Bible Quotation for today/God's Love in Christ Jesus
Romans 8/31-39: " In view of all this, what can we say? If God is for us, who can be against us? Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son—will he not also freely give us all things?  Who will accuse God's chosen people? God himself declares them not guilty!  Who, then, will condemn them? Not Christ Jesus, who died, or rather, who was raised to life and is at the right side of God, pleading with him for us! Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death? 36 As the scripture says, “For your sake we are in danger of death at all times; we are treated like sheep that are going to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!  For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future,  neither the world above nor the world below—there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Pope Francis/The Sacraments are Jesus Christ’s presence in us. So it is important for us to go to Confession and receive Holy Communion

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources For November 24/13

Lebanon after the bombs/By: Sawsan Al-Abtah/ASharq Alawsa/November 24/13

Kerry and the Muslim Brotherhood thieves/By: Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Alawsat/November 24/13

With Which Iran Are You Negotiating/By: Elias Harfoush/Al Hayat/November 24/13

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources For November 24/13
Lebanese Related News

Several Injured in Separate Tripoli Attacks, Miqati Calls for 'Strictly' Prosecuting the Perpetrators

Obama Stresses to Suleiman U.S. Commitment to STL

DNA Samples Confirm Moein Abu Dahr, Adnan Mohammed as Iranian Embassy Suicide Bombers

DNA Samples Confirm Abu Dahr as One of Iranian Embassy Suicide Bombers, Second Suspect Identified

Source: Lebanon identifies Palestinian man as second Iran embassy bomber
Father of suspected Palestinian bomber summoned

Report: Israeli Officer Expects Attack against Lebanon before Strike against Iran

Al-Jadeed TV Receives 'Mock' Bombing Threats, Security Forces Cordon Off Neighborhood

Geagea Calls on Faction to Adopt President's Independence Speech as Roadmap

Qaouq: Syrian Gunmen Must Withdraw from Lebanon before Hizbullah Pulls out from Syria

Asiri: Saudi Embassy in Beirut Has Not Received Any Threats

Syrian Warplanes Shell Arsal, No Injuries Reported

Geagea Calls on Faction to Adopt President's Independence Speech as Roadmap

Qaouq: Syrian Gunmen Must Withdraw from Lebanon before Hizbullah Pulls out from Syria

Report: Israeli Officer Expects Attack against Lebanon before Strike against Iran

Miscellaneous Reports And News

After four days of talks, Iran refuses any deal banning uranium enrichment

Iran nuclear talks over, diplomat says; no word on results

As deadlines fell Saturday night, nuclear talks dragged on in Geneva

Iran will not bow to 'excessive demands'

Kerry joins Iran talks to push for nuclear breakthrough

Ya'alon: Nuclear Iran could plant dirty bomb anywhere in West

Iran to Oppose 'Excessive Demands' in Nuclear Talks, Doubts Striking Deal with World Powers

Iran planning to build 2 new nuclear power plants, official says
Erdogan slams Egypt's army-backed rulers after Cairo expels Turkish ambassador
Egypt expels Turkish ambassador, Turkey retaliates

Muslim Brotherhood Financing Attacks, Says Egypt's Interior Minister

Egypt Expels Turkish Envoy over Morsi Row, Ankara Declares Egyptian Diplomat 'Persona Non-Grata'

Islamist forces say they've seized crucial Syrian oil field
Gulf leaders meet amid Iran Geneva talks

Report: Israel PM to Meet Pope Francis on December

Iran nuclear talks over, diplomat says; no word on results
GENEVA (Reuters) - Nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers ended early on Sunday, an Iranian diplomat said, but there was no immediate word on whether a long-sought deal had been reached.
(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Kerry joins Iran talks to push for nuclear breakthrough
By Justyna Pawlak and Fredrik Dahl | Reuters – GENEVA (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from Iran and six world powers laboured on Saturday to overcome remaining difficulties and clinch a breakthrough deal aimed at allaying Western suspicions over Tehran's atomic ambitions. With the sides edging closer, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers of the five other nations joined the talks with Iran as they entered an unscheduled fourth day. The demand that Iran stop or slow construction of a reactor that could yield potential bomb material appeared to be the main outstanding problem holding up an agreement. British Foreign Minister William Hague and Germany's Guido Westerwelle both cautioned that a deal was not yet guaranteed and that there was work still to do. A senior Iranian negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, said the meeting could run into Sunday, even though Kerry is due to travel to London then. "We hope to reach a result tonight but if we don't ... it is possible that the talks will continue tomorrow as well," he was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency. The discussion is over wording, and progress has not been bad," Araqchi said, according to Mehr News Agency. Hague said there was a "huge amount of agreement" but the remaining gaps were important and the talks remained difficult.
The powers' goal is to cap Iran's nuclear energy programme, which has a history of evading U.N. inspections and investigations, to remove any risk of Tehran covertly refining uranium to a level suitable for bombs.
Tehran denies it would ever "weaponise" enrichment. Diplomats said a formidable stumbling block in the negotiations, which began on Wednesday, may have been settled with compromise language that does not explicitly recognise Iran's claim to a "right to enrich" uranium but acknowledges all countries' right to their own civilian nuclear energy. Refined uranium can be used to fuel nuclear power plants - Iran's stated goal - but also provide the fissile core of an atomic bomb if refined much further.
NOT "A DONE DEAL"
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Iran's demand to continue construction of the Arak heavy-water reactor that could produce plutonium - an alternative bomb material - remained a tough outstanding issue.
Iran says the Arak plant will only produce medical isotopes. Germany's Westerwelle told reporters: "It's not a done deal. There's a realistic chance but there's a lot of work to do." The talks' aim to find a package of confidence-building steps to ease decades of tensions and banish the spectre of a Middle East war over Tehran's nuclear aspirations. The preliminary pact would run for six months while the powers and Tehran hammer out a broader, longer-term settlement. Diplomacy was stepped up after the landslide election of Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, as Iranian president in June, replacing bellicose nationalist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Rouhani aims to mend fences with big powers and get sanctions lifted. He obtained crucial public backing from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, keeping powerful hardline critics at bay.
The draft deal would see Iran suspend some nuclear activities in exchange for the release of billions of dollars in Iranian funds frozen in foreign bank accounts, and renewed trade in precious metals, petrochemicals and aircraft parts. The United States might also agree to relax pressure on other countries not to buy Iranian oil. Tehran has made clear it wants a more significant dismantling of Western sanctions on its oil exports and use of the international banking system. France's Laurent Fabius, who objected to what he felt was a one-sided offer to Iran floated at the previous negotiating round on November 7-9, seemed guarded on arrival on Saturday.
"I hope we can reach a deal, but a solid deal. I am here to work on that," he said. France has consistently taken a tough line over Iran's nuclear programme, helping Paris cultivate closer ties with Tehran's adversaries in Israel and the Gulf. Kerry went to Geneva "with the goal of continuing to help narrow the differences and move closer to an agreement," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Direct U.S.-Iranian engagement is crucial to a peaceful solution given the rupture in bilateral ties since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.
"CHRISTMAS PRESENT"
As a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has always sought recognition of its "right to enrich" uranium, but Western powers say that is not enshrined in the NPT. Diplomats said revised wording did not explicitly recognise a right to produce nuclear fuel. "If you speak about the right to a peaceful nuclear programme, that's open to interpretation," a diplomat said. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said: "Enrichment in Iran will not stop and ... enrichment will be a part of any agreement." European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is coordinating the talks with Iran on behalf of the six nations, held "intensive discussions" with Zarif throughout Saturday and later briefed the other foreign ministers about their talks. For the powers, an interim deal would mandate a halt to Iran's enrichment of uranium to a purity of 20 percent - a major step towards the bomb threshold, more sweeping U.N. nuclear inspections and a halt to the construction of the Arak reactor. The OPEC producer rejects suspicions it is covertly trying to develop the means to produce nuclear weapons, saying it is stockpiling nuclear material for future atomic power plants. Israel says the deal being offered would give Iran more time for to master nuclear technology and amass potential bomb fuel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told local media in Moscow that Iran was essentially given an "unbelievable Christmas present - the capacity to maintain this (nuclear) breakout capability for practically no concessions at all".
(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi, John Irish, Arshad Mohammed, Louis Charbonneau in Geneva, Katya Golubkova in Moscow, Isabel Coles in Dubai; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Robin Pomeroy)

Egypt expels Turkish ambassador, Turkey retaliates
Reuters – CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt said on Saturday it was expelling Turkey's ambassador and accused Ankara of backing organizations bent on undermining the country - an apparent reference to the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, himself a supporter of an Islamist-led government forced from power by generals in 1997, issued a blunt rebuff to Egypt's army-backed rulers, declaring on live television: "I will never respect those who come to power through military coups."He spoke shortly after Turkey had retaliated to the Egyptian move by declaring the Egyptian ambassador, currently out of the country, persona non grata. Egyptian foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty made no specific allegations against Turkey in announcing the ambassador's expulsion, but said: "(Ankara is) ... attempting to influence public opinion against Egyptian interests, supported meetings of organizations that seek to create instability in the country."
Turkey has emerged as one of the fiercest international critics of Mursi's removal, calling it an "unacceptable coup" by the army. Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, which has been staging protests calling for his reinstatement, has close ties with Erdogan's AK Party.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul speaking on state-run TRT television before Erdogan, was more measured in his remarks. "I hope our relations will again get back on track," he said. Both countries will remain represented in each other's capitals by embassies headed by a charge d'affaires, effectively a number two.
Both had recalled their ambassadors in August for consultation after Egyptian security forces stormed into pro-Mursi camps on August 14, killing hundreds.
RISING TENSIONS
In some of the worst civilian violence in decades, security forces crushed protests by Mursi's supporters. Militant Islamists, who have been attacking Egyptian forces in the Sinai peninsula, stepped up their assaults in or near major cities. Relations deteriorated between Egypt and countries that criticized Mursi's ouster and the government crackdown on the Brotherhood where thousands have been arrested. Qatar, once a major ally to Egypt under Mursi which lent or gave Egypt $7.5 billion, condemned the security forces crackdown against the Brotherhood in August. Egypt described the statement as an interference in its affairs.
In September, Egypt returned a $2 billion Qatari deposit with its central bank after talks to convert the funds into three-year bonds broke down.
Egypt's army-backed interim government is implementing what it calls a roadmap to democracy that could see fresh elections by early next year.
SUNDAY PROTESTS
In comments underlining the government's stance against the Muslim Brotherhood Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, on Saturday, accused them of supporting and financing extremists with the goal of causing instability in Egypt. In a half hour press conference Ibrahim named groups and individuals that he accused the Muslim Brotherhood of mobilizing. He linked some of them to al-Qaeda and 'other extremist groups from the Gaza strip', in a reference to Hamas. Ibrahim said security forces arrested five individuals from al-Qaeda linked groups who were present at the pro-Mursi vigils in Cairo before they were dispersed on August 14. The Brotherhood denies any links to violence. Ibrahim said security forces found documents, seized weapons, and foiled various attack attempts against public figures, police and army personnel. It also blamed those groups for attacks against the police and army since June 30. Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, including Mursi, are currently in detention facing charges of inciting violence.
To commemorate the passing of 100 days since security forces cleared the pro-Mursi vigils in Cairo, supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood plan to take to the streets on Sunday.
But Ibrahim warned protesters they would be dealt with firmly. "From now on any protest that disrupts roads, any protest that is not peaceful, I will deal with it firmly and decisively no matter what the losses are to me or to them."
(Reporting by Asma Alsharif and Ali Abdelatty, and Seda Sezer in Turkey.; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
 

As deadlines fell Saturday night, nuclear talks dragged on in Geneva

DEBKAfile Special Report November 23, 2013/Bilateral talks were still dragging on up to midnight Saturday, Nov. 23 in Geneva, well after the deadline the US and European negotiators gave Iran for an interim accord on its nuclear program. This indicated that four of the six powers had reached the limit of their concessions. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif retorted that his government would not bow to threats, but stayed. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the same difficulties encountered two weeks ago still remained. US Secretary John Kerry arranged to be in London Sunday.
See debkafile’s earlier report on this date.
Both sides were pumping up an atmosphere of optimism as the foreign ministers of all six powers facing Iran made tracks for Geneva Saturday morning, Nov. 23, Day Four of the marathon negotiations for an accord on a six-month freeze on Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Araghchi said the six powers had agreed to respect his country’s right to enrich uranium, so removing a major hurdle in the path of an accord, whereas Foreign Minister Javad Zarif remained silent.
Sergey Lavrov was the first foreign minister to arrive Friday night, followed by Secretary of State John Kerry early Saturday. Both were said to have come to try and narrow the gaps holding up an accord. The Chinese, British, French and German foreign ministers were due in Geneva Saturday morning, after bilateral sessions between Zarif and the other six delegates failed to produce enough progress for them to adjourn to formal negotiations around the same table, least of all reach the signing stage.
This time round, the Iranian team borrowed the Western tactic of constantly maintaining that a deal is within reach. This tactic aims at weakening the resistance of the opposite side by presenting it as dragging out the nerve-wracking talkathon beyond reason. This tactic didn’t work for the Western delegations in the first round of nuclear talks on Nov. 11, which France blew up on the fourth day. The second round had reached the same touch-and-go point by Saturday morning, when none of the six delegations confirmed they had agreed to a clause respecting Iran’s right to enrich uranium as Araghchi had claimed.
This point is pivotal to both sides because it is absent from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which merely specifies that countries are allowed “to pursue peaceful nuclear energy.”
Rewording this provision to cover the right to uranium enrichment would cut the ground from under the entire treaty by throwing the door open for all its signatories to enrich uranium at will.
Tehran’s goal in making this demand is more than legitimacy for its own weapons program. It is also seeks to deprive the big powers of the prerogative to determine the rights of smaller nations.
On this point, therefore, both Iran and the six powers are digging in their heels.
The other major hurdle facing a deal is the Arak heavy water reactor Iran is building. Tehran refuses to halt construction of this reactor arguing that like any other nation, Iran is entitled to build nuclear reactors for peaceful purposes. They shoot back at any suggestion that the Arak reactor is designed to produce plutonium as fuel for nuclear weapon, along with enriched uranium, with a charge of discrimination, and declare, “Tehran is not going to sign an agreement that permanently put Iran in an outcast category,”
The Iranians have adopted a negotiating strategy of relegating the vital technical aspects of the draft accord to a lower priority while hammering away at issues pertinent to national respect. Iran is fighting in Geneva for international respect as a legitimate and equal nuclear power on the world stage.
This strategy also has a by-product: By the time they get around to the key technical clauses, the negotiators on the other side of the table are too worn down to cope with a new set of Iranian objections.
The biggest obstacle to a deal, however, is to be found in Tehran in the person of the tough, autocratic Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He will have the final word on whether the second round to talks in Geneva produce an accord – not the American or Russian presidents, and certainly not the foreign ministers assembling there.
Khamenei has boosted his heft by making himself unapproachable – even to Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani. So no one can influence him or even find out where he stands until the text is ready for signing. Even then, Zarif and Araghchi may be told at the last moment to withhold their signatures over some point and return home for further consultations. The six powers will then have to decide whether it is worth taking the negotiations to a third round, as the Congress in Washington fights back by enacting tighter sanctions against Iran

Lebanon after the bombs
By: Sawsan Al-Abtah/ASharq Alawsat
Al-Qaeda should regret what it did in Beirut on Tuesday, but that regret will not be because the bloodthirsty organization is suddenly troubled by its conscience. Rather, Al-Qaeda will regret the twin suicide bombings—which are the first of their kind in Lebanon, in terms of both technique and purpose—because they have backfired. The suicide attacks have served Iran and its allies in Lebanon far more than it has damaged their interests.
None of the Iranian embassy’s staff were harmed in the two consecutive explosions, aside from Ibrahim Al-Ansari, the cultural attaché who was killed, and a few guards. What the bombs did do was kill 20 civilians and injure 150 people of many different nationalities, including the Yemeni ambassador, a policeman, telecommunications workers, bystanders, and African and Asian housemaids. Even though the embassy building did not suffer heavy damage, over 100 residential homes did, and people had to be evacuated from them.
The operation also showed that Iran is a target of terrorism; it is a victim of barbarity it cannot master. After the blasts, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman rushed to the embassy, as did a several delegations, including the Papal Ambassador to Lebanon and the British Ambassador, Tom Fletcher. Fletcher actually donated blood to the victims, and said that dialogue should prevail over violence. But events didn’t end there. Iran took the opportunity to send its deputy foreign minister, Hussein Amir Abdul-Lahian, on a diplomatic journey to the Lebanese capital. Abdul-Lahian met with Lebanese officials and said that “Tehran will maintain its stance with respect to supporting Syria and embracing the axis of resistance.”
Even though the two blasts were targeted at the Iranian embassy—a country that certainly has opponents, even enemies, in Lebanon—nobody dared to hand out candy to passers-by or fire celebratory rounds into the air to celebrate, they way they did after the explosions in Dahieh. It was rather the opposite, in fact. A sense of dreadful shock prevailed, and from north to south Lebanon seemed to be trembling. The mere knowledge that the twin explosions were the result of suicide operations and that it was the first time explosive belts have been used in Lebanon has raised fear to the limit. Echoes of the Iraqi inferno are lingering in everybody’s minds.
Ordinary people don’t have to listen to the chatter of the political class to understand that their country has entered a dangerous phase. And they do not have to hear Sirajeddin Zreikat, the leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, threatening to keep attacking Lebanon to understand that their future will be very different.
Throughout the harsh 17 years of civil war in Lebanon, suicide operations never were a part of the language of war. Suicide operations at the time were associated with attacks on the Israelis or the Americans, such as the famous explosion that hit the US embassy in 1982. Suicide operations have become easier, a part of the region’s rituals. From Mali to Egypt, from Jordan to Syria and from Iraq to Yemen, there are hundreds of suicide bombers willing to die for the cause of killing others.
Until now, Lebanese suicide bombers have been rare. Al-Qaeda was convinced that Lebanon wasn’t a hotbed of new recruits—at least, that’s what Fatah Al-Islam and all those with close ties to the organization used to say. But now jihadists have been in and out of Lebanon since the start of the Syrian revolution, and perhaps even before then, and naturally they have grown in number because of the raging battle in Lebanon’s larger neighbor. This has let them transform Lebanon from a mere stopover on a journey into a haven and a battlefield, threatening to open fire on Hezbollah as a way to take revenge for it fighting alongside the Syrian Army.
Enclaves in Akar, Tripoli, Arsal and the Palestinian refugee camps have been created to embrace Al-Qaeda members. There are reports of Al-Qaeda beginning to appoint emirs in Lebanon, as well as US and Russian intelligence showing tons of explosive equipment being moved into the country.
Indeed, whenever battles in Syria rage, we will hear their reverberations echo throughout Lebanon.
The attack on the Iranian embassy happened just days after Ashura, a holiday celebrated by Shi’a Muslims, and two days before Lebanon’s Independence Day. The attack happened closer to the Corniche than to the Dahieh district. Security in this upscale place is the responsibility of the Lebanese military, against which Al-Qaeda feels nothing but bitter hostility.
The suicide bombers did not manage to hit a sensitive spot, which they usually manage to do quite easily. Instead, they opened up opportunities for Iran, which is currently conducting negotiations over its nuclear program. It also raised fear among the Lebanese people. Indeed, the twin blasts caused a state of alarm in the security apparatus—but they also awakened the citizens of Lebanon to a predator waiting to strike.
On Independence Day, November 22, the marine commandos—the most elite and ferocious forces in Lebanon—went on parade at the Lebanese University. While they do that every year, this time was remarkable. There was a massive turnout, and the youth who came to cheer the show of force celebrated by jumping ropes and eating snakes.
Only 48 hours after the horrific attack by Al-Qaeda, these young people badly needed their army’s protection against the coming madness.
The attack was not just against the Iranian embassy, as Al-Qaeda claimed. Every Lebanese person alive today knows that the attack has affected their personal life and their family’s security more than it could ever affect the Iranian embassy.
After the emergence of these explosive belt attack, Lebanon will be different.
**Sawsan Al-Abtah is a Lebanese journalist and columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat.

Kerry and the Muslim Brotherhood “thieves”
By: Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Alawsat
In a ground-breaking statement, US Secretary of State John Kerry took us by surprise when he accused Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood of stealing the revolution. Kerry changed both his stance and the stance of the US administration, which has long refused to acknowledge the removal of President Mohamed Mursi from power. It insisted on punishing the new regime, considering it to be illegitimate for having stolen power from an elected president—meaning from the Muslim Brotherhood.
This new position is a fine one, because the US Department of State can sum up history now by saying: The Egyptian army stole power from the Muslim Brotherhood, which stole the revolution from the people. Thus the contradiction in US policy towards Egypt no longer exists.
In a related development, Britain announced that it has lifted a ban on arms exports to Egypt.
The British government said that it would resume the delivery and sale of weapons to Egypt, following in the footsteps of the United States, which announced that it has delivered one of three military battleships that are set to sail to Egyptian waters immediately.
Why this change in the stance from the West?
I believe this is the normal consequence of the failure of the Muslim Brotherhood, which opposes the new regime, and the failure of the Brotherhood’s allies in persuading the West to continue supporting them.
Four months have passed since the ousting of the Brotherhood government and the imprisonment of Mursi. The situation has not changed on any level, be it popular or political. Other political forces in Egypt have continued to support the new regime, taking part in the drafting of constitutional amendments and preparing for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The Brotherhood has succeeded in sustaining their protests in one city square. Many of their followers, some of whom are students, have also protested in universities, including Al-Azhar University. However, these demonstrations cannot be described as overwhelmingly popular protests. In this case, where is the alleged majority that supports the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, who should be taking to the streets? Where is the violence that the Brotherhood threatened the West with if the latter supported the “coup”? They vowed to burn Cairo down and draw blood in Europe, but they only succeeded in fighting limited battles in the desert of the Sinai Peninsula—and those battles do not affect the stability of the country. They didn’t carry out any external retaliation.
There is no doubt that the Russian leadership’s rush to embrace the new Egyptian regime has raised the West’s concerns, since the relations between Moscow and Cairo were strengthened by both open and secret meetings. This suggests that Egypt is gradually withdrawing from its closeness with the West.
While Egyptian relations with Moscow are forging new ground, the threats and sanctions of the US have failed to persuade the Egyptian leadership to return to the situation that preceded the month of July.
Western officials, such as Kerry, were forced to change their stances, trying to appease General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi through statements describing the Muslim Brotherhood as “thieves.” The Brotherhood stole the revolution, but the army did not steal power. It is a clear diplomatic apology, but it is not enough. A comprehensive change is required to fully reverse the US’s previous policy. To do so, the sanctions on Egypt must be lifted and the flow of aid must be resumed.
**Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed is the general manager of Al-Arabiya television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly magazine Al-Majalla. He is also a senior columnist in the daily newspapers Al-Madina and Al-Bilad. He has a US post-graduate degree in mass communications, and has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He is currently based in Dubai.

After four days of talks, Iran refuses any deal banning uranium enrichment

http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/After-four-days-of-talks-Iran-refuses-any-deal-banning-uranium-enrichment-332775

By REUTERS 11/24/2013/GENEVA- Iran said on Saturday it cannot accept any agreement with six major powers that does not recognize what it describes as its right to enrich uranium, a demand the United States and its European allies have repeatedly rejected.
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi's statement, late on the unscheduled fourth day of talks over Tehran's nuclear program, appeared to signal a hardening of its position on an issue that Western diplomats earlier suggested may have been resolved thanks to a compromise proposal they floated. It cast doubt on whether Iran and the six powers would succeed in bridging the remaining difficulties and clinch a breakthrough deal under which the Islamic state would curb its atomic activities in exchange for limited sanctions relief. Earlier on Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers of the five other nations joined the talks with Iran as the two sides appeared to be edging closer to a long-sought preliminary agreement. "In the past 10 years, Iran has resisted economic and political pressures and sanctions aimed at abandoning its enrichment activities," Araqchi told reporters.
"Therefore any agreement without recognizing Iran's right to enrich, practically and verbally, will be unacceptable for Tehran," he said. Araqchi said that "98 percent progress" had been achieved in the talks with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, adding there were only a few areas of disagreement remaining. As he was speaking, the six powers met internally to discuss their position. Araqchi suggested talks could run into Sunday. The demand that Iran stop or slow construction of a reactor that could yield potential bomb material was among other outstanding problems holding up an agreement, diplomats said. British Foreign Minister William Hague and Germany's Guido Westerwelle both cautioned that a deal was not yet guaranteed and that there was work still to do.
Hague said there was a "huge amount of agreement" but that the remaining gaps were important and the talks remained difficult.
NOT 'A DONE DEAL'
The Western powers' goal is to cap Iran's nuclear energy program, which has a history of evading UN inspections and investigations, to remove any risk of Tehran covertly refining uranium to a level suitable for bombs.Tehran denies it would ever "weaponize" enrichment.The draft deal would see Iran suspend some nuclear activities in exchange for the release of billions of dollars in Iranian funds frozen in foreign bank accounts, and renewed trade in precious metals, petrochemicals and aircraft parts. The United States might also agree to relax pressure on other countries not to buy Iranian oil. Tehran has made clear it wants a more significant dismantling of Western sanctions on its oil exports and use of the international banking system. Refined uranium can be used to fuel nuclear power plants - Iran's stated goal - but also provide the fissile core of an atomic bomb if refined much further.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Iran's demand to continue construction of the Arak heavy-water reactor that could produce plutonium - an alternative bomb material - remained a tough outstanding issue. Iran says the Arak plant will only produce medical isotopes, but Western governments and nuclear analysts have doubts.
Germany's Westerwelle told reporters: "It's not a done deal. There's a realistic chance, but there's a lot of work to do."The talks aim to find a package of confidence-building steps to ease decades of tensions and banish the specter of a Middle East war over Tehran's nuclear aspirations. The preliminary pact would run for six months while the powers and Tehran hammer out a broader, longer-term settlement. Diplomacy was stepped up after the landslide election of Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, as Iranian president in June, replacing bellicose nationalist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Rouhani aims to mend fences with big powers and get sanctions lifted. He obtained crucial public backing from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, keeping powerful hardline critics at bay.
'CHRISTMAS PRESENT'
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who objected to what he felt was a one-sided offer to Iran floated at the previous negotiating round from Nov. 7-9, seemed guarded on arrival on Saturday.
"I hope we can reach a deal, but a solid deal. I am here to work on that," he said. France has consistently taken a tough line over Iran's nuclear program, helping Paris cultivate closer ties with Tehran's adversaries in Israel and the Gulf. Kerry went to Geneva "with the goal of continuing to help narrow the differences and move closer to an agreement," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Direct US-Iranian engagement is crucial to a peaceful solution given the rupture in bilateral ties since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.
As a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has always sought recognition of its "right to enrich" uranium, but Western powers say that is not enshrined in the NPT.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, "Enrichment in Iran will not stop and ... enrichment will be a part of any agreement."
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is coordinating the talks with Iran on behalf of the six nations, held "intensive discussions" with Zarif throughout Saturday, her spokesman said.
For the powers, an interim deal would mandate a halt to Iran's enrichment of uranium to a purity of 20 percent - a major step towards the bomb threshold, more sweeping UN nuclear inspections and a halt to the construction of the Arak reactor. The OPEC producer rejects suspicions it is covertly trying to develop the means to produce nuclear weapons, saying it is stockpiling nuclear material for future atomic power plants.
Israel says the deal being offered would give Iran more time to master nuclear technology and amass potential bomb fuel. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told local media in Moscow that Iran was essentially given an "unbelievable Christmas present - the capacity to maintain this (nuclear) breakout capability for practically no concessions at all".
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With Which Iran Are You Negotiating?
Elias Harfoush/Al Hayat
Since the beginning of the new round of negotiations over Iran's nuclear program in Geneva, the Iranian delegation has been demanding that it benefit from the opportunity of what it says has become available in terms of an understanding with the west, after Hassan Rohani won the country's presidential elections. The Americans, according to their secretary of state, John Kerry, and along with them a number of European diplomats, are repeating the same phrase: this is the best chance in ten years to make progress toward a settlement on the nuclear issue with Iran.
The Iranian negotiator in Geneva in effect told the west, "We have abandoned Ahmadinejad's policy and the extremism that you accused of us in the past. What you now need to do is pay for this, by ending sanctions that you put on us, and agree to treat us like a normal state, not a rogue nation, and not one that belongs to the 'axis of evil,' as George Bush classified us."
The Iranian negotiator wants to tell the west, "We have changed. We are wearing European suits and smiling for the cameras. We have shaved our beards and speak fluent English. We also appointed a woman as Foreign Ministry spokesperson, exactly like you. Thus, there is no longer any justification to treat us harshly and prevent us from obtaining our assets that are frozen in your banks, or impose sanctions on our oil exports, which are our guarantee for confronting the deteriorating economic situation that we suffer from."
This is what the Iranians are asking for from the west, for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's allowing the "moderate reformist" Rohani to be elected president of the Islamic Republic. The irony is that western countries, or more precisely most of them, have been taken in by this game of "Iranian democracy." Of those who are seeking to negotiate with the "new" Iranian face, no one is surprised that Rohani's election took place smoothly last summer, with no blood in the streets. That is what happened four years previously, when the Republican Guards crushed protestors, and falsified the vote count to prevent another reformer, Hossein Mousavi (who is still under house arrest) from becoming president.
Can we not conclude from this that the damage caused by economic sanctions to Iran's economy and their threat to the survival of the regime prompted the Iranian leadership to put forward a more appropriate and acceptable face and project trust to the west, by appointing Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif and his assistant Abbas Arakji to manage the negotiations to end the nuclear crisis?
However, if it is understandable that this pushed the Iranians to seek negotiations and conclude a deal, what is the Obama administration's motive, and who is going along with it in this game? What prompted the administration to shut its eyes to the (real) other side of Iran and ignore the roles that it plays in the region, from Iraq to Lebanon and the Gulf?
The Iranian regime wants western governments to deal with it like a normal regime that respects the protocol of inter-state relations and rejects the use of force against its neighbors or intervention in their affairs. Zarif talks about Tehran's desire to build a comprehensive order, based on Iran's respect for neighboring countries and non-intervention in their affairs. But this talk does not find an echo in the other Iran, in whose name the minister does not speak: the Iran of the Revolutionary Guards and their arms in the region, such as Hezbollah, the Abul-Fadl al-Abbas Brigade, and other organizations that represent the real tool of Iran's expansion in the Arab world, to spread a state of sectarian conflict that is growing in the countries of the region.
This Iran is not represented in the Geneva negotiations and it is this Iran that Khamenei addressed, on the eve of the negotiations, in a speech before the Basij militia, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards. He reassured them that the Iranian delegation would respect the "red lines" and would adhere to the lines set down by Khamenei.