DUBAI • Protesters piled pressure on Iran’s leadership yesterday with demands for the top authorities to quit after the Iranian military admitted it had mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner at a time of soaring tensions with the United States. “They are lying that our enemy is America, our enemy is right here,” hundreds of […]

TEHERAN (AFP) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday (Jan 12) they did not aim to kill US troops when firing a wave of missiles last week at Iraqi bases hosting American forces. “Our aim was not really to kill enemy soldiers. That was not important,” the Guards’ commander, Hossein Salami, told Parliament, referring to […]

Iran’s leaders are facing growing calls to dismiss senior officials after a Ukrainian passenger plane was shot down killing all 176 people on board. Thousands of protesters demanded accountability on Saturday after the military said it had mistakenly downed the jet, having earlier denied it. Riot police have been deployed and there are reports that […]

TEHERAN (AP, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG) – An Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander says his unit accepts “full responsibility” for the accidental shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane. In an address broadcast by state TV on Saturday (Jan 11), General Amir Ali Hajizadeh says that when he learnt about the downing of the plane, which killed all 176 passengers […]

Tributes have been paid to the ruler of Omanm who has died aged 79. Boris Johnson said he is “deeply saddened” by the death of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, describing him as “an exceptionally wise and respected leader who will be missed enormously”. The Sandhurst-trained ruler came to power after seizing the throne from his […]

WASHINGTON (AP) – Confronted by persistent questions about his military action in the Middle East, President Donald Trump and his top officials offered a string of fresh explanations Friday (Jan 10), with Trump now contending Iranian militants had planned major attacks on four US embassies. Just hours earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said […]

Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman, the Arab world’s longest-serving ruler, has died aged 79, state media say. Last month he returned home after undergoing medical checks and treatment in Belgium. There were reports he was suffering from cancer. Sultan Qaboos deposed his father in a bloodless coup with British support in 1970. […]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last night said that the Ukraine airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people onboard, was likely brought down by an Iranian missile. Mr Trudeau cited intelligence from Canadian and other sources as he told a news conference in Ottawa that the destruction of the airliner “may well have […]

Strikes against US forces in Iraq could have been just the beginning of a great operation across the region if the US had responded, a senior Iranian commander is reported as saying. Quoted by state TV, Amir Ali Hajizadeh said the only fitting revenge for Gen Qasem Soleimani’s killing by the US was to drive […]

A Ukrainian airliner was on fire immediately before it crashed southwest of Tehran, killing all 176 on board, according to an initial report by Iranian investigators. The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying to Kiev and carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed shortly after taking off on Wednesday from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport. The report […]