Why Iran’s role in Syria and Iraq remains limited

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE_Z4QgOMFctypkRpoHj2wHt0RFTUURS7CL56ZVkOwNY2bF1Re5M2CybLOdjDngiKG-w3n4XyT6O7B9aARgv8fl-Ih-Co7GOzQgScX1cNuRQ1RWQ1wkFowXVnGP1yMluleuqAnEaRVpAE/s1600/%2526MaxW%253D640%2526imageVersion%253Ddefault%2526AR-150809920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE_Z4QgOMFctypkRpoHj2wHt0RFTUURS7CL56ZVkOwNY2bF1Re5M2CybLOdjDngiKG-w3n4XyT6O7B9aARgv8fl-Ih-Co7GOzQgScX1cNuRQ1RWQ1wkFowXVnGP1yMluleuqAnEaRVpAE/s640/%2526MaxW%253D640%2526imageVersion%253Ddefault%2526AR-150809920.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Smoke rises from the Ajil oil field as Iran-backed militiamen gather in Al Hadidiya, south of Tikrit, en route to the ISIL-controlled town of Al Alam on March 6, 2015. Thaier Al Sudani/Reuters</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="hs-text-container" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> The rise of ISIL has made Iranians more supportive of their government’s interventions in Syria and Iraq, but public opinion also limits Tehran’s ability to become more directly involved in these conflicts.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Most Iranians now endorse Tehran’s financial and military support for the Syrian and Iraqi governments in their fight against the brutal extremist group, but they remain overwhelmingly opposed to risking Iranian lives by deploying troops in these conflicts.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “The public now view Iraq and Syria as allies without whom Iran would be forced to combat ISIL and Al Qaeda directly and on its own,” said Amir Farmanesh, co-founder and president of IranPoll.com, which conducts regular polls on Iranian public opinion.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Polls in May showed the vast majority, 86.3 per cent, also felt that president Hassan Rouhani had improved the country’s security situation, endorsing the government’s handling of the crises.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> The emergence of ISIL has shifted attitudes toward the Syrian conflict.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Two polls conducted by <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/165878/iranians-support-syria-softens.aspx" style="color: #1578c9; text-decoration: none;">Gallup</a> revealed a drop in Iranian support for the war in Syria from 2012 to 2013, with most Iranians at the time not following the conflict at all despite their government’s heavy involvement. This changed dramatically following ISIL’s gains in mid-2014, Iranian analysts said.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “When ISIL attacked Mosul, Iranians felt threatened. Now people think that if we don’t fight ISIL in Syria and Iraq, we will have to fight them here in our own territory,” Mahmoud Pargoo, an Iranian political analyst and PhD candidate at the Australian Catholic University said.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Iranian public opinion of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad has been mixed since the uprising against him began in 2011, but with the changing paradigm of the conflict, many Iranians now see the war as one of pre-emptive defence against ISIL, rather than in support of Mr Al Assad.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “While the public is not necessarily happy with Mr Al Assad, they consider Daesh a great menace that needs to be crushed,” said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, an Iran expert and professor of political science at Syracuse University in New York.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Details of Iran’s involvement in Syria and Iraq remain murky, as Tehran does not disclose information related to its military activities abroad. But the Islamic Republic has been widely reported to have provided Syria and Iraq with substantial financing and military aid, mostly in the form of advisers.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> While Iran has suffered a few casualties in both the Syria and Iraq wars, analysts say there has been little evidence showing direct Iranian involvement in combat. Mr Pargoo believes that only the “very ideological” of Iranians have volunteered to fight in Syria and Iraq.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Iran’s preference is to establish local militias in conflict zones, as opposed to sending in its own forces. This has been evident in both Syria and Iraq, where the Iranians have helped establish, train and guide militias such as the National Defence Forces in Syria and the Popular Mobilisation Forces in Iraq.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> This is rooted not simply in geopolitical calculations but also in Iranian domestic opinion that is averse to sending its sons to fight abroad.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “Iranians have a very high bar for when Iran’s military should become actively and directly involved in these conflicts,” Mr Farmanesh said.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> According to Mr Pargoo, they see no moral justification for direct Iranian involvement as Iran is not under attack. “That’s an important reason why Ayatollah Khamenei has not sent troops to the battlefronts in Iraq and Syria, because he cannot justify it and persuade the Iranian people,” he said.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> The mass protests following the 2009 presidential election continue to play on the minds of Iran’s leaders, who are now more sensitive to public opinion, Mr Boroujerdi said.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Iranian fighters returning in body bags is a scene they wish to avoid so as to not turn public opinion against them. This has limited Iran’s ability to back its allies in Syria and Iraq to a support role.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> While Iraqi Shiite militias are easily filling their ranks, this constraint on Iranian support is proving costly in Syria, where government forces are struggling with manpower shortages – a weakness Mr Al Assad admitted tothis week. Iran’s assistance in establishing local militias has not been enough to prevent pro-Assad forces from suffering significant losses in recent months.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Despite Iranian Revolutionary Guards chief Qassem Suleimani promising a “surprise” in Syria in June after a string of regime losses, the Iranians appear to be sticking to their policy of not deploying Iranian combat units in Syria.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Instead, reports have pointed to the extra deployment of mostly Iraqi Shiite militiamen and Lebanese Hizbollah units in Syria to support Mr Al Assad’s beleaguered forces.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “The rulers know that the Iranian public are not supportive of direct Iranian involvement. Even though the Syrians need forces, the Iranians haven’t sent any,” Mr Pargoo said.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Though the prospects of Iran deploying ground forces in Syria and Iraq in the near future appear slim, Iran’s leadership can count on strong public support for its policies in Syria and Iraq while the ISIL threat persists.</div> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />

Why Iran’s role in Syria and Iraq remains limited

Famoususer 0 1.8.15

Smoke rises from the Ajil oil field as Iran-backed militiamen gather in Al Hadidiya, south of Tikrit, en route to the ISIL-controlled town of Al Alam on March 6, 2015. Thaier Al Sudani/Reuters The rise of ISIL has made Iranians more supportive of th… Read more »

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New Taliban leader already facing staunch internal resistance

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMGnBUigHrO94idmsqyxAf_1ZdQXfUiZPb2ksBZccCvJxXE4u1zPxioUsMwJy0OXmjE4ehPusmyx3HPztf5ZhSPvAuW4Yn-HOcFiEajLKW-JuNlK9yf23BTbeCWLoWbtYRCfPkHxNnpIg/s1600/Mullah+Akhtar+Mansour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMGnBUigHrO94idmsqyxAf_1ZdQXfUiZPb2ksBZccCvJxXE4u1zPxioUsMwJy0OXmjE4ehPusmyx3HPztf5ZhSPvAuW4Yn-HOcFiEajLKW-JuNlK9yf23BTbeCWLoWbtYRCfPkHxNnpIg/s640/Mullah+Akhtar+Mansour.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> <div class="hs-text-container" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> KABUL // Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the newly chosen supreme leader of the Taliban, may be one of the group’s founding members but some within the movement believe that his loyalties lie elsewhere</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> The longtime trusted deputy of former leader Mullah Omar is facing staunch internal resistance from some members of the Taliban’s ruling council, the Quetta Shura, who accuse Pakistan of hijacking the movement.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “Mansour is seen as a man of Pakistan – that is why severe differences are going on among the Taliban leadership,” said a midlevel Taliban official.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Some Taliban are also unhappy at the thought that Mansour may have deceived them for over a year about the death of Omar, while others accuse him of riding roughshod over the process to appoint a successor.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> And, in the clearest sign yet of the challenge that the militant faces in uniting the deeply divided group, at the Taliban meeting on Wednesday night where Mansour was named as the new leader, several senior figures in the movement, including the son and brother of Omar, walked out in protest.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “Many Taliban commanders and members of the Quetta Shura will not accept his leadership,” said Kabul-based military analyst, Jawed Kohistani.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “His selection will only widen the rift within the Taliban.”</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> But the internal opposition is unlikely to prevent Mansour from proceeding with peace talks with the Afghan government launched earlier this month in the Pakistani hill station of Murree.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “Mullah Mansour is ... a moderate, pro-peace, pro-talks person,” said Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a former Taliban official and a member of the Afghan High Peace Council.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “I believe that under him the peace process will be strengthened and the Taliban will become part of political process in Afghanistan.”</div>

New Taliban leader already facing staunch internal resistance

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KABUL // Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the newly chosen supreme leader of the Taliban, may be one of the group’s founding members but some within the movement believe that his loyalties lie elsewhere The longtime trusted deputy of former leader Mullah Omar… Read more »

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شاندار فتح کے بعد پاکستان کی لمبی چھلانگ بھارت کو پیچھے چھوڑ دیا !!!!

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FxHQDJte5Dwyve6a8LGXqrqVkctHr9hv4wbd_hvudn_9fmGF3M4fb3i_8-dQRjZuFumNfR4fEQ-Jpyjlw4h__xhHcz8ohBlwbEySJZwgxIWRrFz96unCfTje4oN4gN-FLOktQy0MYgw/s1600/11836786_10153631787902044_6089134913348844157_n+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FxHQDJte5Dwyve6a8LGXqrqVkctHr9hv4wbd_hvudn_9fmGF3M4fb3i_8-dQRjZuFumNfR4fEQ-Jpyjlw4h__xhHcz8ohBlwbEySJZwgxIWRrFz96unCfTje4oN4gN-FLOktQy0MYgw/s640/11836786_10153631787902044_6089134913348844157_n+%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWEr8DplTsgdTMBuG83AuYEAHDRJmz3Vr4XvYsp917aGstBABg1LeVaHOrhOBULDTHSm4ZrN8j1xoKxBkHaMqo3Toq5GeC2wPDhTf-cRSEFZmXILJKUBVtGTL91b0ezRR557YrtufWIi4/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWEr8DplTsgdTMBuG83AuYEAHDRJmz3Vr4XvYsp917aGstBABg1LeVaHOrhOBULDTHSm4ZrN8j1xoKxBkHaMqo3Toq5GeC2wPDhTf-cRSEFZmXILJKUBVtGTL91b0ezRR557YrtufWIi4/s320/1.png" width="320" /></a></div> <br />

شاندار فتح کے بعد پاکستان کی لمبی چھلانگ بھارت کو پیچھے چھوڑ دیا !!!!

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ترک صدرطیب اردگان کی وزیراعظم نوازشریف سے ملاقات ,اہم اعلان بھی کردیا

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtAe54XWJNtW81rNDeRFz_Jm5Zhr6yfHg3iIJ3BYs3tr8gIc0Fa3mlpfe3WDj89FTMTaAhATZWeDLkH1BH1dsBV7Ck-aWH558ikhfsL3e_RJNGi0NtOvbCDl5GprHSYmkA6iwW4NvXxAs/s1600/11822361_10153541208202174_7090007185706860197_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtAe54XWJNtW81rNDeRFz_Jm5Zhr6yfHg3iIJ3BYs3tr8gIc0Fa3mlpfe3WDj89FTMTaAhATZWeDLkH1BH1dsBV7Ck-aWH558ikhfsL3e_RJNGi0NtOvbCDl5GprHSYmkA6iwW4NvXxAs/s640/11822361_10153541208202174_7090007185706860197_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblqVv1STV7AJ-eCLWjtZRAfGkxBfjzImp-IFLlHo38r1lY5E94pDNXeZAl24BiTo0_swtbeK8eSue7rusIVZHrQxxaHyXwwoKYB0zmAykDX1jlfvSy1l600CfxzKzeLM7t4_9pci0Kyo/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="564" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblqVv1STV7AJ-eCLWjtZRAfGkxBfjzImp-IFLlHo38r1lY5E94pDNXeZAl24BiTo0_swtbeK8eSue7rusIVZHrQxxaHyXwwoKYB0zmAykDX1jlfvSy1l600CfxzKzeLM7t4_9pci0Kyo/s640/1.png" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> <br />

ترک صدرطیب اردگان کی وزیراعظم نوازشریف سے ملاقات ,اہم اعلان بھی کردیا

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'2016 will be Amir Khan's year'

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnplAmuehk2zcMg_Md64w30BYeBwSXQNhRI3EGiu76-PcageQyoxWxyoXs6l67dSx1q3OvLH2xbtY8snYBvmoofeBZEf1-wpm9tffUoOW8obwkdcGkhJ-sndobCjybuZ1OJYmq7MRjKOs/s1600/%2526MaxW%253D640%2526imageVersion%253Ddefault%2526AR-150729023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnplAmuehk2zcMg_Md64w30BYeBwSXQNhRI3EGiu76-PcageQyoxWxyoXs6l67dSx1q3OvLH2xbtY8snYBvmoofeBZEf1-wpm9tffUoOW8obwkdcGkhJ-sndobCjybuZ1OJYmq7MRjKOs/s640/%2526MaxW%253D640%2526imageVersion%253Ddefault%2526AR-150729023.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Amir Khan won his last fight against Chris Algieri at the end of May in New York City. Alex Livesey / Getty Images</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <h3 style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 26px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 7px; width: 640px;"> Exclusive: Amir Khan confirms ‘potential fight’ with Kell Brook at Wembley in 2016</h3> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div class="hs-text-container" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> DUBAI // A fight with Manny Pacquiao in Dubai next year appears unlikely, but <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/sport/amir-khan" style="color: #1578c9; text-decoration: none;">Amir Khan</a> said negotiations for a Wembley bout with unbeaten Kell Brook are progressing after he and Brook’s representative met recently.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Khan said Eddie Hearn, Brook’s promoter, travelled to the British-Pakistani fighter’s base in Bolton, England, for a conversation.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “Eddie sent me a text and I invited him to Bolton,” Khan told <span class="Web Italic" style="font-style: italic !important;">The National</span>. “We had a meeting at my office and we discussed everything for a potential fight against Kell Brook in 2016.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “I have made it clear to Eddie that I want this fight to be a big fight worldwide, not just in the UK. I told him Kell needs to fight a couple of big names and beat them, obviously. That will make our fight even bigger.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “The fight will be a Khan Promotions and Matchroom Promotions event in the UK, at Wembley Stadium.”</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Khan said friction between his camp and Brook’s has been set aside; Khan felt Hearn had been disrespectful in remarks reported in the media.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “Eddie told me that he would be stupid not to support his fighter, so that’s what he was doing, basically, and to a point he is right: it’s all part of the game,” Khan said.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> He believes a fight with Brook would be attractive to boxing fans.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “Eddie believes this is a 50-50 fight, most of the fans believe this is a 50-50 fight, and our history together, that’s why this is such a huge fight in the UK.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “Do I think this is a 50-50 fight? Absolutely not, Kell is a very comfortable opponent for me. Styles make fights and his style is perfect for me. I will beat him very easily. He won’t be able to handle my speed, power and footwork.”</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Khan, 28, is a former light-welterweight champion and Olympic silver-medallist and has a record of 31-3. Brook, 29, is 35-0 and is recognised as welterweight champion by the IBF.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> Khan has met and defeated several prominent opponents, including Marcos Maidana, Zab Judah, Devon Alexander and Chris Algieri, and previously he was disinclined to fight Brook because he believes Brook has no significant victories, aside from that over Shawn Porter.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “He refused the fight with Brandon Rios because there was an issue with a rematch clause in the contract,” Khan said. “Why does there need to be a rematch clause? Because he is not confident of beating Rios.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “I have never in my career demanded for a rematch clause. I will fight anyone they put in front of me and that’s what I’ve been doing my entire career.”</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> He said Bob Arum, Pacquaio’s promoter, approached him about a fight with the Filipino in Dubai next year, after Pacquiao has recovered from surgery to his shoulder following his May 2 defeat by Floyd Mayweather Jr.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “There have been talks of an Amir Khan fight in Dubai for many years now,” Khan said. “Everyone knows my position: I am ready to fight if they are serious about it. Bob Arum has contacted my team to fight Manny Pacquiao around March or April in Dubai. Let’s see how that develops.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “Since Floyd is running scared, I want Pacquiao in 2016 when he is back from his injury; 2016 will be Amir Khan’s year; you will see me in two of the biggest fights in that year.”</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> However, the Dubai Sports Council has played down the possibility of staging a major fight before 2017.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> The council, who would have to be heavily involved in commissioning and promoting the fight, said they had no plans to stage the fight on its 2016 schedule.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"> “The board of directors at the Dubai Sports Council have not had any such meetings to discuss a Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan fight in Dubai,” a council spokesman said, “and they have not set any budget for this event for 2016.”</div> </div>

'2016 will be Amir Khan's year'

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Amir Khan won his last fight against Chris Algieri at the end of May in New York City. Alex Livesey / Getty Images Exclusive: Amir Khan confirms ‘potential fight’ with Kell Brook at Wembley in 2016 DUBAI // A fight with Manny Pacquiao in Dubai next … Read more »

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