UAE

DUBAI (Reuters) - Gulf stocks fell sharply in late afternoon trade on Sunday, with Kuwaiti and Saudi stocks leading losses.

Shares of oil giant Aramco (2222.SE), which listed last month in a record initial public offering (IPO), fell 1.7% to hit the lowest level since it started trading on Dec 11.

Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Tehran’s overseas military operations was killed on Friday in a U.S. drone strike on his convoy at Baghdad airport.

The killing is seen by Tehran as an act of war that risks regional conflagration.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will be more determined to resist the United States, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Friday, in response to the killing of Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, Iranian state television reported.

“Soleimani’s martyrdom will make Iran more decisive to resist America’s expansionism and to defend our Islamic values. With no doubt, Iran and other freedom-seeking countries in the region will take his revenge,” said Rouhani in a statement.

DUBAI (Reuters) - A top Iranian commander said on Thursday that Iran was not moving toward a war but was not afraid of any conflict, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported after U.S. President Donald Trump said Tehran was behind anti-U.S. protests in Iraq.

Trump accused Iran of orchestrating demonstrations at the U.S. embassy in Iraq on Tuesday and said Tehran would be held responsible. Iran has rejected the accusation.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei strongly condemned U.S. attacks on Iran-allied militia group in Iraq, Iranian state TV reported on Wednesday, blaming the United States for the violence in the neighbouring country.

“The Iranian government, nation and I strongly condemn the attacks,” state TV quoted Khamenei as saying.

The U.S. military carried out air strikes on Sunday against the Kataib Hezbollah militia in response to the killing of a U.S. civilian contractor in a Friday rocket attack on an Iraqi military base.

DUBAI (Reuters) - A missile fired by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group struck a military parade in Yemen’s southern separatist-held town of al-Dhalea, killing at least five people and injuring others, Yemen’s Security Belt forces said on Sunday.

No claim of responsibility was made and Houthi media did not immediately comment on the blast or accusation.

The Security Belt forces are part of a southern separatist front in south Yemen. At the same time, they are backed by the United Arab Emirates in a fight against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group.

DUBAI (Reuters) - A Saudi Arabian court sentenced on Sunday a man accused of stabbing three performers at a live show in the capital Riyadh in November to death, state television said.

Another man on trial for the same incident was sentenced to 12 and a half years, al-Ekhbariya television said.

The Nov. 11 attack occurred at King Abdullah Park, one of several venues hosting a months-long entertainment festival as part of government efforts to open up Saudi society and diversify its economy away from oil.

DUBAI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Iran, China and Russia began joint naval drills on Friday in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman, in what Moscow said was an unprecedented exercise in naval cooperation and training.

Waters around Iran have become a focus for international tensions, with the United States exerting pressure for Iranian crude oil sales and other trade ties to be cut off.

27 Dec 2019; MEMO: In a rare display of public opinion in Dubai, a small demonstration has been held to protest against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial citizenship law passed earlier this month.

Writer and human rights activist Iyad El-Baghdadi pointed out that the protestors could potentially be deported by the UAE authorities due to the fact that political demonstrations are outlawed in the country.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian authorities have shut down mobile internet access to overseas sites in several provinces, an Iranian news agency reported on Wednesday, a day before new protests called for on social media.

Social media posts and some relatives of people killed in unrest last month over hikes in gasoline prices have called for renewed protests and commemoration ceremonies for the dead on Thursday.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi ARAMCO said on Wednesday a new agreement between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait paves the way for the resumption of oil production in the Neutral (partitioned) Zone shared by the two countries.

Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah signed on Tuesday an agreement and a memorandum of understanding in Kuwait, state news agency KUNA said.