Category: 2. Middle East

A UN expert has called on the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to immediately halt the imminent execution of 26 Egyptian nationals on drug-related charges.

“The Government’s claim that applying the death penalty for offences such as smuggling, receiving and distributing narcotic substances under the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act complies with international law is incompatible with its legal obligations under International Covenant on…

Oman said Thursday it would host a sixth round of nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran over the weekend, amid escalating tensions between the long-time foes and reports of an imminent Israeli attack on Iran.

Despite reporting progress in earlier rounds, Tehran and Washington have sharply disagreed over Iran’s uranium enrichment in recent weeks, with Tehran threatening to target US military bases in the region in the event that the talks fail and conflict erupts.

Tensions reached a fever…

Iran on Thursday vowed to “significantly” increase its output of enriched uranium in defiance of US demands ahead of a new round of nuclear talks, and amid reports of an imminent Israeli attack.

The announcement came after a UN nuclear watchdog resolution accused Iran of “non-compliance” with its obligations, prompting Israel to say the world must respond “decisively”.

The United States, Israel and other Western countries have repeatedly accused Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, an accusation…

US President Donald Trump called Thursday on Israel not to attack Iran, saying a deal on its nuclear program remained close, but Tehran defiantly vowed to increase its output of enriched uranium ahead of new talks.

Trump acknowledged that an Israeli strike on Iran “may very well happen,” although he stopped short of calling a strike imminent, and said the risk of “massive conflict” led the United States to draw down staff in the region.

“We are fairly close to a pretty good agreement,” Trump…

Israeli Defence Minister Yisrael Katz has instructed the Israeli army to prevent a convoy of pro-Palestinian activists from reaching the besieged Gaza Strip, and labelled them as “foreign jihadists”.

Katz said he expects the Egyptian authorities to prevent the “jihadist demonstrators” from reaching the Egyptian-Israeli border, and to prevent them from carrying out provocations or attempting to enter Gaza, because that would endanger Israeli occupation…

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was less confident that Iran will agree to stop uranium enrichment in a nuclear deal with Washington, according to an interview reported by Reuters.

“I don’t know,” Trump told the “Pod Force One” podcast on Monday when asked if he thought he could get Iran to agree to shut down its nuclear program. “I don’t know. I did think so, and I’m getting more and more — less confident about it.”

Trump has been seeking…

Brasilia demanded on Wednesday the immediate release of activist Thiago Avila, who has been detained by Israeli occupation authorities aboard the Gaza-bound aid ship Madleen.

Israeli forces seized the vessel in international waters early Monday, detaining 12 activists from several countries while they were attempting to reach the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid to challenge an Israeli blockade.

The activists included citizens from Brazil, France, the…

The number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide has dropped slightly from a record high but remains “untenably high”, the United Nations said Thursday.

A record 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2024, said UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

But that figure dropped to 122.1 million by the end of April this year, as Syrians began returning home after years of turmoil.

Nearly two million Syrians have been able to return home from…

Israel charged Thursday that Hamas was “weaponising suffering in Gaza” after a US and Israeli-backed charity accused the Palestinian militant group of killing five of its aid workers in the territory.

The distribution of food and basic supplies in the blockaded and war-ravaged Gaza Strip has become increasingly fraught and perilous, exacerbating the territory’s deep hunger crisis.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said a bus carrying its staff to a distribution site near the southern city…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government survived an opposition bid to dissolve parliament on Thursday, as lawmakers rejected a bill that could have paved the way for snap elections.

Out of the Knesset’s 120 members, 61 voted against the proposal, with 53 in favour.

The opposition had introduced the bill hoping to force elections with the help of ultra-Orthodox parties in the governing coalition angry at Netanyahu over the contentious issue of exemptions from…