Gulf and Arabian Peninsula

The Appeals Court in Tehran has upheld a five-year jail term for Christian convert Ebrahim Firoozi for his alleged missionary activities in Iran, the Center for Human Right

The full article can be found at the Arabia Foundation

India’s interests and capabilities extend well beyond the sub-continent. This essay is part of a series that explores the geopolitical dimensions, economic ties, transnational networks, and other aspects of India’s links with the Middle East (West Asia) — a region that plays a vital role in India’s economy and its future. More ...

A prominent Iran-backed Iraqi militia commander has warned peshmerga forces loyal to the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to withdraw from the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar and stressed that the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) will not allow any parts of Nineveh Province to be incorporated into the Iraqi

Iran has announced that it will allow Russia to use Iranian bases “on a case by case basis” to launch air strikes against “terrorists” in Syria.

Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor-in-chief of hardline Kayhan newspaper, claims that an assessment of speeches by U.S. politicians at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) this week shows America and its allies are afraid of the Islamic Republic’s power.

Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeqh Larijani has criticized the U.N. Human Rights Council for renewing the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran for another year. “Unfortunately, the United Nations’ human rights bodies have become a tool to pressure independent states,” Larijani said in a meeting with high-ranking judiciary officials in Tehran.

In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Yousef Munayyer, Eran Etzion, and Alex Vatanka provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the evident partisan divide at this year’s AIPAC Conference, the surprise that the Trump administration’s lack of support for settlement building has caused for Israel’s right wing, and Iranian President Rouhani’s trip to Moscow.

Iran on Sunday blacklisted 15 American companies in retaliation for new sanctions by the Trump administration targeting the Iranian missile program.

Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said on Sunday that it has dismantled an Iran-backed group that planned terrorist attacks in the island kingdom, including assassination of high-profile government officials.

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry is refusing necessary medical treatment to Jamaloddin Khanjani, an 83-year-old former community leader of the Baha’i minority who has spent more than nine years in an Iranian jail.

Major General Ahmed al-Assiri, the spokesperson of the Saudi-led coalition forces, has accused Iran of intensifying and prolonging the Yemeni conflict by supporting Houthi rebels, including sharing missile technology with the militants.

Afghan and U.S. officials say Iran and Russia have teamed up to undermine the U.S.-led stabilization efforts in Afghanistan by sheltering, training, funding and arming Taliban insurgents. They claim that the two countries have not only expanded their diplomatic engagement with the Taliban leadership, but are also providing advanced weapons to the insurgents that are fighting the Afghan government and the U.S.-led coalition forces in the country.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has denounced as “selective and spiteful” the U.N. Human Rights Council’s resolution to renew the mandate of a U.N. special rapporteur to investigate human rights situation in Iran, the Press TV reports.

A top aide to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has warned that “a number of opportunists” intend to wage a “political expedition” to empower “secular” movements in order to seize power in the country.