Bipartisan Policy Center Report Outlines Dangers of Failing to Prevent Iranian Nuclear Threat

/PRNewswire/ -- With Iran on the brink of attaining nuclear weapons capability, the Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) National Security Initiative is calling for the United States to take a triple-track approach for preventing an Iranian nuclear threat through diplomacy, sanctions and a military option. According to its new report released today, Meeting the Challenge: When Time Runs Out, authored by former Senators Daniel Coats and Charles Robb, and retired General Charles Wald, there are three potential outcomes should the U.S. fail to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions: a nuclear weapons-capable Islamic Republic of Iran; an Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities; or a regime change in Tehran.

The report, which is the third in a series by the BPC on Iran, argues that containing a nuclear Iran would almost certainly prove ineffective and lead to a greater regional conflict. It also stresses that an Israeli strike would be risky and regime change is extremely unlikely. Therefore, the report's co-authors strongly assert that a nuclear Iran must be prevented now.

An analysis by the BPC shows that Iran, under current trends, could have enough fissile material in July to produce a nuclear weapon by October 2010. With diplomatic and economic efforts having failed to dissuade Iran from developing its nuclear capability, the authors warn that time is literally running out.

The report recommends the U.S. immediately adopt a triple-track strategy that involves diplomacy, sanctions, and a clear demonstration of its willingness to use the military option as a last resort. The BPC has advocated this strategy in its earlier reports. "Sanctions and diplomacy are much more likely to work if they are backed up by a credible military capability and the clear willingness to use it," said Senator Charles Robb. "We reiterate our support for the President's 2009 pledge to use 'all elements of U.S. power' to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability."

According to the BPC, the U.S. could immediately strengthen its position by increasing the U.S. Fifth Fleet's presence in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman; enhancing the military capabilities of U.S. allies in the region; initiating a strategic partnership with Azerbaijan to establish a broader regional presence on the ground; and by working with Iraq and Saudi Arabia to improve their capacity to ship oil out of the region without passing through the Straits of Hormuz. "Only the credible threat of a U.S. military strike can make a peaceful solution possible," said retired General Chuck Wald. "Ultimately, a U.S. led military strike is a feasible, though risky, option of last resort."

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U.S. Homeland Vulnerable to Iran Threat in 2015

/PRNewswire/ -- Riki Ellison, Founder and Chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org has made some comments on the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing held on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The purpose of the hearing was to receive testimony on ballistic missile defense policies and programs in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2011. Ellison is one of the foremost lay experts in the field of missile defense. Ellison's comments include the following statements:

"Over the past week, Congress held three public hearings on missile defense plans for 2011 and beyond. Hearings were held by the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, the Senate Armed Service Committee led by Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and the Ranking Member John McCain (R-AZ) on Tuesday and most recently the Defense Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee led by the Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) on Wednesday.

"During these hearings, the testimony of President Barack Obama's appointees in the Department of Defense and the Director of the Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, exposed five fundamental elements of the administration's missile defense plan:

1. Iran, with foreign assistance (North Korea), could have the ability to
strike the U.S. homeland with an intercontinental ballistic missile
(ICBM) by 2015.
2. In the current administration's plan, the Phased Adaptive Approach
(PAA), there will be a second shot capability based in Europe to defend
the U.S. homeland from an Iranian ICBM in 2020. This is dependent on
the development, testing and deployment, of a new SM-3 Block 2B missile
and the integration that allows for early intercept by launch and
engage on remote sensors including basing Aegis Ashore platforms in
Europe.
3. The administration's current missile defense plan for the defense of
the U.S. homeland is to rely on 30 Ground-Based Interceptors (GBI's),
26 based in Alaska and 4 in California until 2032. They would provide
protection against a maximum of 15 incoming ICBMs, using two GBIs per
ICBM with a shoot, look, and shoot doctrine. Due to distance, parts of
Eastern United States will not have the same confidence of protection
as the remaining U.S. Homeland from an ICBM threat from Iran.
4. There is a gap of protection and vulnerability against an ICBM launched
from Iran at the U.S. homeland, especially to significant parts of the
east coast, for a minimum of 5 years in the President's plan for
missile defense, provided that Iran acquires ICBM capability by 2015.
5. In regards to a hedge for the existent gap in protection from an ICBM
attack from Iran against the U.S. homeland, Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly
presented three options:
-- Fully outfitting missile field 2 in Fort Greely, Alaska with GBIs
adding 8 more GBIs to the existing 30 GBIs,
-- Testing the two-stage GBI, the missile in June of this year, the
same missile system intended to be deployed in Poland for the
canceled 3rd site of the previous administration.
-- Having additional shot opportunities, against an ICBM from Iran,
with two-stage missiles.


"The recent Congressional hearings on missile defense have made it abundantly clear to the American public that a gap exists in the missile protection of the U.S. homeland against Iran. It is also apparent that the administration's plans to develop and deploy a hedge to fill that gap have not adequately been addressed. The administration needs to move forward with urgency for a robust testing and deployment plan of the two-stage GBI on or before 2015 to ensure full protection of the U.S. homeland from Iran.

"The protection of the U.S. homeland from ballistic missiles is the declared and stated number one priority of President Obama's administration missile defense policy."

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AJC: Ship Seizure Proves Iran is Fanning Flames of War

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Jewish Committee warned that yesterday's seizure by the Israeli Navy of a ship ferrying 500 tons of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist organization, is an unmistakable sign that the Tehran regime is fanning the flames of war and conflict in the Middle East.

"We applaud the Israeli Navy for taking this decisive action," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "The deadly cargo the ship was carrying would have enabled Hezbollah to broaden its murderous assault against Israel - a country which these terrorists, just like their Iranian paymasters, seek to wipe off the map."

The haul of weapons was ten times larger than that intercepted on the "Karine 'A'" ship in January 2002, when Iran sent weapons and ordnance to the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat.

"In shipping these weapons, Iran has engaged in a major violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1701 and 1747, which expressly forbid Iran from exporting or trading any form of weapons," Harris said. "Such flagrant violations have become routine for Iran's leaders, whether they are providing support to terrorist organizations or covertly developing their nuclear program."

Harris urged the international community to impose a new round of tough, robust sanctions against Iran. "Thirty years to the day that Ayatollah Khomeini's enforcers seized the US Embassy in Iran, little has changed: the regime continues to repress its own people and threaten its neighbors," Harris said.

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Israel's Protection from Iran Rests With President Obama

/PRNewswire/ -- Riki Ellison, Chairman and Founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org, has analyzed the current situation with Iran and given his comments below. Ellison is one of the top lay experts in missile defense in the world:

A momentous week of unveiling Iran's second nuclear site, which confirmed their intention to disperse and protect non-civilian nuclear development, coupled with their ballistic missile launches over the weekend from 90 miles to 1,200 miles requires close examination of President Obama's new direction of our nation's missile defense. Iran has not invested nor demonstrated interest in developing or deploying large scale aircraft further exemplifying its intent to project power beyond its borders with ballistic missiles and progress down an aggressive path to become a new nuclear power that will threaten its national security interests. The overall intelligence assessment of Iran has not changed from previous National Intelligence Estimates of years past, as Iran steadily maintains its development to have ballistic capability by 2015 or earlier to strike Europe and the United States. President Obama's new missile defense architecture has its core component of Aegis Ashore (land based SM3) to be deployed at the earliest by 2018 and a long range SM3 Block II deployed missile to protect the US and Europe from long range missiles by 2020. The previous Administration missile defense plan had deployments in place to protect Europe and the US by 2015, three to five years earlier than the current plan. This Administration is betting the security of our nation, our 80,000 deployed men and women deployed in Europe and our allies, to be unprotected and not be threatened by Iran, on a shift in their perception of an intelligence estimate by the Department of Defense that shows that Iran has slowed down its development and deployment of ballistic missiles. Our nation will put forward an estimated minimum of 3.5 billion to 4 billion U.S. tax dollars and another 1 billion dollars (if you include the cost of the Aegis ships) for a total of around 5 billion U.S. tax dollars to protect our troops, allies and friends in Europe. For the state of Israel, the ballistic missile threat from Iran is here today - as demonstrated by the Iranian missiles fired this weekend that went beyond the range of Israel. Added to this reality, the two Iranian nuclear sites hidden and well-protected deep underground pose an excruciating national security issue for Israel and for the Middle East region. If Israel is not protected nor has adequate missile defense to prevent zero leakage from ballistic missiles on its major cities, it will be provoked to unilaterally protect itself and use pre-emptive military action. This becomes a considerable challenge when the Iranian nuclear facilities are heavily fortified underground, bunker buster bombs and air re-fuelers for Israel aircraft have to be provided by the United States with President Obama's permission, as well as the potential of a retaliatory ballistic missile strike by Iran whether Israel succeeds or not.

Israel today does not have the missile defense protection it needs as it is reliant on old, antiquated explosive technology in its Arrow program and does not have midcourse interceptors to provide a layered defense that would give an additional option to the government there. It is paramount that the United States provide elements of our current missile defense systems such as the Patriot, the THAAD, the Aegis and the future Aegis Ashore to Israel as well as support Israel's own domestic developments of missile defense as a first priority in President Obama's new missile defense architecture. This Administration not only needs to support in resources all of what it has announced, President Obama needs to accelerate with urgency its development and deployment of his new missile defense architecture to meet the threat or face the grave consequences of putting Israel, our troops, our allies and our nation at high and unnecessary risk. This is too high of a gamble to bet the national security of our nation and others with a positive diplomatic outcome that has a history of failures on US and international persuasion and influence of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Smoke and mirrors, political posturing and appeasement is not the right course of action to have confidence to protect our people and those of the world from a real and present danger.

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JCRC Calls Iran a 'Rogue Nation Whose Leadership Cannot Be Trusted'

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The JCRC of Greater Washington (Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington) calls upon Congress to immediately pass The Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act and the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act to prevent Iran from acquiring the nuclear weapons they have threatened to use against Israel. We call upon President Obama and U.S. allies to remain steadfast in denying Iran the ability to produce weapons of mass destruction.

Two days after Iranian President Ahmadinejad delivered an anti-Semitic and anti-American rant at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly denying Iranian nuclear weapon ambitions, it has been revealed that Iran has concealed the existence of a second uranium enrichment plant buried underneath a mountain near the ancient city of Qom. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the existence of this secret facility, which President Obama this morning declared "inconsistent with that of a peaceful facility." British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined the President in his condemnation of Iranian rule-breaking.

Today's revelation demonstrates that Iran is a rogue nation whose leadership cannot be trusted.

News of this hidden plant arrives one week prior to the first official U.S.-Iranian talks in thirty years. The Geneva discussions will include Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany.

The revelation of a secret nuclear enrichment facility demonstrates Iran's continued defiance of international commitments and determination to develop weapons of mass destruction. Yesterday hundreds of people in D.C. joined thousands across the nation to rally in opposition to Iran's nuclear ambitions, human rights abuses and support for international terrorism.

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Pelosi Statement on Iran's Covert Nuclear Facility

/PRNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today concerning revelations that Iran has built a covert facility for uranium enrichment:

"Iran's effort to conceal a major nuclear facility sends a clear signal that the regime has not worked in good faith to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons in the Middle East and around the world.

"One of the strongest pillars of America's national security is non-proliferation, and I commend President Obama for standing with fellow leaders to condemn this development and call on Iran to cooperate in our pursuit of a world free of weapons of mass destruction.

"An Iran with nuclear weapons is simply unacceptable. It is a threat to the region, to the United States, and to our allies across the globe. Iran must take the necessary steps to demonstrate its willingness to live as a peaceful partner in the international community. And we must use the tools at our disposal -- from diplomacy to sanctions -- to stop Iran's march toward nuclear capability."

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7,000 Rally Against Ahmadinejad in New York

/PRNewswire/ -- 7,000 Iranians staged a rally outside the United Nations in New York on Wednesday, to protest against the presence of the Iranian regime's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at the United Nations. The participants declared their support for recent uprisings in Iran and the residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq, home to members of Iran's main opposition.

The protesters said Ahmadinejad and the regime lacked any legitimacy in the eyes of the Iranian people, who through their uprisings during the past three months showed that they want the mullahs out.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, told the rally through a video message that the West's policy of appeasement was completely out of touch with the reality of today's Iran.

"The policy of 'direct negotiations without precondition' that intended to miraculously end nuclear tensions has failed. Once again I reiterate that thwarting this regime's nuclear threat has one and only one solution and that is democratic change in Iran. The Iranian people through their uprising and resistance will eventually determine the fate of this regime. But the backward policy of appeasement has not only failed but is ethically wrong," Rajavi stressed.

Speakers said the Iranian people have demonstrated that they have the will, the courage and the capability to bring about democratic change in Iran. The world must stand with them. "Instead of addressing the UN, Ahmadinejad must face an international tribunal for crimes against humanity and his regime be compelled to accept free elections under UN supervision," they added.

The Iranians emphasized that the U.S. must guarantee the rights of the Ashraf residents in accordance with the International Humanitarian Law in order to prevent violence against them and their forcible displacement. They also called on the U.S. to take immediate measures to secure the release of the 36 residents abducted by the Iraqi agents of the Iranian regime.

They called on the UN to make necessary arrangements for deployment of a UN supervised monitoring team in Ashraf and to ensure that the fundamental rights, safety and security of the residents of Ashraf are protected.

Several members of Congress, including Carolyn Meloney (D-NY), Ted Poe (R-TX), and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) send messages of support for the rally's objectives.

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'Time is Running Out' to Prevent Nuclear Iran

/PRNewswire/ -- Former U.S. Senators Daniel Coats and Charles Robb and General (ret.) Charles Wald, members of the Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) National Security Initiative, today released a report warning that "time is running out" to prevent a nuclear weapons-capable Iran. Concluding that "the Islamic Republic will be able to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon by 2010," the report, entitled "Meeting the Challenge: Time is Running Out," calls on the Obama Administration to adopt a more forceful, phased strategy towards Iran, including: accelerated, defined diplomatic engagement; more "coercive" international sanctions; and, if Iranian defiance continues unabated, potential surgical military action.

Remarking on the need to update the original report, the authors jointly stated, "We are alarmed by how much progress Iran has made toward obtaining nuclear weapons capability and remain skeptical about the sincerity of Iran's new-found willingness to negotiate. We hope that the bipartisan strategy we propose can help guide our government to resolve this difficult and urgent national security challenge."

Emphasizing that a nuclear weapons-capable Iran would be "strategically untenable," the authors argue that the current U.S. approach does not reflect the rapid progress of Iran's nuclear program. It is this advancing Iranian threat and the desire to avoid a possible Israeli military strike, the authors argue, that should drive U.S. policy--not concerns over Iran's political turmoil.

The authors applaud President Obama's attempts at diplomatic outreach and call upon the international community to join together in imposing sanctions on Iran's banking and energy sectors following next week's G-20 summit. Noting that Russia and China are unlikely to support such sanctions, the report states that the efficacy of sanctions will largely depend upon the willingness of key European nations to curtail their commercial ties to Iran.

Should increased pressure on Tehran not yield credible progress by the end of 2009, the authors recommend that "the Obama Administration should elevate consideration of the military option." They argue that "the U.S. military is more than capable of launching a devastating strike against Iranian nuclear and military facilities," and that "only the credible threat of a U.S. military strike will make a peaceful resolution of the crisis possible."

This report is an update of a BPC report issued in September 2008, entitled "Meeting the Challenge: U.S. Policy Toward Iranian Nuclear Development," that was the result of a high-level bipartisan task force. The entire group could not be reconstituted, as some members are now serving in the Obama Administration. The co-chairs of the original task force--Senators Daniel Coats and Charles Robb--together with General (ret.) Charles Wald, felt that the political, technological, diplomatic, and military developments of the past year needed to be addressed.

Calling on the U.S. political leadership to make hard choices, the authors argue "we cannot shirk responsibilities that will protect the national security interests of our country."

For more information on "Meeting the Challenge: Time is Running Out," or the BPC's National Security Initiative, please visit: www.bipartisanpolicy.org/.

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Former UN Human Rights Rapporteur Offers 7 Points of Action on Iran to the UN Secretary General

/PRNewswire/ -- In an unprecedented meeting at the UN, Professor Manouchehr Ganji, a former UN special Rapporteur on Human Rights and currently an opposition leader and human rights protagonist for Iran, met with senior ranking UN Officials regarding the gross & systematic violations of human rights by the regime in Iran.

"I conveyed my message of gratitude to the Secretary General for his June 22 statement of urgent concern over the Iranian Regime's disregard and gross neglect of human rights in Iran, especially the post election use of vicious and lethal force against defenseless civilians," said Dr. Ganji. "The Secretary-General's urging of Iranian authorities to immediately stop the arrest, threat and use of force against Iranian citizens, was timely and quite thoughtful, although ineffective as the regime continues its 'violence,'" he added.

Having served as the UN's 1st Special Rapporteur on apartheid & on economic, social and cultural rights, Dr. Ganji recommended the following seven points of action on Iran as the minimum demands of Iranians today, adding "the Iranian people are rightfully looking to the UN to exercise its moral and legal authority in defense of their basic fundamental rights."

1-Declaration by the Secretary General that the regime in Iran is a gross violator of the UN charter obligations, particularly in regards to gender, ethnic, linguistic and religious discriminations.

2-The urgent need for permanent presence in Iran of an UNHCHR representative to monitor observance of human rights.

3-The need for permanent presence of International Committee of Red Cross in Iran as once existed during the former regime, for surveillance of prison conditions throughout Iran.

4-The urgent need for full disclosure of all detention centers, large and small, throughout Iran.

5-The need for immediate abrogation of "law of vengeance".

6-The need for regular admittance and facilitation of tasks, by Iran, of the six most important UN Special Rapporteurs on: torture; right to freedom of opinion, expression and press; arbitrary arrest and detentions; status of women; and independence of judges and lawyers.

7-The need for appointment of a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Iran.

Formerly Dean faculty of Law, Tehran University, Professor Ganji was Minister of Education, and served in multiple capacities at the UN & as member of various Committees on Human Rights.

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Missile Defense Reviews to Focus on Current, Long-Term Challenges

North Korea and Iran pose serious nuclear and missile proliferation concerns for the United States and other nations and will be major considerations in the U.S ballistic missile defense review, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III told the Senate Armed Services Committee Monday.

"The risks and dangers from missile proliferation are growing problems," Lynn said. "The president has made clear that we will move forward with missile defenses. They're affordable, proven and responsive to the threat."

Lynn joined other defense leaders in describing the ballistic missile threat and reviews of missile defense policy and planning under way to address current as well as long-term security challenges.

The recently initiated Ballistic Missile Defense Review and other related reviews, he said, will focus on challenges posed by violent extremist movements, the spread of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, rising powers with sophisticated weapons and failed or failing threats, Lynn told the panel.

Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted that the global nature of the threats and the rapid pace of technological change imposes big challenges on any deterrent strategy.

"No longer will a monolithic, mutual-assured destruction approach deter our aggressors," Cartwright said. "Our deterrent strategy will need to handle the rapid advances in technologies across a broad range of threats and conditions."

Several broad principles will guide the efforts:

• Defending the United States from rogue states and protecting U.S. forces.

This includes more effective theater missile defenses and more capabilities to warfighters provided through shorter-range and mobile missile defense systems, Lynn explained. The fiscal 2010 budget request includes an additional $900 million to field more systems such as the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ships and Standard Missile-3 interceptors to defend deployed forces and allies, he said.

• Preparing for emerging threats.

This effort calls for continued investment in national missile defense systems upgrades
and research and development to pursue new and more effective technologies to confront theater missile threats, Lynn said.

• Ensuring the effectiveness of U.S. missile defenses.

Lynn emphasized the need for robust testing, while terminating the troubled kinetic energy interceptor and multiple kill vehicle programs and returning the airborne laser to a technology demonstration program.

• Using missile defense as the basis for fostering international defense cooperation.

No final decisions have been made regarding missile defense in Europe, Lynn told the panel. However, the U.S. approach to missile defense there will be to seek cooperation with international partners, including Russia, to reduce the threat from Iran.

Lynn called ballistic missile defenses an important part of current and future national strategy that must be integrated into broader deterrence and alliance considerations.

"Missile defenses play a key role in both responding to current threats and hedging against future contingencies," he told the senators. "As we move forward with missile defense plans and programs, the Department of Defense will ensure they are affordable, effective and responsive to the risks and threats that confront the United States, our friends and our allies."

Army Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O'Reilly, director of the Missile Defense Agency, said the $7.8 billion requested for missile defense in the fiscal 2010 budget will support these endeavors.

This funding, he said, will focus on three areas of improvement: current protection against theater and rogue nation threats, the United States' hedge against future threats and improving the acquisition of U.S. missile defense capability.

"Missile defense is expensive, but the cost of mission failure can also be very high," O'Reilly said, emphasizing that the system must be both affordable and effective.

"The department is proposing a balanced program to develop, rigorously test and field an integrated [ballistic missile defense system] architecture to counter existing regional threats, maintain our limited [intercontinental ballistic missile] defense, develop new technologies to address future risks and become more operationally and cost-effective as we prepare to protect against the more uncertain threats of the future," he said.

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

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Ted Galen Carpenter discusses North Korea's latest nuclear test on WOR

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WJS: Warnings on Iran

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the nuclear threat from Tehran.
Benjamin Netanyahu formally became Israel's Prime Minister last week, and he could not have been blunter about the strategic challenge ahead: "It is a mark of disgrace for humanity that several decades after the Holocaust the world's response to the calls by Iran's leader to destroy the state of Israel is weak, there is no condemnation and decisive measures -- almost as if dismissed as routine." He added, "We cannot afford to take lightly megalomaniac tyrants who threaten to annihilate us."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123897499619091093.html#mod=djemEditorialPage

Why Ballistic Missile Defense is Critical

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Iranian Man and His Company Charged in International Scheme to Supply Iran With Sensitive U.S. Technology

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An Iranian citizen and his Tehran business have been charged with purchasing helicopter engines and advanced aerial cameras for fighter bombers from U.S. firms and illegally exporting them to Iran using companies in Malaysia, Ireland and the Netherlands. Among the alleged recipients of these U.S. goods was an Iranian military firm that has since been designated by the United States for being owned or controlled by entities involved in Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program.

The charges against Hossein Ali Khoshnevisrad, 55, and his Iranian company, Ariasa, AG (Ariasa), were announced today by Matthew G. Olsen, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Jeffrey A. Taylor, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; Kevin A. Delli-Colli, Acting Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement, U.S. Department of Commerce; Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge, FBI Washington Field Office; Mark X. McGraw, Special Agent in Charge, Washington Field Office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security; and Special Agent in Charge Edward Bradley of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service Northeast Field Office.

Khoshnevisrad was arrested on Saturday, March 14, after he arrived at San Francisco International Airport on a flight from abroad. He made his initial appearance earlier today in federal court in San Francisco.

A criminal complaint filed under seal in federal court in the District of Columbia in August 2008 and unsealed today, charges the defendants each with two counts of unlawfully exporting U.S. goods to Iran and two counts of conspiracy to unlawfully export U.S. goods to Iran in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions Regulations. If convicted, Khoshnevisrad faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each of the first three counts of the complaint and a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the fourth count of the complaint.

According to the affidavit in support of the complaint, from January 2007 through December 2007, Khoshnevisrad and Ariasa caused and instructed a trading company in Ireland to purchase several model 250 turbo-shaft helicopter engines from Rolls-Royce Corp. in Indiana. The model 250 engine was originally designed for a U.S. Army light observation helicopter and has since been installed in numerous civil and military helicopters. In 2007, the Irish trading company purchased 17 of the model 250 helicopter engines from Rolls-Royce for $4.27 million, falsely stating that the helicopters would be used by the Irish trading company or by fake companies.

The affidavit alleges that these helicopter engines were then exported from the United States to a purported "book publisher" in Malaysia, at a Malaysian freight forwarding company address, and later shipped on to Iran. Among the recipients in Iran was the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company, known by its Iranian acronym as HESA.

On Sept. 17, 2008, the Treasury Department designated several Iranian weapons of mass destruction proliferators and members of their support networks pursuant to Executive Order 13382. Among the entities designated was HESA, which the Treasury Department determined was controlled by Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics and has provided support to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In addition to the alleged illegal export of helicopter engines, the affidavit alleges that Khoshnevisrad and Ariasa also caused to be exported to Iran several aerial panorama cameras from the United States. These specific cameras were designed for the U.S. Air Force for use on bombers, fighters and surveillance aircraft, including the F-4E Phantom fighter bomber, which is currently used by the Iranian military.

According to the affidavit, in 2006, Khoshnevisrad instructed a Dutch aviation parts company to place an order for these cameras with a U.S. company located in Pennsylvania and to ship them to an address in Iran.

According to the affidavit, the Dutch company ordered the aerial panorama cameras from the Pennsylvania firm, falsely stating that the Netherlands would be the final destination for the cameras. In an email to the Dutch company, Khoshnevisrad provided the following instructions: "Regarding the end user as you know USA will not deliver to Iran in any case. You should give them an end user by yourself."

In August 2006, a representative of the Dutch company notified Khoshnevisrad that he had received the cameras from the United States and that the cameras would soon be shipped to Tehran aboard an Iran Air flight, according to the affidavit.

Despite these alleged transactions, neither Khoshnevisrad nor Ariasa has ever sought, obtained or possessed any authorization or license from the U.S. Department of Treasury to export any goods or technology to Iran, according to the affidavit.

This investigation was conducted by special agents from the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry Security, Office of Export Enforcement; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. U.S. Customs and Border Protection provided assistance in the arrest.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Denise Cheung and Ann Petalas of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, and Trial Attorneys Johnathan Poling and Ryan Fayhee of the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department's National Security Division. Local coordination is being provided by Assistant U.S. Attorney Candace Kelly of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.

The details contained in a criminal complaint are mere allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

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Clinton Doubtful Iran Will Respond to U.S. Diplomacy

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed doubt Monday that Iran would respond to the Obama administration's diplomatic initiatives toward Tehran on nuclear and other issues, a senior State Department official said.

Clinton made the statement in a private meeting with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who had expressed to Clinton a concern among Persian Gulf nations that Obama might make a deal.....
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/02/clinton-doubtful-iran-respond-diplomacy/

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Iran Launches Test of Its First Nuclear Plant

Iranian and Russian technicians are conducting a test run of Iran's first nuclear power plant, officials said Wednesday, a major step toward launching full operations at the facility, which has long raised concerns in the U.S. and its allies over Iran's nuclear ambitions......
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,499864,00.html

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AJC Alarmed by Latest IAEA Report on Iran's Nuclear Program

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC is alarmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) latest report, which indicates that Iran has produced 630 kilograms of low-enriched uranium. According to nuclear physicists, this amount of low-enriched uranium is roughly sufficient to make one atomic bomb.

"The harsh reality is that Iran has defied repeated international demands and continued its enrichment program, widely believed to be for military purposes," said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris.

While additional steps are required to actually create the bomb, including further enrichment and design of the bomb itself, this development represents yet another ominous milestone in the Iranian effort to achieve nuclear weapons capability.

"This week's IAEA report on the Iranian nuclear program, coupled with earlier studies, should serve as a pressing wake-up call for the international community," said Harris. "It is high time for the UN Security Council, the European Union and key nations with ties to Iran to adopt further measures -- political, commercial and financial -- to ensure that Iran gets the clear message that 'it can't have its yellow cake and eat it, too.'"

Moreover, with nearly 4000 centrifuges at work to enrich uranium, and ambitions to increase that number rapidly, Iran is unquestionably seeking additional low-enriched uranium.

"The sanctions enacted to date, while laudable in their intent, have not yet had the desired impact," said Harris. "The international community must ratchet up the pressure, while leaving the door open to the diplomatic solution that Tehran has spurned for years. The stark alternative is a nuclear Iran, which would trigger a nuclear arms race among its neighbors and pose an unprecedented threat to regional and global security."

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