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Iranians have welcomed the long-anticipated but often-delayed nuclear deal warmly with hopes that it could lead to an end to the country’s international isolation and an improvement in economic fortunes. Iranians have been told that a nuclear deal would be a sign of national strength and would lead to an increase in Iran’s standing in the world. […] While details of the deal are not yet clear, Iran is already declaring this as a victory for what it calls its policy of resistance and a sign of its rising strength. Veteran Iranian diplomat Sadegh Kharrazi told state TV on Tuesday:...

Iran, the United States and other world powers struck a historic deal Tuesday to curb Iranian nuclear programs and ease fears of a nuclear-armed Iran threatening the volatile Middle East. In exchange, Iran will get billions of dollars in relief from crushing international sanctions. The accord, reached after long, fractious negotiations, marks a dramatic break from decades of animosity between the United States and Iran, countries that have labeled each other the "leading state sponsor of terrorism" and "the Great Satan." "This deal offers an opportunity to move in a new direction," President Barack Obama declared at the White House...

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday criticized Israel’s opposition to the nuclear deal agreed upon by six world powers and Iran, Reuters reported. According to the report, Steinmeier said the agreement would help contribute to security in the Middle East. “This is a responsible deal and Israel should also take a closer look at it and not criticize the agreement in a very coarse way,” he was quoted as having told German broadcaster ARD. …

The United States may have just lost its best leverage to secure the release of four citizens held in Iran. Monday’s nuclear agreement with Iran includes no provisions for the release of three Americans known to be detained in Iran and a fourth thought to be held captive by the Islamic Republic. […] Secretary of State John Kerry, who led the U.S. side of negotiations for the deal, did address the plight of former Marine Amir Hekmati, Washington Post Iran Bureau Chief Jason Rezaian, Christian pastor Saeed Abedini and ex-FBI Agent Robert Levinson during his press conference announcing the nuke...

“I don't want to just end the war, but I want to end the mindset that got us into war in the first place.” That was Senator Barack Obama, speaking about Iraq in a 2008 primary debate. For a candidate who had seen his own campaign surge on the strength of his opposition to the Iraq war, it was a near-perfect distillation of the change he hoped to bring to America’s foreign policy discussion, long dominated by hawkish views that were shattering against the bloody reality of Iraq’s civil war. During the 2008 campaign, Obama started—and won—a hugely significant debate...

A tourist was forced to her knees at knifepoint at Rome's Colosseum in a terrifying attack that recalled an ISIS-style execution.Hundreds of horrified visitors to the Italian landmark looked on as the attacker held a kitchen knife to the neck of a 26-year-old woman and yelled 'Allah is great' and 'It is God that sends me'.The man held Chiara Frisco hostage for several minutes as he yelled religious fanaticism at the crowd with police powerless to act.One witness said: 'It seemed like a scene from ISIS. 'He made the girl get down on her knees like you see in the...

GWEN IFILL: We return to the news that dominated today, the nuclear deal with Iran. A short while ago, I spoke with Susan Rice, the president’s national security adviser. Ambassador Rice, thank you for joining us. One of our leading allies, Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, today called this deal an historic mistake. Why is he wrong? SUSAN RICE, National Security Advisor: Well, he’s wrong, Gwen, because this is actually a very strong deal that, when implemented, will cut off all of Iran’s potential pathways to a nuclear weapon in a fully verifiable fashion. We will have very intrusive...

Iranian and many world leaders alike are celebrating the deal reached Tuesday over Tehran’s nuclear program as a successful diplomatic effort—as are their respective negotiating teams, whose seemingly never-ending talks have finally come to an end. But the approach by those advocating a deal—which by Obama’s own admission would at best delay Iran achieving nuclear weapons capability by a decade—is the result of a lack of appreciation for the ideology which lies behind the Islamic Republic’s policies, and particularly its increasingly aggressive foreign policy, according to an expert in Islamist ideology. […] In Khomeiniest Shia Islamist ideology—strictly followed by Iran’s...

Israel’s leader says Western powers are “caving” into Iran even as the Islamic Republic keeps railing against them. Responding to the Iranian supreme leader’s call to continue the struggle against the United States regardless of the outcome of nuclear talks, Benjamin Netanyahu says Sunday his country will not accept such a reality. …

A deal has been reached between the world powers and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program after a series of major American concessions, Ehud Yaari, the Middle East affairs commentator for Israel’s Channel 2 television, said Friday night. “It is done. It is done,” he said, and will be signed “early next week.” The aim of the agreement is to put a negotiated end to a 13-year standoff with Iran over its suspect nuclear program and to block its pathway to developing a nuclear bomb in exchange for lifting biting global sanctions. Israel’s leadership has relentlessly opposed the emerging agreement,...

Britain's largest bank has fired six of its employees for taking part in a video showing a mock Islamic State-style execution. The seven-second clip shows HSBC staff members in balaclavas standing over an Asian colleague dressed in an orange jumpsuit, whose hands are tied behind his back. A coat hanger is used by one the men as a pretend knife. One of them then shouts "Allahu Akbar" — Arabic for "god is greater" – a phrase used by Islamic State militants during executions. The stunt was filmed while the employees were on a corporate team-building exercise and was posted on...

Of course, it is far from what designated terrorist group CAIR cracks it up to be. Mostly graffiti and name-calling…but CAIR would like you to think Muslims are being gunned down in the streets on a regular basis.pKPBS Reports of discrimination against Muslims in California nearly doubled between 2013 and 2014, according to the latest report published by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights and advocacy organization. (Please note that according to FBI official reports, Muslim ‘hate’ crimes against Muslims are about 1/5 of hate crimes against Jews in America: FBI 2013 religious hate crime statistics)As evidenced by...

ISIS has threatened to flood Europe with half a million migrants from Libya in a 'psychological' attack against the West, it was claimed today. Transcripts of telephone intercepts published in Italy claim to provide evidence that ISIS is threatening to send 500,000 migrants simultaneously out to sea in hundreds of boats in a 'psychological weapon' against Europe if there is military intervention against them in Libya. Many would be at risk of drowning with rescue services unable to cope. But authorities fear that if numbers on this scale arrived, European cities could witness riots. Separately, the militants hope to cement...

Oak Lawn post commander tells Tea Party group, "It ain't what we're about," after learning content of "educational seminar." Johnson-Phelps VFW Post 5220 in Oak Lawn, IL.The Johnson-Phelps VFW Post has canceled an event on the dangers of Islam in America that was being hosted by the Southwest Chicago and Suburban Tea Party.The Johnson-Phelps VFW Post, which rents its facilities and rooms to various political groups, including Democrats and Republicans, clubs, community organizations, and veterans groups, said in a statement that it did not know what the event was about when the Tea Party group rented the space.A notice posted...

The mosque in Sandnessjøen starts with call to prayer using outside loudspeakers. It is met with very mixed reactions among the citizens, NRK reports. The Muslim Association in Sandnessjøen begins with outdoors call to prayer in connection with Friday prayers. A loudspeaker will be placed outside the premises of the mosque and the call to prayer will be heard over the entire neighborhood. The municipality has given the permission, but that this will become a weekly fixture in the town center, has created harsh reactions among people in the municipality. - We are not in Mecca - It is unusual...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) has not been shy about his criticism of the Obama administration’s handling of the nuclear negotiations with Iran. Cruz visited MSNBC’s Morning Joe Tuesday to promote his new book A Time For Truth, and he highlighted that Tuesday was the deadline for the nuclear deal that has since been extended to July 9. The negotiations over a nuclear Iran have consumed the past three years and have been continuously extended. “Under this deal, Iran would get a $50 billion signing bonus,” Cruz said. “That money would be used to fund Hamas, to...

The 18-year-old Somali citizen who brutally raped a 12-year-old Swedish girl in Sundsvall last year was sentenced to 180 hours of community service this week.Ida* claims she went home to Mohamud because he had promised to give back intimate pictures that he had of her. The injured party is only 12 years old. She has recounted the incident but did so with a child’s language. Although her story isn’t that extensive it contains some unique details, such as Guled Mohamud several times having stated that “black cock is expensive”– excerpt from court documents Ida’s mother attested that when she saw...

A school in Bavaria has sent a letter home to parents warning them not to let their daughters wear revealing blouses or short skirts, because emergency accommodation for refugees has been set up next to the gym. A week ago emergency accommodation for 200 Syrian refugees was erected right next to the gym of Wilhelm-Diess-Gymnasium in Pocking, Bavaria, Die Welt reports. The gym has been closed as a result, and PE lessons have been relocated to a nearby primary school, but the school is still worried about the refugees interacting with students. So worried in fact that the headteacher recently...

A top commander in southwest Asia reminded U.S military personnel stationed in Muslim countries in the Middle East of the restrictions placed on them during Ramadan. According to a report by the U.S. Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs, Brig. Gen. John Quintas, 380th Air Expeditionary Wing commander in Southwest Asia, said that the U.S. is "committed to the concepts of tolerance, freedom and diversity." But he added that soldiers should "become more informed and appreciative of the traditions and history of the people in this region of the world... [R]emember we are guests here and that the host nation...

Prime Minister Manuel Vallis in a forum with the theme ‘Republic and Islam: Together accept the challenge,’ said “We must help Islam to grow and solidify its position in France.” Ironically, in his address, he emphasized ‘love and secularism,’ which is contradictory to everything Islam stands for.Lalsace (via DVM)  The question of the place of Islam in the republic is “a tough question,” according to the Prime Minister who made a simple observation: “The Republic has only existed for two centuries, Islam for 14 centuries, and secularism for a hundred years. “ “We must bring forth an Islam deeply rooted and established in France,...