Citing Russian media and AP, the Jerusalem Post is now reporting that the US will strike Iran on Good Friday between the hours of 4.00 am and 4.00 pm in a coordinated series of air strikes and missile attacks aimed at selected strategic targets.
Russian intelligence sources identify US forces assembled in the Persian Gulf armed with aircraft and missiles that could carry out the hard power attack. The US fleet in the Gulf includes two aircraft carriers: USS Eisenhower and USS Stennis with a third on the way, USS Nimitz.
Russian sources describe Iran’s nuclear facilities as well as the command and control architecture of its military as the primary targets of the US attack.
Iran’s detention of 15 British sailors has shifted the focus of the international community away from its nascent nuclear program.
The JP article below has attracted numerous comments this morning, several of which came from US citizens who support Israel and are keenly enthusiastic about the Pentagon’s plans to attack Iran. A small selection is reprinted below the article. One particularly curious item is from a person who identified himself as, “Micah, USMC – USA” who expressed his support for Israel with a metaphor comparing Iranians and Iraqis to “21st Century Nazis.”
Due to its sympathies for the right-wing of the Israeli political spectrum, the Jerusalem Post is regarded as one of the most conservative journals published in Israel. The avowedly right-wing newspaper is owned by Hollinger, Inc. Due to their holdings in Hollinger, Conrad Black and his wife, Barbara Amiel, are frequently described as former owners of the Jerusalem Post, however, Black is now undergoing a trial in Chicago where he is accused of defrauding Hollinger of sixty million dollars. One ranking neoconservative with strong ties to the Bush White House and the Pentagon, Richard Perle, is a Co-Chairman of the board of Hollinger.
Michael Carmichael
Apr. 1, 2007 1:00 | Updated Apr. 1, 2007 9:46
‘US ready to strike Iran on Good Friday’
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF AND AP
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,” according to reports in the Russian media on Saturday.
According to Russian intelligence sources, the reports said, 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.
Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted a security official as saying, “Russian intelligence has information that the US Armed Forces stationed in the Persian Gulf have nearly completed preparations for a missile strike against Iranian territory.”
Iran fears strike by ‘warmongers’
The Russian Defense Ministry rejected the claims of an imminent attack as “myths.” There was no immediate response from Washington.
The reports come as the Iranian chief of staff, Hassan Fayrouz Abadi, was quoted on Saturday by Iran’s Fars news agency warning leaders of Arab countries that Israel plans to open a “suicidal attack” on its neighbors this summer, to “prevent the withdrawal of the US troops from Iraq and the area.”
“I warn the dear leaders and Muslim brothers in the neighboring countries of the occupied territories that this suicidal attack of the Zionists is threatening them,” he said.
The countries in danger, he said, were “Lebanon and Syria, and later Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.”
Also on Saturday, Russia urged Britain and Teheran to resolve the dispute over 15 British sailors and marines captured by Iran last week, a local news agency reported.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin urged the two sides to provide the United Nations with their own assessments as to what happened and where exactly the detention occurred so that the body could conduct an independent probe.
“We hope these actions will provide a foundation for the soonest possible resolution of the crisis,” Kamynin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted that the captured British sailors and marines trespassed in Iranian waters and called world powers “arrogant” for failing to apologize, the country’s official news agency reported.
“The British occupier forces did trespass our waters. Our border guards detained them with skill and bravery. But arrogant powers, because of their arrogant and selfish spirit, are claiming otherwise,” IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying during a speech in the southeastern city of Andinmeshk.
The European Union grappled with a double bind over Iran Saturday – the country’s nuclear program and its seizure of the British troops – and reported no progress on either issue.
A debate about Iran’s nuclear ambitions had been scheduled as a key agenda item but “was overshadowed to a certain extent by the issue of the sailors and marines,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after hosting a two-day EU foreign ministers meeting in Bremen, Germany.
The Foreign Ministry in Iran dismissed the EU’s “biased and meddlesome” comments on the captured troops, saying the dispute solely involved the governments of Iran and Britain.
Speaking to reporters in Bremen, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett urged Iran to resolve the crisis over the military personnel peacefully, saying London remains open to dialogue.
“We encourage Iran to peacefully resolve this issue,” she said.
“We continue to express our willingness to engage in dialogue and discussions with Iran,” she added. “That is very much in the best interest of our people and that is our foremost concern.”
“I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen,” she said. “What we want is a way out of it.”
AP contributed to this report.
45. Strike Iran
Gary Pineda – USA
04/01/2007 07:56
If this would have been a abduction of USA forces by Iran, Pres. Bush would (have) gladly responded without hesitation or diplomatic solutions & other gobblygook talks, USA is ready & IRAN knows it, try it Iran.
42. If there were a Nobel Prize for Self-Destruction and Stupidity, Iran now could win it over the late Saddam of Iraq with Hamas close behind.
RickE USA – USA
04/01/2007 07:40
There really should be an annual Negative IQ Award for the most idiotic behavior of a national leader or leadership. In WWII, Japan probably would have beaten Germany, by a hair (as the former’s attack on the US was even dumber than the German’s attack on Russia). The Arab states would have won a multiyear Idiots Award for the four plus failed wars on Israel. Of course the Pals are like the Monty Python Knights who keep attacking even after each arm and leg is cut off.
29. Go For It ASAP
Dave Levy – USA
04/01/2007 06:28
In fact, this is the best news I’ve heard since the Brits capitulated to the Iranian thugs by not demanding their release within 72 hours or face the consequences. This entire M.E. thing is a farce, which compounds each day, with each new Pelosi action. Now she is going to “talk” to the Syrians. About what I ask? Blair is a lame duck P.M. and has no real power to quell his own insurgency. Only Bush and Israel, and the “neo-cons” as the Iranians put it, have the guts to take out Iran, before US.
24. My Boys are in Iraq
Micah USMC – USA
04/01/2007 05:55
Dear Israel: My only two sons are in Iraq – leaving their college education to stop the 21st Century Nazis. For genocide is only an appeasement away. Shalom Aleichem & Semper Fi Micah-USMC
Copyright Jerusalem Post 2007
