World

US secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited on Sunday his Swiss counterpart, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, as international concerns are raising about US-Iran tensions in the Middle East.

The United States signed on Wednesday a mutual defence cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates as tensions raised with Tehran, Aljazeera reported.

Keyvan Khosravi, Spokesman of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council said on Thursday that numerous foreign officials are visiting Tehran these days to mediate between Iran and the US.

British Foreign Secretary warned Iran not to miscalculate the situation by provoking Americans because if US interests were attacked then Washington will react, Reuters reported on Monday. 

The White House announced in a statement that Ueli Maurer, the President of Swiss, will arrive in Washington on Thursday without prior notice to discuss Iran and recent tensions.

A report by the New York Times suggested that the US Acting Defence Secretary offered a military plan to send 120,000 troops to the Middle East amid rising tensions with Iran.

The announcement of new sanctions issued this week on Iran’s metals sector by the United States are to hit the Islamic Republic’s economy hard and in turn hinder its ballistic missile program according to analysts, as reported by The Washington Free Beacon.<

Two Chinese state-owned oil companies are stopping imports from Iran for May as US ended sanction waivers to increase pressure on Tehran, Reuters reported. 

The Dutch National Trade Union, in a letter dated April 30 urged Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to release Iranian labor activist “immediately and unconditionally.”

Following reports by the United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the United States will end waivers on countries currently receiving Iranian oil exports caused an almost three percent spike in oil prices on Monday.