U.S. Presses its Case Against Iran with Days Left Until Sanctions Vote

Source: AFP

A vote on new sanctions against Iran is only a few days away. The Obama administration is attempting to make their case to the United Nations Security Council. The U.S. claims that Iran rivived elements of a program to design their nuclear weapons.  President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made it clear that Iran will not be pressured by the threat of sanctions.

WASHINGTON — With a vote on new sanctions against Iran only days away, the Obama administration is making the case to members of the United Nations Security Council that Iran has revived elements of its program to design nuclear weapons that American intelligence agencies previously concluded had gone dormant.

The classified intelligence briefings — some held in Washington for foreign ministers and foreign leaders as they visited in recent months, others in foreign capitals — have been part of a lobbying effort to secure votes for the sanctions, the fourth round since 2006. European and American officials expect the vote could come as early as Wednesday, and they say they believe the sanctions will pass 12 to 3, with Turkey, Brazil and Lebanon likely to vote against the sanctions.

Did the Russians Win on Missile Defense in the New START Treaty?

Baker Spring and Owen Graham from the Heritage Foundation analyze linkage between strategic offensive arms and ballistic missile defense in the New START Treaty based on Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings that started this week. They note Russian consistent insistence on the linkage between ballistic missile defense and strategic offensive arms and so far unpersuasive arguments that the new treaty does not restrain ballistic missile defense from the Administration officials.

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations met on May 18 to hold a hearing with Secretaries Clinton and Gates and Admiral Mullen on the new U.S.-Russia Strategic Arms Reduction (New START) Treaty. The three officials gave testimony and urged ratification saying the treaty will enhance U.S. security and aid nuclear non-proliferation efforts. In a near-herculean effort, the witnesses, over and over, sought to persuade lawmakers that divergent views with Russia on the key issues of missile defense should not be an obstacle to ratification, reiterating that nothing in New START will prevent the U.S. from deploying missile defenses.

A Missile Defense Goal That Never Was

Senator DeMint attacks the New START Treaty on the grounds that it prohibits efficient and global ballistic missile defense. Senator Kerry responded by saying that the United States should not deploy ballistic missile defense to the point where it would render ballistic missile obsolete.

WASHINGTON — The sharpest exchange at this week’s Senate hearing on President Obama’s new arms control treaty with Russia came when Senator Jim DeMint went on the attack.

Major Powers Have a Deal on Sanctions for Iran, U.S. Says

Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton announced during today’s testimony before Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that an agreement on the fourth round of sanctions on Iran has been reached with China and Russia, so far the main obstacles in achieving effective sanctions. Sanctions are aimed at forcing Iran to comply with Non-Proliferation Treaty.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced Tuesday morning that it had struck a deal with other major powers, including Russia and China, to impose new sanctions on Iran, a sharp repudiation of the deal Tehran had offered just a day before to ship its nuclear fuel out of the country.

A Hard Push to Get Tough on Tehran

In this article you can read about the harsh criticism of the Obama administration from Senator Kyl, who considers the United Nations sanctions not efficient enough to prevent Iran from going nuclear. Senator Kyl argues that if you want to avoid military option, you have to pass more strict sanctions and you have to start in Congress, to lead the like-minded countries by example.

WASHINGTON — These days, when Senator Jon Kyl denounces efforts to muffle a strong response to Iran’s rush toward nuclear weapons, his prime target is not the Chinese or Russians, but Barack Obama.

There is no deferential cushion attached to his message: “The president,” the senator has said, “must drop his obstruction of and halt his efforts to water down the tough new sanctions on Iran that Congress is considering.”

Republicans Prepare Amendments for Defense Authorization Bill this Week

Read about amendments for defense authorization bill for the FY 2011 prepared by the Republican Party. Of our particular concern are amendments to ballistic missile defense, which is traditionally a bipartisan issue.

As the House Armed Services Committee prepares to vote on the 2011 defense authorization bill on Wednesday, GOP panel members are seeking to cement their national security credentials.

Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), the committee’s ranking member, said that Republicans will offer several amendments, including one to prevent the transfer of military detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States and to countries where others are known to have “returned to the battlefield.”

U.S. gave Contracts to 7 Firms Involved in Iran Energy

The report recently published by the Government Accountability Office discloses governmental contracts to the firms linked to trade in Iranian energy sector. Both the Administration and Congress are trying to pass fourth round of United Nations sanctions because of the development of Iranian nuclear weapon program.

The U.S. government, while urging the world to cut business ties with Iran, has given government contracts worth nearly $880 million to seven foreign companies involved in Iran’s energy sector in recent years, a report said on Wednesday.

U.S. House Panel Adds Missile Defense Funds

Despite the Secretary of Defense warning not to increase defense spending, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Strategic Forces decided to add another 361.6 million to the Missile Defense Agency budget, making it a total of 10.3 billion to be spent in the FY 2011. The Administration’s original request was 9.9 billion.

The U.S. House subcommittee that oversees missile defense programs voted May 12 to boost spending on them in 2011, disregarding the president’s February budget request and more recent warnings from the defense secretary that defense spending must be restrained.

U.S. and Russia Agree on Missile-Defense Workaround for New Nuke Treaty

The U.S. and Russia may have come to a way around the impasse over missile defense in the START follow on talks. It seems that missile defense will be mentioned in the preable of the treaty and not the body itself. Senator Lugar said that they are “they are in essence editorial opinions.” While the exclusion of missile defense in the body of the treaty is a positive sign, there are still fears that any inclusion at all could be used against future administrations. Of course, nothing is final until Obama and Medvedev have agreed to and signed the treaty; which could be as early as the first week of April.

American and Russian negotiators have come to terms on how to handle the thorniest point of contention inside the negotiations over a new nuclear arms-reduction treaty: missile defense.

Russia had been stalling the last stage of the negotiations over the issue, holding fast to its position that missile defense must be included in some way in the new treaty. The U.S. side has insisted the treaty be confined only to offensive systems. Meanwhile, the old agreement, known as the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), expired last December and U.S. President Barack Obama has been pushing to complete the new deal before some 44 world leaders come to Washington for a major nuclear conference beginning April 12.

McKeon Praises Missile Defense Agency, Industry Partners for Successful Airborne Laser Test

Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-CA, 25)

Praise for the recent successful ABL test from the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. Hopefully this recognition of a viable program will translate into more funding and support in the FY2011 Defense Authorization bill. Only time will tell.

U.S. Representative Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, today praised the Missile Defense Agency and its industry partners for last week’s successful airborne laser test.  On February 11, the Missile Defense Agency used a High Energy Laser (HEL) carried on a Boeing 747-400 aircraft to successfully destroy a missile in its boost phase.  The HEL also successfully engaged a second threat missile less than hour later.

McKeon’s statement follows: