Author: Steven Sahiounie

The vessel recently left the port of Bandar Abbas where it was being held in custody, but, according to Tehran, it still faces charges of violating maritime rules and causing environmental damage. British-flagged oil tanker the Stena Impero arrived to Dubai after two months of detention in Iran, Reuters reported on Saturday. Seven of the Stena Impero’s 23 crew members were released earlier in September and left the Islamic Republic, while the remaining sailors were told to stay on board so that the ship could leave the port. The Stena Impero was detained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the Strait…

Hong Kong police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse anti-government protesters who threw rocks, broke windows and blocked a key road near the local headquarters of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). A series of protests in the Chinese-ruled city for and against Communist Party rulers in Beijing is planned ahead of the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic on Tuesday, October 1, including at the consulate of former colonial power Britain. The protesters, many dressed all in black and wearing masks, took cover under umbrellas from the water cannon and fled after the demonstrations had taken a familiar turn…

The spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces says three Saudi military brigades were completely destroyed after Yemeni Army troops, backed by allied fighters from Popular Committees, mounted a large-scale military offensive in the kingdom’s southern border region of Najran. Speaking at a press conference in the capital Sana’a on Saturday evening, Brigadier General Yahya Saree described the major and efficient operation, dubbed God’s Victory, as the biggest-ever since Saudi Arabia and some of its allies embarked an atrocious military campaign on Yemen more than four years ago, noting that the offensive lasted several months and inflicted dramatic losses – both in terms…

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem has slammed as “illegal” the military presence of the US and Turkey in northern Syria, demanding an immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces from his country. “The United States and Turkey maintain an illegal military presence in northern Syria,” Muallem said in his address to the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters on Saturday. “Any foreign forces operating in our territories without our authorization are occupying forces and must withdraw immediately,” he said, asserting, “If they refuse, we have the right to take any and all countermeasures authorized under international law.” The…

The United States’ main mistake in its negotiations with North Korea is that it exerts maximum pressure on Pyongyang but never resorts to positive measures, according to Russia’s permanent representative at international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov. “The US partners have assumed the leading role in the process of negotiations. Their main mistake is they rely exclusively on pressure, while forgetting that some positive incentives should be employed, too, for the sake of success,” TASS quoted him as saying, in Moscow. “Pyongyang has for a long time refrained from tests, from ballistic missile launches, but it has seen no incentives. The…

European nations were so eager to negotiate with Iran that they suggested the US would end its sanctions regime if Tehran was willing to engage in dialogue, President Hassan Rouhani has said. According to Rouhani, European signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal urged him to meet with US President Donald Trump, promising that Washington would lift “all” sanctions in return. “Three out of the six countries, that is the chancellor of Germany, prime minister of Britain, and president of France, all insisted for the meeting to be held, saying that the US would lift all sanctions,” stated the Iranian president. He said he…

Russia does not rule out discussing with Iran deliveries of air defence assets and radio-electronic equipment to the country, as well as the creation of an integrated system of Persian Gulf security, Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation Director Dmitry Shugayev said. Shugayev stressed that Russia acts strictly in compliance with international regulations, stating that defence cooperation on offensive arms with Tehran cannot be started before October 2020. “Before the UN Security Council’s sanctions expire, we can discuss cooperation on the following issues: air defence assets deliveries, creation of an integrated surveillance, security and defence system for the Persian Gulf coast,…

Security forces in Egypt have boosted their presence across the country, sealing off Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the birthplace of a revolution in 2011, amid calls for protests against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi over corruption allegations. Egypt was rocked by unusual demonstrations on September 20 following calls for protests that were made after allegations of corruption against Sisi and the country’s powerful military were made by the self-exiled contractor and actor Mohamed Ali. Ali renewed his call for Egyptians to take to the streets on Friday. Riot police on Friday closed off streets and bridges leading to Tahrir Square, where hundreds of…

Lebanese President Michel Aoun is reportedly mulling over paying an official visit to Damascus to push for the repatriation of Syrian refugees, whose presence has worsened the already dilapidated civic infrastructure in Lebanon and placed a burden on the country’s public finances. According to a report published by the Beirut-based and Arabic-language daily newspaper Ad-Diyar on Friday, Aoun has hinted at the possibility of raising the level of contacts with the Syrian leadership in order to coordinate the return of Syrian refugees more effectively. The report added that the Lebanese president is weighing two options: either to make an official visit to Syria,…

Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement has announced the completion of separate prisoner swap deals with Saudi-sponsored Yemeni militiamen loyal to Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in the country’s northern province of al-Jawf and southern province of Shabwah. The Arabic-language al-Masirah television network, citing head of the Houthi-affiliated National Committee for Prisoners Affairs (NCPA) Abdulqader Al-Mortada, reported on Friday that 13 members of the Yemeni Army and allied Popular Committees had been released, and that the agreement was through “a local mediation.” Mortada, however, did not provide details about the number of released prisoners in return. Back on May 28, the NCPA said sixty-six imprisoned fighters of the…