Nine Countries Have Recalled Their Ambassadors from Israel due to War on Gaza

Nov 7, 2023 | Since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza, 9 countries have withdrawn their ambassadors, or severed ties.

They've called for an immediate ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to enter the strip unhindered.

NATO member Turkey is among those that pulled their ambassador out. So did Israel's neighbour, Jordan, that said Israel is committing "war crimes".

The latest to join the list are South Africa and Chad. Bolivia was the first to sever ties entirely with Israel - saying its decision was a "condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip”.

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher reports from the Occupied East Jerusalem.

For in depth analysis, Marwan Bishara is Al Jazeera's Senior Political Analyst.

India Suspends Visas for Canadians as Row Escalates

BBC: India has suspended visa services for Canadian citizens amid an escalating row over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.

Visa service provider BLS posted a message from India's mission blaming "operational reasons" for the decision.

Tensions flared this week after Canada said it was investigating "credible allegations" linking India with the murder of the separatist leader.

India angrily rejected the allegation calling it "absurd".

Analysts say relations between the countries, which have been strained for months, are now at an all-time low.

The message about the suspension of visas was first posted on the BLS website on Thursday.

"Important notice from Indian Mission: Due to operational reasons, with effect from 21 September 2023, Indian visa services have been suspended till further notice," it read. » | Meryl Sebastian, BBC News, Cochin | Thursday, September 21, 2023

Justin Trudeau Accuses India of a Killing on Canadian Soil

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Canadian leader said agents of India had assassinated a Sikh community leader in British Columbia in June. India called the accusation “absurd.”


Justin Trudeau said it was “unacceptable,” and the Canadian foreign minister said Ottawa had expelled a top Indian diplomat. | Blair Gable/Reuters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said on Monday that “agents of the government of India” had carried out the assassination of a Sikh community leader in British Columbia in June, an explosive allegation that is likely to further sour relations between the two nations.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr. Trudeau said that he had raised India’s involvement in the shooting of the Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Group of 20 summit meeting earlier this month “in no uncertain terms.” He said the allegation was based on intelligence gathered by the Canadian government.

“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Mr. Trudeau told lawmakers. He said Canada would pressure India to cooperate with the investigation into the killing of Mr. Nijjar, who advocated Sikh separatism.

Mélanie Joly, the foreign minister, later announced that Canada had expelled an Indian diplomat whom she described as the head of India’s intelligence agency in Canada. » | Ian Austen and Vjosa Isai, Ian Austen reported from Ottawa, and Vjosa Isai from Toronto. | Monday, September 18, 2023

Putin Threatens to Break Relations with US, a Step Not Even Taken During Cold War

Mar 21, 2022 • Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman joins Andrea Mitchell to discuss the United States' diplomatic relations with Russia, and the escalating tension between the countries after President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal. "I hope that President Putin doesn't take this step," Sherman says. 'It would not be to his advantage, and it would not be in his interests, but he keeps making decisions that are not in his interest.

Egypt Expels Turkey's Ambassador

Move marks new low in ties between Cairo and Ankara, viewed as close to toppled president Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Britain and Iran Pave Way for Reopening of London and Tehran Embassies

THE GUARDIAN: William Hague tells MPs talks are under way and diplomatic atmosphere is more positive under President Hassan Rouhani

Britain and Iran have taken a significant step toward reopening their respective embassies in Tehran and London by appointing chargés d'affaires and holding talks on terms and conditions about staff on the eve of new negotiations on the vexed issue of Iran's nuclear programme.

William Hague, the UK foreign secretary, revealed to MPs on Tuesday that talks with the Iranian govenement [sic] had taken place last week in a much more positive atmosphere following intensifying diplomatic contacts in the wake of the election of the moderate President Hassan Rouhani in June.

Progress would have to take place on a "step-by-step reciprocal basis", Hague said, but he made clear the moves would pave the way to reopen the British embassy. "We are open to more direct contact," he said, adding that the the [sic] coming months "may be unusually significant" in British-Iranian relations. » | Ian Black, Middle East editor | Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Ecuador Denounces Julian Assange 'Threat' from Britain
Ecuador's foreign minister, Ricardo Patiño, deplores what he describes as a threat from the British government to raid the country's London embassy if it fails to hand in Julian Assange. The WikiLeaks founder took refuge in the embassy two months ago in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations of sexual assault

China Suspends Ministerial Meetings with Britain over Dalai Lama Row
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: China has indefinitely suspended minister-level meetings with Britain in protest at David Cameron's decision to meet the Dalai Lama.

Two government ministers have been snubbed on their trips to Beijing in the last month. Lord Green, the Trade and Investment minister, and Jeremy Browne, the Foreign Office minister, saw planned meetings with Chinese ministers either cancelled or palmed off on junior officials.

Lord Green, who was visiting China as the head of a trade mission, was reportedly unable to meet with the Ministry of Commerce or with the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, which sets a course for the country's economy.

"What has happened is that things that are normally handled at ministerial level being downgraded or cancelled," said one diplomatic source.

"In some cases the Chinese have said it was because of the [Prime Minister's] meeting with the Dalai Lama, at other times they said they were sorry but something had come up," he added. » | Malcolm Moore, Beijing | Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Saudi Closes Embassy in Egypt Following Protests
ASSOCIATED PRESS: RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia closed its Cairo embassy Saturday and recalled its ambassador following protests over a detained Egyptian human rights lawyer in a sharp escalation of tension between two regional powerhouses already on shaky terms due to uprisings in the Arab world.

The unexpected Saudi diplomatic break came following days of protests by hundreds of Egyptians outside the Saudi Embassy in Cairo and consulates in other cities to demand the release of Ahmed el-Gezawi. Relatives and human rights groups say he was detained for allegedly insulting the kingdom's monarch.

Saudi authorities denied that and said he was arrested for trying to smuggle anti-anxiety drugs into the conservative oil-rich kingdom.

The collapse of Hosni Mubarak's regime last year in Egypt stunned Saudi Arabia's monarchy, which saw it as a sign of its own potential vulnerabilities and how Western backing can suddenly shift away from longtime allies.

Saudi officials have increasingly viewed Egypt's post-revolution trajectory — particularly the political gains by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood — as worrisome trends that could encourage greater opposition in the Gulf.

A full break in ties between Cairo and Riyadh appears unlikely as the Arab League deals with the complicated showdown between protesters and the regime in Syria. But the deepening rifts underscore profound changes in the region's hierarchy with Gulf states using their influence and relative stability to exert more leverage over wider Mideast affairs. » | Abdullah Al-Shihri | AP | Saturday, April 28, 2012

Iran's Mullahs Come Out Fighting

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The storming of the British embassy in Tehran and William Hague’s closure of the Iranian mission in London brings to an end the fruitless diplomatic reconciliation instigated by the last Labour government.

For the beleaguered group of diplomats holed up in the British Embassy compound in Tehran and surrounded by a baying mob of Iranian protesters, it was, as one of their colleagues phlegmatically remarked yesterday, “a very hairy few hours”.

The embassy staff had been forewarned that trouble was brewing. All Tuesday morning, pro-government Farsi websites had posted comments calling for protesters to gather in Bobby Sands Street. This is the name that the road leading to the British Embassy was given by the ayatollahs when they last squared up to Britain, over the Salman Rushdie affair in 1989.

The original aim of the protest was to commemorate the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist, one of three killed in the past two years on the streets of Tehran. But with relations between Britain and Iran entering one of their periodic crises, the bloggers argued that there was no better way to mark the scientist’s death than to focus their ire on the embassy compound in central Tehran.

Britain has a long and undistinguished history of intrigue in Iranian affairs, dating from the 19th century when British gunboats regularly shelled Persian ports to persuade the Shah to toe the line. More recently, in 1953, British intelligence masterminded the plot to overthrow Mohammed Mossadegh – arguably Iran’s last democratically elected prime minister – after he sought to nationalise the British-owned Anglo-Iranian oil company.

Given this history of skulduggery, it is hardly surprising that most Iranians believe Britain is involved in the carefully coordinated campaign of assassinations, bombings and acts of computer sabotage that are clearly designed to disrupt Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons. In the most recent incident, a mysterious explosion appears to have caused significant damage to the uranium enrichment complex at Isfahan, a vital feature of Iran’s nuclear programme. Read on and comment » | Con Coughlin | Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Britain On Brink of Severing Diplomatic Ties with Iran
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain came close to severing diplomatic ties with Iran when the Government ordered the closure of the Islamic Republic's embassy in London and gave its staff 48 hours to leave.


Read article and comment here | David Blair, Chief Foreign Correspondent | Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Britain Expels Iranian Diplomats and Closes Tehran Embassy
THE GUARDIAN: William Hague says diplomats must leave UK within 48 hours, saying storming of British embassy in Iran had backing of regime

The foreign secretary, William Hague has ordered the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from the UK and announced that the UK is closing its embassy in Tehran, saying that the storming of the mission on Tuesday had the backing of the regime.

Hague said Iranian diplomats would have to leave Britain within 48 hours, and that all British embassy staff in Tehran had now left Iran. » | Julian Borger, diplomatic editor | Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Tehran Votes to Expel Britain's Ambassador
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Iran erupted in a fresh frenzy of animosity towards its old imperial foe on Sunday as MPs chanting "death to England" voted to expel Britain's ambassador to Tehran and threatened his mission with a reprise of the 1979 hostage crisis.

Dominic Chilcott, who took up the position of ambassador just a month ago, could be forced to leave the country within weeks after a motion to downgrade Iran's diplomatic ties with Britain was passed overwhelmingly by the Islamist republic's parliament.

The step was taken after Britain, Canada and the United States announced fresh sanctions against Iran last week in the wake of a report by UN weapons inspectors which provided the most compelling case yet that Tehran is trying to build a nuclear bomb.

Britain was singled out, however, after it became the first state to impose direct sanctions on Iran's central bank. Financial institutions in the City were also banned from doing business with their Iranian counterparts.

Despite pressure from Israel, Washington has baulked at following suit, arguing that such a step would cause deep financial pain for ordinary Iranians and could cause the price of oil to soar. If its central bank faced widespread international sanctions, Iran would find it virtually impossible to import and export oil, food and other commodities except on the black market.

It is the first time in the UK's postwar history that Britain has imposed a total boycott on the entire banking industry of a foreign state.

Iranian MPs were incandescent in their fury towards Britain, known by many in Iran as "the Old Fox". After announcing that the motion had been carried by 171 votes to three, Ali Larijani, the hawkish speaker, warned that even tougher penalties would be imposed on Britain, saying: "this is just the beginning of the road." Read on and comment » | Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent | Sunday, November 17, 2011

Barack Obama: US and Poland Relationship Has 'Never Been Stronger'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama said that relations between his country and Poland have 'never been stronger' as he confirmed that he and the Polish President had discussed the visa regime for Poles.

The visa issue is the main irritant in traditionally cordial relations between the two Nato allies, though the US President will need the support of Congress to make the change.

Obama said: "We discussed how we can more regularise the visa process between our two countries and I indicated to him the work we are doing in the US to be able to achieve that.

"In sum, I think the relationship between our two countries has never been stronger. I am very proud to come here in order to say thank you to the Polish people for their friendship." (+ video) » | Saturday, May 28, 2011

Inside Story - Turkey's Changing Tunes on Syria

Saudi Arabia Rebuffs Iranian Foreign Minister’s Visit
Qatar declines to mediate between Riyadh and Tehran, and calls on Iran to resolve its problems directly with Saudi Arabia.
MIDDLE EAST ONLINE: RIYADH and LONDON - The Saudi-Iranian relations are going through a period of high tension that culminated in Saudi Arabia’s refusal to receive Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as part of his Gulf tour.

Sources in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) confirmed the Saudi rejection. The Saudi move, they said, is due to the Iranian diplomatic and media campaign against the kingdom. The campaign comes against the backdrop of the Saudis’ support for the Bahraini government against what the Al-Khalifa, the Bahraini royal family which has been ruling the country for 300 years, called an Iranian coup plan.

According to the sources, the Saudis stressed that unless the Iranian government apologized for the vandalism done to its consulate in Mashhad and the attack on its embassy in Tehran, the visit of the Iranian minister could not be considered friendly, and that there would be no healthy foundations for the development of future relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The sources revealed that Salehi sought a Qatari mediation, but the Qataris affirmed that a continued direct contact between the two countries is better for the stability of the region. » | Middle East Online | Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Iran's Push for Regional Domination Gets Arab Spring Boost
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran's hopes of using the Arab Spring to secure regional domination were boosted on Monday as it took a vital step towards strengthening relations with Egypt.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the Iranian foreign minister, announced that one of his deputies would visit Cairo "in the near future" and said that he would hold talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Nabil al-Arabi, in the Indonesian resort of Bali at the end of the month.

It comes as the two states prepare for the full-scale resumption of diplomatic relations in more than 30 years, a development that some observers believe could tilt [the] balance of power in the Middle East in Iran's favour.

Mr Salehi boasted of a flurry of communications between the two capitals as they work towards an exchange of ambassadors, a breakthrough that has alarmed Israel, dismayed Saudi Arabia, Iran's long-standing rival for influence in the Arab world, and caused unease in Washington.

"Currently, many oral and written messages and phone calls are being exchanged between officials of the two sides," Mr Salehi said.

Under Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president ousted in a popular revolution three months ago, relations with Iran were deeply antagonistic. » | Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent | Monday, May 09, 2011

Under Fire, Pakistan's PM to Address Nation on Bin Laden Death
REUTERS: Opposition parties took aim at Pakistan's leaders on Monday over the killing of Osama bin Laden, compounding pressure from Washington over the al Qaeda leader's hideout, as the prime minister prepared to "take the nation into confidence" on the crisis in a parliament address.

Pakistan's main opposition party is stepping up calls for the prime minister and president to resign over the breach of sovereignty by U.S. forces who slipped in from Afghanistan to storm the compound where bin Laden was holed up.

"We want resignations, not half-baked explanations," an official of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League told the News daily.

Pakistan welcomed the death of bin Laden, who plotted the September 11, 2001, airliner attacks on the United States, as a step in the fight against militancy but also said the U.S. raid to kill him was a violation of its sovereignty. » | John Chalmers | ISLAMABAD | Monday, May 09, 2011

Counting the Cost - US-Pakistan Relations: Dead and Buried?
How does Osama bin Laden's death affect US financial aid to Pakistan?

Strains Showing in US-Pakistan Relationship
In the days since Osama bin Laden's killing, the Obama administration has been at pains to stress that the US Pakistan relationship is intact.

But other politicians have been much more critical.

Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan reports