Ebrahim Raisi, 60, who was Tuesday (August 3) inaugurated as president of Iran and is set to be sworn in before parliament two days later, in his inauguration speech said he would seek to lift “oppressive” U.S. sanctions, but would “not tie the nation’s standard of living to the will of foreigners.” Raisi, replaces moderate president Hassan Rouhani, whose landmark achievement was the
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Tunisia’s president Kais Saied suspended the parliament and dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi on Sunday (July 25) in a move condemned as an attack on democracy by his opponents while his supporters flooded the capital and other cities to celebrate. Saied, 63, who has been enmeshed in political disputes with Mechichi for more than a year, said he would assume executive authority
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Polls open on Friday (June 18) for Iran’s presidential election with the vote seen as referendum on political and economic crises and with analysts considering it the year’s most important political event for the oil market. The election also carries implications for a wider Middle East already roiled by years of tensions between Tehran and the West. Iran’s current President Hassan Rouhani
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On Wednesday (June 2), Israeli opposition politician Yair Lapid announced he has reached the necessary majority to form a government, with eight parties converging to oust Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-running prime minister, with 12 consecutive years in the position. Lapid was picked to form a new government by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in May, after Netanyahu failed to do so in the
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Likud, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘s party on Tuesday (June 1) challenged the legality of a bid by a rival rightist to head a new government, but the last-gasp attempt at extending his leadership was rejected by President Reuven Rivlin, Reuters reported. Head of the small religious and nationalist Yamina party, Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu’s former defence minister, announced on Sunday (May 30)
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Voters were heading to polling stations across government-held parts of Syria in an election that is set to cement a fourth seven-year term for incumbent President Bashar al-Assad. The vote is the second presidential election since the country’s deadly conflict began a decade ago. The Arab country had a population of 23 million before the conflict broke out. The fighting has left
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A surge in hostilities in Israel and Gaza is showing no sign of abating on Thursday (May 13) amid continued rocket fire and air strikes, despite numerous calls from the worldwide community for urgent de-escalation. A BBC reporter in Gaza said it had been the “longest and most difficult night since the 2014 war”. Israel said it had been targeted with 1,600
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