Spanning(en) rond Iran

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Iran: geen doorbraak nucleaire top

Reuters Toegevoegd: woensdag 30 mei 2012, 21:06

De Iraanse president Ahmadinejad verwacht weinig van het overleg met zes wereldmachten in Moskou. Dat zei hij in een interview met de Franse televisie.

De zes landen, de Verenigde Staten, Rusland, China, Frankrijk, Groot-Brittannië en Duitsland, komen volgende maand bij elkaar om Iran ervan te overtuigen het nucleaire programma te staken. Vorige week was er ook overleg met Iran, maar dat leidde niet tot concrete resultaten.

Volgens Ahmadinejad is er bij het overleg in Moskou op 18 en 19 juni geen doorbraak te verwachten. "Wij zijn niet gek. Wij verwachten geen wonderen bij de volgende ontmoeting."

De Iraanse president onderstreepte nog eens het recht van zijn land om uranium te verrijken voor vreedzame doeleinden. Volgens Ahmadinejad moeten andere landen uitleggen waarom Iran dat niet zou mogen en wat ze zullen bieden in ruil voor stopzetting van het programma.

Bron: NOS

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Iran confirms Flame virus attacked computers of high-ranking officials

By Chris Irvine, Damien McElroy

6:00AM BST 30 May 2012

The admission came as a United Nations agency responsible for regulating the internet warned that the virus is the most powerful espionage tool ever to target member states.

Iran's cyber defence organisation, the Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre, in a message posted on its website, warned that the virus is potentially more harmful than the Stuxnet worm that attacked Tehran's nuclear programme. It is estimate that the malicious software is 20 times more powerful than other known cyber warfare programmes, that could only have been made by a state.

Kamran Napelian, an Iranian cyber defence official told The New York Times that the virus "has a special pattern which you only see coming from Israel".

"The virus copies what you enter on your keyboard, it monitors what you see on your computer screen," he told the newspaper.

He said he was not authorised to disclose how much damage Flame had caused, but estimated it had been active for at least six months and had caused a "massive" data loss. He added that Iran had developed software to combat Flame, something the international community has yet to do.

Orla Cox, a security analyst at the security firm Symantec, said that Flame was targeting specific individuals, apparently Iranian related. "The way it has been developed is unlike anything we've seen before," she said. "It's huge. It's like using an atomic weapon to crack a nut."

Meanwhile Marco Obiso, cyber security coordinator for the UN's Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union yesterday said the warning they issued was the "most serious warning we have ever put out".

The formal warning tells member nations that the Flame virus is a dangerous espionage tool that could potentially be used to attack critical infrastructure, he said. "They should be on alert," he said adding "I think it is a much more serious threat than Stuxnet."

Figures released by the Kaspersky Lab, the Russian cyber security software maker that took credit for discovering the infections, show that infections by the programme were spread across the Middle East with 189 attacks in Iran, 98 incidents in the West Bank, 32 in Sudan and 30 in Syria.

Other countries where the virus was detected include Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Unlike the Stuxnet virus, which attacked an Iranian enrichment facility, causing centrifuges to fail, Flame does not disrupt or terminate systems.

Iran believes the US and Israel are trying to sabotage its programme. It denies the allegation that its programme is weapons related.

A leading Israeli politician hinted at the country's involvement in the virus.

"Whoever sees the Iranian threat as a significant threat is likely to take various steps, including these, to hobble it," Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon told Army Radio. "Israel is blessed with high technology, and we boast tools that open all sorts of opportunities for us."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9298935/Iran-confirms-Flame-virus-attacked-computers-of-high-ranking-officials.html

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Iran doelwit van ongekend spionagevirus

dinsdag 29 mei 2012 | 11:33 | Laatst bijgewerkt op: dinsdag 29 mei 2012 | 17:07

Tekstgrootte 

MOSKOU - Een ongekend destructief computervirus voert aanvallen uit op landen, vooral Iran. Dat hebben organisaties die zijn gespecialiseerd in het beveiligen van computers laten weten.

Een ongekend destructief computervirus voert aanvallen uit op landen, vooral op Iran. 'Flame' is veel groter en complexer dan de tot nu toe bekende virussen. Dat hebben organisaties die zijn gespecialiseerd in het beveiligen van computers, laten weten.

2 jaar oud
Het Flamevirus is mogelijk meer dan 2 jaar oud. De 'meesterspion' kan behalve gegevens stelen ook computers bedienen en zo microfoons aanzetten en cameraatjes inschakelen. Orla Cox van virusbestrijder Symantec vermoedt dat een regering achter de code van Flame zit . "Het is professioneel opgesteld'' en er moeten veel middelen en mensen bij betrokken zijn, zei ze tegen CNN.

Flame zou op dit moment zijn binnengedrongen in computersystemen in Iran, Egypte, Israël, de Palestijnse gebieden, Libanon, Saudi-Arabië, Sudan en Syrië. De code van Flame zou deels overeenkomen met het virus dat in april het Iraanse ministerie van Olie aanviel.

Antivirus
Iran beweert dat het al een programma tegen Flame heeft gemaakt. De antivirussoftware "is vanaf vandaag beschikbaar voor organisaties en bedrijven die hem willen'', liet de cyberveiligheidsdienst van de Iraanse overheid dinsdag weten.

Volgens virusbestrijder Kaspersky is Flame 20 keer zo groot en ingewikkeld als Stuxnet. Die worm, die in 2010 werd ontdekt, voerde aanvallen uit op computersystemen van Iraanse nucleaire projecten. Flame betekent daarom een nieuwe fase in de cyberoorlog, aldus Kaspersky.

Israël
Wie achter Flame zit is niet bekend. Bij aanvallen op Iran gaat de verdenking vaak uit naar aartsvijand Israël, maar de Joodse staat geeft niets toe. Minister Moshe Yaalon van Strategische Zaken zegt wel dat ,,het redelijk is dat wie Iran als een grote bedreiging ziet, verschillende maatregelen neemt, zoals deze, om te dwarsbomen''.

© Gelderlander 2012

[Lex]

Some 18,000 components, including propellers and radars, were replaced on the Tareq (Russian Project 877EKM Paltus), one of Iran's three Kilo-class submarines, which entered service in 1992.

18k componenten is best wel heftig. Je zou bijna gaan denken, dat alles, behalve de hull is vervangen.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Iran Overhauls Russian-Built Sub

MOSCOW, May 29 (RIA Novosti)

The Iranian Navy has brought back into operation a Russian-built submarine, after major repairs with locally produced components, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting company, IRIB, reported on Tuesday.

Some 18,000 components, including propellers and radars, were replaced on the Tareq (Russian Project 877EKM Paltus), one of Iran's three Kilo-class submarines, which entered service in 1992.

The submarine was relaunched from a dry dock in an Iranian port.

The other two Kilo-class subs are the Nooh (1993) and the Yunes (1997).

http://en.ria.ru/world/20120529/173734956.html

[Enforcer]

Uiteindelijk lost dat het Iraanse probleem dan wel op, want zo'n "shake" komt er toch wel een keer.

[dudge]

Hoe slim is het om zoveel kerncentrales te bouwen als je daar wat breuklijnen hebt lopen?! Je zou denken dat men wat van Fukusjima zou leren.

Insha'Allah 'dat komt wel goed '

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Hoe slim is het om zoveel kerncentrales te bouwen als je daar wat breuklijnen hebt lopen?! Je zou denken dat men wat van Fukusjima zou leren.

Handig (vvorzichtig uitgedrukt) is anders.

[Enforcer]

Hoe slim is het om zoveel kerncentrales te bouwen als je daar wat breuklijnen hebt lopen?! Je zou denken dat men wat van Fukusjima zou leren.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

'Internationale gemeenschap moet ons nucleair recht erkennen'

maandag 28 mei 2012 om 10u36

Iran is bereid tot toegevingen op nucleair vlak op voorwaarde dat de internationale gemeenschap erkent dat het land recht heeft op een nucleair programma.

Iran is bereid om zijn programma voor het verrijken van uranium tot 20 procent stop te zetten, op voorwaarde dat de internationale gemeenschap erkent dat het land recht heeft op een nucleair programma. Dat is meegedeeld door het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken in Teheran.

"De erkenning van ons nucleair recht moet de basis vormen voor verdere nucleaire onderhandelingen. Dat is de enige manier om tot een doorbraak te komen", zegt Ramin Mehmanparast, de woordvoerder van het Iraanse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken. "In dat geval kan door Iran zelfs worden overwogen om te stoppen met het verrijken tot 20 procent, als het westen het vreedzame karakter erkent".

Mehmanparast stelde voorts dat Iran tot het verrijken van uranium "gedwongen" werd, aangezien het westen geweigerd had om nucleaire brandstof te leveren voor de medische reactor in Teheran.

Bij een internationale erkenning van de nucleaire rechten van Iran, zal het land ook bereid zijn om meer inspecties toe te staan van het Internationaal Atoomenergieagentschap (IAEA), luidt het tot slot.

Tweede kerncentrale

Iran heeft ook laten weten om dat het begin volgend jaar start met de bouw van een tweede kerncentrale in Bushehr, in het zuiden van het land. Die komt naast de nucleaire kerncentrale die er nu al staat en gebouwd werd door Rusland. Het is niet bekend of Rusland opnieuw in het project instapt.

De Iraanse leiders hebben al herhaaldelijk laten optekenen dat ze een twintigtal kerncentrales willen bouwen, goed voor een totaal vermogen van 20.000 megawatt. De centrale die nu al in Bushehr staat, werd in 2010 ingehuldigd, na 35 jaar van werken en ontelbare politieke, technische en financiële moeilijkheden. (Belga/INM

http://www.knack.be/nieuws/buitenland/internationale-gemeenschap-moet-ons-nucleair-recht-erkennen/article-4000104595861.htm#

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

The Nixon option for Iran?

2012-05-27 20:02

WASHINGTON ― Rearranging the deck chairs would not have saved the Titanic. Nor did the endless debates on the shape of the table in the Vietnam negotiations advance the effort to end that malign conflict. Nevertheless, many American presidents have successfully redesigned talks with adversaries in bold new ways to strengthen national security without war. Such boldness is now needed in the negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.

In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt negotiated personally with Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov to open diplomatic relations between the two countries. Dwight D. Eisenhower invited Nikita Khrushchev to the United States in 1959 to open the eyes of the first Soviet leader ever to visit America. The bilateral U.S.-China talks in Warsaw in the 1960s were fruitless until Richard M. Nixon and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger opened a different, more direct discussion through the auspices of Pakistan.

International negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program also need a new concept and broader agenda. The Istanbul meeting last month concluded on a positive note. Both sides decided to find a way to avoid the pattern of mutual recrimination and sterile exchanges. The door is now open to an initial agreement with modest goals.

But don't count on a new era without some form of direct U.S.-Iran discussions. The talks with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) are formulaic, stagnant, and not likely to achieve any breakthrough on their own. The Iranians feel outnumbered by diverse participants with varying agendas. The U.S. needs to reshape the environment to make it easier for Iran to compromise.

The U.S. should press for bilateral talks. One lesson provided by former American presidents is the value of direct, high-level contacts with key adversaries. Of course, a face-to-face meeting between President Barack Obama and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seems absurd to imagine ― now. But could any meeting have seemed more absurd in 1969 than the 1971 meeting between Nixon and Mao Zedong? The U.S. and Iran need to set a path toward broad bilateral discussions on worldviews, regional security, and plans to improve mutual understanding in order to minimize differences.

Even without direct U.S.-Iran talks now, the current negotiations need reshaping. The P5+1 should continue to negotiate with Iran on its uranium-enrichment program, while the International Atomic Energy Agency should negotiate with Iran on strengthening the transparency of its nuclear program. The Iranians want to resolve their problems directly with the IAEA, and to avoid negotiating under the cloud of U.N. Security Council resolutions, which impose sanctions on Iran to force suspension of enrichment.

This situation suggests a phased approach. First, during the talks in Baghdad, the P5+1 might seek an early confidence-building agreement by which Iran voluntarily ceases enriching to 20 percent content in the U-235 fissile isotope and blends down or ships out their stockpile of such uranium, which is closer to weapons grade. They might also seek a standstill on the deep underground enrichment facility at Fordow in exchange for provision of fuel rods for Iran's research reactor and a freeze on some sanctions.

Second, the P5+1 could then agree to agree to some Iranian enrichment as an incentive for Iran to conclude a parallel agreement with the IAEA on greater transparency. These parallel steps would reshape the process to achieve a key U.S. objective: ensuring that Iran abides by Khamenei's own fatwa (religious decree) against nuclear weapons.

Third, both sides will need to outline the long-term objectives of the negotiations. As the IAEA presses Iran for agreements on greater transparency, Iran wants to know where such agreements might lead, particularly regarding sanctions.

Iranians claim that each time they move toward cooperation with the U.S., a new problem emerges to block improved relations. Iran wants to know which sanctions might be delayed, frozen, or lifted in exchange for current and future concessions, fearing that the U.S. will continue to impose sanctions on human-rights, security, or other grounds.

The U.S., for its part, views Iran as a duplicitous and unreliable negotiator that is committed to nuclear weapons and unserious about talks. The time has come to test Iran's intentions by reaching something like the two-phased agreements outlined here ― a longer-term, step-by-step process with reciprocal actions, in which each side must give something to get what it needs.

Finally, even with step-by-step progress on Iran's nuclear program, broader discussions are needed to address the many non-nuclear issues that threaten regional stability. There is currently no forum to discuss Afghanistan, Iraq, drug trafficking, Persian Gulf security, emergency communications to avoid accidental conflict, and the sources of deep distrust and misunderstanding.

Some of these discussions might involve representatives of states that are not part of the P5+1, including governments that have closer relations with Iran. To organize discussion of these broader issues, the U.S. and others should explore the possibility of appointing a special envoy ― perhaps a former Chief of State under U.N. auspices ― to engage Iran in new ways.

If Obama were to take the lead in reshaping the setting and the process by which the U.S. and others talk with Iran, progress could become easier. The Istanbul talks opened the door to an initial ― if incremental ― breakthrough agreement. The U.S. now has an opportunity to establish new ways to explore common ground and reach a more durable political solution.

By William H. Luers and Thomas R. Pickering

William H. Luers served as U.S. ambassador to Czechoslovakia and Venezuela, and president of the United Nations Association from 1999 to 2009. Thomas R. Pickering, under secretary of state for political affairs in the Clinton administration, served as U.S. ambassador to Russia, Israel, Jordan, and the United Nations. ― Ed.

http://view.koreaherald.com/kh/view.php?ud=20120527000223&cpv=0

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Iran letter to UN condemns Israeli 'threats'

In complaint sent to Security Council, Iran's UN envoy accuses Israeli officials of threatening to strike Islamic Republic despite nuclear program's peaceful nature

Dudi Cohen Published:  05.26.12, 11:38 / Israel News 
 
Iran's ambassador to the UN has lodged a complaint against Israel at the Security Council on Friday, slamming Defense Minister Ehud Barak and other Israeli officials for remarks about a potential strike on the Islamic Republic.

Barak said on Tuesday that the deal reached between the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency and Tehran does not eliminate the possibility of an Israeli attack meant to stunt Iran's nuclear program.

The Iranian envoy, Mohammad Khazaee, said in the complaint letter that Barak "unwarrantedly and under erroneous and false presumptions on Iran's peaceful nuclear activities" threatened to use force against the Islamic Republic.

Khazaee claimed that it is ironic that the "inflammatory remarks" are made by a state infamous for its "atrocities" and "crimes against humanity." He added that Israel's clandestine nuclear development is the primary threat to peace in the region and the world.

Moreover, the official stressed that Iran has been a leader in rejecting all kinds of weapons of mass destruction, but noted that the country wouldn't hesitate to defend itself in the face of an attack.

Meanwhile, Iran's envoy to the IAEA said that the new report issued by the UN's nuclear watchdog agency offers "proof" that Tehran's atom program is peaceful. He added that the report indicates that Tehran is cooperating with the UN agency, according to the semi-official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh made the comment late Friday on Iranian state television, despite the fact the report showed that uranium traces of an unprecedentedly higher grade have been detected.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4234362,00.html

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Iran has enough uranium for five bombs: expert

By Fredrik Dahl

VIENNA | Sat May 26, 2012 4:57am EDT

(Reuters) - Iran has significantly stepped up its output of low-enriched uranium and total production in the last five years would be enough for at least five nuclear weapons if refined much further, a U.S. security institute said.

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a think-tank which closely tracks Iran's nuclear program, made the analysis on the basis of data in the latest quarterly U.N. watchdog report which was issued on Friday.

Progress in Iran's nuclear activities is closely watched by the West and Israel as it could determine how long it could take Tehran to build atomic bombs, if it decided to do so. Iran denies any plan to and says its aims are entirely peaceful.

During talks in Baghdad this week, six world powers failed to convince Iran to scale back its uranium enrichment program. They will meet again in Moscow next month to try to defuse a decade-old standoff that has raised fears of a new war in the Middle East that could disrupt oil supplies.

Friday's report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a Vienna-based U.N. body, showed Iran pressing ahead with its uranium enrichment work in defiance of U.N. resolutions calling on it to suspend the activity.

It said Iran had produced almost 6.2 metric tons (6.83 tons) of uranium enriched to a level of 3.5 percent since it began the work in 2007 - some of which has subsequently been further processed into higher-grade material.

This is nearly 750 kg more than in the previous IAEA report issued in February, and ISIS said Iran's monthly production had risen by roughly a third.

"This total amount of 3.5 percent low enriched uranium hexafluoride, if further enriched to weapon grade, is enough to make over five nuclear weapons," ISIS said in its analysis.

It added, however, that some of Iran's higher-grade uranium had been converted into reactor fuel and would not be available for nuclear weapons, at least not quickly.

Enriched uranium can be used to fuel power plants, which is Iran's stated purpose, or to provide material for bombs, if refined to a much higher degree. The West suspects that may be Iran's ultimate goal despite the Islamic Republic's denials.

Iran began enriching uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent in 2010, saying it needed this to fuel a medical research reactor. It later expanded the work sharply by launching enrichment at an underground site, Fordow.

It alarmed a suspicious West since such enhanced enrichment accomplishes much of the technical leap towards 90 percent - or weapons-grade - uranium.

The IAEA report said Iran had installed more than 50 percent more enrichment centrifuges at Fordow, which is buried deep under rock and soil to protect it against any enemy attacks.

Although not yet being fed with uranium, the new machines could be used to further boost Iran's output of uranium enriched to 20 percent.

ISIS said Iran still appeared to be experiencing problems in its testing of production-scale units of more advanced centrifuges that would allow it to refine uranium faster, even though it had made some progress.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/26/us-nuclear-iran-uranium-idUSBRE84O0SN20120526

[Ace1]

AGM-84 (Harpoon) voer 

Jurrien dat vind ik verspilling van een Harpoon, een 127mm kanon met Vulcano munitie  volstaat om dat karweitje te doen.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Ik weet niet wat de definitie van een destroyer in Iran is?
Maar een destroyer van 1440 ton is tegenwoordig een korvet.

Wat bedoeld Commander Sayyari met advanced, ik zie op foto een korvet met jaren 70 of jaren 80 techniek en men is stealht vergeten en ik mis een CIWS systeem?

AGM-84 (Harpoon) voer