Free Republic

Iran indicated Tuesday that it would be willing to accept temporary limits on uranium enrichment as part of a nuclear deal with the U.S. — accepting the same terms that were in President Barack Obama’s deal in 2015. The Trump administration is insisting, at least publicly, on the dismantling of Iran’s enrichment program. The Times of Israel reported: Iran is open to accepting temporary limits on its uranium enrichment, its deputy foreign minister said Tuesday, while adding that talks with the United States have yet to address such specifics. Tehran and Washington held their fourth round of nuclear talks on...

Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) says the Trump administration should drop nuclear negotiations with Iran and finish off the country's nuclear facilities with a military strike. "Waste that s—t," the Pennsylvania Democrat told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview on Wednesday. "You're never going to be able to negotiate with that kind of regime that has been destabilizing the region for decades already, and now we have an incredible window, I believe, to do that, to strike and destroy Iran's nuclear facilities." Fetterman dismissed the foreign policy experts who warn that striking Iran would lead to the outbreak of...

Russia said Thursday that any attacks on its ally Iran would be unacceptable and illegal, warning of irreversible consequences if the U.S. were to bomb the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned President Trump’s threat to bomb Iran if a deal on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program is not reached, reiterating its support for Iran’s program.“The use of military force by Iran’s opponents in the context of the settlement is illegal and unacceptable,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. “Threats from outside to bomb Iran’s nuclear infrastructure facilities will inevitably lead to an irreversible global catastrophe....

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan presented President Biden with options for a potential U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear facilities if the Iranians move towards a nuclear weapon before Jan. 20, in a meeting several weeks ago that remained secret until now, three sources with knowledge of the issue tell Axios. Why it matters: A U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear program during the lame duck period would be an enormous gamble from a president who promised he would not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, but who would also risk handing a fresh conflict over to his successor....

Iran intends to "significantly increase" its production of highly enriched uranium, according to a confidential report released Friday by the UN nuclear watchdog and seen by the AFP news agency. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report noted that updates to the design of Iran's Fordow facility would "significantly increase the rate of production of uranium enriched up to 60 percent." The new production rate is expected to exceed 34 kilograms of highly enriched uranium per month, a substantial jump from the previous rate of 4.7 kilograms. In its report, the IAEA urged Iran to allow inspections "as a matter...

Tehran is technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but has yet to decide whether to build it, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told Al Jazeera's Arabic service on Sunday. Tehran will also directly respond against Israel should its security be targeted, the report says citing the advisor. "In a few days we were able to enrich uranium up to 60% and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium ... Iran has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one," Kamal Kharrazi said.

VIENNA - The United Nations’ atomic watchdog hasn’t been able to access data important to monitoring Iran’s nuclear program since late February when the Islamic Republic started restricting international inspections of its facilities, the agency said Monday. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported in a confidential document distributed to member countries and seen by The Associated Press that it has “not had access to the data from its online enrichment monitors and electronic seals, or had access to the measurement recordings registered by its installed measurement devices” since Feb. 23. While the IAEA and Iran earlier acknowledged the restrictions limited...

Joe Biden has become the 46th president of the United States. He will face many challenges on the global stage. The Middle East, for one, can be counted on to provide multiple crises and opportunities for America. Below, we examine the most significant of them. In the past six months four Arab-Muslim majority states normalized relations with the Jewish state. They proceeded to establish diplomatic and commercial relations with Israel; they include Bahrain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sudan, and Morocco. The question now is whether the Biden administration will continue this trend, and extend peace between Israel and additional...

Bush Aides Gave One-Sided View of Iraqi Data -- NYT October 2, 2004 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bush administration officials, in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, gave a one-sided view of the case for believing Saddam Hussein had a nuclear arms program that ignored the doubts of their own experts, the New York Times said on Saturday. The newspaper made the charge in an article about thousands of high-strength aluminum tubes ordered by Iraq that leading administration officials said were intended for use in uranium centrifuges. "As the only physical evidence the United States could brandish of (Saddam's) revived...

In a news conference broadcast live, senior Iranian officials said Tehran, which has denied seeking nuclear arms, would keep reducing its commitments every 60 days unless signatories of the pact moved to protect it from U.S. sanctions. “Iran has violated its solemn promise under the U.N. Security Council not to enrich uranium beyond a certain level,” he said. “I call on my friends, the heads of France, Britain and Germany — you signed this deal and you said that as soon as they take this step, severe sanctions will be imposed — that was the Security Council resolution. Where are...

US President Donald Trump warned Iran on Wednesday, after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani issued an ultimatum to the remaining signatories of the Iran nuclear deal that he would end all limitations on uranium enrichment if its demands are not met. "Iran has just issued a New Warning. Rouhani says that they will Enrich Uranium to 'any amount we want' if there is no new Nuclear Deal. Be careful with the threats, Iran. They can come back to bite you like nobody has been bitten before!" ...

Iran quadrupled its uranium-enrichment production capacity amid tensions with the U.S. over Tehran's atomic program, nuclear officials said Monday, just after President Donald Trump and Iran's foreign minister traded threats and taunts on Twitter. Iranian officials made a point to stress that the uranium would be enriched only to the 3.67% limit set under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, making it usable for a power plant but far below what's needed for an atomic weapon. But by increasing production, Iran soon will exceed the stockpile limitations set by the accord. Tehran has set a July 7 deadline for...

71 year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger was attacked while signing fan authographs in Johannesberg, South Africa. The man suddenly ran up and performed a flying kick at the celebrity's back as Schwarzenegger was acting as judge inside a basketball gym at a kids' skip-rope competition. Arnold was able to later walk out and did not require medical treatment.

For the last two years, the media have been complaining that Donald Trump was violating the Constitution's emoluments clause and enriching himself. There has been a series of nuisance lawsuits because heaven forbid people from foreign countries be staying at or playing at Trump properties. There is no indication that Trump is charging anyone extra or handing out favors for them staying there, but the lawsuits and garbage stories go on. Under those rules, no one who owns businesses that have any foreign customers need apply for the presidency. That way, only career politicians can win. Now the Washington Post...

Kenosha, WISCONSIN: At about 3:00 PM Thursday, Kenosha Sheriff, Police, and Fire Department personnel responded to a residence in the 10900 block of 66 Street for a report of two people shot.Officers located two victims, a 16 year old female and a 39 year old female, with injuries consistent with gun fire. Officers extracted both females from the residence in an effort to get them medical attention. Despite medical efforts the 16 year-old female died on scene; the 39 year-old female was transported to a local hospital and is in serious, but stable condition.

In 1995, former Iranian president Ali Hashemi Rafsanjani made a little-noticed trip to the neighboring country of Georgia. He spent several hours in Tbilisi, the capital, and then instead of returning to Iran, he made a secret side trip to the breakaway region of Adjara to visit President Aslan Abashidze. The purpose of the detour was not to visit the balmy, palm-treed tourist sea port resort of Batumi on the Black Sea. His purpose was more sinister. The Iranian president was looking for black market sources of chemicals to enrich uranium for building a nuclear bomb. He found a willing...

North Korea has agreed to hand over a list of its still-unknown uranium and plutonium enrichment facilities inside the country, as its leader Kim Jong-un promised to dismantle all of its such facilities, not just the regime’s well-known Yongbyon site, a top U.S. nuclear envoy said, early Friday (KST). Stephen Biegun, the special representative for North Korea, said in a speech at Stanford University in California, that the North has “committed to the dismantlement and destruction” of all its uranium and plutonium enrichment facilities both to U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and to leaders in Seoul. The Korea Times...

Play button NOT active, screen capture only:300-400 teens watching basketball game in Memphis get into yuge brawl over whatever, fight with cops. Video shows the chaotic melee. Fight moves outside, more yutes try to drive over intervening cops. Twenty arrested, media turns white into black, flatly charging the cops with starting it all, being at fault. Urban parent interviewed, states that, meh, it was just kids blowing off some steam: "They got they [sic] sticks out..! Dey wuz sprayin' dat mace..!" Nutshell: The usual cultural enrichment

Two teeangers in the city of Pontaic, 15 miles Northwest of Detroit, MI robbed a disabled man of his cellphone. When the victim objected, the pair used his stolen cellphone to record themselves subjecting the defenseless victim to a vicious beating. Lying in the concrete stairwell of an apartment complex, the two attackers repeatedly showered the victim with the "n" word as they laughed and filmed. The pair then uploaded a video of the beating to the Facebook page of the victim, thereby showing it to all his Facebook contacts. They also uploaded the same beating video to their own...

Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute (GAI), explained how former FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller leveraged their government positions for self-enrichment. He joined his colleague Seamus Bruner, a GAI researcher, to discuss the latter’s forthcoming book, Compromised: How Money and Politics Drive FBI Corruption, in a Friday interview with Sean Hannity. Hannity opened the interview with questions: “How is it all of these politicians have become filthy rich? They’re supposed to be public servants. Where does the money come from? What are the conflicts of interest?” Hannity drew from Bruner’s new book, “James Comey’s net worth...