Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, Jul 11 (NNN-IRNA) – The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), announced yesterday that, it started the extraction of 20 percent enriched uranium from the Fordow enrichment facility in central Iran, state TV reported.

On Saturday, “20 percent enriched uranium was extracted from the new chain of centrifuges, which were installed and fed with gas, in Fordow two weeks ago,” Behrouz Kamalvandi told IRIB TV in an interview.

RIYADH, Jul 9 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabia announced yesterday, its health services were running at full capacity, to ensure the health and safety of pilgrims during the ongoing Hajj season.

Health Minister, Fahad bin Abdulrahman Al-Jalajel, said, pilgrims at Saudi Arabia’s Mount Arafat, a hill about 20 kilometres south-east of Mecca, that hosted an important ritual of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, were in good health condition.

TEHRAN, July 11 (Xinhua) -- An Iranian lawmaker said on Monday that the Western sanctions on Iran and Russia have brought the two sides closer to each other in trade and economy, official news agency IRNA reported.

Iran and Russia are providing one another with the products they fail to have access to because of sanctions, said Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.

RAMALLAH, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming visit of U.S. President Joe Biden to Israel and the Palestinian territories won't make any "serious breakthrough" in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Palestinian analysts said.

The Biden administration is not serious about finding political solutions to the Palestinian cause and tries to focus on improving the economic conditions of the Palestinians while maintaining Israel's grip over Palestinian security, they said.

11 July 2022; MEMO: The Biden administration is discussing the possible lifting of its ban on US sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, but any final decision is expected to hinge on whether Riyadh makes progress toward ending the war in neighbouring Yemen, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

10 July 2022; MEMO: The UAE's President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has pledged $25 million in support of the Al-Makassed Hospital in Palestine's occupied East Jerusalem to expand its medical supplies services.

According to the Gulf Times, the pledge comes as part of the Gulf state's "ongoing efforts to support Palestinian healthcare institutions, and to meet the needs of the Palestinian people."

10 July 2022; MEMO: Iran on Saturday decried a plan by the US and Israel to form a security alliance with Arab states to counter Tehran as "provocative," saying it would fuel regional tensions, Anadolu reports.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani, reacting to reports about the proposed plan, said Iran looks at it as "a threat to national and regional security."

10 July 2022; MEMO: Around 1 million Muslims in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia completed the Hajj and became pilgrims on Saturday, Anadolu reports.

Spending the day in prayers on the plains of Arafah and then arriving at Muzdalifah, Muslims took part in the symbolic "stoning of the devil" at Jamrat al-Aqaba.

Muslims performed Tawaf al-Ziyarah – the ritual of walking back and forth seven times between the two small hills of Safa and Marwa.

11 July 2022; MEMO: It was humanity, conscience, and compassion that was buried in Srebrenica 27 years ago, Turkey's first lady said on Monday, the 27th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, Anadolu Agency reports.

"We will not forget either the cry of the Bosniak mothers nor the children who watched the murderous expulsion of their fathers. I commemorate our brothers and sisters who lost their lives in the genocide with mercy," Emine Erdogan said.

TEHRAN, July 10 (Xinhua) -- The United States seeks to erode the negotiations that aim to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), by imposing new sanctions against Iran, an Iranian senior lawmaker said on Sunday.