Although Western media has a shoddy track record of lying on Syria (and Libya, Iraq...), the US State Department will pump $35 million more into future war propaganda on Syria, under the guise of promoting honest reporting. A US State Department grant, “Support for Independent Media in Syria,” is unabashed in stating one of its main goals is “to advance U.S. Government policy objectives in S [...]

A massive demonstration –called for by a prominent Shia cleric– has flooded the streets of the Iraq's capital Baghdad, with thousands voicing their anger at the US military presence there.  Early on Friday morning, throngs of protesters – men and women, young and old – began amassing at al-Hurriya Square in central Baghdad, near the city's main university. [...]

Moscow and Ankara are not responsible for starting the conflict which has ravaged Libya, but they may have a decisive role in ending it, as they lead international diplomatic efforts at the Berlin peace conference. The two countries opposed the US-led NATO intervention to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi nine years ago but, despite Turkey being a NATO member and Russia being on the UN Security Council, n [...]

BEIRUT (Sputnik) - Clashes between Lebanese anti-government protesters and law enforcement resumed near the parliament building in the capital Beirut on Saturday, with police resorting to tear gas and water cannons, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene. [...]

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 [...]

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal quoted Karim Elaiwi, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defence Committee, as saying that Baghdad was considering purchasing Russian S-400 systems amid concerns that the US may stop supporting the country. According to Joey Hood, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, Iraq’s possible acquisition of S-4 [...]

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 [...]

Donald Trump’s threat to cut off Iraq’s access to its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York if Baghdad insists on a withdrawal of US troops from its soil is bare-faced, modern-day colonialism. Let’s set the scene. On January 5, the Iraqi parliament voted to approve a resolution calling for the removal of US troops. A day later, Donald Trump threatened to hit Iraqis with deadly ec [...]

Europe could have saved the Iran nuclear agreement. Instead, it abused the rule of law by inappropriately triggering its dispute mechanism, all but ensuring the agreement’s demise. On January 5, 2020, Tehran announced that it would no longer comply with its obligations under the Iran nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Program of Action (JCPOA). Iran’s actions are in [...]

Commenting on US Defence Secretary Mark T. Esper's statement that a group of US troops will remain in eastern Syria, allegedly to prevent Daesh from accessing the oil fields, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said the statement should not be a surprise. In a statement, the chief spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, noted that the US' stated goal of protecting Syrian oi [...]

Iran is thousands of miles away from Britain, yet because the power elites support them, anti-government protests in Tehran receive much wider coverage in the UK than the ones in France, just across the Channel. How many British people have ever visited Iran? How many have lived there or have second homes there? I suspect the figures are very small. It’s quite a contrast with France. In 2018, [...]

Trump said Iran is in conflict with the ‘civilized world,’ but civilized states don’t seek regime change, lead aggressive wars, and trash international law like the US has done more than once. So, who are the true barbarians? With every line, Donald Trump took the breath away from the watching audience and even some of the horseshoe of military brass behind him when he responded to the Irani [...]

The TurkStream pipeline, supplying Russian gas to Turkey under the Black Sea, will boost energy security of entire southern Europe and the US won’t interfere with it, said Sakir Arikan, managing director of TurkAkim Gas. The much-anticipated 930km pipeline was launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a special ceremony on Wednesday. [...]

The death of the senior Iranian commander, who was killed in a US drone strike shortly after midnight on Friday morning, prompted Iranian officials to vow retaliation against US interests in the region. US President Donald Trump authorised the assassination of Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force Commander Maj. Gen. [...]

The US is trying to stop Eurasia's economic and political integration in order to delay its own demise, say international observers, explaining what message the US sent to the Russia-China-Iran "triumvirate" by killing Quds Commander Qasem Soleimani. [...]

The US says that Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was plotting “imminent and sinister” attacks against its diplomats and military personnel. But when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was pressed for evidence of this, he gave none. Soleimani, commander of the Iranian military’s Quds Force, was assassinated in a drone strike in Baghdad, Iraq, on Friday. [...]

For decades, the US establishment has talked about an international community, rules-based order, the importance of NATO allies, democracy and sovereignty. Then-President Donald Trump had an Iranian general assassinated. “Snow doesn’t fall to cover the hills, but to reveal the tracks of every beast,” goes an old Serbian saying. The proverbial snow in this case is last week’s killing of Ge [...]

US officials including President Trump have formally justified the drone strike assassination of Revolutionary Guard Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in part on the basis of the “imminent threat” he allegedly posed to US interests and service members overseas. But do these claims really line up with reality? Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani was appointed commander of the Iranian Revolutionary [...]

The assassination of Qassem Soleimani has opened a new phase for the whole region, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has said, calling for attacks on US soldiers and military assets. Iraqi resistance will not let a single US soldier stay in Iraq after the killing of the Iranian Quds force commander, Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Sunday. [...]

US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, one of the Democratic Party contenders in the 2020 presidential race, said American armed forces must leave Iraq and Syria, instead of pushing towards war. "End #TrumpsWar now. Remove our troops from Iraq and Syria," the politician from Hawaii tweeted on Saturday. [...]

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. [...]

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". [...]