FEB. 3 – “Iran is keeping open the option of developing nuclear weapons but it remains unclear whether Tehran has the ‘political will’ to do so, the U.S. director of national intelligence said on Tuesday,” reports Reuters.

FEB. 2 – “Tensions over nuclear weapons in the Middle East and over Russia’s tactical arsenal tangled talks Tuesday aimed at pushing for global nuclear disarmament,” reports the Washington Post.

FEB. 1 – “Israel’s government has long tried to raise international concern about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and is likely to welcome the new US deployments in the Gulf if it signals a hardening of policy,” reports The Guardian.

JAN. 31 – Laura Rozen of Politico reports: “Israeli sources say CIA director Leon Panetta traveled to Israel this past week. He met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Mossad chief Meir Dagan, one former Israeli official said. The main subject of conversation was Iran, as well as ‘relations’ in general, [...]

JAN. 23 – “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday the United States and allies will not back down in pressing Iran on concerns that its nuclear program is weapons related,” the VOA reports.

JAN. 17 – In his dispatch this morning for The Jerusalem Post, Herb Keinon speculates as to why NSC staffer Dennis Ross joined US National Security Adviser James Jones on his recent trip to Israel, and why Jones departed next for Lebanon.

JAN. 16 – In a Saturday editorial, the Los Angeles Times has called for “tougher sanctions” against Iran.
“Unilateral measures imposed by the U.S. are ineffective, but gaining consensus among Security Council members will be a continuing challenge,” says the paper. “The administration may have no choice but to try. Even so, no one should expect sanctions [...]

JAN. 15 – According to an Associated Press dispatch on the Jerusalem Post web site, U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns is warning Iran of “consequences” if it does not comply with international solutions to limit its uranium enrichment program.

JAN. 15 -”The Obama administration will not initiate an offensive campaign against Iran,” predicted Israeli lawmaker and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi at a New York  forum yesterday, according to several Israeli media reports. 
Hanegbi, who is a member of the opposition Kadima Party, said the United States will not succeed in eliciting allied support [...]

JAN. 11 – The Associated Press is reporting that the United States and five other countries are likely to meet this week to discuss what to do about Iran’s nuclear program.

JAN. 8 – “We recognize what the potential could be there [Iran],” said U.S. Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, following a  keynote address yesterday to a special Policy Forum at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “And at the same time, we’ve looked to do all we can to ensure that conflict [...]

JAN. 5 – Prof. Efraim Inbar, Director of Bar Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies in Israel, has characterized the West’s handling of Iran and its suspected weapons program as “inept.”

JAN. 5 – Some morning headlines in the Israeli press are greeting with skepticism yesterday’s comments about Iran by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
On the leading Israeli news site, YNET, the main headline reads, “Clinton:  U.S. Not Closing the Door to Talks With Iran.”  In a four-line sub-head, it is noted that Clinton’s remarks come “five days after a [...]

JAN. 2 – Israel’s NRG news web site reports that Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon is hinting that the West may act to topple the Iranian regime.
“The world is uniting against Iran,” Ayalon said at a Saturday event in Tel Aviv. “In a month we will see sanctions against her. I am not sure [...]

JAN. 2 – The New York Times is reporting tonight that according to the Obama administration, domestic unrest in Iran and signs of unexpected trouble in its nuclear program are making Iran’s leaders, particularly vulnerable to strong and immediate new sanctions.” 
The Times also reports that according to Obama administration officials, Iran’s bomb-development effort was “seriously derailed” by the exposure three [...]

 JAN. 1 – Sobering headlines about Iran, this  New Year’s Day.
The Jerusalem Post’s Hilary Leila Kreiger and Haviv Rettig Gur, in their dispatch from Washington, report the  US has “toughened its rhetoric” and is “looking increasingly to sanctions rather than diplomacy,” now that its deadline to Iran has passed.  The article  includes an interview with Israel’s Ambassador to Washington, Michael [...]

DEC. 31 – With the expiration, tonight, of Washington’s ultimatum to Iran to agree to an imposed uranium enrichment deal or  else face  “crippling sanctions,” a number of Israeli media outlets are already noting the Obama administration’s planned change in tone.
Israel’s Channel 10 correspondent in Washington, Gil Tamari, reports that Washington instead plans to impose “targeted sanctions,” so as not to [...]