World powers seek talks with Iran

The US and five other world powers have said they are seeking an “early negotiated solution” to the standoff with Iran over its nuclear ambitions.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, and her counterparts from Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany announced the new diplomatic overture to Iran on the sidelines of a special session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

Iran has indicated a new willingness to engage the international community over its nuclear programme. But so far it has failed to meet the terms for talks, and its defiance triggered new UN Security Council sanctions in June.

“We agreed to sanctions in June … Now is the time for Iran to engage in real negotiation, in actual constructive dialogue, about its whole nuclear programme,” William Hague, the British foreign secretary, said.
  
“The unity of the (six) shows that Iran can’t simply walk away from this and refuse to talk about it. The world is not going to forget about this issue.”

UAVs Pushed For Missile Defense

Advocacy of an air-launched, missile defense system is being proposed by two veterans of the Pentagon’s “Star Wars” era and a 1990s program to mate unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and long-range air-to-air weapons.

Len Caveny, a former director of science and technology, and Dale Tietz, a retired U.S. Air Force officer who focused on unmanned aircraft, were part of the Pentagon’s Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO). Now they are offering a new concept—backed up with several decades of research—to kill theater ballistic missiles (TBMs) soon after launch when they are slow, bright targets.

The Sullivans Returns From Deployment

 

USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) returned from a challenging and rewarding seven and a half month independent Ballistic Missile Defense deployment to the Arabian Gulf and Mediterranean regions on Sept. 19.
The 280 Sailors aboard The Sullivans completed a wide range of missions from partnership-building exercises and forward presence operations with coalition navies to participation in ongoing maritime security operations and integration into theater air and ballistic missile defense organizations.

Russia Ends Talk of Missile Sale to Iran

 

Russia interprets the latest round of United Nations sanctions against Iran as prohibiting all exports of major weapons systems to that country, President Dmitri A. Medvedev announced Wednesday, ending some Russian equivocation on whether an advanced air defense system would fall under the ban.

The decree bans exports to Iran of any “battle tanks, armored vehicles, large-caliber artillery systems, military airplanes and helicopters, military ships, rockets or rocket systems as defined in the U.N. register of conventional weapons, and air defense rockets of the S-300 system,” and it bans the sale of spare parts for Russian military hardware to Iran.

Iran to Build Own Air Defense System After Russia Withholds S-300 Missiles

Iran’s Defense Ministry said the country will produce its own advanced anti-aircraft missile system similar to THE S-300 which Russia decided not to supply in compliance with international sanctions.

“We have planned to build a long-range air defense missile system similar to S-300,” Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying by the state-run Mehr news agency in a report published on its website late yesterday. “By God’s grace and with Iranian engineers’ efforts, we will reach self- sufficiency.”

Russia’s Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said in an interview Sept. 20 that the decision not to deliver S-300 missiles to Iran was “dictated by a complicated military and political situation in the region and support of the United Nations sanctions against Iran.”

Blockbuster US arms sale to Saudi Arabia: Will it deter Iran?

It is the largest sale of arms that the United States has ever negotiated, and it is aimed squarely at Iran: More than $60 billion worth of American F-15 fighter jets, Apache helicopters, and missile defense systems will soon be on their way to bolster the arsenal of Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich country which serves as a major bulwark against Iranian influence in the Middle East.

There is little doubt that the arms sale will win approval in Congress once it is notified by the Obama administration. But whether this shipment, to be delivered over the course of the next several years, will deter Iranian nuclear ambitions – or merely ratchet up tensions in the region – remains an open question.

Pentagon officials are quick to point out the sale is not simply about Iran: The deal will also give Saudi Arabia the capability to confront wider threats posed by terrorists, including the ability to move more quickly to potentially tamp down threats across the border with Yemen, which is sliding ever more deeply into instability.

US expects closer ties between NATO and Russia

The United States says a planned summit between NATO leaders and Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev will significantly boost cooperation in areas such as the Afghan war, missile defense and fighting drug trafficking and piracy.

U.S. NATO Ambassador Ivo Daalder says Wednesday’s foreign ministers session with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov will lay the groundwork for the November summit of NATO’s 28 nations and Russia in Lisbon, Portugal. Medvedev was invited earlier this month.

Ties between the alliance and Russia hit rock-bottom after the Russo-Georgian war two years ago. But since President Barack Obama announced a “reset” of U.S. ties, there has been a significant shift toward closer cooperation.

N. Korea will continue to face sanctions unless it denuclearizes: White House

 

The United States said Tuesday that North Korea will continue to face strong punitive sanctions unless it abides by its commitment to denuclearize.

   “I think there are a whole host of things that they can do,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. “The easiest thing to do would be to simply live up to the obligations that they agreed to, understanding that not living up to those obligations has seen a tightening of sanctions by the international community.”

   Earlier in the day, the State Department announced that Robert Einhorn, its special adviser in charge of sanctions on North Korea and Iran, will travel to Beijing on Sept. 28-30 to seek China’s cooperation in implementing sanctions on North Korea and Iran.

   Einhorn’s Beijing tour coincides with the opening on Sept. 28 of the much-anticipated meeting of the representatives of the North’s ruling Workers Party possibly to anoint the ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s youngest son, Jong-un, as an heir.

Iran displays advanced missile at military parade

 

 

Iran has displayed an advanced missile capable of reaching Israel at a military parade on the 30th anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq war.

The solid-fuel Sajjil has the longest range of any missile in Iran’s arsenal, more than 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers).

Iran has dramatically accelerated its missile program in recent years, raising international concern that it could pose a threat to Israel and U.S.-allied Arab nations, including some that are home to American military bases.