Middle East

Iran’s foreign minister has underlined Iran’s resolve to reach a “good agreement” through the ongoing talks in Vienna, which aim to remove US sanctions, saying the Western sides have talked the talk in recent years but it is high time they walk the walk as well to secure a serious, …

Saudi Arabia has disqualified some 40 camels from its lucrative annual beauty contest for the animals on the grounds that they received Botox injections, facelifts, and other cosmetic touch-ups to become more attractive. Describing it as the biggest-ever crackdown on such “tampering and deception,” the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported …

One of the suspected killers of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was arrested at the Roissy airport near Paris on Tuesday as he was about to board a flight to Riyadh, French RTL radio reported. RTL said the person arrested was a former Royal Guard of Saudi Arabia who is believed …

The European Union said on Thursday it was injecting around $368 million (325 million euros) for refugees in Turkey, part of a huge funding plan for the country, which hosts the world’s largest refugee population. The EU approved a plan in June to provide Turkey with three billion euros from …

At least four people were killed and a further 19 injured – some seriously – after severe weather struck the Turkish city of Istanbul on Monday, local authorities have announced. According to a statement from the governor’s office, one foreign national and three Turkish citizens have died, while three of …

Iran demanded on Monday the removal of all sanctions in a verifiable process as talks resumed between Tehran and world powers that are aimed at reinstating a 2015 nuclear pact abandoned by Washington three years ago. In a statement published just before the talks started, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has ordered an investigation into possible currency manipulation after the lira fell sharply to record lows against the dollar this week, the Anadolu news agency reported on Saturday. It said Erdogan had tasked the State Supervisory Council, an auditing agency that reports to the presidency, to …

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says Tehran and the UN nuclear agency have reached an agreement in principle to resolve their outstanding issues. The official made the remarks during an online discussion with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Wednesday, adding that Iran and the agency were seeking to “issue …

Lebanon’s president told central bank governor Riad Salameh on Wednesday to provide data for a forensic audit of the bank, saying the restructuring consultancy Alvarez & Marsal(A&M) had said it did not have the information it needed a month after starting. President Michel Aoun made the comments in a meeting …

New UNDP report projects that the number of those killed as a result of Saudi’s war on Yemen could reach 1.3 million by 2030. A new United Nations report has projected that the death toll from Saudi’s war on Yemen will reach 377,000 by the end of 2021, including those …

Turkey’s lira nose-dived 15% on Tuesday in its second-worst day ever after President Tayyip Erdogan defended recent sharp rate cuts, and vowed to win his “economic war of independence” despite widespread criticism and pleas to reverse course. The lira tumbled to as low as 13.45 to the dollar, plumbing record …

The Yemeni army has launched a large-scale military operation inside Saudi Arabia, hitting the Arab kingdom’s Khaled airbase and Aramco refinery, in retaliation for a years-long brutal war by the Saudi-led coalition against impoverished Yemen. In a statement carried by Yemen’s al-Masirah television network on Saturday, spokesman of Yemen’s Armed …

Already disgraced by a spate of hackers’ attacks, which led to an extensive leak of information related to Israel’s critical facilities and top political figures, the regime’s claims to intelligence invulnerability has been further debunked by a new report that a man working as a cleaner in the home of …

Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, arrived in Cairo on Thursday for the first time in 15 years, hoping to promote tolerance and cement bilateral ties. The visit is part of the royal couple’s first tour since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. It is also their first visit …

A US State Department official has said the administration of President Joe Biden has planned to move forward with the sale of 50 F-35 stealth fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a deal that could be worth $10 billion. “We continue consulting with Emirati officials to ensure …

The United States and Qatar have agreed that Qatar will represent the diplomatic interests of the United States in Afghanistan, a senior US official told Reuters, an important signal of potential direct engagement between Washington and Kabul in the future after two decades of war. Qatar will sign an arrangement …

How Israel keeps its foes and friends on the defensive. Israeli hyperbole is as old as the Israeli state. It is tautological, serving as the raison d’être and modus operandi of Israel, the garrison state. It is farcical, fantastical, and also dangerous in the way it surpasses mere rhetoric to …

Turkey has reportedly released a Turkish-American man imprisoned for being the license holder of an encrypted messaging app allegedly used during the attempted coup in 2016, a Turkish opposition website said Wednesday. “The İstanbul 29th High Criminal Court ruled to release Alpaslan Demir, who changed his name to David Keynes …

Several EU member states on the UN Security Council have criticized Israel’s move to proceed with settlement construction in Palestine’s West Bank and East Jerusalem while slamming the decision to dub six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations. “We reiterate our strong opposition to the expansion of settlements and will not …

Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met with a delegation of the Arab League, state television reported on Sunday. Sudan state TV gave no further details. The Arab League, which has called for Sudanese parties to stick to the democratic transition after the army took over power last month, had …