Iranian official admits Tehran supplied missiles to Hezbollah

[sabra]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/746631.html

Iranian official admits Tehran supplied missiles to Hezbollah

A senior Iranian official admitted for the first time Friday that Tehran did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hezbollah.

Mohtashami Pur, a one-time ambassador to Lebanon who currently holds the title of secretary-general of the "Intifada conference," told an Iranian newspaper that Iran transferred the missiles to the Shi'ite militia, adding that the organization has his country's blessing to use the weapons in defense of Lebanon.

Pur's statements are thought to be unusual given that Tehran has thus far been reluctant to comment on the extent of its aid which it has extended to Hezbollah.

[iconoclastic cat]

1. That's not good.......nt

[OKthatsIT]

20. Iranian ruler is helping globalist rule..remember Carter's humiliation?

When the Iranian Govt refused to give Carter the satisfaction of releasing the embassy prisoners...the work Carter accomplished...but instead waited until Reagan was sworn in before the release of the hostages.

THINK.

[iconoclastic cat]

26. Ah, yes.

It all comes down to a few little men.

[lumpy]

48. Yes, a lot of people are not aware of the

fact that Carter was the one who negotiated the release of the Iranian US embassy prisoners just before Reagan was sworn into office. Of course Reagan was given credit for the negotiation. I have not forgotten that. Of course if Carter had remained in office the Rebublicans would have claimed he gave in to blackmail or some such slander.

[uppityperson]

2. well.....f*

[cookiebird]

3. Any big surprise?

All the parties involved seem to be in this one "for keeps"

[Bacchus39]

18. it is to those who don't want there to be a link between Hezbollah

and Iran and who think Israel is at fault here.

[leveymg]

22. No one, who I've seen, has suggested Hezballah isn't connected to Iran.

The issue of fault is an entirely separate issue.

[Zhade]

39. Yes, the poster is basically wrong about that.

NT!

[Opusnone]

4. May I be the first to say "Bullsh*t!"

These daily negative spins about Iran are making me dizzy.

[MrPrax]

7. I second that...

It's suppose to be some smoking gun...the article wants to really talk about the 'missiles' this guy claims to identify as being the same one's being used to 'threaten' Tel Aviv with by Hezbollah. No cite on the Iranian newspaper, if you notice, INSPITE of Haaretz proclaiming that Iranians don't normally release this type of information.

That admission alone, requires a full citation and full quote.

[Opusnone]

11. Not to mention loss of perspectives in translation

Since the majority of citizens don't speak Farsi, you have to depend on the goofy media to spoon feed the information to you.
Statements (and non statements) are being twisted and manipulated to justify past and future aggression. Plain and simple.
The public doesn't know any better, nor do they care to ask. They are kept numb by daily injections of reality television, fatty foods, gross consumerism, sports and finally, religion.

[leveymg]

15. ZZ-2 can't quite reach Tel Aviv. See article linked below.

Also, Hezballah was first reported to have received ZZ2 back in 2002. Not real news here.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

19. Whose spin?

The report comes from an Iranian newspaper.

[Opusnone]

24. Whoever thinks attacking a sovereign nation is good policy

I can see through the spin, if you can't there's no hope for you and I to go any further.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

28. I hardly see Haaretz as a voice for attacking Iran.

And I'm not entirely sure how to gauge the reaction here. The information is relevant, given Hezbollah's recent comments re: attacking Tel Aviv. If this were some unconfirmed bullshit on CNN or Fox, I'd think differently, but this seems like a fairly level-headed article. The source is named. If he was misquoted, I'm sure we'll hear about it shortly.

[Opusnone]

29. The spin is everyhwere, even in Haaretz

It's in the papers, on TV, on the net, in the churches, the political parties, the e-mails,
It's being manufactured to create a new boogeyman - Iran. It's a distraction to keep you afraid at night.
If Iran was SO dangerous, why didn't we invade them during the Reagan administration? Or right after 9-11?
Iran wants civilian nuclear power which is their sovereign right under NPT guidelines.
Iran did not attack the US. Iran did not attack Israel.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

30. Well...

Iran is hardly a new boogeyman. They've been a pariah as far as the US is concerned ever since the overthrow of the Shah. I don't see this article as making Iran seem any more or less dangerous than before. The information it contains is hardly surprising. As has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, it has been known, or at least suspected, for some time that Iran was supplying Hezbollah with these types of weapons. Since Iran is relevant to the current conflict in Lebanon, and the article is quoting an Iranian official to confirm what was previously suspected, I hardly put this on the level of "propoganda" such as that which is suggesting that Hezbollah are going to use these missiles for chemical warfare, which I very much doubt.

I'm not sure what you want. If true, this is definitely a legitimate news story, regardless of the propganda purpose it may be used for by other entities. Surely you're not suggesting that this story, if true, should not have been reported.

[Opusnone]

31. Surely I'm suggesting it's bullshit

And I will tell everyone who will listen the same thing.

[winter999]

33. I agree with you. I know for a fact that Allah gave

Hezbollah those rockets. :sarcasm:

To tell you the truth, I'm shocked. Shocked that Iran finally told the TRUTH about something (other than their hatred for Isreal and the West).

[Marie26]

38. Not to mention

that the source, Mohtashami-Pour, actually helped form Hizbollah back in the 80's.

"He is generally believed to have been instrumental in founding the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon when he was the Iranian ambassador to Syria in the early 1980s."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/805624.stm

[Snivi Yllom]

43. where do you think Hezbollah got the antiship missile?

Al Santa?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is involved in this up to his beady little eyes.

[Opusnone]

45. Could it be that the global arms market is so huge

that weapons of death can be bought from just about anywhere?
Or could it be that you just want to follow the neocon spin into a world war and not think for yourself?

[Jim Sagle]

51. Tough shit. This is not Tehran Underground.

[IndianaGreen]

56. It's not IDF Underground either!

Israel is having the debate that we should be having in here.

In Israel, Questions About the Conflict
Public Support, Once Nearly Unanimous, Begins to Fray as Toll Rises

By Molly Moore and Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, August 5, 2006; Page A12

JERUSALEM, Aug. 4 -- With much of Israel's northern population huddling in underground shelters and Hezbollah proving more resilient than Israeli leaders had publicly predicted, Israel's news media, intellectual elite and public are starting to question the judgment of the country's political and military leadership.

After an extraordinary national surge of unanimity during the first days of the conflict, public support is starting to fray, with some of the nation's most influential voices criticizing political leaders and Israel Defense Forces generals for military strategies they say have failed to protect Israeli citizens.

They blame Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz for trying to lull citizens into a false sense of security, fault generals for relying too heavily on air power to destroy Hezbollah rocket launchers, and worry that Israeli troops may not have been prepared to defeat a force far tougher than Palestinian fighters.

"The public should demand of the political echelon: Stop or reduce the Katyusha rocket fire," the popular daily newspaper Ma'ariv wrote Friday. "Do what you should have done two weeks ago. . . . Bang on the table in front of the white-faced IDF officers, and demand more proposals; think and think again. . . . The time for patience has passed. You have an army, use it, or go for a cease-fire."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2758938&mesg_id=2758938

[Oversea Visitor]

5. Haha Russia supply a nuke

And Isreal call immediate peace talk and ceasefire.

:rofl:

[Briar]

6. and the US admits it supplies missile to Israel. So? n/t

[bigbrother05]

8. Notice that there is no date referenced

Can't tell if these were supplied in the past or not. Would think it would have been pretty hard to get something the size of those missiles into Lebanon within the last few weeks. Would appear that Pur was going public to confirm that the Hezbollah were indeed in possession of weapons that could reach Tel Aviv. The Israeli's have always had the capability to strike anywhere they chose and this certainly ups the risks for both sides. This whole thing needs to stop, both sides have so much to lose.

[leveymg]

14. That info goes back to October 2002. See post and link below.

[Dover]

9. Here's the deal. Iran considers Israel and the U.S. a threat to it's

sovereignty, trade and growing power in the region. So by backing Lebanon, Syria and Palestine they create a line of defense some distance from their own borders. The U.S. has done the same.
The U.S. calls these alliances "terrorism" but the Iranians and their partners consider the U.S./Israeli partnership equally as threatening. Particularly now as Iran's economic power and global partnerships are expanding (and the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the "Axis of Evil" threats, etc.).

Here's an article that I think is somewhat balanced, though clearly has a Western bias:

Strategic, ideological, and political factors explain why Tehran is currently hosting a conference in support of the Palestinians.


Tehran is hosting, on April 14-16, a conference entitled "Support for the Palestinian Intifada conference." This is the third time it has organized the conference -- and with talk that Iran may face a military strike against its nuclear facilities, Tehran's association with the new Hamas government in Palestine and other Palestinian rejectionist groups is even more relevant to global affairs than it was when it held the conference in 2001 and 2002.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice referred to Iran, during a March 9 roundtable in Washington, as "a kind of central banker for terrorism in important regions, like Lebanon, through Hizballah in the Middle East, in the Palestinian territories, and we have deep concern about what Iran is doing in the south of Iraq." The U.S. State Department has classified Iran as a "state sponsor" of terrorism since 1984, and it lists a number of the groups that participated in previous conferences -- such as Hamas, Hizballah, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad -- as "terrorist organizations" backed by Iran.

Iran's frame of reference is a requirement in the country's constitution that calls on the government to support "the just struggles of the oppressed against the oppressors in every corner of the globe." The secretary-general of the conference series, Hojatoleslam Ali-Akbar Mohtashami-Pur, referred to this requirement in an interview that appeared in the April 6 issue of "Iran" newspaper. He went on to speak of the ways in which Palestinians will benefit from the weekend's event. The more than 500 participants, he said, "will discuss the dangers of the anti-human activities and policies of Israel, which have the backing of America, and they will think of some ways of countering those policies."

The Hamas Factor

It is not just ideology or charity that motivates Iran. Mohtashami-Pur suggested that the creation of a Palestinian state would contribute to Iranian security. "Naturally, if the Palestinian nation restores its legitimate right, even the threats the Islamic Republic of Iran, which come from abroad, will be reduced substantially," he said.

Security interests, furthermore, explain meetings held in Damascus on April 13 between one of Iran's top officials and leaders of Hizballah and the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad. Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Council, which oversees the workings of government, met with the secretary-general Hizballah, Hassan Nasrallah, and told him that unity is a key factor in ensuring survival, IRNA reported. He repeated that message in a meeting with Ramadan Abdallah al-Shallah, the head of Islamic Jihad...cont'd

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/04/a6170638-c079-4af1-b441-75dbba236340.html

[Lerkfish]

10. well, hold on to your asses, boys, armageddon's gonna gitcha

[leveymg]

12. This site seems to have useful information on the Zelzal-2 and other

rockets in the Hezbollah inventory: www.meib.org/articles/0211_l2.htm

Last month, the London Sunday Times reported that Iran has deployed Zelzal-2 "ballistic missiles" in Lebanon, capable of "carrying half a ton of chemical or conventional warheads as far as Tel Aviv."9 However, the paper's sensationalist reporting on Mideast military topics does not have a very accurate track record, particularly when it cites unnamed defense sources. The Zelzal-2, in any case, is not a missile, but a 610mm heavy artillery rocket with a 1323 lb (600 kg) payload and range of 130 miles (210 km). The rocket wouldn't quite be able to hit Tel Aviv unless launched from easily-detectable positions straddling the border, but would nevertheless pose an enormous threat to Israeli population centers.

[Cooley Hurd]

17. It's about 130 miles from Tel Aviv to Beirut (midway into Lebanon)...

They wouldn't necessarily have to be near the Israel/Lebanon border to hit Tel Aviv.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[wakeme2008]

16. Boring OLD NEWS

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iran/zelzal-2.htm

In October 2002 it was reported that Iranian Zelzal-2 short-range ballistic missiles had been delivered to Iranian Revolutionary Guard units in the Beka'a Valley in Lebanon

http://www.meib.org/articles/0211_l2.htm

The Zelzal-2, in any case, is not a missile, but a 610mm heavy artillery rocket with a 1323 lb (600 kg) payload and range of 130 miles (210 km).

[Marie26]

21. It is old news - 04/08/2006. nt

[winter999]

34. The point was not that Iran is supplying rockets,

it's that Iran is ADMITTING their supplying rockets. Is it "Be Honest to an Infidel" Day?

[Marie26]

35. Yeah, but it's an old story.

I posted the date that actual story was published. IMO, this shouldn't be in LBN.

[sabra]

36. 04/08/2006 "over there" is 8/04/2006 over here :-)

[Marie26]

37. Ooohhh!

Thanks! :dunce:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

23. Not necessarily...

Globalsecurity is not clear on whether that information came from the Iranians or others ("It was reported...")

The news here, I think, is that Iran is admitting to doing this.

[Opusnone]

25. Spin, spin, spin

Unnamed sources quoted in unknown papers do not news make.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

27. The source is named, the newspaper is not. n/t

[Marie26]

32. Shargh newspaper

One of the Iranian founders of Lebanon’s Hezbollah said in remarks published today that the Shi’ite militia group had missiles which “leave no spot in Israel unreachable”.
“Hezbollah’s arsenal not only includes Katyusha missiles, but also Zelzal-II missiles, which could hit targets as far as 250 kilometres, leaving no spot in Israel unreachable,” Mr Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pour, a cleric, told the centrist Shargh newspaper.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=8&theme=&usrsess=1&id=125205

Shargh's website (it's all in Persian) -
http://www.sharghnewspaper.com/850512/html/online.htm

And here's the interview -
http://www.sharghnewspaper.com/850512/html/index.htm

[HuffleClaw]

40. so what?

just more rabid anti-iran propaganda enroute to war.

[IndianaGreen]

46. Neocons want war against Iran

We must not let them!

[orleans]

41. and we supplied israel. n/t

[Snivi Yllom]

42. Just another example of how Hezbollah is not a resistance group

But a terrorist proxy army Of Iran and Syria to attack Israel.

Iran and Syria can't directly attack Israel because the responze would be devastating. But that can be sneaky fucks using Hezbollah to do their dirty work at the expense of Lebanon.

[IndianaGreen]

44. And the US supplies weapons to Israel and uses the UN veto

to protect Israel from being held accountable.

[FlavaKreemSnak]

47. Does anybody else think this is weird

OK that missile can kill people, etc but when you compare it to what America gives Israel it does not sound like such a powerful weapon. I mean I know anything that can kill even a single person is deadly, but when you are talking about this sides weapons versus the other sides it is not even close.

But Iran is a big country, can somebody tell me why they don't give Hezbollah more powerful things like bomber planes and bombs that are at least as close as they can get to the ones we give Israel?

[lumpy]

50. Do you think Lebanon has any functional airports

left after Israel got through bombing them?

[FlavaKreemSnak]

59. I know they don't now but supposedly Iran was supporting them

even before the airports were bombed. And that still does not explain why they give them only these kind of old rockets. I mean there are a lot of weapons, and Iran is supposed to have a lot of weapons, so why don't they give better ones to Hezbollah?

[lumpy]

49. My take? So what.

The US supplies crap to Israel and anyone else who will buy it, the Russians supply crap to Venezuela, China sells, France sells, you name it. These days arms swapping is big business and there is probably few countries in the world who aren't supplying something that contributes to the arms build up all over the world. Some of the shit sold to Iraq by the US was used against the US military. To Joe and Jane Dokes who don't know shit from Shinola this new revelation from Iran might be a 'scarey'thing.

[Oversea Visitor]

55. Haha

Even Isreal supply crap to Korea
Whee US not please over that :rofl:

[Name removed]

52. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Oversea Visitor]

53. If US can give Isreal bomb what is so amazing

if some countries give Hizbollah some can opener :rofl:
No no world coming to end :rofl:

Gee my god bigger than your god :rofl:

My red colour nicer than your red colour :rofl: hahahaha

My brain bigger than your brain :rofl:

I :rofl: at all this

You want me see Iran evil ok I see them evil :rofl:

Woah amazing suddenly whole world think like me :rofl:

Rough day eeh join me in a few :rofl:

I let let you win too
Make you happy :rofl:
See VICTORY, do not worry about it being hollow.
:rofl:

REALITY IS A BITCH

[Oversea Visitor]

54. Sabra me post not direct at you

Me using WMD haha :rofl:

[gulfcoastliberal]

57. So much Israeli hatred

So much love for the mullahs and sharia law. Real liberal!

[JesterCS]

58. Its not hate

for the Israeli people. Its hate for their ideals.

My mother used to always tell me when I said I hated someone " you dont HATE them, you just hate what they do "