WikiLeaks claims next target is 'big US bank'

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has claimed a fresh "megaleak" will target a major US bank "early next year," according to an interview published Monday.

Speaking to Forbes magazine, Assange said that he was ready to unleash tens of thousands of documents that could "take down a bank or two."

Comparing the documents to the emails that exposed Enron's dealings amid its collapse, the controversial Australian said an existing "big US bank" was the subject of a pending data dump.

Asked about any future leaks, he said: "Yes. We have one related to a bank coming up, that's a megaleak. It's not as big a scale as the Iraq material, but it's either tens or hundreds of thousands of documents depending on how you define it."

The interview was conducted in early November, before Sunday's publication of around a quarter of a million leaked United States embassy cables from WikiLeaks that have caused consternation in Washington and capitals around the world.

Assange said the bank leak would "give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume.

"Usually when you get leaks at this level, it's about one particular case or one particular violation."

Amid the economic crisis a handful of "too big to fail" US banks have come under scrutiny for their dealings, particularly with mortgaged-backed securities that helped fuel the meltdown.

Executives from Goldman Sachs and the now-defunct Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns have been hauled before Congress to explain their bank's actions.

Assange mentioned Goldman Sachs by name in the interview, but did not confirm the Wall Street giant will be the target of the leak.

Goldman has recently agreed a $550 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle fraud charges.

Facing allegations of defrauding investors, the storied investment bank admitted it had made a "mistake" and given "incomplete" information to clients.

Assange said that "about 50 per cent" of the documents that the nonprofit organization holds relate to the corporate world.

Iran's supreme leader has terminal cancer

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has terminal cancer and could be dead "within months," according to a US document released by WikiLeaks and published by Britain's Telegraph newspaper.

The memo, sent from the US consulate in Istanbul, quotes a businessman with close links to Iran's former president Hashemi Rafsanjani as saying that Khamenei had been diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia.

"Khamenei is likely to die within a matter of months," the August 2009 memo revealed by the whistle-blowing website, said.

At the time, Rafsanjani was mounting a campaign against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"As a result, Rafsanjani has stopped campaigning within the Assembly of Experts to challenge Khamenei, and now is focused on 'letting nature take its course'," the memo added.

"Following the Supreme Leader's passing, Rafsanjani will try to mobilize the Assembly of Experts to appoint him as the new Supreme Leader.

"If he is successful...he would then invite Ahmadinejad to resign and call a new election."

Ahmadinejad won a disputed election in June 2009, prompting mass protests on the streets of Tehran.

The demonstrations subsided around the same time that the leaked document said Rafsanjani had decided to change his strategy and "lay low", the Telegraph noted.

The cable revealed that Rafsanjani did not see "opposition leaders calling for any further demonstrations or provocative activities...that might undercut Rafsanjani's efforts to position himself as a future supreme leader."

Hardliner Khamenei holds ultimate power in state affairs and has been a frequent critic of US policy.

Any serious belief that Khamenei was dying would bring about a fundamental shift in diplomatic relations, the Telegraph argued.

Despite frequent rumours of being treated for cancer, the supreme leader was photographed meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri last weekend.

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