Ukraine sparks EU, US rush to Iran deal

Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi telephoned Russian president Vladimir Putin to discuss NATO expansion and Iran nuclear issue Will the US-Russia confrontation over NATO expansion and the situation around Ukraine derail the Iran nuclear negotiations in Vienna?  Apparently, the Iran issue has been pushed somewhat from the centre of world attention lately. But that is a …

Netanyahu is the winner in Fakhrizadeh’s murder

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz (R) In his very first reaction on the killing of the Iranian nuclear scientist and Deputy Defense Minister Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh last Friday, President Hassan Rouhani singled out Israel as the culprit. Not Saudi Arabia, not …

Biden’s “normalcy” means return of “ancien régime”

There has been a spate of reports in the American media that the US president-elect Joe Biden is assembling his cabinet of ministers. Most reports mention that Biden’s secretary of state will be Susan Rice, former US ambassador to the United Nations and National Security Advisor in the Barack Obama administration. Reportedly, Biden’s choice for …

Iran circles wagons as Trump’s B Team beats war drum

(Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani addressing the cabinet meeting, Tehran, May 8, 2019) If there can be a lethal game of Russian roulette in international politics, this is it — what just began on May 8, the first anniversary of the United States’ withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal of July 2015.  Iran exercised “strategic patience” …