Tag Archives: Trump

Talks in Vienna on the Iran nuclear deal should take into consideration Tehran’s ballistic missile program, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers said on Wednesday. GCC countries should also be included in the dialogue, a meeting of the ministerial council in Riyadh heard. The foreign ministers condemned Tehran for smuggling …

Iran has made 6.5 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent, the government said on Tuesday, detailing a move that rattled the country’s nuclear talks with world powers by taking the fissile material closer to the nuclear weapons-grade of 90 percent. State media reported that government spokesman Ali …

Europe’s top court on Tuesday endorsed the power of national data watchdogs to pursue big tech firms even if they are not their lead regulators, in a setback for Silicon Valley companies such as Facebook. The EU Court of Justice (CJEU) ruling could encourage national agencies to act against US …

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration said on Monday it supported an effort in the U.S. Congress to repeal the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force that allowed the war in Iraq, boosting lawmakers’ push to pull back the authority to declare war from the White House. “The administration …

US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan sounded upbeat after their first face-to-face talks on Monday, although they did not announce major breakthroughs in the relationship between the two allies, at odds over Russian weapons, Syria, Libya and other issues. “We had a positive and productive meeting, much …

Security officials under NATO command have approached Qatar to secure a base that can be used to train Afghan special forces as part of a strategic commitment after foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan, three senior Western officials said. After two decades of war, forces from 36 countries involved in NATO’s …

Iran regained its vote in the UN General Assembly on Friday after the United States enabled Tehran to use funds frozen in South Korea to pay some $16 million it owed to the world body. Iran lost its vote in the 193-member General Assembly in January because it was more …

Turkey should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan under the 2020 deal for the pullout of U.S. forces, a Taliban spokesman said on Thursday, effectively rejecting Ankara’s proposal to guard and run Kabul’s airport after U.S.-led NATO forces depart. The development raises serious questions for the United States, other countries and …

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, resigned to the revival of a nuclear pact with Iran they always opposed, are engaging with Tehran to contain tensions while lobbying for future talks to take their security concerns into account. World powers have been negotiating in Vienna with Iran and the …

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that “hundreds” of US sanctions will remain on Iran even if the United States rejoins a nuclear accord. President Joe Biden’s administration has been engaged in indirect talks with Iran about reversing former president Donald Trump’s exit from the 2015 nuclear accord, formally …

Iran could have a nuclear weapon in “a matter of weeks” unless it curbs its enrichment of fissile uranium, the US warned on Monday. And the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said it was “becoming increasingly difficult” to extend a temporary arrangement for inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, as Tehran …

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Tehran wanted action and not promises from six world powers for the revival of their 2015 nuclear deal. “I have told our negotiators that actions, not promises (by the six powers), are needed for the restoration of the nuclear deal,” …

At least eight people were killed and scores injured on Tuesday when U.S. backed Kurdish-led forces fired live rounds to disperse Arab tribal protests against their rule in the Syrian city of Manbij, according to security and medical sources and residents. The protests took a violent turn when hundreds of …

Iran has failed to explain traces of uranium found at several undeclared sites, a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog showed on Monday, possibly setting up a fresh diplomatic clash between Tehran and the West that could derail wider nuclear talks. Three months ago Britain, France and Germany scrapped a U.S.-backed …

 A cargo of 1.033 million barrels of Iranian crude oil landed on US shores in March, data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed, the second shipment of Iranian oil to be imported into the United States since 1991. The cargo was registered in EIA data released late last …

Iran’s judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi and former parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani have registered to run in next month’s presidential election. The two conservatives, who have close ties with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are seen as the leading contenders to succeed Hassan Rouhani. Mr Rouhani, a moderate, is not allowed …

Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned against a continuation of the provocative Israeli violations in Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque, and the repeated and illegal attempts to displace residents in a number of east Jerusalem neighborhoods, especially Sheikh Jarrah, which led to the recent escalation, state news agency Petra reported. Speaking …

The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency called Iran’s uranium enrichment program “very concerning” in an interview with the Financial Times published on Wednesday. Iran was enriching uranium at purity levels that “only countries making bombs are reaching,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, …

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged on a Middle East mission on Tuesday that Washington would provide new aid to help rebuild Gaza as part of efforts to bolster a ceasefire between its Hamas Islamist rulers and Israel. Hoping to reverse a move taken by former President Donald Trump …

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a Middle East visit in Israel on Tuesday, hoping to bolster its ceasefire with Gaza’s ruling Hamas militants and help speed humanitarian aid to the devastated Palestinian enclave. In tandem with Blinken’s mission, Israeli authorities said they were allowing fuel, medicine and food …

Iran resumed its game of cat and mouse with UN inspectors on Sunday as the US cast doubt on the revival of the deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. Parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said a three-month agreement to preserve surveillance images taken at Iran’s nuclear research sites had ended, …

Iran’s parliament speaker said Sunday that international inspectors may no longer access surveillance images of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites, escalating tensions amid diplomatic efforts in Vienna to save Tehran’s atomic accord with world powers. Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf’s comments, aired by state TV, further underscored the narrowing …

Around 4.5% of all bitcoin mining takes place in Iran, allowing the country to earn hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies that can be used to buy imports and lessen the impact of sanctions, a new study has found. At its current level of mining, Iran’s bitcoin production would amount to …

Iran has hand picked hundreds of trusted fighters from among the cadres of its most powerful militia allies in Iraq, forming smaller, elite and fiercely loyal factions in a shift away from relying on large groups with which it once exerted influence. The new covert groups were trained last year …

French President Emmanuel Macron and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern were to hold talks Friday by video conference to advance their two-year-old campaign to curb online extremism. The talks will mark two years since the leaders launched the Christchurch Call, an initiative named after the New Zealand city where …

Iran’s hardline former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday registered to run again in an election in June which is being seen as a test of the legitimacy of the country’s clerical rulers. Vilified in the West for his questioning of the Holocaust, Ahmadinejad had to step down in 2013 because …

Candidates began signing up on Tuesday for Iran’s June 18 presidential polls, with the clerical establishment hoping for a high turnout in a vote seen as a referendum on the handling of the Islamic Republic’s political and economic crises. Turnout may be hit by rising discontent over steep hikes in …

Saudi Arabia on Saturday denounced Israeli plans to evict Palestinian families from their homes in Jerusalem amid soaring violence in the city. Israel reinforced its security operation on Saturday after clashes on Friday night, when more than 200 Palestinians were injured. Riot police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and stun …

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday the process of removing all contractors from Afghanistan working with the United States was under way as part of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal of forces from the country. The remarks are the clearest indication yet that Biden’s April order to withdraw all …

Iranian state TV has aired a propaganda video showing a missile blowing up the US Capitol building. The country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reportedly broadcast the video on Sunday just before Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was due to give a televised speech. The 11-second clip featured armed …

At least three rockets hit the Iraqi military air base of Balad, north of Baghdad, where some US contractors are billeted, Iraqi security officials said on Monday. Three other rockets fell near the base in the attack on Sunday, the sources said. No casualties or damage have been reported. No …

A Christian pastor named Robin Bullock has told his congregation that it’s a sin to refer to Joe Biden as “president.” A video of Bullock’s sermon, reposted by Right Wing Watch, shows the pastor telling his congregants that they should pray for Biden. “You can pray for a man named Joe Biden. …

The United States on Sunday denied a report by Iran’s state television that the arch-foes had reached a prisoner swap deal in exchange for the release of $7 billion frozen Iranian oil funds under US sanctions in other countries. Iranian state television said on Sunday that Tehran would free four …

An Israeli cabinet minister sharpened his country’s warnings against what it would deem a bad new nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, saying war with Tehran would be sure to follow. As President Joe Biden explores a possible US return to the 2015 deal to contain Iran’s nuclear program …

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday laid out his vision for the Kingdom’s foreign policy, with the US as a strategic partner and working with allies to find solutions to Iran’s “negative behavior.” In a 90-minute TV interview to mark the fifth anniversary of Vision 2030, the ambitious …

Iran has sought to produce and source weapons of mass destruction in 2020, misleading the world about the nature of its nuclear program, Washington Free Beacon said on Monday citing a new intelligence report issued by a German government security agency. Although Iran claims its nuclear program is peaceful, it has recently …

Al Arabiya TV is being accused by the Iranian news agency IRNA of distorting the “truth” behind the Iranian missile ideology, the Saudi-owned network said Saturday. The network said the IRNA had accused Al Arabiya of focusing its news reports on “the regional threats posed by Iranian missiles.” IRNA said …

Tensions between Washington and Ankara may be further strained on Saturday when US President Joe Biden is expected to become the first US leader to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide of 1915 onward. The massacre of around 1.5 million Armenians in the early 20th century was formally recognized as genocide …

President Tayyip Erdogan named a prominent member of Turkey’s ruling AK Party, Mehmet Mus, as trade minister on Wednesday and split another ministry into two, in what officials said was the first move in an expected broader cabinet shuffle. In a presidential decree Ruhsar Pekcan, the cabinet’s highest-profile woman, was …

Negotiators trying to revive the collapsed nuclear deal with Iran are close to a draft agreement, leading envoys said on Monday. Talks are continuing in Vienna aimed at rescuing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal with world powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear program in return for the …

The United States and China, the world’s two biggest carbon polluters, have agreed to cooperate with other countries to curb climate change, just days before President Joe Biden hosts a virtual summit of world leaders to discuss the issue. The agreement was reached by US special envoy for climate John …

Talks on reviving the nuclear deal with Iran will pick up speed after a second round of negotiations ended in Vienna, delegates said on Saturday. China’s envoy to the talks said all participants — China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and Iran — had agreed to accelerate work on issues including …

DUBAI: If asked, most people would likely admit that they would have struggled to survive the mental toll of isolation brought about by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic without access to social media, online shopping, and video conferencing to make up for the loss of human contact. And yet, these …

Iran named a suspect Saturday in the attack on its Natanz nuclear facility that damaged centrifuges there, saying he had fled the country before the sabotage happened. State television named the suspect as 43-year-old Reza Karimi. It showed a passport-style photograph of a man it identified as Karimi, saying he …