Iran cuts down to six weeks timeline for weapons-grade uranium

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

Tehran this week hardened its nuclear and military policies in defiance of tougher sanctions and ahead of international nuclear talks. The threat by Iran’s armed forces deputy chief Gen. Mohammad Hejazi of a preemptive strike against its “enemies,” was accompanied by its refusal to allow UN nuclear watchdog inspectors to visit the Parchin facility, following which the IAEA chief cut their mission short.

Western and Israeli intelligence experts have concluded that the transfer of 20 percent uranium enrichment to the underground Fordo site near Qom has shortened Iran’s race for the 90 percent (weapons) grade product to six weeks.

The International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano said Tuesday night, Feb. 21: “It is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin.” This is the site were Iran conducts experiments in nuclear explosives and triggers.

This diplomatic understatement came amid three major reverses in the quest for a non-military solution to halt Iran’s drive for a nuclear weapon:

1.  Iran placed a large obstacle in the path of resumed negotiations with six world powers on which US President Barack Obama had pinned his strategy for averting a war to arrest its nuclear weapon program. This strategy depended heavily on Iran eventually consenting to making its nuclear projects fully transparent, as his National Security Adviser Tom Donilon assured Israeli leaders earlier this week.

The day after Donilon wound up his talks in Israel, the UN inspectors were sent packing empty-handed from Tehran, putting paid to any hope of transparency.

They were also denied an interview with Mohsen Fakrrizadeh, director of the Parchin project and also believed in the West to be the paramount head of Iran’s military nuclear program.

2.  The transfer of 20 percent uranium enrichment to Fordo is taken by Western and Israel intelligence experts to have accelerated  the pace of enriching large quantities of 20 percent enriched uranium to weapons grade and shortened to an estimated six weeks the time needed for arming a nuclear bomb after a decision in Tehran.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz explained to the US official that Israel cannot afford to live with an Iran capable of build a nuclear bomb in the space of few weeks.

3. The threat that Iran will not wait for “its enemies” – Israel and/or the US - to strike and will act first.

White House spokesman Jay Carney responded to these reverses by saying Tuesday night: “Israel and the United States share the same objective, which is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” adding, however, “There is time and space for diplomacy to work, for the effect of sanctions to result in a change of Iranian behavior.”

Seen from Israel, Iranian behavior has already changed - and for the worse. Its tactics in recent days have exacerbated the threat hanging over its head from Iran and brought it that much closer.

Senior Israeli military and intelligence sources said Wednesday, Feb. 22, that Israel’s strategic and military position in the Middle East has taken a sharp downturn. The failure of the IAEA mission and the threat of preemptive action from Tehran present the double threat of Iran’s earlier nuclear armament coupled with military action to sabotage Israel’s preparations for a strike on its nuclear facilities.

As one Israeli source put it:  “Since Wednesday the rules of the game have changed.”

World’s First Lab-Engineered Burger Just Months Away

A team of privately funded Dutch researchers have reached a benchmark in the science of bioengineering. Using only stem cells, they’ve managed to grow a strip of muscle tissue in a Petri dish with the aim of eventually developing techniques for the mass production of eco-friendly lab-engineered meat.

By October of this year, Dr. Mark post of Maastricht University hopes to have world-renowned chef Heston Blumenthal of England’s famous Fat Duck restaurant cook-up the world’s first lab-engineered hamburger for an as yet unannounced celebrity taste-tester.

At a total production cost of roughly $320,000, it promises to be the most expensive hamburger ever created.

The research has been sponsored by a single anonymous donor who hopes that the project will pave the way for a more environmentally sustainable approach to meat production, one that cuts down on the enormous resources required in raising cattle while simultaneously the greenhouse gas emissions that result from it.

A fact seldom mentioned in the discussion on global warming is the significant role played by the world’s livestock population in releasing methane gas into the atmosphere—a greenhouse gas that’s some 20 times more harmful to than the carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuels.

And with the inhabitants of up-and-coming countries like China quickly developing a taste for the luxuries enjoyed by their western counterparts, many fear that meat will become an increasingly expensive item available to an ever smaller percentage of the population.

“Meat demand is going to double in the next 40 years and right now we are using 70% of all our agricultural capacity to grow meat through livestock,” explained Dr. Post in a recent news conference.

“You can easily calculate that we need alternatives. If you don’t do anything meat will become a luxury food and be very, very expensive.”

Post explained that his team focused their research specifically on growing artificial beef because cattle require more resources per pound of meat than almost any other commercially raised livestock.

“Cows and pigs have an efficiency rate of about 15%, which is pretty inefficient. Chickens are more efficient and fish even more,” he explained to Ian Sample of The Guardian newspaper.

“If we can raise the efficiency from 15% to 50% it would be a tremendous leap forward.”

At the moment, the lab production of beef is still a long and grueling process. Using their current technique, Post’s team individually grew small sheets of muscle tissue, each 1.2 inches long, 0.6 inches wide and 0.02 inches thick. To make just a single burger, the team will have to combine some 3,000 of these sheets together with a few hundred sheets of similarly grown fatty tissue.

Moreover, Post concedes that they’re not yet sure how the meat will taste.

Still, like early computers that required entire rooms full of machines just to make simple computations, this method of meat production is still in its earliest phase. With the speed at which technology develops today, Post believes it entirely plausible that a few more years of research could make their current techniques thousands of times more efficient.

“I’d estimate that we could see mass production in another 10 to 20 years,” he told Sample.

At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver last week, Post noted that the significance of their burger would be largely symbolic, a “proof of concept.” What it shows, he told an audience of his fellow scientists, is that “with in-vitro methods, out of stem cells we can make a product that looks like and feels and hopefully tastes like meat.”

In addition to the environmentally friendly features of Petri-dish meat (which will, by the way, require some brilliant marketing to sell), it also has the potential to provide significant health advantages. Because the production of the meat is closely controlled at each stage, the scientists speculate that it would be relatively easy to develop meat with additional, targeted health benefits, such as lower levels of saturated fats and higher levels of heart-healthy polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Moreover, the potential to experiment with previously unfamiliar meats is essentially limitless, giving even the most adventurous palettes something to fantasize about.

“We could make panda meat, I’m sure we could,” said Post.

Egyptian Government Daily: U.S. Striving to Divide Egypt into Four Countries

As part of Egypt's crackdown on civil society organizations receiving funding from foreign countries, chiefly from the U.S. – a move that has sparked a crisis in Egypt-U.S. relations – a judicial investigation of these organizations' activities is currently underway. In February 2012, Egyptian authorities announced that a raid on premises of these organizations had yielded maps attesting to a plot to partition Egypt.[1]

Subsequently, the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram published an article by journalist Muhammad Duniya claiming that 30 years ago, on orders from the U.S. administration, renowned scholar Bernard Lewis, FBA and professor emeritus of Near Eastern studies at Princeton University, had concocted a plan to divide Egypt into four smaller countries and to partition all the Arab and Islamic countries in the region.

It should be mentioned that similar claims regarding an alleged plan by Prof. Lewis to divide Egypt were mentioned approximately two years ago in a sermon by Muslim Brotherhood General Guide Muhammad Badi',[2] and a year ago on the Muslim Brotherhood's official website. Duniya's description of the plot, which he attributes to retired general Sameh Seif Al-Yazal, an Egyptian strategic expert, is strikingly similar to the one posted on the Muslim Brotherhood website; in fact, some portions are identical.[3]

Following are excerpts from the article:[4]

"External and Internal Hands are Currently Stirring the Pot in Egypt"

"Recently, several foreign media outlets attempted to revive the old notion of the dubious plan to divide Egypt. This Zionist-American plan aims to divide Egypt into four small countries: the first, in Sinai and the eastern Delta, will be under Jewish influence; the second, a Christian country with Alexandria as its capital, will extend all the way to southern Asyut; the third will be in Al-Nuba; and the fourth, called the barbarian state, will have Cairo as its capital. In the past, some thought that the warnings regarding this dubious plan... were meant to promote [certain] positions. However, the investigation [currently] underway by the Egyptian judiciary regarding illegal funding of civil society organizations has uncovered division maps at the headquarters of an American organization...
"This plan was leaked to the internet a long time ago under the title 'Dividing Egypt'... Several Middle East scholars and researchers decided to revive this idea and posted the division maps online, which indicates that external and internal hands are currently stirring the pot in Egypt...

"The seizure of the partition map of Egypt at the headquarters of an American organization proves the existence of this dubious plan. The basic idea belongs to the British Jewish Orientalist Bernard Lewis, who formulated the most serious plan to fragment the Arab and Islamic world from Pakistan to Morocco, which was published in the journal of the U.S. Department of Defense. But who is this Bernard Lewis?"

Bernard Lewis and the U.S. Department of Defense Conspired to Fragment the Arab and Muslim World

"The strategic expert [retired] general Sameh Seif Al-Yazal says: According to existing information, Lewis was born in London in 1916. He is a Jewish-Zionist Orientalist, and a British national with U.S. citizenship, who graduated from the University of London in 1936. He worked in London as a professor of Middle Eastern and African studies. He extensively researched the history of Islam and the Muslims, and is considered an expert on the topic. His writings insult Islamic history.

"In 1980, with the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war, [U.S.] National Security Advisor [Zbigniew] Brzezinski said that the dilemma that would face the U.S. from then on was how to spark a second Gulf War, in the wake of the first Gulf War between Iran and Iraq, which would enable the U.S. to consolidate the Sykes-Picot borders. After this statement, the Zionist conspirator historian Bernard Lewis, on orders from the U.S. Department of Defense (the Pentagon), began formulating his famous plan for dissolving the constitutional unity of the Arab and Islamic bloc, one country at a time, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and the North African countries. Each would be fragmented into several small countries according to ethnicity, religion, school of thought, and sect. To this detailed plan he added a set of maps prepared under his supervision, which include all Arab and Islamic countries destined to be fragmented."

One Egyptian Province "Will Be Under Jewish Influence, In Order to Fulfill the Jews' Dream [to Rule] From the Nile to the Euphrates"

"As for the details of Bernard Lewis's Zionist-American plan to fragment the Islamic world, Seif Al-Yazal added that it includes dividing Egypt into four small countries. The first, in the Sinai and eastern Delta, will be under Jewish influence, in order to fulfill the Jews' dream [to rule] from the Nile to the Euphrates. [The second,] a Christian country with Alexandria as its capital, will stretch from the southern part of the Beni Suef [Governorate] to the southern part of Asyut [Governorate], and will also stretch westward... to [the city] of Mersa Matruh. [The third,] a Nubian country, will be integrated with South Sudan, with Aswan as its capital... [This third country] will connect the southern part [of Egypt], which lies between Upper Egypt and North Sudan... to the Berber country, which will stretch from southern Morocco to the Red Sea. [The fourth,] Islamic Egypt, with Cairo as its capital, will include the remaining parts of Egypt. [Those behind the plan] want [this fourth country], too, to be under Israeli influence and become part of Greater Israel, to which the Jews aspire.

"According to the strategic expert [Al-Yazal], all this information clearly indicates that there are those who have been lying in wait for Egypt for years. [These] external elements exploited the violent events that took place after the revolution in an attempt to topple Egypt, realize this plan, and revive the notion of re-dividing Egypt...

"The notion [of partitioning Egypt] has already been discussed in the foreign media, and several conferences were held abroad which explored the possibility of achieving a critical [level of] political fomentation in the Middle East in general, and in Egypt in particular, [favorable] to eventually dividing the largest country in the region into small countries that cannot stand up to the current world blocs.

"Al-Yazal warned against being dragged into the realization of this plan. All groups in the Egyptian public, regardless of trend or stream, should be wary of these ideas, bring them out into the open, and do whatever it takes to stop them."

Oil price hits eight-month high on Iran-Israel war fears

Tensions with Iran have pushed the oil price to an eight-month high above $121 a barrel, and there are fears it could hit $150 before the end of the year.

By Helia Ebrahimi

Vitol, the world’s largest independent oil trader, gave the stark warning about the risk of a record price spike after unveiling its annual results.

The Swiss-based trading house - which is privately owned - said it had notched up record revenues of $297bn for 2011, putting it far ahead of rivals such as Glencore and Trafigura. Vitol’s sales were up 44pc from $206bn last year on volumes of oil, carbon and gas trade of 457m tonnes, up from 399m tonnes in 2010. The company’s results - which do not include profit numbers - are just $78bn shy of BP’s annual revenues.

Ian Taylor, Vitol chief executive, said the likelihood of an Israeli air strike on Iran had increased and was likely to push oil prices to $150 a barrel.

“I used to think this would never happen but everyone you speak to says the Israelis will have a go at striking at Iranian nuclear sites,” he said.

“The day that happens, you have to believe the Iranians throw a few mines in the Strait of Hormuz and for a few hours at least, or maybe more, I cannot see a scenario where prices would not be at that sort of level [$150 a barrel].”

Suspicions over Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons capability have also provoked the US and Europe to ratchet up sanctions and impose tougher financial measures on Tehran. Western diplomats say sanctions aim to cut Iran’s oil revenues. Iran claims its nuclear programme limited to electricity generation - but this has not placated the international community, especially Israel.

The European Union declared it would embargo Iranian oil imports from July 1 - leaving about 500,000 barrels per day which need a new home. But Iran is defiant that it will find other customers to sell its oil to - and retaliated by ordering an immediate halt to oil sales to British and French companies.

Hedge funds and other money managers also jacked up their wagers on advancing oil prices by 14pc, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Commitments of Traders report.

For Mr Taylor, the price problem is exasperated in Europe by the decline in the value of the euro versus the dollar, which has risen the cost of dollar-denominated oil sales to EU countries.

“The Iranians now want the price as high as possible as they’ve got less volumes to sell. I reckon they are probably quite close to winning based on the numbers. That was what everybody in the industry always thought would be the likely result,” said Taylor.

“The politicians are all avoiding the subject at the moment but as you know oil is extremely expensive, especially in euros,” he said.

Brent crude traded just above $121 a barrel on Tuesday, up from $107 a barrel at the start of 2012 but below a record high of $147 in 2008. In euros, oil was near a record high of €91.8 a barrel last week, compared with a record €93.46 in July 2008.

Tehran steps into US-Israel Iran row with threat of pre-emptive strike

DEBKAfile Special Report

Deputy Chief of Iran’s Armed Forces Gen. Mohammad Hejazi issued a new threat Tuesday, Feb. 21: “Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran’s national interests… we will act without waiting for their actions.”

debkafile’s military sources report that an Iranian preemptive attack on Israel has been in the air for some weeks. It became realistic because the dragging out of the argument between Washington and Jerusalem over a military strike and the two government’s indecisiveness gave Tehran a golden opportunity to further its interests.

It bestowed on Iran the gift of entering into talks on its nuclear program with the six world powers (P5 plus 1) free of a military threat and therefore in a superior bargaining position. For openers, Tehran has already pocketed the Obama administration’s promise of permission to continue to enrich uranium up to 5 percent in any quantity and will be more than ready to lay down more demands.

Gen. Hejazi’s threat of a preemptive strike against Israel also serves the Islamic regime in its run-up to a general election on March 3. It aims to show the Iranian voter and Middle East public that Iran has successfully turned US and Israeli aggression against Iran against them and demonstrated they are no more than paper tigers incapable of carrying through on their rhetoric. The military initiative therefore stays in Iran’s hands.

In Tehran, the standard Israeli cliché of “We don’t’ advise anyone to test our resolve” has worn thin.
By letting two Iranian warships bearing arms for Assad pass Israel’s coast on its way to Tartus without interference, Israel encouraged Tehran to assume that, in the last reckoning, it will abstain from a unilateral strike to eradicate Iran’s nuclear facilities without Washington’s blessing.

The Netanyahu government’s resolve is expected to melt away under the bulldozer assault of one American emissary after another touching down at Ben-Gurion airport to corner them into backing down.

Once Israel lets its hands be tied, Tehran calculates, it will become progressively harder to break them loose, so that if Tehran does carry out a limited “preemptive” missile attack on the Jewish state, Jerusalem will again bow to Washington and let itself be coerced into not responding.

Thursday, Feb. 23, US National Director of Intelligence James Clapper arrives in Israel to tackle its military and intelligence chiefs on the question, after US National Defense Director Tom Donilon spent three days in fruitless discussions with government leaders Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Chiefs of Staff tried his hand at persuasion earlier this month. This cycle of pressure will peak with Netanyahu’s White House talks with President Obama on March 5.

The Iranians felt confident enough to safely deny requests from the team of IAEA inspectors who arrived in Tehran Monday for access suspect nuclear locations and meetings with scientists employed in their nuclear program.

Gen. Hejazi’s words were backed up by a four-day air defense exercise, dubbed Sarallah (God’s Revenge), in the south of the country. The Islamic Republic also took another initiative by cutting off oil exports to Britain and France and so turning the tables on the European Union’s oil embargo on Tehran.