Tag Archives: Iran

Now that Hezbollah realizes its efforts to hide virus cases won’t work anymore, Washington should urge Beirut to put LAF medical and border-control personnel to work without resorting to a full state of emergency. By Hanin Ghaddar Hezbollah has been under serious scrutiny by the Lebanese people in the past …

U.S. President Donald Trump has authorized the U.S. military to respond to Wednesday’s rocket attack by Iran-backed militia in Iraq that killed two American troops and a British service member, the Pentagon said on Thursday. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of …

One British and two American personnel were killed and about a dozen people were wounded when 18 small rockets hit Iraq’s Taji military camp north of Baghdad on Wednesday, U.S. officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The officials, who cautioned the death toll may rise given the severity …

Yemeni gunmen entered on Saturday a port in the southern city of Aden and prevented a tanker from offloading a diesel cargo because the importing company is affiliated with the government, a Reuters cameraman reported. The gunmen belong to the separatist Southern Transitional Council, according to comments made in the …

The Heritage Foundation says US-Oman relations must improve in 2020 with the new Sultan Haitham.  They note, “The United States and Oman share many geopolitical challenges and have had good relations dating back two centuries. Under the leadership of Sultan Haitham, U.S.–Omani relations will be entering a new chapter. The …

The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee threatened on Tuesday to subpoena Secretary of State Mike Pompeo if he does not provide information about Iran policy and President Donald Trump’s ordering the strike that killed an Iranian military commander. “If Secretary Pompeo is not going to …

Britain has increased its security and readiness at military bases in the Middle East after the United States killed Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, Sky News reported on Friday without citing sources. Britain has about 400 military personnel in Iraq, who help provide training in the country. They are mostly located …

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel was prepared for any scenario after a cross-border clash with Lebanon’s Hezbollah but neither side seemed eager for another conflict. Israel’s military said anti-tank missiles from Lebanon targeted an army base and vehicles and that it responded with fire into southern …

The presence of America and Britain in the Gulf region brings insecurity, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards navy, Alireza Tangsiri, was reported as saying by the ILNA news agency. Tensions have spiked between Iran and the U.S. and Britain in the Gulf after the Islamic Republic shot down …

P&O Cruises has canceled cruises around Dubai and the Arabian Gulf after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in the region. Citing increased tensions, the company said it has canceled its planned program in the region from October until at least March next year and all guests be issued a full …

The United States is set to announce this week it will renew sanctions waivers for five Iran nuclear programs that allow Russia, China and European countries to continue civilian nuclear cooperation with Iran, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. President Donald Trump, in an Oval Office meeting last week, sided …

Lebanon’s heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah group on Friday denied using Beirut’s sea port to import arms in response to an accusation by Israel’s United Nations envoy this week. “I completely deny the claim of the Israeli representative in the Security Council that Hezbollah uses the Beirut port to transfer weapons …

Denmark said on Friday it welcomed a British government proposal for a European-led naval mission to ensure safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and would consider a military maritime contribution. Britain has sought to assemble the mission in Hormuz, used by tankers carrying about a fifth of the world’s …

Japan’s top government spokesman said on Tuesday that there was no change in the country’s stance that it was not considering sending its Self-Defence Forces for a U.S.-proposed maritime coalition in the Middle East. Asked if there was a change in the position previously stated by Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya, …

Lockheed Martin was awarded a $1.48 billion contract to build the THAAD missile defense system for Saudi Arabia, bringing the total value of the deal to $5.36 billion, the Pentagon said on Friday. The new contract was a modification to a previously awarded agreement to produce the Terminal High Altitude …

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has made religious freedom a centerpiece of his foreign policy, met on Wednesday with victims of religious persecution from countries like China, Turkey, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar. Trump counts evangelical Christians among his core supporters and the State Department is hosting a conference on …

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces a tough diplomatic challenge from an expected U.S. request to send its navy to join a military coalition to safeguard strategic waters off Iran and Yemen. Japanese officials will attend a briefing in Washington on the proposal, a government spokesman said on Thursday, and …

By Hossein Mousavian*   In May 2018, the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was designed to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and had been agreed on after 12 years of exhaustive negotiations. The US began to impose new economic and …

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Monday that there was still time to save the Iran nuclear deal and that despite the United States being Britain’s closest ally it disagreed on how to handle the Iran crisis. “Iran is still a good year away from developing a nuclear bomb. …

The UK’s current military deployments in the Middle East are not a direct response to the existing US-Iran tensions in the region, according to a top British defence official. “The current UK deployments are pre-planned and are not a direct response [to the existing tensions],” Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer, …

Iran called on Britain on Friday to immediately release an oil tanker that British Royal Marines seized last week on suspicion it was breaking European sanctions by taking oil to Syria, a foreign ministry spokesman told state news agency IRNA. “This is a dangerous game and has consequences … the …

Saudi Arabia’s military in Yemen has moved in to secure two strategic Red Sea ports and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait after its leading ally the United Arab Emirates substantially reduced its presence there, four sources familiar with the matter said. The UAE has drawn down its numbers in some parts …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to become his top military adviser told Congress on Thursday that he would not be “intimidated into making stupid decisions,” saying he would always give his best military advice, regardless of pressure. “I’ll give my best military advice,” said Army Chief of Staff General Mark …

The United States hopes to enlist allies over the next two weeks or so in a military coalition to safeguard strategic waters off Iran and Yemen, where Washington blames Iran and Iran-aligned fighters for attacks, the top U.S. general said on Tuesday. Under the plan, which has only been finalized …

Britain, France and Germany will not for the moment trigger a dispute resolution mechanism enshrined in the 2015 Iran nuclear accord that could lead to the reimposition of United Nations sanctions, two European diplomats said. Iran’s announcement on Monday that it had amassed more low-enriched uranium than permitted was confirmed …

OPEC and its allies look set to extend oil supply cuts this week at least until the end of 2019 as Iran joined top producers Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Russia in endorsing a policy aimed at propping up the price of crude amid a weakening global economy. Iranian Oil Minister …

Iran said Friday’s meeting in Vienna between the remaining signatories of the nuclear deal was the “last chance” to save the accord after the U.S. withdrawal last year and warned Tehran would not accept “artificial” solutions to U.S. sanctions. Iran is threatening to exceed the maximum amount of enriched uranium …

Iran will speed up enrichment of uranium after a deadline given to European countries to prevent this ends on Thursday, the spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said on Wednesday, according to the IRIB news agency. “The deadline of the Atomic Energy Organization for passing the production of enriched uranium …

The United States will announce fresh sanctions against Iran on Monday evening, a senior US official has confirmed. Brian Hook, the US Special Representative for Iran and Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary of State, said today that Iran has denounced the US diplomatic efforts for a dialogue to defuse …

New sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran are illegal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. Speaking on a regular media call, Peskov declined to say what measures Russia might adopt to counteract the U.S. sanctions. Source: Reuters

U.S. cyber attacks against Iranian targets have not been successful, Iran’s telecoms minister said on Monday, within days of reports that the Pentagon had launched a long-planned cyber attack to disable his country’s rocket launch systems. Tension is running high between longtime foes Iran and the United States after U.S. …

Britain’s Middle East minister Andrew Murrison will visit Iran on Sunday for “frank and constructive” talks, the Foreign Office said, amid escalating tension between Tehran and Washington after the downing of an unmanned U.S. drone. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he aborted a military strike to retaliate for …

U.S. House of Representatives’ Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday she was glad that President Donald Trump called off planned military strikes on Iranian targets, saying the collateral damage would have been “very provocative.” “A strike of that amount of collateral damage would be very provocative, and I’m glad the …

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that a U.S. military attack on Iran would be a catastrophe for the Middle East that would trigger a surge in violence and a possible refugee exodus. Putin, speaking during his annual televised question and answer session, said Moscow believed Tehran was in …

According to the International Institute for Iranian Studies, a Saudi think tank based in Riyadh, the US maximum pressure strategy to lower Iranian oil exports to zero has led Iran “reacting in an aggressive manner and exposing itself further regionally and internationally, with it engaging in a number of belligerent …

Iran has shot down a U.S. drone which the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday was flying over southern Iran, raising fears that a major military confrontation could erupt between Tehran and Washington. Guards website Sepah News said the “spy” drone was brought down over the southern Iranian province of …

A rocket hit a site in southern Iraq used by foreign oil companies on Wednesday, including U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil, wounding three people and threatening to further escalate U.S.-Iran tensions in the region. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack near Iraq’s southern city of Basra, the …

Iran said on Wednesday it will start enriching uranium at a higher level in July and won’t give European powers any more time to prevent this move by protecting Tehran from U.S. sanctions. Iran stopped complying in May with some commitments in the 2015 nuclear deal that was agreed with …

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was prepared to take military action to stop Tehran from getting a nuclear bomb but left open whether he would back the use of force to protect Gulf oil supplies that Washington fears may be under threat by Iran. Worries about a confrontation between …

Russia told the United States on Tuesday to drop what it called provocative plans to deploy more troops to the Middle East and to cease actions that looked like a conscious attempt to provoke war with Iran. The comments, from Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov to Russian news agencies, followed …

The time is short for Europe to save the international nuclear deal with Tehran after Washington’s withdrawal, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday, according to Fars news agency. “It’s a crucial moment, and France can still work with other signatories of the deal and play an historic role to …

Iran’s oil minister is scheduled to meet his Russian counterpart in Iran later on Monday, industry sources said, raising hopes of progress in resolving a month-long impasse over when OPEC and its allies will hold their next policy gathering. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and partners including Russia, …

Pope Francis called for restraint and a lowering of tensions in the Middle East on Sunday following attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman that have raised fears of a broader confrontation in the region. Francis, during a visit to a city in central Italy that was …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is focused on building international consensus following attacks on oil tankers in the Middle East that the United States has blamed here on Iran, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Friday. Shanahan told Pentagon reporters that he, White House national security adviser John …