be the goal rather than a nuclear capability that will get you attacked and sanctioned by everyone, but without enough actual material to use to defend yourself.

They said the centrifuges destroyed were old model ones and the new ones they are replacing them with are much more efficient and effective, so that is already a negative consequence of their attack.

Ultimately they are in a position where if they have decided they will only ever be safe with nuclear weapons then they are going to do something like this and say we are scaling up our enrichment (but not say how much further they are actually going) in a bid to cover for the increased activity, and not invite an attack.

Or if they are still opposed to nuclear weapons then this is stepping up their equivalent of crippling economic sanctions on the west... they wont have any use for the more highly enriched material but if the US folds... like Biden seems to be doing on things, then they can use the already enriched material they don't need as something they can bargain away for a better deal.

I am pretty sure the west does not want to go back to the original deal because essentially the deal was all about giving the west better knowledge of Irans nuclear programme and delaying any potential weapon making capacity by the 10 or so years it was going to operate for.

Well the original deal was already about to expire with Iran being able to buy new weapon systems and other perks and a stage they never wanted Iran to get to... they were supposed to use their inspection anywhere knowledge to work out where to bomb and by now there would be a lot of smoking craters in Iran.

Their problem was that Iran took advantage of the situation and used the growth and development and stupid interventions by the US in Syria and Iraq and interventions supported by the west in Yemen, that were supposed to change the balance in favour of the US or Saudi Arabia, and Iran and also Russia tried to assist their Neighbours and traditional allies and essentially turned the tide.

The US occupies Iraq and owns Iraq but they are not really the heroes and saviours they think they are... there are plenty of Iraqis who resent their presence and just want them to leave and being a majority Shia are not as hostile to Shia based Iran as Saddams sunni muslim government was. Equally in Syria and less openly in Yemen Iran has made a significant effect on the ground in dealing with ISIS and the chaotic rabble the west wanted to take over... thinking they can create some sort of new democracy... cough cough... never happens... and ending up with Libya or losing.

I am sure the Syrian people and the people of Yemen are glad the US are losing....

The point is that the whole purpose of the JPOA treaty from Obamas perspective was a delaying are recon exercise to slow Iran down in getting nuclear weapon technology, and allowing them to find targets... people, buildings, machinery, etc to target to slow it down even further... or perhaps even make them have to start again.

In a sense Trumps tantrum was inevidible... the Biden and Obama administration should be happy that he was made to look the bad pro war guy and they could pretend to be the good cop trying to fix things... but don't look too close at the details of their new demands... Iran to withdraw and stop interfering in our regime change operations... which is eventually going to include one in Iran anyway, and get rid of ballistic weapon and space launch technology too... which Iran will not agree to of course, so back to normal stalemate.

Israeli can't destroy these programs by killing "top people".

There needs to be penalties to such attacks... imagine how ape shit the US would go if a country murdered a US citizen... unless of course that country was Saudi Arabia...

The US tried to do the same thing with NK, but the late Kim cracked their plans & his son is now calls the shots.
Good analysis, though it was written before US troops pill out announcement:
Iran in the ring of enemies

Iran would have to be real fucking stupid to be goaded into attacking Israel and handing the US all the cassus belli it requires to attack Iran itself. They are *this* close to achieving the bomb they can practically taste it. All they have to do is tighten internal security, sanitize the logistics chains from sabotage, and more importantly sit tight. Time is on their side for once, and in 10 years time when they have a significantly more powerful armed forces as well as nukes they would have the latitude to revisit this blood debt and repay it with full interest.