LATEST: Iranian Pilot Killed in Iraq Fighting

SATURDAY FEATURE

Why a Nuclear Deal May Not Happen — 5 Points & 1 Word (“Centrifuges”)

Iran’s officials have held bilateral talks with US counterparts as drafting of a comprehensive nuclear deal began in Vienna.

Iranian Deputy Minister Abbas Araqchi had discussions with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, amid other bilateral and multilateral talks with the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia).

Araqchi and Helga Schmid, the deputy to the European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, reportedly began drafting the final agreement on Friday afternoon.

There was no indication, however, that the two sides had overcome differences on the key issue of the number and level of centrifuges for Iran’s uranium enrichment program.

Iranian Pilot Killed in Iraq Fighting

State news agency IRNA reports that an Iranian pilot has been killed in fighting in Iraq.

The article did not indicate whether the pilot, Colonel Shoja’at Alamdari, died in flight or on the ground. It said only that he was
“defending” Shia shrines in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.

Iranian troops, including members of the elite Qods Forces, entered Iraq three weeks ago to help defend Samarra as insurgents advanced after the capture of Mosul and Tikrit.

Fars News published photos of the pilot’s funeral service on Friday in his Fars Province in southern Iran.

Tehran Friday Prayer Worries About Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

Tehran Friday Prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani continued the regime’s proclamations of concern about the Islamic State.

Movahedi Kermani told the congregation, “This tough and anti-Islam current is a serious threat to the international peace and security as well as all religions and tribes.”

The cleric claimed that the “Takfiri and criminal group” is supported by the “Global Arrogance”.

Iranian outlets are maintaining the line that the Islamic State was created by the US and Israel. Press TV features an American “political commentator”, Randy Short:

)(The Islamic State) are a creation of Western powers. Al Qa’eda (comes) from the database created by CIA and other imperial intelligence agencies that were fighting against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan. From that you have many different manifestations of this so-called Islamic coalition that serves the purposes of the imperial Western Anglo.