Posted on 11/17/2005 6:12:07 PM PST by SmithL
Iran has supplied Hezbullah with more than 10,000 short-range rockets and most of the weapons are deployed in southern Lebanon within reach of Israel, an Israeli diplomat said Thursday.
The rockets, some of which were provided by Syria, have a range of up to 110 kilometers, said Jeremy Issacharoff, the new deputy Israeli ambassador to Washington, at a conference on Iran sponsored The Israel Project, a nongovernment advocacy group.
"In Israeli terms, that range can be a heavyweight," Issacharoff said.
Iran is the leading supporter of terror groups in the world, he said.
Besides backing Hezbullah, a Lebanese group that has fought a cross-border conflict with Israel, Iran is supporting Palestinian terror groups, the Israeli diplomat said.
And he said Israel takes seriously a recent call by Iranian Prime Minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Israel be "wiped off the map."
At the State Department, spokesman Adam Ereli said Thursday the United States expects the world to speak with one voice at next week's meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in opposition to Iran's nuclear weapons program.
"We have reports, or the IAEA has confirmed, that Iran has resumed conversion of uranium into hexafluoride," Ereli said. "This is an unwelcome move, one that we view with concern.
"It is the latest in a series of moves by Iran that, frankly, go against what they, themselves, have committed themselves to and what the international community has asked of them."
Iran broke off negotiations in August with Britain, France and Germany, representing the European Union, and said they had the right to enrich uranium.
"I would say that none of this inspires confidence in Iran," Ereli said. "It contributes to the confidence gap and the trust deficit that we all have when looking at Iran's pattern of behavior over the last couple of years."
At the Iran conference, Rep. Brad Sherman of California recommended diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran and said he was proposing legislation to ban Iranian imports into the United States. He said his main aim was to stop Iran's nuclear program, and that an economic squeeze would undercut the government.
"The people of Iran need to be convinced that Iran's nuclear program is costing them development and jobs," Sherman said.
But Sherman said he doubted the UN Security Council would impose political and economic sanctions on Iran if it takes up Iran's nuclear program. China, for one, would veto any such resolution, partly to protect its oil interests in Iran, Sherman said.
He also questioned that President George W. Bush was aggressively applying sanctions against Iran.
"I don't know if this was a lie or if he was badly misinformed," Sherman said.
The United States has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. Some $150 million worth of Iranian products, mostly carpets and some caviar, are imported by the United States annually, Sherman's office said.
Within months or even weeks, Gaza will likely be the launching ground of such weapons. When that happens, some people I HAD a great deal of respect for will likely have helped to make it happen. For Israel's sake, I hope I am wrong.
This blood will be on the heads of Condi and Sharon.
Condi implements policy.
and the world is allowing iran to have """PEACEFUL""" nuclear ambitions ???????
The Westen World is in it's last throws. When Iran gets the bomb, the terrorists get the bomb.
When the first one goes off in the U.S., just watch the left line up to explain why it's our fault.
When the first one goes off...There wont be a liberal left. I pray there will only be Americans...united again like 9-11.
Oh No! Not another pistachio type war. I and many other pistachio lovers were casualties in the previous boycott.
"Iranian pistachios have been unavailable since the mid-1980s, when the California pistachio industry convinced the U.S. government that Iran was "dumping" its pistachios here at below-market prices.
The Commerce Department imposed duties totaling around 300%, making it far too expensive to sell them in the States.
A year later, the government placed an embargo on all Iranian products. The Clinton Administration lifted the embargo on Iranian foodstuffs but refused to eliminate the high duties on pistachios from Iran."
Time for a blockade.
Maybe the mullahs should just get whacked. The world would be a better place without their vile and fetid prescence..
Nuke 'em into dust ....
bump
Shhhhh! nobody likes the truth, not in public anyway.
Sort of like nuke'em back to the Ice Age?...
That's an admirable thought, but don't kid yourself. On 09/12 the democrats were loathe to commit do doing anying against the perps and their base. They sure as hell weren't going to say that out loud, but in their hearts they were convinced the U.S. was at fault, it had done something that justified the terrorism.
Richard Gere was one of the only ones with the chutzpa to say what they all were thinking, when he appeared at that memorial service, and preached against taking out the terrorists on their own soil, not ours.
May these vermin rot in hell.
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