1. Pentagon to Conduct Exercise for Iranian Crisis - USA Today
The Pentagon will hold a special table top exercise targeting a possible crisis involving Iran. The exercise is being scheduled for this summer.
The exercise comes amid growing tensions between Iran and the United States over the Iranian nuclear program and recent media reports of increased US military planning against Iran. The Iranian president has also made threats of using 14,000 suicide bombers against Israel and the United States.
The exercise will be conducted at the National Defense University with the specific goal of helping senior US policymakers, military brass and members of Congress to explore various options in the scenario of an Iranian crisis, according to the Pentagon.
Military officials stated in a USA Today report that the July 18 exercise will develop scenarios based on things that are "fairly current in the real world, but the schedule is set way in advance," and it is designed to "teach and educate people about the complexity of decisions in formulating policy."
2. Iran and EU fail to break N-deadlock - Reuters
Iran's chief negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana failed to reach a breakthrough on the Iranian nuclear deadlock in a meeting yesterday but the two said they would meet again in about two weeks.
Larijani told reporters the talks had been constructive but there was no question that Iran would suspend a nuclear programme the West believes aims at making nuclear weapons despite the threat of harsher international sanctions.
