Iran's secret talks with Iraqi militants spark fears of proxy war

Harry de Quetteville | 19 March

Telegraph - Iran held secret talks with Shia militant leaders from Iraq and Lebanon only days before the country's nuclear negotiators threatened America with "harm and pain", independent sources in Teheran have revealed.

The Iraqi firebrand cleric, Moqtadr al-Sadr and the chief of the armed Shia group Hizbollah in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah, held separate consultations with leading officials in Teheran.

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"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Some U.S. Officials Fear Iran Is Helping Al Qaeda
They say intelligence suggests that the regime lets key figures plot. But the picture is cloudy.
By Josh Meyer, LA Times Staff Writer
March 21, 2006

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officials, already focused on Iran's potential for building nuclear weapons, are struggling to solve a more immediate mystery: the murky relationship between the new Tehran leadership and the contingent of Al Qaeda leaders residing in the country.

Some officials, citing evidence from highly classified satellite feeds and electronic eavesdropping, believe the Iranian regime is playing host to much of Al Qaeda's remaining brain trust and allowing the senior operatives freedom to communicate and help plan the terrorist network's operations.

And they suggest that recently elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be forging an alliance with Al Qaeda operatives as a way to expand Iran's influence or, at a minimum, that he is looking the other way as Al Qaeda leaders in his country collaborate with their counterparts elsewhere.

"Iran is becoming more and more radicalized and more willing to turn a blind eye to the Al Qaeda presence there," a U.S. counter-terrorism official said.

Raja March 21, 2006 - 8:11am

I thought that they had buried the whole idea in Security Council of giving to the USA right to attack Iran after Iran told them like kids that they will use the oil weapon.

Russia and China oppose sanctions,

I don't know about Russia but China buys oil from Iran.

-- Let your prophets run and sell the suckers!

Have we learned nothing from the WMD debacle? Where are the tough questions for this admin about their belief in Iran nukes? Where is the new emboldened press? And why don't Americans put their new-found skepticism of Bushie to good use?

US said to be urging Japan to halt Iranian oil development
By :
Date : 23 March 2006 1350 hrs (SST)
URL : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/199376/1/.html

TOKYO : Senior US officials have urged Japan to halt development of a massive oil field with Iran amid concern that revenue from the project could fuel the Islamic state's nuclear drive, a report said.

Washington had asked its close ally, which is heavily reliant on Middle Eastern oil, at least to halt the two-billion-dollar Azadegan project, the Sankei Shimbun said, quoting anonymous sources close to the US government.

The demands were made informally by US officials including Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and Undersecretary of State for Arms Control Robert Joseph, the conservative daily said.

The US embassy told AFP Japan was aware of US opposition to investment in Iran but declined to comment on whether Washington has pressured Tokyo to stop the Azadegan project.

"We have discussed our views on this and related matters and Japan knows our position on this matter," a US embassy spokesman said.

But a Japanese foreign ministry spokeswoman said Japan "is holding no concrete talks with the United States" on the future of the project.

"The Azadegan oil development is a very important project for us in terms of stable energy supply. We will cope with the matter squarely as nuclear non-proliferation and stable supply of crude oil are both important," she said.

Japan has walked a tightrope on the Iranian crisis, supporting US and European calls for Tehran to give up its nuclear program while trying not to jeopardize its close commercial ties with the Islamic regime.

Japan defied the United States in 2004 by signing the contract to develop Azadegan, considered one of the world's biggest untapped oil reserves.

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Tehran reportedly is gearing up for uranium enrichment. A split in the Security Council may impede efforts to halt the program.

By Alissa J. Rubin and Maggie Farley, LA Times Staff Writers
March 25, 2006

VIENNA — With efforts to halt its nuclear program at an impasse, Iran is moving faster than expected and is just days from making the first steps toward enriching uranium, said diplomats who have been briefed on the program.

If engineers encounter no major technical problems, Iran could manufacture enough highly enriched uranium to build a bomb within three years, much more quickly than the common estimate of five to 10 years, the diplomats said.

Iran insists that it is interested only in producing electricity, which requires low-grade enrichment of uranium.

New information about Iran's program came from diplomats representing countries on the United Nations Security Council. They were briefed by senior staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which maintains monitors in Iran. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because the briefing was private.

Even as Iran apparently moves forward, diplomatic efforts to persuade it to halt its nuclear work appeared to be faltering in the face of distrust among powerful Security Council members and disagreements over the best strategy.

"We're getting conflicting signals from the United States; it now appears they want to escalate the situation," said a senior diplomat in Vienna. "The Russians see that as a slippery slope."

March 25, 2006
By REUTERS

Filed at 6:27 a.m. ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 and a series of aftershocks struck the southern Iranian province of Hormuzgan on Saturday, causing minor damage, officials said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

``The earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.0, was centered near the rural area of Fin in Hormuzgan province,'' Farhad Jabari, head of Hormuzgan's Red Crescent rescue service told Reuters.

Before leaving for the quake-hit area, Jabari said by telephone he did not think the first quake at 10.58 a.m. (0728 GMT) had done much damage but feared a third aftershock at about 1.30 p.m. (1000 GMT) gave more grounds for concern.

The official IRNA news agency said two early aftershocks had measured 3.8 and 4.8. Jabari said the third aftershock had felt stronger than the original quake.

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