Tag Archives: iran

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

World War 3: Iran shoots down U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle, China says it will support Iran even if it means the Third World War, part of recent moves towards War

“Iran’s military has shot down an intruding RQ-170 American drone in eastern Iran.”-Iranian government statement

In the early morning hours on December 4 (U.S. time), the Iranian military shot down a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).  The U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone is used for intelligence, surveillance and for target acquisition.

An unnamed Iranian military official said Iran will take action against all foreign UAVs, even those outside Iran’s borders: “…the operational and electronic measures taken by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Armed Forces against invading aircraft will not remain limited to Iran’s borders.”

This is part of a quickening pace of actions on all sides that look like war is inevitable.

Just before Iran shot down the U.S. UAV, officials with the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University (China’s equivalent to any of the U.S. military academies) announced full military support of Iran: “China will not hesitate to protect Iran even with a Third World War.”-Major General Zhang Zhaozhong

Just this past week the U.S. Treasury Department asked all nations to stop buying oil from Iran (a futile move I pointed out).  If anyone really knows the ‘why’ of why Japan attacked the United States on December 7, 1941, it is because the U.S. stopped all oil sales to Japan. At that time the U.S. was the world’s main supplier of oil.

Just a few days ago the Japanese government responded to the current request from the U.S. Treasury by saying that out of necessity they can not stop buying Iranian oil.  Currently nearly 10% of the oil Japan gets comes from Iran. With more than 80% of their nuclear power plants off line, Japan’s need for petroleum is skyrocketing: “We need to be very careful in making such a decision, given that our priority is securing energy supply in the aftermath of the massive earthquake.”-statement from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

I also pointed out that the result of such an oil ban would actually hurt us little guys: “As soon as such an issue is raised seriously the oil price would soar to above $250 a barrel.”-Ramin Mehmanparast, Iran’s Foreign Ministry

Also in the past week, the United Kingdom cut off all diplomatic ties with Iran, after Iranian protestors took control of the British Embassy in Tehran (on November 29, U.S. time).  This despite the  fact that Iranian police arrested at least 12 of the protestors, and Iran officially apologized. Western governments, and media refused to report the apology but Spanish officials confirmed it:  “He said he was aware that it had violated the Vienna Convention and for that reason he was passing on to his apologies.”-Trinidad Jimenez, Foreign Minister of Spain

Even British officials admitted that Iran apologized, but said they didn’t care: “…this remains a very serious failure by the Iranian government.”-William Hague, Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom

U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden, said there’s no proof that the Iranian government was behind the U.K. embassy take over: “I don’t have any indication how and or if it was orchestrated.”

The U.K. has thrown out all Iranian diplomats in Britain, and Iran has now done the same with British diplomats.

Norway also closed their embassy in Tehran, temporarily. They re-opened their embassy on December 1.

On December 1, former Assistant Counsel of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Franklin Lamb, said Iran was being set up for inevitable war: “The other side (the UK) is provoking them (Iranian government). Hopefully the Tehran government will not fall in some of these traps that I think are being laid for it in a very dangerous way.”

On December 3, Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, said he would not allow the U.S. to use Iraq as a base for attacking Iran: “Clearly we are no enemy to Iran and we do not accept that some who have problems with Iran would use us as a battlefield.”

Recently al-Maliki was the target of an assassination bomb.

On December 2, U.S. Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, said Iran is “a very grave threat to all of us”, and, any threat to the shipping of oil out of the Persian Gulf was the “red line” that would cause the U.S. to attack Iran.  Iran has warned that if they are threatened they will close the Strait of Hormuz, blocking all shipping from the Persian Gulf.

Also on Decmber 2, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, and current Security Council President, Vitaly Churkin, said the latest IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program was a trick, because Iran was actually cooperation on the nuclear issue: “We thought that we were on the verge of restarting those talks on the basis of our proposals, because we started receiving some encouraging signals, substantive signals from the Iranian side…”

On December 1, the U.S. Senate passed, yet again, new sanctions against Iran, this time targeting the banks of Iran, and any foreign or U.S. banks doing business with Iran.

Also on December 1, the European Union passed new sanctions against 37 Iranian individuals and 143 companies/organizations from Iran, or doing business with Iran.

In response to the latest sanctions, Russia and China warned the West: “We hope the countries involved will keep calm, rational and restrained to avoid emotional actions.”-Hong Lei, Chinese Foreign Ministry

“We speak out categorically against cranking up a spiral of tension and confrontation on issues linked with Iran. We believe that this…is fraught with severe consequences.”-Alexander Lukashevich, Russian Foreign Ministry

And all these statements and events took place in just the past week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Opinion, U.S.

Government Incompetence & Global Economic War: U.S. wants other countries to stop buying Iranian oil, U.S. conspiracy to drive up the price of oil

The U.S. Treasury Department is asking other countries to stop buying Iranian oil, as part of increasing sanctions against Iran.

Here’s the problem: Iran has already adjusted its oil business so that sanctions don’t have any affect. They don’t take the U.S. dollar anymore (the real reason U.S. officials want to attack Iran), and they even let countries pay for oil purchases with barter (by trading for other petroleum related products/services). If enough countries stop taking Iranian oil it will only drive up the price of oil for everyone!  In fact, just the U.S. Treasury Department suggesting this will cause market oil prices to go up.

Who’s side is our government on anyway?

International, U.S.

Government Incompetence & Word War 3: Iran & Lebanon capture dozens of U.S. spies. CIA official says Lebanon’s spies better than the old KGB. This happened back in June, U.S. media just now talking about it, may be part of plan to justify war with Iran.

“Hezbollah’s security is as good as any in the world’s. It’s the best. It’s better than that of the KGB.”-Bob Baer, former CIA operations officer

“Beirut station is out of business.”-unnamed CIA official

Call it a major set back for the United States, in their espionage of Iran and Lebanon.  The U.S. media says more than a dozen undercover agents working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were caught.  Iranian media say it was at least 30 spies in Iran, and at least 42 in other countries!  To show you how incompetent our government has become, CIA officials learned of the espionage catastrophe while watching an Iran Today newscast.

Normally U.S. officials always play down anything reported by the Iranian media, but this time CIA officials say the info presented was hardcore CIA tactics, the Iranians could only know about it because they did indeed catch the undercover spies.

ABC News quoted a U.S. official as calling the situation an “occasional setback”.  During the Cold War this would have been a major embarrassment, to say the least!

The Iranian program that reported the U.S. spy disaster is called Iran Today, it’s presented by the news service PressTV. According to Iranian media the arrests of the U.S. paid spies began back in May!  In Lebanon, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, announced the arrest of several spies working for the CIA back in June!

You can watch the two Iran Today programs here and here.

But arrests of spies in Lebanon actually go back to April 2009, when hundreds of spies were arrested, many working for Israel’s Mossad.  Where was the U.S. media then?

ABC News has been reporting that most of the spies were executed.  Since the U.S. is now ‘blind’ in Lebanon and Iran, the only way U.S. officials can assume their undercover agents are dead, is because their actions resulted in the deaths of Iranians and Lebanese.

According to Iranian media, spies who’re not connected to the death of one of their citizens will be sentenced to hard labor.  Only if they are found to have been involved with the assassination, or killing, of a citizen would they be executed.  If you’ve paid attention to news from Iran you’d know that many Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in the past few years, as well as many seemingly random explosions that have killed Iranian civilians.

Why is the U.S. media now running with this story?  Could it be that the failed FBI sting operation, that was presented as an attempted Iranian assassination of a Saudi Arabian official, has failed to rouse enough support for war with Iran, so now the Obama administration has decided to somehow use this major CIA FAIL to generate support for war with Iran?

 

 

 

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Israel says the time is now, for war with Iran. Says Obama “excelling” at supporting Israel’s military

“Let me tell you, we recommend for a long time to all players to act sincerely and intensively to…deprive them or prevent them from turning nuclear.  And we have kept recommending to all to leave no option, not to remove any option from the table.”-Ehud Barak, Defense Minister of Israel

The Chinese media is quoting Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, as pushing for war with Iran right now, because of the implications of the questionable IAEA report: “But I can tell you that the IAEA report has a sobering impact on many in the world leaders, as well as the publics, and people understand that the time had come.”

Days before the official release of the IAEA report, Israeli media stated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were pushing for a military strike on Iran.

The leaders of Israel are now telling the world that Iran must be stopped: “People understand now that Iran is determined to reach nuclear weapons.  No other possible or conceivable explanation for what they have been actually doing. And that should be stopped.”-Ehud Barak

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Barak was asked how supportive the Obama administration is of Israeli policies. Barak says Obama’s support surpasses all other U.S. Presidents:  “He’s extremely strong supporter of Israel in regard to security. Traditionally Presidents will support Israel in keeping its quality military aids, and taking care of its security, but this administration is excelling in this.”


International, U.S.

World War 3: Ron Paul says Iran has no nukes! CBS News reveals its ignorance, or its intentional covering up of issues involving U.S. foreign policy

“Iran doesn’t have a bomb. There’s no proof. There’s no new information regardless of this new report [IAEA report], and for us to overreact and to talk about bombing Iran, that’s much more dangerous.”-Ron Paul, U.S. Representative from Texas

Presidential candidate Ron Paul made that statement on CBS’s Face the Nation.  But the interviewer, Bob Schieffer, tried his darnedest to make Ron Paul look unAmerican, and the interview really came across as Ron Paul bashing.

Schieffer stated: “No one has suggested, in the U.S. government, that we are going to bomb Iran. What they have said is we’re going to impose very tough sanctions. You have said you’re against sanctions.”

Paul replied: “Yeah, because sanctions are the initial steps to war…”

If you take political science courses on war then you’ll learn that sanctions are the first step towards war.

Ron Paul then questioned Schieffer’s statment that “no one” in our government wants to bomb Iran: “…if your saying that nobodies suggesting it why don’t you listen to the debates, I mean listen to some of the other candidates…” At that point Schieffer cuts Paul off, claiming that he is listening to the debates.

A great example is another Republican candidate, Newt Gingrich, who, on November 12, called for the assassination of Iranian scientists (something the Israeli Mossad has already done).

Schieffer admits that candidates, including Mitt Romney, has made such suggestions, but he says “the government” hasn’t made such statements.

Paul then blasts Schieffer: “Obviously they [U.S. government] haven’t said that, but the implication is that nothing is off the table.  You’ve heard them say that!”

Schieffer replies: “Well yes, alright, lets move on then.”

Yes, people of the Untied States, lets move on away from the mainstream, entrenched, warmongering, working class enslaving Elites!  Vote against any candidate that sounds mainstream, and Ron Paul sure isn’t mainstream!

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Opinion, U.S.

United Police States of America: More proof that Uncle Sam is THE terrorist Mastermind; FBI behind most “terrorist” plots, it’s another way to round up poor black men for slave labor prisons

“The target, the motive, the ideology and the plot were all led by the FBI.”-Karen Greenberg, FBI tactics specialist, Fordham University

More and more evidence is coming forth, showing that for the past 10 years most “foiled terrorist plots” actually were masterminded by the FBI!  It’s a case of taking entrapment to a whole new level.

“Most of these suspect terrorists had no access to weapons unless the government provided them. I would say that showed they were not the biggest threat to the U.S.”-Mike German, American Civil Liberties Union and former FBI counter terrorism agent

Most of those arrested and convicted of recent terrorist plots were illegal drug users and/or sellers, or illegal immigrants.  Most of them say what happened was they were in dire straights financially and the undercover FBI agents (who’re posing as big time drug dealers) would offer them huge amounts of money to blow something up.  Sometimes they were promised that their debts would be cleared.  Illegal immigrants would be promised legal status.

“Most terrorists have links to foreign terrorist groups and have trained in terrorism training camps. Perhaps FBI resources should be spent finding those guys.”-Mike German, American Civil Liberties Union and former FBI counter terrorism agent

Most recently the FBI tried their drug dealer turned terrorist sting on some Iranians living in Mexico.  The Iranians smelled a rat and tried to get out.  One made it back to Iran, the other was arrested.  The U.S. government tried to present the failed ‘sting’ operation as a sinister plot to assassinate a Saudi Arabian official.  Never mind that it was the FBI who masterminded the sinister assassination plot.

But that’s not the only case the FBI bungled.  For some reason the FBI likes to use former convicted felons as their undercover agents.  In one case the potential ‘terrorists’ became so afraid of the FBI undercover agent that they succeed in getting a court to issue a restraining order against him.  They did not know the guy was an FBI undercover agent, or a former felon.

Bottom line, most of these cases involve poor men, mainly black and mainly Muslim.  There have been cases where they appeal their convictions, yet, even when the judge admits the FBI screwed up, their convictions are upheld.

It sounds to me like this is just another way our Corporate America controlled government is filling up slave labor prisons, especially the for profit Corporate America controlled prisons.  It has nothing to do with terrorists out to get us!

 

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Turkey oppossed to military action against Syria & Iran

“Turkey, as a friend of the neighboring country of Iran, will never accept a measure that would harm Iran under any condition.”-Abdullah Gul, President of Turkey

Despite building up troops on the border between Turkey and Syria, the Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, also says they will not support any military action against Syria: “We are opposed to any attack on Syria. And incidents in Iraq and Libya should not be repeated in this country. Enemies are making attempts to wage a religious war, and regional countries should not fall into this trap.”

However, British media are reporting that the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has made statements supporting war with Syria and Iran: “No doubt, the problems both in Syria and in the Middle East in general are global problems. Therefore, we have to see the tragedy in the area, hear the screams and urgently take measures to stop the bloodshed for the safety of energy supplies as much as global peace and calm.”

Could this be because Turkey finds itself between a rock and a hard place?  Literally, geographically, between the West and the Middle East.

International, U.S.

World War 3: The West alone against Iran; 120 countries issue statement supporting Iran

120 countries, members of the Non Aligned Movement (if you haven’t heard of it you can thank your corporate/government controlled mainstream media) have issued a statement of support for Iran’s nuclear program.

In the statement ‘NAM’ stands of Non Aligned Movement, and ‘Agency’ stands for the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.

Here it is:

Mr. Chairperson,

1- The Vienna Chapter of the Non-Aligned Movement wishes to thank the Director General, Mr. Yukiya Amano, for his report on the Implementation of the NPT safeguards agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran as contained in document GOVl2011/65.

2- At the same time, NAM wishes to reaffirm the importance of Director General reports being issued in a timely manner. The late issuance of reports results in Member States having to prepare for meetings of the Board of Governors under significant time constraints.

3- Before expressing its comments on the Director General’s Report, NAM would like to reiterate its principled positions on the matter:
a. NAM reaffirms the basic and inalienable right of all states to the development, research, production and use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, without any discrimination and in conformity with their respective legal obligations. Therefore, nothing should be interpreted in a way as inhibiting or restricting the right of states to develop atomic energy for peaceful purposes. States’ choices and decisions, including those of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear technology and its fuel cycle policies must be respected.
b. NAM recognizes the IAEA as the sole competent authority for verification of the respective safeguards obligations of Member States and stresses that there should be no undue pressure or interference in the Agency’s activities, specially its verification process, which would jeopardize the efficiency and credibility of the Agency.
c. NAM emphasizes the fundamental distinction between the legal obligations of states in accordance with their respective safeguards agreements, as opposed to any confidence building measures undertaken voluntarily and that do not constitute a legal safeguards obligation.
d. NAM considers the establishment of a nuclear- weapons-free-zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East as a positive step towards attaining the objective of global nuclear disarmament and reiterates its support for the establishment of such a zone in accordance with relevant General Assembly and Security Council resolutions.
e. NAM reaffirms the inviolability of peaceful nuclear activities and that any attack or threat of attack against peaceful nuclear facilities -operational or under construction -poses a serious danger to human beings and the environment, and constitutes a grave violation of international law, of the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations, and of regulations of the IAEA. NAM recognizes the need for a comprehensive multilaterally negotiated instrument prohibiting attacks, or threat of attacks on nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
f. NAM strongly believes that all safeguards and verification issues, including those related to Iran, should be resolved within the IAEA framework, and be based on sound technical and legal grounds. NAM further emphasizes that the Agency should continue its work to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue within its mandate under the Statute of the IAEA.
g. NAM stresses that diplomacy and dialogue through peaceful means as well as substantive negotiations without any preconditions amongst the concerned parties must remain the means whereby a comprehensive and lasting solution to the Iranian nuclear issue is found.

4- NAM stresses that the issue of non-proliferation should be resolved through political and diplomatic means and that measures and initiatives taken in this regard should be within the framework of international law, relevant, conventions and the United Nations Charter.

5- NAM takes note that the Director General has stated once again that the Agency has been able to continue to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran at nuclear facilities and locations outside facilities where nuclear material is customarily used (LOFs) as declared by Iran under its Safeguards Agreement.

6- NAM welcomes the clear distinction made by the Director General between obligations emanating from Iran’s Safeguards Agreement and other requests by the United Nations Security Council. In this regard, NAM notes that the Director General has stated in his report that “Iran is not implementing a number of its obligations” emanating from relevant provisions of the United Nations Security Council resolutions. NAM recalls that the Director General has previously reported Iran’s assertion that some of the Agency’s requests “had no legal basis since they are not falling within Iran’s Safeguards Agreement”, an assertion elaborated by Iran in Document INFCIRC/810 as well. NAM encourages Iran to enhance its cooperation with the Agency to provide credible assurances regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran in accordance with international law.

7- NAM encourages the Secretariat to continue to refrain from including extensive technical details pertaining to sensitive proprietary information in the report of the Director General.

8- NAM welcomes the continued cooperation between the Agency and Iran as elaborated in the latest report of the Director General, and in this regard, notes the following:
a. That Iran has declared to the Agency under its Safeguards Agreement, 15 nuclear facilities and 9 LOFs, and that the Agency continues to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material at these facilities and LOFs.
b. That the activities of production of nuclear material, particularly those related to enrichment, continue to remain under the Agency’s containment and surveillance and that to date, the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) in Natanz and Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP)have been operating as declared.
c. That the Agency has confirmed that the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) corresponded with the design information provided by Iran, that the facility was at an advanced stage of construction, and that Iran and the Agency agreed on a safeguards approach for FFEP. The results of the environmental samples taken at FFEP up to 27 April 2011 did not indicate the presence of enriched uranium.
d. That the Agency has continued to monitor the use and construction of hot cells at the relevant nuclear facilities in Iran, and confirmed that Iran is not conducting reprocessing activities in any of the facilities declared under its Safeguards Agreement.
e. That Iran has provided the Agency with access to the IR-40 heavy water reactor at Arak, at which time the Agency was able to carry out a design information verification (DIV). The Agency verified that the construction of the facility was ongoing, and that the coolant heat exchangers had been installed. According to Iran, the operation of the IR-40 Reactor is planned to commence by the end of 2013.
f. That the Agency also carried out an inspection and a DIV at the Fuel Manufacturing Plant (FMP), and confirmed that Iran has started to install some equipment for the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) fuel fabrication.

9- NAM notes the standing requests by the Secretariat for further information regarding the design and scheduling of the construction of new nuclear facilities, and continues to encourage Iran to provide design information regarding its nuclear facilities in accordance with its full-scope safeguards agreement with the Agency.

10- NAM notes that the Director General mentioned in his report that he reiterated to Iran his position regarding the need to take steps towards the full implementation of its Safeguards Agreement and its other relevant obligations, in order to establish international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program. NAM recalls that Iran responded by extending an invitation to the Deputy Director General for Safeguards to visit its nuclear facilities and that the question of the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program was discussed during that visit. NAM welcomes such invitations, and that Iran as a confidence building measure, has provided the Agency during the visit with access to:
a. An installation where research and development (R & D) on advanced centrifuges was taking place, as well as extensive information on its current and future R & D work on advanced centrifuges.
b. The Heavy Water Production Plant (HWPP) for the first time since 2005, at which time the Agency observed that the HWPP was operating.

11- While noting the DG’s concern regarding the issue of possible military dimension to Iran’s nuclear program, NAM also notes that Iran has still not received the documents relating to the “alleged studies”. In this context, NAM fully supports the previous requests of the Director General to those Members States that have provided the Secretariat information related to the “alleged studies” to agree that the Agency provides all related documents to Iran. NAM expresses once again its concerns on the creation of obstacles in this regard, which hinder the Agency’s verification process. NAM recalls that the Director General previously reported in document GOV/2009/55 that:
a. The Agency has limited means to authenticate independently the documentation that forms the basis of the alleged studies.
b. The constraints placed by some Member States on the availability of information to Iran are making it more difficult for the Agency to conduct detailed discussions with Iran on this matter.

12- In light of the aforementioned obstacles, NAM requests further clarification on the methodology adopted by the Agency in arriving at its assessment as contained in paragraph 42 of the report.

13- NAM welcomes the will of Iran “to remove ambiguities, if any”, as well as its suggestion that the Deputy Director General for Safeguards (DDG-SG) should visit Iran for discussions aiming at the resolution of matters. NAM notes the reply by the Director General, indicating his preparedness to send the DDG-SG to “discuss the issues identified” in his report to the Board of Governors. In this context, NAM welcomes the continuation of this positive dialogue and cooperation between Iran and the Agency.

14- NAM requests clarification from the Agency for not incorporating Iran’s comments on all the new information in this report prior to its official release.

15- Bearing in mind the Agency’s responsibility in protecting safeguards confidential information, NAM remains concerned by recurring incidents of leakage of such information that, in the absence of adequate corrective measures by the Agency, calls into question the credibility of its regime for the protection of safeguards confidential information.

16- NAM welcomes Iran’s resolve to continue cooperating with the Agency, and still looks forward to the safeguards implementation in Iran being conducted in a routine manner. In this context, NAM encourages the Agency and Iran to continue engaging substantively without delay for the purpose of providing clarifications regarding the issues identified in the report, with a view to the prompt resolution of these issues in accordance with the Work Plan on “Understanding of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Agency on the Modalities of resolution of the Outstanding Issues” (INFCIRC/711).

17- NAM reiterates its principled position that diplomacy and dialogue are the only way for a long term solution of Iran’s nuclear issue. NAM encourages all Member States to contribute positively to that effect.

18- Before concluding, NAM wishes to express its deep concern and dissatisfaction at the selective circulation of the Director General’s report, or parts thereof, to certain Member States prior to its official release to all Member States. This runs counter to the principle of the sovereign equality of all Member States enshrined in the IAEA Statute and should not be repeated in the future.
Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Iran increases anti-aircraft drills, U.S. to give ‘green light’ to Israeli airstrikes

Israeli media claims Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are stepping up anti-aircraft training.  The report comes immediately after the UN’s IAEA passed a resolution against Iran.

Despite Israeli media’s claim, there’s no detailed info about such action on any Iranian media site, so far.

On Russian media sites, they’re claiming the U.S. has just threatened Iran.  U.S. officials have asked Iran to suspend all nuclear activities until the spring of 2012. If Iran does not, then the United States will give Israel the green light for air strikes.  Again, I can’t find any info about this on U.S., or Israeli media sites.

International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: IAEA approves resolution against Iran, Russia & China resist the resoluton

“But this is the magic of diplomacy. If you want to get everyone on board you have to sacrifice something. I hope it will lay the ground for future (UN Security Council) resolutions … I really hope so.”-Ehud Azoulay, Israeli envoy

November 18, the International Atomic Energy Agency has passed a resolution against Iran.  However, no details were included in the resolution, as to exactly what action is to be taken, this was the only way the IAEA could get Russia and China to vote for it.

Out of the 35 countries voting on the resolution, 32 voted for it. Cuba and Ecuador voted against.  Indonesia abstained.