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In the wake of US and EU sanctions imposed earlier in the year, Iranian oil companies are struggling for business internationally as well as domestically, highlighted by the recent closure of the BP-Iranian Oil Company joint venture-operated Rhum natural gas field in the UK’s North Sea

Air force to test homemade S-300, UH-60M deliveries, Apache fleet

The confusion of a post-Saddam Iraq has presented Iran with countless opportunities to extend its tentacles of influence. GSN outlines the Islamic Republic’s strategy for keeping its rival at bay

The US Defence Department was ordered to draw up detailed contingency plans for launching military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Attacks on Christians in Iraq have increased in recent weeks. Defence secretary Robert Gates has announced that the US will boost support to Yemen following October’s foiled bomb plot

Late October saw a flurry of activity in London aimed at boosting Gulf Co-Operation Council-UK ties. If the crowded programme had been the result of a co-ordinated plan by the UK’s (relatively) new coalition government it might be seen as a reaffirmation of UK-Gulf ties organised by a dynamic new administration.

The hand of Tehran – and its formidable IRGC – reaches far into the Gulf states, throwing up questions of allegiance and fears of a US or Israeli-orchestrated military strike. Each state has a different experience, and the region is divided over how to deal with subversive activities within and across its borders

Aligning itself with international pressure over the nuclear issue, Tokyo has announced new sanctions against Iran, which include a ban upon any medium- to long-term (MLT) export credit cover from either Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (Nexi) and The Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC).

The government has proposed plans to revamp the organisational structure of Iran’s oil industry to grant the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) more autonomy.

The US State Department on 15 September confirmed the role of the Omani government in securing the release of imprisoned hiker Sarah Shourd, who was arrested with two other Americans by Iran 13 months ago when walking in the mountainous Iranian/Iraqi border region

No sign of an official retreat from the Bahraini crackdown, International offensive, Elections in question, A much bigger crackdown, Ahmadinejad faces new challenges from within, KhameneiAfter seeing off popular protests and reformist opponents, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad now faces challenges from within the regime as hardliners attempt to rein in the president’s growing personal authority. Suggestions of a possible impeachment have even been mooted by some deputies in the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran (Majlis), as the relationship between president and parliament becomes increasingly strained. uneasy but still, apparently, supportive

King Hamad shows no sign of relaxing a security campaign that seems intended to squeeze opposition outside parliament and depress voter turnout in support of opponents within the constitutional framework, when legislative elections are held on 23 October

As sanctions bite, it becomes ever harder to develop energy projects, but western withdrawal opens opportunities for Tehran’s traditional partners as well as domestic companies with shadowy backgrounds

The awarding of lucrative oil and gas contracts to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC or Pasdaran) has become a common trend

Sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector have sparked an exodus of western oil companies, but Tehran is turning to one-time allies Russia and China to rescue a faltering

US Democratic congressman Brad Sherman has told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs that the UAE remains a “transhipment and diversion hub” and does “not effectively control exports to Iran and other countries of proliferation”.