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Iran vulnerable on oil product imports: US
Reuters? via Daily Times of Pakistan
Iran’s heavy dependence on imported oil products is “a vulnerability” for the nation, a top-ranking US Energy Department official said on Wednesday.
Iran and the West are engaged in a diplomatic dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is for electricity and not for building nuclear weapons.
“There are no free moves for Iran. Everything has a consequence,” US Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell told Reuters in an interview. “Their dependence on imported products is a vulnerability.”
The United States is conducting naval exercises in the Gulf, but insisted the moves were not aimed at boosting tensions after Iran captured 15 British sailors and Marines last week.
(30 March 2007)
Stormy Weather
Jeff Vail, A Theory of Power (blog)
So many things happening at once today:
Oil is up $2 today, seventh straight day of gains. What will happen in Iran? Tensions are escalating, the situation with the captured British sailors seems to be beyond the control of either Iran or the UK, and the sheer quantity of military forces operating on edge in close proximity in the Persian Gulf makes the probability of an accidental “Gulf of Tonkin” type incident more and more likely by the hour. Not to mention incidents of the non-accidental type.
Now it seems that the Nimitz is heading to the gulf to replace one of the two US carriers operating there–there will, of course, be a bit of an overlap, so for a period there will be 3 US carriers in the gulf. Oh, did I forget to mention that the French carrier, the Charles de Gaul, also recently arrived in the Arabian sea? Four carriers in one place almost speaks for itself.
I wonder which would better build public support for an attack on Iran, the Nimitz “getting struck by a Sunburn SSM” while trainsiting the Strait of Hormuz, or the de Gaul “hitting a mine” while making the same passage. People keep asking me when and if we’re going to attack Iran.
I didn’t think we’d attack Iraq (booked a vacation that I had to skip, in fact), so maybe I’m overly conservative in these areas as it is, but I’m rapidly coming around to the prospect of an attack on Iran. I still think that we’re looking for an incident to build support back home–and the current administration will probably keep ratcheting up the tension until such an incident becomes inevitable.
Hey, if it happens before the current troop funding for Iraq expires, then Bush could force the Democrats’ hand on war funding, kill the timeline issue entirely, and give McCain a 20 point lead in the ’08 presidential race.
But that isn’t the only rosy news. The mortgage problems are getting worse. …
(29 March 2007)
April 6 sneak attack by US forces against Iran planned, Russian military sources warn
Webster G. Tarpley, Online Journal
The long awaited US military attack on Iran is now on track for the first week of April, specifically for 4 am on April 6, the Good Friday opening of Easter weekend, writes the well-known Russian journalist Andrei Uglanov in the Moscow weekly “Argumenty Nedeli.” Uglanov cites Russian military experts close to the Russian General Staff for his account.
The attack is slated to last for 12 hours, according to Uglanov, from 4 am until 4 pm local time. Friday is the sabbath in Iran. In the course of the attack, code named Operation Bite, about 20 targets are marked for bombing; the list includes uranium enrichment facilities, research centers, and laboratories.
…The goal is allegedly to set back Iran’s nuclear program by several years, writes Uglanov, whose article was reissued by RIA-Novosti in various languages, but apparently not English, several days ago. The story is the top item on numerous Italian and German blogs, but so far appears to have been ignored by US websites.
Observers comment that this dispatch represents a high-level orchestrated leak from the Kremlin, in effect a war warning, which draws on the formidable resources of the Russian intelligence services, and which deserves to be taken with the utmost seriousness by pro-peace forces around the world.
(26 March 2007)
Strange report. Two versions of the Russian article are online at RIA Novosti (though as Tarpley says no English version seems to be available):
L’Iran serait attaquĂ© dĂ©but avril (experts militaires russes) (RIA Novosti – French)
Le Pentagone va attaquer des cibles militaires iraniennes (expert russe) (RIA Novosti -French)
UPDATE 30 March:
RIA Novosti just posted an article in English: U.S. ready to strike Iran in early April – intelligence source
