Middle East & North Africa

Tehran, Sept 20, IRNA – Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in his weekly press conference that Tehran’s message to Washington is that the US needs to stop roguery, if it wants to return to the international community.

Khatibzadeh commemorated the Holy Defense week (starting on September 21).

He said that in the recent days, Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif has talked with his counterparts from Armenia, Afghanistan, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Tehran, Sept 20, IRNA – Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Monday saying that the approach of the current regime of the US is a big danger for international peace and security and “an unprecedented threat to the United Nations and the UN Security Council.”

If the US or any of its few pawns makes a move in line with these threats, it will face a serious reaction and will be held accountable for all its dire consequences.

20 Sep 2020; MEMO: At least 94 former Turkish military personnel arrested for links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup, were remanded in custody on Saturday, according to a judicial source.

The suspects were among 131 ex-military officials arrested on Sept. 16 in anti-terror operations in 34 provinces, with a primary focus on Istanbul, said the source, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

20 Sep 2020; AA: The Turkish defense minister on Sunday slammed a despicable headline in a Greek newspaper about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"The shameful record will remain a black mark in Greek press history," Hulusi Akar was quoted in a statement by National Defense Ministry on Twitter.

He condemned the "extremely worthless statement" that appeared in Demokratia's Friday edition, saying it was "not even related to journalism."

20 Sep 2020; MEMO: Iraqi President Barham Salih said Saturday that he seeks to enforce the rule of law at the highest level of government.

“The reform process requires the provision of a favorable political climate by holding early elections away from the monopoly of weapons and manipulation so that the people can decide their own future,” he told a conference organized by the Iraqi National Wisdom Movement on violence against women.

20 Sep 2020; MEMO: Egyptian security forces have been deployed in several areas across the main Egyptian cities, preparing themselves for possible anti-regime protests called for by exiled opposition figure Mohamed Ali, Anadolu Agency reported on Friday.

20 Sep 2020; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated that Turkey regrets the decision of Head of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez Al-Sarraj to resign from his position, stressing that he has no objection to holding meetings with the Egyptian authorities, Reuters reported.

20 Sep 2020; MEMO: Five civilians were injured when a military projectile launched by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis hit a village in Saudi Arabia’s southern Jazan region, state media reported on Saturday, Reuters reports.

State news agency SPA quoted a civil defence spokesman as saying three cars were damaged in the border village and that the five civilians suffered minor injuries from shrapnel.

20 Sep 2020; MEMO: A senior Iraqi official announced on Friday that Iraq has decided to compensate 90,000 civilians harmed by the “liberation battles” in the Nineveh governorate, in the north of the country.

This came in a statement made by Mohammed Mahmoud, director of the sub-committee for compensating people affected by war operations in the Nineveh Governorate, to Anadolu Agency.

19 Sep 2020; MEMO: Turkey on Saturday condemned the conviction of seven Crimean Tatars by a Russian court earlier this week.

The country's Foreign Ministry said in a statement: "It is regrettable to suppress the Tatar Turkish community, which is the essential element of the Crimean Peninsula, by such methods."