- After many months of negotiations, top diplomats from Iran and the P5+1 announced they had reached a framework for an agreement. According to the plan, Iran would reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98% and significantly scale back its number of installed, and in exchange, the United States and the European Union would lift sanctions that have crippled the country's economy.
- Despite the general euphoria in Iran, hardliners called the deal a disaster and stated that it would achieve nothing for the country. After Kayhan newspaper, a very hardline publication that usually serves as the mouthpiece of the Supreme Leader, criticized the deal, the site was shut down for several hours. The general response of the Iranian media to the deal, however, has been split.
- Shortly after the announcement of the nuclear agreement, Iran’s Deputy Sports Minister Abdolhamid Ahmadi discussed a plan to ease the ban on women attending sports events in Iran. This plan to allow “women and families” to enter sports stadiums will come into effect in the next year.
- As the Saudi-led coalition continued its airstrikes against Shiite rebels in Yemen, Iran’s deputy foreign minister called for political talks among all the involved parties.
- Due to the Turkish Prime Minister’s criticism of Iran’s policy in Yemen, some conservatives in Iran have threatened to cancel the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Erdogan to Iran.
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There is something interesting about the recent Saudi-led coalition against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and by proxy Iran. Other than Oman, all the Persian Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain, Jordan), Egypt, Pakistan, Morocco, Turkey, and even Sudan, a traditional ally of Iran, have united in an effort to contain Iran’s regional influence. I am even convinced that if the Arabs had not constantly preached their hatred of the Jewish state, they would have also included Israel in their coalition against the Islamic Republic of Iran. The reason this coalition interests me is that rarely has the Middle East been so united against a common “threat.”
Take the first Arab-Israeli war (1948). Arab forces from Egypt, Transjordan (Jordan), Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Saudi Arabia united against Israel. In the second Arab-Israeli War (1967), also known as the Six-Day War, the same five Arab nations united against Israel. This time, however, Algeria, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, and even Pakistan supported the Arabs against Israel. In the Yom Kippur War of 1978, Egypt and Syria, supported by Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia once against united against Israel. In none of these conflicts, however, were all the Arab states as united as they currently are against Iran. Even in the current and divisive conflict in Syria, only five Arab nations - Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, and Qatar - sought coalition airstrikes against the Assad regime. The Islamic Republic of Iran’s ability to unite all the states in the region against itself is truly exceptional. Imagine what the world would be like if Iran used this unique ability to combat regional terrorism and made the region a better, safer, and more stable place. |
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