United Nations

The UN is set to announce the lifting of sanctions on Iran today after Tehran scaled back its nuclear programme. The International sanctions had suffocated Iran’s ability to trade with the west, and was put in place to force anti-western Iran to negotiate on its nuclear programme. The lifting of the sanctions will be marked as a great achievement for U.S. President Barrack Obama and Secretary of State, John Kerry as well as their European partners.

The Saudi-led, U.S.-backed war on Yemen continues, and the U.N. is once again calling attention to the coalition’s war crimes:

Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary-general, warned Friday that a Saudi-led air coalition that is supported by the United States may have committed war crimes by using cluster munitions in heavily populated neighborhoods in Yemen.

Back in October, Iran put the Obama administration in a tough spot. Tehran test-fired a next generation, surface-to-surface ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

According to a shocking report, in exchange for food from UN peacekeepers, children as young as nine traded oral sex in war-zones while officials looked the other way. UN human rights spokesman, Rupert Colville admitted in May that it was possible  that further inquiries would reveal even more unreported instances.

Despite Russia and the U.S. coming together on Friday to back a U.N.-approved peace plan for Syria, major obstacles remain, including the on-the-ground reality that U.S. "allies," such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, have armed and financed powerful jihadist forces that won't compromise, as Gareth Porter explains.