The United States “vigorously opposes efforts to isolate or boycott Israel,” Ambassador Dan Shapiro told an anti-boycott conference on Monday. “We have demonstrated this commitment for decades and continue to devote substantial resources in our government to this fight,” he added. “We consider it an extension of our longstanding commitment to fight...

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The Obama administration’s efforts to provide Iran with unprecedented access to the United States financial system is provoking push-back from leading legislators in the foreign policy arena, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Monday. The White House is looking at new ways to grant financial relief to Iran following complaints from...

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Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter called Iran’s treatment of the American sailors it detained in January “outrageous” and “inconsistent with international law” during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday. Carter, who credited the nuclear deal for preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, nonetheless acknowledged that “our concerns with Iran persist.” After singling...

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Israel is conducting final tests before deploying what military experts call one of the most advanced missile defense systems in the world, one that in many ways surpasses the capabilities of the United States. The multi-platform system includes the Iron Dome, which stops low-accuracy rockets like those fired by Hamas from the...

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Two key figures in Hezbollah’s money-laundering network were hit with sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday. The department officially designated Mohamad Noureddine and Hamdi Zaher El Dine for sanctions due to their financial support and money-laundering for the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah, which has been designated as a terrorist organization...

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The Obama administration’s plan to issue visa waivers to a broad range of visitors to the United States, including those who have traveled to Iran, was sharply criticized by House leaders Thursday, who said in a letter to the White House that doing so “renders both the terms ‘national security’ and ‘law enforcement’...

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The United States dropped a $10 million claim against an Iran-born engineer convicted of sanctions-related offenses in order to facilitate the release of five Americans held by the Islamic Republic, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Nader Modanlo is one of the seven Iranians who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted in...

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed the “Israel lobby” for American hostility towards Tehran, Reuters reported Wednesday. Friendlier relations between the Islamic Republic and the United States are possible, but “the key to that is in Washington’s hands, not Tehran’s,” Rouhani said at a press conference in Rome. The Iranian leader, who is...

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U.S. intelligence officials are disputing the Obama administration’s claim that Iran was not involved in the kidnapping of three American contractors in Iraq earlier this month, Jay Solomon of The Wall Street Journal reported (Google link) Tuesday. The three contractors were abducted in Baghdad on January 16, the same day that...

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Leading Syrian opposition figures have accused Secretary of State John Kerry of threatening to cut aid to forces fighting dictator Bashar al-Assad unless they agreed to attend peace talks on terms dictated by Assad’s backers, Iran and Russia. Mohamad Alloush, a member of the Syrian opposition’s High Negotiating Committee (HNC), told...

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