إيران

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The last few weeks has seen a flurry of important announcements in Iranian-Indian relations. It is usually the commercial transactions that capture most of the headlines, but the potential for closer ties between these two states runs much deeper.

As the Iraqi security forces are fighting the Islamic State to retake Mosul, a top Iranian general and his aides are reportedly playing a key role on the battlefield.

As the Iraqi security forces are moving deeper into eastern districts of Mosul, the Iranian media reports that militia groups from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) are making territorial gains against the Islamic State in Mosul’s western region.

At the invitation of Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, the chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia, the country’s upper house of parliament, is

Speaking at a rally marking the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran on November 3, a senior Iranian military official

Tens of thousands of Iranians marched across Iran to mark the anniversary of the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran following the Islamic Revolution in the country in 1979.

Iranian legislators on November 1 approved President Hassan Rouhani’s three cabinet picks.

On Monday, Lebanon’s lawmakers ended more than two years of political gridlock and elected Michel Aoun as the country’s president. The news was greeted with elation in Tehran as Aoun, a former general from Lebanon’s Christian community, is a close ally of Iran-backed militia and political party Hezbollah.

The Iranian media reports that Slovenia’s President Borut Pahor will soon visit Tehran to reopen his country’s embassy in the Iranian capital.

On November 2, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned that compromise with the United States would only aggravate the country’s problems. He accused Washington of continuing hostile policies against Tehran and not abiding by the terms of the 2015 nuclear agreement.

The most senior Shiite clerics in Iran met on October 27 with the leadership of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). The meeting included Ali Shamkhani, who is the Secretary General at the SNSC. According to reports, the top clerics are urging the SNSC officials to prevent deep political splits from emerging in the Iranian society.

Pursuant to talks between Iran and the European Union to normalize relations, the president of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, was in Tehran on October 26. There, he was greeted by a number of Iranian officials who harshly attacked the policies of Western states in the Middle East.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is due to be in Moscow on October 28. There, he will meet with his Russian and Syrian counterparts to assess the military campaign against the Syrian opposition.

The secretary general of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Shamkhani, says latest political and economic deals signed with various countries will not impact Tehran’s fundamental foreign policy priorities.