Free Republic

Security forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have been using chemical weapons against Syrian rebels, under the supervision of Iranian and Russian experts, a defecting Syrian officer charged Monday. The officer, Captain Abd al-Salam Ahmed Abdul Razek, who served in Syrian's chemical warfare administration, told al-Arabiya that the Syrian military used nerve gas – banned by various international conventions – in order to assist forces in their raid on the restive city of Homs.

WASHINGTON—Iran denied United Nations inspectors access to a suspected nuclear site, scientists and documents during a visit to Tehran this week, dimming already scant hopes for a breakthrough to end a standoff over Iran's nuclear work, according to diplomats briefed on the International Atomic Energy Agency's mission. The IAEA said it will return a senior-level team to Iran later this month to try and build on three days of discussions that were held with senior Iranian officials, which ended Tuesday. But U.S. and European officials are already voicing concerns that Tehran is seeking to use the dialogue to divide the...

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has a lot on his mind these days, from cutting the defense budget to managing the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. But his biggest worry is the growing possibility that Israel will attack Iran militarily over the next few months. Panetta believes there is strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June — before Iran enters what Israelis described as a “zone of immunity” to commence building a nuclear bomb. Very soon, the Israelis fear, the Iranians will have enough enriched uranium in deep underground facilities to make a weapon —...

LONDON — British and French ships joined a US carrier group in a six-strong flotilla of warships which passed through the sensitive Strait of Hormuz, Britain's Ministry of Defence said. The ministry said a Royal Navy frigate, HMS Argyll, was part of a US-led carrier group to sail through the waterway which Iran has threatened to close over Western moves to impose new sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme. A spokesman said: "HMS Argyll and a French vessel joined a US carrier group transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, to underline the unwavering international commitment to maintaining rights of passage under...

The Turkish newspaper Zaman reported Tuesday that Turkish intelligence has warned that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is planning attacks on the American embassy and American consulates throughout the country. According to the report, Turkey’s security forces have warned police in all 81 districts throughout the country, informing them that they must remain alert. The report states that according to Turkish intelligence, it is likely that a cell of the Quds Unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is planning to break into the U.S. Embassy or one of its consulates. The intelligence further stated that the cell is planning on staying at a...

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran on Tuesday warned Saudi Arabia to reconsider its vow to make up for any shortfall in Iranian oil exports under new sanctions, saying Riyadh's pledge to step into the market was unfriendly. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi issued the warning in remarks carried by state media. "We invite Saudi officials to further reflect and consider" their offer to compensate for curbed Iranian oil exports, Salehi said. He attacked comments by Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi that Saudi oil output could be boosted by around 2.6 million barrels per day -- the same amount that Iran exports...

The goal of U.S. and other sanctions against Iran is regime collapse, a senior U.S. intelligence official said, offering the clearest indication yet that the Obama administration is at least as intent on unseating Iran’s government as it is on engaging with it. The official, speaking this week on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the administration hopes that sanctions “create enough hate and discontent at the street level” that Iranians will turn against their government.

(Reuters) - Western powers this week readied a contingency plan to tap a record volume from emergency stockpiles to replace nearly all the Gulf oil that would be lost if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, industry sources and diplomats told Reuters. They said senior executives of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises 28 oil consuming countries, discussed Thursday an existing plan to release up to 14 million barrels per day (bpd) of government-owned oil stored in the United States, Europe, Japan and other importers. Action on this scale would be more than five times the size of the...

A projectile landed inside of Israeli territory near Biranit in the Galilee, 700 meters from the Lebanese border overnight Monday, according to police. Army Radio reported that the projectile was a Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon. No injuries or damage were reported in the attack. An explosion was also heard in the Ma'alot area in the Western Galilee. Police were searching the area with the help of the IDF for signs of an additional projectile falling.

Officials say satellite surveillance has shown a recent increase in activity at an Iranian site suspected of secret work on nuclear weapons. One tells The Associated Press that it appears Tehran is trying to cover its tracks by removing any evidence of nuclear research and development.

Iran is less than a year away from being unstoppable in its goal of producing a nuclear weapon, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview with CNN released on Saturday. In an advance transcript of an interview to air on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" program on Sunday, Barak said Israel was focused on the prospect of a nuclear Iran and what "should and could be done about it on time." "It's true that it won't take three years, probably three quarters before no one can do anything practically about it because the Iranians are gradually, deliberately entering into...

Iran has already acquired the knowledge, technology, and resources to create a nuclear bomb within months, according to Western experts who were briefed on the intelligence information due to be released in this week's report by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency. According to the experts, Iranian scientists acquired the knowledge with the help of weapons scientists from Russia, Pakistan and North Korea. Haaretz reported last week that other experts also estimated that Iran could assemble a nuclear bomb within months and carry out an underground nuclear experiment if it wishes to do so. (snip) New disclosures in the...

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee says the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States may be an act of war against the U.S. Sen. Carl Levin says he wants to study the implications of using the term before deciding it applies. But the Michigan Democrat said the alleged scheme might be an act of war, and was certainly a serious threat to the U.S. Levin told reporters that either way, there should be a serious response by the U.S. He declined to say what that response might be.

LONDON, Oct 12, 2011 (AFP) - A former chief of Saudi intelligence said Wednesday there was overwhelming evidence that Iran was behind a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington and must "pay the price". "The burden of proof is overwhelming... and clearly shows official Iranian responsibility for this. Somebody in Iran will have to pay the price, whatever the level of these persons is," Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal told a conference on oil in London. The prince, who has also served as Saudi ambassador to the United States and Britain, said the alleged plan to kill the kingdom's...

Vice president Joe Biden slammed Iran over allegations it conspired to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington in a bomb plot and said the U.S. intended to mobilize world opinion in reaction. “It is an outrageous act,” said Biden Wednesday on ABC’s Good Morning America. “The Iranians are going to have to be held accountable. And when you see the case presented you will find there is compelling evidence for the assertion being made.” The U.S. is considering additional sanctions, but “nothing has been taken off the table,” he added. Biden said the administration intended to share intelligence with other...

Forty-five rockets and mortar shells on Thursday afternoon were fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip in the span of three hours, according to a tweet by the IDF Spokesperson. Earlier, an anti-tank missile shot from the Gaza Strip directly hit a school bus outside Kibbutz Sa'ad in the Sha'ar Hanegev area, injuring two people.

Manama: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states could sever their diplomatic relations with Iran, a Kuwaiti daily report said yesterday citing diplomatic sources. “A GCC arrangement is currently under way to adopt a significant step on relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” sources quoted by Al Watan daily said. “There is a strong inclination towards severing relations with Tehran. The GCC foreign ministers are expected to pass on the recommendation to the GCC leaders,” the unnamed sources were quoted saying. The GCC foreign ministers are particularly disturbed by Tehran’s “direct involvement” in the political unrest in the region and...

RIYADH, Apr 03, 2011 (AFP) - Gulf Arab foreign ministers meet Sunday in the Saudi capital to discuss Iranian interference in the region after a wave of unrest that has rocked the Arab world spilled over into some of the Western-backed monarchies. The extraordinary meeting comes after Tehran warned Riyadh that it was "playing with fire" by deploying troops in neighbouring Shiite-majority Bahrain while Kuwait claimed it had broken an Iranian spy ring. On Saturday, the new Gulf Cooperation Council secretary general, Abdullatif al-Zayani, condemned "Iran's meddling in the internal affairs of GCC countries" saying it "threatened security and stability...

REU: DOZENS OF CASUALTIES IN JERUSALEM BLAST -POLICE AlJazeera saying it was a huge explosion.... Breaking.

09.18: Rob Crilly EXCLUSIVE - The Telegraph's Rob Crilly says a crashed US warplane has been found in a field in Libya. It is believed that a mechanical failure brought it down late last night and it is understood that the pilot was taken by rebels and is safe. (snip) 09.34 More on that exclusive from The Telegraph's Rob Crilly - the US warplane found crashed in a field in Libya is an F-15E Eagle.