Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah “are building a network of militias inside Syria to preserve and protect their interests” should opposition forces successfully overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime. The regime is aligned with Tehran, and the Iranians have continued to supply Damascus with weapons and training over the course of the...

Iran will cancel visa requirements for Egyptian merchants and tourists seeking to enter the country, according to statements made last week to Egyptian state news by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. The move will be read against the backdrop of Iranian efforts to create what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has...

Brushing aside Iranian denials, Yemen’s president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has now formally blamed Iran for a seized ship filled with weapons believed to be intended for Shiite insurgents fighting the country’s government: But government official Abdel-Rashid Abdel Hafez said President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi had contacted Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to...

Yemen is demanding that Iran stop arming and supporting insurgents in the country, blasting Tehran for interfering in the state’s internal affairs. Sanaa has also asked the U.N. Security Council to investigate an incident last month in which a ship carrying a cache of suspected Iranian-made “anti-aircraft missiles [and] C4 high explosives materials”...

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected proposals for direct negotiations with the United States after U.S. Vice President Biden floated them last week.   Khamenei’s refusal reflects the known and explicit position of Iranian hardliners, explicitly expressed in the context of mass protests as recently as November. Prominent U.S....

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has rejected the possibility, proposed earlier this month by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, of direct bilateral negotiations between Washington and Tehran. The prospect of bilateral negotiations – and their status – has been a contentious issue. It was explicitly argued during a 2012 presidential...