Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Australian and British bloggers arrested in Iran named as Jolie King and Mark Firkin

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Couple left Perth in 2017 and had been documenting their travels as they drove to London before being detained in Tehran’s Evin prison

The Australian couple being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison have been named as Jolie King and Mark Firkin, who were reportedly arrested 10 weeks ago near the Iranian capital.

Firkin and King, who also holds a British passport, have been blogging a globe-trotting adventure since 2017 as they endeavoured to drive from Australia to London. Despite diplomatic efforts to keep their cases from public attention, the pair was named overnight on social media.

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Britain-Iran relationship caught up in mutual blame game

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No progress in cases of dual-nationals arrested but catalogue of British failings is also long

The summoning of the Iranian ambassador to the British Foreign Office on Wednesday over broken assurances about the destination of an Iranian oil tanker, and now the arrest of two British-Australian nationals, marks yet another stage in the mutual blame game between Britain and Iran that leaves the relationship stuck deeper in a frustrating rut.

From the British perspective, well articulated by the former Middle East minister Alistair Burt, those in the UK government who would have liked to build a new relationship with Iran in the wake of the 2015 nuclear deal feel very badly let down by Tehran.

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Rouhani says US ‘warmongering’ against Iran will fail

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President Hassan Rouhani signals approval of firing of national security adviser

Iran’s president has urged the US to “put warmongers aside” as tensions roil the Persian Gulf amid an escalating crisis between Washington and Tehran after the collapsing nuclear deal with world powers.

Hassan Rouhani’s remarks signalled approval of Donald Trump’s abrupt dismissal of John Bolton as national security adviser. Bolton had been hawkish on Iran and other global challenges.

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Arab leaders denounce Netanyahu’s plan to annex Palestinian territories

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Israeli prime minister’s proposal would ‘kill all chances of peace’, says Jordan

Arab leaders have denounced Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex large swathes of the Palestinian territories if he is re-elected next week as an election stunt that would “kill all chances for peace”.

The Arab League held an emergency session on Tuesday evening after the Israeli prime minister announced the plan in a live press conference.

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Three Australians, two of them dual British citizens, held in Iran

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Two British-Australian women believed to be in prison, while location of Australian man is unknown

Three Australian citizens – two of whom also hold British passports – have been arrested and detained in Iran.

A female British-Australian academic who has been teaching at a university in Australia was arrested several months ago, sources confirmed to the Guardian.

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How will John Bolton’s dismissal affect US foreign policy?

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Trump’s anti-interventionist instincts likely to come to the fore in flashpoint countries

Donald Trump’s abrupt dismissal of John Bolton, his national security adviser, may reflect the near breakdown in personal relations between the two men, as well as Bolton’s rivalry with the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, but it will also have implications for US foreign policy in a range of flashpoints.

Related: John Bolton fired as Trump's national security adviser – live news

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Why Netanyahu’s election threats could become real this time

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Israeli PM is a master of fiery rhetoric but Trump’s support could embolden him to action

Benjamin Netanyahu is an old hand at Israel’s equivalent of the “October surprise”, reliably making incendiary remarks on election eve designed to both rally the faithful in his Likud party and undercut any rivals on the right and the far right threatening his grip on the prime minister’s office.

The successful formula, repeated over the last decade in office, has always followed a reliable pattern: scare any wavering supporters with the idea that Arab voters might come out in force while grabbing any nationalist votes by promising settlement building, annexation or refusal to withdraw.

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Netanyahu vows to annex large parts of occupied West Bank

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Israeli PM says he will seek to make move ‘in maximum coordination with Trump’

Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will annex large swathes of the occupied Palestinian territories if he is re-elected, a decision that for decades has been considered an endgame scenario for Palestinians’ aspirations of statehood.

The Israeli prime minister said on Tuesday that he planned to make the move, which would permanently seize up to one-third of the West Bank, after next week’s election and hinted it may have been approved by Washington.

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Iranian female football fan who self-immolated outside court dies

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Death of Sahar Khodayari, facing prison for trying to enter stadium, provokes outcry

An Iranian female football fan has died a week after setting herself on fire outside a courtroom, after learning she may face six months in prison for trying to enter a stadium, a news agency reported on Tuesday.

Sahar Khodayari’s death immediately ignited an outcry in Iran, where women are banned from football stadiums, although they are allowed to watch other sports, such as volleyball.

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‘Life-saving’: hundreds of refugees to be evacuated from Libya to Rwanda

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First group expected to leave dire detention centres in days, as UN denies reports that plan is part of EU strategy to keep refugees from Europe

Hundreds of African refugees and asylum seekers trapped in Libyan detention centres will be evacuated to Rwanda under a “life-saving” agreement reached with Kigali and the African Union, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.

The first group of 500 people, including children and young people from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, are expected to arrive in Rwanda over the coming days, out of 4,700 now estimated to be in custody in Libya, where conflict is raging. The measure is part of an “emergency transit mechanism”, to evacuate people at risk of harm in detention centres inside the county.

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Netanyahu accuses Iran of hiding evidence of nuclear facility

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Israel’s opposition says prime minister’s claims are an election campaign stunt

Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled what he claims was a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons facility and accused Tehran of destroying the site to hide the evidence.

“This is what I have to say to the tyrants of Tehran,” Netanyahu said. “Israel knows what you’re doing, Israel knows when you’re doing it, and Israel knows where you’re doing it.”

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Hezbollah says it has downed Israeli drone over Lebanon

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Israel confirms drone loss while claiming an Iran-backed Shia militia fired rockets towards Israel from Syria

Hezbollah has claimed it shot down an Israeli drone that crossed the border into Lebanon, a week after the bitter enemies traded fire for the first time in years, as regional tensions between Israel and Iran and its allies intensify.

The unmanned aircraft was flying near the southern Lebanese town of Ramyah, the Iranian-backed group said, adding that it fighters had removed the wreckage.

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Tunisia’s presidential election to put young democracy to the test

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Arab spring’s sole democratic state has proved resilient despite anger over price rises

Tunisia will hold its second-ever presidential elections on 15 September in a poll seen as a major test of the only democracy to emerge from the 2011 Arab spring.

The death in July of the country’s president, Beji Caid Essebsi, 92, a secularist who was instrumental in steering the country’s transition to democracy, forced the polls to be held earlier than originally scheduled in November.

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Why do Dubai’s princesses keep trying to run away? – podcast

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Ola Salem discusses the divorce case of Princess Haya, who fled to London. Why do royal women keep trying to escape the emirate? Plus John Marsden on the growing trend of toxic parenting

Over the summer, Princess Haya, the estranged wife of the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, asked an English court for a forced marriage protection order relating to their children and a non-molestation order after the breakdown of their marriage.

The Guardian reporter Haroon Siddique describes the court scene to Rachel Humphreys, while the journalist Ola Salem discusses previous attempts by two other princesses to flee the Dubai royal family, and looks at why this case is so significant for women in the emirate.

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British-Iranian relations strained as oil tanker is seen off Syria

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Adrian Darya, previously called Grace 1, photographed near Russian navy facility

Britain is seeking to establish whether Iran has sold oil to Syria in breach of written undertakings given by Tehran to authorities in Gibraltar.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that a tanker seized by British Marines on 9 July and released in August had reached its final destination “on the Mediterranean coast” and sold its oil – without identifying the country.

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Saudi king names son Abdulaziz to key post of energy minister

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Abdulaziz bin Salman becomes first Saudi royal to head energy ministry, one of the country’s most vital roles

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has replaced the country’s energy minister with one of his sons, naming Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman to one of the most important positions in the kingdom.

The new energy minister is an older half-brother to the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and an experienced oil industry figure in Saudi Arabia. He has been minister of state for energy affairs since 2017. The two brothers are not known to be close.

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Iranian tanker seized by Gibraltar ‘photographed off Syria’

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Adrian Darya 1, formerly the Grace 1, was only released on condition it did not discharge its load of 2.1m barrels of oil in Syria

The Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1 at the centre of a dispute between Tehran and western powers has been photographed by satellite off the Syrian port of Tartus, a US space technology company has said.

Maxar Technologies Inc said the image showed the tanker Adrian Darya 1 very close to Tartus on 6 September. The ship appeared to have turned off its transponder in the Mediterranean west of Syria, ship-tracking data showed. The tanker, which is loaded with Iranian crude oil, sent its last signal giving its position between Cyprus and Syria sailing north on Monday afternoon.

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Dead Sea scrolls study raises new questions over texts’ origins

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Salts used on Temple scroll are not common to Dead Sea region, researchers find

The Dead Sea scrolls have given up fresh secrets, with researchers saying they have identified a previously unknown technique used to prepare one of the most remarkable scrolls of the collection.

Scientists say the study poses a puzzle, as the salts used on the writing layer of the Temple scroll are not common to the Dead Sea region.

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Britain must repatriate Isis fighters, warns US defence secretary

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Around 250 to 300 men being held in camps in Syria are believed to have come from UK

Britain and other European nations that are refusing to repatriate Islamic State fighters and put them on trial in their country of origin are creating a risk to regional security, the US defence secretary warned at the start of his visit to London.

Mark Esper said there were around 2,000 foreign fighters, many from Europe, held in north-east Syria, but asking the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to keep them in makeshift jails was an increasing risk to the fragile security of the region.

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Kushner’s Middle East peace plan drifts further astray as envoy resigns

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The ‘ultimate deal’ for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is due to come out after the Israeli elections on 17 September

Jason Greenblatt, the Trump administration’s special envoy for Middle East peace, tasked with working on the “ultimate deal” for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is to leave the post, it has been announced.

Greenblatt may stay in the role until the publication of the long-delayed plan, which is now due to come out some time after Israeli elections on 17 September. However, if those elections bring about the fall of Donald Trump’s close ally, Benjamin Netanyahu, the plan could be shelved indefinitely.

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