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In open defiance of recent US sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile program, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan on late Tuesday told local media that Tehran will soon be rolling out an upgrade of its nuclear-capable medium-range Emad missiles. The "next generation of Emad with improved precision" will be unveiled in the next Iranian year which starts on March 20, Dehghan said as cited by the semi-official Fars News Agency. Emad is said to have a 1,700 kilometer range, putting Israel and much of eastern Europe squarely in its sights. [...] In light of an Iranian Emad test on October 10,...

resident Obama called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or the so-called nuclear deal with Iran a "victory" for U.S. and international security.  Indeed, the actual text says that "full implementation…will positively contribute to regional and international peace."  Iran has since deployed its military assets to Syria, built up forces along Israel's border, twice test-fired a ballistic missile, and even unilaterally amended the agreement to loosen its own compliance requirements. The United States can expect more of this provocative behavior because a hesitant, Iran-friendly executive branch has shown little interest in exercising its self-declared authority to reinstitute sanctions.  Walk light...

DAVOS, Switzerland (CNN) -- Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged to CNBC Thursday that some of the money Iran received in sanctions relief would go to groups considered terrorists. When asked about whether some the $150 billion in sanctions relief to Iran would go to terrorist groups, Kerry reiterated that, after settling debts, Iran would receive closer to $55 billion. He conceded some of that could go to groups considered terrorists, saying there was nothing the U.S. could do to prevent that. "I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities,...

The U.N. nuclear agency certified Saturday that Iran has met all of its commitments under last summer's landmark nuclear deal, crowning years of U.S.-led efforts to crimp Iran's ability to make atomic weapons. For Iran, the move lifts Western economic sanctions that have been in place for years, unlocking access to $100 billion in frozen assets and unleashing new opportunities for its battered economy. "The multinational economic and financial sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program are lifted," Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said in a joint statement also read in Farsi by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad...

"Apocalyptic Islam doesn’t want to simply attack us, it wants to annihilate us,” Rosenberg told me during an interview broadcast on my podcast. “Apocalyptic Muslims like the leaders of Iran and the leaders of the Islamic State believe that we are living in the End Times and that it’s their mission from Allah to bring about the end of the world as we know it.” Rosenberg describes Apocalyptic Islam as a subset of Radical Islam. “We’re not talking about 1.6 billion Muslims,” he said. “We’re talking about ten percent or less who are radicals.” But ten percent of 1.6 billion...

<p>Iran removed the core of its plutonium reactor and filled it with concrete Monday, paving the way for economic and financial sanctions to be lifted soon.</p> <p>The work that effectively rendered the reactor at Arak harmless was the last major hurdle for Iran to fulfill its commitments under a landmark deal reached just shy of six months ago in Vienna. The International Atomic Energy Agency must verify that everything was done satisfactorily before U.S. and international sanctions can be lifted. But that is expected to take days, not weeks.</p>

Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's national security advisor, continues to be apologetic to the Iranian regime and a cheerleader for outreach to the Islamic Republic at any cost. In the aftermath of Iran's seizure and humiliation of ten U.S. sailors, for example, Brzezinski tweeted criticism to the American media for not seeing the episode in a positive light. "The US media has conveniently missed that Iran's release of US sailors is a direct result of the dialogue created by the Iran deal," he wrote. If that's the case, then what explains Iran's holding of multiple American hostages, several of whom...

Analysis: Friday will see the removal of the sanctions regime imposed on Iran since 2007, and Russia is already deep in talks with Tehran on the sale of advanced weapons. Most of the economic sanctions imposed on Iran will be removed on Friday, US State Department officials said, while Russia readies the sale of advanced weapons to the Islamic Republic. January 15 will mark the end of the international sanctions regime, which has been in place since 2007 through a series of decisions by American Presidents George W. Bush and Barak Obama, legislation passed by the US Congress and in...

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran unveiled a new underground missile depot on Tuesday with state television showing Emad precision-guided missiles in store which the United States says can take a nuclear warhead and violate a 2010 U.N. Security Council resolution. The defiant move to publicize Iran's missile program seemed certain to irk the United States as it plans to dismantle nearly all sanctions on Iran under a breakthrough nuclear agreement. Tasnim news agency and state television video said the underground facility, situated in mountains and run by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was inaugurated by the speaker of parliament, Ali Larijani. Release of...

The White House said it pulled back on levying sanctions against Iran for ballistic missile violations because they're just trying to determine when they'd have "maximum impact."A couple dozen Senate Democrats have been heaping pressure on the Obama administration to do something in response to the October and November launches, which run afoul of UN Security Council Resolution 1929.Last week, Iran President Hassan Rouhani ordered his defense department to step up the Islamic Republic's ballistic missile program in response to a report that the Treasury Department was preparing sanctions in response to two illegal missile tests.The Wall Street Journal reported...

If you’re hoping that the New Year ushers in a new, more resolute foreign policy from the Obama White House, you’re out of luck. As the calendar flips to 2016, Obama’s crack team is determined to dither.

This 3 minute video was taken in February 2015 8 months before Obama signed his legacy deal giving power and nuclear capability to his Muslim brothers.

President Obama imagined he could end his second term with an arms-control detente with Iran the way Ronald Reagan did with the Soviet Union. It looks instead that his nuclear deal has inspired Iran toward new military aggression and greater anti-American hostility. The U.S. and United Nations both say Iran is already violating U.N. resolutions that bar Iran from testing ballistic missiles. Iran has conducted two ballistic-missile tests since the nuclear deal was signed in July, most recently in November. The missiles seem capable of delivering nuclear weapons with relatively small design changes. The White House initially downplayed the missile...

Iran did work related to developing nuclear arms in the past, the U.N. atomic agency concluded in a report Wednesday that wraps up a near decade of investigations and opens the way to implementing a landmark deal aimed at reducing any future nuclear threat from Tehran. Iran has consistently denied any interest in nuclear arms or past work on such weapons, and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqhchi told Iranian television that the International Atomic Energy Agency report "confirms the peaceful nature" Iran's nuclear program. But the report contested that view and came down on the side of U.S. allegations,...

The Obama administration's State Department has confirmed that the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by Secretary of State John Kerry on instructions from President Obama is a "political" commitment only. And commentators quickly pointed out that means a future president "could repudiate it any time, without violating either domestic or international law." And they note, so, too, could Iran. The confirmation of the legal status of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the deal with Iran and the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union, comes from Julie Frifield, an assistant secretary for legislative affairs in the...

Nuclear Charade: The Obama administration admits to Congress that its nuclear pact with Iran has not been signed by the Iranian regime and has no legal force. Obama's "tough diplomacy" is puff diplomacy. The White House's latest updated "Strategy for American Innovation" left one innovation out: diplomatic pacts with other countries that don't have to be signed. Maybe President Obama will say that it saves the taxpayers money, since it eliminates signing ceremonies in lavish locales. Going back to when, as a candidate, he expressed a willingness to talk directly with Iran, then through months of negotiations on its nuclear...

The Obama administration began implementing its landmark nuclear agreement with Iran with an eye toward lifting expansive sanctions imposed on Tehran in the past decade. Concerns from opponents of the deal continued to grow, however, as senior administration officials during the weekend played down the importance of a United Nations probe into whether Tehran has attempted to secretly develop the technologies needed to build atomic weapons.The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is committed under the deal to release a report by year-end about the status of Iran’s alleged weaponization work. U.S. officials over the weekend said the...

President Barack Obama ordered the US government on Sunday to take steps towards lifting sanctions on Iran, in line with the nuclear deal struck between world powers and Tehran in July. Obama's directive comes 90 days after the UN Security Council endorsed the Iran accord -- formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- a milestone referred to as "Adoption Day." "I hereby direct you to take all appropriate additional measures to ensure the prompt and effective implementation of the US commitments set forth in the JCPOA, in accordance with US law," Obama said in a memorandum.

The nuclear deal with Iran takes effect on Sunday, setting in motion a series of events that will put President Obama’s diplomatic gamble to the test. Iran is months away from putting in place the limits on its nuclear program that would trigger relief from economic sanctions, and an international inspection regime is only just beginning. Still, Sunday’s "Adoption Day" represents a big moment for the Obama administration; having prevented the deal from dying in Congress, Obama officials must now see whether Iran can deliver. “We are moving now to the implementation stage, and it is essential that we will...

Breaking: Just a few hours ago, Iranian state media released a video from Iranian Revolutionary Guard showing a secret underground missile base. The previously unreleased footage features dozens of long range missiles, capable of striking Israel, locked and loaded onto mobile launch vehicles. In the video, Iranian military leaders are seen walking over replicas of the American and Israeli flags placed on the floor at the entrance of the compound. This bold demonstration of Iranian Military power comes less than 24 hours after the Obama administration was forced to admit