An open source, around the world tour of international security-related news.
By Professor Joseph B. Varner
Global War on Terror
A Taliban spokesman in Pakistan denied on Saturday a U.S. media report that Al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri may have been killed or critically injured in a missile strike.
CBS News reported Friday that it had obtained a copy of an intercepted letter dated July 29 from unnamed sources in Pakistan, which urgently requested a doctor to treat Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant. The letter was purportedly from Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and said al-Zawahri is in “severe pain” and his “injuries are infected.”
“We deny it categorically,” Mehsud spokesman Maulvi Umar told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location inside Pakistan. Pakistan army and intelligence officials said they had no information that al-Zawahri was hit in a missile strike Monday apparently launched by the U.S. in South Waziristan, a volatile tribal region near the Afghan border. Pakistani intelligence say they think Al Qaeda explosives expert Abu Khabab al-Masri was among six people killed in Monday’s missile strike but apparently they do not have the body. Al-Masri also was reported killed in the January 2006 strike that targeted al-Zawahri but his body was never found. (Source: AP)
Al Qaeda confirmed Sunday the death of a top commander accused of training the suicide bombers who killed 17 American sailors on the USS Cole eight years ago. Abu Khabab al-Masri, who had a $5 million bounty on his head from the United States, is believed to have been killed in an airstrike apparently launched by the U.S. in Pakistan last week.
An Al Qaeda statement posted on the Internet said al-Masri and three other top figures were killed and warned of vengeance for their deaths. It did not say when, where or how they died but said some of their children were killed along with them. Pakistani authorities have said they believe al-Masri is one of six people killed in an airstrike on July 28 on a compound in South Waziristan, a lawless tribal region near the Afghan border. The U.S. military has not confirmed it was behind the missile strike. But similar U.S. attacks are periodically launched on militant targets in the tribal border region.
The U.S. Justice Department has accused al-Masri, an Egyptian militant whose real name is Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, of training terrorists to use poisons and explosives.
He is also believed to have helped run Al Qaeda’s Darunta training camp in eastern Afghanistan until the camp was abandoned amid the 2001 U.S. invasion of the country. There he is thought to have conducted experiments in chemical and biological weapons, testing materials on dogs. The Al Qaeda statement called al-Masri and the other three slain commanders “a group of heroes” and warned of retaliation. (Source: AP)
Afghan and NATO troops targeted a group of Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, killing 17 militants and wounding six others, the Defense Ministry said Monday. Four police were killed separately in a militant ambush in central Ghazni province. The joint force clashed Sunday with militants in the Marjah district of Helmand province, the ministry said in a statement. The troops seized weapons and ammunition belonging to the militants and 132 pounds (60 kilograms) of drugs after the clash. Southern Afghanistan is the center of the Taliban-led insurgency that this year has claimed more than 2,700 lives, according to an Associated Press tally of figures provided by Afghan and Western officials. Also Sunday, militants ambushed a two-vehicle police convoy in Ghazni’s Zana Khan district, killing four officers and wounding seven, said Sayed Ismail Jahangir, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Separately, the U.S.-led coalition said its troops killed several militants and captured one they had sought in Ghazni’s Waghaz district on Sunday. The troops were searching for a militant wanted in connection with planting roadside bombs, it said in a statement Monday. It did not specify the number of militants killed. On Monday morning, a pair of Taliban fighters died when a mine they were planting exploded prematurely in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province in the country’s south, said General Abdul Raziq, a border security commander. (Source: AP)
Roadside bombs killed five NATO soldiers and a civilian in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, while a coalition of aid groups warned that violence is spreading to once-stable regions and forcing the organizations to scale back humanitarian work. The soldiers’ deaths marked a bloody start to the month in what has already been a deadly year for Western forces in Afghanistan, where an insurgency is raging nearly seven years after the Taliban was ousted from power. Four of the NATO soldiers and a civilian died in Konar province and the fifth soldier was killed in Khost, the alliance said in a statement. It did not release the nationalities of the soldiers, but most troops in those eastern areas are American. (Source: AP)
A bomb exploded at a bridge on Saturday, killing at least nine security forces in a valley where Pakistani troops are battling Islamic militants. Police officer Bashir Khan said the remote-controlled bomb hit a vehicle traveling from police headquarters in Mingora, the main town in the troubled Swat valley, as it carried money to pay the salaries of the staff in the nearby town of Kabal. Khan said the bomb was planted at a bridge between the two towns. Senior police officer Khalid Nasim said the attack killed six police and three paramilitary troops. He said four others were wounded. (Source: AP)
The United States has accused Pakistan’s main spy agency of deliberately undermining NATO efforts in Afghanistan by helping the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants they are supposed to be fighting. President George W Bush confronted Yusuf Raza Gillani, Pakistan’s prime minister, in Washington last week with evidence of involvement by the ISI, its military intelligence, in a deadly attack on the Afghan capital and warned of retaliation if it continues. The move comes amid growing fears that Pakistan’s tribal areas are turning into a global launch pad for terrorists. Gillani, on his first official US visit since being elected in February, was left in no doubt that the Bush administration had lost patience with the ISI’s alleged double game. Bush warned that if one more attack in Afghanistan or elsewhere were traced back to Pakistan, he would have to take “serious action”. Gillani also met Michael Hayden, director of the CIA, who confronted him with a dossier on ISI support for the Taliban. The key evidence concerned last month’s bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, which killed 54 people, including the military attaché. (Source: The Times-UK)
Two assailants crashed a dump truck into a paramilitary police station in the restive Xinjiang region Monday and tossed out two grenades, killing 16 policemen and wounding 16 others in an apparent terrorist attack, the official New China News Agency reported. Witnesses said the two explosions boomed out about 8 a.m. in the heart of Kashgar, an oasis town on the route of the ancient Silk Road more than 2,000 miles west of Beijing and near the Chinese borders with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The region’s overwhelmingly Muslim ethnic Uighur population has long chafed under Han Chinese rule. According to Chinese security officials, Uighur extremists have plotted to carry out terrorist strikes during the Beijing Olympics, which start Friday. Chinese authorities said they had arrested the assailants but did not specify whether they were Uighurs or explain their motives. The grenade attack was the deadliest single strike against Chinese authorities in some time, although security officials say a spate of separatist bombings in the 1990s killed a number of people. (Source: Washington Post)
The Philippine Supreme Court, acting on a petition by Christian politicians, on Monday blocked the signing of a key accord granting an expanded southern homeland to minority Muslims as part of a deal to end decades of bloody Islamic rebellion. The Philippine government and the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front were to sign the agreement Tuesday in Malaysia, which has been brokering the negotiations. The accord, which aims to expand an existing autonomous region to add 712 more villages, sparked protests from Christian residents. Court spokesman Midas Marquez said the Supreme Court issued a temporary stay after Christian politicians from the southern province of North Cotabato objected to the accord because the government failed to publicly disclose its contents. Christian politicians from the southern city of Zamboanga filed a similar petition in court Monday. (Source: AP)
A bomb hidden under a pile of garbage killed at least 20 people, half of them women who were sweeping the street in Somalia’s capital, witnesses and doctors said Sunday. The explosion and overnight attacks on military bases ended a brief period of relative calm that followed the signing of a peace deal between the government and the Islamic insurgency it is fighting. The agreement was already in jeopardy after the moderate cleric who signed it on behalf of the Islamic opposition movement was replaced by a hard-liner.
Several witnesses said the scene of Sunday’s explosion was littered with blood and body parts, and described hearing the screams of the wounded as bystanders tried to help. Salah Adde said he counted 15 bodies, including 10 female street cleaners. (Source: AP)
British Muslims are actively supporting the Taliban and Al Qaeda in attacks on UK soldiers, the former commander of Britain’s forces in Afghanistan said today. Brigadier Ed Butler, 46, claimed his troops also uncovered evidence that militant Islamic groups in Helmand Province are suspected of assisting terrorist plots in the UK. Earlier this year suspicions were raised that the Taliban were recruiting an increasing number of fighters from Britain after RAF experts overheard secret transmissions spoken in broad Midlands and Yorkshire accents. At the end of the week that saw the toll of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan reach 114, Brig Butler said a growing number of British-born Muslims were assisting the Taliban. (Source: The Times-UK)
Prince Harry is being targeted by an Al Qaeda cell forcing his personal security to be raised to the same level as the Queen’s. Specific intelligence of a threat to the 23-year-old royal has been passed by British spies to Scotland Yard’s elite Royal and Diplomatic Protection Department. In response, Harry’s armed bodyguards have stepped up his security level to its highest ever degree. The threat is considered so serious that his four-man personal protection team now carry out advance checks of all Harry’s destinations, private and public, as well as shadowing his every move. (Source: News of the World-UK)
The Daily Telegraph has learned that the British National Counter Terrorism Security Office, a specialist police unit, is drawing up guidance for hospitality and entertainment sites as part of a drive to prepare for terrorist attacks on crowded public places. Big hotels will also be covered by the new “protective security guidance” to prepare for attacks including car bombs and suicide bombs. Owners and managers of hospitality and entertainment firms will be told to assess their businesses’ likely vulnerabilities to attack and prepare contingency plans for staff in the event of an attack. The police-led security office will this month start running counter-terrorism training exercises for businesses in the “night-time economy” Known as ARGUS courses, the exercises will present staff and managers in restaurants, cinemas, theatres and hotels with a simulated terrorist attack.
There is no specific intelligence pointing to attacks on town centres and the NCTSO says its guidance documents and training exercises are intended to prepare businesses for the worst. (Source: The Telegraph-UK)
Iraq
Roadside bombs killed two U.S. soldiers and at least nine Iraqis Monday in Baghdad and surrounding areas. The Americans died in a blast near a highway in the predominantly Shiite New Baghdad district. The area was the site of fierce clashes between U.S.-Iraqi forces and the Mahdi Army militia before a cease-fire with anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr earlier this year. Another U.S. soldier was wounded in the 10 a.m. attack. It gave no further details on the deaths. At least 4,131 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003. Meanwhile, Iraqi leaders remain deadlocked in talks over a power-sharing dispute that is blocking U.S.-backed provincial elections. The disagreement over the oil-rich city of Kirkuk forced parliamentary officials to delay a planned vote on the provincial elections bill until Tuesday, at the earliest. The deadliest attack Monday was against an Iraqi police patrol vehicle in Mahaweel, about 35 miles (60 kilometers) south of Baghdad that killed four policemen and three civilian bystanders, according to Iraqi police. Another roadside bomb on Palestine Street, a major thoroughfare in Baghdad, killed two Iraqis, a soldier and a civilian, and wounded seven others, said Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information. (Source: AP)
An intensive series of raids by coalition forces has uncovered four sites that have been used to hold some of the five men for over a year. Security officials in Baghdad said evidence was found that some of the five men had been recently moved from at least one of the compounds raided by special forces in the operations. Samples of DNA were retrieved. Up to 30 hiding places were targeted during the raids, many of which took place in the lead up to the first anniversary of their capture in May. The SAS and other elite British units were involved alongside American and Iraqi counterparts in the majority of the rescue attempts. The conditions under which the men were held in Shia districts around Sadr City and New Baghdad were described as spartan but relatively comfortable. The men are believed to have access to satellite television and were allowed to exercise with gym equipment and weights. The group had access to showers and plenty of bedding at all the locations. When they were moved in convoys they were also wrapped in carpets, according to an informant. The five men were seized from Iraq’s finance ministry last year by a well-organized squad of up to 40 armed men. (Source: The Telegraph-UK)
United States
For Navy vessels, operating at sea has taken on a different feel. Some nights, sailors cut the engines and the warship just floats. With fuel prices reaching record heights, the Navy has looked for creative ways to curb costs without compromising missions. Conservation efforts are expected to save the Navy about $325 million this year. But in July, the military bumped up oil prices to $170 per barrel from $127 to reflect true costs. The increase will wipe out the Navy’s entire annual savings in just three months. Fuel costs are an issue for all the service branches. The military is the country’s largest single consumer of energy. It spent $13.6 billion in 2006, almost double the amount since 2003, the start of the Iraq war. Every $10 increase for a barrel of oil costs the Department of Defense $1.3 billion, according to military statistics. The Air Force is the top consumer within the military, and the Navy is second. The Navy expects to spend $3.8 billion to power its ships and aircraft this fiscal year, a 42 percent jump from last year. (Source: PilotOnline.com)
Federal investigators cinched their case against alleged anthrax mailer Bruce E. Ivins after sophisticated genetic tests by a California firm helped them trace a signature mixture of anthrax spores, the Los Angeles Times has learned. Well before the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings, Ivins, through his work as a government scientist, had combined anthrax spores obtained from at least one outside laboratory, people familiar with the evidence said. With the help of leading outside geneticists and a fresh look at the evidence by a new team of street-savvy investigators, the FBI concluded in recent months that only Ivins could reasonably have perpetrated the crimes. Ivins, 62, a senior microbiologist at the government’s elite biodefense research institute at Ft. Detrick, Md., died last Tuesday in an apparent suicide as federal prosecutors prepared to bring murder charges against him. Records reviewed by The Times and interviews with people knowledgeable about the investigation provide new details about the trail of evidence that finally led to Ivins. Since 1980, Ivins had specialized in developing vaccines against anthrax and other biological weapons. He experimented with animals, including monkeys, rabbits and guinea pigs. Ivins had mixed spores shipped to Ft. Detrick from the Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, a facility operated by the Battelle Memorial Institute in Ohio, a private contractor that performs top- secret work for the CIA and other agencies. (Source: Los Angeles Times)
The war crimes case against Salim Ahmed Hamdan today goes to a jury of his enemies, hand-selected by the Pentagon official who charged him on behalf of a president who has ordered him imprisoned even if acquitted. “The eyes of the world are on Guantanamo Bay,” U.S. District Judge James Robertson said July 17 in declining to halt the first trial by military commission. (Source: Los Angeles Times)
Americas
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says 24 Sukhoi fighter jets have been delivered to Venezuela and are ready to defend his country from “imperialist” aggressions. Chavez claims the U.S. Navy’s Fourth Fleet poses a threat to Venezuela, and he’s vowing to push forward with a multibillion-dollar arms buildup aimed at dissuading a possible U.S. military strike. (Source: AP)
Asia
In a strong booster dose to India’s aging underwater combat arm after a long delay, the Navy is finally going to get back the upgraded Kilo-class submarine INS Sindhuvijay , equipped with deadly Klub-S cruise missiles, from Russia this week. INS Sindhuvijay , whose $80-million refit began at Zvyozdochka shipyard near St Petersburg in late-2005 but was marred by malfunctioning missile systems last year, will now set sail for India on Tuesday. India had earlier refused to take delivery of INS Sindhuvijay from Russia after the all-important Klub-S land-attack cruise missiles, with a strike range of almost 300 km, had failed to work in six consecutive test firings at the Barents Sea test range in September-November 2007. (Source: The Times of India)
Sri Lankan troops repulsed an attempt by Tamil rebels to retake a recently captured guerrilla stronghold in heavy fighting that killed 21 rebels and three soldiers, the military said Monday. Thirteen rebels and three soldiers were killed in other clashes Sunday in the Mannar, Vavuniya and Welioya regions, bordering the rebels’ de facto state in the north, said Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman. The new fighting occurred despite a cease-fire offered by rebels while leaders from eight South Asian countries met over the weekend in the tightly guarded capital, Colombo. The heaviest fighting was reported in Mannar’s Vellankulam area, a guerrilla stronghold that was seized by government troops on Saturday, Nanayakkara said. It was the last rebel stronghold in the area. (Source: AP)
Europe
A former spy chief who has held the most secret role in Britain’s intelligence community has provided a unique insight into life as the director of GCHQ. Sir David Pepper, 60, who retired after five years running the Government’s signals intelligence centre, took the unusual step of describing GCHQ to a local newspaper, admitting that it was a “pretty mysterious” place for people who had never worked there. Its staff are responsible for gathering intelligence from intercepted telecommunications to help in the fight against terrorism and to assist British troops overseas. Musing about his experiences, Sir David recalled how he had to rush to London, “blue lights flashing”, on July 7, 2005, to attend an emergency meeting called by Tony Blair after the London suicide bombings. He told the Gloucestershire Media Group of local newspapers of “flying over Afghanistan in an RAF helicopter that had once belonged to the Soviet Air Force, ducking for cover in Basra and Baghdad as rockets landed not far away”. Sir David revealed that GCHQ staff worked alongside the military in Iraq and Afghanistan “in conditions that are always very uncomfortable and often dangerous”, and said he was proud that so many had volunteered for these assignments. Iain Lobban, formerly head of operations at GCHQ, succeeded Sir David last month. (Source: The Times-UK)
A number of suspects in last week’s deadly bombings in Istanbul that killed 17 people have been arrested, Turkey’s interior minister announced Saturday. Besir Atalay said most of the perpetrators of the bombings, which also injured 154, were in custody, but declined to say how many people have been arrested. The two explosions, minutes apart, hit a packed square in a residential area of Istanbul on Sunday, July 25. It was the deadliest attack on civilians in Turkey in five years. (Source: AP)
Overnight fighting between Georgian forces and separatists in the breakaway South Ossetia region left six people dead and 13 wounded, regional officials said Saturday.
The fighting lasted from Friday evening through Saturday morning and included sniper fire and mortars. It was one of the most serious clashes since in South Ossetia since its violent split from Georgia in the 1990s. South Ossetia government spokeswoman Irina Gagloyeva said six people were killed and 13 wounded in the fighting, but she did not say which side they were on or say if they were civilians, troops or law enforcement.
(Source: AP)
The Russian military considers the main threat to the country actions by the West and acknowledges “the growing technological and military technology supremacy of the leading overseas countries.” Those conclusions are contained in fragments of the draft “Concept for the Development of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation through 2030,” prepared by the Defense Ministry and published Friday by the Interfax information agency. The authors of the concept suggest that Russia is entering an era of crises at various levels and military threats will not be reduced, but rather grow. It is noted in the draft concept that the most substantial danger in the coming years is that “to provide legitimacy for its unilateral actions, the West will try to obtain international legal recognition of the North Atlantic Alliance as a united organization with the right to use force on the basis of the decisions of its own governing organs.” The document notes that “considering the continuity of Washington’s foreign policy, [and] the content of the long-term programs for military construction, it can be assumed that military supremacy will be seen in the United States as an important condition for the successful realization of its foreign policy… and the American military presence will be preserved in all key regions of the world.” Mikhail Barabanov, lead expert at the Center for the Strategy and Technology Analysis, commented that “The estimation of the military and political state of the world in 2030 made in the new Defense Ministry document shows that Russia will have to live in world where the U.S. will still dominate and will try to preserve its world dominance through aggressive methods.” Head of the Center for Military Prognosis Anatoly Tsyganok thinks that the U.S.’ striving is obvious, but hard to realize in view of worldwide anti-American tendencies.
Objectively, Russia’s No. 1 potential opponent is located in a completely different part of the world. China has many more reasons to threaten Russia territorially than NATO or the U.S. However, the increasingly strident opposition between NATO and Russia is pushing our country into China’s embrace. The Russia military will not be sitting on its hands, however. It is noted in the concept that the strategic missile forces will continue to turn out new fixed and mobile missile complexes and to improve tactical management and communications. Simultaneously, the air and naval components of the strategic and offensive forces will be developed as well. In addition, an air and space defense system is planned to counter threats in the air.
At present, Russia has 762 carrier missile loaded with 3373 nuclear warheads, and the U.S. has 986 missiles with 4116 warheads. A number of experts say that Russia’s nuclear potential will decline until it restores full-scale production of nuclear arms. The Russian military will not forget the tried and true methods either. The 2030 concept suggests maintaining mandatory military service. It is recommended to leave the draft age (18-27) and service term (12 months) unchanged. The final version of the concept will be submitted to Defense Secretary Anatoly Serdyukov in September. (Source: Kommersant.com-RUS)
Russia has begun a push to claim a vast chunk of disputed Arctic territory in an aggressive campaign to win control of the region’s oil and gas resources. A state-sponsored expedition, led by a Moscow geographical institute, is in the region gathering scientific data in an attempt to prove that vast swathes of the seabed belong to Russia.
In a heavily symbolic gesture, the Russian navy sent vessels from its Northern Fleet, based at Severomorsk, into the Arctic last month for the first time since 1991. An anti-submarine destroyer and the missile cruiser the Marshal Ustinov are now patrolling the area. Moscow claims the ships are there to protect its fishermen, but analysts believe they are Russia’s “foot in the door” in this energy-rich region. (Source: The Times-UK)
Russia test fired a ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea on Friday. The missile was launched from the Ryazan nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea and hit a designated area in the Kura testing ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula on Russia’s Pacific coast. “The ballistic missile was launched from the Ryazan nuclear submarine and the warhead reached the Kura firing range in Kamchatka at the planned time,” said navy spokesman Igor Dyagalo. He declined to say what sort of missile had been fired. (Source: Reuters)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/gc07/idUKL145644820080801
Russia announced plans on Sunday to revive its once-mighty navy by building several aircraft carriers and upgrading its fleet of nuclear submarines in the coming years. Russia’s power at sea is a shadow of the formidable Soviet navy which challenged U.S. military dominance in the Cold War. But, with a strong economy now from booming oil exports, it is seeking to raise its profile on the world stage by modernizing the armed forces. Russia will build five or six aircraft carrier battle groups in the near future, RIA news agency quoted Navy Commander Vladimir Vysotsky as telling Navy Day festivities in St Petersburg, the second city. “We call this a sea-borne aircraft carrier system which will be based on the Northern and Pacific fleets,” Vysotsky said. “The creation of such systems will begin after 2012.” He said such carrier groups would operate in close contact with Russia’s military satellites, air forces and air defenses.
Russia now has only one aircraft carrier, the Soviet-built Nikolai Kuznetsov, which was launched in 1985 but did not become fully operational for 10 years due to the turmoil following the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. In fact, it is not even a fully-fledged aircraft-carrier, being officially called an air-capable cruiser. It carries fewer aircraft than U.S. carriers and features a steam-turbine power-plant with turbo-generators and diesel generators, while all modern carriers are nuclear-powered. Vysotsky said that along with designing new aircraft carriers Russia would also modernize its new-generation nuclear submarines of the Borei class (Arctic Wind). The first Borei submarine of the so-called “Project 955”, the Yuri Dolgoruky, was launched in February and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2008. Two other submarines of this class are now being built.
“Starting with the fourth submarine, we will begin modernizing this class,” Vysotsky said. “The modernized Borei submarines will be the core of Russian naval nuclear forces until 2040.” Tests of a new nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile Bulava-M, designed to be mounted on Borei-class submarines, have been a mixture of failure and success. The Kremlin has touted Bulava as a unique weapon able to pierce any air defense. Vysotsky said Bulava would come into service this year. (Source: Reuters)
Russian Tu-22M3 Backfire strategic bombers will participate in a series of exercises involving live firing drills in central Russia on August 4-8, an Air Force spokesman said on Friday. The Tu-22M3 Backfire-C is a supersonic, swing-wing, long-range strategic bomber that Russia uses mainly to patrol the skies over its southern borders, Central Asia and the Black Sea region. There are at least 141 Tu-22M3 bombers in service with Russian Air Force. The Tu-22M3 has a flight range of 6,800 km (4,300 miles) and can carry a 24,000 kg (52,910 lb) payload, including nuclear bombs and cruise missiles fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads. (Source: RIA NOVOSTI-RUS)
Middle East
The worst intra-Palestinian violence in more than a year left 11 people dead and 90 injured in Gaza on Saturday as Hamas cracked down on a clan loyal to its rival, Fatah. Israel allowed 180 Fatah men into Israel and is treating two dozen of its wounded. (Source: New York Times)
Over the weekend, Iran failed to respond to an informal two-week deadline to give an answer on dismantling crucial parts of its nuclear program. On July 19, Iran declined to respond to a proposal backed by the U.S., Europe, Russia and China to begin preliminary talks meant to lead to the eventual dismantling of its uranium enrichment operation. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana gave Iran a two-week deadline to agree to the talks or face a renewed drive by the UN Security Council for a fourth round of economic sanctions. But pressure on Tehran eased after Russia’s foreign minister said last week that he opposed “artificial” deadlines. “It is clear that the government of Iran has not complied with the international community’s demand to stop enriching uranium and isn’t even interested in trying,” said Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. mission at the UN. “They leave the Security Council no choice but to increase the sanctions, as called for in the last resolution passed.” (Source: Los Angeles Times)
Joe Varner is Assistant Professor and Program Manager for Homeland Security at American Military University.
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