In early December Turkey unilaterally invaded Iraq and occupied Mosul; geopolitical analyst Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya suggests that by seizing Mosul Ankara is trying to protect its illicit oil trade. Just a few weeks after shooting down the Russian Su-24 bomber in the skies of Syria, Ankara sent a battalion of twenty-five M-60 Patton tanks to the ...

Irans Central Bank chief Mahmoud Bahmani says the country is going to pay for oil supplies in gold as well as the national currencies of importer countries instead of American dollar in its foreign transactions. "In its trade transactions with other countries, Iran does not restrict itself to the U.S. dollar, and the country can pay using its own ...