Iranian Leader Hits Back at Republican Senators

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement that an open letter signed by 47 Republican senators regarding the negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program was “a sign of…the destruction of the American establishment from within.” As the deadline for a deal approaches, Khamenei has also continued to support the Iranian negotiators. In remarks ...

khamenei
khamenei

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement that an open letter signed by 47 Republican senators regarding the negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program was “a sign of…the destruction of the American establishment from within.”

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement that an open letter signed by 47 Republican senators regarding the negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program was “a sign of…the destruction of the American establishment from within.”

As the deadline for a deal approaches, Khamenei has also continued to support the Iranian negotiators. In remarks on Thursday, he described the Iranian diplomats as “good and caring people, who work for the country.” However, he worried whether the United States would adhere to any agreement, saying, “the other side is a sneaky and crafty one who stabs with a dagger in your back.” 

Islamic State Is Not in Retreat, U.S. Officials Say

Despite recent setbacks and reports of internal divisions, the Islamic State has still managed to launch offensives in several areas and is attracting new recruits, senior U.S. officials said. Even as the jihadist group suffers a major defeat in the central Iraqi city of Tikrit, for instance, it launched another attack in the western city of Ramadi – and U.S. officials fear that the group is also expanding its reach through dangerous affiliates in Egypt, Libya, and Nigeria.

The Islamic State has lost about 20 percent of the territory that it once held in Iraq. However, Obama administration officials estimate that roughly 1,000 foreign fighters are still traveling to join the group every month.

Headlines

  • Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that victory in Tikrit against the Islamic State was near, and had been “achieved totally by Iraqi hands.”
  • Israel’s center-left Zionist Union maintained a lead of roughly four seats over the right-wing Likud Party in public opinion polls.
  • S. military and intelligence officials are voicing concern about the Iraqi government’s willingness to work with the country’s Sunni population.
  • A Swiss citizen faces prosecution for joining a militia in Syria fighting against the Islamic State.
  • Turkey arrested 16 Indonesians in the southern city of Gaziantep on suspicion that they were going to join the Islamic State.

-David Kenner

BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images

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