quote:

Iranian Vice-President Muhammad Reza Aref said in Tehran after meeting Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Utari on Wednesday that both countries were ready to help "on all grounds to confront threats". Al-Utari told reporters: "This meeting, which takes place at this sensitive time, is important, especially because Syria and Iran face several challenges and it is necessary to build a common front". The announcement came barely minutes after an unknown aircraft fired a missile on Wednesday in a deserted area near the southern city of Dailam in the province of Bushehr where Iran has a nuclear power plant, Iranian state television said. "A powerful explosion was heard this morning on the outskirts of Dailam in the Bushehr province. Witnesses said that the missile was fired from an unknown plane 20km from the city," Iran's Arabic language al-Alam said. Accusations and claims Earlier on Wednesday, Israel had said that Iran was just six months away from having the knowledge to build an atomic bomb while Tehran accused the US of using satellites "and other tools" to spy on its nuclear sites. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on a visit to London that he believed "in six months from today they [Iran] will end all the tests and experiments they are doing to have that knowledge." Iran retaliated with its own claim that the US was using satellites to spy on Iran's nuclear sites, Iran's Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi was quoted as saying on Wednesday. "We believe the US has been spying against Iran for some time using satellites and other tools," he was quoted as saying on the official IRNA news agency, when asked about US denials that it was using drones over Iran. Yunesi also denied allegations by Washington that Tehran was secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear activities are for generating electricity. Pressure on Syria Meanwhile, the US has stepped up political pressure on Syria by recalling its ambassador for urgent consultations to show its deep displeasure with Damascus after Monday's killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. US officials said they were considering imposing new sanctions on Syria because of its refusal to withdraw its 41,000 troops from Lebanon. While acknowledging they do not know who was to blame for al-Hariri's car-bomb assassination, US officials argued Syria's military presence and its political power-broking role were generally responsible for Lebanon's instability. Syria rejects accusations it supports terrorism.

A toast to the greatest foreign policy of any administration ever! Let's see: Iraq is on the path to either freedom OR theocracy OR civil war though it's considered 100% a success despite that the rest of the world remembers the WMD rationale we really used; we've mocked our allies with our arrogance and damaged relations, even wasting our time to have legislators create Freedom Fries; we have the lowest favorability ratings we've ever had across the globe; North Korea admits it has WMDs and leaves talks, threatening to use nuclear weapons if we try anything; and now we come out harsh against Syria and they have now partnered with Iran, who steps have been taken to possibly attack down the road. Great job, now we have nothing we can do but try to bargain with NK to get back negotiations and we have to base our Iranian policy on the negotations of the Europeans we pissed off, since we could now risk WWIII if we attack because we've made murder accusations against Syria that might not be true. Can we just have a recall election and get some natural born Hollywood actor in office that might actually know how to run common sense foreign and domestic agendas?

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Last edited by wolverine16 on Feb-16-2005 at 16:39