Khamenei increases pressure on Rouhani ahead of elections - Two weeks ahead of the Iranian presidential election, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has increased his criticisms of the policies endorsed by President Hassan Rouhani. A week after indirectly criticizing the president for suggesting that diplomacy had averted war, Khamenei criticized a United Nations education program that some conservative Iranian detractors say promotes gender equality (Al Monitor)
U.S. poised to expand military effort against Taliban in Afghanistan - President Trump’s most senior military and foreign policy advisers have proposed a major shift in strategy in Afghanistan that would effectively put the United States back on a war footing with the Taliban (Washington Post)
Egypt sentences Muslim Brotherhood leader to life in prison - Supreme guide Mohamed Badie found guilty in retrial of conspiring to stir unrest during the July 2013 protests (Middle East Eye)
