Iran

A senior White House official stated on Monday that President Donald Trump would be willing to sign legislation imposing sanctions on Russia, as long as the ultimate decision-making power remained with him. Trump told reporters on Sunday night that he was "OK" with Republicans working on legislation to impose restrictions on countries that do business with Russia because Moscow failed to negotiate a deal with Ukraine. Trump suggested that lawmakers could add Iran to sanctions measures. Both Senator Lindsey Graham, and U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick are Republicans. They sponsored legislation to impose restrictions on countries that do business with Russia....

The top official of the U.S. Treasury Department said that the United States is looking to seize a "moment in Lebanon" to cut off Iranian funding for Hezbollah, and to press the group into disarming. John Hurley said in a late-Friday interview that Iran managed to send about $1 billion this year to Hezbollah despite the Western sanctions which have ravaged its economy. The U.S. is waging a campaign of "maximum pressuring" on Tehran to reduce its uranium-enrichment program and regional influence. This includes in Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah has also been weakened since Israel destroyed its military strength...

India announced on Thursday that the U.S. had granted it a six-month waiver of sanctions to operate Chabahar's Iranian port. This will help New Delhi to boost its trade with Afghanistan and Central Asian nations, bypassing Pakistan. Last year, India signed a contract for 10 years with Iran. Develop and operate a port This month, the United States has increased its cooperation with Taliban-run Afghanistan. Reopening of its Embassy Kabul was closed in 2021 after the Islamist group took power following the withdrawal by the U.S. led NATO forces. Initially, the port was planned to be built on Iran's Gulf...

Naim Qassem, the Hezbollah leader, urged Saudi Arabia on Friday to "turn a new page" and put aside past disputes in order to create a united front against Israel. This comes after years of hostility which strained Riyadh’s ties to Lebanon. Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States designated Shi'ite Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in 2016. Riyadh, Washington, and Hezbollah rivals in Lebanon have been pressing the Lebanese Government to disarm Hezbollah, which has been severely weakened since last year's conflict with Israel. Qassem, in a Friday televised speech, said that regional power should view Israel and not Hezbollah...

United Arab Emirates' energy minister stated on Thursday that the country could increase its oil production after 2027, if the market demands it. This move could push the country into the top five oil producing countries in the world. OPEC granted the UAE a larger production quota for this year. The country argued that it was restricting too much its output after investing heavily to increase capacity from 3 million barrels to 4,85 million. Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei, Energy Minister of the country, told reporters that capacity could increase further after 2027. He said that if the market demanded it, they...

The wholesale gas price in the Netherlands and Britain fell by more than 10% Tuesday morning, following the news that Iran had agreed to a ceasefire with Israel. This removed the premium for risk the market had built into the market due to potential disruptions of oil and gas supplies. The benchmark Dutch front month contract at the TTF Hub fell by 4.86 euro to 36.38 Euros per Megawatt Hour (MWh), which is $12.38/mmBtu by 0939 GMT. It had traded as low 35.45 Euros/MWh earlier, LSEG's data showed. The British front-month contracts was down 13.72 pennies at 84.85 cents per...

Israel claims it wants to prevent a nuclear catastrophe in the region, which is home to millions of people as well as producing much of the oil in the world. Israel's military announced that it had hit a Bushehr site on the Gulf Coast, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant. But later said the announcement was an error. Here are some details about the damage that Israel has caused and what experts have to say about the dangers of contamination and other disasters. What has Israel done so far? Israel has declared attacks on nuclear sites at Natanz, Isfahan...

Two vessel tracking companies said that Iran maintains crude oil supplies by loading tanks one at atime and moving floating storage closer to China. The country is trying to keep its main source of income while being attacked by Israel. The conflict that erupted between Iran and Israel last week is a new obstacle for Iran. It uses a fleet of shadow tankers to hide their origins and avoid U.S. sanctions imposed in 2018 due to its nuclear program. Iran is the third largest producer of crude oil in OPEC. Most of its exports go to China. The trackers reported...

Israel's Energy Minister Eli Cohen announced on Wednesday that the country will resume natural gas exports once its military deems it safe. The air battle between Israel & Iran is now in its sixth day. Since June 13, two of Israel's three natural gas fields, Leviathan operated by Chevron and Karish owned by Energean, off its Mediterranean coastline that provides the bulk of the exports to Egypt & Jordan have been closed. The older leaves are still in use Field used mostly for domestic supply. Cohen stated that he had been in touch with Egpyt, Jordan and Jordan regarding the...

Reporters visiting the region found that U.S. troops have now withdrawn from two additional bases in northeastern Syria. This is part of a larger troop withdrawal, which, according to the commander of U.S. backed Syrian Kurdish Forces, has allowed a resurgence by Islamic State. Reporters who visited these two bases last week found that they were mostly deserted. They were both guarded only by a small number of Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish led military group Washington has supported in its fight against Islamic State since a decade. The razor wire that surrounded the perimeters of the bases occupied by...

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said that more pressure should be applied to Russia in order to secure a ceasefire. She urged G7 nations intensify sanctions to achieve this goal. The leaders of the largest industrial countries are meeting in Canada’s Rockies, along with European nations. They want to keep the conflict in Ukraine on the minds of U.S. president Donald Trump, despite the fighting between Israel and Iran taking place in the Middle East. The European Union has decided to adopt new sanctions against Russia. However, they have not been able to convince Trump, who...

Yemen's Iran aligned Houthis announced on Sunday that they were targeting Israel in coordination and coordination with Iran. This is the first time a group with an Iran alignment has publicly announced a joint attack with Tehran. In a recent televised speech, Yehya Saarea, the military spokesperson said that the Yemeni group had targeted central Israel's Jaffa in the past 24 hours with a number of ballistic missiles. He added: "This operation was coordinated along with the Iranian army's operations against the criminal Israeli enemies." Earlier, the Israeli military said that sirens had been activated in various areas of the...

Iran is open to a "fair and balanced proposal" from the United States, but Tehran still hasn't received any negotiation proposal, said Iran's top diplomat on Saturday. Abbas Araqchi, Iran's foreign minister, told state TV that he would consider any American proposal for negotiation if it was reasonable, fair, and balanced. Araqchi, however, said that Tehran would not give up "its right to enrich uranium", but could take confidence-building steps regarding "the peacefulness of its nuclear program." Araqchi added that Washington and Tehran had been exchanging messages via mediators. Israel, the United States and its European allies accuse Tehran, of...

Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will meet officials from Britain France and Germany (the so-called E3) in Vienna, Iran’s state-run Nournews reported on Sunday. International sanctions against Tehran for its nuclear program are due to be reimposed by the end of the month. The agency did not give a date for the trip but said that the mutual negotiations and issues related to Iranian relations with Europe would be discussed. Last week, Iranian and European Ministers held discussions in an effort to avoid the reimposition sanctions against Tehran. According to two European and one Iranian diplomat, the talks failed to...

Iran and UN nuclear watchdog IAEA reached an agreement about the resumed cooperation, Iranian Foreign Ministry Abbas Araqchi stated in a Tuesday statement. He warned that the implementation of UN sanctions against Iran would mean the termination of the "practical measures" detailed in the deal. Since the United States and Israel bombarded Iran's nuclear facilities in June, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been denied access to its key nuclear installations. Iran adopted a law following the attacks that suspended cooperation with IAEA, and said any inspections would have to be approved by the Supreme National Security Council. "I...

Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi is scheduled to speak with his French and British counterparts and German counterparts Friday about nuclear talks and sanctions. This was reported by the state news agency IRNA. Three European powers have warned that they will activate United Nations sanctions against Iran under a "snapback mechanism" if Iran doesn't return to the table to negotiate over its nuclear program. Together with the United States they claim that Iran uses its nuclear program to develop weapons. Tulsi Gabriel, the U.S. director of national intelligence, testified before Congress in March that there was no evidence that Iran...

The Kremlin stated on Wednesday that the damage caused by U.S. airstrikes on Iran's nucleus facilities last weekend was still too early to determine. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin, said "No" when asked if Russia held its own data on the extent of damage. I don't believe that anyone has realistic data at this time. "It's likely too early to have such data. We need to wait for them." The U.S. president Donald Trump claimed at the weekend that these strikes "obliterated Iran's nuclear facility". Three sources familiar with the situation said that an initial U.S. Intelligence assessment determined...

Rafael Grossi, the U.N.'s chief nuclear inspector, said that his priority was to get his inspectors to Iran to assess the effects of U.S. military strikes on Iran and to verify its stock of enriched Uranium. Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a press conference during an Austrian cabinet meeting on security that "this is our number one priority." He wants his inspectors to return to Iranian sites, including the three facilities where it enriches uranium before Israel's strikes on June 13th. When asked if Iran informed him about the status of its stocks, especially...

A senior U.S. official stated on Tuesday that Yemen's Iran aligned Houthi group will be a persistent issue for the U.S. even after Washington reached an agreement with the Houthis last month, ending a U.S. aerial campaign against the group. Air Force Lieutenant-General Alexus Grynkewich told lawmakers that the Houthis will likely be a persistent issue... with which we'll have to deal in the future. Grynkewich was nominated as the new commander of U.S. Military's European Command. Last month, Donald Trump announced that the U.S. was ceasing to bomb the Houthis who were firing on U.S. warships, as well as...

The Kremlin reacted to criticism on Tuesday that it hadn't done enough for Iran. It said it had taken "a clear position" in condemning U.S. Vladimir Putin condemned the "unjustified attacks" by the United States on Iranian nuclear sites, which he had signed a treaty of strategic cooperation with in January. He stated on Monday that Russia will try to assist the Iranian people. However, he did not give any specifics. Earlier this week, Iranian sources said that Tehran was not impressed by Russia's support. When asked about the comparisons with the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad last year,...

Since Israel's military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities on 13 June, the U.N. nuclear watchdog that polices the global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has been unable to conduct inspections in Iran. The International Atomic Energy Agency has a number of inspection powers. IS THE IAEA UNIVERSAL IN JURISDICTION? No. The IAEA has separate agreements with other countries and is only responsible for the 191 signatories of the NPT. Iran is a signatory to the NPT, and is therefore subject to IAEA supervision. This includes inspections to ensure that nuclear material like uranium does not get "diverted", for example to be used...

U.S. strikes on the Isfahan complex, which houses Iran's vast uranium-enriched stockpile, caused damage to the tunnels that store a portion of the uranium. The U.N. nuclear watchdog confirmed this Sunday. The International Atomic Energy Agency issued a statement saying that "we have established that the entrances to the underground tunnels on the site were affected." Isfahan is the site where officials have said that a large amount of Iran's highly enriched uranium is stored. Rafael Grossi, chief of IAEA, confirmed in a statement made to the U.N. Security Council shortly after the IAEA's statement that the tunnels were part...

Igor Sechin said that the OPEC+ group, which includes major oil producers around the world, could accelerate its production increases by a year compared to their initial plan. He said the decision of OPEC+ to increase output now looks far-sighted and justifiable in light of the conflict between Israel and Iran. In April, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies led by Russia shocked the oil markets by agreeing to a larger-than-expected increase in output for May, despite low prices and a slowing of demand. OPEC+ decided to increase prices by more than originally planned. "The...

When asked if he agrees with Israeli statements regarding a possible regime change in Tehran, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded on Thursday by saying that Iranian society is consolidating around the Islamic Republic’s leadership. Putin has spoken as Trump Keep the World Guessing As residents of Iran's Capital city began to leave the city after the sixth day of Israel's airstrike, many wondered if the U.S. was going to join Israel in its bombardment of Iranian missile and nuclear sites. Putin said that all sides must find ways to end the hostilities so as to ensure both Iran's rights to...