Middle Orient

As UK swings left with Labour landslide, what awaits Middle East policy?

The party’s campaign highlighted the importance of resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict. A radical shift in the United Kingdom’s Middle East policy is unlikely under the newly elected Labour government, though internal party rifts over the war in Gaza will mean the party will approach the region differently from the Conservatives. …

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Erdoğan and Putin discussed Ukraine, Gaza, and Syria

President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in Astana, Kazakhstan, where both leaders attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit.Erdoğan invited Putin to Turkey, and Putin accepted the invitation during their meeting. The anticipated visit of the Russian president this spring was postponed. …

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Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a clear stance: “Turkey stands with the brotherly people and state of Lebanon”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey stands in solidarity with Lebanon as tensions with Israel rise and called on regional countries to also support Beirut. Cross-border hostilities between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have escalated in recent weeks, fueling fears of a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah. Shelling …

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Iran Update, July 6, 2024

Moderate politician Masoud Pezeshkian won the Iranian presidential runoff election on July 5.[i] Iranian media reported that Pezeshkian received over 16 million votes, while his opponent, ultraconservative hardliner Saeed Jalili, received approximately 13.5 million votes.[ii] Pezeshkian and Jalili won approximately 10.4 million and 9.5 million votes respectively in the first …

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Where Are the Weapons? Israel is Defending Freedom against Tyranny for All of Us; It Needs the Weapons Promised It

[I]t clearly looks as if the Biden administration just wants to please its terrorist-sponsoring adversaries, Iran and Qatar, by allowing their prized client, Hamas, to win the war. Regrettably, Iran does not seem to be guided by the same humanitarian, ethical, or “natural law principles” embraced by Israel and the …

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Regional Conflict Intersects in Syria

As host of the key transit routes and operations Tehran uses to support Lebanese Hezbollah, Syria is a key battlefield in the burgeoning regional conflagration. Israel has intensified its strikes on Iranian and Hezbollah-linked targets in Syria since the October 7 Hamas attack. Syria has not joined other Iran-led Axis …

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Masoud Pezeshkian: Who is Iran’s new reformist president?

Iran’s reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian has won a runoff presidential election against ultraconservative Saeed Jalil- here’s what to know. Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s only reformist candidate in the recent presidential election, has emerged from relative obscurity to become the ninth president of the Islamic Republic. Pezeshkian, 69, secured about 53.6 percent …

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Mass Boycott by Voters Persists as Masoud Pezeshkian Wins Iran Presidential Election

Latest Developments At least 50 percent of Iranian voters boycotted the second round of the Islamic Republic’s presidential election on July 5, which resulted in a victory for Masoud Pezeshkian, touted as a reformist candidate, against his rival Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator. According to the official count — …

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The Iran-Hezbollah Game Plan – OpEd

Ever since October 7, egged on by Iran, Hezbollah has been escalating its cross-border clashes with Israel, while its leader Hassan Nasrallah has been stepping up his blood-curdling rhetoric, predicting Armageddon if Israel were to launch all-out war. Yet the truth is that Iran-Hezbollah would like nothing better. They have …

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La promotion de l’État «islamique» par l’Occident

La lutte contre la menace «islamiste» a été le prétexte à la guerre contre le terrorisme initiée par George W. Bush après le 11 septembre 2001. C’est dans le cadre de cette guerre que les États-Unis et leurs alliés ont attaqué et occupé l’Afghanistan puis l’Irak. On n’a pas besoin …

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