WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a China-based company it accused of acting on behalf of U.S.-blacklisted Mahan Air, the Treasury Department said, and denounced the Iranian airline’s flights to Venezuela. FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A340-600 airplane of Mahan Air is seen at Simon Bolivar International Airport outside Caracas, Venezuela April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia RawlinsThe Treasury said in a statement that Shanghai Saint Logistics Limited acted as a general sales agent for Mahan Air, blacklisted by…

GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran called on Monday for global solidarity against the pandemic, but said that unilateral sanctions are “inhumane” and causing “unnecessary suffering and pain” for its population. “The US must be held to account for its intensifying unilateral sanctions against Iran and other affected nations,” Saeed Namaki, Iran’s health minister, said in an address to the World Health Organization’s annual assembly being held online. Alex Azar, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, addressed the two-day forum but…

Five tankers carrying an estimated $45.5 million worth of oil are currently sailing from Iran to Venezuela as part of a trade deal between the two countries. Both Iran and Venezuela have been sanctioned by the United States and are in the middle of economic and political crises, the Associated Press reports. As President Donald Trump continues his tough approach towards both countries, Iran and Venezuela have defied international law and American sanctions by opening up trade with each other. The…

May 17, 2020 | 4:09pm Enlarge Image Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Official Khamenei website/Handout via REUTERS Americans will be expelled from Iraq and Syria, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday, renewing Iran’s demand for US troops to be withdrawn from the Middle East. Iran almost got into a full-blown conflict with the United States when a US drone strike killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3, prompting Tehran to retaliate…

DUBAI (Reuters) - Hardliners are set to tighten control of Iran this week in a parliamentary election stacked in their favour, as the leadership closes ranks in a deepening confrontation with Washington. FILE PHOTO: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks live on television after casting his ballot in the Iranian presidential election in Tehran June 12, 2009. REUTERS/Caren Firouz/File Photo/File PhotoBig gains by security hawks would confirm the political demise of the country’s pragmatist politicians, weakened by Washington’s decision…

Iran's foreign minister fiercely criticized the US and proposed talks with his country's Arab neighbors at the Munich Security Conference. But Saudi Arabia declined — unless Iran changed its behavior. The strength of the Munich Security Conference lies in that it gathers the whole world under one roof for 48 hours. By the same token, for 48 hours it houses all the world's crises, including the conflict in the Persian Gulf, which escalated dangerously at the beginning of this year. In…

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Has the Crypto AG scandal shattered Swiss neutrality? It's hard to exaggerate just how much the Crypto AG scandal has shaken Switzerland. For decades, US and German intelligence used this Swiss company's encoding devices to spy on other countries, and the revelations this week have provoked outrage. From the Cold War into the 2000s, Crypto AG sold the devices to more than 120 governments worldwide. The machines were encrypted but it emerged this week…

Feb. 15, 2020 at 10:56 am Updated Feb. 15, 2020 at 11:21 am MUNICH (AP) — Diplomats from nations that lost citizens when Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner pushed Iran’s foreign minister Saturday for more cooperation from Tehran on the investigation and other issues. Amid heightened tensions with the United States, Iran said it accidentally shot the aircraft down Jan. 8 after mistaking it for an incoming missile attack. All 176 people aboard the Ukraine International Airlines plane died.…