Senior Commander: Iran Can Hit All Mobile Targets with Ballistic Missiles (of course they can lol_

Lieutenant Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami underlined that Iran can hit and destroy all mobile targets with its ballistic missiles with 100 percent precision capability.

           

"I hold doubt if the US and Russia which once pioneered in the missile industry have this capability, but as far as our country is concerned I announce very decisively that we have made this achievement that we can hit all mobile targets with 100 percent success," Gen. Salami told Iran's state-run TV Saturday night.

He further reminded that Iran, for sure, enjoys the same capability with regard to fixed targets, and said, "In regard to other components of defense power, we are capable of attacking enemy's strategy and its vital interests in any place and at the same level that it acts."

"And we can act in a way that we will be in charge of escalation control," he added.

"When designing our strategy, we defined a radius of deterrence which encircles all the strategic interests of the enemy in the region to enable ourselves to manage the battle if a war breaks out," the IRGC lieutenant commander added.

In recent years, Iran has made giant progress in missile production. The Iranian Armed Forces always display the most modern home-made ballistic missiles during military parades in Tehran and other cities.

The most advanced long-range missile developed by Iran is Sejjil which is considered as the third generation of Iran-made long-range missiles.

Iran successfully tested second generation of Sejjil missiles and brought it into mass production in 2010.

The solid-fuel, two-stage Sejjil missile with two engines, is capable of reaching a very high altitude and therefore has a longer range than that of the Shahab 3 model.

The missile has boosted the Islamic republic of Iran's defense capabilities.

Russian Ship Carrying Syrian Attack Helicopters Returns Home

The Russian ship MV Alaed, carrying a cargo of overhauled Russian-made Mil Mi-25 helicopter gunships bound for Syria, will dock in the north Russian port of Murmansk on Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday.

"While transiting the North Sea to the Atlantic, the ship-owner was informed that its third-party insurance cover had been withdrawn, and the classification agency in which the ship is located - although it is registered under a Curacao flag - demanded it go into a port for inspection. In order to avoid delay, it was decided to dock in Murmansk where it is expected on Saturday, for re-registration under the Russian flag," he said.

On Tuesday, Femco, the Russian shipping company which owns the Alaed, was told by its insurer, Britain's Standard Club, that cover had been withdrawn after the insurer discovered the ship was carrying weapons, in contravention of an EU arms embargo on Syria.

The helicopters became the center of a diplomatic row last week, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claiming Russia was supplying weapons that would be used to massacre civilian protesters.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated again on Thursday that the helicopters were overhauled under a contract signed in 2008.

“The ship, about which much has been said…really did carry air defense systems and three helicopters which were overhauled under a contract signed with Russia in 2008,” he told RT television.

Lavrov repeated that this in no way contravened any international agreements or UN Security Council resolutions, and said the Alaed incident spoke about the “unreliability of the British insurance system.”

Speaking in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio, Lavrov said the helicopters were being delivered in knock-down condition. “They need to be rebuilt, taking around three months. Sources saying the Russians have delivered helicopters which were used against demonstrators, this is a completely false position conjured up to create fear and put Russia in a bad light,” he said.

In warning to West, Iran says fresh round of nuclear talks may end in failure

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator says faulty preparation may jeopardize the new round of talks, set to open in Moscow on later this month.

                       

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad review the honour guard during his welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 8, 2012.

Iranian negotiator Ali Bagheri warned this month's talks in Moscow over Iran's nuclear program could stall because of faulty preparation.

Bagheri said the sides agreed to hold preliminary talks to clarify the agenda for the Moscow round, set for June 18-19.

The official IRNA news agency says Bagheri made the complaint in a letter to senior EU official Helga Schmid on Sunday.

Concerned that Iran might be aiming toward nuclear weapons, the West wants to stop Iran's 20 percent uranium enrichment program. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful. In exchange for discussing enrichment, Iran wants the West to ease sanctions.

Schmid has indicated there is no need for preliminary talks. The EU official said the six-power proposal at the Baghdad talks addresses "our key concerns on the 20 percent enrichment activities."

On Friday, a U.S. envoy said that lack of progress in talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is disappointing and it shows Tehran's continued failure to abide by its commitment to the UN nuclear watchdog.

The IAEA, a Vienna-based UN agency, said no progress had been made in the meeting aimed at sealing a framework deal on resuming its long-stalled investigation.

Six world powers were scrutinizing the IAEA-Iran meeting to judge whether the Iranians were ready to make concessions before a resumption of wider-ranging negotiations with them in Moscow on June 18-19 on the decade-old nuclear dispute.

"We're disappointed," Robert Wood, the acting U.S. envoy to the IAEA, told Reuters in an emailed comment.

"Yesterday's outcome highlights Iran's continued failure to abide by its commitment to the IAEA, and further underscores the need for it to work with the IAEA to address international community's real concerns," he said.

The IAEA had been pressing Tehran for an accord that would give its inspectors immediate access to the Parchin military complex, where it believes explosives tests relevant for the development of nuclear arms have taken place, and suspects Iran may now be cleaning the site of any incriminating evidence.

The United States, European powers and Israel want to curb Iranian atomic activities they fear are intended to produce nuclear bombs. The Islamic Republic says its nuclear program is meant purely to produce energy for civilian uses.

Both the IAEA and Iran - which insists it will work with the UN agency to prove allegations of a nuclear weapons agenda are "forged and fabricated" - said before Friday's meeting that significant headway had been made on the procedural document.

But differences persisted over how the IAEA should conduct its inquiry, in which UN inspectors want access to sites, documents and officials.