Iran News Roundup 01/19
U.S. proposes a direct line of communication with Iran A a conservative Iranian lawmaker, Ali Motahari, claims that the U.S. has sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader proposing direct talks. The Obama administration has denied the claim. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast claims that the proposal for direct talks was embedded in the U.S. […]
Iran News Roundup 01/17
U.S.-Israel missile defense drill cancelled as concerns grow over Israeli attack against Iran Senior military officials announced that the largest joint US-Israel missile defense drill has been postponed (Reuters 01/15). Israel officially claimed this was due to budget cuts, but some U.S. and Israeli officials said the exercise was mutually postponed to not inflame tensions with […]
Iranian Nuclear Official: No Reason to Reject Nuclear Deal
ILNA interviewed an Iranian nuclear official recently who criticized the Iranian leadership for not accepting the proposed nuclear deal offered by the P-5+1. The official, Ahmad Qarib of the Iranian Atomic energy Organization, said Iran does not currently have the capacity in its nuclear infrastructure to use all of its enriched uranium, and that therefore they have nothing […]
Nuclear deal drafted Wednesday, signatures due Friday
An agreement calling for Iran to send its domestically-produced low-enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment and then have it returned for medical use (what is being called by some the “elegant solution”) was accepted by negotiators in Wednesday’s negotiations in Vienna. Friday is the current deadline for delegations from France, Russia, the US, and Iran to sign it. […]
Nuclear disarmament in exchange for US relations: North Korea official
Kyodo News has reported that North Korea would consider disarming its nuclear arsenal in exchange for a renewal of diplomatic relations with the United States. For those not familiar, North Korea developed nuclear weapons after it pulled out of the NPT in 2003, tested a weapon in October of 2006, and is currently estimated to […]
Reverse-engineering an Obama deal with Iran
If all the hype about the incoming Obama administration is to be believed, prospects for a deal between the US and Iran on the nuclear issue have never been brighter. So imagine for a moment that we’re already a year into an Obama presidency, and the White House has just recently issued a proud statement that […]
Clearly Not a Carpet-Bazaar…
Hooman Majd, author of The Ayatollah Begs to Differ, unleashed a stinging rebuke in the Huffington Post yesterday to Thomas Friedman’s New York Times op-ed, calling the columnist’s conclusions “offensively colonialist and racist generalizations.” The piece by Friedman was an explanation as to why he believes the next US president will have more leverage in […]
Apparently it’s only a negotiation if you plan to listen when they talk
The recent news that the United States would be sending their number three official in the State Department, Undersecretary of State William J. Burns to take part in talks with Iran is a significant departure from previous policies. Last Saturday’s conference in Geneva with European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and Iran’s nuclear negotiator, […]
Learning a Lesson from North Korea
Yesterday, June 21, the Washington Post broke a story about North Korea’s nuclear activities that just about defied comprehension. If you’re not familiar with recent events, the United States and others negotiated a disarmament agreement with North Korea to dismantle their nuclear weapons in exchange for economic incentives and energy aid. For most observers, this […]