Epstein Secrets

not to mention the 2003 U.S. invasion — to eliminate the program. The international community got lucky: Had Hussein not been dumb enough to invade Kuwait in 1990, he probably would have gotten the bomb sometime by the mid-1990s. Iran's nuclear program is more advanced than Hussein's was in 1981. But

the IAEA has documented, Iran is putting all the pieces in place to have the option to develop nuclear weapons at some point. Were Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to decide tomorrow to go for a bomb, Iran probably has the technical capability to produce a testable nuclear device in about a year and a missile-

ian differences. Even in the one corner of the Middle East where there is a regional body, the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC - comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), there are fresh challenges. Formed in 1981 as Britain withdrew from the Gulf, the GCC has

ader in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing. This long overdue visit will culminate in Meshaal meeting with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In his meeting with Meshaal and in his recent and first visit to Qatar, Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ramadan Shalah discussed the details of t

nes of 50 percent or more. The sharpest drops were in Iran, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Libya, Albania, Qatar and Kuwait, which all recorded declines of 60 percent or more over three decades. EFTA00683491 Fertility in Iran declined an astonishing 70 percent over the

hi's remark set the usual hearts aflutter that Iran is finally serious about a deal. But the optimism was brief. On Thursday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei flatly rejected direct talks with the U.S. "The U.S. is pointing a gun at Iran and wants us to talk to them," he said. "Direct talks will not solve

the Iranian nation.... This is the same as 'Islamic Awakening,' which is the result of the victory of the big revolution of the Iranian nation," said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran also broadcast speeches by Hezbollah's leader into Bahrain, cheering the protesters on. Bahraini officials say that Iran went further, providi

for them," says Jasim Husain, a senior member of the Wefaq Shiite opposition party in Bahrain. Since March 14, the regional cold war has escalated. Kuwait expelled several Iranian diplomats after it discovered and dismantled, it says, an Iranian spy cell that was casing critical infrastructure and U.S.

fore 1990, moreover, no one predicted that Iraq, having just ended a bitter eight-year war with Iran, would swing its battered forces south to invade Kuwait. So if it's conventional wisdom that the United States will not, or should not, intervene militarily in the Middle East or South Asia after it draws

. Combined with Iranian internal divisions, as its own presidential election season gets underway, that could mean that for the next six months or so Ayatollah Ali Khamenei simply won't be ready to talk seriously, despite scheduling the Kazakhstan round. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029729 --- PAGE BREAK --- Others suspect that Ira

fore 1990, moreover, no one predicted that Iraq, having just ended a bitter eight-year war with Iran, would swing its battered forces south to invade Kuwait. So if it's conventional wisdom that the United States will not, or should not, intervene militarily in the Middle East or South Asia after it draws

. Combined with Iranian internal divisions, as its own presidential election season gets underway, that could mean that for the next six months or so Ayatollah Ali Khamenei simply won't be ready to talk seriously, despite scheduling the Kazakhstan round. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029816 --- PAGE BREAK --- Others suspect that Ira