Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Khamenei Warns Iran’s Top Leaders: WAR IN WEEKS
On July 27, just before Friday prayers, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei summoned top Iranian military chiefs for what he called “their last war council.”
“We’ll be at war within weeks,” he told the gathering, DEBKAfile’s exclusive Iranian and intelligence sources disclose.
Present were Defense Minister General Ahmad Vahidi, Khamenei’s military adviser General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, Armed Forces Chief Major General Seyed Hassan Firuzabadi, Revolutionary Guards Corps commander General Mohammad Ali Jafari and Al Qods Brigades chief General Qassem Soleimani. The commanders of the air force, the navy and ground forces were also there.
Each of the participants was tapped to report on the readiness of his branch or sector for shouldering its contingency mission.
While retaliation had been exhaustively drilled in regular military exercises in the past year, Khamenei ordered the biggest fortification project in Iran’s history to save its nuclear program from even the mightiest of America’s super-weapons. Rocks are being gathered from afar, piled on key nuclear installations, covered with many tons of poured concrete and finally plated with steel.
That same Friday, the US Air force unveiled its new Massive Ordnance Penetrators. Each bunker buster weighs 30,000 pounds and is able to penetrate 60 feet of reinforced concrete.
Turning to retaliation, the war council endorsed a battery of paybacks for potential US and/or Israeli pre-emptive strikes against its nuclear program. They would start by announcing enhanced uranium enrichment up to 60 percent - that is close to weapons grade.
Oft-tested ballistic missiles, Shehab-3, would be loosed against Israel, Saudi Arabia and American Middle East and Gulf military installations.
Hizballah in Lebanon and Hamas and Jihad Islami in Gaza stand ready to pitch in against Israel with attacks from the north and the southwest.
Saudi oil export terminals would be blown up and mines sown in the Strait of Hormuz to impede the export of one-fifth of the world’s oil.
Khamenei put before his war council a timeline of weeks for the coming conflict – September or October.
DEBkafile
Netanyahu: I won’t let Israel face an Iranian atomic threat
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, July 31, that he hasn’t yet reached a decision on attacking Iran. He then went on to say, “The ayatollahs have inscribed Israel’s destruction on their banner” and stressed his personal commitment “not to permit Israel to come under Iranian atomic threat.”
Netanyahu spoke shortly before US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said upon landing in Israel: “I think it's the wrong characterization to say we are going to be discussing potential attack plans. What we are discussing are various contingencies and how we would respond.”
During his brief Israel stay as part of a Middle East tour, Secretary Panetta will hold talks with the prime minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, which he said would be about “the threat that we're confronting and to try to share both information and intelligence on that."
When the prime minister was asked by interviewers why it was in Israel's interest to lead the assault on Iran, the prime minister said no one would be happier than he to see other world nations, especially the United States, solving the Iranian nuclear problem by means of economic and other pressure. But, he said, Israel has always been guided by the principle of never devolving its destiny to others, especially when it was a matter of surival. He quoted US President Barack Obama’s assertion that Israel has the right to act in its own defense.
Asked about preventing Syria’s chemical weapons from reaching terrorist hands, such as Hizballah, the prime minister replied that he is not looking for a military operation, but not precluding one either.
Netanyahu’s interviews Tuesday night to a wide range of Israeli media were aimed at clarifying his new economic program of tax hikes and spending cuts in the face of critics.
Earlier, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz took angry issue with a campaign some Israeli media were conducting against a preemptive attack on Iran’s nuclear program by claiming that a whole range of security officials were against it, including the IDF chief.
“None of those reports come from me or represent my views,” he said, while inspecting a new intake of gunners and home defense recruits. “Iran is the only country in the world which is building a nuclear weapon capacity while threatening at the same time to destroy another country. That is a grim problem for the world and the region which we dare not ignore.”
Lt. Gen. Gantz added: “For me, ‘all options on the table’ is not a slogan but a working program.”
Debkafile
Greece 'on the brink' as cash reserves dry up
Greece's European partners have repeatedly promised the country will be funded through August, when it must repay a €3.2bn (£2.5bn) bond, but the details of the funding have yet to be disclosed.
In the absence of that money, Greece would run out of funds to pay everyday public expenses ranging from police and other public service wages to pensions and social benefits, Reuters reported.
The country is wholly reliant on aid from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund, who have turned up the pressure in recent weeks by withholding further aid until an assesment of Greece's compliance with reforms is complete.
"Cash reserves are almost zero. It is risky to say until when [they will last] as it always depends on the budget execution, revenues and expenditure," Deputy Finance Minister Christos Staikouras told state NET television.
"But we are certainly on the brink, we did not receive the aid tranche we were supposed to and we have the pending issue of an ECB bond maturing on August 20."
The Telegraph
IRAN PREPARING MAHDI'S SPECIAL FORCES
The Quds Forces, a special Iranian unit of thousands of operatives tasked with exporting Iran’s Islamic revolution, are being told to step up preparations for terrorism for the coming of the last Islamic messiah and the destruction of the West.
Ali Saeedi, the Iranian supreme leader’s representative to the Revolutionary Guards, emphasized during a Friday sermon in Tehran that the Islamic republic must directly confront America so that the necessary environment is created for the reappearance of Mahdi, the Shiite’s 12th imam, who will kill all infidels and raise the flag of Islam in all corners of the world.
“In three points of history, God directly confronts the will of unruly humans in which, of course, the Right will overcome the False,” Saeedi said, according to the Sepah News, the Guards’ official publication. “The first point in history was during the era of pharaoh, the second era was Bani Abbas, and the third is our current era in which it seems that God has willed us to enlighten the world with the coming of Imam Mahdi.”
Saeedi, “Many of the signs [necessary] for the coming have taken place during the previous years; however, the main sign will take place right before the coming.”
There are five levels of readiness that have to be prepared for the coming, he said: “Individual readiness, the readiness for creating the environment, systematic readiness, the readiness in the region and the international readiness. This means Occupy Wall Street must take place, the Americans must lose hope with the Democratic Party and others, and lose faith in the U.N., while at the same time the unraveling in the Middle East, which was not ripe before, must have taken place before the coming.”
This is the first time a high-ranking Iranian official has stated on the record that the Quds Forces are not only involved in the region, but also internationally for a final confrontation with the West.
“The Revolutionary Guards are one vehicle for preparation for the coming, and in the current Islamic Awakening [the Arab Spring] in the region and on international arena, the Quds Forces play a major role in preparing the readiness of the human force needed for such an event,” Saeedi said. “The chief commander of the Guards and the supreme leader’s representative are tasked for preparing the individual readiness, regional readiness as well as international readiness for the coming.”
In another Guards’ weekly publication, Sobhe Sadegh, a front-page analysis explains that the opening of Iran’s geopolitics and the empowerment of its Islamic power are a reality in which Iran’s influence has expanded not only in the region, but also in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Asia and even in Europe and America.
As was the fall of socialism and the Eastern bloc, the analysis promises, so will be the fall of the capitalism and liberal democracy.
The analysis refers to the statements of the founder of the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini:
“I say with all certainty that the 21st century will be the century of Islam.”
“I say with all certainty that Islam will conquer all key entrenchments of the world.”
“I say with all certainty that Islam will defeat all world powers.”
“I say with all certainty that the 21st century is the century where the oppressed will be victorious over the oppressors.”
While the Quds Forces have recently expanded their operations in shipment of explosives to Latin America, Africa and other places in the world, and at the same time have put terror cells on high alert for terrorist acts, the Islamic regime in Iran has expanded its nuclear program in which over 11,000 centrifuges are now running at two facilities, increasing its enriched uranium stock.
As of the last report in May by the IAEA, Iran had enough enriched uranium for six nuclear bombs, and despite all negotiations and recent sanctions, the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, announced days ago that there will be no turning back from the nuclear path.
Reza Kahlili translated this Iranian video about Islamic prophecies of a coming messiah and the destruction of Israel:
Ali Saeedi, the Iranian supreme leader’s representative to the Revolutionary Guards, emphasized during a Friday sermon in Tehran that the Islamic republic must directly confront America so that the necessary environment is created for the reappearance of Mahdi, the Shiite’s 12th imam, who will kill all infidels and raise the flag of Islam in all corners of the world.
“In three points of history, God directly confronts the will of unruly humans in which, of course, the Right will overcome the False,” Saeedi said, according to the Sepah News, the Guards’ official publication. “The first point in history was during the era of pharaoh, the second era was Bani Abbas, and the third is our current era in which it seems that God has willed us to enlighten the world with the coming of Imam Mahdi.”
Saeedi, “Many of the signs [necessary] for the coming have taken place during the previous years; however, the main sign will take place right before the coming.”
There are five levels of readiness that have to be prepared for the coming, he said: “Individual readiness, the readiness for creating the environment, systematic readiness, the readiness in the region and the international readiness. This means Occupy Wall Street must take place, the Americans must lose hope with the Democratic Party and others, and lose faith in the U.N., while at the same time the unraveling in the Middle East, which was not ripe before, must have taken place before the coming.”
This is the first time a high-ranking Iranian official has stated on the record that the Quds Forces are not only involved in the region, but also internationally for a final confrontation with the West.
“The Revolutionary Guards are one vehicle for preparation for the coming, and in the current Islamic Awakening [the Arab Spring] in the region and on international arena, the Quds Forces play a major role in preparing the readiness of the human force needed for such an event,” Saeedi said. “The chief commander of the Guards and the supreme leader’s representative are tasked for preparing the individual readiness, regional readiness as well as international readiness for the coming.”
In another Guards’ weekly publication, Sobhe Sadegh, a front-page analysis explains that the opening of Iran’s geopolitics and the empowerment of its Islamic power are a reality in which Iran’s influence has expanded not only in the region, but also in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Asia and even in Europe and America.
As was the fall of socialism and the Eastern bloc, the analysis promises, so will be the fall of the capitalism and liberal democracy.
The analysis refers to the statements of the founder of the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini:
“I say with all certainty that the 21st century will be the century of Islam.”
“I say with all certainty that Islam will conquer all key entrenchments of the world.”
“I say with all certainty that Islam will defeat all world powers.”
“I say with all certainty that the 21st century is the century where the oppressed will be victorious over the oppressors.”
While the Quds Forces have recently expanded their operations in shipment of explosives to Latin America, Africa and other places in the world, and at the same time have put terror cells on high alert for terrorist acts, the Islamic regime in Iran has expanded its nuclear program in which over 11,000 centrifuges are now running at two facilities, increasing its enriched uranium stock.
As of the last report in May by the IAEA, Iran had enough enriched uranium for six nuclear bombs, and despite all negotiations and recent sanctions, the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, announced days ago that there will be no turning back from the nuclear path.
Reza Kahlili translated this Iranian video about Islamic prophecies of a coming messiah and the destruction of Israel:
WND
Taiwan, China on alert as typhoons approach
TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Taiwan issued torrential rain and strong wind warnings for most of the island on Wednesday as slow-moving Typhoon Saola approached, while in China, Premier Wen Jiabao told authorities to be on the highest alert to prevent deaths.
The typhoon has winds of about 119 km per hour (74 mph) and could bring up to 1,000 mm (39 inches) of rain to parts of Taiwan over the rest of the week, the Central Weather Bureau said.
The storm is likely to skirt the northern tip of the island on Thursday, though there was also a chance it could make landfall, it said.
Heavy rain was falling in the capital Taipei on Wednesday and city authorities will decide later in the day whether to order businesses and financial markets to close on Thursday.
The typhoon is expected to hit the southeastern Chinese provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.
A separate system, Typhoon Damrey, is expected to pass just north of China's financial hub of Shanghai on its way inland from Thursday.
Wen, who usually leaves more junior leaders to oversee arrangements before storms, told authorities to step up preparations and "put people's lives first", Xinhua said.
The ruling Communist Party, which values stability above all else, has been rattled by public criticism of its poor handling of floods in Beijing last month that killed 77 people.
Tracking site Tropical Storm Risk rated Saola a category two, the second-lowest on its scale of five, but forecast it could strengthen to a category three in 36 hours, when it will cross into China.
Reuters
Eurozone breakup would trigger: £1 trillion of QE, banks nationalized and deep recession
According to Fathom Consulting, the economy would shrink by 5.2pc in 2013 if the euro collapsed – a projection that former Bank of England deputy governor Sir John Gieve, speaking at Fathom’s quarterly Monetary Policy Forum, described as “modest”. In 2009, the worst year of the recent recession, the economy shrank by just 4pc.
The warning came as Moody’s, the ratings agency, lowered its UK growth forecast to just 0.4pc this year and 1.8pc in 2013, in the wake of the shock 0.7pc contraction in GDP in the second three months of the year. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development separately said the economy would shrink this year as a whole.
Christophe Andre, acting head of the organisation’s UK desk, said: “The eurozone crisis is going to weigh on the UK in the coming months. Under these circumstances you cannot expect much more than very slow growth. GDP will probably fall in 2012.”
Despite the forecast cut, Moody’s did not change its “negative outlook” on Britain’s AAA rating. However, it warned of “rising challenges in achieving debt reduction within the timeframe laid out by the Government” and said the growth outlook “underscored” the UK’s problems. Last week, Standard & Poor’s reconfirmed Britain’s top-notch rating.
Fathom said it expects the economy to shrink by 0.3pc this year and bounce back to 1.4pc growth in 2013, but to slow down again as Britain’s “debt overhang” weighed on the recovery.
Although not his central forecast, Mr Gabay said a euro break-up would hit Britain hard because “the policy cupboard this time is nearly empty”. To prevent the pound strengthening in a euro crisis, he said the Bank would have to launch a £1 trillion round of quantitative easing.
Sir John added that the Government will have prepared contingency plans “to nationalise the banking system, for example” and warned that a euro collapse would leave Britain vulnerable to an attack from the markets. Speaking about the UK, he asked rhetorically: “If you think Europe’s going down the plughole, who’s next?”
DeAnne Julius, a former member of the Bank’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, said companies have already begun preparations for a eurozone break-up but she warned that markets were not prepared and could inflict enormous damage. “The next global shock will be like an earthquake,” she said.
Sir John added: “The markets have hedged their bets so far. If they really believe the euro is breaking apart, they will go much further.”
Fathom was sceptical about the Government’s latest growth strategy, of Funding for Lending to lower the cost of credit, arguing that households needed to reduce their debt by about a third – or about £440bn. Ms Julius said that although it was “worth a try”, she “does not have huge hopes” for Funding for Lending. Sir John welcomed the effort , but said: “I don’t think it’s going to make a massive difference.”
The Telegraph
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