Middle East & North Africa

21 Sep 2020; MEMO: The Iranian Foreign Ministry said Sunday the US was facing international isolation over its decision to re-impose sanctions on Tehran, according to the official IRNA news agency, Anadolu reports.

“The US stands at the wrong side of history and our message for it was to return to the international community, to your commitments, stop rebelling and the world will accept you,” ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a news briefing.

21 Sep 2020; MEMO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused to negotiate with the US although he was under pressure from Arab countries, a Fatah movement official said Sunday, Anadolu reports.

“President Abbas is facing unprecedented pressure from Arab brothers and the international sphere to negotiate with the US administration and take the customs revenues cut by Israel, but he does not accept it,” Mahmoud Al-Aloul, deputy chief of Fatah told the official Palestinian television channel H.

JERUSALEM, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Man was arrested Sunday after allegedly attempting to ram his car at a Jerusalem rally to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the coronavirus crisis, the police said.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said in a statement that the suspect speeded his vehicle at a police roadblock. Rosenfeld added that the suspect was arrested at the scene and taken for questioning.

ISTANBUL, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police on Monday detained 14 Iraqi nationals in Turkey's northern province of Samsun over their suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) militant group, the state-run Anadolu agency said.

Police launched operations simultaneously in different addresses across the province to capture the suspects who were believed to carry out activities on behalf of the IS, Anadolu noted.

Several digital items were also seized during the raids, and the operations are continuing to capture another suspect, it added.

JERUSALEM, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Sunday urged European powers to recognize U.S. unilateral announcement over the resumption of the United Nations Security Council's sanctions against Iran.

In a statement issued by his office, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi called on Israel's allies, known as E-3 countries, namely France, Britain, and Germany, "to retreat from their opposition and work towards rigorously implementing the sanctions."

He urged them to reimpose the sanctions on the national level, as well as on the EU level and through the UN mechanisms.

ANKARA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The increase in Turkey's daily novel coronavirus cases slowed down, but not the number of severe patients, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Sunday.

"The number of seriously ill patients has reached 1,456. Although the rate of increase has slowed down, we cannot be peaceful until this number decreases," he tweeted.

The minister's remarks came as the daily cases in Turkey fell to around 1,500.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The newly formed U.S. Space Force is deploying troops to a vast new frontier: the Arabian Peninsula.

Space Force now has a squadron of 20 airmen stationed at Qatar’s Al-Udeid Air Base in its first foreign deployment. The force, pushed by President Donald Trump, represents the sixth branch of the U.S. military and the first new military service since the creation of the Air Force in 1947.

It has provoked skepticism in Congress, satire on Netflix, and, with its uncannily similar logo, “Star Trek” jokes about intergalactic battles.

KUWAIT, Sept 20 (NNN-XINHUA) – Kuwait launched yesterday, a mass campaign to mark World Clean-up Day by promoting the culture of cleaning the environment in Kuwaiti society.

The cleanup campaign at the beach in Jahra Governorate, which attracted more than 5,000 participants, was the first of its kind in Kuwait on the occasion of World Clean-up Day, and will enhance Kuwait’s environmental position internationally, according to the organiser, Sheikha Intisar Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, chief of Alnowair, a non-profit initiative, dedicated to promoting a positive attitude in Kuwait.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey and Greece could soon resume talks over their contested Mediterranean claims but European Union leaders meeting this week will not help if they threaten sanctions, Turkey’s presidential spokesman said on Sunday.

The NATO members and neighbours have been locked in a bitter dispute over the extent of their continental shelves in the eastern Mediterranean. Tensions flared last month when Turkey sent a vessel to survey for gas and oil in contested waters.

TEHRAN, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Iranian foreign minister said on Saturday that the United States will not be able to restore pre-2015 sanctions against Iran in its unilateral attempt in the UN Security Council.

The United States lost its authority pertaining to any action in the Iranian 2015 nuclear deal when it withdrew from the accord in 2018 unilaterally, Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a televised speech.

The U.S. officials themselves are well aware that their attempt is "void," but they are resorting to "bullying" policies in international relations, he said.