Iran's Nuclear Ambitions

[Brian Baldwin]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,164929,00.html

Iran Rejects European Nuke Proposal

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran rejected Europe's proposal for ending the standoff over Tehran's nuclear program, saying Saturday it was "unacceptable" because it did not give the country the right to enrich uranium.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the package of incentives offered fell short of Iran's "minimum expectations" and the government would send its official rejection to the Europeans later Saturday or Sunday.

"The European proposals are unacceptable ... the package is against the spirit of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and against the provisions of the Paris agreement," he said on state radio. "The proposals do not meet Iran's minimum expectations."

The Paris Agreement was reached between Iran and Britain, France and Germany — the three European countries negotiating on behalf of the 25-member European Union. Under the deal, signed in November in Paris, Iran agreed to continue suspension of uranium enrichment and all related activities, including uranium conversion, until negotiations proceed for a political settlement.

Enriched uranium can be used in the production of nuclear energy or nuclear weapons.

Iran has accused the Europeans of wasting time, saying continued suspension depended on progress in the talks. Tehran says failure to make progress in talks does not prevent it from reopening the Isfahan uranium conversion facility.

The French, British and German foreign ministries declined to comment until they had received and studied Iran's response, spokesmen said.

Asefi said the primary reason for Iran's rejection was the European failure to include Tehran's right to enrich uranium.

"We had already announced that any plan has to recognize Iran's right to enrich uranium," he said.

New Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Saturday that his foreign policy would focus on good relations with the rest of the world, but he rejected outside pressure on his government to change course — an apparent reference to the growing international confrontation over Iran's nuclear program.

Without directly mentioning the controversy, Ahmadinejad said his government respected international norms but "would not follow illegal decisions that violate rights of the Iranian nation."

"I don't know why some countries do not want to understand the fact that the Iranian people do not tolerate force," Ahmadinejad said.

On Friday, the Europeans sought to entice Iran into a binding commitment not to build atomic arms by offering to provide fuel and other long-term support to help Iranians generate electricity with nuclear energy.

The proposal did not mention the previous agreement that allowed Iran to enrich uranium. Iran also insists it has a right to enrich uranium under the treaty.

The Bush administration backed the European offer, which came as a diplomatic effort to persuade North Korea into giving up its atomic weapons program stalled.

The European proposal offered greater economic, political and security cooperation if Iran agreed to the plan.

Iran has long claimed its nuclear program was solely for the peaceful production of electricity, even though it has vast oil reserves. Washington charged the real aim was to produce arms. The discovery of clandestine aspects of Iran's program raised worries among other nations and pressure had mounted on Iran.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said it would hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss safeguards in Iran. The agency has repeatedly warned Iran not to resume uranium conversion at its facility at Isfahan until an IAEA monitoring system is in place.

The facility converts raw uranium, known as yellow cake, into a gas that is the feedstock for enrichment. The IAEA board could refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for consideration of sanctions.

Asefi said the meeting will have no legal justification.

"It's to bring political pressure on Iran. It's a psychological war," he said.

A summary of the EU proposal said the Europeans acknowledged Iran's right to nuclear energy and promised to help it develop "a safe, economically viable and proliferation-proof civil nuclear power generation and research program."

The 34-page proposal promised Iran a long-term supply of enriched uranium from other countries, on condition that spent fuel was returned. Iran also could buy peaceful nuclear technology, opening the door to such deals as Russia's $800-million contract to build a reactor in the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr and supply fuel.

In return, the Europeans called on Iran to make a "legally binding commitment not to withdraw" from the nuclear treaty, as North Korea did, and to agree to permit surprise inspections by the IAEA and abandon all uranium activities, including conversion, enrichment and reprocessing.

The EU nations also say Iran must stop construction of its heavy water research reactor in the city of Arak. Nuclear experts consider heavy water reactors a danger because they use higher-grade plutonium suitable for weapons use.

They say the Arak reactor can yield enough plutonium from spent fuel to make one atomic bomb a year.

Maybe now Europe will begin to see the futility of trying to negotiate with fanatics...

Nah. They're a bit thick.

Brian

[American Patriot]

RED LINE! Iran Now Able To Produce A Nuclear Bomb

Posted on January 30, 2014 by World Chaos News
NTEB News Desk - For the past 5 years, US occupying president Barack Hussein Obama has done a political tap dance on par with anything that Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire did on the ballroom floor in their primes. Obama has nearly single-handedly coddled, cajoled and maneuvered world leaders and situations to allow Iran all the time and space they needed to bring nuclear reactors online and create the bomb(s) that will be fired at Israel. Critical mass has been achieved with today’s announcement from US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper that Iran can now build the bombs that Hillary, Obama and others promised would never be built. Read in browser

[American Patriot]

Obama’s grim warning to Congress: New Iran sanctions will lead to war

Obama’s grim warning to Congress: New Iran sanctions will lead to war, Washington Times, Ben Wolfgang, January 16, 2015
(The article does not indicate who Obama thinks might start such a war — Iran, Israel or the United States, for example. — DM)
President Obama warned Congress Friday that new economic sanctions against Iran could lead directly to war, and British Prime Minister David Cameron said he’s personally appealing to top lawmakers to hold off and allow diplomatic negotiations with Iran to play out.
At a news conference in the White House, both leaders pleaded with congressional leaders to wait just a few more months before pursuing new sanctions against Iran. Mr. Cameron said such action would splinter the international community, which right now is unified against Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
But Mr. Obama was even more direct, warning the American people that their representatives on Capitol Hill could plunge the U.S. into another war in the Middle East by pushing another round of sanctions.
“I’ve consistently said we leave all options on the table. But Congress should be aware that if this diplomatic solution fails, than the risks and likelihood this ends up at some point a military confrontation is heightened. And Congress will have to own that as well,” the president said. “And we may not be able to rebuild the kind of coalition we need in that context if the world believes we were not serious about negotiations.”
The U.S., Britain and its allies in the so-called P5 plus 1 — Russia, China, France and Germany — in 2013 secured a deal that halted some parts of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some economic sanctions against the country. The two sides still have not reached a final agreement.
The deadline for a final deal has been extended twice, with the next deadline looming in June.
But some lawmakers believe now is the time to double down on economic sanctions against Iran, even as diplomatic talks continue. There is support in both parties for more sanctions.
While in Washington this week, Mr. Cameron said that he’s personally appealed to members of the Senate to take additional sanctions off the table right now.
“I have contacted a couple of senators this morning and I may speak to one or two more this afternoon — not in any way as the British prime minister to tell the American Senate what it should or shouldn’t do. That wouldn’t be right,” he said. “But simply to make the point that as a country that stands alongside America in these vital negotiations that it is the opinion of the United Kingdom that further sanctions of the further threat of sanctions at this point won’t actually help bring the talks to a successful conclusion and they could fracture the international unity there has been.”

[Malsua]

So the president is for loosening controls on nuclear ambitious Iran? Got it.

[vector7]

Flashback:

March 26, 2014

All in the family: Valerie Jarrett and the Chicago communists

By Thomas Lifson

Valerie Jarrett is the most powerful figure in the White House, rivalling President Obama in the scope of her influence over the fate of the Republic. Her personal Secret Service detail attests to the importance of her role in our government – in a position that is unelected and unconfirmed by the Senate. She has served as the godmother of Barack Obama’s political and personal life, from introducing him to his future wife Michelle Robinson to integrating him into Chicago’s political machine and power structure.

Professor Paul Kengor provides fascinating details about her background, and that of other key members of Obama’s Chicago circle, in an interview with Jamie Glazov of Front Page Magazine. The entire interview should be read, but here are some key excerpts of information that ought to receive far wider public scrutiny.

She was born in Shiraz, Iran in November 1956, the time of the Suez crisis. She was born Valerie Bowman to American parents—Dr. James E. Bowman and Barbara Taylor Bowman. Her father was a pathologist and geneticist at a children’s hospital in Shiraz as part of a U.S. aid program to assist developing countries. The family eventually returned to America, specifically Chicago, in 1963. Her mother was a child psychologist who helped establish the Erikson Institute, which (Hillary Clinton-like) specialized in “child advocacy.” The Erikson Institute got funding from the Woods Charitable Fund. If that sounds familiar to readers here, it’s because Barack Obama and Bill Ayers eventually served together as board members at Woods.

Now her Chicago roots are more disturbing — and indicative of her ideology. They also connect her to Obama and his ideological roots.

Valerie’s maternal grandparents were Robert Rochon Taylor and Dorothy Taylor. Robert was the first African-American head of the Chicago Housing Authority. Dorothy, a native of Berkeley, was active in early Planned Parenthood. That’s ironic, given Margaret Sanger’s “Negro Project,” her 1926 speech to a KKK rally in Silverlake, New Jersey, and her championing of racial-eugenics. Then again, Sanger’s penchant for “race improvement” has never halted liberals’ veneration of her.

In Chicago, Jarrett’s family joined a circle with some other interesting characters:

Frank Marshall Davis was an African-American born in Kansas in 1905 who eventually moved to Chicago and joined Communist Party USA. Notably, he joined the party after the signing of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, a time when many American communists, particularly Jewish-American communists, left the party. They left because Stalin’s signing of the pact facilitated and enabled Hitler’s invasion of Poland and start of World War II. Frank Marshall Davis, however, was undeterred. He joined after the pact.

Worse, Davis, in Chicago, worked for one of the most egregious communist fronts in the history of this country: the American Peace Mobilization. Congress called the American Peace Mobilization “one of the most notorious and blatantly communist fronts ever organized in this country” and “one of the most seditious organizations which ever operated in the United States.” The group’s objective was to stop the United States from entering the war against Hitler—again, because Hitler and Stalin were allies. American communists were allows loyal Soviet patriots. They literally swore allegiance to the USSR and its line.

In my book Dupes, I publish the original Soviet Comintern document acknowledging that the American Peace Mobilization was founded on the Comintern’s initiative in Chicago in September 1940. There, the Comintern and Communist Party USA attempted to organize a coalition of leftists and “progressives” who would keep America out of the war and out of any support for Britain or anyone opposing Hitler and Stalin—who, again, were allies.

Okay, how does this involve Valerie Jarrett? Jarrett’s grandfather, Robert Taylor, was involved with the American Peace Mobilization, as was Frank Marshall Davis.
Taylor also served with Davis on another communist front, the Chicago Civil Liberties Committee, whose members masqueraded as civil-rights crusading “progressives.” The two served on the board together.

And there’s more. Valerie Jarrett has additional family roots in these things. Both Taylor (Jarrett’s grandfather) and Frank Marshall Davis—who would one day meet and become a mentor to a young Barack Obama in Hawaii in the 1970s—would have often encountered another politically active Chicagoan, Vernon Jarrett. In fact, Vernon Jarrett and Frank Marshall Davis worked together on the very small publicity team (a handful of people) of the communist-controlled Packinghouse Workers Union.

Who was Vernon Jarrett? He would one day become Valerie Jarrett’s father-in-law.

So, to sum up, Obama’s mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, worked with the literal relatives of Valerie Jarrett—her grandfather and future father-in-law—in Chicago’s Communist Party circles in the 1940s.

Now all of this is obviously pure coincidence. To suggest otherwise would result in being branded a conspiracy theorist. Professor Kengor studiously avoids suggesting any such thing, and sticks to the facts. Because everyone knows there was never a communist conspiracy. And Barack Obama’s life story is completely transparent.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/...#ixzz3P1i6vOWH
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[American Patriot]

The world is a different place this morning. No bombs went off. There were no terror attacks for 24 hours.

But the US gave in, caved on the Iranian nuclear plants.

The Russians and French had gone home. The US stayed behind with John Kerry and Kerry bent the USA over and let Iran take her from behind.

A deal was made that gives Iran pretty much everything they wanted. Congress (specifically the democraps) will NOT now go against the deal.

The Iranians will now be able to build those bombs they so much want to have (and probably ALREADY have by the way). All they have to do now is to assemble and test the equipment we KNOW they have.

Essentially John Kerry has paved the way for Iran to build, and use, nuclear weapons. He has paved the way for Iran to destroy Israel (but we all know Israel will retaliate and do so in an overwhelming manner). Kerry has given a tacit agreement that the Middle East can now start a nuclear arms race that hasn't been seen since the 1940s and 1950s.

[Malsua]

But look on the positive side. Now we're all equal. Head hackers and gay hangers are morally equivalent to us so why shouldn't they have the bomb? What could possibly go wrong?

[vector7]

Iran Triumphant: Nuclear Deal Capitulates To Nearly All Iranian Demands



by John Hayward2 Apr 20151431

A beaming Iranian foreign minister emerged from the meeting rooms in Switzerland to announce that all of the theocracy’s major demands had been met. According to the new provisions released on the nuclear deal, Iran will get to both keep active its centrifuges and receive sanctions relief.

The State Department has released a “fact sheet” highlighting the various points of the deal. Sanctions against will be lifted immediately, and probably forever. Iran gets to keep a huge number of its nuclear centrifuges spinning, including a thousand of them at the previously hidden and illegal fortified bunker of Fordo, which is supposed to become a “peaceful” nuclear, physics, technology, and research center. There are sunset provisions on everything Iran has tentatively agreed to, although in his Rose Garden press conference announcing the deal, Obama claimed they would somehow be “permanently” blocked from various forms of weapons development.

Despite the perpetual complaints from U.N. inspectors that Iran has cheated them, Obama assured us that “if Iran cheats, the world will know.” Since Iran most predictably balks when serious inspection demands are made, this agreement “framework” could yet collapse, a possibility the President briefly mentioned in his remarks. In fact, he made a point of saying “the work is not yet done” on the deal, so we’re back to the announcement-of-a-declaration-of-a-framework-to-have-more-meetings stuff characteristic of these negotiations.

Most of the President’s remarks consisted of declarations about how “historic” the deal was, straw-man false choices about how the only alternative to his deal is an immediate regional war, excuses about how his supposedly awesome bargain with Iran was the best anyone could have managed under impossible circumstances, and loads of rhetoric about how dedicated to Middle Eastern stability he is. There were loads of promises about how inspections would be so rigorous that Iran could not possibly break the deal, even though they have successfully bamboozled, or outright defied, every previous attempt to monitor their nuclear program. The Iranians knew all along that what Obama most desired was an opportunity to give speeches like this. The messy details can be dealt with later.

The President made rhetorical gestures toward the security of American allies such as Israel and Saudi Arabia under the terms of this agreement. The former nation is now headed by the most vindicated man in the world – Benjamin Netanyau predicted the outcome of Obama’s wheeling and dealing with Iran almost to the word. The latter will now scramble to purchase nuclear weapons of its own, as will everyone else who doesn’t want to find out when Iran’s nuclear umbrella will really snap open, or be caught unarmed beneath it.

One curious detail that stood out from the President’s remarks was his assertion that, without this deal, Iran might have been only 2 to 3 monthsaway from having a nuclear weapon. That is the kind of timetable Obama and his spokespeople have been deriding for years as uninformed scaremongering, but now it turns out that wasa reasonable estimate after all?

Obama tried comparing his nuclear deal to Reagan’s arms negotiations with the Soviet Union, which spotlights the most dangerous thing about Obama’s Iran policy: he really thinks the mullahs represent the sort of sane, relatively responsible (if rather aggressive) government, interested in stability and material prosperity, that liberals love to recall their dear departed Soviets as. Note also that liberals most certainly did not think Reagan’s dealings with the Soviets were a model of American statecraft to be emulated at the time.

This is all theater, while the reality of Iranian nuclear weapons moves forward… brought to you by the man who swore in his 2012 re-election campaign that he’d never let it happen, under any circumstances.

Update, 3:30 PM: Just a few minutes after President Obama’s Rose Garden speech listing one sunset expiration date after another for Iran’s nominal concessions, Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters there were no sunset provisions in the deal. It sounds like either the Administration is confused about what they just agreed to, or Kerry and his shop have decided the “sunset” concept is politically troublesome, so they’re trying to redefine what the term means.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei is pretty darn happy about the outcome of these talks…

Update, 4:15 PM: The Israelis sound considerably less pleased than the ayatollah…

Update, 6:30 PM: The Iranians are now accusing the Obama Administration of lying about the terms of the deal, to make it sound tougher to American voters. “There is no need to spin using ‘fact sheets’ so early on,” chided Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif.

The Iranians are really rubbing Obama’s face in it. Even Neville Chamberlain was given some time to parade around with his “peace in our time” paper and collect the applause of deluded elites. Iran didn’t even give Obama three hours.

Iran Accuses U.S. of Lying About New Nuke Agreement

Says White House misleading Congress, American people with fact sheet


Wikimedia commons

BY: Adam Kredo
April 2, 2015 5:40 pm
LAUSANNE, Switzerland —

Just hours after the announcement of what the United States characterized as a historic agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, the country’s leading negotiator lashed out at the Obama administration for lying about the details of a tentative framework.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif accused the Obama administration of misleading the American people and Congress in a fact sheet it released following the culmination of negotiations with the Islamic Republic.

Zarif bragged in an earlier press conference with reporters that the United States had tentatively agreed to let it continue the enrichment of uranium, the key component in a nuclear bomb, as well as key nuclear research.

Zarif additionally said Iran would have all nuclear-related sanctions lifted once a final deal is signed and that the country would not be forced to shut down any of its currently operating nuclear installations.

Following a subsequent press conference by Secretary of State John Kerry—and release of a administration fact sheet on Iranian concessions—Zarif lashed out on Twitter over what he dubbed lies.

“The solutions are good for all, as they stand,” he tweeted. “There is no need to spin using ‘fact sheets’ so early on.”

Zarif went on to push back against claims by Kerry that the sanctions relief would be implemented in a phased fashion—and only after Iran verifies that it is not conducting any work on the nuclear weapons front.

Zarif, echoing previous comments, said the United States has promised an immediate termination of sanctions.

“Iran/5+1 Statement: ‘US will cease the application of ALL nuclear-related secondary economic and financial sanctions.’ Is this gradual?” he wrote on Twitter.

He then suggested a correction: “Iran/P5+1 Statement: ‘The EU will TERMINATE the implementation of ALL nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions’. How about this?”

The pushback from Iran’s chief diplomat follows a pattern of similar accusations by senior Iranian political figures after the announcement of previous agreements.

Following the signing of an interim agreement with Iran aimed at scaling back its nuclear work, Iran accused the United States of lying about details of the agreement.

On Thursday evening, Zarif told reporters the latest agreement allows Iran to keep operating its nuclear program.

“None of those measures” that will move to scale back Iran’s program “include closing any of our facilities,” Zarif said. “We will continue enriching; we will continue research and development.”

“Our heavy water reactor will be modernized and we will continue the Fordow facility,” Zarif said. “We will have centrifuges installed in Fordow, but not enriching.”

The move to allow Iran to keep centrifuges at Fordow, a controversial onetime military site, has elicited concern that Tehran could ramp up its nuclear work with ease.

Zarif said that once a final agreement is made, “all U.S. nuclear related secondary sanctions will be terminated,” he said. “This, I think, would be a major step forward.”

Zarif also revealed that Iran will be allowed to sell “enriched uranium” in the international market place and will be “hopefully making some money” from it.

[vector7]

Joyful Iranians dance into night after nuclear breakthrough


Tehran (AFP) - Hundreds of Iranians took to the streets in Tehran early Friday to celebrate a breakthrough in talks with the West that may end the country's 12-year-long nuclear crisis.

The capital's longest street, Val-e-Asr Avenue, was lined with cars as drivers sounded their horns in approval of a framework deal intended to lead to a comprehensive agreement with world powers in June.

"Whatever the final result of the negotiations, we are winners," 30-year-old Behrang Alavi said on Val-e-Asr at around 1:00 am as the noise reverberated around him.

"Now we will be able to live normally like the rest of the world," he said, as people flashed V-signs for victory and danced while waving white handkerchiefs in a traditional Iranian celebration.

The scenes came after Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said key parameters of the framework for a deal had been agreed with the West, paving the way for a final deal by June 30.

It marks a major step to address the West's concerns that Iran wants to build a nuclear bomb, with curbs being placed on Tehran's nuclear programme.

In exchange Iran will see sanctions that have hobbled its economy being removed upon verification that the nuclear programme is peaceful.

US President Barack Obama welcomed the "historic understanding" with the Islamic republic but cautioned that more work needed to be done before a deal can be sealed.

[vector7]

Obama: Iran Deal 'Historic'

But no agreement on checking for cheating

4.2.2015

Peter Malcolm



Barack Obama, giddy at the prospect of reaching any kind of nuclear deal at all with Iran, boasted on Thursday that the announcement by negotiators in Switzerland that the West had agreed to terminate some sanctions on Iran in exchange for a purported decision by Iran to stop creating materials that could be used for nuclear weapons was a “historic understanding.” He intoned, "If this framework leads to a final, comprehensive deal, it will make our country, our allies, and our world safer."

Obama stated that he would try to convince Congress, Israel and other Middle Eastern countries, which are skeptical of Iran, that the agreement he has been pushing will benefit them. Obama asserted, "In those conversations, I will underscore that the issues at stake here are bigger than politics. These are matters of war and peace."

Yet Obama admitted that no final deal is in place, and more must be done by the June 30 deadline. Obama did not focus on the two essential issues left unresolved: how quickly sanctions would be eased and how to verify Iran would not cheat on the deal. Instead, he blustered, "If Iran cheats, the world will know it. If we see something suspicious, we will inspect it." He did not say how this would be achieved.

The Wall Street Journal reported last November that a Nov. 17 report from David Albright and his team at the Institute for Science and International Security, based on findings from the International Atomic Energy Agency, found Iran had lied to U.N. inspectors; Iran had tested a model for an advanced centrifuge, which violated a 2013 interim agreement, as well as hiding evidence of a nuclear-weapons development at Parchin.

Earlier this week, Robert Einhorn, a former State Department adviser for non-proliferation and arms control in the Obama administration, told USA Today, "No verification system is going to give you 100% confidence there is no cheating.”

The ostensible restrictions on Iran include restricting plutonium and enriched uranium, cutting back the number of centrifuges, and destroying a reactor core, while supposedly submitting to international inspections.

Before the announcement, Secretary of State John Kerry rejoiced that it was a "big day," that all the parties to the deal "now have parameters to resolve major issues on nuclear program. Back to work soon on a final deal."

On Thursday, Obama also threatened members of Congress opposed to the deal that if they killed the deal it would trigger other countries to lambast the United states.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain, all of which have a fear of a nuclear Iran, are expected to attend a meeting at Camp David with Obama this spring. Obama concluded, "We have a historic opportunity to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in Iran and to do so peacefully, with the international community firmly behind us. We should seize that chance."

[American Patriot]

giddy.

up.

Dick head.

I wish he's leave. I hope he gets what's coming to him....

[vector7]

Former Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton Happy With Iran Nuclear Deal, She Can Claim An Accomplishment As SOS…



Hillary is suffering from premature celebration, Bill made the same agreement with the NORKs.

Via BI

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement expressing strong support for the framework for a nuclear deal with Iran that was announced on Thursday.

In her statement, Clinton, who is widely seen as the Democratic frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race, praised the agreement as a step that would improve security in the US and international community.

"The understanding that the major world powers have reached with Iran is an important step toward a comprehensive agreement that would prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and strengthen the security of the United States, Israel, and the region," Clinton said.

This framework was negotiated by Iran and the so-called P5+1 powers, the US, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, China, and Germany. Negotiators originally set a March 31 deadline for a political framework agreement. Any final deal must be signed by June 30, which was the ultimate deadline established by the agreement that allowed for the talks.

"President [Barack Obama] and Secretary [of State John] Kerry have been persistent and determined in pursuit of this goal, building on a decade of bipartisan pressure and diplomacy. Getting the rest of the way to a final deal by June won't be easy, but it is absolutely crucial. I know well that the devil is always in the details in this kind of negotiation," Clinton said. "So I strongly support President Obama and Secretary Kerry's efforts between nowand June to reach a final deal that verifiably cuts off all of Iran's paths to a nuclear weapon, imposes an intrusive inspection program with no sites off limits, extends breakout time, and spells out clear and overwhelming consequences for violations."

Critics of the deal, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have suggested the deal will pave to way towards Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, which would undermine US and Israeli security.

In statements on Thursday, both Obama and Kerry defended the political framework agreement as the best option on the table for preventing Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

Clinton echoed these defenses in her own statement.

"The onus is on Iran and the bar must be set high. It can never be permitted to acquire a nuclear weapon. It is also vital that these efforts be part of a comprehensive strategy to check Iran's regional ambitions, defend our allies and partners, and reinforce American leadership in the Middle East," Clinton said, adding, "There is much to do and much more to say in the months ahead, but for now diplomacy deserves a chance to succeed."

[American Patriot]

Iran: No signing final nuclear deal unless economic sanctions are lifted

By Faith Karimi and Deirdre Walsh, CNN

Updated 8:44 AM ET, Thu April 9, 2015




(CNN)Iran will only sign a final nuclear agreement if economic sanctions against the nation are removed on the first day of the deal's implementation, President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday.



Six world powers and Iran reached a preliminary deal last week that aims to limit Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.
The United States, however, has stressed that if a final deal is reached with Iran, the removal of any sanctions will come in phases.


But work on the agreement isn't finished.


Negotiators from Iran and the United States, China, Germany, France, Britain and Russia have until June 30 to come up with a final deal.
Uphill battle

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his government would not surrender to bullying, sanctions and threats, according to Press TV.


"We will not sign any deal unless on the very first day of its implementation all economic sanctions against Iran are lifted all at once," Rouhani said at a ceremony to mark National Nuclear Technology Day in Tehran.


President Barack Obama faces an uphill battle selling the deal to a skeptical Congress, which has threatened to impose new sanctions on Iran.









U.S.: Around 6 months to lift Iran sanctions 02:33

PLAY VIDEO

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, a nuclear physicist and negotiator with Iran, estimated it would take six months after a final deal is signed for the sanctions to be lifted.
He told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that it was a "ballpark" figure contingent on a lot of work the Iranians will have to do beforehand.
"The core nuclear provisions must be satisfied ... the provisions that give us our confidence," Moniz said.
He said it's in the "hands of the Iranians" to fulfill steps such as reducing stockpiles and lowering the number of operating centrifuges.
"It will depend on their ability to execute those moves," Moniz said.
What's next?

The No. 3 House Republican leader said a bill to ease any sanctions does not stand much of a chance in the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate.
"The sanctions that were put in place -- again, very bipartisan sanctions passed by Congress years ago that were effective -- the only way to get rid of them completely would be for Congress to vote to ease those sanctions," Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana said in a radio interview with WWL in New Orleans on Wednesday.
"We haven't had that vote. I don't see that passing out of the House. I don't even think it would pass out of the Senate right now."









Energy secretary.: Deal delays Iran's ability to make bomb 04:44

PLAY VIDEO

Read: What's in the Iran nuclear deal? 7 key points
Diplomats announced last week that they'd come up with the framework for an agreement after a marathon stretch of late-night negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Game plan

The framework includes the easing of U.S. and U.N. sanctions on Iran if it takes certain steps to curb its nuclear program.
Iran would reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98% for 15 years and significantly scale back its number of installed centrifuges, according to the plan. In exchange, the United States and the European Union would lift sanctions that have crippled the country's economy.
"It is a good deal, a deal that meets our core objectives," Obama said after it was announced April 2. "This framework would cut off every pathway that Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon."
It would include strict verification measures to make sure Iran complies, he said.
The United States and Iran have a long history of strained relations, which made the negotiations more significant.
Just two years ago, the two countries had not talked with each other officially in nearly four decades.