Western optimism on Iran’s nuclear program comes from three major US concessions in Kazakhstan to which Israel strongly objects: Fordo stays open, 20-percent uranium enrichment continues and low-grade Iranian uranium stocks will not leave the country. One Israeli official summed this up for debkafile as “a huge Iranian success and total defeat for Israel.” Significantly, former Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin commented that an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities would be “a one-night operation.”

Grave concern was voiced in Jerusalem over the upbeat Western-Iranian accounts issuing Thursday, Feb. 28 about the “positive and “constructive” six-power talks with Iran ending in Almati, Kazakhstan Wednesday. debkafile: In contrast to Israel’s categorical resistance to the continued operation of the underground plant at Fordo, the US delegation proposed keeping it open except for suspending 20-percent uranium enrichment. Washington is seen as trying to lighten the Iranian cloud hanging over President Barack Obama’s talks in Israel on March 20.

Syrian peace talks are set to open in Moscow on March 5 between the Syrian opposition and Assad regime representatives, debkafile reveals. The ...

Tehran refuses to discontinue 20-percent uranium enrichment. Either Washington accepts this or “the game is over” – says Iran, in reference to the secret talks launched in Lausanne on Dec. 1. debkafile: Iran is cool on talks since finding it can extract 100 kilos of weapons-grade uranium from the fuel rods removed from the Bushehr reactor in October. This is enough for 24 plutonium bombs - each equal to the WWII bomb dropped on Nagasaki. The US and Israel are ignoring this breakthrough.

Obama has made it clear to Ayatollah Khamenei that lack of progress Iran abandoning its work on a nuclear weapon within the three-month framework for negotiations will lead to US approaching the UN Security Council as its penultimate move before a military offensive.

The US and Iran launched bilateral nuclear talks in total hush Saturday, Dec. 1, an event DEBKA-Net-Weekly 567 was first to disclose on Nov. 30. Tehran insisted on the session going forward on schedule, while at the same time staging a string of military incidents for racking up tension to strengthen its bargaining position at the table. The latest DEBKA-Net-Weekly out Friday opened an exclusive window on the secret session and charts the next US and Iranian moves.
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US President Barack Obama aims to launch direct, fast-track nuclear talks with Tehran in December with a three month deadline for their conclusion, debkafile reports. His advisers warn him that Iran’s campaign for its June 14 presidential election kicks off in March and Tehran cannot be expected to commit to a resolution of their nuclear controversy by then.  Iranian strategists would prefer to hold off nuclear diplomacy for eight months until after their election “just as Tehran waited for the US vote.”

An Iranian ex-diplomat and a lawmaker provide unknown details of the four years of secret American-Iranian exchanges on solving the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program which ended without results.

Iran’s senior nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalilee wins his spurs as leading presidential contender by his radical nuclear posture against the six world powers.

Obama has come up with yet another seven-point plan for breaking down Iran’s resistance to abandoning its nuclear weapon aspirations. This time he believes it will work, after obtaining Iran’s consent. Our experts are skeptical.

All six powers confronting Iran in Baghdad last Friday, 25 May, knew diplomacy was dead in the water when Tehran flatly vetoed every nuclear compromise. Nothing more is expected from the next round in Moscow. But President Barack Obama still refuses to admit the negotiations are an exercise in futility. When, if ever, will he go for military action against Iran? You will have found answers in DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s latest issue out Friday.
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The rupture between the US and Israel over Iran’s nuclear program widened further Friday, May 25  when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were not available to hear the briefing brought to Jerusalem from Baghdad by Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman who headed the US delegation to the Six Power talks. She confirmed no progress due to Iran’s refusal to give way on enrichment. The IAEA discloses Iran doubled its 20-percent enriched uranium since February to 145 kgs.

After three months of exploring every possible diplomatic channel to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear program, Obama enlisted Moscow’s help for getting messages to and from Tehran. But meanwhile his diplomatic network had become a maze in which the Baghdad talks lost their objective.

A senior official in Tokyo announced Wednesday, May 23, that the Japanese government will seek parliamentary approval for a bill allowing Japanese firms to insure tankers carrying Iranian oil to Asia if European insurers refused to do so. The nuclear talks between the six powers and Iran in Baghdad Wednesday, instead of taking place under the shadow of tougher sanctions as Israel expected, saw the toughest one, the oil embargo, falling apart. Russian and British officials began raising the prospect of an Iran-Israel war.

Russia is preparing a surprise proposal for the resumed P5+1 powers nuclear negotiations with Iran in Baghdad Wednesday, May 23, debkafile reports exclusively. By tabling an independent plan, Moscow would break ranks with the “unified front on Iran” declared by US President Barack Obama at the G8 summit Saturday and enhance Iran’s bargaining position.
Israel would be the loser. Israeli ministers warned the six powers that their demands of Iran are far below the bar needed to curb its nuclear program.

The 60 Iranian experts employed by 11 different Iranian agencies controlled by the Iranian Defense Ministry (under the IRGC) were revealed by names and addresses Saturday, May 12, by the opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI) in the first ever detailed exposure of a highly secret, central Iranian organization working on building a nuclear weapon. debkafile: Through the secret US-Iranian track, Khamenei told Barack Obama that Fordow will not be shut down. Jerusalem: The evolving US-Iran deal is “bad for Israel.”

Continuing our exclusive blow-by-blow reporting since March on the backdoor nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran, the latest DEBKA-Net-Weekly out Friday revealed that Iran has put together a new package of proposals ahead of the next formal session between Iran and the Six Powers in Baghdad on May 23. They affect its nuclear program and aim to test Barack Obama’s willingness for a strategic partnership in the Persian Gulf region.
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US Navy, Air Force, ground, intelligence and special forces units based at home, in Europe and the Middle East, took part this week in a special exercise ordered by President Barack Obama to simulate reactions to a potential US/Israel strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, debkafile reports. Advanced US stealth F-22 fighter bombers were also transferred to the Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE. Washington is thinking of attacking core elements of Iran’s nuclear program to weaken its hand in negotiations. 

The head of Iran’s National Security Council Saeed Jalili suggested enigmatically Wednesday, April 11, that Tehran would present “new initiatives” at the negotiations with six world powers starting in Istanbul next Saturday. debkafile: The “Israeli dossier” tops the tactical agenda set out by Iran’s top strategic team for the negotiations ahead. Every demand the world powers make of Tehran will be twisted around and pointed at Israel’s alleged nuclear program. The Iranians are counting on this maneuver to keep their nuclear program intact.

The White House expects talks to start in days and lead to the halting of Iran’s nuclear program development and nuclear enrichment and the dismantling of its nuclear weapons facilities and labs. Israel’s Binyamin Netanyahu is less sanguine, says sanctions or not working and slams Iran as “the most ...