http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iran-blog/2012/apr/18/israel-sanctions-iran-brought-forward
http://www.debka.com/article/21924/
Israel: Reported US-Iranian nuclear deal - wishful thinking
DEBKAfile Special Report April 18, 2012, 2:05 PM (GMT+02:00)
Israel calls for sanctions against Iran to be brought forward
Israel says EU embargo on Iranian oil and additional sanctions - due to take effect from July - should begin now
Israel's deputy prime minister acknowledged that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (above) never promised to 'wipe Israel off the map', contrary to repeated claims. Photograph: KeystoneUSA-Zuma/Rex Features
Israel's deputy foreign minister has called for stringent international sanctions against Iran to be brought forward to take immediate effect.
Danny Ayalon said no further leeway should be given to the Iranians, and that an EU embargo on Iranian oil and additional tougher sanctions, due to take effect from 1 July, should begin now.
Speaking to foreign media in Jerusalem, Ayalon said: "If there is one thing the Iranians pay attention to, it is additional sanctions. July 1 for them is something they will try to avoid almost at any price. So if we advance July 1 to now, I think there is a good chance to get a positive effect in Iran, and I believe that would have a good effect on any future dialogues with them."
Ayalon would not be drawn on how much time the additional sanctions would need to be given to show an impact but said: "There is a toll on the Iranian economy and political stability, and we know there is also some split in Iran on how to proceed.
"I think we should signal to them that they will benefit if they stop their activities now. And the best way to signal this is to advance the sanctions.
"They're already suffering the consequences of the sanctions that have been put on them, but additional sanctions would have a much larger effect; it's not just incremental, it's going to be almost a quantum leap."
He said Israel saw no "change in the paradigm" in the wake of talks between the P5+1 countries (the five permanent members of the UN security council plus Germany) and Iran in Istanbul last weekend. "Nothing has changed. The danger is that the Iranians will continue to con the world."
In an interview with Army Radio, the defence minister, Ehud Barak, said he did not believe that negotiations with Iran would bear fruit, and that Israel had made no pledge to Washington to refrain from a military attack while talks continued.
Meanwhile, the deputy prime minister, Dan Meridor, acknowledged in a television interview that Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had never promised to "wipe Israel off the map", contrary to repeated claims.
"They didn't say 'We'll wipe it out', but 'It will not survive, it is a cancerous tumor, it should be removed'. They repeatedly said 'Israel is not legitimate, it should not exist'," Meridor told al-Jazeera.
In 2005, Ahmadinejad quoted the leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution as saying Israel "must vanish from the page of time", but his remarks were widely mistranslated.
and...
http://www.debka.com/article/21924/
Israel: Reported US-Iranian nuclear deal - wishful thinking
DEBKAfile Special Report April 18, 2012, 2:05 PM (GMT+02:00)
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: A nuclear weapon is a sin...
Officials in Jerusalem angrily dismissed reports of a breakthrough in last Saturday’s nuclear negotiations in Istanbul between six world powers (P5+1) and Iran and most emphatically the claim that “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played his expected role in this choreography” by criticizing the negotiators for giving Iran a five-week freebie for continuing enrichment without limitation, as cited in a Washington Post article on Wednesday, April 18, by the columnist David Ignatius.
Iran is presented as ready to agree to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent and halt work at its underground facility for higher enrichment near Qom, and export its stockpile of highly enriched uranium for final processing to 20 percent for use in medical isotopes. Israeli sources say this report is false: Far from this being the shape of an eventual settlement, it was the shape of American demands relayed to Tehran in side-channels going via Paris and Vienna. Israel was never informed of Iran accepting this formula or its presentation to the Istanbul meeting.
Iran is presented as ready to agree to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent and halt work at its underground facility for higher enrichment near Qom, and export its stockpile of highly enriched uranium for final processing to 20 percent for use in medical isotopes. Israeli sources say this report is false: Far from this being the shape of an eventual settlement, it was the shape of American demands relayed to Tehran in side-channels going via Paris and Vienna. Israel was never informed of Iran accepting this formula or its presentation to the Istanbul meeting.
Above all, they stressed, Netanyahu has not and will not play a role in any choreography of this kind staged by the Obama administration.
The Americans appear to have been taken in by the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s public pledge in February not to commit the “grave sin” of building a nuclear weapon as representing the Islamic regime’s face-saver for caving in to US pressure. The WP article is indeed captioned” “The stage is set for a deal with Iran.” Nothing, sayDEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources, is farther from the truth. According to our Iranian sources, there is no sign of the Iranians caving in.
The article itself appears to represent Washington’s comeback for a radio interview aired a few hours earlier, Tuesday, April 17, by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya'alon, in which he sharply criticized the Obama administration for its handling of the nuclear dispute with Iran: "We (Israel) no longer believe in the Americans, and on the Iran issue, we are not in the same boat."
The Americans appear to have been taken in by the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s public pledge in February not to commit the “grave sin” of building a nuclear weapon as representing the Islamic regime’s face-saver for caving in to US pressure. The WP article is indeed captioned” “The stage is set for a deal with Iran.” Nothing, sayDEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources, is farther from the truth. According to our Iranian sources, there is no sign of the Iranians caving in.
The article itself appears to represent Washington’s comeback for a radio interview aired a few hours earlier, Tuesday, April 17, by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya'alon, in which he sharply criticized the Obama administration for its handling of the nuclear dispute with Iran: "We (Israel) no longer believe in the Americans, and on the Iran issue, we are not in the same boat."
“Three years ago, Iran had 1,200 kilos of low enriched uranium; today it has five and a half tons,” he pointed out.
Ya'alon also warned that after the way the proceedings went in Istanbul, right after the second round of talks on May 23 in Baghdad, “Israel will review its steps,” He noted: “Obama has said Israel has the right to self-defense.”The deputy prime minister was the first Israeli national figure to suggest that, after May 23, the Netanyahu government would approach a decision on the date for a countdown to an attack on Iran’s nuclear program.
Yaalon certainly said enough to cause some agitation in Washington, judging by the flood of phone calls DEBKAfile’s sources report coming in from Washington with requests for clarifications.
Earlier that Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in another radio interview that the“P5+1” group’s talks with Iran must result in a clear-cut resolution, the end of Iran’s nuclear program. He did not believe they would, although he hoped to be proved wrong.
The two Israeli ministers would not have delivered their downbeat comments if indeed US talks with Iran over and under the negotiating table had achieved, or even approached, the breakthrough depicted in Washington.
Earlier that Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in another radio interview that the“P5+1” group’s talks with Iran must result in a clear-cut resolution, the end of Iran’s nuclear program. He did not believe they would, although he hoped to be proved wrong.
The two Israeli ministers would not have delivered their downbeat comments if indeed US talks with Iran over and under the negotiating table had achieved, or even approached, the breakthrough depicted in Washington.
and......
http://www.debka.com/article/21922/
India confiscates Israeli defense firm’s $70m guarantee, clouding relations
DEBKAfile Special Report April 17, 2012, 7:01 PM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKAfile Special Report April 17, 2012, 7:01 PM (GMT+02:00)
Indian army's 155mm howitzers - out of ordnance
The Israeli government spared no effort to save the day. However, even after Prime Minister Netanyahu’s security adviser Yaacov Amidror visited New Delhi to intercede with top security and government officials, India decided, for the first time in its history, to penalize a foreign defense vendor, Israel’s Military Industries (IMI), for alleged breach of contract.
To the dismay of officials in Jerusalem, the IMI was singled out for the penalty with loud publicity from among five defense vendors – three foreign and two Indian - recommended for blacklisting in March for alleged involvement in a graft case. Its $70 million guarantee was accordingly confiscated.
In Jerusalem, it is strongly suspected that India is deliberately cooling its defense relations with Israel to fit in with its new alignment with Tehran and Moscow. All three refuse to join US and European sanctions against Iran.
The IMI signed a contract with the Indian OFB-Ordinance Factory Board to build ordnance factories at Nalanda in Bihar for manufacturing bi-modular charges for the Indian Army’s 155mm howitzers. The $260 million contract contained an “integrity pact” covering a commitment to abstain from “malpractice.”
The IMI signed a contract with the Indian OFB-Ordinance Factory Board to build ordnance factories at Nalanda in Bihar for manufacturing bi-modular charges for the Indian Army’s 155mm howitzers. The $260 million contract contained an “integrity pact” covering a commitment to abstain from “malpractice.”
Delhi says the IMI forfeited its guarantee because it was allegedly involved in the offer of a bribe to former OFB director general Sudipto Ghosh in 2010.
IMI sources pointed out that an Indian court had ruled the encashment of the guarantee improper. The firm operated within the law and intends to appeal the decision and the handling of the case before the competent authorities. The decision, they say, was based on disputed facts and ignored the documents and information refuting the charges which were presented to the Indian Defense Ministry.
DEBKAfile’s military sources add that Israel’s defense leaders made every effort, including an appeal by Yaacov Amidror to Indian defense minister A.K. Antony, to get its military industries removed from the blacklist banning its operations in India for 10 years, and reinstated.
It was all in vain. New Delhi’s decision to confiscate the $70 million guarantee was taken and published Tuesday without letting Jerusalem know it was coming.
The next day, Antony visited the OFB ordnance factory and approved a special operating budget for getting production at Nalanda up and running without outside help.
IMI sources pointed out that an Indian court had ruled the encashment of the guarantee improper. The firm operated within the law and intends to appeal the decision and the handling of the case before the competent authorities. The decision, they say, was based on disputed facts and ignored the documents and information refuting the charges which were presented to the Indian Defense Ministry.
DEBKAfile’s military sources add that Israel’s defense leaders made every effort, including an appeal by Yaacov Amidror to Indian defense minister A.K. Antony, to get its military industries removed from the blacklist banning its operations in India for 10 years, and reinstated.
It was all in vain. New Delhi’s decision to confiscate the $70 million guarantee was taken and published Tuesday without letting Jerusalem know it was coming.
The next day, Antony visited the OFB ordnance factory and approved a special operating budget for getting production at Nalanda up and running without outside help.
On March 12, the Indian Chief of Staff Gen. V.K. Singh sent a letter to the prime minister in Delhi complaining that the army’s tank fleet is short of guns and ammunition for fighting off a potential enemy (Pakistani) tank assault; 97 percent of its air defense systems are inoperative; and its special forces have neither the right arms for their operations nor ammo. The situation in the Indian infantry, engineering and signals corps is no better.
The letter, say our military sources was fired off as a shot in the feud among India’s top generals, security chiefs and politicians. In the free-for-all, they all accuse each other of corruption and graft related to military procurement. Gen. Singh said he too was offered a $2.8 billion bribe in 2010.
All Israel’s efforts to keep its defense transactions with New Delhi clear of its domestic infighting were fruitless.
The letter, say our military sources was fired off as a shot in the feud among India’s top generals, security chiefs and politicians. In the free-for-all, they all accuse each other of corruption and graft related to military procurement. Gen. Singh said he too was offered a $2.8 billion bribe in 2010.
All Israel’s efforts to keep its defense transactions with New Delhi clear of its domestic infighting were fruitless.
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