Controversy swirled last week regarding testimony given to Congress by Secretary of State John Kerry, in which Kerry told the House Foreign Relations Committee that “I think it’s a mistake for some people to be raising again and again” Israel’s demand that the Palestinians recognize the country’s Jewish character “as...

Pro-Iran groups – including one that has been blasted by members of Congress for peddling “propaganda put out by the Iranian regime” – are scrambling to position themselves, as bipartisan Congressional letters from both the House of Representatives and the Senate regarding negotiations with Iran gain traction. The National Iranian American Council (NIAC)...

Reuters on Thursday conveyed estimates from human rights organizations calculating that the death toll in the Syrian conflict had passed 146,000, as the war was set to enter its fourth year this weekend. The figures come a few weeks after Syrian forces fighting on behalf of the Bashar al-Assad regime intensified aerial bombardments across...

Journalists and analysts continued on Thursday to unpack a report on Iran issued this week by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in which the U.N. diplomat broadly emphasized that there had been no fundamental improvement in Iranian human rights since the election and inauguration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, “despite pledges made...

Various outlets have focused in recent days on specific sectors being eyed by investors as Iranian markets are reopened to the world under the terms of the interim Joint Plan of Action (JPA), even as President Barack Obama on Wednesday extended some sanctions after informing Congress that the Islamic Republic “continue[d] to pose an...

At least two people died on Wednesday in Turkey as police forces moved to quell the worst civil unrest to grip the country since last summer’s mass protests, with The Guardian assessing that the deaths had “set the mood in Turkey further on edge” and “highlighted the deepening polarisation of Turkish politics.” The protests were...

Veteran Jordan-based journalist Osama Al Sharif assessed on Tuesday that Jordan was unlikely to follow the lead of Egypt and some Gulf states in branding the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, not because the Islamist group is supported by Amman – Sharif noted that Jordan’s current ruler King Abdullah II is even “less sympathetic to [the Brotherhood’s...

The Wall Street Journal yesterday conveyed assessments from top financial experts describing Iran as “Turkey with oil” and outlining “a growing consensus that the withdrawal of sanctions on [Iran]… would be a huge boon for the country, the region and for investors who get in early.” “Tehran feels like Ankara did in 2004,” Mr....

British media late yesterday conveyed statements by Prime Minister David Cameron condemning a Palestinian rocket barrage against Israeli civilians as “barbaric,” after Palestinian fighters launched at least 60 rockets and missiles from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip at Israeli population centers. The Telegraph contextualized the statement against the backdrop of statements made by Cameron earlier...

A top Iranian official reiterated yesterday that Tehran will refuse to discuss its ballistic missile program in the context of comprehensive negotiations over its nuclear program with the international community, the latest in a long line of statements underlining that the Islamic republic views the issue as a red line. “Issues related to our...