Iran on Monday rejected a US court order for Tehran to pay $180 million in damages to a Washington Post reporter for jailing him on espionage charges. Jason Rezaian spent 544 days in an Iranian prison before he was released in January 2016 in exchange for seven Iranians held in the United...

A senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard has urged the country's judiciary to mete out harsh sentences to what he described as "mercenaries" involved in protests against a fuel price hike last week, the judiciary's Mizan news site reported. "We caught all the mercenaries who openly...

Lebanese security forces briefly arrested five youths, including three minors, for allegedly pulling down a sign for the president's political party, sparking outrage Sunday on social media. Defence lawyers said the five were taken into custody on Saturday evening in the town of Hammana...

While noisy protests rage on Iraq's streets, in the backrooms of power political leaders are quietly hashing out ways to keep their posts and the huge financial rewards they bring. The demonstrations rocking the capital and Shiite-majority south since early October are the biggest...

Iran will severely punish "mercenaries" arrested over a wave of street violence that erupted after a sharp hike in fuel prices, a Revolutionary Guards commander warned Sunday. The Islamic republic says it has restored calm after the unrest that broke out on November 15, hours after the...

Security forces opened fire on protesters in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya late Saturday, killing at least three people, police and medical sources said. Protesters had gathered on three key bridges in the city, and security forces used live ammunition and tear gas canisters to...

The political chief of Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Saturday denounced a U.S. policy change on the illegality of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. "Our people will not give up in the face of this U.S.-Israeli plot," Ismail Haniyeh said in statements on the sidelines of...

Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri on Saturday warned regional countries of unspecified dire consequences if it is proven that they meddled to stoke unrest in Iran, the semi-official news agency Fars reported. “Some countries in the region should know that they will not have an easy...

French Defense Minister Florence Parly took aim Saturday at "gradual US disengagement" in the Middle East and said its failure to respond to provocations blamed on Iran set off a dangerous chain of events. Since May, tensions in the Gulf have escalated alarmingly with attacks against...

 One protester was shot dead in the Iraqi capital on Saturday according to medical sources, as dozens more were wounded in clashes with security forces across the country. Around 350 people have been killed and thousands wounded since demonstrations first broke out on October 1 in...

Iranians struggled to adjust to life offline for almost a week and were forced to resort to old ways due to a near-total internet blackout imposed amid violent protests. The demonstrations flared on November 15, hours after a shock decision announced at midnight to raise the price of petrol...

US Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Saturday, as the deadly clashes that have seen the deaths of at least 341 protesters continued to rage. The U.S. wants Iraq to show restraint as widespread anti-corruption protests in the country have killed more than 320...

Iranian troops and members of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps helped police quell violent unrest in Kermanshah province this week, Iranian officials said on Saturday, accusing "U.S. agents" of being among the armed protesters. Rights group Amnesty International said at least 30...

The Trump administration is withholding more than $100 million in U.S. military assistance to Lebanon that has been approved by Congress and is favored by his national security team, an assertion of executive control of foreign aid that is similar to the delay in support for Ukraine at the...

A US court on Friday ordered the government of Iran to pay nearly $180 million in damages to an Iranian-American journalist who was jailed by Tehran on espionage charges in 2014. A US District Court judge ordered the damages be paid to Jason Rezaian and his family in compensation for...

Iraqi security forces killed three protesters in Baghdad on Friday and forcibly dispersed protesters blocking the country’s main port near Basra, as the country’s top cleric warned nothing but speedy electoral reforms would resolve unrest. Security forces opened fire and launched tear...

Iraqi security forces opened fire and launched tear gas on Friday at protesters on a bridge in central Baghdad, killing two people and wounding 22 others, police sources said. One death was caused by bullets and the other by a tear gas canister launched directly at the head, the sources...

A fractured spine, paralysed leg, hole in the back: Hamza took to the streets of Iraq's capital to demand a better life but now he has even less than ever. "This is my sacrifice for Iraq," said the 16-year-old, his strained voice barely audible over the phone in Baghdad. "If I...

Iran's Basij militia said the nationwide unrest sparked by fuel price hikes amounted to a "world war" against the Islamic republic that had been foiled. The protests erupted across the sanctions-hit country on Nov. 15, after the price of petrol was raised by as much as 200 percent....

A Turkish court confirmed the convictions against former journalists from Turkey's oldest newspaper Thursday, despite their sentences being overturned by a higher court. The judgement against 12 ex-staffers from Cumhuriyet was described as "scandalous" by rights groups, and further evidence...