As ‘Death to America’ chants lose power, Iran retools propaganda with rap videos

It’s a common theme in the state-controlled media in Iran: The armed forces are not to be trifled with; they’re tough men doing a tough job, defending a country permanently under threat. Nevertheless, it was a shock to some young Iranians when a video appeared featuring a well-known rapper delivering the same message from the deck […]

ANALYSIS: Turkey seeks Iran ‘alliance’ against Kurds as US pull wanes

The symbolism was huge, as was the message that followed: The highest level talks in almost 40 years between Turkish and Iranian military commanders, then an announcement by Turkey’s president of a new “alliance”. After Hulusi Akar and Mohammad Hossein Bagheri met last week, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has traded barbs with the Iranian […]

Trump’s Long-Term Plan For Afghanistan, Will It Work?

Despite not really saying anything new nor breaking new ground with his long-term plan for Afghanistan, President Donald Trump’s updated strategy for winning in the war-torn country was startling on a couple of counts. First, during the 2016 Presidential campaign, Trump was opposed to staying, in the country and was an outspoken critic of the […]

Lebanon and Hezbollah launch simultaneous but separate battles against ISIS

The U.S.-backed Lebanese army launched a long-awaited offensive on Saturday against Islamic State militants holed up in a remote stretch of northeastern Lebanon, just as a separate offensive by the Hezbollah militia and the Syrian army got underway right across the border in Syria. The offensive is the biggest military operation launched by the Lebanese […]

Syria’s Assad says Western plots against him foiled but war not yet won

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Sunday his country had foiled Western designs to topple him but his army had not yet won the fight to end Syria’s six-year-old insurgency. In an televised address, Assad said that even though there were signs of victory after six-and-a-half years of civil war, the “battle continues, and where […]

Islamic State threatens more bloodshed in Iran

The Islamic State has stepped up its efforts to target Iran, releasing a stream of propaganda, vowing more bloodshed and boosting recruitment among the country’s Sunni minority groups. Last week, Iranian authorities said they arrested more than two dozen people who planned to bomb religious sites with smuggled explosives. The Islamic State then released a video in […]

Hezbollah Dismisses US Sanctions, “US Will Not Damage the Resistance

Increased United States sanctions of the Iran proxy of Hezbollah does not worry the group at all. The leader of the Lebanon Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that the Trump administration’s sanctions cannot harm it. Nasrallah spoke on television to mark the anniversary of the end of the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel said, […]

Iranian drone and U.S. Navy F/A 18 Super Hornet have near miss over the Persian Gulf

An Iranian QOM-1 Drone has reportedly interfered with flight operations aboard the USS Nimitz when it flew to within 100 feet of a U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet as it prepared to land on the carrier. According to a Defense Department statement, the Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle executed “unsafe and unprofessional altitude changes in the […]

Iran gains ground in Afghanistan as U.S. presence wanes

A police officer guarding the outskirts of this city remembers the call from his commander, warning that hundreds of Taliban fighters were headed his way. “Within half an hour, they attacked,” recalled Officer Najibullah Amiri, 35. The Taliban swarmed the farmlands surrounding his post and seized the western riverbank here in Farah, the capital of the […]

Iran’s Rouhani, embarking on second term, accuses Trump over nuclear deal

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who was sworn-in for a second term on Saturday, has accused the United States of trying to undermine Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers, telling President Donald Trump that it will be his political suicide. Rouhani, who was decisively re-elected in May after promising to open Iran to the world, took […]

Russian and Chinese military skills competition underway with 26 other countries

The “2017 International Army Games” a military-skills competition between nations that includes tank gunnery, obstacle courses, and other military-focused tasks, is now underway overseas. An annual competition for the last few years, it is designed to build the spirit of cooperation through friendly competition. Last year’s competition included 3,000 military personnel from 20 countries. But […]