Top Khamenei adviser threatens retaliation against Israel for Syria strikes
A senior advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has threatened retaliation against Israel and its allies for the latest air strikes on a Syrian air base that killed several Iranian nationals, the Iranian media reported.
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen fire ballistic missiles at Riyadh
With international attention focused on the escalating tension in Syria, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen today fired several ballistic missiles at military and civilian targets in Saudi Arabia,
The hollow war drums of the Western Sahara conflict
Every year at the end of April, like clockwork, tensions rise between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the group leading the disputed region of Western Sahara’s independence movement. The timing coincides with the U.N. secretary-general’s annual report to the U.N. Security Council on the latest developments in the conflict, which is followed by a vote to renew the peacekeeping mission—known as MINURSO—that has been in place in the territory since 1991.
Middle Eastern Students and Young Professionals in China: A Mutual Investment in the Future
This article, based on personal interviews and conversations conducted in China with 14 men and women in their 20s and 30s from across the Middle East, is intended to shed light on a phenomenon that the author observed while living in China, namely the increasing number of young Middle Easterners who are relocating there in order to obtain academic and professional credentials and experience.
IRGC outlets delete reports of Iranian casualties in suspected Israeli strikes in Syria
On Monday, the Iranian media reported that a number of the Islamic Republic’s military personnel were killed in a suspected Israeli air strike on a Syrian air base in Homs Governorate.
Rouhani calls for continued Tehran-Moscow cooperation in Syria in wake of chemical attack
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Monday praised his close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and emphasized that Tehran and Moscow should continue their cooperation in Syria until the complete establishment of security and stability in the war-torn country, the Iranian media reported. “Close relations and cooperation between Iran and Russia have been very effective in Syria and for peace and security across the region,” Rouhani said in a meeting with Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament), who is visiting Tehran leading a parlia
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Robert S. Ford, Gerald Feierstein, Randa Slim, and Alex Vatanka provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the chemical attack on Douma, Sheikh Tamim’s Tuesday meeting with Trump, Lebanese parliamentary elections, Moroccan and Algerian tension over Western Sahara, and Iran and India’s strategic partnership.
UAE official calls for international action to end “Iranian occupation” of disputed islands
A senior official of the United Arab Emirates has called on Iran to end its “occupation” of the three islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and the Lesser Tunb, the Arab press reported. Marwan Ahmad bin Ghalaita, the first voice president of UAE’s Federal National Council (FNC), said the UAE has a firm position on the three disputed islands and will not abandon its claim over them. He stressed that the dispute can either be resolved through negotiations between Iran and UAE or Abu Dhabi will report the case to the International Court of Justice for arbitration.
Iranian-backed PMF leaders gearing up for elections while keeping military roles
Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the Badr Organization, has said that an alliance of Shiite militia forces that fought against the Islamic State will now shift attention to politics and will participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections. In an interview with the Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV, Amiri said that the Fateh Alliance, a coalition of Iranian-supported Shiite units within the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Force (PMF), will take an active part in the elections and expressed the hope that it can play a major role in the next government.
Tehran’s envoy to Baghdad meets Iraqi leaders in run-up to parliamentary vote
Iraj Masjedi, Tehran’s ambassador to Baghdad, held separate meetings with Iraqi President Fuad Masum and prominent Shiite leaders in the run-up to the Iraqi parliamentary elections slated for May 12, Iranian and Arab media outlets reported. In the meeting with the Iraqi president on Thu
The leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey held a high-profile summit in Ankara this week, their second such summit in six months. Are we seeing the formation of a new security axis in the region, and if so, where would that leave the United States? MEI’s Gonul Tol and Alex Vatanka join host Paul Salem to discuss.
Listen closely to the debate in Tehran about Syria and you will detect great unease. There is an underlying fear—inside both the moderate and the hard-line camps of the regime—that Iran won the war but is in danger of losing out in the post-war period that will follow. This apprehension has always been there. But it has become markedly more distinct as the principal foreign powers that intervened in Syria—Russia, Turkey and the U.S.—set their sights on the long-term endgame.
Houthis want Iran and Russia to deliver arms to Sana’a, bypassing coalition siege
A senior official of the Yemeni Houthi rebels has said that the insurgent group is willing to purchase weapons from Iran and Russia if they can deliver the arms to the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, which is currently held by the Houthis. Saleh al-Samad, the head of the Houthis’ political council, which administers Sana’a, made the remarks at a graduation ceremony of new Houthi military leaders.
