AP: Diplomats say Iran continues to resist efforts to crimp nuclear activities that could be used to make weapons, with the clock ticking down on a July 20 target date for a deal. As experts for both sides meet Monday, two diplomats say that a draft agreement still contains large blanks, reflecting disagreement on constraints Iran can accept in exchange for an end to sanctions.
Diplomats: Iran nuke talks make little progress
Iran said to name U.S.-trained economist its new UN envoy
Bloomberg: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani may name his American-educated chief of staff to be the country’s next envoy to the United Nations, after the U.S. denied a visa to his previous choice. In April, the Obama administration denied a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi after Bloomberg News reported on his involvement with the militant group that seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
Obama tested by Iran
The Hill: The Obama administration faces a major test of its foreign policy later this month as negotiators push to complete a deal that would prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. A July 20 deadline for completing the deal is fast approaching. And regardless of whether there’s a deal, no deal or an extension of talks, Congress may threaten to impose more sanctions on Iran.
Iranian pilot killed fighting in Iraq
Al Jazeera: An Iranian pilot has been killed while fighting in Iraq, in what is thought to be the first military casualty that Tehran officially acknowledged during battles against Sunni fighters led by the Islamic State group. Iran’s official IRNA news agency said on Saturday that Colonel Shoja’at Alamdari Mourjani was killed while “defending” the Shia Muslim holy sites in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.
Why we stuck with Maliki — and lost Iraq
Washington Post: To understand why Iraq is imploding, you must understand Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — and why the United States has supported him since 2006. With Iran’s assistance, Dawa operatives bombed the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut in 1981 in one of radical Islam’s first suicide attacks. They also bombed the American and French embassies in Kuwait and schemed to kill the emir. By 2010 I had come to realize that if he remained in office, he would create a divisive, despotic and sectarian government that would rip the country apart and devastate American interests.
Iran opposition compares its struggle to the American Revolution
Fox News: The leader of the Iranian opposition likens its goal to overthrow the regime in Tehran to the war for American independence from Britain, the struggle to abolish slavery in the U.S. and the birth of the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. “I am confident that the Iranian resistance, which seeks the proven values of advanced societies, will reach its goal of a free, prosperous, democratic, just and non-nuclear Iran,” declared Maryam Rajavi.
Jarba insists Iran behind rise of ISIS
Daily Star: Syrian National Coalition President Ahmad Jarba said that the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) represented a serious threat to the entire Arab region. Jarba stressed that the SNC’s position on ISIS “has been clear since day one: This is a tool being used by the Iranians and the Syrian regime, and it does not hesitate to murder, slaughter, and terrorize.”
Iran overplays its hand
Washington Post: With the sudden rise of the terrorist Islamic State , a little-noted aspect is that Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the supposed strategic genius of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, has blundered disastrously. By overreaching in Iraq and Syria and triggering a violent reaction, Iran now faces dangerous instability on its border for years to come.
US: ‘Significant’ issues remain in Iran nuke talks
The Hill: Iran must still resolve “significant” concerns over its nuclear program before any deal can be struck, a senior administration official said Thursday, as talks neared a self-imposed July 20 deadline. Diplomats have a little over two weeks to reach an accord to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting crippling international economic sanctions.
Iraqi Kurdish leader urges independence referendum
AP: With large parts of Iraq in militant hands, a top Kurdish leader called on regional lawmakers Thursday to lay the groundwork for a referendum on independence, a vote that would likely spell the end of a unified Iraq. The president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Massoud Barzani, told lawmakers to set up an electoral commission to “hurry up” and prepare for “a referendum on self-determination.”
