Author: Steven Sahiounie

The incident comes amid ongoing tensions between Washington and Tehran in the Persian Gulf region, which began last year with mysterious sabotage attacks against several oil tankers off the Emirati coast. Iranian cargo ship the Behbahan has sunk in Iraq’s territorial waters, Maritime Safety and Port Protection Organization director Nader Pasandeh confirmed Friday. One crew member of the ship is said to have died in the incident, with two others missing, and four people rescued, the official said, as cited by Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency. The two missing persons include one Iranian and one Indian national. According to Pasandeh, the…

Ordinary Syrians are the ones who are most deeply harmed by the “illegal and inhumane” sanctions administered by the United States and the European Union against Damascus, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Friday. “The most negative consequences of the sanctions will be on the Syrian people and ordinary citizens,” Mousavi said, as quoted by the official Tehran-based IRNA news agency. Mousavi called on the US and the EU to lift all restrictions against Damascus and also expressed Iran’s support for the Syrian government and people. On 28 May, the EU Council extended restrictions against the Syrian government…

Earlier on Friday, Prague announced the expulsion of two Russian diplomats amid allegations of a plot to bring ricin poison to the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic will face a proportional response to the expulsion of two Russian embassy employees, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday. Prague acted dishonourably and unworthily, taking this unfriendly step, the ministry’s statement says. Moscow added that Prague’s actions in relation to the expelled Russians would be taken into account while deciding on Russia’s policy towards the Czech Republic. Prague announced earlier in the day that it was expelling two Russian diplomats over reports that a Russian…

Facebook says it plan to label media outlets which it says are “government-run”. But Facebook said it would not label any US media outlets because it believes they all have editorial independence. Is that true? In an interview on Thursday, 4 June, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said the California-based social media giant would begin to label foreign “state-controlled media outlets” like Russia’s Sputnik News, Xinhua News from China and Iran’s Press TV. He said: “We’re providing greater transparency into these publishers because they combine the influence of a media organization with the strategic backing of a state, and…

Relations between the two economic superpowers have sunk to new lows in recent months, with Washington and Beijing sparring over who’s to blame for the coronavirus pandemic, and engaged in separate spats on the Hong Kong protests, technology theft and trade. US President Donald Trump says he doesn’t know whether China and the US will be able to get along after Beijing gave America the “very bad gift” of the coronavirus. “Getting along with China would be a good thing. I don’t know if that’s gonna happen. I think they want to get along very much with us,” Trump said, speaking…

A top official at the Chinese tech firm blasted comments from a US senator at a British Parliament meeting accusing the company of endangered US troops, among other accusations, it was revealed in a statement on Tuesday. Huawei Technologies vice-president Victor Zhang slammed comments from a UK Defence Committee session discussing the company’s alleged threat to UK national security, it was revealed in a statement on Tuesday. The Committee meeting had “concentrated on America’s desire for a home-grown 5G company that can ‘match’ or ‘beat’ Huawei” rather than genuine security concerns, Mr Zhang said. He said: “It’s clear its market…

Earlier on Tuesday, oil prices rose amid an OPEC+ video conference in which the participants were reportedly expected to discuss the possibility of further oil production cuts under a deal adopted in April. According to market data, the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil rose above $40 for the first time since 6 March, when prices plummeted amid the OPEC+ group’s inability to reach a deal. As of 03:44 Moscow time, the price of August futures for North Sea Brent crude oil rose by 1.14%, to $40.08 per barrel. As of 03:46 Moscow time, the price of July…

Donald Trump was earlier accused of having a walk from his White House cabinet to a historic church in the vicinity, which had been nearly burnt down by Black Lives Matter protesters. President Donald Trump has busted the claims that he had ordered to disperse the protesting crowds from nearby Lafayette Square, as he was to make an on-foot visit to the historic St. John’s Church, within a short walking distance from the White House grounds. “They didn’t use tear gas,” Trump told Fox News Radio interview, thereby contradicting multiple protesters’ and media reports that tear gas was deployed to…

Previously, an American media outlet cited several current and former Pentagon officials as being “concerned” over Esper’s purported agreement with Trump’s plans to deploy the military to stop the violent protests in the country. Addressing rumours that US President Donald Trump might sack Secretary of Defence Mark Esper over his comments about the potential use of active duty servicemen to quell unrest in the country, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany assured that Esper is still holding his post. She also added that should this change in the future, the White House will undoubtedly announce it. US Secretary of Defence Mark…

The Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) launched their first airstrikes in weeks over the northeastern countryside of the Latakia Governorate last night. According to reports, the Syrian Air Force launched strikes on the jihadist positions in the key mountaintop town of Kabani, which is controlled by the foreign militants of the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) and elements of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS). The Syrian Air Force reportedly launched three strikes over the jihadist positions, while the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) fired several artillery shells and missiles towards these militants in the Latakia countryside. This latest attack by the Syrian Arab…