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As the US prepares to start talks on an "end state" agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, US President Barack Obama has asked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to "take a breather" from his vocal criticism of the interim deal signed in Geneva, journalist David Ignatius wrote in a column published in The Washington Post on Thursday. Obama and Netanyahu spoke on the phone on Sunday, in a conversation meant to assuage the prime minister's concerns following the signing of the "first stage" deal between Tehran and the P5+1 countries. After weeks of Israeli officials publicly condemning the deal, Netanyahu...

"The prime minister made it clear to the most powerful man on earth that if he intends to stay the most powerful man on earth, it´s important to make a change in American policy because the practical result of his current policy is liable to lead him to the same failure that the Americans absorbed in North Korea and Pakistan, and Iran could be next in line." That was the message conveyed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to President Barack Obama in a private telephone call Sunday to discuss the interim deal on Iran´s nuclear program, according to a...

Secretary of State John Kerry confirms there is a deal on Iran's nuclear program in Geneva.

Secretary of State John Kerry tried Sunday to rally support for a six-month deal to freeze Iran's nuclear program in the face of lukewarm reaction from congressional allies and hostility from critics. -snip- Lawmakers took to the airwaves Sunday morning to question whether the deal would work, with some suggesting that the Obama administration had made a strategic miscalculation. -snip- Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee," expressed skepticism about the deal on "Fox News Sunday," saying "I think we all greet it with skepticism." He said that the arrangement suggested that Iranian...

The ink isn’t even dry on the temporary Iran nuclear deal and it already has that distinct “passed it to find out what’s in it” scent.

WASHINGTON (AP) — On the eve of new talks, President Barack Obama is plunging ahead in search of a nuclear agreement with Iran despite outright opposition from American allies in the Middle East and deep skepticism, if not open hostility, from Congress. Iran is pressing ahead in its own way, trying to make a deal more likely to ease painful economic sanctions without losing its own hardliners at home. There was a fresh sign of efforts to make headway as negotiators from Iran, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany prepared for Wednesday's new round of...

The secretary doesn’t agree with Obama’s team, especially Susan Rice, on how to deal with Egypt. Unfortunately for Rice, Kerry is the one on the ground—and he’s doing things his way. Before Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent trip to Cairo, National Security Adviser Susan Rice told him to make strong statements in public and private about the trial of deposed President Mohamed Morsi. On his own, Kerry decided to disregard the White House’s instructions. The tension between the national security adviser and the secretary of state spilled over into public view in the past week, when Rice laid out...

The Times Of Israel is reporting that a team of negotiators led by White House adviser Valerie Jarrett has been conducting secret talks with Iran about it's nuclear weapons program for the past year. The report states the deal submitted in Geneva earlier this month was a direct result of these secret year-long negotiations between teams headed by Jarrett and Iran's Ali Akbar Salehi. That deal was ultimately rejected when France and Israel raised strong objections,and talks are expected to resume this Wednesday. The White House was very quick to issue a categorical denial of the report. According to White...

Can Rouhani be the new Gorbachev? Hardly. But if it will happen, it can only happen if we help him as we helped Mr. Gorbachev—if, by fidelity to our principles and by steady, determined statesmanship, we help him to eliminate himself, his regime, and the evil they have visited upon their people and set loose in the world around them.

With a fevered and frantic breathless pace, Obama via John Kerry has been pushing to sign a sell-out deal with Iran that would ease sanctions without shutting down Iran’s nuke program. Benjamin Netanyahu was furious when he found out that Kerry had misrepresented what the proposed agreement would be, not to mention Kerry running at the mouth to bash Israel on the talks with the Palestinians. Netanyahu was not alone. France was uncomfortable with the deal Kerry wanted to sign, even as Kerry huddled with the Iranians trying to get ‘er done.(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Thank you France for at least buying us...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will unexpectedly travel to Geneva on Friday afternoon to meet with Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, NBC News reports. Nuclear talks between Iran and the so-called P5+1 nations resumed in Geneva Thursday morning. Word of Kerry's impending arrival is the strongest sign so far of an agreement on a first step toward a comprehensive final deal, according to NBC. Earlier, a senior American official and Zarif both said a deal could be reached Friday. The United States was pressuring Iran to halt its nuclear program in return for a limited and reversible reprieve on...

<p>The Syrian diplomatic and political debacle was bad enough, but last week at the UN President Obama embarked on a campaign for "progress" with Iran that will prove much more dangerous for American interests.</p> <p>Just as Vladimir Putin had played him for a fool over Syria, Barack Obama was initially snubbed by Iranian President Hassan Rowhani despite frantic White House efforts to produce a handshake.</p>

Rice told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that the Iranian delegation approached the Obama administration about a phone call between President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The request came after indicating earlier in the week that a direct meeting at the UN General Assembly would not be possible due to Iran’s internal political reality.

<p>“Wow, this is fantastic,” said Armin Kay, an engineer reacting to the news. “The most important thing is that Obama took the initiative. This will go down really well with our leadership.”</p> <p>It was the first direct conversation between leaders of Iran and the United States since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.</p>

Iran rejected an offer for President Obama to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday at the United Nations, the White House said Tuesday. Iranian diplomats told the U.S. that such a meeting was “too complicated for Iranians to do at this point,” according to a senior administration official. … Suzanne Maloney, an Iran researcher at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, said a meeting posed significant risk for Rouhani, a new leader grappling with the anti-Americanism that remains a core tenant of Iran’s political culture. “I don't think the moment is yet ripe for a handshake or any...

On December 18, 2011, the last convoy of US soldiers pulled out of Iraq, ending nearly nine years of war that left almost 4,500 American troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead. Marking the end of the combat mission in a speech at Fort Bragg (the same location where George W. Bush had declared war in 2003), President Barack Obama emphasized repeatedly that he was fulfilling his 2008 campaign pledge of an Iraq pull-out, while praising the courage of American soldiers and vowing that Iraqi forces were prepared to assume responsibility for their country’s security. “Of course,” he noted,...

Israel wants to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad toppled, its ambassador to the United States said on Tuesday, in a shift from its non-committal public stance on its neighbor's civil war. Even Assad's defeat by al Qaeda-aligned rebels would be preferable to Damascus's current alliance with Israel's arch-foe Iran, Ambassador Michael Oren said in an interview with the Jerusalem Post. His comments marked a move in Israel's public position on Syria's two-and-1/2-year-old war.

JERUSALEM — The threat of US military action against Syria remains "real", Washington's top diplomat said on Sunday a day after striking a deal with Russia to destroy Damascus's chemical weapons stockpile. "The threat of force remains, the threat is real," US Secretary of State John Kerry said at a news conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We cannot have hollow words in the conduct of international affairs." Kerry's remarks were made following a four-hour meeting with Netanyahu at which the two men discussed the US-Russian agreement on eradicating Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons, and also talked...

Maybe Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin really did discuss the idea of putting Syrian chemical weapons under international control last week on the sidelines of the G20 conference. Putin sure doesn’t care that Obama’s taking credit for the proposal, or that the administration is posturing like a Mob enforcer. “The only reason why we are seeing this proposal,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney, “is because of the U.S. threat of military action.” Right, Putin is laughing to himself. Whatever. If Obama wants to sell it like a Christmas miracle on Pennsylvania Avenue that’s fine with Putin, because Putin won....

Cairo: The Arab League will back a Russian plan to place Syrian chemical weapons under international supervision for eventual destruction, its secretary general said on Tuesday. Nabil al-Arabi told reporters in Cairo the League will 'soon issue a statement announcing its support officially' for the Russian plan... "If you remember, I always insisted that (the Syrian conflict) needs a political solution" Arabi said. But they fell short of calling for military strikes as proposed by Washington, with several members opposed to foreign intervention in Syria.