Eye on Iran: Trump Has All But Decided to Withdraw from Iran Nuclear Deal: Sources

TOP STORIES Trump Has All But Decided to Withdraw from Iran Nuclear Deal: Sources | Reuters U.S. President Donald Trump has all but decided to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord by May 12 but exactly how he will do so remains unclear, two White House officials and a source familiar with the administration's internal debate said on Wednesday. Iran on Trump's Nuclear Decision: If the US Leaves, There's 'No Deal Left' | CNN In the first major interview by a representative of the Iranian government since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's broadside on the Iran nuclear deal, Iran's Ambassador to the UK told CNN that if the United States pulls out of the agreement, "it means that there is no deal left." Can Israel's Clash with Iran Be Contained in Syria? | Wall Street Journal The direct military conflict between Israel and Iran has already begun, with a series of increasingly bold (and usually unacknowledged) Israeli strikes on Iranian bases in Syria in recent weeks. The question now is whether this clash could be contained within Syria-or whether violence could spread to Israeli, Iranian and maybe Lebanese territory, unleashing a regional war. UANI IN THE NEWS UANI Senior Adviser Sen. Mark Kirk Discusses the Iran Deal | Adriana Cohen Show Sen. Kirk: It appears that Prime Minister Netanyahu's intelligence service caught the Iranians with the gems around their knees there, caught them comprehensively cheating on the agreement that was signed with President Obama. And they've been trying to make a nuclear weapon all along, even after the Obama payment of 10 billion dollars in cash to the Iranians. NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM Diplomat: Iran Could Restart Uranium Enrichment If U.S. Leaves Nuclear Deal | Daily Beast A top Iranian diplomat warned on Wednesday that if the United States withdraws from the Iran nuclear deal in the coming days, Tehran could resume its uranium enrichment activities.      Merkel: We Should Broaden Negotiating Framework for Iran Nuclear Deal | Reuters German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that the nuclear deal with Iran should not be canceled but its negotiating framework needed to be broadened. U.N. Chief Warns Against Scrapping Iran Nuclear Deal | Reuters United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday against scrapping an international deal on Iran's nuclear programme unless there was a good alternative in place.  Very Existence of Iran's Secret Nuclear Archive May Be A Violation of Nuke Deal | Raphael Ahren for The Times of Israel Israel's exposé of Iran's own nuke documentation shows why 2015 pact was so important, say defenders of the deal. Jerusalem's retort: If the deal worked, the archive wouldn't exist What Did the Mossad Actually Get from Iran? | Jerusalem Post Everyone has an opinion about the importance or irrelevance of the secret nuclear documents that the Mossad appropriated from Iran, but does anyone have a clue as to what they are talking about? Do people know what it was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actually presented in his PowerPoint presentation, what was really old news and what was clearly new? Let's break it down. Netanyahu's Iran Performance Wasn't Just for Trump | Zev Chafets for Bloomberg The Israeli prime minister had at least five audiences in mind for his dramatic presentation about Tehran's nuclear-weapons intentions. SYRIA, ISRAEL & IRAN U.S. Officials: Israeli F-15s Struck Syrian Base Storing Iranian Anti-aircraft Missiles | Haaretz (Israel) The strike on a Syrian military base near Hama on Sunday was carried out by Israeli F-15 fighter jets after Iran had transferred a shipment of anti-aircraft missiles there, three U.S. officials told NBC News. The officials said Israel seems to be preparing for open warfare with Iran and is seeking U.S. support. Iranian Lawmaker Warns of Response to Israeli 'Aggression' in Syria | Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty A senior Iranian lawmaker has warned that his country will retaliate against what he called Israeli "aggression" in Syria after missile strikes this week killed 26 mostly Iranian fighters stationed at a Syrian military base. Israel Sees Iran War Looming As Mideast Tinderbox Awaits a Spark | Bloomberg Iran and Israel have been exchanging threats for decades. What's different now is that Syria's civil war, which sucked in both countries, provides a potential battlespace -- one that's much closer to Jerusalem than to Tehran. With 3 Rapid Strokes, Netanyahu Advances Israel's Agenda against Iran | New York Times In three bold moves this week - with F-15s, a PowerPoint presentation and the passage of a contentious new law - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strengthened his hand in trying to foil Iran's strategic ambitions, while potentially pulling the two nations closer to direct conflict. Israel Braces for Iranian Military Reaction | Al Monitor Now that the IDF is bracing for an Iranian response to recent alleged Israeli attacks in Syria (which, it is thought, left dozens of Iranian troops dead), Israel will be forced to decide how exactly it will respond.    ECONOMIC NEWS Oil Approaches Three-Year High As Iran Decision Looms | Wall Street Journal Oil prices nudged higher Thursday, drawing closer to a more than three-year high, with uncertainty on the future of the Iran nuclear deal helping to put a floor in the market.  Trump Ire Stokes Gold Trade In Iran As Rial Hits Record Low | Bloomberg Iranians placed a lot more bets on gold in the first quarter after the local currency weakened to a record and fears grew that the U.S. would pull out of the nuclear deal, signaling a return to sanctions. NORTH KOREA & IRAN Any North Korea Nuclear Deal Must Involve Iran's Nuclear Program | A.J. Caschetta for the Hill With the prospect of another round of North Korean diplomacy in the air, the United States must take full advantage by insisting that any deal with Kim Jong Un's regime include full disclosure of everything it knows about the Iranian nuclear program and the decades-long nuclear proliferation abetted by Pakistan's AQK Network. The president frequently mentions the North Korean and Iranian nuclear threats in the same speech, but he needs to link the two. TERRORISM & EXTREMISM In Taking on Iran, We Must Not Ignore the Dangerous Terrorists the Ayatollahs Still Sponsor | Con Coughlin for the Telegraph (U.K.) Iran's decades-long insistence that its nuclear intentions are entirely peaceful is starting to wear a bit thin following the daring raid by Israeli agents that resulted in them stealing the crown jewels of Iran's nuclear programme. For those of us who have followed the Iran nuclear brief closely over many years, the dramatic revelations made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have an all-too-familiar ring of truth about them. FOREIGN AFFAIRS Arab League Backs Morocco for Cutting Off Ties with Iran | Associated Press The Arab League says it supports Morocco's decision to sever ties with Iran over its alleged support for the Polisario Front in the disputed Western Sahara. Tehran has denied supporting the pro-independence group. Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email press@uani.com. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.