The Levant Files

  Iran has conveyed conditions for ending the war with the United States through mediators, security chief Mohsen Rezaei told Al Jazeera on Saturday. Tehran wants fighting to stop across all fronts, frozen Iranian funds released and the naval blockade lifted, according to Reuters’ report of the interview . His remarks combined a diplomatic opening with warnings that Iran remains prepared for further conflict. 1. What exactly is Iran demanding? Rezaei identified three core requirements: an end to the war on every front, access to Iran’s frozen assets and termination of the US naval blockade. Reuters reported that these were conditions conveyed to mediators for renewed negotiations aimed at ending the conflict. The published account does not specify the amount of money involved, a timetable for lifting the blockade or how a halt to fighting would be enforced. It therefore establishes Tehran’s publicly stated demands, but leaves important implementation questions unanswered.  2....

By Ahmet Erdi Öztürk Recent developments in Paris point to a significant shift in Europe’s perception of security. On Friday, 18 September, Emmanuel Macron brought together political party leaders and figures expected to play prominent roles in the presidential election at the Élysée Palace. But politicians were not the only ones at the table. Senior representatives from domestic and foreign intelligence, military intelligence, the national security establishment and the energy sector also attended. The Élysée’s justification for the meeting was itself noteworthy. The “rapid deterioration of the international situation” is no longer being considered solely through the prism of the war in Ukraine, but increasingly in conjunction with energy security and France’s domestic resilience. It would be simplistic to interpret this as “Europe preparing for war”. Yet it is clear that European capitals have begun to view war, energy, critical infrastructure and the American security guarantee with...

By Michel Shehadeh Palestine can no longer be understood as a political island, isolated from the developments unfolding around it. From Gaza and the West Bank to Lebanon, Yemen and Iran, and from the Strait of Hormuz to Bab al-Mandab, war, negotiations, economics and elections are becoming intertwined within a single regional landscape. Pressure exerted in one arena reverberates across another, while maritime corridors, energy markets and ballot boxes have all become part of the same equation of conflict. At the heart of this landscape, Gaza remains an open wound. Siege, hunger, thirst and destruction dominate people’s daily lives, while hundreds of thousands live amid rubble and temporary shelters. Yet the fundamental political question remains unresolved: what comes first — an Israeli withdrawal or the disarmament of the resistance? The resistance insists on the reciprocal and sequential implementation of the agreement, beginning with the completion of its first phase and an Isra...

A platform seeking information on overseas government opponents has drawn criticism inside Iran, while its ownership, powers and effectiveness remain unclear. Iran’s newly publicised Elaj platform has brought the monitoring of overseas opponents into public debate. Its invitation to citizens to submit information about other Iranians has prompted a parliamentary security committee member to warn against encouraging people to spy on one another.  1. What is Elaj, and whom does it target? Elaj, also transliterated as Alaj, is a platform promoted as a means of identifying and documenting the activities of Iranians abroad accused of acting against the Islamic Republic. According to Iran International’s September 15 account of Iranian state-linked coverage, Fars announced the platform on September 14. Its stated targets include people accused of supporting separatism, sanctions or military attacks against Iran. Supporters were invited to submit information through its website, Telegr...

  Turkey’s investment-fund crisis widened on Friday as authorities announced arrests and asset freezes, regulators prepared to liquidate 131 funds, and scrutiny extended to prominent figures connected to the financial groups involved. According to T24 , Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said four suspects, including fund board executives, had been remanded in custody. Authorities imposed foreign-travel bans on 51 people and froze relevant accounts and assets to prevent suspected proceeds being moved. The crackdown also reached online commentary. Gürlek said access to 246 social-media accounts had been blocked over allegedly panic-inducing posts. In a separate investigation, 16 suspects were remanded over posts allegedly intended to manipulate capital markets. These proceedings remain allegations, not convictions. The financial response is substantial. The Capital Markets Board assigned İş Bankası to oversee liquidation of Tera Portföy funds and Ziraat Bankası to handle funds belonging...

  Senior Kurdish figure Cemil Bayık has demanded direct meetings with imprisoned PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan, warning that fighters will neither disarm nor return to Turkey without his freedom. The demand, highlighted by T24 , exposes continuing disagreements over the conditions for implementing the peace process. According to ANKA’s report, carried by Haberler.com , Bayık, co-chair of the Kurdistan Communities Union’s executive council, spoke to Kurdish broadcaster Nuçe TV from the Qandil mountains. He called for KCK representatives, journalists, academics and politicians to visit Öcalan on İmralı island. Bayık linked disarmament to legal guarantees allowing participation in democratic politics. He criticised continuing government-appointed municipal trustees and the detention of political prisoners, including sick inmates. Although he acknowledged nationalist leader Devlet Bahçeli’s contribution to the process, he argued that the new legislation failed to address the Kurdish ques...

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was nearing a decision on whether to resume large-scale attacks on Iran, telling Axios: "I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not? It's a big decision. Anything could happen with me." The remark is not new in substance — Trump has used apocalyptic language about Iran since the war began on February 28 — but its timing is deliberate. It comes four days before a planned Tuesday meeting with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, a meeting that could shape the next phase of the war and where, if Trump wants to resume major combat operations, he would need buy-in from his regional allies. That constraint is real and recent. In early August, Trump held off on resuming major combat operations after Saudi Arabia and Qatar expressed concern that Iran would retaliate by bombing Saudi oil and...

The diplomatic upgrade comes alongside renewed US and Israeli support for Morocco’s claim to the disputed territory. Israel and Morocco agreed on Wednesday to upgrade their liaison offices to full embassies and appoint ambassadors, taking a step delayed for years by disagreements over Western Sahara and political tensions surrounding the Gaza war. The agreement links closer diplomatic relations with renewed American and Israeli backing for Morocco’s position on Western Sahara. For Rabat, that support provides a clear political benefit from strengthening ties with Israel, although the announcement does not establish that it was a formal condition of the upgrade. Reuters reported ⁠ that the embassy agreement was announced by the Israeli government following talks involving Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz in New York. Alongside the upgrade, Washington and Israel reaffirmed their recognit...

  Syria announced cheaper diesel options on Thursday, September 17, after days of protests over soaring fuel prices, as fresh demonstrations and a delayed parliamentary hearing kept pressure on the government to address worsening living conditions. According to Verify-Sy, citing state news agency SANA , Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir announced diesel at 115 Syrian pounds per litre for heating, agriculture and eligible beneficiaries. Another category, priced at 150 pounds, would serve selected productive activities, services and heavy machinery, while standard-specification diesel would remain at 175 pounds. The minister said reopened local refineries would process up to 35,000 barrels of crude daily, with their diesel output allocated to the subsidised category. Distribution would be coordinated with provincial authorities. The announcement therefore introduces targeted relief rather than reversing the standard diesel price increase that helped trigger the unrest. Protests ...

  A liquidity default at a cluster of portfolio management firms triggered the sharpest BIST 100 drop since May, criminal complaints against fund managers, and an emergency meeting of Turkey's Financial Stability Committee before markets opened. Turkish equities have just lived through their worst 48 hours since May. On 16 September, the BIST 100 index shed 5.54 percent to close at 13,122.58 points, tripping circuit breakers and freezing trading for ten minutes as bank shares led a broad, indiscriminate rout. The proximate cause was not macroeconomic — it was a default. Pusula Portföy, a mid-sized portfolio management firm, announced it could not meet redemption requests on several of its funds, most critically its "PRY" money market fund, which was pulled from purchase on the TEFAS trading platform. Within hours the contagion had spread to Tera Group, the firm in the process of acquiring Pusula's holdings, and to Katılımevim, a savings-finance company with more than ...