Free Republic

Iraq offered to mediate in the crisis between its two key allies, the United States and Iran, amid escalating Middle East tensions and as Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers steadily unravels. Iraqi foreign minister, Mohammed al-Hakim, made the offer Sunday during a joint news conference in Baghdad with visiting Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif. "We are trying to help and to be mediators," said al-Hakim, adding that Baghdad "will work to reach a satisfactory solution" while stressing that Iraq stands against unilateral steps taken by Washington.

By: Hassan. Mahmoudi After the nationwide uprising started in Iran in Dec.2017 the US – Iran relation entered into a new phase of escalation, and now perhaps more so than ever, US relations concerns about Iran dominate the American media and policy-making discussions. The United States has a set of policies to change Iran’s behavior In his first speech as secretary of state, Pompeo declared that Iran must withdraw all its forces from Syria, stop supporting its allies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen. It must halt production of long-range missiles, stop uranium enrichment allowed under the nuclear agreement,...

"I would like to sincerely apologise for not being able to continue my service and for all my shortcomings during my service," he wrote on Instagram on Monday night. On Tuesday morning, he urged fellow diplomats not to follow his lead and suggested that he had resigned because he felt he had been sidelined. "I hope my resignation will act as a spur for the foreign ministry to regain its proper statutory role in the conduct of foreign affairs," he said. He was also quoted by the centrist newspaper Jomhuri Eslami as saying in an interview that political infighting was...

Palestinian arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction has been submitted as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. Fatah spokesperson Fayez Abu Aita announced Barghouti's name was submitted for the Nobel Peace Prize by Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina, who won the Nobel Prize back in 1980 for his human rights work. "This is a victory for the struggle of our people and an expression of the deep faith in the justice of the Palestinian issue and the legitimacy of the international Palestinian struggle to return the rights of our people," said Abu Aita....

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif calls it “laughable” that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has become everybody’s nonproliferation guru.” “He’s sitting on 400 warheads, nuclear warheads, acquired in violation of the NPT (non-proliferation treaty),” to which Israel isn’t a party, he tells an audience at New York University. Zarif says that the greatest threat to global security is nuclear weapons possessed by the P5+1 world powers, and next is Israel’s nuclear weapons. He says that he would welcome Saudi Arabia having the same arrangements and enrichment program as Iran under the NPT. “It’s their right.”

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's foreign minister has been told by the country's supreme leader to control his temper during nuclear talks with Western diplomats, Iranian media reported Saturday. Mohammad Javad Zarif admitted that he has often raised his voice during meetings with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry - sometimes so much their bodyguards would enter the room to make sure everything was all right. Zarif said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran, told him to speak softly and with a smile - the same as he would in public. Zarif said...

With Washington pressure rising, secretary of state heads to Vienna next week as target date for agreement on curbing Tehran atomic program nears America’s top diplomat is plunging back into Iranian nuclear talks, keeping one eye on the longtime US adversary and the other on political developments at home, as pressure rises in Washington for a deal ensuring the Islamic Republic cannot become a nuclear state. The prospect of a Republican takeover of the Senate means Secretary of State John Kerry will be on a tight leash with a late-November deadline approaching for an agreement. Kerry, European Union negotiator Catherine...