Iran Lodges U.N. Protest Against Hillary Clinton

A little over a week ago, you may recall that Hillary Clinton stated that she would "obliterate" Iran if it ever attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. It now appears that the Iranian government has lodged a formal protest in the U.N. about her remarks. Iran has lodged a formal protest at the United Nations about comments by Senator Hillary ...

Iran War Drums Beating?

As previously noted, Admiral Mike Mullen told a gathering at the Atlantic Council that he fears the United States and its allies “will have to deal with Iran in the very near future.” That statement left a lot of room for strategic ambiguity. He removed a bit in a press briefing yesterday, Ann Scott Tyson reports. The nation's ...

Mullen: We ‘Will Have to Deal with Iran in the Very Near Future’

Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a very profound statement at Monday night's Atlantic Council awards dinner that has received virtually no press notice: That we "will have to deal with Iran in the very near future." Here's the context: We also live in a time where Iran routinely pushes its way ...

Alliance or Enablement?

Glenn Reynolds links, with praise, to an article about Hillary Clinton claiming that she would go to war with Iran if they attacked Israel.Clinton further displayed tough talk in an interview airing on "Good Morning America" Tuesday. ABC News' Chris Cuomo asked Clinton what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. "I want the Iranians to know that ...

What We Can Learn from Iran

Alex Tabarrok passes on word that only one country in the world has an adequate supply of donor kidneys for transplants: Iran. The reason? They allow compensation for donors. The government pays donors $1,200 plus limited health insurance coverage. In addition, charitable organizations also provide renumeration to impoverished donors. Thus demonstrating that Iran has something ...

Iranian Ballistic Missile Facility Found

"Do satellite photos show Iran ballistic missile facility?" asks a CSM headline. The answer, apparently, is yes. Here's the photo in question: Can you identify the missile facility? Me neither, aside from the little circle with "CB" in it. Michael Evans of the Times of London, though, says that people who know how to read these things ...

Influencing Tehran

Matthew Yglesias has an important post on the nature of Iranian influence in Iraq, and why our policy towards Iran is only making Iraq worse:Petraeus and Crocker both seem committed to a "blame Iran for problems" approach to their hearings. In this context, it's worth looking at this in the broader context of US-Iranian relations. Iran is adjacent to Iraq. ...

Defeated Maliki Accepts Cease-Fire

Six days of Shiite-on-Shiite warfare in Basra appear over after Mahdi militia chief Moktada al-Sadr sued for peace* and the government agreed in a deal brokered by Iran. Whether this gets scored a "win" for Sadr or Prime Minister Maliki will likely vary depending on the predisposition of the evaluator. Based on what we know now, though, Maliki's gambit ...

U.S. and Iran - Basra Team-Up?

Noah Schachtman notes the irony that the U.S. now finds itself on the same "team" with the Iranian government. For more than a year, America's political and military leaders have been angrily accusing Iran of fueling the violence in Iraq. But, in the battle for Basra, the U.S. suddenly finds itself in the odd position of being, in effect, Tehran's ...

Iraq Cease-Fire Over

The cease-fire that has kept the main Shiite militia mostly quiet for the past seven months seems to have unraveled. The US blames Iran. The Mahdi Army's seven-month-long cease-fire appears to have come undone. Rockets fired from the capital's Shiite district of Sadr City slammed into the Green Zone Tuesday, the second time in three days, and firefights ...

Iranian Schoolbook Discrimination

Iran's brutal theocratic regime based on 7th century values teaches its children that males and Muslims are superior to females and non-Muslims, a groundbreaking new study reveals. The government of Iran is teaching the country’s children to discriminate against women and minorities, to view non-Muslims with suspicion and contempt, and to perpetuate the regime’s theocratic ideology, Freedom House said ...

Bush to Replace Fallon on Route to Iran War?

Thomas Barnett published a piece in Esquire on CENTCOM chief William Fallon, a/k/a "The Man Between War and Peace," that hit the Web yesterday evening and is already creating quite a buzz. If, in the dying light of the Bush administration, we go to war with Iran, it'll all come down to one man. If we do not go to ...

Iran and Iraq

The picture at right, of Iraqi President Talabani Prime Minister Maliki and Iranian President Ahmadinejad, was taken on President Ahmadinejad's recent visit to Iraq, the first ever by an Irenian leader: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hailed a new era in relations with neighbouring Iraq as he began the first visit by an Iranian leader to Baghdad yesterday. His presence, intensely controversial among many Iraqis, ...

Obama Ties Clinton Policies to Bush’s

In a nice little political jujitsu move, Barack Obama managed to attack both Hillary Clinton and John McCain at the same time, by tying them together and tying them both to Bush:It’s time for new leadership that understands that the way to win a debate with John McCain is not by nominating someone who agreed with him on voting for ...

Russia Starts Iran Nuclear Deliveries

Russia has began delivery of nuclear fuel to Iran, defying UN resolutions calling on Iran to give up its nuclear enrichment program. Russia on Monday announced the start of nuclear fuel deliveries for Iran's first atomic power station, brushing aside US and Israeli claims that Tehran harbours secret bomb-making plans. "On December 16, 2007, Atomstroiexport began delivery of the fuel ...