WAR Main Persian Gulf Trouble thread
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Nimitz back in Persian Gulf, Iran vows revenge for killing of nuke scientist
Amir Vahdat, The Associated Press and Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press
12 hours ago
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mco/S5OCZ3Z3CBDOZHQG3OOV2TISPI.jpg)
Aircraft carrier Nimitz and Carrier Air Wing 17 conduct flight operations in the Arabian Sea, Nov. 27. (Navy photo).
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday called for the “definitive punishment” of those behind the killing of a scientist linked to Tehran’s disbanded military nuclear program, a slaying the Islamic Republic has blamed on Israel.
Israel, long suspected of killing Iranian scientists a decade ago amid tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program, has yet to comment on the killing Friday of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. However, the attack bore the hallmarks of a carefully planned, military-style ambush.
The slaying threatens to renew tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s term, just as President-elect Joe Biden has suggested his administration could return to Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers from which Trump earlier withdrew. The Pentagon announced early Saturday that it sent the aircraft carrier Nimitz back into the Mideast.
In a statement, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Fakhrizadeh “the country’s prominent and distinguished nuclear and defensive scientist.”
Khamenei said Iran’s first priority after the killing was the “definitive punishment of the perpetrators and those who ordered it.” He did not elaborate.
Speaking to a meeting of his government’s coronavirus task force earlier Saturday, President Hassan Rouhani blamed Israel for the killing.
Rouhani said that Fakhrizadeh’s death would not stop its nuclear program, something Khamenei said as well. Iran’s civilian nuclear program has continued its experiments and now enriches uranium up to 4.5 percent, far below weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.
But analysts have compared Fakhrizadeh to being on a par with Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who led the U.S.’ Manhattan Project in World War II that created the atom bomb.
“We will respond to the assassination of Martyr Fakhrizadeh in a proper time,” Rouhani said.
He added: “The Iranian nation is smarter than falling into the trap of the Zionists. They are thinking to create chaos.”
This photo released by the semi-official Fars News Agency shows the scene where Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in Absard, a small city just east of the capital, Tehran, Iran, Friday, Nov. 27, 2020. Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian scientist that Israel alleged led the Islamic Republic's military nuclear program until its disbanding in the early 2000s was “assassinated” Friday, state television said. (Fars News Agency via AP)
Friday’s attack happened in Absard, a village just east of the capital that is a retreat for the Iranian elite. Iranian state television said an old truck with explosives hidden under a load of wood blew up near a sedan carrying Fakhrizadeh.
As Fakhrizadeh’s sedan stopped, at least five gunmen emerged and raked the car with rapid fire, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency said.
Fakhrizadeh died at a hospital after doctors and paramedics couldn’t revive him. Others wounded included Fakhrizadeh’s bodyguards. Photos and video shared online showed a Nissan sedan with bullet holes in the windshield and blood pooled on the road.
Hours after the attack, the Pentagon announced it had brought the aircraft carrier Nimitz back into the Middle East, an unusual move as the carrier already spent months in the region. It cited the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq as the reason for the decision, saying “it was prudent to have additional defensive capabilities in the region to meet any contingency.”
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mco/GUBCI2ORXVHSFCUUHOFBCWBYFQ.jpg "The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) transits the Arabian Sea on Aug. 17, 2020. (MC3 Elliot Schaudt/Navy)")
The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) transits the Arabian Sea on Aug. 17, 2020. (MC3 Elliot Schaudt/Navy)
The attack comes just days before the 10-year anniversary of the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari that Tehran also blamed on Israel. That and other targeted killings happened at the time that the so-called Stuxnet virus, believed to be an Israeli and American creation, destroyed Iranian centrifuges.
Those assaults occurred at the height of Western fears over Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran long has insisted its program is peaceful. However, Fakhrizadeh led Iran’s so-called AMAD program that Israel and the West have alleged was a military operation looking at the feasibility of building a nuclear weapon. The International Atomic Energy Agency says that “structured program” ended in 2003.
IAEA inspectors monitor Iranian nuclear sites as part of the now-unraveling nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
After Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the deal, Iran has abandoned all those limits. Experts now believe Iran has enough low-enriched uranium to make at least two nuclear weapons if it chose to pursue the bomb. Meanwhile, an advanced centrifuge assembly plant at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility exploded in July in what Tehran now calls a sabotage attack.
Fakhrizadeh, born in 1958, had been sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council and the U.S. for his work on AMAD. Iran always described him as a university physics professor. A member of the Revolutionary Guard, Fakhrizadeh had been seen in pictures in meetings attended by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a sign of his importance in Iran’s theocracy.
In recent years, U.S. sanctions lists name him as heading Iran’s Organization for Defensive Innovation and Research. The State Department described that organization last year as working on “dual-use research and development activities, of which aspects are potentially useful for nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems.”
Iran’s mission to the U.N., meanwhile, described Fakhrizadeh’s recent work as “development of the first indigenous COVID-19 test kit” and overseeing Tehran’s efforts at making a possible coronavirus vaccine.
___
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/S5OCZ3Z3CBDOZHQG3OOV2TISPI.jpg)
www.navytimes.com
Amir Vahdat, The Associated Press and Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press
12 hours ago
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday called for the “definitive punishment” of those behind the killing of a scientist linked to Tehran’s disbanded military nuclear program, a slaying the Islamic Republic has blamed on Israel.
Israel, long suspected of killing Iranian scientists a decade ago amid tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program, has yet to comment on the killing Friday of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. However, the attack bore the hallmarks of a carefully planned, military-style ambush.
The slaying threatens to renew tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s term, just as President-elect Joe Biden has suggested his administration could return to Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers from which Trump earlier withdrew. The Pentagon announced early Saturday that it sent the aircraft carrier Nimitz back into the Mideast.
In a statement, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Fakhrizadeh “the country’s prominent and distinguished nuclear and defensive scientist.”
Khamenei said Iran’s first priority after the killing was the “definitive punishment of the perpetrators and those who ordered it.” He did not elaborate.
Speaking to a meeting of his government’s coronavirus task force earlier Saturday, President Hassan Rouhani blamed Israel for the killing.
Rouhani said that Fakhrizadeh’s death would not stop its nuclear program, something Khamenei said as well. Iran’s civilian nuclear program has continued its experiments and now enriches uranium up to 4.5 percent, far below weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.
But analysts have compared Fakhrizadeh to being on a par with Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who led the U.S.’ Manhattan Project in World War II that created the atom bomb.
“We will respond to the assassination of Martyr Fakhrizadeh in a proper time,” Rouhani said.
He added: “The Iranian nation is smarter than falling into the trap of the Zionists. They are thinking to create chaos.”
This photo released by the semi-official Fars News Agency shows the scene where Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in Absard, a small city just east of the capital, Tehran, Iran, Friday, Nov. 27, 2020. Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian scientist that Israel alleged led the Islamic Republic's military nuclear program until its disbanding in the early 2000s was “assassinated” Friday, state television said. (Fars News Agency via AP)
Friday’s attack happened in Absard, a village just east of the capital that is a retreat for the Iranian elite. Iranian state television said an old truck with explosives hidden under a load of wood blew up near a sedan carrying Fakhrizadeh.
As Fakhrizadeh’s sedan stopped, at least five gunmen emerged and raked the car with rapid fire, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency said.
Fakhrizadeh died at a hospital after doctors and paramedics couldn’t revive him. Others wounded included Fakhrizadeh’s bodyguards. Photos and video shared online showed a Nissan sedan with bullet holes in the windshield and blood pooled on the road.
Hours after the attack, the Pentagon announced it had brought the aircraft carrier Nimitz back into the Middle East, an unusual move as the carrier already spent months in the region. It cited the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq as the reason for the decision, saying “it was prudent to have additional defensive capabilities in the region to meet any contingency.”
The attack comes just days before the 10-year anniversary of the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari that Tehran also blamed on Israel. That and other targeted killings happened at the time that the so-called Stuxnet virus, believed to be an Israeli and American creation, destroyed Iranian centrifuges.
Those assaults occurred at the height of Western fears over Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran long has insisted its program is peaceful. However, Fakhrizadeh led Iran’s so-called AMAD program that Israel and the West have alleged was a military operation looking at the feasibility of building a nuclear weapon. The International Atomic Energy Agency says that “structured program” ended in 2003.
IAEA inspectors monitor Iranian nuclear sites as part of the now-unraveling nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
After Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the deal, Iran has abandoned all those limits. Experts now believe Iran has enough low-enriched uranium to make at least two nuclear weapons if it chose to pursue the bomb. Meanwhile, an advanced centrifuge assembly plant at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility exploded in July in what Tehran now calls a sabotage attack.
Fakhrizadeh, born in 1958, had been sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council and the U.S. for his work on AMAD. Iran always described him as a university physics professor. A member of the Revolutionary Guard, Fakhrizadeh had been seen in pictures in meetings attended by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a sign of his importance in Iran’s theocracy.
In recent years, U.S. sanctions lists name him as heading Iran’s Organization for Defensive Innovation and Research. The State Department described that organization last year as working on “dual-use research and development activities, of which aspects are potentially useful for nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems.”
Iran’s mission to the U.N., meanwhile, described Fakhrizadeh’s recent work as “development of the first indigenous COVID-19 test kit” and overseeing Tehran’s efforts at making a possible coronavirus vaccine.
___
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Nimitz back in Persian Gulf, Iran vows revenge for killing of nuke scientist
The Pentagon announced early Saturday that it sent the aircraft carrier Nimitz back into the Mideast.
www.navytimes.com
Attachments
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News That Matter
@jay1stnewyorker
28m
Syrian War frontline news . Suspected Israeli air strikes kill more than dozen Iran-backed fighters in Syria. Irán continues to spread terrorism in region and state publicly their intent to annihilate the Israeli state at any costs. | Middle East Eye
View: https://twitter.com/jay1stnewyorker/status/1332895112641261571?s=20
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Mon Nov 30, 2020 / 2:54 PM EST
Air strike kills IRGC commander at Iraq-Syria border - Iraqi officials
(Reuters) - An air strike killed a commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards at the Iraq-Syria border sometime between Saturday and Sunday, Iraqi security and local militia officials said on Monday.
They could not confirm the identity of the commander, who they said was killed alongside three other men travelling in a vehicle with him.
The vehicle was carrying weapons across the Iraqi border and was hit after it had entered Syrian territory, two Iraqi security officials separately said.
Iran-backed Iraqi paramilitary groups helped retrieve the bodies, the two officials said, without elaborating or giving the exact time of the incident.
Local military and militia sources confirmed the account, although Reuters was unable to verify independently that an Iranian commander had been killed.
The incident came just days after Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in Tehran in a killing that Iran has blamed on Israel.
Israel launched air raids against what it called a wide range of Syrian and Iranian targets in Syria last week, signalling that it will pursue its policy of striking Iranian targets in the region as U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to leave office.
Iraqi officials fear a conflagration ahead of President-elect Joe Biden taking office because he is viewed as less confrontational with Iran than the Trump administration.
Iran-backed Iraqi militias are still reeling from the U.S. assassination of Iranian military mastermind Qassem Soleimani in January and their Iraqi leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and have vowed revenge against the United States.
mobile.reuters.com
Air strike kills IRGC commander at Iraq-Syria border - Iraqi officials
(Reuters) - An air strike killed a commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards at the Iraq-Syria border sometime between Saturday and Sunday, Iraqi security and local militia officials said on Monday.
They could not confirm the identity of the commander, who they said was killed alongside three other men travelling in a vehicle with him.
The vehicle was carrying weapons across the Iraqi border and was hit after it had entered Syrian territory, two Iraqi security officials separately said.
Iran-backed Iraqi paramilitary groups helped retrieve the bodies, the two officials said, without elaborating or giving the exact time of the incident.
Local military and militia sources confirmed the account, although Reuters was unable to verify independently that an Iranian commander had been killed.
The incident came just days after Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in Tehran in a killing that Iran has blamed on Israel.
Israel launched air raids against what it called a wide range of Syrian and Iranian targets in Syria last week, signalling that it will pursue its policy of striking Iranian targets in the region as U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to leave office.
Iraqi officials fear a conflagration ahead of President-elect Joe Biden taking office because he is viewed as less confrontational with Iran than the Trump administration.
Iran-backed Iraqi militias are still reeling from the U.S. assassination of Iranian military mastermind Qassem Soleimani in January and their Iraqi leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and have vowed revenge against the United States.
Air strike kills IRGC commander at Iraq-Syria border - Iraqi officials
An air strike killed a commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards at the Iraq-Syria border sometime between Saturday and Sunday, Iraqi security and local militia officials said on Monday.
mobile.reuters.com
northern watch
TB Fanatic
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Farnaz Fassihi
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11m
Iran new nuclear law: Zarif says if US & EU fulfill commitments to JCPA the law won't go into effect. Otherwise government is obliged to implement it. Note: new law says any official who does not implement the law will face criminal punishment including jail.
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Iran new nuclear law: Zarif says if US & EU fulfill commitments to JCPA the law won't go into effect. Otherwise government is obliged to implement it. Note: new law says any official who does not implement the law will face criminal punishment including jail.
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Israel urges citizens to avoid Gulf, cites Iran threat
The Israeli government is urging its citizens to avoid travel to the Gulf states of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, citing threats of Iranian attacks
By ILAN BEN ZION Associated Press
3 December 2020, 12:56
The Associated Press
FILE - Israeli tourists leave a flydubai plane which departed from Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv and landed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. The Israeli government is urging its citizens to avoid travel to the Gulf states of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, citing threats of Iranian attacks. Thursday, Dec. 3, travel advisory comes as Iran is threatening to attack Israeli targets following the assassination of its top nuclear scientist last Friday. (AP Photo/Malak Harb, File)
JERUSALEM -- The Israeli government on Thursday urged its citizens to avoid travel to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, citing threats of Iranian attacks.
Iran has been threatening to attack Israeli targets since its chief nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated last Friday near Tehran. It accuses Israel, which has been suspected in previous killings of Iranian nuclear scientists, of being behind the shooting.
Israel has not commented on the killing. But Fakhrizadeh has long been on Israel's radar screen, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying at a 2018 news conference about Iran's nuclear program: “Remember that name.” Israel accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons — a charge Iran denies.
In recent months, Israel has signed agreements establishing diplomatic relations with Gulf Arab states of the UAE and Bahrain — its first normalization deals with Arab countries in a quarter century.
The agreements, brokered by the Trump administration, have generated widespread excitement in Israel, and thousands of Israeli tourists are scheduled to travel to the UAE for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah this month.
That may change following Thursday's warning.
“In light of the threats heard recently by Iranian officials and in light of the involvement in the past of Iranian officials in terror attacks in various countries, there is a concern that Iran will try to act in this way against Israeli targets,” said a statement issued by the prime minister’s National Security Council.
It also advised against travel to Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Kurdish area of Iraq and Africa.
Israel's military is well prepared to deal with the threats of Iranian troops and their proxies in neighboring Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Israeli media say the government also has beefed up security at embassies around the world.
But protecting Israeli travelers, conspicuous and spread out at countless hotels, restaurants and tourist sites, represent a different type of challenge.
“This is going to be a nightmare, and I really hope that both governments, UAE and Israel, are coordinating and doing the best they can to safeguard those Israelis,” said Yoel Guzansky, a former Israeli counterterrorism official who is now a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
“I’m really worried that that something might happen, and especially now because of the context of Fakhrizadeh, because Iran is really looking for revenge,” he added. He spoke before the travel advisory was issued.
The Israel Airports Authority estimates that about 25,000 Israelis will fly to the UAE this month on the five airlines now plying the route between Tel Aviv and the Gulf state’s airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Celebrities, entrepreneurs and tourists already have been flocking to Dubai.
With the coronavirus appearing to be under control in the UAE, it is one of the few quarantine-free travel options for Israelis during the coming Hanukkah holiday vacation, adding to its appeal. At a time when few people are traveling, Israeli visitors speaking Hebrew could be extra conspicuous.
Israel this week also signed a tourism agreement with Bahrain.
Amsalem Tours, an Israeli travel agency, said that there was “very serious” demand for travel packages to Dubai but did not provide specific figures.
Iran and its proxies have targeted Israeli tourists and Jewish communities in the past. Agents of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group bombed a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria, in 2012, killing six and wounding dozens. That year, Israel also accused Iran of being behind attacks targeting Israeli diplomats in Thailand and India. Iran and Hezbollah also bombed the Israeli Embassy and Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994, claiming the lives of scores of civilians.
Concerns for the safety of Israelis in Dubai also is not without precedent. In 2000, an Israeli ex-colonel was kidnapped by Iranian proxy Hezbollah and held captive in Lebanon until he was released in a prisoner exchange in 2004.
Today, Dubai, famous for its glittering shopping malls, ultra-modern skyscrapers and nightlife, is a crossroads for travelers from around the world, including many nations that do not have relations with Israel. Iran maintains a major presence in Dubai, due to historical and current trade ties, and Dubai is believed to be a major station for Iranian intelligence services. The family of a California-based member of an Iranian militant opposition group in exile says he was abducted by Iran while staying in Dubai just a few months ago.
In a possible sign of Emirati security concerns, travel agencies in countries across the Middle East and Africa say the UAE has temporarily halted issuing new visas to their citizens. With tens of thousands of Iranians working or doing business in the UAE, Iran is also among the countries facing the visa restrictions.
Israel had already had a travel warning in place advising citizens against nonessential travel to the UAE. Similar “basic concrete threat” advisories are in place for visiting other Arab states with which Israel has peace treaties. But the language of Thursday's warning was especially tough.
The UAE, for its part, is known for its strict security. Home to 3.3 million people in 2019, with just over 3 million of them foreigners, Dubai’s published major crime statistics are among some of the lowest in the world.
Before Israelis began arriving, Dubai held a highly publicized drill of a police SWAT team storming a replica metro car in October and suggested facial-recognition technology could be implemented at stations along its driverless track. Experts already believe the UAE has one of the highest per capita concentrations of surveillance cameras in the world, a system that’s only grown amid the coronavirus pandemic.
And despite the recent tensions, Iran may be hesitant to strike on Emirati soil, wanting to maintain its economic interests there. The UAE meanwhile has gone out of its way to say it wants to de-escalate tensions in the region despite its own suspicions over Iranian behavior. It called the killing of Fakhrizadeh a “heinous assassination.”
In an interview before Thursday's advisory was issued, Pavel Israelsky, co-founder of Salam Dubai, said the boom in his UAE-based Israeli tour operator’s bookings was “significant” ahead of the Hanukkah holiday. While a handful of Israeli clients canceled over security concerns, he said, “I can say that the UAE is one of the most secure places in the world in terms of the resources they invest in security.”
“I don’t think there’s cause for worry,” Israelsky said. “Today, no place is really safe.”
———
Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed reporting.
Israel urges citizens to avoid Gulf, cites Iran threat - ABC News (go.com)
The Israeli government is urging its citizens to avoid travel to the Gulf states of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, citing threats of Iranian attacks
By ILAN BEN ZION Associated Press
3 December 2020, 12:56
FILE - Israeli tourists leave a flydubai plane which departed from Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv and landed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. The Israeli government is urging its citizens to avoid travel to the Gulf states of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, citing threats of Iranian attacks. Thursday, Dec. 3, travel advisory comes as Iran is threatening to attack Israeli targets following the assassination of its top nuclear scientist last Friday. (AP Photo/Malak Harb, File)
JERUSALEM -- The Israeli government on Thursday urged its citizens to avoid travel to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, citing threats of Iranian attacks.
Iran has been threatening to attack Israeli targets since its chief nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated last Friday near Tehran. It accuses Israel, which has been suspected in previous killings of Iranian nuclear scientists, of being behind the shooting.
Israel has not commented on the killing. But Fakhrizadeh has long been on Israel's radar screen, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying at a 2018 news conference about Iran's nuclear program: “Remember that name.” Israel accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons — a charge Iran denies.
In recent months, Israel has signed agreements establishing diplomatic relations with Gulf Arab states of the UAE and Bahrain — its first normalization deals with Arab countries in a quarter century.
The agreements, brokered by the Trump administration, have generated widespread excitement in Israel, and thousands of Israeli tourists are scheduled to travel to the UAE for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah this month.
That may change following Thursday's warning.
“In light of the threats heard recently by Iranian officials and in light of the involvement in the past of Iranian officials in terror attacks in various countries, there is a concern that Iran will try to act in this way against Israeli targets,” said a statement issued by the prime minister’s National Security Council.
It also advised against travel to Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Kurdish area of Iraq and Africa.
Israel's military is well prepared to deal with the threats of Iranian troops and their proxies in neighboring Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Israeli media say the government also has beefed up security at embassies around the world.
But protecting Israeli travelers, conspicuous and spread out at countless hotels, restaurants and tourist sites, represent a different type of challenge.
“This is going to be a nightmare, and I really hope that both governments, UAE and Israel, are coordinating and doing the best they can to safeguard those Israelis,” said Yoel Guzansky, a former Israeli counterterrorism official who is now a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
“I’m really worried that that something might happen, and especially now because of the context of Fakhrizadeh, because Iran is really looking for revenge,” he added. He spoke before the travel advisory was issued.
The Israel Airports Authority estimates that about 25,000 Israelis will fly to the UAE this month on the five airlines now plying the route between Tel Aviv and the Gulf state’s airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Celebrities, entrepreneurs and tourists already have been flocking to Dubai.
With the coronavirus appearing to be under control in the UAE, it is one of the few quarantine-free travel options for Israelis during the coming Hanukkah holiday vacation, adding to its appeal. At a time when few people are traveling, Israeli visitors speaking Hebrew could be extra conspicuous.
Israel this week also signed a tourism agreement with Bahrain.
Amsalem Tours, an Israeli travel agency, said that there was “very serious” demand for travel packages to Dubai but did not provide specific figures.
Iran and its proxies have targeted Israeli tourists and Jewish communities in the past. Agents of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group bombed a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria, in 2012, killing six and wounding dozens. That year, Israel also accused Iran of being behind attacks targeting Israeli diplomats in Thailand and India. Iran and Hezbollah also bombed the Israeli Embassy and Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994, claiming the lives of scores of civilians.
Concerns for the safety of Israelis in Dubai also is not without precedent. In 2000, an Israeli ex-colonel was kidnapped by Iranian proxy Hezbollah and held captive in Lebanon until he was released in a prisoner exchange in 2004.
Today, Dubai, famous for its glittering shopping malls, ultra-modern skyscrapers and nightlife, is a crossroads for travelers from around the world, including many nations that do not have relations with Israel. Iran maintains a major presence in Dubai, due to historical and current trade ties, and Dubai is believed to be a major station for Iranian intelligence services. The family of a California-based member of an Iranian militant opposition group in exile says he was abducted by Iran while staying in Dubai just a few months ago.
In a possible sign of Emirati security concerns, travel agencies in countries across the Middle East and Africa say the UAE has temporarily halted issuing new visas to their citizens. With tens of thousands of Iranians working or doing business in the UAE, Iran is also among the countries facing the visa restrictions.
Israel had already had a travel warning in place advising citizens against nonessential travel to the UAE. Similar “basic concrete threat” advisories are in place for visiting other Arab states with which Israel has peace treaties. But the language of Thursday's warning was especially tough.
The UAE, for its part, is known for its strict security. Home to 3.3 million people in 2019, with just over 3 million of them foreigners, Dubai’s published major crime statistics are among some of the lowest in the world.
Before Israelis began arriving, Dubai held a highly publicized drill of a police SWAT team storming a replica metro car in October and suggested facial-recognition technology could be implemented at stations along its driverless track. Experts already believe the UAE has one of the highest per capita concentrations of surveillance cameras in the world, a system that’s only grown amid the coronavirus pandemic.
And despite the recent tensions, Iran may be hesitant to strike on Emirati soil, wanting to maintain its economic interests there. The UAE meanwhile has gone out of its way to say it wants to de-escalate tensions in the region despite its own suspicions over Iranian behavior. It called the killing of Fakhrizadeh a “heinous assassination.”
In an interview before Thursday's advisory was issued, Pavel Israelsky, co-founder of Salam Dubai, said the boom in his UAE-based Israeli tour operator’s bookings was “significant” ahead of the Hanukkah holiday. While a handful of Israeli clients canceled over security concerns, he said, “I can say that the UAE is one of the most secure places in the world in terms of the resources they invest in security.”
“I don’t think there’s cause for worry,” Israelsky said. “Today, no place is really safe.”
———
Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed reporting.
Israel urges citizens to avoid Gulf, cites Iran threat - ABC News (go.com)
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Al Jazeera English
@AJEnglish
1h
BREAKING: Qatar's FM says there has been movement on resolving the Gulf dispute https://aje.io/mjsq4
@AJEnglish
1h
BREAKING: Qatar's FM says there has been movement on resolving the Gulf dispute https://aje.io/mjsq4
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i predict more boom-booms momentarily : (
EndGameWW3
@EndGameWW3
Update: U.N. nuclear watchdog report showed on Friday: Iran plans to install hundreds more advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges at an underground plant in breach of its deal with major powers.
EndGameWW3
@EndGameWW3
Update: U.N. nuclear watchdog report showed on Friday: Iran plans to install hundreds more advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges at an underground plant in breach of its deal with major powers.
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The Cavell Group
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Gulf of Aden maritime incident - UKMTO reporting incident over, all crew safe. There have been Maritime IEDs, WBIEDs, and unmanned, remote-controlled exploding boat attacks in this region. Piracy risks are also high.
The UKMTO - UK Maritime Trade Operations, are reporting that they are aware of an attack on a vessel off the coast of Yemen. Evolving incident and awaiting further information.
@TCG_CrisisRisks
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@TCG_CrisisRisks
Gulf of Aden maritime incident - UKMTO reporting incident over, all crew safe. There have been Maritime IEDs, WBIEDs, and unmanned, remote-controlled exploding boat attacks in this region. Piracy risks are also high.
The UKMTO - UK Maritime Trade Operations, are reporting that they are aware of an attack on a vessel off the coast of Yemen. Evolving incident and awaiting further information.
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EndGameWW3
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Update: The U.S. Navy announced that Patrol Squadron 8 (VP8) Fighting Tigers would be deployed to the 5th Fleet area of operations in the Persian Gulf.
Patrol Squadron Eight (VP-8) is a U.S. Navy land-based patrol squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida (USA). VP-8 is tasked to undertake maritime patrol, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
The Squadron is equipped with the Boeing P-8A Poseidon.
@EndGameWW3
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Update: The U.S. Navy announced that Patrol Squadron 8 (VP8) Fighting Tigers would be deployed to the 5th Fleet area of operations in the Persian Gulf.
Patrol Squadron Eight (VP-8) is a U.S. Navy land-based patrol squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida (USA). VP-8 is tasked to undertake maritime patrol, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
The Squadron is equipped with the Boeing P-8A Poseidon.
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Aurora Intel
@AuroraIntel
Pro/affiliated-#PMU news group Sabreen News in #Iraq have issued an image threatening "it will be very painful" the image is of Ali Al Salem Air Base, #Kuwait. #US forces are based there. I think this is the first time the affiliated newsgroup has issued threats outside of #Iraq?
View: https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1335942871443251206?s=20
@AuroraIntel
Pro/affiliated-#PMU news group Sabreen News in #Iraq have issued an image threatening "it will be very painful" the image is of Ali Al Salem Air Base, #Kuwait. #US forces are based there. I think this is the first time the affiliated newsgroup has issued threats outside of #Iraq?
View: https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1335942871443251206?s=20
jward
passin' thru
The Cavell Group
@TCG_CrisisRisks
22m
Iranians guiding Houthi missiles, says captured spy.
View: https://twitter.com/TCG_CrisisRisks/status/1336120670997020672?s=20
Iranians guiding Houthi missiles, says captured spy
A boy carries a weapon as he and Houthi supporters are seen during a gathering in Sanaa, Yemen April 2, 2020. (REUTERS)
Short Url
Iranians guiding Houthi missiles, says captured spy
AL-MUKALLA: A Houthi spy who was captured in the Yemeni city of Marib said he received training on intelligence information gathering and location sharing from Iranian and Iraqi missile experts in Sanaa. Yemen’s Defense Ministry recently announced capturing a Houthi cell of two spies who passed...arab.news
Updated 25 sec ago
Saeed Al-Batati
December 08, 2020 01:08
347
AL-MUKALLA: A Houthi spy who was captured in the Yemeni city of Marib said he received training on intelligence information gathering and location sharing from Iranian and Iraqi missile experts in Sanaa.
- Basim Ali Al-Samet was recruited last year and passed sensitive information to the militia
Yemen’s Defense Ministry recently announced capturing a Houthi cell of two spies who passed locations of military sites to the group.
State media aired a video showing their confessions. According to the video, they provided the militia with sensitive military information and locations of senior army commanders who were hit by Houthi missiles and drones.
Basim Ali Al-Samet, identified by the ministry as the most dangerous member of the cell, described receiving military training and lessons on gathering information and sending locations of military sites and movements of army commanders from Iranians and Iraqis in the capital.
Houthis recruited Al-Samet in early 2019 and installed him in the Ministry of Defense in Marib with the help of his military officer uncle, who also said he had colluded with the Houthis.
Al-Samet spent months in Marib, collecting information about military camps and meetings of ministry officers before traveling to Sanaa to pass the information to his recruiter Zayed Al-Mouyed, a Houthi military commander.
At a meeting with senior Houthi intelligence officers, Al-Samet saw three masked men along with Gen. Abdul Hakim Al-Khewani, the commander of Houthi intelligence, Al-Mouyed and two Houthi figures who listened to the information he had gathered from Marib.
“He (Al-Khewani) told me that you would be meeting with the missile force (team) who would take the information about locations,” he said, adding that the three masked men were from Iran and Iraq and were responsible for launching Houthi missiles. “On their tablet, they showed me a new program with Farsi letters showing locations.”
Al-Samet returned to Marib, where he helped the Houthis launch missile attacks that killed soldiers and civilians.
The ministry said that intelligence information from Al-Samet guided two Houthi missile strikes that targeted the Yemeni Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Mohammad Ali Al-Maqdishi and the army’s chief of staff Lt. Gen. Sagheer bin Aziz in May.
Al-Samet also said he sent the location of lawmaker Moused Al-Sawadi’s house, which the Houthis bombed in January.
Yemeni military experts and officials said the spy’s words were consistent with what the internationally recognized Yemeni government had been saying about the role of Iranian and Hezbollah military experts in supplying the Houthis with military know-how and missiles.
“We are not surprised at all,” Col. Abdul Basit Al-Baher, a Yemeni army spokesman in the southern city of Taiz, told Arab News. “This confirms what we already know about the Iran Revolutionary Guard’s control over Houthi missiles. This shows that people who run the Houthi missile forces from identifying targets to launching missiles are foreign figures from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon. They wear masks during meetings as the Houthis do not trust even their spies.”
Iranians guiding Houthi missiles, says captured spy
AL-MUKALLA: A Houthi spy who was captured in the Yemeni city of Marib said he received training on intelligence information gathering and location sharing from Iranian and Iraqi missile experts in Sanaa. Yemen’s Defense Ministry recently announced capturing a Houthi cell of two spies who passed...
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passin' thru
US troop pullouts in Mideast raise fears of Iranian attacks
By LOLITA C. BALDOR5 minutes ago
1 of 2
FILE - In this March 27, 2020 file photo, U.S. soldiers stand guard during the hand over ceremony of Qayyarah Airfield, Iraqi Security Forces, in the south of Mosul, Iraq. In a quest to root out Islamic State group hideouts over the summer, Iraqi forces on the ground cleared nearly 90 villages across a notoriously unruly northern province. But the much-touted operation still relied heavily on U.S. intelligence, coalition flights and planning assistance. (AP Photo/Ali Abdul Hassan, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Pentagon pulls troops out of the Middle East in the coming weeks, under orders from President Donald Trump, U.S. military leaders are working to find other ways to deter potential attacks by Iran and its proxies, and to counter arguments that America is abandoning the region.
A senior U.S. military official with knowledge of the region said Monday that Iran may try to take advantage of America’s troop withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan, and the planned departure of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz from the Persian Gulf.
The official said as a result military leaders have determined that based on the security situation in the region, the Nimitz must remain there now and “for some time to come.” In addition, the official said an additional fighter jet squadron may also be sent to the region, if needed.
The Nimitz left the Gulf region and was set to begin heading home. But the ship was ordered to return last week to provide additional security while the troop withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan continue. A U.S. defense official said at the time that the decision would ensure that American troops could deter any adversary from taking action against U.S. forces. No timeline was given, but the U.S. military official speaking Monday made it clear that the change is open-ended, and it’s not clear when the ship’s crew will return home.
The potential Iranian threat has become an increasing concern in recent weeks following the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Iran has blamed the death on Israel, which has been suspected in previous killings of Iranian nuclear scientists. U.S. officials are also worried about a possible Iranian retaliatory strike on the first anniversary of the U.S. airstrike that killed Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, and senior Iraqi militia leaders near Baghdad’s airport in early January.
The military official said the U.S. is aware of Iranian attack planning and threats, and that some are more mature, while others are aspirational. A key worry, he said, is that Iranian-backed militias in Iraq may be willing to act even without the blessings or direction of Tehran.
The presence of the Nimitz, said the official, may cause Iran or the militias to rethink a possible attack.
The Pentagon is mindful of the impact of the extended deployment on the Nimitz sailors and on the Navy’s plan for the ship’s maintenance, said the military official, who spoke to a small number of reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing troop deliberations.
The Pentagon announced last month that the U.S. will reduce troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan by mid-January, asserting that the decision fulfills Trump’s pledge to bring forces home from America’s long wars. Under the accelerated pullout, the U.S. will cut the number of troops in Afghanistan from more than 4,500 to 2,500, and in Iraq from about 3,000 to 2,500.
Postponing the return of the Nimitz, however, will keep between 5,000-7,000 sailors and Marines in the Middle East, likely into next year. Other ships in the Nimitz strike group may remain with the carrier.
The military official said that the Pentagon will look at other ways to make up for the loss of the Nimitz when the carrier does leave the region.
Trump’s troop withdrawal decision got a cool reception from Republican lawmakers and allies, who warned of the dangers of reducing forces before security conditions are right. And it came despite arguments from senior military officials who favor a slower pullout to preserve hard-fought gains.
Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, top U.S. commander for the Middle East, has long argued for a consistent aircraft carrier presence in the Gulf region to deter Iran.
Visiting the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the North Arabian Sea in February, McKenzie told the sailors: “You’re here because we don’t want a war with Iran and nothing makes a potential adversary think twice about war than the presence of an aircraft carrier and the strike group that comes with it.”
Despite widespread demands for U.S. Navy ships in other parts of the world, McKenzie requested and received a much larger than usual naval presence in the Middle East region throughout the early part of this year. But over time, the numbers have declined, in recognition of the Pentagon’s effort to put more emphasis on China and the Indo-Pacific.
apnews.com
By LOLITA C. BALDOR5 minutes ago
1 of 2
FILE - In this March 27, 2020 file photo, U.S. soldiers stand guard during the hand over ceremony of Qayyarah Airfield, Iraqi Security Forces, in the south of Mosul, Iraq. In a quest to root out Islamic State group hideouts over the summer, Iraqi forces on the ground cleared nearly 90 villages across a notoriously unruly northern province. But the much-touted operation still relied heavily on U.S. intelligence, coalition flights and planning assistance. (AP Photo/Ali Abdul Hassan, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Pentagon pulls troops out of the Middle East in the coming weeks, under orders from President Donald Trump, U.S. military leaders are working to find other ways to deter potential attacks by Iran and its proxies, and to counter arguments that America is abandoning the region.
A senior U.S. military official with knowledge of the region said Monday that Iran may try to take advantage of America’s troop withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan, and the planned departure of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz from the Persian Gulf.
The official said as a result military leaders have determined that based on the security situation in the region, the Nimitz must remain there now and “for some time to come.” In addition, the official said an additional fighter jet squadron may also be sent to the region, if needed.
The Nimitz left the Gulf region and was set to begin heading home. But the ship was ordered to return last week to provide additional security while the troop withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan continue. A U.S. defense official said at the time that the decision would ensure that American troops could deter any adversary from taking action against U.S. forces. No timeline was given, but the U.S. military official speaking Monday made it clear that the change is open-ended, and it’s not clear when the ship’s crew will return home.
The potential Iranian threat has become an increasing concern in recent weeks following the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Iran has blamed the death on Israel, which has been suspected in previous killings of Iranian nuclear scientists. U.S. officials are also worried about a possible Iranian retaliatory strike on the first anniversary of the U.S. airstrike that killed Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, and senior Iraqi militia leaders near Baghdad’s airport in early January.
The military official said the U.S. is aware of Iranian attack planning and threats, and that some are more mature, while others are aspirational. A key worry, he said, is that Iranian-backed militias in Iraq may be willing to act even without the blessings or direction of Tehran.
The presence of the Nimitz, said the official, may cause Iran or the militias to rethink a possible attack.
The Pentagon is mindful of the impact of the extended deployment on the Nimitz sailors and on the Navy’s plan for the ship’s maintenance, said the military official, who spoke to a small number of reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing troop deliberations.
The Pentagon announced last month that the U.S. will reduce troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan by mid-January, asserting that the decision fulfills Trump’s pledge to bring forces home from America’s long wars. Under the accelerated pullout, the U.S. will cut the number of troops in Afghanistan from more than 4,500 to 2,500, and in Iraq from about 3,000 to 2,500.
Postponing the return of the Nimitz, however, will keep between 5,000-7,000 sailors and Marines in the Middle East, likely into next year. Other ships in the Nimitz strike group may remain with the carrier.
The military official said that the Pentagon will look at other ways to make up for the loss of the Nimitz when the carrier does leave the region.
Trump’s troop withdrawal decision got a cool reception from Republican lawmakers and allies, who warned of the dangers of reducing forces before security conditions are right. And it came despite arguments from senior military officials who favor a slower pullout to preserve hard-fought gains.
Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, top U.S. commander for the Middle East, has long argued for a consistent aircraft carrier presence in the Gulf region to deter Iran.
Visiting the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the North Arabian Sea in February, McKenzie told the sailors: “You’re here because we don’t want a war with Iran and nothing makes a potential adversary think twice about war than the presence of an aircraft carrier and the strike group that comes with it.”
Despite widespread demands for U.S. Navy ships in other parts of the world, McKenzie requested and received a much larger than usual naval presence in the Middle East region throughout the early part of this year. But over time, the numbers have declined, in recognition of the Pentagon’s effort to put more emphasis on China and the Indo-Pacific.
US troop pullouts in Mideast raise fears of Iranian attacks
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Pentagon pulls troops out of the Middle East in the coming weeks, under orders from President Donald Trump, U...
apnews.com
jward
passin' thru
Russian Ambassador to Israel: Jewish State Is Middle East’s ‘Problem,’ Not Iran
by i24 News
The Russian Ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov. Photo: Russian Embassy in Israel/Israeli Foreign Ministry.
i24 News – Russian Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov pointed to the Jewish state as the “problem” in the Middle East — not Iran, the Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday.
“The problem in the region is not Iranian activities,” Viktorov was quoted as saying, suggesting that Jerusalem’s ignoring of the Palestinians is the root cause of the region’s instability.
“It’s a lack of understanding between countries and noncompliance with UN resolutions in the Israel-Arab and Israel-Palestinian conflict” that destabilizes the region, he added, in an interview conducted at the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv.
In regard to Israel’s northern front with Lebanon, Viktorov again accused Jerusalem of inciting the region. “Israel is attacking Hezbollah, Hezbollah is not attacking Israel,” he asserted.
He further claimed that there was “no proof Hezbollah created the tunnels” dug underneath the Israel-Lebanon border and uncovered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
As for the Iranian nuclear program, the Russian diplomat insisted that Tehran did not violate international agreements, expressing his regret over the Trump administration’s decision to abandon the 2015 deal struck by former US President Barack Obama.
posted for fair use
Russian Ambassador to Israel: Jewish State Is Middle East’s ‘Problem,’ Not Iran
The Russian Ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov. Photo: Russian Embassy in Israel/Israeli Foreign Ministry.
i24 News – Russian Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov pointed to the Jewish state as the “problem” in the Middle East — not Iran, the Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday.
“The problem in the region is not Iranian activities,” Viktorov was quoted as saying, suggesting that Jerusalem’s ignoring of the Palestinians is the root cause of the region’s instability.
“It’s a lack of understanding between countries and noncompliance with UN resolutions in the Israel-Arab and Israel-Palestinian conflict” that destabilizes the region, he added, in an interview conducted at the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv.
In regard to Israel’s northern front with Lebanon, Viktorov again accused Jerusalem of inciting the region. “Israel is attacking Hezbollah, Hezbollah is not attacking Israel,” he asserted.
He further claimed that there was “no proof Hezbollah created the tunnels” dug underneath the Israel-Lebanon border and uncovered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
As for the Iranian nuclear program, the Russian diplomat insisted that Tehran did not violate international agreements, expressing his regret over the Trump administration’s decision to abandon the 2015 deal struck by former US President Barack Obama.
posted for fair use
Russian Ambassador to Israel: Jewish State Is Middle East’s ‘Problem,’ Not Iran
jward
passin' thru
Well that doesn't sound so good - preemptive strike groundwork being laid?
Global: MilitaryInfo
@Global_Mil_Info
U.S. intelligence has detected planning going on by Iran and Shia militias in Iraq that might prelude to rocket strikes or worse. The U.S. has assessed that the likelihood of Iran or its proxies miscalculating were higher than usual - NYT
8:14 AM · Dec 10, 2020·Twitter for Android
Global: MilitaryInfo
@Global_Mil_Info
U.S. intelligence has detected planning going on by Iran and Shia militias in Iraq that might prelude to rocket strikes or worse. The U.S. has assessed that the likelihood of Iran or its proxies miscalculating were higher than usual - NYT
8:14 AM · Dec 10, 2020·Twitter for Android
intothatgoodnight
. . .
Never forget - proxy wars - WHO/WHAT is BEHIND these alleged Shia militia elements?
Assuming that this report from the NYT <cough-cough> is even partially accurate, Shia militia elements are not operating autonomously, AT ALL - somebody's pawns . . . look carefully for deep state fingers . . .
intothegoodnight
intothatgoodnight
. . .
N/M
jward
passin' thru
Global: MilitaryInfo
@Global_Mil_Info
3h
Military officials to POLITICO have said that the U.S. military is on heightened alert in the Middle East due to a potential Iranian attack.
@Global_Mil_Info
3h
Military officials to POLITICO have said that the U.S. military is on heightened alert in the Middle East due to a potential Iranian attack.
jward
passin' thru
EndGameWW3
@EndGameWW3
1h
Update: Pentagon: Tehran better “think twice before doing anything.”
Update: Natanz and Fordo would be the 2 main targets in any Israeli/U.S. strike.
The GBU-57A Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) which is a 30,000 pound bunker buster bomb would have to be used.
@EndGameWW3
1h
Update: Pentagon: Tehran better “think twice before doing anything.”
Update: Natanz and Fordo would be the 2 main targets in any Israeli/U.S. strike.
The GBU-57A Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) which is a 30,000 pound bunker buster bomb would have to be used.
jward
passin' thru
What is fordow?
Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) is an Iranian underground uranium enrichment facility located 20 miles (32 km) northeast of the Iranian city of Qom, near Fordow village, at a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base.
atanz is a hardened Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) covering 100,000 square meters that is built 8 meters underground and protected by a concrete wall 2.5 meters ...
Bushehr · Fordow · Lavizan · Natanz
Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) is an Iranian underground uranium enrichment facility located 20 miles (32 km) northeast of the Iranian city of Qom, near Fordow village, at a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base.
atanz is a hardened Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) covering 100,000 square meters that is built 8 meters underground and protected by a concrete wall 2.5 meters ...
Bushehr · Fordow · Lavizan · Natanz
jward
passin' thru
Global: MilitaryInfo
@Global_Mil_Info
Iran has moved defensive military systems to its coastal areas and increased its military readiness in the days since the assassination of Fakhrizadeh. Iran has dispersed some ships at sea, including mine-laying ships into the Strait of Hormuz area, according to officials to CNN.
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Iran International English
@IranIntl_En
2m
The Commander of US Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie says the Islamic Republic was caught off-guard by the assassination of #Fakhrizadeh, and it might respond by an attack on #Israel. #Iran usually acts slowly and takes its time before a response.
@IranIntl_En
2m
The Commander of US Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie says the Islamic Republic was caught off-guard by the assassination of #Fakhrizadeh, and it might respond by an attack on #Israel. #Iran usually acts slowly and takes its time before a response.
jward
passin' thru
Treadstone 71 Releases Intelligence Advisory on Social Media Targeted Iranian Influence Operation
By
Christopher Simmons
-
Dec 10, 202010:48 AM PST
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HALF MOON BAY, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Treadstone 71, LLC, the cyber intelligence and counterintelligence company, today released details of an Iranian intelligence-backed influence operation.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) joint operation targeted Iranian dissident groups using a timely and coordinated campaign of disinformation. The IRGC Cyber Units triggered core team members with military precision aimed at the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) annual online conference,” said Jeff Bardin, Chief Intelligence Officer at Treadstone 71.
“The IRGC, MOIS, and low-level Basij Cyber Units flooded Twitter with nearly one hundred twelve thousand tweets over sixty hours using hashtags and content intent on controlling the social media narrative.”
Treadstone 71 observed IRGC Cyber Unit members playing an essential role in managing the campaign, ensuring specific hashtags trended in Iran and globally. At least nine other accounts belonging to IRGC Cyber Units helped expand the movement in different social environments. Core campaign members portrayed themselves as “monarchist,” “reformist,” or “regime change advocates” on various social media platforms.
Key features of the disguised social media accounts include young women personas attracting unsuspecting users for messaging expansion and potential collaboration.
Tactics shared by campaign members:
* Limited postings by campaign leadership designed to protect IRGC and MOIS social media accounts.
* Keywords used to trigger the influence operation.
* Hashtag repetition and cloning by nearly 25,000 Twitter users
* The use of bots and fake accounts with low followership.
* Core members using Twitter for a “Dunbar’s Number” style net call notification to trigger the campaign.
* Anonymous Telegram bots for confidential communications.
Iranian Influence Operations Resources:
* Read blog post: Treadstone 71 Releases Intelligence Advisory on Iranian Influence Operations
* Download full report: Treadstone 71 - Iranian Influence Operations - Treadstone 71 Intelligence Advisory | Treadstone 71
Interested in speaking with Treadstone 71 about cyber intelligence and counterintelligence, trends, programs, training, and strategic analysis? Drop us an email at osint@treadstone71.com.
About Treadstone 71, LLC
Treadstone 71’s Certified Threat Intelligence and CounterIntelligence Analyst Certifications and the Intelligence Roadmap are the industry’s gold standards derived from academia, the intelligence community, and Treadstone 71’s experience in building cyber and threat intelligence programs at Fortune 500 organizations worldwide. Treadstone 71 seamlessly extends your cyber threat intelligence teams using targeted adversary research and analysis as a service eliminating the risk and burden of internal organizations seeking to forecast and prevent malicious cyber activity against your assets.
Information: Home | Treadstone 71
Media Inquiries: info@treadstone71.com
Learn More: Home | Treadstone 71
This version of news story was published on and is Copr. © 2020 California Newswire® (CaliforniaNewswire.com) – part of the Neotrope® News Network, USA – all rights reserved.
By
Christopher Simmons
-
Dec 10, 202010:48 AM PST
517
SHARE
Sign in - Google Accounts
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Treadstone 71, LLC, the cyber intelligence and counterintelligence company, today released details of an Iranian intelligence-backed influence operation.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) joint operation targeted Iranian dissident groups using a timely and coordinated campaign of disinformation. The IRGC Cyber Units triggered core team members with military precision aimed at the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) annual online conference,” said Jeff Bardin, Chief Intelligence Officer at Treadstone 71.
“The IRGC, MOIS, and low-level Basij Cyber Units flooded Twitter with nearly one hundred twelve thousand tweets over sixty hours using hashtags and content intent on controlling the social media narrative.”
Treadstone 71 observed IRGC Cyber Unit members playing an essential role in managing the campaign, ensuring specific hashtags trended in Iran and globally. At least nine other accounts belonging to IRGC Cyber Units helped expand the movement in different social environments. Core campaign members portrayed themselves as “monarchist,” “reformist,” or “regime change advocates” on various social media platforms.
Key features of the disguised social media accounts include young women personas attracting unsuspecting users for messaging expansion and potential collaboration.
Tactics shared by campaign members:
* Limited postings by campaign leadership designed to protect IRGC and MOIS social media accounts.
* Keywords used to trigger the influence operation.
* Hashtag repetition and cloning by nearly 25,000 Twitter users
* The use of bots and fake accounts with low followership.
* Core members using Twitter for a “Dunbar’s Number” style net call notification to trigger the campaign.
* Anonymous Telegram bots for confidential communications.
Iranian Influence Operations Resources:
* Read blog post: Treadstone 71 Releases Intelligence Advisory on Iranian Influence Operations
* Download full report: Treadstone 71 - Iranian Influence Operations - Treadstone 71 Intelligence Advisory | Treadstone 71
Interested in speaking with Treadstone 71 about cyber intelligence and counterintelligence, trends, programs, training, and strategic analysis? Drop us an email at osint@treadstone71.com.
About Treadstone 71, LLC
Treadstone 71’s Certified Threat Intelligence and CounterIntelligence Analyst Certifications and the Intelligence Roadmap are the industry’s gold standards derived from academia, the intelligence community, and Treadstone 71’s experience in building cyber and threat intelligence programs at Fortune 500 organizations worldwide. Treadstone 71 seamlessly extends your cyber threat intelligence teams using targeted adversary research and analysis as a service eliminating the risk and burden of internal organizations seeking to forecast and prevent malicious cyber activity against your assets.
Information: Home | Treadstone 71
Media Inquiries: info@treadstone71.com
Learn More: Home | Treadstone 71
This version of news story was published on and is Copr. © 2020 California Newswire® (CaliforniaNewswire.com) – part of the Neotrope® News Network, USA – all rights reserved.
Treadstone 71 Releases Intelligence Advisory on Social Media Targeted Iranian Influence Operation - California Newswire
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. /California Newswire/ -- Treadstone 71, LLC, the cyber intelligence and counterintelligence company, today released details of an Iranian intelligence-backed influence operation. Treadstone 71 observed IRGC Cyber Unit members playing an essential role in managing the campaign.
californianewswire.com
jward
passin' thru
EndGameWW3
@EndGameWW3
Netanyahu has been wanting war against Iran since the Mid-90's. George Bush Jr was ready to give Israel the green light at the end of his 2nd term. Bush Jr moved in 3-4 aircraft carriers and sent troops to neighboring countries around Iran and...
at the last minute backed out and passed the buck to Obama. Obama turned around sent all but one carrier home and said he wasn't doing it. So for those 8 years Netanyahu couldn't count on America to back him up. So now here comes Trump the...
most Pro Israel President America has ever had. Netanyahu finally got his guy that he's been looking for in Trump. Trump is the last best chance he has for hitting Iran because Netanyahu knows Biden won't give Netanyahu the green light. I believe we will see a...
war with Iran before January 20th. With Trump's time coming to an end and Netanyahu facing corruption charges that could land him in prison, it is now or never for this war.
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passin' thru
News Analysis: Will detente in Qatar crisis be game changer for Yemen's years-long conflict?
Source: Xinhua| 2020-12-06 07:17:34|Editor: huaxia
ADEN, Yemen, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- With announced "fruitful" diplomatic efforts to end the years-long Gulf crisis involving Qatar, Saudi Arabia and three other Arab countries, some Yemeni political observers believe this will have a positive impact on the situation in war-torn Yemen, while others played down its significance.
On Friday, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah released a statement hailing the "fruitful" talks held recently on the Qatar crisis.
"Fruitful discussions took place recently, in which all parties affirmed their keenness on Gulf and Arab solidarity and stability," he said.
Saudi Arabia is leading a military alliance that included, at the beginning of its operations in March 2015, all Gulf countries with the exception of Oman, and some other Arab countries against the armed Houthi rebel group in Yemen.
In June of 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed their diplomatic and commercial relations with Qatar, which cast a shadow over the situation in Yemen.
In a press statement issued on Saturday, Yemen's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it "highly appreciated the efforts made by Kuwait and the U.S. for the sake of the reconciliation success and the achievement of security, stability and unity of the Gulf and Arab countries in the light of the difficult circumstances the region is going through."
Nabil al-Bukiri, director of the Arab Forum for Studies and Development, told Xinhua that Yemen's issue was largely affected by the Gulf crisis during the past years.
After Qatar withdrew from the Gulf alliance because of the Gulf crisis, it used its prominent media outlets to further fuel the conflict instead of seeking for solutions, al-Bukiri explained.
The Gulf crisis also created "divisions among the Yemeni political parties and badly complicated the efforts of Arab coalition to help the government to restore state facilities from the militia's grip," he said.
"Ending the Gulf rift will be in the best interests of Yemen because this Arab division wasted many efforts and largely benefited Iran and its militias in the region," al-Bukiri concluded.
Yasser Yafei, an Aden-based political analyst, agreed that the Gulf reconciliation will have a positive impact on the situation in war-ravaged Yemen.
"The Gulf crisis had a great impact on the situation, especially in southern Yemen, as Qatar sought to deliberately abort the coalition's success in the liberated areas, and began to support Islamist groups on the ground," he said.
Currently, Yemen's southern provinces are under tension between the internationally-recognized government and the Aden-based Southern Transitional Council (STC) that seized Aden and other major southern cities last year.
The Gulf reconciliation "will increase the pressures on the Houthi militia and Iranian supporters," Yafei noted.
However, Abdullah Daubalah, a Yemeni political analyst, dismissed the Gulf reconciliation as no key game changer for the situation in Yemen.
"No fundamental changes will occur in the Saudi-Qatari political relations and no changes will happen to the policies of the two countries regarding Yemen," he said.
"It is too early to talk about policy changes for Saudi Arabia and Qatar regarding their stances from the Yemeni crisis," Daubalah added.
The Iran-allied Houthi rebels launched a large military campaign and seized Yemen's capital Sanaa in late 2014, forcing the internationally-recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to flee to the southern port city of Aden.
Subsequently, the pro-Houthi forces backed by armored vehicles attacked Aden and shelled Hadi's Republican Palace, forcing him to escape to neighboring Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led coalition intervened militarily and began pounding the Houthi-controlled Sanaa in March 2015, in response to an official request from Hadi to protect Yemen and roll back Iran's influence. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2020-12-06 07:17:34|Editor: huaxia
ADEN, Yemen, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- With announced "fruitful" diplomatic efforts to end the years-long Gulf crisis involving Qatar, Saudi Arabia and three other Arab countries, some Yemeni political observers believe this will have a positive impact on the situation in war-torn Yemen, while others played down its significance.
On Friday, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah released a statement hailing the "fruitful" talks held recently on the Qatar crisis.
"Fruitful discussions took place recently, in which all parties affirmed their keenness on Gulf and Arab solidarity and stability," he said.
Saudi Arabia is leading a military alliance that included, at the beginning of its operations in March 2015, all Gulf countries with the exception of Oman, and some other Arab countries against the armed Houthi rebel group in Yemen.
In June of 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed their diplomatic and commercial relations with Qatar, which cast a shadow over the situation in Yemen.
In a press statement issued on Saturday, Yemen's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it "highly appreciated the efforts made by Kuwait and the U.S. for the sake of the reconciliation success and the achievement of security, stability and unity of the Gulf and Arab countries in the light of the difficult circumstances the region is going through."
Nabil al-Bukiri, director of the Arab Forum for Studies and Development, told Xinhua that Yemen's issue was largely affected by the Gulf crisis during the past years.
After Qatar withdrew from the Gulf alliance because of the Gulf crisis, it used its prominent media outlets to further fuel the conflict instead of seeking for solutions, al-Bukiri explained.
The Gulf crisis also created "divisions among the Yemeni political parties and badly complicated the efforts of Arab coalition to help the government to restore state facilities from the militia's grip," he said.
"Ending the Gulf rift will be in the best interests of Yemen because this Arab division wasted many efforts and largely benefited Iran and its militias in the region," al-Bukiri concluded.
Yasser Yafei, an Aden-based political analyst, agreed that the Gulf reconciliation will have a positive impact on the situation in war-ravaged Yemen.
"The Gulf crisis had a great impact on the situation, especially in southern Yemen, as Qatar sought to deliberately abort the coalition's success in the liberated areas, and began to support Islamist groups on the ground," he said.
Currently, Yemen's southern provinces are under tension between the internationally-recognized government and the Aden-based Southern Transitional Council (STC) that seized Aden and other major southern cities last year.
The Gulf reconciliation "will increase the pressures on the Houthi militia and Iranian supporters," Yafei noted.
However, Abdullah Daubalah, a Yemeni political analyst, dismissed the Gulf reconciliation as no key game changer for the situation in Yemen.
"No fundamental changes will occur in the Saudi-Qatari political relations and no changes will happen to the policies of the two countries regarding Yemen," he said.
"It is too early to talk about policy changes for Saudi Arabia and Qatar regarding their stances from the Yemeni crisis," Daubalah added.
The Iran-allied Houthi rebels launched a large military campaign and seized Yemen's capital Sanaa in late 2014, forcing the internationally-recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to flee to the southern port city of Aden.
Subsequently, the pro-Houthi forces backed by armored vehicles attacked Aden and shelled Hadi's Republican Palace, forcing him to escape to neighboring Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led coalition intervened militarily and began pounding the Houthi-controlled Sanaa in March 2015, in response to an official request from Hadi to protect Yemen and roll back Iran's influence. Enditem
jward
passin' thru
Aurora Intel
@AuroraIntel
Brigadier General Ghader Rahimzadeh of the #Iran|ian Army Air Defense Force: “We monitor all #US movements in the region and beyond, especially the flight of the B52 bomber(s). Any penetration of our airspace, we will meet with an immediate response”
@AuroraIntel
Brigadier General Ghader Rahimzadeh of the #Iran|ian Army Air Defense Force: “We monitor all #US movements in the region and beyond, especially the flight of the B52 bomber(s). Any penetration of our airspace, we will meet with an immediate response”
jward
passin' thru
Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
4h
Terror groups working with #Iranian engineers to identify weak spots in #Israel's premier air defense system, report says.
View: https://twitter.com/IsraelRadar_com/status/1337801995449737221?s=20
@IsraelRadar_com
4h
Terror groups working with #Iranian engineers to identify weak spots in #Israel's premier air defense system, report says.
View: https://twitter.com/IsraelRadar_com/status/1337801995449737221?s=20
jward
passin' thru
Amir Tsarfati
@BeholdIsrael
2h
As tensions are rising, the Nimitz carrier strike group is about to enter the Persian gulf. B-52 strategic bombers are seen flying escorted by F-15 fighter Jets.
___________________________________________________________
Hmm. He is sometimes right. :: shrug ::
Amir Tsarfati
@BeholdIsrael
I can’t say all that I know but get this: important intelligence organizations know that frustrated #Iran and #China are planning (separately) something BIG should President Trump stay in office. It’s time to say it loud and clear: WE KNOW YOUR PLANS!
4:32 AM · Dec 13, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
@BeholdIsrael
2h
As tensions are rising, the Nimitz carrier strike group is about to enter the Persian gulf. B-52 strategic bombers are seen flying escorted by F-15 fighter Jets.
___________________________________________________________
Hmm. He is sometimes right. :: shrug ::
Amir Tsarfati
@BeholdIsrael
I can’t say all that I know but get this: important intelligence organizations know that frustrated #Iran and #China are planning (separately) something BIG should President Trump stay in office. It’s time to say it loud and clear: WE KNOW YOUR PLANS!
4:32 AM · Dec 13, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Iran fights fire in southwest after oil pipeline spill - reports
By Reuters Staff
DECEMBER 13, 20208:18 AMUPDATED 7 HOURS AGO
DUBAI (Reuters) -Firefighters were working to put out a blaze after a pipeline carrying crude oil to Iran’s second largest refinery ruptured and burst into flames on Sunday, Iranian news agencies reported.
“The fire has not been contained but is under control. Its smoke is irritating, but it is not enough to injure anyone, and flames have not reached people’s homes,” Khosro Kiani, an emergency official in southwestern Iran, where the blaze occurred, told the semi-official news agency Tasnim.
Kiani said the oil had spilled down a hard-to-access valley, which firefighting equipment could not reach.
The oil ministry’s news agency SHANA said repair teams had shut off the Maroun pipeline, which feeds the Isfahan refinery, Iran’s second largest with a capacity of about 375,000 barrels per day.
Iran’s ageing oil infrastructure has been long in need of rehabilitation, as refurbishment plans have been delayed by Western sanctions and local bureaucracy, analysts say.
There have been several earlier instances of spillage from the pipeline that have adversely affected the region’s agriculture and fishing, the state news agency IRNA reported.
Reporting by Dubai newsroom; editing by Barbara Lewis
Iran fights fire in southwest after oil pipeline spill - reports | Reuters
By Reuters Staff
DECEMBER 13, 20208:18 AMUPDATED 7 HOURS AGO
DUBAI (Reuters) -Firefighters were working to put out a blaze after a pipeline carrying crude oil to Iran’s second largest refinery ruptured and burst into flames on Sunday, Iranian news agencies reported.
“The fire has not been contained but is under control. Its smoke is irritating, but it is not enough to injure anyone, and flames have not reached people’s homes,” Khosro Kiani, an emergency official in southwestern Iran, where the blaze occurred, told the semi-official news agency Tasnim.
Kiani said the oil had spilled down a hard-to-access valley, which firefighting equipment could not reach.
The oil ministry’s news agency SHANA said repair teams had shut off the Maroun pipeline, which feeds the Isfahan refinery, Iran’s second largest with a capacity of about 375,000 barrels per day.
Iran’s ageing oil infrastructure has been long in need of rehabilitation, as refurbishment plans have been delayed by Western sanctions and local bureaucracy, analysts say.
There have been several earlier instances of spillage from the pipeline that have adversely affected the region’s agriculture and fishing, the state news agency IRNA reported.
Reporting by Dubai newsroom; editing by Barbara Lewis
Iran fights fire in southwest after oil pipeline spill - reports | Reuters
jward
passin' thru
hmm.
TRT World Now
@TRTWorldNow
38m
DEVELOPING: The United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations, an organisation under Britain's royal navy, has said an explosion has struck a ship off Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port city of Jeddah - AP
View: https://twitter.com/TRTWorldNow/status/1338312532763799554?s=20
TRT World Now
@TRTWorldNow
38m
DEVELOPING: The United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations, an organisation under Britain's royal navy, has said an explosion has struck a ship off Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port city of Jeddah - AP
View: https://twitter.com/TRTWorldNow/status/1338312532763799554?s=20
jward
passin' thru
hmm.
TRT World Now
@TRTWorldNow
38m
DEVELOPING: The United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations, an organisation under Britain's royal navy, has said an explosion has struck a ship off Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port city of Jeddah - AP
View: https://twitter.com/TRTWorldNow/status/1338312532763799554?s=20
The Associated Press
@AP
7m
A shipping firm says an explosion on a tanker off Saudi Arabia’s Jiddah port was caused by the ship being “hit from an external source.” BW Group identified the damaged vessel as the BW Rhine tanker.
View: https://twitter.com/AP/status/1338349931334086656?s=20
jward
passin' thru
hmm.
TRT World Now
@TRTWorldNow
38m
DEVELOPING: The United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations, an organisation under Britain's royal navy, has said an explosion has struck a ship off Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port city of Jeddah - AP
View: https://twitter.com/TRTWorldNow/status/1338312532763799554?s=20
Forecast 432Hz
@Forecast432hz
THINGS ARE HEATING UP
Oil tanker off Saudi Arabian port hit by explosion caused by 'external source' - The Guardian.
7:32 AM · Dec 14, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
Oil tanker off Saudi Arabian port hit by explosion caused by 'external source'
The latest in a series of attacks on shipping in the kingdom will be linked to the Saudis’ years-long war with Houthi rebels in Yemen
Oil tanker off Saudi Arabian port hit by explosion caused by 'external source'
The latest in a series of attacks on shipping in the kingdom will be linked to the Saudis’ years-long war with Houthi rebels in Yemen
www.theguardian.com
jward
passin' thru
Jennifer Griffin
@JenGriffinFNC
7m
Treasury Sanctions Senior Iranian Intelligence Officers Involved in the Abduction and Detention of Robert Levinson | U.S. Department of the Treasury https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel
@JenGriffinFNC
7m
Treasury Sanctions Senior Iranian Intelligence Officers Involved in the Abduction and Detention of Robert Levinson | U.S. Department of the Treasury https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Israel Floats Possibility Of Deploying Joint Missile Systems To Persian Gulf
BY TYLER DURDEN
Zero Hedge
TUESDAY, DEC 15, 2020 - 22:45
Via AlMasdarNews.com,
On Tuesday, a senior Israeli official expressed his country’s readiness to cooperate in the future in the field of missile defense with Gulf states which lie close to Iran. "Israel could be open to future cooperation on missile defense with Gulf Arab states that share its concerns about Iran, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday," Reuters reports.
Moshe Patil, head of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Missile Defense Organization, said that the time is not yet ripe to move forward with any of these agreements, and that Washington’s approval will be required as long as the development or financing of Israeli systems is done with American technology.
In response to a question during a conference call with journalists whether any of the systems might actually be introduced to Israel’s new partners in the Gulf, Patil said positively: "These are things that could happen, perhaps in the future," according to Reuters.
"From an engineering point of view, of course there are many advantages, information that can be shared like sensors that can be deployed in both countries because we have the same enemies," he said.
This came during a press conference to announce what Patil said is a successful test of a multi-level missile defense system that can hit targets flying at different altitudes such as cruise missiles or ballistic missiles.
Last September, the UAE and Bahrain signed two agreements to normalize relations with Israel, and weeks later Sudan, and then Morocco, announced the normalization of relations with Israel. All efforts were mediated by the U.S.
Israel has developed various air defense systems with U.S. assistance in recent years, according to reports that excluded cooperation with the Gulf countries in the field of missile defense.
Israel Floats Possibility Of Deploying Joint Missile Systems To Persian Gulf | ZeroHedge
BY TYLER DURDEN
Zero Hedge
TUESDAY, DEC 15, 2020 - 22:45
Via AlMasdarNews.com,
On Tuesday, a senior Israeli official expressed his country’s readiness to cooperate in the future in the field of missile defense with Gulf states which lie close to Iran. "Israel could be open to future cooperation on missile defense with Gulf Arab states that share its concerns about Iran, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday," Reuters reports.
Moshe Patil, head of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Missile Defense Organization, said that the time is not yet ripe to move forward with any of these agreements, and that Washington’s approval will be required as long as the development or financing of Israeli systems is done with American technology.
In response to a question during a conference call with journalists whether any of the systems might actually be introduced to Israel’s new partners in the Gulf, Patil said positively: "These are things that could happen, perhaps in the future," according to Reuters.
"From an engineering point of view, of course there are many advantages, information that can be shared like sensors that can be deployed in both countries because we have the same enemies," he said.
This came during a press conference to announce what Patil said is a successful test of a multi-level missile defense system that can hit targets flying at different altitudes such as cruise missiles or ballistic missiles.
Last September, the UAE and Bahrain signed two agreements to normalize relations with Israel, and weeks later Sudan, and then Morocco, announced the normalization of relations with Israel. All efforts were mediated by the U.S.
Israel has developed various air defense systems with U.S. assistance in recent years, according to reports that excluded cooperation with the Gulf countries in the field of missile defense.
Israel Floats Possibility Of Deploying Joint Missile Systems To Persian Gulf | ZeroHedge
jward
passin' thru
Iran International English
@IranIntl_En
10m
In an interview with
@Reuters
@iaeaorg
chief
@rafaelmgrossi
says that to revive #JCPOA, a new agreement is needed. Too many things have changed and it is not possible to simply go back to pre-Trump era.
View: https://twitter.com/IranIntl_En/status/1339565908365348864?s=20
@IranIntl_En
10m
In an interview with
@Reuters
@iaeaorg
chief
@rafaelmgrossi
says that to revive #JCPOA, a new agreement is needed. Too many things have changed and it is not possible to simply go back to pre-Trump era.
View: https://twitter.com/IranIntl_En/status/1339565908365348864?s=20
jward
passin' thru
Alex Salvi
@alexsalvinews
29m
NEW: Satellite photos show Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the U.S. over its atomic program. (
@AP
)
View: https://twitter.com/alexsalvinews/status/1339825948946939906?s=20
@alexsalvinews
29m
NEW: Satellite photos show Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the U.S. over its atomic program. (
@AP
)
View: https://twitter.com/alexsalvinews/status/1339825948946939906?s=20
jward
passin' thru
Iran builds at underground nuclear facility amid US tensions
By JON GAMBRELL41 minutes ago
1 of 2
This Dec. 11, 2020, satellite photo by Maxar Technologies shows construction at Iran's Fordo nuclear facility. Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the U.S. over its atomic program, satellite photos obtained Friday, Dec. 18, 2020, by The Associated Press show. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the U.S. over its atomic program, satellite photos obtained Friday by The Associated Press show.
Iran has not publicly acknowledged any new construction at Fordo, whose discovery by the West in 2009 came in an earlier round of brinkmanship before world powers struck the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
While the purpose of the building remains unclear, any work at Fordo likely will trigger new concern in the waning days of the Trump administration before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. Already, Iran is building at its Natanz nuclear facility after a mysterious explosion in July there that Tehran described as a sabotage attack.
“Any changes at this site will be carefully watched as a sign of where Iran’s nuclear program is headed,” said Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies who studies Iran.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspectors are in Iran as part of the nuclear deal, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Construction on the Fordo site began in late September. Satellite images obtained from Maxar Technologies by the AP show the construction taking place at a northwest corner of the site, near the holy Shiite city of Qom some 90 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Tehran.
A Dec. 11 satellite photo shows what appears to be a dug foundation for a building with dozens of pillars. Such pillars can be used in construction to support buildings in earthquake zones.
The construction site sits northwest of Fordo’s underground facility, built deep inside a mountain to protect it from potential airstrikes. The site is near other support and research-and-development buildings at Fordo.
Among those buildings is Iran’s National Vacuum Technology Center. Vacuum technology is a crucial component of Iran’s uranium-gas centrifuges, which enrich uranium.
A Twitter account called Observer IL earlier this week published an image of Fordo showing the construction, citing it as coming from South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Research Institute.
The AP later reached the Twitter user, who identified himself as a retired Israeli Defense Forces soldier with a civil engineering background. He asked that his name not be published over previous threats he received online. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute acknowledged taking the satellite photo.
Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from Iran’s nuclear deal, in which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Trump cited Iran’s ballistic missile program, its regional policies and other issues in withdrawing from the accord, though the deal focused entirely on Tehran’s atomic program.
When the U.S. ramped up sanctions, Iran gradually and publicly abandoned the deal’s limits as a series of escalating incidents pushed the two countries to the brink of war at the beginning of the year. Tensions still remain high.
Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran agreed to stop enriching uranium at Fordo and instead make it “a nuclear, physics and technology center.”
“This location was a major sticking point in negotiations leading to the Iran nuclear deal,” Lewis said. “The U.S. insisted Iran close it while Iran’s supreme leader said keeping it was a red line.”
Since the deal’s collapse, Iran has resumed enrichment there.
Shielded by the mountains, the facility also is ringed by anti-aircraft guns and other fortifications. It is about the size of a football field, large enough to house 3,000 centrifuges, but small and hardened enough to lead U.S. officials to suspect it had a military purpose when they exposed the site publicly in 2009.
As of now, Iran is enriching uranium up to 4.5%, in violation of the accord’s limit of 3.67%. Iran’s parliament has passed a bill that requires Tehran to enrich up to 20%, a short technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. The bill also would throw out IAEA inspectors.
Experts say Iran now has enough low-enriched uranium stockpiled for at least two nuclear weapons, if it chose to pursue them. Iran long has maintained its nuclear program is peaceful.
While Iranian President Hassan Rouhani opposed the bill, the country’s Guardian Council later tweaked and approved it. The bill seeks to pressure European nations to provide relief from crippling U.S. sanctions.
Meanwhile, an Iranian scientist who created its military nuclear program two decades ago recently was killed in a shooting outside of Tehran. Iran has blamed Israel, which has long been suspected of killing Iranian nuclear scientists over the last decade, for the attack. Israel has not comment.
___
Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
apnews.com
By JON GAMBRELL41 minutes ago
1 of 2
This Dec. 11, 2020, satellite photo by Maxar Technologies shows construction at Iran's Fordo nuclear facility. Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the U.S. over its atomic program, satellite photos obtained Friday, Dec. 18, 2020, by The Associated Press show. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the U.S. over its atomic program, satellite photos obtained Friday by The Associated Press show.
Iran has not publicly acknowledged any new construction at Fordo, whose discovery by the West in 2009 came in an earlier round of brinkmanship before world powers struck the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
While the purpose of the building remains unclear, any work at Fordo likely will trigger new concern in the waning days of the Trump administration before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. Already, Iran is building at its Natanz nuclear facility after a mysterious explosion in July there that Tehran described as a sabotage attack.
“Any changes at this site will be carefully watched as a sign of where Iran’s nuclear program is headed,” said Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies who studies Iran.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspectors are in Iran as part of the nuclear deal, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Construction on the Fordo site began in late September. Satellite images obtained from Maxar Technologies by the AP show the construction taking place at a northwest corner of the site, near the holy Shiite city of Qom some 90 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Tehran.
A Dec. 11 satellite photo shows what appears to be a dug foundation for a building with dozens of pillars. Such pillars can be used in construction to support buildings in earthquake zones.
The construction site sits northwest of Fordo’s underground facility, built deep inside a mountain to protect it from potential airstrikes. The site is near other support and research-and-development buildings at Fordo.
Among those buildings is Iran’s National Vacuum Technology Center. Vacuum technology is a crucial component of Iran’s uranium-gas centrifuges, which enrich uranium.
A Twitter account called Observer IL earlier this week published an image of Fordo showing the construction, citing it as coming from South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Research Institute.
The AP later reached the Twitter user, who identified himself as a retired Israeli Defense Forces soldier with a civil engineering background. He asked that his name not be published over previous threats he received online. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute acknowledged taking the satellite photo.
Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from Iran’s nuclear deal, in which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Trump cited Iran’s ballistic missile program, its regional policies and other issues in withdrawing from the accord, though the deal focused entirely on Tehran’s atomic program.
When the U.S. ramped up sanctions, Iran gradually and publicly abandoned the deal’s limits as a series of escalating incidents pushed the two countries to the brink of war at the beginning of the year. Tensions still remain high.
Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran agreed to stop enriching uranium at Fordo and instead make it “a nuclear, physics and technology center.”
“This location was a major sticking point in negotiations leading to the Iran nuclear deal,” Lewis said. “The U.S. insisted Iran close it while Iran’s supreme leader said keeping it was a red line.”
Since the deal’s collapse, Iran has resumed enrichment there.
Shielded by the mountains, the facility also is ringed by anti-aircraft guns and other fortifications. It is about the size of a football field, large enough to house 3,000 centrifuges, but small and hardened enough to lead U.S. officials to suspect it had a military purpose when they exposed the site publicly in 2009.
As of now, Iran is enriching uranium up to 4.5%, in violation of the accord’s limit of 3.67%. Iran’s parliament has passed a bill that requires Tehran to enrich up to 20%, a short technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. The bill also would throw out IAEA inspectors.
Experts say Iran now has enough low-enriched uranium stockpiled for at least two nuclear weapons, if it chose to pursue them. Iran long has maintained its nuclear program is peaceful.
While Iranian President Hassan Rouhani opposed the bill, the country’s Guardian Council later tweaked and approved it. The bill seeks to pressure European nations to provide relief from crippling U.S. sanctions.
Meanwhile, an Iranian scientist who created its military nuclear program two decades ago recently was killed in a shooting outside of Tehran. Iran has blamed Israel, which has long been suspected of killing Iranian nuclear scientists over the last decade, for the attack. Israel has not comment.
___
Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
Iran builds at underground nuclear facility amid US tensions
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the U...
apnews.com