In a year-end interview with Steve Inskeep of NPR, Sen. Marco Rubio said that he expected legislation forcing an up or down Congressional vote on any deal with Iran to come up early in this legislative session: Al-Monitor reports: Probably the first vote in my sense will be something that...

Continue Reading >>
  • Kindle

Iran blasted the U.S. Treasury Department’s decision to sanction nine “individuals and entities” yesterday for “their support of Iranian government sanctions evasion efforts and human rights-related abusers,” saying that doing so violated “the good will principles” engendered by the ongoing nuclear negotiations and Joint Plan of Actions (JPOA), Reuters reported...

Continue Reading >>
  • Kindle

A general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), stipulated on Saturday, that President Barack Obama, as well as leaders of the European Union (EU) should convert to Islam in order for there to be peace between the United States and Iran to be possible. The report that has been...

Continue Reading >>
  • Kindle

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, in a letter sent other foreign ministers, wrote that “lifting of all sanctions, is an essential component of any agreement,” Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported Wednesday. According to Fars, Zarif wrote further: “The second objective envisaged by JPOA, namely the lifting of all...

Continue Reading >>
  • Kindle

Iran’s media blasted participants in a conference at Tehran University for speaking in “one voice with Israel” and “repeating the enemy’s goals.” The conference,which was held at Tehran University, included rare domestic criticism of Iran’s nuclear program. Some speakers criticized the nuclear program, its costs to Iranians and the lack of public debate about the...

Continue Reading >>
  • Kindle

Bilateral nuclear talks between Iranian and American diplomats continued in Geneva Tuesday ahead of the resumption of P5+1 talks later this week, amid concerns that Western leverage in talks has steadily eroded following last month’s extension of nuclear negotiations. Observers have for months expressed concerns that Iran’s cheating had strengthened...

Continue Reading >>
  • Kindle

Expecting an end to sanctions, Iranian manufacturers are preparing to open for business with the West, according to a report Friday in The New York Times. The article highlights Iran’s national car manufacturer, Iran Khodro, in which an impressive number of Western companies are reportedly showing interest. Even though sanctions...

Continue Reading >>
  • Kindle

A critical bill that Congress passed late last week ahead of its winter recess contains a rider that would give Congress increased oversight over talks with Iran as the Islamic Republic continues to negotiate with the P5+1 powers over its nuclear program. The rider, attached to the Omnibus Appropriations Bill for...

Continue Reading >>
  • Kindle

Behind the scenes of the P5+1 negotiations with Iran, France is emerging as a skeptic of the American approach to the negotiations. Specifically, France is “concerned the Obama administration … despite its assertions to the contrary wants an Iran deal at almost any price,” according to a report yesterday by...

Continue Reading >>
  • Kindle

Despite a UN report that Iran had been caught breaching international sanctions by acquiring materials for its Arak nuclear facility, a State Department spokesperson said yesterday that the public was “just going to have to trust” that Iran wasn’t in violation of last year’s Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) agreement, the terms of...

Continue Reading >>
  • Kindle