Front-page Iran

Iran May Retaliate With Terror

As tensions increase between the United States and Iran, U.S. intelligence and terrorism experts say they believe Iran would respond to U.S. military strikes on its nuclear sites by deploying its intelligence operatives and Hezbollah teams to carry out terrorist attacks worldwide.
Iran would mount attacks against U.S. targets inside Iraq, where Iranian intelligence agents are already plentiful, predicted these experts. There is also a growing consensus that Iran's agents would target civilians in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, they said.
U.S. officials would not discuss what evidence they have indicating Iran would undertake terrorist action, but the matter "is consuming a lot of time" throughout the U.S. intelligence apparatus, one senior official said. "It's a huge issue," another said.
Citing prohibitions against discussing classified information, U.S. intelligence officials declined to say whether they have detected preparatory measures, such as increased surveillance, counter-surveillance or message traffic, on the part of Iran's foreign-based intelligence operatives.
But terrorism experts considered Iranian-backed or controlled groups -- namely the country's Ministry of Intelligence and Security operatives, its Revolutionary Guards and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah -- to be better organized, trained and equipped than the al-Qaeda network that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
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Minister of Defence Denies Military Meeting

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said there was no truth whatsoever in the claims, made in the Sunday Telegraph.
He said: "No such meeting between defence, foreign office and other officials is taking place."
But BBC Defence Correspondent Paul Wood said US plans for a possible strike are thought to be at an advanced stage.
He pointed out that many defence analysts expected that British military officials would have a wide range of contingency plans available including one for a possible US air strike on Iran.
"There is no sense that such a strike is imminent however there is well sourced and persistent speculation that American covert activities aimed at Iran are already underway," he said.
The Sunday Telegraph said: "A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence at which senior defence chiefs and government officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran."
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Iran has an aggressive military programme

Iran’s successful firing of a new radar-evading missile capable of striking several targets simultaneously shows that it has an “aggressive military programme under way,” the US State Department said on Friday.
The Iranian-developed missile can also “hide from radars and evade anti-missile missiles,” Iranian Brigadier General Hossein Salami told state television in Iran.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the move “demonstrates that Iran has a very active and aggressive military programme under way.”
Their programme includes “efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction as well as delivery systems,” he said.
Iran is currently under mounting international pressure over its disputed nuclear energy drive, which Israel and several western nations believe is a cover for weapons development. Tehran denies the charges. “I think Iran’s military posture, military development effort, is of concern to the international community, as evidenced by the kind of consensus you’re seeing with regard to their nuclear programme as well as other non-proliferation concerns,” Ereli said.
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43 Aftershocks

Different parts of western Lorestan province have been rattled by some 43 aftershocks since Thursday evening when the initial quake hit, IRNA reported.
The Tehran University Geophysics Institute said the strongest of such aftershocks hit an area in Dorud, 80 kilometers east of Khorramabad in Lorestan province, at 04:47 (01:17 GMT) on Friday.
Initial reports after Thursday evening's major quake which hit the province put the number of dead at 70 besides 1,300 injured.
The strongest aftershock, which lasted for one minute on Friday, shook the cities of Dorud, Borujerd and Khorramabad followed by 42 minor ones causing panic among residents.
The quakes and aftershocks which hit Borujerd and Dorud have rendered about 15,000 families homeless.
Also Russia will be sending relief to the disaster affected areas. It'll send blankets and other humanitarian aid.
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