{"id":8178,"date":"2010-09-21T15:27:30","date_gmt":"2010-09-21T23:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=8178"},"modified":"2010-09-21T15:27:30","modified_gmt":"2010-09-21T23:27:30","slug":"tuesday-iran-talking-points-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/21\/tuesday-iran-talking-points-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Iran Talking Points"},"content":{"rendered":"

from LobeLog<\/a>: News and Views Relevant to U.S.-Iran relations for September 21st, 2010:<\/em><\/p>\n

Reuters<\/a><\/em>: In a special report, Louis Charbonneau writes Turkey, among other U.S. allies, allows Iranian banks with links to Iran\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s alleged nuclear program to do business within their borders. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The fact that Turkey is allowing itself to be used as a conduit for Iranian activity via Turkish banks and the Turkish lira is making it possible for Iranian funds in Turkish guise to make their way into Europe,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said an intelligence report provided to Reuters by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a diplomat.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Charbonneau acknowledges that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153much of the trade is legitimate\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153if Turkey becomes a virtual safe haven for Iranian banking activities, it will be easier for Tehran to dodge sanctions, according to diplomats.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Neoconservatives, such as Michael Rubin<\/a>, have been quick to question Turkey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commitment to sanctions. Dr. Serkan Zorba wrote on LobeLog yesterday<\/a> about the misinformation surrounding claims that Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdo\u00c4\u0178an received $25 million from Iran.)<\/p>\n

McClatchy<\/a><\/em>: James Rosen reports on comments made by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Monday, when Graham said the U.S. must be prepared to use military force to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you use military force against Iran, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve opened up Pandora\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s box,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Graham told the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute<\/a> in Washington. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve emptied Pandora\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s box. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather open up Pandora\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s box than empty it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He continued, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153From my point of view, if we engage in military operations as a last resort, the United States should have in mind the goal of changing the regime.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Not by invading (Iran), but by launching a military strike by air and sea,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d advised Graham.<\/p>\n

National Review<\/a><\/em>: For the October 4 print edition of the right-wing magazine, former George W. Bush National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism, Juan Zarate, writes that sanctions against Iran are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153biting, but it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zarate calls for further isolation to slow Iran\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nuclear program, support for internal dissent, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153build[ing] other forms of leverage.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The latter refers to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153military option.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zarate supports his bullet-point recommendations by citing, in part, the neocon-written report Jim Lobe refers to as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153roadmap to war with Iran\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/a>: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Maintain a credible military option, as the Bipartisan Policy Center has recently recommended. This will keep the possibility of force in the mind of the Iranian regime and reassure our allies […] \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and perhaps ask the Israelis not to attack Iranian nuclear sites.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Weekly Standard<\/a><\/em>: On the magazine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s blog, the Standard<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s co-founder and editor Bill Kristol reproduces<\/a> in full remarks made around Washington by Michael Oren, Israeli ambassador to the United States. Kristol picks out \u00e2\u20ac\u0153key passages\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which focus on what Oren calls \u00e2\u20ac\u0153radical, genocidal Iran.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d When speaking at synagogues, Oren asks congregants to put themselves in the shoes of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu in order to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stand with [Israel] as we resist Iran\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153respect the decisions we take.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kristol appears to interpret this as softening up a sympathetic U.S. audience for an Israeli attack on Iran: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It would seem that if President Obama does not act to stop Iran, Prime Minister Netanyahu will.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from LobeLog: News and Views Relevant to U.S.-Iran relations for September 21st, 2010: Reuters: In a special report, Louis Charbonneau writes Turkey, among other U.S. allies, allows Iranian banks with links to Iran\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s alleged nuclear program to do business within their borders. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The fact that Turkey is allowing itself to be used as a conduit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-8178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8179,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8178\/revisions\/8179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8178"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=8178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}