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Secretary of State John Kerry tried Sunday to rally support for a six-month deal to freeze Iran's nuclear program in the face of lukewarm reaction from congressional allies and hostility from critics. -snip- Lawmakers took to the airwaves Sunday morning to question whether the deal would work, with some suggesting that the Obama administration had made a strategic miscalculation. -snip- Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee," expressed skepticism about the deal on "Fox News Sunday," saying "I think we all greet it with skepticism." He said that the arrangement suggested that Iranian...

WASHINGTON (AP) — On the eve of new talks, President Barack Obama is plunging ahead in search of a nuclear agreement with Iran despite outright opposition from American allies in the Middle East and deep skepticism, if not open hostility, from Congress. Iran is pressing ahead in its own way, trying to make a deal more likely to ease painful economic sanctions without losing its own hardliners at home. There was a fresh sign of efforts to make headway as negotiators from Iran, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany prepared for Wednesday's new round of...

With a fevered and frantic breathless pace, Obama via John Kerry has been pushing to sign a sell-out deal with Iran that would ease sanctions without shutting down Iran’s nuke program. Benjamin Netanyahu was furious when he found out that Kerry had misrepresented what the proposed agreement would be, not to mention Kerry running at the mouth to bash Israel on the talks with the Palestinians. Netanyahu was not alone. France was uncomfortable with the deal Kerry wanted to sign, even as Kerry huddled with the Iranians trying to get ‘er done.(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Thank you France for at least buying us...

Two senior Iranian MPs accused French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius Saturday of defending Israel, which objects to world powers reaching a deal with Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme. Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, spokesman of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said "the behaviour of the French representative in the nuclear talks shows that France is trying to blackmail" Iran. "While the French people want better ties between Tehran and Paris, unfortunately the French government prefers the will of Zionist regime," said Naqavi Hosseini. Esmaeel Kosari, a fellow conservative and member of the committee, expressed regret that Fabius's comments "express the positions...

After negotiating with help of US secretary of state, French FM stresses importance of Israel's security concerns, says there will be no deal; US diplomats tell 'LA Times' talks will continue at least into next week. France said on Saturday there was no certainty nuclear talks under way with Iran in Geneva would succeed because of major stumbling blocks over an initial proposed text on a deal, and the importance of Israel's security concerns. "As I speak to you, I cannot say there is any certainty that we can conclude" the talks, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on France...

A trilateral meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jazad Zarif was underway Saturday evening in Geneva on the contents of a draft agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. A senior member of the Iranian negotiations team told reporters Saturday that a draft agreement has been prepared and would be considered by all sides during the meeting. “The text of the draft agreement has been prepared and initial negotiations [over it] will take place in a trilateral meeting among Zarif, Kerry and Ashton,” Majid Takht Ravanchi was quoted as...

I'll be the first person to admit how little I know about foreign affairs. I often think we have entirely too much involvement in the affairs of other countries and want America to be left alone. We need to tend to our own rat killing and for the most part, allow other countries to do the same. That doesn't mean we can not collaborate on certain issues, but I lean more than a little libertarian in my view of foreign affairs. Having said that, there are times when we have to stand by our allies, and we have a strong...

Secret deal made with iran

U.S. President Barack Obama called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday after the Israeli leader delivered a stinging rebuke to Washington over a deal taking shape in talks between Iran and world powers seeking to curb Tehran's nuclear program. The telephone call marked an apparent bid by Obama to tamp down growing unease over the emerging Iran deal among the United States' Middle East allies, including Saudi Arabia, as well as mounting opposition to the plan on Capitol Hill. "Any deal that breathes life back into Iran's economy in return for token and superficial moves that put Tehran no further...

I met Secretary Kerry right before he leaves to Geneva. I reminded him that he said that no deal is better than a bad deal. And the deal that is being discussed in Geneva right now is a bad deal. It’s a very bad deal. Iran is not required to take apart even one centrifuge. But the international community is relieving sanctions on Iran for the first time after many years. Iran gets everything that it wanted at this stage and pays nothing. And this is when Iran is under severe pressure. I urge Secretary Kerry not to rush to...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the United States to reject a deal which, according to reports, would ease sanctions on Iran if it limits uranium enrichment to 3.5 percent purity. Netanyahu said Israel “utterly rejects” the deal and is not obliged to abide by it. “Israel is not obliged by this agreement and will do everything it needs to defend itself, to defend the security of its people,” he said prior to a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry announced last minute that he would fly to Geneva from Israel, where he is attempting to salvage...

A very unusual statement from the Israel prime minister on the eve of a possible nuclear detail between the U.S. and Iran:"I met Secretary Kerry right before he leaves to Geneva," said Netanyhau. "I reminded him that he said that no deal is better than a bad deal. That the deal that is being discussed in Geneva right now is a bad deal. It’s a very bad deal. Iran is not required to take apart even one centrifuge. But the international community is relieving sanctions on Iran for the first time after many years. Iran gets everything that it wanted...

“I met Secretary Kerry right before he [left] to Geneva. I reminded him that he said that no deal is better than a bad deal. And the deal that is being discussed in Geneva right now is a bad deal. Iran is not required to take apart even one centrifuge. But the international community is relieving sanctions on Iran for the first time after many years,” he said. “Iran gets everything that it wanted at this stage and pays nothing. And this is when Iran is under severe pressure. I urge Secretary Kerry not to rush to sign, to wait,...

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “in a state of shocked disbelief” at the deal apparently taking shape in Geneva over Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli television news reports said Friday night. Netanyahu, the reports on Israel’s Channel 10 and Channel 2 news said, had “an unprecedented confrontation” with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Tel Aviv on Friday morning over the possible deal, which he publicly described as “a very, very bad deal” and which he implored Kerry “not to rush to sign” and to “reconsider.” The Netanyahu government is “in a crisis of faith” with the Obama administration...

Pakistan-Pakistani Taliban: The Pakistani Taliban rejected peace talks with the government on Thursday after electing hardline militant Mullah Fazlullah as their new leader. Earlier this month militant sources said that the consultative Shura council of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chose Khan Said Mehsud known as Sajna as the new leader. But the election of Sajna, who leads the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan, reportedly was opposed by Taliban's other groups. Fazlullah was reported to have strongly objected to the choice of Sajna. Shahidullah Shahid, the main spokesman for the TTP said talks with the government were a "waste of time"...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will unexpectedly travel to Geneva on Friday afternoon to meet with Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, NBC News reports. Nuclear talks between Iran and the so-called P5+1 nations resumed in Geneva Thursday morning. Word of Kerry's impending arrival is the strongest sign so far of an agreement on a first step toward a comprehensive final deal, according to NBC. Earlier, a senior American official and Zarif both said a deal could be reached Friday. The United States was pressuring Iran to halt its nuclear program in return for a limited and reversible reprieve on...

"...Olli Heinonen, a former deputy director of the IAEA, said that Iran has, “in a certain way,” already reached the point of no return in its nuclear program. Heinonen confirmed the report released last week by the Institute for Science and International Security that said Iran could enrich enough weapons-grade uranium for a single bomb in about a month." excerpt- If the Iranians have reduced the “breakout time” needed to convert their vast stockpile of low-enriched uranium into nuclear fuel, then even if Tehran agreed to proposals about limiting their enrichment capacity, their path to a weapon is clear. If...

The Justice Department did more than seize a Fox News reporter's emails while suggesting he was a criminal "co-conspirator" in a leak case -- it did so under one of the most serious wartime laws in America, the Espionage Act. It's the same law used by the Nixon administration to go after The New York Times and Daniel Ellsberg over the leak of the Pentagon Papers. It's the law used to charge the Rosenbergs, American communists, for allegedly passing secret information to the Soviet Union -- they were executed for the offense in 1953. One Washington attorney, who represents two...

WASHINGTON — Last year, the Obama administration announced to the world that it was planning to pursue a new Asia/Pacific-oriented national security strategy. Since then, North Korea has countered with a strategy of its own. In December, Pyongyang successfully launched a multistage intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a warhead-sized payload to the U.S. mainland. On Feb. 12, the North Koreans tested an improved-design nuclear weapon. After the test, Pyongyang announced that despite tightened United Nations sanctions that theoretically went into force last month, its latest nuclear test bolstered its defenses against U.S. "hostility." In a lengthy broadcast on the...

After almost four months of difficult negotiations, the United States and North Korea signed an agreement today to end their dispute over North Korea's nuclear program but kept secret many details of how the accord will be put into effect. --SNIP-- Under the broad agreement concluded here late Monday, North Korea will freeze its nuclear activities, renounce any ambition to become a nuclear power and open up two secret military sites to inspection by international experts so they can determine whether Pyongyang already has nuclear capability. In exchange, an international consortium will replace North Korea's current graphite nuclear reactors with...