Author: Steven Sahiounie

Stocks fell on Friday, reversing from an all-time high of 29,000 at the end of a volatile week full of geopolitical concerns. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 133.13 points lower, or 0.5% at 28,823.77. Earlier in the session, the 30-stock average broke above 29,000 for the first time ever. The S&P 500 lost 0.3% to end the day at 3,265.35. The Nasdaq Composite also dipped 0.3% to 9,178.86. Boeing shares dropped 1.9% on Friday to lead the Dow lower. The financials and industrials sectors dropped at least 0.7% each to drag down the S&P 500. The major averages, however, posted…

On Friday, two reporters were shot dead in Basra, Iraq by unidentified armed men after filming protests in the country, according to the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory. Ruptly stringer cameraman Saaf Ghali has been killed in Iraq, according to Sputnik and RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan. The operator was killed after filming a demonstration in Iraq related to the ongoing US-Iran tensions, Teller Report stated. “In Iraq, unknown armed people killed our stringer cameraman Saaf Ghali. Saaf actively filmed materials for our Ruptly video agency in the region. We will do everything to help his family”, Margarita Simonyan wrote on her Telegram…

US NATO ally Turkey has been increasingly distancing itself from Washington recently over their ongoing row over Ankara’s purchase of Russian air defence systems. Turkey might turn to Russia even more in search of air defence technologies and weapons like S-500s if western countries, specifically the US and France, continue to deny Ankara access to their technologies, Defence News online media outlet reported, citing anonymous Turkish officials. “Any Western reluctance to share technology for political reasons would lead us to look for alternative technologies in countries with which we do not have political problems. Most exclusively including Russia”, a Turkish…

Black boxes of a plane that crashed in Iran will be deciphered in Ukraine, while French experts will participate in the technical work, France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) said on Saturday. BEA added communication and the investigation progress was the responsibility of Iran’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. Earlier on Saturday, Tehran admitted that the Ukrainian plane had been mistaken for a cruise missile and was unintentionally shot down by the Iranian military as they were waiting for a possible retaliatory attack from the United States. According to the commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic…

Earlier, the Libyan National Army (LNA) welcomed the ceasefire initiative by Russia and Turkey, but added that the LNA would continue the fight for Tripoli. The Libyan National Army led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar declared a ceasefire in western Libya starting midnight local time on January 12, the LNA spokesman said. “The main command of the LNA announces a ceasefire from 00.00 local time [22:00 GMT] on January 12 in the west of the country, the other side [Government of National Accord (GNA)] must also adhere to this truce. In case of violation, there will be a harsh response,” LNA spokesman Ahmed…

Steven Sahiounie, political commentator Iranian forces launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against two military bases housing US troops in Iraq early hours of Wednesday morning. The al-Asad airbase in western Iraq was hit by 17 missiles, and 5 targeted at a base in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil. No US casualties were immediately reported. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the attack a “slap in the face” of the US, and observers seem to question whether the attack was designed to kill or inflict casualties, or was it carefully orchestrated to produce a closure to a…

The price of crude saw a significant jump following a series of Iranian missile strikes on American bases in Iraq, which also sent US stocks plummeting as concerns of a wider regional war take hold. The attack on Tuesday night drove the US oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate crude, to gain some 3.4 percent, while Brent crude is up similarly, by over 3.5 percent. The Dow Jones, meanwhile, took a hit, dropping by nearly 120 points, as the S&P 500 and NASDAQ also struggled, losing 9.1 and 2.8 points respectively. The Asian stock market also reacted to the news, with Hong Kong’s…

The US public must persuade Donald Trump to withdraw American troops from Iraq or become the target of retaliation, Iraqi militias, whose commander was killed in the airstrike on Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, warned. The deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was among the Iranian and Iraqi officials killed in a US operation in Baghdad on Friday. And PMF, which unites some 40 militias and has around 150,000 members, promised that they won’t let American “criminals” get away with murder. “All retaliation options are on the table… no red lines shall hinder our revenge,” Jawad Al Telbawi, a…

Iran fired a slew of missiles at US bases in Iraq, fulfilling its promise to avenge the death of its top general. Will both sides stop where they are, or are we witnessing the calm before an all-out storm?  Two waves of Iranian missiles rained down overnight on two military installations housing US and coalition troops, one in Al-Asad and one in Erbil. The strikes were heavy on symbolism, with Iranian leadership making sure that the US gets the message right. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attack – codenamed ‘Martyr Soleimani’ after the slain commander of Iran’s clandestine…

The Turkish Defence Ministry has given no further details as to the exact area of the explosion or who is responsible for the attack. On Wednesday, four Turkish servicemen were killed in a car explosion in the north of Syria, the AFP news outlet reported, citing Turkey’s Ministry of Defence. According to AFP, the soldiers were killed on road patrol in the region where Operation Peace Spring had taken place last October. On 9 October 2019, Turkey conducted a military incursion, dubbed Operation Peace Spring, into Syrian border areas controlled by the Kurdish militants. Damascus views the Turkish offensive as a violation of…