Author: Steven Sahiounie

The US state department has confirmed it offered millions of dollars to the captain of an Iranian oil tanker which is at the centre of a diplomatic row. Brian Hook, head of the department’s Iran Action Group, emailed the captain of the Adrian Darya 1 about sailing it somewhere the US could seize it. The vessel was suspected of moving oil to Syria, and was temporarily impounded by UK authorities in Gibraltar in July. It was released last month after Iran gave assurances about its destination. The US justice department, which had tried to block the release, then issued a warrant…

Sarah Abed, independent journalist and analyst The second largest sovereign state in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen, has been ravaged by war, deliberate starvation, and cholera for over four years. A 274 page U.N. report released on Tuesday, highlights the human rights situation including violations and abuses since September 2014. According to the report, which took two years to complete, the United States, France, and Britain may be complicit in war crimes for their involvement in the war in Yemen by not only supplying the weapons being used by the Saudi and United Arab Emirate coalitions, but also providing them with intelligence and…

Yemeni government officials have begun indirect talks with United Arab Emirates-backed southern separatists in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah to end fighting in Aden and other southern provinces, Reuters quoted a Yemeni official as saying on Wednesday. The fight for Yemen’s south has opened a new front in a multi-tiered war and threatens to further fragment Yemen. Government and separatist forces are both part of a Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Houthi group. The separatists, who seek to restore the former South Yemen republic, have seized control of the southern port of…

Berlin sees an increased risk of a no-deal Brexit next month because Britain has so far failed to come up with any suggestions to solve the Irish border question, a German government document shows. In a Brexit briefing to lawmakers, dated last Friday, the German government singled out the lack of alternative proposals, from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on the Irish border issue as the main problem preventing an orderly Brexit, Reuters said. “So far, the British government has not made any concrete proposals,” the document reads. “The likelihood of a disorderly exit of the UK from the EU on 31 October…

The tanker which was earlier detained by Gibraltar authorities over a tip from the US, claiming that the vessel was carrying oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions against Damascus, is now fewer than 10 nautical miles from the shores of Syria, according to intelligence sources, cited by Fox News. Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, previously known as Grace 1, has gone dark on maritime tracking resources, transmitting its position for the last time almost a day ago – at 15:53 2 September, Marine Traffic reported. The ship’s last known position was pinpointed to be in the East…

Iran doubts the readiness of participants in the nuclear deal to promptly get back to full compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and for this reason it gives Europe some time to do so, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “Europe has another two-month deadline for negotiations, agreement, and a return to its commitments,” the news agency Mehr quotes President Hassan Rouhani as saying. Rouhani said that in the future Iran would declare a third stage of reducing its commitments under the nuclear deal. “In my opinion, this step is the most important…

The Iranian authorities have decided to release seven crewmembers of the British Stena Impero tanker, including one Russian citizen, spokesperson for the Russian embassy in Iran Andrey Ganenko told TASS on Wednesday. “We can confirm that the Iranian authorities made the decision to free seven crewmembers at the request of the ship-owner company and in accordance with the opinion of the vessel’s captain. One Russian citizen is among those released,” he said. According to the spokesperson, the decision “was made because these seven people can leave the tanker without any ramifications.” “The remaining sixteen people can ensure that the tanker…

China and Russia have fully agreed upon and signed a commercial contract on a joint heavy helicopter development project, said Miao Wei, China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology. “For the next step, the Chinese government will accelerate the progress for a project approval and finish it as soon as possible, so the project can officially start,” Miao said at a press conference held with the Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov. China is the first partner country for the Russian event, as the two ministers held an opening ceremony at the stand-alone China Pavilion on Wednesday morning. The…

By: Marwa Osman In the past few days, Hezbollah’s retaliatory attack and destruction of a small Israeli Wolf combat vehicle in the upper Galilee has made headlines in both Arab and international media. The attack was in response to the Israeli aggression on Damascus on August 24 resulting in the killing of two Hezbollah engineers and also to an Israeli drone attack on the capital Beirut, the first of its kind since August 2006, in violation of the “rules of engagement” that have been established between the two sides. When the decision was taken by the leadership of the resistance to respond…

By: Andrew korybko Credible reports have been circulating that this year’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok will see the formalization of the Vladivostok-Chennai Maritime Corridor between the Russian Far East and India, which would be the key to comprehensively diversifying Russia’s “Pivot to Asia” and “balancing” China. “Rusi-Hindi Bhai Bhai” (“Russians and Indians are brothers”), the Soviet-era slogan celebrating the Russian-Indian Strategic Partnership, is back with a bang as these two Great Powers take their relations to the global level ahead of Prime Minister Modi’s upcoming visit to the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok later this week as President Putin’s guest of honor. Credible reports have…