Middle Orient

Recently launched government plans to restore stability to the troubled foreign exchange market proved no remedy, as ordinary Iranians continue to see their pockets shrink. At the closure of Iran’s foreign exchange market on Thursday, the country’s national currency, the rial, nosedived to a new record low. A US dollar …

Some countries in the region are increasingly looking away from the dollar. The Iraqi Central Bank said on Wednesday that it will conduct trade with China in its currency, the yuan. “Financing of foreign trade with China will be organized directly using the Chinese yuan,” the bank said in a …

The Russian invasion of Ukraine hurt the region economically, as supply chain disruptions and food shortages topped respondents concerns in Turkey, Egypt, Yemen and Iraq WASHINGTON — One year after its invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s image has taken a hit in Turkey, Yemen and Iraq, according to the latest Al-Monitor …

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) administration has set up a consortium of companies, including some in Russia, Iran and Pakistan, to create an investment plan focusing on power, mining and infrastructure, the commerce minister said on Wednesday. The consortium included 14 Afghan businessmen and foreign companies who would send …

What none of the news reports, editorials, public letters by prominent figures or statements by officials have revealed is that the Biden administration is funding the group behind the protests. “No one is asking the organizers who finances their activities. Someone is paying tens of millions of shekels to rent …

In less than a month, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted both Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani and Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani as Paris works to revive its influence in the region and counter China and Iran. France is increasingly flexing its diplomatic muscles in Iraq as French President …

Clashes are occurring regularly in the Palestinian territory as tensions further rise. At least 10 Palestinians were killed in fighting with Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Nablus on Wednesday. The particularly deadly incident could further ignite tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in the territories. The Palestinian Health …

On February 12 and 13, 2023, the London-based daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published a two-part interview by the daily’s chief editor, Ghassan Charbel, with Leila Khaled, a former terrorist in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and a current member of the Palestinian National Council. Khaled was involved …

As the war in Ukraine drags on, Western sanctions on Russia, the world’s largest natural gas and second-largest oil exporter, have sent Europe hunting for alternatives in the Middle East and North Africa. The year-old war in Ukraine has shifted energy dynamics between Europe and the Middle East as Russia, …

Turkey is increasingly relying on airpower in its fight against the PKK. New parties have been drawn into the conflict as it spreads to new theatres in Iraq and Syria, which, for now at least, complicates potential efforts to settle things down. Early February brought a fresh demonstration of the …