Middle East diplomacy - Page 4

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday accused US President Donald Trump of trying to hijack the United Nations Security Council for the purposes of “bullying others” to turn against Tehran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that closer ties between Israel and the Arab world were a silver lining of the otherwise “bad” Iran nuclear deal.

TEL AVIV – The Jordanian government on Sunday rejected a U.S. peace proposal comprising the creation of a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation that was said to have been presented to the Palestinians.

The United States presented Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with a peace deal based on a confederation with Jordan, the Israeli left-wing organization Peace Now reported on Sunday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday reached for the language of behavioral psychology to denounce US policy toward the Tehran regime.

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Wednesday that the Syria-Iran military deal struck earlier in the week would not deter Israel from targeting Iranian troops and weapons in Syria.

LONDON — The husband of a British-Iranian charity worker who has been imprisoned in Iran for more than two years says his wife has been hospitalized after suffering panic attacks.

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday says he sees a path to peace with Palestinians through the “normalization” of relations with Arab states which, like Israel, are also facing an emboldened Iran.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has sought to defend his administration amid ongoing economic problems fanned by America’s decision to pull out of the nuclear deal.

Iran will argue Monday against renewed sanctions imposed by the United States, as a bitter legal battle between Tehran and Washington opens before the UN’s top court.

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami arrived in Syria on Sunday for meetings with senior defense and military officials as part of a two-day visit, according to the Tasnim news agency.

LONDON, United Kingdom — Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman who has been held in Tehran for more than two years on sedition charges, returned to prison on Sunday, after a temporary release, dashing her family’s hopes of an extension.

US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser on Thursday said the White House had rejected a Russian proposal to put off sanctions on Iran’s oil sector in exchange for a rollback of Iranian forces in Syria, despite Israeli calls for an immediate withdrawal.

Jordan has submitted to Israel for approval its preferred candidate to serve as the next ambassador to the Jewish state, but has yet to receive a response from Jerusalem, a source in the Jordanian capital said on Wednesday.

Iran has restated its long-term opposition to the existence of the state of Israel by claiming all Muslim nations share its belief that the Jewish state is an enemy of Islam.

TEL AVIV – The first Muslim woman to be elected to Congress said on Monday she would “absolutely” vote against the U.S. providing military aid for Israel.

A fresh appeal to free U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson, whose continued detention has sparked a diplomatic spat between Turkey and the United States, was rejected Wednesday.

Contents: A ‘historic’ Caspian Sea agreement leaves major issues unresolved; Major issues about commercial exploitation remain unresolved.

The Security Cabinet discussed the proposed ceasefire agreement with Hamas in Gaza for five hours on Sunday. During the meeting, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot briefed the ministers on the situation in the strip.

Tehran – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday that the leaders of the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel were isolated in their hostility to Iran.

The world can help Iranians improve their lives by standing up to “a regime that oppresses them and denies them a life of dignity, prosperity and respect” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday night.

TEL AVIV – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that the Palestinians were planning to make “fateful and dangerous decisions on important issues in the next two months,” leading to speculation that he intends to sever ties with Israel. 

An “Arab NATO” security coalition of Middle East states is being planned by Washington as a buffer to thwart Iran’s military expansionism in the region.

TEL AVIV – President Donald Trump’s as-yet unveiled peace proposal will be the most detailed yet and will include a major economic plan for the Palestinians, a White House official said Wednesday.

TEL AVIV – The IDF on Sunday helped 422 Syrians and their families from the “White Helmets” rescue organization cross over the border into Israel, with the Israeli commander of the project describing their eyes as “twinkling from happiness” from having escaped the brutal Assad reg

TEL AVIV – A Russian proposal to keep Iranian forces in Syria 100 kilometers (62 miles) away from Israel’s northern border has been rejected by Jerusalem since Iran’s long-range weapons can circumvent the buffer, a senior Israeli official said following a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel is the “most fascist, racist state” in the world, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday, adding that the “spirit of Hitler” finds a home amongst some of the Jewish state’s leadership.

Israel and Russia have an understanding regarding what southwestern Syria will look like after President Bashar Assad retakes complete control over the area bordering Israel, Russia’s ambassador to Israel said in a recent interview.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning of unprecedented “consequences” for Iran, should it threaten the United States, has been dismissed as “psychological warfare” by a senior Iranian military officer.

TEL AVIV – The Palestinian Authority on Saturday boasted that it has managed to “incapacitate” President Donald Trump’s as yet unveiled peace plan, which it sees as no more than a “conspiracy” aimed at “liquidating” the Palestinian cause and national rights. 

U.S. President Donald Trump was warned Sunday not to pursue hostile policies against Tehran, because “America should know … war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”

Iran is still actively seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD), according to a German intelligence report,  in direct contradiction to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s belief that the 2015 atomic deal with the Islamic Republic ended Tehran’s nuclear weapon ambitions.

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday sent a warning message to Hamas that “whoever hurts Israel” would be targeted swiftly and harshly and that Israel would respond to any and all provocations, including the launching of incendiary kites and balloons into Israeli territory. 

The IDF on Tuesday transfered aid and care packages donated by Israeli residents of the Golan Heights to Syrians displaced by fighting on the other side of border, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced Wednesday.

MOSCOW — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday for talks focusing on Iranian presence in Syria — an issue that is expected to top the agenda of the upcoming U.S.-Russian summit.

Syria’s regime and its ally Russia resumed air strikes on the south of the country on Wednesday after rebels said talks over a government takeover had “failed.”