"Trump Admin Should Keep Close Eye on Potential Iran-North Korea Nuclear Cooperation": Nuclear Proliferation Expert.

Mushroom Cloud Heads

"Trump Admin Should Keep Close Eye on Potential Iran-North Korea Nuclear Cooperation": Nuclear Proliferation Expert. (Algemeiner).

Paying attention to any potential nuclear cooperation between Iran and North Korea should be a priority for the Trump administration, a proliferation expert told The Algemeiner on Thursday.

“I think the main thing is to try to discover it,” David Albright — head of the Institute for Science and International Security think tank — said. “We know it [cooperation] happens in the missile and conventional weapons areas. As for the nuclear area, we look at it as an open question. We haven’t seen enough evidence yet to make an actual accusation, we just don’t know. But I think there is a real risk that Iran and North Korea could cooperate on nuclear matters. It requires a lot of attention from our intelligence services.”

“If it turns out such cooperation does exist, an argument could be made that it’s a violation of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action],” Albright went on to say. “Whether it in fact is or not, lawyers would have to decide. It would depend on the exact type of cooperation. But the bottom line is you have to develop more resources to try to figure if it’s going on. And a revelation that it is going on would be quite damaging to Iran.”

There are two types of know-how Iran and North Korea could share, Albright said. The first, he noted is “more traditional information about building nuclear weapons and testing nuclear weapons, which North Korea certainly has plenty of to give to Iran.” And the second is “reentry vehicle technology for a nuclear warhead.”

“Iran is freer to conduct reentry vehicle tests than North Korea,” Albright explained. “So both could benefit. It would look like missile cooperation, which is more tolerated, but in fact it could end up being a way to help both countries be able to mount a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile.”

In a recently published paper, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies analysts Refael Ofek and Dany Shoham claimed that Iran was “steadily making progress towards a nuclear weapon” with help from North Korea.

The Pyongyang regime, they wrote, was “ready and able” to give the Islamic Republic a “clandestine means of circumventing” the July 2015 nuclear deal it agreed to with six world powers. Read the full story here.
Related: 

'Axes of Nuclear evil' - Iran Tested a Ballistic Missile With North Korean Origins: Pentagon. 

North Korea has effective means of delivering nuclear weapons, their missile program is "close to the one developed in Iran" Russian expert.

'Iran May Be Allowed to Develop Nukes If Stops Supporting Palestine': Grand Mufti of Syria.

'Iran May Be Allowed to Develop Nukes If Stops Supporting Palestine': Grand Mufti of Syria. (IFP).

The Grand Mufti of Syria believes that the West would permit Iran to have nuclear weapons if it stops supporting Palestine and its cause.

“If Iran abandoned the Palestinian cause, the West would have allowed it to manufacture nuclear weapons,” Syrian Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Badr al-Din Hassoun said, according to a Farsi report by Bultan News.

He then criticized other Islamic countries for not supporting Palestine, saying, “We are witnessing in the Arab and Islamic countries that they have forgotten the Palestinian cause.” Hmmm.....The whole 'Nuclear Fatwa' claim is BS. 

VIDEO: Iranian Journalist Amir Taheri: 'There is no Iran Nuclear Deal'

Obama's new BFF Iran calls Canadian PM 'Freedom' remarks ‘illogical and boring’.

Obama's new BFF Iran calls Canadian PM 'Freedom' remarks ‘illogical and boring’.(Taz).

Iran has said that remarks of the Canadian prime minister about legal rights of Iranians living in Canada were ‘illogical and boring’.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said that the remarks of the Canadian prime minister were so superficial and meaningless that are not even worthy of response, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported on March 24.

Remarks of the Canadian official shows that the Canadian government is afflicted with egotism and conceit and has not a true evaluation of Iranians living in Canada, Afkham said.

On March 21, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he hopes one day Iran will be “free from tyranny,” and until then Canada will be a place of refuge for Iranians.

Harper delivered opening remarks Saturday night in Vancouver on the occasion of the new Iranian fiscal year.

The prime minister called the Iranian New Year, “a time of renewal and rebirth.”

“Know that our government shares your hope that Iran itself will experience a renewal, that one day Iran will be a thriving, open country, and that the Iranian people will live free from tyranny and oppression,” he said.


“But until that time, our government will ensure that those who seek refuge from the Iranian regime can access freedom, democracy and justice here in Canada as Canadians.”Hmmm......Thank God for people like PM Harper.

Video - Bibi's Words 'Matter' to Hussein Obama, But the Ayatollah's Don't

'Israel's staunchest ally' - White House chief demands end to 50 years of Israeli occupation.

'Israel's staunchest ally' - White House chief demands end to 50 years of Israeli occupation. (Trust).

The United States expects the next Israeli government to end nearly 50 years of occupation and clear the way for a Palestinian state, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told Jewish Americans on Monday.

To cheers from the liberal Jewish group J Street, McDonough vowed to safeguard Israel and criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's abandonment of a Palestinian state in the run-up to his re-election on March 17.

Netanyahu is working to form Israel's next coalition government.

One of President Barack Obama's closest advisers, McDonough said a separate state is the best guarantee of Israel's long-term security.

"An occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end, and the Palestinian people must have the right to live in and govern themselves in their own sovereign state," McDonough said.

Palestinians seek a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

"In the end, we know what a peace agreement should look like. The borders of Israel and an independent Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps," McDonough said. Hmmm........A scorpion does not sting because it wants to be a bad boy; it does so in accordance with its nature. Read the full story here.

Iran top leader Khamenei: "Of course yes, death to America" U.S. wants to turn Iranians against Islamic rule

Iran top leader Khamenei: "Of course yes, death to America" U.S. wants to turn Iranians against Islamic rule. (TAZ).

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the United States on Saturday of using economic pressure and "bullying" to try to turn Iranians against Islamic rule, underscoring his long-held mistrust of Tehran's main negotiating partner in nuclear talks, Reuters reported.

Amid shouts of 'Death to America', Khamenei, who has the last word on all matters of state, added in a speech that Tehran was negotiating with major powers solely on the nuclear dispute and not about regional matters, an apparent reference to conflicts and instability in Iraq, Syria and the Gulf.

His speech, which repeatedly hit out at Western sanctions, attacked "arrogant powers" -- a reference to major Western countries -- for what he said was their role in bringing about a fall in the oil price by more than half in recent months.

Speaking in the north eastern city of Mashhad, he said "enemies" sought to turn Iranians against the Islamic Republic, founded by a 1979 revolution that toppled Shah Reza Pahlavi.

A man in the audience shouted "Death to America", a cry taken up by the crowd.
Khamenei continued: "Of course yes, death to America, because America is the original source of this pressure. They insist on putting pressure on our dear people’s economy. What’s their goal? their goal is to put the people against the system."


The West suspects Iran of seeking the ability to produce nuclear weapons and the United Nations has imposed stringent economic sanctions on Tehran; Iran says its programme is intended only for peaceful purposes, such as medical technology and nuclear energy, and wants the swift lifting of sanctions.

U.S. Senator Bob Corker: 'Iran bill will beat Obama veto'.

U.S. Senator Bob Corker: 'Iran bill will beat Obama veto'. (Fortuna).

Legislation requiring congressional review of any Iran nuclear deal will get the 67 Senate votes needed to overcome a presidential veto, Sen. Bob Corker predicted Friday.

The Tennessee Republican said despite “drama” around the issue in recent weeks, he believes his legislation will be successful.

“I believe ultimately we will have a veto-proof majority to make that happen,” Corker said during a speech at the Republican National Lawyers Association’s 2015 National Policy Conference.

The Foreign Relations Committee is expected to mark up Corker’s bill next month, after a deadline for negotiators to reach a framework for a final deal.

The legislation would require President Obama to submit any deal on Iran’s nuclear program to Congress for review. The president also wouldn’t be able to lift sanctions against Iran for roughly two months while Congress debated the bill.

Corker, the chairman of the Foreign Relations panel, said part of the reason the committee is taking up the legislation next month, instead of next week, as he originally suggested, is because he doesn’t believe the administration will have a deal by March 24.

“One of the reasons we moved our markup back until the first part of April is that I’m pretty sure the administration, they’re already sending out signals that they’re going to say, ‘look we really didn’t mean March 24, we meant the end of March,’ ” he said.

Lawmakers have referred to March 24 as the deadline to get a framework agreement, while the administration says it’s March 31.

Asked what he would do if the administration refused to carry out his legislation, Corker said, “I don’t want to be counting our chickens before they hatch.”

The White House has urged lawmakers not to pass Iran legislation before June 30, the deadline for finalizing a deal. It has also threatened to veto Corker’s bill.

But, Corker suggested that Congress is playing the role he thinks it should be.

“I look at this and say this is in fact the kind of role that Congress oughta play, especially on the congressionally mandated sanctions we put in place,” he said. ‎

“The stakes here are so high. If I was president of the United States and I was negotiating an agreement with Iran that has this type of geopolitical impact, far more important, candidly, than what’s happening right now with ISIS, I would certainly want to make sure that I negotiated a deal that passed muster with Congress … instead of stiff-arming Congress and keeping them out the way they are.”

Iran rejects report on draft nuclear deal with US.

Iran rejects report on draft nuclear deal with US. (Taz).

A senior Iranian negotiator has dismissed as “imaginations” a media report about a draft nuclear deal agreed between Tehran and Washington which restricts the number of Iran’s active centrifuges to 6,000, Press TV reported.

“The numbers and figures mentioned here and there are just imaginations,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi told Press TV reporter in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Thursday, adding that “no draft exists, we haven’t started drafting yet.”

Earlier in the day, the Associated Press (AP) released a report about a draft deal currently being negotiated between Iran and the US under which Tehran has agreed to reduce the number of its uranium enrichment centrifuges by 40 percent in return for the immediate removal of Washington’s anti-Tehran sanctions.

The Iranian diplomat also stressed that the two sides are trying to bridge differences on important issues regarding Tehran’s nuclear program, but “haven’t concluded on anything yet.”

“We have not come to any concrete agreement yet on any issue,” Araqchi stated.

US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken also dismissed AP’s report as “erroneous.”

“The fundamental framework issues are still under comprehensive discussion. There is no draft document being circulated,” he said, adding, “My understanding is that there is no draft, that report is erroneous.”

The report came on the fifth day of Iran-US nuclear negotiations in the Swiss city of Lausanne. The talks on Thursday were led by Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Following his talks with Kerry, the Iranian foreign minister said the negotiations over Tehran's nuclear energy program have reached an extremely complicated point.

He also told Press TV that the Iranian delegation will stay in Lausanne as long as it is necessary.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi, Zarif’s deputies, Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-e Ravanchi, special assistant to Iran's president, Hossein Fereidoun, US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and Schmid were also present during the fifth day of the negotiations.

Salehi and Moniz had held one-on-one talks earlier in the morning.

The latest round of negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program kicked off in the Swiss city on Sunday with Salehi and Moniz holding high-level technical talks. Experts from Iran and the US as well as the AEOI spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi, also participated in the meeting.

The talks between the US and Iran are part of broader negotiations between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries, namely Russia, China, the US, the UK, France and Germany, to reach a comprehensive agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program as a deadline slated for July 1 draws closer.


The two sides have already missed two self-imposed deadlines for inking a final agreement since they signed an interim accord in the Swiss city of Geneva in November 2013.

360 Bipartisan lawmakers write letter to Obama on Iran.

360 Bipartisan lawmakers write letter to Obama on Iran. (Taz).

A bipartisan group of 360 US lawmakers has signed a letter warning President Barack Obama that any sanctions relief on Iran as part of an emerging nuclear deal would require new legislation from Congress, Press TV reported.

The letter, signed by a majority of Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives, will be sent to the US president on Thursday, said one of the signatories, according to congressional newspaper The Hill.

"There really cannot be any marginalization of Congress. Congress really needs to play a very active and vital role in this whole process, and any attempts to sidestep Congress will be resisted," Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) said Thursday morning at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

"We would hope that we could get a prompt response from the White House. It's truly a very bipartisan letter expressing Congress' strong feelings about things that need to be in the agreement," he said.

The missive followed a similar one signed by 47 Republican senators on March 9 warning Iran’s leaders that any nuclear deal might be revoked by the next US president.

It comes as Iran and the P5+1- the US, Britain, France, China, Russian and Germany – have reported progress ahead of a July deadline for a comprehensive agreement over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

"Should an agreement with Iran be reached, permanent sanctions relief from congressionally-mandated sanctions would require new legislation," the letter says.

The House letter stipulates that Congress must review any deal reached with Iran to ensure that its terms “foreclose any pathway” to a nuclear bomb.

“And only then will Congress be able to consider permanent sanctions relief," it adds.

Some members of Congress are skeptical about the Obama administration’s efforts in the nuclear talks with Iran, accusing the Islamic Republic of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear activities.
The letter does not mention legislation introduced in the Senate that would require Congress 60 days to review a final deal before its implementation.


However, it says, the House is “prepared to evaluate any agreement to determine its long-term impact on the United States and our allies."

 Related: European negotiator says framework accord at Iran nuclear talks unlikely soon

Does Iran only need TWO months to enrich enough for a nuclear bomb?

Does Iran only need TWO months to enrich enough for a nuclear bomb?

Dr. Olli Heinonen, a former Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) :

Heinonen was speaking one day after the Sunday Times of London reported his dramatic independent assessment of Iran’s nuclear capacity, specifically that Iran could have up to 5,000 IR-2m centrifuges, rather than the 1,008 it has claimed. The IR-2m devices are up to five times more effective in enriching uranium than older IR-1 types, the Sunday Times said.

In today’s remarks, Heinonen explained that with just 1,000 IR-2m centrifuges, Iran could enrich enough natural uranium to make a weapon in just one year.*

Were the Iranians to use their stockpile of 3.5 percent enriched uranium, the same number of centrifuges could produce the same result in six months. The addition of more centrifuges would simply speed up this process.

The terms of a possible nuclear deal with Iran are now out, as the AP has gotten its hands on a draft version of a framework agreement.

Firstly, it says that the P5+1 has agreed to let Iran operate 6,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges.

*So with 6 times more centrifuges does this mean Iran could enrich enough for a bomb in TWO Months? Read the full story here and here.

European negotiator: "Iran, world powers far from nuclear deal"

European negotiator: "Iran, world powers far from nuclear deal". (DS).

LAUSANNE: Iran and major powers are still "pretty far" from a deal aimed at preventing Tehran getting nuclear weapons, a European diplomat involved in crunch talks in Switzerland said Thursday.

"I think we are pretty far from a deal," the negotiator said on condition of anonymity. "I really don't believe that we are going to get a [framework] deal on Friday night." Hmmm.....It's only the US And Iran who claim things are moving forward, but they wouldn't lie would they?

MT @antoinemariotti: EU diplo: Big differences on R&D betwn P5+1 & #Iran. We don't want them to have X8 more capacity in 5 years".#IranTalks
— Abas Aslani (@abasinfo) March 19, 2015

#French negotiator Riviere: The sides consider once again extending deadline for a political framework deal.-Sputnik http://t.co/GXbqaHtvW6
— Abas Aslani (@abasinfo) March 19, 2015

French negotiator Riviere: We are far from the deal. Side has not reached serious progress yet. - Sputnik #IranTalks http://t.co/GXbqaHtvW6
— Abas Aslani (@abasinfo) March 19, 2015

6000 more than UNSCR's allow RT @APDiploWriter: Lausanne: "#Iran limited to 6K centrifuges in draft nuclear accord" http://t.co/PR6JaFsb5h

— Omri Ceren (@cerenomri) March 19, 2015

Video - Ezra Levant on Netanyahu's reelection (despite Obama's experts)

"Quid pro quo" - Bolton: Iran, Hezbollah Off Terror List as Concession in Nuke Talks

"Quid pro quo" - Bolton: Iran, Hezbollah Off Terror List as Concession in Nuke Talks. (NM).

Fox News Channel reported Tuesday that the office of National Intelligence Director James Clapper blamed the omission on a formatting change in the way the document is printed.

Fox's Greta Van Susteren called it "a little bit insane that they changed the format and suddenly the two worst terrorists, Iran and Hezbollah, disappear."

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said the omission may be tied to nuclear negotiations currently underway between the United States and Iran.

"The people who would say this is a format change are weasels," Bolton said on Fox News Channel's "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren."

"It's a flat lie. The format of this year's report is exactly the same as last year's report. Don't believe me? Go look on the web. Compare the two of them. It's exactly the same."

Bolton said he believes the Iranian negotiators told the American negotiators they have to ease up on labeling the country the largest state sponsor of terrorism.

Bolton said he doesn't believe the details of the arrangement will show up in the final nuclear deal, which is troubling, he said, because it raises questions of what other concessions might have been made, but will never be made public.Hmmmm.....'YES WE LIE". Read the full story here.

US intel report scrapped Iran & Hezbollah from list of terror threats

US intel report scrapped Iran and Hezbollah from list of terror threats. (ToI).

An annual report delivered recently to the US Senate by James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, removed Iran and Hezbollah from its list of terrorism threats, after years in which they featured in similar reports.

In describing Iran’s regional role, the report noted the Islamic Republic’s “intentions to dampen sectarianism, build responsive partners, and deescalate tensions with Saudi Arabia,” but cautioned that “Iranian leaders—particularly within the security services—are pursuing policies with negative secondary consequences for regional stability and potentially for Iran.

“Iran’s actions to protect and empower Shia communities are fueling growing fears and sectarian responses,” it said.

The United States and other Western nations, along with a coalition of regional allies, both Sunni and Shiite, has been launching attacks against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria in recent months. The Sunni group, also known by its acronyms IS, ISIS and ISIL, is an offshoot of al-Qaeda that has carved out a self-proclaimed caliphate across large swaths of Syria and Iraq, both of whose governments are allied with Iran’s.

The Shiite Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is funded and mentored by Tehran, has been fighting the Islamic State, independently of the American-led campaign, both in Syria and Iraq.

Meanwhile, the US has been engaged in marathon talks with Iran in an effort to reach an agreement on its nuclear program. Tehran, according to the National Intelligence threat assessment, has “overarching strategic goals of enhancing its security, prestige, and regional influence [that] have led it to pursue capabilities to meet its civilian goals and give it the ability to build missile-deliverable nuclear weapons, if it chooses to do so.”

According to one Israeli think tank, the removal of Iran and its proxy Hezbollah from the list of terror threats, where they featured in previous years, was directly linked to the campaign against the Islamic State. Read the full story here.

The 'Just us' Deal - Possible Nuke deal would not need Iranian parliament approval.

The 'Just us' Deal - Possible Nuke deal would not need Iranian parliament approval. (Taz).

There is no need for parliament approval If Iran and the P5+1 negotiators achieve a comprehensive nuclear deal, the Islamic Republic parliament speaker, Ali Larijani said.

Larijani made the remarks in a press conference in Tehran, Iran’s state-run IRINN TV channel reported live March 16.

Larijani made the remarks during a press conference in Tehran, while responding a question about differences among the Iranian MPs on the issue.

In the Islamic Republic, the cases which are in the supervision of the Supreme National Security Council do not need parliament approval due to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei’s permission.

The possible nuclear agreement would not face any problem in Iran in this regard, he said, adding the Islamic Republic does not have problems similar to the problems in the US, Iran’s state-run IRINN TV channel reported live March 16.

On March 9, 47 US Republican senators warned that any nuclear agreement being negotiated between Iran and the world powers could be overturned if their party wins the White House in 2016.

In an open letter addressed to Iranian leaders, the US Republicans stated that, absent congressional approval, the proposed deal would be merely an agreement with President Barack Obama — and could be reversed by his successor.

Larijani believes the Islamic Republic's parliament would not take measures similar to those of US senators and would not respond to such claims. He called the actions of the US Senate "immature".
Iran and the P5+1 group (the US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany) are negotiating to reach a deal on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. The sides have planned to reach a political understanding by the end of March, and a comprehensive deal by July 1.

The US and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon, something that Iran denies.

Shariatmadari the 'voice' of Iran’s hardliners: ‘A Nuclear Agreement Is Impossible’

Shariatmadari the 'voice' of Iran’s hardliners: ‘A Nuclear Agreement Is Impossible’. HT: UskowiOnIran.

Hossein Shariatmadari, the influential editor of Kayhan, arguably the voice of Iran’s hardliners, and himself an appointee of the country’s supreme leader, wrote an editorial in Saturday’s edition of the paper entitled, “A Nuclear Agreement Is Impossible.”

Shariatmadari argues that reaching a nuclear agreement with the West that would safeguard Iran’s legitimate interests is absolutely “impossible” and will not happen.

The editorial was published on the eve of a sensitive meeting in Lausanne between Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and Secretary of State John Kerry. They were to hammer out the details of an agreement before the 31 March deadline.

Shariatmadari has been regarded as an aide and confidant to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. His views and analyses during his long tenure at Kayhan have usually approximated those held by the country’s security establishment, especially the IRGC Intelligence. The bold tone in his prediction of the failure of the nuclear talks could mean one of the two things:

1. Shariatmadari is as always voicing the views of the supreme leader and the hard right establishment, in which case he apparently knows that the supreme leader has rejected the proposed agreement by the West, and the talks in Lausanne will fail.

2. In this particular issue, Shariatmadari’s views differ from those held by the supreme leader, but he would still make such a bold statement on the eve of Lausanne talks to rally the hard right establishment behind his views in a last-ditch attempt to stop a nuclear agreement with the West.

Not good in either case.

The first option would be the harbinger of growing and very dangerous tensions between Iran and the West, and internally between the hardliners and the moderate Rouhani administration.

The second option would signify the growing rift and rupture within the country’s political establishment, at the point of openly undermining Khamenei’s position, with all the uncertainties it would entail.

Obama's BFF Iran says any nuclear collaboration beyond NPT requires lifting sanctions

Obama's BFF Iran says any nuclear collaboration beyond NPT requires lifting sanctions. (TaZ).

Iranian parliament speaker, Ali Larijani said Iran would not cooperate with the 5+1 group (the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) beyond the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) unless the powers lift all sanctions on the country’s economy.

He also stated that the Iranian parliament will give its full support to the Iranian diplomatic team negotiating with the six powers, Fars news agency reported March 15.

Larijani also commented on the recent US senators’ letter on the negotiations.

He said “the letter shows how Israeli money can work its way into corrupting political behavior,” noting that the senators’ act in addressing the open letter to Iranian statesmen has brought disgrace on the US.

Earlier this week, 47 US senators addressed an open letter spearheaded by freshman senator Tom Cotton to Iranian leaders, warning them that any deal with the Obama administration on Iran’s nuclear activities will be annuled with the stroke of a pen.

“This group, in fact proved to the world that the US cannot be trusted,” Larijani said. “They created the question for all governments around the world who they are negotiating with when conducting diplomatic relations with the US.”

Iran and the 5+1 group are holding talks on Tehran's nuclear program. They have set an end of March deadline to reach a political understanding, and a July 1 deadline to strike a deal.


Iranian leaders keep saying that any deal would require the lifting of all sanctions.

John Kerry says U.S. Congress can’t change Iran nuclear deal.

John Kerry says U.S. Congress can’t change Iran nuclear deal. (Taz).

The US Secretary of State has blasted an open letter to Iran by Republican senators as “incorrect”, saying Congress cannot revoke a possible nuclear deal with Iran, Press TV reported.

John Kerry, speaking Saturday in Egypt, stressed that US President Barack Obama has the power to implement any agreement reached with Iran, despite intense opposition from Republican lawmakers in Congress.

"As far as we're concerned, Congress has no ability to change an executive agreement," Kerry told a news conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, where he was attending an economic conference.

“From our point of view, this letter is incorrect in its statements,” the top US diplomat said, adding that the American lawmakers were “wrong.”

An open letter signed last week by 47 Republican senators warned Iran that any nuclear deal may last only as long as President Obama remained in office. The move was a highly unusual intervention in US foreign policy.

Iran and the P5+1 countries – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany – are holding negotiations to work out a final deal aimed at ending the longstanding standoff over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

Kerry also said that Iran and the P5+1 have made some progress during the nuclear negotiations, but that "important gaps" remain ahead of the July 1 deadline.

At the same time, the senior US diplomat welcomed a formal religious ruling or “fatwa” by Iran’s Leader that bans nuclear proliferation. (The Invisible Fatwa).

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, noted on Thursday that the GOP letter to Iranian officials revealed the collapse of political ethics in the US system.

President Obama has said he is "embarrassed" for the senators who signed the controversial.

"I am embarrassed for them," Obama said in an interview with VICE News, which is scheduled to be released Monday. Hmmmm........Don’t Misunderstand Khamenei’s Nuclear Fatwa.


Related: World Powers Accept Ayatollah Khamenei's Fatwa against N. Weapons as Criteria, please inform Pakistan.

Iran - Fatwa against nuclear weapons political milestone

Iran says Khamenei’s ban of nuclear weapons binding

Video - 'Special Delivery'

The ad is by the bipartisan American Security Initiative (ASI), which is led by former Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R, Ga.), Evan Bayh (D, Ind.), and Norm Coleman (R., Minn.).

Surprise, surprise, the major networks declined to run it Sunday during their morning news shows, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The group is demanding that Congress be able to vote on the Iran deal. HT: WhiteHouseDossier.

Tehran - Islamic revolution day 2015.