Israeli diplomat: Iran killing American soldiers
Jul 10, 2011 22:01:25 GMT -5
Post by PrisonerOfHope on Jul 10, 2011 22:01:25 GMT -5
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
Israeli diplomat warns: Iran is killing American soldiers
Accuses Tehran of providing missiles to Afghani Taliban
Posted: July 09, 2011
2:52 pm Eastern
Stewart Stogel
© 2011 WND
NEW YORK – As Leon Panetta begins his first trip to Afghanistan as secretary of defense, controversy has already arisen: Israel's Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren has accused Iran of supplying missiles that have directly resulted in the deaths of U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan.
In a private conference call earlier in the week, Oren told participants: "Iran has been involved in the [Taliban's] shooting of American soldiers [in Afghanistan] ... killing at least eight of them in the last week and a half with missiles [that] have been imported directly from Tehran."
The charge comes as the Pentagon prepares to begin its first phase of reducing U.S. military involvement in the region with troops slated to leave later this month.
Oren's allegations would seem to confirm that despite NATO efforts to block military aid to the Afghan insurgents, the Taliban has succeeded in obtaining both small and major arms shipments – its main source: Iran.
Congressional sources who have been monitoring the situation are not surprised.
While refusing any on-the-record comments, sources within the House Foreign Affairs Committee admitted that Iran's covert arms shipments to Afghanistan have been so extensive, it was only a "matter of time" that some would reach rebels in the field.
And it all comes as Panetta arrives to survey the status of American forces.
With the U.S. reducing its "footprint" in the region, Oren says Tehran is intent on filling any vacuum: "We see an immense increase in Iranian military involvement in these areas, a brazenness at a time when [the international community's] focus on the region is falling elsewhere and not on Iran."
One area the Israeli highlighted was Iran's problem-plagued nuclear program.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is peaceful in nature, but the White House insists the program is really a secret shell for an atomic weapons project, and Washington succeeded in getting the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions over it.
Nonetheless, Iran has proceeded with the project, headlined by the recent completion of a massive nuclear power station near the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr.
The program first began under the Shah in the late 1970s with German assistance. When the Islamists took power, the project was mothballed, only to be resurrected by Tehran with Russian help in the mid-1990s.
The power station, finally completed last year, more than 5 years late and several billion dollars over budget, went online briefly and then shut down due a "mysterious" computer virus thought to have been covertly seeded by Washington or Jerusalem.
Those problems have apparently been solved by Russian and Iranian technicians, and Bushehr is now expected to be fully operational by early autumn, says Tehran.
Oren explained: "Iran has overcome the technical difficulties it experienced last year in its nuclear program. According to Israeli/American sources and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran is now producing enriched uranium [the core fuel for an atomic bomb] at a rate that is very impressive and increasing that enrichment rate to a much higher level. ... At the same time, it is very vigorously pursuing its missile-development program with missiles that can hit anywhere in the Middle East and southern Europe. Within 5-10 years they will be able to reach the East Coast of the United States."
The Israeli diplomat cautioned: "All of this is going on at a time when the Iranian regime is openly committed to destroying Israel, deny the Holocaust. ... We hope that in spite of the great distractions going on in the Middle East, and they are significant, that the international community will regain its focus on Iran and work swiftly and decisively to prevent Iran from developing its military and nuclear capabilities and to stem a pernicious Iranian hegemony throughout the Middle East."
That hegemony is likely to take shape at the United Nations General Assembly to be held in New York City in September.
Both Presidents Barack Obama and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are expected to participate.
Top on the list will be an effort by the Palestinians to gain official statehood status by the world body. The move is heavily backed by Iran, while Washington and Jerusalem oppose the effort.
A vote of approval would come in the U.N. General Assembly, where no veto exists. At this point, the vote is expected to be close. Only a simple majority of the U.N.'s 192 members is needed for approval.
The U.S. Congress has threatened to cut off all U.S. funding of U.N. activities if it approves Palestinian statehood.
Neither the US/UN Mission or the executive office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would offer any comment for this story.
Read more: Israeli diplomat warns: Iran is killing American soldiers www.wnd.com/?pageId=320465#ixzz1RlIs9fnE
Israeli diplomat warns: Iran is killing American soldiers
Accuses Tehran of providing missiles to Afghani Taliban
Posted: July 09, 2011
2:52 pm Eastern
Stewart Stogel
© 2011 WND
NEW YORK – As Leon Panetta begins his first trip to Afghanistan as secretary of defense, controversy has already arisen: Israel's Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren has accused Iran of supplying missiles that have directly resulted in the deaths of U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan.
In a private conference call earlier in the week, Oren told participants: "Iran has been involved in the [Taliban's] shooting of American soldiers [in Afghanistan] ... killing at least eight of them in the last week and a half with missiles [that] have been imported directly from Tehran."
The charge comes as the Pentagon prepares to begin its first phase of reducing U.S. military involvement in the region with troops slated to leave later this month.
Oren's allegations would seem to confirm that despite NATO efforts to block military aid to the Afghan insurgents, the Taliban has succeeded in obtaining both small and major arms shipments – its main source: Iran.
Congressional sources who have been monitoring the situation are not surprised.
While refusing any on-the-record comments, sources within the House Foreign Affairs Committee admitted that Iran's covert arms shipments to Afghanistan have been so extensive, it was only a "matter of time" that some would reach rebels in the field.
And it all comes as Panetta arrives to survey the status of American forces.
With the U.S. reducing its "footprint" in the region, Oren says Tehran is intent on filling any vacuum: "We see an immense increase in Iranian military involvement in these areas, a brazenness at a time when [the international community's] focus on the region is falling elsewhere and not on Iran."
One area the Israeli highlighted was Iran's problem-plagued nuclear program.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is peaceful in nature, but the White House insists the program is really a secret shell for an atomic weapons project, and Washington succeeded in getting the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions over it.
Nonetheless, Iran has proceeded with the project, headlined by the recent completion of a massive nuclear power station near the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr.
The program first began under the Shah in the late 1970s with German assistance. When the Islamists took power, the project was mothballed, only to be resurrected by Tehran with Russian help in the mid-1990s.
The power station, finally completed last year, more than 5 years late and several billion dollars over budget, went online briefly and then shut down due a "mysterious" computer virus thought to have been covertly seeded by Washington or Jerusalem.
Those problems have apparently been solved by Russian and Iranian technicians, and Bushehr is now expected to be fully operational by early autumn, says Tehran.
Oren explained: "Iran has overcome the technical difficulties it experienced last year in its nuclear program. According to Israeli/American sources and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran is now producing enriched uranium [the core fuel for an atomic bomb] at a rate that is very impressive and increasing that enrichment rate to a much higher level. ... At the same time, it is very vigorously pursuing its missile-development program with missiles that can hit anywhere in the Middle East and southern Europe. Within 5-10 years they will be able to reach the East Coast of the United States."
The Israeli diplomat cautioned: "All of this is going on at a time when the Iranian regime is openly committed to destroying Israel, deny the Holocaust. ... We hope that in spite of the great distractions going on in the Middle East, and they are significant, that the international community will regain its focus on Iran and work swiftly and decisively to prevent Iran from developing its military and nuclear capabilities and to stem a pernicious Iranian hegemony throughout the Middle East."
That hegemony is likely to take shape at the United Nations General Assembly to be held in New York City in September.
Both Presidents Barack Obama and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are expected to participate.
Top on the list will be an effort by the Palestinians to gain official statehood status by the world body. The move is heavily backed by Iran, while Washington and Jerusalem oppose the effort.
A vote of approval would come in the U.N. General Assembly, where no veto exists. At this point, the vote is expected to be close. Only a simple majority of the U.N.'s 192 members is needed for approval.
The U.S. Congress has threatened to cut off all U.S. funding of U.N. activities if it approves Palestinian statehood.
Neither the US/UN Mission or the executive office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would offer any comment for this story.
Read more: Israeli diplomat warns: Iran is killing American soldiers www.wnd.com/?pageId=320465#ixzz1RlIs9fnE
