Wikileaks
WikiLeaks reveals Saudi intrigue and unpaid limo bills
The diplomatic documents published by WikiLeaks Friday are only the first batch of what the group says will be a much larger release, but they've already provided an unusual level of insight into the day-to-day of Saudi diplomacy - giving a snapshot of the lavish spending habits of senior royals and the political intrigue percolating across the Middle East. Many of the scores of documents reviewed by AP appear aimed at keeping track of Iranian activity across the region or undermining Tehran's interests.
Argentine prosecutor investigating bombing of Jewish community center has ties to state department
Special prosecutor Alberto Nisman's accusation that President Cristina Fern ndez de Kirchner secretly negotiated with Iran to avoid punishing those responsible for the devastating 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre is consistent with the way in which his probe has long squarely looked at Iran while ignoring Syrian and local connections. US Embassy cables leaked in 2011 showed Nisman had a close relationship with Washington. Nisman's close ties to the United States - which also favours the position that Iranian agents were behind the attack - was revealed in the aftermath of the Wikileaks data dump of State Department cables in 2011, in which Embassy officials briefed official US government offices about the content of the meetings held with Nisman.
Wikileaks founder Assange claims US supports ‘vulture funds’ in dispute with Argentina
Israel sets up Georgia
According to the source of WikiLeaks, four years ago a deal between Moscow and Tel Aviv took place. In exchange for the codes of Iranian Tor-M1 missiles, the Israelis reportedly handed over to the Russian military the codes for the Georgian UAV. In 2005-2007, Georgia bought Israeli drones, multiple rocket launchers and other military vehicles and equipment that were then used in South Ossetia.
Russia gave Israel Iranian codes
Mussharaf govt. pushed Iran to abandon nuke-weapons programme – Secret US cables
Ofcom revokes Press TV’s UK license
Bombings in Iraq intensify sectarian tensions
Iraq has become a hotbed of regional rivalries. Saudi Arabian enmity towards Maliki was spelled out in a 2007 WikiLeaks cable that reported Saudi King Abdullah describing the Iraqi prime minister as "an Iranian agent." Saudi Arabia, which regards Iran as a dangerous regional rival, has refused to set up an embassy in Baghdad and deliberately sought to exclude Iraq from regional bodies such as the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Iraq’s neighbors are watching its sectarian rift with unease
Saudi Arabia s King Abdullah told US diplomats that by toppling former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, the US had presented Iraq to Iran "on a golden platter." That assessment, recorded in a 2005 embassy cable released by WikiLeaks, was affirmed in the eyes of Saudi Arabia s Sunni Muslim rulers by the outbreak of sectarian squabbling that followed last week s departure of the last US troops from Iraq after almost nine years of occupation.
Arab Bank never dealt with N. Korea
In a diplomatic cable sent by the US State Department to the US embassy in Amman in August 2007, officials warned that the Arab Bank could be unwittingly assisting proliferation-related transfers between Iran, Syria and North Korea. - We are concerned that Iran, Syria and DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] proliferation entities are using the Arab Bank network to process what may be proliferation-related transactions, - read the cable, released by WikiLeaks on its website at the end of August and viewed by The Jordan Times.
Growing Azerbaijan, Israel ties anger Iran
Chinese company selling chemical weapons equipment to Iran
Iran, Pakistan eyed Swiss technology cable leaks
WikiLeaks and Bahrain 2008: Assessing Iran’s Threat
"Bahraini government officials sometimes privately tell U.S. official visitors that some Shi'a oppositionists are backed by Iran. Each time this claim is raised, we ask the GOB to share its evidence. To date, we have seen no convincing evidence of Iranian weapons or government money here since at least the mid-1990s."
Mubarak skeptical of U.S. reform push
The WikiLeaks-Iran connection
On November 4, Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, arrived in Geneva. He held a press conference in which he hinted that he was considering requesting political asylum in Switzerland. Assange spent two days there as the guest of an Iranian non-governmental organization, which also sponsored the press conference.
Netanyahu: WikiLeaks showed three top issues in Mideast are Iran, Iran, Iran
Tehran Politics Collapsed the 2009 Nuclear Talks
Iran hard-liners blocked nuclear fuel swap deal, WikiLeaks cables reveal
Did Ahmadinejad Get Slapped by His Revolutionary Guard Commander
How the Tehran Trial Killed US Exchange Programmes with Tehran
In August 2009, less than two months after the disputed Presidential election, the Iranian authorities held a mass trial of more than 100 defendants in Tehran. The proceedings were more for show than for due legal process: unlike most hearings, they were held in public --- indeed they were televised --- and they were accompanied by a series of high-profile "confessions".
WikiLeaks quotes IDF chief Iran could hit Israel within 12 minutes
Ahmadinejad slapped in the face by IRGC Commander
A recently leaked US embassy cable, written in February, said that 'according to a source,' Revolutionary Guard Chief of Staff Mohammed Ali Jafari slapped Ahmadinejad during a mid-January meeting of Iran s Supreme National Security Council held shortly after the Ashura demonstrations in Iran on 27 December.
Brother of Revolutionary Guards Commander Safavi Offers Co-operation to US
In August 2007, a well-placed Iranian approaches the US Embassy in London with an offer. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), with its "central and preeminent role in the Iranian government", will co-operate with the US in Iraq, but "a U.S. terrorist designation of the IRGC would prevent any such cooperation".
Iran, and the Green Movement The Predictions of Iraq’s President
What caught my eye, however, was Talabani's reading of the state of the Iranian regime and of the opposition posed by the Green Movement. Commenting a week after the demonstrations on 27 December and the regime's mobilisation of support three days later, Talabani assesses, "Tt was not that the Iranian regime was weak, but rather that the opposing side was strong....Whereas the demonstrations at first were attacking Iranian President Ahmadinejad, they have now shifted to being against Supreme Leader Khamenei."
Former National Security Council member Gary Sick on WikiLeaks, Iran and the Arab world
What do you think of the cable in WikiLeaks about King Abdullah s statement on Iran? Of course this is nothing new. We have long known that most Arab governments are scared of a nuclear Iran. At the same time, the Iranian government doesn t really care about such opinions. Do you think such leaks create more friction between Iran and its neighbors?
Grand Ayatollah Sistani Checks Iran’s Influence
Iran Can’t Go On Like This – The Mistaken Predictions for the 22 Bahman Protests
The events of 22 Bahman (11 February 2010) were a significant disappointment for the Iranian opposition. In the weeks before the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution, there was an excitement that protests against the Government and regime --- which had continued despite repression and made a notable impact in the Ashura demonstrations of 27 December --- would build, possibly to a critical point
Is Tehran Establishing Bases in Latin America (Sick)
Here are two recent WikiLeaks releases that deal with Iran. The first is from January 2009 and is a round-robin telegram from the State Department to many U.S. embassies asking them to keep their eyes peeled for any information about Iran s possible courting of Latin American countries and/or possible establishment of terrorist bases there. The second describes a suspected delivery of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to Venezuela via Turkey in March of the same year.
The Initial US Reaction to the 2009 Election
At noon on the day after the June 2009 Presidential election, the US Consulate in Dubai --- the major "watching post" for events in Iran --- offered a snap assessment of events. What is initially striking is the Consulate's firm declaration of belief (based on which sources? hard information or just chatter from Iranians with US officials?) that the result had been manipulated for a first-round victory for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Italy PM said ‘not even Obama can stop Israeli attack on Iran’
Neo-con narrative sidelines Palestinians
Gleeful Israeli leaders and their neo-conservative supporters here have spent much of the past week insisting that the United States State Department cables published by WikiLeaks prove that Sunni Arab leaders in the Middle East are far more preoccupied with the threat posed by an ascendant and possibly nuclear Iran than with a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Wiki weakens Iran war drive
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is ecstatic. He has come to the conclusion that a diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, revealing that the Saudis privately favour a military strike on Iran, has vindicated Israel's hawkish stance. With Saudi Arabia aboard the war train, how can it possibly be derailed?
Saudis wanted Arab force in Lebanon
Gulf war cries over Iran exaggerated
The Regime’s Ninja Assassins
In September 2009, an Iranian political source --- who also happens to be trained in martial arts --- tells the US Embassy in Azerbaijan that the regime is pressuring martial arts clubs, despite suspicions that they could be assisting opposition groups, to provide instruction for the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards.
Gulf States discuss Iran following WikiLeaks revelations
Comparing the Threats from Saudi Arabia and Iran
In September 2009, the US Embassy in Baghdad summarised Iraqi perceptions of their neighbours in two cables. Only the first of the cables has been released, to my knowledge, but it was enough for coverage which set aside Turkey, Kuwait, and Syria for a dramatic comparison of the Saudis and Iranians: "Iraqi concerns [over Saudi Arabia]...represent a fundamental divergence from the American and British view of Iran as arch-predator in Iraq."
Europe, Ahmadinejad, and The Worst Inauguration Protest Ever
Paucelle explained that European Union members would protest the first of two inauguration ceremonies for President Ahmadinejad by sending low-ranking diplomats. Paucelle continued, however, that the Iranians would not know of the protest: "If the Iranians find out beforehand that the EU will not send Ambassador-level representation, then they may rescind the invitations to the August 3 event." Maintaining this sign of disapproval that would not be known to the Iranians as a sign of disapproval was difficult, Paucelle noted, "It's hard to keep a secret when 27 nations are involved but we are trying."
Sudan warned to block Iranian arms bound for Gaza
US Diplomats Assess Green Movement and Politics From Crisis to Stalemate
The second of three long cables from the US Consulate in Dubai in January 2010 assessing the political situation in Iran. (The first cable was published on EA yesterday.) We think the document is very significant, both for a vision of US thinking in January and for the situation today, and will have a full analysis on Sunday.
U.S. scrambled to understand protests in Iran, leaked documents show
Reporting from Beirut As protesters poured into the streets of Iran in the aftermath of the disputed 2009 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, U.S. diplomats scrambled to decipher the erupting political crisis and the goals of the opposition's so-called green movement, according to recently disclosed diplomatic cables. The diplomats hurried to understand without the benefit of an official outpost in Tehran, a result of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Instead they read news bulletins and spoke with allied embassies in places like Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. They contacted Iranian dissidents, human rights activists and disgruntled businessmen, according to the confidential dispatches made public in recent days by WikiLeaks.
Twisting the Tale from Arabs to North Korean Missiles
The Scepticism over Obama’s Sincerity
WikiLeaks revelations that American officials were planning to raise pressure on Iran with more sanctions and a missile defense shield even while President Obama was making high-profile public overtures to Iran are being seen in Tehran as validation of deep skepticism from the start about Obama s effort.
The Case of the Disappearing Anti-American Graffiti
Assessing Engagement and War
Gary Sick analyses the Wikileaks documents, "The only conclusion I can draw from this is that Obama was never sincere about his engagement strategy. It has yet to be tried": The latest Wikileaks information dump includes an enormous body of cable traffic dealing with the US and Iran. Most of it simply confirms what most people already believed:
Death to Khamenei — The Inside Line on the Post-Election Situation, Tehran’s Politicians, Nuclear Talks, & US Hikers
"The biggest 'game changer' had been this past summer's presidential elections. The events were causing backlash from much of the population. Parents and grandparents were saying that they do not want their children to be forced to experience the same Iran that they, themselves, have been living under for the last 30 years. For the first time, one can see "kill Khamenei" and "death to Khamenei" scrawled on walls in Tehran.
War cries ringing in Obama’s ears
The leaked reports sent by United States officials abroad to Washington reveal a treacherous playing field for the United States in the Middle East. While the some of the 219 diplomatic cables publicly released to date - of a reported 251,000 obtained by WikiLeaks, an independent international organization that facilitates leaks and makes documents public - cover a range of countries and issues, a major theme of particular interest to US media was the support by some Arab leaders for a US attack on Iran.