Has A Deal Been Struck Between U.S. And Iran On Nukes?

This comes in from Debka and I haven't seen it confirmed elsewhere, so take it with a grain of salt. However, something like this (below) would not be surprising would it? We need to check the news over the next few days/weeks to see if this information begins to leak - however, the public statements that have been made by both sides, as seen below may confirm this situation. It may be irrelevant as Israel already knows, and has stated that they are alone on this situation involving Iran.

Obama Softens On Nuclear Iran: Keep Components, Just Promise Not To Weaponize Them

The moderate mien of Iran’s new president Hassan Rouhani has had its intended effect – even before nuclear dialogue began. President Barack Obama had only one demand of Tehran:  “Iran would have to demonstrate its own seriousness by agreement not to weaponise nuclear power,” he said Wednesday, Sept. 18. He thus took at his word Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who declared the day before: “We are against nuclear weapons. And when we say no one should have nuclear weapons, we definitely do not pursue it ourselves either.”

The symmetry between the words from Washington and Tehran was perfect in content and timing – and not by chance.

DEBKAfile’s Washington and Iranian sources disclose that it was choreographed in advance.

Obama and Khamenei have been exchanging secret messages through Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman, who visited Tehran in the last week of August and conferred with both Khameini and Rouhani.

In the last message, carried to Tehran by Oman’s Defense Minister Sayyid Badr bin Said Al Busaidiat, the US president said that Rouhani’s conciliatory gestures towards Washington needed to be backed up by an explicit pledge not to weaponise Iran’s nuclear program.

That pledge must come from the supreme leader in person and delivered publicly to Iran’s most hawkish audience, Revolutionary Guards chiefs.

And indeed, Khamenei acted out his part Tuesday under TV cameras.
Full details of the exchanges going back and both between Washington and Tehran will appear in the coming DEBKA Weekly 603 out Friday, Sept. 20.

They will confirm that the US president has come to terms with a nuclear-capable Iran and will be satisfied with Ayatollah Khamenei’s word that Tehran will not take the last step to actually assemble a bomb.

Our sources note that in his direct secret dialogue with Tehran, Obama is pursuing the same tactics he used for the Syrian chemical issue with Russian President Vladmir Putin: Moving fast forward on the secret track while pretending that the process is still at an early stage and then a sudden leap to target – a particular form of diplomacy consisting of verbal calisthenics.

This pretense was played out at the G20, when the two presidents acted as though they were irreconcilably divided on the Syrian question, while secretly tying up the ends of the chemical accord.

Obama’s willingness to accept Khamenei’s oft-repeated assurance that his country’s  nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes – while letting its military program advance to the brink – leaves Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu lagging far behind and his Iranian policy with nowhere to go.

At the Israeli cabinet meeting Tuesday, the prime minister said his White House talks with President Obama on Sept. 30 would focus on Iran and his four demands:

1) Complete halt of uranium enrichment; 2) Removal of enriched materials from Iran; 3) Closure of the Fordo enrichment plant; 4) Termination of plutonium production at Arak.
Notwithstanding the briefing offered by Secretary of State John Kerry when he visited Jerusalem on Sunday, Sept. 15, it looks as though Obama is keeping the Israeli prime minister in the dark on his moves towards Iran.

Russia's Arctic Military Moves To Counter NATO Missile Shield

Russia’s weekend announcement of a permanent military presence in the arctic is partly a response to NATO sea-based missile defenses, a Russian expert says.

Anatoly Tsyganok, a retired colonel and head of the Center for Military Forecasting in Moscow, told the InfoRos online newspaper Saturday’s announcement that the Russian Northern Fleet had returned to the arctic on a permanent basis is likely a move to counter the U.S. Aegis ballistic missile defense system.

The ability of the Northern Fleet to patrol the territory east of the Barents Sea will greatly enhance the strategic potential of the Russian Navy, Tsyganok told the publication.

If NATO ships equipped with missile defense systems are sent to the Arctic Ocean, the capabilities of the Russian strategic nuclear forces will be put at risk, and therefore the task has fallen to the Northern Fleet to counter foreign sea-based missile defense systems, the analyst told InfoRos.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency says that of July 2013, there were 28 Aegis ballistic missile defense-equipped ships in deployment, including five cruisers and 23 destroyers — of those, 16 are assigned to the Pacific Fleet and 12 to the Atlantic Fleet.

The Atlantic elements were first deployed in 2011 as part of the first phase of the United States’ European missile defense shield efforts, which have long been viewed by Moscow as a potential threat to its nuclear deterrent.

Another advantage of establishing a permanent arctic military presence will be to allow combat ships to traverse a northern sea route “from the west of the continent to the east and vice versa,” Tsyganok said.

Russian Navy Commander Viktor Chirkov said Saturday that an arctic expedition of troop ships led by the heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great had plowed through 2,000 nautical miles of ice to make a landing on the northernmost point of the island archipelago of Franz Josef Land.

“The expedition is performing the task of gathering information about changing the navigation and hydrographic conditions, proof of maps and nautical sailing directions, hydro-meteorological observations and geodetic survey points in the archipelago, as well as studying the possibilities of sailing ships in the high latitudes,” Chirkov said.

First Deputy Minister of Defense Arkady Bahini hailed the achievement as a signature moment for Russia’s military history.

“We have come here — or rather come back here — forever because it is a native Russian land, and the tasks that are performed today ships of the Northern Fleet is the first part of a mission set by the president of Russia (Vladimir Putin) and minister of defense (Sergei Shoigu) for the development of and improvement of the entire Northern Sea Route and the adjacent arctic zone,” Bahini said.

UN: Syrian Clashes On Golan Risk Entangling Israel

 The UN’s Mideast envoy says clashes between Syria’s army and rebels on the Golan Heights risk drawing Israel into Syria’s civil war.

Robert Serry told the Security Council on Tuesday the fighting could “jeopardize the cease-fire” between Israel and Syria that has been in place since 1974, monitored by UN peacekeepers

Serry says that during “heavy clashes” Thursday between Syrian troops and the opposition, five artillery shells and one tank shell landed on the Israeli side of the truce line. Serry says the Israelis did not retaliate.

West-Accused Syria Gives Russia New Evidence Of Rebel Hand In Chemical Attacks

Thousands Flee As Sumatra Volcano Erupts

Thousands of villagers fled Sunday after a volcano erupted on Indonesia's Sumatra island spewing rocks and red-hot ash onto surrounding villages, officials said.
Mount Sinabung in Karo district, North Sumatra province, erupted violently before dawn.
"More than 3,000 people have been evacuated from areas within a three-kilometre (two-mile) radius of the volcano, and they are all safe," Asren Nasution, the head of North Sumatra disaster agency, told AFP.
Five halls normally used for traditional cultural ceremonies had been converted into shelters for those displaced.
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, national disaster agency spokesman, said 3,710 people had so far been evacuated.

Why Are Truckers Threatening To 'Shut Down Washington, DC' For Three Days?

A group of truckers are reportedly planning to shut Washington, D.C. down for three days straight starting on Oct. 11 to protest the “corruption against the Constitution.”

The “Truckers To Shut Down America” Facebook page has more than 16,000 likes, though it is unclear how many truckers actually intend on taking part in the disruptive protest.

“The American people are sick and tired of the corruption that is destroying America! We therefore declare a GENERAL STRIKE on the weekend of October 11-13, 2013! Truck drivers will not haul freight! Americans can strike in solidarity with truck drivers!” the group’s descriptionreads.

In a YouTube video uploaded by user “Kevin Allan” and linked on the “Truckers To Shut Down America” Facebook page, the event is labeled as a general “strike” by the American people against the federal government and its “bulls**t.”

The narrator in the video says he has received word from others that “truckers are organizing and are going to shut down D.C.” Watch the video below (Warning: Some strong language):

It is too early to tell if the “strike” will be successful, but “shutting down” the nation’s capitol would certainly have a huge impact whether you agree or disagree with the tactic.

The Facebook page provides some additional information on the motive behind the action, which ranges from Obamacare to the IRS scandal to Benghazi:

My fellow patriot this effort is to support the truckers in a major shut down of America ion [sic] a 3 day strike October 11th thru 13th. Obamacare will be in effect and most people will be ready to take action. No commerce on those days stock up on items that you will need. No banking no shopping no money transactions.

It does not matter if a million or 50 roll through DC in this effort. Congress will listen to We the People. Which is remove Obama from office for crimes of treason and misdemeanors. We want Congressional hearing on Benghazi and Seal Team 6. Louis Learner [sic] put in jail. No amnesty, remove all Muslims in our government that do not uphold the Constitution. Remove Eric Holder from office for crimes against the people and the Constitution. Last but not least is Fuel prices