Washington (AFP) - The delivery of Russian S-300 air defense missiles to Iran will not affect America's ability to strike at Tehran's nuclear facilities if necessary, top US military officer said Thursday.

"We've known about the potential for that system to be sold to Iran for several years and have accounted for it in all of our plans," General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news conference.

The United States for years has refused to rule out possible military action to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons if diplomacy fails. Dempsey said the military option would not be undermined by Russia's decision this week to supply Iran with the sophisticated S-300 missiles.

"The military option that I owe the president to both encourage a diplomatic solution and if the diplomacy fails to ensure that Iran does not achieve a nuclear weapon is intact," Dempsey said.

Moscow said progress in nuclear talks between Iran and world powers meant there was no longer a need for Russia to prohibit exporting the surface-to-air missiles to Tehran.

Israel condemned the move by Russia and Washington voiced concern, but Iran hailed the decision as a step towards "lasting security" in the region.

Russia could deliver the missile systems later this year, Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Iran currently lacks advanced air defenses that could knock out modern fighter aircraft in the US or Israeli air forces. The S-300 is designed to detect and destroy ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft at low altitude.

Although the S-300 would provide a major improvement for Iran's air defense network, it remains unclear if the missile would be a match for America's stealthy F-22 fighters and bombers, experts say.

Abuja (AFP) - ​Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday told the United Nations his country would not need the help of an international force in the fight against Boko Haram.

The outgoing leader said in a statement he wanted the UN to focus instead on helping to rebuild communities and assist those affected by the six-year Islamist insurgency.

Jonathan made the remarks after meeting with the special representatives of the UN secretary-general for west and central Africa, Mohammed Ibn Chambas and Abdoulaye Bathily, the statement said.

The UN refugee agency has said that 1.5 million people have been displaced by Boko Haram violence in northern Nigeria, while more than 13,000 people have been killed.

Jonathan said that with the support of troops from Chad, Niger and Cameroon, the Nigerian military had in recent months regained most of the towns and villages seized by the Islamist militants in the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

The Nigerian military has "commenced a final push to take the last stronghold of the insurgents in Sambisa Forest" in Borno state, the statement quoted him as saying.

It is believed that most of the 219 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from Chibok in Borno state a year ago are being held in the forest.

Chambas, a former head of west African regional bloc ECOWAS, told Jonathan that the UN team was visiting the countries affected by the Boko Haram insurgency, which also includes Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

He reaffirmed the UN's readiness to support the ongoing efforts by Nigeria and its neighbours to end the insurgency.

ISIS is losing. Watch how and why it's happening.

Airstrikes don't usually work very well on terrorist groups, whose strategies often depend on hiding among civilians. But ISIS is different. It is obsessed with acquiring land, a key aspect to its mission. The group seeks to establish a state, complete with justice, governance, and, most important, territory. This obsession has left them in plain sight for airstrikes.

Since the US airstrikes started last August, ISIS's territorial ambitions have been significantly disrupted. The Iraqi army, the Kurdish peshmerga, and Shia militias (which are often sponsored by Iran) have been pushing them back. This is why many analysts are confident ISIS will soon lose it territory in Iraq and once again end up where it started a year ago, a delusional group of hardened warriors festering in the chaos of a Syrian civil war.

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• Syrian Civil War,
• ISIS,
• World and Defense
• (VOX)

A view is seen of Baiji oil refinery, north of Baghdad, December 8, 2014. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces fought Islamic State militants at the gates of the western city of Ramadi on Friday, and local authorities warned it was in danger of falling unless reinforcements arrived soon.

Police sources and provincial council members said the militants were no more than half a kilometer from the center of the capital of Anbar province, and many residents were rushing to leave, waving white flags.

"The situation in Anbar is critical," council member Sabah Karhout told Reuters. Two deputy governors of Anbar echoed his alarm and said the U.S.-led coalition was not conducting enough airstrikes to help save the city.

A spokesman for the Defense Ministry played down the threat to Ramadi and said the army would soon launch a counter-offensive to reverse Islamic State advances in the area.

The Sunni Islamist militants have been making inroads near Ramadi since last week, when the government announced a new offensive to recapture Anbar, large parts of which Islamic State has held for the past year.

The insurgents suffered a major defeat this month when Iraqi troops and Shi'ite paramilitaries routed them from the city of Tikrit, but are now striking back in Anbar and at the country's largest refinery in Baiji.

(Writing by Isabel Coles; editing by Andrew Roche)

Hundreds of the barrel jellyfish – each the size of a dustbin lid – have been hauled in by fishermen on the Devon and Cornish coast, with dozens of sightings reported to the authorities.

Passengers aboard a sea life cruise were stunned after coming across a giant swarm of thousands of the jellyfish – the largest species found in south-west England – over a mile in length on Wednesday.

The jellyfish, which can grow up to six feet and weigh 55lb, were sighted just off Pendennis Point near Falmouth, Cornwall.

Keith Leeves, captain of AK Wildlife Cruises, said: ‘It was eerie and a little unnerving.

‘There were thousands of them. I’ve never seen anything like that in all the years I’ve been doing this – it was spectacular.’

The HUGE Barrel jellyfish swims past diver in Dorset Invasion: Experts believe the barrel jellyfish, which can grow up to six feet, have been attracted by the warmer waters and a lack of predators

Experts say their stings are not powerful enough to do any serious harm, but warn swimmers that it is best not to touch them.

Matt Slater of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust said it was ‘difficult to say what is causing their appearance, but it could be because there is more plankton for the jellyfish to feed on because of warmer waters’.

Steve Hussey, from the Devon Wildlife Trust, says the increase could be because of fewer predators in the region’s seas.

‘The leatherback turtle is struggling at the moment, which means there are less of them to eat the jellyfish.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3042508/Invasion-giant-jellyfish-Billions-appearing-British-coastline-two-weeks-warm-weather.html#ixzz3XaGzP6Ou
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