Russia

Less than a week after Ali Shamkhani returned to Tehran, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi announced that representatives of the Taliban had visited Tehran and that the Afghan government was aware of the visit.

US President Donald J. Trump’s late October announcement that Washington intends to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia, coupled with his personal distaste for arms control treaties and multilateral agreements, his interest in massive arms sales (especially to the autocratic Middle Eastern monarchies) and his perceived efforts to undermine NATO and the European Union (EU), have deepened the rift between Washington and Brussels and have prompted Europe to take steps toward the creation of a joint European army.

Key political events of July 2018

Trump and Putin met on the 16th of July in Helsinki. The meeting was held amidst a complex political background: just several days after the NATO summit (where Trump criticized Germany for collaboration with Russia) and his visit to UK, where he tried to establish the new anglo-saxon economical axis, including criticizing Theresa May’s lack of commitment to fulfilling the terms of Brexit negotiations.