The Turkish, Iranian and Russian leaders are set to meet in Tehran next week amid lingering Turkish threats against Syrian Kurdish groups. Putin and Erdogan will separately discuss the Ukrainian grain crisis.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Tehran next week, with Ukrainian grain exports and a potential Turkish operation in Syria likely to top the agenda.
While joining the bloc has its upsides, it will be extremely difficult for Tehran to get full benefits from BRICS without the complete lifting of Western sanctions.
Recently, Iran applied to join BRICS, a group consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. On a global level, this forum represents 40% of the world population and 26% of the world economy. According to IMF data, China has the largest economy in this grouping and accounts for more than 70% of the BRICS total worth of around $27.5 trillion, while India comes in second at 13% and Russia and Brazil comprise the remaining 7%.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi says that his country will not back down on its positions in the nuclear deal negotiations.
In a Cabinet meeting today, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi discussed the ongoing deadlock with the United States over the nuclear negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Inman Mohammed bin Abdul Karim al-Issa, the head of the Muslim World League, spoke of the Muslim obligation to bring hearts together during the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Known for visiting Auschwitz and for his involvement in interfaith dialogue, he gave the main sermon at the height of the annual Hajj pilgrimage after being chosen earlier in the week for the role by Saudi Arabia’s de factor ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Nine European countries said Tuesday that they have seen “no substantial evidence” to support Israel’s allegations that six Palestinian civil society groups are terrorist organizations and would not change their policies on supporting the groups.
The rare joint statement was a major rebuke of Israel, which backlisted the groups as terrorist organizations last October but has provided little evidence to support its allegations. The rights groups denied the allegations and accused Israel of escalating a long-standing crackdown on Palestinian opposition to its decades-long military rule.
Syria’s Kurdish-led forces alleged Maher al-Aghal was also affiliated with Turkey-backed opposition group Ahrar al-Sharqiya.
A US drone strike on Tuesday killed the leader of the Islamic State group in Syria, the US military announced today.
Iran is trying to showcase that it can work with countries that want to unseat the US as a global hegemonic power.
US President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia will include some discussions on the Iranian threat.
In the summer of 2014, as his followers were ravaging the cities of northern Iraq, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi convened a secret meeting with a weapons expert whose unusual skills the terrorist chief was anxious to acquire.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, has served to accentuate ongoing differences between the United States and Europe on the one hand and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) on the other. This has, to some extent, benefited Russia’s relations with the MENA region at the expense of the United States and Europe. But the impact of the Russian invasion may eventually prove harmful to Russia’s influence in the MENA region.
Eleven years ago, as popular uprisings erupted across the Middle East and North Africa, Europeans imagined themselves as partners of choice for democratic and economic transitions that would create pathways to sustainable stability. This dream failed catastrophically. The region was overwhelmed by instability and conflict, and Europe, in turn, by waves of refugees and deadly terrorism. Through it all the European bloc found itself marginalized, crowded out by the more assertive interventions of regional and non-regional actors.