Christmas is a time of goodwill to all men. Or at least it should be. But while the West’s Middle East ‘bad guys’ Iran and Syria, showed the Yuletide spirit, its closest allies, Saudi Arabia and Israel, failed to do so. [...]

China’s state-owned energy major CNPC has replaced France’s Total in Iran’s South Pars gas project, according to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh. The French company withdrew from Iran under pressure of US sanctions. [...]

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif slammed US President Donald Trump for announcing US intention to continue cooperating with Saudi Arabia despite the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey. [...]

In pushing the SWIFT financial messaging system to exclude Iran, the US has “gone rogue,” economist Steve Keen told RT. SWIFT cut a raft of Iranian banks - including the country’s central bank - off from its system on Monday, having come under pressure from the US to do so. [...]

The Iranian Central Bank has been cut off the SWIFT financial messaging system, the US Treasury Department has said. Disconnection makes it more difficult for the Islamic Republic to settle import and export bills. [...]

After reimposing crippling sanctions on Iran this week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened that Iran should “act like a normal country, or see its economy crumble.” But, how exactly does a ‘normal’ country act? Since the dictat was issued from Washington DC, it seems only fair to start there. Is the United States itself a ‘normal’ country? What makes a ‘normal’ country as [...]

As the United States continues to slap Iran with sanctions, Washington allowed several countries, including South Korea, to purchase certain limited amount of Iranian oil without fear of reprisal. The governments of Iran and South Korea have agreed to forgo the use of US dollar in bilateral trade and instead switch to their respective national currencies in such transactions as Washington moves to [...]

Stuxnet II: Did Israel Just Release Cyber "Hounds of Hell" on Iran? SUPPORT TRUNEWS: http://tru.news/2ps3OL2 TruNews on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tr... Stuxnet II: Did Israel Just Release Cyber "Hounds of Hell" on Iran? Distress of Nations: China, Russia and Israel prepare for War End of Petrodollar? U.S. Allies Pivot East Toward Russia And China /* */ [...]

New sanctions placed on Iran by US President Donald Trump are likely to have the reverse effect the White House is hoping for, according to new reports, as Tehran’s petroleum exports are set to increase just as Washington’s restrictions commence. [...]

US threatens to smack SWIFT if it allows transactions in violation of Iran sanctions. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has warned global financial messaging service SWIFT on Friday that it could be penalized if it doesn’t cut off financial services to entities and individuals doing business with Iran. [...]

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump promised that India will soon see his decision on punitive measures after New Delhi moved to purchase advanced S-400 air defense systems from Russia. [...]

A fiery speech by an Iranian representative, responding to Saudi accusations at the UN General Assembly, blamed terrorist activity around the globe on Riyadh – and even quoted Hillary Clinton to back that up. Accusing Iran of supporting terrorism was a “strange and outlandish claim” by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir the Iranian representative said. [...]

Weeks of negotiations with the Trump administration have ended with carmaker Volkswagen (VW) agreeing to cease most of its operations in Iran, said US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, as cited by Bloomberg. “Volkswagen has told us they will comply with US sanctions on Iran,” said Grenell, adding: “We are pleased with this decision because Iran diverts its economic resources away from i [...]

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Iran is seeking to extend or renew a $1 billion oil deal with the Swiss giant Vitol Group ahead of the promised return in November of crippling US sanctions, media reported. The US administration in May withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which eased sanctions on the Islamic Republic. [...]

Russia, Turkey and Iran need to team up in the face of the pressure exerted on them by Washington, Iranian analysts told Sputnik, commenting on the September trilateral meeting in Tehran. According to them, Moscow, Tehran and Ankara could work out a joint strategy to resist the US sanctions policy. [...]

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Iranian Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati has discussed a possible replacement of the US dollar by national currencies in trade transactions with Turkish and Russian representatives at the recent trilateral summit of the Syrian ceasefire guarantor states, local media reported. [...]

The book says the Trump administration was seriously concerned about the possibility of Hezbollah dragging the US into a “catastrophic” Middle East war. The recently-published book entitled "Fear: Trump in the White House" says that in February 2017, early in the Trump administration, top US officials were seriously worried that Israel could not defend itself against a possible attack from Hez [...]

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused US President Donald Trump of flipping the script on destruction across the Middle East by blaming Iran instead of looking at US policies that have delivered “horrors” in the region. [...]

Israel controls America, and Israel wants all the Middle East as a 'Greater Israel'. That's what it's all about. Why are the US and Israel so friendly anyway? That's a hugely controversial question. Though American support for Israel really is massive, including billions of dollars in aid and reliable diplomatic backing, experts disagree sharply on why. Some possibilities include deep support for [...]

This week marks 65 years since the Western-orchestrated coup in Iran. August 19, 1953 is the day that Iranians were taught a hard lesson in the rules of the game when it comes to empire and hegemony. For on this day, the country’s democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, was overthrown at the hands of Washington and London. [...]

American elites have long had it in for the Islamic Republic. They have many reasons, but high on the list is a point of honor: years after it happened, they still want payback for “the hostage crisis,” the government supported humiliation that revolutionary Iranian students inflicted upon the American Empire in the final 444 days of the Carter administration. Nearly everything disappears down [...]

Chinese yuan-backed oil futures contracts hit their daily limit with a 5-percent spike on Tuesday as the US kicked off the first round of sanctions against Iran. Washington’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and target the country's oil sector with sanctions is expected to significantly boost China's leverage to demand crude imports be priced in yuan. [...]