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Family of BBC staff victim of IRGC hostage taking

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Family of BBC staff victim of IRGC hostage taking

 

GVF — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps recently took the family member of a BBC employee hostage in order to force her to take part in an online interrogation session from her home in London.

According to Green Voice of Freedom sources, in an unprecedented move, agents from the IRGC’s intelligence unit arrested the sister of a London-based BBC staffer and held her in a solitary cell in ward 2A of Iran’s notorious Evin prison. The security agents then forced the relative to contact her sister in the United Kingdom and to ask her to agree to an online voice chat with an IRGC representative .

After consulting the director of BBC Persian, the journalist decided to cooperate with her sister’s captors and agreed to be interrogated.

During the interrogation itself, which was forty minutes long, the BBC reporter could only hear her interrogators. She, however, was visible to the other side in Tehran.

After the online interrogation, the journalist’s sister was released. While in detention, she made false confessions about her ties to the BBC. These admissions were also recorded on camera. While in Evin prison, she was also taken to the cell of Marziyeh Rasouli in order to encourage the imprisoned journalist to make similar confessions.

There’s been a noticeable increase in the number of detained journalists and activists in recent weeks. GVF’s own findings indicate the IRGC’s growing interest in pressuring detained Iranian journalists into making false confessions about the nature of their involvement with the broadcasting corporation.

In an interview with Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Sadegh Saba, the head of BBC Persian, confirmed that the online interrogation had indeed taken place. He also condemned the act, saying it was against international law.

“In recent months, the Iranian regime has imposed a great deal of pressure on the family members of some of our staff in Iran and has in some case confiscated their passports or interrogated them. In recent days, the family member of one of our employees was arrested in Iran and they [the IRGC] tried to place our employee under pressure through her,” Saba said.

“Based on the BBC’s general policy, the safety and comfort of [our] journalists is our prime concern. If a reporter, based anywhere in the world, is in a position where they are forced to speak to someone, as a general rule, we say that you can do this because the BBC is a transparent organisation and has nothing to hide,” he continued.

Saba also indicated the BBC had begun consulting legal experts before taking further action regarding the affair. “We will most certainly examine all the options so that Iranian regime won’t be able to persist in acting this way.”

“We will contact international and human rights organisations to urge them to condemn this act,” he added.

Iran’s state media regularly seek to portray the BBC and its Persian service as supporting the opposition Green Movement and having actively fuelled the unrest that followed Iran’s 2009 presidential election. Both the opposition and the BBC have firmly denied any such ties, calling the allegations baseless.

In December 2011, a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York based organisation that promotes press freedom and journalist rights, named Iran as the world’s worst jailer of journalists. Eritrea, China, Burma, Vietnam, Syria, and Turkey trailed behind as the world’s worst imprisoners of journalists. “Iran was the world’s worst jailer, with 42 journalists behind bars, as authorities kept up a campaign of anti-press intimidation that began after the country’s disputed presidential election more than two years ago,” the CPJ study showed. The review suggested that Iran had “maintained a revolving cell door” since its rigged 2009 presidential election, “freeing some detainees on furloughs even as they make new arrests. “Journalists freed on furloughs often post six-figure bonds and endure severe political pressure to keep silent or turn on their colleagues.”

Esmaeel Kermanjanee Executed In Evin Prison

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Esmaeel Kermanjanee Executed In Evin Prison

Iran Briefing – Esmaeel Kermanjani,  who was sentenced to death in the Rajaee Shahr Prison, located in the city of Karaj, was executed after he was transferred to Evin Prison.

According to the human rights activists, Esmaeel Kermanjani, a 30-year-old prisoner of Kurdish background, was executed in Evin Prison on January 24, 2012, a day after he was transferred from the Rajaee Shahr Prison to Evin Prison.

It is reported that a number of other prisoners have been executed along with Esmaeel Kermanjanee. It is still unclear what sort of crime he had committed.

 

Human Rights Violations in this report:

Article 3 of Human Rights Declaration:

Every human being shall have the rights to life, to liberty, and to security.

Provision 1 of Article 6 on International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:

Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.

 

Source : Harana

Iran’s Leader says there is no crisis

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Iran’s Leader says there is no crisis

 

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei led the Friday Mass Prayers today in Tehran, reassuring worshippers that the country is not in crisis.

Iranian media report that Ayatollah Khamenei told worshippers today: “Little things should not be exaggerated; we must not insist that there is a crisis, some are trying to induce a crisis in the country, what crisis are they on about?”

He emphasized that all things are in good order in Iran and every aspect of life in the country is completely secure.

The Iranian leader stressed that in the past 32 years all the elections in the Islamic Republic have been “transparent and healthy” and he maintained that the coming elections will be the same.

He also commented on the actions of the Guardian Council in determining candidate eligibility. He stated that although some complaints about its decisions may be legitimate, once the Council has made a decision, it must be obeyed.

He dismissed foreign threats against Iran, saying: “The U.S. and others should be aware that we can reciprocate threats and sanctions in our own way and, whenever necessary, we will take similar actions.”

Ayatollah Khamenei also claimed that international sanctions are actually a benefit, in so far as they force Iran to concentrate on its domestic potential.

Regardless of the sanctions, he added, Iran will not retreat from its nuclear program.

Source: Radiozamaneh

Iran’s Baha’i community targeted with more arrests

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Iran’s Baha’i community targeted with more arrests

 

Iranian security forces have arrested several members of the Baha’i community in Shiraz.

The Human Rights Reporters Committee announced on Friday that several Baha’is were arrested at their homes today in Shiraz. Details of the arrests have not yet been released, except that the arrests were carried out during sudden and simultaneous raids on the homes of the targeted people.

The crackdown on Iran’s Baha’i community has intensified in recent months. In addition to arresting Baha’i citizens, the authorities have also detained staff and faculty of the BIHE, the Baha’i online university. The BIHE has been denounced as an “illegal” organization lacking any credibility in academic terms.

The Baha’i faith is not recognized as a religion by the Islamic Republic and, therefore, its followers face widespread discrimination in the workplace and the school system.

Iranian Baha’i youth are often denied access to higher education, so the BIHE was developed allow Baha’is to continue their education despite the obstacles presented by the Islamic Republic.

Source: Radiozamaneh

Khamenei: Iran will help anyone confront Israel

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Khamenei: Iran will help anyone confront Israel

 

Supreme leader affirms Iran has helped militant groups attack Israel before and will continue nuclear programme

Iran will help any nation or group that confronts the “cancer” Israel, the Islamic republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said.

In remarks delivered to worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran and broadcast on state TV, he said the country would continue its controversial nuclear programme, and warned that any military strike by the US would only make Iran stronger.

Khamenei warned that Tehran would reveal a letter sent by the US president, Barack Obama, to the Iranian leadership in an attempt to end the nuclear standoff. Khamenei said it showed the US could not be trusted. The White House denied that such a letter exists.

Iranian officials have consistently reacted defiantly to indications by the US and Israel that they might at some point take military action against Iranian nuclear facilities.

Any statement by Iran’s supreme leader, who has the final say on all matters of state, makes it all the more unlikely that Tehran will switch tack.

Khamenei affirmed that Iran had assisted militant groups like the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas – a well-known policy, but one that Iranian leaders rarely acknowledge explicitly.

“We have intervened in anti-Israel matters, and it brought victory in the 33-day war by Hezbollah against Israel in 2006, and in the 22-day war” between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip, he said.

Israel’s large-scale military incursion against Hamas in 2008-09 in Gaza ended in a ceasefire, with Israel claiming to have inflicted heavy damage on the militant organisation. The war in Lebanon ended with a UN-brokered truce that sent thousands of Lebanese troops and international peacekeepers into southern Lebanon to prevent another outbreak.

“From now on, in any place, if any nation or any group confronts the Zionist regime, we will endorse and we will help. We have no fear expressing this,” said Khamenei.

He said Israel was a “cancerous tumour that should be cut and will be cut”.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said he wasn’t surprised by Khamenei’s remarks. “It’s the same kind of hate speech that we’ve been seeing from Iran for many years now,” Yigal Palmor said.

Khamenei said the US would suffer defeat and lose standing in the region if Washington decided to use military force to stop the country’s nuclear programme.

“Iran will not withdraw. Then what happens?” asked Khamenei. “In conclusion, the west’s hegemony and threats will be discredited” in the Middle East. “The hegemony of Iran will be promoted. In fact, this will be in our service.”

Both the US and Israel have not ruled out a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, which the west suspects are aimed at developing weapons technology.

Iran says its nuclear activities are geared towards peaceful purposes such as power generation and medical isotopes.

Another potential military flashpoint is the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Iran has threatened to close the strait in response to US and EU sanctions targeting the country’s oil exports.

Khamenei warned that Iran might reveal a letter that it claims to have received from President Obama, which he implied contained promises that Washington had not offered.

“The US president sent a letter to us and we replied. Then they showed reaction and took action. The letters one day will be revealed to the public and people will find what their words are. One of our essential jobs is to be aware about their deceptions in their promises and smiles,” he said.

Khamenei did not say when the letters had supposedly been exchanged.

An Iranian politician claimed in January that Obama had asked for direct talks with Iran in a secret letter, which also warned Tehran against closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Obama administration officials have denied there was such a letter. Tehran and Washington cut diplomatic relations after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

Half of Khamenei’s nearly two-hour speech was delivered in Arabic, an apparent nod to the Arab world. Iran has applauded the victory of Islamist groups in elections in 2011 and 2012 following the toppling of authoritarian regimes in Egypt and Tunisia.

The supreme leader said the Islamist electoral victories would weaken and isolate Israel, and that they represented the failure of what he said was US policy based on “anti-Islam” propaganda.

Source: Guardian

Iran: Political Prisoners’s Ward at Evin Prison Raided by Security Forces

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Iran: Political Prisoners’s Ward at Evin Prison Raided by Security Forces

 

According to reports received from Evin’s ward 350, the men’s ward was raided by security forces who searched the premises and transferred all political prisoners to the prison yard despite the fact that it was snowing. The raid reportedly angered the prisoners to such a degree that they began chanting slogans and singing songs, leading to reaction by women prisoners in Evin’s women’s ward 350 who joined in the slogans, forcing the agents to eventually leave the ward.

According to sources inside Evin, on Wednesday morning February 2nd, 2012 and on the eve of the “Decade of Fajr” [period from February 1 to 11, celebrated every year in Iran commemorating the fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty and the Islamic Revolution’s Victory Day] tens of security forces raided Evin’s [male] ward 350, searching all prisoner belongings and furniture, leading to prisoners spending hours cleaning and reorganizing the disarray caused by the sudden search.

After the sudden raid and inspection, all male political prisoners [including those suffering from ailments] were forced to leave their rooms and were taken to the prison yard despite the fact that the temperature was below zero and it was snowing. It goes without saying that the sick prisoners suffered greatly under such conditions.

Following this illegal act that took place in the presence of the special prosecutor’s assistant, the prisoners broke out in slogans such as “Ya Hossein… Mir Hossein” , “Mahmoud the Traitor” and “Death to the Dictator” and sang the national anthem “Ey Iran” and other songs such as “Yareh Dabestani”.

The loud and continuous slogans and songs chanted by the prisoners in Evin’s male ward 350 led to reaction by women prisoners at the female ward who joined in chanting slogans and singing songs in protest.

As a result of the raged demonstrated by the prisoners, all inspection was suddenly halted by the inspectors who feared potential loss of control of the situation.

It is worth mentioning that ward 350 located in the basement of Evin prison is divided into a female and male ward. The women prisoners are kept at the end of the ward in a long and narrow area that has no access to fresh air.

Source: Payvand

Nobel Women’s Initiative calls for release of Green Movement leaders

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Nobel Women’s Initiative calls for release of Green Movement leaders

 

GVF — The Nobel Women’s Initiative on Wednesday called for the “unconditional release” of the leaders of Iran’s opposition Green Movement Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mahdi Karoubi and Zahra Rahnavard.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi spearheaded the Green Movement until mid-February 2011 when they were placed under house arrest after calling for protests in solidarity with the Arab Spring. The 14 February demonstrations were marred by the security forces’ violent crackdowns which left at least two dead. The Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope, the movement’s highest decision-making body, has in recent days called for nationwide opposition demonstrations in protest at the worsening economic conditions as well as the continued detention of dissident figures, in particular Mousavi and Karroubi.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Members of the Nobel Women’s Initiative who are also Nobel laureates, said the trio had been “under house arrest for over a year without trial or possibility of defence and in contravention of Iranian national law and human rights norms.”

The Nobel Women’s Initiative was founded in 2006 by Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire. The organisation seeks to promote women’s rights and gender equality.

The group expressed opposition to the detention of the movement figures and called for their “unconditional release.”  It also urged “all freedom-loving people and human rights organisations throughout the world not to remain indifferent to the fate of the prisoners of conscience in Iran, in particular the aforementioned individuals, and to employ every means at their disposal to secure their release.”

The Kaleme opposition website recently reported that 39 prominent political prisoners held at Evin prison had released a statement calling “upon all freedom fighting citizens across the globe to create public awareness regarding the upcoming sham and rigged parliamentary elections in March, and to continue to do everything in their power to ensure that the detained leaders of the Green Movement are released in the month of February.”

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner and women’s rights activist Shirin Ebadi echoed the political prisoners plea, saying, “I support the call [of political prisoners] and invite all freedom-loving people across the globe to do all they can for the release of prisoners of conscience in Iran, particularly Ms. Zahra Rahnavard, Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Mr. Mahdi Karroubi.”

Since the start of their arbitrary detention, the 2009 presidential candidates have not yet been granted a fair trial. Rights groups say their continued captivity and maltreatment is inconsistent not only with human rights provisions but also with Iran’s own constitution.

In a recent interview with the semi-official Fars news, conservative lawmaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar acknowledged the role of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in taking the decision to impose house arrest on Mousavi, Karroubi and Rahnavard.

Iran: Wave of arrests in run up to parliamentary elections

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Iran: Wave of arrests in run up to parliamentary elections

 

Amnesty International is concerned that an ongoing wave of arrests of media workers and bloggers is intended to limit freedom of expression in the run up to parliamentary elections in Iran scheduled for 2 March 2012.

The arrests indicate that the Iranian authorities are once again choosing to restrict freedom of expression and association in an apparent attempt to disrupt public discourse and potential criticism of the authorities’ record in various spheres including human rights and economic performance in advance of the start of the election campaign.

Amnesty International is urging the authorities to release all those detained in recent weeks unless they are promptly charged with a recognizably criminal offence and tried in accordance with international fair trial standards.

The organization said that the Judiciary in Iran should make it clear that everyone in Iran has the right to freely express their views, including in connection to the forthcoming elections and that restrictions and arrests of this kind violate Iran’s international human rights obligations regarding the peaceful exercise of the rights of expression, association or assembly

On 8 January 2012, the Minister of Intelligence, Heydar Moslehi announced that the authorities had arrested several “election disruptors” in Tehran who he said were “trying to carry out U.S. plots against the ninth parliamentary election process through virtual and social networks”.

Amnesty International has received information about the following individuals reported to have been arrested in recent weeks:

Labour and human rights blogger, Esmail Jafari, a journalist who writes the Rah -e Mardom blog (http://motomaden.blogfa.com/Profile/) was arrested on 28 December 2011 in Bushehr, south western Iran to start serving an eight month prison sentence imposed in March 2009 following conviction relating to ”acting against national security”, though further details are not known to Amnesty International..

Fatemeh Kheradmand, a writer on social issues; Ehsan Houshmand (or Houshmandzadeh), a sociologist and member of Iran’s Kurdish minority, who has written about Iran’s ethnic minorities; and former prisoner of conscience Saeed Madani, a sociologist and political activist linked with the National Religious Alliance (Melii Mazhabi) were arrested separately on 7 January,2012, reportedly by plain clothes security officials..

Mehdi Khazali, the son of Ayatollah Abolghasem Khazali, a member of the Council of Guardians, was reportedly arrested on 9 January 2012. A publisher, he also writes a blog entitledBaran(http://www.drkhazali.com/). He has been arrested on three separate occasions in the past on account of his criticism of the government. He was reportedly injured in his most recent arrest.

Social and cultural researcher and women’s rights activist Parastou Dokouhaki who blogs at Zan-nevesht, was arrested on 15 January 2012. She was previously a journalist with the influential but now-banned Zanan (women) magazine.

On 17 January 2012, Peyman Pakmehr, the editor of the Tabriz News website, was arrested by local intelligence ministry officials in the north-western city of Tabriz and transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran. He was released on bail after about a week, apparently having been charged with “spreading propaganda against the system”.

Journalist Marzieh Rasouli was detained following a search of her home on 17 January 2012. Family members reportedly said that security officials arrested her for “acting against national security” without specifying what she had done. Marzieh Rasouli has written about music and publishing and is said to have previously worked with the Shargh and Etemad daily newpapers. She is believed to be held in Section 2A of Evin Prison.

On 18 January 2012, journalist Sahamoddin Bourghani was arrested. He writes for the news websiteIrdiplomacy. He is also believed to be held in Section 2A of Evin Prison.

Former student leader and journalist Said Razavi Faghih was arrested around 17 or 18 January 2012 at Tehran’s international airport on return to Iran from Paris and is reported to be held in Evin Prison, Tehran.

Journalist Shahram Manouchehri was reportedly arrested on 19 January 2012 by officials who searched and confiscated some of his belongings, and transferred him to an unknown location.

On 20 January 2012, reports emerged indicating that Mohammad Solimaninia (or Solimani Nia) had been arrested ten days earlier in Karaj, following a police summons. He is a translator and runs a professional networking website u24 described by some as similar to LinkedIn.

Amnesty International also said that it was concerned at the discriminatory procedure for selecting candidates for election in Iran. Candidates can be disqualified for various reasons, including ethnic identity, religious belief and political opinion, as well as their level of education.

Background

According to reports on 28 January 2012, Dr Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the Spokesperson of the Council of Guardians, the body charged with overseeing elections said that 2,700 of the 4,877 individuals who registered to stand as candidates for the 290-seat parliament had been approved by the Council of Guardians, although those rejected still had a right of appeal against disqualification. The final list of approved candidates is expected to be finalised by 11 February 2012. In 2008, almost 7,200 individuals registered to stand for election, of which around 1,700 were disqualified from running.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a state party places an obligation on states to respect the rights in the Covenant for all individuals within its territory without distinction of any kind such as “race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”. These rights include, as set out in Article 25, that: “Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, […] [t]o vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors.”

In November 2011, the UN Human Rights Committee, which oversees implementation of the ICCPR, expressed concern about restrictions in Iran on the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, as well as to participate in the conduct of public affairs.

In its concluding observations, the Committee expressed concern at the closure of newspapers and the Association of Iranian Journalists, the arrests of journalists, newspaper editors, film-makers and media workers, the monitoring of Internet use and contents, blocking of websites that carry political news and analysis, slowing down internet speeds and jamming of foreign satellite broadcasts, in particular since the 2009 presidential elections. It called on the authorities to ensure that journalists can exercise their profession without fear of being brought before courts and “release, rehabilitate and provide effective judicial redress and compensation for journalists” arbitrarily detained and to ensure that monitoring of the internet does not violate the rights to freedom of expression and privacy.

The Committee also expressed concern about the requirements for registration in election campaigns, including the right of the Council of Guardians to reject parliamentary candidates. It also expressed concern about the conduct of the 2009 presidential election, including the denial of access to international election monitors, the blocking of cell phone signals and access to social networking and opposition websites, the harassment and arbitrary arrest of political activists, members of the country’s religious and ethnic minority communities, students, trade unionists and women’s rights activists, as well as the arrest of political opposition members in February 2011, and the closure by court order of two pro-reform political parties. The committee urged the Iranian authorities to reform the election law and to “take adequate steps to guarantee that elections are conducted in a free and transparent manner, in full conformity with the Covenant, including through the establishment of an independent electoral monitoring commission”.

Source: Payvand

Death penalty announced for “disruptive” currency traders

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Death penalty announced for “disruptive” currency traders

 

The head of Iran’s judiciary announced on Wednesday that the courts will readily “issue death penalties” to the “disruptors” of the country’s foreign currency market.

ISNA reports that Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani emphasized that the judiciary will deal with those who have been “identified as economic disruptors” just as it would with “smugglers, bandits and drug traffickers.”

Drug trafficking is punishable by death in the Islamic Republic.

In recent weeks, Iran’s foreign currency and gold markets have experienced sharp fluctuations, which many analysts have linked to the intensification of international sanctions against Iran. A number of high-ranking Iranian officials, however, have blamed the market instability on disruptive plans implemented by the regime’s enemies.

Ayatollah Larijani said some of the “problems in the foreign currency and gold markets are created by groups linked to the regime’s enemies.” He added that these groups “have made the market volatile by creating various websites that fabricate rates for foreign currency and gold.”

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has publicly blamed certain unnamed political figures and domestic media outlets connected to certain institutions.

MP Ahmad Tavakoli, the head of Parliament’s research commission, warned that the current economic situation could lead to “bankruptcy.” He called on Parliament and the judiciary to confront the administration, of which he was highly critical.

Iran’s top police official has been quoted as saying that the fluctuations in the currency market are promoted by foreign media to create insecurity ahead of the March parliamentary elections.

Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi has also announced that his ministry is trying to identify “behind-the-scenes elements of recent volatility in the currency and gold markets.”

Meanwhile, Iranian media report that a number of traders have been detained. They work on Tehran’s Ferdowsi Street, a hub for foreign-currency traders.

Analysts have criticized the arrests, arguing that heightened insecurity in the trading environment can only increase the cost of trading and cause further hikes in the exchange rate.

Iran’s Central Bank has announced that foreign currencies can only be traded within three to five percentage points of the official Central Bank rate, warning that violators will face penalties.

Source: Radiozamaneh

Israel says Iran has material for 4 nuke bombs; says Iran seeking U.S.-range missile

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Israel says Iran has material for 4 nuke bombs; says Iran seeking U.S.-range missile

 

 

Iran has enough radioactive material to produce four nuclear bombs, Israel’s chief of military intelligence, General Aviv Kochavi, asserted at a security conference on Thursday.

“Today international intelligence agencies are in agreement with Israel that Iran has close to 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of uranium enriched to 20 percent, which is enough to produce four bombs,” he told the annual Herzliya conference.

“Iran is very actively pursuing its efforts to develop its nuclear capacities, and we have evidence that they are seeking nuclear weapons,” he said, according to AFP.

“We estimate they would need a year from when the order is given to produce a weapon.”

Israel and much of the international community have long accused Iran of using its nuclear program to mask a drive for weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

The Jewish state has pushed for tough sanctions against Iran and warned that it retains the option of a military strike if necessary to prevent Tehran from obtaining atomic weapons.

Israel has the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, which international experts believe contains between 100 and 300 nuclear warheads, but has never confirmed or denied such reports.

Speaking at the same conference, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon said Iranian nuclear facilities, believed to be underground and heavily reinforced, were not immune to attack.

“In my military experience, any site protected by humans can be penetrated by humans,” said Yaalon, a former head of Israel’s armed forces, in comments broadcast on Israeli public radio. “At the end of the day all their sites can be hit.”

“We argue that one way or another the Iranian military nuclear program must be stopped,” he added. “Such an unconventional regime must not have an unconventional (weapons) capability.”

“A combination of tools are available to the West,” Yaalon said. “That combination must include diplomatic isolation of the regime; the second tool is economic sanctions … and the last thing is a credible military option.”

Yaalon also referred to an Iranian military facility rocked by a deadly explosion in November, claiming Iran had been developing a missile there intended to threaten the United States.

He said the site, at Bid Ganeh, near Tehran, was conducting research and development on a missile with a range of 10,000 kilometers (6,213 miles) at the time of the blast, which killed at least 36 Revolutionary Guards.

It was “aimed at America, not us,” a statement from the organizers of the Herzliya Conference quoted him as saying.

Iran’s military said the explosion was the result of an accident.

The chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces said at the time that the base was used in the production of “an experimental product” that would unleash “a strong fist in the face” of the United States and Israel.

Also on Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak praised new European sanctions against Iran after talks with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, but sidestepped questions about possible military action.

“Military plans in general are not a matter for public discourse,” Barak said. “Today we are still in a period of diplomacy and sanctions.”

“It is obvious to everyone that no option should be removed from the table and that diplomacy must be conducted intensively and urgently. The sanctions on Iran must include not only the oil sector — but also the financial system and the central bank.”

Kochavi also warned Thursday that Israel’s enemies now command “some 200,000 rockets and missiles.”

Intelligence estimates, he said, showed “one in every 10 houses in south Lebanon is a storage facility for missiles or rockets or a launch pad for devices that are increasingly accurate and destructive.”

“From Lebanon, Syria and of course from Iran, they can hit the heart of our cities, and the whole region of Tel Aviv is within their reach,” he said.

Analysts currently estimate the longest range of an Iranian missile to be about 2,400 km, capable of reaching Israel and Europe. Israeli leaders are keen to persuade any allies who do not share their assessment of the risk posed by Iran that a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic would also threaten the West.

Israel has made little comment on accusations by Tehran that its agents along with those of its Western allies are waging a covert war against Iran’s nuclear program.

The Washington-based ISIS, founded by nuclear expert David Albright, said Iran was apparently performing a volatile procedure involving a missile engine when the explosion took place, according to Reuters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pressing for stronger international sanctions against Tehran, has said repeatedly that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a threat not only to Israel but to the United States and Europe as well.

Israel is widely believed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear power and to have developed missiles capable of striking Iran. It has said all military options are open in preventing a nuclear-armed Iran.

Source: AL ARABIYA
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