Several top German stakeholders, including the German Institute for Economic Research (IFO), have expressed support for the European Union opening an infringement process against the populist Italian government over deficit spending.
North Korea vehemently rejected a proposal from Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo on Monday for a summit with communist dictator Kim Jong-un, warning that the country must first “give up its wicked character.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that negotiations with the United States might be possible if Washington lifts sanctions against Iran.
The Chinese state newspaper Global Times claimed in a column Tuesday that American sanctions on the wealthy senior members of Nicolás Maduro’s illegitimate socialist regime were to blame for the ongoing humanitarian crisis in that country, contrasting U.S. sanctions with Chinese aid to Maduro.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that he believes Iran “would like to make a deal” on nuclear disarmament, while Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi became the latest senior Iranian official to rule out the possibility of negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
North Korea’s communist regime has continued to excoriate President Donald Trump for walking out of a meeting with brutal dictator Kim Jong-un in February. On Friday, a foreign ministry spokesman called Trump’s position “arbitrary and dishonest” and vowed North Korea will not move “even an inch” towards denuclearization under pressure.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a group of students on Wednesday that Iranian youth will “will witness the demise of the enemies of humanity, meaning the degenerate American civilization, and the demise of Israel.”
North Korea’s Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song held a press conference at U.N. headquarters on Tuesday in which he demanded the return of the Wise Honest, a cargo vessel seized by the United States for shipping coal in violation of U.S. and U.N. sanctions.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Tuesday his country is prepared to face U.S. sanctions for proceeding with its controversial purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missiles while continuing to argue Turkey is not threatening American or NATO security by acquiring the Russian weapons.
A tanker allegedly filled with 130,000 tons of Iranian oil docked near the Chinese city of Zhoushan last week, concluding a four-month journey that may violate U.S. sanctions against Iran, depending on what happened to the cargo.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo postponed a trip to Moscow and went to Brussels instead on Monday, determined to “discuss recent threatening actions and statements by the Islamic Republic of Iran” with foreign ministers of the European Union at their regular meeting.
Media analysts and Obama administration officials are working overtime to blame President Donald Trump for Iran’s decision, announced Wednesday, to breach key limitations on its nuclear operations that Teheran had accepted in 2015 in the framework of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), otherwise known as the nuclear dea
The former head of Venezuela’s feared secret police force, the SEBIN, published a video Thursday confirming his defection from the socialist regime of Nicolás Maduro and urging the country to move towards “reconstruction and a return to order.”
A source in the Persian Gulf region “familiar with Saudi plans” told Bloomberg News on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia has received “moderate requests from customers for shipments next month, including from former buyers of Iran’s oil.”
The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday announced the seizure of a North Korean ship called Wise Honest, which was allegedly engaged in selling North Korean coal in violation of international sanctions.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced on Wednesday that Iran will partially withdraw from the nuclear deal struck with the Obama administration in 2015 and threatened to increase uranium enrichment in 60 days if Europe does not meet Iranian demands.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday criticized U.S. policies in the Middle East as “destabilizing” and said they would ultimately harm the American people.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said the U.S. “bullying” Venezuela with sanctions led to the collapse of the socialist country.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with Iranian state media on Sunday that he will travel to North Korea in the near future. He said the date of his trip would be announced “soon.”
North Korean state media quoted dictator Kim Jong-un on Friday as expressing to Russian President Vladimir Putin his frustration with President Donald Trump, claiming that America acted “in bad faith” when Trump walked out of Kim’s summit with the president in February.
In an interview published Thursday by China’s state-run People’s Daily, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of using sanctions to “blackmail” the rest of the world into accepting its “dubious ideals.”
U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell is urging the German government to declare the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah a terrorist organization — something Chancellor Angela Merkel has adamantly opposed until now.
A study from the U.K. Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI) found North Korea using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to circumvent international sanctions. The authors warned Pyongyang’s cybercrime network could “become a sustained security challenge” as it seeks more untraceable methods of laundering money and keeping its business secret from international regulators.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un ordered senior communist leaders to “deal a telling blow to the hostile forces” supporting sanctions against the regime in remarks Wednesday, presumably meaning the United States but not naming any “hostile forces” in particular.
China opened a bridge to North Korea on Monday, sending four buses from the North Korean city of Manpo across the Yalu River to the Chinese city of Jian. The bus rides inaugurated a span built three years ago but never crossed until now.
Vice President Mike Pence met with the families of Citgo workers imprisoned in Venezuela on Tuesday, where he called on socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro to release them from prison.
The U.S. has sanctioned a “vast network” of 25 people and entities in Iran, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, who they accuse of helping Iran exchange over one billion dollars to finance Iranian military operations across the Middle East.
North Korean diplomatic staff returned to the joint liaison office in Kaesong on Monday, three days after withdrawing in apparent anger over new U.S. sanctions against Chinese companies that conducted illegal business with North Korea. The return was seemingly inspired by President Trump ordering the sanctions withdrawn… but the White House said over the weekend that he was referring to different sanctions that have not been imposed yet.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on Thursday against two Chinese shipping companies that helped North Korea evade its own sanctions.
The United States has sanctioned Venezuela’s state-run gold mining company Minerven, accusing them of propping up the country’s socialist regime and engaging in illegal financial activities.
Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani has pledged to file a lawsuit against U.S. officials for “crimes against humanity” in the form of economic sanctions after the Trump administration re-imposed sanctions on the regime after canceling Barack Obama’s nuclear deal.
Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami on Wednesday promised a “crushing response” if Israel interferes with illegal Iranian oil shipments, as proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week.
The U.N. Security Council will receive a report this week outlining North Korea’s remarkable success at evading sanctions against its nuclear missile program. According to the report, Pyongyang has been able to import petroleum, export coal, and sell weapons in spite of the toughest sanctions ever imposed against it.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on Friday against six Venezuelan government officials loyal to dictator Nicolas Maduro for their role in blocking humanitarian aid shipments in February.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho gave a press conference from Hanoi, Vietnam, on Thursday in which he disputed U.S. President Donald Trump’s account of unsuccessful negotiations with dictator Kim Jong-un.
Judging by satellite images of the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center, North Korea’s primary reactor for creating weapons-grade nuclear material might be up and running. There is clearly activity at the plant, although skeptical analysts say it is difficult to ascertain precisely what the reactor is doing without a ground-level inspection.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif to Beijing on Tuesday, stressing the importance of China’s relationship with Iran and telling Zarif he became a “famous person” in China with his speech at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday.
The United Nations Security Council accused North Korea of benefitting greatly from a “massive increase in illegal ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products and coal,” a violation of international sanctions, in a recent report, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported Friday.
The production and sale of oil by the Maduro regime in Venezuela have slumped dramatically since the United States imposed its latest round of sanctions on the country’s vital oil industry.
China’s state-run Global Times on Friday applauded the launch of a European system to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran, pleased by the damage it could inflict upon U.S. sanctions against China, Venezuela, North Korea, and other countries.
