Iranian officials say they have detected a planned “massive cyber attack” against its nuclear facilities from the US, Britain, and Israel just days after talks with world powers failed to reach a settlement on Iran’s nuclear program.
“Based on obtained information, America and the Zionist regime along with the MI6 planned an operation to launch a massive cyber attack against Iran’s facilities following the meeting between Iran and the P5+1 in Moscow,” said Iran’s Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi.
The US has been involved in the development and implementation of two previous cyber attacks against Iran’s nuclear facilities. The first was called Stuxnet, which had begun under the George W. Bush administration and continued under Obama, and the second was called Flame.
Washington has hypocritically maintained that offensive cyber attacks constitute an act of war, except when they do it.
The third round of talks between the P5+1 and Iran ended this week in Moscow without resolution, primarily because of US intransigence in refusing to grant Iran its right under international law to develop peaceful nuclear energy and in refusing to ease the sweeping economic sanctions in return for Iranian concessions on uranium enrichment.
In principle, the talks and the Western aggression against Iran are illegitimate. There is a consensus in the US intelligence community that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons and has demonstrated no intention to do so.
Still, the so-called diplomacy with Iran has been “predicated on intimidation, illegal threats of military action, unilateral ‘crippling’ sanctions, sabotage, and extrajudicial killings of Iran’s brightest minds,” writes Reza Nasri at PBS Frontline’s Tehran Bureau. These postures have spoiled the chance to resolve this issue promptly and respectfully.
After the failed talks in 2009 and 2010, wherein Obama ended up rejecting the very deal he demanded the Iranians accept, as Harvard professor Stephen Walt has written, the Iranian leadership “has good grounds for viewing Obama as inherently untrustworthy.” Former CIA analyst Paul Pillar has concurred, arguing that Iran has “ample reason” to believe, “ultimately the main Western interest is in regime change.”
Tehran has repeatedly said that if the West recognizes its right to a civilian nuclear program, talks can succeed. They have also suggested that concession from the West, like easing illegitimate economic warfare, could result in reciprocation like ending 20 percent uranium enrichment.
“If the other side agrees to recognize Iran’s (nuclear) rights based on international regulations, Iran is ready to negotiate anything,” Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated on Thursday.
Since the peaceful nature of Iran’s current nuclear program is so widely accepted, the only real gripe people have is that Tehran is slightly too opaque on the issue (this, despite all declared enrichment sites being subject to international inspections and having 24-hour video surveillance). Any opaqueness Iran has demonstrated, along with its emphasis on being “nuclear capable,” is merely a defensive posture from a regime that fears US or Israeli aggression.
But there is a simple solution to this which would vastly decrease the geopolitical tensions in the region, yet is seen as out of the question by the US. If Israel, Iran’s main adversary and not a NPT signatory, agreed to dismantling its vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons and to a deal enforcing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East – a deal Iran has repeatedly proposed – Iran’s defensive posture would probably expire, along with the whole dispute about its nuclear program.
I don’t get it. It seems as if Iranian delegates enjoy masochism. Why don’t they just quit the talks and tell p5+I and everyone else connected to it to go to hell, and just continue spinning the centrifuges, protect their computers against cyber-terrorists, and build up their defensive capabilities?
I bet not much can happen after that
Nathan, think about it. Telling people to go to hell does not diminish the likelihood of conflict, but increases it. It is emotionally indulgent to spit in your adversaries face, but not helpful, especially when your massively powerful and demonstrably violent adversary wants you to do just that.
I understand your anger, but the smart strategy, the strategy the Iranians have deployed with surpassing skill, is to not allow themselves to be provoked. The Iranian leadership does not have the luxury of indulging in emotionally-satisfying but decidedly suicidal behavior. The Iranian "delegates" will absorb any number of insults, threats, and outright assaults, without blinking an eye, without ruffled feathers, without the least harshness of tone in their responses. They are disciplined professionals.
Frankly, I admire the heck out of them.
"The first was called Stuxnet, which had begun under the George W. Bush administration and continued under Obama, and the second was called Flame."
Isn't that the other way 'round though?
Flame was created by the US and Israel in order to collect intelligence on Iranian computer networks as part of the same covert operation that spawned Stuxnet.
Anonymous US officials told the Washington Post that Flame was created as part of of the secret programme codenamed Olympic Games. Flame was designed as a means to map Iranian networks, as part of a reconnaissance mission to map closed computer networks that served as a prelude to the sabotage of systems at Uranium nuclear enrichment facilities carried out by Stuxnet.
funny how everything is illegal for everyone on earth except the US/israel/brit axis of evil….
Stupidity — Complete lack of humility
As ability to kill is in direct proportion to intelligence, as the intelligence level of a nation varies from one generation to the next, as the rise and fall of the Roman Empire has established, we should use extreme caution when dealing with any nation that shows signs of a superior ability to wage war.
Comes now Iran to first overpower our Stuxnet cyber attack, then overpower and capture our stealth drone that cost billions to develop, and now to announce that they know what our next cyber attack will be and are fully equipped to destroy it.
And so, pure stupidity is a government that thinks an enemy is fooled, when it has just enough intelligence to fool only itself.
Stuxnet is followsed by stunnedtext
Was I right or was I right? I told you guys that this was the plan of the Israelis. They sabotaged any chance of peace with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Now the talks are over and done and the US has reached the fork in the road once again. More sanctions, more cyber attacks which runs the risk of retaliation, or just attack? I think obama will take America to the edge but never give the green light for am invasion. The administrations plan is to antagonize and incite iran into attacking.
Nice way to hold talks while stabbing your opponent in the back. That's American diplomacy for you. But then Israel is doing the same to us and we don't seem to mind.
Strong and good — Not weak and evil
Nathan
“Iranian delegates… Why don’t they just quit the talks and tell p5+I… go to hell?”
If Iran gave up it’s right to enrich uranium, then weak and cowardly would it appear and the Western powers would proceed to bomb it back to the stone age. Likewise, if Western mainstream media can create the illusion that Iran does not hold the moral high ground, then complete and all-out war would ensue.
You’re so interesting! I don’t suppose I’ve truly read through a single thing like this before. So great to find someone with a few genuine thoughts on this issue. Really.. thanks for starting this up. This site is one thing that is needed on the internet, someone with a bit of originality!