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Iran’s new, democratically elected president faces battle with Guards on nuclear issue

Hassan Rouhani is elected Iranian President

DEBKAfile Special Report Jun 15, 2013, 10:47 PM (IDT)

Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei views Hassan Rouhani’s election as president as the opening for a more flexible approach on Iran’s nuclear controversy with the West. DEBKAfile: Rouhani’s first task will be to draft a detailed plan setting boundaries for Iranian concessions to obtain the partial lifting of sanctions and restore the flow of oil revenues to the country’s empty coffers. This will bring the president-elect head on head with the Revolutionary Guards, who are already rumored in Tehran to be plotting his removal by a military putsch.

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Qatari Shake-up Anoints Gulf’s Youngest Ruler

Sheikh Tamim’s wavering record on US ties has Washington worried.

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Russian Ready to Stall US Action in Syria

Barack Obama left it too late to deny Russia and Iran profit from Assad’s victory.

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Aleppo Was Last US Window for Influencing Syrian War

Obama rejected the only action that could have stalled the Syrian army’s last big push.

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Barack Obama | Israel | Syria | Bashar Assad | Hizballah | Binyamin Netanyahu | Iran | chemical weapons

Hizballah units near Golan. Some receive “limited-use” chemical arms

Chemical canister landing in Saraqeb, Idlib

DEBKAfile Special Report
Jun 15, 2013, 2:41 PM (IDT)

The Obama administration and Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on a visit to Washington backed away Friday, June 14, from any effective response to the Syrian ruler’s proven use of chemical weapons against rebel forces. On the ground, DEBKAfile’s military sources reported Hizballah and Syrian army movements were detected heading toward the Golan and the Jordanian border from the military concentrations building up in the last two weeks around the nearby town of Deraa. Those sources also concluded that Hizballah has been awarded “limited-use” chemical weapons

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• Large US Marine force lands in Aqaba for Syrian border
• Gantz: Assad will pay the price for Golan escalation. Syria: We fired on Israeli patrol
• Israel denies arrival of first S-300s to Syria
• In London as in Boston, terrorist-killers were known to security services
• Nasrallah pledges tens of thousands of volunteers to Assad
• Gulf begins mass expulsion of Lebanese Shiites over Hizballah’s role in Syria
• Muddled Israeli-US policies set stage for Golan offensive
• Moscow‘s smoke screen obscures Syr