Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Mike Hammer are still in Moscow after P5+1 talks with Iran failed to make substantive progress. The parties managed to stave off a total breakdown, but the two days of negotiations resulted only in a commitment on all sides to "continue negotiations at a technical level."

Elsewhere:

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with Israeli deputy prime minister Shaul Mofaz and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat separately at the Department of State.

• In Hanoi, Vietnam, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew J. Shapiro will attend the fifth meeting of the U.S.-Vietnam Political, Security, and Defense Dialogue, focusing on bilateral issues including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, human rights, nonproliferation, and peacekeeping operations.

• Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Johnnie Carson is in Cincinnati, Ohio, through June 22 for the U.S.-Africa Business Conference.

• In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Kerri-Ann Jones will host the launch of the U.S. Water Partnership and hold bilateral meetings at the Rio+20 summit. Special Representative for Global Partnerships Kris Balderston and Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs Reta Jo Lewis are also at Rio+20. Lewis is slated to participate in a session focusing on U.S. priorities for the sustainability conference.

As a third round of nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers ended conclusively Tuesday, Israeli vice prime minister and Kadima party leader Shaul Mofaz called on the so-called P5+1 to focus on stopping Iran's uranium enrichment during a speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Peace.

"Such an agreement we didn't see in the last meetings," he said. "Not in Baghdad, Istanbul, and in Moscow ... [A deal] should be based on stopping all continued enrichment activity, removing all enrichment materials, and inspecting and dismantling all underground facilities, mainly Qom."

Mofaz, a former defense minister and Israel Defense Forces chief of staff who was recently brought into Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, added that while now is the time for diplomacy and sanctions, Israel along with the United States and other Western countries should prepare all options.

"From my best view, the use of military power should be the last option, and if necessary should be led by the U.S. and Western countries," he said. "We should ask ourselves how much we would delay the Iranian program -- for how many months, for how many years -- and the second question is what will happen in our region the day after."

Diplomacy, though, is only good for so long, he stressed.

"When you say that this is the time for diplomatic activity and sanctions, it doesn't mean that you have two, three, or five years," he explained. "We have a limit of time, and the limit of time is until the Iranian leader will take the last step to having a bomb."

Mofaz also addressed the ongoing crisis in Syria, where well over 10,000 people have been killed and thousands more driven from their homes since the uprising began in March 2011.

"My expectations are that the Western countries should give humanitarian support to the Syrian people," he said. "We cannot be part of it, and it is clear why."

Mofaz was more optimistic about Israel's strained relationship with Turkey, which he believes will be resolved "in the coming months" because it is strategically necessary for both parties

On the topic of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Mofaz says he does not support Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon's recently proposed program of coordinated unilateralism, in which Israel would not attempt to annex any territory east of the security fence and the Knesset would pass a law encouraging settlers to move to the other side of the fence.

Mofaz said that Israelis and Palestinians must "break the ice" and get back to the negotiating table. The future permanent border between Israel and a Palestinian state should be determined by the settlement blocs that house more than 250,000 settlers, he said, adding that Israel should continue to build in those blocs.

Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Mike Hammer are in Moscow for the final day of P5+1 talks with Iran. The talks "broke no new ground" as of Monday evening, the New York Times reported, and sanctions imposed on Iranian oil by the United States and the European Union are set to begin in July. One Iranian diplomat described Monday's atmosphere as "not positive at all," and many consider the talks deadlocked, but Tehran is reportedly willing to discuss the production of high-grade uranium, which the six powers want to negotiate down to a lower level of purity.

Elsewhere

• Under Secretary of Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Robert Hormats and Chief of Protocol Ambassador Capricia Penavic Marshall are in Los Cabos, Mexico, with President Barack Obama for the G-20 meetings, where he will participate in plenary sessions about financial issues, development, and trade. Hormats will participate in President Obama's bilateral meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao this afternoon. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Director of Policy Planning Jake Sullivan return from Los Cabos later today.

• In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Kerri-Ann Jones, Special Representative for Global Partnerships Kris Balderston, and Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs Reta Jo Lewis will attend Rio+20. Today, Jones is slated to participate in a panel discussion about Global Health Observations, and Balderston will launch the Sustainable Supply Chain Partnership. Lewis is scheduled to attend an event about mayors taking action on climate change.

• Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew J. Shapiro will travel to Vietnam, Brunei, and Thailand through June 22. His agenda includes leading the fifth iteration of the U.S.-Vietnam Political, Security, and Defense Dialogue; meeting with civilian and military officials in Brunei; and holding consultations about counterterrorism, security cooperation, and joint military exercises in Bangkok.

• In Brussels, Special Representative to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith will meet with civil society, NATO, and EU representatives.

Brett McGurk withdrew himself Monday from consideration to be the next ambassador to Iraq, just one day before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was due to vote on his nomination.

McGurk faced opposition from at least six GOP senators on the committee, all of whom wrote to President Barack Obama last week to ask him rethink McGurk's nomination. Those six senators expressed concern that McGurk was too inexperienced for the job, had been a key part of the failed 2011 effort to negotiate and new Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government, and may have acted inappropriately in 2008 in beginning a relationship with a reporter who was covering him in Baghdad.

McGurk later married that reporter, Gina Chon, who resigned from the Wall Street Journal last week after the paper said she failed to disclose the relationship to her editors at the time and improperly shared unpublished news stories with McGurk. The June 5 disclosure of private e-mails between the two, exposed on the Cryptome website, fueled the calls for McGurk's withdrawal on Capitol Hill.

Other senators, including John McCain (R-AZ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL), also expressed concerns with the McGurk nomination that could have delayed the nomination after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted. But Democrats on the committee failed to rally to McGurk's defense, setting the stage for him to withdraw before the vote could take place.

Although the State Department and the White House repeatedly said they stood by the McGurk nomination, his withdrawal also takes them off the hook and paves the way for a new nominee to replace Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, who is expected to leave Iraq in the coming weeks.

"Iraq urgently needs an ambassador. The country is in the midst of a political crisis and our mission is undergoing rapid transformation," McGurk wrote to Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in his letter, according to the New York Times.

In his letter, McGurk lamented that Chon had lost her job and said that he came to the decision to withdraw while visiting Arlington Cemetery.

"We have both lost friends in Iraq," he wrote. "In their memory, I remain forever committed to helping the country I love and the country I have come to know forge a lasting partnership. For me, this is a lifelong calling."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Los Cabos, Mexico, with President Barack Obama for the G-20 summit, where she will participate in discussions focusing on the European economic crisis. Clinton is slated to hold a bilateral meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu this afternoon.

President Obama is expected meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the summit -- a meeting that could be tense after Clinton accused Russia of sending attack helicopters to the Syrian regime. Robert Hormats, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, is accompanying the secretary and the president.

Elsewhere

• Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Mike Hammer are in Moscow for a new round of P5+1 talks with Iran.

• In Canada, Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller will discuss arms control and nonproliferation with counterparts.

• Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs Reta Jo Lewis is in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the Urban Summit at the Rio+20 meeting. Today, she will attend sessions about building sustainable cities.

Nearly half the Senate told President Barack Obama today that unless Iran gives three specific concessions at this weekend's talks with world powers in Moscow, he should abandon the ongoing negotiations over the country's nuclear program.

"It is past time for the Iranians to take the concrete steps that would reassure the world that their nuclear program is, as they claim, exclusively peaceful," wrote 44 senators in a Friday bipartisan letter organized by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Roy Blunt (R-MO). "Absent these steps, we must conclude that Tehran is using the talks as a cover to buy time as it continues to advance toward nuclear weapons capability. We know that you share our conviction that allowing Iran to gain this capability is unacceptable."

The senators wrote that the "absolute minimum" Iran must do immediately to justify further talks is to shut down the Fordo uranium enrichment facility near Qom, freeze all uranium enrichment above 5 percent, and ship all uranium enriched above 5 percent out of the country.

"We understand that this was the very proposal that the P5+1 advanced during the Baghdad meeting," the senators wrote, referring to the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany. "Were Iran to agree to and verifiably implement these steps, this would demonstrate a level of commitment by Iran to the process and could justify continued discussions beyond the meeting in Moscow."

Few expect the Moscow meeting to yield unilateral steps by Iran of the nature sought by the senators. The letter also makes no mention of what confidence-building measures the United States or the international community could or should take in exchange for Iran's own steps.

On June 11, the P5+1 held a meeting in Strasbourg at the political directors' level to prepare for the upcoming Moscow talks.

The senators urge the president not to ease or delay the embargo, writing that only when the Iranian government believes the sanctions are to be "unremitting and crippling" will a diplomatic breakthrough will be possible.

"On the other hand, if the sessions in Moscow produce no substantive agreement, we urge you to reevaluate the utility of further talks at this time and instead focus on significantly increasing the pressure on the Iranian government through sanctions and making clear that a credible military option exists," they wrote.  "As you have rightly noted, ‘the window for diplomacy is closing.'  Iran's leaders must realize that you mean precisely that."

The letter is also signed by Charles Schumer (D-NY), Susan Collins (R-ME), Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), James Risch (R-ID), Ron Wyden (D-OR), David Vitter (R-LA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Mark Pryor (D-AR), John Cornyn (R-TX), Robert Casey Jr. (D-PA), John Boozman (R-AR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Scott Brown (R-MA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Hoeven (R-ND), Jeff Merkeley (D-OR), Daniel Coats (R-IN), Christopher Coons (D-DE), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Patrick Toomey (R-PA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Mike Lee (R-UT), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Rob Portman (R-OH), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Dean Heller (R-NV), Jon Tester (D-MT), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Mark Warner (D-VA), Carl Levin (D-MI), and Mark Begich (D-AK).

"The message of this letter is that Congress' patience is running out when it comes to meetings that don't yield results," said a senior Senate aide. "The Iranians have been given every last opportunity to demonstrate their good faith and step back from the brink. Instead, they keep pushing forward with their nuclear program, and we keep asking for yet another round of talks. This is not sustainable."

Various members of the Washington diplomatic elite gathered in the D.C. suburbs last night to honor and celebrate Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the president of Equitorial Guinea, whose American real estate empire, allegedly financed through corruption and oppression, is now being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department.

"Ambassador Carlton Masters and Hope Masters Cordially invite you to join us along with His Excellency Teodoro Obiang Mbasago, Presidential Host of the Ninth Leon H. Sullivan Summit FOR Cocktails, Dinner and Dancing," read the invitation to a reception at the Masters residence in Chevy Chase Thursday night.

Masters, who was the first special envoy of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on African Diasporan Relations, is now the president and CEO of Goodworks International, a lobbying firm that brings together mostly energy companies and African governments. He also started a company with former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo.

One of Masters's affiliations is with the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, a non-profit group working to improve the lives of poor Africans. Thursday's party invitation was sent out under the foundation's name and last December, Obiang accepted the foundation's "Beacon for Africa" award as the chair of the African Union.

Also late last year, the Justice Department and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filed a civil asset forfeiture complaint against Obiang's son Teodorin, the country's minister of forestry. The U.S. government is going after more than $70 million of Teodorin's assets allegedly laundered in the United States, including a Malibu mansion, a rare Ferrari, a $38.5 million Gulfstream G-V jet, and roughly $1.1 million worth of Michael Jackson memorabilia.

The complaint alleged that Teodorin had amassed his wealth through "extortion and misappropriation, theft, and embezzlement of public funds." Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said at the time, "We are sending the message loud and clear: the United States will not be a hiding place for the ill-gotten riches of the world's corrupt leaders."

Those corrupt leaders don't have to hide when they come to Washington, apparently -- they are still welcome at awards dinners and private parties held in their honor.

Senator and Romney presidential campaign surrogate John McCain (R-AZ) said Thursday that casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is indirectly injecting millions of dollars in Chinese "foreign money" into Mitt Romney's presidential election effort.

"Much of Mr. Adelson's casino profits that go to him come from his casino in Macau, which says that obviously, maybe in a roundabout way foreign money is coming into an American political campaign," McCain said in an interview on PBS's News Hour.

"That is a great deal of money, and we need a level playing field and we need to go back to the realization... that we have to have a limit on the flow of money and corporations are not people," he said.

Adelson announced Thursday he would be giving $10 million to the pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future, and reports stated his future contributions to pro-Romney groups could be "limitless."

The issue of foreign money finding its way into presidential politics comes up each cycle. In 1996, the Clinton administration was engulfed in a huge Chinese political funding controversy known at the time as "Chinagate," whereby agents of China funded Democratic political organizations. 22 were convicted of felonies and many were associates of Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

Romney has also come under criticism for his former corporation Bain Capital's business ties to Chinese state-owned firms, some of which are linked to the Chinese military and simultaneously seek to acquire U.S. technology firms.

But McCain's comments appear to be the first criticism by a Republican of a Republican donor for earning his fortune in China and then spending some of that money on a Republican political organization.

McCain's comments came in the context of a rant against the unfettered private donations that are now flowing into the political arena due to the 2010 Supreme Court decision in the case Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, which opened the doors to unlimited political spending by corporations and invalidated parts of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law.

McCain called the decision "the most misguided, naïve, uninformed, egregious decision of the United States Supreme Court in the 21^st Century," and money would be playing a dominant role in American politics for the foreseeable future.

"There will be scandals, there's just too much money washing around Washington today... I'm afraid we're for a very bleak period in American politics," he said. "To somehow view money as not having a corrupting effect on elections flies in the face of reality."