Israelis told to avoid Gulf due to threat from Iran

JERUSALEM: The Israeli government on Thursday urged its citizens to avoid travel to the UAE and Bahrain, citing threats of Iranian attacks.

Iran has been threatening to attack Israeli targets since its chief nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated last Friday near Tehran. It accuses Israel, which has been suspected in previous killings of Iranian nuclear scientists, of being behind the shooting.

Israel has not commented on the killing. But Fakhrizadeh has long been on Israel’s radar screen, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying at a 2018 news conference about Iran’s nuclear programme: “Remember that name.” Israel accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons — a charge Iran denies.

In recent months, Israel has signed agreements establishing diplomatic relations with Gulf Arab states of the UAE and Bahrain — its first normalisation deals with Arab countries in a quarter century. The agreements, brokered by the Trump administration, have generated widespread excitement in Israel, and thousands of Israeli tourists are scheduled to travel to the UAE for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah this month. That may change following Thursday’s warning.

Qatar signals progress to resolve Gulf crisis DOHA: Qatar’s foreign minister said on Friday that there had been “some movements” to resolve the ongoing Gulf crisis which has pitted a regional group of nations against his country.

Saudi Arabia led its allies the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt - to cut ties with Qatar in 2017, accusing it of backing radical Islamist movements and Iran, charges Doha denies. They subsequently forced out Qataris residing in their countries, closed their airspace to Qatari aircraft and sealed their borders and ports, separating some mixed-nationality families.

“We have achieved certain progress at a certain point of time more than a year ago, and then things have slowed,” Foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said in Rome.