The Hill reported mid-Sunday that leading Senate Democrats are doubling down on a bipartisan push to impose sanctions on Iran should the Islamic republic either cheat on the terms of the Joint Plan of Action during an upcoming six-month negotiating period or, at the end of that period, refuse to verifiably put...

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Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi bragged last week, in comments conveyed by Iranian media, that Tehran is the “winner” of last month’s deal made in Geneva with the P5+1 because the Joint Plan of Action (JPA) framework had positioned the Islamic republic to appear conciliatory even though Tehran will refuse to...

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Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah last week declared that the Iran-backed terror group would attack Israel in response to the December 4th killing of Haj Hassan Hilu Laqis, deepening concerns that the organization – which has seen its brand as an anti-Israel vanguard shattered by its role in the Syrian conflict – is seeking to...

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A corruption probe involving some of Turkey’s top figures has engulfed officials at a Turkish bank long linked to Iranian sanctions-busting schemes, adding a potential international dimension to a scandal that was already threatening to destabilize the country’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. The probe has pitted rival Islamist camps against...

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A potential showdown between the White House and Congress over sanctions on Iran is refocusing attention on tensions within the Obama administration’s opposition to imposing new financial pressure on the Islamic republic. Journalists and analysts had very early begun to question the White House’s stance that while past sanctions had...

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Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif boasted Wednesday that Iran could resume enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity in less than a day, the latest in a string of statements from top Iranian officials that risk deepening concerns not just about the Islamic republic’s broad intentions but more specifically about the asymmetrical...

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Journalists and analysts yesterday scrambled to clarify the details of Senate legislation – first leaked Wednesday night but formally introduced only mid-Thursday – that would heighten sanctions on Iran if it violated the terms of the recently signed Joint Plan of Action (JPA) during an upcoming six month negotiation period,...

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Criticism continues to mount regarding the scope and likely effects of financial relief granted to Iran as part of the recently announced Geneva interim agreement, with concerns being raised not just about the value of unfrozen assets but more broadly about how the so-called Joint Plan of Action (JPA) is...

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The Wall Street Journal yesterday published comments made by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in which the Paris official expressed skepticism that Iran is willing to verifiably dismantle its nuclear program. “We have to implement honestly the first phase,” Mr. Fabius said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “Then my...

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National Journal reported this evening on statements emerging from the Senate regarding efforts by a bipartisan group of Senators to introduce new legislation that would impose sanctions on Iran should Tehran refuse, at the end of an upcoming six month negotiation period, to commit to sufficiently dismantling its atomic program...

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