Report: Pentagon upgrades its ‘bunker buster’ bomb to combat Iran

Source : Alarabiya.net English

Al Arabiya -

The world’s largest conventional bomb, known as the “bunker buster,” has been reportedly upgraded by the United States in recent weeks, according to media reports on Friday.

The reports stated the Pentagon showed a video of the upgrade to their Israeli counterparts, “in an effort to reassure them that the U.S. still has an effective military option against Tehran’s nuclear program,” The Telegraph reported.

The 20ft long, 1ft wide bomb, official named the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, now features a new design of explosive fuses to enable it to penetrate bunker depths.

The report highlighted Fordow mountain complex, where Iran is enriching uranium that could be used to make a nuclear bomb, as a possible target.

A series of “bunker buster” bombs have been developed with varying designs depending on the target, The Telegraph reported.

“The new bunker buster has a fusing system that will withstand impact with the more than 100ft of earth and concrete that shields the chambers housing the equipment at Fordow, allowing it to penetrate deeper before exploding,” the report stated.

Chuck Hagel, the U.S. defense secretary, promised Israel during a visit last month that the US would look more closely at options for a a military attack on Iran.

On Friday, the United States said that both Iran and North Korea are trying to obtain high-tech materials linked to their nuclear programs, in violation of U.N. sanctions.

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador, Ron Prosor, warned last week against the continued advancement of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Addressing a session of the Security Council, Prosor said that Iran’s nuclear arms program is “hurtling forward at the speed of an express train, while the international community’s attempts to stop it are advancing at the rate of a local bus.”

“As the centrifuges in Iran continue to spin,” he added, “the Iranian regime has the international spinning with lies and manipulations.” “Iran is the greatest threat to the region’s stability,” he stressed.

WMD issue in Syria cannot be used in geopolitical games: Russia

Source : Xinhua

MOSCOW, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Syria is an issue not to be used for geopolitical purpose, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

"There are countries and external players who believe that all methods are good for overthrowing the Syrian regime. However, the issue of the use of weapons of mass destruction is too serious an we can't joke with it," Lavrov told reporters at a press conference.

Russia saw it "unacceptable" to use the WMD issue as a pretext of pursuing certain geopolitical interests, the diplomat said.

"I believe it is unacceptable to use it and speculate on it," he added.

U.S. officials said on Friday that they suspected the use of the deadly agent sarin in small-scale attacks in Syria. President Barack Obama warned Syria that using chemical weapons would be a "game changer." He also promised a "vigorous" U.S. and international probe into the latest reports.

Syria has denied the accusation. Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi told Russian television Saturday that the U.S. and British accusations are a "barefaced lie."

Zoubi said Friday that Damascus would agree if inspections of the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria are conducted by Russian experts.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that the UN team was ready to be deployed in 24-48 hours to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria.

According to Zoubi, the chemical shelling in the town of Khan al-Asal near Aleppo was fired by terrorists based near the Turkish border and the ammunition could be shipped from Turkey.

Editor: Hou Q

Iranian president says West wants separate Iraq, Pakistan and Syria

Source : Trend.Az

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused western countries on attempting to separate Iraq, Pakistan and Syria, IRNA reported on April 28.

During the speech to people in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province, Ahmadinejad said that West has been conducting artificial wars among people in these countries to dominate them by separating the nations.

Ahmadinejad went on saying the West had made conflict among races before, but now is using religious differences as a tool to bring war in some countries.

Mentioning conflicts in Pakistan, Syria and Iraq, Ahmadienad said that these conflicts would occur in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other Asian countries in future and the nations should be awaked and neutralize West's plots.

Iranian president said that Iran knows very well about the West's schemes aimed to divesting nations from sovereignty

Ankara denies report Israel seeking Turkish airbase for attack on Iran

Source : Tehran Times

TEHRAN – Ankara has dismissed a news report suggesting that an Israeli delegation set to arrive in Ankara on April 22 would hold talks to use a Turkish airbase to train for a possible attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, according to the Hurriyet Daily News.

“The report seems to have explained a hypothesis,” a Turkish official told the Hurriyet Daily News on April 21 concerning the Sunday Times report published on the same day.

“We have already said that the normalization of our relations will be step by step. Talking about the prospects of a military cooperation at this stage would be irrelevant. We are not there yet. We haven’t even yet appointed a new ambassador to Israel,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed in May 2010 when Israeli commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara vessel while stopping an international flotilla trying to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas. Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador and froze military cooperation after a UN report into the incident released in September 2011 largely exonerated Israel.

The Sunday Times alleged that Yaakov Amidror, the head of the National Security Council, who will head the Israeli delegation at April 22 “compensation talks” as part of the steps toward normalization, was additionally assigned to try to resuscitate the 1996 agreement between Jerusalem and Ankara which allowed the Israeli Air Forces to train in Turkish airspace and use the Akinci airbase. “In return, Israel will offer to sell Turkey advanced missile and surveillance technology,” the newspaper said.

EP/PA

Israeli Rocks Spy at Russian Fleet near Syria’s Tartus

Source  :  Local Editor

Three large Israeli espionage devices have been found hidden in artificial rocks on an uninhabited island opposite to the Syrian port of Tartous, where it was being used to monitor Russian naval movements, Sunday Times reported.

Israeli commandos launched a daring raid into Syrian territory to plant sophisticated camera equipment that looked exactly like the indigenous rocks.

“Israel’s elite Flotilla 13” sneaked onto the island on silent skiffs and extracted the stones to replicate for the spy camera. The frogmen returned to plant the decoys and set up the surveillance rig.

They were mounted in fake rocks designed to blend in with surrounding boulders.

According to Al-Manar TV, the “rocks” could track and film Russian warship movements and instantly transmit pictures back to Israel by satellite.

Syria’s state-run television showed a camera, a satellite dish and other objects including batteries and cables secreted among several imitation rocks.

The Israelis approached the island from one of the country's German- built Dolphin class submarines, which are armed with nuclear cruise missiles.

The commandos had apparently visited the island earlier to obtain samples so the colour and shape of local rocks could be matched and the right position for the monitoring station established, the Sunday Times said.

It is not known how long the monitoring station operated before it was uncovered. A senior Syrian security official said the equipment was highly intricate and as well as tracking ships could also keep tabs on Syrian troop movements, according to the Australian news.

Israel fights swarms of locusts from Egypt

Source :   Maan News Agency

KEMEHIN, Israel (Reuters) -- Israel on Wednesday began battling a swarm of locusts from Egypt on Wednesday to prevent crop damage in the south of the country.

Locust clouds darkened skies some three weeks before the Jewish Passover holiday that recalls 10 Biblical plagues, one of them locusts, that struck Egypt during the exodus of Israelite slaves.

The insects covered nearly 2,000 acres of desert overnight, officials said. Israel sprayed pesticides from the air and land to try to kill them in the early morning before dew on their wings dried and they could take off again.

Miriam Freund, director of plant protection in the Agriculture Ministry, called i a "medium-sized swarm" and her office set up a hotline for farmers to call in case they see it advance.

"We hope our actions are effective," one of the pilots of a plane spraying the fields said on Army Radio. "Let's hope the damage will be minimal."

Locusts, which wreak havoc by eating crops, last invaded southern Israel in 2004, said the pilot, who gave only his first name, Shai.

Potato farmer Pavel Rosenfeld, who lives about 3 km from the Egyptian border, said 30 to 40 percent of his land had already been damaged.

"Everything depends on the wind ... and we are praying that the wind doesn' bring us more," he said on Army Radio.

US, Israel to hold major missile defense exercise

Source : Maan News Agency

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- The United States and Israel will hold a major missile defense exercise in Israel this month, sending a message of close cooperation as both countries weigh their options over Iran's nuclear program.

The three-week exercise, the largest the allies have ever held, will simulate a variety of long and short-range missile attacks that Israel could face during a regional conflict, said the commanders in charge.

Asked whether it sent a message to Iran, which has warned of an all-out war should Israel try to strike its nuclear facilities, Israeli Brigadier General Nitzan Nuriel said: "Anybody can get any type of message from this exercise."

"The fact that we are practicing together and working together is a strong message by itself," Nuriel said during a conference call with reporters.

Offering a more guarded response, his US counterpart, Lieutenant General Craig Franklin said the exercise, "is not there to send a message", adding that it has been in planning for more than two years.

"This exercise will improve the cooperative missile defense of Israel and will promote regional stability and help ensure our military edge," he said.

More than 3,500 US personnel will take part in the drill, about 1,000 of them in Israel, Franklin said. The US will spend $30 million dollars and Israel about 30 million shekels ($7.90 million) on the exercise.

The weapons will include US Patriot missile batteries and an AEGIS ballistic missile defense ship, along with the multi-tiered missile defense system that Israel has been developing. All but one of the launches will be simulated.

Martin Dempsey, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will observe part of the drill, said Pentagon spokeswoman Lieutenant Commander Wendy Snyder.

Dempsey confounded some Israeli leaders in August when he told reporters the United States did not want to be "complicit" in an Israeli attack on Iran.

He also warned that go-it-alone military action risked unraveling an international coalition that has applied progressively stiff sanctions on Iran, which insists that its ambitious nuclear project is purely peaceful.

An Iranian military commander said last month the Islamic Republic would make no distinction between US and Israeli interests and will retaliate against both countries if attacked.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing the United States to set Iran an ultimatum or risk seeing Israel launch unilateral strikes. Washington says it will not allow Tehran to obtain nuclear weapons, but has not set out its own red lines.

 

Iran Defense Missiles can reach the entire of Persian Gulf coastline (US Bases)

Iranian missiles can destroy large naval vessels and reach the entire Persian Gulf coastline and U.S. bases that lie beyond it, Iran's Revolutionary Guard said. The commander of the IRGC's navy issued that assessment after concluding the final stage of a Persian Gulf missile drill, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported Tuesday. In the drill, the navy fired four missiles at a mock sea target, sinking it in 50 seconds, said Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi. Iran started mass production of its Persian Gulf anti-ship missile, designed to destroy targets at sea, in early 2011. The supersonic projectile, which carries a 1,400-pound warhead, is immune to interception and features high-precision systems, Fars said. Last week the Revolutionary Guard displayed the country's air defense shield.

U.S.-S. Korea drill pushes Korean Peninsula to brink of war: DPRK ceremonial leader

U.S.-S. Korea drill pushes Korean Peninsula to brink of war: DPRK ceremonial leader - Xinhua | English.news.cn

TEHRAN, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) --The U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise pushes the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war, said the ceremonial leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) at the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in the Iranian capital on Thursday. Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, said that the Korean Peninsula is one of the world's most tense regions and the ongoing exercise between the United States and South Korea will push the Peninsula to the verge of war. Recently, Americans have deployed many up-to-date weapons to the region, which threatens the DPRK, Kim said. South Korea and the United States are on a joint military exercise on Aug. 20 to 31, aiming to enhance defense readiness against potential security threats in the Korean Peninsula, according to military officials in Seoul. The DPRK will build war-deterrence forces to protect the country, and cooperate with any country dedicated to the unification of the Korean Peninsula, said the DPRK leader. He meanwhile also called for the members of the NAM to maintain solidarity, saying that the history of the NAM has proven that unity can bring success and division causes failure. The leader also emphasized that the Western sanctions imposed on Iran and Syria should be removed. Heads of state or government from over 100 countries participated in the two-day NAM summit, which opened in Tehran on Thursday.