Middle East

Son of murdered Saudi journalist has flown out of Saudi Arabia
2018-10-25 19:11:25 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The eldest son of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has flown out of Saudi Arabia, two sources close to the family said on Thursday. Salah Khashoggi, who one source said holds dual U.S.-Saudi citizenship and had thus far been under a travel ban, departed Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. The sources provided no further details. Salah Khashoggi’s departure came a day after a meeting at the al Yamama Palace in Riyadh in which he and other family members received condolences from King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Turkish officials and some U.S. lawmakers allege the crown prince ordered...
Germany to halt all arms exports to Saudi
2018-10-22 21:35:32 UTC
ORTENBERG, Germany (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday called the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul a “monstrosity” and vowed to halt all German arms exports to Riyadh until the case is cleared up. Merkel, in her harshest comments to date, decried what she called “the monstrosity there in the Saudi consulate in Turkey” during a campaign rally in the town of Ortenberg before a regional election in the state of Hesse on Sunday. “It must be cleared up. As long as it’s not cleared up, there will be no arms exports to Saudi Arabia. I assure you of that very decidedly,” Merkel said...
Analysis: With ‘America First,’ where do human rights rank?
2018-10-18 23:04:28 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — If it’s an “America First” presidency, where does that rank human rights? President Donald Trump’s refusal to put public pressure on Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is raising a question that has dogged his foreign policy. In dealing with Russia, across Asia and, this week, in the Mideast, Trump has often appeared comfortable downplaying concerns about rights abuses and dismissing the importance of U.S. moral leadership. The onetime real estate mogul is as likely to let U.S. financial or security interests guide his choices and his words. In an Associated Press interview Tuesday, Tr...
Critical Journalist 'killed inside Saudi consulate': Proof
2018-10-12 17:29:39 UTC
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s government has told U.S. officials it has audio and video proof that missing Saudi Arabian writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the Washington Post reported Friday. The newspaper, for which Khashoggi is a columnist, cited anonymous officials as saying the recordings show a Saudi security team detained the writer when he went to the consulate on Oct. 2 to pick up a document for his upcoming wedding. The Associated Press was not immediately able to confirm the report, and Turkish officials would not comment. A delegation from Saudi Arabia arrived in Turk...
UNHCR: 4 million refugee children can't go to school
2018-09-23 22:16:47 UTC
Four million refugee children around the world are excluded from education, according to a United Nations report. A solution should be to allow refugees to attend regular schools, the UNHCR has demanded. With more and more children forced to leave their homes, the number of refugees out of education has topped four million, according to the UN's Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The figure represents more than half of all school-age refugees around the world, according to the report named "Turn the Tide: Refugee Education in Crisis." <blockquote><h2>Key takeaways from the report</h2><blockquote><I> • There are now 7.4 million school-age refu...
Trump’s Paul Manafort will cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller
2018-09-14 20:47:49 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort will cooperate with the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, prosecutors said on Friday, a dramatic turnaround that deals the U.S. president a political setback. After months of refusing to assist Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into Russian interference and possible coordination between Trump campaign members and Moscow, Manafort finally took a plea deal and agreed to cooperate in return for reduced charges. It was not immediately clear what information about Trump that Manafort, a longtime Republican political consulta...
US to close Palestinian mission in Washington
2018-09-10 18:19:02 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration ordered the closure of the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington on Monday and threatened sanctions against the International Criminal Court if it pursues investigations against the U.S., Israel, or other allies. The moves are likely to harden Palestinian resistance to the U.S. role as a peace broker. The administration cited the refusal of Palestinian leaders to enter into peace talks with Israel as the reason for closing the Palestinian Liberation Organization office, although the U.S. has yet to present its plan to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians accused the ...
US to end funding to UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees
2018-08-31 22:44:17 UTC
WASHINGTON/RAMALLAH (Reuters) - The United States on Friday halted all funding to a U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees in a move likely to further heighten tensions between the Palestinians and the Trump administration. A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced the decision as “a flagrant assault against the Palestinian people and a defiance of U.N. resolutions.” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the business model and fiscal practices of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were an “irredeemably flawed operation.” “The administration has carefully reviewed the issue and de...
Iran praises EU for their efforts to salvage 'Nuclear deal'
2018-08-19 16:50:57 UTC
LONDON (Reuters) - Iran’s vice president said on Sunday the government was seeking solutions to sell oil and transfer its revenues despite fresh U.S. sanctions. “We are hopeful that the European countries can meet their commitments but even if they cannot, we are seeking solutions to sell our oil and transfer its revenues,” Eshaq Jahangiri was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. In similar remarks, Iranian foreign minister praised the European signatories for their efforts to salvage the deal, especially for EU’s so-called blocking statute that aims to mitigate the impact of U.S. sanctions for European businesses. Howe...
Iran: We made a "mistake" negotiating with US over nuke
2018-08-15 18:16:14 UTC
(Reuters) - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has admitted he made a mistake in allowing the country’s foreign minister to speak to his U.S. counterpart during negotiations that led to a 2015 international nuclear agreement. International sanctions on Iran were lifted when the pact with world powers came into force in 2016, but the expected level of foreign investment to help revive the economy has never materialized. Then this May President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement and is now reimposing U.S. sanctions in stages. Khamenei, who rarely admits in public to making errors, said he had done just that over the nu...
China takes over project in world’s biggest natural gas reserves in Iran
2018-08-11 18:21:26 UTC
Reuters - China’s state-owned energy major CNPC has taken over the share in Iran’s multi-billion dollar South Pars gas project held by France’s Total, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday. Total signed a contract in 2017 to develop Phase II of South Pars field with an initial investment of $1 billion, marking the first major Western energy investment in the country after sanctions were lifted in 2016. South Pars has the world’s biggest natural gas reserves ever found in one place. But the French company had said it would pull out unless it secured a U.S. sanctions waiver, and Gholamreza Manouchehri, deputy head of ...
EU raises concerns over new US move on Iran
2018-08-06 17:59:19 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration expects economic sanctions that it is re-imposing on Iran this week to further cripple the Iranian economy and will aggressively enforce the measures, senior U.S. administration officials said on Monday. But the U.S. sanctions strategy has several weak spots, especially a reluctance by Europe and China to curtail business with Iran. The European Union voiced regret and expressed concern at the new U.S. move. “We deeply regret the re-imposition of sanctions by the U.S.,” the bloc said in a joint statement with the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain. One EU measure to...
Trump's hotel revenue went up thanks to trip by Saudi Prince
2018-08-04 05:32:38 UTC
The relationship between the U.S. president Donald Trump administration and Saudi Arabia has been particularly close. Trump’s first trip abroad as president was to Saudi Arabia. In a surprise move, Trump initially praised a blockade of longtime ally Qatar because the Saudis wanted it. Earlier this year, Trump approved a $1 billion arms sale to the Saudis. Due to a “last-minute visit to New York by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia,” General Manager Prince Sanders wrote in a letter in May that was obtained by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/at-president-trumps-hotel-in-new-york-revenue-went-up-this-spring--thanks-to-a-vi...
Trump's political schizophrenia is not likely to land well in Tehran
2018-07-31 21:32:03 UTC
US President Donald Trump is applying his usual game of intimidation and concession in his dealings with Tehran. But unlike with North Korea, this approach will not bear fruit. Anyone familiar with crime flicks will be familiar with the good cop/bad cop tactic of extracting information and cooperation out of an informant. Now, the commander-in-chief has introduced it to the world of international politics, with a twist: Trump plays both the cops simultaneously. The US president's political schizophrenia — whether genuine or an act of calculated showmanship — has proven successful in that it, against all logic, led to a face-to-face m...
Iran warns Trump to 'BE CAUTIOUS!'
2018-07-24 00:17:47 UTC
WASHINGTON/ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran on Monday dismissed an angry warning from U.S. President Donald Trump that Tehran risked dire consequences “the like of which few throughout history have suffered before” if it made threats against the United States. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hit back at Trump’s warning, which the U.S. leader delivered written in capital letters in a late-night tweet. “COLOR US UNIMPRESSED: The world heard even harsher bluster a few months ago. And Iranians have heard them - albeit more civilized ones - for 40 yrs. We’ve been around for millennia & seen fall of empires, incl our own, which lasted...
Hostile rhetoric between Trump and Tehran escalating
2018-07-23 16:27:09 UTC
Hostile rhetoric between Washington and Tehran escalated on Sunday after a tit-for-tat between Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani. U.S. President Donald Trump told Iran it risked dire consequences “the like of which few throughout history have suffered before” if the Islamic Republic made more threats against the United States. His words, spelled out in capital letters in a late night Twitter message, came hours after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Trump that hostile policies toward Tehran could lead to “the mother of all wars.” Despite the heightened rhetoric, both sides have reasons to want to avoid st...
EU to protect oil exports & firms from US sanctions on Iran
2018-07-17 21:13:17 UTC
The Iran nuclear agreement marked its third anniversary in a gloomy state. Despite repeated attempts to keep him on board, US President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal – signed on July 14, 2015 under the formal title the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – and thereby pulled the rug from under Europe’s feet. European policymakers are now focused on salvaging the agreement. For a growing number of European corporate decision-makers, the deal is already dead. In reality, the JCPOA is on life support and the next few months could open either its next or final chapter. Despite the significant challenges they face...
Ireland to Boycott Israeli 'Occupied Territories' Goods
2018-07-15 20:23:57 UTC
DUBLIN — On July 12, the Irish Senate, known as the Seanad Éireann, passed a bill to prohibit the import and sale of goods, services, and natural resources, originating from “illegal settlements in occupied [Palestinian] territories.” The ban would only apply to products sold and made in territories beyond the 1967 Green Line borders and does not ban Israeli goods produced inside Israel itself. The bill passed 25-20, with 14 abstentions. Titled the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018, the legislation was submitted by Senator Frances Black in January. The bill acknowledges the illegality of Israel’s West Bank se...
Iran reopens nuclear plant in preparation to increase uranium enrichment
2018-06-27 23:50:27 UTC
LONDON (Reuters) - Iran has reopened a nuclear plant idle for nine years, its atomic energy agency (AEOI) said on Wednesday, as Tehran prepares to increase uranium enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after the U.S. withdrawal. U.S.-Iranian tensions have resurged since President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 nuclear accord, calling it deeply flawed. Under the deal, Iran restricted its enrichment program to ease concerns it could not be put to developing nuclear weapons and in return won relief from sanctions. European signatories are trying to save the accord, which they see as crucial ...
Turkey Elections 2018: The Winner Takes It All
2018-06-25 05:38:22 UTC
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan emerged victorious on Monday from his biggest electoral challenge in a decade and a half, giving him the sweeping, executive powers he has long sought and extending his grip on the nation of 81 million until at least 2023. The most popular and divisive leader in modern Turkish history, Erdogan pledged there would be no retreat from his drive to transform Turkey, a deeply polarized nation that is both a NATO member and, at least nominally, a candidate to join the European Union. Erdogan, 64, and his ruling AK Party on Sunday claimed victory in presidential and parliamentary polls, overcomin...
Poll: Turkey's Erdogan to lose the parliamentary majority in snap elections
2018-06-07 17:05:09 UTC
ANKARA (Reuters) - Tayyip Erdogan is seen falling short of a first-round victory in Turkey’s presidential election and his ruling AK Party is forecast to lose its parliamentary majority in the June 24 vote, a survey by pollster Gezici showed on Thursday. Erdogan called the snap elections in April, more than a year early, saying Turkey needs to switch to a powerful executive presidency to tackle economic and security challenges. The new presidential powers were narrowly approved last year. Gezici’s survey of 6,811 respondents, conducted between May 25-26, showed Erdogan receiving 48.7 percent of votes in the first round of presidentia...
U.S. blocked U.N. resolution on Gaza, failed to gain any support on its own measure
2018-06-02 05:00:02 UTC
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.S.-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution that blamed Hamas for the violence and upheld Israel’s right to defend itself failed to attract any other country’s support when it was put to vote in the 15-member council. Only the United States voted in favor of the drafted resolution, while there were three negative votes and 11 abstentions. Earlier, the US vetoed a Kuwaiti-drafted resolution that condemned Israel’s use of force against Palestinian civilians, underlining Washington’s differences with friends and foes alike over the Israeli-Palestinian issue. France, Russia, China, Ivory Coast, Kazakhs...
Germany, France, Britain, Russia, China and Iran to flesh out strategy to save nuclear agreement
2018-05-25 16:16:03 UTC
VIENNA (Reuters) - British, Chinese, French, German and Russian officials will try to flesh out with Iran’s deputy foreign minister a strategy to save the deal by keeping oil and investment flowing, while circumventing U.S. sanctions that risk hurting the economy. A senior Iranian official said, European powers have until May 31 to present Iran with a plan to offset the U.S. pullout from its nuclear deal and Washington’s renewed sanctions. The 2015 accord rests on lifting sanctions and allowing business with Iran in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear program. The deal’s proponents say it is crucial to forestalling a nuclear Iran...
US threatens to 'crush' Iran and warns European companies
2018-05-21 17:06:09 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday threatened to impose the “strongest sanctions in history” against Iran if it did not accept a sweeping series of U.S. demands, including effectively giving up its nuclear ambitions, curtailing its ballistic missile program and ending its expansionist behavior. Iran’s president said on Monday that the United States could not decide for Iran after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded sweeping changes in the country’s foreign and nuclear policies, the semi-official ILNA news agency reported. “Who are you to decide for Iran and the world? The world today does not acc...
European powers condemn violence against Palestinian and blast US embassy move to Jerusalem
2018-05-14 23:10:47 UTC
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence against Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza in a statement released late on Monday and reiterated his opposition to the move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Macron talked with Jordan’s King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday and is planning to talk with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, the presidency said. Israeli troops killed dozens of Palestinians taking part in mass protests on the Gaza border on Monday as the United States opened its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. “(Macron) lamented the large number of Pales...