The US, Iran and the Middle East

US President Donald Trump delivers the commencement address at the 2020 US Military Academy Graduation Ceremony at West Point, New York, on June 13, 2020. (AFP photo)

US President Donald Trump, facing criticism in recent days for plans to withdraw thousands of US troops from Germany, told West Point's graduating class on Saturday that their job will be to defend “America’s vital interests” and not fight “endless wars” in faraway lands.

Russia hosts Zarif, promises to stand by Iran on nuclear deal

Russia has promised to stand by its ally, Iran, amid tensions over Tehran's nuclear programme as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in Moscow.



Lavrov said on Tuesday Russia would do "everything" to preserve a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that started to unravel two years ago when the US renounced it and reimposed sanctions on Tehran...

Europe Seeks Way Around a Diplomatic Clash With U.S. Over Iran

As the U.S. and other world powers hurtle toward a confrontation over the Iran nuclear accord, European diplomats are trying to forge a compromise to save the deal from collapse by proposing a limited extension of the arms embargo on Tehran...

The compromise pursued by French, German and British diplomats aims to constrain enough of the potential arms trade with Iran to satisfy the Trump administration while limiting the scope or duration of the arms ban to placate Russia and China, at least to the point where they would abstain in a Security Council vote, according to diplomats familiar with discussions...

Europe tells U.S.: we won't back unilateral Iran sanctions snapback

PARIS (Reuters) - Britain, France and Germany said on Friday they would not back U.S. efforts to unilaterally trigger the reimposition of United Nations sanctions on Iran, but said they wanted talks with Tehran over its ongoing violations of a 2015 nuclear accord...

Iran slams U.N. nuclear watchdog resolution, says it worked with body

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Friday blasted a resolution by the U.N. nuclear watchdog IAEA, saying Tehran has cooperated with the body, in a statement by state media...

The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors called on Iran in the resolution earlier on Friday to stop denying the agency access to two suspected former sites and to cooperate fully with it, diplomats attending the meeting said.

Shock without Success: Effects and Effectiveness of Economic Sanctions on Iran

Kevan Harris, University of California, Los Angeles

Given the costs borne from US-led economic sanctions starting in 2011, the Islamic Republic of Iran mothballed what had arguably been the most expensive nuclear enrichment program in the world in 2015. Yet what did an economic shock in the form of externally-imposed sanctions actually accomplish? After the signing and ratification of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between the Iranian government and the five
permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany in July 2015, the discrete impact of US-led sanctions on Iran’s decision-making process leading up to the JCPOA remained under debate, even by those involved in the negotiations. “Sanctions was always a conundrum,” Germany’s ambassador to the United States reflected. “Do the sanctions work, do they not work? We could never really tell” (Parsi 2017, 129-130)...

Iran says it's ready for talks if U.S. apologises over nuclear pact

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran would be open to talks with the United States if Washington apologises for exiting a 2015 nuclear deal and compensates Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, cautioning that U.S. calls for discussions were insincere...

U.S. sanctions five Iranian ship captains for bringing oil to Venezuela: Pompeo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on five Iranian ship captains who had delivered oil to Venezuela, and the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed Washington’s backing for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido...

U.S. warns Russia, China of U.N. isolation if Iran arms ban extension blocked

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia and China will be isolated at the United Nations if they continue down the “road to dystopia” by blocking a U.S. bid to extend a weapons ban on Iran, U.S. Iran envoy Brian Hook told Reuters ahead of his formal pitch of the embargo to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday...

Syrian army says Israel hits several bases across country

AMMAN (Reuters) - The Syrian army responded to Israeli strikes on southern, central and eastern Syria in which two soldiers were killed, the army said on Tuesday in what military defectors and intelligence sources said was a wave of raids that targeted Iranian bases...

Trial Exposes Iran-Saudi Battle in Europe

ROSKILDE, Denmark—A court here sentenced a Norwegian-Iranian man to seven years in prison for espionage and plotting the assassination of an Iranian dissident with suspected links to Saudi Arabia, a fresh twist in a contest between two Middle East rivals that has spread into Europe.

Mohammad Davoudzadeh Loloei was arrested in 2018 for spying on a group of Iranian exiles in Denmark who had claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in Iran, and for passing on information about its leader to an Iranian intelligence service that allegedly planned to kill him. The men he targeted were themselves arrested in Denmark earlier this year on charges of spying for Saudi Arabia. They have pleaded not guilty...

Danish police say Riyadh paid the Iranian dissident group some $3 million to provide the intelligence. The group, known as the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz, or Asmla, is also charged with fundraising for separatist Arab, Baluch and Kurdish groups in Iran, with the purpose of committing attacks against the Iranian state.

Events leading up to the Denmark trial date to September 2018, when a terrorist attack struck a military parade in southwestern Iran, killing dozens of Revolutionary Guard members and civilians. The spokesman for Asmla in Denmark initially praised the attack and claimed responsibility, which he later retracted...