Middle Orient

Previous disappointment will lead Iran to expect greater economic certainty in any renewed nuclear negotiations. London must play its part. The Iranian nuclear deal (formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or the JCPOA) has been in tatters since the administration of Donald Trump withdrew in May 2018, …

The recent push by a number of Arab states to normalize relations with the Assad regime is based on the false premise that the war is over and it is necessary to restore ties to lobby Damascus to change its relationship with Iran. Other regional dynamics are also a factor: …

There is only one thread holding together the unprecedentedly disparate parties that will establish and support the nascent Israeli government announced on the night of June 2, an hour before the midnight deadline. That thread is, of course, a shared loathing for Benjamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu, who has served an unprece­dented …

Non-state actors that enjoy state-sponsored assistance in developing drone capabilities are a major concern for the international community. A range of non-state actors has used drones in combat, including ISIS, Hezbollah, Houthi rebels, Hamas, Boko Haram, and the Afghan Taliban, among others. Echoing a commonly growing sentiment, the U.S. military …

The regime has shaped the field of candidates in the June 18 presidential election to favor the preferred choice of Iran’s Supreme Leader. The front-runner in the campaign, Judiciary chairman Ibrahim Raisi, is also Supreme Leader Ali Khamene’i’s choice to succeed him. The exclusion of most moderate and reformist candidates …

The murderous founding of the state of Israel at the cost of Arab and Jewish lives was brought about by the torching of Palestine into permanent civil war precipitated by an illegal and sham incendiary partition resolution forced through a incomplete incipient UN by American pressure and threats.[1] The resolution …

In spite of the Iranian regime’s claims that it holds democratic presidential elections, the system is fundamentally an authoritarian one disguised as a democracy. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in February boasted about the regime’s political system and the people’s important role in influencing and shaping the political establishment. He said: …

Members of Elvin Hunter Bgorn Williams’ mosque in the US city of Seattle alerted federal agents to his activities. An American man has been charged with attempting to join the Islamic State (IS) in Egypt. Elvin Hunter Bgorn Williams of Seattle was arrested on Friday before a flight to Amsterdam …

Turkish crime boss Sedat Peker speaks out about arms shipment to radical rebels in Syria in his latest barrage of allegations against figures close to the government. Fresh allegations by a fugitive Turkish mobster have rekindled controversy in Turkey over arms shipments to Syria and murky cross-border trade, allegedly involving …

Jewish Agency head Isaac Herzog was chosen Israel’s new president only hours before Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid announced the composition of a new government. At the height of one of the most tense and uncertain days in the history of Israel’s Knesset, Isaac Herzog was chosen yesterday as the …