Not Bluffing on Iran – Obama

President Warns Against Premature Strike by Israel

President Barack Obama said in an interview published by The Atlantic magazine on Friday that he means it when he insists it's unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

Obama told The Atlantic magazine that Iran and Israel both understand that “a military component” is one of a mix of many options for dealing with Iran, along with sanctions and diplomacy.

“I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don't bluff,” he said in the interview. "I also don't, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are. But (both) governments recognize that when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say.”

Obama also warned that a premature strike by Israel might inadvertently help Iran.

“At a time when there is not a lot of sympathy for Iran and its only real ally (Syria) is on the ropes, do we want a distraction in which suddenly Iran can portray itself as a victim?”

Source: The Atlantic/AP, 2 March 2012

Elections in Iran

Iranians showed up at polling stations across the country to cast their votes in the elections for Majlis, the Iranian parliament. Friday 2 March 2012.

Photos: IRNA, ISNA, Mehr News Agency

Friday’s Elections

By Nader Uskowi

The elections for the Ninth Majlis will be held tomorrow across Iran. I ran as one of the youngest candidates from Tehran in the First Majlis. That was March 1980! The elections then were not a choice between conservative and ultraconservative candidates. They included a wide range of candidates from right to left. I finished first among the leftist candidates, with more votes than Toudeh’s Kianouri. But it was the right in a “Grand Coalition” between the Islamic Republic Party let by Ali Khamenei and the Society of Combatant Clerics led by the late Mehdi Shahabadi that carried the day and won the majority in the First Majlis. Ayatollah Shahabadi was a friend. We met and befriended at SAVAK’s notorious Komiteh Prison during the last months of the shah’s government, and remained friends until he lost his life in a terrorist attack. That was the atmosphere then.

32 years later, the Society of Combatant Clerics, this time led by Mahdavi Kani, is the leading force in the United Principlist Front, expected to keep its majority in the Ninth Majlis. But this time their main opponents are the like-minded conservatives, especially the ultraconservatives led by Mesbah Yazdi’s Resistance Front. No Left, Center, reformist or any form of opposition groups or coalitions were allowed to run. This is the atmosphere now.

I guess 32 years of uninterrupted rule by any group, led by a leader for life, creates such atmosphere. The opposition candidates instead of running in the elections are either inside the notorious Evin Prison or not allowed to run. The Ayatollah Shahabadi I knew, if he was with us today, would have cringed at the conditions surrounding the elections for the Ninth Majlis and their eerie similarities to the shah’s time which he spent so many years in prison trying to change it.

Oil Prices Rising

Brent crude has risen to $123.88 a barrel today. Analysts believe the upbeat economic data from China and the US bolstered the demand outlook and concern persisted about supply disruption from Iran.

On demand side, a report on Wednesday showed the US economy grew faster than initially thought in the fourth quarter, and a Chinese government survey showed factories' output grew more than expected in February.

On supply side, uncertainties over future Iranian supplies and the continuing conflict in Syria also pushed the prices up.

Sources: Reuters & Bloomberg

China Calls for Early Resumption of Nuclear Talks with Iran

China today called for an early resumption of nuclear talks between Iran and the six major powers.

"We hope that all parties concerned can grasp the current opportunities and relaunch the dialogue process at an early date so as to push the Iranian nuclear issue back onto a track of dialogue and cooperation," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei [Xinhua, 1 March].

Nuclear talks between Iran and the G5+1, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, foundered in January 2011.

Iran Military Assets at Hormuz – An Animation

Next Media Animation (NMA), Taiwan's largest media company, has produced an animation on military assets Iran possesses that it could use during a military confrontation at the Strait of Hormuz.

Source: NMA’s News Direct
http://newsdirect.nma.com.tw