Middle Orient

Part III: The Coordination Framework Nearly one year after Iraq’s October 2021 parliamentary elections, the government has yet to be formed. The government formation power struggle pits the Sadrist Movement, led by populist Shi’a cleric Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr, against the Coordination Framework (CF),1 a loose association of Shi’a parties, united …

Russia is pushing Turkey in the direction of normalization with the Syrian government, according to Athr Press. Several members of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) have leaked documents in which Turkey warns SOC not to waste time in any talks between the opposition and the Syrian government. The documents note …

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they fired missiles and drones at militant targets in the Kurdish region of neighbouring northern Iraq, where authorities said 13 people were killed. The strikes were reported after Iranian authorities accused armed Iranian Kurdish dissidents of involvement in unrest now shaking Iran, especially in …

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi calls recent protests “sedition,” and police arrest a former president’s daughter. At a cabinet meeting today, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi blamed “enemy” countries for provoking protests. “The enemy’s efforts at sedition in the country is a result of the fear they have of the system’s power …

The Biden administration on Thursday blacklisted entities in China, Hong Kong, Iran, India and the United Arab Emirates over their alleged involvement in Iran’s petrochemical trade. The United States announced fresh sanctions Thursday on an international network of companies it says are involved in the sale of Iranian petroleum and …

An Embattled Regime Faces Mass Protests—and an Ailing Supreme Leader Early this month, the Iranian rumor mill cranked into overdrive amid reports that Iran’s 83-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who survived prostate cancer surgery in 2014, was again gravely ill. On September 16, the New York Times reported that …

Notorious mass murderer Ebrahim Raisi was running scared at the UN last week. As leader of the world’s foremost pariah regime, this truly evil man had plenty of time on his hands in New York, with few heads of state willing to engage with him. News outlets such as The …

Highlighting Iraq’s efforts to mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Iraqi foreign minister said Baghdad is ready to host a fresh round of negotiations between Tehran and Riyadh. In a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in New York on Saturday, Fuad Hussein pointed to the positive trend …

Qatar is working to export more gas to Europe in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Qatar’s energy exports are significantly higher than they were last year. Qatari exports of petroleum gases and other hydrocarbons such as liquified natural gas amounted to $9.2 billion in August of this year, …

Eastern Mediterranean conflict is steadily turning into a fresh strain in already-troubled US-Turkey ties, as Erdogan lashes out at Washington and Athens over the military buildup in the Dodecanese islands. The US and Greek ambassadors to Turkey have been summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara in a protest …