Free Republic

Canada is "deeply skeptical" about Iran's intentions, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said on Sunday. "Every diplomatic [effort] should be taken to ensure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon," Baird said. He added that effective sanctions brought the Iranian regime to its more moderate front, and led to the interim deal signed in Geneva. Canada will therefore continue to impose its sanctions on the Islamic Republic in full force, Baird said. "A nuclear Iran is not just a threat to Canada or its allies but it would also seriously damage the integrity of decades of work for nuclear...

Damascus media hails ‘historic agreement’ Damascus welcomed the international community’s nuclear deal with Iran as a “historic agreement,” Syrian state media said Sunday Iran agreed with the US and five other world powers to a temporary freeze of its nuclear program for six months in exchange for limited and gradual sanctions relief. Iran is a chief backer of President Bashar Assad’s government. Opposition activists fear the deal will take international pressure off of Iran and embolden Syria’s government to use an even harder hand in the country’s three year old civil war.

President Obama’s car came to a halt in Israel yesterday, reportedly because it had been filled with the wrong kind of gas. “This is a metaphor for his Middle East policy—he’s been running on the wrong kind of fuel,” said Heritage expert James Phillips. The Obama Doctrine—the President’s approach to foreign policy—has been one of talks, sanctions, and seeking international agreements. But his tactics have led to some sorry outcomes. As Heritage’s Luke Coffey put it, “After almost four years of his presidency, not only is America’s standing in the world weaker; the world is also more dangerous than before.”...