In Qatar and Kuwait, not wearing a sanitary mask could land you in prison, according to new mandates issued by the Persian Gulf states to curb the spread of the Chinese coronavirus, Middle Eastern news site Al-Monitor reported Monday.
Iran shrugged off U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments about naval confrontation in the contested waters of the Persian Gulf, warning Wednesday a hard slap in the face awaits foreign perpetrators committing even “the merest violation” of the Islamic republic’s territory.
Major General Hossein Salami, top commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Thursday he has ordered Iranian military vessels to open fire if they feel threatened by ships from the “terrorist” U.S. Navy. The IRGC is itself a designated terrorist organization.
WASHINGTON — A group of 11 Iranian naval vessels made “dangerous and harassing” maneuvers near U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf near Kuwait on Wednesday, in one case passing within 10 yards (meters) of a Coast Guard cutter, American officials said.
(AFP) — British police said Saturday they were reviewing an investigation into the disappearance of the ruler of Dubai’s daughter after a court found that she had been abducted by her father.
Japan despatched a navy destroyer to the Middle East on Sunday for a rare overseas mission to help ensure the safe passage of shipping transiting the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Bab el-Mandeb.
The United Kingdom defended the actions of the Trump administration in Iran, saying the United States is “entitled to defend itself” against Iranian aggression and deploying the Royal Navy to the Persian Gulf to protect shipping vessels flying the British
U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision not to be drawn into military conflict with Iran was attacked by France’s defense minister on Saturday, with Florence Parly lamenting the absence of an American military response in the oil-rich region.
A U.S. aircraft carrier strike group transited the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, after it was ordered by the White House to rapidly deploy to the Mideast to meet heightened threats from Iran.
A senior official is confirmed to attend a security conference in Bahrain on Monday, a source in the Gulf country told The Times of Israel, in the latest significant sign of warming ties between parts of the Arab world and Israel.
Two missiles struck an Iranian tanker traveling through the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia on Friday, Iranian officials said, the latest incident in the region amid months of heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S.
(AFP) — The British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero docked in Dubai on Saturday after sailing from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas where it was held for more than two months, according to pool footage and a tracking website.
The presence of foreign naval and land forces creates “insecurity” in the Gulf and they should “stay away”, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday, issuing his warning after the U.S. ordered the deployment of more troops to the troubled region.
Saudi Arabia said Wednesday it joined Australia, Bahrain and the United Kingdom in a US-led maritime coalition to secure the Mideast’s waterways amid threats from Iran after an attack targeting its crucial oil industry.
Australia will join the United States and the UK in an international maritime coalition protecting oil tankers and cargo ships from threats posed by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday.
The United Kingdom’s Royal Navy and the United States Navy are launching a joint task force to patrol the Strait of Hormuz, weeks after a British vessel was captured by Iranian gunboats in the strategic waterway.
Iran in recent days captured the third foreign tanker in the Persian Gulf in less than a month amid intensifying tensions with the United States, Iranian state media reported over the weekend.
Iran seized another foreign-flagged oil tanker on Sunday morning for allegedly “smuggling fuel” to unspecified Arab states, local state media reports.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, has fired a shot across the bows of Angela Merkel’s government over its refusal to participate in a mission to protect shipping from Iranian aggression, highlighting how much Americans have sacrificed for the European country.
The Iranian navy on Tuesday rejected “false and incorrect” reports Iran and Russia will hold a joint naval drill in the Persian Gulf within the next few months.
New British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “familiarity” with Iran will help improve relations between the Islamic Republic and Britain, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday.
A Royal Navy warship has arrived in the Persian Gulf ready to accompany British-flagged ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz in the latest escalation of regional tensions after Iran seized a British tanker this month.
Iran on Sunday slammed as “hostile” a UK push for a European-led naval mission to escort tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, amid heightened tensions over the seizure of foreign-flagged vessels.
Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, a deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said in a speech on Tuesday that his organization is stronger than ever after the U.S. government designated it a foreign terrorist organization.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Tuesday that sanctions will be imposed on China’s Zhuhai Zhenrong Company and chief executive Youmin Li for purchasing Iranian oil in defiance of U.S. sanctions.
Nigel Farage has warned of the depth of pro-European Union feeling at the top of the Conservative Party, as it was revealed the government had turned down U.S. military assistance with Iran in preference to participation in a European maritime force in the Persian Gulf.
The United States reportedly offered to organise a joint naval security operation to protect British shipping in the Persian Gulf, but Theresa May turned it down because she “didn’t want to upset the Iranians” or the EU.
British Prime Minister Theresa May will chair an emergency security session on Monday to discuss how to respond to Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – A powerful council in Iran said Saturday the country’s seizure of a British oil tanker in the strategic Strait of Hormuz was in response to Britain’s role in impounding an Iranian supertanker two weeks earlier.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump backed the United Kingdom after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, saying the Islamic Republic is in “big trouble”.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced the seizure of a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
After a week of insisting it merely assisted a vessel in distress by bringing it to a safe harbor, Iran on Thursday admitted its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States – seized a foreign oil tanker and took its crew prisoner.
Britain’s Royal Navy is increasing the size of its deployment in the Persian Gulf, with preparations underway to send another warship and an auxiliary support vessel to the region following the attempted hijacking of a British merchantman by Iranian gunboats.
The Western nuclear agreement with Iran “isn’t dead yet,” British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Monday, stressing he remains “totally committed” to deescalating tensions in the Persian Gulf.
BRUSSELS — European Union nations were looking to deescalate tensions in the Persian Gulf area on Monday and call on Iran to stick to the 2015 nuclear deal, despite the pullout of the United States from the accord and the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions on Tehran.
The UK has brought forward deployment plans for the destroyer HMS Duncan and is rushing it to the disputed Gulf region, the Ministry of Defence confirmed Friday.
Iran should consider seizing a British oil tanker in retaliation for UK authorities detaining an Iranian ship off the Gibraltar coast, a former leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Friday.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an emergency order on Thursday night banning some U.S.-based air carriers from flying through Iranian airspace, including parts of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Several international carriers quickly announced precautions of their own.
TEL AVIV – Israeli intelligence has joined the U.S.’s accusations that Iran carried out Thursday’s attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, an Israeli TV report claimed over the weekend, citing senior intelligence officials.
Force met by force meant Iran decided to “step back and recalculate” after readying to attack U.S. naval assets in the Persian Gulf, the top commander of American forces in the Mideast said Thursday.