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Monday, January 2, 2012

Obama Signed Bill Penalizing Iran

Nadene Goldfoot
Obama, while on his Christmas vacation in Hawaii, signed the bill congress had passed of tougher sanctions on Iran.  It was done on Saturday, but made more flexible with some waivers of penalties for certain groups.  This bill is to penalize Iran by having sanctions on anybody dealing with Iran's Central Bank because of their nuclear research which most likely is aimed to develop nuclear weapons.  Iran has constantly threatened both Israel and the USA.  In reaction to any meddling into their nuclear developments, Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, but at the same time also put out comments that they are ready to talk about it.  Some feel that this is just a stall tactic while they continue.

They now have shown the world that they have created their own uranium fuel rods  and are using them in their power plants.  They have tested radar-evading medium-range missiles already while having a 10 day  Gulf exercise.  What they call long distance we call medium.  On Sunday and Monday they tested missiles with a range of 200 km. or 124.27 miles, called the Mehrab ( Altar) and Nour. Ghader (Capable) , a ground to sea missile was fired on Monday.  Earlier ranges of their missiles was 124 miles and they could travel at low altitudes.   In a few days they will test some long-range missiles in another drill, ranges that will be able to reach Israel and US bases in the Middle East.  They hope to scare the European Union from joining the sanctions. 

1/3 of sea oil trade goes through the Strait of Hormuz.  This means that from 13 to 15 supertankers sail every day to Japan, South Korea, India and China.  If they close the Strait they will also be hurting themselves. 

Iran is the 4th biggest producer of crude oil in the world  60% of their economy comes from this money.  Already their food prices have jumped 40%.  Right now $1.00 equals 17,000 reals which has weakened by 11%.  They are buying up dollars as the reals are becoming worthless.  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's economic and foreign policies are blamed for this as they have faced increasing isolation. 

 Shain Sodden Hossein, Economy Minister of Iran, and Iran’s navy chief Adm. Habibollah Sayyari reported that the Straits of Hormuz is completely in their control.  Supposedly it is international waters.  Their exercize ends Tuesday.  Ghader, just tested, is said to be able to destroy war ships.  Rear Adm. Mahmoud Mousavi, a spokesman for the drill, said Ghader is an upgraded version. 

The distance between Tehran, Iran and Jerusalem, Israel is 967 miles or 1556 km.  I think Israel is still safe from this attack.  However, the distance from Iran to Qatar is 254 miles or 408 km.  This is where the USA has a naval base.  Unless their "long range missiles" really have the capabilities of our long range missiles, both places are safe for now.  At least it cannot be said that every possible measure hasn't been taken before force, which is still on the table, isn't taken. 

1/6/12: Debka said the exercise was to show that Shahab 3 ballistic missile has the range of 1,600 km.  That far a range could hit Israel if this is possible.  Or, from central Iran they could hit Hormuz Strait, therefore threatening any ships.
Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-fires-radar-beating-missile-during-gulf-drill-125706609.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7e1c60a8-3558-11e1-84b9-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1iK5DHFOo
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-test-fires-advanced-anti-ship-missile-straits-165705245.html
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/01/02/iran-successfully-test-fires-long-range-missile-report-says/
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_distance_between_Iran_and_Israel
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/distances.html?n=8
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/200_kilometers_equals_how_many_miles
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/151307 by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204720204577132923798499772.html

1 comment:

Nadene Goldfoot said...

Arutz Sheva explains that this law contains a waiver allowing him to delay imposing them by giving other countries more time to break off dealing with the Central Bank of Iran and the country’s oil and gas sector.