The Javelin joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Raytheon presented its new business development manager for France, Ken Alexander, the week of April 15 to officials of the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) procurement office and Army head­quarters, two sources said.

The company executives gave an update on the Javelin modernization program in a bid to replace the French Army’s aging MBDA Milan missiles. The visit follows  a presentation by the joint venture in June.

That puts Javelin in head-to-head combat with European missile maker MBDA, which hopes to develop and build a new weapon under the planned missile moyenne portée (MMP), medium-range missile program.

“MBDA is still the front-runner,” one source said.

But the Javelin joint venture is still pursuing a French order. Up to now, the requirement has been for 3,000 replacement missiles.

The US side raises questions as to whether there  will  be money to develop a new weapon and whether MBDA will be able to deliver by mid-2017, when the Milan is taken out of service, the source said.

MBDA confirmed that work started on MMP in 2010, with some funding from the DGA in late 2011 for the assessment phase, a company spokesman said.

“Work is on track for delivery to start in 2017 to avoid any capability gap when the Milan is withdrawn from the French Army,” the spokesman said.

Although a program decision has not been taken due to financial uncertainty, planners see MBDA’s role as a given in the upcoming military budget law, a defense specialist said. That’s partly because MBDA acts as a channel for British-French cooperation, which  could one day lead to a common long-range version of the MMP that could replace the US Hellfire on the Tiger attack helicopter, the specialist said. Such cooperation between Britain and France makes a selection of the US-made Javelin seem impossible, the specialist said.

For the Americans, a lack of French defense money is seen as a powerful ally in their push for the Javelin. For MBDA, however, there are hopes the ministerial investment committee will decide on a program launch of MMP in June or July, with July 21 ringed in on some calendars.

MBDA Chief Executive Antoine Bouvier has said MMP is one of the three big decisions this year, along with an anti-ship missile dub­bed anti-navire léger, and boost­ing range on the Aster Block 1 air defense weapon.

A second defense specialist said the  defense staff chief sees the MMP as “the priority of priorities,” more so than the anti-ship missile.

Javelin’s Pros and Cons

The Javelin joint venture, meanwhile, points to the US Army’s order for a modernized model to enter service in 2016.

That clears the way for  a first delivery to France in 2016 or 2017, and in time for the Milan replacement date.

Under the US Javelin cost reduction initiative, which would cut unit prices by 25 percent,  the request  is to extend the range beyond the existing requirement  of 2.5 kilometers of the current model.

In firings on a US Army test range late last year, the Javelin in-service model hit targets at 4.7 kilometers, with one missile missing the target and going out to 5 kilometers, the second source said. Therefore, the tests show the current model already has the longer range.

The Javelin, however, is designed as a fire-and-forget weapon, while the French Army calls for a man in the loop to limit harm to civilians. The  joint venture offers fire-and-forget in Phase I, and adaptation to French needs under a possible MBDA co-development in a later phase.

The US Army is expected to keep the Javelin in its inventory to 2050, which allows the European local partner to sign up for a spiral development if France picked the weapon.

The US is open to co-development, seen as a necessity given budget cuts. The joint venture is also negotiating with the US government for a multiyear contract for the Javelin, intended to lower costs.

Another argument for the Javelin is French interoperability with British and US forces, which both use the weapon and are often deployed alongside in multinational missions, the first source said.

French officials have ruled out the Rafael Spike missile for undisclosed reasons, the source said.

MBDA displayed a model of the MMP at its stand at the special operations forces innovations network seminar, a trade show and conference near Bordeaux, which ran April 9-11.

The European company has signed an export contract for an undisclosed client for its Milan extended response weapon, a company executive said at the show. Milan ER, developed using  company money,  lost to Javelin in 2009, when the French Army picked the US missile for troops in Afghanistan.

Anti-tank weapons are among the arms key to  special operations forces, according to  a glossy brochure produced by the French special operations command.

President François Hollande has said the 2014 defense budget will be the same as this year’s, but there is still huge doubt how that figure will be reached, leaving uncertainty over what new programs will be picked.

DefenseNews

Some 6,000 immigrants were detained over the weekend in the biggest police  operation in the capital for several years, though many were later released, the  same official said.

At the same time about 1,800 police officers were posted to the 200km  Greek-Turkish border marked by the river Evros to join Greek soldiers and the  EU’s Frontex mission patrolling the river bank.

The unprecedented crackdown followed a sharp increase this year in the  numbers of illegal arrivals from Turkey, with an estimated 120 migrants a day  managing to avoid the military patrols. Most illegal entrants head for Athens to  join large communities of African and Asian migrants and asylum seekers hoping  to make their way to northern Europe.

Athens has faced criticism  from EU partners over its handling of illegal immigration because of the  failure to stem the flow of arrivals. It is also accused of foot-dragging over  plans to set up reception centres for illegal immigrants with EU funding.

An official at the public order ministry said the latest measures were  intended to address two issues: an expected surge in illegal immigration as  refugees from the conflict in Syria sought shelter in the EU, and mounting  problems with drugs and crime involving immigrants living in poor conditions in  central Athens.

Nikos Dendias, the public order minister, said: ”The immigration issue is a  ticking bomb in the foundations of our society and state . . . We will handle it  with full respect for human rights and European regulations.”

“Illegal immigrants have been without human rights, living in unhealthy  conditions and conned by smuggling rings into believing they would be able to  find a job and travel within Europe.”

About 8,000 immigrants have applied to leave Greece under a voluntary  repatriation programme arranged by the International Organisation for Migration,  paid for out by EU funds.

Eliamep, an Athens think-tank, estimated last year that more than 450,000  illegal immigrants were living in Greece, amid rising social tension as  unemployment soared among Greeks because of the economic crisis.

The far-right Golden  Dawn party, accused of staging racist attacks in Athens, sometimes in  collusion with the police, entered parliament for the first time this year on an  anti-immigrant platform.

Financial Times

The unraveling of the al Assad regime in Syria will produce many geopolitical  consequences. One potential consequence has garnered a great deal of media  attention in recent days: the possibility of the regime losing control of its  chemical weapons stockpile. In an interview aired July 30 on CNN, U.S. Secretary  of Defense Leon Panetta said it would be a “disaster to have those chemical  weapons fall into the wrong hands — hands of Hezbollah or other extremists in  that area.” When he mentioned other extremists, Panetta was referring to local and transnational  jihadists, such as members of the group Jabhat al-Nusra, which has been  fighting with other opposition forces against the Syrian regime. He was also  referring to the many Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas and the Popular  Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, which have long had a  presence in Syria and until recently have been supported by the al Assad  regime.

The fear is that the jihadists will obtain chemical weapons to use in  terrorist attacks against the West. Israel is also concerned that Palestinian  groups could use them in terrorist attacks inside Israel or that Hezbollah could  use such weapons against the Israelis in a conventional military battle.  However, while the security of these weapons is a legitimate concern, it is  important to recognize that there are a number of technical and practical  considerations that will limit the impact of these weapons even if a militant  group were able to obtain them.

Stratfor

Government sources in India and France confirmed Jan. 31 that French firm Dassault has won a contract to sell its Rafale fighter jets to India. (Dassault Aviation)

Negotiations to build Rafale fighter jets for the Indian Air Force won’t be complete for at least nine months, following news that the state-owned company tapped to build the jets in India has missed a deadline for filing its license production evaluation report.

Sources in the Indian Defence Ministry said Defence Minister A.K. Antony had directed the bureaucrats to finalize the contract to build Rafales within the next three months, but it cannot be done because state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) has yet to submit the license production plan, delaying negotiations by another six months.

India on Jan. 31 declared the Dassault Rafale the preferred bidder over the Eurofighter Typhoon, setting the French company up for a deal involving 126 aircraft and prompting soul-searching among the Eurofighter nations.

The Ministry of Defence last week also asked HAL to focus on building airframes, engines, and system and weapons integration of Rafale aircraft rather than on meeting its portion of the $5.5 billion offset requirements as part of the deal.

Under the new directive, HAL has been asked to submit the detailed license production plan within the next four weeks, the sources said. HAL officials privately acknowledge they are late in submitting the plan for completing financial and manufacturing tasks.

Meanwhile, Rafale has come closer to clinching the final selection in the program after India rejected accusations of manipulation in the selection of the French aircraft over Typhoon.

Antony ordered a probe into the allegations, which were leveled by M.V. Mysura Reddy, a member of Parliament, in February.

Antony, in his reply to Reddy two weeks ago, wrote, “The issues raised by you were examined by independent monitors who have concluded that the approach and methodology adopted by the Contract Negotiations Committee in the evaluation of the commercial proposals thus far, have been reasonable and appropriate and within the terms of the Request for Proposals and Defence Procurement Procedure, 2006.”

Rafale emerged as the preferred aircraft over the Typhoon based on life-cycle cost. MoD sources said Rafale had quoted nearly 15 percent lower than Typhoon, but the sources would not give a figure.

An executive with Eurofighter consortium member EADS said Eurofighter members will regard themselves out of the contest only after the deal is actually signed.

“A contract is finalized only when it is inked,” the executive said.

No executive from Dassault was available for comment.

India floated the request for proposals for the purchase of 126 fighter jets in August 2007, and it took nearly 4½ years to tap Rafale as the preferred vendor.

Besides Eurofighter and Rafale, the field included U.S.-made F-16s and F/A-18s, Swedish Gripens and Russian MiG-35s.

The Indian Air Force needs the fighters to shore up its dwindling fleet in the next five to seven years.

The Air Force should begin receiving the jets by 2015.

Under the terms of purchase, the first 18 aircraft will arrive in fly-away condition, while the remaining 108 will be manufactured under a technology transfer process.

Of the 108 aircraft to be license-produced in India, 74 will be single-seaters and the remaining 34 will be two-seaters. The first 18 aircraft will include 12 single-seaters and six two-seaters and will be equipped with all the weaponry required by the Indian Air Force.

DefenseNews

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. lawmakers passed a sweeping $606 billion defense bill July 19 that exceeds a budget cap and faces a veto threat from the White House for failing to sufficiently rein in spending.

The bill would provide $518 billion for the Pentagon and an additional $88.5 billion for overseas contingency operations, specifically the war in Afghanistan and counterterrorism efforts, for the fiscal year that will begin Oct. 1.

The 2013 Defense Department spending bill had originally come in at $519 billion, an increase of $1 billion over 2012 spending, but in a surprise move just before the final vote, lawmakers approved an amendment bringing the spending into line with current figures.

It’s still roughly $2 billion more than President Barack Obama requested, and about $8 billion above the cap set by last year’s Budget Control Act.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 326-90.

Democrats and Republicans are promising a major budget tussle this election year as the two sides square off over whether to raise taxes for wealthy Americans as well as slash federal spending in a bid to pare down the skyrocketing debt.

U.S. lawmakers failed to reach a deal last year over how to reduce the long-term deficit by $1.2 trillion, and default spending cuts are scheduled to kick in next January that could see the defense budget slashed by an additional $50 billion in 2013.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers praised the bill, saying it “supports and takes care of our troops at the highest level possible, keeps America at the forefront of defense technologies, and boosts key training and readiness programs to prepare our troops for combat and peacetime missions.”

“But in this environment of fiscal austerity, we must also recognize that even the Pentagon should not have carte blanche when it comes to discretionary spending,” the Republican Rogers said, insisting that the bill makes “common-sense decisions” on spending cuts.

Some Democrats were keen on making even deeper cuts, but three of their proposals to slash some $23 billion from the bill were rejected.

“The bloated Pentagon budget must be addressed if we are serious about solving our nation’s deficit,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who authored several cost-saving amendments that were turned down.

But although Republicans have stood firm in their desire to see defense spending levels maintained, Lee had a partner in Republican Mick Mulvaney, who authored the measure that successfully cut the bill by $1 billion.

“Austerity to me means spending less,” the tea party conservative said.

The bill saw lawmakers express their disgust with Russia’s stance on Syria, as they voted overwhelmingly for an amendment that ends the Pentagon’s arms contract with a major Russian defense firm that provides weapons to the regime in Damascus.

House Democrat Jim Moran, who introduced the measure, lambasted the Pentagon for its contract with Rosoboronexport, which he said sells mortars, sniper rifles and attack helicopters to Syria.

The Pentagon has procured some 33 Mi-17 attack helicopters from the Russian firm  which are to be used by the Afghan military after U.S. operations wind down in Afghanistan.

“I should think it’s troubling to all of us that we are purchasing helicopters from a Russian firm that is directly complicit in the deaths of thousands of innocent Syrian men, women and children,” Moran said.

The Senate will now craft its version of the defense bill, but its fate is unknown. The House has passed several spending measures, but the Senate largely balks at them because they overshoot the spending agreement reached last year.

AFP

Pierre Eric Pommellet, Executive Chairman of Thales Systèmes Aéroportés,  officially handed over the aircraft during a ceremony at the Tusas Aerospace  Industry (TAI) facility in Ankara attended by representatives of the Turkish  Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM), the Turkish Naval Command, the  Turkish Coast Guard Command, the local contractors involved in the programme – TAI, Aselsan, Havelsan and Milsoft – the French defence procurement agency (DGA)  and the French embassy in Ankara.

Thales is prime contractor for the Meltem II programme, which calls for  delivery of six maritime patrol aircraft for the Turkish Navy  and three maritime surveillance  aircraft for the Turkish Coast Guard. The aircraft are based on modified  CASA CN-235 platforms. The programme also includes the provision of 10  additional maritime patrol systems for integration on ATR 72 aircraft in service  with the Turkish Navy. Seven of these have already been delivered to the SSM.  The 19 mission systems are based on Thales’s AMASCOS solution (Airborne MAritime  Situation & Control System).

The four initial standard aircraft underwent significant modifications to  accommodate the mission system and have completed airworthiness qualification by  the DGA in France. Turkish Navy pilots and aircrews have been trained with the  new aircraft and mission systems and performed a series of test flights covering  a range of operational mission profiles: surveillance, search and rescue, target  designation, anti-surface warfare and anti-submarine  warfare. On the basis of these test flights, the aircraft have been accepted  into operational service.

The initial standard aircraft provide the Turkish Navy with an operational  maritime patrol capability.

Mr Yakup TAŞDELEN, Department Head in SSM, said: “this delivery marks a true  milestone in the development of our maritime patrol capability. The Turkish Navy  can now rely on Thales state-of-the art solution to conduct their mission.”

Pierre Eric Pommellet emphasised: “the climate of confidence and dedication  which drove Thales and its partners during the last couple of years and which  made possible the delivery of a solution tailored to the operational need of our  customer.” Pommellet added “Thales is now looking forward to delivering the next  systems to the Navy and to the Coast Guard.”

This success marks a major milestone in the Meltem II programme and is a  further endorsement of the high level of maturity of the AMASCOS solution. It  consolidates Thales’s market leadership in maritime patrol systems and its  positioning as a world-class systems supplier and integrator offering a wide  range of mission systems to meet the specific requirements of forces around the  world.

Designed around a latest-generation integrated tactical command system, the  AMASCOS solution ties together multiple sensors – radar, FLIR, ESM, acoustic  system, AIS, MAD, SLAR radar, IR/UV scanner – to detect, identify and track  threats, maintain real-time tactical situation awareness, manage NATO and  national tactical datalinks and deploy onboard weapon systems.

Thales

The 28 members agreed to coordinate use of their military resources under dire circumstances of global economic difficulties to overcome global threats together.

In an environment where the United States is in the process of shifting its focus from the Atlantic-Europe zone to the Pacific-Asia zone, the new NATO strategy fits into American needs to entrust interests in the Atlantic-European zone to their allies there by providing them new ways, means and tools to do that. And lessening the burden on its shoulders is one of the reasons behind all that smart defense resource sharing thing.

The missile shield is an important part of that strategy. The shield project, which NATO said yesterday was officially in active use, consists of five units: The command center in Ramstein, Germany, the intercepting missiles on board the U.S. missile ships off the Spanish coasts, land-based missile batteries in Poland and Romania, as well as an early warning radar site in Kürecik, Turkey. A White House Fact Sheet yesterday revealed that only the Kürecik radar, an AN/TPY-2 type one (which has been effectively in use since January) has been transferred by U.S. President Barack Obama from U.S. to NATO operational control; the others will remain U.S. sites.

There is a detail here. Israel has the same radar on its soil, and if that radar would fully satisfy the U.S.’ needs, it would be hard to find any reason why Washington would ask Ankara to hear their needs and demands in return. NATO control, of course, gives a different hand to Turkey vis-à-vis its relations with northern neighbor Russia and eastern neighbor Iran; both are not very happy because of the presence of the radar as they feel like the targets.

Turkey comes into this picture in a different way. When the U.S. focus was on the Atlantic-Europe zone, Turkey was on the eastern fringe bordering Russia and the energy basins of the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea; now in the Pacific-Asia focus, Turkey remains in the picture at the western fringe and with the capabilities to have an influence on the Islamic political geography. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was in Pakistan yesterday to discuss their future role in Afghanistan on behalf of the Western alliance while the Western leaders were discussing the same issue in Chicago some ten thousand miles away.

These qualities bring an upgraded role to Turkey in the NATO system as well and are not limited to a new (Land Forces in İzmir) command and more officers. It is a political one and in order to enhance it, the U.S. and major European allies are seeking two improvements in two main fields: Upgraded democratic standards which are expected to come with the new constitution that is being prepared and better relations with the neighborhood – that usually means Israel, Cyprus and Armenia nowadays. If the new coalition in Israel comes closer to an apology over the killing of nine Turks in the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla tragedy, that could be a good start for the process.

HDN

An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on the accusation. But the incident marked a fresh source of tension between the former allies.

Relations between Turkey and Israel fell apart after Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara aid vessel in May 2010 to enforce a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and killed nine Turks in clashes with pro-Palestinian activists.

Monday’s reported air incursion coincided with tensions on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus over oil and gas exploration plans there, which could hinder U.N.-backed efforts to reunite wthe island.

“A plane belonging to Israel, the model of which could not be identified, violated KKTC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) airspace (above its territorial waters) five times,” the Turkish military said in a statement posted on its website.

“In response to this situation, our 2XF-16 plane based at Incirlik was scrambled and our planes carried out patrol flights in KKTC airspace, preventing the said plane from continuing to violate KKTC airspace,” said the statement.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said it had contacted Israel’s mission in Ankara, seeking an explanation for the incursion.

In Jerusalem, an Israeli military spokeswoman said she was checking the report.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when the Turkish military invaded the island after a short-lived Greek Cypriot coup engineered by the military junta then in power in Athens.

Turkey still keeps about 30,000 troops in the north and is the only nation that recognises the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

ENERGY EXPLORATION TENSIONS

The internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government reported an offshore natural gas discovery in December but its attempt to exploit the reserves has been challenged by Turkey.

Ankara has in turn given approval for Turkey’s state-run oil firm to carry out oil and gas exploration in six offshore areas around northern Cyprus, drawing condemnation from the Greek Cypriot government, which lays claim to the territory.

Israel has separately reported two major energy finds offshore in the sea separating it from Cyprus.

Israel has worked to enhance ties with Cyprus and Greece as its relations with Turkey have frayed.

The eastern Mediterranean has recently seen joint Israeli military manoeuvres with its partners, as well as long-distance training by Israel’s air force for a possible strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Israel uses warplanes and pilotless drones, as well as naval craft, to patrol its offshore natural gas fields.

Turkey stirred fears of a possible confrontation at sea by saying last year it would boost its naval patrols in the eastern Mediterranean.

But a senior Israeli military officer said that there had been no discernible increase in Turkish naval operations in Israel’s economic waters, which extend 187 km (117 miles) from its coast.

An armed Predator drone flying over a desert.

A U.S. drone aircraft killed at least ten people on Saturday in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region near the Afghan border, Pakistani security officials said.

In Saturday’s strike, a drone fired missiles at a house in the Shawal area of North Waziristan, killing the ten, said the officials who declined to be identified.

Shawal is a remote area of forested ridges and valleys that spreads out on both sides of the border.

The identity of those killed in the strike was yet not known and officials said they were trying to collect more information from the far-flung mountainous area.

Saturday’s attack was the second strike since parliament in March approved new guidelines on relations with the United States, which included a call for an end to drone attacks on Pakistani territory.

A Pakistani parliamentary committee recently demanded an end to drone strikes on Pakistani territory as part of its recommendations for how its relationship with the United States should change.

The United States has given no indication it intends to halt the campaign, and the administration of President Barack Obama has said the use of the remotely piloted aircraft is legal under international law.

Saturday’s U.S. drone strike is the 12th of its kind in Pakistan since this year. Up to date, at least 93 people have reportedly been killed in such strikes in 2012. The New America Foundation think-tank in Washington says drone strikes have killed between 1,715 and 2,680 people in Pakistan in the past eight years.

WB

In this Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010 file photo, the reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant is seen, just outside the southern city of Bushehr, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010. (AP photo)

Iran on Tuesday dismissed claims it was clearing away traces of suspected nuclear weapons research activities from a closed military site, saying the allegations were “propaganda”.

The sprawling Parchin military site, located 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Tehran, “is conducting normal military activities,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in a regular briefing. “Declarations about the cleaning up of nuclear traces from this site — and those who are technically savvy know you cannot remove traces of such activity from an area — these declarations are propaganda,” he said.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Yukiya Amano, said early last week that satellite images suggested there were unspecified “ongoing” activities at the Parchin base. Western diplomats said they suspected Iran was removing evidence from the site.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has focused suspicions on Parchin since receiving intelligence, outlined in a November report, that Iran may have been testing normal explosives in a big metal cylinder there with the aim of researching implosion triggers for an eventual nuclear bomb. Iran has twice this year refused requests by a visiting IAEA team to inspect Parchin. Although the IAEA inspected parts of Parchin two times in 2005, it says it did not see the area alleged to contain the explosives test cylinder.

Mehmanparast highlighted those 2005 visits and said Iran had accepted the “principle” of another visit, but that the IAEA should have been “more patient” in reaching agreement on the framework of such an inspection. Parchin will be one of the key issues in a new round of talks being prepared between Iran and world powers likely to take place in coming weeks. Last week, the group of nations to sit down with Iran — the so-called P5+1 comprising the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany — issued a statement urging Iran to “fulfill its undertaking to grant access to Parchin.”

The talks will revive negotiations that broke down in Istanbul in January 2011. Iran, under pressure from sanctions and the threat of military strikes on its nuclear facilities, agreed on February 14 to a P5+1 proposal to resume the discussions and has indicated it again favoured Istanbul as the venue.

Mehmanparast, though, said “several countries have declared themselves ready” to host the talks, which he said should begin “soon”. He added that Iran stood by its view that uranium enrichment — one of the most contentious activities to be addressed — was permitted under the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty supervised by the IAEA, as long as it was destined for peaceful nuclear use. “The level of enrichment for peaceful activities is a technical question, and experts can determine what level of enrichment is within a peaceful framework,” he said. Iran is currently enriching uranium to 3.5 percent, needed for nuclear energy generation, and to 20 percent, for isotopes to treat cancer patients.

Uranium needs to be enriched to 90 percent or higher to make an atomic bomb. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last weekend warned that the West should drop its “bullying” stance against his country. “As God is my witness, the Iranian nation will not give a damn for (your) bombs, warships and planes,” he said in a televised speech on Sunday in the city of Karaj west of Tehran.

The United States and its EU allies “should talk politely, and recognise the rights of (other) nations, and cooperate instead of showing teeth, and weapons and bombs,” he said. Iran has repeatedly insisted its nuclear programme is purely for civilian purposes and has no military component. The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called nuclear weapons a “sin”. Khamenei also praised US President Barack Obama’s recent comments cautioning against “bluster” in talking about possible war with Iran — although he also called US determination to press on with sanctions an “illusion”.