Middle East

Jalal Talabani, the first non-Arab president of Iraq and the founder of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), has passed away at the age of 83.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has stressed the need to bolster central governments in Syria and Iraq, saying that any change in geographical borders will cause insecurity and instability to spread across the region.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the annual Hajj pilgrimage provides the best opportunity to thwart the propaganda campaign against the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has held a meeting with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani during his one-day visit to Doha.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, while in Muscat on the first leg of his regional tour, held separate meetings with top Omani officials and discussed regional issues with them on Monday.

Western countries in recent days have adopted double-standard policies on two similar secession plebiscites held in two parts of the world one week apart.

An Iranian lawmaker says the joint military exercises conducted by Iran and Iraq in border areas reveal the two sides’ capabilities to suppress secessionist moves.

Kurdish security forces known as Asayesh and Peshmerga fighters have deported scores of Arab and Turkmen families from Iraq’s northern province of Kirkuk following last week’s referendum on secession.

Turkey's Military Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar is in Tehran for talks with Iran's top military and political officials, expected to tackle border security and counter-terrorism along with regional issues.

The internal division in Iraqi Kurdistan region has entered a new phase with the resignation of the Kurdistan parliament’s secretary.

An Iraqi Kurdish lawmaker says the referendum on the Kurdistan region’s independence has led to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan losing Iran’s friendship.

Iranian foreign minister has warned the Trump administration that the US would turn into an unreliable partner for the entire world in case it withdraws from the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will pay official visits to Oman and Qatar on Monday and Tuesday, foreign ministry spokesman said.

Saudi Arabia has, in a fresh break with tradition, authorized women majoring in jurisprudence to issue fatwas.

The office of Iraq’s prime minister and also the head of the country’s National Wisdom Stream hailed top Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani’s opposition to the semi-autonomous Kurdish region’s moves for secession from Iraq.

A Saudi man has been arrested and handed over to the prosecutor general for threatening to set women drivers ablaze.

An Iranian analyst says holding a referendum on the secession of the Iraqi Kurdistan region not only would not help the region achieve independence, but also will make it more difficult for Kurds to secede from Iraq.

Experts maintain Israel has played a key role in convincing the Iraqi Kurds to hold the independence referendum because the Zionist regime is the main winner of the secession in the region.

A conservative Iranian newspaper says the West is hatching a new plot to cash in on the secessionist tendencies of a handful of Iraqi Kurds.

Iran does not place any value on the self-proclaimed sovereignty of any party and group over northern Iraqi territories, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces said, stressing that Tehran recognizes only a unified Iraq with the current legal common borders.

Saudi Arabia has no reservations about establishing relations, secretly or openly, with Israel, when it comes to scenarios such as countering Iran.

A Kurdish analyst has called Iran the elder brother of Iraqi Kurds Shiites, suggesting that the Islamic Republic could resolve the regional crises by supporting the Iraqi Kurdistan region and bringing about convergence between Baghdad, Tehran and Erbil.

Without having any logical and feasible response for many of regional and national problems, the recent referendum on the Iraqi Kurdistan’s independence was merely an attempt to realize a dream.

The Iranian parliament on Wednesday condemned the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s move to hold an independence referendum, saying such separatist measures are to the detriment of Iraq and the whole region.

A senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs says President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (KRG) Massoud Barzani is a middleman for Zionists, who seeks to implement their plans for the division of Muslim states.