Middle East

Washington-Tehran Dialogue: A Question of Trust

Michel Touma 2025-04-28 09:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Lebanon Tehran UN Security Council Negotiations nuclear Hezbollah

Can the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran be trusted? Should they be? Are they truly serious, strategically speaking, in their talks with the Trump administration? Are they genuinely capable of pursuing a path toward reintegration into the international community — with all the implications this would entail — and of breaking ...

Top UN Court to Open Hearings on Israel’s Aid Obligation to Palestinians

This is Beirut 2025-04-28 09:25 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam United Nations International Court of Justice Hamas Palestine

The UN's top court will on Monday open a week of hearings on Israel's humanitarian obligations towards Palestinians, more than 50 days into its total blockade on aid entering war-ravaged Gaza. United Nations representatives will start the five days of sittings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague at 10:00 am (0800 GMT), followed by ...

ReportCan Trump-Zelensky Vatican Talks Bring Ukraine Peace?

This is Beirut 2025-04-28 09:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Volodymyr Zelensky Donald Trump Ukraine Pope Francis

Donald Trump's meeting in the Vatican with Volodymyr Zelensky was hailed by both sides as historic. Whether it will help seal a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia will become clearer in the coming days. Brought together by the funeral of Pope Francis, the US and Ukrainian presidents sat knee-to-knee on red and gold chairs in the giant nave of ...

Trump Thinks Zelensky Ready to Give Up Crimea to Russia

This is Beirut 2025-04-28 09:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Volodymyr Zelensky Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump said he believed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was ready to concede Crimea to Russia as part of any ceasefire deal, as talks on a truce entered what Washington called a critical week on Monday. Trump also stepped up pressure on Vladimir Putin, saying the Russian president should "stop shooting" and sign an ...

Geopolitical Variations and Political Challenges

Charles Chartouni 2025-04-28 09:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Pope Francis Donald Trump Hezbollah Middle East Iran

The past week was replete with events that cannot be overlooked if we are to address critical conflicts around the world: the death of Pope Francis and its reverberations ; the evolutions of the Ukraine war ; the ultimate scope of the US-Iranian negotiations; the shifting facades of Turkey’s Islamic authoritarianism; and the normalization ...

North Korea Confirms Troop Deployment to Russia’s Kursk

This is Beirut 2025-04-28 05:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

North Korea Russia Conflict Army

North Korea confirmed for the first time it had deployed troops to Russia, with state news agency KCNA on Monday reporting that Pyongyang's soldiers helped Moscow reclaim territory under Ukrainian control in the border region of Kursk. The admission comes just days after Russia confirmed the North's participation, with South Korean and ...

Last Day of Canada Election Campaign Jolted by Vancouver Attack

This is Beirut 2025-04-27 19:36 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Canada Vancouver

Canadian leaders made their final push for votes Sunday, one day before an election dominated by President Donald Trump's policies, but rattled in the campaign's final hours by a deadly car-ramming attack in Vancouver. Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Liberal Party leader, is favored to beat Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in ...

Death toll from Iran port blast rises to 40

This is Beirut 2025-04-27 18:59 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Iran Bandar Abbas explosion

The death toll from a massive explosion at Iran's largest commercial port has risen to 40, according to the Health Commission of the Iranian Parliament. The Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand said Sunday, in a video published on the Iranian government's official website, updating earlier figures reported by state media ...

Iran’s President Visits Site of Port Blast That Killed 40

This is Beirut 2025-04-27 18:58 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Tehran Iran Port explosion

Iran's president visited on Sunday the scene of a massive port blast that killed 40 people and injured more than 1,000, as fires still blazed more than 24 hours after the explosion. The blast occurred on Saturday at Shahid Rajaee Port in southern Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil output passes. With choking ...

Saudi Arabia, Qatar to Settle Syria’s World Bank Debt

This is Beirut 2025-04-27 17:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Banks Saudi Arabia Qatar

Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced on Sunday that they would settle Syria's debt to the World Bank totalling roughly $15 million, according to a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency. Both Gulf states have played a key role in the diplomatic outreach to Syria's new rulers since the ouster of longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in ...

All Eyes Turn to Conclave After Pope Francis's Funeral

This is Beirut 2025-04-27 12:35 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Pope Francis Vatican Catholic Church

With Pope Francis laid to rest, all eyes turn now to the conclave, the secretive meeting of cardinals set to convene within days to elect a new head of the Catholic Church. Alongside world leaders and reigning monarchs, an estimated 400,000 people turned out on Saturday for the Argentine pontiff's funeral at the Vatican and burial in Rome. The ...

Iran’s Strategic Port Rocked by Deadly Explosion

This is Beirut 2025-04-27 12:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Washington

A massive explosion ripped through Iran's Shahid Rajaee Port near Bandar Abbas on Saturday, killing at least 25 people and injuring more than 800. The blast triggered smaller explosions in nearby containers and fires that continued into Sunday. Here is what we know: Strategic port The Shahid Rajaee Port is one of Iran's most ...