Iran

US raises Iran rhetoric

By PHIL STEWART | REUTERS BAGHDAD: The United States will take unilateral action when needed to deal with the threat to American troops in Iraq from militias armed by Iran, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said on Monday. US forces officially ended combat operations in Iraq last August but […]

Saudi efforts for good Iran relations continue

By SULTAN AL-TAMIMI | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: The Kingdom’s bilateral dialogue with Iran will continue, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said at a joint press conference with his British counterpart William Hague in Jeddah on Tuesday. “I met with Iran’s former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Tehran and the next […]

Iran: Historically surprising

By MOHAMED EL HEBEISHY, LIFE.STYLE@ARABNEWS.COM It wouldn’t come as a surprise if Iran tails your list of destinations; it probably does. However, if one goes beyond the political stigma, there are a lot of historical attractions that will certainly leave you surprised with Iran. Just a month or so ago, […]

Iran crisis close to climax?

TEL AVIV – As the standoff between Iran, the United States and their allies intensifies, the number of possibilities that lie ahead gradually shrinks. Some sort of a compromise seems inevitable down the road, but whether violence will precede it and who exactly will be left to negotiate remains a mystery. Armed […]

A summit in Tehran trumps the US

  An Iranian diplomatic thrust to bring Afghanistan and Pakistan onside against the United States – benefiting already from the countries’ fury at US efforts to isolate them from Taliban talks – lends greater significance to an anti-terrorism summit in Tehran being attended by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. The […]

From Iran to Persia and back

With an estimated population of about 78 million, most of them aged under 30, the Islamic Republic of Iran, to use the official title, attracts something like two million tourists a year. A significant chunk originate from the European Union, notably Italy, Germany, France and Belgium. Evidently realising the potential […]

How new is Egypt’s ‘new’ foreign policy?

In the months since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, his successors have signalled a shift in foreign policy by reaching out to former adversaries. Egypt’s government has welcomed Iranian diplomats and embraced the Palestinian group Hamas. Many interpret such moves as clear evidence of Egypt’s desire for a diplomacy that […]

Iran to contest ban on players wearing hijab.

Iran will lodge a formal complaint to the world football body after its women’s team was barred from playing in an Olympic qualifier for wearing the traditional Islamic head scarf, media reports said Monday. “We will file a complaint against the match’s FIFA organizer to the International Federation of Association […]

Hijab scarf rule comes to a head as Iranian women’s soccer team banned

GENEVA—Iran’s women’s team was correctly prevented from playing a 2012 Olympics qualifier wearing Islamic head scarves, FIFA said Monday. Iranian officials were “informed thoroughly” before Friday’s match against Jordan that the hijab scarf is banned for safety reasons, soccer’s governing body said. “Despite initial assurances that the Iranian delegation understood […]

Cakewalk to (Baghdad) Tehran

Eli Clifton and Ali Gharib Imagine there’s a Middle Eastern country with a history of rocky relations with the United States. Washington hawks insist the country poses a threat to both the United States and its allies. They undertake a PR campaign demonizing the country’s polity and make cocksure claims […]

Russia ready to recognize Palestine: Lavrov

Tehran Times Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has vowed to throw his weight behind recognition of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. “Every nation needs unity, or the more so the Palestinian people… (who are) striving to create a Palestinian state in accordance with UN resolutions, the […]

‘Islamic awakening in Mideast promising’

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) expresses optimism about the positive effects of Islamic awakening in the Middle East on the fight against arrogant powers. The growing campaign against arrogant powers and dictatorship in the region is promising and would cause accomplishment among Muslims, said Saeed Jalili […]

“All believers are brothers, so make peace between your brothers and be mindful of your duty to Allah that you may be shown mercy.” (Sura 49:11)

and: “In case two parties of the believers fight against each other, bring about reconciliation between them. If, however, one of them persists in belligerence and transgresses against the other, bring your collective might to bear upon the one that transgresses to force him until he agrees that his dispute […]

A rebirth of science in Islamic countries?

The Islamic Golden Age — a period that spanned the 7th to the 13th centuries A.D. — saw a flourishing of scholarship in the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, which at their greatest extent stretched across North Africa and the Middle East. Contrary to traditional views of Islamic science in this […]

Awakening will spread to the heart of Europe

TEHRAN – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has stated that the European nations will certainly rise up against their governments, which are blindly following the policies of the United States and the Zionist regime. The Leader made the remarks during a meeting with thousands of […]