Bharat Rakshak

Now, you could maintain that Khamenei is lying when he says he holds that possessing nuclear weapons is a grave sin. (You could also maintain that the Popes are lying when they say using birth control is a grave matter, but you’d have to explain why they put their papal authority on the line for a lie they weren’t forced to utter). But even if you think it is a lie, you have at least to report what he says. I guarantee you that Khamenei’s speech opposing nukes was not so much as mentioned on any of the major American news broadcasts.

Gareth Porter reviews the case:

Who was behind the Delhi bomb?

India and Iran have agreed to enhance cooperation in the field of renewable energy. In a meeting with President of Iran Mr. Mehmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran, Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah called for an enhancement in bilateral ties and economic cooperation with Iran especially in the field of renewable energy. President Ahmadinejad agreed that the two countries should use their full potential to enhance cooperation and bilateral ties.

Earlier in the day, Dr. Abdullah had a bilateral meeting with the Iranian Energy Minister, Mr. Majid Namjou. Mr. Namjou called India a leading country in the production of renewable energy. He added that Iran intended to develop renewable energies in cooperation with India. Dr. Abdullah outlined the progress that India had made in generating power through use of renewable energies, especially wind and solar. He also highlighted the progress of India’s National Solar Mission which has resulted in significant increase in installed capacity and an almost 40% fall in costs.

Dr. Abdullah also had bilateral meetings with the Governor-General of Shiraz, Mr. Hossein Sadegh Abedin, and Governor-General of Isfahan, Dr. Alireza Zakar Esfahani. Dr. Abdullah recalled the ancient, cultural and civilizational ties between the two countries and the similarities in lifestyle and languages of the two countries. He warmly spoke of the contributions of ancient Persia to Indian culture and architecture. He also called for enhanced cooperation in tourism, cultural exchanges and people to people contacts.

Dr. Abdullah was accompanied by Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, Minister for Science & Technology and Information Technology, Animal and Sheep Husbandry, Government of Jammu & Kashmir and Shri Gireesh B. Pradhan, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India.

Iran, a country with its own large Azeri minority, has for years been seeking to destabilize the secular government of Shi'ite Azerbaijan, a neighbor with vastly increasing wealth and one moving ever closer to the West in terms of security and energy.

The liberation of Iran can begin now.
Some here claim the Iranians to be liberals etc. They are still an Islamic country. The people May be to a certain extent when compared to Saudi Arabia. Most want to get out of the Arabian enforced ideology to their roots. That's they still consider Ahura Mazda to be their god. It's better to have a Parsi Iran than an Islamic one. Let the liberation begin. If the liberating forces can get to make Iran a liberal democracy, then this change can take place within a very short period of time. I'm all for a war that eliminates the current system in existence.
The after effects are Many. The west will never need Pakistan anymore. No more baksheesh. No more terrorists. And no more terroristan. If Iran gets liberated, the dismemberment of Pakistan can begin with much ease and the nuke threat from there will be eliminated.
There will be peace all over the world.

Saudi Arabia’s recent decision to appoint an envoy to Baghdad after nearly 20 years of strained relations is another component in the country’s general policy to counterbalance Iran’s influence in the Middle East.

Riyadh is ostensibly trying to restore its diplomatic relations with Iraq, which were suspended when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.

The two countries’ ties have been more strained since the 2003 U.S. invasion toppled Saddam’s Sunni-dominated government and Iraq voted in a new Shia-led government, which cultivated a good relationship with Iran and altered the focus of the country’s foreign policy.

Due to the volatile situation in the Middle East and North Africa, the Saudis are extremely concerned about Iran’s increasing spiritual influence in the region, especially the inspiration that the popular uprisings have received from Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979.

And since the beginning of the Syria crisis, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, backed by Western governments, have done their utmost to topple the country’s popular government.

The Saudis’ inclination toward Iraq is just a ploy meant to convince Iraqi officials to take sides with the regional anti-Syria front, which includes most of the Sunni Arab governments and Turkey and is massively backed by the United States and its European allies. If Iraq turned on Syria, it would facilitate the efforts to increase the pressure on Iran, which is one of the main supporters of Syria’s resistance against Israel.

However, the Iraqi people and government feel a deep connection with Iran due to the close cultural and political relations between the two countries. From the very beginning of the war on Iraq in 2003, Iran used every means at its disposal to counter the U.S.-led occupation. Over the past few years, Iran has been very helpful to its western neighbor in its reconstruction process and in its efforts to end the occupation. Thus, the current state of diplomatic relations between the two countries can be described as very friendly.

Many political analysts believe that the main reason for the failure of the anti-Syria campaign is Saudi Arabia’s hypocritical stance toward regional uprisings. In order to survive the political tsunami sweeping across the region and to stifle its own citizens’ complaints about its ironfisted rule, the monarchist system of Saudi Arabia has invested millions of dollars to prevent any real democratic change from occurring in Bahrain and Yemen.

In addition, Riyadh has moved closer to the U.S. and Israel in order to eliminate the resistance front in the region, which has always been regarded as the greatest threat to the Camp David order, which took shape after 1979. This order actually facilitated the continuation of authoritarian rule in a number of Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, over the past few decades.

But on the opposite side, Iran is opposed to all the threats to Syria and the broader resistance front, which it believes will serve as the key to the final collapse of Israel and the liberation of the people of the Muslim world.

Thus, the ruse of Riyadh’s decision to appoint an envoy to Iraq and to propose an exchange of prisoners with the country is bound to fail. Many Iraqi Shias hate the Saudi government due to its military intervention in Bahrain, which is helping Manama in its suppression of the pro-democracy protests.

The question is: What are the Saudis really looking for in Baghdad?

I'm all for a war that eliminates the current system in existence.
The after effects are Many. The west will never need Pakistan anymore. No more baksheesh. No more terrorists. And no more terroristan. If Iran gets liberated, the dismemberment of Pakistan can begin with much ease and the nuke threat from there will be eliminated.
There will be peace all over the world.

The arrest of an Indian journalist reportedly working for an Iranian publication, in connection with a February 13 attack on an Israeli diplomat, has made India's tightrope walk on Iran a lot more difficult. Questioned on the subject, the MEA spokesperson was tight-lipped, merely saying, "the investigation which led to arrest of one person is also pursuing several other leads. No conclusions can be drawn at this stage."

According to the Delhi police, Mohammad Ahmed Kazmi, the journalist who was arrested in connection with the blast, was a turning point in the investigation. A source informed that he has now divulged information regarding the attack.

The investigators are looking into the possibility of the Quds Force, a shadowy unit of the Iranian Army and an Islamic revolutionary force, and the Hezbollah of Lebanon into the attack.

Officials however point out that the links to the Quds Force look more of a possibility at the moment when compared to an operation by the Hezbollah. According to Kazmi, he had provided logistic support to men from Iran, but he was unsure as to which outfit the men belonged to.

The indications at the moment point towards the Quds Force. According to Indian Intelligence, the Hezbolla is an outfit which reports to the Iran intelligence. Looking at the diplomatic ties between Iran and India, it is unlikely that Iran would approve of an attack on Indian soil even if it meant that the targets were Israelis.

The Quds Force on the other hand is looking to make its point heard loud and has shown signs of expanding into other countries.

This force was created during the war of Iran with Iraq. Their area of operation remained largely in Iraq and they had helped the Kurds in their battle against former Iraq President Saddam Hussein. However, after Saddam's death, they found themselves wanting for a cause and decided to take on Israel and use the Palestine cause.

Traces of their involvement were seen in the Soviet-Afghan war, the Yugoslav war and the fight against the Serbs.

Today the Quds Force has a strength of around 15,000. They are not directly under the control of the Iran militia at least for now, although the regime in Iran had supported them in the 1980's during the Iran-Iraq war.

The latest on Quds Force's agenda is the battle for Palestine. It appears that they have decided to wage a war against Israel on a large scale and hence could have carried out a series of attacks in India, Georgia and also Thailand.

The attacks were to test the waters and also make their presence felt. However, it appears to be a deliberate attempt that they have maintained a low key despite these attacks and there was no official proclamation from the group claiming responsibility for the attack.

Either there is no full fledged involvement or it is a deliberate ploy to keep the heat low, Indian Intelligence Bureau officials point out.

Sources say that the Quds Force is well-equipped to carry out operations worldwide. They have primarily been known for their skills on the battlefield and recently have shown signs of being able to stage operations through remote control overseas.

Speaking of their operations in India, it becomes clear that some west Asian groups have been carrying out surveys here. Their target has not been India itself, but Israelis and American citizens living in India.

Israel, in particular has been paranoid about this development, and have sent in many of their trained citizens for counter-terror operations undercover. Similarly, Irani terror groups have been in India for collecting logistic details, funds and looking for new recruits.

The Quds Force may have picked people of Iranian origin living in India to provide them details and information of their targets. Kazmi is such an example, the police say.

If Kazmi's statements are to be believed, then it becomes clear that the attack was staged by an Iranian force, since under interrogation he said that the attackers fled to Iran after the incident.

All I can say is this, this is not a black and white situation, *LOTS* of shades of gray. I feel comfortable with India’s position here. We will turn out to be on the right side in the long run.

A senior Indian official reiterated his country's enthusiasm for the further development of economic relations with Iran, and said both countries are facing extensive opportunities to further increase their bilateral trade relations.

Secretary of India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry Arvind Mehta made the remark in a meeting with a group of Iranian and Indian businessmen and experts in Tehran.

Mehta put the current level of bilateral transactions at $15 billion, and said the value of India-Iran transactions will hit $25 billion in the next four years.

"At the moment, we have around $12 billion worth of trade exchanges with India," Sobhani was quoted as saying on the sidelines of a meeting between a visiting 70-member Indian trade delegation and Iranian commercial and banking institutions.

"Some part of the exchanges will be directly in rupees and this will be beneficial for both the two countries," he added.

"It has been said that the two countries' trade will reach $25 billion in the next four years. I believe this will happen earlier," Sobhani said.

"We are looking for a solution to use any currency that would be in our interest and not cause problems. The rupee is one of those [currencies]," he added.

The agency quoted Sobhani as saying "by replacing the dollar with the rupee many middle channels in Iran-India trade will be removed."

India is making a concerted push into Central Asia by taking charge of a crucial transportation network through Iran into the region and beyond. After getting an enthusiastic thumbs up from 14 stakeholder countries in the region in January, experts from all the countries will meet in New Delhi on March 29 to put final touches to the project known as the International North-South Corridor.

The project envisages a multi-modal transportation network that connects ports on India's west coast to Bandar Abbas in Iran, then overland to Bandar Anzali port on the Caspian Sea; thence through Rasht and Astara on the Azerbaijan border onwards to Kazakhstan, and further onwards towards Russia. Once complete, this would connect Europe and Asia in a unique way -- experts estimate the distance could be covered in 25-30 days in what currently takes 45-60 days through the Suez Canal.

In the January meeting, Sanjay Singh (secretary east, MEA) and Rahul Khullar (commerce secretary) told Iran that India would take charge of the project, including building the missing sections of the railway and road link in Iran. Thanks to U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil sector, India is finding it difficult to pay for its oil imports with hard currency. One of the best ways of paying for Iranian oil is through infrastructure projects like the corridor, which serves economic and strategic interests of all states concerned.

This has been a win-win proposition for India since the North-South Corridor agreement was signed between India, Iran and Russia in September 2000. But over the years, the project fell into disuse. Iran made little attempt to complete construction on its side, expending little political or administrative energy. Neither did Russia or India, which preferred to talk about it but did little to push it. Meanwhile, 11 other countries, including all the Central Asian states, joined up.

Several recent developments have changed India's timid approach. First, China has been building an extensive road and railway network through Central Asia, aiming to touch Europe. It's fast, efficient and already on the ground. While this has made Central Asia accessible to China and others, it is worrying these countries no end. Over the past few years, Central Asian states have repeatedly approached India to play the balancing role. Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan actually gave an oil block, Satpaev, to India on strategic considerations.

Second, with Pakistan in a state of almost chronic instability, India can never hope to access Central Asia through Pakistan. Its best bet remains Iran. Building a big-ticket infrastructure corridor is a reaffirmation of Indian commitment to the relationship with Iran.

Meena Singh Roy, senior fellow at IDSA, who is closely connected with the project, said, "The potential of this corridor will be manifold with India, Myanmar and Thailand getting linked by road. This will boost trade between Europe and South East Asia as well."

The North-South Corridor, which can be described as part of the "new great game", is now a battle for "power, hegemony, profits and resources", as a senior official put it. Quite apart from opening up new markets for India, the corridor could also be used to transport energy resources to India -- from oil, gas to uranium and other industrial metals.
In the forthcoming expert-level meetings in Delhi, Indian officials expect to finalize issues of customs and other commercial infrastructure. India has now agreed to provide all this expertise.

Simultaneously, India is eyeing two other transit and transportation networks from Central Asia -- all of them going through Iran. One is a Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan Corridor -- a 677-km railway line connecting these countries with Iran and the Persian Gulf. It will link Uzen in Kazakhstan with Gyzylgaya-Bereket-Etrek in Turkmenistan and end at Gorgan in Iran's Golestan province.

The second comes in from Uzbekistan through northern Afghanistan, known as the Northern Distribution Network through which the U.S. and NATO currently route 70% of their supplies for the ISAF forces. But after the U.S. and NATO exit Afghanistan in 2014, India plans to extend this route to link up with the Zaranj-Delaram road that enters Iran.

India has been pushing Iran to complete construction of the Chahbahar port, which is crucial for these corridors to work to India's advantage. Iran has been notoriously slow in taking these up but India expects that in its current isolation, Iran could do a rethink.

In a rare interview, ex-chief of Mossad Meir Dagan speaks out against a preemptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities anytime soon. He says the Iranian regime is rational in its own way. Lesley Stahl reports.

THE IRANIAN PEOPLE
The Iranian people are probably the most pro-American population amongst the Islamic countries. We should do nothing to alienate the populous. Although I suspect that we could destroy most of the Iranian nuclear development complex without collateral damage and set them back more than 5 years. Israel knows that their strike capabilities will only yield a 5 year setback. Our strike packages, however, are more likely to avoid civilian casualties than the Israelis becuse we can devote aircraft to ADA suppression, etc. But, we do not want to offend the population.

What we need to do is covertly assist the Iranian population in their efforts to be free of the mullahs and Revolutionary Guard. Were it not for the forces of repression, the Iranian people would now be free.

If both Israel and United States exhibit patience, then it becomes a question of Iran's self-control. If any element of the Iranian government acts rashly, it would likely be naval action in the Persian Gulf. That would give the US government and allies the excuse to strip Iran of its naval assets. The problem will be that Iranian Sunburn missiles will likely take out several of our ships to include a carrier. What price are we willing to pay for what goal?

Going by what Thailands Police Chief is quoted as saying, Iran just could really be dumb and acting in the same manner as the Islamic Terrorist supporting Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Note reported similarity between the New Delhi and Bangkok bomb:

All the western chest beating against iran appears to be just hot air.

US threatens sanctions against India over Iran oil

Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN | Mar 16, 2012, 12.13AM IST

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration is threatening to impose sanctions on India over its continued economic ties with Iran amid disagreements between Washington and New Delhi over how much and how soon the latter is reducing oil imports from the (in US eyes) pariah nation.

India has "failed" to reduce its purchase of Iranian oil and if it doesn't do so, President Barack Obama may be "forced" to impose sanction, unnamed administration officials were cited as telling Bloomberg wire service. A decision in this regard could come as early as June 28, they added, implicitly offering New Delhi a ten- week window to show a decline in Iranian oil imports.

Indian officials have contested the US assessment by insisting New Delhi is scaling down Iranian oil imports with more reduction in the pipeline, but that concession has been offset by India's commerce ministry's well-publicized efforts to ramp up trade with Iran in other areas, a move that has not gone unnoticed by the powerful pro-Israeli lobby in US.

The potent American Jewish Committee (AJC), which holds Israeli interests dear to its heart, raged against an Indian business delegation being shepherded to Iran by the Indian commerce ministry, pointing to it as an example of New Delhi's perfidy at a time Israel is India's close military and counter-terrorism partner.

That prompted a strong rebuttal from the Indian embassy in Washington, accusing certain lobbies of presenting a "distorted picture of New Delhi's foreign policy objectives and energy security needs" by selective use of data about its imports from Iran.

But the anti-Iran lobby in US has been galvanized by a report on Wednesday from the International Energy Agency (IEA), showing that India and South Korea "sharply" increased their oil imports from Iran in January.

However, India has informally conveyed to Washington that it has advised its refineries, many of which are geared towards processing Iranian crude, to seek alternate supplies and gradually reduce their dependence on Iran. That process may take some time to kick in since annual crude contracts with Iran are April to March, so the reduction will start to show from next month.

India has enough time to show compliance since the US law relating to sanctions vis-a-vis Iran kicks in only if countries don't make a "significant" cuts in their Iranian crude oil purchases during the first half of this year. The law does not specify by what percentage a nation must reduce its imports to qualify for an exemption from sanctions, so countries like South Korea and Japan have been negotiating with Washington the quantum of cuts they can live with. India is also believed to be in discussion with U.S in this matter.

While the impending Indian compliance has been quietly acknowledged by some Obama administration officials, the hardline pro-Israeli lobby in US is champing at the bit. At a Congressional hearing earlier this month Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told lawmakers that while the US remains concerned about India's links with Iran, she acknowledged that New Delhi is ''heading in the right direction''.

"In fact, I think in a number of instances, the actions of countries and their banks are better than the public statements that we sometimes hear them making," Clinton said in an indication of the Indian assurances.

The Obama administration itself is in a bind over squeezing too hard and tightening oil supplies across the world. While Washington has offered to wean India and other countries from Iranian oil by arranging supplies from Saudi Arabia and Iraq, that could come at its own expense and rising oil prices. Already, gas prices are close to $ 4 a gallon at US pumps, and it is a well-acknowledged fact that the fortunes of US politicians running for high office is linked to pain (or otherwise) at the pump.

I wouldn't say that. Have you checked the position of the 3 US carriers? All three will be in the Persian Guld over the next few weeks along with a load of Helicopter carriers

So wait & watch!!

They will collapse it from within. All this is to just keep Iranian expenditure focused on Defence.

All the western chest beating against iran appears to be just hot air.

“Everything is more expensive these days and ordinary people, even merchants, won’t buy expensive goods,” said Reza Esmaeili, 44, an Iranian sailor. “Food is different because it’s essential to our lives.” He said typical cargoes include rice, tea, cooking oil and sugar.

Economic conditions in Iran are “worse than wartime,” said Abdolreza Ebrahimi, 60, a captain who is shipping spare parts for automobiles to Bushehr province in 12 40-foo containers. Inflation is above 20 percent, according to central bank figures.

"On the basis of thorough and carefully undertaken investigations, three Iranians have been identified by the investigating authorities as suspects in the terrorist attack on an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi on February 13, 2012," official spokesperson in the MEA Syed Akbaruddin (new mea spokesperson?) said . He said warrants of arrest against these persons have been issued and the process of issue of red corner notices has been initiated but maintained that "investigations in the case are on and no conclusions can be drawn at this stage".
"We have informed the Iranian Ambassador of these developments so as to seek the cooperation of the Iranian authorities in bringing those involved in this dastardly attack to justice," he said.

Incident in New Delhi involving Israeli diplomat

March 16, 2012
In response to a question the Official Spokesman said:

On the basis of thorough and carefully undertaken investigations three Iranians have been identified by the investigating authorities as suspects in the terrorist attack on an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi on February 13, 2012. Warrants of arrest against these persons have been issued and the process of issue of red corner notices has been initiated. Investigations in the case are ongoing and no conclusions can be drawn at this stage. We have informed the Iranian Ambassador of these developments so as to seek the cooperation of the Iranian authorities in bringing those involved in this dastardly attack to justice.

New Delhi
March 16, 2012

Reports that arrest warrants have been issued against 3 Iranians for the bomb attack on Israeli embassy staff /dependents in New Delhi.

Iran needs to bend over backwards and co-operate with India in sorting out this issue in order to demonstrate that there was no official Iranian Government involvement:

Warrant against 3 Iranians in Delhi blast case

More banks may soon be added to facilitate India-Iran trade transactions to boost bilateral trade. The payment problem with Iran was resolved earlier this month with the operationalisation of a rupee payment mechanism through UCO Bank.

Currently, UCO Bank (from India) and Persian Bank are handling such transactions and these banks, along with the active involvement of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), are sorting out the rupee payment mechanism issues, Mr M. Rafeeque Ahmed, President, FIEO, said.

Significantly, Persian Bank has agreed to reduce the letter of credit (LC) opening margins from 120 per cent to 10 per cent, he added.