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Defiant Iran Displays Military Might
GOPUSA ^ | September 23, 2005 | Patrick Goodenough

Posted on 09/23/2005 11:42:12 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

(CNSNews.com) -- Savoring yet another reprieve in its nuclear standoff with the West, Iran has flexed its muscles with a show of military might and a warning that any nation considering attacking the Islamic republic would face a "destructive and fiery" response.

Marking the start of "Sacred Defense Week" -- a commemoration of the 1980 Iraqi invasion which triggered a costly eight-year war -- Iran displayed weaponry Thursday including six Shahab-3 ballistic missiles. Experts say the missiles are capable of reaching Israel as well as U.S. forces in the region.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech that while Iran sought peace and stability, it would ensure that any aggressor regretted its actions.

"Those who want to take advantage of our nation's honor and once again test the already tested should know that the fire of Iran's wrath is extremely fiery and destructive," said Ahmadinejad, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards.

He also called for an "expansion of the defense industries and the utilization of the latest technology."

The missiles were draped in banners bearing such slogans as "Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth" and "We will trample America under our feet."

Wire services reported that some European Union (E.U.) military attaches present at the event left when they saw the slogans.

The display of what the official Irna news agency called Iran's "latest military and defense achievements" came as the country once again dodged referral to the U.N. Security Council over its controversial nuclear activities.

E.U. nations, supported by the U.S. and other allies, tried this week to bring a resolution at an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors meeting, calling for Iran's referral.

But the bid was withdrawn Thursday after failure to win the support of China, Russia, and a bloc of developing countries represented on the 35-nation board. IAEA board decisions on serious matters have traditionally been based on consensus.

"The E.U. has withdrawn its request to send Iran's case to the Security Council," German ambassador to the IAEA Herbert Honsowitz told reporters, while Iranian negotiator Mohammad Saeedi hailed what he called "a significant victory for Iran."

The E.U. was hoping to get support instead for an alternative resolution that finds Iran in "non-compliance" with its obligations as a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory, but omits specific references to the Security Council.

Use of the term "non-compliance" is significant, because the IAEA statute says the board should in instances of non-compliance call upon the country concerned to remedy the situation, and report the matter to the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly.

Because of that implicit threat of referral, the E.U. and U.S. may similarly find it difficult to get board members like Russia and China onboard this new resolution.

'Serious grounds for concern'

Germany, France and Britain -- the so-called E.U.-3 -- have negotiated with Tehran for two years in a bid to end the standoff over a nuclear program the Iranians concealed from the IAEA for almost two decades.

The effort collapsed last month after Iran rejected an E.U. offer to stop nuclear cycle activities in exchange for incentives. Iran then resumed uranium conversion work which it had earlier agreed to suspend.

E.U.-3 foreign ministers Philippe Douste-Blazy, Joschka Fischer and Jack Straw, together with E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana, issued a joint statement laying out their case for referring Iran to the council.

"Under the IAEA's rules, Iran should have been reported to the United Nations Security Council two years ago," they said in the statement, published as an op-ed article in several newspapers around the world Thursday.

"We decided instead to find a way forward that would give Iran an opportunity to dispel concerns and prove that the aims of its nuclear program were entirely peaceful."

But despite their efforts and "talks in good faith," they said, Iran had rejected the European initiative.

"There are serious grounds for concern that Iran's nuclear ambitions may not be exclusively peaceful," they warned, calling on the international community collectively to meet the challenge.

Copyright © 1998-2005 CNSNews.com - Cybercast News Service


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: china; eu; europenaunion; france; germany; iaea; iran; iraq; israel; mahmoudahmadinejad; npt; nuclear; russia; sacreddefenseweek; securitycouncil; shahab3; un; unitednations; unitedstates; uranium; usa; war
Who here wants Iran to have nuclear weapons?

That's a strictly rhetorical question, of course.

1 posted on 09/23/2005 11:42:18 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Echoes of the Third Reich in today's Iran. The Nazis envisioned a thousand-year-Reich; it lasted twelve years.

Do the Iranian leaders have any idea of the fire they are playing with?


2 posted on 09/23/2005 11:45:47 AM PDT by Rummyfan
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To: Rummyfan

Send arms to the Arab separatists who live in the oil rich western lands along the Iraqi border.


3 posted on 09/23/2005 11:49:15 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
If memory serves correct, Saddam put on many similar such displays as well. The Iranians would do well to ask themselves what it got him.

A dirty little spider hole and now a trial by his own people that will lead to his execution.

4 posted on 09/23/2005 11:49:43 AM PDT by Jeff Head (www.dragonsfuryseries.com)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Here we see the Iranian Crack "Mullah Mobile Infantry" on secret maneuvers...

...and here we see the aftermath of America taking care of business...


5 posted on 09/23/2005 11:50:39 AM PDT by Itzlzha ("The avalanche has already started...it is too late for the pebbles to vote")
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech that while Iran sought peace and stability,...

LoL!

I had to double check to see if this article was from The Onion after reading this statement

6 posted on 09/23/2005 11:50:40 AM PDT by EGPWS
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Experts say the missiles are capable of reaching Israel as well as U.S. forces in the region.

Riiiight.

It's the payload I question. Nuclear smokescreen, imo.

7 posted on 09/23/2005 11:56:45 AM PDT by RGSpincich
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To: abner; Abundy; AGreatPer; alisasny; AlwaysFree; AnnaSASsyFR; Angelwood; aristeides; Askel5; ...

PING!


8 posted on 09/23/2005 11:57:06 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Hey, Cindy Sheehan, grow up!)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Experts say the missiles are capable of reaching Israel as well as U.S. forces in the region.

Not if they're blown up before launching, they're not.

9 posted on 09/23/2005 11:58:57 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Hey, I am all for the U.S. sending nuclear weapons to Iran.


10 posted on 09/23/2005 11:59:14 AM PDT by txroadkill
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
"Iran Displays Military Might"

Five dozen Toyota Foreskinners, four dozen Nissan pickup trucks, three hundred men women and children with RPG's, two hundred men women and children firing AK-47's into the air, and a mule with saddlebags.

11 posted on 09/23/2005 12:04:32 PM PDT by azhenfud (He who always is looking up seldom finds others' lost change.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks; All

Remember all those pictures we always saw of Saddam's Republican Guard .. and all the liberals were quaking in their boots at the SIGHT .. but these groups really only learned one thing - how to kill captured people .. these armies were not trained armies - they were not trained armies such as the lies of the USA.

Mark my word .. Iran is the same say. They will march in lockstep and LOOK fierce, but they are all bark and no bite.

The NK's on the otherhand, are trained in hand-to-hand combat - and I suspect they would be a greater threat. But .. could they be all bluster too ..?? There were stories a few years ago that many in the armies of NK were only there because it was the only way for those families to survive.


12 posted on 09/23/2005 12:08:05 PM PDT by CyberAnt (America has the greatest military on the face of the earth.)
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To: azhenfud

LMAO!!!

You forgot about the 'underarm' chemical weapons cache!


13 posted on 09/23/2005 1:15:46 PM PDT by highnoon (What in the wide, wide world of sports is a-go-in on around here?)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
"Defiant Iran Displays Military Might " Whoop dee do Basil
14 posted on 09/23/2005 1:21:19 PM PDT by MD_Willington_1976
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Iran is very much starting to remind me of 1938 Germany.


15 posted on 09/23/2005 1:35:23 PM PDT by Ashamed Canadian (Canada sucks - I should know, I live here!)
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To: txroadkill
"Hey, I am all for the U.S. sending nuclear weapons to Iran."

I almost fell out of my seat laughing.....It's getting windy here I need something to Laugh at right now.....While we were at it we could send some to Korea and Syria may as well share the wealth.
16 posted on 09/23/2005 1:53:22 PM PDT by BubbaBobTX (I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as fast as I could.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Iran has flexed its muscles with a show of military might and a warning that any nation considering attacking the Islamic republic would face a "destructive and fiery" response.

Yeah and Saddam promised the "Mother of All Battles" and got his a** kicked not once but twice.

17 posted on 09/23/2005 3:34:28 PM PDT by Paul_Denton (Get the U.N. out of the U.S. and U.S. out of the U.N.!)
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