Stories related to: Iran

The way to pressure Iran into halting its nuclear program is through economic sanctions, Sen. Chuck Schumer argues in the Wall Street Journal . And the key to giving them teeth is to enlist Russia's cooperation. "To bring Putin's Russia on board we must make it an offer it cannot refuse," the New York Democrat writes. More »

Iran isn’t interested in nuclear weapons, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proclaimed in a speech today, but will pursue its nuclear energy program despite international pressure. “No wise nation would be interested in making a nuclear weapon today,” said Iran’s supreme leader. “They are against rational thought.” Just days ago the UN’s atomic watchdog group expressed “serious concern” about Iran’s nuclear programs including work in warheads, and urged “full disclosure.” More »

John McCain smacked Barack Obama on Iran today, telling a pro-Israel lobbying group the Democrat wanted to meet with “the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism … as if it were some sudden inspiration.” As the Republican proposed to lead a world divestment campaign echoing that against South African apartheid, he said a President Obama, meanwhile, would get “an earful of anti-Semitic rants.” More »

Barack Obama can berate President Bush for refusing to "sit down with" Iran, and John McCain can beat up Obama for proposing to do just that, but the fact is that every administration in the past 30 years has tried talking to Iran—without preconditions—and been rejected. Including Condoleezza Rice, who worked in the White House at the time and has written a book about Iran, writes Amer Taheri in the Wall Street Journal . More »

Iranian lawmakers seemingly made their displeasure with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad known today, selecting rival Ali Larijani as speaker of parliament. Larijani ran against Ahmadinejad in 2005, and the two have often clashed since, the Los Angeles Times reports. As Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Larijani was often frustrated by the president’s inflammatory rhetoric, underlining what analysts see as a clash in style rather than substance. More »

John McCain called for a new nuclear arms pact with Russia and said the US should show more "broad-minded internationalism" to reduce weapons around the world. McCain seemed to distance himself from President Bush's policies, and he took a veiled swipe at Barack Obama for the notion that sitting down with "hostile governments" is all that's necessary to rein in nuclear programs, the Chicago Tribune reports. More »

The UN's nuclear watchdog blasted Tehran today for hiding data on its nuclear weapons program, BBC reports. The UN said Iran had blocked access to documents and experts while running 3,500 centrifuges, which can enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. Iran quickly vowed to keep enriching uranium and said it had "left no question unanswered." More »

Joe Biden takes on Senate colleague Joe Lieberman in the Wall Street Journal today. Lieberman charged earlier this week that Democrats have lost the thread on FDR-style internationalism; Biden counters that it’s Bush who's lost it, with careless saber-rattling and a poorly targeted war on terror, both of which John McCain would perpetuate. Sending the right global signals requires “more than a great solider," he writes. "It will require a wise leader." More »

Israel and Syria have been holding secret peace talks, with Turkey as the middleman, the two sides announced today, acknowledging for the first time the long-rumored negotiations. Syria is technically at war with Israel over the Golan Heights, which the Israelis seized in 1967. Israel is ready to give the Golan back, the BBC reports, if Syria will sever ties with Iran and Hezbollah. More »

The White House went after NBC yesterday, accusing the network of doctoring a recent interview with President Bush, the Hill reports. Asked if comments about Iran were directed at Democratic candidate Barack Obama, Bush declined to answer directly, but White House counselor Ed Gillespie says the interview was purposely edited to make it appear as though Bush was affirming that speculation. More »

Barack Obama 1, Republicans 0—and on foreign policy, no less. Michael Tomasky marvels in the Guardian at Obama's recent clash with President Bush, who blasted Obama for proposing talks with Iran "without preconditions." Aren't Democrats supposed to be easy targets on foreign policy? Apparently not when they fire back boldly, bring up Bush's Iraq lies, and tell voters, "They're trying to scare you." More »

Democrats stood shoulder-to-shoulder in fury yesterday to lash President Bush for indicating that Barack Obama is like a Nazi appeaser because he supports outreach to countries like Iran. Even Hillary Clinton leaped to her rival's defense, Reuters reports. "President Bush's comparison of any Democrat to Nazi appeasers is both offensive and outrageous," Clinton said. More »

John McCain today hit Barack Obama harder than ever, Talking Points Memo notes, saying the Democrat’s willingness to talk with Iran proves he “does not have the knowledge, the experience, the background to make the kind of judgments that are necessary to preserve this nation’s security.” Of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, McCain wondered, “What is it that he wants to talk about with him?” More »

It’s heading for general election time, and Adam Reilly of the Boston Phoenix wants the press to wake up and start laying in to McCain. Here’s how: The economy. McCain reportedly said he “doesn’t really understand economics” in January. Has he boned up since then? Islam. The candidate doesn’t seem to understand the difference between Sunni and Shia, and has said he’d tell the sects to “stop the bullshit.” More »

He didn't name names, but he didn't need to. President Bush used an appearance before Israel’s Knesset today to accuse Barack Obama of the “foolish delusion” that “we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals.” In comments aimed at Obama’s support among American Jews, CNN notes, the president compared the Democrat to Hitler appeasers, saying, "We have an obligation to call this what it is—the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history." More »

The new cold war is being waged between America and Iran, and Iran is winning hands down, Thomas L Friedman writes in the New York Times . Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nation has built up influence from Iraq to Lebanon, with power over Iraq's prime minister, Hezbollah, Hamas, and other militias—and a complicated set of safeguards against attack. More »

American victims of attacks in Israel are suing Switzerland's biggest bank for helping fund militants by providing money to Iran, Reuters reports. The lawsuit says UBS AG gave loans to Iran even though it supports Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad. The plaintiffs seek $500 million in damages for some 50 US citizens who were hurt or whose relatives were killed in attacks between 1997 and 2006. More »

Hezbollah’s takeover of Beirut is nothing less than an “armed coup,” Lebanon’s ruling party said today. “The armed and bloody coup which is being implemented aims to return Syria to Lebanon and extend Iran's reach to the Mediterranean,” one official in the US-backed government said. The militant group made further progress, the New York Times reports, with troops loyal to the government disappearing and Hezbollah knocking state TV off the air. More »

What began as a strike yesterday is now “open war” in Lebanon, according to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, CNN reports. Open violence continued for a second day today, with loyalists and opposition fighters clashing after the US-backed government tried to muscle through measures against Hezbollah on Monday, including a crackdown on the Syria- and Iran-friendly group’s communications network. More »

One of the suicide bombers responsible for a series of attacks in the Iraqi city of Mosul last month is a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, reports the New York Times. The Kuwaiti, originally detained in Afghanistan, is said to have traveled to Iraq via Syria to join jihadists after his release in 2005. Several Gitmo detainees are known to have returned to insurgent status, officials say. More »