From The Times of Israel
Ehud Barak on Iran: Close the door and tell them ‘dismantle or else’
US could destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities in ‘a fraction of one night,’ former prime minister says
Former prime minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday urged the United States to adopt a tougher negotiating position with Iran and deliver it an ultimatum: Dismantle its entire nuclear program “or else.”
In an interview with CNBC, Barak said the US should hold direct negotiations with the Iranians and send “a clear message.” He downplayed fears that a military strike on Iran would spark a full-fledged war, saying the operation would more closely resemble the assassination of Osama bin Laden than the 2003 Iraq war and could be carried out in one night.
“It’s the [world powers’] last moment to stand firm and to make a position and to make sure that Iran will eventually understand, that either they dismantle their nuclear program or else,” Barak said.
“I think that what is really needed is a clear message — it’s not too late to send an authoritative envoy of the president to come to [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei, [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani, close the door behind and tell them: ‘Gentlemen, we fully understand you, we are not going to embarrass you, we’re not going to humiliate you, but you have to understand: either you agree once and for all to dismantle your nuclear military program – or else.’”
Barak suggested that the “blurring” of the military option doesn’t serve Western interests.
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From The Times of Israel
Kerry: For final deal, Iran must reveal past nuclear military activity
Secretary says Washington is ‘well aware’ of Tehran’s involvement in Yemen, but rejects linking unrest to nuke talks
US Secretary of State John Kerry said a final nuclear accord with Iran will require that Tehran disclose its past military-related nuclear activities.
“It will be part of a final agreement. It has to be,” Kerry said Wednesday during an interview with PBS NewsHour. The secretary of state insisted: “They have to do it. It will be done. If there’s going to be a deal, it will be done.”
As a part of its review of Iran’s nuclear program, the International Atomic Energy Agency has been looking into whether the Islamic Republic has attempted to build atomic weapons in the past. Although Tehran denies any military ambitions — past and present — the IAEA and several other countries believe it may have secretly worked to develop nuclear arms.
Iran has repeatedly stonewalled the United Nations’ nuclear monitoring agency from fully investigating the scope of its nuclear ambitions. However, according to Kerry, that will change under the terms of any June agreement, which would include “a very robust inspection system.”
Earlier Wednesday, the Iranian defense minister made clear that international inspectors would not be granted access to the state’s military sites under the agreement with the world powers on the country’s nuclear program.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Liberal Groups Turn Up Heat on Congress To Back President Obama on Iran Nuclear Deal
MoveOn Leads Push To Pressure Schumer and Democrats
Washington — (Reuters) — Progressive groups rallied on Thursday to persuade Democratic senators not to support a bill giving Congress a vote on a nuclear deal with Iran, echoing the White House’s insistence that the measure could blow up delicate negotiations.
Five groups – CREDO, Daily Kos, Democracy for America, MoveOn.org Political Action and USAction – sent a letter warning Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Minority Whip Richard Durbin and other Democratic Senate leaders that they would hold them accountable if they backed legislation seen as detrimental to the talks.
Supporters say they are close to a veto-proof majority of 67 senators behind a bill from Republican Senator Bob Corker and Democratic Senator Robert Menendez giving Congress the opportunity to approve or reject sanctions relief in an Iran nuclear deal.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Rouhani: Iran will sign nuclear deal only if sanctions immediately lifted
(JTA) — President Hassan Rouhani of Iran said his country will sign a final deal on its nuclear program only if sanctions are immediately lifted.
Rouhani made the demand Thursday in a nationally televised speech on Nuclear Technology Day in Iran.
“We will not sign any agreement unless all economic sanctions are totally lifted on the first day of the implementation of the deal,” Rouhani said.
The framework agreement signed last week says sanctions will be lifted only once international inspectors verify that Iran is in compliance with the final agreement. If Iran is found to be in violation of the agreement, the sanctions would be reinstated.
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From Russia Today
Sanctions on Iran will be lifted ‘only in stages’, says Washington
The US warns that sanctions on Iran will be lifted only in phases as the nuclear deal is implemented. Earlier, Iran’s Supreme Leader demanded the sanctions be removed as soon as the deal is signed.
The State Department said Thursday the sanctions would be removed only gradually.
“We’re not going to respond to every public statement made by Iranian officials or negotiate in public. Sanctions will be suspended in a phased manner upon verification that Iran has met specific commitments under a finalized joint comprehensive plan of action,” said State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke.
This comes as the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanded that all sanction on Iran be lifted as soon as final agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program is reached. Khamenei is the most powerful figure in Iran and has the final word on all matters of state.
“I neither support nor oppose the deal. Everything is in the details, it may be that the deceptive other side wants to restrict us in the details,” Khamenei said in a speech broadcast live on state television Thursday.
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From The Times of Israel
Iran supreme leader: Nuclear framework no guarantee of deal
Breaking silence, Ali Khamenei blasts White House for ‘lying’ on fact sheet, says sanctions must be lifted on ‘day of the deal’
A framework nuclear deal reached with world powers last week is no guarantee a full agreement will be secured by the end of June, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday.
“What has been done so far does not guarantee an agreement, nor its contents, nor even that the negotiations will continue to the end,” Khamenei, who has the final word on all matters of state, said on his official website.
In the first comments by the supreme leader since the Lausanne framework agreement, an evasive Khamenei said he was “neither for it or against it.”
The supreme leader also addressed the discrepancies between the US and Iranian accounts of the terms of the framework agreement, accusing the White House of lying.
“I trust our negotiators but I’m really worried as the other side is into lying and breaching promises; an example was White House fact sheet,” he wrote on Twitter. “Hours after the talks, Americans offered a fact sheet that most of it was contrary to what was agreed. They always deceive and breach promises.”
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From PressTV
Israeli restrictions damaging Palestine energy sector: World Bank
The World Bank says Israeli restrictions have prevented the development of the energy sector in large areas of the West Bank, and the volatile atmosphere in the occupied Palestinian territories have discouraged the private sector from investing in Palestine’s energy sector.
The US-based international financial institution said in a statement released on Wednesday that the Palestinian energy market is small and the chances to expand and develop the energy sources are very limited, at least for the time being.
The statement also mentioned the factors that prevent the repayment of unpaid electricity bills by Palestinians. The main factors are the absence of institutionalized and transparent invoicing by the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), as well as the high interest rates for late payments set unilaterally by the Israeli regulator.
The World Bank report said the power sector in a healthy economy is expected to generate revenues and contribute to economic development, but the lack of a power energy sector is putting immense pressure on the Palestinian economy.
Steen Lau Jorgensen, the World Bank’s country director for the West Bank and Gaza, said the outstanding payments owed to the IEC took a heavy toll on a struggling Palestinian fiscal situation, and have led to arbitrary cuts in the power supply.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Argentina to declassify intelligence on Israeli Embassy bombing
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — The Argentine government will declassify all the intelligence documents about the deadly 1992 bombing on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires.
The measure was announced Thursday on the government’s website for records of public proceedings, the Official Gazette. It followed a request made the previous day by the National Supreme Court of Justice in a document signed by all four justices.
The high court is leading the investigation because the attack occurred on a diplomatic mission. Its investigation has found that the March 17, 1992 attack, which killed 29 and wounded hundreds, was perpetrated by Hezbollah.
Interest in the investigation has picked up since last month, when Argentina’s president, Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, rebuked Israel for not working to bring the perpetrators of the bombing to justice. Israel responded that it was Argentina’s responsibility.
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From The Times of Israel
Jihadi hackers stage ‘unprecedented’ attack on French TV
Self-proclaimed Islamic State cybercaliphate knocks out TV5Monde’s 11 channels, releases identities of military personnel relatives
PARIS — French television network TV5Monde was forced to broadcast only pre-recorded programs Thursday after an “unprecedented” hack by self-proclaimed Islamic State militants, who also hijacked its websites and social networks.
The Paris-based company, whose programs are broadcast in more than 200 countries worldwide, was the target of a cyberattack that is “unprecedented for us and unprecedented in the history of television,” TV5Monde boss Yves Bigot told AFP.
“Since 5 a.m., we have only been able to put out a single program on all our channels. For the moment, we are unable to produce our own programs,” Bigot added.
“When you work in television… and you find out that your 11 channels are down, of course that’s one of the most dreadful things that can happen to you,” he said.
The hackers took control of the station and its social media operations late Wednesday, blacking out the TV channels and posting documents on its Facebook page purporting to be the identity cards and CVs of relatives of French soldiers involved in anti-IS operations, along with threats against the troops.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Sephardic Dreamers and Turks First on Line for Portugal Citizenship
Europe Passport Could Open Opportunity Doors for Many
(JTA) — Hunched over a monument for thousands of Jews killed in a 1506 massacre in Lisbon, Danielle Karo (not her real name) felt a swelling in her eyes.
To Karo, an American poet and business analyst who is descended from one of Sephardic Jewry’s greatest sages, the massacre is not just ancient history. It is emblematic of the persecution that motivated her to apply for Portuguese citizenship under a 2013 law granting citizenship to the descendants of Sephardim, the term used to refer to Jews who once lived in the Iberian Peninsula.
“I think Portugal’s law is a beautiful thing,” said Karo, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym because she works in Muslim countries in the Middle East. “But when I think of the persecution that my family endured there, I also believe it’s Portugal’s duty.”
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