What Trump's new national security adviser means for Iran and North Korea 3/24/2018 11:27:53 AM   facebook Google+ ► Print Former Obama’s NSC staff says replacement of McMaster by Bolton is a sign that Iran deal is not just dead, but dead and buried ABC- 24  March 20  18-  President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement Thursday to replace his national security adviser H.R. McMaster with John Bolton is not only part of a broader shakeup but represents a shift toward an increasingly hawkish foreign policy posture as he faces major decisions within weeks on North Korea and Iran. Robert Malley, who served on the National Security Council during the Obama and Clinton administrations, says Trump's choice of Bolton amounts to nails in the coffin for the President Barack Obama’s landmark foreign policy achievement, the Iran nuclear deal. Bolton has been vocal in advocating for tearing up the deal, an idea that President Trump has al...

John Bolton to replace H.R. McMaster as White House national security adviser, Trump says 3/23/2018 1:49:18 AM Former UN ambassador John Bolton (L) will be replacing H.R. McMaster as U.S. national security adviser on April 9,2018. Fox News, March 23, 2018  - President Trump announced Thursday that former  United Nations  Amb. John Bolton will replace Gen. H.R. McMaster as his National Security Adviser effective April 9 -- the latest in a growing list of White House staff shakeups over the past year. “I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, Amb. John Bolton will be my new National Security Advisor. I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9,” Trump tweeted. The president’s announcement came after months of speculation over whether McMaster would resign or be fired from his post. Bolton told Fox News' “The ...

European Diplomats Seek to Curb Iran Actions in Yemen, Syria 2/20/2018 5:29:03 PM   facebook Google+ ► Print Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met over the weekend with senior European diplomats in Munich to discuss the conflict in Yemen Talks aim to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to preserve Iran nuclear deal By Laurence Norman MUNICH, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 19, 2018  - European officials are intensifying their efforts to save the Iranian nuclear deal, opening a new channel to press Tehran to curtail its military involvement in neighboring conflicts just as tensions spiral throughout the Middle East. European diplomats sat down with a senior Iranian official over the weekend on the sidelines of a major security conference in Munich. They hope to check Iranian activity in Yemen, Syria and other parts of the Middle East as a way to show U.S. President Donald Trump that Iranian expansion can be reversed while sticki...

McMaster to allies: Track your investments and stop funding Iran’s proxy militias 2/18/2018 5:31:59 PM Hezbollah cannons pounding militants positions on the Lebanon-Syria border. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster made an appeal to NATO members and allies at the Munich Security Conference to cut off funding that indirectly funds Hezbollah and other proxy militias that weaken Middle East nations to bolster Iranian influence. MUNICH, Defense News, Feb. 17, 2018  - National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster made an appeal to NATO members and allies at the Munich Security Conference to look hard at who they’re doing business with overseas and cut off funding that indirectly funds Hezbollah and other proxy militias that weaken Middle East nations to bolster Iranian influence. The Iranian regime continues to get support from commercial entities, affiliated with the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – “including Mahan Air, a company that lands righ...

US spies can make it harder to do business with Iran. Here's how, says CIA chief Mike Pompeo 10/20/2017 9:54:13 AM CIA Director Mike Pompeo speaks at the FDD National Security Summit in Washington, October 19, 2017 • The United States should make it more expensive for Iran to engage in 'adventurism' in the Middle East, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Thursday. • The intelligence community is trying and struggling to expose Iranian companies with ties to the nation's sanctioned security forces. CNBC, Oct. 19, 2017  - The U.S. intelligence community and Treasury Department can make it harder for Iran to meddle in regional affairs by exposing Iranian businesses that have ties to the nation's elite security force, CIA Director Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said on Thursday. Their comments suggest the investment climate in Iran could become more challenging just as foreign firms seek to build or restore ties in the c...

Trump prepares to wound Iran deal — and then save it  Donald Trump described the agreement as “catastrophic” and “the worst deal ever.” | Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images Trump’s team plans to work with Congress and European allies to apply new pressure on the Iranian regime, according to a strategy developed in an Iran policy review led by national security adviser H.R. McMaster. But the strategy assumes the nuclear deal will remain intact for now. The deliberations ahead of an Oct. 15 deadline to certify Iran’s compliance with the deal, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy agenda, were described by a half-dozen sources inside and outside the administration who have participated in the internal debate. As a candidate, Trump described the agreement as “catastrophic” and “the worst deal ever.” But the strategy represents a   nuanced approach to one of the most important foreign policy decisions of his early presidency. The goal is to ...

The case for a 'clean withdrawal' from the Iran Nuclear Deal There’s a pitched rhetorical battle underway right now in Washington as an October 15 deadline approaches for President Trump to certify to Congress that the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran (the JCPOA) is in the national interests of the United States and that Iran is in compliance.  Although the president said last week he has made his decision, backers and opponents of the agreement are working overtime to convince him to adopt their recommendations. President Trump has been highly critical of the JCPOA, calling it “the worst deal ever” during the presidential campaign and “an embarrassment to the United States” during his speech to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 19. However, the president reluctantly certified the nuclear deal to Congress twice this year due to heavy pressure from his top national security advisers, especially Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. ...