The US Secretary of State John Kerry has paid his fourth visit to the Middle East since he was appointed to the post under the second administration of the United States President Barack Obama. Oman, the city of Ramallah in West Bank, and al-Quds (Jerusalem) were main destinations of his fourth Middle East tour.

Imposition of new sanctions will not only fail to make Iran change its mind about pursuing its nuclear energy program through legal and peaceful channels, but will also obliterate any chance for building confidence and reaching a compromise with the West by the coming president.

After a few days of waiting, Iran's Interior Ministry has officially published the list of eight presidential candidates whose qualifications have been approved by the country’s election supervisory body, the Guardian Council.

The recent victory of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Party in the country’s National Assembly elections has led to a great deal of debates and speculations about possible future orientation of Pakistan’s domestic and foreign policies. 

It would be at least useful to know that although the current state of affairs in Iran's domestic political scene is determined by many unknown and possibly unexpected elements, one may also see the color of hope, dynamism, development and maturity, which should not be easily ignored. Attention to the combination of this color with everyday developments, and listening to moderate and fair analyses will make it possible to present a more real schema of Iran's political scene to outside observers.

The sudden fall of Bashar Assad’s government may take the country’s arsenal out of the central government’s control and into the hands of radical elements. For this reason, it is quite possible for Israel; if it feels that the downfall of Bashar Assad’s government is imminent, to attack important military facilities and equipment in Syria in order to totally annihilate them.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has had six presidents during the past 35 years. The first two presidents failed to complete their four-year terms in office. The first president (Abolhassan Banisadr) was impeached and removed from his post before fleeing Iran for France. The second president (Mohammad Ali Rajaei) was assassinated in a blast which targeted the prime minister’s office building. Every one of the subsequent presidents, who took charge of the Iranian Executive power, spent two consecutive terms in office.

When playing its role in the issue of Palestine, Qatar does not care for the cause of Palestine and is not trying to realize the goals and ideals of the Palestinian nation. Doha considers the issue of Palestine as an opportunity to promote its own regional role and heal the internal damages which it has suffered in competition with other regional powers; it is by no means trying to pursue the cause of Palestine.

Since the ongoing crisis in Syria began, positions taken by the Turkish government on the Syria crisis have raised many questions and, of course, ambiguities among the analysts. The reason is that Ankara’s positions have been in contradiction to the trend which had started in Turkey’s relations with Syria, at least, 10 years before the beginning of Syria crisis.

Taking into account the United States approach to Syria crisis at domestic, regional and international levels, it would be only natural to conclude that the crisis in Syria has not fared the way that Washington expected and will not do so in future either. It is a crisis riddled with challenges which may get Washington involved in later unwanted disputes at regional and international levels.