DUBAI (Reuters) - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards on Sunday to develop more advanced and modern weapons, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, amid rising regional tensions. “The Guards should have advanced and modern weapons … Your weapons should be modern and updated. It should be developed at home. You need to develop and produce your weapons,” Khamenei said in a speech at Imam Hussein Military University in Tehran. Tensions in the Gulf have spiked since the United States, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France and Germany publicly blamed Iran for Sept. 14 attacks on the world's biggest crude oil-processing facility in Saudi Arabia. “Today the Guards

An offensive by Turkey and its Syrian opposition allies is nearing a camp for displaced people in Ain Issa, northern Syria holding thousands of members of “ISIS families,” some of whom have managed to escape after the site was shelled, Kurdish officials from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 100 members of ISIS families have already fled the camp.

Saudi Arabia's coast guard received a distress call from an Iranian oil tanker that came under attack this week, but the vessel had switched off its tracking system when a response was made to its request for assistance, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The distress call was sent by email and stated that the front of the tanker, the Sabiti, had suffered damage and there was a subsequent oil leak, the agency cited a coast-guard spokesman as saying. Communications were analyzed in order to provide help, but the vessel continued moving further away from Jeddah Islamic Port, he said. The tanker switched off its automatic tracking system without responding to the Saudi calls to assist, he said.

After US President Donald Trump abandoned Kurdish allies and gave the green light for Turkey's incursion in Syria, the pushback from usually uncritical Republicans saw the president attempting to row back on his decision. He said he would "totally destroy and obliterate" Turkey's economy if it does anything "that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits". What he meant by off limits was not clear. But the threat was enough to send the lira lower. So, is it possible for Trump to obliterate the economy? Sinan Ulgen, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, comments on Trump's threats of sanctions against Turkey and the main reason for the country's decline into a recession: "Already

An Emirati astronaut who became the first Arab to reach the International Space Station received a hero's welcome home on Saturday. Hazzaa al-Mansoori of the United Arab Emirates was greeted by Abu Dhabi's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan at the capital's airport. Men, women and children lined a red carpet to welcome back Mansoori and his colleague Sultan al-Neyadi - who underwent the same training and served as a backup astronaut.  Children rushed towards the first Emirati spaceman to present him with flowers and hugs, as a group of men performed the traditional Yola dance. Although Mansoori's mission was short - eight days in total - it has been the source of great pride in

Powerful typhoon Hagibis has made landfall in Japan, officials said as torrential rain and winds have already lashed the country causing floods and mudslides. "The eye of Typhoon Hagibis made landfall shortly before 7pm (1000 GMT) in Izu Peninsula", southwest of Tokyo, said the Japan Meteorological Agency on Saturday. Japanese weather authorities issued a top-level emergency rain warning and about a million people were issued non-compulsory evacuation orders. Train and flight services have been affected. Typhoon Hagibis, closing in from the Pacific, brought heavy rainfall in wide areas of Japan in advance of its landfall, including Shizuoka and Mie prefectures, southwest of Tokyo, as well as

Tokyo and surrounding areas are bracing for a powerful typhoon forecast as the worst in six decades with streets and train stations unusually quiet as rain poured over the city. Store shelves are bare after people stocked up on water and food. Nearby beaches have not a surfer in sight, only towering dashing waves. Typhoon Hagibis is expected to bring up to 80 centimeters (30 inches) of rain in the Tokyo area, including Chiba to the north that suffered power outages and damage from last month's typhoon. Rugby World Cup matches, concerts, and other events are canceled, flights grounded and trains halted. Authorities acted quickly with warnings issued earlier this week, including urging people to