'Intl. bodies ignore Israeli terrorism'

Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:35PM GMT

 

Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was killed in a terrorist attack in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Wednesday, January 11, 2012.

 

A senior Iranian lawmaker says international organizations are useless as they do not pay due attention to the terrorist actions of Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad.

Pointing to the recent assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran, Mohammad Kowsari said on Saturday that Iran has taken all legal steps to voice its protest to terror attacks.

“To show our outrage with regards to this issue we have undergone all necessary legal procedures, we have issued warnings and have written letters to all relevant authorities. We have also asked the UN to investigate this issue,” the lawmaker who is a member of the Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee added.

Kowsari stated that if Iran had not pre-warned international bodies and had not protested at terror attacks, it would have not started to talk about such additional measures as retaliation.

“International organizations have paid no attention to Iran's demands in this regard and some of them have just condemned terror attacks, which prove the uselessness of these organizations,” he said.

In the latest instance of terror attacks against Iran's nuclear scientists, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, an official of Iran's Natanz nuclear site, was assassinated by an unknown motorist on January 11.

The assailant attached a magnetic bomb to his car, killing Ahmadi Roshan along with his driver, while injuring a passer-by.

The latest terrorist attack comes as Iran has reached an agreement with the P5+1 -- Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States plus Germany - to hold negotiations in Turkey.

The US, Israel and their allies accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program and have used this allegation as a pretext to sway the UNSC to impose four rounds of sanctions on Iran.

Based on these accusations, they have also repeatedly threatened Tehran with the "option" of a military strike.

This is while in November 2011, some of the US presidential hopefuls called for conducting covert operations ranging from assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists to launching a military strike on Iran as well as sabotaging Tehran's nuclear program.

The calls for assassinations are not idle threats as a number of Iranian scientists have been assassinated over the past few years.

According to reports, Ahmadi Roshan had recently met International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, a fact which indicates that the IAEA has leaked information about Iran's nuclear facilities and scientists.

SS/PKH/HGH

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/221073.html

Mossad chief: Nuclear Iran not necessarily existential threat to Israel

 Published 01:23 29.12.11 Latest update 01:23 29.12.11

Tamir Pardo says Israel using various means to foil Iran's nuclear program, but if Iran actually obtained nuclear weapons, it would not mean destruction of Israel.

By Barak Ravid

A nuclear-armed Iran wouldn't necessarily constitute a threat to Israel's continued existence, Mossad chief Tamir Pardo reportedly hinted earlier this week.

	A Shahab missile. Even a hundred of them wouldn’t bring Israel down, one reckless voice said.
	Photo by: Reuters

On Tuesday evening, Pardo addressed an audience of about 100 Israeli ambassadors. According to three ambassadors present at the briefing, the intelligence chief said that Israel was using various means to foil Iran's nuclear program and would continue to do so, but if Iran actually obtained nuclear weapons, it would not mean the destruction of the State of Israel.

"What is the significance of the term existential threat?" the ambassadors quoted Pardo as asking. "Does Iran pose a threat to Israel? Absolutely. But if one said a nuclear bomb in Iranian hands was an existential threat, that would mean that we would have to close up shop and go home. That's not the situation. The term existential threat is used too freely."

The ambassadors said Pardo did not comment on the possibility of an Israeli military assault on Iran.
"But what was clearly implied by his remarks is that he doesn't think a nuclear Iran is an existential threat to Israel," one of the envoys said.

	Tamir Pardo
	Photo by: Moti Milrod

Pardo's remarks follow lively a public debate in recent months over a possible Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. One of the figures at the center of this public debate has been Pardo's predecessor as Mossad chief, Meir Dagan. Dagan has argued that Israel should only resort to military force "when the knife is at its throat and begins to cut into the flesh." He has also criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, accusing them of pushing for an Israeli attack on Iran, and warned that such an assault would have disastrous consequences.

For the past several years, Netanyahu has characterized a nuclear Iran as an existential threat to Israel. The prime minister has even compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Adolf Hitler and argued that Iran should be treated as Nazi Germany should have been dealt with in 1938, just before World War II. In contrast, Barak said in April 2010 that Iran "was not an existential threat at the moment," but warned that it could become one in the future.

In the cabinet, Netanyahu and Barak have been the leading proponents of a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. So far, however, they have not managed to convince a majority of either the "octet" forum of eight senior ministers or the diplomatic-security cabinet to support their position.

In related news, The Daily Beast website reported yesterday about one aspect of the disagreement between Israel and the United States on the Iranian nuclear issue. It said that Washington and Jerusalem are discussing "red lines" for Iran's nuclear project that, if crossed, would justify a preemptive strike on the nuclear facilities.
The website's defense reporter, Eli Lake, wrote that Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, lodged an official protest with the American administration following a speech a few weeks ago by U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the Saban Forum, in which the American defense chief warned of the consequences of an attack on Iran. The Daily Beast reported that Panetta's remarks infuriated the Israel government and that Oren was directed to lodge the protest.

A short time later, the White House conveyed a message of reassurance to Israel that the Obama administration has its own red lines for attacking Iran, so there is no need for Israel to act unilaterally. The Israeli protest was also followed by a shift in Panetta's rhetoric: In an interview with the American television network CBS, Panetta said the United States would not take any option off the table with regard to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

The crux of the disagreement between the two countries revolves around the question of to what extent Iran has managed to develop clandestine sites for uranium enrichment. As a result, Israel and the United States are having a hard time settling on common "red lines."

Patrick Clawson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told The Daily Beast that "if Iran were found to be sneaking out or breaking out [toward obtaining nuclear weapons], then the president's advisers are firmly persuaded he would authorize the use of military force to stop it." However, he added, "when the occasion comes, we just don't know how the president will react."

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/mossad-chief-nuclear-iran-not-necessarily-existential-threat-to-israel-1.404227

Report: Israeli company sold surveillance equipment to Iran

• Published 08:42 23.12.11 Latest update 08:42 23.12.11

According to a report by Bloomberg, Allot Communications Ltd. sent Internet-monitoring products to Denmark, where they were repackaged and sold to a distributor in Iran.

By Haaretz 

 

An Israeli company has been selling Iran Internet-monitoring equipment through a distributor in Denmark, Bloomberg news agency reported on Friday. The report cites Israeli and Danish business partners of an Iranian man named Hossein, to whom the equipment was sent.

According to the report, the company, Allot Communications Ltd, sent the surveillance equipment to a Danish distributor, RanTek A/S, which repackaged the gear and shipped it to Iran. Trade with Iran is prohibited under Israeli law.

	A mother watches her daughter, who is in class at Pishtaz School, from home via the internet, in Tehran October 19, 2011.
	Photo by: Reuters

The report claims three former employees for Allot said it was well known inside the company that the equipment was headed for Iran. Officials at Allot told Bloomberg they have no knowledge of products sent to Iran.

NetEnforcer, the product sold to Iran conducts "deep packet inspection" of Internet networks, and has commercial uses such as optimizing traffic. Yet the software can be used to intercept personal emails and other private data, or to prevent people from using the Web. According to the report, "deep packet inspection" technology was used in Tunisia to arrest dissidents.


Bloomberg quotes Jay Kalish, executive director of investor relations at Allot, as saying that "we do not authorize any sales to Iran." He said that if products were sent to Iran that would constitute a breach of contract.

The Danish company RanTek did not respond to Bloomberg's requests for comments.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-israeli-company-sold-surveillance-equipment-to-iran-1.403107