Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Thursday that the Caspian Sea littoral states refused to allow any foreign presence in the region.

Raisi made the remarks upon arrival at the airport in Tehran from his visit to Turkmenistan, in which he took part in the sixth summit of the heads of state of the Caspian countries, according to the Iranian presidency's website.

The Caspian Sea's resources must be protected, he said, adding that the sea belongs to the regional countries and must be managed collectively by the littoral states.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s parliament voted Thursday to dissolve itself, marking the end of a year-old experimental coalition government, and sending the country to the polls in November for the fifth time in less than four years.

Yair Lapid, Israel’s foreign minister and architect of the outgoing coalition government, will become the country’s caretaker prime minister just after midnight on Friday. He will be the 14th person to hold that office, taking over from Naftali Bennett, Israel’s shortest serving prime minister.

CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese security forces shot and killed five people during anti-coup protests Thursday, a medical group said as thousands marched to denounce the country’s military rulers and demand an immediate transfer of power to civilians.

The Sudan’s Doctors Committee said in a tweet that four people were fatally shot when police fired live ammunition at protesters in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Just two days after agreeing to lift deal-breaking objections to Sweden and Finland’s NATO accession, Turkey’s leader warned Thursday that Ankara could still block the process if the two countries fail to fully meet his expectations.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the close of the alliance’s summit in Madrid that the 10-article agreement with the Nordic pair was a victory for Ankara and addressed all its “sensitivities.”

30 June 2022; MEMO: There are no plans for a military alliance in the region that includes Israel, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

"This issue is not on the agenda of the US President Joe Biden's visit to the region," Al-Safadi said, stressing: "There is no Arab alliance that Israel will be part of. There have been no proposals for such a thing."

30 June 2022; MEMO: The Israeli High Court yesterday delayed a decision to expel a Palestinian family from its home in Wadi Al-Hilwa of occupied Jerusalem's Silwan neighbourhood.

The court, according to Safa news agency, said it was awaiting a reply from the Custodian of Absentee Property on why he had declared the house as an absentee property without checking the heirs of the previous owner.

Turkiye's Justice Minister said on Wednesday that his country expects Sweden and Finland to extradite more than 30 "terrorists" under an agreement that lifted Ankara's objections to their bids to join NATO, Anadolu has reported.

"We will ask them to abide by their commitments," added Bekir Bozdag. The extradition of 33 suspects must now be fulfilled under the NATO deal, he insisted.

29 June 2022; MEMO: Indirect talks between Iran and the US to revive the 2015 nuclear deal ended in the Qatari capital, Doha, without a result, Iran's semi-official Tasnim News reported.

Tasnim, citing sources, said the talks mediated by the EU ended, for now, blaming the cessation of the talks on the US insistence on restoring the 2015 accord without giving guarantees of "economic benefits" to Iran, Anadolu News Agency reports.

30 June 2022; MEMO: Iranian intelligence has "secretly" arrested a senior general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) for allegedly spying for Israel, the New York Times reported yesterday.

29 June 2022; MEMO: Turkiye's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised the United States for delaying the sales of F-16 fighter jets and for its continued support to the YPG in northern Syria, vowing that he will bring these issues to the attention of US President Joe Biden when they meet in Madrid on the sidelines of the NATO Summit, Reuters reports.

According to the report, Biden and Erdogan discussed bilateral issues and some regional matters, including F-16 jets.