In summary: In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran are two major countries in the region, and both national authorities practice Islam, but belong to different sects. Islam in Saudi Arabia belongs to the Sunni sect, while Islam in Iran belongs to the Shia sect. The two sects have been in a feud since ancient times, creating mutual hatred and distrust. [...]

China's diplomatic success as Iran, and Saudi Arabia to resume ties following secret Beijing meetings. Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed Friday to end years of hostility and re-engage in diplomatic relations following previously undisclosed talks in Beijing between top security officials from the rival powers. "The U.S. is aware of reports that Iran and Saudi Arabia have resumed diplomatic relations, [...]

President Donald Trump accused Soleimani  of “plotting imminent and sinister attacks”: “We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war…. we caught him in the act and terminated him.” US Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper described it as a “decisive defensive action” while confirming that the operation ordered by POTUS had been carried out by the P [...]

The United States has sold more than a million barrels of Iranian fuel seized under its sanctions program last year, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing the US Department of Justice. The seizures were part of Washington’s economic sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program, and the US’ designation of a number of Iranian groups as terrorists. The US government under President Donald Tru [...]

Iran will become free to sell and buy weapons starting Sunday as the UN arms embargo will be terminated under the 2015 nuclear deal despite the active resistance from the United States, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday. "This 10-year oppressive embargo will be lifted on Sunday, 18 October, with people’s resistance and the efforts of our country's diplomats, despite 4 yea [...]

A draft of an economic and security deal between the People's Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Iran previously leaked by The New York Times is continuing to reverberate in the international media. Iranian political analyst Mahan Abedin has explained the fuss over the accords and shed light on Iran's strategic shift towards the East. The 18-page Persian-language document envis [...]

The US assassination of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in early January exacerbated the already tense relations between Tehran and Washington in place since the Trump administration's unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in 2018. Deputy director-general of the Russian research centre Rezonans Alexander Stuchilin has argued that a radar system produced by his company [...]

The US ambassador to the United Nations has described the lack of support from Washington’s allies in Europe as “disappointing,” after the US attempted to restore UN sanctions against Tehran. “This matter is so important that we cannot wait until the arms embargo [against Iran] runs out on October 18,” Kelly Craft, US envoy to the UN, told German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an intervi [...]

Media outlets have omitted aspects about the US assassination of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani that don’t fit Washington’s narrative, comedian Lee Camp has argued. He’s debunked the Pentagon spin so you don’t have to. The host of Redacted Tonight has listed six things about the highly controversial killing that the media has either ignored completely or under-reported, including the n [...]

It’s believed that a US-Iran war would disrupt the flow of Middle Eastern oil and, as such, should be avoided at all costs. With US oil futures trading in the negative, has the risk of such a war suddenly become attractive? Last week, nearly a dozen Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) vessels harassed a formation of US Navy and Coast Guard ships operating in international wate [...]

The United States government has revealed its contempt for human compassion and global solidarity by refusing to lift draconian sanctions on Iran and Venezuela during the Covid-19 crisis, director Oliver Stone has argued. Iran has suffered immensely from the virus, Stone noted in an op-ed published by the New York Daily News, but due to US sanctions the Islamic Republic is “reportedly the only c [...]

The US Treasury Department has slapped fresh sanctions on Iran, accusing several Iranian firms of aiding terrorism. Meanwhile, Tehran and the UN have called for the easing of sanctions amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The Treasury sanctioned 15 individuals and five companies on Thursday, accusing them of supporting and acting “on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force,” conside [...]

The INSTEX trading mechanism was previously created by European countries to bypass unilateral restrictions, imposed against the Islamic Republic by Washington, as the US threatened to hit those trading with Tehran via secondary sanctions. Iran, however, has repeatedly criticised INSTEX for not functioning properly. France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have officially confirmed conclud [...]

Iran’s New Year celebration of Nowruz finds it weathering a perfect storm of US sanctions, low oil prices and Covid-19. The resulting humanitarian crisis may make it even more resilient, as Iranians rally around their government. Iran is facing an existential crisis, brought on by a combination of economic, political and social emergencies which, when combined, threaten to bring the nation to it [...]

Following the strike on two US military outposts in retaliation for the Trump-commissioned killing of General Qasem Soleimani, POTUS reported no losses, with the Pentagon eventually saying 64 service personnel sustained what he referred to as “brain injuries”. According to a spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, cited by Press TV, the alleged number of “brain injuries” suff [...]

The Pentagon announced Tuesday that 50 - not 34 - US troops sustained various levels of brain injury from Tehran’s strike on Iraqi bases earlier this month. One expert explained to Sputnik that the Trump administration’s decision to trickle out this information is just a continuation of a series of lies from the White House regarding Iran. Ben Norton, a journalist with The Grayzone and co-host [...]

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Thirty-four US service members have been diagnosed with concussions and traumatic brain injuries after Iran conducted ballistic missile strikes on two bases in Iraq with half of them still undergoing medical treatment, Department of Defence spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a press briefing on 24 January. "With regard to the number of recent injuries here is the latest upda [...]

Bending under the pressure from the Trump administration, major EU states have taken yet another step away from the Iran nuclear deal, say academics, suggesting that it's unlikely that Tehran will engage in new nuclear negotiations with the same actors. On 14 January, the foreign ministers of the UK, France, and Germany – the countries-signatories to the Iran nuclear deal – announced that they [...]

France, Britain and Germany have betrayed the 2015 nuclear deal after being threatened with US tariffs, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has claimed, noting that Europe has lost the moral high ground. The three European states accused Tehran of non-compliance with the accord after buckling under pressure from the United Sates, Zarif wrote in a tweet, citing a Washington Post report de [...]