16 Jan 15. During a press conference, President Obama vowed to veto the conditional sanctions put forward by the renewed Kirk-Menendez bill, a law that would place increased sanctions on Iran’s economy if there is no final nuclear deal by June 30. The president declared that he is “not suggesting that we are in immediate warfooting should negotiations with Iran fail,” further undermining his promise to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. According to a NY Times report, during the Senate Democratic Issues Conference, the President implied that Democratic lawmakers who were considering supporting the new sanctions bill were motivated by pressures from donors and the prospect of short-term political gain rather than long-term interests. The statement offended Senator Menendez, who stood up and said he “took personal offense” to those comments. Senator Menendez told the president that he had worked for more than 20 years to counter Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and had always been focused on long-term consequences. Congress has been increasingly concerned that sanctions relief and concessions provided to Iran by the current interim Joint Plan of Action (JPA) have bolstered the Iranians’ negotiating position in nuclear talks with the West. In addition to the sanctions bill, lawmakers in Congress are planning a bill that would require congressional approval of any final agreement reached by negotiators. During the press conference President Obama also claimed that the interim deal “froze progress on their nuclear program” and that “Iran has not accelerated its program during the time these negotiations have taken place.” However the interim deal ignored centrifuge R & D and ballistic missile development, and allows uranium enrichment to 3.5%. Furthermore, the JPOA did not cover potential military dimensions of the program, so it can be assumed that these are continuing as well. On Tuesday, Iranian President Rouhani announced that Iran is planning to build two additional reactors in Bushehr, which will further advance Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. The State Department claimed that although they are concerned, the construction of two new reactors does not violate the JPOA. (Source: theisraelproject.org)
16 Jan 15. India may buy unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, from other countries if the United States does not ease current export restrictions on such aircraft, a key Democratic senator said on Friday. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, who will join President Barack Obama during a trip to India on Jan. 26, said he was concerned that other countries could rush in to sell India the equipment it desires if the United States drags its feet. “This is going to be a space … where other countries are moving very quickly too,” he told an event hosted by the nonprofit Atlantic Council. “If the Indians can’t find a partner with the United States, they’ll find one somewhere else.”
U.S. aerospace and arms companies have been pressing the U.S. government for years to ease current tight restrictions on foreign sales of unmanned vehicles, arguing that other countries such as Israel are overtaking the United States in drone sales. India, which is modernizing its military, is a big and growing market for U.S. weapons makers who are seeking foreign sales to help offset declines in U.S. defense spending. Warner said he hoped that unmanned aircraft would be included as part of a broad U.S. push to expand defense ties with India but said he was not aware of any specific initiatives to be announced during Obama’s visit. U.S. and Indian officials are trying to work out pilot projects for joint production of drones and other weapons as part of the U.S.-India Defense Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI), a source familiar with the effort said. One drone project involves the RQ-11 “Raven” built by AeroVironment Inc, a small U.S. firm, but Northrop Grumman Corp, Textron Systems, a unit of Textron Inc and General Atomics, a privately hel