Iran launches its Most Advanced Missile to date

“The missile test-fired by Iran is the longest-range solid-propellant missile it has launched yet, a U.S. government official said Wednesday, raising concerns about whether the sophistication of Tehran’s missile program is increasing.” 

Hess, Pamela. “Iran Missile May Be More Advanced.” Retrieved May 21, 2009 from [Source]

 

Iran’s president announced the successful test-launch of an advanced surface-to-surface solid-fuel missile Wednesday that could reach Israel and other potential targets across the Middle East. Iranian state television showed the blue rocket rising against a sunny desert backdrop, surrounded by the red, white and green flags of the Islamic Republic.

Iran has long had missiles that could reach Israel and the Persian Gulf states where the U.S. maintains several bases. But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasted that the new Sajjil-2 incorporates “advanced technology” that makes it more accurate than Iran’s arsenal of Shahab-series missiles, based on North Korean-designed rockets.

The two-stage missile has a range of 1,200 miles, according to a report by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. Iran’s single-stage, liquid-fueled Shahab 3 also has a maximum range of about 1,200 miles. But experts say solid-fuel double-stage rockets are more accurate for striking targets.

In Washington, Obama administration officials said the test demonstrated that Iran has made progress in its efforts to develop a solid-fuel missile with a longer range. Defense Secretary Robert Gates described the launch as “a successful flight test” of a missile with a range between 1,200 and 1,500 miles.

Iranian officials say the missile program is meant to defend the country in the face of threats by Israeli officials to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. Ahmadinejad repeatedly has called for Israel’s destruction.

What remains appealing is that every time Iran launches a missile, it is in response to a particular event, and there were three significant launches in response to key events. This recent launch came after the first positive meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has said that Iran is the “gravest” threat in the Middle East. The US accuses Iran of harboring nuclear ambitions and is preparing to make nuclear weapons. Obama has offered direct diplomacy with Iran and said he expects a positive response by the end of this year.

The missile-test also conducted on the same day that the United States and Russia wrapped up the first round of talks to discuss a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START. The landmark Cold War-era nuclear disarmament treaty expires in December and any new deal will have far-reaching implications for global security.

Moscow insists any new treaty must take missile defense into account. The US has plans to install parts of a global missile shield in Eastern Europe to fend of any attacks from Iran. Moscow however is not convinced by this explanation. US President Obama will meet with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow to discuss this and other key issues at the next round of START talks in July.

Lastly, the missile-test comes just weeks ahead of the June 12 presidential elections in Iran. Of the three main rivals, Iran’s former prime minister, Mir-Hossein Moussavi is widely considered to be Ahmadinejad’s main challenger.

President Obama hopes to begin negotiations with Tehran after the elections where he feels by the end of the year the U.S. and Iran would hopefully come to an agreement on the nuclear issues that threaten the Middle East and Europe.

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President Obama & Prime Minister Netanyahu hold talks at White House

“President Barack Obama on Monday opened his deepest foray into the Middle East quagmire, telling Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu he must stop Jewish settlements and should grasp a “historic opportunity” to make peace with the Palestinians.” 

Hurst, Steven. “Obama Prods Netanyahu, Iran in Mideast Foray.” Retrieved on Monday, May 18, 2009 from [Source]

  

As President Obama had talks yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on a series of issues, one main concern Obama raised was the issue of Israeli settlement and Iranian talks to reverse plans to develop nuclear programs.

Since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1967, the Israelis continue to embrace settlement of land, such as the West Bank, which is partially under Israeli military administration and under the control by the Palestinian National Authority. Such settlements are communities inhabited by Israelis where Israeli civil law, administrations and jurisdictions lie on the areas of the West Bank. President Obama spoke candidly to Prime Minister Netanyahu summarizing a continuance of Iran’s nuclear program initiatives if Israel continues to embrace Israeli settlement on corresponding Palestinian territories. Obama embraced the importance of Israel moving swiftly to resume peace talks with the Palestinians and insisted negotiations start from a previous agreement on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Obama warned Iran that it has until year’s end to get serious about talks in reversing plans to develop nuclear programs, and told Netanyahu that talks will not last forever with Iran, hinting that there may be a second Mideast dispute if Iran refuses to encourage talks with the world community. They both found copious grounds for agreements on Iran, as the Prime Minister fears Iran’s perceived attempts to build a nuclear weapon that may target the Jewish people. President Obama also stood firm in his words to insist Israeli peace with the Palestinians, while Netanyahu quickly replied “Israel cannot negotiate with people who deny its right to exist.”

“We should have a fairly good sense by the end of the year as to whether they are moving in the right direction and whether the parties involved are making progress and that there’s a good-faith effort to resolve differences.” – President Obama 

Iran continues to insist that its nuclear program is solely intended for civilian electric generation, while the U.S. Intelligence can prove different.

As the Prime Minister met President Obama in the White House for the first time during Obama’s administration, the meeting lasted for over two hours that reflected an array of issues that are important for the Prime Minister to consider on the future of Israel and Iranian relations with Israel and the United States.

 

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Israel launches covert war in Iran

Israel is involved in a covert war of sabotage inside Iran to try to delay Tehran’s alleged attempts to develop a nuclear weapon.

Baker, Luke. Israel engaged in covert war inside Iran. Retrieved February 17, 2009 from [Source]

 

 

Ever since 2007, Israel has been in the forefront of engaging in covert actions against Iran to slow down the process of their nuclear weapon development. The Israeli Intelligence Agency, Mossad, launched plans to sabotage their nuclear programs, but instead of blowing up factories and underground tunnels, Israel launches a covert psychological war against Iran by killing its nuclear scientists who run the factories in order to slow the progress on the development.

 

Israel used a resource of hitmen, front companies, double agents and utilizing a “decapitation” strategy in hopes to set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions without resorting war. Back in 2007, award winning nuclear scientist, Ardeshir Hassanpour was assassinated and found dead in his home, said to have suffered from gas poisoning when fumes from a “faulty gas fire” killed the scientist in his sleep. There remains some speculation if this was really a covert operation by the Mossad. Iran continues to deny this being an assassination by the Mossad, because they feel the Mossad is significantly incapable of running such covert operations inside of Iran.

 

This has also left U.S. Intelligence analysts in a debacle whether this strategy really will delay the progress of the nuclear programs Iran may be developing.

 

“Disruption is designed to slow progress on the program, done in such a way they don’t realize what’s happening. The goal is delay, delay, delay until you can come up with some other solution. It’s a good policy, short of taking them out militarily, which probably carries unacceptable risks.”

–Unnamed former CIA Analyst

  

Israel performing such operations, in some eyes of analysts, can slow the process of developing such technology and could enforce the Iranians to scrap the plans due to lack of information and resources to pursue forward with the implementation. Israel also used “front companies” to supply Tehran with legitimate material to win Tehran’s trust but have delivered faulty or defective items to “poison” the country’s atomic activities, but as a result many Israeli operatives have been arrested in recent months who identified themselves as electricians and engineers in such companies.

 

Some CIA analysts look at these objectives in a different perspective. Some believe that one cannot carry out foreign policy objectives via covert operations and that you can’t get rid of a couple of people and hope to affect Iran’s nuclear capability; however, it has been similarly done before. After World War II, the United States launched Operation Paper Clip, which was a severe recruitment of German scientists after the victory in Germany. This objective had helped the United States obtain highly sophisticated scientists in a variety of fields that allowed the U.S. to be far more advanced in rocketry, nuclear energy, aeronautics, medicine, electronics and intelligence. Much of it has contributed greatly to the advancement of modern technology and medicine. With Israel imitating a strategy, just with a different twist, Israel is planning to demolish the “brains of the nuclear programs” in order to either delay the progress and/or put an end to the development plans.

 

Although this may seem intriguing to Israel’s Mossad and the CIA, but this can cause a major blow in President Obama’s plans to influence peace in the Middle East and to utilize a more diplomatic approach in dealing with Iran in addition to Israel’s new leader, now on the brink to power.

 

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CS

The Aftermath of the Israeli-Gaza Conflict

Israeli aircraft bombed Gaza on Sunday hours after its leaders vowed to deal a blow to Hamas in response to new rocket fire two weeks following the end of a bloody war in the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli aircraft targeted an empty police station in central Gaza and at least seven tunnels along the Islamist Hamas-ruled enclave’s southern border with Egypt, witnesses said.

There were no reports of casualties in the strikes on the police station and the tunnels, used for importing weapons and goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip where Israel enforces a punishing blockade.

An Israeli security official said that “the air force has carried out several strikes across the Gaza Strip.”

According to witnesses, hundreds of Palestinian workers involved in tunnel construction in southern Gaza fled to the Egyptian side of the border shortly after the start of the air strikes.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier vowed to deal “a severe and disproportionate Israeli response” to Palestinian rocket fire against southern Israel since a January 18 ceasefire brought an end to its 22-day war on Gaza.

Israel’s offensive devastated the impoverished territory, as hundreds of houses, government compounds and public buildings were destroyed in the attacks where more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed.

Palestinian militants in Gaza fired more than 10 rockets and mortar rounds onto southern Israel on Sunday, wounding one civilian and two soldiers, an army spokesman told AFP.  

–Yaghi, Mai. Israel bombs Gaza after new rocketfire. Retrieved February 2, 2009 from [Source].

 

The Palestinian-Israeli problem is one that has been evading solution since Israel’s establishment. The reasons for this is manifold. Both sides share the blame for the lack of progress in solving this conflict. Once there is mutual recognition and a drift from extremism on both sides, a solution should be attainable.

 

Reasonably, Israel has a a right to defend themselves from any foreign attack, just as any other nation does. In mid-December 2008, Israeli forces entered into Gaza after an array of mortar attacks were conducted in Hamas and fired into southern Israel. On the day of the inauguration of President Barack Obama, Israeli forces withdrew their troops from Hamas after a three week brutal war with Hamas, leaving behind an estimated $1.4B worth of damage.

 

The arrogance and hate for Israel, as well as the total lack of desire for negotiating a political settlement with Israel does not give any room for any form of peace in the future. These Islamist fanatics are still determined to destroy Israel and it seems that they will soon find ways of re-arming and having another at chance at Israel in the not too distant future.

 

Hamas is a master of deception and lies. They expose defenseless innocent Palestinians to the wrath of the IDF. By doing this, they successfully mobilize world opinion against Israel by filming the most horrible scenes of blood and suffering of women and children. This is the result of them forcing innocent men, women and children to face a certain death, while they themselves hide in bunkers. Arsenals of weaponry had been discovered in cellars under Palestinian homes including explosives and the use of these people as human shields is very much part of Palestinian tactics. The Israeli government subsequent to the inauguration removed a majority of their forces from Gaza and initiated a temporary cease-fire in hopes that Hamas mortar attacks cease and neighboring Islamic nations do not intervene in the war. Yet, Hamas continues to launch strikes on Israel and the Israelis continue bombings in Hamas in response to those attacks.

This conflict between the Israeli’s and Palestinian’s have been ongoing for years, and the question still remains: When will this ever end, or will it?

Israel had retaliated very severely and this resulted in Palestinian homes being destroyed as well as many innocent Palestinian casualties. The destruction and pillage of Gaza is evidence that apart from hitting strategic Hamas targets, many unfortunate innocent people were also killed. So much had been reduced to rubble and many Palestinian bodies were dug up from underneath. An independent investigation ought to be made in order to determine the possibility of war crimes committed by both sides.

 

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Welcome Bloggers!

Greetings Bloggers!

My name is Craig Stafford, the founder of the U.S. International Intelligence Blog here on WordPress.com. It’s a pleasure being able to develop a blog of such interest and importance to the world we live in today.  Here we will keep you abreast to current events on the international stage of major countries and give readers the opportunity to express their beliefs, concerns and feelings towards daily world issues that affect the world stage.

Our newly elected president, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States on January 20th, 2009, and his new administration officially rose to power. Millions of Americans have powered President Obama’s journey to the White House, many taking advantage of the internet to play a role in shaping our country’s future. USIntel.Wordpress.com will follow along with the beginning of the new administration’s efforts to expand and deepen this online engagement to inform American citizens of what we face as a nation.

Since September 11th, 2001, the United States and the world have drastically changed in the way each nation operates and responds to threats. The attacks lead to significant and widespread changes in U.S. politics and foreign policy, and domestically, both political parties rallied around President George W. Bush after the attacks, passing the Patriot Act and supporting the war in Afghanistan. It also lead to the development of the Department of Homeland Security charged with protecting the territory of the United States from terrorist attacks and responding to natural disasters. Thankfully, after the September 11th attacks, our nation has been safer and we have not had a single terrorist attack since that day. Today, to ensure that we prevent future attacks, The Department of Homeland Security advise citizens to be vigilant, take notice of your surroundings, and report suspicious items or activities to local authorities immediately.

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