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"Iran is serious about developing a nuclear bomb and has the ability to produce a primitive, truck-sized version of the bomb this year, the German magaziner Der Spiegel reported on Monday. An intelligence dossier obtained by Der Spiegel shows that there is a secret military branch of Iran's nuclear research program that answers to Tehran's ministry of defense, according to the report. Officials who have read this document - which is currently under review by the U.S., Germany and Israel - claim that it shows that their nuclear program aimed at producing a bomb is well advanced. Advertisement The officials said to Der Spiegel that the truck-sized bomb which they are capable of producing will have to be compressed to a size that would fit into a nuclear warhead for the strategic threat potential they desire. Der Spiegel also wrote that Israel and the West were alarmed by the dossier's revelations, as Iran could reach the compressed level of a nuclear bomb between 2012 and 2014. Tehran has consistently denied that it is enriching uranium for weapons, claiming it is exclusively dedicated to the peaceful use of nuclear technology. Iran has often warned it would retaliate for any attack on its nuclear facilities, which the West suspects form part of a drive to develop bombs. Tehran denies the charge. U.S. and Israel have not ruled out attack of Iran's nuclear site"

"Iran warned on Saturday the West has until the end of the month to accept Tehran's counterproposal to a U.N.-drafted plan on a nuclear exchange, or they will start producing nuclear fuel on their own. The warning from Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki showed a hardening in Iran's stance over its controversial nuclear program. While the West fears it shows Iran has nuclear ambitions, Tehran insists the program is only for peaceful, electricity production purposes. The Iranian foreign minister's message was broadcast on Iranian TV. He says that Iran gave [the West] an ultimatum, and they have one month left, giving them to the end of January [to accept]. He adds that [the West] must choose between one of the two proposals [that Iran has made], which is either to purchase uranium [directly from France or Russia] or to swap it [on Iranian soil]. Otherwise, he insists that Iran will go ahead and produce [high grade] enriched uranium fuel using its own talented experts. Western powers, including the United States, have called on Tehran, under the draft U.N. nuclear deal worked out last November, to ship around 70 percent of its low-grade uranium abroad. That fuel would then be transformed into more highly enriched (20 percent grade) uranium and shipped back to Iran. Iran, however, came up with a counterproposal insisting that its uranium stockpile be sent abroad in small batches, in quick transfers on Iranian soil, preferably on Iran's own Kish Island. Iran's proposal is unacceptable to the West, because it allows Iran to keep significant quantities of enriched uranium to produce nuclear weapons. "

"The Obama administration says the internal unrest in Iran and signs of unexpected delays in their nuclear program make the Iranian government especially vulnerable to swift and serious sanctions, the New York Times reported on Sunday. An administration official said current circumstances "give us a window to impose the first sanctions that may make the Iranians think the nuclear program isn't worth the price tag." Despite the political unrest, Iran's political and military leaders are remaining steadfast in their determination to develop nuclear weapons, advisers to U.S. President Barack Obama said. But the unrest coupled with the Iranian government's internal turmoil has caused a deceleration in production of nuclear fuel in recent months. Advertisement The White House is interested in focusing new sanctions on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is thought to be the driving force behind the country's nuclear weapons program. The Obama government believes that Iran's bomb making efforts were hurt following the exposure of a secret uranium enrichment plant three months ago in the city of Qum. The plant's exposure prevents Iran from enriching uranium at the high levels necessary for creating fuel for a nuclear weapon. Nuclear inspectors report that in Iran's plant in Natanz, the operation of centrifuges has dropped by 20 percent since the summer, which experts attribute to technical problems. "

"A military strike on Iran could have the unintended consequence of stirring nationalist sentiment to the benefit of Tehran's hard-line government, U.S. General David Petraeus told Reuters. Iran's June election gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term but sparked the worst internal crisis in the Islamic Republic's history, putting internal pressure on a government already facing the threat of more sanctions over its nuclear program. "It's possible (a strike) could be used to play to nationalist tendencies," Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command region, which includes Iran, said in an interview this week. "There is certainly a history, in other countries, of fairly autocratic regimes almost creating incidents that inflame nationalist sentiment. So that could be among the many different, second, third, or even fourth order effects (of a strike)." Tensions over Iran's nuclear program have set off speculation that Israel could make good on veiled threats to hit its arch-foe pre-emptively. But Israel's envoy to Washington said in December the U.S.-Israeli dialogue on Iran has not reached the point of discussing the military option. U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have warned that any strike on Iran would not stop the Islamic Republic from pursuing nuclear weapons. Instead, it would only delay Tehran, an opinion Petraeus said he shared. Dennis Blair, the U.S. director of national intelligence, told Congress on Tuesday that Iran was keeping open the option of developing nuclear weapons but that it remained unclear whether Tehran had the political will to do so. Petraeus, commenting on advances of Iran's nuclear program, said: "On the one hand, there is no question that there has been a continuation of various aspects of the nuclear program but I'm not sure it has always proceeded as rapidly as has been projected at various times." GRADUAL BOOST IN DEFENSES Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday Iran was ready to send its enriched uraniu

Photographer: CNN Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. PlayRegular Photo Size 3/3 Advertisement SHARETHIS Posted: 11:05 AM Last Updated: 35 minutes ago By: CNN Wire A week of critical diplomacy is set to begin in Washington, Beijing and Pyongyang. But the sides are so far apart, at least in public declarations, it is impossible to predict where any diplomatic efforts will lead. North Korea continues to hold fast to the position that its nuclear and ballistic missile programs are non-negotiable. Pyongyang's official news agency says the North wants U.N. Security Council sanctions lifted. The sanctions were put in place after North Korea launched a three-stage rocket last December that put a satellite in orbit. More sanctions were added when the North conducted its third underground nuclear test in February. The U.S. and South Korea insist that a verifiable path to dismantling those programs must be on the table for any negotiating process to begin. South Koreans are increasingly saying they may need a nuclear deterrent to counter Pyongyang's threats. China, of course, detests the possibility the U.S. would reintroduce strategic nuclear weapons there. (They were removed in 1991.) Everyone is heaping pressure on China to rein in the North Koreans. Looking at the North's rapidly growing nuclear threat, some South Koreans admit that after years of dismissing all the bombastic rhetoric from Pyongyang, real fears are emerging. "It really is a game changer," said Hahm Chaibong, president of the ASAN Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. "We really don't know what to do with it because these are political weapons, these are psychological weapons."

"The US army is training a crack unit to seal off and snatch back Pakistani nuclear weapons in the event that militants, possibly from inside the country's security apparatus, get their hands on a nuclear device or materials that could make one. The specialised unit would be charged with recovering the nuclear materials and securing them. The move follows growing anti-Americanism in Pakistan's military, a series of attacks on sensitive installations over the past two years, several of which housed nuclear facilities, and rising tension that has seen a series of official complaints by US authorities to Islamabad in the past fortnight. "What you have in Pakistan is nuclear weapons mixed with the highest density of extremists in the world, so we have a right to be concerned," said Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a former CIA officer who used to run the US energy department's intelligence unit. "There have been attacks on army bases which stored nuclear weapons and there have been breaches and infiltrations by terrorists into military facilities." "

"A nuclear Iran would set off an unprecedented arms race in the Middle East, Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon warned Wednesday. "A nuclear Iran would destroy the world order," Ayalon told a gathering in Jerusalem. "We would see a nuclear arms race which we have never seen before." Advertisement He urged the international community to form a "united front" against Iranian nuclear aspirations. Iran was an especially dangerous state to possess an atom bomb because of its "radical, fundamentalist" regime, its "extremist policy" and its support of Islamic militant factions, he charged. Tehran was "banking on driving a wedge between the different members of the security council and the international community. "Suffice to say that I take the American president and secretary of state at their word and they are right to say and to state that all options are on the table," Ayalon warned, alluding to the possibility of a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities in case international sanctions failed. Speculation has been rife as to whether Israel is planning such a military strike and whether it would carry out such a plan even without US support. Israeli officials have repeatedly warned that they prefer tough international sanctions, but have equally often threatened that it would not rule out military action. "

"Another year is ending with no tangible progress in scaling back North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. Pyongyang invested more in its weapons development as part of a broader effort to shore up power behind an ailing leader in 2009. 2009 began with a giant question mark about the health of Kim Jong Il. The North Korean leader remained out of sight for a number of significant occasions, including the launch of a long-range rocket that angered the international community. A few days after the launch, Mr. Kim appeared at a parliamentary session, looking gaunt and withered. Experts say that supported the widespread belief Mr. Kim suffered a stroke. "North Korea fed its version of the story to the people, saying the reason Kim looks this way is not because he's lost his health, but because he works day and night for the people, visiting work sites and so on," said Yang Moo-Jin, a scholar at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies. Pyongyang also rallied public support behind the country's nuclear weapons program, and conducted its second nuclear test. In South Korea, Donguk University professor Koh Yu-Hwan says the test was aimed at pressuring the United States."

"Obama had his National Security meeting and press conference today. His statement contained 1,346 words. He used the word "I" 22 times and the word "my" 5 times. Guess what word's he didn't use. This is my favorite passage. Via whitehouse.gov: So we have to do better - and we will do better. And we have to do it quickly. American lives are on the line. So I made it clear today to my team: I want our initial reviews completed this week. I want specific recommendations for corrective actions to fix what went wrong. I want those reforms implemented immediately, so that this doesn't happen again and so we can prevent future attacks. And I know that every member of my team that I met with today understands the urgency of getting this right. And I appreciate that each of them took responsibility for the shortfalls within their own agencies. (emphasis added) For what it's worth, he used the word "terrorist" five times. While Obama was holding his press conference, China was telling us they are not really interested in our sanctioning Iran idea. Via Fox News: The U.S. and its allies want tougher U.N. sanctions, while Iran's major trading partners, China and Russia, oppose the move. The Obama administration and European allies set a deadline of the end of 2009 for Iran to accept a U.N. proposal that Iran exchange most of its enriched uranium, which the West fears could be used for automic weapons, for low-enriched nuclear fuel for energy purposes. Over the last couple of years, the Security Council has passed three resolutions against Iran for refusing to suspend nuclear enrichment and cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, but instead of compliance, the Islamic Republic has increased nuclear activity."

"A new report by retired longtime intelligence officer Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, who served as chief of the CIA's Weapons of Mass Destruction Department, accuses the U.S. government of seriously misreading al-Qaida's operational objectives. "Al-Qaida's reasoning," according to Mowatt-Larssen's new report from Harvard's Kennedy School, "runs counter to analytic convention that equates the ease of acquisition of chemical, biological or radiological weapons with an increasing likelihood of terrorist use - i.e., a terrorist attack employing crude weapons is therefore more likely than an attack using a nuclear or large scale biological weapon." "In fact, it is the opposite" of that conventional wisdom, according to the analysis, entitled "Al-Qaida Weapons of Mass Destruction Threat: Hype or Reality." Al-Qaida's motivations suggest "the greatest threat is posed by the most effective and simple means of mass destruction, whether these means consist of nuclear, biological, or other forms of asymmetric weapons." That makes all the scarier the scolding that came this week from the congressionally authorized Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation. That panel gave the Obama administration an F grade for its performance in preparing the U.S. homeland for a terrorist attack that utilized biological warfare. Mowatt-Larssen was stationed in Moscow and other critical venues in the course of his long career gathering intelligence. The details he provides of al-Qaida's scheming in this report are nothing short of chilling. "Considering the potential that such weapons hold in fulfilling al-Qaida's aspirations," it says, "their WMD procurement efforts have been managed at the most senior levels, under rules of strict compartmentalization from lower levels of the organization, and with central control over possible targets and timing of prospective attacks.""

"VIENNA - Iran has formally responded to a nuclear fuel swap proposal backed by the world's major powers with a counteroffer effectively rejecting their demand that Tehran export most of the material it would need to make a warhead, diplomats said Tuesday. For months, Iranian officials have used the media to criticize the plan and offer alternatives to one of its main conditions - that the Islamic republic ship out most of its stock of enriched uranium and then wait for up to a year for its return in the form of fuel rods for its Tehran research reactor. While critical of such statements, the United States and its allies said they did not constitute a formal response to the plan, first drawn up in early October in a landmark meeting in Geneva between Iran and the six world powers, and then refined later that month in Vienna talks among Iran, the U.S., Russia and France. The diplomats told The Associated Press that Iran first submitted such a written formal response to the International Atomic Energy Agency earlier this month in a Jan. 6 meeting between Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's chief representative to the IAEA, and agency chief Yukiya Amano. The IAEA-brokered talks in Vienna came up with a draft proposal that would take 70 percent of Iran's low-enriched uranium to reduce its stockpile of material that could be enriched to a higher level, and possibly be used to make nuclear weapons."

"Taking advantage of the ado surrounding the failed airliner bombing and the new prominence of the al Qaeda peril, the Obama administration has finally given up its sanctions strategy for averting the rise of a nuclear-armed Iran. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton was tasked with the public announcement: "The Obama administration wants to keep the door to dialogue open with Iran," she said Jan. 4, then added a remark which let Iran off completely of the American hook: "…although the United States has avoided using the term deadline, it cannot wait indefinitely to hear form Iran." Her words explicitly backtracked on statements by other senior administration officials, including National Security Adviser James Jones, in recent interviews that Tehran's deadline for responding to international proposals expired on Dec. 31. DEBKAfile's Iranian sources report that Tehran sees Washington as so eager to reach the negotiating table that it is falling back from effective penalties step by step, including an embargo on refined oils and benzene, and even willing to forgive Iran's failure to meet a highly publicized international deadline. "Our goal is to pressure the Iranian government, particularly the Revolutionary Guards elements without contributing to the suffering of Iranians," Clinton explained. Threatening Iran's Revolutionary Guards instead of its regime is nothing but a feeble face-saver, our Iranian sources maintain, since the IRGC, whose financial operations and its management of Iran's nuclear program subsist on alternative "black market" economic mechanisms is hardly vulnerable to international sanctions."

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"Iranian media on Sunday reported Tehran will conduct a large-scale defensive military exercise next month, coinciding with what government officials now say is a deadline for the West to respond to its counteroffer to a nuclear-fuel deal. The commander of Iran's ground forces, Brig. Gen. Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan, said the drill will be conducted by Iran's army, in conjunction with some units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to improve "defensive capabilities," Press TV, the English-language, state-run media outlet reported. The report follows comments by Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday, challenging Western nations to decide by the end of the month on counterproposals Tehran has floated to an internationally brokered nuclear-fuel deal. In the counterproposals, Iran has said it would agree to swap the bulk of its low-enriched uranium for higher enriched uranium, but in small batches and on Iranian soil."

"In 2005, General Chi Haotian of China, its "Minister of National Defense" since 1993 to 2003, revealed in his speeches that in China's war on the U.S.A., from one-third to two-thirds of Americans would be poisoned or infected biologically by the Chinese, and their homes and property would be transferred over to Chinese settlers, since the Chinese (and not the Germans, as Chi stipulated in his speech) are the superior race and must have everything best in the world. Anyway, a slave state (China) has this advantage over a free country (the United States): it can reward (enrich!) 100 million or 200 million of its troops and its civilians with what those killed (poisoned and infected) Americans and their ancestors had been acquiring for the past two and a half centuries. In the United States , an American's betrayal of his country to China may well be seen to be his use of his freedom. This certainly applies to the U.S. Presidents, whose elections (which have little to do with the appointment of the prime minister in Britain) contradict the knowledge of mental ability, according to which the value of a thought may include its exclusivity: Einstein said that he was understood by seven people in the world. It was only owing to Einstein's letter to President Roosevelt in 1939 that the Americans got the nuclear bombs before Hitler's Germany completed its nuclear project. "

"Iranian Protestors Save Two From Being Hanged - filmed on December 22, 2009 - after saving their fellow protestors from death by hanging - we see cruel and deadly violence - VIEWER DISCRETION STRONGLY ADVISED! This video is very difficult to watch. On December 22, Iranian protesters in Sirjan rescued two prisoners as they were being hanged. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards then called in assistance, and later in the video we see them shooting dead a number of the protesters and wounding many more." Note this is the reality of Iran today. Do we really want them to have Nuclear Weapons?

" Published: 7:00AM GMT 03 Jan 2010 The year is 2050, and a diplomatic dispute between China and Britain risks escalating into all-out war. But rather than launching a barrage of ballistic missiles and jet fighters to destroy key British targets, Beijing has a far simpler plan for defeating its enemy. It simply turns off the lights. At the flick of a switch elite teams of Chinese hackers attached to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) launch a hi-tech assault on Britain's computer systems, with devastating consequences. Within minutes the country's power stations, water companies, air traffic control, government and financial systems are totally shut down. Related Articles * 'Dad believed he was a July 7 bomber' * Lord Adonis: no need to cut travel to save the planet, says Transport Secretary * The Korean crisis is China's chance to show the world it has changed * Is Britain no longer special to America? * We must treat China as a friend and ally in this financial crisis * New Zealand hockey coach banished to stands for match officials' 'pants' decision Britain's attempt to respond by launching nuclear-armed Trident missiles at China has to be abandoned, as the computer systems that control the weapons system are no longer functioning. At a time when relations between China and Britain are supposed to be improving, the prospect of Beijing launching a cyber attack against Britain and its allies might seem to be the stuff of fantasy. After all, it is only two years since Gordon Brown made a highly successful visit to Beijing where the two countries agreed to increase trade by 50 per cent by this year, and to cooperate on a range of issues, such as global warming. As one of the world's leading economic powers, China's role on the world stage has transformed dramatically over the past decade, with the huge wealth that Beijing has accumulated from its impressive economic growth playing a key role in sup

"MONTPELIER, Vt. - Snow falling like New Year's confetti joined forces with a chill that dipped deep to the South on Monday to close schools, delay commuters, threaten fruit farmers and shut down at least one nuclear power plant. A weekend snowstorm dumped an all-time record of more than 33 inches on Burlington, the largest city in Vermont. That broke a single-storm record of nearly 30 inches set in 1969. "It just dropped a tremendous amount of snow," said Steve Goodkind, public works director for the city of Burlington, which had a dozen plows and nine sidewalk snow removers out Monday. "It looks like mid-January, after we'd have a bunch of smaller storms." Most Vermonters took it in stride. Others took it too far: Vermont State Police cited a man after stopping him pulling a sled - with a rider in it - behind his car on Interstate 89 on Sunday. The driver was cited for driving with a suspended license. In upstate New York, it was a similar scene. So-called "lake effect snow" blanketed parts of the state with more than 3 feet. Fulton, in Oswego County, had received 42 inches since last Friday night, while Williamson, which is on Lake Ontario east of Rochester, got nearly 27 inches, according to the National Weather Service."

"The international community will hit Iran with new sanctions in the next month, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said during an event in Tel Aviv on Saturday. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny... Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. Photo: AP [file] SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World "The regime in Iran today won't necessarily be in power in another year," he said, stressing that "the world is united against Iran." He said that Washington, Beijing and Moscow agree that a nuclear Iran would "destroy the current world order." Regarding peace talks with the Palestinians, which Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has recently being trying to relaunch, Ayalon said, "The Palestinians need to understand that the time to act is limited." RELATED * Israel seeks 'crippling' Iran sanctions "Today, more than ever, the US government understands that the conditions for negotiations are difficult, that the essential problem is that the Palestinians aren't willing to be flexible in their approach," he added."

"TEHRAN, Iran - A senior physics professor who publicly backed Iran's opposition leader was killed when a bomb-rigged motorcycle exploded as he left for work Tuesday. The government blamed the U.S. and Israel for the attack. The blast apparently was set off by a remote trigger, but it was unclear why the professor was targeted. The victim was a 50-year-old researcher with no prominent political voice, no published work with military relevance and no declared links to Iran's nuclear program. Hard-line backers of the Islamic system have urged stronger measures to try to crush and intimidate anti-government forces. But the Tehran University professor, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, was far from a front-row political player. He joined a list of 240 faculty members in a declaration supporting opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi before June's disputed presidential election, but did not take any known high-profile role in the protests after the vote. The attack was an oddity in Tehran, where such targeted bombings are rare. "There's a lot of conflicting and confusing aspects to this," said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, an Iranian affairs expert at Syracuse University. "About the only thing we can probably say is that this may bring lots more pressure on the opposition.""