Iran's Revolutionary Guards said 'preparing for war' in case deal collapses - http://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-revolutionary-guards-said-preparing-for-war-in-case-deal-collapses/
Fearing military strike if talks break down, Guards reportedly ready to close Strait of Hormuz, where they drilled to attack US forces weeks ago
Iran's Revolutionary Guards "are preparing for war" in the event that negotiations to turn Thursday's framework nuclear agreement into a binding deal by June 30 collapse, an Israeli TV report said Sunday night, citing Arab intelligence agencies.
The Israeli Channel 10 report said Arab intelligence agencies have warned "France, the UK and the US" that the Revolutionary Guards fear Iran could face a military strike should the talks break down, and that the Guards are ready to close the Strait of Hormuz and take other unspecified measures. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the US was working as recently as January on improving its biggest bunker buster bombs in case they were needed for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.
The Sunday Israeli TV report highlighted the major discrepancies that have emerged between the US and Iran since the framework agreement was announced on Thursday, raising the concern that the non-binding understandings reached to date will fall apart and the negotiations collapse.
A little over a month ago, the Revolutionary Guards held large-scale naval and air defense drills near the Strait of Hormuz - a strategic Gulf waterway, through which one fifth of the world's oil passes - in which dozens of speedboats swarmed a replica of a US aircraft carrier. State TV showed footage of missiles fired from the coast and fast boats striking the mock US aircraft carrier. The late February drill also included shooting down a drone and planting undersea mines.
The Guards announced they had test-fired a "new strategic weapon" during the drill, saying the system would play a key role in any future battle against the United States.
The White House said on Friday it was "confident" that it could get the deal "in place" by June 30. But key differences have emerged between the sides on what was agreed to date, and Iranian leaders warned over the weekend that they will resume higher-level uranium enrichment and other nuclear activity if they deem that the world powers are not keeping to what they consider the terms of the agreement.
Iran "will be able to return" its nuclear program to the same level if the other side fails to honor the deal, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Saturday.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani highlighted one of the central areas of disagreement Sunday - the timing and scale of sanctions relief. While the US has made clear that economic sanctions will be lifted in phases, an official Iranian foreign ministry fact sheet provides for the immediate lifting of all sanctions as soon as a final agreement is signed. "During the negotiations, we have always planned for the termination of the economic, financial and banking sanctions and we have never negotiated on their suspension, otherwise, no understanding would be made," Rouhani said on Sunday. "We will have a difficult path ahead in the stage of drafting the final deal," Rouhani noted.
Sunday's Israeli TV report also claimed that Saudi Arabia was furious with the P5+1 negotiators over aspects of the framework deal, notably clauses relating to inspection of Iranian facilities. The failure to ensure "anytime, anyplace" inspection constitutes a central flaw in potential supervision of Iranian activities, Saudi diplomats were reported to be complaining.
On Saturday night, a leading Israeli analyst highlighted six gaping areas of discrepancy between the American and Iranian accounts of what the agreement actually entails.
Ehud Ya'ari, Middle East analyst for Israel's Channel 2 News and an international fellow at the Washington Institute think tank, said the six discrepancies represent "very serious gaps" at the heart of the framework accord. They relate to issues as basic as when sanctions will be lifted, and how long restrictions on uranium enrichment will remain in place.
Referring to Thursday's American-issued "Parameters for a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," on the one hand, and the "fact sheet" issued Friday by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, on the other, Ya'ari noted that no deal was actually signed on Thursday, and that the leaders' statements and the competing fact sheets were thus critical to understanding what had been agreed.
He cited gulfs on issues including the timing and extent of sanctions relief, enrichment restrictions, ongoing research on advanced centrifuges, inspections, the fate of Iran's stockpile of lower-enriched uranium, and the possible military dimensions of the Iranian program.
Iran sends navy vessels near Yemen amid airstrikes - Ahmed Al-haj and Brian Rohan - http://news.yahoo.com/us-speeding-weapons-deliveries-saudi-led-yemen-coalition-080806313.html
Iran dispatched a naval destroyer and another vessel Wednesday to waters near Yemen as the United States quickened weapons supply to the Saudi-led coalition striking rebels there, underlining how foreign powers are deepening their involvement in the conflict.
Iran's English-language state broadcaster Press TV quoted Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari as saying the ships would be part of an anti-piracy campaign "safeguarding naval routes for vessels in the region."
The maneuver comes amid an intense Saudi-led Gulf Arab air campaign targeting the Yemeni rebels, known as Houthis, who come from a Shiite sect. Critics say Shiite power Iran backs the Houthis, though both the Islamic Republic and the rebels deny any direct military assistance.
Speaking a day earlier in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken blamed the violence in Yemen on the Houthis, and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, saying that the U.S. is committed to defending Saudi Arabia.
"We have expedited weapons deliveries, we have increased our intelligence sharing, and we have established a joint coordination and planning cell in the Saudi operations center," he said in a statement to reporters after meeting with Saudi royals and Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled his country amid rebel advances.
Intelligence sharing includes making available raw aerial imagery the coalition could use to better strike anti-Hadi forces, said a U.S. defense official who was not authorized to comment publicly. Blinken said the U.S. and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council must coordinate closely and press all parties to seek a political solution.
The Gulf Arab-backed air campaign supporting Hadi, which began on March 26, has so far failed to stop the Houthis' advance on Aden, Yemen's second-largest city, which was declared the provisional capital by Hadi before he fled.
The U.S. says that the chaos has allowed the local al-Qaida branch, which it considers the world's most dangerous wing of the group, to make "great gains" on the ground, causing Washington to rethink how it prevents it from launching attacks in the West.
Speaking from Tokyo, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the collapse of the central government in Yemen makes it harder to conduct counterterrorism operations against al-Qaida, which has ambitions to strike Western targets, including the United States. Regarding the weapons deliveries, he said it involved "some resupply of equipment and munitions" to Saudi Arabia.
The World Health Organization warned Tuesday of an unfolding humanitarian crisis, saying at least 560 people, including dozens of children, have been killed, mostly in the air campaign and ground battles. The aid group said that over 1,700 people have been wounded and another 100,000 have fled their homes as fighting has intensified over the past three weeks.
The first boat carrying medical aid to Yemen since the coalition began bombing arrived in the southern port city of Aden on Wednesday, international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders said.
The group's head of mission in Yemen, Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, said the ship carried some 2.5 tons of supplies from Djibouti for its hospital in Aden.
The group is concerned about how it will transport the supplies and wounded people given the chaos in Aden's streets, where the situation continues to deteriorate and combat intensified overnight.
"We have street fighting, snipers, tanks in the street, roads cut and areas not accessible, and electricity, water and fuel cuts," she said. "Last night the different groups were fighting around the hospital. It lasted all night into the morning and continues now, so all our employees were forced to sleep at the hospital."
Tons of desperately needed aid awaits clearance to be flown into Yemen, including a Red Cross shipment with 17 tons of medical supplies from Jordan which emergency workers hope can be flown into the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on Wednesday. Another 35 tons of supplies were also ready for shipment.
Also Wednesday, Human Rights Watch cited witnesses as saying that Houthi forces fired into crowds of demonstrators in the cities of Taiz and Torba the day before the bombing campaign began, killing at least 7 people and wounding over 80 others. The New York-based group called on Houthi authorities to investigate the incidents.
"Yemen's spiraling conflict is causing a calamitous breakdown in law and order," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Security forces in control, whatever side they are on, have responsibilities to uphold and protect people's rights and to take action against their members who commit abuses."
Iran Framework Silent on Key Nuclear Site - Bill Gertz - http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-framework-silent-on-key-nuclear-site/
Parchin used for explosive tests for Tehran bomb program
The international framework nuclear agreement reached in Switzerland last week makes no specific mention of Iran's Parchin military facility-a key location of suspected nuclear weapons work.
The omission of Parchin in the formal statements released by negotiators after the deal was reached is raising questions about whether Iran will agree to disclose all details of its work on building nuclear arms.
"Parchin has been the center of Iran's weaponization efforts for decades," said John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
"There is simply no provision for adequate international inspections of Parchin or any other weaponization-related activities, including Iran's ballistic-missile programs," Bolton added. "We have only our own intelligence capabilities, which Iran and North Korea have repeatedly evaded."
The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated in its February report on Iran that minor activity was detected recently at Parchin, located southeast of Tehran.
Satellite imagery revealed vehicles, equipment and construction materials at the site, the report said, noting that Iran has refused agency requests for access to the site since 2012.
Much of the complex was destroyed by the Iranians after Tehran was questioned about it in 2012.
Unlike two other nuclear facilities at Fordow and Natanz that are extensively covered by the framework nuclear accord, nothing in the framework specifically calls for access to Iran's military facility at Parchin.
The Parchin military complex has been closely watched by U.S. intelligence for more than 15 years. It is known to be run by the Defense Industries Organization of Iran, Tehran's main military manufacturer. It includes hundreds of buildings and test sites used for development of weapons, including rockets and fuel, and high explosives, including plastic explosives.
The White House fact sheet outlining the framework for what is being called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action specifies that Iran will provide access to all nuclear facilities. But the only two sites mentioned are Fordow and Natanz, both of which have been under video surveillance by the IAEA. The two centrifuge plants were built in violation of Iran's commitment to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
For places such as Parchin, the fact sheet states that Iran will implement "an agreed set of measures" to provide a full accounting of its "possible" nuclear arms work.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf did not say why Parchin was left out of the White House fact sheet, and an Iranian variant of the fact sheet on the Iran deal. In an email, she also did not say for certain Parchin will be inspected, only that it is expected to be part of any final agreement.
Parchin is part of what the negotiators call the "possible military dimensions" of the Iran nuclear program.
"We are still negotiating over all of the people and places where the IAEA will have access required when it comes to possible military dimensions," Harf said at the State Department Friday.
Asked whether Parchin would be inspected as part of the agreement, Harf said: "Well, we would find it, I think, very difficult to imagine a JCPA that did not require such access at Parchin."
Simon Henderson, a nuclear specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Parchin is included the framework "only by implication." Iran may try to block access by claiming that the work done there was did not involve nuclear materials, he said.
"Strictly speaking Parchin may not be a nuclear site in the sense that Iran has not declared it to the IAEA as such," Henderson said.
As a result, Parchin could be excluded from the framework's provision requiring that the IAEA be granted access to all nuclear sites.
"A key question is whether there has ever been nuclear material there," Henderson said. "The fear is that there has indeed been such material there."
The conventional high-explosive tests suspected of taking place do not require nuclear material because ordinary uranium could be used for assessing the quality of an implosion designed to create a nuclear blast with enriched uranium in an actual nuclear bomb.
"To get to Parchin, the parameters [of a final agreement] need to include 'anytime, anyplace' inspections," Henderson said. "At the moment it doesn't look as though we are going to get those."
Parchin became the focus of western efforts to expose Iran's nuclear arms program in a November 2011 IAEA report. The report said Parchin was being used for explosive experiments that are "strong indicators of possible weapon development," the IAEA said.
The report disclosed that Iran had conducted work on "modeling of spherical geometries, consisting of components of the core of a [high enriched uranium] nuclear device subjected to shock compression, for their neutronic behavior at high density, and a determination of the subsequent nuclear explosive yield."
Additionally, the vessel was separated from a control building by an earthen barrier "indicating the probable use of high-explosives in the chamber," the report said, noting the vessel could contain a detonation of up to 70 kilograms of high explosives.
Iran allowed inspectors to visit the area around the vessel in 2005 but not the building housing the container.
A 2012 IAEA report repeated the earlier 2011 assessment that Iran constructed a large explosives containment vessel for "hydrodynamic experiments"-conventional explosives tests used to create pressure on fissile material in setting off a nuclear blast.
The building around the large cylinder vessel was built in 2000 but U.S. intelligence only learned of it in March 2011.
Satellite imagery of the site revealed little activity between 2005 and January 2012-when Iran was notified the IAEA wanted access to the plant.
Shortly after the notification, Iran began dismantling it. Activities seen included run-off of fluid from the vessel, equipment moved outside the plant, removal of fixtures from the building and vehicle activity.
The Iranians then destroyed five buildings near the main facility, and the removal of power lines, fences, and paved roads.
IAEA Director Yukiya Amano said in June 2013 that Iran appears to have removed nuclear bomb-making equipment and materials from Parchin. He noted the "massive" removal of soil, paving, and possible removal of infrastructure.
"As our verification capacity has been negatively impacted because of the extensive activities by Iran [at Parchin], it may no longer be possible to find anything even if we have access," Amano told reporters in Vienna at the time.
A State Department cable from 2008 disclosed by Wikileaks revealed that China supplied Parchin Chemical Industries with an industrial machine in violation of U.N. sanctions.
"Given Iran's refusal to address international concerns about its nuclear programs and its record as a serial proliferator that supports international terrorism, the United States views with serious concern any export of items with potential WMD applications to end-users designated under UN Security Council Resolutions," the cable stated in opposing the Chinese arms proliferation sale.
Obama's Iran deal falls on ominous Bible date - Jack Minor - http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/obamas-iran-deal-announced-on-ominous-bible-date/
'When it looks as if there's no deliverance for the Jewish people, the hand of God begins to move'
When President Obama announced a "framework" nuclear agreement with Iran - which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns threatens the very existence of his nation - few noticed the significance of the date.
On the Jewish calendar this year, April 1 coincided with Nisan 13, the date in history when a Persian king signed an agreement calling for the destruction of the Jews.
"King Obama has issued his decree putting the Jewish nation at risk of annihilation on the very same day that King Ahasuerus' scribes came together and issued their statement to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language and sent letters by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day."
The ominous historical reference comes from Mark Biltz, pastor of El-Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Washington, and author of "The Feasts of the Lord," "Blood Moons" and "Studies in our Hebrew Roots."
The Obama administration's negotiations with Iran have been shrouded in secrecy for months, and even now, only the broad outline of a proposed agreement has been disclosed. At one point the administration suggested there was not even a written agreement in place but rather a "gentlemen's agreement."
Already, another development in the attempt to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons has fallen on a significant date in Jewish history.
On the eve of the Purim holiday, March 3, Netanyahu addressed a rare joint session of Congress to discuss the Iran deal, warning it could lead to the destruction of Israel.
He told Congress that in just a short time the Jewish people would begin the celebration of a holiday established while they were in captivity to a Persian king.
"We're an ancient people. In our nearly 4,000 years of history, many have tried repeatedly to destroy the Jewish people. Tomorrow night, on the Jewish holiday of Purim, we'll read the Book of Esther," Netanyahu told Congress. "We'll read of a powerful Persian viceroy named Haman, who plotted to destroy the Jewish people some 2,500 years ago. But a courageous Jewish woman, Queen Esther, exposed the plot and gave for the Jewish people the right to defend themselves against their enemies."
After Netanyahu's speech, the Obama administration strongly rebuked the prime minister and concerned Congress members, insisting that a deal would take place by March 31.
At the last minute, the administration announced the deadline would be postponed for a day. On April 2, President Obama announced in a ceremony from the Rose Garden that a tentative deal had been reached the day before, Nisan 13.
The book of Esther declares, in Esther 3:12, 13, that on Nisan 13 the Persian king Ahasuerus was tricked by a viceroy by the name of Haman into signing an agreement to destroy all the Jews in the land at a future date.
Coincidental?
Joel Richardson, author of "End Times Eyewitness," "When a Jew Rules the World," "The Islamic AntiChrist," "Mideast Beast" and more, said it might be a message from God.
"The God of Heaven and Earth frequently orchestrates world events in such a way as to demonstrate His perspective," Richardson explained. "Those who are quick to brush aside the correspondence of profound global events, particularly as they affect the state of Israel, with important biblical dates often miss what may very well be purposeful thunderclaps from heaven.
"It is the cynic that dismisses the possibility of a divine hint as mere coincidence. I think we need to be looking at this very seriously and asking ourselves what it is indicating."
Jonathan Cahn, author of "The Harbinger," the inspiration behind "The Isaiah 9:30 Judgment," and the creator of "The Mystery of the Leper King," "The Hanukkah Endtime Mystery" and more, told WND that while the conflict between Iran and Israel is not new, it is noteworthy that America has chosen to intervene at this time and appears to be on the side of the Iranians.
"It's an ancient war that begins when the Hebrews emerge out of Egypt and are attacked by the armies of Amalek," Cahn said. "The war has continued down through the centuries through the Book of Esther and Haman and, amazingly, into modern times, even right now.
"Again we find the existence of the Jewish people is in jeopardy, and there are forces plotting their destruction. Again, the powers that be seem oblivious to the existential danger. And, amazingly, again, it all focuses on the land of Haman, Persia, and Iran. Only this time, America is involved and, unfortunately, it appears as if our government is placing Israel in danger."
Franklin Graham, president of both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Samaritan's Purse relief organization, confirmed as much.
In a Facebook posting, he said: "In an interview with the New York Times, President Barack Obama said he is committed to seeing that Israel maintains a military edge over Iran. With the possibility of nuclear weapons at stake, there's a lot more to this than a military edge. Iran does not recognize the right of Israel to exist. In previous speeches their mullahs have said they would burn Tel Aviv. One nuclear weapon can wipe out this city of 400,000+ people. It's not about maintaining a military edge, Mr. President; it's about keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of people who have said they would use them."
Graham noted Iran already has its soldiers in southern Lebanon serving with Hezbollah on Israel's northern border and in Syria on Israel's northeastern border.
"Iran already has its soldiers serving with the Iraqi army and now has controlling influence in much of the Iraqi government. Mr. President, the Iranian government is in many ways as brutal as ISIS and to give them an opportunity to possibly produce nuclear weapons would be devastating, not only to Israel, but to the Iranian people who would suffer their own nuclear holocaust when Israel would be forced to retaliate in their own defense. I pray that you will listen to Israel on this issue."
Critics contend Obama's deal only delays Iran from getting the bomb.
Nevertheless, Netanyahu told Congress that despite the agreement to destroy Israel in Esther's time, the "plot was foiled."
"Our people were saved," he said.
Cahn had similar sentiments.
"We must remember, that the war is an ancient one, and God has sworn to be involved. As in the Book of Esther, when it looks as if there's no deliverance for the Jewish people, the hand of God begins to move."
Blitz told WND that the outcome may already be written down.
"History repeats itself, so may we keep the nation of Israel in our prayers!"
The Bible records Haman was hanged on the very scaffold he had prepared for Mordecai, a Jew, and the king dispatched a letter exposing Haman's plot, instructing Jews to defend themselves.
The result, the site explains, is that 75,000 enemies of the Jews were slain.
The prophetic Persian nuke deal from the "president's" own mouth - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com
Much has been said about the US "president's" tentative nuclear deal with Iran. There were some key components in his April 2 announcement of the tentative deal that hasn't been reported in the mainstream, and they are key to discerning the subtlety of what is being communicated. This deal represents a clear path for Iran to continue developing the ingredients it needs for a nuclear weapon and analysts point out the many holes in it that make verification nearly impossible--just like the previous decade where Iran was continuously "allowing" inspectors to verify, but never really "allowing" them to see anything meaningful. This deal could accelerate prophecy and endanger many lives along the way.
The "president" said, "Iran has agreed that it will not stockpile the materials needed to build a weapon. Even if it violated the deal, for the next decade at least, Iran would be a minimum of a year away from acquiring enough material for a bomb...And while it is always a possibility that Iran may try to cheat on the deal in the future, this framework of inspections and transparency makes it far more likely that we'll know about it if they try to cheat--and I, or future Presidents, will have preserved all of the options that are currently available to deal with it." It would appear that the "president" expects Iran to cheat, and that the world will know about it--certainly, Israel will know immediately. The potential loss of life is immeasurable.
Congress does not agree with the "president." He said, "This is a deal between Iran, the United States of America, and the major powers in the world--including some of our closest allies. If Congress kills this deal--not based on expert analysis, and without offering any reasonable alternative--then it's the United States that will be blamed for the failure of diplomacy. International unity will collapse, and the path to conflict will widen." The fact is that there has been much expert analysis and the experts agree that this is a bad deal. The Prime Minister of Israel, whose nation hangs in the balance of such reckless action, has repeatedly said it is a bad deal and has offered both a reasonable and viable alternative.
The "president" discounts Israel's objections, saying, merely, "It's no secret that the Israeli Prime Minister and I don't agree about whether the United States should move forward with a peaceful resolution to the Iranian issue. If, in fact, Prime Minister Netanyahu is looking for the most effective way to ensure Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon, this is the best option." In this option, the US "president" has emboldened the enemies of the Lord by empowering a major player in end time prophecy, Persia--modern day Iran. Even as the Lord chastised false prophets in Ezekiel 13:10 saying, "Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace," the US "president" is trying to seduce an undiscerning world.
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