Iran Attack Decision Nears, Israeli Elite Locks Down

An air-to-air view of a multinational group of fighter jets

This inner sanctum at the end of a corridor between Netanyahu's private room and the office of his top military adviser, is where one of the decade's most momentous military decisions could soon be taken: to launch an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear program. Time for that decision is fast running out and the mood in Jerusalem is hardening.

Iran continues to enrich uranium in defiance of international pressure, saying it needs the fuel for its civilian nuclear program. The West is convinced that Tehran's real objective is to build an atomic bomb - something which the Jewish state will never accept because its leaders consider a nuclear armed-Iran a threat to its very existence. Adding to the international pressure, U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said this week American military plans to strike Iran were "ready" and the option was "fully available".

The central role Iran plays in Netanyahu's deliberations is reflected in the huge map of the Middle East hanging by the door of his office. Israel lies on one edge, with Iran taking pride of place in the centre. Experts say that within a few months, much of Iran's nuclear program will have been moved deep underground beneath the Fordow mountain, making a successful military strike much more difficult. More...

Mossad, CIA, MI6 Set up Spying Centers Near Iranian Borders

Image via WikipediaTEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Iranian legislative official revealed on Wednesday that the US, Israeli and British spy agencies have set up a number of bases in the neighboring states of Iran to conduct espionage and sabotage operations against the Islamic Republic.

"Based on investigations, Mossad, CIA and MI6 spy agencies have set up spy bases on the borderlines of five neighboring countries (with Iran)," member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Zohreh Elahian told FNA.

"The bases are tasked with directing terrorist groups and even conducting sabotage and espionage operations against the Islamic Republic and its citizens," she added.

Elahian named Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan as the five countries in which the US, Israeli and British spy agencies have established bases.

In December, an independent French weekly, Le Canard enchaine, revealed that the US, Israeli and British spy agencies have been directly involved in the recent terrorist attacks against Iranian scientists.

Mossad conducted the assassinations "with the help of the CIA and MI6," Le Canard enchaine said.

Intelligence sources told the influential French weekly that the assassinations were part of Israeli plots aimed at sabotaging Iran's nuclear program.

Iran announced in December that security forces have arrested a number of perpetrators of the recent terrorist attacks on the country's scientists and university professors.

Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said at the time that the confessions made by the arrested terrorists indicated Israel's direct role in the attacks. More...