Iran

• Kenneth Timmerman says that Iran is preparing to close the Strait of Hormuz.

• Ahmadinejad says a nuclear program is an inalienable right.

• The Dubai debate - what about Iranian investment in the UAE?

• The foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany are to meet with Iran. The NYT calls that a surprise move, as if Europe rehashing the same arguments they've been having for years is something to be surprised by. Would you believe nothing came of it? Now we get to see the game played in the UN Security Council.

• An ex-IRGC defector says Iran is training palestinians and Iraqis in at least twenty camps, in which 'Sunnis outnumber the Shiites'.

• Iran has tested the Shihab-4, which the test results suggested has a range of 4,000km.

• The 1 million strong Basij militia in Iran has been given police and defence powers.

• The Foundation for Democracy in Iran says the State Department has set up an office dedicated to promoting democracy. Secretary Rice has also said State will set up a regional office in Dubai to deal with Iran and Iranians.

• Reza Pahlavi, son of the former shah, has called on anti-regime exile groups to unite rather than waste time on in-fighting.

• IranFocus says there is some serious purging going on in the Iranian 'government'.

• Iran is doling out some energy contracts - Total, Royal Dutch Shell and Repsol, together are set to make nearly $3 billion. The contract involves producing and exporting gas, starting in 2009 - optimistic people...

The Middle East

• Jordan has thwarted a suicide bombing aimed at a 'vital civilian facility', arresting three non-Jordanians and recovering arms and explosives. Jordan is hunting at least four other men.

• A bomb has exploded in a courtroom in the Christian-majority port city of Jounieh in northern Lebanon - no casualties.

• The Lebanese government has admitted that allowed Syria to deliver arms to Hezbollah on January 31st.

• Lebanon has rejected a U.S. request to extradite Imad Moughaniyeh (noted jihadist), Hassan Ezzeddine and Ali Atwe (suspected of involvement in the truck bombing of the Marine barracks), and Mohammed ali Hamadeh (convicted of murdering a U.S. Navy diver). Apparently, these murderers of Americans are protected by Lebanon's general amnesty law

• Israelis are being warned to stay clear of Egypt and Jordan due to a boost in A-Q activity.

• The Egyptian police have arrested a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

• A Tunisian reformist has spoken out about the institutionalised oppression of Christians in Egypt.

• The rioting in Jordan's Juweideh prison has ended peacefully. The rioting has led to a shake-up in the Jordanian security forces.

• The PA and Hamas say that any EU aid will go straight in to the PA's budget.

• MENL says the U.S. has shifted its stance on Hamas. Saeb Erekat, a professional liar, says the U.S. is willing to fund a Hamas government. I guess we'll see soon enough.

• Abu Mazen is going to transfer control of virtually the entire PA 'security forces' to Hamas.

• Who is Ehud Olmert? Israel's Accidental Prime Minister.

• The Israeli army is predicting a renewed campaign of 'popular' terrorism in Judea and Samaria (popular attacks being carried out by individuals unaffiliated with terrorist groups). The prediction came after the IDF recorded an increase of stonings, firebombings, stabbings, shootings and bombings in the territories.

• The IDF believes that Hamas is aiding various terrorist groups firing rockets in to Israel, one of which hit a 'strategic facility' in Ashkelon today.

• The Jerusalem Post reports that the PA has arrested an al-Qaeda operative. Abu Mazen says that al-Qaeda is taking root in Judea and Samaria as well as Gaza.

• Some Jewish lunatics (Debka claims they're previously known as nuts) have thrown "firecrackers at worshippers": http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395530956&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull in a Nazareth church.

Iraq and the Gulf

• Several of the venerable AC-130 gunships are returning to Iraq, under special forces command.

• Dan Darling looks at the aftermath of the Askariyah shrine bombing.

• The NYT reports that German intelligence passed the Iraqi plans for the defence of Baghdad to the U.S. a month before the war began.

• A terrorist who claims to have beheaded 116 people, including a Japanese hostage, was arrested in Baghdad two months ago.

• The U.S. believes that A-Q in Iraq are planning a big bang. The CBS article isn't clear whether they think the Samarra shrine bombing was them, but seems to think there is something nasty in store.

• Another post from Michael Totten, still travelling in Iraqi Kurdistan.

• The two suicide bombers who attempted to attack a Saudi oil facility are relations of very senior people. The Saudi news agency linked suggests al-Qaeda have successfully divided the Sauds from the tribes they depend on to retain control. The CT blog has more on al-Qaeda's rules for attacking oil facilities and the state of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and it's links to their Iraqi co-terrorists.

• Iraqi border forces arrested a Saudi thought involved in the attack, but the Saudis say the man is mentally ill.

• The UAE's Emirates airline is pressuring London football club Arsenal not to renew its deal to advertise Israel as a holiday location.

• A reminder from the NY Post: al-Qaeda claimed to have infiltrated the UAE government back in June 2002.

The Americas

• Michelle Malkin notes a development in the Joel Hinrichs suicide-by-bomb-but-not-suicide-bomber case in Oklahoma.

• An informant who befriended one of the Lodi jihadis recalled in court Hamid Hayat's praise for al-Qaeda, the Taliban and jihad.

• Two of three men arrested for planning attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq are linked to a recently busted Hamas charity.

• The Senate has voted to renew the Patriot Act, while adding protections for those targeted for investigation.

• One of the Lackawanna six was amongst the escapees from the prison in Yemen. Jaber A. Elbaneh has been put back on FBI's list of most wanted terrorists.

• Two Americans who claim to have spotted Adnan el-Shukrijumah, an al-Qaeda terrorist considered extremely dangerous, have found no-one willing to follow it up.

• Several senators on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are concerned that the $42.7b budget is too low.

• The U.S. Border Patrol has confirmed a Mexican government helicopter entered U.S. airspace, apprently by accident.

• The Tamil Tigers go begging in Canada.

Europe

• RFE/RL looks at Belarus's brand of totalitarianism. A choice extract: "We don't need democracy with hullabaloo," [President Alyaksandr Lukashenka] said. "We do need the type of democracy where people work and get paid, even if not much, but enough to buy bread, milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, and sometimes a piece of meat in order to feed their children and so on." After a short pause, Lukashenka added: "Well, as regards meat, let's not eat too much of it in summer."

• A once-craven enforcer of 'multi-culturalism' has changed his tune. The head of Britain's Commission for Racial Equality says people who wants Sharia law should leave. He also said 'some minorities' would have to accept the right to offend.

• George Galloway, Britain's jihadi MP, says the Danish cartoons were worse than 9/11 or 7/7. He also says he is trying to assist the 'resistance' against U.S. forces in Iraq.

• The son of imprisoned al-Qaeda cleric Abu Hamza is rapping the jihad. I guess Islamism and the West can coexist...

• A Turkish terrorist named Fehriye Erdal has escaped Belgian surveillance. Sixteen security personnel were monitoring her when she made her getaway. Expatica has details here and here.

• The Spainsh Supreme Court has ask prison wardens to recalculate the prison sentences of 180 ETA terrorists.

• Danish food producer Arla estimates it has lost $64 million to the cartoon jihad.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

• The Chechen jihadis are pissed about the Hamas meetings with the Russian government.

• The son of murdered Chechen president Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov, Ramzan, "may be about to become prime minister.

Afghanistan & Southern Asia

• Evariste has a look at Musharraf's weak comeback to Hamid Karzai's claims of Pakistani perfidy.

• After another riot in an Afghan question, RFE/RL have details and analysis. One of the prisoners, an American jailed for carrying out a private war on terror, was threatened with beheading.

• A suicide bomber in Afghanistan has wounded five Canadian soldiers. The regional Afghan army commander says the bomber was wearing a Lashkar-e-Jhangvi vest (LeJ is a Pakistani part of al-Qaeda).

• Dan Darling discusses the Pakistani operations in North Waziristan.

• A suicide bombing outside the U.S. consulate in Karachi has killed three people, a U.S. diplomat among them. American and Pakistani intelligence believe Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is responsible.

• Got one in Bangladesh: Abdur Rahman, 1998 war-against-America signatory and leader of JMB.

• Twenty-two terrorists convicted of involvement in the August 17th bombings in Bangladesh have been sentenced to death.

Far East & South East Asia

• Jamestown's latest China Brief is available. In this issue: China's relationship with Pakistan, including analysis of that 'corridor' Pakistan wants to build for China; a look at the Chinese navy; and how China is quietly improving its higher education.

• Joe Katzman - STRATFOR on China's Growing "Maritime Morass".

• An official from Indonesia's counter-terror task force says that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed personally set up the funding of the Jemaah Islamiyah cells responsible for the bombings between 2002-2005.

• Two bombs in the Phillipines, still restless in the midst of rumours of a coup, fortunately caused no injuries.

• Abu Sayyaf have murdered a city mayor in the southern Phillipines.

• The Australian has a good piece about the two Bali terrorists who are hiding with MILF and Abu Sayyaf.

• A former Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist is now helping Indonesian counter-terror forces hunt down his erstwhile companions. He is said to have helped capture 12 key terrorists in the last year.

Africa

• Here's a look at American plans to combat terror in East Africa. Build infrastructure, befriend locals, calling in airstrikes - the usual.

• What was Gaddafi thinking when he threatened Italy?

• Algeria is going to release 2,000 jihadis as a part of the country's 'reconciliation process'.

• Ijaw 'militiamen' in Nigeria have told British oil workers to leave the country, or be butchered.

The Global War

• The Adventures of Chester asks that all-important question: Is Islam compatible with a free society? What do we do if it is/isn't? Great reading.

Thanks for reading! If you found something here you want to blog about yourself (and we hope you do), all we ask is that you do as we do and offer a Hat Tip hyperlink to today's "Winds of War". If you think we missed something important, use the Comments section to let us know.