Global Affairs

The daily Iran news bulletin published by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) yesterday conveyed Persian-language remarks from a top Iranian official declaring that the Hassan Rouhani government was committed to leveraging the private sector in order to stabilize and then boost Iran’s economy, a day after Rouhani himself gestured toward the same theme in...

Continue Reading >>

The United Nations on Thursday announced that more than one million refugees have flooded into Lebanon from Syria, creating what The New York Times described as “the highest concentration of refugees as a percentage of population in the world, with about one Syrian for every three Lebanese.” “The influx of a million...

Continue Reading >>

Jordan’s State Security Court sentenced six people to life in jail on April 2 for their role in a truck-bombing plot. In a 128-page decision issued on Wednesday, the tribunal sentenced Kataeb Al Tawheed leader Azmi Al Jayousi and five other terrorists to life for “conspiracy to commit terrorist acts” and...

Continue Reading >>

Reuters reported Wednesday afternoon that Russia and Iran were advancing on a scheme that would see the Iranians bartering roughly 500,000 barrels of oil a day in exchange for Russian goods, a plan that the outlet said would “enable Tehran to boost vital energy exports in defiance of Western sanctions” and which the White...

Continue Reading >>

Iran’s Fars News outlet reported on Tuesday that Tehran is aggressively courting foreign investors, conveying statements made by Valiollah Afkhamirad, the head of Iran’s Trade Development Organization, that the interim Joint Plan of Action (JPA) inked last November in Geneva had created “a suitable atmosphere… [for] investors in Iran and they have become highly...

Continue Reading >>

The erosion in the international sanctions regime against Iran has generated what the Wall Street Journal last week described as “a steady flow of Western executives” – a signal that the outlet read as suggesting that “economic detente with the rest of the world may be on the horizon” – generating renewed concerns among journalists...

Continue Reading >>