Middle East & North Africa

20 Feb 2021; MEMO: Global Fire Power has ranked Saudi Arabia as the fifth-largest armoured power in the world, surpassing a number of regional and global powers, Al-Khaleej Online reported on Friday.

According to Al-Khaleej Online, Global Fire Power stated that Saudi Arabia has 12,500 armoured vehicles, surpassing the UK, Germany, France, Iran, Turkey and Israel.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran is studying a European Union proposal for an informal meeting between current members of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal and the United States, but has yet to respond to it, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday.

Iran and the United States have been at odds over who should take the first step to revive the 2015 accord. Iran insists the United States must first lift former President Donald Trump’s sanctions while Washington says Tehran must first return to compliance with the deal.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s decision to end snap inspections by U.N. inspectors on Feb. 23 would not mean abandoning its 2015 nuclear deal, but the United States must still lift sanctions on Tehran to rescue the pact, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday.

“All our steps (to breach the deal) are reversible...The move on Feb. 23 is not abandoning the deal,” Zarif said in a televised interview with Iran’s English Language Press TV.

TRIPOLI, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- More than 200 illegal migrants, including women and children, have been rescued off Libyan coast, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Saturday.

"Over 200 persons were brought to Tripoli by the Libyan Coast Guard, among them 9 women and 3 children," the agency tweeted.

"UNHCR and partner IRC (International Rescue Committee) are providing relief items and medical aid to all survivors," the commissioner said.

CAIRO, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian and Spanish naval forces held joint military drills in the Red Sea, Egypt's armed forces said in a statement on Saturday.

The joint exercise is the second in recent days, after the two navies held similar drills on Feb. 14 also in the Red Sea.

The training involved various activities, including carrying out sailing formations, surveillance of suspected ships, night transportation, helicopter landing on helidecks of marine units and more, according to the statement.

TEHRAN, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The head of UN nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi arrived in Iran's capital Tehran on Saturday ahead of Iran's deadline to withdraw from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) additional protocol.

"The trip is aimed at technical consultations with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran about ... how to continue cooperation within the framework of new developments and circumstances," Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's permanent representative to Vienna-based organizations, was quoted as saying by Financial Tribune daily.

ABU DHABI, February 20. /TASS/: Russia’s exporter of military hardware Rosoboronexport (an affiliate of Rostec) is prepared to offer its foreign clients projects for upgrading the air defense systems Pantsir-S1, the corporation’s CEO Alexander Mikheyev told TASS ahead of the international weapons show IDEX 2021.

"Russia is ready to offer Pantsir upgrade projects to its foreign partners. The corresponding research and development have been carried out," Mikheyev said.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia will invest more than $20 billion in its domestic military industry over the next decade as part of aggressive plans to boost local military spending, the head of the kingdom’s military industry regulator said on Saturday.

The Gulf state wants to develop and manufacture more weapons and military systems domestically, aiming to spend 50% of the military budget locally by 2030.

20 Feb 2021; MEMO: A senior US military official has revealed that his country's army is seeking to use "fallback" Saudi military bases in order to avoid possible Iranian attacks, news agencies reported on Thursday.

20 Feb 2021; MEMO: An Algerian court has sentenced to death Abdel-Malek Hamzawy, the main defendant in the murder of French mountain guide Herve Gourdel who was beheaded by extremists in Algeria in 2014.

The trial was attended by the victim's widow and members of his family.

As per the indictment, 14 people are being prosecuted in this case; eight of them are suspected of participating in the kidnapping and beheading of the victim, while six are suspected of "not reporting the crime".