Author: Steven Sahiounie

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said on Monday, that Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi will ask France during his upcoming visit to France to buy weapons from them.The minister said that “there is a French desire to strengthen relations with Iraq, matched by an Iraqi desire to strengthen relations with them.”Hussein added that “there are economic projects that have been put forward and have obtained initial approval, so that French companies implement these projects in order to help Iraq, and they are projects that deal with infrastructure, services, and others that deal with the energy and oil sector, in addition to…

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday announced sanctions against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for allegedly defying the United Nations arms embargo imposed on Iran.“We’re also sanctioning the previous president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro,” Pompeo said in a press conference. “For nearly two years, corrupt officials in Tehran had worked with the illegitimate regime in Venezuela to flout the UN arms embargo.”Venezuela has increased ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran in recent months due to increased sanctions against both countries.Iraq also supplies Venezuela with fuel, engineers and other material to help the country bridge its fuel crisis at…

In an article in the National Interest magazine, the American military expert, Chris Osborne, evaluated the United States’ chances in the event of a ground war with Russia.The writer pointed out that the Russian armed forces have 12,000 tanks, which is twice what the United States has, stating that the data presents several possibilities in a wide-scale ground war.The expert considered that the prediction of the likely outcome of the collision is complicated by the absence of data on the technical modernization of the T-72B tanks.Osborne also stressed that Russia is a great land power, and the United States has…

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin expressed Ankara’s wish to hold a conference for the Mediterranean countries on energy, pointing out that his country is ready to cooperate with Egypt and Israel in the energy field despite differences with them.“We welcome the Mediterranean conference on energy, and our political differences with Israel and Egypt do not constitute an obstacle to cooperation with them in the field of energy,” Kalin said in an interview with the Turkish “Demir Oren” agency .He said, “(Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan will raise again during his meeting with (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel and the President of…

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that “canceling the sanctions will pave the way for the export of military equipment,” stressing that Iran is self-sufficient and does not need abroad to meet its armament needs.The Commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Space Forces, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said on the sidelines of the ceremony honoring one million veteran fighters participating in the sacred defense phase, as reported by Tasnim Agency, that “the program of the Islamic Republic of Iran will not witness any change from the previous one. Today, we are self-sufficient and if restrictions are lifted, the way…

Twenty-five Afghan policemen have been killed while attempting to escape the Taliban siege in the central province of Uruzgan, a source in the Gizab district told Sputnik on Monday.The heavy fighting has been ongoing in the district for several days, with the Taliban having seized a number of nearby areas. The confrontation comes against the backdrop of Kabul-Taliban peace talks, which started in Qatar on September 12.“Last night [late on Sunday], policemen wanted to get out of the encirclement of Taliban in the ‘Kandogak’ area of Gizab district and tried to escape the Taliban siege but on the way they…

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif will visit Moscow on September 24 and have a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Zamir Kabulov, the head of the Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department and special presidential representative for Afghanistan, told Sputnik on Monday.“Yes, he [Zarif] is coming. His consultations with Sergey Lavrov are planned for September 24,” Kabulov said.“They will discuss the usual issues — bilateral relations, Syria, JCPOA, other regional issues,” he added.According to Kabulov, the ministers will discuss potential lifting of arms embargo.Source: Sputnik

The United States has not launched the procedure for reinstating the UN sanctions on Iran, which is envisioned by the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, and therefore any further unilateral restrictions against Tehran will be illegitimate, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told Sputnik in an interview.On Saturday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that all the previously scrapped UN sanctions against Iran were being reinstated after the US triggered a 30-day snapback mechanism under Resolution 2231.“The regime of Iran sanctions was canceled five years ago when the [UN Security] Council adopted Resolution 2231, which means any…

The Russian side of the Russian-Turkish commission monitoring the implementation of the Syrian truce has recorded five ceasefire violations in the country in the past 24 hours, while the Turkish side has registered no breaches, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.“The Russian side of the Russian-Turkish commission reviewing issues related to violations of the ceasefire has registered five cases of firing in the provinces of Aleppo (3), Latakia (1) and Idlib (1). The Turkish side has registered no cases of firing,” the ministry said in its daily bulletin.In addition, the Russian military has held humanitarian operations in the village…

On Monday, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense announced that the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border has been tense and led to the death of an Azerbaijani soldier as a result of mutual exchange of hostilities.According to the statement of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, an exchange of fire with the Armenian forces resulted in the death of the soldier.The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense also accused the Armenian forces of opening fire on his country’s forces.They said, “As a result of another provocation of the enemy in the direction of Tovuz on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Sergeant of the Azerbaijani army,…