Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah last week declared that the Iran-backed terror group would attack Israel in response to the December 4th killing of Haj Hassan Hilu Laqis, deepening concerns that the organization – which has seen its brand as an anti-Israel vanguard shattered by its role in the Syrian conflict – is seeking to...

A corruption probe involving some of Turkey’s top figures has engulfed officials at a Turkish bank long linked to Iranian sanctions-busting schemes, adding a potential international dimension to a scandal that was already threatening to destabilize the country’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. The probe has pitted rival Islamist camps against...

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week voted to advance bipartisan legislation designed to boost U.S.-Israeli energy cooperation on topics: If the bill goes on to pass on the Senate floor, it will encourage continued engagement among the countries’ government agencies, the bill suggests jointly honing regulatory best...

A potential showdown between the White House and Congress over sanctions on Iran is refocusing attention on tensions within the Obama administration’s opposition to imposing new financial pressure on the Islamic republic. Journalists and analysts had very early begun to question the White House’s stance that while past sanctions had...

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif boasted Wednesday that Iran could resume enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity in less than a day, the latest in a string of statements from top Iranian officials that risk deepening concerns not just about the Islamic republic’s broad intentions but more specifically about the asymmetrical...

Hamas spokesman Salah Al-Bardaweel Wednesday shot down rumors that the Palestinian terror group had reached a deal with the rival Fatah faction on creating a single government that would govern both the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Fatah-controlled areas of the West Bank.  “These false remarks,” he explained, “hint that Hamas had...

Journalists and analysts yesterday scrambled to clarify the details of Senate legislation – first leaked Wednesday night but formally introduced only mid-Thursday – that would heighten sanctions on Iran if it violated the terms of the recently signed Joint Plan of Action (JPA) during an upcoming six month negotiation period,...

Egyptian officials announced today that the country’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked former President Mohammed Morsi will stand trial on terrorism-related charges, declaring that he and 35 other Brotherhood figures will face charges for among other things conspiring with Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to sow instability within and beyond...

Criticism continues to mount regarding the scope and likely effects of financial relief granted to Iran as part of the recently announced Geneva interim agreement, with concerns being raised not just about the value of unfrozen assets but more broadly about how the so-called Joint Plan of Action (JPA) is...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday lashed out against a corruption probe that he described as a “dirty operation” designed to smear him and his Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) administration, a day after more than 50 people – drawn from the families of politicians and businessmen close to Erdogan...