The capture by Iranian forces of 15 British sailors in the Gulf brought shrill, bellicose headlines last weekend and calls for retribution.
The anti-war movement has done a superb job in winning a clear majority against the war and occupation in Iraq.
But no one should believe that because the case against the “war on terror” is so overwhelming then no British government can garner support for another military misadventure.
A report filed today by the Russian News agency RIA Novosti indicates that Russian intelligence has information that the U.S. Armed Forces have nearly completed preparations for a possible military operation against Iran and will be ready to strike in early April.
Citing "a security official," the article alleges the U.S. has already compiled a list of possible targets on Iranian territory and practiced the operation during recent exercises in the Persian Gulf. The report aligns ... (more)
Iran has offered to let UK officials visit the 15 Royal Navy personnel who were captured in the Gulf on Friday.
Iran's foreign minister also said the only woman being held, Faye Turney, who has been interviewed on Iranian state television, could be released.
But he said the stand-off would be resolved only if the UK stated that the sailors and marines had been in Iranian waters last Friday, which it denies.
March 28 (Bloomberg) -- A female U.K. sailor who was among a group of Britons seized by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf was shown on Iranian television today.
Faye Turney, 26, wearing a black headscarf and smoking a cigarette, said her group had ``obviously trespassed'' into Iranian waters before their capture on March 23. The Iranians had been ``friendly and hospitable,'' she said.
``They were thoughtful, nice people and they explained to us why we had b... (more)
MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by U.S. Armed Forces near Iran's borders, a high-ranking security source said Tuesday.
"The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran," the official said, adding that the Pentagon has probably not yet made a final decision as to when an attack will be launched.
This is a must see clip from March 23, 2007, in which UN Watch director Hillel Neuer really unloads on the blatantly corrupt UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva—and then is denounced by furious council president Luis Alfonso De Alba, who threatens to remove Neuer’s statements from the record.
Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray Monday supported Iran's decision to arrest 15 UK marines in the Persian Gulf last week.
"In international law the Iranian government were not out of order in detaining foreign military personnel in waters to which they have a legitimate claim," Murray said, who was also a previous head of Foreign Office's maritime section, carrying out negotiations on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
More than 40 major international banks and financial institutions have either cut off or cut back business with the Iranian government or private sector as a result of a quiet campaign launched by the Treasury and State departments last September, according to Treasury and State officials.
The financial squeeze has seriously crimped Tehran's ability to finance petroleum industry projects and to pay for imports. It has also limited Iran's use of the international financial system t... (more)
Caracas, March 26: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called on nations around the world to help stop what he says is a planned US attack on Iran.
Chavez, speaking one day after the UN Security Council voted to tighten sanctions on Iran over Tehran`s refusal to curtail its nuclear programme, cited a Russian press report which purportedly details the time and place of an attack on Iran by the United States, which he has dubbed "The Empire."
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran says the 15 British sailors and marines seized by Iran in the Persian Gulf have confessed to trespassing into Iranian territory, the semi-official FARS News Agency reported Saturday.
But the British Ministry of Defense would not confirm the report.
The British government said its request to communicate with the detained troops has not been granted by Iran.
Earlier Saturday, FARS reported that the sailors and marines -- incl... (more)
FIFTEEN British sailors and marines arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards off the coast of Iraq may be charged with spying.
A website run by associates of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, reported last night that the Britons would be put before a court and indicted.
Referring to them as “insurgents”, the site concluded: “If it is proven that they deliberately entered Iranian territory, they will be charged with espionage. If that... (more)
In January of 2001, American director James Longley traveled to the Gaza Strip. His plan was to stay for two weeks to collect preliminary material for a documentary film on the Pale... (more)
They cheered the U.S. invasion; they offered to help, signed on as translators, risked everything they had to work for the United States. But when they had to run for their lives, America slammed the door.
On the day the American tanks rolled into Baghdad, Abather Abdul Hussein and his wife, Balqes Abdel Mohammed, threw flowers. Literally. After a lifetime of turmoil and tyranny, the couple fervently believed the invasion would bring peace. Abather joine... (more)
When Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain's former ambassador to Washington, published his memoirs DC Confidential 18 months ago, Tony Blair reportedly called him "a complete prick".
A turnaround: in 1997, No 10 sent Meyer to the US with instructions to "get up the arse of the White House and stay there". And for the most part, the ex-diplomat's book protected Blair's reputation: although the PM had little appetite for detail, he said, and a penchant for "ball-crushingly ti... (more)
"Blair started talking about getting rid of Saddam Hussein way before September 11 ... in 1998."
Iran's Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh has said that the Islamic Republic will sell its oil in all currencies.
"Our oil sales will be in every currency," Dow Jones reported Hamaneh as saying on the sidelines of an OPEC meeting in Vienna on Thursday.
Iran has already said it will carry out all its oil-industry related equipment purchases in euros instead of dollars and previously said it has informed its oil buyers that they should pay Iran in euros for the crude o... (more)
BERKELEY, United States (IPS) -- Author of the upcoming book "The Iran Agenda: the Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis", due for release in September from Polipoint Press, Reese Erlich recently spent three weeks investigating Kurdish resistance organisations in Iran and Iraq's Kurdish region. He tells IPS that "the United States is officially funding armed groups to overthrow the Islamic government" in Tehran.
In an interview with IPS's Omid Memarian, Erlich, who ... (more)
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Very few Americans believe Iran represents a danger for their country, according to a poll by New York Times and CBS News. Only 10 per cent of respondents think Iran is a threat to the United States that requires military action now, down 11 points since mid-February.
Conversely, 65 per cent of respondents think Iran is a threat that can be contained with diplomacy now, while 18 per cent say the country is not a menace to the U.S. at this tim... (more)
A new survey paints a pessimistic picture of Iraqis' confidence in their own government and in coalition forces.
Only 18% of Iraqis have confidence in US and coalition troops, while opinion is almost evenly split on whether to have confidence in Iraq's government.
About 86% of those questioned expressed concern about someone in their household being a victim of violence.
ISLAMABAD: Former ISI Chief, Gen (retd) Hameed Gul has said that the Untied States is paving the way to use Pakistan's territory for its expected attack on Iran in order to shift the blame of its failure in Afghanistan to Pakistan.
Talking to a private TV Channel, Gen (retd) Hameed Gul said that NATO forces have intensified their activities on Pak-Afghan border as they are frustrated due to their failure in Afghanistan.
Former ISI Chief has said that US backed Karza... (more)
The Israel and U.S. delegations walked out of the United Nations' disarmament forum in Geneva, Switzerland yesterday after Iran said Israel was the "real source of nuclear danger in the Middle East" and had a "dark record of crimes."
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the Conference on Disarmament that Israel's nuclear weapons posed a "uniquely grave threat to regional and international peace and security" requiring action by the international community.
An official said that the managing director of Iran's first petroleum exchange "Iran Oil Bourse" is expected to be appointed soon, bringing the oil-rich nation a step closer to opening its first 'oil bourse'. Majid Shayesteh, managing director of Kish Free Trade Zone Organization, said that President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has directed Iran's ministers of oil, economic affairs and finance to appoint the board of directors of the oil exchange and its managing director. He did not specify when exactly... (more)
WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. vice president said support for Israel is "unflinching and steadfast" in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference.
Dick Cheney told an audience of more than 6,000 gathered for breakfast in Washington Monday the Bush administration "remains committed" to Israel and Palestine as two democratic states side-by-side.
Cheney called the war on terror a "battlefield of ideas" and said the United States... (more)
An Iranian defense official who reportedly defected to the West last week may be in possession of evidence that could be used justify military action against Iran. Former Iranian deputy defense minister Ali Rez Asgari was secreted away from Turkey to an undisclosed location in Europe by Western officials.
This after he informed American officials several weeks earlier that he wished to defect and provide assistance in bringing down those running his coun... (more)
