BEIRUT/PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday gave Lebanese politicians until the end of October to start delivering on reforms, saying financial aid would be withheld and sanctions imposed further down the line if corruption gets in the... More »
(Reuters) – Evidence used by the United States to justify the extradition of Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou is “unreliable and defective” and should not be considered by a Canadian court, Meng’s lawyers argued in documents released to... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may recall lawmakers from a summer recess to address changes at the Postal Service that have prompted anger among Democrats and alarm about possible impact on the 2020 election. A Democratic congressional ... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said on Monday that countries should refrain from politicising the massive blast in Beirut last week, and that the United States should lift sanctions against Lebanon. “The blast should not be used as an excuse for political aims … the c... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Chinese government-linked hackers have been targeting U.S. election infrastructure ahead of the 2020 presidential election, White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said on Sunday, indicating a more active level of alleged Ch... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – After failing to secure a Senate confirmation hearing, U.S. President Donald Trump’s most divisive nominee for a Pentagon position so far has taken a different, less-senior policy role at the Defense Department, a spokeswoman said on Sun... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israeli military said a there has been a “security incident” on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon on Monday and ordered residents in the area to remain indoors. Israel’s N12 TV News reported an exchange of fire between Israeli for... More »
(Reuters) – Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei has been hospitalized with COVID-19, the Mehr news agency reported on Monday, the latest among several officials to have been infected with the new coronavirus. Iran has the Middle East’s highest number of re... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Investigators have begun work on the flight recorders from the Ukrainian jet accidentally shot down by Iran in January, France’s BEA accident investigation bureau said on Monday. Iranian forces say they downed the Ukraine International Airlin... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump may have fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick because he was investigating U.S. military sales to Saudi Arabia, Democratic lawmakers said on Monday, although Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he ... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hezbollah’s leader hailed the Lebanese government’s crisis plan as a “big, important step” on Monday and said any talks with the IMF must not blindly surrender the country to terms it can not bear. In a televised speech, Sayyed Hassan Nasral... More »
(Reuters) – A historic rout in oil markets sent U.S. crude prices plummeting to as much as minus $40 a barrel as traders rushed to get rid of unwanted stocks with storage capacity already overflowing amid a coronavirus-induced demand collapse. U.S. West Texas ... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Iraq’s oil minister said late on Sunday that the big oil cut deal reached at an OPEC+ meeting would help stabilize the market. Thamer al-Ghadhban said in a statement that the “massive oil cut deal will help lower oil inventories and boost pri... More »
BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) – Rockets landed near a site connected with foreign oil firms and state-run companies in Iraq’s southern city of Basra early on Monday, without causing damage or casualties, oil and police sources said. The rockets, which police said were... More »
(Reuters) – Google on Thursday published reports for 131 countries showing whether visits to shops, parks and workplaces dropped in March, when many governments issued stay-at-home orders to rein in the spread of COVID-19. Here is a list of countries in alphab... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak rose by 149 to 1,433 on Friday, a health ministry official tweeted, adding that that total number of confirmed infections had increased by 1,237 to 19,644. Iran is one of the countries outsi... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a live speech on state TV for the start of the Persian new year, said on Friday that U.S. sanctions has forced the country to become self-sufficient as he called on Iranians to preserve unity. ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would get involved in the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia at the appropriate time, saying low gasoline prices were good for U.S. consumers even as they were hurting the indust... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s chief medical officer said on Monday it was no longer possible to completely prevent people with the coronavirus from entering the country, citing concerns about outbreaks in Japan and South Korea. Australia, one of the first cou... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) said on Monday that it was suspending flights to China until April 24 and to Tehran until April 30 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Lufthansa said it was also adjusting its flights to northern Italy. It said Austrian Airl... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Kuwait’s Health Ministry announced 10 new cases of coronavirus in the country on Monday bringing the total number to 56, a ministry official said. The official, who was speaking during a news conference broadcast on state television, urged ci... More »
VIENNA (Reuters) – The Swiss government has filed a criminal complaint over the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s alleged use of a cryptography company as a front to spy on various governments’ secret communications, the Swiss attorney general’s office said o... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – A drama film shot in secret to evade government censorship that highlights the moral dilemmas faced by those caught in the web of Iran’s capital punishment machine won the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear award on Saturday. “There Is No Ev... More »
BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) – Fears of a coronavirus pandemic grew on Monday after sharp rises in new cases reported in Iran, Italy and South Korea but China relaxed restrictions on movements in several places including Beijing as its rates of new infections eased... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) no longer has a process for declaring a pandemic, but the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak remains an international emergency, a spokesman said on Monday. Fears of a coronavirus pandemic grew on Monday after ... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Kuwait and Bahrain on Monday recorded their first new coronavirus cases, all involving people who had visited Iran, which has reported 43 cases of the disease, state media said. Kuwait detected the virus in three people among 700 who had been... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Qatar will ask passengers arriving from Iran and South Korea to remain in home isolation or a quarantine facility for 14 days over fears of new coronavirus outbreak, Qatar Airways said in a statement on Monday. Source: https://www.reuters.com... More »
BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraq has shut its Safwan border crossing with Kuwait to travellers and trade at Kuwait’s request, the local mayor told Reuters on Monday without providing a reason, amid fears over the spread of coronavirus. Kuwait said on Monday three ... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Kuwait said on Monday three people, including a Saudi national, who returned from Iran were infected by the new coronavirus, state news agency KUNA reported. The three cases, the first in the Gulf state, were among the 700 people evacuated fr... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranians should not allow U.S. President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” approach to harm national unity ahead of parliamentary elections, President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech, lashing out at hardliners over mass disqualification of ca... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. presidential contender Michael Bloomberg pledged on Sunday to “always have Israel’s back,” while separately joking he was the only Jewish candidate who does not want to turn the United States into a “kibbutz.” The joke, made during a speech on... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said on Monday that it had not closed the “door to negotiations” in efforts to resolve a dispute over its nuclear agreement with world powers that has escalated steadily since the United States withdrew from the deal in 2018. Foreign Min... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – As the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division departed for the Middle East amid rising tensions with Iran, their divisional commander gave a simple order. All personnel entering the region were told to leave smartphones a... More »
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the government was considering several possible causes of a plane crash in Iran, which killed 176 citizens of 7 countries. The Ukraine International Airline jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Te... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – A Ukrainian airliner was on fire immediately before it crashed southwest of Tehran, killing all 176 on board, according to an initial report by Iranian investigators. The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying to Kiev and car... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday the House would vote on a resolution intended to limit President Donald Trump’s military actions regarding Iran, stating that concerns about the administration’s strate... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – The secondary circuit of Iran’s Arak heavy water nuclear reactor will become operational on Monday, the country’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported. The starting of the secondary circuit will not violate restrictions placed on Iran’s n... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Weeks after U.S. authorities brought a spying case against three Saudi nationals for digging up dissidents’ personal data at Twitter, the company suspended tens of thousands of accounts that appear to be linked to one suspect’s compan... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Tear gas engulfed central Beirut as security forces chased protesters near Lebanon’s parliament on Sunday in a second night of street clashes that wounded dozens of people. Protesters had returned despite a fierce crackdown by security force... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Turkey’s presidential administration has said that the purchase date for more S-400 missile systems from Russia is just a technicality and that it thinks a deal will happen before too long, the RIA news agency reported on Monday. Moscow hope... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A wave of social unrest across developing countries this year has caught many investors off-guard and is challenging models designed to gauge political risk for investors, prompting some to pull money out. That has led to worries that a with... More »
DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) – OPEC and its allies plan to deepen oil cuts and have the deal in place so it runs at least until June 2020 as Saudi Arabia wants to deliver a positive surprise to the market before the listing of Saudi Aramco, two sources familiar with... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri on Saturday warned regional countries of consequences if it is proven that they meddled to stoke recent unrest in Iran. “Some countries in the region should know that they will not have an easy life in t... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri on Saturday warned regional countries of unspecified dire consequences if it is proven that they meddled to stoke unrest in Iran, the semi-official news agency Fars reported. “Some countries in the regio... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Airbus (AIR.PA) and Boeing (BA.N) fought to save billions of dollars of jet deals on Sunday as host airline Emirates kept the Dubai Airshow in suspense over dozens of tentative orders designed to fine-tune the world’s largest international ai... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey said on Monday it had deported two Islamic State militants — a German and an American — beginning a programme to repatriate fighters that has caused friction with its NATO allies since it launched an offensive in northern Syria. Allie... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany does not yet know the identity of seven people Turkey plans to deport on the grounds that they have fought for the Islamic State militant group, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday. Earlier, Turkey said it would deport seven ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Croatian Foreign Minister Grlic Radman defended NATO on Monday following criticism of the 70-year-old alliance from the United States and France. French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that NATO was dying, comments German chancell... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Thousands of Iranians chanted “Death to America” near the old U.S. embassy on Monday, the 40th anniversary on the seizure of the mission, with the country’s army chief comparing the United States with a poisonous scorpion intent on harming Ir... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A Turkish soldier died in hospital after an attack by the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria’s Ras Al Ain region, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said on Monday, bringing the death toll from the attack to two. The ministry had said on Sunday that a ro... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran would need oil priced at $194.6 a barrel to balance its budget next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said. Hurt by tighter U.S. sanctions, Iran – a key member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – i... More »
BEIRUT/ANKARA (Reuters) – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday said they had withdrawn from the border town of Ras al Ain under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal, but a spokesman for Turkish-backed Syrian rebels said the withdrawal was not yet... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday demanded Turkey stop its military incursion in Syria and imposed new sanctions on the NATO ally as Trump scrambled to limit the damage from his much-criticized decision to clear U.S. troops from Turk... More »
WASHINGTON/BEIRUT/ANKARA (Reuters) – President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Turkey on Monday and demanded the NATO ally stop a military incursion in northeast Syria that is rapidly reshaping the battlefield of the world’s deadliest ongoing war. Trump, who... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters had emptied a jail holding Islamic State prisoners in a part of Syria where Ankara is mounting an offensive, and that the prisoners there had been abducted. Turk... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been critical of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull American troops out of northeast Syria, said on Monday he strongly supports Trump’s decision to sanction Turkey over its invasion ... More »
(Reuters) – The United Kingdom is reviewing all weapons exports licenses to Turkey as it faces mounting pressure over its military offensive in northern Syria, the Financial Times reported on Monday. British ministers have suspended issuing new licenses for ar... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The United States said it was pulling troops from northeast Syria, in a major shift which clears the way for a Turkish military offensive against Kurdish-led forces and hands Turkey responsibility for thousands of Islamic State captives. A... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that U.S. troops had started to withdraw from parts of northeast Syria after his phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, adding that talks between Turkish and U.S. officials on the matter ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s crown prince warned in an interview broadcast on Sunday that oil prices could spike to “unimaginably high numbers” if the world does not come together to deter Iran, but said he would prefer a political solution to a milit... More »
DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia will seek to make a case at a global gathering in New York this week for concerted action to punish and deter arch-foe Iran after strikes on Saudi oil plants rattled global markets and exposed the kingdom’s vulnerability t... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran will pursue any aggressor, even if it carries out a limited attack, and seek to destroy it, the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday, after attacks on Saudi oil sites which Riyadh and U.S officials blamed on Tehran. “B... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former White House national security adviser John Bolton, who parted ways this week with President Donald Trump, resumed his old job on Friday as head of two political action committees and announced $50,000 in contributions to Republica... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – The resignation of White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, a hawk on Iran, will not lead to talks between Washington and Tehran, Iran said on Wednesday. President Hassan Rouhani urged the United States to end its policy of “maximum... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said on Wednesday the firing of John Bolton as U.S. national security adviser will not push Tehran to reconsider talks with the United States. “The departure of US National Security Adviser John Bolton from President Donald Trump’s admin... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly fired his national security adviser John Bolton amid disagreements with his hard-line aide over how to handle foreign policy challenges such as North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan and Russia. “I informed J... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Having once branded John Bolton a “war maniac”, North Korean officials could see U.S. President Donald Trump’s removal of his national security adviser as a chance to resume denuclearization talks without facing an unyielding hawk on the... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that Europe had decided to uphold the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and would keep trying to find solutions that averted escalation. “Step by step we will keep trying to find solutions with Iran that preve... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany will do its part to avoid a proxy war in Libya, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday, warning that the situation in the north African country risked destabilizing the whole of Africa. “In Libya, a situation is developing that c... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – John Bolton’s departure from the White House removes an obstacle to the possibility of U.S.-Iranian nuclear talks, but the odds of such a dialogue leading anywhere remain low, current and former U.S. officials said on Tuesday. President ... More »
(Reuters) – An Iranian rocket exploded on its launch pad at Imam Khomeini Space Center in northern Iran before its scheduled launch on Thursday, an Iranian official said. The launch was due to have taken place despite U.S. warnings to Iran that it should avoid... More »
BIARRITZ, France (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday G7 leaders had not reached a consensus on inviting Russia to next year’s G7 summit in the United States. Macron added that he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel would organize a summ... More »
BIARRITZ, France (Reuters) – Iran has an opportunity to come back into compliance with the nuclear deal and resume dialogue about its nuclear activities, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier he would mee... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – An Iranian tanker sailed through the Mediterranean toward Greece on Monday after it was released from detention off Gibraltar, and Tehran said that any at U.S. move to seize the vessel again would have “heavy consequences”. The Grace 1, renam... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran has warned the United States against any new attempt to seize an Iranian oil tanker in open seas after it left Gibraltar, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on state television on Monday. The Iranian tanker caught in a standoff ... More »
VIENNA (Reuters) – An emergency meeting with parties to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal was constructive but there are unresolved issues and Tehran will continue to reduce its nuclear commitments if Europeans fail to salvage the pact, Iranian official Abbas Araqchi s... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards published footage on Monday purportedly showing the Guards warning off a British warship during their July 19 seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker near the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Tasnim news a... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would nominate Representative John Ratcliffe, a Texas Republican who strongly defended him at a recent congressional hearing, to replace Dan Coats as the U.S. spy chief. Coats, the current U.... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Sunday the nation’s top intelligence official, Dan Coats, would leave his post next month and that he would nominate Republican congressman John Ratcliffe to replace him. “I am pleased to announce that high... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Emmanuel Macron discussed the need for an international agreement on taxing digital service companies with U.S. President Donald Trump in a call on Friday, the French president’s office said. The exchange – which partly centered on I... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European foreign ministers will seek to flesh out how to convince Iran and the United States to reduce tensions and initiate a dialogue when they meet in Brussels on Monday amid fears that the 2015 nuclear deal is close to collapse. U.S.-I... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Monday that there was still time to save the Iran nuclear deal and that despite the United States being Britain’s closest ally it disagreed on how to handle the Iran crisis. “Iran is still a go... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Monday that Europe had to remain united in trying to preserve the Iran nuclear deal, and said Tehran should reverse its decision not to comply with parts of the accord. “The Europeans ha... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation confirmed on Friday it had started delivering S-400 missile defense systems to Turkey and that the deliveries would continue as per an agreed schedule, the RIA news agency reported.... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – Britain’s seizing of an Iranian oil tanker last week was a threatening act that will not be tolerated, Iran’s Defence Minister Amir Hatami said on Monday in a speech broadcast live on state television. Royal Marines impounded the tanker in G... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s ambassador to the United States described President Donald Trump’s administration as “dysfunctional”, “clumsy” and “inept”, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported, citing a series of confidential memos. The report drew ire from Trum... More »
VIENNA (Reuters) – OPEC and its allies look set to extend oil supply cuts this week at least until the end of 2019 as Iran joined top producers Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Russia in endorsing a policy aimed at propping up the price of crude amid a weakening global ... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran will never succumb to U.S. pressure and if Washington wants talks with Tehran it should show respect, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday. Tension between Tehran and Washington have risen sharply in recent weeks, a year ... More »
DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was not seeking war with Tehran after a senior Iranian military commander warned any conflict in the Gulf region could spread uncontrollably and threaten the lives of U.S. troops. Tensi... More »
RIYADH/AMMAN/CAIRO (Reuters) – Arab politicians and commentators greeted U.S. President Donald Trump’s $50 billion Middle East economic vision with a mixture of derision and exasperation, although some in the Gulf called for it to be given a chance. In Israel,... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday the U.S. Middle East peace plan that is set to be presented at an international conference in Bahrain this week is “shameful” and “doomed to failure”. “This conference and the sale of Palesti... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Iran on Monday described its shooting down of a U.S. drone in the Gulf last week as a “firm response” to the United States and warned it could be repeated. “Everyone saw the downing of the unmanned drone,” navy commander Rear Admiral Hossein... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday Tehran welcomes any defusion of tensions in the GUlf region following weeks of deteriorating relations with Washington. “We welcome defusion of tensions in the region. We do not want rise of t... More »
AZAZ, Syria (Reuters) – The Syrian war has inflicted all kinds of hardships on Najwa Abdelaziz but she still manages to make light of one of them. “The uprising ruined my teeth,” she jokes while getting dental care for the first time in years in the back of a ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Sunday he will travel to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates for talks, and repeated his offer for negotiations with Iran “with no preconditions” to de-escalate tensions. “We’re prepared... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Iran is feeling the effects of existing U.S. sanctions as President Donald Trump prepares to impose more of them from Monday, his National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Sunday during a visit to Israel. While flagging further sancti... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump, whose Twitter malaprops often set off a deluge of social media criticism, was targeted on Friday for a linguistic misfire involving the phrase “locked and loaded.” In a series of tweets on Friday morning Trum... More »
WASHINGTON/DUBAI (Reuters) – Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan announced on Monday the deployment of about 1,000 more troops to the Middle East for what he said were defensive purposes, citing concerns about a threat from Iran. Fears of a confront... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – The Chinese government’s top diplomat warned on Tuesday that the world should not open a “Pandora’s Box” in the Middle East, as he denounced U.S. pressure on Iran and called on it not to drop out of a landmark nuclear deal. Fears of a confr... More »
(Reuters) – Saudi air defenses intercepted two Houthi drones, one of them targeting a residential area in the southern city of Abha, the Saudi press agency said on Tuesday, citing the Saudi-led coalition. Al Masirah TV, citing a military spokesman, said on Mon... More »
