Los Angeles Times: U.S. officials warned Saturday that they would not seek to extend negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program beyond the July 20 deadline unless Tehran’s negotiators make major concessions in the next several days. With top Western diplomats convening Sunday in the Austrian capital to review progress in the talks, senior U.S. officials said the two sides remained deeply divided on the core issue of the negotiations.
U.S. won’t extend nuclear talks without concessions from Iran
Rubio calls for sanctions on Iran human rights violators
The Hill: Senators Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced a bill Thursday that would impose sanctions against Iranian leaders who violate human rights. “The U.S. should strongly support the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people, and stand against ongoing systemic human rights violations by the Iranian regime,” Rubio said.
Iraq illusions
New York Review: The story most media accounts tell of the recent burst of violence in Iraq seems clear-cut and straightforward. In reality, what is happening is anything but. ISIS, to begin, is only one of an almost uncountable mélange of Sunni militant groups. Besides ISIS, the Sunni insurgency that has risen up against the government of Nouri al-Maliki includes the Military Council of the Tribes of Iraq, comprising as many as eighty tribes.
Rift with Kurds widens as Iraqi leader replaces the foreign minister
New York Times: The dangerous struggle between the leadership of Iraq and the country’s Kurdish minority intensified Friday as the Kurds seized two oil production facilities in Kirkuk Province and the prime minister appointed a temporary replacement for the foreign minister. The ethnic tensions escalated at the same time as reports surfaced of more sectarian violence, notably abductions and killings of Sunnis in central Iraq, and two bombings in Kirkuk.
Royce: Iran trying to buy time in nuke talks
The Hill: Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said Friday that Iran is trying to buy time by delaying talks on a deal to curtail its nuclear program. He said Congress should have approved legislation that would have applied sanctions on Iran if it were to walk away from the talks. Royce argued the threat of sanctions would have provided leverage. The Obama administration opposed the effort.
Lavrov’s absence clouds Iran nuke talks
AP: Decisions by the foreign ministers of Russia and China to skip talks on Iran’s nuclear program this weekend are further denting expectations that the stalled negotiations will produce a deal by July 20. The U.S. – which is sending Secretary of State John Kerry to join three other ministers- is putting on a good face. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf says the six powers talking with Iran remain “united in the negotiating room, as we always have.”
Hagel: US aware of Russian, Iranian roles in Iraq
AP: The U.S. knows Russia and Iran are providing fighter aircraft to help Iraq combat Islamic extremists, but Washington is not coordinating assistance with either Russia or Iran, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday. Hagel was asked at a Pentagon news conference about reports that Iranian and Russian planes are flying combat missions over northern Iraq and why Washington is not seeking to coordinate with them.
Kurds withdraw support, leaving Iraq without a president
Guardian: The Kurds have ended participation in the Iraqi government, demonstrating a deepening rift between the group and Nouri al-Maliki after the prime minister accused them of harbouring terrorists in the Kurdish capital of Irbil.Hoshyar Zebari, the foreign minister and a Kurd, told Reuters on Friday that Kurdish ministers were suspending their day-to-day running of his ministry and other posts, leaving Iraq without a president and several ministers.
Iran: 411 executions in the first half of 2014
Death Penalty News: At least 411 prisoners have been executed in Iran from the beginning of January 2014 to the end of June of the same year. This indicates that the execution wave, which recommenced after the most recent Iranian presidential election, is continuing. According to reports by Iran Human Rights (IHR), more than 870 people have been executed since the election of Mr. Hassan Rouhani in June 2013.
Iran prepares to assault Iranian dissidents in Iraq
The Hill: Dissemination of bogus reports of Iranian dissidents’ involvement in attacks against Iraqis is Tehran’s way to justify assaults. The regime’s Qods Force disseminated false reports alleging collusion between the dissidents and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), to justify attacking the dissidents in their residences at Camp Liberty, Iraq.
