Thousands are dead in Syria, with more blood spilled each day. Iran is within arm’s reach of a nuclear weapon, threatening Israel’s very existence. And in Egypt, 19 Americans are banned from leaving the country, making them veritable hostages in an unfriendly land. All indications are that the Middle East is crumbling, and President Barack Obama’s foreign policy is collapsing right along with it. First look toward Homs, Syria — ground zero in the 11-month-old uprising against the brutal government of Bashar al-Assad, which is unleashing death upon its people …
Relations between Egypt and the United States reached a new low yesterday when Egyptian officials published a list of 43 people, including 19 Americans, accused of interfering in Egypt’s internal politics. The Americans, including Sam LaHood (son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood), who is the country director for the International Republican Institute, have been banned from leaving the country and could soon be brought to trial. Egypt’s transitional government claims that they illegally funded political groups in Egypt’s parliamentary elections, while the non governmental organizations (NGOs) insist that they provided …
As Israel weighs an attack against Iran in an effort to destroy its nuclear weapons program, Washington is still mulling a coherent response. While affirming that all options are on the table, the Obama Administration has repeatedly stated that diplomacy built around a global coalition is the “preferred solution” to ending Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. But this isn’t saying much. President Obama has given no indication of how the United States would respond if Israel were to take a preventative strike against Iran or how the U.S. is preparing …
Appearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on January 31, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James R. Clapper warned that the “2011 plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. shows that some Iranian officials—probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei—have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the U.S. in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime.” In October, U.S. officials accused Iran of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington with hired assassins from a Mexican …
President Obama’s state of the union speech tonight mentioned Iran, which poses the greatest immediate challenge to American foreign policy, in only one paragraph. The president stated: “Through the power of our diplomacy, a world that was once divided about how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program now stands as one. The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions, and as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent. Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from …
The European Union yesterday imposed an embargo on future oil imports from Iran in an unprecedented escalation of sanctions aimed at forcing Tehran into negotiations on its uranium enrichment program. Foreign ministers from the EU’s 27 member states agreed to ban new purchases of Iranian oil and phase out oil imports under old contracts by July 1. The oil sanctions will be phased in gradually and reviewed on May 1 to cushion the impact on Greece, Italy and Spain, which face severe economic problems and depend more heavily on Iranian …
With economic issues dominating the domestic political agenda and much of our foreign policy focused on combating terrorism, systematic violations of political and religious rights by some of the world’s most tyrannical regimes receive less attention than perhaps they should. Rep. Frank Wolf, a Republican representing Virginia’s 5th District, is out to rectify that shortcoming. His new book, “Prisoner of Conscience: One Man’s Crusade for Global Human and Religious Rights,” discusses his work to champion human rights across the world, and expose the gross violations he has come across in …
Iranian legislator Ali Motahari claimed on Wednesday that President Obama called for direct talks in a secret letter sent last week to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Motahari said that the first part of the letter warned that if Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, it would cross a red line that would trigger U.S. military action, and the second part offered to start direct talks with Tehran. Hojjatoleslam Hossein Ebrahimi, the deputy chairman of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on Wednesday that “Obama’s letter …
Tensions are rising in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has recently yet again threatened to close the strategic strait down over the threats from the European Union to impose an embargo on buying Iranian oil. The Europeans want to do that as a part of increasing efforts by the West to halt Tehran’s nuclear program. If Tehran blockades the strait, through which 40 percent of world’s oil is shipped, such an action would have a major impact on the prices of oil and the world economy. Iran has used its …
An Iranian court handed down a death sentence yesterday for Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, a 28-year-old Iranian–American man, for allegedly spying for the CIA. Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq as an Arabic language translator, was born in Arizona, raised in Michigan, and traveled to Iran to visit his grandmother. The U.S. State Department has denied that he is a spy, accused Iran of once again pressing false charges against an American citizen, and called for his release. Hekmati’s parents said that they were “shocked and terrified” by …
