++John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif are in a last-minute meeting that hang on the arms embargo.
++Previously,General Dempsey told the Senate that lifting the conventional arms embargo on Iran as part of the nuclear deal was unacceptable to the Obama administration.
++The fear here is that with the lifting of other sanctions, the funds will be used for arms purchases which will further destabilize the region.
++The reporting awards tonight go to Business Insider reporting on the various concessions by both sides in perhaps the best technical explanations of this complex agreement.
++Business Insider says the West agreed to nuclear testing in the Furdow site in year 15 of the agreement. It also reports on how the sanctions will be lifted in increments.
++But the hang up comes from the unexpected demand by Iran on the lifting of the conventional arms embargo. Both China and Russia free with Iran.
++Meanwhile Bibi Netanyahu has gone bonkers. VOX has an excellent report on the domestic Israeli debate over the agreement and the likelihood that Bibi may take the fall. Herzog has blamed Bibi for his failure to manage this crisis and claiming Bibi had promised he would prevent the deal when ,instead by his actions before the House, ensured Israel was cut out of any input into the United States' position.
++Bibi has vowed the nuclear deal in apocalyptic proportions claiming Iran wants to take over the world. American commentators have pointed out that Saudi Arabia and Israel combined are more powerful than Iran's armed forces and that Iran may search regional dominance but it is in no way capable of threatening anybody else.
++The Israeli cabinet will coordinate all media campaigns in the United States against the agreement with special attention to congressional districts. Haaretz says that Bibi's strategy is lose-lose with Bibi's alliance with the Republicans and the evangelicals as alienating the Jewish support for President Obama and the Democrats. The concern expressed by the American Jewish community when Ambassador Dwermer arranged for Bibi's invitation from John Boehner without clearing it with the Obama Administration is now coming to fruition.
++Haaretz claims Bibi sees Iran as Big Satan while Obama thinks of Iran as little Satan which can be restrained.
++Earlier in the day Bibi said Israel would take matters in its own hands, a statement that provoked reaction in Israel. The Iranian deal is considered by all parties in Israel as a bad deal but the Zionist Union argues against provoking a break with the United States.
++Ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Senator Menendez said today that the Iranian deal does not give him any confidence.
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