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Iran has thrown up new roadblocks to reaching a deal with the P5+1 world powers over its illicit nuclear program. Three days of negotiations in the fourth round of Geneva discussions ended Friday in arguments and confrontations when the Iranian team presented their country’s new “red lines,” diminishing any hope by the Obama administration to claim victory in its approach to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, according to reports from Iran. Hossein Shariatmadari, a former torturer and now managing editor of the conservative newspaper Keyhan, the mouthpiece of the country’s supreme leader, in an Op-Ed published Saturday revealed details of the Geneva...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry provided Russia with a stern warning Thursday evening — start complying with the de-escalation agreement brokered last week in Geneva, or face the wrath of new U.S. sanctions. Kerry delivered a terse statement from the State Department's briefing room late Thursday, during which he blasted Russia for not taking a "single step in the right direction" toward de-escalation. He criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for what he called outlandish claims that the Internet is a "CIA plot."

The United States' government said on Monday it will decide "in days" on additional sanctions if Russia does not take steps to implement an agreement to ease tensions in Ukraine reached in Geneva last week. The steps include publicly calling on pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to vacate occupied buildings and checkpoints, accept an amnesty and address their grievances politically, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "If they don't take steps in the coming days, there'll be consequences," she said at a Monday news briefing. "Obviously, we would have to make a decision in the matter of - in a...

Josh Rogin gets this bombshell from two of the Senators in the closed-door meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry, who briefed them and thirteen other members of Congress on progress in Syria. In short, it doesn’t exist. The chemical-weapons inspection regime set up by Russia to protect Bashar al-Assad is nothing short of a joke, and the peace talks are going exactly where everyone else knew they would … nowhere. Kerry told his former colleagues that he has lost faith in Obama’s policies, and now the US must intervene to stop Syria from being taken over by radical Sunni...

Syria Crisis: Geneva Peace Talks End In Recriminations The Syrian government and opposition have traded insults after a week-long peace conference in Geneva ended with no firm agreement. Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the opposition were immature, while the opposition's Louay Safi said the regime had no desire to stop the bloodshed. However, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said he had seen some "common ground", and scheduled more talks for 10 February.

Barack Obama's inexplicable and increasingly dangerous tilt toward Iran is getting harder to hide. Whether his administration is consciously shifting policy or simply making ad hoc, unrelated (even incoherent) decisions is unclear. But the cumulative effect is indisputable — a declining America in the Middle East inevitably means a stronger Iran, portending grave risks for Washington and its appalled friends and allies. The first (and still the most significant and most damaging) shift toward Iran was last November's Geneva agreement regarding Tehran's nuclear weapons program. This deal, technically still not yet operational (and with specific provisions still being hammered out),...

Momentum appears to be building for a breakthrough deal on Iran's nuclear program, with top diplomats flocking to the site of ongoing talks and one Western official saying Friday a deal could be reached "as soon as tonight." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary William Hague will both be in Geneva on Saturday.

Secretary of State John Kerry travels to Geneva Friday to join Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who arrived in Geneva Friday for an effort to end the standoff in the talks between the six major powers and Iran on an interim accord for Iran’s nuclear program. Both will try and narrow the differences between the parties and bring them closer to an agreement. While in the Swiss city, Lavrov also plans to meet the UN special envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi and US diplomats Monday to work on preparations for an international peace conference on Syria.

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...

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “in a state of shocked disbelief” at the deal apparently taking shape in Geneva over Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli television news reports said Friday night. Netanyahu, the reports on Israel’s Channel 10 and Channel 2 news said, had “an unprecedented confrontation” with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Tel Aviv on Friday morning over the possible deal, which he publicly described as “a very, very bad deal” and which he implored Kerry “not to rush to sign” and to “reconsider.” The Netanyahu government is “in a crisis of faith” with the Obama administration...

Senator Ted Cruz says that the proposed U.S.-Iran deal is "dangerous for America." He made the comments in a prepared statement sent out today by his Senate office. Ted Cruz “If the reports are correct, this is a terrible deal, and it is dangerous for America. The prospect of Iran acquiring nuclear weapon capacity is the gravest national security threat we face, yet it appears that this 'deal' does not require Iran to dismantle even a single centrifuge or turn over even a single pound of enriched uranium. To lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for an amorphous promise...

Israel announced early Thursday, Nov. 7, that it is utterly opposed to the new proposal for Iran’s nuclear program which the United States plans to put before the two-day Geneva conference beginning later today. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, when he met US Secretary of State John Kerry in Jerusalem Wednesday night, bitterly accused the Obama administration of yielding to the Russian-backed Iranian position. Should Tehran renege on the deal, the US proposal leaves it with the capacity for enriching enough weapons-grade uranium in 10 days to build several nuclear weapons. This US proposal calls for Iran to halt enrichment of...

Israel remains defiant and outraged over talks between the international community and Iran over its nuclear program – talks that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls the ‘deal of the century’ for Tehran. The U.S. has confirmed that some sanctions relief was being offered in return for “concrete, verifiable measures” on Iran’s uranium enrichment program. However, Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that no deal with Iran had been reached.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the United States to reject a deal which, according to reports, would ease sanctions on Iran if it limits uranium enrichment to 3.5 percent purity. Netanyahu said Israel “utterly rejects” the deal and is not obliged to abide by it. “Israel is not obliged by this agreement and will do everything it needs to defend itself, to defend the security of its people,” he said prior to a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry announced last minute that he would fly to Geneva from Israel, where he is attempting to salvage...

I met Secretary Kerry right before he leaves to Geneva. I reminded him that he said that no deal is better than a bad deal. And the deal that is being discussed in Geneva right now is a bad deal. It’s a very bad deal. Iran is not required to take apart even one centrifuge. But the international community is relieving sanctions on Iran for the first time after many years. Iran gets everything that it wanted at this stage and pays nothing. And this is when Iran is under severe pressure. I urge Secretary Kerry not to rush to...

A very unusual statement from the Israel prime minister on the eve of a possible nuclear detail between the U.S. and Iran:"I met Secretary Kerry right before he leaves to Geneva," said Netanyhau. "I reminded him that he said that no deal is better than a bad deal. That the deal that is being discussed in Geneva right now is a bad deal. It’s a very bad deal. Iran is not required to take apart even one centrifuge. But the international community is relieving sanctions on Iran for the first time after many years. Iran gets everything that it wanted...

“I met Secretary Kerry right before he [left] to Geneva. I reminded him that he said that no deal is better than a bad deal. And the deal that is being discussed in Geneva right now is a bad deal. Iran is not required to take apart even one centrifuge. But the international community is relieving sanctions on Iran for the first time after many years,” he said. “Iran gets everything that it wanted at this stage and pays nothing. And this is when Iran is under severe pressure. I urge Secretary Kerry not to rush to sign, to wait,...

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...

Iran agreed to allow UN access to a new nuclear plant at talks with international powers which included its highest level encounter with the United States in three decades, officials said. Representatives of the Western powers, which have threatened new sanctions over what they suspect is a bomb-making programme, expressed cautious optimism over the Geneva negotiations. The two sides agreed to meet again this month, officials said. But in Washington US President Barack Obama called on Iran to take "constructive" steps after the talks and warned that Washington was ready to up pressure if Tehran used delay tactics. Iran's Foreign...