Al-monitor – An Iranian hard-line former member of parliament has revealed that Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was barred from running in the 2009 presidential election, whose aftermath was mired by unrest. AUTHOR Rohollah Faghihi In an interview with Tarikh Online on Oct. 30, Hamid Rasaee spoke about Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s effective barring of ex-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from …

Al-monitor – OPEC members have in recent months repeatedly met to discuss production cuts. The cartel’s members are suffering from the dramatic decline in oil prices over the past two years, which has seen crude dropping to between $40 and $50 per barrel from more than $100 in 2014. This has caused tremendous pressure on both government budgets and economies …