Free Republic

News coming out of Geneva and Washington, D.C. tells us of a major breakthrough regarding Iran's nuclear program. According to what we are being told by the Obama administration and the Iranians, a deal has been reached to make sure Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. As can be expected, the Obama administration is touting the agreement, saying it cuts off the most likely paths Iran would take, if it wanted to acquire a nuclear weapon. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told his nation of the agreement on national television, saying the world has recognized Iran's nuclear rights. Israel...

US opposition to an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear program may be softening, a former head of IDF intelligence said Wednesday. “The American stance on an Israeli strike against Iran has changed dramatically recently,” said Amos Yadlin, who served as chief of the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate from 2006 to 2010. “In 2012 the [Americans'] red light was as red as it can get, the brightest red,” Yadlin said in an interview with Army Radio Wednesday morning. “But the music I’m hearing lately from Washington says, ‘If this is truly an overriding Israeli security interest, and you think you want to...

Why is Morsi committing to an investment of billions of dollars when it is embroiled in economic crisis that is fueling unrest in an already explosive political environment? Earlier this week, Egypt announced that it is seeking Russian assistance to revive its nuclear program. Why is the government of Mohamed Morsi committing itself to an investment of billions of dollars when it is embroiled in economic crisis that is fueling unrest in an already explosive political environment? It seems to be a move by the Muslim Brotherhood-led government to solidify the country’s position as a regional power, as well as...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with the Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan and other religious leaders Tuesday, according to an English translation of the Iranian president’s webpage posted Wednesday. In a picture of the Tuesday evening meeting, Farrakhan — known for making brutally (anti-Semitic assertions), and calling President Obama a (“murderer”) for the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi — is seen smiling as he sits at a table with the Iranian president.<-p> According to Ahmadinejad’s webpage, the night before his address to the UN General Assembly, Ahmadinejad, Farrakhan and seven other leaders of “Abrahamic religions” listened to the...

The United States is the only country that can carry out a successful, preventative military strike against Iran's nuclear program, according to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a well-regarded Washington-based think tank. According to the study published in September, only the United States has the capacity to both deliver the explosive payloads needed in the initial strike and effectively carry out follow-up strikes based on continued near-real-time intelligence. "The US would be the only country that has the air power, support capability, and mix of sea‐air forces in the Gulf to continue a sustained...

Reports from American Intelligence are being leaked to the public to put pressure on Israel to keep them from attacking Iran. Israel and Azerbaijan have struck a 1.6 billion dollar drone and defense deal, supposedly giving Israel access to their bases if they attack Iran. This means the Israelis would not have to refuel if they do attack and that is a game changer. Last Thursday, Ambassador John Bolton, being the straight shooter he is, laid it out succinctly on Fox News. He accused this administration of leaking information deliberately to deter Israel from defending herself. He was responding to...

A US federal grand jury has indicted two men, one from Iran and the other from China, on charges of conspiring to send materials from the United States to Iran for the purpose of enriching uranium, the US Justice Department said on Friday. Using a Chinese company as a go-between to avoid trade sanctions, the men tried for three years to obtain US materials, such as high-strength steel, that could be used in an Iranian nuclear program, the department said. Iranian citizen Parviz Khaki was arrested in May in the Philippines, while the other man, Zongcheng Yi of China, remains...

-Excerpt- The IAEA’s findings are not only an indictment of Iran, however. They also reveal the fundamental corruption of Mohamed ElBaradei, the Egyptian diplomat who was the IAEA’s director general from December 1997 to November 2009. While his job was to administer a technocratic agency, ElBaradei repeatedly intervened to distort the inspectors’ findings. Rather than confront the Islamic Republic on its cheating, he coached Iranian officials on their public diplomacy. He also repeatedly ignored mounting evidence of secret Iranian facilities until these were publicly exposed by other means. -excerpt- The IAEA report should also embarrass Thomas Fingar, Vann H. Van...

Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET: The Obama administration is denying any role in the killing of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the U.S. "had absolutely nothing to do" with Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan's death and the U.S. condemns "all acts of violence, including acts of violence like what is being reported today." Published at 9:46 am ET: Two assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the car of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility, killing him and wounding two people on Wednesday, a semiofficial...

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's nuclear chief on Monday proposed to allow the U.N. nuclear watchdog "full supervision" of its nuclear activities for five years provided that sanctions against Tehran are lifted, but the official did not give details of his offer. The United Nations has imposed four rounds of Security Council sanctions over Tehran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or materials for an atomic bomb. Iran's nuclear program is already subject to routine IAEA inspections. IAEA cameras monitor Iran's nuclear activities. including its contentious uranium enrichment sites. Vice President Fereidoun...

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's president abruptly fired his foreign minister Monday and named the nuclear chief as acting top diplomat, the latest sign of a rift at the top levels of the Islamic theocracy as the country faces intense pressure from the West over its nuclear program. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave no explanation for the change in a brief statement on his website. But the fired diplomat, Manouchehr Mottaki, is seen as close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. And the president may be aiming to install a figure more personally loyal to himself as Tehran resumes critical talks with...

It appears to be just a matter of time before Iran possesses an operational nuclear weapons capability. While the United Nations Security Council recently passed its fourth round of sanctions against Iran, if history is any guide, it is unlikely that this sanctions package will be any more effective than the previous three. Each of these sanctions packages have failed to achieve their stated objective of stopping Iran’s production of nuclear fuel. The options for stopping Iran are dwindling–as is time. There are, in fact, no attractive options for U.S. policymakers. These include: (1) accept a nuclear-armed Iran, (2) continue...

Iran has been able to smuggle advanced technological equipment to its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz via a complex smuggling route based in Dubai, the Sunday Telegraph reported on Sunday. According to the report, an Iranian company has purchased control systems from one of Germany's leading electronic manufacturers. The deal was negotiated with a Dubai trading company, which in turn sold Iran a range of electronic equipment for use at its enrichment facility, the British website reported. The report comes amid growing concerns that though Iran claims its nuclear program has only peaceful aims, Tehran is in fact working toward...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has approved the site for a new enrichment facility Iran plans to build, his top adviser said Monday, the latest step in expanding a nuclear program that the United Nations has demanded Teheran halt. Still, in an apparent attempt to ward off a new UN sanctions, Iran's foreign minister said his country wants to hold further discussions on a nuclear fuel deal that was originally touted as a possible way to ease the standoff but has since hit a dead end. The United States and its allies are trying to rally support for new UN sanctions...

South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak has a special agenda when he attends the nuclear security summit in Washington next Monday and Tuesday. He'll endorse anything United States President Barack Obama proposes while assuring the skeptics that South Korea's nuclear program is all for energy, not for a hidden military purpose. With that goal in mind, South Korea was quick to endorse Obama's nuclear policy statement that specifically excludes Iran and North Korea from non-nuclear nations the U.S. would never attack with nukes. Those two miscreants, the White House explained, are "not in compliance" with the NPT, referring to the nuclear...

Israel plans to remain ambiguous over its nuclear policy, with US backing, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on Wednesday. "This policy of ambiguity constitutes one of the pillars of Israeli national security and the Americans consider it very important," Ayalon told army radio. "There is no reason for the Americans to change their approach or for Israel to change its position," he said. For the past four decades, Israeli governments have insisted the Jewish state will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East. "This policy will continue and no pressure from any country will...

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Bolstered by other world powers, U.S. President Barack Obama demanded on Friday that Iran come clean about its nuclear program or face "sanctions that have bite" after the disclosure of a secret uranium enrichment plant. Issuing a stern warning to Iran at the end of a Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, Obama pointedly declined to rule out the military option in dealing with the bitter standoff with Tehran but insisted he preferred to resolve it diplomatically. Obama stood earlier in the day with the leaders of Britain and France in accusing Iran of working in secret...

SNIPPET: "State Department spokesman says Obama administration wants to discuss concerns over Damascus' possible nuclear program, support for terror groups, adding 'there remain key differences between our two governments'" SNIPPET: "The US government has asked for a meeting with Syria's ambassador to discuss concerns including Damascus' possible nuclear program and support for groups that Washington labels as terrorists, a State Department spokesman said on Friday. The request follows a report by UN inspectors on Thursday that graphite and more uranium traces were found in samples taken from a Syrian site that Washington says was an almost built graphite nuclear reactor...

The Dutch intelligence service, the AIVD, has called off an operation aimed at infiltrating and sabotaging Iran's weapons industry due to an assessment that a US attack on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program is imminent, according to a report in the country's De Telegraaf newspaper on Friday. The report claimed that the Dutch operation had been "extremely successful," and had been stopped because the US military was planning to hit targets that were "connected with the Dutch espionage action." The impending air-strike on Iran was to be carried out by unmanned aircraft "within weeks," the report claimed, quoting "well placed"...

Ayatollah Khomeini's heirs are breathing new life into the Islamic revolution in the hope of transforming Iran into a regional power. The Iranian revolution can only point to a single achievement in the Arab world: Hizbullah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah are keeping revolutionary fervor alive in Lebanon. This base of exported revolution is central to Iran's political-diplomatic efforts to achieve a higher status in the region and in the world. Two additional foundations of Iranian power must be added: * The Iranian nuclear program, complete with delivery systems capable of reaching targets in the Middle East and Europe. *...