A House hearing on Friday that was meant to address the U.S. strategy in Iran blew up into a heated confrontation over the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus.The purpose of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's ...
Related topics: Mike Pompeo
European Nightmare As Turkey "Opens The Gates" On Refugees While Covid-19 Ravages Nearby Iran
As coronavirus ravages Iran and threatens to spread through the broader Middle East, potentially hitting refugee and war-torn populations...
Related topics: Turkey
David Axe
Security, Middle East
We have a problem with surveillance. A big one.
Key Point: The last manned penetrating ISR platform, the Mach-three SR-71, retired from Air Force service in the late 1990s.
The shoot-down of a U.S. Navy...
Related topics: Drones
This could lead to converts facing professional difficulties or worse. The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law. It’s based on the Qur’an: “They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take...
Related topics: Religion
Geoff Wilson
Security, Middle East
The present has echoes of 2015.
Key Point: While many conservatives are quick to spurn negotiations with Iran, they seem to have done very little in the way of analyzing what a war with Iran would actually look...
Related topics: Donald Trump
Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Iranian authorities have failed to hold security forces accountable for excessive and unlawful use of lethal force in confronting large-scale protests that began on November 15, 2019, Human Rights Watch said...
Related topics: Human Rights, Lebanon, Protests
Masoumeh Ebtekar, Iran's vice president for women and family affairs, is the latest Iranian government official to contract the COVID-19 coronavirus.
At least seven officials in the country have tested positive for the coronavirus. Ebtekar is the...
Nearly two months after the death of Iran’s most important general, the Trump administration insists its “maximum pressure” campaign is working. Many allies are skeptical.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham on Thursday called for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Syria's Idlib and called on President Donald Trump to help stop the killing of civilians there by Syrian government forces backed by Russia and Iran."The...
Related topics: Lindsey Graham, Syria, Donald Trump, Russia
The past few days have been terrible for the Islamic Republic of Iran.
washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US sanctions against Iran prohibit oil sales, shipping and financial activities, which have deterred foreign banks from doing business with the Islamic Republic - including humanitarian deals.
According to reports from Iranian Tasnim News Agency 81-year-old cleric and former Ambassador to the Vatican Hadi Khosrowshahi died of coronavirus according to the local media.
Via The Middle East Monitor:
Iran’s former ambassador to the Vatican...
Related topics: Vatican
Peter Brookes
Security, Middle East
More menacing munitions.
Key Point: The war in Yemen isn't over just yet...
Add surface-to-air missiles to the growing list of advanced weapons—such as cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and armed...
Related topics: Yemen, Drones
Sebastien Roblin
Technology, Middle East
How dangerous is it?
Key point: A month ago these missiles were used to strike American bases and caused a decent amount of advantage. Many servicemen and women were injured as well.
For thirty intense...
DOHA (Sputnik) - Emir of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani has ordered to evacuate Qatari and Kuwaiti citizens from Iran due to an outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in that country, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.
Related topics: Qatar
In 2017, the US left the Iran nuclear deal and subsequently reinstated all previous sanctions against Tehran including on the nation’s oil industry. Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development earlier said that this factor could have largely...
Related topics: Russia, Tehran
Covid-19 Infects Iranian Vice President, Kills Iran Ambassador To Vatican
Update (0940ET): FARS news agency reports that for former Iranian Ambassador to The Vatican has died from Covid-19.
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Nothing says 'we've got this under...
Related topics: Vatican
The decision showed the growing worry across the Mideast about the virus.
Related topics: Saudi Arabia
As the coronavirus outbreak has spread internationally, the world’s attention has focused on China, the country where it originated. But as a Middle East watcher for the past two decades, I really got interested when it popped up in Iran, a...
Related topics: China
Mark Episkopos
Technology, Middle East
A new, improved defense system?
Key point: Iran has threatened Israel before, but Israeli is working on laser missile defenses. The question is whether the Iron Laser will work and be worth the...
Related topics: Israel