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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scoobah who wrote (10243)	11/3/2005 4:38:59 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Respond to of 32591

Iran has been buying new Russian submarines for example. According to CIA's factbook they are spending 3.3% of their GDP on the military. that is $4.3B. This sounds like a large number to me. cia.gov Here is a troubling note from Jane's: Covert nuclear activities in Iran The escalating crisis over Iran’s suspected nuclear ambitions has been further fuelled by highly controversial statements calling for the destruction of Israel made by the Islamic Republic’s new hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Fears over a drift towards future conflict with Tehran are set to be exacerbated by recent allegations that Iran has been engaged in further covert nuclear activity. On 16 September, Alireza Jafarzadeh, who until 2003 was the Washington spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), presented at a press conference in Washington what he claimed was new intelligence concerning Iran’s construction of tunnels and underground installations at the Parchin military site, allegedly to conceal nuclear activities. Although Jafarzadeh’s claims have not been independently confirmed, past NCRI allegations have set in train a series of investigations beginning in 2002 by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). These probes have exposed a number of serious discrepancies in Iran’s disclosures about a nuclear programme it asserts is for peaceful civilian purposes. Jafarzadeh has stated that his latest intelligence had been provided by sources inside Iran that have proved to be accurate in the past. Although it is important to note that not all the NCRI’s past claims have been accurate, enough of them have been shown to be founded on fact to have earned the anti-government group a reputation as an important source of information about Tehran’s nuclear activities. 236 of 881 words [End of non-subscriber extract.] The full version of this article is accessible through our subscription services. Please refer to the box below for details. janes.com