Two Lebanese Expatriates Win Seats in Nova Scotia Parliament in Canada
Judge charges seven over Tripoli bombings
Manhunt for Tripoli bombing suspects intensifies
Mustaqbal, Shaar, Rifi: Blame for Tripoli Blasts Falls Only on Those Who Staged Them
Islamic National Gathering Calls for Expelling Syria Ambassador, Banning Arab Democratic Party
Tripoli Bombings Suspects Charged as Eid Slams Intelligence Branch
Lebanon arrests alleged member of terrorist organization
Arsal residents say rocket victim was set up
Car bomb kills 20 in northwest Syria
Future slams Jumblatt over flip-flop
Turkey, Lebanon discuss Syria hostages
Mikati dissatisfied with caretaker Cabinet
Iran wants to boost ties with Lebanon, Saudi: Roknabadi
Police Doubt al-Atrash's Murder Near Syria Border
Relatives of Aazaz Pilgrims Urge Captors of Turkish Pilots to Allow Loves Ones to Contact Them
Miscellaneous Reports And News 
US to Iran ahead of Geneva: Carry on enriching uranium, but cut down on advanced IR-2 centrifuges
Kerry calls for conference on Syria transition
Three ICRC staff, Red Crescent volunteer freed in Syria
Israel calls for pressure on Iran to be upheld
NGO: Car Bomb Kills 27 in Northwest Syria
UN: Syria war 'devastating Palestinian lives, homes
Iranian FM lowers expectations ahead of nuclear talks with world powers
Hamas ‘not meddling’ in Egypt’s affairs, says Haniyeh
Vatican douses rumors of Pope's Spring visit to Israel
Iranian Jewish community to Obama: Seize 'unrepeatable' chance to mend ties with Iran
Kerry: Window of diplomacy with Iran is 'cracking open,' but US still mindful of Israel
Iran nuclear talks in Geneva spur high hopes
Israel Minister Calls for Pressure on Iran to Be Kept Up
Russia Calls on U.S. to Bring Syria Opposition to Peace Talks
Ban Ki-moon Names Envoy for Syria Chemical Weapons

Two Lebanese Expatriates Win Seats in Nova Scotia Parliament in Canada
Naharnet /..Two Canadians of Lebanese origins won seats in the parliament of the Nova Scotia province in Canada, reported the National News Agency on Monday.
Lina Mitlij and Patricia Philippe Arab won the seats in the elections that took place last week. NNA said that it was first time that any Lebanese expatriate wins a seat in such elections. Mitlij and Arab hail from the Bsharre town of al-Diman and they are in constant contact with Lebanon and the Maronite Patriarchate headquarters in their hometown, it added. They dedicated their victory to Lebanon, stressing their loyalty to their second home Canada. They also emphasized that they seek to serve Canadian society and bolster Lebanese-Canadian ties.
 

Manhunt for suspects in Tripoli’s twin bombings intensifies

October 14, 2013/ By Youssef Diab, Antoine Amrieh/The Daily Star
BEIRUT/TRIPOLI, Lebanon: A manhunt in pursuit of members of a seven-man ring allegedly responsible for twin car bombs in Tripoli in August intensified over the weekend, with preliminary investigations linking Syrian intelligence services and a local political party to the attacks that killed 47 people.Military Prosecutor Saqr Saqr issued an arrest warrant Saturday for Youssef Diab, a suspect in the deadly Tripoli bombings whose apprehension a day earlier raised tensions in the northern city. Saqr issued arrest warrants for three people including Diab, a judicial source told The Daily Star, adding that the arrest of the suspect by the Internal Security Forces Information Branch was approved by the state prosecutor. The other two were identified as Anis Hamzeh and Hasan Jaafar, who were also detained. Sources with knowledge of the ISF investigation detailed the role of Diab, who was arrested in a shop in Jabal Mohsen and transferred to Beirut. The sources said that Diab confessed to driving a rigged car to Al-Salam Mosque in Tripoli and detonating it, whereas another member of the Alawite Arab Democratic Party, named Ahmad Merhi, drove the other car and detonated it at Al-Taqwa Mosque.
Merhi remains at large.
The sources described the alleged role of detained sheikh Ahmad al-Gharib as coordinating with Syrian intelligence, but he was not involved in carrying out the bombings.
Instead, that task was assigned to a group of seven individuals from the ADP who have experience in explosives, the sources said, adding that the group was led by a man called Hayan Haydar.
The sources said that the cars were rigged by Syrian intelligence on Syrian soil, before they were transferred to the Lebanese border near the area of Al-Qasr in the Bekaa Valley.
The car was delivered to the group of seven on Aug. 21, two days before the attack.Hasan Jaafar moved the car near the town of Qobeiyat in the north.
The group had taken the cars to Jabal Mohsen before the bombings to ensure they were properly rigged. On the day of the bombing, Diab drove his car to the Al-Salam Mosque and Merhi drove the other one to Al-Taqwa Mosque, according to the sources. The cars were detonated at roughly the same time while worshippers were inside the mosques.Tensions ran high in the city Friday after the arrest of Diab who is a member of the predominantly Alawite, pro-Assad Arab Democratic Party from Jabal Mohsen over his alleged role in the bombings.
Of the three people who have been arrested in the case, one has been released for lack of evidence. The sources did not identify which suspect was released.
Head of General Security Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim earlier Saturday inspected checkpoints set up by the agency in the northern city as part of the government’s security plan to protect Tripoli.
Ibrahim followed up on the working conditions of personnel and gave orders to his officers to remain on alert to address security concerns in the city in coordination with the other security agencies involved.
Until late Friday, intermittent sniper fire was heard in Tripoli and a rocket-propelled grenade fell near Syria Street, the road separating the mainly Alawite Jabal Mohsen neighborhood from its rival the Sunni-dominated Bab al-Tabbaneh. The two neighborhoods have engaged in deadly clashes on several occasions since the crisis in Syria began in 2011. Jabal Mohsen maintains a strong support base for President Bashar Assad while Bab al-Tabbaneh has voiced support for the rebels. An official from the ADP, Ali Feddah, criticized Saturday the arrest of Diab, alleging that Bab al-Tabbaneh residents fired at Jabal Mohsen minutes after the apprehension.
“The way the security agency came and arrested Diab, who is only 18, was more like a militia than a government-run force,” Feddah told a local television station, claiming ISF personnel verbally attacked Diab and beat him before apprehending him. “In addition to that, arresting this man from Jabal Mohsen is like targeting an entire sect,” he added. Feddah also denied that the arrested individuals belonged to the party, and said they would await the verdict of the judiciary. A security source told The Daily Star that residents from Jabal Mohsen allegedly fired at the Army following the arrest, wounding a soldier and prompting troops to return fire.
Two people were also wounded by sniper fire in the city. The Lebanese Army initiated contacts with Tripoli figures and politicians in order to restore calm and began patrolling the area to prevent further escalation.
The unrest came two weeks after the caretaker government launched the first phase of a security plan for Tripoli to preserve security and protect residents.
The initial phase included the deployment of Army, ISF and General Security personnel and the erecting of checkpoints at the entrance of the city and around known hot spots.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati followed up on the situation in Tripoli with caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel as well as a number of security chiefs, his office said.
Mikati also spoke to caretaker Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi about the ongoing investigation with Diab.
Officials in Tripoli sought over the weekend to limit the fallout from the investigation amid fears of reprisals against Tripoli’s Alawites.
Ministers and MPs from Tripoli held a meeting at MP Mohammad Kabbara’s home, after which they issued a statement stressing the need to let security forces conduct their work and to avoid “threatening civil peace.”
The statement called on the Army and security services to quickly arrest the suspects, while reaffirming their faith in the judicial system.
A group of sheikhs meeting inside Al-Salam Mosque Saturday called on the Lebanese government to expel the Syrian ambassador in the country and demanded the dissolution of the ADP, calling on the Army to confront the party and its leadership. Top officials linked to the March 14 coalition called for a full investigation, saying the Alawite sect should not be held responsible for the crime.
Former ISF chief Ashraf Rifi, former Future MP Mustafa Allouch and Tripoli Mufti Sheikh Malek Shaar called after a meeting with the politburo of the Future Movement in the city for the most severe penalties against those who carried out the attack, adding that Jabal Mohsen’s citizens are part of “Tripoli’s fabric.”“We do not discriminate between one citizen and the other on religion and sect,” said Shaar, who recently returned from a self-imposed exile for security reasons in Europe. “I want my Alawite brothers to hear my clear words ... that they are to be respected and that they are part of the fabric of this city.”
“We only have one problem and that is with those who are violating the law,” he added. Allouch said it made sense that those who committed the crime have links to Syrian intelligence, saying the operation carried the hallmark of the institution in “the modus operandi and the reckless and indiscriminate thinking that carries no concern for humanity.” Rifi said that only those who carried out the crime are responsible for it and stressed that Tripoli’s citizens would not carry out reprisals against innocents.

Lebanon arrests alleged member of terrorist organization

October 14, 2013/ The Daily Star /BEIRUT: General Security arrested a Palestinian man who allegedly manufactures detonators and forges IDs as part of a terrorist organization, the agency said Monday. According to the statement, an investigation revealed that the man, who is identified by the initials W.N., forges identification cards with a high level of professionalism and precision for terrorist elements. The suspect’s arrest and questioning were conducted under the supervision of deputy military commissioner Judge Danny al-Zaani. The man also “designs and manufactures electronic devices used in timing bombs, other explosive material and rocket launchers.” He has also allegedly participated in attacks on the external and internal security of the state, inciting sectarian and confessional strife. The case was referred to the military prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr.

Future slams Jumblatt over flip-flop
By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The Future Movement has launched a blistering campaign against MP Walid Jumblatt, accusing him of abandoning his centrist position and aligning himself fully with the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance.
The tension between the Future Movement and the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party is likely to further complicate the already stalled attempts to form a new Cabinet.
The newest setback comes two days after Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam sounded downbeat about forming a government soon, blaming “increased conditions” set by the rival political factions for the Cabinet deadlock, now in its seventh month.
“MP Jumblatt’s latest stances have put up new barriers in the way of forming a Cabinet,” Mohammad Shatah, a political adviser to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, head of the Future Movement, told The Daily Star.
“This is in addition to hurdles put up by the March 8 alliance with their demand for being represented in the Cabinet in proportion to their size in Parliament, their rejection of the rotation of [key] ministries, and upholding the tripartite equation,” Shatah said.
He was referring to Hezbollah’s insistence on the tripartite equation “the Army, the people and the Resistance,” contained in the policy statement of previous Cabinets, to remain in the new government’s ministerial statement.
The March 14 coalition, led by the Future Movement, has rejected this equation and called instead for the Baabda Declaration to be adopted as the new Cabinet’s policy statement.
Shatah said Jumblatt’s latest political stances on the Cabinet formation as well as the 30-month war in Syria have put him closer to the March 8 camp.
“Jumblatt is no longer in the centrist position. He is closer to the March 8 team,” he said.
In an interview with As-Safir newspaper Friday, Jumblatt voiced support for the March 8 alliance’s proposal for a 9-9-6 Cabinet lineup, saying the 8-8-8 Cabinet proposal had collapsed.
This was viewed as a major about-face because Jumblatt had initially proposed the 8-8-8 formula, with ministers equally divided between the March 8 and March 14 parties and centrists, as a way to break the Cabinet stalemate. The centrists refer to President Michel Sleiman, Salam and Jumblatt.
Jumblatt, a staunch supporter of the Syrian opposition against President Bashar Assad, said the March 14 parties, starting with Future MP Okab Saqr, had intervened in the Syrian conflict before Hezbollah did. He mentioned north Lebanon, which reportedly was used as a base to smuggle arms and send fighters to Syria to join rebel groups fighting to oust the Assad regime.
Shatah said that with Jumblatt’s new stance, the Future Movement was unlikely to accept the 9-9-6 Cabinet proposal because the PSP chief’s two ministers would be considered on the side of the March 8 camp.
“I don’t think that the Future Movement will accept the 9-9-6 formula because with Jumblatt’s new stance, it has become an 11-9-4 formula,” he said.
Al-Hayat newspaper quoted sources close to Salam as saying that difficulties facing the Cabinet formation had increased as a result of Jumblatt’s new stance when he insisted on the 9-9-6 formula and criticized the March 14 parties, blaming them for delaying the birth of the government.
Jumblatt’s remarks drew quick and fiery responses from two Future MPs, Ahmad Fatfat and Saqr. Fatfat said Jumblatt has abandoned his centrist position and aligned himself fully with Hezbollah.“Jumblatt’s vacillations have crossed all limits and are no longer acceptable. His centrist role is finished,” Fatfat said in a statement.
In an interview with the Saudi daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat published Sunday, Fatfat said: “The PSP chief attacked the Syrian revolution and the March 14 parties, even though he fully knows who is the party that is obstructing the Cabinet formation. Jumblatt’s stances emanated from his interest. We are unable to keep abreast of him because of his constantly changing position.”
“With his stances, Jumblatt has expressed full commitment to an alliance with Hezbollah, while abandoning his centrist position,” he said. “We cannot say Jumblatt is a centrist while he has adopted Hezbollah’s stance.”
Saqr, who have been living out of Lebanon for years, lashed out at Jumblatt, accusing him of taking a major political turnaround on the Syrian conflict.
“Jumblatt, as part of his conflicting statements, has for some time been including my name in a repeated attempt to justify Iran’s and Hezbollah’s invasion of Syria,” Saqr said in a statement. “Therefore, we have to draw his attention that the political, media and humanitarian support we have provided [to the Syrian people] is the least humane duty toward a people being slaughtered every day.”
However, caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour and PSP sources denied any change in Jumblatt’s position. “There is no change in any direction except in the firm direction of protecting stability and avoiding horrors in Lebanon,” Abu Faour, who belongs to Jumblatt’s parliamentary bloc, said in a statement published by An-Nahar newspaper. A senior PSP source rejected the argument that Jumblatt’s stance would further delay the Cabinet formation. “Jumblatt’s latest stance does not amount to a turnaround or a new positioning. We are still in the position of protecting stability in the country,” the source said. “Facilitating the Cabinet formation is the responsibility of everyone.” Indirectly responding to Salam’s sources that said that Jumblatt’s declaration has complicated the Cabinet formation, the source said: “The PSP’s rational and wise stance, which aims at protecting stability in the country, does not seek an obstruction of the Cabinet formation.” He added: “The PSP’s position has from the beginning called for the formation of an all-embracing government in which all political parties are represented.”
“The PSP’s priority is to protect stability, and protecting stability cannot be attained by excluding any part from the government,” the source said, referring to a March 14 demand to exclude Hezbollah from the new Cabinet over its military intervention in Syria. Hezbollah MP Nawwaf Musawi said attempts to exclude his party from the next Cabinet were unconstitutional. “Every attempt to deny the Resistance [Hezbollah] the right to be represented in the government is a violation of the Constitution,” Musawi told a gathering in the southern town of Al-Bayad.

Arsal residents say rocket victim was set up
October 14, 2013 /By Rakan al-Fakih /The Daily Star
HERMEL, Lebanon: Arsal residents told The Daily Star Sunday that they believed assassinated terrorism suspect Omar Atrash was the victim of a scheme aiming to tarnish the reputation of the village, by depicting it as a hub for extremism. The residents said Atrash’s alleged role in planting explosives in Hezbollah strongholds and killing several soldiers on the outskirts of the village, in addition to killing four men in Labweh, was a gross exaggeration.
Local media reported that Atrash, who hailed from the Bekaa Valley town of Arsal, was involved in two car bomb attacks that rocked Bir al-Abed and Ruwaiss in the Beirut southern suburbs in July and August, respectively. Atrash is also suspected of planning two rocket attacks in May that wounded four people in the Beirut southern suburb of Shiyah. Omar Atrash and Samer Hujeiri, were killed Friday after a rocket hit their vehicle somewhere in the narrow valley that separates the mountainous area of Arsal and the Syrian frontier. Sameh Breidi was injured in the incident and admitted to a hospital. Caretaker Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn said in July that Atrash was behind an attack in Arsal in May that killed three soldiers. Breidi was also suspected of involvement. Earlier this month, Atrash appeared on Al-Jadeed TV, dismissing accusations that he was involved in the attacks in the southern suburbs. He said he was leading an armed group that supported the Syrian rebels in defending their people against the regime forces. After his assassination, the Atrash family issued a statement accusing the TV station of providing the party that carried out the attack information about his whereabouts. Hujeiri’s truck was hit by a rocket when it stopped to allow passengers to remove boulders blocking the road. Hujeiri and Atrash were killed at once and their bodies charred after impact, while Breidi sustained injuries. Two other cars that were following Atrash’s pickup were not targeted. “Maybe Atrash was killed to divert the attention of investigators and to prevent the security forces from uncovering the facts behind the incidents that Atrash stood accused of,” Future Movement coordinator in Arsal, Bakr Hujeiri, told The Daily Star.

Police Doubt al-Atrash's Murder Near Syria Border
Naharnet/Security forces have expressed doubt that the man allegedly behind bomb blasts that rocked the southern suburbs of Beirut recently, was assassinated, An Nahar daily reported on Monday. The newspaper said that the body of Omar al-Atrash, who hailed from the Bekaa town of Arsal, was not examined by security forces, which were also banned from opening an investigation into his murder. Al-Atrash was buried in Arsal after he was killed on Friday in a rocket attack on his vehicle in an area that separates Arsal and the Syrian border. An Nahar quoted security forces as saying that they did not see the photo of the vehicle to investigate whether the rocket attack was from the air or the ground. They also did not rule out a booby-trapped explosion. But Arsal's residents claimed that they prevented police from examining al-Atrash's body or open a probe into his murder because he was badly mutilated. Media reports have said that al-Atrash was involved in two deadly car bomb attacks in the Hizbullah stronghold of Beirut's southern suburbs in July and August. He is also suspected of planning two rocket attacks in May that wounded four people in the suburbs. Samer al-Hujeiri, who was with al-Atrash in the car, was also killed Friday, reports said. Sameh Breidi was injured in the incident and admitted to a hospital.

Nobel prize 'should have been mine', jokes Assad
October 14, 2013/Daily Star/BEIRUT: Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has jokingly said that he should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a pro-Damascus Lebanese newspaper reported on Monday. The prize, which was given to the global chemical weapons watchdog on Friday, "should have been mine", Assad said, according to Al-Akhbar newspaper. Assad made the remark "jokingly", the daily said, as he commented on the award on Friday of Nobel Peace Prize to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is working in Syria to destroy the Assad regime's massive chemical arsenal by mid-2014. Al-Akhbar also reported that Assad had proposed in 2003 that all countries in the region should hand over all weapons of mass destruction. But the newspaper did not say when Assad made the comments about the Nobel. The OPCW and the UN have had a team of 60 experts and support staff in Syria since October 1, while the civil war rages on. The team started its work after a breakthrough UN Security Council resolution last month ordering Syria's chemical stockpile destroyed. The resolution came after a chemical attack in Damascus province on August 21 that killed hundreds of people. It also followed US threats to strike Assad's regime. Syria's war broke out after the army and security forces unleashed a brutal crackdown against anti-Assad protests that erupted in March 2011. More than 115,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog.

Divided they fall
October 14, 2013/ The Daily Star
A Geneva peace conference for Syria is generating angry reactions from members of the Syrian opposition, as several leading figures are demanding guarantees for the departure of Syrian President Bashar Assad in exchange for their attendance. The latest blast came Sunday from George Sabra, the head of the Syrian National Council, the predecessor of the current umbrella opposition group in exile, the National Coalition.
Sabra said the proposed Geneva conference was a device to hide the international community’s failure to end the war in Syria, and threatened that if the Coalition decided to attend his group would pull out of it.
Also speaking out over the weekend was Ahmad Tohme, who has been tabbed to head a provisional government by the Coalition. Tohme has yet to form the government, but said in a newspaper interview that he was confident about the opportunity to win back “three-quarters” of those who have joined the ranks of hard-line Islamist groups fighting in Syria. This would happen, he continued, after the provisional government is formed and begins to offer services to the public. In the interview, Tohme noted that he and his team have been holding intensive consultations with several different civilian and military actors in Syria, as part of efforts to form a government. The remarks by Sabra are justifiable, but only on moral and humanitarian grounds. The National Coalition eclipsed Sabra and his National Council because they were unable to offer a viable political alternative to the regime in Damascus. Now, with Geneva waiting in the wings, the same lack of leadership is evident. Sabra and his colleagues are within their rights to dismiss Geneva, but they should be working as hard as possible to offer something to the Syrian people that will work. As for Tohme, his upbeat tone about conducting consultations with leading elements of the Syrian opposition inside the country would be praiseworthy, if it were the summer or fall of 2011, and not a few months shy of 2014. The Syrian people have heard enough about opposition figures consulting with each other. After more than 100,000 deaths, thousands of people being imprisoned, several million displaced from their homes, and a society and economy in ruins, they need to unveil a working plan, immediately, to end the war and bring about meaningful political change.
As for Tohme’s belief that most people who have joined jihadist groups will come to their senses and rejoin the national fabric after his government is formed, it’s a wager that inspires confidence in very few people.
All members of the opposition should be working overtime to find a solution to one of the most worrying aspects of the war in Syria: the growing role of hard-line Islamist extremists. If the opposition can solve this urgent problem, dealing with issues such as Geneva and a provisional government would become much easier.

US to Iran ahead of Geneva: Carry on enriching uranium, but cut down on advanced IR-2 centrifuges
DEBKAfile Special Report October 14, 2013/US Secretary of State John Kerry briefed EU foreign policy executive Catherine Ashton Sunday night, Oct. 13, on the areas of accord and discord quietly settled between the US and Iran. She had to be brought up to speed before meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif the next day, ahead of the P5+1 talks with Iran which she chairs in Geneva on Tuesday, Oct 15.
Both Kerry and the leading Iranian negotiator Abbas Araghchi set out their government’s official positions in public statements Sunday night. Neither can guarantee which or any parts of those statements will survive all the way to the end of the formal or the backdoor diplomatic processes.
The Secretary of State spoke of a window for diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear program “cracking open” and said:“ …we believe no deal is better than a bad deal.”
Kerry will not have forgotten how his ringing pledge of an American military strike against Syria over its use of chemical weapons segued into the Pesident Barack Obama's decision to back down.
Araghchi ruled out Tehran sending any of its enriched uranium abroad as part of any deal to ease sanctions. In so saying, he directly contradicted an earlier comment by parliament Speaker Ali Larijani that Iran has more enriched uranium than it needs and should use it as a bargaining chip in talks with the West.
debkafile’s sources in Washington and Tehran report that 24 hours before the Geneva forum, no hard and fast decisions have been reached on final areas of accord and the proposals to be put on the table - either in Barack Obama’s tight circle of intimate advisers headed by chief of staff Denis McDonough, or in Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s bureau.
Both are held back by last-minute internal differences and uncertainties in their home bases. Major issues are expected to move up from Geneva to higher levels. Monday, Zarif confirmed the perception that no consensus was to be expected at the Geneva forum and the six foreign ministers would have to be convened to push a resolution forward.
As matters stand, debkafile can throw some light on five outstanding aspects:
1. As his contribution to bringing negotiations to a successful conclusion, i.e. an accord signed by all six powers, Barack Obama agreed in principle in backdoor exchanges that Iran’s nuclear program can continue, including the enrichment of uranium up to 20 percent purity.
Where the two sides parted ways was on quantities of enriched material and the type of centrifuges used for its manufacture.
2. President Obama is willing to accept the Iranian regime’s declaration that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and the country has never engaged in weapons activity. He is even willing to fall for Iranian propaganda’s claim that Khamenei had issued a fatwa prohibiting nuclear weapons, even through every Shiite authority says that Iran's supreme leader is not competent to issue religious edicts.
3. Khamenei himself is challenged by controversy at the top of his regime between hard-liners standing out for more concessions from the West and factions more amenable to compromise.
The influential Larijani was most likely talking for Khamenei when he offered the first authoritative signal that Tehran would consider the removal of part of its enriched uranium stocks from the country for the sake of an accord.
No sooner was his comment welcomed in Washington and European capitals as the first major breakthrough in nuclear diplomacy with Tehran, when senior negotiator Araghchi dumped a cold shower on their heads.
4. debkafile’s Iranian sources report that, for now, the hardliners are up in the seesaw rocking the Iranian regime. Their faction argues that since the United States has already agreed to let Iran continue to enrich uranium up to 20 percent, all that remains to be settled is a cap on the number of advanced high-speed IR2 centrifuges Iran is allowed to use. This ace, they say, is powerful enough to trump any arguments about the quantities of enriched fissile material Iran is allowed to retain and keep in the country.
5. Nothing remains of the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s four stipulations for accepting a nuclear accord with Iran. Not a vestige will reach the Geneva conference agenda after Washington brushed aside every one of those stipulations, which were: to halt uranium enrichment, remove enriched uranium stocks from Iran, shut down the Fordo underground enrichment plant and suspend construction of the heavy water reactor in Arak for the production of plutonium.
Secretary Kerry threw a bone to the Israeli government in his comment Sunday via satellite to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee summit in California: "I want you to know that our eyes are open, too. While we seek a peaceful resolution to Iran's nuclear program, words must be matched with actions. In any engagement with Iran, we are mindful of Israel's security needs."
Israelis strongly doubt whether any of the parties to a future deal on Iran’s nuclear program will match their words with actions.