Middle East

The second debate featuring all the seven candidates running in Iran’s 2021 presidential election has been marked by less aggressive confrontations but also overly broad delineations of policy, in what some of the candidates blamed on the format of the debate. The debate held on Tuesday (June 8), also meagerly …

Brigadier General Bakir Shakir Mahmud, the commander of Iraqi border police, met with Jahangir Ghaderi, Commander of Iran’s Qasr Shirin border regiment in Mandali and Khaneqien region to discuss cooperation. The meeting took place with the aim of developing and expanding relations between the Republic of Iraq, and the Islamic …

Turkey has offered to guard and run Kabul’s airport after the United States and other NATO forces withdraw from Afghanistan, but U.S. officials say Ankara is imposing conditions that need to be resolved as their leaders prepare to meet next week. Turkish officials say Ankara made the proposal at a …

The Yemeni Petroleum Company (YPC) has criticized the United Nations for its silence and inaction to step in and pressure the Saudi-led coalition into releasing ships carrying energy derivatives destined for the impoverished and war-ravaged Arab country. Speaking at a protest rally outside the UN office in Sana’a on Monday, …

A top Turkish prosecutor refiled a case with the constitutional court demanding the closure of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for alleged ties to militants, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported. In March, the court sent back a similar indictment on procedural grounds for lack of details. The latest indictment …

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says it still remains to be seen if US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are prepared to depart from their predecessors’ attitude towards Iran. “It remains unclear whether POTUS (President of the United States) and Sec Blinken are ready to …

A senior official of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has warned the Israeli regime against another military adventurism, saying the aggressors would see “fire of hell” in the event of another war. Hassan Baghdadi, a member of the central council of Hezbollah resistance movement, on Sunday said the Israeli regime officials …

Firefighters have managed to control a blaze at Zarand Iranian Steel Company in the southeastern Kerman province. The fire broke out with a loud noise early Sunday, but there was no report of casualties. کارخانهٔ فولاد #زرند – کرمان #Zarand Steel Factory – Kerman. Iran pic.twitter.com/3KkCYu5nds — AJ News Club …

A huge mass of marine mucilage has bloomed in Turkey’s Marmara, as well as in the adjoining Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. Turkey’s president has promised to rescue the Marmara Sea from an outbreak of “sea snot” that is alarming marine biologists and environmentalists. A huge mass of marine …

Yemen’s army troops and their allies have carried out a fresh drone strike on a major airbase in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern province of Asir in retaliation for the ongoing military aggression and blockade against the country. They hit sensitive targets inside the King Khalid Airbase near the Saudi city of …

An explosion near a petrol station in the Yemeni city of Marib killed at least 14 people on Saturday, a medical source said. The source said that dozens of people, many of them badly burned, had been taken to Marib General Hospital and 14 of them had died of their …

A Turkish airstrike killed at least three people and injured others on Saturday at a camp for displaced people in northern Iraq, said Rashad Kelani, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party official. The strike on the camp housing thousands of Kurdish refugees took place three days after Turkish President Tayyip …

A leading American magazine says Yemen’s popular Ansaruallh movement won the US-sponsored war waged by Saudi Arabia, stressing that the losers are now in no position to dictate terms to the victors. In an article, the Foreign Policy analyzed the situation in Yemen, where the army and Popular Committees defeated …

Opponents of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the prospective new administration have announced that there will not be a freeze in construction of illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian territories, despite international outcry over the Tel Aviv regime’s land expropriation policies. David Elhayani, who heads the Jordan Valley Regional Council …

Being already the largest recipient of assistance from Washington, with an annual $3.8bn in US military aid, does not stop Israel from asking for more. Now a US senator has unveiled that the Tel Aviv regime is preparing a request for an additional $1 billion to the Pentagon to replenish …

A serious fire erupted at a refinery in the southern part of Tehran on Wednesday, with eyewitnesses sharing dramatic footage of huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the skies and red flames at the base of the blaze. “The fire has started at the liquefied gas line of Tehran’s …

Iran’s army confirmed crew safely evacuated after the vessel caught fire under unclear circumstances. One of Iran’s largest navy ships has sunk after catching fire near the Strait of Hormuz under unclear circumstances. The Kharg, named after an island nearby that serves as a key oil terminal, caught fire in …

Turkey’s lira plunged to fresh record lows against the dollar after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said interest rates must be lowered in July or August. Erdoğan, who has sacked three central bank governors in less than three years, says that higher interest rates are inflationary, a view that jars with …

The World Bank says Lebanon’s economic collapse is likely to rank among the world’s worst financial crises since the mid-19th century. According to a report published by the World Bank on Tuesday, the economic and financial crisis in Lebanon is likely to be among the top 10 or possibly the …

Yemen has strongly condemned a recent move by the United Arab Emirates to transfer Israeli tourists to the strategic island of Socotra on Emirati visas. The Yemeni Tourism Ministry said in a statement issued on Monday that the UAE’s measure violates international law, given that Socotra is a Yemeni island …