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Iran’s Tasnim news agency announced the development of a suicide drone that could be used against US ships in the Persian Gulf, where tensions between the US Navy and Iranian vessels has been increasing due to provocative Iranian maneuvers near US warships. The aircraft was described as “carrying payloads of explosives for combat missions” and to “collide with the target and destroy it, (whether) a vessel or an onshore command center.” It “has not been designed to be armed with missiles,” Tasnim said, reports USA Today. The US military has made extensive use of drones for surveillance and to attack...

It's a great time to be a despotic tyrant who threatens your neighbors. And as Khamenei knows, to be quite open about it. Who's going to do anything? Who would be enough of a fool to think that anyone with real power in Iran thought otherwise? Oh. Right. As always, beware of media characterizations that pretend this or that Iranian official is “moderate” or “more moderate” or whatever. They’re grading on a pretty radical curve when they tell you that, but it’s irrelevant at any rate. Only the mullahas have real power in Iran, and lest you have any doubt...

A senior Iranian military commander claimed that U.S. officials are quietly encouraging the Islamic Republic to keep its illicit ballistic missile tests a secret so as not to raise concerns in the region, according to Persian language comments. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace and Missile Force, said in recent remarks that the Obama administration does not want Iran to publicize its ongoing missile tests, which have raised questions about the Islamic Republic’s commitment to last summer’s comprehensive nuclear agreement. “At this time, the Americans are telling [us]: ‘Don’t talk about missile affairs, and if...

(NEW YORK) - In New Hampshire in an election year, even young children aren't afraid to share their views with politicians - as Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina saw firsthand Friday night. "Do you think Donald Trump is taking away our rights by not letting Muslims in the country because there's some terrorist attacks?" Harrison Golden, an eight-year-old Fiorina supporter, who is Muslim, asked the businesswoman after a town hall event she held in southeastern New Hampshire. "I think Donald Trump says a lot of things that are crazy," Fiorina responded. Harrison's sister, Zahra, who is 10 years old,...

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...

In the wonderfully funny movie “Mom and Dad Save the World,” one of the heroes admits that his people are not so bright. “But what we lack in brains,” he says, “we make up for in ...good intentions.” Gentle mocking here of the frequent appeal of the incompetent for tolerance of their mistakes: How can you blame us if our intentions are good? The trouble is that much of what's really rotten in the world is due to people who thought that their good intentions would ensure a favorable result. Maybe the best example of this: former president Jimmy Carter....

The Iran deal has potential, both because of public opinion and the way the administration is positioning itself, to hurt Democrats in much the same way that the Iranian hostage crisis did in 1980 and 1981. Should New York Senator Chuck Schumer succeed in killing the deal, he will be saving the Democrats from what appears to be a grave political mistake. President Obama has branded opponents of the deal as either ideological extremists or ignorant. In his speech at American University, he compared the agreement’s opponents with Iranian extremists chanting “death to America.” He pointed out that most of...

The latest refinement of tone is his assertion that it’s his way or the highway, that war with Iran lies at the end of that forbidden highway. But who would start such a war? He doesn’t say. As crazy as the mullahs are, the craziness lies in a distorted theology, not in statecraft. The mullahs are smart enough not to believe everything they say, and go to war against the United States. We logically conclude that Mr. Obama is afraid that he might be the one to start the war. Who else does he think it could be? His “it’s...

(CNSNews.com) – During a “voters first presidential forum” in New Hampshire on Monday, GOP presidential candidate Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized President Barack Obama’s deal with Iran, saying he “declared war on trans fats and a ceasefire with the largest state-sanctioned sponsor of terrorism.” “This is a bad deal. He’s declared war on trans fats and a ceasefire with the largest state-sanctioned sponsor of terrorism,” said Jindal regarding the nuclear deal with Iran. As CNSNews.com previously reported, the Food and Drug Administration ruled in June that trans fat is not “generally recognized as safe” for use in food and gave...

There has always been a rule – an overriding rule in the common law, in the criminal justice system and in the insurance industry – that society must not allow you to profit from a crime you committed. For example, if you file an insurance claim on your house, and it’s proven that you burned it down yourself, you get imprisoned for arson and the insurance company gets all the money back. Or if you file for the life insurance on your parent or spouse, and it’s proven that you murdered him or her for the insurance money, you get...

Obama turns a smiling face to Israel. Biden: Iran has enough material for 8 nuclear bombs "pRes_ _dent Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have gone out of their way in the last fortnight to shower friendly gestures on Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and even Ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer. .... on April 23, Biden was the keynote speaker at the Israeli embassy’s Independence Day reception. ... Biden went on to warn: “Let’s not kid each other. They already have paved a path to a bomb’s worth of material. Iran could get there now if they walked away...

The Lausanne deal: Exercise in spin and counter-spin "Tehran countered with its own version the next day, after the lead Iranian negotiator Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, dismissed the American accounting as “spin.”" The Iranian version departs substantially from President Barack Obama’s assurance of “a deal that meets our core objections ...” ..... "Iran’s version of the Lausanne deal: Iran’s nuclear program including enrichment will continue. None of Iran’s nuclear facilities or related activities will be stopped or shut down or suspended and activities will continue at Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan and Arak..... The Iranians say: The Arak heavy water research...

As President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry close in on a nuclear deal with Iran, it's worth remembering that the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation received money from "a front for the government of Iran" called the Alavi Foundation. The front gave the Clintons $30,000 between April 2005 and March 2006, according to tax forms. This occurred years after law enforcement officials tied the group to Iranian radicals. “The center is funded by the New York-based Alavi Foundation, which law enforcement officials say is closely tied to the mullahs who dominate Iran,” the Washington Post reported...

On more than one occasion, President Obama has praised Muslim immigrants for their contributions to American history, though the extent and significance of those contributions have been questioned by many. The Washington Examiner reminds us of Obama’s effusive shout-out to Muslim Americans: “Throughout our history, Islam has contributed to the character of our country, and Muslim Americans, and their good works, have helped to build our nation.” Now, as the president reaches out to the mullahs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, intent on making a controversial deal on their nuclear weapons development — a deal that would admittedly not...

[Fr. Z's comments in brackets and italics.]Bolded sections are from the document, Fr. Z's emphasis.The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue released a statement about the wave of terror washing across Syria and Iraq. The statement was in French. HERE Here is an English translation: The whole world has witnessed with incredulity what is now called the “Restoration of the Caliphate,” which had been abolished on October 29,1923 by Kamal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey. Opposition to this “restoration” by the majority of religious institutions and Muslim politicians has not prevented the “Islamic State” jihadists from committing and continuing to commit...

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff July 29, 2014 12:28 pm Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) blasted U.S. nuclear negotiations with Iran Tuesday, saying the rolling back of sanctions and allowance of the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism to enrich uranium constituted a “dangerous national security failure.” “This entire thing is a disaster,” Rubio said. “It’s not just an embarrassing diplomatic failure. This is a dangerous national security failure, in my opinion.” News broke earlier this month that nuclear talks were extended until November as the sides sought a more comprehensive deal. During that time, however, the U.S. will give Iran...

It was bad enough that the alleged rape took place in the sanctity of a mosque and that the accused man was a mullah who invoked the familiar defence that it had been consensual sex. But the victim was only 10 years old. And there was more: The authorities said her family members openly planned to carry out an honour killing in the case – against the young girl. The mullah offered to marry his victim instead. This past week, the awful matter became even worse. On Tuesday, local policemen removed the girl from the shelter that had given her...

Somebody on Twitter posted an upbeat message saying the US delegation to the latest round of talks with Iranian officials was quite optimistic. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a born optimist and I love optimism, but I’d rather revel in victory than hope for good news, and the Iranians have every reason to revel. The Obama crowd has just ok’d something the Tehran tyrants have desperately wanted since the eighties: spare parts [1] for their long-grounded American passenger aircraft. Boeing and General Electric were given export licenses by the Treasury Department and everyone involved has been chanting “we take...

The U.S. Defense Department said on Monday that Iranian warships are allowed to sail into the Atlantic Ocean so long as “they understand the responsibilities” of cruising so close to the U.S. border. The Pentagon’s pronouncement comes just days after Iran announced that warships were approaching the U.S. maritime border in response to America’s naval presence in the Persian Gulf. Asked to respond to Iran’s pointed military rhetoric, Pentagon spokesman Bill Speaks told the Washington Free Beacon that it would not be an issue for Iranian ships to enter the Atlantic. “Freedom of the seas applies to all maritime nations,...

President wants to deliver American culture to Islamic regimeThe proposed easing of sanctions against Iran represents the most visible enticement by which the United States and five other nations intend to guide the Islamic regime toward peace. The Obama administration, however, has another tool in its diplomatic arsenal that it intends to leverage against Tehran. Hollywood. The responsibility of producing a California-centered news and entertainment program “appealing to Farsi-speaking youth in Iran” soon will be fall into the hands of a contractor working on behalf of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, or BBG, according to planning documents that WND...