Iran

Iran opens new oil terminal in bid to bypass crucial Strait of Hormuz for exports

Iran on Thursday opened its first oil terminal in the Gulf of Oman, a move aimed at making Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s regime less dependent on the Strait of Hormuz, often a source of international tension. The location of the new oil terminal — a project that began in 2019 …

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Iran bypasses Hormuz Strait to export crude oil

Iran Thursday began exporting crude oil for the first time in the Gulf of Oman, bypassing the strategic Strait of Hormuz. During a ceremony marking the inauguration of the project, President Hassan Rouhani called the plan “strategic.” Iranian state media described the move as an indication that sanctions imposed by …

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Senate Republicans introduce a bill to impose sanctions on Iran

Senator Barrasso said that “Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and new President Ebrahim Raisi both have atrocious human rights records.” A group of 17 Senate Republicans introduced a bill on Friday that seeks to impose sanctions on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Ebrahim Raisi, who was elected president …

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US: Iran ‘deflecting blame’ for not returning to nuclear deal

Washington and Tehran have been engaged in indirect negotiations in Vienna since April to return to the JCPOA, the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers reached in 2015. Iran is trying to avoid responsibility for not returning to its nuclear deal with world powers, the US State Department said …

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Gantz denies New Yorker report of pushing US to strike Iran

“We should not push America to fight for us,” the defense minister said. “Iran is a regional and global problem.” Defense Minister Benny Gantz denied a report in The New Yorker on Saturday night, telling Channel 12: “I don’t know of this story and I assume this is not what …

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Has Iran launched a new stealth missile boat?

A new Iranian ship is one of several under construction that will be called the Shahed Soleimani class of stealth ships. Iran has launched one of its new stealthy catamaran “missile corvettes” according to open-source intelligence analyzed by expert H.I. Sutton, who runs the Cover Shores website. He noted that …

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US: Iran ‘deflecting blame’ for not returning to nuclear deal

Washington and Tehran have been engaged in indirect negotiations in Vienna since April to return to the JCPOA, the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers reached in 2015. Iran is trying to avoid responsibility for not returning to its nuclear deal with world powers, the US State Department said …

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Iran and South Caucasus Railway Connections after the Nagorno-Karabakh War

After the Second Karabakh War, the tripartite ceasefire agreement on November 10, 2020, opens a possibility for Iran to become connected to the southern railway network in the South Caucasus. As a result of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, an important part of the South Caucasus Railway, which passed through the …

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Iran’s uranium gambit is a dangerous negotiating tactic

On July 6, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran was moving ahead with manufacturing “uranium metal enriched to 20 percent U-235 [uranium’s most fissile isotope],” the latest in a series of steps violating Iran’s commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). While Tehran maintains that …

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Joseph Daher: Iran Failed to Translate Political and Military Influence into Sizable Economic Gains

Joseph Daher is a researcher specializing in political economy. He wrote extensively on Syria and Lebanon, and most notably authored “Syria after the Uprisings, The Political Economy of State Resilience.” He is affiliated with the European University Institute and its Wartime and Postconflict in Syria program. The Syrian Observer: Recent …

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