Iran backs the Syrian government’s demands for withdrawal of foreign forces
August 25th, 20230 Amir Saeid Iravani, the Iranian permanent representative to the United Nations, says Iran supports the demands of the Syrian government for a complete withdrawal of “all illegal foreign military forces from Syria.” During a U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday addressing the situation in the war-torn country, Iravani argued...
Saudi Arabia, Iran relations “on the right track,” Iranian minister says after Riyadh visits
August 18th, 20230 Saudi Arabia and Iran are making progress on mending ties, Iran's foreign minister said after meeting with his counterpart in Riyadh on Thursday, as two regional heavyweights seek to overcome past hostility and boost cooperation. "Relations between Tehran and Saudi are on the right track and we are witnessing progress," Hossein...
Iran’s navy unveils new vessels equipped with 375-miles-range missiles, Tasnim reports
August 7th, 20230 Iran's Revolutionary Guards' navy has unveiled new vessels equipped with 600-km (375 miles) range missiles at a time of rising tensions with the U.S. in the Gulf, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday. The announcement was made during a military exercise off the coast of Abu Musa island, one of three Gulf islands...
Iran seizes U.S. tanker, claims it broke basic international maritime laws
July 6th, 20230 According to Iran’s maritime authority, it confiscated a tanker owned by the U.S. energy company Chevron because the tanker caused damage to an Iranian vessel on Wednesday, July 5, in the Persian Gulf and then illegally rerouted to the territorial waters of Oman. On Thursday, Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization, PMO, released a...
Top Iranian, Saudi envoys meet in China in restoration of diplomatic ties
April 8th, 20230 BEIJING/RIYADH — The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing on Thursday for the first formal gathering of their top diplomats in more than seven years, after China brokered a deal to restore relations between the top regional powers. After years of hostility that fueled conflicts across the Middle East, Iran and...
Report reveals secret talks between Western officials and Iranian representatives
March 24th, 20230 There have recently been “secret” talks between Western officials and representatives of the establishment ruling Iran. Iranian sources close to the negotiations are saying President Ebrahim Raisi’s government wasn’t informed of the dialogue. There has been a recent trend of seeing a figure close to Supreme Leader Sayyed Ali...
Middle East flashpoints that could be affected by Saudi-Iran deal
March 17th, 20230 Here is a summary of the situation in parts of the Middle East where Iran and Saudi Arabia have been involved in proxy conflicts and which could be affected by a Beijing-brokered deal to re-establish relations between the two regional powers. Yemen In 2015, Riyadh intervened in Yemen at the head of a Western-backed coalition...
China’s role in Saudi, Iran deal a tricky test for the U.S.
March 17th, 20230 The surprise deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic ties offers much for the United States to be intrigued about, including a possible path to rein in Tehran's nuclear program and a chance to cement a ceasefire in Yemen. It also contains an element sure to make officials in Washington deeply uneasy — the role of...
Iran blames Israel for Isfahan drone attack, vows revenge
February 3rd, 20230 Iran blamed Israel for a drone attack on a military factory near the central city of Isfahan, the semi-official ISNA news agency said on Thursday, vowing revenge for what appeared to be the latest episode in a long-running covert war. The attack came amid tension between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear activity and its supply of...
Death toll rises in Iranian protests over young woman’s killing
September 29th, 20220 TEHRAN — Protests continued in several cities across Iran on Thursday against the death of a young woman in police custody, state and social media reported, as a human rights group said at least 83 people had been killed in nearly two weeks of demonstrations. Mahsa Amini, 22, from the Iranian Kurdish town of Saqez, was arrested...
Lebanese state’s permission not sought for Iranian fuel, minister says
September 1st, 20210 BEIRUT — The Lebanese government has received no request for fuel to be imported from Iran, the caretaker energy minister said on Wednesday, appearing to confirm that the Shi'a group Hezbollah has bypassed the state with a move to import Iranian fuel. Hezbollah, a heavily armed group founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982,...
Israeli defense minister threatens Iran with military action, airstrikes launched into Lebanon
August 5th, 20210 Israel’s defense minister warned Thursday that his country is prepared to strike Iran, issuing the threat against the Islamic Republic after a fatal drone strike on a oil tanker at sea that his nation blamed on Tehran. The comments by Benny Gantz come as Israel lobbies countries for action at the U.N. over last week’s attack on...
Iran accuses U.S. of meddling for criticising election
June 22nd, 20210 TEHRAN — Iran accused the U.S. on Tuesday of interference for saying its election was neither free nor fair as political factions traded blame for the record low turnout and high number of invalid ballots. Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline judge who is under U.S. sanctions, secured victory as expected on Saturday in an election marked by...
Biden ready to return to Iran nuclear deal; lifts Trump-era sanctions
February 19th, 20210 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden administration, through Secretary of State Antony Blinken, affirmed on Thursday it is willing to come to the negotiation table with Iran over a return to a nuclear accord, if Tehran came into full compliance with the deal. The Iran Nuclear Deal, first struck in 2015, is aimed at preventing the country...
Iraq issues arrest warrant for President Trump
January 7th, 20210 BAGHDAD — A judge in Baghdad has issued an arrest warrant for President Trump for the killing of an Iranian general and Iraqi militia leader last year. The Washington-directed drone strike had killed Gen. Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis outside of the capital’s airport last January. Al-Muhandis was the deputy......
Iran says “smart satellite-controlled machine gun” killed top nuclear scientist
December 8th, 20200 TEHRAN — The killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist last month was carried out remotely with artificial intelligence and a machine gun equipped with a “satellite-controlled smart system”, Tasnim news agency quoted a senior commander as saying. Iran has blamed Israel for the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was seen...
Iran likely to hold off on retaliation over scientist’s killing, U.S. envoy says
December 4th, 20200 TEHRAN — Iran is unlikely to retaliate over the assassination of a prominent nuclear scientist before the inauguration of Joe Biden in case it jeopardizes any future sanctions relief, the top U.S. envoy on Iran told Reuters on Thursday. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who had little public profile in Iran, but had been named by Israel as a prime...
Suspected Iranian nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh assassinated near Tehran
November 27th, 20200 TEHRAN — An Iranian scientist long suspected by the West of masterminding a secret nuclear bomb program was killed in an ambush near Tehran on Friday that could provoke confrontation between Iran and its foes in the last weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency. The military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei...
No normalization, but Saudi Arabia and Israel ready to gang up on Iran
November 26th, 20200 RIYADH — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman earlier this week, despite a denial of the meeting by Israeli officials. On the discussion table was a country that has played the role of boogeyman for both Israel and its allies in the U.S. government: Iran. The two leaders talked......
Trump asked for options for attacking Iran last week, but held off
November 16th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump, with two months left in office, asked for options on attacking Iran’s main nuclear site last week, but ultimately decided against taking the dramatic step, a U.S. official said on Monday. Trump made the request during an Oval Office meeting on Thursday with his top national security aides,...
Iran’s coronavirus death toll exceeds 12,000 as lockdown curbs ease
July 8th, 20200 TEHRAN (REUTERS) — Iran’s coronavirus death toll exceeded 12,000 on Wednesday, the health ministry said, with 153 deaths in the past 24 hours, amid a sharp rise in the number of daily infections and deaths in the past week as lockdown measures have eased. The total number of infections has reached 248,379, with 209,463 people......
Senate rebukes Trump, votes to limit Iran war making ability
February 20th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate passed legislation on Thursday to limit President Trump’s ability to wage war against Iran, rebuking him weeks after a strike against an Iranian military commander and Tehran’s retaliation raised fears of broader regional conflict. Eight of Trump’s fellow Republicans joined Democrats to pass...
Washington rebuffs Iraqi request to pull out troops
January 10th, 20200 BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has rebuffed an Iraqi request on Friday to prepare to pull out its troops, amid heightened U.S.-Iranian tensions following the U.S. killing of an Iranian commander in Baghdad. Iraq looks set to bear the brunt of any further violence between its neighbor Iran and the United States, its......
