Israel says time is running out and Leon Panetta says Israel could attack Iran as early as April. As all this unfolds the Obama administration cautions our greatest ally Israel rather than Iran.

Just days after 9/11 on September 13, 2001, then-Senator Hillary Clinton stated during an interview on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather,

“Every nation has to either be with us, or against us.  Those who harbor terrorists, or who finance them, are going to pay a price.”

President George W. Bush elaborated those words on September 20, 2001; during an address to a joint session of Congress,

“Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”

Bush went a little further and in simple terms explained what he meant,

“They want to overthrow existing governments in many Muslim countries, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. They want to drive Israel out of the Middle East. They want to drive Christians and Jews out of vast regions of Asia and Africa.”

During his State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, Bush named terrorist groups,

“Our military has put the terror training camps of Afghanistan out of business, yet camps still exist in at least a dozen countries. A terrorist underworld — including groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Jaish-i-Mohammed — operates in remote jungles and deserts, and hides in the centers of large cities.”

Three out of four of the groups he named, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad all have one thing in common. They are all funded, supplied and trained by Iran.

Read the rest here.

Failure to recognize the danger that Iran poses to both Israel and the United States is one of those things that Obama and his administration are quite good at, either by design, or total ignorance.  I don’t think it’s ignorance.  He professes to be a ‘Christian’, but all of his actions are anti-Christian.  True Christians will stand WITH Israel against her enemies, and what greater enemy than one who has declared the intent to totally destroy her.

From the NKJV:

Exodus 23:30-33
30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.
31 And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

From The Torah:

Exodus 23:30-33
30 I will drive them out before you little by little, until you have increased and possess the land
31 I will set your borders from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of Philistia and from the wilderness to the Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and you will drive them out before you.
32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.
33 They shall not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me; for you serve their gods – and it will prove a snare to you.

Now, I won’t swear to it, but I’m fairly sure this is an accurate description of the land given to the Hebrews. I’m pretty sure the Arabs know this, but don’t much like the idea. There are a lot of squatters in land that was given to them, way back when. The Sea of Philistia, if I’m not mistaken, is what we call the Mediterranean. The Sea of Reeds, well, that would be the Red Sea as stated in the Old Testament.

Even back then, it really wasn’t a huge plot of land, but compared to what they have today, well, it was HUGE.

All Israel wants is to live in peace, to protect her people, and defend herself against her enemies. I don’t think that is asking too much.  She is surrounded by enemies.  Little Big Horn comes to mind.

As a Christian nation, we are obliged to stand with her, not with her enemies. Thanks to Obama and his cronies, liberals who have done their best to remove God from all aspects of our lives, we are no longer a blessed nation. The current government has turned its back on our closet ally in the area. Unless we turn our faces back to God, we will be a nation ‘gone under’.  Israel doesn’t need our permission to do a darn thing.  She doesn’t need the backing of the United Nations.  She has the backing of a MUCH greater Power!

The Strait of Hormuz lies between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, providing passage for some 15.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, amounting to one third of the world’s seaborne oil shipments. In a word, it is a 34-mile-wide chokepoint, making Iran’s threat this week to shut down the strait all the more serious for the global community.

The Iranian regime’s provocative warnings came on Tuesday from Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi who threatened to close the strait if Iran faces sanctions for its nuclear ambitions. And Wednesday, Iran’s top naval commander Habibollah Sayyari said, ”Closing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran’s armed forces is really easy … or, as Iranians say, it will be easier than drinking a glass of water.”

Iran’s closing of the strait — and its economic ramifications — is a scenario that has been contemplated before. From December 2006 to March 2007, Heritage Foundation scholars conducted a computer simula­tion and gaming exercise that examined the likely economic and policy consequences of a major oil disruption in the Persian Gulf. Specifically, the war game was based on a scenario in which Iran began blockading the Strait of Hormuz in January 2007.

What did they find? Based on their modeling, if Iran succeeded in fully blockading the strait for up to one week, Americans would see a massive spike in oil prices, a one-quarter drop in GDP of $161 billion, the loss of one million jobs, and a drop of real disposable personal income costing more than $260 billion.

With those threats at hand, the scholars recommended a series of steps to manage the theoretical blockade and its worldwide economic consequences:

A focused but restrained use of military power oriented toward objectives that address vital national interests would demonstrate U.S. determination to uphold freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, help to calm global markets, and reassure American consumers, and measures liberalizing energy policies and rolling back regulatory restrictions would allow the marketplace to work to meet global energy needs.

At the time this war game analysis was conducted, the scholars described why a potential blockage of the Strait of Hormuz would be such a significant threat. Their words ring true today. They looked back to the energy crises during the Arab oil embargo in 1973-1974 and the Iranian revolution in 1978-1979 — both of which led to fuel shortages, long gas lines, gasoline rationing, high inflation, and energy-related dam­age to the overall economy.

In those instances, they wrote, America suffered not only as a result of the changes in global oil supply, but also because of policies emanating from Washington:

At almost every turn, Washington policymakers exacerbated the already challenging energy situation with their own policy blunders. The federal government’s newly created maze of economic and environmental regulations and implementing agencies greatly hampered domestic energy supplies and limited the private sector’s ability to respond to events.

In retrospect, the U.S. government probably caused at least as much harm as any foreign entity did. Much of the energy crisis was self-inflicted by bad decisions made in Washington. The errors of the 1970s should serve as a cautionary tale as Amer­ica again faces similar energy challenges.

Today, Washington is throwing up similar roadblocks to energy independence. President Barack Obama has postponed a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport 700,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada to refineries in Texas, and give a major boost to the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, his Administration has blocked access to shale resources and slowed down and even halted offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which supplies 30 percent of domestic oil production. And the Environmental Protection Agency is imposing new, costly regulations on energy production. And all of this comes as Iran is threatening to cut off a quarter of the world’s energy supply.

As Heritage’s war game analysis showed, there are things America can do to respond to such provocations from Tehran, but no actions can totally eliminate the economic consequences. However, there are things Washington can and should do today to help America become less dependent on the Middle East for its energy and soften the blow should Iran choose to lash out at the West. America’s security depends on it.

The US should apologize for spying on Iran instead of asking for the return of its drone, Tehran’s provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani said on Friday.

“According to the international rules, this has been an aggression against our country’s territorial integrity”, therefore, if Americans claim that the plane has come to Iran by mistake, “they should extend their apology” to Iran, Emami Kashani said during his second sermon on Tehran University Campus here today.

He said the aircraft is a spy drone and its flight in Iranian sky was an obvious crime.

Umm…. I don’t think so. Y’all are scum, and if that moron in the White House apologizes to anyone, he NEEDS to apologize to the American people. I suppose the Iranians don’t have any spies in the U.S., right? Pfft! Suckers are sneaking across the border like it was their own back yard.  Since when is it a crime to keep an eye on your enemies?  And that’s what they are, after all…..enemies.  They want to destroy both Israel and the U.S.  If that isn’t considered an enemy, then I don’t know what is!

“The demand on Iran to return this spy plane to the US is rooted in their (Americans’) arrogant nature and is a shameless and rude demand,” he said, and added, “They should apologize to the Islamic Republic of Iran and ask for the Iranian nation’s pardon.”

After days of silence, US President Barack Obama on Monday asked Tehran to return the spy drone that was downed in Eastern Iran on December 4.

“We have asked for it back. We’ll see how the Iranians respond,” Obama said following a meeting at the White House with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

“We have asked for it back.” I can just hear his whiny voice, stuttering and um’ing, and uh’ing. UGH! If the SOB had a pair, he would have blown the damn thing up, instead of letting them have OUR technology, and maybe taken a few of them with it.  I realize D’Bama isn’t the brightest bulb in the box, but did he really expect them to say, “Oh, gee!  We’re sorry.  We’ll return your high tech drone right away!”?

An attack on the British embassy in Tehran. A desperate pursuit of nuclear weapons. A plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington. Alone, any one of these actions by Iran’s regime would be cause for alarm, but taken together they make it undeniably clear that the Iranian threat cannot be ignored. Now, there is news of another effort by Iran to take aim at the United States, this time coming from Latin America.

Heritage’s Israel Ortega and James Phillips explain:

Iran is conducting anti-U.S. operations from Latin America, including military training camps in Venezuela, and expanding its reach across the border from the U.S. in Mexico, according to footage unveiled late Thursday by the largest Spanish-language network in the United States, Univision.

The documentary showed a former Iran senior official accepting a plan to launch from Mexico a cyber war on the United States, one that would cripple U.S. computer systems, including the White House, the FBI, the CIA and several nuclear plants. The official, former Iranian Ambassador to Mexico Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri, was shown accepting the offer from undercover Mexican university students. A trailer to the documentary can be seen on Foundry.org.

Other revelations in the documentary include undercover Mexican students presenting plans for the cyber attack to Venezuelan officials in Mexico. Ortega and Phillips write that the Venezuelan official appeared very receptive to the plot, saying that she was close to Venezuela’s hard-leftist President Hugo Chavez and that she would love to share the information with him as soon as possible. The same happened with Cuban officials in Mexico, who were equally interested in a plot against the United States.

The documentary, called “The Iranian Threat,” claims that undercover journalists were also able to infiltrate Iranian military training camps working from mosques in Venezuela, though it showed no actual footage of the camps. Univision alleged there were links between the alleged camps and a radical Muslim implicated in the 1994 Buenos Aires bombing of a synagogue that killed 85 and wounded hundreds. The Iranian lives in Argentina, a country that also has strong ties to Chavez.

Ortega and Phillips write that the “ties between the hard line Islamist government in Tehran and the anti-American government of President Hugo Chavez have been growing for years, including a weekly secretive Cairo-Tehran flight that is of grave concerns to U.S. officials.”  They also point out other disturbing findings in the report:

Undercover journalists also confirmed Iranian-backed money-laundry and drug-trafficking cartels that are used to back Islamist networks and training camps in Venezuela and elsewhere, which exist to attack U.S. interests and undermine the U.S. in Latin America.

Univision said in press release that it had “dozens of hours of secret recordings, conducted extensive interviews with people who participated in the meetings, including a former Iranian ambassador, and examined documents ranging from hand-written notes to internal federal reports and obtained unpublished video of a failed bomb attack against New York’s JFK airport. In Mexico, Univision, uncovered covert recordings of the alleged Iranian plan to cripple the computer systems of the White House, the FBI, the CIA and several nuclear power plants.

Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has failed to confront threats like those that Iran poses to the United States. In August, The Heritage Foundation Counterterrorism Task Force wrote, “The President’s strategy pays insufficient attention to state-sponsored terrorism, which will increasingly be a major force to be reckoned with. Iran is one of the most prominent and aggressive state sponsors of terror and its proteges–both Hamas and Hezbollah–represent potentially grave threats. In addition, transnational criminal cartels in Mexico are increasingly taking on the character of terrorist networks.”

With this latest report from Univision, we are reminded that those threats need to be identified and investigated, even in our own hemisphere. And the Obama Administration can no longer stand on the sidelines as civil liberties and democratic institutions deteriorate in Latin America, allowing for Iran and other rabid anti-American to enter, grow, and threaten the United States.

The White House condemned “in the strongest terms” the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran by Iranian protesters on Tuesday and urged Iran to prevent further assaults on diplomatic sites in the country.

“Iran has a responsibility to protect the diplomatic missions present in its country and the personnel stationed at them,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.

“We urge Iran to fully respect its international obligations, to condemn the incident, to prosecute the offenders, and to ensure that no further such incidents take place either at the British Embassy or any other mission in Iran. Our State Department is in close contact with the British government and we stand ready to support our allies at this difficult time,” Carney said.

Well now….I’m sure the Iranian thugs are all aquiver cuz the talking grapefruit wagged his finger and said, “No, no….bad Iran.”  Pfft!  Does anyone really believe Iran gives a flying flip what the rest of the world says, or does?  Talk about a regime that needs to be “wiped off the map“!  I don’t mean the normal every day people.  I mean the Islamist regime!  Mamul Imanutjob and company.

Hard-line Iranian students stormed the British diplomatic compounds in Tehran on Tuesday, bringing down the Union flag and throwing documents from windows in scenes reminiscent of the anger against Western powers after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iranian media had conflicting reports of a possible hostage situation on the scene – these reports have not been confirmed by any official, British or Iranian. An Iranian news agency removed the report shortly thereafter.

How can a country that produced such fine minds as Shakespeare, Newton, and Churchill,  have turned into a placating, whining, bunch of pantywaists?  Just boggles.  *shakes head*  Oh….wait a minute, I know!  *raising hand*  It’s because they have been led down the thorn filled ‘Primrose Path” of socialism and have been totally taken over by the feckless, AND the muzzies. 

“The ongoing events in the region and the collapse of dictatorial governments will serve national security and peace and negate terrorism in a long period,” said Larijani in a meeting with the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Iraq, Ed Melkart, in the Iranian capital city of Tehran on Monday.

“The creation of democratic governments in the region would help disprove terrorism and establish sustainable security and stability in Iraq,” he added, Majlis news agency (ICANA) reported.

Excuse me, but what would Iran know about democracy? These are the same pigs that gun down their own people who oppose THEIR dictatorial regime. Don’t think anyone should be taking any advice from that bunch of assclowns!

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that leaked American diplomatic cables recounting Arab calls for the US to launch a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities were intended to stir “mischief.”

According to the cables released Sunday by online whistle-blower Wikileaks, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program and to stop Teheran from developing a nuclear weapon.

My first question would be…..why the hell don’t the Saudis take ‘em out? Are they totally incapable of defending their own corner of the world?

“We don’t give any value to these documents,” Ahmadinejad told a news conference “It’s without legal value. Iran and regional states are friends. Such acts of mischief have no impact on relations between nations.”

Ahmadinejad alleged the leaks were an “organized” effort by the US to stir trouble between Iran and Arab neighbors. When asked to comment on the documents, he said “the material was not leaked, but rather released in an organized way,” according to a Press TV report.

Yeah…cuz Obama & Co. are sooooo competent. /snark Does this clown’s elevator go all the way to the top? I don’t THINK so! He’s not called Ahmanutjob for nothin’ y’know!  Even I don’t believe Obama actually wants to put people in harms way, as ‘nutjob is alleging.

Among the first-published documents on Sunday night were nicknames for a number of world leaders. Ahmadinejad was referred to as “Hitler,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy as a “naked emperor,” the German Chancellor was called Angela “Teflon” Merkel and Afghan President Hamid Karzai as “driven by paranoia.” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, an “Alpha Male,” while President Dmitry Medvedev is “afraid, hesitant.”

I’m curious. Just who was calling these ‘world leaders’ such names? Seems rather immature, IMHO.

I can’t decided if I’d like to see that fool, Julian Assange, show his face around the Podunk parts of the country or not. It won’t be pretty, if he does!

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that the 9/11 attacks were exaggerated, in a broadside at the United States just days after President Obama voiced willingness to talk to Iran.

Exaggerated? Really? We all saw it, live, and in dying color! I guess those 3,000 people just decided to go into hiding, right? If D’Bama has a chat with that raving lunatic, he’s even more inept than I thought. And I already think he’s pretty dadburn inept!

At a Tehran conference, Ahmadinejad said there was no evidence that the death toll at the World Trade Center was as high as reported, and spouted an already-debunked tale that “Zionists” had been tipped off in advance.

Ol’ Mr Dinnerjacket should really check out Snopes or the U.S. gov’t. site now and then.

“What was the story of Sept. 11? During five to six days, and with the aid of the media, they created and prepared public opinion so that everyone considered an attack on Afghanistan and Iraq as [their] right,” he said in a televised speech.

The “story” was that 19 of your fellows rabid dog Muslims decided to murder innocent men, women, and children.  No one ‘created’ my desire to see those who perpetrated this act of pure evil turned into ash.   That hasn’t changed.  As a matter of fact, I’d like to see the entire area turned into a large field of glass.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went on a tirade against the United States and the Jewish people in a speech given last week in Shahre-Kord in central Iran. The speech was printed in Iran’s Fars media and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Among other things, Ahmadinejad announced a new goal: “liberating” the US.

“I hereby announce that from this point forward, one of the Iranian nation’s main aspirations will be to deliver the American people from [its] undemocratic and bullying government,” he said.

Holy crap! I actually agree with ONE thing Ahmadinnerjacket says. We do have a bullying government. However, the USA is NOT a democracy, and we sure as hell don’t need ‘liberating’ by someone who is many fries short of a Happy Meal.

He also condemned Jews and Israel, saying “the West” had “gathered the filthiest and greatest of criminals, who only appear to be human from all corners of the earth… so that they would occupy the lands of Palestine.”

Are all Muslim dictators this ignorant about history? FACTUAL history? Insulting the Jewish people seems to be a Muslim habit. Jealousy is an ugly thing, and this is more evidence that people like ‘dinnerjacket are extremely jealous of the success of Israel.

Ahmadinejad’s statements follow the imposition of a fourth round of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The Iranian president said the sanctions do not concern him. “Why must I worry, when I have a plan to change the world… [to change] the unilateral and discriminatory world order?” he asked.

The discrimination comes completely from the Muslim world. Israeli Arabs have more freedom the any Jew living in a Muslim country….what few there are left.

Early Monday morning in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea, helicopters lowered Israeli Commandos onto a Turkish-flagged ferry carrying 600 passengers determined to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Beset by activists armed with poles, knives and guns, the Israelis defended themselves, and the resulting violence left at least nine dead. Hours later, the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report claiming that Iran now has enough nuclear fuel, with further enrichment, to make two nuclear weapons. These two stories are not unrelated. And they ought to serve as a signal to the Obama administration that it is time to change its approach to the region.

Israel is an important ally of the United States and the most important partner the U.S. has in an otherwise tough neighborhood. Unlike most of its neighbors, Israel shares our nation’s commitment to democracy and freedom. And also like us, it has every right to defend itself. When the United States supports Israel and makes that support clear on the international stage, Israel’s enemies are less likely to provoke. But when the United States distances itself from Israel, as the Obama administration has done, it makes confrontation and conflict in the region more likely, not less. When enemies see Israel as alone and isolated, they become more, not less, aggressive. When Israel feels alone and isolated, it feels compelled to be more aggressive – to act in its own defense.

What the incident in the Mediterranean Sea demonstrates is just how likely it is that Israel will make a preventive strike on Iran if Iran provokes Israel by further developing its nuclear weapon ambitions. If such an attack were to happen, the United States must recognize Israel’s right to self-defense against a hostile Iranian regime that repeatedly has called for its destruction. The United States must also veto any Security Council resolution that does not acknowledge Iran’s provocations and continued defiance of U.N. resolutions.

Just this past Friday, the IAEA also leaked news that Iran may be hiding equipment capable of pyroprocessing, a procedure that can be used to purify uranium metal used in nuclear warheads. This is just the latest in a long line of Iranian deception about its nuclear program. The Obama administration actually enabled this Kabuki with its engagement strategy last year, which culminated in last month’s nuclear deal between Iran, Turkey and Brazil – a deal that was based off of President Obama’s own proposed deal with Iran.

And the Obama administration’s strengthening of Iran does not end there. In order to secure new toothless U.N. sanctions on Iran, the Obama administration agreed to allow the Russians to sell the Iranians S-300 anti-aircraft missiles - the very weapon system that Iran would use against an Israeli air strike.

What is most troubling here is the Obama administration policy that has helped create the Middle East we have today. Israel feels increasingly alone. Iran feels increasingly empowered. The White House should have been working to achieve the opposite.

The United States, which already has tied Israel’s agreeing to Palestinian Authority demands with solving the Iranian nuclear threat, now cites Israel’s nuclear arsenal as the key.

Honestly, I wish reporters wouldn’t use the term “US” when talking about such stupidity. They should actually say “US’s Obama administration”, because in reality, these actions do NOT reflect the sentiment of the MAJORITY of US citizens.

Ellen Tauscher, U.S. Undersecretary of State for arms control, was quoted by the London Guardian as saying last week, “The best chance we have to achieve a WMD-free zone in the Middle East is to reach an agreement on a lasting and just peace in the Middle East.” A proposal for a ban on mass destruction weapons in the Middle East is being circulated by the Obama administration and Russia.

The best chance for a peace in the Middle East is NOT tying Israel’s hands. The best chance is sending the evil Islamonazis to hell, where they belong!

Cairo also is using its “Israel card” to refuse to participate in the chemical weapons convention, arguing that Israel first must sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

Yeah, cuz Egypt has been such a promoter of peace, eh? /snark Perhaps, if all these assjacks, who are blaming one tiny little nation, who only wants to protect it’s people, and survive as a nation, would looks towards themselves, and realize, it’s not Israel that is the problem, but themselves, maybe….just MAYBE, there could be some sort of peace.

Israel’s “ambiguity” policy does not admit or confirm that it has nuclear weapons. It has declined to sign the NPT, which would require opening up state secrets on nuclear capability.

Nor should they! No sane nation reveals it’s security secrets. (Obviously, the US is no longer run by sane, rational people.)

The United Nations this week opened its NPT conference and heard Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad charge, “The Zionist regime continues to threaten the countries of the Middle East with its arsenal. It continues to threaten the world’s countries with acts of terror and invasion, and even gets the necessary assistance for its nuclear program.”

This, from the pig who wants to wipe Israel off the map. It’s embarrassing the US State Department even allowed this POS into the country, so he could spew his bilge.  I’m not aware of any threats Israel has made towards anyone, other than those who try to destroy them, and that’s in self defense.

An American-inspired Middle East peace, with Israel at the core, remains in the background of the official statements. Besides the Russian-American proposal, Egypt’s position paper calls for countries signing the non-proliferation treaty “to disclose all information available to them on the nature and scope of Israeli nuclear capabilities, including information pertaining to previous nuclear transfers to Israel.”

Seriously, I can’t figure out why any rational human being would see Israel as a ‘threat’. Why is it that Israel is suppose to comply with the anti-Semetic UN, when no one else does? Look at the map, and tell me who is a bigger threat to whom.

Pincus noted, “How the Obama administration deals with the nettlesome problem of Israel’s nuclear arsenal and the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East will determine U.S. success or failure at the NPT conference.” [source]

Nettlesome? A tiny nation that just wants to survive is ‘nettlesome’? All I can say to that, is…..

….. unlike our current administration!  Here’s a reality check: Who do they think God will protect?  His Chosen People, or the murderous thugs who want to destroy them?

Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged “immodest.”

Just days after Iran abandoned a high-profile bid for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, it began a covert campaign to claim a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women, which is “dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women,” according to its website.

Buried 2,000 words deep in a U.N. press release distributed Wednesday on the filling of “vacancies in subsidiary bodies,” was the stark announcement: Iran, along with representatives from 10 other nations, was “elected by acclamation,” meaning that no open vote was requested or required by any member states — including the United States.

The U.S. currently holds one of the 45 seats on the body, a position set to expire in 2012. The U.S. Mission to the U.N. did not return requests for comment on whether it actively opposed elevating Iran to the women’s commission.