Author: Steven Sahiounie

After importing all types of armaments and equipment for years, Iran has been increasingly switching toward the domestic production of military wares presenting new achievements of its defence industry almost every year. Iranian naval forces have tested newly acquired land-to-sea and sea-to-sea cruise missiles. This occurred during the so-called “Ramadan Martyrs” drills conducted in the Sea of Oman and in the northern part of the Indian Ocean. The missiles, the newest product of the Iranian defence industry, were fired from ground-based launchers and from the Iranian Navy’s warships, successfully hitting their designated targets around 280 kilometres away. The military said…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised by 1 July to start unilaterally extending the Jewish state’s sovereignty over one third of the West Bank, an area offered to Tel Aviv as part of the so-called Deal of the Century introduced by US President Donald Trump on 28 January, an offer strongly rejected by the Palestinians. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, warned on Thursday that Israel’s plans to expand its sovereignty on lands in the West Bank are considered an “unprecedented danger” to the peace process in the region and could potentially trigger a “long and violent” conflict.…

Iran regrets that the resolution, adopted earlier on Friday by the IAEA’s Board of Governors, was introduced by three European signatories to the nuclear deal, namely France, Germany and the UK, as they themselves have produced no concrete action to implement their obligations under the agreement, Gharib Abadi said. “It is also a deep regret that this resolution was presented by the three European States which have not taken any concrete practical step in the implementation of their obligations under the JCPOA. These lacks of willingness or inability to take practical actions in this regard, along with the unilateral, illegal…

At the beginning of the year the Iraqi parliament voted in favour of a plan that would end the US military presence in the country. The vote came in response to the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in the capital Baghdad. The move received harsh condemnation from the international community. Iraq doesn’t want a quick withdrawal of US troops, said General Kenneth F McKenzie, head of United States Central Command, which oversees US operations in Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East. The statement was made on 18 June during an…

The statement comes ahead of the publication of former US National Security Adviser John Bolton’s memoir detailing his work in the Trump administration. In some excerpts of the book, obtained by US media, Bolton claims Trump is easily influenced by foreign leaders. Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot play Donald Trump “as a fiddle” as he does not regard his US colleague as an easily manipulated politician, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a statement on Friday. “Putin has repeatedly voiced his opinion about Trump in numerous interviews”, Peskov added. The Kremlin spokesman’s statement comes in response to claims made in the…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The Kurdish National Unity Parties (PYNK), a newly-established umbrella group consisting of 25 parties, was formed on May 20 to support the Kurdish unity talks, which have resulted in a “common political vision” on governance and partnership following a series of US-backed talks.  The statement released on June 17 by all parties is the culmination of talks which first began in October 2019, and are based on the 2014 Duhok Agreement, in which the parties reached a power-sharing compromise, but the agreement was never implemented. Talks will continue until a final agreement on matters related to…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Lebanon was founded in 1920, after the end of WW1.  Lebanon was formed from part of Syria, and the Lebanese and the Syrian people share ethnicity, history, culture, religion, and geography.  However, Lebanon has a distinctive culture of its own. Some of the problems in Lebanon today are caused by the US sanctions on Lebanon, and the interference of the US Embassy in Lebanon.  The US is waging an economic proxy-war on the Lebanese people because of the resistance movement in Lebanon.  In what can only be termed ‘collective punishment’, the Lebanese residents are…

Stock markets in Europe opened lower on Monday after their Asian peers sank amid new coronavirus concerns. The negative sentiment comes after Wall Street suffered its worst weekly performance in nearly three months. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei shed over three percent, making it one of the worst performers in Asia as the week began. South Korea’s Kospi fell even lower, losing more than four percent. Chinese stocks were mostly down, with the Shanghai Composite shedding around one percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined around two percent. Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific, both S&P/ASX 200 in Australia and India’s Mumbai Sensex…

Large-scale protests in the US are a result of deep-seated problems in society, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, noting that tensions have been developing since the Democrats’ failure to accept defeat to Donald Trump. “What has happened is a manifestation of some deep-seated internal crises in that country,” Putin said about the massive and often violent protests against police brutality, which engulfed the US after African American man, George Floyd, died during his arrest in Minneapolis in late May. Things have been like that in America “for a long time,” since Donald Trump became president in 2016, the Russian leader said…

In response to the new coronavirus outbreak connected to Xinfadi wholesale market in Beijing, the city has introduced strict quarantine measures in 10 neighborhoods in Haidian District. For the second day in a row, after months of almost no new Covid-19 cases, China has reported dozens of new locally-transmitted infections – including 36 in Beijing, where a new cluster was discovered several days ago. The new outbreak in the capital was linked to a large food market, Xinfadi, which was promptly shut down on Saturday, along with several other markets in the area, as well as schools and kindergartens. Mass screening…