Ali Khamenei

The Middle East is in a mess; there is no argument about that. The most popular word these days is Sykes-Picot, the agreement that shaped the region, defining the borders of Iraq and Syria. 

Iran on Jan. 18 said new U.S. curbs on the Islamic Republic's ballistic missile programme were illegitimate, vowing to continue developing its conventional military deterrent.

The White House has delayed imposing new financial sanctions on Iran over its ballistic-missile program, The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 31. 

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the United States of trying to divide Iraq along sectarian and ethnic lines and urged Iraqis to withstand any such plans.

Russia and Iran jointly oppose "external attempts" to bring regime change in Syria, a Kremlin official said on Nov. 23 in Tehran after President Vladimir Putin met supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

President Vladimir Putin on Monday lifted a ban on Russian firms from working on Iranian enrichment sites as he travelled to Tehran for his first visit since 2007.    

Iran is banning the entry of U.S. consumer goods, the commerce and industry minister has said, as the country prepares for a lifting of economic sanctions.

Iranian state television broadcast unprecedented footage Oct. 14 of a deep underground tunnel packed with missiles and launcher units, which officials said could be used if "enemies make a mistake".

Iran has threatened to boycott next week's Frankfurt Book Fair because organisers have invited the author Salman Rushdie, who still has a fatwa against him, as a guest speaker.
 

Saudi and Iranian health ministers have agreed to repatriate Iranian pilgrims killed in last week's Hajj stampede, Saudi state media said, after Tehran threatened a "fierce" response over delays.
 
Tehran has accused Saudi of hindering its efforts to bring home the bodies of at least 239 Iranians who died in last week's tragedy near the Muslim holy city of Mecca.