Netanyahu throws cold water on IAEA report claiming Iran restraining its nuclear program - http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Netanyahu-throws-cold-water-on-IAEA-report-claiming-Iran-restraining-its-nuclear-program-391670
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday accused Iran of concealing its plans to develop nuclear weapons, citing a report by the UN nuclear watchdog which credited Tehran with being in compliance with an agreement it struck with the Western powers.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran has refrained from expanding tests of more efficient models of a machine used to refine uranium under a nuclear agreement with six world powers, allaying concerns it might be violating the accord.
Netanyahu, however, released a statement insisting that the report indicates Iran continues to be engaged in obfuscation.
"The IAEA report again notes that Iran is refusing to reveal to the world its preparations for the production of nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said. "Iran insists on hiding this from the international community at a time when the major powers are continuing to try and allow Iran to produce the core of such weapons, enriched uranium. These do not go together."
"The major powers do not need to court Iran to agree to accept the possibility of producing nuclear weapons even as the latter refuses to divulge the details of the preparations for its nuclear weapons," the prime minister said.
Tehran's development of advanced centrifuges is sensitive because, if successful, it could enable it to produce potential nuclear bomb material at a rate several times that of the decades-old version of the machine now in use.
An interim accord in 2013 between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia stipulated Tehran could continue its "current enrichment R&D (research and development) practices," implying they should not be stepped up.
But a UN nuclear agency report in November said Iran had been feeding one of several new models under development, the so-called IR-5 centrifuge, with uranium gas, prompting a debate among analysts on whether this may have been a violation.
A confidential document by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), distributed among its member states on Thursday and obtained by Reuters, showed the IR-5 had been disconnected.
"The disconnection reflects Iran addressing concerns about its enrichment (of uranium)," said the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), which closely tracks Iran's nuclear program.
"The disconnection provides additional confidence that Iran is abiding by its commitments under the Joint Plan of Action," it said, referring to the 2013 agreement. Still, Iran has stalled the UN inquiry in other areas.
International talks are resuming in Geneva on Friday with the aim of narrowing remaining gaps in negotiations to end Iran's 12-year standoff with the six powers.
The deal sought by the powers would have Iran accept limits to its uranium enrichment capacity and open up to unfettered IAEA inspections to help ensure it could not put its nuclear program to developing bombs. They also want Iran to resolve all IAEA questions to build trust in its nuclear aspirations.
In return, Iran would see a lifting of international trade and financial sanctions that hobbled its oil-based economy.
The IAEA document about the UN inquiry, which has run parallel to the big power talks, was issued to IAEA member states only weeks before a deadline in late March for a framework agreement between Iran and the powers. They have set themselves a deadline for a final deal at the end of June.
As Hezbollah fights on Golan, borders are redrawn - By Avi Issacharoff - http://www.timesofisrael.com/as-hezbollah-fights-on-golan-geopolitical-lines-shift/
With geopolitical lines shifting, the sliver of Syria controlled by Assad has become part of Iran's greater Lebanon
It's too early to be certain, but it seems the battles waged by Hezbollah, along with thousands of Syrian army troops and members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, against the anti-Syrian opposition militias on the Syrian Golan Heights, are only getting started.
But for now at least, the momentum is on the side of the Shiite axis, which has managed to capture several villages and towns from the Syrian Southern Front group and the Nusra Front, the organization affiliated with al-Qaeda, considered to be the dominant military power in the southern Daraa province.
Still, the outcome on the Golan has not been decided. After a few days of progress, the snow and the rain slowed down Hezbollah. But even now that the weather is improving, the task is not proving easy for the organization, which has been driven to the edge of its military capabilities. The region's south, i.e. the triangle between Quneitra, Daraa and the southern suburbs of Damascus, is still considered a stronghold of Hezbollah's opponents not affiliated with the Islamic State. While the rebels' weapons and military abilities are limited, their motivation is high as the area is considered to be nearly the "last bastion" of non-IS opposition forces in Syria.
But even if Hezbollah's operation in Syria succeeds and the group is able to occupy the Golan Heights, that won't mean the battle has been won. The organization has made visible strategic gains, defeating opposition forces in the mountains along the Lebanese border, only to see the combat renewed a few short months later. In the Syrian Golan Heights, this is also a likely scenario, as, just as before, opposition fighters will most likely try to regain control of the area, which they too consider critical for their military purposes.
But regardless of the outcome of the week-old operation, the very fact that Hezbollah set out on a ground campaign inside Syrian territory is an extraordinary statement. The placement of thousands of the group's soldiers near the Syrian-Israeli border, with the organization not even trying to conceal its involvement in the battles, signifies much more than just another operation. This is a new strategy. First, on the geopolitical level, Hezbollah is trying to implement the vision only recently introduced by its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, according to whom the Syrian Golan Heights and South Lebanon are a united front. To put it more bluntly, the old order and the old geographical distribution between Syria and Lebanon is now utterly irrelevant as far as the group is concerned.
In other words, no more separation between President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria and Nasrallah's organization in Lebanon; they are now single entity that controls parts of Syria and most of Lebanon. In the past, the leaders of Syria, including Assad's father, Hafez Assad, saw Lebanon as part of greater Syria. Now, the sliver of Syria controlled by Assad has become part of Hezbollah's, or rather Iran's, greater Lebanon. The old countries have died; long live the smaller Greater Syria - under Iran's control.
Former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri spoke in Beirut Saturday at an event marking a decade since the killing of his father, Rafik Hariri. Hariri criticized Hezbollah's involvement in the civil war in Syria, blasting its recent statements according to which "South Lebanon and the Golan Heights are a united front." He even called on the group to turn the suspects in the murder of his father, who are of course Hezbollah members, in to the International Criminal Court.
Ostensibly, this is a step by a courageous man, who despite knowing that his life is in great danger, formally and unequivocally challenged Hezbollah. But in this writer's opinion, Hariri's speech was mostly a farewell to the old Lebanon, which was once dominated by Sunnis and Maronite Christians. Hariri also understands that Lebanon is no longer the same country in which he was raised, or even, for that matter, of which he was prime minister. The Arab Spring brought with it a regional upheaval that utterly transformed Lebanon, portending a particularly bleak future for those who are not supporters of radical Sunni militias or Hezbollah affiliates. Perhaps this is why Hariri no longer lives in Lebanon.
Beyond the political-geographical changes in Lebanon and Syria, Hezbollah is also trying to reshape its security balance with Israel.
Like almost any other body or entity in the Middle East, Hezbollah is also prone to conspiracy theories on which it establishes its military tactics. This month, the organization claimed that Israel was backing the radical Nusra Front rebel group and its advances in the Syrian Golan Heights. Hezbollah members claimed they had seen the transfer of patients from Syria to Israel. What was seen in Israel as a humanitarian gesture was interpreted as an attempt at cooperation between the organization, which supports al-Qaeda, and Israel.
This operation led by Hezbollah is designed to prevent what it considers the possibility that Israel will close in on it from Mount Dov to the west, using the Al-Nusra Front and moderate opposition forces. Hezbollah is afraid that Israel will outflank it and lay siege to southern Lebanon from the east, thus causing difficulties for the organization's activities there. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, Hezbollah and Assad fear that Israel is carving out a path to Damascus via Quneitra and Daraa - one that will allow it easy access to the Syrian capital in the event of war.
Hezbollah's mission is intended to torpedo that possibility. How it will end, it is difficult to say. But what is clear is that the situation on the border between Israel and Hezbollah-land is as explosive as ever.
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