UAE

DUBAI, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Sunday that Iran's Gulf Arab neighbours would act to shore up their security if Tehran were to obtain nuclear weapons.

Indirect U.S.-Iranian talks to salvage a 2015 nuclear pact between global powers and Iran, which Washington exited in 2018, stalled in September. The U.N. nuclear chief has voiced concern over a recent announcement by Tehran that it was boosting enrichment capacity.

08 Dec 2022; MEMO: The UAE has been ranked as the world's number one passport in terms of mobility and freedom from travel restrictions according to the recently published Passport Index by Canada-based financial advisory firm, Arton Capital.

09 Dec 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia and the UAE announced on Thursday the success of their efforts to mediate the exchange of two prisoners between the United States and Russia, according to a press statement issued jointly by the two Arab Gulf states' foreign ministries.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran said Thursday it executed a prisoner convicted for a crime allegedly committed during the country’s ongoing nationwide protests, the first such death penalty carried out by Tehran.

The execution comes as other detainees also face the possibility of the death penalty for their involvement in the protests, which began in mid-September, first as an outcry against Iran’s morality police. The protests have since expanded into one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

DUBAI, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Iran’s Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Tuesday called for "revolutionary reconstruction of the country's cultural system", state media reported, as nationwide protests kept up pressure on the authorities.

"It is necessary to revolutionise the country's cultural structure... the supreme council should observe the weaknesses of culture in different fields of the country," Khamenei said during his meeting with a state cultural council.

DUBAI, Dec 7 (Reuters) - A sister of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has condemned his crackdown on nationwide protests and called on the widely-feared Revolutionary Guards to lay down their weapons, according to a letter published by her France-based son.

Iran has been gripped by unrest since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody on Sept 16., and is facing a three-day general strike movement which started on Monday.

05 Dec 2022; MEMO: The United Arab Emirates and Ukraine agreed on Monday to begin talks on a bilateral trade deal, expected to conclude by the middle of next year, the UAE's Economy Ministry said, Reuters reports.

The UAE has tried to remain neutral in the Ukraine conflict, despite Western pressure on Gulf oil producers to help isolate Russia, a fellow OPEC+ member.

DUBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Protesters in Iran called on Sunday for a three-day strike this week, stepping up pressure on authorities after the public prosecutor said the morality police whose detention of a young woman triggered months of protests had been shut down.

There was no confirmation of the closure from the Interior Ministry which is in charge of the morality police, and Iranian state media said Public Prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was not responsible for overseeing the force.

29 Nov 2022; MEMO: Police in the UAE, in cooperation with Europol, have dismantled a "super-cartel" operating in Dubai, believed to have controlled one-third of Europe's cocaine supply.

DUBAI, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday Iran's Basij militia forces have sacrificed their lives in what he called riots, the wave of protests sparked by the death in custody of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in September.

The protests that began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran's morality police on Sept. 16 have turned into one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.