Iran denies involvement in Canadian terror plot

Iran panics over Boston bombing link to Tehran

wnd

Reza Kahlili

Much of Iran’s media today panicked, attacking WND reports on the Islamic regime’s involvement in the Boston Marathon bombings and claiming Washington is behind the WND reports so the U.S. can attack other countries.

WND’s source for the report regarding Iran’s involvement in the bombings, a member of the regime’s intelligence services, said today regime officials fear a campaign in the United States for a retaliatory attack on Iran similar to what happened to Afghanistan after 9/11.

The fact that the regime’s media reflected the same report shows that panic, said the source, who added that Iranian leaders are furious about the WND reports.

In another sign of panic, another source said, Revolutionary Guard members, fearing a war or uprising, are distancing themselves from their commanders.

The headline “New Accusations by the West: The Boston Bombing Is Work of Iran,” was reflected on hundreds of the regime’s media sites, particularly the official site of the Revolutionary Guards’ Basij forces and Bultannews, which is run by the regime’s intelligence services.

An April 16 exclusive on WND reported that the Boston bombings were tied to the regime’s Quds Forces and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah. The source added that the regime from its operational centers in South Asia is actively recruiting a new wave of terrorists from non-Arabs and from Islam’s Sunni sect to avoid any trace back to Shiite Iran and Hezbollah and to either present an apparent link to al-Qaida or individuals acting on their own.

Two U.S. officials today told The Associated Press that the preliminary investigation suggests that the Boston suspects were motivated by religion and that it appears they acted alone.

The April 16 report also reflected WND reports of Dec. 11 and Feb. 28 in which sources within Iran said the Quds Forces were preparing for terrorist attacks within six months in the United States in collaboration with al-Qaida factions and that an operational team was on its way to the U.S.

Basij News, in covering the WND reports, said the West is accusing Iran’s highest political figures of ordering the Boston attack, supervised by the Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah.

The “conservative” website WND, Basij News said, cites a Khorasan video one of the bombers had uploaded to YouTube on the ideology of “Mahdaviat,” the Shiite belief in the coming of the last Islamic messiah, the 12th Imam, Mahdi

WND, it said, referred to the hadiths in which Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is the mythical figure who will raise the flag of Islam and hand it over to Mahdi when the 12th Imam returns to Earth at the time of Armageddon.

WND has reported that the clerics ruling Iran are trying to create that environment.

Basij News accused the West and WND of blaming Iran for the bombings so corporate America can benefit from insecurity in the country as Americans buy more guns.

But the bigger intention for blaming Iran, Basij News said, is so the United States has a reason to interfere in other countries, as it did in Afghanistan and Iraq in the aftermath of 9/11.

Basij News said that looking at different dimensions of the Boston bombings and the mercenary behavior of Western politicians, the most logical explanation for WND’s reports is that Washington was aware of the planned attack and is trying to take advantage of it.

According to another source, a former member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit who defected to a Scandinavian country, Guard members are also panicked as the regime continues to defy international demands to end its illicit nuclear program and continuously prepares for war. The Guard forces believe that war is inevitable, and despite harsh statements by their commanders against the U.S., the source said, many know that in any war the regime will fall and the Iranian people, most of whom resent the regime and the ideology it represents, will take revenge on its loyalists.

Many of the Guard forces are telling family members and neighbors that they do not support the regime any more to remedy their pro-regime status. The regime has also taken steps to stop any high-ranking officers from leaving the country, even on pilgrimage, fearing defection.

The same source reported last year that the Islamic regime’s agents were active in the U.S. and were working to acquire intelligence that might be useful in terror attacks. The agents work on Americans who have converted to Islam with offers of a trip to the Iranian city of Qom, the site of hotbed seminaries and the center of Shiite theology, where they are brainwashed and offered collaboration. The agents also use Islamic centers and mosques in the U.S. and other countries to recruit assets.

Meanwhile, reports surfaced today on another terror plot in which two individuals with links to al-Qaida elements in Iran were arrested. The plot, according to reports, called for attacking a commuter train traveling between Canada and the United States.

See the Khorasan video:

See the report “The Coming Is Upon Us:”

What caused latest deadly earthquake in Iran

science

Keele University

The Iran earthquake shows up on a seismometer at Keele University in the United Kingdom.

By Becky Oskin
LiveScience

The strongest earthquake to hit Iran in more than 50 years was a subduction-zone quake — the same tectonic setting underlying deadly temblors in Japan, Chile and Indonesia.

The magnitude-7.8 Khash earthquake struck 51 miles (82 kilometers) beneath the Earth's surface, where the Arabian Plate dives under the massive Eurasian Plate, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported. The quake hit Tuesday at 3:14 p.m. local time (6:44 a.m. EDT). Shaking was felt from New Delhi to Dubai, and dozens of people have been reported killed by collapsed structures, according to news reports. The USGS said that there will be more than a 47 percent chance of more than 1,000 fatalities.

Known as the Makran subduction zone, the plate boundary has produced some of the Middle East's biggest and deadliest earthquakes. For example, in November 1945, a magnitude-8.0 earthquake in Pakistan triggered a tsunami within the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, killing more than 4,000 people. 

Considering subduction-zone earthquakes can strike nearly 435 miles (700 km) deep in the Earth, today's quake was likely within the Arabian Plate itself, not along the zone where the two massive slabs meet, said Bill Barnhart, a research geophysicist with the USGS in Denver.

"We don't fully know yet, but instead of being slip along the slab, it was probably an earthquake within the slab," Barnhart told OurAmazingPlanet. "This is related to the subducting slab flexing as it goes down deeper into the Earth."

Off the coast of Pakistan, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Plate is sliding northward at about 1.5 inches (37 millimeters) per year. The motion pushes oceanic crust beneath the Eurasian Plate, which covers most of Europe and Asia, according to the USGS.

To the west, in Iran and Iraq, are the Zagros Mountains, a smaller version of the Himalayas, where continental crust carried on the Arabian Plate collides with the Eurasian Plate's continental crust. To the east, in Pakistan and India, is another plate boundary, where the Indian and Eurasian plates meet.

A smaller earthquake hit Iran on April 9. The magnitude-6.3 Bushehr earthquake, which hit in the southern Zagros Mountains, was unrelated to today's temblor, the USGS said. That quake was a thrust-fault earthquake, meaning the ground on one side of the fault moved vertically up and over the other side, shortening the distance between the two sides. The epicenter was 55 miles (89 km) southeast of Bushehr, the city where Iran's only nuclear power station is located.

In 2003, some 26,000 people in Iran were killed by a 6.6-magnitude quake that flattened the historic city of Bam, located about 400 miles (650 km) east of Bushehr on the other side of the Zagros Mountains. The Bam earthquake was a strike-slip, meaning the ground on either side of the faults moved mostly horizontally, as the San Andreas Fault does.

'Gone nuclear': Iran ramps up uranium production

worldnews

Mehdi Ghasemi / ISNA via AP, file

Two technicians in Iran adjust their protective wear alongside a container of yellow cake uranium.

By Yeganeh Torbati, Reuters

Iran said on Tuesday it had started production at two uranium mines and a yellow-cake plant, declaring that Western opposition would not slow its nuclear program days after talks between Tehran and world powers failed to reach an accord.

The country opened the Saghand 1 and 2 uranium mines in the central city of Yazd, which will extract uranium from a depth of more than 1,100 feet, and the Shahid Rezaeinejad yellow-cake plant at Ardakan to mark Iran's National Nuclear Technology Day, state news agency IRNA said.

The Ardakan plant is capable of producing 66 tons of yellow cake -- raw uranium -- annually, IRNA said.

The United States and some allies suspect Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability, but Iran insists that its atomic program, including its enrichment of uranium, is for purely peaceful purposes. Talks between Iran and world powers held in Kazakhstan last week failed to reach a breakthrough.

"They [world powers] tried their utmost to prevent Iran from going nuclear, but Iran has gone nuclear," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech at Iran's Atomic Energy Organization on Tuesday.

"This nuclear technology and power and science has been institutionalized. … All the stages are in our control, and every day that we go forward a new horizon opens up before the Iranian nation."

Obama says 'still time' for diplomacy with Iran, Netanyahu suggests time running short | Fox News

Fox News

Just see their faces

President Obama, while seeking to reassure Israel that America has its back in the face of a nuclear Iran, said Wednesday he believes there's "still time" to resolve the stand-off diplomatically -- as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested time is running short. 

Both leaders, in a joint press conference on Obama's first trip as president to Israel, stressed that their goal is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But the two appeared to diverge on the effectiveness of diplomacy. 

In his opening remarks, Netanyahu said sanctions and diplomacy "so far have not stopped" Iran's ambitions. 

"Diplomacy and sanctions must be augmented by a clear and credible threat of military action," he said. 

Later on, Obama said: "We prefer to resolve this diplomatically, and there is still time to do so." 

Still, he added that "all options are on the table" if diplomacy falls short. "The question is, will Iranian leadership seize that opportunity," he added. The president said Iran's past behavior indicates that "we can't even trust yet, much less verify." 

The meeting, and the two-day swing through Israel, was a chance for both leaders to reaffirm their ties, and for Obama to try and boost his image in the country after avoiding it for the last five years. Though Obama visited as a presidential candidate, this is his first visit to Israel since taking office in 2009. 

In Israel, Obama stopped briefly in Tel Aviv before flying to Jerusalem for meetings with senior leaders including Israeli President Shimon Peres. Peres praised Obama for an "impressive record of answering our needs," and welcomed the message that "no one should let skepticism win the day" when it comes to the peace process. 

Pressed during the press conference with Netanyahu on the lack of progress toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, Obama said he's certain he could have done things differently when it comes to the Mideast. 

But he said bringing peace to the region is "a really hard problem" to solve -- one that's lingered for more than 60 years. Obama also suggested that failure to reach an agreement in his first term between Israelis and Palestinians doesn't mean that he "screwed up somehow." 

The conversation turned repeatedly to the civil war in Syria and Iran's nuclear program. 

Obama started out his remarks with the prime minister by stressing that the security of Israel is "non-negotiable." The president said America's commitment to Israel's security is a "solemn obligation." 

Netanyahu, thanking Obama for his statements, stressed that: "Today we have both the right and the capability to defend ourselves."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/20/obama-says-till-time-for-diplomacy-with-iran-netanyahu-suggests-time-running/#ixzz2O7a85s00

Ahmadinejad’s scandalous moment with Hugo Chavez’s mother

Añadir leyenda

worldnews

By Kari Huus, Staff writer, NBC News

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have endeared himself to much of Latin America with his performance at the funeral of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but minders of religious righteousness in his home country were unamused.

His sin — unfortunately for him captured in a photograph — transpired when he came cheek to cheek with a grieving Elena Frias, the mother of the late president, while clasping her hands. In strict Islamic societies, people are not supposed to touch others of the opposite gender unless they are related or married.

The image sparked a storm of controversy in the Iranian press, according to the English-language Iran Pulse, and went viral on Twitter and Facebook as users joked about it or speculated about how the conservative Islamic clerics back in Tehran would respond.

Their answer was swift and certain.

"In relation to what is allowed (halal) and what is forbidden (haram) we know that no unrelated women can be touched unless she is drowning at sea or needs (medical) treatment," said Hojat al-Islam Hossein Ibrahimi, member of the Society of Militant Clergy of Tehran, according to the Iran Pulse report.

Ahmadinejad was already under scrutiny by the conservative clerics who call the shots in Iran, and apparently they did not like the eulogy he gave for Chavez at the memorial ceremony.

They said it was another sign that a "deviant current" was driving the president a greater distance from the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

During the eulogy, Ahmadinejad said that Chavez "will come again along with Jesus Christ and Al-Imam al-Mahdi to redeem mankind,” putting the populist Venezuelan president and ex-paratrooper in the ranks of holy figures.

Mohammed Dehghan, a member of the Iranian parliament, called for religious scholars to confront Ahmadinejad’s "un-Islamic" acts, Al-Arabiya reported.

Some Shiite religious figures admonished the Iranian president to be become better educated about his religion. Others urged him not to make religious references for the rest of his campaign for re-election, while his supporters said the whole uproar was a part of a smear campaign.

A second controversial photograph surfaced that appeared to be of Ahmadinejad attending the funeral in Caracas last week, but it turned out to be a fake that amateurishly Photoshopped the Iranian president in a cheek-to-cheek moment with the former director-general of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Egyptian Mohamed ElBaradei.

North Korea Nuclear Test in Conjunction with Iran?

breitbart

By AWR Hawkins 

Security experts are now wondering if North Korea's nuclear test on Tuesday was carried out for Iran's benefit.

Bar-Ilan University's Dr. Alon Levkowitz says there's no information to confirm such a collaboration yet but warns that it Iran could be conducting tests in secret:

The most disturbing question is whether the Iranians are using North Korea as a backdoor plan for their own nuclear program. The Iranians didn't carry out a nuclear test in Iran, but they may have done so in North Korea. There is no official information on this. But Iran may have bypassed inspections via North Korea.

You will recall that cooperation between Iran and North Korea is not uncommon on matters like this. Not only has North Korea sold missiles to Iran in the past, but Iranian scientists have been present in North Korea for major weapons tests along the way. 

As Levkowitz put it, if Tuesday's nuclear test was in fact Iranian or for Iran, "this is a very worrying development."

Iran: U.N. nuke inspectors are spies

wnd

By Reza KahliliThe head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Wednesday accused the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog of leaking confidential information on Iran’s nuclear program.

Fereydoon Abbasi, in an announcement on the organization’s website, also insinuated that some inspectors for the International Atomic Energy Agency work for foreign intelligence agencies. He said that because the agency does not have adequate security, Iran should not provide it with sensitive information.

Abbasi said the media did not uncover any secrets on Iran’s nuclear program, but that the IAEA did leak reports to the media. Although he mentioned reports on the installation of new-generation centrifuges at Natanz, he has not yet confirmed or denied explosions at the Fordow plant.

WND reported exclusively on Jan. 24 that explosions rocked Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordow on Jan. 21 with updates on Jan. 27, 29, 30, 31, and Feb. 3 and 6. The blasts at first trapped 219 workers, including 16 North Koreans. The bodies of at least 40 people, including two North Koreans, have been recovered.

Iranian media reported Wednesday that the IAEA and the Islamic regime had failed for a second time in less than a month to agree on further inspections of Iran’s nuclear activities.

Since WND’s initial report on the explosions, all Iranian media have avoided mentioning Fordow, after initially denying the incident occurred.

As reported in a WND update, a high-ranking Iranian diplomat serving in Asia said the regime has ordered a total news blackout on the Fordow incident, referring only to statements by the White House and IAEA. A former Iranian diplomat now in Tehran verified the order and said that since the WND report, the regime’s Supreme National Security Council has met several times and issued directives to all of its branches on the Fordow incident.

Two days after WND’s initial report on Fordow, Iran notified the IAEA of its intention to install its new-generation centrifuges at Natanz and it now has informed the IAEA that the installation has already begun and that it plans to install thousands more. The regime had 2,700 of these machines, which enrich uranium at a much faster speed, at Fordow.

Al-Manar, a Lebanese TV station affiliated with the terrorist group Hezbollah, echoed a claim by the Islamic regime’s official news agency IRNA and other media that the author of the WND reports, Reza Kahlili, is a lying defector and that Hamidreza Zaker, a former Iranian intelligence officer who has provided information on the Fordow incident, is another defector notorious for lying.

In a bizarre comparison, Al-Manar said that in the run-up to the Iraq war, many publications, including The New York Times, put out false reports about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, which the Bush administration used as a pretext to war. No WMDs were ever found.

Al-Manar is under the direct supervision of the office of Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah who was placed on the U.S. terrorist list in 2004.The media organization is funded by Iran and is used as a propaganda machine against Israel and America.

Al-Manar referred to the White House statement that called the WND report not credible and said that the IAEA backed Iran’s denial of the incident. It said Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful, stating that, “U.S. officials have recently said that the assessment included in the 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, which claims that there is no evidence whatever of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, remains the consensus view of the U.S.’s 16 intelligence agencies.”

Al-Manar claimed WND’s report is a part of an Israeli campaign to spread false information on the Iranian nuclear program and that shortly after the initial WND story, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot supported the WND report, which was echoed by the Times of London’s sources in Israeli intelligence.

“Recently and after having scored a heavy defeat in the last parliamentary elections, where he and his right-wing partner Avigdor Lieberman lost 25 percent of their seats in the Knesset, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to hide his current political weakness by shifting the public’s attention to Iran,” Al-Manar said. “In his ‘victory speech,’ he insisted that his first challenge would be preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.”

IRNA, in a report Jan. 30, called WND a “mouthpiece of the CIA” and Kahlili a CIA agent whose reporting was mere propaganda by the West before the start of renewed negotiations between Iran and the 5-plus-1 powers – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, plus Germany. The next round of talks is set to take place on Feb. 26 in Kazakhstan.

In what may be an ominous development, North Korea conducted another nuclear bomb test one day prior to President Obama’s State of Union Address. Iran and North Korea collaborate closely on their missile and nuclear bomb programs, and as reported in December 2010, Iranian scientists monitor North Korean tests.

With both North Korea and Iran having launched satellites into space, a sign of intercontinental ballistic missile delivery capability, a source in the Revolutionary Guards intelligence division said that with Monday’s test in North Korea of a more powerful and more militarized bomb, the two countries are much closer to clearing the last obstacle to arming their missiles with nuclear warheads.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/iran-u-n-nuke-inspectors-are-spies/#jqWv2mYVflV0yLI4.99

Iran gives stealth drone secrets to Russia

WND/ By Reza Kahlili

Russia has helped decode an American stealth drone that was captured by Iran 14 months ago in exchange for its secrets, a source has told WND.

Last week, Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards air and space division, announced the decoding of the drone, while Islamic regime media aired aerial footage below from the drone showing some of its operational capabilities.

“Some (Guards officers) believed that America would send its commando unit to destroy (the drone) while others were of the opinion that the U.S. would not risk having its forces get caught by us, creating a bigger problem for themselves, and that they might just do an air raid to destroy it,” Hajizadeh said. “We gave it a 10 to 15 percent chance on the air raid, and because of that we ordered an alert at all our missile bases to be ready to launch against all U.S. bases (in the region) if they did take any action.”

When the drone was captured, President Obama said, “We’ve asked for it back. We’ll see how the Iranians respond.”

According to Hamidreza Zakeri, a former intelligence officer of the regime who has defected to Europe, Iran and Russia had long been working on trapping a U.S. drone.

A Russian military team from its air and space division had secretly entered Iran days after a strategic agreement between the two countries in 2007 and was stationed at Revolutionary Guard bases to help the Guards with its weapons program and access to modern U.S. technology.

Get the inside story in Reza Kahlili’s “A Time To Betray” and learn how the Islamic regime “bought the bomb” in “Atomic Iran.”

After studying the stealth drone’s travel routes and its surveillance of Iran’s skies, the Russians successfully hacked into the system of one of the RQ170s and forced it to land in Iran Dec. 4, 2011.

With this collaboration, all the information of the stealth drone is now in the hands of the Russians, and much has been given to Iran’s Defense Ministry. Russia in turn provided Iran with the information on its anti-air defense system S300. Russia, because of international sanctions against Iran, could not deliver the actual S300 system.

Other information passed to Iran included technology on the American fighters F35 and X36, which eventually resulted in the Defense Ministry publicly unveiling its new jet fighter, the Qaher 313, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasting of the advanced features of this super stealth fighter.

However, according to the source, the fighter shown by Iranian media was merely a shell model and not operational and that the regime has only tested the smaller size. The project originally was scheduled to be completed in 2016, but due to the sanctions and economic problems, the regime has had problems following through with the timetable.

Russian-Iranian collaboration goes back many years. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s and the formation of the new republics, oil reserves in the Caspian Sea became an issue among the neighboring countries, resulting in disputes with Iran, which claimed half of the reserves.

Russia worried about the impact of the increased importance of this new market and the possible decrease in value of its Siberian oil fields, where over 40 percent of its income is based on its export of gas and oil. Vladimir Putin made a special trip to Iran in 2007 over the issue.

Because the Caspian-Caucasus region could play a significant role in the world economy and world policy, Putin in his meeting with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was able to significantly expand Russia’s collaboration with the Islamic regime. He also got an agreement on the division of Caspian oil reserves and a bigger Russian role in transporting the oil out of that area.

The 10-year agreement called for the expansion of commerce between the two countries of up to $200 billion and military and secret projects totaling $350 billion.

It was the first time a Kremlin chief visited Iran since Josef Stalin’s trip in 1943.

Russian collaboration extends to the regime’s missile, nuclear and even bio-weapons programs. Sources in the Islamic regime previously have revealed exclusively to WND the existence of secret bio-weapons site in Iran, where, with the help of Russia, Iran has mastered production of eight microbial agents, arming its missiles with biological warheads, and a nuclear site at which, with Russian help, laser technology is enriching uranium.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/iran-gives-stealth-drone-secrets-to-russia/#UyJLOG7EKGeIEv1m.99

Ahmadinejad: Iran to Unveil ‘Big New’ Nuclear Achievements ‘Within the Next Few Days’

The Blaze/ Madeleine Morgenstern

www.dailymail.co.uk

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran will soon unveil “big new” nuclear achievements, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday while reiterating Tehran’s readiness to revive talks with the West over the country’s controversial nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad spoke at a rally in Tehran as tens of thousands of Iranians marked the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the pro-Western monarchy and brought Islamic clerics to power.

Ahmadinejad did not elaborate on the upcoming announcement but insisted Iran would never give up its uranium enrichment, a process that makes material for reactors as well as weapons.

The West suspects Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at producing atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies, insisting it’s geared for peaceful purposes only, such as energy production.

Four rounds of U.N. sanctions and recent tough financial penalties by the U.S. and the European Union have failed to get Iran to halt aspects of its atomic work that could provide a possible pathway to weapons production.

“Within the next few days the world will witness the inauguration of several big new achievements in the nuclear field,” Ahmadinejad told the crowd in Tehran’s famous Azadi, or Freedom, square.

Iran has said it is forced to manufacture nuclear fuel rods, which provide fuel for reactors, on its own since international sanctions ban it from buying them on foreign markets. In January, Iran said it had produced its first such fuel rod.

Apart from progress on the rods, the upcoming announcement could pertain to Iran’s underground enrichment facility at Fordo or upgraded centrifuges, which are expected to be installed at the facility in the central town of Natanz. Iran has also said it would inaugurate the Russian-built nuclear power plant in the southern port of Bushehr in 2012.

Iran’s unchecked pursuit of the nuclear program scuttled negotiations a year ago but Iranian officials last month proposed a return to the talks with the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany.

“Iran is ready for talks within the framework of equality and justice,” Ahmadinejad repeated on said Saturday but warned that Tehran “will never enter talks if enemies behave arrogantly.”

In the past, Iran has angered Western officials by appearing to buy time through opening talks and weighing proposals even while pressing ahead with the nuclear program.

Washington recently levied new penalties aimed at limiting Iran’s ability to sell oil, which accounts for 80 percent of its foreign revenue, while the European Union adopted its own toughest measures yet on Iran, including an oil embargo and freeze of the country’s central bank assets.

Israel is worried Iran could be on the brink of an atomic bomb and many Israeli officials believe sanctions only give Tehran time to move its nuclear program underground, out of reach of Israeli military strikes. The U.S. and its allies argue that Israel should hold off on any military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities to allow more time for sanctions to work.

Before Ahmadinejad spoke Saturday, visiting Hamas prime minister from Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, also addressed the crowd, congratulating Iranians on the 1979 anniversary and vowing that his militant Palestinian group would never recognize Iran’s and Hamas’ archenemy, Israel.

Also at the Tehran rally, Iran displayed a real-size model of the U.S. drone RQ-170 Sentinel, captured by Iran in December near the border with Afghanistan. Iran has touted the drone’s capture as one of its successes against the West.

The state TV called the drone is a “symbol of power” of the Iranian armed forces “against the global arrogance” of the U.S.

The report broadcast footage of other rallies around Iran, saying millions participated in the anniversary celebrations, many under heavy snowfall.

Ahmadinejad: We're Nuclear But Won't Harm Israel

newsmax

www.theblaze.com

By Cyrus Afzali

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that his nation now possesses nuclear technology, something that the international community has worked to prevent.

International sanctions have been in place against Iran since July 2006, as countries around the world have sought to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Iran has consistently maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, a claim that is treated with suspicion in the west.

"We¹re already an industrial and nuclear country, a country that has conquered space," Ahmadinejad told the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram on Wednesday referring to the country's recent claim that it launched a monkey into space.

Ahmadinejad is in Egypt for an Islamic summit, marking the first time since 1979 an Iranian leader has visited the country. He said his nation has no interest in attacking Israel. "They want to attack Iran, but we're not preparing any attack against them because the purpose of our program is defense," he said according to an English-language translation of his interview.

He told the Egyptian paper that while Israel might find it easy to launch missiles or attack the country using fighter jets, Iran's defense capabilities could withstand such an attack.

News of a potential Israeli attack on Iran first circulated in late 2012 when Martin Indyk, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, predicted a war between the two countries is likely in early 2013. Speaking on the issue in September 2012, Indyk said he thought Iran had at most six months to negotiate a solution to avoid war.

The Iranian leader said the country's economy is able to withstand the impact of sanctions currently in place, saying that domestic oil production has replaced imports. One of the most damaging effects of sanctions has been a decline in the value of Iranian oil. Speaking to The New York Times in January, Iran's oil minister conceded that the value of oil exports had declined by up to 40 percent in the past year.

Ahmadinejad said he wants the world to treat Iran as a nuclear country and that it "will not go back to what it was in the past."

"They assume we'll give in to pressure; such thoughts are misguided," he said.

"For years, we have been thinking about sending a human being into space and we will do that, with (God's) help. We must ensure development and growth and bring them to pass and the world must acknowledge our progress."

Ahmadinejad again used anti-Israel rhetoric when discussing the Palestinian situation.

"For us, supporting the Palestinian people is a matter of human importance in every sense. The Palestinians must receive their rights, and the Zionists are moving closer and closer toward the edge," he said.

Ahmadinejad also indicated a willingness to reach out to Egypt, which has historically been a rival, and was ready to offer aid.

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/ahmadinejad-nuclear-iran-israel/2013/02/06/id/489187#ixzz2K9Dcmt7d
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Iranian Official Busted With $70 Million Venezuelan Check

capitolhillcubans

From AP:

The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reports that a man caught last month trying to enter Germany with a check worth about $70 million was Iran's former central bank chief.

The weekly reports that customs officials at Duesseldorf airport found the check in Tahmasb Mazaheri's luggage Jan. 21 upon his arrival from Turkey.

German customs had issued a statement Friday saying a check for 300 million Venezuelan Bolivars issued by the Bank of Venezuela was found on an unnamed 59-year-old man.

------------------------------------

www.zerohedge.com

A week ago we described the sad tale of one Mahmoud Bahmani [photo], who until recently supervised the unilateral destruction of the Iranian Rial, which on Friday just hit an all time low against the dollar down 21% in two weeks, as head of the Iranian central bank. While his currency-crushing performance would have been enough to get Mahmoud the "congressional medal of inflating away the debt" (not to mention a lifetime corner office at a TBTF bank of his choosing) at any self-respecting "developed world" banana republic, all of which have just one goal - to crush their currencies as Iran just did, in Iran it had precisely the opposite effect and let to his prompt termination. Yet this story is merely a trifle compared to the recent developments surrounding his predecessor, Tahmasb Mazaheri's, who led the Iranian central bank for just one year until September 2008, at which point Ahmadinejad fired him to make way for the recently laid off Bahmani. It is this same Mazaheri, who had been off the world's radar for over 4 years, until he trimumphantly resurfaced yesterday, when German Bild reported that he was caught last month trying to enter Germany with a check for 300 million Venezuelan Bolivars (some $70 million USD) issued by the Venezuelan Central Bank.

Iran's New Qaher 313 Stealth Fighter Would Be Perfect For Attacking The US Navy

businessinsider 
Robert Johnson and David Cenciotti, The Aviationist 

Iran yesterday revealed its most recent indigenous fighter jet — the “Qaher 313″. The prototype Q-313 was presented to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as a ceremonial gift during the country's Ten-Day Dawn celebration. The festivities commemorate the 1979 revolution when the U.S. embassy in Tehran taken by force. 

In the previous days, the Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi had said, “The aircraft will be different from the other fighter jets Iran has already made.”

Indeed, based on the first photographs released by the FARS News Agency, the new stealthy jet has a peculiar design. It features hard edges and those distinctive edges and angle of the U.S. F-22 and the twin tail shape much similar to that of the F-35 Lightning II.

The Q-313 has large, seemingly fixed canards, and little wings whose external section is canted downward, while the canopy material is at least odd (based on its transparency, it looks like Plexiglas or something like that).

The cockpit seems basic (a bit too much for a modern plane – note the lack of wiring behind the front panel).

The air intakes are extremely small whereas the engine section lacks any kind of nozzle — above all — the aircraft is way too small. Click here for more pictures at the Aviationist >

Putting aside the Qaher's implausible aerodynamics and Hollywood sheen, last week's announcement of a coming new domestic fighter was not insignificant given the Iranian air force has no more than a few dozen strike aircraft.

Most of those it inherited from the prior regime during the 1979 revolution. That regime change, involving a huge U.S. hostage situation, made it far more difficult to maintain the country's then-new fleet of American F-14s.

Tehran has a domestically built fighter already. At least a handful have been sighted during air shows and displays, but this new model is a drastic change in design and ability.

Of course, Iran is famous for building models and systems it never intends to fly, but if this is an actual prototype it may be designed to fill a uniquely Iranian requirement.

Wikimedia Commons

Air dominance against the nearly 200 aircraft of the U.S. Fifth Fleet out of Bahrain isn't a realistic goal for Tehran. What it would look to do in any open engagement with the U.S. would be to overwhelm American surface ships with small, high-speed boats, and missiles of its own. 

Those boats would immediately be set upon by a fleet of U.S. helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. Most naval experts are quick to point out that a fight between a helo' and a boat generally isn't much of a fight at all. Un-distracted helicopters have immense advantages, but once they start taking fire or need to react to other airborne attacks, that changes.

Perhaps Iran isn't imagining a fleet of stealthy fighter/bombers, based on some design similar to this new display, but a few dozen single seat craft with an array of missiles, a couple guns, and the ability to fly low and slow over the Gulf.

A string of planes to compliment the one military project they've been working hardest over the last decade, but rarely ever mention. That plane would be a handy addition to cover the Bradstone based speed boat, they believe can take on the Fifth Fleet and bring down the U.S. Navy.

While Iran does have a few HESA Shahed light attack/recon helicopters, they're

Lorne Campbell Design Bradstone Challenger

 modestly armed and have a limited range of a couple hundred miles.

Iran's other domestically produced jet, the Saeqeh fighter is designed to engage other fighters in mid-air combat also not a practical choice against the might of the U.S. Fleet.

A Qaher variation against the Bradstone would fill a niche, but is obviously pure speculation. But speculating has some value when examining Iran's military projects because like most countries, the weapons Tehran speaks of the least seem to mean the most. 

This couldn't be more true than in the case of the ill-gotten Bradstone and Iran's blossoming missile inventory that's about as extensive and diverse as it is deadly and proven.

We'll be sure to follow with any additional Qaher updates.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/irans-new-indigenous-fighter-qaher-313-david-cenciotti-2013-2#ixzz2JxJ8N2xM

North Koreans among 40 dead at Iran nuke plant

WND/ Reza Kahlili

The explosions at Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility Jan. 21 killed at least 40 people, including two North Koreans, WND learned Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Islamic regime is labeling WND a “mouthpiece of the CIA” for its exclusive reporting of the blasts.

The bodies of 11 of the technicians and scientists are beyond recognition, a member of the security forces at the facility told WND. According to the source, 60 others are in critical condition and have been transferred to the central base of the 27th Division of Mohammad Rassool Allah. The base, between Tehran and Qom, is equipped with a modern medical facility.

At the time of the explosions, the source said, 203 Iranian scientists and technicians along with 16 North Koreans had been logged in at the site, though the initial report listed 240 people.

The day before the explosions, the North Koreans had brought in new equipment, described by the source as touch-screen monitors the size of TVs that were installed in the monitoring room and some new parts that were installed in the centrifuges before the start of the enrichment process.

Get the inside story in Reza Kahlili’s “A Time To Betray” and learn how the Islamic regime “bought the bomb” in “Atomic Iran.”

The explosions were reported exclusively by WND Jan. 24, with updates Jan. 27, Jan. 29, Jan. 30 and Jan. 31.  WND previously reported the trapped workers included 16 North Koreans: 14 technicians and two military attaches.

The source said many of the centrifuges have been destroyed and rescuers have still not accessed the reserves of the stock of 20-percent enriched uranium to assess the level of radiation.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has not visited the site since the explosions despite media rumors, the source said. Because the regime’s Ministry of Defense covers the project at Fordow, officials of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization were allowed to visit it Jan. 5.

In an unusual move, the IAEA issued a brief statement Jan. 29: “We understand that Iran has denied that there has been an incident at Fordow. This is consistent with our observations.”

IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor emailed that response to reporters. However, when pushed by WND, Tudor could neither confirm nor deny the incident had taken place and did not say whether inspectors had visited the site after the explosions, despite media reports.

Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, representatives of the supreme leader and intelligence officers from both the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards have visited parts of the site that have been cleared as secure. A counterintelligence committee has been formed to investigate the incident, which already has been called an act of sabotage, with Israel the prime suspect.

The regime is debating how to explain the incident at a later date depending on the level of destruction, the source said. But because of internal rifts among President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Majlis (parliament), Ahmadinejad or others connected to his team will soon reveal the incident.

Regime media have solely based their denial that the explosions occurred on a statement by White House spokesman Jay Carney, who told reporters Jan. 28: “We have no information to confirm the allegations in the (WND) report, and we do not believe the report is credible.”

However, the Islamic regime’s official news agency, IRNA, in a report Jan. 30, called WND a “mouthpiece of the CIA” and its reporting mere propaganda by the West before the start of renewed negotiations between Iran and the 5-plus-1 powers – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, plus Germany.

IRNA’s report said: “WND, which publishes under the direct control of the CIA, on Thursday, Jan. 24, reported that an explosion took place at Fordow that destroyed much of the facility and trapped 240 personnel. WND in its report interestingly touches on the previous sabotage at Fordow and in a coordinated effort, the White House denies having information and the Israelis state their happiness of such an event. The propaganda by the West continues with the BBC reporting that Iran has denied the report put out by Reza Kahlili, a former CIA spy in the Revolutionary Guards.”

IRNA, in its extensive report, covered all the recent WND revelations about Iran’s nuclear program and Russia’s involvement. It said, “Two days prior to the publication of the explosion report, WND reported that an Iranian spy in the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, has informed the Islamic republic that Tel Aviv and certain Western countries have plans on covert ops for the destruction of Iranian nuclear sites. This news agency (WND) in another report states that the recent negotiations between the IAEA and the Iranian counterparts for the inspection of the Parchin military site was a failure and that Iran will resort to publication of documents from the Shah era to further pressure the U.S.”

IRNA concluded that “the West knows this is psychological warfare (and it) will not disrupt the goals of (Iran) in the negotiations, but it tries to fill that void with propaganda against clear and logical policies of the Islamic Republic, which is the result of their hatred against the government of Iran.”

The regime media have also attacked Hamidreza Zakeri, the former officer of Iran’s ministry of intelligence, now living in Europe, who has provided information on the Fordow explosion and other valuable insights into the regime’s illicit activities.

The Fordow nuclear site was central to the regime’s nuclear bomb program, built 300 feet under the belly of a mountain where over 2,700 centrifuges were enriching uranium to the 20 percent level. That level could within weeks be further enriched to nuclear-weapons grade.

In a letter to the IAEA two days after the reported explosions, Iran said it planned to install thousands of its upgraded centrifuges at the Natanz facility. The source stated the move was a direct result of the explosions at Fordow.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/north-koreans-among-40-dead-at-iran-nuke-plant/#pVZh2MwCyYfmQDQl.99

Iran Smuggling Weapons to Allies

foxnews

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is accussing Iran's paramilitary force of an intensified campaign to destabilize the Middle East by smuggling antiaircraft weapons to its militant allies.
Iran's export of so-called manpads -- antiaircraft missiles that can be carried by a single person -- represent what Panetta called a dangerous escalation.
"There is no question when you start passing manpads around, that becomes a threat—not just to military aircraft but to civilian aircraft," Panetta told The Wall Street Journal in an interview describing shifting threats to the U.S. as he prepares to leave his post. "That is an escalation."
Western officials have long worried about the spread of such weapons and the risk they pose to airline passengers as well as to military helicopters and jets.
Recent U.S. intelligence pointed to new efforts by Iran to smuggle manpads, but few shipments had been intercepted before Jan. 23, when Yemen, aided by the U.S., intercepted a boat carrying the weapons.
"It is one of the first times we have seen it," Panetta said.
U.S. investigators said evidence indicated the missiles were supplied by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Tehran's paramilitary force.
Iranian officials didn't respond to requests for comment about distributing weapons to regional allies.
Mr. Panetta said the U.S. is stepping up efforts to counter the Iranian threat, and is leading a multination exercise in the United Arab Emirates though Feb. 7 to improve the interdiction of Iranian arms and other weapons. The defense secretary called the exercise critical to building up Arab capabilities to help halt Iranian arms transfers, including the smuggling of manpads.
The disclosures by Mr. Panetta came as he prepares to step down after 19 months as defense secretary, a period marked by an intensified focus on Iran as concerns mount about its nuclear ambitions, an expanded campaign of drone strikes against militants in several countries, and the emergence of a new Al Qaeda haven in Africa.
Click here to read more from The Wall Street Journal:

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/02/panetta-iranian-threat-spreads/#ixzz2JmMyIgRt

Iran Unveils 'Radar-Evading' Jet

foxnews

TEHRAN, Iran –  Iran unveiled on Saturday its newest combat jet, a domestically manufactured fighter-bomber that military officials claim can evade radar.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a ceremony broadcast on state TV that building the Qaher-313, or Dominant-313, shows Iran's will to "conquer scientific peaks."
The Qaher is one of several aircraft designs rolled out by the Iranian military since 2007. Tehran has repeatedly claimed to have developed advanced military technologies in recent years but its claims cannot be independently verified because the country does not release technical details of its arsenals.
The Islamic republic launched a self-sufficiency military program in the 1980s to compensate for a Western weapons embargo that banned export of military technology and equipment to Iran. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, torpedoes, drones and fighter planes.
"Qaher-313 is a fully indigenous aircraft designed and built by our aerospace experts. This is a radar-evading plane that can fly at low altitude, carry weapons, engage enemy aircrafts and land at short airstrips," Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said.
Some reports however suggest Iran's program relies on equipment supplied by major international defense contractors -- incorporating parts made abroad or reverse-engineered technologies into its domestic designs.
Still photos of the Qaher released by the official IRNA news agency and pictures on state TV show a single-seat jet. They described it as a fighter-bomber that can combat both other aircraft and ground targets.
Iran's English-language state Press TV said Qaher was similar to the American-made F/A-18, an advanced fighter capable of dogfighting as well as penetrating enemy air defenses to strike ground targets.
Physically, Press TV said, the aircraft resembles the F-5E/F Tiger II, a much older American design that Iran has had in its arsenal since it was supplied to the U.S.-allied regime of the Shah before Iran's 1979 revolution.
"Development depends on our will. If we don't have a will, no one can take us there," Ahmadinejad told the inauguration ceremony in Tehran. "Once we imported cars and assembled them here. Now, we are at a point where we can design, build and get planes in the air."
Iran unveiled what it said was its first domestically manufactured fighter jet, called Azarakhsh or Lightning, in 2007. In the same year, it claimed that Azarakhsh had reached industrial production stage.
Saeqeh, or Thunder, was a follow-up aircraft derived from Azarakhsh. Iran unveiled its first squadron of Saeqeh fighter bombers in an air show in September 2010.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/02/ahmadinejad-unveils-iran-newest-fighter-jet-dominant-described-as-evading/#ixzz2JleeyveB

Israel's attack in Syria is all about its ultimate enemy, Iran

 

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U.N. won't deny explosions at Iran nuke plant

WND/ Reza Kahlili

Responding to WND, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, refused to deny that Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordow has been rocked by several explosions.

WND reported exclusively Jan. 24 that its source said explosions had devastated the Fordow facility and that over 200 people, including North Korean technicians and military personnel, were trapped inside the facility, which is deep under a mountain.

In a statement to Reuters, IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor implied the U.N. agency had inspected the site after the reported explosions and affirmed Tehran’s insistence that the report was false.

But when asked by WND, Tudor would not confirm or deny the incident.

“The agency does not evaluate matters in Iran other than those directly relating to its nuclear verification work, so although we’re aware of these media reports, we are not in a position either to confirm or deny them,” Tudor said in an email to WND.

“That said,” she continued, “I’m sure you are aware that agency inspectors regularly visit Iranian nuclear facilities under the IAEA’s safeguards agreement with that country. (You will find more information on the IAEA’s safeguards mandate and activities in Iran at http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/iaeairan/index.shtml.)

“We understand Iran has denied that there has been an incident at Fordow, and this is consistent with our observations,” Tudor said.

However, in a follow-up inquiry by WND to verify if the IAEA had inspected the site since the report of the explosions, Tudor refused to answer.

“I’m very sorry but I can’t go into any further details on ongoing safeguards work, which is conducted with a high level of confidentiality,” she replied.

Separately, the Institute for Science and International Security has obtained a satellite image of the Fordow site dated Jan. 22, one day after the incident. The photo shows no unusual activity on the surface. However, WND’s original report indicated the regime did not initially make an effort to rescue the workers trapped inside until days ago. No unusual traffic, therefore, would have been visible.

Get the inside story in Reza Kahlili’s “A Time To Betray” and learn how the Islamic regime “bought the bomb” in “Atomic Iran.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian Fars News Agency reports the Revolutionary Guards navy today began a three-day war maneuver in the Persian Gulf. The state-controlled news service ran the headline: “The preparation of the Guards for the most dangerous events.”

At the same time, the Islamic regime’s Intelligence Ministry announced the arrest of what it called an information network connected to the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Further confirmation

WND has received confirmation of the blasts from two additional sources, one in Iran’s Foreign Ministry and another in the intelligence agency of a European country.

Another source in Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s office told WND the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, will be replaced because of the leaked news on Fordow and the delay in the talks with the 5-plus-1 powers over Iran’s nuclear development. The 5-plus-1 nations are the permanent Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany.

The news became international when the Israeli intelligence agency confirmed it to the Times of London, the Israeli acting defense minister welcomed the news and the leading German daily Die Welt confirmed it through its own sources.

However, the White House has dismissed the report.

Spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Monday, “We have no information to confirm the allegations in the report and we do not believe the report is credible.”

Worries about Iran’s response

An official with a European intelligence agency who cannot be named for security reasons said that both the IAEA and the United States are worried about questioning Iran’s denial.

They are aware of Iran’s lies, the official said, but fear Tehran could stop the cooperation it so far has provided to the IAEA over inspections and derail any future talks with the 5-plus-1.

The official said the regime’s response and its censorship of the details of the news alone verify that some kind of incident took place. He said Iran could lose all negotiating power if it admits the incident happened.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry source, in confirming the explosions, said today the Iranian Air Force is on high alert for war. The regime believes Israel and certain powers have started a plot to destabilize the regime’s nuclear installations and economy.

Internal troubles

Since WND reported the explosions, the Iranian currency, which had already been battered by international sanctions, has lost another 20 percent in value.

A source in the regime’s Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit told WND the situation in Iran is troubling. He reported an explosion at the Guards’ Hamzeh 21 base and the discovery of two bombs at the secret nuclear plant in Najaf Abad. He said Quds Force officers have been ordered to Lebanon to assist Hezbollah in evacuating some of the southern villages in what appears to be planned aggression against Israel.

WND reported Jan. 21 that the regime’s intelligence agency received information of major covert operations planned by Israel and other countries to set back Iran’s nuclear program while avoiding a larger-scale war.

The last meeting between U.N. inspectors and Iranian counterparts was held in Tehran two weeks ago. At the meeting, inspectors failed to get the regime to allow inspection of the Parchin military site where it is believed nuclear component tests were carried out. The inspectors left Tehran Jan. 18, three days before the Fordow explosions.

Last September, Iranian officials said they had thwarted attempted sabotage at the Fordow uranium enrichment plant.

“The enemies intended to repeat a Chernobyl-like disaster through selling (booby-trapped) equipment and blowing up the centrifuges at the Fordow site, but their plot was discovered and foiled by the Iranian scientists’ wisdom and tact,” Abbas-Ali Mansouri, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, told Fars that separate attacks on Iran’s centrifuges – through tiny explosives meant to disable key parts of the machines – were discovered before the blasts could go off on timers.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/u-n-wont-deny-explosions-at-iran-nuke-plant/#aO31Ued27vTCXDiB.99

Space monkey: New pictures of monkey Iran sent into space

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Massive Explosion Reported At Iran's Fordow Nuclear Facility

businessinsider
Robert Johnson

Google Sat. Image

Fordow (click to expand)

Reports of an explosion at Iran's Fordow nuclear facility have surfaced and are being both confirmed and denied by multiple sources.

The Jerusalem Post cites a report by Reza Kahlili that says: “The blast shook facilities within a radius of three miles. Security forces have enforced a no-traffic radius of 15 miles, and the Tehran- Qom highway was shut down for several hours after the blast.”

Kahlili's report says the Fordow nuclear facility was severely damaged in an explosion and up to 240 workers trapped inside. The explosion was reportedly confined to the plant, suggesting that if it were an airstrike, it was highly localized. But this possibility is no more or less likely than sabotage, or an accident, assuming the explosion occurred at all.

Jay Carney told reporters in a press conference, that the White House had no information on the report: "We [the U.S.] have no information to confirm the allegations in the report and we do not believe the report is credible. We don't believe those are credible reports."

Iran's official news agency, says the same thing, with the IRNA, promptly denying the explosion, claiming the news was simply the result of the Western media-fueled "propoganda machine."

That might have ended the story there, but The Times of London's Israel correspondent Sheera Frenkel is confirming the incident through her own independent sources:

An explosion is believed to have damaged Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility, which is being used to enrich uranium, Israeli intelligence officials have told The Times. Sources in Tel Aviv said yesterday that they thought the explosion happened last week. The Israeli Government is investigating reports that it led to extensive structural damage and 200 workers had been trapped inside.

One Israeli official said: “We are still in the preliminary stages of understanding what happened and how significant it is.” He did not know, he added, if the explosion was “sabotage or accident”, and refused to comment on reports that Israeli aircraft were seen near the facility at the time of the explosion.

Frenkel goes on to mention that Tehran has yet to evacuate the surrounding area, but it's unclear if that's because no harmful substances have been released or if the government is trying to avoid panicking local residents.

The Fordow nuclear enrichment site is buried deep within a mountain and fortified to withstand attack. The only bomb believed capable of striking the facility and inflicting any real damage is the U.S. massive ordnance penetrator (MOP) bomb.

The 30,000 pound piece of ordnance was just certified ready to use by the Pentagon. 

The Pentagon’s director of operational testing, Michael Gilmore, confirmed weeks ago that tests conducted with the heavy GBU-57 (MOP) GPS-guided bomb, thought able to penetrate 200 feet of concrete before exploding, have demonstrated that the redesigned bomb is able to hit and destroy deeply buried targets.

The enhanced MOP features tail-fin modifications to fix bugs identified in testings as well as a second fuse to destroy hardened underground targets.

Gilmore’s report says that the modifications were tested with five bomb drops from a B-2 stealth bomber on the White Sands Missile Range, conducted between June and October, and two ground tests.

The Pentagon tells us the B-2 is the only platform in the U.S. Air Force inventory able to carry and release its heaviest bomb, even if B-52s were used in previous tests.

The MOP is the bomb experts believe Israel needs if it wants to derail Iran's nuclear program for any length of time. While Israel has a fresh supply of GBU-28 bunker busters, they are one-sixth the size and far less capable.

The MOP might actually be the only conventional bomb to best Iran's concrete technology, which is perhaps the most advanced in the world. The country lies on a very active seismic fault, making earthquakes a part of Iranian life. In response, Tehran's concrete industry has developed Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) doped with quartz and poured under the country's own high-demand blend of international codes.

This is the stuff military planners and field officers think of when they cite the MOP's 200-foot concrete penetration capability; and why the already super-capable Boeing bomb was sent back to the drawing board for additional work in the first place.

We'll update this report as additional news becomes available.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/massive-explosion-reported-at-irans-fordow-nuclear-facility-2013-1#ixzz2JJUJ5TUR