Selling nuclear diplomacy with Iran was perhaps the toughest job at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual conference this year -- second only to shepherding teenage attendees to the AIPAC selfie wall. Still, one gutsy former adviser to President Barack Obama decided to give it a shot -- and soon realized he might have been better off handing out selfie sticks.

This month, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst stopped admitting Iranian citizens to its science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. (...) After consultation with the State Department, the university announced this week that it has reversed its decision.

The likelihood that the Iran negotiations are reaching a make-or-break point was reinforced by President Obama on Monday when he told reporters: “I don’t see a further extension being useful” if the Iranians don’t agree by late March to a framework that shows the world “that they’re not pursuing a nuclear weapon. 

The decision to appoint a new envoy to the United Nations comes as nuclear talks between Iran and the United States and other major powers are coming under fire from U.S. congressional critics of Iran, who are pressing for the passage of new sanctions that the White House claims will torpedo the delicate negotiations. 

After failing to reach their own deadline for a comprehensive nuclear agreement, the world’s major powers and Iran settled for an extended truce that avoids the hard political choices that neither Washington nor Tehran could make.

As the United States and other powers negotiate down to the wire on a nuclear deal with Iran, one voice has been unusually quiet - the main pro-Israel lobby in Washington.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry insisted Thursday that the six-power group negotiating with Iran is “not discussing an extension.” “We are negotiating to try and get an agreement. It’s that simple,” he told reporters in Paris before he left for Vienna to join the nuclear talks.

Western governments will reluctantly consider an extension of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program should world powers fail to clinch a comprehensive deal by November 24 – a move Israel would support, sources told The Jerusalem Post this week.