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In announcing the imposition of the sanctions against Iran promised back in May, President Trump tweeted on Tuesday: “The Iran sanctions have officially been cast. These are among the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November they will ratchet up to yet another level. Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States. I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!” On Monday the president explained why he was imposing the sanctions, and asking other nations to cooperate: “We urge all nations to take such steps to make clear that the Iranian regime faces...

A senior Hamas official said in an interview with the Turkish news agency Anadol that an agreement would be reached between Israel and Hamas by the end of the month. The official said that the agreement would be for five years and would include, inter alia, the halting of arson attacks, the return of dead bodies and the establishment of a port and an airport in the Sinai Peninsula. The official's statement comes after London's Asharq Al-Awsat claimed on Monday that Hamas had agreed to a "gradual ceasefire" in exchange for Israel reopening the Kerem Shalom crossing. Last week, Maariv...

The Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, assassinated a top Syrian rocket scientist on Saturday using a car bomb, the New York Times first reported Tuesday. The scientist, Aziz Asbar, led a confidential unit known as “Sector 4” at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center developing cutting edge missile technology designed to further Syria’s efforts to initiate the long range bombing of Israeli cities. Asbar was killed along with his driver near the research center, which lies in the town of Masyaf and has long been believed to host chemical weapons development. The center has twice been the target of Israeli...

The Trump administration announced Monday the reimposition of sanctions on Iran that were lifted as part of a nuclear agreement with the country. The sanctions will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and follow through on the order President Trump gave when he withdrew from the nuclear pact in May. "The United States is fully committed to enforcing all of our sanctions, and we will work closely with nations conducting business with Iran to ensure complete compliance. Individuals or entities that fail to wind down activities with Iran risk severe consequences," Trump said in a statement Monday. "The JCPOA, a...

President Trump is set to reimpose several sanctions against Iran, following his decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. On Monday, the Trump administration is expected to announce the first wave of sanctions targeting Iranian automobile exports, trade and resources needed for nuclear development. The president pulled out of the deal back in May and gave a grace-period for U.S. allies to make prep for the fallout like cutting ties with Iranian businesses. The administration threatened to punish any country still making deals with the Islamic republic when the sanctions take effect.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday that the leaders of the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel were isolated in their hostility to Iran. "Today, the entire world has declared they are not in line with US policies against Iran," Zarif said

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' office claimed that White House Adviser Jared Kushner's reported efforts to limit UNRWA activities are "a continuation of the subversive plots to eliminate the Palestinian problem." A statement from Abbas' office emphasized the need to "oppose" and "foil" the US plan. It is believed that US President Donald Trump's proposed peace plan will remove the question of PA "refugees" from the negotiating table. The peace plan, the contents of which have not yet been revealed, was by the PA as "aiming to eliminate the Palestinian problem and negate all of the Palestinian nation's legitimate...

The timing of the exercise is unusual, as it appears to be similar in scale and nature to a drill that ordinarily happens later in the autumn. It comes just days before the U.S. reimposes sanctions on Tehran after its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several dozen boats were out training early Thursday morning. The vessels are mostly small attack boats, and there have been no interactions with U.S. ships in the area, the official added, according to AFP. In a statement, Captain Bill Urban, the military's Central Command spokesman, said...

Full Title: 'Death to the dictator!' Violence on streets of Iran as police use tear gas on furious protesters, including chador-clad women, demonstrating against 'corrupt regime' ruining the country while waging ideological war abroad Protests have broken out in a number of cities against Iranian regime this week Comes after the dramatic drop of Iran's currency and other economic problems 'The nation is forced to beg while the leader lives like God,' protesters chanted 'Death to the dictator!' Violence on streets of Iran as police use tear gas on furious protesters, including chador-clad women, demonstrating against 'corrupt regime' ruining the...

North Korea has resorted to a "massive increase" of illegal ship-to-ship transfers of oil products at sea to evade UN sanctions and enlisted a Syrian arms broker to sell weapons to Yemen and Libya, a UN report said Friday. In a 62-page report sent to the Security Council, the UN panel of experts also listed violations of a ban on North Korean exports of coal, iron, seafood and other products that generate millions of dollars in revenue to Kim Jong Un's regime. North Korea also "attempted to supply small arms and light weapons (SALW) and other military equipment via foreign...

Iran's currency is continuing its downward spiral as increased American sanctions loom, hitting a new low on the thriving black market exchange. The Iranian rial fell to 112,000 to the dollar on Sunday, from 98,000 to $1 on Saturday. The government-set exchange rate was 44,070 to the dollar, compared to 35,186 on Jan. 1. The Iranian rial has been declining steadily for years but the drop has accelerated in recent months after the U.S. decision to pull out of the nuclear deal with Iran in May and announcement of increased sanctions beginning next month.

Russia cannot compel Iranian forces to quit Syria, Moscow's ambassador to Tel Aviv said on Monday, rebuffing Israel's long-standing demand that it should work to ensure their total withdrawal from the country. "They are playing a very, very important role in our common and joint effort to eliminate terrorists in Syria," Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov told Israel's Channel 10 television in an interview. "That is why, for this period of time, we see as non-realistic any demands to expel any foreign troops from the entirety of the Syrian Arab Republic," he said. "We can talk with our Iranian partners very frankly...

American troops deployed in Syria are increasingly having to defend themselves against Russian jamming devices—electronic attacks with potentially lethal consequences, according to U.S. military officials and analysts. Officers who have experienced the jamming—known as electronic warfare—say it’s no less dangerous than conventional attacks with bombs and artillery. But they also say it’s allowing U.S. troops a rare opportunity to experience Russian technology in the battlefield and figure out how to defend against it. “It’s a great opportunity for us to operate particularly in the Syrian environment where the Russians are active.” Daniel Goure, an expert on national security and military...

The hundred-some billion dollars that President Obama sent to Iran apparently has come and gone, leaving the Iranian economy once again desperate to avoid collapse.  The pallets containing more than a billion dollars in hard currency have funded terror groups, and the rest of the haul apparently has gone to pay for debts, spending, and graft, leaving the real economy gasping for air, unable to generate hard currency yet dependent on imports. Steve Hanke reports at Forbes: Iran's rial plunged from 98,000 IRR/USD on Saturday to 112,000 IRR/USD on Sunday on Tehran's Ferdowsi Street.  That stunning 12.5% one-day plunge has pushed the...

Iran By Alan Peters, Contributing Editor TheClerics Lash Back as Iranians Question Their Legitimacy VIGOROUS ATTACKS ON THE CREDIBILITY and legitimacy of the clerical leadership in Iran have continued to mount since the February 20, 2004, Majlis (Parliament) elections which, despite the removal of so-called “reformists” from the ballot, still failed to attract a meaningful voter turn-out. The elections showed the extent of electoral fraud to which the clerics were forced to turn, highlighting their tenuous hold on power. There are now signs that the underpinnings of the clerics will be attacked still further, especially as evidence is now available...

A court in Egypt sentenced 75 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death for their involvement in a protest against the military coup in 2013. The sentencing of 660 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood will be announced...

The Israeli Air Force launched a "wide-scale attack" against Hamas military targets in Gaza on Friday, after an Israeli soldier died after being hit by gunfire from the coastal enclave, according to the Israeli military. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the shooting attack took place Friday during a Palestinian protest along the fence separating Gaza and Israel. It's the first Israeli soldier killed along the Gaza fence since the last war between Israel and Hamas in 2014, the army said. The IDF responded first with tank and artillery fire, killing four people according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health....

The Obama administration approved a $200,000 grant to a group in Sudan with ties to Al Qaeda even though it had been designated a terrorist-financing organization by the U.S. years earlier, a conservative think tank revealed this week. Further, an agency official acknowledged the prior administration allowed taxpayer money to flow to the group even after its designation was discovered. The 2014 grant to the Islamic Relief Agency, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, was revealed by Sam Westrop of the Middle East Forum in a story for the National Review. “More stunningly, government officials specifically authorized the release...

The Islamic Republic of Iran is playing with fire. To distract from its maneuvers in Syria, where along with its proxies - including the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group, as well as Iraqi, Afghan and Yemeni Shiite militias it controls - Iran in gunning for the Israeli border in the Quneitra province of southwestern Syria. Tehran is directing Hamas, the Islamic terror group who they fund and arm, to provoke Israel by attacking the Israeli communities around Gaza. In recent weeks, Hamas launched incendiary kites across the Gaza border that scorched a whopping 8,000 acres of farms and nature reserves...

The Ankara chief's words were in response to Israel's new "nation-state" law, with Erdogan branding Israel the "most Zionist, racist and fascist country". He argued the new law legitimises "unlawful actions and oppression". The "nation-state" law has been criticised for effectively ruling out a two-state solution to the long-running Israel-Palestine conflict. Palestinians have threatened to go to the International Criminal Court and the UN to protest against the new legislation. Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu has hit back, saying Turkey has become a "dark dictatorship" under Erdogan. In a war of words, he accused the Turkish president of "massacring...