Middle Orient

Iran’s president is in Muscat seeking increased cooperation with Oman on energy and transportation. Iran and Oman agreed today to jointly develop an oil field in the Persian Gulf. Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji made the agreement with his Omani counterparts on the “integrated development” of the field. The two …

Multiple sources in Iran say Mora left Tehran with ‘more than suggestions’ for a revival of the deal, while both sides may have moved on from differences. While in Tehran last week, the European Union’s chief nuclear negotiator, Enrique Mora, meeting with senior Iranian officials, may have given the Iran …

A senior member of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard was killed outside his home in Tehran on Sunday by unidentified gunmen on a motorbike, state TV reported. Although the Guard gave only scant detail about the attack that occurred in broad daylight in the heart of Iran’s capital, the group blamed …

The Turkish vote could be critical on whether NATO can be expanded to include Finland and Sweden, and for that, they would demand to rejoin the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) program and to receive the committed F-35s. It is worth remembering that Turkey is one of the original members of …

Late last week, Finland’s prime minister and president jointly announced Helsinki’s intention to move ahead with its application for NATO, a move that, if completed, would be a significant boon for the transatlantic alliance. Putin believed a strong and swift invasion of Ukraine would intimidate NATO and non-pliant nations on …

Turkey’s top envoy, Mevlut Cavusoglu, is set to visit Jerusalem next week in a diplomatic breakthrough, but his plan to go to holy site is causing tensions with Israel, report says Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is expected to visit Israel next week and plans to go to the flashpoint …

The Treasury Department designated Ahmad Jalal Reda Abdallah and several of his associates and companies based in Lebanon and Iraq. The Biden administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on an alleged financial facilitator for Hezbollah, a move aimed at exposing and disrupting the Lebanese militant group’s illicit sources of funding. The …

When Emmanuel Macron was elected president five years ago, many analysts wondered how it might affect France’s policy toward the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). At the time, France found itself at a crossroads, having to contend with the shift in U.S. policy toward the region during the presidency …

Amid stalled nuclear talks with the P5+1, a senior Chinese military delegation, headed by Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Gen. Wei Fenghe, landed in Iran for a visit in late April. The readouts from Tehran were rather dull, with the usual platitudes about the close relations between …

Ankara has listed the presence of what it calls terrorists in Sweden and Finland as its main objection to their accession but other factors could feature. The deadlock created by Turkey’s foot-dragging over extending NATO membership to Sweden and Finland has left the alliance’s diplomats again striving to decode Ankara’s …