Author: Steven Sahiounie

A member of Iran’s parliament has called for placing a bounty on US President Donald Trump’s head in response to a drone strike that killed Tehran’s senior military commander, Qassem Soleimani. The statement was made by Ahmad Hamzeh, a lawmaker from the southern Kerman Province, whose namesake capital is Soleimani’s hometown. “On behalf of the people of Kerman Province, we will pay a 3 million dollar award in cash to whoever kills Trump,” Hamzeh said in a speech to fellow lawmakers on Tuesday, as quoted by Iranian news outlets. Hamzeh also said that Iran would be protected from attacks and threats…

Eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar must abide by calls for a political solution to the conflict in the country and take steps to secure “calm on the ground,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday. Haftar abandoned ceasefire talks in Moscow last week, and a summit in Berlin on Sunday aimed at shoring up a shaky truce was overshadowed by the blockade of Libyan oilfields by his forces, Reuters said. His Libyan National Army (LNA) aims to capture the capital, Tripoli. Turkey supports Haftar’s rivals, the Tripoli-based internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez al-Sarraj.…

China’s National Health Commission has confirmed Monday that a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) can be transmitted people-to-people, Xinhua news agency reported. The Chinese authorities said that evidence suggests that the virus can be transmitted people-to-people which requires urgent measures in dealing with the outbreak, TASS reports. Chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention Zeng Guang said that the outbreak of the new coronavirus can be reversed if measures are taken now. Head of the expert team of China’s National Health Commission Zhong Nanshan said that at least 14 medical staff were infected with the new coronavirus. Zhong…

During a recent speech at a prominent US foreign policy think tank, a leading US general noted that the US military could learn a thing or two from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), which has been able to rapidly advance its weapons programs in spite of sanctions and poverty. What do Kim Jong Un and Elon Musk have in common? According to the Pentagon’s number 2 general, it’s relentless drive to succeed in spite of failures – something Washington could learn from. “Somehow over the last few years, North Korea has developed a ballistic missile program that can…

Ukraine International Airlines’ Kiev-bound Boeing 737-800 crashed on 8 January, soon after departing from Iran’s Imam Khomeini Airport. Citizens of Iran, Canada, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom were among the 176 passengers and crew who were killed. Canada wants black box data from the downed Ukrainian Boeing to be analysed immediately, the country’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. He added that there is not the right kind of equipment to do that in Iran. Mr Trudeau also said that the fact that Iran does not recognise dual nationality of crash victims is a challenge, adding that Canada…

The Lebanese presidency announced on Tuesday the formation of a new Cabinet amid nationwide anti-government rallies that were triggered by increasing costs of living, new taxes and fees. The new government will consist of 20 ministers-technocrats. “Lebanese President Michel Aoun has signed documents on the formation of a new government. He signed a new document on the new government, headed by Hassan Diab”, a spokesman of the presidency said at a news conference. Diab called the newly formed government a “rescue team” and said that it would be working to meet the protesters’ demands. He added that the new cabinet…

By Joaquin Flores    In Berlin on January 19th was a peace conference, but the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, arrived there, if not on a war footing, certainly with the firm intention of conquering a leading position in the solution of the Libyan crisis. The goal is to ensure control of oil resources in Tripoli and contracts for the reconstruction of the country. Warnings and threats to the EU, on a day where Ankaras number one is certainly one of the figures in a position of greatest strength, but where the risk of returning home with the balance overturned is…

By Curwen Ares Rolinson Despite what some are suggesting, there is little direct equivalency between the inadvertent Iranian shoot-down of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 earlier this week, and the American shoot-down of Iranian Air Flight 655 in 1983. For that to be true, the Iranians would have to not only have obstinately refused to apologize for their actions, but also awarded their equivalent to the Legion of Merit decoration to the Iranian military unit responsible. I’m not kidding. That’s exactly what happened. In the aftermath of that incident, the Americans did not remove the officer responsible from command, even despite the…

By Stephen Lendman Last December, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said “(t)he Americans…are feeding Daesh, encourag(ing) them, protect(ing) Daesh leaders and help(ing) them move from one area to another.” At the same time, an unnamed Iraqi official accused the Pentagon of supplying Daesh terrorists in the country with weapons and military equipment. “The American forces send aid from their bases to the Daesh terrorists in the Makhoul mountains, and their assistance still continues,” the official stressed, adding: “Iraqi forces seized US weapons during an operation against terrorists in al-Hazar island. US military bases in Iraq are used against the…

An Iraqi lawmaker says the Baghdad government is planning to send delegations to Russia, China and Ukraine to discuss the procurement of modern air defense missile systems to protect its territory from any possible act of aggression. “The delegations intend to visit countries like Russia, China and Ukraine to negotiate the purchase of modern systems to protect Iraq’s airspace,” Badr al-Ziyadi, a member of the Parliamentary Security And Defense Committee, told Arabic-language al-Sabaah newspaper. He added, “The Iraqi parliament is right now forming a joint executive and legislative delegation to visit developed countries and sign contracts on procuring advanced weapons.” Ziyadi…