The US has accused Israel of spying on international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme and using the intelligence gathered to persuade Congress to undermine the talks, according to a report on Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal cited senior administration officials as saying the Israeli espionage operation began soon after the US opened up a secret channel of communications with Tehran in 2012, aimed at resolving the decade-long standoff over Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

The justification for going to war in Iraq thirteen years ago, was based on a 93-page classified document that allegedly contained “specific information” on former Iraqi leader President Saddam Hussein and the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs he was apparently running.

Now that document has been declassified and it reveals that there was virtually zero justification for the war. The document reveals that there was “no operational tie between Saddam and al Qaeda” and no WMD programs.

Iran's embassy in Amman has denied alleged statements attributed to the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC Quds Force), Major General Qassem Suleimani, who was reported as saying this weekend that he believed Tehran had the ability to control events in Jordan, as it does in Iraq and Lebanon.

In a statement released on Monday, the embassy said that: "the alleged statements attributed to General Suleimani about developments in the region and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in particular were unfounded."

The embassy pointed out that following the release of media reports, the public relations department in the Revolutionary Guards issued a statement denying all remarks attributed to General Suleimani.

As many in the West call on regional actors to take a leading role in combating the influence of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, none have responded quite as efficiently as Iran. But CIA Director John Brennan worries that one Iranian general, lauded by Iraqis, poses a significant threat to US counterterrorism efforts.

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has signed a letter telling President Barack Obama that any nuclear accord must constrain Iran's nuclear program for “decades” before Congress will roll back sanctions.

As the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 nations come to a head, the US begins Eagle Resolve, a massive military exercise in the Persian Gulf.

With the support of regional allies, the US moved nearly 3,000 military personnel, as well as "air, land, sea, and special operations components," into the gulf on March 8. Taking place just off the coast of Kuwait, the exercise will continue through the end of the month, and is meant to improve the military’s response time should an incident occur in the region.

A delegation of senior Israeli officials are headed to Paris this weekend, with plans to meet with top French officials, whom they hope to convince to abandon the ongoing Iran nuclear negotiations.

Traditionally, this lobby against diplomacy at the most vital times of negotiations would involve a pilgrimage to DC, though growing acrimony between the Obama Administration and the Netanyahu government appears to have convinced the later that the French are their best bet to sabotage the nuclear deal.

French officials have at times been the least reasonable in the Iran negotiations, and Israeli officials seem to be betting on another such round of last-minute unreasonableness to kill what seems to be a rapidly approaching deal.

While Secretary of State John Kerry continues to negotiate with Iran over their nuclear program, one of that country’s top military officials has vowed to “raise the banner of Islam over the White House.”

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Ali Shirazi, the representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) elite Qods Force, made the remarks at a February 26 ceremony attended by families of martyrs.

According to MEMRI, Shirazi promised that:

Marking the sixtieth anniversary of the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, the National Security Archive is today posting recently declassified CIA documents on the United States' role in the controversial operation. American and British involvement in Mosaddeq's ouster has long been public knowledge, but today's posting includes what is believed to be the CIA's first formal acknowledgement that the agency helped to plan and execute the coup.

Republican Senator John McCain has threatened that the US Senate would block any nuclear deal, should the Obama administration reach an agreement with Iran.

McCain told CNN on Sunday that “we will do everything in our power to make sure we do play a role because we think that's our constitutional obligations.”

“I don't think they will reach a deal that we can live with,” he added.

British, German, French and US foreign ministers on Saturday agreed that a "substantial" progress was made during this week's nuclear talks with Iran, but stressed that now was the time for Tehran to take "difficult decisions," a joint statement said.

"We agreed that substantial progress had been made in key areas although there are still important issues on which no agreement has yet been possible. Now is the time for Iran, in particular, to take difficult decisions," the statement issued by the office of UK Foreign Minister Philip Hammond, said.

There is something seriously wrong with the media in America. And what NBC did with the interview with Iran's foreign minister is the latest example of that. You can add this example to the many examples I have pointed out on this channel for why we must have a media system that serves the interests of the American people and why if we continue to rely on the people who control our current system we will never have information that represents our interests.

And as James Madison, the father of our Constitution warned, "A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both." Mainstream media doesn't make it easy for the average person to learn critical facts.

An Iranian ship unloaded 185 tons of weapons and military equipment at a Houthi-controlled al-Saleef port in Yemen, al Arabiya reports.

Right-wing media outlet Israel National News published an opinion piece Tuesday calling on Israel to launch nuclear bombs at Iran and Germany, only days after the outlet came under fire for publishing a piece accusing a war widow of killing her husband over her pro-peace views.

France is again adopting the toughest line against Iran in negotiations aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program, potentially placing Paris at odds with the Obama administration.

Don't just rely on Benjamin Netanyahu's passionate advice to Congress on his way to re-election that Iran is our archenemy. Now we have the counsel of retired Gen. David Petraeus, who gave a remarkable interview this week to the Washington Post. Petraeus agrees with Netanyahu: Iran, not the Islamic State, is the real enemy.

Could a deal to normalize Western relations with Iran and set limits on Iran’s development of nuclear technology lead to a more peaceful and less-weaponized Middle East?

That’s what supporters of the Iran negotiations certainly hope to achieve. But the prospect of stability has at least one financial analyst concerned about its impact on one of the world’s biggest defense contractors.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) pushed some wild conspiracy theories Wednesday to argue that the U.S. must attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program.

“We need to make clear to Iran: You can play these silly games with our president that buys into them and our secretary of state, but the American people aren’t buying it and you’re going to pay a price,” Gohmert said.

More than the threat of war on Iran, Netanyahu’s re-election is a call for war on Palestinians everywhere. It is a call for war on human rights and international law. It is a mandate for the Israeli government to murder Palestinians. It gives Netanyahu license to continue Israel's seven-decade policy of racism and apartheid towards the people from whom they stole the land. It is also a call for people of conscience to impose boycotts and sanctions to divest and to isolation Israel. No more business as usual - it is time for outrage, for action, the type of action that brought down apartheid in South Africa. It is a call to finally allow Palestinians to have their country back.

Not exactly known for truthfulness, U.S. neocons have been trying to reassure the American people that sinking a negotiated deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program would be a painless proposition, but at least one prominent neocon, Joshua Muravchik, acknowledges that the alternative will be war – and he likes the idea.

On Sunday, the neocon Washington Post allowed Muravchik to use its opinion section to advocate for an aggressive war against Iran – essentially a perpetual U.S. bombing campaign against the country – despite the fact that aggressive war is a violation of international law, condemned by the post-World War II Nuremberg Tribunal as “the supreme international crime.”

A bipartisan group of 360 US lawmakers has signed a letter warning President Barack Obama that any sanctions relief on Iran as part of an emerging nuclear deal would require new legislation from Congress.

Former Head of NATO and the multinational forces in Afghanistan US General David Petraeus warned about the Iranian regime's threat to Iraq, French daily Le Figaro reported.

Petraeus described the activities of Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Iranian regime's Quds Force in Iraq, as "disturbing".

"Islamic State (ISIS) is not the greatest danger facing Iraq," Petraeus said. "It will be defeated sooner or later, and Iraq will preserve its territorial integrity. If the Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi and parliament manage to reassure Sunnis, give them reasons to support the new Iraq, then these will help them get rid of ISIS."

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's victory in the Israeli election will not hamper US efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, the State Department said Wednesday.

The Israeli leader opposes any accommodation with Tehran and came to Washington during the campaign to address US lawmakers and denounce the agreement under negotiation as a "bad deal."

"We've been long familiar with the views of the prime minister on Iran. We don't think that his win has impacted the Iran negotiations, or will," said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s apparent re-election puts Israel on a course toward ever deeper confrontation with the world. To govern, his Likud Party would need to depend on ultranationalists – a recipe for neither stability nor bold moves toward Middle East peace.

The White House on Wednesday scolded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following his re-election victory for abandoning his commitment to negotiate for a Palestinian state and for what it called "divisive" campaign rhetoric toward Israel’s minority Arab voters.

Even as U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration congratulated Netanyahu for his party’s decisive win in Tuesday’s ballot, the White House signaled its deep disagreements – and thorny relationship - with Netanyahu will persist on issues ranging from Middle East peacemaking to Iran nuclear diplomacy.

The heads of the Russian and Chinese delegations at talks on Iran’s nuclear dossier are holding bilateral talks.

Russia is represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, while China — by the director of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of Arms Control Wang Qun.

This follows a bilateral meeting of the Russian and Iranian delegations.

As the Obama administration seeks a deal with Iran on its nuclear program, new congressional testimony, documents and photos show Tehran is expanding its reach into South America by advising rogue regimes on suppressing anti-government protests and financing secretive military facilities.

When Kerry claimed the Senate letter was “unprecedented” and “wrong,” Huckabee turned the tables on him. “The fact is, your willingness to trust Iran and undermine Israel is what is unprecedented and wrong,” Huckabee stated.

The US National Intelligence has removed Iran and the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, from its list of "terrorist threats."

If Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has the ‘right’ to meddle in US politics, why shouldn’t American cowboys have the same right to meddle in Israel’s …

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Sunday cited Iran’s control of their own capital, Tehran, as a reason that the country had to be stopped from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Outrage over last week’s letter from Senate Republicans to Iran threatening to dishonor any nuclear deal President Obama reached is beginning to subside, and with it, a new round of comments are coming from Democrats indicating their support for, if not the letter, the sentiment behind it.

Several Democrats are now publicly expressing their support for various resolutions that aim to sabotage the talks, either by imposing new sanctions on Iran in violation of the interim deal, or by seeking a “veto” over the deal that would make it impossible for the US to be a part of the process.

“The letter’s incredibly unfortunate and inappropriate,” insisted Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D – ND), “that doesn't diminish my support for the legislation that we introduced.”

Sen. Bob Corker (R – TN), the author of the “veto” bill, claimed to have 12 Democrats firmly committed to his resolution, and suggested momentum is in favor of getting a veto-proof majority on it.

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said the letter by the American Republican senators shows the influence of Israeli lobby on the US political scene, saying the move undermined the country’s legal standing in the international community.

When I published my "Tragedy of the American Military" article last month, some people said: No, it's an exaggeration to claim that war is an easy abstraction that people throw around without thinking through the consequences.

Maybe. But I give you the Op-Ed page of our capital city's main newspaper, which tells us:

Netanyahu attempted to cancel a January briefing for U.S. senators by Mossad in which the intelligence agency warned U.S. lawmakers that a new Iran sanctions bill in Congress could derail the negotiations over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, Time Magazine reported in Saturday.

According to the report, which was based on unnamed sources "familiar with the events," Netanyahu stripped the Mossad meeting from the itinerary of a delegation of senators led by the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by Tennessee, Republican Bob Corker. After a protesting Corker threatened to cut his trip short and asked Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer to intervene, Netanyahu allowed the meeting with Mossad to go forward as planned, Time reported.

In late January, Bloomberg reported that such a warning was indeed issued to the senators, against Netanyahu's stance on the matter.

The logical flaw in the indictment of a looming “very bad” nuclear deal with Iran that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered before Congress this month was his claim that we could secure a “good deal” by calling Iran’s bluff and imposing tougher sanctions. The Iranian regime that Netanyahu described so vividly — violent, rapacious, devious and redolent with hatred for Israel and the United States — is bound to continue its quest for nuclear weapons by refusing any “good deal” or by cheating.

An open letter to Iranian leaders from 47 Republican senators has provoked sharp rebuke from European countries that are party to the nuclear talks.

Germany's foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier blasted the U.S. GOP senators on Thursday, telling journalists, "This is not just an issue of American domestic politics, but it affects the negotiations we are holding in Geneva."

"Obviously mistrust is growing," he added.

Iran has sealed a memorandum of understanding in the banking sector with Russia, the Fars news agency said on Saturday.

"The memorandum of understanding was signed by the deputy governors of the Iranian and Russian central banks during a visit to Moscow by a high-ranking Iranian banking and financial delegation from March 10 to 12," the agency quotes Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Mehdi Sanayee as saying.

The document envisages the supervision of the central banks of Russia and Iran over financial operations of the two countries’ other banks.

The letter has led some to brand the group of rogue Republicans “traitors,” but when Jonathan Capehart interviewed retired Army Major Gen. Paul D. Eaton, the military officer explained that the letter was actually mutinous rather than treasonous. It was still illegal and an unprecedented show of weakness and disunity by the U.S. government, but it did not, Eaton said, rise to the level of treason.

The US diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia said that the United States is planning to shut down its Saudi embassy in Riyadh and two consulates general for the next two days.

If you’re looking for the Jewish community in the Iranian town of Esfahan, you won’t have to search for long.

The main synagogue is on Palestine Square, right in the heart of Iran’s third largest city. There are public prayers several times a day — sometimes with more than a hundred people in attendance.

The Jewish community in Iran does not hide its heritage. At the synagogue, Michael Malakon leads the prayer service. He says he is proud of his Jewish identity. And even in a country that is so hostile towards Israel, Malakon says he can practice freely and that he has many Muslim friends.

An Israeli publication has suggested that nuclear bombs should be launched at Iran and Germany—wiping out Tehran, Isfahan, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Dresden, and Dortmund. “Twenty to thirty bombs,” Jewish writer Ben-Eliyahu raves, “will get the job done.”

This would not be the first time that the Israelis have endeavoured to destroy historical and cultural artifacts in order to bolster their territorial claims and to eradicate inconvenient elements of the past.

In 2003, in an article headed “Pillaging 7000 Years Of Iraq History No Accident” sub-heading “The Sacking Of Iraq’s Museums – US Wages War Against Culture And History”, Patrick Martin wrote in Rense.com that “US claims to have been taken by surprise by the ransacking of cultural facilities in Baghdad, Mosul and other cities are not credible. Such a tragedy was not only predictable, it was specifically warned against. . . . Attacking the cultural resources that connect the Iraqi people to 7,000 years of history is part of the process of systematically destroying their national identity.”

The letter signaled not only continued Republican obstructionism toward seemingly anything President Obama does, but also that the United States is potentially no longer a cohesive entity in terms of how it conducts itself in global affairs. In fact, what the Republicans have done with their attempt at scuttling the diplomatic efforts aimed at peacefully resolving the Iranian nuclear dispute, is to make a claim that has very rarely been made in US history: that the US government’s executive branch does not conduct the nation’s foreign policy.

The only power of which the Zionist entity is afraid of, is the Islamic Republic of Iran, which believes that in accordance with human rights and democracy all the people of Palestine, whatever their religious inclination, have the right to carry out a referendum for one single country from the borders of Lebanon in the north to the Sinai in the south, and from the River Jordan in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. Thus, in a bid to deflect attention from its crimes against humanity, Israel has indulged in the absurd propaganda that Islamic Iran is trying to manufacture a nuclear warhead despite the explicitly fatwa of Islamic authorities, including the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. But this crying wolf by Zionist premier, Benjamin Netayanho, has been found out by the west and its intelligence agencies to be a sheer lie that was repeated once again last week in Washington when some influential members of the US

Former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney has warned US President Barack Obama not to reach an agreement with Iran over the country’s nuclear program.

In a USA Today op-ed published Friday, the former presidential candidate suggested that Obama could silence critics like him by walking away from the deal and that would be “courageous” and “right.”

“Turning down a weak deal may be too much to expect from a president who walked back from his own red line in Syria, but we can hope,” Romney wrote.

Western officials are confirming that there are talks underway among the current members of the UN Security Council about the language of a resolution which would lift economic sanctions against Iran.

There are presently eight UN resolutions against Iran, with four of them imposing economic sanctions, and officials say they intend to move quickly to lift them in an agreement between the P5+1 and Iran is reached.

That’s a surprise, as historically the UN Security Council has been very slow to lift sanctions. Indeed, neighboring Iraq is still under a portion of sanctions imposed on the Saddam Hussein government in the early 1990s, even though that government was ousted in a US military occupation in 2003.