Inspectors from the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found traces of the deadly nerve agents sarin and VX at a research facility in Syria that had not been publicly declared, Reuters reported today. Samples taken by experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in December and...

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Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah, reaffirmed his commitment to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday, saying that if Assad falls, so too does Hezbollah. Last Thursday, Fahad Jassim al-Freij, the Syrian Defense Minister, visited Tehran to discuss military coordination and cooperation between the two countries. Meanwhile,...

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A United Nations panel in charge of monitoring illicit Iranian nuclear procurement suggested in its recently released annual report that a decline in confirmed reports of such violations could be attributed to “a political decision by some member states to refrain from reporting to avoid any possible negative impact on ongoing negotiations between …...

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A United Nations inquiry into incidents that occurred at UN facilities during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge confirmed Israel’s charges that Hamas used those facilities to store weapons and launch attacks against Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon charged that Palestinian militants had stored weapons in three UN...

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Iran’s election to the top post in UN Women raises questions if Iran’s candidacy was enabled by the West’s concern not to upset the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran, the watchdog group, UN Watch charged Monday. Hillel Neuer the executive director of UN Watch said: “By elevating Iran to a...

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In a step that will weaken United Nations-mandated sanctions that were enacted in response to Iran’s illicit nuclear program, the Russian government has lifted a 2010 ban on shipping an advanced air-defense system to Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported (Google link) today. The lifting of the ban also raised fears that Iran...

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Shortly after the understanding was signed between Iran and the P5+1 countries over the country’s illicit nuclear program, a U.S. State Department fact sheet—since disputed by Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif—stated that “U.S. and E.U. nuclear-related sanctions will be suspended after the [International Atomic Energy Agency] has verified that Iran has taken...

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Noting that President Barack Obama’s stated goals for an acceptable nuclear deal with Iran in 2012 would see Tehran “‘[…] end their nuclear program’ and ‘abide by the U.N. resolutions that have been in place,'” an unsigned staff editorial published today in The Washington Post laments that the president has retreated...

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Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Ron Prosor lambasted the international body on Tuesday for its discriminatory behavior towards Israel, arguing that the once-venerable institution has been hijacked by undemocratic regimes that wield it as a means to further their own political ends. In an op-ed published by The...

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Top analysts, including a former top official at the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, are calling into question basic assumptions about the wisdom of the deal currently being hammered out in Lausanne, Switzerland between the P5+1 global powers and Iran. At stake is whether the administration’s publicly-expressed goal for the talks—that...

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