The meeting of the Security Council came into session at two o'clock prompt and after the opening remarks by the Secretary General the first and most pressing matter was introduced. “The first item on our agenda today is the non-compliance by Iran, in denying access to the United Nations accredited inspectors. This, under the 2021 article, is cause for expulsion from the United Nations Organisation. We also have the matter of the existing resolution concerning the covert installations,” the DG said by way of introduction.
The US Ambassador to the UN was the first to speak, “Mr. Secretary General, I have been charged by the President and the Secretary of State, to move that a resolution for this council's consideration, that Iran be given a ten day period to comply or face a full embargo on trade and finances. Any bank accounts in US banks should then be also frozen; also communications and travel both in and out of Iran should be curtailed.”
“The council recognises the Ambassador's proposal,” the DG replied, “are there any other proposals,” he asked.
Benjamin Marks pressed the small brass button that registered his interest, and spoke into the stalk microphone. “I would comment that Israel sees this resolution as too weak to be effective, Iran knew the penalty for non-compliance, but that did not stop them refusing entry of the inspectors. Israel would propose that this council consider the possibility of direct action by a United Nations peacekeeping force.”
“I consider military action a little premature, Minister,” said the US Ambassador, “we need to let diplomacy run its course here.”
“We may not have time for that, Mr. Ambassador,” replied Minister Marks.
“On what do you base this assessment, Minister,” asked the DG.
“Mr. Secretary General,” I have information to suggest that Iran is planning an act of war against the western world, and starting with my country. I have activated several agents within Iran and the reports indicate a conspiracy that has been ongoing for over ten years. I am concerned that anything short of direct action will bring the Iranian plan forward.”
“Can you share this intelligence Minister,” asked the Secretary General.
“No Mr. Secretary General, the intel has been classified,” said Ben, “and cannot be shared generally in order to protect those agents, however I can share this with the United States Ambassador and the Ambassador for the United Kingdom, and I will let them authenticate the information.”
“We will recess for one hour to allow your consultation, Minister Marks.
The two ambassadors left the chamber with Ben and walked to one of the secure rooms on the sixth floor, whilst many of the other ambassadors also made use of the time to consort with each other or to catch up on paperwork.
In room S611 Ben opened his red security box and placed a number of documents on the table, some were in the Arabic and had translations in English attached. There were also graphic images supplied in the past few days by the Israeli Satellite Monitoring section, but also images sent from covert operatives that had recently been activated. The images showed a map of the secret Iranian base, which amazed the ambassadors by its extent. Other images were of the missile base to the north showing quite clearly that the missiles were operational and that they were certainly of ICBM type. The UK ambassador spent some time reading the agent reports and asked, “Can we have copies of these documents for our security services, Minister.”
“Yes, I have prepared copies on these memory sticks,” replied Ben, “I don't need to remind you of the sensitivity of this information, gentlemen,” he concluded.
At the end of the hour's recess all the delegates returned to the chamber and the Secretary General asked, “Do the ambassadors of the United States and the United Kingdom concur with Minister Marks.”
Both the ambassadors made a short statement where they certified the intelligence, the council first voted on the expulsion of Iran from the UN. The result was to defer the expulsion for ten days, in order to allow the possibility of diplomatic endeavours. The vote on the direct action was defeated, but the council agreed that the resolution should state that 'all possible means' should be included in the original US resolution as a possible outcome. Ben Marks, and the UK and US ambassadors voted against this threat, as it was going to be seen as provocation.
It was almost eleven, and the morning's coffee tray had just arrived in the office of the head of MI6, when the secure, 'your eyes only' package announced its arrival in Sir James Hennessey's desk com-unit. His eyeballs rolled into his eyelids at the sound, 'why does this always happen at coffee time,' he thought, as he keyed in his personal code for the day. He had been looking forward to his coffee, because the peculator in his apartment had been on the blink since last evening. Juice never seemed to satisfy the taste buds on a cold December morning, and this was a particularly cold morning at just eight degrees. The British had become acclimatised to the new warmer climate over the past ten years or so and eight degrees was cold now for this time of the year.
The package opened with a message from Howard Fletcher, the UK ambassador to the UN, Howard was a close friend of Sir James' although they had not met for almost five years, since Howard's appointment to the UN. The message asked him to review the images and documents in the package and to make the PM aware of the contents, it was marked 'High Priority'. Sir James' eyes were on stalks as he read the Israeli field reports and viewed the imaging, the information was causing a nauseous reaction at the thought of the implications. By eleven thirty Sir James was boarding the car electric car that would take him through the tube system to number ten Downing Street. The Government Transport System had been built about fifteen years ago as an extension to the London 'Tube' system after the roads in the capital had become so congested that a cross city journey took almost three hours.
“Sorry to arrive unannounced Prime Minister, but you need to see this as a matter of urgency Sir,” Hennessey said as he burst into the PM's office.
“What is it James, that's got you so fired up,” the PM asked.
Sir James almost pushed the Prime Minister off of his chair as he slotted the memory stick into the com-unit on the desk.
“What in the name of hell,” said Matthews as he read the reports and viewed the images, ” is this for real,” he asked.
“It would seem so, Sir,”
“Has President Orwell got access to all of this?”
“According to Howard the US ambassador should be briefing him about now,” answered Sir James, “It is my opinion that the Israelis will be taking direct action on or before the ten day deadline, where does this government stand, if this happens, Sir.”
The Prime Minister looked grave as he examined more images, “As you know James, our agreements with certain governments, and our membership of the EU, would dictate that we support Israel, if the state calls upon us to do so.”
“The Security Council voted against direct military action, so if Israel goes for a pre-emptive strike, it will put us in an awkward position,” said Sir James.
“Yes it would, but we honour partnerships with our allies first, and that means the EU and then Israel. What were the voting stats' for the EU members, do we know,” asked Matthews.
“Yes, Howard said that the European countries mostly voted for action to be taken.”
“So we just wait and see, James,” sighed the PM, “I really thought we were through with all this.”
“Well if these 'God Tapes' are genuine, I suppose it is something that has to happen, according to what I have read. The UN is being very tight-lipped about the secondary research they are doing in Crete.”
The Oval Office of the Whitehouse, Washington D.C. United States of America. Tuesday 9 hrs (local time)
“Thank you for seeing me Mr. President,” Henry Luther, Director of the CIA, said as he entered the oval office.
“Always make room for my head spy, Henry,” President Orwell said with a wicked smile on his face, “what have you got for me today?”
“If I may Sir,” Luther said as he docked the data carrier into the wall soft-screen, “Mr president what you are about to see was given to us by Benjamin Marks, the Israeli Minister of Security.“ Luther took the remote keypad from its charging station. “If you will remember the materials that you saw last week that were discovered because of an accident in a missile silo in Iran,” continued Luther.
“Sure, the covert missile base,” agreed Orwell, “please Henry take a seat,” as the President sat in the winged chair facing the soft-screen. Luther talked the President through the images, and then made hard-copies of the reports and documents. “Hell, and the Security Council actually rejected direct action, are they crazy,” the President asked as a rhetorical question, “this is an immediate threat to world peace and needs to be neutralised sooner rather than later. Do we have any assets in Iran, Henry?”
“No, Mr. President,” lamented Luther, “It has not been thought a priority since the Calcutta Accord.”
“What do you think Israel will do Henry,” asked Orwell, “will they take unilateral action, you think?”
“My guess is, yes, Sir, I can't see them just sitting there and waiting to be attacked, whilst the Security Council makes its mind up how big a threat Iran is.”
“My feelings exactly,” agreed the President, who pulled his com-unit from his jacket pocket and chose a secure address to an office down the hall, when a female voice answered, he said, “Valerie, is General Schlitz still there,” the female voice confirmed that the General was still there and just about to leave, “Ask him to drop into my office on the way out would you Valerie.” Orwell heard her asking and the affirmative from Schlitz. Just over a minute later General Schlitz opened the door to the Oval Office.
“Mr. President,” Schlitz said questioningly. “Come in General, take a seat.”
The General chose a seat next to Luther on the couch; he looked at Luther and asked, “Do we have a problem here, Sir.”
“We may well have General,” said Orwell, “What military do we have in the Middle-east presently.”
“The Navy has two LCS craft in the Med, with five HSV's and attendant submarines. The LCS craft have one hover vehicle each and carry a compliment of a thousand army personnel. We also have three units of infantry working with the Israelis on an exercise out in that dammed wilderness of theirs, mostly whirlybirds and missile units.”
“Good, can I suggest that you put them all on yellow alert, General,” said the President, “and can we move the Navy up the eastern end of the Mediterranean.”
“I guess we're talking about Iran, are we Sir.” asked Schlitz, “I saw the minutes from the Security Council.”
“As usual, you miss nothing General,” commented Orwell, “you may want to have a look at this,” the President indicated the soft-screen and nodded to Luther to restart the sequence of images. Luther gave Schlitz another set of hard-copy documents, when he had scanned several documents and seen the images, he sat back and gave a long expressive whistle.