Bloomberg: The Obama administration is on the defensive days before Iran nuclear negotiations are scheduled to resume in Geneva, as critics in Israel and in the U.S. Congress say Iran would concede too little and gain too much from an easing of international economic sanctions.
Obama defends Iran dealmaking amid dispute over relief
France assures Israel it will stand firm on Iran deal
Reuters: President Francois Hollande assured Israel on Sunday that France would continue to oppose an easing of economic sanctions against Iran until it was convinced Tehran had ended a pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Iran says next nuclear talks will be ‘difficult’
AFP: Iran said Sunday nuclear talks with world powers this week will be “difficult,” as France made four demands for a deal with Tehran and Israel warned against a “nightmare” accord.
Iran has never been ready for a nuclear deal
Al-Arabiya: The fact is that for Iranian leaders, becoming a nuclear power is paramount, allowing Tehran to exercise its hegemonic ambitions in the region. It is also viewed as a powerful tool for deterrence and the means for the ruling clerics to survive.
Nobel Prize-winning British author Doris Lessing dies at 94
AFP: British author Doris Lessing, whose powerful feminist and anti-colonial writing won her the Nobel Prize in Literature, died on Sunday at the age of 94. Born in what is now Iran in 1919, Lessing was raised by British parents in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.
Iran’s parliament approves final Rouhani minister
AP: Goudarzi is a 58-year-old Tehran University professor in physical education planning. He is not a major figure in any political faction, although he was a member of the Revolutionary Guards in the early 1980s.
Hollande heads to Israel ahead of Iran talks
AFP: French President Francois Hollande heads to Israel on Sunday hoping to give a push to stalled peace talks with the Palestinians despite Israel’s preoccupation with negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Israeli president warns over nuclear-armed Iran
AFP: Countries across the Middle East will want to acquire nuclear weapons if Iran is allowed to develop an atomic bomb, Israel’s president told a French newspaper ahead of a meeting Sunday with his French counterpart.
Camp Ashraf residents taken hostage twice by Iraqi government
NewsBlaze: Here is an interview with a former hostage who was abducted by Iraqi forces on the previous attack on Camp Ashraf in 2009. They are now dealing again with a similar hostage taking by the Iraqi government after 4 years. This conversation might be of interest to NewsBlaze readers.
Brutal regime has to change
Ham & High: Lord (Anthony) Clarke of Hampstead, 81, a life peer and former Labour Party chairman, writes about the brutal killing of Iranian dissidents in Iraq and calls on Prime Minster David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague to “open their eyes” over the future of Iran
