Drums of another war as buildup of American forces in Persian Gulf point to imminent US-Iran conflict
or the US, keeping the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping remains a priority to ensure global energy prices don’t spike, particularly as Russia’s war on Ukraine pressures markets. Gulf Arab nations need the waterway to get their oil to market and worry about Iran’s intentions in the wider region.
Killer sanctions: How US during Trump regime shrank Iran’s accessible foreign reserves from $122.5b to $4b
The problem created by sanctions, according to the company, is less an unwillingness to do business with Iran over legal fears than an inability of Iranian officials to access their own foreign currency reserves to make payments. The sanctions, while not eliminating Iran’s foreign reserves, have frozen Iran’s access to them, sending the country’s accessible reserves from $122.5 billion down to a mere $4 billion between 2018 and 2020, according to International Monetary Fund figures.
Punitive sanctions slapped on Tehran by US are killing Iranian children in numbers as banks, drug makers keep off the Gulf nation
While the US has given assurances that humanitarian trade with Iran will be exempted from sanctions, the lawsuit, which is currently pending appeal after being dismissed, alleges that the large-scale sanctioning of Iran’s banking sector has created a situation in which foreign companies are either unwilling or unable to do any trade with Iran at all.
Warring Sudanese factions pledge to protect civilians, but fail to uphold US-Arabia mediated ceasefire
The conflict has paralysed Sudan’s economy and strangled its trade, aggravating a ballooning humanitarian crisis with the UN saying on Friday that 200,000 people have now fled into neighbouring countries.
Israel stirs condemnation in Palestine and Europe for demolishing a school in West Bank
The Palestinians want the more than half a million Jewish settlers there, along with Israeli soldiers, to leave the occupied territories. Israel balks at such sweeping pullouts, citing historical claims on the biblical lands.
War in Yemen winds down with complete absence of US role as China parades influence
The war in Yemen looks like it’s coming to an end. US media reported on Thursday that a ceasefire extending through 2023 had been agreed to, but those reports also included Houthi denials. On Friday, Al Mayadeen, a generally pro-Houthi Lebanese news outlet, reported optimism from the Houthi side that...
Kenya’s diamonds smuggling legend Kamlesh Pattni pulls another rabbit from the hat in Zimbabwe, sucks in President Mnangagwa
A gold smuggler implicated in a scandal that robbed Kenya of 10 per cent of its GDP in the 1990s has moved his smuggling operations to Zimbabwe and Dubai, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) can reveal. Kamlesh Pattni was involved in the so-called Goldenberg scam, a gold smuggling operation that...
Drug, weapons trafficking remain serious security threat in Arabian Sea despite recent pushback on smuggling
Despite the growing effectiveness of maritime operations along the route from Iran to Yemen, drug and weapons trafficking remains a serious threat with consequences for regional security. On 27 December 2022, while patrolling the Arabian Sea, the French frigate FNS Guépratte intercepted a fishing vessel aiming to smuggle illegal drugs....
WHO warns death toll from Turkey and Syria earthquakes could surpass 20,000 as 4,300 bodies recovered
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the death toll from the Turkey and Syria earthquakes could rise to over 20,000. The warning comes on the back of 4,300 confirmed deaths in either country, with reports saying more than 18,000 are still not accounted for more than 40 hours...
Taliban vowed no revenge, an Afghan family details their experience under the new rulers
When the Taliban won back control of the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar last month, they set out to settle a score with an old foe. As they searched for prominent local politician Ajmal Omar, who had helped drive the militants out of a Nangarhar district a year earlier and...
