Iran

Bottom Line Up Front Baghdad’s difficulty in assembling a new government is a result of U.S.-Iran competition for influence in Iraq. The latest choice for Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, appears to be acceptable to both the United States and Iran. Despite its struggles against COVID-19, Iran has unified Iraq’s Shia …

The U.S. Navy says 11 vessels of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) made “dangerous and harassing approaches” toward U.S. naval ships in the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s Navy commander says the force plans to build nuclear-powered submarines capable of operating in international waters for long periods of time amid the growing threats facing the country from the sea.

An overhauled radar-evading Ghadir-class Iranian submarine has joined the country’s naval fleet.

Earlier this month, following attacks on a base holding US troops in Iraq, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that Iran will continue to respond to America’s assassination of Commander Qasem Soleimani on 3 January.

The U.S. Department of State has added Asaib Ahl al Haq, an Iranian-backed Iraqi Shia terror group also known as “League of the Righteous,” to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Additionally, the group’s leader, Qais al Khazali, and his brother, Laith al Khazali, have been listed as Specially Designated …

The United States on Wednesday blacklisted a senior member of Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia, punishing it for its attacks targeting U.S. forces, most recently for killing an American contractor in an Iraqi military base near the northern city of Kirkuk.

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is far from the first proof of how intertwined we are as a global community. The climate crisis and the refugee crisis have long been glaring examples that the wars or CO2 emissions on one continent risk the lives and well-being of people on another continent. …

“Right now people are mad, not just because of their own government… People are furious about the Western reaction, with the silence of the world. When they see that people are getting killed, but still the Western governments do not dare to openly support human rights and ask the United …

Virtually every sector of Iran’s civilian economy is now subject to U.S. secondary sanctions, rendering additional sanctions progressively less significant.