Middle East

A Bahraini court has refused to grant the jailed human rights activist Nabeel Rajab a non-custodial sentence instead of the jail terms he currently serving, his lawyer said on Monday. Bahrain introduced new legislation last year allowing its courts to convert jail terms into non-custodial sentences. The government said last …

A year after President Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal, its European signatories, who still honor the agreement, have expressed concern over the US decision not to extend waivers on oil trade with Tehran. “We … take note with regret and concern of the decision by the United …

Turkey will never bow to U.S. sanctions over its agreement to purchase Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile defense systems, Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Sunday regarding a deal that has strained ties between the NATO allies. Washington says the systems are not compatible with NATO equipment and may compromise its …

Camlica Mosque, which has a combination of Ottoman and Seljuk architectural style, can accommodate 63,000 worshippers. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated Turkey’s largest and newest mosque on Friday. Construction on the Camlica Mosque Complex began in 2013 and has a capacity of 63,000 worshippers. The previous Turkish record holder in …

Forces of the Yemeni Army and the Popular Committees foiled advance attempt carried out by Saudi-Led Coalition forces in Jizan, inflicting the coalition heavy losses in live and equipment. Yemeni military source confirmed that Yemeni forces managed to address coalition forces advancing in the area facing Qais Mount in Jizan, …

Lebanese President Michel Aoun called on Friday for a “quick Arab action that would prevent further deterioration”, amid an already difficult situation. The President made these remarks during his meeting at the Baabda Palace with Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli. He explained that during the successive summits held in the …

Authorities in Oman have reportedly uncovered a network of spies working for the United Arab Emirates, as the two Arabic Gulf Arab states are involved in a Cold War-like conflict amid an ongoing Riyadh-led diplomatic and trade boycott against Doha. Lebanese Arabic-language daily newspaper al-Akhbar, citing informed sources who requested …

Two Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air raid on the Gaza Strip shortly after Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinian protesters taking part in the weekly “Great March of Return” rallies, leaving two of them dead and at least 50 others injured. Palestinian sources confirmed on Friday that Israeli aircraft …

Turkey will be unable to diversify oil imports quickly after the United States ended waivers on purchases from Iran, the Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday, a day after a U.S.-imposed sanctions deadline passed. Turkey’s statement follows comments by China, which said last month it opposed “long-armed jurisdictions implemented by …

  Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismisses the likelihood of a war between Iran and the United States but says certain “accidents” might ignite a military confrontation. In a recent interview with the British online newspaper Independent at Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, Zarif …

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reiterated  that Tehran will continue selling its oil despite U.S. sanctions and said Washington’s policy of putting pressure on Iran would fail in practice. Rouhani called the U.S. decision to try to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero a “baseless” policy, and said “The Americans’ power …

Israeli warplanes have carried out a wave of airstrikes against Gaza, promoting two retaliatory rocket launches from the blockaded enclave towards the Israeli-occupied territories. The Israeli military said its fighter jets targeted several positions of the Hamas resistance movement in the northern part of the coastal strip in response to …

The foreign minister of Qatar said on Wednesday that Washington’s decision not to extend sanction waivers on Iranian oil exports would harm countries that rely on the supplies. The United States has demanded that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face the prospect of sanctions, ending …

U.S. Attorney General William Barr objects to testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in a closed session dedicated to redacted portions of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report. Barr is threatening to skip his planned appearance on Thursday, the aide told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The committee’s chairman, Democrat …

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that an F-35 fighter jet project without Turkish participation was bound to collapse and would be an injustice to exclude Ankara over its plans to buy Russian air defense systems. Turkey’s plans to buy the Russian S-400 missile defenses has strained its ties with …

Iran will continue to export oil despite U.S. pressure aimed at reducing the country’s crude shipments to zero, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday. “America’s decision that Iran’s oil exports must reach zero is a wrong and mistaken decision, and we won’t let this decision be executed and operational,” …

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Sunday for a crackdown on illegal weapons after the rare shooting of a cleric, and said easy access to guns in the United States served only a “mafia of gun manufacturers”, his website reported. “In some countries, such as the United States, weapons are freely …

The UAE has issued a birth certificate for a child born to a Muslim mother and a Hindu father, despite its laws against interfaith marriage. Under the country’s legislation, a Muslim woman cannot marry a non-Muslim man. Kiran Babu and Sanam Saboo Siddique married in 2016 in south India, before …

Iraq has summoned the envoys of Bahrain and the United States to protest their insulting and meddlesome comments about the Arab state’s domestic affairs and relations with neighboring Iran. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad al-Sahaf said on Saturday night that Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali al-Hakim had issued the order to summon …

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he hoped Iranian oil exports would continue despite Washington’s efforts to stop them. Washington has demanded that buyers of Iranian crude halt purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, a move to choke off Tehran’s oil revenues. The United States expects Saudi Arabia …