Trent Franks: U.S. is “wholly capable, willing, and ready to use military force” Against Iran

TORONTO — Amid signs Tehran is suppressing opposition ahead of next month’s presidential election, Foreign Minister John Baird reached out directly to Iranians on Friday to encourage them to end the country’s “clerical military dictatorship.” At a conference in Toronto that is using social media to engage participants within Iran, Mr. Baird said Canada should have done more to support the Green Movement that took to the streets following the 2009 “stolen election” that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.

Iranian media on Monday scoffed at Hollywood's awarding of its top honour to Ben Affleck's Iran hostage drama "Argo", branding it a "political" win while poking fun at US first lady Michelle Obama's surprise appearance at the Oscar ceremony.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said there remains “time and space” for diplomacy aimed at averting military action to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons power and that President Barack Obama is “not bluffing” when he says he’s considering military options. Still, the pressure on Obama’s administration to move toward military action is growing as Iran advances its uranium enrichment capabilities, and U.S. lawmakers, Israel and Persian Gulf allies press for results. Today, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said negotiating time is “finite.”

Roughly 17 million barrels of crude a day flow through the Strait of Hormuz and Iran has threatened to block the strait if Europe imposes economic sanctions. How credible is that threat? Joint Chiefs of Staff says Iran Has Ability to Block Strait of Hormuz Please consider Iran Has Ability to Block Strait of Hormuz, U.S. General Dempsey Tells CBS

Iran is developing a second path to a nuclear weapons capability by operating a plant that could produce plutonium, satellite images show for the first time. The Daily Telegraph [Wednesday] disclosed details of activity at a heavily-guarded Iranian facility from which international inspectors have been barred for 18 months. The images, taken only days ago, show that Iran has activated the Arak heavy-water production plant.

TEHRAN, Iran — For the first time in more than a decade, the black market pharmaceutical peddlers are back on Nasser Khosrow Street near Tehran’s main bazaar. “Medicine, medicine,” the street dealers shout. “Any kind you want.” Business is brisk. For many Iranians, such underground channels are now the only way to get needed — or even life-saving — drugs as Western sanctions over the country’s nuclear program have indirectly limited normal supplies to hospitals and pharmacies.

Robert Wright has a piece up at The New York Times noting that the structure of public opinion makes it very unlikely that any Iranian government will ever agree to the kind of thorough denuclearization that the West wants. At the same time, there’s little Iranian support for building actual nuclear weapons: