|
February 23, 2010 - No. 39 Sanctions and War-Mongering against Iran• Sanctions and
War-Mongering against Iran Sanctions and War-Mongering against Iran
Similarly, the head of the IAEA Yukiya Amano, despite his organization's findings that Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, is deliberately sowing doubt rather than trying to soberly untangle the situation. Based on a premise of "guilty until proven innocent" Amano has recently suggested that lack of information about certain aspects of Iran's nuclear program equates to an intention to develop a nuclear warhead. It is in this context that the Harper government is making outrageous and provocative comments regarding Iran in the form of remarks by Peter Kent Canada's Minister of State for the Americas. In a February 12 interview with a Toronto magazine, Kent makes open threats of not just sanctions but also military action against Iran. Given the deliberate fabrications used to invade Iraq, Kent's remarks deserve strong condemnation. "Canada is deeply disturbed by Iran's decision further to enrich its nuclear material in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. The regime's latest moves bring Iran considerably closer to possessing weapons-grade material," stated Kent. "Unilateral sanctions tend to be much less effective than when we impose sanctions in concert with other countries. We have had some sanctions for some time on equipment and materials related to the making of nuclear weapons but it may soon be time to intensify the sanctions and to broaden those sanctions into other areas, such as economic areas which we hope would discourage Iran from its current course." Kent went on: "I think the realization that it's a dangerous situation has been there for some time. It's a matter of timing and it's a matter of how long we can wait without taking more serious preemptive action. For the moment we're demonstrating and proclaiming our frustration and concern about the Iranian nuclear program. We hope when Canada hosts the G-8 this year one of the primary points of discussion will be focusing of national attention and possible action on the Iranian regime." Kent also remarked that the Canadian government believes that the Iranian government is "a threat not just to its own people, but also to the countries surrounding it, including Israel." The minister also pointedly stated that "Prime Minister Harper has made it quite clear for some time now and has regularly stated that an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada." Later on he states that, "A military strike is the last possible option but that remains in the broad range of options and unfortunate possibilities." Besides the threat of open war, it is well-known how sanctions or other such economic blockades are responsible for the death of civilians, including the case of Iraq, where sanctions resulted in the destruction of that society and the death of more than one million civilians. The demand for sanctions and other actions against Iran are also part of unacceptable imperialist schemes for "regime change" in Iran. It must not pass! TML vehemently denounces the sanctions and
war-mongering against Iran and the provocative
remarks by
Minister Kent. They are deliberate obfuscation to
promote unfounded insinuation and innuendo and build public opinion for
interference in Iran's internal affairs through aggressive actions. Hands Off Iran!
Iran Deplores Political Approach to Nuclear CaseIranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has slammed the UN nuclear watchdog for submitting to the will of certain powerful countries over Iran's nuclear energy program. "To maintain its prestige, we expect the [International Atomic Energy] Agency (IAEA) to not allow certain countries to impose their will on the international community through political approaches," he told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). "The IAEA should adopt a legal approach to the issue of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities," he added. Mehmanparast was referring to a report issued on Thursday by IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano which accuses Tehran of not providing "the necessary cooperation to permit the Agency to confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities." Like all previous IAEA reports, the new evaluation verifies the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran. However, Iran's nuclear facilities and enriched uranium are still under the supervision of IAEA inspectors, as outlined in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement. The UN nuclear watchdog has carried out the highest number of inspections in Iran compared to any other country throughout its history, and found nothing to indicate that the program has been diverted toward weaponization. Amano's report also says that there were concerns about "the possible existence" of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile. Tehran's Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh criticized the inclusion of old issues in the report. "It seems that unsubstantiated allegations that certain countries had previously made about Iran have once again been introduced in this report." "Issues pertaining to the alleged studies, missiles and explosives are worn-out topics, which have already been dismissed in ElBaradei's reports. They are not anything new," he added. Mehmanparast stressed that Iran has remained committed to its undertakings and said, "Any move carried out beyond legal framework pursues certain political aims." He said that political pressure is aimed at depriving Iran of modern technology and this is "not acceptable." "The international community expects certain nuclear countries to keep their promises about the destruction of their nuclear weapons," added the spokesman. Israel Launches Drone Fleet 'Able to Reach Iran'Israel's air force has introduced a fleet of large surveillance UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles), claiming they can fly as far as Iran and the Persian Gulf. The Israeli military says the Heron TP drones, with a wingspan of 86 feet (26 meters), will primarily be used for surveillance, implying that they also can be used for other applications. The jet-sized drones, which are said to be built by the Israel Aerospace Industries, were first used by the Israeli military during the 23 days of deadly aerial and ground incursion into Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009. At an inauguration ceremony on Sunday, Israeli officials refused to announce the number of aircraft that were included in the fleet. They also declined to comment on whether the planes were designed for use against Iran. They did, however, say that the planes could reach the Persian Gulf. This is the second time this month that Israel has unveiled surveillance UAVs. Last week, the Israeli army said that it has added the world's largest unmanned surveillance plane to its collection of drones. Officials said the aircraft, called Eitan, could reach Iran by flying over 20 hours. The United States and Israel accuse the Islamic Republic of pursuing military applications under the guise of a civilian nuclear program, a claim that IAEA inspectors stationed in Iranian nuclear facilities have so far been unable to substantiate. The two have repeatedly threatened to carry out a military strike against Iran.The Islamic Republic has warned the US and Israel of a crushing response if they commit the mistake of attacking the country. Iran says, like all other signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it is entitled to pursue an independent nuclear program for civilian purposes. Despite the Western accusations, Tehran has always called for a stop to the production and storage of conventional and newly-developed nuclear weapons. Although Israel does not formally acknowledge or deny possessing such an arsenal, it is widely believed that Tel Aviv possesses over 200 ready-to-launch nuclear warheads. Israel has so far refused to sign the NPT. Middle Eastern nations view Tel Aviv's nuclear weapons arsenal as a major threat against their national security. NATO's Role in the Military Encirclement of IranFollowing on the heels of identifying himself as the "Commander-in-Chief of a nation in the midst of two wars" and moreover the head of state of no less than "the world's sole military superpower"[1] while being presented with what is still curiously called the Nobel Peace Prize, U.S. President Barack Obama in his first State of the Union address on January 27 asserted "the international community is more united, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is more isolated" and threatened: "As Iran's leaders continue to ignore their obligations, there should be no doubt: They will face growing consequences. That is a promise." Two days later his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, delivered an address at a major French military academy, revealingly enough, and while there she coupled excoriation of Iran with an anything but diplomatic dressing down of China, stating "China will be under a lot of pressure to recognize the destabilizing impact that a nuclear-armed Iran would have in the [Persian] Gulf...."[2] Pressure from Washington, of course. On the very day of Clinton's speech in Paris the White House confirmed the completion of a $6.4 billion weapons transfer to Taiwan. On February 9 U.S. Department of Defense spokesman Geoff Morrell told the press that his boss, Pentagon chief Robert Gates, wants the United Nations to impose sanctions on Iran within "weeks, not months" and "clearly thinks time is of the essence."[3] During the First World War Austrian journalist and dramatist Karl Kraus lamented: "What mythological confusion is this? Since when has Mars been the god of commerce and Mercury the god of war?" If he were alive today he would be equally bemused by the U.S.'s top diplomat delivering an address at a military academy (and condescendingly admonishing the world's most populous nation) and its defense chief pressuring the world to impose punitive sanctions against a country that has not attacked any other in centuries. The secretary general of the U.S.-led "world's sole global military bloc" -- Anders Fogh Rasmussen -- spoke at the annual Munich Security Conference on February 7, delivering himself of a ponderous and grandiose screed entitled NATO in the 21st Century: Towards Global Connectivity, during which he touted the role of the military bloc in intruding itself into almost every interstice imaginable: The ever-expanding war in Afghanistan, terrorism, cyber attacks, energy cut-offs -- the last two references to Russia if not formally acknowledged as such -- nuclear non-proliferation, climate change, piracy, failed states, drugs, "humanitarian disasters, conflicts over arable land, and mounting competition for natural resources,"[4] North Korea and Iran. In repeating Alliance and other Western leaders' demands that "NATO should become a forum for consultation on worldwide security issues," Rasmussen stated that "to carry out NATO's job effectively today, the Alliance should become the hub of a network of security partnerships and a centre for consultation on international security issues....And we don't have to start from scratch. Already today, the Alliance has a vast network of security partnership[s], as far afield as Northern Africa, the Gulf, Central Asia, and the Pacific."[5] Indeed NATO has a broad and expanding network of members and military partners throughout the world. It has one member, Turkey, the second largest contributor of troops to the bloc, which borders Iran, and a partnership ally, Azerbaijan, which does also. Rasmussen's allusion to the Persian Gulf refers to increasing military contacts, visits and joint activities between NATO and the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which parallel the intensification of the U.S. buildup in the region[6] and is conducted within the framework of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) launched in 2004.[7] The project received the name it did as it was inaugurated at the NATO summit in Istanbul which, after almost completing the absorption of all of Eastern Europe into the bloc, introduced the same graduated partnership process used earlier to incorporate ten new European members for the seven Mediterranean Dialogue nations in the Middle East and Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia) and six states in the Persian Gulf (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). All thirteen are covered under the ICI, but extending NATO military partnerships to six Persian Gulf nations for the first time was the most ambitious and significant aspect of the program. It marked the commencement of NATO's drive into the Gulf to complement the U.S. strategy of containing and eventually confronting Iran. One of the stated objectives of the ICI was to "invite interested countries to join Operation Active Endeavour (OAE),"[8] the NATO naval surveillance and interdiction operation (a de facto blockade) throughout the Mediterranean Sea which will be nine years old this October. The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative links control of the Mediterranean with expansion through the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, where the NATO Ocean Shield naval operation is currently being run, and the Arabian Sea into the Persian Gulf. An earlier article in this series listed the main objectives of the ICI: - Employing GCC states to base troops, warplanes, cargo and surveillance for operations both in the area and throughout the so-called Broader Middle East. - [I]ncorporating the Gulf states into a global missile surveillance and missile shield program. - Bringing the GCC nations not only under the U.S.'s missile and nuclear umbrella, but effectively under NATO's Article 5 mutual defense provision, the latter entailing the possibility of claiming that one or more GCC members is threatened by a non-member (that is, Iran) and using that as a pretext for "preemptive" attacks. - Reprising NATO's Operation Active Endeavor in the Gulf by inaugurating a comprehensive naval interdiction -- that is, blockade -- in the Strait of Hormuz where an estimated 40-50% of world interstate oil transportation occurs.[9] In 2006 NATO signed both military intelligence and transit agreements with Kuwait and initiated a new faculty for the Middle East at the NATO Defense College in Rome. NATO held a conference on the ICI in Kuwait in December attended by all six Gulf Cooperation Council states. The next year four of the six GCC members -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates -- formally joined the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. NATO's penetration of the Gulf continued steadily and in May of 2009 Admiral Luciano Zappata of the Italian Navy and NATO's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (based in Norfolk, Virginia), while speaking of the new NATO Strategic Concept currently in progress, praised the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative as a "successful example" of the new model of "partnership and cooperation" the Alliance plans for most of the world. What Zappata had in mind -- the Iranian pretext for Western military expansion into the Persian Gulf for once wasn't evoked to hide NATO's real interests -- was detailed in discussion of what was described as the "maritime dimension of the new strategy." He said that "the network of ports, infrastructure and pipelines as well as vessels sailing along sea lines of communication supports trade and is vulnerable to disruption. "With the beginning of the exploitation of the resources at the bottom of oceans, there is a shift in security and strategic focus." The admiral added that the United Arab Emirates are "a significant trading partner and energy supplier in the global economy. The new French military base opening at Port Zayed will be an important addition to the increasing international efforts in support of maritime security."[10] On the same day as the above report appeared, May 26, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was in the United Arab Emirates to open a new military base, his nation's first in the Persian Gulf and the first major foreign base in the UAE. The French facility in Port Zayed, on the coast of the Strait of Hormuz, "contains a navy and air force base and a training camp."[11] "The base will host 500 personnel from the French navy, the army, and the air force. It will be able to simultaneously accommodate two frigates of the French fleet operating in the region....[T]he French base is the first of its kind in the Arabian [Persian] Gulf." A Gulf analyst was quoted on the occasion saying, "The U.S. has a number of military, air and maritime bases in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. The Abu Dhabi French Maritime Base is the first foreign military base for a friendly army in the UAE."[12] "For France, the military base certainly improves its status within NATO as well as with the U.S. as it would become the only NATO member other than the U.S. that is stationed in the Gulf."[13] The following month Sarkozy pushed a deal with the UAE for the purchase of 60 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of $8-11 million. The previous year France led war games in the UAE, the 12-day Gulf Shield 01, with military counterparts from the host country and Qatar. 4,000 troops participated in the exercises, which "simulated a war pitting two regional countries and their ally against a neighbouring state which has invaded one of the two countries."[14] In late October of 2009 a two-day conference called NATO-UAE Relations and the Way Forward in the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative was held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. It gathered "together 300 participants, including the Secretary General of NATO, NATO Permanent Representatives on the North Atlantic Council, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and high level NATO officials with government representatives, opinion leaders, academics and senior scholars from countries in the Gulf region invited in the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative."[15] NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told an Al Arabiya correspondent that "NATO considers the Gulf region a continuation of the Euro Atlantic security area," and in reference to Iran -- which of course was not invited to the conference -- "we all are seriously concerned about nuclear ambitions and about the nuclear domino-effect they could cause in a region that is pivotal for global stability and security."[16] In recent weeks the United States announced the sale of land-based interceptor missiles to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. It has supplied both Patriot Advanced Capability-3 and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile systems to GCC states and has deployed sea-based Standard Missile-3 interceptors in the Gulf on Aegis class warships. In early February the deputy secretary general of NATO, Claudio Bisogniero, was in Qatar and, "Lauding the support extended by Qatar to Nato since the Istanbul Initiative in 2004," said "Qatar has become an active participant in most deliberations held under the aegis of Nato...."[17] GCC states being integrated into international NATO operations are being recruited for the war in Afghanistan. A U.S. armed forces publication disclosed in late January that 125 security personnel from Bahrain were guarding "the headquarters for U.S. military operations in volatile Helmand province, where more than 10,000 Marines are stationed and more are on the way."[18] The U.S. and NATO are launching the biggest and bloodiest battle of the more than eight-year war in Afghanistan in Helmand. Troops from the UAE have been serving under NATO command in Afghanistan for years. The Kuwait News Agency wrote on January 28 that the chairman of NATO's Military Committee, Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, said "the Alliance is in discussion with a Gulf state to deploy AWACS planes for reconnaissance mission[s] over Afghanistan in support of its ISAF mission and also for anti-piracy off Somalia." In addition, Di Paola was quoted saying "The Alliance is close to closing the basic issue with one of the Gulf countries" and "We are looking forward to be in a position to follow on the temporary deployment that we have today in Oman with a more permanent long-term deployment."[19] Oman directly overlooks Iran on the Strait of Hormuz. The true military powerhouse in the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia -- armed to the teeth with advanced U.S. weapons -- has been engaged in its first-ever war since last November. Riyadh has launched regular attacks with infantry, armor and warplanes in the north of neighboring Yemen against Houthi rebels. Hundreds of Yemeni civilians have been reported killed in the assaults, which rebel spokesmen claim have been accompanied by U.S. air strikes.[20] 200,000 civilians have been uprooted and displaced by fighting in the north since 2004. The Saudi government acknowledges over 500 military casualties, both dead and wounded. The population of northern Yemen is Shia in terms of religious conviction, and the Saudi offensive is not only fraught with the danger of being converted into a war with Iran once removed but in fact can serve as a rehearsal -- and training -- for the genuine article. In other countries bordering Iran, last July NATO Deputy Secretary General Claudio Bisogniero signed an agreement with the Iraqi Minister of Defense to train the nation's security forces. The NATO website reported: "This agreement represents a milestone in the cooperation between the Republic of Iraq and NATO and demonstrates the Alliance's strong commitment....The agreement will provide the legal basis for NATO to continue with its mission to assist the Government of the Republic of Iraq in developing further the capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces."[21] Last month NATO started recruiting ethnic Kurds for Iraq's national security force in the north of the country near the Iranian border. On Iran's western border, during meetings of NATO defense ministers in Turkey late last week Pentagon chief Robert Gates met with Chief of Turkish General Staff General Ilker Basbug and Gates said that he had "discussed, with General Basbug, Turkey's role in the missile defense system and relations between our armies."[22] Former NATO secretary general George Robertson, arguing that U.S. nuclear warheads should be kept in Germany, recently divulged that there are between 40 and 90 American nuclear weapons stored at Turkey's Incirlik Air Base under NATO arrangements. To Iran's northwest, Azerbaijan is increasingly being developed as a NATO outpost in the South Caucasus and the Caspian Sea Basin. Early this month "A working group of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry and the United States European Command (USEUCOM) held a meeting in Stuttgart, Germany....The meeting [was] held within the framework of the Azerbaijan-U.S. action plan for military cooperation" and lasted five days.[23] The country has been granted a NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan as have other former Soviet states like Georgia, Ukraine and lately Moldova. In January Azerbaijan hosted a planning conference for the NATO Regional Response 2010 military exercise. Last year "the Regional Response 2009 military training was held within the NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme in April 2009 in Baku. "Commander of U.S. Land Forces in Europe Carter Ham participated in the training."[24] Azerbaijan has doubled its troop strength in Afghanistan and will train Afghan National Army personnel at its military schools. The nation's Foreign Ministry recently announced that Azerbaijan is interested in joining the NATO Response Force along with Ukraine, regarding which the Alliance provides this description: "The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a highly ready and technologically advanced force made up of land, air, sea and special forces components that the Alliance can deploy quickly wherever needed. "It is capable of performing missions worldwide across the whole spectrum of operations...."[25] In late January a former Azeri presidential adviser, Vafa Guluzade, spoke at a seminar called NATO-Azerbaijan Cooperation: A Civilian View and said, "The territory and people of Azerbaijan are ideal for military cooperation with NATO. The country has a favourable geostrategic location....Azerbaijan has military aerodromes suitable for NATO bases."[26] To Iran's east, the U.S. and NATO will soon have over 150,000 troops, and according to a recent study, 400 bases in Afghanistan and both Western belligerents are coordinating military actions with Pakistan, the Alliance through the Trilateral Afghanistan-Pakistan-NATO Military Commission. The chain is being tightened around Iran from every direction and NATO is supplying several of the key links. Notes1. Obama Doctrine: Eternal War
For Imperfect
Mankind, Stop NATO, December 10, 2009 Europe's Five "Undeclared Nuclear Weapons States" Are Turkey, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands
|
The U.S. imperialists and
Canada are
continuing their efforts to fabricate pretexts and outright lies
against Iran as a pretext for sanctions, military action and "regime
change." This propaganda for sanctions and war comes despite monitoring
of Iran's nuclear program by the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), which continues to verify that Iran's nuclear
program is of a peaceful nature. On February 11, just hours after Iran
announced a decision to domestically enrich uranium under the
supervision of the IAEA, President Barack Obama warned that the U.S. is
preparing a "significant regime of
sanctions" against Iran. With self-serving mendacity, he went on to
accuse Iran of spurning his offer of "engagement" in order to continue
what he called Iran's "nuclear weapons program." Obama's remarks are
part of attempts by the U.S., Canada, Israel and several European big
powers
to fabricate intrigues regarding Iran, including
suggesting that certain of Iran's nuclear facilities which have been
part of the public record for some time are in fact part of a
clandestine weapons program. Comments by
top U.S.
military commander General David Petraeus on February 21 indicate that
the U.S. is seeking international
support for a fourth round of sanctions to "send a signal to Iran," and
characterized Iran's refusal to submit to U.S. dictate as refusal to
resolve things diplomatically, leaving no recourse but sanctions.
Meanwhile, on February 11, a bill, tabled by U.S. Republican Senators
John Cornyn and Sam Brownback, seeks
to authorize the flow of non-military aid to Iranian protesters and
dissidents as well as humanitarian aid to "victims of the current
regime." 
