(Reuters) – The United States is disappointed with Iran’s failure to engage with a U.N. nuclear agency investigation into suspected atomic bomb research, a U.S. envoy said on Monday.
Western officials say Iran must improve cooperation with the long-running International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inquiry as part of a broader diplomatic settlement which Tehran and six world powers aim to reach by a self-imposed Nov. 24 deadline.
Source: The Washington Post
By Carol Morelo
For the six global powers in talks with Iran, the goals have always been clear — blocking Iran’s path to a nuclear bomb while eventually lifting sanctions that have hobbled its economy and caused hardship for the Iranian people.
But as negotiators gather in Vienna this week in one last push for a deal, decades of mutual mistrust and years of Iranian obfuscation on its nuclear program may be proving too much to surmount.
Source: Fox News
On Friday, the Center for Security Policy released a letter signed by 17 prominent security policy practitioners and other national leaders denouncing the Obama administration’s conduct of thenuclear talks with Iran and the seriously defective deal and any agreements that are likely to emerge from them, the Center for Security Policy reported via email communications.he letter addressed to U.S. House Speaker Boehner, U.S. Senators Reid and McConnell, and Congresswoman Pelosi and the rest ofCongress to repudiate this year’s nuclear diplomacy with Iran and dissects the terms of the agreement it is reportedly producing. The authors believe the United States and its Western allies have already given away too much to Iran and still more concessions appear to be in the offing.
Source: Reuters
By: BABAK DEHGHANPISHED
BAGHDAD – Among the thousands of militia fighters who flocked to northern Iraq to battle the extremist Islamic State group over the summer was Qais al-Khazali.
Like the fighters, al-Khazali wore green camouflage. But he also sported a shoulder-strapped pistol and sunglasses and was flanked by armed bodyguards. When he was not on the battlefield, the 40-year-old Iraqi donned the robes and white turban of a cleric.
Source: The Washington Times
By: John Solomon
Even as it pursues an 11th hour deal to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the Obama administration is doing a poor job policing U.S. nuclear technology exports to ensure they don’t fall into the hands of foreign enemies looking to make weapons, investigators have found.
Source: The Los Angeles Times
By: PAUL RICHTER
the latest obstacle to the U.S. and five other nations finalizing a nuclear deal with Iran by this month’s deadline is an unexpected new demand from Tehran for quick relief from United Nations sanctions.
For most of the last nine months of negotiations, Iran and a diplomatic bloc of six world powers have focused on first easing unilateral economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and European nations. Under the talks, if Iran accepts restrictions intended to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon, the U.S. and other countries would begin lifting sanctions designed to cripple Iran’s oil and financial industries.
Source:The MARITIME EXECUTIVE
South Korea’s imports of Iranian crude in the first 10 months of 2014 were below the 2013 average, meeting international sanction requirements, and it imported nearly 120,000 tonnes from the United States as it brought the first Alaskan crude in a decade.
Preliminary customs data from the world’s fifth-largest crude importer showed on Saturday that Seoul bought 283,287 tonnes of crude oil from Tehran last month, or 66,984 barrels per day (bpd), compared with 420,402 tonnes the year before.
Source: CCTV AMERICA
the price of U.S. crude has slumped below $75 a barrel, a four year low. While that’s good news for drivers, it’s not so good for oil-exporting nations such as Iran. The country is already exporting lower levels of oil due to international sanctions. CCTV America’s Nathan King reported the story from Washington D.C.
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the amphibious transport ship USS Ponce has been patrolling with a prototype 30-kilowatt-classLaser Weapon System since late August, according to officials. The laser is mounted facing the bow, and can be fired in several modes — from a dazzling warning flash to a destructive beam — and can set a drone or small boat on fire.
PARIS (Reuters) – France said on Thursday that important questions still needed to be resolved regarding Iran’s nuclear programme but that it hoped to reach an agreement by Nov. 24.
