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Gulf leaders seal pact aimed at ending years-long diplomatic row
Gulf leaders on Tuesday signed an agreement aimed at ending a years-long rift between a Saudi-led bloc and Qatar at their annual summit in Saudi Arabia. In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and non-Gulf country Egypt severed diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting Islamist militant groups, an accusation that Doha denies. Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad on Tuesday attended the one-day summit after he had skipped the grouping's two previous summits held in the Saudi capital Riyadh. Tamim was warmly welcomed by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Moh...
DPA
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Gulf leaders seal pact aimed at ending years-long diplomatic row
Gulf leaders on Tuesday signed an agreement aimed at ending a years-long rift between a Saudi-led bloc and Qatar at their annual summit in Saudi Arabia. In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and non-Gulf country Egypt severed diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting Islamist militant groups, an accusation that Doha denies. Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad on Tuesday attended the one-day summit after he had skipped the grouping's two previous summits held in the Saudi capital Riyadh. Tamim was warmly welcomed by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Moh...
DPA
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Gulf leaders sign agreement to end long-running diplomatic crisis
Gulf leaders on Tuesday signed an agreement to end a years-long rift between a Saudi-led bloc and Qatar at their annual summit in Saudi Arabia's north-western desert city of Al-Ula. In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and non-Gulf country Egypt severed diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting Islamist militant groups, an accusation that Doha denies. The details of the signed document or what concessions Qatar made to settle the dispute were not immediately clear. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who chaired the opening s...
DPA
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Saudi crown prince opens Gulf summit with call for anti-Iran stance
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has opened an annual summit of the US-allied Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with a call for a unified stance against Iran. "Today we badly need to unify our efforts to develop our council and face challenges surrounding us," the powerful heir apparent said in a televised address. "They particularly include threats represented by the nuclear programme of the Iranian regime and its ballistic missile programme as well as its subversive, destructive projects that it and its proxies adopt," Mohammed added.
DPA
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Gulf leaders sign agreement ending dispute with Qatar at summit
Gulf leaders have signed an agreement ending their three-year diplomatic rift with Qatar at a summit in Saudi Arabia. The Al-Ula agreement, which was brokered by Kuwait and the United States, ends the dispute that began in mid-2017 when a Saudi-led bloc severed diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and non-Gulf country Egypt had accused Qatar of supporting Islamist militant groups, an accusation that Doha denies.
DPA
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Gulf leaders meet for Saudi summit set to end long-running row
Gulf leaders were meeting Tuesday in Saudi Arabia for their annual summit, a day after a major breakthrough was achieved in the years-long dispute between a Saudi-led bloc and Qatar. Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani arrived in the city of Al-Ula in north-western Saudi Arabia, the site of the summit. He was warmly welcomed by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Wearing face masks, the two hugged each other. The two are expected to sign a formal agreement to end the rift between the two countries. The meeting will be chaired by Saudi Arabia's King Salman. In 2017, Saudi Arabia,...
DPA
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South Korea summons Iranian ambassador after seizure of oil tanker
South Korea summoned the Iranian ambassador to express its condemnation of the seizure of a South Korean-flagged tanker by Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) because it was leaking oil. During the meeting, South Korean official Koh Kyung Sok called on Iranian Ambassador Saeed Badamchi Shabestari for the speedy release of the tanker, which is currently in the port city of Bandar Abbas, as well as the release of its crew, the Yonhap news agency reported. The Iranian diplomat told officials that the 20-strong crew - among them five Koreans, as well as nationals of Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam - ...
DPA
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Kushner to attend Gulf 'breakthrough' with Qatar
Washington (AFP) - Gulf Arab nations have agreed to end a three-year blockade on Qatar, with Jared Kushner to attend the signing ceremony following his shuttle diplomacy, a US official said Monday. "We've had a breakthrough in the Gulf Cooperation Council rift," the official said on condition of anonymity, confirming an announcement from Kuwait. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and Egypt "will be coming together to sign an agreement that will end the blockade and put an end to the Qatari lawsuits," the official said. Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and pointman on the Middl...
AFP
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Iran seizes South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf
Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) said it seized a South Korean-flagged tanker travelling in the Gulf because it was leaking oil. The oil tanker was polluting the waters of the Gulf and was therefore seized and transported to the port city of Bandar Abbas, news agency Isna cite the IRGC as saying. Crew members from Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam have been detained and the prosecutor's office in Bandar Abbas has launched an investigation, the IRGC was quoted as saying. According to the online service MarineTraffic, the Hankuk Chemi oil tanker had been en route from Saudi Arabia to the emirate o...
DPA
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US flies two B-52s over Gulf in message for Iran
Washington (AFP) - The United States deployed two B-52 long-range bombers over the Gulf on Thursday in a show of force directed at Iran as Washington moves to cut its ground-level military presence in the region. The two bombers took off at short notice from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana for the non-stop, 36-hour mission to cross Europe and then the Arabian Peninsula to the Gulf, looping near Qatar while keeping a "safe distance" from Iran's coastline, US defense officials said. The mission, the second such in two months, "was designed to underscore the US military's commitment to its ...
AFP
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