Tehran Mulls Almaty II Amid Hopes for More Give and Take

by Farideh Farhi via IPS News The meeting between Iran and the so-called P5+1 (five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany) that took place in late February in Almaty, Kazakhstan was described as positive and even a… Continue Reading

Obama’s Near East Trip: Time to be Bold

by Robert E. Hunter The stakes in President Barak Obama’s impending visit to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan have risen steadily in recent days. It is taking take place, after all, almost immediately following Secretary of State John Kerry’s… Continue Reading

HuffPost Live: Iran Diplomacy is Working

Gary Sick (Columbia University professor who served on the National Security Council staff under Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan), Joe Cirincione (President of the Ploughshares Fund), Trita Parsi (President of the National Iranian American Council) and Michael Eisenstadt (senior fellow at… Continue Reading

Recapping Iran Sanctions Logic Ahead of Talks

by Jasmin Ramsey The following quote from this Washington Post article on last week’s nuclear talks with Iran stood out despite it being a regurgitation of past statements: “I don’t want to overpromise, but we’re encouraged,” said the official, speaking to reporters… Continue Reading

All Eyes on Iran for AIPAC 2013 Conference

by Mitchell Plitnick The annual Israel-Congress orgy dubbed as the AIPAC Policy Conference kicked off today. It might just as well be called the War on Iran conference — that’s sure to be the issue that dominates the proceedings. The US-Israel… Continue Reading