Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has begun a diplomatic tour to China, Russia and the European Union. The trip is aimed at bolstering Iran’s stance amid Washington’s withdrawal from the Iran deal and re-imposing sanctions. Sputnik discussed this with Rasool Nafisi from Strayer University in Virginia. [...]

The former boss of the NSA and CIA, Michael Hayden, predicts that the decision to re-impose sanctions on Iran despite protests from EU leaders will harm US relations with its allies and lead to a trans-Atlantic argument. Commenting to German media outlet Spiegel on the recent decision of the US president to abandon the 2015 JCPOA, the former head of the NSA and CIA, General Michael Hayden, stated: [...]

Dismissed in the press, the academics behind the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media have found few outlets for their research. Despite this, they have extended their studies from the Syrian war to the Skripal case. Made up of 15 academics, researchers, and PhD candidates across the UK, the group was established to "facilitate research into the areas of organised, persuasive communication [...]

Russian MPs have drafted a bill which means any action or inaction that helps to implement anti-Russian sanctions from foreign states should carry criminal responsibility with punishments of up to four years in prison. The joint document has been prepared by representatives of all four parliamentary caucuses headed by Upper House Speaker Valentina Matviyenko and Lower House Speaker Vyacheslav Volo [...]

Many US presidents believed their country to be uniquely poised to decide on how the world should work. Donald Trump pushes the misconception further, apparently believing no international agreement can work without America in it. [...]

By moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Washington is choosing to be part of the problem in the Middle East rather than working towards a solution, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. “The United States has chosen to be a part of the problem rather than the solution with its latest step and has lost its mediating role in the peace process,” Erdogan said in a speech at Britai [...]

Washington’s renewed sanctions on Tehran supports China’s newly established oil futures, analysts say. The sanctions can make the yuan a more preferable currency than the dollar on the oil market. Since their launch in May, the interest in the renminbi-backed oil contracts has steadily surged. Traded daily volumes hit a record 250,000 lots last Wednesday, and the share of yuan contracts in glo [...]

Amid concerns that the US decision to withdraw from Iran nuclear deal will lead to the loss of close to $40 billion in contracts for Boeing and Airbus, Russian airplane builders have a historic opportunity to receive a new foreign market for its latest designs. On Tuesday afternoon, in a move condemned by Tehran, most of the US's allies and much of the international community, President Trump ann [...]

Beijing has officially opened its new train route to Iran, as the US urges its companies to wind down their operations with the Islamic Republic. As US President Donald Trump hardens his confrontational attitude to Tehran, tearing up the 2015 nuclear deal and calling for a new sanctions regime, China is more than ready to grab the opportunity for trade by opening a new international railroad conne [...]

Donald Trump claims he is the master of the deal. But when it comes to Iran, it is the art of no deal. The reasons the American president withdrew from the nuclear deal ranged from lies and disinformation to outright political propaganda. Trump claims he has made America safer – a dubious claim. Closer to the truth is probably an attempted forced regime change in Iran. CrossTalking with Mohammad [...]

A Ukrainian politician took the phrase crying over spilt milk to a whole new level when he pulled out a gun on a disruptive right-wing gang and fired warning shots, during a city council meeting. The incident reportedly happened on Friday in the city of Nikopol, when thugs from the extremist, nationalist Right Sector group stormed the city council meeting, demanding a change in the administration. [...]

Meeting with Donald Trump would be pointless because the deep state – not the president – controls the US, Bashar Assad said in an interview. He noted that the agenda of the deep state is to create conflict aimed against Russia. In an exclusive interview with Athens daily Kathimerini, Assad said there was no reason to meet face-to-face with Trump, since the US president “says something today [...]

German magazine Der Spiegel has released its new issue, with a cover featuring Donald Trump on a middle finger, flipping the bird. It comes just days after the US angered Europe by walking away from the Iran nuclear deal. Reaction from EU officials is still pouring in since Trump announced his decision earlier this week, so it didn’t take long before the cover was retweeted by French Ambassador [...]

I have written and spoken extensively about the agenda behind the unfolding global financial crisis and here I will expose the coordinating force, or at least the prime one, behind that agenda and so much else, including 9/11. It is widely known as Zionism or, as I call it, more accurately, I suggest … Rothschild Zionism. I add the ‘Rothschild’ to constantly emphasise the true creators of [...]

Washington and London's attempts to isolate Russia through sanctions and smear campaigns have largely failed, foreign policy analyst Rakesh Krishnan Simha told Sputnik, explaining what is behind Britain’s latest effort to deepen the anti-Russia alliance over Moscow's response to the Skripal and Douma cases. [...]

Russia has decided not to participate in the increase in the World Bank's lending capacity and with good reason, analysts told Sputnik, suggesting that it doesn't seem logical for Moscow to fund the institution amid the US-led sanctions spree aimed against Russia. The World Bank's assets are being directed to fund reforms beneficial to transnational corporations, including those from the US, Va [...]

The Syrian Army, backed by the wider coalition of government forces, has made sweeping gains in Damascus in recent months, liberating the entire East Ghouta region via operation Damascus Steel, and recovering chunks of territory in south Damascus, where the Daesh* terror organization maintains a presence. [...]

Donald Trump’s trashing of the Iran nuclear deal this week was not just an attack on Iranian sovereign interests. The US president was also poking European allies in the eye. In abruptly withdrawing the US from the international nuclear treaty, Trump warned that his administration was preparing to re-impose harsh sanctions on Tehran, and that those sanctions would also hit European commercial in [...]

While Washington is challenging the multipolar world with unilateral actions, Europe has vowed to challenge its hegemony. However, it has not enough character and political will to fit the role, former UK MP George Galloway says. The US decision to pull out from the long-weaved nuclear deal with Iran prompted the EU to consider replacing its overseas ally “as an international actor.” [...]

Donald ‘Art of the Deal’ Trump demonstrated he can make ‘em as well as break ‘em by pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal. Of course, he risks causing more chaos in the Middle East, but that is what US presidents tend to do. Perhaps the most shocking thing is the level of surprise there appeared to be at Trump’s decision, as if nothing like this has ever happened before. [...]

The US should be held accountable for the death of civilians in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Yemen, Yemeni journalist Hussain Albukhaiti told RT. As he spoke, he held up a US-made cluster bomb he said was found by children. The journalist spoke about the most recent airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition in the Hamdan district of Sanaa that killed six civilians and injured another six. [...]

The European Union has moved to protect the interests of its companies that do business in Iran, following the United States decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal. President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US was withdrawing from the landmark pact unleashed a wave of criticism from the international community. Now the EU has threatened to take the US to the World Trade Organizatio [...]