Middle East & North Africa

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A series of attacks on oil tankers near the Persian Gulf has ratcheted up tensions between the U.S. and Iran — and raised fears over the safety of one of Asia’s most vital energy trade routes, where about a fifth of the world’s oil passes through its narrowest at the Strait of Hormuz.

The attacks have jolted the shipping industry, with some of the 2,000 companies operating ships in the region on high alert and ordering their vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz only during the daylight hours and at high speed.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Thursday it shot down a U.S. drone amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington over its collapsing nuclear deal. The U.S. military declined to immediately comment.

The reported shootdown of the RQ-4 Global Hawk comes after the U.S. military previously alleged Iran fired a missile at another drone last week that responded to the attack on two oil tankers near the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. blames Iran for the attack on the ships, which Tehran denies.

19 June 2019; MEMO: Israeli government is to cut 800 billion shekels ($221.7 billion) from the budgets of its ministries and transfer the funds to the Ministry of Defence, Channel 2 reported yesterday.

According to an Israeli defence institute, the defence ministry needs money to continue building the separation wall along the eastern side of the Gaza Strip.

19 June 2019; DW: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should be investigated over the the alleged murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

That is the conclusion of Agnes Callamard, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions, who on Wednesday issued her report on the killing. 

Callamard cited "credible evidence" that high-level Saudi officials were implicated in the "premeditaed" murder.

Tehran, June 18; IANS/GANASHAKTI: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday reaffirmed that his country does not seek war with any nation, but stressed that Tehran will come out as the ultimate winner of any warfare against it.

"We will not wage war with any nation, those facing us are a group of politicians with little experience," Rouhani said while addressing an inauguration ceremony at the Imam Khomeini International Airport here.

BAGHDAD, June 18 (Xinhua) -- A Katyusha rocket landed Tuesday near a military base in the eastern side of the city of Mosul, where U.S. trainers are present, the Iraqi military said.

The rocket landed in the evening on the complex of the former presidential palace in Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, a local security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Several security headquarters are stationed in the complex, which also houses U.S. troops tasked with training the Iraqi forces, the source said without giving further details.

Tehran, June 18, IRNA – Iranian Intelligence Ministry has identified and dismantled a big spy network affiliated to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Intelligence Ministry said on Tuesday.

The director of anti-espionage department of the Intelligence Ministry said that the department adopted advanced professional approach to identify spies inside the country with full command and superiority over any spy networks.

18 June 2019; MEMO: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report that despite maintaining a long-term policy of not commenting on its nuclear arsenal, Israel is believed to own between 80 and 90 nuclear warheads.

18 June 2019; MEMO: A senior official in Yemen’s Houthi group yesterday threatened to target oil sites as well as oil tankers in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea and some Arab countries with missiles, including Egypt and Sudan.

18 June 2019; MEMO: Israel’s Supreme Court yesterday gave the green light for the state to demolish 13 apartment blocks built in “Area A” of the occupied West Bank, but which now lie inside the route of the illegal Separation Wall.

According to Haaretz, Palestinians say that the ruling “sets a precedent that will enable the demolition of thousands of buildings in the West Bank”.