TEHRAN  – The US president has responded defiantly to a guilty plea made by his former national security adviser, saying Michael Flynn’s “actions during the transition were lawful”. But he drew further scrutiny by changing his story on why he fired him. US President Donald Trump on Saturday shrugged off the bombshell news that his […]

TEHRAN– Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement has fired a cruise missile toward a nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the group’s television network said on its website on Sunday. “The missile force announces the launching of a winged cruise missile … toward the al-Barakah nuclear reactor in Abu Dhabi,” the website […]

TEHRAN – North Korea Sunday blasted the United States and South Korea as “warmongers” on the eve of their largest-ever joint air exercise, saying it could trigger a nuclear war. The comments came as White House National Security Advisor H.R McMaster warned of the “increasing” possibility of war with the impoverished but nuclear-armed North, AFP […]

TEHRAN – Levan Dzhagaryan, Moscow’s ambassador to Tehran, says that defeat of Daesh in Syria and Iraq sent a “positive image” of Iran to the world and proved that the Islamic republic is against terrorism. “Iran was highly criticized (and we know by which countries inside and outside the region) for supporting terrorism. Iran, as […]

The US military has received permission from the government of Niger to begin flying armed drones in the country from the capital Niamey, according to a report. The agreement indicates an intensifying US military campaign against militants in Africa and is based on a recently signed government-to-government memorandum of understanding, The Associated Press reported on Friday, citing a […]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, her Bavarian ally Horst Seehofer, and SPD Party leader Martin Schulz agreed during a meeting late on Thursday to enter into talks to find a way out of the recent political impasse in forming a coalition, a party official said on Friday. The leaders of the three parties discussed various options for […]

TEHRAN – The US Senate narrowly approved a tax overhaul, moving Republicans and President Donald Trump a big step closer to their goal of slashing taxes for businesses and the rich while offering everyday Americans a mixed bag of changes. In what would be the largest change to US tax laws since the 1980s, Republicans […]

TEHRAN– A senior author and political commentator from Canada praised Iran’s campaign against terrorism in the Middle East and said the Islamic Republic has been fighting the phenomenon while the West’s support for terror groups in the region is well documented. “Iran has played a very important role in defeating terrorism in the Middle East; it […]

TEHRAN – Pope Francis on Friday used the word “Rohingya” for the first time during his current trip to Asia to refer to Muslim refugees who have fled in large numbers from violence in Myanmar. “The presence of God today is also called Rohingya,” he said in an improvised remark after meeting 16 refugees brought […]

In late 2006, I traveled to Saudi Arabia on behalf of Human Rights Watch to discuss human rights with Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, then the assistant interior minister for security affairs. He explained to me the merits of his country’s project to rehabilitate extremists by detaining several thousand Saudis until religious leaders declared them reformed. […]