Quote (Ghot @ 10 Jul 2018 19:43)

Maybe this will get thing moving. The Iran deal was a mistake, and should be fixed. Let's hope that after the summit everyone will see each other's point of view a bit more clearly.

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ANKARA/LONDON (Reuters) - The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said last week that Tehran would block all exports through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if countries heed U.S. calls to stop buying Iranian oil from November.

A fifth of global oil consumption passes through the Strait from Middle East crude producers to major markets.

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(Reuters) - Iran has built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, the head of its atomic agency said on Wednesday, upping the stakes in a confrontation with Washington over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear work.

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Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the new factory did not in itself break the terms of the agreement.

“Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but did not start it,” Salehi, said, according to state media.

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ERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel passed a law on Thursday to declare that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country, something members of the Arab minority called racist and verging on apartheid.

Quote (Ghot @ Jul 19 2018 03:08pm)

Israel adopts divisive Jewish nation-state law

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-politics-law/israel-adopts-divisive-jewish-nation-state-law-idUSKBN1K901V




This should be interesting.
My initial gut feeling is that Israel should not be criticized for doing this. I guess it all depends on how we define self-determination.

Quote (Plaguefear @ Jul 19 2018 02:25am)

Trust you to support apartheid.

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The rescue workers and their families crossed out of Syria into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights before arriving in Jordan. Israel said it had helped with the evacuation at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders - and there had been fears that the workers’ lives were at risk.

The Syrian government has accused the White Helmets, also known as the Syrian Civil Defence, of being agents of foreign enemies and working with insurgents fighting President Bashar al-Assad.

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JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel launched its newest air defense system on Monday on the Syrian frontier, where Damascus’s Russian-backed forces have been routing rebels, as Moscow sent envoys for what it called “urgent” talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu planned to meet Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and its armed forces chief, General Valery Gerasimov, later in the day, a visit the Israeli leader said was arranged last week at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Israel has been on high alert as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regains ground from southern rebels, bringing his forces close to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak met Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh in Moscow on Monday and discussed energy cooperation between the two countries and through OPEC, Russia’s Energy Ministry said.

The two ministers also discussed the possibility of Russian oil companies taking part in projects in Iran, the ministry said in a statement.

Quote (Ghot @ Jul 19 2018 05:27pm)

I'm not sure it IS apartheid. The country does belong to Israel.

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Turkey depends on imports for almost all of its energy needs. In the first four months of this year, Turkey bought more than 3 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran, almost 55 percent of its total crude supplies, according to data from the Turkish energy watchdog (EPDK).

Ties between Ankara and Washington, NATO allies, have been strained over a host of issues including several legal cases.

A Turkish court last week ruled to keep American pastor Andrew Brunson in jail, in a case that has deepened existing rifts and jeopardized the procurement of Lockheed Martin F-35 jets by Turkey.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill last month including a measure that prohibits Turkey from buying the jets because of Brunson’s imprisonment and Turkey’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense system, which are incompatible with NATO systems.

Cavusoglu, however, said there were no issues with the procurement of the jets and the United States could not exclude Turkey from the project.

“The United States needs to understand that it is not possible to get a result from Turkey through sanctions. They will see results if they approach Turkey with dialogue and respect,” he said.

“We will not bow down to such pressures, sanctions or threats. Everyone will get used to the new Turkey.”