The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear agreement the West made with Iran in 2015 looked like a godsend for the mullahs’ regime. In exchange for suspending its nuclear weapons program for a decade, the ostracized Islamic Republic received $1.7 billion in cash and the promise of billions more…
GOP lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to make good on President Barack Obama’s promise that, because of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, inspectors “will have access where necessary, when necessary.”
Presidential candidate Donald Trump disparaged the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran in characteristically superlative terms: “My number-one priority,” he said to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in March 2016, “is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran. I have been in…
By October 15, Donald Trump must decide what to do with his predecessor’s nuclear agreement with Iran. He has felt obliged, against his instincts, to recertify the deal every 90 days, per the requirements of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, Congress’s attempt to supervise Barack Obama’s…
Donald Trump was frustrated. Five days earlier, on July 12, 2017, the president had decided for the second time in his young administration that he would certify to Congress Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal he’d promised as a candidate to dismantle. He wasn’t happy with the decision he’d…
Donald Trump was frustrated. Five days earlier, on July 12, 2017, the president had decided for the second time in his young administration that he would certify to Congress Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal he’d promised as a candidate to dismantle. He wasn’t happy with the decision he’d…
Presidential candidate Donald Trump disparaged the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran in characteristically superlative terms: “My number-one priority,” he said to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in March 2016, “is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran. I have been in…
By October 15, Donald Trump must decide what to do with his predecessor’s nuclear agreement with Iran. He has felt obliged, against his instincts, to recertify the deal every 90 days, per the requirements of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, Congress’s attempt to supervise Barack Obama’s…
Iran has ramped up its illicit activities in Syria and Iraq, the U.S. military's top general told lawmakers Tuesday, and the Islamic Republic has been boosted in such pursuits by the funds it received under the 2015 nuclear deal.
European officials are signaling openness to cracking down on Iran’s support for terrorism and improving on the 2015 nuclear deal, which one diplomatic official attributed on Monday to the Trump administration’s tough talk.
The Trump White House has yet to roll out its much-anticipated, comprehensive, government-wide Iran policy review, but administration principals have met over the last few weeks to iron out details regarding the nuclear deal with Iran, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. On…
The Trump White House has yet to roll out its much-anticipated, comprehensive, government-wide Iran policy review, but administration principals have met over the last few weeks to iron out details regarding the nuclear deal with Iran, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. On…
The crisis between the United States and North Korea shows no signs of abating. Indeed, Pyongyang escalated its provocations last week, firing a missile over Japan on August 29. Critics of the president cite his brash approach to Pyongyang as a factor behind North Korea’s belligerency. Some also…
The crisis between the United States and North Korea shows no signs of abating. Indeed, Pyongyang escalated its provocations last week, firing a missile over Japan on August 29. Critics of the president cite his brash approach to Pyongyang as a factor behind North Korea’s belligerency. Some also…
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed Tuesday that Iran would drop the nuclear deal “within hours” if the United States attempts to impose new sanctions on his country.
During a week in which all signs point to Republicans enshrining President Obama's top domestic achievement into law, it's now looking like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has tricked President Trump into keeping the main pillar of Obama's foreign policy legacy in place indefinitely: the…
On November 30, 2016, Syria watcher Tobias Schneider tweeted out pictures of an Iraqi Shia militiaman boarding an Iranian commercial airliner en route to Damascus. One selfie taken on the plane showed young men in military fatigues in the background. Another photo, likely taken when the militiaman…
Congress is ratcheting up pressure on the Trump administration to keep a watchful eye on Tehran, after the House approved an amendment last week requiring the president to inform lawmakers regularly of any efforts by Iran to ferry weapons and fighters using its commercial planes. The provision,…
This week on the Confab, senior writer Michael Warren tells why the Trump administration is sticking with the Iran nuclear deal—for now. Reporter Alice Lloyd reports on an Education Department summit about how colleges should treat accusations of student sexual assault. And senior editor Andrew…
The Trump administration is facing pressure to definitively rule out a longstanding request by Iran to import 950 tons of natural uranium, according to government sources and proliferation experts who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Tehran has signaled it will petition again for the yellowcake next…
The Obama administration left top lawmakers, including leaders on the congressional committees charged with overseeing American foreign policy, in the dark about a secret deal to send Iran more than one hundred metric tons of natural uranium, according to statements provided to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
Iran was given secret exemptions allowing the country to exceed restrictions set out by the landmark nuclear deal inked last year, some of which were made public this week by the United Nations nuclear watchdog and others that are likely still being withheld, according to diplomatic sources and a…
An Israeli advocacy group is seeking to collect billions in terror-related damages from Iran and in the meantime put a hold on the delivery of dozens of Boeing airliners to Tehran, the Associated Press reports.
A 10-year extension of long-standing Iran sanctions will become law without President Obama's signature, in an apparent symbolic move after both chambers of Congress passed the package by a near-unanimous margin.
A veteran intelligence official slammed the Obama administration for ignoring a range of Iran's destructive activities in order to preserve the nuclear deal, and advised the incoming Trump administration to harshly retaliate against Tehran's illicit pursuits.
Senate Democrats and Republicans voted overwhelmingly to renew sanctions on Iran for 10 years Thursday, despite attempts by the Obama administration to stymie Congress.
The Obama administration has determined that enabling the sale of aircraft and other materials to an Iranian airline sanctioned for ferrying weapons on behalf of Iran's military does not undermine its foreign policy goals, according to communications with Congress obtained exclusively by THE WEEKLY…
The international agency responsible for monitoring last summer's nuclear deal with Iran is deliberately not reporting on Iranian activities that may indicate Iran is violating the deal, setting up a potential confrontation with the incoming Trump administration, according to nuclear and…
Iran will likely use the Obama administration's final weeks to try to procure nuclear-related materials in violation of last summer's landmark nuclear deal, a top lawmaker told the THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
The United Nations' nuclear watchdog may have delayed releasing a report which revealed that Iran has again violated last summer's landmark nuclear deal amid efforts by the Obama administration to protect the deal, a top nuclear expert told THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
The Obama administration will not penalize Iran for exceeding limits set forth in last summer's nuclear deal that pertain to the country's ability to stockpile nuclear-related material.
A new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency revealed that Iran is in violation of last summer's nuclear deal. According to the report, the regime in Tehran has again exceeded the deal's threshold for heavy water, marking the second such violation since the implementation of the agreement…
Republicans in tight races are closing out the election with ads blasting their Democratic opponents for supporting last summer's nuclear deal with Iran, while Democrats are remaining largely silent about the broadly unpopular agreement, according to media analysis provided to THE WEEKLY STANDARD…
When Syrian opposition activists pushed John Kerry to take a tougher line with Russian president Vladimir Putin last year, the secretary of state asked them, "What do you want me to do, go to war with Russia?"
The Obama administration won't provide Congress with a range of details about a recent announcement that cleared the way for doing business with Iran, including Iranian firms controlled by sanctioned military and terrorist groups, according to congressional sources and experts who spoke to THE…
So the November 24 deadline for reaching a comprehensive agreement with Iran over its nuclear program—itself an extension of an earlier deadline—has come and gone with a whimper, and with another extension. The frenetic, feverish, and foolish pursuit of a deal by the Obama administration, marked by…
When Syrian opposition activists pushed John Kerry to take a tougher line with Russian president Vladimir Putin last year, the secretary of state asked them, "What do you want me to do, go to war with Russia?"
The Obama administration has cemented secret exemptions to last summer's nuclear deal that allow Iran to keep a still-unknown amount of uranium above what the deal's caps allow. That's according to top nuclear experts and sources who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD after lawmakers called for greater…
The Obama administration failed to inform a number of Democratic lawmakers that a $1.7 billion payment the U.S. sent to Iran earlier this year would be made wholly in cash, according to senators who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD Wednesday.
A top Russian diplomat criticized the U.S. for maintaining sanctions on Iran that he said hurt the country's economy in the wake of the nuclear deal, echoing complaints the Islamic Republic has made in recent months.
The U.S. delayed delivering a controversial $400 million payment to Iran until American hostages held there were "wheels up," the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
A professor who penned an op-ed in the Washington Post arguing for the Obama administration's $400 million payment to Iran did not disclose his ties to a group that paid experts to advocate for the Iran nuclear deal in the public sphere, the Washington Free Beacon reported Tuesday.
Ayatollah Khamenei, the "Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution," commemorated the end of Ramadan with a lengthy anti-American, antisemitic screed. Khamenei has repeatedly accused the West and Israel, rather than Muslim-majority forces, of sponsoring violence in the region, and the title of his…
Lawmakers in both chambers of Congress are pushing for legislation that would prevent a multi-billion dollar deal between Boeing and Iran Air from being funded with taxpayer dollars. The Republican-led proposal is getting Democratic support.
Obama administration officials admitted that two uranium particles discovered at Iran's Parchin military facility last year are likely evidence of the country's nuclear weapons past, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The findings contradict Iran's repeated claims that it was not secretly…
Administration critics are slamming Secretary of State John Kerry's globetrotting in recent weeks to drum up investment in Iran with international banking and business leaders, and say Tehran has a responsibility to clean up its financial act in order to attract investment on its own.
The Associated Press reports that under the provisions of the deal, the Iranian government will be allowed to use its own inspectors on one site thought to have been used to develop nuclear weapons. Here's more from the AP:
Bob Menendez, the Democratic senator from New Jersey and one of the leading voices for tougher sanctions on the Iranian regime, delivered an address Tuesday at Seton Hall University in which he declared he would oppose the nuclear deal with Iran.
In May, President Barack Obama donned a yarmulke and spoke in a Washington, D.C., synagogue. He reminded his audience that Jeffrey Goldberg, a member of the congregation, once called him the “first Jewish president.” He claimed to be flattered by the characterization. And perhaps he was—most Jews,…
It's not hard to figure out why the Obama administration is lashing out at critics of the deal it signed with Iran last week. The White House has been pretending it’s a nuclear deal but knows that it really isn’t. Everyone from the president to the secretary of state and his negotiating team is…
Vienna
THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior editor Lee Smith on the Iran deal, and whether the country will achieve full nuclear breakout before the end of Obama's second term.
THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton on the "diplomatic waterloo" that is the Iran nuclear deal.
David Keyes, executive director of a group called "Advancing Human Rights" is at it again. This time in Vienna.
One week before the June 30 deadline for a nuclear deal with Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a series of demands about the final terms. Among them: He called for an immediate end to all United Nations Security Council and U.S. economic sanctions on Iran; he said Iranian military…
The Obama White House thinks that when it comes to the Iranian nuclear program, we ought to let bygones be bygones. What’s past is past, and now it’s time to focus on the future. Sure, the administration once thought it was a problem that the Iranians refused to disclose their past nuclear…
Even the Obama administration acknowledges that Iran is up to a lot of mischief in the Middle East. Tehran is engaged in a sectarian conflict from Lebanon to Syria and Iraq that has recently come to include Yemen as another active front. However, the White House continues to insist, against all…
Many supporters of an Iranian nuclear agreement believe that a deal could help to moderate, even democratize, Iranian society. Barack Obama’s constant allusions to the transformative potential of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for U.S.-Iranian relations suggest that he believes an…
Iran is on the march all over the world, from Syria and Iraq to Venezuela and Cuba (where they have a Hezbollah base). Except when they unceremoniously retreat, as in recent days when their flotilla to Yemen turned around when they saw the U.S. Navy.
Last week, the Obama administration urged Saudi Arabia to halt its air campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who have wrested control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa. The White House’s professed concern was that Riyadh’s Operation Decisive Storm was killing too many civilians.…
If there is one thing on which Democrats and Republicans can agree, it is that it is undesirable for countries other than the United States to possess nuclear weapons. For this reason, America’s nonproliferation policy has traditionally been characterized by strong bipartisanship. It is notable,…
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered this assessment of the American-led negotiations with Iran the day before a deal was announced:
THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on how both President Obama's pending nuclear deal with Iran, and Hillary Clinton in 2016 can be defeated.
THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on Rand Paul's presidential announcement, and the Obama/Iran nuclear deal.
THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on why Congress needs to kill President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran.
THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior editor Lee Smith on the Obama administration's pending nuclear deal with Iran.
The Obama White House is enlisting all its allies to make its case for the bad nuclear deal with Iran that, say administration allies, is better than no deal. The alternative, they claim, is war. And to what purpose? Many nuclear experts, Middle East analysts, and journalists argue, after all, that…
THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with staff writer Michael Warren on how President Obama's Bergdahl and Iran Nuke deals keep just getting worse.
THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on the President's nuclear deal with Iran, whether we'll learn more this weekend, and Hillary Clinton's speech to camp counselors.
THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior editor Lee Smith on Obama's nuclear giveaway to Iran and why Netanyahu's victory won't stop the administration from pursuing a bad deal.
Who could be against submitting a nuclear deal with Iran to Congress for approval? If you guessed Barack Obama, you’re right.
Lee Smith, a senior editor at THE WEEKLY STANDARD, writes at Tablet:
Predictably, President Barack Obama and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have decided to extend again the Joint Plan of Action, the interim nuclear deal they concluded in November 2013. Unlike the last extension, which was for four months, this one is for seven months; the “political” parts of the deal,…
Last week’s interim agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran over its nuclear weapons program offers the regime sanctions relief even as U.S. lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, are demanding more and stricter sanctions. The White House counters that more sanctions will only narrow diplomatic…