Will Iran War Start On Friday?
Russian Intelligence claims widely reported by media
Infowars.net | April 2, 2007
Steve Watson
Last weekend saw widespread reports in the mainstream media that the United States will be ready to launch a missile attack on Iran's nuclear facilities as soon as early this month, perhaps "from 4 a.m. until 4 p.m. on April 6."
An AP report printed in the Jerusalem Post, amongst others, stated on Sunday that Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported that Russian intelligence sources say the US has devised a plan to attack several targets in Iran, and an assault could be carried out by launching missiles from fighter jets and warships stationed in the Persian Gulf.
Those who work in and frequently read the alternative media will recognise that the mainstream has finally picked up on a report from a Russian journalist, written weeks ago, which was first exposed in the US and the UK by sites such as Rense.com, Infowars and What Really Happened.
Andrei Uglanov, in the Moscow weekly "Argumenty Nedeli", wrote that an attack is slated to last for twelve hours from 4 AM until 4 PM local time. Friday is a holiday in Iran. In the course of the attack, code named Operation Bite , about 20 targets are marked for bombing; the list includes uranium enrichment facilities, research centers, and laboratories.
Citing Russian military experts close to the Russian General Staff, Uganov stated that the first reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, where Russian engineers are working, is supposed to be spared from destruction. The US attack plan reportedly calls for the Iranian air defense system to be degraded, for numerous Iranian warships to be sunk in the Persian Gulf, and the for the most important headquarters of the Iranian armed forces to be wiped out.
Uglanov's article was re-issued by Russian outlet RIA-Novosti, who sought verification from retired Russian Colonel General, Leonid Ivashov.
Ivashov confirmed its essential features in a March 21 interview, stating "I have no doubt that there will be an operation, or more precisely a violent action against Iran...We have drawn the unmistakable conclusion that this operation will take place... Most probably there will be no ground attack, but rather massive air attacks with the goal of annihilating Iran's capacity for military resistance, the centers of administration, the key economic assets, and quite possibly the Iranian political leadership, or at least part of it,"
Ivashov is now the Vice President of the Moscow Academy for Geopolitical Sciences.
The AP and the Jerusalem Post, however, failed to mention the retired General's comments, instead simply stating "The Russian Defense Ministry rejected the claims of an imminent attack as myths."
Other reports also released last weekend suggest that the attack is going ahead but not until the Summer. Israel's military intelligence chief, Major-General Amos Yadlin also told the Israeli cabinet Sunday that Iran is making defensive preparations for what it fears will be a U.S. military attack this summer.
Whether it be this Friday or this Summer, both Russian and Israeli intelligence sources agree that there is going to be an attack.
The situation grows increasingly tense as Iran still holds the fifteen British soldiers that allegedly trespassed into Iranian waters.
Iranian state television said on Monday it had detected a shift in British policy that could help to resolve the crisis, but did not give specific details.
New footage was shown on Sunday night of two of the Britons pointing to a map to show where they were seized and saying they were picked up in Iranian territory.
In a commentary accompanying the images, the television report said: "It seems that Britain has shifted a little bit from its stance in the last one or two days over the undeniable facts and from some of its clamor.
Meanwhile an article on the capture , written by former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, was published in the Mail on Sunday. Murray slammed the spin and rhetoric Tony Blair has cased the crisis in:
" It is the burial of this truth by No 10 spin doctors, and Tony Blair's remark that he is 'utterly certain' the incident took place within Iraqi territorial limits, that has escalated this from an incident to a crisis. Blair is being fatuous. How can you be certain which side of a boundary you are when that boundary has never been drawn?" The US waded into the situation on Saturday with President Bush issuing a statement a full support for the British Government:"The British hostage issue is serious because the Iranians took these people out of Iraqi water. It's inexcusable behavior. I strongly support the Blair government's attempts to resolve this peacefully," he said, referring to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Meanwhile covert operations inside Iran continue. Last Thursday Iranian officials at the consulate in the southern Iraqi port city of Basra claimed that they had been surrounded and attacked by British troops.
“Following British forces' movements and shootout around the Iranian consulate in Basra the foreign ministry submitted a note of protest to the British embassy in Tehran” on March 30, the Iranian ministry said.
The British military denied any such incident occurred, saying its soldiers had come under fire during a routine patrol near the consulate but did not leave their vehicles.
It has also been reported today that US warplanes have violated Iranian airspace in the southwestern oil province of Khuzestan. The Arabic language channel of Iranian state television quoted a local military chief as saying on Sunday that "Two US aircraft trespassed into Iranian airspace northwest of (the port city of) Abadan before flying southwest into Iraq."
A US military spokesman told AFP that he had investigated the Iranian military's claim and found no evidence to support it.
Such skirmishes and incursions seem to be increasing as tensions rise, even TIME magazine is now reporting that fighting, albeit on a small scale is already breaking out between US and Iranian troops on the Iraqi/Iranian border.
