US push for Iraq’s ‘energy independence’ aims to isolate Iran and take advantage of oil and gas reserves, analysts say. Iraq’s reliance on Iranian gas imports to satisfy its consumer needs has raised tensions with the United States in recent months as Washington tries to roll back Tehran’s influence in the region.  Washington reimposed sanctions on Iran’s oil […]

There is credible evidence that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other high-level officials are individually liable for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a UN expert says. A report by special rapporteur Agnes Callamard says the evidence merits further investigation by an independent and impartial international inquiry. Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi […]

Three Iraqi workers wounded as rocket lands on headquarters of several major companies in latest oil attack. A rocket landed at the headquarters of several global oil companies in Iraq’s southern city of Basra on Wednesday, wounding three Iraqi workers and raising alarm amid rising tensions between the US and Iran in the region. The rocket […]

Former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has been buried hours after he collapsed in court and died on Monday. His lawyer told the AFP news agency the former leader had been buried in eastern Cairo early on Tuesday morning with his family present. Morsi, who was 67, had been in custody since his removal from office […]

The EU remains tight-lipped about its potential response to Iran’s threatened uranium stockpiling. The European Union says it will consider Iran to be complying with its obligations under a multinational nuclear deal until scientific evidence emerges that it has breached its commitments. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters on Monday that the assessments […]

Egypt’s former President, Mohamed Morsi, has died while standing trial. Morsi was overthrown by the military in July 2013 following mass protests, a year after he took office as the country’s first democratically elected leader. A death sentence handed to the 67-year-old was quashed by an appeals court in 2016, but he remained in prison […]

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sat in the first-class compartment of the chartered Boeing 747, looking out through the window at the country he had had to leave 15 years before. I stood over him, with my cameraman beside me, and asked how he felt now that his exile was over. No answer. An American correspondent repeated […]

Middle East envoy said Trump administration’s much-awaited peace plan might be delayed until early November. US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy has hinted at a further delay until early November to the unveiling of a White House peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “I think the logic would still dictate that if we wanted […]

ISTANBUL (REUTERS) – Istanbul’s mayoral candidates argued over the election they contested in March and their policy plans in a rare televised debate on Sunday (June 16), a week before a re-run vote seen as a test of Turkish democracy and President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK party. In the first debate of its kind in Turkey […]

BERUCHIM, Golan Heights (REUTERS) – Israel approved in principle on Sunday (June 16) a new community named after US President Donald Trump on a contested frontier zone with Syria. Construction, however, looked likely to lag, given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political stumbles. The “Trump Heights” project is intended to cement ties after Trump broke with […]