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Oman announced on Wednesday that it will open an embassy in the Palestinian territories in support of the Palestinian people, AFP reports. The announcement coincided with the US-led economic workshop in Bahrain in which the Trump administration unveiled the economic portion of its Middle East peace plan. "In continuation of Oman's support for the Palestinian people, the Sultanate of Oman has decided to open a diplomatic mission at the level of embassy in the State of Palestine," the foreign ministry said on Twitter. A delegation from the ministry will travel to Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, to take...

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday tweeted a warning to US President Donald Trump. "Misconceptions endanger peace," he warned. "Sanctions aren't alternative to war; they ARE war. 'Obliteration'=genocide=war crime. 'Short war' with Iran is an illusion." Last week, Trump sent Iran an ultimatum, setting a deadline for the start of negotiations and warning that if Iran refuses to talk, the US will attack for the downing of an American surveillance drone.On Monday, Trump announced additional sanctions against Iran, which he said were retaliation for the downed drone, and on Tuesday he warned that "any attack on anything American...

Egypt says 7 policemen killed in Sinai attack Four gunmen also killed in the attack on police near the regional capital El Arish. 26 Jun 2019 Seven Egyptian policemen were killed in an attack claimed by the ISIL armed group in restive North Sinai. Egypt's interior ministry said the attack late Tuesday near the regional capital El Arish targeted an "assembly centre" for police, adding that an officer was among the dead. Four fighters, including a suicide bomber, also died during clashes following the attack, the ministry said. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group claimed responsibility,...

A widespread internet outage in Iran was reported by NetBlocks on Wednesday night. International connectivity registered as low as 65% of normal levels during the night. Many of Iran's internet providers were affected by the outage, according to NetBlocks, a non-governmental organization that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance.

Hamas has a “sleeper agent” inside the United Nations refugee organization in the Holy Land who is able to use the agency as a resource for the Islamic terrorist organization. The Hamas member, Amir al-Mashal, is the head of the employees union for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, known as UNRWA, according to Israel’s Tazpit Press Service, or TPS.

The news of the day concerns Iran, a country that shot down a hundred-million-dollar American drone in international airspace… and the question of how the United States should respond to such an act of war. This occurred a week after the same country attacked foreign-flagged oil tankers sailing in international waters. And a week before that? And the week before that? Well, this country – Iran, as ruled by the mullahs who have run it since 1979 – has been spreading terrorism all over the world, developing client states around the middle east, and declaring itself to be at war...

Iran delivered half a ton of explosives in diplomatic suitcases to Paris for jihad terror attack JUN 25, 2019 11:00 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER This is the regime that the Democrats are eagerly working with in order to undermine the President of the United States. “Iran attempted attack in Paris, half a ton of explosives found – report,” by Yasser Okbi, Jerusalem Post, June 24, 2019: Half a ton of explosives was brought to Paris in a diplomatic suitcases in order to carry out a terror attack, before being foiled by French authorities, it was reported in the British media....

President Hassan Rouhani, who normally presents Tehran’s mild-mannered face, called White House policy “mentally retarded.”...A spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said that one of those deadlines would expire on Thursday, with Iran potentially exceeding a limit imposed under the deal to keep its stockpile of enriched uranium below 300 kg. The IRIB news agency quoted spokesman Behrouz Kamalvindi as saying that after the deadline Iran would speed up its rate of producing the material. Another threshold bars Iran from enriching uranium to a purity beyond 3.67 percent fissile material. It has set a deadline of July 7 after which...

When the U.S> launched cyberstrikes at Iran's missile control systems in response to an Iranian shoot down of a U.S. drone near the Gulf of Oman, it surprised pundits. Donald Trump was widely expected by the press to bomb something in return. The political left was unprepared for the possibility that Trump would not run true to their stereotype. The Gulf of Oman was already being compared to the Gulf of Tonkin. "From the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor in 1898 to the U.S.S. Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964, maritime incidents, shrouded in the fog of uncertainty,...

The recent oil tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman reinforce the need to reestablish a highly visible U.S. naval deterrent in the Middle East.For eight months last year, no aircraft carrier strike group plied the region, the longest such interruption this millennium. With the United States needing a tougher posture against Iran and confronting renewed challenges in Asia and Europe, several immediate measures and concerted longer-term efforts are critical to ensure America has the carriers it needs.

A new round of U.S. economic sanctions targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials meant a “permanent closure” of diplomacy now exists between Tehran and Washington, the Islamic Republic warned Tuesday.

TEL AVIV – In a rare interview with a Hebrew-language newspaper, a senior Saudi diplomat said it was time the Arab world realized that the “age of war with Israel” is over. The diplomat, who declined to be named, slammed the Palestinian leadership for “irresponsibly” panning the Trump administration’s long-anticipated peace deal without even seeing it. “The bloody conflict has dragged on for too long. For us the Saudis, as well as for all the Gulf states, Egypt and Jordan, it is clear that the age of war with Israel has ended and that normalizing relations will only benefit us,”...

Islamabad/Doha: Cash-strapped Pakistan on Monday secured a bailout package of $3 billionThe Gulf state is the fourth nation that has come forward to rescue Pakistan from default during past 11 months as the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan tries to overcome a ballooning balance-of-payments crisis.Earlier, China gave $4.6 billion in shape of deposits and commercial loans and Saudi Arabia provided $3 billion cash deposit and $3.2 billion oil facility on deferred payments. The United Arab Emirates also provided $2 billion cash deposit."The Qatari-Pakistani economic partnership will amount to $9 billion. Qatar affirms its aspiration for further development in the...

The president disputed Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) assertion that he would need congressional approval for any “hostilities” against Iran. "I disagree," he said. "Most people seem to disagree." "They have ideas. They’re intelligent people. They'll come up with some thoughts," Trump said, referring to lawmakers. "I actually learned a couple of things the other day when we had our meeting with Congress."

A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a tweet Tuesday that the new U.S. sanctions that target Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other officials close any channel for diplomacy between the two countries "forever."...Trump said the sanctions “will deny the supreme leader and the supreme leader's office and those closely affiliated with him and the office access to key financial resources and support.”

First, take a deep breath. Now take a look at the Wall Street Journal. The otherwise fine newspaper editorially on Saturday blasted President Trump. For what? For not killing Iranians and blowing up Iranian targets to show how super our American power is. The president acted humanely and rationally, weighing proportionality in response to Iran’s downing of our spy drone over international waters (we say) or Iranian waters (they say). The WSJ, of course, is an authority on the subject of territoriality and sovereignty and the respect thereof. The newspaper for years insisted that the United States should have no...

The US move to reimpose sanctions on Iran and choke off the last remaining sources of Tehran's oil revenue has crippled the Iranian economy. For many ordinary Iranians, it's becoming increasingly hard to get by. US President Donald Trump has slapped fresh sanctions on Iran as part of his "maximum pressure" campaign against the Middle Eastern nation. Trump's executive order on Monday targeted none other than Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his associates with financial sanctions. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Trump's order will lock up billions of additional dollars in Iranian assets. Tehran and Washington are...

RUSH: Donald Trump recently, President Trump just signed really, really, really Draconian sanctions against Iran, including sanctions that will deny the supreme leader, the head mullah, the grand pooh-bah ayatollah, will deny him access to financial instruments. We have sanctions that are so pinpoint, they’re aimed at a guy, the supreme leader of Iran. And Trump, just I mean moments ago, signed this executive order. There’s video of it happening right now. That’s pretty precision point when you deny the grand pooh-bah access to his financial instruments. Meaning, it’s gonna be tough for the guy to move money around and...

President Trump called reporters into the Oval Office to announce he was signing an executive order imposing new sanctions against Iran. Trump called the sanctions, which will target the financial resources of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, “hard-hitting." “We will continue to increase pressure on Tehran,” Trump said Monday. “Never can Iran have a nuclear weapon.”He said the executive order “will deny the supreme leader and the supreme leader’s office and those closely affiliated with him and the office access to key financial resources.”

#FAA Statement: The FAA has issued a Notice to Airmen (#NOTAM) prohibiting U.S.-registered aircraft from operating over the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. The NOTAM applies to all U.S. air carriers and commercial operators.