London, United Kingdom | AFP | Iran’s seizure and continued detention of a UK-flagged tanker deals Boris Johnson an immediate loyalty test: Britain’s new prime minister may have to choose between Gulf escorts led by Europe or by the United States. Which way Johnson leans could set the tone for a …
Read More »US orders new troops to Middle East to counter Iran ‘threat’
Washington, United States | AFP | The United States announced Friday it was deploying 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East in response to what the Pentagon called an “campaign” of recent attacks approved by Iran’s top leadership. The escalation of the US military presence follows a decision in early …
Read More »Tehran says Trump’s ‘genocidal taunts won’t end Iran’
Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday the “genocidal taunts” of US President Donald Trump will not “end Iran”, as tensions spike between the two countries. “Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. Economic terrorism and genocidal taunts won’t ‘end Iran’,” …
Read More »Thirty years after Rushdie fatwa, blasphemy still a potent weapon
Islamabad, Pakistan | AFP | Thirty years after Iran called for the killing of Salman Rushdie, the British novelist remains a figure of hate for extremists across the Muslim world, and though the level of outrage has dropped, the issue of blasphemy is as incendiary as ever. Rushdie’s novel “The …
Read More »Rushdie: from fatwa fugitive to free speech hero
Paris, France | AFP | On February 14, 1989 Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for British writer Salman Rushdie to be killed for writing “The Satanic Verses”, which the cleric said insulted Islam. In a fatwa, or religious decree, Khomeini urged “Muslims of the world rapidly to execute …
Read More »Iran’s Rouhani tells critics: blame ‘oath-breaker’ US
Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani slammed his critics on Wednesday, defending the political achievements of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and calling the US an “oath-breaker”. “One should not condemn the government or the great Islamic system instead of America — this is the greatest damage …
Read More »Netanyahu confirms weekend strike by Israel on Iran target in Syria
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel had at the weekend carried out an air strike on Iranian weapons in Syria, a rare public confirmation of such attacks. “Just in the last 36 hours the air force attacked Iranian warehouses containing Iranian weapons in …
Read More »Israel ex-minister to get 11 years for spying for Iran
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | An Israeli ex-minister charged with spying for the country’s arch-foe Iran has reached a plea bargain with prosecutors that will see him serve 11 years in prison, the justice ministry said Wednesday. As part of the agreement, Gonen Segev will plead guilty to serious espionage …
Read More »Netanyahu says Israel is Arabs’ ‘ally’ against Iran
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Arab countries viewed Israel as an “indispensable ally” fighting Iran and the Islamic State group. That evaluation, he told Brazil’s Globo TV during a visit to Rio, has caused “a revolution in relations with the Arab …
Read More »Iran TV boss fired over Jackie Chan sex scene
Tehran, Iran | AFP | A regional boss of Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB has been fired after inadvertently letting a Jackie Chan sex scene slip through its tight censorship rules, local media reported on Monday. Viewers on Iran’s Kish Island were shocked when their local TV station showed the martial …
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