Iran

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, will raise security at its oil facilities after Bahrain blamed Iran for a fire at a pipeline that connects the two Arab allies. Iran denied that it was involved. The plan to step up security was reported by Al-Arabiya television Saturday, citing the …

A US Navy ship fired warning shots at an armed Iranian patrol boat Tuesday in the northern end of the Persian Gulf, according to two US defense officials. The Iranian boat is believed to have been operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to a defense official familiar with …

France wasted no time in rebuilding its economic ties with Iran since international sanctions were lifted as part of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. In early 2016 — just after the sanctions began to roll back — France made deals with Iran to sell Airbus commercial jets, return carmaker Peugeot …

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — European airplane manufacturer ATR said Thursday it sealed a $536-million sale with Iran Air for at least 20 aircraft, the latest aviation firm to strike a deal following Iran’s nuclear accord with world powers. ATR spokesman David Vargas confirmed the finalized deal for the 20 ATR …

The Levant News — IranAir may get its first new Boeing jetliner a year earlier than expected under a deal to take jets originally bought by cash-strapped Turkish Airlines, Iranian media and industry sources said. Iran had been expected to receive the first of 80 aircraft ordered from the U.S. …

The Levant News — Syrian peace talks in Kazakhstan closed on Wednesday without any substantive negotiations taking place, after rebels boycotted the meeting that took place as a deadly double suicide bombing marked the start of the civil war’s seventh year. The only concrete outcome from the third round of …

The Levant News – Describing China as a friend to both Saudi Arabia and Iran, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday he hopes both countries can resolve their differences through talks, ahead of a visit by the Saudi king to China. China has traditionally played little role in …

TEHRAN – Iran’s atomic agency says it will begin exporting less heavy water because of an oversupply in the international market. State TV quotes agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi as saying Tuesday that Iran will export some 20 tons of the material annually from now on. That’s much less that the …

by Shahram Shiva from near 30 years of research on Rumi http://www.rumi.net/about_rumi_main.htm Rumi is now one of the most widely read poets in America. I began translating Rumi in 1988, and performing his poetry in 1992. In all of these years I never thought that he would become so popular …

By Jeffrey Heller and Arshad Mohammed for Reuters | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would discuss with Donald Trump the West’s “bad” nuclear deal with Iran after the U.S. president-elect enters the White House. Speaking separately to a conference in Washington, Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of …

THE LEVANT NEWS – Advocates of the nuclear deal with Iran are convinced the pact is in mortal danger following Republican Donald Trump’s upset victory in the presidential election. Deal skeptics on Capitol Hill have already prepared a raft of bills that have a far better chance of making it …

By Babak Dehghanpisheh for Reuters | NEAR HAMMAM AL-ALIL, IRAQ — Iraqi troops advancing towards Mosul battled on Saturday for the last town left between them and the Islamic State stronghold to the north, which is already under assault from special forces fighting inside the city’s eastern districts. Saturday’s attack on Hammam …

THE LEVANT EXCLUSIVE – By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem* — Each year, as they commemorate Ashura, the Shiites debate whether certain rituals are permissible. Some of those rituals are violent, such as Tatbir and hitting oneself with chains practices that harm one’s body and distort the revolution and objectives of Imam …

By Noah Browning for REUTERS| DUBAI | Yemen has endured thousands of air strikes and the deaths of more than 10,000 people in a 19-month war that has also unleashed hunger on the desperately poor country – but its biggest challenge may be yet to come. The conflict has led …

by Graham E. Fuller — Barely more than a few weeks after the failed coup in Turkey, President Erdogan surprised the world by turning up for a meeting in Saint Petersburg with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Many observers in the West view the event darkly, as a sign that perhaps …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By Gary Sick — The BBC has done a rather breathless account of some documents from nearly 40 years ago that have just been released. At the time of these contacts between the US Government and Khomeini’s forces, I was the point man in the White …

BY AVANEESH PANDEY — The U.S. will purchase 32 tons of heavy water from Iran, in a deal valued at $8.6 million, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing senior American officials. The deal will be signed by U.S. and Iranian officials in Vienna Friday. “The idea is: Okay, we …

DUBAI | BY BOZORGMEHR SHARAFEDIN for Reuters — A senior member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards urged the government on Tuesday to follow its supreme leader’s vision for a self-reliant economy and said the Guards wanted to play a bigger role to make that happen. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s most powerful …

By Ghassan Michel Rubeiz — America’s short sighted foreign policy on the Palestine question plays well in the current presidential elections. The Arab-Israeli conflict is an attractive medium for pandering to campaign donors and to voters. As a result, the presidential primaries add fuel to the tension between the two …

By Mohamad Bazzi for Reuters — On March 5, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister announced that the kingdom would complete a $4 billion arms deal with France, but instead of sending the weapons to Lebanon — as was first planned — the arms would go to the Saudi military. The kingdom …

THE LEVANT NEWS — Wars and chaos in the Middle East will not end until Saudi Arabia and Iran can find a way to “share the neighborhood” and make some kind of peace, U.S. President Barack Obama said in a magazine interview released on Thursday. “The competition between the Saudis …

By Ishaan Tharoor for The Washington Post — A NASA study has found that a drought that affected the Middle East over the past decade was perhaps the worst in the region’s history for nearly a millennium. The scientists, who published their study in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, examined …

THE LEVANT NEWS – STRATFOR analysis — Despite having once been allies, Turkey and Israel have been at odds with each other for nearly a decade. But their chilly relationship may be on the verge of thawing. The United States has scaled back its presence in the Middle East, and …

The Levant News — BEIRUT: The Gulf Cooperation Council Saturday backed a Saudi decision to reexamine its relationship with Lebanon and halt $4 billion in security grants offered to equip the country’s army and police. “GCC countries stand by Saudi Arabia’s decision that came in response to Lebanon’s official stances,” …

THE LEVANT NEWS — BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry Saturday defended itself against blame for compromising the $4 billion in Saudi military aid that was announced halted one day earlier. In a statement, the ministry, headed by Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil, said its critics were using the incident to …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By Graham E. Fuller — What does Turkey need to do to overcome its present foreign policy fiasco, one of the worst in modern Turkish history? The irony of all this is that those directly responsible for this mess—the team of Recep Tayip Erdogan (now president) …

By Elijah J. Magnier for Global Research — There are three possible scenarios in Syria Participation of [Saudi] Arab troops  in Syria is not excluded. A high-ranking officer within the joint operations room in Damascus, which includes Russia, Iran and Syria and Hezbollah said, “ there are three possible scenarios in Syria: …

THE LEVANT NEWS — by Amira Al Hussaini and Mahsa Alimardani for Global Voices — The Internet has been in stitches ever since Dubai’s deputy chief of police Dhahi Khalfan announced on Twitter that US President Barack Obama has “Shia roots” and is likely to visit Shia religious centres in Iran soon. The tweets, seen by …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIFFOR THE NEW YORK TIMES — THE world will soon celebrate the implementation of the landmark agreement that resolves the unnecessary, albeit dangerous, crisis over Iran’s nuclear program. All parties hoped, and continue to believe, that the resolution of the nuclear issue would …

THE LEVANT NEWS — CAIRO/RIYADH: Arab foreign ministers condemned attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran and warned Sunday that the country would face wider opposition if it continued its “interference” in the internal affairs of Arab states. “Iran has to decide what kind of neighbor it wants to be: …

THE LEVANT NEWS — Iran says it will not allow Saudi Arabia’s provocations to adversely affect ongoing efforts aimed at resolving the crisis in Syria. “What we are [currently] witnessing in the arena of regional developments is Saudi Arabia’s agitating approach,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the visiting …

By The Editorial Board of The New York Times — The execution of the popular Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 other prisoners on Saturday was about the worst way Saudi Arabia could have started what promises to be a grim and tumultuous year in the kingdom and across …

By TOBY CRAIG JONES for The New York Times — WHEN Saudi Arabia executed the Shiite cleric and political dissident Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday, the country’s leaders were aware that doing so would upset their longtime rivals in Iran. In fact, the royal court in Riyadh was probably counting …

The setback in relations with Iran is just one of Saudi Arabia’s many problems. By Matthew Philips for BLOOMBERG — THE LEVANT NEWS — The collapse in Saudi relations with Iran after the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric marks a grim start to the new year for Saudi Arabia’s …

THE LEVANT NEWS — The UK has sold £5.6bn ($8.2bn) of arms to Saudi Arabia since David Cameron became Prime Minister, despite widespread human right concerns, a new report has shown. Cameron’s governments have since May 2010 overseen the sale of Hawk fighter jets and bulk sales of machine guns, …

THE LEVANT NEWS — Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says “communal unity” is the key to resolving problems in Afghanistan, adding the Americans continue to harm the country. The Leader hailed Afghan political groups for agreeing to a national unity government as he met Afghanistan’s Chief Executive …

THE LEVANT NEWS — RIYADH | BY ANGUS MCDOWALL FOR REUTERS — The last time Saudi Arabia broke off ties with Iran, after its embassy in Tehran was stormed by protesters in 1988, it took a swing in the regional power balance in the form of Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion …

THE LEVANT NEWS — Saudi Arabia widened its rift with Iran on Monday, saying it would end air traffic and trade links with the Islamic republic and demanding that Tehran must “act like a normal country” before it would restore severed diplomatic relations. Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters in …

THE LEVANT NEWS — Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shi’ite Muslim cleric and dozens of al Qaeda members on Saturday, signaling it would not tolerate attacks, whether by Sunni jihadists or minority Shi’ites, and stirring sectarian anger across the region. Hundreds of Shi’ite Muslims marched through Qatif district of Saudi …

THE LEVANT NEWS — A grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is expected to seek election early next year to the body that chooses Iran’s supreme leader and is said to have the cautious blessing of the incumbent, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Registration opens on Thursday for the election that is likely …

THE LEVANT NEWS — TEHRAN: Iran will maintain its backing for the Syrian government, a senior Iranian official said, after the U.N. Security Council unanimously endorsed a plan to end the war. “We will continue to give our support to Syria,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian. Iran will …

By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem FOR AL-MONITOR – Lebanon has historically been home to many Shiite religious schools, especially in the Jabal Amel area, which today comprises south Lebanon and part of the western Bekaa Valley. These schools have played an important role in preserving the Shiite Islamic identity and in …

This article has been published on November 2013 THE LEVANT NEWS — By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem — Recent clashes between Houthis and Salafists near the town of Dammaj in north Yemen have raised questions whether the sectarian conflict is still local or has become an extension to the regional Iranian–Saudi …

THE LEVANT EXCLUSIVE — By Professor Abdulaziz A. Sachedina — The publication of the book on the “Evolution of the Institute of the Shi’ite Jurisitic Authority” by Dr. Haytham Mouzahem comes at a time when the question of marja’iya is under closer scrutiny for both its overdue reform and relevance …