US, World Ignoring Israel on Iran Issues.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

No pressure from US on import of oil from Iran

India is not under any pressure from the US on import of oil from Iran, the Government today assured the Lok Sabha and insisted that only sanctions imposed by the UN - and not from any nation - were heeded by the country.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister S Jaipal Reddy said during Question Hour that there was no pressure from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her recent visit here that India should not import oil from Iran.

"Government of India is perfectly free to take a decision (on this issue)....We do not take note of sanctions by other countries," Reddy said, adding India only respects sanctions imposed by the UN against some countries on certain issues.

http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/no-pressureusimportoiliran-govt/6908/

Britain seeks delay to EU's Iran ship insurance ban

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain is seeking to persuade fellow European Union members to postpone by up to six months a ban on providing insurance for tankers carrying Iranian oil, arguing that it could lead to a damaging spike in oil prices, European diplomats said.

A European Union ban on importing Iranian oil, which takes effect on July 1, will also prevent EU insurers and reinsurers from covering tankers carrying its crude anywhere in the world.

The impact of the measure is likely to be felt strongly in London's financial district, the centre for marine insurance.

Iran exports most of its 2.2 million barrels of oil per day to Asia. The four main buyers - China, India, Japan and South Korea - have yet to find a way to replace the predominantly Western insurance shipping cover provided by London insurers.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-iran-eu-insurancebre84806k-20120508,0,1608450.story

Iraq Ready to Host Iran-Powers Talks on May 23

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraq underlined preparedness to host the upcoming talks between Tehran and the world powers in Baghdad on May 23, after the two sides held positive negotiations in Istanbul last month.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that Baghdad had prepared all grounds for holding the meeting between Iran and Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) in an ideal atmosphere.

Zebari said Wednesday that the positive achievements of the next round of talks between Iran and the G5+1 in Baghdad would benefit the entire region.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9102111451

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

That's 'cause the rest of the world knows -

Israel Cries Wolf

“Iran is the center of terrorism, fundamentalism and subversion and is in my view more dangerous than Nazism, because Hitler did not possess a nuclear bomb, whereas the Iranians are trying to perfect a nuclear option.”

Benjamin Netanyahu 2009? Try again. These words were in fact uttered by another Israeli prime minister (and now Israeli president), Shimon Peres, in 1996. Four years earlier, in 1992, he’d predicted that Iran would have a nuclear bomb by 1999.

You can’t accuse the Israelis of not crying wolf. Ehud Barak, now defense minister, said in 1996 that Iran would be producing nuclear weapons by 2004.

Now here comes Netanyahu, in an interview with his faithful stenographer Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, spinning the latest iteration of Israel’s attempt to frame Iran as some Nazi-like incarnation of evil:

“You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.”

So Netanyahu is now shuffling the deck.

There has been an unexpected political shakeup in Israel in recent days. Netanyahu had called for elections in September; however, this week Shaul Mofaz - the leader of Kadima (what had been the main opposition party) suddenly joined the Netanyahu coalition. Mofaz will become a member of the Cabinet and be appointed Deputy Prime Minister. September elections have now been cancelled, and Netanyahu (most likely) stays in power for the next year and a half.

Mofaz (born Shahram Mofazzakar in Iran) is a former IDF Chief of Staff, and Defense Minister under Ariel Sharon - an ex-military guy (like nearly all of Israel's political leadership.) He has gone on record as staunchly opposing a war on Iran, but he was known for extremely brutal policies toward the Palestinians. Maybe Netanyahu and Barak can persuade him to change his mind.

Anyway, bringing Kadima into his government puts Netanyahu in a much stronger political position - this gives him 94 seats out of 120 members of Knesset. It also frees Netanyahu from having to cater to the smaller settler parties he depended on before getting Kadima in his fold. This may actually increase the chances of Israel starting something with Iran (of course with the idea that this would force the U.S. into it.)

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Yeah, the 'world' 'knows' Irans government is the finest group of ultra-humanitarian softies that wouldn't harm a fly and have no nuclear weapons ambitions.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Yeah, the 'world' 'knows' Irans government is the finest group of ultra-humanitarian softies that wouldn't harm a fly and have no nuclear weapons ambitions.

Actually, what the world KNOWS is that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon program or intentions of starting one.

[^_^ 5,021]

What Israel needs is a moat.

With alligators.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Actually, what the world KNOWS is that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon program or intentions of starting one.

What bizarro world "KNOWS" that? Iran has a nuclear weapons program and may have, but more likely has not, been successful with it.

[MyLittlePony 340]

Israel has to go and blow out Iran before they have the upper hand on a nuke..

Edited May 12, 2012 by *++*

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Israel has to go and blow out Iran before they have the upper hand on a nuke..

Israel has plenty of nukes. Thanks to Israel -- India, Pakistan, and South Africa* have nukes, and those are just the countries we know about. At one time, Israel would sell nukes, or nuke technology, to any country that could pay the price.

This is just a case of selective outrage, a lot of misdirection away from the Settler/Palestinian problem, and AIPAC's raison d'être.

*South Africa allegedly dismantled all their nukes. Six uranium bombs have been accounted for.

Edited May 12, 2012 by ☼

[Pooky 3,850]

Yeah, the 'world' 'knows' Irans government is the finest group of ultra-humanitarian softies that wouldn't harm a fly and have no nuclear weapons ambitions.

Bollocks

Actually, what the world KNOWS is that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon program or intentions of starting one.

Bollocks

What bizarro world "KNOWS" that? Iran has a nuclear weapons program and may have, but more likely has not, been successful with it - yet.

Bingo

[MyLittlePony 340]

Israel has plenty of nukes. Thanks to Israel -- India, Pakistan, and South Africa* have nukes, and those are just the countries we know about. At one time, Israel would sell nukes, or nuke technology, to any country that could pay the price.

This is just a case of selective outrage, a lot of misdirection away from the Settler/Palestinian problem, and AIPAC's raison d'être.

*South Africa allegedly dismantled all their nukes. Six uranium bombs have been accounted for.

They how come is USA not concerned as much as they are towards North Korea and Iran if those countries can stock pile nukes than why not Iran?

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

In defence of Wife of Mahmoud, the IAEA has never come out with solid evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapons program. I myself find their missile tests proof enough of their intentions.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

What bizarro world "KNOWS" that? Iran has a nuclear weapons program and may have, but more likely has not, been successful with it.

Bollocks

Bollocks

Bingo

It seems y'all's assessments are rather at odds with U.S. military and intelligence analysts (although, predictably, perfectly in step with the Cry Wolves over at AIPAC):

U.S. Agencies See No Move by Iran to Build a Bomb

WASHINGTON — Even as the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said in a new report Friday that Iran had accelerated its uranium enrichment program, American intelligence analysts continue to believe that there is no hard evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb.

Recent assessments by American spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program years earlier, according to current and former American officials. The officials said that assessment was largely reaffirmed in a 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, and that it remains the consensus view of America’s 16 intelligence agencies.

You're not even in line with Israel's military-intelligence community (barring Nutballanyahoo & Co.)

Iran has not, will not build nuclear weapon – Israeli military chief

Iran has not decided to build a nuclear bomb, says IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz. Nor does he think Tehran will go “the extra mile" to do so. The military chief’s words cut a sharp contrast with the bellicose rhetoric of PM Netanyahu.

Israeli Defense Forces Lieutenant General Gantz told Ha'aretz daily that Iran was moving “step by step” to a point where the production of a nuclear weapon would be feasible. However, he says Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hasn't yet decided “to go the extra mile" to build a nuclear bomb.

“If the supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wants, he will advance it to the acquisition of a nuclear bomb, but the decision must first be taken… I don't think he will want to go the extra mile.”

Gantz said that Khamenei’s decision to build a nuclear weapon could only be based on the belief that Iran is invulnerable to a response, an unlikely scenario given that the country’s nuclear facilities “are not bomb proof,” making their operations “too vulnerable” to retaliation.

And the Iranian leadership is “composed of very rational people,” Gantz said.

In sharp contrast to the increasingly bellicose rhetoric of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Gantz maintains “the international pressure on Iran, in the form of diplomatic and economic sanctions, is beginning to bear fruit.”

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

They how come is USA not concerned as much as they are towards North Korea and Iran if those countries can stock pile nukes than why not Iran?

Good question. How come the US didn't invade Pakistan and wipe out the Taliban? Why is India? How come China can bully all their neighbors in the China Sea? Why did the US stop treating Israel like a belligerent and begin calling them our best friend in the Middle East?

[MyLittlePony 340]

Good question. How come the US didn't invade Pakistan and wipe out the Taliban? Why is India? How come China can bully all their neighbors in the China Sea? Why did the US stop treating Israel like a belligerent and begin calling them our best friend in the Middle East?

Why cant we have peace in the middle east why cant we dispose of nuke and sing love songs? Why cant we have our oil supply?

Edited May 12, 2012 by *++*

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Why cant we have peace in the middle east why cant we dispose of nuke and sing love songs? Why cant we have our oil supply?

There's only one country in the Middle East that has nukes. And it refuses to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT.)

Guess who it is ?