'We Gathered Intelligence'

The captain in charge of the 15 marines detained in Iran has said they were gathering intelligence on the Iranians.
Sky News went on patrol with Captain Chris Air and his team in Iraqi waters close to the area where they were arrested - just five days before the crisis began. And today, former Iranian diplomat Dr Mehrdad Khonsari said if the Iranians had known about it, they would have used it to "justify taking the marines captive and put them on trial". ..(So in retrospect the Iranians had every right to take them into custody..Drew Webmaster)

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The botched US raid that led to the hostage crisis

A failed American attempt to abduct two senior Iranian security officers on an official visit to northern Iraq was the starting pistol for a crisis that 10 weeks later led to Iranians seizing 15 British sailors and Marines.
Early on the morning of 11 January, helicopter-born US forces launched a surprise raid on a long-established Iranian liaison office in the city of Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. They captured five relatively junior Iranian officials whom the US accuses of being intelligence agents and still holds.
In reality the US attack had a far more ambitious objective, The Independent has learned. The aim of the raid, launched without informing the Kurdish authorities, was to seize two men at the very heart of the Iranian security establishment.
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Iran releases 'pardoned' British sailors

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced at a press conference today that he would pardon the naval crew as a gift to the British people. He called on the British government not to punish the seven sailors and eight marines for their "confessions". While pardoning the sailors, President Ahmadinejad insisted the UK was at fault. Aside from the sailors' alleged "trespass" into Iranian waters, the president took the opportunity to criticise the UK's involvement in the Middle East. The UK and US had invaded Iraq on the false premise it had weapons of mass destruction, he argued, and have now brought "misery" and "destruction" to the world. "The occupation forces continue to stay there and people are still being killed," Mr Ahmadinejad continued. The president added no one appeared willing to "stand up and defend the rights of those oppressed"; in a statement likely to increase speculation Iran is attempting to assert its power in the region.

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Breaking the silence:John Pilger

Iranian nuclear plant commissioned by Russia

Russia is hoping that Iran will resume a regular payment schedule for the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, Russia's nuclear chief said Tuesday.
Russian contractor Atomstroyexport received March 26 the first payment for the construction of Bushehr since financing was interrupted in February and Russia suspended fuel deliveries to the plant. Russian nuclear officials said the plant could not go into service in September as planned over the delays, and that nuclear fuel would not be supplied to the plant in March.

If you ask me,when the US goes to war with Iran they are going to make a BIG enemy with Russia.Click HERE for advice on building a nuclear shelter!

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U.S. ready to strike Iran in early April - intelligence source -1

Russian intelligence has information that the U.S. Armed Forces have nearly completed preparations for a possible military operation against Iran, and will be ready to strike in early April, a security official said. "Russian intelligence has information that the U.S. Armed Forces stationed in the Persian Gulf have nearly completed preparations for a missile strike against Iranian territory," the source said.
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Russian intelligence sees U.S. military buildup on Iran border

Naval presence in the Persian Gulf has for the first time in the past four years reached the level that existed shortly before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by U.S. Armed Forces near Iran's borders, a high-ranking security source said Tuesday.

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Operation Ajax and it's relevence today.

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In 1953 the CIA - with British assistance - undermined Iranian president Mossadeq's government by bribing influential figures, planting false reports in newspapers and provoking street violence. Led by an agent named Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, the CIA leaned on a young, insecure Shah to issue a decree dismissing Mossadegh as prime minister. By the end of Operation Ajax, some 300 people had died in firefights in the streets of Tehran. The prime minister and his nationalist supporters in parliament roused Britain's ire when they nationalised the oil industry in 1951, which had previously been exclusively controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Mossadegh argued that Iran should begin profiting from its vast oil reserves. The crushing of Iran's first democratic government ushered in more than two decades of dictatorship under the Shah, who relied heavily on US aid and arms. The anti-American backlash that toppled the Shah in 1979 shook the whole region and helped spread Islamic militancy, with Iran's new hardline theocracy declaring undying hostility to the US. Now it seems that the Americans are pushing towards the same direction again!

READ HERE (From NY Times)more information HERE and HERE from a previous post