Iran Nuclear Talks in Endgame, Negotiators Push World Toward Apocalypse

By John Irish and Louis Charbonneau. A year and half of nuclear talks between Iran and major powers were creeping toward the finish line on Friday as negotiators wrestled with sticking points including questions about Tehran’s past atomic research.

Iran is in talks with the United States and five other powers – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – on an agreement to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

“We are coming to the end,” said a senior Western diplomat, who added there was no plan to carry on for long past next Tuesday. “Either we get an agreement or we don’t.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said a deal was close.

“We are ready to strike a balanced and good deal and open new horizons to address important common challenges,” he said in a statement broadcast on YouTube, referring to the rise of Islamist militancy. (Read more from “Iran Nuclear Talks in Endgame, Negotiators Push on Sticking Points” HERE)

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U.S. Stockpiles Powerful Bunker-Buster Bombs in Case Iran Nuclear Talks Fail

By W.J. Hennigan. As diplomats rush to reach an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program, the U.S. military is stockpiling conventional bombs so powerful that strategists say they could cripple Tehran’s most heavily fortified nuclear complexes, including one deep underground.

The bunker-busting bombs are America’s most destructive munitions short of atomic weapons. At 15 tons, each is 5 tons heavier than any other bomb in the U.S. arsenal.

In development for more than a decade, the latest iteration of the MOP — massive ordnance penetrator — was successfully tested on a deeply buried target this year at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The test followed upgrades to the bomb’s guidance system and electronics to stop jammers from sending it off course.

U.S. officials say the huge bombs, which have never been used in combat, are a crucial element in the White House deterrent strategy and contingency planning should diplomacy go awry and Iran seek to develop a nuclear bomb.

Obama has made it clear that he has no desire to order an attack, warning that U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s air defense network and nuclear facilities would spark a destabilizing new war in the Middle East, and would only delay Iran by several years should it choose to build a bomb. (Read more from this story HERE)

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