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". [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 leadership of the chemical weapons watchdog took efforts to remove the paper trail of a dissenting report from Douma, Syria which pointed to a possible false flag operation there, leaked documents indicate.  In an internal email published by the transparency website WikiLeaks on Friday, a senior official from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) ordered that the doc [...]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to close US and NATO military bases in Turkey after the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday, approved a bill imposing sanctions on Ankara after its offensive in Syria and purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems. 'If necessary, we can close Incirlik, and we can close Kurecik", Erdogan told Turkish channel Haber TV on Sunday. [...]

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to close a vital airbase used by American forces, he wasn’t bluffing, and Washington should take his threats at face value, or risk losing a NATO ally, analysts say. [...]

Dozens of people were injured and hospitalized in Beirut during street battles between thousands of anti-government protesters and armed police amid a worsening political and economic crisis in Lebanon. Protesters hurled debris, bottles and fireworks while police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon to disperse the crowds on a second night of unrest in the capital this past weekend. [...]