Eurasia

European officials criticized US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for demanding dramatic changes in Iran’s foreign and nuclear policies, with European Union top diplomat rejecting any alternative to the 2015 nuclear agreement. The EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned Monday there was “no alternative” to the Joint Comprehensive Plan …

Up to 13 Islamic State (IS) militants were arrested Monday in their former stronghold of Mosul, a police chief was quoted as saying. “Nineveh police arrested the 13 militants upon accurate intelligence data in al-Entisar, Judaydat al-Mufti and al-Nour districts in Mosul’s eastern side,” Baghdad Today website quoted Nineveh Police …

Tension has returned to the Moroccan-Algerian borders after militants from the Polisario Front launched maneuvers and parades, with the participation of Algerian officers and experts, in the Tifariti, region east of Morocco’s defense wall. Tifariti is located on the Moroccan side of the border with Algeria. Morocco withdrew its military …

The tripartite ministerial meeting on Libya kicked off on Monday in Algiers, and foreign ministers of Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt discussed the developments in the conflict-ridden Libya. Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel, his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry and Tunisian counterpart Khemaies Jhinaoui are expected to discuss the holding of a …

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that a meeting of the joint commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will take place in Vienna on Friday to discuss the U.S. exit from the multilateral nuclear agreement.

The European Commission is set to launch a legal process based on a powerful law to block American sanctions against Iran as European Union powers mobilize to save the landmark 2015 nuclear deal following Washington’s unilateral pullout.

Tehran is being given assurances that European governments will seek to protect companies doing business in Iran from renewed U.S. sanctions, as foreign ministers prepare to meet in Brussels to salvage the nuclear deal.

Turkey and Israel have expelled their envoys amid growing tensions between the two sides over the killing of dozens of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip at the hands of the Tel Aviv regime’s forces.

European Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete may visit Tehran on May 19-20 to discuss EU-Iran energy cooperation, EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told reporters. The program is still in the final stage of negotiations, said the EU spokeswoman.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said the negotiations aimed at protecting the multilateral nuclear deal after the U.S. withdrawal are “on the right track.”