Evening Update: Israelis Prepare For War, Iran Speeding Up Nuclear Development

The first article comes from Joel Rosenberg:

Israelis Prepare For War With Gas Masks, New Home Front Defense Minister As Iran Nuclear Threat Grows

Evidence continues to mount that Israeli leaders are seriously contemplating launch a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, possibly within days or weeks. Now Israelis are accelerating their preparations for war. The country has a new Minister of Home Front Security. Meanwhile, Israeli citizens are standing in long lines to get gas masks for themselves and their children, concerned as much about the implosion of Syria and the possible use of Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons as about Iran’s nuclear threat.

“‘The world has received yet more proof that Iran is “continuing to make accelerated progress toward achieving nuclear weapons,’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday in a meeting with US Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) during the latter’s tour of the Middle East,” reports the Times of Israel. “Netanyahu spoke in response to a New York Times report warning that nuclear inspectors would soon report that Iran has installed ‘hundreds of new centrifuges in recent months’ and may be ramping up nuclear fuel production. He said that Iran was making progress on its nuclear program ‘while totally ignoring international demands.’”

Latest headlines worth tracking:

• AFP: Israel picks new Home Front Defense Minister
• AP: Israelis line up for gas masks as fears mount over Syria’s control of chemical weapons stocks
• BusinessWeek: Israel Plans for Iran Strike, Citizens Fear Worst
• AFP: Israel tests SMS missile alerts as Iran chatter grows
• Times of Israel: Syria can destroy Israeli nuclear facilities ‘with 20 missiles,’ boasts ambassador to Jordan
• Reuters: IAEA-Iran nuclear negotiations break down
• Jerusalem Post: Analysis: Brotherhood taking total control of Egypt

Report: Iran Speeding Up Work On Nukes

International nuclear inspectors will soon report that Iran has installed hundreds of new centrifuges in recent months and may also be speeding up production of nuclear fuel while negotiations with the United States and its allies have ground to a near halt, according to diplomats and experts briefed on the findings.

Almost all of the new equipment is being installed in a deep underground site on a military base near Qum that is considered virtually invulnerable to military attack. It would suggest that a boast by senior Iranian leaders late last month — that the country had added upward of 1,000 new machines to its installation despite Western sabotage — may be true.

Ahmadinejad Invites Hamas To NAM Summit In Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has invited Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit set to take place in Tehran at the end of August, Haniyeh's office announced Friday according to Palestinian news agency Ma'an.

Earlier this month, Egypt's Islamist President MohamadMorsy announced that he would attend the summit, which would mark the first such visit by an Egyptian head of state since the 1979 Islamic revolution and Egypt's recognition of Israel. At the 16th summit meeting of NAM leaders, which will be held August 26-31, Iran will take over from Egypt the chairmanship of the organization for the next three years.