Pentagon to send radar, Patriot missiles to bolster Saudi defences
The Pentagon announced on Thursday the deployment of 200 troops with Patriot missiles to Saudi Arabia to help with the country's defence in the wake of last months attacks on oil installations blamed on Iran.
"This deployment will augment the kingdom's air and missile defense of critical military and civilian infrastructure," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said.
Two more Patriot batteries and a THAAD missile defense system will be prepared to go later if needed, and the deployment will involve about 200 troops.
The four Sentinel radar systems and the Patriot battery are designed to provide better surveillance coverage across northern Saudi Arabia. The bulk of the kingdom's Patriot batteries and other defences are focused on the south to protect the country from attacks by Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.
US military said it was also putting additional capabilities on "prepare to deploy orders," meaning they could be mobilised more quickly in a crisis.
New nuclear deal breach, says IAEA
Iran has started using advanced models of centrifuges to enrich uranium, the UN's nuclear watchdog said on Thursday, in a new breach of the faltering 2015 deal with world powers.
Advanced centrifuges at Iran's Natanz facility "were accumulating, or had been prepared to accumulate, enriched uranium", the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report seen by AFP.
Under the 2015 deal with world powers that put curbs on Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, Tehran is only meant to enrich uranium using less efficient IR-1 centrifuges.
China criticises new US sanctions over Iranian oil deals
China on Thursday criticised the US for imposing new sanctions on Chinese entities and people suspected of transferring oil from Iran, accusing Washington of "bullying".
China's cooperation with Iran is legitimate and legal, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.
China, which is already embroiled in a trade dispute with the United States, responded that its dealings with Iran were legal and should be respected.
"We always oppose the so-called long-arm jurisdiction and unilateral sanctions," spokesman Geng said. "We also oppose the bullying practice of the US."
He urged Washington "to correct its wrongdoing."
Erdogan calls for caution over blaming Iran for Saudi attacks
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for caution over blaming Iran for this month's attack on a Saudi Arabian oil facility in an interview with Fox News.
"I don't think it would be the right thing to do to blame Iran," Erdogan said in the interview on Wednesday at the UN.
"We need to recognise the fact that attacks of this scale come from several parts of Yemen.
"If we just place the entire burden on Iran, it wouldn't be the right way to go because the evidence available does not necessarily point to that fact," he added.
Erdogan also criticised US sanctions on Iran, saying such measures "have never solved anything".
He denied allegations that Turkey had helped Iran bypass sanctions in the past, saying these were allegations by government opponents.
"These are the allegations voiced by a terrorist organisation known as FETO who are behind the failed coup of July 2016 in Turkey," Erdogan told Fox News.
"These allegations are more than wrong, these are all produced propaganda by the FETO terrorist organisation."
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