Syrian government forces on Wednesday closed in on a rebel-held town in Idlib that was bombed with sarin in 2017, sources on both sides said, building on their Russian-backed gains since the collapse of a ceasefire this month. The advance towards Khan Sheikhoun threatens to encircle the last remaining pocket of rebel-held territory in neighbouring Hama province, including the towns of Morek, Kafr Zeita and Latamneh. Russian-backed Syrian government forces seized new positions from rebels to the west of the town of Khan Sheihkoun, rebel sources and state media said. A rebel commander said the town, in opposition hands since 2014, was in "great danger". Government forces were now 4 km (2.5 miles) from Khan Sheikhoun, Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said. The sarin gas attack on Khan Sheikhoun in 2017 killed dozens of people and prompted President Donald Trump to order a missile strike against the Syrian air base from where the United States said the attack had been launched. An investigation conducted by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the Syrian government was responsible for releasing sarin on the town on April 4, 2017. Damascus denies using such weapons. The northwestern Idlib region is part of the last major stronghold of the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad. The rebels that control it include the powerful jihadist group Tahrir al-Sham and Turkey-backed factions. Assad s side had struggled to make any gains in the area in an offensive that got under way in late April. But since the collapse of a brief ceasefire this month, it has managed to take several significant positions, including the town of al-Habeet on Saturday. The humanitarian adviser to the U.N. Special Envoy for Syria said the new surge in violence in the northwest threatened the lives of millions after more than 500 civilians were killed since late April.

Flights leaving Hong Kong were disrupted for a second day on Tuesday, plunging the former British colony deeper into turmoil as its stockmarket fell to a seven-month low, and its leader said it had been pushed into a state of "panic and chaos". The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also urged Hong Kong to exercise restraint and investigate evidence of its forces firing tear gas at protesters in ways banned under international law.

Twenty-one individuals have submitted their applications as candidates in early presidential elections in Tunisia, though as the deadline for submitting applications approaches tomorrow the country’s heavyweights are waiting for the last minute to make their decisions known. The Islamist Ennahda Movement, which won the country’s first free legislative elections in 2011 after the ouster of former president Zein Al-Abidine bin Ali, indicated that it might field a candidate, but up until Al-Ahram Weekly went to press its shura council, or executive committee, had not yet resolved the issue. In a recent interview with the US channel Bloomberg, Ennahda’s leader Rachid Ghannouchi, 78, said he or another senior member might seek the presidency if a power-sharing deal with the current prime minister could not be reached. Tunisian premier Youssef Chahed is expected to announce his presidential bid soon. “We’re on the verge of talks with Chahed. If we find a consensus, that would be good,” Ghannouchi said. “If we don’t find a consensus, there will be a candidate,” whom he said could be either him or Ennahda’s Vice President Abdel-Fattah Mourou. “One can be a prime minister and another president, and then there is the parliament,” he said, describing three leadership roles that could be shared. Ennahda could make the decision as early as Saturday, he told Bloomberg. The once-banned Islamist Movement formed the Ennahda Party following Tunisia’s revolution which triggered the Arab Spring. Eight years later, Tunisia remains the only Arab country that has survived the political turmoil that has engulfed Libya, Egypt and Syria following their uprisings. It is also the only Arab country where the Islamist movements are part of the political process and have ministers in the government. Following the 2013-2014 political crisis in Tunisia where secular fears of the Islamisation of the state were exacerbated following the assassination of two secular politicians, Ennahda stepped down after a new constitution was implemented in 2014. In the October 2014 general elections, Ennahda came in second with 27.79 per cent of the vote, forming a coalition government with Nidaa Tunis, the largest secular party. But it did not offer or endorse a candidate in the November 2014 presidential elections. Nidaa Tunis’ leader Beji Caid Essebsi, who won the presidential elections, died at the age of 92 last month. He had said that he was not planning to run for a second term in the scheduled November 2019 presidential elections. His death led to the advance of the election day to mid-September. Former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki said he was considering running for the presidency for the second time based on his party’s nomination. “My party has decided to nominate me for the presidency, and I am in the last stages of discussion. I will announce my final decision on Wednesday,” Marzouki said on Monday in statements reported by the Tunisian radio station Mosaïque FM. Tunisia’s Independent Higher Authority for Elections (ISIE) announced that 21 candidates have submitted their applications thus far. The campaigns are scheduled to run from 2 to 13 September, with the preliminary results announced two days after the polls. Tunisia’s electoral law stipulates that a candidate must receive 10 recommendations from MPs, or 40 from mayors, or 10,000 from the voters in at least 10 constituencies, in order to be considered. Should Ennahda field a candidate in the elections, it will be a turning point in the North African country’s political landscape and will likely antagonise other Arab countries where Islamist movements are either banned or designated as terrorist groups. In the Bloomberg interview, Ghannouchi attempted to quell such fears. “We’ve exited the concept of Political Islam. Islam here is tied to freedoms. Whatever contradicts freedom is not Islamic. And Islam is tied to the nation state. We do not strive for a country that represents all Muslims, but only one that represents all Tunisians,” he said. “I always tell our friends in Arab countries that the Tunisian revolution is not an export commodity,” Ghannouchi said. “It is a commodity for domestic consumption. We don’t export revolution. We export olive oil.” *A version of this article appears in print in the 8 August, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Tunisia gears up for early elections

Israeli police fired sound grenades to disperse Palestinians during confrontations on Sunday outside Jerusalem s al-Aqsa mosque where tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers gathered for the Eid al-Adha holiday, witnesses said. A Palestinian ambulance service said that at least 14 Palestinians were taken to hospitals for treatment. Israel s Kan public radio said four police officers were injured. Facing off with police in the packed compound outside Islam s third-holiest site, Palestinians chanted "With our soul and blood we will redeem you, Aqsa". Scuffles ensued and the crowd fled as the sound grenades exploded and smoke wafted through the compound, witnesses said. Revered by Jews as Temple Mount, the site of two biblical Jewish temples, and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, the area is one of the most sensitive sites in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tensions had mounted at the flashpoint complex at the start of Eid al-Adha as the holiday overlapped this year with the Jewish fast day of Tisha B Av, amid calls by Jewish nationalist and religious politicians for Jews to visit the holy compound. In a statement, police said they had deployed forces at the site in anticipation of disturbances and "dispersed rioters". It put the number of Muslim worshippers at the site at some 60,000. 1 Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization, accused Israel of provoking religious and political tension. "The storming of al-Aqsa mosque compound by Israeli occupation forces this Eid morning is an act of recklessness and aggression," she said in a statement. The compound is situated in a part of Jerusalem captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move that has not been recognised internationally. In an effort to avoid friction at the site, police barred the entry of non-Muslim visitors, including Jews, before the clashes erupted. After the confrontations died down, Jerusalem District Police Chief Doron Yedid said on Kan radio that he had lifted the ban. Jewish visitors then entered the area under heavy police guard and no serious violence was reported. Eid al-Adha commemorates God s testing of Abraham s faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son. Tisha B Av marks the destruction of the two temples.

The U.S. maritime agency has told U.S.-flagged commercial vessels they must send transit plans in advance to American and British naval authorities if they intend to sail in Gulf waters following a number of incidents over tankers involving Iran. The seizure of commercial vessels and attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz have unsettled shipping lanes that link Middle Eastern oil producers to global markets. The United States, which has increased its military forces in the region, has blamed Iran for blasts on several tankers near the Strait, a charge Tehran denies. "Heightened military activity and increased political tensions in this region continue to pose serious threats to commercial vessels," the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) said in an advisory on Wednesday. Ships should also alert the U.S. Navy s Fifth Fleet and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations in the event of any incident or suspicious activity. It warned they could face interference to their global positioning systems (GPS). Britain said on Monday it was joining the United States in a maritime security mission in the Gulf to protect merchant vessels after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker. MARAD said in at least two incidents involving commercial vessels and Iran since May 2019 ships had reported interference with their GPS and "spoofed" communications from unknown entities falsely claiming to be U.S. or other warships. Traffic through the Strait has become the focus for a standoff between Iran and the United States after President Donald Trump last year quit a 2015 nuclear pact and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. Iran says the responsibility of securing these waters lies with Tehran and other countries in the region. Britain s P&O Cruises said it had cancelled cruises around Dubai and the Gulf because of the increased tensions.

Syrian state-run media say government forces have captured a northwestern village and are getting closer to the town of Kfar Zeita, which has been held by insurgents since 2012. The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said on Wednesday that troops captured Arbaeen the night before, following intense clashes with al-Qaida-linked militants. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, confirmed that Arbaeen was taken, adding that ``regime forces are at the gates of Kfar Zeita. Kfar Zeita is one of the largest towns in the northern parts of Hama province. It lies on the edge of Idlib, the last remaining major rebel stronghold in the country. On Monday, the Syrian army announced it s resuming an offensive on the rebel-held northwest, accusing insurgents of violating the latest truce there.

The United States warned Tuesday that any unilateral offensive by Turkey to remove a Kurdish militia in Syria would be "unacceptable" and vowed to step up talks to prevent such action. "Clearly we believe any unilateral action by them would be unacceptable," Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters in Tokyo on a trip through Asia. "And so what we are trying to do now is work out with them an arrangement to address their concerns and I am hopeful we will get there... what we are trying to do is prevent unilateral incursions," said Esper. Esper s comments came two days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to launch an operation in northern Syria east of the Euphrates River against the US-backed Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara views as a terrorist group. Last-ditch talks are ongoing between US defence officials and their Turkish counterparts aimed at creating a "safe zone" in northern Syria to keep the YPG away from Turkey s border. Washington has supported the YPG as the main fighting force against the Islamic State group in Syria. But Ankara sees it as an offshoot of the Kurdish PKK, which has fought a bloody separatist insurgency inside Turkey for the past 35 years. Turkey has so far been unimpressed with the details of the 30-kilometre (18-mile) US "safe zone" plan in Syria and has renewed threats to launch a cross-border offensive if the talks fail to reach a "satisfactory" conclusion. "We can only be patient for so long. That patience will come to an end," Erdogan said on Sunday. Turkish media has regularly shown images in recent weeks of military convoys heading for the border area, carrying equipment and fighting units. Turkey has twice carried out unilateral offensives into northern Syria against the Islamic State group and YPG, in 2016 and 2018 respectively. Aldar Khalil, a top Kurdish political official in northeast Syria, told AFP Monday that "Erdogan is serious and will embark on an attack at the first opportunity" against Kurdish fighters

India on Monday revoked the special status of Kashmir, the Himalayan region that has long been a flashpoint in ties with neighbouring Pakistan, as it moves to fully integrate its only Muslim-majority region with the rest of the country. In the most far-reaching political move in one of the world s most militarised regions in nearly seven decades, India said it would scrap a constitutional provision that allows its state of Jammu and Kashmir to make its own laws. "The entire constitution will be applicable to Jammu and Kashmir," Interior Minister Amit Shah told parliament, as opposition lawmakers voiced loud protests against the repeal. The government also lifted a ban on property purchases by non-residents, opening the way for Indians to invest and settle there, just as they can elsewhere in India, although the measure is likely to provoke a backlash in the region. Pakistan, which also claims Kashmir, said it strongly condemned the decision, which is bound to further strain ties between the nuclear-armed rivals. "As the party to this international dispute, Pakistan will exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps," its foreign ministry said in a statement. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, convulsed by a nearly 30-year armed revolt in which tens of thousands of people have died, with hundreds of thousands of Indian troops deployed to quell it. India blames that rebellion on Pakistan, which denies the accusation, saying that it backs the right to self-determination for Kashmir. There were no immediate details of Kashmiris reaction to the decisions by New Delhi. Hours earlier the Indian government launched a security crackdown in the region, arresting regional leaders and suspending telephone and internet services and restricting public movement in the main city of Srinagar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had pushed for radical political change in Kashmir even before he won re-election in May, saying its laws hindered integration with the rest of India. "Politically, it s advantage BJP," said Happymon Jacob, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in the Indian capital. "The scrapping of Article 370 of the constitution is likely to set off a slew of political, constitutional and legal battles, not to speak of the battles on the streets of Kashmir." Muscular approach Monday s move reflects Modi s muscular approach to national security. In February, he ordered war planes into Pakistan after a militant group based there claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a military convoy in Kashmir. That step, in turn, prompted a retaliatory raid by Pakistan. Introduced decades ago, the constitutional provisions reserved government jobs and college places for Kashmir s residents, among other limits aiming to keep people from other parts of the country from overrunning the state. The government has also decided to split the state into two federal territories, one formed by Jammu and Kashmir, and the other consisting of the enclave of Ladakh, citing internal security considerations. "Today marks the darkest day in Indian democracy," said one of the leaders placed under house arrest, Mehbooba Mufti, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. "It will have catastrophic consequences for the subcontinent," she said in a post on Twitter. India s interior ministry ordered all states to put security forces on "maximum alert" to maintain public order and quash the spread of any rumours. Ram Madhav, general secretary of Modi s BJP, hailed the government s actions as ushering in a "glorious day". In Modi s western home state of Gujarat, people shouted slogans of support on the streets. In Pakistani-controlled areas of the region, however, there was anger at India, with protests extending to the capital, Islamabad and the southern commercial centre of Karachi. In Muzaffarabad, 45 km (28 miles) from the two countries contested border, dozens of protesters held black flags and burnt car tyres, chanting "Down with India". Tension had risen in Kashmir since Friday, when Indian officials issued an alert over possible militant attacks by Pakistan-based groups. Pakistan rejected those assertions, but thousands of alarmed Indians left the region over the weekend.

Texas authorities are investigating the Saturday mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso as a possible hate crime, the city s police chief said, as authorities study an online manifesto linked to the suspect. A 21-year-old from Allen, a suburb of Dallas, surrendered to police outside the store after the rampage that left 20 people dead and 26 wounded. US media identified him as Patrick Crusius, who is white, and linked him to a "manifesto" posted online that includes passages railing against the "Hispanic invasion" of Texas. "Right now we have a manifesto from this individual that indicates to some degree he has a nexus to potential hate crime," El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said at a news conference. Veronica Escobar, who represents El Paso in Congress, said "the manifesto narrative is fueled by hate." "And it s fueled by racism and bigotry and division," she added, speaking at a press conference with El Paso Mayor Dee Margo and Texas Governor Greg Abbott. "El Paso has historically been a very safe community. We have been safe for decades. We will continue to be safe." "This is someone who came from outside our community to do us harm. A community that has shown nothing but generosity and kindness to the least among us. Those people arriving at America s front door," she said. El Paso, a nine-hour drive from the Dallas area, lies on the Rio Grande River that marks the US border with Mexico. It has a population of 680,000, of which 83 percent are of Hispanic descent, according to US census figures. The city averaged 18 murders a year over the past five years and has a significantly lower violent crime rate than similar-sized US cities. In recent months, El Paso has also become one of the busiest entry points for undocumented migrants, especially from Central America, seeking asylum in the United States. On weekends, the city attracts droves of shoppers from Mexico, including from its Mexican sister city Ciudad Juarez, population 1.5 million. Three of those killed on Saturday came from Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tweeted. And there are six Mexicans among the wounded, the country s foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard said. - AK-47 overheats - Crusius wrote that the attack "is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas," and made references to the Christchurch shootings in New Zealand, where a white gunman killed 51 mosque worshippers in March. Crusius claimed that he was "defending" his country "from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion." He also complained that the AK-47 rifle that he chose was "not designed to shoot rounds quickly, so it overheats massively after about 100 shots are fired in quick succession." To counter this, he said he d wear a heat-resistant glove. Crusius wrote that he probably spent less than a month preparing for the shooting. "I have to do this before I lose my nerve," he noted. Oddly, the document includes a rant against automation and corporate America. "The inconvenient truth is that our leaders, both Democrat AND Republican, have been failing us for decades," the document read. He then describes his death as "likely inevitable." "If I m not killed by the police, then I ll probably be gunned down by one of the invaders. "Capture in this case is far worse than dying during the shooting because I ll get the death penalty anyway," he wrote. El Paso police said there was no exchange of gunfire when Crusius was detained. CNN said the "manifesto" was posted to 8chan, a no-censorship site where other extremist manifestos have appeared.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog aims to name a new leader in October following the death last month of Yukiya Amano, its director general for the past decade. The International Atomic Energy Agency said as its board of governors met in Vienna Thursday that nominations for the job should be submitted by Sept. 5 and the new director general is expected to be appointed in October. The new leader should take office by Jan. 1. Cornel Feruta, a Romanian diplomat and the IAEA s chief coordinator, is serving as the acting director general pending the naming of a permanent successor to Amano. The Japanese diplomat, who died at age 72, was extensively involved in negotiations over Iran s nuclear program and the cleanup of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

Chinese and US negotiators held their first face-to-face talks Wednesday since agreeing to a trade war truce last month, but the short meeting in Shanghai was overshadowed by a Twitter tirade from President Donald Trump. Washington and Beijing have so far hit each other with punitive tariffs covering more than $360 billion in two-way trade in a row centred on demands for China to curb the alleged theft of American technology and provide a level playing field to US companies. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with Vice Premier Liu He Wednesday morning. The group then went behind closed doors for around four hours in the first face-to-face negotiations since Trump agreed to a truce with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in June following a breakdown a month earlier. The talks were relatively brief and the group emerged later, a little earlier than expected, for a group photo before the US trade officials left for the airport without speaking to reporters. Lighthizer and Mnuchin had arrived Tuesday and joined Chinese officials for dinner and informal discussions -- just as Trump took to Twitter to lambast what he said was a lack of willingness by Beijing to broker a fair deal. The US leader said Beijing was supposed to start buying US agricultural products but they had shown "no signs that they are doing so". "My team is negotiating with them now, but they always change the deal in the end to their benefit," Trump wrote Tuesday. "That is the problem with China, they just don t come through," he added. Trump had previously accused China of reneging on its commitments when talks broke down in May, and his tweets sent hopes of reconciliation tumbling. "Whatever shred of optimism markets had about the ongoing trade negotiations were dealt as a severe blow when President Trump flew off the handle again," said Stephen Innes, managing partner at VM Markets Singapore. A commentary in the Communist Party mouthpiece People s Daily on Wednesday complained that as the talks started, "the drums of some Americans struck again on the side, disturbing the main melody". Very far apart At a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday, a foreign ministry spokeswoman made it clear which side China saw as responsible for the ongoing trade impasse. "When one is ill it is useless to ask someone else to take the medicine," said Hua Chunying, when asked about the talks wrapping up in Shanghai. "I believe the US should show more sincerity and good faith when it comes to trade negotiations." Stephen Kirchner, programme director of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, told AFP it was clear that the two sides were "very far apart". "We can infer these talks were very preliminary, aimed at a refresh after the setback in May," he said. Days before the Shanghai meeting, Trump threatened to pull recognition of China s developing nation status at the World Trade Organization, which Beijing called "arrogance". Expectations were already low before the talks, and officials on both sides were keeping a low profile throughout their Shanghai trip. US trade negotiators entered and left their hotel on Shanghai s waterfront through side doors without going through public areas, and did not stop to speak to press or show their faces. Trump suggested Tuesday that Beijing was hoping to delay a deal until after the US presidential election in November 2020, saying China wanted to see if a Democratic opponent wins the vote so it could "continue to rip off the USA". "He (Trump) can t afford politically to step up and say I made a great deal with China when it s not a great deal," said Derek M. Scissors, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "So the most likely outcome is we get nothing until the election."

Hundreds of Hong Kong protesters blocked train services during the morning rush hour on Tuesday, causing commuter chaos in the latest anti-government campaign to roil the former British colony. What started three months ago as rallies against an extradition bill that would have allowed people in Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China for trial, has evolved into a wider backlash against the city s government and its political masters in Beijing. Protests have occurred almost daily, sometimes with little notice, disrupting business, piling pressure on the city s beleaguered government and stretching its police force, which some have accused of using excessive force. Activists blocked train doors, playing havoc with services and forcing hundreds of people to stream out of railway stations in search of alternative transport. "We don t know how long we are going to stay here, we don t have a leader, as you can see this is a mass movement now," said Sharon, a 21-year-old masked protester who declined to give her full name. "It s not our intention to inconvenience people, but we have to make the authorities understand why we protest. We will continue with this as long as needed." Others chanted, "Liberate Hong Kong," and "Revolution of our time". By mid-morning, commuters were crammed into stations across the city, waiting to board trains that were badly delayed, with no service on some lines. Rail operator MTR Corp urged people to seek other transport. Transport Secretary Frank Chan called on protesters to stop targeting a rail network that provides transport to five million people a day, public broadcaster RTHK reported. Hong Kong, which returned to China in 1997, is embroiled in its worst political crisis for decades after two months of increasingly violent protests that have posed one of the gravest populist challenges to Communist Party rulers in Beijing. Inconvenient and annoying China on Monday reiterated its support for Hong Kong s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, and its police and urged Hong Kong people to oppose violence. Lam s popularity has dropped to a record low, according to a survey by the independent Public Opinion Research Institute released on Tuesday. The survey, conducted between July 17 and July 19, showed Lam scored a rating of 30.1, down from 33.4 at the beginning of the month. Her approval rate stands at 21%, while her disapproval rate is 70%. Over the last few years, many people in Hong Kong have become concerned about the whittling away of the city s freedoms, guaranteed under a "one country, two systems" formula established when it returned to China in 1997. China denies interfering and has warned that the protests are an “undisguised challenge” to the formula under which the city is ruled, and risked damaging its economy. The mass transit protest follows a demonstration at the Chinese-ruled city s international airport on Friday and violent protests at the weekend when activists clashed with police who fired rubber bullets, tear gas and sponge grenades - a crowd-control weapon. Some scuffles broke out between commuters and protesters, who gradually began to disperse, while more police were deployed in stations, where they stopped protesters to search their bags. Commuters grew increasingly frustrated over the disruption, and shops, including bakeries and convenience stores, had also begun to close. "It s so inconvenient and annoying, really. I am in hurry to work, to make a living. Will you give away your salary to me?" said a 64-year-old man surnamed Liu. Others were more supportive, refusing to blame the protesters. "This non-cooperation movement is caused by Carrie Lam. She doesn t cooperate with the people of Hong Kong or respond to their demands," Jason Lo, 31, told Reuters as he waited for a train.

Iran s elite Revolutionary Guards published footage on Monday purportedly showing the Guards warning off a British warship during their July 19 seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker near the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian commandos seized British-flagged tanker Stena Impero in the world s most important waterway for oil shipments, two weeks after British forces captured an Iranian oil tanker near Gibraltar, accused of violating sanctions on Syria. The video, published by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, contains footage of the capture of the tanker, showing Guards abseiling onto the deck from a helicopter, with the audio recording superimposed. "You are required not to interfere in these issues," the Guards navy representative says. "This is British warship foxtrot two three six. I am in the vicinity of an internationally recognized strait with a merchant vessel in my vicinity conducting transit passage," a voice with a British accent replies. "Don t put your life in danger," the Guards navy representative says. The video also contains an exchange between the Guards and the same British warship during a stand-off in mid-July involving the British Heritage oil tanker, according to Tasnim. Three Iranian vessels attempted to block the passage of a ship, the British Heritage, through the Strait of Hormuz, but withdrew after warnings from a British warship, the British government said on July 11. Britain last week started sending a warship to accompany all British-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, a change in policy announced on Thursday after the government previously said it did not have resources to do so.

The head of Iran s Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, told lawmakers on Sunday that Iran will restart activities at the Arak heavy water nuclear reactor, the ISNA news agency reported. ISNA cited a member of parliament who attended the meeting. Heavy water can be employed in reactors to produce plutonium, a fuel used in nuclear warheads. Iran stopped complying in May with some commitments in the 2015 nuclear deal that was agreed with global powers, after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 and re-introduced sanctions on Tehran. The remaining signatories have tried to hold the nuclear deal together, an increasingly difficult task as tensions between Washington and Tehran have soared in recent weeks. Later on Sunday, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China will meet Iran in Vienna to discuss how to save the accord in an extraordinary meeting. On July 3, President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran would increase its uranium enrichment levels and start to revive its Arak heavy-water reactor after July 7 if the nations in the nuclear pact did not protect trade with Iran promised under the deal but blocked by the U.S. sanctions. The reduction of commitments can be reversed, Iranian officials have said, if the remaining signatories to the deal uphold their promises. Western powers have said Iran s nuclear ambitions must be curbed due to their concerns that Tehran intends to build nuclear weapons. Tehran denies this. The meeting on Sunday of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal s formal name, will be chaired by the EU foreign policy service s Secretary General Helga Schmid.

Sudan s military said on Wednesday that it has thwarted a coup attempt and arrested an unspecified number of senior officers in connection with the plot, state news agency SUNA said. The military "revealed a coup attempt involving General Hashim Abdel Mottalib Ahmed, head of the joint chiefs of staff, and a number of high-ranking officers from the armed forces and the National Intelligence and Security Service, along with leaders of the Islamic Movement and the National Congress Party", SUNA said. "They have been detained and investigations with them are going on so that they can be tried." "The failed coup attempt s goal was to abort the people s glorious revolution and to return the former National Congress regime to power, and to disrupt the path before the expected political solution that aims to establish a civilian state," SUNA cited the military as saying. The attempted putsch happened as the military council and an alliance of protest and opposition groups work to finalise a power-sharing deal for a three-year transition towards elections, a process that has repeatedly stalled.

Britain has not sent any representatives as mediators to Iran, a British source said after the semi-official Tasnim news site reported that a mediator had been sent to discuss the freeing of a British-flagged tanker seized by the Islamic Republic. "We are not aware of any representatives being sent as mediators to Iran," a British diplomatic source said

Boris Johnson promised to deliver Brexit on Oct. 31 after he was chosen by UK Conservative Party members to succeed Theresa May as Britain s prime minister on Tuesday. "We are going to energise the country. We are going to get Brexit done on October 31 and we are going to take advantage of all the opportunities it will bring," Johnson said in a speech after defeating rival candidate Jeremy Hunt.

The head of the UN s nuclear watchdog, Yukiya Amano, has died after suffering poor health for some time, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday, as international tensions run high over Iran s nuclear activities. The longtime Japanese diplomat, who was 72, held the IAEA s top job since December 2009. "The secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency regrets to inform with deepest sadness of the passing away of Director General Yukiya Amano," the IAEA said in a statement, without saying when he died. During his tenure, Amano oversaw the signing of a landmark deal in 2015 between Iran and six major powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- under which the Islamic republic agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. But international tensions with Iran have been rising since US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the deal in May 2018. Amano s third term as IAEA chief had originally been due to expire in November 2021, but he had been expected to announce his intention to step down early because of health reasons. The IAEA said its flag over its headquarters in Vienna had been lowered to half-mast.

Tensions in the Arab Gulf have escalated in recent months amid a deepening standoff between Iran and United States over Tehran s nuclear programme, with a string of incidents involving tankers and drones. Here is a recap: - Credible threat - On May 5, the United States says it is sending an aircraft carrier strike group and a bomber task force to waters near Iran in response to "indications of a credible threat by Iranian regime forces". The Pentagon also sends B-52 bombers to the region and, later, an amphibious assault ship and Patriot missile defence battery. US officials do not give more details on the threats, but the move comes amid heightened tensions over Iran s nuclear programme. Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran last year after quitting a multilateral 2015 deal meant to control its nuclear drive. On May 8, Iran announces it will drop certain commitments under the agreement, including increasing enriched uranium and heavy water production. US President Donald Trump responds with new sanctions on Iran s steel and mining sectors. - Tanker sabotage - On May 12, the United Arab Emirates says four commercial oil tankers had been targeted by "acts of sabotage" in Gulf waters off its coast. Saudi Arabia says later two of its tankers suffered "significant damage" but no casualties or oil spill. The other vessels were Norwegian and Emirati. Washington and Riyadh blame Tehran, which denies involvement. A UAE investigation finds later that a "state actor" was likely responsible for the attacks, probably using limpet mines, but does not specifically blame Iran. - Tankers in flames - In the early hours of June 13, two fuel-loaded tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz towards the Indian Ocean are hit by mysterious blasts that cause major fires. One is a Norwegian vessel and the other is Japanese-owned. Their crews are rescued. The Strait is a vital corridor connecting the petroleum-rich states of the Middle East with markets around the world. Washington, London and Riyadh accuse Tehran of being behind the attacks, which it denies. - Rocket attacks on Iraq - On June 18, rockets strike an oil field in Iraq s Basra region, near a camp used by a company of US industrial conglomerate General Electric. It is the latest in a nearly week-long barrage of anonymous shelling attacks on American interests across Iraq. The incidents are not claimed, but largely originate from areas where Shia-dominated armed groups loyal to Tehran have free rein. - US drone downed - On June 20, Iran s Revolutionary Guards say they shot down a US drone which violated Iranian airspace. The Pentagon says the drone was in international airspace and denounces an "unprovoked attack". Trump says he approved a retaliatory strike the next day but cancelled it at the last minute. On June 24, he announces "hard-hitting" financial sanctions against Iran s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior Iranian military leaders. - Tankers seized and searched - On July 11, Britain says three Iranian military vessels had tried the previous day to "impede the passage" of a UK oil tanker in Gulf waters but were warned off by a British warship. Iran s Revolutionary Guards deny there was any confrontation, but warn that US and Britain will "strongly regret" the seizure in early July of a tanker off Gibraltar, a British overseas territory in the Mediterranean. On July 18, Iran s Guards say they have detained a "foreign tanker" and its crew for allegedly smuggling fuel. The tanker was seized south of the Iranian island of Larak, according to the Guards, who do not detail the name or provenance of the vessel. - US shoots down Iranian drone - On July 18, Trump says the US military has taken down an Iranian drone that came within 1,000 yards of one of its naval vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The USS Boxer "took defensive action" against the Iranian drone as it was "threatening the safety of the ship and the ship s crew," Trump says. Iran denies the claim and suggests American forces may have shot down their own drone by mistake. - UK-flagged tanker seized - On July 19, Iran s Guards seize British-flagged tanker Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz for "failing to respect international maritime rules". Following the seizure, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warns of "serious consequences" unless the situation is resolved. - Saudi to host US forces again - Tehran s arch-foe Saudi Arabia announces that it will host US troops on its soil in a joint move with Washington to "preserve the security of the region and its stability". Saudi Arabia has not hosted US forces since 2003, when they withdrew following the toppling of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Iran s Revolutionary Guards said Thursday they had detained a "foreign tanker" and 12 of its crew for allegedly smuggling fuel in the Gulf. The tanker was seized on Sunday "south of the (Iranian) island of Larak" in the Strait of Hormuz, the force s Sepahnews website said. The Guards did not detail the name or provenance of the vessel.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday the United States is not pushing to topple Iran s leadership but is determined to stop it acquiring nuclear weapons. "We are not looking for regime change. We are not looking for that at all," Trump said during a cabinet meeting. "They can t have a nuclear weapon." The United States quit an international deal aimed at curbing Iran s nuclear program last year, hitting Tehran with crippling sanctions. Iran said last week that it had enriched uranium past the 3.67 percent limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal, and has also surpassed the 300-kilogram cap on enriched uranium reserves. Tensions have soared since Trump pulled out of the deal, with the US calling off air strikes against Iran at the last minute after Tehran downed an American drone, and Washington blaming the Islamic republic for a series of attacks on tanker ships. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned on Monday that the United States is "playing with fire." According to leaked diplomatic cables published at the weekend, Britain s ambassador to Washington believed Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal because it was associated with his predecessor Barack Obama. "The administration is set upon an act of diplomatic vandalism, seemingly for ideological and personality reasons -- it was Obama s deal," wrote the envoy, Kim Darroch, who resigned amid a storm triggered by the release of the sensitive documents.