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Iranian negotiators abruptly ended nuclear talks with Western powers in Vienna on Friday just a day after the Obama administration announced tighter sanctions on Tehran. Iran had threatened that new or tighter sanctions would nullify the recently reached Geneva interim deal, which is not yet in effect. The Iranians abruptly “halted” the talks and left Vienna so that they could consult with higher-level officials about how to proceed with talks following the tighter sanctions, which were announced Thursday morning by the U.S. Treasury Department.

(CNSNews.com) – President Obama argued at the weekend that it was unrealistic to envisage an agreement with Iran requiring a complete end to uranium enrichment. But Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu countered that turning up the pressure could deliver “a better deal,” describing the issue as “the paramount challenge of our generation.” snip “If I had an option, if we could create an option in which Iran eliminated every single nut and bolt of their nuclear program, and foreswore the possibility of ever having a nuclear program, and, for that matter, got rid of all its military capabilities, I would...

The White House says that an Iranian ballistic missile test would not invalidate a recently signed nuclear accord meant to temporarily halt some of Iran’s most controversial nuclear work. The White House clarified its stance just days before Iran is scheduled to launch another ballistic missile some 75 miles into the atmosphere. The statement contradicts recent remarks indicating that such a test would in fact violate and nullify the weeks-old agreement, which provides Iran with some $7 billion in relief from economic sanctions in exchange for a partial six-month freeze of its uranium enrichment program.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said yesterday that Iran has built up a terror infrastructure in Central and South America from which to attack Jewish and Israeli targets in the region and as a base for attacking inside the United States. “The Iranians use diplomatic mail in order to transport bombs and weapons,” he said in a meeting with visiting Guatamalan President Otto Fernando Perez Molina, himself a former intelligence chief in his country. “We know that there are states in South America like Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia where the Iranians have terror bases, both in the embassies and...

House lawmakers are lashing out at their Senate counterparts over the upper chamber’s failure to pass tighter Iran sanctions before Congress recesses.With only two weeks left on the legislative calendar, congressional insiders say that a new Iran sanctions measure currently under consideration by the Senate is all but dead in the water.Senate Democratic leaders appear poised to give in to White House demands that no new sanctions be imposed on Iran for the rest of the year and likely through most of 2014.The two key avenues that senators could use to push through new sanctions—the Senate Banking Committee and the...

December 10, 2013, 05:37 pm Kerry: Iran deal likely to allow enrichment By Julian Pecquet Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday said a final nuclear deal with Iran would likely allow that country to enrich uranium in some capacity, a nonstarter for many lawmakers. The Obama administration is seeking to convince Congress to delay new sanctions on Iran, arguing they could derail diplomatic talks. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told Kerry he could assuage the concerns of Congress and Israel by making sure a final deal precludes Iran from enriching uranium on its own soil. “That deal was on the...

Iran is threatening to walk away from nuclear talks if Congress approves new sanctions against Tehran. In an interview with Time, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that “the entire deal is dead” if Congress passes new sanctions, regardless of whether they would only be triggered by the failure of the talks. “We do not like to negotiate under duress,” Zarif said. “And if Congress adopts sanctions, it shows lack of seriousness and lack of a desire to achieve a resolution on the part of the United States.” Lawmakers angry about the six-month deal struck with Iran have said...

As a host of the daytime talk show "The View," Barbara Walters questioned why politicians, including the presidents, swear on a Bible while taking office when there is separation of church and state. "That is very true, but it starts almost with the oath of office which usually ends with 'So help me God,'" Walters said during the talk show, after actress Jane Seymour's remarks over a new political ad by Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas in which he apologizes for backing President Barack Obama's signature health care law, or "Obamacare," and also highlights the importance of the Bible...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed to “forge ahead” with Iran’s nuclear enrichment program over the weekend and announced the upcoming construction of a second nuclear reactor in the province of Bushehr. snip Rouhani praised the Bushehr nuclear plant, which is not covered under the recently unveiled nuclear deal, in separate remarks over the weekend.

Senior officials in the White House have said that Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “is desperate and weak,” in reaction to Netanyahu's remonstrations against the deal struck with Iran over its nuclear weapons program. Israeli television Channel 10 quoted the officials as saying “His pronouncements show a lack of self-confidence,” in an unusually harsh personal attack on Netanyahu. “We are not perturbed by his vocal opposition.” .....

The Washington Free Beacon reports. I have no idea whom to believe. Iran and Western nations including the United States came to an agreement on the framework for an interim deal late Saturday night in Geneva. The deal has yet to be implemented The White House released a multi-page fact sheet containing details of the draft agreement shortly after the deal was announced. However, Iranian foreign ministry official on Tuesday rejected the White House’s version of the deal as “invalid” and accused Washington of releasing a factually inaccurate primer that misleads the American public.

The now infamous ‘open mic’ moment between Barack Obama and then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev captured Obama talking about having “more flexibility” after being re-elected. The comments were made at a nuclear summit in Seoul, South Korea on March 26, 2012. Shortly before asking Medvedev for “flexibility”, Obama was overheard asking his Russian counterpart to relay a message to Vladimir Putin In reporting the incident, The New York Times implied the comment had to do with “…objections in Russia to the American plans for a missile defense system based in Europe.” How about the other portion of the Obama quote,...

Iran, U.S. Set to Establish Joint Chamber of Commerce within Month,” reports Agence-France Presse. Government official Abolfazi Hejazi tells the English-language newspaper Iran Daily that the Islamic Republic will shortly commence direct flights to America. Passenger jets, not ICBMs, one assumes — although, as with everything else, the details have yet to be worked out. Still, the historic U.S.–Iranian rapprochement seems to be galloping along, and any moment now the cultural-exchange program will be announced and you’ll have to book early for the Tehran Ballet’s season at the Kennedy Center (“Death to America” in repertory with “Death to the Great...

Riffing on Hanukkah holiday, prime minister says Israel will be a ‘light unto the nations’ in dealing with Tehran should diplomacy fail Melding the Hanukkah holiday and foreign affairs, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu solemnly vowed to serve as a “light unto the nations” and act against Iran’s nuclear program should diplomacy fail Thursday night. Speaking at the Western Wall for a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony, Netanyahu compared Iran’s nuclear program to a darkness that would be forced out by Israel, referencing a popular children’s song for the holiday. “We came to drive out the darkness, and the largest darkness that threatens...

House Intelligence Committee member Michelle Bachmann said that Iran’s nuclear facilities “must be bombed.” In a speech at a Zionist Organization of America gala on Sunday night, Bachmann said that the Geneva deal reached between Iran and world powers at the weekend will severely limit Israel’s ability to operate freely in the interests of its self defense. Bachmann said, “It may be incumbent upon the Prime Minister to make a decision he has no desire to make, and that would be to bomb facilities, that must be bombed, in Iran.” The former presidential candidate framed the deal as a deliberate...

Kerry appeared in a short video explaining he "drove a very hard bargain" with Iranian negotiators to effectively set back their nuclear ambitions, The Hill reports. "We drove a very hard bargain to achieve what we needed to in terms of our verification and certainty about where they're going," Kerry said. “We drove a hard bargain because we have one unwavering purpose in our goal: President Obama has been absolutely clear that Iran cannot and will not acquire a nuclear weapon

As the US prepares to start talks on an "end state" agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, US President Barack Obama has asked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to "take a breather" from his vocal criticism of the interim deal signed in Geneva, journalist David Ignatius wrote in a column published in The Washington Post on Thursday. Obama and Netanyahu spoke on the phone on Sunday, in a conversation meant to assuage the prime minister's concerns following the signing of the "first stage" deal between Tehran and the P5+1 countries. After weeks of Israeli officials publicly condemning the deal, Netanyahu...

It is seemingly impossible to quantify the amount of treachery committed by Iranian born Valerie Jarrett to western civilization, try as one may. In tandem with her boss, Barack HUSSEIN Obama, they are the most DANGEROUS duo in the western world. That’s not an easy hurdle to pass. But if not for a highly trusted contact in mid 2012, at the inception of this site, the reportage on Val would have been minimal, if at all. A heads up from an “in the know” Washington, DC associate kept dropping hints….again and again. It is important to give credit where it...

This week, President Barack Obama doomed Israel to a choice between unpalatable options: either striking at Iran's nuclear facilities in its own defense and thereby internationally isolating itself, or watching as its most ardent enemy goes nuclear. The deal, put into place with Iran by the Obama administration, allows Iran to continue developing nuclear-enrichment processes, encompasses virtually no real monitoring standards and grants cash to a regime busily preparing for a second Holocaust. Obama made the conscious decision to shove Israel into this corner for two reasons. First, because he is an egotist determined to divert attention from his domestic...

It isn't surprising that the US and the other five powers signed a deal with Iran on Saturday. Over the past few weeks, US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry made it clear that they were committed to signing a deal with Iran as quickly as possible. >>SNIP<< The negotiations with the Iranians that culminated in Saturday night's agreement went on for a year. And yet, the final deal reflects Iran's opening positions. That is, over the course of the entire year, American and European negotiators were not able to move Iran's positions one iota. So what...