Middle East
Ex-Iran Guard commander visits White House with Iraq leader
A former commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the FBI says played a role in a 1996 terrorist attack that killed 19 U.S. servicemen, accompanied Iraq s prime minister to the White House on Monday, attending an event at which President Obama trumpeted the end of the Iraq War. Hadi Farhan al-Amiri, transportation minister in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki s government, was part of the delegation that visited the White House to discuss Iraq s future and Iran s influence there, among other topics.
Israeli prisoner swap may be prelude to attack on Iran
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s decision to execute a 1,000-for-1 prisoner exchange last week despite his frequently voiced opposition to such lopsided deals is seen by several Israeli military commentators as an effort to "clear the deck" before possibly undertaking an attack on Iran s nuclear facilities.