Khamenei’s aide threatens to “blow up the heart of Israel”

October 11th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Amid growing tensions with Iran, the United States and Israel will reportedly conduct a joint missile defense exercise this week in order to simulate a response in the event of war between Israel, Iran, Syria and Lebanon. The 'Juniper Cobra exercise' will begin on Monday and conclude on Friday and more than 1,000 American troops from the European Command in Germany have been deployed in Israel for the whole process, The Jerusalem Post reports.

October 9th, 2009 Iran to 'blow up the heart of Israel' if attackedTEHRAN, Iran — Iran will "blow up the heart of Israel" if the United States or the Jewish state attacked it first, a top official with Iran's most powerful military force — the Revolutionary Guard — warned Friday. Cleric Mojtaba Zolnour, who is the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's representative in the Guard, said that if a U.S.

September 30th, 2009 Syria calls for Israel to join nuclear treatyUNITED NATIONS — Syria says Israel must comply with the demands of the International Atomic Energy Agency if the Mideast is to become a region free of weapons of mass destruction. Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem echoed on Monday calls by many Arab nations at the U.N.

September 13th, 2009 LONDON - Prince Harry has reportedly got back together with girlfriend Chelsy Davy after a secret months-long battle to woo her back. The prince was said to be ecstatic about their three-month trial reunion and even celebrated with a round of coffees at his Shropshire helicopter training base.

September 6th, 2009 NEW YORK - A recent poll for The Israel Project shows support has bounced back in the United States for Israelis rather than the Palestinians after slipping in the aftermath of US President Barack Obama's Cairo speech. The poll, conducted by Neil Newhouse of Public Opinion Strategies and Stan Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (GQRR), asked some 800 likely US voters the following question: "Thinking about the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in the Middle East, please tell me whether, in general, you consider yourself to be an Israel supporter, Palestinian supporter, or neither/undecided." Some 59 percent of the respondents said they were Israel supporters, compared to 29 percent for the Palestinians.

August 30th, 2009 JERUSALEM - The Israeli Left has expressed disappointment over a recent Jerusalem Post poll which found that only four percent of Jewish Israelis believe that US President Barack Obama's policies are more pro-Israel than pro-Palestinian. The Jerusalem Post-sponsored Smith Research poll published on Friday reported that 51 percent of Jewish Israelis considered Obama's administration more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israel, while 35 percent called it neutral.

August 13th, 2009 GAZA - Hamas will deal "positively" with the new peace plan by the US but only if a separate Palestinian state is recognized, an aide to the Islamic movement's leader Ismail Haneya said Thursday. "We have an initial readiness to accept it and deal with it positively but we will also reject it if it doesn't include an American recognition of Palestinian rights," said Yousef Rizka, Haneya's political advisor.

July 31st, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel has sought help from the US to build a nuclear power plant in the country, a media report said Friday. Israel has already conveyed its request to the US, the Ynet news service reported.

July 26th, 2009 NEW YORK - US Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates will address Israel's growing anxiety over Iran's nuclear work during his meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak in Jerusalem on Monday.

July 25th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's pick for first vice president officially withdrew from the post after the supreme leader ordered Ahmadinejad to sack his deputy, the ISNA news agency reported Saturday. "Following the order by the supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei), I do not consider myself as first vice president anymore and will serve the people wherever else needed," Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaie said in a short statement carried by ISNA.

July 2nd, 2009 JERUSALEM - Congressman Robert Wexler, a close political ally of US President Barack Obama and a big Israel supporter, has said that Israel would lose nothing, and potentially gain everything, by agreeing to a temporary moratorium on construction in the settlements for a short period of time. Wexler on his third visit to Israel since December met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, a day after Defense Minister Ehud Barak and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell met in New York and decided that the discussion over settlement construction would continue.

June 14th, 2009 Netanyahu to endorse Palestinian independenceJERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time will endorse the notion of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, top aides said Sunday, giving in to heavy U.S. pressure to drop his long-standing opposition to Palestinian independence.

June 1st, 2009 TEHRAN - With unconditional support being offered to him, Iran's presidential candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to be heading towards his second consecutive term. With the campaign in full swing before the June 12 elections, the self-proclaimed man of the people and a politician with the interest of the poor at heart, the working class and the poor are viewing Ahmadinejad as a national hero.

May 28th, 2009 JERUSALEM - An American Senator has said that Israel must be allowed to make its own decision on whether to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, even if it is taken as a "last resort". Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, who has been a consistent backer of Israel and is a supporter of Obama - said, "Israel didn't ask us permission to drop bombs twice on Syrian nuclear facilities.

April 18th, 2009 JERUSALEM - The Israeli military is preparing to launch a massive aerial strike on Iran's nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government. "Israel wants to know that if its forces were given the green light they could strike at Iran in a matter of days, even hours.