News and Trends 7/04/2013

Iran lines up behind North Korea, warns the US of “great losses”

DEBKAfile Special Report April 5, 2013, 7:30 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  North Korea   Iran nuclear   Kim Jong-Un   John Kerry   Middle East peace 

Kim Jong-Un with his generals

Tehran’s intercession in the Korean crisis on the side of its ally in Pyongyang was predictable, even though the US preferrs to ignore the close interrelations between the two allies.
 And so, on Friday, April 5, Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri stepped forward to point the finger at Washington:
 [“The presence of the Americans in [South] Korea has been the root cause of tensions in this sensitive region in the past and present. The US and its allies will suffer great losses if a war breaks out in this region,” he said, adding for good measure: “Independent countries will not submit to the US mischief. The time for Washington’s bullying and extortion is long past.”
debkafile’s Iranian sources: The second part of the statement was a perfect fit for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s flat refusal to accept US demands on Iran’s nuclear program. The Korean crisis gave the Iranians the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
As Kim Jong-Un moved two intermediate missiles to the east coast of North Korea, Gen. Jazayeri’s rhetoric landed on the latest round of talks the six powers were holding with Iran in Amaty, Kazhakstan for a diplomatic resolution of Iran’s nuclear challenge.
Washington hoped to spread some cheer over a diplomatic process that had long past proven futile by planting advance reports that Khamenei had ordered a slowdown of Iran’s nuclear program up to the June presidential election to avoid crossing a red line that would trigger a military response.

11th hour diplomatic mission underway to avoid war: US to deploy fleet of drones to region

Posted on April 6, 2013 by The Extinction Protocol

April 6, 2013 – NORTH KOREA - Tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula, amid reports the US has deployed an unmanned spy plane to Japan to boost its surveillance after North Korea readied missile launchers on its east coast. The Global Hawk will be stationed at the US airbase in Misawa, northern Japan, in the first ever deployment of the aircraft in the country, the Sankei Shimbun reported, quoting government sources. The US military informed Japan last month about plans to deploy the plane between June and September but has brought the date forward. It comes after North Korea warned foreign diplomats they may not be safe in the country if war breaks out. Pyongyang asked foreign embassies whether they were considering evacuating staff, saying the government could not guarantee their safety in the event of conflict from April 10. The British Foreign Office dismissed the warning as “rhetoric.” However, an urgent international effort to defuse the situation is under way. The heads of EU missions are to meet to hammer out a common position on the crisis, while the US works its diplomatic channels to resolve the stand-off with Pyongyang. US Secretary of State John Kerry has been holding talks with officials in South Korea, as well as China – historically North Korea’s ally – to see if the Chinese can put any more pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to back down. Reporting from the South Korean capital Seoul, Sky’s Asia Correspondent Mark Stone, said: “In the skies above the Korean Peninsula there are spy planes operating. There will be drones – American drones – operating before long from a base in Japan. They are trying to get as much of a sense as possible of what it is that Kim Jong-Un is doing on the ground with his weaponry. We know he has some pretty sophisticated weaponry. There are artillery rounds just over the border. They could in theory hit Seoul. That’s a big concern for South Korea.” –Sky News