Wednesday, August 1, 2012

War zone watch - China reacts to new Iran sanctions by way of the latest executive order from the President , Iraq killings go on , Taliban cheers reopening of Nato supply lines as their revenues dropped off significantly while convoys were shutdown , Iran situation continues to fester as sanctions ramped up by President Obama and Congress looks to add more...

http://www.debka.com/article/22229/Khamenei-Warns-Iran%E2%80%99s-Top-Leaders-WAR-IN-WEEKS

( if the report is accurate , note that the Head of the Quds Brigade is still among the land of the living... )


Khamenei Warns Iran’s Top Leaders: WAR IN WEEKS

DEBKAfile DEBKA Video August 1, 2012, 8:54 AM (GMT+02:00)
Tags:  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei   Iran nuclear   Israel   Video 
On July 27, just before Friday prayers, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei summoned top Iranian military chiefs for what he called “their last war council.”
“We’ll be at war within weeks,” he told the gathering, DEBKAfile’s exclusive Iranian and intelligence sources disclose.
Present were Defense Minister General Ahmad Vahidi, Khamenei’s military adviser General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, Armed Forces Chief Major General Seyed Hassan Firuzabadi, Revolutionary Guards Corps commander General Mohammad Ali Jafari and Al Qods Brigades chief General Qassem Soleimani. The commanders of the air force, the navy and ground forces were also there.
Each of the participants was tapped to report on the readiness of his branch or sector for shouldering its contingency mission.While retaliation had been exhaustively drilled in regular military exercises in the past year, Khamenei ordered the biggest fortification project in Iran’s history to save its nuclear program from even the mightiest of America’s super-weapons. Rocks are being gathered from afar, piled on key nuclear installations, covered with many tons of poured concrete and finally plated with steel.
That same Friday, the US Air force unveiled its new Massive Ordnance Penetrators. Each bunker buster weighs 30,000 pounds and is able to penetrate 60 feet of reinforced concrete.
Turning to retaliation, the war council endorsed a battery of paybacks for potential US and/or Israeli pre-emptive strikes against its nuclear program. They would start by announcing enhanced uranium enrichment up to 60 percent - that is close to weapons grade.
Oft-tested ballistic missiles, Shehab-3, would be loosed against Israel, Saudi Arabia and American Middle East and Gulf military installations.
Hizballah in Lebanon and Hamas and Jihad Islami in Gaza stand ready to pitch in against Israel with attacks from the north and the southwest.
Saudi oil export terminals would be blown up and mines sown in the Strait of Hormuz to impede the export of one-fifth of the world’s oil.
Khamenei put before his war council a timeline of weeks for the coming conflict – September or October.










http://www.rt.com/news/iran-fresh-sanctions-obama-552/


Fresh US sanctions against Iran, targeting not only the country’s oil industry but also foreign banks have sparked a furore. China warned Washington of a worsening in Sino-American relations, while Iran said the penalties amounted to "military war."
The new set of sanctions is aimed at forcing Iran to end its supposed development of nuclear arms. The financial penalties will target the Chinese Kunlun bank and the Iraqi Elaf Islamic bank as they have participated in million dollar transactions with Iranian banks and are as such subject to sanctions. 
These banks will be cut off from the US economy in an effort to discourage them from doing business with Iran.
"Today's action makes it clear that we will expose any financial institution, no matter where they are located, that allows the increasingly desperate Iranian regime to retain access to the international financial system," President Obama said in a statement.
Additionally, Obama ratcheted up the sanctions on Iran’s energy and petrochemical industries, approving sanctions against any entity that tries to purchase Iranian oil from the National Iranian Oil Co. and the Naftiran Intertrade Co.
Furthermore, Congress has agreed on a final sanctions package that will crack down on institutions that ship or insure Iranian cargo. The Senate is expected to vote on the sanctions before the end of the week.
The new penalties sparked a sharp reaction from China who said the US sanctioning of their banks would lead to a worsening of bilateral corporation between the two countries.
"The U.S. has invoked domestic law to impose sanctions on a Chinese financial institution, and this is a serious violation of international rules that harms Chinese interests," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad also released a statement decrying the new sanctions as “ridiculous” and a move to deprive the rest of the world of resources.
The chief of Iran’s central bank, Mahmoud Bahmani, went a step further, saying that the sanctions equated to “military war” and that Iran should take the necessary counter measures.
Iran maintains that its economy will be able to withstand the ratcheting-up of western sanctions and refuses to curb its nuclear program which it claims is civilian based. 
Barack Obama’s tactics have come under fire from Republican rival Mitt Romney who believes the President does not take a tough enough stance on Iran. 
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu echoed these sentiments on Sunday when he said that the economic penalties have not affected Iran’s nuclear development “one iota.”
The Obama Administration denies this and maintains that their sanctions are highly effective.
Iran’s currency has taken a severe hit since the US imposed its penalties at the beginning of the year, said Ben Rhodes deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.
"We have put in place crippling sanctions on the Iranian government. We have thrown the book at the Iranian government in terms of leaving no stone unturned in the sanctions regime,” he said.



and....



http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2012/07/31/iraq-attacks-leave-29-killed-as-bombs-focus-on-baghdad/


Iraq Attacks Leave 34 Killed, 78 Wounded As Bombs Focus on Baghdad
Tuesday: 34 Iraqis Killed, 78 Wounded
by , July 31, 2012
Updated at 11:15 p.m. EDT, July 31, 2012
Today’s attacks focused on central Baghdad where coordinated bombings killed or wounded about 80 people near the Green Zone. To the north, gunmen targeted another journalist. Overall, at least 34 people were killed and 78 more were wounded.
In Baghdad, a pair of near simultaneous bombings killed 20 people in the affluent Karrada district at rush hour. The blasts, which took place near a police station and an Interior Ministry office, wounded 57 people. One blast may have been targeting a passport office. Separately, police thwarted another attack that left two gunmen and a lieutenant colonel dead; two guards were wounded.
In Mosul, gunmen stormed a home where they killed a local television journalist and wounded his wife and mother during the Iftar meal. An infant boy was also wounded.
Gunmen at an Amiriyat al-Falluja checkpoint killed two policemen in a car.
In Saqlawiya, two people were killed and three wounded during a car bombing. An I.E.D. wounded two policemen.
A sticky bomb killed a policeman in Abu Ghraib.
The bodies of a man and a woman were found in Arbil. Police did not reveal any motives.
Two policemen were wounded in Kirkuk when they came across a roadside bomb.

Read more by Margaret Griffis











http://news.antiwar.com/2012/07/31/reopened-nato-supply-routes-means-millions-for-taliban/


Reopened NATO Supply Routes Mean Millions for Taliban

Apparently, the US can't do anything right in the lost war in Afghanistan

by John Glaser, July 31, 2012
After seven months of blockade, the US and Pakistan on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding reopening NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. And the Taliban are reportedly happy about it.
The reopening of the supply routes means the US can move arms and equipment to its troops occupying Afghanistan for billions of dollars cheaper than going through the northern route. Additionally, it means that the Pakistani government will again be eligible for increase US aid.
But the two uneasy allies aren’t the only ones getting a monetary benefit from the agreement. In 2010, the Taliban and related warlords managed to raise $360 million, and more than half that amount stolen from convoys along the supply routes.
“Stopping these supplies caused us real trouble,” one Taliban commander told the Associated Press. “Earnings dropped down pretty badly. Therefore the rebellion was not as strong as we had planned.”
“We are able to make money in bundles,” another commander told the AP. “Therefore, the NATO supply is very important for us.”
Essentially, even when the clumsy US counterinsurgency mission  believes itself to have gained a strategic advantage in the lost war in Afghanistan, it unknowingly screws itself and benefits the enemy.

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