The chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday blasted a group of 120 developing nations as Iran prepares to take the helm of the Cold War-era Non-Aligned Movement at a summit in Isfahan.

The movement was founded in 1961 by international leaders reluctant to side with the United States or the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Aug. 30-31 meeting comes as the Obama administration has been leading international efforts to isolate Iran and get it to abandon its alleged nuclear weapons program; it could spark a showdown between the United States and countries that have long been critical of U.S. foreign policy.

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The top two members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are demanding the Obama administration provide answers on the full national security impact of illegal ties between a US defense firm and the Chinese military. 

Iran's nuclear enrichment program is progressing faster than western intelligence had initially realized, raising the stakes in Tehran's showdown with the international community over the controversial program. 

Congress is turning into the latest battleground pitting Israel and Greece on one side and Turkey on the other.

Tensions between U.S. allies Israel and Turkey have been high since Israel intercepted a Turkish vessel defying the embargo on Gaza two years ago, resulting in the death of nine Turkish activists. Now Israel is drawing closer to Turkish archrival Greece, with direct repercussions on Capitol Hill.

Last week, House Foreign Affairs Committee member Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) launched the Congressional Hellenic-Israeli Alliance, a new congressional caucus Bilirakis says aims to focus on the “flourishing relationship between the United States, Greece, Israel, and Cyprus.” 

In a statement Monday, Bilirakis applauded Israeli President Shimon Peres's trip to Greece this week, during which Peres slammed Turkey's interference in Cyprus.

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The attacks on civilian and military targets in central and eastern Afghanistan Tuesday left 10 people dead and dozens wounded.

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The senators ask China's ambassador to get his country to crack down on companies producing fake IDs.

Iran is holding the United States responsible for the safety of 48 Iranians captured over the weekend by Syrian rebels, Voice of America reports.

The Foreign Ministry told the Swiss envoy in Tehran, who represents U.S. interests in Iran, that the Obama administration should use its leverage with the rebels to secure the Iranians' releases, according to state media reports. Iran says the kidnapped group consists of religious pilgrims, but the Syrian rebels say they are members of the Revolutionary Guard on a “reconnaissance mission.”

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Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that the United States should provide Syrian rebels with weapons. 

"I'd like to see us take a side," Lieberman said in an interview with CBS's "This Morning."

"I don't think it's enough ... for us to say Assad should go, Assad's a dictator ... We have a moral responsibility and a strategic opportunity to do more than what we're doing there," he said. 

"So what would I do," he continued, "I'd embrace the cause of the opposition to Assad; I'd begin to work with them closely. I'd give them weapons — that's the key."

"Standard Chartered operated as a rogue institution," says a report that found the bank helped Iran hide $250 billion.