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Should U.S. Hold Direct Talks With Iran? Kenneth R. Timmerman Nov. 28, 2006 WASHINGTON -- The talk of the town in Washington these days is all about getting "real." Less than two full weeks after Democrats won control of Congress by opposing the war in Iraq, Iraqi leaders bowed their heads in submission and agreed to hold direct talks with Iran and Syria. President Jalal Talabani was initially supposed to go to Tehran over Thanksgiving weekend, but a curfew in Baghdad (put in place because of Iranian-backed violence) prevented him from traveling. He finally made the trip on Monday. Iran...

It was supposed to be one of those international “ho-hum” conferences, dedicated to endangered species. But in a surprise move, the government of Saudi Arabia turned it into an international confrontation, using its veto power to prevent an American conservationist group from presenting what it called “actionable information” that tied top Saudi and United Arab Emirates leaders to al Qaeda. UN officials called the Saudi move to ban the U.S group, which had official United Nations observer status, “unprecedented.” The UN actually tried to facilitate the appearance of the U.S. group at last Friday’s meeting in Geneva of the 54th...

Senator Slams 'Phony Negotiations' With Iran Kenneth R. Timmerman Friday, Sept. 15, 2006 WASHINGTON -– The United States and its European partners "should end phony negotiations" with Iran over its nuclear program, an influential U.S. senator up for re-election this November said Thursday. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., who has been trailing his Democratic challenger, Bob Casey, in opinion polls until recently, said the United States should "increase sanctions" on Iran and "fund, promote and support the pro-democracy movement, both inside and outside Iran." Speaking with Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and Reza Pahlavi, son of the former shah of Iran, Santorum...

Torture Victims Blast Khatami Visit Kenneth R. Timmerman Friday, Sept. 8, 2006 WASHINGTON –- Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., introduced legislation Thursday that would refocus U.S. government-funded broadcasting into Iran to "stand with the people of Iran." The Iranian regime's record of "repression, oppression, beatings and abuse ... was "a story that has been told too little," Brownback told reporters and Iranian-American activists. His "Iran Human Rights Act" would also appoint a "special envoy" to pro-democracy groups in Iran and in exile. "While we are focusing on [Iran's] nuclear weapons development, as we should, we cannot deny the human suffering of...

Expect a sigh and a whimper today at the United Nations when the International Atomic Energy Agency reports, as expected, that Iran has failed to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1696. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a UN sanctions resolution on Iran. The State Department insists – all press speculation to the contrary – that sanctions will be approved, even if it takes three more weeks to get agreement on the details. “There is no Plan B,” as one official put it. The question remains: will those sanctions have any bite? That is far less certain. One...

Timmerman: Hezbollah Ties to British Plot Thursday, Aug. 10, 2006 NewsMax.com senior correspondent and Middle East expert Kenneth R. Timmerman said Hezbollah might be to blame for the terror plot thwarted by British security agencies Thursday. Timmerman, appearing as a guest on MSNBC’s "Tucker with Tucker Carlson,” said the plot was reminiscent of one in 1986 that was foiled by French authorities. "Hezbollah operatives had tried to bring in liquid explosives to launch terrorist attacks,” Timmerman said. "The French caught them and the explosives, which were brought in inside little liquor bottles. This is the kind of thing that has...

Make no mistake about the nearly month-old hot war between Hezbollah and Israel. This is the opening salvo of Iran’s global assault on the United States and its allies over Iran’s “right” to possess nuclear weapons. The Iranian-backed attacks are aimed at deterring an Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear and missile facilities. A secondary Iranian goal is to deter Europe from backing U.S. efforts to build a broad-based coalition to take Iran back to the United Nations Security Council for its failure to respond clearly to a Western ultimatum over its nuclear program. French President Jacques Chirac was the...

When Condoleeza Rice meets with G-8 foreign ministers in Moscow today, one item must be at the very top of her agenda: showing Iran that the United States and its partners means business. She must insist that her partners agree to send a clear message to Tehran, telling them they have until the following Monday, July 3, to answer the U.S.-backed offer. The message to Tehran’s leaders should go something like this. You have now had a full month to respond to a clear-cut, yes-no proposition concerning your nuclear program and the future of your relations with the international community....

Brig. Gen. Terryl Schwalier was stunned when he read the account of the June 25, 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia that appeared in my recent book, Countdown to Crisis: the Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran. I was writing many years after the fact, drawing on sources from inside Iranian intelligence but also on published U.S. government reports. It was those U.S. reports that prompted General Schwalier to contact me a few months ago. “You paint a picture of significant government awareness that “Iran was up to something” in the months prior to the Khobar Towers attack,” he wrote...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. immigration system is so broken that it can't be fixed, a former top security official at the Department of Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) told NewsMax in an exclusive interview. "Internal corruption at CIS is so pervasive that hostile foreign governments have penetrated the agency," said Michael J. Maxwell, who was forced to resign as chief of the CIS Office of Security and Investigation earlier this year. "Terrorists and organized crime are gaming the immigration system with impunity. Taken together, these three elements form the perfect storm," Maxwell said. "You can't separate immigration from...

Top News Story Khaleej Times Online TEHERAN - Iran would fully go nuclear with the current Persian year, which started simultaneously with spring on March 20, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday. Our enemies try to prevent our scientific progress through wide- spread propaganda but inshallah (God willing) this (new) year will be the year when the Islamic Republic of Iran will fully avail itself of peaceful nuclear technology, Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the news agency ISNA. In a meeting with visiting Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Shara, Ahmadinejad said Irans use of peaceful nuclear energy will...

Top News Story IAEA: Iran's nuclear program more advanced than previously thought. Vital Perspective reported that the IAEA now has evidence that Iran's nuclear program is more advanced than previously thought.The Guardian reported that inspectors of the IAEA revealed that the Iranians are in the process of achieving a "technological leap" by making operational a cascade of 164 centrifuges to enrich uranium for power plants or warheads.   China and Russia united on Iran. Reuters reported that China said that Beijing and Moscow are in accord on Iran's nuclear standoff with the West.   Why the Russians are helping...

Top News Story Congress reduces pro-democracy funds for Iran. House Appropriations Committee in a press release announced that the committee did not fund the $75 million requested by the Administration for the promotion of democracy in Iran because it was poorly justified. Instead, $56 million was provided through proven, existing programs that will have an immediate, positive impact on the fostering of democratic ideals in Iran.   Ahmadinejad strengthens ties to Al Qaeda. Adnkronos International reported that an Iranian source close to the reformists confirmed that "With the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad relations with al-Qaeda have been resumed and...

Top News Story UN Security Council meeting on Iran postponed. ABC News reported that the U.N. Security Council postponed a meeting Tuesday on Iran's suspect nuclear program. The lack of any significant movement after 10 days could lead the Western nations to abandon the presidential statement, in favor of a resolution. This would force Russia and China to approve, abstain or veto action against Iran.The Wall Street Journal reported that with Russia opposed to any punishment for Iran, Britain has privately suggested that Tehran be offered a new package of incentives. The letter warned, "We are not going to...

Top News Story Daylight savings confuses Iran's hardliners. Adnkronos International reported that daylight saving has been abolished by president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the grounds that when the legal hour changes many faithful have difficulty in knowing when to pray. The Iranian New Year: messages and reports. DoctorZin's Norooz greeting. Photo.Reza Pahlavi's Message On the Occasion of Persian New Year 2006 (Nowrooz 1385).Brooding Persian published a sober Norooz greeting. Photo.Iran va Jahan examined Norooz and its symbolism.SMCCDI reported the start of the Iranian New Year.   Senior Foreign Ministers meet on Iran. Reuters reported that senior foreign affairs officials from...

Top News Story UN Security Council Meet on Iran. The Washington Post reported that Monday top U.N. members will try to break the stalemate on Iran.   BBC signs deal with Iran. Iranian.ws reported that the Iranian regime has signed a huge ad campaign with the BBC.   US students rally in support of Iranian students. The Boston Globe reported that approximately 100 students gathered in Harvard University's Leverett House last night for a concert and rally to denounce repression of students in Iran. More events are scheduled at other campuses.Rooz Online reported that a new wave of attacks...

Top News Story Middle East Newsline Tehran - Iran's largest reformist party called on Sunday for dialogue with the United States and a freeze on sensitive nuclear work to head off an escalating crisis with the international community. The party is the Participation Front, headed by Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of Iran's former reformist president Mohammad Khatami They said: "In order to break the international consensus, we are proposing a return to previous policies and the voluntary suspension of all nuclear fuel-cycle work to resolve this crisis and re-establish confidence." The United Nations security council is considering what...

Top News Story Middle East Newsline BAGHDAD -- One of Iraq's most prominent Sunni Arab organizations was fuming on Saturday over a key Shia leader's recent appeal for Iran to open a dialogue with the United States on the situation in Iraq. "We are indignant over the request made to Iran by [Iraqi] political parties to open a dialogue with the Americans on their differences regarding Iraq," said the statement by the hardline Muslim Scholars Association. "The interference of Iran in Iraqi affairs is nothing new," said the statement, explaining that the call "does nothing more than legitimate this...

Top News Story UN Security Council meets on Iran. Bolton "very encouraged." Reuters reported that John Bolton told reporters, "I would describe today's meeting as the best we have had so far. There are still areas of disagreement ... but I am very encouraged."Reuters reported UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program is the toughest test in diplomacy.CBS News reported U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Iran to resume negotiations over its nuclear program, while also calling the country a central banker for terrorism.The White House released their National Security Strategy of...

Top News Story DoctorZin reports, 3.15.2006: The day before the UN Security Council meeting on Iran. Reuters reported that the five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council failed again on Wednesday to reach agreement on a draft text aimed at reining in Iran's nuclear ambitions after a fifth round of negotiations.Dow Jones Newswires reported that the U.K. is considering a push for a weapons embargo on Iran.MSNBC reported that U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, compared the threat from Iran’s nuclear programs to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.Reuters reported that the White House said an international...