Obama racking up foreign policy failures like Minnesota Fats racked up straight 8s. Obama's failures will cost untold thousands (perhaps millions) their lives before his disastrous anti-freedom legacy has played out.
Inspection at Iran nuclear facility finds higher-level traces of uranium, the U.N. say. More talks, more stall for time, more advancement of their weapons program.
- Iran Won't Halt Production of Higher Grade Uranium - Thomas Erdbrink Iran will not halt its enrichment of uranium up to 20%, the country's nuclear chief, Fereydoon Abbasi, told state television on Sunday, backing away from an earlier offer that suggested it might be prepared to cease production of the higher grade nuclear material. He made clear that there will be no suspension of enrichment by Iran, a key demand of UN Security Council resolutions. (New York Times) See also Iran Official Says Unconvinced of Need for IAEA to Inspect Parchin Nuclear Site The head of Atomic Energy Agency of Iran, Fereydoon Abbasi, said Saturday that Iran had not been convinced of the need for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the Parchin site, a military base suspected of housing nuclear weapons' experiments. (Ha'aretz)
- U.S. Officials among the Targets of Iran-Linked Assassination Plots - Joby Warrick U.S. and Middle Eastern officials now see the attempts to kill U.S. embassy officials in Azerbaijan last November as part of a broader campaign by Iran-linked operatives to kill foreign diplomats in at least seven countries over a span of 13 months. The targets have included two Saudi officials, a half-dozen Israelis and - in the Azerbaijan case - several Americans. In recent weeks, investigators working in four countries have amassed new evidence tying the disparate assassination attempts to one another and linking all of them to either Iran-backed Hizbullah militants or operatives based inside Iran, according to U.S. and Middle Eastern s ecurity officials. (Washington Post)
- Panetta on Iran: "We Are Prepared for Any Contingency" - Jake Tapper U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told ABC News on Sunday: "Neither the United States nor the international community is going to allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. We will do everything we can to prevent them from developing a weapon. The international community's been unified. We've put very tough sanctions on them as a result of that, and we are prepared for any contingency in that part of the world. But our hope is that these matters can be resolved diplomatically." (ABC News)
New s Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Israeli Official: Gaps Do Exist between U.S., Israel over Iran Nuclear Program - Barak Ravid Israeli officials said Monday that there are gaps between Israel and the U.S. over negotiations with Iran, as opposed to previous announcements made by the U.S administration. A senior Israeli official stated that while there is no disagreement that Iran is a threat to world peace and should be prevented from obtaining a nuclear weapon, there is a gap over the unsatisfactory demands made by world powers in the Baghdad talks, which do not answer Israel's minimum requirements that it believes should be placed before the Iranians. "The Iranians arrived at the Baghdad talks to gain time," said the Israeli official. "We are saying this with prior knowledge , not only from estimations." (Ha'aretz)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
- Iran's Hard Bargain - Editorial In recent weeks the Obama administration has radiated optimism about the possibility of a deal with Iran on its nuclear program. The latest round of talks in Baghdad this week should lower those expectations. The only substantive agreement was on holding another meeting next month in Moscow. Extended negotiations will only benefit Iran, by allowing it to continue work on the Fordow underground facility, which may be nearly immune to Israeli military attack. What's most concerning about the Baghdad talks is that they failed to show that the regime of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has made a strategic decision to strike a bargain. Instead, Tehran sought something for nothing: acceptance by the West of it s uranium enrichment in return for assertions that it is not seeking nuclear weapons and promises to cooperate with international inspectors. While an interim bargain that arrests what has looked like a slide toward war remains desirable, Iran cannot be granted much more time to build and install centrifuges. (Washington Post)
