The absence of most of the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries at a summit with President Barack Obama later this week at Camp David reflects a fear that the emerging nuclear with Iran will endanger them, analysts told The New York Times today. Gulf nations worry further that any sanctions relief...

Iran rejected criticism of its use of the death penalty made by United Nations officials last week, calling it a “downright lie,” The Jerusalem Post reported yesterday. The criticism comes amid an increase in executions in Iran as well as the arrest of a prominent anti-death penalty activist. Foreign Ministry...

An Iranian airline that has been sanctioned due to ties with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has purchased nine planes in violation of existing sanctions, the Financial Times reported today. According to the report, the airline, Mahan Air, purchased the planes from European companies using a front company. The Financial Times reported that...

Protests against Iranian authorities that began in the Kurdish-majority city of Mahabad have spread to other Kurdish areas, Lebanon’s NOW Media reported today. ARA News, a Syrian outlet close to the country’s Kurds, reported that at least six people have been killed in the ongoing demonstrations, while hundreds of others have...

A top security official of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been placed under house arrest on suspicion of plotting a coup, The Telegraph reported today. Ali Mamlouk, the head of the country’s National Security Bureau, and one of the few officials still to have access to President...

President Barack Obama’s efforts to gain support for the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran suffered a blow when it was confirmed Sunday that King Salman, the newly-crowned ruler of Saudi Arabia, would not be attending this week’s planned summit between the president and the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC),...