Tehran could block a key shipping route in the Gulf region after US attack, thus causing a terrible headache to global oil markets and the world’s economy in general, former Pentagon official Michael Maloof told RT’s Boom Bust. [...]

The Avangard is one of half-a-dozen new defense systems unveiled by Moscow in early 2018 as a means of restoring the global strategic nuclear balance amid NATO efforts to press up against Russia’s borders and create elements of a ground-based missile shield in Romania and Poland. The first Strategic Missile Forces regiment to be armed with the nuclear-capable Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle ha [...]

Officially, Israel has never denied or confirmed the existence of its nuclear program. Some analysts believe that Israel sticks to a policy of deliberate ambiguity concerning its nuclear capabilities. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accidentally called Israel a "nuclear power" during a cabinet meeting on Sunday but immediately corrected himself to "energy power". [...]

Earlier on Sunday, about 50 members of the UK’s Special Air Service (SAS) were sent to Iraq to help with the potential evacuation of Britons following Friday’s US drone strike which killed Qasem Soleimani, head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s elite Quds Force. A UK Royal Navy nuclear-powered attack submarine will be “in position to strike Iran” if the current tensions betw [...]

The reports emerge as the US-led coalition fighting Daesh* in Iraq has said that it has suspended its fight against the terror group amid increased attacks on US personnel. The Iraqi Parliament has passed a resolution to demand the termination of all the foreign troop presence in the country, Sky News Arabia broadcaster reported. [...]

Earlier, Gen. (ret.) Ben Hodges, former commander of US Army Europe, suggested that Russia’s historical claims to Crimea were “false and unacceptable” because the peninsula became part of Russia only during the reign of Catherine the Great. Alexei Pushkov, an outspoken Russian senator known for his commentaries on foreign affairs, has responded to Gen. Hodges remarks about the status of the [...]

The Hawaii congresswoman and Democratic presidential candidate, who deployed to Iraq during her service with the US Army National Guard, has repeatedly warned that a conflict with Iran would be “far more devastating” to the US than its Iraq campaign. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has issued a series of statements slamming President Trump for the drone strike which killed senior Iranian Revolutio [...]

Russia intends to start deliveries of nearly two dozen Su-35E air superiority fighter planes to Egypt between 2020-2021 in a deal worth the equivalent of over $2 billion. US officials have repeatedly warned that the deliveries could lead to sanctions against Cairo. Egypt's decision to purchase Russian-made fighter aircraft may result in sanctions and a halt in the delivery of US military equipment [...]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised President Trump’s decision to kill the top Revolutionary Guards Quds Force commander on Friday, saying Tel Aviv stands alongside Washington in its “just struggle” against Iran. Mossad Director Yossi Cohen bragged that his agency could easily target Quds Force Commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani for elimination, telling an Israeli magazine in [...]

US President Donald Trump on Saturday addressed the annual Israeli-American Council (IAC) National Summit in Florida, where some 4,000 Israelis and American Jews gathered. Speaking on Saturday at the 2019 IAC National Summit in Florida, President Donald Trump said that people in the United States should love Israel more. [...]

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The Trump administration’s unlawful execution of Iranian Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani is a strategic blunder of mammoth proportions that has now turned every American military official into a target, former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman told Sputnik. [...]

General Qassem Soleimani was one of the most responsible for defeating Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, and his killing is a “great tragedy” that could result in a “vast war” with Iran, a Virginia senator and Marine veteran told RT. In a statement to RT on Friday, retired Virginia Senator Richard Black said that the assassination “may presage a new war of aggression—this time, against the [...]

On September 27, 2018, Yale's Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, and the Poynter Fellowship for Journalism hosted Vladimir Pozner, the acclaimed Russian-American journalist and broadcaster. Vladimir Pozner: How the United States Created Vladimir Putin Vladimir Pozner at Ideas For Tomorrow Vladimir Pozner on Ukraine, Crimea, Putin and Journalism /* */ [...]

President Donald Trump brought a surprise guest—Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaidó--to his 2020 State of the Union address. Trump criticized Guaidó’s rival Nicolas Maduro before recognizing Guaidó in the House Chambers. “Mr. President, please take this message back to your homeland. All Americans are united with the Venezuelan people in their righteous struggle for freedom,” Trum [...]

During the 19 December end-of-the-year press conference, President Vladimir Putin specifically underscored Moscow’s assertiveness in the face of the West’s ongoing sanctions pressure against Russia, saying that the country’s “economy has adapted to foreign shocks”. Summing up the results of Vladimir Putin’s presidency over the past twenty years, Bloomberg claimed that “one of the mos [...]

A first-of-its-kind combined naval exercise by Iran, China and Russia has wrapped up in the Gulf of Oman. The US has been watching closely, as it could be the beginning of a security coalition to counter American influence. The Iranian Navy had announced that the December 27-30 exercise, codenamed Marine Security Belt, was aimed at enhancing maritime security in the region, which has witnessed a s [...]

US tariffs meant to boost the US economy by eliminating “unfair” trade practices, primarily by China, actually took a toll on manufacturing sector jobs and hiked prices, a study by the US Federal Reserve Board has concluded. The Fed has become the latest body to stress the damaging consequences of “unprecedented” punitive tariffs unleashed by US President Donald Trump on China and other tr [...]

Chinese giants Huawei and Oppo plan to create an alternative to Google mobile services and seek cooperation with Indian developers. Their success may spell an end to Android’s market domination in Asia, and possibly beyond. [...]

Investigative journalist Mark Curtis and Matt Kennard have detailed extensive undisclosed links between the Cheif Magistrate Emma Arbthnot, her husband, and her son and the British national security state. Niki Konstantinidis, a barrister and supporter of Julian Assange, has filed a complaint with the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman (“the Ombudsman”) against England’s top magistr [...]

The Tu-22 strategic and maritime strike bomber is one of the mainstays of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ strategic bomber fleet, capable of fielding a broad range of standoff weapons including the Kinzhal, an air-launched, nuclear-capable hypersonic, maneuverable cruise missile unveiled by President Putin in a speech to lawmakers in 2018. [...]

Europe’s total dependence on Washington would lead it nowhere other than to its own demise, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has alleged, calling on Europeans to break free from America’s grip. Europe is a major political force on the international arena, yet it prefers to “quietly follow the policy imposed” by Washington, Ali Akbar Velayati told RT Arabic. [...]

The advanced Russian nuclear hypersonic glider entered combat service on Friday with the first regiment of Avangard-armed missiles now operational, the defense minister reported. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who reported the development to President Putin on Friday, said Avangard deployment was “a signatory event for the country and the armed forces.” [...]