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As it has contemplated military action against Iran, the Trump administration has opened the door to virtually every legal authority it might use to justify an attack, from tying Iran to al-Qaida, to President Donald Trump’s assertion that it would not…
July 4, 2019Read More
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he is willing to mediate between the United States and Iran to ease tensions over Iran’s nuclear program. In comments published Thursday, Erdogan said he had discussed the issue of a possible mediation with …
July 4, 2019Read More
Russian President Vladimir Putin disclosed on Thursday for the first time that a secret military submarine hit by a fatal fire three days ago was nuclear-powered, prompting Russia’s defence minister to assure him its reactor had been safely contained. …
July 4, 2019Read More
Britain has been plunged into a diplomatic row with Iran after Royal Marines seized an Iranian oil tanker as it passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, in a move likely to further inflame tensions in the Gulf. The Grace 1 super-tanker was boarded in the early hours of Thursday morning to prevent it from delivering a cargo of crude oil to Syria in defiance of EU sanctions, apparently following a request to the UK from the United States. The move provoked fury in Iran, which accused Britain of bowing to US pressure to blockade its oil exports and summoned the British ambassador to the foreign ministry in Tehran to express “its very strong objection to the illegal and unacceptable seizure” of the 300 meter vessel. Abbas Moussavi, a spokesman, called the move “destructive” and said it could increase tensions in the Persian Gulf, where six oil tankers have recently suffered attacks that Britain and the US have blamed on Iran. In an interview on Iranian television, Mr Mousavi said it was “a form of piracy” that proved Britain was following “the hostile policies of the US”. Tanker impounded Gibraltar US National Security Advisor John Bolton said the British move was “excellent news.” “America & our allies will continue to prevent regimes in Tehran & Damascus from profiting off this illicit trade,” Bolton said on Twitter. The drama began when a specialist team from the Royal Marines’ Maritime Operations Unit swooped on the 330 meter super-tanker as it paused to take on supplies off Gibraltar overnight. The 30 commandos inserted on a Pacific 24 high-speed boat and by ‘fast-roping’ from a Wildcat helicopter, allowing 16 Royal Gibraltar Police officers to search the vessel in a safe manner. The operation was over in minutes with no shots fired. Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, said he authorised the assault and a police request for Royal Marine assistance because he believed the ship was bound for the Baniyas refinery in Syria. “That refinery is the property of an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions against Syria,” he said. The foreign minister of Spain said Britain had acted as the request of the United States. Josep Borrell, the Spanish foreign minister, said Madrid was assessing the implications of the incident because it took place in waters it considers its own. Spain disputes British ownership of Gibraltar. The Foreign Office said Rob Macaire, the UK ambassador in Tehran, told the foreign ministry when he was summoned that the move was about enforcing sanctions on Syria, not on Iran, and that Britain views Iranian oil exports in general as legitimate. Gibraltarian police and customs and a detachment of Royal Marines halted the vessel Credit: Marcos Moreno/ AP Lloyd’s List, the shipping publication, said the 300,000-tonne, Panamanian-flagged tanker loaded oil off Iran in April before sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, a lengthy route apparently taken because the ship was too heavy to use the Suez canal. The vessel was one of four tankers found to be involved in shipping Iranian fuel oil to Singapore and China in violation of US sanctions by a Reuters investigation earlier this year. Its seizure will further inflame the difficult relationship between Britain and Tehran, which regularly clash over Iran’s foreign policy and the fate of jailed British dual nationals including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. It may also complicate British, French, and German efforts to save the 2015 nuclear deal and to defuse a confrontation between the United States and Iran in the Gulf. Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president, said on Sunday that Tehran will increase its enrichment of uranium to “any amount that we want” after it breached the 300 kilogram limit laid out in the nuclear agreement in protest at US attempts to strangle its oil exports. The Panamanian-flagged Grace 1 is thought to be carrying oil from Iran Credit: REUTERS Britain officially defends Iran’s right to export oil under the 2015 nuclear deal, which offered the Islamic Republic economic incentives in exchange for curtailing its nuclear program. But the United States, which quit the deal last year, has attempted to blockade Iranian oil exports under a “maximum pressure” policy designed to force Tehran to accept more restrictive limits on its nuclear program, curtail its ballistic missile program and abandon covert military operations in the Middle East. The policy has reduced Iran’s exports to well below 500,000 barrels of oil a day, a fraction of the 1.8 million economists believe the country needs to operate. Iran has said it will continue to breach some of its nuclear commitments unless the remaining signatories of the deal – Britain, France, Germany, the EU, Russia, and China – find a way for it to sell oil and access the revenues.
July 4, 2019Read More
The Iraqi government’s move this week to place Iranian-backed militias under the command of the armed forces is a political gamble by a prime minister increasingly caught in the middle of a dangerous rivalry between Iran and the U.S, the two main power…
July 4, 2019Read More
Donald Trump’s “Salute to America” is set to take place in Washington, DC, on Thursday as the country celebrates Independence Day, with the grand military spectacle threatened by fears of a low turnout and concerns that the heavy tanks on display could damage the Lincoln Memorial.A new Morning Consult poll has meanwhile revealed the president to be losing support in key states he won in 2016, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Ohio and Florida, as his Republican opponent Justin Amash announces his resignation from the GOP in opposition to Mr Trump’s “dehumanising rhetoric”.Undeterred, the president has been on angry form on Twitter, hitting out at migrants over reports of squalid conditions in US border detention centres and warning Iran against making threats by issuing one of his own: “They can come back to bite you.”Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
July 4, 2019Read More
(Bloomberg) — Iran will only negotiate with the U.S. if the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei agrees to it, a minister said.“Negotiation between Iran and America will take place if the supreme leader gives the permission,” Intelligence Minister Ma…
July 4, 2019Read More
A 29-year-old Australian student detained in North Korea surfaced in Beijing airport on Thursday, saying he was in “very good” spirits after being released. For days Sigley’s family received no word about his whereabouts or wellbeing, stoking fears he…
July 4, 2019Read More
One of the U.S. military’s most significant war crimes cases ended with a decorated Navy SEAL walking out of court a free man after acknowledging moral and ethical mistakes, including posing in photographs with the body of an Islamic State captive he w…
July 4, 2019Read More
(Bloomberg) — Support for South Korea’s president jumped to a seven-month high after he stood with U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the border between the two Koreas, bolstering his prospects for parliamentary electio…
July 4, 2019Read More
Missing Australian citizen Alek Sigley, who was feared detained in North Korea, has been found “safe and sound” in China, NK News reported on Thursday. Masters student Mr Sigley, 29, disappeared last Tuesday in Pyongyang, sparking desperate international diplomatic attempts to find him. His reemergence in China was also confirmed to the Australian parliament by Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, who thanked Sweden for its help in the case. No details have been released about how he ended up in neighbouring China, but Mr Sigley, who also runs Tongil Tours, which arranges cultural exchanges to North Korea, is expected to return to his wife in Tokyo later on Thursday. NK News, a site specialising on North Korean affairs, which Mr Sigley had previously written for, reported that his apparent release followed a visit to the hermit kingdom by a special envoy of the Swedish government, which many had speculated was tied to his mysterious disappearance. Alek Sigley, the Australian student who went missing in North Korea Australia does not have an official diplomatic presence in North Korea, but consular assistance is provided to Australian citizens by Sweden. Mr Sigley, who speaks fluent Mandarin and Korean, has been the only Australian living in North Korea, and since 2018 one of only a handful of Western students at Kim Il Sung university, studying contemporary North Korean literature. He has written regularly for Western media outlets about his day to day experiences in the reclusive nation, and has been prolific on social media. His sudden silence on Twitter prompted concerns among friends last week and his family later confirmed that he had not been in contact since Tuesday morning, while the Australian foreign ministry said it was “urgently seeking clarification” about reports of his arrest. The treatment of foreign citizens, most usually from the United States, by the secretive North has been a contentious issue over the years. Some have been held as prisoners for extended periods, and Mr Sigley’s sudden vanishing triggered immediate fears that his case could resemble that of Otto Warmbier, a US student who received a hefty jail term in 2017 after he fell foul of the North Korean authorities by allegedly stealing a poster. Warmbier tragically died after falling into a coma during his 17-month detention. Mr Sigley was well-versed in North Korean culture and often spoke fondly of his experiences there, leaving many surprised about reports of his possible detention. Before studying in the North, Mr Sigley had visited the country multiple times as a tour operator and chose to host his wedding to his Japanese-born wife in Pyongyang last year. He earlier told Sky News that he was not concerned about being monitored as he was sensible about online posts. “I’ve never felt threatened and this whole year has been a period of rapprochement,” he said.
July 4, 2019Read More
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