notes on iran

Via Siun at FDL, a quick writeup of the interception by the U.S.S. San Antonio of a Cypriot-flagged Iranian vessel carrying arms, originally thought to be headed to Gaza. The interdiction was scuttled when the arms turned out to be artillery shells apparently bound for a much more conventional military than Hamas'.

The Cypriot flagged Iranian ship later docked in Egypt where it was being searched but no sources detail what was found. US Combined Task Force 151 is the navy force assigned to preventing Somali piracy.

Meanwhile, Springbored at USNI theorizes that the U.S. Commerce Department's efforts to prevent Iran from buying (U.S. made) speedboats from South Africa may just be a ploy to shut down a possible Uranium smuggling vector:

Just seems odd that Iran is reaching so far afield, when there are plenty of go-fasts within easy reach. But then, if we note that South Africa holds 7 percent of the worlds economically recoverable uranium reserves and is the eleventh biggest producer of uranium, alarm bells start ringing. Maybe there’s something else afoot? Perhaps.

What do so about all this speculation and uncertainty? How about a review of what our intelligence agencies know or don't know about Iran?

Pat Lang describes the way for such a review:

What should it be called? Ah. Perhaps "National Intelligence Estimate - Iran" would be a good title.

Should get interesting.