NEWS,16.02.2012.

Crude oil hits six-month high

Oil drilling rig 

Brent crude rose today for a fourth day in a row, topping $120 a barrel - a six-month high - on worries about supply from Iran and from the North Sea, where output was expected to dip next month. A reversal of the euros losses on the day against the dollar also bolstered crude oil gains on both sides of the Atlantic. The euro surged back after reports that euro zone central banks had agreed to exchange Greek bonds they hold for new bonds as part of a deal to help the debt-strapped country. This raised fresh hopes that Greece's a long-sought debt bailout would be agreed by next week. US crude erased an early $1 decline and rose to a six-week high as upbeat data on jobless claims and housing brightened the outlook for domestic energy demand. The US data also helped lift Brent. US gasoline futures rose to their highest level in 5-1/2 months, at $3.0514 a gallon, for front-month March RBOB , up 1.5 % on the day, adding support to crude. A lower-than-expected gasoline stock build for last week shown in government inventory data released on Wednesday helped boost gasoline futures.In London, ICE Brent April crude was up 97 cents at $119.90 a barrel. Brent hit a session high of $120.38, the highest since an intraday high of $120.40 on August 1.In euro terms, Brent prices were the highest since 2008.US March crude was up 57 cents at $102.37, having fallen earlier to $100.84. It hit a session high of $102.69, the highest since January 12's high of $102.98."Crude futures popped on the euro reversal to the upside against the dollar and the S&P 500 also rose," said Addison Armstrong, senior director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.” US crude, though lagging Brent's gains, is having a good run, considering where it was just days ago and with a lot of fundamental headwinds against it," he added. The spread's widening followed US government data on Wednesday showing a 2 million-barrel increase in stockpiles last week at the US delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma. Supplies at the hub rose to the highest level since September and the gain was the biggest weekly rise since December 2009.Initial US claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to near a four-year low, suggesting the labour market recovery was gaining steam, and housing starts rose more than expected in January. Iran’s ambassador to Russia said plans to cut off supplies of Iranian crude to Europe would benefit only the Islamic republic, which in the past has been heavily dependent on imported fuel due to restricted refining capacity. In another front, Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, proposed an early resumption of long-stalled nuclear talks with world powers, according to a letter from Tehran to European Union policy chief Catherine Ashton.On Wednesday, oil prices jumped early after Iranian state television reported that the country was halting its crude exports to six European countries before the EU ban on Iranian crude takes effect in July. This was later denied by Iran's oil ministry, helping pare session gains. Crude oil output from the North Sea, home of the global Brent benchmark, is set to fall in March for a third month due to maintenance work and natural aging of oilfields there.Supply will average 2.18 million barrels per day in March, down 1.4 % from 2.12 million bpd the previous month, data compiled showed on Tuesday.

NEWS,15.2.2012

Greece battling to save bailout package

Greek PM Lucas Papademos 

Greece's leaders battled to salvage a new 130-billion-euro ($170 billion) EU/IMF bailout today, rejecting doubts over their commitment to a punishing austerity package just hours before a conference call of euro zone finance ministers. But with mistrust of Athens high, several EU sources told Reuters that finance officials in the 17-state currency union were studying whether it was possible to delay part or all of the rescue deal while still avoiding a disorderly default - news which pushed safe haven German Bund futures to session highs. Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos insisted that Greece would have clarified all outstanding issues on a 3.3-billion-euro package of cuts in time for a euro zone call scheduled for today, attacking critics in the zone for "playing with fire”. Greece’s conservative party leader Antonis Samaras, widely tipped as the country's next prime minister, pledged in writing that if elected he would stick to an agreed programme of welfare and job cuts that triggered riots in central Athens this week.” If New Democracy wins the next election in Greece, we will remain committed to the programme's objectives, targets and key policies," Samaras wrote. But Samaras, who leads voter surveys ahead of an election that could come as early as April, insisted the fast-shrinking Greek economy must also be kick-started into life and reserved the right to adapt details of the package accordingly.” Prioritising recovery along with the other objectives will only make the programme more effective and the adjustment effort more successful. Therefore ... policy modifications might be required to guarantee the full programme's implementation," he said in the letter to Greece's international lenders. Greece has said it must initiate a debt swap deal with private sector bondholders by Friday to meet a March 20 deadline for 14.5 billion euros in debt repayments. It was hoping to have the euro zone's backing for its second bailout this week. But EU sources said some in the euro zone doubted the commitment of Greece's leaders to austerity, and queried whether it would be enough to bring Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio down from 160% now to a target of 120% by 2020."There are proposals to delay the Greek package or to split it, so that an immediate default is avoided, but not everything is committed to," one official briefed on preparations for a euro zone finance ministers call later in the day.” They’ll discuss the options," he said, adding: "There is pressure from several countries to hold off until there is a concrete commitment from Greece, which may not come until after they've held elections.” Samaras' belated commitment to honour the austerity plan may put that plan on the back burner. The euro fell to its lowest in more than a week against the dollar and March Bund futures rose by as much as 60 ticks on the day to 139.12. The contract was last up 33 ticks up at 138.85.Venizelos earlier insisted there were "only a few remaining issues" to be resolved on the package of wage, pension and public sector job cuts lashed out at Greece's doubters.” There are now powers in Europe who are obviously playing with fire because they believe ... that not all requirements will be met, and who may even want Greece out of the euro zone," he told reporters in Athens.Rioters torched buildings across Athens late on Sunday as Greek lawmakers passed the austerity bill, of which around 325 million euros of cuts still need to be identified.But after a series of broken promises since Athens was first bailed out in May 2010, trust is in short supply."When you look at the internal political discussions in Greece and the opinion polls, then you have to ask who will really guarantee after the elections ... that Greece will stand by what we are now agreeing with Greece," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told SWR2 radio."I am also not yet sure that all political parties in Greece are aware of their responsibility for the difficult situation their country is in," Schaeuble said, adding the EU remained committed to helping Greece if it honoured its promises.While the outcome of today's conference call hangs in the balance, European Central Bank board member Joerg Asmussen said approval by the Eurogroup at regular talks next Monday would allow a sovereign debt swap to be completed in time."If the Eurogroup (of euro zone finance ministers) is able to make a positive political decision next Monday, the bond swap with voluntary PSI (private sector involvement) can immediately begin and be completed in time," .He further said in an emailed interview that while the ECB cannot contribute directly to the new Greek package, it could pass any profits from its sovereign bond purchases on to central banks in euro-zone states, which could then use it for Greece.Doubt had focused on Samaras, a strong critic of the austerity measures. He voted for the spending cuts but says the new round of austerity could plunge the country, already in its fifth year of recession, into an even bigger slump.” It’s true we are asking the Greeks for some extremely painful sacrifices and I understand their anger, but Greece has made many errors in its past," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told France Info radio on Wednesday.” It (the bailout) must be concluded because if Greece went bankrupt and left the euro zone, the chaos would be even worse for the Greek people and very bad news for the euro zone."The EU and IMF want Greece to account for every cent of budget cuts before they approve the rescue, which includes a bond swap, cutting the real value of private sector investors' bond holdings by some 70%.But Greece's downward economic spiral has accelerated, making it even harder to cut its mountainous debt. Data on Tuesday showed that the economy shrank by seven% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year, even more than the five% contraction of the third quarter. Greece is well on its way to suffering one of the biggest slumps of modern history. Output has contracted 16% from its peak in 2008 and the cuts will inevitably make that worse. Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has said that failure to back the bailout would consign Greece to economic catastrophe.

NEWS,14.2.2012

Iranian bomber maimed in Bangkok blasts

 

 

Policemen inspect a taxi damaged in an explosion in Ekamai area in central Bangkok  

An Iranian man has been seriously wounded in Bangkok after a bomb he was carrying exploded and blew one of his legs off.

Israel said the incident was an attempted terrorist attack by Iran.

Shortly before the man was wounded, there had been an explosion in a house the man was renting in the Ekamai area of central Bangkok. Soon after that, there was a third blast on a nearby road, Thai police and officials said.

"The police have control of the situation. It is thought that the suspect might be storing more explosives inside his house," Thai government spokeswoman Thitima Chaisaeng told reporters.

Police later said they had apprehended another supsect at Bangkok's main Suvarnabhumi airport, one of two men they were looking for who had been living at the house where the initial blast took place.

"We discovered the injured man's passport. It's an Iranian passport and he entered the country through Phuket and arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport on the 8th of this month," Police General Bansiri Prapapat.

The three explosions in Bangkok came a day after bomb attacks targeted Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia. Israel accused Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of being behind those attacks. Iran denied involvement.

Hezbollah is a Shi'ite Islamist group backed by Syria and Iran that is on the official US blacklist of foreign terrorist organisations.

Thai officials declined to speculate on whether the two men they had detained were involved with any militant group, but Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak blamed Iran.

"The attempted terrorist attack in Bangkok proves once again that Iran and its proxies continue to perpetrate terror," Barak said on a visit to Singapore.

"Iran and Hezbollah are unrelenting terror elements endangering the stability of the region, and endangering the stability of the world," said Barak, who spent a few hours in Bangkok on Sunday.

Thai police said they were working to make safe an unspecified amount of explosives found in the house where the initial blast took place.

Police declined to make any link between today's incident and the arrest last month of a Lebanese man in Bangkok who, according to the Thai authorities, had links to Hezbollah.

The police discovered a large amount of explosive material in an area southwest of Bangkok at around the time of that arrest. The United States, Israel and other countries issued warnings, subsequently lifted, of possible terrorist attacks in areas frequented by foreigners.

The Lebanese man has been charged with possession of explosive material and prosecutors said further charges could follow next week.

Tuesday's blasts in the sprawling Thai capital were not near Israel's embassy nor the main area for embassies.

A taxi driver told Thai television the wounded suspect had thrown a bomb in front of his car when he refused to pick him up near the site of the first blast. He was wounded slightly.

Government spokeswoman Thitima said police had then tried to move in and arrest the man but he attempted to throw another bomb at them. It went off before he was able to do so, blowing one of his legs off. A doctor at Chulalongkorn Hospital told reporters the other leg had had to be amputated.

Another doctor was quoted on television as saying three Thai people had suffered minor injuries in the incident, in addition to the taxi driver.

There have been no major attacks blamed on Islamist militants in Bangkok even though Muslim rebels are battling government security forces in Muslim-dominated southern provinces of the Buddhist kingdom.

In 1994, suspected Islamist militants tried to set off a big truck bomb outside the Israeli embassy in Bangkok, but they abandoned the bid and fled after the truck was involved in a minor traffic accident as it approached the mission.

NEWS,13.02.2012.

Diplomats targeted, Israel blames Iran

A member of the Israel embassy was targeted in India.

Israel accused arch-enemies Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of being behind twin bomb attacks that targeted embassy staff in India and Georgia today, wounding four people. Tehran denied involvement in the incidents, which amplified tensions between two countries already at loggerheads over Iran's nuclear programme. Hezbollah made no comment. Police in the Indian capital New Delhi said a bomb wrecked a car carrying an embassy official as she was going to pick up her children from school. The woman needed surgery to remove shrapnel but her life was not in danger, officials said. Her driver and two passers-by suffered lesser injuries. Israeli officials said an attempt to bomb an embassy car in the Georgian capital Tbilisi failed. The device was defused. Israel had put its foreign missions on high alert ahead of the fourth anniversary this past Monday of the assassination in Syria of the military mastermind of Hezbollah, Imad Moughniyeh - an attack widely assumed to be the work of Israeli agents. Israel is believed to be also locked in a wider covert war with Iran, whose nuclear programme has been beset by apparent sabotage, including the unclaimed killings of several Iranian nuclear scientists, most recently in January. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed both Iran and Hezbollah, accusing them of responsibility for a string of recent attempted attacks in countries as far apart as Thailand and Azerbaijan.” Iran and its proxy Hezbollah are behind each of these attacks," said Netanyahu, who dismisses Iran denials that it is trying to develop a nuclear weapon. "We will continue to take strong and systematic, yet patient, action against the international terrorism that originates in Iran.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast rejected Netanyahu's accusation, calling it "psychological warfare against Iran”.” We condemn any terrorist action and the world knows that Iran is the biggest victim of terrorism," Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. The New Delhi blast took place some 500 metres from the official residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.B.K. Gupta, the New Delhi police commissioner, said a witness had seen a motorcyclist stick a device to the back of the car, which had diplomatic registration plates.” The eyewitness ... says it (was) some kind of magnetic device. As soon as the motorcycle moved away a good distance from the car, the car blew up and it caught fire," said Gupta. The Iranian scientist killed in Tehran last month died in a similar such attack by a motorcycle bomber who attached a device to his car. No one has claimed responsibility for that, although Iran was quick to accuse agents of Israel and its US ally. Thailand said last month its police had arrested a Lebanese man linked to Hezbollah and he later led them to a warehouse stocked with bomb-making materials. Also last month, authorities in Azerbaijan arrested two people suspected of plotting to attack Israel's ambassador and a local rabbi.

NEWS,12.02.2012

More than 500 dead as freeze grips Europe

 Gondolas are seen covered by snow on the Grand Canal in Venice

Nine people were killed when an avalanche hit the village of Restelica in southern Kosovo, officials said, adding to more than 500 killed in snow and bitter cold across Europe in the past two weeks.
In Poland, the interior ministry said 20 people had died in the past 24 hours because of the freezing weather, bringing the toll there so far this year to at least 100. A spokeswoman said the latest victims froze to death or were suffocated or killed by fires due to defective or improvised heaters.
The Kosovo avalanche enveloped about 15 houses on Saturday but only two were occupied at the time.
One person was missing and a girl aged about six was found alive late on Saturday after residents and emergency services helped dig out the houses. She was taken to hospital.
"The number of dead people now is nine and we believe there is still one missing person," said Ibrahim Shala, a spokesperson from the Kosovo Security Force (KSF).
Temperatures have plummeted in parts of Europe close to minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit) in the coldest February snap the region has seen in decades.
Meteorologists say it could last till the end of the month.
In Kosovo, three people died and two children were injured on Thursday when a gas can that a family was using for heating exploded.
Kosovo's government ordered schools to remain closed for another week with more snow expected. Police said many inhabited areas were completely cut off.

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In neighbouring Montenegro the government imposed a state of emergency late on Saturday after snow blocked roads and railways across most of the country. Three people have died so far.
More than 50 people have been stranded on a train in Montenegro's north for more than two days as emergency crews struggle to rescue them.
In the mountain town of Zabljak in Montenegro's north, snow was 2.3 metres deep, while authorities have banned all private traffic in the capital Podgorica, where snow is almost a metre (three feet) deep and more is forecast on Sunday.
In Serbia, which declared a state of emergency last week, 19 people have died in the cold snap so far. Economists said damage from the cold weather may cost the country more than 500 million euros .
More than 2,000 industrial businesses have been idled to limit the strain on coal-fired power plants and hydropower plants, which were struggling because of the buildup of ice.
The government also ordered the closure of all schools and non-essential businesses until February 20.
Port authorities for Serbian sections of the Danube, Sava and Tisa rivers halted navigation due to a heavy buildup of ice.

NEWS,11.02.2012.

Israel's Mossad Teams up with Terror Group to Kill Iran's Nuclear Scientists (Part 2)

The MEK and its sister organizations have since the beginning been run by Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, a husband-wife team who have maintained tight control despite assassination threats and internal dissent. Massoud Rajavi, 63, founded the MEK, but since the U.S. invasion of Iraq has taken a backseat to his wife.The State Department report describes the Rajavis as “fundamentally undemocratic” and “not a viable alternative to the current government of Iran.”NBC News correspondent Tom Aspell visits an MEK base in Iraq in this Nightly News piece that aired on May 26, 1991.One reason for that is the MEK’s close relationship with Saddam Hussein, as demonstrated by this 1986 video showing the late Iraqi dictator meeting with Massoud Rajavi. Saddam recruited the MEK in much the same way the Israelis allegedly have, using them to fight Iranian forces during the Iran-Iraq War, a role they took on proudly. So proudly, they invited NBC News to one of their military camps outside Baghdad in 1991.“The National Liberation Army (MLA), the military wing of the Mujahedin, conducted raids into Iran during the latter years of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War,” according to the State Department report. The NLA's last major offensive reportedly was conducted against Iraqi Kurds in 1991, when it joined Saddam Hussein's brutal repression of the Kurdish rebellion. In addition to occasional acts of sabotage, the Mujahedin are responsible for violent attacks in Iran that victimize civilians.”“Internally, the Mujahedin run their organization autocratically, suppressing dissent and eschewing tolerance of differing viewpoints,” it said. “Rajavi, who heads the Mojahedin’s political and military wings, has fostered a cult of personality around himself.”The U.S. suspicion of the MEK doesn’t end there. Law enforcement officials have told NBC News that in 1994, the MEK made a pact with terrorist Ramzi Yousef a year after he masterminded the first attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Yousef built an 11-pound bomb that MEK agents placed inside one of Shia Islam’s greatest shrines in Mashad, Iran, on June 20, 1994. At least 26 people, mostly women and children, were killed and 200 wounded in the attack.That connection between Yousef, nephew of 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, and the MEK was first reported in a book, “The New Jackals,” by Simon Reeve. NBC News confirmed that Yousef told U.S. law enforcement that he had worked with the MEK on the bombing.In recent years, the MEK has said it has renounced violence, but Iranian officials say that is not true, that killings of Iranians continue. Still, through some deft lobbying, the group has been able to get the United Kingdom and the European Union to remove it from their lists of terrorist groups.The alleged involvement of the MEK in the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists provides the U.S. with a cloak of deniability regarding the clandestine killings. Because the U.S. has designated the MEK as a terrorist organization, neither military nor intelligence units of the U.S. government, can work with them. “We cannot deal with them, “said one senior U.S. official. “We would not deal with them because of the designation.” Iranian officials initially accused the Israelis and MEK of being behind the attacks, but they have since added the CIA to the list. Three days after the Jan. 11, 2012, bombing in Tehran that killed Roshan, the state news agency IRNA reported that Iran’s Foreign Ministry had sent a diplomatic letter to the U.S. claiming to have “evidence and reliable information” that the CIA provided “guidance, support and planning” to assassins directly involved in the attack.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton immediately denied any connection to the killings. “I want to categorically deny any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran,” Clinton told reporters on the day of the attack.But at least two GOP presidential candidates have no problem with the targeting of nuclear scientists. In a November debate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich endorsed “taking out their scientists,” and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum called it, ”a wonderful thing.”The MEK’s opposition to the Iranian government also has recently earned it both plaudits and support from an odd mix of political bedfellows. A group of former Cabinet-level officials have joined together to support the MEK’s removal from the official U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization list, even taking out a full-page ad last year in the New York Times calling for the removal of the MEK from the U.S. terrorist list. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton; former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, former FBI Director Louis Freeh and former Rep. Patrick Kennedy were among those whose signatures were on the ad.“There’s an extraordinary group of bipartisan or even apolitical leaders, military leaders, diplomats, the United States … the United Kingdom, the European Union, even a U.S. District Court in Washington, said that this group that was put on the foreign terrorist organization watch list in 1997 doesn’t deserve to be there,” Ridge said in November on “The Andrea Mitchell Show” on MSNBC TV.U.S. politicians also have been pushing the U.S. government to protect the 3,400 MEK members and their families at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, about 35 miles north of Baghdad. With the departure of U.S. troops, the MEK feared that Iraqi forces, with encouragement from Iran, would attack the camp, leading to a bloodbath. At the last minute, however, agreement was brokered with the United Nations that would permit the MEK members’ departure for resettlement in unspecified democratic countries. As of this week, there’s been little movement on the planned resettlement. Iranian fighters with the National Liberation Army, the military wing of the MEK, clean armoured personnel carriers in 1997 after a field exercise near Camp Ashraf in Iraq.The Iranians see what’s happening as terrorism and hypocrisy by the United States. They have forwarded documents and other evidence to the United Nations – and directly to the United States, they say.” I think this is very cynical plan. This is unacceptable,” said Larijani. “This is a bad trend in the world. Unprecedented. We should kill scientists … to block a scientific program? I mean this is disaster!”Daniel Byman, a professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and also a senior fellow with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, said that if the accounts of the Israeli-MEK assassinations are accurate, the operation borders on terrorism.“In theory, states cannot be terrorist, but if they hire locals to do assassinations, that would be state sponsorship,” said Byman, author of the recent book, “A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism.” “You could argue that they took action not to terrorize the public, the purpose of terrorism, but only the nuclear community. An argument could also be made that degrading the program means that you don’t have to take military action and thus, this is a lower level of violence and that really these are military targets, where normally terrorist targets are civilians.”But ultimately, Byman said, there is a “spectrum of responsibility” and that Israel is ultimately responsible.Ronen Bergman, while not speaking on behalf of the Israeli government, suggests that there is a justification, citing an oft-repeated but disputed quote in which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s said that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth.“Meir Degan, the chief of Mossad, when he was in office, hung a photograph behind him, behind the chair of the chief of Mossad,” notes the Israeli commentator. “And in that photograph you see -- an ultra-orthodox Jew -- long beard, standing on his knees with his-- hands up in the air, and two Gestapo soldiers standing -- beside him with guns pointed at him. One of -- one of them is smiling.“And Degan used to say to his people and the people coming to visit him from CIA, NSA, et cetera, ‘Look at this guy in the picture. This is my grandfather just seconds before he was killed by the SS,’” Bergman said. “’… We are here to prevent this from happening again.’"

NEWS,10.02.2012.

Israel's Mossad Teams up with Terror Group to Kill Iran's Nuclear Scientists (Part 1)

Deadly attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists are being carried out by an Iranian dissident group that is financed, trained and armed by Israel’s secret service, U.S. officials tell NBC News, confirming charges levelled by Iran’s leaders. The group, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, has long been designated as a terrorist group by the United States, accused of killing American servicemen and contractors in the 1970s and supporting the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran before breaking with the Iranian mullahs in 1980.The attacks, which have killed five Iranian nuclear scientists since 2007 and may have destroyed a missile research and development site, have been carried out in dramatic fashion, with motorcycle-borne assailants often attaching small magnetic bombs to the exterior of the victims’ cars.U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Obama administration is aware of the assassination campaign but has no direct involvement. The Iranians have no doubt who is responsible – Israel and the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, known by various acronyms, including MEK, MKO and PMI.Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, describes what Iranian leaders believe is a close relationship between Israel's secret service, the Mossad, and the People's Mujahedin of Iran, or MEK, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States.“The relation is very intricate and close,” said Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior aide to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, speaking of the MEK and Israel. “They (Israelis) are paying … the Mujahedin. Some of their (MEK) agents … (are) providing Israel with information. And they recruit and also manage logistical support.”Moreover, he said, the Mossad, the Israeli secret service, is training MEK members in Israel on the use of motorcycles and small bombs. In one case, he said, Mossad agents built a replica of the home of an Iranian nuclear scientist so that the assassins could familiarize themselves with the layout prior to the attack.Much of what the Iranian government knows of the attacks and the links between Israel and MEK comes from interrogation of an assassin who failed to carry out an attack in late 2010 and the materials found on him, Larijani said. (Click here to see a video report of the interrogation shown on Iranian televsion.)The U.S.-educated Larijani, whose two younger brothers run the legislative and judicial branches of the Iranian government, said the Israelis’ rationale is simple. “Israel does not have direct access to our society. Mujahedin, being Iranian and being part of Iranian society, they have … a good number of … places to get into the touch with people. So I think they are working hand-to-hand very close. And we do have very concrete documents.”NBC's Robert Windrem discusses the allegations that Israel's secret service is teaming up with an Iranian dissident terrorist group to kill Iran's nuclear scientists.
Two senior U.S. officials confirmed for NBC News the MEK’s role in the assassinations, with one senior official saying, “All your inclinations are correct.” A third official would not confirm or deny the relationship, saying only, “It hasn’t been clearly confirmed yet.” All the officials denied any U.S. involvement in the assassinations.As it has in the past, Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined comment. Said a spokesman, "As long as we can't see all the evidence being claimed by NBC, the Foreign Ministry won't react to every gossip and report being published worldwide."For its part, the MEK pointed to a statement calling the allegations “absolutely false.”Ali Safavi, a long-time representative of the MEK, underscored the denial after publication of this article,"There has never been and there is no MEK member in Israel, period," he said. "The MEK has categorically denied any involvement. The idea that Israel is training MEK members on its soil borders on perversity. It is absolutely and completely false."The sophistication of the attacks supports the Iranian claims that an experienced intelligence service is involved, experts say.In the most recent attack, on Jan. 11, 2012, Mostafa Ahamdi Roshan died in a blast in Tehran moments after two assailants on a motorcycle placed a small magnetic bomb on his vehicle. Roshan was a deputy director at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility and was reportedly involved in procurement for the nuclear program, which Iran insists is not a weapons program.Previous attacks include the assassination of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, killed by a bomb outside his Tehran home in January 2010, and an explosion in November of that year that took the life of Majid Shahriari and wounded Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, who is now the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.In the case of Roshan, the bomb appears to have been a shaped charge that directed all the explosive power inside the vehicle, killing him and his bodyguard driver but leaving nearby traffic unaffected.Although Roshan was directly involved in the nuclear program, working at the huge centrifuge facility between Tehran and Qom, Iran’s religious center, at least one other scientist who was killed wasn’t linked to the Iranian nuclear program, according to Larijani.Speaking of bombing victim Ali-Mohammadi, whom he described as a friend, Larijani told NBC News, “In fact this guy who was assassinated was not involved in the nitty-gritty of the situation. He was a scientist, a physicist, working on the theoretically parts of nuclear energy, which you can teach it in every university. You can find it in every text.”“This is an Israeli plot. A dirty plot,” Larijani added angrily. He also claimed the assassinations are not having an effect on the program and have only made scientists more resolute in carrying out their mission.Not so, said Ronen Bergman, an Israeli commentator and author of “Israel’s Secret War with Iran” and an upcoming book tentatively titled, “Mossad and the Art of Assassination.”Israel has long used assassination against its enemies, "hoping that by taking out individuals, they can alter, change the course of history," says Ronen Bergman, an Israeli commentator and author of "Israel's Secret War with Iran" and an upcoming book tentatively titled "Mossad and the Art of Assassination."

Bergman said the attacks have three purposes, the most obvious being the removal of high-ranking scientists and their knowledge. The others: forcing Iran to increase security for its scientists and facilities and to spur “white defections.”He explained the latter this way: “Scientists leaving the project, afraid that they are going to be next on the assassination list, and say, ‘We don't want this. Indeed, we get good money, we are promoted, we are honored by everybody, but we might get killed. It isn't worth it. Maybe we should go back to teach … in a university.’”There are unconfirmed reports in the Israeli press and elsewhere that Israel and the MEK were involved in a Nov. 12 explosion that destroyed the Iranian missile research and development site at Bin Kaneh, 30 miles outside Tehran. Among those killed was Maj. Gen. Hassan Moghaddam, director of missile development for the Revolutionary Guard, and a dozen other researchers. So important was Moghaddam that Ayatollah Khamenei attended his funeral. Unlike the assassinations, Iran claims the missile site explosion was an accident; the MEK, meanwhile, trumpeted it but denied any involvement. Indeed, there may be other covert operations carried out either by Israel acting alone or in concert with others, according to Bergman.“Two labs caught fire,” said Bergman, enumerating the attacks. “Scientists got blown up or disappeared. A missile base and the R&D base of the Revolutionary Guard exploded some time ago, with the director of the R&D division of the Revolutionary Guard being killed along with … his soldiers.”Bergman added, “So, a long series of … something that was termed by an Israeli (Cabinet) minister … as ‘mysterious mishaps’ happening and rehappening to the project. Then the Iranians claim, ‘This is Israeli Mossad trying to sabotage our attempts to be a nuclear superpower.’”Dr. Uzi Rabi, director of the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, said the supposed accidents could all be part of “psychological warfare” conducted against Iran. “It seems logical. It makes sense,” he said of possible MEK involvement, “and it’s been done before.”Rabi, who regularly briefs Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, on Iran also said the ultimate goal of the range of covert operations being carried out by Israel is “to damage the politics of survivability … to send a message that could strike fear into the rulers of Iran.”For the United States, the alleged role of the MEK is particularly troublesome. In 1997, the State Department designated it a terrorist group, justifying it with an unclassified 40-page summary of the organization’s activities going back more than 25 years. The paper, sent to Congress in 1998, was written by Wendy Sherman, now undersecretary of state for political affairs and then an aide to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.The report, which was obtained by NBC News, was unsparing in its assessment. “The Mujahedin (MEK) collaborated with Ayatollah Khomeini to overthrow the former shah of Iran,” it said. “As part of that struggle, they assassinated at least six American citizens, supported the takeover of the U.S. embassy, and opposed the release of the American hostages.” In each case, the paper noted, “Bombs were the Mujahedin's weapon of choice, which they frequently employed against American targets.”“In the post-revolutionary political chaos, however, the Mujahedin lost political power to Iran's Islamic clergy. They then applied their dedication to armed struggle and the use of propaganda against the new Iranian government, launching a violent and polemical cycle of attack and reprisal."Maryam Rajavi, president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, greets several hundred Iranian expatriates who had gathered to welcome her at Tegel Airport in Berlin, Germany, on March 22, 2010.U.S. officials have said publicly that the information contained in the report was limited to unclassified material, but that it also drew on classified material in making its determination to add the MEK to the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.