Jordan's King Abdullah's phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Wednesday Jan. 5 dealt marginally with stalled diplomacy with the Palestinians. He was more concerned about the devastating effect of Iran's advancing domination of Iraq in the face of America's inaction. That day, the anti-US radical Iraqi cleric Muqtada Sadr, a close ally of Hizballah's Hassan Nasrallah, marched home from Iran; the new Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi paid his first visit to Baghdad. The UN has turned down Lebanon's demand to intervene in delineating its sea border following Israel's Leviathan gas strike in the Mediterranean, billed as the world's biggest in a decade. Cyprus responded by announcing the Texas-based US firm Noble Energy - partners with Israel's Delek Energy group in Leviathan – had been licensed to explore a 1,250 square-mile island block bordering on Israeli waters. There are growing indications that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is facing his second epic struggle to stay in power since the popular riots of 2009 - with his back to the wall. DEBKAfile's exclusive Iranian sources report that the president's situation must be dire indeed because Monday night, Jan. 3, he called off at the last minute a secret trip to Beirut by his chef de bureau and kinsman Rahim Esfandiar Mashaee for winding up a key power move in Lebanon.
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
Turkey, Syria and Lebanon prepare to fight joint Israel-Cypriot energy exploration ventures. They may be joined by Egypt and Palestinians. 
Friday, 7 January 2011
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report January 6, 2011, 3:07 PM (GMT+02:00)
Iraq's radical Moqtada Sadr ready to move in
UN spurns Beirut on fixing sea border after Israel strikes gas
January 5, 2011, 12:03 PM (GMT+02:00)
Three Mediterranean gas fields opposite northern Israel
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
January 4, 2011, 12:29 PM (GMT+02:00)
Ahmadinejad - stripped of allies
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