Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, July 8 (Xinhua) -- The international community called for a peaceful solution after Iran announced Sunday that it is raising the uranium enrichment level beyond the limit set in the landmark 2015 international nuclear deal.

"Today, we will start enriching uranium beyond 3.67 percent, and its level of purity depends on our needs. This will happen officially," said Ali Rabiee, spokesman for the Iranian government, on Sunday.

CAIRO (AP) — The power-sharing agreement reached between Sudan’s military and pro-democracy protesters last week came after the United States and its Arab allies applied intense pressure on both sides amid fears a prolonged crisis could tip the country into civil war, activists and officials said.

The agreement, which raised hopes of a democratic transition following the military overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April, was announced days after the protesters held mass marches through Khartoum and other areas.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Russia’s S-400 air defense missiles are currently being prepared to be flown to Turkey.

Speaking to reporters before leaving for Bosnia on Monday, Erdogan wouldn’t say, however, when the Russian missile defense system would reach Turkey or where they will be deployed.

The delivery of the systems could bring Turkey closer to U.S. sanctions. U.S. officials have warned that Turkey would face economic sanctions as well as being expelled from a program to produce the F-35 fighter jets.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran remains open to diplomacy to save its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers but has “no hope” in the international community, the country’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday, as the Islamic Republic broke the limit the agreement put on its enrichment of uranium.

Abbas Mousavi said he had no information on how far Iran had taken its enrichment, though a top aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei previously suggested Iran had a need for 5%-enriched uranium.

8 July 2019; AA: Turkey’s president will attend the two-day South East European Countries Cooperation Process (SEECP) Summit starting Monday in Bosnia, according to the presidential communications director. 

“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 8-9 July 2019 to attend the Southeast European Cooperation Process Summit,” Fahrettin Altun wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

8 July 2019; MEMO: Qatar’s inward foreign investments have grown by 6.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2019, local media reported yesterday.

Quoting a joint study by the Qatari planning ministry and the country’s central, the media pointed out that the total foreign investments in Qatar had amounted to 722.6 billion Qatari riyals ($199.7 billion) at the end of the first quarter of 2019.

8 July 2019; MEMO: At least 544 civilians have been killed and over 2,000 people injured since a Russian-led assault on the last rebel bastion in northwestern Syria began two months ago, rights groups and rescuers said on Saturday, reported Reuters.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The latest on U.S.-Iran tensions (all times local):

8 a.m.

Japan is expressing serious concern over Iran’s decision to increase uranium enrichment above the limit set by the 2015 nuclear agreement, urging Tehran to return to its earlier commitment.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura said Monday that Japan is “seriously concerned and closely watching” the development on the nuclear deal and increased tension in the Middle East.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran increased its uranium enrichment Sunday beyond the limit allowed by its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, inching its program closer toward weapons-grade levels while calling for a diplomatic solution to a crisis heightening tensions with the U.S.

Iran’s move, coupled with earlier abandoning the deal’s limit on its low-enriched uranium stockpile, intensifies pressure on Europe to find any effective way around U.S. sanctions that block Tehran’s oil sales abroad.

7 July 2019; MEMO: An Iranian tanker captured by British Royal Marines in Gibraltar was not headed to Syria, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday in a press conference broadcast live on state TV, reports Reuters.

Royal Marines seized the Iraninan supertanker Grace 1 on Thursday for trying to take oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions, a dramatic intervention described as “maritime robbery” by Araqchi.