GOP senators warning over US-Iran nuclear negotiations
WASHINGTON (AP) Forty-seven Republican senators are warning that any agreement the Obama administration strikes with Iran to limit Tehran #39;s nuclear program may be short-lived unless...
By: Lessie Mora
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GOP senators warning over US-Iran nuclear negotiations - Video
Iran Damavand frigate joint North Naval fleet_March 9, 2015_
March 9, 2015 (Persian calendar 1393/12/18) Iran #39;s domestically-made frigate, Damavand , has officially joined the Navy #39;s fleet in the Caspian Sea north of...
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Iran Damavand frigate joint North Naval fleet_March 9, 2015_ - Video
Pastor Saeed Is "Shaken" As 6 Hanged In Iran Prison
American Pastor Saeed Abedini is shaken inside an Iranian Prison as he is forced to watch 6 fellow prisoners hanged in Iran http://www.paulbegleyprophecy.com also http://m.christianpost.com/news/pa ...
By: Paul Begley
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Pastor Saeed Is "Shaken" As 6 Hanged In Iran Prison - Video
Iran's supreme leader warned Wednesday that Western sanctions are unlikely to be lifted even in the event of a nuclear deal with six foreign powers because the West opposes the fundamental principles of the country's Islamic revolution.
In a speech to economists and officials from the western city of Tabriz, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast doubt on the likelihood of success in the decade-long negotiation over Iran's nuclear capabilities and threatened to play his own sanctions card if the restraints on the Iranian economy aren't lifted.
"The enemy is going to use the weapon of sanctions to the hilt because their goal is to stop the progress of our people," Khamenei was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. "Even if we were to allow them to dictate to us on the nuclear issue, the sanctions will not be lifted because they are against the foundational principles of the revolution."
Iranian negotiators have been in intense talks with representatives of the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany for more than a year in pursuit of an agreement that would lay to rest Western concerns that Tehran's nuclear industry development is aimed at giving the Shiite Islamic powerhouse atomic weapons capabilities. Iran insists its nuclear production is strictly for peaceful, civilian purposes.
The negotiations have been extended repeatedly over the last year as both sides have at times said an agreement was within reach. They now face a June 30 deadline for an accord, which Khamenei appeared to suggest wouldn't be met.
"If their intent is to retain sanctions, the Iranian nation can go that route as well," the supreme religious leader said in his address in Tehran. "Iran has the world's most gas and oil, and if need be Iran can hold back gas that Europe and the world is so dependent on."
There are disagreements about Iran's claims to have the largest oil and gas reserves, which depend in part on disputed offshore supplies that Saudi Arabia also claims. Even without those, however, it has what the United States calculates as the world's fourth-largest crude oil reserves and second largest natural gas deposits.
Khamenei earlier this month suggested he could "go along with the agreement in the making" at the negotiating forum known as the 5P+1 group, for the five permanent U.N. Security Council member states plus Germany. But in that Feb. 8 address to a military gathering he also hinted at Tehran's ability to retaliate in kind if an agreement failed to bring an end to the sanctions crippling Iran's economy.
Iranian conservatives said the ayatollah's stance in the nuclear talks is correct in seeing the negotiations as a forum in which the West, the United States in particular, is attempting to subjugate Iran.
"I see no point in continuing to negotiate. What the supreme leader is saying is not being heeded by the negotiation team," said former regime lawmaker Hoshang Tale. "If there is no promise to lift all sanctions in the event of a nuclear deal, why should Iran be negotiating? Even if there is a deal reached, there will be a big rift between the supreme leader and President [Hassan] Rouhani's negotiators, so the talks are a loss for Iran."
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Iran's ayatollah threatens energy embargo unless sanctions lifted
Despite Iran's denials that it is on the path to a nuclear bomb, new evidence charges that the Islamic republic has an "underground top-secret site" that is enriching uranium intended for nuclear weapons that has been hidden from the West for years.
According to the Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the complex, called Lavizan-3, is right outside Tehran, "buried deep underground in tunnels and underground facilities" with "radiation-proof doors" to prevent any leaks that could be detected by the United Nations International Energy Agency inspectors.
The revelations were unveiled during a Washington, D.C., news conference by the NCRI, which first exposed elements of Iran's covert nuclear program in 2002.
"This site must be inspected," declared Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the NCRI's Washington, D.C., office.
- Alireza Jafarzadeh, NCRI
"There is no way in the world you can assure Tehran is not developing nuclear weaponsif you can't inspect those sites, especially if you are talking about a regime that has over two decades of a track record of lying and cheating and deceiving the whole world, he charged.
The NCRI describes the underground complex as having an elevator that "descends several stories, deep underground, and opens into a 650-foot tunnel, which leads to four parallel halls. Because the ground is inclined, the halls are deeper underground," by as much as 164 feet below the surface.
The NCRI also says it smuggled out a photograph showing a 1-foot thick lead-lined door that shields the complex from radiation, and that the secret rooms and hallways are insulated for sound and radiation leaks so that they would remain undetected.
"If the United States is serious about preventing the Iranian regime from obtaining nuclear weapons, it must make the continuation of talks conditional on the IAEA immediately inspecting Lavizan-3 site," demanded Soona Samsami, the NCRI's United States representative. "Any delay in doing so will enable the Iranian regime to destroy the evidence as it has done in the past."
The NCRI says that the Iranian regime has secretly used the site to enrich uranium with advanced centrifuges since 2008, and is part of a long pattern of hiding its true nuclear activities in order to deceive the world powers.
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Iran pursuing nukes in 'underground top-secret site' despite talks with West, dissident group claims - VIDEO: Iran's ...