New Iranian Air Force Chief

From Press TV:

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution has called on the newly-appointed Iranian Air Force chief to further enhance the fleet's equipment.

In a Monday decree, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei appointed Brigadier General Hassan Shah-Safi as the new chief commander of Iran's Air Force, replacing Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani.

In response to Western threats of a military air strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, the Leader called for concerted efforts to further upgrade and promote Iran's Air Force military equipment.

[…]

Earlier in August, former commander of Iran's Air Force, Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani, announced that the country had revamped its fighter jet fleet to fly distances of allowing Iranian aircraft to fly 3,000 kilometers without refueling.

Miqani was an IRIAF F-14 pilot. Web sources point out that recent IRIAF air exercises were abruptly cancelled.

Iranian Border Guards in Hoor, Khuzestan

Iran's Commanders V: Military Gathering in Tehran

Iranian Generals and Admirals gather in Tehran. Note specifics for uniforms of Islamic Republic of Iran.

Safir Rocket Launch Video

General Jazayeri: Potential for World War

From Yahoo News:

A senior Iranian military commander has warned that any US or Israeli attack on the Islamic republic would start a world war, the state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday.

"Any aggression against Iran will start a world war," deputy chief of staff for defence publicity, Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, said in a statement carried by the agency.

"The unrestrained greed of the US leadership and global Zionism... is gradually leading the world to the edge of a precipice," Jazayeri said, citing the unrest in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and Georgia.

"It is evident that if such a challenge occurs, the fake and artificial regimes will be eliminated before anything," he said, without naming any countries.

Jazayeri's comments are noteworthy, particularly his references to conflicts in the region-Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and Georgia-and their linkage to a potential conflict with Iran, scaled in terms of a world war.

Top photo: Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri (source Press TV)

Iran's Install of S-300 Missile Defense System

From Fars News Agency:

An Israeli think tank claimed that Iran will install an advanced air defense system the country bought from Russia next year. The report said the S-300PMU-2 air defense system will be deployed in 2009 and it will be operational by the middle of the next year.

The report by the Institute for Contemporary Affairs said the S-300 would complement other Russian air defense systems in Iran, particularly the TOR-M1.

"The S-300 system, which has a radius of over 90 miles and effective altitudes of about 90,000 feet, is capable of tracking up to 100 targets simultaneously," the World Tribune quoted the report as saying on Wednesday.

"It is considered one of the best in the world and is amazingly versatile. It is capable of shooting down aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missile warheads," it added.

The report said the deployment of the defense system in Iran will hamper any US and Israeli plans to launch an attack against the country.

"The deployment of the anti-aircraft shield next spring, if it occurs, effectively limits the window in which Israel or the United States could conduct an effective aerial campaign aimed at destroying, delaying or crippling the Iranian nuclear program," the report added.

"Many of the Iranian targets are fortified, and will require bunker busters," the report said.

"Operational challenges abound. Israel's EW planes, needed to suppress anti-aircraft batteries, are slow and unarmed, and could become a target for Iranian anti-aircraft missiles or even fighter sorties," Ariel Cohen, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, said.

Safir IRILV

Pics of Safir IRILV (Islamic Republic of Iran Launch Vehicle).

Strait of Hormuz Threat Assessment

From Carah Ong’s Iran Nuclear Watch:

The Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin has produced a new online resource entitled "Strait of Hormuz: Assessing Threats to Energy Security in the Persian Gulf." The resource can be accessed here.

According to the website, the project is intended to help assess the threat to oil flows through the Strait. It provides background on the political, economic, business, technical, and military issues involved in potential disruptions. Oil producers, tanker and insurance companies, and regional and global military forces would all react to any attack on Persian Gulf shipping.

The site offers a brief section on Iran, its military, weapons, conflict scenarios and threat assessment.

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Due to work commitments and frequent travel by one of the authors and health condition of the other author, we unfortunately need to suspend our blog activities effective today. We will resume our work as soon as we can.

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Uskowi on Iran

To Our Readers

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Khamenei: No to Nuclear Compromise

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in Tehran today that Iran will not accept the compromise proposal by Group 5+1.

“Taking one step back against arrogant powers will lead to them to take one step forward,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

The major powers had proposed a compromise “freeze-on-freeze” approach, whereby Iran would have frozen at current level its uranium enrichment activities, and the UN would have not introduced any new sanctions against Iran. The freeze-on-freeze confidence-building period was to last for six weeks, at the end of which the US and the Europeans would have started direct talks with Iran to end the nuclear standoff.

“The idea that any retreat or backing down from righteous positions would change the policies of arrogant world powers is completely wrong and baseless," Khamenei said, directly addressing those inside Iran who had been increasingly vocal in their support of a negotiated end to the standoff.

Talks Before an Attack?

The Jerusalem Post today is quoting top Israeli defense officials as saying that recent talks the US held with Iran were aimed at creating legitimacy for a potential attack against Iranian nuclear facilities.

“This way they will be able to say they tried everything,” an official told The Jerusalem Post. “This increases America's chances of gaining more public support domestically as well as the support of European nations which are today opposed to military action.”

A top Israeli defense official, however, told The Jerusalem Post that any attack on Iran is not imminent.

“There is a lot of strategic thinking concerning Iran going on right now but no one has yet to make a decision what to do,” the official said. “We are still far away from the point where military officers are poring over maps together planning an operation.”

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Baraq today headed to Washington for talks with senior US officials.

Gates: War with Iran would be 'disastrous'

A war with Iran would be "disastrous on a number of levels," according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

In an article appearing in the latest issue of Parameters, the U.S. Army War College quarterly, Gates wrote that with the army already bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, "another war in the Middle East is the last thing we need" - despite the fact that Iran "supports terrorism," is "a destabilizing force throughout the Middle East and Southwest Asia and, in my judgment, is hell-bent on acquiring nuclear weapons."

Gates also wrote, "the military option must be kept on the table, given the destabilizing policies of the regime and the risks inherent in a future Iranian nuclear threat, either directly or through nuclear proliferation."

Jundallah Executes Two More Iranian Police

The Iranian rebel group Jundallah (Soldiers of God) announced it has executed two more Iranian policemen from a group of 16 uniformed personnel of Iran’s Law Enforcement Force (LEF) taken hostage in the town of Saravan in Iranian Baluchistan on 13 June 2008.

Jundallah had previously killed one of the policemen. Jundallah’s announcement was aired today by Al Arabiya satellite television.

Jundallah is a Sunni group active in Iran’s Baluchistan. In the past two years, they have staged several terrorist attacks in the province and have been involved in armed clashes with IRGC and LEF forces.

Israel: Doubts over Iran’s 6,000 Centrifuges

Israeli officials have expressed doubt over claims by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Iran now possesses up to 6,000 uranium-enrichment centrifuges. Ahmadinejad said on Saturday in Tehran that Iran had already installed 5.000 centrifuges at Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility and will continue installing new units until they reach 6,000 centrifuges.

An Israeli official who closely monitor Iran’s nuclear program told The Jerusalem Post today that Ahmadinejad was probably “lying.”

"Our assessment, based on the latest available information and recent reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency, is that the figure of 6,000 centrifuges is unlikely," the official said. "We believe a figure of between 3,400 and 3,500 is more accurate" [7/27 The Jerusalem Post].

Iran Installs 5,000 Centrifuges

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today that Iran has already installed 5,000 centrifuges at Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility (UEF). Ahmadinejad said Iran previously had only 3,000 centrifuges in operation.

Ahmadinajad said the installation of the additional centrifuge started last April and will continue until it reaches 6,000 units in near future. He did not provide any details on the new units, whether they included any IR-2 models, the more advanced machines capable of enriching uranium three to five times faster than the older P-1 models in operation at Natanz.

With 6,000 centrifuges in place, Iran can enrich a significant amount of uranium in short order. Iran does not have any civilian nuclear reactor in operation. Bushehr power plant is being built by the Russians, but they have already provided the uranium fuel needed for the plant to start operation.

There has never been a precise explanation by the Iranian government as why it is accelerating its program now to produce all this enriched uranium where there are no power plants in existence, with the Russian having already supplied fuel for Bushehr. The West suspects Iran’s growing inventory of enriched uranium could be further enriched to build uranium metal, the basic element in building nuclear bomb.

Iran denies plans to make a bomb, but on Thursday announced that it will stop its cooperation with IAEA on answering questions raised on its “alleged studies,” a term used by IAEA to refer to an alleged research program to make nuclear weapon.

Ahmadinejad also claimed today that Iran has been given green light to install up to 6,000 centrifuges by Group 5+1. The claim has not yet been verified by any of those countries.

IDF Chief: All Options against Iran Must be Prepared

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said today in Washington that all options must be prepared to counter Iran's nuclear program. Gen. Ashkenazi is holding talks in Pentagon this morning with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen.

"We are all united over the understanding that Iran must not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon and that there is no doubt that diplomacy must be given priority," Ashkenazi said. "But we all realize, both the Americans and us, that all options must be prepared."

Iran to End Cooperation with IAEA on “Alleged Studies”

Iran will no longer cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its investigation of “alleged studies.” The term is used by IAEA in reference to research allegedly undertaken in Iran to build nuclear weapons. Iran’s VP and head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Qolam Reza Aghazadeh, made the announcement on Thursday in Tehran.

Investigating such allegations "is outside the domain of the agency," Aghazadeh said.

Last May, IAEA raised serious concerns that Iran was withholding information on the issue.

“The alleged studies remain a matter of serious concern. Clarification of these is critical to an assessment of the nature of Iran's past and present nuclear program,” IAEA said in its report released on 27 May 2008. “Substantive explanations are required from Iran to support its statements on the alleged studies and on other information with a possible military dimension.”

Iran had earlier agreed to answer allegations that it studied how to design nuclear bombs. IAEA chief Mohammad ElBaradei had called the agreement a “milestone.”

The decision by Iran to stop its cooperation with IAEA would add to the tensions surrounding the Iranian nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad Says No to Nuclear Compromise

Ahmadinejad Saying No to Nuclear Compromise

Kohgelouyeh . 23 July 2008 . Fars Photo

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today vowed Iran would not step back “an inch” in the nuclear standoff with the West.

“The Iranian people are steadfast and will not step back an inch against the oppressive powers,” Ahmadinejad told a rally in the southwestern province of Kohgelouyeh-Boyerahmad.

The world major powers had given Iran a limited time to accept the freeze-on-freeze compromise, with Iran not expanding its current level of enrichment activities and the UN not imposing any new sanctions.

There are 10 days remaining for Iran to formally respond to the compromise proposal. If Iran had accepted the proposal, direct talks for reaching a final agreement on its nuclear program would have started.

Ahmadinejad’s defiant comments today all but killed the prospects for any early resolution of the crisis.

US/Coalition Naval Exercise

USS Theodore Roosevelt

Atlantic Ocean . March 2008 . Navy File Phote

More than 15,000 service members from four countries are participating in Joint Task Force Exercise "Operation Brimstone." The exercise off the eastern US coast began on 21 July and will continue for ten days.

US and coalition naval assets taking part in the exercise include the US aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (pictured above), the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima with associated units including the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, and the French submarine FS Amethyste. The French Rafale fighter aircraft also joined US Carrier Air Wing aircraft during the exercise.

Units of US Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, who are trained to operate in the littorals and riverine environment, shallow coastal waters and rivers, are taking part in the exercise. This environment approximates the coastal waters of the Persian Gulf and the small islands around its chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz.

Military analysts believe that Operation Brimstone is aimed at giving military teeth to the two-week ultimatum the six world powers gave Iran in Geneva Saturday to accept the suspension of uranium enrichment or face harsh sanctions and isolation.

Rice Warns Iran of “Punitive Measures”

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Arab allies in the United Arab Emirates today after warning Iran of "punitive measures" if it does not respond seriously in two weeks to an international incentive to freeze uranium enrichment activities.

Meanwhile, the White House signaled that it expected Iran to reject a US-backed freeze-on-freeze proposal that could open the doors for serious negotiations to end the nuclear standoff.

"It is the position of the P5-plus-one that Iran should suspend its uranium enrichment, that we provided a very generous incentives package that they apparently are going to miss an opportunity to accept," said spokeswoman Dana Perino.