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Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani says   the Syria conflict cannot be resolved through political approaches as long as terrorist groups, including Daesh and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, an affiliate of al-Qaeda formerly known as al-Nusra Front, are operating in the Arab state and supported by certain regional countries. He said some regional countries have expressed concern over the political initiatives of Iran, Russia and Turkey in Syria and do not have any sympathy for people in war-ravaged countries, but are worried that the terrorist groups they have been supporting are losing ground and on the decline. An author and journalist believes as long as the United States supports the terrorists groups in Syria, there is no possibility of a political solution to the conflict in the war-torn country. “I have said many times and I have wrote in many articles that as long as Obama remained in power, there was no possibility of a political solution to the

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, January 15, 2017. (Photo by AFP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on British Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump to take a tougher stance against Iran. "New admin in US, new gov in Britain, new diplomatic opportunities for Israel. I have meetings in London tomorrow and in Washington next week," Netanyhahu said in a tweet on Sunday. Earlier in the day, he told his cabinet that forming a united front against Iran was one of the main topics that he was going to raise with May and Trump during his upcoming visits. “In the diplomatic sphere, I intend to emphasize the need for a common front against Iran’s defiant aggression, which has raised its head in recent days. This must be done on an ongoing basis, but especially in light of Iran’s defiance against the international order,” Netanyhahu said. Tel Aviv’s renewed focus on Iran c

Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs A senior Iranian official says any threat to Iraq's security and territorial integrity will affect the entire Middle East, stressing that the Islamic Republic opposes Iraq’s partition and any interference in its internal affairs. Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Sunday after a meeting with Jan Kubis, the UN special representative for Iraq, Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs, said the two sides discussed ways to reinforce Iraq’s territorial integrity and national solidarity. He added that any measure to combat terrorism in Iraq must be carried out under the supervision of the United Nations. The Iranian official emphasized that the Islamic Republic and the UN opposed meddling by any country in the internal affairs of Iraq or any other state without thei

The British government’s extensive arms deals with Saudi Arabia are part of a Zionist plan to wage a major war against Muslim countries in the Middle East, says an academic in London. Professor Rodney Shakespeare made the remarks while discussing a new poll that shows a majority of Britons oppose London’s weapons sales to Riyadh. Conducted by Opinium on behalf of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), the survey showed that almost 62 percent of British people think selling arms to Saudi Arabia, the UK’s largest arms customer, was “unacceptable.” The UK government has been under immense pressure by human rights groups to end arms shipments to the Saudis. The UK government has sold over £3.3 billion worth of arms – including fighter jets, bombs and missiles – to the Saudi regime since it attacked Yemen in March 2015. The war has killed at least 11,400 people in Yemen, according to local sources. “There is an issue bigger than the sale of arms by the UK to Saudi Arabia,” Shakes

Iran is holding a military exercise on Saturday to test its missile and radar systems, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration imposed sanctions on Tehran for a recent ballistic missile test. The United States sanctioned 13 individuals and 12 entities related to Iran's missile programme and Trump's national security adviser Michael Flynn said the United States was putting Iran on notice over its "destabilising activity". Iran's Revolutionary Guards website said that the aim of the military exercise in Semnan province was to "showcase the power of Iran's revolution and to dismiss the sanctions." Iranian state news agencies reported that home-made missile systems, radars, command and control centres, and cyber warfare systems would be tested in the drill. Although tensions between Washington and Iran have risen, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday he was not considering raising the number of U.S. forces in the Mi

Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says the Islamic Republic is progressing well in the process of manufacturing an air defense system similar to the Russian S-300. “We previously announced that manufacturing the system was on the agenda and although this important objective cannot be fulfilled quickly, the manufacturing stages are making good progress,” Vahidi said on Saturday.  Alluding to the latest breakthroughs by Iran’s Defense Ministry, Vahidi said, “We hope to present our missile and naval achievements in the near future.”  In early September, Commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said that Iran has completed 30 percent of the production of the system, called Bavar (Belief) 373. Iranian experts have completed the long-range missile system's threat detection mechanism and manufactured its sensitive parts, Esmaili noted.  He expressed hope that the system will be complete by the end of the curr