Iran Confirms Attack by Virus That Collects Information, THOMAS ERDBRINK, New York Times, May 29, 2012: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/world/middleeast/iran-confirms-cyber-attack-by-new-virus-called-flame.html?_r=1 “TEHRAN — The computers of high-ranking Iranian officials appear to have been penetrated by a data-mining virus called Flame, in what may be the most destructive cyberattack on Iran since the notorious Stuxnet virus, an Iranian cyberdefense organization confirmed on Tuesday. … In contrast to Stuxnet, the newly identified virus is designed … to secretly collect information from a wide variety of sources.  Kaspersky Lab, a Russian producer of antivirus software, said that “the complexity and functionality of the newly discovered malicious program exceed those of all other cyber menaces known to date. … Its encryption has a special pattern which you only see coming from Israel,” said Kamran Napelian, an official with Iran’s Computer Emergency Response Team.”

Iran Razes Buildings Near Suspected Parchin Nuclear Site, By Jonathan Tirone on May 31, 2012, Bloomberg News,: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-31/iran-razes-two-buildings-near-suspected-parchin-nuclear-site “Iran razed two buildings near a suspected nuclear-trigger test site inside of its sprawling Parchin military complex, satellite images published by the Institute for Science and International Security show. These activities raise further concerns of Iranian efforts to destroy evidence of alleged past nuclear weaponization. … International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have been trying to gain access to Parchin since January as part of its oversight of suspected nuclear sites in Iran. The IAEA said last week that it had reached an agreement with Iranian authorities to broaden its investigation.”

Q&A: Seyed Hossein Mousavian Predicts No Breakthrough in Moscow, insideIran.org, May 31st, 2012: http://www.insideiran.org/featured/qa-seyed-hossein-mousavian-predicts-no-breakthrough-in-moscow/  Editor’s Note: Following the nuclear talks between the P5+1 and Iran in Baghdad, InsideIran’s Reza Akbari conducted an interview with Ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Iran’s former lead nuclear negotiator and a research fellow at Princeton University.

“Q: How do you view the outcome of the Iran nuclear talks in Baghdad? …                                  A: Following the Istanbul talks on April 14, I was pleased with the positive step agreed between the P5+1 and Iran to resolve the dispute through a step-by-step plan within the NPT, with proportionate reciprocity and mutual confidence building measures. However in the Baghdad talks, there was a clear divergence on the substance of this agreed framework that ultimately led to the failure of the talks. The main issue is that the West was reluctance to recognize the rights of Iran to enrichment and did not provide proportional reciprocity for the measures Iran was asked to implement to alleviate concerns over the true nature of its nuclear program. To reach a final deal, the issue of sanctions has to be addressed; yet the West was not prepared to even discuss the sanctions in the Baghdad talks. Any reasonable reciprocity based on a step-by-step plan will require a gradual lifting of sanctions, otherwise reaching a compromise will be almost impossible.”

Representatives Demand Study on Consequences of War with Iran, Jessica Schieder, NIAC, May 31, 2012: http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8278&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1  ‘Washington, DC - This afternoon, the House of Representatives approved by voice vote an amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act by Reps. John Conyers (D-MI), Keith Ellison (D-MN), and Barbara Lee (D-CA) aimed at highlighting the potential consequences of a war with Iran. The amendment requires that the Director of National Intelligence submit a report containing an assessment of the consequences of a military strike on Iran to congressional intelligence committees within 60 days of the intelligence bill's passage. … The Intelligence Authorization Act … awaits further action in the Senate.”

Comment | Iran, Saudi Arabia, and a Global Game of Risk, by ANDREW SCOTT COOPER, PBS Frontline Tehran Bureau, 31 May 2012: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/05/comment-iran-saudi-arabia-and-a-global-game-of-risk.html#ixzz1wTMXuyNX  “Looming Saudi decision on its stockpiled oil pivotal to U.S., Iranian economies.  With petroleum responsible for 80 percent of income from exports, there is no doubt that Iran's economy is perilously exposed to unexpected price fluctuations in the oil markets. On at least four separate occasions in recent decades the Saudis have used their preeminent status as OPEC's "swing producer" to saturate oil markets, deliver price relief to Western consumers, and hammer their neighbor's economy. … (T)he Saudis are not only producing oil at full capacity, they are also stockpiling much of their surplus production. Until they decide whether to hold on to it or flood the market with it, the Saudi oil sword remains sheathed for now and the global game of risk continues. Iran has been at the epicenter of every oil shock since 1973.”

BREAKING THE GOLDEN RULE, By Stephen M. Walt, Foreign Policy, June 1, 2012:
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/06/01/breaking_the_golden_rule_0  “This past week, the *New York Times* has published two important articles on how the Obama administration is using American power in ways that remain poorly understood by most Americans.  The first ( http://www.ufppc.org/us-a-world-news-mainmenu-35/11012/ ) described Obama's targeted assassination policy against suspected terrorists, and the second ( http://www.ufppc.org/us-a-world-news-mainmenu-35/11019/ ) describes the U.S. cyber-warfare campaign against Iran. … (W)hat I find troubling is the inevitable secrecy and deceit that is involved.  It's not just that we are trying to fool our adversaries; the problem is that we end up fooling ourselves, too. … (W)hen our government is doing lots of hostile things in far-flung places around the world and the public doesn't know about them until long after the fact, then we have no way of understanding why the targets of U.S. power might be angry and hostile.  As a result, we will tend to attribute their behavior to other, darker motivations. … And if we keep doing unto others in this way, it's only a matter of time before someone does it unto us in return.“

Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran, By DAVID E. SANGER, June 1, 2012, New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&hp&pagewanted=print  “WASHINGTON — From his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding America’s first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants in the program. Mr. Obama decided to accelerate the attacks. … Computer security experts who began studying the worm, which had been developed by the United States and Israel, gave it a name: Stuxnet. … . Last year, (Iran) announced that it had begun its own military cyberunit, …(b)ut there has been scant evidence that it has begun to strike back. … (N)o country’s infrastructure is more dependent on computer systems, and thus more vulnerable to attack, than that of the United States.”

Germany Sells Israel Nuclear-Armed Submarines, by Richard Silverstein, Tikun Olam blog, June 4, 2012: http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/06/04/germany-sells-israel-nuclear-weapons-capable-submarines/  “Der Spiegel has just published an important article about the Dolphin submarines Germany has been selling to Israel over the past fifteen years.  Israel now has three, with a fourth and fifth on the way and sixth in the pipeline by 2017.  Sale of up to nine submarines is contemplated by both sides.  The ostensibly big news in this story is that both the Israelis and Germans knew the subs were nuclear weapons-capable, but the Germans had denied it.  In fact, they contain a special secret hydraulic launching system designed for nuclear cruise missiles. …  The state which inflicted the Holocaust on the Jewish people and incinerated 6 million of them in the ovens of Poland, has now dealt Israel the ability to incinerate any Arab country so bold as to stand in the way of Israeli hegemony over its little slice of the Middle East.” (NOTE: Click on the website to see a photo of the Dolphin submarine and entire article)

Germany Financed Israel’s Race to Get Nukes and Now Its Nuke-Armed Submarines, Richard Silverstein, Tikun Olam blog, June 4, 2012: http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/06/04/germany-financed-israels-race-to-get-nukes-and-now-its-nuke-armed-submarines/   “I’ve just read the full Der Spiegel expose on Germany’s arms deal with Israel which will eventually bring nine nuke-armed submarines into its naval arsenal.  In 2008, Angela Merkel, on her first visit to Israel made a remarkable and quite alarming statement: “… (E)very German Government and every German Chancellor before me has shouldered Germany’s special historical responsibility for Israel’s security(, which).will never be open to negotiation.” … German Chancellor (1949-1963) Adenauer approved a nearly $1-billion loan which was never officially audited and which financed Israel’s bomb. … Its purpose was to stave off a possible catastrophic Israeli defeat in the unlikely event such a thing should happen as a result of the War. … Since then, Israel’s nuclear arsenal has become much more than a defensive umbrella.  It has allowed Israel to pursue a reckless, belligerent approach toward its neighbors.  It has allowed Israel to make the Middle East an even more dangerous, unstable place. … As early as the 1980s, Israel began to contemplate use of submarines to provide “strategic depth,” a euphemism for second strike capability, or more accurately massive overkill.”