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  • What the Russia-Iran Arms Deals Mean for the Middle East

    The larger and more important implication of these shipments is in the long term: Iran’s ability to reverse-engineer, replicate, and mass-produce components of these platforms, which will add more conventional military capabilities to the arsenals of Iran and its proxies. Iran has a well-developed arms industry and has historically had success in reverse-engineering numerous platforms, including fighter jets, missiles, and aircraft parts.

  • What the Russia-Iran Arms Deals Mean for the Middle East

    In the emerging arrangement between Russia and Iran to supply each other with weapons, the former has received hundreds of Iranian drones to rain on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure, while the latter looks set to get Russia’s advanced Su-35 fighter jet. On top of that, Moscow has reportedly funneled captured U.S. and other Western weaponry to Tehran.

  • Italy lifts embargo on arms sales to UAE – govt statement

    Italy has lifted an embargo on arms sales to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) the Rome government said in a statement on Monday. The decision was due to the UAE halting its military role in the Yemen conflict as well as its efforts to support the war-torn country via stabilization and reconstruction investments, a statement after a cabinet meeting statement read.

  • Opinion: Congress Has the Power to Halt U.S. Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia

    Only five days after Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to normalize relations, the Senate moved one step closer to possibly ending U.S. arms sales to Riyadh through legislation that could redefine the entire U.S.-Saudi relationship.

  • How floating solar farms can help the Middle East deal with water and power challenges

    Some studies suggest that the efficiency of FPVs is about 11% more than ground-mounted solar panels on average. The cooling effect of water and reduced panel temperature would be especially beneficial in the Middle East to counter increasingly common heatwaves and hotter-than-average days. Also, because of their placement over water, FPVs are less susceptible to dust deposition, meaning the panels remain cleaner for longer and, consequently, receive more sunlight on average than regular PV solar farms.

  • Opinion: Iran’s foreign policy duplicity harms it more than neighbors

    The audio leaks of former Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in April 2021, in which he criticized the growing foreign policy role of the former commander of the Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, revealed the depth of the dispute between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the IRGC. Zarif considered this role to be negative and that it harmed Iran’s external image, affecting its regional interests and relations with neighboring countries. This is in addition to the fact that the IRGC, with its interventions, impeded the reaching of positive results in the dialogue between Iran on the one hand and the US and the wider West on the other.

  • Wave of poison attacks on schoolgirls alarms Iranians

    Hundreds of Iranian girls in different schools have suffered "mild poison" attacks over recent months, the health minister said, with some politicians suggesting they could have been targeted by religious groups opposed to girls' education. The attacks come at a critical time for Iran's clerical rulers, who faced months of anti-government protests sparked by the death of a young Iranian woman in the custody of the morality police who enforce strict dress codes.

  • Israel opens first-ever national pavilion at IDEX arms expo in Abu Dhabi

    The Israeli Ministry of Defense on Monday inaugurated its first-ever national pavilion at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in the United Arab Emirates. As part of joint efforts to strengthen relations with the Abraham Accords countries, SIBAT, the ministry’s International Defense Cooperation Directorate, is leading a delegation of more than 30 Israeli companies at the biennial event, which runs Feb. 20-24. The arms and defense technology sales exhibition in Abu Dhabi is the largest in the Middle East.

  • Sanction-hit Russia Displays Combat-tested Arms at UAE Fair

    Russia showed up in force Monday at an arms fair in the United Arab Emirates, displaying combat-tested weapons up for export, including rifles and air defense systems. At an isolated pavilion at the International Defense Exhibition (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi, Moscow's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said it had more than 200 full-scale models of armament, ammunition and military gear. Russian armored vehicles, attack helicopters and anti-aircraft missile systems were also on display at IDEX, which opened Monday, as crippling Western sanctions push President Vladimir Putin to seek new markets for arms exports.

  • Saudi Arabia says nuclear arms race in the Middle East ‘cannot be ruled out’

    At a session titled Middle Men: The Geostrategic Role of Middle Eastern Countries, Prince Faisal said: “If one state gets nuclear weapons, especially one that has expressed aggression towards its neighbours, I think everyone will start thinking about how to protect themselves. “I hope that never happens. If it is a genie that gets out, it will be very hard to put back into the bottle. “We need to see a return to negotiations, but we need a holistic approach. We think we should be taking part in any future discussions. We feel it might be quite useful that we address this issue with our international partners.