Is the term accurately a descriptive for Iran’s far-right extremist theocratic leaders, or is it used to whitewash and excuse Iran’s politics?
A global narrative present in major media outlets uses the term “hardliner” to describe Ebrahim Raisi, the winner of Iran’s presidential election on Saturday.
New details have emerged about the alleged plot to overthrow Jordan’s King Abdullah, indicating that former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played a starring role along with senior officials within the Trump administration, prominent Jordanians, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
Syrians are eagerly awaiting the humanitarian outcome of Wednesday’s summit between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and its impact on the flow of aid to several opposition-held areas.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Syrians hoped the two leaders would have discussed the Bab al-Hawa border crossing.
The Danish authorities rejected an appeal of a deportation decision against Omar al-Natour and his wife Asma. The Syrian couple started a new life in Denmark six years ago.
The Danish authorities told the couple that they had 30 days to leave for Syria or they would be detained at a deportation camp, although the husband suffers from health problems and is wanted by the security services in Syria, Asma told Zaman al-Wasl. Nevertheless, the Danish Immigration Department refused to renew their residency.
On Wednesday, German interior ministers held a meeting to discuss the deportation of some Syrian refugees to their homeland, as human rights organizations issue warnings against such deportations.
According to the European website InfoMigrants, German interior ministers will discuss several issues at their three-day meeting. Most notably, they will discuss the option of deporting refugees to Syria and Afghanistan, based on the individual case of each refugee. Refugees who are “dangerous criminals” or “posing a threat” could therefore be deported.
US President Joe Biden was confused between Syria and Libya multiple times in a G7 media conference on Sunday, as he spoke of possible points of collaboration between the US and Russia, beyond the long-standing tensions between them.
“In Libya, we should be opening up the passes to be able to go through and provide… food assistance and economic – I mean vital assistance – to a population that’s in real trouble,” Biden said.
Analysts cannot offer any definitive indications about the fate of the Syrian issue after the summit between president Joe Biden, and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Reports hinted, however, at the possibility of cooperation between the two countries.
Some reports described the Biden-Putin meeting as a pragmatic summit, while other analysts described the meeting as a “red line summit” that was demanded by the two presidents, asserting that the Syrian issue was at the bottom of the agenda.
Iranians will go to the polls this Friday to choose the successor to centrist President Hassan Rouhani, who is winding down his second four-year term and cannot run for reelection. The polls will take place in an atmosphere of widespread public apathy, as voters choose from a list of presidential candidates that has been heavily vetted beforehand. Of the seven contenders approved last month by the Guardian Council—an oversight body of 12 clerics who are closely aligned with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei—five are regarded as hard-liners, while the other two are uncharismatic moderates with relatively low profiles. Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line jurist, is widely seen as the front-runner.
Iran and Venezuela appear to be expanding military ties, even beyond joint efforts to evade U.S. economic sanctions.
An Iranian flotilla carrying drones, assault helicopters, and fast-attack boats has entered the Atlantic Ocean, apparently bound for Venezuela.
Iran’s possible introduction of drone technology to Venezuela would enhance Iran’s efforts to project hard power into the Western Hemisphere.
In retrospect, Germany’s much-vaunted Hezbollah ban appears to have been little more than a publicity stunt aimed at silencing critics of the German government’s pro-Iran foreign policy.
Hezbollah has effectively evaded the ban by transferring many of its activities to charities and cultural centers controlled by Iran.