Bulgaria celebrated its first-ever victory at the Eurovision Song Contest on Sunday after singer-songwriter Dara secured a decisive win with her dance anthem “Bangaranga,” prompting scenes of celebration across the country and drawing praise from political leaders during a period marked by prolonged domestic instability.

The 27-year-old performer, whose full name is Darina Nikolaeva Yotova, returned to Sofia to a public welcome after winning the 70th edition of the contest in Vienna with 516 points, comfortably ahead of Israel’s entry “Michelle,” performed by Noam Bettan, which finished second with 343 points.

Eurovision organisers said Bulgaria’s entry won both the jury and public vote, marking the first time in nearly a decade that one act had topped both categories since the 2017 contest in Kyiv.Prime Minister Rumen Radev described the victory as a significant national achievement and praised Dara for overcoming what he called the political and cultural complexities often associated with Eurovision voting.

“Dara is yet more proof that Bulgaria can win,” Radev said, adding that the singer had risen “above all the complexities and prejudices surrounding the voting process” through “talent and professionalism.”

The result delivered a rare moment of national unity in Bulgaria, an EU member state that has experienced years of political turbulence and repeated elections. The country has held eight elections in five years amid fragmented coalition politics and continuing institutional instability.

Ina Dobreva, Dara’s former acting teacher in the Black Sea city of Varna, said the singer’s victory had resonated beyond the music competition itself.“Bulgarians really needed to have a moment like this where we can gather around common happiness,” Dobreva said.

For many younger Bulgarians, the Eurovision result represented a symbolic breakthrough for a country that has often struggled for visibility on the European cultural stage.“I didn’t expect Bulgaria to win, so it was quite nice to see that for the first time, we actually managed to do it,” said Kristina Dureva, a 25-year-old recruitment specialist from Sofia.

Ilayda Kayalar, a 21-year-old interior design student, said the victory reinforced Bulgaria’s place within Europe while improving the country’s international profile.“Winning means that Bulgaria is finally known for something,” Kayalar said.

The contest itself unfolded against a backdrop of political controversy surrounding Israel’s participation. Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland boycotted this year’s competition in protest, while hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside Vienna’s host venue chanting slogans against the event.

Despite the political tensions surrounding the competition, Eurovision organisers emphasised the scale of support received by the Bulgarian entry across both professional juries and public voting systems.

Dara’s performance combined electronic dance production with Balkan-inspired rhythms and multilingual lyrics, helping “Bangaranga” emerge as one of the surprise successes of the competition season after initially receiving limited expectations from bookmakers and commentators.

Speaking after her victory, Dara said the song reflected optimism during a period of wider international uncertainty.“In a turbulent world, Bangaranga represented a quiet belief that everything’s going to be all right,” she told reporters at a post-event press conference.

“Nobody believed that we can win and that Bangaranga can win, and having this love from all the juries and all the audience tonight, it feels like a dream,” she added.The singer’s arrival in Sofia on Sunday evening was marked by celebrations organised by local authorities.

Sofia mayor Vasil Terziev said Dara would receive a ceremonial welcome featuring a red carpet reception in the capital.Attention has already shifted toward preparations for the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest, which Bulgaria is now expected to host following the victory.

According to Bulgarian media reports, Sofia and the Black Sea port city of Burgas are both preparing bids to stage next year’s competition.The general director of BNT, Bulgaria’s public broadcaster, said discussions over hosting arrangements were already under way shortly after the final concluded.

Bulgaria first entered Eurovision in 2005 but had never previously won the competition. The country achieved its best prior result in 2017, when Kristian Kostov finished second with the song “Beautiful Mess.”

This year’s victory is expected to boost the profile of Bulgaria’s music industry internationally while providing a cultural milestone for a country that has frequently faced political and economic challenges since joining the European Union in 2007.

The United Kingdom again struggled in the competition, finishing last with just one point. Its entry, “Ein, Zwei, Drei,” was performed by musician Sam Battle, known professionally as Look Mum No Computer.

Israel’s second-place finish nevertheless drew significant attention given the political controversy surrounding its participation. Demonstrations outside the Vienna venue remained largely peaceful, according to organisers and local authorities.

Dara’s victory capped a contest that mixed geopolitical tensions with one of Eurovision’s strongest audience turnouts in recent years, as organisers reported substantial public voting participation across Europe.

The announcement was made through the state-run WAM news agency, which said the decision reflects the country’s changing economic priorities and expanding domestic energy ambitions.“This decision reflects the UAE’s long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile, including accelerated investment in domestic energy production, and reinforces its commitment to a responsible, reliable, and forward-looking role in global energy markets,” the government said in a statement.

The UAE did not provide further details on how the move would affect its crude production policy or its broader cooperation with OPEC+, the wider alliance of oil-producing nations led by Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The decision comes at a time of heightened volatility in global energy markets, with oil prices rising sharply amid continued tensions surrounding the Iran war and concerns over supply routes through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical channel for global crude shipments.

The UAE has in recent years expanded its oil production capacity while also investing heavily in natural gas, renewables and low-carbon energy technologies as part of its broader diversification strategy.

Its departure from OPEC could reshape internal dynamics within the producer group, where production targets and output discipline have often been subjects of negotiation among member states.

OPEC, headquartered in Vienna, was founded in 1960 and remains one of the world’s most influential oil alliances, coordinating output policies among major exporters to stabilize prices and manage market supply.

The UAE has been one of the organization’s key Gulf members and among its largest producers, making its exit one of the most significant institutional changes for the cartel in recent years.

Markets and analysts are expected to closely watch whether Abu Dhabi maintains coordination with OPEC+ informally or pursues a more independent production strategy after its formal withdrawal takes effect.

Dubai (Reuters) – Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji and Saudi Arabia counterpart Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman met on the sidelines of the OPEC conference in Vienna on Wednesday, the official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.

The two countries had renewed diplomatic ties in March in a deal negotiated by China, opening the way to potential bilateral cooperation in different fields.

“Owji and bin Salman discussed bilateral issues between Iran and Saudi Arabia, including investment in the oil and gas industry and exploring the possibility of joint investments,” IRNA said.

“Issues such as hydrocarbon trade and the development of common fields were also among the topics of discussion.”

On Tuesday Saudi Arabia renewed its call for Iran to start negotiations with Riyadh and Kuwait on demarcation of the Gulf’s maritime “Divided Area”.

After the sixth round of nuclear talks in Vienna about reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), where Rouhani’s administration and the P5+1 negotiators made positive comments about the outcome of the talks, the international community expected an agreement to be reached soon.

However, now, four months after the talks were stopped and three months after Ebrahim Raisi took office in Iran, apparently the talks are at a complete standstill, and it is not even possible to set a date for the resumption of the talks. Meanwhile, the main parties of the talks, the United States, and Iran have accused each other of stalling the talks.

On the Iranian side, although Ali Khamenei is the primary decision-maker since he does not want to take responsibility for the consequences of his decisions, he avoids making public comments on the negotiations and has left it to Raisi’s administration.

But Raisi and his negotiating team are also in a very difficult situation. On the one hand, Iran desperately needs the lifting of sanctions in order to sell oil and to get access to its blocked money to inject some kind of relief to the catastrophic economic situation that has caused inflation to rise above 50% and the majority of people to be pushed below the poverty line, causing public discontent and dissatisfaction.

On the other hand, they know any setbacks and concessions in these negotiations will lead to further setbacks not only in the nuclear program but also in long-range missile production, human rights violations regime’s terrorist activities, and adventurous interventions in the region.

Submission to any of these demands will have serious consequences and could bring the regime to the verge of collapse.

As a result, by killing time they are trying to advance their nuclear program as much as they can, and by increasing the enriched uranium stockpile well above their commitment under the JCPOA accord, as well as raising the enrichment level to 60%, and imposing various access restrictions on monitoring their nuclear activities at various sites, including on the cameras installed by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and also fostering news that the time required to build an atomic bomb has been reduced to a few weeks they want to indirectly put pressure on the United States and Europe to give in to their demands and lift the sanctions imposed by Trump without introducing new issues.

As Rafael Grossi, Director General of IAEA, in his report to IAEA Board of Governors mentions: “the Islamic Republic of Iran has refused to answer the IAEA’s questions and ambiguities, leaving the IAEA unable to carry out its mission. That is, to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons”.

Meanwhile, Iran is counting on creating a rift between the United States and Europe and is banking on Europe’s desire to lift the sanctions so it can both import oil and gas from Iran and enter again in Iran’s profitable market.

To this end, each time Iran has set different conditions for the resumption of negotiations. For example, at first, they asked all sanctions to be lifted and after ‎it was verified, then ‎they would resume the talks‎.

But when the United States did not give in to this request, it dropped that condition, and the regime’s foreign minister, Abdullahian, raised the issue of releasing $10 billion of Iranian frozen assets as a goodwill sign to return to negotiations.

But when confronted again with a negative response from the United States, in order to deny responsibility for the stalemate, the spokesman for the regime’s foreign ministry said that Iran had not set any preconditions for the talks, and thus withdrew from that condition too.

Iran’s latest tactic to create a rift between the United States and other JCPOA members was to propose negotiations in Brussels instead of Vienna, where the United States is not present. But European countries, realizing that the Iranian regime is no longer able to impose its conditions on them, rejected this offer and threatened that they might consider referring Iran’s nuclear dossier to the Board of Governors if Iran did not return to its commitments to verify its nuclear program. In a way, they warned the regime that the time for negotiations was coming to an end. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called Iran’s nuclear program unprecedentedly dangerous and called the rescue of the nuclear deal a critical moment.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also said during a visit to Israel that if the talks fail, all options will be on the table, which clearly meant a military option. Meanwhile, President Biden’s special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, traveled to Iran’s southern neighbors and held talks on the nuclear issues and Iran’s meddling in the region with United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia representatives, then he traveled to Paris and met with representatives of Britain, France, and Germany and negotiated and discussed alternative plan B.

In other words, in the next step, Iran will be condemned for violating the JCPOA in the IAEA’s meeting of the Board of Governors, and Iran’s nuclear file will be returned to the Security Council. In that case, in addition to re-imposing all the UN sanctions on Iran under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the United States will be free to take military action against the regime’s nuclear facilities.

The question now is how to get this situation out of the impasse and prevent Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb?

Pro-appeasement politicians want to make concessions to the regime, that is, lift sanctions, in the hope that they can prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon under the JCPOA agreement, arguing that since Trump’s withdrawal from JCPOA, Iran has gotten closer to the acquirement of a nuclear weapon and if United States had not withdrawn from JCPOA, Iran would not be at this stage now to have advanced centrifuges and to store this amount of enriched uranium.

But these politicians do not pay attention to the fact that the regime is not trustworthy at all, and according to regime officials such as Ali Akbar Salehi, the former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, they secretly pursued their nuclear program even before Trump left the JCPOA. Therefore, any agreement with this regime based on trusting them is fundamentally doomed to fail, because this regime considers the acquisition of nuclear weapons as a guarantee of its survival and follows the North Korean model, and only waits for the right time to pass its final stages of atomic bomb testing.

If we proceed in the same way Iran will certainly acquire nuclear weapons, which would be a disaster not only for the people of Iran and the region but for the whole world.

The only real way to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state is to stand with the people of Iran and support their quest for regime change. A free, democratic, and nuclear-free Iran is what the people of Iran genuinely want, and expect the international community to echo their wishes and help them make it a reality.

This is the overwhelming desire of the Iranian people which was clearly and peacefully expressed by boycotting the recent sham presidential election.

Cyrus Yaqubi is a Research Analyst and Iranian Foreign Affairs Commentator investigating the social issues and economy of the Middle East countries in general and Iran in particular.

Khamenei is now facing a situation that puts him in complete isolation in the region…

After three months, President Biden in an effort to curb the expansion of Iranian regime’s nuclear program within the framework of JCPOA, indirectly through his European partners, started negotiation with the Iranian representatives in Vienna, Austria. Although Iran’s representatives have ostensibly stated that they will not negotiate directly or indirectly with the United States until the lifting of sanctions by the United States, it is clear to observers that the meeting in Vienna was a kind of negotiation between the two countries. 

The meeting even provoked some reactions from opponents of negotiations with the United States in Iran, and several representatives of the so-called fundamentalist faction, as well as the head of the judiciary of Iranian regime; Ibrahim Raeisi protested the participation of Iranian Foreign Ministry representatives in this meeting.

This is a manifestation of disagreement within the Iranian regime over negotiations with the United States. On the one hand, Hassan Rouhani, who is going through the last days of his second term and has no possibility of re-election, is desperately looking for an agreement with the United States to return to JCPOA before the end of his term in June, and lift the sanctions imposed by Trump to provide some air to breathe for the regime. 

Because these sanctions, along with the widespread corruption of the ruling regime, have pushed the Iranian economy to the brink of collapse, so that now the Iranian economy shrank about 8.2% with respect to last year and inflation has reached more than 65%, so that more than 60% People live below the poverty line, and nearly 35 million people are living in deplorable conditions in shanty towns due to their inability to pay for housing in cities.

People’s hatred and antipathy for this situation can be seen daily in gatherings and protests of different segments of the population due to poor economic conditions, non-payment of salaries, high prices and lack of many essential commodities such as cooking oil , eggs, chicken … all over Iran. 

But on the other hand, we see that Khamenei has emphasized that Iran will not return to the 2015 JCPOA before United States removes all sanctions and we verify them, and not only we will deploy newer centrifuges (JCPOA forbids Iran from installing them) but also will continue to enrich uranium to 20% and make uranium metal. The question is why Khamenei, who two years ago witnessed upon tripling the price of gasoline Iranians took to the streets in nearly 200 cities to protest, setting fire to almost all banks and gas stations so much so that  forced him to crack down on protesters and order his security forces to directly fire and kill 1,500 people and arrest more than 12,000 in order to quell the uprising, is so stubborn in negotiating and is not willing to give any concessions?

The fact is that Khamenei is in a very weak position and he is afraid of negotiations because he knows that now he must make many concessions and 2021 is qualitatively different from 2015 and the new balance of power has left no room for Khamenei. Khamenei is well aware of People’s dissatisfaction, but he is most afraid of the imminent uprising and knows that if another uprising like the one in November 2019 happens again, this time he will not be able to control it easily and may topple his regime. 

From the beginning, Khamenei’s regime survival has been based on internal repression and exporting crises to countries in the region through its proxy forces, and terrorism. Khamenei later sought to secure his survival by acquiring a nuclear weapon, which he was forced to abandon, at least temporarily, since the Iranian resistance exposed his secret nuclear program.  Thus, Khamenei relies on two leverages of internal repression and meddling in countries of the region. 

But Khamenei is now facing a situation that puts him in complete isolation in the region. On one hand, he has lost much of its former financial strength to support its proxy forces in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon, and on the other hand with assassination of Qasim Soleimani, his influence in the region has diminished dramatically and people in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon blame the Iranian regime for all their misfortunes and demand that Iran not to interfere in their countries. Khamenei knows that negotiating with the United States will lead to other demands, such as controlling missile programs and the regime’s non-interference in the region. 

Losing any of these leverages will be a mortal blow and the regime will lose its balance and further in conjunction with dissatisfied people inside Iran will make his shaky regime much more unstable and prone to overthrow.

To further bargain, he agreed to give the Chinese a lot of concessions with a 25-year deal with them to strengthen its position vis a vis the West. This, of course, was widely protested inside Iran, and most people consider it a treacherous deal and the sale and transfer of Iran to China.

Now it is up to Biden’s administration to recognize the regime’s weak state and emphasize the need for decisive policy and not to give concessions to Khamenei. Khamenei’s show of force is a bluff, and sooner or later, under internal pressure, Khamenei will be forced to accept western’s conditions for lifting of sanctions. In any case, no matter which path Iranian regime takes, a regime change in Iran could be expected in the near future.

Cyrus Yaqubi is a Research Analyst and Iranian Foreign Affairs Commentator investigating the social issues and economy of the middle east countries in general and Iran in particular.

Cyrus Yaqubi is a Research Analyst and Iranian Foreign Affairs Commentator investigating the social issues and economy of the middle east countries in general and Iran in particular.