Paul: Congress supports bombing Iran

Former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul says members of Congress have voiced support for a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Iran.

“I hear members of Congress saying ‘if we could only nuke them’,” said the congressman Thursday.

“If we do (attack) it is going to be a disaster,” he told the Alex Jones Show.

The 72-year-old veteran politician added that the atmosphere in Congress indicates that a military strike on Iran has already been condoned.

“It is still totally bewildering to me when I see men and women in the Congress that I know and like doing this just to get along. Most of them will say, ‘I agree with you on all you say but the Iranians are bad people and they might attack us some day,” Paul said.

Referring to House Congressional Resolution 362 that he calls the ‘Virtual Iran War Resolution’, Paul explained the president plans to impose ‘an absolute blockade of the entire country of Iran, and punish any country or any business group around the world if they trade with Iran’.

Despite the recent UN nuclear watchdog report conceding that there is no link between the use of nuclear material and the ‘alleged studies’ of weaponization in Iran’s nuclear facilities, Washington accuses Tehran of pursuing a military nuclear program.

MD/AA

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Israel burying nuclear waste in Golan

Syria has complained to the United Nations about a series of Israeli wrongdoings in the Golan Heights including burying nuclear waste.

The complaint was made in a report Syria handed to a UN fact-finding committee comprised of Senegal, Sri Lanka and Malaysia’s ambassadors, Ha’aretz said.

The report came after Syria held a third round of indirect negotiations with Israel in Turkey last week. A Turkish government source said Thursday that both sides agreed to hold a fourth round of indirect negotiations in Turkey in late July.

Syria listed in the report a number of human rights violations committed by Israel against the Golan’s Druze inhabitants.

Damascus also charged that Israel confiscates the Israeli ID cards of Druze students who return from studies in Syria, and that Golan residents continue to serve prison terms in Israeli jails, some for dozens of years.

Syria also protested the expansion in the strategic plateau of Israeli settlements, as well as lamenting the fact that Golan residents continue to be injured by mines planted in the region.

Israel seized the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981 in a move never recognized by the international community.

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Iran: Attacking our N-sites means war

The top Islamic Revolution Guards Corps commander warns that any attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would lead to the outbreak of war.

“Any action against Iran will be interpreted as the start of a war,” Major General Mohammad-Ali Jafari told reporters Thursday.

He made the remarks when asked about increasing rumors of a potential US or Israeli attack on Iran, IRNA reported.

The IRGC commander warned that Iran’s response to any act of aggression would make the invaders ‘regret’ their decision.

Washington has never ruled out the possibility of resorting to the use of force against Iran over its nuclear program and reports suggest that the Israeli regime is preparing for a unilateral strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.

This is while Washington and Tel Aviv, which accuse Tehran of seeking a military nuclear program, claim they favor a diplomatic solution to the standoff.

Refusing to give up its nuclear drive, Iran insists as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) the country is entitled to a civilian nuclear program.

In its most recent report, the UN nuclear watchdog conceded that there is no link between the use of nuclear material and the ‘alleged studies’ of weaponization in Iran’s nuclear facilities.

MD/HGH

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Israeli spymaster: Be ‘prepared’ to attack

Former Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit says Israel should be ready to attack if sanctions fail to sway Iran to renounce its nuclear program.

“As an intelligence officer working with the worst case scenario, I can tell you we should be prepared, we should do whatever necessary on the defensive side, on the offensive side, on the public opinion side for the West, in case sanctions don’t work,” Shabtai Shavit told the Sunday Telegraph.

“What’s left is a military action,” he continued.

Israel has stepped up its rhetoric against Iran and is said to be preparing its public for a war against the oil-rich Islamic Republic.

The New York Times quoted Pentagon officials last week as saying that over 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighter jets staged a maneuver over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece between May 28 and June 12.

As part of the maneuver, Israeli jets flew over 900 miles, roughly the distance from their airfields to a nuclear enrichment facility in the central Iranian city of Natanz.

On June 6, Israeli deputy prime minister Shaoul Mofaz told the Yediot Aharonot that Tel Aviv would attack Iran if the country did not halt its nuclear activities.

In his comments to the Sunday Telegraph, the former Mossad chief also warned that American approval was not a necessary pre-requisite for Israel to carry out an air strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“When it comes to decisions that have to do with our national security and our own survival, at best we may update the Americans that we are intending or planning or going to do something,” Shavit said.

MT/MR/GM

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Israel: All anti-Iran options on table

A senior Zionist official claims ‘all options must remain on the table’ to pressure Iran to suspend its ‘aggressive’ nuclear program.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for prime minister Ehud Olmert, claimed that more could be done to put financial pressure on Iran.

“Israel believes strongly that while the UN sanctions are positive, much more needs to be done to pressure the regime in Tehran to cease its aggressive nuclear program,” Regev was quoted by Yedioth Ahronoth as saying on Friday.

He, however, did not refer to Friday’s threats by Israeli deputy prime minister Shaoul Mofaz, claiming that the Israeli regime will attack Iran if the country continues its nuclear program.

The remarks were made while there are speculations that the US and its Zionist ally might wage another war in the region in the twilight months of George W. Bush’s term in office.

Israel, widely believed to be the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal of 200-400 warheads in the Middle East, and its ally the US, accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weaponry, continuously beating the drums of war against the country.

Tehran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful. As a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran insists on its right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes.

MK/JG/GM

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ElBaradei: If you attack Iran, I quit

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei says he will step down if major powers launch a military strike against Iran over its nuclear program.

According to Al Ahram, in an interview with Al Arabiya television, the International Atomic Energy Agency Director General, said, “A military invasion against Iran would pose great danger to the Middle East and the world.”

Earlier this month, in his latest IAEA report over Iran’s nuclear program, ElBaradei certified the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in the country’s nuclear activities.

“Iran has provided the Agency with access to declared nuclear material and has provided the required nuclear material accountancy reports in connection with declared nuclear material and activities,” the report read.

The report of ElBaradei’s resignation comes amid widespread speculation that US President George W. Bush is drawing up secret plans with the help of Israel to launch a military strike on Iran before the end of his term in office.

With their blatant disregard for international reports conceding the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities, world powers have ramped up their rhetoric against the Islamic Republic, accusing the country of running a covert nuclear weapons program.

Iran has repeatedly asserted that as a signatory to the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it is entitled to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, adding that the country does not seek nuclear bombs as such weapons have no place in its defense doctrine.

CS/HGH

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