By Patrick Goodenough
November 7, 2011

With a portrait of the late Ayatollah Khomeini as a backdrop, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members display missiles during a parade marking the 31st anniversary of the start of the Iraq-Iran war, near Tehran on September 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

(CNSNews.com) – A nine-year standoff between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear programs may be entering a new and more serious phase, as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) prepares to release a report expected to raise the most significant concerns yet about Iranian nuclear activities.
According to diplomats, the report – to be released Tuesday — will include suspicions that Iran has worked on computer models of a nuclear missile warhead, and point to the existence of a large steel container believed to be designed for nuclear weapons-related explosive testing.
Already the looming publication of the IAEA report has fueled speculation in Israel about the possibility of a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Read More: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/iran-boosts-its-anti-american-bluster-ahead-iaea-report-iran-nukes

Ron Paul: Offer Iran Friendship, Not Sanctions

By Patrick Goodenough
November 7, 2011

Republican presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) at the Iowa Republican Party’s Ronald Reagan Dinner on Friday, Nov. 4, 2011, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

(CNSNews.com) – At a time of escalating tensions with the Iranian regime over its suspected nuclear ambitions and support for terrorism, Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul is suggesting that Washington adopt a new approach – don’t impose sanctions, “treat them differently,” and offer “friendship.”

Re-treading ground he covered during earlier primary campaign debates, the Texas lawmaker said on “Fox News Sunday” that the United States had talked to the Soviet Union and China, both nuclear-armed, during the Cold War.
Asked what the U.S. should do to persuade Iran not to pursue a nuclear weapons capability, Paul replied, “Well, maybe offering friendship to them. I mean, didn’t we talk to the Soviets? Didn’t we talk to the Chinese? They had thousands of these weapons.”

He challenged the notion that Iran poses a security threat.