Senior Obama officials travel to Israel for consultations
A “cavalcade” of high-ranking Obama administration officials will travel to Israel over the next two weeks for strategic consultations, diplomatic sources told The Back Channel. Among them, Secretary...
View ArticleUS-Israel strategic dialogue meets in Israel
Senior American and Israeli officials met in Israel Thursday as part of the semi-annual U.S.-Israel strategic dialogue. The US delegation to the high-level diplomatic consultations was led by Deputy...
View ArticleClinton: Middle East “did not trade tyranny of dictator for tyranny of mob”
A somber Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at the transfer of remains ceremony for four US diplomatic personnel killed in Libya Friday, called on the people and leaders of the Middle East to...
View ArticleWhite House denies report that US and Iran agreed to direct talks
The White House on Saturday denied a report in the New York Times that the United States and Iran had agreed to hold one–on-one talks on Iran’s nuclear program after the US presidential elections next...
View ArticleBenghazi panel: Security at US outpost ‘grossly inadequate’
The head of State Department diplomatic security resigned Wednesday, in the wake of an investigation by a panel looking into the September 11, 2012 killing of four US diplomatic personnel in Benghazi,...
View ArticleAppointments: Philip Gordon to White House, Jake Sullivan to OVP
As the Back Channel first reported, Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Philip Gordon will be taking over the former Dennis Ross “Central Region” portfolio on Obama’s National Security Staff, the...
View ArticleAssociates say National Security Advisor Tom Donilon may leave this summer
Several associates tell the Back Channel they believe that National Security Advisor Tom Donilon is planning to leave this summer—several months earlier than previous reports had suggested, and even as...
View ArticleNEA
Diplomatic sources say they believe that US Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson is again the Obama administration’s leading choice to be the next Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs...
View ArticleWhen Iran’s Saeed Jalili met one-on-one with US diplomat Bill Burns
Even as Iran presidential candidate and presumed frontrunner Saeed Jalili has flaunted his anti-US hardliner credentials on the campaign trail, it’s worth noting a less remarked-upon aspect of his...
View ArticleShortlists: Higginbottom mulled for 2nd DepSecState; Tom Shannon after Brazil
The White House and Secretary of State John Kerry are considering nominating State Department counselor and former OMB deputy director Heather Higginbottom as the next Deputy Secretary of State for...
View ArticleIndyk staffs up to intensify Israeli Palestinian peace push
US Middle East peace envoy Martin Indyk is expanding his team as the U.S. prepares to intensify its role facilitating Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. “We've agreed that those talks should now be...
View ArticleThree days in March: New details on how US, Iran opened direct talks
Late last February, after six world powers and Iran wrapped up nuclear talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan (Feb.26-27), two members of the U.S. nuclear negotiating team secretly flew to Oman where they...
View ArticleBill Burns on nuclear diplomacy with Iran
Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns, in an interview (Jan. 14) with the Back Channel posted on the front page, spoke about leading the U.S. effort to open direct talks with Iran, expectations for the...
View ArticleSyria conflict ‘incubator of extremism,’ Burns tells Senators
The Syrian civil war has become an “incubator of extremism” and a “magnet” for foreign fighters, and poses growing risks to U.S. interests and allies, U.S. officials told frustrated lawmakers Thursday....
View ArticleVeteran U.S. diplomat Bill Burns to retire, led back channel to Iran
Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, the veteran U.S. diplomat who helped President Obama open a back channel to Iran last year, will retire from the Foreign Service in October, Secretary of State...
View ArticleUS expected to tap Iraq envoy for Cairo
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Robert Stephen Beecroft is expected to be nominated to be the next US envoy to Egypt, U.S. officials and diplomatic sources tell Al-Monitor, after the Cairo embassy has been...
View ArticleUS, Iran to hold bilateral nuclear talks in Geneva
US Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will lead a US delegation to meet with Iranian nuclear negotiators in Geneva on June 9-10, US and Iranian officials...
View ArticleUS, Iran hold ‘intensive, useful’ talks as negotiations intensify
Washington, D.C.__ U.S. and Iranian nuclear negotiators have held two days of “intensive.. useful” talks, but gaps still remain, Iranian officials said Tuesday. The talks, lasting 12 hours over two...
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