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Russia will supply to Iran advanced anti-aircraft systems by the end of 2008 or early 2009, Reuters reported with reference to a source with Israel's Ministry of Defense. According to the source, Russia will supply advanced S-300 anti-aircraft systems to Iran. The delivery of first consignment has been slated for September, but deploying and making the systems operable will take from six to 12 months...

IN A LITTLE-NOTICED DECISION in a New York courtroom on September 25, 2003, a man described as Osama bin Laden's "best friend" got some good news. U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Batts ruled that Mahmdouh Mahmud Salim could not be sentenced to life in prison. Salim--who was present at the founding of al Qaeda in 1989 and who was for years one of bin Laden's most trusted confidants--had been captured in Germany in 1998 and extradited to the United States for prosecution related to his role in the grand conspiracy that resulted in the 1998 bombings at U.S. embassies in...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush in 2002 branded Iraq, Iran and North Korea part of an "axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world" -- and he believes two of them still are, the White House said on Monday. Bush, in his 2002 State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress, accused the three countries of seeking weapons of mass destruction that could be used for attacks on U.S. allies or to blackmail the United States. The United States led a coalition of forces into Iraq but never found nuclear weapons. North Korea...

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that he is ready to establish normal relations with Israel and to exchange ambassadors and sign bilateral agreements if a peace deal is reached between the two countries. “We have raised the matter of normalizing relations since the beginning of the peace talks,” Assad told Al-Jazzeera Television, adding that good relations between states entail setting up embassies and signing agreements. He said that relations could worsen or improve, turn friendly or be suspended, “but this a normal part of nationhood.” “The indirect talks with Israel will pave the way for direct talks or else negotiations...

President George W. Bush Thursday formally abandoned the last vestiges of a once-robust policy towards a North Korean regime he had rightly said he “loathed.” Worse yet, he is doing so in the face of Pyongyang’s manifest contempt exhibited through, among other things, its serial refusal even to provide promised data about the status and disposition of its nuclear arsenal, let alone to eliminate it. Consider the following egregious shortfalls in the “declaration” supplied by Kim Jong Il’s representatives to the United States via Communist China: The North Korean declaration was delivered six months late. As time dragged on without...

Vice President Dick Cheney fought furiously to block efforts by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to strike a controversial US compromise deal with North Korea over the communist state's nuclear programme, the Telegraph has learned. "The exchanges between Cheney's office and Rice's people at State got very testy. But ultimately Condi had the President's ear and persuaded him that his legacy would be stronger if they reached a deal with Pyongyang," said a Pentagon adviser briefed on the battle. Mr Cheney's office is believed to have played a key role in the release two months ago of documents and photographs...

(CNSNews.com) - The Bush administration's decision to ease trade sanctions on North Korea and start a 45-day process of removing Pyongyang from a list of terror-sponsors has drawn fire from conservatives and praise from quarters usually critical of the president's foreign policies. The decision also fueled a long running debate in Japan, where many feel the move is premature. The announcement that North Korea will be removed from the terrorism list and that sanctions under the Trading With the Enemy Act will be lifted followed the regime's handover of a written declaration -- six months overdue -- of its plutonium-based...

(CNSNews.com) - "We will trust you only to the extent that you fulfill your promises," President Bush warned North Korea on Thursday. The president announced at the White House that in response to North Korea meeting a key deadline to declare its nuclear activities, the United States will lift some trade sanctions against the communist state and rescind North Korea's designation as a state sponsor of terror. North Korea handed over a long-awaited declaration of its nuclear programs to Chinese officials on Thursday. President Bush noted that North Korea has begun disabling its nuclear facility at Yongbyon; and on Thursday,...

TOKYO — North Korea took a step on Thursday toward reintegration into the world community and rapprochement with the United States by submitting for outside inspection a long-delayed declaration of its nuclear program. The 60-page declaration from North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and impoverished nations, was expected to describe in previously undisclosed detail its capabilities in nuclear power and nuclear weapons — meeting a major demand of the United States and other countries that consider the North a dangerous source of instability. “This can be a moment of opportunity for North Korea,” said President Bush, announcing the...

WASHIGNTON -- The Bush administration on Thursday will lift some trade sanctions against North Korea and move to take it off the U.S. terrorism blacklist -- a remarkable turnaround in policy toward the communist regime, which President George W. Bush once branded as part of an "axis of evil." Bush will make comments on North Korea declaring details of its nuclear program Thursday morning at the White House. Watch them on TheIndyChannel. North Korea handed over a long-awaited accounting of its nuclear work to Chinese officials on Thursday, fulfilling a key step in the denuclearization process. In exchange, the U.S....

North Korean Nuclear: important announcement at 09H00 GMT, according to Beijing BEIJING - China has informed Thursday that an "important announcement" would be made during a press conference in Beijing at 09H00 GMT on the nuclear issue of North Korean. "There will be a press conference at 17H00 (09H00 GMT) with an important announcement," said the spokesman of Chinese Foreign Ministry Liu Jianchao. Asked about the nature of this announcement, he said it was an "important news about the six-party talks", adding that he was "not in a position to give details." North Korea has promised to surrender Thursday...

MOSCOW (AFP)--Russia's foreign minister Friday said there was no proof Iran is developing nuclear weapons and warned unilateral action against the country risked repeating the mistakes of the invasion of Iraq. "We have been repeatedly asking our American and Israeli colleagues, who insist that Iran...is engaged in making a nuclear bomb, to provide factual information to those assertions. So far we have seen none," Sergei Lavrov said in a speech in Moscow. "The same conclusion has been made by the International Atomic Energy Agency," he said. Responding to a warning earlier this month by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz...

"I have been charged by the president with making sure that none of the tyrannies in the world are negotiated with," Vice President Cheney reportedly declared in a White House meeting on North Korea in December 2003. "We don't negotiate with evil; we defeat it." Cheney's call to battle resounded last week as the Bush administration slammed former president Jimmy Carter for talking to Hamas, the extremist Palestinian group that now runs the Gaza Strip, and began to have its own second thoughts about closing a new nuclear deal with North Korea. Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain also chimed...

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday that the era of use of force and that of bullying powers has ended. He made the remarks while addressing a group of foreign guests taking part in the ceremony commemorating 19th anniversary of the late Imam Khomeini's demise. Underlining the need for unity and solidarity of the Muslim World, he said all satanic powers will be eliminated through unity of Muslims and vigilance of the Islamic Ummah. As to the Israeli atrocity in the occupied lands, Ahmadinejad said the criminal regime which has been plundering the wealth of the oppressed Palestinian nation and...

Not only is Obama's middle name Hussein that of the prophet Mohammad's grandson (revered as the saint of all saints by Iran's majority Shiites) but the candidate's foreign policy seems light years away from the saber-rattling of President Bush and Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee. ...what Iranian elites say about Obama. I should say, he is a phenomenon, based on what he has said so far, Sadegh Kharazzi, a former Iranian diplomat squarely in the reformist camp now out of power, said. Unless he is drawn into traditional Democratic Party ways, his election as a president will be...

Iran has secretly paid Iraqi insurgents hundreds of thousands of American dollars to kill British soldiers, according to a leaked government document obtained by The Telegraph. The allegations are contained in a confidential "field report" written by a British officer who served in Basra during one of the most dangerous periods of the conflict. The report, which has never been made public, shows the full level of Iran's involvement in the insurgency for the first time. The document states that the Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) – also known as the Mahdi Army – one of the most violent insurgent groups operating...

WASHINGTON - The top uniformed U.S. military officer told Congress on Tuesday that Iran is directly jeopardizing any potential for peace in Iraq, prompting fresh calls from senators that the U.S. pursue diplomatic talks with Tehran. Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that "irresponsible actions" by Iran's Revolutionary Guard "directly jeopardize" peace in Iraq.

The United States has reached a deal with North Korea to provide 500,000 tons of food aid over the coming year to the isolated communist nation. The U.S. administration says the aid has little to do with its nuclear disarmament deal with Pyongyang, although both have involved an unusual intensity of U.S. diplomacy with North Korea, a nation President George W. Bush once included as part of a rhetorical ``axis of evil.'' ``We don't see any connection,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack was quoted as saying. ``We're doing this because America is a compassionate nation and the United States and...

TEHRAN (AFP) - Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday declared Iran was "not afraid" of sanctions over its contested nuclear programme and would further step up its progress. ADVERTISEMENT "We are not afraid of Western sanctions," he told thousands of people in a speech in the southern city of Shiraz broadcast by state television. "The Iranian people, thanks to God, will resist in the face of sanctions and economic blockades and will further intensify their progress." Iran has been hit by three sets of UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear programme, mainly targeting its ballistic missile and atomic...

CIA Director Michael Hayden said Wednesday that Iranian policy, at the highest government level, is to help kill Americans in Iraq, the boldest pronouncement of Iranian involvement by a U.S. official to date. Hayden made the statement in response to a student question while delivering the Landon Lecture at Kansas State University. "It is my opinion, it is the policy of the Iranian government, approved to highest level of that government, to facilitate the killing of Americans in Iraq," Hayden said. "Just make sure there's clarity on that." In recent weeks, U.S. officials have ratcheted up their complaints that Iran...

DURING HIS RECENT TRIP TO Europe, President Bush sent mixed signals about U.S. policy with regard to Iran's development of nuclear weapons. At one point he dismissed the prospect of military action as ridiculous; immediately after, he emphasized all options were on the table; then at another point he suggested there might be "convergence" between U.S. and European views on how to address the problem. If the president seemed to be all over the lot, that may be because the policy choices with respect to Iran are complex, and none is without its drawbacks. Currently we are pursuing a "good...

Why Does Ahmadinejad Want Russian Troops in Iran? 25/04/2008 By Amir Taheri Why is the leadership in Tehran anxious to give Russia the right to land troops in Iran? The question is not fanciful. The Islamic Republic is conducting a devious campaign to prepare public opinion for that eventuality. The message is relayed through deliberately vague terms that diplomats understand immediately while the general public does not. The device is to revive two treaties that most students of Iranian history thought were dead and buried long ago. The first is the 1921 Treaty that the government of Sayyed Ziauddin Tabatabai,...

Mystery solved. On Sept. 6 of last year, Israeli warplanes struck a facility in the deserts of eastern Syria. The Israelis refused to explain what they had hit or why. The Syrians immediately bulldozed the site to block all further investigation. The U.S. government acknowledged the attack but declined otherwise to comment. And the world was left to speculate. On Thursday, the Bush administration at last confirmed what had long been rumored: The Syrian facility was indeed a nuclear plant. The plant followed the same design as the Yongbyon plant in North Korea, and North Korean engineers and workers had...

Ten North Koreans were killed in an IAF air strike on a Syria installation September, Bloomberg reported Monday, quoting an NHK report that cited unidentified South Korean intelligence officials. The report quoted a Japanese broadcaster who said that they had been assisting the Syrians in the construction of a nuclear reactor. Several North Korean workers survived the air strike, the report said. Yielding to months of pressure from the US Congress, the Bush administration gave members briefings on Thursday indicating that on September 6, Israel destroyed an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor built with North Korean help.

NEW YORK (AFP) — The US military says it has found Iranian-made mortars, rockets and explosives in Iraq bearing recent date stamps, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday."You can see the manufacturing dates right on the armaments themselves," a senior commander in Baghdad was quoted as saying. "These are very clearly weapons that were made in the last month or so."Iran denies supplying ammunition to Iraqi militants, or training them.Earlier this week, a US general in Iraq said that the increasingly sophisticated attacks carried out by Shiite extremists were evidence that they were getting extra aid from Iranian groups...

At the moment America has disclosed to the world Israel's success in ending a North Korea-aided nuclear weapons project in the Syrian desert, the Syrians are saying Prime Minister Olmert will relinquish the Golan Heights. The Israelis are offering no public comment. But Syria's expatriates minister, Buthaina Shaaban, told Al-Jazeera that the Israeli premier had instructed Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to deliver the message. "Olmert is ready for peace with Syria on the grounds of the return of the Golan Heights in full to Syria," she told the Arab satellite network. The interview aired before the White House...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If President George W. Bush wants to make progress on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions before he leaves office next year, he first has to close the deal with Congress. The White House took a step to try to win congressional support on Thursday by laying out intelligence alleging that North Korea helped Syria to build a nuclear reactor that U.S. officials say was destroyed by Israel on September 6. The White House initially tried to keep the matter secret, fearing Damascus might be embarrassed by a public airing of the strike -- and the fact that...

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2008 – Syria’s building of a secret nuclear facility with North Korean help reinforces the need to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. “It should serve as a reminder to us all of the very real dangers of proliferation and need to rededicate ourselves to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, particularly into the hands of a state or a group with terrorist connections,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said during a Pentagon briefing. The reactor, destroyed by Israel in September before it...

The neocons may yet get their war on Iran. Ever since President Nouri al-Maliki ordered the attacks in Basra on the Mahdi Army, Gen. David Petraeus has been laying the predicate for U.S. air strikes on Iran and a wider war in the Middle East. Iran, Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee, has "fueled the recent violence in a particularly damaging way through its lethal support of the special groups." These "special groups" are "funded, trained, armed and directed by Iran's Quds Force with help from Lebanese Hezbollah. It was these groups that launched Iranian rockets and mortar rounds...

The most senior US general in Iraq has said he has evidence that Iran was behind Sunday's bombardment of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. Gen David Petraeus told the BBC he thought Tehran had trained, equipped and funded insurgents who fired the barrage of mortars and rockets. He said Iran was adding what he described as "lethal accelerants" to a very combustible mix. ... In an interview with BBC world affairs editor John Simpson, Gen Petraeus said violence in Iraq was being perpetuated by Iran's Quds Force, a branch of the Revolutionary Guards. "The rockets that were launched at the...

One of the armor-piercing roadside bombs in Iraq has a nickname among the militants who place the device. They call it the Najadia, a short variation on the long name of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "My group and I believe honestly in fighting the Americans - and getting financial benefit out of it," says Hussein Ali, an Iraqi Shi'ite guerrilla who recounted a journey to Iran for training in explosives in an interview with TIME. "We became very professional in planting and using the mine called BMZ2, which is a Russian mine modified in Iran for use against the American...

The Democrats say he did. So does the Washington Post which, we all know, is basically the same thing: Sen. John McCain, in the midst of a trip to the Middle East that he hoped would help burnish his foreign policy expertise, incorrectly asserted Tuesday that Iran is training and supplying al-Qaeda in Iraq, confusing the Sunni insurgent group with the Shiite extremists who U.S. officials believe are supported by their religious brethren in the neighboring country. The mistake, which he quickly corrected after a brief whisper from a colleague, was an unwelcome stumble as McCain (Ariz.), the all-but-certain Republican...

In recent weeks, two news reports have circulated referencing Iran’s relationship with al Qaeda. On Tuesday, March 18th, Senator John McCain repeatedly stated that Iran was aiding al Qaeda in Iraq. Later, however, he retracted this statement and said that Iran was not aiding al Qaeda in Iraq. Senator McCain was right the first time and he should not have retracted his statement. In fact, al Qaeda and Iran have a rather long history of cooperation. A few days before Senator McCain’s unfortunate retraction, a senior military adviser to the Barack Obama campaign, retired Air Force General Merrill McPeak, was...

Iran reportedly purchased $1 billion in arms for Syria, including missile systems. The report in the Ha'aretz newspaper Friday was unsourced but arises out of this week's meeting in Israel between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. Germany closely monitors the Iranian arms trade.

In recent weeks, two news reports have circulated about Iran’s relationship with al-Qaeda. On Tuesday, March 18, Sen. John McCain repeatedly stated that Iran was aiding al-Qaeda in Iraq. Later, however, he retracted this statement. Senator McCain was right the first time. In fact, al-Qaeda and Iran have a rather long history of cooperation. A few days before Senator McCain’s unfortunate retraction, a senior military adviser to the Barack Obama campaign, retired Air Force general Merrill McPeak, was quoted in the March 15 edition of the Washington Times as saying, “Iran is a big enemy of al-Qaeda.” General McPeak’s statement...

The Russia-Al-Qaeda Axis   By Jamie Glazov FrontPageMagazine.com | Wednesday, March 19, 2008 There are two factions of the Chechen Resistance: one of them more or less democratic and the other Islamist. Recently, Chechnya had a constitutional crisis: the Islamists persuaded the then acting President, Dokka Umarov, to announce that the Chechens were joining the global jihad against all the infidels, not only Russia. Umarov also proclaimed himself to be the Amir of the 'Caucasus Amirate', of which Chechnya would be only a part. The last democratically elected Chechen parliament said it did not recognize this decision, which amounted...

A controversy that shouldn't exist. McCain was mocked by Democrats when he said Iran is supporting Al-Qaeda, that Iran would not as Iran is shia and Al-Qaeda sunni. That's a nonsense. Terrorist groups and states don't care about those things. They primarily gather to survive. The US used jihadists. The Sunni Syria is supporting Shia Hezbullah. Here is an excerpt of the arabic press, reported by Iraqi Omar on his blog Iraq the model, showing ties between Iran and Al-Qaeda : According to this report from Azzaman, Iran's revolutionary guard corps is supplying Zarqawi's al-Qaeda in Iraq with Russian-made anti-aircraft...

Some bloggers are jumping all over Senator John McCain for his supposed "gaffe" today. According to The Trail, a blog over at the Washington Post, McCain said that Iranian operatives were "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back." He elaborated by saying it was "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate." Senator John Lieberman apparently then whispered something in McCain’s ear, prompting McCain to take it back: "I'm sorry, the Iranians...

JERUSALEM — Senator John McCain’s trip overseas was supposed to highlight his foreign policy acumen, and his supporters hoped that it would showcase him as a statesman, allowing him to meet with world leaders as the Democrats squabble. But all did not go according to plan on Tuesday in Amman, Jordan, when Mr. McCain, fresh from a visit to Iraq, misidentified some of the key players in the Iraq war. Mr. McCain said several times during his visit to Jordan – during a news conference and a radio interview — that he was concerned that Iran was training Al Qaeda...

Oil trading is now nearly always denominated in dollars, the de facto common currency of the petroleum business. When Kuwait sells oil under a futures contract to India, for example, the price is set in dollars. Similarly, Russia's large trade with Western Europe and the former Soviet states in crude oil and natural gas is conducted in dollar-denominated contracts. ... As a result, companies and countries that buy petroleum products are encouraged to hold dollar reserves to pay for their supplies, coincidentally helping the American economy support its trade deficit. Russia would like to change this practice, at least among...

There's little wrong with America that can't be fixed with a bit more attention to corporate profits. To boosting them, I mean. I know it doesn't seem politic to say such things right now, what with presidential candidates ranging from Hillary Clinton to John McCain ridiculing CEOs and channeling the class-warfare diatribes of discredited doomsayers from 75 years ago. McCain, currently the Republican front-runner, has criticized his chief rival Mitt Romney for preferring "profits to patriotism" and has castigated the "greedy people on Wall Street" during the debates. His stances against tax cuts and for a huge federal program to...

Regime collapse in Pyongyang January 21, 2008 By Daniel L. Davis - On Nov. 7, Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited his South Korean counterpart Kim Jang-soo to underscore the solidarity between the United States and the Republic of Korea with regard to the oft-intransigent North Korea. Sending an unmistakable message to Pyongyang — and Asia in general — about how seriously America views the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, Mr. Gates was accompanied by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the admiral commanding all American forces in the Pacific, and the four-star general commanding all troops in...

Clock ticking for Kim's Korea 24 January 2008 Kim Jong-Il's regime could collapse within six months, bringing chaos to North Korea, observers and intelligence sources in Asia have told Jane's. A joint United States report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the US Institute for Peace has also revealed that China has "contingency plans" in the event of North Korea's implosion. The report, entitled 'Keeping an Eye on an Unruly Neighbor', said that China was prepared to "take the initiative" and had a military strategy for securing North Korea's "loose nukes" should Kim Jong-Il's rule fail.

US says North Korea will remain on terror list Date : 24 January 2008 0106 hrs (SST) WASHINGTON : The United States warned on Wednesday that North Korea will stay on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism until it fully discloses its nuclear activities, as promised. "The ball is in North Korea's court right now," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters. "I would say it's definitely not imminent. We need to have that declaration before we can talk about any next steps." Perino's comments clashed with remarks on Tuesday by the US State Department's counter-terrorism coordinator -...

Russia has now delivered more than half the fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, after a fourth consignment arrived at the Bushehr site in southern Iran. The fourth consignment of fuel weighed 11 tonnes, Iran's national news agency quoted the Organisation for Production and Development of Nuclear Energy as saying in a statement. Russia has so far delivered 44 tonnes of fuel, after shipments which arrived on December 17, 28 and January 18. It is due to deliver a total of about 82 tonnes of nuclear fuel in eight consignments, with the last due next month. Iran insisted on...

FP: Pavel Stroilov, welcome to Frontpage Interview. Stroilov: I am very honoured, though I would have much preferred to see the author of the book, Alexander Litvinenko, here in my place. Alas, he cannot speak for himself anymore, so our sad duty is to act as his posthumous spokesmen. While Alexander was still alive, he made a number of extremely important allegations. If nothing else, his horrible death itself proves that those allegations should be taken very seriously and investigated most thoroughly. FP: Our thoughts and prayers are with Alexander and with his family. Against all odds, let us hope...

 Syrian Government Officials Call on Arab Countries to Deepen Relations with Iran Against the backdrop of President Bush's Middle East visit and of the recent visit to Syria by 'Ali Larijani, representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Iran's Supreme National Security Council, high-ranking Syrian government officials called on Arab countries to deepen relations and cooperation with Iran. Such calls have been voiced by Syrian Information Minister Muhsin Bilal and Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Faisal Al-Miqdad. In addition, a column published in the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra advised Arab states that Iran's becoming a regional power was in...

George Bush calls Iran 'leading terror sponsor' By Damien McElroy In Riyadh Last Updated: 4:46pm GMT 13/01/2008 President George W Bush has condemned Iran as the foremost threat to global security as he attempted to rally Gulf states behind a tougher line against the Islamic Republic during a tour of the region. In a keynote speech in Abu Dhabi President Bush said it was time to confront an Iran that supported terrorism and defied the United Nations to pursue secret nuclear research. "Iran is today the world's leading state sponsor of terror," he said. "It sends hundreds of millions of...

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Saturday called on Syria to cut the "flow of terrorists" into Iraq and on Iran to stop supporting militias that attack US forces and Iraqis. Syria "needs to further reduce the flow of terrorists" and "Iran must stop supporting militias," he told reporters after meeting his top political and military commanders in Iraq at a US base in Kuwait. Bush, on a Gulf tour to rally support of Arab allies against Iran, said that Tehran's role in "fomenting violence" in Iraq has been exposed.

In a troubling disclosure, the Russian Federal Customs Service has revealed that authorities thwarted more than 850 attempts to smuggle highly radioactive materials...