On Sunday morning in Geneva, Switzerland, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany reached an interim agreement with Iran on the nation’s nuclear power program. The U.S. State Department has put together a fact sheet on the agreement, which you can read here. In addition, you can read the full text of the interim deal here. “The first step that we’ve taken today marks the most significant and tangible progress that we’ve made with Iran since I took office,” President Barack Obama said at the White House Saturday night. “And now we must use the…

“These are extraordinary times, with extraordinary opportunities,” President Barack Obama told the United Nations on Tuesday as part of the opening proceedings of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly. In his 50-minute address, President Obama focused on the Middle East, a region of the world that has been at the center of U.S. foreign policy in recent months. He urged the UN Security Council to pass a resolution addressing Syria’s use of chemical weapons, stating: “If we cannot agree even on this, then it will show that the United Nations is incapable of enforcing the most basic of international laws. …

In a major address on national security and counterterrorism at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., last Thursday, President Barack Obama declared that America is at a crossroads and “this is the moment to ask ourselves hard questions — about the nature of today’s threats and how we should confront them.” He said that after the elimination of Osama bin Laden and other high-ranking leaders, al-Qaeda is on the path to defeat and its regional affiliates — in places like Iraq, Yemen, and North Africa — pose regional threats to U.S. interests abroad, not direct threats to the U.S….

On Wednesday, the House Oversight and Reform Committee, chaired by Representative Darrell Issa (CA-R) held a hearing on the September 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that led to the deaths of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens. It’s the ninth time a congressional committee has held a hearing investigating the circumstances of the attack and the Obama Administration response in the hours and days that followed. Testifying before the committee were Gregory Hicks, the former deputy chief of mission for Libya; Eric Nordstrom, the regional security officer posted to Libya; and Mark…

President Obama’s nomination of Senator John Kerry (MA-D) to be the next Secretary of State likely paves the way for Senator Robert Menendez (NJ-D) to replace Kerry as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Menendez is currently the third-ranking Democrat on the committee; however, the committee’s second-ranking Democrat, Senator Barbara Boxer (CA-D), already heads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and cannot chair two committees. Senator Kerry, who first came to the Senate in 1985 and has had a seat on the Foreign Relations Committee ever since, became chairman in 2009. Recently, his focus has been on Afghanistan,…

On Wednesday, the State Department Accountability Review Board (ARB) charged with investigating the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, issued its report. It found that “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department” resulted in a security posture at the consulate that was “grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place.” It also stated that, because of budgetary concerns, a few State Department managers in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Eastern Affairs favored “restricting the use of resources as a…

The United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (LOS), the regime governing international water rights and management of maritime resources, has been a controversial subject in the United States for more than 30 years and spanning five presidencies. This summer, it has once again garnered headlines, as competing political factions in the U.S. Senate lock horns over a possible ratification vote. We focus on the details of the convention, and the key arguments for and against it, in the September issue of International Debates. When international negotiations for the LOS Convention were completed in 1982, President Ronald Reagan refused to…

This week, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous announced the removal of half of the 300 observers taking part in the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS). He said that the move was a result of reduced UN patrols since June 15 due to the increasingly dangerous conditions on the ground. He added that the forces would return if the security situation improved. The move comes on the heels of a UN Security Council vote on July 20 to authorize the observer mission for an additional 30 days, extending its term from the original 90 days set forth…

Yesterday, former United Nations Secretary-General and current Joint Special Envoy of the UN and the League of Arab States on the Syrian Crisis Kofi Annan gave a report to the UN Security Council  on the rapidly deteriorating situation in Syria. Via a videolink from Geneva, Switzerland, Annan told the Council that the UN may be the “only remaining chance” to stabilize the Middle Eastern country. “There is a profound concern that the country could otherwise descend into full civil war, and the implications of that are quite frightening,” he said. “We cannot allow that to happen.” There are currently 300…

In an unannounced trip to Afghanistan on May 1, President Obama spoke to the troops and to an American television audience, and signed a strategic partnership agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The visit took place on the first anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan, giving it historical and symbolic significance. The day was the latest milestone in what has been a costly and protracted war marked by surges, setbacks, and some success in stemming the tide of the insurgency and reestablishing Afghan Government control. In June 2011, President Obama announced a gradual drawdown…