Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran will break the uranium stockpile limit set by Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in the next 10 days, the spokesman for the country’s atomic agency said Monday while also warning that Iran could enrich uranium up to 20% — just a step away from weapons-grade levels.

The announcement by Behrouz Kamalvandi, timed for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, puts more pressure on Europe to come up with new terms for Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal.

JERUSALEM, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Israel's government inaugurated on Sunday a new settlement in the annexed Golan Heights named after the country's close ally, U.S. President Donald Trump.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a sign with the name of the settlement, Ramat Trump, or "Trump Heights," in Hebrew.

The ceremony was held as part of a special cabinet meeting at the site, attended by senior ministers, officials with the Golan Heights regional council, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

TEHRAN, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Iran will release "important" details about the measures it has taken after recent suspension of some of its commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal, Press TV reported on Sunday.

On Monday, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) would release "very important information" regarding the "limitless increase of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile" as well as measures it has taken to prepare for the second phase of the scaling back of its obligations, according to the report.

ANKARA, June 16. /TASS/: One of Turkey’s military observation points has come under a mortar shelling in Idlib in northern Syria, the Turkish National Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"A deliberate mortar shelling of our observation point number nine in the Idlib de-escalation zone was carried out from the Tall Bazan region, which is under the control of the Syrian regime [of President Bashar Assad]," the ministry said.

TASS, June 16: The Syrian troops backed by militias from the National Defense Forces have seized Tell Maleh strategic heights in the northwest of the Hama Governorate, the Al-Masdar news portal has reported.

According to the portal, during the offensive operation the forces defeated terrorists from the Jabhat Al-Nusra (terror group, outlawed in Russia) and returned the heights under their control.

The Syrian troops have also liberated the Al Jebin settlement, thus restoring control over a highway between the towns of Mharde and Sukeylabiya.

ANKARA, June 16. /TASS/: The supplies of Russia’s S-400 missile defense systems to Ankara will begin in the first half of July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters after returning from the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

"We discussed with Russia the S-400 issue, this is a closed chapter. There haven’t been any problems. I think the supplies will begin in the first half of July," Erdogan said, according to the NTV TV channel.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — The top U.S. diplomat to Africa said there must be an “independent and credible” investigation into the Sudanese military’s violent dispersal of a protest camp in the capital earlier this month, as the ruling military council failed to announce the findings of its own investigation on Saturday as promised.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Latest on developments in the Persian Gulf (all times local):

5:55 p.m.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is stressing diplomacy in responding to suspected attacks on oil tankers near a Middle East shipping route and says American officials are reaching out to their foreign counterparts.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in remarks published Sunday that the kingdom will not hesitate to confront threats to its security and joined the U.S. in accusing its bitter rival Iran of being behind the attacks on two vessels traveling near the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade route for Arabian energy exports in Asia.

16 June 2019; AFP: An Israeli court Sunday convicted the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of fraudulently using state funds for meals, under a plea bargain which saw her admit to lesser charges.

Sara Netanyahu was found guilty of exploiting the mistake of another person and ordered to pay a fine and compensation, in a deal approved by Jerusalem magistrates' court justice Avital Chen.