Saudi Arabia's energy minister on Saturday called for a "swift and decisive" response to threats against energy supplies following twin attacks on tankers in a vital Gulf shipping channel. "There must be a swift and decisive response to the threat against energy supplies... created by the...

Iran will continue scaling back compliance with a nuclear deal unless other signatories to the pact show “positive signals”, the Iranian president said on Saturday as tensions with the United States escalated over tanker attacks in the Gulf region. Iran stopped complying in May with some...

The United States has granted Iraq another 90-day waiver to continue with vital energy imports from neighboring Iran despite reimposed sanctions, a government source said Saturday. The extension came after "long discussions" with Washington ahead of a looming deadline on a previous...

The Iraqi military says three mortar shells have hit an air base just north of Baghdad where American trainers are present, causing a small fire but no casualties. The military statement says the attack on Balad air base occurred early Saturday. The attack comes amid rising tension in...

A Japanese tanker, one of two vessels attacked in sensitive Gulf waters this week, was heading to port Saturday, its owners said. The Kokuka Courageous was rocked by explosions as it passed through the Gulf of Oman Thursday, threatening its highly flammable cargo of methanol. The...

India has decided to raise tariffs on imports of 29 goods from the US after having deferred the move several times since announcing it last year, media reported Saturday. The government had said last June it would raise import taxes on a slew of US goods including almonds and apples,...

Hong Kong media reported on Saturday that the city’s government would suspend a proposed law on extradition to mainland China that sparked widespread anger and violent protests, with leader Carrie Lam planning to address reporters later in the day. Support for the swift passage of the...

The Arab coalition in Yemen has targeted military positions in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa, including air-defense systems, Saudi state TV said Saturday. The assaults followed a missile attack by the Iran-aligned Houthis on Saudi Arabia's Abha airport Wednesday that Saudi authorities...

Iran will continue scaling back its compliance with its nuclear deal commitments in the absence of "positive signals" from other signatories to the pact, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told a meeting of Russia, China and other Asia leaders in Tajikistan. Iran stopped complying in May with...

After a month of bombing and shelling in the last remaining opposition stronghold in Syria, Turkey and Russia this week agreed another ceasefire to cover Idlib and northern Hama, where relations between Moscow and Ankara have been tested once again. "At Russia’s initiative, with the...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Syrian regime and allied militias have been consuming millions of dollars in anti-tank weapons as their main fear in field battles is from car bombs and explosives-laden vehicles but military experts say that fear costs about $1.2 mn daily. Most losses of the...

Iran has multiplied the speed at which it enriches uranium but it is still far from the maximum rate possible under its nuclear deal with major powers, meaning it would be months before production ceilings are hit, diplomats who follow it say. Against a backdrop of rising tensions with the...

The Islamic State group is targeting women from the millennial generation as it seeks new recruits after the fall of its so-called caliphate, the EU's police agency said Friday. In a report on IS propaganda focussed on women, Europol said that this could "pave the way" for a change in the...

Israeli aircraft struck Hamas bases in Gaza early Friday, the military said, after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants hit a Jewish theological seminary in southern Israel. There were no reported casualties on either side. "Last night, a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip into...

Turkey said Friday that it did not accept Russia's "excuse" that it had no ability to stop the Syrian regime's continued bombardments in the last rebel bastion of Idlib. "In Syria, who are the regime's guarantors? Russia and Iran," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told state news agency...

Demonstrators rallied in the Algerian capital Friday to keep up their demands for the ouster of all officials linked to the former president, unappeased by the detention of two ex-premiers. The protest came a day after former prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal joined a long list of prominent...

Syrian regime forces backed up by Russian warplanes led a deadly campaign against its citizens in the country’s northwest on Thursday, killing 28 people, at least seven of whom were civilians, a war monitor said on Friday, despite a ceasefire announced by Moscow just a day earlier. The...

Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to be Britain’s prime minister, promised he would take the United Kingdom out of the European Union by Oct. 31, saying that only by preparing to leave without an agreement could a no-deal Brexit be prevented. Johnson, a former foreign minister and London...

Cracks appeared on Friday in the support base for a proposed Hong Kong law to allow extraditions to China, and opponents of the bill said they would stage more demonstrations after hundreds of thousands took to the streets this week. The extradition bill, which will cover Hong Kong...

Mexico has not accepted that the United States send it an unlimited number of asylum seekers, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said, ahead of meetings with U.S. officials Friday to determine the expansion of a controversial program. Under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexico...