Russia’s UN envoy urges meeting of all sides to Yemen conflict

All parties to the conflict in Yemen should gather in the country as soon as possible, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said Wednesday on the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

Saudi FM offers ceasefire as warplanes pound Yemen rebels

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister vowed Friday that a ceasefire would begin on May 12, despite Saudi-led coalition attacks on Thursday against Yemeni rebels.

Russia lifts ban on missiles delivery to Iran. The White House said the decision could raise sanctions concerns

The Kremlin says Russia has lifted its ban on the delivery of a sophisticated air defense missile system to Iran, the Associated Press reported Monday, in a move which Iran said helps regional security.

Obama to ’Gulf States’: Biggest Threat is from inside own Countries, not Iran

The Gulf states face a greater threat from within their own countries than from outside forces such as Iran or ISIL (acronym of the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' takfiri group), US President Barack Obama has said in an interview explaining the nuclear deal struck with Iran last week.

Iran says no proposals from P 5+1 negotiators to Iran that require coordination

P 5 + 1 negotiators /five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany/ have not made any considerable proposals that would require coordination with Teheran, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told reporters on Friday.

Iraq's new PM backed by US, Iran

Iraq's new prime minister-designate won swift endorsements from uneasy mutual allies the United States and Iran today as he called on political leaders to end crippling feuds that have let jihadists seize a third of the country.
Haider al-Abadi still faces opposition closer to home, where his Shi'ite party colleague Nuri al-Maliki has refused to step aside after eight years as premier that have alienated Iraq's once dominant Sunni minority and irked Washington and Tehran.

ISIS positions in Iraq bombed by unknown planes (a new reality and a new Iraq)

The positions of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, ISIL) in the northern Iraqi city of al-Qaim were bombed by unknown fighter planes on Tuesday.

The White House denied U.S. planes carried out the airstrikes after an Iraqi television station reported that U.S. jets were behind the bombings.

Tribal sources told Al Arabiya News that Syrian fighter planes carried out the raids.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s air force has bombed Baiji - about 200km north of Baghdad, where ISIS fighters seized an oil refinery, according to Al Arabiya's correspondent.

Pétrole: Téhéran prêt à compenser la baisse de la production en Irak

Téhéran est prêt à compenser la baisse de la production pétrolière en Irak due à l'aggravation de la situation dans ce pays, rapporte samedi l'agence IRNA, citant le ministre iranien du pétrole Bijan Namdar-Zangheneh.

D'après le ministre, suite aux opérations armées lancées par le groupe djihadiste Etat islamique en Irak et au Levant (EIIL), les prix du pétrole ont augmenté de 5%. Selon des informations publiées la semaine dernière, les islamistes ont attaqué une grande raffinerie de pétrole dans la ville de Baïdji (nord de l'Irak). Ils ont pénétré sur le territoire de l'entreprise et détruit plusieurs réservoirs de pétrole. 

Kerry urges Assad's allies to end Syria war

BEIRUT: US Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed Syria's election as a "great big zero" on Wednesday, urging President Bashar al-Assad's allies Iran, Russia and Hezbollah to end the country's three-year war.

His remarks during a surprise trip to Beirut came ahead of the publication of official results from the election, dubbed a "disgrace" by Washington.

Kerry also announced US$290 million in humanitarian aid for Syria and neighbouring countries hosting refugees, key among them Lebanon.

US reassures Gulf allies wary over Iran Defence. -Secretary Chuck Hagel's remarks come at a time of rising tensions in their relationship with the GCC.

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US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has said the United States will maintain a wide array of military forces in the Middle East to ensure security in the region despite diplomatic overtures toward Iran over its nuclear program.
Hagel, in prepared remarks to the Manama Dialogue security forum in Bahrain, said on Saturday that the Pentagon had no plan to adjust its military presence or planning in the region as a result of an interim accord on Tehran's nuclear enrichment program.

Iran and six world powers meeting in Geneva say they have reached a deal on Tehran's nuclear programme.

Iran is to curb its nuclear activities, initially for six months, in return for limited relief from sanctions. 
US President Barack Obama welcomed the deal, saying it included "substantial limitations which will help prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon".
  But Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has insisted Iran retains its right to enrich uranium.

La position de l'Iran sur la France et Israël "complique la négociation" (Paris)...

La position du guide suprême iranien, l'ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sur la France et Israël complique la négociation sur le programme nucléaire de l'Iran, rapportent mercredi les médias français, se référant à la porte-parole du gouvernement français, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem.

"Les propos de Khamenei sont inacceptables et compliquent la négociation", a déclaré lors de son point de presse hebdomadaire Mme Vallaud-Belkacem, ajoutant que la position de Paris dans cette négociation était "ferme mais pas fermée".

L'ayatollah a désigné la France comme le responsable numéro un de l'échec des pourparlers de Genève sur le nucléaire iranien entre Téhéran et les Six (Etats-Unis, Chine, Russie, Grande-Bretagne, France et Allemagne), le 10 novembre dernier.

Israeli PM to Kerry: We won't be bound by agreement with Iran.

JERUSALEM, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Israel will not be bound to any agreements reached between Iran and the six world powers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prior to his departure from Israel on Friday.

Netanyahu met with Kerry at the airport on Friday morning, just before Kerry was to continue on to Geneva to join the talks between Iran and the Western countries.

The meeting was described as "tense" with Netanyahu saying before it that Israel vehemently opposes the apparent deal that seems to come into play on the Iranian nuclear plan.

Carla del Ponte: Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack Carried Out by Rebels. -May 2013 (VIDEO YT 27/8/13)

As the Syrian revolt continues to tear the country apart, the international community has been eager to condemn Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even as it became clear that the rebels do not, in fact, represent a popular uprising against the oppression of the Assad regime. According to UN diplomat Carla del Ponte, however, it appears that the recent chemical weapons attack was carried out by the Syrian rebels and not the regime, as it had been widely assumed. Speaking to a Swiss television channel, del Ponte said that there were “strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof,” that rebels had carried out the attack. She also said UN investigators had seen no evidence of the Syrian army using chemical weapons, but that further investigation was needed (May 2013***).

Turkish PM slams Israel over Syria attack

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of waging "state terrorism" after it struck targets in Syria.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Israel of waging "state terrorism" as he condemned the air
strike on Syria as an unacceptable violation of international law.
"Those who have been treating Israel like a spoilt child should expect anything from them, at any time," said Erdogan on Sunday.
"As I say time and again, Israel has a mentality of waging state terrorism. Right now, there is no telling what it might do and where it might do it," he told reporters.

Iran responds to EU oil and gas sanctions with… oil and gas sanctions

Iran has slapped a ban on oil and gas exports to the European Union, even though the EU has already forbidden Iranian petrochemicals from entering its territory.
“Despite many requests by EU countries on buying oil and gas from Iran, Iran will not sell any oil and gas to those countries,” Oil Ministry Spokseman Alireza Nikzad Rahbar told the official Mehr news agency.
It is not clear what “requests” Nikzad Rahbar was referring to, as the EU stopped importing crude oil in July last year, and gas under the latest round of sanctions that came into force earlier this month.
It comes as fresh restrictions are being  implemented  by the EU, preventing Iranian banks from dealing with Europe, unless for humanitarian purposes. The embargoes are aimed at hindering Tehrans nuclear program, which Brussels believes is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon.

Any attack on Syria will be taken as an attack on Iran - Tehran aide

Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser on international affairs to the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamanei, warned Saturday that any attack on Syria will be taken as an attack on Iran or its allies, according to the Reuters news agency.

Tehran has already made strongly-worded warnings against an overthrow of al-Assad, who’s engaged in a large-scale armed struggle against the opposition forces that are doing their utmost to come to power.

The conflict in Syria has been raging since March 2011.

The geopolitical fallout of a Greek euro exit

By Tom Ellis & Achilleas Patsoukas
Geece’s debt crisis has captured international headlines over the past couple of years. Virtually all analysts have focused on Greece’s deficit and mammoth debt, which pose a threat to the entire European economy.