In the wake of growing tension around Iran's nuclear program, 2012 looks like it will be another challenging year for both the United States and Russia. Perhaps the most difficult and time-consuming question confronting Washington and Moscow today is how best...

Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the Azeri ambassador Sunday, accusing Azerbaijan of assisting Israeli intelligence in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist last month. TEHRAN — Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned...

BRUSSELS — Russia would regard any military intervention linked to Iran's nuclear program as a threat to its own security, Moscow's departing ambassador to NATO warned on Friday. "Iran is our neighbor," Dmitry Rogozin told reporters in Brussels. "And if Iran is involved in any military action, it's a direct...

Trade Capital Bank, the Belarussian bank controlled by Iran's third-largest lender, said it would not stop operating after the United States designated it as providing financial services to the Export Development Bank of Iran amid sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation. Trade Capital...

Iran's beginning enrichment of uranium to the 20-percent level is not a positive, Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Tuesday. Iran's beginning enrichment of uranium to the 20-percent level is not a positive, Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady...

A military attack on Iran would trigger a "chain reaction" that could destabilize the world, and new sanctions over the country's disputed nuclear program would "stifle" its economy, hurting its people. A military...

... financed by the authoritarian Arab League members. The Arab League publicly touts a nonmilitary solution at the UN, but it is adding fuel to the fire on the ground in Syria. Riyadh and Doha carry the Western mantle in Syria to unhinge Damascus from Iran's sphere of influence. The Free Syrian Army is detaining Iranian agents operating inside Syria, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards, in turn, are assisting the Assad government in techniques of controlling public protests. Although the real issue at...

... Washington was seeking to oust Iranian ally Assad to increase its influence in the Arab world and isolate Tehran, which the United States suspects is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. "Syria has become a victim for the most part because it is close to Iran. The removal from power of the current regime is part of a plan to isolate Iran," Primakov wrote in an article published in Monday's Rossiiskaya Gazeta. "The United States and its NATO allies want to exploit the situation that arose in...

... that they will build the system, come what may. The planned U.S. shield, endorsed by NATO, would deploy U.S. interceptor missiles in and around Europe in what Washington says is layered protection against missiles that could be fired by countries like Iran. Moscow says this could undermine its security if it becomes capable of neutralizing Russia's nuclear deterrent. Now an international commission that has been working on the matter for two years has designed a basic concept for cooperation with...

... the deal. "This suggests that Greece is indeed ready to undertake all necessary reforms," chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney Ric Spooner said, Bloomberg reported. The underlying driver of price dynamics remains the situation in Iran and the status of its nuclear program, which prompted the European Union to impose an embargo on Iranian oil. 179742

... say the ship was hijacked in the Baltic Sea, the Navy seized it weeks later off Cape Verde and the eight hijackers have been tried and convicted. Speculation has persisted, however, that the ship was actually carrying S-300 surface-to-air missiles for Iran or Syria. Kross told Estonian newspaper Postimees that the charges against him are “absurd,” and Estonian Justice Minister Kristen Michal told Itar-Tass that Kross won’t be extradited. Kross ran for parliament in 2011 in hope...

... capital, Vilnius, on Thursday, Bloomberg reported. He said Moscow should instead invest its resources in economic development and the creation of jobs. The United States and its allies say the missile plan will protect Europe from rogue states like Iran, but the Kremlin insists that it will undermine its strategic defense capacities. Rogozin explained that Moscow views NATO missiles in Europe as offensive weapons because their range could never be restricted to the alliance members where they are...

... Democratic Institutions and Human Rights said after an assessment mission in December. Turkmenistan has no opposition parties, and compliant state media extol the president daily. Rights groups rank the desert country, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, among the most repressive in the world. Berdymukhammedov, a 55-year-old dentist, became president in 2007 after the death of the country's first post-Soviet leader, Saparmurat Niyazov. His power has virtually no limits in the country of 5.5 million...

... popping up across the country like weeds. The construction of these new units was financed by various Georgian insurance companies. For the record, the United States is not spending $5 billion to build new facilities in Georgia in anticipation of war with Iran. It would be a good story if it were true, but the fact is that Russia Today, David Icke, Alex Jones and thousands of crazy left-wing bloggers have picked up on the canard spread by Elizbar Javelidze, the education minister under Georgia's first...

... production at the field, with estimated reserves of 526 million barrels, stands at 120,000 bpd within several years. Russia relies heavily on oil and gas revenues, which constitute about half of its budget. According to a Reuters poll, tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear program have pushed up expectations for the average price of Brent crude oil in 2012 to more than $107 a barrel from a previous forecast of $105.20. This compares to a record-high average of $110.91 last year. Rosneft...

... definitely not our choice, and I do not believe that sensible U.S. politicians want any confrontation.” NATO and Russia agreed in 2010 to cooperate on the missile shield, which is supposed to protect Europe from attacks from rogue states like Iran, but Moscow insists on operating it jointly — a proposal the Western alliance rejects. Lavrov reiterated that Moscow’s concerns that the shield threatens Russia’s nuclear capacity are justified. “Our logic is simple —...

... stream and Libya's and Iraq's oil production is back to normal. Surplus capacity is presently about 4 million bpd. In addition, oil market disruption caused by potential military action in the Middle East is already priced, while the likelihood that Iran would instigate a military conflict is low. Provoking an attack from Israel or the United States by closing the Strait of Hormuz would deprive itself of its lifeblood. On balance, though, oil prices are on the way down. Brent could fall from $110...

... captured alive and because of the dramatic show trial that followed. The event was controversial because the United States was caught spying on the Soviets by flying over their territory — a practice that continues to this day with drones flying over Iran and other countries hostile to the United States. In addition, some people thought Powers did not follow orders upon capture and that the CIA had intentionally sabotaged the flight to ruin the May 16 Paris Summit Conference. Rumors, speculation,...

... country, and high-speed Internet connections have penetrated even remote corners of Russia in recent years. What's more, blogging services such as LiveJournal have been prominent for a decade. Thus, the Internet plays a more important role than it did in Iran's abortive Green Revolution or during the Arab Spring. Nonetheless, Russia's size could become a liability for the protesters if things come to a head and, say, Putin refuses to accept a defeat in the March election. While there have been regular...