Author: Steven Sahiounie

By:Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator There is indication that the P5+1 (US, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany) will agree to a new nuclear deal.The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell traveled to Tehran and succeeded in gaining a resumption of indirect talks between the US and Iran in Qatar.Trade between Iran and the EU reached $5.07 billion in 2021, up 9 percent compared to the previous year. The war in Ukraine has caused the EU to urgently seek the Iran nuclear deal. Borrell said in May, “We Europeans will be very much beneficiaries from this (nuclear) deal, the…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator aThe UN Security Council has agreed to extend a system for cross-border aid to Idlib, Syria until January 2023. The US and its allies had demanded a year-long extension, but Russia used its veto on Friday. UN and other NGO aid delivery trucks will cross from Turkey into Syria at the Bab al Hawa crossing. The system has been in place since 2014, but expired on Sunday. At stake are daily supplies for about 2 million people in the northwestern Idlib region of Syria. According to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The battlefields in Syria are quiet, but the conflict is far from resolution. Despite the lack of focus on Syria by the US, EU and NATO, there are still developments in the region and among the various players. Resolving the Syrian conflict seems to be on the back-burner of the Biden administration, and yet the US President will soon visit the Middle East. What new developments are brewing in Syria?  To answer that question, Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Basma Qaddour, a Syrian journalist, co-author of “Voices from Syria” book, and head of the…

The American troops transited a batch of 45 oil tankers plundered to their military bases in Iraq. The US continued to plunder Syrian oil from the al-Jazeera area, as its forces brought out tens of tankers loaded with fat and vehicles carrying military equipment from Syrian territory towards Iraqi territory through illegitimate crossings in the Hasaka countryside, Syrian official News Agency, SANA reported on Thursday. A convoy consisting of 35 vehicles, including 20 tankers, loaded with stolen oil from the oil wells occupied by the US occupation forces in al-Jazeera, in several covered trucks and refrigerators, headed through the illegal…

A US Minotaur II+ rocket has blown up during a test launch at a Space Force base in California A US Minotaur II+ rocket exploded just 11 seconds after being fired from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base late Wednesday night, officials confirmed on Thursday. The explosion caused a fire, though no injuries were reported at the base. The Minotaur’s space launch vehicle was being tested ahead of plans to replace the US’ aging Minuteman missiles in its ICBM arsenal. Specifically, it will be used with the LGM-35A Sentinel missile, which is currently under development. The launch was intended to be…

The US-led coalition and its proxy, the Revolutionary Commando Army (MaT), have held a joint live-fire exercise in the southeastern Syrian area of al-Tanf where they maintain a large garrison. On July 6, MaT released photos from the joint exercise which saw US troops firing a number of precision-guided M30/M31 series GMLRS rockets from M142 HIMARS [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System] launchers. At least four HIMARS launchers are currently deployed at al-Tanf garrison. The system can fire GMLRS rockets, which have a range of 70 kilometers, as well as the MGM-140 ATACMS tactical ballistic missile that has a rage of…

On Thursday, Boris Johnson announced that he was stepping down as leader of the Conservative Party Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will lose an ally who has always provided unwavering support to Kiev with the departure of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, international commentator Daigo Oliva wrote in the Folha de Sao Paolo newspaper on Thursday. “Whoever becomes the new British prime minister, it is highly unlikely that the UK’s stance will change but Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is losing an ally who expressed support practically without any qualms,” he wrote. The analyst reiterated that Johnson, being one of the most…

The arms sent to Ukraine using the money of taxpayers in the United States, United Kingdom, and elsewhere are being used to line the pockets of the Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine is selling weapons it acquired from the West on the black market due to the Kiev forces’ limited ability to use them because of their lack of training, logistical challenges, and the diminishing size of the Ukrainian armed forces, former senior Pentagon adviser Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik on Thursday. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu previously said the arms supplied by the West to Ukraine were ending up on the black market and spreading across…

The heads of the United Kingdom and the United States’ domestic intelligence services raised alarms about Chinese “economic espionage” in a rare joint address in London. Ken McCallum, the director of the UK’s MI5, said on Wednesday that the Chinese government’s “covert pressure across the globe” amounts to “the most game-changing challenge we face”, while Chris Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), warned Western firms that Beijing was determined to steal their technology for competitive gain, Al Jazeera reported. China immediately rejected the accusations as “groundless”, labelling them an attempt to “smear” its political system. McCallum…

The Israeli regime launched a military attack targeting a southern Syrian town near the Tel Aviv-occupied side of the Golan Heights, reportedly killing a Syrian soldier. The individual, identified as Farid Fuad Mustafa, was targeted in an area near his house in the village of Hader near Quneitra Province on Wednesday, Syrian and Arab state media reported. The 46-year-old soldier was said to be a member of the Syrian army. While initial reports said that Mustafa died in an Israeli drone strike, Syria’s official SANA broadcaster said he was killed by a “guided missile” fired from an Israeli military site…