Friday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 7.14.2006:

Iran's war with Israel and the US becomes clear to the MSM.

• The New York Times finally reported that the expansion of the Gaza crisis into southern Lebanon, confronting Israel with a conflict on its northern and southern borders, has demonstrated that the central issue at stake is regional, not local. It is the broader problem of radical Islam and of Iran.
• The Telegraph reported that Israeli commanders regard the northern border as their "front line" with Iran.
• New York Sun in an editorial argued the risks of 'Restraint' in the present Middle East conflict.
• The Boston Globe in an editorial argued that the purpose and the timing of Hezbollah's attack on Israel yesterday should be transparent to all concerned. It plays into am Iranian propaganda campaign, conflating the issue of Iran's nuclear program with what he has condemned as the intolerable existence of Israel.
• John Gibson, Fox News argued that Iran attacking Israel is really an attack on the U.S.

The Experts Weigh in. We are at war with Iran.

• Michael Ledeen, National Review Online reminded us that Israel's present war in the Middle East is just an extension of Iran's 27 year declared war on the US.
• Yossi Klein Halevi, The National Review Online argued that the next Middle East war--Israel against genocidal Islamism--has begun. He argued that the goals of the war should be the destruction of the Hamas regime and the dismantling of the Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
• David Twersky, The New York Sun argued that the war on Iran has begun.
• Kenneth M. Pollack, Reader's Digest while reminding us that Ahmadinejad has declared that a world "without America and Zionism" is "attainable and surely can be achieved." He then argues that the best option for the West is to negotiate its way out of the nuclear crisis. I respond.

Iran responds.

• Reuters reported that Iran's Foreign Ministry denied suggestions that Hizbollah could take two captured Israeli soldiers to Iran.
• YNet News reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said an Israeli strike on Syria would be considered an attack on the whole Islamic world that would bring a “Fierce response.”
• Yahoo News reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned that Tehran could halt UN inspections and quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if subjected to increased pressure over its disputed nuclear program.
  

Zogby releases a poll of Iranians.

• Zogby International released a survey which reports that Iranians (41%) said reforming their national economy so it operates more efficiently is more important than nuclear capability. I also made a few observations.

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• Rooz Online reported that Iranian Ayatollah Gorbani said: “We do not accept these human rights and announce that the US and Israel are among countries that violate human rights."
• Rooz Online reported that at the moment ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi - the intellectual leader of the extremists - and his students are not on the list produced by the traditional right-wing groups in Iran who are finalizing their list of candidates for the critical forthcoming Leadership Experts Assembly elections in Iran.
  
• RIA Novosti reported that Russia's foreign minister said possible UN sanctions against Iran will not affect Russian-Iranian military cooperation.
• Cox & Forkum published another cartoon: Black Wedding.