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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to his Iranian and Saudi counterparts late Monday night, following Iran’s attack on Israel, describing the aerial bombardment as Tehran’s “right to self-defense.” Russia had issued a similar response as China, recognizing the Iranian claim of acting in self-defense following an alleged Israeli strike in Damascus which killed several high-ranking military officials at an embassy compound site used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). During the phone call with the Iranian foreign minister, Wang strongly condemned the attack in Syria and said Iran will be able to handle the situation well in order...

CHICAGO — About 300 anti-war activists crowded into the basement of the Teamsters Union’s headquarters on Saturday to hear organizers from all over the country describe their plans to disrupt the Democratic National Convention this August. Joe Biden’s backing of Israel since Hamas’s October 7 attack has turned these left-wing radicals against their own party.

Sergey Lavrov has affirmed that Russia supports Iran's response against Israeli aggression. In a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov emphasized that Russia would vehemently back Iran's response against "Israel" at the United Nations Security Council. Lavrov additionally affirmed that the Iranian response was "responsible and within an interval of self-control," and noted that Russia never doubted Iran's intention to retaliate against "Israel's" aggression against its consulate and officials in Syria. He also described the aversion of certain countries to condemn "Israel's" attack against the Iranian consulate as "unfortunate". On his part, Amir-Abdollahian...

<p>The Pope told reporters that he has 'human relationship' with the former dictator of communist Cuba while encouraging 'exploratory dialogues' with the oppressive regime.</p><p>VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis expressed his fraternity with the former communist leader of Cuba Raul Castro in a Monday interview, telling journalists that he had a “human relationship” with the murderous dictator.</p>

The Biden administration has rolled back sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela in a disastrous move being heavily criticized by Hispanic voters here in the United States—many of whom are in the U.S. because they or their families fled the socialist regimes. President Joe Biden's administration mobilized Tuesday to ease economic sanctions against oil-rich Venezuela just one day after lifting several Trump-era financial, travel, and migration regulations for fellow socialist state Cuba, whose repressive government notoriously cracked down on the pro-democracy protests in 2021. This week's events are being seen as a soft-on-socialism downslide in U.S. foreign policy that's dealing a...

Iran warned United Nations Security Council envoys to expect retaliation against Israel’s apparent bombardment of a diplomatic facility in Syria that killed several Iranian military commanders. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has exercised considerable restraint, but it is imperative to acknowledge that there are limits to such forbearance,” Iranian envoy Zahra Ershadi, the regime’s deputy representative to the United Nations, said Tuesday afternoon. “The occupying regime must bear full responsibility for its consequences. Iran reserves its legitimate and inherent right under international law and the United Nations Charter to take a decisive response to such reprehensible acts.” -snip- “Do not...

Russia said on Tuesday it had important matters to discuss with Afghanistan's Taliban leaders and was working to remove the Taliban from its list of banned terrorist organizations. "This is a country that is next to us, and one way or another we communicate with them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "We need to resolve pressing issues, this also requires dialog, so in this regard we communicate with them like practically everyone else - they are the de facto authority in Afghanistan."

Moscow on Monday accused Israel of carrying out an “unacceptable” attack on a diplomatic building in Syria, after air strikes destroyed the Iranian embassy’s consular annex in Damascus. “On the evening of April 1, the Israeli Air Force struck the Iranian consulate building in Damascus,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “We strongly condemn this unacceptable attack against the Iranian consular mission in Syria.” Israel did not comment on the reported attack. Syrian and Iranian officials have also accused Israel of staging the strikes. Moscow said that any attacks on a diplomatic building were “unacceptable”. “We call on the...

The Biden administration suppressed information about Iran’s efforts to assassinate U.S. officials to ensure Congress and the American public were kept in the dark, according to a lawmaker on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "What Americans don’t know is that the Biden administration has gone to great lengths to hide the extent and persistence of those threats" from Iran, Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) said during a Senate hearing Wednesday on Tehran’s network of terror proxies. Those threats include active plots to assassinate former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and other top U.S. officials. The administration has been "abusing the...

Russia has invited Palestinian groups to Moscow, which could bring together Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and other terrorist groups. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said over the weekend that Russia invited Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow at some point in late February, the latest Russian move to increase its influence in a post-October 7 world. Moscow hosted a Hamas delegation already in October, as Hamas sought to do outreach to Moscow. -snip- According to Russian state media TASS, Moscow invited up to 14 Palestinian groups to attend, including those belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization, as well as...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that since the West’s restrictions on buying cheap energy from Moscow, Türkiye has emerged as the “most reliable partner” in the gas sector, Anadolu news agency reported. “They were constantly saying that Russia does not provide (energy), but restricts. We do not restrict anything… we give everything. The Turks proved to be the most reliable partner. It goes through TurkStream,” Putin said in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV. The West hoped that Russia would collapse if they did not buy gas from the country, Putin said, adding that this approach had an impact...

Moscow and Tehran will strengthen their security partnership and team up to counter sanctions imposed by the West, a key architect of Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has said. Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia's Security Council, announced closer cooperation between the allies after a meeting with the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Akbar Ahmadian. Ties between Tehran and Moscow have deepened since the start of the war in Ukraine, with Iran supplying Russian forces with Shahed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which have wreaked havoc on Ukrainian infrastructure.

A dormant North Korean port near the border with Russia has sprung back to life, fueling what experts say is a burgeoning trade in arms destined for the frontlines in Ukraine that is simultaneously bolstering the anemic economy managed by Kim Jong Un. Satellite imagery of the Najin port taken from October to December shows a steady stream of ships at the facility, hundreds of shipping containers being loaded and unloaded, and rail cars ready to transport goods. The activity appears to have picked up since early October, when the U.S. accused North Korea of sending munitions to Russia. The...

South Korea's intelligence agency confirms report indicating Hamas used North Korean-made F-7 grenade launcher; image shows fuse bearing Korean letters

The current escalation between Yemen's Houthi militia and the US-led naval coalition in the Red Sea serves the Iran-backed militants in several ways. In fact, it is even welcomed, according to some analysts. "The Houthis have been looking for an opportunity for confrontation with the United States," Hisham al-Omeisy, Yemen conflict analyst and former director of Washington's Information Research Center for Yemen, told DW. "For the past eight years, they've been telling their followers that they are at war with the US and with Israel, so this is a golden opportunity for them that they need to capitalize on," al-Omeisy...

Russia will develop ties with North Korea in all areas building on agreements between their leaders in September, the Kremlin said on Monday, as their foreign ministers were set to meet in Moscow. North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui arrived on Sunday on a rare visit to Moscow for talks with her counterpart Sergei Lavrov as the two countries deepen economic, political, and military ties, the North's state news agency KCNA said. As Russia's international isolation has grown over its war in Ukraine, analysts say Moscow has seen increasing value in its ties with North Korea. For North Korea's...

Thursday’s retaliatory attacks by U.S. and British forces on Iranian-backed Houthis inside Yemen have prompted support and condemnation from the international community. The retaliation follows weeks of Houthi attacks against vessels in the Red Sea. U.S. defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. and British attacks were launched from fighter jets, surface vessels and submarines. The attacks were carried out with the help of Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Bahrain. In a statement, a NATO spokesperson said the “strikes were defensive and designed to preserve freedom of navigation in one of the world's most vital waterways.” Likewise,...

The Hamas terror organization stated that they appreciated Lavrov's comments, saying his comments "confirms Washington’s criminal role in the continued suffering of our Palestinian people." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, in an interview with Russian media on Thursday, that he doubted the conspiracy theory that Israel knew in advance of plans that Hamas were planning on committing a massacre on October 7. “A lot of conspiracy theories are now appearing. Just the other day, our television and social networks once again conveyed a message from Western media, Western journalists, and researchers that the Israeli leadership, a year before October...

President Joe Biden greenlit the release of Colombian businessman Alex Saab, accused of acting as Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro’s top money launderer, on Wednesday. Saab’s release is allegedly the result of a prisoner swap with the rogue socialist regime that will also allow for the release of unjustly detained Americans in Venezuela, the Associated Press reported. Saab, 51, is a close personal ally of Maduro and is widely considered the socialist dictator’s financial brain. American law enforcement authorities arrested Saab in Cape Verde in 2020 after the Department of Justice indicted him in 2019 on charges of laundering $350...

Vladimir Putin has said that his alliance with Iran has turned the tide of the war in Ukraine, with Tehran’s support giving his forces momentum. Steady supplies of Iranian kamikaze drones, artillery shells and bullets have arrived in Russia since the invasion began, with Tehran quickly becoming one of the Kremlin’s closest military allies as both countries attempt to weather the impact of sanctions. “Our relations are developing very well. Please convey my best wishes to leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei,” Putin told Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian president, in Tehran on Thursday. Thanks to the Iranian head of state, Putin said,...