A report published by Reuters on Friday revealed that Iran is moving ballistic missiles into Iraq, placing the weapons in the hands of its Shiite militia proxies, in order to expand its ability to hit targets across the Middle East in a regional conflict or war against Western powers.
Fox News reported on Wednesday that Iranians are buying passports from foreign countries to evade U.S. sanctions, and Iraq is becoming a veritable supermarket of phony papers for Iranian travelers.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday evening dismissed Iran’s claim to control the Strait of Hormuz and the entire Persian Gulf. Pompeo promised that the United States would continue to protect freedom of navigation in those international waterways.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) began hearing a lawsuit Monday filed by the Islamic Republic of Iran against the United States in July for re-imposing sanctions against Tehran following President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on May 8.
Iran on Monday ratcheted up both its threats and its pleas for rescue from American sanctions, belligerently claiming complete control of the Persian Gulf and seeking to expel the U.S. Navy while demanding European nations promise to alleviate sanctions against its banking and oil industries.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told an audience at a speech commemorating the defeat of the Byzantine empire on Sunday that, for those who take issue with him, “the issue is Islam,” and that Turkey under his leadership has a responsibility to protect Islam from Western influences.
The pressure imposed on Iran’s economy by U.S. sanctions and the ceaseless threat of regime repression have led many in the nation’s middle class to feel “imprisoned in the country,” an unnamed Iranian told the Associated Press Thursday as part of a series of interviews in the capital, Tehran.
The U.S. Treasury Department unveiled sanctions on Friday against three terror recruiters who urged individuals residing in Southeast Asia to join the Islamic State (ISIS).
Four Russian actors were slapped with sanctions Tuesday for aiding previously sanctioned Russian entities in an effort to circumvent those United States sanctions.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu penned an opinion piece published by USA Today on Monday urging the Trump administration to lift sanctions on his country, insisting that Turkey deserves friendlier treatment from Washington because it pays more into NATO than other allies and hosts an American airbase.
The Chinese government made its move this week to find a place in the Turkish economy amid the lira currency’s ongoing downfall.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a message observing the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha on Monday, condemning “an attack on our economy” and appearing to reference U.S. sanctions on Ankara, without naming Washington.
Contents: US imposes new North Korea sanctions on Chinese and Russian shipping companies; Profound connection between the sanctions on Turkey and North Korea
U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback said this week that the Trump administration would continue to put pressure on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan through sanctions and other means until American citizen and pastor Andrew Brunson is released from house arrest and returned to the United States.
Turkish Presidency Communications Director Fahrettin Altun on Thursday called U.S. sanctions on the nation for its continued arrest of American pastor Andrew Brunson an “economic coup attempt” against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The Trump administration would consider relenting on U.S.-imposed sanctions on Turkey related to the detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson if he is released, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Wednesday.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei firmly “banned’ negotiations with the United States on Monday and said he doubted America will “confront Iran militarily.”
Three South Korean companies illicitly purchased and imported North Korean coal disguised as Russian product in a flagrant violation of U.N. sanctions, the Korea Customs Service announced on Friday.
The Turkish lira took a nosedive on Friday as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan decisively lost the first battle in his “economic war” against the United States.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned on Wednesday that ongoing unrest in Iran, amplified by recently reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic could “boost radical and fundamentalist forces.”
President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, has earned the praise of officials in Yemen who are saying the move has directly resulted in Iran’s diminished role there.
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday denounced a new round of U.S. sanctions as “categorically unacceptable” and “illegal,” while the Russian Foreign Ministry promised retaliatory sanctions are in the planning stages.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s relatively “moderate” Labor Minister Ali “Ebad” Rabiei was impeached by 129 to 243 votes on Wednesday, in what appears to be a win for the Islamic Republic’s hardliners as the nation grapples with a deepening economic problems, unemployment and a slew of sanctions Rouhani has been blamed for.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho met with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran on Tuesday, hours after U.S. oil sanctions against the Iranian regime came into effect.
U.S. reimposes sanctions against Iran that ended with 2015 nuclear deal; Iran’s protesters blame bad economy on Supreme Leader, not on U.S. sanctions; The international demand for regime change in Iran.
Jim Jones, former Obama national security adviser, called sanctions on Iran “effective” and said he would like to see more countries sanction Iran.
Iran’s former ambassador to Germany, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, made an argument on Ohio-based talk show Going Global with David Delgado on Monday evening that regime change is truly the only option for the Islamic Republic, because the nation will not change its behavior and “behave like a normal country” to have sanctions removed, as United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Trump administration has suggested.
North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Monday asked the U.S. to drop sanctions in light of the nation’s good faith gestures of returning the remains of American troops killed in the 1950-1953 Korean War, and because North Korea has ostensibly ended nuclear weapons testing.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani abruptly reversed his position on talks with the United States on Monday, just hours before tough U.S. sanctions went back into effect. After a week of arrogantly dismissing President Donald Trump’s offer of direct talks, Rouhani said he was willing to negotiate with the United States “right now,” without preconditions.
“Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States,” President Trump wrote on Twitter. “I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!”
Iran’s Central Bank lifted a ban on exchange offices on Monday, allowing them to bring in much-needed hard currencies ahead of the official reimposition of sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s automotive sector, gold, and other key metals by the United States.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says it is possible for sanctions on Iran that were reimposed Monday to be lifted, but noted that it will take “enormous change” by the Islamic Republic, which must “behave like a normal country.”
In a statement sent to reporters, President Trump said the Iran nuclear deal gave Iran the economic resources necessary to both continue funding terrorism around the world and searching for a path for a nuclear weapon.
Contents: UN report: North Korea nuclear and missile development continues; John Bolton and Marco Rubio describe administration’s North Korea strategy
The United States reimposed sanctions against Iran on Monday, as presaged by President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from his predecessor Barack Obama’s nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
In a race to rebuild its aging commercial fleet aircraft fleet, Iran took delivery of five new airplanes from European manufacturers Sunday, stepping up deliveries before the U.S. begins restoring sanctions suspended under the 2015 nuclear deal.
Turkey’s currency, the lira, plunged to a record low on Wednesday and continued to fall Thursday following the imposition of sanctions by the United States on two Turkish officials for their roles in the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson.
North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun attempted to rally citizens of the communist state for “all-out battle” against the “unprecedented natural disaster” of a heat wave threatening the nation’s crops.
Turkish ruling and minority party politicians responded with outrage Thursday to the U.S. Treasury’s decision to sanction the nation’s Justice and Interior ministers in response to the continued detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson.
The Iranian parliament announced on Wednesday that it wants to question President Hassan Rouhani about the shaky economy and rapidly devaluing currency. The announcement said Rouhani has been summoned to appear before a special session of parliament within a month, without setting an exact date.
