Iran’s failure to bring its money-laundering and terror finance laws into compliance with international standards has discouraged foreign banks from doing business with the country, according to a senior International Monetary Fund official. David Lipton, a deputy of the IMF’s Managing Director Christine Lagarde, told Bloomberg News while in Tehran...

Iran is propping up the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in order to ensure that Hezbollah, which both countries support, has the continued capability to wage war against Israel, expert witnesses told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a hearing Tuesday. “The gains made by the Assad regime (with Russian and Iranian help)...

Mustafa Badreddine, the Hezbollah commander who was killed in an explosion in Syria last week, will be replaced by his nephew, who is also the son of another killed Hezbollah commander, the London-based Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Tuesday. Mustafa Mughniyeh, the son of the late Imad Mughniyeh, has been appointed as the...

European banks remain skeptical of doing business with Iran because the country continues to be blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force, a global watchdog supported by more than 30 Western countries focused on ensuring the integrity of the international financial system. Iran’s FATF blacklisting, which was spurred by the widespread use of...

UNESCO’s director general condemned Iran’s recently opened Holocaust cartoon contest, saying that the event encourages hatred, violence, and racism. The contest, which began Saturday and will last until the end of the month, offers a top prize of $12,000. “Such an initiative, which aims at a mockery of the genocide of the Jewish people,...

Iranian police have arrested eight women who posted pictures on Instagram without a hair covering as part of an organized crackdown, the Associated Press reported Monday. Elham Arab, a model known for posing in wedding gowns who was one of the arrested women, was shown on state television speaking to...