Iran will be able to build nuclear bomb within months, IAEA says
Iran has already acquired the knowledge, technology, and resources to create a nuclear bomb within months, according to Western experts who were briefed on the intelligence information due to be released in this week's report by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency.
The decision to assemble the weapon is effectively in the hands of Iranian leaders, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the helm.
Russian FM warns against any military strike on Iran
Russia's foreign minister warned on Monday that any military strike against Iran would be a grave mistake with unpredictable consequences.
Russia, the closest thing Iran has to a big power ally, is deeply opposed to any military action against the Islamic Republic
The UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, is expected this week to issue its most detailed report yet on research in Iran seen as geared to developing atomic bombs. But the Security Council is not expected impose stiffer sanctions as a result.
Israeli media have been rife with speculation that Prime Minister Biyamin Netanyahu is working to secure cabinet consensus for an attack on Iranian nuclear installations.
"This would be a very serious mistake fraught with unpredictable consequences," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said when asked about reports that Israel planned a military strike against Iran.
A raid on Iran's nuclear facilities would be likely to provoke Tehran into hugely disruptive retaliatory measures in the Gulf that would sever shipping routes and disrupt the flow of oil and gas to export markets, political analysts believe.
Iran Answers Rumors of Planned Attack: "Our Wrath on Tel Aviv"
A week of rumors that Israel plans to attack Iran has prompted a warning that it can deal Israel a “crushing response” and that “any Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic would be reciprocated with a destructive reprisal.”
Responding to repetition in the media that Israel has decided that the “military option” is the only way to stop Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon, an Iranian legislator was quoted by the state-run Fars News Agency as saying, "Before (being able to take) any action against Iran, the Israelis will feel our wrath in Tel Aviv.”
Different interpretations over the weekend pointed to mild American reactions to the reports that most, if not all, Israeli ministers have removed previous objections to a military attack.
During the period of the Obama administration’s attempt to “engage Iran," the Iran regime has built nuclear plants deep underground in rocky areas that make it difficult, if not impossible, to attack except through a strike mounted by anti-regime agents in Iran.
Tehran: For an Israeli attack, four Iranian missiles would hit a million Israelis
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) new agency Fars headlined a threat Sunday, Nov. 6: Four Iranian missiles can destroy tiny Israel, said the paper in Tehran's first reaction to the flood of conflicting reports about a possible Israel attack on Iran's nuclear sites
What Zarey may be referring to are the stubborn rumors going around Western intelligence circles since early 2005 that during the breakup of the Soviet Union, Tehran laid hands on black market nuclear cruise missiles from the Ukraine and 3 to 5 more from Belarus.
Ukrainian arms dealers smuggled 18 nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and China in 1999-2001, Ukraine's prosecutor-general has said. The Soviet-era Kh-55 missiles - also known as X-55s - have a maximum range of 2,500km. They are launched by long-range bombers. The Kh-55, known in the West as the AS-15, is designed to carry a nuclear warhead with a 200-kiloton yield.
Our military sources add that with these missiles in hand, Iranian warplanes could bombard Israel 1,200 kilometers away without leaving their own air space.
Barak refuses to rule out military strike against Iran
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Barak said that sanctions and international diplomacy had so far failed to deter Iran from seeking to build a nuclear bomb, a prospect that would, he warned, threaten the stability of the "whole world".
The minister's comments come after a week of increasingly insistent claims in the Israeli press that Mr Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu, his prime minister, are lobbying cabinet colleagues to support military strikes against Iran.
The two men, considered Israel's chief political hawks when it comes to Iran, are hoping that a report to be submitted by the UN's nuclear watchdog this week will provide justification for military action, observers and officials have suggested.
In a series of interviews, Mr Peres warned that time was running out to prevent Iran from fulfilling its perceived nuclear ambitions and appeared to urge the international community to consider the military option.
"The possibility of a military attack against Iran is now closer to being applied than the application of a diplomatic option," he told the Israel Hayom newspaper.
Also in the Middle East:
Syrian forces enter Homs district after bombardment
Troops and militiamen loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad entered a residential district of Homs after six days of tank bombardment that killed scores of people and wounded hundreds in the hotbed of unrest, residents and activists said on Monday.
Fatah: Israel's Tax Freeze "Declaration of War"
Israel has declared war on the Palestinian Authority (PA) by freezing tax revenues after the PA joined UNESCO, a Fatah official charges.
Fayiz Abu Aita, a spokesman for the party headed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said that the Israeli measure and its announced speed-up of building in Judea and Samaria will have “disastrous results for the entire region.”
"This is a declaration of war", Aita said in a statement issued by the Media and Culture Commission and quoted by the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency, closely identified with the PA. Israel decided last week to withhold customs revenues collected by Israel on behalf of the PA at crossings into Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
"Israel bears full responsibility for this dangerous escalation,” he added, warning that trying to “undermine” the PA will impact the entire Middle East.
IDF Tanks Fire on Gaza Terrorists
An IDF force spotted a terrorist squad Monday around noon, as it planted two explosive charges near the northern section of the security fence separating Gaza and Israel.
The IDF Spokesman's Unit said that the Israeli soldiers fired tank shells at the terrorists and identified hits on target
The Middle East is one big "rumor of war" right now. Between Iran, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Gaza, West Bank and Lebanon, the region is just on the brink of war - awaiting the final tipping point.
And once the powder-keg is ignited, subsequent prophetic developments are certain to follow.
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