World News

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian tells reports that Iran breaching caps on its uranium enrichment is a "bad reaction" to a "bad" US decision to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal.

“I believe the administration made a mistake to move the embassy to Jerusalem,” former two-term Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak says. "That will be a major impediment, if not a permanent impediment, to try to get a two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The United States 5th Fleet is aware of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy’s unlawful harassment and attempts to interfere with the passage of the UK-flagged merchant vessel British Heritage on 10 July, near the Strait of Hormuz,” says Vice Admiral Jim Malloy, commander of the US 5th Fleet.

The decision regarding Mohammad Javad Zarif may indicate Washington still holding the door open for diplomacy. Move apparently deemed "not necessarily helpful" and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had opposed designating Zarif “for the time being.”

Sessions during the July 15 summit include “combating anti-Semitism while respecting the First Amendment,” “anti-Semitism on campus” and “prosecuting hate crimes.”

David Triesman, Ara Darzi and Leslie Turnberg join seven other former members who quit Labour due to the anti-Semitism inside in the party, led by Jeremy Corbyn. “My sad conclusion is that the Labour Party is very plainly institutionally anti-Semitic," says Triesman.

Five boats believed to belong to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps approach a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf and ask it to stop in Iranian waters close by, but withdraw after warning from a British warship in the vicinity.

Last month's release of Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese businessman with US permanent residency, after four years in prison could have been meant as an opening for US-Iranian talks, according to three Western sources familiar with the issue. "It was a missed opportunity," says one US source.

Targeted officials "exploited their positions to smuggle illicit goods into Lebanon, pressure Lebanese financial institutions to assist Hezbollah, undermine Lebanese institutions, and evade US sanctions against Hezbollah facilitators and financiers," US Secretary of State Pompeo says.

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford says the Pentagon has developed a specific plan build a coalition of nations to monitor and deter Iranian threats against commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf area, and that he believes it will be clear within a couple of weeks which nations are willing to join the effort.