Rumors of War: Iran Still Racing Toward Bomb

Article Source ynetnews.com

Iran President Elect Hassan Rohani- No Change in Iranian Policy

Israeli PM tells cabinet, CBS Rohani's election has not slowed Islamic Republic's nuclear program; calls for harsher sanctions, 'credible military option', promises not to wait until its too late

“A month has passed since elections were held in Iran, and Iran continues to race toward the development of military nuclear capability,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

The PM said that under President-Elect Hassan Rohani‘s leadership Iran is “expanding and perfecting its (uranium) enrichment while simultaneously developing a plutonium reactor to produce material for a nuclear bomb.

“At the same time, Iran is also developing its ballistic missile force. These (developments) threaten not only us, but the entire West. We are determined to stand behind our demands, which must also be the demands of the international community,” Netanyahu told his ministers.

The Israeli premier went on to list the demands from Iran: “Stop all uranium production, remove all enriched material (from the country) and close the illegal nuclear facility in Qom.

“We believe that now more than ever, in light of Iran’s progress, it is important (that the international community) tighten the economic sanctions and make Iran face a credible military option,” the PM said.

A Pentagon report stated that China, Iran and North Korea are aggressively developing nuclear missiles capable of striking the United States and proliferation among these nations of technology is rife, the British newspaper Daily Mail reported over the weekend.

The Department of Defense report, the findings of which were first published by the Washington Times, confirms the assessment of US intelligence agencies that Iran is set to test an intercontinental ballistic missile as early as 2015.

Ahmadinejad Claims Iran is “Already a Nuclear State”

Source Jewish Voice International Ministries

In an interview with Egyptian media published yesterday, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is making the first visit between leaders of the two nations since the Iranian revolution in 1979, declared that Iran is “already a nuclear state.” He vowed that Iran would resist those who want them to “go backward.” In addition, he spewed out a number of anti-Semitic remarks, including the claim that the “Zionists are taking over the places of wealth, money, and politics in deceiving the world.”

On the visit, Ahmadinejad offered financial help to the Egyptian government, which is struggling on the brink of economic collapse. Things have gotten so bad in Egypt that the government’s official advice to the people (according to a report in the Washington Post this week) is to “avoid overeating” and they announced they are cutting the food subsidy by 400 calories per person per day. The decline of tourism and foreign aid since the radical Muslim Brotherhood took power has taken a serious toll on the Egyptian economy.

And on Israel’s northern border, the fighting in the Syrian civil war this week has been reported to be the heaviest in months. The capital of city of Damascus, which has been heavily defended by government forces, has come under intense attack. The ongoing struggle places the fate of Syria’s chemical and biological weapons in doubt. The Israelis reportedly have struck at least two military targets in Syria and neighboring Lebanon, including what is believed to have been a chemical weapons research facility.

Urgent Prayer Alert: Washington and Jerusalem at Odd over Iran Nuke Program

Source: Jewish Voices Ministries International

Just got this e-mail this morning from Jewish Voices Ministries International, making an appeal for urgent prayer in regards to USA President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

   

Tensions Between Washington and Jerusalem Break Into Open View

  

It is no secret that the relationship between U.S. President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has been strained. The two men reportedly do not trust each other, and the tension between their differing objectives has only increased the divide. The most central issue is the one posed by Iran’s nuclear program. The recent NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) report from Washington revealed that Iran is making much more rapid progress in their nuclear work than had previously been thought.

Each side faces a critical upcoming event. For Washington, that event is the November election. An outbreak of war in the Middle East would have serious economic impact on the entire world, and that in turn could greatly influence the outcome of the vote, and they are striving to prevent war prior to the election. For Jerusalem, that event is when Iran reaches the “zone of immunity”—the point at which conventional military action will not be able to prevent them from completing their nuclear work.

The latest reports are that Iran has now placed at least 5,000 centrifuges in the underground nuclear facility at Fordow. This site, constructed deep inside a mountain near the Iranian holy city of Qom, would be difficult if not impossible to destroy with anything short of a tactical nuclear attack or a ground invasion.

While both sides agree that a nuclear Iran is not acceptable, their assessment of the time remaining to solve the problem is very different. Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, said Israel’s clock is “ticking faster” than the one in America. It remains unclear whether Israel will take action before November, and if so, to what extent America will support them.

It is crucial that we continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and I encourage you today to do so from a position of faith. We do not know the future, but God does, and He is in control of everything that happens on the world stage.

Israel ex-spy warns against "messianic" war on Iran

Story Source Reuters







Former Israeli Spymaster Yuval Diskin Warns Against Attacking Iran

A former Israeli spymaster has branded the country's leaders unfit to tackle the Iranian nuclear program and "messianic" in the strongest criticism from a security veteran of threats to launch a pre-emptive war.

Other veterans have come out against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

But the censure from Yuval Diskin, who retired as head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service last year, was especially strong and unusual in using the language of religious fervor that Israelis associate with Islamist foes.

"I have no faith in the prime minister, nor in the defence minister," Diskin said in remarks broadcast by Israeli media on Saturday. "I really don't have faith in a leadership that makes decisions out of messianic feelings."

The Prime Minister's Office and Defence Ministry had no immediate response to Diskin's remarks. But Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman rebuked Diskin and questioned his motives.

The catastrophic terms with which Netanyahu and Barak describe the prospect of a nuclear-armedIran have stirred concern in Israel and abroad of a possible strike against its uranium enrichment program. Iran says the project is entirely peaceful and has promised wide-ranging reprisals for any attack.

World powers, sharing Israeli suspicions Iran has a covert bomb-making plan, are trying to curb it through sanctions and negotiations. Those talks resume in Baghdad next month, but Barak on Thursday rated their chance of succeeding as low.

Although Israel has long threatened a pre-emptive strike if diplomacy fails, some experts believe that could be a bluff to keep up pressure on the Iranians, making it harder to interpret the swirl of comments from the security establishment.

In a commentary on Diskin's remarks, Amos Harel of the liberal newspaper Haaretz wrote that the temperature was rising ahead of the nuclear talks.

"Nothing has been determined in the Iranian story, and the spring is about to boil over into another summer of tension," he wrote.

FALSE IMPRESSION

Diskin spoke days after Israel's top military commander, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, told Haaretz he viewed Iran as "very rational" and unlikely to build a bomb, comments that apparently undermined the case for a strike.

The former Shin Bet chief was specifically damning of Netanyahu and Barak, who have often crafted strategy alone and whose rapport dates back four decades to when they served together in a top-secret commando unit.

"They're creating a false impression about the Iranian issue," Diskin told a private gathering on Friday, where the comments were recorded. "They're appealing to the stupid public, if you'll pardon me for the phrasing, and telling them that if Israel acts, there won't be an (Iranian) nuclear bomb."

Diskin said he was not necessarily opposed to an attack on Iran, though he cited experts who argue this risked backfiring by accelerating its nuclear program.

Netanyahu's former Mossad foreign intelligence director, Meir Dagan, last year also ridiculed the Israeli war option.

Diskin went a step further by saying that Netanyahu and Barak were not up to the job of opening an unprecedented front with Iran and, potentially, with its allies on Israel's borders.

Netanyahu is a second-term premier with solid public approval ratings and a broad conservative coalition. Barak, a former prime minister, is Israel's most decorated soldier.

"I have seen them up close," Diskin said. "They are not messiahs, the two of them, and they are not people who I personally, at least, trust to be able to lead Israel into an event on such a scale, and to extricate it."

Foreign Minister Lieberman said questions such as how and if to tackle Iran "are not made by the prime minister and defence minister. They are usually made in the security cabinet or cabinet."

Lieberman suggested to Israel's Channel Two television that Diskin might be angry at being passed over for the job as head of the Mossad.