London's Sunday Times: All the Nukes Unfit to Print?

Those who take seriously stories planted in Murdoch-owned media outlets (Times, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, FoxNews, Sky Television, New York Post, The Sun,...) ought to donate their brains to medical research.

Good background on this piece of hype, Marsha.

A commenter on a military forum points out the following:

Technically, its feasible that Israel might position one Dolphin class SSK submarine in the Perisan Gulf; they have three to keep one on station at all times. (No navy in the world can maintain 100% strength in a given area over a long period of time.) Also, the Egyptians would have to allow this force through the Suez Canal, otherwise it's a grueling roundtrip across the Cape. And, the Israeli Navy doesn't appear to possess anything close to an adequate seagoing submarine tender.

So, yes, this is Debka-esque nonsense.

Dear Marsha,

Just read your latest article, "Blinded in Gaza," at Lobelog.com.

You are a brave woman.

Hope you will contribute pieces more often to TehranBureau.

Israel is trying her chance at psychological warfare as much as in pure military preparation, sabotage, espionage ...etc, yet as witnessed in recent years, none of these policies have deterred iran from pursuing its agenda, and rightly so.

Dont forget, Israelis is an overconfident bunch yet they are scared too. They do not see themselves to believe that their time of being the sole militarily nuclear power of the region is over. Israeli has always been scared of another SHOA , an eternal existential fear.

Israel had all the time in the world to reach a tenable peace treaty with the conflicting parties , yet it refrained, partly due to false confidence in its military superiority and n the other hand in the absolute support that she got from the U.S and some other European countries.

Now that the table seem to be turning against her, she might do something that she always has done. A stupid, hair brained move is all what it takes to make things catastrophically bad for everybody. I dread that moment but seeing who BiBI is and its maverick cabinet are, that sad option might indeed come be a real event.

The Question here is not what Israel would do as much as what Iran would do in response to a nuclear attack. Would Iran drizzle down some hundred kilos of low enriched uranium over Israeli cities, which would possible make the affected areas non-habitable for decades to come or would Iran send troops there.

Neither of these ideas are promising and hardly any solution . Israel and Iran can be friends or at least tolerate each other as regional powers.

There is no need for Israel to station subs in the Arabian gulf. The difference in the time it would take it's land based nuclear missles to reach Iran is basically the same as it would take a subs missles launched from the Arabian gulf.
As far as a deterrent to Irans' navy...They pose no threat to Israel whatsoever. Iran makes constant threats to close the Arabian gulf, but all are pure non-sense.

For a submarine with a nuclear reactor sailing around Africa and positioning in the Arabian gulf for 6 or more months is nothing but routine. Nuclear power submarines from many countries routinely spend 6-9 months submerged and on station.

What people in the world seem to forget is that israel had lost 9 million of its people in the 2nd
world war.
They will never let this happen again.
No country will ever have this power over their country again.
Do Not Provoke the Israel nation, for any country that does so will face elimation from the face of the earth.
ex. Hiroshima and

Nagasaki ---- Leave them alone.----

Dear Edward Martin,

Please stop taking ZIOCAINE.

ZIOCANE, even though jointly approved by the US Congress, AIPAC and the FDA, is a dangerously addictive hallucinogenic.

Frequent use causes CHRONIC ACUTE ZIONISM, an irreversible psychosis where the perpetrator deems himself the eternal victim.

In extreme cases, addicts may come up with schemes such as the Edward Martin Peace Plan, retrievable at this link:

http://scrimshander.blogspot.com/2003/08/martin-plan-blueprint-for-middle-east.html

It was about 6 millions Jews that killed during world war II, not 9 millions. I think Israel has the right to defense itself with all the hostile neighbors surround them.

Please refrain from using the politically devisive name for the Persian Gulf. There is no basis for this misrepresentation and certainly this forum should not be used as a forum for the hate mongers.

It is only a matter of time till Israel completely freaks-out about something and nukes someone, somewhere.
All of the arguments against Iran getting a bomb also apply to Israel. Theocracies should not be allowed to have armies - let alone nukes. They all see the world thru the prism of their respective religion - and that right there should scare any rational person.

Michael,

I am generally against war, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened if someone dropped a few napalms in the middle of last summer's infamous Friday prayer. ( That was the key event when Khamanai adressed Ahmadinejad, Mesbah and the rest of his goons and gave the official order to slaughter protesters.) They were all there. The worst of the worst. Thousands of Mullahs, bassijis and IRCG generals. Now THAT was a missed opportunity.

If israel ever "freaks-out" and decides to "nukes someone", I hope they dont forget to add IRCG and Bassij HQs, and while we are daydreaming why not the entire city of Ghom.

despite the contentious nature of the submarine capability of Israel, the fact is that they DO possess NUKES. Iran naturally desires a balance as they are at a geopolitcal disadvantage.

Is Marsha Cohen the infamous Judith Miller's pseudonym? Same rubbish.

WITH SINCERE THANKS for reportage from Ms. COHEN = "BETTER THEM (Israel) THAN US"!

REMINDER = At outset of this latst Med Crisis - The Israeli Prime Minsiter "disappeared" for a few days, later to surface in Moscow at a Foreign Ministry 'Press Conference' - at which the Russian spokeman announced a commitment had been extracted from "Bibi" that it WOULD NOT USE A FIRST STRIKE!

Heretofore - before this "admitted diplomatic break-through" - it had been, and still may be, ISRAELI POLICY: "It shall not be the second to use special weapons if attacked by its enemies - but then it WOULD NOT BE THE FIRST, EITHER"!

That announced p0olicy, followed so far - IS INTENDED TO "successfully 'complicate' the military calculus" of any potential attacker!

THAT HAD "arguably - WORKED, so far!

AND THE RUSSIANS HAVE AN ADMIRABLE RECORD FOR 'BEHAVIORAL MODIFICATION' - of HAMAS - in these fragile and even volatile days at The Med! -30-

What is in a name? "A rose by any other would smell as sweet".
You say Persian gulf, I say Arabian gulf....
Just silly to be upset of such a thing. Reminds me of all the people upset of cartoons of a dark ages warlord who they see as a prophet of a god.

It's just silly.

Let's face the true reality shall we?

Israel is nothing but a canard for the regimes of Iran and other middle eastern nations. The true facts are that Arabs and muslims have killed many more Palestians than Israel would ever think of. Jordanians brutally suppressed Palestinians in the 70's, etc., etc.

Why is the Iranian government so upset about Israel's existence? Perhaps it's because Israel will not except the religion of Islam. Perhaps it's because Israel will not allow them to bully them as they do their other neighbors.

Billy Bob,

Israel is a canard, a deliberately misleading story, but for a different reason than you mentioned. Iran is a canard for Israel too. They feed each other for internal as well as extenal consumption. Iranians as a whole are not religious. They are forced into it at the point of a gun. You need to understand Iran a lot better before you can comment on it. Most Iranians don't give a hoot about Palestinians either. What is important for us is the future of our country minus the Barbaric Republic.
Also, keep saying Arabian Gulf. Who cares about Billy Bob. To the most of the educated world it has been, is and will be the PERSIAN GULF forever. We are not upset. We just don't care about you.

Niloofar, You obviously don't understand Iran very well yourself.
To say that Iranians as a whole are not religious is just disingenious. There may be a sizeable minority that are not religious, but if Iranians as a whole were not religious they would not allow themselves to be governed by religious leaders. They would not participate in a criminal justice system where laws are taken directly from a religious text. I agree with you that muslim leaders around the world as well as in Iran try to intimidate others to submit to their will. But the leaders themselves can not control millions of people. They need a majority to control the minority. They believers to carry out their wishes. And in Iran the have alot people ready and willing.

What different reason would Iran's religious/political leaders(same people) use Israel as a canard? They use Israel to whip up support from those who already support them. i.e. the majority.

Iran's political/military/religious leaders(again, the same people)constantly threaten Israel with a first strike. Israel has never done any such thing. Israels' only concern is to prevent Iran from attacking them.
It is very unrealistic that Iran would attempt an attack, knowing what would occur if they did. But when one deals with religious/military/political leaders all wraped up into one, one does not know what they're capable of. And as Iran's military has proven, against their own people, they will carry out any order given by their leadership.