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The security cabinet held a special meeting Tuesday to consider the implications of the new nuclear accord with Iran, the Syrian war, Hizballah and other current threats to national security. The session was unusually long and is expected to be carried over to Wednesday. IDF and intelligence chiefs gave the ministers special briefings.

Certain US media suddenly this week claimed to have broken the news of a secret track used by President Barack Obama for secret negotiations with Tehran through Oman’s Sultan Qaboos. debkafile and DEBKA Weekly were in fact way ahead of the field. We uncovered the Qaboos track on Aug. 26, 2013 and were on the trail of back-channel communications between Washington and Tehran on Jan.26, more than a year earlier, when he exposed the first secret rendezvous between US and Iranian emissaries in Baghdad. For a while, they continued intermittently at venues in Ankara and Vienna (next door to the...

“For the first time in nearly a decade we have halted parts of Iran’s nuclear program” announced a jubilant Barack Obama after the news of the just-signed Geneva six-month interim agreement with Iran. But the American goal for the accord was that the Iranians not “advance their program” of building a uranium nuclear bomb (and perhaps a plutonium bomb too); the apparent deal exactly permits such advancement, plus sanctions relief to Tehran worth about $9 billion. This wretched deal offers one of those rare occasions when comparison with Neville Chamberlain in Munich in 1938 is valid. An overeager Western government,...

The first preliminary nuclear deal the six world powers (US, Russia, China, UK, France and German) signed with Iran before dawn Sunday, Nov. 24, at the end of a four-day marathon, failed to address the most questionable aspects of Iran’s nuclear program, i.e. its clandestine military dimensions. The accord confined itself to aspects of uranium enrichment and stockpiles. UN inspections were expanded – but not applied, for instance, to Iran’s concealed nuclear sites - or even the Parchin military base where Iran is suspected of having tested nuclear-related explosions. Israel, the Gulf States and others are therefore highly dubious of...

Economics minister and Jewish Home leader says Israel cannot ‘sit idly by’ while world allows Iran to be 6 weeks from the bomb Economics and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) said Saturday that a “bad deal” with Iran on curbing its nuclear program would “increase the need for Israeli [military] action.” “If there will be a deal which would allow Iran to have the ability to ‘break out’ and build a bomb within six weeks, we cannot sit idly by in this situation and we will examine all the options,” Bennett told Channel 2 Saturday evening.

Bilateral talks were still dragging on up to midnight Saturday, Nov. 23 in Geneva, well after the deadline the US and European negotiators gave Iran for an interim accord on its nuclear program. This indicated that four of the six powers had reached the limit of their concessions. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif retorted that his government would not bow to threats, but stayed. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the same difficulties encountered two weeks ago still remained. US Secretary John Kerry arranged to be in London Sunday.

American and European negotiators have given Iran until Saturday night, Nov. 23, the fourth day of negotiations in Geneva, to reach agreement on an interim nuclear deal, debkafile’s sources report. After that deadline, those delegations plan to cut the talks short and leave. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif retorted that his government would not bow to threats. The US-EU deadline indicated that Washington, Paris, London and Berlin had reached the limit of their concessions to Iran. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said when he arrived in Geneva that the two difficulties encountered two weeks ago still remained. The Russian and...

<p>OKLAHOMA CITY -- A burrito caused a minor scare at an Oklahoma City police briefing station after a man brought the foil-wrapped object in for analysis.</p> <p>Oklahoma City Police Capt. Dexter Nelson says a man discovered a Thermos-type container in his lawn Thursday afternoon and brought it to a police briefing station.</p>

Secretary of State John Kerry travels to Geneva Friday to join Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who arrived in Geneva Friday for an effort to end the standoff in the talks between the six major powers and Iran on an interim accord for Iran’s nuclear program. Both will try and narrow the differences between the parties and bring them closer to an agreement. While in the Swiss city, Lavrov also plans to meet the UN special envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi and US diplomats Monday to work on preparations for an international peace conference on Syria.

The Iranian negotiators face the delegations of six world powers in Geneva Thursday, Nov. 21, with strict orders not to give ground on the two major sticking points holding up a first-step deal on their nuclear program: The heavy water reactor under construction at Arak for producing plutonium and Iran’s “right” to uranium enrichment. If Iran gains those two points, whatever concessions its negotiators may come up with are worthless, because they will leave Tehran in possession of two optional nuclear weaponizing tracks instead of one - plutonium as well as enriched uranium. Debkafile’s sources report that Tehran is fighting...

Khamenei calls Israel ‘rabid dog,’ drawing harsh response from Paris as new round of negotiations begins PARIS — The French government spokeswoman says President Francois Hollande believes comments by Iran’s supreme leader about Israel are “unacceptable” and complicate talks between world powers and the Islamic regime over its nuclear program. French government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem told reporters that Hollande’s cabinet discussed the Iran nuclear dossier just hours before negotiations between Iran and six world powers were set to resume in Geneva. She said, however, that France still hopes for a deal and its position has not changed in the talks....

PM lands in Moscow in last ditch effort to persuade Russia to take a tough line in the Iranian talks taking place in Geneva. MOSCOW - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu landed in Moscow Wednesday afternoon and, just three hours later, was scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin in a last ditch effort to persuade Russia to take a tough line in the Iranian talks taking place at the same time in Geneva. Uncharacteristically, Netanyahu did not speak to the press on the flight over, nor give any statements upon leaving Tel Aviv or arriving in Moscow....

The US and Russian presidents after bringing all their weight to bear on Tehran have failed to gain an inch toward a possible deal at the resumed nuclear talks in Geneva Wednesday Nov. 20, after being blocked by hardliners at the Iranian end. Tuesday, Kayhan, the mouthpiece of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards, ran an article telling Foreign Minister Javad Zarif he should not go to Geneva at all. Debkafile’s Iranian sources reveal the red lines with which the Iranian delegation to the talks has been armed for accepting an interim deal with the six powers...

French president receives hero’s welcome for taking tough stance on Tehran’s nuclear program; Netanyahu: Paris is a ‘true friend’ France will uphold economic sanctions on Iran as long as the Islamic Republic does not prove it has taken serious steps toward curbing its nuclear program, French President Francois Hollande said Sunday at the opening of a state visit to Israel. “France will not make concessions on nuclear proliferation,” Hollande pledged during a ceremony at Ben Gurion International Airport, upon his arrival. “France will maintain all its measures and sanctions until we are certain that Iran has renounced nuclear weapons.” The...

Israel Hayom-New Wave Research poll finds 52.4% of the Israeli Jewish public is in favor of an independent strike on Iran's nuclear facilities • Some 52.5% support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position regarding tensions with the U.S. over Iran. A new survey has found that the majority of Jewish Israelis believes the government's hard-line position regarding the Iranian threat is justified and that if need be, Israel is capable of mounting a unilateral strike on the Islamic republic's nuclear facilities. The Israel Hayom-New Wave Research poll found that 52.4 percent of the Israeli Jewish public is in favor of an...

An improvised explosive device blew out windows and ignited a small fire at the Jackson County prosecutor's office in Medford, Ore., Wednesday, but authorities said the damage could have been far worse had it ignited a large propane tank at the scene. No injuries were reported as a result of the blast, which occurred at about 4:30 a.m. Local and state police and the FBI and ATF are currently investigating. Law enforcement sources familiar with the case said there was no immediate claim of responsibility and as of yet, there are no suspects, but they are attempting to determine if...

Republican senator reportedly calls presentation on Iran talks ‘anti-Israeli’; aide says Kerry told senators to ignore Israelis Republicans were left unconvinced after US Secretary of State John Kerry’s closed-door presentation to the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday, which was aimed at delaying a new round of sanctions against Iran. “It was an emotional appeal,” committee chairman Sen. Bob Corker said, according to the US-based media outlet BuzzFeed. “I have to tell you I was very disappointed in the presentation.” He said that the briefings by Kerry, Vice President Joe Biden and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman provided...

Failure to reach a deal between Iran and world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program could lead to a war in the Middle East, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is doing everything he can to make the Iranian nuclear negotiations [in Geneva] with the P5+1 countries fail,” Nasrallah accused Wednesday. In a rare public appearance in south Beirut on the eve of the Ashoura holiday, commemorated by Shiite Muslims as a day of mourning for the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, the terror chief said the Israeli prime minister was “furious [at the prospect of an...

Police in Medford, Ore., said they were searching for a person possibly connected to an improvised bomb that ignited and partially exploded Wednesday morning, damaging the building housing the Jackson County prosecutor’s office. [Snip] The device was described as a propane tank that was found burning at the building after an explosion was reported about 4:30 a.m.

General: 'Slightest military mistake' could set off Iran's 'capabilities' In a pointed message to Washington, the second in just days, an Iranian general has warned of great destruction being delivered to the United States. “The Americans’ catch-phrase ‘the military option is on the table’ (over the nuclear issue) is a bluff,” said Gen. Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces. “They are aware of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s capabilities. The slightest military mistake against Iran will make the Americans witness the heaviest damage in their history in their own eyes,” the semi-official Fars News Agency reported...