Iran Defies the US

Nuclear issues, sanctions, espionage: The cold war between Washington and Tehran intensifies.

Following the rising tensions of recent weeks, related to Iranian threats on Monday to block the Strait of Hormuz if the West adopts new measures against Tehran’s oil exports, the revolutionary judiciary of the Islamic Republic took yet another step forward by sentencing an Iranian-American to death.

According to Iranian news agency Fars, Amir Mirzai Hekmati, the 28-year-old former Marine born in the U.S. to Iranian parents, was “found guilty of collaborating with a hostile country and spying for the CIA.” Furthermore, the court ruling found him to be “mohareb,” which means “in war against God,” a crime that is punishable by the death penalty, as well. Is it in response to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who cautioned Iran during the weekend that any attempt to block the Strait of Hormuz, through which a third of the world’s crude oil is transported, would be considered a red line not to be crossed?

While the U.S. and the European Union are bustling about to put sanctions on Iranian crude oil (70 percent of its total exports), Tehran is multiplying its threats to block this strategic navigation channel, that is so crucial for the flow of the black gold, and thus for the global economy. And to raise tensions even further, Iran has decided to revive the nuclear issue that is at the heart of its dispute with the West. On Monday, diplomatic sources close to the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Tehran had indeed begun enriching uranium at a new underground site which is very well protected against possible air strikes. On Sunday, the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency, Fereidoun Abbasi, who in 2010 had been the target of a mysterious assassination attempt, announced that his country was about to activate its Fordo site, in the vicinity of the holy city of Qom. This announcement puts Israel and the U.S. before a difficult choice. Indeed, the installation at Fordo is dug deep into the mountain, making it difficult to penetrate by even the powerful bunker buster bombs, which in addition would be faced with a sophisticated system of aerial defense surrounding the site. According to Abbasi, this site, which has recently been inspected by IAEA experts, is equipped with a new generation of centrifuges, allowing it to accelerate the process of enriching uranium.

The Mossad Active in Kurdistan

It is believed that Iran has already produced enough fuel to equip four nuclear warheads. But this fuel would have to be further enriched by the new centrifuges at Fordo. However, in light of its grave consequences, nobody knows whether Iran has made such a decision. In any case, the U.S. priority no longer seems to be trying to prevent Iran from acquiring any nuclear capability, but instead it’s focused on stopping the fabrication of a nuclear weapon. “Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No.” Panetta said on the CBS program Face the Nation. “But we know that they’re trying to develop a nuclear capability. And that’s what concerns us. And our red line to Iran is to not develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line for us,” Panetta, whose comments came after the announcement by the Iranian official, was anxious to emphasize.

In a further development during the weekend, Tehran announced the capture of an “unspecified number of spies” working for Washington. Whether the accusation is true or false, the fact remains that the U.S. and Israel have multiplied their acts of sabotage against sensitive nuclear installations, while masterminding targeted assassinations of Iranian nuclear experts. A security source in Baghdad confirms that for this purpose “the Mossad is making use of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, where its agents have geared up their infiltrations.” The source adds that, “The Israelis use the Kurdish opponents of the Iranian regime who have taken refuge in the Kurdish regions of Iraq.”