OCTOBER SUPRISE? ATTACK ON IRAN BY U.S?

DAILY TELEGRAPH

According to reports in the newspaper De Telegraaf [link in Dutch; rough translation in English], the country's intelligence service, the AIVD, has stopped an espionage operation aimed at infiltration and sabotage of the weapons industry in Iran.

"The operation, described as extremely successful, was halted recently in connection with plans for an impending US air attack on Iran," said the report.

"Targets would also be bombed which were connected with the Dutch espionage action."

"Well placed" sources told the paper that a top agent had been recalled recently "because the US was thought to be making a decision within weeks to attack Iran with unmanned aircraft".

"Information from the AIVD operation has in recent years been shared with the American CIA secret service."

Brig Gen Seyyed Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of the Iranian armed forces, warned at the weekend that military attacks against Iran would trigger a Third World War.

The Telegraaf story was published on 29 August, the day after the Obama coronation. Oh, that's just lovely. These kinds of speculative stories have run before, so who knows? But it's interesting that it's just weeks away to the U.S. 2008 General Election. For what it's worth, the Telegraaf story was linked by 52 blogs (and now mine).

(Thanks to Anonymous/Patrick for the alert about the Telegraaf story.)