Iran: From the News

Just a few little nuggets from the news today:

Netanyahu: It's 1938 and Iran is Germany; Ahmadinejad is preparing another Holocaust

Drawing a direct analogy between Iran and Nazi Germany, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu asserted Monday that the Iranian nuclear program posed a threat not only to Israel, but to the entire western world. There was "still time," however, to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, he said.

"It's 1938 and Iran is Germany. And Iran is racing to arm itself with atomic bombs," Netanyahu told delegates to the annual United Jewish Communities General Assembly, repeating the line several times, like a chorus, during his address. "Believe him and stop him," the opposition leader said of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "This is what we must do. Everything else pales before this."

While the Iranian president "denies the Holocaust," Netanyahu said, "he is preparing another Holocaust for the Jewish state

Iran plotting to groom bin Laden's successor

But intelligence officials have been most alarmed by reports from Iran that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is trying to persuade al-Qa'eda to promote a pro-Iranian activist to a senior position within its leadership.

The Iranians want Saif al-Adel, a 46-year-old former colonel in Egypt's special forces, to be the organisation's number three.

Al-Adel was formerly bin Laden's head of security, and was named on the FBI's 22 most wanted list after September 11 for his alleged involvement in terror attacks against US targets in Somalia and Africa in the 1990s. He has been living in a Revolutionary Guard guest house in Teheran since fleeing from Afghanistan in late 2001.

Alarm over al-Qa'eda deepened yesterday with a Foreign Office warning that the group was determined to acquire the technology to carry out a nuclear attack on the West.

Iran Says Nuke Program Is Near Complete

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Iran would soon celebrate completion of its nuclear fuel program and claimed the international community was ready to accept it as a nuclear state.

Iran has been locked in a standoff with the West over its nuclear program. The United States and its European allies have been seeking a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.

"Initially, they (the U.S. and its allies) were very angry. The reason was clear:

They basically wanted to monopolize nuclear power in order to rule the world and impose their will on nations," Ahmadinejad told a news conference.

"Today, they have finally agreed to live with a nuclear Iran, with an Iran possessing the whole nuclear fuel cycle," he said. He did not elaborate.

IAEA Expected To Report No Progress In Iran

Iran is still less than cooperative in aiding the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its probe into Iran's nuclear programme, diplomats said in Vienna Tuesday.

The UN nuclear watchdog is expected to present a report on the issue later Tuesday or Wednesday to its 35-board member states ahead of its next meeting on November 23 and 24.

The report is expected to say that Tehran continues to defy UN Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment. Iran continues a small-scale enrichment programme, but announced major expansion plans in the months to come.

Enriched uranium can be employed both to produce nuclear fuel or, if enriched to a higher degree, for nuclear weapons. Iran maintains it is developing a nuclear programme only for energy production purposes, while Western nations are concerned Iran could pursue nuclear weapons and are considering sanctions against Tehran.

Is it just me or do you think its time to lay the Smack Down on Tehran and quell this vile anti-Americanism for awhile?