Controversy swirled this weekend and into Monday regarding the positions of major pro-Israel groups toward efforts by the Obama administration to delay the imposition of new sanctions against Iran, with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) issuing a rare on the record statement Saturday night: “AIPAC continues to support...

Secretary of State John Kerry sought this weekend and today to downplay spiking tensions between Washington and its traditional Arab allies, traveling to Egypt and Saudi Arabia to address sharp and increasingly public differences with those countries on a range of issues including the political situation in Egypt, the U.S’s...

The logic behind White House efforts to delay a Senate push for new sanctions on Iran – that heightened pressure on the Islamic republic would cause Iranian negotiators to walk away from the table – had already drawn criticism in recent days from lawmakers, analysts, and journalists. Inasmuch as the...

Iraq’s domestic and foreign policies may complicate efforts by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to secure military assistance from Washington, with diplomats, journalists, and lawmakers increasingly urging the administration to condition aid on various reforms. October ended yesterday as the deadliest month in Iraq since 2008. There were 979 confirmed deaths...

Top Republicans and Democrats from the House of Representatives are calling on their Senate colleagues to move forward with legislation to increase sanctions on Iran, brushing aside concerns being expressed by administration figures that new pressure will damage efforts to negotiate with the Islamic republic over its nuclear weapons program....

Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi clarified today that Iran is continuing to enrich uranium up to 20%, denying widely conveyed reports that the Islamic republic has ceased adding to its stockpile of 20% purity uranium: “Twenty percent uranium and nuclear plates are being produced inside the country and there...