Iran: 'Nothing Can Save Israel From Destruction' - N. Korea Stages Nuclear Test

Nothing Can Save Israel From Destruction

A senior member of Iran's parliament on Saturday vowed that no amount of offensive or defensive capabilities will save Israel from destruction at the hands of its Muslim neighbors.

Speaking to Iranian media, MP Abbasali Mansouri Arani scoffed at efforts to bolster Israel's northern defenses with Iron Dome and American-made Patriot anti-missile batteries.

"The US seeks, in every possible manner, to prevent the destruction of the cancerous tumor it has created in the region in order to fulfill its own ominous interests," said Arani, who serves on the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.

The lawmaker stated that the Muslim nations of the Middle East remain resolved to destroy the Jewish state, and will eventually succeed.

In service to that ultimate goal, Iran is looking to ensure Syria remains a base for hostility, if not open warfare, against Israel. There is some fear that the regime of dictator Bashar Assad could lose its civil war with Sunni Muslim rebel forces, and so Iran and its Shiite Hezbollah allies in Lebanon are reportedly busy establishing a network of militias in Syria.

Middle East sources told The Washington Post that at present these militias are fighting alongside Assad's government forces, but should the Assad regime fall, they will look to set up sectarian enclaves from which they can continue harassing Israel.

North Korea And Iran - Partners In Nuclear/Missile Programs

There is full awareness in Washington and Jerusalem that the North Korean nuclear test conducted Tuesday, Feb. 12, brings Iran that much closer to conducting a test of its own. A completed bomb or warhead are not necessary for an underground nuclear test; a device which an aircraft or missile can carry is enough.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s boast this week that Iran will soon place a satellite in orbit at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers - and Tehran’s claim on Feb. 4 to have sent a monkey into space – highlight Iran's role in the division of labor Pyongyang and Tehran have achieved in years of collaboration: the former focusing on a nuclear armament and the latter on long-range missile technology to deliver it. 

Their advances are pooled. Pyongyang maintains a permanent mission of nuclear and missile scientists in Tehran, whereas Iranian experts are in regular attendance at North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.

Since the detonation of the “miniature atomic bomb” reported by Pyongyang Tuesday - which US President Barack Obama called “a threat to US National security”- Iran must be presumed to have acquired the same “miniature atomic bomb” capabilities - or even assisted in the detonation.

North Korea Stages Nuclear Test In Defiance Of Bans

North Korea has drawn widespread condemnation after conducting a nuclear test in defiance of international bans – a development signalled by an earthquake detected in the country and later confirmed by the regime.

The test, which took place in the north-east of the country just before noon local time, could bring North Korea a step closer to developing a nuclear warhead small enough to be mounted on a long-range missile and possibly bringing the west coast of the US within striking distance.

The authorities in Pyongyang said scientists had set off a "miniaturised" nuclear device with a greater explosive force than those used in two previous nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009.

"It was confirmed that the nuclear test that was carried out at a high level in a safe and perfect manner using a miniaturised and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously did not pose any negative impact on the surrounding ecological environment," KCNA, the North's official news agency, announced.

North Korea Says It Has Successfully Conducted A Nuclear Test

This Is Why Obama Is Visiting Israel

 President Obama’s planned visit to Israel as soon as next month has already secured Israeli and Palestinian pledges to restart so-called land-for-peace talks, according to informed Palestinian and Israeli officials speaking to WND.

The officials disclosed the Obama administration told both sides the talks would be aimed at creating a Palestinian state in what is known as the 1967 borders, meaning an Israeli retreat from some of the strategic West Bank and possibly some eastern section of Jerusalem.

The officials said the White House was adamant that Israeli talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas begin regardless of the position of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

Still, the U.S. is supporting Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey in back door efforts to broker a national unity deal between Abbas and Hamas during the same time period that the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are set to take place, the officials said.

There is already close coordination between the White House and likely incoming members of Netanyahu’s government coalition who are known to be sympathetic to creating a Palestinian state, primarily former opposition leader Tzipi Livni.

Further, WND was told that Livni and former Minister Haim Ramon are currently coordinating the renewal of talks with the PA’s chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat.