Current news on the Iranian situation states that the
negotiations will carry on through today, rather than end yesterday. We must continue to pray for the Peace of
Jerusalem, and encourage the Israelis to do whatever they have to, in order to
preserve the "Existential Securities" of the Jewish people.
National Security
Council considers plan for Israel strike on Iran
7:55PM BST 23 May 2012
"The National
Security Council has discussed a range of possibilities, including how Iran
might retaliate by trying to close the Strait of Hormuz.
This vital waterway at
the entrance to the Gulf is only 21 miles wide at his narrowest point and
serves as the conduit for about 35 per cent of the world's seaborne oil
shipments.
The Royal Navy retains
a permanent presence in the Gulf, currently led by HMS Daring, a Type 45
destroyer and one of the most advanced warships in the world.
Whitehall sources
confirmed that ministers discussed the range of contingencies when the National
Security Council gathered for a routine meeting last Wednesday. However, a
source said this was not prompted by any expectation of an imminent Israeli
strike on Iran.
The meeting focused on
the possibility of a "third party" taking action – which means Israel
rather than Britain or America.
But neither London nor
the United States has ruled out launching military action against Iran's
nuclear facilities if diplomacy and economic pressure fail to resolve the
confrontation.
Britain has treaty
obligations to defend almost all of the Arab states in the Gulf. "Our
hands are pretty much tied if any of the states invokes the agreements saying
they need our aid then we will have to turn up," said a Whitehall source.
Since the Libyan
campaign last year, the RAF is understood to have updated its plans for joining
a possible US-led attack on Iran. Tornado GR4 bombers would lead any assault by
flying direct from RAF Marham in East Anglia to the Gulf region to fire their
Stormshadow cruise missile at a range of up to 350 miles from any targets in
Iran. They would then land at a Gulf state where they would be based for future
missions.
Eurofighter Typhoons,
whose ground attack technology is less advanced, could be used to provide air
defence.
Sentinel
reconnaissance aircraft of the RAF are already based in one Gulf state. They
could provide "real time" surveillance and eavesdropping on Iranian
targets.
A Royal Navy attack
submarine has also deployed to the Indian Ocean with an arsenal of Tomahawk
cruise missiles that could hit targets 400 miles away.
But any British
contribution would be a fraction of the firepower that the US has discreetly
amassed in the region over the last year. Six F22 Raptors, the world's most
advanced fighters, have been deployed to the Gulf, joining a squadron of up to
18 F15E Strike Eagles, designed for long range bombing raids.
B1 Lancer bombers and
an array of surveillance and drone aircraft are already based in Qatar, the
United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
Meanwhile, two
American carriers are in the region: USS Carl Vinson and Abraham Lincoln, which
deploy a total of 80 F18 Super Hornets capable of striking more than 200
targets in a single day.
Iran nuclear talks:
world powers 'creating difficult atmosphere'
World powers are
hindering talks in Baghdad with Iran over its nuclear programme, creating a
"difficult atmosphere", according to an Iranian delegate.
Iraqi Government
Spokesman Ali Al-Dabagh (L) speaks to the media outside the negotiation room
while envoys from Iran and six world powers meet for a second day of talks on
easing concerns about Tehran's nuclear programme Photo: EPA
11:28AM BST 24 May
2012
The so-called P5+1
nations – United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – have
pushed Iran for concessions on its uranium enrichment programme, following a
15-month diplomatic freeze and talks in Istanbul last month."What we heard
in Istanbul was more interesting ... We believe the reason P5+1 is not able to
reach a result is America," the official told Reuters. "(P5+1) came
to Baghdad without a clear mandate so we think the atmosphere is
difficult."
Iranian media
meanwhile said the chances of talks continuing are "very low," with
several outlets saying Iran had essentially been handed Israeli demands.
A correspondent with
Iran's Al-Alam network reflecting the Iranian delegation's views in Baghdad
said the so-called P5+1 – the five permanent UN Security Council members plus
Germany – had to sweeten incentives for Iran to suspend parts of its disputed
nuclear programme for talks to go on.
"All depends on
whether the other side is ready to adjust their proposals," the reporter
said. "But due to the shortage of time, the possibility of coming up with
these decisions is very low."
Al-Alam, and the Fars
and Mehr news agencies all criticised a P5+1 package of proposals on the issue
as essentially echoing demands from Israel – an indication that the assessment
was held by Iran's leaders.
"The discourse
used in the talks very much resembles ... that used by the Israeli prime
minister and defence minister," the Al-Alam correspondent said.
"Remarks from the
P5+1 seem to be echoing those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu," the Fars news agency said.
"In the Baghdad
meeting, the P5+1 team, in particular the United States, is making remarks similar
to those of Israeli officials," the Mehr news agency said.
The outlets also
suggested that the United States was dominating the P5+1 side and that it was
"stonewalling," as Mehr put it.
They speculated that
the P5+1 delegations had insufficient authority to modify the proposal they had
made.
Israel: do not waver
in talks with Iran
Ehud Barak, the
Israeli defense minister, has urged world powers not to waver in key nuclear
talks with Iran, warning that any failure to halt enrichment could see them obtain
weapons.
The fear is that a
nuclear-armed Iran would destabilize the already volatile Middle East and sound
the death knell for 60 years of international efforts to prevent the spread of
atomic weapons, sparking a regional arms race Photo: GETTY
2:46PM BST 23 May 2012
Speaking as Iran and
six world powers engaged in talks in Baghdad, the Iraq capital, he said
"we must watch out the partial concessions do not allow Iran to avoid a
tightening of sanctions."
"Without
strengthening the current painful sanctions, Iran will continue towards a
nuclear capability," the defence minister told Israel's public radio.
"We must not
blink, give up or capitulate until the very last minute," he said.
"If they let them
continue, Iran will keep on enriching uranium from 20 per cent to 60 per cent
and 90 per cent and they really will get a nuclear weapon. I don't know exactly
when but it will happen," he warned.
"Now is the time
for the entire world to stop them," said Mr Barak.
The so-called P5+1
grouping of diplomats from permanent UN Security Council members Britain,
China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany held a first round of
talks with Iran on April 14 in Istanbul.
Iran reportedly made a
counter-proposal to the P5+1 group with five items based on "the
principles of step-by-step reciprocity". Talks were expected to continue
into Thursday.
A day ahead of the
second round, UN nuclear watchdog chief Yukiya Amano said his agency was poised
to ink a deal with Tehran.
His comments were
greeted with deep suspicion by Israel, which sees Iran's willingness to talk as
a ploy to win an easing of sanctions and to gain more time for enrichment.
The world powers are
hoping to secure Iran's agreement to suspend 20 per cent enrichment and to ship
its stockpiles of enriched uranium abroad.
But Israel has poured
scorn on the P5+1 talks, with Barak deriding its demands of Tehran as
"minimalist" and saying they would never be enough to make Iran halt
its nuclear programme.
"If we set the
bar too low, there is a danger that they will get most, if not all of what they
want, and the Iranian nuclear programme will continue," he said.
Anything less than a
demand to stop enriching uranium to 20 per cent and to 3.5 per cent, to remove
all enriched uranium outside of the country, and to close down the Fordo plant
near the holy city of Qom, was not enough, he said.
"The Iranians are
continuing their game of chess in order to achieve nuclear weapons," he
said, adding the customary warning: that "all options remain on the table"
– a reference to a possible pre-emptive military strike, which Israel has
refused to rule out.
Later Wednesday,
Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon articulated the Israeli warning.
"The sanctions
must continue and tighten, alongside international seclusion, support of the
opposition and a reliable military option," he wrote on his Twitter
account.
"If all this does
not help, someone might have to instigate a military move against Iran,"
he warned, without noting who or how.
Earlier this year, Yaalon
– who served as Israel's military chief – warned that no Iranian facility,
however reinforced, is immune to Israeli attack.
The West and Israel,
widely considered the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, suspect
Iran is using its nuclear programme to build atomic weapons, charges that
Tehran denies."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9285455/National-Security-Council-considers-plan-for-Israel-strike-on-Iran.html
I don’t know any more than you do at this present time. But,
am being faithful to keep an eye on the Middle East and Events coming rapidly
down the pike there.
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
JAV:rar
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