The two main religions of Kosovo are Islam and Christianity. Muslims make up 90% of Kosovo's population, and followers are mostly Sunni, with a Bektashi Islam minority. If considered an independent state, Kosovo would be one of three Muslim-dominated countries which lie exclusively within Europe - next to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania - and the most Muslim of them all by proportion of population.
____________________________________
Man charged with Tampa car bomb plot
Kosovar immigrant planned Ybor, South Tampa blasts
A MyFoxTampaBay.com staff report
TAMPA - A chilling terrorist plot ended with the weekend arrest of a 25-year-old immigrant from Kosovo, FBI agents say. Sami Osmakac allegedly told undercover investigators that he wanted to "die the Islamic way" after attacking locations in Ybor City and South Tampa.
According to the FBI, Osmakac is a naturalized U.S. citizen who now lives in Pinellas Park. Agents were tipped off to the possible plot in September.
The five-month investigation culminated with a sting operation on Saturday. Osmakac was arrested after he allegedly took possession of explosives and firearms that had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement.
Among Osmakac's alleged bomb targets were nightclubs in the Ybor City area of Tampa, the operations center of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in Ybor City, and a business in the South Tampa area.
As part of the second portion of his planned attack, Osmakac allegedly told the undercover FBI employee that, after the car bomb was detonated, he wanted to wear an explosive belt and "get in somewhere where there's a lot of people" and take hostages.
"Once I have this…they can take me in five million pieces," he allegedly added, in an apparent reference to a suicide blast.
According to the FBI, the plot unfolded through several meetings with undercover sources and agents:
September: FBI agents receive information from a confidential human source indicating that Osmakac had asked for al-Qaeda flags.
November: Osmakac and the FBI source discuss and identify potential targets in Tampa. Osmakac allegedly asks the source for help in obtaining firearms and explosives for the attacks.
December 21: Osmakac tells an undercover FBI employee that he wants an AK-47-style machine gun, Uzi submachine guns, high capacity magazines, grenades, and an explosive belt. Allegedly, he later makes a $500 down payment.
January 1: Osmakac allegedly outlines his attack. He wants to get a hotel room; park a vehicle with a bomb in it at his target, leave the area, detonate the car bomb, and then retrieve weapons and explosives from the hotel room.
It was during that New Year's Day meeting when the undercover FBI employee noted that Osmakac could change his mind and back out of the plot. According to investigators, Osmakac immediately shook his head and said, "We all have to die, so why not die the Islamic way?"
Saturday, FBI agents arrested Osmakac after he took possession of the explosive devices and firearms, which had been neutralized without his knowledge.
Investigators also say Osmakac made a video of himself explaining his motives for carrying out the planned attack.
Osmakac faces one charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He is due to make his first appearance in federal court at 2 p.m.
Source
Monday, January 9, 2012
BENADOR: Iran, Challenging U.S., gives American death penalty
In a bold move destined to provoke the American ire now that American troops are making drills in Israel and with the Israeli Defense Forces, Iran has sentenced to death an American accused of spying for the CIA.
This is yet another step in the escalation of violence incited by the Islamic Republic of Iran against America, whom they consider a "hostile country."
_____________________________________________
Iran Imposes Death Sentence on U.S. Man Accused of Spying
By Harvey Morris, for the New York Times
LONDON — Iran’s Revolutionary Court has sentenced to death a former United States military serviceman of Iranian descent on charges of spying for the Central Intelligence Agency, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported on Monday.
The former serviceman, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, 28, is the first American to receive a death sentence in Iran since the Iranian revolution more than 30 years ago ushered in the estrangement in American-Iranian relations that have reached new levels of tension in recent months. Mr. Hekmati’s family in the United States has insisted he is no spy and was merely visiting family in Iran.
“It’s a very shocking sentence,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a New York-based advocacy group that has been following Mr. Hekmati’s case.
Mr. Hekmati, who has been imprisoned in Iran since August, had been charged by prosecutors with receiving espionage training at American bases in Afghanistan and Iraq before infiltrating Iran.
The Fars agency said he was sentenced to death for “cooperating with the hostile country and spying for the C.I.A.”
“The court found him Corrupt on Earth and Mohareb (waging war on God),” according to Fars. The formulation is routinely used in cases against alleged enemies of the Islamic Republic and the charge carries the death sentence.
Mr. Hekmati’s detention became public last month when Iranian state television broadcast video of him. It identified him as an American-born Iranian-American from Arizona.
In the video, the man identified as Mr. Hekmati said he joined the United States Army after graduating from high school in 2001, served in Iraq and received training in languages and espionage.
He said he was sent to Iran by the C.I.A. to gain the trust of the Iranian authorities by handing over information, some misleading and some accurate. If his first mission was successful, he said he was told, there would be more missions.
The claims in the video could not be verified at the time. The C.I.A. declined to comment after the broadcast on Dec. 18.
In the televised confession, Mr. Hekmati was shown speaking in fluent English and Farsi. He said he was a C.I.A. operative sent to infiltrate the Iranian intelligence ministry.
Iranian officials said their agents had identified him at the American-run Bagram air base in Afghanistan and tracked him as he infiltrated Iran. Mr. Hekmati’s family in the United States told American news media that he had traveled to Iran to visit his Iranian grandmothers and was not a spy.
The United States had demanded Mr. Hekmati’s release and the State Department said last month that Iran had not permitted diplomats from the Swiss Embassy, which represents American interests in Iran, to see him before or during his trial.
Accusations by Iran of espionage inside its borders are common, and Iran often announces that it has captured or executed people it says are spies for Western powers and Israel.
On Sunday, Heydar Moslehi, the Iranian intelligence minister, said Iran had arrested several spies who sought to carry out American plans to disrupt parliamentary elections in March, according to Fars.
Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Mr. Moslehi said: “Our intelligence apparatus had complete information about the activities of the arrested spies. The detainees were in contact with abroad through cyberspace networks. We arrested them after we obtained full information about their espionage activities.”
Rick Gladstone contributed reporting from New York, and Artin Afkhami from Boston.
Source
This is yet another step in the escalation of violence incited by the Islamic Republic of Iran against America, whom they consider a "hostile country."
_____________________________________________
Iran Imposes Death Sentence on U.S. Man Accused of Spying
By Harvey Morris, for the New York Times
LONDON — Iran’s Revolutionary Court has sentenced to death a former United States military serviceman of Iranian descent on charges of spying for the Central Intelligence Agency, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported on Monday.
The former serviceman, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, 28, is the first American to receive a death sentence in Iran since the Iranian revolution more than 30 years ago ushered in the estrangement in American-Iranian relations that have reached new levels of tension in recent months. Mr. Hekmati’s family in the United States has insisted he is no spy and was merely visiting family in Iran.
“It’s a very shocking sentence,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a New York-based advocacy group that has been following Mr. Hekmati’s case.
Mr. Hekmati, who has been imprisoned in Iran since August, had been charged by prosecutors with receiving espionage training at American bases in Afghanistan and Iraq before infiltrating Iran.
The Fars agency said he was sentenced to death for “cooperating with the hostile country and spying for the C.I.A.”
“The court found him Corrupt on Earth and Mohareb (waging war on God),” according to Fars. The formulation is routinely used in cases against alleged enemies of the Islamic Republic and the charge carries the death sentence.
Mr. Hekmati’s detention became public last month when Iranian state television broadcast video of him. It identified him as an American-born Iranian-American from Arizona.
In the video, the man identified as Mr. Hekmati said he joined the United States Army after graduating from high school in 2001, served in Iraq and received training in languages and espionage.
He said he was sent to Iran by the C.I.A. to gain the trust of the Iranian authorities by handing over information, some misleading and some accurate. If his first mission was successful, he said he was told, there would be more missions.
The claims in the video could not be verified at the time. The C.I.A. declined to comment after the broadcast on Dec. 18.
In the televised confession, Mr. Hekmati was shown speaking in fluent English and Farsi. He said he was a C.I.A. operative sent to infiltrate the Iranian intelligence ministry.
Iranian officials said their agents had identified him at the American-run Bagram air base in Afghanistan and tracked him as he infiltrated Iran. Mr. Hekmati’s family in the United States told American news media that he had traveled to Iran to visit his Iranian grandmothers and was not a spy.
The United States had demanded Mr. Hekmati’s release and the State Department said last month that Iran had not permitted diplomats from the Swiss Embassy, which represents American interests in Iran, to see him before or during his trial.
Accusations by Iran of espionage inside its borders are common, and Iran often announces that it has captured or executed people it says are spies for Western powers and Israel.
On Sunday, Heydar Moslehi, the Iranian intelligence minister, said Iran had arrested several spies who sought to carry out American plans to disrupt parliamentary elections in March, according to Fars.
Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Mr. Moslehi said: “Our intelligence apparatus had complete information about the activities of the arrested spies. The detainees were in contact with abroad through cyberspace networks. We arrested them after we obtained full information about their espionage activities.”
Rick Gladstone contributed reporting from New York, and Artin Afkhami from Boston.
Source
Sunday, January 8, 2012
BENADOR: Iran holding the Keys to the Strait of Hormuz
FYI
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow, strategically important strait between the Gulf of Oman in the southeast and the Persian Gulf. On the north coast is Iran and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman.
The strait at its narrowest is 54 kilometres (34 mi) wide. It is the only sea passage to the open ocean for large areas of the petroleum-exporting Persian Gulf. About 14 tankers carrying 15.5 million barrels (2,460,000 m3) of crude oil pass through the strait on an average day, making it one of the world's most strategically important choke points. This represents 35% of the world's seaborne oil shipments, and 20% of oil traded worldwide in 2011.
Above information is from Wikipedia
From Business Week
By Kathleen Hunter and Viola Gienger
Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Iran has the ability to block the Strait of Hormuz “for a period of time,” and the U.S. would take action to reopen it, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey said.
“They’ve invested in capabilities that could, in fact, for a period of time block the Strait of Hormuz,” Dempsey said in an interview aired yesterday on the CBS “Face the Nation” program. “We’ve invested in capabilities to ensure that if that happens, we can defeat that.”
Should Iran try to close Hormuz, the U.S. “would take action and reopen” the waterway, said Dempsey, President Barack Obama’s top military adviser.
Blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic shipping lane linking the Gulf of Oman with the Persian Gulf, would constitute a “red line” for the U.S., as would Iranian efforts to build a nuclear weapon, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on the same program.
The U.S. tightened economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program on Dec. 31, and the European Union is weighing a ban later this month on purchases of Iranian crude.
Iranian Threat
Iran threatened last month to shut the Strait of Hormuz, a transit point for a fifth of oil traded worldwide, if sanctions are imposed on its crude exports. Iran held 10 days of naval maneuvers east of the strait ending Jan. 3. The country plans even bigger military maneuvers in the area next month, the state-run Fars news agency reported on Jan. 5.
U.S. sanctions imposed last year seek to cut off dealings with Iran’s banking system, making it difficult for consumers to buy the country’s oil.
Iran has also started to enrich uranium at its Fordo production facility, according to the official Kayhan newspaper.
The existence of the Fordo plant, built into the side of a mountain near the Muslim holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, was disclosed in September 2009, heightening concern among the U.S. and its allies who say Iran’s activities may be a cover for the development of atomic weapons. The Persian Gulf country says it needs nuclear technology to secure energy for its growing population.
Pressure on Iran
Continued pressure, rather than threats of air strikes, is the best way to forestall Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Panetta said.
While the U.S. shouldn’t “take any option off the table,“ Panetta said “the responsible thing to do right now is to keep putting diplomatic and economic pressure on them to force them to do the right thing, and to make sure that they do not make the decision to proceed with the development of a nuclear weapon.”
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Jan. 1 on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he would use air strikes against Iran unless the country dismantled its nuclear program or allowed inspectors to verify that the work isn’t aimed at making a weapon.
Dempsey suggested that curbing Iran’s nuclear work by bombing its facilities would be difficult.
“I’d rather not discuss the degree of difficulty and in any way encourage them to read anything into that,” Dempsey said. “My responsibility is to encourage the right degree of planning, to understand the risks associated with any kind of military option.”
Israeli Strike
Should Israel decide to undertake a unilateral military strike against Iran, the U.S. priority would be protecting American troops in the region, Panetta said.
Dempsey and Panetta sought on CBS to provide assurances that the new U.S. military strategy, announced last week, won’t limit the U.S. ability to stop aggressors.
“What we’re looking to do here is not constrain ourselves to a two-war construct, but rather build a force that has the kind of agility” needed to adapt to any scenario, Dempsey said. Previous U.S. war planning called for preparing to fight two conventional wars simultaneously.
The plan was driven by the need to cut almost $490 billion from projected Pentagon spending through 2021, including about $261 billion through 2017. Panetta said last week the details won’t be released until the Pentagon presents its 2013 budget request to Congress by early February.
--With assistance from Nayla Razzouk and Glen Carey in Dubai. Editors: Ann Hughey, Christian Thompson.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen Hunter in Washington at khunter9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
Source
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow, strategically important strait between the Gulf of Oman in the southeast and the Persian Gulf. On the north coast is Iran and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman.
The strait at its narrowest is 54 kilometres (34 mi) wide. It is the only sea passage to the open ocean for large areas of the petroleum-exporting Persian Gulf. About 14 tankers carrying 15.5 million barrels (2,460,000 m3) of crude oil pass through the strait on an average day, making it one of the world's most strategically important choke points. This represents 35% of the world's seaborne oil shipments, and 20% of oil traded worldwide in 2011.
Above information is from Wikipedia
From Business Week
By Kathleen Hunter and Viola Gienger
Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Iran has the ability to block the Strait of Hormuz “for a period of time,” and the U.S. would take action to reopen it, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey said.
“They’ve invested in capabilities that could, in fact, for a period of time block the Strait of Hormuz,” Dempsey said in an interview aired yesterday on the CBS “Face the Nation” program. “We’ve invested in capabilities to ensure that if that happens, we can defeat that.”
Should Iran try to close Hormuz, the U.S. “would take action and reopen” the waterway, said Dempsey, President Barack Obama’s top military adviser.
Blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic shipping lane linking the Gulf of Oman with the Persian Gulf, would constitute a “red line” for the U.S., as would Iranian efforts to build a nuclear weapon, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on the same program.
The U.S. tightened economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program on Dec. 31, and the European Union is weighing a ban later this month on purchases of Iranian crude.
Iranian Threat
Iran threatened last month to shut the Strait of Hormuz, a transit point for a fifth of oil traded worldwide, if sanctions are imposed on its crude exports. Iran held 10 days of naval maneuvers east of the strait ending Jan. 3. The country plans even bigger military maneuvers in the area next month, the state-run Fars news agency reported on Jan. 5.
U.S. sanctions imposed last year seek to cut off dealings with Iran’s banking system, making it difficult for consumers to buy the country’s oil.
Iran has also started to enrich uranium at its Fordo production facility, according to the official Kayhan newspaper.
The existence of the Fordo plant, built into the side of a mountain near the Muslim holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, was disclosed in September 2009, heightening concern among the U.S. and its allies who say Iran’s activities may be a cover for the development of atomic weapons. The Persian Gulf country says it needs nuclear technology to secure energy for its growing population.
Pressure on Iran
Continued pressure, rather than threats of air strikes, is the best way to forestall Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Panetta said.
While the U.S. shouldn’t “take any option off the table,“ Panetta said “the responsible thing to do right now is to keep putting diplomatic and economic pressure on them to force them to do the right thing, and to make sure that they do not make the decision to proceed with the development of a nuclear weapon.”
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Jan. 1 on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he would use air strikes against Iran unless the country dismantled its nuclear program or allowed inspectors to verify that the work isn’t aimed at making a weapon.
Dempsey suggested that curbing Iran’s nuclear work by bombing its facilities would be difficult.
“I’d rather not discuss the degree of difficulty and in any way encourage them to read anything into that,” Dempsey said. “My responsibility is to encourage the right degree of planning, to understand the risks associated with any kind of military option.”
Israeli Strike
Should Israel decide to undertake a unilateral military strike against Iran, the U.S. priority would be protecting American troops in the region, Panetta said.
Dempsey and Panetta sought on CBS to provide assurances that the new U.S. military strategy, announced last week, won’t limit the U.S. ability to stop aggressors.
“What we’re looking to do here is not constrain ourselves to a two-war construct, but rather build a force that has the kind of agility” needed to adapt to any scenario, Dempsey said. Previous U.S. war planning called for preparing to fight two conventional wars simultaneously.
The plan was driven by the need to cut almost $490 billion from projected Pentagon spending through 2021, including about $261 billion through 2017. Panetta said last week the details won’t be released until the Pentagon presents its 2013 budget request to Congress by early February.
--With assistance from Nayla Razzouk and Glen Carey in Dubai. Editors: Ann Hughey, Christian Thompson.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen Hunter in Washington at khunter9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
Source
BENADOR: No Impunity for Cyber-Attack against Israel
Hacking Israel internet services is daring and those who do that, must be ready for retaliation.
____________________________________
From YNetNews:
Saudi banks fear Israeli cyber attack
Al Arabiya reports Saudi banks raise alert level in fear of Israeli retaliation following leaked credit card details by Saudi hacker
Roi Kais
Al Arabiya network on Sunday reported that Saudi banks raised their security level due to concerns over an Israeli cyber attack against their computer systems.
According to the report, the move came following "the Israeli government's declaration that it sees the leaking of credit card details of its citizens as a violation of Israeli sovereignty, which is comparable to an act of terror that must be retaliated."
The Saudi TV network claimed that the data protection departments in several Saudi-based banks raised their alertness ahead of a possible attack on their systems. In addition, the banks boosted security and deterrence measures as well as increased monitoring against suspicious activity.
On Saturday, Ministry of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau discussed the online theft of thousands of Israeli credit cards by a Suadi hacker, saying he "has done us a favor."
"He shed a light on an existing crack, and it's time the government define security regulations for online groups. The public must be protected and right now it's not," said Landau.
'Act of terror'
Also on Saturday, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Israel will view such cyber attacks as "acts of terror" and will "retaliate forcefully against hackers who undermine Israel's cybernetic sovereignty."
Speaking at a cultural forum in Beersheba Saturday morning, Ayalon said Israel must "send a message to all those who have hurt or plan to hurt Israel – in cyberspace as well – that they would be hurting themselves. They will not be immune to Israeli retaliation.
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old man from the Tiberias area was arrested on Saturday on suspicion that he tried to use the credit card numbers published by the Saudi hacker in order to purchase a home theatre system, a smart phone and other electronic devices worth thousands of shekels.
A credit card company employee, who noticed the suspicious transaction, reported the incident to the police, which sent a police officer disguised as a messenger. The man will be arraigned at the Akko Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Source
____________________________________
From YNetNews:
Saudi banks fear Israeli cyber attack
Al Arabiya reports Saudi banks raise alert level in fear of Israeli retaliation following leaked credit card details by Saudi hacker
Roi Kais
Al Arabiya network on Sunday reported that Saudi banks raised their security level due to concerns over an Israeli cyber attack against their computer systems.
According to the report, the move came following "the Israeli government's declaration that it sees the leaking of credit card details of its citizens as a violation of Israeli sovereignty, which is comparable to an act of terror that must be retaliated."
The Saudi TV network claimed that the data protection departments in several Saudi-based banks raised their alertness ahead of a possible attack on their systems. In addition, the banks boosted security and deterrence measures as well as increased monitoring against suspicious activity.
On Saturday, Ministry of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau discussed the online theft of thousands of Israeli credit cards by a Suadi hacker, saying he "has done us a favor."
"He shed a light on an existing crack, and it's time the government define security regulations for online groups. The public must be protected and right now it's not," said Landau.
'Act of terror'
Also on Saturday, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Israel will view such cyber attacks as "acts of terror" and will "retaliate forcefully against hackers who undermine Israel's cybernetic sovereignty."
Speaking at a cultural forum in Beersheba Saturday morning, Ayalon said Israel must "send a message to all those who have hurt or plan to hurt Israel – in cyberspace as well – that they would be hurting themselves. They will not be immune to Israeli retaliation.
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old man from the Tiberias area was arrested on Saturday on suspicion that he tried to use the credit card numbers published by the Saudi hacker in order to purchase a home theatre system, a smart phone and other electronic devices worth thousands of shekels.
A credit card company employee, who noticed the suspicious transaction, reported the incident to the police, which sent a police officer disguised as a messenger. The man will be arraigned at the Akko Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Source
BENADOR: Ahmadinejad Woos Chavez-Led Allies as He Hunts Influence in U.S. Backyard
From Bloomberg News...
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, facing tighter U.S. sanctions and rising tensions in the Persian Gulf, will turn to his diminished group of allies in Latin America for support this week.
Ahmadinejad arrived in Venezuela yesterday to kick off a four-nation tour to push investment projects such as a hydro- electric power plant in Ecuador. He’ll be joining forces with leaders like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Raul Castro in taking shots at the U.S. in its own backyard, defying attempts to isolate Iran over its nuclear activities.
Iran’s Latin American allies shouldn’t expect too much in return. Iran has yet to fulfill pledges made by Ahmadinejad on previous trips -- he’s made five since 2005 -- to build a port in Nicaragua and an oil refinery in Ecuador. Unlike during his last regional tour in 2009, he won’t visit Brazil, where President Dilma Rousseff has shown little interest in deepening ties forged by her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
“The promises of aid and investment have not been kept,” Cynthia Arnson, Latin America program director at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said in a phone interview. “This is clearly a political solidarity tour to reinforce relationships with a small number of allies.”
After holding talks with Chavez today, Ahmadinejad will travel to Nicaragua to attend the swearing-in ceremony tomorrow of President Daniel Ortega, who was re-elected to a second consecutive term in November. He’ll also visit Cuba and Ecuador during the five-day tour.
Growing Influence
Under Ahmadinejad, Iran has expanded its economic, political and military influence in Latin America, taking advantage of an upswell of anti-American sentiment in the region led by Chavez and his eight-nation Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Jan. 6 that Ahmadinejad’s trip show he’s “desperate for friends and flailing around in interesting places” to find them as international pressure builds against him.
Since 2005, Iran has opened six embassies in Latin America and more than doubled trade with Brazil, the region’s biggest economy. The diplomatic offensive has drawn the attention of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who in 2009 said that Iran is building a “huge” embassy in Nicaragua. Iranian officials have refuted the claim.
Bolivia moved its only embassy in the Middle East from Cairo to Tehran while Ortega has also announced plans to open its own diplomatic mission there.
Betting on Chavez
Iran’s biggest presence is in Venezuela. Chavez has visited the Islamic Republic nine times, signing more than 100 bilateral deals to support everything from a Venezuelan campaign to build low-income homes to a joint venture to manufacture bicycles, which Chavez jokingly referred to as “atomic” two-wheelers.
Most of the investment hasn’t gotten off the ground, said Arnson, who last year edited a report called “Iran in Latin America: Threat or ‘Axis of Annoyance?’”
For example, pledges from 2007 and 2008 respectively to help build a $350 million deepwater port off Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast and an oil refinery in Ecuador have yet to materialize.
Security Threat
More worrisome are deals to help Venezuela explore for minerals including uranium, said Jose Cardenas, a National Security Council official under President George W. Bush. The two countries in 2007 also established in Caracas the Banco Internacional de Desarrollo, which together with its main Iranian shareholder, Bank Saderat, is accused by the U.S. of being a vehicle for the Ahmadinejad government’s funding of Middle Eastern terrorist group Hezbollah.
“They’ve placed a bet on Chavez,” Cardenas, who helped draft U.S. policy toward Cuba at the NSC, said in a phone interview. “Venezuela has a massive banking system where you can move billions of dollars and nobody will blink.”
Ted Piccone, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said that while Iran “needs as many friends as it can get” the opaque nature of its outreach in Latin America poses a threat to U.S. security. He pointed to Argentine prosecutors’ allegations that Iranian officials, including Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, were involved in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people as evidence of Iran’s sinister motives.
“Could Iranian security forces be located in these embassies?” he said in a phone interview. “It’s something that has to be watched very closely.”
Chavez Sees Threat
Chavez, speaking on state television yesterday, dismissed speculation that Iran was trying to launch an attack against the U.S. from Latin America.
“We have to be careful here because it’s a threat against us,” Chavez said on state television. “Forget it Obama. Focus on your country’s problems and they are plenty. The people of Latin America will never again be brought to their knees and dominated by the Yankee empire.”
Iranian Energy Minister Majid Namjou, who will accompany Ahmadinejad along with a group of businessmen, said a number of deals will be signed during the current tour, including plans to build the hydroelectric plant in Ecuador. He said Iran is competing for the contract with China, according to comments made to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.
Gulf Crisis
Ahmadinejad’s trip may be upstaged by events closer to home after Iran threatened last month to shut the Strait of Hormuz, a transit point for a fifth of oil traded worldwide, if sanctions are imposed on its crude exports.
The European Union may agree to an embargo on Iranian oil at a meeting Jan. 30, officials said last week. U.S. sanctions imposed last year aim to cut off dealings with Iran’s banking system, making it difficult for consumers to buy the country’s oil, in an effort to force Iran to abandon nuclear work that the U.S. and allies say may be intended for weapons development.
Iran denies seeking to build atomic weapons and says it’s pursuing nuclear technology for civilian purposes.
The threat of broader sanctions led the Iranian rial to plunge to 17,800 per U.S. dollar on Jan. 2, prompting the central bank to take measures to arrest the decline. The official rate yesterday was 11,230 rials a dollar, according to the central bank’s website.
The International Monetary Fund estimated in September that Iran’s economy would grow 3.4 percent in 2012 while Deputy Economy Minister Mohammad-Reza Farzin last month said inflation may hit 22 percent by the end of the current calendar year in March.
Skipping Brazil
Some leaders in Latin America, who have long resented U.S. military and economic dominance, have stood by Ahmadinejad. Chavez has called him a fellow “gladiator of the anti- imperialist battle” against the U.S., while Lula in 2010 voted against United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran and worked with Turkey to broker a deal to swap the country’s nuclear fuel.
Rousseff distanced herself from her predecessor’s close ties to Iran. Shortly after her October 2010 election, she criticized Lula’s abstention on a UN resolution condemning human rights abuses in the country.
Tovar Nunes, a spokesman for Brazil’s foreign ministry, said a visit by Ahmadinejad was never under consideration even though the two countries enjoy an “active diplomatic agenda.” Brazilian exports rose 18 percent to $2.3 billion from January to November 2011 compared with the same period a year ago.
U.S. Sanctions
The U.S. is stepping up its monitoring of Iran’s activities in the region. In May, it imposed sanctions on state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA for defying sanctions. Then in October, it implicated an Iranian man working out of Mexico in a plot to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington.
The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee will hold hearings as soon as this month to investigate Iranian ties to Latin America.
Farideh Farhi, an Iran specialist at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, said that U.S. fears are raised every time Ahmadinejad visits the “same four countries” and then subside when he leaves.
“No one’s talking any more about the 400-member Iranian embassy in Nicaragua,” Farhi said in a phone interview. “I guess someone checked and there’s nothing like that there.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Sabo in Panama City at esabo1@bloomberg.net; Jose Orozco in Caracas at jorozco8@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net.
Source
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, facing tighter U.S. sanctions and rising tensions in the Persian Gulf, will turn to his diminished group of allies in Latin America for support this week.
Ahmadinejad arrived in Venezuela yesterday to kick off a four-nation tour to push investment projects such as a hydro- electric power plant in Ecuador. He’ll be joining forces with leaders like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Raul Castro in taking shots at the U.S. in its own backyard, defying attempts to isolate Iran over its nuclear activities.
Iran’s Latin American allies shouldn’t expect too much in return. Iran has yet to fulfill pledges made by Ahmadinejad on previous trips -- he’s made five since 2005 -- to build a port in Nicaragua and an oil refinery in Ecuador. Unlike during his last regional tour in 2009, he won’t visit Brazil, where President Dilma Rousseff has shown little interest in deepening ties forged by her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
“The promises of aid and investment have not been kept,” Cynthia Arnson, Latin America program director at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said in a phone interview. “This is clearly a political solidarity tour to reinforce relationships with a small number of allies.”
After holding talks with Chavez today, Ahmadinejad will travel to Nicaragua to attend the swearing-in ceremony tomorrow of President Daniel Ortega, who was re-elected to a second consecutive term in November. He’ll also visit Cuba and Ecuador during the five-day tour.
Growing Influence
Under Ahmadinejad, Iran has expanded its economic, political and military influence in Latin America, taking advantage of an upswell of anti-American sentiment in the region led by Chavez and his eight-nation Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Jan. 6 that Ahmadinejad’s trip show he’s “desperate for friends and flailing around in interesting places” to find them as international pressure builds against him.
Since 2005, Iran has opened six embassies in Latin America and more than doubled trade with Brazil, the region’s biggest economy. The diplomatic offensive has drawn the attention of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who in 2009 said that Iran is building a “huge” embassy in Nicaragua. Iranian officials have refuted the claim.
Bolivia moved its only embassy in the Middle East from Cairo to Tehran while Ortega has also announced plans to open its own diplomatic mission there.
Betting on Chavez
Iran’s biggest presence is in Venezuela. Chavez has visited the Islamic Republic nine times, signing more than 100 bilateral deals to support everything from a Venezuelan campaign to build low-income homes to a joint venture to manufacture bicycles, which Chavez jokingly referred to as “atomic” two-wheelers.
Most of the investment hasn’t gotten off the ground, said Arnson, who last year edited a report called “Iran in Latin America: Threat or ‘Axis of Annoyance?’”
For example, pledges from 2007 and 2008 respectively to help build a $350 million deepwater port off Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast and an oil refinery in Ecuador have yet to materialize.
Security Threat
More worrisome are deals to help Venezuela explore for minerals including uranium, said Jose Cardenas, a National Security Council official under President George W. Bush. The two countries in 2007 also established in Caracas the Banco Internacional de Desarrollo, which together with its main Iranian shareholder, Bank Saderat, is accused by the U.S. of being a vehicle for the Ahmadinejad government’s funding of Middle Eastern terrorist group Hezbollah.
“They’ve placed a bet on Chavez,” Cardenas, who helped draft U.S. policy toward Cuba at the NSC, said in a phone interview. “Venezuela has a massive banking system where you can move billions of dollars and nobody will blink.”
Ted Piccone, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said that while Iran “needs as many friends as it can get” the opaque nature of its outreach in Latin America poses a threat to U.S. security. He pointed to Argentine prosecutors’ allegations that Iranian officials, including Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, were involved in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people as evidence of Iran’s sinister motives.
“Could Iranian security forces be located in these embassies?” he said in a phone interview. “It’s something that has to be watched very closely.”
Chavez Sees Threat
Chavez, speaking on state television yesterday, dismissed speculation that Iran was trying to launch an attack against the U.S. from Latin America.
“We have to be careful here because it’s a threat against us,” Chavez said on state television. “Forget it Obama. Focus on your country’s problems and they are plenty. The people of Latin America will never again be brought to their knees and dominated by the Yankee empire.”
Iranian Energy Minister Majid Namjou, who will accompany Ahmadinejad along with a group of businessmen, said a number of deals will be signed during the current tour, including plans to build the hydroelectric plant in Ecuador. He said Iran is competing for the contract with China, according to comments made to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.
Gulf Crisis
Ahmadinejad’s trip may be upstaged by events closer to home after Iran threatened last month to shut the Strait of Hormuz, a transit point for a fifth of oil traded worldwide, if sanctions are imposed on its crude exports.
The European Union may agree to an embargo on Iranian oil at a meeting Jan. 30, officials said last week. U.S. sanctions imposed last year aim to cut off dealings with Iran’s banking system, making it difficult for consumers to buy the country’s oil, in an effort to force Iran to abandon nuclear work that the U.S. and allies say may be intended for weapons development.
Iran denies seeking to build atomic weapons and says it’s pursuing nuclear technology for civilian purposes.
The threat of broader sanctions led the Iranian rial to plunge to 17,800 per U.S. dollar on Jan. 2, prompting the central bank to take measures to arrest the decline. The official rate yesterday was 11,230 rials a dollar, according to the central bank’s website.
The International Monetary Fund estimated in September that Iran’s economy would grow 3.4 percent in 2012 while Deputy Economy Minister Mohammad-Reza Farzin last month said inflation may hit 22 percent by the end of the current calendar year in March.
Skipping Brazil
Some leaders in Latin America, who have long resented U.S. military and economic dominance, have stood by Ahmadinejad. Chavez has called him a fellow “gladiator of the anti- imperialist battle” against the U.S., while Lula in 2010 voted against United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran and worked with Turkey to broker a deal to swap the country’s nuclear fuel.
Rousseff distanced herself from her predecessor’s close ties to Iran. Shortly after her October 2010 election, she criticized Lula’s abstention on a UN resolution condemning human rights abuses in the country.
Tovar Nunes, a spokesman for Brazil’s foreign ministry, said a visit by Ahmadinejad was never under consideration even though the two countries enjoy an “active diplomatic agenda.” Brazilian exports rose 18 percent to $2.3 billion from January to November 2011 compared with the same period a year ago.
U.S. Sanctions
The U.S. is stepping up its monitoring of Iran’s activities in the region. In May, it imposed sanctions on state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA for defying sanctions. Then in October, it implicated an Iranian man working out of Mexico in a plot to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington.
The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee will hold hearings as soon as this month to investigate Iranian ties to Latin America.
Farideh Farhi, an Iran specialist at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, said that U.S. fears are raised every time Ahmadinejad visits the “same four countries” and then subside when he leaves.
“No one’s talking any more about the 400-member Iranian embassy in Nicaragua,” Farhi said in a phone interview. “I guess someone checked and there’s nothing like that there.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Sabo in Panama City at esabo1@bloomberg.net; Jose Orozco in Caracas at jorozco8@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net.
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BENADOR: What could change if Arab League to increase monitors in Syria?
Photo: Syrians living in Egypt take part in a protest in Cairo on Sunday before a meeting there of Arab League foreign ministers about the league's observer mission in Syria. Credit: Khaled Elfiqi / EPA
REPORTING FROM CAIRO AND BEIRUT — The Arab League is pressing ahead with a heavily criticized observer mission in Syria, saying Sunday it will increase the number of monitors and calling on all sides to halt months of bloodshed.
The announcements came after the head of the observers briefed an Arab League ministerial committee in Cairo on the preliminary findings of the mission, which is monitoring the Damascus government’s compliance with regional demands to end a violent crackdown on a nearly 10-month uprising.
Opposition activists contend that the mission has done little but provide a cover for more violence. Hundreds of people have been killed since Syria agreed Dec. 19 to admit the monitors, according to the Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists that organizes protests and documents the bloodshed. At least 21 more deaths were reported Sunday, the group said.
Members of the Syrian National Council, the most prominent opposition bloc, and other activists have urged the league to concede that it can’t protect civilians and to ask the U.N. Security Council to step in. The Arab Parliament, a league advisory body, has also declared the mission a failure and called for the immediate withdrawal of the observers.
In a statement Sunday, the ministerial committee called on the Syrian government to fulfill its commitments under a league-negotiated peace plan calling for the withdrawal of security forces from cities and residential areas, the release of political prisoners, free access to international media and dialogue with the opposition. The league also reiterated its demand for an end to “all acts of violence from any side.”
League officials have said that the Syrian government has taken steps toward implementing the plan, including releasing a number of detainees, but that snipers continue to threaten civilians.
Qatar’s prime minister, Sheik Hamad ibn Jassim Jaber al Thani, who heads the ministerial committee on Syria, said he was hopeful the observers would be able to complete their task. But he told reporters that "this mission won’t last forever. If the killings continue, then the mission’s presence will be useless.”
Syrian authorities insist they are committed to the league’s plan. They blame the continued bloodshed on what they describe as foreign-backed armed terrorists, who they say have killed more than 2,000 security force members.
What began as a mostly peaceful uprising in March has turned more violent in recent months, with military defectors claiming responsibility for deadly attacks against government forces. In all, more than 5,000 people have been killed, according to U.N. estimates.
Journalists are heavily restricted in Syria, making it difficult to verify the accounts provided by either side.
The Qatari prime minister said the league hopes to increase the number of observers in the country from 165 to 300 within the next few days.
League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby will coordinate with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on ways to strengthen the “technical capacity” of the mission, the committee said, including providing training for the monitors.
International human rights groups have expressed concern that the monitors sent to Syria are not experienced at uncovering or documenting abuses.
Some have also questioned the selection of Sudanese Lt. Gen. Mohammed Ahmed Dabi to lead the mission, noting that he served in key security positions under President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands for crimes against humanity in Sudan's Darfur region.
Elaraby has defended Dabi, calling him a “capable military man with a clean reputation.”
Dabi will file a full report on the mission's findings on Jan. 19, the committee said.
[2:55 p.m. Jan. 8: The panel's recommendations did not satisfy activists in some of the country’s major opposition strongholds, which have borne the brunt of the crackdown.
“We don't want new deadlines, additional observers or equipment,” said an activist in the strife-torn city of Homs who goes by the nickname Abu Rami for security sake. “I can hear the gunfire outside. The killings continue. ... We ask [the league] to submit the issue to the [U.N.] Security Council.”
Elaraby said there was nothing to prevent the Security Council from acting. “The Security Council has the authority to intervene in any matter under the sun … without needing us,” he said.
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BENADOR: IRAN BEGINS URANIUM ENRICHMENT IN UNDERGROUND QOM SITE
Iran, leading in a world leftist-Muslim conspiracy against the established world order, is moving ahead on nuclear plans.
Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site well protected from possible air strikes, 32 km from Qom at Fordo. (GeoEye Satellite Image, AP)
Tehran - Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site well protected from possible air strikes, a leading hardline newspaper reported on Sunday in another show of defiance against Western pressure to rein in Tehran's nuclear programme.
Another newspaper quoted a senior commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guard force as saying Tehran's leadership has decided to order the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic oil route, if the country's petroleum exports are blocked.
Revolutionary Guard ground forces also staged war games in eastern Iran in an apparent display of resolve against US forces just over the border in Afghanistan.
"The supreme authorities... have insisted that if enemies block the export of our oil, we won't allow a drop of oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. This is the strategy of the Islamic Republic in countering such threats," Revolutionary Guard deputy commander Ali Ashraf Nouri was quoted as saying by the Khorasan daily.
Iranian politicians have issued similar threats in the past, but this is the strongest statement yet by a top commander in the security establishment.
The latest statements are certain to fuel tensions with the US and its allies, which are trying to turn up pressure on Iran with new sanctions to punish it over its disputed nuclear programme. The West suspects Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons, but Iran denies this.
The United Nations has already sanctioned Iran for refusing to stop uranium enrichment - which can produce both nuclear fuel and fissile warhead material. Tehran says its nuclear programme is only for energy and medical research, and refuses to halt uranium enrichment.
Kayhan daily, which is close to Iran's ruling clerics, said Tehran has begun injecting uranium gas into sophisticated centrifuges at the Fordo facility near the holy city of Qom.
"Kayhan received reports yesterday that show Iran has begun uranium enrichment at the Fordo facility amid heightened foreign enemy threats," the paper said in a front-page report. Kayhan's manager is a representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final word on all important matters of state.
8 000 centrifuges
Iran's nuclear chief, Fereidoun Abbasi, said late on Saturday that his country will "soon" begin enrichment at Fordo. It was impossible to immediately reconcile the two reports.
Iran has a major uranium enrichment facility in Natanz in central Iran, where nearly 8 000 centrifuges are operating. Tehran began enrichment at Natanz in April 2006.
The Fordo centrifuges, however, are reportedly more efficient. And the site better shielded from aerial attack.
Nouri said Iran's leadership has made a strategic decision to close the Strait of Hormuz, should the country's exports be blocked. One-sixth of the world's oil flows to market through the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
President Barack Obama approved new sanctions against Iran a week ago, targeting the central bank and its ability to sell petroleum abroad. The US has delayed implementing the sanctions for at least six months, worried about sending the price of oil higher at a time when the global economy is already struggling.
The new sanctions nevertheless prompted a series of threats from Iranian officials about closing the Strait of Hormuz.
The newspaper paraphrased Nouri as saying that a 10-day naval war game which ended on Tuesday was preparation for such a closure. The Guard, which is Iran's most powerful military force and which has its own naval arm, has planned more sea manoeuvres for February.
"The exalted leader [Khamenei] determined a new strategy for the armed forces, by which any threat from enemies will be responded to with threats," Nouri said.
The US and Israel have said that all options remain open, including military action, should Iran continue with its enrichment programme.
Underground tunnel
Tehran says it needs the programme to produce fuel for future nuclear reactors and medical radioisotopes needed for cancer patients.
The country has been enriching uranium to less than 5% for years, but it began to further enrich part of its uranium stockpile to nearly 20% as of February 2010, saying it needs the higher grade material to produce fuel for a Tehran reactor that makes medical radioisotopes needed for cancer patients. Weapons-grade uranium is usually about 90% enriched.
Iran says the higher enrichment activities - to nearly 20% - will be carried out at Fordo. These operations are of particular concern to the West because uranium at 20% enrichment can be converted into fissile material for a nuclear warhead much more quickly than that at 3.5%.
Built next to a military complex, Fordo was long kept secret and was only acknowledged by Iran after it was identified by Western intelligence agencies in September 2009.
Buried under 90m of rock, the facility is a hardened tunnel and is protected by air defence missile batteries and the Revolutionary Guard, Iran's most powerful military force. The site is located about 32km north of Qom, the religious nerve centre of Iran's ruling system.
"The Fordo facility, like Natanz, has been designed and built underground. The enemy doesn't have the ability to damage it," the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted nuclear chief Abbasi as saying on Sunday.
- AP
Source
Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site well protected from possible air strikes, 32 km from Qom at Fordo. (GeoEye Satellite Image, AP)
Tehran - Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site well protected from possible air strikes, a leading hardline newspaper reported on Sunday in another show of defiance against Western pressure to rein in Tehran's nuclear programme.
Another newspaper quoted a senior commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guard force as saying Tehran's leadership has decided to order the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic oil route, if the country's petroleum exports are blocked.
Revolutionary Guard ground forces also staged war games in eastern Iran in an apparent display of resolve against US forces just over the border in Afghanistan.
"The supreme authorities... have insisted that if enemies block the export of our oil, we won't allow a drop of oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. This is the strategy of the Islamic Republic in countering such threats," Revolutionary Guard deputy commander Ali Ashraf Nouri was quoted as saying by the Khorasan daily.
Iranian politicians have issued similar threats in the past, but this is the strongest statement yet by a top commander in the security establishment.
The latest statements are certain to fuel tensions with the US and its allies, which are trying to turn up pressure on Iran with new sanctions to punish it over its disputed nuclear programme. The West suspects Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons, but Iran denies this.
The United Nations has already sanctioned Iran for refusing to stop uranium enrichment - which can produce both nuclear fuel and fissile warhead material. Tehran says its nuclear programme is only for energy and medical research, and refuses to halt uranium enrichment.
Kayhan daily, which is close to Iran's ruling clerics, said Tehran has begun injecting uranium gas into sophisticated centrifuges at the Fordo facility near the holy city of Qom.
"Kayhan received reports yesterday that show Iran has begun uranium enrichment at the Fordo facility amid heightened foreign enemy threats," the paper said in a front-page report. Kayhan's manager is a representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final word on all important matters of state.
8 000 centrifuges
Iran's nuclear chief, Fereidoun Abbasi, said late on Saturday that his country will "soon" begin enrichment at Fordo. It was impossible to immediately reconcile the two reports.
Iran has a major uranium enrichment facility in Natanz in central Iran, where nearly 8 000 centrifuges are operating. Tehran began enrichment at Natanz in April 2006.
The Fordo centrifuges, however, are reportedly more efficient. And the site better shielded from aerial attack.
Nouri said Iran's leadership has made a strategic decision to close the Strait of Hormuz, should the country's exports be blocked. One-sixth of the world's oil flows to market through the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
President Barack Obama approved new sanctions against Iran a week ago, targeting the central bank and its ability to sell petroleum abroad. The US has delayed implementing the sanctions for at least six months, worried about sending the price of oil higher at a time when the global economy is already struggling.
The new sanctions nevertheless prompted a series of threats from Iranian officials about closing the Strait of Hormuz.
The newspaper paraphrased Nouri as saying that a 10-day naval war game which ended on Tuesday was preparation for such a closure. The Guard, which is Iran's most powerful military force and which has its own naval arm, has planned more sea manoeuvres for February.
"The exalted leader [Khamenei] determined a new strategy for the armed forces, by which any threat from enemies will be responded to with threats," Nouri said.
The US and Israel have said that all options remain open, including military action, should Iran continue with its enrichment programme.
Underground tunnel
Tehran says it needs the programme to produce fuel for future nuclear reactors and medical radioisotopes needed for cancer patients.
The country has been enriching uranium to less than 5% for years, but it began to further enrich part of its uranium stockpile to nearly 20% as of February 2010, saying it needs the higher grade material to produce fuel for a Tehran reactor that makes medical radioisotopes needed for cancer patients. Weapons-grade uranium is usually about 90% enriched.
Iran says the higher enrichment activities - to nearly 20% - will be carried out at Fordo. These operations are of particular concern to the West because uranium at 20% enrichment can be converted into fissile material for a nuclear warhead much more quickly than that at 3.5%.
Built next to a military complex, Fordo was long kept secret and was only acknowledged by Iran after it was identified by Western intelligence agencies in September 2009.
Buried under 90m of rock, the facility is a hardened tunnel and is protected by air defence missile batteries and the Revolutionary Guard, Iran's most powerful military force. The site is located about 32km north of Qom, the religious nerve centre of Iran's ruling system.
"The Fordo facility, like Natanz, has been designed and built underground. The enemy doesn't have the ability to damage it," the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted nuclear chief Abbasi as saying on Sunday.
- AP
Source
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