WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Tuesday appeared to open the door to eventually arming the Syrian opposition, saying if a political solution to the crisis were impossible it might have to consider other options.

The comments by a State Department spokeswoman marked a shift in emphasis by Washington, which thus far has stressed its policy of not arming the opposition and has said little about alternatives.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and European Union expressed cautious optimism on Friday over prospects that Iran may be willing to engage major powers in new talks, but underscored any resumed negotiations must be sustained and focus on the nuclear issue.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters that Iran’s recent letter to Ashton might mark a step forward.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and European Union expressed cautious optimism on Friday over prospects that Iran may be willing to engage major powers in new talks, but underscored any resumed negotiations must be sustained and focus on the nuclear issue.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters that Iran’s recent letter to Ashton might mark a step forward.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and European Union expressed cautious optimism on Friday over prospects that Iran may be willing to engage major powers in new talks, but underscored any new negotiations must be sustained and focus on the nuclear issue.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters that Iran’s recent letter to Ashton might mark a step forward.

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack
Obama hopes the toughest sanctions ever imposed on Iran will
squeeze its oil exports – all without scaring markets, crimping
growth, impoverishing ordinary Iranians or antagonizing allies.

The geopolitical equivalent of threading a needle is made
even more difficult by elections in both the United States and
Iran. Obama’s goal, persuading Iran to curb its nuclear program,
seems far from assured.

SOFIA (Reuters) – Russia and China’s veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria was a travesty, the United States said on Saturday, saying it would work with other nations to support democratic change in the Arab nation.

The resolution vetoed by Russia and China would have urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up power after a bloody 11-month uprising.

MUNICH (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday a crackdown by Egypt’s military rulers on U.S. and local pro-democracy groups could jeopardize aid for the Arab nation.

Egypt, among the largest recipients of U.S. aid since its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, has been told by U.S. lawmakers assistance may be cut because of its treatment of the groups, some of whose U.S. staff have been barred from leaving the country and have taken refuge in the U.S. embassy in Cairo.

MUNICH (Reuters) – Russia’s foreign minister demanded on Saturday that a draft U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria be amended to avoid giving the impression that the world body was taking sides in a civil war, but Washington still held out for ‘yes’ vote from Moscow.

Sergei Lavrov warned of a “scandal” if the Security Council voted on the current version on Saturday as planned. He met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Munich for what one U.S. official called very “vigorous” talks on Syria.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States, European governments and Arab states have begun discussing the possibility of exile for Bashar al-Assad despite skepticism the defiant Syrian president is ready to consider such an offer, Western officials said on Wednesday.

While talks have not progressed far and there is no real sense that Assad’s fall is imminent, one official said as many as three countries were willing to take him as a way to bring an end to Syria’s bloody 10-month-old crisis.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States, European governments and Arab states have begun discussing the possibility of exile for Bashar al-Assad despite skepticism the defiant Syrian president is ready to consider such an offer, Western officials said on Wednesday.

While talks have not progressed far and there is no real sense that Assad’s fall is imminent, one official said as many as three countries were willing to take him as a way to bring an end to Syria’s bloody 10-month-old crisis.