More bad news from Iran...

[DPH]

Source

LONDON, April 17 (IranMania) - Tehran appears convinced it can deter or even win a military confrontation with the United States, with Iran buoyed by high oil prices, support from militants across the region and American woes in Iraq, AFP reported.

The regime gave fresh signals on Sunday that it was in no mood for a compromise over its nuclear programme as it continued to flout a UN Security Council demand for a freeze in uranium enrichment by April 28.

And in another display of defiance, a hardline Iranian group said it had managed to enroll 55,000 people for suicide attacks against Israel and Western powers.

Pope Benedict XVI also weighed into the dispute, using his Easter message to voice the need "serious and honest" talks which would help achieve "an honourable solution" for all parties.

"We are trying to find a diplomatic solution for our (nuclear) problem, and the United States should be aware that it is not in a position to create another crisis in the region," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the official news agency IRNA.

"More than three years have passed since the United States invaded Iraq and after all these years they are now asking for help," he said, referring to Washington's request for talks with Tehran on the insurgency.

The crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions has worsened over the past week following the regime's announcement that its scientists managed to enrich uranium to the level needed to make reactor fuel.

Iran insists its programme is strictly peaceful, but enrichment technology can also be extended to make atomic weapons, hence the UN demand for a moratorium while an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) probe continues.

And the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based think tank, said satellite images showed Iran has expanded and reinforced its main nuclear fuel processing facilities in Isfahan and Natanz, possibly to prepare them for a military strike.

Washington is now pushing for tough UN action, with several US press reports saying that military options to deal with the oil-rich regime were being looked into.

"You can start a war but it won't be you who finishes it," General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the head of the Revolutionary Guards and among the regime's most powerful figures, said on Friday in one of Iran's boldest statements yet.

He also pointed out that US troops in Iraq and the region were "vulnerable", while other regime figures stepped up their vitriolic anti-Western rhetoric.

"The 'Zionist' regime is an injustice and by its very nature a permanent threat," firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a pro-Palestinian conference, also voicing "serious doubts" over the Holocaust and predicting the "elimination" of the Jewish state.

Palestinian militant leaders, in Tehran to attend the conference, have also rallied behind Tehran, strengthening Iran's hand in the stand-off.

Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal vowed the new Palestinian government will not recognise Israel regardless of mounting international pressure to do so, sticking with the tough position supported by Iran.

Islamic Jihad chief Abdullah Ramadan Shala also joined a previous pledge by Hamas and renegade Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr by vowing his Palestinian militant group was firmly siding with Iran, AFP stated.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei was in Tehran on Thursday to push for an enrichment suspension, but went home empty-handed.

China's assistant foreign minister Cui Tiankai has also met Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani as well as nuclear negotiator Javad Vaidi, state television said.

China had also announced that representatives of the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany would meet Tuesday in Moscow to discuss the crisis, AFP noted.

But Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Aliasghar Soltanieh, signalled no concessions were on the horizon.

"The IAEA secretary and inspectors get into too many details," he complained in an interview with state television. "The information and the issues brought up during inspections make trouble.

"The agency has to be cautious now that such claims (of secret nuclear weapons work) have proved unfounded," he said, telling the IAEA "not to request inspections" of sensitive military sites.

On top of that, Iran gave $50+ million to the terrorist group Hamas...

It seems that it will end up a military conflict and a much more brutal one than Iraq...

[Dondrei]

And there's nothing we can do about it thanks to the quagmire we're stuck in in Iraq. Nice going, Bush - you managed to miss the one opportunity for your bellicose foreign policy to actually do some good.

On top of that, Iran gave $50+ million to the terrorist group Hamas...

Not that I'm comfortable with that, but I should point out that Hamas is now the democratically elected government in Palestine.

It seems that it will end up a military conflict

Ha! I wish.

[DPH]

And there's nothing we can do about it thanks to the quagmire we're stuck in in Iraq. Nice going, Bush - you managed to miss the one opportunity for your bellicose foreign policy to actually do some good.

I have a theory that if we attacked Iran instead of Iraq, Iraq would be doing what Iran is doing now... although I think that taking out Iran first would've been the better option.

Not that I'm comfortable with that, but I should point out that Hamas is now the democratically elected government in Palestine.

What if instead of giving money, Iran actually took in the Palestinian people and made them citizens? No Arab country is willing to do that, and Iran giving money to them is only to provoke Israel.

Ha! I wish.

It would be good but only a 50% chance of that happening...

[Dondrei]

I have a theory that if we attacked Iran instead of Iraq, Iraq would be doing what Iran is doing now... although I think that taking out Iran first would've been the better option.

You mean like the endgame of naughts and crosses? Maybe, but I'm not so sure. Iraq just didn't have the vim and vigour Iran does. It was already under sanctions and they seemed to actually have been working (surprisingly).

What if instead of giving money, Iran actually took in the Palestinian people and made them citizens? No Arab country is willing to do that, and Iran giving money to them is only to provoke Israel.

You mean the refugees, or the whole lot of them? In the latter case, I think that's a hell of a tall order and I can see millions of perfectly valid reasons they wouldn't do that.

It would be good but only a 50% chance of that happening...

I think considerably less than that. Unless America gets a sudden shot of Hawk syndrome and elects some complete lunatic at the next Presidential election I'd say it's too exhausted to start another war. People can't stomach more casualties and more billions of dollars - and frankly even in America any kind of war in the Middle East is running seriously low on legitimacy. Which is a real shame because this time it bloody well would be legitimate...

[Archedgar]

1- United Statsia should stop trying to prevent other countries from adquiring nuclear technology, because United Statsia has nuclear capabilities itself... I find it UNGODLY hypocritical that they would dare to invade other countries, murder the people, and then claim to have the moral high ground, when they possess WMD themselves.

2- I would be glad if United Statsia got a bloody nose due to Iran executing a plan of retaliation, why? because United Statsia has been murdering thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people through these wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq. And yet they persist.

The problem is, United Statsia hasn't taken a blow to its country just yet, aside from the MINOR event that was the twin towers, it has not been seriously hit, and it will continue with its tyranny until it suffers a few more punches to the gut and realizes that war is a terrible thing.

Sadly... ONLY after United Statsia has suffered a terrible tragedy, will its horrid bloodlust be sated....

[Anyee]

Minor tragedy unless you were a New Yorker who lost a family member.

Ah, Arch. You too can wear the banned tag. I have. It's very pretty. Just keep up in this vein.

[SquareRootOfBob]

1- United Statsia should stop trying to prevent other countries from adquiring nuclear technology, because United Statsia has nuclear capabilities itself... I find it UNGODLY hypocritical that they would dare to invade other countries, murder the people, and then claim to have the moral high ground, when they possess WMD themselves.

2- I would be glad if United Statsia got a bloody nose due to Iran executing a plan of retaliation, why? because United Statsia has been murdering thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people through these wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq. And yet they persist.

The problem is, United Statsia hasn't taken a blow to its country just yet, aside from the MINOR event that was the twin towers, it has not been seriously hit, and it will continue with its tyranny until it suffers a few more punches to the gut and realizes that war is a terrible thing.

Sadly... ONLY after United Statsia has suffered a terrible tragedy, will its horrid bloodlust be sated....

Wow ... United Statsia sure sounds like a bad place. Too bad it doesn't exist. :/

[Omikron8]

1- United Statsia should stop trying to prevent other countries from adquiring nuclear technology, because United Statsia has nuclear capabilities itself... I find it UNGODLY hypocritical that they would dare to invade other countries, murder the people, and then claim to have the moral high ground, when they possess WMD themselves.

2- I would be glad if United Statsia got a bloody nose due to Iran executing a plan of retaliation, why? because United Statsia has been murdering thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people through these wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq. And yet they persist.

The problem is, United Statsia hasn't taken a blow to its country just yet, aside from the MINOR event that was the twin towers, it has not been seriously hit, and it will continue with its tyranny until it suffers a few more punches to the gut and realizes that war is a terrible thing.

Sadly... ONLY after United Statsia has suffered a terrible tragedy, will its horrid bloodlust be sated....

don't worry

we just need something earth-shattering to occur like a global thermonuclear war ie. "world war 3"

maybe that will chance people's perception of war

[Johnny]

What if instead of giving money, Iran actually took in the Palestinian people and made them citizens?

Mayby its because the Palestinian already have a country.

Or well atleast some of thier country after the Israelis invaded.

[mentallyawol]

Honestly, it's hillarious that the American ppl think we can take on Iran. Look at what's going on in Iraq. We can barely handle the "insurgency" going on there. Around 2500 American soldiers have died, fighting an army of none. Iran has been slapping Iraq around since day one. Thank your former president Ronald Reagan for giving Iraq what they have now. Oh yeah, and Donald Rumsfeld. He and Saddam go back a long way. Our military is spread so thin fighting Israels war, that we have neglected our own war happening in our southern border.

Archedgar, what do you think about Israel having nuclear capability? What seperates them from any other middle eastern nation? They have proven to be the most destructive, with thier claim of the "holy land" in palastine, and thier destruction in the gaza strip? I'm not picking on you, I see you have a keen intellect, and are aware of whats really going on. People need to be educated, and not lied to. Thats all the media does. Lie.