April 20 (Bloomberg) -- Iran has provided weapons and as much as $200 million a year to help the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah re-arm itself to levels beyond those in 2006, when the group waged a war with Israel, the Pentagon said.
The unclassified review of Iran's military power, the first submitted under legislation passed last year, cites the Persian Gulf nation's "longstanding relationship" with Hezbollah, which the U.S. and Israel consider a terrorist group.
Iran views Hezbollah "as an essential partner for advancing its regional policy objectives," the Pentagon said in the 12-page account, submitted yesterday to congressional committees. The report also examines Iran's build-up of its navy and air forces, and its ties with China, Russia and Venezuela.
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...We are not advocating strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. But the public signs of the administration's squishiness about military options are worrisome because of the lack of progress on its two-track strategy of offering negotiations and threatening sanctions. A year-long attempt at engagement failed; now the push for sanctions is proceeding at a snail's pace. Though administration officials say they have made progress in overcoming resistance from Russia and China, it appears a new U.N. sanctions resolution might require months more of dickering. Even then it might only be a shell intended to pave the way for ad hoc actions by the United States and European Union, which would require further diplomacy. And what would sanctions accomplish? Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the Financial Times last week that "maybe... that would lead to the kind of good-faith negotiations that President Obama called for 15 months ago." Yet the notion that the hard-line Iranian clique now in power would ever negotiate in good faith is far-fetched. More likely -- and desirable -- would be a victory by the opposition Green movement in Iran's ongoing domestic power struggle. But the administration has so far shrunk from supporting sanctions, such as a gasoline embargo. that might heighten popular anger against the regime.
All this probably explains why Mr. Gates, in his own words, "presented a number of questions and proposals intended to contribute to an orderly and timely decision making process."
"There should be no confusion by our allies and adversaries," he added, "that the United States is... prepared to act across a broad range of contingencies in support of our interests." If allies and adversaries are presently confused, that would be understandable.
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AFP, Tehran, 19 April 2010 - Iran's press watchdog has banned reformist daily newspaper Bahar for 'publishing false material,' just two months after it resumed operations, Fars news agency reported on Monday.
Bahar (Spring) was ordered shut for 'publishing false material, spreading doubt on key issues like the elections, questioning the decisions of regime officials and spreading lies about ministries,' the watchdog said, quoted by Fars.
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There is probably only one sanction that could bring Iran to its knees and stop Tehran developing a nuclear weapon. Time is running out - but that sanction is not even on the table in talks at the United Nations.
A blanket ban on Iran's import of refined petroleum products would target the Islamic Republic's Achilles' heel. 
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