Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday that Iran will never achieve its goal of obtaining a nuclear weapon, declaring to Tehran: "Your pursuit is futile."
"What we want to do is to send a message to whoever is making these decisions, that if you're pursuing nuclear weapons for the purpose of intimidating, of projecting your power, we're not going to let that happen," Clinton said.
"First, we're going to do everything we can to prevent you from ever getting a nuclear weapon. But your pursuit is futile, because we will never let Iran nuclear-armed, not nuclear-armed it is something that we view with great concern, and that's why we're doing everything we can to prevent that from ever happening. ... We believe, as a matter of policy, it is unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons."
Pretty words. What are we going to do about it?
As a security summit in Thailand earlier this week, Clinton raised the possibility of a "defense umbrella" over the Middle East to protect other nations from a nuclear-armed Iran, marking the first time a senior administration official has publicly broached the prospect of the Persian nation succeeding in building a nuclear weapon.
Unacceptable: it allows Obama (or any future President) to fold the umbrella when sufficiently unhappy with Israel. As, for example, if Israel doesn't toe the line on housing in the Jerusalem area.
Clinton said the Obama administration might still engage with Irans regime, even though she thinks the people there deserve better than what theyre getting."
Moderator David Gregory asked Clinton if the U.S. would be betraying Irans democratic movement if the administration decides to negotiate with the government over its nuclear program.
I dont think so, David, she replied. We have negotiated with many governments who we did not believe represented the will of their people. Look at all the negotiations that went on with the Soviet Union.
Thats what you do in diplomacy. You dont get to choose the people. Thats up to the internal dynamic within a society. But, clearly, we would hope better for the Iranian people. We would hope that there is more openness, that peaceful demonstrations are respected, that press freedom is respected.
That's the canard liberals like to bring up: we negotiated with the Soviets so we must negotiate with every pissant thug who makes demands on us. Hilde may have missed this: Iran is not the Soviet Union.
Gregory asked if Iran is run by an illegitimate regime.
You know, thats really for the people of Iran to decide, Clinton said. I have been moved by the cries for freedom. People that go back millennia, that have such a great culture and history, deserve better than what theyre getting.
No, it's also for us to decide. We can proclaim, loudly, that the Mad Mullahs are illegitimate and do not represent the people of Iran. That alone would give the ordinary people there hope. We could continue to use our words and our ability to command the international stage to hammer away at the thugs in charge in Tehran. It worked in Eastern Europe. If Hilde is going to 'negotiate' with the Mullahs as we did with the Soviets, it's only proper that we borrow Reagan's approach to the Soviets: he talked with them, sure, but he also did everything possible to undermine them. And it worked.
#2
HMMMMM, HMMMMM, so IMO Hillary has basically confirmed to IRAN that it either "USES 'EM OR LOSES 'EM" ASAP AMAP ALAP ATAP, as NUKES = STRATWEAPONS are one the primary benchmarks for BOTH PAN-ISLAMIST AND PAN-MUSLIM RELIGIOUS, IDEO, AND GEOPOL, ETC. PRESTIGE + CREDIBILTY. IRAN, etal. that they must now acquire indigens Nuc/Stratweaps FASTER + SOONER, NOT LATER.
(KUNA) -- Iranian missiles will be launched at Israel, should the Persian state come under foreign attack, said Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Brigadier Mohammad Ali Jaafari, on Saturday. In a statement to local media, he said, "If we come under any attack by the Zionist entity, our missiles will be launched at all areas of the occupied Palestinian territories. We are capable of responding with accuracy to any possible aggression."
Jaafari warned Israel against attacking his country, adding that "Israeli nuclear facilities will be targeted by our missiles ... we face no obstacles in attacking Israeli nuclear facilities, and they will definitely be a target if we come under aggression." Alluding to the Israeli missile test conducted a few days ago, he said, "The Zionist entity may be able to intercept a limited number of our missiles using its defense system, but it will be unable to respond when it stands against the great number of missiles we will launch at it." Ruled out the possibility of his country being subject to military threats, he said, "The enemies must realize that the era of military threats has gone. They are also well aware that the greater the military threats against our people, the more they are in national harmony." Jaafari added that military threats against Iran aimed only at forcing it to concede to illegal demands of those he called "the enemies."
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After a weeklong furor amongst Iran's ruling elite over Ahmadinejad's vice president choice, the president appoints the deputy, who resigned, as an advisor and head of the Presidential Office.
"I appoint you [Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei], as a faithful and competent figure, as advisor and head of the Presidential Office," Ahmadinejad said in a decree on Saturday.
According to the decree published on president's website, Ahmadinejad expressed hope Rahim-Mashaei would be successful in serving the great Iranian nation and the Islamic establishment in cooperation with his colleagues.
Rahim-Mashaei's appointment as the country's vice president unleashed torrents of criticism from both the president's supporters and opponents alike.
Following the political controversy, the president reversed his decision and accepted Rahim-Mashaei resignation.
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It's been a long time since this guy's missed any meals...
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's chief of Joint Armed Forces has warned against US plots in the region and called on authorities and nations of Iran's neighboring states to remain vigilant. "The US seeks to save itself from the current global economic crisis. It aims to increase its dominance over the Islamic countries as well as third world (countries)," said Major General Hassan "Porky" Firouzabadi on Saturday.
He pointed to the US plans for stepped-up military assistance to Arab states in the Persian Gulf to help them in countering a "nuclear-armed" Iran, saying, "This is not a defensive or security plan for our Muslim neighbors."
"As Iranian officials have repeatedly announced, the Islamic Republic does not regard either of its neighbors as an enemy," the top army chief said. "Occupiers and their allies are those who brought war and bloodshed to the region."
Firouzabadi's remarks came after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday took a shot at Iran's nuclear program and said Washington would consider establishing a "defense umbrella" in cooperation with its Persian Gulf allies should Iran refrain from abandoning its nuclear activities.
"If the US extends a defense umbrella over the region, if we do even more to support the military capacity of those in the [Persian] Gulf, it is unlikely Iran will be any stronger or safer," Clinton said.
"They won't be able to intimidate and dominate, as they apparently believe they can once they have a nuclear weapon," she added.
Clinton made the statement while the administration of President Barack Obama has so far said little about extending a defense umbrella over the Middle East.
The US and its European allies accuse the Tehran government of conducting clandestine efforts to obtain nuclear weaponry, warning of an imminent nuclear arms race in the volatile Middle East.
Iran says its nuclear activities are in line with its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and are aimed at the civilian applications of the technology.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad finally gave in to an order from the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dismissed his top deputy after remaining defiant for five days.
The official IRNA news agency quoted Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, a top Ahmadinejad aide, as saying that Esfandiar Rahim Mashai is no longer the first vice president.
The aide said that following the public statement of supreme leader Khamenei's order to dismiss the president's choice, "Mashai doesn't consider himself first vice president," Hashemi told IRNA.
Mashai stirred controversy among hardliners by once saying Iranians were friends to the Israelis. Ahmadinejad resisted pressure to dismiss him for weeks.
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#1
I guess they finally yanked his leash hard enough.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's opposition urged senior clerics on Saturday to help secure the release of people arrested following June's disputed presidential election, after a protester died in prison while people took to the streets in countries accross the world in a show of solidarity with detainess.
A reformist website said the son of an adviser to defeated conservative candidate Mohsen Rezaie had been killed in a Tehran prison after being detained in post-election unrest.
" We are very worried about their physical and mental health ... this imposed state security should end ... It is wrong to link pro-reform detainees to foreign countries "
In a flurry of announcements on websites, critics of the election condemned the tactics employed since the vote by the authorities, who have banned street protests by those who say the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged. "The only way out of this situation is ... to immediately release detainees," Ghalamnews quoted a joint statement issued by moderate defeated candidates and former President Mohammad Khatami as saying. "We are very worried about their physical and mental health ... this imposed state security should end ... It is wrong to link pro-reform detainees to foreign countries," it said.
Tehran has accused western powers of fuelling post-election unrest, charges they deny, adding to tensions over Iran's nuclear program which the West suspects is a cover for building atomic weapons. Iran says its program is peaceful.
Global Day of Action
Meanwhile, demonstrators gathered in more than 110 cities around the world for "Global Day of Action," a day dedicated to Iran's political prisoners. They demanded that Iran's government free all detainees arrested during postelection protests and called on the United Nations to investigate rights abuses.
United For Iran, the group behind the "Global Day of Action", is backed by some of the world's leading NGOs such as Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders, and Human Rights Watch . The group is also supported by prominent figures such as Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Shirin Ebadi and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. "Join me in a worldwide rally on July 25 to support and echo the voices of millions of Iranians who are demanding their civil and human civil rights. The people of Iran need you," Tutu said in a video posted on the group's website,
Detainees tortured
" The intelligence network has turned into the most unclear and terrifying tool to suppress people ... detainees are being kept in illegal detention centers and are under mental torture. Physically they are threatened harshly "
Mehdi Karoubi
Moderate defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karoubi said in a letter to Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei that those detained since the election had been subjected to "mental torture" and treated harshly, his website reported.
"The head of the executive body is not elected by the people's vote. The new government is illegitimate," he said in his letter. "The intelligence network has turned into the most unclear and terrifying tool to suppress people ... detainees are being kept in illegal detention centers and are under mental torture. Physically they are threatened harshly," the letter added.
"Think of a way out of the current crisis, otherwise it will be difficult for you to manage Ramadan and other religious and national days," he added, referring to holidays when people gather and hold rallies.
Killed in Evin prison
The reformist Mosharekat website said on Saturday that Mohsen Ruholamini, the son of a senior adviser to Rezaie, had been killed in Tehran's Evin prison. "His family was told that Mohsen would be released soon. But the authorities informed the family on Thursday night about his death," the website said.
Ruholamini had been arrested in post-election protests on July 9 and held in Evin, the website said. It did not say how he had been killed or when.
Leading moderates, including Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, have called for the immediate release of post-election detainees. The authorities say most of those held have been freed. Iranian official media have said at least 20 people died in violence after the poll. Moderate defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and the authorities blame each other for the bloodshed. Riot police and religious Basij militia eventually suppressed June's protests, but leading moderates have remained defiant, calling the new government "illegitimate."
Mousavi has said he will join a planned group of leading figures to preserve "people's votes", saying he would not allow his killed supporters' "blood to be trampled."
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(KUNA) -- Iranian missiles will be launched at Israel, should the Persian state come under foreign attack, said Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Brigadier Mohammad Ali Jaafari, on Saturday. In a statement to local media, he said, "If we come under any attack by the Zionist entity, our missiles will be launched at all areas of the occupied Palestinian territories. We are capable of responding with accuracy to any possible aggression." 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad finally gave in to an order from the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dismissed his top deputy after remaining defiant for five days.
