ww3,Russia lifts ban on missile deliveries to Iran
ww3,Russia lifts ban on missile deliveries to Iran Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 13 paved the way for long-overdue missile system deliveries to Iran and Moscow started an oil-for-goods...
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The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to approve the bill next Tuesday and hold a full Senate vote soon after. The measure provides a skeptical Congress with the opportunity to review the deal and prevents the president from waiving congressional sanctions on Iran during the review period.
The White House has engaged in an extensive lobbying campaign on the Hill and with constituent groups concerned about Iran ever since a framework agreement was announced on April 2. The U.S. and the other world powers negotiating with Tehran have until June 30 to hammer out the final details to seal a deal.
READ: Schumer: Let Congress decide on Iran deal
But so far, the administration hasn't been able to win over all the Senate Democrats, many of whom believe strongly that Congress has a constitutional obligation to weigh in on a major nuclear agreement with a long-time enemy of the United States.
The bill already has nine Democratic co-sponsors and a handful of other Democrats have either expressed support or remain open to backing the bill. When combined with the Senate Republicans and one independent who support the legislation, that leaves backers just four shy of the 67 needed to sustain the veto that Obama has promised.
The bill's proponents got an important boost with the recent news that New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, a co-sponsor, was in line to become the Senate's Democratic leader in 2017. The expected ascension has put his support in the spotlight since the popular Schumer could clear the way for more Democrats to back the bill.
Schumer, a staunch supporter of Israel, also represents a large Jewish constituency, many of whom have expressed concerns about the framework Iran deal.
The looming Iran agreement is vehemently opposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the GOP believes the split among Jewish voters on the issue will allow it to make inroads within the demographic group, which usually votes heavily Democratic. Schumer's bucking the White House may signal to Jewish voters that he'll be fighting to get the best Iran deal possible.
What's not clear is whether Democrats who vote for the bill, co-authored by Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker and one of the committee's senior Democrats, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, would also vote to override the veto of a Democratic president. CNN asked Schumer last month whether he would defy the President with a vote to override, but he refused to answer.
"I'm not going to deal in hypotheticals," Schumer responded.
TEHRAN. Iran Iran suspended all umrah pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia on Monday amid growing diplomatic tensions between the two countries, state television reported.
Iran's Culture Ministry made the decision over alleged abuse suffered by two male Iranian pilgrims traveling through Saudi's Jeddah airport in March trying to return home, the station reported.
Culture Ministry spokesman Hossein Nooshabadi told state TV that the pilgrimage would be suspended until the Saudi government "applies a strong attitude" to the case. He also said "capital punishment" should apply to the case, without offering details about it.
The alleged abuse, the details of which have not been publicly disclosed, sparked unauthorized protests at the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Saturday. Public anger has grown over the incident, with President Hassan Rouhani ordering an investigation and Iran's Foreign Ministry summoning a Saudi diplomat over it.
But what actually happened remains unclear. On Monday, a representative of Iran's top leader on hajj affairs downplayed the case, saying the pilgrims weren't abused, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
"In the incident, no abuse has happened and the two policemen who attempted abuse were identified and detained by Saudi police," Ali Ghaziasgar was quoted as saying.
Some 500,000 Iranians visit Saudi Arabia each year for the umrah pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest sites.
Another 100,000 Iranian pilgrims annually travel to Saudi Arabia for the hajj -- Islam's main pilgrimage-- which comes after the holy month of Ramadan and is scheduled to take place in September this year. Hajj is a ritual required of every able-bodied Muslim at least once in a lifetime.
Saudi officials haven't commented publicly on the dispute. Earlier this month, aviation authorities in the kingdom turned away an Iranian plane carrying pilgrims, saying it did not have permission to use the country's airspace, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
Tensions between Shiite power Iran and the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia have escalated over Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen targeting Shiite rebels known as Houthis. The U.S., Western countries and Sunni Arab nations involved in the Saudi-led coalition have accused Iran of supporting the Houthis militarily, something both the rebels and the Islamic Republic deny.
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Iran suspends pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia amid spat, state TV reports
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Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said during a visit to Kazakhstan his country was already a trustworthy gas partner for Asian economies and a westerly pivot may soon follow.
"Iran, on par with Russia, enjoys all the (needed) resources to provide gas to Europe," he said from Astana.
Iran is anticipating major sanctions relief if a framework nuclear agreement with international powers enters into force during the summer. Sanctions limit Iran's energy export potential and the lifting of sanctions could help Tehran capitalize on its European market ambitions.
The Islamic republic is pegging energy advancements on its oil and gas from the South Pars natural gas field. South Pars accounts for about 35 percent of the total volume of gas produced from Iran.
Sanctions targeting the Iranian energy sector have curtailed development of the South Pars natural gas field, Iran's oil minister said last year.
The European community, meanwhile, is looking for ways to diversify an energy sector that depends in large part on Russian natural gas. Europe gets about 20 percent of its gas needs met by Russia, though most of that runs through Soviet-era pipelines in war-torn Ukraine.
Iran in the past said its gas would be a necessary component of the now-shelved Nabucco gas pipeline slated for European markets. That pipeline would've carried natural gas from Azerbaijan. A rival BP-led project from offshore Azerbaijan, part of a network dubbed the Southern Corridor, is now on tap.
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Iran suspended pilgrimage visits to Saudi Arabia on Monday in the latest manifestation of escalating tensions between the two regional rivals.
The move comes after allegations that security personnel at the airport in Jeddah sexually molested a pair of Iranian teenage boys last month as the two pilgrims were headed home.
Ali Jannati, Irans minister for culture and Islamic guidance, told local media that flights for the minor hajj travel period had been suspended until further notice. The minor or off-season hajj encompasses the months not included in the official period of pilgrimage to Mecca, the Saudi home of Islams most revered shrines.
In his comments, the Iranian minister said Saudi officials had vowed to punish those responsible for the crime. Details of the alleged sexual attack have not been released. Saudi authorities have not commented publicly on the case.
But the reported assaults have caused outrage here. On Saturday, angry protesters gathered outside the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and demanded that the attackers be brought to justice.
Tensions are already running high between predominantly Shiite Iran and mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia, hubs of the two major branches of Islam. The two nations are backing opposing sides in sectarian-fueled proxy wars in Syria and Yemen, and are also at odds about events in Iraq, Bahrain, Lebanon and elsewhere.
The pilgrimage has occasionally emerged as a flash point of regional tensions. In 1987, clashes between Iranian Shiite pilgrims and Saudi security forces in Mecca left hundreds dead. Each side blamed the other for the bloody incident.
Approximately 500,000 Iranians visit Saudi Arabia annually during the minor hajj period, according to official estimates. An additional 100,000 pilgrims from Iran make the trip during the weeks of official pilgrimage, officials say.
Hajj-related travel is big business in much of the Muslim world. Special flights transport the pilgrims from Iran and elsewhere to Saudi Arabia.
Inside Iran, an extensive network of travel agencies, tour organizers and middlemen help make arrangements and secure visas for pilgrims. One Iranian travel agent who declined to be named for privacy reasons said pilgrims were being advised to fly to Kuwait or other nations to seek Saudi visas.
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Iran halts pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia as tensions rise