China stands to be the biggest beneficiary of U.S. and European plans for sanctions on Iran’s oil sales in an effort to pressure the regime to abandon its nuclear program.

As European Union members negotiate an Iranian oil embargo and the U.S. begins work on imposing sanctions to complicate global payments for Iranian oil, Chinese refiners already may be taking advantage of the mounting pressure. China is demanding discounts and better terms on Iranian crude, oil analysts and sanctions advocates said in interviews. (Read more)

It’s a move which has tit-for-tat written all over it, but one which could nonetheless have a serious impact: The Iranian government wants to present a bill to parliament this weekend calling for an immediate halt to oil deliveries to Europe. The move, with most reports citing the Iranian news agency Mehr, has come about in response to the EU agreement to impose sanctions against Iran, which were announced earlier this week.

The sanctions banned any new contracts for buying oil from Iran, but allowed existing deals to continue until July in order to give countries time to find other sources. But that process is now at risk after the latest move from Tehran, a step the Iranian government had already threatened.

“If this bill is passed, the government will be forced to stop selling oil to Europe before the actual implementation of their sanctions,” said Emad Hosseini, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s energy commission, reportedly said. The bill is set to become law on Sunday.

The EU sanctions allow for oil deliveries from Iran until July 1. Any pre-empting of this timescale by Tehran could prove problematic for countries like Italy, Greece and Spain, who would need to urgently find new suppliers. (Read more)

(dec 30, 2011)

TWO American warships have crossed through the Strait of Hormuz without incident, despite Iranian threats to close the strategic oil route, the US Navy says.

The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis and the guided missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay “conducted a preplanned, routine transit through the Strait of Hormuz” on Tuesday, said Fifth Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Rebecca Rebarich.

The US military reported no friction with Iran’s naval forces after Iranian leaders warned of possibly shutting down the vital strait if the West went ahead with more punitive sanctions over Iran’s suspect nuclear program. (Read more)

Buried deep in the archives of America’s intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush’s administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives — what is commonly referred to as a “false flag” operation.

The memos, as described by the sources, one of whom has read them and another who is intimately familiar with the case, investigated and debunked reports from 2007 and 2008 accusing the CIA, at the direction of the White House, of covertly supporting Jundallah — a Pakistan-based Sunni extremist organization. Jundallah, according to the U.S. government and published reports, is responsible for assassinating Iranian government officials and killing Iranian women and children.

But while the memos show that the United States had barred even the most incidental contact with Jundallah, according to both intelligence officers, the same was not true for Israel’s Mossad. The memos also detail CIA field reports saying that Israel’s recruiting activities occurred under the nose of U.S. intelligence officers, most notably in London, the capital of one of Israel’s ostensible allies, where Mossad officers posing as CIA operatives met with Jundallah officials.

The officials did not know whether the Israeli program to recruit and use Jundallah is ongoing. Nevertheless, they were stunned by the brazenness of the Mossad’s efforts.

“It’s amazing what the Israelis thought they could get away with,” the intelligence officer said. “Their recruitment activities were nearly in the open. They apparently didn’t give a damn what we thought.” (Read more)

Jewish publisher is an idiot – but his hatred is shared by many

Warning: DEBKA is an unreliable source. If true, this story is huge, but that’s a big ‘if.’

India has reportedly agreed to pay Tehran in gold for the oil it buys, in a move aimed at protecting Delhi from US-sanctions targeting countries who trade with Iran. China, another buyer of Iranian oil, may follow Delhi’s lead.

The report, by the Israeli-based news website DEBKAfile, states that Iran and India are negotiating backup alternatives with China and Russia, should the US and EU find a way to block the gold payment mechanism.

Delhi’s move is seen as surprising, as earlier India and Iran said they would switch to yen and rupees. China, another major importer of Iranian oil, may follow Delhi’s lead, the report adds.

India and China need to switch from the dollar in bilateral trade, since the US and EU have issued unilateral sanctions against the Iranian oil industry and financial institutions. The sanctions would ban any bank involved in oil trade with Iran from dealing with American and European counterparts. (Read more)

The Iranian geopolitical tension is supporting gold as Britain, America and France have delivered a clear message to Iran, sending six warships led by a 100,000 ton aircraft carrier through the highly sensitive Strait of Hormuz.

Reuters report that the EU has agreed to freeze the assets of the Iranian central bank and ban all trade in gold and other precious metals with the Iranian Central Bank and other public bodies in Iran.

According to IMF data, at the last official count (in 1996), Iran had reserves of just over 168 tonnes of gold. The FT reported in March 2011 that Iran has bought large amounts of bullion on the international market to diversify away from the dollar, citing a senior Bank of England official.

Currency wars continue and are deepening.

Many Asian markets are closed for the Lunar New Year holiday which has led to lower volumes. (Read more)

Since its foundation in 1948, Israel has used assassination as a national weapon, striking targets abroad ranging from Palestinians who killed Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, to enemies on the streets of Amman and a Hamas leader in a Dubai hotel room in 2010.

Now Iran is the target. In the past two years assassins have attacked five scientists in the state nuclear program, killing four of them. Mossad, the Israeli external intelligence agency, is widely believed to be responsible.

The murder of civilians divides Iran’s critics — and Israel’s. Some find it repugnant, others see them as casualties in an undeclared war that is greatly preferable to the alternative of full-scale conflict.

One Israeli source claimed the killings were a precursor to a military strike, not merely an alternative, to make it more difficult for Iran to rebuild facilities if they are bombed.

Last week Iran defiantly announced it was enriching uranium at a new site, Fordo, built under a mountain near the holy city of Qom to protect it from aerial attack. The assassins were ready.

As Roshan, 32, prepared to leave home, he was monitored from a makeshift control room in a safe house nearby. Israeli agents were also watching the entrance to Iranian intelligence headquarters in the city centre. Suddenly they noticed a number of cars and people running; then they saw police rushing into the nearby streets. Another agent monitoring radio traffic between the Tehran police and security forces confirmed unusual activity. Had the operation been exposed?

In 1997 two agents of Caesarea, Mossad’s top hit squad, had bungled an attempt to kill a Palestinian leader in Jordan and were arrested before they could flee, triggering a diplomatic crisis. Jordan is relatively friendly to Israel. Iran is its bitterest enemy. (Read more)

Mostafa Ahmadi-Rowshan was on his way to a ceremony on Wednesday commemorating the second anniversary of the death of one of his colleagues, nuclear physicist , who had been assassinated by a remote-controlled explosive outside his home. As his sedan drove down in Tehran’s morning rush hour traffic, two assailants riding on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to his car. A few seconds later, it detonated, killing the 32-year old scientist and his driver and sending shock waves across the country.

Rowshan was indeed involved in Iran’s nuclear program. He was the deputy director of the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz and led its procurements department. He had previously worked at the Iran’s covert centrifuge research and development center in Kalaye Electric Company. Iran’s past history of concealment and defiance has fueled international concerns about the country’s intent to acquire nuclear weapons. Uranium enrichment, an activity that can fuel both reactors and weapons, is at the crux of Iran’s nuclear crisis. But Rowshan’s scientific credentials and affiliation with Iran’s atomic energy organization do not provide justification for his abhorrent killing.

Although the Iranian regime has blamed the United States and Israel for the “heinous act,” whoever perpetrated this murder was no friend of the U.S. This mishap occurred in the wake of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s call on Iran “to return to negotiations with the P5+1,” the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany. The statement deplored Tehran’s decision to start uranium enrichment at a bunker facility in Fordow, but it reiterated that the goal of U.S. policy is “reaching a comprehensive, negotiated solution that restores confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.” The assassination clearly undermines this objective.
vaez fergunson inset photo.jpgMostafa Ahmadi-Rowshan with his son / Farsnews

Notwithstanding Secretary Clinton’s immediate reaction to the assassination by categorically denying “any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran,” Tehran blamed the bombing on “America and the criminal Zionist regime.” (Read more)

This isn’t the most reliable source, as it may be under Iranian government influence, but it’s easy to imagine this happening when people are threatened by a secretive, powerful enemy:

Over 1000 students apply to change major to nuclear physics, engineering
TEHRAN, Jan. 16 (MNA) – A number of students at the Sharif University of Technology have announced their readiness to work in the nuclear industry promising to rob the enemies of sleep, Mehrdad Bazrpash, an official at the university, said on Monday.

The news came five days after Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, a graduate of Sharif university in chemical engineering and an official at the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, was assassinated in Tehran. (Read more)

(January 6th)
Tensions on the oil shipping lanes in the Gulf have escalated with the announcement of new naval exercises by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and news that Israel and the US are planning to carry out extensive joint manoeuvres in the region.

The naval commander for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, said the drill in February would be “different compared to previous exercises held by the IRGC”. The Iranian navy finished 10 days of exercises in the Gulf on Monday, during which it tested a range of new missiles. It warned that Iran could close the strait of Hormuz, the narrowest point in the Gulf, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes.

On the same day, the Israeli military said it was preparing for joint exercises with the US to rehearse missile defence and co-operation between the forces. (Read more)

(January 3rd)
Don’t look now but oil is spiking as the market is finally realizing that the escalation in the Persian Gulf is more than just for show (which curiously was once again set off by Obama establishing a full financial embargo of all Iranian activity on New Year’s Eve, leading the Rial to plunge to a new record low, and about to set a brand new scramble for physical gold in the country on the verge of hyperinflation). At last check WTI was up over $2.50 with the market realizing that either Dalio will be right (central banks going into overdrive) or the Iranian escalation will finally pass the trigger threshold, and Brent was over $110. Today’s escalation, just as requested by the US, is not another missile launch but a threat by the Iran military to retaliate if the US carrier John Stennis were to once again cross the Straits of Hormuz and return to the Gulf. As a reminder, as of December 23, as was observed by Stratfor before the hacker takedown and reported here, the Stennis was within shouting distance. From Reuters: “Iran will take action if a U.S. aircraft carrier which left the area because of Iranian naval exercises returns to the Gulf, the state news agency quoted army chief Ataollah Salehi as saying on Tuesday. “Iran will not repeat its warning … the enemy’s carrier has been moved to the Sea of Oman because of our drill. I recommend and emphasise to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf,” Salehi told IRNA.” (Read more)

The Plane That Would Bomb Iran
In June of last year, I went to Andersen Air Force Base, in Guam, to be embedded with the squadron flying the Air Force’s top-of-the-line strategic weapon: the B-2 Spirit, a massive, nuclear-capable stealth bomber that looks like a jagged boomerang and, with a price tag of nearly $1.2 billion, makes other planes seem cheap. It was my third visit in two years to Guam, an island of growing significance in America’s military-deployment strategy. The occasion for my visit was Valiant Shield, a military exercise—and the largest display of U. S. military power in the Pacific since the Vietnam War—in which several B-2s would be participating. Valiant Shield 2006 featured three aircraft-carrier strike groups, with all of their attendant destroyers, cruisers, frigates, submarines, and aircraft—290 aircraft in all, including B-2s, Marine F-18Cs, Navy F/A-18Es, and Air Force F-15Es. Never mind the official rhetoric—the point of this show of force was to impress adversaries like North Korea and competitors like China. (China had been invited to send a military delegation; the day before I arrived, Chinese officials were inspecting the bombers from the outside.)

Andersen Air Force Base has long had a squadron of heavy bombers, deployed there to be close to Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula. On one of my previous visits to the base, in the autumn of 2004, I’d spent time with B-52 pilots from Barksdale Air Force Base, near Shreveport, Louisiana. They were young, happy-go-lucky, uncomplicated. I was profoundly curious about the B-2 pilots. For a host of reasons, they had to be different. (Read more)

U.S. District Court Rules Iran Behind 9/11 Attacks

PR Newswire

NEW YORK, December 23, 2011

NEW YORK, December 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ –

A federal district court in Manhattan yesterday entered a historic ruling that
reveals new facts about Iran’s support of al Qaeda in the 9/11 attacks. U.S.
District Judge George B. Daniels ruled yesterday that Iran and Hezbollah
materially and directly supported al Qaeda in the September 11, 2001 attacks
and are legally responsible for damages to hundreds of family members of 9/11
victims who are plaintiffs in the case.

Judge Daniels had announced his ruling in Havlish, et al. v. bin
Laden, et al. , in open court on Thursday, December 15, 2011, following a
three-hour courtroom presentation by the families’ attorneys. Judge Daniels
entered a written Order of Judgment yesterday backed by 53 pages of detailed
Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.

Fiona Havlish, whose husband Donald perished in the World Trade Center North
Tower on 9/11 said, “This is a historic day. For ten years we’ve wanted the
truth to be known about who was responsible for our losses. Now we have that
answer.”

Ellen Saracini, the wife of United Airlines 175 pilot Victor Saracini, which
the hijackers crashed into the WTC South Tower, said after the hearing last
Thursday, “We just came from Judge Daniels’ court where he ruled in favor of
holding accountable those who perpetrated the attacks of 9/11… I just smiled
up to Victor and I said we’re still thinking about you … we’re there for you
… we’ll always be there for you. But today’s very special.”

In Havlish, et al. v. bin La den, et al. , Judge Daniels held
that the Islamic Republic of Iran, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini
Khamenei, former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Iran’s
agencies and instrumentalities, including, among others, the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps (“IRGC”), the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and
Security (“MOIS”), and Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah, all materially aided
and supported al Qaeda before and after 9/11.

“The families have waited a very long time for this day and they have been
through a lot. (Read more)

Looks like there’s a website dedicated to this nonsense.