March 23rd, 2012 by Oman Views

Israel using Gaza as trial run for Iran strike: Hamas

Israel is using the the Gaza Strip as a testing ground for a possible military strike on its arch foe Iran, the head of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas said on Monday.

“Israel is warming up the region for a possible war against Iran,” Khaled Meshaal said in an interview with Turkey’s Anatolia news agency.

Accusing Israel of pursuing “state terrorism” in Gaza, Meshaal defended the Islamist group’s firing of rockets into southern Israel from the impoverished coastal strip which is run by Hamas.

“The only purpose of these rockets is to defend ourselves. Israel is attacking us and naturally our brothers in Gaza are exercising their right to self-defence,” said Meshaal, who is the head of the powerful Hamas politburo.

Militants in Gaza reached a truce with Israel last week after four days of violence in which 25 Gazans died and 200 rockets were fired at the Jewish state.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently warned that he will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran, saying the country had a “duty to defend” itself from any existential threat.

During an unannounced visit to Turkey, Meshaal met on Friday with Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Although Turkey was once seen as Israel’s closest ally in the Muslim world, relations have chilled under Erdogan who has been particularly outspoken in his criticism of Israel’s bombing of Gaza.

Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by Israel and many Western countries, but not by Turkey.

The head of the Hamas government in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, received an enthusiastic welcome on a visit to Turkey in January as part of his first regional tour.

AFP

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March 23rd, 2012 by Oman Views

Oman warns on military confrontation with Iran

MUSCAT (Reuters) – Oman, located strategically on the opposite side of the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, said the risk of military conflict between Tehran and the West was rising but there was still plenty of opportunity to negotiate peace.

Iran has repeatedly denied charges by Western nations it is developing the capability to build nuclear weapons, but the United States and European Union have recently imposed tougher sanctions in an effort to convince Tehran to curb its nuclear program.

“It is in the interest of both sides to come to the middle road,” Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the sultanate’s minister responsible for foreign affairs, told Reuters at the Foreign Ministry in Muscat.

“We can see that the threat of an unfortunate flash of military confrontation is more possible rather than it is remote.”

Oman on several occasions has acted as an intermediary between Iran and the West.

Last year, Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said facilitated the release of two U.S. hikers held by Tehran for spying, and three French aid workers held hostage by Yemeni tribesmen were freed in November after Oman negotiated their release.

Speculation has grown in recent months that Israel, with or without U.S. support, may launch some form of pre-emptive military strike against Iranian nuclear installations, which the Jewish state sees as a threat to its existence.

Talks over its nuclear program have been on and off over the years, but last week Iran said it would welcome a new round of nuclear negotiations with six world powers.

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By Martina Fuchs | Reuters

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March 19th, 2012 by Oman Views

US should assume Iran seeks nukes: Kissinger

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said in an interview Sunday that the United States should assume that Iran is actively preparing to build nuclear weapons.

Kissinger, 88, was asked on the CNN show “GPS” if the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon was so dire that Israel would need to launch a military strike in the near future.

“I am very uneasy with the so-called intelligence report that say we don’t know whether they are actually working on nuclear weapons,” Kissinger told CNN.

“I think we should start from the premise that they are undergoing all this in order to achieve a military capability. I don’t think that is a disputable point.”

US intelligence analysts believe there is no hard evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb – an assessment broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program, The New York Times reported in February, citing unnamed US officials.

The assessment was largely reaffirmed in a 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, and that it remains the consensus view of America’s 16 intelligence agencies, the Times reported.

The US administration maintains that tough sanctions on Iran and diplomatic efforts need to be given more time before any resort to bombing raids.

Israeli leaders however say time is running out for any pre-emptive strike. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that sanctions against Iran have not worked, and “none of us can afford to wait much longer.”

US President Barack Obama has cautioned against “bluster” in talking about possible war with Iran, saying there still exists a window of diplomacy.

AFP

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