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SHAWWAL 21, 1440 AH MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2019 28 Pages Max 45º Min 32º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17864 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Erekat says Amir a prominent North Korean leader receives French farmers seek Pakistan condemn woeful 2 supporter of Palestinian cause 6 ‘excellent’ letter from Trump 22 a pistachio bonanza 28 S Africa to World Cup exit US envoy calls on world to ‘urge Iran to de-escalate’ US conducts cyber attack on Iran • Tehran says ‘spy drone’ violated airspace in May By Ben Garcia and Agencies the area of maritime security”. “The Iranian minister. Kuwait is the current president of the regime is a threat to freedom of navigation and UN Security Council (for the month of June), KUWAIT: The US special envoy for Iran yes- all nations of the world share an interest in the and Hook said he believes the UN Security terday urged “all nations to use their diplomat- free flow of commerce and there is much work Council has special role along with other ic effort to urge Iran to de-escalate and meet to be done together,” he said. “We need Iran to organizations since this is a global threat that diplomacy with diplomacy” amid soaring ten- behave more like a normal nation and less like requires a global response. sions in the Gulf. “We are not interested in... a revolutionary cause. And if we can imagine a “We had a very good discussion about the military conflict against Iran, we have peaceful Iran, then we can imagine a peaceful current tension. I explained to them that our enhanced our forces’ postures in the region for Middle East,” he added. Iran strategy has many objectives, but our purely defensive purposes,” Brian Hook told Hook said the military option is still open principal objectives are to deny the regime the journalists in Kuwait. after the US’ aborted military response on revenue they need to run an expansionist and In mid-June the United States said it would Iran’s downing of a US military reconnaissance violent foreign policy. The Iranian regime pro- deploy 1,000 additional troops to the Middle drone. “Yes, it remains on the table in the event vides assistance and funding to terrorism East, after a series of tanker attacks in the Gulf that we are attacked. It is very important to around the region. They aspire to create a it has blamed on Iran despite Tehran’s denials understand our position - in the current envi- Shiite corridor to dominate the Middle East. of involvement. The US moves came as Iran set ronment, our troops are all positioned in a So much instability in the Middle East is driven a 10-day countdown for world powers to fulfill defensive way. We are not seeking war or con- by the Iranian regime,” Hook said. their commitments under a nuclear deal aban- flict with Iran - we exerted diplomacy but Iran On Friday in Saudi Arabia, the US envoy doned by Washington, saying it would other- responded with military force. We currently said Iran has no right to respond to diplomacy wise surpass the uranium stockpile limit man- have about 7,000 troops in the region to “with military force”, a day after Tehran shot dated by the accord. ensure that if we are attacked, we are going to down the US reconnaissance drone over the Hook said his talks in Kuwait focused “how respond with military might,” he said. Strait of Hormuz - a strategic waterway for the to de-escalate tensions that in the region have Hook met the Kuwaiti defense minister, the world’s oil transits. Iran yesterday said a “spy been driven by Iran and we discussed how we chief of staff of the Kuwaiti military and the drone” had encroached its airspace in May KUWAIT: Brian Hook, the US Special Representative for Iran, speaks during a can deepen our cooperation especially around Kuwaiti foreign minister and assistant foreign Continued on Page 24 press conference yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat With more than 99 percent of ballots relentlessly positive campaign under the Erdogan’s party counted yesterday night, Imamoglu was slogan “Everything will be fine”. That winning by more than 775,000 votes - was in stark contrast to the usual aggres- Saudi launches and had 54 percent overall. “It was not a sive name-calling of Turkish politics and loses replay of single group or party, but the whole of struck a chord with voters. special residency Istanbul and Turkey that won this elec- He faced the juggernaut of the AKP, Istanbul election tion,” Imamoglu said in his victory which has ruled Turkey since 2002 and speech. “Mr President, I am ready to remains the most popular political force scheme for expats ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep work in harmony with you. I convey from nationwide. The AKP’s candidate, Binali RIYADH: Saudi Arabia yesterday launched a new Tayyip Erdogan suffered a major blow here my request to meet with you in the Yildirim, a mild-mannered Erdogan loyal- special residency scheme aimed at luring wealthy yesterday as the opposition candidate in shortest time possible,” he added. ist who oversaw several huge transport expats as the petro-state seeks to boost non-oil Istanbul’s controversial mayoral election Critics accused Erdogan of refusing to projects and served as prime minister, revenue. The scheme offers a permanent residen- re-run romped to victory. Ekrem give up control of Istanbul, Turkey’s eco- had already struck a conciliatory tone cy for 800,000 riyals ($213,000) and a one-year Imamoglu won the first vote in March by a nomic powerhouse and a crucial source earlier yesterday. “If we have wronged, but renewable residency costing 100,000 riyals tiny margin of just 13,000 votes in the city of patronage for Islamic conservatives knowingly or unknowingly, one of our (27,000), according to the online portal for regis- of 15 million. But after being stripped of since he won the mayorship himself a fellow Istanbulites or our challengers, if trations. The scheme will allow expats to do busi- that victory over controversial claims of quarter of a century ago. But Imamoglu, we have done something unjust, I ask for fraud, he vowed a “battle for democracy” a little-known district mayor at the start your forgiveness,” he said. ness without a Saudi sponsor, buy property and Ekrem Imamoglu sponsor visas for relatives, the website said. that turned him into a household name. of the year, galvanized voters with a Continued on Page 24 Analysts say the program will largely benefit wealthy Arabs who have lived in Saudi Arabia for years without permanent residency or multina- Amhara state security head General Asamnew Tsige as tional companies seeking to do long-term busi- Ethiopia army chief, responsible for the foiled coup, without giving details of ness in the kingdom. The move appears aimed at his whereabouts. Asamnew was released from prison boosting non-oil revenue as the kingdom seeks to last year after receiving an amnesty for a similar coup diversify its economy. It was approved by the local leader killed in attempt, according to media reports. Saudi cabinet last month, but the portal began Abiy took office just over a year ago and embarked accepting applications yesterday. failed regional coup on unprecedented reforms in Ethiopia, Africa’s second- Saudi Arabia is currently home to some 10 mil- most populous country and one of its fastest-growing lion overseas workers, many of whom are sub- ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s army chief of staff and the economies. But the premier’s shake-up of the military jected to what labor activists describe as restric- head of the northern state of Amhara were killed in two and intelligence services has earned him powerful ene- tive residency rules. Expat workers are typically separate but related attacks when a general tried to mies, while his government is struggling to rein in pow- sponsored by a Saudi employer and are required seize control of Amhara in an attempted coup, the prime erful figures in Ethiopia’s myriad ethnic groups fighting to get visas to exit and enter the kingdom. Saudi minister’s office said yesterday. Amhara state president the federal government and each other for greater Arabia has seen a strong exodus of foreign work- Ambachew Mekonnen and his adviser were shot dead influence and resources. ers in recent years amid rising costs after the and the state’s attorney general was wounded in the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, government imposed fees on dependents and regional capital of Bahir Dar on Saturday evening, Prime Tibor Nagy, said the attacks were probably prompted restricted foreigners from working in certain sec- Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said in a statement. by disaffection over Abiy’s rise to power and his tors. The kingdom is also in the midst of an inten- In a separate attack the same night, Ethiopia’s army sweeping reforms. “There are vestiges of the old regime sifying crackdown on illegal workers that has Chief of Staff Seare Mekonnen and a retired general in power. Some of the elites are very unhappy with seen hundreds of thousands expelled over the were both shot dead in Seare’s home in Addis Ababa by some of the reforms that... Abiy is taking for a variety of ADDIS ABABA: In this videograb, Ethiopia’s Prime past two years. — AFP his bodyguard. The two attacks were linked, the state- reasons including, I’m sure, some ill-gotten gains,” Minister Abiy Ahmed addresses the public on television ment said, without giving details.