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If a visitor from Mars observed press coverage of President Donald Trump Middle East peace negotiations, he would have heard an amazing tale about Donald Trump’s incompetence and futility of his efforts. The most experienced negotiator, John Kerry, declared in 2016 "There will be no separate peace between Israel and the Arab world…. No. No, no, and no." In April 2016 Harvard Business Review wrote, “The Donald Trump approach to negotiation would be not only ineffective but also disastrous.” In October 2019 The Atlantic posted an article “Trump’s Middle East Policy Is a Fraud.” Infamous for its foresight, especially when...

For decades, the Iranian government has avoided judicial accountability as the No. 1 nation-state sponsor of international terrorism. This will end on November 27, 2020 in Antwerp, when Belgium’s criminal court commences proceedings against senior Iranian diplomat, Assadollah Assadi. In June 2018, as third secretary in the Iranian Embassy in Vienna, Assadi delivered over half a kilo of Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) to Iranian sleeper agents in Luxembourg. TATP is a high explosive used in bombs, suicide attacks, and improvised explosive devices.The target was a major international gathering near Paris, in support of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)....

In apparent retaliation for the execution of the reportedly innocent Iranian champion wrestler Navid Afkari, assailants on Sunday fire bombed the entrance of the revolutionary court in the city of Shiraz that sentenced him to death. Video footage of the reported explosion was posted on social media on Sunday. The Iranian regime-controlled news outlet IRNA confirmed the attack on Sunday. “According to a report received by IRNA on Monday, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Shiraz announced the firing of incendiary materials in front of the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Shiraz. The complex is in good health and...

Senior editor of Saudi online paper Arab News, Siraj Wahab, has just tweeted that Egyptian ships forced Iranian retreat from Bab Al-Mandab strait near the Port of Aden. A statement issued by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated that Egypt is coordinating with Saudi Arabia, together with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the participation of its Air Force, Navy, and ground forces, should it prove necessary. However, it should be noted that Iran threatened Saudi Arabia today (Thursday), announcing that its foray into Yemen would end up costing it dearly.

Interview By: Peter Tase Vakilabad Prison is located in the city of Mashhad in eastern Iran. This prison has reportedly been the site of hundreds of secret executions carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Not only have the executions taken place secretly, but neither the prisoners nor their families were informed prior to their execution. Mr. Ahmed Shaheed, the former UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, has documented more than 300 secret executions in Vakilabad during the past years. Vakilabad Prison is massively overcrowded, which puts the prisoners under severe pressure, with many of...

Iran’s state television reported Tuesday night that a fire broke out at a large dairy factory near the capital, Tehran, the latest in a series of fires and explosions, some of which hit sensitive sites. Video clips showing the huge fire erupting around the two-story facility were posted on Twitter. The Mihan Dairy & Ice Cream company belongs to the Mihan Food Industries Group, located 22 km. From Tehran on Saveh Rd., was established in 1974 and today has a 65% market share for ice cream and 50% market share for UHT (Ultra-high-temperature processing) Milk.

The first clearance of rubble and explosives around the Al Tahera Catholic Church in Mosul has been completed paving the way for reconstruction to begin, the UN’s cultural agency said on Thursday. The church was severely damaged by ISIS during the bloody internationally-backed Iraqi government battle to wrest the northern Iraqi city back from the militants. Launched under the Reviving the Spirit of Mosul programme that aims to restore the shattered city, the agency aims to rebuild Mosul’s historic landmarks. The reconstruction of the Al Tahera Church as well as several other religious sites – including the famous Al...

Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is King of Saudi Arabia He is 84 years old and said to be in ill health. Social media mill grinding out the rumours he is in critical condition. https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1307847955639083008

Keane said that, in addition to enforcing sanctions and ending the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Trump’s brokering the restoration of diplomatic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is a game change dramatically against the mullahs,” Keane said. “This is not just a historical event. It’s a geopolitical paradigm shift.” “I think the steps the United States took this week – and that is, we are finally going to put together a political, economic and military alliance with the countries in the Middle East to confront Iran,” Keane told Breitbart News. “That I think is the most significant political...

ISIS militants have taken over paradise islands in the Indian Ocean, burning down hotels and imposing Sharia Law. Luxury islands off the coast of Mozambique, where A-list celebrities spend their holidays, have been overrun by insurgents linked to Islamic State. Luxury hotels, wildlife, and homes have been torched and "reduced to ashes" in the militant attacks. The ISIS insurgents have ordered residents to abandon the islands of Vamizi and Mecungo - where celebrities like Daniel Craig, Bono and Prince Albert of Monaco have holidayed in luxury. Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and political leader Nelson Mandela have also been known to have...

Call it a new 'Great Game' or war for hearts and minds, or just influence peddling, but Iran and Turkey are now engaged in greater efforts to expand their role in Africa. This comes as Russia and China are also extending networks on the continent. It is important to understand that this is in the context of the US generally reducing its global role and comes around 60 years after European colonialism was rolled back. The increasing footprint of Iran and Turkey have caused concern for other states that view their role as belligerent. That means that Gulf media is...

Unsealing of Indictments, Sanctions Designations, and Technical Indicator Releases Have Occurred Throughout the Week Starting on Sept. 14, 2020 and continuing through today, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of the Treasury have engaged in a coordinated effort to disrupt and deter malicious cyber activities by actors associated with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s (Iran) Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as other Iran-based individuals.  These malicious cyber actors targeted victims in Australia, Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and...

For decades, foreign policy experts—the blob—assumed much about the Middle East that has turned out to be completely wrong. It’s been remarkable to watch the mainstream press and official Washington try to downplay the significance of the peace deal the Trump administration brokered between Israel and two Arab states this week.The signing of the Abraham Accords on Tuesday between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain at the White House, which for the first time normalized relations between Israel and the two Persian Gulf states, is by any measure historic. It’s been 26 years since any Arab state recognized Israel,...

With Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain signing a historic treaty at the White House on Tuesday, the Washington Free Beacon looks back on predictions of Middle East turmoil when the Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2018. Although critics such as former secretary of state John Kerry proclaimed at the time that the rejection of Palestinian claims to the city would stymie peace efforts in the Middle East or lead to violence, the UAE and Bahrain announced they would formally recognize Israel and establish diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. President Donald Trump and Israeli prime...

"Oftentimes, Christian pastors will be arrested and given long prison sentences for 'crimes against the national security,'" Christianheadlines.com reports. "If you open up your doors to a house church in Iran, then your home could be frequently raided and monitored; and if you do happen to go to prison, the prison situation there is appalling." Yet Christianity in the hotbed of Islamic terrorism is quickly approaching the seven-digit mark. "[The number of Christians in Iran is] without doubt in the order of magnitude of several hundreds of thousands and growing beyond a million," the Netherlands-based GAMAAN research group reports from...

Iran is becoming more secular Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution was a defining event that changed how we think about the relationship between religion and modernity. Ayatollah Khomeini’s mass mobilisation of Islam showed that modernisation by no means implies a linear process of religious decline. Reliable large-scale data on Iranians’ post-revolutionary religious beliefs, however, has always been lacking. Over the years, research and waves of protests and crackdowns indicated massive disappointment among Iranians with their political system. This steadily turned into a deeply felt disillusionment with institutional religion. In June 2020, our research institute, the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes...

Iran is allegedly mulling over an attempt to assassinate the United States’ ambassador to South Africa as retaliation for the American drone attack earlier this year that killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force. The news of Tehran’s purported plans was first reported by Politico, who spoke with one official familiar with the issue and another official who has seen the intelligence. If Iran does attempt to carry out the assassination, it would severely ratchet up the already tense relations between Washington and Tehran, along with giving the Trump administration impetus to retaliate.

23:05 27.06.2019(updated 23:38 27.06.2019) According to Iraqi security officials, the Bahraini embassy in Baghdad was stormed Thursday by protesters who disapprove of Bahrain's hosting of a US-led peace conference aimed at securing an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Images on Facebook show protesters in and around the Gulf island nation's diplomatic compound in Baghdad Thursday evening, carrying Palestinian flags and burning US and Israeli flags. They were reportedly particularly angry at the Bahraini foreign minister's interview with an Israeli television station about the conference. Video filmed on a cellphone outside the embassy showed protesters waving large Palestinian flags atop the...

Iran launched dozens of rockets at Israel yesterday, causing little damage thanks to Israel's missile defense system. In retaliation, Israel targeted Iran's ability to operate in Syria. While this military confrontation is huge news, a Twitter message from an Arab diplomat may prove comparably important.On Thursday, Bahrain diplomat Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa declared that the state of Israel has a right to defend itself against the Islamic Republic of Iran. "As long as Iran has breached the status quo in the region and has evacuated its troops and missiles, any state in the region, including Israel, is entitled...

Dramatic Break With Arab Precedent Follows Iranian Missile Assault Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa (far right) with fellow Arab foreign ministers in Cairo in July 2017. Photo: Reuters / Khaled Elfiqi. The foreign minister of Bahrain on Thursday issued an unusually forthright defense of Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself, hours after Iranian forces in Syria aimed a barrage of missiles at the Jewish state, inviting a wave of Israeli air strikes in response. “As long as Iran has breached the status quo in the region and invaded countries with its forces and missiles, any state in the...