Topic: Strait of Hormuz

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Threats to US: Pentagon officials drop three surprises

Pentagon’s key intelligence officials warned of 'current and future worldwide threats' to US national security in a congressional hearing Thursday. Here are three top surprises.
Top 4 threats against America: the good and bad news

America’s top spy chiefs and intelligence experts come together every year to share their best guesses about the biggest threats that will face the country in the year ahead. Here are the top four pieces of good and bad news to come out of the annual threat-assessment hearing in Congress Tuesday.
5 countries with the longest ongoing US sanctions

Sanctions are once again leading the news with trade embargoes tightening around Iran and debates over whether to loosen US restrictions on Cuba and Myanmar.
Five reasons to attack Iran

Sanctions against Iran are tightening, including Europe’s ban on oil imports. Tehran is highly unlikely to reach a negotiated agreement over its nuclear program, says Matthew Kroenig, a Stanton Nuclear Security fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations believes. In the choice between Iran having nuclear weapons and a US military strike to prevent that, a strike is the least bad option. Here Mr. Kroenig gives five reasons the US should attack Iran.
5 reasons US must avoid war with Iran

Do the drumbeaters calling for ‘war with Iran’ never learn from history? It is tempting to dismiss their hot air as an attempt to score political points, but its sheer volume is worrying. Two former US hostages in Iran, L. Bruce Laingen and John Limbert, say Obama must ignore the war talk, and offer five key points for Washington to keep in mind.

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Consumer Energy Report
High gas prices are a bipartisan failure

Neither Republicans nor Democrats are offering up policies that will effectively address high gas prices.
Obama, Congress, traders? Public unsure who to blame for high gas prices.

From all corners of the country, Americans are irritated these days by record-high fuel prices that have soared above $4 a gallon in some states and could top $5 by summer.
Inside the Keystone pipeline: How much would it really help US consumers?

Politicians paint a rosy picture of lower gas prices and abundant supply, but Canadian firms behind the Keystone pipeline expect it to supply Gulf Coast export markets and raise Midwest oil prices.
In event of an Iran-Israel showdown, what would US military do?

Iran was top of the agenda Monday at the Obama-Netanyahu meeting. A recent war game gave US military officials a sense of the threat exposure from operating in a narrow waterway such as the Strait of Hormuz, off Iran's coast.
Gas prices: How much will they hurt the economy? (+video)

Gas prices are slated to hit new highs within months. How might that affect the modest economic recovery? Here's a clue: Every 10-cent rise per gallon in gas prices costs the US economy $11 billion.
Newt Gingrich's big Super Tuesday gambit: win the gas pump vote

Ahead of Super Tuesday, Newt Gingrich is hammering Obama for an 'anti-energy policy' and playing up his own plan to reduce gas prices. It's a solid strategy, experts say, but will primary voters bite?
Oil nears $110 a barrel, gas prices jump 12 cents a gallon in a week. Eek!

Tensions with Iran have markets 'convinced there will be some type of confrontation,' says an energy analyst. Oil buyers are starting to 'horde,' and nervousness is affecting gas prices.
As gas prices soar, Californians test life above the $4-a-gallon mark

Gas prices that have already surged beyond $4 a gallon are forcing California consumers and business-owners to cut back and try to make do with less.
US military officials urge caution on attacking Iran

The problem is that many of the Iranian targets – buried deeply underground – would be beyond the reach of the Israeli military, in what Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey calls a “zone of immunity.”
Cover Story
What would happen if Iran had the bomb? (+video)

Even as Tehran signals an interest in nuclear talks, many experts have already envisioned what the world would look like if the country got nuclear weapons. It wouldn't be as dire as many fear, but it would unleash new uncertainties - and perhaps a regional arms race.
Threats to US: Pentagon officials drop three surprises

Pentagon’s key intelligence officials warned of 'current and future worldwide threats' to US national security in a congressional hearing Thursday. Here are three top surprises.
US blames al-Qaida of Iraq for Syrian bombings

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said bombings against security and intelligence targets in Damascus and Aleppo bear 'all the earmarks of an al-Qaida-like attack,' leading the US intelligence community to believe the Iraqi militant branch is extending its reach into Syria.
Iran loading homemade nuclear fuel rods, firing up new centrifuges

Iran says it now has the next generation of centrifuges to enrich uranium for its nuclear program. But US experts are skeptical of Iran's claims.
USS Abraham Lincoln returns to Persian Gulf shadowed by Iranian boats

USS Abraham Lincoln passed through the Strait of Hormuz Tuesday with Iranian gunboats, an Iranian drone, and helicopter following. Iran had threatened to close the strait after Western sanctions were tightened last month.
How an Obama shift helps unstable regimes get nuclear weapons

In past nuclear cooperation agreements, the US has required nations to commit to not enriching uranium and opening nuclear sites to inspections. The Obama administration has just done away with the requirement. Congress needs oversight to combat this possibility of nuclear proliferation.
Iran evades US sanctions by paying with gold

Iran bought 200,000 tons of Australian, and possibly US, wheat last week with gold. Commodities traders say Iran is also pitching oil barter deals for grains.
Ex-CIA spy: History of failed negotiations shows Iran won't deal

President Obama errs in pushing nuclear negotiation, writes this ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Four US presidents tried and failed. The problem lies in Iran's fanatic ideology. Biting sanctions and US overt support for the Iranian people will bring real change.
Top 4 threats against America: the good and bad news

America’s top spy chiefs and intelligence experts come together every year to share their best guesses about the biggest threats that will face the country in the year ahead. Here are the top four pieces of good and bad news to come out of the annual threat-assessment hearing in Congress Tuesday.
Interview: Former US spy chief sees shift toward Asia

In an interview, Admiral Dennis C. Blair - the former director of national intelligence - says the US needs to back moderate Islamic societies, and urges Israel to keep pace with a changing Middle East.
As UN nuclear inspectors arrive, Iran says 'questions will be answered'

The three-day visit could shape the direction of Western efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is only for peaceful purposes.
Backchannels
Iran is gearing up for elections and it isn't pretty

The arrest of at least 10 reporters since the turn of the year and new Internet restrictions point to a battening down of social control ahead of Iran's March elections.
Editorial Board Blog
Should the US attack Iran? Monitor Facebook fans speak out.

The views on 'what to do with Iran' are heated. Monitor Facebook fans reacted to two recent opeds: '5 reasons the US should attack Iran' and '5 reasons the US should avoid war with Iran.' We've culled some of the best responses here.
Ex-CIA spy: Iran's miscalculation over war

Leading Iranians are criticizing the regime, including its war-like provocation and the foreign sanctions aimed at its nuclear program. One Revolutionary Guard commander calls Iran's war threats 'the same stupidity' and miscalculation that preceded the Iran-Iraq war.
How Iran could beat up on America's superior military

America's defense budget is roughly 90 times bigger than Iran's. But Iran has a well-honed strategy of asymmetric warfare.
5 countries with the longest ongoing US sanctions

Sanctions are once again leading the news with trade embargoes tightening around Iran and debates over whether to loosen US restrictions on Cuba and Myanmar.