Front-page Iran

I find it funny that just now the major newscasts are reporting on the 40 000 suicide bombers waiting and preparing for a possible confrontation. This is old news mates. Boy it takes a while for the "news" to spread. I read this story a couple months back, and I cannot see how it comes as a surprise to anyone that there is such a growing number of supporters to Ahmadinejad.

Satellite images show reinforcement of Iran's nuclear sites

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a U.S.-based think tank, said in an email with commercial satellite photos attached sent to news media that Iran has built a new tunnel entrance at an Iranian uranium conversion facility in Isfahan. Just two entry points existed in February, it said."This new entrance is indicative of a new underground facility or further expansion of the existing one," said ISIS, led by ex-United Nations arms inspector and nuclear expert David Albright.ISIS also released four satellite images taken between 2002 and January 2006 it said showed Natanz's two subterranean cascade halls being buried by successive layers of earth, apparent concrete slabs and more earth and other materials. The roofs of the halls now appear to be eight meters (26 feet) underground, ISIS said.The revelations came one week after Iran announced it had enriched uranium for use in power stations for the first time, stoking a diplomatic row over Western suspicions of a covert Iranian atomic bomb project. Iran says it seeks only nuclear energy for its economy.The UN Security Council, wielding the threat of sanctions against Iran, has urged Tehran to halt enrichment activity and asked U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei to report on the Iranian response on April 28. Iran stood its ground during a visit by ElBaradei last week. "Iran is taking extraordinary precautions to try to protect its nuclear assets. But the growing talk of eliminating Iran's nuclear program from the air is pretty glib," Albright told Reuters by telephone from Washington.Despite Bush's denial, Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Tehran could not discount the possibility of a U.S. military strike."We stress at the same time that it would not be in the interest of the United States, nor us," Rafsanjani, who heads a council that arbitrates Iranian legislative disputes, said during a visit to Syria."Harm will not only engulf the Islamic Republic of Iran, but the region and everybody," the influential Iranian leader told a news conference with Syrian Vice President Farouq Shara.
(Please note that these sites are popping up all over the country, as just last month more underground facilities were found in tehran in preparation.)
More at Haaretz

Iran `suicide squads ready to hit US, British targets'

Teheran has trained suicide bombers to attack British and American targets if Iran's nuclear sites are attacked, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The main force - the Special Unit of Martyr Seekers in the Revolutionary Guards - was first seen in Iran last month when members marched in a military parade, dressed in uniforms with explosive packs around their waists and detonators held high, The Sunday Times said.
Dr Hassan Abbasi, head of Iran's Center for Doctrinal Strategic Studies in the Revolutionary Guards, said 29 Western targets had been identified.
"We are ready to attack American and British sensitive points, if they attack Iran's nuclear facilities," The Sunday Times quoted Abbasi as saying in a tape recording of a speech the paper said it had obtained. He said some sites were "quite close" to Iran's border with Iraq.
Abbasi warned the would-be martyrs to "pay close attention to wily England" and vowed that "Britain's demise is on our agenda," The Sunday Times reported.
The paper quoted unidentified Iranian officials as saying 40,000 Iranian suicide bombers have been trained and are ready for action.
At a recruiting station in Teheran recently, volunteers for the suicide force had to show their birth certificates, give proof of their address and mark a box stating whether they would prefer to attack American targets in Iraq or Israeli targets, the paper said.
(Please note here that those 40 000 suicide bombers are likely to be used against military targets in and around the middle eastern region and that before this report came out another one stated that 400 terrorists were being prepared to attack targets over seas. These 40 000 are basicly "soldiers" if you can even call them that, thsoe 400 are the real threat to the American people.)
More at the Standard

Iran's leader calls on global propaganda campaign against Israel

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday called on a global propaganda against Israel, the news agency ISNA reported.
'To defeat the Zionist regime (Israel) we need solidarity among the Islamic world and use of new methods such as staging effective propaganda to disclose the inhuman and blood-thirsty nature of the regime to all nations,' Ahmadinejad said.
In a meeting with Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, Ahmadinejad said the world was gradually getting aware of the 'faked nature' of Israel which, he said, 'would lead to the fall of the regime.'
More at Monsters and Critics

Iran donates $50m to Hamas government

Iran has announced it is giving $50 million to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority to fill gaps left by western aid cuts.
The US and the European Union (EU) have cut off aid and Israel has frozen a transfer of about $50 million a month to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Government.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says the gift is Iran's duty as a friend of the Palestinians but has not said how or when it will reach them.
Iran has been at odds with the US since its 1979 Islamic revolution and has refused to recognise Israel.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday labelled Israel "a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm".
Washington and the EU have frozen aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority because the Islamist group has not complied with their demand to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace agreements.
(When the world figures it should stop supplying a terrorist organisation with money you can always count on Iran to jump right into the wrong lane traffic. Though I do understand the palestinian people are under great stress financialy and socialy, I don't believe that giving there terrorist government money will help the people and will only finance future attacks.)
More at ABCNEWS Online

Senators Back Direct Talks With Iran

"I think that would be useful," said GOP Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, when asked on ABC's "This Week" about having direct talks. "The Iranians are a part of the energy picture," Lugar said. "We need to talk about that."
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., agreed, saying the U.S. has ceded too much diplomacy to Europe.
"I happen to believe you need direct talks," Dodd said on "Fox News Sunday." "It doesn't mean you agree with them. It doesn't mean you support them. It doesn't mean you have formal diplomatic relations. But there's an option."
The Bush administration has warned Iran to comply with worldwide insistence to back off its nuclear program and said it had a "number of tools," including a military option, if Tehran did not cease uranium enrichment activities.
However, while the administration has said it would talk with Iran about its activities in Iraq, it has rejected the idea of direct negotiations over its nuclear program. The concern is that Iran is seeking to build a nuclear bomb, an allegation Tehran denies.
More at the Houston Chronicle