Was The Alleged Attack on Sudan Prelude to Iran?

November 1, 2012 at 17:00 Posted by David Eshel

EROS Satellite images of the Yarmouk ammunition plant in Khartum, Sudan, before and after the pre-dawn attack October 24, 2012. Photos: Imagesat

A powerful explosion at the Yarmuk military factory rocked Sudan’s capital before dawn, sending detonating ammunition flying through the air and causing panic, the Sudan official news agency and local media reports said. Thick black smoke covered the sky over the Military Industrial Complex in southern Khartoum. Sudan’s media reported that nearby buildings were damaged by the blast, their roofs blown off and their windows shattered. The effects of the blast suggested a “highly volatile cargo” was at the epicenter of the explosion.

The Sudanese minister who immediately accused Israel of carrying out an aerial strike on a weapons factory near Khartoum apparently knew what he was talking about. Although located inside a strong security perimeter around it, the so-called Yarmuk compound run by the Military Industry Corporation, is well known to Sudanese as Iranian territory, serving as a stopover in weapons smuggling to Hamas Gaza. The minister showed journalists a video of a huge crater next to two destroyed buildings and what appeared to be an unidentified rocket motor lying on the ground. Analysing the explosions and the massive fire which blazed for hours, setting off more fires even days after the attack, it seems that the “factory” must have contained a large amount of explosives and inflammatory substances, indicating military nature. It also seems viable that the target could have been a series of containers stored inside the compound, which were loaded and ready for dispatch.

Iran News Round Up July 26, 2012

syria (Photo credit: themua)

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin. 
 
(E) = Article in English

Diplomacy

• Iranian lawmakers on Syria events: 

• Mohammad-Reza Tabesh: “We must support the government of Syria, which is at the frontline of the struggle against Israel… But we should support it as long as the government of Syria does not treat the people of Syria badly and the rights of the people are not violated.”
• Ali-Reza Mahjoub: “Survival of the Syrian government is in the interest of our region.”
• Jafar Qaderi: “The government of Syria… must continue the path of reform, enforce the popular will, and respect the popular vote.”
• Fatemeh Alia: “We must support the trend of reform in Syria.”
• Mousa-al-Reza Servati: “We oppose the West because of belief that any reform must take place based on the choice of the people and implemented by the people of Syria. People can achieve whatever their wishes through elections”
• Amir-Hossein Qazizadeh: “What we see in Syria… is a domestic Syrian issue and intervention in internal affairs of states is incorrect and illegal…” 
• [E] The Indian media reported that the country’s government has decided to attend the 16th heads-of-state summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran at the highest level, and that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will represent New Delhi in the high profile meeting.
• [E] Iran and Russia lambasted the western and Arab states for their interferences in the internal affairs of Syria, and called on them to stop unconstructive acts in the Muslim country.

Military and Security

• Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations comments on the Bulgaria bombing: “Iran condemns any act of terrorism in any shape and form… In the short political history of the regime occupying al-Quds [Jerusalem] there are many cases of terrorism, including acts of terror against Jewish citizens…”

Olympics’ most wanted: Terror police fear suspect hunted after Bulgarian bus bomb could be on his way to London 2012

Wanted: A terrorist believed to have been involved in a horrific suicide bomb attack in Bulgaria last week has emerged as one of the biggest security threats to the Olympics. A sketch of the man is pictured

A terrorist believed to have been involved in a horrific suicide bomb attack in Bulgaria last week has emerged as one of the biggest security threats to the Olympics.

The man is thought to be carrying a U.S. passport under the name of David Jefferson and fled following the attack which killed six people last Wednesday in the resort of Burgas.

He has emerged as a top target for Israeli security agents who fear their athletes will be attacked by an Iranian terror squad operating in Europe.

The terrorist, who is suspected of helping the suicide bomber, is thought to have another powerful bomb similar to the one which destroyed the Israeli tourist bus.

Following the Israeli concerns, security has been stepped up around its athletes taking part in the Games.

MI5 and Scotland Yard are thought to have raised their threat assessment against the Israeli delegation as Britain prepares for the largest peacetime security operation ahead of the opening of the Olympics this Friday.

According to The Sunday Times, the Israeli government – fearing a repeat of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich when 11 of its athletes and coaches were murdered – has sent agents from its internal security service Shin Bet to increase the protection around its Olympic team.

Iran News Round Up July 20, 2012

English: Key Petroleum Sector facilities (2004) Iran (Wall Map) 2004 “Iran Country Profile” Iran map with insets: Population Density, Ethnoreligious Distribution, Key Petroleum Sector Facilities, Southern Caspian Energy Prospects and Strait Of Hormuz (2.5M) (source: CIA map) http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/iran_country_profile_2004… (Photo credit: Wikipedia)A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin.  .
 
(E) = Article in English

Diplomacy

• Egypt‘s President Mursi denies entry visas to Iranian citizens. 
• Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, temporary Tehran Friday prayer leader, condemns “massacre of Muslims in Myanmar”:
  • “They are killing Muslims in a savage way and the president of Myanmar is doing so by saying ‘We do not consider Muslims as citizens…’ Sometimes a suspicious death happens at a remote place in the world and they start screaming but in this case, they are silent, which makes us believe that the United States is guilty of this crime as well…”
  • “Syria is paying the price of supporting the innocent Palestinians, Hezbollah and the Islamic Iran… The unholy and ominous alliance of the United States, Britain, Europe, the reactionary Arabs, and al-Qaeda, this murderous group and some neighboring countries of Syria, which are dreaming of reestablishing their past empire [Turkey] are behind the crimes… They can’t beat the Syrian people with this terrorist act, just as the Islamic Republic solidly remained in its place after the blast at the office of the Islamic Republican Party.”
  • Discussing arrest of Ayatollah Nimr in Saudi Arabia and suppression of the Shi’a in Bahrain, Khatami continued: “The Khalifa and al-Saud clans should know that an infidel government may survive but injustice is not lasting…”
• [E] Iran’s embassy in Sofia denied Israel’s allegations about Tehran’s involvement in a terrorist attack in Bulgaria, and stressed Iran’s strong opposition to any kind of terrorist act.

Military and Security

• Fars News slams Ambassador Bolton’s statements in the wake of terrorist incident in Bulgaria. 

Trade

• Bakeries in Iran use wheat imported from India.

Iran News Round Up July 17, 2012

Iran extends its railway system to Iraq and Syria(01-2007) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin. 
 
(E) = Article in English

Politics

• According to Asr-e Iran, a majority of former members of the Parliament’s Oil Committee joined the Oil industry after the end of their parliamentary term. The list includes Ali Adyani-Rad, Hassan Shabanpour, Abdollah Kabi, Assadollah Gharahkhani, Emad Hosseini and Hassan Ghaffourifard.

Diplomacy

• Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi:
  • “From the past, we have been in touch with vast [number] of the parties [engaged] in the conflict in Syria and have had consultations. Now too we are ready to facilitate dialogue between the protesters and the government of the Republic of Syria… Bashar Assad, the president of Syria, has recently appointed an individual called Ali Heydar to an institution to engage in dialogue with the protesters… We too have announced that we are ready to facilitate dialogue between the protesters and the government of Syria.”
  • Commenting on the latest diplomatic dispute between Canada and Iran over  remarks by Iran’s cultural attaché in Ottawa, Salehi said: “We have always stressed to our compatriots… that they should follow the laws and regulations of the country of their residence.”
• Hassan Mousavi, head of the Islamic Republic Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, accuses “Colonialism and the Global Arrogance of causing drought in southern Iran.” 
• Hojjat al-Eslam Sheikh Mohsen Araki is appointed Center of Proximity of Islamic Sects director general. 

Military and Security

• Reports on the Revolutionary Guards Navy commanders’ seminar in Mashhad:
  • Ali Fadavi, Revolutionary Guards Navy commander, discusses the closure of the Strait of Hormuz: “Although different authorities have made statements on this strategic area, what is important is that the Islamic Republic of Iran is capable of doing what it has said… Start of conflict depends on the degree of stupidity of the Westerners and it seems that they are not pursuing this option [military conflict] and have concentrated all their efforts on economic pressure and sanctions. However, we are prepared to deal with any situation, including their military option.”
  • Hassan Firouzabadi, chief of the General Staff, addresses the seminar of the Revolutionary Guards Navy authorities:
    • “The Revolutionary Guards Navy is today the front line of the defense of the Islamic Republic of Iran…”

Iran News Round Up July 19, 2012

Damascus Panorama, Looking Southwards (Photo credit: spdl_n1)

Politics

• According to Iran, Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf has stepped up campaigning for presidency. One of the signs is resignation of deputy mayor Mohammad-Hadi Ayazi, Qalibaf’s “right hand,” who is allegedly engaged in organizing the Qalibaf campaign. Pro-Qalibaf websites include: Mard-e Amal, Talayehdar, Hoshdar News, Shafaf News, Farda, Tehran, Farda, Sit-e Hamian-e Doktor, Asheqan-e Doktor Qalibaf, Omid-e Yazdahom and the like. Iran criticizes Qalibaf for being “very close to the reformists.”  

Diplomacy

• An Iranian delegation headed by Abbas Eraqchi visits North Korea.
• [E] Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani condemned the Wednesday attack in Damascus which killed a number of Syrian officials, and lambasted the officials of the western countries for their provocative remarks on Syria after the terrorist blast. 

Military and Security

• Parsineh writes that Salafi clerics in Syria have declared “Jihad” against Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, and that the Shi’as in Damascus are being threatened. Parsineh advocates evacuation of Iranian citizens from Syria.
• According to Abrar, a certain Khaled Darabi, “a Wahhabi terrorist,” “connected with the CIA” has been arrested.
• Masoud Jazayeri, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces for Cultural Affairs and Defense Publicity:
  • “Everyday a new dimension of pressures by the Global Arrogance, the hegemonic regimes and the United States and the Zionist regime at their helm, is revealed to the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran… The people of Iran know the dimensions of the sanctions and the level of pressure from this quarter on welfare, sanitation, health, and other fields of individual and social life imposed by the enemy. However, they are determined not to accept the bullying of the foreigners and it has always been like this in the magnificent history of the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Former CIA spy advocates overthrow of Iranian regime

Reza Kahlili, living in the shadows with a fake name and disguise, worked from inside the Revolutionary Guard. He warns of terrorist sleeper cells in the U.S. and a plot to destroy Israel.

Former CIA spy Reza Kahlili lived a double life until the mid-1990s, passing along Iran’s secrets to the CIA and recruiting Revolutionary Guards for the agency. In a sense, he resumed his double identity after publishing his 2010 memoir. (Reza Kahlili / July 7, 2012)

By David Zucchino

July 6, 2012, 6:33 p.m.

Los Angeles Times
ARLINGTON, Va. — His disguise consists of a blue surgeon’s mask, sunglasses and a baseball cap that reads “Free Iran.” A small modulator distorts his voice. He uses a pseudonym, Reza Kahlili.
He lives in fear, he says, because his years as a paid spy for the CIA inside Iran have made him an assassination target of Iran’s government. He worries about his wife and children, who live with him in California.
At the same time, implausibly, he has become one of the most influential and outspoken voices in the U.S. advocating the overthrow of the Iranian government.
For the last two years, Kahlili has gone semipublic with a memoir, a blog, op-ed pieces and invitation-only speeches at think tanks. He warns that Iran operates terrorist sleeper cells inside the United States and is determined to build nuclear weapons to destroy Israel. The U.S. should respond, he argues, by supporting the opposition inside Iran.
He travels furtively between appearances, working as a Pentagon consultant and as a member of a domestic security task force.

The Failure of the Moscow Talks – What’s Next?

 

Cascades of gas centrifuges are used to enrich uranium ore to concentrate its fissionable isotopes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

INSS Insight – Asculai, Ephraim: The Istanbul-Baghdad-Moscow talks on Iran’s nuclear program are over. As expected, they did not achieve anything of significance, besides deciding on further, lower level talks. Indeed, the P5 1 and the Iranian delegations shared one objective: they did not want the process to end, thereby necessitating a decision on different tracks. The Iranians are successfully playing for time, as they have done for so many years, and the members of the P5 1 group are also trying to delay any inconvenient decisions, each group member for its own reasons. Most noticeably, the US delegation would like to postpone any major decision until after the November 2012 presidential elections. For their part, the Iranians need time to advance their nuclear program and produce as much enriched uranium as possible. Although according to many reports the sanctions are hurting Iran, they are still not hurting Iran badly enough, and the Iranians are able to bear them.

The ultimate aims of both sides are, of course, diametrically opposite. The Iranians want to retain the capability to enrich uranium to military-grade levels and to gain the ability to produce several nuclear weapons in short order, should the Islamic Republic’s authorities so decide. The Iranian strategy is very simple: they want the world to recognize the legitimacy of the Iranian uranium enrichment program. Even under limited conditions, such recognition would enable Iran to retain its technical capabilities, to perfect the enrichment process, and to leave them a potential for a breakout (defined as the start of the process to produce military-grade enriched uranium), whenever they decide to do so. In addition, the Iranians could well construct concealed facilities and secretly produce enriched uranium to whatever levels they choose to achieve.

The P5 1 want to prevent this possibility, but their remaining options are few. It is nearly impossible to envision the Security Council taking any further action against Iran, because Russia and China would likely vote against it. The first and most probable option for the West (the P5 1 minus Russia and China) is to impose the July sanctions on oil and hope for the best. The next option is to increase the sanctions considerably and wait for the Iranians to blink. The third option is military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

What would the Iranians do? Although the present sanctions have hurt Iran considerably, there are those who think that Iran can shoulder them indefinitely and will therefore continue with its present tactics of preventing a showdown while enriching uranium.

‘Terrorism in Asia can be only prevented by SCO members’

An interview with Viktor Nadein-Rayevsky, Institute of World Economy & International Relations, Moscow

Thu Jun 7, 2012 4:6PM GMT

That is important that there have been several military exercises that give opportunity for joint operations here in Central Asia. Of course, this organization is the only real mechanism that can help stop terrorist activities here. It is a problem of course and this problem is on the way of solution.”

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has lashed out at NATO‘s eastward expansion, saying it’s aimed at stopping the growth of the member states of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

 

Ahmadinejad said NATO members are trying to resurrect what he called past colonialist relations, adding “the colonialists are equally opposed to the development of China, Russia, India and Iran as well as other members of the SCO.”

He further called for a new world order, saying the current one has failed because of its “inhumane and unfair nature.”

The SCO is an intergovernmental organization that was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Iran, India, Mongolia, Afghanistan and Pakistan are observer members of the organization.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Viktor Nadein-Rayevsky from Moscow’s Institute of World Economy & International Relations to further discuss the issue. The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

 

Press TV:Nadein-Rayevsky, tell us what you think about the declaration especially the fact that it seems very firm regarding the expansion of the Western countries, in particular the United States, as they have said with the concentration in the Asia-Pacific.

Nadein-Rayevsky:In fact, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the last years has become a rather prominent and important partner of many international organizations in the world.

First of all, that was very important that it begins the cooperation from real problems; problems that are dangerous for all the countries of the region. First of all, there is the problem of terrorism and, of course, the problems of separatism and drug trafficking which are very dangerous things the countries of the region have to deal with.

Iran News Round Up June 4, 2012

Satellite Image Of Tehran, Iran On 31st Anniversary Of Iranian Revolution (Photo credit: Talk Radio News Service)

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh, Ahmad Majidyar and Michael Rubin

(E) = Article in English

Politics

• Ceremonies held to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of  Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death end in disorder:
  • Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei indirectly attacks Ahmadinejad:
    • “If we stop, we will be pushed back. And if we are arrogant, we will be thrown into the ground. If the authorities of the country become preys to egocentrism, arrogance… we will be dealt blows into the mouth. The path of progress is one of ‘no stop.’ We are still on the mountain slopes and there is a distance to the peak. The day when the Iranian nation reaches the peak, the enmities and evils will end…”
  • Ahmadinejad’s speech on the occasion of Khomeini’s death anniversary ends in tumult as the protesters chant slogans against Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei. According to Entekhab, the protesters chanted: “Death to Mashaei,” “Shame on you Mashaei, leave Ahmadi[nejad] alone,” “This entire army has come for the sake of the Leader [who addressed the crowds before the president."
  • As Hojjat al-Eslam Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, tried to deliver his speech, the crowds chanted slogans against him: "Death to the opponent of the Guardianship of the Jurist," "The blood in our veins is a gift to our Leader," "We are not citizens of Kufa so that the Imam would be alone," "This entire army has come for the sake of the Leader."
• Rafsanjani, addressing a group of students from Azad University, attacks Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi:
  • "Relying on the people and irreplaceable role of the people in historical events is extremely important. Extremism, on the other hand, is one of the pests dealing blows to the goals of the Islamic revolution. The path of moderation and renunciation of extremism have led to the progress of the revolution. But unfortunately we on some occasions witness some people who did not believe in the struggle against the Shah, or considered that futile or unnecessary, today directly or indirectly lead extremist and radical groups and present solutions [for the problems] of the country.”
    • Mesbah Yazdi responds to Rafsanjani’s attack while addressing a group of Revolutionary Guards members from the Imam Ali Center of the Guards based in Isfahan: “At the time of the revolution, there were people who did not consider the Imam [Khomeini] as the ideologue of the revolution and solely considered him an instrument to overthrow the Shah… After the revolution, some of these people gained access to important positions in the regime and are now bidding their time as well… There are today some who are trying to monopolize the revolution to the benefit of their own interests…”

Diplomacy

• Mehr News releases the list of provinces in which Afghan citizens are barred from residing, and university courses Afghan citizens are not allowed to attend.
• Iran executes three Afghan citizens and transfers their bodies to families in Afghanistan.
• [E] Ahmadinejad will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Beijing next week just days before another round of talks between Tehran and the world powers in Moscow.

Military and Security

• Khamenei: “The noise and threats that authorities of the usurping Zionist regime make against Iran are because of their fear, terror and powerlessness… The heads of the Zionist regime know that today they are more vulnerable than ever. Any incorrect move of theirs will strike their own heads like lightening…”