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Al-Monitor – As the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen nears its third year, the war doesn’t seem to be coming to an end anytime soon. The internal strife between Iranian-backed Ansar Allah, more commonly known as the Houthi movement, and the Saudi-supported government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi is no longer at the core of the struggle. Rather, the …

Al-Arabia A 26-year-old Austrian was shot dead outside the Iranian ambassador’s residence in Vienna on Sunday night after he attacked a guard with a knife, police said.

VOA – All 11 people aboard a private Turkish jet died Sunday after the jet crashed into a mountainside and burst into flames during heavy rain in southern Iran, authorities said. 

Amnesty – Oral statement at the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council (26 February – 23 March 2017). Item 4: Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran   View report in English http://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1380032018ENGLISH.PDF

PayvandNews – Russia says Iran could join an emerging economic bloc that it leads as early as May in a move that could eventually help both nations dodge the impacts of US-led economic sanctions they face. Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak was quoted by media as saying that Iran’s membership to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) could help the expansion of bilateral …

RFL/RE – Direct flights between Iran and Serbia have resumed after a gap of 27 years with the landing on March 10 of an IranAir jet at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport.

Al-Arabia – According to those in the know in Paris, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is a smart soft-soaper capable of persuading a mule out of its hind legs.

Al-Monitor – Questions have emerged about whether the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued new licenses to Canadian plane manufacturer Bombardier Inc. to sell passenger aircraft to Iran. If true, it would be the first such approval since President Donald Trump took office and comes at a time when Tehran is trying to overcome financing …

PayvandNews – The 14th meeting of Iran-Russian Joint Economic Committee wrapped up on Tuesday with signing a cooperation document by Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Masoud Karbasian and Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin in Moscow.

Reuters – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a nuclear agreement with Iran “dubious” and warned that Iran wanted to “extinguish Israel’s present and future” in comments at the United Nations on Thursday (March 8).