Turkey does not expect EU sanctions over eastern Mediterranean dispute

Turkish seismic research vessel Oruc Reis, background, anchored off Turkey’s southern coast on Sunday, easing eastern Mediterranean tensions a bit. (AP)
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Updated 14 September 2020
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Turkey does not expect EU sanctions over eastern Mediterranean dispute

  • EU fully supports member states Greece and Cyprus in their dispute with Turkey
  • Threat of sanctions has in part pushed the Turkish lira deeper into record low territory

ISTANBUL: Turkey does not expect to face European Union sanctions over a dispute with Greece in the eastern Mediterranean, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday, a day after a Turkish survey ship pulled out of contested waters.
The EU says it fully supports member states Greece and Cyprus in their dispute with Turkey and has said it is drawing up potential sanctions if dialogue does not begin. The bloc’s leaders could make a decision at a summit on Sept. 24-25.
Cavusoglu repeated Turkey was open to talks without pre-conditions, but added that the seismic research vessel Oruc Reis will soon resume operations after it anchored off Turkey’s southern coast on Sunday.
He said he did not expect EU leaders, who have already agreed modest sanctions against Turkey, to take further steps next week but such measures could not be ruled out.
“It could be against our ship, our company, individuals. They took such decisions in the past. Have we given up on our determination? No, our determination increased,” he told broadcaster NTV.
Tensions have risen over claims and counter claims pitting Turkey against Greece and Cyprus — which are backed by France — to maritime areas potentially rich in natural gas. Several countries have conducted naval exercise in the region, and Turkey has other vessels searching for oil and gas off Cyprus.
The threat of sanctions has in part pushed the Turkish lira deeper into record low territory, complicating the country’s recovery from a sharp economic slump due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Turkey’s Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin tweeted on Monday that a peaceful solution could be found. “Greece and EU countries must not waste the chance given for diplomacy and must take reciprocal steps,” he said, without elaborating.
In a brief visit to Cyprus on Saturday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States remains “deeply concerned” about Turkey’s actions at sea. Ankara responded that Washington needed to be more neutral.


UK and Bahrain sign defense pact and £2bn investment deal

Updated 6 sec ago
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UK and Bahrain sign defense pact and £2bn investment deal

  • The agreements were signed during an official visit to London by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad, who held talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Downing Street
  • The leaders express concern about the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran, and repeat prior calls for an immediate ceasefire agreement in Gaza

LONDON: Bahrain and the UK finalized two major agreements on Thursday during an official trip to London by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa.

During a visit to No. 10 Downing Street for talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the prince and his host oversaw the signing of a Strategic Investment and Collaboration Partnership, SIP2 for short, said to represent a renewed framework for two-way investment between their countries.

The agreement will enable £2 billion ($2.7 billion) of investment by Bahrain’s private sector in key UK sectors including financial services, technology, manufacturing and decarbonization, officials said. It was signed by Bahrain’s finance minister, Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa, and the British chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves.

The second deal was a Defense Cooperation Accord which, according to officials, aims to enhance interoperability and joint training between the nations’ armed forces, building on the foundations of an already strong naval partnership. It was signed by defense ministers, Lt. Gen. Abdullah Al-Nuaimi and John Healey.

During his discussions with Starmer, Prince Salman reaffirmed the strength of relations between their countries, which he said continues to grow under the leaderships of King Hamad and King Charles, the Bahrain News Agency reported.

The leaders reviewed progress on a proposed UK-Gulf Cooperation Council free trade agreement, and the crown prince welcomed the UK’s decision to fully participate in the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement, following a joint invitation in December from founding signatories Bahrain and the US.

Regional and wider international developments featured prominently in the discussions between Prince Salman and Starmer, who both expressed concern about the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran. They agreed on the urgent need to deescalate the conflict, ease tensions and resume dialogue.

They also reiterated previous calls for an immediate ceasefire agreement in Gaza, unimpeded humanitarian access to the territory, and the release of all hostages still held by Hamas.

Starmer congratulated Bahrain on its recent election as a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council for a two-year term beginning in January 2026, and both leaders agreed to work closely to bolster their diplomatic efforts in the run-up to that.


Iran appoints new Revolutionary Guards intelligence chief

Updated 1 min 43 sec ago
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Iran appoints new Revolutionary Guards intelligence chief

  • He replaces Mohammed Kazemi

TEHRAN: Iran appointed a new chief of intelligence at its Revolutionary Guards on Thursday, the official Irna news agency said, after his predecessor was killed in an Israeli strike last week.
Major General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps , appointed Brig. Gen. Majid Khadami as the new head of its intelligence division, Irna said.
He replaces Mohammed Kazemi, who was killed on Sunday alongside two other Revolutionary Guards officers — Hassan Mohaghegh and Mohsen Bagheri — in an Israeli strike.
Pakpour had himself been recently appointed after Israel killed his predecessor Hossein Salami in a strike on June 13.
“During the years that our martyred commanders Kazemi and Mohaqeq led the IRGC Intelligence, we witnessed significant growth in all aspects of intelligence within the IRGC,” said Pakpour.
Israel launched air strikes on nuclear and military sites in Iran last week, claiming that its arch enemy was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon, which Iran denies.
Israel killed several top Iranian officials, prompting a counter-attack by Iran, which on Thursday hit an Israeli hospital.
Upon his appointment by Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei last Friday, Pakpour threatened to open “the gates of hell” in retaliation for Israel’s attacks.
Top Israeli figures have openly talked about killing Khamenei.
 


Australia closes Iran embassy citing deteriorating security environment

Updated 42 min 51 sec ago
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Australia closes Iran embassy citing deteriorating security environment

SYDNEY: Australia has suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran due to the deteriorating security environment in Iran and has directed the departure of all Australian officials, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Friday.
Australia’s ambassador to Iran will remain in the region to support the government’s response to the crisis, Wong said.
“We are continuing planning to support Australians seeking to depart Iran, and we remain in close contact with other partner countries,” Wong said in a statement.


Israeli scientists reel after Iranian missile strikes premier research institute

Updated 46 min 56 sec ago
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Israeli scientists reel after Iranian missile strikes premier research institute

  • “It’s a moral victory” for Iran, said Oren Schuldiner

REHOVOT, Israel: For years, Israel has targeted Iranian nuclear scientists, hoping to choke progress on Iran’s nuclear program by striking at the brains behind it.
Now, with Iran and Israel in an open-ended direct conflict, scientists in Israel have found themselves in the crosshairs after an Iranian missile struck a premier research institute known for its work in life sciences and physics, among other fields.
While no one was killed in the strike on the Weizmann Institute of Science early Sunday, it caused heavy damage to multiple labs on campus, snuffing out years of scientific research and sending a chilling message to Israeli scientists that they and their expertise are now targets in the escalating conflict with Iran.
“It’s a moral victory” for Iran, said Oren Schuldiner, a professor in the department of molecular cell biology and the department of molecular neuroscience whose lab was obliterated in the strike. “They managed to harm the crown jewel of science in Israel.”
Iranian scientists were a prime target in a long shadow war
During years of a shadow war between Israel and Iran that preceded the current conflict, Israel repeatedly targeted Iranian nuclear scientists with the aim of setting back Iran’s nuclear program.
Israel continued that tactic with its initial blow against Iran days ago, killing multiple nuclear scientists, along with top generals, as well as striking nuclear facilities and ballistic missile infrastructure.
For its part, Iran has been accused of targeting at least one Weizmann scientist before. Last year, Israeli authorities said they busted an Iranian spy ring that devised a plot to follow and assassinate an Israeli nuclear scientist who worked and lived at the institute.
Citing an indictment, Israeli media said the suspects, Palestinians from east Jerusalem, gathered information about the scientist and photographed the exterior of the Weizmann Institute but were arrested before they could proceed.
With Iran’s intelligence penetration into Israel far less successful than Israel’s, those plots have not been seen through, making this week’s strike on Weizmann that much more jarring.
“The Weizmann Institute has been in Iran’s sights,” said Yoel Guzansky, an Iran expert and senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank. He stressed that he did not know for certain whether Iran intended to strike the institute but believed it did.
While it is a multidisciplinary research institute, Weizmann, like other Israeli universities, has ties to Israel’s defense establishment, including collaborations with industry leaders like Elbit Systems, which is why it may have been targeted.
But Guzansky said the institute primarily symbolizes “Israeli scientific progress” and the strike against it shows Iran’s thinking: “You harm our scientists, so we are also harming  scientific cadre.”
Damage to the institute and labs ‘literally decimated’
Weizmann, founded in 1934 and later renamed after Israel’s first president, ranks among the world’s top research institutes. Its scientists and researchers publish hundreds of studies each year. One Nobel laureate in chemistry and three Turing Award laureates have been associated with the institute, which built the first computer in Israel in 1954.
Two buildings were hit in the strike, including one housing life sciences labs and a second that was empty and under construction but meant for chemistry study, according to the institute. Dozens of other buildings were damaged.
The campus has been closed since the strike, although media were allowed to visit Thursday. Large piles of rock, twisted metal and other debris were strewn on campus. There were shattered windows, collapsed ceiling panels and charred walls.
A photo shared on X by one professor showed flames rising near a heavily damaged structure with debris scattered on the ground nearby.
“Several buildings were hit quite hard, meaning that some labs were literally decimated, really leaving nothing,” said Sarel Fleishman, a professor of biochemics who said he has visited the site since the strike.
Life’s work of many researchers is gone
Many of those labs focus on the life sciences, whose projects are especially sensitive to physical damage, Fleishman said. The labs were studying areas like tissue generation, developmental biology or cancer, with much of their work now halted or severely set back by the damage.
“This was the life’s work of many people,” he said, noting that years’ or even decades’ worth of research was destroyed.
For Schuldiner, the damage means the lab he has worked at for 16 years “is entirely gone. No trace. There is nothing to save.”
In that once gleaming lab, he kept thousands of genetically modified flies used for research into the development of the human nervous system, which helped provide insights into autism and schizophrenia, he said.
The lab housed equipment like sophisticated microscopes. Researchers from Israel and abroad joined hands in the study effort.
“All of our studies have stopped,” he said, estimating it would take years to rebuild and get the science work back on track. “It’s very significant damage to the science that we can create and to the contribution we can make to the world.”


IAEA chief identifies Isfahan as Iran’s planned uranium enrichment site

Updated 57 min 52 sec ago
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IAEA chief identifies Isfahan as Iran’s planned uranium enrichment site

  • Day before Israel launched its military strikes, Iran announced it had built a new uranium enrichment facility, which it would soon equip and bring online
  • Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities destroyed one of those plants and put another out of action by killing its power supply

VIENNA: UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi on Thursday identified Isfahan, home to one of Iran’s biggest nuclear facilities, as the location of a uranium enrichment plant that Iran said it would soon open in retaliation for a diplomatic push against it.
The day before Israel launched its military strikes against Iranian targets including nuclear facilities last Friday, Iran announced it had built a new uranium enrichment facility, which it would soon equip and bring online. Tehran did not provide details such as the plant’s location.
Iran’s announcement was part of its retaliation against a resolution passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Tehran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations over issues including its failure to credibly explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites.
Had it gone online, the new enrichment plant would have been the fourth in operation in Iran. But Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities destroyed one of those plants and put another out of action by killing its power supply, the IAEA has said.
“There was an announcement, quite coincidentally, on the eve of the start of the military operation by Israel of a new enrichment facility in Isfahan, precisely, that we were going to be inspecting immediately, but this inspection had to be postponed, we hope, because of the start of the military operation,” Grossi said.
He did not say where exactly in Isfahan the planned plant was, but he said the nuclear complex there is “huge.”
The IAEA has previously reported that Israeli military strikes on Friday damaged four buildings at Isfahan, including the Uranium Conversion Facility that transforms “yellowcake” uranium into the uranium hexafluoride feedstock for centrifuges so that it can be enriched.
Grossi told the BBC on Monday that the “underground spaces” at Isfahan did not seem to have been affected. Officials say those spaces are also where much of Iran’s most highly enriched uranium stock has been stored.
The IAEA has not, however, been able to carry out any inspections since the strikes.