Sell ! Sell ! Sell ! (or not as the case may be ..)

I wonder what this means ?

"U.S. stock futures fell sharply on Wednesday following news reports of an explosion in Iran that state television there attributed to a missile fired by an unknown aircraft.
"This explosion basically sent chills down the spines of futures traders," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Alaron Trading Corp in Chicago. "Oil prices reacted immediately and rallied up to the highs and this caused a corresponding drop in stock prices"

If somebody's having a crack at the Iranian nuclear program I hope they know what they're doing. There was a long piece, I think in Flight International, last summer, on the possibilities of stopping the Iranian nuclear weapons program. The consensus was that it would be tricky, as the Iranians had split their uranium enrichment program down into hundreds of small centrifuges, widely dispersed and so difficult to target.

More at Al-Jazeerah, with news of a possible Iranian alliance with Syria.

Iran and Syria - both locked in rows with the US – have said they are to form a common front to face challenges and threats.


Iranian Vice-President Muhammad Reza Aref said in Tehran after meeting Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Utari on Wednesday that both countries were ready to help "on all grounds to confront threats".

Al-Utari told reporters: "This meeting, which takes place at this sensitive time, is important, especially because Syria and Iran face several challenges and it is necessary to build a common front".

The announcement came barely minutes after an unknown aircraft fired a missile on Wednesday in a deserted area near the southern city of Dailam in the province of Bushehr where Iran has a nuclear power plant, Iranian state television said.

"A powerful explosion was heard this morning on the outskirts of Dailam in the Bushehr province. Witnesses said that the missile was fired from an unknown plane 20km from the city," Iran's Arabic language al-Alam said.


UPDATE - panic over ?

"TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian state television reported Wednesday that an explosion near the town of Deilam, about 60 miles from a nuclear facility, may have been caused by a fuel tank dropping from an Iranian plane.

The state-run television provided few details but said local officials had told it that may have been the cause of the unidentified explosion.

An Iran's Interior Ministry said Wednesday he could not confirm earlier television reports there had been an explosion in the area nor confirm anti-aircraft fire in the region, which is about 60 miles north of the Bushehr nuclear facility."