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Tehran would be allowed to maintain Fordo facility, as long as it allows inspection and doesn’t pursue an atomic bomb. LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The United States is considering letting Tehran run hundreds of centrifuges at a once-secret, fortified underground bunker in exchange for limits on centrifuge work and research and development at other sites, officials have told The Associated Press. The trade-off would allow Iran to run several hundred of the devices at its Fordo facility, although the Iranians would not be allowed to do work that could lead to an atomic bomb and the site would be subject...

The head of the legislature in Russia's Chechnya region says that Russia will provide arms to Mexico if Washington supplies weapons to Ukraine. Chechen Parliament Speaker Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov said the arms would be aimed at reigniting U.S.-Mexican disputes over “territories annexed by the United States in the American states of California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and part of Wyoming.”  “We will perceive arms shipments to Ukraine as a signal to respond in kind,” Abdurakhmanov said in a March 24 statement posted on the Chechen parliament’s website. Abdurakhmanov is a close associate of Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed strongman who...

This is big news. Saudi Arabia and a Sunni coalition (UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait) has now begun bombing Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen: AL ARABIYA – Warplanes of the Royal Saudi Air Force bombed the positions of Yemen’s Houthi militia and destroyed most of their air defenses, Al Arabiya News Channel reported early on Thursday. Arab Gulf states had announced that they have decided to “repel Houthi aggression” in neighboring Yemen, following a request from the country’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. In their joint statement Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait said they “decided to repel Houthi militias, al-Qaeda...

Saudi deploys 100 fighter jets, 150,000 soldiers for anti-Houthi campaign. Also from Al Arabiya: UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan Deploy Warplanes Against HouthisThe UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan have deployed fighter jets to join the Saudi air force in the ongoing air campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Al Arabiya News Chanel reported. The UAE has deployed 30 fighter jets, Bahrain 15, Kuwait 15, Qatar 10 and Jordan 6 warplanes, according to the news channel. Pakistan and Egypt are also taking part in the military campaign, contribution with air and naval forces. Al Arabiya said Egypt, Pakistan and Sudan have...

US officials confirm to @NBCNews that Saudi Arabia has started bombing rebel positions inside #Yemen. NO indication of troops crossing in.

Tehran: In what may intensify the Yemen crisis, Iran has termed Saudi Arabia's military intervention against the Houthi rebels as “dangerous”, reports said Thursday. Saudi Arabia which had earlier warned to act in the wake of continued advance of Houthis, on Wednesday started conducting air strikes against the rebels which it considers as being supported by rival Iran. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies believe the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, are tools for Iran to seize control of Yemen and say they intend to stop the takeover. The Houthis deny they are backed by Iran. Reacting to Saudi strikes,...

A majority of Palestinians say they support rocket attacks on Israel and nearly half favor renewing an armed intifada, according to a new public opinion poll. The poll from the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research released Tuesday found that 68 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza said they support launching rockets from Gaza at Israel if Israel does not lift its Gaza blockade.

Secret intelligence files held by Yemeni security forces and containing details of American intelligence operations in the country have been looted by Iran-backed militia leaders, exposing names of informants and plans for U.S.-backed counter-terrorism operations, U.S. officials say. U.S. intelligence officials believe additional files were handed directly to Iranian advisors by Yemeni officials who have sided with the Houthi militias that seized control of the capital of Sana last September and later toppled the U.S.-backed president. For American intelligence networks in Yemen, the damage has been severe. Until recently, U.S. forces deployed in Yemen had worked closely with President Abdu...

JNS.org – Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip cities of Khan Younis and Rafah took to the streets on Tuesday after Egypt had cut off power to parts of southern Gaza. The protesters vented their anger at Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his government in light of reports that the decision to take parts of those towns off the grid was made by high-ranking officials in Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity and Energy. Egyptian media said the government resorted to that measure as a result of outstanding payments owed by a Palestinian utility company. The Hamas terrorist group’s government in...

The White House has been examining a proposal by James Baker to launch a Middle East peace effort without Israel. The peace effort would begin with a U.S.-organized conference, dubbed Madrid-2, and contain such U.S. adversaries as Iran and Syria. Officials said Madrid-2 would be promoted as a forum to discuss Iraq's future, but actually focus on Arab demands for Israel to withdraw from territories captured in the 1967 war. They said Israel would not be invited to the conference. “As Baker sees this, the conference would provide a unique opportunity for the United States to strike a deal without...

A reference to Palestinians' "right of return" in the report issued by the high-level Iraq Study Group broke a diplomatic taboo which sparked immediate concern in Israel and surprise among Middle East policy experts. The reference was buried deep inside a 160-page report that urged US President George W. Bush to renew efforts to revive Israel-Palestinian peace talks as part of a region-wide bid to end the chaos in Iraq. "This report is worrisome for Israel particularly because, for the first time, it mentions the question of the 'right of return' for the Palestinian refugees of 1948," said a senior...

Leading talk show host and best-selling author Mark Levin assailed Jeb Bush last night over the revelation that one of his top foreign policy advisers, James Baker, will keynote an anti-Israel conference this weekend. The annual conference of the activist group J Street features an array of anti-Israel speakers, including proponents of the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divest (BDS) movement, which seeks Israel’s destruction, and advocates for the terrorist group Hamas. Jeb Bush’s selection of Baker as a foreign policy adviser has sparked concern among conservatives and in the Jewish and pro-Israel communities. Baker is infamous for his hostility to Israel,...

Barack Hussein Obama has acknowledged the 'reality' that there won't be a 'peace agreement' during his term in office, and has decided instead to attempt to force the creation of a 'Palestinian state' through the United Nations. For all of this he blames Binyamin Netanyahu. In a stark assessment of U.S.-Israel relations, Mr. Obama, speaking at a news conference, put a firm end to one of the top foreign-policy goals of his second term: a Middle East peace deal that includes the creation a Palestinian state.“What we can’t do is pretend that there’s a possibility for something that’s not...

Leading figures in Washington's pro-Israel community are calling on the Obama administration to turn down the temperature. ​For years defensive of their support for US President Barack Obama and his White House, Washington's pro-Israel establishment now fears that the train of US-Israel relations is "running off the tracks." Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, their reactions ranged from deep concern to "bewilderment." "The fact that the outcome of a Democratic election in Israel seems to be of great concern" to the Obama administration, said David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, "is cause for deep anxiety and puzzlement." "Whatever...

Analysis: The Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi and Gulf state rulers trust Israel's re-elected prime minister to handle the Iranian issue, and the Americans to pressure him on the Palestinian issue. The Arab world, just like officials in Jerusalem and in the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, is monitoring the steps of the American dance which is casting a shadow on the elections results here. One can definitely say that the roof did not collapse on the Arab leaders' heads when Netanyahu won. The elections here appeared odd, and if there was any attention, it focused on the joint Arab list, and...

A spokeswoman for former Florida governor Jeb Bush says the possible Republican presidential candidate "disagrees" with one of his foreign policy advisers who spoke at a left-wing anti-Israel group this week. James Baker, the former secretary of state and GOP foreign policy veteran, addressed the annual conference for J Street this week. An unpaid adviser to Bush, Baker criticized Benjamin Netanyahu for the Israeli prime minister's "diplomatic missteps and political gamesmanship" and expressed his support for a nuclear deal with Iran. As Politico reported, he also said he disagreed that President Barack Obama has hurt the United States's relationship with...

In a development that has largely been missed by mainstream media, the Pentagon last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel's nuclear capabilities, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent. But in the declassified document from 1987, which can be viewed here, the US reportedly breached the silent agreement to keep quiet on Israel's nuclear powers for the first time ever, detailing the nuclear program in great depth. The timing of the revelation is highly...

A White House spokesman said American efforts in Yemen are a "template that has succeeded," even as President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was forced to flee the country by boat. White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Wednesday said that the U.S. still had Yemeni extremists in its crosshairs. According to media reports, Hadi fled the presidential palace in Yemen as rebels attempted an armed takeover of the city of Aden. Earnest told reporters that U.S. officials were not aware of Hadi's destination but insisted that American officials still had a level of control over the chaotic situation. "We have...

Crashing drones are spilling secrets about U.S. military operations. A surveillance mission was exposed last week when a Predator drone crashed in northwest Syria while spying on the home turf of President Bashar al-Assad. U.S. officials believe the drone was shot down, but they haven’t ruled out mechanical failure. Regardless, the wreckage offered the first hard evidence of a U.S. confrontation with Assad’s forces. The mishap in Syria follows a string of crashes in Yemen, another country where the U.S. military keeps virtually all details of its drone operations classified. Yemeni tribesmen have reported three cases in the past 15...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s most explicit warning of the dangers of a “bad deal” with Iran are not that Iran would immediately get the bomb, but that other countries in the region might accelerate efforts to catch up with Tehran. According to Emily B. Landau of the Institute of National Security Studies, whose expertise lies in nuclear proliferation and armament, all eyes are on Saudi Arabia. Following Iran, “Saudi Arabia is the #1 contender to get nuclear weapons because there is a perceived relationship there with Pakistan. Saudi Arabia has financed Pakistan’s ballistic missile program and there might be some...