Is war with Iran inevitable? Are the Russians getting involved?

[icymist]

Below are four articles I just read in todays news. The first, who's source is The Toronto Star, shows what I believe may be PNAC in action. The second article hints that the Russians may become involved, this becoming clearer in the fourth article mentioning that Russia and Iran have agreed to enrich uranium on Russian soil. The third article is an opinion piece about Saudi concerns over a nuclear Israel.


U.S. and Iran: War Inevitable?
International media are reporting that even while the U.S. is bogged down in its war in Iraq, Washington is paying lip service to diplomacy while it privately draws up plans to invade Iran over that rogue state's nuclear ambitions.

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Joseph Cirincione, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in discussions with colleagues who have close ties to the Bush administration, have convinced him "they want to hit Iran."

Furthermore, Cirincione says, "I've come to realize that for some in this administration, Iran is just the continuation of the process they started in Iraq. The whole point was not just to eliminate Saddam Hussein, but to begin a regime change throughout the whole region. That includes, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and other countries."
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Russia Warns on Aggravating Iran Standoff
MOSCOW - A top Kremlin diplomat warned against threatening Iran with sanctions or the use of force, saying that would only aggravate the international standoff over Tehran's suspect nuclear program, Russian media reports said Saturday.

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Seeking to avoid having the sanctions issue come before the council, Russian officials argue that the International Atomic Energy Agency should take the lead for the United Nations in trying to resolve tensions over Iran's nuclear program.

Ozerov stressed Russia's opposition to the use of force against Iran — an issue that got close attention in state-run Russian media after

President Bush said last week that military action could not be ruled out.

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The Saudi Ambassador, Optimism on Iraq, Pessimism on Iran

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The first was on the issue of Iran and nukes. Turki reiterated Saudi Arabia's position that the entire region should be free of nuclear weapons, going out of his way to include Israel. This was met with strong applause from approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of the audience of roughly 400 people. The issue of Israel's nuclear capability is going to become a big issue as the effort to prevent a nuclear Iran continues to move down the tracks. Israel is never going to give up their nukes, which gives people who are not serious about stopping a nuclear Iran the argument of "Well, why can Israel have nukes but not Iran?" Of course there is an argument against this logic (for starters, Israel's Prime Minister is not talking about wiping out or eliminating other countries), but to many otherwise reasonable people this is seen as a fair question and a legitimate point.

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Iran has "basic" enrichment deal in Russia
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's ambassador to the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Saturday that Iran had a basic deal to enrich uranium in a joint venture in Russia but said details were still being worked out, Iranian state radio reported.

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"He ... announced the basic agreement on a joint uranium enrichment firm on Russian soil and said that there are only some issues regarding technical, legal and financial matters that need more assessment or exchange of ideas," radio quoted Soltanieh as saying from Russia.

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[icymist]

1. An update to the third article: Iran Invoked at Holocaust Remembrance

NEW YORK - Israel's consul general in New York said Sunday that the world needs to take a tougher stance with Iran and warned that a "strong" and "determined" Israel will never allow another Jewish Holocaust.

"It's important that the world understands that this is not an Israeli issue, it's a world problem, and the world must stop Iran," Arye Mekel said. "At this time, we would hope that the Security Council of the United Nations would impose economic and political sanctions against Iran. Let's be clear: That country cannot, cannot have nuclear weapons."

Mekel delivered his remarks at Hunter College during the Annual Gathering of Remembrance, which commemorates the deaths of the Jews at the hands of the Nazis in the Holocaust.

Joining Mekel was New York Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record) and U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, who also warned about the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran.

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Iran describes Israel as terrorist state following call to assassinate Ahmadinejad

Iran said on Sunday a call published in Israel's Haaretz newspaper on assassination of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad showed its "terrorist nature."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi stated "Prior to Iran, the UN Security Council and the international community should give response to Israeli state terrorism."

He urged the international community and international organizations not to keep silent at public threat of Israel to assassinate Iranian president. "It was not surprising for us since we've got acquainted with terrorist nature of the Zionist regime. The state terrorism of the Zionist regime is crystal clear to Iran.
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