Iran canceled air show upon Russian warning of Israeli plan to destroy all 140 warplanes

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
April 24, 2009

Iranian warplanes did not take off

DEBKAfile's Iranian and intelligence sources disclose that Moscow warned Tehran Friday April 17 that Israel was planning to destroy all 140 fighter-bombers concentrated at the Mehr-Abad Air Force base for an air show over Tehran on Iran's Army Day the following day. The entire fleet was accordingly removed to remote bases and the display cancelled.

In the first week of April, Tehran announced it would stage its biggest air show ever to dramatize a ceremonial military parade in the capital on April 18. Iran would show the world that it is capable of fighting off an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities. Instead only four aircraft flew over the saluting stand.

Iranian media explained that the big show was cancelled due to "bad weather and poor visibility," when in fact Tehran basked in warm and sunny weather.

Moscow had informed the Iranians that its spy satellites and intelligence sources had picked up preparations at Israeli Air Force bases to destroy the 140 warplanes, the bulk of the Iranian air force, on the ground the night before the display, leaving its nuclear sites without aerial defense. A similar operation wiped out the entire Egyptian air fleet in the early hours of the 1967 war.
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Another Betrayal of Israel - UK May Cut Arms Sales to Israel

from Israel National News
April 22, 2009

Britain is warming up to Hamas and blowing chilly winds towards Israel. Its government is considering a ban on arms exports to the Jewish state after legislators had demanded that British weapons parts not be used against Arab terrorists.

Meanwhile, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is to address the House of Lords via video despite objections by the British government. In a separate development, the Bloomsbury theatre acceded to demands from pro-Arab groups that it cancel an appearance by an IDF choir scheduled for Israeli Independence Day celebrations next week.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband told Parliament Tuesday that it will review weapons export licenses "in light of recent events in Gaza,” meaning the Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign three months ago.

The statement came a day before Hamas’s top leader Khaled Mashaal was to address members of the House of Lords and Members of Parliament via video from Damascus. The address comes shortly after four British parliamentarians, led by British Labor party member Roger Godsiff, met with Mashaal in Damascus.
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Ahmadinejad thanks ElBaradei - for holding off UN while Iran finished Nuclear Program

Well, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad didn't actually thank ElBaradei directly, at least as far as I know. However, he probably should thank Mohamed ElBaradei and the IAEA, because without their help and incompetence, Iran may not have gotten this far.
Rees

"No one will dare attack Iranian nation"

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his nation on Saturday that "no country in the region threatens Iran," just hours after The London Times published a report claiming that Israel was preparing to attack targets in Iran within hours of receiving a green light from the government in Jerusalem.

Speaking during a ceremony in Iran's Army Day, Ahmadinejad said Iran was one of the strongest countries in the region and that "the gall to threaten the Iranian nation was quashed forever."

"The Iranian nation is ready to become more involved in maintaining order and security based on justice in many regions of the world," Ahmadinejad said.

His speech on Saturday was much more toned down than Army Day speeches from previous years; in 2006 Ahmadinejad warned that Iran's army will "cut off the hand of whoever dares attack it." In 2007 he said "the resistance of the Iranian people will bring down world powers."

The parade of military equipment on Saturday was also more modest than in previous years. While announcements prior to the parade said 140 jets will fly in formation, only several dozen helicopters dotted the skies of Iran on Saturday. An official explained that weather conditions prevented the jet air maneuvers from taking place.

Shihab and Khader missiles, which are usually driven atop their launching vehicles in the streets of Teheran, were also missing.

But Zilzal missiles, armored personnel carriers, unmanned aircraft and even small submarines surrounded by marching soldiers in diving masks. The forces passed before a stage where Ahmadinejad and top brass were sitting.
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Israel successfully tests Arrow 2 missile defense system

from The Jerusalem Post

April 7, 2009

The Arrow 2 ballistic missile defense system was successfully tested in southern Israel Tuesday morning, when it destroyed a missile simulating an Iranian Shihab 3.

It was the eighteenth test of the Arrow, and the first in which the recently modified Arrow 2 was tested in its entirety, along with a new radar system manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

The test was conducted jointly by the IAF and the US Missile Defense Agency. The Arrow is a project developed in cooperation by the IAI and Boeing.

The defensive missile was launched around 11 a.m. from the army's Palmahim base near Ashdod, and intercepted a Blue Sparrow missile fired by a fighter jet and impersonating a Shihab 3.

Defense officials lauded the successful launching as another indication of Israel's defense capabilities in the face of Iran's continued quest for a nuclear weapon. They said that the Arrow system could protect Israel from all of the missiles in Iran's arsenal.

The new Green Pine Radar - an integral part of the Arrow missile defense system - was first tested a year ago. In that test, the system also tracked a Blue Sparrow missile and, after locating and identifying it, related the information to the Arrow battery. However, an interceptor missile was not actually fired in that exercise.

The Blue Sparrow, developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, mimics an advanced Iranian Shihab 3 ballistic missile carrying a split warhead and with advanced radar evading capabilities. The Shihabs in Iran's current arsenal do not possess such capabilities.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who was flying back after a tour of the South, stopped near Palmahim base to personally observe the test.

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