Middle East diplomacy

The U.S. military presence in the Middle East was dismissed Sunday as its “weakest in history” by a deputy commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

Baghdad is ready to step forward and act as a peacemaker between the United States and Iran if asked, Iraq’s parliament speaker said Saturday.

The British government has raised the threat level for military and diplomatic staff operating in a number of Gulf states including Iraq over tensions with Iran, in a move that follows the withdrawal of non-essential staff from Iraq by the U.S. government. 

The U.S. Embassy in Iraq confirmed Wednesday the State Department has ordered all non-essential, non-emergency government staff to leave the country immediately as tensions with neighbouring Iran increase.

A U.S. Navy force gathering in the Persian Gulf could be entirely destroyed with just one missile, an Iranian cleric warned late Friday.

Turkey on Sunday dismissed U.S. sanction threats and said it would not renege on a pledge to Moscow to purchase its advanced missile systems.

TEL AVIV – Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner on Tuesday said previously attempts to broker a two-state solution had “failed” and the long-anticipated “deal of the century” would be different.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill labeling U.S. forces in the Middle East as terrorist, a day after the U.S. terrorism designation for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard formally took effect, state TV reported.

Syria’s SANA state news agency celebrated on Sunday the few dozen protesters who gathered in Druze villages in the Golan on Saturday.

TEL AVIV – Israeli officials slammed the European Union over its “shameful” rejection of Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights, despite President Donald Trump signing an order of recognition earlier this week.

Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights will not be recognized or sanctioned by the European Union (E.U.) , despite the U.S. policy reversal on the disputed territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the exceptionalism of US-Israel relations as he headed early Sunday morning to Washington, where he will meet with US President Donald Trump and deliver an address at AIPAC’s annual Policy Conference two weeks before Israeli elections.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday dismissed a much-hyped new trade mechanism launched by European countries to bypass renewed U.S. sanctions as a “bitter joke” driven by “suit-wearing savages” disguised as E.U. leaders.

Iran on Wednesday denied reports in Israel that it had hacked election candidate Benny Gantz’s cellphone, accusing the Jewish state of spreading false claims to stoke “Iranophobia.”

Sustained anti-Israel bigotry that has become a feature of the deliberations of the U.N. Human Rights Council was called out Monday by Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany.

Iranians have been urged to put a curse on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, with Iran’s president reiterating his long-standing charge on Monday that the U.S. and its allies are solely responsible for the country’s ailing economy.

TEL AVIV – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “twist the ear” of his son Yair to punish him for calling Istanbul by its former name of Constantinople. “You should twist the

Iran’s navy is ready to begin an annual drill in the strategic Strait of Hormuz as the re-imposed United States sanctions against the Islamic republic, targeting its vital oil sector, begin to bite.

Iran’s foreign minister said Sunday that Jerusalem is “looking for war” and that the behavior of Israel and the United States was increasing the prospects of a conflict.

The Arab League announced on Monday that they have not yet reached a consensus on reinstating membership for Syria, which they froze out of the League in 2011 at the dawn of its brutal civil war. Discussions about reinstating Syria will evidently continue.

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria and Iran signed 11 agreements and memoranda of understanding late Monday, including a “long-term strategic economic cooperation” deal aimed at strengthening cooperation between Damascus and one of its key allies in the civil war that has torn the country apart.

Israel is moving full steam ahead with its efforts toward foreign recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s official capital.

A Palestinian-American man who last month was sentenced to life in prison by a Palestinian Authority court for attempting to sell land to Jews has been released and handed over to the Americans, the Kan broadcaster reported Thursday.

TEHRAN, Iran — The shah of Iran’s last refuge before fleeing his country in 1979 was a palatial estate nestled against the Alborz Mountains — a place no Iranian ever dreamed of visiting.

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday warned Iran to “get out of Syria” unless it wanted to continue being attacked by Israel.

TEL AVIV – President Donald Trump threatened Turkey Sunday that he would “devastate it economically” if it attacks Kurdish troops following the US’ withdrawal from Syria.

Jordanian King Abdullah II met Iraqi President Barham Saleh in Baghdad on Monday, according to state television, in the monarch’s first trip to Iraq in more than a decade.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that a rift between Qatar and its Gulf Arab neighbors had gone on for too long and was threatening regional unity needed to counter Iran.

BEIRUT — He has survived eight years of war and billions of dollars in money and weapons aimed at toppling him. Now Syrian President Bashar Assad is poised to be readmitted to the fold of Arab nations, a feat once deemed unthinkable as he forcefully crushed the uprising against his family’s rule.

Doha — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Qatar on Sunday pushing for an end to a diplomatic rift between Washington’s Gulf allies on the latest leg of his Middle East tour.