News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- U.S. and Allies Extend Iran Nuclear Talks by 7 Months - David E. Sanger and Michael R. Gordon
A year-long effort to reach an enduring accord with Iran to dismantle large parts of its nuclear infrastructure fell short on Monday, forcing the U.S. and its allies to declare a seven-month extension, but with no clear indication of why they think they can ultimately overcome the political obstacles that have so far blocked a deal.
In agreeing to extend the existing interim agreement, Iran assured a continuation of the sanctions relief that had brought it $700 million a month in money that had been frozen abroad. However, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has yet to signal that he is prepared to make the kind of far-reaching cuts in Iran's enrichment ability that Washington has demanded to seal an accord.
(New York Times)
- Israel Greets Extension of Iran Nuclear Talks with Relief - William Booth
Israel's leaders have been insisting for months that "no deal is better than a bad deal with Iran," and so a decision Monday to extend negotiations between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program was greeted in Jerusalem with relief. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the BBC: "The fact that there's no deal now gives [the U.S.] the opportunity to continue the economic pressures that have proven to be the only thing that have brought Iran to the table." Netanyahu said he thought the current sanctions against Iran should not only be maintained but tightened in the coming months as talks continue with a new deadline of July 2015.
(Washington Post)
- Ayatollah Khamenei: West Will Not Defeat Iran on Nuclear Issue
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
said Tuesday: "On the nuclear issue, the United States and European colonialist countries gathered and applied their entire efforts to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees but they could not and they will not." (AP-Washington Post)
See also
Revolutionary Guards Commander: "Americans Have Very Clearly Surrendered to Iran's Might"
The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari,
said Monday: "The Americans have very clearly surrendered to Iran's might and this is obvious in their behavior in the region and in the negotiations." Jafari warned that any U.S. aggression against Iran will result in the liberation of the occupied territories of Palestine by Iranian troops. He added that the entire region is within the range of resistance groups' missiles, "and the final victory will certainly occur." "Exporting the Islamic Revolution to the world, the country's full and sustainable security and its pride and honor are the achievements gained as a result of the blood of our martyrs." (Fars-Iran)
- AIPAC Urges New Sanctions in Wake of Iran Talks Extension
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee said Monday that with the extension of the deadline for nuclear talks, "It is now essential that Congress take up new bipartisan sanctions legislation to let Tehran know that it will face much more severe pressure if it does not clearly abandon its nuclear weapons program."
"Congress delayed enacting additional sanctions over the past year to give negotiations a chance....We urge Congress to play its traditional and critical role to ensure that a final agreement truly eliminates any path for Iran to build a nuclear weapon."
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, suggested Monday that he would back a bid to pass new sanctions. "The cycle of negotiations, followed by an extension, coupled with sanctions relief for Iran has not succeeded....I intend to work with my Senate colleagues in a bipartisan manner in the coming weeks to ensure that Iran comprehends that we will not ever permit it to become a threshold nuclear state."
(JTA)
- UK Secret Services Foiled 40 Terror Plots since 2005 London Bombings - Matt Chorley
Police and security services have thwarted 40 terrorist plots in Britain since the July 7, 2005, attacks, British Home Secretary Theresa May revealed Monday. The foiled atrocities included "marauding" "Mumbai-style" gun attacks, an attempt to blow up the London Stock Exchange and airplanes, and attempts to murder troops and a British ambassador. (Daily Mail-UK)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Two Jewish Men Stabbed by Arabs in Jerusalem's Old City - Lazar Berman
Two yeshiva students were stabbed Monday night in Jerusalem's Old City by Arab youths.
(Times of Israel)
- Israeli Defense Minister Ya'alon: "Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Hagel a True Friend of Israel"
Following the resignation of U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said:
"Chuck Hagel is a true friend of Israel....Chuck Hagel and the U.S. security establishment under his command is an example of uncompromising support, and exchange of information and the extensive and valuable military assistance that the U.S. has provided Israel. In the name of the government of Israel and on behalf of its citizens, I would like to thank Chuck Hagel for his contribution to the empowerment of Israel and his friendship and willingness to help at any time."
(Jerusalem Post)
- Temple Mount Activist Released from Hospital, Lauds Arab Medical Staff - Nir Hasson
Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick, released from the hospital 25 days after a Palestinian tried to assassinate him as he was leaving Jerusalem's Menachem Begin Heritage Center, thanked both Arab and Jewish medical staff on Monday. "Prof. Firas [Abu Akar] who sewed up my chest, an intensive-care unit staffer named Mohammed who cared for me with great devotion - Jews and Arabs all serve side by side with the same dedication and the same enthusiasm," he said. "The Muslim doctors and nurses who work in the hospital are the people who honor their religion, not the man who shot me." (Ha'aretz)
- Israeli Satellites See Everything at Any Time - Ami Rojkes Dombe
Israel's Ofek-10 satellite, launched into orbit in April, is the second generation (TecSAR-2) of radar payload satellites manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). SAR satellites can produce images during the day or night under any weather and visibility conditions. (Israel Defense)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
- Iran Gets Seven More Months to Build a Bomb and Erode Sanctions - Editorial
The best that can be said about Monday's agreement to extend the Iran nuclear negotiations for another seven months is that it's better than the bad deal that so many in the West seem eager to embrace. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its European partners are giving Tehran more time and money to get closer to the nuclear threshold. If a breakthrough is so close, then why seven more months?
The Administration says the eased sanctions in the interim agreement give Iran $700 million in additional oil revenue every month, but the U.S. is understating the financial relief. A study from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Roubini Global Economics says Iran has received some $22 billion directly in the past year. Iran is also evading the oil export restrictions. The longer the interim deal continues, the more confident Tehran will become that the sanctions can never be reimposed.
(Wall Street Journal)
See also Iran Cheats - Bret Stephens
Does it matter what sort of deal - or further extension, or non-deal - ultimately emerges from the endless parleys over Iran's nuclear program? Probably not. Iran came to the table cheating on its nuclear commitments. It continued to cheat on them throughout the interim agreement it agreed to last year. And it will cheat on any undertakings it signs.
Yukiya Amano, the director general of the IAEA, complained last week that Iran had "not provided any explanations that enable the Agency to clarify the outstanding practical measures" related to suspected work on weaponization.
(Wall Street Journal)
- The Pro-Sanctions, Anti-Iran Contingent Grows in the Senate - Jennifer Rubin
43 Senate Republicans signed onto a letter to the president drafted by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) expressing alarm about "recent developments in your administration's policy toward Iran." "Your negotiators appear to have disregarded clear expressions from the Senate emphasizing the need for a multi-decade agreement requiring Iran to fully suspend its enrichment and reprocessing activities, to dismantle its illicit nuclear infrastructure, and completely disclose its past work on nuclear weaponization. We see no indication your negotiators are pressing Iran to abandon efforts to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach American soil."
"We will continue to seek to impose additional pressure on Iran in the months ahead unless Tehran abandons its nuclear ambitions and pursues a genuinely constructive path in its relations with the world." With a new Senate, the pro-sanctions, tough-on-Iran group will grow. Seven of the 12 new senators voted for the House version of the Iran sanctions measure. The remaining five Republicans all ran against Obama's Iran policy.
Once the new Senate arrives, there will be no Majority Leader Harry Reid to quash sanctions votes. That should free up at least 11 Democrats to join Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) in sanctions legislation. (Washington Post)
- Beware of the Iran-Sudan Partnership - Laura Grossman
A leaked document from the minutes of Sudan's Joint Military and Security Committee meeting held on August 31 reveals ongoing Iranian involvement in Sudan's security structures. According to Minister of Defense General Abd al-Rahim Mohammed Hussein, "there is one full battalion of the [Iranian] Republican Guards...and other experts who are constructing interception and spying bases in order to protect us, plus an advanced air defense system." "They built for us Kenana and Jebel Awliya Air Force bases. One month ago they transported to us missile launchers and their rockets using civil aviation planes. We stored them in Kenana and sold part of them to Qatar to support Libya fighters after they were subjected to attacks by the Egyptian and Emirates air forces." The writer is deputy director for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. (National Interest)
Observations:
Why the Iranian Nuclear Deal Didn't Happen - Aaron David Miller and Jason Brodsky (Foreign Policy)
- The president and foreign minister of Iran may be moderates, but they are not free agents. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the final arbiter on all matters of state. It has been Khamenei calling the shots throughout this entire process.
- Sanctions may have brought the mullahs to the table, but that doesn't mean that they can force a deal. Tehran has been nimble in finding loopholes to lessen the bite of sanctions. There are new indications that Iran's economy is rebounding.
- The supreme leader has consistently coupled the nuclear file with the Islamic Republic's perennial quest for dignity.
According to an internal IAEA document, Khamenei told a high-level meeting at the presidential palace in Tehran
in April 1984 that launching a nuclear weapons program "was the only way to secure the very essence of the Islamic Revolution from the schemes of its enemies, especially the United States and Israel, and to prepare it for the emergence of Imam Mehdi."
When Gallup asked ordinary Iranian citizens in 2013 whether it was worth continuing to develop the nuclear power program, 63% said yes.
- Iran is playing for time. Thus any comprehensive agreement is, by definition, interim. Iran wants to preserve as much of its nuclear weapons capacity as possible and free itself from as much of the sanctions regime as it can.
- The mullahs see Iran's status as a nuclear weapons state as a hedge against regime change and as consistent with its regional status as a great power. That's why it isn't prepared to do a deal. It's hard to believe that another seven months is going to somehow fix that problem.
Aaron David Miller is a distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where Jason Brodsky is a research associate.
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