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WSJ: "Iran said on Sunday that it shot down a U.S. stealth drone near the country's eastern border, but U.S. officials in Afghanistan said the craft could instead be an unmanned reconnaissance plane that veered off course and crashed last week. Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted a military official who said Tehran had downed an RQ-170 Sentinel, the U.S. Air Force's stealth drone. U.S. and NATO officials wouldn't say what kind of American drone had disappeared, but U.S. officials said there was no indication that the aircraft had been shot down by the Iranians. One American official said the drone likely suffered from a mechanical failure. American officials said they believe that after the remote pilots lost control of the aircraft, the drone crashed in an unknown location... If the drone that went down is an RQ-170, and if it is largely, or partially, intact, it is possible that the technological secrets of the advanced aircraft could be compromised. Even if Tehran didn't have the capability to replicate the technology used in the Sentinel, Iran could sell the drone to China or Russia, countries that would have a far easier time replicating the drone's technological secrets." http://t.uani.com/rMjf9T
NYT: "The huge explosion that destroyed a major missile-testing site near Tehran three weeks ago was a major setback for Iran's most advanced long-range missile program, according to American and Israeli intelligence officials and missile technology experts. In interviews, current and former officials said surveillance photos showed that the Iranian base was a central testing center for advanced solid-fuel missiles, an assessment backed by outside experts who have examined satellite photos showing that the base was almost completely leveled in the blast. Such missiles can be launched almost instantly, making them useful to Iran as a potential deterrent against pre-emptive attacks by Israel or the United States, and they are also better suited than older liquid-fuel designs for carrying warheads long distances. It is still unclear what caused the explosion, with American officials saying they believe it was probably an accident, perhaps because of Iran's inexperience with a volatile, dangerous technology." http://t.uani.com/tJQaAT
WSJ: "European refiners are weighing the impact of a possible embargo on Iranian oil, the spokesman for their Brussels-based industry group said Friday, a day after the EU broadened sanctions on Iran but stopped short of an embargo. 'We are consulting our members to evaluate' it, a spokesman for European refiners association Europia said, a sign that the oil industry is starting to take precautionary steps in case an embargo is implemented. EU foreign ministers broadened sanctions against Iran on Thursday due to 'serious and deepening concerns' about the country's nuclear program. While the meeting didn't result in an oil embargo, EU officials emphasized that such a move had strong support in Brussels. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said an oil embargo was still 'being debated,' and diplomats said some restrictions on Iranian oil imports were likely to be imposed in the coming months." http://t.uani.com/tUZY8n
British Embassy Attack Daily Telegraph: "The [British] Government is to seek compensation from Iran for damage - estimated to run more than £1 million - caused by an officially-sanctioned mob that vandalised the British embassy in Tehran. The raid last week led to Britain withdrawing all diplomatic staff from the country and ordering Iran to close its embassy in London. At the embassy the items spoiled or destroyed during the raid included valuable paintings, rugs, furniture, every electronic device that could be found and several official cars. A fire also caused substantial damage. Jewellery and other personal belongings were looted from diplomatic homes at a separate compound in northern Tehran." http://t.uani.com/vaf2yL
Reuters: "Britain's ambassador to Iran described on Friday how he took refuge while a mob rampaged through his embassy in Tehran, smashing windows, tearing up portraits and starting fires, while seven staff were seized by protesters at a second compound. Speaking three days after the attack by protesters on the British embassy in Iran that sparked a crisis in British-Iranian relations, Dominick Chilcott said he had feared he might be taken hostage as U.S. diplomats were in 1979. Britain responded by shutting its embassy in Tehran and ordering the closure of Iran's embassy in London, expelling all Iranian diplomats who left the country on Friday. Chilcott told how protesters rampaged through the embassy building, removing a picture of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, mutilating portraits of previous British monarchs, damaging furniture, writing graffiti on walls and smashing up rooms in what he called 'spiteful, mindless vandalism.'" http://t.uani.com/t4GZah
AFP: "France is to pull out part of its diplomatic staff from Tehran following the ransacking of Britain's embassy this week by a pro-regime mob, adding to the backlash on Saturday against an increasingly defensive Iran. The decision -- a temporary precaution according to one French diplomat -- underlined the seriousness of the crisis developing between Iran and the West amid the ratcheting up of sanctions over Tehran's controversial nuclear efforts." http://t.uani.com/tQbcAy
BBC: "A group of Iranian diplomats who were expelled from Britain have arrived back in Tehran. A group of supporters chanting slogans such as 'Death to Britain' were at the airport to greet them but the diplomats were hustled away by back corridors. The 25 diplomats were expelled after hundreds of protesters attacked the UK embassy in Tehran on Tuesday." http://t.uani.com/sC13pN Nuclear Program & Sanctions WSJ: "U.S. Vice President Joe Biden made the case for sanctions against Iran in a meeting on Saturday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The vice president didn't ask Turkey to join the U.S. and others in sanctioning Iran, a senior Obama administration official said. 'The vice president further made the case that we needed to sustain the pressure on Iran, and that this was the most likely way we would have to actually modify their behavior,' a senior administration official said after the meeting. Mr. Biden 'noted that, clearly, the sanctions were having a demonstrable impact on Iran,' because Iranian influence is declining, the official said. Mr. Biden spent two hours with Mr. Erdogan inside the prime minister's private home, where the two men sat in their slippers and discussed foreign affairs." http://t.uani.com/twAHVx
Reuters: "Iran warned the West on Sunday any move to block its oil exports would more than double crude prices with devastating consequences on a fragile global economy. 'As soon as such an issue is raised seriously the oil price would soar to above $250 a barrel,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a newspaper interview. The comments come as Iran strives to contain international reaction to the storming of the British embassy last week, a move which drew immediate condemnation from around the world and may galvanize support for tougher action against Tehran. Washington and EU countries were already discussing measures to restrict oil exports after the United Nations nuclear watchdog issued a report in November with what it said was evidence that Tehran had worked on designing an atom bomb." http://t.uani.com/unkBPD
WSJ: "A senior U.S. official on Monday urged South Korean officials to put more pressure on Iran to end its nuclear program, suggesting that Seoul halt imports of petrochemicals and reduce imports of crude oil from Iran. Robert Einhorn, the U.S. special adviser on nonproliferation and arms control, stopped short of asking South Korea to completely stop buying oil from Iran, citing tight market conditions. South Korea gets about 10% of its crude oil from Iran." http://t.uani.com/rr8Kgb
Foreign Affairs
Reuters: "Britain's media watchdog said it has fined Iranian news channel Press TV 100,000 pounds for broadcasting an unauthorised interview with an imprisoned Newsweek journalist. Tensions with Iran are already high after Britain responded to an attack on its embassy in Tehran on Tuesday by shutting down the Iranian embassy in London and expelling its staff. Press TV, which broadcasts in English and has an office in London, was punished for failing to say that an interview with Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari in June 2009 was filmed while he was in jail on suspicion of spying." http://t.uani.com/w0xRJ4
Reuters: "Argentina is quietly reaching out to Iran, worrying key Western powers and Israel as they try to tighten Tehran's international isolation over its nuclear program, U.N. diplomats told Reuters. Argentina's ties with Iran have been virtually frozen since Argentine authorities secured Interpol arrest warrants for five Iranians and a Lebanese in 2007 in connection with a 1994 attack on a Buenos Aires Jewish center that killed 85 people. Tehran denied links to the bombing but in July offered talks with Argentina to start 'shedding light' on the case... But there have been signs of a thaw in the two nations' frosty ties. Argentine exports to Iran, which dropped to a few tens of millions of dollars annually amid sour relations, have grown in recent years, soaring more than 70 percent last year to $1.5 billion. Iran is the biggest buyer of Argentine corn, a key crop for the Latin American country as it strives to bolster its trade surplus." http://t.uani.com/s6HE7N
Haaretz: "Iran had applied intense pressure to Hamas in an effort to persuade it not to leave Damascus, threatening even to cut off funds to the organization if it did so, Palestinian sources have told Haaretz. The Iranian pressure also included an unprecedented ultimatum - namely, an explicit threat to stop supplying Hamas with arms and suspend the training of its military activists. According to the sources, Hamas is abandoning its headquarters in Syria and looking at other Arab states as an alternative location for its political command center. Hamas' move comes despite intense Iranian pressure on the organization to refrain from relocating." http://t.uani.com/u0OHgp
Daily Mail: "A bomb exploded just 50 yards from the British Embassy in Bahrain yesterday as fears grew that Iranian-backed aggression against the West was spreading through the Middle East. A canister containing powerful explosives blew apart the front of a minibus in the capital, Manama, but there were no injuries or serious damage. The scare came less than a week after mobs stormed the British Embassy in Tehran, leading Foreign Secretary William Hague to pull diplomats from Iran and expel Iranian envoys from the UK." http://t.uani.com/rrS1k9
Opinion & Analysis
Thomas Joscelyn in The Weekly Standard: "In a little noticed ruling on Monday, November 28, a Washington, D.C. district court found that both Iran and Sudan were culpable for al Qaeda's 1998 embassy bombings. As is typical in state sponsorship of terrorism cases, neither Iran nor Sudan answered the plaintiffs' accusations. But in a 45-page decision, Judge John D. Bates issued a default judgment. The court found that the 'government of the Islamic Republic of Iran...has a long history of providing material aid and support to terrorist organizations including al Qaeda,' which 'claimed responsibility for the August 7, 1998 embassy bombings.' Judge Bates continued: 'Iran had been the preeminent state sponsor of terrorism against United States interests for decades. Throughout the 1990s - at least - Iran regarded al Qaeda as a useful tool to destabilize U.S. interests. As discussed in detail below, the government of Iran aided, abetted and conspired with Hezbollah, Osama bin Laden, and al Qaeda to launch large-scale bombing attacks against the United States by utilizing the sophisticated delivery mechanism of powerful suicide truck bombs. Hezbollah, a terrorist organization based principally in Lebanon, had utilized this type of bomb in the devastating 1983 attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Prior to their meetings with Iranian officials and agents, Bin Laden and al Qaeda did not possess the technical expertise required to carry out the embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. The Iranian defendants, through Hezbollah, provided explosives training to Bin Laden and al Qaeda and rendered direct assistance to al Qaeda operatives. Hence, for the reasons discussed below the Iranian defendants provided material aid and support to al Qaeda for the 1998 embassy bombings and are liable for damages suffered by the plaintiffs.' The court further explained: 'Following the meetings that took place between representatives of Hezbollah and al Qaeda in Sudan in the early to mid-1990s, Hezbollah and Iran agreed to provide advanced training to a number of al Qaeda members, including shura council members, at Hezbollah training camps in South Lebanon. Saif al-Adel, the head of al Qaeda security, trained in Hezbollah camps. During this time period, several other senior al Qaeda operatives trained in Iran and in Hezbollah training camps in Lebanon. After one of the training sessions at a Lebanese Hezbollah camp, al Qaeda operatives connected to the Nairobi bombing, including a financier and a bomb-maker, returned to Sudan with videotapes and manuals specifically about how to blow up large buildings.' None of this should come as a surprise. In Iran's Proxy War Against America, I summarized the evidence demonstrating Iran's and Hezbollah's complicity in the 1998 embassy bombings." http://t.uani.com/tROZdW
Stephen Kinzer in NYT: "If there is one country on earth where the cry 'Death to England' still carries weight - where people still harbor the white-hot hatred of British colonialism that once inflamed millions from South Africa to China - that country would be Iran. And that is what the leaders of Iran must have been counting on when screaming militiamen, unhindered by the police, poured into the British Embassy in Tehran to vandalize it on Tuesday. Most Iranians, like most people anywhere, would deplore the idea of thugs storming into a foreign embassy. Nonetheless, some may have felt a flicker of satisfaction. Even an outrage like this, they might have said, is a trifle compared with the generations of torment Britain inflicted on their country. So Iran's mullahs - they, not President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are reported to have been behind the attack - were not gambling in ordering, or at least tolerating, it. They presumably realized that the world would denounce their flagrant violation of international law. But they also knew it would resonate with the narrative Iranians have heard for so long about their own history. The spark for the embassy invasion was Britain's imposition of new economic sanctions on Iran. Pressure for those sanctions came not so much from Britain as from the United States and Israel, but those countries could not be targets for a similar attack because they do not have embassies in Tehran. Besides, Iranians these days can be surprisingly besotted with the United States; in my own visits I am often surrounded by people who compete to proclaim their love for America, and whose anger at Israel seems more political than emotional. Those Iranians, however, feel quite differently about Britain." http://t.uani.com/srI5Ba |
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