Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict: 4 journalists injured in Nagorno-Karabakh fighting

Yerevan: Two French and two Armenian journalists were injured Thursday in the South Caucasus separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where heavy fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces this week marked the biggest escalation in years of a decades-old conflict.

The two Le Monde reporters were wounded in morning shelling in the town of Martuni, the newspaper said. Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said they were being taken to hospital, and accused Azerbaijan of bombarding the Martuni region. A cameraman with the Armenia TV channel and a reporter with the Armenian 24News outlet also sustained injuries in the Martuni shelling, Armenian officials said. It was unclear how badly the four journalists were hurt. A Russian journalist with the independent Dozhd TV channel was reported to have safely reached a bomb shelter.

Clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region within Azerbaijan that has been controlled by ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian government since the end of a separatist war a quarter-century ago, broke out on Sunday and continued unchecked, killing dozens and leaving scores wounded. Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have been blaming each other for continuing attacks.

The two ex-Soviet nations have been locked for decades in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, where a separatist war was fought in the early 1990s, ending in 1994, three years after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The 4,400-square-kilometer (1,700-square-mile) enclave in the Caucasus Mountains, roughly the size of the U.S. state of Delaware, lies 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Armenian border.

Soldiers backed by Armenia occupy the region as well as some Azerbaijani territory outside of it. The president of Azerbaijan said Armenia’s withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh was the sole condition to end the fighting. Armenian officials claim Turkey has become involved in the conflict, allegedly sending fighters from Syria to the region and deploying Turkish F-16 fighter jets to assist Azerbaijnai forces.

Turkey has publicly supported Azerbaijan in the conflict and said it would provide assistance if requested, but denies sending in foreign mercenaries or arms. Continued fighting in the turbulent region prompted calls for a cease-fire from around the globe and raised concerns of a broader conflict potentially involving other regional powers.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday has expressed concern about Turkey allegedly sending Syrian mercenaries to support Azerbaijan. Macron’s office said in a statement Thursday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the issue in a phone call Wednesday night, and both share concern about the sending of Syrian mercenaries by Turkey to Nagorno-Karabakh.” Macron’s office did not provide further information about the mercenaries.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday expressed concerns over reports about “militants from illegal armed groups, in particular from Syria, Libya” being sent to the conflict zone in Nagorno-Karabakh. The ministry didn’t provide further details, but in a statement urged the “leadership of the states concerned to take effective measures to prevent the use of foreign terrorists and mercenaries in the conflict”.

Macron said he and Putin called for restraint and agreed upon the need for a joint effort toward a cease-fire, as part of international mediation efforts for Nagorno-Karabakh led by Russia, France and the U.S. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday refused to comment on Turkey’s alleged involvement in the conflict, but said that “any statements about military support for one of the (opposing) sides” can provoke further escalation of tensions in the region.

“We believe that any participation of third countries in this confrontation can also have extremely negative consequences,” Peskov told reporters.

Iran's Khamenei rejects talks with US over missile, nuclear programmes

Tehran: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a live speech on state TV on Friday, July 31, ruled out negotiations with the United States over Tehran's ballistic missile and nuclear programs, calling on Iranians to resist U.S. bullying.

Khamenei called the United States Iran's "main enemy" and urged Iranians to resist U.S. pressure. He ruled out negotiations with Washington saying Trump would use talks for propaganda as he did with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "At the negotiating table, America wants us to abandon our nuclear industry altogether, reduce our defence capabilities and relinquish our regional influence," Khamenei said in a televised speech marking the Muslim religious holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Since pulling out of the nuclear deal, Washington has reimposed sanctions that have sharply lowered Tehran's oil exports. It is pursuing a "maximum pressure" policy aimed at forcing Tehran to negotiate a broader deal that further limits its nuclear work, ends its missile program and its support for proxy forces in a regional power struggle with U.S.-backed Gulf Arabs.

Relations between Tehran and Washington have deteriorated since 2018 when U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with six powers under which Tehran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in return for the lifting of most international sanctions. Iran's clerical rulers have tried to prevent a revival of anti-government unrest that have shaken the country in recent years and that began with protests over economic hardship but turned political, with demonstrators demanding top officials step down. Authorities have said street protests will be dealt with "decisively".

In addition to the U.S. sanctions, Iran's economy has been hit by a fall in oil prices, as well as the coronavirus crisis: Iran has one of the highest death tolls in the Middle East from the pandemic.

China said US wants new Cold War ahead of presidential election

London, UK: China on Thursday, July 30 accused the United States of stoking a new Cold War because it was searching for a scapegoat to bolster support ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.

U.S. President Donald Trump identifies China as the West's main rival, and has accused President Xi Jinping of taking advantage over trade and not telling the truth over the novel coronavirus outbreak, which Trump calls the "China plague". Asked if he saw a new Cold War, China's ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, said the United States had started a trade war with China and that there would be no winner from such an approach.

"It is not China that has become assertive. It's the other side of the Pacific Ocean who want to start new Cold War on China, so we have to make response to that," Liu told journalists. "We have no interest in any Cold War, we have no interest in any war. We have all seen what is happening in the United States, they tried to scapegoat China, they want to blame China for their problems," he said. "We all know this is an election year."

The envoy did not mention Trump or Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden by name, but he said some U.S. politicians were doing and saying anything to get elected. "They want to do anything including treating China as an enemy. Probably they think they need an enemy, they think they want a Cold War but we have no interest, we keep telling America, China is not your enemy, China is your friend, your partner."

Iran holds annual Gulf drill amid rising tensions with US

Bandar Abbas: Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards launched a military drill in the Gulf on Tuesday, July 28, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, at a time of high tension between Tehran and Washington.

In recent years, there have been periodic confrontations in the Gulf between the Guards and the U.S. military, which has accused the Guards' navy of sending fast-attack boats to harass American warships as they pass the Strait of Hormuz. The Guards, in a statement quoted by Fars, said its naval and air forces will use "missile, UAV and radar units" in the drill.

Tensions have spiked between Iran and the United States since 2018, when U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with six powers and reimposed sanctions that have sharply lowered Tehran's oil exports.

The Guards in April said Tehran would destroy U.S. warships if Iran's security is threatened in the Gulf. Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened to block Hormuz if Iran is not able to export oil or if its nuclear sites are attacked.

Corona Crisis: How a US Navy base in the Gulf tackles COVID-19

Manama, Bahrain: At the U.S. Navy's main base in the Gulf, military staff are strictly abiding by rules to stem the spread of the new coronavirus.

The Bahrain base houses the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (USNAVCENT), operating in the Gulf amid high tensions between Iran and the United States. "It is necessary for everyone to assume that they are infected at all times," said base commanding officer Captain Greg Smith, citing learning about asymptomatic carriers of the virus. "Our job is important and it must continue."

With people living and working in close proximity on base, mask wearing and social distancing must be adhered to, said Smith, adding he was not allowed to disclose the number of cases recorded there. Outside Bahrain, outbreaks have been reported on two U.S. warships at sea - aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt in the Asia-Pacific region in March, and the Kidd in the Pacific in April - and on a number of U.S. Navy ships in port.

Posters and hand-washing stations are dotted around the base. Remote working and teleconferences reduce the number of people in rooms, and interaction with the rest of Bahrain has been limited. "We don't do unnecessary shopping, we don't eat in the fine restaurants here in Bahrain," he said, adding that anyone coming onto the base is kept isolated for 14 days.

The base follows Bahrain government guidelines for contact tracing, testing and isolation. "As soon as you find one person positive you identify all the people they may have come into contact with and you isolate them as well so you don't get that continuous spread after a case," Smith said.

"If someone has to go into isolation and hospitalization, the plan is to use Bahraini facilities, which are superb," he said, adding that treatment was also available on base. The small island state of Bahrain, with a population of 1.5 million, has recorded almost 39,000 coronavirus cases and 140 deaths.

Russia: Putin says Russian Navy to get hypersonic nuclear strike weapons

St. Petersburg:  Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday, July 26 the country's navy would be armed with hypersonic nuclear strike weapons and underwater nuclear drones, which the defense ministry said were in their final phase of testing.

Putin, who says he does not want an arms race, has often spoken of a new generation of Russian nuclear weapons that he says are unequaled and can hit almost anywhere in the world. Some Western experts have questioned how advanced they are. The weapons, some of which have yet to be deployed, include the Poseidon underwater nuclear drone, designed to be carried by submarines, and the Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missile, which can be deployed on surface ships.

The combination of speed, maneuverability and altitude of hypersonic missiles, capable of traveling at more than five times the speed of sound, makes them difficult to track and intercept. Speaking in St Petersburg at an annual naval parade that showcases Russia's best ships, nuclear submarines and naval aviation, Putin said the navy's capabilities were growing and it would get 40 new vessels this year. He did not specify when it would receive new hypersonic weapons, but suggested that day was drawing closer.