Hong Kong protests About two million citizens of Hong Kong last Sunday marched in protest against the expansion of Chinese power in the former British colony. Protesters filled the city center and marched to the office of the head of the local administration, Carrie Lam. Hong Kongers are protesting the signing of an extradition treaty to China for suspected criminals. ...
Recently President Donald Trump, while in Tokyo, said that he would support Shinzo Abe’s efforts to mediate between Iran and the US. Trump also said: “I know that the prime minister and Japan have a very good relationship with Iran so we’ll see what happens.” He added: “Washington was not interested in regime change in Iran. I’m looking to Iran ...
The results of the European Parliamentary elections held earlier this month astonished the world. Nationalist and populist parties rose to unprecedented levels, their dramatic increase in votes showing that European people are looking for more empowered and sovereign governance at home. This approach could profoundly affect Iran, which will have to carefully develop relations with the new European Parliament. Wikimedia ...
European Parliament elections The elections for the European parliament took place this weekend. According to the results, the European People’s Party won 179 seats, and the EP’s second largest faction, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, won 150. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe came in third with 107 mandates, followed by the “Greens” with 70 and ...
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has come up with a proposal for the Persian Gulf states to sign a nonaggression pact in the wake of mounting tensions in the region. He voiced this initiative in Baghdad on May 25 as he met with the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Mohamed Ali al-Hakim. He also stressed Teheran’s aspirations for having the best ...
Saudi Foreign Ministry demands that the world community take tough stance on Iran and prevent it from ‘spreading chaos’. Adel Al-Jubeir, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister said Iran could eliminate the risks of a war in the region by observing international law, stopping interference in the internal affairs of regional countries, dropping support of terrorist groupings, and abandoning its nuclear/missile programs. ...
The twelfth round of the Syria negotiations (the so-called “Astana format”) was held in Kazakhstan`s capital Nur-Sultan. On Thursday, the Ritz Carlton hosted a closed meetings of participants. Delegations from Russia, Turkey and Iran (the guarantors of the “Astana” process) held intensive talks in a bilateral and trilateral format. Representatives of Damascus, the Syrian opposition and the special envoy of ...
Donald Trump said via Twitter that it was time for the USA to «fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and regional stability». Between the 5th and 10th of June 1967, during a war called the Six-Day War, Israel occupied 1200 Square kilometers of the western ...
One of the most complicated debates among politicians and economists in Iran is whether or not the country should join the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)… but what is the FATF and why has it become the center of such an important dispute? The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the Ministers of G7 countries (US, France, ...
The reasons for Saudi Arabia’s gravitation toward Israel Iran and Saudi Arabia have experienced a great deal of tension in their relations in recent years. These tensions started with the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr (a Shia cleric who opposed the Saudi regime) and peaked when a number of Iranian Anti-Saudi protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Following these ...