Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), the Senate's Republican whip, offered up an amendment to the Omnibus Bill today which would push Iran one step closer to total isolation from the international community. It is doubtful that any amendments will be passed, since if they did, the House would have to reconsider the Bill. Read more »

More hints on what new U.S. policy on Iran will look like from an interview President Obama did on Al-Arabiya Arab TV Network January 26. Read more »

Let’s say that legislation promoting divestment in companies that have a 20 million or higher investment in Iran’s energy sector, as offered by Senator Obama, gets through Congress next year. Read more »

By starting off last week with articles which poked fun at the Iranians for spelling mistakes and negotiating tactics, and ending the week with false claims that Iran planned to halt negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the press is hurting efforts to reduce tension in both US-Iranian relations and the greater dialogue between Iran and the International Community. Read more »

Rhetoric and threat propaganda on Iran need to stop if we are to make peace with the nation. There is absolutely nothing new to Iran’s nuclear achievements which would demonstrate that the Iranians have enriched low grade fuel closer to bomb grade levels. The international community cannot stop Iran from having a nuclear energy capability. However, it can drive Iran to becoming a nuclear weapon state by continually typecasting the nation as a threat and increasing the nations insecurity. Read more »

Italy now seeks a stronger position in negotiations over Iran, but is hitting resistance from key players like the United States and Germany. Regardless of the outcome, due to strong economic ties, Italy will continue to play an important role in resolving the Iran crisis. With the rise of Italy's recently elected Prime Minster, Silvio Berlusconi, a harder stance on Iran has emerged with hope that Italy will win a seat at the P5+1 negotiating table. "Now Italy will push forward to be really in the club on Iran...Italy will not be left isolated by a restricted group of European partners plus the US," stated Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini in May. Read more »

Acknowledging the failure of the Bush Administration’s current Iran policy and the need to surface new policies which will reduce the chance of another conflict in the Middle East, US Representative Gary Ackerman (NY-D), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia held a hearing entitled, “More Than Just Enrichment: Iran’s Strategic Aspirations and the Future of the Middle East” June 5. Read more »

With a new international watch dog report out on the nation, tension heightens between Iran and the international community pointing to the immediate need for a new policy of engagement…one without preconditions. In 2003, Iran provoked international outcry with the exposure of a clandestine nuclear program. While the United States dismissed a chance to negotiate with Iran over this issue, the EU-3 (France, Germany and the United Kingdom) decided on a policy of engagement. Read more »

The United States needs to stop focusing on a policy which includes: sanctions, preconditions and threats of attack. A new US policy must include direct engagement, in order to successfully swap incentives for concessions. This new policy must be future oriented, so to deal successfully with future threats to the nuclear nonproliferation regime. Read more »

The National Intelligence Estimate (November 2007) proclaimed that Iran stopped a nuclear weapons program in 2003, undermining Bush Administration claims that Iran is an imminent threat to US and international security due to its nuclear program. The US military recently changed Iran threat rhetoric in the media, asserting costly and threatening Iranian involvement in Iraq, allegations corroborated by...nothing. Read more »