Warten auf den IAEA Bericht

The Iranians, despite a fourth round of UN sanctions last year and further punitive measures from the European Union and the US, have remained defiant.

Hopes that the Stuxnet computer virus attack by Western powers on Iran’s nuclear technology would prove crippling have faded. The virus succeeded in crippling a number of Iranian centrifuges but analysts now think the effects have worn off and production of highly enriched uranium has accelerated again.

The IAEA will provide indications that enriched uranium production is moving from the long-established Natanz facility to Fordow, an underground plant that is regarded by Iran as bomb-proof near the holy city of Qom. Iran has produced more than 70kg of 20 per cent enriched uranium and would easily increase its output if production shifts to the mountain plant. Scientists say that 20 per cent enriched uranium can be refined to the 90 per cent weapons grade level without design changes in the production lines.

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Attack unlikely

In reality, Israel is unlikely to launch any attack without the support of the United States, which could easily be drawn into the regional conflict an air strike would trigger. Like the Israeli military establishment, the Pentagon opposes any such venture — and it’s hard to imagine President Obama signing on. If he acts in the coming weeks or months, Netanyahu would risk a rupture in the alliance that is the ultimate guarantor of Israeli security.

The new burst of speculation, like those before it, does serve a couple of purposes for Israel, however. It refocuses attention on the Iranian threat, and takes it away from the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations; it raises the pressure on the United States and its allies to increase sanctions and other nonmilitary pressure on Tehran.

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Britische Armee trifft Vorbereitungen für möglichen Angriff auf Iran

Britain’s armed forces are stepping up their contingency planning for potential military action against Iran amid mounting concern about Tehran’s nuclear enrichment programme, the Guardian has learned.

The Ministry of Defence believes the US may decide to fast-forward plans for targeted missile strikes at some key Iranian facilities. British officials say that if Washington presses ahead it will seek, and receive, UK military help for any mission, despite some deep reservations within the coalition government.

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In zehn Jahren …

Ein Interview mit dem iranischen Blogger Hamid:

 Der Iran sei eines der größten Gefängnisse für Journalisten, erklärt Blogger Hamid. Trotzdem freut er sich wenn Cyber-Polizisten seinen Blog lesen – und Kommentare schreiben.

Der iranische Blogger Hamid schreibt täglich über Technik, Medien, Internetfreiheit und Dinge, die ihn ganz persönlich interessieren. Dabei geht er mit offenen Augen durch seine Welt. Die Themen von Hamid, der seinen Nachnamen aus Sicherheitsgründen nicht verrät, sind oft nicht so verschieden von den Sachen, die Europäer interessieren. Zwar schreibt er in Farsi für die Iraner, aber die Themen reichen bis zu den Wahlerfolgen der Piratenpartei in Berlin.

Um was geht es in Ihrem Blog?

Der Hauptfokus in meinem Blog ist die digitale Freiheit. Das beinhaltet Redefreiheit, Software-Freiheit und neue Medien. Da dies aber ein persönlicher Blog ist, berichte ich ebenso über alles, was mich interessiert: Zum Beispiel globale politische Themen wie die Lage in Syrien und Libyen oder ich schreibe über Technisches wie Hacker-Kultur und seltene Geräte.

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Hizbullah Discusses Its Operational Plan for War with Israel

In recent weeks Hizbullah leader Hasan Nasrallah held a series of meetings with his top-level military command as well as field commanders responsible for preparing for war with Israel. According to a source close to Hizbullah, Nasrallah’s operational directive was that in the next military conflict with Israel, Hizbullah will hit Tel Aviv with missiles at the outset of the war, while also dispatching forces to conquer the Galilee.

Hizbullah forces are being trained to fire at least ten thousand missiles, right at the war’s outset, at military and strategic targets such as airfields, military camps, and vital facilities including maritime ones, followed by the firing of rockets from launch sites whose location will come as a surprise to Israel.

The operational plan was formulated in tandem with senior Iranian strategic experts and will include a force of five thousand fighters who have recently trained in Iran, tasked with taking over designated zones in northern Israel including Nahariya, Shlomi, and Carmiel.

It was said that engineering units of the Iranian army had mined areas in the eastern Bekaa Valley that were seen as possible landing sites for Israeli special forces, and that Hizbullah had equipped itself with „smart“ Iranian anti-tank missiles that can disrupt the defensive systems of Israel’s Merkava tanks.

Nasrallah’s recent escalation of public statements stems from heightened fear in Hizbullah that an Israeli and/or American attack on Iran is drawing nearer. As a strategic arm of Iran, Hizbullah sees itself as Iran’s first line of defense against Israel.

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Professoren aus Deutschland richten Protestschreiben an iranische Regierung

BERLIN, 02. November 2011 – 46 namhafte Professoren protestieren gegen die systematische Verletzung des Rechts auf Universitätsbildung im Iran. „Die universelle Achtung der Menschenrechte auch auf dem Bildungssektor und die Freiheit von Forschung und Lehre sind uns als Unterzeichner … von größter Wichtigkeit“, heißt es in einem offenen Brief an den iranischen Wissenschaftsminister Kamran Daneschdschu. Die Achtung der Menschenrechte muss „als Wertekatalog für die internationale Hochschulzusammenarbeit gelten“.

Die an den Iran gerichtete Anmahnung der Professoren aus den Fachbereichen Politik, Recht, Medizin, Philosophie, Pädagogik sowie Natur– und Religionswissenschaft ist eine Reaktion auf die zunehmende Drangsalierung des Hochschulsektors im Iran, die sich am Fall der jüngsten Übergriffe auf das Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) zuspitzt. Sieben Dozenten der Einrichtung wurden Mitte Oktober von einem Revolutionsgericht in Teheran zu vier– bzw. fünfjährigen Haftstrafen verurteilt. BIHE wurde inzwischen durch das iranische Wissenschaftsministerium für illegal erklärt.

Ahmadinejad admits impact of sanctions on Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad acknowledged Tuesday that U.S.-designed financial sanctions are causing serious problems for Iran’s banking sector, as he appealed to lawmakers to keep his government together despite a massive embezzlement scandal.
“Our banks cannot make international transactions anymore,” the embattled president said in a speech before parliament to defend his minister of economic affairs and finance against impeachment charges related to the scandal.
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Offizielle Entschuldigung

Iran has raised the stakes in its row with the US over the alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington by demanding an official apology from the Obama administration over the claim that Tehran was responsible.

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New Signs of Syria-Pakistan Nuke Tie

Auch beim engsten Alliierten des Iran wird fleißig an einem illegalen Atomprogramm gebastelt:

U.N. investigators have identified a previously unknown complex in Syria that bolsters suspicions that the Syrian government worked with A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb, to acquire technology that could make nuclear arms.

The buildings in northwest Syria closely match the design of a uranium enrichment plant provided to Libya when Moammar Gadhafi was trying to build nuclear weapons under Khan’s guidance, officials told The Associated Press.