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From AlJazeera - by Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst

"Dishonest", "misleading", "lying" and "spinning" are just some of the measured adjectives used in the mainstream US media to characterise George Bush, the president, and Stephen Hadley, his national security adviser, after they embraced the damning National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) summary report on Iran as proof of the effectiveness and success of the administration's Tehran policy.

The NIE judges "with high confidence that in the fall of 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons programme", and that "Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons programme suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005".

It further said that "...Tehran's decisions are guided by a cost-benefit approach rather than a rush to a weapon irrespective of the political, economic and military costs". And that "this NIE does not assume that Iran intends to acquire nuclear weapons".

The White House seems to have known of much of this and more for some time, but chose to escalate the war rhetoric against Tehran.

Depending on which version of the story one believes, the White House knew about the "discovery" any time between last spring and summer.

Even when new intelligence compelled the National Intelligence Board (NIB) to make a 180-degree change in its estimate, rendering the Iranian threat anything but imminent, administration officials continued to speak of the threat of Iran's nuclear weapons programme until hours before its publication.

The White House sent its third carrier into the Gulf transforming its "crisis management" mode with Iran into direct "confrontation management" and sealing the war scenario against Tehran when the decision comes down.

President Bush also warned during a news conference on October 17 that an Iranian nuclear bomb could lead to "world war three" and asked Congress to pass the highest defence budget in the history of the country, mostly under the guise of an imminent Iranian threat that he knew did not exist.

Déjà vu

In a repeat of the dreadful and misleading escalation against Iraq prior to its 2003 invasion, the Bush administration escalated the war rhetoric against Tehran even though it knew with high confidence that it had no programme, no capability and, with moderate confidence, no intention of developing a nuclear weapons programme.

The leading presidential candidates followed suit.

Rudy Giuliani claimed: "As we all know, Iran is seeking nuclear weapons and they're threatening to use them."

Likewise, Senator John McCain insisted: "There's no doubt that [Iran is] moving forward with the acquisition of a nuclear weapon."

And Hillary Clinton, before giving the president another vote of confidence to go to war, insisted that "Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is in the forefront of that, as they are in the sponsorship of terrorism."

To the surprise of many Western observers, it turns out that the policies of the Iranian and Iraqi leaders were based on realistic "cost and benefit" grounds, not the irrational behaviour Washington accused them of as dangerous and unpredictable crazies.

On the other hand, the Bush administration's war policies towards Iraq and Iran have proven to be hardly cost and benefit driven even when calculating the oil and strategic interests.

Worse, the Bush administration lost all credibility when it went on to intimidate its allies and foes alike to punish Iran. It also attacked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Mohamed ElBaradai, its director, for being soft on Iran, knowing all too well that they have been right all along.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of sate, told ElBaradei that his body was not "in the business of diplomacy".

ElBaradei, to his credit, has long believed Iran possessed no nuclear weapons programme and made a deal under which it would answer long-standing questions about its nuclear activities.

Cover up

According to Senator Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Bush knew about the new information regarding Iran's nuclear programme, because he and his deputy on the committee were also informed, albeit in a more general manner, by the intelligence community.

Gary Sick, a US-based Iran expert, estimates that the president might have known some nine months ago, when according to him the Iranian deputy defence minister defected to the West.

On November 14, Mike McConnell, NIE director, told the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars that he was not going to make his report public. Which begs the question, why has the White House allowed the publication of this embarrassing report?

Two possible scenarios have surfaced since the publication:

First, Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, insisted on it. The Pentagon finances most of the programmes and departments that contribute to the NIE database.

Unlike the 2005 pro-war Rumsfeld, Gates does not want another Middle Eastern war as he told Congress recently, especially in light of the debacle in Iraq.

Second, it seems that congressional leaders who oppose Bush's Iran policy insisted that it be publicised after hearing or reading some of its preliminary conclusions.

In an election year, any such news is good news for the Democrats.

By default or by design?

Some believe that the Bush administration, famous for its political discipline, is none the less using the NIE in a clever, even if desperate, attempt to climb down from the hysterical "Carthage must be destroyed" line.

After all, how many times can you mention world war three without eventually having to start it?

Now that it is out, the new estimate could neutralise the neo-conservative fringe, and let the administration out of a rhetorical corner.

The White House announcement of the president's Middle East trip at the beginning of next year, following the attendance this week by Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, the Iranian president, at the Gulf co-operation summit, underlines the desire to relax tensions in the region following Annapolis and the relative "improvements" of the Iraq situation.

Today and in light of the NIE findings, some observers believe the central issue for the US and Iran is no longer the nuclear question but rather the future of Iraq.

The US understands that it "needs Iran for the endgame in Iraq", while for Iran, the recent developments in Iraq encourage it to make a deal with Washington before the latter strikes a deal with its adversaries.

Three scenarios

Now that the new estimate is out, something has got to give.

First, international and domestic pressure will build up against a pre-emptive strike and, my guess, at least two permanent members will stand against another UN Security Council resolution punishing Iran, despite its civilian programme that contradicts past resolutions.

Second, the NIE publication might pave the way to bilateral negotiations between the US and Iran without stiff preconditions in order to relax the tensions in the Gulf with the participation of Iran's Arab neighbours, as well as its European allies.

Now that the nuclear roadblock is out of the way, Washington will find it ever more necessary and ever more enticing to talk to Iran about a "helpful" and perhaps beneficial role for itself and Iraq in the Gulf.

Either way, the White House will certainly face more questions and inquiries regarding the discrepancies of timings and policies; as more insiders come clean on US policy towards Iran. Americans would want to know what Bush and Co knew, when did they know it and what have they done or not done about it?

As so many commentators have said the morning after Bush and Hadley embraced the NIE report, the central question begging for an answer revolves around how corrupt politics have lead to dangerous policies.

Labels: Iran, Islam Hadhari, Luar Negeri, U.S.

"The label of terrorist is suitable for the military and security forces of the United States," Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini (picture left) told reporters in his weekly brief.

The motion comes after a US Senate resolution on Wednesday which called for Iran's Revolutionary Guard to be labelled a terrorist organization.

Hosseini said the resolution was an “unprecedented act” and giving any indication to this issue is “a threat and danger to global peace and security,” which would “weaken international bodies.”

Labels: Iran, Luar Negeri

Labels: France, Iran, Luar Negeri, U.S.

Navy Stages Show of Force Off Iran Coast

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, May 23 - The U.S. Navy staged its latest show of military force off the Iranian coastline on Wednesday, sending two aircraft carriers and landing ships packed with 17,000 U.S. Marines and sailors to carry out unannounced exercises in the Persian Gulf.

The carrier strike groups led by the USS John C. Stennis and USS Nimitz were joined by the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard and its own strike group, which includes landing ships carrying members of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

The Navy said nine U.S. warships passed through the narrow Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday. Merchant ships passing through the busy strait carry two-fifths of the world's oil exports.

Aircraft aboard the three carriers and the Bonhomme Richard were to conduct air training while the ships ran submarine, mine and other exercises.

The maneuvers came just two months after a previous exercise in March when two U.S. carrier groups carried out two days of air and sea maneuvers off the Iranian coast.

Before the arrival of the Bonhomme Richard strike group, the Navy maintained around 20,000 U.S personnel at sea in the Gulf and neighboring waters.

U.S. warships have frequently collided with merchant ships in the busy shipping lanes of the Gulf. - AP

Labels: Iran, Luar Negeri, U.S.

TEHRAN, IRAN, April 11 — Iranian state television showed hospital images Wednesday of the Iranian diplomat who has accused the CIA of torturing him during his detention in Iraq.

State TV also reported that the Iraqi ambassador to Iran and an official from the International Committee of the Red Cross visited Jalal Sharafi in the hospital Wednesday.

Sharafi was shown in a hospital bed with injuries to his right foot, while Iraqi ambassador Majid Sheikh and Peter G. Stocker from the ICRC examined him.

During the examination, the voice of a doctor could be heard describing how Sharafi had been beaten by a cable during his detention. Claims of torture have not been independently verified.

Following his visit, Stocker confirmed to The Associated Press that he saw wounds on Sharafi's body that "were several weeks old," but said he did not know how the injuries occurred.

"I cannot say who did it and where it happened," he said. "I can only say that it happened during his detention."

Earlier in the week, Sharafi's doctors reported that holes had been drilled into his foot, but the TV images were not clear enough to indicate whether the small, red marks on his foot were indeed holes.

Doctors also reported earlier that he had suffered a broken nose, serious injuries to his back, bleeding in his digestive system, and damage to his ears. None of these injuries has been independently verified, nor were they discernible from the TV footage.

A spokeswoman for the ICRC in Tehran, Katayoun Hosseinnejad, confirmed the visit took place and said it was initiated by the Iranians. Stocker was not immediately available for comment, and Hosseinnejad said she could not comment on whether Sharafi's injuries indicated torture.

Sharafi was released from Iraq last week and later reported that the CIA had questioned him about Iran's relations with Iraq and assistance to various Iraqi groups during his detention.

U.S. officials allege that Iran provides money and weapons to Iraqi Shiite militias; Iran denies the charges.

At the time of his disappearance, Iran alleged Sharafi had been abducted by an Iraqi military unit commanded by American forces — a charge repeated by several Iraqi Shiite lawmakers. U.S. authorities have denied any role in his disappearance. AP

Labels: Iran, Luar Negeri, U.S.

British sailors to be freed

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the announcement at a press conference

Tehran, March 4 (Agencies) - Iran will free 15 Britons captured on March 23 in what Tehran says was Iranian waters, according to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The president made the vow in a press conference in Tehran on Wednesday afternoon.

He said that he was pardoning the sailors as a gift to Great Britain and gave medals of honour to the Iranain coast guards who arrested the Royal Navy personnel.

"On behalf of the great Iranian people, I want to thank the Iranian Coast Guard who courageously defended and captured those who violated their territorial waters," the president told a press conference.

He added: "We are sorry that British troops remain in Iraq and their sailors are being arrested in Iran."

Ahmadinejad also criticised Britain for deploying Leading Seaman Faye Turney, one of the 15 detainees.

"How can you justify seeing a mother away from her home, her children? Why don't they respect family values in the West?" he said.

Labels: Britain, Iran, Luar Negeri

March 27 - The US navy has begun its largest demonstration of force in the Gulf since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The exercises, just off the coast of Iran, involve more than 10,000 US personnel.

Kevin Aandahl, a US navy commander, declined to say when plans for the exercises had been drawn up.

The manoeuvres bring together two strike groups of US warships and more than 100 aircraft to conduct simulated air warfare in and above the crowded Gulf shipping lanes.

Military exercises involve the USS John C Stennis and the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, marking the first time that the two strike groups have operated in a joint exercise under the Fifth Fleet, the navy said.

"Two air wings from the aircraft carriers will conduct air warfare exercises while the surface components will conduct exercises in three general disciplines: anti-submarine, anti-surface and mine warfare," it said.

The Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, an island state that lies across the Gulf from Iran.

The US exercises come after Iran's capture, last week, of 15 British sailors and marines who had, Iran said, strayed into Iranian waters near the Gulf. Britain and the US navy have insisted the British sailors were operating in Iraqi waters.

Aandahl said the US manoeuvres were not meant to threaten the Islamic Republic, whose navy operates in the same waters.

Aandahl said the US warships would stay out of Iranian territorial waters, which extend 12 miles off the Iranian coast.

French presence

A French naval strike group, led by the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, was operating simultaneously just outside the Gulf. But the French ships were supporting the Nato forces in Afghanistan and not taking part in the American manoeuvres, officials said.

Overall, the exercises involve more than 10,000 US personnel on warships and aircraft making simulated attacks on enemy shipping with aircraft and ships, hunting enemy submarines and finding mines. Agencies

Labels: Iran, Luar Negeri, U.S.

March 7 - The leader of Hamas says he has been urged by Iran to continue their stand against Israel, as he announced that Iran will fund his party as western blockades against his government continue.

"We still look forward to get support [from Iran] to break the political and economic sanctions," Khaled Meshaal said on Tuesday during a visit to Iran.

Picture - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president (L) pledges funds to Meshaal, the leader of Hamas [AFP]

Meshaal, who arrived in Iran early on Tuesday, told a press conference with Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, that Iran had been giving financial and political support to the Palestinians since Hamas took office in March last year.

Mottaki told reporters that Iran would continue to provide money to Hamas, but he did not give any figures.

Iran is known to have given $120 million to Hamas since it took office following its victory in the Palestinian legislative elections.

Fighting Israel

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president has urged visiting Meshaal on Tuesday to keep fighting Israel, state television said.

The United States and Israel accuse Iran of "interference" in Iraq, through backing Shia fighters, and of sponsoring terrorism, including Hamas, which the US still labels as a terrorist organisation and Lebanon's Shia-led group Hezbollah. Tehran denies the charges.

"The [Palestinian] government should use its brave and pious forces to continue resistance against the Zionist regime [Israel]", Ahmadinejad told Mashaal at the start of his two-day visit to Iran.

Iran refuses to recognise Israel and Ahmadinejad has called the Israeli state a "tumour" which must be "wiped off the map".

Iran's support for the Palestinians has grown more vocal since Ahmadinejad came to power in August 2005.

Palestinian sovereignty

The major aid donors to the Palestinian Authority - the United States, the European Union and Canada - cut off aid because Hamas has refused to renounce violence and recognise Israel and the previous agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinians.

At Tuesday's press conference, Meshaal was asked if Hamas had now recognised Israel.

The Hamas leader did not answer directly, but said: "The Palestinian government insists on June 4, 1967 borders [for a Palestinian state], full Palestinian sovereignty with Jerusalem as its capital."

He was referring to the international borders before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, which broke out on June 5 that year, in which Israeli troops captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Last month, Meshaal and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, signed a Saudi-brokered agreement in Mecca under which they would form a coalition government and Hamas promised to "respect" the previous agreements.

The United States and others are waiting for the coalition to be formed before declaring whether the Mecca agreement warrants a resumption of aid.

Mottaki said his government backed the Mecca accord.

"Iran supports this initiative, and it also supports any step toward achieving greater unity among Palestinians," he said. Agencies

Labels: Iran, Luar Negeri, Palestin, Ummah

Would Israel attack Iran? Depends on who you ask

Occupied Jerusalem (Reuters) March 5 - Israel has long been the wild card in debates on the Iranian nuclear programme - a country that while formally outside negotiations, has lobbying clout given its strategic fears and penchant for pre-emptive strikes.

But Israeli officials, once quick to project military menace in the face of what Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has called an "existential threat", are increasingly taking a softer public line on how to meet Iran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

It appears that many Israelis have grudgingly decided that Iran is too tough an enemy for their armed forces to take on alone -and that the international community senses this too.

"The last thing Israel is interested in is an escalation or some military action against Iran," said Avigdor Lieberman, the usually ultra-hawkish Israeli strategic affairs minister.

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who suggested a year ago that Israel consider attacking Iran in a mission akin to its 1981 air strike on Iraq's atomic reactor, is now redirecting his rhetoric to calls for crippling Western sanctions on Tehran.

"There's no question that if stiffer measures are needed, it's better that the United States lead the way," Netanyahu told foreign reporters last month.

Pre-emptive strikes

Like its US ally, Israel refuses to rule out pre-emptive strikes as a last-ditch means of curbing a nuclear programme that Iran insists is peaceful. But unlike with Iraq under Saddam Hussain, Iran's nuclear facilities may be too distant, numerous and fortified for Israel to tackle.

The sense of tactical limitation was reinforced, throughout the region and beyond, by last year's inconclusive Israeli war against Hezbollah fighters.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that Israel has no viable military option on Iran, and is pinning its hopes on some sort of solution by the Americans," said Alon Ben-David, Israel analyst for Jane's Defence Weekly.

"But there are also a growing number of Israelis who think the country will just have to live with a nuclear-armed Iran," he said.

Resigning itself to an Iranian bomb could spell a major credibility crisis for Israel, which was founded on the promise of preventing a 'second Holocaust' and, to that end, is believed to have procured the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has fuelled fears of a catastrophic regional conflict by denying the Nazi genocide took place and urging that the Jewish state be "wiped off the map", though Tehran officials said this did not constitute a threat.

The tension is especially felt in war-wary Europe, which has robust trade ties with Iran. There have been recent European proposals for accommodating Iran by allowing it limited uranium enrichment, something anathema to the United States and Israel.

"The possibility of a preventive Israeli strike helps to concentrate European thinking on options for resolving the impending crisis before it would get to that stage," said Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow for nuclear non-proliferation at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies.

At least one European leader, French President Jacques Chirac, has already spoken of a nuclear-armed Iran as a possible fait accompli.

In a late-January interview that he later tried to retract, Chirac said Iran would not attempt a nuclear attack on Israel for fear that Tehran would be 'razed' in response.

Labels: Iran, Israel, Luar Negeri

March 3 - The leaders of Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed o fight the spread of sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Saudi's King Abdullah and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also discussed the war in Iraq in their first ever face-to-face meeting on Saturday.

(Picture - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Saudi's King Abdullah compete to lead the Muslim world)

Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran are among the most influential nations of their respective branches of Islam.

"The two parties have agreed to stop any attempt aimed at spreading sectarian strife in the region," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters without elaborating.

Saudi Arabia has led a diplomatic drive in recent months to counterbalance what is regarded as Iran's growing influence in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories.

While Saudi Arabia is a key US ally in the Middle East, Iran is a fierce opponent of Western influence in the region.

Nuclear challenge

The United States and its regional allies, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, suspect Iran's nuclear energy programme aims to develop weapons, an accusation Tehran denies.

Saudi official, speaking before Saturday's meeting, said the kingdom would try to convince Tehran to comply with UN resolutions and suspend enrichment.

Iranian state radio said talks would also cover "Iran's nuclear case".

Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria have accepted Iraq's invitation to a regional conference in March on easing tensions in Iraq. Agencies

Labels: Iran, Luar Negeri, Saudi

Labels: Berita, Iran, Israel, Luar Negeri

US generals to quit if Iran attack is ordered

Washington, February 26 - Some of America’s top military chiefs have threatened to quit if the US decides to attack Iran, according to media reports.

As many as five generals and admirals have said they are willing to resign if faced with the prospect of having to approve a strike on Tehran.

The news comes as fears grow about a US attack, with Dick Cheney ramping up the rhetoric on Sunday when he said that all options “including military action” were on the table.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also said his country would not withdraw from its nuclear path.

The London based Times newspaper says that sources with ties to British intelligence have said the depth of feeling amongst many of Americans top brass is strong.

The source said: “There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible.”

The paper also quoted a British defence source as saying: “Nobody wants to do it and it would be a matter of conscience for them. There are enough people who feel this would be an error of judgment too far for there to be resignations.”

But not everyone in the US thinks that an attack on Iran is inevitable.

General Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in Washington, said recently there was “zero chance” of a war with Iran.

He also recently refuted claims by the Pentagon that Iran is supplying insurgents in Iraq with weapons, a view which has also been backed up by British intelligence officials. Agencies

Labels: Berita, Iran, Luar Negeri, U.S.

The special planning group was established within the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in recent months, according to an unidentified former U.S. intelligence official cited in the article by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh in the March 4 issue.

The panel initially focused on destroying Iran's nuclear facilities and on regime change but has more recently been directed to identify targets in Iran that may be involved in supplying or aiding militants in Iraq, according to an Air Force adviser and a Pentagon consultant, who were not identified.

The consultant and a former senior intelligence official both said that U.S. military and special-operations teams had crossed the border from Iraq into Iran in pursuit of Iranian operatives, according to the article.

In response to the report, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said: "The United States is not planning to go to war with Iran. To suggest anything to the contrary is simply wrong, misleading and mischievous.

"The United States has been very clear with respect to its concerns regarding specific Iranian government activities. The president has repeatedly stated publicly that this country is going to work with allies in the region to address those concerns through diplomatic efforts," Whitman said.

Pentagon officials say they maintain contingency plans for literally dozens of potential conflicts around the world and that all plans are subject to regular and ongoing review.

The article, citing unnamed current and former U.S. officials, also said the Bush administration received intelligence from Israel that Iran had developed an intercontinental missile capable of delivering several small warheads that could reach Europe. It added the validity of that intelligence was still being debated.

The article also included an interview conducted in December with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who said that while he had no interest in initiating another war with Israel, he was anticipating and preparing for another Israeli attack sometime this year.

Israel launched a cross-border offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon last July.

Nasrallah also said he was open to talks with Washington if such discussions "can be useful and influential in determining American policy in the region," but they would be waste of time if the purpose was to impose policy.

Labels: Berita, Iran, Luar Negeri, U.S.

Israel denies plan to attack Iran

Occupied Jerusalem, February 24 - Israel on Saturday denied a report that it has asked the United States for permission to fly its bombers over Iraq to attack Iran's nuclear plants.

Britain's The Daily Telegraph quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying that negotiations were taking place with the US-led coalition in Iraq.

"One of the last issues we have to sort out is how we actually get to the targets in Iran. The only way to do this is to fly through US-controlled airspace in Iraq," the Israeli official told the newspaper, adding that the effort is "unprecedented” in Israel's history.

Deputy Defence Miniter Ephraim Sneh denied the report. "There has never been such a request, it is obvious," he told public radio.

He said it was the machination of "international sources who wish to dodge dealing directly with Iran and invent reports that we allegedly want to attack Iraq in order to relieve themselves from the responsibility."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had called for Israel to be wiped off the map. Iran's nuclear aims and increasing influence over the Middle East have also stirred unease in the region and the West. Agencies

Labels: Berita, Iran, Israel, Luar Negeri, U.S.

AlJazeera, February 24 - Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, has not ruled out military action against Iran, despite saying that diplomacy was favoured to resolve Tehran's nuclear programme.

"It would be a serious mistake if a nation like Iran were to become a nuclear power," Cheney said during a joint press conference with John Howard, the Australian prime minister.

Cheney said: "All options are still on the table."

His comments came after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a report saying that Iran had not halted, and in fact had expanded, its uranium enrichment programme, defying a UN Security Council demand to stop by this week.

The United States, France and Britain have called for tougher UN Security Council sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme which they fear could be used to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran insists that its enrichment activities, which could make fuel for power plants or material for warheads, are for peaceful purposes.

'Persuasion'

"We've worked with the European Community and through the United Nations to put in place a set of policies to persuade the Iranians to give up their aspirations," said Cheney. "That's still our preference."

"The next step now is being debated, between our government and the others involved," he added.

Cheney also told reporters that he was concerned about Iran's "fairly aggressive" role in the Middle East.

Nicholas Burns, the US undersecretary of state, will meet senior European diplomats in London on Saturday to decide "the future course of action we want to pursue with respect to the United Nations sanctions and so forth," he said.

Officials from the five permanent Security Council nations and Germany will then meet on Monday to start work on a new resolution to try to pressure Iran to suspend enrichment.

Defiance

On Friday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, said Tehran should stand up to the world and continue to work on its nuclear programme.

"If we show weakness in front of the enemy, the expectations will increase. But if we stand against them, because of this resistance they will retreat," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in northern Iran, the country's ISNA news agency reported.

At the United Nations, Mehdi Danesh Yazdi, Iran's deputy ambassador, accused the United States, Britain and Israel of levelling "baseless allegations" about its nuclear ambitions and insisted that Tehran had always considered weapons of mass destruction "inhumane, immoral and illegal".

He told the Security Council that his country had an "inalienable right" to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and would not "give in to the pressures emanating from groundless and unsubstantiated allegations and ulterior political motives".

Labels: Berita, Iran, Luar Negeri, U.S.

Al-Qaeda: Bush gambling in Iraq

Kavkaz, February 14 - Al-Qaeda's deputy leader has described the US plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq as a gamble that is bound to fail. In an audio tape posted on the internet on Tuesday, Ayman al-Zawahiri also criticised the Democratic Party for not changing US policies.

"[Bush's] addiction to gambling ... motivates him to continue to place losing bets until he goes completely bankrupt," he said.

"Were the Americans to leave [Bush] alone, he would continue to send their forces to Iraq until the Mujahideen kill the last one of their soldiers."

Al-Zawahiri's statement was transcribed on the website of the SITE Institute, a US private organisation that tracks Islamists' use of the internet.

It was not immediately possible to authenticate the statement.

US Democrats, who removed Republicans from power in Congress in November last year amid growing dissatisfaction with policies on Iraq, were also criticised by al-Zawahiri.

He said: "The people chose you [Democrats] due to your opposition to Bush's policy in Iraq, but it appears that you are marching with him to the same abyss, and it appears that you will take part with him in the defeat."

He also said US-allied governments in Iraq and Afghanistan should consider their future.

"These traitors in Iraq and Afghanistan must face their inevitable fate, and face up to the inescapable facts. America ... is about to depart and abandon them, just as it abandoned their like in Vietnam."

Al-Zawahiri repeated his previous condemnation of the Fatah faction led by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

He said: "I'm not asking them to join Hamas, the Islamic Jihad or al-Qaeda, but rather I'm asking them to return to Islam, in order to fight for the establishment of an Islamic state over all of Palestine and not for the establishment of a secularist state which will please America."

Addressing Lebanon's Muslims, al-Zawahiri urged them to reject the UN Security Council resolution that ended last summer's war between Hezbollah and Israel.

"I call on the brothers of Islam and of jihad [struggle] in Lebanon not to yield to resolution 1701 and not to accept ... the presence of international and Crusader [Western] forces in south Lebanon.

Security Council resolution 1701 led to an August 14 ceasefire in the 34-day war that broke out when Israel retaliated to a cross-border raid by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters which resulted in the capture of two of its soldiers. Agencies

Labels: Berita, Iran, Iraq, Luar Negeri, U.S., Zawahri

Tehran, February 11 - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday pledged to maintain the country's nuclear work, but said he wanted to remain within international rules.

"We are ready for talks but will not suspend our activities," he said in a speech broadcast on state television.

He added that it would be "humiliation" for Iran to abandon its nuclear programme and that UN-imposed sanctions would not harm the country.

Iran plans to install thousands of centrifuges and start "industrial-scale" enrichment. It already runs two cascades of 164 centrifuges at the Natanz underground plant.

Ahmadinejad made the speech as tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets on Sunday to show support for the country’s nuclear programme.

Tehran's Azadi square was filled with demonstrators shouting "Death to America" and carrying banners saying "Nuclear technology is our right".

Thousands of people also crowded the streets of Mashhad. Attendance in Tehran was expected to reach hundreds of thousands. Agencies via GulfNews

Labels: Ahmadinejad, Berita, Iran, Luar Negeri

AlJazeera, February 8 - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has given warning that Iran will hit back at US interests worldwide if America attacks the Islamic republic to thwart its nuclear programme.

(Picture left - Khamenei, 67, scoffed at rumours that he was gravely ill or even dead - EPA)

He said: "The enemies [the US] understand well that the Iranian nation will give a comprehensive response to the aggressors and their interests worldwide."

In response, Gordon Johndroe, a US national security council spokesman, said: "Khamenei from time to time makes these unprovoked statements and we would certainly hope they are not directed at the United States because President Bush has made it clear we have no intention of going to war with Iran."

Sanity issue

The US has said it wants the standoff over the Iranian nuclear programme solved through diplomacy, but it has not ruled out military action against Iran.

Khamenei said: "They should not intimidate the Iranian people with these things, since the United States has previously attacked Iran."

The US accuses Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon through its atomic programme, a charge denied by Tehran which insists its research is peaceful in nature.

Khamenei did not specify what such retaliation would involve but expressed confidence that the US would have the "sanity" not to be tempted to launch a strike.

He told air force commanders during a ceremony to mark the 28th anniversary of the Islamic revolution: "We believe that no one will make such an irrational and erroneous move and will not jeopardise his nation's interests.

"Of course some say the US president does not think about the consequences of his actions, but some sanity could be put into the head of even these people.

"The American politicians and analysts know that the Iranian people have never let any aggression go unanswered."

Mass rallies

The Iranian supreme leader, 67, also scoffed at rumours that he was gravely ill or even dead.

Khamenei said: "The enemies of the Islamic republic make different rumours about death or sickness to weaken the spirit of the Iranian nation for a few days, but they do not know that they are not facing a single person, but a nation."

He said Iranians would show "their alertness" in mass street rallies planned for Sunday, the culmination of celebrations to mark the 28th anniversary of the Islamic revolution.

"This is the day when the American and the Israeli and British intelligence people get angry and worried. This year, with the glorious popular presence, our enemies will be inflamed and dismayed."

Diplomacy

Iran, which is under UN sanctions regarding its nuclear programme, has repeatedly vowed it will not cave in to the key demand that it freeze uranium enrichment.

However, it also insists that negotiations are the way to solve the standoff.

In Moscow on Thursday, Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, told Ali Akbar Velayati, an envoy of Khamenei, that Russia wants to see a positive response from Tehran on resolving the nuclear stand-off.

Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, also said on Thursday that he was open to meeting Iran's chief nuclear negotiator at a security conference in Munich which begins on Friday.

Ali Larijani, Iran's national security chief, said on Wednesday that he planned "negotiations" at the conference, in the first such contacts since the UN imposed sanctions on Iran. Agencies

Labels: Berita, Iran, Luar Negeri, U.S.

Ex U.S. military commanders warn against Iran attack

LONDON, February 4 (Reuters) - Three former senior U.S. military officials warn that any military action against Iran would have "disastrous consequences" and urged Washington to hold immediate and unconditional talks with Tehran.

The Bush administration has increased the regularity and vehemence of its accusations against Iran, prompting speculation it could be laying the ground for military attack against the Islamic state.

Washington has also sent a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf (picture left), a move seen as a warning to Iran which the United States accuses of seeking atomic arms and fuelling instability in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. Iran denies the charges.

A technician checks valves at the uranium conversion facility in Isfahan, 450 km south of Tehran, February 3, 2007. Three former senior U.S. military officials warn that any military action against Iran would have "disastrous consequences" and urged Washington to hold immediate and unconditional talks with Tehran. (REUTERS/Caren Firouz)

In a letter to London's Sunday Times newspaper, the three former U.S. military leaders said attacking Iran "would have disastrous consequences for security in the region, coalition forces in Iraq and would further exacerbate regional and global tensions," they wrote.

"The current crisis must be resolved through diplomacy," they said.

The letter was signed by retired army Lieutenant General Robert Gard, a former military assistant to Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, retired U.S. Marine Corps General Joseph Hoar, a former commander in chief of U.S. Central Command; and retired Navy Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, a former director of the Center for Defense Information.

They urged the U.S. government to "engage immediately in direct talks with the government of Iran without preconditions.

"There is time available to talk, we must ensure that we use it," they said.

The three men have joined previous petitions calling on the Bush administration to change course in its policy on Iran.

Washington broke ties with Iran in 1980. It has offered to hold direct talks with Iran but only once Tehran halts its drive to produce nuclear fuel through uranium enrichment.

Iran, which says it wants to enrich uranium to make nuclear reactor fuel, not bombs, has refused.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday said Washington was not planning for war with Iran, but again accused Tehran of supplying bombs for deadly attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq. Reuters

Labels: Berita, Iran, Luar Negeri, U.S.