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The High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell held a phone call yesterday, 28 January, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including very serious allegations against a number of UNRWA staff members. He expressed strong concern over the dramatic humanitarian situation on the ground and reconfirmed to the UN Secretary General that the EU will …

We are extremely concerned by allegations of UNRWA staff involvement in the 7th October terrorist attacks in Israel. The EU reiterates its strongest condemnation of the attacks by the Hamas terrorists against Israel, which have no justification.  UNRWA has been playing a vital role over many years supporting vulnerable Palestinian refugees in accessing vital services such as education and health, …

HR/VP Josep Borrell Blog Last Monday, our Foreign Affairs Council has been a particularly important one because we invited the FM of Israel and Palestine and of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan as well as the Secretary General of the Arab League to discuss how to alleviate the dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza, free the hostages and implement the two States …

Senior officials from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and European Union gathered in Riyadh for the first GCC-EU Regional Security Dialogue on 24 January. The main sessions focused on regional security and developments, as well as specific areas for increased cooperation between the GCC and the EU. The security dialogue allowed for comprehensive, open and constructive discussions on regional security. …

New Zealand will deploy a six-member defence team to the Middle East as part of an international coalition to uphold maritime security in the Red Sea, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said. The United States and Britain have been carrying out air strikes against the Iranian-allied Houthi group in Yemen, who have been targeting civilian ships in the Red Sea for …

Main results Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Situation in the Middle East, Azerbaijan and Armenia Russian war of aggression against Ukraine The Foreign Affairs Council discussed the Russian aggression against Ukraine, after a VTC intervention by Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, who briefed his EU counterparts on the latest developments on the ground. Despite continuous attacks from Russia, …

Josep Borrell accuses Israel of funding Hamas The EU’s High Representative for Forreign Affairs Josep Borrell openly accused Israel, in a speach, of having financed the Palestinian militant group Hamas. “Hamas was financed by the Israeli government in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority,” Borrell was quoted by Spanish newspaper El Pais as the diplomat was speaking at Spain’s …

The Council today established a dedicated framework of restrictive measures that will allow the European Union to hold accountable any individual or entity who supports, facilitates or enables violent actions by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). With today’s decision of a dedicated framework of restrictive measures against supporters of violent actions by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the European …

Pakistan conducted strikes inside Iran on Thursday, targeting separatist Baloch militants, the Pakistani foreign ministry announced. At the beggining of this week, Iran also said it had attacked the bases of another group within Pakistani territory. According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Tehran has demanded an explanation for the strikes. Iranian media said several missiles hit a village in …

2023 is the second year that China registers a record low birth rate China’s population drops 0.15% in 2023, the birth rate is at a new low, death rate is at the highest since 1974 and the total of new births drops 5.7% to 9.02 mln. China’s population fell for a second consecutive year in 2023, as a record low …

Josep Borrell HR of the EU for Forreign Affairs Blog   In the first days of 2024, I travelled to Lebanon and Saudi Arabia to discuss with our regional partners ways to put an end to the fighting in Gaza and prevent the conflict from spreading in the region. The time has come for the EU to unite and become more …

Farzad Ramezani Bonesh Past relationship Qatar is located in the east of the Arabian Peninsula and south of the Persian Gulf. Qatar shares a maritime border with Iran and has been a part of the Iranian Empire in many historical periods. Qatar gained independence in 1971, and Iran was one of the first countries to recognize that country’s independence. Despite …

Hameed Jabery The relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia should not be viewed as a normal case because a look at history indicates considerable fluctuation between the two. This shows the similarities and differences between the foreign policies of these countries. For this reason, regarding Palestine and Gaza, there is much overlap at the strategic level of the foreign policy …

The Afghan Taliban plays a strategic function in regional security as a strong-armed military unit in the region, because currently this group is ruling over a large and regional strategic and geopolitically important country such as Afghanistan and has the full sovereignty of this country under its control. The Afghan Taliban, despite not having internal and international legitimacy and international …

Three months after the 7th of October, when the tragedy started with a terrorist attacks of Hamas, and then the bombing of Gaza and the unbearable number of civilian casualties, I came back to the Middle East, first to Beirut and after to Riyad, talking with relevant actors in the region.   I took stock of two things. First, the dramatic humanitarian situation of …