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June 7, 2019 U.S. Stops Training Turkish Officers as F-35 Pilots Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan notified his Turkish counterpart on Thursday that the U.S. will... June 4, 2019 Sanctions Drive Iranian Oil Exports to Historic Lows Iranian exports of crude oil and condensate plunged rapidly in May to a historic low of less than 500,000 barrels per day and possibly as low as 250,000 barrels. This rapid decrease points to both the... May 31, 2019 Erdogan Releases Another U.S. Hostage Ahead of Trump Meeting Turkey on Wednesday night released Serkan Golge, a Turkish-American dual citizen imprisoned on dubious terrorism charges, hours af... May 22, 2019 Defying Predictions, Iran Sanctions Exert Unprecedented Impact President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that Iran, facing record-high inflation and a deep recession, has “never had such hardships and hurdles in ban... May 21, 2019 Hezbollah Operative Ali Kourani Convicted on Terrorism Charges A New York federal court convicted Hezbollah operative Ali Kourani o... May 17, 2019 Plan to Move ROK/U.S. Combined Forces Command will Challenge the Alliance Gen. Robert Abrams, the commander of the ROK/U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), has proposed relocating CFC fro... May 17, 2019 Iranian Threats to Gulf Maritime Security Following Trump administration warnings regarding pending Iranian attacks, f... May 16, 2019 Washington’s Huawei Ban Combats Chinese Espionage Threat President Trump issued an executive order on Wednesd... May 16, 2019 Sanctions Alert: Iran’s New Financial Channel with Europe is Linked to Sanctioned Entities Abdolnasser Hemmati, the head of the... May 15, 2019 Iranian Tankers Relieve Pressure of Oil Sanctions on Assad For the second time this month, an Iranian tanker has delivered nearly a million barrels of crude oil to Syria, relieving the... May 15, 2019 Iran Plans to Continue Its Oil Exports. Washington Has the Means to Shut Them Down. The Trump administration announced last month that it would not issue another set of exemptions or waivers for customers of Iran’s oil. This came into effect on May 2. The regime in Tehran, in dire... May 14, 2019 U.S. Charges against North Korean Vessel Send Strong Signal to Pyongyang The Department of Justice last Thursday announced it had seized a North... May 14, 2019 China Exploits American Universities to Gain Military Advantage In its annual report to Congress on China’s military released earlier this month, the Department of Defense (DOD)... May 10, 2019 Energy Sector Waivers Would Undermine the Maximum Pressure Campaign against Iran The State Department exemptions... May 9, 2019 New Sanctions Hit Iran’s Multi-Billion Dollar Metal Industries The administration imposed sanctions yesterday that ap... May 7, 2019 Iran Faces Difficult Choice After U.S. Narrows Nuclear Sanctions Waivers The U.S. government on Friday renewed only five out of the seven... May 7, 2019 U.S. Deploys Carrier Strike Group to Counter Iran The Trump administration has dispatched the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike G... May 7, 2019 North Korea Short-Range Missile Test Reveal Kim’s True Intent North Korea on Saturday tested a new short-range missile system and a multiple-rocket launch system, marking the r... May 7, 2019 Iranian Oil Exports Fall in April – But More Work to be Done Iranian oil exports fell to 938,000 barrels per day in April from 1.86 million in March, Bloomberg reported. This drop occurred just prior to the May 1 expiration of... May 6, 2019 Erdogan Gambles on Winning Back Istanbul, Kurdish Loyalties Turkey’s Supreme Election Council ruled... May 5, 2019 Egypt, Iran and the Current Escalation in the Gaza Strip The current round of conflict between Israel and militant groups in Gaza did not occur because of a lack of mediation. It occurred in spite of such efforts. The current rocket barrages began last w... May 3, 2019 Lebanese Government in Denial about Illicit Imports of Iranian Steel Despite consistent reports from local media that Iranian steel is flooding the Leb... April 30, 2019 Inflation in Iran is on the Rise The Statistical Center of Iran published its latest update last week on the... April 25, 2019 Tehran Exports Its Petrochemical Products Despite Sanctions From March 2018 through March 2019 (Persian year 1397), Tehran exported $14.1 billion of petrochemical products, despite Washington’s reinstatement of sanctions on the petrochemical sector in Novemb... April 23, 2019 U.S. Aims Lethal Blow at Tehran’s Finances by Prohibiting Oil Exports Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced yesterday that the U.S. would stop granting the waivers that have allowed select impor... April 18, 2019 Treasury Designates Islamic State Financial Network Operating in Turkey The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated on April 16 six individuals and a money exc... April 17, 2019 Kim Jong Un’s Recent Speech Should Remind the U.S. Not to Give Up Pressure Kim Jong Un warned last week that the U.S. has until the end of this year make a “bold decision” d... April 17, 2019 U.S. Must Get Tough on Saudi Arabia’s Rights Record Saudi Arabia arrested two U.S.-Saudi dual nationals and... April 16, 2019 France Bans Iran’s Mahan Air France last month banned Iran’s Mahan Air from flying in and out of the country, citi... April 15, 2019 European Trade Channel with Iran May be Used to Circumvent Russia Sanctions Britain, France, and Germany launched a special trade channel in January that aims to... April 12, 2019 Treasury Sanctions Against Lebanese Exchange House Shows Narco-terror Convergence The U.S. Department of Treasury sanctioned Lebanese national Kassem Mohamed Chams and his company, Chams Exchange Company SAL (otherwi... April 12, 2019 Erdogan Seizes Kurdish Municipalities – Again Turkey’s High Election Board (YSK) overturned... April 11, 2019 Congress Urges New Sanctions on Turkey U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) introduced... April 10, 2019 Iranian Oil Exports Continue to Surge Despite U.S. Sanctions Iranian oil exports climbed to roughly 1.7 million barrels per day in March, an increase of 70 percent compared to three months earlier. This poses a direct challenge to the Trump administration, whic... April 9, 2019 U.S. Designates Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization The Trump administration announce... April 8, 2019 Tehran Expands its Presence in Oman April 1, 2019 In Stunning Upset, Turkish Opposition Takes Ankara, Istanbul Turkey’s battered opposition secured key victor... March 29, 2019 U.S. and Oman Sign Strategic Port Agreement The United States reached an agreement with Oman on Sund... March 29, 2019 U.S. Intensifies Campaign against Syrian Maritime Sanctions Busting The U.S. Department of the Treasury added 32 ships on Monday to its public list of vessels engaged in the illicit delivery of oil to t... March 28, 2019 Turkey Heads for its Dirtiest Election Yet Turkey will hold local elections on March 31 in which voters will choose their mayors and city councilors. Fearing a backlash from voters in response to the... March 27, 2019 Missile Defense Agency Report Highlights Unfunded Priorities The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) submitted its Report on Unfunded Priorities... March 22, 2019 Iraq Border Crossing is a Potential Gateway for Weapons Iraq is set to open a vital border crossing with Syria near the town of al-Qaim, according to recen... March 22, 2019 Foreign Investment in Israel’s Critical Infrastructure: Towards New Legislation An important debate is playing out in Israel over foreign investment in strat... March 21, 2019 Trump Calls for Israeli Sovereignty over Golan Heights President Trump wrote on Twitter this afternoon, “After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Isra... March 21, 2019 Fuel Shortage Persists in Syria amidst Tougher Sanctions Enforcement The Bashar al-Assad regime has proven unable to remedy pervasive... March 21, 2019 Saudi Arabia Begins Trial of Detained Rights Activists Criminal trials... March 19, 2019 As Threats Expand, U.S. Attack Submarine Fleet Shrinks In the fiscal year (FY) 2020 budget proposal it submitted last week, the Dep... March 13, 2019 Abbas Appoints a New Prime Minister Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday appointed his long-time advisor, Mohammad Shtayyeh, to serve as the next Palestinian prime minister. Selecting Shtayyeh, a pragmatic Palestinian... March 11, 2019 Administration Requests $750 Billion for Defense Today, the Trump administration announced that it is requesting $750 billion for national defense as part of its f... March 8, 2019 Chabahar Port Deal Threatens to Capsize Iran Sanctions Afghanistan sent India...

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