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DUBAI/BEIRUT - The leader of Friday prayers in Tehran hailed a framework nuclear deal reached by Iran and world powers, a sign that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other hardliners will back the accord. Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani, a 78-year old hardline cleric, gave the weekly sermon at Tehran University -- a duty that rotates around senior members of Iran's conservative clerical establishment. "The negotiating team is firm, wise and calm," Emami-Kashani said, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). "The Supreme Leader supports these representatives," he added. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani initiated the talks with the United States,...

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has received a rapturous reception from crowds in Tehran, after negotiating a preliminary nuclear deal that paves for the way for an end to years of crippling sanctions. In return Iran must curb, though not abandon, its nuclear activities. Zarif, just back from marathon talks in Switzerland, stressed that point at a news conference on arrival. “The nuclear programme will continue,” he said. Zarif stressed that under a final deal, due to be struck between Iran and six world powers by June 30, if any decision is made to reimpose sanctions, Tehran will be...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to deliver a statement later in the afternoon on Friday. Israel's security cabinet is united in its opposition to the framework deal reached between world powers and Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement issued following a special meeting said on Friday. Netanyahu, who earlier spoke by phone with US President Barack Obama, saying that he was "vehemently opposed" to the agreement, was shortly expected to deliver a statement. Obama called Netanyahu within hours of the deal being struck, saying it represented significant progress toward a lasting solution that cuts off...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barak Obama had a difficult phone conversation on Thursday night, hours after the announcement that a framework nuclear agreement was reached between the six world powers and Iran. According to the Prime Minister's Office, Netanyahu reiterated during the conversation that "a deal based on this framework will threaten Israel's existence." In the conversation, Netanyahu expressed staunch opposition on Israel's part to the framework deal, describing it as posing a "grave danger to Israel, the region and the world." The prime minister told Obama that only this week an Iranian general said that "Israel's destruction...

Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk on Thursday slammed President Barack Obama's announcement of a framework nuclear agreement with Iran, contending it will lead to a "total meltdown" in U.S. relations with Middle Eastern allies. Kirk, a former Navy Reserve intelligence officer, is among the strongest supporters of using economic sanctions against Iran in an effort to force the country to divest any efforts to gain access to nuclear weapons. Under the conditions of the framework reached between the U.S., five other world powers and Iran, United Nations sanctions that have threatened Iran's economy would be lifted. "It looks like they...

WASHINGTON, DC - House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement in response to the president’s remarks on the Iran nuclear talks: “The president says negotiators have cleared the basic threshold needed to continue talks, but the parameters for a final deal represent an alarming departure from the White House’s initial goals. My longtime concerns about the parameters of this potential agreement remain, but my immediate concern is the administration signaling it will provide near-term sanctions relief. Congress must be allowed to fully review the details of any agreement before any sanctions are lifted. “After visiting with our partners...

Israeli officials once again begin talking about "military option." The smiles that accompanied the announcement Thursday of parameters for an Iranian nuclear agreement in Lausanne between the world powers and Iran are detached from reality, International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz said in Jerusalem's initial reaction to the developments. The reality, Steinitz said, is that Iran refused to make any concession on the nuclear issue and continues to threaten Israel and all other countries in the Middle East. Even before the press conference in Lausanne where the announcement was made, the Prime Minister's Office posted the following message on twitter: “Any...

http://www.ketv.com/politics/live-obama-on-iran-nuclear-talks/21863310

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Federal authorities have arrested two women who were allegedly planning to detonate a bomb in the New York City area after being radicalized by Islamic extremists, according to ABC News. Authorities say the public was never in danger, as it was all part of a lengthy undercover FBI operation. The women were allegedly looking to build an improvised explosive device, but it's unclear how far along their plan had reached. The women -- 27-year-old Noelle Velentzas and 31-year-old Asia Siddiqui, roommates in Jamaica, Queens -- were arrested earlier Thursday in New York, and authorities are convinced...

The State Department has cancelled daily press briefings in Washington, D.C. three days in a row as John Kerry continues to try to strike a nuclear deal with Iran.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and a delegation of senior lawmakers have completed a visit to Israel, where they stressed the common bonds between the United States and Israel and the common threats the two countries face. The delegation began the day with a tour of Hamas terror tunnels on the Gaza border with Gen. Sami Turgeman, commander of the IDF Southern Command. After a working lunch with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lawmakers met with U.S. Ambassador Daniel Shapiro and Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon. Similar to the delegation’s visits to Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, discussions...

As Iran and the P5+1 world powers struggle to eke out a deal on Tehran's nuclear program in Switzerland, Israel says it will do everything possible to prevent a nuclear Iran. Speaking on public radio Thursday, Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said that all options were on the table in the face of the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. This, he added, includes military action. Iran has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction. Most recently on Tuesday, senior Iranian military official, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, said "Israel's destruction is non-negotiable" and that the Jewish state should be "wiped of the...

In an exclusive interview, the House speaker offers a blistering critique of U.S. policy in the Mideast. JERUSALEM — John Boehner thinks the “world is on fire.” And America isn’t doing nearly enough to stamp it out. “I wouldn’t have believed that I would be involved in as much foreign policy as I am today,” Boehner said in his hotel near Jerusalem’s Old City. “And it certainly isn’t by choice. It’s just that the world is on fire. And I don’t think enough Americans or enough people in the administration understand how serious the problems that we’re facing in the...

Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, was among the nine-member Congressional delegation meeting with Netanyahu to discuss Iran's nuclear agenda and terrorist threats. The meeting comes just weeks after Netanyahu addressed Congress to warn them about Iran's threats against the Jewish nation. Roby, who serves on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, said the visit was designed to enforce the relationship with Israel, a country she described as a "close friend and ally" and a "critical foothold for democracy in a dangerous region that is, frankly, becoming less and less stable." "We had a long, productive discussion with...

Cont to make progress; have not reached a pol understanding. @JohnKerry will remain in Lausanne until at least Thurs AM to cont negotiations

In a move that stunned the hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, liberal former Vermont governor Howard Dean agreed that the U.S. should now walk away from the nuclear negotiation table with Iran. Talks in Lausanne, Switzerland over the Islamic theocracy’s nuclear program extended past Tuesday night’s deadline, with negotiators stuck on what to do with the uranium already enriched and the time it would take for Iran to convert an approved nuclear energy program into one capable of producing weapons. While these details remain unresolved, Iranian negotiators are still demanding an immediate end to international sanctions on their country. “I...

The following sentence appeared in an early Wednesday Reuters update on the current state of the talks over Iran's nuclear program: "Negotiators have a tentative agreement on the rough outline of a possible public statement on the progress they have made so far that would also highlight areas of disagreement, diplomats close to the talks said."

Statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed US House Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh) to his Jerusalem office on Wednesday. The two men exchanged pleasantries, with Netanyahu reaffirming his view that “Israel has no better friend than the United States and the United States has no better friend than Israel.” Boehner congratulated the premier on his re-election before the two men adjourned for lunch.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday excoriated world powers over their dogged pursuit of a nuclear deal with Iran, pointing to recent statements by officials in Tehran — notably their calls to eliminate Israel — as evidence of the Islamic Republic’s unwillingness to compromise and seek peace in the region. Yesterday an Iranian general brazenly declared, and I quote, ‘Israel’s destruction is nonnegotiable,'” Netanyahu said, referring to a statement by Mohammad Reza Naqd, the commander of the Basij militia of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. “But evidently, giving Iran’s murderous regime a clear path to the bomb is negotiable,” he said. “This...