Not only did Obama sanction these genocidal madmen, he sent an envoy......... Obama sends US Diplomat With Ban Ki Moon to Meet With Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Ahmadinejad’s senior VP, Rahimi
What a carrot -- Obama rewards for this:
- UN: Iran Doubles Underground Nuclear Capacity - Fredrik Dahl
Iran has doubled the number of uranium enrichment centrifuges it has in an underground bunker, a UN report said on Thursday. The IAEA said the number of centrifuges at Fordow had more than doubled to 2,140 from 1,064 in May. The IAEA also said Iran had produced nearly 190 kg. of higher-grade enriched uranium since 2010, up from 145 kg. in May. Washington says there is still time for diplomatic pressure to work. (Reuters)
See also Report on Iran Nuclear Work Puts Israel in a Box - Jodi Rudoren and David E. Sanger
The International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday offered findings validating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's longstanding position that while harsh economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation may have hurt Iran, they have failed to slow Tehran's nuclear program. If anything, the program is speeding up. But the agency's report has also put Israel in a corner, documenting that Iran is close to crossing what Israel has long said is its red line: the capability to produce nuclear weapons in a location invulnerable to Israeli attack. (New York Times)
See also Report: Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and Relevant Provisions of Security Council Resolutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran (International Atomic Ener gy Agency) - Ayatollah Khamenei: Palestine Belongs to the Palestinians
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei told the Non-Aligned Summit in Tehran on August 30: On the basis of a horrible Western plot and under the direction of England in the 1940s, an independent country with a clear historical identity called "Palestine" has been taken away from its people through the use of weapons, killings and deception and has been given to a group of people the majority of whom are immigrants from European countries.
Even now after 65 years the same kind of crimes marks the treatment of Palestinians remaining in the occupied territories by the ferocious Zionist wolves. Our standpoint is that Palestine belongs to the Palestinians. All the Palestinians who have suffered from years of exile shoul d return to their country. (Ayatollah Khamenei-Iran) - UN Chief Denounces Iran to its Face over Calls to Destroy Israel
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon denounced Iran at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran on Thursday for calling for the destruction of Israel and denying the Holocaust. "I strongly reject threats by any member state to destroy another or outrageous attempts to deny historical facts such as the Holocaust," he said. "Claiming that Israel does not have the right to exist or describing it in racist terms is not only wrong, but undermines the very principles we all have pledged to uphold," he added.
Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-Israeli expert, said, "In the history of the Islamic Republic, nobody has challenged the supreme leader's position on Israel in front of him, and in such a manner....This is likely to have long-term reverberations and consequences inside Iran's halls of power." (NBC News)
See also Remarks of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Iran (United Nations)
.......and then this piece of news: World Israeli Paper Details Alleged Tense Confrontation Between Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador Over Obama’s Iran Policy: ‘Lightning and Sparks Flew’:
Two new signs point to the deepening rift between the Obama administration and the Israeli government over how to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons efforts: a reported confrontation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the U.S. ambassador to Israel and a statement by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey that he doesn’t want to be “complicit” in an Israeli strike on Iran.
The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot headlined its Friday paper “The Confrontation” with a photo of Netanyahu on one side and President Obama alongside U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, on the other. Veteran diplomatic correspondent Shimon Schiffer reports that during a private meeting last week, Netanyahu very undiplomatically attacked Obama and his advisers over what he views as their ineffective Iran policy. The incident took place when Republican congressman and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers visited Netanyahu’s office for an Iran briefing, accompanied by the U.S. ambassador to Israel. Schiffer reports (translated via hard copy by TheBlaze in Israel):
Netanyahu, according to a source who participated in the meeting, was particularly surly and stressed. At the start of the meeting, he opened with a sharp attack on the Obama administration which according to him has not done enough on the Iranian issue. “Instead of effectively pressuring Iran, Obama and his people are pressuring us not to attack the nuclear facilities,” he said, and then moved on to a harsh criticism of the administration’s pronouncements indicating there is still room for diplomacy. “The time has run out,” he said resolutely.
At one point, an anomalous thing occurred in the office, which is very unacceptable in diplomatic code. Ambassador Shapiro who was appointed by President Obama and for years was among his closest advisers decided he’d had enough. Enough is enough. He spoke and answered Netanyahu politely but in a manner that left no room for doubt.
The ambassador in fact accused Netanyahu of distorting Obama’s position. He quoted the president, who promised he would not allow a nuclear Iran and said that all options – including a military strike – are on the table […]
Diplomatic sources who were privy to the incident say that “lightning and sparks flew” in the room, and that the exchange of words became more harsh.
The U.S. embassy wouldn’t comment to the Yediot correspondent, and TheBlaze has not independently confirmed the story’s accuracy.
Meanwhile, Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey voiced his strongest opposition to date to any unilateral Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear plants. He told reporters in London: “I don’t want to be complicit if they [Israel] choose to do it.” The Guardian reports:
Distancing himself from any Israeli plan to bomb Iran, Dempsey said such an attack would “clearly delay but probably not destroy Iran’s nuclear programme”.
He added: “I don’t want to be complicit if they [Israel] choose to do it.”
Dempsey said he did not know Iran’s nuclear intentions, as intelligence did not reveal intentions. What was clear, he said, was that the “international coalition” applying pressure on Iran “could be undone if [Iran] was attacked prematurely”. Sanctions against Iran were having an effect, and they should be given a reasonable opportunity to succeed.
For now it appears Iran’s nuclear march proceeds unabated by sanctions and diplomacy, as reflected in the most recent International Atomic Energy Agency report. According to the IAEA’s latest quarterly report, Iran has more than doubled the number of centrifuges it has in its underground Fordo bunker, vastly increasing its uranium enrichment capacity.
